Chapter 652: Power: Hahaha, I won!
Himeno stared at Ren with her restored sight, in disbelief.
"My eye... did you do this?"
"This is what I meant by benefits. How is it? Do you like it?"
Ren was like playing with a Barbie doll, fiddling with Reze's hair.
He glanced down at Makima, who was licking his feet, seeing that the tremor in her body was not significant.
So, with a thought, he maximized the two toys he was using on her.
...
Amidst the buzzing sound, Himeno stared fixedly at Ren.
She didn't know how to describe this benefit.
Useful?
After all, it restored her eye to normal.
Useless?
She had long been accustomed to living with one eye.
Makima's almost convulsive and miserable appearance, and Power's 'ooh ooh ooh' struggling on the wall, made Higashiyama Kobeni shrink her head in fear.
She didn't want to become like that. It was best to pretend to be invisible now.
Unfortunately.
"Higashiyama Kobeni."
Ren called her name.
!!!
Higashiyama Kobeni's hair stood on end.
It's over!
It's my turn!
She waited tremblingly for her fate, not daring to resist like Power.
Look how miserable Power was for resisting.
Completely naked and chained to the wall, struggling was useless.
She suspected that Ren would soon make Power choose the torture of a hot poker.
A cold sweat drenched the back of her cheap suit. Kobeni felt like a small animal trapped in a cage with a dozen apex predators. Her mind raced with terrified thoughts, replaying the gruesome fates of her colleagues and the horrors she had witnessed since joining Public Safety.
She curled into a ball on the sofa, trying to make herself as small as possible, her hands clutching her knees so tightly her knuckles turned white.
'Please don't look at me, please don't look at me,' she chanted internally, her breath hitching in her throat.
But the gaze of the man who had tamed the Control Devil was inescapable. It weighed on her like a physical pressure, stripping away her defenses.
"Are you very short on money?"
"Huh?"
Higashiyama Kobeni was stunned.
She looked up in confusion, her tear-filled eyes blinking rapidly. Why ask that question? Was this a trick? Was he going to demand money from her before killing her?
Ren didn't say much more.
He snapped his fingers softly.
The air shimmered in front of Kobeni, and space seemed to fold in on itself.
Then a pile of money appeared in front of Higashiyama Kobeni!
It wasn't just a few bills. It was stacks upon stacks of crisp, bound yen notes. They cascaded onto the low table, forming a small mountain of wealth that Kobeni had only ever seen in movies.
"Hiss! So... so much money!"
Higashiyama Kobeni sprang up, her eyes red with greed.
The fear that had paralyzed her moments ago was momentarily eclipsed by the sheer, blinding allure of currency. Her brain short-circuited. That was enough to pay for her brother's tuition. It was enough to buy a car—a nice one, not one that would get smashed by a Devil. It was enough to move out of her parents' house and never look back.
With all this money, wouldn't she be financially free and able to go to school?
She could eat tasty food every day. She wouldn't have to work this terrifying job anymore.
"How about it? Is this enough to buy you?"
For a moment, she even forgot to listen carefully to Ren.
Her hands hovered over the cash, trembling, wanting to touch it but afraid it might vanish like a mirage. The smell of the ink was intoxicating.
She nodded subconsciously.
"Mm-hmm."
But when she reacted, she was dumbfounded on the spot.
Wait.
What did she just agree to?
"Buy" her?
The realization crashed down on her like a bucket of ice water. She looked from the money to Ren, then to the naked, bound Power, and finally to the submissive Makima.
'I... I just sold myself?'
Her face flushed a deep crimson, her mouth opening and closing like a goldfish, but no sound came out. She wanted to retract her nod, to scream that she had misunderstood, but the avarice in her heart had already signed the contract.
Ren didn't care about that much.
The money had been given, so the transaction was complete.
He finally looked at Reze, who was hugging his leg, and blew a breath towards her face.
It was a breath infused with the power of the Infinite Law, a cleansing wind that swept through the cognitive barriers placed upon her mind.
Then Reze's lifeless eyes slowly regained their luster.
The emerald green returned to her irises, replacing the dull, doll-like haze. She blinked, her long lashes fluttering as consciousness returned.
She had been freed from Makima's control.
The invisible chains that had bound her will, forcing her to be a loyal dog to the Control Devil, shattered into nothingness.
But Reze showed no struggle, confusion, or attempts to act.
A complex expression appeared on her face.
While under control, her body was controlled by Makima.
But the other party had not blocked her perception.
She knew everything that happened outside clearly.
She remembered the fear, the helplessness, the sensation of her body moving against her will. She remembered Ren's arrival, his overwhelming power, and how he had crushed the entity that had enslaved her as easily as crushing an ant.
The person in front of her had eliminated the apocalypse Devil, and was training the Control Devil like a dog.
Now, she herself was just another pet given to the other party by the Control Devil.
...
Sigh.
Resigned to her fate.
Her own destiny seemed to be rotten like this.
Orphaned since childhood, trained as a country's war machine by the Soviet Union. Her body was modified, her childhood stolen, her humanity suppressed to create the perfect weapon.
Sent to assassinate, she possessed the Power of the Bomb Devil. She was a Hybrid, immortal and deadly.
But the assassination failed, and she was then completely controlled by the Control Devil.
She thought she had found a moment of freedom, a fleeting dream of running away with Denji, only to be intercepted by Makima in that alleyway. That was the moment her life truly ended.
Now, she was reduced to a large doll for the Control Devil's master.
It was truly laughable. From one cage to another. From one master to a stronger one. Was this the only purpose of her existence? To be used?
So, Reze resigned herself to fate.
Even with the Bomb Devil's Power, she couldn't defeat the Control Devil. And this man had defeated the Control Devil effortlessly.
Let alone as a normal human.
"Master, what do you need me to do? The same as Makima?"
Reze said something that slightly surprised Ren, and she proactively began to shed her clothes, layer by layer.
Her movements were practiced, efficient, lacking the hesitation of shame. It was the mechanical obedience of a soldier following orders, or perhaps the despair of a woman who knew resistance was futile.
"..."
It seemed like a loyal display of herself.
Ren quietly watched her performance.
He saw the smooth curve of her shoulders, the choker around her neck that served as the trigger for her transformation, and the pale skin that had never known the warmth of a peaceful life.
Until she couldn't keep it up and lowered her head in silence, her hair obscuring her eyes, preventing anyone from seeing her expression.
Her hands trembled slightly as they rested on the clasp of her final garment. A single tear traced a path down her cheek, hidden by the shadows.
It was then that Ren spoke to her for the first time.
"What do you want to do? How about trying a normal, peaceful life?"
"?"
The silent Reze stiffly raised her head.
For the first time, she showed a genuine emotion.
It was curiosity; she wanted to know why Ren said that.
Normal? Peaceful?
Those words were fairy tales to her. Concepts that belonged to other people, not weapons of mass destruction.
Ren merely smiled.
As expected, the spirits of this world had a bit of a problem. They were all broken in their own unique ways.
After peeking into their minds and thoughts, he felt it even more so.
Although there was inner turmoil, her expression was only one of curiosity, and it was a genuine expression.
Though contradictory, it conformed to the mental state of this world.
Ren didn't say anything more, nor did he give her an answer.
Instead, he began to play with his new pet.
He reached out, but instead of demanding service, he pulled her into his lap. His hands were warm, not cold and commanding like Makima's.
Reze was cooperative.
She didn't resist. She melted into his touch, her body betraying the conflict in her mind.
Panting was instinctive.
As his hands roamed, mapping the scars and curves of her body, the soldier melted away, leaving only a woman starved for something other than violence.
Being proactive was also instinctive...
She kissed him back, a desperate, fiery kiss that tasted of gunpowder and longing. It wasn't the kiss of an assassin trying to steal a tongue, but a drowning person gasping for air.
...
"Heh heh... he's gone..."
Power wiped away the stuff from the corner of her mouth and broke the red rope that had her foot dangling high.
The rope snapped under her reinforced strength, dissolving into blood. She landed on the floor with a heavy thud, her limbs trembling from exhaustion and the aftershocks of pleasure.
After putting her leg down, she limped to the sofa.
She was too lazy to care about the sticky feeling, as everything there was sore and aching, and she didn't want to deal with it.
She collapsed onto the sofa like a dead dog.
Her blonde hair was a mess, sticking to her face and neck. She didn't care that her hair had gotten some of the others' stuff on it either.
After catching her breath, she said defiantly, "Haha, I woke up, he was conquered by my beauty."
"..."
Higashiyama Kobeni, who was lying on the ground, rolled her eyes.
She stared at the ceiling, trying to process the last hour of her life.
Who knew who was being stubborn while having a huge waterfall?
Uh.
Noticing water flowing to her hand.
Higashiyama Kobeni twitched her mouth; this was Power's achievement.
Damn it, if she wasn't so tired she couldn't move at all, she wouldn't want to get involved. She just wanted to take a shower and count her money.
Although she had been tormented, she seemed to have gained new superpowers—she felt stronger, faster, her devil contract less burdensome—and lots and lots of money she couldn't spend, so it wasn't a loss!
Just as she was getting happy, imagining the feasts she would buy, she suddenly froze.
A realization struck her, colder than the air conditioning.
"Didn't I join Public Safety Devil Hunters Special Division 4 because I didn't want to be a prostitute? But now... it seems no different from being a prostitute, right?"
She looked at the money on the table. She looked at her disheveled state.
The only difference was between a public bus and a private car.
Hiss!
She really became a prostitute? And Ren's private car?
The thought sent a shiver down her spine, a mix of shame and a strange, twisted relief. At least the pay was better, and the "client" was... undoubtedly handsome and powerful.
"Hmph..."
Himeno, lying naked and spread-eagled on the bed, exhaled a smoke ring.
The smoke curled up towards the ceiling light, dancing in the silent room. She felt a strange sense of clarity she hadn't felt in years. Her eye—her missing eye—was back. The world had depth again.
She was staring at the ceiling, not knowing what she was thinking.
And right beside her, Reze, equally disheveled and sweating profusely, was also staring at the ceiling.
Reze's skin was flushed, her breathing still ragged. The choker on her neck felt lighter, no longer a shackle but just an accessory.
After a long while, Himeno licked the residue from the corner of her mouth and asked in a low voice, "What are you thinking?"
"..."
Reze didn't answer immediately.
Her chest rose and fell, her nipples moving with it. She was trying to grasp the concept Ren had planted in her mind.
After a long time.
A strange glint flashed in her eyes. It was a spark of something she hadn't felt since she was a child in the training camps. Hope? Or perhaps, ambition.
"I'm wondering if I should obey Master's command to live a normal life."
"..."
This guy called him "Master" more often than she did.
Himeno merely glanced at her and then paid her no more attention. Everyone had their own coping mechanisms.
It was Makima, calmly taking out what Ren had put inside her from the table not far away, that amused her.
The Control Devil, the entity that terrorized governments and devils alike, was cleaning herself up with the docile obedience of a housebroken pet. Her golden eyes were vacant, devoid of their usual scheming light.
Heh heh, this was the Control Devil, a guy completely controlled by others.
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