Another transaction!
The words were clearly not spoken to Ryukawa Tei.
"What are you talking about?"
Ryukawa Tei's face darkened, and a bad premonition suddenly struck him.
But he couldn't quite pinpoint why.
However, Nogawa Sagumi paid no mind to Ryukawa Tei's confusion. She knew that man was watching everything from the shadows.
She couldn't explain the reason, but her woman's intuition told her that if the other party were willing to intervene, her mother would absolutely be safe.
"With our current relationship, we no longer need to be bound by transactions!"
At this moment, a voice, clearly tinged with amusement, suddenly echoed through the air.
Yet, the voice seemed to come from all directions, making its source impossible to locate and its owner invisible.
"Who's there!"
The instant the voice appeared, Ryukawa Tei's hair stood on end, his pupils contracting to pinpricks, every nerve on high alert.
Danger!
This was his most immediate feeling.
The others present were utterly bewildered.
Then, the voice spoke again.
"So what do you want me to do?"
"Are you asking me to kill him for you, or... something else?"
The "him" in the voice clearly referred to Ryukawa Tei.
What was most striking was that when the voice's owner spoke of killing Ryukawa Tei for Nogawa Sagumi, the tone was so casual, as if it were a trivial matter.
This, Ryukawa Tei's own sharp senses also picked up.
"Kill me! How dare you!"
Ryukawa Tei roared, his chest filling with a raging inferno. His aura surged dramatically, and a terrifying wave of energy instantly spread outwards.
"A coward hiding in the shadows! Show yourself if you have the guts!"
*Bang!*
Ryukawa Tei stomped his foot, causing the ground around him to tremble violently. Countless shards of rock shot into the air, colliding fiercely and creating dazzling sparks.
Ryukawa Tei felt an unprecedented humiliation at this moment.
However, faced with Ryukawa Tei's provocation, the mysterious voice offered no response.
"Just help me rescue my mother. I'll handle the rest myself!" Nogawa Sagumi said gravely, looking at Ryukawa Tei, who was on the verge of a rampage.
Her only concern now was that Ryukawa Tei might harm her mother.
Beyond that, she had nothing else to worry about.
"Agreed!"
The mysterious voice quickly responded.
But upon hearing this, Ryukawa Tei burst into laughter. "Hahaha! Still dreaming of a rescue! You're delusional."
As he spoke, he once again grabbed Nogawa Kyoko by the neck, looking provocatively at Nogawa Sagumi and saying, "If you want to save your mother, it's simple. If you make me happy, I'll let her go. Otherwise..."
As he spoke, Ryukawa Tei lifted Nogawa Kyoko with one hand, a cruel smile plastered across his face. "You can collect her corpse!"
Seeing this, Nogawa Sagumi's eyes changed, as if she were looking at a dead man. The killing intent radiating from her was pure to the extreme.
This was the strongest killing intent she had ever felt since her birth.
"Hahaha! That's the look! The more you hate me, the greater my pleasure will be when I have you."
Unbeknownst to himself, Ryukawa Tei was already fantasizing about the scene that would drive him mad.
The corners of his mouth had already curled upwards.
"Huh?"
At this moment, Ryukawa Tei suddenly snapped back to reality.
He realized his hand suddenly felt lighter.
"Who... who is it?"
Ryukawa Tei stood frozen, Nogawa Kyoko, whom he had been holding, had vanished.
In the daze of his shock, a living person had disappeared from his grasp.
How could this be possible?
"No! No! How... how could this happen?"
Ryukawa Tei's eyes darted around frantically, still refusing to accept the reality before him.
But someone was unwilling to give him time to accept it.
*Swish!*
A blood-red blade glow suddenly appeared above him, carrying the ultimate killing intent, and descended towards him.
Nogawa Sagumi's attack had arrived.
"Not good!"
Just as Ryukawa Tei was about to have his head cleaved off, he abruptly took a step back. His body moved like a phantom, creating a sliver of space in the fraction of a second, forcing himself to gain distance.
*Boom!*
The blade glow struck the ground, leaving a trench nearly a meter deep before everyone. The trench was filled with an aura of death.
But that was not the end.
Her first strike unsuccessful, Nogawa Sagumi's figure seemed to teleport, following Ryukawa Tei's retreat, and she swung her long saber again.
*Swish!*
"Ah!"
Ryukawa Tei, having just dodged the previous attack in a hurry, was already unsteady. This time, he ultimately failed to evade.
A wound, from bottom to top, deep enough to expose flesh and bone, was carved into his chest. Blood gushed out like a spring. Under the combined assault of bone-chilling pain and the corrosive, intense malevolence from the wound, he was driven to the brink of madness.
He half-crouched on the ground, clutching his wound, his face contorting.
"Damn you! Damn you! Wh... what?"
But just as he thought he might catch his breath, the blade from hell gave him no such opportunity.
Having landed a blow, Nogawa Sagumi's attacks only became more fierce, decisive, and ruthless, giving her enemy no opening.
*Boom!*
Ryukawa Tei, dragging his injured body, could only continue to dodge Nogawa Sagumi's relentless, net-like onslaught. Each of her blows was incredibly precise.
There were several instances where his evasion was even slightly delayed, and he nearly lost the ability to procreate.
Nogawa Sagumi, however, paid no attention to this.
In her eyes, Ryukawa Tei was already no different from a dead man.
"Ah!"
Having lost the initiative, Ryukawa Tei was struck again.
Including this wound, he now had no less than five on his body.
But Nogawa Sagumi's attacks showed no signs of stopping.
From start to finish, she was utterly dominating Ryukawa Tei.
"If this continues! I'll really die!"
The pain from various parts of his body slowly brought Ryukawa Tei back to his senses.
"Condense for me!"
With a wave of his hand, countless crimson primal forces gathered on his skin, forming a primal armor that enveloped his body, to resist Nogawa Sagumi's attacks.
"Fire Burning Technique! Ignite!"
*Bang!*
Having gained a moment's respite, Ryukawa Tei clasped his hands together and then suddenly pulled them apart. A ball of peculiar crimson flame floated into the air.
The instant it appeared, the temperature of the entire space began to rise rapidly. Even the water vapor in the air was instantly evaporated.
"Let me show you how terrifying my primal force with the fire-burning attribute is!"
Ryukawa Tei controlled the flame, gradually enlarging it and splitting it, forming three new flames.
"Die!"