Narrator POV.
But Isagi wasn't a blood bank. Nor some kind of demonic charity organization. Even with his powerful regeneration, it would look pretty damn weird if someone saw them in such a peculiar position. And that was enough.
With a sharp tug, he pulled his hand away.
—Alright, alright, alright. Don't push it.
Power tried to keep going for one more second, but the flow was gone, replaced by emptiness. A thin strand of blood hung between her lips before snapping.
Isagi watched as the fang marks on his palm began closing almost immediately. His skin regenerated without a scar, as if nothing had happened.
He flexed his hand. Completely functional.
Meanwhile, Power slowly opened her eyes. She licked the remaining blood off her lips. And smiled. Satisfied. But with a dangerous gleam in her eyes—like she was already waiting for the next dose.
BOOOOM!
An explosion violently shook the air. The ground trembled slightly beneath their feet and a shockwave swept through the park, making the leaves on the trees shake and sending several birds flying off in a panicked swarm.
In the distance, a few blocks away, a column of black smoke began rising into the sky. Car alarms went off almost at the same time, creating a chaotic symphony of desperate honking that filled the urban air.
Isagi waved his hand in annoyance, shaking off the remaining traces of blood still stuck between his fingers. Then he turned his head toward the direction of the explosion.
At that instant, his danger sensor activated.
It wasn't pain. More like a faint itch on the back of his head. An instinctive signal. A subtle warning.
—Looks like it's a devil… —he murmured calmly—. It can't be that dangerous.
There was no urgency in his tone. He glanced back at his hand, staring at it for a second while flexing his fingers.
(I haven't had time to test blood manipulation…) he thought. (With everything that happened yesterday, I only managed to test Red Scale.)
His eyes narrowed slightly. The tiny drops of blood still on his palm began to vibrate. They trembled. And then, as if responding to a silent command, they started to move.
They slid slowly across his skin until they gathered in the center of his hand.
(I want to test Piercing Blood…) he reflected. (If I remember correctly, it's an attack that can reach the speed of sound… though it depends on the amount of cursed energy and the user's control.)
He focused his mind. Felt the flow inside his body. His heart began to pump a little harder. The blood in his veins started circulating faster, obeying his will.
It was a strange sensation—like he could perceive every pulse, every internal current moving beneath his skin.
Without needing to open a wound, blood began to emerge from the pores of his palm. First as a reddish dampness. Then as thin liquid threads that slid outward.
They gathered in front of his hand, floating just a few centimeters above his skin.
They formed a small crimson sphere. Dense. Shining.
(Manipulating external blood is harder than internal blood…) he admitted to himself.
The sphere vibrated. Small ripples traveled across its surface, like water disturbed by the wind. It warped slightly, creating tiny fluctuations that threatened to break its shape.
Unstable.
Isagi frowned and poured in a bit more energy. The air around the sphere seemed to tighten. With every passing second, controlling it demanded more precision. More focus. More mastery.
And a few blocks away, the smoke kept rising—like the devil, without even realizing it, was about to become his test target.
—What are you doing, brat? —Power's voice burst out behind him.
The devil leaned over his shoulder shamelessly… and when she saw what Isagi was holding between his hands, her eyes widened like saucers. A small sphere of blood was floating between the boy's palms, slowly spinning.
—Yooooou! —Power stepped back and pointed at him like she had just witnessed the most atrocious crime in history. —How dare you use Power's abilities?! You didn't give me permission!
Isagi didn't even flinch. He barely turned his head toward her, his eyes full of shameless mockery.
—Shut up already, bloodsucker. First of all, those aren't your powers. —He raised the sphere slightly and added with a twisted grin—. Mine are way cooler.
The vein on Power's forehead twitched.
—Way… what did you say?
—Oops.
Isagi barely managed to get the syllable out when another explosion echoed in the distance. The ground trembled slightly beneath their feet and a cloud of dust rose far away. The devil was still wreaking havoc in the city.
Isagi turned toward the source of the sound, a small anime-style sweat drop sliding down his forehead.
—That bastard… —he muttered.
Then he clicked his tongue and looked back at Power.
—Move your ass, Power. We've got work to do. Besides…
His attention returned completely to the blood sphere. Now it was more stable. More compact. Brighter. The red was intense, almost hypnotic, reflecting the light like a liquid gem suspended in midair.
Isagi, who could sometimes get obsessive about symmetry, felt a strange satisfaction at how perfectly round it was. No imperfections. No irregularities.
It was… beautiful.
—Convergence.
He deliberately accelerated his pulse. Increased the blood pressure inside his own body, guiding the flow with surgical precision.
The sphere responded instantly: it compressed by a few millimeters, becoming denser, heavier… more dangerous.
Isagi's smile widened.
A smile that wasn't normal.
Power swallowed.
For the first time since she'd met him, that smile didn't look like simple mockery… but something closer to restrained madness.
—Let's go, Power. —he said, his eyes shining. —I want to test my new attack.
His excitement was obvious. He looked like a kid who had just gotten a new toy.
Or more accurately…
Someone who had just mastered a technique he shouldn't even possess.
The technique of the Kamo clan.
.
.
.
.
—Holy shit… you're ugly as hell, bastard. —Isagi grimaced in genuine disgust when he saw the devil in front of him.
The creature had a humanoid appearance… if it could even be called that. Its body was covered in multiple faces sewn on top of each other, deformed and stretched in unnatural ways.
Some had their eyes wide open in frozen expressions of terror; others looked like they were crying dried blood. Black stitches ran across skin over skin, as if someone had assembled that body from discarded human remains.
The devil stopped.
At its feet, weak, wet groans echoed against the broken pavement. Blood dripped slowly from its hands, forming small red streams that crawled through the cracks in the asphalt.
Isagi narrowed his eyes. The devil's black sclera and yellow irises locked onto his. A twisted smile formed on one of the many mouths scattered across its body.
The monster let go of what it was holding.
The body hit the ground with a heavy sound.
A man… or what was left of him.
His face had been ripped off. Where his features should've been, there was only exposed flesh and bone—a grotesquely smooth, bleeding surface.
Isagi stared at the scene… and felt a faint twisting sensation in his stomach.
Until now, he had seen violence. He had seen blood. But not something so… deliberately sadistic. So intimately grotesque.
The devil lifted the torn skin. Held it like a twisted mask… and then brought it to its mouth.
The sound was wet. Sticky.
It devoured it with apparent satisfaction, chewing slowly, savoring every bite.
Then it looked back at Isagi.
—That uniform… —its voice was rough, as if several throats were speaking at once—. Are you a Devil Hunter?
Its smile widened, pulling at the stitched faces across its body.
—And I got a handsome one… You have no idea how much I love guys like you. With youthful, perfect faces… —its eyes gleamed with something close to obsession—. I'll add you to my collection.
Isagi stared at it silently for a second.
Then he frowned.
—I figured. —he said, crossing his arms with a serious look.
---
End of the chapter.