Campione: Strongest# 466: The Fragile Heart

The narrow passage was a gash squeezed between two dilapidated, five-story apartment buildings.

Deprived of sunlight for years, the air was perpetually damp and carried a tangible chill. The ground, once pale concrete, had long since been trampled into a murky, foul-smelling sludge.

Five delinquent youths, loud and garish with their dyed hair and cheap earrings, staggered into the alley's entrance.

“Whoa, check out the hot one!” The brown-haired boy on the far right let out a whistle, his eyes wide with bestial lust as he stared at Asagami Fujino.

His shout was a trigger, unleashing a cascade of lewd comments.

“Rare purple hair, and that uniform—a rich girl from Reien Academy!”

“That body, that face… she’s a hundred times better than the hostesses in Kabukicho! I can’t believe we ran into this kind of premium catch on a routine hunt.”

“She looks mad. Mad, but still beautiful!”

“What’s a boarding school princess doing all the way out here, anyway?”

“Didn’t you hear? Rumor is a few girls from that school have been selling themselves.”

“Yeah, I heard Tamura’s crew on the next block caught one and had a blast. So jealous.”

“Jealous of what? We found one, didn't we? We can have our fun right now.”

Hearing the jarring jeers, Fujino frowned, a wave of disgust washing over her. She took an involuntary step back, recoiling from the undisguised, animalistic lust radiating from them.

“She’s mad now!!”

The leader, a boy with spiky 'hedgehog' hair, saw her waver and grinned, his fragile ego inflating. He licked his lips, his eyes fixed on Fujino’s face. He slapped the baseball bat resting on his shoulder and barked at his subordinates.

“Alright, quiet down, all of you!”

The four delinquents instantly fell silent. Pleased by his authority, the leader turned to Fujino, his tattooed face contorting into a sickening, slow smile as he advanced on her.

“Tell me, princess,” he sneered, gripping his bat. “Coming all the way out to this alley… you knew what you were getting into, right??”

His coarse hand, adorned with a skull ring, shot out toward Fujino’s chest.

Seeing the hand lunge, Fujino’s panic vanished, replaced by pure instinct. Her wine-red eyes sharpened.

Buzz—!

Focusing on the point where his forearm met his elbow, she reflexively activated her Mystic Eyes of Distortion.

The leader’s outstretched arm didn't stop; it twisted. A sickening, grinding sound echoed in the alley as bone and sinew contorted into a grotesque, spiraling knot.

He stared blankly at the impossible ruin of his own arm.

“Boss, your arm…!” his stunned subordinates shrieked.

The screams broke the leader’s trance. He looked at his hand, now mangled like a strand of wet rope, and let out a piercing, agonizing shriek.

“Uwaaahhh!!!!”

Tears and snot streamed down his face. He collapsed, clutching the ruined limb and rolling frantically on the ground, howling in excruciating pain.

Watching the man writhe, Fujino’s face went white with panic. She began apologizing profusely, bowing over and over.

“I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to! I just… I only looked at you by instinct…”

Hearing her endless apologies, the leader’s face turned a furious crimson. The horror in his subordinates' eyes only amplified his humiliation.

I was broken by a woman! By a plaything!

Driven by a narcissistic rage that completely overrode his superior's warnings, his eyes turned scarlet.

“What are you just standing there for?? Grab her! I’m going to drain this bitch dry!”

One of the subordinates swallowed hard, his eyes fixed on their leader's twisted arm. “Boss, we can’t! She’s dangerous!”

“Then transform into a Dead Apostle, you cowards!” the collapsed leader screamed, ignoring the blood gushing from his arm.

The four subordinates’ faces paled. As lower-tier Dead Apostles, they were strictly forbidden from transforming in the city. Violators were treated as nothing more than disposable blood bags.

“But… but our superior said we can’t show our true power here,” one of them stammered nervously.

“To hell with those old pricks! I’m the one in charge right now!”

The leader grabbed the baseball bat with his good hand and violently smashed it against the skull of the nearest subordinate. Blood splattered. The injured delinquent clutched his bleeding head. The eyes of the remaining three, splattered with their companion's blood, instantly turned scarlet.

Having vented his initial fury, the leader regained a sliver of composure. He looked at the three subordinates who were still whole.

“Grab the bitch. Play with her until she breaks. As long as we keep our mouths shut, those old guys won’t touch us!”

The three delinquents paused for a moment. The next second, three pairs of hungry, predatory eyes fixed on Asagami Fujino.

“Dead Apostles…” Fujino gasped, stumbling back as she stared at the three youths, their teeth elongating into fangs. Faced with three of them for the first time, she was completely overwhelmed, all her power forgotten, reduced to a terrified girl.

Unspeakable terror filled her wine-red eyes.

“You need to work on that mindset, Fujino.”

A helpless sigh sounded from directly behind her, and a large hand rested gently on her head.