Chapter 107: Going To Their Main Hideout, Confronting Them Head-On

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TRUUUM!

Another Gate suddenly broke open out of nowhere.

The guards inside the factory had just been talking about the latest news. A Gate Break had suddenly appeared right where the other factory stood, and they were wondering what the hell had just happened. They felt relieved they had been lucky enough that it was not them this time.

"Well, at least it wasn’t us or... Huh?"

They looked toward the windows and saw that a Gate had suddenly shown up... again!

They immediately panicked.

"FUCK!"

"RUN!!!"

"OPEN THE DOOR! QUICKLY!"

They kicked the door almost open, but Riven had already placed an extra layer of highly hardened magic ice across it, stopping them from doing any funny business or escaping in time.

"Shit, shit, shit!!!"

As they screamed in pure horror, the Gate began to swallow everything in its path. The gigantic factory broke apart piece by piece, and the people inside were sucked in one after another.

"Uwaaaaggghhhhhhh!"

Then everything became dark for them.

The Gate turned off a moment later, and Riven, Label, and Noir disappeared from the area.

"That factory was the limit of how much the Gate can absorb," Riven noted calmly. "More than that and it becomes impossible, unfortunately. Plus, every time I open these Gates it costs a tremendous amount of Mana. I cannot do this repeatedly for too long. Third time’s the last, hopefully."

With Label’s quiet guidance he reached the strangely fancy-looking Sushi and Ramen restaurant sitting right in the middle of this dangerous neighborhood.

The surrounding street was also surprisingly clean, with beautiful trees lining both sides. It looked completely odd in the middle of this worn-down and mostly abandoned area of the city.

He looked inside the restaurant. There was not a single normal client. Instead there was just a bunch of Yakuza, all wearing their black suits, enjoying bowls of Ramen or eating fresh Sushi.

This place was clearly made for them to come and have lunch in peace. Their boss was very thoughtful of his people. Very nice...

"It’s time."

Riven felt a surge of excitement, but he quickly noticed something that stopped him from doing exactly what he wished.

"Mana Dampeners..."

Deep underground there were four small relics — Mana Dampeners.

They were special items made to dampen and weaken mana signatures. They were also said to decrease the chances of random Gate Breaks appearing in the area.

They could not completely stop his Gate, but they would likely force him to use all of his remaining Mana just to open one, leaving him exhausted afterward.

What was more, there was a real chance his Gate might not be able to siphon everything inside the restaurant, or that it would emerge too small to be useful.

"Hmm... I guess we’re doing this the old-fashioned way then."

"What does that mean?" Label wondered nervously. "Riven, aren’t we...?"

Riven took out his black sword and looked straight at the door. "Let’s go."

Label was confused but followed him with silent footsteps.

The doors of the sushi restaurant suddenly opened without a sound as Riven stepped inside.

Dozens of Yakuza glared at him at the exact same time in awkward, heavy silence.

The cook, who had just finished serving a bowl of ramen, dropped what he was doing and glared at Riven with a deep frown.

And so did everyone else in the room.

Who was this guy?

How dare he walk in here uninvited?

Didn’t he know who owned this place?

What was more, Label was standing right there with him, and they all recognized her immediately. He had also brought a dog inside the restaurant — a terrible violation of basic hygiene.

Riven sat down with his legs and arms spread out casually and then placed his feet up on the table.

"Hey, do you serve that... Japanese noodle soup thing? What was it called?"

Label panicked more and more as she felt the auras of all the Yakuza growing furious around them.

"Lamen?" he wondered aloud. "Hmm..." He tilted his head, deliberately feigning ignorance. "Hey! Are you going to serve me or what?!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Their veins began to swell on their foreheads. Some of their faces turned deep red with rising anger.

Then the cook slowly took out a sharp sashimi knife.

The other Yakuza began reaching for their guns and katanas at the same time.

"Hoh... Now this is a welcome party," Riven laughed. "What are you going to do with those toys?"

"Who are you?!" the tallest of the Yakuza, a huge, fat, sumo-looking man covered in tattoos, walked forward and spoke with a loud, heavy voice. "And why is Label with you?"

Riven smiled. "Her? She’s my friend. Right?"

"Hyeee..." Label trembled in fear and covered her face in pure embarrassment.

Then silence fell over the entire restaurant.

...

Until—

"TERYAAAAAA!"

All the Yakuza roared together and charged like mad dogs toward Riven, their swords pointing at his throat, face, and vital points.

Riven simply smiled and closed his eyes.

In that single moment...

A cold, icy wind washed over everyone in the room.

TRUUUM!

"?!"

"Gah?!"

"W-Wha...!"

In mere seconds the floor he was touching with his foot completely froze, and every Yakuza present found their legs locked in thick ice.

"The time of reckoning is here, you damn dog-like bastards," Riven said as he stood up, holding his sword tightly. Everyone stared at him with pure horror.

No way he was actually going to do that, right?

"No... no way..."

"WAIT!"

"B-Bastard! The boss will—"

SHIIIIINNNG—!

He did it.

He cut through all of them. A potent horizontal wave of sword energy sliced cleanly through everything in its path.

The entire restaurant and all the frozen Yakuza — some of whom had already used the Yokai Serum to transform — were split in half.

A massive explosion followed immediately after as the huge quantity of released Mana erupted in every direction.

BOOOMMM!!!

The entire restaurant blew into pieces, and whatever remained of the Yakuza disappeared along the explosion.

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