A thunderous roar echoed through the corridor as the Bat Gurongi bridged the gap in a blur of gray leather and raw malice. Its right arm pulled back toward its waist, claws curling into a jagged fist, muscles coiling like a tensioned spring. It funneled every ounce of its monstrous strength into a single, lunging strike—a heart-piercing blow designed to end the game in a spray of crimson.
"Die, Linto!"
Rin Kuga's reaction was a study in cold efficiency. In one fluid motion, he pushed Mai Sakurajima out of the immediate line of fire, shifting his weight to anchor his boots against the polished floor. He spun fully to face the onslaught, his expression as unyielding as iron.
CRACK.
The impact sent a shockwave through the hallway, rattling the nearby windows in their frames. Rin hadn't dodged; he had reached out with his right hand and caught the monster's talons mid-air. The Gurongi's lethal momentum died instantly, caught in Rin's unbreakable grip.
"Go! Now!" Rin barked. The command was sharp, resonant, and left no room for debate.
Mai, staggered by the force of his push, didn't hesitate. She knew her presence was a liability—a weakness for the monster to exploit. She spun on her heel, her indoor shoes screeching against the tile as she fled. She refused to waste the chance this stranger was buying with his life.
Slap. Slap. Slap.
Her legs, draped in elegant black, blurred as she sprinted past the combatants. Silver tears caught the amber twilight in the corners of her eyes as she rounded the corner, her silhouette vanishing from the hall.
The Bat Gurongi watched its prey escape and let out a wet, rasping cackle that sounded like gravel grinding in a blender. "Kekeke... You sacrifice yourself to save a female Linto? Noble. But futile. Now, you both will rot in the shadows of this nest!"
Rin stood perfectly still, his expression unreadable. To anyone else, the monster would have sounded like a broken machine or a hissing predator. But to Rin, the words were as clear as the afternoon bell. He didn't just hear the sounds; he understood the ancient, violent intent behind them.
Rin Kuga slowly tilted his head up. A thin, dangerous smile played across his lips—a look of absolute, terrifying confidence.
"Sacrifice?" he repeated, his voice dropping into a register that made the air itself seem to grow heavy. "I think you've misunderstood the situation, monster."
He didn't speak Japanese. He answered in that same ancient, bone-chilling dialect—the Gurongi language. His pronunciation was flawless, his voice carrying a weight of authority that seemed to vibrate in the monster's very marrow.
The Bat Gurongi froze. Its yellow eyes widened, its wings twitching in a sudden, uncontrollable spasm of terror. A Linto—a mere human—should not be able to speak the holy tongue of the Gurongi-Go. Hearing its sacred dialect come from the mouth of a boy in a school blazer was a violation of its very reality.
Rin's fingers tightened on the Gurongi's wrist. With a sudden, explosive surge of power, he didn't just push the creature—he repelled it.
BOOM.
The Gurongi was thrown back as if hit by a kinetic blast. Its feet skidded across the marble flooring, claws desperately scratching the ground for purchase as it slid nearly ten meters before coming to a halt.
"You... what are you?" the creature hissed, its yellow eyes wide with a sudden, primal tremor. The air around the boy was warping, the causality of the room bending toward him. "You aren't Linto! You... are you Kuuga!?"
To the Gurongi, only the legendary "Warrior of the Sun" could possess such raw, physical dominance. Rin simply shook his head, his smile widening into something darker.
"Kuuga? Not quite."
Rin shook his head, a dry, mocking chuckle escaping his throat. It was the ultimate cosmic joke—being a man named Kuga while staring down a monster that lived in fear of a warrior with the same name.
"I'll admit, the name on my student ID says otherwise, and technically, I have all of his power at my disposal," he said, his voice laced with a casual, dangerous wit. "But don't go confusing me with that legend. I am a Demon King—one whose shadow dwarfs that of any 'legendary warrior.'"
He paused, his aura flaring with a sudden, golden pressure that made the very air in the corridor feel like liquid lead.
"And for the record, I didn't send her away to play the martyr," Rin added, his eyes glowing with a faint light. "I sent her away because I was afraid my power would erase her from existence right along with you.
The Gurongi snorted, its fear momentarily eclipsed by arrogance. "Liar! If you aren't Kuuga, you are nothing! 'Demon King'? Only our Great Lord is worthy of such a title! You're just a corpse waiting to be cold!"
In the Gurongi's mind, only the "White Devil" held the throne of shadows. It lowered its stance, frost-colored mist rising from its fangs as it bared its razor-sharp claws. "Linto, pay for your arrogance with your blood!"
Faced with the monster's killing intent, Rin remained unmoved. With a slow, deliberate motion, he reached into the space beside him—reaching through a fold in time itself—and retrieved a heavy, ornate device. It was white, detailed with intricate clockwork motifs.
"It's amazing," Rin murmured, his thumb tracing the edge of the device. "How much a single belt can actually do..."
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