It had been six weeks since Goto had invested a large sum of money to hire expert hackers to find the address and the device to which the video against him had been sent a piece of evidence that was truly devastating. He couldn't kill the journalists; doing so would only throw fuel on the fire and make the crimes against him seem even more credible to both the island's citizens and to Japan, leading him straight to the gallows. So he paid the journalists well in exchange for their silence.
The journalists on the island weren't the real problem, the ones outside Fumetsu were. They wouldn't be silenced with a few extra bills. In fact, the politicians wouldn't settle for a few million yen; they would demand a hundred times more. Goto decided to accept their demands, knowing full well there would be consequences.
The accounts of the Black Corps, the bank, and the profits of Hajime's stepfather dropped by 55%.
Goto sat in his office, massaging his temple with his right thumb and forefinger. He was utterly stressed, filled with rage over everything that had happened in the past few months. He had spent a fortune to shut the mouths of many politicians, but all of it would be useless if the "rebels" had more videos of that magnitude to release. Everything he had done would be for nothing.
"Damn it… How did it come to this? I am a sovereign! I can't let myself be beaten by some guy in a mask!" (Goto)
Goto slammed his fist onto the desk, shattering it completely, it broke like a breadstick under the sheer strength of the Black Corps' leader. A few moments later, his secretary entered the room, her face expressionless, by now used to these outbursts from Hajime's stepfather.
"Do you have a moment, Goto-sama? I think I—"
"Tell me you've found a solution, or get out!"
At that moment, Goto could have killed his secretary on the spot, but he took a deep breath to calm his nerves and gestured for her to continue.
"We've found a solution. There's a mercenary who seems to have some information for us. From what I understand, she knows who might be behind all this or at least knows some of the 'rebels.' She supposedly has a lot of intel, but in exchange she's demanding 1,000 tons of the island's Glephnir to be shipped overseas, to the Chinese coast, to Hong Kong."
"WHAT? That's literally two-thirds of our entire stock! I don't think so—"
Goto froze for a moment, lost in thought. He didn't have much of a choice. This wasn't the time to be stingy. He didn't even care why she wanted all that material sent to China. With a heavy heart, he decided to accept and invest this massive amount of resources to save face.
**************************
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the island's central district, Hajime was training with Veronica in their practice hall. The stepson of Goto had made incredible progress since the previous events with Kuro. He realized he had many weaknesses to fix, namely speed and agility. After six weeks of extreme training under Kaede's mother, Hajime had filled those gaps, enhancing all his physical abilities.
He now had the endurance and attack power of ten tanks combined, along with greatly improved speed, agility, reaction time, and heightened senses when using physical enhancement. His other spells had also evolved: blood manipulation, organ shifting, and blood recovery. He was practically a full Beta-tier now.
At the moment, Hajime was sparring hand-to-hand with Veronica, throwing precise punches and kicks aimed at her torso and sides.
"Mmh mmh, not bad, my student… but you're still missing a bit of—"
At that moment, Veronica suddenly ducked and delivered an axe kick that knocked Hajime off balance, making his legs falter before she followed up with a direct kick aimed at his face.
"…Improvisation."
The silver-haired boy blocked the blow with his forearms, though the force caused a microfracture. Even with his impressive defense, to Veronica it felt like smashing a porcelain vase with a hammer.
"Oh oh, I'm surprised."
"Overwrite: Blood Armor!"
Hajime coated his forearms and hands with hardened blood, forming a crimson armor. Veronica quickly stepped back, noticing the electric sparks around Hajime growing more intense as his eyes filled with a murderous glare.
"Round two, huh? I like that look."
Hajime dashed toward Veronica, moving faster than before, circling her several times to confuse her. He kept glancing at her position, then suddenly lunged for her abdomen. Veronica blocked the strike with her palm, but at the same moment Hajime formed blood blades along his forearm for a follow-up strike. She narrowly dodged it with a lightning-fast backstep, but then heard a dripping sound.
"What…?"
"In the end, I got you, huh?"
Veronica touched her right cheek, feeling a small cut, a trickle of blood. She had been hit. Though she hadn't been fighting seriously, she was still surprised. For the first time in a long while, she decided to use her magic: Telekinesis.
She generated a shockwave that shattered Hajime's blood armor like fragile glass and slammed him against the wall.
"It's been a long time since anyone managed to wound me. I didn't activate my Armor, and I wasn't using my magic, true, but I didn't expect you'd land a hit this soon. Prepare yourself… thanks to your efforts, I'll start using more than my pinky finger."
"(Damn it, looks like she really wants to break me apart… Well, I have no choice now. I'll give it everything I've got.)"
From the solidified blood fragments, Hajime gathered them into his hand, forming a katana. He crouched slightly, drawing the blade back, sharpening his senses and waiting for an opening.
Veronica raised her index and middle fingers, channeling mana to form a red sphere between them. It pulsed with destructive energy. Then she pointed it at Hajime.
"[Magic Killer: Scarlett]"
With those words, she unleashed the powerful attack toward him, a compressed shockwave shaped and given mass by her mana. Hajime didn't have time to dodge. He boosted his physical stats to their maximum and unleashed a lightning-infused Iaido slash, a technique he had learned from the Shogun and later perfected.
The strike barely managed to cut the sphere in two, causing it to explode behind him in a gravitational blast. Fortunately, it wasn't strong enough to completely overpower him or perhaps Veronica had held back. Hajime's blood katana shattered, and he collapsed to one knee, drenched in sweat, covered in bruises and small wounds from the intense spar.
Veronica telekinetically tossed him a towel and a bottle of water.
"Well done, my student. You've exceeded my expectations, even against one of my special techniques, though I went easy on you."
"Easy? Shishou, I don't think you understand the meaning of 'easy.' Still, I've gotten much stronger, expanded my skill set, and I owe that to you. Tell me… how strong am I now?"
"I'd say you're at a mid-to-high Beta Rank. Maybe in three or four years, you could reach Alpha Rank. But you're still missing something. You've been creative with your magic and used everything to your advantage, but you still lack strategy and real combat experience. Also, you only know how to use a katana. You should learn to handle different weapons, you never know when you won't have your usual one. This is the time to prepare."
She was right. Hajime still had little real combat experience. The missions he'd faced were nothing compared to Veronica's countless battles. As he recovered, using his grimoire to heal his pain and mend his minor fractures, he grew curious about the attack she had used.
"Shishou, can I ask what that attack you used earlier was?"
Veronica smiled and briefly explained:
"It's a technique that combines mana with my magic to create a mass and gravitational-repulsion strike. It can hit multiple enemies or pierce through a single one's Armor. That attack could even pierce a building and destroy it, but you can't learn it."
"And why not? Because of…"
"The implosion? That's a different matter. Implosion is a difficult but general mana-based technique. This one, though, is personal, it's based on my magic's unique structure. It's like your blood katana or the other constructs you've created during battle, or when you infused electricity into your blade. That wasn't a technique, it was a combination of spells. It's effective, but you end up consuming far more mana than you should."
After resting, showering, and returning home telling everyone he'd just been at the gym, Hajime sat on his bed, deep in thought.
"(It still hurts to see Kaori like that… but I've made my decision. I'll defeat Goto. I'm sure Kaori will understand, she's not stupid.)"
As he pondered, a notification popped up on his phone. He picked it up — and froze in surprise at the message.
"Eh?"