For the first time, OWL finally got a clear look at his attacker, and his eyes widened in shock as recognition dawned on him.
"YOU? How-? Are you..?" OWL stammered, his voice filled with disbelief and confusion.
Ali smirked at the giant ghoul's stunned reaction. "What, you remember me now, dickhead?" he replied with a mocking grin. He casually reached down with his free hand, fingers digging into the flesh of his forearm where a bullet was lodged from earlier.
OWL watched, astonished, as Ali used his bare hands to pull the bullet out without even flinching from the pain. What left the monstrous ghoul even more amazed was the sight of Ali's wound closing almost instantly, the flesh knitting itself back together in mere seconds as if nothing had happened.
Ali dropped the quinque to the ground with a clatter, his arms swelling as black veins snaked over them, his body thrumming with unnatural power. His eyes fixed on OWL, he suddenly vanished from his spot, moving with blinding speed, rushing toward the massive ghoul with nothing but his bare hands.
This time, OWL saw the attack coming and slashed his enormous Kagune blades through the air in a wide arc, preemptively striking at where he thought Ali would be. The two massive, muscle-like appendages sliced through the space Ali had been, but the agile human was already flipping over OWL, high into the air.
Spinning in mid-flight, Ali delivered a powerful axe kick aimed directly at the top of OWL's head. The ghoul barely managed to block the attack with his Kagune, the impact creating a shockwave that rattled the air around them.
The clash was momentarily at a standstill, both fighters suspended in a deadly contest of power. OWL retaliated by thrusting his Kagune upward to swat Ali out of the air, but Ali used the force of the blow to propel himself behind OWL with graceful ease.
Seizing the opportunity, Ali delivered a brutal punch to OWL's back, sending the giant ghoul stumbling forward. Without missing a beat, Ali followed up by grabbing a massive chunk of debris and hurling it at OWL. The ghoul blocked the incoming rock with his Kagune, shielding himself from any damage, but the explosion of crushed stone momentarily blinded him.
"Agh!" OWL groaned in pain as a stabbing sensation erupted from his side. He looked down to see Ali's arm buried deep inside his stomach, all the way up to the elbow. The human had pierced OWL's Kagune armour, which was normally strong enough to resist bullets, with his bare hand. A cruel smirk twisted across Ali's face as he twisted his arm inside the ghoul's flesh, causing OWL to scream in agony.
Desperately, OWL swung his Kagune at Ali, managing to sever the human's arm cleanly, leaving it embedded inside his body. Ali's dismembered arm began to dissolve inside OWL as the ghoul staggered backward.
"Boom," Ali whispered menacingly, his voice dripping with cruel satisfaction.
OWL's eyes widened in horror, memories flashing back to when Ali had blown up the bank. Before OWL could react, the left side of his stomach, where Ali's arm had been lodged, erupted in a powerful explosion.
The blast tore through his Kagune, shredding his insides and exposing raw, bloody tissue. OWL collapsed to his knees, clutching at his mutilated side with his remaining Kagune arms, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.
"A grenade going off inside you hurts like a bitch, doesn't it?" Ali taunted, flexing his newly regenerated arm. Meanwhile, OWL's regeneration was struggling to keep up with the severe damage, and his enemy was already back at full strength.
Ali took a step forward, but immediately halted when he saw OWL flare out his Kagune body slightly—a telltale sign of an incoming attack. 'Not this time, Ali thought, quickly taking a deep breath and activating a technique he hadn't used in years.
His right arm turned blood red, steaming from the heat and immense pressure building within it. With perfect timing, Ali punched forward with incredible force, directly into the barrage of Ukaku shards OWL fired from his body.
The impact of Ali's punch created a shockwave so powerful that it sent the sharp projectiles hurtling back toward OWL.
The giant ghoul recoiled in shock as his own shards tore into him. Though his natural armour and Kagune arms deflected most of the shards, some pierced through, striking him in the area where Ali had left the grenade. The wound, already severe, worsened as OWL's regeneration regressed, the damage now too much for his body to handle efficiently.
Ali, however, paid a steep price for his attack. His right arm had been completely destroyed, reduced to bone and tattered skin. It hung limply from his shoulder for a moment before finally falling off, useless.
But Ali didn't even flinch. 'A Chinese warrior once used this technique on me, tore off my entire left side', Ali reminisced as his right arm slowly began to regenerate. 'Of course, I took his heart using my right hand!'
Without wasting any more time, Ali charged toward the injured ghoul once again, his left hand cocked and ready for a lethal strike. OWL, still reeling from the damage, covered himself with his remaining Kagune arms in a desperate attempt to protect himself. But the impact he was bracing for never came.
Ali had vanished again, this time appearing behind OWL's right Kagune hand, both of his hands now bulging with black veins. In a swift and precise movement, Ali stabbed both hands into the base of OWL's Kagune, ripping it off cleanly from his body. OWL screamed in excruciating pain, his monstrous roar echoing across the battlefield.
Ali didn't stop there. Grabbing the severed Kagune arm, he used it like a weapon, slashing at OWL's remaining Kagune, cutting it cleanly at the base. Now, OWL was left defenceless, his once-formidable weapons reduced to useless stumps.
The giant ghoul, helpless and crippled, could only look on in horror as Ali approached from behind.
With a cold touch, Ali placed both hands at the base of OWL's neck. He allowed the ghoul one last moment, one final breath of life, before using his raw strength to tear OWL's head clean off his body.
Ali stood there, holding the giant ghoul's severed head in his hands for a moment before letting it drop to the ground with a dull thud. 'You were fun for a little while', he thought as he glanced over the battlefield, surveying the bodies that lay scattered around OWL's corpse.
Without a second thought, Ali picked up the quinque he had dropped earlier and began methodically finishing off any surviving ghouls or humans left from OWL's rampage. One by one, he rounded up the bodies, dragging them toward OWL's remains until he had constructed a small mountain of corpses.
With a final flourish, Ali threw the last CCG soldier atop the grisly pile. Then, he took the longsword and impaled OWL's severed head into the ground at the base of the corpse mountain.
Ali stepped back, admiring his handiwork with a satisfied grin. 'Why?' he thought to himself, chuckling darkly. 'Well, of course, for the aesthetic'.
Please donate some of your power stones, it would help my ff massively.
Five extra chapters on patreon.com/Rondo312