Chapter 101: The Attack of the American Yakuza

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The gang members were left in complete shock as they heard Label’s sudden apology and her clear declaration of "quitting" their job.

"W-Who do you think you are, quitting the job?!" roared the biggest of the three Asian Americans, an overweight-looking man carrying a pair of cursed katanas. He quickly took out a mysterious syringe and injected it into his thigh without hesitation. "So you hired some fucking bodyguard or what? You’ll see, you damn whore! You two, put it on! That guy, and that dog... we’ll shred them!"

"Yes boss!" the two other Yakuza immediately injected themselves with the same mysterious syringe.

Riven instantly recognized what they were using.

"Label!"

He quickly ran in front of her as three powerful explosions of Mana erupted at once. Using his tough body, he shielded her completely from the danger while Noir stepped back and created another thick barrier of shadows for extra protection.

As the thick smoke finally dissipated, the three humans had suddenly and temporarily transformed.

What they injected — that black, murky liquid full of dense curses...

"I see now. So I was right back then, even though I never researched further because I was stopped by their higher-ups from Japan," Riven said calmly. "You are a branch from the Yokai Cult, huh?"

And the syringes they had injected themselves with were...

"Kahahahaha!"

"Now this is real power!"

"Huhuh, we’re going to tear you apart and eat you, motherfucker!"

Suddenly the fattest of the three became a giant red tengu with large black feathered wings, while the other two became kappa — frog-like, beaked humanoid creatures from Japanese mythology with bald heads and water-filled dishes on top.

They were enormous, easily surpassing three meters in height and doubling their original sizes. Their arms and legs were long and skinny, ending in sharp claws, and they still held their cursed katanas tightly.

The tengu standing behind them — a pointy-nosed, red-skinned demon-like creature from Japanese mythology — sneered as he surged with spectral, cursed power.

"You should’ve never messed with the Yakuza Guild, you son of a bitch!"

"Uwaaaha?! They’re monsters?!" Label screamed in pure disbelief as she stared at the transformed men.

Riven smiled and licked his lips as he stepped forward. His aura surged outward as he released all of his previously sealed power, making the world around him shift and tremble for a brief moment.

"Yeah, I’m starving right now, so this’ll be just what I needed."

"...Starving?"

Riven released a thick poisonous aura everywhere, covering the entire area with heavy purple smoke and leaving the three Yokaified Yakuza confused and coughing.

"Wait, where is he?!"

"This smoke... cough... poison?"

"Tche! Not going to work with our new forms!"

"We don’t have longer than an hour without going insane, so let’s quickly finish him off!"

All three dove into the poisonous mist foolishly, still confident in their temporary strength.

The first Yakuza, the skinniest of the two Kappa, felt Riven’s presence nearby. He sneered and slashed wildly at the empty air... only to hit the floor hard with his cursed katana.

"Huh? Where is..."

A giant black sword suddenly descended like a massive guillotine.

"What?!"

He instantly leaped backward like a frog, trying to escape, but a sharp icicle spear surged from the exact spot he was moving toward. It impaled his left shoulder and froze his entire left arm solid before Riven’s heavy blade descended toward him without mercy.

"G-Gaaaahhh!"

As his agonized scream echoed through the area, the other two ran toward the noise. Their eyes widened in horror when they found his body already shredded into pieces on the ground.

As they realized one of them was dead out of nowhere, a dark shadow appeared silently behind them.

"There!"

The Tengu and the remaining bulkier Kappa roared in rage. Their Spectral Yokai Auras surged outward, combining spiritual, ghostly, and cursed energies together into a dangerous storm.

They unleashed a relentless assault of slashing attacks with their cursed katanas while their magic power allowed them to fire a potent barrage of additional attacks.

SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!

BOOOM!

A massive explosion followed. The entire poisonous smoke disappeared in an instant, revealing... nothing but Label standing far away and calmly throwing dozens of explosive potions at them.

Their eyes widened in shock as the potions exploded directly on their faces, blowing them backward, burning them, freezing parts of their bodies, or even burning their souls and inflicting deadly stacked poisons that mixed with Riven’s own toxins.

Even their high natural resistance to toxins as Yokai was nothing against this overwhelming amount of poison. They fell to their knees, coughing up blood uncontrollably.

"Yokaification Drugs, huh?" Riven suddenly surged behind them while holding one of their empty syringes. There was a clear word written in Japanese kanji inscribed on the side of the syringe: "Yokai House," the name of the Yokai Guild. "Incredible. So you use the blood and materials from Yokai monsters unique to your country to temporarily transform... Bioengineering over in Japan must be really advanced."

"Tsk, bastard!" the Tengu, still retaining some strength, roared as he rose again and unleashed a storm of sharp blade-like black feathers.

Riven simply took a step back and swung his arm with full force. Scales and black fur grew across the limb as he released a potent wave of blazing nether flames that burned every single feather and then completely engulfed the Tengu.

"Nngaaaahhhhhh!"

As the Tengu screamed in pure agony, the remaining Kappa suddenly disappeared from sight and reappeared right behind Label. He pressed a katana against her throat while still vomiting blood.

"Uuggh...! G-Give me the antidote! Now! Or I’ll off her! I swear I’ll do it!" he roared angrily, desperation clear in his voice.

Riven said nothing in response. Instead he simply whistled quietly.

SLASH!

"...Huh?"

The Kappa was unable to realize what that quiet whistle meant. Noir had sneaked behind him the moment he least expected it and, with one sharp claw, cleanly beheaded him in a single attack.

His severed head fell to the ground, eyes still moving as he tried to make sense of what had just happened.

"Good boy."

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