# 600
**Chapter 601: Amemiya Haruki**
Splash, splash, splash, splash…
The torrential rain lashed against the paper umbrella painted with drifting clouds and wild cranes, turning into threads of water that slid off its rim.
Beneath it stood a boy in a pure-black kimono, his face hidden by the umbrella’s edge. Beneath the loose collar, perfectly proportioned collarbones framed a body that was slender yet powerful. At his waist, a long, deep-blue Japanese sword was slanted.
The giant screen atop the building flickered back to the wanted-criminal bulletin. A bright-yellow “Villain” warning band ringed the photo of a handsome, delicate boy, lighting the umbrellaed figure in the rain as though gilded in pale gold.
The paper umbrella tilted up slightly, revealing a face identical to the one on the poster—only now older, gaze deeper. A faint scar rode the left jaw, lending coldness to those refined features. His eyes were like blades slicing the curtain of rain, calm yet exuding icy killing intent.
Behind him the screen scrolled fresh text:
“Villain: Amemiya Haruki, ‘Fierce Ghost’-class fugitive. Reward: ¥10,000,000. Tip-off reward: ¥1,000,000…”
The white-robed Oracle Envoy narrowed his eyes against the rain.
“Holder of one of the Nine Magatsu Blades, ‘Fierce Ghost’-class fugitive—Amemiya Haruki.” He spoke the name slowly, surprised. “You dare appear before me of your own accord?”
In front of the screen, Amemiya Haruki leapt lightly, umbrella catching the wind like a skylark gliding to the asphalt. He landed in a puddle glittering with neon, droplets scattering like crystal.
Umbrella in right hand, left hand resting on the hilt of the deep-blue blade, he regarded the Oracle Envoy.
“Why wouldn’t I dare?”
“A mouse unafraid of cats—rare.”
“Cats?” Haruki’s voice was cold. “Dogs suits you better.”
The envoy’s gaze turned colder still.
“Then today I’ll take one more soul to Pure Land. Intruders may return alive; fugitives return as corpses.”
He raised a hand. The invisible blades that had earlier sheared a building now whirled around him like a hurricane.
“【Blade-Fasting Mind Domain】?” Haruki sensed the razor-sharp aura, eyes narrowing. “Wasted on my blade.”
His left hand tightened. A length of sea-blue, ink-edged steel slid from the scabbard, exhaling a faint azure glow.
The instant the sword left its sheath, every raindrop in heaven and earth froze mid-air.
The suspended droplets hung like a paused film, mirrors bending around reflections of the ruined street.
In that crystalline hush, Haruki set his paper umbrella aside, gripped the hilt with both hands, and the blue halo around the blade condensed.
Fourth of the Nine Magatsu Blades—【Rainfall Collapse】.
Haruki’s gaze crossed the countless frozen droplets to the white-robed envoy. Simultaneously, the envoy’s invisible blades erupted into a net of steel that slashed toward Haruki.
Haruki shot forward like an arrow. 【Rainfall Collapse】 flashed—and he vanished before the net could close.
The envoy’s eyes narrowed, scanning.
A droplet to his left suddenly mirrored a sliver of blade. Haruki burst from the rain, deep-blue arc sweeping under the streetlamp, droplets clinging to the edge like a thin film.
The envoy’s left hand snapped up, unleashing an invisible slash that met 【Rainfall Collapse】 point-on.
Clang——!
A shock-wave exploded; the envoy’s white robe flapped wildly, yet he stood unmoved.
Haruki’s sword shuddered violently but did not break like 【White Slash】 had. It merely sang, then stilled. He stepped back half a pace, blade glinting.
He vanished again—reappeared behind the envoy.
Black kimono fluttered like a butterfly through the rain, deep-blue arcs silently carving the air in a storm-born dance.
Black and white blurred at impossible speed, sparks of steel and invisible blades lighting the downpour faster than the eye could follow.
Lin Qiye stood aside. Under that mysterious gaze he dared not move, forced to watch.
At last the searching presence found nothing and withdrew.
Instantly Lin Qiye slapped the air. A brilliant magic circle spun open and a red-haired girl in cyan caretaker uniform vaulted out!
The hidden gaze slammed back; Lin Qiye froze—playing “statues.”
Sketching a summoning array with mental power always drew the entity’s notice, but he had no time to draw by hand. He gambled that the black-kimono boy could stall the envoy long enough.
To flee quickly he had two choices: ride 【Somersault Cloud】 or mount Hongyan and dive underground.
But the cloud required constant use of his Forbidden Ruins—wherever he flew, the gaze would track him. Only Hongyan could help.
A Flame-Vein Earth Dragon by birth, she could burrow without relying on Ruins, slipping beneath the entity’s sight.
Motionless as stone, Lin Qiye spoke to her mind-to-mind.
Hongyan nodded, stamped, and shattered the pavement, cannoning toward the white-robed envoy.
When first admitted to the Asylum she had been peak “Sea” realm; now she broke through into “Infinity.” With her racial gifts her bare body could already trade blows with “Klein.”
The duel became two-on-one the moment she crashed into the fray.