Chapter 16: Turning the Tide
Since Hayakawa Aki's third attack failed to touch the Toad Devil, the Curse Devil would not assist him with the final strike.
Most devils are greedy, and the Curse Devil is no exception. They operate strictly according to the terms of the contract and will never offer even a shred of extra help unless temporary, additional terms satisfy them. Given the Curse Devil's nature, any extra condition satisfying it would likely cost Aki his life on the spot. After all, its standard terms were already outrageous—consuming a significant portion of one's lifespan for a single use of its power.
Otonashi Chiya had already predicted that Aki wouldn't have the strength for a third thrust, which is why he hadn't moved to stop him earlier. As long as the Curse Devil didn't formally manifest to execute the Toad Devil, Aki's lifespan wouldn't be deducted.
"What the hell is this stuff?!" Nomura Shiro cried out.
Having just come down the stairs, both he and Takeda Yusuke had succumbed to the effects of the gas. Takeda's expression shifted; he realized the situation was spiraling out of control.
"All of you, die!"
The Toad Devil sensed the time was right. Its belly swelled violently, and a moment later, it spat out several streams of green concentrated liquid shaped like sharp arrows. These projectiles shot toward Chiya, Aki, Nomura, and Takeda at high speed. Kinoshita, who had been unconscious from the start, was ignored.
At this moment, Aki was on his knees, struggling even to lift his head. He watched the attack approach, unable to dodge.
Takeda Yusuke's reflexes were sharp. Knowing he couldn't flee in time, he decisively grabbed Nomura by the shoulders with immense strength and yanked the boy in front of him, clearly intending to use Nomura as a human shield.
"Huh? Aaaaah!" Nomura was stunned. Takeda's grip was too powerful to break; he could only scream in terror while making futile struggles.
Judging by the speed of the green liquid, the damage would be lethal, and it appeared to be highly corrosive. Chiya decided he could no longer wait. He had confirmed that simply keeping his nose and mouth "intangible" was enough to block the toxic gas.
He pushed both of his Mangekyo eyes to their limit, the whites of his eyes becoming bloodshot.
His right eye formed a spatial vortex, sucking him into the Kamui dimension. Simultaneously, his left eye focused on the space next to Nomura, where another vortex manifested out of thin air.
Thanks to the properties of having both eyes, his teleportation was virtually seamless. The instant he was sucked into one vortex, he emerged from the other.
In the heat of the moment, he first kicked Nomura out of the way, preventing Takeda from using him as a meat shield.
Immediately after, his left eye locked onto the green liquid flying toward Aki. The projectile was instantly warped into the Kamui dimension. At the same time, a spatial vortex appeared directly above the Toad Devil's head; the green liquid flew out of the vortex and struck the devil's own eyes.
"Nani?" The Toad Devil was still confused about where one of its projectiles had vanished to.
A second later, it let out a piercing shriek of agony. "Aaaaaargh!! My eyes!!"
In the blink of an eye, all four of its eyes were melted by its own venom. It wasn't just a matter of going blind—its eyeballs were simply gone. Much like an electric eel can be killed by its own current or a venomous snake by its own toxin, the Toad Devil could not withstand its own corrosive liquid.
The corrosion didn't stop; the venom continued to eat away at its head.
Meanwhile, having lost his "human shield," Takeda Yusuke was struck directly as the green concentrated liquid tore through his chest cavity. His internal organs were quickly reduced to a rotting slurry. Before he died, his eyes bulged as he stared fixedly at Otonashi Chiya. He couldn't believe it—he hadn't even seen the kid move, yet he had suddenly appeared right beside him!
On the other side, Hayakawa Aki looked on with utter disbelief. Why did that stream of venom suddenly vanish only to reappear out of thin air, even changing direction?! He hadn't seen the details clearly, only catching a vague glimpse of something distorting the space. When Chiya had vanished earlier, there were signs of spatial distortion at his original position as well.
Is this also Otonashi's devil power?!
Chiya stood silently, observing the Toad Devil. He didn't spare so much as a glance at Takeda Yusuke; to him, the man was already a corpse.
A moment later, more than half of the Toad Devil's head had been eaten away, yet it still wasn't dead, its shrieks of agony never ceasing.
This guy really is hard to kill... Chiya thought to himself.
Devils that possess Gun Devil flesh are far stronger than ordinary devils and significantly harder to put down. This was why Chiya hadn't used his Left Eye Kamui to twist the Toad Devil's head off at the start. He hadn't been sure if the head was its true weak point or if decapitation would even result in death.
Now he had his answer. If it could survive its head being rotted away, twisting it off with Kamui would likely have been a waste of ocular power and life force. Letting the devil's own venom do the work was much more efficient.
Holding his katana, Chiya stepped toward the Toad Devil. With his nose and mouth "intangible," he completely ignored the green toxic gas.
"So you can live even without a head? Then what if I cut you into tiny pieces?"
Chiya whispered coldly. His freezing expression and aura of slaughter matched perfectly with the crimson glow of his Mangekyo Sharingan. Watching him, Aki felt as if Chiya had become a completely different person in combat—nothing like the smiling youth he usually was. The icy killing intent radiating from him made even Aki feel a chill in his bones.
Less than a minute later, the Toad Devil finally fell silent. Chiya had found its heart.
It seemed the heart was the Toad Devil's true vital organ; once it was sliced in two, the creature finally ceased all movement. Even without destroying the heart, Chiya had already carved the devil into dozens of pieces; death was inevitable.
The scene was too bloody to look at—the basement was filled with the stench of gore and littered with intestines and blood. Since a devil's power vanishes upon its death, the green gas dissipated instantly. Aki's strength began to return as the toxins cleared from his system.
[Ding! Host has successfully hunted the "Toad Devil (Gun Devil Flesh)." Gained 30 Attribute Points!]
The points alone proved that a devil with Gun Devil flesh was on an entirely different level than ordinary ones. Chiya reached into the remains and pulled out the piece of the Gun Devil—a tiny object shaped like a small bullet.
It was hard to believe such a small thing could cause an ordinary devil to evolve into such a powerhouse.