Chapter 458: Are You Standing Against Me?
Chapter 458: Are You Standing Against Me?
A vampire’s natural enemy is another vampire – they hunt each other, with the strong devouring the weak.
Higher vampires deliberately create rivals, letting them grow before consuming them to boost their own power.
The Blood Queen clearly followed this pattern.
When she’d passed through Tokyo years ago, she’d casually planted a dozen seeds. Now Fang Cheng remained the only survivor.
When Isis mentioned seeking someone, Kanzaki Rin immediately understood – this was a harvest.
The Blood Queen had come to reap her cultivated crop: Fang Cheng himself.
This realization plunged Kanzaki Rin into unprecedented terror.
Isis was a disaster-level monster, surpassing even ace-level fighters in power.
During her Tokyo visit, the Area 11 Government hadn’t even dared deploy their ace, fearing his death.
Fang Cheng had privately confessed his victory over Uehara Takashi involved luck – his true abilities matched Kamikawa Takumi’s at best.
If Isis targeted him, death was certain.
Countless thoughts flashed through Kanzaki Rin’s mind. Today marked Fang Cheng’s return from the suburbs.
She needed to warn him. Make him flee.
As this thought formed, Isis sipped her tea again. “If you alert him,” the vampire smiled, “I’ll slaughter everyone in Mechanical City. But since he’s returning today… my luck holds.”
All color drained from Kanzaki Rin’s face. Her mind went blank.
She’d directly revealed Fang Cheng’s movements.
What ability was this?
Mind reading?
Dead silence filled the office. The nine-tailed fox stood frozen. Kanzaki Rin sat motionless, eyes unfocused.
Only the faint clink of teacup meeting saucer broke the stillness as Isis drank.
After draining her cup, Isis set it down.
Eve automatically stepped forward with a small teapot, refilling it.
Isis lifted the refreshed cup but didn’t drink. “Tamamo-no-Mae,” she addressed the fox, “sit.”
She intended to discuss the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
The nine-tailed fox trembled, obediently taking a seat.
Even at full power, Tamamo-no-Mae wouldn’t dare oppose Isis. Now reduced to a single tail, resistance proved impossible.
If killed, her true form wouldn’t retaliate.
Their conversation flowed in strict question-and-answer format – Isis probing, the fox replying precisely without evasion.
Isis soon extracted details of Tamamo-no-Mae’s encounter with War Horseman Orphe.
Her concern? If Death Knight failed against her, another Horseman might intervene.
Yet the fox provided no useful intelligence.
Because Tamamo-no-Mae’s power hadn’t reached disaster level, she couldn’t even make War Horseman Orphe use his full strength. Badly wounded, she barely escaped with her life.
Isis used mind-reading-like abilities to check the nine-tailed fox, confirming she hid nothing.
While Isis talked with the fox, Kanzaki Rin slowly shook off her deep gloom. Though she’d leaked Fang Cheng’s location herself, nobody could’ve predicted Isis having mind-reading powers.
Growing calmer, Kanzaki Rin studied Isis mid-conversation. Both women possessed striking charm, but differently – the fox relied on simple enchantment, while Isis moved with a queen’s composure and goddess-like grace that made weaklings kneel and strong ones covet conquest.
Seated together, their looks matched but the fox’s presence got utterly crushed, her charm dwarfed completely.
Kanzaki Rin tried discerning whether Isis’s mind-reading worked automatically or needed activation. Suddenly Isis’s voice pierced her thoughts: “Sit quietly, girl, or I’ll taste whether your blood’s as sweet as your looks.”
Kanzaki Rin froze but resolved: she’d sacrifice Mechanical City and herself before letting Fang Cheng die. Yet how to pass information under mind-reading surveillance? No schemes worked against such overwhelming power.
As despair gripped her, knocks echoed from Eve’s sealed office door. Kanzaki Rin panicked – was her assistant Asaka Akihime outside? She almost called out, but the door swung open automatically.
There stood Sato Hayato clutching files, stunned by the beauty before him. He briefly imagined his girlfriend Yuri drooling over this sight, having noticed her questionable sexual orientation lately.
“Sato!” Kanzaki Rin barked sharply, snapping him awake. “Stop gawking!”
Though Isis and Eve ignored him, their thoughts stayed unknown. Flushing, Sato Hayato mumbled, “Apologies, Kanzaki Rin. These need signing…”
“Can’t you see I’m with customers?” She berated him harshly. “No situational awareness! Useless! You’re fired – get out!”
“Eh?” Sato Hayato gaped, swallowing protests after glancing at Others present. He turned to leave.
Kanzaki Rin steadied her heartbeat, watching Isis from her peripheral vision. When she spotted Isis’s faint smirk, she knew trouble brewed.
“Sato! Dodge!”
Kanzaki Rin shouted her warning immediately.
Sato Hayato reacted instantly, spinning around as mental powers erupted from his body, layering defenses before him.
As a Hazard level A ability user, his full defenses could withstand high-speed vehicle impacts and RPG explosion shockwaves.
A terrifying invisible force exploded from the office, effortlessly shredding his proud mental barriers.
BOOM!
The office door and adjacent walls shattered into fragments, debris swept away to form a perfect circular gap.
Sato Hayato took the full brunt. His formidable mental powers tore like paper under the assault.
The monstrous force hurled him backward, smashing through every wall and obstacle in his path.
CRASH!
When the final wall collapsed, Sato Hayato went flying from the Government Building’s upper floors, plunging hundreds of meters toward the earth.
Watching the rooftop shrink above him, Sato Hayato realized his lethal predicament.
This fall meant certain death.
He tried activating his mental powers, but searing pain split his skull. His numb body felt alien, beyond his control.
Death’s shadow filled his mind. No life-flashing visions came – just blank emptiness.
Everything happened too fast. He couldn’t comprehend what struck him.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Black lines materialized between buildings as he neared the street, weaving an elastic web.
Sato Hayato slammed into the stretching mesh. The black strands stretched into a funnel shape.
His fall stopped mere inches from the ground, the web snapping back upward.
Kamikawa Takumi peered down from the rooftop at the trapped figure.
Sato Hayato lay mangled on the web. His limbs twisted unnaturally, clothes soaked crimson from countless bleeding wounds.
Agony finally registered. He tried groaning but choked on blood flooding his mouth.
Kamikawa Takumi instantly knew Sato Hayato was beyond saving. No hospital could help now – only supernatural powers might reverse this.
Lacking such abilities, Kamikawa carefully encased the broken body in black matter, plugging wounds to slow blood loss.
After texting Minamoto Karei, Kamikawa stared grimly at the distant Government Building. This grave expression surpassed even when he’d learned his sister was trapped in Tokyo.
…
The Government Building bore a clean circular hole piercing from inner office to exterior wall.
Every object along the path had vaporized – not even dust remained. The walls’ edges showed glass-smooth fractures.
When Sato Hayato was sent flying, Kanzaki Rin had already leaped up, furious eyes locked on Isis.
“You…”
Isis turned ruby-red eyes toward her.
She knew this girl’s close relationship with Fang Cheng. She’d tolerated the brat’s antics out of respect for the nurtured seed.
But patience had limits.
“Wait!”
The nine-tailed fox blurred between them, slamming Kanzaki Rin back into her seat before facing Isis.
“Tamamo-no-Mae.”
Isis drawled, “You oppose me?”
“Never!”
The fox frantically waved clawed hands, forcing an ingratiating smile. “Why trouble yourself with this ignorant whelp? Let me discipline her properly!”
Isis simply watched with amusement.
Within seconds, sweat beaded on the nine-tailed fox’s forehead under the crushing pressure.