Chapter 38

Ippei narrowed his eyes, the striped hood of his jacket doing a good job of hiding his expression.

‘Baek Yoonho and Ma Dongwook… I’ve gotten a good read on them from the fight they had earlier. But it’s pretty obvious, Baek Yoonho is hiding something up his sleeve.’

A few feet away, Kanae scanned the Korean Hunters before her eyes settled on Cha Hae-In.

‘A four-on-four means she’s my opponent, right?’ Kanae thought. ‘Let’s just get this over with.’

Meanwhile, Lim Tae-Gyu, Guild Master of the Fiend Guild, glanced uneasily at the Japanese Hunters.

‘I hope they go easy on us,’ he thought nervously.

“Well then…” Ma Dongwook said suddenly, his voice booming as his body erupted upward in a flash of silver light. He grew nearly four feet taller in an instant.

“LET’S GET STARTED!”

‘He can grow in size,’ Ippei noted, observing him carefully. ‘Looks like he prefers a battle of strength.’

His aura began to seep out, yellow energy slithering around him like restless serpents.

‘Well, that’s too bad for him. I’m a bad matchup.’

With a burst of speed, Ippei launched himself at the giant Hunter. Ma Dongwook’s massive fist swung down, but Ippei easily sidestepped it and leapt up, slamming his knee into Dongwook’s jaw.

“The bigger they are, and all that shit.” Ippei grinned as Ma Dongwook stumbled backward, dazed from the blow.

At the same moment, Hoshino darted past Kanae and Kumamoto, charging straight toward his target.

‘He’s fast!’ Lim Tae-Gyu realized as he saw the Japanese Hunter closing the distance quickly. ‘If speed is his strong suit, then close combat will put me at a disadvantage.’

But he didn’t panic.

“Well, creating distance is my specialty!” he declared.

Small rods of light formed around his wrists, glowing brilliantly as he grinned. With a flick of his arms, he launched a barrage of glowing arrows made from light.

“And so is attacking from afar!”

‘Magic arrows?’ Hoshino noted, twisting mid-run to dodge the projectiles. The glowing arrows flew past him, and past the other Japanese Hunters as well.

“Is he a ranger?” Kanae wondered aloud as she tilted her head slightly, just enough for an arrow to whistle past her ear. Before she could finish the thought, a golden glow rushed toward her, forcing her to leap backward.

Elsewhere, Go Gunhee stood observing the chaos with a calm smile.

“The interior of this facility was fortified using essence stones of the highest quality,” he explained. “An average Hunter wouldn’t be able to put a dent in these walls… yet this place has been completely wrecked in a matter of seconds.”

His smile faded slightly, replaced by something more solemn as he watched the younger Hunters clash.

‘It’s quite regrettable,’ he thought, ‘that we’re sending only our young Hunters into the battlefield.’

Boom!

Ma Dongwook groaned with a rough chuckle as his massive frame crashed into the ground, his head bouncing slightly off the reinforced flooring.

“Damn, I got slammed into the ground. That’s never happened before.” He winced, still grinning. “Assassins are scary.”

Standing over him, Ippei Izawa gave a small shake of his head, almost fondly.

“Don’t look too much into it. It was just a bad matchup for you.”

Crash!

On the far end of the training chamber, Lim Tae-Gyu slammed into the wall with a loud crack, fragments of stone and dust falling from the impact zone. He let out a pained grunt as Hoshino grabbed both his wrists midair.

“Argh!”

“Seems like I’m the winner, no?” Hoshino said smoothly, his breath steady, expression unreadable as he landed lightly on the ground.

Baek Yoonho, having just repelled Kumamoto with a powerful blow, exhaled slowly and rolled his shoulders.

“So... am I next?” he asked.

Now, three of the Japanese Hunters had surrounded him, their auras rising like tides, pressing inward with intimidating force.

“It seems you all think I’m an easier target than Cha Hae-In,” Baek muttered, his white aura erupting like a gust of wind around him. “Well then… you’ve underestimated me.”

---

Pow!

Kanae’s forearm trembled slightly as Cha Hae-In's open palm collided with it, the force nearly numbing.

‘I’m almost impressed by her speed,’ Kanae thought, stepping back under the barrage. Cha Hae-In’s movements flowed like water, palms weaving and striking in unpredictable arcs, each blow elegant but deadly.

A whirlwind of attacks surged at Kanae from all angles.

‘But I can read her. It’s fast, sure… but nothing compared to Hosha’s barrage of bone-crushing slaps.’

Deflecting the next few strikes, Kanae gave ground with a calm breath. Each movement was measured, her eyes focused not on the strikes, but the rhythm behind them.

Weeks ago, she’d done something beautifully stupid.

Wanting to test her growing strength, because there was no denying it had increased lately (a certain sister came to mind), She had asked Kaede for a spar with Hosha, the demonic Voltoid.

Her sister had looked at her like she had lost her mind. At the time, maybe she had.

Kanae had seen Hosha fight, had seen him hospitalize Goto with a single slap. That memory alone should have stopped her.

It didn’t.

Instead, it took thirty-seven painful slaps before Kanae could even start reacting to his first attack. And that was with Hosha holding back… a lot, thanks to Kaede’s intervention.

Kanae spent an entire week being slapped around like a ragdoll.

But it wasn’t a waste.

In that excruciating storm of training, she had learned something.

Now, standing against Cha Hae-In, her instincts screamed. But she didn’t retreat.

This time, she stepped forward, drawing back her fist.

Whoosh!

Cha Hae-In didn’t hesitate. Her palm sliced forward with surgical precision, aimed at Kanae’s center mass. The air shimmered briefly, a stun pulse.

Kanae was forced to retreat a step... and fell straight into Cha Hae-In’s waiting strike.

"Touch." Cha Hae-In said calmly from behind her, placing a palm against Kanae’s back...

...and passed through nothing.

Cha Hae-In’s eyes widened. Kanae’s form dissolved like mist, fading into nothingness.

“An afterimage?”

Her instincts flared just in time.

Behind her.

Kanae appeared silently, her palm stretched forward, aiming for Cha Hae-In’s back.

Ratatatatatatatatatatatatat!

Cha Hae-In’s hand blurred, unleashing a furious barrage of punches aimed directly at Kanae’s head. Each strike cracked the air with sonic booms, fists moving faster than the eye could track.

Panic crept into her expression.

‘Oops. That was an instinctive response. I didn’t mean to beat her up…’

But just as she landed what should have been a devastating blow, Kanae’s form dissolved once more into mist.

Cha Hae-In’s heartbeat quickened.

‘Another afterimage!? How fast is she..?’

Then her sharp gaze caught something, something odd. The mist that replaced Kanae didn’t fade like a blur of speed would.

‘Wait… it’s not speed. And they’re not afterimages… they’re illusions!’

Her eyes darted across the field, scanning for the real Kanae.

‘Where is she…?!’

Suddenly, the world tilted. Her feet no longer touched solid ground, her vision spun wildly.

‘From below..?!’

Kanae had crouched low during the confusion, sweeping Cha Hae-In's legs out from under her with a fluid, low spin.

Cha Hae-In’s body was airborne, about to slam into the reinforced ground. A direct impact would mean her defeat by the duel’s rules. But just before her back hit the floor...

Kanae caught her.

With a smooth motion, she grabbed Cha Hae-In’s wrist mid-fall, stopping her just inches from the ground.

"Not bad." Kanae said softly, still gripping her wrist, having effectively disqualified her without causing injury.

Cha Hae-In blinked, stunned, her expression blank with disbelief.

"How…?" she asked quietly, her breath unsteady.

Kanae helped her up with one hand and turned toward the ongoing fight, where Baek Yoonho now faced the remaining three Japanese Hunters alone.

"You're not the fastest person I've met," Kanae said, her tone casual, almost amused.

Cha Hae-In’s lips parted slightly.

“The fastest person…” she echoed. Her eyes narrowed as she followed Kanae’s gaze. “The strongest Japanese Hunter is definitely Goto… so that would mean...”

"Is Goto really that strong?"

Kanae tilted her head, a sly smirk forming on her face.

"Who said anything about Goto?" she replied, and dissolved into thin air once again, leaving nothing behind but mist and silence.

"Cha Hae-In got eliminated too?" Baek Yoonho glanced toward her side of the battlefield, eyes narrowing as he saw her standing off to the side, defeated. ‘Are the Japanese Hunters really that much stronger than us?’

He grunted as he blocked a sharp kick from Ippei Izawa, then leapt clean over Hoshino Minoru with feline agility, landing with precision before charging straight at Kumamoto Atsushi.

"In that case…!" he growled, his voice low and dangerous. "I'll stop holding back!"

Kumamoto’s eyes widened in alarm as Baek closed the distance in a blur. He barely twisted his body in time to avoid a spiraling corkscrew claw that sliced through the air, nicking his shoulder.

‘What the hell!? His eyes… they’ve changed!’ Kumamoto’s thoughts spiraled in panic. ‘Someone, get me out of here!’

White fur rapidly sprouted along Baek Yoonho’s arms as his claws extended into vicious, gleaming weapons. A partial level of his beastly transformation had been triggered.

Kumamoto’s attention was so focused on those deadly claws that he failed to notice the real threat.

Smack!

Baek's fist crashed into his face with bone-jarring force, blasting Kumamoto backward. He skidded across the polished floor, dazed and bleeding from the nose.

Before Baek could follow up, Ippei lunged for his back. Reacting instinctively, Baek twisted sideways, narrowly avoiding being tagged.

Hoshino came next, darting in to grab Baek’s wrist, trying to force a disqualification. But Baek’s reflexes kicked in again, he caught Hoshino’s hands in a deadlock, locking them in a grapple.

Then...

"Touch."

Kanae’s calm voice sliced through the tension.

Baek stiffened, his eyes widening as he felt a palm press against his back. He glanced behind to see Kanae standing there, cool and composed.

“Japan wins,” she declared, withdrawing her hand.

Baek stared at her in disbelief as his transformation faded. ‘Damn… how did she get behind me?’

"Shit." He muttered under his breath, frustration simmering just beneath the surface.

"Whoa, Kanae." Hoshino chuckled as he stepped back from the grapple. "Since when can you do that?"

Kanae straightened, brushing imaginary dust from her sleeves. "Wouldn't you like to know."

Meanwhile, everyone had forgotten Kumamoto, who was still crouched, his expression glazed over, blood dripping from his nose. He hadn’t registered that the match was over.

His eyes were wild. Ferocious. Untethered.

Whoosh!

His leg swung upward with terrifying speed, breaking the sound barrier as it zeroed in on Baek Yoonho’s exposed neck.

Boom!

An explosive shockwave rippled through the training facility as a massive plume of dust erupted from the impact zone.

When the dust settled, the scene was almost surreal.

Kanae had Kumamoto caught in a tight lariat hold from behind, arm wound around his neck in a textbook grappling position. A few feet away, Sung Jin-Woo stood silently, one hand raised, his fingers wrapped tightly around Kumamoto’s ankle, having stopped the strike mere centimeters from Baek’s neck.

The room was dead silent.

"The fight is over, idiot," Kanae said through clenched teeth, still holding Kumamoto in place. "Get your head on straight."

But Kumamoto wasn’t listening. Lost in his berserk state, he growled and twisted violently, breaking free of her hold with inhuman strength.

Boom!

In a blur, Sung Jin-Woo moved. His body was relaxed, and still, he drove Kumamoto into the ground with casual ease.

The ground cracked beneath the force of the takedown.

Silence reigned again.