Unusual Fate Records

Chapter 22, page 022.

"Die!"

One step back leads to another, one's momentum is suppressed, and in close combat, it is difficult to gain an advantage.

The metal clashed, creating a clanging sound as it sliced ​​across the blade.

Jin Ziyue retreated with his knife, and only when he caught a glimpse of the unconscious girl behind him did he stop moving.

"Fire!" Araki roared at the top of his lungs. "Kodera, how long are you going to keep this up?!"

As if waking from a dream, Koji trembled as he aimed his Colt at the black, humanoid beast.

He met Jin Ziyue's raised face directly in his eyes. The pale mask was stained with dirty red, and the broken lines on the face looked like vicious scars. His pupils flashed with a cold light.

It was as if they were just waiting for me to fire the shot.

Koji suddenly realized that he would die if he fired the gun.

A sudden chill ran down his spine, causing him to shiver inexplicably. The trigger in his hand seemed frozen solid, the tiny distance between them like an insurmountable chasm. No matter how much his fingers trembled, he couldn't budge the black metal at all.

[Bold on the outside but weak on the inside]

He appears tough and stern, but is inwardly cowardly.

The holder exudes an aggressive and intimidating aura, occasionally managing to subdue opponents without a fight; however, when faced with a formidable adversary, their true nature is revealed in a confrontation. Their fortunes can be either exceptionally smooth or utterly devastating. This exhibits a clear polarization; if managed well, they can achieve a high level of mastery in terms of influence and intimidation.

-

Jin Ziyue slowly changed from holding the knife with one hand to holding it with both hands.

He turned his head, his gaze sharp, and looked at the muscular, burly man. The broken blade wasn't long, his black trench coat was covered in dust, and he stood there, his breathing gradually subsiding.

Koji slumped down, his hand holding the gun hanging limply.

Araki keenly sensed a hint of danger.

However, giving up an opportunity when faced with unknown risks is not in line with Araki's creed.

Crisis is like a ferocious beast; those who succeed live like animals, while the incompetent are chilled to the bone.

Araki suddenly stood upright, his blue veins bulging like snakes, his sharp teeth interlocking, his eyes burning with a molten red light, and a chilling aura surrounding him, like a colossal warrior that had fallen from the sky, standing amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood.

The floor exploded with a hum, and before you knew it, the massive body had arrived in mid-air, swinging its arms and swinging its swollen iron fists like a loaded rocket, propelling it forward and crashing down onto the ground with a deafening roar.

Jin Ziyue lunged forward, crouched down and rolled on the ground, his black trench coat fluttering to the ground, and shattered ice shards rained down on him with a crackling sound.

He now held another blade without a handle.

The dark brown gloves were hissing and smoking, while the other hand pieced together the broken blade and put it into the gloves.

Araki's attack failed, and he roared, sweeping like a mad dragon. He raised his fists, his forearm bone spurs spreading out, his flexor and radial muscles forming clumps that looked like leeches that had just been exposed to blood, layer upon layer, forming a complete circle.

Jin Ziyue loosened his heated gloves, and the longsword returned to normal, with wisps of white smoke rising from the blade's joint.

"So that's how it is. The broken blade was just a ruse to lure the enemy." Araki's voice was deep and heavy, like the dull thud of prying open a floorboard, suddenly rising several octaves:

"so what!"

The fists were already in motion, attacking from the left and striking from the right, each move stirring up a raging torrent; the legs were rooted to the ground, stepping forward and backward, opening and closing, drawing in a rolling river.

Galloping iron horses, clanging golden spears.

"Clang, clang, ding, clang, clang—"

In the blink of an eye, the swift blade dodged the punch, changed course, and unleashed a series of vertical slashes, diagonal strikes, horizontal cuts, and thrusts. The blade flashed like a silver ribbon, and in the blink of an eye, it resembled a demonic claw tearing through the floor and piercing the earth, its five claws closing together in an instant.

Araki didn't dodge; the blade only sliced ​​away the thick ice on his body. But his fists gradually compressed the blade's trajectory and the space for movement. Soon, the beast in front of him couldn't even swing the thin stick in its hand.

moment--

The slender blade pressed against his chest, sharp as a snake's fang, striking like a torpedo from between Araki's towering, surging iron fists.

The blade struck the gray muscle in a surprise attack.

However, Araki's chest was only slightly lacerated. The white knife marks pressed against the muscles but could not penetrate any further, like a snake biting a stone statue. The blade hummed and twisted endlessly.

Araki frowned. He hadn't seen how the blade had slipped through the narrow gap and entered his chest, but that didn't diminish his vigilance in the slightest.

Even before the fight began, the ice covering his body was a natural armor, and faint marks appeared where his muscles were frequently compressed.

"It's all just petty cleverness."

Araki clenched his teeth in disdain, a slight twitch at the corner of his lips, and the words that uttered between his teeth were chilling. He then gripped the hilt of his sword with his claws.

White ice crystals climbed from the tip of the blade onto the body, and dark red bloodstains were covered with gray frost.

Jin Ziyue withdrew his hand.

The chill around him seemed to fold up like two feathers.

Araki's eyes flashed with murderous intent as he bared his teeth and roared, "You can—die now!"

Ice crystals swirled upwards from the ground, and behind Araki stood a towering, ice-blue ogre demon, two people tall, with red light flashing in its eyes, its ten claws poised to grab, its body arched to envelop the man in the trench coat.

The raging storm blurred Koji's vision. The swaying iron frame creaked and rattled. Frozen raw meat was scattered on the ground in the wind. Black smoke and white mist howled incessantly. The power supply to the icehouse flickered. Minced meat mixed with dazzling ice shards. The only thing that could be faintly heard was the roar of the ice-bodied ogre.

The black silhouette swings its arms, the ten forks come together and cross.

Araki, who was fully activating the Frost Ogre, still kept his hand gripping the long sword.

The cannibal in front of him had blocked all escape routes from top to bottom, making it a certain death situation.

Jin Ziyue raised his hand.

A strange thought arose in Araki's mind.

He reached out to block, but Jin Ziyue swung his left arm, striking his wrist and forcefully knocking it away.

Jin Ziyue gripped Araki's shoulder with his right hand. His fingers tightened, like a pincer or a bite.

He covered Oni's tattooed, wide-open, fierce eyes, grabbed the ogre's head, and only his loose black hair leaked out from between his fingers, nestled between his collarbones.

Araki's vertical pupils reflected the tattered white half-smiling mask. Apart from the smiling eyes, the lower right corner, where someone was crying, had split open, revealing the perpetrator's pale lips and gaunt chin.

He seemed to speak.

He spoke slowly and deliberately, in the frost-covered prison.

The ten cannibals have gathered.

Araki recognized his lip movements.

"Your life—"

The man's dark brown gloves radiated heat, and the thick white smoke was instantly swallowed up by the wind.

"I accepted it."

A sudden surge of unprecedented anxiety welled up inside Araki, and his chest pounded.

As if something had been extracted, the wailing of the ice crystal ghoul exploded in Araki's ears.

The muffled roars of the beasts were deafening.

It was as if Jin Ziyue had ripped off Oni's cannibal tattoo from her head.

Power was being drained away rapidly.

Araki's face turned pale.

He felt the long-lost chill.

My body started to stiffen and became unresponsive.

The ice and biting cold that permeated his flesh and blood temporarily stopped the blood supply to his head.

The ghouls are howling.

Whether it's the shoulders or the top of the head.

……

Eventually, the storm subsided.

The meaning of the phrase "outwardly fierce but inwardly weak" remains unchanged, but some additional interpretations have been added. The first volume will conclude in the next few chapters.

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(End of this chapter)