Although Lancer and his squad fought with fierce momentum, in reality, they were still at a disadvantage. Even as the two sides clashed directly, Lancer had already begun calling for backup through the internal comms. He himself could escape, but if even half the people who'd come with him managed to get out alive, it'd already be a miracle.
"Hold on! Reinforcements from the 19th Ward are almost here!"
Actually, Lancer didn't need to say it. If they didn't hold on, they'd simply die. But the inexperienced Lancer overlooked one thing—
Mado Akira, as Mado Kureo's daughter, naturally possessed excellent combat abilities and wielded a Quinque far beyond others her age. But the one thing she lacked was—experience.
Though she'd joined the Bureau only slightly later than Lancer, there was no question she hadn't faced nearly as many life-and-death battles against Ghouls. Following CCG protocol, she'd participated in a few large-scale missions and was assigned to a branch based on performance. This kind of system greatly increased an Investigator's chances of survival—but it also prevented them from ever experiencing a true "crisis."
She swept her Quinque, "Amatsu," forward. Its whip-like blade lashed out and tangled around a Ghoul. The Investigator who had been fighting that Ghoul instantly shoved forward, thrusting his Quinque's blade into the Ghoul's heart. But at the very same moment, another Ghoul silently lunged from behind Akira—
Puchi—!
The whip-Quinque was undoubtedly strange and formidable, but it was also difficult to wield effectively. Now, with the whip still tangled around her opponent, Akira Mado was briefly left defenseless—or she would've been, had her Quinque truly been nothing more than a whip.
Suddenly, the whip's handle transformed into a short blade, and Akira thrust it sharply backward. As the Ghoul behind her widened its eyes in disbelief, Akira seized the grip firmly and sliced downward without hesitation.
Puchi!
Blood sprayed out from the Ghoul's body, splashing onto Akira's face. But she pulled out the short blade with a cold, expressionless look, scanning the surroundings again cautiously, as though the blood on her face and the corpse at her feet had nothing to do with her.
If it had ended there, it would've been a flawless "performance," but unfortunately, battlefields never lacked those idiots with terrible timing.
Almost the moment Akira finished killing that Ghoul, several more rushed toward her at once.
Crack!
Thud!
One Ghoul was whipped away, and another had its throat pierced, dropping to the ground only to receive a harsh kick in the stomach. Yet the third Ghoul, avoiding the kick, latched tightly onto Akira's calf and bit down fiercely.
"Aaaahh—!!"
Akira, who'd never experienced the sheer pain of being bitten by a Ghoul, gasped sharply. Still, she reacted decisively: she immediately drove her still-dripping blade straight into the Ghoul gripping her leg. Yet the Ghoul seemed to have gone mad—it simply locked its jaw tighter, glaring up at her with furious eyes, never loosening its bite even in death.
At that very moment, even more Ghouls began swarming toward her. With their numbers so few, every Investigator lost was irreplaceable.
Just as another Ghoul was lunging for Akira—
Puchi—!
A red shadow flashed, and a blood-colored spear pierced violently from behind, pinning that Ghoul directly to the ground. Even impaled, it still struggled, desperately trying to free itself. Its Bikaku slammed repeatedly at the shaft of the spear, yet made no progress—until—
"Be more careful. We're low on manpower already; these guys aren't exactly the chivalrous type."
Holding in his other hand the spear he'd received from Mado Kureo, Lancer kicked away another attacker, stabbing cleanly into its heart before finally sparing a glance at Akira.
"Sorry," she muttered.
Mado Akira, usually cold and indifferent, suddenly didn't know what else to say. Although she wasn't fond of Lancer's reckless style, this time perhaps she herself had been reckless. But as she stood, forcing herself up with a grimace, her eyes suddenly sharpened.
"Your back—"
"Minor injury," Lancer said curtly. "Associate Special Class Mado said backup would arrive in about five minutes. Until then, we'll just have to hold on."
As he retrieved his spear from the ground, a surge of power flooded through him, so strong that he nearly groaned aloud. But he quickly suppressed it. The sensation of strength was intoxicating, but now was neither the time nor place—not on this battlefield, and certainly not with enemies staring him down.
"You bastard! Bastard! Die! DIE!!"
By now, Naki had lost all semblance of that tear-and-drool-covered madness from earlier, replaced instead by a face streaked with his own blood—blood he'd smeared across himself after Lancer's spear pierced his shoulder. Coupled with his crazed expression, he truly looked like a devil.
At that moment, under Lancer's signal, Amon Koutarou and four other Investigators tightened their defensive line. The Ghouls hesitated, not charging recklessly as before—after mere minutes of battle, their numbers had drastically fallen.
At least three had died in the initial volley, another five or six had been incapacitated and subsequently finished off by Amon and the others. Each Investigator had since felled at least four Ghouls each. Clearly, anyone worthy of Rank 1 Investigator would have little trouble against ordinary Ghouls—so long as they didn't encounter an S-rated monster.
Under Lancer's orders, the Investigators formed a protective ring around the injured Akira. The Ghouls likewise searched cautiously, looking for an opportunity to seize their prey. But suddenly, from the corridor, a group cloaked in dark crimson robes burst onto the scene—
"Is that our backup?"
Only when the crimson-cloaked figures unfurled their Kagune behind them did the Investigators finally release a sigh of relief. Yet, before they could fully relax, something entirely unexpected occurred:
The crimson-robed figures, upon reaching Aogiri's group, didn't attack the encircled CCG squad. Instead, they turned and struck viciously at their own kind.
"AAAAHHHHH!!!"
Everyone froze. The Aogiri Ghouls had never imagined their own kind turning against them. The Investigators were equally stunned, never expecting Ghouls to willingly save them at such a moment. Yet among them, one man guessed the identity of these crimson-robed figures immediately:
The people from Anteiku?
If before he'd only suspected, once Lancer glimpsed that distinctive single-winged Ukaku belonging to Kirishima Touka, he felt certain.
Silently thankful that he'd dropped that earlier hint at the café, Lancer glanced anxiously at his watch.
Anteiku's already here—so why hasn't CCG's backup arrived yet?
---
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
discord.gg/wisetl
patreon.com/wisetl