Mutagen

A new player entered the game. And considering the dangerous position Ren currently had in this battle, it was fortunate that the player was an ally.

On the other hand, Keiji was infuriated. He lost the opportunity to end this farce, to finally kill his sister. Furthermore, he was actually hurt by the sneak attack even though bullets did nothing to him.

Apart from appearance, there was something odd about this woman in front of Keiji.

Ren stared at the armored woman\'s back. While she did not recognize this person, she somehow felt she was familiar. What she realized, however, was that her armor was kind of similar to what Mark\'s group had. In fact, the pieces of armor Ren was wearing had some resemblance to hers.

The similarities between the armors meant one thing. This fully armored woman was sent by Mark to help Ren.

Ren was about to request the woman to take the front for a while. The injury to her flank sure was pretty bad for her to continue a high-speed fight. However, it did not mean that she could not do anything. She could support the battle from behind using her petal blades.

But before Ren could even say anything, she was stunned.

The armored woman had her left hand behind her back, sending hand signals to Ren to take the support role.

Ren was not surprised by what the armored woman told her. What surprised her was that the hand signals used by the woman were exclusive to the Ninjas trained by the Mitsui Clan.

Was this woman part of the Mitsui Clan? But who? Someone from the Mitsui Clan was under Mark\'s command?

Ren was really confused and curious about the armored woman\'s identity. However, the only clue she could see was the woman\'s height being a bit shorter than Ren\'s. And if they were not in the middle of a dangerous battle, she would mull over it even more.

The silent communication between the armored woman and Ren lasted only a few seconds.

After giving Ren her instructions, the armored woman dashed toward the furious Keiji. It was at the same time that Keiji also made his move.

However, what Keiji did not expect, was that instead of taking out a close-range weapon to fight, the armored woman swiped her hand forward.

A familiar weapon flew towards Keiji. It was a Ninja\'s kunai. It was a small, bladed weapon used for both throwing and as a dagger. However, the kunai looked strange. Considering their expertise, Ninja weapons were often plain dark colored, if not just pure black. 

But the kunai the armored woman threw had strips of white parts that exuded a faint glow even during daytime. It was an unconventional weapon for someone in their field.

Nonetheless, Keiji did not care. Or rather, his corroding mind was becoming incapable of caring about a trivial weapon. Bullets could not harm him. What could a measly kunai do?

But it was an awful mistake.

The kunai accelerated as if it was a bullet with a triggered primer.

And then...

"What..."

Keiji\'s eyes, both human and serpentine, widened.

The kunai tore through the layer of the aura surrounding Keiji\'s body.

Following the unexpected penetration, the kunai exploded right in front of his face.

"GACK!"

Keiji made an unsightly voice as his face caught the brunt of the explosion. He was stopped on his feet and was even pushed a few steps back.

The pain made Keiji cover his face. As he removed his hand, he noticed the reddish-black blood that covered his hand, and his sight became limited.

Keiji was confused, but everyone around saw his state. The blood came from Keiji\'s eyes that had yet to transform. That one kunai deprived Keiji of one of his eyes.

However, the armored woman was not done yet. She threw another kunai at the confused Keiji.

This time, Keiji\'s instincts kicked in. It was a little late due to his confusion, but he still tried to avoid the next kunai.

Just like the first one, the second kunai accelerated mid-air. However, while it managed to penetrate the aura enveloping Keiji\'s body, he was already out of the kunai\'s trajectory.

But there, an unexpected scene occurred. The kunai exploded without hitting any target. The fragments from the kunai hit Keiji\'s stomach, causing him more pain and wounds.

What in the world was going on? That question lingered not only in Keiji\'s but everyone\'s minds.

The pain in his stomach staggered Keiji, but its impact was lesser than the direct hit of the first kunai.

Enraged, Keiji forgot the pain and faced the armored woman.

But Keiji froze.

Where was she?

At that moment, Keiji lost sight of the armored woman. How was that possible? In terms of movement and speed, the armored woman was slower than Ren. Yet, Keiji did not lose sight of Ren even for a second. But the armored woman, who wore something that should stand out in the white snow-covered environment, could escape Keiji\'s eyes and senses.

BOOOM!

"GAHACK!

The question in Keiji\'s mind was answered with the impact of another explosion on his back.

Now knowing that the enemy was behind him, Keiji ignored all the pain in his body and whipped his eight tails around with a quick spin. The tails even elongated mid-swing, covering a wider area.

The armored woman was forced back as Keiji\'s attack covered over fight meters around him.

Keiji finally locked onto the armored woman and controlled his tails to attack from eight different directions.

However, the armored woman was not fazed. She immediately retaliated with another kunai thrown straight at Keiji.

With the tails already mid-way, Keiji had no problems swatting the kunai with one of his tails. The kunai was hit to the side and flew away, strangely not exploding.

But at that moment, Keiji\'s serpentine eye widened.

The armored woman was in front of him just now. But the trajectory of his remaining tails was met with an empty space.

And then...

Keiji suddenly shifted his body by reflex. Even so...

BOOM!

"ACK!"

Another explosion occurred, impacting the left side of Keiji\'s back.

The armored woman appeared on Keiji\'s left side, and he had no idea how in the world that happened.

However, it was not just Keiji. In fact, everyone watching was in confusion.

They experienced the same thing as Keiji. They all saw the kunai get swatted by one of Keiji\'s tails. And the next thing they knew, the armored woman was gone. They only noticed her again when the next explosion occurred.

How was this possible? Did this armored woman have some ability like teleportation?

However, Ren knew that it was not. Ren was closer to the scene. She could see the footprints that the armored woman left in the snow as she moved about. It was not teleportation. It was just as if she was vanishing and appearing in everyone\'s sight.

Ren sure forgot that she was supposed to support the armored woman. She was shocked at what was happening.

The armored woman did not need any support at all!

Furthermore, Ren was unable to do much to the transformed Keiji. On the other hand, while the armored woman might be relying on her strange weapons, being able to actually hit Keiji with those weapons was something else.

"RAAAAAHHH!!!"

Keiji roared in a fit of fury, whipping all his tails toward the armored woman\'s direction while spewing fire from his mouth to surround him.

The armored woman jumped back and threw another kunai at Keiji. Meeting the fire Keiji released, the kunai exploded. But at the same time, just like what happened before, everyone lost sight of the armored woman.

On the roof of the entrance of the Toyosu Market on the other side of the street, Spera watched the battle between the armored woman and Keiji. She was the one who brought this woman here following Mark\'s order.

Spera knew who the woman was. She was there when Mark thought of this method of fighting. Still, knowing where Mark got this method, Spera could only scratch her head.

The armored woman was fighting using [Misdirection]. A technique of a certain blue-haired number eleven basketball player in an anime.

While an item to guide the enemy and the audience\'s attention, the armored woman was taking advantage of her low presence to disappear from everyone\'s cognition. They would only notice her the moment she made another move, and following that, she could just repeat the process.

This kind of movement would be invalidated if the enemy was able to keep his attention to the user.

And in Keiji\'s case, it was hard. The exploding kunai could cause him pain. Thus, he could not ignore them. His attention would gravitate towards the thrown kunai, allowing the armored woman to escape his cognition.

In another few rounds, Keiji was dealt with repeated explosions. His body became riddled with wounds, and his clothing became far more tattered than an [Infected\'s]. 

But then, the problem became more apparent.

The kunai that the armored woman threw could penetrate the aura on Keiji\'s body, and the explosions could cause him pain. However, with the exception of Keiji\'s injured eye, the other injuries he received were insignificant.

It was clear that Keiji\'s body continued to transform. His skin was becoming sturdier and sturdier before becoming covered in black scales.

The armored woman\'s attacks surely hurt, but it was not enough to kill or even defeat Keiji.

Keiji began to understand this fact. His expression was becoming more confident despite the pain he felt with every attack that penetrated his aura.

Furthermore, Keiji began to understand the trick behind the armored woman\'s disappearing act. If he was able to endure the pain and kept his eyes on the woman, she would not escape his eyes.

And just like that, Keiji\'s eyes locked onto the woman despite her throwing another kunai straight at his stomach.

Just like before, the kunai tore through the aura and exploded, but Keiji would not be tricked anymore. The armored woman did not vanish from his sight, and he smiled sinisterly.

It was until...

"GACK!"

A far more intense pain assaulted Keiji\'s body. Keiji looked down at his stomach and noticed blade marks that penetrated his skit about an inch deep.

Blade wounds?

Keiji remembered what he had forgotten due to his rage. He turned his head, and at a distance away, Ren already stood up, looking perfectly fine except for her tattered clothes and scratched armor. Behind Ren was the image of a black lotus with petal blades hovering around her.

Ren shot petal blades at Keiji at the same moment and location the kunai penetrated his aura. It allowed the petal blades to pass through the aura\'s protection and wound Keiji.

"Why..." Keiji muttered as he wiped the blood dripping from his stomach. "Why would your pests not just lie down and be slaughtered?"

Keiji felt his injured eye throb. It was painful. It was annoying.

The people around could tell. Keiji was growing crazier as time went on. Only crazy people would ask such a stupid question. Everyone looked at him like a mental patient.

Keiji did not care what everyone was thinking. He did not care about their opinions. Would humans care about an insect\'s opinion of them? Of course not.

And for the current Keiji, these humans were just insects that needed to be trampled on.

Unfortunately, insects could bite.

And it was annoying.

Those thoughts swirled inside Keiji\'s mind. His corroded mind was becoming darker.

The transformation was taking over once again.

And this time, two of his aura tails became physical.

With four tails leaving their ethereal form, the pressure around Keiji increased two-fold.

The fusion of the aura and Keiji\'s body was becoming more solid. And there, everyone was frozen as Keiji roared to the sky.

It caused the magical energy in the surroundings to swirl violently.

Gusts of wind began to surround Keiji. It forced Ren and the armored woman to retreat.

But then...

CRASH!

Earthen spikes tore through the ground with Keiji at the center.

The sudden appearance of the spikes from the ground caught Ren off guard. She might look fine, but traces of the injury she received before had yet to heal. As such, she was late to dodge.

Several spikes shot up the ground under Ren. In a millisecond, those spikes would puncture her body with holes.

However, something pushed Ren out of the way. Ren turned her head and saw the armored woman getting hit by the earthen spikes.

BAM!

The armored woman was thrown away, rolling on the snow-covered ground.

Fortunately, they were now outside the reach of the spikes surrounding Keiji.

Ren immediately picked herself up and rushed to the armored woman. Fortunately, her armor protected her from fatal harm. However, bits and pieces of the armor began to fall. It was clear that the full brunt of the earthen spikes was too much for the armor to bear.

One of the largest bits to fall was actually from the armored woman\'s helmet.

And when Ren saw the woman\'s face, she could not help but exclaim.

"Sayuri?"

Ren blurted out.

Mitsui Sayuri. She was the second young lady of the Mitsui Family and the youngest sibling of Ren and Keiji. The armored woman was actually their younger sister.

Ren was overwhelmed with shock after learning the truth.