บท 34: Bad Meet

Alexandre lay there groaning on the ground for several moments that he couldn't afford to lose. The lines of this net were much heavier than the razor-thin wire had so recently sliced him to the bone like knives. Instead, these lines were heavy cords that savagely bruised huge portions of his flesh where they pressed down on him. The total effect was like being crushed under a huge boulder.

As he struggled to resist the shock of the sudden injury, Alexandre heard a strangely familiar voice from nearby.

"Do you remember me, you son of a bitch? I told you I'd find you!" It was Iwaka, the young man with one eye who Alexandre had injured the previous night. Iwaka now sauntered over to the net. He raised up his foot and slammed it down into Alexandre's back, crushing his entire left rib cage with one blow.

Alexandre screamed on the ground. Blood splattered from his mouth. Several bones had punctured his left lung… and probably other organs, as well.

The other student whom Alexandre had met at the pre-trial party, Mindaugas, suddenly stepped in and waved one arm in alarm while staring at his tablet. "Wait, Iwaka, something's wrong! The Aurora system's acting weird. Sure, I knew this guy was really tough… but the system's showing a red aura."

Iwaka paused with his foot drawn back for another kick and glared at Mindaugas. "What? A red aura? You're trying to tell me this cheating bastard's so much stronger than everyone else here that he could kill all five of us without a second thought? Sure doesn't look like it to me! He's only dangerous when he gets in a surprise attack."

Mindaugas shrugged. "Whatever, man. I'm just telling you what Aurora's saying. See for yourself if you don't believe me."

Iwaka gave a cynical smile. "Well, even if that's accurate, his aura will die down to nothing very soon."

Mindaugas looked reluctantly at the other three companions that he and Iwaka had teamed up with—setting up that massively heavy net hadn't been easy, after all. "Well," said Mindaugas, "Prepare to face the enemy. I still think he's got some tricks up his sleeve."

Iwaka ignored these words. He drew one of his preferred weapons from its holster, a sharp Hunter-crafted javelin that was surprisingly strong, considering its thin girth. He spun it between his fingers, staring down at Alexandre like a child on Christmas about to unwrap his presents. This was a kind of excitement Iwaka had rarely felt before.

For his part, Alexandre was still motionless, still groaning and bleeding from his nose and mouth.

"An eye for an eye," Iwaka spat out, and drove the javelin down toward Alexandre's head.

Then…

Alexandre grabbed the javelin in midair.

The lines of the net, made of thick braided metal cable infused with zombie bone powder, screeched as they were torn apart like paper. Alexandre's arm had risen with such force to catch the javelin that he'd viciously torn huge gashes in his arm muscles, but the metal that had wounded him had also torn apart against his diamond-like bones.

Iwaka jumped backward, ripping his javelin out of Alexandre's grip. He managed to do this only because of the slick blood covering his victim's hand. Iwaka stared in disbelief, falling back into a fighting stance with the javelin pulled back, ready to throw. His heart pounded and he tasted metal in his mouth. Every hair on his body seemed to be standing on end, like a cat in danger. His instincts were screaming at him to run.

Suddenly, an incredible discharge of aura shook the air in the forest, sending birds fleeing in fear. The air became heavy with an ozone charge, as though a storm were approaching.

Alexandre stood up with great strain, his whole body trembling as he forced the heavy net up, centimeter by centimeter. It continued to make the noise of tearing metal, a sound which covered up the horrific sounds of flesh pulping and tearing, of thinner bones snapping and crunching.

But at the end of it, Alexandre stood proudly before them, the remnants of the net around his feet. His flesh was sliced almost completely off his body in many places, so that he looked almost like a living skeleton. "I think," said Alexandre in a bubbling voice, blood pouring out of his mouth like water, "I have no more choice this time."

Suddenly, all the bleeding stopped.

The hanging flesh began to curl, pulling back into place on Alexandre's body.

The savage wounds began to knit back together right before their eyes.

There was a sound like popcorn popping, and all the broken bones began to visible wiggle underneath Alexandre's skin and flesh, as though they were fixing themselves at impossible speeds.

Mindaugas shouted, "For the love of God, Iwaka! Run while you still can! He's going to use a Hunter martial art technique!"

Iwaka felt his whole body shaking, but he forced himself to laugh. "Don't interfere, Mindaugas! So what if he has a healing factor this strong? He clearly just used up all his energy to heal himself! Besides, I know a C-Rank body-to-body counter-attack technique! Even if he was at full power, he doesn't stand a chance while I'm ready for him!"

Alexandre heard these words and narrowed his eyes. "Fine," he said. Then he crouched into a low fighting stance, filled his leg muscles with Hunter energy, and explosively launched himself toward Iwaka, his fist directly under his enemy's chin, preparing to deliver an uppercut.

But Iwaka hadn't been bluffing.

Iwaka, also in a combat stance, flexed open one hand and grabbed Alexandre's fist in an iron grip. With a practiced explosion of footwork and graceful movement, Iwaka pivoted around Alexandre's own body, channeling Hunter energy into his muscles to accelerate the motion to inhuman levels.

And so with the force of a hurricane driving him, Iwaka smashed his elbow directly into Alexandre's back…

…Shattering his spine.

Alexandre let out a gurgle of shocked surprise and fell to the ground, his body broken in two. Dried blood from before caked his face, and now fresh blood trickled out of his mouth and nose.

Iwaka burst out laughing. "You arrogant little shit. You'll never again make the mistake of challenging me!"