There could never be a second moon in Hell.
That was what the Darkness Devil had initially believed.
But clearly, its scope was limited, and it had been proven wrong.
The piercing moonlight saturated the gloom like a massive hand reaching deep into the ultimate, pitch-black dark. An ancient, majestic aura flooded the expanse.
Hidden within the shadows, the Darkness Devil remained silent. It sensed the other party's presence; the impending arrival of this demon carried a powerful, unsettling aura. Yet as the moonlight cascaded downward, the Darkness Devil found itself entirely isolated, confined to the tiny patch of shadow it currently occupied.
This was Hell, yet the entity before it seemed to come and go completely as he pleased. The darkness it had unleashed moments ago was fundamental, a primordial force, yet the newcomer treated it as if it were absolutely nothing.
A beam of bright light shone right before Kobeni and her two companions. Its essence was gentle, yet at this moment, it cut through the gloom like a surgical knife, cleanly partitioning the dark.
In the blink of an eye, Kobeni, Denji, and Reze saw the light of day once more.
The apocalyptic landscape of Hell reappeared before their eyes. Across from them stood the Darkness Devil, looking isolated, its form visibly battered and broken. It remained motionless, as if gathering its strength.
"Mr. Demon!" Kobeni shouted excitedly, a smile bursting across her face.
"I did it! I actually held off the Darkness Devil!" She counted on her fingers, her face flushed red as she lowered her head, eagerly seeking approval.
Above them, Zoran's true form materialized slowly in the skies of Hell, descending right between the trio and the Darkness Devil. Having just wrapped up matters in the other world, he had rushed back in the nick of time.
Zoran scanned his surroundings. Taking in the state of Hell, he instantly pieced together what had just transpired. It seemed Kobeni had literally dragged down the artificial moon he had conjured before his departure. She wasn't entirely hopeless after all.
"You did well," he said with a light chuckle.
"Hehe," Kobeni chuckled foolishly, scratching her head.
Mr. Demon seemed to be in a pretty good mood. She couldn't help but wonder what he had been up to.
Having just returned from successfully "reaping the fruits" of his previous endeavor, Zoran composedly assessed the condition of the Darkness Devil across from him. The performance of the three juniors had been unexpectedly excellent. To think they could wound the Darkness Devil to such an extent… their efforts were thoroughly commendable.
And now, the time had come for him to harvest his own rewards.
In the next fraction of a second, Zoran and the Darkness Devil struck almost simultaneously.
The Darkness Devil unleashed its slash, sending a wave of absolute darkness surging toward Zoran in an instant. In this first true confrontation, it held nothing back.
At the exact same time, Zoran casually flicked his finger. The Repulsion Slash, invisible and formless, drifted toward the Darkness Devil.
Victory and defeat were decided within a millisecond.
The wave of darkness dissipated harmlessly before Zoran, turning into nothing more than a gentle breeze. Blessed with the dual sorcery of attraction and repulsion, any attack, whether physical or conceptual, was bound to the absolute truth that it could never reach his body.
The Darkness Devil, however, did not fare so well.
Without warning, it was cleanly split in two. Sliced vertically, its halves collapsed to the left and right into the shadows beneath its feet. It possessed no means to withstand the sheer might of the Repulsion Slash.
Even Kobeni, wielding merely a fraction of his Moon Demon Chi, had been able to trade blows with the Darkness Devil for a few rounds. Let alone now, when the true master of that power stood right before it. It stood absolutely no chance.
The bisected form of the Darkness Devil sank into the shadows as if submerging into water, slowly vanishing. A moment later, it materialized once more from the solitary patch of darkness behind it, its body fully restored.
In this world, the devils all dabbled in conceptual powers to some degree.
Watching the reappearance of the Darkness Devil, Zoran remained unhurried. He simply gave a slight nod. "Just as I thought."
Wanting to fully feast on this dish was not going to be a simple task.
It wasn't that he lacked the means to permanently erase the entity. Devils were born from human fear; if one were to completely wipe out humanity from the face of the earth, the devils would naturally cease to exist. But that wasn't Zoran's style. He had a much simpler method.
Reaching out, he levitated Denji directly in front of him.
"Do you remember our agreement, boy?" Zoran asked in a low, deliberate voice.
Denji glanced back at Reze, then nodded vigorously.
He wasn't exactly some legendary, top-tier powerhouse. The Chainsaw Man form he assumed by using the Chainsaw Devil as his heart wasn't as overwhelmingly powerful as people imagined. At the end of the day, Denji was just an ordinary guy. Even a devil hybrid like Reze, the Bomb Devil, could go toe-to-toe with him.
The true source of ultimate power within him was the Chainsaw Devil, Pochita.
Denji thwacked his own chest, calling out in a hushed tone, "Pochita!" His expression was a complex mix of emotions, but his gaze was unyielding.
Pochita had told him that it was willing to grant his wishes. And now, that moment had come. It was time to pull his weight for this grand figure and fulfill his promise.
"Yeah, I hear you, Denji..." Pochita's voice echoed within Denji's mind, answering his call. "If we take down the monster in front of us, Denji's wish will come true, right?"
Pochita's voice grew louder and louder, roaring and vibrating deep inside his ribcage.
Denji blinked in a daze. In the next instant, a revving sound completely unlike any previous chainsaw transformation erupted violently. The noise was viciously aggressive, carrying an unsuppressable, feral cruelty.
Denji's frame suddenly shot up in height, growing heavily armored and muscular. The chainsaws that used to look somewhat awkward protruding from his Chainsaw Man form now erupted from his flesh with absolute, terrifying harmony.
He had transformed into a true monster.
Denji—no, the Chainsaw Devil, Pochita, exhaled a cloud of scalding vapor.
This was a formidable, overwhelming state that no one had ever witnessed before, fully driven by Pochita's own consciousness.
The Black Chainsaw!
Without a shred of hesitation, the Black Chainsaw lunged at the Darkness Devil, instantly becoming a blur of violent motion as it tangled with the thick, viscous dark.
Without needing a single word of instruction from Zoran, Kobeni instinctively sprinted to the front lines to provide backup for the Black Chainsaw.
In truth, the Black Chainsaw originally would have been no match for the Darkness Devil. However, the Darkness Devil's current condition was exceptionally poor, and Zoran was keeping watch from the sidelines. It was pinned ruthlessly to the spot, unable to budge, unable to flee, and unable to leave.
Wielding the dual forces of attraction and repulsion as her blades, Kobeni carved chunk after chunk of bone from the Darkness Devil with an ecstatic expression. It looked as though she was actively venting her spite for being blasted away by the entity multiple times earlier.
The physical form of the Darkness Devil began to shrink at a pace visible to the naked eye. The meager patch of darkness it commanded gradually dwindled as the Black Chainsaw violently hacked, tore, and devoured everything it had.
As for Zoran?
He was taking things completely easy.
Aside from his single initial strike and now keeping the Darkness Devil restricted to the spot, he sat comfortably back like an old fisherman on a stable deck. He seemed entirely deaf to the roaring chainsaws and Kobeni's manic laughter echoing a short distance away.
He had smoothly reclaimed his role as a chef.
Humming a nameless, casual tune, he pulled the Tianyuan Cauldron from his sleeve. The ancient, simple cauldron rapidly expanded, settling firmly onto the ground.
With a subtle flick of his fingers, Shendu's Fire Demon Chi obediently surged forward, heating the base of the Tianyuan Cauldron until it glowed a brilliant, scorching red.
With everything prepared, Zoran floated serenely in mid-air, casting a sidelong glance at the battlefield.
The cauldron was fully heated. All that was left was to toss in the ingredients.
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