The Raven Dark Hero 8

Chapter 8 : Speed Star

TL:SummerPeanut

Author’s note:

※Changed the method of identifying gifteds to barcodes

※Changed the content of conversation

"You rascal..."

Kurosaki glared at Kouki. A few minutes ago he had only felt fear, but now that he has a gift and could deal with Kurosaki's movements, Kouki regained his composure.

“What's wrong? Where's the composure you had just now?”

"What did you say?"

Kurosaki was already injured here and there when he entered from the window. Kouki felt that the him right now can win against him.

"Ora!"

He unleashed a knee kick at the man... but the man jumped backwards, dodging it.

“Hmph, there’s no way you can catch me with such a slow move.”

...Kouki was surprised by his own movement just now. He was able to follow that man's movement. But his own attack was dodged. Reason is obvious. It was because his attack felt slow. This led him to conclude that Speed Star’s ability allowed his senses to keep up but his body could not.

As he was brooding over this, Kurosaki jumped at him again.

Kouki could see his movements. He can clearly recognize the figure of Kurosaki approaching right from the front while throwing a punch. When he tried to guard it, the punch turned out to be a feint and a front kick flew into Kouki's stomach. He had a firm grasp over the sequence of movements. But his body can not keep up.

“Kuh?!”

Kouki was blasted to the wall by the front kick.

(Damn it! Even though I could handle it earlier!)

“...seems like I overestimated you? I was surprised that you were able to handle my speed earlier but I guess it was just a fluke.”

Even after that, Kurosaki's attacks are still visible to him. However, his body couldn’t follow in time and he is being cornered one-sidedly.

"Damn... this shouldn’t be right..."

Kouki was barely able to stand. He was so beaten up that his face looks nothing like before.

“Phew. To think that you haven’t got knocked out after eating my attacks. I'd like to praise you for that...but there's no time. The next blow will kill you for sure.”

Kurosaki takes his stance with knifehand.

...instinctively, Kouki felt death.

However, Kouki’s other gift, Revived Hunter, is the ability to revive even after death.

But think about it. Is there no limit to the number of times he can revive?

Having read all the books on past gifts in order to become a hero, Kouki knows that there are various restrictions on a gift.

For example some of the gifts once activated would not activate for a while. The more complex or rare the abilities, the more this limitation applies to them.

The ability to revive. It would be stranger to believe that there are no restrictions. Then, if he dies again, there is no guarantee that he will come back.

Kurosaki is closing in on him. The fact that he was able to grasp all his movements doubles his fear.

How did I activate the gift? I activated it with just my feelings. Then it should be easy to activate it. Didn't you stop the attack once before? At that time, I...

Kurosaki is already right in front of him.

He stopped his breathing... In the situation where he is driven to the very corner...a keen ear ringing sensation echoes in his head.

I can do it now... He felt like that. Then, he thrust a counter straight right at Kurosaki....

Due to the extreme tension from anxiety, the sense of his body changed. And then he felt a definite impact on his right fist.

......... Kurosaki collided with the wall and just like that he fell down to the ground, limp. His head, maybe due to the strong impact, is facing an impossible direction.

“HAHAHAH...I DEED IT(I did it)~~~!”

During that moment of exchange, Kouki was indeed able to activate Speed Star.

When a high speeding object collides with another speeding object it might have resulted in the power to be multiple times stronger. Kurosaki's attack snatched Kouki's throat.Thanks to that his throat was crushed and he was unable to speak but the counter that Kouki fired accurately hit Kurosaki, who was caught off guard, in the face. Although he is unsure if that blow was fatal or not, the momentum was more than enough to send him crashing to the wall and completely stopped his breathing...

(I did it...but my right arm that was healed when I got revived by Revived Hunter is all battered now...)

That high-speed collision also left Kouki with damage. The attacker's right arm bones from the fist to the elbow are broken.

Kurosaki didn't even twitch. In his mind, Kouki understood that he killed someone else. But his life was also in danger. That too, unreasonably. Thus, he does not feel a lot of guilt but instead makes an expression that it is only obvious to repay him with death since he killed him once. On top of that the sense of fulfillment of awakening the gift and defeating a stray Filth with its abilities prevailed.

And above all, Kouki had a clear and definite urge to kill Kurosaki. Was it resentment over the fact that he was killed by him once? Or is there another reason? And even though it was the first time in his life that he had ever felt the urge to kill, he knew exactly that it was an urge to kill.

(It hurts....It's better than dying, though.)

If he dies again and comes back to life, maybe his right arm will heal but since there is no guarantee that he will actually get revived, it is not possible to heal it right now.

I should go to the hospital and get it fixed. I should also take a leave from school...or so he continued his thoughts before Kurosaki appeared.

Today was a bad day. He had come near enough to see death’s face twice. But if the result is the manifestation of his gift ability, Kouki welcomed it...is what he believed until that man appeared out of nowhere.

"...That's amazing. I didn't expect you to be able to defeat the Speed Star Kurosaki..."

Turning around, he was startled by the sudden voice. He saw a man standing there in a National Defense Force uniform.

The number of stars attached on his chest is two, with a single yellow line underneath. It’s the proof that the man is a lieutenant of the National Defense Force.

“I'm Saejima, a member of the National Defense Force. My position is lieutenant. This time, I received a mission to secure or eradicate the stray Filth that was wanted internationally but it seems like you defeated him. I'd like to say that you did a good job, but…”

While he was saying that, Saejima took out a kind of hand-type lighter from his breast pocket and shone it at Kouki.

It is the tool to identify barcodes, the mark of a gifted.

Obviously, Kouki who has just awakened his gift will not have any barcodes on his body. He wanted to explain his situation but because his throat was crushed that is not possible.

Still, he is dealing with the National Defense Force. The symbol of justice that he longed for. In the worst case scenario, as long as he has a piece of paper, he can just write and if he tells them about his abilities he might be able to join the National Defense Force… At least that was what Kouki was expecting.

“...what should I do? The tool is not detecting barcodes, the proof of being gifted, which means… In most cases, having barcodes engraved in your body as a guarantee to your identity is enforced by the nation, no?”

Saejima’s eyes changed. He is obviously looking at Kouki in suspicion. Kouki accurately guessed what Saejima was thinking quickly shook his head but it didn’t reach Saejima.

“Hmm… Since you beat Kurosaki, you should be quite the gift holder and if you are a stray Filth, gifted whose awakening is not registered by the nation, you are a target to be eliminated… You there, are you a stray Filth?”

Kouki desperately shakes his head because his throat was crushed and can’t make any voice. But even then Kouki still believes them. No, still believed the National Defense Force.

“I see...I suppose I can take your silence as affirmation right?”

He immediately felt a shiver run down his spine. An overwhelming killing intent flowed out from Saejima.

“...in that case, internal fight between stray Filths or something? ...Well whatever. I joined this little mission because I thought I could fight Kurosaki but when he ran away just because I let my guard down a little, you stole my prey so I am a little frustrated here.

If you are a stray Filth, then it's okay if I destroy you right here and now...right?”

At that very moment, Kouki activates his Speed Star and jumps out of the window.

“...hmm, as expected he is also an acceleration type gift holder. Gifteds with the same type of ability teamed up, for whatever reason had an internal fight and as a result one of them died...I suppose. Well then, it’ll be troublesome if I let acceleration type gifted run away so I suppose I should at least give him a chase...”

Saejima smiles and jumps out of the same window Kouki had left off.

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