Denji, carrying Power on his back, used his arm-saws to scramble up the Gluttony Devil's massive, insectoid form. As the devil's thousands of hands were occupied with distant targets, it remained stationary, providing them with a stable—if nauseating—climb toward the wound on its neck.
"Ready? Attack on three!" Denji roared, his excitement spiking.
"No problem! The Great Me has a saw too!" Power manifested a blade of hardened blood, shaped like a serrated saw.
VROOOM-VROOOM!!
The whine of the chainsaws and the visceral sensation of blades biting into flesh quickly drew the devil's attention. The Gluttony Devil tilted its massive head, letting out a roar of pure malice. "Insolent bugs!!"
A portion of the hands that had been attacking Arata whipped around, swiping at Denji and Power.
"Denji, I'll block them! You keep attacking!" Power slashed at her own arms, letting blood flow to harden into shields, hacking away at the incoming limbs.
SLASH! SLASH!!
Limbs rained down like severed branches.
"Stinking bugs! Do you really think you can defeat me??" The Gluttony Devil bellowed, sending even more appendages toward Power.
"Denji, I can't hold them off anymore!"
The situation shifted instantly. Power was forced to abandon her defense, scrambling toward the back of the devil's neck. Denji, having just begun to cut into the wound, was slammed by a tidal wave of flesh. Hundreds of hands converged, wrapping around him like a suffocating shroud.
VROOOOOOM!!!
"Get your filthy hands off me!"
One chainsaw burst through the cocoon of fingers, followed by the second and third. He carved a violent path, shredding the appendages, but the Gluttony Devil only scoffed. "Little bugs... you have some fight in you."
The severed limbs regenerated at terrifying speed, emerging thicker and stronger—each one now as wide as five of the original hands.
BOOM!!!
The massive appendages whipped back, smashing into Denji with enough force to crush rock. He struggled, fighting for every inch, but ultimately, the sheer numbers overwhelmed him. A gargantuan hand snatched him from behind. Power, who had been trying to flee, was similarly ensnared, pinned and immobile.
"Let me go! I'll leave right now, I promise!" Power screamed.
"This time, I'll chew you to bits before I swallow you."
As they were dangled toward the abyss of a mouth, a sudden flash of silver streaked through the air.
SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!!
Shattered mirror shards flew past them, slicing the great hands into ribbons. Arata emerged, surfing on a sleek mirror-board, surrounded by thousands of shards floating like deadly butterflies. With a mere thought, he commanded them to cluster together—Ten Thousand Mirrors Return to Sect.
The shards formed a dragon of glass, spiraling into the Gluttony Devil's head.
SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!!
"AAARGH!!" The devil screamed in agony as its face was shredded into a thousand bloody lines.
"DAMN YOU!!"
The Gluttony Devil's eyes bulged with rage. A metallic sheen crawled over its body, hardening its flesh. Its feet turned snow-white; it had shifted its weak point from its head to its soles.
Arata flicked his finger, guiding the mirror-dragon to dive toward its feet. But the devil was ready; its thousands of hands coalesced into a dense shield.
CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!!!
The mirrors shattered against the barrier of flesh. Just as the devil sneered at Arata's failure, a sharp pain shot through its leg. Looking down, it saw a sea of rats, flies, and mosquitoes swarming its lower body—tearing, biting, and gorging on its blood.
"You possess multiple abilities." The Gluttony Devil actually sounded pleased. It shuddered, and the earth trembled as a black aura crawled over its skin, turning even the thousands of hands jet-black. The devil had entered Invincibility Mode.
Everything about it was now indestructible. Yet, Arata's vermin army didn't stop. Even as their teeth shattered and their bodies burst, they kept gnawing. If their jaws broke, they used their skulls. If their wings tore, they threw their bodies against the devil's skin.
"DIE!!"
The Gluttony Devil inhaled sharply. Every one of the hundreds of mouths on its body opened, creating a vacuum force that acted like a black hole. Everything in the vicinity—the rat army, the flies, the mosquitoes—was incinerated and inhaled in an instant.
"Bad move!!"
Seeing Denji and Power about to be pulled into the vortex, Arata threw up a mirror barrier. The two hit the glass and tumbled into the mirror dimension. Arata followed, sliding in just behind them.
"COWARDS!!!" the Gluttony Devil shrieked.
In the safety of the mirror realm, the three regrouped.
"Master!!"
"Arata, I'm scared." Power surged forward, burying her head in Arata's chest like a tame kitten.
"I never thought I'd hear the fearless Power say she's scared."
Power didn't retort. For the first time, she had instinctively sensed a monster they couldn't possibly beat. Even Arata had retreated into the mirror realm—it was clear this devil was stronger than anything they had ever encountered.
"Master, what now?"
"We wait in the mirror dimension."
"Can't we fight him?"
"The Gluttony Devil is in Invincibility Mode. His body is indestructible, and his hundreds of mouths are black holes. If you get sucked in, even I can't save you."
"Can he absorb you too, Master?"
"I can resurrect, so I'd be fine."
"So we just sit here and wait to die?"
"Relax. Invincibility Mode is a high-drain state; he can't deactivate it at will. We wait until his guard drops, then we strike."
"How long will that take?"
"I need to go out and monitor him. You two stay in the mirrors."
Arata stepped back into reality. The Gluttony Devil was gone. It was rampaging through the city like a kaiju, tearing down buildings to hunt for humans. With its enhanced olfactory senses, no one nearby was safe.
CRASH-CRASH-CRASH!!!
Thousands of hands punched through an apartment complex, dragging out hundreds of people. It tossed them into the air, and they were sucked into its maws like dust. Screams filled the air. Panic erupted as survivors scrambled to flee.
Arata darted through the ruins, rescuing survivors and tossing them into the mirror dimension. He saved over a hundred young women—a regular harem—but Arata had no such thoughts. He had to stop the devil from eating; the more it consumed, the longer it could sustain its Invincibility Mode.
In the distance, sirens wailed. Police cars and Public Safety Devil Hunters were converging on the scene to challenge the monster. For the Gluttony Devil, it wasn't a tactical threat—it was just delivery food arriving at the door.
[Patreon Just got updated dropped chapters till 150 there]
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