Uruka Minami didn't dare to go into half-kakuja form directly, unless it was absolutely necessary, she didn't want to use the kind of power that easily blurred the mental line between friend and foe.
However, even using just a single tail-type kagune, she still had the strength of an S-rated ghoul. The Dragon Orphans posed no threat to her.
At this moment, Arima Kishou had already summoned his Quinque, dodging and countering at the same time.
With his reflexes, the Dragon Orphans didn't stand a chance of even touching him.
The battle was a completely one-sided massacre as the Dragon Orphans were being wiped out in droves, while Byakuya and the others remained completely unharmed.
The "leader" hiding deep within seemed to have realized by now that this was an enemy they couldn't contend with, and began issuing orders for the remaining Dragon Orphans to retreat.
Byakuya and the others watched as the Dragon Orphans before them suddenly turned around and fled almost simultaneously.
"Chase them. Especially that 'leader' and make sure we catch it."
Byakuya said calmly.
Even when it came to speed, these Dragon Orphans couldn't compare to them at all.
[Ding! The Host has defeated a Dragon Orphan]
[Reward received: 2 Attribute Points.]
[Ding! The Host has defeated a Dragon Orphan]
[Reward received: 2 Attribute Points.]
[...]
By the time they reached the end of the pursuit, the so-called "leader" of the Dragon Orphans, which had been hiding deep inside, had already fled the abandoned factory, but was swiftly captured by the TSC operatives waiting outside.
Byakuya and his team finally saw the true appearance of this Dragon Orphan "leader."
It was evident that this creature had begun taking on faintly humanoid features.
However, it still couldn't speak and was only letting out painful screeching noises from its mouth.
Byakuya became even more suspicious, what if ghouls had originally evolved from Dragon Orphans?
With that question in mind, he felt it necessary to keep this one alive.
"Take it to Cochlea and lock it up."
Byakuya immediately ordered the others.
To this day, Cochlea was still in normal operation. After all, there were still plenty of ghouls causing trouble, and Cochlea existed precisely to contain such individuals.
And former inmates had not been released either, like the "Priest," for example.
No matter how peacefully humans and ghouls now coexisted, the crimes those prisoners had committed couldn't be brushed aside.
Especially the "Priest", he was pure evil, an absolutely irredeemable villain.
The only life he ever seemed to care about was that of Amon Koutarou. Other people's lives meant nothing to him. So it was fine to just let him rot in Cochlea and occasionally reminisce with Amon here and there.
"Yes, sir!"
The operatives immediately took the peculiar Dragon Orphan into custody and began transporting it to Cochlea in the 23rd Ward.
Byakuya wanted to see whether this creature would eventually take on a human form, becoming part of the next generation of ghouls.
If that turned out to be the case, then the so-called common enemy of both humans and ghouls would, in the end, still be "ghouls."
That said, the Dragon Orphans they had just wiped out weren't worthy of sympathy anyway. They were brainless beasts that indiscriminately attacked both humans and ghouls.
Whether human, ghoul, or Dragon Orphan, anyone who did things like that didn't deserve even a shred of sympathy.
Arrest the ones who need to be arrested, execute the ones who need to be executed. Treat them exactly as they deserve.
At the very least, until the Dragon Orphans truly evolved into ghouls, they still had enough time to push forward the peace between both humans and ghouls.
After wiping out the Dragon Orphans' nest, the situation in the 22nd Ward still wasn't over.
Because aside from the Dragon Orphans, there were also some troublemaking ghouls.
According to the description from a TSC branch member, this was a small ghoul organization that had only recently formed.
Originally, if this small ghoul organization didn't cause any trouble, the TSC could still turn a blind eye.
But now those ghouls were openly opposing the TSC, so they absolutely couldn't be let off easily.
Since the TSC hadn't yet located this small ghoul organization's specific hideout, they could only increase patrols in the areas where those ghouls were most active.
"Do those ghouls have any behavioral patterns?"
At this moment, Byakuya asked a member of the TSC branch.
Although the other party was equipped with a Quinque, he was in fact also a Ghoul, a very resilient young man.
Currently, the TSC generally prioritized equipping humans with Quinques, because the number of Quinques was limited, and humans had a much lower combat capability compared to ghouls.
Moreover, many ghouls were still somewhat averse to using Quinques, since the raw materials of a Quinque were of course parts of their bodies.
And this ghoul boy in front of him, his Quinque was actually made from the kagune and kakuhou of his own father.
Of course, his father hadn't been killed by a former CCG investigator, nor by any current TSC member, it had actually been one of their own, another ghoul.
Half a year ago, his father had been cruelly cannibalized by another ghoul, and he himself had nearly died that same day.
Thankfully, at the crucial moment, a human saved him, that human was one of the TSC's Quasi-Dragon Generals.
Unfortunately, by then his father was beyond saving. With the boy's consent, the TSC took the remains of his father's uneaten kagune and kakuhou and brought them back to make into a Quinque.
It had now become his personal Quinque.
Because of his previous experiences, this ghoul boy was able to view both humans and ghouls more objectively.
"Their feeding targets have a clear pattern, they're almost all are relatively young human females."
The ghoul boy answered, "And they have a disgusting fetish, they like to leave the heads of their victims behind. Sometimes they're left on the street, sometimes in front of the victim's door or window. The purpose is clearly to terrify passersby and the victim's family."
Such vile behavior made even him, a fellow ghoul, feel disgusted.
After all, the ghoul who had brutalized his father back then was just as vicious.
He joined the TSC because he wanted to quickly gain the strength to protect his mother.
"Then there's nothing more to say. Consider all of them execution targets."
Byakuya said calmly.
Whether or not a ghoul was executed on the spot depended both on their crimes and their value.
If a ghoul didn't have any value and had committed serious crimes, then execution on the spot was a given.
On the other hand, if a ghoul had significant value, even if they had committed grave crimes, their life would be spared if possible and they'd be imprisoned in Cochlea to be used.
The TSC's predecessor, the CCG, had always operated like this. For example, the "Priest" ran an orphanage and ate countless poor children, but because he was an SS-rated ghoul who possessed a lot of intelligence, the CCG decided he had high enough value to be captured alive and imprisoned in Cochlea.