Grgrrgr~

Akin to roots growing out of a tree, or in this case, muscles spurting out of the skin, Kazuichi activated his Blood Art, and his appendages ballooned to twice their size, enveloped by blood and muscles which were both gory enough to look at.

Then again, most Blood Arts looked like that. Kazuichi’s Blood Art appeared to be more threatening though, since he didn’t care about how it would look like. Power over beauty.

"A Blood Art? Impossible." Hinokami let out under his breath, just low enough for his subordinates to hear, but not Kazuichi.

Sensing that he totally caught him off-guard, Kazuichi briefly wore a smile before he slowly walked towards Hinokami. Although neither side took the initiative to make the first move, Kazuichi knew that he had already won before the fight even started.

If only Hinokami didn’t underestimate the shelter, let alone Kazuichi who actually had a Blood Art, none of these would have happened. If he just ignored Ayaka and Kazuichi back then, then these things wouldn’t have escalated up to this point.

Right now, Hinokami felt a little bit of regret as he looked straight into Kazuichi’s eyes. Unwavering, he took his stance and waited for Kazuichi to charge.

At the end of the day, Hinokami knew that there was still a chance to turn things around. While his subordinates went on about retreating, he found the ray of light at the end of the tunnel. He was more than willing to see everything through, and he wouldn’t leave this place until Kazuichi was defeated, eating dirt on the ground while he stepped on his head.

"You know what, let’s make this fair." Hinokami then walked forward and propped his hands up, as if to gesture that he wouldn’t engage in combat until Kazuichi heard him out first.

Then again, Kazuichi wasn’t merciless enough to attack Hinokami while his guard was down. For now, he was willing to hear Hinokami out before he destroyed him with his Blood Art. "What are you talking about? Fair? You already attacked this shelter without a second thought to fairness."

Kazuichi was right. Hinokami really did attack the shelter with the sole reason of bringing Kazuichi down. If he had wanted it to be a fair fight from the start, then he shouldn’t have resorted to underhanded tactics like sending his subordinates to him during lunchtime.

Those words were a punch to the gut, and Hinokami couldn’t help but express a forced smile on his face before he let out an exhale. "You’re right, and I’m sorry about that. Look, that guy over there killed half of my men, and I attacked this shelter and brought down its unstable fence. With this, it should be equal, right?"

"What do you mean? It was your fault that your men were killed. If you had challenged me to a fair fight from the start, things wouldn’t have ended this way." Kazuichi grinned. There was no way he would let Hinokami get in his head.

And the moment he makes a move, Kazuichi wouldn’t hesitate to punch him to death until only a messy lump of ground bones, meat, and muscles were left. "So what would it be? Just make the first move and I’ll gladly reciprocate."

Although it wasn’t a direct provocation, Kazuichi subtly hinted that Hinokami should just attack alone. That way he won’t pay attention to anyone and instead engage only him in combat. It was a pretty sweet deal, considering that Hinokami had been acting underhandedly ever since they met.

.....

Meanwhile, North Yamanashi Stronghold.

Although the vicinity was rather silent, and there were no groans coming from the mindless infected, the entrance guards still remained vigilant for fear that a surprise attack catch them off guard. Today, they were more worried than usual since Hinokami— their stronghold leader— ventured to a nearby shelter and brought a number of his subordinates with him. In terms of numbers, there were still a lot of Hybrids in the North Yamanashi Stronghold. However, if Aberrants, or worse, an Omega Zombie attacks, there’s no way they could defend the stronghold by themselves.

With a gulp, the entrance guard continued scanning the area while the ones who were assigned to patrol would encircle the stronghold every half an hour or so. Their system was streamlined, but that didn’t remove the threat of an attack. If something were to happen right now, there was no way the North Yamanashi Stronghold would survive.

"Why did leader have to do that?"

"You know how it is with our stronghold leader. He’s quite impulsive."

"Remember when he tried to attack an Aberrant’s nest? Only to end up retreating and bringing those cursed Aberrants with him?"

"Yeah, no one would forget that. Our man, Wilfred Grant, died because of that."

"If it weren’t for that, you wouldn’t be assigned here as an entrance guard."

"I’d much rather be assigned as a patrol. I’m a Hybrid, you know."

"Right, right."

Obliviously, the entrance guards engaged in idle chitchat, having a couple of chuckles here and there without knowing the looming danger that neared the stronghold.

From afar, one of the Hybrids assigned to patrol the outside area of the North Yamanashi Stronghold was sprinting at full speed. Since the entrance guards were preoccupied with talking to each other, they didn’t notice him at all.

Upon closer inspection, the Hybrid was struggling, its head was spurting blood as his feet wobbled while he accelerated. ’I have to warn everyone... I have to warn everyone before it’s too late!’ The Hybrid kept on repeating in his head.

Although he determinedly focused on bringing the news to everyone, his body gave out before he could even reach the entrance. He had suffered serious injuries, and he was running on pure adrenaline alone. Now that he had lost liters of blood, his consciousness waned and he plopped on the ground.

Plop~!

"What the—" One of the entrance guards exclaimed as he stood up from his seat. Finally, they took notice of the lone Hybrid who died before he could reach them.

"Oi~ isn’t he part of the patrol? What happened?"