Japanese Terrorist: What? I'll fight Hellstar!

Amamiya Rin led Tomie away from the vicinity of the boxing gym, through several streets where streetlights gradually lit up, and back to his studio apartment.

"sit."

Amamiya Rin gestured for Tomie to sit on the sofa, then took out his usual pocket watch from the drawer, sat down opposite Tomie, and began the standard hypnotic induction procedure.

His voice was steady, his steps were clear, and he used the swinging of a pocket watch and verbal guidance to help Tomie quickly enter a hypnotic state.

Tomie's gaze gradually lost focus, becoming somewhat hazy. Her eyelids slowly drooped and eventually closed completely. Her head naturally leaned back against the sofa, as if she had fallen asleep.

As Amamiya Rin watched Tomie's breathing gradually become slow and even, he knew she had entered the threshold of deep hypnosis and immediately began the next step.

"Now."

His voice was lower and gentler, like a mountain stream flowing over pebbles.

"I want you to slowly forget everything in your mind. What happened, what you thought, what you were going to do... forget it all... like erasing a blackboard covered in writing, bit by bit, from left to right, from top to bottom... the writing slowly fades and disappears. In the end, there are no words left, only a clean black expanse..."

Tomie's fingers, which were resting on the sofa armrest, were originally slightly curled, but now they slowly relaxed, and her fingertips drooped limply.

She sank deeper into the sofa, her neck resting entirely on the backrest, her chin slightly tilted back, revealing her beautifully contoured throat.

"Your mind is becoming increasingly empty and light..."

Yu Gonglin continued to guide the conversation, speaking at a calm and unhurried pace.

"I have no thoughts at all, it's so comfortable, so peaceful...like a newborn baby, you don't have to think about anything, you don't have to understand anything..."

Tomie's brows completely relaxed, and even the faint hint of pride she usually displayed vanished. Her face showed an unusual blankness and calmness, even a hint of vulnerability.

Amamiya Rin's voice became even softer, almost a whisper, as if she were humming a lullaby without a melody.

"Cry when you're hungry, sleep when you're sleepy, squirm when you're uncomfortable... Give all reactions to the body's most primal feelings and most direct impulses... That's right, no need to think, no need to choose, let the body decide what to do..."

At that moment, Tomie let out a very soft whimper, like an unconscious murmur in her sleep.

Her cheek turned slightly to the right, and a few strands of black hair slipped down.

"Abandon your rationality, surrender everything to your instincts. Do whatever you want... let your body follow your feelings..."

Tomie's lips twitched very slightly, as if she had tasted something, or perhaps it was just dryness.

The rise and fall of her chest seemed slightly greater than before, but the change was extremely subtle.

Amamiya Rin took a deep breath and, in a clear and slow tone, delivered the final seduction.

"Let this feeling... completely take over your body. Don't think, just give it all to it; it is you, and you are it."

After he finished speaking, the room fell silent.

Tomie remained lying there, motionless.

However, a restlessness, quite different from the usual atmosphere, began to permeate the air.

On the sofa, Tomie's body underwent a visible change.

With each rise and fall of his chest, it was as if some sleeping beast was awakening.

Her lips parted slightly, and between her originally neat and white teeth, two upper canines were silently extending, piercing the tender flesh of her lower lip, causing a drop of blood to seep out. She was completely unaware and unconsciously licked the blood away.

This subtle smell of blood was like a switch.

"Uh...ha..."

A low, hoarse hiss escaped from deep within her throat, and Tomie's tightly closed eyes snapped open!

Her eyes, which were once charming or arrogant, were now filled with irrational frenzy and a primal savagery.

Her pupils contracted, and fine blood vessels spread across the whites of her eyes. Even more horrifying were the contours of her face; her jawbone seemed to protrude slightly forward, her nostrils flared, and her entire exquisite face was twisting into a ferocious, bat-like shape.

The neatly trimmed and rounded nails, starting from the tip of the nail bed, grow quietly at an abnormal speed, becoming sharp and transforming into ten slightly curved claws.

I've seen this look before, on Miyuki Kawahara.

"Blood……"

Tomie's gaze was drawn to Amamiya Rin as if by a magnet.

More precisely, it was the alluring veins beneath the skin on the side of his neck, pulsating slightly with his heartbeat.

"roar--!"

With a roar, Tomie sprang up from the sofa, her movements so swift they left a trail of afterimages, completely exceeding the explosive limits of human muscle.

With ten hook-like fingers, she lunged at Amamiya Rin with a piercing shriek that tore through the air.

Tomie came with great force, but Amamiya Rin was not unprepared.

He had anticipated this situation.

The moment Tomie opened her eyes, Amamiya Rin tensed up. When that inhuman roar rang out, his right hand reached back and grasped the katana leaning against the armchair.

This katana was far more handy than the crude bone knife, and of the same quality. When he gently pushed the hilt with his thumb, a cold, autumn-water-like glint of light flowed out.

"Clang!"

The moment the clear, resonant sound of the blade echoed in the cramped living room, Amamiya Rin stepped forward with her right foot, lowered her center of gravity, her left hand still firmly gripping the end of the scabbard that was not yet fully drawn, and her right hand gripping the hilt and exerting force—this was the starting stance of her Iaijutsu!

"New Yin Flow, Water Moon!"

A flash of cold light appeared, the arc of the katana being drawn from its sheath perfectly combined with the power of the forward step, the blade slashing diagonally from the lower left to the upper right, the glint of light reflected in Tomie's pupils.

However, while Tomie, now a vampire, lacked reason, her fighting instincts were terrifyingly sharp... No! It couldn't be entirely attributed to sharpness; rather, Tomie was far too familiar with Amamiya Rin's swordsmanship. Perhaps her muscle memory wasn't deep enough, but she could discern the starting moves of Amamiya Rin's swordsmanship without even thinking.

Faced with this fierce and swift sword strike, Tomie, at the critical moment, crossed her wrists, bringing her ten white claws together like a shield, and forcefully blocked the blade!

"clang--!!!"

A piercing metallic clang erupted, sparks flying between the claws and the blade. Amamiya Rin felt a savage force surge through the blade, his hand trembling violently.

The one-hit kill Iaijutsu was blocked just like that!

However, Amamiya Rin had a contingency plan for this.

The essence of Iaido is not just about a single strike.

Just as the sword's momentum was blocked and the forces were locked in a stalemate, Amamiya Rin's left hand moved!

The left hand, which had been tightly gripping the end of the scabbard, used the force of the forward thrust of the body and the reaction force generated by the parry of the right hand's sword swing to send the scabbard flying from bottom to top like a short stick. The hard scabbard tip struck the numb tendon on the inside of Tomie's wrist, which was slightly raised due to the parry!