Chapter 784 - 784 - Death

"Kazuma? That useless bastard?" The man laughed. "You seriously think he can save you? Keep dreaming."

His voice was thick with contempt. Somewhere beyond the backyard, the birthday party continued as if nothing were wrong, music and laughter spilling from the brightly lit hall.

"You think I don't know about Kazuma?"

He seized the woman's chin and forced her to look at him.

"I paid off one of the sailors on his ship. My informant told me Kazuma went out and never came back. He's dead. That's the only reason I had them bring the girl here, you stupid bitch."

He slapped her hard enough to split the corner of her lip, then released her and walked back toward the balcony railing. After lighting a cigar, he drew in a slow breath and let the smoke drift into the night.

"I told you I'd make you regret betraying me. Let the Mightyena loose."

"What? No!"

The woman stumbled to the railing and looked down in horror. Two security guards were leading a pair of Mightyena into the yard. Both Pokémon strained against their restraints, saliva dripping from their jaws as their eyes remained fixed on Yuzuki.

"Please..." She dropped beside her husband and clutched his trouser leg. "Don't do this. She's only a child."

He kicked her away without even looking down.

"Relax. They won't kill her. At worst, they'll tear up her arms and legs."

Below them, the Mightyena bared their fangs and growled at the girl huddled against the wall.

"Stay away!" Yuzuki cried, curling tighter around the Slowpoke in her arms. "Dad, where are you? I'm scared..."

Her stomach had been empty for two days, but hunger was the last thing on her mind now. She could only hold Slowpoke tighter and hope her father somehow appeared.

Slowpoke was just as helpless. Its psychic power would do nothing against Mightyena, leaving it unable to drive them back as they closed in.

From his hiding place above, Reiji watched the scene with a deepening frown.

He had no intention of standing by while someone used a little girl for entertainment. Whatever else could be said about him, this crossed a line.

"Gengar, get down there. Protect her, but don't give the game away."

Gengar slipped into the shadows without a sound. Reiji then released Golbat and sent it back outside to bring Kazuma over.

If Kazuma saw this with his own eyes, Reiji doubted there would be much left of the man's self-control afterward.

The guards unclipped the Mightyena's restraints.

Both Pokémon lunged immediately.

Yuzuki squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face against Slowpoke as the two Mightyena rushed toward her. At almost the same moment, Golbat returned with Kazuma, holding the weakened man in place and keeping him silent as he was forced to watch from above.

Kazuma could barely stand. All he could do was stare as the Mightyena appeared to throw themselves at his daughter.

His eyes filled with panic.

"Don't hurt my daughter!"

The woman finally broke. No longer caring what her husband knew, she vaulted over the second-floor railing and threw herself toward Yuzuki.

Before she could slam into the ground, an unseen force caught her and slowed the fall.

Gengar.

Hidden within Yuzuki's shadow, it had used telekinesis to cushion the woman's landing. It then drew mother and daughter together under its protection before using Hypnosis on the two Mightyena.

The lighting in the yard was dim enough to hide what was really happening. Under Gengar's influence, the Mightyena continued snapping and thrashing as though they were attacking the two humans, never realizing that their teeth were closing on empty air.

From the balcony, the illusion was convincing.

"Let them have their fun for a while," the man said. "Just don't let them kill anyone. Put them back afterward."

With that, he turned away from the backyard and wrapped an arm around another woman waiting nearby. The two headed back toward the birthday party without another glance behind them.

His son was still waiting inside.

The boy might have been born to a woman he despised, but he was still his own blood, so the man had decided to finish tonight's celebration properly. It would also be the child's last birthday party of this kind. He had other sons and had no intention of leaving this one a cent of his fortune.

Once he was gone, Reiji looked down at Kazuma.

"Well?"

Kazuma's eyes were wet as he stared at the scene below.

"Want revenge?" Reiji asked quietly. "Want enough power to do something about it?"

Kazuma nodded desperately.

He had seen enough. His daughter was being hunted through the yard, while the woman he once loved was trying to shield her with her own body. Whatever he had imagined about her new life, she clearly hadn't been living happily.

Never in his life had he wanted strength this badly.

"I can give you power," Reiji said. "What are you giving me in return?"

Kazuma looked between him and the yard, unable to answer.

"Don't forget, you already owe me your life. I could've killed you back on Fairchild Island."

"I..." Kazuma swallowed. "Then take my life. It's yours. I'll do anything."

Reiji gave him an incredulous look.

"Your life is already mine. You can't bargain with me using something I already own."

Kazuma fell silent again.

He had nothing.

Everything valuable he possessed had either been lost or taken, and with Yuzuki in danger, he couldn't think of anything else Reiji might want. His hands clenched until his nails dug into his palms.

Reiji watched him struggle for a moment before glancing toward the two figures below.

"Fine. Then we'll call it two more lives owed to me."

Kazuma stiffened.

Reiji pointed toward Yuzuki and her mother.

"Theirs."

"No!"

The answer came instantly. Kazuma might have been barely able to stand, but there was no hesitation in his voice.

Reiji smiled faintly.

"Calm down. I said I want their lives. I didn't say I was going to kill them."

Kazuma stared at him.

"You have two choices. I give you the strength to get them out of here, and from that point on, their lives belong to me. Or you stay here and watch those Mightyena tear them apart while that man keeps tormenting them."

Reiji nodded toward the yard.

"Your choice."

Kazuma's entire body trembled.

Below them, his ex wife had Yuzuki wrapped tightly in her arms while the Mightyena continued lunging around them. From where Kazuma stood, there was no way to see Gengar manipulating the entire scene.

He had no real choice.

Whatever Reiji intended to collect from them later, there would be no later at all if they died here tonight.

"I..."

Kazuma looked down one last time.

"All right. I accept. Please, give me power."

The words came out unsteadily, but the decision itself was firm. He needed enough strength to save them, and after what he had just witnessed, there was someone else he desperately wanted that strength for as well.

Reiji nodded.

"Good."

He took three Poké Balls from his belt and placed them in front of Kazuma.

"Magnezone, Gyarados, Swampert, and Gengar. You can command all four."

None of the Pokémon were unfamiliar to Kazuma. He had both Gyarados and Swampert himself, while Magnezone was common enough that he knew what it could do.

Reiji addressed the three Pokémon inside their Poké Balls.

"Listen to his orders. No screwing around and no ignoring him. Otherwise, no food."

All three responded from inside their Poké Balls, accepting the arrangement.

Reiji looked back at Kazuma.

"Go. Do whatever you want. Gengar is protecting them downstairs. Once you're down there, it'll stay in your shadow."

"What?"

Kazuma looked toward the yard again.

Only now, after Reiji told him what was happening, did he realize the Mightyena weren't actually touching Yuzuki or her mother. They were biting at empty space and pieces of debris while Gengar kept both women safely out of reach.

For the first time, Kazuma understood that Reiji had never intended to let them die.

"One suggestion," Reiji added. "Deal with whoever you want dead first. Once this place erupts, getting close to him won't be nearly as easy."

Kazuma understood immediately.

His daughter was safe.

The fear that had been crushing him disappeared, leaving behind nothing but rage.

He remembered the voice from the balcony clearly. That was his ex wife's husband, the man who had lied about Kazuma's death, starved Yuzuki, beaten her mother, and then released Mightyena on them for his own amusement.

Kazuma bent down and picked up the Poké Balls.

"I'll make him pay."

Before leaving, he lowered his head slightly toward Reiji.

"Thank you."

Then he turned toward the banquet hall.

His enemy was waiting inside.

Reiji watched Kazuma disappear inside, then snapped his fingers.

"All right, Gengar. That's enough. Finish up down there. We're going to watch the show."

One of the security guards below heard the sound and immediately looked toward the second floor.

"Who's there?"

There was nothing but darkness above him.

"Gengar, put them under sleep. Golbat, take the mother and daughter outside to Toxicroak."

Reiji turned away before either Pokémon moved.

Gengar emerged beneath the two hypnotized Mightyena and wrapped its arms around their necks. A quick twist ended both Pokémon before they could recover, after which it slipped across the ground toward the guards.

Something tugged at their trouser legs.

Both men looked down.

Gengar's red eyes flared from the darkness, and the two guards immediately went slack under its influence.

Golbat swept into the yard a moment later, grabbed Yuzuki and her mother, and carried them toward the others waiting beyond the mansion grounds.

Neither woman understood what had happened. They remained locked around each other in terror, still expecting the Mightyena to tear into them at any second and too frightened to even look around.

Gengar watched Golbat leave, then melted back into the shadows and hurried after Reiji.

By the time Reiji returned to the banquet hall, Kazuma was easy to spot.

Everyone else was dressed for an expensive birthday party. Kazuma, meanwhile, was bruised, disheveled, and filthy enough to stand out from the crowd at a glance.

He pushed through the guests toward his ex wife's husband.

On the way, his hand drifted across one of the dining tables and came away with a sharp table knife.

The nearby security staff noticed him just as he reached his target.

They started forward.

Kazuma moved first.

He lunged without saying a word and drove the knife into the man's body. Someone caught at his arm, but not quickly enough to stop him from stabbing again, then again, until the blade had gone in seven or eight times.

Blood spread across the carpet beneath them.

The woman standing beside the victim screamed.

That single shriek shattered the atmosphere of the party. Guests recoiled in panic as the security guards rushed forward, suddenly realizing their employer was bleeding out in front of them.

If Kazuma escaped after killing a client in the middle of a heavily guarded party, their company's reputation would be destroyed along with their jobs.

The wounded man lay on the floor struggling for breath, staring at Kazuma in disbelief.

He had been lied to.

Kazuma wasn't dead.

The man he thought had disappeared for good was standing over him with a bloodied knife.

He had prepared guards throughout the mansion and believed he had accounted for every possible problem. What he couldn't understand was how Kazuma had entered without anyone noticing, much less how he had managed to reach him in the middle of a crowded hall.

None of it made sense.

But by then, understanding wouldn't have changed anything.

His vision blurred as the strength drained from his body. Rage and disbelief remained on his face until his eyes finally lost focus and closed for the last time.

[End of chapter]

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