Ch380. Rigaldo

Rei loved the confusion on the Claymores' faces. They clearly never heard of ninjas and didn't fully believe his claim of not being a Yoma but they also had doubts about their worldview.

If Rei was indeed telling the truth, then that would mean there were other people capable of slaying Yomas and... That rubbed the Claymores the wrong way.

They were always told they had to hunt Yomas because there was nobody else capable of doing so. They were made to dedicate their whole life, their whole existence, to serving the Organization and enacting their orders because only they could slay Yomas.

They took solace in the fact they were protecting humanity.

To be told they were not really needed? That there was somebody else who could do the job instead of them?

It was both relieving and vexing for the female warriors.

While he was enjoying the rare expressions on the Claymores' faces, Rei suddenly blinked and turned his head towards the north before clicking his tongue before walking forward.

The Claymores had no idea how to react as he started walking through their group. There was still wariness in their eyes but resignation was more prevalent. Rei didn't care about them right now, though.

He had a tougher nut to crack.

Arriving behind, or in front, depending on the perspective, of the group of Claymores, Rei shifted his body weight in preparation for a quick reaction.

"Will you show yourself or coward is your default setting?" Rei taunted.

Such a weak taunt would definitely not work on most chunins but Rei decided there was no need for anything overly complicated. These Yomas were apex predators for far too long. Having somebody they consider beneath them insult them would either rile them up or... it won't and tell Rei that his opponent was worthwhile and he should take him a bit more seriously.

It was a win-win situation for Rei anyway.

When a slow clapping sound resounded through the town square as a young man with dark hair that fell over his pale silver eyes appeared calmly walking from the blizzard that limited the visibility, Rei couldn't muster any kind of surprise.

By now, he fully understood that Yomas were prideful and arrogant beings.

Why should their top dogs be any different?

"Really? You show yourself just because I called you a coward?" Rei gave the condescending young man a deadpan look, stopping him dead in his tracks.

The young man narrowed his silver eyes at him before his gaze slowly slid towards the Claymores, disregarding Rei altogether.

Rei frowned. Not because of the disregard but because of the utter inability to read the situation. Yes, Rei had his chakra bound tighter than Anko ties her poor victims. In the young man's eyes, Rei is probably no more than a civilian.

There was a reason why he did not show his full power to annihilate the Yoma 'army'. He didn't want to scare this guy away. But still, one look at the battlefield and he should see something was amiss.

The guy just seemed to not care, judging his opponents' prowess only by their energy levels.

"This is a miracle. All of my Awakened Beings are dead but none of you died. You are fine warriors. If you had more time to grow, you might have posed a challenge. Unfortunately, I can't allow that to happen." The young man spoke before a massive discharge of Yoki erupted from him.

A vortex of crimson energy emerged around the young man, ferociously swirling and lighting the surroundings with a blood-red hue as his body started to shift.

It slightly reminded Rei of werewolf shapeshifting and for the first time, he actually appreciated the shape of a Yoma. From what he saw up till now, Yomas were ugly motherfuckers.

This dude however had it a bit better aesthetically.

When he was completely shifted, he resembled a silver-eyed, humanoid lion creature with a wolfs' elongated snout, bulging muscles, proper six-pack, and was around three meters in height.

Frankly, if Rei saw such a monster in his previous life, he would probably shit himself and reincarnate from the sheer fright.

Unfortunately for the lion wolfie, Rei saw much more dangerous 'monsters' than him.

When Miria saw the transformation, she instantly shook in fright, "Impossible!" She exclaimed in a quiet voice, trying to keep her fear out of it for the benefit of her comrades. "Tha-That's Rigaldo! The Silver-Eyed Lion King, Rigaldo!"

Her exclamation was supposed to serve as a warning to get ready for anything. Rigaldo was legendary and there was no Claymore that didn't know about him. Even those who still have no clue what exactly Awakened Beings are, knew that there was an extremely powerful Yoma called Rigaldo with strength just below the three Abyssal Ones.

Alas, Miria's lack of leadership qualities showed once again as the whole group of Claymores was now extremely scared for their lives now that they knew who they were facing.

Rei couldn't blame Miria for her oversight. She meant well and there was a need to remind the battle-capable Claymores that their enemy is much stronger than the previous ones.

He glanced at them with a small disappointment in his gaze. They already lost half of the fight if they refused to properly stand up to their enemy.

'And they were doing so well against the Awakened Beings...' He wryly smiled and gently shook his head.

Oh, they had the will to fight and survive but it was considerably shaken after knowing the identity of their enemy.

'I wonder what would they feel if they knew both Isley and Priscilla, two beings on the level of Abyssal Ones, are currently heading this way.' Rei snorted. Now that would probably completely finish off any sort of self-confidence the Claymores had left.

"Calm down!" Flora suddenly firmly spoke, "Focus on surviving, not on your fear! You will die that way."

Her words were simple and plain but they certainly hit home.

Rei's lips twitched upwards when he saw the Claymores settle down and the battle-able ones prepared for a fight to the bitter end. They rallied behind Miria, depending on her strength but Flora's words gave them the necessary final push to gain resolve.

Rei thought it was... adorable. He wondered when was the last time he faced a life and death battle.

Obviously, it was just an idle curiosity of his. The whole goal for him in this life was being smart enough to avoid such a thing. If one had to fight, he should first get strong enough to win the battle easily.

Depending on some on-spot mid-fight boosts and strength level breakthrough... now that was totally retarded.

In the real world, if one is not strong enough, he should not engage. Period.

Running headfirst into an avoidable fight one was not certain to win was stupid beyond words. Granted, there were some unavoidable fights, and giving your all even if it looked lost from the start was exactly the thing that could pave the path to victory, but the point still stood.

Now that the Claymores were ready for a fight Rei was not willing to let them participate in, he refocused on the lion wolfie.

Rei had manners. He left Rigaldo to finish his transformation without chucking a mini bijuudama at the stupidly stationary target. He wanted to see what the wolfie would do after transforming.

Rigaldo did not further disappoint Rei.

There was no overly long, boring monologue or boasting. He just disappeared the second he was transformed and...

A wind blew into Flora's face, causing her to squint her eyes, and her brain trying to process what her eyes were seeing. It took a second but her brain finally managed to register what was happening in front of her and her eyes widened in terror as she took a step back. She was however so shaken up she slid on the snow and fell on her posterior.

'I almost died!' Her mind screamed at her but her body couldn't stop shaking as he realized Rigaldo was right in front of her in the middle of the other Claymores who were only now realizing what was happening, 'And I didn't even see how.'

Rigaldo's claw on his pointing finger was just a small distance from the center of her forehead, his massive hand held back by the deceptively small... ninja.

The mysterious man saved her life!

Flora gulped, her throat uncomfortably dry all of sudden.

She could imagine what her fate would have been if the ninja did not stop Rigaldo. He would have split her head like a knife does an apple!

Flora shuddered at the thought and how close she was to death. She was straight out hyperventilating and felt the same fear as a rookie who was on her first Yoma hunt.

"Rigaldo wordlessly looked at the small hand preventing him from killing his first prey before his silver eyes slowly relocated towards the owner of said hand and found the... civilian.

If it surprised him, he didn't show it. Instead, he asked, "Who are you, weakling?"

Rei almost face faulted. Yes, he was still suppressing his energy levels but... wasn't him stopping his hand enough proof of...

'You know what? Fuck it.' He dryly thought and spoke, "Me? I am Rei Yotsuba, the new owner of these Claymores. Trying to harm something that is mine... now that was where you fucked up."

And with that, Rei released his chakra suppression, exactly matching Rigaldo's own energy levels and putting yet another scare through the group of Claymores who subconsciously started to put their hopes for survival in his hands and with that, seeing Rei as someone important.

Before Rigaldo could comprehend what was going on, he received a snap kick between his legs courtesy of annoyed Rei, and flew to the nearby building, demolishing it with his body while his brain was overloaded by pain from smashed eggs.

And who knows? Rei had his hopes up that maybe it would add some intelligence to that arrogance.