As if a storm had arrived.
A sky that had been clear and cloudless was suddenly covered by a huge shadow, as though pressing on people's hearts—one felt even breathing become difficult.
Not even a second after that scene appeared, the next disaster suddenly struck!
A falling star!
Something cut a long arc across the air and, like a meteor, slanted straight down to crash!
It shaved off a floor of a high-rise, smashed two single-story houses, then rolled along the ground for half a street…
And finally toppled in a heap of rubble.
Dust billowed up, smoke spread.
Su Tang was standing right in that rubble; the window before him had already become fragments all over the floor.
The wind blew freely across him.
The top of his head felt a bit cool.
Woodenly, Su Tang reached out and touched it, feeling only stickiness.
He brought his stiff hand before his eyes—his gaze a little vacant.
Oh. Blood.
Purple.
With a fishy stink.
Fresh.
Really… disgusting enough.
The wind stirred his black long coat; it was a brand-name piece he had just bought to celebrate his clinic's new beginning, and at this moment it was covered with dust and bloodstains.
Behind him was all broken walls and collapsed eaves. The roof that had just been finished yesterday had only some smashed corrugated pieces left, still creaking as they swayed in the wind. The newly redone white floor tiles were shot through with cracks.
Yes—the two single-story houses that thing had smashed just now: one of them was his clinic.
And it had taken the first hit!
Su Tang lifted his head and looked across from the clinic on the diagonal.
It was an office building with its top floor shaved off—the place where the culprit behind all this had finally come to a stop.
Now that the smoke dissipated, the scene on the street gradually came into focus.
People running, calling out, panicking, crying… all wove together like a concerto sounding through this street.
At a time like this, any sound different from that became unique.
"Idiot! Baka! You gonna stand here waiting to be eaten?! Get the hell out!"
A familiar voice came, with a distinct frenzied edge forcibly suppressed. Su Tang turned to look.
Hm?
That was… Denji-ko?!
A figure with a metal head and a neck of cords had one knee down, the chainsaw in her right hand stabbed into the ground to support her balance.
With that devil-like look, who else could it be but Denji-ko?
And opposite Denji-ko— that giant with a bat-like head and one arm missing should be the devil that caused all this.
The Bat Devil?
"Ordering a human to run away… and you call yourself a devil. I really… don't get what's going on in your head!"
The presumed Bat Devil twisted its neck, spread the huge bat wings that connected arm to shoulder, and reached for the person Denji-ko had just scolded: "Hahahaha! Whatever you're thinking, she's going into my belly!"
As it spoke, it wrinkled its nose in disgust: "The stink of cosmetics… the reek of cheap leather… I really don't want to drink the blood of a thing like you!"
Damn it!
Denji-ko looked at the uniformed woman clearly scared witless. She lifted the chainsaw in her hand and smashed a boulder beside her.
Her knee-down leg was pinned by that stone—she couldn't make it in time to save her!
The three "tubes" of light on that metal head fixed on the Bat Devil's giant claw. Denji-ko seemed to already see that woman's tragic end.
A life was one thing—but if the Bat Devil actually drank blood, its wounds would recover again!
Shit!
Right leg tightened back; Denji-ko all but spring-launched.
But still no use—she was the tiniest bit too slow!
"Hahahaha! Human blood— I can drink again… hm?!"
Where'd she go?
The Bat Devil, who had been laughing triumphantly, grasped at air and, puzzled, lowered its head to look.
Denji-ko also landed, her gaze following.
The "tubes" in her pupils suddenly brightened; the suppressed tone flipped to delight in an instant:
"Mr. Su—Su Tang?!"
That ninja who suddenly shot out from the shadows and snatched the woman away from the Bat Devil's claw—she recognized him!
That look… wasn't it exactly the same as the subordinates Mr. Su Tang had summoned at the factory a few days ago?!
"Devil hunter—!"
The Bat Devil instantly locked onto the true master controlling that black shadow ninja— the young man in a black coat standing more than ten meters away.
Su Tang ignored the Bat Devil. After having the shadow ninja carry the woman to safety, he slightly turned his head toward Denji-ko and frowned. "What's going on?"
"It's the Bat Devil! It ate Power and… Power's Meowy!" Denji-ko grew agitated. "Mr. Su Tang, hurry and use that… that infinite fire whatever of yours and burn it to death!"
Ate Power?
Ah… is the Blood Fiend really that— mm— fragile?
Su Tang was a bit surprised. He waved his hand, and the Shadow Ninjas he had summoned scattered, driving the trapped people around them away.
"Damn!" Seeing Su Tang's movements, rage flooded the Bat Devil's brain in an instant. "You stole all my blood food! Devil hunter! I'll kill you a thousand times, aaaaaah!"
Its wings snapped; its figure flashed past Denji-ko and lunged at Su Tang.
But Denji-ko wasn't flustered at all.
She even had the leisure to stick out a long tongue and lick the chainsaw on her head.
"Heh, foolish devil— you think you're faster than Mr. Su Tang's… flames?"
Hm? No—wait?!
Why wasn't Mr. Su Tang releasing the flames?!
The lights in Denji-ko's "eyes" flared. Realizing something was wrong, she sprang forward like a shot, charging straight for the Bat Devil.
But for the Bat Devil, that sliver of time was already enough!
"Ha! Die, human!"
It punched!
BOOM!!
The shockwave from that raw power forced Denji-ko to halt; the pebbles swept up by the blast clattered against her head—pang pang.
Dust rose again, smoke spread again.
"Aaaaaaah! Bat Devil! I'm going to kill you!"
Golden light flashed in Denji-ko's eyes, the rapid strobe revealing her fury as plain as day.
Not just at the devil, but at herself.
If only she hadn't relaxed just now— if only she'd sprinted the first instant…
Too bad—no ifs in this world!
In an instant, Denji-ko rushed to the Bat Devil— in an instant! She'd been only an instant late!
Shouting in her heart, she raised the chainsaw to cleave— and then felt a trace of… wrongness?
The Bat Devil… seemed to be frozen?
A spark of hope reignited; Denji-ko turned to look:
The Bat Devil's battering-ram-sized fist hadn't fallen as she imagined, but had been blocked by something.
It was… a dark-cyan, fine-scaled…
Claw?!
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