Jin’s POV
   “I have nothing to say to you.” the boy says gruffly.

   “Are you sure about that? Don’t you want to stall some time to calm those trembling legs of yours?”

   Upon getting caught, the boy glares at Jin in an attempt to look tough. However, the trembling of his legs barely diminished.

   “My legs are not trembling.”

   His voice came out as a squeak. Naturally, he’s not fooling anyone. Upon realizing his blunder, he clears his throat and tries again.

   “My legs are not trembling!”

   Much better, although it’s still obvious as day that he’s merely putting up a front.

   Jin points at Cinder, who has been growling at the boy for a while now, with his right index finger.

   “See this fellow here? A natural predator like him can smell fear. The moment his target starts to be scared, he would go in for the kill, that’s why he had been crouching like this.”

   The boy looks at Cinder and widens his eyes in fear. The worg responds by growling even louder.

   “Besides, your body parts aren’t attacking us anymore.” Jin adds. “You should have used this chance to double down on the attack.”

   The boy gasps and puts up an “Oh, drat!” expression. Jin shakes his head.

   “I’m really surprised that you managed to last this long.”

   The boy grits his teeth.

   “Leave me alone! Don’t you dare think I’m a pushover just because I’m scared of you!”

   “Oh, so you do admit that you’re scared.”

   “JUST DIE!”

   The boy pulls back his right fist, which confuses Jin as they’re too far apart from each other. Two seconds later, he understood the reasoning behind the supposedly pointless attack.

   The number of his arm multiplied at least fiftyfold and transformed into a giant fist. Not only that, all these arms are even stretchable. Jin wastes no time in standing in front of Cinder and slashes the giant fist over and over and over again. Blood, bones, skins and pieces of flesh start to fly all over the place. While slashing, Jin slowly moves forward to close the distance between himself and the boy.

   “DON’T COME NEAR ME!” the latter shrieks.

   “Make me.”

   The boy reaches back his left fist next, but he’s too late. The tip of Felfarthen has already reached his throat.

   “Checkmate.” Jin says calmly.

   The boy stomps his right foot. In the next second, tens of bony arms appear from the ground and try to grab Jin. Jin managed to dodge them all by hopping backwards.

   “Or not.” Jin mumbles.

   The arms go back into the hole where they came from, and the boy lifts up his right foot. Instead of a normal-looking leg, however, the stump consists of tens of arms of all sizes. So that’s where the arms came from.

   The arms come for Jin once more. Instead of hacking non-stop again, he jumps to the air.

   “You idiot! Now you have nowhere to dodge my attacks!” the boy laughs.

   He reaches out both his arms at Jin, and more arms come flying at him. Cinder appears out of nowhere and gives Jin a ride. The worg dodges all the outstretched arms magnificently and uses them as a bridge to charge towards the boy. Jin was planning to do this all by himself, but he guess that this is just as nice.

   The two of them were three to four steps away from the boy when he opened up his mouth really wide and shoots out a fireball. Jin swats it away calmly and hops down from Cinder’s back and dives towards the boy. Before he could react, Jin is already standing behind him with Felfarthen’s blade poked to his exposed back. The slightly slower Cinder, on the other hand, lands in front of the boy with his mouth opened wide, his fangs inches away from his throat.

   “Do you still refuse to talk?” Jin asks.

   “I rather die! Just get it over with!” the boy growls.

   Jin shrugs.

   “As you wish. Before I finish you off, though, I would at least want to know your name.”

   The boy grits his teeth.

   “It’s Fukuma Ryota.” he replies reluctantly.

   Fukuma Ryota. Yup. Jin did hear the delinquent who was extorting him calling him by that family name. And Jin also remembers that name as one of the students who went missing.

   “It might be a coincidence, but you wouldn’t happen to know what happened to Tajima Reina, do you? I mean, the two of you disappeared around the same time.”

   Upon asking that, Fukuma begins to tremble violently. He also starts to cry.

   “Um, are you okay?” Jin couldn’t help but ask.

   “No, I’m not. Not one bit.” Fukuma sobs. “I ate Tajima-san, for crying out loud.”

   “...Well, this got very dark in the blink of an eye. Is this one of those “Starts seeing red and losing self-control” thing?”

   Fukuma nods.

   “And you’re sure you ate her?”

   “Of course I’m sure! I-”

   All of a sudden, Fukuma bends over and starts to retch. Cinder was so alarmed he backed away. Jin waits patiently until Fukuma is done with his business. Suddenly, he wished that he brought his clone instead since the smell of the puddle is making him feel like puking.

   “Are you okay?” Jin asks when Fukuma has finally stop vomiting.

   Fukuma wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.

   “Yeah, I’m fine. Sort of. As for your question just now, yes. I’m more than sure. My stomach was bulging like I’m almost about to give birth when I regained my consciousness. There’s only one explanation for that, ain’t it?”

   “Fair enough. I won’t ask for any more details.”

   “Good. Now finish your job.”

   “Any last words?”

   Fukuma thinks about it for a while.

   “I hope Director Bouchard pays for what he has done to me.” he mumbles.

   “...Change of plans. I’m not going to kill you.”

   Fukuma turns around to look at Jin in shock.

   “What? What’s with the sudden change of heart?”

   “You mentioned Bouchard just now. Did you take part in his experiment or something?”

   “That’s right.” he admits while looking slightly ashamed.

   Jin couldn’t believe his ears.

   “This totally changes things. Oh, wait. It probably won’t.”

   Fukuma furrows his eyebrows.

   “Which one is it?” he demands.

   “See, I was thinking that your testimony can finally bring down Bouchard. However, there’s a high chance that it won’t mean a thing since he’s too well-protected. Besides, if he hears of your existence, he might sent someone to eliminate you, or worse, bring you back to his lab and experiment on you.”

   Fukuma shudders.

   “In that case, just kill me. I’m done with being a lab rat.”

   “No, you don’t get to decide that. As the victor of this battle, I’m going to spare you so that you’ll spit out everything about the times you were at Bouchard’s lab.”

   Fukuma growls after hearing that.

   “I guess we’re back to square one.” he threatens.

   “Actually, we’re not. By contrast, your position is much worse now.”

   Fukuma furrows his eyebrows again.

   “How so?”

   “Look above you.”

   Fukuma looks up in confusion, and then he sees the hole on the ceiling. More importantly, he notices that the anti-magic gas he released are leaking out from there. He blinks in surprise.

   “As you can see, the fireball you spit out just now was used against you. And as a result-”

   Jin opens up his right palm. A small ball made of ice appears on it.

   “I can use magic again.”

   Fukuma looks at the ball of ice with a dejected look.

   “Fine, I surrender.” he relents.

   “Good. Let’s leave then. But first-”

   Jin accesses his Vault and took out some random clothes. A shirt, a pair of shorts, and a pair of sandals.

   “Wear these. I don’t want a naked guy to walk next to me.” he instructs the human chimera.

   “Got it.”

   Thankfully, they’re around the same size, so those clothes and sandals sort of fit Fukuma. Once he’s dressed, Jin makes a pair of handcuffs made of ice appear and uses them to cuff Fukuma’s hands.

   “No hard feelings. I know you surrendered and all, but I have to make sure that you don’t run amok.”

   “I don’t mind, but I doubt these flimsy handcuffs can restrain me.”

   “They’re just for appearances. Their real function is to turn you into a block of ice when necessary. Now listen carefully. You seem to be able to keep your humanity in check, so I’ll do my best to convince the officers not to treat you like a monster. However, the moment you lose yourself, I’m going to behead you myself. Do I make myself clear?”

   Fukuma nods.

   “Loud and clear.”

   “Good, let’s get out of here.”

   With that, the three of them proceed to leave the factory.

   “Are you just going to leave these body parts?” Cinder asks as they pass by some of the body parts Fukuma removed from his body.

   “I can absorb them back to my body again, but it’s going to take a while. Plus, it’s going to look gross.”

   “No, you can’t just leave them here. Bouchard’s men might come here and collect them. It’s either you’ll get them back to your body, or I’ll burn down this entire place.” Jin says to him.

   “All right, just give me some time then.”

   Fukuma closes his eyes. Then, Jin hears lots of crawling sounds, not the mention the sound of skulls hopping. He was wondering how is Fukuma going to clean up those body parts that got sliced into half or got crushed, but then he sees those said body parts being carried over here by those that can still move.

   The body parts are absorbed into Fukuma’s body like how earthworms burrow into the soil. As Fukuma has warned, this scene looks quite disturbing. Heavens know how his body works. While waiting, Cinder lies down on the floor and takes a nap. Jin, on the other hand, is acting all nonchalant. Secretly, he’s keeping an eye out just in case Fukuma decides to try something. Eventually, Fukuma claimed that he’s done. Just to be sure, Jin cast Bright onthe entire factory again and took a quick look. Yup. Not even bloodstains remain. Satisfied, he wakes up Cinder so that they could leave the factory together.

   “What do you think they will do to me once they’ve done asking me questions?” Fukuma asks while looking a little afraid.

   “I doubt they’ll execute you, so they’ll most probably lock you up.” Jin states out his opinion honestly.

   “I rather they kill me, but I guess that’s the next best thing.”

   Jin suddenly realizes something based on what Fukuma just said.

   “What a second, is that why you wanted to fight us? So that we might end up killing you?” he asks.

   “Pretty much. I figured that if I have to die, I might as well die in a fight.”

   Cinder scoffs loudly.

   “That a foolish way of thinking.”

   “Don’t talk like you know me!” Fukuma tells the worg crossly.

   “Oh, I know alright. I knew a lot of worgs like you. Think glory best achieved by dying in a fight. Such brainless mutts they were. If you die on purpose, you just running away.”

   “What am I supposed to do then? Live and expect things to get better? It won’t!”

   “Can you tell what happens in the future?”

   “Of course not. I would definitely live a better life if I could.”

   “Then why you so sure your life will not get better?”

   Fukuma got silent for a while after being asked that question.

   “I can’t believe that I’m having an argument about life with a talking wolf.” was all he said.

   After they left the factory, Cinder squats down.

   “Get on. I can get you two back faster if I run full speed.” he offers.

   Fukuma looks at Jin. He shrugs.

   “It’s rude to refuse.”

   And so, the two of them got on. The back of the worg is quite big, so Fukuma and Jin can ride on top of him without any issue. Jin made Fukuma sit at the front so that he could catch him if he happens to fall off.

   “Make sure to grab my fur tight. Or you fall off.” Cinder cautions.

   Once making sure that his passengers have grabbed on tight, Cinder dashes off. Never in his wildest dreams that Jin would imagine he could get a chance to ride a huge talking wolf. This is a pretty interesting story to tell his friends. If he has any, that is. Plus, there’s also his secret identity.

   The police officers were waiting near their vehicles. All of them got on alert when they saw the three of them.

   “How did it went, Silver Wolf?” Captain Yamasaki asks.

   “And who’s that? One of the monster’s victim?” Sergeant Wakaba asks while staring at Fukuma.

   “And why is he handcuffed?” Date asks.

   Jin and Fukuma get down from Cinder.

   “Everyone, meet the monster we were hunting for so long.” Jin introduces casually.

   That made all the officers alert. Some of them even has their hand on their gun.

   “But, that’s just a boy!” Date insists.

   Jin shakes his head disapprovingly.

   “Oh Officer Date, you’ll never be a top-grade officer if you only believe in what you see with your eyes.”

   Date grits his teeth at that.

   “More importantly, he goes by the name of Fukuma Ryota.” Jin continues.

   A few eyebrows were raised. They obviously know who he is.

   “We have a lot of questions for you. I hope you’re in the mood to answer them all.” Sergeant Wakaba tells Fukuma.

   “And you better answer them honestly if you know what’s good for you.” Date threatens.

   “I won’t leave out any details.” Fukuma assures.

   “Good. Let’s head to the police station.” Sergeant Wakaba tells Fukuma while gesturing to one of the police cars.

   Wordlessly, Fukuma nods and enters the backseat of the car.

   “Once again, thank you for your service Silver Wolf.” Captain Yamasaki says to Jin gratefully while saluting.

   “Please think nothing of it captain. Will you be going back after this?”

   “I still have some things to take care, but yes. Once they’re all done, I will be done for the night.”

   “I see. Please send your wife and daughter my regards.”

   “I most certainly will. And speaking of them, they would like to have dinner together with you and Nyri-chan again one day.”

   “Understood. I’ll talk to Nyri about it.”

   “Well, thank you once again.”

   Captain Yamasaki bows at Jin before walking to his men to give them orders.

   Jin looks at Cinder.

   “Now that this is all over, will you be returning to the police station that you were assigned to?” he asks the worg.

   “Yes. I nothing else to do, so will just return and wait until something else happens.”

   “It was nice out hunting with you tonight. Maybe we can do this again someday.”

   Cinder grunts at that.

   “Perhaps.”

   “Well, see you around.”

   Cinder nods his agreement. “Until next time.”

   Jin walks over to Sergeant Wakaba, who was about to enter the same car Fukuma went in.

   “I would be accompanying you to the station, Sergeant Wakaba.” he tells her.

   “Is that so? Get on then.”

   “Actually, I would be following the two of you as I fly above the sky.” he declines. “Chances are, the atmosphere inside the car would be awkward, and I would like to avoid that.”

   “...Ever the sociable person, aren’t you? Fine, have it your way.”

   “Thank you for understanding. See you at the station.”

 

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