Narrator POV.
"Why did you save me?" Power asked in a low voice. "I tried to kill you."
Power was curled up in a fetal position, tightly hugging the black cage where her cat, Nyako, was, as if it were the only stable thing in that place. She slowly turned her head to look at Denji—already back to normal, shirtless, and still marked from the fight—and at Isagi, who was staring at her with obvious boredom.
"Well, if I let you die during work hours, Makima would blame me," Isagi replied with a shrug, completely honest. "And honestly… that woman kinda scares me."
Denji, meanwhile, slowly raised his hand and repeatedly opened and closed his fingers, as if he were squeezing something invisible.
Isagi glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
"Secret hand signals? Don't know 'em," he muttered before turning away. His eyes landed on the bat devil's corpse. He wrinkled his nose immediately. "Ugh… it smells nasty."
Though, considering the guts scattered all over the floor, the blood everywhere, and the general mess, the smell was probably the least important part of the scene.
Power rolled her eyes and returned her attention to Nyako, gently stroking the cage.
"What a stupid reason," she snorted. "Humans go crazy over a couple lumps of meat."
Nyako let out a soft meow from inside the cage, as if he completely agreed with his owner.
"Hey, don't lump me in with that crowd," Isagi said with a faint smile as he casually sat down on one of the devil's intestines, using it like an improvised bench.
Denji copied him and dropped onto another one, letting out a long, irritated sigh.
"I transformed for nothing… I just bled out for no reason."
Both teenagers were disturbingly comfortable, sitting on demon remains like it was the most normal thing in the world. After all the madness, screaming, and chaotic action, that strange moment of calm was almost… relaxing.
Silence took over the area for a moment.
The adrenaline slowly began to fade, and the chaos of battle was left behind, replaced by heavy exhaustion and an awkward calm.
"Sorry for lying to you."
Power's voice broke the silence.
Surprisingly, she was apologizing… and she sounded, even if only a little, sincere. Now that she had her cat back, her attitude had softened; the possessive arrogance that defined her had cracked, revealing something more vulnerable underneath.
Isagi tapped his fingers against his knee, listening without saying anything.
When he saw the cat inside the cage, he let out an almost imperceptible sigh. He'd always had a slight weakness for animals, especially dogs and cats. Even if he usually moved for rewards and benefits, that didn't mean he was some mindless devil-killing machine without a conscience.
"It's fine… but don't let it happen again," Isagi finally said. He watched her for a few more seconds before adding casually, "Well, since we're apologizing… I might regret using Denji as an offering. Maybe."
"I don't want your apology, asshole," Denji growled, gritting his teeth as he remembered the moment the bat devil nearly squeezed him like fruit. "That thing squeezed me down to my kidneys."
"Gonna cry?" Isagi smirked. "You can't handle anything. Damn glass generation…"
SMACK!
A chunk of intestine flew through the air and slapped Isagi right in the face. Denji had thrown it without warning, clearly just to shut him up. Isagi's amused expression vanished instantly, his face now smeared with blood and demon gore, completely serious.
"You just bought yourself a ticket."
Without another word, Isagi grabbed a handful of flesh and blood from the ground and hurled it at Denji. And just like that, with absolutely zero dignity or logic, it turned into an extremely disturbing version of a snowball fight… made of demon guts, meat, and blood.
Flesh and blood flew back and forth.
Power watched the scene with a stunned expression as both of them acted out a twisted version of a snowball war. With one particularly accurate throw, Isagi nailed Denji straight in the mouth, and Denji immediately started spitting, cursing the horrible taste that had crawled down his throat.
"Ugh! It tastes like death!"
"Well, now that Nyako is safe," Power raised her voice, grabbing both their attention. They stopped almost instantly. "The winner has already been decided. Isagi will get the reward."
She said it firmly. Annoying or not, Power kept her promises.
"Oh! I don't want it," Isagi said, wiping blood off his face with the back of his hand. "With my infinite humility, I'll hand the reward over to Denji."
He pointed at the blond. Denji lifted his head sharply, surprised.
"Seriously?"
"Hell yeah. Enjoy it."
Denji inhaled a huge breath of air, like he'd just received the best news of his life. His view of Isagi changed instantly.
"I forgive you for everything, Isagi."
And just like that, men solved their differences: one moment they were insulting each other and hating each other, and the next they were forgiving each other. Typical guy stuff.
SPLAT!
A wet, sharp sound broke the moment. Denji's arm was suddenly pierced by something pointed. With one brutal yank, it was ripped clean off.
"AAAAH!"
Denji instinctively grabbed his shoulder and staggered. The attack had been too fast, too sudden to react in time.
"Fuck… that hurts!" he screamed, teeth clenched.
His legs wouldn't respond anymore. The accumulated exhaustion, blood loss, and battle damage hit him all at once. He was on the edge of severe anemia.
Finally, he collapsed to the ground, unable to stay standing.
Isagi immediately turned around, annoyed, searching for whoever had ruined the moment. And as expected…
Another devil.
The creature was large, wrinkled, and disgusting. It moved on four deformed legs, while two long tentacle-like arms jutted out of its torso. The limbs ended in circular holes—wet and pulsing—like leech mouths.
Its face had no eyes or nose. It was one single massive mouth, stretched wide open, with thick square teeth packed tightly together. Its entire body was covered in dark, blackish, slimy tones, like a leech.
To make it worse, it had long black hair falling down its back, and three pairs of fleshy glands—similar to udders—hanging from its torso.
Isagi immediately covered his mouth. His cheeks puffed up like he was about to throw up, disgust hitting him full force. It took him a few seconds—he breathed in deeply… and managed to compose himself, lowering his arms to his sides.
"If being ugly was a crime, you'd get the death penalty," he said with absolute seriousness.
He had seen plenty of devils since arriving in this world, but this one, without a doubt, ranked number one on his personal list of the most horrifying things he'd ever witnessed.
"Power, can you move?" he asked without taking his eyes off the creature.
"Not even a finger, rascal…" she replied with a crooked smile. "But if you give me some of your blood, I could recover." She licked her lips with intent.
Isagi pretended not to hear her. He didn't like injuring himself just to donate blood… and besides, doing it in front of that devil would probably drive it insane and make it lunge at them like a starving beast.
"Damn… first they squeeze me like a lemon and now they eat my arm," Denji growled, gritting his teeth as he forced himself back up. "What a shitty day." Even so, he refused to give up. With a pained grimace, he pulled the cord hanging from his chest again. This time, he barely managed to produce a small chainsaw from his forehead. "My chainsaws won't come out…" he muttered in resignation. "I don't have enough blood."
He released the cord. Blood ran down his face, dripping onto the ground in small drops, while the tiny chainsaw didn't even spin.
Peace in this world was temporary. It seemed like relaxing was a luxury here. Isagi and Denji stared at the disgusting devil—
The Leech Devil.
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End of the chapter.