76. A Sudden "Event" Solved

"Play is over."

Izumi formed a giant wind shuriken that gave off a loud screeching noise. Izumi didn't form it using his chakra, but his Devil Fruit power instead.

He threw the giant wind shuriken at Daniel who had not yet gotten up from the ground. The shuriken hit Daniel precisely and then exploded, creating wind needles that pierced every part of Daniel's body.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH—" Daniel screamed in pain while holding his body.

Izumi walked slowly toward Daniel. Daniel's body was covered in wounds and blood was pouring out through his wounds.

Izumi did not ask why Daniel intended to kidnap Lia. Whether she was going to be sacrificed for a ritual or something, he didn't really care. Most importantly, if he finished off Daniel now, there was no need to worry about that sort of thing.

Suddenly, Izumi frowned.

Seeing Daniel's body heal so quickly made him feel uncomfortable.

If this continues, the demon will continue to recover and over time he will be exhausted from the demon's regeneration. That was what Izumi had in mind.

Regeneration is the rapid growth of cells. Hence, fire is the main weakness of regeneration because it can hinder cell growth.

Since Izumi didn't have the ability to create fire, he thought of the opposite.

He took out his sword and began to concentrate. His aura changed. A cold aura emanated from his body and surrounded him.

"Freezing Bone!"

Izumi unleashed three slashes with a sword that was already imbued with cold energy. He didn't stop there. He then unleashed the next Snow Sword technique.

"Traceless Snow!"

Izumi swung his sword diagonally from top to bottom and vice versa. Then, he spun the sword which caused a cyclone of violent wind along with the snow to be created, and a snow hurricane formed around him.

"Kuroneko. Throw that demon over here!"

Izumi suddenly shouted at Kuroneko who was cornering Charlie. Kuroneko turned her head and saw Izumi who was creating a snow hurricane. She also saw Daniel starting to freeze in the middle of the hurricane.

Not like when Izumi fought the manticore. This time he used his full strength so the temperature dropped drastically which started to freeze Daniel's body. Starting from freezing the skin to freezing the blood.

Naturally, Kuroneko who noticed it immediately threw Charlie in the direction of the hurricane. He didn't bother killing Charlie because someone was willing to.

Daniel and Charlie, who were trapped in a snowstorm, couldn't move at all. Their bodies began to freeze rapidly from the outside as well as the inside.

Then, Izumi began to slash successively to cut Daniel and Charlie's bodies to pieces. As he expected, after freezing to flesh and blood and then cutting them, Daniel and Charlie's regeneration abilities were no longer useful. Moreover, Izumi confirmed from their auras that their auras had disappeared. They have died.

It seemed that Daniel and Charlie's regeneration was not a high-level regeneration that could avoid death. Even so, Izumi didn't want to take the risk. He called Kuroneko to come closer.

"Eh, you want me to use my lightning strike? Aren't they dead?" Kuroneko pointed at Daniel and Charlie's bodies which were cut to pieces.

Izumi nodded.

"Their auras were gone. But just in case, they should be burned to ashes."

But then, Kuroneko stretched out the hand that was holding the hilt of her sword.

"Do it yourself! Here, I lend you my sword!"

"Tsk."

"What with that "tsk" mean? I was kind enough to lend it to you." Kuroneko pointed at Izumi with her index finger.

"Fine, fine. But, do I have to chant as you chanted earlier?"

"Of course, you have to."

After Kuroneko said that, Izumi looked at her closely. He wanted to look closely into her eyes, but Kuroneko's reaction of suddenly retreating seemed to be avoiding harassment from Izumi.

Izumi sighed. It seemed he was too suspicious of Kuroneko who might be playing a prank on him. He grabbed the sword and started chanting.

"Heavens above, grant me the power to punish the enemies. With the power of Your lightning, You will scorch everything to ashes. Lightning Descend!"

However, nothing happened after Izumi chanted the same as Kuroneko did. He froze. Then, looking at Kuroneko who was holding back her laughter.

From there, he realized that Kuroneko had been toying with him. It turned out that Kuroneko's expression earlier was not an expression of fear toward Izumi who wanted to do something to her. Rather it was an expression to hide that she was lying.

Izumi couldn't believe that anyone could hide a lie from him. Moreover, that person was Kuroneko.

Izumi grasped her head.

"You've got me, Kuroneko."

"Ahhh!!! It hurts, it hurts!! I'm sorry!" Kuroneko screamed in pain while holding her head which was gripped by Izumi.

"Do you want to repent?"

"Yes, yes, yes. Please release me! Your clutch is so hurt!"

Izumi immediately released her. Then, she said.

"You're so mean to this lady!"

"Grow up first! Then you can call yourself a lady. You're illegal now."

"Say, what do you mean by "illegal"? Are you picking a fight?"

Izumi didn't answer and just approached her. Kuroneko extended her palms forward.

"Wait, wait! I'll do it okay!" Kuroneko gave up. She thought that Izumi's pride, who was said to be good at reading lies, had been destroyed by Kuroneko by acting shameful in front of everyone. That was why Izumi looked angry with her.

Kuroneko used her divine lightning to scorch Daniel and Charlie's bodies to ashes. After that, she heard the sound of several people approaching.

"Hey, why are you here?" Luffy asked when he saw Lia coming with her friends.

Lia walked toward Luffy with a slight blush on her face. Izumi and Kuroneko looked at each other. They smiled bitterly while shaking their heads.

Lia was so unlucky to like someone like Luffy who was unable to realize a woman's feelings. Moreover, Luffy was not from the same world as Lia. An ocean empress who was said to be the most beautiful woman was rejected by him, let alone an ordinary girl like Lia.

"Emm, Luffy. Thank you for saving me back then." Lia thanked Luffy.

"No problem. I happened to be passing by. So you don't have to thank me."

Meanwhile, Izumi and Kuroneko approached Erika. Izumi whispered.

"Hey Erika, your friend seems interested in Luffy."

Erika nodded.

"Yup. The cause must be a princess carry. You know, that legendary princess carry!! Who are the girls who never imagined the prince would come to their rescue? And it happened to Lia. So it's not strange if Lia acts like that."

"Heeeh. That's too bad." Izumi commented.

"Too bad? What do you mean?"

"Even the Empress of the ocean is ignored by him. I don't know if Lia would have the courage to confess." Izumi said.

"Even though you said the Empress of the ocean was ignored, it doesn't mean Lia will be ignored too."

"Well, tell her to try hard!" Izumi just shrugged his shoulders.

The incident about the appearance of the demons was indeed shocking. But Izumi and the others who stopped the demon drew the attention of all the locals. It was rare for strong adventurers to stop by their town.

Simultaneously, they were invited to eat together and invited to watch a concert. Kuroneko wanted to refuse because she didn't like crowds like at concerts. However, Luffy who heard the food could not stand it anymore so he followed the locals who offered him.

In the end, Kuroneko went alone, trying to get away from the crowd by sitting on top of the tower with the giant bell while looking at the crowd from afar.

Not long after the concert started, Kuroneko was surprised that someone appeared behind her.

"Why don't you want to join there?"

"Ahh!! You scared the heck out of me!"

The one who appeared so suddenly was none other than Izumi.

"Why don't you try joining them?"

"No need. Besides, I won't be staying here that long."

"Even if you don't want to stay here too long. Wouldn't it be nice if you got to know them better? You can also make new friends."

Kuroneko shook her head. Subconsciously, she smiled as she said.

"Friends like you are enough." What Kuroneko meant was the members of the chat group. They can share their experiences with each other, have more or less the same hobbies, and know each other's backgrounds. This made Kuroneko feel more comfortable than making friends with other people who were not members of the group.

"I see." Izumi responded curtly. Izumi didn't understand what Kuroneko was feeling. But, seeing Kuroneko looking comfortable being a member of the chat group, he was a little relieved.