Pov Narrator.
Location: The house of the now hard-working Isagi Fushiguro, a.k.a. the highest-quality Devil Hunter.
"Brain power!" Isagi placed his index and ring fingers near his forehead while opening his mouth.
Using his new Governor's Hand ability, he made a slice of pizza float, focusing solely on guiding it directly into his mouth.
Although he looked like it was taking an incredible amount of effort, he was honestly just exaggerating for pure dramatic effect. When the slice finally reached him, he took a huge bite with an expression of absolute satisfaction.
"This is amazing. Now I'll finally be able to do things without having to get up, reducing effort and maximizing efficiency." He smiled as a can of soda also slowly floated toward him.
The can popped open by itself with a soft click and landed perfectly in his hand, as if every movement had been carefully calculated. Wasn't it a waste to use that ability for things he could easily do by simply getting up? No.
Isagi was perfectly fine with that. In fact, he had once tried using Blood Manipulation for everyday tasks... It hadn't gone very well. After cleaning up the disaster caused by that brilliant idea, he decided it was better to save that ability for combat and leave telekinesis for satisfying his laziness.
Anyway, Isagi turned his attention back to what was lying on the table in front of him. A huge white sheet covered with badly drawn sketches of his Shikigami, himself, and Mahoraga. There were arrows everywhere, circles, crossed-out notes, and annotations written in rather questionable handwriting, making it look like the blueprint of a completely unhinged scientist.
At the top stood out a huge title written in large letters: "The Plan to Defeat Panty-Wetter and Hit Him with a Doesn't Adapt."
"Hahaha, I really cooked with this name. I'm amazing at naming things." he said between laughs as he admired his magnificent work of art with completely unjustified pride. "Alright, the original idea was to spam Mahoraga with explosive rabbits, each one loaded with my full supply of cursed energy. I was thinking about using ten, but now I'm up to eleven." Isagi muttered, much more thoughtful than usual, since what he was planning could also get him killed if something went wrong.
Holding a pencil in his hand, he crossed the first item off the list of resources he needed to prepare for his confrontation against the strongest Shikigami of the Ten Shadows.
"I was also thinking of using the Rewind Gift to cancel out his adaptation, or at least delay it in case one of my attacks misses and he doesn't become immune to it." Isagi tapped his chin a few times with his index finger. It was one of the few times he had ever prepared this thoroughly to face an enemy. "Besides using Round Deer. Its positive energy destabilizes the target's cursed energy, so that could also interfere with Mahoraga's adaptation."
He crossed off two more options on his list. So far, his plan was beginning to take shape. He was focusing all of his preparations on countering Mahoraga's greatest threat: his absurd ability to adapt. If he could stop it, even for just a few moments, or delay it long enough to land a decisive attack, his chances of successfully completing the Purification Ritual would increase considerably.
"I'm also stealing the bull idea I saw in a failed Peruvian's video."
In short, the idea was to take advantage of the Bull Shikigami's ability to continuously build up force and impact while charging without stopping. All he had to do was let it run far enough so that, by the time it rammed into its target, it would unleash all of that accumulated energy in a single strike.
With a little luck... Mahoraga would end up completely disintegrated from a single hit, just like Saitama.
But there was one problem with this last option, and that was that the Piercing Ox could only accumulate that damage while running in a perfectly straight line. If it deviated even slightly, its damage accumulation ability would stop working, and all the momentum it had built up would be lost.
And unless he planned an entire route stretching several kilometers, that last idea wouldn't work the way he wanted, since the Piercing Ox wouldn't be able to accumulate enough force if it had to change direction before reaching Mahoraga.
"Besides, I'd also have to calculate Mahoraga's spawn timing, the speed the Ox would run at, how long it'd take to arrive, plus other things like exactly what second I'd have to begin the summoning, how many meters away I'd have to do it, and..." Isagi's voice gradually faded away as he continued imagining calculation after calculation.
His head was already starting to hurt. He could've sworn smoke was even coming out of the top of it. His brain was overheating from the sheer number of calculations.
He had never been good at math, and now he had to calculate trajectories, timing, speeds, distances, and even whether a simple gust of wind could alter the trajectory just enough to ruin the entire plan.
He suddenly collapsed face-first onto the table. His eyes began spinning like spirals as he remained completely motionless.
"I'm already regretting trying to purify Mahoraga. I should've worked on my Domain Expansion instead..." Suddenly, his eyes flew open. "Speaking of which, I completely forgot about that until now." He remained perfectly still for several seconds. An awkward silence filled the room. "HOW THE HELL DID I FORGET RYŌIKI TENKAI?!"
Isagi jerked his head up with an expression of absolute horror, as if he had just remembered leaving the stove on before walking out of the house.
He had spent all that time creating an absurdly complicated plan to defeat Mahoraga...
And he had completely forgotten about one of the most important trump cards he could possibly develop.
"Well, whatever. I've already got almost everything ready for the day of the Divine General Mahoraga's Purification Ritual, no way in hell I'm backing out now." Isagi slapped both of his cheeks a couple of times to psych himself up.
Although, honestly, it would've been pretty damn awesome to work on Domain Expansion first. That way he could farm aura during battles. Uhhhh... Just imagining it. Standing in the middle of a fight, slowly raising his hand and calmly saying:
"Ryōiki Tenkai: Chimera Shadow Garden."
Just thinking about it gave him goosebumps. But... what could possibly be cooler than having a Domain? Summoning Mahoraga. He would be the ultimate henchman for Isagi. He could save him from an enormous number of fights, and on top of that, his monstrous adaptability would be an incredibly useful tool for dealing with all the problems that would surely appear in the future.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Isagi looked up from his plans, covered in terrible drawings, arrows, and notes scribbled all over the place, when he heard the familiar sound of someone knocking on the door.
He frowned slightly. He didn't remember inviting anyone over. In fact, he wasn't even sure anyone knew where he lived.
"Who is it? If you're a salesman, screw you. And if you're not... well, screw you too." Isagi said, since he had never liked unexpected visitors.
From the other side of the door came a gentle voice that Isagi recognized almost instantly.
"It's me, Makima. I came by because I need to discuss a couple of things. May I come in?"
The moment he heard that name, Isagi's relaxed expression disappeared for an instant. He stared at the door in silence. He hadn't expected to see her there. Especially not after everything that had happened the previous day.
"Huh? Sure, the door's open." Isagi replied as he quickly stored his poorly drawn plans inside the system inventory so Makima wouldn't see them.
As soon as they disappeared from sight, he let out a small sigh of relief; it still wasn't the right time for anyone else to discover what he was working on.
The door slowly opened, revealing Makima standing in the doorway. She stepped inside, calmly closing the door behind her with her usual composed demeanor. Her expression remained serene and impossible to read, as though she were completely comfortable walking into someone else's home.
Isagi got up from his seat and closed the now-empty pizza box; this god-sculpted body needed plenty of food. Even so, he didn't take his eyes off the redhead for even a second.
"What are you doing in my house? First of all, how the hell do you know where I live?" Isagi raised an eyebrow. It was already unsettling that she knew so much about him; apparently, killing every rat he saw hadn't accomplished much.
Makima didn't answer immediately and took a seat on the largest sofa. She took her time getting comfortable and, with a small smile, looked at Isagi, who was dressed casually: a loose black shirt and equally loose pants.
Her golden eyes watched him with the same calm as always, silently analyzing him for several seconds before finally deciding to speak, as if she enjoyed maintaining that small tension between them.
"Well, I'd like to ask you for a small favor. After the recent attack on Public Safety, I've realized that, aside from you, everyone is rather weak." Makima let out a small sigh as she rested her chin on her hand, never losing that faint smile on her face. "Do you think you could help me, Isagi? As my friend, asking for your help should be perfectly normal."
"Well, I guess so, but it depends on what it is. What's the job? Because if it's work, I'm in without hesitation. Ahhh, work." Isagi said with a grin as he sat down across from Makima.
His hardworking side had already activated at the mere thought of a job. He rested one arm on the back of the sofa and looked at her curiously, wondering what kind of work she could possibly offer him this time.
"You seem to get along very well with Power, and more importantly, she listens to you far more than she listens to anyone else. So I was thinking you could teach her how to use her powers better." Makima pointed out as she sat up a little straighter on the sofa, never taking her eyes off him. "Your Blood Manipulation is far more refined than Power's, so I thought it would be a good idea to put her under your supervision. I was planning to send her along with Denji to an old acquaintance who agreed to take them in, but then I remembered you. What do you say, Isagi? Will you accept this job?"
Makima tilted her head slightly and gave him a gentle smile, patiently waiting for his answer as she always did. She didn't seem to be in any hurry; she simply remained there, watching him with those golden eyes that conveyed an unsettling sense of calm.
As for Isagi, he rubbed his chin because, in fact, Power had been constantly bugging him to teach her how to do the things he could, like Choso's Piercing Blood or the way he controlled blood that had already been spilled. The fiend seemed convinced that if she kept insisting long enough, he would eventually give in.
"You're tempting me, you're tempting me. Will there be an extra bonus for taking on the role of teacher?"
"Mmm, I'm not sure, but I suppose so. The goal is to strengthen the Fourth Special Division, and if they perform well, then you could receive a nice performance bonus." Makima replied as naturally as if she were talking about something of little importance.
By now, she already knew and had learned that as long as money was involved, Isagi would accept the job—"work," or "chamba," as he always called it.
"Say no more! Power's IQ of 25 will learn from the best. That bonus will pay for my daily eggs, my creatine, and my horse race bets." Isagi shot to his feet the moment he heard there would be a bonus. His eyes seemed to light up for an instant, and a huge grin spread across his face.
Clearly, that was the part of the offer that had caught his attention the most. He needed that money for betting. I mean, I mean... to invest it in hardworking... hardworking racehorses. He was going to double his money.
Or lose it, like he usually did. But this time would be different, or at least that's what he wanted to believe. First he'd set aside some money for his eggs and creatine; he wasn't going to make the mistake of only budgeting for eggs again. He had learned his lesson... more or less.
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End of the chapter.