The controlled sorcerers charged furiously, their movements wild yet oddly precise, a testament to the power of whoever was manipulating them as if they were shikigami.
Furōkawa stood firm, his wings spread wide and his bracelets-Hrist and Mist glowed faintly with cursed energy.
"You guys sure are persistent," Furō said, a smirk tugging at his lips.
With a flick of his wrists, Furō summoned a volley of sharp, glistening weapons from his bracelets. Daggers materialized around him, hovering like a deadly halo.
The weapons surged forward as he motioned, striking at the sorcerers with precision. Though they dodged and deflected with surprising skill, Furō pressed forward.
One of the sorcerers lunged toward him with a blade in hand, but Furō met the attack with a brutal swing of his wing.
The sheer force sent the sorcerer flying into a crumbling wall.
"That's one," Furō muttered, the smirk never leaving his face.
The remaining sorcerers began to close in, but Furō was ready. Onamazu shifted in his grip, transforming into its whip form. The cursed weapon crackled with energy as Furō swung it in a wide arc, the whip lashing out violently into the surrounding sorcerers. Screams of pain echoed as they staggered back, grabbing at their wounds.
The sorcerers regrouped, their cursed energy spiking as they prepared another attack. Furō chuckled and gave a single, powerful flap of his wings, propelling himself into the air. Onamazu morphed once more, shifting into its axe form-Oryx. The massive blade gleamed ominously in the dim light as Furō dove toward the group.
With a single, devastating swing, Furō cleaved through four of the controlled sorcerers, their bodies falling to the ground in halves.
His Kogane appeared beside him, its shrill voice cutting through the battlefield.
"Four players have been eliminated! 4 points have been added!"
'Regular humans?!'
Furō stood amid the chaos, Onamazu glowing faintly as he absorbed it back into his ring. Without missing a beat, he raised his hands, releasing a thick cloud of toxic gas from his bracelets. The gas twisted and condensed, forming a swarm of razor-sharp daggers that floated menacingly around him. The remaining assailants, disoriented and coughing from the toxic smoke, struggled to focus as the blades encircled them.
'If I stop now, there's no telling if another sorcerer will capitalize on my mercy!! I'm sorry everyone!'
The toxic smoke grew denser, obscuring the battlefield as Furō dashed through it in a blur. Grabbing daggers from the cloud, he began striking the sorcerers one by one. Each attack was precise and ruthless, slicing cleanly through their necks and decapitating them.
The controlled cutizens didn't stand a chance.
The smoke began to dissipate, revealing Furō standing amid the fallen bodies. His Kogane appeared once more, its voice loud and grating.
"8 players have been eliminated! 12 points have been added!"
Furō sighed deeply, wiping a speck of blood from his cheek. "I'm just farming points, who is throwing all these points away?" he asked casually, snapping his fingers. The remaining smoke knives dissolved, their cursed energy flowing back into his bracelets.
As he turned to leave, Furō suddenly felt a new, unfamiliar presence. His eyes darted upward, narrowing as he spotted a figure perched on a rooftop. The man was tall and imposing, with short black hair and gruff facial hair. Centipede tattoos coiled around his face, their ink seemingly alive. His dark eyes locked onto Furō with a predatory gaze.
The man didn't move, his voice deep and resonant as he said, "Ah, lovely. A bigger bug."
Before Furōkawa could respond, the ground began to rumble violently. Both he and the tattooed sorcerer turned toward the source of the commotion. Down the street, a young man wearing gauntlets was locked in a ferocious battle with a gargoyle-like curse. The creature's tail whipped through the air, firing blasts of cursed energy that tore through buildings.
The destruction grew closer with each passing second, forcing Furō and the tattooed sorcerer to pause their impending clash. The young man slammed his gauntlet into the gargoyle's head, sending it crashing into a nearby building. The cursed energy explosions shook the ground, debris raining down as both Furō and the tattooed sorcerer braced for impact.
The street was left in ruins, the tension thick as Furō stood his ground, wings flared and ready. His gaze flicked between the two new threats—a potential ally, or perhaps a double-sided disaster.