MTLNOVEL Ch. 91
The entrance to the underground facility, accessible via a secret passage in the main hall of the Beniyama Grand Shrine, served as its foyer.
Typically, only a select few adherents were ever invited to this hideout. This foyer was the first thing to greet those finally granted entry.
Wooden statues of the demon Homura stood in the four corners, while the ceiling and walls were adorned with solemn, intricate wood carvings depicting scenes from hell.
In this majestic building, befitting a spiritual headquarters, the invited faithful would renew their deep loyalty to the Hidden Flame and their desire to ascend its ranks.
In the spacious foyer, surrounded by the wooden statues of Homura, a man sat at a temporarily placed desk and chair, sipping steaming coffee.
He was Hakuya Dōdō, brooding over the words of Hayate Akayanagi.
“—I’m scared of him. Of that man, Ikaku Akamuro.”
He has all that power, so what’s he so afraid of?
The moment the commotion began overhead, Hakuya started assembling the disassembled gun on his desk.
The handgun was a fourth-generation Glock 17.
Weight, accuracy, magazine capacity, handling, reliability, durability—the list of its outstanding qualities was endless. A masterpiece of a semi-automatic pistol, and a very popular sidearm among exorcists.
With a tense expression, Hakuya inserted the magazine and racked the slide, leaving it ready to fire. He placed it on the desk and downed the now-lukewarm coffee.
A short while after the gunfire stopped, someone emerged from the passageway.
The figure that stepped out of the darkness was not the mercenary captain reporting a successful mission.
He was a tall man, about six-foot-three. His coat was covered in dust, his shirt stained with blood, his slacks were rumpled, and his necktie was scorched.
In one hand, he gripped an old-fashioned, over-under shotgun.
The word “wrecked” could not have been more apt to describe him.
“Hm. Seriously?”
Hakuya’s face was a mask of utter surprise. He rose from his seat and picked up the pistol from the desk.
Having stepped into the foyer, Ikaku Akamuro narrowed his eyes, his face twisting in annoyance. “Hakuya Dōdō.”
“Hmm. So you remember me? I’m flattered. To think all those men couldn’t even take down a single mortal with no magic. But if you made it this far, that means you killed every last one of them.”
“I’ll kill everyone here, too. The traitors included.”
“And what do you plan on doing in that state? Bet you can barely even stand.”
Hakuya’s eyes raked over him, a cynical smile playing on his lips. He quickly raised his pistol and fired while running toward one of the wooden statues.
At almost the same instant, Ikaku fired his shotgun while running for cover himself.
As fate would have it, they both chose the same statue and were now racing toward it.
Accuracy against a moving target drops off a cliff. Ikaku missed with both shots, quickly emptying the shotgun. Hakuya, for his part, also failed to land a hit, his aim thrown off by the psychological stress of the firefight.
Both of them dove for cover, landing on opposite sides of the wooden statue of Homura.
Ikaku, being faster on his feet, got there a split second sooner.
With their backs to the forty-six-foot statue on its square pedestal, both men’s minds raced to figure out their next move.
Ikaku holstered the shotgun and drew his Five-seveN instead. He judged it to have more than enough stopping power against a human.
In a fluid motion, he pulled the pin on his last grenade and rolled it over the top of the pedestal, aiming to blast the other side of the statue.
Hakuya swapped out the depleted magazine in his Glock 17 while steadying his ragged breathing.
He’s close! What do I do? From what I can tell, Ikaku Akamuro is on his last legs. The guy can’t use mana. But from our last run-in, he seemed good at close-quarters combat.
Then again, I barely used any mana that time, either. With my max physical enhancement at 320 percent, I’m sure I can pulp him.
Trading shots at a distance and catching a stray bullet would be a bigger pain in the ass. Should I just close in and beat him down?
A grenade, tumbling and rolling toward him, interrupted his frantic train of thought.
The moment he saw it, Hakuya made his decision: he would round the statue to the other side.
Mana Ascension!
He unleashed his mana at full power, gaining 3.2 times his normal durability and strength.
Naturally, Ikaku was waiting for him—at extremely close range.
As Hakuya advanced to escape the grenade, his gun peeked out from behind the square pedestal.
Instantly, Ikaku lunged, grabbing Hakuya’s gun hand and unleashing a Zero Force palm strike.
He dislocated Hakuya’s wrist, disarming him.