Chapter 461: I Have Returned
Chapter 461: I Have Returned
After rescuing Sato Hayato, Kamikawa Takumi had no time to attend to him and could only entrust him to Minamoto Karei, who arrived afterward.
Yet Minamoto Karei dared not move Sato Hayato recklessly. All his wounds had been temporarily sealed by Kamikawa Takumi through special means, and careless movement might aggravate his injuries.
But delaying treatment meant Sato Hayato would inevitably die—his breath grew fainter by the minute.
Doctors from the Mechanical City had been summoned, but they could do nothing.
Medically speaking, Sato Hayato should have been dead already. Only his mental powers kept his heart pumping blood through his body.
As his consciousness faded, these mental powers would soon disappear.
The doctors could only provide blood transfusions, a meager effort at best.
“Hayato! Wake up! Don’t die, Hayato!”
Kujo Yuri cried out beside him, her eyes swollen from weeping, her voice reduced to a rasp.
This had been the doctors’ suggestion—to shout repeatedly and rouse his survival instincts.
Minamoto Karei watched the grieving Kujo Yuri, her own panic equally sharp. Her man faced mortal peril too, likely to follow Sato Hayato’s path any moment.
Don’t die, Takumi!
Minamoto Karei stared into the distance, fists clenched so tightly her nails bit into her palms.
“Hayato!”
Kujo Yuri’s sudden scream pierced the air.
Minamoto Karei looked down to find Sato Hayato’s eyes glazed over, his heartbeat nearly undetectable.
The monitoring doctor shook his head in despair.
As Minamoto Karei stared at the dying man and the wailing Kujo Yuri, panic surged—a vision flashed of Kamikawa Takumi’s corpse sprawled on concrete, herself screaming over it.
No. Impossible!
She stumbled backward. Through her daze, a hand materialized beside Sato Hayato, pressing against his chest.
A soft glow emanated from the palm.
…
Eve intercepted by the nine-tailed fox, Kanzaki Rin hurried back to the apartment.
The others had indeed gathered there as required.
This was their established rule—regroup immediately during crises to avoid being hunted down separately.
“Rin! Thank goodness you’re safe.”
Takeda Masumi exhaled in relief upon seeing Kanzaki Rin. News of the Government Building’s rooftop attack had spread.
Nozawa Ritsu, bound by Kanzaki Rin’s orders, could only manage crowd evacuation rather than investigate.
Ye Yuqing approached anxiously. “Mistress, Yuri said Sato’s badly hurt. How is he?”
Kanzaki Rin surveyed the group—Uka Mirai’s childlike worry, Sato Mai’s clenched fists. With Fang Cheng absent, their safety rested on her shoulders.
She didn’t waste time explaining. “Masumi, Saye,” she ordered immediately, “take them to the shelter now. Don’t come out until I say so.”
“What?”
Both Takeda Masumi and Nangong Saye froze in surprise. Why the sudden evacuation?
They were combatants too—what was the point of hiding?
“Rin, what’s happening?”
“No time to explain. Just move. Now.”
“What about you?”
“I’ve got things to handle.”
Though Kamikawa Takumi had told Kanzaki Rin to lead everyone out of the city to find Fang Cheng, that plan relied on him buying enough time.
If he lost quickly, searching for Fang Cheng would only put them in danger.
So Kanzaki Rin changed tactics—hide the others while she alone went to find him.
Judging by Isis’s past actions, staying far from Fang Cheng meant safety, so long as they didn’t interfere.
Takeda Masumi and Nangong Saye, accustomed to following orders, began gathering supplies without question.
Ye Yuqing wasn’t so compliant. “Can’t you spit it out in one sentence? What’s the rush?”
Kanzaki Rin shot her a glance. “Akihime. Take her.”
Before Ye Yuqing could protest, Asaka Akihime seized control of her body and dragged the girls to collect their phones.
Minutes later, they piled into a car bound for Mechanical City’s shelter.
As Kanzaki Rin turned to leave, Asaka Akihime materialized before her.
“Why are you still here?”
“I stayed.”
Asaka Akihime now wore workout clothes. “Karei called. Said a dangerous woman’s coming—she’s after Cheng-kun, right?”
She remembered Fang Cheng mentioning the Blood Queen would hunt him eventually.
Kanzaki Rin scowled. “Then why stay? What’s Masumi thinking—”
She reached for her phone, but Asaka Akihime grabbed her wrist.
“Take me with you.”
“You realize what this means?”
Finding Fang Cheng could be lethal.
“Same as you do.”
Their eyes locked. Kanzaki Rin jerked free. “Follow.”
They descended to the apartment garden’s basement, where two solo combat systems waited.
Thankfully, Ye Yuqing’s training with Takeda Masumi covered operating the gear.
Once suited up, the ceiling slid open to sunlight.
Thrusters roared. They shot from the basement, streaking toward the city’s edge.
Kanzaki Rin’s current task was to find Fang Cheng and notify him to leave—confronting Isis now would mean certain defeat.
The car’s speed was far too slow compared to flying. In the blink of an eye, they had already crossed most of the city.
“Rin, there’s a shadow following us!”
Asaka Akihime’s voice crackled through the communicator.
Kanzaki Rin glanced back and spotted a blood-red shadow leaping between high-rise rooftops, closing in fast.
“Did Tamamo-no-Mae lose? Or is she slacking off?”
Kanzaki Rin’s mind raced. “Head out of the city to find Fang Cheng. I’ll stall her here.”
“Too late—look ahead!”
Kanzaki Rin whipped around just as another blood-red shadow vaulted from a building ahead.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Asaka Akihime fired first, unleashing cluster munitions that engulfed the shadow in explosions. Before the flames faded, a swarm of bats burst forth, surging toward them like storm clouds.
“Handle this!”
Kanzaki Rin focused on the pursuing blood shadow. A red light glowed on her right shoulder, locking onto the target.
A laser shot out, piercing the shadow’s chest. With a hiss, it dissolved into bats, attacking from both sides.
Kanzaki Rin and Asaka Akihime sprayed machine-gun fire, but the bats overwhelmed them, encircling the pair in seconds.
“Go!”
Kanzaki Rin yanked Asaka Akihime downward, leaving a baseball-sized bomb behind.
BOOM!
The detonation dwarfed the earlier blasts, flames devouring every bat. The shockwave sent both girls tumbling toward the ground.
They stabilized ten meters above the pavement, only to crash onto the street. Kanzaki Rin groaned but stood; Asaka Akihime staggered, her body aching.
Kanzaki Rin pulled her up. Above, the sky was clear—no bats remained.
Before she could sigh in relief, Eve appeared ahead, clad in a sharp suit.
“Behind us!” Asaka Akihime warned.
Another Eve blocked their retreat.
So the nine-tailed fox hadn’t failed—Eve had clones.
“Surrender,” both Eves intoned, stepping closer. “Mechanical City is under my surveillance. There’s nowhere to escape.”
Her mission: capture Fang Cheng’s allies before they could warn him. If he hid like the nine-tailed fox in some remote cave, even Isis would struggle to find him. Though his loyalty made fleeing unlikely, every risk had to be eliminated.
Kanzaki Rin gripped Asaka Akihime’s arm. “Run the moment I attack. Get out of the city.”
Asaka Akihime nodded—staying would only hinder them.
The Eves morphed into blood shadows and lunged.
Kanzaki Rin thrust her palms forward, flames coalescing into twin dragons that swallowed the shadows. Asaka Akihime shot skyward.
Two crimson blades sliced through the fire, arcing toward Kanzaki Rin. She twisted midair using her solo combat system’s thrusters, flattening herself horizontally. The blades grazed her front and back, shredding parts of her armor.
They veered upward, streaking toward Asaka Akihime.
She glanced back, eyes wide—
Golden light erupted above her, drowning out the crimson. Six colossal golden hands slammed down, crushing the blood shadows into the pavement.
Kanzaki Rin and Asaka Akihime shielded their eyes against the glare. On a nearby rooftop stood a familiar figure, silhouetted by gold.
“I’m back.”