Loong Eater… Yuugo’s expression turned grave as he heard the ominous nickname of this vicious criminal.
But he kept quiet, not yet knowing what crimes this Zaraki had committed, and Koumaru continued.
“Yuugo, do you know that Yamato reveres loong? Have you heard that some people there want to abandon their humanity and evolve into loong?”
“Yes, kind of. I don’t know a lot about it…”
“That makes it easier then. This Zaraki wants to evolve beyond humans, and stepped beyond a boundary one should never traverse… He ate loong meat and made its power his own.”
Upon hearing about him eating loong meat, Yuugo understood the danger Zaraki posed.
Loong were seen as gods in Yamato. Eating the meat of said god could only be seen as an atrocity.
But it did not appear to be so simple.
“Yuugo, you have seen the exchange students from our country fight, correct? Much like how Ryuuga’s katana, Loong King Fang, uses a fang of the tempest loong… Magic items in Yamato use parts of loong. Weapons made using the bodies of strong loong can display unbelievable power. Even just a fang, nail, or tail.”
“By eating loong meat, Zaraki took that power into his body, becoming something one could describe as half loong half human. And this power made him go mad… He went down this dark path and destroyed a lot of villages, continuing to take lives in the process.”
“We have been after Zaraki for years, but he always escapes just before we can catch him. There is definitely someone aiding his escape. That suspicion turned to conviction when we learned of his escape into this country. We suspect that this person was the one who turned the perpetrators of the incident in the insectary into monster armor beasts.”
As Yuugo heard Koumaru and Ryuuga, he thought about how this definitely was not unrelated to him.
A vicious criminal snuck into their country, but someone behind the scenes was spreading the power to turn people into monster armor beasts, with some sort of goal in mind.
Maybe Zaraki was acting as an intermediary who contacted and gave power to people like those siblings, in return for being allowed to escape.
Yuugo had no idea what Zaraki or the people behind him were after, but… They were definitely close to him and the others.
(Is this Lost and the others’ doing? Are they using Zaraki…?)
For a moment, Yuugo questioned if it was the mastermind behind those other incidents… But denied his own possibility.
Lost and the others scouted the people they turned into monster armor beasts on their own. If they were up to something again, why go through the trouble of using Zaraki?
It was more likely someone else was behind this.
This was the conclusion Yuugo reached, but he kept this to himself because he did not want to disturb the investigation. Instead, he continued to listen to Koumaru.
“We are doing our best to track down Zaraki. We intend to cooperate with security forces here, but it has been all sorts of difficult…”
“That makes sense. It’s always more difficult than one might expect to have two countries do something together.”
“I am glad to hear you say that. But in the meantime, they must be plotting something and putting it into motion. This is not certain, but another incident might occur around this academy. When that happens… It pains me to ask this, but we might have to borrow your help again, Yuugo and Ryuuga.”
“It’s okay. It’s natural for a hero to help people in need. And we can’t just leave a villain out there free. If there’s anything we can do, let us help.”
“Ooh! Thank you! Thank you so much! We will do our best to capture Zaraki and bring peace to everyone here! And if he escapes, I will repent by cutting my stomach!”
―――――――――――――――
“Ah… Talking Sakai down wasn’t easy… I told him he didn’t have to, but he kept trying to cut his stomach…”
“But at least we know who was behind the incident. You also think it’s related to Black Veil, right?”
Yuugo nodded.
Their goals were not clear yet, but there was a very good chance someone was giving out the power to become monster armor beasts through Black Veil and Zaraki.
They knew Raiha was stepping into a dangerous territory for Sakura’s sake, and felt a little flustered.
“…Anyway, let’s tell Mister Castle about this. I doubt he’ll blow this out of proportion. He can also ask guards he knows. But our priority should be to make Amamiya come to her senses.”
“Yes, it’s not our job to capture Black Veil. We should just get her out of the Friends of the Night Society. Let’s bring her back before things get even more complicated.”
With their goals decided, they were going to start taking action with their friends the next day.
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Speaking of which I just noticed something. Yuugo’s armor looks like Kamen Rider armor, and he often mimics the fighting styles of Super Sentai and Kamen rider. Then there’s the forms he currently has, he’s following the Ultraman principle. He got a power form first and then a speed form, followed by a specialized weapon. If he keeps following the ultraman rule the next form could be the final form, although I hope it won’t. I wanna see Yuugo keep getting stronger.