Kobeni Higashiyama peered forward cautiously. Just moments ago, that malevolent aura had finally materialized directly opposite them.
Reze looked visibly shaken, while Denji appeared considerably more composed.
Through Kobeni's eyes, Hell underwent an instantaneous transformation. The available light was swallowed whole, plunging their environment into absolute darkness. To human senses, danger and dread pricked at the skin like sharp needles, inducing an involuntary, deep-seated chill.
This was the primal human terror of a Primal Devil. A fear impossible to evade.
Within the bleak expanse of Hell, the pale purple moon continued to emit a faint radiance, completely unaffected, illuminating the path directly ahead of the trio.
Reze instinctively glanced toward the source of the impending threat. In that single instant, her body shuddered violently, feeling as though she had been submerged into freezing water, damp, icy, and bone-chilling. She knew with absolute certainty that she would never be able to erase this image from her mind for the rest of her life.
Before them stretched an avenue resembling a pathway for a grand audience. Lining both sides were countless astronauts clad in space suits, each neatly severed down the middle. Their upper torsos stood upright on the left side, hands clasped together as if locked in eternal prayer, while their lower halves were inverted on the right.
It was a deeply grotesque and bizarre sight, forming a direct corridor leading toward the Darkness Devil. At the very end of this path lay a dense, impenetrable patch of absolute pitch-black.
Even astronauts, who symbolized the pinnacle of human courage, could only be cleaved in twain when facing the shadow of the Darkness Devil, left to clasp their hands and pray to the unknown. This paradoxical, unsettling imagery caused all three of them to tremble uncontrollably.
It had arrived. Right there, inside that dense layer of dark. A cold, unfeeling gaze locked onto the three intruders.
A Primal Devil represented a fundamental, core fear. It was something hardcoded into the very fabric of human biology; no one could resist it. At this moment, the entirety of Hell fell deathly silent, resembling a completely barren wasteland.
Kobeni couldn't help but gasp. Blinking rapidly, she surveyed her surroundings. She had evidently been dragged into the deepest, darkest recess of her own mind.
It felt as though she had returned to those lonely nights, walking home after working exhausting odd jobs. In the cold, pitch-black night, she stood on a completely lifeless road flanked by colossal, corpse-like statues. The road stretched endlessly into the horizon, thoroughly consumed by an unyielding gloom. Every single thing that could possibly terrify her lay in wait within the darkness ahead.
She trembled violently, her feet feeling as heavy as lead. She felt that if she dared to take even a single step forward, countless devils would immediately swarm out from the shadows and tear her to pieces. Finally, shrinking back, she lifted her foot, but found herself utterly unable to bring it down.
The Darkness Devil's mere presence, its slight approach, was enough to drag her into her worst psychological nightmare. Kobeni hunched her shoulders, shivering from head to toe.
Denji and Reze are gone. This must be an illusion, she repeatedly told herself. Yet, knowing it was an illusion did not mean she could easily overcome it. The sheer might of a Primal Devil manifested in every single corner of this space.
Kobeni hung her head, trapped in a fierce internal struggle. Amidst her utter disorientation, she suddenly detected a faint glimmer of light. She snapped her head up and looked toward the sky.
A beam of pale purple moonlight cascaded down like a guiding beacon, illuminating everything ahead. As the moonlight swept across the path, the dense, seemingly unyielding darkness retreated before it. Kobeni watched blankly as the moonlight banished all terror from above, leaving the road before her exceptionally bright, as clear and pristine as a street freshly washed by a torrential downpour.
Once the darkness itself vanished, the fear of the dark naturally ceased to exist.
"Mr. Demon..." Kobeni muttered, pouting slightly. An unexpected wave of gratitude welled up in her heart, and she rubbed her eyes with a finger.
She took a massive stride forward. The moment her foot landed, she found herself directly confronting the Darkness Devil.
Beyond the pathway of halved astronauts, right within that thick patch of black, a monster unveiled its form. Its entire frame was composed of skeletal remains, its head adorned with bull-like horns. Within the bony ribcage of its chest, four distinct heads were arranged vertically from top to bottom, while the darkness behind it billowed like a grand cape.
The Darkness Devil had finally revealed its true form!
Kobeni glanced up at the moonlight, clenched her teeth, and hopped in place to psych herself up. "I-I'm not afraid of you!"
The Darkness Devil moved with deliberate slowness, extending its hand toward Kobeni from above. It pointed its index finger silently at her.
An overwhelming sense of crisis erupted instantly.
As if triggered by a reflex, Kobeni was instantly enveloped in Moon Demon Chi. Emulating her benefactor's style, she stood firmly on the ground and pointed her finger right back at the Darkness Devil across the void.
Mr. Demon was right behind her; his gaze watched over the very apex of Hell. She had absolutely nothing to fear!
An invisible, cutting force sliced through the air from the Darkness Devil's direction. Kobeni grit her teeth and concentrated her repulsive force. Two opposing cutting pressures violently clashed against each other midair. They were both slashing attacks, but driven by entirely different sources of power.
The Moon Demon Chi coating Kobeni flashed brilliantly for a split second before she was sent flying backward. Crashing to the ground like someone struck head-on by a car, Kobeni coughed and scrambled back to her feet. The Moon Demon Chi had protected her body, preventing her from being cleaved in two.
She looked across the battlefield.
Upon the skeletal torso of the Darkness Devil, a distinct fracture slowly materialized. The entity lowered its head slightly. That was the result of Kobeni's strike.
It was injured!
An immense joy surged within Kobeni. She suddenly realized that this was doable!
Humans were peculiar creatures; when faced with an overwhelmingly terrifying adversary, they were often too paralyzed by fear to act. However, the moment they discovered that the opponent could also be harmed, their initial terror would recede like the tide.
Kobeni was experiencing exactly that. She extended her hand toward the Darkness Devil once more.
Opposite her, the fracture on the Darkness Devil's body mended instantly, and it raised its head once more. Just now, it had indeed been careless, underestimating the slashing power of this human.
Once again, human and devil pointed at each other across the void. This time, a colossal concussive force collided violently in the air. The Darkness Devil's absolute, all-severing slash was incapable of bypassing the Demon Chi to bypass Kobeni. At the same time, Kobeni found herself unable to breach the defenses of a fully serious Darkness Devil.
Once more, she was sent flying through the air.
A streak of stubborn resolve suddenly flared within Kobeni. Time and time again, she was blasted backward, and time and time again, she pushed herself back up. With her current slashing capabilities, defeating the Darkness Devil was out of the question. But carrying the responsibility entrusted to her by Mr. Demon and having given him her word, Kobeni refused to break her promise.
Panting heavily, she dragged her battered frame up from the ground yet again. Although the Moon Demon Chi shielded her from being killed instantly, the repeated concussive impacts were taking a massive toll on her stamina.
As she hunched her back, the Darkness Devil raised its finger once more, looking as though a single motion would suffice to obliterate the human before it.
Kobeni stared at her outstretched hand, watching the Moon Demon Chi swirling tightly around it. Suddenly, her tactical battle instincts sparked an epiphany.
Back at the hotel when she had gone completely all-out, she had nearly managed to pull the moon down. So why not try it again right now? She wasn't an obstinate fool who had to rely strictly on slashing attacks to settle scores with the Darkness Devil.
But where would one find a moon in Hell?
Wait a minute!
Kobeni suddenly snapped her head up after being sent flying one last time. Wasn't the moon right above her head?
Lying flat on the ground, a somewhat crazed grin suddenly tugged at the corners of her mouth. She reached her hands up toward the sky, facing the celestial body directly.
That pale purple full moon, which represented the very gaze of Mr. Demon, suddenly began to shudder violently. The Moon Demon Chi coiled around Kobeni's upraised arms erupted like a torrential wave as she pushed her power output to its absolute maximum limit.
Hum—!
The entirety of Hell vibrated and buzzed. High above, the full moon began to fall.
In that singular instant, across the vast and infinite expanse of Hell, countless devils suddenly grew frantic and deeply unsettled. They scattered and fled in all directions, sensing that absolute annihilation was imminent. The full moon in the sky was expanding at a pace visible to the naked eye, hurtling directly toward the earth.
Kobeni scrambled to her feet, pointing at the Darkness Devil as she shouted with manic excitement, "Haha! You are completely finished!"
Kobeni stood with her hands proudly on her hips, highly amused. She instinctively cast a sidelong glance toward a nearby sedan that was spitting black smoke, completely totaled. If she managed to kill the Darkness Devil, Mr. Demon would surely reward her again, wouldn't he? He definitely would!
As expected, when push came to shove, she always had to rely on her own astounding wisdom.
Opposite her, the Darkness Devil's frame stiffened for a fraction of a second. In the very next moment, it vanished instantly into the shadows behind it.
It had run into a naive lunatic. And this particular lunatic happened to be terrifying.
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