Uta's brows furrowed even tighter beneath his mask. "There seems to have never been any grievance between us."
Amano Hiro gently set Rize down. The crimson Carnage writhed slowly around his body.
"Indeed there hasn't. But you are in my way, so... you can only be asked to die."
Before his words even settled, a thunderous boom exploded as the ground cracked apart.
His figure vanished from where he stood, and in the next instant he appeared before Roma Hoito, a massive claw slashing down with the sound of tearing air.
Roma Hoito had prepared to flee from the moment they met. This sudden attack was still within her expectations.
She arched backward nimbly, bracing her hands against the ground to spring away, bursting into exaggerated laughter.
"Hahaha. That almost hit me." Before her words finished, she had already bolted deeper into the corridor without looking back.
Uta was about to move to assist, but Rize's four rinkaku had already sealed off his path.
"I can't let you disturb Hiro." A graceful smile rested on Rize's lips, yet a dangerous light flickered in her eyes.
Meanwhile, Roma Hoito fled wildly through the corridor, Amano Hiro following like a shadow.
Countless sharp spikes poured out like torrential rain, weaving a net of death in the air.
"Puchi."
Though Roma Hoito dodged with all her strength, several spikes still pierced cleanly through her back, nailing her to the floor.
"Ugh..." She curled on the ground in apparent agony, her voice suddenly turning weak and pitiful. "D-Don't kill me... someone... save me..."
Amano Hiro watched her dying act coldly, his claw swinging without hesitation toward her head.
He knew this woman's tricks too well. In the original story, her specialty was feigning weakness before delivering a fatal counterattack.
Sure enough, at the instant the claw was about to strike, Roma Hoito rolled away violently.
"Tsk, couldn't trick you." Her voice turned savage. "Then I'll just kill you head-on. Hahahahahaha."
Accompanied by manic laughter, her body began to swell rapidly.
Four enormous legs covered in ringed patterns burst from her body, like deformed arms clad in striped stockings.
Huge compound eyes glowed faintly in the darkness, and within her circular maw were layers upon layers of sharp teeth.
Roma Hoito's lower body fused with the grotesque monster's head, forming a sight that sent chills down the spine.
This was the kakuja form of the SSS-rated ghoul, "Mother of Chaos."
At this moment she was even several degrees larger than Amano Hiro's Carnage form, radiating suffocating pressure.
Amano Hiro stared at the twisted monstrosity before him as crimson kagune energy boiled around him.
His body swelled again in an instant, jagged spikes tearing through at his joints.
Six thick tendrils unfolded viciously from his back, their ends morphing into various deadly weapon forms.
With a roar that shook the corridor, he transformed into a streak of scarlet lightning and charged straight at Roma Hoito's kakuja form.
......
At the same time, the clash between Rize and Uta carried a completely different tone.
Uta never deployed his kagune, relying solely on agile footwork to weave through Rize's attacks.
Rize also did not grow serious. Her four rinkaku traced elegant arcs through the air as if in play, yet maintained just enough threat.
Even so, fine beads of sweat had already formed on Uta's forehead.
He had never expected this Rize to be so strong. Even if he went all out, he would have no chance of victory.
He now understood he had no ability to reinforce Roma.
Even if he went, facing the acknowledged apex of ghouls, Carnage, he likely would accomplish nothing.
Now there was no ghoul in the underworld who did not know Carnage. All ghouls knew Carnage was the strongest ghoul, the leader capable of guiding them into a new world.
He could only pray silently that Roma would escape. As for defeating Carnage, the thought did not arise even slightly.
Boom.
With a deafening crash, the corridor wall shattered.
Roma Hoito's massive kakuja body was blasted backward through the breach,
slamming heavily onto the floor of the hall below and sending dust billowing everywhere.
She scrambled up in panic, cold sweat soaking her clothes. Faced with the overwhelming power of Carnage, her only thought now was escape.
Her gaze darted around and she realized this was a hall filled with numerous CCG investigators.
All of them were frozen in shock at her sudden appearance.
"An opportunity." She rushed toward the crowd without hesitation, intending to devour a few investigators to replenish her strength before fleeing again.
A tearing sound split the air above her head. She leapt forward to evade the lethal strike,
seizing an investigator who failed to dodge in time. Amid a shrill scream,
she stuffed the prey into her grotesque maw, the nauseating crunch of chewing echoing through the hall.
She dared not pause for even a moment. Every delay could mean death.
Amano Hiro pursued relentlessly, inwardly cursing that trash anime production team. This Mother of Chaos was far more troublesome than depicted in the anime.
Her speed was astonishing, and her durability far exceeded expectations. After so many heavy blows, she was still lively.
"But escaping from my hands is pure fantasy."
Just as Amano Hiro was about to catch her, Roma Hoito suddenly veered sharply and rammed into the side wall.
With a thunderous crash, she smashed straight through the building's outer wall and escaped outside the venue.
"M-Monster."
"It's the SSS-rated ghoul, Mother of Chaos."
The investigators guarding the perimeter were thrown into chaos by the sudden turn of events. Before they could react.
"Roar."
A soul-shaking roar burst from the breach in the venue wall.
In the next second, a crimson figure streaked across the night sky like a meteor, appearing precisely above Roma Hoito.
A massive dark-red double-pronged spear thrust down from the air, mercilessly pinning her enormous body to the ground.
"Ugh." Roma Hoito struggled frantically, only to find she could not break free.
At the critical moment, she decisively dispelled her kakuja form. Her small original body slipped free from the restraints and dashed toward the nearest cluster of investigators without looking back.
She intended to use these "shields" to escape Amano Hiro.
Inside the command room, Washuu Matsuri stared fixedly at the surveillance feed, his knuckles pale from gripping too hard.
When he saw Roma Hoito's enormous kakuja form fleeing like a stray dog before Carnage, his face darkened as if it could drip water.
His teeth clenched, each word forced out between them.
"Trash... this is the so-called SSS-rated ghoul?"
On the monitor, the crimson figure pursued Mother of Chaos with absolute dominance, everything in its path reduced to ruins.
Washuu Matsuri slammed his fist heavily onto the console, the screens shaking violently.
"Turn around and fight him. You so-called Mother of Chaos."
He snarled at the screen, veins bulging at his temples.
Watching the SSS-rated ghoul who did not even dare to fight back against Carnage, he felt a surge of fury rising in his chest.
"Simply... a disgrace to all ghouls."