"What— how is that possible?!"
Different from Denji-ko's delight, the Bat Devil's voice came from above, furious and shocked: "A mere human… how can such a scrawny body catch my punch?!"
"Here comes another—!"
The Bat Devil, nearly four meters tall, pressed down like a building you had to crane your neck to see; the shadow it cast swallowed you whole.
It raised its arm and slammed it down again— leveraging gravity and acceleration, like a gigantic sledgehammer falling straight from the sky.
Denji-ko's eyes shone; this time she saw clearly!
Su Tang lifted his right hand— a hand that, still temporarily human-smooth, was changing color at a paradoxically fast yet visible speed.
That same dark cyan as before on his left!
Interlaced scales of azure spread rapidly; the flesh beneath thickened and swelled, the fingers condensed into sharp, stout talons like some predator's blades.
BANG!!
The air heaved again.
The black coat behind Su Tang billowed and snapped.
Countless pebbles shot outward, some punching through car windows by the roadside under the impact's force!
"No—this… this— you're completely fine!"
The Bat Devil's voice even changed.
When its fist struck this human's hand, it had felt like slamming into a mountain.
It had all but stumbled back itself— yet the other party hadn't budged an inch!
What terrifying brute strength was this?!
"Say…"
Su Tang lifted his head and looked quietly at the Bat Devil's giant head.
The hands that had fully become cyan claws didn't stop; scales surged upward again, racing along to cover both arms.
The roomy sleeves of the black coat were instantly stuffed to bursting, the fabric lines tracing out clear muscle contours.
"Instead of chirping here, you'd better hurry up and pray…"
His low, even voice rolled out. The Bat Devil, panicked, tried to lift its arm and retreat a step— only to find in shock it couldn't lift it at all! The other's claws had clamped its fist like giant pincers— it couldn't move!
"Damn…" It looked at Su Tang again— and froze yet a second time.
The young man in the long coat was grinning at it— as dark cyan surged up and, in a blink, covered his entire head!
"You… you're a devil too?!"
No wonder the Bat Devil thought so— no one who saw Su Tang at this moment would call him human.
A bestial dark-cyan head; two short bifurcated horns on top. Angular eyes, flashing with a vicious blood-colored light!
Razor teeth, a long tongue, a serpent-like neck…
The more it looked, the more this man felt like that woman who'd turned into a chainsaw earlier!
Arms transformed, head transformed— just the same!
"You're not human… neither of you are human! You're making a fool of me! Bastards!"
The Bat Devil howled, struggling madly to break Su Tang's hold.
"Remember what I just said… you'd better start praying now."
"Pray that you've swallowed fragments of the Gun—"
Su Tang's long tongue slipped out, licking his lips. His smile was especially dangerous:
"That way you can last a little longer. And also…"
"—make up for my losses!"
One punch!
His right claw gripping the Bat Devil's broken arm, Su Tang cocked his left into a fist and slammed it home!
BANG!!
THUD!!
The first was the sound of flesh and flesh colliding; the second, flesh colliding with a building.
Another building— down!
Dust billowed, the ground shuddered three times.
Su Tang looked at the giant arm still caught on his right claw and chuckled.
"So you've got a few brain cells— know enough to break an arm to survive."
Otherwise, with that push-and-pull, it would have exploded into a spray of purple meat on the spot.
"Mr… Mr. Su Tang?!"
Even with a neck braided from cords, Denji-ko seemed to swallow. She stared at the familiar yet strange figure across from her and called, a bit hesitant.
"Mm. It's me. Didn't scare you, did I."
Su Tang turned his head and showed Denji-ko a "kind" smile.
Though with his current look, any smile looked like a beast opening wide to bite.
"N-no— it's just… a bit…" Denji-ko seemed at a loss for words. In that steel-packed head of hers, she was scraping for adjectives from a paltry stock: "It feels… like I'm dreaming. You too, sir, are… uh, saved by a devil partner?"
Seeing Denji-ko look as excited as if she'd found a kindred spirit, Su Tang paused a second, then still nodded.
A devil partner… the Holy Lord… just barely counts, right?
"Nice!"
With his confirmation, Denji-ko hopped with her chainsaw.
She circled Su Tang, looking left and right, then suddenly discovered a new world. "Yikes! Mr. Su Tang, your butt is swollen!"
My butt?
Su Tang touched behind with a claw, then realized.
He gave a light cough—like muffled thunder. With care, he scored a slit in the back of his pants with a talon.
Snap!
A thick dark-cyan tail sprang out.
Denji-ko's "tubes" went max-bright. "How come you can sprout a tail when you transform, Mr. Su Tang! I don't have one!"
Nonsense— I'm half a Holy Lord. What tail would a chainsaw have?
Su Tang thought—unless you count the pull cord as a tail. But… that felt weird.
"Right—sir, why aren't you using flames? I thought before that you…"
"Ah. Just unlucky— the flames are out of the house today."
Su Tang answered offhand.
Unlucky indeed. Today just happened to be day three of the fire-qi being borrowed by the Holy Lord to cast magic— still on cooldown.
"Ohhh, I see…" Denji-ko nodded her chainsaw head as if she half-understood.
"Then…" She seemed to want to say more, but a sudden gust cut her off.
Bzzzz— bzzzz—!
From the rubble of the building where the Bat Devil had landed under that punch came a strange blast!
Sound waves rolled one after another, even twisting into visible ripples in the air.
"Still not honest?"
Before the words fell, Su Tang vanished.
The next second, his dark-cyan figure appeared above the ruins.
Fist flipped to palm— descending from the sky!
"TM, the power of the dragon—!"
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