1:00 PM.
18 minutes and 21 seconds.
Nikaho City, Akita Prefecture.
Glug, glug.
Large air bubbles rose from the calm Sea of Japan without warning. The seawater churned on its own, untouched by wind. Then it happened.
A massive whirlpool, tens of kilometers wide, formed in an instant.
The devil that had scarred humanity beyond repair had arrived.
Clack, clack, clack.
The sharp sound of magazines loading echoed across the sea. Enormous magazines burst upward from the water, each bullet stretching over ten meters long. They twisted together, spiraling like a grotesque double helix, forming the colossal body of the Gun Devil.
It towered for tens of kilometers.
Roar.
A sound like war itself.
The moment it manifested, it fired.
Boom.
Bullets rained outward in every direction.
Within a ten kilometer radius, 12,037 men died instantly, each struck through the skull.
Within twenty kilometers, 98,631 people, those born in nearly every month except April and October, were pierced through the heart.
Its ribs spread wide, and where its heart should have been, human heads began to grow in clusters. The dead became part of it. Their faces twisted in terror, frozen in their final moments, wailing from its chest.
18 minutes and 26 seconds.
The Gun Devil ceased fire.
It turned its gaze.
Far away, hundreds of kilometers across the land.
Iwate Prefecture, Pacific Coast.
Makima let out a quiet sigh.
"Failed."
Taking twenty percent of the Gun Devil's flesh from the United States without force had been wishful thinking. In the end, the U.S. President had gone through with it and summoned that portion anyway.
Humanity feared guns more than ever now.
The Gun Devil was stronger than before.
In five seconds, it had burned through over a hundred thousand of her lives.
This could not continue.
The ground trembled faintly.
Cael frowned, sensing the shift.
"Little Makima, what did you just do?"
"A small matter," she said casually, as if discussing the weather. "I tried to take the Gun Devil's pieces from the United States and kill their president for you. It didn't work. This is their response."
"Response?"
Cael let out a short breath, then smirked.
That was all he needed to hear.
Makima was his.
No one else got to touch her.
He pulled her into his arms. "We'll stay right here. I wanna see how that oversized piece of shit plans to touch my girl."
Makima smiled, resting against him, listening to his heartbeat. It was comforting.
She reached up, gently brushing his cheek before pressing a firm kiss against his lips.
Then she pushed him behind her.
"The Gun Devil is dangerous," she said softly. "Stay behind me. Let me protect you."
Cael snorted. "Not happening. If something ugly shows up, we beat it together."
Something warm flickered in Makima's chest.
"...Alright."
Above her head, a halo formed, thin and organic, like an umbilical cord.
Her vision shifted, connecting through the eyes of small animals scattered across the land. Four hundred kilometers away, she saw it clearly.
"Five years."
A katana appeared in her hand, about one and a half meters long. A lifespan weapon, similar to Aki's.
It was not enough to kill the Gun Devil.
But it looked good.
And that mattered.
Makima stepped forward, lifting the blade and pointing it toward the distant devil. The tip tilted slightly, inviting.
"Come."
1:18:50 PM.
The Gun Devil roared.
It moved.
Its massive arms lifted, submachine guns forming along its limbs as it unleashed another barrage while charging forward. Its body blurred, vanishing from sight.
It was fast.
Too fast.
Everything in its path crumbled. Buildings collapsed like paper.
18 minutes and 56 seconds.
Six seconds passed.
Stray bullets tore through Japan. The death toll climbed to 350,000.
Then it appeared again.
On the Pacific horizon.
Thirty kilometers away.
Larger than before.
And then the bullets came.
A storm of them.
Both Makima and Cael were torn apart.
The force was overwhelming. Even Cael's Chainsaw Man form could not withstand it.
He died fourteen times.
Makima died nine hundred and seven times.
It did not matter.
As long as there were Japanese citizens, Makima would not stay dead.
Meanwhile, the Gun Devil slowed. Its barrels overheated, forcing a brief pause.
Five seconds.
That was all.
Makima had already cut her artery, feeding Cael her blood without hesitation.
The Gun Devil did not understand what it was facing.
Those five seconds would bury it.
Cael exhaled, then grinned.
"Fear Extraction."
The terror spreading across Japan surged into him. Endless. Overflowing.
Behind the Gun Devil, a dark red attack formed, nearly a hundred meters long.
Makima smiled faintly.
Now.
Their combined attack.
She rose into the air.
"Angel Devil, Snake Devil, Punishment Devil, Ghost Devil, Katana Devil, Longsword Devil, Curse Devil, Future Devil, Spider Devil."
"Use them all."
A low hum spread through the air.
Far out at sea, the Gun Devil felt it.
Something cold crept along its back.
Danger.
It tried to turn.
Too late.
Above its head, a massive halo expanded, radiant and horrifying. Blood began to seep from it, pouring down like rain.
A giant snake emerged, its jaws wide open.
From within its mouth, devils crawled out in a grotesque mass, each armed with deadly weapons forged from lifespans.
They struck.
Again and again.
At the same time—
A wet, piercing sound.
Cael's attack drove straight through the Gun Devil's heart.
19 minutes and 03 seconds.
The Gun Devil was torn apart.
Its body split into pieces like slaughtered meat.
Blood flooded the sea, staining it red. Its organs drifted across the surface, forming a grotesque, floating landscape.
Scattered across it were countless human heads.
Silent now.
The Gun Devil's consciousness faded.
It understood.
It was going to die.
Makima's strength was overwhelming.
There was no fighting it.