At this moment, the auction hall had already turned into a bloody purgatory.
And Takizawa Seidou, now fully transformed, our "Jam King," was rampaging through the venue like an out-of-control killing machine.
When his crimson gaze swept across a corner, it suddenly froze on a female investigator curled up behind debris.
The moment the woman met his eyes, her whole body trembled, yet she unexpectedly recognized that familiar face.
"Y-You are Takizawa-san, right?" Her voice shook but carried a trace of hope. "I attended your training lecture back then..."
Takizawa Seidou tilted his head, a faint smile appearing on his pale face. "Oh? It's you."
He stepped forward, the metal sole of his boot making a sticky sound as it pressed into pooled blood.
"The girl who kept whispering to her deskmate in class."
Seeing he actually remembered her, hope instantly ignited in the investigator's eyes. "Yes. That's me."
Yet the next second, an arm suddenly clamped around her skull, lifting her whole body off the ground.
Under her terrified gaze, Takizawa Seidou's knife-hand pierced through her chest like a hot blade through butter.
"Since you came to my class..." he suddenly shouted in a twisted scream, "you should have listened properly."
...
Amano Hiro and Rize passed through corridors thick with the stench of blood when they suddenly heard faint chewing sounds from a corner.
Amano Hiro's steps paused slightly as he followed the sound into a narrow passage.
Under the dim lighting, a figure was crouched on the floor, feasting greedily on the corpse of a fellow investigator.
Beneath his mask, the corner of Amano Hiro's lips curled into a playful arc.
"Tsk tsk tsk. This is really... I never expected to run into an investigator enjoying a banquet of her own colleague."
Mutsuki Tooru jerked her head up, her blood-smeared face filled with panic.
When she saw the masked man and woman standing at the corridor entrance, her pupils shrank sharply.
"I-I've been seen..." The thought exploded in her mind, and survival instinct made her turn and flee without hesitation.
Rize watched the fleeing figure with interest. "So she is an investigator. I didn't expect our kind to be hidden inside the CCG as well."
"Calling them our kind is not entirely accurate." Amano Hiro walked forward slowly,
his tone calm. "Their RC levels are controlled within the human range. They can use kagune and also eat normal food. Only..."
Before his sentence finished, a crimson tendril suddenly burst from his chest.
Just as Mutsuki Tooru believed she was about to escape, a blade formed from the tendril pierced precisely through her chest.
"Puchi."
The blade instantly transformed into a spiked ball.
"Ugh—"
Rize gracefully withdrew the tendril and watched the body, riddled like a sieve by the spiked sphere, collapse limply to the floor. She said softly.
"Not very stable."
Back when he watched the anime and saw this Mutsuki Tooru, she disgusted him so much he wanted to jump into the screen and kill her. Now it was realized.
Having dealt with this rebellious disciple, Amano Hiro led Rize onward to continue searching for members of the Clowns.
In the direction Amano Hiro and the others were advancing,
Squad Ooshima moved quickly down smoke-filled corridors, the members nervously searching every room and corner.
"What's going on? Are those ghouls all escaping this fast?" a young member muttered in complaint.
Another echoed. "Yeah. We haven't run into a single enemy since just now."
Squad leader Ooshima remained vigilant and warned in a low voice. "Do not be careless. Search carefully.
Those cunning ghouls may be hiding in the shadows, waiting to deliver us a fatal strike."
"Understood."
This squad, which in the original story would have encountered Mayu and been wiped out,
now had its fate already changed because of Amano Hiro's intervention.
And Amano Hiro, who had altered their destiny, was at this moment strolling leisurely through the building.
In his perception, the entire structure seemed to transform into a bustling food street.
The sensation was like the aroma of "braised ribs" drifting from the east,
the fragrance of "stewed chicken soup" coming from the west, the enticing scent of "stir-fry" permeating the north, while the south emitted the warm smell of "steamed buns."
These rich scents intertwined, actually stirring in him an impulse to properly "feast."
"Hiro," Rize lightly hooked his arm, a playful smile curving her lips,
"a few 'little breads' are coming this way."
Amano Hiro snapped out of the peculiar sensory reverie and looked toward the end of the corridor.
He recognized at a glance the investigator leading them.
Wasn't this exactly the investigator who in the original story was killed by Mayu ' exploding kagune? The coincidence of fate made him raise a brow slightly.
He had just killed Mayu , and now he met the investigator who should have been killed by her.
At the same time, Ooshima also noticed the extraordinary man and woman at the corridor's end. He immediately raised a hand in signal.
"All units, ready."
The members swiftly entered combat stance, quinques deploying one after another.
Hayashimura Naoto gripped his quinque tightly, fine sweat beading on his temple. "Captain, such oppressive pressure... these two are definitely not ordinary ghouls."
Because Amano Hiro usually appeared in the terrifying monstrous form of "Carnage,"
his current humanoid masked appearance was completely unfamiliar to the investigators.
They had no idea that the one before them was the dread figure known as "Carnage."
Sometimes fate's arrangements truly make one laugh and cry at once.
Since they had met on a narrow path, and Amano Hiro was no saint,
sending these investigators on their final journey would at least complete this encounter.
He calmly withdrew both hands from his pockets. Dark-crimson "Carnage" surged forth like a living thing,
covering his entire body in an instant and forming a red monstrosity radiating overwhelming pressure.
Then he made an unexpected move. With his left hand he gently lifted Rize's waist, settling her onto his bent forearm.
Rize sat sideways with elegance, as if seated upon a throne of flesh, her slender legs swaying lightly in the air.
The scene carried shocking visual impact. The ferocious crimson giant,
and the enchanting beauty nestled in his arm formed an ultimate contrast,
perfectly embodying the eerie aesthetic of "Beauty and the Beast," radiating a breathtaking strange allure at the center of the bloody battlefield.
The members of Squad Ooshima were stunned by the surreal sight for a moment.
But Ooshima quickly reacted, cold sweat instantly soaking the uniform on his back.
This was clearly that legendary "Carnage." It was over. They were dead.
"This is Squad Ooshima." Hayashimura Naoto shouted hoarsely into the communicator, his voice warped by fear. "We have encountered Carnage."