"Where… am I?"
Slowly opening his eyes, Su Tang saw a dark red sky.
No sound. No vegetation. No life. Only endless emptiness.
The color alone would crush a person—but to Su Tang now… it wasn't so bad.
Which left him the energy to look around and think.
"I remember… I was on Street 23… right! Akane Sawatari!" Memories flooded back. He started and felt over his body. "I was shot!"
No bullet holes. No blood.
Not normal.
Stranger still—his hand passed right through his body!
Yes—through!
As if everything were illusion—without substance.
Eyes wide, he stared.
At his hand, his body, each inch of skin exposed.
With no clothes, he was completely naked.
"Did I… die?"
He murmured.
His body now was too much like a soul after death.
"You won't die so easily, boy."
A rasp came from ahead.
The red surroundings faded in an instant. No—rather, he was forcibly pulled out.
From that dead space into another place.
Sky, breeze, city—and guns and blood.
This was Street 23!
Realizing it, Su Tang whipped around and saw, hanging in the air, that jade-dark coiled dragon statue.
Just as he'd seen it in his mind before.
"The Holy Lord!"
Su Tang couldn't help a flicker of joy.
The fire devil he normally avoided like the plague was, in this moment, his pillar. Especially after what he had just experienced—bizarre, inexplicable—his fear, panic, confusion, and doubt all vanished.
Because he realized he wasn't alone. Behind him stood an ancient, mighty demon sorcerer.
—The Holy Lord!
He would always be the last and greatest trump card!
"Boy—what happened?" The Holy Lord's eyes glowed a muddy blood-red—far from his best. "Why did you suddenly run to the edge of hell?"
"The edge of hell?" Su Tang recalled that field of dark red.
He looked around—ruins underfoot, people running everywhere, a giant serpent head in the sky, the Fox's head swallowed whole.
Then he saw his own body on the ground, Denko with a bullet in her forehead, blood flowing across the asphalt.
"I died."
Su Tang said, dejected. "I didn't expect Valmont's hires to turn on us—and I couldn't outrun bullets."
What use was an enhanced body? It was still mortal flesh—bullets would still find it.
Why had this world birthed the Gun Devil? And so powerful?
Even many devils fell to guns—let alone humans.
"Valmont and those useless wretches he calls men!"
The Holy Lord roared.
Seeing Su Tang's slumped look, he rasped, "Boy—I told you, you won't die so easily."
"Then now…?"
"Your flesh's life force is draining—but your soul will not die."
Blood glinted in the dragon eyes. "The contract you signed with me—to inherit half my power—do you remember it?"
Su Tang's pupils dilated.
"Sadly, I don't have the Dog or Horse talismans—that's the immortality of my flesh; nor the Sheep—that strengthens the soul. So what you inherited is far from enough."
"Just as you experienced."
The Holy Lord explained. "Though your soul won't die, it will be damaged—drawn into hell as a devil's piece. Luckily I sensed something wrong and woke. Before you sank completely, I pulled you back. Otherwise…"
He paused, as if recalling something dreadful. "Otherwise, you'd never escape hell—enduring eternal agony and attrition, thousands of years, tens of thousands…"
His tone was calm as he described the most terrible punishment.
He wasn't lying.
Su Tang's soul bore the Fire Devil's aura; it would be judged a part of him. The immortals' seal would bind Su Tang too.
So once in hell, he couldn't be summoned out like the Holy Lord's spawn and minions. To go in or out, he'd need the Gate of Hell. And he'd only get one chance.
Hearing this, a chill of aftershock passed through Su Tang's eyes.
Good thing the Holy Lord hauled him back—he'd seen the cartoon; he knew how awful hell was.
How had the other seven demons from the Holy Lord's era fared when freed? Once out of hell, how weakened were they?
Moons' Devil, Shendu's brother Valmont—no, Moon Devil Shendu? (No matter.) The Moon Devil, as the eldest, still had the power to wreck the Earth with lunar gravity. But Wind, Earth, Sky…
Their showing had been feeble.
He was still thinking when a boom shook him.
The dark-coated man had transformed into the Katana Man—and was fighting Aki.
Seeing a form so like Denko's, Su Tang narrowed his eyes.
"Holy Lord—can I fight now?" he asked.
Power was spent as Power (the Blood Fiend) stanched Himeno's blood; Aki was clearly no match for Sawatari and the Katana Man.
If he didn't help, this could be a total wipe.
"No. Your soul is still mending. Enter now and you'd suffer permanent, irreversible damage." The Holy Lord refused flatly. "Boy—you're my key to finding the talismans. No mishaps."
"Alright." Su Tang frowned, forced himself calm. "How long?"
"I'm sustaining a spell to repair you—but it's still too slow."
The Holy Lord's voice grew heavy. "You weren't prepared. Your flesh and soul can't be separated too long—or this body will lose vitality and become a walking corpse. Then you'd need another body."
That…
Su Tang blinked.
It felt like a closed loop—his soul couldn't re-enter until healed; the body without a soul would go inert…
"So there's no way?" he sighed.
The Holy Lord was silent a second.
Or less.
Then his rasp sounded again.
"No. There is one."
…
"Boring."
Sawatari shook her head, bored, looking at Himeno in Aki's arms.
She couldn't grasp such behavior—just as she couldn't grasp why the Gun Devil wanted the heart of that young woman on the ground.
But a contract was a contract. She would fulfill it.
As for Aki Hayakawa—
He could be the Katana Man's problem.
With that thought, she hooked a finger through Denko's tie and dragged her toward a van by the curb like garbage.
It would have been a short walk—if something hadn't grabbed her leg.
Feeling the wrongness at her ankle, Sawatari looked down—her serpent eyes tightened.
She dropped Denko on instinct and began to speak:
"—Snake, throw—"
"Bang—!!"
Her words were swallowed by the wind.
A pair of dragon talons clamped her ankle, lifted her lightly into the air, and swung her like a windmill.
The world blurred in an instant—everything spun fast.
Just as she felt her brains were about to be shaken to mush, the grip on her ankle suddenly vanished.
Instead came the whoosh at her ear and a brick wall rushing up.
He had thrown her!
Despair flickered—then a drilling pain stabbed her fingers.
It came so suddenly—but instead of panic, it washed the despair from her eyes.
A flash before her—familiar brown serpent scales.
Summoned in the nick of time—it saved her life.
"Interesting…"
In the middle of the street, a half-dragon figure rolled his neck, getting a feel for the body, and squinted as he spoke.
"Holy Lord?"
Floating above, Su Tang stared in a daze—at the coiled dragon carving vanishing from midair, then at his own body suddenly standing—and tested a call.
"It's me." The Holy Lord flicked his long tongue, clenched the dragon claws. "This is the way I mentioned—my remnant soul entering your body temporarily to sustain its vitality."
"But I can only hold on for a short time—about two minutes. I'll put most of the fiery qi into repairing your soul, and the rest into healing your flesh. It should be just enough to get you to peak within two minutes."
The Holy Lord laid it out methodically.
Su Tang listened quietly.
"Boy—you're the strangest fate I've seen. The Righteous Qi doesn't seem to reject or hinder you much. So the talisman quest has to be you."
"But before we gather all twelve, your first priority is not 'no matter the cost'—it's to fight only when you can live. As long as you live, the talismans will someday be yours. If you die…"
The dragon's eyes narrowed. "With this world changing in unknown ways, my resurrection will be influenced in unknown ways."
"So remember. Without me to catch you, you must think thrice—never put yourself on a knife's edge. And growing stronger—above all. You recall what I told you: your own strength is the root of all answers."
"Wait… Holy Lord…"
At first Su Tang listened in silence. The longer he listened, the more wrong it felt. It sounded like… an elder giving last words.
Especially the last line—"without me to catch you." A thought jolted through him. "Holy Lord… you mean—you won't be here anymore?"
"This remnant is only that—a remnant. It's done enough." The Holy Lord nodded, admitting it. "Once your body and soul are mended, I'll return to the main body."
"…"
Su Tang opened his mouth—words stuck in his throat.
He didn't know how to describe what he felt.
In theory, the Holy Lord's remnant disappearing from his mind should be good—living beside a dragon is living with a time bomb. But…
To his surprise, he felt a little lost. And a fear he didn't want to admit—fear of facing the future alone.
Without the Holy Lord as his backstop, he felt a sudden hollowness—as if the mountain behind him had gone.
"Boy, this remnant was a fluke. After I go back, the main body probably can't help you further. So—chin up. Watch me fight!"
The Holy Lord bared his teeth and looked at the serpent-eyed figure rushing in.
"Call this my last lesson!"
Boom—!!
A colossal serpent tail fell like a mountain.
Unmatched force made the whole street shudder three times—the surface cracked and sank a whole knuckle deep.
"She… should be dead, right?"
Sawatari bit her lip, just about to breathe—when her eyes caught a jade-dark blur thread through the Snake!
What—? With the Snake's defense, how—
No, it wasn't penetration! Something invisible had braced the Snake! It had paused for a fraction!
Something invisible?!
The Ghost Devil?!
Impossible!
A thousand questions—but no time to think.
Because the half-dragon was already on her!
She cried out:
"—Snake, scales!"
Boom—!!
Dust billowed!
The brown serpent scales were pitted with dense craters—the last layer thinner than paper!
Plainly at the end of its strength—one poke would pierce it.
Sawatari flew backward—but quickly steadied herself.
The panic in her eyes vanished.
That's all?
In one breath, the scales returned to normal—as if untouched.
"Ah-ha-ha—if that's all you—"
Rage, scorn, ferocity surged into her brain. She laughed and moved to charge—then froze.
Because someone stood in front of her.
A woman—with blonde hair and red serpent eyes.
The ferocity in her eyes turned to fear in an instant. Sawatari realized—the punch just now—
Had literally split her into two!
—Two Akane Sawataris!
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