Chapter 226: The Power of All
A week went by.
The new installment of Chainsaw Man arrived.
As a loyal fan, Kenji Tanaka went to the usual newsstand after work, as always.
"Uncle! The usual! Give me a copy of Akatsuki magazine!" Kenji Tanaka told the newsstand owner.
"Alright, no problem!"
The newsstand owner, with great skill, once again found a copy of the latest issue of Akatsuki magazine and handed it to Kenji Tanaka.
"Young man, you're still unwavering," he said with some emotion. "But it seems this manga magazine is very popular lately. It usually sells out over a weekend, and there are still kids who keep coming to ask me for it."
"Yes, this magazine is really very popular lately," Kenji Tanaka nodded.
After the serialization of the immensely popular short novel Edgerunners, recent Akatsuki manga have once again featured two popular long-form manga.
The Gods and Chainsaw Man! Of these two works, Chainsaw Man, the second masterpiece by the rookie mangaka Ren, after the success of Edgerunners, naturally attracted more attention at the beginning.
Even in the first week of Chainsaw Man's serialization, it ranked among the top five most popular manga of the week.
This shows that everyone's expectations for Chainsaw Man were full.
However, The Gods was not the favorite at first. It went from being a work that no one appreciated to the third most popular, overshadowing Chainsaw Man.
Just like the protagonist of The Gods, Hiroki, who went from being a poor and ordinary boy, generally ignored, to a level "S" hybrid that everyone paid attention to among the monsters! And it turns out that the context of the gods in The Gods corresponds to that of the devils in the worldview of Chainsaw Man.
So everyone, jokingly, calls the competition between The Gods and Chainsaw Man, including the competition between fan groups, the battle between gods and devils.
But the competition between the two popular manga has boosted the sales of manga magazines.
Although Akatsuki magazine is a leader in the manga industry, its sales are already very good. But who would think they aren't enough? Furthermore, the Republic has a market of over a billion. Unless sales exceed a billion, there is still room for improvement.
"Then I'll buy more products next time," said the newsstand owner with a smile.
"I wish your business prosperity, uncle!" Kenji Tanaka smiled, congratulating him, and then took the magazine home.
After taking a can of Coke from the refrigerator, he sat in his room and opened it.
He first went to read this week's serialization of Chainsaw Man.
This time, a new force appeared in the picture.
In a world of ice and snow, a man and a woman were chasing foxes in the wild with bows and arrows.
"Master, what does it mean to hunt foxes?" the man asked the woman.
"Torik, do you feel as if you've ended a life?" the woman asked beside him.
"Well... I just felt the vibration of the bowstring," the man replied at that moment.
"Really?" the woman with several moles on her face asked meaningfully.
Then, the fox that appeared in the picture disappeared in an instant, was shot, and fell into a pool of blood.
"Torik, do you feel as if you've ended a life?" the woman asked again this time.
"We need it at home, so we peel off its skin," the man replied calmly. "There's no special feeling...".
Then, the man stewed the fox meat.
In the warm house, the woman continued to ask, "Torik, do you feel as if you've killed the fox?".
"No," Torik replied sincerely this time.
"Really?" the woman then said. "Torik, our mission this time is not to be devil hunters... We're going to kill this 16-year-old boy."
She took out Denji's photo and showed it to Torik.
"Well, I have no problem."
Torik was still looking at the photo without any emotion and asked, "Another enemy? But where is this? Ice and snow... Is it Russia?".
Kenji Tanaka looked at the manga's plot and, with a flash of insight, said:
"Torik, what we did to the fox must be done to this 16-year-old boy," the woman said, looking at Torik without expression.
But this time Torik was a little moved.
Because this time he hadn't killed a fox, but a... human.
The woman then said mercilessly, "Kill him."
"Take out his heart."
"This is what we do for a living."
The flayed fox appeared on the screen, indicating that Torik's next job would be the same.
Only that the target would become human.
That's why the woman asked Torik if he felt anything.
On the manga screen, after a long silence visible to the naked eye, the man finally said, "Master, I can."
At the same time, with Torik's next voice, he added:
"The higher-ups have agreed."
"As long as you complete this mission, the Master will no longer need to be a devil hunter...".
"The Master only has six months of life left."
"I hope the Master can spend the rest of her life in peace."
So that's it...
Kenji Tanaka immediately understood that devil hunters are people who use themselves to make a pact with devils to fight.
The woman in front of him, whom Torik called Master, was basically the same as Aki Hayakawa.
To fight the devil, she also made too many deals with him, and in the end, she only had half of her life left.
The scene suddenly changed to a street with a traditional flower-growing culture.
It had a touch of the legacy of the previous dynasty.
Then a scene appeared that shocked Kenji Tanaka. On a large bed, five women were embracing.
But they didn't look like normal people, and they all looked very strange.
The woman in the middle had short, silver-white hair and a patch over her right eye.
She was exactly the same as... the deceased senior Himeno.
"Halloween, Halloween!"
"Quanxi is amazing!"
At that moment, a pale, zombie-like person, dressed in the clothes of an official from the previous dynasty, appeared in front of her bed with a photo.
"Here comes the job: go to Tokyo and catch that chainsaw man," he said.
"What's the benefit?" asked the woman named Quanxi.
"This mission is the most dangerous so far."
Hearing this, the official said, "The Marshal said he would do everything possible to satisfy your wishes."
Quanxi immediately told the women beside her, "Ladies, tell me your wishes."
"Awesome!".
"I want 100 donuts!" said the dark gray-haired girl with a smile. If you look closely, you can see that she has a ponytail that looks like an eel, with eyes and a mouth, and can make expressions.
"Blood..." said the dark red-haired girl, with red horns similar to Power's and handcuffs on her hands.
"Halloween!" exclaimed the pink-haired girl, who looked even more terrifying. The right half of her skull was missing, exposing her brain. A lump of brain tissue was tied in a knot. Her right eye hung from its socket, with a heart-shaped pupil.
The last girl, who looked like a doll, didn't speak at all. She had dark green hair, black and white eyes, dots all over her body, and a gray complexion.
These four "women" of different shapes intimately surrounded Quanxi.
"Give my women human rights and compulsory education," said Quanxi as she sat among the four women.
Kenji Tanaka had a strange look. To be honest, Ren's ideas are really advanced.
In Fire Punch, the character of Togata is transgender. In Chainsaw Man, is there another... lesbian character? "You can consider it after completing the task," the officer said, turning and telling Quanxi.
At that moment, the manga scene suddenly connected with Makima.
She said directly to Kishibe, who was beside her, "It seems they're sending the assassin Quanxi."
"I think her devil friends will join. How should we deal with them?"
Kishibe also said at that moment, "I really don't want to get close to her...".
"If all human beings had a bare-handed duel, I'm afraid she would be the first."
Kishibe's comments were definitely very high-sounding, which left Kenji Tanaka stunned for a moment.
"So... powerful?" Kenji Tanaka asked, surprised.
You know, Kishibe easily beat Denji and Power at the beginning, and his strength is undoubted.
Not even he wanted to get close to Quanxi, and his comment, "If all human beings had a bare-handed duel, I'm afraid she would be the first."
It simply elevated him to a terrifying level.
But Makima said at that moment, "There should be more than one tough guy facing her this time."
"And even if Quanxi wants to protect herself, she can't...".
"What we have to protect ourselves from is..." said Makima, "a German Santa Claus."
"Do you think he'll come too?" asked Kishibe.
"I don't know..." Makima replied, "There are rumors that he has died...".
"If there are devils using him, we're lost. I hope he really went to see God."
After these words, it's obvious that this supposed Santa Claus is a greater threat than Quanxi, so Kenji Tanaka became curious again.
What kind of person is this Santa Claus...?
And then his curiosity soon found the answer.
The scene changed to Germany.
The man in the German military coat approached a park bench.
There was an old man sitting on a park bench, reading the newspaper.
The man in the military coat sat next to him and said, "Although it's a little early, it's already Christmas."
"Who are you going to give the gift to?".
The old man put down the newspaper and revealed his bald, aged face.
"Is he Santa Claus?".
Kenji Tanaka looked at the old man in the manga and felt that he was definitely not common.
After all, in manga, the real tough guys have a strange appearance.
For example, old men who seem unable to fight, children who show no expression in the face of danger, and beautiful women, these people are usually the toughest of the tough.
The man in the military coat replied to the old man at that moment, "Send it to the chainsaw devil, can you find him?".
"What's the reward?".
"What do you want?".
Santa Claus replied without expression, "Gender doesn't matter, I want four handsome men and four beautiful women to be my adopted children."
"What are they for?".
"Three people are used as contracts, and one is to my preference."
Although Santa Claus showed no expression on his face, he said it with a somewhat perverted tone.
"I'll prepare..." the man in the military coat finally said.
Since then, all the tough characters who want to compete for Denji have appeared. With just this simple appearance and their conversation, you can see that... their strengths are completely different.
At the very least... they must be at Reze's level.
But Denji was in his room at that moment, lying on the floor with some desperation.
He was watching television and feeling quite depressed.
"Why does everyone want my heart...".
Meanwhile, Denji couldn't help but think.
Suddenly, he became curious again.
What kind of existence is Pochita, who allowed him to transform into a chainsaw man and attract the attention of so many people?
However, the appearance of Aki Hayakawa interrupted his thoughts.
He was complaining about why he couldn't go on a trip with Makima.
Aki Hayakawa tried to comfort him patiently, but... Denji was still furious and threatened to kill everyone who was chasing him so he could go on a trip with Makima. "End of this episode."
This episode doesn't show anything. After all, it's just a normal plot before the start of a new chapter.
It's probably about introducing new characters and showing their ferocity.
So Kenji Tanaka didn't feel anything new.
Then he went to watch The Gods.
And The Gods did indeed announce that a new chapter would begin this week.
So Kenji Tanaka watched Chainsaw Man first; after all, he thought the plot of the new chapter of The Gods would be quite boring.
However... this time, the beginning of the new chapter of The Gods is not a boring everyday plot.
It's "The Night of Rain and Wild Flow"! This time, the story begins from the perspective of Chu Zihan, president of the Lionheart Club at Casar College, who had not had a major role before. On his way home on a rainy night, he and his biological father... met... God!
Odin, the main god of the Aesir in Norse mythology! The appearance of the god, the awakening of his lineage, the bloodthirsty servant of the god, Deadpool...
The plot advances quickly along with the father-son relationship between Chu Zihan and his father, which leaves people quite satisfied.
However, the moment Odin appeared, the plot of The Gods ended.
"Damn it!" Kenji Tanaka couldn't help but curse.
But this week's The Gods is really... The plot is too exciting! On the other hand.
"Here it comes, the chapter of the Mourner's Eye."
Looking at the comic strip of The Gods in the magazine, Ren said with great anticipation.
In his opinion, the chapter of the Mourner's Eye is the truly exciting beginning of "Dragon Clan".
Or... The Gods.
- - - - - - - -
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