Sousei suppressed his urge to fall back, steadied himself, and continued firing.
The demon hands. Sousei had also heard the stories. But hearing stories and actually seeing them in action were completely different. He already knew that both of Mochizuke’s arms moved at high speeds. But how did they work? Sousei honestly had no idea. At any rate, it didn’t matter how much he shot at Mochizuke’s head, chest, or stomach. It seemed impossible to land a hit like this. Apparently those demon hands were catching the bullets somehow.
Of the second magazine’s thirty-two rounds, he had fired the first few around Mochizuke’s chest area and then angled the gun downward and shot the rest around his lower legs. Mochizuke had an average body, and his arms were also normal length. Sousei thought that firing outside of his reach might work.
You’re telling me those arms can stretch…?!
Ultimately, all he managed to hit was the table and the sushi tub. None landed on Mochizuke.
Sousei tried to load a new magazine, but before he could, Mochizuke pounced. Sousei’s vision was mostly obscured by Mochizuke’s right hand. It grabbed on to his face like an eagle clutching its prey.
“Ahh—”
Sousei’s skull and brain were both crushed, and he died instantly.
…Minus one, and so fast…
Even after he came back to life, Sousei stayed still and didn’t open his eyes right away. He tried straining his ears. He needed to gather info. What was happening?
Sousei was lying on the floor. He didn’t have anything in his hands. It seemed like he had dropped his MP9 when he was killed.
Where was Mochizuke? It was quiet. Sousei should still be in the parlor. Probably by the doorway, if his body was still where it fell when he had died. As long as Mochizuke hadn’t dragged Sousei’s dead body somewhere else. There was a possibility that Mochizuke might have done that.
Sousei opened his eyes. A man with a side part was peering down at him.
“………!”
Sousei tried take his handgun out of his chest rig. He’d brought along his Ruger LC9 in addition to his MP9.
But Mochizuke moved before Sousei could get it out. Mochizuke grabbed both of Sousei’s arms with his hands. Against those demon hands, Sousei’s arms were no different from potatoes that had been boiled for so long they were about to fall apart. Mochizuke crushed his upper arms effortlessly.
“Ah…” Sousei gulped.
“That really surprised me!” Mochizuke promptly put his right hand on Sousei’s neck. “Wow! This is amazing! I’ve never seen this before! I killed you! You were dead, but then you came back! Amazing! What happens if I do it again?! Let’s try it and see!”
“Gaaaaaagh…” Sousei hadn’t uttered the sound. A voice-like sound just came out on its own. His throat, or rather his neck, had apparently been crushed. In other words, his head had been severed from his body. Although, severed implied that it was cleanly detached, which it was not.
It wasn’t an instant death. He was conscious for about a second or so.
…This is the worst…
“Ooooh!”
Sousei heard Mochizuke’s voice and knew that he had come back to life. The next moment, his head was probably crushed. He died instantly.
Consecutive deaths. It would be unthinkable under normal circumstances, but it wasn’t as if Sousei hadn’t experienced something similar before. Despite not even feeling like he’d come back to life yet, he desperately tried to jump up.
Just as he started moving, his head was sandwiched between Mochizuke’s hands.
“Ha-haaaah…!” Mochizuke was cackling. As expected, Sousei died instantly again.
The next time, he’d at least try to grab something. He came back to life and was able to move his hands, but his head was pulverized by Mochizuke’s demon hands. He had the feeling that Mochizuke had been laughing that time, too, but Sousei wasn’t sure. It was instant death.
“This is soooo—”
Sousei heard Mochizuke’s shrill shouts of joy, and then his head was crushed. Another instant death.
“—amaaaazing!”
As soon as he came back to life, his left then right shoulders were crushed. Then his right thigh, followed by his left.
“Nnnngh… Aaah…”
“You’re fun! You’ve got an amazing body! What in the world is going on with you, buddy…?!”
Mochizuke straddled him, strangling Sousei with both hands. Technically, he wasn’t strangling him. It seemed that the strength of the demon hands could be adjusted. Sousei was simply having some difficulty breathing due to the pressure on his neck.
…Even if I could breathe…both my arms and my legs are already broken…
“Heeeey! Tell me something! You’re in the same line of work, right?! That’s gotta be it! You found out about my job and planned to attack me on-site?! Wa-ha-hah! That’s amazing! You’re good, buddy! Even boring jobs I’m only doing for money aren’t bad if there are bonuses like this! This is such a neat surprise! What’s your name?! I really want to know your name! What kind of cheat power do you have? Or better yet, I really want to be your friend! I feel like I’d get along with someone like you! There might be a bit of an age gap, but I don’t mind! Cheers to this wonderful meeting! Let’s start off by becoming friends?!”
“…F-first…t-take…your…hands…off…”
“Oooh! Sorry, how rude of me!”
Mochizuke took his hands off Sousei’s neck. But only for a second. He put them back straightaway.
“Mwa-ha-ha! No way, no way! I was just kidding! I can’t be too careful, so if you pull any funny business, I won’t hesitate to kill you! But I was being serious when I said I want to talk! Sorry, but let’s chat like this!”
…Shit. This isn’t going to be easy… I guess I have no choice but to use it.
Sousei ground together the top and bottom second molars on the right side of his face with determination. Almost like he was screwing the top molar into the bottom one.
The thing buried inside his teeth wasn’t a part of Sousei. It was a foreign substance. For some reason, it was still there whenever he came back to life. Even Sousei didn’t know why, but he’d confirmed it himself. But if he used it, it’d be gone. It was decidedly single-use. That had also been proven.
Sousei detonated the small explosive buried in his bottom-right molar. His head blew off, and he died instantly.
…This job…!
When he came back to life, the parlor was thick with smoke and dust. The lights had gone out. The hallway was still bright, though. That was where Mochizuke had probably gone. Sousei could hear footsteps. He got up. His chest rig had been blown away, along with all the weapons he’d stowed in it. Not much remained of his clothes, either, especially on his upper body.
There was a katana that had fallen on the floor. It had been displayed on the sideboard before. Sousei picked up the katana and leaped into the hallway.
Mochizuke was staggering toward the emergency stairwell. He turned around, revealing that his hair was a mess, but his face was unharmed. He must have instantly shielded it with his demon hands. His guts were spilling out of his stomach, however.
“That’s not an injury you can survive…!”
Sousei chased after Mochizuke. On the way, he took a handgun from the belt of a dead gangster who was missing his neck. Mochizuke tumbled into the emergency stairwell and closed the door behind him.
“You just don’t know when to—!” Sousei yelled, opening the door.
Mochizuke hadn’t gone down the stairs. He was waiting right there for Sousei.
“Ha-haaaah…!”
I was expecting that!
Sousei emptied the magazine into him. The historic Colt Government pistol. It had a seven-round capacity.
“Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh…!”
Mochizuke’s demon hands caught every one of the seven bullets. He was full of glee even though his intestines were sticking out. It was lunacy.
Sousei unsheathed the katana. He threw away the sheath and closed the distance between him and Mochizuke, bringing the katana down in a sharp diagonal.
“Hmmph…!”
Mochizuke crushed the katana in his right hand. Sousei continued to lunge toward Mochizuke regardless.
“Damn fool…!”
Mochizuke squashed Sousei’s head with both hands. Sousei died instantly.
…I already factored that in…!
When he came back to life, Sousei made sure to entangle himself with Mochizuke, and they tumbled down the stairs.
“Oowwoowwoowwoowwoooowwww…?!”
Sousei frantically seized the howling Mochizuke’s intestines.
“<G-god damn…!>”
…Was that English just now?
Just as Sousei wondered why, the demon hands pulverized his head.
…This is such a horrible job.
Sousei came back to life. Both of his hands were still clutching Mochizuke’s intestines. Or rather, his fingers were still tangled up in Mochizuke’s intestines. They seemed like they’d be hard to unravel. Mochizuke was being crushed under Sousei on the stair landing. Sousei pulled on Mochizuke’s intestines as hard as he could.
“Die already…!”
“Uuuuggggh… Arrrgh… Uuuugh…!”
Mochizuke was more dead than alive. But his demon hands still flailed around, chasing after Sousei.
“Ahh, crap…!” Sousei stopped yanking on Mochizuke’s intestines and threw both of his hands into Mochizuke’s body. He didn’t know which organs were which, but it didn’t matter as long as he turned everything into a gory pulp.
In that split second, Mochizuke’s right hand tore off Sousei’s jaw while his left hand crushed Sousei’s right shoulder.
“Ughhhhh…!”
Sousei cried wordlessly while clawing around inside Mochizuke’s body.
“Guhh… Nuuuh… Staaa…”
Not long after, Sousei felt it… That peculiar thump reverberated at his body’s core, and Tousuke Mochizuke stopped moving. Even the Crusher’s terrifying demon hands stopped twitching.
Sousei checked to make sure Mochizuke’s heart had stopped beating, just in case. Then he finally stood up.
“…Uuhh… Uuuhh…”
He couldn’t get any words out because his jaw had been completely torn off. A single flap of skin was all that kept his right arm attached to his crushed right shoulder. Then it, too, came off with a heavy thud.
Owwwww…
Sousei stared intently at Mochizuke’s corpse.
The demon hands… Mochizuke made a pact with a demon and traded his soul for them… Or he forcibly stole the arms from a demon…and when Mochizuke dies, the demon will appear to reclaim them… There are a lot of different rumors about those hands…
But it didn’t seem like anything unusual was going to happen after all.
Sousei felt like he was going to faint from the excruciating pain. He looked around and spotted a broadaxe lying at the edge of the stair landing. It was one that had belonged to one of the gangsters Mochizuke had killed.
Sousei picked up the broadaxe with his left hand. He couldn’t stand up properly anymore. He sat on the stairs and pressed the blade of the axe against his forehead once.
I’ve died nine times already…
He pulled the axe away from his forehead. With all the strength he had left, he swung the axe toward himself as he thrust his head toward the axe.
…and this makes ten.