Chapter 123: Fierce Battle

“Come on, resist. Struggle. The more you struggle, the more I want to eat you!” Rize Kamishiro gave an alluring, sinister smile as the four kagune sprouting from her waist suddenly thrust forward.

Sikong Xu knew that Rize Kamishiro’s kagune belonged to the rinkaku type, the most powerful of the four varieties in terms of offense. Both its destructive force and attack speed were among the very best.

“Damn it!”

Dodging the four scale-covered tentacles that lunged at him in a frenzy, Sikong Xu felt a thin sheen of sweat appear on his forehead.

Rize Kamishiro’s attacks were simply too fast and agile, while her kagune were razor-sharp. Sikong Xu did not dare meet them head-on.

If he had been facing only one rinkaku of this sort, he might still have handled it with ease. But facing four at once increased the difficulty several times over.

Before long, Sikong Xu was unable to evade every strike, and Rize Kamishiro’s kagune slashed open his skin. His shirt was soon stained crimson with his own blood.

“Damn it! She really does see me as prey!”

Sikong Xu cursed under his breath. Fortunately, the complete version of Giant’s Regeneration had endowed his body with powerful recuperative abilities. Though they might not rival the grotesque regeneration of a ghoul, they were more than sufficient to heal the cuts covering him now.

“Oh? You’re still standing after all this time… Your body is even better than I imagined. Now I want to eat you more than ever…”

Rize Kamishiro’s expression was thoroughly warped and feverish. She looked every inch the archetypal yandere girl.

“Damn yanderes—”

Sikong Xu roared. In the next instant, a completely black longsword appeared in his hand.

After returning to the real world, Sikong Xu had kept his Elucidator in his private storage space. Though the space was only one cubic meter, it was still large enough to hold a one-meter-long sword.

The moment the sword was in his hand, Sikong Xu’s entire bearing changed. His expression sharpened, and an indistinct edge seemed to radiate from his whole body.

“I’ve put up with you long enough. Don’t assume this place is the same as your old world, where you can do whatever you please. A ghoul? In my eyes, you’re nothing special!”

He swung the longsword fiercely. Sikong Xu’s gaze hardened, and transparent sword energy instantly swept toward the four kagune flying at him.

Accompanied by the cold gleam of the Elucidator, the sword energy sliced through the air and severed all four of Rize Kamishiro’s kagune.

“What?”

Rize Kamishiro froze. She had never imagined that the “prey” she had chosen could be this powerful.

Sikong Xu licked his dry lips. Rize Kamishiro was truly formidable. The offensive power of her kagune alone was enough to make an ordinary Radiant Yellow-tier fighter struggle.

With a ghoul’s monstrous regenerative ability and superhuman physique added to the equation, Sikong Xu estimated that Rize Kamishiro’s strength had unquestionably reached the middle stage of the Radiant Yellow tier. It was even possible that she had reached its later stage.

Fortunately, most ghouls relied on a single method of attack and possessed no refined techniques or sophisticated patterns. Moreover, Sikong Xu’s strength could not be measured by that of an ordinary early-stage Radiant Yellow-tier fighter.

Thus, for the moment, Rize Kamishiro truly had no way to deal with him.

“You really made me underestimate you.”

Blood-colored vapor once again spread through the surrounding air, and the four kagune that had been severed were restored in an instant.

Rinkaku were indeed the most powerful of the four kagune types in terms of attack. Conversely, their defensive strength was also the weakest. That was why Sikong Xu had been able to sever Rize Kamishiro’s kagune so easily. Had he been facing the hardest type, the koukaku, he probably could have struck them several more times without leaving even a mark.

“Underestimated me? Sorry, but I think we should switch the roles of hunter and prey.”

Sikong Xu stared directly at Rize Kamishiro and spoke with a calm expression.

“Hunter and prey?”

Rize Kamishiro’s red ghoul eyes narrowed slightly. Then she smiled.

“Looks like you still haven’t understood the fact that you’re food. Don’t worry. When I eat you, I won’t finish you all at once. I’ll let you savor, bit by bit, the pleasure of feeling your flesh torn from your body. Hahaha!”

Sikong Xu gave her a contemptuous smile. Her words sounded arrogant, but they had exposed the unease in her heart. He could tell at a glance that she was speaking this way precisely because she had begun to fear him.

“Watch out—it’s coming!”

Whoosh!

Inner energy instantly surged into the soles of Sikong Xu’s feet. He exploded forward, leaving behind nothing but a fleeting breeze.

“Know your place!”

The four rinkaku behind Rize Kamishiro began to sway again. Their razor-sharp tips shot toward Sikong Xu from four different directions, moving so quickly that even the human eye could barely follow them.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

When he saw the four rinkaku hurtling toward him, Sikong Xu remained completely composed. His feet shifted in rapid succession, and he unleashed the footwork he had secretly learned from Xiao Yuqi.

As the technique unfolded, Sikong Xu’s figure became almost ethereal. No matter how fast or dense the attacks of the four rinkaku became, they could not touch him.

Sikong Xu smiled with sinister satisfaction.

Although ghouls possessed astonishing physiques, grotesque regenerative abilities, and highly offensive organs like kagune, their methods of attack were generally very one-dimensional. Many ghouls fought almost entirely through instinct and reliance on their kagune.

That was why a technique-oriented fighter like Sikong Xu found it far easier to deal with ghouls than those reckless brutes who knew only how to charge straight ahead.

If Rize Kamishiro’s opponents today had been the Demon Without Equal from the world of The Brightest Moon of Qin, or the Great Iron Hammer of the Mohist School, they might well have been brutally killed and devoured within a few exchanges.

Continuously using his footwork to evade Rize Kamishiro’s attacks, Sikong Xu never let his attention waver. He was waiting for an opportunity—for the moment when Rize Kamishiro’s assault weakened and she revealed an opening.

“Ah—you damn bastard! I’m going to eat you today!”

Seeing the “prey” that should have been fleeing in all directions instead threaten her again and again, Rize Kamishiro felt a nameless fury erupt from her chest.

When had she, who had always been the hunter, ever experienced being toyed with by her prey?

“Ah!”

After screaming several times, Rize Kamishiro increased the frequency of her attacks once more.

Even Sikong Xu, relying on his exquisite footwork, could no longer avoid every strike and began to accumulate wounds across his body.

Yet faced with this situation, Sikong Xu did not panic. He smiled instead. He knew that once he endured this wave of attacks, the moment Rize Kamishiro revealed an opening would arrive.

Sure enough, after evading several more attacks from her kagune, Rize Kamishiro’s assault suddenly faltered. At that instant, Sikong Xu’s narrowed eyes opened wide.

“Hundred-Pace Flying Sword!”

In the next second, he gathered his strength and hurled the Elucidator from his hand. The transparent sword energy now carried a faint blue hue. The sword streaked through the air, leaving behind a pale-blue slash as it shot straight toward Rize Kamishiro.

Whoosh!