You Know How to Dodge?

"Ugh... damn it, what was that thing just now..."

The Hand Demon's vision was a blur, leaving him unable to see anything. He had almost caught Makomo, only for the little girl to react in an instant.

He had thought it was already too late for her to react, but for some reason, she had suddenly thrown a ball. A flash of white light had filled his vision, blinding him completely.

"Cough... cough..."

Makomo coughed several times and gritted her teeth. Although she had reacted at the critical moment, throwing the Flash Bomb Ye Chen had given her and closing her eyes as he had instructed, one of the Hand Demon's arms had still clipped her and sent her flying. Her whole body felt numb.

She slowly rose to her feet. Although she did not know what Mr. Ye Chen had given her, now was her chance to escape while the Hand Demon was still blind.

Yet Makomo's delicate brows furrowed, and she raised her Nichirin Blade again. She could not bring herself to leave just like that. She could not ignore her slain fellow disciples' need for vengeance, and she intended to finish the Hand Demon with her strongest strike while he was still disoriented.

Water Breathing, First Form: Water Surface Slash!

Makomo drew a deep breath. Waves of water appeared along her Nichirin Blade as she leaped lightly into the air and swung at the Hand Demon with all her strength.

Clang!!!

Makomo stared in shock, her wrist numb. Her Nichirin Blade had sunk into the Hand Demon's neck, but the blade had failed to withstand the strike and snapped with a sharp crack. The broken section remained embedded in his neck.

"That hurt!! You little bastard!"

The Hand Demon thrashed in pain and quickly recovered from his blindness. He lunged menacingly at Makomo, his arms attacking her again and again.

Makomo had yet to recover from the shock of her Nichirin Blade breaking. Seeing one of his hands reach for her, panic flickered in her large, pretty eyes. She lost her composure, already too late to dodge.

Swish!!

But that hand was suddenly severed with a single slash. Before either the Hand Demon or Makomo could react, his arms began falling one after another for no apparent reason.

"Damn it... who's there?!" The Hand Demon kept retreating. All he saw was a black shadow flash past before his arms were sliced off one by one. That speed was far beyond Makomo's. No, perhaps even Sakonji Urokodaki had not been this fast when he captured him all those years ago!

Makomo looked stunned as well, but after a moment's thought, someone came to mind.

"Mr... Ye Chen?"

"Whoops, I almost got here too late. Good thing I made it."

Sure enough, just as Makomo finished guessing, a young man appeared before her. It was Ye Chen, the one who had given her the Flash Bomb.

Ye Chen felt a little embarrassed. He had promised Sakonji Urokodaki he would protect his treasured disciple, yet he had nearly botched it. Though he had also been trying to earn Exchange Points.

"Who... are you?" Seeing all his hands severed, the Hand Demon knew the man before him was no ordinary person. But then he noticed the mask hanging at Ye Chen's waist and immediately ground his teeth.

"That mask... you're a disciple of that old bastard Sakonji Urokodaki too?"

"Hmm? You mean me?" Ye Chen looked puzzled, then glanced at the mask hanging from his waist and shrugged.

"Not really. He just gave me one."

"Heh... hehe. Kid, if you're not that old bastard's disciple, you'd better stay out of this."

Hearing that Ye Chen was not Sakonji Urokodaki's disciple, the Hand Demon felt somewhat relieved. Still, he would not let his guard down so easily. The man before him was clearly no pushover.

"Can't do that. I promised to protect his treasured disciple."

Ye Chen spread his hands. The only reason he bothered talking so much with the Hand Demon was that he knew there was no escape for him. With strength on par with an Upper Rank demon, letting a mutated low-level demon escape would be downright humiliating. Well... the one who had escaped his Clone earlier did not count. He continued, "Besides, you're so ugly, and you're bullying such a cute little girl. Who could stand by and watch that?"

"Then you can die with her!!!"

Seeing that Ye Chen refused to back off, the Hand Demon roared in fury. His newly regrown arms lashed out again, striking viciously at Ye Chen.

"Looks like the mutation didn't do your brain any favors." Ye Chen grinned. I cut all those arms down in an instant, and you still dare send them at me? His Nichirin Blade swept out, severing every arm without even needing a Breathing Style. Then he took another look and was surprised.

"Oh... looks like his brain isn't quite that useless. Too bad I'm not letting him get away this time."

The Hand Demon's attacks had been nothing more than a diversion. Once those arms were severed, he had fled into the distance at considerable speed. His towering, seven- or eight-meter body already looked no bigger than an egg.

Bang!!

But the fleeing Hand Demon suddenly felt pain in the back of his head. A shot had punched a hole through it, and a powerful poison spread through him, bringing waves of pain and numbness.

"Wisteria poison... this guy..."

The Hand Demon endured the pain as numbness spread throughout his body. Then his eyes widened as he remembered the Purple-Armored Young Man who had chased him with a strange weapon earlier. It was clearly the same kind of weapon the man behind him was holding.

"Could they be the same person... or part of the same organization?"

Ignoring the pain, the Hand Demon kept sprinting forward. Last time, his arms had been hit, and he had only escaped by tearing them off. This time, his damn luck had landed him a shot in the head. Who could tear off their own head? Still, he was not too panicked. As a mutated demon, he would not die from such a small amount of poison.

Bang, bang, bang, bang!!!

Behind him, Ye Chen was surprised that the Hand Demon had not fallen even after taking a shot to the head, but he remained calm. He crouched where he stood with his Heavy Bowgun and kept firing Poison Ammo at the Hand Demon. His marksmanship was far better than his Clones', and several shots struck the demon in an instant.

"Oh, you know how to dodge? Go on, dodge. Keep dodging. I'll lead my shots."

Ye Chen looked even more surprised as the Hand Demon began twisting his bloated body and running in a zigzag. Still, it was no problem. He had seen that kind of movement plenty of times. All he had to do was predict it.

Makomo watched Ye Chen fire a barrage at the distant Hand Demon with a strange weapon he had produced from somewhere without her noticing. She was astonished, having never seen a weapon like it before.

"Damn it... damn it..." As the Hand Demon ran, he collapsed facedown on the ground. He had taken over a dozen shots. Even his mutated constitution could not withstand that much Wisteria poison, and he had lost all feeling in his body.

"I still haven't... that old bastard... I can't accept this..."

"Tch. Still thinking about revenge when you're about to die?" Approaching him, Ye Chen gave a disdainful click of his tongue at the sight, then said to Makomo:

"He's still barely alive. Since you seem to have a score to settle with him, I'll let you finish him off."

Makomo fell silent at Ye Chen's words, then quietly approached the Hand Demon, tightening her grip on her Nichirin Blade.

"I can understand how you felt after being captured and forced to suffer here. But I'll never forgive you for killing so many people," Makomo said quietly. Then her Nichirin Blade slashed down. The Wisteria poison had ravaged the Hand Demon's body, weakening it and leaving him with no strength to defend himself. His neck was severed at once.

"I..." The Hand Demon seemed to want to say something more, but his neck had already been cut through, and the Wisteria poison continued to eat away at him. Without another word, he dissolved into the air.

[Ding! Low-level demon killed. Exchange Points ×143.]

[Ding! Hidden Quest completed: kill the Hand Demon in the Wisteria Flower Sea. Exchange Points ×800.]