Bungo Stray Dogs - Volume 4 Chapter 4 Part 3

Chapter 4 Part 3

Gab was walking along the cobblestone path. He gazed at the island looking as if he wanted to start humming a song. There was no one in sight. The stone arms that had emerged from the ground had created utter chaos among the island visitors. The areas everyone evacuated to were also part of the island—part of Gab. There was nowhere to run. Numerous people had fled to the wharf to escape, but the stone arms were keeping all ships from moving. But to Gab, their confusion and screams were nothing more than symbols that gave shape to the situation.
Gab’s goal was not to destroy and murder. Those were just means to an end. However, if those were shortcuts to his own conservation and tranquility, then he wouldn’t even hesitate to act in these heinous ways.
Everything was going to cease to exist in the end, after all.
Gab walked with Annihilation in hand. It was the real briefcase, which he stole from the fifth basement floor. With his skill, sneaking into the secret zone underground and pilfering a hidden weapon would have been a piece of a cake. The key was having the Armed Detective Agency steal it. That was why he schemed, deceived, and played the fool.
But that was part of Gab’s true nature as well. He was a timid thief. He was ill-mannered and quick to lose his temper, and he respected the boss from the bottom of his heart. Even if everything were to revert back to normal, having slit the boss’s throat would still genuinely pain Gab.
But every sacrifice was for a cause. All that was left was to let the situation play out and wait for both Dazai and Wells to die. There was no rush. A leisurely ten-minute walk should suffice. Whatever the case, there was nothing they could do to change the inevitable.
Gab suddenly looked up to find a black shadow standing before him. The shadow was simply stopped in the middle of the cobblestone path, unfazed by the turmoil around him. Everything about him was like that of a shadow. Only his piercing gaze was white. His black overcoat fluttered in the dusty wind.
“How strange,” hissed the shadow. “After the man-tiger got away, I returned to the surface only to find someone else with the weapon.”
A few moments went by before Gab realized the shadow was talking to him.
“Oh, this?” He held up the briefcase. “Yeah, I kinda need it. Besides, it’d be a real mess if some random guy got a peek at it.”
“I see.” The shadow—Akutagawa—faintly moved. “It appears you stole that from the man-tiger. I was hoping I could steal the weapon and kill him at the same time to save myself some trouble…but perhaps overindulgence is never a good thing.”
Akutagawa’s overcoat grew as something began to writhe on its surface. “Your skill’s pretty scary, too, huh?” Gab gave him a slight smirk. “So
what’re you planning on doing?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” said Akutagawa. “I plan on completing my objectives in order. First, I will take care of the prey in front of me.”
Akutagawa’s overcoat tore open, unleashing two black blades. “Whoa. Now that’s scary.”
As Gab raised his hand into the air, two soil-colored arms emerged from the ground and got into position to protect their master. The blades immediately pierced the arms, but they suddenly stopped before even getting deeper than the tips of their fingernails.
“Believe it or not, my skill’s got a good track record when it comes to defense. Hate to break it to ya, but—”
“Defense?” Akutagawa tilted his head. “Those clods of dirt? I thought this was some new way to shake hands, so I stopped my attack.”
The blades transformed. The tips of the spears writhed until they morphed into the jaws of a beast. The two dark beasts then devoured the stone arms from the wrists up.
“What?!”
“Rashomon: Agito. That mud is far too meager to satisfy their hunger.” After breaking through Gab’s defense, the shadowy beasts latched on to
Gab’s body from both sides. For demons that could devour even space itself, tearing into tender human flesh would be effortless. Akutagawa visualized his opponent being ripped apart from each side, cleanly splitting him into three different parts. That was what was supposed to happen.
However…
“Man, it’s even creepier up close. You ever make kids cry with these things?” said Gab with a lighthearted laugh.
The beasts had sunk their teeth into Gab’s flesh, and yet, it was as if nothing had happened. Their teeth went right through him as if Gab were nothing more than a mirage.
“What…?”
Akutagawa’s eyes opened wide. It didn’t seem as if Gab had done anything, and the dark beasts hadn’t moved any differently than they usually did. And yet, they didn’t even hurt Gab, let alone touch him. The shadow beasts returned once more and tried to lop off Gab’s head, but their fangs simply passed through his body. It was as if they were attacking fog or mist.
Was his skill to evade?

But Gab already showed that his skill could create arms out of stone. It was hard to believe he would have another one. Even if he did happen to have another skill, what exactly was it? It was as if the skill allowed Akutagawa’s fine, black blades to slip cleanly through his body without any interference.
“Now it’s my turn.”
As Gab raised an arm into the air, Akutagawa’s feet immediately began to sink into the cobblestones. As if it had turned into mud, the ground swallowed Akutagawa’s heels, then ankles.
“Hmph… The ability to manipulate the ground?”
“It’s technically different, but I guess we’ll go with that. Not like it’ll matter once you’re dead, after all.”
As Akutagawa continued to sink into the ground, unable to move, stone arms began to emerge around him one by one. Ten—twenty—countless arms surrounded him as if he were in a forest of arms.
“Tch…”
The giant hands slowly closed in as Akutagawa remained unable to dodge or attack Gab until the sound of crushing and grinding echoed across the street.
Atsushi laid Dazai and Wells down in the underground room in the woods. Wells was so weakened that she couldn’t stand, but even then, she used her camera-shaped skill item to temporarily manipulate the room’s flow of time. Just like last time, a pale light filled the space, cutting off the area from the outside world, and thus somewhat prolonging what remained of Dazai’s and Wells’s lives.
But just as how they weren’t able to protect themselves from the Shell last time, they wouldn’t be able to delay Dazai’s bleeding forever, either. Wells’s skill device—the camera-shaped time machine—didn’t have enough energy built in to do so. It would only be able to extend time at a maximum of twenty minutes. Twenty minutes from now—when the clock struck 1:14 PM—it would be too late to save Dazai and Wells.
Before that happened, Atsushi had to defeat Gab, curb the panic on the island, and bring Yosano to Dazai.

Who was Gab? What was he trying to accomplish? The list of questions just went on. Nevertheless, now was not the time to worry about the nonessentials. All Atsushi had to focus on was defeating Gab and removing all the obstacles in his way.
Finding Gab was easy. After all, Atsushi could see the fine particles from battle rise into the air. The rumbling ground, the sound of something heavy like a pillar being sliced in half—there weren’t many skill users even on this island who could create such chaos. Atsushi sprinted in the direction of the noise.

The war zone looked like a storm had swept through, tearing down everything in its path. Brick buildings were being split in half and collapsing. Old-fashioned windmills were bursting from their foundations and flying into the air. Gravel and lumps of soil scattered about as holes were opening in the ground. Half-cut stone pillars dotted the area as if they were the tombstones of war. The severed stone pillars were what was left of Gab’s stone arms after the hands had been sliced off, and they stopped moving. The skill user cutting the arms in half was…
“Man, I’m impressed. It’s like you’ve got eyes in the back of your head.”
“Did you really think you could stop me simply by burying my legs in the ground? It’s not even worth dodging your pathetic attacks. I shall cut every last one of them down.”
Robed in a black storm and relentlessly cutting down the stone arms was Akutagawa. Gab, on the other hand, was sitting in a rocking chair amid the ruins, leisurely watching the battle. Akutagawa gradually sank. The ground slowly swallowed his body like quicksand, leaving him unable to move or evade. But even then, Akutagawa continued to calmly strike back. Stone arms and black fabric clashed around him, slicing and smashing everything that got in their way. No human would be able to survive being in that space.
“Just wait your turn, Matasaburo. I’ll be done with this gloomy fella soon.”
Perched in the rocking chair, Gab turned only his gaze in Atsushi’s direction.

He noticed me.
Gab’s remark caused Akutagawa to look over at Atsushi as well. “Man-Tiger! You—”
“Oh, hey. Thanks for looking the other way.”
Three arms emerged from the ground by Akutagawa, spiraling around him. There was nowhere to run or hide.
“Too slow.” Akutagawa spun his overcoat like an umbrella, slicing the arms in half. However, the severed hands immediately returned to their arms like liquid returning to its source.
“I forgot to mention it, but those arms were specially made.” “Tch. Regenerating arms.”
Five colossal fingers closed in on Akutagawa. With no way to escape, his shoulders, waist, and legs were grabbed by each hand as they squeezed him with enough force to shatter a boulder.
“Gwah…!”
His bones snapped as blood spewed out of the areas being squeezed. Using countless black blades, he managed to slice one of the stone arms into pieces until it was nothing more than fine powder, but he soon dropped to his knees, unable to bear the pain any longer.
Damn it! Not even Akutagawa can beat him?
Atsushi changed the direction he was facing. Fighting Gab head-on would be too reckless. He had to create an opening, dodge his way through the attacks, and find Yosano.
“Not so fast, Matasaburo. You’re gonna miss out on all the fun.” Gab looked over at Atsushi and smiled. “It’s not often you get to be in the dead center of a great catastrophe. Take in the view and enjoy yourself a little more.”
The ground vertically shook. The island vibrated. Everything began to tremble as if it had gone into convulsions. Unable to keep his knees straight, Atsushi instinctively placed both hands on the ground. He suddenly heard a tremendous sound as if a boulder had crashed into the ground behind him, so he turned around. It was a wall. A wall was protruding onto the path he’d come from. The wall was made out of boulder, soil, and trees—some steel beams from the island’s base were mixed in, too. Even its height was extraordinary. The wall slowly grew before him as if he were watching the earth’s crust move, until it was over sixty-six feet tall. The ground continued to convulse the entire time as if the island were on the brink of death. It wasn’t only one wall, either. Three long, massive walls emerged in a radial pattern as if to divide the island into three parts: England, Germany, and France.
“What the…? What’s going on?!”
Was this a skill? But how? This went beyond far beyond the realm of what a skill could do.
“Who needs builders and contractors when you’ve got me, right?” Gab smirked from his rocking chair. “How about trying to climb it to save your friends? Just to let you know, it’s gonna be a lot harder than it looks.”
He immediately knew what Gab was trying to do. Atsushi wouldn’t be able to get to Yosano like this. While he would be able to climb up a sixty- six-foot-long wall alone if he used his claws, he would be completely defenseless along the way. Atsushi would have no chance to defend himself if one of those stone arms attacked him. Even if he made it over, it would be impossible to bring Yosano back over the wall with him.
“So what’re you gonna do?”
“Not like I have much of a choice,” Atsushi said, staring at Gab. “If anything, it’s become extremely clear what I need to do. The only way to save Dazai is to defeat you.”
“I knew you’d say that.” Gab smiled. “That was awesome when you choked that guard out. You may not realize it, but you’re actually a pretty violent guy.”
“Wait,” demanded a deep voice that shook the air. It was Akutagawa. “What did you just say, Man-Tiger? ‘Save Dazai’?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Man-Tiger.” Akutagawa’s overcoat fluttered as if it were reacting to its master’s bloodlust. “Do you want to die first?”
Sitting on his knees, Akutagawa formed a black blade out of his overcoat. The blade soared through the air, but right as it was about to pierce its prey, Atsushi effortlessly turned his head to the side and dodged it.
“I already know all your attacks. I’ve seen enough,” said Atsushi as he glared at Akutagawa. “So don’t get in my way. I have to defeat him.”
“You—!”

“Hey, c’mon,” Gab chimed in, sounding fed up. “Why do I gotta be the third wheel? Are you friends or something? You guys seem to get along quite well.”
“Yeah, right.”
“Absurd.”
Atsushi and Akutagawa responded at the same time.
“Sigh… Fine.” Gab shrugged. “Looks like I’ll just have to fight both of you at once.”
Immediately, countless stone arms closed in on Atsushi and Akutagawa. Atsushi promptly reacted, leaping over the first giant fist that soared by before landing on the next arm attacking from the flank. He then jumped back into the air, dodging countless arms as they rose from the ground like snakes.
“You truly are amazing, Matasaburo.” Gab smirked. “I think I want that skill of yours now. Let’s see how you handle this.”
Out of nowhere, something hit Atsushi right in the stomach. The powerful blow bent Atsushi in half, making his organs feel as if they were on fire. All Atsushi could see was red. What hit him in the stomach was a finger—the index finger of one of the giant stone hands. When Atsushi looked down, he saw a hole in the ground around the same size with smoke billowing out of it as if something had been fired.
He shot a warhead in the shape of a finger out of the ground?!
“I hope you’re ready for more.”
Countless holes appeared in the earth. A hundred cannons then pointed to the sky before firing a hundred cannonballs at Atsushi. Their speed was about the same as a normal cannonball. Atsushi opened his tiger eyes wide in an attempt to dodge the attacks, but there were simply too many of them. One lightly hit him on the shoulder, forcing his body to twist and allowing another cannonball to hit him right in the temple.
“Gwah…!”
The impact knocked him unconscious. His head violently rattled, and the bones in his neck wailed. After losing consciousness, the cannonballs relentlessly pummeled his body one after another. Like a leaf being pelted by heavy rain, Atsushi’s body fluttered in the air. He couldn’t control his body. He had no idea how many bones were broken or how many organs were crushed. Only the vague presence of death coldly wrapped itself around his consciousness.
Atsushi continued to fall to the ground. He was going to crash. Or at least he thought he was. Instead, he heard a splat before realizing his body was being sucked into the hard soil. Ripples appeared on the surface as it swallowed Atsushi like a bottomless swamp. First his back, then his torso and neck sank into the abyss. Out of the corner of his eye, Atsushi barely saw a black piece of fabric shoot through the air as if to save him; only his head remained free. But before he could even be sure, his entire body sank into the island and disappeared.