Hended on the ground with Kato on his back, and along with therade carrying Madara on his back, they immediately sprinted towards the west, to the direction of Sagami Co.


    The opponent was that purple-haired monster and the infamous Poisonous Liquor. He didn''t think Gill could win against them, even only hypothetically. Let alone win, it was even impossible to escape.


    Dammit, dammit, dammittttttttt!!!


    Tetsu sprinted with all his might, suppressing the loathsome feeling of how spineless he was surging inside him.


    "Oh no, they areing."


    Looking back over the shoulder after Madara’s warning, several dozen men dressed in ck clothing from head to toe were chasing after Testu and hisrades.


    "What should we do, Tetsu?"


    "We can''t do anything about it. We have to run!!"


    He could tell they are experts just from a nce. No matter how much battle techniques Tetsu and his friends had learned from the head ofbat training, Akuido, everyday, in the end their experience wasn''t more than several months. They still didn''t have enough power to directly face [Laguna]''s elite members seriously.


    "We have to!!"


    They continued to run with all of their might.


    "Dammit! We are beingpletely yed."


    "I guess they''re in a rabbit-hunting mood."


    They''d been attacking Tetsu and the others for a while now, but not hitting us. The only thing Tetsu knew was that they were being led to this back alley.


    Most likely, their aim wasn''t Tetsu and hisrades, but Madara and Kato.


    "It seems like we can only go that far......."


    Finally, they ended up in what looked like a vacant lot in a dead-end alley.


    In an instant, the ck clothed men surrounded them.


    "I''m sorry. Madara-san, Kato-san."


    "No, I don''t mind. It''s all of my subordinate''s fault all along, after all."


    "It''s wrong for me toin to Sagami Co.’s people, but I have pride too. I don''t want these lowlifes to have their way with me."


    Kato put the knife around her neck.


    "Wait, let''s try to struggle until the end."


    Saying that, Tetsu took away the knife from her and took a stance to protect her and Madara.


    "Captain, what do we do with these guys?"


    "There''s still something they want to ask from Madara. I''ve been told to make them faint and carry them," the most hulking of the ck-d men replied immediately, looking annoyed.


    "What about the woman?"


    "Oh, the woman has no special orders. You can do whatever you want with her."


    "Wow, it''s been a long time since I''ve had a woman!" the ck-robed man shouted in delight.


    "They are looking down too much!!"


    Tetsu bashed them with [me Rando]. However, the opponent easily cut the ming sphere in half with the knife in his hand.


    "I''m not looking down. It''s only natural."


    The ck-clothed man’s figure became hazy and sparks flew across Tetsu’s vision. At the same time, his body flew in the air and was easily mmed into the ground from his back.


    He tried to get up by forcefully suppressing the bone-breaking pain. However, he heard, "Small fries should just grovel in the ground like that," before being stomped on the chest.


    His friends were also lying on their backs in a pool of blood.


    "L-let go of me!!"


    In his thin, blurry vision, he could see Kato''s teary face being held down and straddled by one of the ck-d men.


    "St....op!"


    "...Shut up."


    The foot stepping on his chest pressed down even more, and he felt a dull pain from his broken rib.


    "Just look at how they are going to ravage that woman until her death."


    That''s right. That was how Tetsu and the others had watched the unfolding tragedy.


    When the previous generation was alive, Tetsu and the others watched over the shoulders of the previous generation, and after the death of the previous generation, they watched over the shoulders of their leader, Krama, and their aniki, Gill, doing nothing but watching the tragedy.


    Even though the young leader had bled for their sake! Even though Gill had ovee the gang leader''s objections and engaged in the outrageous act of ve trading for the sake of Tetsu and the others! However, Tetsu and the others had only entrusted themselves to them, without doing anything.


    This time was the same.


    In the end, Tetsu and the others were just looking at President Gray from afar. Nothing had changed. Nothing had ever changed.


    I can''t hold it anymore.


    He grasped the leg pressing down on his chest and activated [Fireball]. He activated the magic with whatever mana he had left.


    "Ouch! Damn!"


    Far from a lump of me, it didn’t even burn. However, that was how he freed himself.


    Tetsu immediately dashed and rammed himself to the ck-clothed man that was straddling Kato.


    "Ahh!"


    After confirming he had blown away that man, he covered Kato like a turtle.


    I''m going to change!!


    I will show I can protect her. And most of all, I’m not going to impose his responsibility on others again!


    "If you really want to die so badly, I will kill you as you wish!"


    Raising the only part he could raise, his head, he could see the man that he had just blown away was approaching him with a dagger in one hand as veins overflowed in his temple.


    The man dressed in ck swung the dagger in his right hand as he came close to Tetsu. Right at that time, it looked to Tetsu as if sparks were flying around the man in ck.


    "Die—"


    However, unbelievably,with his dagger raised, the man in ck reduced to dust instantly, not even a bone left.


    Thest thing he saw in his fading consciousness was a monocle man with his ck hair in a swept-back style. His face was distorted in dissatisfaction as his hands were in his pockets.


    ◇◆◇◆◇◆


    "Hey Nero, didn''t you say it''s an unpopr location? Why the hell there''s such a vile act happening there?"


    "I don''t know. You can ask the monkeys over there, who are showing their bare instinct openly."


    A brown-haired young man called Nero, who wore a mask, looked around at Poisoned Liquor’s men in a troublesome manner.


    Poisonous Liquor’s subordinates weren''t simple thugs either. So, when one of their own was burned in an instant, they raised their alert level to the limit.


    "You bastards, who are you?" a hulking man dressed in ck, who seemed to be the leader of the group, carefully pointed his sword and asked the two strangers in front of him.


    "Hey, the monkeys are shouting something desperate? Aren''t you going to answer? You battle junkie??"


    The brown-haired masked man, Nero, took a big yawn and snapped his fingers.


    All of a sudden, a blue-colored seat and a nket appeared out of thin air.


    "I''m going to sleep until Grimm and the others arrive. Wake me up when they get there?"


    Seeing Nero who didn''t even recognize their existence, let alone taking them as a threat, Poisonous Liquor’s subordinates’ churned with rage inside, and their faces immediately flushed with intense anger. Of course. They''d never been treated in such a humiliating way since they were born.


    "Don''t underestimate us!!" one of the ck-clothed men fired a poisonous dart on his arm at Nero, but before the dart could reach him, it rotted and fell down.


    Nero, still wrapped in the nket, put out only his left hand and snapped it.


    A momentter, a long, thin sword pierced through the brain of the man who’d fired the poisoned dart, prating his spine and plunging deep into the ground.


    "W-watch out! These guys are using strange techniques!"


    The ck-clothed man quickly tried to put some distance. However, their true suffering had only just begun.


    The ck-clothed man, who should have died instantly from his skull getting pierced, pulled the sword himself and turned to look at all of the other ck-clothed men.


    "Guooooooooo!!!"


    Then, he roared like a beast.


    "You are being too noisy. Be quiet!"


    The man, who had died instantly, shrinked back at the unreasonable order.


    "M-monster......."


    These were the words that came out of the ck-clothed men’s leader as he witnessed such an absurd phenomenon.


    That was the deciding factor. They retreated, turned their backs, and began to flee all at once.


    "What a pain."


    Looking at the retreating backs of the ck-clothed men, the monocle man scratched his head with his left hand. Instantly, the crimson mes ran around and surrounded the ck-clothed man that should have died, turning him into dust in the blink of an eye.


    "Now what should we do about them?"


    The monocle man was still looking down at the men and women who had fallen unconscious.


    "These kids are his family. Doing anything is no good," Nero’s sharp voice rang out.


    "I see. The reason why youe here purposely is for that reason, huh."


    The monocle man also leaned his back against the back alley wall and closed his eyes tightly.