Tokyo Ghoul: Crown 2 (Patreon)

A fan-fiction in the Tokyo Ghoul universe which contains in parts the following kinks, fetishes and themes. (WG, XWG, Stuffing, Feeding, BBW, SSBBW, USSBBW, Immobility, Sex)

These themes are tried to be integrated into the story in a meaningful way and the general events tell a (hopefully) serious and plausible as well as canonical plot.

Chapter 2: Emptiness and fullness

At the time Vincent was slaughtering the group of surprised ghouls near a disused subway tunnel, one of his subordinates was crouched on the roof of a house, looking down on the scene before him. Karl Straubinger was a broad-shouldered and tall ghoul with strong features and a bald head. He had chosen a different district of Tokyo to fulfill his mission. After arriving in the Japanese capital, the group's plan had been to gather first-hand information about the strength and structure of the local ghoul population. Straubinger had a special role to play here as he was to gather information about a particular aspect of the life of the local man-eaters: Namely, about their enemies.

The CCG was the largest and most influential organization for fighting and hunting ghouls. Of course, there were similar agencies in most other countries, and there were also international efforts to combat ghouls, but nowhere else was the battle between humans and man-eaters as fierce as in Japan. The CCG investigators were known as highly trained ghoul hunters equipped with powerful weapons known as quinques. Throughout the world, the men and women of this organization were notorious and feared among ghouls. In the past, it had often happened that individual countries had requested Japan's help in order to prevent and combat particularly dangerous ghoul activities in multinational operations. A good 10 years ago, the very powerful and old ghoul family of Rosewald in Bremen was practically wiped out in one such operation. The Crown had only intervened in these events to a limited extent, but afterwards the loss of a certain number of influential subordinates had been bitterly accepted.

Since then, however, the CCG had not been tempted to undertake any major operations into the depths of the European ghoul structures or even against the Crown itself. For some time now, the organization had been fully occupied with the fight against the so-called Phoenix Tree. Just a few months ago, there had been numerous confrontations between the terrorist group and the investigators, resulting in a high number of human casualties. The Crown's probing team had information about the CCG and the Phoenix Tree, but it was always better to see for yourself.

Straubinger crouched on the edge of the rooftop and looked down at the street a few floors below. The previous night, he had grabbed an unsuspecting pedestrian and killed him with a few generous bites into his juicy neck. He had then hurled the corpse with a lot of noise against a parked car whose alarm system had then gone off. Afterwards, the large and muscular ghoul had taken position on this roof and watched everything that happened afterwards. Lights had quickly gone on in numerous apartments in this outlying district and people had run out of their houses onto the street. The police were quickly informed and just a few minutes later the whole street was filled with loud voices and the flickering lights of the emergency services.

Straubinger had just sat there and waited. If there was one thing he had, it was patience. After the police had cordoned off the crime scene that night and realized without a doubt that the victim had most likely been killed by a ghoul, most of the officers had left. A handful had remained there with their patrol cars to wait for the CCG to arrive. Straubinger was not at all surprised that it had taken them several hours and that the informed investigators had only shown up now, when the night had already turned into morning again. After all, the man was already dead and there seemed to be no trace of the ghoul who had killed him.

The German ghoul didn't care at all. He had sat up here relaxed and watched the police at work while the sun slowly rose on the horizon and bathed Tokyos skyline in golden rays.

Straubinger had briefly wondered whether this modest bloodbath would be enough to call in investigators or if the police would simply dispose of the incident and send everything to the CCG as a report; after all, the organization was currently occupied with much more important matters. But the ghoul hunters had not disappointed Straubinger for the time being and had driven up to the crime scene in a plain car from which four people, two women and two men, had got out.

Straubinger had watched them carefully as they examined everything and talked to the officers on site. Each of the investigators was dressed in a suit, over which they all wore a gray coat. Straubinger knew that this was not exclusively, but very often the clothing in which the investigators carried out their duties, which was why the nickname doves had become established for them due to the color. He also knew that the gray, inconspicuous briefcases that all four of them carried in their hands contained the quinques that would enable them to stand their ground in a fight against a ghoul. Although these partly organic weapons, which were made from the extracted cell storages of defeated or captured ghouls, could also be transported or used in other ways, this was standard procedure for CCG investigators during their daily field work.

The german ghoul straightened up and continued to look at the activity of the officers below him. He hadn't actually thought about another plan of what to do if his little bloodbath had attracted doves. He wasn't a stupid man, not by a long shot, but he wasn't particularly good at organizing and planning ahead. Straubinger lived almost entirely in the here and now, in the present moment. His mind wasted no time dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. His current mission, whatever it might be, and the satisfaction and inner peace that following it gave him, was the ghoul's only motivation. Vincent Krüger was responsible for the big plans and Straubinger was perfectly content with the role of a compliant recipient of orders.

Thinking too hard about some things always caused Straubinger a certain discomfort, which the big ghoul could not explain. He also never managed to pinpoint when this feeling occurred and when it did not. The fact was that every time something like this happened, Straubinger tried to free himself from all thoughts and emotions and return to a state of neutrality. In addition to this peculiar way of being, Straubinger had massive memory gaps, which he had not questioned for a long time. Digging too deeply into his memories also made the ghoul feel as if he was being followed by someone who would do him harm. An irrational fear that seemed even stranger if one considered what a giant he was. All of this led some people to think that Straubinger was weak or disturbed when they saw him sitting impassively somewhere or listening to conversations that he didn't seem to be following.

The burly ghoul didn't care why the Crown had assigned him to Vincent Krüger. He just wanted to do his job well and be left alone with his only remaining passion, music, when the work was done. The ghoul often felt like an empty vessel that felt nothing, positive or negative, when used for the purpose for which it had been created. He was simply content to exist, no matter what the future held.

Karl Straubinger revealed his bald head by folding back the hood of the coat he was wearing. He then picked up his smartphone and selected a very specific melody from the playlist. The ghoul surveyed the cordoned-off crime scene once more, the police officers talking boredly and the investigators scurrying around the covered body. Straubinger wondered how long it would take him and fixed his gaze on the briefcases of the four CCG employees. He couldn't estimate their skills, but it wouldn't be too difficult. He set 5 minutes on the timer on his smartphone. As soon as he started it, the music would stop automatically after that time. The ghoul closed his eyes and stowed his phone in an inside pocket of his coat after pressing play. The sounds from the wireless earphones, which the ghoul practically always wore, immediately reached his ears. After the very first sounds, Straubinger felt a deep, enveloping calm. He could literally feel how the music drew him away from reality and his mind sank into a pleasant darkness. The ghoul's consciousness was put into a kind of trance. He didn't feel the kagune forming on his shoulders and creeping up his arms and neck like a plant in fast motion, nor did he realize how he was jumping off the edge of the building.

13 years earlier in Hamburg

Laura licked the blood off Vincent's fingers with relish. She lasciviously sucked on it and looked at the young ghoul with her eyes, which were always black and red. Vincent also enjoyed the moment very much and when the heavily overweight ghoula released the blood-smeared lips from his fingers, he leaned over to her and they kissed passionately.

For Vincent, winning the tournament in the battle arena and being accepted into the structures of the crown was a dream come true. He had been Laura's bodyguard and assistant in all matters for a year now and it had been clear from their first meeting that they both wanted more. The honorable task that Vincent had been given had turned into a real love affair, in which the ghoul did everything for his beloved and always tried to make her happy. Both were young and passionate and could never get enough of each other. Added to this was the insatiable hunger that Laura, as a female blood relative of the Crown's main family, felt at almost every moment. Vincent liked nothing better than to feed his beloved non-stop and stuff her to her heart's content. The satisfaction and pleasure Laura felt when her blood, boiling with RC cells, was satisfied with food for a few hours and no longer burned in her beautiful body, always led to the two ghouls losing themselves in a passionate sex act afterwards. For Vincent, this life under the umbrella of the crown with all the comforts that went with it and, of course, the relationship with Laura was more than he had ever hoped for from the miserable life he had started in the gutter of Hamburg.

He lovingly pushed his partner's long, blond hair behind her ear as their lips parted again. Vincent tasted the ghoul's blood, which was quite unappetizing for him personally, as well as the aroma of Laura, which he in turn enjoyed very much. The couple sat naked next to each other on a couch covered with a throw in the hotel suite that Vincent and Laura permanently occupied. There were already several bloodstains on the white sheets from the binge the two ghouls had just held. Vincent's wiry figure nestled against the expansive, soft form of his lover. The last time Laura had been weighed, the scales had shown an impressive 140 kg. Under Vincent's loving care and excessive eating, the young and short ghoula had swollen by a whopping 20 kg within a year. Her enormously wide, dimpled and incredibly soft buttocks spread out on the couch. Overlapping rolls formed her sides and stretched up to the lush fat bulges under her armpits. These were extensions of Laura's large, plump udder breasts, which hung down her front. The ghoula's upper arms had swollen into immense pillows of fat, which dangled down lazily and wobbly when she raised her arms, burying more and more of her elbows beneath them. Laura's whole body was constantly admired by Vincent and he was always highly aroused to see how his sweetie continued to gain weight. An unavoidable and wonderful side effect of the gigantic amount of food Laura needed to keep from going completely insane with hunger.

A particular genetic defect in the women who where blood relatives of the main family, known simply as "females", caused their organisms to produce an incredible number of RC cells and permanently consume the body tissue of the respective ghoula. In order to compensate for this loss of substance, the females were almost constantly ravenously hungry. Not eating for too long was pure torture for those affected and it had to be regularly ensured that these ghoulas were stuffed to the brim to prevent them from running amok in a hunger-induced frenzy. It was the job of the assistants, like Vincent was, not only to guard their entrusted females, but also to keep them full and satisfied at all times. It was not uncommon for partnerships and love affairs to develop from this dynamic as it was the most satisfying and exciting feeling for the females to be fed and filled.

Vincent stroked Laura's thighs, which were decorated with several rolls, with one hand. Like rising dough, the light-skinned fat pads of the ghoula spread out on the coverlet of the couch. These thighs had beautiful, hanging saddlebags and merged into Laura's fantastic, extra-wide hips. The ghoula was a perfect pear shape and still was getting fatter and wider. Rolls of blubber were already rolling over the ghoula's knees while her well-shaped calves continued to swell, making Laura's small, chubby feet look even cuter.

With her own chubby hand, the completely overeaten and happy Ghoula grabbed Vincent's rock-hard cock, which was already pressing into her bulging hip fat. With her other hand she rubbed the inhumanly overstretched, grotesque bulge of her belly. When empty, the ghoula had a beautiful hanging paunch covering her pubic area which sagged lazily and flabbily in front of her thighs when she stood. This belly was usually divided into two juicy, fat rolls with the upper one covering her sweet belly button. But now Laura was leaning back on the couch and had spread her massive, fat-laden thighs as wide as they could go. Within the last two hours, Vincent had fed a complete male ghoul to the ghoula, who was stuffed to bursting. Next to the couch was the metal trolley, completely covered in blood, on which the 70 kg corpse had been lying. Laura's paunch was a huge swollen mass of pale, bulging skin, which hung heavy and bloated between her fat legs and rested on the floor. The whole stretched mass, glistening with bloodstains, was the size of an exercise ball and Laura couldn't even reach the front of her paunch if she wanted to. No ordinary ghoul could have devoured such an incredible amount of food in such a short time. No innards could have stretched so far to swallow a complete, full-grown man. Only the mutated, constantly starving organism of a female of the crown was capable of such a thing.

Together with Laura, Vincent gently stroked the gigantic, inflated sack that hung down between the ghoula's thighs. Red lines pulsed under the extremely taut, pale skin and Vincent traced the flow of the RC cells with his finger. What a wonder the females' bodies were. Genetic anomalies with incredible powers in exchange for a never-ending hunger for ghoul flesh.

Laura placed her free hand on her partner's and looked at him, a little exhausted but also excited and in love. Together they rubbed over the incredibly stretched layer of fat and the ghoula's skin, which was strained to breaking point. The couple's fingers also glided over Laura's luscious breasts, which hung on either side of her huge, bloated belly. Large, flabby and sluggish, but still plump with fat, udders with wide areolas and rock-hard nipples. The swollen midriff of the stuffed ghoula literally pressed the beautiful, light-skinned bells to the sides. In addition, the ghoula's tits rose and fell quickly as the woman's lungs were pretty much squeezed out by her full-to-bursting insides. A fact that Vincent first had to learn was harmless and completely normal for the females after such an exhausting meal.

"I'm full, thanks to you," Laura breathed and closed her eyes as she massaged her grotesque mountain of a belly together with Vincent's hand.

"Oh man, that's nice," Laura said and relaxed, closing her eyes as her gigantic belly continued to rumble and work. Vincent's arousal increased even more and his cock twitched between her soft little fingers. It was wonderful for him to feel and touch this fattened, overfilled body. He was also somehow always proud and horny when he saw and felt how much he could fatten Laura up and how huge her insides swelled and spread out further than the Ghoula's arms could reach. The quantities that the female entrusted to him devoured were increasing daily and soon a whole body would no longer be enough for her.

Vincent had not yet had the honor of meeting a high-ranking female member of the main family in person, but from what he had overheard in conversations with older servants and subordinates of the crown, he imagined the ghoulas in question to be simply enormous. Laura herself, who at the age of 19 already weighed a respectable 140 kg, didn't talk much about other family members. Vincent had met her father Marco once at the Prior Hotel but hadn't exchanged a word with him. However, the young ghoul had never met Laura's mother. She was one of the emperor's sisters and, from all accounts, never left her private estate. It was possible that she could no longer do so, if the rumors about the size of some females were true.

In love and full of desire, Vincent's eyes glided over his partner's voluptuous, stuffed body and he imagined how he would fatten her up more and more. Laura would happily and with great pleasure grow heavier and fatter and enjoy being cared for and fed by Vincent. She loved the body that her hunger, which could never be satisfied, gave her at least as much as Vincent did and there was no greater pleasure for a female than to eat herself to the point of bursting.

At these thoughts, Vincent's hard cock twitched and pulsed in Laura's small hand and she opened her eyes again. Full of lust, she looked into the face of her feeder and lover, biting her full and bloodied lower lip.

"Do you like me like this?" she breathed to him.

Vincent stood up, forcing her to let go of his hard member. The ghoul stood in front of the gigantic ball of Laura's paunch with the fat of her legs fighting for space on either side. He bent over the huge swollen belly that lay like a boulder on the floor in front of the ghoul, anchoring her where she sat and preventing her from getting up. The young ghoul began to cover the swollen midriff with kisses and slowly worked his way up, eventually caressing Laura's ample breasts with his tongue. The ghoula threw her head back with a moan and pressed Vincent's fingers firmly into her flabby breast flesh with her hands. The young ghoul's tongue then turned to the full lips of his beloved and the couple kissed long and passionately while he felt the hard nipples in his hands.

"You're the most beautiful and amazing thing I've ever seen in my whole life," he assured her happily when her lips parted again. His penis pressed hard against the ghoula's bulging belly, which gurgled and rumbled loudly again.

"Well then, it's a good thing that there will be more of the most beautiful and amazing," she replied with a grin.

"Oh yes, you can say that again."

"Would you massage me some more, please? It's so incredibly tight."

Vincent now knelt in front of his lover and began to massage the ghoula's protruding huge belly again, making her purr pleasantly. The woman pressed her own chubby hands against the sides of her overstuffed, completely packed paunch and rubbed over the taut skin and stretched fat deposits. Every wrinkle and roll that had adorned the ghoula's sagging belly when empty had now been pulled taut by the huge mass of the contents of her insides.

A little later, Vincent stood in the luxurious hotel room and watched as Laura slept on the sofa. After he had massaged her long and hard, they had lifted the Ghoula's swollen body into a sideways position. Now she slumbered and noisily digested her huge meal. Her colossal paunch hung grotesquely over the edge of the couch and was still resting on the floor. Vincent had had to lift the heavy, stuffed mass so that Laura could move her fat legs out from under her stomach and lie sideways on the cushions. Moaning endlessly, Laura had rolled onto her side and then the ghoul had carefully placed the huge belly on the floor. He had felt it working under the taut skin and the female's insides had gurgled loudly.

Unfortunately, it was impossible for Laura to have sex in this state, even satisfying the ghoula orally or just with his fingers would have been more than difficult for Vincent. Inside the female's belly was a complete, adult ghoul and the woman was correspondingly bloated. The grotesque belly blocked everything out and hindered her movements. Even though it was an incredibly erotic sight for Vincent, sex was simply not possible when Laura had such a huge meal behind her. When his lover woke up later, her body would have already converted a large part of the food into pure RC cells and nutrients and her stomach would have shrunk accordingly. Then they would both fall over each other with the greatest pleasure and Vincent would passionately penetrate his partner's vagina, which was coated in the softest fat. All of Laura's fat would then tremble and wobble back and forth to his hard thrusts. His hands would firmly grip her overflowing hips. A really wonderful idea, but first he still had something to do and so it came in handy that Laura would be taking her digestive nap first anyway.

Once again, before he got dressed, Vincent looked at his sleeping beauty. Laura's fat flowed over the front of the couch. The puffy arms, the massive, fat breasts and her thighs covered in folds of fat. But all of this was dwarfed by the gigantic mountain of a belly. Vincent could still see how his ravenous sweetheart had stuffed herself full of the dead ghoul's parts and how her stomach had continued to grow. Bit by bit, he had shoved more of the body into her greedy mouth. Muscles, bones, organs, Laura had eaten everything completely and was now exhausted but overjoyed as she digested. The way she had gleefully devoured every piece of bloody flesh from Vincent's hand had been such a wonderful sight.

Tokyo

Misa Hitomi stood with her back turned to her colleagues and took a deep breath. She had seen many atrocities committed by ghouls during her training. In reality, however, these bloodbaths were even worse to bear. Looking at something like what had happened to the man behind her, whose body was now half-crushed and stuck in a battered car door, was quickly becoming part of everyday life for an investigator, but she would probably never get used to it. Misa ran her eyes through her short, black hair and took another deep breath. She had only graduated from the CCG's First Academy in Tokyo a year ago, with top marks and numerous commendations. Graduates of this institution were generally regarded as the most intelligent students of the seven educational establishments located in the capital of Japan. Each of the CCG's academies was said to have a certain character and a particular type of student and pupil. It was unclear whether these relationships were deliberately encouraged by the CCG by assigning newcomers accordingly or whether it was simply the different teaching and educational methods of the individual institutions. It was probably a mixture of both.

Misa Hitomi was a highly intelligent woman, but her strength lay almost exclusively in theory rather than practice. In combat training and fitness tests, she had only managed the basic requirements to become an investigator at all. At the time, some teachers and instructors had even advised Misa, despite her outstanding intellect, to pursue a civilian career after graduating from the academy rather than trying to become an investigator. The young woman's psychological profile had also initially been an obstacle to becoming a member of the CCG. It was only thanks to the guidance of one of Misa's instructors that the young woman had been able to continue on her chosen path. Crossing her arms, Misa Hitomi turned back around and looked at the crime scene that she and her three companions were currently investigating.

The male victim had been killed with several powerful bites to the neck. Blood loss was probably the cause of death as the spine had apparently not been severed. However, the subsequent impact could also have ended the man's life. His body, twisted and somehow unreal, half stuck in the demolished car, showed countless fractures and serious head trauma. As always, Misa was overcome with horror at the thought of how much superior ghouls were to humans in terms of strength, endurance and speed. The man-eater had apparently attacked the man, bitten him and then thrown him into the side of the car with superhuman force.

The ghoul had probably not killed to eat. Even though it had apparently bitten a large amount of tissue from its victim's neck, no flesh had been removed anywhere after the throw. Just for the first few bites, this whole action would have been far too conspicuous and costly for a ghoul. On top of that, the victim was simply left there afterwards. One could only speculate about the ghoul's motives, but the dead man had probably not been intended as a source of food. Furthermore, the investigators had not yet found any traces that revealed anything about the perpetrator.

One of the other investigators, who had continued to examine the man's body, stood up and looked over at Misa. As was typical of the man, he smiled broadly and shook his head. Then he picked up the suitcase that Misa had placed on the floor and walked over to the new investigator. She was already blushing ashamedly and looked down to the floor, embarrassed.

The investigator with the indestructible grin and blond hair handed Misa the gray suitcase while holding his own in the other.

"I've told you before, this suitcase is your life from now on. When we're investigators in the field, especially when there's an increased risk of encountering one or more ghouls, we should never let our quinquen out of our hands. Of course, it can sometimes get in the way or get in the way, but this case should be attached to your hand. It's our life insurance," he reprimanded Misa, even though his tone was calm and friendly. The young woman grabbed the suitcase and held it with both hands in front of her legs. She had never been an enthusiastic fighter; her interests and skills lay in analysis, planning and theory. It was not easy for Misa to get used to the constant presence of the metal case containing her quinque. She had already left the invaluable weapon somewhere several times. This had already earned her a bad reputation and a lot of ridicule from some of her colleagues. What's more, Misa didn't really like the contents of the case. Of course, she understood the principle of quinquen and their necessity for fighting ghouls, but the young investigator found it highly distasteful to handle the artificially kept alive murder tool and body part of a monster. Misa didn't like the feeling she got when she wielded or even touched her quinque. It gave her a shiver every time and she hoped every morning that she wouldn't have to use it today.

"Excuse me, Second Investigator Itou," Misa apologized with red cheeks and bowed her head briefly. Kuramoto Itou, whose grin was as steady as his narrowed eyes, laughed and placed a hand on Misa's narrow shoulder.

"It's all right, you'll learn."

Misa was always surprised at how patient and kind the man was to everyone. Including herself, especially since she had not yet lived up to her reputation in real service after being heralded as a prodigy by the academy. Itou probably thought the same as everyone else about Misa and was just far too polite to say it to the young investigator's face.

"Definitely, I'll try harder," Misa affirmed, even though she was pretty sure she'd never get used to carrying that disgusting thing around with her all the time. Sometimes she thought she could feel the quinque pulsating in the suitcase, even though she knew it was just her imagination.

"What do we do next?" she asked when she finally looked up again at the maltreated corpse behind Kuramoto. He turned slightly to the side and looked at the bloody scene. The force that had been necessary to throw the man through the metal of a car door and bend the entire frame of the car in the process must have been enormous. A huge, dried pool of blood had formed underneath the dead man, the result of numerous rivulets running down the bodywork and the dead man's legs. There were shards of glass and scattered small pieces of metal everywhere.

"Well, we examined everything we could with our limited resources. Unfortunately, we didn't find any further traces of the perpetrator or where he might have fled to. Through the quick test, we were able to determine beyond doubt that there was ghoul saliva on the dead man's neck, but everything else is being investigated in the CCG's laboratories." The blond man shrugged his shoulders and looked back at Misa. His eyes and grin in no way indicated his thoughts.

"The regular police will take care of everything else and we can leave soon."

"That's good, I think that's just horrible."

Itou's grin actually became a tiny bit cooler and he looked over at the dead man again. The two other investigators on their team had crouched down in front of the body at the beginning of the investigation and now stood up. One of them took off a pair of rubber gloves and stowed some tubes with measuring sticks in the inside pocket of his coat.

"I'm not someone who fanatically seeks out confrontations with ghouls, so I'm not unhappy if an investigation doesn't immediately lead to a hunt or a fight. However, every death means a murdering ghoul and this one, like many others, is now on the loose and can kill again at any time. These atrocities are our business."

He looked at Misa again and continued: "I doubt you would have wanted to become an investigator and graduated from the academy if you hadn't known that this kind of thing awaited you."

"I've always been fascinated by ghouls, that's why I joined the CCG. But I've never been a really practical person and certainly not a violent one. I just feel uncomfortable seeing something like this and knowing that beings capable of feeling emotions and grasping complex concepts have done this. Ghoules think exactly like humans in many ways, and yet they are able to commit such acts without remorse simply because their biology classifies us as food."

Now Itou looked at the young woman again. Misa Hitomi was about a head shorter than he was, with straight, black hair and big, bright eyes. She was quite petite but had a nice figure with full breasts and a curvy butt, which was almost completely hidden by the typical investigator's coat. Itou would say that he liked Misa, but that only applied to her as an ordinary person. As an investigator, he considered the young woman who so often had her head in the clouds and would much rather lose herself in books and files than perform her duties as an investigator. Perhaps she would have been better off as a support staff member or a member of the research department, but apparently it had always been her declared ambition to become a ghoul investigator.

With noticeable discomfort, Misa held the case with her quinque in front of her knees with cramped hands. The young woman's gaze was lowered and she now seemed to be consciously avoiding eye contact with Itou.

Of course, every investigator had been a rookie once, and more than a few had shat their pants before their first fight with a ghoul. But Itou seriously wondered how this woman would ever manage to survive if she was attacked by a ghoul. She would probably be nothing but a block for her comrades and would slow them down because she needed protection and couldn't contribute any fighting power of her own. How could you seriously rely on someone like that in a real battle? She was a security risk and a weakness for any team or battle group she was assigned to for a fight.

With an impassive expression and the usual smirk with his narrowed eyes, Itou placed a hand on the young investigator's shoulder. Misa looked up at him and managed a pained smile. What kind of investigator was this person supposed to become if she was so upset by a single nibbled corpse, Itou wondered. In fact, the investigator was only concerned about the consequences for other members of the CCG in combat situations and moments when quick and decisive action was needed. Beyond that, he had nothing against Misa and found her calm manner and the intellect she possessed, without being the least bit arrogant, quite pleasant.

"You'll grow into your position. It wasn't easy for any investigator to find their way in the bloody world of the ghouls at the beginning of their career," Itou said, but didn't really believe that Misa Hitomi had what it takes to be a real investigator.

The young woman smiled with a mixture of regret and gratitude and left it at that.

"We're done here, Second Investigator Itou," said Third Investigator Kubo, who had previously stowed away the samples of the traces on the corpse's wounds and had now approached her. Kubo was a tall and stocky man in his mid-thirties. A seasoned and experienced investigator who simply had no ambitions for his career at the CCG and had been passed over for promotion several times. Misa was dealing with the man for the first time today. Together with the third investigator, Anko, who was now also walking over to her colleagues, the three of them had met for the first time that morning. The team of four had been put together from investigators who were not currently assigned to a specific case. In fact, there were currently many ghoul hunters, including high-ranking ones, who were not pursuing any major investigations. Tokyo had become rather quiet after the Owl Suppression Operation and the resulting battles against ghouls of the Phoenix Tree and other groups. The activities of the larger organizations had decreased significantly and most of the incidents were the actions of small ghoul groups or individual perpetrators to procure food.

Third investigator Anko pointed over her shoulder at the corpse and the demolished car. The forensics team from Tokyo's regular police force was already working on the crime scene and the investigators' work was done for the time being, as there were no traces of the ghoul worth mentioning.

"Basically, there's nothing unusual about the whole thing. However, it is strange that the ghoul only killed his prey but didn't take it with him," Anko pointed out. Kubo gestured with the hand that wasn't holding the suitcase and said, "Maybe someone saw him bite a nice chunk out of the guy's neck and fled when he realized he was being watched. The police will interview all the residents in the street. The people who found the dead man said they didn't see the crime itself, but were alerted by the noise."

"Perhaps the crime was not committed to obtain food, but for completely different motives. Perhaps it was personal reasons why the ghoul attacked the man. This excessive violence doesn't fit in with the mere procurement of food either," Misa interjected, forcing herself to look at the man's shattered body hanging twisted in the side of the car.

"We have no way of knowing. Let's leave it at that for now and head back to headquarters," Itou decided and the three other investigators nodded in agreement.

A sudden outcry and the shattering of metal and glass behind the four investigators caused them all to startle.

13 years earlier in Hamburg

After putting on his clothes and cleaning his hands of the blood that had stuck there from Laura's feeding, Vincent had gone into the private area of the Prior Hotel. With his new position as bodyguard and partner to a female, he had many new privileges and had access to almost all areas of the complex used by the Crown as a base.

Wearing one of his new, tailored, dark suits, the young ghoul entered one of the grand halls in the wing of the old mansion that the Kammler family personally occupied. The room was classically and opulently furnished, just like the rest of the building, making it quite a contrast to the large, glass extension of the huge house. A long, polished table with numerous elegant chairs dominated the room. Wonderful sunlight flooded in through large, high windows with dark red curtains to the sides.

There was only one person in a suit sitting at the luxurious table who looked up when Vincent came in. Tobias Kammler put down the newspaper he had just been reading and took a sip from the coffee cup in front of him. Next to it was a laptop, which the ghoul closed as Vincent approached.

Kammler put his cup down and pointed to the chair opposite him with a finger that had an expensive ring on it.

"We arranged to meet 37 minutes ago," said the older ghoul. His face showed no reaction and his voice was toneless.

Vincent took a seat, crossed his legs, folded his hands on the table and looked directly at his counterpart.

"I beg your pardon. Laura needed a little more of my...attention."

As Kammler leaned back a little in his chair, a satisfied smile spread across his face.

"Apologies accepted. Miss Wagner's needs come first, of course." Kammler was, as Vincent knew, the half-brother of the current male head of the crown. The older ghoul who now sat opposite him and the organization's titled emperor shared the same mother. This legendary ghoula had led the crown as empress until her death, before her eldest son had taken over the sceptre. So Laura Wagner, who was sleeping contentedly and overfed in her suite at that moment, was the daughter of the emperor's youngest sister, Tobias Kammler's niece. Until now, Vincent had never heard the two of them having a private conversation and the older ghoul only ever spoke of "Fräulein Wagner" and never of Laura. Although this distance seemed a little strange to Vincent, especially as Laura and Kammler belonged to the same bloodline, it was not up to the young ghoul to judge this behavior.

"Would you like a coffee too?" Kammler then asked.

"No thanks, I don't really like coffee that much. I know that many ghouls like it because it's one of the few substances that we can tolerate just like humans, but unfortunately it's not for me," Vincent declined in a friendly manner. In fact, the smell of the hot brew of roasted beans had been offending his sensitive sense of smell ever since he had entered the hall. Most ghoules enjoyed coffee as one of the few sources of aromatics, away from the bodies of humans or other members of their species, that their organisms could process. Vincent, however, had never liked the taste.

Kammler took one last sip from his cup and shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever you like. We have an excellent selection of roasts from all over the world here at the hotel, all of which I can highly recommend. Maybe you'll acquire a taste for it at some point."

He snapped his fingers once and a servant came in from an adjoining room and cleared the table, including the newspaper and laptop.

"Well then, we're already a little behind schedule. I have to leave for Bremen today and will be spending a few days there. We should get going now."

Kammler stood up and Vincent, who had just settled down, did the same. The older ghoul straightened his tie and removed his jacket from the back of the chair on which he had been sitting. The ghoul's entire wardrobe was tailor-made, classy and damn expensive, as Vincent had learned by now. In the past, the young ghoul had always given a shit about his clothes, but since he had benefited from the money and amenities of the crown and the Kammler family, he had to admit to having developed a little fable for fancy suits. Now that they were both looked after by the same personal tailor, Vincent could better understand why Kammler was so concerned about his appearance. What's more, the young ghoul was now happy to show off this upgrade to his wardrobe and his general living conditions. Everyone should recognize from the sight of Vincent that he had made it from the gutter to the higher circles of ghoul society through strength, willpower and his own abilities alone.

"May I ask what is calling you to Bremen, Mr. Kammler?"

The older ghoul fiddled with his sparkling cufflinks and eyed Vincent thoughtfully. He seemed to be weighing up his next words carefully.

"Duty calls me there. My duty to the crown. I'm afraid I can't tell you anything more specific. Not yet. But I will say this much: if things in Bremen develop as I suspect they will, then what I am about to show you will become even more important."

Kammler walked around the table while tightening the collar of his jacket.

"Follow me."

The two ghouls left the mansion and walked together across the hotel's extensive grounds. There were numerous smaller buildings for supplies and storage, various areas for wellness, gardens, greenhouses, a large outdoor pool area with several baths and much more. Everything was connected by roads, which had well-maintained white gravel paths for pedestrians on both sides. All the green areas were in top condition with wide fields of flowers next to perfectly trimmed lawns and large, venerable oak trees.

After about ten minutes of walking, Kammler led Vincent to a small, nondescript concrete building in the middle of a plain lawn on the outer edge of the hotel grounds.

"Tell me, what do you actually know about the CCG?" Kammler asked as they walked towards the gray building. Vincent thought for a moment and then said: "Not very much. Just what everyone probably knows. All the ghouls in the world have apparently heard of the CCG. Some nations have their own ghoul hunters, but no one is as professional and effective as the investigators from Tokyo."

Kammler inclined his head approvingly.

"Absolutely correct. Do you also know what makes the CCG investigators so effective and so much more successful and dangerous against ghouls than the authorities of other countries?"

Vincent thought about it for a moment, but he believed he knew the answer. There was only one thing the CCG possessed that enabled them to go head-to-head with ghouls.

"I assume you're talking about the Quinques."

"Precisely! The quinque: a mobile, independent construction to keep a cell storage unit removed from a ghoul alive and use its hunting organ indefinitely despite its separation from the original organism. A weapon that is as sick and disgusting as it is brilliant and beautiful," Kammler explained and then snorted contemptuously.

Both ghouls were now standing in front of a heavy steel door with no recognizable handle or keyhole. The older ghoul pulled a key card from the inside pocket of his suit and held it in front of a seemingly randomly chosen spot on the concrete wall. With a loud click, the door without a handle opened a crack. Kammler pushed it completely open and stepped into the room behind it. Fluorescent tubes immediately lit up on the unplastered concrete ceiling. In the middle of the small room was a relatively small, metal spiral staircase that led downwards. Vincent was of course familiar with the hotel's underground fighting arena and the rooms and corridors connected to it, but he had never entered this part of the secret ghoul complex before.

"Please close the door again," Kammler asked and the young ghoul did as instructed. As he closed the thick steel door, which also had no recognizable opening mechanism on this side, several steel bolts clicked audibly into the door frame.

"Where was I just? Oh yes, the quinques. I wasn't referring to the weapons themselves. I'm talking about the technical progress they represent. Do you know who developed the quinques?"

Vincent shook his head and Kammler spread his arms theatrically as he replied.

"The Germans, of course! Or rather, german people, of course. The Ghoul Research Society, in collaboration with the CCG, has developed the quinques to revolutionize the fight against ghouls. Today, the hunt for ghouls is marginal in most countries, unlike Tokyo and Japan, as the CCG does not share the technology of the quinques with others and only constructs and develops them themselves in their own research facilities. This technology is not even shared with Germany, although it has been German scientists, including the brilliant ghoul researcher Adam Gehner, who have made these weapons available to humans in the first place."

Vincent listened to Kammler's explanations without commenting on them. In the year that he had served the Crown, he had learned on various occasions that the older ghoul was very fond of making rambling speeches and liked to talk shop about subjects in which he was well versed.

Kammler now walked down the spiral staircase as he continued speaking and motioned for the younger ghoul to follow him.

"It's really ironic when you consider that one of the most powerful ghoul organizations in the world comes from the country where the most dangerous invention for our species was made. So it's all the better that the Crown is well on the way to utilizing other scientific findings of the Ghoul Research Society to make up for the development of the quinques."

Both ghouls had reached the bottom of the stairs and were now looking into a short corridor with steel doors with thick glass windows on either side.

Kammler walked briskly to one of the doors next to which a control panel with several buttons was embedded in the wall.

"The Ghoul Research Society has conducted a number of studies and experiments to investigate the nature, composition and function of our hunting organs in relation to our cognitive abilities and emotions. For example, the increased concentration and activity of RC cells under anger, grief or generally great stress, or that the shape of our claws can sometimes change drastically when a ghoul experiences severe psychological trauma or personality changes. Then there are the effects of mutations to become a claw wearer or, even more devastating, the effect of an incomplete mutation on a ghoul's mind."

Vincent looked through the window into the cell beyond, but the room was completely dark.

"How do you know so much about these things?" he then asked, looking at Kammler again.

He grinned and replied, not without pride: "The CCG is far away and the Crown has unlimited power here. We have long since infiltrated the Ghoul Research Society as well as all other authorities and offices that can be of use to us. What we want to know, we will find out."

"And what good will this knowledge do us?"

Kammler's grin widened and he put his finger on one of the switches on the control panel.

"I now present to you the result of our efforts to create a living weapon for the wars to come with the help of mental conditioning and deep suggestion," he announced theatrically and pressed the switch, instantly lighting up the small room behind the steel door. Now Vincent saw what was inside.

A tall, broad-shouldered and muscular man with a bald head was sitting on a metal chair, completely naked and covered in blood. It was undoubtedly a ghoul, which was evident from the black and red eyes. They were wide open and held open by metal clamps. In the man's two muscular arms were several cannulas with tubes leading to a number of containers with different liquids. This was something quite remarkable as such utensils were not supposed to penetrate the skin of a ghoul in its normal state. The man's entire body was covered in cuts, scratches and holes of various sizes. Blood covered the ghoul's entire body and had formed a large pool on the floor and around the chair. His mouth was slightly open and he looked as if he wasn't really aware of his surroundings despite his open eyes. On his head, the man wore a pair of large headphones that completely covered his ears and were connected by a cable to a laptop standing in the corner of the cell.

Tokyo

The four CCG investigators looked at one of the police cars parked behind them. Horror gripped Misa Hitomi and froze her whole body, while her comrades almost instantly overcame their shock and got into a fighting stance. Itou, Anko and Kubo pressed the switches on the handles of their suitcases almost simultaneously. Instantly, the metal shells opened, revealing the unfolding quinquen. The leader of the four-man group twirled the long staff of his weapon, which bore the name Senza. Anko's and Kubo's quinquen had taken the shape of classic katanas and glowed blood red and turquoise. Misa knew that the two blades were made from the Rinkaku kagune of a single ghoul. Its cellular memory had been split to make these two identical weapons. Their names were Gemini 1 and 2 and had a B combat rating. The young investigator was very interested in all the information about Quinquen that was freely available in the CCG's databases, even if she was disgusted by using such a weapon herself. Her brain flooded her with a flood of information and remarkable details she knew about the individual Quinquen that made no sense in the current situation. A defense mechanism of Misa's mind which was currently unable to process the events unfolding in front of the young investigator. Her limbs were still frozen and she couldn't move from the spot.

"Hitomi, come to yourself!" Anko hissed angrily.

"Investigator Misa Hitomi, pull yourself together!" Kubo shouted when the young woman didn't react. Both investigators had flanked their superior, who was holding his spear-shaped quinque, with a combat rating of A, at the ready on his outstretched arm in anticipation of an attack.

On the dented roof of the now completely demolished police car stood a figure that had apparently jumped directly from the roof of the neighboring building. It was a ghoul with an activated kagune. His entire upper body was covered in a huge, pulsating and glowing red mass, which also extended over his head and both arms. This massive collection of RC cells was in turn covered by large, gray armor plates in the shape of triangles that overlapped almost everywhere like scale armor.

Over the ghoul's head and face, these plates had been pushed together to form a kind of helmet, with red eyes shining only through two slits at the sides.

Arm-thick and equally long, spike-like appendages sprouted from the massive back of this monster. Its right arm was covered by an extension of its kagune and formed a kind of armor bracer and a gauntlet from the triangular armor plates. Underneath, however, the clothing was still visible. Not so on the ghoul's left arm. This was overgrown by a huge, overflowing and heavily armored mass of RC cells. The limb had the girth of an adult man and was over two meters long. The only parts of the ghoul's body not covered by its kagune were its stomach, hips and legs.

At the end of the huge arm was a kind of maw, which was divided into several elements studded with large spikes. A shrieking policeman wriggled inside it.

The ghoul swiveled its heavily armored head and seemed to be examining the people around it. Suddenly, a kind of haze or smoke began to rise from its armored plates and the spikes on its back. The monstrous figure must have been around three meters tall and the overgrown left arm alone was larger than the kagune of many ordinary ghouls put together.

Now complete chaos broke out and the police officers who had dodged or fallen to the ground when the ghoul hit the car scrambled to their feet. The five officers still present opened fire from their service pistols, shouting and screaming incomprehensibly. The projectiles hit the ghoul's armor without causing any real damage. Still paralyzed, Misa watched the scene and suspected that even if the officers had used Q-bullets, this specimen of man-eater wouldn't have cared much. In her estimation, they were facing a Kakuja, a ghoul whose organism, cell storage and kagune had been mutated by repeatedly eating the tissue of its own species. Although some ghouls, who were very adept at using their kagune, were able to wrap their bodies in it and take on various forms, this monstrous abomination could only be the result of a kakuja transformation. Though still incomplete, Misa's mind flashed as she looked at the ghoul's lower body.

Still under fire, which didn't seem to bother him at all, the huge ghoul squeezed the mandibles of his left arm and crushed the screaming policeman in it. With the sound of a wet ripping noise that turned one's stomach, the man's insides were squeezed out and pretty much every bone in his body was broken. Blood splattered around the cordoned-off street. Like worthless garbage, the ghoul hurled the mangled remains of the policeman to the side where they crashed into another parked car. Two of the policemen ran off in panic and fled, while the others continued to retreat, firing only sporadic shots. Suddenly and with a speed that the colossus was not expected to have, it jumped down from the destroyed car and grabbed a screaming policewoman, who had not been able to run away fast enough, with its right hand. The large palm covered the small woman's entire face and the fingers held her head as if in an iron vice. Panicked, the officer tried to get free and grabbed the ghoul's forearm.

"We have to do something! Attack now!" Itou ordered his two comrades-in-arms, who nodded grimly and rushed forward.

"Third investigator Hitomi, call for reinforcements immediately! Report the sighting of this ghoul to headquarters! At least S-class!" He didn't shout, but his voice was forceful and penetrating. Misa's head jerked around and she stared at her superior with wide eyes and a slightly open mouth. His words came very sowly through to her brain.

"Third investigator Hitomi, call for reinforcements and then fight or you're dead!" Itou hurled at her.

"Reinforcements... I'll report the incident," came from Misa, who slowly regained control of her extremities and shakily moved a hand to the inside pocket of her coat.

"Now!" Itou ordered and then ran forward to support Anko and Kubo. Both investigators had attacked the ghoul at the same time. Anko, however, had been forced to throw herself to the ground as her enemy had thrown the squirming and suffocating policewoman in her direction. The officer's neck had already twisted so badly when she was thrown that her neck was probably broken. Like a limp rag doll, the woman sailed over the ducking Anko and hit her spine against a street lamp, which undoubtedly broke it.

At the same moment, Kubo ran head-on towards his opponent and pierced the ghoul's stomach, which was not protected by its kagune. Gemini 2 effortlessly penetrated the man's abdomen and the tip of the blade emerged from his back. Kubo would never have expected to be able to end the fight with it, but the fact that the victim showed no reaction at all to the piercing of his innards shocked him somewhat. The ghoul reached out with his massive right arm and struck Kubo. The investigator ducked and let the attack pass over him, pulling his quinque out of the enemy in one movement and slashing his left side just below his armor as he turned. The ghoul was not impressed by this either.

Itou struck a blow with Senza, which bounced off the ghoul's armor. The same thing happened with Anko's Gemini 1. Splintered RC cells flew through the air like sparks. The ghoul turned towards the kneeling Kubo and he lashed out with his right arm. The investigator managed to roll away by a hair's breadth and an armored fist drove into the ground next to him, cracking the asphalt. Shocked by the force and the ghoul's considerable speed despite its size and mass, Kubo stared into the red eye that stared back at him from between the armor plates. Then his head jerked to the side and he saw the mouth-like opening at the end of his opponent's left arm shoot towards him.

The attack caught the investigator head-on and his body was swept away. The RC cell mass on the ghouls left arm stretched out while Kubo was caught in its clutches. The limb extended for several meters, knocked over a car with a crash, which landed on its roof under shattering glass next to the screaming Misa, and finally smashed into the facade of an apartment building. The arm broke through the wall under flying stones, metal parts and breaking wood and crushed the investigator's body between the rubble and hardened RC cells.

Onlookers everywhere ran out of their houses but immediately fled when they saw what was happening on the street. The remaining police officers ran around chaotically, shouting meaningless things. It was complete chaos.

Anko tried what she thought was her chance and attacked the outstretched left arm of the enemy. Due to the increased length, the gray triangles could no longer protect the entire mass of the red pulsating kagune below. Gaps had appeared in the armor due to the expansion. With a furious scream and with all the strength the investigator was capable of, she swung Gemini 1 down from above with both hands. The blade actually managed to penetrate the glowing mass, but instead of severing the arm as Anko had intended, her quinque got stuck in the extremely dense RC cells after a few centimetres. The woman then made the last mistake of her life and tried to pull the weapon out again, but was unsuccessful. If she had let go of the sword, she would probably have been able to evade the next attack.

With brutal force, the ghoul's armored and superhumanly strong right fist collided with Anko's face. All the bones in her skull shattered and, with a terrible sound, the investigator's demolished and completely dented face was flung away from the impact. Lifeless, the woman's body slithered a little further across the floor due to the force of the blow. Itou then chased up with Senza and the blade of the quinque penetrated the ghoul's poorly protected right armpit from below. Once again there was no reaction, except that the victim whirled around and tried to catch his remaining opponent with the back of his right fist. The wild swing came to nothing as Itou skillfully rolled away.

The investigator was immediately back on his feet and sent Senza spinning around him. The ghoul turned his armored head towards him and retracted his left arm. Carefully, Itou took a few steps back and watched his opponent closely.

The steam rising from the ghoul suddenly seemed to increase, especially on his left arm. Cloudy vapors rose hissing from the kakuja's body. The spikes on the limb wiggled and moved like an animal shaking. Then the huge ghoul raised its left arm and pointed its open mouth, in which Itou could see it pulsing red, directly at the investigator.