Chapter 12
"What a fancy way to travel."
Denji murmured while gazing at the gradually enlarging black dot on the horizon.
He rolled his shoulders, joints popping crisply. Instant relief—body felt loose and ready.
The blurry speck sharpened into focus, revealing the twisted abomination.
Humanoid torso, but with four reverse-jointed "long legs." Elongated body sprouting indescribable warped features. A single elongated head topped with a wide, flame-red mouth and two parted black bangs for "hair."
Dull gray-purple skin, covered in horizontal wrinkles like bloated, waterlogged rot-flesh that pulsed and squirmed with every breath.
Disgusting.
Denji mentally recoiled.
The wet, sticky dragging sound grew louder—suction cups smacking and releasing with wet pop-pop noises.
The Bat Devil's "partner" (?)—the Leech Devil—finally arrived on the battlefield.
No greetings.
The instant it saw him, suction-tentacles shot toward Denji.
He sidestepped smoothly, raised a finger mid-dodge, and fired.
"Slash!"
After devouring the Bat Devil, Denji's raw power had clearly jumped a level.
The Leech Devil's slick, wrinkled thick skin couldn't fully resist. The targeted slash tore a massive gash across its torso!
Blood sprayed uncontrollably!
As Denji back-jumped out of range, he clenched a fist—seizing the escaping blood mid-air.
Test: He hurled a portion at the Leech Devil's "face" with maximum force.
The blood splashed across it like a face-wash. Barely a tickle.
Denji frowned slightly, then tried the rest—pouring the remaining blood straight back into the Leech Devil's body.
A subtle feedback pinged.
His frown eased. A bright, sunny smile spread across his face.
Perfect. Still under control.
The Leech Devil—freshly "face-washed"—hadn't even processed what happened before the injected blood rampaged inside, churning its insides.
Not painful, exactly—but nauseating, deeply uncomfortable.
Almost funny: Denji could read clear frustration and irritation on that single-mouth face.
The mouth gaped so wide it looked ready to rip its own head apart.
It clearly wanted to curse, but that long, disgusting tongue refused to cooperate—instead thrashing wildly outside, occasionally slapping its own face.
Oh—Denji's controlled blood had surged into the tongue.
Experiment complete. Denji had a rough read.
Blood Authority (Fragment) was kinda trash-tier right now, but still usable. He'd develop it later or find a way to complete it.
"Enough boring games."
Left hand cast full-range Tomato Dilemma. Right hand aimed.
"Slash!"
The Leech Devil—lost in thought—kept its mouth opening and closing, occasionally biting its own flailing tongue.
Right before the slash landed, the Blood Authority forced the blood upward—tilting its head back, fully exposing the neck's weak point.
Execution posture: head bowed in surrender.
One clean beheading.
To be safe, Denji burned more blood for a multi-slash barrage—chopping the body into pieces until nothing twitched.
"Go, Pochita."
Devour activated. Gained ability:
Source Blood Link Contract: Select any devil, fiend, or hybrid to form this contract. Upon completion, creates a master-servant life-link: as long as the master lives, the servant cannot die; the stronger the master, the stronger the servant. The master also gains "Source Blood Power": Life force can be quantified into HP bars, plus an external "Source Blood HP bar." Source Blood can directly restore main HP or enhance compatible abilities. (Contract is death-bound; only one servant allowed. "Source Blood" can only be drawn from the servant. Quality and bar length depend on combined master-servant stats.)
"Whoa~ Jackpot?"
The moment he saw the contract, several candidates flashed through Denji's mind—but after weighing them, only one felt truly right.
Guided by lingering scent and aura traces, he quickly located Meowy's hiding spot.
"Meowy—"
At the call, a small furry head popped out of the bushes~
Denji dropped to one knee and extended a hand.
Meowy stared for a second… then darted back into the foliage.
When she emerged again, she had Denji's discarded shirt clenched in her mouth.
"Oh Good girl, Meowy You're the best kitty in the world."
Denji showered her with unreserved praise.
He took the shirt from her mouth, draped it over his shoulders, then gently stroked her fur for a long moment~
Listening to her contented purrs, Denji paused—his touch grew even softer.
When he finished, Meowy returned the favor with a soft lick to his palm, then climbed up his arm to perch on his shoulder.
The scene felt vaguely familiar… but unlike certain chainsaw-wielding roommates, cute cats don't fire slashes—they just nuzzle soft, fluffy heads against cheeks and chins~
"Haha Okay, no more playing. Let's head back to your owner"
"Meow Meow" (Owner? My eyes only see Denji-sama meow~)
Denji scratched his head.
"Uh…"
"Meow—meoww" (Hehe Just kidding! Of course I remember Power-neesan But if we're talking owners… I only acknowledge Denji-sama meow)
…
Man and cat chatted idly as they walked back.
Not long after, a black sedan finally rolled up.
Four people stepped out.
"This is the spot Miss Makima told us to support."
The short-ponytail guy with the sword checked his map again and nodded.
"Hm… Aki, what do you think is more likely: Makima-sama having early-onset dementia, or you reading the map wrong?"
The eyepatch-wearing bold woman's jab made Ponytail re-check the circled spot.
"…Probably the map's wrong."
Eyepatch facepalmed.
"Then call Mak—"
Before she finished, Ponytail's phone rang.
He glanced at the caller ID.
Answered.
Makima spoke first.
"Your new teammate—Denji—has already perfectly eliminated both dangerous devils. Support mission canceled. Return to base."
"Oh. Understood."
Click.
Ponytail stared at the phone for a beat, pocketed it slowly, then turned to the group.
"…Let's head back."
"Sigh~!"
With a collective groan of disappointment, the four piled back into the car.
The black sedan caught the setting sun, turned around, and drove off the way it came.
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