"..."
Arima remained silent.
CCG's internal surveillance system was extremely strict—any casual remark could be overheard. Moreover, the investigators from earlier had only temporarily stepped back.
He naturally couldn't say anything to Eto.
At that moment, Arima had already drawn his quinque from its case.
Seeing this, Eto's gaze turned fierce, her kakugan glowing a deep crimson in her kakuja form.
"Then die"
She lunged at Arima without hesitation.
Although Eto had grown much stronger through repeated cannibalization, her opponent was none other than Arima — at the peak of his physical prime...
Even if it were the final-stage One-Eyed Owl from the original story, it would still be difficult to contend with him at this point.
Eto's speed in her kakuja form was already absurdly fast, but she simply couldn't land a hit on Arima.
Not only could she not touch him, but his counterattacks with his quinque were relentless.
As long as her kakuhou wasn't struck, her insane regeneration as the One-Eyed Owl would keep her going. But Arima's counterattacks were ruthless and precise.
In just a few exchanges, one of Eto's kakuhous had already been damaged.
It was only a matter of time before she was defeated.
However, Arima had no intention of killing her — he only wanted to drive her back. Although he was fighting with full force, he had no plans to deal a fatal blow.
"..."
Eto found this hard to accept.
She couldn't even make it past Arima...?
The truth was, because Byakuya had stolen the spotlight for so long, Eto had never realized that Arima — aside from Byakuya — was the Washuu Clan's single strongest combatant.
But she refused to retreat.
No matter how strong a half-human was, they still had a mortal body. If she could land just one hit, she would win.
BOOM—!!
Suddenly, a loud explosion erupted from the side.
A massive hole had been blasted through CCG's walls.
All the investigators' attention snapped toward the breach.
Another kakuja Owl appeared.
"Another One-Eyed Owl?! Wait, isn't the Owl already over there?! How can there be two?!"
"What's going on?! They look exactly alike—no, they're completely identical!"
"Arima is already overwhelming the first one, but now there's a second… This could be bad..."
"..."
The sudden appearance of a second Owl left all the investigators in shock.
They knew that ghouls with blood relations could have similar RC structures and kagune. But two kakuja forms that were completely identical? That was unheard of.
Only the highest-tier kakuja could freely change their forms, and there were only a handful of ghouls capable of that. The only confirmed ones were Kuzen and Eto , the father-daughter duo.
It was no surprise that CCG had no records of this.
The newly arrived Owl was none other than Yoshimura.
Once again, he had mimicked Eto's kakuja form. It was his kagune blast that had blown a hole in CCG's wall.
His objective was clear—ignoring the stunned investigators, he charged directly at Arima.
"..."
Arima's expression subtly shifted—this was bad.
His greatest strength was his overwhelming reaction speed and mobility, which allowed him to fight without taking a single hit.
But one-on-one was vastly different from one-on-two.
Whether he could handle both at once was uncertain, but more importantly—he could no longer stop Eto from advancing.
Sure enough, with Yoshimura engaging Arima, Eto broke free and charged deeper into CCG's headquarters.
The regular investigators didn't dare to stop her.
Even though they had their quinques in hand, none of them had the courage to step forward.
Arima's eyes darkened slightly—he wasn't fast enough to catch up with Eto. For now, he could only put on a show of fighting the Owl in front of him.
He had already figured it out—the second Owl was Eto's father, Yoshimura, the former cleaner of V.
Meanwhile...
The appearance of two Owls had alarmed the entire Washuu Clan.
If one of them was Kuzen, who could the other possibly be?
It could only be Kuzen's child.
And since Kuzen had a child with a human woman, that child could only be a half-human or a half-ghoul...
If they were both a kakuja and had a single kakugan, that ruled out artificial half-ghoul experiments. The only possibility left was a natural-born half-ghoul.
The Washuu Clan had encountered a natural-born half-ghoul before. They were well aware of their traits.
Immediately, the V stationed in the 1st Ward was deployed—not just to assist CCG, but with the secret objective of capturing Eto alive.
Back at CCG Headquarters
Yoshimura was struggling against Arima — especially since Arima was now armed with an S rated quinque instead of a B rated one.
Yoshimura was being completely overwhelmed. One of his kagune arms had already been severed.
"Lately, I've been losing a lot of limbs..."
He couldn't help but laugh bitterly to himself.
But he had no intention of backing down. In fact, he was enjoying the battle.
Having worked with V for years, Yoshimura knew better than anyone that this blue-haired young man was an even greater monster than Kaiko himself.
He had to hold him back for as long as possible —to buy Eto more time.
Even if it cost him his life, it would be worth it. It was his redemption—his atonement for a lifetime of sins.
As he snapped back to reality, a familiar figure suddenly appeared in front of him.
"Arima, you can stop now."
That voice stunned Arima for a moment.
Only then did he clearly see the person who had appeared before him— Byakuya.
"Mm."
Just a moment ago, Arima had been locked in fierce combat. Now, he immediately halted.
He didn't know why Byakuya was still alive, but it didn't matter—as long as he was fine.
Byakuya looked at Arima and said, "Since you're here, it's time to settle things with V once and for all."