"Don't hold on! You've done enough! It's fine! I've long accepted death!"
With a sharp rip, the Angel Devil's shirt finally couldn't withstand the immense strain and tore apart completely.
The moment her body began to float uncontrollably, a series of past scenes—a microcosm of her entire life—flashed rapidly through her mind like a revolving lantern.
"So tired."
From the depths of her heart, the Angel Devil felt an overwhelming weariness.
Ever since she'd unfortunately met that woman Makima, her life had known no peace.
Day after day, year after year, only endless work awaited her. Forced to kill others, or be killed herself. There seemed no end in sight.
Apart from work, there was only more work.
As the Angel Devil thought this…
She felt that perhaps sudden death might not be such a bad release?
Her thoughts drifted back to the place where she was first born.
A peaceful, serene little village by the sea. Perhaps because she looked completely human, the villagers hadn't feared or hated her for being a Devil.
On the contrary, they treated her as a normal person, giving her warmth and care.
Though she was very reluctant to admit it, the Angel Devil had to concede that period was indeed the most beautiful, happiest memory of her life. She had lived each day carefree and joyful.
I really want to go back…
I wish I could return to that village that once gave me warmth…
Even just a glance… to see that place again…
That place… where was it again?
Tokyo…?
No…
That's not right…
Kyoto…
Also… not right…
It's… it's Yokohama…
Yokohama…
Yokohama is… what place… was it?
The Angel Devil's hand was suddenly gripped tightly by Renji, who yanked her backward.
"Ah ah ah ah ah!!!"
Renji was furious. The Clothesline Pole, which had been stubbornly planted in the ground, finally reached its limit. Unable to withstand the immense pressure, it wrenched free and flew out.
Seizing the moment, Renji dragged the Angel Devil through the air and forcefully thrust the pole into a utility pole on the other side.
Fortunately, the pole's meter-and-a-half-long blade was long enough—and the distance just right. It pierced straight through the utility pole, the excess length jutting out the other side.
[Ding~ Detected Angel Devil's shocked emotional state. System rewards 20 points.]
Behind him, the Angel Devil was stunned. Her eyes widened as she stared in disbelief at the scene unfolding before her—at Renji, gripping her hand so tightly.
She truly couldn't understand. She had explained it so clearly.
"Wha—"
Renji hauled the Angel Devil forcefully to his side. He no longer held her hand, instead wrapping his arm around her slender, soft waist and pulling her firmly against him.
"I said—can't you understand human language?! How many times do I have to repeat it?! I told you to grab my hand!!!"
Faced with Renji's rough actions and angry reprimand, an unfamiliar emotion surged within the Angel Devil. She couldn't help but lose her temper, her tone completely different from usual.
[Ding~ Detected Angel Devil's angry emotional state. System rewards 10 points.]
[Ding~ Detected Angel Devil's worried emotional state. System rewards 20 points.]
"W-Why did you touch my hand?! Do you want to die?!"
"Don't talk nonsense! Who wants to die?! I haven't lived enough yet! Besides, it doesn't matter! I have Avalon, the Everdistant Utopia! My aging has stopped!"
"Idiot! You absolute idiot! I'm a Devil! And you're a human! Don't you understand? A Devil's conceptual ability far exceeds a human's! We are not equal! You've only stopped aging—that's not infinite life! The physical contact just now already absorbed part of your lifespan! I can feel it!"
"W-What…?! How much did you take?!"
A complex emotion flickered in the Angel Devil's eyes. She dared not look at Renji. Her lips trembled slightly, and a self-reproachful expression crossed her face.
[Ding~ Detected Angel Devil's regretful emotional state. System rewards 20 points.]
"About… two months… I'm sorry…"
Renji gritted his teeth and shouted.
"How infuriating! My god, two months! What good is 'sorry' now?! There was a chance to save you just now! I shouted at you to grab my hand—multiple times!—and you just wouldn't! If you'd grabbed on then, I could've pulled you over in 0.1 seconds, guaranteed! Not like this—it took almost two seconds! Two months of my lifespan, gone!"
"I was actually planning to solve other people's lifespan problems someday! I never thought my own would be the first to go! And it's all because you were trying to off yourself!"
"I… I'm sorry…"
"You might think I'm meddling by saving you! But I'm just that kind of person! I can't stand watching someone die right in front of me! I don't know what you're thinking! All I know is that if I didn't save you now, I'd regret it for the rest of my life!"
"Mm…"
The Angel Devil lowered her head and fell silent.
......
In the distance, the rampaging Typhoon Devil let out a series of bone-chilling shrieks as it slowly advanced toward Renji's position.
Renji stared anxiously in another direction, trying to pierce the wind wall with his gaze to spot Hayakawa Aki and Kato Kari. But their outlines were blurred, impossible to make out clearly.
"Damn it! Shark Fiend! Beam! Where are you?! You should be here by now! Hurry up!!!"
His shout was answered. A shark fin emerged from the ground in the distance, speeding toward him, surging waves of debris rising on either side.
[Ding~ Detected Shark Fiend's anxious emotional state. System rewards 10 points.]
As she rapidly approached, the Shark Fiend surfaced her upper body, waving her arms excitedly toward Renji, her face alight with eagerness.
The Shark Fiend, like Power, was a Fiend—a Devil possessing a human body. So her form retained more or less traces of the Devil.
Just as Power had a pair of red horns on her head, the Shark Fiend, in her normal state, had the area from her nose up to her forehead transformed into a black shark snout. Imagine the very front of a shark's head.
Incidentally, the Shark Fiend's name was Beam, and she had short black hair.
"Beam! Take the Angel Devil! Get her somewhere safe!"
"Eh? What?"
Before the Angel Devil could react or ask what was happening, Renji let go. The wind instantly caught her and swept her away.
Beam, still submerged in the ground, pinpointed her position, seized the moment, and leaped high into the air. Her head transformed into its original Devil form—a shark's head with six large eyes.
She opened her massive maw and precisely bit onto the Angel Devil's uniform jacket, then plunged back into the earth with a heavy splash.
"W-Wait! Where are we going?!"
The Angel Devil couldn't enter the ground, so Beam carried her in her mouth, holding her head high, and without daring to delay a moment, swam swiftly toward a safe zone according to Renji's instructions.
Listening to the Angel Devil's voice fade into the distance, Renji let out a long sigh of relief, as if a great weight had been lifted. He then looked toward the white paper still affixed to the wall, securely trapping Reze.
No—it was no longer white.
At some point, the paper had turned black, its surface taking on a pitch-dark hue. It looked… like gunpowder.
"Reze's coming out?"
Renji's gaze shifted to the Teacher Devil not far away. Because of the relative proximity, he could observe her current state more clearly.
The Teacher Devil clung to a fence with both hands, blood gushing from her delicate nose like a fountain. She had clearly suffered immense stimulation—or injury.
Noticing Renji's look, she urgently opened her mouth, trying to say something, but the howling wind swallowed her words.
But seeing her reaction, Renji knew: Reze was truly about to emerge.
Because the Teacher Devil had told him that, disconnected from the Hunger Devil Kishibe, her power was greatly diminished.
She could no longer fully separate her sympathetic link to the white-paper space as she had during the gang incident. Now, everything that happened within that space was reflected back onto her proportionally.
—BANG!!!—
The sound of the explosion, however, was perfectly clear.
It came from the direction of the black paper. Renji turned to look: the wall had been blown down, collapsed. A charred figure rolled out from the shattered opening.
It was Reze—transformed back into human form, covered in soot.
On the verge of death, Reze reached for the bomb pull-ring at her neck. With a gentle flick, a soft click sounded as the ring was pulled.
Her head exploded. Her arms were blown to pieces. But her ravaged body instantly began to regenerate and reassemble at visible speed.
Renji wrenched the Clothesline Pole free from the utility pole. Caught in the fierce wind, he was uncontrollably propelled toward the distant, menacing Typhoon Devil.