Chapter 17: A Different Level of Strength
Nine years ago, due to the frequent outbreak of gun-related terrorist attacks across the globe, the world's fear of firearms surged in a short period, leading to the descent of the Gun Devil.
In just a few minutes of appearance, it caused devastating destruction worldwide, killing over a million people in total. In Japan alone, it was landfall for a mere 26 seconds, yet it left 57,912 people dead. Hayakawa Aki's family perished in that very disaster.
Since then, to alleviate the public's fear of firearms, strict gun control laws were implemented to limit and weaken the Gun Devil's power—except for a certain country that remains the "Land of the Free," where gunfights are a daily occurrence.
However, the Gun Devil is still the Gun Devil. No matter how much it is weakened, it remains absurdly powerful; even a tiny fragment of its flesh can cause an ordinary devil to undergo a massive transformation. These fragments originate from parts of the Gun Devil's body that burn and fall off while it moves at ultra-high speeds. During those few minutes it spent on Earth years ago, it made landfall in many countries, leaving countless flesh fragments scattered across the globe.
By now, Hayakawa Aki had recovered much of his strength and slowly walked over to Otonashi Chiya. He stared at the Gun Devil flesh in Chiya's hand, his pupils shrinking instantly as his emotions surged. "So... this is a piece of the Gun Devil!"
"I can tell you really want this thing," Chiya said, casually handing the fragment over to Aki.
"..." Aki couldn't deny it. He looked at the fragment as if staring at a mortal enemy with whom he shared a blood feud. The tragic scenes from nine years ago flashed through his mind once more.
He gripped the fragment tightly for a moment before restraining his emotions. "This fragment still needs to be handed over to the client. They will resell it to Public Safety. It's illegal for us civilian devil hunters to privately possess Gun Devil flesh."
The client was willing to pay a reward of three million yen precisely because they wanted the fragment; reselling it to Public Safety would net them a significant profit. Chiya, of course, had no objection; he had zero interest in the flesh itself.
"That aside... it seems everything just now really was your devil power." Aki looked into Chiya's eyes and noticed a faint trail of blood trickling from them. He continued with a hint of concern, "Are your eyes okay? You should go back and rest well. Try not to take any more commissions for the next few days."
"It's nothing serious. I'll recover after a couple of days of rest," Chiya said with a smile.
Hunting the Toad Devil this time involved the most frequent use of his Kamui ocular technique to date, leaving both his body and ocular power somewhat overloaded. Although it wasn't obvious on the surface, his body was actually very weak, his eyes were stinging intensely, and his vision had become blurred.
[Ding! Allocation complete. Vitality +30!]
[Vitality: 83]
Given the circumstances, Chiya allocated all his attribute points to Vitality to ensure a speedy recovery. Once the allocation was finished, his body felt significantly better. The stinging in his eyes nearly vanished, his vision cleared, and he would be fully recovered after a bit more rest.
To put "Vitality" in terms of a "health bar": if his bar was previously at 10/53, adding 30 points pushed it to 40/83. Naturally, his physical condition improved instantly.
"Wait... am I still alive?" At that moment, Kinoshita Tsuki, who had been unconscious, was jolted awake by the thick stench of blood.
She had originally thought she was a goner—that even if the fall didn't kill her, the devil in the basement surely would. To her surprise, aside from some painful swelling and bruises from the tumble, she was largely unharmed.
However, the pungent stench of blood in the air jolted her fully awake. She turned her head slightly and was met with the sight of devil remains scattered across the floor. The scene was so gruesome she nearly gagged.
She saw Otonashi Chiya and Hayakawa Aki standing near the remains. Chiya's clothes were heavily stained with blood, making it clear that he was likely the one who had slain the beast.
Noticing that Nomura Shiro was also alive and lying nearby taking deep breaths, Kinoshita Tsuki walked over and asked, "Nomura, what happened just now?"
The words had barely left her lips when she noticed Takeda Yusuke's body nearby, which had been hidden in her blind spot. His corpse was a horrific sight; his chest and abdomen had been almost entirely dissolved by corrosion, and his bulging eyes stared wide, as if he had died with a bitter grievance.
She let out an involuntary shriek. "Ta... Takeda-san is dead?!"
Nomura Shiro remained lying on the ground, still shaken from his brush with death. He replied with cold indifference, "Good riddance. He nearly got me killed a moment ago."
Kinoshita fell silent at those words. After all, Takeda had kicked her down the stairs as well; someone must have saved her, or she would have been dead long ago.
"That bastard tried to use me as a human shield," Nomura said, his voice thick with complex emotions as he recounted the ordeal. "If Otonashi Chiya hadn't saved me, I'd be the corpse you're looking at right now."
"Otonashi saved you? Could he be the one who saved me, too?" Kinoshita guessed.
"Most likely. His strength is on a completely different level compared to ours. Saving you would have been effortless for him."
Nomura seemed to be having an existential crisis, unwilling to even stand up. He used to think being a devil hunter—contracting with devils and gaining powers—was the coolest thing in the world. In a fit of passion, he had dropped out of school to become a civilian hunter.
Things had gone smoothly at first; weak devils were easy to handle, and while the price for using devil powers was painful, it was manageable with rest. But today, after recklessly taking on this commission, he realized that a truly powerful devil could leave him utterly helpless. Without Otonashi Chiya, the Toad Devil would have easily wiped them all out.
Chiya was roughly his age, yet he was stronger than any devil hunter Nomura had ever seen. Remembering how he had shouted and acted tough when they first formed the team, Nomura let out a self-deprecating laugh. He was lucky Chiya had a good temperament and didn't lower himself to his level.
"It looks like you're both fine. Let's head out," Chiya said as he approached and started walking toward the stairs, with Hayakawa Aki by his side. "I've already called the transport company and the police. They'll be here soon to handle the scene."
"Oh, right!" Kinoshita scrambled to follow, not wanting to spend another second in that basement.
Nomura also jumped up quickly, casting one last glance at Takeda's body. The bastard deserved to die, but his betrayal had been a harsh lesson in the darker side of human nature.
Kinoshita caught up to Chiya and thanked him shyly. "Um... is it okay if I call you Otonashi-kun? Thank you so much for saving me!"