Chapter 124: Defeating Rize Kamishiro

The “Hundred-Step Flying Sword” cut a straight line through the air, rushing directly toward Rize Kamishiro. Her eyes flew wide in an instant as she sensed the danger approaching, and her body instinctively tried to evade.

But since the Hundred-Step Flying Sword was reputed to “sever the throat with a single blade,” how could it be so easily avoided? A sword hurled with the Hundred-Step Flying Sword technique traveled through the air several times faster than a bullet. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the sword arrived before its sound.

Thus, Rize could only watch helplessly as a pitch-black longsword, wreathed in transparent pale-blue sword aura, pierced through her body.

Sssshk—

A crisp sound rang out as the Elucidator passed straight through Rize’s abdomen, the black blade carrying away a spray of blood.

“Ah—!”

The intense pain forced Rize to unleash a miserable scream. She had never imagined that she, a ghoul, could actually be wounded by a human.

“I’ll definitely—urgh!”

Rize still wanted to say something, but Si Kong Xu pressed his advantage. He charged forward and struck her squarely in the chest with his palm.

Boom!

A dull impact rang out. Rize was sent flying by the blow, landing only after being hurled three meters away.

After a while, she groaned and staggered to her feet.

This time, Si Kong Xu did not attack again. After all, he had never intended to kill Rize. Though she had devoured many people, he was not about to become some righteous champion and eliminate evil simply for that reason.

“Why didn’t you kill me…?” Rize asked shakily.

The wound in her abdomen, pierced by the Elucidator, had yet to heal. She could feel some strange energy continuously destroying the cells that were trying to regenerate.

Si Kong Xu glanced at her abdomen, inwardly satisfied. As expected, leaving sword aura inside a ghoul could destroy its regenerating cells and suppress its monstrous healing ability for a short time.

“I’m not like you ghouls, who slaughter people whenever you please.” Si Kong Xu shook his head. He was certainly capable of killing, but as someone from modern society, he still felt a deep resistance toward it. Unless absolutely necessary, he truly did not wish to take lives—even the lives of ghouls.

“Hmph. Don’t pretend to be compassionate. You humans are such lowly creatures. When have you ever not wished for every last ghoul to die?”

By now, Rize’s beautiful face was completely hidden beneath her disheveled violet hair.

Si Kong Xu smiled. From the perspective of the food chain, ghouls and humans were mortal enemies destined to fight to the death. If he had not known Rize, he might truly have killed her.

“Rize Kamishiro, I have a question for you,” Si Kong Xu said.

“How do you know my name?” Rize exclaimed. But then she thought about it. If traveling between worlds was possible, what else could be impossible?

“Go ahead…”

Once she sensed that Si Kong Xu truly had no intention of killing her, Rize’s tone relaxed. The mysterious energy in her abdomen was growing weaker and weaker. In a little while, she would recover. And then…

“How do you view humans and ghouls?”

“Hmph. Do you really need me to say it? Predator and prey, nothing more.”

“Oh? Then who do you think resembles the predator more right now?”

“…”

“Do you think humans and ghouls can coexist peacefully?” Si Kong Xu suddenly asked.

There was a reason he asked. The ghouls’ arrival in this world had become an established fact. Sending them back would be exceedingly difficult—unless Ye Fei was willing to act. But Ye Fei had exhausted his energy helping Si Kong Xu and had fallen into a deep sleep. Returning the ghouls was therefore nothing more than an idea.

Yet if the ghouls were simply allowed to continue preying on humans, the school could not possibly stand by and do nothing, even if the Supernatural Administration chose to ignore it.

Ghouls were powerful, and among them was even an SSS-rank monstrosity known as the Owl Who Does Not Kill. Nevertheless, if Dawn Academy wanted to exterminate the ghouls, it would hardly need to exert much effort.

It probably would not even require the teachers to intervene. A few upper-year students would be enough.

After all, even the powerful S-rank ghoul known as the Big Eater had been defeated by Si Kong Xu, a first-year student at Dawn Academy—although Si Kong Xu’s strength could hardly be judged by his year level.

Rize immediately scoffed at his question. Humans and ghouls living together in peace? Boy, you were dreaming.

Seeing her attitude, Si Kong Xu did not get angry. His question had indeed been foolish, but it concerned whether the ghouls could survive in this world at all.

He had originally been considering the matter because he had already revealed the ghouls’ identities to Mu Ning and the others. The school would certainly learn of it as well. If the school’s attitude proved unfriendly…

Suddenly, Si Kong Xu shuddered. Instinctively, he retreated, and several vivid blood-red, feather-shaped objects plunged deep into the concrete ground before him.

“Hm?”

Si Kong Xu looked up and saw a slender girl wearing a rabbit mask standing in front of Rize.

Behind her, a pair of brilliant crimson wings beat the air. Strangely, however, only one of the wings was complete; the other was damaged and incomplete.

Those dazzling wings were one of the four types of kagune—the ukaku.

Touka Kirishima!

The name instantly surfaced in Si Kong Xu’s mind. As the heroine of Tokyo Ghoul, she had left an especially deep impression on him.

“It’s you!” Si Kong Xu said, feigning surprise.

“You recognized me?” Touka cried out.

“So it really is you.” Si Kong Xu smiled.

“Tch.”

At that point, how could Touka Kirishima fail to realize that he had been deliberately fishing for information?

“Since when does Anteiku concern itself with the Big Eater’s affairs?” Si Kong Xu asked with a smile.

“If the manager hadn’t ordered me to come, I wouldn’t have bothered saving this troublemaker. Besides, you seem to know quite a lot about us.”

Touka’s eyes flickered several times before she suddenly lunged at Si Kong Xu.

“You’ve got quite a temper, little girl.”

With her ukaku, Touka’s speed was astonishing—faster even than the attacks of Rize’s kagune.

Si Kong Xu could not evade such speed at all. He could only raise the Elucidator, which he had just picked up, and hurriedly block.

Clang!

Touka’s flaring ukaku struck the Elucidator once more, producing a violent grinding sound.

Though Touka was incredibly fast and Si Kong Xu could not dodge her attacks directly, his reflexes were still sufficient to block and parry them.

Moreover, Si Kong Xu knew that ukaku-type ghouls were generally extremely fast but possessed poor stamina. They were not suited to prolonged battles of attrition.

Thus, after assaulting Si Kong Xu fiercely for a while, Touka suddenly stopped. Her figure blurred, and she returned to Rize’s side.

“Haah… haah…”

Breathing heavily, with beads of sweat appearing on her forehead, Touka glanced at Rize and asked, “Haven’t you recovered yet?”

Indeed, Touka had expended so much energy entangling Si Kong Xu solely to buy time for Rize.

“Almost…” Rize glanced at her abdomen, which had begun to heal gradually, and smiled with a sickly air. “With your help, we’ll definitely be able to eat this man this time.”