Above the ruins, the morning sun slowly rose.
During the fall back to the human world, Yoru voluntarily gave control of the body back to Asa. Her mind was in complete chaos, and she had no idea how to face Cael anymore. She needed time to sort through the mess in her head.
Asa was more than happy to accept that.
Yoru's brain worked in ways that made absolutely no sense.
Cael being her daughter or something, that was ridiculous.
If that logic were somehow true, then if Asa and Cael had a child in the future, what would the kid call her? Mama or Grandma?
Asa sighed.
She was scaring herself with nonsense.
However, before Cael and the others could properly enjoy the relief of surviving, a terrifying figure slowly floated toward them.
The Falling Devil.
The brief moment of joy vanished instantly.
The atmosphere turned heavy and suffocating.
"She's coming again..." Asa muttered, her chest tightening.
"Yeah," Cael said, rubbing his temple. "What a fucking headache."
This made no sense.
According to Makima, the command structure had already been destroyed. The Falling Devil should have returned to Hell.
So why was she still here?
Was she still planning something? Did she still want to turn Asa into a dish?
No... that couldn't be it.
Cael stepped forward and quietly shielded Asa behind him.
He had nowhere else to retreat.
Cael had never been someone with grand ambitions.
He simply wanted to live a peaceful life with the person he liked.
And Asa held a very special place in his heart.
Before he transmigrated into this world, Cael had spent his entire life focused on work. He had never dated anyone.
His job made sure of that.
Very few people were willing to date an undertaker.
Whenever women on blind dates heard that Cael worked with the dead, most of them immediately lost interest.
Some stayed because of the salary, but those ones only wanted him as a backup option.
Cael was not stupid.
Why would he accept someone else's leftovers?
Some were even more shameless, bringing their entire families along and joking that Cael could become a father without any effort.
Because of that, Asa Mitaka was actually Cael's first love.
Watching someone grow, learning about each other, shaping themselves until they fit naturally together.
That feeling fascinated him.
If the Falling Devil intended to destroy all of that, then Cael had only one option left.
He would fight her to the death.
Cael put on a calm smile, polite but steady.
"Dearest Friend, is there something else you need?"
Courtesy came before violence.
The Falling Devil was not exactly normal.
Despite possessing terrifying power, her mind revolved entirely around cooking.
Maybe she had not come here to fight at all.
The Falling Devil gave a gentle bow.
"Due to special circumstances, my time in the human world is limited."
"Before I leave, I would like to ask Your Excellency a few questions."
Cael quietly let out a breath of relief.
As long as Asa was not the target, he did not mind playing along.
"Please ask. I will answer as best as I can."
The Falling Devil placed a hand lightly against her chest.
"I am very curious. How did Your Excellency come up with the idea of using your own body as an ingredient in a dish?"
Cael frowned slightly.
Of course it was about cooking again.
Still, he was not surprised by the question.
Cael rubbed his chin.
He could not tell her the truth, so he needed something abstract.
Something dramatic enough to satisfy her curiosity.
An idea came to him.
Cael took a slow breath, his expression turning solemn.
"Once, in the mountains, I saw a mother tiger that had just given birth."
"Driven by unbearable hunger, she was about to eat her own cubs."
"A passing Mahasattva saw this and could not bear the sight."
"He took a blade and cut his own throat, offering his flesh and blood to feed the tiger."
"To that tiger, no matter how exquisite any delicacy might be, could it ever compare to the flesh and blood of the Mahasattva?"
Cael stopped speaking.
He left the rest for the Falling Devil to interpret.
Outwardly, he looked serious.
Inside his mind, however, Cael was mocking the story.
He was human.
Why the hell would he save a tiger?
If that tiger family survived and later wandered into your house to eat everything, you would regret it immediately.
Stories like that sounded noble, but in Cael's opinion they were just another way for people to satisfy their own twisted sense of moral superiority.
People with no clear stance were always the most dangerous.
They did not know what they truly wanted.
They floated somewhere in the middle, never committing to anything.
Those kinds of people often caused the most destruction.
Just like that naive idiot character from the novel The Three-Body Problem.
She refused to press the launch button, yet if she were thrown into Australia and forced to line up for punishment, she would not like that either.
"I see..."
The Falling Devil seemed deeply moved.
She was a devil.
Concepts like karma or compassion meant little to her.
Her mind was built around one thing.
Cooking.
But after hearing Cael's story, she could only think that the Mahasattva was quite an interesting ingredient.
Two minutes passed quickly.
Her time was nearly up.
Suddenly, flames burst across the Falling Devil's body.
Fami's energy was being drained rapidly.
Wrapped in the rising flames, the Falling Devil revealed a peaceful smile.
"So it was not simply love. You also carried feelings like that."
"What a shame that the Eternal Devil ruined your efforts."
"Even dying a hundred times would not repay that failure."
Cael sighed softly and spoke in a calm, almost distant tone.
"Let the past remain in the past."
"Now is not the time to dwell on it."
As the flames continued to consume her body, Cael carefully suppressed the urge to smile.
Not yet.
It was still too early.
He needed to act sad for just a little longer.
"What a broad-minded attitude..." the Falling Devil murmured.
Her charred body paused slightly, clearly moved.
"Thank you again for your generous guidance."
"Compared to you, Cael, my own culinary conviction falls short."
With those final words, the Falling Devil's body burned away completely.
Only ashes remained, along with her detached female head.
The corner of Cael's mouth slowly curved upward.
Alright.
Now he could laugh.
At that moment, a system notification appeared in his mind.
Ding.
The host has defeated the Pseudo Falling Devil. Extracting ability from Pseudo Falling Devil. Primal Fear Extraction, Withering Heart Piercing Attack. The host can condense the fear of thousands of living beings into a weapon. This Primal level ability can deal true damage to Primal Devils at its peak.
Cael blinked in disbelief.
Wait.
That counted as defeating her?
When he extracted Reze's form before, he had at least beaten her down with brute force.
So what exactly happened here?
Did the system get triggered by the conversation?
Did winning a cooking argument count as victory?
Cael almost laughed.
Nice.
Even while leaving, his so called Dearest Friend had given him a huge gift.
He took a slow breath.
Primal Fear Extraction, Withering Heart Piercing Attack.
The name alone sounded ridiculous.
And it could deal true damage to Primal Devils?
So that was the key.
Only the power of a Primal Devil could properly fight another Primal Devil.
If abilities were ranked, then the Cockroach Devil's durability would probably be N tier.
The Typhoon ability was useful in many situations, maybe around R tier.
Pochita's chainsaw form and Reze's Bomb Devil form each had their own advantages.
The physical boosts from those forms had incredible value, easily SR or even approaching SSR level.
But this new skill was completely different.
It went beyond numbers.
The mechanics alone were absurd, and the potential damage was insane.
This was easily an SSR tier ability.
===
Look up "_Zeph" on Patreon to get access to chapters in advance.