"Y-You… Who are you?!"
Uruka Minami's face immediately twisted with fear.
She staggered backward, looking every bit like a helpless human girl.
"Lantern, your hunting ground belongs to me now."
Byakuya deliberately lowered his voice, making it sound completely different from his usual tone.
In the ghoul world, a "hunting ground" was a designated territory for hunting humans; Usually hidden in dark alleys or generally secluded areas.
It was like territorial instinct, every ghoul had their own preferred area.
If another ghoul trespassed and hunted within someone else's domain, it would lead to a brutal battle.
By declaring his intent to take over Uruka Minami's hunting ground, Byakuya was provoking her directly.
Hearing him expose her identity, Uruka Minami stopped pretending.
Her frightened, helpless demeanor vanished in an instant.
Her expression turned cold and murderous.
"I don't know where the hell you came from…"
"But you've got guts, challenging me in the 13th Ward."
SHRRRRK!
A bright pink kagune burst from her lower back, her bikaku kagune lashing out like a whip.
At the same time, her eyes turned crimson; Her kakugan glowing in the darkness.
Normally, a ghoul's eyes were terrifying.
But on her, with her doll-like features, it made her look eerily beautiful.
Byakuya activated his own transformation.
With a single thought, his Mangekyō Sharingan appeared-A pair of spiraling black pinwheels spinning within his blood-red irises.
Uruka Minami's gaze sharpened.
She immediately searched his body, trying to find his kagune.
If she could identify his kagune type, she could counter it.
Every kagune had strengths and weaknesses.
Focusing on a weakness was the best way to fight.
But no matter how hard she looked; She couldn't find a kagune.
All she saw was the thick, heavy chain in his hand.
"That chain… is that his kagune?"
Uruka Minami frowned slightly.
Something felt off.
She had seen all sorts of kagune-
Some were spiky, some bladed, some tentacle-like, and some even morphed into wings.
But she had never seen a kagune that looked like a damn chain.
She couldn't even tell where his kakuhou was located.
A kagune always sprouted from a specific point on a ghoul's body.
But this chain?
It seemed to come out of his sleeve, which meant she couldn't determine his kagune type at all.
Byakuya said nothing.
Instead, he attacked immediately.
His eyes locked onto the base of her tail kagune and then, he activated Kamui.
His left eye's power, the offensive Kamui-It could warp away objects, using the principles of tearing space-time.
Normally, a single Kamui eye could only activate at a certain speed.
But with his dual Mangekyō, Byakuya's activation time was far faster.
Uruka Minami couldn't even react in time!
Just as she sensed a strange spatial distortion, her tail kagune was already being torn apart by a twisting vortex of space.
"What?!"
Pain ripped through her body.
It wasn't until the agonizing sensation hit her that she finally realized; Her kagune had been severed?!
One moment, she had been analyzing the masked man's kagune.
The next-Her own had been destroyed and she hadn't even seen how it happened.
Before her kagune could regenerate, Byakuya rushed forward, moving at three times the speed of an average person.
At the same time, the chain hidden within his sleeve shot out, lashing toward Uruka Minami's throat.
CLINK!
The chain tightened around her neck.
A powerful choking force crushed her windpipe.
"Kh-!"
Panic flooded her senses.
But ghouls weren't as easy to subdue as humans.
Ghouls with bikaku type kagune were naturally adept at close combat; She retaliated instantly.
Her right leg swung out in a sharp roundhouse kick.
But Byakuya dodged effortlessly, leaping into the air.
And in mid-flip, he tightened the chain even further.
"Urk-!"
Uruka Minami's face twisted in pain.
Even as an A+ rated ghoul, her endurance had limits.
She could withstand more pain than a normal human yet she couldn't escape suffocation.
In just a few moments, she would pass out, or worse-Die.
But then; her kagune regenerated.
Her only chance!
She lashed out with her kagune, aiming for the masked man's body.
There was no way he could dodge at this range!
Except; Her kagune slashed straight through him, like he wasn't even there.
"-What?!"
Uruka Minami's heart sank into despair.
She felt nothing, as if her kagune had pierced only air.
It was naturally Kamui's intangibility.
Byakuya had phased his physical body into the Kamui dimension.
Her kagune could never touch him.
And to the outside world, he looked completely solid, as if nothing had changed.
The choking grew worse as Uruka Minami's vision blurred.
Her mind was slipping into darkness.
"Am I… going to die here…?"
Her heart screamed in frustration.
She had only been attending school for a year, actually trying to live a normal life.
And now it was all over.
Tears streamed down her face.
[Ding!]
[You have defeated an "A+ Rated Ghoul." Reward: +8 Attribute Points!]
Byakuya did not release the chain but he didn't tighten it further either.
He was waiting for someone.
And finally; That person arrived.
A flash of white entered his vision.
Arima Kishou.
The latter had already drawn one of his Yukimura quinques from within his violin case.
His grip tightened as he lunged toward the masked figure.
CLANG! CLANG-!
Byakuya blocked the first few strikes with his chain.
Despite being a quinque, Yukimura failed to cut through it.
The chain was remarkably durable, almost unbreakable.
After exchanging a few blows, Byakuya loosened the chain around Uruka Minami's neck.
CLINK!
Her body collapsed to the ground.
"Cough-! Hahh-!"
She gasped for air, violently coughing as oxygen flooded her lungs.
Her tear-filled eyes lifted and she saw Arima Kishou.
Standing between her and the masked man.
"He saved me…?"
She never would have thought that a CCG Investigator would be the one to save her life.