I sighed. The guy was clearly shocked. He seemed middle aged, and dressed in a normal shirt and pants, but his confident aura told me that strong or not, he clearly had a high opinion of himself.
Great. Another huge ego to puncture.
The next half an hour was a blur. The Devil Hunters reviewed the corpse, the head, and concluded that it was the same one that had been reported. At this point, everyone was wary of me, but Mr Big Ego, who looked like he was in charge, kept his cool. He introduced himself as Sora Takahashi of the Public Safety Devil Hunters' First Division, while the others started to haul the corpse back to their vehicle.
First Division, huh. That explains the egoistic personality. He must be training under Kishibe. After all, Kishibe was the greatest devil hunter in Japan.
He asked me a couple of questions, like about the scythe and my parents. Luckily, the system fed me all the answers.
[My parents died in an attack by the Bat Devil. I live by myself.]
[Why should I tell you?] about the scythe.
And I couldn't agree with him more. If I was going to give any answers, it would be going to someone who actually mattered, not some original character who'd probably serve as cannon fodder later on, like 90% of the people.
Takahashi didn't press, and instead gave me my scythe. I smiled at him, but he turned away.
[This is why you should never waste your time on people who don't appreciate you, my child.] The wise old man advised me. [ People wi-]
"Is that wise music playing in the background?" I interrupted him.
The system scowled. [Yeah, so what? I'm helping you, aren't I?] I didn't reply. It would only spur on his taunts.
Takahashi called me over, saying we had to leave. I stretched and agreed. But the problem was that instead of informing me or anything, I was being led to a different car.
"Where are we going?" I asked the man walking me.
He looked surprised as if he thought the First Division's hunter had already informed me. "Don't you know? We're taking you to the police station. Maybe they can put you in an orphange."
"But why?" I asked him indignatly, halting to a stop. "I lived alone so far, didn't I? I can manage for a couple more years!"
Takahashi stroked his chin thoughtfully. It was weird cause he didn't even have a beard. "Well, that might be true, but we should still check. You know, for safety. And then there's the situation of the Baseball Devil..."
I sighed. I guess I had no choice. Time to use knowledge no person of my age should possess, either in this world or Riordanverse.
"Exactly." I prompted him. "After all I've done, being able to defeat a Devil that wasn't even that weak, you're still sending me to an orphanage? Doesn't my status transcend that of other children even twice my age? After all, someone willing to risk their life to fight a losing battle isn't someone you find everyday.
The middle aged man wavered. I could see his moral side and practical side fighting with each other.
He was hesitating. All it'd take was one push, one tiny nudge to get him to do what I want.
"I like fighting Devils, too." I offered. "I'll fight on weekends if you want."
That set him. He clenched his jaw, looked sharply at me, and turned on his heel, heading towards his car.
"Where are we going?" I struggled to keep up. You know,just for the role of the innocent, helpless kid who's cry if he saw the Tomato Devil.
He threw the back door open and looked at me, an uncharacteristic look of uncertainty crossing his face. " To see the head of the Fourth Division. Come along kiddo, we're meeting Miss Makima."
***
Makima.
A brief summary on her before we met.
Her real identity is that of the Control Devil, among the Four Horsemen Devils. She takes the form of a girl, although it's unknown whether she actually is one.She appeared at an unknown period of time in Japan, but it's estimated to be between 1985 and 1995. She made a contract with the Japanese government, working for them. In exchange, any damage inflicted upon her would be transferred to a random Japanese citizen. It's a risky move, and a cruel one to those people, but the officials were pretty desperate, as having the Devil of Control and Manipulation working under them is a pretty sweet deal.
But that still doesn't excuse the fact that they used innocent lives for their sake. Those people trusted you to make the country a better place, and you used them as sacrificial lambs for an inhumane creature. Great job.
Anyway, back to Makima, she became the head of Special Division 4, recruited a bunch of hunters, manipulated devils, blah blah blah, you know, Temu Aizen stuff.
I'm starting to forget her before she came to Earth, oh no I'm not. The Four Horsemen fought Chainsaw Man in Hell, he swapped form, which turned out to be fatal at that particular moment, although the women didn't know so. He escaped to Earth, they thought he pitied them and retreated. They searched the entirety of Hell, which sounds weird when you say it out loud.
They then came Earth, which is all I can recall about her before canon.
As of her abilities, it's mainly to be able to control anyone she considers inferior to herself.
Heh. What a fucking annoying ability. It'll be hard to escape if she decides to control me. Normally, I wouldn't have done something so suicidal[Oh, you sure about that?], but now I was in a dilemma. If I reveal my cards, my survival rate is cooked, cause my iq isn't that high yet, while she's literally born from the fear of manipulation. If I don't... Well, I'm pretty sure I can afford a book on how to be a good slave.
[You should be honoured! It is great being her slave.]
"... Did you even read the fucking manga?"
As far as I remember, every dead characer was respawned by her to serve as her slave in the Fourth Division. Reze, Angel Devil, everyone came toghether to become mindless zombies and do her bidding. Besides, I hate her so, so much.
She made Denji get a family with Aki and Power, made him get the love he so needed and desired, only to kill them both to break him. She convinced that he murdered his own father, his own flesh and blood, for no reason whatsoever. She almost succeeded in doing so too, and if not for Pochita intervening at the last minute, the world would be doomed.
"So," A voice interrupted my internal monologue. Startled, I turned my head away from the window to see Takahashi fiddling with a coin.
"Hmm?"
"Can you,uh, tell me something about yourself?" He asked me, a bit of his old ego coming back.
"No."
He looked at me in disbelief, not believing the fact that someone like him has just been turned down by a kid.
Heh, dream bigger, asshole. In the grand scheme of the multiverse, you're nothing.
An OC daring to challenge the prince of darkness, how dare he? I should just rip his head off.
[You do know he could just solo you right now, don't you?]
'Well,' I said, pushing up my imaginary nerd glasses and putting on my geek face, 'that's subjective based on what criteria you're comparing us to. In terms of sheer potential, I outclassify him by like-"
[Bullshit. You die in every scenario.]
I would have pointed out that the statistical percentage of me dying in every scenario was down to none of I had not been so brutally abused.
For once I shut up, and endured his stupid snickers and taunts all the way. The bullfrog OC didn't interrupt me again, and he was lucky not to.
Or I'd probably pull his pants down in the most humiliating way possible.
The car screeched to a halt in front of the tall building. I got out of the car and looked up at it, my hands on my hips.
"Well," Sora asked me, a look of pride appearing on his face. "What do you think? It's the largest Public Safety building in Japan. Larger than even the Osaka one. It was rebuilt in 1875, after the-"
"It's trash."
He froze in the middle of his yapathon practice run, struggling to process what I just said. Then, struggling to control himself, and muttering something about the next generation being doomed, he strode off into the building.
I laughed. I didn't particularly enjoy bullying him, but then again, my rage was still strong enough for me to snap at any fucking OC.
The driver tapped me on the shoulder. "Hey, it's good that you're able to defeat devils of such strength at this age. You might be the youngest in history to become a Public Safety Hunter. But that's exactly where the line lies, you're not in Public Safety yet, so you have no right to insult him like that. "
I looked straight up at him. " You think I care?"
"At this point, he's a seasoned veteran, and how many devils did he hunt this month?"
"Uhh-"
"When was the last time he soloed a devil?"
"Well, that's-"
"Was it stronger or weaker than the Baseball Devil?"
"I-"
"You don't know anything driver, so shut up." I turned on my heel, and used my senses to locate where the Vice Captain of the First Division headed to.
Behind me, the guy stood for a couple of second before shaking his head. " I'm a Hunter too, you know? The least you can do is show some respect."
**
Inside, I looked around myself. There were dozens of counters of Hunters, getting assignments, managing, registration and the rest. There were signboards everywhere, indicating different sections of the building for different functions.
Good enough management, I guess. But they could try and improve the quality of service or employ more people to manage the place. I saw a dozen people in a single queue. Guess the majority wants to be out there, killing monsters.
It's a serious problem, or at I think so. You have hunters in two types- the young and reckless, and the old and experienced.
In this world, there's no restriction for becoming a Public Safety Hunter except a weakass entry test. Very few candidates stop at this step, because the majority pass it on the first attempt. The ones who don't however, get it on the next try or so.
Here, a very few, like 0.1% of the applicants, realise the grim truth of the reality they are about to embrace. It is bad enough watching from the sidelines, how bad could it be on the front, actually waging war on these nightmares.
But it is their first fight, without any restraint, without any simulation that they realise.
These are creatures from Hell.
So it is only natural for them to try and replicate their home here.
Most people who are reckless and arrogant die within their diet couple of fights.
And those who do survive, by being careful, taking their companion's deaths as example, or even those who trick others into becoming their shields...
They gain experience.
It is worth mentioning, that any battle you observe or experience, every battle boosts your battle IQ.
So why, one could ask, do people not let civilians observe them before they become Devil Hunters?
It is, after all, a logical path. Civilians view the chaos from up front, ponder on the horrible situations, the gore, the bloodshed, and wonder whether or not they become Hunters?
The reason is simple.
There's no safe way for them to do so.
A Devil is not under anyone's control. It is no one's puppet. It is a force of nature, a calamity bent on destruction, and the only question that remains is who kills whom first.
So even if someone did attempt to try and make civilians observe from up close, there had to be a whole team to ensure their safety.
None but the rich can afford that.
And the strongest are usually those who've had challenges thrown at them, the ones who've experienced bloodshed, the ones who've fought like anything to get to where they are.
And they usually don't have such luxuries.
There's also the question of resources. There isn't always enough Hunters to babysit some viewers and fight Devils at the same time.
Of course, money gives the illusion that it can buy everything, but it can't. Those who get trapped in that illusion, on the other hand, are the real unfortunate souls.
So all in all, it usually ends in bloodshed.
This is the hellish reality of this world.
I looked at the door in front of me, labelled "FOURTH DIVISION HEAD".
And I'm about to meet someone, who played a huge role in it.
***
The hinges groaned as I pushed against the wood, afraid of what would come next. Everything I had so far, even the Baseball Devil, and my first Common Grade could all be an elaborate prank by the System. The only way to confirm was to view her.
And yet somehow, I didn't want to.
I grimaced, and turned my face away, scrunching it up, scared of what I was about to see next.
"Oh, don't be shy. Come on in~" A sweet, honey like voice drifted into my ears.
Yeah, that's how crazy it was. It didn't ring out, it drifted. Like some sort of crazy enchanted smell on the wind, like it had all the time in the world.
Wait. I sniffed again, catching a whiff of something else.
"Is that chocolate?" I asked her, lifting my face up.
She smiled at me gently. " You have a good nose. Or is it just for chocolate?"
I froze when I saw her face.
I had seen that face so many times. I dreamt about it too, and felt so perverted when this happened.
A calm, pretty face, with a soft smile playing on it. Pale auburn hair with eye length bangs, and side pieces framing her cheek. Startling yellow eyes with concentric circles, the most unusual part about her.
Visually.
She wears a white shirt, that does a very bad job if it's trying to hide her curves, or at least make her look modest. Her chin is on her first, supporting her bobbing head, as she sits in the boss chair.
"Hi." She called out playfully.
No.
I shook my head. No. No. A thousand times no. This face, this feeling, this aura, it all belongs to my list of Top 10 Bitches I do NOT want to meet in this state.
She looked behind me. "Oh great, you're here too, Takahashi," the guy nodded, " and uhh, Driver."
The guy just gawks outside the doorframe, making me grin.
Makima smiles too. "Since you're laughing as well, how about...
A talk?"
AN-
I'm sorry.
Ik that doesn't cover it, but hey, let's get to biz.
Hopefully more chapters, I'll start writing another ASAP.
Second, thank you for all the support you've shown me.
Third, Chapter length will always stay at 2k+ words for now, and I'll try to get it up to 2500+ like this one.
Finally, something really good coming up in the next couple of chapters. You don't want to miss it.
Kudos.