The assassination attempt was clearly aimed at Yomi Isayama. Kenmei had simply spotted it in advance and taken the blade for her.
This situation was highly abnormal—and for a Sorcerer, it was a fatal flaw.
Her sensory perception, usually her early warning system, had completely failed. She hadn't even realized an enemy was standing right behind her!
If she were a rookie Sorcerer, that would be understandable. But for Yomi, it was impossible. She might be young, but she had seen more combat than most Grade 1 Sorcerers.
She had honed her senses to a terrifying degree. If she hadn't, fighting on the front lines against Cursed Spirits and Curse Users would have killed her long ago.
Even the slightest disturbance shouldn't escape her notice.
But this time, Yomi truly sensed nothing. She only realized something was wrong after Kenmei pushed her.
It wasn't hard to deduce that the reason for her sensory failure lay with the "assassin."
Yomi stared at the middle-aged man with unkempt black hair and wild, unruly eyes. He had the air of a scumbag about him.
Her gaze was ferocious enough to eat him alive.
Seeing Kenmei critically wounded because of a sudden ambush, Yomi bit her lip until it bled. Her Cursed Energy was on the verge of exploding.
She tried to stand up immediately, but an invisible force enveloped her, stopping her in her tracks.
What truly calmed Yomi's rampaging emotions, however, was the familiar voice coming from the blood-soaked Kenmei in front of her.
Just as the mysterious "assassin" tried to pull his blade out of Kenmei's chest, a massive, hideous wolf head lunged out of the shadow beneath his feet with lightning speed.
Its jaws were wide open, revealing razor-sharp teeth, intending to swallow the man who had offended its "Master" whole!
From its glowing crimson eyes, it was clear this creature crawling out of "hell" was enraged.
CLACK!
When the upper and lower jaws slammed together, the sound was enough to freeze the soul. It was a bite that could tear through the hardest steel.
However, only a faint mist of blood appeared in the air. The terrifying giant wolf had missed the kill shot.
The attack had been sudden and without warning, yet the assassin managed to dodge, albeit with great difficulty.
The blood on his pant leg showed he hadn't escaped completely unscathed—the teeth had grazed him.
"What the hell is that?"
The assassin flicked the blood off his blade with a clean motion, staring with interest at the monster that had suddenly appeared.
"A Shikigami?"
He almost laughed as he said it. He couldn't help but compare it to the Shikigami passed down in his family. Compared to this berserk beast, those looked like Chihuahuas next to a Tibetan Mastiff.
"Old man, you really have no manners."
The sudden voice wiped the smile off the assassin's face, replacing it with a look of shock.
"Impossible. I definitely hit the heart!"
He had assumed the monster belonged to the girl. But seeing the terrifying beast nuzzling Kenmei's side like a tame dog proved him wrong.
Kenmei, whom the assassin had already marked as dead, moved like a reanimated corpse. He tilted his body slightly to the left, then threw his head back. His forehead, nose, and chin aligned perfectly as his eyes, glowing with blinding blue light, locked onto the assassin.
Even though blood was still gushing from the hole that went straight through his heart, his tone was chilling.
"You stab me the moment we meet, and then go around telling people I'm dead?"
"If you don't know how to talk properly, maybe you should keep that mouth shut!"
Kenmei raised his left hand toward the man and made a crushing motion.
"Also... that's my sister!"
Psychic Spell: Crush.
Activated instantly.
As the words left his mouth, the assassin felt a hair-raising sense of crisis. The air around him solidified.
BOOM!
An invisible attack, unseen by the naked eye, hammered down from the sky.
Where the assassin had just been standing, a circular crater five meters wide and three meters deep appeared in the ground.
Taking advantage of the gap, Kenmei activated [Wound Regeneration]. The injury on his chest began to knit together at a speed visible to the naked eye.
[HP: 45%] -> [HP: 90%]
His Health Points were recovering.
Kenmei had a literal HP bar. Even if it hit zero, there was a buffer time. As long as he healed within that window, he wouldn't die.
The heart shot had instantly wiped out about 55% of his HP, and it was dropping fast, so he cast the healing spell immediately.
The torture he had endured in the [Temple of All Living Things] plane hadn't been for nothing. Kenmei suspected that even if someone ripped his heart and lungs out now, he wouldn't even frown.
Sorcerers in this world rarely possessed the ability to heal wounds because the Reverse Cursed Technique was incredibly difficult to master. Even those who could use it usually could only heal themselves.
Healing others required a much more thorough "reversal" of energy, increasing the difficulty geometrically.
But for Kenmei, it wasn't a problem.
His [Wound Regeneration] had the same effect as that woman named Shoko he had met earlier, but his efficiency was even higher.
He could heal himself and others.
Nakamura had his chest blown open by the idol Cursed Spirit, yet Kenmei had saved him—keeping him alive just to torture him. He kept Nakamura's soul lit like a lantern, tormenting him day after day, ensuring he wouldn't dissipate.
The spell automatically judged the severity of the injury to determine the Mana cost for repairs.
Suddenly, sparks flew in front of Kenmei's eyes. An invisible wall blocked a fatal strike.
The ground in front of him cracked like a spiderweb, the solid concrete tearing apart from the shockwave.
It was the assassin. Holding a high-grade Cursed Tool, he had appeared right in front of Kenmei, but was blocked by a Psychic Shield formed of Mana.
He had taken the Crush spell and only suffered a light scratch.
Agile movement, a scar on the corner of his lip, and not a shred of Cursed Energy on his body.
There was only one freak like this in the whole world.
The Heavenly Tyrant.