Night, Sumida Ward, Tokyo.
Beneath the heavy, dark cloud layer, the 634-meter-high golden spire pointed straight at the sky, like a flaming sword poised to slice through the firmament.
This was the very top of the Tokyo Skytree. High-altitude gales howled, and the wind carried the sound of tearing open a hamburger wrapper.
And the sound of a young man's constant muttering and complaining.
"Ugh, Rias said the target would appear between five and eight, but it's already past seven. Could the intelligence be any less precise? I've been waiting for two extra hours, and now I'm starving. Since things have reached this point, I'd better eat first..."
The young man took a bite of the double beef patty burger he had bought from the shopping street below two hours ago. His dark eyes reflected not the dazzling night view and countless lights of Tokyo.
But instead... a completely dark, deserted, and abandoned port far in the distance.
Before he could even properly chew and savor the bite, the young man suddenly raised an eyebrow, seemingly having finally spotted something unusual where his gaze was fixed, letting out a "Tch" sound of annoyance.
"Speak of the Devil, and he shall appear. Can't a guy even finish his meal in peace?"
With that, he took a step forward and merged into the wind, his figure dissolving into the air like an ink wash.
On the other side, inside the abandoned, deserted port, layer upon layer of waves crashed against the pier. The black water reflected the brightly lit Skytree in the distance.
Bright headlights cut through the night. Four parallel black Mercedes-Benzes, staggered front and back, turned a corner from the distant port road onto the coastal side. They drove at sixty kilometers per hour until they stopped by the dock.
All the car doors opened simultaneously, and the interior lights came on right on cue. Bathed in the bright yet soft light, sixteen men in suits wearing sunglasses, looking like bodyguards, stepped out in unison.
The formation looked exactly like the scene of a mob transaction.
"Finally. Been waiting for you all night..."
A slightly rough voice rang out, but it didn't come from any of the sixteen men.
It didn't even come from the shore, but from... the water.
In the scattered light from the four Mercedes-Benzes on the shore, a powerboat with its engine off could vaguely be seen quietly moored on the water close to the bank. A muscular, over-two-meter-tall giant with wild hair and a beard was lying leisurely inside with his legs crossed, his hands behind his head. A locked briefcase was propped behind him, acting as a pillow.
He only slowly opened his eyes when he noticed the commotion of people getting out of the cars on the shore, revealing a pair of almond-shaped, spooky-green eyes.
Without any wasted words, the wolf-eyed giant flipped himself up from the speed boat, grabbed the briefcase behind him, and stepped onto the shore, walking up to the men in suits. He set the briefcase down on the ground.
The bottom of the case hitting the concrete made a small sound, causing the group of bodyguards clustered near the cars to unconsciously take half a step back.
"This is the merchandise you asked for. I brought it. Where's the money?"
"H-Here..."
After a second of silence, one of the suited bodyguards, also holding a briefcase, mustered the courage to step forward. He was the first to place his briefcase on the hood of a car and push it across the gap toward the wolf-eyed giant.
"Hmm."
The wolf-eyed giant said nothing more. He took the briefcase filled with money and opened it. The perfectly stacked piles of ten-thousand-yen notes were reflected in his eerie green eyes. He casually flipped through them to confirm there was no fake paper mixed in before closing the case again.
Then, he pushed the briefcase he had brought with him, which was by his foot, onto the hood of the car.
"Alright, that concludes the transaction..."
"Ciallo~ Since you've already come all this way, why are you in such a hurry to leave?"
Before the wolf-eyed giant could finish his sentence, a faint sound of footsteps suddenly came from the alley between the dock warehouses, directly behind the group of bodyguards. A somewhat slurred young man's voice, carrying a slight Kyoto accent, accompanied it.
"Who?!"
"Who's there!"
As if startled by sudden thunder, the sixteen suited bodyguards, who had been focused on the wolf-eyed giant without daring to relax for a second, immediately turned around. As they turned, their pistols appeared in their hands from their waist holsters. Sixteen under-barrel tactical flashlights illuminated the newcomer's figure like spotlights on a stage.
The person matched the voice: a young man about seventeen or eighteen years old, tall but not skinny. His casual attire made him look like he had just finished a workout at the gym. He was holding half a hamburger, and the uneaten food in his mouth made his handsome face bulge slightly.
"Hanakain Koka, the acting head of the Kyoto Onmyōji Hanakain family, dedicated to serving high-net-worth employers, and undertaking all exorcism and demon-slaying work. My personal phone number is 185... Oh, pardon me, I'm just too used to pitching. Cut the second half of that."
After reciting the commercial pitch in a fluent but unenthusiastic tone, as if forced to do business, the young man took another bite of his burger. He raised his hand, waving the remaining small half of the burger, which was still wrapped in paper, at the people in front of him, speaking carelessly.
"Alright, let's get back to business. All of the 'humans' can leave now, but the merchandise has to stay. And you, the stray Devil with the wolf eyes over there, come with me. Remember to help me carry both of my briefcases, thank you. I'm eating and don't have a free hand. If you cooperate, I can ask Rias to send you back to the Underworld in a relatively gentle way later. Next time you want to come to the Human World, please make sure to follow the proper procedure and register at the Devil Special Zone first, thank you..."
He was utterly dismissive of everyone. In just a few sentences, the ownership of the two briefcases changed hands in the young man's mouth.
But it was clear that reality was not a Wuxia novel, where the protagonist's imposing aura could instantly make villains bow down. Besides, if they were the type to immediately get weak in the knees after a mere threat, they wouldn't be villains in the first place.
"Stray Devil?"
One of the suited bodyguards frowned.
"Mhm~"
Hanakain Reiji shrugged, his gaze flicking over the human wall behind them toward the wolf-eyed giant, who stood out like a high school athlete among primary schoolers.
"What, can't you tell? You guys didn't think those were human eyes, did you? Sigh, come on, everyone, let's cooperate with each other and be civilized. Otherwise—"
"..."
"..."
This was not negotiation, let alone consultation—it was blatant intimidation!
With words spoken to this degree, any further discussion was impossible, especially for the bodyguards. They knew how ruthless their employer was.
If they failed to bring the transaction items back intact, there would only be one outcome awaiting them.
And that was... death.
The air fell into a deadly silence. The atmosphere grew increasingly tense.
"Baka!" (Idiot!)
One of the suited bodyguards cursed and pulled the trigger without warning.
The sound of the gun firing was like the signal of a smashed cup. In an instant, all the bodyguards pulled their triggers.
Although they were only semi-automatic pistols, the firing density from sixteen guns firing simultaneously briefly exceeded the rate of a single submachine gun's burst.
"Tch, more painful overtime..."
Ignoring the fierce hail of bullets rushing towards him, the young man sighed softly to himself, then stuffed the rest of the hamburger into his mouth.
The next moment, intense golden spiritual power solidified and surged up around his body.
Without a blinding flash of fire, the remaining hamburger wrapper in the young man's hand turned into ash and vanished in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, the bullets that had just been fired arrived in front of him.
And then... the bullets disappeared.
To be precise, they didn't disappear, but were "vaporized."
If a high-speed camera had been filming from a distance and played back frame by frame, it would show that all the bullets were instantly melted into molten iron the moment they approached Hanakain Reiji. Then, in the very next instant after melting, they simply vaporized and vanished into the air.
The young man walked forward step by step, the spiritual pressure (Reiatsu) surging from his body growing stronger.
Logically, such high heat should instantly incinerate everything. However, the asphalt pavement Hanakain Reiji walked on remained perfectly intact. Not only was it not melting, there wasn't even the slightest sign of softening.
The corner of the wolf-eyed giant's eye twitched slightly. Sweat began to uncontrollably stream down his forehead.
This level of terrifying spiritual pressure... an Onmyōji? Were there Onmyōji of this caliber?
He knew he couldn't beat him in a head-on fight. As a stray Devil, he wasn't among the particularly powerful ones in the Devil races. He chose to "flee" to the Human World precisely because his physical constitution gave him an overwhelming advantage over ordinary humans, making it easier and more comfortable to do shady work.
For instance, murder and robbery...
But he didn't want to surrender either. If he were exiled back to the Underworld, even putting aside the numerous crimes he had committed in the Human World, he would at least revert to his previous life of working menial jobs under the protection of other Devil Lords.
That was absolutely unacceptable to him.
If he couldn't win and didn't want to surrender, only one option remained.
And that was—run!
As a wolf-type Devil, he was quite confident in his speed.
Buzz buzz~
Just as the thought of fleeing surfaced in the wolf-eyed giant's mind, a phone vibrating sound suddenly came from the young man who was slowly walking towards them nearby.
"Hmm?"
Hanakain Reiji raised an eyebrow in confusion.
Logically, Rias and Akeno-senpai should be staking out other locations at this time, but he had already found the target. Why would they still send a message?
Could it be...
The young man reached into his pocket, pulled out his phone, and opened the text message. The sender was indeed not Rias or Akeno-senpai, but someone else.
[Big Sis has been home for a while now, Meow. Hana-Hana, where are you? You're still outside at this hour, Meow?]
Followed by a cute black cat head emoji with a question mark.
Emmmm~
Hanakain Reiji lowered his raised eyebrows. He switched from typing input to voice input, pressed the voice recording button, and brought the bottom end of the phone to his mouth.
"I'm still outside right now. I'll be back in a little while, maybe about fifteen minutes. Also, don't touch that big delivery box in the living room; it's the new TV. You've already broken one before..."
An opportunity!
Seeing the young man, who should have just come up and instantly turned them into ash, actually stop to leisurely record a voice message, the wolf-eyed giant's survival instinct flared up, and his eyes suddenly gleamed.
"Get out of the way!"
No longer adhering to the principle of avoiding conflict, the wolf-eyed giant raised his hand and slapped away the suited bodyguard who was still pointing his gun in front of him. At the same time, he stopped concealing his Devil form. His already rough, Uvogin-like face instantly shifted, his snout protruding and his jaw retracting to transform into a massive wolf head.
His physique further swelled, tearing his suit. Thick, black fur rapidly grew from the pores all over his body, and long, sharp claws sprouted on his fingers and toes.
In less than half a second, he transformed from a human giant into a giant werewolf about four meters tall. With his cruel, curved claws, he hooked the handle of the briefcase and stepped onto the roof of the Mercedes-Benz.
Under such heavy pressure, the car roof instantly suffered a dimensional compression and caved in. Simultaneously, the werewolf's leg muscles bulged like they were about to explode.
He had gathered enough momentum. Even with a single-leg push-off, this leap would be enough to get him onto the roof of the warehouse. Then, relying on a werewolf's innate speed, shaking off a human, even one with powerful spiritual power, would be easy... easy... what was it again?
His thoughts came to an abrupt halt. An index finger, blazing with fiercely burning golden spiritual pressure, touched the werewolf's brow. In that instant, an overwhelming pressure descended, causing his body to instantly stiffen.
He couldn't move at all.
This... was this truly still a human?!
At the same time, the young man's careless voice drifted down from above his head.
"Dog-type, what are you trying to do now?"
As his words fell, the next second, a massive golden spiritual pressure, thousands of times greater than before, instantly erupted like a tide, sweeping across the entire dock. Then, it shot up into the sky, condensing into a gigantic, mountain-sized golden Buddhist lotus flower above the deserted port, which smashed down heavily—
Illuminating all streams!