Reze did not recognize the demon who had suddenly materialized before her.
Yet, surprisingly, the aura radiating from his body felt entirely familiar.
She racked her brain. His appearance was completely foreign, but that distinct presence… she had absolutely encountered it somewhere before.
A moment later, it suddenly clicked.
It's the moonlight!
The faint, chilling, and mercilessly descending moonlight.
The moonlight was his gaze.
"When it counts, Denji actually turns out to be a reliable guy," Zoran spoke softly, his voice directed at Reze. "For the sake of going to the countryside, a certain devil has sacrificed a great deal for him. And Denji is indeed someone who knows how to seize an opportunity."
A devil... sacrificing for Denji?
Makima's brows furrowed as she abruptly realized something was amiss.
Looking across the entire world, there was only one devil who would be willing to make sacrifices for Denji.
One, and only one.
Zoran lightly tapped his finger. With a sharp crack, the Repulsion Slash carved a clean, razor-sharp path through the alleyway.
"Run into the moonlight," he said with a smirk.
Reze glanced at Zoran, her fingers slipping away from her pin.
She seemed to understand.
Bowing deeply in a gesture of deep respect, she turned and sprinted swiftly toward the café.
Massive swarms of rats surged from both sides of the alley, their eyes flashing crimson as they threw themselves frantically toward the cleared path.
Amidst a chorus of screeching wails, the rats disintegrated into fine dust, leaving Reze to burst joyfully into the café.
Outside the café's glass wall, she paused for a beat. She adjusted her hair, which had been tousled by the wind, and reached out to gently knock on the glass.
Knock, knock...
The figure inside the wall turned around in sudden startle. Denji's eyes widened to the size of saucers as he stared at Reze, separated from him by only a single pane of glass.
He scrambled to his feet in a sudden panic, hurriedly bending over to scoop up the bouquet from the sofa.
His comical clumsiness made Reze burst into laughter.
Pressing her hand against the glass wall, she tilted her head: "Denji, I'm not late, am I?"
Denji nodded furiously. Suddenly, he let out a roar so loud it shook the room.
"Reze, run away with me!"
The next second, his hand flew to his chest. He violently yanked the cord on his chest, and the roar of a chainsaw exploded like thunder.
In an instant, he transformed into Chainsaw Man. With a booming crash, he smashed straight through the café wall. Amidst a shower of flying debris, he thrust the bouquet into Reze's arms.
With trembling hands, Reze cradled the flowers against her chest.
"But before that, we have to exterminate every single one of these rats from the city!" Denji bellowed.
His voice detonated across the entire street.
Like a scene violently stretched through a telephoto lens, pedestrians along the street twisted their heads simultaneously in a bizarre, unnatural posture, fixing their glares on the two inside the café.
Within those pairs of completely lifeless pupils, a cold, murderous intent spread.
The assassins were already in position.
Santa Claus, who had come to assassinate Denji, ordered her puppets to morph their human arms into sharp blades. They lunged forward from all directions.
This was her power, any human touched by her would be transformed into a puppet at her command.
The assassination attempt officially began.
As the moonlight cascaded down, Denji's Chainsaw Man form was a vision of pure madness. He violently sawed through puppet after puppet, hacking their limbs into the sky.
More and more puppets poured out from the streets and alleyways.
Denji scooped Reze into his arms, sprinting relentlessly down the street.
Accompanied by the roaring thrum of his chainsaws, he roared at the top of his lungs: "Pochita! My dream! My dream..."
Like a runaway tank, he plowed through the puppets blocking his path, tearing them to pieces.
Amidst the rain of severed limbs, he threw his head back and howled to the heavens.
"My dream is to become a countryside mouse!!!"
"Pochita, and everyone else… I won't regret this."
"The fact that more and more guys are coming to stop me just proves that I, Lord Denji, am doing the right thing!"
He looked exactly like a neurotic maniac!
The hideous Chainsaw Man cradled the beautiful girl, sprinting beneath the moonlight, determined to carve a path through the sea of puppets by sheer force.
At a nearby street corner.
The "Immortal Three Brothers" from America were sizing up the grotesque figure leaping and bounding through the streets.
"Hey, our plan to slip in undetected is completely blown. Now we can only look for a chance to launch a surprise attack!"
The three brothers had originally planned to kill the Devil Hunters who had come from Kyoto to protect Denji, steal their identities, and carry out the assassination.
However, completely defying all logic, Denji had gone off to romance someone for two whole days, leaving them with absolutely no opportunity to get close to their target Devil Hunters.
The three brothers had arrived in Tokyo feeling thoroughly dejected. Yet, just as they were preparing to make their move, things suddenly seemed to blow up on a massive scale.
"Looks like assassins from other countries have made their move. Well, whatever. Let's find an opening to ambush him and take that guy's heart."
The eldest of the three brothers crushed his cigarette butt under his heel and made his decision.
Right as he stomped the cigarette out, the roar of an engine suddenly blared.
A beautiful little car was speeding from the other side of the street, plowing right through the puppets blocking its path.
The eldest brother glanced at his two younger siblings, bewildered. "Which one of you called a car?"
The two brothers shook their heads.
The engine noise grew louder and louder, and the visibility was now clear enough to see through the windshield into the driver's seat.
The girl driving had a look of sheer terror on her face. Her teeth were clenched tight, and her foot was slammed flat against the gas pedal, refusing to let up for even a second.
As a Devil Hunter of Special Division 4, Kobeni naturally had to come protect her colleague.
At the same time, as the contractor of Mr. Demon, she also had to join the fray and prepare herself to face the oncoming Darkness Devil.
But what infuriated Kobeni was that there were simply too many puppets on the road.
Gritting her teeth, she completely cast aside any worry about ruining her brand-new, factory-fresh little car.
The Moon Demon Chi swirled around her arms as she gripped the steering wheel tightly. The force of gravity violently dragged the oncoming puppets right in front of the vehicle.
She ran them over in a straight line.
"Mr. Demon, waah, the traffic conditions are so bad..." Kobeni wailed, tears streaming down her face as she sat inside the violently bouncing car.
The ride was so bumpy it felt like driving down a road made entirely of speed bumps.
It wasn't that she was afraid of these puppets; she was just terrified of the Darkness Devil she was about to face. After all, she was supposed to go head-to-head with that thing shortly.
But Kobeni was exactly that kind of person, even while shedding pathetic little tears, she didn't hesitate for a split second to drag the puppets from both sides right under her tires to crush them.
"Ugh, so bumpy..." Kobeni grumbled, her body shaking violently.
She didn't notice at all that while looking her absolute most pitiful and adorable, she was executing the most terrifying acts.
The little car sped toward the intersection at the street corner.
The Immortal Three Brothers, who were standing idly by the roadside, suddenly felt an inexplicable gravitational pull.
Looking down, they realized their bodies were moving completely out of their control, hurtling directly toward the incoming car that was approaching at a terrifying speed.
"Hey! Hey! This isn't right!" The eldest brother suddenly panicked.
Since when did cars drive down the middle of the road while pedestrians involuntarily sucked themselves under the tires?
"Is it the Car Devil? This is definitely the Car Devil, right?!"
Kobeni didn't recognize the Immortal Three Brothers.
Lately, she had been looking up driving tips online, and one of them stated that when driving, one must always look far ahead to avoid veering off course.
Her entire focus was locked onto the road far ahead; she had completely failed to notice the three assassins standing by the curb.
The next second, the little car jolted violently. Kobeni was launched right out of her seat, her head smacking hard against the roof.
"Ouch!" She whimpered, rubbing her head in pain.
The sensation beneath the tires just now... felt a little different from the puppets...
Kobeni paused for a moment.
Then, she shook her head aggressively in annoyance.
"Oh, whatever!" She nervously gripped the steering wheel again, murmuring guiltily to herself, "The car hit them, it has nothing to do with me..."
The car rolled onward.
The assassins, the Immortal Three Brothers.
Completely wiped out.
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