"Ah!"
Baleam opened his mouth wide, clamped down on one of his molars, and tore it out with force.
Click.
The tooth came free.
Boom!
Flames erupted violently from his entire body.
As the smoke cleared, his arms had transformed into flamethrowers, while his head became a cluster of gunpowder canisters stacked together.
This was his Flamethrower Man form.
He raised his arms high and muttered with eerie devotion, "Kum bay ya, my lord..."
The distant fire serpents seemed to answer his call, rushing toward him in a blazing frenzy.
Boom!
The Fire Devil burrowed into his body and fused with him.
Baleam had now become a contractor of the Fire Devil.
Its power surged through him.
In that instant, he gained the ability to take on the form he desired most.
And what he desired...
Was obvious.
The Bomb Devil he had always failed to claim.
Soon, twisted and warped pull-rings formed around his neck.
"Haha... I finally have you. This bomb power... it's incredible..."
He hooked one of the pins with the tip of his weapon and yanked it free.
Bang!
His body detonated again.
In the next moment, his form shifted.
The gunpowder canister head disappeared, replaced by a missile-like devil head that closely resembled Reze's.
His flamethrower arms remained intact, while blackened fuses wrapped around his exposed skin.
Now, Baleam possessed both the Flamethrower Man and Bomb Man forms.
This was the Fire Devil's ability, harmonization.
Like iron forged into steel, it fused different powers into one.
Combined with the enhancement from millions of Fire Kin devils, Baleam had reached a terrifying level of strength.
Sparks hissed from his mouth.
His body trembled with excitement.
Boom!
Flames blasted from beneath him, launching him into the sky.
Snap.
He flicked his fingers, releasing a tiny spark that fell toward Meiji Jingu Shrine below.
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion followed.
Flames surged outward, and the shockwave rippled across the air.
The shrine, along with the surrounding forest, was completely erased, leaving nothing but scorched earth.
"This kind of power... even the Gun Devil wouldn't be impossible now, right?"
Confidence filled his voice.
Who could stop him?
Who would dare?
Even Makima, someone he used to avoid at all costs, meant nothing to him now.
He turned his gaze toward downtown Tokyo.
The reckoning had begun.
Boom!
A streak of crimson fire cut across the sky as he accelerated forward.
With the endless energy supplied by the Fire Kin, his flames never weakened.
"Pomu... not only will I take the Bomb Devil heart from you, I'll also claim what you failed to achieve, Chainsaw Man."
His grin widened.
"I am the Soviet Union's ace. The only ace."
...
Shinjuku.
A funeral home, newly built and not yet opened.
Ding! The host has killed 34 Fire Kin devils, gaining 34 attribute points.
Cael frowned.
"Tsk. Fire Kin? What kind of bullshit is that?"
The once-clean shop was now soaked in blood, littered with severed devil limbs.
Cael casually used Typhoon and Dark Hole to clean up the mess.
He had brought Asa and Reze to prepare the shop.
Everything was nearly finished.
Then these brainless devils showed up out of nowhere, throwing themselves at death.
"Guess we're opening early. How generous of them," he muttered.
Asa wore two masks, but the stench still made her gag.
Reze gently applied a special oil to her forehead to ease the nausea.
Ring, ring.
Makima.
Cael answered.
"Yo, Little Makima."
Her tone was sharp and direct.
"Cael, you heard the explosion in Shibuya, right? I'll keep this short. The human devil transformations were caused by Baleam. He hid too well, I missed it."
She paused briefly.
"When he realized he couldn't control Reze, he decided to destroy everything. He's heading toward you. About a minute out."
Cael looked at the burning streak in the distance.
"Make that thirty seconds."
Makima bit her lip.
"This is too sudden. I'm in Hokkaido with no way to get there in time."
"It's fine." Cael rolled his wrists casually. "I've wanted to deal with that bastard for a while. No need for you to rush."
"...Be careful. His power is beyond what it was before."
Click.
The call ended.
Fifteen seconds.
That was all the time left.
Cael stared at the incoming inferno, locking eyes with Baleam from afar.
Just from that entrance alone, he could tell.
This guy was the type to destroy entire areas.
Annoying as hell.
He sighed.
"My shop is not turning into a battlefield again."
Boom!
He pulled the pin and transformed into Bomb Man.
This form was even faster than Chainsaw Man.
"Reze, Asa. Move."
Whoosh!
Using Typhoon, Cael lifted both girls and shot away from the shop at high speed.
Seeing this, Baleam laughed.
"Hmph. Running?"
Boom!
He combined flame propulsion with explosive recoil, accelerating even faster.
The gap between them shrank rapidly.
"Hahaha! Run all you want, I'll still crush you!"
Moments later, he overtook them.
The three were forced to a halt along the coast of Chiba.
"You're not getting away."
Baleam raised his flamethrowers and aimed directly at them.
He understood something simple.
Villains die because they talk too much.
So he skipped the speech.
BOOM!!!
The flamethrowers roared.
Flames with explosive force engulfed Cael and the others instantly.
A massive fireball nearly a kilometer wide formed, swallowing everything in its path.
Anything caught inside was reduced to molten ruin.
It looked like a second sun had risen on earth.
Silence followed.
Sizzle.
His weapons overheated, glowing red before cooling down.
"Heh..."
Baleam admired the destruction.
"Flamethrower Man. Bomb Man. And the Fire Devil with millions of Fire Kin..."
His grin widened.
"I'm the strongest in the world now."
Even if the Gun Devil returned, he wouldn't care.
"And you lot? What the hell do you have to fight me with?"
"Oh yeah?"
Cael's voice drifted out from within the flames.
Mocking. Calm.
Baleam frowned.
"Asa, don't hold back. Shoot him properly. Blow his damn head off."
"Got it."
In an instant, the massive fireball collapsed inward and vanished.
Even flames couldn't escape the pull of a black hole.
Clank!
Chainsaw chains shot forward, binding Baleam tightly.
A stationary target.
Much easier.
Asa closed one eye, raised her hand, and pointed straight at his forehead.
"Bang."