The entire ruins of the Nerima West building were shrouded beneath the shadow of that colossal hand.
Without anyone realizing it, the Moon Demon had already claimed this place, marking it as a domain under his watchful gaze.
On the battlefield, the Ghost Devil, which had been eager to manifest and take everything from Himeno, suddenly froze. Beneath that massive hand, it did not dare make a reckless move, keeping its presence faint and barely perceptible.
Meanwhile, the Katana Man sank into a state of fear and doubt.
It was glaringly obvious that this was no longer some petty, small-time game. A higher-level entity had turned its attention to this place.
A battered and bloodied Aki Hayakawa retreated to the side of Himeno and Power.
The Katana Man's proud, signature slash had nearly cleaved Aki in two—it was an all-severing, devastating ability. Once the Katana Man took his striking stance, he could teleport at speeds imperceptible to the naked eye, cutting through anything his target lock acquired.
On the field, no one had the spare time to care whether Denji was dead or alive.
Actually, Denji was already dead; it was just that no one had found the opportunity to revive him yet.
The massive hand loomed like an uncaring, celestial mandate, never pressing down, yet never moving away.
It represented a single gaze.
The gaze of Tso Lan.
Now, within this cordoned-off colosseum, Kobeni slipped her signature fruit knife out from her sleeve.
Without a doubt, this trial belonged to her alone. If she could not even pass this hurdle, how could she ever hope to serve as Mr. Demon's vanguard and hold off the Darkness Devil?
Her slightly frail body trembled weakly from a mix of terror and excitement. Lifting her feet, she took one step after another toward the Katana Man.
Kobeni panted heavily.
"Hey, let's make a deal. Just give that girl to me, and I can let the rest of you walk," the Katana Man said, taking a step back.
He had initially intended to slaughter every Devil Hunter present, but he had suddenly become much more reasonable.
Kobeni shook her head, coming to a halt less than ten meters away from the Katana Man.
"You brat... dying by my hands is going to be agonizing. I'll carve you up piece by piece—"
Before the Katana Man could finish his sentence, a flash of cold steel grazed past his cheek, drawing a line of bright red blood.
"So fast!" he gasped in shock.
His powerful combat instincts kicked in immediately. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, the two katanas baring their sharp, lethal edges.
"How do you expect to fight me without a weapon?" he said in a low, gravelly voice.
Kobeni reached out and curled her fingers.
The Katana Man suddenly felt a prickling sensation, like needles stabbing into his back.
The fruit knife Kobeni had thrown was rapidly flying back, drawn by an invisible force. It pierced straight through the Katana Man's abdomen, deftly returning to Kobeni's hand.
"There are many ways to use gravity. You don't necessarily have to pull down the moon," she said, her voice shaking.
"Hey, what the hell are you muttering about?!" The Katana Man spat out a mouthful of blood.
The severe piercing wound forced him down to one knee.
Kobeni let out a soft grunt and tapped the tip of her foot against the ground.
In truth, her raw strength had never been weak. She was incredibly fast and agile as a leaping rabbit, naturally adept at close-quarters combat. Now, with the enhancement of the Moon Demon Chi, her speed was pushed even further.
Like an agile dancer on a stage, she sprinted across the air.
In the blink of an eye, she descended right in front of the Katana Man, slashing down without a hint of hesitation.
Blood sprayed to both sides as the small fruit knife cleaved his head right down the middle.
"Snake! Swallow him whole!" the Katana Man's companion, Akane Sawatari, hurriedly shrieked.
The price for commanding the Snake Devil was the tearing away of her own fingernails. Every power demanded its toll.
The Snake Devil, which had previously been bashing its head bloodily against the invisible wall, suddenly grew excited. It looped in a massive circle through the air and lunged fiercely toward Kobeni.
Its gaping maw, composed of fused human limbs, tore wide open in an attempt to swallow Kobeni into its belly.
Simultaneously, Akane grabbed the Katana Man, whose upper body had been split in two, and shoved him back together.
Exhaling a breath of scorching air, the Katana Man revived once more. His gaze locked onto the Snake Devil.
Kobeni's movements were practically impossible to track. She darted back and forth through the air, treating the empty atmosphere as a solid stepping stone.
She zipped around the Snake Devil, her fruit knife carving countless gashes into its massive, bulky frame.
With a thunderous crash, the Snake Devil slammed into the ground.
Kobeni dropped back down, planting her feet firmly on the Snake Devil's carcass.
The ground had long been flooded with the Snake Devil's blood. Yet from this slightly frail young girl, an astonishing, overwhelming aura erupted.
"Well, look at that. Guess our luck ran out," the Katana Man muttered slowly, lowering his upper body and locking his hands into a specific stance.
Though he claimed their luck had run out, he channeled every ounce of his strength into his next strike. This was the exact same slash that had just shattered Aki Hayakawa's defenses, inherently carrying a conceptual edge that could cut through anything.
Kobeni loosely gripped the handle of her fruit knife.
Though her intellect wasn't particularly high and she was clumsy most of the time, the moment she entered a combat state, her survival instincts instantly made her cold and sharp.
With her blade pointing forward, the distance between her and the Katana Man was less than fifteen meters.
Suddenly, she thought of another application for gravity.
No, rather, it was the flip side of gravity.
Repulsion.
The Moon Demon Chi wrapped around the fruit knife. This power, which was naturally vast and magnificent, suddenly became incredibly sharp and pointed.
Once a battle began, Kobeni was brilliant.
She recalled the driving skills she had mastered not too long ago. If repulsion could push away an oncoming vehicle, then what if she narrowed it down? What if she manipulated the Chi given by Mr. Demon with even greater precision?
Could she use it at a more extreme, microscopic level to force a target apart?
In other words...
To slice it open.
She took a silent step forward.
Extending her right hand, which loosely held the fruit knife, she leaned forward slightly, mirroring his stance. This was a technique she had figured out based on her own style of fighting, and right now was the perfect time to test the fruits of her labor.
Whether it would work or not would only be known after this single strike was delivered.
Kobeni and the Katana Man stood on opposite sides of the battlefield.
The air between them suddenly turned dead silent amidst the confrontation.
In the next instant, both of their auras peaked to the absolute maximum simultaneously.
The moment the ground trembled, two figures, now entirely uncatchable by the naked eye, crossed paths.
An incredibly sharp clash of wills had already locked horns and concluded in the briefest moment of contact.
Kobeni's arm remained extended forward. A faint, razor-thin line of blood opened up across her rounded cheek.
But behind her...
The Katana Man looked down at himself in sheer disbelief.
The world before his eyes suddenly tilted and split apart to the left and right, and along with it, his body was cleaved in two.
It was an irresistible, absolute slash.
Using repulsion as its foundation, it sharply severed everything along its path.
The moment the Katana Man's body parted, it shattered into pieces, smoothly dividing into more than a dozen clean slices.
In this manner, his remains bore witness to Kobeni's ultimate strike.
At that exact moment, a soft whisper echoed directly beside Kobeni's ear: "What a fascinating way to use it. Even I hadn't thought to take it in that direction."
Zoran's voice carried a distinct hint of pleasant surprise.
Who said this little Kobeni was dumb?
She was an absolute genius!
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