The interlude begins. I plan to make this a short chapter.
The war chapter seems like it will be long, so I’ve decided to split it into two parts.
I apologize for the jarring scene changes. I will return to Kanata’s perspective in the latter half of the war chapter.
煌月龍 (Fan YuElun) was born a genius, unfortunately.
His talent was such that he mastered in just two years the fist techniques that his master, 武邈崇 (Wu Baxu), had perfected over twenty years.
YuElun, who was adept at everything from fist techniques to tactics and cooking, was assessed by Baxu as follows.
“What a shame, what a shame. ‘Going too far is no better than not going far enough,’ as they say. YuElun, because you are overflowing with talent, you will end up merely as a first-class practitioner, nothing more.”
The master said this and soon expelled YuElun. This was three years ago.
The reason for his expulsion was YuElun’s obsession with the mad dog Murdoch and his subsequent involvement with him as an auditor.
Furthermore, he was instructing fist techniques and weapon arts to talented prisoners in the Fourth Unit (Hellhorns).
Baxu’s teaching was that one must not teach martial arts to those with base intentions. Since YuElun had broken this rule, his expulsion was natural. Baxu’s top disciples lamented the talent of YuElun, who had been the strongest among them, but they accepted their master’s decision as just.
However, YuElun, who should have been expelled, was unconcerned. Even now, he acts like he is still Baxu’s disciple.
“Hmm, 43 people died. If only one more had died, it would have been a number befitting the Fourth Unit,” said 朧月セツナ (Oborozuki Setsuna), the captain of the Land Battleship Gekka, as she listened to YuElun’s report in her cabin, uttering the heartless words expressionlessly.
“Shall I kill one more person to make the number a good round figure? They are death row inmates, after all.” LiElun’s reply was equally devoid of any sentiment for the fallen.
“There’s no need for that. They’ll die again anyway. I plan to put them on the front lines in the next engagement. Mukuro, the number stopped within your projected range. That was a good prediction.”
“Since they were used as disposable pawns, it is an unavoidable number,” replied 一六九六 (Ninomae Mukuro), the副長 (deputy commander) of the Last Legion’s First Unit, nodding heavily with the same lack of expression.
“Mukuro-san, I’ll need more disposable pawns after the campaign ends.”
“Understood. I’ll have to tour the prisons again.”
“Then, Commander, I’ll be taking my leave. I have preparations to make for Murdoch’s dinner.”
As YuElun turned away, Oborozuki Setsuna flicked a Memo Chip with her finger.
YuElun caught it behind his back as if he had eyes on his back, saying, “What is this? It seems to be a Memo Chip?”
“It’s a reward. It contains combat footage of the man who broke the mad dog’s kill record.”
“You’re joking! B-breaking Murdoch’s record!”
“If you think so, you can throw it away. This one, however, was a good round number. 375 kills, 64 unknown, truly a Grim Reaper who massacred them all.”
“Major Toma’s combat footage… Could he have been that strong?”
YuElun’s hand trembled as he held the Memo Chip, not with shock, but with exhilaration.
“Of course. He is my friend. No one on Earth can match Toma.”
“No, the strongest on Earth is Setsuna-sama.”
“Heh heh, that’s right. If anyone could defeat Toma, it would be me.”
YuElun wasn’t listening to the subordinate’s conversation. With a flushed face, he quickly left the captain’s cabin.
YuElun possessed an unusual sexual preference. He did not feel sexual arousal from women. He was not homosexual either.
What excited Fan YuElun was “the struggle of those in an unreachable domain, the strong fighting.”
The Memo Chip containing the highest kill record was more valuable to YuElun than any treasure.
“Incredible! This is the strength of a warrior! The slaughter of a king reigning absolutely! T-to think such a treasure existed besides Murdoch! Wonderful!!”
YuElun, who was watching the combat footage naked, had his “true” manhood, which was nearly reaching his navel, standing erect.
Anyone, not just Baxu, would have decided to expel him upon seeing him stare at the footage of the slaughter with bloodshot eyes, without wiping the drool from his mouth, while his male organ stood erect.
While geniuses and madmen are separated by a thin line, Fan YuElun was both a genius and a madman.
Despite being a master of the 応龍鉄指拳 (Ouryu Tesshiken), YuElun’s greatest pleasure was in primal violence.
The ultimate principle of martial arts is to overcome hardness with softness, but he was a self-contradictory existence who found the greatest excitement in pure hardness crushing softness – that was the “genius” Fan YuElun.
Because he had easily mastered martial arts, he found no value in them. And the techniques he acquired without struggle, though brilliant and fluid, had not permeated his bones or his very being.
Since he found no value in martial arts, he lacked passion, and since he acquired his techniques without struggle, he could not truly hone them.
Fan YuElun was an unfortunate genius who would never transcend the first-class level.
The true reason Master Baxu expelled YuElun was because he realized this. By expelling YuElun, Baxu thought that the humiliation might ignite a flame of passion in him, leading him to grow into a top-tier martial artist.
If he were insensitive to nuances, he might have burned with a passion akin to revenge to surpass his master.
However, his unworthy disciple YuElun was, unfortunately, also a man of keen perception.
And so, the hidden dragon remained submerged in the depths of the lake, lacking the ambition to aim for the heavens.
“Maaa-rd~ock~♪ Today’s dinner is a feast for the gods~♪”
As YuElun laid out the dishes with a light, dancing step, the “mad dog” Murdoch eyed him suspiciously.
Only the executives of the Last Legion’s Fourth Unit, “Hellhorns,” were in the mess hall of the Land Battleship Walpurgis.
In the Hellhorns, where “the law of the jungle” was the only rule, only executives and serving soldiers were allowed in the mess hall.
“You’re in a good mood, YuElun. Did something good happen?” asked a seductive woman in revealing bondage gear, sitting next to the mad dog, her heavily rouged lips posing the question.
It was not YuElun who answered, but a man with a hooked nose and a pockmarked face.
“Dora, YuElun’s probably just excited about watching combat footage of the Grim Reaper who broke the highest kill record.”
“Ganso” Hammond said this with a weary look, and “Kyojū” Kottos, a man with a build second only to the mad dog’s, cursed YuElun.
“What are you so happy about, pervert!! Murdoch-sama’s record was broken! Aren’t you an executive of the Hellhorns too!”
“I am the auditor, Kottos. I knew you were a combat fanatic, but I didn’t realize you were just a complete idiot.”
Kottos didn’t reply with words but instead threw an empty chair. YuElun, holding plates in both hands, shattered the chair with an iai-like kick.
One of the shattered fragments flew towards the mad dog, but it was all knocked down by the whip wielded by “Crazy Bitch.”
“I’ve never liked you. I need to kill you once.” Kottos stood up from his seat, cracking his knuckles.
“If you die once, there won’t be a second time, right? You really are an idiot… Or maybe not. Zacht was killed by Murdoch, but he’s alive. Well, I’ll educate this idiocy before dinner.”
YuElun placed the plates on the table and beckoned with his index finger in a provocative manner.
Just as the two were about to clash, a nenshinpa (psychic blast) of abnormal power was unleashed.
Kottos, who took the full brunt, was blown away and crashed into the wall. YuElun, who had defended himself firmly, also had his clothes torn and his hair disheveled.
The appetizers, painstakingly prepared, were scattered by the nenshinpa and lay in a ruined state on the floor.
YuElun, after calling for serving soldiers to clear the remaining debris and smoothing his disheveled hair with his fingers, protested.
“This is terrible, Murdoch. I can understand with Kottos, but to involve me too.”
“The world will keep turning even if a pervert like you croaks. Kottos! Have you forgotten that I hate being disturbed during meals!”
“My apologies, Murdoch-sama.”
Kottos, who had taken a nenshinpa that would have instantly killed a regular soldier, was not seriously injured. In terms of toughness and power, he was second only to the mad dog in the Hellhorns.
According to YuElun, he was a shoddy, degraded copy of the mad dog, but still.
“YuElun! Stop making that idiotic face and bring the drinks and food quickly!”
“Yes, yes. Kottos, I’ll postpone your education for later. Lucky you.”
As YuElun returned to the kitchen after spewing insults with a smile, Kottos gave him the middle finger.
The “Ganso” and “Crazy Bitch,” who had witnessed this exchange, repeated a hundred times over, shrugged with wry smiles.
“Hammond, this banter will continue until one of them croaks, won’t it?”
“It would be better if Kottos croaked. We can replace a combat fanatic, but we can’t replace a cook.”
“Whether the idiot or the pervert croaks, it doesn’t really matter.”
“It’s rich for you, the woman who’s been up to no good with Kottos, to say that. You use them until you don’t need them anymore, then discard them, right? You’re not ‘Crazy Bitch,’ you’re ‘Cold-Blooded Woman’.”
Dora, in charge of intelligence, and Kottos, in charge of brute force, were a criminal duo whose names were known throughout the underworld. If they hadn’t challenged a certain man and been defeated, they would likely have claimed the title of the strongest in the underworld.
That man, Murdoch, opened his mouth and, in a deep voice, preached the conditions for strength.
“Hammond, none of us have hot blood running through us. But that’s precisely why we are strong.” The mad dog, who considered himself the absolute strongest, boasted.
There is not a single decent person in the Fourth Unit (Hellhorns).
The Hellhorns are an anomaly, both in their humanity and their strength.
Fan Dias is a genius, Fan YuElun is a pervert (lol).
