It was a warm summer's day as a family of ducks swam lazily up the river, the ducklings dutifully paddling after their mother as she glided over the calm waters, with onlookers watching the serene scene as they stood by the riverside. Well at least most of them were enjoying the view…
"Yo Reze… you think it'd be okay for us to catch and eat those birds?"
"Denji, you're already eating!"
Denji, Reze and Power stood leaning against the railing, looking out at the water. Reze looked torn between amusement and disbelief as she turned her attention away from the view and towards her boyfriend.
"I mean, I'd rather have duck than rice balls, thought the rice could be good bait", Denji continued looking at the ducks absentmindedly, as if imagining what way he'd eat them.
"I'm sure we can get some food on the way Denji, so no killing the ducks, okay?", Reze reprimanded him, the smile on her face betraying her amusement.
"If I was the President, I would allow it…", Power muttered, munching on her own rice ball half-heartedly, clearly dissatisfied with the glaring lack of meat in Aki's homemade snacks.
"Don't worry Power, we'll make sure we stop at a burger place or something, okay?" Reze rolled her eyes at the fiend's pouting. 'She really is just like a kid, huh?'
"Hey, you must be Denji, right?"
The trio nearly jumped out of their skins, with Denji, In his shock, dropping his half-eaten rice ball into the river. spinning around to face whoever had just snuck up on them.
"The hell man, I was gonna eat that!", Denji snapped at the newcomer: a tall boy with dark hair that partially obscured his eyes, who looked to be about the same age as Denji himself.
"N-no… not you! Shoo! Begone!", Power pointed at the boy, looking as if she'd seen a ghost, sweat beading on her forehead as she pushed Denji and Reze in front of her to act as a barrier.
"Hello to you too Power", he replied casually, totally unbothered by the fiend's dramatics, "Name's Yoshida, let's get along."
"Ah!", Yoshida smacked his fist onto his palm as he looked at Reze, his surprise clearly feigned, "And you must be that Bomb girl, good to meet you."
Reze raised an eyebrow, frowning in displeasure at the not-so-flattering epithet, whilst Denji glowered at the boy.
"Why the hell are you here anyways? You don't look any older than us!", Denji questioned him with a sour expression on his face, still mourning the loss of his lunch.
"Yeah, I thought Public Safety only recruited kids on the basis they had no rights", Reze voiced her agreement with Denji, shooting Yoshida a scathing look, "But it sure doesn't look like you're here against your will."
Yoshida holds up his hands as if in surrender, the easy smile still on his face, "You got me. Public Safety asked me to work with them when I have time off school, though I won't be around much after this mission with finals coming up"
"Tch… Well, isn't that nice for you", Reze responded with no small amount of bitterness, before turning back around and looking out at the water. Yoshida's face screwed up in confusion for a moment before settling into a slightly strained smile.
Denji looked to be about to say something to Yoshida when Aki intervened, walking over with a reluctant Angel in tow, "Right you lot, we've stopped for long enough, it's time to get moving."
"Ah, of course, Mr Hayakawa", Yoshida quickly turned to reply to Aki, "Anyway, it was good meeting you two, I hope we'll get to talk some more later!"
With that, Yoshida joined the other Devil Hunters, Kusakabe and Tamaki, who Makima had introduced to them earlier in the day. 'I'm not sure which one's been worse so far…', Denji thought as he leaned back on the wooden railings next to Reze, hands in his pockets.
"Where'd Miss Makima find these weirdos anyway?", Denji looked in the direction of the other devil hunters with disdain, between that guy Yoshida's off-putting chumminess and the overbearing busybody with glasses, Denji was wondering if there was anybody normal in Public Safety.
Aki meanwhile looked at Denji with bemusement, 'He really has no self-awareness, huh?'
Denji was certainly right that there were a lot more… interesting… characters around Public Safety recently, however, the observation made Aki remember what Himeno always used to say: 'The best devil hunters all have a few crews loose'
Well, her maxim certainly proved to be true after the attack by the gun devil acolytes. Almost all of his coworkers were killed in the attack, with all that remained being devils, fiends and Denji. Himeno had loved to act out and get wasted, but in reality, she was pretty normal as far as devil hunters were concerned.
And Aki himself…? Well, he knew he was normal, and his life was already on a timer as it was…
"Yo Aki, you coming or what?", Aki looked to Denji who was now making his way towards the rest of the group, he had been so caught up in his thoughts that he had barely registered Denji, Reze and Power moving, "We're gonna stop at Family Burger on the way, It's on our route!"
Aki's eye twitched as Denji shouted their new plans over his shoulder.
"Since when was that the plan you brat!?", Aki snapped at Denji as he jogged to catch up with him. Denji just shrugged in response, "Powy's still hungry, so unless you want her tryin' to drain one of the new guys…"
Aki looked to the fiend in question, who was busy pestering Reze. The other hybrid patiently listening to whatever nonsense Power was spouting, though Aki couldn't help but notice the small exasperated smile on Reze's face.
"Yeah… I suppose you're right about that", Aki replied, of course not realising a similar smile creeping onto his own face.
'Well, things are more lively now at least, for better or for worse…'
"Sooo, you've finally stopped pouting over that rice ball, huh Denji?"
Reze wasted no time in teasing Denji as they sat down at a table in the middle of the restaurant. The group had only ended up walking about twenty minutes before they reached the nearest Family Burger, Power had practically been quivering in excitement when Aki was ordering the food, with Denji having to stop her trying to jump over the counter and into the kitchen.
"Hey, anyone would be upset over that! It was a waste of perfectly good food!", Denji replied, clearly still not quite over the sight of his lunch sinking into the river, "Though… this sure looks like an upgrade…"
"Tis true, this puts Topknot's food to shame!", Power still managed to find time to insult Aki's cooking as she scarfed the fast food into her mouth, leaving Reze wondering how the fiend could even taste it.
As she dug into her own burger, Reze found her mind wandering as it seemed want to do these days…
'This whole thing is rubbing me the wrong way…', her brow furrowed as she grazed on her fries, 'What's the sense in us walking around aimlessly like this, it's almost like- ah of course…'
"Sorry to intrude again, but is it alright if I join you?"
Reze's eyes flicked towards the direction of the voice, finding Yoshida at the side of the table, tray of food in hand as he stood there with a polite smile plastered on his face, 'It's creepy how he just appears out of nowhere like that…'
Before either Reze or Denji could respond, Yoshida took a next to Power, facing opposite Denji, who threw the taller boy an annoyed glare, "I don't remember either of us saying yes asshole."
"I guess I'll have to settle for asking for forgiveness rather than permission then", Yoshida batted away Denji's gripes, seeming totally unbothered by the three hostile gazes directed towards him.
"So, I'm guessing you want something from us then, since you seem pretty set on bothering us", Reze observed dryly as she finished off the last bite of her burger, "So? Spit it out already"
"I wouldn't say that I wanted something from any of you per se", Yoshida brought his hand up to his chin, as if in thought before continuing on, "It's just that I wondering just how it came about that you and Denji are working for Public Safety. After all, I was only brought in because I'm a top performer in my school's devil hunting club…"
Yoshida let the question hang in the air, an uncomfortable silence hanging over the group for a moment.
It was Denji who broke the silence first, "Not that it's any of your business, but I was hired by Miss Makima herself!", he pointed his thumb to his chest proudly, "So you could say I'm kinda a big deal!"
"I too am a big deal! One could even say that that woman Makima takes orders from me!", Power made sure to chip in with her own boast, not wanting to be left out of the spotlight.
Reze rolled her eyes at the two, before answering herself, "Well, unlike you we don't really have a choice in the matter."
The table went quiet as she spoke, Denji's grin steadily fading as he and the others listened, "Some of us just get told that we get to die as a devil or live as a slave, and that's all there is to it…"
Silence descended back over the group, with even Power looking away to the side as if looking for an escape route. Denji meanwhile just stared at Reze, the look on his face somewhere between concern and consternation.
Yoshida just looked down at his food for a moment, his hair covering his eyes as he spoke, "You know… my finals are coming up soon, so I'll probably be quitting soon, at least for the time being anyway."
"Hopefully when the Gun Devil is dealt with, Public Safety will let you guys live a more normal life. We could always use more members for the devil hunting club you know."
"Hmm… maybe…", Reze's reply was monotone as her mouth twisted into a melancholy smile, her eyes focused on the table as silence reigned once more.
As the group went quiet and everyone returned to eating or simply mined their own business, Denji was deep in thought, pushing his food around the tray absentmindedly. 'School huh… Wonder if Public Safety would let us go…'
He found it very easy to get caught up in the daydream of what a normal life could be like: he could go to class and learn the sorts of things Reze knew, he and Power could goof off together, hell maybe he could even reenact one of those cheesy romance scenes with from a manga he'd read with Reze (Not that he'd ever admit to reading it).
However, the growing smile on his face slowly faded as reality hit, because as he looked at Reze's face he understood why the talk of school seemed to make her close into herself.
Because all her dreams of living a normal life, and his, were just that: dreams. This was shown clearly when Makima simply took away their freedoms in an instant, there was no way Public Safety would agree to give them that much leeway. Unless…
'Miss Makima said she'd grant me a single wish if I defeat the Gun Devil… I think I know what I want to use it for now…'
Denji had been hung up on what to ask Makima for a while now, with the only ideas he had revolving around wanting to date Makima or something of the sort. But now that normal life with Reze and Power sounded a whole lot better than those old plans…
Reze, Denji and Power sat on the curb outside of Family Burger, having slipped out when they were done with their food to escape both the awkward atmosphere and Yoshida. It certainly hadn't helped matters when Kusakabe had started arguing with Power over the importance of a balanced diet.
Whilst Power continued to complain to anyone who would listen about the grievous sins committed against her by the poor staff member who had dared to put a singular slice of tomato in her burger, Denji and Reze sat there looking out at the road. Both of them sat there in silence, Power's complaints fading away as she got up and went to bother Aki, until Denji finally spoke.
"Y'know, I just realised something earlier", his eyes didn't move from the road in front of them as he spoke, "All these guys aren't here to protect us… we're just bait, aren't we?"
Reze looked at him, the small smile on her face as sad as it was proud. It could be easy for some people to write Denji off just because he hadn't received a formal education, but Reze would never make that mistake, though that didn't mean that she didn't mourn that he was being made to grow up as a tool of the state…
She didn't reply to Denji's question immediately, instead, she just shimmied in closer to him, grabbing his hand in her own and giving it a comforting squeeze.
"Yeah… you're right", her melancholic smile faded as she leaned into Denji's side, "It's only natural that 'people' like us are used as the bait, we're harder to kill than the average devil hunter after all…"
There is a pregnant pause for a moment before Denji lets out a deep sigh, "Yeah… thought as much... I s'pose the 'no human rights' thing helps too"
Denji's comment caused Reze to start giggling, and soon both of them were laughing at his morbid observation.
"Well, I don't know what you two are laughing about, but you aren't wrong that you're being used for bait", the two were interrupted as Aki joined them, Power in tow.
"I knew it you piece of shit!", Denji snapped at Aki, who only shrugged in response.
"Well you two are harder to kill than us, so it only makes sense", Aki responds nonchalantly, "Don't hold against me, it's so we can go to Enoshima as soon as possible"
Reze threw Aki a dirty look at that comment, "Ohhh gee, how generous…"
Denji meanwhile gritted his teeth in anger as he answered, "If it's for Enoshima… I guess I'll let it go…"
Just as it seemed the issue had been smoothed over, Power, who had been pouting ever since Enoshima had been brought up, exploded.
"HOLD ON, NO FAIR! THAT'S DIRTY!", the horned girl shouted before lowering her tone under Aki's glare, "You all get rewards for work, but I get nothing! It's awful!"
Aki, who at this point was completely used to the fiend's antics, patiently waited until she was finished before replying, "Okay Power. Then what would you want?"
The fiend in question blinked in surprise as if she was stunned that her complaining actually worked for once, before a devious grin crept onto her face, "I want to suck out all a human's blood until they die…"
Aki just looked at the fiend impassively for a moment as she salivated over the idea of draining a human dry. He opened his mouth, looking as if he was about to deny the fiend's wish, after all what devil hunter would just sacrifice someone to a devil?
"All right, that's fair. Denji, once this assassin business calms down, let her suck you dry until you die."
"What?!", Denji was in disbelief, distraught that he had been sold out so quickly, "No way!"
"Denji's blood?!", Power looked back and forth between Denji and Aki excitedly, before leaping onto Denji's shoulders without warning.
"WOO-HOOOO!"
Reze merely shook her head as the bratty fiend cheered her sweet victory, Denji calling out to her, "Reze! Can you help get her off me!?"
"Oh I t-think you'll manage f-fine", Reze hid her smile behind a hand, trying to hold in her laughter as he struggled.
Denji, seeing he would not be getting any help on this front, simply settled on grumbling under his breath, "Can we not just sacrifice Aki instead…?"
"Hmm… looks like we'll have to do things the hard way…"
Santa sat opposite Tolka in the Family Burger restaurant, watching their target outside the window from the corner of her eye before turning her attention back to Tolka, who as usual had been hanging on her every word.
"What do you mean master?", Santa said nothing at first, simply reaching up her sleeve and retrieving a nail, placing it beside her meal. "If everything had gone to plan, this nail wouldn't be clean. Sadly, with the Soviet's little experiment sticking so close to the boy I couldn't prick him at all"
Seeing Tolka's silent questioning stare, Santa elaborated "Stab someone with this nail four times and you can take someone's life, though at a great price of course"
"That means that I'll have to leave dealing with that boy up to you, Tolka. We can call it your final test", Santa begins unwrapping her food as she speaks before looking to Tolka once more, "If you pass, I'll introduce you to the devils I have contracts with."
Tolka only nodded severely as he was given his mission, whilst Santa settled for finally digging into her burger, letting out a contented hum as the taste hit her tongue, "Oh it's delicious! I'm almost thankful I could use the nail, it would've been a tragedy to be unable to taste something so delicious!"
"Oh, if no one else was I here I think I'd get up and dance"
Tolka smiled fondly as his master dug into her burger. He had come to be his master's student in pursuit of power, yes, but it truly was his dearest wish that his master could live her remaining days in peace, and if him taking her place gave her the peace of mind to retire, then all the better.
"Oh, there they are!", the group of devil hunters watched as the conspicuous plague doctor mask of Violence peaked its head out of the passenger seat window of a small yellow car. The group watched as the dated car pulled up in front of them on the sidewalk, with Kobeni and Violence getting out of the front of the vehicle.
However, Aki wasn't expecting to see a third figure get out of the back seat, especially not someone he thought would still be in the hospital.
"Kurose, it's been a while… we heard about what happened to Tendo and Subaru, hopefully they find the bodies soon…", Aki grimaced as he tried consoling the man, who looked near-emotionless compared to how he was last time Aki saw him.
However, whatever pity Aki had for the man was overshadowed by one concern: why was he here?
"You don't need to push yourself to join the mission, that's the word from Miss Makima", Aki was pretty confident they had enough hunters on this assignment as is, there was no need for Kurose, injured as he was, to join them.
"I agree with her, you ought to rest and recuperate", Aki decided to give his own two cents, he had no desire for another one of his colleagues to die needlessly.
Kurose stared at him blankly for a minute before bowing his head to Aki pleadingly, his face screwed up as he pleaded, "I begged Higashiyama and her buddy to help slip me out of the hospital to be here". The man looked up at Aki, practically begging, "I want to avenge my friends. I have to, please!"
"I know how you feel… but…", Aki looked at the man hesitantly before he sighed, relenting, "Fine… just don't push yourself, okay?"
It didn't take Aki long to regret his decision as only a couple of minutes later he was looking at Kurose's body slumped against the end of a railing, the man's head having slammed into it after Kobeni's car careened through the guard railing. The vehicle flew straight into an unexpecting Denji and Kurose, the latter dying on impact with the pole, whilst Denji was groaning in pain, blood frothing from his lips.
"Denji!", Reze quickly sprinted over to Denji, cutting her hand on the jagged edge of the smashed railing as she ran, kneeling down at his side and allowing the blood from the wound to run into his mouth.
'Just our luck, a car of all things!', Reze thinks dryly as she frets over Denji. She knew, of course, that Denji would be completely fine when the blood took effect, but that hadn't done much to assuage the rush of panic she'd felt when she saw him get sent flying.
In the car, Power sat in the driver's seat, sweat beading on her brow as she looked on at the double homicide she had just caused. The fiend turned to Kobeni, with the small, timid girl stuttering in the passenger seat, and suddenly an idea hit her.
"'Tis your car. This isn't my fault!"
"Y… Y…", the poor girl couldn't even spit out a response to Power righteous barrage of truth.
"Are you trying to shift the blame onto me?!", the fiend's face twisted in anger as she unbuckled her seat belt and clambered out of the car, "You murderer!"
With that Power slammed the car door shut, leaving a stunned Kobeni looking out at the carnage, wondering if maybe it hadn't been a good idea to cheap out on her insurance…
"Wha… What the hell…", Aki looked on at the carnage in shock, not quite believing what had just happened. Just a moment ago he'd been talking with Kurose, and now the devil hunter was lying there dead, and it soon became very clear who the perpetrator was.
"What's wrong with you?!" Aki shouted at Power who was standing beside the car, looking completely nonplussed by the chaos she'd caused.
"I wasn't driving!", Power simply pointed at the car as she strolled over, with a distraught Kobeni sitting in the passenger seat staring at the bodies splayed out in front of the car, "It's her fault!"
"My God!", Aki and the rest turned to Kusakabe, the bespectacled hunter pointing towards where Kurose's body lay, or at least what should have been Kurose's body.
"Hayakawa, look! His face… it's changed"
As Aki looked at the corpse, he saw not Kurose, but a complete stranger. He was barely listening to Tamaoki as he identified the man as one of the American skin-changers that Miss Makima briefed could have been sent to Tokyo.
"I knew it!", Power quickly reverted to type as she gloated over the corpse of the assassin, a smug grin on her face, "Looks like I was the only one to see through the enemy's disguise!"
"The glory is mine! All mine!", Power dashed towards a recovering Denji, Reze's blood having been enough for him to start to rise back to his feet. This recovery was short-lived as he is bear-hugged from behind, with the force behind Power's grasp being enough to make him cough up blood.
"Power! Give him a minute to recover! For the love of-", Reze quickly pried the excitable devil off of Denji, before taking his weight on her shoulder, "Hey glasses! Can we get a blood bag over here?!"
As Kusakabe ran over with the blood, no doubt complaining about his new nickname, Reze lowered herself and Denji back to the ground, cradling the wounded boy as he coughed up more frothy red blood.
"There there Denji, just stay still and we'll get you up on your feet again soon", Reze spoke soothingly, as she stroked his hair. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that weird guy, Yoshida, slinking off into an alleyway whilst everyone else was distracted by the dead assassin.
Reze chose to ignore him, instead keeping her focus on Denji, snatching the blood bag from Kusakabe and holding it to Denji's lips, the blonde taking deep gulps as the blood resuscitated him.
'Well, I'd much rather be here than following that creep into a dark alley, that's for sure…'
Across the city Makima watched as Prinzi scuttled away to do her bidding: collecting all the bodies left in the wake of the doll attacks. The power of the Doll Devil was an inconvenient one for sure, with any casualty against it also adding to the ranks of the puppet hordes that had begun terrorising Tokyo.
This was exactly the reason why Makima had been hoping that the German assassin had passed- that and the fact that Santa Claus had contacts and contracts with some very powerful devils indeed. Though, Makima wasn't concerned, not yet. The team she had sent out was quite potent after all, even without sending Beam, having two hybrids certainly helped stack the odds in her favour.
She walked up to a pile of dolls, taking a seat on the broken shells that were once the workers of this office block. Perched on this throne of sorts Makima allowed herself a rare satisfied smile: the relationship between Denji and Reze seemed to be progressing nicely, and the other hybrid had her uses beyond the role of a glorified bodyguard. Yes, everything was going well, all things considered. And if things did go wrong, well she wasn't all that worried.
After all, above all else: she believed in Chainsaw Man.
As it turns out, Denji didn't have peace for long after he was revived. It had been a couple of hours of seemingly aimless walking later, and the group had just decided to turn into the nearest department store for a bite to eat.
And then everything went to shit.
"Second floor! Run for the second floor!", they all frantically scrambled for the stairs, with Denji and Reze following right behind Aki as a swarm of dolls rushed through the front doors of the mall, crashing through the entrance like waves.
"Turn them to stone already!", Denji yelled at Kusakabe, who was right behind them, followed by Power. Up to this point, he had been keeping the dolls at bay using his contract with the Stone Devil, but now the usually stoic man was dashing up the stairs in panic alongside them.
"There are too many! I can only do it from on top of the circle!"
"Some use you are!", Reze growled in frustration, unable to even countenance pulling her pin, lest she blow the entire squad to smithereens along with the dolls. Just as the two hybrids thought they would make it to the next floor, they heard a cry from behind.
"They're almost on me! GYAHH, CLIMB FASTER YOU TRASH!"
Power was near-screaming in fear as she shouted curses at the slower devil hunter in front of her, the dolls closing in on her before one jumped and latched itself onto her back, Power making an animalistic noise as she tried desperately to throw the puppet off.
"POWER!"
Denji and Reze wasted no time as they rushed back down the stairs, brushing past Kusakabe as they launched themselves into the mob of dolls swarming Power, Denji viciously kicking off one of the dolls gripping Power's arm, whilst Reze kicked another down the stairs, the porcelain golem crashing down into the horde, slowing their ascent.
With the fiend freed and the dolls momentarily stalled, the two hybrids turned to a stunned Kusakabe, "What the hell man! We aren't turning into dolls!", both spoke in tandem as the puzzled devil hunter looked on, realisation on his face.
"Only humans can get turned into dolls! Fiends must be immune!"
"What about us, are we immune?", Denji gestured to himself and Reze, though he never got the chance to hear Kusakabe's response as the swarm of dolls began closing in again, the fresh ones having clambered over the others that had been damaged whilst Denji and Reze had rescued Power.
"We'll have time to question four-eyes later! Run!", Reze said, grabbing Denji by the hand and dragging him up the stairs, catching up with Power, who had started running as soon as she had noticed them closing in.
Just as the two hybrids passed Tamaoki at the top of the stairs, reaching the next floor, the stoic devil hunter shouted, "Nakamura! Do it!"
"Yes sir!"
At Tamaoki's signal, another devil hunter appeared as if from thin air, running past the Hayakawa household, towards the waves of dolls.
"Who's this dude?!", Denji turned around to watch the newcomer, before looking to Aki for an answer, only to see that he had an equally confused look on his face.
"Who are you?!", Aki asked, flummoxed at the sudden appearance of the man as the plain-looking devil hunter summoned the fox devil's paw, crushing a cluster of the pursuing dolls into the ground. With the short respite provided by this, Tamaoki began explaining why the man, Nakamura was here.
Denji however wasn't paying much attention, with him and Reze throwing each other a knowing look, after all, it was pretty clear that the only reason someone would've been waiting here is if this was the plan all along.
Tamaoki then turned to Denji, dipping his head as he began to speak, "Sorry that we've-"
Denji cut him off, "Been using us as bait? Put that one together already", Denji just turned away and followed Power up the stairs, an almost bitter look on his face.
For her part, Reze looked at Tamaoki blankly for a moment before turning to Aki with a humourless smile, "luchshe odin raz uvidet, cham sto raz uslyshat."
Quanxi stood atop the first flight of stairs of the department store, not even bothering to look at the dolls running up the stairs after her, they wouldn't be an issue for much longer anyway.
As the sound of heads rolling down the stairs hit her ears, she raised her blunted and chipped sword up to her face, a singular tired eye reflected in the ruined blade. Santa's contract with the Doll Devil was a tricky one, reinforcing the skin and flesh of its victims, robbing them of all free will but, in a sick twist, leaving them conscious in their new form- a spectator in their own bodies.
She dropped the useless sword, drawing two more from their sheathes strapped to her back. There was no use thinking about such things, all she could do was give them a quick death.
The first devil hunter stood with her swords drawn, staring at the stairs in front of her in silence.
'I hope the girls can handle the clean up alright'
With that thought Quanxi began her ascent, not once looking at the bodies of the dolls around her as her walk began a sprint. Despite all the bodies she passed on her way, she didn't see a thing.
"Angel, Nakamura! Defend! You'll die!"
One moment Aki was talking to him, and the next he was shouting and sprinting in a panic towards where Angel was talking to the new guy. All Denji saw when he turned was a blur darting across the wall, and then Nakamura's head was flying in an arc through the air. Aki and Angel were then pummelled to the ground by an overhead blow, Aki's sword having deflected a lethal blow at the cost of knocking them both to the ground unconscious.
Denji, Reze and the other hunters stood on-guard as the blur landed in a crouch a few meters in front of them, the figure- a white-haired woman, had one eye covered by an eyepatch, a slightly curved sword in each hand and an unbothered expression on her face.
Denji moved to lunge for the woman, only for Reze to throw her hand out and stop him, "Careful Denji!"
A silent stand-off continued for a few seconds, each moment feeling like an eternity until the woman lowered her crumbling swords ever so slightly, a look of recognition flashing across her face as her eyes flit from Reze's face to the pin on her neck.
"Why are you here Bomb?", the silence was broken as the woman addressed Reze directly, "I thought Public Safety would have you under lock and key after that massacre of yours."
"They do, in a way…", Reze eyed the woman warily, her finger not moving from its position looped around her pin, "But you'd know all about that, wouldn't you granny."
"You have the right idea, a deal for an easy life doesn't come up often", Quanxi looked at Reze appraisingly for a moment, before letting one of her sword handles drop to the ground, taking up a fighting stance, "Shame that you're not my type."
Reze flinches at the out-of-the-blue comment, before sneering at her "Thank God for that!"
"Yeah, you heard her, old lady!", Denji barked as he took up a fighting stance next to Reze.
Quanxi simply looked at them blankly, before a ghost of a smile appeared on her face.
"A shame for you that is."
Before either of the teens could process it, Quanxi darted forward, a monochrome blur being all Denji's eyes could pick up as Reze's hand fell limp, hanging from her pin as the jagged remains of Quanxi's sword sliced through flesh and bone.
"Gaahh!", Reze cried out in pain, her other hand scrambling for her pin as Quanxi clocked Denji on the chin with a vicious kick, before swinging her arm out in an arc back towards Reze, slicing clean through the soft flesh of her neck, her head flopping back, held on only by the thinnest amount of flesh that the remains of the dao could cut through.
Quanxi continued on from her incapacitation of the two hybrids, bringing down hunter after hunter in quick succession, swinging her leg around with a reverse kick aimed at the last standing hunter's head.
Only to have it blocked.
"Octopus!"
Yoshida braced himself as he tumbled back across the ground, calling out for his contracted devil and shielding his head as effectively as he could, coming to a stop in a kneeling position, supported by the writhing tentacles of the Octopus Devil.
Before Yoshida had a chance to speak, a dark shape landed in between him and Quanxi with a meaty thud, Reze's head rolling to a stop, glazed-over green eyes looking straight at Quanxi,
"Octopus!", Yoshida's form was quickly surrounded by tentacles whilst Quanxi tried to move away.
"Boom"
"Pretty smart, huh?"
Smoke and fire engulfed the combatants as Denji and a transformed Reze looked on. It hadn't taken long for Denji to recover and regain consciousness and as soon as he'd seen Reze's head nearly sliced off, he'd pulled her pinned and tore it off, lobbing it straight towards the fight before running out of the blast zone of Reze's transformation.
"I've gotta agree, though why'd you go straight for lobbing my head across the room? Thought you'd be a bit sentimental about it", Reze's distorted voice rang forth, her transformation unable to mask the amusement in her voice.
"Well, pulling my cord usually brings me back quickly, so figured it'd be the same for you", Denji responded nonchalantly, fixing Reze with a grin, "As for throwin' your head, I figured you'd like a bit of payback against one-eye over there"
Reze barked out a laugh before turning her attention towards the clearing smoke, "You're not wrong there, can't believe she got me that easily…"
Denji groaned as the smoke cleared to show a singed but otherwise unharmed Quanxi holding Yoshida by the hair, a shard of broken tiling held to his neck.
"Well, looks like we get another shot at this bitch…", Reze growled, as Denji prepared to pull his cord.
"Quanxi", the standoff was broken as a gravelly voice rang out from the stairway, "It's been a long time."
And there stood Kishibe, showing no sign of fatigue as he held Long and Pingsti in headlocks, a knife in each hand ready to end the fiends at a moment's notice. To Denji and Reze's surprise the woman, Quanxi as Kishibe called her, let Yoshida go, the teen crumpling to the floor with a pained grunt.
The pair watched as she walked towards one of the surviving tables, pulling up a chair and taking a seat, looking out the window as if waiting.
"Denji, Reze, can you keep a hold on these two for me?", Kishibe didn't leave much time for them to react as he palms both of the fiends off on them, "And get up from there Power, we need someone to keep watch."
"Uuhhrgh… Playing dead doesn't protect one's hearing…", Power groaned as she got up from the floor, shuffling over to stand behind the two others, shooting a glare at Reze- the culprit of her ringing eardrums, as her transformed form melted away.
Reze noticed the fiend's glare as she watched Kishibe walk over and sit opposite Quanxi, rolling her eyes, 'It's not like I wanted to get decapitated Power…'
It was never a pleasant experience for sure, but what really stung was just how easily the woman had closed the distance between them. It gave Reze an uneasy feeling in her stomach- the woman was fast, unnaturally fast, Reze frowned, hoping that her hunch was wrong.
'Well, if I have to transform again, at least I won't end up naked this time. They were kidding when they said these suits were sturdy…'
"Where are the other two fiends?", Quanxi didn't even look at Kishibe as she spoke, avoiding eye contact as she gazed out of the window.
Kishibe was similarly looking out of the window, his head propped up by his hand, "They got away from me", Kishibe's voice sounded his age as he replied, "Public Safety and the police have the area locked down. They'll be caught any second now."
Quanxi just sat there passively as Kishibe turned to look directly at her, "Once Public Safety cleans up the dolls downstairs, I'm taking you in. Don't move a muscle till then."
This seemed to get Quanxi's attention, as the cyclopean woman's unimpressed gaze met Kishibes eyes at last, "This isn't like Mad Dog Kishibe, you've gotten crafty."
Reze's eyes narrowed as she watched the two converse like old friends, 'Assuming she worked as Kishibe's buddy, she must be a lot older than she looks…'
Reze and Denji were both very recently created hybrids, not being any older than their looks would suggest, but this Quanxi had at least decades of experience on them, and they didn't even know what she could do in her transformed state.
Her ponderings regarding Quanxi were soon interrupted though, as Kishibe spoke whilst reaching for something in his pocket, "I'm past fifty now, you mellow out at my age"
Reze's blood froze as Kishibe held up a notepad to Quanxi, she could just make out one word from the angle she was standing at, Makima.
"I lost my fangs a long time ago", Kishibe kept speaking to Quanxi casually, sounding the part of a tired old man even as he held up his note.
"Devil hunters die before they reach old age", Quanxi's expression didn't falter from her deadpan stare as she replied, "You should retire now, while you still can."
"And live on a pension? No way", Kishibe let out a sigh as he flipped the page on his notepad, writing as he spoke, "But I am around that age."
He held up what he'd written once more, however, Reze couldn't make it out this time- and she could've sworn that she'd caught the old drunkard watching her from the corner of his eye for a moment there…
"You wouldn't go senile if you follow the times", Kishibe was writing again as Quanxi spoke, "Keep watching the news, reading the papers. Constantly experience new things."
Then Kishibe held up the pad once more, and she went silent. Both elder hunters stared at each other with glum looks on their faces.
"The news…"
The silence was broken as Quanxi spoke, her voice quiet as she looked down at the tabletop, "There's this reporter on the evening news who's my type… I watched that program every day. Would even buy the magazines she was in, things like that."
Even Reze and Denji found themselves listening intently as she spoke, wondering what the point of this was.
"One day she was exposed for lying about her age… After that it was like the floodgates opened: exposes on her ex-boyfriends and bad behaviour aired on TV one after another."
"She kept appearing on the morning news regardless… But I stopped watching that program…"
She looked up at Kishibe again, the same dull look on her face as before, "It wasn't that the reporter had changed- It was my brain that had changed."
"The secret to leading a happy life in this world, is that ignorance is bliss", Quanxi looked at Kishibe coldly, resting her head atop her hand as she continued, "Kishibe. Be a good dog and keep your collar on."
"Some advice from your former buddy."
Reze tensed up as Quanxi confirmed her fears, watching as Kishibe leaned back in his seat with a soft sigh.
Then, suddenly a sharp click sounded from behind them and, faster than she could turn, Kishibe pivoted in his seat, kicking Denji hard in the shoulder as pop sounded out and a bullet whizzed through the air where Denji had just been standing
"Shit!", Denji yelled as he stumbled back, with the horned fiend writhing out of his headlock and pinning his arm behind her back- an effort that was quickly halted when Pingsti crashed into her, sending her stumbling back herself, trying to support the still-unconscious fiend.
"Quanxi!", the horned fiend cried out as she quickly deposited Pingsti on the ground behind her.
Reze, having just practically thrown her hostage at Long to free Denji, quickly dived to the side as more gunshots rang out, taking cover behind a pillar as the gunman, presumably another assassin, turned his attention to Denji and the fiends.
In a quick flurry of movements, Kishibe and Quanxi had bolted into action upon Long calling out to her, with Quanxi landing a solid kick to the side of his head while his fist sailed harmlessly past her. Quanxi then deftly stops the knife swing she had been expecting between her fingers, a ghost of a smile on her face.
Kishibe then tries a sweeping kick across the tabletop, but Quanxi catches it, using the force behind Kishibes own kick to send him straight through the glass and out the window, the man only just managing to slow his descent by ramming one of his knives into the wall on the way down.
"M-muh… muh… m-my c-car… My car…"
Kobeni and Violence stood at the window down a floor from the others. They had just cleared out the last of the dolls on one of the lower floors, when they had seen something fly down past the window, followed by a loud crash.
Kobeni looked down at her pride and joy, tears brimming in her eyes as she watched Mr Kishibe clambering off her crushed car's roof.
"Oh, it'll be fine Kobeni! I'm sure your insurance will cover that no problem!"
Kobeni's face crumpled on the mention of her cheap insurance, thinking that one thing was certain: her premiums would be much higher next time…
"GRAAHHHH!"
"Eepp!", Kobeni happed back from the window with a yelp as another figure flew past the window, glass shards falling through the air as they plummeted past.
A familiar crunching noise could be heard as the man's descent stopped, but this time Kobeni didn't bother looking out the window, knowing exactly where he had landed. Kobeni fell to her knees, tears beading in the corners of her eyes as Violence hurried over.
"Hey Kobeni, you alright?!"
Kobeni didn't respond, the only sound she made being quiet sniffles as her eyes stayed fixed on the ground, mourning the loss of her savings, as her car completed its transition from a beloved coupe into certified scrap metal.
'I hate this job… How could this day get any worse…'
Denji and Reze stood facing the horned fiend, even though they outnumbered the singular fiend, they eyed up the devil cautiously- a caution born from having just witnessed her douse half of the room in a veil of fire.
Denji slips his hand into his shirt reaching for his cord, only for Reze to grab his wrist, "Not yet Denji!"
"Huh? Why not?!", Denji responds before quickly lowering his voice, "If we're going to run at flamethrower girl over there, It'd be better to be transformed."
Reze grimaces before whispering back urgently, "You aren't wrong, but it's not her we should be worried about…"
Reze jerked her head back towards the window where Quanxi and Yoshida were fighting one-on-one, the teen holding up quite well against the assassin.
"That woman, she's like us, and I'd rather save what blood we have remaining for whenever gets bored of playing with her food…"
Denji watches the fight for a moment before shrugging and turning back to the fiend, "Fair enough. You take her right, I go left?"
Reze smirks, "Whoever decks her first does the other chores for a week?"
"Deal", Denji grins back with a shark-like smile before immediately breaking into a sprint towards the horned fiend, with Reze following not too far behind, circling around towards the fiend's other side. Long reacted quickly, spewing fire in Reze's direction, forcing her to dive out of the way with a curse.
"Victory's all mine!", Denji closes in on Long, barging into and sending her to the ground before throwing a punch at the fiend. Long reacted quickly, jerking her head to the side and causing Denji to punch the ground, the boy growling as Long grabbed onto his arm and, using her immense strength flipped him over onto his back, winding him.
Long quickly followed up, straddling Denji and gripping his neck, trying to either choke the life out of him or break his neck- whatever came first.
'Just how strong is this chick!', Denji tried to pry off the hands around his neck only to find that the fiend's arms were immovable, their grip like a vice. All that his struggles earned him was a guttural growl from the fiend, who then shook him by the neck, smashing the back of his head into the tiled floor.
Denji's vision was going blurry, spots of colour clouding his vision when a dark blur- nearly purple- appeared behind the growling visage of the fiend choking him and then the pressure around his neck loosened. Denji wasted no time, thrusting his head forward with all his might, his forehead smashing into the fiend's nose, the cartilage breaking on impact and blood spraying all over him and Long, the latter slumping to the side: unconscious.
Denji is taking deep breaths, one hand around his bruised neck as he looks up to see Reze, one of her suit sleeves noticeably singed, kneeling next to him with a concerned expression on her face, a bloody chunk of concrete falling out of her hand as she spoke.
"You okay Denji?", her voice was laced with worry as Denji recovered, he looked down at the fiend, noticing that the back of her head was slick with blood, eyes flicking to the concrete Reze had dropped before looking up at her with a grateful smile.
"Thanks for the save Reze", he rasped out, coughing a bit before grinning at her lopsidedly, "Still got the first hit in though."
Reze rolled her eyes with a smile as she stood up, offering a hand to Denji and helping him up as she replied, "We'll call it a draw."
As it turned out, Denji wouldn't have much time to recover, as their attention was drawn by a loud smash as Quanxi threw Yoshida straight through another window, the boy joining Kishibe and the other assassin as Quanxi, a bit battered but otherwise unharmed, turned her attention back to Denji and Reze.
Quanxi's eye, flicked to Long's prone form for a moment, before looking back at the other two hybrids, the dark pupil boring into them. Quanxi then sighs, taking a more relaxed stance, "Bomb. This is your last chance, I just want the boy and my women. Leave, and this won't have to get messy."
"You want to get to him, you go through me", Reze's face was set like stone, her voice icy as she responded, "Besides, it'd be rude of me not to return the favour for earlier."
"Just shut up and fight grandma!", Denji growls at the woman as they all get into fighting stances, each waiting to see who will make the first move in something akin to a Mexican stand-off. Then suddenly the tense silence was broken again…
"Stay back or I kill her!"
"And, uhh… back away! Now!"
Sweat started running down Power's brow as the three hybrids all turned to look at her- and the petite pony-tailed fiend she held in her arms, a blood knife held to her throat. Denji and Reze looked at her in surprise, confusion writ across their faces.
"You're still here Power?!", Denji exclaimed in disbelief, shocked that the fiend who had just moments ago played dead when he and Reze were clobbered by Quanxi, was now trying to stand between them and the first devil hunter.
"Y-you both thought I'd leave?!", Power's jaw went slack as she stared at the two.
"Yeah…", Reze commented nonchalantly, shrugging as Power spluttered in disbelief, "It was kind of expected, to be honest…"
When Quanxi spoke, her voice was surprisingly gentle considering one of her girlfriends was being held at knifepoint, "Could you let go of the girl for me sweetheart? I don't want to have to fight you."
Power looked at her, seemingly scandalised, "You cheater…!"
As the seconds passed, and Power showed no sign of letting go of Pingsti, Quanxi sighed deeply, before suddenly breaking out into a sprint straight towards Power.
"Power!", Denji broke into a sprint towards Power in an attempt to cut off Quanxi, Reze following close behind- that is until Power panicked.
"Gahh-! Okay take her!", Power quickly shoved Pingsti towards the rapidly approaching Quanxi, quickly running off towards the other recovering devil hunters, the fiend quickly hiding behind Aki as Quanxi cradled Pingsti in her arms.
Denji stopped mid-step upon seeing that Power was safe, having ran out of sight and that Quanxi was no longer focused on him and Reze. He let out a sigh of relief, "Hey, Reze you're smart and stuff, what do you think we should do about her?"
Only silence greeted him.
"Rez-?", Denji turned around, only to see her lying face down, blood pooling around her head, courtesy of a gaping wound on the back of her head- not dissimilar to what she had done to Long only minutes earlier.
"Reze!", Denji quickly sprints over to her comatose body, kneeling down by her side, wasting no time in looking for something he could use to cut himself.
He didn't have to look very hard.
Santa watched as Tolka stepped out from behind a supporting column and proceeded to ram his skinning knife straight down into the chainsaw boy's head without a moment of hesitation. Perfect.
Santa started clapping as she walked toward Tolka, a subtle smile on her face, "You did it, Tolka."
"M-master…?", Tolka looked up at her in confusion, perhaps not understanding why she was here with him. It didn't matter though, there was only one more lesson she needed to teach him after all.
"You completed the job I assigned to you. You've become a full-fledged devil hunter."
"Master…" Tolka's expression was still all business as he moved to lift Denji's body away from its position slumped on top of his girlfriend's corpse, "We can talk later, let's hurry up and move him…"
Tolka freezes as his Master just stares at him impassively, not moving a muscle to help him, "Master…?"
"There's no need to move the body"
Tolka froze, his attention totally captured by his beloved Master's words.
"You always followed my instructions diligently", Santa's voice was kind, but her face only had a small frown as she spoke, "There were times when I was hard on you, but it was all for your own good."
"I don't under-"
"You're part of the family now too", she didn't give Tolka a chance to finish his protest as she moved closer to him, "Tolka, I'll tell you the secret to making a sophisticated doll."
"Take the human you'll turn into a doll… and add emotions only humans have"
"Adoration"
"Worship"
"Pity"
"And the secret Ingredient: guilt", Santa gently placed her hand on Tolka's chest, she had nurtured this man- this new doll- this new member of her family who was writhing in pain under her touch. And now, finally, he could fulfil his purpose.
"It is done", when Santa opened her eyes, she was sitting right outside: where she had always been. Tolka was finally part of the family, and her plan could finally commence.
Back in the department store, the devil hunters are readying to face Quanxi, who now stood with two of her fiends at her back, Aki grimaced. The fiends wouldn't be too much trouble in the state that they were, but that woman Quanxi… he wasn't sure if all of them combined could take her.
Suddenly Aki froze, his face going white as a sheet as he stared into the space in front of him. His mind was flooded with images: an endless field, the rattling of doors… a darkness that swallows up all…
Angel looks up at him in concern, "Are you…?"
As the visions faded, Aki could only look forward, his sword dropping slightly as he spoke, his voice laced with shock as his hand went to his head.
"What is… this future…?"
Elsewhere three voices spoke as one:
"I offer my heart… and my… beloved children"
"In exchange… Hell Devil, please call all living things in this department store to Hell"
Well, I've had a busy couple of months, hence the longer than usual wait for this chapter, but hopefully I've made up for that with the length of this chapter. I naively thought that it would end up being 6000 words max, instead it's ended up a 9000-word monster…
Anyway, I hope that everyone enjoyed and I should have the next chapter done more quickly if all goes well!
Reze translation: 'Luchshe odin raz uvidet, cham sto raz uslyshat' – 'Better to see once than to hear a hundred times'