"Denji and Power are up to you. Oh, and remember to help me stop the public officials—it hurts, it hurts…"
Himeno clutched her butt, gave Renji a final instruction, and limped out of the noodle shop. Her figure gradually disappeared through the back door, leaving behind a trail of staggering footsteps.
The public officials outside had already heard the noise from within. Several medical personnel rushed in with stretchers, urgently asking, "Has everyone been rescued? Does anyone need emergency treatment?"
Renji shook his head and waved them off. "Wait a moment. Do you have blood bags ready? The kind for devils."
"Yes, we do. I'll get them right away."
After receiving the blood bag, Renji waited as the medical personnel exited. He turned to look at the white paper trap that had sealed off Power. Taking a breath, he once again activated Skill: Current Severance.
He cut open the space above the white paper and jumped inside.
Inside, Renji found Power lying limp on the examination desk. She was completely motionless—her eyes wide open, her expression twisted in pain, and her little tongue sticking out, as if she had died full of grievances.
Curious, Renji walked to the desk and pulled out the test paper Power had been laying on. He wanted to see how she had responded to the "male" questions.
Upon seeing it, Renji was momentarily stunned—and then burst into laughter. Even Denji couldn't help but laugh.
On Power's test paper, the six questions were completely unanswered—left entirely blank. Instead, she had drawn a thick horizontal line beneath the last question and scrawled in messy but forceful handwriting:
"You, the person who made this test, don't even know the answers—so how could I possibly know them?! What an idiot!!!"
Beneath that, where the test paper asked for confirmation of submission, she had drawn a giant, defiant checkmark.
"Interesting, interesting. You really amuse me."
Renji chuckled softly. Through her clothes, he tugged lightly at Power's little tongue, trying to guide it back in—but it wouldn't go. So instead, he tugged it out a little more and flicked it to the side, letting it dangle there amusingly.
Then, tearing open the blood bag in his hand, the pungent scent of blood filled the air. Carefully, Renji poured half the contents into Power's slightly open mouth.
The reaction was instant.
Power's snow-white throat began to move, slowly at first, swallowing the blood. It was like a parched desert soaking up long-awaited rain. For her, this blood was nothing less than a lifeline.
In the original work, devils and weapon humans are quite similar. Weapon humans—like Denji, the Knife Woman, and Quanxi—can regenerate quickly from even fatal injuries as long as they can absorb blood. Their resilience often grants them near-immortality.
Devils, like Power, are demons inhabiting human corpses. Their "immortality" is partial and tied to the integrity of the body they possess. As long as the host body hasn't suffered irreparable damage, they can be revived through blood, achieving a form of semi-immortality.
Power's throat continued to pulse as she swallowed, her little tongue flicking greedily at the blood droplets on her lips. Her need was urgent, primal.
Moments later, her wide, cross-shaped pupils began to tremble.
Suddenly, Power shot upright. She snatched the blood bag—still half full—from Renji's hand and chugged the rest in one go. Then, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she grinned wide.
"Yah~ I'm alive again! Hahahaha... Yeah! Renji, Renji, you finally came to save me! Hm~ You actually did pretty well this time!"
She laughed ecstatically, but then paused. Like a satisfied little kitten, she extended her tongue and gently licked the leftover blood from the back of her hand.
"No... something's off!"
Ding~ Detected Power's angry emotion. System rewards 10 points.
Her expression turned fierce. A gash opened along her wrist, and her blood began to gather midair, condensing into a crimson hammer. She gripped it tightly and swung it with force, slicing the air.
"Who did this?! Which bastard put those weird-ass questions in there?! I'm gonna kill her! Who was it?! WHO?!"
"Calm down, calm down, Power," Renji said, trying to soothe her. "Everything's resolved now. Just relax and listen to me."
He began explaining what had happened outside, but the moment he mentioned that the only way to escape was by answering questions, Power visibly deflated.
With an impatient wave of her hand, she cut him off.
"Alright, alright, stop nagging, I already get it. Answering questions, right? That's nothing hard! I'm Power—the future Nobel Prize winner! This is super simple~ I'll cooperate. You say the answers, I'll write them down!"
With a confident grin, Power plopped herself into the chair, snatched up the pen, and readied herself to take the test.
"Alright, first question: Have you ever seen a man? Hey, Renji, how should I answer this?"
"For this one, just tell the truth," Renji replied, calmly. "If you've seen one, write 'seen.' If you haven't, write 'not seen.' This part is really important."
As he spoke, his eyes stayed locked on Power's face, subtly analyzing her micro-expressions. At the same time, he gave the now-empty blood bag in his hand a little shake.
"You need to be honest. If you lie and put down the wrong answer, you'll still die the moment the paper's submitted. And the blood? You already drank all of it. If you die again, there's no second save. You'll really die here this time."
"Eh…"
A faint sound escaped Power's throat. Her eyes began to dart back and forth, and her head slowly drooped.
Renji couldn't see her expression directly—but the tiny beads of sweat forming on her forehead said it all. She was clearly wrestling with something deep inside.
"Could it be… Power…?"
Ding~ Detected Pawa's nervous emotion. System rewards 20 points.
The system prompt made Renji's heart skip a beat.
She was nervous!
Why?!
Feeling guilty?
"No way… Was it really… Power…?"
"Hey, Power," Renji said, narrowing his eyes, "why are you nervous?"
Her reaction was instant and explosive. She puffed up like a startled cat, two bright blushes blooming across her cheeks. She flailed her arms dramatically and started pushing at him.
"Noi… noisy! I'm not nervous at all! You're imagining things! Go away! Go away! Don't stand next to me!"
Her exaggerated denial only made Renji more certain.
"Oh no… It really was you, huh, Power…" he murmured, half amused. "You were the one peeking at Denji and me... I can't believe you held yourself back from barging into the stall and loudly mocking us back then. I seriously never thought it was you…"
He deliberately elongated his speech, tone dripping with playful accusation.
"You call this not nervous? Just look at yourself—you're like a little kid whose secret got exposed. What exactly are you so worked up about? Is it because the first question has to be answered truthfully, and you can't lie?"
Renji's words clearly struck a nerve.
Power's face turned even redder, and her flailing became more frantic.
"So… so verbose, Renji! Human! You're so annoying! Go away, go away!!"
As she shouted, she gave him a forceful shove, clearly desperate to get him out of her sight.
... patreon Rene_chan