Black and white flash.
Akane walks to Katana Man. "You okay?" she asks, breath thin.
"Cough."
Spitting clotted blood, Katana Man looks at his abdomen as it rapidly knits. "That guy hits hard," he says flatly. "But I'm fine… My ability is perfect against his kind. You—can you still fight?"
"Just lost an arm." Akane's tone is cool; her slit snake eyes flick to where Denji collapsed. "Make it quick. Remember, our goal isn't your revenge, it's to fulfill the cont—tract?!"
"What is it?" Katana Man sees her face change, follows her gaze.
It's the blue-scaled, tailed guy—nothing special.
Except someone has suddenly appeared beside him…
Someone who looks exactly like him?!
Katana Man's body goes rigid. The pain in his gut seems to sharpen.
Impossible.
"Did he contract a Clone Devil…" Akane recalls being punched into "two halves" just now; her face darkens. "That idiot Valmont didn't give me this guy's file. All we know is he's called Su Tang—everything else is a question mark."
"Who cares. A fight will tell us all we need." Katana Man rubs the edges of his twin blades together, then gives Akane a look. "But you're betraying your employer here. Your bounty hunter rep is done for."
"Let me finish the contract with the Gun Devil first."
Akane raises her remaining hand, sights on the two Su Tangs, and narrows her eyes:
"—Snake, Devour!"
"This is the 'big move' you talked about?"
Su Tang eyes the Su Tang across from him and pats himself down. "Which of us is good and which is evil?"
"Obviously I'm the good one!" the other Su Tang says, mouth hitching into a wicked grin. He crooks an elbow and flexes bands of steel-cable muscle; his blood-red eyes gleam viciously. "Got a problem with that?"
"No, no—you said it, so it's true." Su Tang scratches a sheepish smile and points to himself. "Then… I'm the evil side?"
"No shit." The self-styled good Su Tang glares at evil Su Tang. "If you weren't such dead weight, I wouldn't have been forced to use a brand-new trick like this. When it's time to merge, you'd better behave and come back—got it? Or else… hmph."
He stomps; a cracked floor tile pulverizes into grit. "That'll be you."
"Easy, easy." Evil Su Tang nods quickly—then, cautiously: "Our feet aren't scaled. Didn't that stomp hurt?"
"…" Good Su Tang stares, expressionless.
He gives the numbed foot the tiniest shake.
"Uh, should I not have said that…" Evil Su Tang rubs his head—and suddenly sees the massive shadow forming over both their heads.
"Move!" he yells, diving aside.
"Move?" Good Su Tang stands with his back to the shadow, lip curling. "The coward's choice!"
He raises both arms to catch the plunging serpent head!
BOOM—!!
The force drives cracks into the ground beneath his feet!
Dust geysers up and fuses into a blast that ripples outward.
Evil Su Tang sweeps away the dust in front of his face and peers into the heart of the shockwave.
Good Su Tang is forced forward at the waist, spine bowed to seventy-five degrees.
He senses evil Su Tang's stare. Though his arms are shaking, he grits out, "What are you looking at?! Think I can't hold it? No way! Even bearing the Snake Dev—"
He doesn't finish.
Because evil Su Tang is already there, raising his own arms to brace the colossal head.
"Don't get me wrong—I'm not doubting you," evil Su Tang says with a soft smile. "I'm just saving us some strength so the fight doesn't go south."
"…Hmph."
Good Su Tang keeps a straight face and grunts—grudging agreement.
Feeling some of the strain ease off his arms, he narrows his eyes.
"Now!"
Both Su Tangs shout as one. Four dragon-scaled arms heave—and they actually lever the Snake Devil up! Then—hurl!
Feeling the massive force under its head, the Snake Devil's car-sized vertical pupil shows fear for the first time. Its entire body tumbles, rolling aside!
Rrrrumble—!!
That mountain-long bulk flattens a host of buildings. Paving stones under its scales can only rise as dust and vanish on the wind.
"Snake!"
Akane's pupils contract. She hadn't expected the Snake that swallowed a Fox Devil whole to lose in raw strength!
The gunmen who'd reloaded and were bringing rifles up are knocked sprawling by the quake, heads swimming.
Farther away, hidden onlookers shriek and scramble to flee the web of widening ground fissures.
"What a goddamn death wish!"
Good Su Tang spits when he sees it. He summons a pack of shadow ninjas and orders coldly: "Get those nuisances out. The farther the better."
"As for you…" He shoots evil Su Tang a sideways look and snorts. "I'll grudgingly admit you've got a little skill."
"Heh-heh…" Evil Su Tang just rubs his head and smiles.
Elsewhere, by the Snake Devil's fading body, Katana Man watches, face tight with shock and anger. "Split into two, but the power didn't halve?! That's not scientific!! What happened to the law of conservation?!"
"A devil quoting conservation?" Akane rolls her eyes. "From my experience just now, this guy can split people into good and evil bodies. Now we stall them—buy our teams time."
Buy time…
Katana Man glances at the prone teams, then speaks with a trace of dread—and… hesitation: "You really sure about using that guy's meat slices?"
"They have no choice."
Akane's voice is ice. She lifts the hand with its last fingernail and cries: "—Snake, Armament!"
A susurrant hiss answers from above.
Brown scales sheath Akane like a scaled brown dress, and a sharp blade of snake-scale forms in her hand like a greatsword.
"One each."
She says it.
"…Okay." Katana Man looks at his healed gut, then at the two blue figures ten-plus meters away.
He pauses, then shouts: "Which of you is the good one? Come fight me!"
The good one should be easier, right?
Pick the good one—maybe he won't hit as hard.
Because his belly… was punched into a hole!
"Oh? I'm the good one!" Good Su Tang licks a fang with his tongue; blood-red eyes lock onto Katana Man. He grins wickedly. "Old man, want a piece of me?!"
"You're the one I'm hitting!" Katana Man isn't cowed; twin blades whirl as he drops and charges!
Ten-plus meters vanish in a couple seconds—a blink or two!
And Su Tang is gone!
What?!
Katana Man stares at the empty air he just slashed, aghast.
"Looking for me, old man?"
The insolent voice snaps behind him. Before he can turn, something like a great hammer smashes his back!
His clothes burst apart, skin splitting!
It's that tail!
Katana Man locks his back muscles, trying to dam the blood—then the silky, sinful voice brushes his ear again—
"You heal real well, huh… Perfect. I like opponents like you."
BOOM—!!
Flame sears across his back in an instant, tearing at exposed flesh and blood.
"AAAAAH!"
Agony floods his brain—but he can't move. Su Tang's dragon-scaled arms are cinched tight around him!
"The last guy who could resurrect endlessly lasted two hours. Hope you've got spine—hang in there a while." Good Su Tang's blood eyes flicker with a hungry, savage joy as he watches the flesh on Katana Man's back heal and burn, heal and burn—like admiring a masterpiece.
"Devil! You're a devil!" Katana Man shakes, from fear or pain or both. He roars, "I get it—you're that black-cloaked guy from before! Funny—you call yourself a hero, a 'good' one?!"
"Hm?!" A vicious cast flickers over Good Su Tang's face. He weaves the telekinesis into countless fine needles that stitch through Katana Man's wounds and smiles cruelly. "Old man, I'll give you one more chance. Get it right, and I'll let you go."
The needles knot into a giant needle and plunge deep into the mangled meat!
"AAAH!!" Katana Man screams.
"Tell me—am I good?"
"Yes, yes!"
"Very good. Since I'm the good one… answer me!"
"—Who is Tokyo's true hero?!"
"You are, you are!"
"Who am I?!"
"The black-cloaked man! The black-cloaked man!" Tormented by the invisible needles roaming inside him and a fear born from his very core, Katana Man howls, "The black-cloaked man is Tokyo's true hero!"
"Good. I'm satisfied."
Good Su Tang nods "kindly." His eyes glitter, and a bigger burst of fire roars over Katana Man.
"AAAAA WHY?! Didn't you say if I got it right you'd let me go!!"
"Oh? I did say that."
Su Tang's grin splits wide as he keeps the flames on and mocks, "But as everyone knows—"
"—I, Su Tang, never keep my promises!"
"That's the good one?"
Hearing the unrestrained laughter, Akane's mouth twitches.
"Heh-heh, he says he is, so he is," Evil Su Tang chuckles, then looks at Akane. "How about you just surrender? Fighting's a hassle. I don't really advocate violence…"
"Yap, yap—nag!" Akane grips the scale-sword in her one hand and lunges for Su Tang's heart.
"Wow, straight for the heart!"
Evil Su Tang springs back, feet dancing to avoid her thrusts. He tries to reason with her: "Why bother? Without the Snake Devil, you can't beat me."
"Annoying." Akane presses the attack, eyes flicking toward the gunmen sprawled on the ground.
"You're in a hurry. But don't—listen to me…" Su Tang is about to continue when he stops short. Curious, he says, "You've got another card. What are you waiting for?"
He catches the flicker in Akane's eyes, turns—and his pupils tighten.
"Good!"
"What? I'm busy—" Good Su Tang turns, impatient—and the words freeze.
The thirty-odd gunmen on the ground are all swallowing something.
A twisted, rotten aura erupts above them!
So strong! Even from this distance it feels hard to breathe!
"Stop them!"
Good Su Tang shouts, drops Katana Man, and sprints that way.
But he's farther away.
Evil Su Tang is closer… but Akane's got him locked down tight.
Just as the men are about to finish transforming and both Su Tangs brace for the coming threat—something explodes.
One of the thirty!
Like a firework bursting—like some heavy weight pressed down!
Before everyone's eyes, his body detonates into a puddle of blood in an instant!
Seeing it, both Su Tang and Akane jolt.
This explosion… this sudden detonation…
So familiar! It's exactly how the Mouth Devil and the Sphincter Devil died that night!
Exactly the same!
Su Tang is still reeling when Akane goes from shock to pure dread.
She drops her attack on Su Tang outright, tosses the greatsword, snatches up her radio, and cries in panic:
"Group C! Confirm Makima's death again—now!"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you so much for reading until the end.
If you'd like to read more, you can Joining to my Patreon.
My Patreon:
patreon.com/Hydran_Tea
Chainsaw Man: The Covenant of Flame Demon [Ss2 157 Chapter ]
Uma Musume: Wait—you want me to pop my Christmas Hat Ultimate? [Ss2 146 Chapter ]
Honkai star rail:Invincible From the Moment I Started Playing as Jing Yuan [ 82 Chapter ]
The Problem Child Starts from Gensokyo [ 73 Chapter ]
FGO: Handcrafted Lostbelt, the Strongest is the Real History [ 51 Chapter ]
Honkai World: Kiana Doesn't Need Redemption [ 43 Chapter ]