Keal's breath hitched, coming out in ragged, ghostly plumes of white mist. The shock in his chest turned into an icy weight; the mere presence of this colossal, twisted devil emitted a freezing aura that made his muscles lock up. The cold was different now—it wasn't just atmospheric; it felt predatory. It was the chill of absolute death.
Locking his eyes onto the paralyzed teenager a few meters away, Keal broke through his own shock and roared at the top of his lungs:
"Run! Get the hell out of here! Move your legs, kid!"
The black-haired boy didn't move. His wide, exhausted eyes remained glued to the monstrous gray entity, completely short-circuited by the horror.
"Stop looking at me and run, you idiot! Faster!" Keal screamed, his voice cracking with desperate urgency.
The sudden blast of Keal's voice finally snapped the boy's survival instinct into gear. Trembling violently, he turned on his heel and bolted down the desolate, crimson-lit sidewalk, his sneakers slapping wildly against the concrete.
But the streets were no longer safe.
As the boy rounded a dark corner, a dying devil—battered and bleeding from some unseen clash elsewhere in the sector—stumbled out from the shadows. Gasping out its final, agonizing breaths, the creature caught sight of the fleeing human and lashed out with a desperate, razor-sharp claw.
The jagged nails slashed across the boy's skin, leaving a bloody, burning scratch. Shocked by the pain but driven by pure adrenaline, the boy didn't dare to slow down. He clutched his wound, pushed through the agony, and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, vanishing into the maze of alleys.
Back on the main avenue, Keal slowly turned his attention back to the primary threat.
The tall, skeletal Devil's Lullaby hadn't moved an inch. It simply stood there under the bleeding red sky, its hollow abdomen gaping open, its massive, unblinking eyes locked onto Keal. And on its smooth, bald face, that wide, jaw-splitting, incredibly creepy smile never faded.
Suddenly, the atmosphere grew heavy. Zanryū emerged from the darkness, his voice a wild, frantic shriek that shattered the silence: "Ohhhhhh! What exactly are you doing there? Have you lost your mind?!"
Keal didn't even turn to look at him. His gaze remained locked dead ahead. "Leave me alone, Zanryū. I don't have time for your bullshit," he replied coldly.
"You idiot! This devil is a HIGH-GRADE CONQUEROR! It's a high-level threat, highly dangerous!" Zanryū yelled again, feeling the creature's crushing devil aura suffocating them.
Keal's patience snapped. He whipped around, his eyes flashing with raw fury. "What the hell do you want me to do?! Tell me!" he roared with all his might.
"Stop screaming; I can hear you, asshole!" Zanryū cut him off, his adrenaline hitting the red line.
"Then what do you want from me?! Don't you see how it's looking at us? It's like it just escaped a psych ward!"
"It's not looking at you because it likes you, dumbass! It's charging up energy! That's the Devil's Lullaby—the one that devours children!"
The reality hit Keal like a physical blow. The Devil standing before them was a living nightmare. "Damn it... This life is a sick joke," he muttered, his posture tensing up.
With a sudden, sharp movement, Keal dropped into a combat stance, channeling his Devil energy.
Zanryū stared at him, completely shocked. "What are you doing? Are you insane? Let's get the hell out of here!"
A dark, mocking smirk formed on Keal's lips. "I've never run from a fight. But you? Go ahead, run. You're used to running away from me out of pure fear anyway."
Keal's words pierced right through him. Zanryū bit his lip until it bled, feeling his pride shatter. There was only one choice left: death or battle. Clenching his fists, he dropped into a stance right beside him as the Devil closed in.
"Allies?" Zanryū asked through gritted teeth.
Keal let out a low, barely audible whisper, never taking his eyes off the enemy: "Enemies yesterday, friends today... Funny how life works. Fine. Let's go.
"Thank you for waiting..."
The voice didn't come from a throat. It echoed from the massive, gaping mouth torn open across the Devil's Lullaby's stomach.
With a sickening squelch, the stomach-mouth convulsed. Dozens of small, toad-like devils began pouring out, flooding the street like a grotesque, writhing tide. The swarm screeched, launching themselves straight at the two sorcerers.
"Out of my way!" Keal roared, immediately unleashing a brutal barrage of kicks, crushing the toad-devils beneath his boots.
Beside him, Zanryū vanished instantly into thin air, activating his innate technique. Invisible to the naked eye, he tore through the swarm from the shadows, his unseen strikes shattering the monsters.
"See, dumbass?! I told you I don't run!" Zanryū's voice echoed from thin air.
Keal whipped his head around, searching for the main threat—but the Devil's Lullaby was already scaling the side of a nearby building, moving with unnatural speed.
"Where the hell do you think you're going, you coward?!" Keal bellowed with all his might.
He drove a devil kick into a cluster of toad-devils, detonating them into a shower of black blood, desperately trying to clear a path to give chase. But it was too late. The Devil's Lullaby slipped into the upper shadows and vanished from the area.
Together, Keal and Zanryū quickly slaughtered the remaining swarm, but the delay had cost them. The street fell dead silent, littered with the dissolving remains of the toad-devils.
"Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!" Keal violently slammed his fists against his legs in pure frustration. "He got away, Devil!"
Zanryū reappeared, his form flickering back into view. "It doesn't matter where it runs. The barrier is up. It can't escape this sector. Forget the Devil for a second—let's go find Sou and Reino."
Zanryū sighed, shaking his head. "I just hope those two idiots aren't still fighting each other."
"Hmph. Knowing them, Reino definitely won," Keal muttered confidently.
"Shut up, already," Zanryū snapped. "We have better things to—"
Before he could finish, a piercing, agonizing shriek shattered the night.
Both of them froze instantly. Without exchanging a single word, they broke into a dead sprint, rushing directly toward the screams.
They broke through the alley and slid to a halt.
Ahead of them, the Devil's Lullaby had a woman trapped, its massive stomach-mouth wide open, preparing to swallow her whole.
Without a second thought, Keal lunged. He launched himself into the air, channeling every ounce of energy into his leg, and brought it down like a guillotine.
"AXE KICK!"
The brutal downward strike connected perfectly with the devil's neck. The sheer force of the impact tore the creature's head clean off its shoulders. The decapitated body stumbled back, regurgitating the woman from its stomach mouth onto the pavement.
Zanryū rushed to her side, pulling her away from the monster. "Ma'am, get out of here right now! This area isn't safe!"
But before the woman could even run, a sickening crunch echoed through the street. Flesh bubbled and bone snapped as a brand-new head violently sprouted from the devil's neck.
The Devil looked at them, its expression twisting into a chilling, dead-eyed stare. "It seems you boys don't appreciate the quiet," it spoke, its voice dropping into a freezing, monotone pitch. "I don't like noise. Let me show you what happens when you disturb my peace."
"Shut the hell up!" Zanryū barked.
Vanishing for a split second, he reappeared right in front of the Devil and drove a heavy fist straight into its new jaw. "Your mouth reeks so bad I'm about to throw up!"
Suddenly, the Devil's Lullaby's body began to distort. It expanded rapidly, swelling up like a massive, grotesque balloon.
"What the hell?!" Zanryū yelled, stepping back. "Keal, don't let it grow any bigger!"
Keal was already moving. Nature's energy flared wildly around his leg, glowing with destructive power.
"GIGA KICK!"
He delivered a massive, loaded kick straight into the center of the swelling devil. The impact triggered a violent explosion, the shockwave blasting the devil backward through the air.
But Zanryū was already waiting for it. Anticipating the trajectory, he leaped high into the night sky, gripping two sharp iron rebar rods he had ripped from the concrete. Coming down hard on top of the flying monster, he jammed both metal rods deep into the devil's eyes.
The Devil's Lullaby let out an agonizing, ear-piercing shriek.
Zanryū flipped backward, landing smoothly on the asphalt as the Devil crashed heavily into the debris.
Keal walked up beside him, a smirk on his face. "Look at you, actually knowing how to do something useful. Not like before, when you were just hiding and throwing cheap shots."
Zanryū didn't look at him. His gaze remained cold, fixed on the groaning Devil in the rubble.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear a single word of that," Zanryū said quietly.
The devil began to swell rapidly, inflating to a terrifying, monstrous degree. Its flesh expanded, bubbling and stretching with sickening snaps until its physical form loomed like a towering mountain of grotesque meat.
Zanryū stood frozen, his breath hitching as his hands began to tremble uncontrollably. "Why... why is it swelling up so much?!"
Keal grit his teeth, sweat dripping down his face. "Damn it... It didn't stop. It's compressing... no, it's vomiting raw energy inward, deep into its own body. This thing... it's not just regenerating."
The devil let out a deafening, reality-shattering roar that shook the very foundation of the buildings around them.
"These are the consequences of defying me! A couple of insignificant insects daring to stand against me?!"
With a violent, casual swipe of its massive arm, the devil tore through the air. The impact caught Keal dead-on, blasting him backward with such immense force that he was sent flying clean through the street, crashing deep into the distance.
Left entirely alone, Zanryū was paralyzed with pure horror. His legs felt like lead, completely rooted to the shattered asphalt.
The devil was growing at an impossible rate. It expanded until it reached an imposing 59 meters in height, its massive, bloated width stretching past 40 meters. It blocked out the entire night sky.
"What... what the hell is this...?" Zanryū whispered, his throat completely dry. "I... I can't move. Damn it!"
The devil thrashed, its massive arms swinging wildly, obliterating the surrounding buildings and tearing the entire area to pieces. It locked its gaze onto the paralyzed Zanryū.
"WORMS... OF... LIGHT..."
The voice erupted directly from its chest—a horrific chorus of hundreds of men, women, and children screaming in perfect, agonized unison. The monster paused, a thick, black fluid dripping from its smooth jaw, instantly melting the concrete below.
"YOUR... GRIEF... IS... MY... FLESH. YOUR... EXISTENCE... BELONGS... TO... ΜΕ. KNEEL... BEFORE... THE... ABSOLUTE... DARKNESS!"
The Devil's Lullaby brought its colossal hand sweeping down, aiming to crush Zanryū into dust.
"No... no... It's too fast!" Zanryū gasped, forcing his feet to move as he desperately tried to dive out of the way.
Suddenly, the night sky lit up with a deep, burning orange glow. Zanryū glanced up.
High up on the roof of a standing building, Keal appeared. He leaped off the edge, plunging straight toward the giant devil. He pulled his fist back, his energy flaring so intensely it looked like a falling star. Natural raw energy and fire engulfed his entire body, roaring from his feet up to his head.
"I WILL SURVIVE!" Keal bellowed, his voice tearing through the chaos.
With blinding speed, he dropped like a meteor directly onto the devil's head.
"RUSH CALLS!"
The energy exploded. The shockwave felt as if the world itself had snapped in two. Tidal waves of fire, smoke, and raw force enveloped Tokyo, turning the entire city into a blinding, white flash of light for a single fraction of a second.
The devil shattered. The colossal body exploded into countless pieces, raining meat, stomach fluid, and pitch-black blood across the streets and painting the ruined buildings.
The smoke slowly cleared. Keal lay on the ground, completely drenched in black blood and exhausted. He forced his eyes open to find Zanryū standing over him.
Zanryū looked down, his voice calm, but his eyes filled with genuine awe. "Nice hit."
Keal wiped the blood from his mouth, a wide smile breaking across his face. "Thanks... ahaha..."
Zanryū extended his hand, pulling Keal back up to his feet. "Come on. Let's go find the others."
Keal gripped his hand, nodding. "Let's go."