Avarish's body, swollen into a mountain of flesh, lunged forward, its enormous mouth opening to its limit.
Yasuo used the railing for leverage and leaped.
The wind is gathering.
It wasn't a sea breeze, but a gale compressed to its extreme by sword intent.
"Sawyer--!"
Yasuo's figure drew a straight line in the moonlight, like a blue shooting star falling.
The longsword sliced through Avarish's bloated body without any resistance.
"Sizzle--"
Avarish let out a blood-curdling scream.
His massive body completely disintegrated under this sword strike, and the countless pieces of flesh and blood he had devoured lost their support, turning into puddles of foul-smelling mud that covered the deck.
A few seconds later, the arrogant and greedy demon transformed back into the ugly little monster that was only half a meter tall.
One of its wings was severed, and it was covered in blood, crawling desperately in its filth.
Yasuo landed lightly, his wooden clogs making a crisp sound as they stepped on the steel plate.
He flicked his wrist, shaking off the black blood from the blade.
"Impossible..." Avarish coughed up a mouthful of green fragments of internal organs, moving backward in terror. "You! Why did you have to kill us all? I haven't shortchanged those councilors by a single penny! I've kept to myself and never crossed paths with you!"
It cannot understand.
It is a demon that has survived for centuries, the king of the underworld.
"Then what are you after?!" Avarish screamed hysterically, "Money? Power? Or that damned reputation? I can give you that! I know the vault's combination, I know..."
You're overthinking it.
Yasuo yawned and stretched.
"I was just passing by."
He turned his head and looked at the figure standing in the Shadow not far away.
"Hey, big cat. The real deal is saved for you."
Hector emerged from the Shadow.
Something was wrong with him.
His clothes had been reduced to shreds, and blinding white electricity coursed through his skin. His eyes no longer had pupils; only two burning green Will-o'-the-Wisp remained.
The tiger tally on his chest was vibrating wildly, emitting a deep hum.
"This is the bastard who killed your sister." Yasuo pointed at Avarish on the ground, his tone flat. "Do what you have to do. Hurry up, this ship's sinking, I don't want to swim back."
Avarish saw Hector, or more precisely, he saw the glowing amulet on Hector's chest.
The ugly face, which had been filled with fear, suddenly froze.
Immediately afterwards, an extremely bizarre expression crept onto its face.
First came confusion, then shock, and finally, ecstasy.
Hehe... hehehe...
Avarish let out a low laugh, which then grew louder and louder, turning into a sharp, maniacal the Batman Who Laughs, and he even rolled on the ground laughing.
"Him? You brought him here to kill me?"
Avarish was laughing and coughing up blood, his finger trembling as he pointed at Hector.
"What's so funny?" Yasuo frowned. "Are you scared out of your wits?"
"Fools! What a cruel irony!" Avarish laughed until tears streamed down his face, his eyes looking at the two idiots. "You have no idea what you brought on board! You think that's your helper? That's one of my own kind! Beast far more greedy than I am!"
Yasuo pursed his lips.
He had heard this kind of delirious ramblings from people on their deathbed many times before.
"You talk too much nonsense."
Yasuo ignored the crazed demon and turned to walk towards the boarding stairs.
"It's up to you, Hector."
Yasuo waved to the two men with his back to them.
It's all over. Revenge is complete, the bad guys are dead, the good guys... well, the rotten ones continue their wanderings.
The script is clichéd, but at least the ending isn't bad.
"Buzz--!"
Yasuo's pupils contracted.
But he was too relaxed.
He assumed the people standing behind him were his comrades.
"Pfft!"
Yasuo froze, his foot halting in mid-air.
He looked down, staring incredulously at his left shoulder, where a claw made of green energy had pierced through his neck.
Yasuo, who had been quickly disengaging, stumbled as he drew his sword and slashed back.
Where was the dejected repairman Hector standing behind him?
"Hahaha! It's you! Fahima!"
The rotting mass of flesh on the ground, barely clinging to life— Avarish's murky yellow eyes stared intently at Hector.
It coughed up green blood clots while laughing so hard that its fat jiggled all over.
"So it turns out you're the one who only knows how to hide in the gutter! You disguised yourself as a stupid tiger just to trick this foolish samurai into clearing the area for you?"
Yasuo steadied himself, his left hand covering his shoulder.
The claw strike wasn't deep and didn't damage the bone.
A cold, slippery force seeped into the meridians, preventing the wound from healing.
Yasuo raised his head, his disheveled hair obscuring his eyes, making it impossible to discern his expression.
He looked at Hector, who was standing a few meters away.
The repairman, whose face was once weathered and who would stop at nothing to avenge his sister, is gone.
"Tsk." Yasuo spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva, but didn't fly into a rage. "So that's why that so-called 'Tiger Power' has been clashing with your body all this time. Turns out it's not because you can't control it, but because what's inside you isn't a tiger at all."
Yasuo's fingers gently caressed the hilt of his sword.
"So, that tragic story of the whole family being sacrificed to the heavens and the younger sister's gruesome death... was also a script you specially made up to lure me onto the ship?"
Hector did not answer.
The Jade Tiger Amulet on his chest had turned completely black, its original sacred white light now swallowed by murky dark green energy.
"The story is true."
Hector finally spoke.
But the voice was no longer that of a rough man; instead, it was a sharp, seductive female voice.
Hector had a sister—no, two—one of whom died a horrible death.
Hector stuck out his tongue and licked his lips; the tongue forked into a snake-like shape. "But what I didn't tell you is that the person who devoured that little girl's soul that night wasn't Magia, nor Avarish, but me."
"Only a soul nurtured in utter despair and hatred is the most delicious tonic. Only when I am full do I have the strength to awaken in this worthless body."
Yasuo's eye muscles twitched slightly.
"Brilliant." Yasuo clapped twice dryly. "Using the victim's hatred to feed the killer, and then pulling in a passerby as a free henchman. Your scheme is so elaborate, even the monkeys of Ionia could hear it."
"All warfare is based on deception, Ronin."
Hector's tiger head turned into a sheep's head, and his claws turned into hooves.
A female demonic phantom with ram horns and crimson eyes slowly rose from behind Hector.
She opened her arms, and the smell of sulfur masked the stench of blood on the deck.
Witch, Fahima.
" Avarish has occupied this territory for too long." Fahima, controlling Hector's body, pointed to the pile of rotten flesh on the ground. "His 'Greed' authority, I want it very much. But I can't defeat him, so I need a sharp knife. A knife sharp enough, and stupid enough."
She looked at Yasuo, her eyes full of mockery. "You did well, Yasuo. Even better than I expected. As a thank you, I'll let you die a quick death, and I might even consider making your soul into my new collection."
Avarish on the ground was still screaming, " Fahima! You bitch! This is my territory!"
"Now it's mine." Fahima sneered, manipulating Hector to raise his foot and stomp heavily on Avarish's broken body.
Green slurry splattered, and the King of Greed let out a bloodcurdling scream like a pig being slaughtered.
Yasuo sighed.
"There are two things I hate most in my life."
Yasuo lowered his body slightly, assuming the stance of Iaijutsu.
The longsword hummed with thirst for blood as it remained in its sheath.
"First, the wine was diluted with water."
"Secondly, they were used as pawns."
The surrounding air currents began to become violent.
The sea breeze, which had been howling due to the cruise ship's tilt, suddenly stopped flowing and formed an extremely high-pressure cyclone around Yasuo.
"You think you've won?" Yasuo's voice pierced the wind, clearly reaching the ears of the two demons. "You think that as long as you sharpen the blade, it won't turn around and cut the hand holding it?"
Fahima felt the chilling sword intent, and the smile on her face faded slightly.
She controlled Hector's body to take a step back, and the demonic phantom behind her let out a shriek.
"You're injured, and this ship is about to sink. What do you have to fight me on this vast ocean?"
"Before this hell sinks..."
Yasuo disappeared.
It's not the kind of afterimage left by high-speed movement, but a true disappearance.
It was as if his entire being had melted into the raging wind.
The next second.
A blue sword light, powerful enough to slice through the sea, suddenly appeared above Fahima's head.
" Last Breath!"