Chapter 27: A Martial Arts Genius!
Having served as examiners for Tokyo Public Safety for so many years, they had seen it all. Usually, those who dared to choose the maximum difficulty were overconfident and lacked self-awareness; only a rare few could actually pull it off.
If a recruit passed, everything was fine—it proved they truly had the strength to back up their choice. However, if they failed, they would never be given a second chance. It was effectively a "blacklist" because it reflected a fatal flaw in attitude. In actual missions, being mindless, impulsive, or reckless was taboo; such behavior often got teammates killed.
"I've already made up my mind," Otonashi Chiya replied with a calm expression.
"In that case, let's begin." The examiner didn't waste any more breath; he had said all that needed to be said.
"I've looked at this kid's record. He has indeed hunted a devil with a Gun Devil fragment before, but that was in a five-person team, which included Hayakawa Aki."
"Team hunting is worlds apart from solo hunting. I don't know where he gets this confidence."
"Let's just watch first. Don't jump to conclusions so early. Maybe he really has the strength, though I suspect it's unlikely..."
The examiners whispered among themselves in the gallery. Nearby, Aki caught snippets of their conversation. He, however, knew Otonashi's strength well... actually, scratch that—he felt he still hadn't seen the full extent of it. Based solely on what he had witnessed, passing a maximum difficulty assessment should be a walk in the park.
At that moment, Chiya's opponent appeared.
It was a Gecko Devil, and according to the examiner, this one had consumed a fragment of the Gun Devil's flesh. Normally, a Gecko Devil would be average at best—not many people are terrified of geckos—but after being reinforced by a Gun fragment, it was an entirely different story.
This Gecko Devil was shockingly massive. Forget comparing it to a thirty-centimeter lizard; it was huge even by devil standards. Its body and tail combined were easily twenty meters long. On its giant head sat a single, protruding eye that looked disturbingly "intelligent," darting around rapidly to monitor every direction. Its back was lined with rows of spikes like a Stegosaurus, each one looking a meter or two in length.
The Gecko Devil didn't waste time talking. It offered Chiya a "welcome gift" immediately: the spikes on its back launched into the air like a volley of arrows, raining down toward him.
However, the moment the spikes left the devil's back, Chiya used his left-eye Kamui to suck one of them into his pocket dimension. Simultaneously, he lunged toward the monster. By the time the "rain of spikes" hit the ground, he had already reached the devil's feet, leaving the projectiles to strike empty air.
He scrambled up the Gecko Devil's front leg and sprinted straight for its head. With a Speed attribute twice that of an average human, his movement was a blur.
Suddenly, a spatial swirl appeared in his right eye. The spike he had just absorbed shot out; he snatched it mid-air with his right hand, adjusted his aim, and plunged it downward with crushing force directly into the devil's massive eye.
Puchi!
The sound was like a giant balloon popping. The Gecko Devil's eye exploded instantly, spraying blood in every direction.
Although the Gecko Devil attempted to counterattack before its eye was pierced—lashing a massive tongue of indeterminate length toward him—Chiya's Mangekyo Sharingan saw everything with perfect clarity. He leaped effortlessly onto the tongue, plunged his katana into the tip, and sprinted toward the devil's gullet.
The movement effectively sliced the Gecko Devil's entire tongue in half.
"It hurts! Gaaaah! Damn you, devil hunter!" The blindness and agony drove the Gecko Devil into a primal rage. Helpless against his speed, it tried to snap its jaws shut to trap him inside. However, Chiya had entered the mouth with a purpose; whether the mouth was open or closed didn't matter to him.
He drove his katana downward with a surge of strength, piercing through the lower jaw and slicing all the way up into the brain. With his Strength attribute being twice that of an ordinary human, the blade performed exceptionally in his hands.
However, Chiya noticed the Gecko Devil's wounds were closing rapidly. The tongue he had just split in two was already knitting back together at a visible speed. It seemed the Gun Devil fragment had granted the Gecko Devil not just its massive size and versatile attacks, but also high-speed regeneration that didn't even require human blood.
But its weakness was just as glaring: its defense was pathetic. Its hide and flesh were easily parted by his blade. Dealing with a regenerative devil wasn't complicated—it was the same old solution: butcher it into pieces so small they could no longer knit back together.
For the next few minutes, the examiners watched in stunned silence as Chiya hacked the massive Gecko Devil into a pile of meat. His katana moved so fast it practically struck sparks. He seemed tireless, his swings only growing faster and more precise—a feat made possible by his Vitality being ten times that of a normal person.
In the eyes of the examiners, this was the martial arts genius they had been searching for for years! His unblinking ruthlessness, breathtaking technique, and unnaturally calm nerves left them utterly shaken.
Even Hayakawa Aki, who already knew Chiya, had a look of pure astonishment. This time, Chiya had displayed a level of physical prowess—muscle strength, sprinting speed, reaction time, endurance, and raw combat skill—that he had never shown before.
The Gecko Devil's screams echoed through the arena, gradually weakening until they finally faded into absolute silence.
[Ding! Host has successfully hunted the "Gecko Devil." Gained 26 Attribute Points!]
While the Gecko Devil was more exhausting to kill than the Toad Devil, its abilities weren't as tricky, making the attribute reward fairly balanced. Chiya then reached into the remains and retrieved the Gun Devil fragment.
The examiners were still dazed; it took a moment before one of them stammered, "A-assessment over!"
Chiya walked out of the blast door. His first question was, "Can we keep this Gun Devil fragment?"
"Of course. You are now members of Tokyo Public Safety. You have the right to hold Gun Devil fragments—just don't lose it," the examiner replied, his voice trembling with lingering excitement.
Hearing this, Chiya casually handed the fragment over to Aki. "I remember you wanted this thing."
Aki froze in shock. "I... yes..."
[Ding! Host has activated the achievement 'Aki's Affinity (Lv.2)'. Gained 4 Attribute Points!]