"Himeno-senpai, you know about the Poppy Devil too?" Tsurugi suddenly asked, clearly having heard of it as well.
"During a get-together, I heard Master Kishibe mention the Poppy Devil while telling stories from the past. You know about it too, Tsurugi?"
"I studied in Dragon Country for a while. I heard my master, Quanxi, talk about the Poppy Devil. The Poppy Devil back then could control hundreds of people to fight for it simultaneously. And every single one of them was incredibly fierce. Even a controlled ordinary person could fight my master for several rounds."
"And according to my master, the Poppy Devil can even control other devils. It took over ten top-tier Devil Hunters joining forces to finally subdue it back then."
"That's way too strong! A devil that can control other devils?!" Denji exclaimed in shock.
"The Poppy Devil relies on mental attacks. Once an opponent's mental fortitude slips, they naturally get controlled. Moreover, the stronger the devil it controls, the more mental energy the Poppy Devil consumes, which drastically reduces the total number of targets it can control."
"For example, it might originally be able to control 100 ordinary people, but if it controls a powerful devil, the number of ordinary people it can control drops to 10."
Arata rattled off intel that the others had absolutely no clue about in one breath. This deepened everyone's impression of the Poppy Devil.
"Arata, you've heard of the Poppy Devil too?" Himeno cast him a curious look. She felt like Arata somehow knew everything.
"Because I've visited the Cosmos Devil's library. Naturally, I know a lot."
"The Cosmos Devil? What's the cosmos?" Denji scratched his head and asked.
"The Cosmos Devil? Don't tell me... you're that man who sparred with Master Quanxi?" Tsurugi suddenly thought of something. He had heard Quanxi mention a very strange man who sparred with her just to find the Cosmos Devil.
The price of winning was commandeering Quanxi's girlfriend, the Cosmos Devil, for a period of time. And that battle left such a lasting impression on Quanxi that she would constantly bring it up to others whenever she drank.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but I definitely know more than you guys do."
"Alright, let's stop talking about this Poppy Devil for now. Let's head out. The people outside have definitely been waiting for a long time." Aki Hayakawa said, stepping outside after taking photos of the scene.
"Sure, let's leave first. We'll leave the crime scene investigation to Noriyuki Natsume."
With that, the group left the room full of skeletons. Kobeni and Arai bolted to the front, terrified of being the ones left at the very back.
"Captain, they're coming out," the officer standing guard outside immediately warned upon seeing the group emerge.
"Oh no, the people from Division 4 are coming out too!!"
Arai and Kobeni, leading the pack for Division 4, ran out of the hotel. The captain was instantly on high alert. He turned and ordered his officers to block the road.
"Captain, should we make a move?"
"Wait a bit longer."
Shortly after, the members of Division 3 also appeared.
Seeing the captain overly tense and the surrounding officers fully armed, Tsurugi called out, "No need to worry. These people aren't devils. They are the members of Division 4 who went missing and came back."
The police captain instantly relaxed and signaled the other officers to stand down.
"Thank goodness, you're all still alive." The captain stepped forward to greet the group. "It must have been you guys from Division 3 who rescued them, right?"
"No, we arrived too late. The people from Division 4 had already killed the devil inside the hotel."
"They killed the devil? But why did they suddenly disappear?"
"Your job is just to evacuate the civilians. Don't ask questions about other matters." Tsurugi blocked the captain's curiosity with a single sentence.
"Let go of me!!"
A loud shout from Power at the very back caught the police captain's attention again.
"Is the one in the back a devil captured during this operation?"
"She's not." After saying that, Tsurugi ignored him and led the members of Division 3 aside.
"Don't be alarmed. She's a bit emotionally unstable because she saw something she shouldn't have," Arata explained.
"Saw what?"
"The 20 hostages inside are all dead."
"What!! They're all dead?!"
"That's right. We didn't want this to happen either, but there was definitely more than one devil in this hotel." Himeno sighed, feeling truly helpless.
She knew this news would be a heavy blow to the victims' families. In her heart, she swore to make the Poppy Devil pay.
"Himeno-senpai, we're heading out now." Tenten waved at Himeno before getting into the car.
The two squads waved goodbye to each other.
"Let's hurry back and report to Miss Makima. She must be worried about us."
The six of them split up into the cars. Power was sandwiched between Aki Hayakawa and Denji in one car. Kobeni, Arai, and Himeno sat in the Mercedes.
A while later, the two cars arrived at the Public Safety Devil Hunter Headquarters simultaneously.
"Aki, lock Power in a holding cell for now. We'll let her out once she's recovered."
"No! The great me doesn't want to stay in a cell!"
"Then do you want to eat an apple?" Arata placed an apple on his palm and held it right in front of Power's eyes.
"Hurry up and shove it into the great me's mouth!!" Power roared excitedly.
"Send her in. Keep her there until she loses interest in the apples."
"No!!"
Amidst her continuous screaming, Power was forcibly dragged into the holding cell by Aki Hayakawa and Denji.
As they passed the cellblocks, many prisoners peeked their heads out to look.
"It's a woman!"
"Nice looking ass."
"Don't just look at her ass, look at the top of her head. She's clearly a Fiend!"
"Ah, a Fiend!!" The prisoners noticed the horns on Power's head. Their lust instantly curdled into fear.
"What are you doing? Why are you locking a Fiend in here?"
"She's just a special case."
"No way, that's too dangerous! What if she eats us?"
"As long as you keep quiet, she won't eat anyone," Denji said.
"Give the great me an apple! Otherwise, I'll eat everyone in here!"
Power struggled violently. That one sentence terrified the prisoners so much they immediately regretted ever committing crimes.
And to prevent Power from breaking free, the Spider Devil Peter had specifically wrapped her in over a dozen extra layers of spider webs. As a result, no matter how hard Power tried, she couldn't break loose. She was locked in a solitary cell.
Meanwhile, Himeno had already reported everything that happened at the Morino Hotel to Makima.
During the conversation, Makima asked about Arata multiple times. She learned that Arata could astral project and that his blade-drawing speed was invisible to the naked eye. However, Himeno did not report the part about him having read the Cosmos Devil's library.
"Thank you for your hard work. Since you don't have any missions right now, go home and rest," Makima said amiably.
"Miss Makima, do you know about the Poppy Devil?"
"I do. Why?"
Himeno told Makima everything about Power's situation in detail.
Makima listened, then fell into deep, meaningful thought.
"Since she's being controlled, let's kill Power."
"Kill Power?! Miss Makima, I think we should wait a bit longer. Maybe Power will be fine." Himeno immediately pleaded on Power's behalf.
"Himeno, you're actually pleading for a Fiend?"
"Even though Power is a Fiend, she still has strategic value. Plus, we bear some responsibility for her getting controlled. It wouldn't be right to just kill her abruptly, would it?"
"Then I'll give Power three days. If she still hasn't recovered by then, I will kill her."