"What is this!!"
"A corpse with its skin eaten clean off by flies."
"Get back. These flies eat people."
At Aki Hayakawa's shout, the surrounding police officers stepped back. He quickly formed a fox hand sign with one hand. Opening and closing an eye, his gaze pierced through the hand sign toward the dense swarm of flies in the air, and he shouted, "Fox!!!"
Boom!! A massive fox head appeared out of nowhere. Its giant maw instantly devoured the swarm of flies.
"Ptooo!!"
"What the hell did I just eat!! It's smelly and disgusting." The Fox Devil felt a wave of nausea in its stomach.
"Just a bunch of dead flies," Arata joked.
"Dead flies!! It's always eating disgusting things. Next time, Aki's contract conditions are going to double." With that, the massive fox head turned into a wisp of white smoke and vanished instantly.
After the fly swarm disappeared, the police officers to the side adjusted their uniforms and walked over. Their faces were all filled with admiration.
"Mr. Hayakawa, you really are amazing."
"Mr. Hayakawa, that was the Fox Devil you just summoned, right?"
"Don't celebrate just yet. Those were just the Fly Devil's offspring. The real devil is still inside." Arata's single sentence cut off their endless bootlicking of Aki.
"It's not dead?"
"When we got here, we only saw a swarm of flies flying around and attacking people. We didn't see any other devil."
"The real Fly Devil is definitely hiding somewhere. It has a worker bee and queen bee relationship with the swarm. The tiny flies devour human bodies and transfer all the nutrients back to the main body. This way, the Fly Devil can breed an even larger fly army to hunt. If that happens, every human in the city will become an all-you-can-eat buffet for the swarm."
"It's that serious!!" The police officers realized how bad things were. They originally thought it was just a normal devil attack, but now it had directly escalated into a brewing city-level crisis.
"Master, you know so much."
"Of course. After all, your master has already grasped the true meaning of Halloween."
"I don't know your name, but please hurry up and exterminate them. A lot of rich people live around here."
"You guys stand guard outside, we'll go in and take a look." Aki drew his katana and took the lead.
"Don't be in such a rush, Aki. You can't summon the Fox Devil right now, so going in there is a death sentence. You're better off going to buy a few cans of bug spray or a giant flyswatter first."
Realizing the severity of the situation, Aki couldn't wait another second. He marched straight into the deli, braving the nauseating stench of rotting meat.
Seeing Aki ignore him, Arata shook his head helplessly. "Anyway, we're going in to kill some flies."
Leaving the two officers behind, Arata led Denji inside with wide strides. After entering the deli, Arata didn't forget to pull down the rolling shutter door to prevent the swarm from escaping.
"There aren't that many flies. The Fly Devil must have just appeared not too long ago. The more time passes, the stronger it gets."
"Where is it right now?"
"You don't even have to think about it. It's definitely in the place with the most meat."
"The cold storage!!!"
With a target in mind, the group picked up the pace.
But the closer they got, the more they could hear a strange buzzing sound.
"It sounds like hornets."
"Not hornets. You'll see when we get there."
The group turned a corner and stood in the hallway leading to the cold storage. The sight before them made Aki and Denji instantly break a sweat.
It wasn't a cloud of black mist in front of them, but tens of thousands of densely packed flies. They looked exactly like hornets guarding their nest. In addition, there were three corpses gnawed down to the bone in front of the cold storage doors. It looked like they were the hostages the police had mentioned.
"Blergh!! This is even more disgusting than the Zombie Devil," Denji dry-heaved.
Aki's brow furrowed tightly. He was clearly out of ideas.
"I need more! Bring me more meat!!!" A sudden roar echoed from inside the cold storage.
The swarm of flies gathered around the door instantly grew agitated. Buzz buzz buzz!! Tens of thousands of flies flapped their wings at the same time, emitting a deafening drone. They then converged together, forming into a massive black python.
"Run!!" Arata shouted, and the group quickly fell back.
"Is there no other way?"
"I told you to buy some bug spray before coming in. You were too impatient and underestimated the Fly Devil's strength," Arata scolded. "Denji, you have to remember this. Never go in blind. You need to make advantageous preparations before a fight."
At this moment, Arata looked more like a senior, while Aki had become the rookie.
"What do we do now?"
"No rush, I smell gas. Run that way." Arata sped up and headed toward the kitchen area.
Once everyone rushed inside, they quickly slammed the door shut. Bang!! The swarm of flies crashed into the door, letting out a violent impact. The wooden door instantly cracked.
Bang!! Another impact. The cracks in the wooden door widened.
"Denji, transform."
Vrrr!! The roar of chainsaws filled the cramped kitchen. Three chainsaws burst out from Denji's forehead and arms. This transformation couldn't help but make Aki freeze in shock.
"Aki, what do you think? Handsome, right?"
"Handsome my ass, hurry up and cut open the wall behind us."
"Got it, Master." Vrrr!!! All three chainsaws worked simultaneously to cut through the back wall.
Bang!! By now, the wooden door had mostly shattered. Quite a few flies flew in through the holes.
Unlike normal flies, the ones spawned by a devil had legs lined with sharp, serrated teeth that could easily slice through human skin. Their needle-like mouths were even more terrifying than Wet Nurse Rong's needles.
"Use a pot to block the holes." Arata tossed a pot to Aki. He then grabbed a gas cylinder, placing his hand on the valve.
"Denji, are you done yet!!"
"Almost, almost!!" The deafening sound of cutting filled the entire room. Aki felt like his ears were ringing.
Crash!!! Blocks of stone fell from the wall. The light shining through instantly brightened the whole room.
"You two hurry out and hide."
"What about you, Master?"
"Relax, your master has his own ways."
Aki took one look at the gas cylinder Arata was holding. He then quickly grabbed Denji and escaped through the gap in the wall. Arata pressed his back against the gap to block it.
Bang!!! Right then, the wooden door was completely smashed to pieces. A massive swarm of flies rushed in, instantly making the room feel exceptionally crowded.
"Die, ptooo, don't fly in my mouth."
Arata cranked open the gas cylinder's valve, letting gas fill the entire room. His claws then rapidly struck against the metal cylinder. Sparks ignited, accompanied by a massive fireball that engulfed the room.
In an instant, the swarm of tens of thousands of flies was reduced to ash. Caught in the center of the explosion, Arata was already completely unrecognizable. Enveloped in flames, his entire body had turned into a burning man.
He broke into a hurried sprint toward the cold storage. Thanks to the flames covering his body, the hordes of flies inside the cold storage couldn't do a damn thing to him.
A devil with a human body and a fly's head was sitting right inside. Its massive, bloated body looked like a sumo wrestler.
"Eat this, Fire Punch." Arata leaped into the air and punched straight through the Fly Devil's body. He then used his flaming claws to slice off its head.
After the Fly Devil died, the surrounding flies immediately dropped to the floor. Arata didn't have time to rest. He bit his finger and used the blood to draw a circle around the Fly Devil's corpse.
"Master!!" Not long after, the sound of Denji opening the rolling shutter door came from the entrance. Both of them were very worried about Arata's safety.
"He... he didn't die, did he?"
"No way, my master is a devil too, he won't die."
"Right, seeing your master's bladed claws... are you two the ones who killed the Rat Devil?"
"We killed the Rat Devil, and the Cucumber Devil too."
"Did you kill someone at the restaurant?"
"Do you think a murderer would take the brunt of an explosion just to save us?" Denji's IQ suddenly went online, leaving Aki completely stumped with a single question.
Aki didn't ask any more questions, and the two of them headed to the kitchen together. The kitchen was pitch black, and there was no one in sight.
"Master!!" Denji said anxiously, "He didn't get blown to pieces, did he?"
"The explosion wasn't powerful enough for that." Aki figured Arata had definitely left the kitchen. "It sounds like there's movement coming from the cold storage."
"The Fly Devil didn't drag my master away, did it?"
Filled with unease, the two of them sprinted toward the cold storage. But the moment they stepped inside, a charred black figure suddenly popped out, shouting, "Surprise!"
Startled, Denji swung purely on instinct. With a single slash, he completely cleaved the black figure in half.