-The Remnant(4): -

Boom!!

To bare fist collided with each other, creating a booming noise loud enough to be mistaken as an exploding bomb. Both the man and Joy were thrown after the impact in the opposite directions, but they stabilized their footing and went at it again. Joy’s body was now lobster red, he was being boosted by two stack overdrive. As for the other man, he was going at it, and there was still no indication of him using some skill.

Chiba had fully taken the backseat in this fight, her skills were no use, and she was no support class skills. All she can do was to step back and watch the two maniacs fight. She wasn’t even sad that she couldn’t join in this, clearly, muscle showcase fight. She was still worried about him, though, and of course, about Kenshin. She couldn’t settle her mind on anything, and ultimately just stood in her place, looking for an opportunity to intervene. The problem lay in that man’s superior defense, which she, with her skills, couldn’t break.

“dorya!” with a strange warcry, joy countered a punch with his own and aimed at his opponent’s face with his free hand. The man also countered Joy’s sneak attack, with his own freehand. It is during this time, Joy’s superiority came into play. Although the man’s defense was top class, he wasn’t as agile was the later. The time it took him to make a single move, Joy would have already countered with three within that exact time frame. After blocking Joy’s hand, he didn’t get to rest as a heavy knee landed on his left cheek, throwing him to his right.

Joy grabbed his extended leg, and pulled him back, breaking the momentum and punched his face. The man couldn’t block the followups and endured a heavy punch from Joy, knocking a few of his teeth out. But the man wasn’t idle, he used his hand and gave a devastating push to Joy, sending the later a few steps back. Not only his defense, but even his strength was also overwhelming. Joy came back again, but this time, the man grabbed him and lifted him to air before throwing him away.

Joy slid on the ground before coming to a halt. He rolled around and stood up, dusting away his shoulders. The action meant for nothing else but the piss off the man. In reality, though, he wasn’t even the least bit worried. 2x boost had not only increased his strength but also his defense by a little. That throw did nothing to him other than just dirtying his clothes.

“Way to go, Joy!” Chiba cheered, sitting near the teleportation gate, in case the man chase at her, she would use it to flee.

“Grrr!” the man growled, it seems he couldn’t take Chiba cheering for Joy.

And the fight continued between two bears.

…

“That potion I made you drink… it’s a very sinister thing, you know. It will corrode all your bodily organs from inside, rotting them one by one, while keeping you alive to feel the pain. I have prepared to kill every last one of you using this… but I can give you leeway.” Kenshin said, standing a bit far from Trisha, or the mangled thing that looked like a nightmare with no skin and only flesh.

“kkddrtfsdf!!” the thing that used to be a powerful assassin gurgled on her own blood as she tried to say something but failed. Not to mention her voice box, even her mouth was not in shape to utter a word. Kenshin chuckled, enveloping her in a transparent bubble. Her face and neck started to restore at a rapid pace, undoing all the damage been dealt with her. Soon a gorgeous face was revealed once again.

“Now, speak what you want to speak…” Kenshin asked.

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“Please…just let me die…I can't take this anymore. Kill me…I am…” the moment her voice box restored, Trisha started to beg for her death. She had been in hell for the past few minutes, the feeling of her organs rotting while she still could feel it wasn’t something her feeble mind was able to handle. She had been trained harshly since her childhood, but nothing could compare to this type of pain and torture.

“Die? Well, it's not a big deal, but why would I do so? I still haven’t mastered my skill enough.”

“Please…just I beg you…I will give you any info, just kill me. I don’t want to endure this pain anymore.” Her mind was long since broken, leaving behind a husk of her former self. If it were only the torture potion, then she wouldn’t have been this broken, but Kenshin repeatedly used his skill [Opposite] to reverse effects, practicing his skill’s elusive ways and how it can be used to heal, while at the same time tormenting the girl enough for her to reveal everything on her own accord.

“You sure you want to betray your family? Isn’t you who told me before that you would rather die than backstab your family, right?”

“I was foolish back then…I am ready to reveal anything…please just let me die. I can’t take it anymore.” She cried. She was truly an unlucky character, not to mention her torture, she couldn’t even go insane due to Kenshin’s skill usage, restoring her to the point of initial every time something happens to her.

“Haha! Is that so… then start, what is kawakuchi family, and what relation they have with those Child rackets?”

…

“Hiya!! Now, Chiba!”

“Go it.” After hearing Joy’s shout, Chiba created a large screen of the slippery ice sheet on the floor. Just at that moment, a huge brown leg stepped on it and slipped, followed by the owner of the leg, who looked like a little mountain.

“Damn! What the hell? Since when humans are turning into rocky giants? It didn’t make sense.” Joy asked frustratingly as he stared at a huge giant that looked like a mountain flailing about, trying to get up.

“Well, we are hunters… by definition, we are illogical beings in the first place… things like this are expected. Even so, t's my first time seeing a gigantification skill.” Chiba looked impressed, after joining Joy and Kenshin, her horizons were broadening slowly. Things that she hadn’t seen ever, appearing one by one, even her own strength was increasing leaps and bounds.

“Sigh” sighing, Joy continued to punch the man, dealing a little damage every time. He finally couldn’t take it anymore, equipped his thunder knuckles and a wrist guard given by Kenshin. The thunder knuckles gave him a thunder skill while the wrist guard gave him a skill called [zero defense], which would nullify someone’s defense to 0 for 5 seconds every time it's used, allowing the target to deal 100% of their damage.

Joy spammed the skill’s effect, and rained thunder punches, dealing more than 1k attack each time. Under his instance, even Chiba joined with her ice javelins. The unfortunate man who came out strong now laid on the ground like a tortoise with its backflipped. He didn’t have any skills other than this gigantification one, and once it's used, it can’t be canceled for quite a while.

…

“The Remnant?” Kenshin asked with a serious tone.

“Yes, they are the group formed from those people.” Trisha nodded her head painfully. Although Kenshin had gealed her face and neck, her body was still very much in pain.

“And your family isn’t involved as a whole, but only a few people.” Kenshin once again for confirmation.

“Yes, that’s right. I was only a foot soldier of the group, not even eligible to become one of the elite’s underlings.” The girl said with a sigh. She was gradually going weak, as her bodily functions were failing her over time.

“Good, you can die now.” Kenshin used his fire skill and burnt her to cinders before slicing her throat with his sword. Then he sighed, sithing his sword, he rubbed his face with his left hand, which was clean.

‘Damn, this is getting confusing. I am gradually entering into a quagmire…and now they have discovered me.’ It was very worrying. He still had loved ones who he wanted to protect, but his actions had now put them all in jeopardy.

‘The Remnants, huh? I can’t allow them to fester on my body anymore. Kill…they all need to vanish.’ Kenshin thought, but also knew he would be helpless as he didn’t know who were the members or how many are there. Not to mention, the so-called leader was still a mystery.

“There is a need to raid the kawakuchi mansion this time…” Kenshin decided, he would first raid the Kawakuchi family residence near Mito, try to find some clues before those guys make a move on his loved ones.

He couldn’t ignore this matter anymore.