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Chapter 13

  Chapter 13Jin’s attack was so precise, so perfectly executed, that Amamiya Ren had no time to react.

  He hadn’t expected his opponent to trap his movement with a well-timed grip, then nd a devastating right hook straight to his temple.

  A brutal, calcuted strike.

  The temple was one of the body’s most fragile pressure points—close to the brain, a hit there could easily cause a concussion. But Jin wasn’t aiming to kill. He had controlled his power at the st second, striking the edge of Amamiya Ren’s mask instead. The impact was absorbed by the reinforced material, dulling the blow but still sending shockwaves through his skull.

  A fsh of white blurred Ren’s vision. A wave of nausea hit his stomach. He staggered, disoriented.

  Jin released him and gave a light push. Ren, already unsteady, colpsed onto the ground.

  Jin had already noticed it—in this world, movement required extreme effort, but attacks that targeted the mind? Those were devastating.

  “This is between him and me. It has nothing to do with you—”

  Before Jin could finish, a massive figure appeared, stepping into view.

  Towering over the battlefield, the newcomer was even rger than Xiang Yao. Dressed in a jet-bck suit, his chiseled frame resembled a superhero ripped from the pages of an American comic book. In one gloved hand, he held a sleek rapier.

  "Zorro! Bring on the wind!"

  At the Bck Cat’s command, the giant Zorro sshed his rapier through the air, carving a sharp “Z” in its wake. A glowing blue wind bde burst forth, slicing toward Jin with violent speed.

  Jin barely had time to react.

  Instinct took over. He raised his arms to shield his face, crouching low as the gust smmed into him.

  The wind wasn’t just air—it carried something deeper, something that cut.

  A thousand invisible bdes sliced across his skin, seeping into his very being. The sensation was like needles threading through his muscles, an unnatural force invading his body.

  "Hey! JOKER! Are you okay?!"

  The Bck Cat rushed to Amamiya Ren, shaking him urgently.

  Ren groaned, gripping his head. "I’ll live… just a little dizzy."

  Jin didn’t press the attack. Instead, he fell back, recalibrating his focus.

  The real threat wasn’t them.

  His target was still the Bee King.

  The one who had tormented him. The one who had made his life a living hell. The racist bastard who had made it his mission to break him.

  Jin wouldn’t become like him.

  Amamiya Ren had nothing to do with this vendetta. He was just caught in the crossfire. There was no reason to keep attacking. Just force him out of the way.

  That was what his parents had always taught him.

  Boxing is for self-defense. Never for bullying the weak.

  Jin shifted his gaze upward. The Bee King was still sprawled on the ground, his machine gun silent. He hadn’t gotten up since Jin’s Persona had struck him down.

  And then—

  Something strange happened.

  Bck smoke oozed from the fallen Bee King’s body, thick and viscous like tar. It curled in the air, swirling unnaturally. The same smoke began rising from the bodies of his two subordinates.

  As the darkness seeped from them, their monstrous, half-bee forms disintegrated.

  Human once more, the three men sat up in confusion, gncing around with dazed expressions.

  "What… the hell just happened?" The Bck Cat’s voice was ced with shock. "The twisted desire—it left him?!"

  The Bee King blinked as he looked at Jin.

  His expression was different.

  Gone was the deep-rooted hatred, the cruel smugness. In its pce was something that almost resembled bewilderment.

  "You… you’re that Chinese guy…"

  Jin remained silent, fists still clenched.

  The Bee King stared at his own hands, flexing his fingers as if they were foreign to him.

  "I don’t get it… until just now, I felt this overwhelming hatred toward you… I wanted to destroy you. I was obsessed with it. But… why?"

  Jin’s gut instinct screamed something was wrong.

  The Bee King wasn’t just apologizing. He was confused.

  The other two men looked just as lost.

  "Dad… could it be that guy?" The blond-haired son of the restaurant owner hesitated. "The guest who came in before…"

  The Bee King’s face twisted as something clicked in his memory.

  "That man… yeah… he told me… he said that ‘arrogance is the foundation of success.’ That those in power—**the strong—are always arrogant. That’s what made them great. That’s what kept them on top…"

  He gripped his head, voice rising. "That man—who was he?!"

  And then—

  The three of them vanished.

  Disintegrating into shimmering light particles, they disappeared before Jin’s eyes.

  A sharp silence followed.

  Jin took a step back, raising his hands. "Okay, okay, just so we’re clear—that had nothing to do with me! I didn’t do anything! You all saw that, right?!"

  Amamiya Ren and the Bck Cat exchanged looks, but neither seemed surprised.

  "I’ve never seen twisted desires leave their host like that before…" The Bck Cat murmured.

  Jin barely heard him. His focus snapped to the lingering bck smoke in the air.

  It hadn’t vanished.

  It was growing.

  As the darkness churned, the golden honeycomb walls around them darkened, the entire cognitive space turning red and bck. The corruption spread rapidly, twisting the architecture, warping reality itself.

  And from that abyss of smoke, something formed.

  A figure.

  A monster.

  Cd in solid red armor, mounted on a fearsome bck warhorse, it brandished a silver spear. Its presence was suffocating. A knight from a bygone era, yet steeped in something far darker than mere history.

  Dark desires clung to its armor, a silent decration of war.

  Jin’s hands curled into fists.

  The true nightmare had just begun.

  —

  Meanwhile, in the real world.

  Inside a dimly lit Chinese restaurant, three men sat at a table, scrolling through their phones. Their faces were calm, eerily bnk.

  On the table y a collection of weapons—kitchen knives, an ice pick, even a heavy butcher’s axe.

  Tools for murder.

  Then, all at once, their expressions twisted.

  Their eyes rolled back. Their heads snapped backward.

  Foam frothed from their mouths as their bodies convulsed violently, limbs twitching uncontrolbly.

  They gasped soundlessly, choking on nothing, hands cwing at the air.

  And then, one by one—

  They colpsed.

  “This guy is impossible to deal with, isn’t he?!”

  Morgana voiced what everyone was thinking.

  Although Amamiya Ren had been to Kamoshida’s Pace before, he was still inexperienced. Against a seasoned knight with masterful archery and horsemanship, every attack felt futile.

  Try to engage up close? The sheer force of the charging warhorse would send you flying like an insect crushed underfoot. Try to fight from a distance? Your projectiles would never catch up. Guns, with their speed, could be an exception—but acquiring one in Japan was near impossible.

  Close combat was useless. Magic couldn’t keep up. Even trying to outst him was hopeless; on one side, a legendary devil, and on the other, a high school student with no athletic ability. Who had the physical advantage was obvious.

  “If there was a way to slow him down, that would be ideal.”

  Jin resisted the overwhelming exhaustion threatening to take over and forced himself to stay upright. His mask had returned to its stark white, and the massive metal figure behind him had shed all its embellishments, resembling nothing more than a store mannequin—if mannequins were made of iron.

  Jin wiped a hand across his mask, and in an instant, bck ink-like markings spread over the white surface, forming patterns reminiscent of a Peking Opera mask. The entity behind him shifted its stance in response.

  “Hey, this is your first time awakening your Persona, right? Don’t push yourself too hard, or you’ll colpse—”

  “Forget it.” Jin cut in. “Just tell me how to lure him in. One solid hit should end this.”

  Silence. Neither Amamiya Ren nor Morgana had an answer.

  “Then leave it to me!”

  A lively voice rang out.

  The three turned to see Kasumi, now cd in a flowing blue evening dress. At some point, dragonfly-like wings had sprouted from her back.

  “...Hah?”

  Jin knew her well. Changing outfits was just a gimmick, like switching skins in a mobile game—it had no impact on combat. So where did this confidence come from?

  Kasumi smirked, then snapped her fingers.

  Thunder cracked in the clear sky, a deafening roar that made the ground tremble. A bolt of lightning struck down in a fsh—too fast to dodge!

  Yet, the Red Knight yanked his reins, and his warhorse reared up just in time to avoid the strike.

  “Now! Xiang Yao, attack!”

  Jin wasted no time. The moment Kasumi’s lightning forced the knight into a vulnerable position, his metal giant surged forward, closing the gap in an instant. A massive fist shot out, aiming straight for the enemy.

  The Red Knight reacted swiftly, gripping his nce with both hands and blocking the blow. If Jin had been alone, his ambush would have failed—but he wasn’t alone.

  Amamiya Ren and Morgana had already positioned themselves. One man, one cat—one armed with a dagger, the other wielding a broadsword (yes, the broadsword belonged to Morgana, the bck cat). Their attacks struck the warhorse’s hind legs, cutting through muscle and sinew.

  The pitch-bck steed let out a pained shriek and colpsed, dragging its rider down with it. The Red Knight hit the ground hard, kneeling from the impact.

  A single thought passed through all four of them simultaneously: Now’s our chance!

  Kasumi thrust her hands forward, and arcs of electricity crackled between her fingers. The lightning surged forward, striking the knight’s armor. The metal conducted the energy instantly, spreading it through every inch of his body.

  Amamiya Ren’s Persona, Arsène, and Morgana’s Zorro followed up. Zorro’s bde sshed through the knight’s chest, leaving a deep wound in the red armor. Arsène plunged his staff forward, sending bck and red fmes seeping into the knight’s body.

  For the first time, the Red Knight let out a pained roar.

  “Good. Remember the pain—because you won’t be feeling anything ever again.”

  Jin’s words were cold, final. Xiang Yao responded, delivering a brutal punch.

  Left hook. Right hook. Jab. Uppercut. A relentless barrage, as if pummeling a sandbag. Jin poured everything into his strikes—the frustration, the discrimination, the weight of years spent fighting against a world that refused to accept him. Every punch nded with purpose, cracking armor, shattering the helmet.

  Inside, there was no body. No flesh. Only dark mud, writhing and bubbling.

  Jin kept punching, breaking it apart, destroying every st trace of the entity.

  Then—

  Bang.

  His fist smmed against cold, unyielding iron. Pain shot up his arm, raw and searing, radiating through his bones. His vision blurred. His body swayed. Darkness crept in at the edges of his mind.

  (Thank god… I’m back… out of that twisted world…)

  The st thing he felt was Amamiya Ren catching him before everything went bck.

  Ren exhaled, looking around. Morgana, now just a small bck cat again, was curled up in her backpack. No more Red Knight. No more warhorse. Just the quiet, familiar reality of a dimly lit Chinese restaurant.

  He had rushed here after making sure his cssmate, Takamaki, was safe, worried about what had happened to Jin. And now…

  “…What do I do now?”

  Ren gnced down at Jin, unconscious in his arms. There were so many questions. But for now, they would have to wait.

  Inside the restaurant…

  The store manager yawned loudly, stretching his stiff muscles. “Man, why am I so tired…? Did I doze off?”

  He blinked in confusion. The st thing he remembered, he had been furiously demanding that Jin take his shift. Yet now, he was slumped on the sofa, the shop closed for the night. On the table before him y a kitchen knife, an ice pick, and a heavy cleaver meant for chopping ribs.

  A chill ran down his spine.

  “Wait… what the hell is all this?!”

  “Dad—what are you doing?!” His son’s voice was panicked. “It’s not break time—oh my god, Dad, why are you holding a knife?! Don’t do anything crazy!”

  “Boss, we’re not getting involved in any illegal stuff, okay? No amount of money is worth that! My family’s been w-abiding for generations!”

  His two employees looked just as armed, stepping away as if he’d lost his mind.

  Then, the manager let out an incredulous ugh. “Me?! Isn’t this your doing?!”

  “Hell no, Dad—”

  “Boss, just put that thing down!”

  None of them remembered why they had been so consumed with rage earlier, why they had insisted on forcing Jin to work. The twisted desires, the blind fury—it was all gone, like a bad dream that had faded with the morning light.

  There was no beehive. No monstrous beings. No suffocating malice. Only the quiet hum of the restaurant, as if nothing had ever happened.

  “Damn… I feel strangely refreshed, but my head’s all messed up…”

  The manager rubbed his temples as he walked toward the lounge. Maybe he hadn’t been getting enough rest tely.

  As he stepped inside, his gaze fell on the shift schedule posted on the closet. His eyes lingered on Jin’s name—his shifts, crammed together with barely any breaks.

  (Thinking about it now… I was way too hard on that kid. Being alone in a foreign country must be tough. I should give him more time off next month.)

  The thought came and went, unbidden, natural.

  And he never once questioned why his perspective had changed so drastically.

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