The Eternity Devil was dead.
Faced with the Chainsaw Devil, that grotesque mass of flesh had no way to escape and no means to fight back. More importantly, the endless loop of space it had constructed had been utterly shattered by the raw, brute force of Kobeni.
Once Denji transformed into the Chainsaw Devil, he fought like a complete madman, tearing the entity's insides completely upside down. In truth, from the very moment Kobeni unleashed her strike, the Eternity Devil had completely lost its will to fight.
It had never expected that a girl who appeared so timid, hesitant, and shrinking could erupt with such terrifying, catastrophic power.
Moments earlier, if the eyepatch-wearing Himeno hadn't reacted as fast as she did, the entire city of Tokyo would have likely been wiped off the map. It wouldn't have mattered how well the Eternity Devil hid its heart; it was facing an all-out, carpet-bombing level of destruction.
Amidst agonizing pain, the roaring chainsaws shredded the Eternity Devil's heart. Denji crawled out from the sludge of rotting flesh and tossed an object over to Aki Hayakawa.
The bullet-shaped object was a flesh fragment of the Gun Devil. It was only by consuming this fragment that the Eternity Devil had gained the immense power required to trap the six of them.
A short while later, only after confirming that Kobeni harbored no actual desire or intention to destroy the world, did Aki and Himeno finally release her, albeit with lingering skepticism.
Naturally, their attention remained entirely locked onto her. The sight of the moon gradually looming closer in their field of vision was absolutely no illusion! The emergency sirens still blaring in the distance served as the ultimate proof.
The moon's gravitational pull dictated Earth's tides. Whether it drifted further away or pulled closer, the ecological impact would be catastrophic.
Himeno's gaze drifted toward Kobeni with an unreadable expression. Thank goodness this kid has a slow reaction time and is fundamentally an honest, simple-minded person, she thought. If this had been Power or Denji, everyone would be swimming in a tidal wave right now.
After all, Power, the absolute fool, was currently buzzing around Kobeni like a fly, repeatedly asking if she could do it again because she wanted to watch it up close.
Carrying the Gun Devil fragment obtained from the Eternity Devil, the group returned to the Special Division 4 headquarters.
In an instant, Kobeni's entire attention was utterly captured by a brand-new car parked right in front of the building. Her expression went completely blank, her mouth forming a perfect 'O'. She pointed a trembling finger at the shiny vehicle, unable to utter a single word, merely hopping up and down on the spot.
She suddenly dashed forward. Sharp-eyed as she was, she had already spotted the fresh flowers on the hood and the name written on the gift card. For a moment, even Himeno couldn't hold her back.
"Kobeni Higashiyama..." she murmured, reading the name on the card as a strange, euphoric brilliance erupted in her eyes.
According to her original savings plan, she was still a long, grueling way off from owning her own vehicle. But right now, it was blindingly obvious, this car was a gift for her!
"Mr. Demon! Mr. Demon!" she chanted repeatedly. "Am I dreaming? I must be dreaming, right?!"
Zoran's voice echoed directly in her ear. "I never tell lies," he said calmly.
However, in Zoran's eyes, Kobeni's current behavior was a bit too pathetic. Had a single sedan completely and utterly tamed her?
Himeno instructed the other team members to hand over the Gun Devil fragment while she stayed behind to keep watch over Kobeni, a literal "live bomb" in her eyes that could detonate at any moment.
Under her watchful gaze, Kobeni smoothed down her Special Division 4 uniform, which was a slightly oversized suit. Standing right beside the car door, she awkwardly rested her hands against her thighs, gave a deep, formal bow, and only then slowly placed her trembling hand onto the door handle.
She looked exactly like a kindergartener who had just received a gold star in class.
The moment she pulled the door open, discarding all semblance of dignity, she slithered into the driver's seat like a puddle of jelly. She excitedly pressed her flushing cheeks against the steering wheel, rubbing against it repeatedly.
"Ah, ah~ is this what it feels like to have a dream come true? Kobeni Higashiyama has finally become a successful professional at the age of twenty, right?"
As Kobeni grease-rubbed her face all over the car's interior, her ecstatic exclamations gradually degenerated into a feverish mutter. "Mr. Demon, you really are a great, wonderful devil. I revere and love you..."
Seeing her dazed, infatuated state, Zoran almost suspected she was treating the car as a substitute for him. The display was so sickeningly mushy that Zoran couldn't take it anymore; he manipulated his gravity to violently yank her out of the vehicle and drop her unceremoniously onto the ground.
"Maintain your dignity," he reminded her in a low, cold murmur. "And next time you do something this embarrassing, do not shout my name."
Snapped back to reality from her absolute euphoria, Kobeni's face flushed a deep crimson. She pulled her head into her shoulders and pouted, though her downcast eyes kept darting back to affectionately stroke the car with her gaze.
On the other side of the building, Aki Hayakawa handed the Gun Devil fragment over to Makima. At the same time, he reported the most critical piece of intelligence from the mission.
Kobeni had seemingly formed a contract with an exceptionally formidable devil. She had nearly dragged the moon out of orbit.
Standing before the floor-to-ceiling windows, Makima fell into deep thought.
The devil that Kobeni had contracted with was the exact same entity she had encountered not long ago, the one who had casually executed her one hundred and twenty-seven times as a display of deterrence. All within the span of a single second.
The sudden anomalies along the coastline obviously hadn't escaped her intelligence network. As the Control Devil, every bird and rodent in the city served as an extension of her senses. Just moments prior, massive swarms of birds and rats had erupted into a collective, instinctual panic, fleeing the urban sectors in droves.
In less than two short minutes, a massive tsunami had breached Tokyo Bay, causing immeasurable economic damage. And that catastrophic fallout was merely the collateral damage of Kobeni tapping into her contracted devil's power.
Despite the disastrous consequences, a sudden surge of genuine joy welled up within Makima's heart. This immensely powerful devil who had descended from another world had his sights set on the Darkness Devil.
An enemy of an enemy was a tool to be used. This level of power might truly be capable of killing the Darkness Devil. At the very least, it could kill it once.
As the sunlight cascaded through the glass windows, Makima silently stared at her open palm. "As expected... with a devil this powerful, I still want to control him so badly." She let out a soft sigh.
The entity's actions were entirely nonsensical. Despite possessing such terrifying, absolute strength, his sole demand after slaughtering her one hundred and twenty-seven times for intimidation was simply to gift Kobeni a car.
With an existence like that, it was impossible to discern any underlying logic to his behavior. He was likely a being who acted purely on a whim.
"Perhaps I should approach this by focusing on Kobeni," she murmured to herself.
Meanwhile, having received new directives from Makima, Himeno finally ceased her surveillance and protection detail over Kobeni. The higher-ups had indicated that Kobeni should be left to her own devices.
Thus, Himeno could only watch blankly as Kobeni clumsily operated the vehicle, rocketing down the highway in a flash of speed.
Inside the car, as Kobeni drove, her eyes kept drifting toward the passenger seat, landing on the semi-translucent figure clad in Daoist robes.
"Mr. Demon," she spoke in a soft, timid voice. "To be completely honest, I don't really know how to drive yet."
Right now, her mind held nothing but absolute adoration for Zoran. He had formed a contract with her and fulfilled his promise by giving her a car; she felt that her twenty years of existence had never been this perfect. Even though her eyes were currently tracking the road ahead, her mind was entirely occupied by the image of the Moon Demon.
Zoran cast a brief glance at her, offering a calm piece of advice. "You need to gradually acclimate to my demon chi. Next time, you do not need to draw out so much of it."
Sitting comfortably like a wealthy executive lounging in a chauffeur-driven car, he added nonchalantly, "If this world accidentally ends up destroyed, it matters very little to me. But you, Kobeni, would probably be quite sad."
Kobeni's expression froze instantly. "Mr. Demon... what kind of horrifying things are you saying with such a straight face?!"
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