"W-what?"
Through the gaps between his fingers, the man's blood-red ghoul eye could be seen trembling violently with fear.
"M-my lord, I..."
Before he could finish, a black spike punched straight through the back of his skull.
Bang!
Blood and brain matter sprayed out.
The middle-aged man's body jerked backward on instinct.
Only after Ivan withdrew the spike did the light finally leave the man's eyes and his corpse collapse heavily to the ground.
"Too fragile."
Ivan stood up, glanced at the body by his feet, then looked toward the young man kneeling not far away.
From Ken Kaneki's perspective, the blood-soaked monster in front of him was slowly getting closer.
"D-don't come any closer."
Kaneki looked like a terrified rabbit.
He planted both hands behind himself and kicked against the ground, desperately scrambling backward.
As Ivan walked, the exposed wounds across his body healed at an astonishing speed.
Muscle fibers rapidly grew back over his bones first.
Then a fresh layer of skin spread across the newly formed muscle.
"Hey. This is my feeding ground. Outsiders aren't welcome here."
At that moment, a tall figure stepped out of the darkness.
The newcomer wore black half-rim glasses and had orange-blond hair. At first glance, he looked like a fairly handsome college student or young office worker.
"You talking to me?"
Ivan turned and looked at Nishiki Nishio.
He remembered Tokyo Ghoul quite well.
Most of the major characters were still familiar to him.
"Two strangers showing up at once. And you..." Nishiki pushed his glasses back up his nose as he studied Ivan's muscular build. "Why aren't your eyes red?"
"You're asking a bit much, non?"
Ivan's tone carried a faint French lilt.
"And since when did this become your feeding ground? If I remember correctly, this area belonged to Rize Kamishiro."
A black substance spread across Ivan's body.
Within seconds, it covered him from head to toe before shaping itself into a black coat.
"He's right. Since when did this become your feeding ground?"
A petite figure dropped from above and landed steadily on the pavement.
"Touka."
The familiar voice was enough for Nishiki to recognize her immediately.
"As far as I know, that gluttonous bitch is dead."
Nishiki turned toward Touka Kirishima, whose right eye was hidden behind her purple bangs.
"So that means this place is yours now?" Touka asked calmly. "Rize stole this feeding ground. We planned to divide it among the weaker ghouls. Ward 20 has always been managed by Anteiku."
As she spoke, her left eye suddenly transformed, the sclera turning black around a crimson iris.
"Huh? You people at Anteiku are nothing but a bunch of old men, weaklings, and cripples. What gives you the right to lecture me?"
Nishiki turned fully toward Touka and began walking toward her.
"This was my feeding ground in the first place, before Rize showed up."
"Hey, hey. Being completely ignored like this is rather irritating."
[Rc Cell Fusion in Progress: Current Progress 2%]
Ivan looked at the panel floating in front of him and slowly raised his right hand.
"If I consume Rc cells directly, that should speed up the fusion process, right?"
Under Kaneki's horrified gaze, Ivan's right arm twisted and deformed into an enormous black python.
"Still, there's only one way to know for sure."
Ivan controlled the giant serpent and sent it lunging toward the corpse on the ground.
Its jaws opened wide.
Then it swallowed the entire body in one bite.
But a moment later, the giant serpent spat the corpse back out.
Compared to the pitiful amount of Rc cells contained in blood and flesh, the kakuhou that stored those Rc cells was the real prize in Ivan's eyes.
And sure enough, things went exactly as he expected.
After consuming the corpse's kakuhou, another small portion of the cells in his body began to mutate.
The fusion progress on the panel also increased from 2% to 3%.
More importantly, Ivan could feel that as the concentration of mutated cells gradually increased, some of them were beginning to gather together on their own.
If the number grew a little higher, they would probably start forming the early structure of a kakuhou.
"So you're another ghoul who likes cannibalizing your own kind... Then why'd you spit him back out?" Nishiki asked in confusion.
Generally speaking, ghouls who enjoyed cannibalizing other ghouls tended to be fucked in the head.
Cannibalism among ghouls meant one ghoul consuming another, absorbing the Rc cells from the victim's body and increasing the concentration of Rc cells within their own.
As that concentration rose, the cannibal's physical abilities and combat strength would also improve.
The stronger the ghoul they consumed, the greater the benefits.
Through prolonged cannibalism, a ghoul's kagune could eventually begin to mutate, gradually evolving toward a kakuja.
But frequent or excessive cannibalism also carried a serious risk.
Mental instability.
And eventually, complete loss of control.
"Maybe he just tasted bad," Touka said quietly as she stepped up beside Nishiki.
Because of Ivan's actions, Touka and Nishiki had temporarily found themselves standing on the same side.
"Would either of you like to offer me your strength?"
Ivan smiled and spread his arms.
"Is he some kind of rare ghoul?" Nishiki studied Ivan's eyes curiously. "He looks even stranger than that one-eyed ghoul over there."
"I don't know," Touka said. "But he's definitely dangerous."
She began mobilizing her kagune, ready to fight.
"Forget it. I have more important things to do. I don't have time to play with you."
Ivan glanced toward Kaneki, who was leaning against the wall.
If he remembered correctly, Kaneki had been transplanted with Rize Kamishiro's organs.
Rize was practically premium fusion material.
Every ghoul who got one of her organs implanted seemed to get something good out of it.
More importantly, Rize was a pure-blood ghoul from the Washuu family.
Her lineage was exceptionally high-grade.
Only ghouls who had received her organs possessed the potential to evolve into a Dragon.
In truth, Rize had never actually died after being crushed beneath those steel beams.
Dr. Kanou had recovered her and turned her into a living experimental specimen, using her body to mass-produce one-eyed ghouls.
Which meant that as long as Ivan found Dr. Kanou, he might effectively gain access to a continuous supply of Rc cells.
Of course, that was only a theory for now.
Whether he could truly obtain an endless source of Rc cells from Rize would have to be tested first.
Bang!
Several thick flesh tentacles burst from Ivan's back.
They slammed violently into the ground.
The tremendous impact launched Ivan into the air, and a moment later, he disappeared into the darkness.
"What a fucking piece of shit," Nishiki muttered, his expression ugly.
Touka said nothing.
She was thinking about Ivan's identity.
An unfamiliar face.
Power that was clearly far beyond ordinary.
Someone like that could not have appeared out of nowhere.
Was he a ghoul from another ward?
She decided this needed to be reported to the manager.
Allowing a dangerous unknown to wander freely through Ward 20 would be a failure on Anteiku's part.
Especially when that unknown looked anything but harmless.
They needed to figure out who he was as soon as possible.
"Whatever. I'm not in the mood to deal with that disgusting one-eyed brat anymore."
Nishiki shoved his hands into his pockets and started walking toward the mouth of the alley.
"Get him the hell out of my feeding ground."
____
[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69