What Rugal wanted wasn't his guarantee. It was the power of Ryuji standing behind him.
"I don't need you to take action, Douglas, and I won't do anything to the people of the Mugen Tenshin Clan either. All I want are their techniques and skills. So, obtaining them through your DOATEC is enough for me. As for what I'm giving you in return... consider it my tuition fee."
If he had enough time, Rugal would absolutely have taken action himself.
But right now, he couldn't.
And he also needed DOATEC's experts in human experimentation to help him research Orochi's blood.
After all, from what he could currently tell, Orochi's blood wasn't something that could be used through normal means.
And as it happened, Douglas was planning to completely sever ties with DOATEC's darker side. He was eager to bring the company into the light and clean up its reputation. So, Rugal would give him exactly that opportunity.
"Besides, we can consider this a symbol of our successful cooperation. After all, we're not exactly enemies."
Rugal smiled as he concluded. As for whether they truly were enemies or not...
He would decide that after fighting Ryuji.
For now, he needed to establish contact with Ryuji, find out what Ryuji was thinking, and then see whether he can win him over as a backup plan to deal with Goenitz.
Of course, he still intended to kill Ryuji afterward.
Douglas thought for a moment, then nodded.
Naturally, he would prepare the Mugen Tenshin Clan's materials for Ryuji as well. After all, if those were the things Rugal wanted, he certainly wouldn't forget about Ryuji.
At the same time, the things Rugal was offering happened to be exactly what Douglas needed.
As for keeping the research and continuing to develop it himself...
That would simply be asking for death.
So, without thinking about it for much longer, Douglas nodded.
"Agreed."
Once the two big bosses had settled the matter, everything that followed was left to the CEOs and other executives.
They immediately began manipulating stock prices and carrying out similar operations, extracting as much money as possible from the stock market while negotiating deals with other powerful families.
Their goal was simple: split the retail investors' money thirty-seventy, while returning every cent belonging to the major players.
Meanwhile, Ryu, hiding outside the building, didn't quite know what to say.
How should he put it?
The techniques recorded in the Mugen Tenshin Clan's secret scrolls were certainly powerful, and their clan was historically comparable to his own.
But although Ryu himself had trained using the secret scrolls passed down through his family, his own strength couldn't be taken as representative of everyone in his clan.
After all, even within his own lineage, he was an exception.
He would never say it himself, but his ancestors had paid countless prices and made countless sacrifices, only to barely drive back an Archfiend that he himself could now fight on equal terms without even using the Dragon Sword.
Of course, in terms of raw destructive power and similar abilities, the Archfiend (Demon King) far surpassed him. A large part of Ryu's strength also came from the fact that his abilities were specifically effective against demons and monsters. And unlike the Archfiend, he couldn't directly shroud the entire Earth in darkness.
But if it came down to a real fight...
He was confident there weren't many people in this world who could defeat him.
As for the other ninjas of his clan, even the stronger ones were only around Kasumi's level...
To put it bluntly, if he wanted to kill Kasumi, it would only take him a single move.
"These people really are ridiculous. But if all they're after are those secret scrolls, then the problem isn't too serious."
Ryu sighed.
After realizing that Douglas of DOATEC was actually the most innocent one among them, just wanting to clean up his company and go legitimate, while everyone else was greedily eyeing both the Mugen Tenshin Clan and himself, an idea came to him.
He would deliberately lose at the World Martial Arts Tournament.
Since what they coveted was his cursed strength, then he would simply show them his weakness instead.
Although he would have to suffer serious injuries, afterward, the number of people paying attention to both him and the Mugen Tenshin Clan would decrease.
After all, if he appeared to be merely the sort of person who could be "dealt with using a machine gun," then the so-called Archfiend (Demon King) would naturally be regarded as nothing more than a minor threat as well.
Ryu was perfectly willing to do this.
Carelessly making contact with other worlds could cause enormous harm to the human world. He had no desire for people to constantly harass him simply because of his strength.
Those who wanted his power would inevitably unseal demons and cause all kinds of trouble in an attempt to lure him out and weaken him, causing innocent people to suffer in the process.
The only question was...
Who should he let defeat him?
He looked toward the departing Rugal and narrowed his eyes.
Since this man had gone to such lengths because of his ambitions and intended to continue conducting those utterly inhumane experiments, then he would do.
I will turn everything Rugal had done into a joke, destroy his corporation, and afterward, when I go to clean up those experimental facilities, as long as I didn't reveal strength too far beyond what I had shown publicly, I won't have to worry about being exposed.
"Then it'll be you."
He would display his "strength," as well as his "weakness," and use the opportunity to eliminate all the troubles surrounding both himself and the Mugen Tenshin Clan in one move.
But to do that, there was one person's character and position he first needed to understand.
And that person was the man standing behind Douglas.
~~~~~~~~~~
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