A defiant, ironic smirk cuts across Jin's face. "Have you ever heard of the CONQUERORS GRADE?"
Clara narrows her eyes, confused by his sudden shift in tone. "I've heard of them... They are the most powerful sorcerers on the planet. What's your point?"
Jin: "Too bad for you... Your luck just ran out. Game Over."
Jin slams his hands together. BAM!
A colossal shockwave of wind erupts, instantly vacuuming the air out of the perimeter. Clara stiffens, paralyzed with shock. (I... I can't move! It's impossible... There's no way he's one of the five strongest sorcerers in the world!
The barometric pressure tightening around Clara spikes so violently that she can barely draw a breath.
Jin: "Have you ever seen a tornado in your life? Because you're about to."
He thrusts his hands toward the sky. An explosion-like boom detonates through the atmosphere! The entire battlefield flushes with a blinding white energy generated by his wind nature. The gale-force winds whip across the coast, churning the ocean behind them until a massive 10-meter wall of water rises into the air.
With a scenery-shearing motion, Jin slashes his hand through the open air.
The swirling white-and-blue energy coalesces into a catastrophic, roaring tornado. As the vortex tears forward, it violently rips up the terrain, obliterates solid structures, and sweeps the advancing Devils into its shredding, hyper-pressurized core.
Clara spins helplessly inside the tornado as the vortex decimates the entire area. Completely losing her mind, she screeches over the roaring wind, "Damn you, you piece of garbage!"
Jin yells back over the deafening storm, mocking her with a laugh, "What did you say? I can't hear you!"
"Get me out of here!" Clara screams, her twisted confidence entirely shattered.
"Consider this payback for every single blow you landed on me!" Jin roars.
Blurring through the gale-force winds, Jin charges straight into his own storm. He closes the distance in a flash and drives a brutal, heavy kick into her abdomen. The impact launches Clara clean out of the tornado, sending her crashing violently onto the roof of a parked car.
Before she can even process the pain to get up, Jin slashes his hand through the air, releasing razor-sharp wind blades (Wind Cut). The pressurized air slices forward like a guillotine, cleanly severing the thumb from her right hand.
"Aaaagh!" Clara shrieks in pure agony, clutching her bleeding hand as she writhes on the ground.
In a heartbeat, Jin teleports right behind her. He locks his hand tightly around her throat, leaning in to whisper coldly into her ear, "We're not done yet... We've only just begun. So hold on as long as you can!"
With a burst of raw, Conqueror Grade strength, he grabs her by the arms, swings her body, and hurls her straight into the air toward the colossal 100-meter devil. Clara flies through the night sky, landing straight inside the monster's unhinged, cavernous maw. With one sickening snap of its jaws, the giant swallows her whole.
The titanic devil unleashes a deafening roar and charges blindly at Jin, obliterating solid structures and shattering the pavement with its armored head.
Jin merely smirks. Thrusting his hands forward, he shouts toward Clara, who is still trapped deep inside the beast's stomach:
"Are you ready to come out?!"
He snaps his hands through the air, releasing dozens of lethal wind constructs—a technique where the blades dance on the wind.
The execution is flawless, slicing through everything in its path. The monster's massive limbs are cleanly severed. Sliding fluidly beneath the behemoth, Jin punches a gaping hole directly into its underbelly. Pressurized, high-velocity air floods the cavity. The 100-meter Devil's body begins to swell and wrap around and inflate until, in a sudden flash, IT EXPLODES INTO A THOUSAND PIECES!
Blasted out of the detonation, Clara goes flying through the air, drenched from head to toe in the Devil's green blood. Her expression is pure venom. "Damn it..."
But before she can even draw a single breath, Jin is already waiting for her. Channeling his residual Conqueror Grade energy into his fist, he drives a devastating punch straight into her. Small, glowing white particles ignite the air, triggering a blinding explosion of pure kinetic force: Lighter Flash!
Clara is launched backward, falling from the sky until she desperately catches herself on a streetlamp. She violently coughs up blood, a heavy stream pouring from her nose.
Above them, the scalding green blood of the shattered Devil rains down on the city, melting concrete and searing through everything it touches due to its extreme, acidic heat.
Jin advances toward Clara, ready to finish her off. Suddenly, one of the remaining giant devils collapses right in front of him, dead!
Jin leaps backward, instantly dropping into a low combat stance.
Bursting straight through the dead monster's abdomen, tearing the flesh apart, comes a boy with messy orange hair. He wields two heavy iron chains, laughing like a maniac. "Love my life!"
Jin mutters under his breath, "Where the hell did this psycho even come from...?"
The boy looks down at the carcass, mocking it. "Next time, watch who you mess with... But you know what? You taste amazing!"
Without hesitation, he kneels down and begins greedily drinking the dead Devil's scalding blood. Jin averts his eyes, disgusted by the grim display. (What a repulsive sight... I can't believe I'm looking at a Cambion! What is this idiot even capable of?)
The boy suddenly snaps his head toward Jin, waving his hand with a loud, cheerful shout: "Hey! Sorry if I bothered you; didn't mean to interrupt!"
He then spins around, spots Clara clinging to the streetlamp, and bursts into hysterical laughter. "Hahaha! Look at you! I can't believe you ended up looking like a complete wreck! Hahaha!"
Clara, trembling with rage and agony, screeches, "Shut your mouth, you filthy dog! How dare you open your mouth in front of me?!"
Amidst the destruction, a man appears, casually swigging from a bottle of alcohol. He speaks aloud to the open air, "This world has no place for the incompetent... But if you're a brainless psycho with enough willpower, you just might survive. So, which one are you, Jin Tori?"
Jin squints at him, letting out a sharp, mocking laugh. "Ohohoho! Well, well. What is the biggest broker in the Hunter Devil world doing here? Mario, isn't it a bit weird for you to be out in the field? Go find yourself a bar."
Ignoring Jin's jab, Mario speaks in a quiet but heavy, authoritative tone, looking at the chain-wielding boy. "Roe. Go slaughter the remaining 20 Devils."
Roe glares back, spitting on the ground. "Bah! I don't take orders from you. I only answer to Lady Amaya."
Mario's expression remains deadpan as he murmurs, "I've got 162,000 yen with your name on it."
The moment the numbers leave Mario's mouth, Roe's eyes light up. "Say less!" he barks, blitzing forward like a rabid dog toward the oncoming horde of monsters.
Mario scoffs under his breath (What a hound... He only heels for cash or twisted thrills).
Turning his attention toward the streetlamp where Clara hangs broken and bleeding, Mario speaks up. "Clara, what exactly brought you here? Enlighten me."
Clara, wiping the heavy stream of blood from her nose, shrieks desperately, "This was my assignment! I am the one taking home the 1,626,900 yen bounty!"
"Shut your mouth," Mario cuts her off, his voice ice-cold. "You failed the mission. Anyone who gets completely humbled by an 'old man' with white hair has no rights left in the Hunter Devil world."
Clara bites her lip so hard it bleeds, glaring at them in absolute silence. The harsh reality just set in—she lost the mission, her status, and the money.
Mario closes his eyes. When he snaps them open, staring at the ground, he vanishes in a fraction of a heartbeat.
He blurs in from the right, driving a strike heavily charged with raw energy directly into the center of Jin's head. The sheer velocity of the blow forces Jin back several paces. Before Jin can even recover into a combat stance, Mario moves faster than light. He sweeps Jin's legs, crashing him to the concrete, and pins his throat under his boot. With a sickening wrench, he grabs Jin's arm and snaps the bone.
"The last time I stood on a battlefield was 16 days ago," Mario states, his voice eerily flat. "I know I've grown old, but I'm still a psycho. Vengeance, the righteous, and the poor—they always die first. The cycle of violence never stops. No matter how hard someone tries to break it, they end up dead. Different faces, same abilities, same endless cycle."
Jin, grimacing beneath the crushing weight, glares up at him. "Who the hell are you talking to, you lunatic?!"
"I always knew a single organization pulled the strings," Mario continues, driving his heel deeper into Jin's throat. "But there is a foul, filthy Devil behind them, controlling everyone. Why shouldn't my words make sense?"
Jin desperately tries to break free, panic rising in his chest. (How am I supposed to stop a man whose own brother was my master? He knows every single thing about me... about all of us!)
Mario abruptly cuts through Jin's thoughts, leaning in very close. "Where is that psycho..."
Jin, stop talking like you're some philosopher. Look at your stupid friend; he's being eaten by the devils. Marios turns around and sees two devils; one has bitten into Roe's head and the other into his legs. Roe is screaming, "Help! Let me go, you bastards! Ahhh!" and they rip him in half and eat him.
Marios remains calm. He turns back forward, but Jin manages to break free and throws a punch charged with energy. However, Marios ducks his head, dodges the punch, grabs Jin's left arm, and breaks the bone. Then, he kicks him in the stomach.
But Jin grabs an iron bar and thrusts it toward Marios. Marios tilts his head slightly to the right and dodges the iron bar. Jin tells him, "You're lucky you're my master's brother, or I would have killed you."
Mario replies, "Don't worry, I'm going to kill you, and then I'll go to the other one you call 'master.' I'll send him exactly where I'm about to send you now."
Suddenly, Marios pulls out a knife and plunges it straight into Jin's heart. Jin is left in utter shock. Marios says, "Alright, see you in the next world."