"No!!"
"We can't lose a single person in our squad."
Aki Hayakawa gripped his longsword, preparing to enact his curse.
But suddenly, someone patted his shoulder.
"I told you, young people shouldn't just throw their lives away so casually. After all, you still have a lot of things you need to witness."
Aki Hayakawa whipped his head around. When he saw the person standing behind him, his pupils instantly dilated.
"You're... alive."
"Alive? I never died to begin with. I just went out to find you guys some food."
Arata pulled Aki back into the safe room.
Then, Arata himself stepped over the windowsill and into the room where the Eternity Devil was.
"I'll save my own apprentice. I don't need anyone else's help."
As soon as he spoke, Arata rapidly transformed into the Dream Devil, Freddy.
His body color shifted from pale to a dark shade.
His tender skin became incredibly rough and coarse.
Bulging veins crawled across his arms and thighs like earthworms.
The sharp bladed claws on his hands grew even longer than the last time.
Furthermore, the lower edge of the blades was now serrated.
Making it much easier to slice through chunks of meat.
Swish!!
With a blur of motion.
Arata suddenly appeared right in front of the Eternity Devil.
His speed was so fast that the human eye couldn't capture a single one of his movements.
In just a few seconds, the limbs binding Denji were chopped to pieces and fell to the floor.
"Good apprentice, leave the rest to your master."
Arata caught the falling Denji.
He turned and tossed him out the window to Aki Hayakawa.
Then, transformed as a devil, he hacked straight into the Eternity Devil's body.
Instantly, the Eternity Devil's agonizing screams echoed relentlessly throughout the room.
"It hurts!!"
"Stop it right now!!!"
"Sorry, but I can't stop at all."
Arata grinned, flashing his teeth.
His entire body was drenched in the Eternity Devil's blood.
At the same time, severed limbs continuously piled up around him.
"Ah!!!"
Overwhelmed by the pain, the Eternity Devil desperately tried to flee outward.
Arata could have pressed his advantage and chased it down until it surrendered its heart.
But he didn't. Instead, he stood in place and watched the Eternity Devil run away.
"You let him get away?" Himeno had been watching the fierce battle from outside the window the entire time.
In her eyes, all she could see were the Eternity Devil's limbs flying everywhere.
She couldn't catch a single glimpse of Arata swinging his claws.
That kind of speed was something even a veteran like Himeno couldn't comprehend.
"Yeah. After all, he's basically free EXP for Denji to farm."
Arata laughed as he returned to the room where Himeno and the others were.
Everyone's attention was locked onto him.
"Where did you go just now?" Himeno asked.
"My soul left, but my body stayed behind."
"You... you can astral project?!" Arai had heard Himeno say Arata was strong, but he never expected him to be this strong.
"You're way too powerful. You can't even be called a rookie, you're practically our savior." The previously despondent Arai finally revealed a smile.
Beside him, Kobeni's emotions had also stabilized considerably due to Arata's appearance.
Both of them were looking at Arata with eyes full of absolute admiration.
Arata completely ignored their stares and praises, walking straight over to Denji and asking, "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I was just worried about you, Master."
"Worried I wouldn't come back?"
"Yeah. After all, aside from Miss Makima, you're the person I care about most."
"Fuck, it would've been fine if you just left out that first part."
"The great me is the one who cares about you the most here." Power stepped forward and gave Arata a tight hug.
"Alright, you talk the most nonsense out of everyone." Arata pushed Power away and set down his bulging backpack.
"You actually brought stuff back?"
"What else would I go out for? Of course it was to bring back food."
Arata unzipped the backpack and pulled out a massive box of sushi.
Everyone's eyes tracked the sushi box in Arata's hands, moving up and down.
Drool was already pooling at the corners of their mouths.
"Arata, you are the absolute best!" Himeno threw her arms around the crouching Arata.
Her soft assets pressed tightly against his head.
"Get off! Are you trying to suffocate me?"
Arata shoved her away and added, "This is the sushi I made with Satomi Ishihara. I have other stuff too..."
Saying that, he reached back into the bag and pulled out a large bento box. "This is the eel rice bowl I made with Kanna Hashimoto. A guy named Taishi Nakagawa was also there helping out."
"And this is the mochi I made with Asuka Saito."
"Wow, so much food." Himeno rubbed her flat stomach, looking incredibly excited.
Just a moment ago, they were agonizing over starvation.
Now, they were all waiting like beggars for Arata to hand out meals.
"Master, I want to eat the eel rice."
"No problem, all of this is yours." Arata handed the eel bento directly to Denji.
"The great me wants to eat mochi, and I want you to feed it to me."
"You don't get to eat."
"Wait, wait, wait, I was just joking! Just give me a little bit of mochi."
"Seeing how pitiful you look, I'll give you half."
"Ah, only half?!"
"Wipe the chocolate off your mouth first. I'm guessing you ate everyone else's rations."
"Move aside, Power, you're lucky you're getting anything." Himeno pushed Power away and rushed to the front. "Arata, Aki and I just need some sushi, we don't need too much."
"Take this whole box of sushi. Since I wasn't around, you guys must have been working the hardest."
"Thank you, Arata-kun." Himeno took the sushi box, her face blooming into a huge smile. "Aki, let's go over there and eat."
"Bro Arata." Right then, Arai walked over with an awkward smile, bringing Kobeni along behind him.
"What do you want?"
"Could you... give us a little bit of food?"
"Sorry, I'm all out."
"All out!!!" Arai instantly froze.
"Yeah, it's gone. You guys can wait a bit longer."
"But we're already starving," Arai looked like he was about to cry.
"If you're hungry, just endure it."
Arata ignored the two of them, keeping his head down as he packed up his bag.
Seeing that Arata really didn't have any food left, the two of them slumped powerlessly against the wall, sitting back-to-back on the floor.
Clutching their growling stomachs, they stared blankly at the ceiling.
The joyful expressions they had just a moment ago instantly melted back into despair.
"Here, eat mine. I can't finish it all."
Just then, half a box of eel rice was offered right in front of Arai.
"Denji... you..." Arai stared at the half-box of eel rice in utter shock. He never expected Denji to actually share his food with him.
"What are you looking at? Hurry up and eat. You and Kobeni can share it," Denji said generously.
His voice didn't carry a single trace of resentment toward Arai.
At that moment, an overwhelming wave of guilt surged within Arai's heart.
He raised a trembling hand to take the eel rice.
But suddenly, he leaned forward, throwing himself prostrate on the floor, and cried out, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry, Denji! I'm a useless piece of trash!"
Seeing this, Kobeni behind him also dropped to her knees and bowed her head to the floor. "Denji-kun, please forgive us! I'll do whatever you want, you can hit me or scold me however you like!"
The two of them suddenly apologizing caught Denji completely off guard.
"Get up, the great me forgives you."
At that moment, Power stood right in front of the two of them, happily munching on her mochi.
Enjoying the groveling and apologies directed at her as if she were the victim.
"Power, piss off to the side." Arata yelled. Power rolled her eyes and stepped away.
"You don't need to apologize. I understand why you did it. If I were in your shoes, I might have done the exact same thing. But at the end of the day, we are comrades, we need to help each other out moving forward."
Denji stepped up and helped the two of them to their feet.
They kept their heads down, completely too ashamed to meet Denji's eyes.
"Kobeni, I have some sushi here for you. Let Arai-kun have the eel rice," Himeno handed her bento over to Kobeni.
The comrades actively sharing with one another made the atmosphere in the room significantly more harmonious.
"No need for that. Actually, I also made two pork rice bentos with Nana Komatsu."
Saying that, Arata pulled two exquisitely crafted bento boxes out of his backpack.
This immediately sent Himeno into a fit of raging jealousy. "Say, Arata-kun... you sure seem to know a lot of women!"