Multiversal Friendship System

"I'm so freaking hyped right now—!"

Souta barely finished his sentence when—

A powerful gust of wind hit his back.

His instincts screamed at him to dodge, and he twisted to the side—

But he was a fraction too slow.

Something heavy slammed into his back, sending him stumbling forward.

BOOM—!

A thunderous crash followed as the massive object hit the ground.

Souta winced, rubbing his back, and turned toward the source of the attack—

A giant cross lay embedded in the pavement.

"Episode… looks like that kick earlier wasn't enough to finish you off."

"Hmph, I didn't expect you to have that kind of ability. But if you think you can take me down with just that one attack—

That's freaking hilarious!"

Episode's figure appeared beside the massive cross.

He hadn't walked over—he had materialized out of thin air beside it, picking up his cross and hoisting it over his shoulder.

A cross was supposed to be a vampire's weakness.

However, as a half-vampire, Episode had human blood in his veins, which meant he didn't have that weakness.

So, he could carry a cross and use it as a bludgeon, throwing and smashing it at enemy vampires with reckless abandon!

It was a crude and brutally simple attack method—

But it was unbelievably effective!

For a normal vampire, getting hit even once would likely mean they'd never get back up.

Because injuries inflicted by a cross were almost impossible to heal, even with regeneration.

But for Souta?

That was a different story.

Sealing a vampire's regeneration?

That has nothing to do with my "cellular reconstitution" ability.

"So you're using mist form to move around, huh…?"

Souta muttered as he grabbed his phone and hurled it straight at Episode's face!

At the exact same time, Episode threw his cross at him.

It seemed they had the same idea!

BAM!

The phone and the cross collided midair, sending sparks flying.

Naturally, the phone was sent flying away.

But the cross continued hurtling toward Souta.

Souta activated time acceleration, dodging it with ease, then bent his knees and launched himself straight at Episode.

He threw a kick directly at his face.

Episode immediately misted, and Souta's kick passed right through him.

"Hahahaha… Useless, useless! That attack pattern is so predictable! I can't believe Dramaturgy actually lost to you!

Freaking hilarious!"

Episode rematerialized next to his cross, picked it up, and prepared to throw it again.

In a way, his fighting style was almost identical to Souta's.

Except Souta didn't have to go pick up his projectiles.

"Is that so? I'll make sure you're not laughing in a second."

Souta accelerated his time again, effortlessly dodging another thrown cross.

Then, he raised his left hand—

In his palm, small embers flickered in and out of existence.

His "Half-Cold Half-hot" quirk activated.

The embers gradually gathered together, forming a swirling mass of golden-red flames.

Souta poured more power into his quirk, causing countless tongues of fire to manifest out of thin air, scorching the pavement beneath them.

The surrounding temperature skyrocketed!

The flames grew larger and larger, more and more intense—

"Let's see you handle this one!"

Souta swung his left arm forward, commanding a wave of fire to surge outward!

A searing heatwave rolled forward, slicing through the air like blades.

Episode realized he was in danger and immediately turned to mist, abandoning his cross.

"Episode, it looks like you failed physics class—

You seriously thought mist form was a good idea?"

Bathed in flames, Souta looked like a god of fire.

The fiery glow reflected in his eyes, complementing his mocking smirk.

"Mist is just tiny droplets of water—"

"Now, get yourself evaporated!"

Souta expanded the burning inferno, engulfing the entire area in a blazing sea of flames.

The fire raged through the night, devouring the air itself.

The ground below them blackened and cracked from the sheer heat intensity.

The temperature kept rising—

"AAAAAAAHHHH—!"

A scream tore through the inferno.

In the next moment, Episode rematerialized behind Souta, just a few meters away—

But his condition was utterly miserable.

His entire body was burned to a crisp.

And some of his limbs were straight-up missing.

Most likely, the parts of him that had turned to mist were completely vaporized.

With his half-baked regeneration, there was no way he'd recover from this anytime soon.

At the very least, he was out of commission for a week.

"This is a vampire hunter?

Freaking hilarious."

Souta walked up, ignoring Episode's humiliated expression, and grabbed him by the leg, dragging him across the pavement toward Dramaturgy's fallen body.

Once he arrived, Souta unceremoniously tossed Episode next to the downed vampire hunter.

Now, the two of them lay there pathetically, looking as miserable as could be.

"Oh right… Guillotine Cutter isn't dead, is he?"

Souta finally remembered the third guy he had frozen solid earlier.

Without wasting time, he activated his quirk again, melting the ice surrounding Guillotine Cutter's frozen body, releasing him from his icy prison.

The priest's entire body was frostbitten and necrotic, and he was completely unconscious.

Souta dragged him over to Episode and Dramaturgy's beaten bodies—

Then, just for good measure—

He smacked him across the face a few times to wake him up.

Then, Souta cracked his knuckles, the crisp sound echoing in the silence as he stared down at the three men.

"I have only one demand."

Souta raised a single finger and declared:

"Give me back Kiss-Shot's arms and legs, and I'll spare your lives."

After saying this, even he felt a little helpless.

If only he had some kind of hypnosis ability…

While vampires did possess mind control powers, they could only turn people into mindless puppets, unable to actually alter their thoughts.

Moreover, even among pureblood vampires, only a select few with special bloodlines could use such abilities.

Souta definitely wasn't one of them.

So, he had no choice but to go with the most primitive method.

"Hmph, do you think a little threat like that will scare me? That's freaking hilarious!"

Episode glared defiantly at Souta.

Without saying another word, Souta simply picked up his system phone—

—and chucked it right at Episode's face.

WHACK!

WHACK!

WHACK!

A few more well-placed throws later, Episode's head was covered in blood, and he was howling in pain.

He quickly shut his mouth.

Souta then turned his gaze to Dramaturgy, casually tossing the phone up and down in his hand, as if weighing it.

Dramaturgy's eye twitched before he quickly spoke up:

"I'm willing to return Kiss-Shot's right leg. Just spare my life—I won't go after you again."

"Oh? You're surprisingly quick to surrender."

Souta raised an eyebrow—

He hadn't expected this huge, intimidating guy to fold so fast.

It completely clashed with his tough-guy image!

But after thinking back to the original story, Souta understood.

Yeah, this guy was a total pushover.

He had only bullied newbie vampire Koyomi Araragi because he thought he had more experience.

But the moment he realized how insane Koyomi's regeneration and strength were, he immediately surrendered.

Among the three vampire hunters, he was the fastest to give in.

Dramaturgy forced a bitter smile:

"Unlike Kiss-Shot, my regeneration isn't that strong. With injuries like these, I won't recover for at least a day or two. If you hit me with another one of those attacks, I'll definitely die."

"Good. At least you're cooperative."

Souta nodded, then shifted his gaze to Episode and Guillotine Cutter.

Episode… yeah, he'd crack soon enough.

Just a few more whacks with the phone, and he'd probably fold like a house of cards.

But Guillotine Cutter?

That guy was a priest, a holy man.

He hunted vampires because of his faith. Because of his mission.

How was he supposed to make a guy like that submit?

As Souta frowned, deep in thought—

A voice from behind suddenly interrupted him.

"You seem to be in high spirits, Souta-kun. Did something good happen?"