New Novel
Chapter 18: Raising a Death Flag

Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Raising a Death Flag

Before Aki Hayakawa could even react to what had happened, the Steel Plate Devil was already dead.

Only when he heard the heavy sound of the Steel Plate Devil’s head crashing onto the ground did he realize it.

The Steel Plate Devil had really died, just like that...?

Immediately afterward, the Steel Plate Devil’s body also collapsed weakly to the ground, its limbs twitching slightly.

Aki looked at Kotone Asaba in surprise. Was this his true strength?

He had originally thought Kotone relied on that Devil called Pochita, using him as a weapon to hunt Devils, while also possessing the ability to teleport instantly.

He had not expected that he had still underestimated him. Kotone could actually instantly kill the Steel Plate Devil from a distance with almost no warning at all.

Although Aki could also attack from a distance by using the Fox Devil’s power, his right hand needed to form a hand sign. He could not do it like Kotone, without making any physical movement at all.

That was what made it the most terrifying. It was impossible to anticipate.

In reality, the offensive power of Kotone’s left-eye Kamui was far less simple than Aki imagined.

Aki would never have guessed that Kotone’s left-eye Kamui could ignore all physical defenses. Its principle was to warp space, tear apart whatever his eye focused on, and transfer it into the Kamui dimension. Unless someone was fast enough to react before that body part was torn away and escape in time, this offensive ability had no counter.

Moreover, since Kotone possessed double Kamui, the speed at which either his left or right eye opened a spatial portal was faster than single-eye Kamui. That meant the speed at which he could use his left-eye Kamui to transfer objects from a distance was much faster than Kakashi’s when he only had one eye. How easy could it be to dodge something like that in time?

"Teaming up with you really was the right choice."

Aki could not have acknowledged Kotone’s strength any more than he already did.

After that, Kotone and Aki left. The scene was handed over to the police, including the Steel Plate Devil’s body, which the police would help transport to the guild for them.

Because of that, Kotone did not waste effort transferring the Steel Plate Devil’s body into the Kamui dimension himself.

The larger the object being transferred, the greater the consumption of his ocular power and physical functions. Moving it into the Kamui dimension and then moving it back out would cost quite a lot.

With his current Constitution, using Kamui did not place too many restrictions on him, but that did not mean he could abuse it. Since the police were helping transport the body, there was no need to waste his own ocular power and physical functions.

The two of them took transportation back to the guild. A little while later, the police car also brought the Steel Plate Devil’s body to the guild hall.

Kotone and Aki each added another achievement to their record.

"Congratulations, Hayakawa. Tokyo Public Safety has already started paying attention to you. I’d say if you complete one more mission, Tokyo Public Safety will probably recruit you like you wanted."

The same waitress who was relatively familiar with Aki congratulated him.

In truth, Chiba Public Safety had taken an interest in Aki a long time ago, but Aki was unwilling to join Chiba Public Safety. It had to be Tokyo Public Safety for him.

Other people did not understand it. Although Tokyo Public Safety’s treatment was indeed slightly better than Chiba Public Safety’s, the difficulty of entering Tokyo Public Safety was also much higher.

Aki’s record was already quite impressive, but only now had Tokyo Public Safety finally taken notice of him.

As for why Hirokazu Arai and Kobeni Higashiyama were later able to enter Tokyo Public Safety, it was probably because the two of them had already become partners while they were still in the private sector. Then Kobeni likely encountered an extremely powerful Devil, such as one that had eaten a piece of the Gun Devil’s flesh, and suddenly erupted with strength to kill it instantly, drawing Tokyo Public Safety’s attention, so they recruited both of them together.

Thinking about it, Kobeni should have graduated high school at seventeen or eighteen, and she joined Public Safety half a year before the original timeline. That left an unknown period of about two years, which was actually quite a long time. Even if Kobeni only occasionally erupted with strength, it would have been enough for Tokyo Public Safety to take her seriously.

"Asaba, you should probably be recruited by Tokyo Public Safety along with Hayakawa. Make sure to keep working hard over the next few days. You only need one last mission."

At that moment, the waitress turned to Kotone and said that.

"...I will."

Kotone kind of wanted to retort. Saying "one last mission" like that was basically asking to jinx it.

Although he was not afraid of that sort of jinx either.

As for the fact that he did not currently want to enter Tokyo Public Safety, he did not say it out loud.

Because if Tokyo Public Safety actively recruited him, whether he accepted or refused, his reputation would definitely rise sharply. That was exactly what he wanted.

After that, Kotone asked the police to send the Steel Plate Devil’s body to the black market, and he himself conveniently hitched a ride.

Once he arrived at the black market, he sold the Steel Plate Devil’s body and received over one million yen.

The Steel Plate Devil was very strong. Unfortunately, it had run into Kotone’s practically unsolvable Kamui ability and was instantly killed.

If Aki had been the one fighting it, the Fox Devil would have injured itself by attacking the Steel Plate Devil, because the huge steel plate on its head had been spinning at high speed the entire time. Maybe the Fox Devil would have immediately bailed after getting injured. That sort of thing had happened plenty of times in the original story.

If the Fox Devil’s power did not work, Aki definitely would not casually use the Curse Devil’s power either. Without Kotone there, the result would probably have been that Devil Hunters from Chiba Public Safety had to come as reinforcements.

After returning to the guild, Kotone gave Aki half the money he had received from selling the Steel Plate Devil’s body.

Partners were supposed to split the profits equally, and he was not the kind of person who pinched pennies.

Aki did not say much either and directly accepted it.

After that, it was the same as yesterday. The two of them waited in the guild hall for announcements about Devil appearances, while Kotone used the free time to study those subject materials.

Not counting lunch, it only took him one morning and one afternoon, including what he had already studied yesterday, to finish all the materials.

The scope of knowledge had not been that broad to begin with, and combined with the fact that his learning ability far exceeded that of ordinary people, it was actually normal for him to finish studying those materials so quickly.

By contrast, Aki did nothing else during that time. He just sat there and slowly waited, occasionally drinking tea and eating some snacks, all of which were provided by the guild for free.

"I’m going out for a bit. I’ll be back soon. If anything happens while I’m gone, you can call me."

"Mm."

Kotone was planning to go to the bookstore to buy a collection of past exam questions and try working through them. To be honest, his own learning ability felt a little unreal to him, so he wanted to test how much he had actually learned.

After saying that to Aki, he immediately headed to the bookstore.

And right in front of the bookstore entrance, he happened to run into Kobeni Higashiyama.

"Huh...? K-Kotone?"

Kobeni had not expected to meet Kotone again so soon, and at a bookstore of all places.

Kotone was also a little surprised. "What a coincidence. We meet again."

Only then did he remember that he had been so absorbed in studying that he had lost track of time. It was around five o’clock now, exactly when Kobeni got out of school.