Chapter 5: The Rebellious Youth
The sudden appearance of several people made Su Xiao pause in his actions. After groping around Rize's body for a while, he still couldn't find any kakuhou organ.
He withdrew his left hand from Rize's abdomen. Rize's body visibly trembled as she lay flat on the ground, looking somewhat broken.
If Rize were lucky enough to escape, Su Xiao would become her nightmare.
"Aogiri Tree."
The people who had suddenly appeared were no small fry.
According to Su Xiao's memories, the little girl wrapped in bandages was the leader of Aogiri Tree, the One-Eyed King, Eto Yoshimura.
Eto Yoshimura usually went by the alias Takatsuki Sen, disguising herself as a novelist and mingling in human society.
As a rare one-eyed ghoul in the Ghoul world, Takatsuki Sen's strength was unquestionable. Although she wasn't at the top among SSS-Rank Ghouls, she was not to be underestimated.
The people beside Takatsuki Sen were the SS-Rank Ghoul Tatara, the SS-Rank Ghoul Noro, and the S-Rank Ghoul Ayato Kirishima.
Tatara wore a red mask and a white coat. The mask covered the lower half of his face, making his features unclear.
Noro was wrapped up even more tightly, with no part of his body exposed except for his hands.
Ayato Kirishima also wore a mask, his red eyes staring at Su Xiao with defiance.
The four's goal was clear: capture Kamishiro Rize. The earlier appearance of Yamori was also for the same purpose.
"Let her go, or die."
Tatara's tone was calm, without any threatening implication, but a kagune had already appeared behind him.
Yamori's headless corpse lay nearby. Although the group wasn't intimidated by Su Xiao, they didn't underestimate him either.
Being able to defeat two S-Rank Ghouls showed Su Xiao's strength. However, the ghouls present had another guess: perhaps Su Xiao had taken advantage after Yamori and Kamishiro Rize had mutually wounded each other.
"It seems luck is on my side today."
Su Xiao wiped the blood off his left hand on Rize's clothes and then ignored her.
Before extracting the kakuhou from Rize's body, she couldn't die. Otherwise, unpredictable things might happen in the derivative world, a risk Su Xiao didn't want to take.
This was something Reincarnation Paradise had clearly warned him about earlier.
One SSS-Rank Ghoul, two SS-Rank Ghouls—Su Xiao was feeling the pressure.
As for Ayato Kirishima, the S-Rank Ghoul, he was simply ignored.
Su Xiao was confident he could crush S-Rank Ghouls now. As for SS-Rank, that should be fine too. He hadn't fought the strongest SSS-Rank yet, so he wouldn't jump to conclusions.
Whether he could kill these people in front of him would need to be tested in practice.
Even if he wasn't a match, Su Xiao could escape. They couldn't stop him—he had that confidence.
With [Dragon-Slaying Flash] angled toward the ground, Su Xiao slowly walked toward the Aogiri Tree members.
Many contractors in the distance all thought the same thing: Su Xiao had gone mad.
Facing the top combat power of the Ghoul world, Takatsuki Sen, this guy actually wanted to confront her head-on? And with other ghouls present?
The contractors hesitated no longer and began to flee, scattering in an instant. They no longer dared to watch. If Su Xiao lost, they would die. But even if Su Xiao won, he might still be in danger.
The Aogiri Tree members noticed the fleeing contractors but only glanced at them before ignoring them.
"Ayato, kill him."
Tatara held a higher position in Aogiri Tree, so he directly ordered Ayato Kirishima to kill Su Xiao.
As a rebellious youth, Ayato Kirishima didn't refute Tatara's order but let out a light snort, showing his displeasure.
"Human, I'm in a good mood today, so I'll give you a chance to disappear from my sight."
Although the ghouls guessed that Su Xiao's strength was decent, they didn't care much about him.
The main reason was that Su Xiao didn't have a quinque but instead held a longsword.
Quinques were the main weapons used by the CCG to fight ghouls, manufactured by CCG laboratories using ghoul kakuhou as raw material.
Su Xiao didn't speak and continued walking slowly. He didn't care about the enemy's contempt—it was also an advantage.
"Tch, since you're asking for death, I'll send you on your way."
The rebellious youth Ayato Kirishima's kagune appeared. An irregularly shaped wing emerged from his left back—this was his kagune, an ukaku.
The characteristic of ukaku ghouls was their speed. They had explosive power and most had long-range attack capabilities, but they also had a significant flaw: a lack of endurance.
If they couldn't quickly finish off their opponent at the start of a battle, ukaku ghouls usually lost soon after.
Although Ayato Kirishima was somewhat arrogant, he wasn't stupid. Su Xiao clearly excelled in close combat, so Ayato didn't approach him.
Ayato Kirishima's kagune spread out, and dense, diamond-shaped blood-red crystals shot toward Su Xiao.
"Whoosh~."
A sound of air being torn came, indicating the crystals' formidable attack power.
Su Xiao stopped walking, his pitch-black eyes fixed on the rapidly approaching blood-red crystals.
As he stared, the fast-moving blood-red crystals gradually slowed in his vision. His increased agility attribute had greatly enhanced his dynamic vision.
His longsword slashed continuously, leaving white lines in the air.
"Clang, clang, clang~."
The crystals that shot toward him were all shattered, scattering into countless fragments.
Ayato Kirishima was somewhat surprised, not expecting Su Xiao to neutralize his attack so easily.
In the moment Ayato was stunned, Su Xiao suddenly quickened his pace, closing the distance to Ayato Kirishima in just a few steps.
"So fast."
Ayato Kirishima's pupils contracted sharply. He instinctively wanted to retreat, already assuming a back-jump posture, but his feet hadn't left the ground.
Was it really that easy to escape once Su Xiao got close? Of course not.
Su Xiao took a small step forward and kicked Ayato Kirishima's shinbone. Although the shinbone was hard, it was also brittle.
"Crack."
A gruesome sound of bone breaking came. Ayato Kirishima's shinbone snapped in the opposite direction, forming a V-shape, with pale broken bone even piercing through the flesh.
Ayato Kirishima let out a scream. His retreating motion was interrupted, and he staggered backward.
A smile appeared on Su Xiao's lips as his blade mercilessly slashed toward Ayato Kirishima's throat.
This was Su Xiao's fighting style: either don't strike, or strike directly at the enemy's vital point.
Before [Dragon-Slaying Flash] could reach Ayato Kirishima's throat, Ayato felt a prickling sensation at his neck.
If struck, he would definitely die.
Ayato Kirishima deeply regretted his recklessness. He hadn't been vigilant enough against an unknown enemy.
Just as Ayato Kirishima was about to die on the spot, a thick kagune blocked his path.
That kagune was exceptionally thick, with fang-like bones at its tip—this was Noro's kagune.
Su Xiao's slash wasn't so easy to block. Noro's kagune was cut halfway through, with [Dragon-Slashing Flash] deeply embedded in it.
Su Xiao continued to exert force, but it felt like cutting into a rubber tire, causing little further damage.
Azure Steel Shadow activated. Pale blue energy seeped into the wound on Noro's kagune. Not far away, Noro grunted and immediately withdrew his kagune.
Su Xiao knew some of Noro's secrets. This guy was strong, with almost all his body tissue having the same structure as a kagune, giving him near-immortal regenerative abilities.
Having escaped death, Ayato Kirishima gasped heavily. In that moment when Su Xiao swung his blade, he thought he was done for.
No one dared to underestimate the smiling Su Xiao anymore. Tatara and the others stepped forward, forming an encirclement.