Garou watched the beast fly away with the defeated assassins. He didn't follow them—there was no reason to hunt down beaten dogs. Besides, he had never intended to kill anyone from the start. He had only come seeking a challenge to sharpen his skills. Stopping Night Raid had nothing to do with him. However, Najenda's hypocritical words, along with the series of events and the assassins' inability to understand him, had led things to this point.
In truth, Garou had, at most, planned to give them a thorough beating, especially Najenda, and leave it at that. He destroyed Susanoo because he saw it as nothing more than a machine, much like Seryu's pet, and had no qualms about doing so. As for Sai, the man had chosen to sacrifice himself in the hope of injuring Garou. He had failed but earned Garou's respect for his courage and determination—though it only deepened Garou's disdain for the revolutionaries. Finally, there was Gato. He had died because of the pink-haired girl's last shot. The assassins had murdered their own comrade in a desperate attempt to take Garou down. Garou could understand their reasoning, but it still disgusted him after all their grand speeches about living and dying together for their cause. In the end, they had turned on one of their own. So, his last attack had been aimed at crippling the pink-haired girl and injuring the hypocritical woman in one move.
Turning away, Garou began walking in the direction where Wave and the others had gone. A few minutes later, he spotted Bols running toward him.
"Garou!! You're alive! When I saw the explosion, I knew I messed up by leaving my Teigu there," Bols said frantically.
Something felt off to Garou, though he couldn't immediately pinpoint what it was. He replied, "Why are you here? Where's the rest?"
Bols answered, "I was afraid it might have hurt you—or worse. I couldn't stop myself from coming to check on you. As for the others, they're tired and a little wounded, but nothing serious. They should be fine. But still, I'm glad you're okay."
"You really thought your flame-throwing toy exploding could hurt me?" Garou asked, sounding almost offended.
"Oh! No, no! Of course not! Hahaha… With your speed, finding cover or digging a pit to escape the flames wouldn't be hard for you," Bols said, waving his hands nervously.
At that moment, Garou was sure something was wrong. Bols had sparred with him before—he knew firsthand how heat-resistant Garou was. There was no need for him to hide, let alone burrow into the ground like a rat. Still, Garou let it slide for now. Maybe the man assumed the explosion had increased the flames' intensity. In a way, it had.
"What about Night Raid? Did you manage to take them down?" Bols asked.
"Nope. They escaped, but two of them died in the process," Garou answered, not counting Susanoo as a member.
"I see… That's unfortunate. But thanks to you, we managed to survive," Bols said.
Garou's eyes narrowed dangerously. The man's muscles had relaxed slightly when he heard they had escaped, only to flinch at the mention of two deaths. It was a subtle shift, but Garou's observational skills were sharp—razor-sharp.
In that instant, he knew the person before him wasn't Bols. It was an imposter.
In his old world, shapeshifters weren't common, but they weren't unheard of either. Monsters, animals, even robots capable of blending into their surroundings or mimicking others all existed. There was no reason to believe this world lacked similar beings.
Without a word, Garou delivered a brutal punch to Bols' face, knocking him down effortlessly. As his body hit the ground, it dissolved into smoke, revealing an orange-haired girl beneath it.
She lay there, her face twisted in fear, her broken nose bleeding.
Garou observed her closely, noting a makeup box strapped to her side. He immediately recognized it as her Teigu—or at least the tool she used to shapeshift. After all, who would bring makeup to battle?
Garou didn't bother saying a word. He simply looked at her calmly, raised his foot, and stomped down.
The girl closed her eyes when she saw him raising his leg, she gave up on her life there, she knew she had no hope of escaping from him. All of her teammates failed to beat him and had to flee to keep their lives, and even two died in the process. What could she do alone? She regretted her decision to get close to him. She thought he would lower his guard around her because he just won a battle against multiple opponents.
A moment later, she heard the sound of something breaking but felt no pain. She opened her eyes, she saw Garou's leg on top of her Teigu. It was destroyed beyond any hope of repair. She shivered realising he was not going to kill her directly, she couldn't stop herself from thinking about the grim fate awaiting her. She stared at Garou who looked back at her, then started to walk, passing her without paying her any more attention.
Chelsea blinked, not understanding why he ignored her, but then a flicker of understanding passed her eyes, she thought he wanted to toy with her, to give her a false hope then to crush it, to see her all into despair. She gathered her strength and stood up, her back to him. She turned around and stared at his retreating back and spoke "Drop the act! I won't run and satisfy your desire to see me broken. I prefer to die with dignity."
Garou stopped and looked back at her with a frown. She spoke again "I saw people like you, you let your prey run away, and when they think they are safe you appear before them and crush their hopes of survival. I won't feed your twisted sense of pleasure and joy"
"You are weak and don't have a weapon, I have no reason to fight or kill you," Garou said.
"As if I will believe you" Chelsea said as she brought her needles out.
Garou ignored her and continued walking away, while she stood there refusing to believe he let her go just like that. Chelsea stood in the same place for an entire hour before she left, not believing what happened, she even thought he was tracking her secretly.
Garou continued moving in the same direction from earlier, after walking a few kilometers, he heard Dr Stylish's voice.
"That fucking horned bastard, I will fucking kill him" Dr Stylish said.
"Please Dr, let me treat you first" Wave spoke with hopelessness in his voice.
"Oh, how considerate of you, dear" Dr Stylish's voice sounded again, but this time it was calm and loving. Garou frowned at this, this man reminded him of the prisoner S-class hero too much.
Garou walked closer to them and spoke "They should have cut your tongue instead of your arms, maybe dig your eyes as well"
Wave and the rest looked at him with surprise, then their faces turned into smiles.
"You are back!! HAHAAHA... I knew you would win. Tell me, how did it go?" Wave said excitedly.
"Tell me you thrashed the horned brute" Dr Stylish said venomously.
"You are quite talkative for a defeated group" Garou commented.
"It doesn't count. They ganged on us" Wave protested, but Garou's glare shut him up.
"Coming here was a waste of time, they were too weak. I should beat Esdeath when I see her next time. She said they were strong, dangerous and had interesting weapons" Garou spoke again.
The four resisted rolling their eyes at his words, the assassins were not weak, he was abnormally strong. But no one of them dared to refute him nor voice their thoughts. Also, knowing their general, Esdeath would be more than glad to take Garou on at any time. Sometimes, they even thought she might be a masochist secretly. Her readiness to fight and to get beaten by Garou is genuinely astonishing.
______________________
Hours later, Garou and the rest met with Esdeath and her team in the city, as previously agreed.
"I see… It's good none of you died," Esdeath remarked before turning to Garou with a smile. "As much as I'm grateful that you saved my subordinates, I'm not happy with the way you left me behind. You were really heartless back there."
"And I feel like breaking your legs. The assassins turned out to be a waste of time," Garou replied bluntly.
"I think they were fine—it's just that you're inhumanly strong," Esdeath admitted honestly.
"They were weak, with unrefined skills," Garou repeated.
"Putting that aside, how come you didn't capture or kill them? I find it hard to believe they could outrun you," Esdeath questioned.
"Why would I capture them? I defeated them, and they ran like a pack of beaten dogs. If you don't remember, I only came to fight them. Killing or capturing them has nothing to do with me," Garou explained.
"That's a shame…" Esdeath sighed before continuing, "I was looking forward to a torture session with you. I wanted to show you my skills in that field."
"Torture session?" Garou asked, his expression hardening.
Esdeath nodded, smiling warmly. "Yes. I was planning to throw the ones we captured into the dungeon and torture them until they broke."
"I'm not interested. If you want to extract information from them, do it away from me," Garou said, frowning.
"Who cares about information? Watching the weak break is quite enjoyable," Esdeath said with a pleased expression.
Garou's frown deepened. "You torture others for fun?"
"Yes," Esdeath answered, still smiling.
Garou despised the idea. He could understand enemies being ruthless toward one another—it was war, after all. Even he had been brutal to his opponents. But torturing people purely for amusement? That was something beneath his moral code.
Esdeath noticed the disgust in Garou's eyes and frowned slightly, confused. "What's wrong? You don't like the idea of torture?"
"I might be cruel, but I won't torture or bully the weak for no reason," Garou stated firmly.
"Why not? It's only natural for the strong to dominate the weak. The world is survival of the fittest," Esdeath said, her tone resolute.
"Have you ever seen a lion attack a house cat? A lion wouldn't do it unless provoked—because it's stronger. The strong attack and even kill the weak when necessary, but a truly powerful person doesn't seek out weaklings for fun. Only the weak prey on those weaker than them. The strong only punch higher," Garou countered.
Esdeath fell silent. She pondered his words as memories of her past resurfaced—her tribe's destruction, the harsh philosophy she had lived by her entire life. She had always believed that the strong crushed the weak. It was a truth she had shaped her existence around, a belief that had never been challenged. After all, she was the strongest, and her worldview had held true for so many years.
But now, Garou stood before her, contradicting everything she believed in. If it had been anyone else, she would have dismissed it as the weak making excuses to defend themselves. But Garou wasn't weak—he was stronger than her. He existed on an entirely different level. Even if she wanted to defend her philosophy, she couldn't deny that his very existence disproved it.
Closing her eyes, she thought deeper. She recalled how Garou had protected children and trained them. She had been so focused on him that she had never considered what he was doing. Looking back on everything, she realized she was only now beginning to truly understand him.
Esdeath opened her eyes and met Garou's gaze. "I've always believed that what I do is natural—that there's nothing wrong with the strong crushing the weak or taking joy in it. My entire belief system is built on the fact that I was the strongest, and everyone I knew was equally ruthless. The weak protect each other because they know someone stronger can threaten them. But you… you're an exception. You are strong, cruel, and merciless, yet you don't take pleasure in what I have always deemed natural. I'd like to think about this more on my own."
Without waiting for a response, Esdeath turned and walked away, leaving Garou and the stunned Jaegers behind.
Garou also turned and started walking off. For some reason, his displeasure toward Esdeath faded as he saw the change in her demeanor. Something about her had shifted.
"Was that really our scary, sadistic general?" Wave asked, staring at Esdeath's retreating figure.
None of his teammates answered—they were too stunned by the sudden change.