Kobeni felt her head spinning.
She had never been the sharpest tool in the shed.
"What kind of an answer is that anyway...?" she muttered under her breath.
"Hey, Kobeni, who are you talking to?" Himeno asked. Having just recovered from the shock of the tremor, she suddenly realized that Kobeni seemed to be speaking to thin air.
The scene was getting a bit bizarre.
"Huh? I'm just chatting with Mr. Demon!" Kobeni replied to Himeno, before turning back to resume her inquiry.
"So, Mr. Demon, what exactly is your ability?"
The air fell silent for a moment before a response drifted into Kobeni's ears: "Foolish."
Her cheeks instantly flushed crimson.
It felt like she had just been scolded by Mr. Demon...
Tapping her own head, she suddenly recalled that he had seemingly announced his title last night. Most of the time, a demon's name was a direct reflection of its power.
"The Moon Demon? The Gravity Demon...?" she murmured, her eyes suddenly lighting up.
The connection between those two concepts sparked something inside her rather slow-witted brain.
It was like a fleeting wisp of inspiration darting around in her mind, and she desperately, clumsily tried to grasp it.
Right at that moment, hurried footsteps echoed as Aki Hayakawa, the young man with the topknot who had been outside hunting for clues, rushed back into the room.
"Hey! I found a lead!" he barked.
"Then let's move!" Himeno cast a brief glance toward Kobeni, silently noting that the girl really couldn't be counted on after all.
Aki took one look at the fast-asleep Denji and Power, his face darkening as he delivered two swift kicks.
Denji lazily tossed his blanket aside, while Power let out a loud yelp and leaped out of bed.
"The great me is back at full strength!" she declared, her morale skyrocketing.
The sound of footsteps drew closer to the stairwell. This was the staircase leading down to the hotel's seventh floor, which theoretically shouldn't lead anywhere under the loop.
But when the group reached the landing, a sickening, twisted demon materialized right before their eyes.
A massive, repulsive mound of flesh composed of countless human faces lay intertwined and contorted, completely dominating the entire stairwell.
The faces within the mass stretched their mouths wide, screeching at the top of their lungs, "Cower in fear! The Chainsaw can only be slain by me!"
"What on earth is that grotesque thing?!" Himeno blurted out instinctively.
Kobeni clamped both hands over her cheeks, her expression paralyzed with terror as she took several steps backward.
The appearance of the devil before them was simply too revolting and horrific.
Even when stacked against the vast array of bizarre and grotesque devils in this world, this creature felt exceptionally twisted.
No wonder she had found Zoran's true form to be quite elegant.
Even among devils, everything was a matter of perspective.
"I am the Eternity Devil! If you wish to escape this place, surrender that brat's heart to me!"
A swarm of fleshy tendrils sprouted from the mass, pointing directly at a completely dazed Denji.
"This is my bargain. Give me the heart of the Chainsaw Devil, and I shall forge a contract with you to guarantee the safety of everyone else."
The Eternity Devil's voice dripped with temptation, though it didn't neglect to add a threat: "Otherwise, you will never escape this place for all eternity."
"Cut the crap!" Aki roared.
"Exactly," Himeno agreed, snapping her fingers.
In the next instant, the fleshy body of the Eternity Devil was suddenly torn apart and pulverized by an invisible hand.
This was the power of the Ghost Devil, the entity with which Himeno had formed her contract. It was a bizarre demon completely imperceptible to the naked eye.
Yet, very quickly, the repulsive chunks of destroyed flesh rapidly reassembled themselves, reducing the damage to absolute zero.
The Eternity Devil erupted into a horrifying, mocking laugh, "Give up! My heart is not here. Killing me is an absolute impossibility!"
At those words, everyone's expressions turned grim.
The Eternity Devil had trapped them here, and the only way to leave was to kill it, yet its heart wasn't even present.
Mechanically speaking, this was an entirely unresolvable deadlock!
"Denji..." Everyone's gazes simultaneously converged on the young blond man standing beside them.
Sacrificing him to the Eternity Devil would buy survival for the remaining five.
There was absolutely no need to worry about the Eternity Devil going back on its word; once a contract was forged, no one, including the devil itself, could violate its terms.
"I mean... five lives are definitely more important than one, right?!" Arai's eyes gleamed with a desperate hope.
"The great me thoroughly agrees!" Power raised both hands. "Hey, Denji! You should gladly become the stepping stone for my campaign to become Prime Minister!"
"Hey, Power, you've just been waiting for me to die, haven't you?!" Denji barked back at her.
"Nonsense, nonsense!" Power waved her hands dismissively. "To commemorate your sacrifice, once the great me becomes Prime Minister, I shall raise taxes to one hundred percent and rename it the 'Denji Tax'! You will be remembered by everyone for generations!"
"More like cursed by everyone..."
The previously harmonious six-person squad instantly dissolved into a chaotic shouting match.
Having been trapped here for far too long, Arai and Power lunged toward Denji, only to be held back by Aki and Himeno.
The Eternity Devil watched the spectacle, laughing in sheer, unadulterated delight.
It had been clever enough to hide its heart elsewhere, rendering it entirely invincible.
Even the Chainsaw Devil couldn't kill it if it couldn't destroy its heart.
In the corner, Kobeni silently pulled out a small paring knife, gripping it tightly in her hand.
"Um... excuse me..."
Her fragile, timid voice cut through the shouting match, instantly drawing everyone's attention.
"Though I also think it might be better to kill Denji... before we do that, could I please try out the power of my newly contracted Mr. Demon?" she asked, lowering her head bashfully.
Himeno's eyes lit up, "Kobeni, you found a way?"
Meeting her gaze, Kobeni shook her head. "Mr. Demon didn't say anything explicitly. But, um... I've decided to test his power this time anyway. It'll just take a second, and it won't interrupt your argument..."
"I'll just try it once, and then you can go right back to arguing."
She spoke almost as if she were begging for a small favor.
"Fine by me," Himeno said, prying Power and Denji apart. "I thought Kobeni had actually figured something out, but it's hard to turn down a request from such a cute girl."
Aki pinched the bridge of his nose helplessly, his eyes landing on Kobeni.
Though Kobeni didn't exactly look like the pinnacle of reliability either, pausing the infighting was a welcome distraction.
"I already told you it's entirely futile, you foolish human!" The Eternity Devil sneered in mockery as Kobeni stepped forward.
It relied entirely on its conceptual invulnerability. No matter how powerful this girl's contracted demon might be, slaying it was a literal impossibility.
Because from the very beginning, its weakness was never on the eighth floor of this hotel.
Step by step, Kobeni slowly came to a halt right in front of the massive bulk of the Eternity Devil.
In the next second, to the utter bewilderment of everyone watching, she dropped the paring knife onto the floor.
Then, she pressed her hands together in a solemn gesture and began to pray.
From her moving lips, everyone in the room could clearly hear the words of her invocation:
"Mr. Demon, please lend me your power. It's totally fine even if it isn't very strong, because just like this ugly meatball said, there are other ways..."
"Um... great, beautiful, and deeply wise Lord Moon Demon, I am Kobeni Higashiyama. Can you hear me?"
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