I Am The Strongest Ghost Hunter

Chapter 28

"So this sword is special," Sonny said, his voice dripping with dark delight as he examined Hank's blade—now in his own hand. "It cuts through anything. Doesn't matter what it is."

Hank tilted his head slightly, shades reflecting the wreckage.

"And so?"

Sonny's smile stretched wider, almost splitting his face.

"Well… since you mentioned you were a fan of mine back when I was alive, I'll give you the honor of dying by a perfect replica of your own sword."

He raised his brush and moved it in a clean, precise arc.

A perfect copy of Hank's sword materialized, identical down to the smallest nick in the blade.

Sonny raised it high.

Hank let out a small, amused smile.

Sonny swung downward, vicious.

The blade sliced through the hot bars of the cage like butter.

Hank dodged—barely—rolling out as the bars melted and collapsed around him.

He snatched his original sword from the rubble and twirled it once.

Sonny lunged again.

Hank parried. Steel clanged against steel.

Then, with a clean, effortless cut, Hank's blade passed straight through Sonny's copy.

Continued...

Severed Sonny's head.

It rolled, thudding across the rubble as his body along with his copied sword crumbled into dust behind it.

The brush clattered to the ground alone.

Hank smiled—small, satisfied.

He bent down and picked up the brush.

A surge of whispers erupted in his head. Hundreds of voices, overlapping and frantic.

He clutched his temple, eyes squeezing shut, as if absorbing them.

Then—silence.

All of it stopped.

Hank straightened, brush in hand, looking around for Raito and the others.

But then—

"What did you do?"

A female voice, sharp and cold, cut through the quiet behind him.

Hank turned slowly.

Sina stood there with two pistols drawn, aimed steady at his chest.

"Oh, Sina," Hank said casually. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be the one asking," she replied, eyes narrowed. "What's going on here, Hank? What did you just do?"

Hank shrugged, way too relaxed.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" Sina's voice rose slightly. "Then explain this."

She gestured at the dust pile that used to be Sonny.

Hank glanced down at it, then back at her.

"Oh, this? Nothing. I just took out a ghost. Part of my mission."

Sina didn't lower the guns.

"Part of your mission, huh? What aura ghost was it?"

Hank sighed, almost theatrical.

"It doesn't really matter. What matters now is there are students in danger. We need to save them."

"Stop dodging," Sina snapped. "Give me a straight answer. What aura ghost was it?"

Hank met her eyes, calm and unreadable.

"It was a blue one."

Sina's grip tightened on the pistols.

"Are you satisfied now?" Hank asked lightly.

He turned his back and started walking away.

"I'm going to look for my students."

Click. Click.

Sina cocked both guns.

"Stop."

Hank paused.

"Drop the cursed weapon you're holding."

Hank chuckled, low and amused.

He slowly raised his hands.

"Easy now, Sina."

He let his sword clatter to the ground.

"The artifact," she said. "Drop it."

Hank smiled, slow and knowing.

"Come on, Sina. Of all people… it's you?"

He didn't move.

"I don't want to do this." He said

"Don't think I won't shoot you, Hank. Drop it. Now." She yelled.

Hank smiled, then moved.

Immediately, Sina sensed hostility in his movements. She fired three shots.

Hank dodged the bullets with a rolling spin. They exploded behind him.

'Impossible,' Sina whispered to herself. 'How is he able to dodge my cursed weapon?'

"Surprised?" Hank asked, smiling. "You can't beat me, Sina." He paused. "And I don't want to kill you. That'll be sad, even for me. So if we can make an agreement here and now, you might get out of this alive. Just agree that you'll forget everything that just happened here. After all, it's not like the GHO are going to pay you or raise your rank if you snitch on me now."

"I don't care," Sina replied. "You're going against the rules, and as your senior, it's my duty to stop you."

She fired again. Three shots.

But Hank dodged the explosive bullets.

"Come on, aren't you tired? There's no way you can hit me with such an attack," he said.

'This is not right,' she thought to herself. 'How is he dodging my bullets? Bullets that never miss their target, not once.'

"You're pretty good," Sina said. "Looks like you've been practicing a lot."

"Awww...I'm flattered," Hank said with a smile, "but it's not practice. It's something else."

"Something else, huh?" Sina said. She put her guns back in their holsters, cracked her knuckles, and started walking towards him. "Well then, guess I'll have to do it the old way. Just like we used to practice"

Hank raised both hands up as if surrendering. "Come on, Sina, please let's not do this. It's only going to end badly...for you, that is."

Sina kept walking. "Then just surrender the ghost's artifact, and we'll forget that this ever happened."

"Sorry, you know I can't do that," Hank replied.

"But why, Hank? Why...why are you doing this?" she asked.

"My reasons, you asked? Well, it's personal," he said.

Sina, now closer to him, said, "You're leaving me with no choice here." She punched, but like always, Hank dodged it very easily, hands folded behind his back.

"So we're doing this?" he asked.

Sina kicked. Hank blocked with one leg and countered with the other.

Then quickly, she pulled out one of her pistols. At point blank, she fired inches away from Hank's face.

But...again, he dodged the bullet. Not even a scratch on his face.

He kicked her hard, sending her flying backwards.

She stood.

"Huff," Hank sighed. "This is getting lame, don't you think?" No answer. "You know what, I'll give you a better option this time. Instead of fighting me, join me instead." Hank said. "Let's rid the world of its filth."

'I knew it. Somehow He could see through my attacks. But how? It doesn't. Well, in that case, I'll have to hit him where he can't see.'

"Twenty percent," she said, aura exploding from her guns—bigger, brighter, wrapping her like a storm.

She charged in a blur of motion.

"Whoa," Hank's eyes widened. "She got faster."

A punch soared toward his head. He blocked with one hand that almost break in half due to her force, and countered with the other.

But Sina already had the shot.

The bullet pierced his free hand and exploded, cleaning off his palm in a spray of bone and blood.

Hank bounced back a couple feet.

"Not bad," he said, eyes scanning the rubble. His sword lay far behind her. "To think my teacher's using twenty percent on me… I'm honored."

Before the words finished, Sina was there with a punch aiming for his skull.

Hank saw it and ducked low.

She followed with a knee crashing upward.

He blocked with both hands, including the mangled stump.

The impact launched him skyward.

'Now's my chance,' She yanked both pistols and fired three shots.

Each missed on purpose, exploding inches from him. The blasts slammed him down.

He crashed hard. His shades flew off, blood streaming from his forehead.

He staggered up.

Sina cocked both guns again and Fired.

Hank tried, but couldn't dodge it this time.

One pierced his shoulder, the others shredded his knees.

The bullets didn't explode. She didn't want them to.

Hank dropped to his knees before her.

Sina aimed for his head.

"Drop it. The cursed artifact."

Hank smiled, bloodied and defiant.

"You should've gone for the killing blow when you had the chance."

He swung the brush in a clean arc.

Cut off her right palm—the one holding the gun.

"It can't be," she gasped in terror, vision blurry, grabbing the other pistol with her left.

She fired straight at his forehead.

Hank moved the brush, quick and precise, drawing a large boulder.

It blocked the shot.

Upon impact, the bullet exploded. The shockwave sent Sina crashing in the opposite direction.

The impact knocked her gun away.

Hank stood up, dusting himself off with the painting brush.

"Oh no, we both have half arms now," he taunted Sina, who was struggling to stand up. He walked toward her slowly and steadily, picked up his glass.

'How is he able to use two cursed weapons?' she said, barely audible.

{Cursed artifacts, also known as cursed weapons, grant users immense powers—boosting their strength, stamina, and granting them access to certain powers beyond understanding. Powers tied to the obsession of it's previous wielder. Although this may sound good, it comes at a great cost. Users can only use up to fifty percent of this power. Using more than that can make a user go insane or be overcome by the obsession, turning them into something evil and twisted. Users can only wield one cursed weapon. If a user dared to use two cursed weapons, they would be consumed in an instant by the combined obsession of each weapon...but Hank...Hank is different since he's able to use not only two, but multiple cursed weapons}

'No, it's not two...he could see my attacks earlier, but how? Could it be the glasses?...they make him see through attacks. How was he able to hide their aura up till now?' Thoughts flowed in her head, confused and scared, her heart beating so fast and desperate to escape or just please him somehow in order to save her own life.

Hank, now very close, kneeled just in front of her. He swung the painting brush to create a new hand replacing his lost palm.

"I know you may have a lot of questions," he said, "but don't worry, I'm going to answer every bit of it."

"You might be wondering why I can use multiple cursed weapons, right?" Hank continued. "I am Hank Shiro, the last surviving son of the Shiro clan, and I am here to..." But before he could finish, the sound of his phone ringing interrupted him. He picked it up. The caller was Peace.

"Ahh, this bitch," he muttered, then picked up the call.

"Hey, hello, what's up?" he said with a smile, but Peace's voice came from the other end, almost worried. "Where the hell are you?"

"Taking care of business as usual, running missions you assigned" he replied.

"What about Raito?" she asked.

"Oh, the kids are fine."

"What kids? Hope you didn't drag others into this? The order I gave was for you to train Raito to see if my theory about him was correct," she said.

"Don't worry, everything is fine, and as for Raito, the results are mind-blowing," he said.

"Good to hear. Bring him to..." Before she could finish, Sina's cracked and broken voice echoed faintly, calling out to her. "Pe...pea...peace."

"Is that Sina?" Peace asked.

"Nah, don't worry. It's just a blue aura ghost who has the ability to copy people in order to fool their loved ones. Don't worry, I'll finish it off and then come to you with Raito." He said.

"Blue aura ghost...?"

But Hank already ended the call

"Where was I?" he said, his attention now turned to Sina.

"Oh yes...I am Hank Shiro, the last surviving son of the Shiro clan, and I am here for the..."

But before he could finished again, the deafening roar of ambulances and fire trucks blasted the area, rushing towards the crushed building.

"Oh well, guess I'll have to make this quick instead."

With a swift motion, he drew a silenced pistol and aimed it at her forehead.

"Anything else you want to know?" Hank asked.

"Please, please don't kill me" she pleaded, the memories of him and her training came flooding in her mind, tears all over.

And then...he fired. One bullet going straight into her chest.

"I'm sorry...teacher." Hank turned, eyes scanning the scene, searching for Raito and his team, but he couldn't find them in time before the place was stormed with firefighters and first responders.

They quickly rushed to Sina, who had a tiny piercing on her chest, and moved her inside the ambulance, and Hank is already gone. A few moments later, three firefighters rushed out carrying Raito, Akito, and Sakura into a different ambulance and drove away in a hurry.