"Anko Mitarashi and you only knew each other for a few days, so…" Kakashi was about to say when he let out a sigh unconsciously. He blinked a few times with his only visible eye while watching Devan brush the dirt off his clothes and hair.
"Anko, Orochimaru, both dead, there's no proof of what you're saying. However," Kakashi looked at Devan's body in the garden. With just a glance at his old friend, someone he had grown up with and spent most of his life alongside, he could tell something without a doubt—Devan had changed.
Not just now, but years ago. One day, one night, in winter, a few years back, Kakashi noticed it—Devan, the Devan he had always known, suddenly changed overnight. It was as if he had become a new person, a new being.
Kakashi looked at Might Guy to his right for a moment. The bowl-haired man met his gaze, and both exchanged thoughts without speaking, without communicating—such was the level of their friendship.
"Devan, return to Konoha and report everything to Lord Hokage. We can help you vouch for your words," Guy said with genuine confidence and a slightly forced smile on his ugly face.
However, Devan didn't respond. He remained seated on the dirt in his garden, rubbing his clothes and hair as if that action could somehow cleanse the filth from him.
"Mmm," Devan murmured, humming a rather unique melody. From his mouth came a sound similar to a piano playing a macabre and haunting tune that conveyed a dark and heavy feeling.
Devan finally moved his hands away from his clothes and hair and turned his head to look at the two ninjas standing atop his wall. A bright smile appeared on his face. "Don't you want to know what I was doing buried in my garden?" he hinted in a childish, playful tone, as if he had pulled off a prank.
...
Kakashi unconsciously brought a hand to his ninja pouch and looked at Devan with more seriousness. "What is it that—?" Before he could finish speaking, Punisher of the Apocalypse stood up on its two fat legs, opened its red eyes, and looked at Kakashi.
"The boss has been practicing his newly gained skill. You, friends of the boss, should know that the boss is one of the best necromancers Hell has ever seen," Punisher said in a proud, almost arrogant tone. His chubby hand let go of the kitchen axe to pat his chest, as if the one he were talking about was himself.
"Necromancer?" Kakashi repeated doubtfully. Punisher nodded not once, not twice, but three times in a row. "Boss be a talented necromancer, learn spells from nothing, inspiration come to boss alone," Punisher patted his chest a few more times.
However, despite those words, Kakashi was more curious about what that thing Devan called Punisher actually was, and how it was alive.
"Bone Spear, Curse, Summon Undead"—those are the three basic spells of a full-fledged necromancer. But those who delve deeper into necromancy can learn more spells."
"Summon: Punisher of the Apocalypse," Devan pointed with one of his bony fingers at that massive, fleshy, and swift being he called Punisher. "That's Punisher, one of the most basic soldiers from Hell. You could say he's a foot soldier—or a Genin, in comparison terms," Devan smiled, showing his white teeth.
"Then there's Summon: Rider of the Apocalypse." Devan spread his hands to both sides, as if saying, "This is incredible," then let out a slight sigh. "Rider of the Apocalypse is comparable in rank to a Chunin, and after that..."
Devan lowered his gaze. His red eyes focused on the two ninjas standing atop his wall. For some reason, Kakashi felt a slight chill run down his spine—and the same happened to Might Guy.
"Punisher of the Apocalypse," Kakashi repeated in his mind before quickly looking at the Punisher in the distance and then back at Devan. He swallowed hard. He really couldn't believe it.
How could something like Punisher of the Apocalypse be comparable to a Genin in terms of status in Hell?
"Besides, What the fuck is Hell?" Kakashi felt a growing urge to leave the Land of Waves, one that intensified with every passing second.
Might Guy, on the other hand, was calmer—though, in reality, his calmness came from not really understanding the terms Devan was using. He simply kept a serious face and nodded from time to time so as not to look like an idiot.
"But there are exceptions—summons from Hell that don't fit into any category and are rare in themselves. One of them is…" Devan patted the plowed soil beneath him. "Witch of the Apocalypse—formerly a woman condemned to the gallows for heresy, who delved into sorcery thanks to her stay in the underworld..."
Devan finished his words in a high tone, almost shouting.
Crack
Crack
A strange sound
Beneath Devan, the ground began to split. Those cracks appeared so suddenly and spread across the entire field at such speed that Kakashi and Guy barely reacted and struggled to keep their balance atop the wall.
"The shadows have returned."
"The shadows have returned."
Several voices, both high-pitched and deep, echoed, repeating the same phrase like a recording—just as black hands covered in gray smoke emerged from the cracks, gripping their edges to pull their bodies up to the surface.
At the same time, the Land of Waves was collapsing. In the streets, restaurants, inns, lodges, shops—in every place, cracks opened, and from those cracks emerged black hands covered in gray smoke.
Kakashi and Might Guy quickly looked to their sides. In the neighborhood, in the houses of the villagers, cracks appeared from which those hands emerged. Suddenly, people began screaming in terror.
"W-what…" Kakashi stood frozen for a moment. His mind couldn't seem to process everything that was happening. Might Guy was going through the same, both standing stunned atop the wall for a few moments.
But that only lasted a few seconds before both reacted and quickly turned their gaze toward Devan.
"W-what are you planning?" Kakashi asked as he saw Devan lying on his garden with his eyes closed. Kakashi nearly clenched his fists in anger and leapt toward Devan, demanding an explanation.
"What the hell are these things?! What's going on?!!" Kakashi fired off several questions continuously, staring intensely at Devan before opening his mouth again. "Are you really the Devan I know?"
His last question carried a mix of emotions—from the fragility of a human being who doesn't want to accept that the person he shared most of his life with had actually been replaced by a being from another world, to the conviction of a man seeking answers in the face of a tragic scene.
However, Devan didn't respond.
"..."
Kakashi waited for an answer for a few moments before simply sighing. "Y-you're not Devan," he finally said.