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BOOM!
The blast showered the hall in rubble.
Vampires and tooth-bloods massed together, bracing for him.
Through the drifting dust, a lean figure stepped forward. Even the uneven stone didn't slow him.
He'd burned through almost all his weapons—gear his teacher had once built from Rick's parts. Once it was gone, it could never be replaced.
"Look! He's out of weapons!" one vampire shouted.
Eyes turned to him. It was true—his arsenal was nearly gone.
"This is it! Without those toys, he's just some punk!"
"Now's our chance—hit him all at once!"
But no one wanted to be first. The slaughter they'd witnessed had left a deep scar. Who knew if he still had one more nightmare in his pocket?
They shouted, but stayed rooted in place.
Dan kept walking, his gaze cold and full of killing intent. Fear gnawed at them. More than a few thought about running.
Why die here if they could live?
Then Nonika's furious voice boomed:"Idiots! Anyone who runs, I'll kill myself! He's got nothing left—get him!"
One tooth-blood roared and charged, breaking the stalemate. The others followed, ready to die trying.
Dan's lips curled in a cold smile. He tapped a fist against his chest.
His harness twisted and unfolded into a massive hand cannon locked into both hands.
He kicked off the floor and charged straight into them.
Vmm—BOOM!
The explosion blinded the monitors.
"What happened?!" Nonika barked.
One of her men frantically hammered the keyboard."Boss… all the cameras are dead. The blast must've fried them."
"F**k!!"
Nonika slammed the table with a loud crack.
"Hurry up! Find a way to tell me if that brat is dead or not!"
She barely finished speaking when—BANG!
The monitoring room door exploded inward with a single kick.
"No need to check. I'm still alive… but you're about to die."
"You—!"
Nonika narrowed her eyes at the young man standing in the doorway. Two other high-ranking subordinates immediately rose to stand at her back.
"Oh, so it's you—the little violin boy. Your name's Dan, right?"
Dan casually tossed aside the ruined hand-cannon he'd been carrying and brushed the dust off his clothes.
"Dan? Heh… foreigner who can't even twist his tongue right—my name's Dan."
Nonika mimicked his dusting motion, pretending to stay calm.
"Dan? Fine, whatever you call yourself. What I'm really curious about is how you found this place."
Dan took off his glasses and tossed them onto her desk.
"Thanks to you. Guess you never washed your hands after the charity gala."
Something flickered in Nonika's expression.
"It was then! You planted a tracker on me at the party!"
Dan's grin widened, sharp and cold.
Nonika covered his eyes with one hand, tilting his head back—and suddenly burst into laughter.
"Click, click, click… this is rich. My great Aranka family, brought to this point by some wet-behind-the-ears brat. Hilarious."
As he lowered his head, blood-red eyes gleamed through the gaps in his fingers.
"But without those weird weapons of yours… what do you have left to fight me with?"
In a blink, he and the two lieutenants transformed into Yashagami vampires.
"ROAR—!"
Their deafening bellows shook the room.
Dan lazily picked his ear with his pinky.
"Squid, moray eel, octopus—you three the seafood barbecue trio or something?"
But the moment his gaze fell on the octopus vampire, his killing intent surged, unstoppable.
"Belt! Let's take him for a spin!"
"No problem, Dan. Fire up your engine!"
"Start your engines!"
[Henshin!]
"Over my dead body!"
The squid vampire—Nonika—lunged forward, tentacles whipping toward him.
But in the flash of a bright light, a tire spun into the room, smacking the tentacles aside.
"Drive! Type Speed!"
"This ends now!"
Dan drew his Handle-Sword, batting away the squid's next strike and charging straight for the octopus.
According to Erik, this was the vampire who'd attacked the orphanage that night.
In all his battles against their kind, Dan had never wanted to kill someone so badly.
"Die!"
The octopus vampire spewed a blast of thick, inky sludge.
Dan twisted the dial on his belt. Engines roared as he skidded across the floor like a drifting racecar, slipping past the ink to slash hard into the monster's shoulder.
"Don't underestimate me, kid!"
The octopus grabbed the Handle-Sword with one suctioned limb and swung a massive punch at Dan's gut.
At the same time, Nonika's tentacles lashed again, the eel flanking alongside, forming a deadly triangle around him.
Beneath the mask, Dan's lips curled in a cold, mocking smile.
"Time to hit Heavy Accel—go!"
A strange force burst outward, freezing all three monsters mid-motion. On Krim's display, a countdown began.
"Damn it! What is this!?"
"My body… why can't I move!?"
"What the hell is this power?!"
They were locked in molasses, unable to move faster than a crawl—yet still conscious, still watching, still hearing.
Dan wrenched his sword free and began hacking. One slash. Another. Again and again.
"Die! Die! DIE—! Go to hell!"
With every swing, he saw the faces of the orphanage kids smiling in his mind. A happy life was so close—so why… why did they have to suffer?
"Dan! Calm down! You've only got ten seconds in Accel Mode!" Krim's voice cut in.
"I know! Nine point eight seconds—that's when your despair ends!"
Snarling, Dan pulled the Shift Car from his wrist and jammed it into the Handle-Sword, twisting the button.
"Finishing Move! Full Throttle! Turn Slash!"
A blur of blade-shadows slashed through the air as Dan broke free of their formation.
The acceleration ended. All three monsters exploded in unison. Time stopped at 0.2 seconds.
"....."