Early morning.
Asa Mitaka hailed a taxi toward school.
They were only a kilometer away when the taxi jolted to a halt. The windshield wipers tore across the glass, but the rain pounded too hard — like someone was stabbing the world with sharp needles. The taxi itself trembled under the force of the storm.
The driver, a middle‑aged man with a receding hairline, frowned and glanced at Asa in the back seat.
"Little girl, this storm came out of nowhere," he said, voice tight with strain. "I can't see the road. I'll give you half the fare back, and since you can't get out right now, we should head back."
Asa's mouth tightened. The weather had been normal just minutes ago. How had it turned into this?
But it wasn't something anyone could safely drive through. Trees bent violently, almost uprooting themselves.
"All right, let's go back…" Asa nodded, reluctantly accepting the only safe option.
"Okay, I'll just—"
Crack!
Whoosh!
Before the driver even finished speaking, a massive street lamp, ripped from the ground by the storm's fury, slammed into the cab with bone‑crunching force.
Splatter—
In an instant, only half of the driver remained in the seat.
The smell of blood was thick and brutal.
The steering wheel was snapped in half.
Asa's eyes widened. Shards of rain, metal, and flesh blurred together. She was trapped in the wreckage.
"Something's wrong," Yoru's voice echoed in her mind, sharp and urgent. "This isn't a normal storm. I sense a Devil's presence… the Typhoon Devil."
The name hit Asa like ice water.
Her mind flashed back years, to the day her entire family was killed by a devil attack — a terror caused by this very same Typhoon Devil.
Her eyes burned with fury.
"Yoru, can you kill the Typhoon Devil?" she asked, voice low but steady.
"Oh?" Yoru said, surprised to hear Asa sound this fierce. But she forced caution into her tone. "No."
Just then…
Bang!
A mangled human body smashed against the taxi window, carried by the storm's wrath. The glass cracked under the impact, smeared with strange crimson that could only be described as entrails.
A man's head with a mohawk rolled across the roof.
Asa flinched, then steadied herself.
Her thoughts raced back to her mother's death, and her pulse surged with anger.
"Yoru always brags she's the strongest!" she snapped in her head. "With that terrifying name, why don't you show some real strength and crush that damned Typhoon Devil?!"
Yoru's voice dripped with irritation. "The only reason I'm this weak is because of Chainsaw Man, the one Asa loves so much…"
"You!" Asa seethed.
Yoru continued in a more measured tone. "Asa, don't be reckless. The Typhoon Devil is just passing by, and it hasn't even noticed us. Just crouch down under the seat and hide until it's gone."
Asa drew in a sharp breath. Her fists clenched until her fingernails bit into her palms.
Crouch down? Hide?
No.
She wasn't going to let her enemy escape again.
The Typhoon Devil was the creature that annihilated her family. She had lived too long with fear and fleeing; she was done crouching forever.
Asa sat up straighter, jaw set, staring at the raging storm outside.
"Yoru," she growled, "I think your guts have been scared right out of you. From now on, I want the title of War Devil!"
Yoru froze. "Huh? Are you insane, Asa?!"
Asa could feel it — the shaking of the taxi had lessened. The Typhoon Devil was moving away… maybe, but maybe not.
Was this her only chance?
Her eyes hardened.
"I don't care! I am going to kill the Typhoon!"
Asa reached into her satchel and pulled out the wad of yen Cael had given her the last time he brought breakfast. She had planned to return it once they cleared up their misunderstanding, but right now she needed a weapon.
Yoru eyed the money suspiciously, bewildered by Asa's actions.
Asa didn't wait for understanding.
Snap!
She slammed the wad of banknotes down hard on the driver's seat beside the torn body.
"Uncle, I am so sorry! I have fifty thousand Yen here. I'm buying this taxi outright!"
The driver's corpse and the notes of cash vanished in a flash of shimmering light and points of illumination.
Yoru blinked, dazed.
"Huh?"
She was just starting to figure out what Asa was doing when everything snapped into motion.
Asa spoke with earnest zeal.
"Good, this taxi belongs to me now. Uncle, rest in peace in heaven. I will avenge you!"
To fight the Typhoon Devil, Asa needed a weapon she owned. Only something belonging to her could transform into the terrible armament she needed. And the stronger her guilt over that weapon, the stronger it would be.
What could maximize her guilt right now?
Without a doubt, this taxi, because that driver had only been out doing his job when disaster blasted them both.
Asa's logic was odd, but fierce.
And it worked.
The ability activated.
"Excellent."
Snap!
Asa's hand slammed down onto what once was the seat.
"Taxi Sword!"
Swish!
In an instant the taxi transformed.
What emerged was an odd, massive greatsword — strange, vividly colored streaks of yellow and green still hints of the vehicle it had been, now long gone.
The blade was heavy, almost unwieldy, requiring every ounce of strength she had just to lift it with both hands.
The wind howled, whipping her long hair around like living tendrils.
Asa Mitaka grasped the massive Taxi Sword and pointed it toward the eye of the storm.
"Typhoon Devil! Do you remember who I am?!"
The storm paused.
A massive head, nearly a kilometer wide, emerged from the swirling winds. It had no skull covering its exposed brains, all of which churned and pulsed like grotesque stormclouds.
It stared at her blankly.
"So… who exactly are you?" it asked, as if amused.
"Aaaahhh!!!" Asa roared.
Anger, pain, and every memory she had ever suffered burst from her voice like a volcanic eruption.
She didn't have time to worry whether it could kill her.
She raised the Taxi Sword and charged forward, feet thundering against the wet ground.
"Give me back my Mama's life!!!"
The Typhoon Devil truly wanted to laugh — a tiny human girl, charging directly at a creature that embodied natural disaster?
To its mind, this was suicidal.
It didn't even bother to dodge.
But then,
Slash…
The Taxi Sword cut deep.
Blood and storm guts splattered across the pouring rain.
The Typhoon Devil wailed in true agony.
"It hurts! It hurts! So much!!!"
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