The Devil's First Appearance

"Hey, gorgeous, are you a new DJ?"

"Are you going to show us a few moves?"

"Come on, come on, step on me!"

All kinds of weird shouts rang out from the crowd. Getting these people to quiet down was never easy.

But Inagaki remained unmoved. Slowly, she floated into the air and drifted toward Ogura Chihiko.

"Oh! Is this the latest act?"

"She really looks like she's floating."

They had a new spectacle to enjoy, so they didn't really care about the so-called dance music. It was just an excuse to get close to the opposite sex.

In terms of entertainment, it might not even compare to a cat that could do a somersault or a dog that could poop while standing on its head.

As Inagaki, dressed in a hospital gown, descended to within two meters of Ogura Chihiko, he finally recognized her.

"It's you, Miki. I didn't know you were working here." Ogura Chihiko felt that something was wrong. He knew she'd been admitted to a psychiatric hospital, but he forced himself to stay calm and spoke cautiously.

"Demon, your human skin cannot hide your stench. This world is no playground for you. Hell is your eternal home. The Supreme God has delivered a divine revelation. I shall grant you destruction."

Inagaki's unadorned, holy face stood in stark contrast to the heavily made-up drunks in the bar.

Especially when she made her declaration with such solemn piety, everyone found it even harder to hold back their laughter.

Ogura Chihiko's female companion was laughing so hard she could barely stand. She playfully tapped Ogura. "Are you a bar employee too? How could you be into such an embarrassing role-play? Hahaha! But it's pretty funny. How about we try it tonight?"

Laughter rang out all around them. Like an audience watching a play, they enjoyed the fun of seeing it up close.

But the crowd's laughter had no effect on Inagaki.

Ogura Chihiko, however, was drenched in sweat and gripped by fear.

He felt his vision warping more and more. It was as if something that didn't belong to him had been born in his abdomen, growing and swelling without pause.

But to everyone else, it was just impressive acting.

"Oh, which part am I supposed to play? All right! I'll take your side. Ahem. My darling can't possibly be a demon. I'm already carrying his child—hahaha! How was that? Did I sound convincing?"

Ignoring the encouragement from the woman he'd met less than half an hour ago, Ogura Chihiko stood there pale-faced, drenched in sweat.

He could feel it: he was about to become a monster, one so terrifying and disgusting even he couldn't bear the thought of it.

He gave Inagaki one last pleading look, but her cold eyes offered no response. His lips moved. It seemed he wanted to leave some last words behind, but in the end, nothing came out. His consciousness gradually faded.

Amid the crowd's laughter and stares, Ogura Chihiko abruptly grabbed the woman's shoulder and turned to face her expressionlessly.

"Hm? What—"

In the woman's stunned eyes, Ogura Chihiko's head suddenly exploded, revealing a terrifying, gigantic mouth with eight petal-like lobes. The next instant, everything went black before her eyes.

Seeing the man suddenly turn into a monster and bite the woman in front of him, everyone felt as if their hearts had been struck hard. Their breathing nearly stopped.

"Ahhh!"

The screams rang out like a starting whistle, awakening everyone's instinct to flee.

Several long, strange, withered arms sprouted from the monster's back. With casual ease, it grabbed several lucky people and opened—

The panicked crowd fled in chaos, shoving one another.

In a sense, this place was a monster's bar too.

The humans present were nothing more than walking bottles of wine, ready to be uncorked and drained.

Only then did Inagaki Miki rise into the air, facing the monster that had just eaten its appetizer.

Tables, chairs, light strips, and speakers all became her weapons. They rose into the air and hurtled toward the monster.

"Kraaaah!"

One of the monster's arms was smashed off. It let out an unintelligible cry, its chest swelled, and countless vines burst out, lashing toward Inagaki.

A huge table was used as a shield to block the vines, then pressed straight down toward the monster.

The monster braced the iron table with all its arms, struggling to withstand the pressure Inagaki exerted.

But behind it, several sharp steel pipes, torn from somewhere, stabbed into its back and pierced right through.

"Gah!"

The monster let out a scream. Its strength drained away, and the heavy iron table crushed it to the ground. A great deal of black, foul-smelling blood spread across the floor.

Inagaki waved a finger, and the heavy iron table floated lightly aside, revealing the monster, barely clinging to life.

Inagaki didn't spare it another glance. She floated toward the exit without her feet touching the ground. The monster's legs rose into the air, dragging its upper body along the floor and leaving a trail of inky-black fluid behind.

"Ahhh, help! There's a monster!"

"Don't push! Don't push!"

"Someone fell! Waaaah!"

"I'm never coming back, Mom!"

In the chaos, some people saw Inagaki dragging the monster. They didn't dare stand in her way, scrambling aside for fear she'd swat them flat if they were too slow.

The commotion in the bar drew a huge amount of attention from the surrounding area. This was a whole street of bars, with heavy foot traffic. When everyone from one bar suddenly came pouring out, screaming about a monster, something major had obviously happened.

Especially for the tourists, whose eyes lit up. Could they be lucky enough to witness the supernatural with their own eyes?

They'd be able to brag about it for the rest of their lives once they got home!

Then they saw a sight they would never forget.

At the bar's entrance, a woman in a hospital gown floated in midair. Behind her, a hideous monster struggled feebly, but she kept dragging it outside. Black blood poured out of it, filling the air with a foul stench.

Countless phones recorded the scene. The twisted, terrifying monster would become an eternal nightmare in the hearts of who knew how many people.

Inagaki looked around. With all eyes on her, she soared into the sky, taking the monster with her.

"Death is the proper fate of demons."

A thousand meters above the ground, Inagaki looked at the monster, still writhing and trying to save itself, then casually released her hold on it.

A dozen seconds later.

With a loud splat, the monster crashed to the ground where it had taken off from, reduced to a heap of flesh. It splattered the onlookers, earning a wave of vomiting and screams.

Fortunately, nobody had dared to stand near the spot where she'd taken off. Perhaps they'd anticipated what was coming; otherwise, they would have been reduced to mush along with the monster. They just hadn't expected to get splattered anyway.

The gruesome scene quickly spread around the world via the internet, claiming the top spot on trending lists everywhere. The next few spots were all taken by related reports.

The Special Affairs Bureau arrived late and took the monster's corpse into custody.

However, because the psychiatric hospital had reported the incident, and Inagaki Miki had made no attempt to conceal her face, they soon took control of the hospital. They still allowed it to continue its routine inspections and maintain the status quo.

In the hospital courtyard, the two fellow believers from earlier were still kneeling there, saying they were waiting to welcome the Saintess's triumphant return. They considered it an honor.

Besides them, several Special Affairs Bureau action teams had taken control of the scene. The ever-eager worker Noguchi Yuji was there, as was the reluctant worker Toyokawa Jousei.