Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

A person can be seen in the corridor, holding something in his left hand, leaning against the wall to avoid something. The only noticeable feature is that there is a strange strip of cloth tied to his right shoulder.

"It seems to be the outer corridor. Anzai was indeed lying in ambush there."

Then, the scene shifts, and this time it's clearer—it's the room where Yuri is—the scene shown isn't the current one. In this scene, an ethereal figure, wrapped up tightly, is floating on the bed, holding a pistol and firing at the outside, while Anzai's face flashes by outside.

Why is it Anzai again? Did you film this while holding Anzai? Yuri wanted to complain.

Then, after fast-forwarding and skipping, the scene stops at the moment Hirozaki enters with a gun, and a distorted sound begins to play from the walkie-talkie.

The male voice said, "In times like these, if there were a weapon that couldn't be fired at humans but could be fired at monsters, do you know how much trouble that would save?"

It was impossible to recognize Hirozaki's voice, but it was more likely that the entire voice-changing system had an effect.

"Okay, I admit it's a bit messy. After all, it takes some effort to edit all this together—but I think this should prove that I've seen everything here, right?" It was still that voice that had been altered so much that even the original female voice was unrecognizable.

Yuri's attention shifted to the expressionless Hirosaki.

"...So what? What are you trying to say?" the hunter replied through gritted teeth.

"I imagine you wouldn't want your information to be leaked... Engaging in gunfights in the city? Claiming to be a hunter? Hunting supernatural creatures to protect humanity?" The voice paused. "Mr. Hirosaki Katsuya, how long do you plan to disappear for all of this? Or rather, do you even have the opportunity to disappear?"

"Are you... threatening me?" Hirosaki Katsuya stared intently at the walkie-talkie. "Who are you?"

“You don’t need to know that, Mr. Hunter.” To Yuri, the voice sounded a little different this time, perhaps it was Akemi. “We all know that hiding in the shadows is the best protection. You used this protection to attack the Sin Eater, and I’m using it against you. It’s fair.”

"What...what do you...want?" Hirosaki Katsuya took a half step back, but did not leave the area near the doorway.

"Is it too late to destroy the cameras now, Mr. Hunter? Don't let your injured friend waste his energy—we started about the time you walked into the hotel, and now it's too late to fix things!"

"..." Hirosaki Katsuya quickly calculated something.

"Who is it?" Although no sound came out, Yuri saw an eye and half a mouth peeking out from under the blanket on the bed, trying to mouth the words to him.

Without hesitation, Yuri pulled the blanket up to cover Yamanaka Yuka again, and even replaced the shadowy interlayer that had disappeared sometime earlier.

"When exactly did they do it? Installing a standalone camera with its own power supply?" Hirosaki Katsuya sighed, relaxing his right hand that had been holding the weapon, letting it hang down. "That's impressive. I even investigated it specifically."

"It's not surprising that you don't know, because this is exactly what your friend Yuri is doing."

"No, I didn't, Akemi, don't talk nonsense!" These words played in Yuri's mind, but he managed to maintain his composure.

Ignoring Yuri's inner screams, the voice, seemingly that of Akemi, continued, "Have you never considered what gives this spirit the audacity to get involved in this matter?"

"Because I'm stubborn?" If Yuri didn't mind undermining his teammates, he probably would have asked that question.

"Of course, it's because he has the power to control modern equipment—even if you cut off the power to the entire hotel, he can keep the equipment running on his own. Moreover, he can easily create gaps in places where there were no cameras to begin with, so he can install cameras. All the preparations were completed by him in one day, and then the signal was transmitted to a safe place, into our hands."

Yuri desperately wanted Akemi to stop—if Akemi continued talking, Yuri might have to act inappropriately.

But clearly, the two didn't have the telepathic connection to communicate like that. Mingmei's exaggerated praise continued, "He can figure out the internal structure of a machine with just a touch, and he can push the mechanism forward out of thin air with his will. He can change the state of the machine without touching it—what's a few cameras to him?"

Yuri had no idea that he could say such a thing.

"Enough!" Hirosaki Katsuya raised his voice, his weapon, which had been lowered, snapping back up. "You think you can threaten me?"

“Oh, can’t I?” It should be Lehwa speaking. “You can’t solve this problem on your own, and once this information is released, do you think you will receive support or be cut off on the spot?”

"You have no idea who I am, you have no idea about the power behind me—"

Hirosaki was interrupted by Leahy, “Well, of course I know, but even if I didn’t, it would be the same—you see, there’s no obvious benefit to me in releasing this information, except that you’ll pay a price for it. So do you really want to force me to release this stuff? I can make sure it gets around.”

Yuri remained silent. Could she really do it?

"Who do you think we are? How dare you be our enemy? You have no idea who you'll mess with!" Hirosaki Katsuya said fiercely, but in Yuri's eyes, he hadn't lost his mind—far from it.

"Oh, before that, had you already 'got into trouble' because of the mission failure and the huge mess you made?" This sentence sounded like it was Liehui who said it, but the next sentence was changed to Mingmei, "Of course, I know that you have considerable influence here - so this information will not be simply released directly, but will be sent to another place."

"Where?" Hirosaki Katsuya immediately replied.

“There’s a kind of monster that moves at night, feeds on human blood, and has a cold body—they’ll know you’re there. Is that really okay?” The voice, seemingly Mingmei’s, paused deliberately. “You’d better think about it. Do you really believe your organization can control everything?”

Hirosaki Katsuya's hand tensed, and Yuri almost thought he was going to fire, but in the end he put the gun down.

Did they succeed? Yuri found it difficult to discern the opponent's exact state and remained vigilant.

“You monsters,” his voice came clearly. “I should have known that monsters would stay with monsters.”

“That’s a real slander. She’s human—” Even through the walkie-talkie, Yuri could hear the discomfort in Akemi’s forced use of “she”. “But I think little Yuka is human too.”

If the second sentence were changed to something like "People think that little Yuka is also human," then... Akemi probably really wouldn't be able to say it.

"Humans? Humans helping monsters? That's utterly ridiculous!" Hirosaki Katsuya tucked his gun into his waistband. "Fine, monsters, you win, but only this once!"

Has he really given up? Yuri stared at the traitor at the door.

Hirosaki Katsuya was about to turn and leave when he suddenly turned back, and Yuri, who was on edge, almost opened fire.

“Yuri, you can stop me once, but if we meet again, don’t expect me to show mercy.” The hunter said, emphasizing each word, “Monsters like the Sin Eaters are not just my personal enemies, but the enemies of all humanity.”

Is this what they mean by "a dying man speaks good words"? Yuri stared at the other man, wanting to say something harsh, but... never mind, he was about to be fired anyway.

"You know which faction I represent, and that my faction will absolutely not back down, right?"

What does this mean? Yuri didn't answer, waiting for a message from the other end of the walkie-talkie.

"Using ether bullets, do you really want me to reveal the name of the task force?" It should be Lehwa's voice.

Then Yuri saw Hirosaki nod.

“Very well, then I…” Hirosaki suddenly smiled, “I’ve decided to finish things here!”

At the same time, Yuri felt his power suddenly flow towards the other party.

Without time to assess his situation, Yuri fired his pistol repeatedly without much aiming, emptying the magazine completely.

Of the five bullets, two missed, two struck Hirosaki in the chest and abdomen, and the last one grazed his face, leaving a bloody mark.

Then, the two bullets in the center fell down.

“Anzai, make your move! Always keep a backup plan… This tactic can’t last without gaining complete trust, but just a moment’s delay will do!” Hirosaki’s smile gradually twisted. “I don’t know what this power is—but in any case, it’s not with you right now!”

Yuri, who felt no problems whatsoever and even felt his body becoming lighter, widened his eyes, wanting an answer to a question.

"What exactly is it that's no longer with me?"

He didn't have a chance to ask.

Anzai had already appeared outside the door.

182 The outcome is still undecided.

Anzai emerged from behind Hirozaki, who was gradually collapsing to the ground.

The bandage on his right shoulder was very noticeable, but it didn't seem to affect his movements too much—he simply switched to using his left hand as his primary weapon.

You hunters are really multi-talented!

Yuri aimed at Anzai and pulled the trigger, then remembered that he had emptied his gun. Without hesitation, he threw the pistol at the man's face.

Anzai simply tilted his head to dodge the throw and began firing before Yuri could launch another attack.

This time he pulled the trigger and didn't let go.

Bullets are being poured out.

The wound on his shoulder did affect his aim somewhat, but he seemed determined to make up for it with the quantity of bullets he had.

Time slowed down again, and this time Yuri didn't waste his energy dodging—based on his previous experience, he simply couldn't dodge it.

The first step is to deploy your shield to allow you to withstand bullets longer.

The second step is to jam the firing pin in his weapon!

Having already identified the firearm once, Yuri believed he could easily follow the clues to find the firing pin inside the weapon.

An unexpected turn of events: he lost his sense of the weapon—a gun is a gun, and the firing pin is ultimately not something that is visible on the surface.

Yuri immediately switched to manual control mode, or to put it bluntly, he planned to rely on his previous experience with the gun's effects to try and pull off a lucky shot—aiming at what was probably, possibly, or maybe even the firing pin, and unleashing his full power. Stop! Yuri forcefully pushed his will forward.

Nothing happens.

Oh no—Yuri realized that there was no flow of spiritual essence, no spells taking effect, and not even a reaction to failure, as if he had never possessed such an ability.

With the fifth bullet, Anzai struggled to keep the gun steady, but of the five bullets fired, only three would hit Yuri squarely.

But what if he empties all the bullets from his magazine?

Yuri abruptly stopped calculating the damage that would cause and shifted his attention back to how to resolve the current situation.

There's no way to affect the opponent's material. It seems like it can block out light, but its value against heavy fire remains questionable. Perhaps one should block out the light and then immediately lie down?

The sixth bullet, though it hadn't reached its target yet, was already clear it wouldn't hit, bringing Anzai's hit rate back to fifty percent.

That magazine looks like it can hold dozens of bullets; even fifty percent of that capacity should be enough to give Yuri a hard time.

Yuri once again forcibly stopped his thoughts.

Calling upon darkness, even a little help is a help—however, the darkness enveloping Anzai's head did not stop the weapon in the other's hand.

The seventh bullet was hurtling towards it and looked set to hit its target.

Then came the eighth shot.

Damn it, it's a spirit field—Anzai doesn't need to use his eyesight to locate it!

That's enough! Yuri stared intently at the seventh bullet hurtling towards him. Why couldn't he just let this bullet vanish into thin air?

The spiritual essence began to flow, and Yuri focused his attention on the two bullets that were heading straight for his chest, one after the other.

Turn them into ashes.

The bullet decayed and deformed rapidly in the air, its trajectory deflected, causing the eighth bullet, which was already close to the edge, to graz Yuri and fly away.

The seventh shot of twisted metal still pierced through Yuri's shield and reached his spirit body.

The power doesn't seem to have changed—no, Yuri's shield was weakened after being repeatedly penetrated, so the bullets must also be a weakened version...

However, the weakening effect was insufficient, and the distance was too close. Before the spell could completely destroy the bullet, it would hit Yuri. Based on this estimate, if Yuri cast the spell like this on every subsequent bullet, he would probably go from being hit to the brink of death to being hit half-dead with a significant loss of energy. It's hard to say which would be a greater loss.

The ninth bullet emerged from the barrel.

This can't go on any longer. Which one should we choose? Yuri chose the gun barrel.

Under the influence of willpower, the barrel undergoes a slight deformation.

The tenth bullet had no effect and hit the target squarely.

The eleventh bullet veered off course in a strange direction the moment it left the barrel.

Yuri could see that the inner diameter of the barrel seemed to be narrowing—no, it should be said that something was appearing and blocking it.

Keep up the good work.

Anzai seemed to realize something was wrong, but he had no choice. What else could he do but keep firing?

So he continued firing.

The fourteenth bullet brought the accumulated impact to its limit.

At the moment the bullet should have been launched, it encountered the obstruction of the gun barrel. Perhaps if it had been given a little more time, it would have been fine—but the mechanism behind it did not give it that chance.

The weakened barrel finally gave way, sending rusty fragments flying in all directions. The fifteenth bullet fell almost to the ground, while the one before it slammed sideways towards Yuri, crashing through the already crumbling shield in this unfavorable manner and striking Yuri.

superficial.

Anzai tried to maintain the position of the remaining part of the gun in his hand, but the exploding barrel in front of him refused to serve him any longer, as did his hands, which were covered in bloody scratches.

The primary victim of the shrapnel was Katsuya Hirosaki, who was lying beneath the gun barrel at that moment. He didn't even have time to raise his hand to block it. The shrapnel didn't kill him, but it was enough to make the exposed parts of his body bleed profusely.

Oh, and then there were the remaining parts of the gun that were smashed down; Anzai couldn't manage to grab those fragments.

Then, Anzai reached for his waist, seemingly intending to activate his backup weapon.

Even if he remained completely still, it would be difficult for him given his hand injury, but Yuri wasn't going to give him that chance. Focus your attention, apply the same force to Anzai… in short, make him stop!

Speaking of which, what would happen if the force that causes metal to decay acted on the human body?

Yuri immediately saw the result. Anzai's movements suddenly stopped, and the person who fell out of the darkness showed a surprised expression on his face. Then even that expression was frozen in time.

Then, he collapsed stiffly onto Hirozaki.

"Huh? What's going on?" Hirosaki exclaimed in surprise, struggling to stand up.

Yuri initially thought he had lost his fighting ability, but since he hadn't—he shifted his focus and began targeting him with his firepower.

First, there was that unusually conspicuous layer of spiritual energy on his body—the reason he was repelled when Yuri's spell failed the first time was probably due to this layer, which blocked Yuri's spell.

The idea of ​​dispelling it had often crossed Yuri's mind, but he had never actually put it into practice—because it involved a confrontation between supernatural forces, in which he was usually on the defensive.