DxD: Like a Devil Chapter 74

Edited by: Priapus, Maple

– Magnus –

Compared to the Barracuda, the Ganzhe were definitely far more careful in their movements, the CIA agent noted. The difference was like night and day— where Dwight’s goons went on these ‘parades’ and pretended they owned the place, Wong Tou’s bunch was a lot more low-key. They hid a lot better.

That’s why he decided to take this part while leaving the kids with Dwight. As competent as they’d been so far, he didn’t think their aggressive approach was going to work this time around. Unlike with Dwight and Yamai, they had zero information about Wong Tou and the Ganzhe. Where and who would they charge?

No, this needed a much more delicate solution. Perhaps afterwards, when Magnus figured out where Wong hid, he’d get the kids’ support. Because if one thing was for sure, it was how bafflingly powerful they were for people their ages. Backup like them was admittedly invaluable.

But for now, he was on his own.

It was difficult to even spot one of his subordinates walking around anywhere in Honolulu. And while Magnus knew that the Ganzhe was predominantly composed of Asians and Asian-Americans, that didn’t really help all that much when a lot of Hawaii tourists were Asians.

Even worse was that they were using cloaking tech, so he couldn’t even look for irregular powers to follow. Everyone felt and acted like a normal human, and although Magnus didn’t use cloaking tech, he knew how to hide his energy well enough. He didn’t know if they were aware of his identity for the longest time. 

Thankfully, Magnus was also an experienced agent, and his Sacred Gear, Unknown Dictator, made missions like this relatively simple. The ability to sense, see, and manipulate all sorts of metals was incredible in this day and age. Moreover, his Unknown Dictator had evolved to the point where he could control technology to an extent.

So it was a little strange to find out thousands of cameras were hidden across Honolulu. Was this how the Overseer knew everything about the city? No, from how Yamai had put it, it seemed supernatural in nature. A clairvoyance technique or something, perhaps.

Regardless, seeing this helped Magnus immensely. Seeing through these cameras with his Sacred Gear made it almost laughably easy to figure things out. In particular, there was this one restaurant that a couple of different groups seemed to visit every few hours over the last few days.

Indeed, Magnus had been watching them for a while now. Pray tell, why did one need to visit the same Chinese restaurant several times a day? Magnus liked Chinese food, too, but he wouldn’t want to have it every three hours. Something was definitely suspicious.

When he investigated, everything became clear. This place did, in fact, belong to Wong in some capacity, but it wasn’t where he hid. And through the conversations he heard after hacking the phone of one of his goons and connecting it to his earpiece, he knew exactly where the bastard was hiding.

Good thing I know Mandarin. Magnus thought. Nirvana Hotel, huh?

A very expensive five-star hotel. A place that usually only upper-class people could actually afford. While still within Honolulu, it’s about a ten-minute ride away from everything else. Far enough that in case a fight broke out, nothing should reach the city. Though there was no telling just how many innocent people lived there.

But a place that big would also be extremely well guarded. Magnus predicted that fighting through it might not be easy, assuming the Overseer gave Wong direct support. And who knew what the Pele lunatic had in his back pocket?

Regardless, his job here was done.

As he went to walk away from the Chinese restaurant, Magnus paused as he sensed something soaring toward him from a distance. The bullet aimed at his head froze mid-air as the Unknown Dictator responded to him, making the CIA agent frown. They knew he was here. 

As the bullet didn’t hit its mark and instead stopped right in its tracks, no civilian happened to notice that he was being shot at, but that didn’t last very long, as, while Magnus shot said bullet back at the assailant, either killing them or destroying their weapon, more of the Ganzhe appeared, wielding swords and guns.

This caused a commotion, as people realized that whatever this was, it wasn’t a joke once the criminals began shooting at Magnus. Attacking him in public? They must be growing very desperate.

Naturally, no blade or bullet reached him, either uselessly falling to the ground or bending and breaking apart. This, by itself, highly intimidated the Ganzhe goons, making them back off in surprise as Magnus grinned.

But they shouldn’t be surprised.

After all, no metal could ever harm the Iron King.

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– Dwight –

“Standby?” He parroted, almost in disbelief. “But sir—”

“Don’t question my orders, Dwight.” The Overseer responded, his tone even and cold. “You’re not allowed to leave Hawaii. You still have a purpose.”

With his phone in hand next to his cheek, the crimelord paused at the Overseer’s answer as he paced around the suite, cold sweat trailing down his cheek. He occasionally looked out of the curtain wall, searching for the little bastards responsible for the destruction of his entire underground operation, knowing damn well they were coming for him next.

Because why wouldn’t they? There was nothing for them left down there. They’d already wiped everything out. His factories, products, and even the customers weren’t safe, seemingly. Moreover, whatever remained of the Barracuda had abandoned him to save their own hides.

Patient Zero, his saving grace against these fucking bastards, had been killed, and Dwight knew it had died because if it hadn’t, it would’ve escaped and caused a ruckus on the surface. News about a disgusting, fleshy tentacle monster rampaging across Honolulu would be hard to contain, and it would’ve spread like wildfire, at least locally.

And he knew it had been released due to the earthquakes and sinkholes opening up in the city. That thing had probably gone berserk trying to destroy them. A monster like it had no self-control to speak of.

But there hadn’t even been a peep about Patient Zero anywhere, meaning they’d killed it. They’d somehow killed the strongest monster Dwight had ever laid his eyes on, and now they were coming for him. What the hell was he supposed to do now? He stood no chance against them unless he used the prototype drug, and even then, it wasn’t a guarantee.

Maybe against one of them, he could win, even counting the yakuza princess and the Red Dragon Emperor, but all of them together? He needed to escape. He had to if he wanted to live, because something told him that if that psychotic girl ever got her hands on him, he was dead.

Of course, even with the destruction of his underground operation, they had no way of actually finding Dwight, as he had made sure not to leave any evidence of his whereabouts, which was the only reason he wasn’t panicking right now, but he wasn’t going to take any chances

Unfortunately, before Dwight could run away, he had received a call from the Overseer to remain in place and not go anywhere. Dwight’s queries as to why he should do that were met with a very polite ‘Shut the fuck up’.

But at this point, as much as he was afraid of the Overseer, he really couldn’t.

“Sir, they destroyed everything!” Dwight argued. “The Super Soldier program, the underground market— all of it! Most of my men have already left Hawaii, and now they’re coming for my head!”

There was a pause before the Overseer responded.

“And?”

“…And they might kill me.”

“Is this supposed to convince me, Dwight?” the Overseer asked. “You said it yourself: they’ve destroyed everything you’ve built here. Your operations have turned to dust. Your subordinates have abandoned you. The Barracuda has fallen. You are worthless.”

Bastard… Dwight scowled, his fist clenching in anger.

“Your death is the least of my concerns. Or, it should be,” He added, “Had I not cared about you, I would’ve cut contact already. Understand that I am giving you a chance to redeem yourself.”

Dwight remained silent.

“If you set even a foot outside your suite, only death awaits you. No doubt.” The Overseer continued. “Obey me, and you will have a future. Your objective is to remain where you are and await further orders.”

The crimelord relaxed slightly, and although he did not believe the Overseer’s word, he knew that he didn’t really have a choice in the matter.

“…Got it.”

“I will send someone over to get you soon, rest assured,” the Overseer. “In the meantime, do make sure to entertain your guest.”

Dwight blinked.

“My guest…?”

But before he could get an answer, the Overseer ended the call. Right after, the doorbell of his suite rang loudly.

“Room service!”

Dwight paused and frowned, cautiously approaching the door. He was sure he had the switch on Do Not Disturb, so no one should be bothering him. Was this one of the Overseer’s subordinates? But he said ‘soon,’ not ‘now.’

Dwight looked through the peephole of the door, spotting a strangely dressed maid with short blue hair. Several red flags were raised, as that was not how the housekeepers of the resort dressed, and once she stared back at him with glowing red eyes and a smirk, Dwight felt a shiver run down his spine.

But he couldn’t react fast enough as the maid kicked the door off its hinges, sending it and the crimelord to the other side of the suite. He quickly pushed the broken door away and got up, staring in shock at the maid casually strolling in.

“Hello” She greeted with a giggle, seemingly enjoying his look of shock. “Nice to finally meet you”

Whether it was seeing her flowing long black hair after she threw the wig away or the painful cold beginning to set in, that was when Dwight recognized her for who she was.

“You’re probably wondering how I got here without you noticing.” Akane Amamiya said. “Scratch that, you’re probably wondering how I found you in the first place.”

If anything, Dwight was wondering how the hell he was supposed to get out of this situation. The one person he didn’t want to encounter decided to directly confront him like this. Without any backup, seemingly…

Dwight glanced at his desk for a split second before returning his gaze toward the monstrously powerful girl in front of him. If he could get the drug, then maybe…

“What you might not have known about me, Dwight, is that not only am I a princess of peerless beauty and a powerful cryomancer who could probably kill you ten times before you realize what happened,” She said. “But also a genius mechanical engineer, programmer, and hacker. Finding your whereabouts was always a matter of time for someone like me.”

Slowly, Dwight inched toward his desk, keeping the girl in his line of sight. Akane did not seem concerned as she continued her monologue.

“Honestly, though, I’m surprised you didn’t try to escape. I dismantled your entire organization, and you’re still here? What, do you think you’re strong enough to fight me? Please. I could kill you in my sleep.” She rolled her eyes with a laugh. “But really, what were you thinking, sending your dumbass, roided-up grunts to bother me? These stupid parades you let them go on are like the opposite of ‘organized’ in organized crime. It’s almost like you want to get crushed. Also, you think they could’ve stopped me from finding you? Really?”

She was starting to get on his nerves.

“I guess they’re good enough to bully normal people, but me? Buddy, I killed Kokabiel and Shalba Beelzebub. I’m way out of your league.” She scoffed. “I mean, come on, even if you thought those were just rumors, you must’ve seen the tournament, right?”

It had quickly become apparent to him that this bitch loved hearing her own voice, and Dwight used it to his advantage as he reached his desk, quietly taking the envelope sitting underneath it.

“Seriously, not even your disgusting pet down there could’ve stopped me. Putting it down barely took any effort. It was almost sad, but mostly it was disappointing. I expected some challenge.” She shrugged with a deep sigh. “Trashing your little black market was pretty fun, though. You don’t mind that I took a few things as souvenirs, right? Not that I’d care if you did. They’re mine now by right of conquest.”

Dwight slipped his hand into the envelope, searching for the vial as he kept eye contact with the girl while she kept on yapping. His heart sank as he couldn’t find it, glancing down at the empty piece of paper as his blood ran cold.

“Anyway, what’s this thing?”

Dwight, drawn by her voice, glanced at her, seeing the drug sitting between her index and thumb. He stared at her in pure shock as she casually inspected it up close.

“H-how did you—” He stammered. “You were— I was—”

“What? You think I didn’t notice?” She raised an eyebrow at him. “I have eyes, dumbass. I saw you walking to your desk. And no way in hell do you stand a chance in a fight against me, so it couldn’t have been for some tactical advantage.”

Seeing no other way out of this without the drug, Dwight took two of his machetes hidden beneath the desk and charged at the smug bitch, but as he swung his blades, Akane effortlessly caught them and countered with a punch to the face, sending him crashing into his desk.

Dwight grunted, his cheek flaring in pain as he stood back up. That didn’t hurt as much as he thought it would, but from her amused smirk, he knew she was holding back on him.

“And what did you think that would accomplish? Idiot.” She mocked before gazing at the drug. “I’m guessing you were hoping to use this to gain an edge against me?”

Dwight’s hands over his machetes tightened as he watched her approach the curtain wall. He knew this would be prime time to attack again, with Akane giving him her back, but if she snatched the drug that fast without him even noticing, then there was quite literally nothing he could do.

“But now, it’s in my hand.” She said, turning to look at him. “Here it is. Your only chance at victory…”

And as she clenched her fist in an attempt to crush the vial, Dwight knew he had lost the fight…

…Only for Akane to open her hand, revealing the vial intact. Confused, Dwight wondered what she was doing before she threw the drug at him, and as he caught it, he looked at her in genuine bewilderment.

“…is meaningless. And I’ll prove it to you.” She finished, tilting her head forward as her grin turned dangerous. “So go ahead. Use it.”

Dwight stared at the vial and, slowly, his shock gave way to confidence as he began to chuckle.

“You’re a different kind of stupid, aren’t you?” He said, taking the plug off the vial. “Arrogance was the downfall of many, little girl.”

“Everyone who said that to me has ended up six feet under.” She fired back. “Your fate won’t be any different. I’ll crush you either way, so you might as well go out with a bang. Aren’t I just nice?”

Instead of responding, Dwight gulped down the drug and threw the vial away, shattering it against the floor. In an instant, draconic energy invaded his very blood. He grunted and growled, his body convulsing and growing larger and larger. His energy surged, power increasing significantly. He was ten— no, maybe a hundred times stronger than he had been before.

Power like this would’ve turned his Barracuda into a truly fearsome army. Perhaps he could’ve taken over Honolulu and wiped out the Overseer with it. Oh, if only it had been perfected before these idiotic kids got involved.

His eyes, once brown and dark, now glowed a fiery orange as he stared at the still-grinning princess.

But it didn’t matter now. Revenge was at hand.

“You should’ve killed me when you had the chance.” He told her.

Before Akane could respond, Dwight charged toward her, making her expression drop as he slashed her with his machete. The force of the attack was great enough to shake the entire building, shatter the glass behind her, and launch her outside the resort, sending her toward the sea.

Dwight stepped forward, foot on the edge of the now-shattered curtain wall as he stared below. Civilians on the beach were running away in a panic, screaming and crying out for help, but no sign of any of her little friends.

Good. He thought with a grin, leaping forward and following after her.

Killing kids wasn’t usually something he went looking for, but he couldn’t fucking wait to see the looks on their faces once he sent the stupid bitch back to them in pieces.

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– Akane –

Probably wasn’t the brightest idea to let him take that dumb drug of his. Not out of concern for myself, of course. His attack did hurt a little bit, that much I’ll admit, but enough to make me worry? Nah, I’m good. I’m really more concerned about having to explain why I let him do this to the others, seeing that we are — or were — in a public space when he decided to attack me with that much force.

Or, I would be worried had I not thought about it. But I’m a genius, so of course I have.

Anyway, I need the EXP, and defeated enemies who have powered up do give me more EXP, even if their souls don’t. So, you know, I had to min-max a bit, seeing how fucking weak this Dwight dipshit is. Really, barely half as strong as Yamai, and we know how I handled that motherfucker.

With this drug, though… About Shalba’s level, maybe? Stronger, but nowhere near as strong as he was when buffed by Ophis’ blessing. So, while not going to be a cakewalk, my chances of victory are still pretty much 95%. The five percent of me losing is some other Overseer subordinate of his, with the same power level, getting involved in the fight and making it 2v1. Also, this isn’t counting Excelsis.

…So my chances of winning are basically 100%

Still a pretty powerful drug, honestly. I’m surprised they managed to make something like this. Proooobably gonna fuck him up once the effects are over, though. No way a power-up like this is free.

And yeah, obviously it’s temporary. It also resonated well with him, given his somewhat high power in his base state. Again, a complete bitch compared to me, but we’re talking about ME after all. Magnus was correct when he said that only Ichi and I could beat him. Presumably the blue dipshit, too, if I had to guess.

“You seem deep in thought. Despite the situation at hand,” Lucy states as he floats next to me. “What are you thinking about, dear?”

“Oh, nothing much,” I reply. “Just wondering how yummy his soul is going to be~”

“You are insatiable.” Lucifer chuckles.

Probably no different than what I had from those randoms in that underground market, since his power is about that level, too, but those tasted very good.

Still flying through the air, I glance down at the ocean below me and eventually decide that this is far enough, breaking my momentum and floating down. Moments before my feet touch the waves, they freeze over and create a massive platform extending quite far. Look at me, being nice and making a cute little arena for us.

…It’s a little uneven, though, and that is bothering me, so with a wave of my hand, I flatten it to the perfect level, making me smile in satisfaction.

Looking down, my smile turns into a frown as I see the large cut on my maid cosplay outfit. Ugh, and I liked this one, too. Not the sort of thing I thought I’d ever wear, honestly. I mean, me? A maid? Well, if it would make Ichiban all cute and flustered, then YES.

And what can I say? I like Re:Zero.

…I should do more cosplay. Aside from having to wear a wig sometimes, it’s actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be.

A real hobby, for once.

Oh, fuck off. Go back to never talking, you cosmic piece of shit.

“Oi, Akane!”

I put a hand on my earpiece as I hear Ichiban’s voice coming from it.

“What happened? We saw the explosion.” He asks. “Are you okay?”

“Of course, I’m okay, Ichi,” I respond after turning off the mute button. “It’s gonna take way more than that to hurt me. You should know this.”

“Oh, thank god.” He sighs in relief. “Where are you right now? I don’t see you anywhere.”

“Somewhere at sea,” I answer, looking around. Yup, water as far as the eyes can see. Sheesh. “His attack launched me pretty far. I’m almost impressed.”

“You need any backup?”

“Nah, I’m doing fine. He couldn’t hurt me even if he tried.” I scoff playfully. “Say, once I’m through with him, wanna go on that date you asked me out on?”

“Is this really the time to be talking about a date?” He responds in exasperation, though I do detect hints of amusement.

“It’s a yes or no question, Ichi.”

I hear him sigh deeply before answering.

“Yeah, sure.” He says, trying to sound nonchalant. He’s so cute… “I’d like that.”

“Great!” I smile, spotting Dwight in the distance. “Then I’ll see you soon~”

“Be careful, Akane.”

I turn on the mute button, just for safe measure, in case I do or say something… unsavory. Probably suspicious enough that I have a mute button in the first place, but I couldn’t exactly say no when Ichi brought up the idea of me making earpieces for everyone instead of using our phones to communicate.

So that’s on him. No worries, though, as Nemesis is actually taking care of it. Everything I or anyone else says is instantly rephrased into something less reprehensible/suspicious. Basically, if I say something like ‘Your soul is mine!’, everyone else on the other side hears ‘time to die!’ or ‘surrender while you still can’. You know, something harmless. Something I would say.

And if I ever want to get my story straight, Nemesis records everything and puts it into a script for me to read or hear. Pretty cool, isn’t it? Oh, to have a superpowered AI assistant. How did I ever live this long without him? That’s why whatever happened back there at his suite is probably already taken care of.

Eventually, Dwight lands on the ice platform I made, in his silly little draconic power-up, looking really confident for someone who is about to get folded like an omelette. Though I guess I can understand. This sort of thing tends to make you feel invincible. I have a very angry and evil stick that does the same.

And I did feel what it’s like to have draconic power coursing through me once upon a time when Ichi shared his Balance Breaker with me.

“So, then…” I start. “You landed a hit, and now you think you’re about to win.”

“You really should have killed me, you stupid bitch.” He insists with a grin, gripping his machetes tightly. “You’re going to regret messing with me.”

“Uh-huh.” I roll my eyes, creating a sword in my hand. “Just mind the hair while swinging those toys around, alright? Took me way too long to grow it out to this length.”

Actually, I don’t know if Ichi likes it this long. I should ask him later.

He clicks his tongue and charges forward, swinging both machetes at me with decent force, but I block them easily enough with my ice blade. The ice beneath us cracks open, but I quickly fix it with a tap of my foot before pushing him back. I don’t immediately attack back, though, and instead remain on the defensive to analyze his pattern and style.

Dual-wielding is significantly harder to master than using a single weapon, but there’s some skill in his movement. Machetes aren’t really a good reference for typical fencing, and need less skill to use than the saber I’m using. So, beyond the basics of using his whole body to swing instead of his arms, he’s pretty damn easy to read.

That’s not counting the speed difference, of course.

I deflect one of his attacks and, with a relaxed smile, slash his leg, chest, and arm at the same time it took him to swing once, only creating very shallow cuts. Intentionally. Because ending this too quickly would be too boring. Though I can tell his power is increasing, and I know he knows. Will it reach a level where he starts pushing me back before it bites him in the ass?

Well, unless he can last three years like this, then probably not.

Ducking underneath one of his swings, I dash forward and slip away from him, slashing him in the back. He turns around with another wide swing of both blades, and I parry his slow strike by kicking his hand, making him drop one of his machetes. Before he can recover, I punch him in the face, flinging him over the ice floor.

He quickly gets up, growling and charging at me. Considerably faster than before, Dwight does land a few hits. A slash across my sword arm, a shallow one on my cheek, and a small wound on my thigh. A smile is etched on my face the entire time, though, and that infuriates him further and further.

“HRRAUAAAH!” He screams, swinging his machete downward.

I evade by side-flipping away, making him miss me by a hair’s breadth as he smashes his blade against the frozen ocean.

“Too slow~” I taunt him with a giggle. “What was it again?”

Enraged, Dwight tries again, swinging his machete wildly, hoping to catch me. But I dodge each and every single one of his swings, letting them barely miss me, as well. All to get on his nerves. Eventually, though, I catch his arm mid-swing, stopping him in his place.

“You’re going to make me regret messing with you?”

My smirk widens as I freeze his hand.

“Rgh?!” He grunts, looking at his frozen hand in shock. Before he can react, I crush it into tiny icy particles. “AAARGH?!”

“It’s something you idiots always love to say before you end up battered and broken beneath me.” I continue as his other machete falls next to us. “Seriously, could you come up with a new line for once? So unoriginal…”

As I let him go, Dwight takes a few steps back, an expression of fear, desperation, and anger on his face.

“I mean, I’m a villain, too, but you’d never catch me saying something so corny,” I say with a hand on my hip, to his utter confusion. “Just thinking about it makes me cringe so bad I want to die.”

Lucifer snorts. For reasons that are utterly alien to me.

Faster than he could comprehend, I kick Dwight in the face and force him to fall on his rear.

“Though, I guess you wouldn’t know.” I hum, my arm turning as dark as the void. “Oh well—”

“You are forgetting to interrogate him about the Overseer, darling.” Lucifer suddenly says.

“Oh, true. Good catch, Lucy,” I nod, confusing Dwight even further. “So, before I kill you, mind telling me who and where the Overseer is? If you don’t make this difficult, I’ll make your death nice and painless.”

“You’re such a liar.” Lucifer chuckles.

Seeing that I’m not taking him seriously in any way, Dwight’s rage reaches its boiling point as his growl turns into a loud roar, and his power explodes, reaching unexpected heights. With his right hand shattered, Dwight still charges at me with newfound speed, striking me in the face before dragging me through the icy floor and below into the ocean.

The rate at which his power is growing is a little surprising. Each strike feels significantly heavier than the last, even though we’re underwater. My HP is actually decreasing quite a bit every time he attacks me. But what’s even more surprising is his sudden and newfound ability to use draconic energy in its raw form, blasting me with energy waves that honestly hurt a little.

As I see the burn mark across my arm after blocking one of his beams, I frown, and with crystal wings sprouting out of my back, I grab Dwight by the throat and drag him to the surface and out of the water, throwing him back down before throwing a giant pillar of ice his way.

He flips and lands on the ice platform, leaping toward the pillar and smashing through it with raw strength before attempting to hit me again, but I’m still way faster and see it coming, blocking the attack with a reinforced ice barrier.

The shattered pillar, now turned into thousands of shards suspended in the air, shoots toward the idiot crimelord, stabbing him in the back. Surprisingly, they don’t straight-up pierce him and turn him into a pincushion as his power increases further and further.

Eventually, with a wave of draconic energy, all the ice stuck onto him melts away as he breaks through the barrier, his fist reaching me and hitting me in the cheek and pushing me back.

Instead of letting this annoy me, I give him a smile as I see him floating in front of me, panting in exhaustion or fury.

“And what’s this supposed to be?” I ask with my arms crossed, still very casual. “Your second wind? Or dying gasp?”

“DIEEE!” He roars, charging forward again.

This time, though, I catch his fist and respond with an earth-shattering gut-punch that leaves him reeling.

“Either way, it doesn’t matter,” I add, this time with a tone as cold as my ice. “You never had a chance to begin with.”

As I strike him down toward the platform, I force a flower of ice to sprout out of the floor, sharp petals piercing his back and shoulders, to which I follow up with a stomp so powerful it shatters said flower and sends him deep into the sea, causing a giant splash of water that casts a tiny rainbow.

I float down, quickly noting that the battle is over once he takes longer than three seconds to come up, and eventually send a few ice-made birds to dive into the water to get him. Much as I’d love to let him drown, I still need him for his information and soul.

With my guidance, the ice birds find him immediately and bring him up, throwing him down next to me. Dwight coughs violently as the draconic power exits his body, leaving him utterly vulnerable. Not like he wasn’t before, but now he’s extra vulnerable. Like, his chances of ‘winning’ went from 0% to -15%.

I give him a little courtesy to catch his breath, because I’m feeling nice, I guess, but eventually, with my foot pressing down on his head, I start.

“So, Mr. Dwight? Getting back to what we were talking about before…” I say. “You know where the Overseer is hiding?”

Instead of showing some modicum of self-respect and/or loyalty, Dwight immediately breaks down.

“I-I don’t know! I swear I don’t know!” He answers. “I-I know nothing about him! Who he is, where he is, or what he wants!”

“Really think I’d ever believe that?” I raise an eyebrow. “What, do his orders come in the mail, too?”

“I-I don’t know—”

I stomp on his head, forcing his face to dig into the painful ice. He grunts and cries out in agony.

“Don’t make this any harder for yourself, Dwight,” I warn him coldly as his arm and legs begin to slowly freeze. “My patience’s already running thin.”

As I lift the pressure off his head, I speak.

“Last chance.”

“I-I just know that he’s not in Hawaii!” He answers.

“Oh? Do tell.”

“H-he’s not even on Earth!” He says, giving me pretty valuable info. “He’s in a mirror realm!”

“Where and what is this realm?”

“I don’t know— NGGH?!” He grunts as I force him to snack on sharp ice.

“Tsk tsk, and you were making so much progress~”

“I swear that’s all I know!” He insists. “I told you everything!”

“I dunno…”

“I do believe he’s telling the truth, Akane,” Lucifer says. “I highly doubt this Overseer would entrust such a pathetic excuse for a lifeform with as much information as you are hoping for.”

Probably not. But I haven’t had my fill yet.

…Though, something about this isn’t as fun as I thought it would be.

“Please. Please let me go.” He begs me. “I-I promise I’ll stay out of your way from now on. I’ll even help you look for him.”

I take a moment to think it through, and while I’m not letting him go no matter what he says, I do wonder…

“Bark for me.”

“H-huh?”

“I said bark for me,” I repeat. “And I’ll let you go.”

“Oh, how vicious.” Lucifer laughs. “To strip a man of his dignity with no intention of letting him live. Truly, you are despicable.”

As Dwight hesitates, I once again put pressure on his head, which convinces him to do as I say.

“W-woof…”

“Louder.”

“Woof!” He barks. “Woof!”

…Eugh, nah. Seeing him fearing for his life is great and all, but humiliating him doesn’t really make me feel anything.

It’s boring when they break so fast.

“Oh, well. Worth a shot.” I sigh, lifting Dwight up by his hair as my right arm becomes infused with Devour. “Say bye-bye, little Barracuda.”

“W-wait—”

As I thrust my arm into his heart, I grip his soul. Dwight looks at me with an expression not unlike any of my past devour victims. An expression of fear and horror, despair and hopelessness, desperation and pleading.

An expression I’ve grown oh-so fond of.

Unfortunately, this time, I’m rudely interrupted by a blast hitting me in the back, forcing me to let go of Dwight’s soul. This moment of surprise is quickly followed by someone kicking me in the face, pushing me away.

The attack itself, while painful, doesn’t injure me, but to say it didn’t piss me off would be lying, and as I stare at the one responsible, I scowl. A man in a yellow outfit not dissimilar to the one I saw Bryce wearing— an outfit of a Palekana, it seems, just sleeveless and with a hood that obscures his face. He’s holding a serrated sword in one hand as his other glows with immense magical energy.

It feels almost… divine?

Name: Rodriguez

Title: Pele’s Chosen

HP - 700,000

MP - 750,000

SP - 500,000

Race - Human

LVL - 845

STR - 6351

END - 5810

DEX - 5931

INT - 1702

WIS - 1206

CHA - 100

LUK - 100

Another worm gets in my way.

He says nothing as he grabs Dwight by his collar.

“That’s my lunch,” I tell him. “Drop him. Now.”

Suddenly, an orange wormhole-looking portal opens up behind them, but with me so much faster than either this new dickhead or Dwight, I charge forward to stop them from leaving.

Only for the portal itself to shoot me with a ball of magma of baffling magical power. Although not a direct hit, it grazes me, and the searing heat of the spell draws a hiss of pain from me as I’m forced to back off, quickly putting out the fires caught by my outfit.

What the hell was that? Where did it come from? If I had taken that head-on, I might’ve been killed.

I sneer as this idiot tries to take Dwight through the portal. If I can’t have my lunch…

“You wish,” I growl, pointing my finger at them and releasing two ice bullets.

Although Rodriguez manages to block the attack with his sword, Dwight isn’t so lucky, as the bullet pierces his throat, likely hitting an artery, and blood flows out of the wound like a fountain. I can hear his coughing and choking as the portal closes behind them, leaving me all alone in the middle of the ocean.

“Tsk…” I click my tongue, turning to face Lucifer with a glare. “What’s the matter with you? Why didn’t you warn me that that idiot was attacking me?”

“I did.” He replied coolly. “You did not listen.”

Instead of going off on the literal Devil God, I keep my temper in check, knowing this isn’t going to end well for me in any way, and sigh deeply.

“Fuckin’…” I rub my temples. “Well, I may not have gotten his soul, but at least I got some information. Still a win, I’d say.”

…It’d be a better win if—

Level up!

Ah, there it is. Finally bled out to death.

“Quite.” Lucifer agrees, a hand on his chin. “A mirror realm, he said?”

“You don’t know it?”

“I’m afraid not.” He shakes his head. “Mirror realms are usually… man-made, rather than something that has always existed. They are darker reflections of what they are based on, and in this case, I suppose it would be a mirror of Hawaii. This Overseer may have created said realm to hide in.”

“Meaning it’s gonna be really difficult to find,” I mutter. “But teleportation circles are way harder to track, so a portal appearing like that might mean it won’t be as hard, after all.”

Moreover, this Rodriguez guy. His title was Pele’s Chosen, and Pele was the one the Palekana worshipped. Palekana is the same group Bryce is the sage of, so that’s yet another piece of proof that he IS the Overseer.

…Just thinking about that son of a bitch is pissing me off. I should stop.

The rest probably want to hear about this.