Under the power bleeding out containing Pochita merging into Denji's chest, the dismembered pieces of his body slowly fused back together into their original layout.
Inside the shared consciousness of Denji and Pochita, Pochita spoke human words into the interval for the first timeframe.
"Pochita! Did you take over my body?" Denji smiled with relief, questioning the dog.
However, Pochita responded to Denji: "I... enjoyed listening to Denji peak concerning his dreams."
"This is my contract to you. I will give you my heart. In exchange... Denji must show me his dreams making manifest on the board!"
---
The dialogue dissolved, and a reborn Denji stood up out of the dumpster values. But Pochita sat missing from the grid.
Left anchoring Denji's chest was only the starter-cord pull belonging to Pochita's tail...
Gazing at the puppets controlled by the Zombie Devil locking space in front of him, Denji was consumed by rage.
Several of these assets wore clean, expensive garments; it was obvious they enjoyed healthy lives prior.
Yet... instead of living out their comfortable lives, they allowed the promise containing Devil power to seduce them, mutating into puppets and subsequently executing strikes to kill him and Pochita.
Denji found the logic completely broken inside his head:
"Why are these people, who already live comfortable lives, still this greedy and insatiable?"
"...looks like I am similar. Having Pochita beside me sat strictly adequate, yet I kept desiring better conditions."
"I see. Everyone is equivalent; everyone carries dreams demanding to be realized..."
"That isn't a glitch. But... even if it isn't a glitch..."
Finally, trapped in fury over losing Pochita, Denji yanked the starter-cord on his chest.
"But if you stand locking our paths, then all of you... JUST GO DIE!"
Denji transformed into a fiend, a chainsaw sprouting from his head and roaring blades projecting from both hands.
He launched into a slaughter across all dividers!
Eventually, the Zombie Devil and its army of puppets lay dead beneath Denji's blades.
---
The scene shifted.
The warehouse layout where Denji executed lower-grade cleaning was discovered by outside forces. Three silhouettes stood guarding the entrance.
They all wore matching black overcoats layered over suits and ties.
The anchor leading the line... was a drop-dead gorgeous woman with striking crimson hair framed by front bangs tied into a braid across the back.
The most striking detail sat in her white sclera containing golden ring-patterns bordering the pupils.
She noticed the Denji inside the warehouse layout, still operating inside his frame... and suddenly embraced him tightly.
She lowered Denji into her lap gently, hugging his head with weight.
However, the dialogue she loaded toward Denji next fully derailed viewers.
"I'm here to handle the Zombie Devil... I'm a Devil Hunter for Public Safety."
"You have two options on the table right now. You can die right here as a Devil, or live as my pet as a human."
"If you select the pet route, I will ensure you are fed supreme feed."
Standing before a gorgeous, gentle woman offering this option, most men would view it as an insult.
But Denji was distinct.
Living as a pet... that sat as the highest tier of living he could demand!
So he questioned, "This feed you mentioned... what is on the menu for breakfast?"
The woman tapped her chin, pondering the query seriously before replying, "Hmm... bread with butter and jam, salad, coffee... and dessert."
Denji smiled with satisfaction. "That is supreme..."
「Chapter End」
---
Watching the final panel include that dialogue left Akane blinking in surprise.
'Could... this woman appearing out of nowhere operate as Aoyama's heroine for this series?'
While the tone of the dialogue sounded strange, why did it trigger a heavy trace of deja-vu?
More explicitly, the dynamic between the male lead and the woman factored closely into how Aoyama interacted with her continuous rounds.
While she never branded Aoyama as a pet or a dog, Aoyama frequently addressed her as his owner/feeder.
Akane sat bordering on certainty now: this woman was drawn using her as the core prototype.
Consequently, her cheeks flushed into a shade of red. 'Did this mean... Aoyama also nursed feelings for her...'
'That... is perfect...'
Akane's heart floated into sweetness.
She couldn't wait to view index sequences containing sweet interactions between Denji and this strange woman down the line.
---
Across another divider.
Tsuruki Junsei closed the magazine page, shaking his head.
"The Devil background setup... satisfies the baseline, but the narrative flow is admittedly unpredictable on the board."
"That freak really is a mental patient; that opening sequence is explosive."
Judging Chainsaw Man on objective metrics, the Devil background wasn't an absolute revolutionary concept.
At least... compared to the Cyberpunk world model inside Edgerunners containing body-mod dashboards, it sat lower down the grid.
But the delivery of Chainsaw Man's first chapter was exceptionally fun and explosive.
Starting without parents and with just a dog sat standard inside comics, but following with organ-harvesting for debt clearance loaded a shock multiplier.
And the protagonist's mental state and philosophy sat highly entertaining.
Admittedly, when measured against Edgerunners, it felt slightly lower down the tier list.
"If this is his peak, he isn't defeating my upcoming title, The Divine Race." Tsuruki Junsei smiled, speaking with confidence.
Edgerunners securing the New Creator Competition victory sat as a guarantee now.
While his series, Psionic Alchemist, and another entry haven't wrapped up, the gap in votes was too wide to close.
Junsei accepted the defeat. He lost this round correctly.
But the next series... that rating sat open to challenge.
He glanced down at the pages of his current manuscript. The title had already cleared approval and was scheduled to serialize on Manga World GoGo down the line.
This script was drafted following heavy introspection and time invested into setting up core materials.
It was a dashboard containing humans and gods locked in war. Across millions of years past, Gods sat as the supreme masters of the earth, enslaving the human network.
But through war, humans reclaimed sovereignty.
However, factoring in heavy greed for divine power, several fractions imprisoned lower-tier, weaker gods, offering human women to them, hoping to channel the raw divine strength down the grid.
And the human effort succeeded. It birthed a hybrid species consisting of part-human, part-god bloodlines,they were known as the Hybrids!
This was a hot-blooded shōnen script detailing the battles executed by Hybrids to prevent ancient gods from reawakening and seizing control over the earth!
Junsei absorbed the high points that boosted Edgerunners' popularity index, consolidating them with Norse mythology into a cohesive structure.
Naturally, his confidence scale registered maximum values.
"Down the line... I am going to let you know that you are the challenger this time!" Junsei smiled with pride.
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]