บท 377: Ch377. Ultimatum
The morning came faster than expected and Rei realized the time as the leader of his village made him soft.
He became a lot stronger since his time playing a ninja for Kirigakure but when he woke up today because his senses picked up fifteen new and quite strong signatures coming into his passive range, approaching Pieta, he wasn't happy about it.
In fact, Rei wanted to just roll over and continue sleeping.
At least, before his eyes widened at that thought. He didn't even realize how he got used to the comfort of peaceful life.
Unfortunately, it was time to be a ninja so he had to get up from his bed.
These kinds of moments made him wonder if it wasn't high time for a change in profession. Being a ninja sounded cool when one didn't have to actually live through the gritty bits full of filth, early mornings, and hard training with no stop on end.
He would also mention killing but considering some people actually enjoyed that...
Rei had a nice and plentiful breakfast... and yes, he was still totally smug about making storage scrolls capable of storing food and water even though it happened over two decades ago... managed to properly wake up, and still had time before the Yoma forces would arrive.
It was maddening how conceited these monsters were.
Rei sensed as they finally entered the town and some of them started sneaking around, probably to surprise attack the hidden Claymores.
That told Rei some of the Yomas most likely had some way to sense this 'Yoki' since they knew where the silver-eyed witches were hiding.
He quickly suppressed his chakra even further, just to be sure. He definitely did not want to have to chase them if they decided to run away. Why should he bother when these Yomas were all coming to him, gathering in one place?
The first Yoma was trying to sneak in through the underground and the Claymores that were currently right above it, hiding in a house, had no idea about its presence.
"Great. If I don't interfere somebody is definitely going to die." Rei muttered to himself in dissatisfaction. "These girls are so gonna enter Anko's special boot camp once they join our ranks. That ought to improve their spatial awareness if they want it or not."
As Rei predicted, the Yoma burst from the floor, instantly grasping one of the Claymores around her waist in a surprise attack. Its hand was actually big enough it could hold the silver-eyed short-haired blonde like a kid would a doll.
The Yoma started to squeeze, causing the woman in its grasp to try resisting while a pain-filled scream tore out of her throat as her spine started to give out and her muscles and organs ground against each other inside of her due to her waist being forcefully compressed.
Her spine already started cracking and the Yoma was about to delightfully go for the last push, intending to use its full power to squash her like a bloody grape when suddenly it stopped feeling its arm.
Purple blood started to gush out from the new stump the Yoma sported as its arm alongside the Claymore painfully gasping for air with a face full of tears and fear fell onto the ground.
The other Claymores in the room could only watch in shock as a man appeared in front of the Yoma, pitifully small compared to the massive humanoid monster, and...
The Yoma was somehow vertically split in two without him moving even an inch.
The Claymores warily watched as the man turned around and gave them a cheerful smile, "You alright?"
The women clearly did not think what to think about what just happened but they did not drop their guard. Rei was actually mildly impressed by that. At least they seemed to be trainable, unlike the Yomas.
It was then the short-haired blonde groaned, alerting the other Claymores to her presence.
"Pamela!" Shouted one of them, carefully starting to approach her downed ally without stopping to look at Rei even for a second.
...
At the same time, on a roof of a different house, another group of Claymores was lying in wait, hoping to ambush an incoming enemy.
Unfortunately for them, there was another Yoma who snuck in through the ground and was about to use the exact same tactics as the first, intending to burst through the roof from below right under the weakest Claymore in the group.
It wouldn't take a genius to know what the Yomas goal was.
Unlike the first one, this didn't aim to grab the Claymore. Instead, its claws came first and were aimed to rip the Claymore open from the middle of her stomach up, probably fully bisecting her up to her right shoulder.
Rei, or rather, another of his shadow clones as it was too bothersome to move himself at this point in time, wasn't having that.
As the Yoma burst through the roof, Rei appeared behind the Yomas target, a girl with blonde hair done in two short braids, and put his arms around her waist before jumping back, causing her to evade her untimely meeting with death.
This happened so fast, the girl didn't even manage to react, only realizing she almost died when Rei landed with her a few feet away on the roof. The girl instantly started to hyperventilate from shock... but to give her credit, for how weak she was, it was commendable she gathered her wits almost instantly.
She was like a genin on a battleground full of jonins. Her fear was understandable.
The Yoma seemed incredibly surprised that it missed its target. It was some kind of humanoid with three eyes, the third one not exactly on the forehead, rather between its eyebrows, and it also sported bat-like wings.
Rei's clone watched how the Yoma took to the skies, clearly planning to make use of its aerial advantage and do hit and run tactics against the Claymores and him who were bound to the ground.
Unfortunately for it, the skill Rei chose to reveal for the time being was his Wind Manipulation.
The Yoma did not get far as its body suddenly split, its limbs, wings, and head separating from its torso mid-air due to invisible blades of wind doing their job.
It died with the disturbing and sadistic smile still on its face as it didn't even manage to realize its demise as the parts that previously made up its body fell separated onto the ground.
Seeing that, the Claymores instantly turned towards Rei who was still nonchalantly holding one of their comrades around her waist, and their guard was instantly raised.
They clearly did not like the situation since Rei had in his hands one of them and they also realized it was him who killed that Yoma.
Their eyes held resignation. They knew they would not be surviving a fight with someone who could do... that to an Awakened Being. But there was also a determination to fight to the last breath.
Rei smiled in satisfaction at their reaction and lazily put his chin on the shoulder of the slightly shaking woman in his arms as he spoke, "Don't you have other things to do than staring at me as if I was some kind of pervert?"
...
On the square, lizard-like massive Yoma was fighting another group of Claymores and managed to score a hit against one of them, pushing its open hand against her while she was mid-air, jumping towards it. The Yoma's hand suddenly stretched, planning to squash the Claymore like a fly on the brick wall of the nearby house.
The Claymore would most likely survive it with multiple broken bones if the Yoma stopped its attack once it broke down the wall with the Claymore's body but Rei's clone could see in its eyes that it wanted to push its hand forward until the Claymore was just a mangled mess of flesh.
He quickly sent a wind blade, separating the stretched arm from the Yoma's body and saving the Claymore's life despite the fact she did destroy a brick house with her body and many of her bones were broken because of it.
That woman was out of commission and would not be getting up anytime soon.
But at least she was still alive.
...
Rei made exactly twenty-four clones, one to watch over each Claymore. The Yomas clearly aimed to kill them in a way that was not instant, their attacks aimed to tear off limbs while also bisecting their target at the waist. This way, the Claymore they hit would be still alive for a few tens of seconds, feeling the pain and being fully aware her death was coming while only able to quietly dread it.
It was a cruel way of fighting but it was also the sole reason why the Claymores had even a remote chance at winning.
The Yomas were stronger than the Claymores. So much it wasn't even funny. The only reason why the Claymores could fight them was that the Yomas were playing with them.
There were only two more Claymores Rei's clones saved from certain death. Others were doing pretty well for themselves even though they were slowly being pushed back as the Yomas started to surround them.
Injuries slowly piled up, as Rei's clones only saved those in deadly situations and things like a torn arm were completely within the acceptable range, and the longer the fight dragged on, the less Claymores were able to properly fight.
The revealed clones of Rei didn't join the fray, they just sat on the nearest roof and watched the fight.
The more desperate the situation became, the more Miria, the leader of the Claymores and the strongest of the ones gathered in the town, was looking in the direction of Rei's clones.
Rei saw Miria's looks but he wasn't about to interfere until he felt the Claymores were sufficiently despairing.
It took another half an hour and by now, the last remaining Claymores capable of combat were gathered in a circle in the middle of the town square, surrounded by the Yomas who were having a lot of fun, while in the middle of the Claymore encirclement were all their members too injured to continue fighting.
The situation seemed hopeless enough for them so one of Rei's clones finally stood up while the remaining four revealed clones poofed out of existence, and smirked at Miria whose eyes outright begged for help.
The clone spoke, giving her his ultimatum. "I will give you a choice. I can help you survive. All of you. But you all will have to desert the Organization and become mine. What about it? A cheap price to keep your lives, no?"
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