"Now you can quietly be a corpse."
Arata revealed his bladed claws and closed in rapidly.
Seeing this, the Poppy Devil instantly panicked. With a wave of its hand, the humans on both sides of the booths were entirely put under its control. One by one, they charged at Arata like lunatics. Furthermore, their speed was incredibly fast. It could be said they had reached the absolute limits of their physical capabilities.
Arata quickly dodged and immediately transformed into the Dream Devil. In his Dream Devil form, his physical body had already exceeded human limits several times over. Whether in speed or strength, he completely crushed everyone. However, he didn't kill them all; instead, he gifted each of them a nightmare, causing them all to collapse to the floor and fall into a deep sleep.
Seeing that things were going wrong, the Poppy Devil frantically pressed a button on its swivel chair. However, its fingers suddenly flew into the air. Immediately after, its head detached from its neck and slipped onto the floor, rolling twice before coming to a stop.
"Wrap it up, time to go settle the score with Noriyuki Natsume."
Arata picked up the Poppy Devil's head and tossed it onto its torso. Slitting his finger, he used the blood to draw a circle on the ground around the corpse. Once the ritual was complete, the Poppy Devil's corpse slowly sank into the ground.
Just as the corpse completely disappeared, the heavy doors to the room were suddenly thrown open. A greasy-looking man walked in laughing loudly. Before he even got a clear look at the situation in the room, he spoke up, "Lord Devil, how did it go? Did you control that Devil Hunter?"
"This..."
One second he was laughing out loud. The next second, the smile stiffened on his face. The men and women before him were all lying unconscious on the floor. Only a stranger stood in the center of the room. And the Poppy Devil, whom the laughing man revered, was nowhere to be seen.
"Who are you?!" The subordinates beside the laughing man hurriedly raised their submachine guns and aimed them at Arata.
"It's me!" Arata said, switching to a gruff tone of voice.
"You are?" The laughing man closed his gaping mouth and sized Arata up. He wasn't in a rush to order his men to attack, because he still hadn't figured out what was going on in the room. He wanted Arata to explain clearly.
"Trash, you can't even recognize my voice?" Arata angrily scolded the group. The laughing man was so startled his body trembled.
"Are you... the Poppy Devil?"
"That's right. The Devil Hunter you sent over has already been brought under my control."
"The Devil Hunter is under your control, but where is your original body?"
Arata's brain reacted rapidly, and he quickly replied, "Who needs an original body? I am now capable of fusing as one with the person I control."
Although it sounded strange, the laughing man still believed Arata's words. His gaze swept over the unconscious men and women on the floor, and he asked, "What happened to them?"
"The Devil Hunter I control has a contract with the Dream Devil. I just utilized his abilities a little, which caused all these people to fall asleep."
"So that's how it is!!" The laughing man nodded in sudden realization. A loud laugh once again spread across his face. "As expected of the once-infamous Poppy Devil! To control a powerful Devil Hunter this quickly... I heard from the delivery guy that this guy is extremely strong within the Tokyo Public Safety Bureau."
"So what if he's strong? In the end, wasn't he still controlled by me?"
"How could a mere Devil Hunter possibly be your match? Back in the day, even a dozen top-tier Devil Hunters were no match for you." The laughing man continuously flattered and praised him. His adoration for the Poppy Devil flowed endlessly like a surging river.
"Enough of this nonsense, I need to go out for a bit." Arata had been mimicking the Poppy Devil's tone of voice. Although it wasn't a perfect imitation, the few idiots in front of him couldn't tell the difference at all.
"Wait, didn't the boss say it's best for you to stay here and not go out?"
"Before, because my strength was too weak, he had you keep an eye on me. Now that I've controlled the strongest Devil Hunter, I can naturally go out. What, do you want to stop me?" Arata glared at the laughing man. The laughing man's forehead instantly broke out in a cold sweat.
"How could I dare stop you? It's just that the boss ordered us to make sure you're protected. If he comes back and doesn't see you, we'll definitely be punished." The laughing man looked wronged, hoping Arata could see his helplessness.
But right now, Arata only wanted to go out and settle the score with Noriyuki Natsume. He didn't have the free time to shoot the breeze with this laughing man.
"Relax. I'm going to go buy a few oranges. You just stand right here, don't move around, I'll be right back."
As he spoke, Arata had already walked past the laughing man. Leaving him standing in place, pondering the meaning of those words. By the time he thought about chasing after him, Arata was already long gone.
Seeing that Arata was gone, the laughing man grew extremely anxious and hurriedly ordered his men to go out and search for him. Meanwhile, Arata had already returned to the blind alley where they had originally parked. He thought Noriyuki Natsume would have left long ago, but the cargo truck was still there.
Looking into the cab, Noriyuki Natsume was lying back in the driver's seat, listening to music. He was so engrossed that he didn't even notice Arata had returned. It wasn't until Arata turned off the music that Noriyuki opened his eyes, breaking out of the musical atmosphere.
"You're back so quickly?"
"Are you a little surprised?"
"I am indeed very surprised."
"Then do you want to know something even more surprising?"
"Sure, what is it?" Noriyuki asked curiously.
But the very next second, Arata kicked him straight out of the truck. This kick was enough to keep Noriyuki surprised for an entire year.
"What are you doing?!"
"Spill it. Why did you set me up?"
"Set you up? What exactly happened?" Noriyuki's every reaction indicated that he had nothing to do with it.
If Noriyuki Natsume had truly betrayed Arata, he definitely wouldn't have stayed in the same spot. Plus, he was listening to music so leisurely and carefree. He genuinely seemed like an outsider to the whole thing. However, Noriyuki was an old fox after all. Arata felt it was necessary to continue probing him. He couldn't just assume Noriyuki was innocent based on a few unusual behaviors.
Arata then told Noriyuki about his encounter with the Poppy Devil. He had originally planned to use the identity of a buyer to sneak close to the Poppy Devil and kill it by surprise. But the Poppy Devil knew Arata's true identity right off the bat. Fortunately, the Poppy Devil's power was less than a tenth of what it was at its peak. Therefore, it couldn't control Arata at all.
"How could that be?!!" Noriyuki revealed an expression of both shock and surprise.
"How should I know? That's why I'm saying someone must have been pulling strings in the dark."
"We've been friends for over a year. You should know me, I would absolutely never sell you out."
"As long as you can tell me who the boss behind you is, I'll believe you. Otherwise, you can forget about getting the Poppy Devil's corpse."
Since things had reached this point, Noriyuki also felt he owed Arata. He went straight into the truck and grabbed a notebook and a pen. As he wrote, he said out loud, "Arata, are you trying to threaten me? I already told you, I won't leak a single piece of information."
After saying that, Noriyuki held up the notebook he had just written on. The notebook read: "They can hear our conversation. I will write things down to tell you."
Arata understood instantly and immediately replied aloud, "If you don't want to say it, then forget it. Don't bother working with me ever again. As for the Poppy Devil's corpse, I won't give it to you either."
"Not work together? It's not a matter of whether you want to work together or not." Noriyuki quickly wrote on the paper: "You must give me the Poppy Devil's corpse, otherwise both you and I will die. Because the boss behind the scenes is an entity we cannot afford to provoke."
"What do you want?" Arata asked aloud.
"Give me the Poppy Devil's corpse, or I'll tell Makima all of your secrets. When that happens, you'll be treated as a criminal and killed!" Noriyuki shouted back.
Meanwhile, Noriyuki wrote faster and faster, scrawling on the paper: "The Moore Family!!"
Arata frowned. He was naturally aware of this family. Most people had never even heard the name of the Moore Family. But the people of this family controlled 70 percent of the world's wealth. Even the top-ranking richest people in the world worked for them.
Arata had learned about the Moore Family in the Cosmos Devil's library. The Moore Family's enterprises were located all over the world. The majority of the family members were Jewish. Besides controlling the lifeblood of the global economy, they also controlled information on all devils. Furthermore, many people within the family had contracted powerful devils. They called themselves "Moore Hunters". And the number of people in the family contracting devils was constantly increasing. This was equivalent to the Moore Family possessing a formidable army of devils. If they ever wanted to start a war, no country in the world could stand against them.