I don't want to be an elf!

"In terms of destructive power alone, I'd give you a barely passing grade."

Looking at the trenches created by the black beast's trail of sparks and lightning beneath her feet, Kurumi Tokisaki smiled and said, "But if you can't hit it, it's useless."

"It doesn't matter if the first shot misses."

Ryunosuke Akutagawa coldly replied, "As long as the follow-up attacks hit their targets, that's fine."

As she spoke, multiple spikes suddenly emerged from the black beast beneath Tokisaki Kurumi's feet, instantly piercing through her body.

Black thorns pierced his thighs and abdomen, and blood mixed with fragments of internal organs flowed out like a fountain.

In the blink of an eye, Tokisaki Kurumi was seriously injured.

However, the smile on her face did not diminish in the slightest.

"Fourth Bullet."

He shot himself in the temple, and a truly astonishing scene unfolded before Ryunosuke Akutagawa's eyes.

The blood that stained the ground red returned to Kurumi Tokisaki's body as if time had reversed, and the large hole pierced by the black thorns healed at a visible speed.

In just a few seconds, the critically injured girl returned to her perfect pre-battle condition.

Then, with a single shot, she shattered the black beast beneath her feet. Tokisaki Kurumi looked at Akutagawa Ryunosuke, casually fiddling with her hair: "This kind of painless attack is useless against me."

A painless and ineffective attack?

If an ordinary person were hit by this move, they would surely die.

Even with healing abilities that can heal fatal wounds, the pain of being torn apart is still very real.

Muscles were torn apart by the black beast, bones were bitten off by the black beast, and internal organs were shredded by the black beast.

Under such pain, it wouldn't be surprising if one were to faint instantly.

But this woman...

Looking at the girl in front of him, who was moving with such elegance in the battle as if she were strolling in a garden, Ryunosuke Akutagawa frowned deeply.

Chapter Twenty-Four: This is also part of the plan.

A strange feeling arose in Ryunosuke Akutagawa's heart.

He felt as if he wasn't fighting against humans.

Instead, they were fighting against some monster that had lost its humanity.

The indifference to life and death, the joy revealed in the brutal duel, and the madness hidden beneath reason.

And that graceful stroll towards destruction.

Ryunosuke Akutagawa thought his personality was abnormal enough, but he never expected that this young girl would be even more twisted than him.

"How many people have you killed?"

He should have been fully focused on the battle, but looking into the girl's eyes, Ryunosuke Akutagawa couldn't help but ask this question.

The Port Mafia consists of scum who are not accepted by society and cannot integrate into the normal world.

As for why they are called scum, it's because, to varying degrees, they have all lost some of their humanity.

With every evil deed they commit, every person they kill, every instance of bloodshed and turmoil they bring, they lose a little of their humanity.

Little by little, until whole humanity is shattered into dust.

Until they can never escape the darkness, they degenerate into monsters feared by the world, and after losing their humanity, they go completely insane.

Just like Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

Yes, of the same kind.

Ryunosuke Akutagawa had this feeling.

The girl in front of him, like him, had chosen to fall into depravity for something, and even becoming a monster was not a pity.

Even more depraved than him.

"It would be such a hassle to count every time I kill someone," Kurumi Tokisaki tilted her head in confusion. "Do you remember how many slices of bread you've eaten?"

“You’re right, I asked a stupid question.” Ryunosuke Akutagawa nodded. “I have to take back what I said before, Kurumi Tokisaki, I underestimated you.”

Should I feel happy?

"No, you should feel despair."

As Ryunosuke Akutagawa spoke, the black coat billowed more violently, resonating, intertwining, and taking shape.

From within, several scarlet eyes slowly opened, casting frantic gazes at the girl.

The killing intent boiled in the air.

Ryunosuke Akutagawa raised his silver-gray eyes, like a messenger announcing death, and delivered his final judgment.

"Because, from this moment on, I will regard you as my greatest enemy in this life."

"......Eh?"

Kurumi Tokisaki's expression froze, not understanding where this sudden declaration of rivalry came from.

This is not good news for her.

Originally, she planned to take advantage of Akutagawa Ryunosuke's contempt for her, defeat him quickly, and seize control of Izumi Kyoka's command.

But unexpectedly, this guy suddenly realized halfway through and decided to use his real skills to fight her.

Given enough time, she's confident she could win against not just Ryunosuke Akutagawa, but even the entire Port Mafia.

The problem is, she doesn't have that much time.

She already didn't have enough time, so if Ryunosuke Akutagawa were to fight her with all his might, she might actually be the one to lose.

Although they had previously drained more than twenty gang members, their time was almost used up by summoning clones, using the Tenth Bullet, and other time bullets.

Don't think that twenty-odd people have a lot of time. In the original work, Kurumi Tokisaki collected time throughout Japan, and hundreds of millions of people were her "power banks".

Even so, she often doesn't have enough time.

Not to mention Tokisaki Kurumi.

"Is this the only option left?"

Kurumi Tokisaki's heart sank, and she took a deep breath.

"I can't let him get used to my fighting style. If the game drags on to the later stages, I'll definitely lose!"

With this thought in mind, Tokisaki Kurumi raised her short flintlock pistol: "Fifth Bullet".

The Fifth Bullet's ability is to briefly foresee the future. Through this ability, Kurumi Tokisaki saw the tactics that Ryunosuke Akutagawa would choose in the future.

Her mind raced, and she quickly devised a plan using the intelligence advantage she gained from foreseeing the future.

"Rashomon—with jaws!"

Giving Tokisaki Kurumi no chance to catch her breath, Ryunosuke Akutagawa, bearing several times the burden, directed the newly born black beast to attack Tokisaki Kurumi.

Unlike a simple jaw, the ligature jaw is much smaller and its destructive power is on a completely different level.

However, its efficiency in killing enemies is by no means weak!

If the large lion is unable to kill the enemy, let the smaller and more agile hyena devour the enemy piece by piece!

However, Kurumi Tokisaki, who had foreseen the future, already had a plan.

"It's time for us to work!"

Even though the lights in the fighting arena hadn't changed, Kurumi Tokisaki's shadow was eerily long.

Four girls who looked exactly like her emerged from the shadows, dressed in divine armor and wielding two flintlock pistols, except that they did not have the giant Roman clock behind them.

Kurumi Tokisaki's clones raised their weapons, and dozens of bullets formed from spiritual energy collided with the jaws of the mortal.

The shrunken black beasts could not withstand the impact of the spiritual energy bullets. After only managing to withstand a few bullets, they were all reduced to fragments by the bombardment of more bullets.

"cover me!"

He gave the order to his clones, and the four clones immediately spread out, launching a barrage of fire at Akutagawa Ryunosuke from all directions.

Ryunosuke Akutagawa was caught off guard by this sudden attack of justice. He commanded the black beasts to surround him and block the dense bullets.

Surrounded by his four clones, he was unable to devise a countermeasure and could only passively defend himself.

Meanwhile, the main body took this opportunity to use the First Bullet to instantly teleport above Ryunosuke Akutagawa's head.

"Seven Bullet!"

Ryunosuke Akutagawa was greatly shocked. If he remembered correctly, the Seventh Bullet's ability was to stop all actions of the target it hit.

"Rashomon------Cluster!"

By sheer luck, he managed to block the Seventh Bullet with the hastily created Black Beast, and Akutagawa Ryunosuke instinctively launched an attack on Tokisaki Kurumi in the sky.

Dozens of black blades, resembling wildly growing weeds, burst forth from the ground and effortlessly pierced through Tokisaki Kurumi's body. The defensive capabilities of the Kamui Spirit Armor were as if they didn't exist under the attack of the Rashomon ability.

Having succeeded in one strike, press your advantage and continue the attack.

Without the slightest hesitation, Ryunosuke Akutagawa's slender black blade pierced through her body and continued its journey to her heart, shattering it.

However, this time he learned his lesson and did not immediately retrieve the black beasts after the attack succeeded. Instead, he left them inside Kurumi Tokisaki's body to prevent her from using the Fourth Bullet to heal her injuries again, just like before.

"ended."

Just as Ryunosuke Akutagawa had this thought, he saw Kurumi Tokisaki raise her flintlock pistol before she breathed her last, a triumphant smile appearing on her bleeding lips.

"Successful."

Chapter Twenty-Five: Suicide Combat

Why is she still smiling?

For the first time in a long time, a sense of unease rose in Ryunosuke Akutagawa's heart.

The heart, one of the most important organs in the human body, is almost always fatal once damaged.

Now, Kurumi Tokisaki's heart is no longer a matter of whether it is damaged or not, but has been shattered into pieces, which even the most advanced medical technology cannot repair.