Gun Devil

"The Gun Devil?!"

Neither Power nor Denji had heard of him.

But Meng Fan knew all about him.

He knew even more than Makima did.

"That's right. I'd like to ask you to help me defeat the Gun Devil," Makima said meaningfully as she sat in her chair.

"Is the Gun Devil really strong?" Denji asked.

Seeing that she had their interest, Makima began to explain.

"The Gun Devil appeared in America thirteen years ago, but his current whereabouts are unknown. He's an incredibly powerful devil that every Devil Hunter wants to kill."

"An incredibly powerful devil!" Denji exclaimed in shock.

"An incredibly powerful devil!" Power, on the other hand, was excited.

Their expressions were polar opposites.

Everyone else remained unusually calm.

"That's right. The Gun Devil is much stronger than any of the devils you've encountered so far."

"How strong is he, exactly? Can't even you handle him, Miss Makima?" Denji had no real concept of what an incredibly powerful devil meant.

Power, meanwhile, compared the Gun Devil to the Mosquito Devil.

In her eyes, the Gun Devil was probably only a little stronger than the Mosquito Devil.

"Thirteen years ago, buying and selling guns became widespread around the world as a way to fight devils. After all, guns were far more reliable than any other weapon. They were powerful and allowed people to keep a safe distance."

"But every advantage has its downside. The proliferation of guns sparked wars of all sizes, and the media's enthusiasm for reporting on gun violence deepened the world's fear of firearms. In America, it even led to a large-scale terrorist attack."

"The Gun Devil appeared that same day."

Makima told it like a ghost story, keeping everyone focused and engrossed.

Denji, in particular, listened with rapt attention.

"And then? What did the Gun Devil do?" Power asked.

"He appeared in America for 124 seconds, killing 548,012 people. In Ghana, seven seconds, 84,810 deaths. In Hawaii, 0.4 seconds, 1,780 deaths. In India, fifteen seconds, 209,950 deaths..."

"He could kill over a million people in just a few seconds?!"

Power and Denji cried out together.

Neither dared underestimate the Gun Devil anymore.

"What happened to a devil that strong in the end?" Denji asked eagerly.

"After killing over a million people in five minutes, the Gun Devil disappeared. His whereabouts remain unknown to this day."

"After he disappeared, the entire country agreed to ban guns in order to weaken him."

"So that means the Gun Devil isn't as strong as he used to be?"

"That's right. As long as we remove the fear of guns from people's hearts, the Gun Devil will grow weaker and weaker."

"That's a relief." Denji and Power both let out long sighs.

"Miss Makima, are you really planning to send these rookies after the Gun Devil?"

Himeno didn't believe the newcomers had what it took to fight the Gun Devil.

She had thought Makima simply wanted to tell the rookies a story.

But Makima's expression was utterly serious.

"I have high hopes for these rookies, especially Denji."

Makima's approval instantly made Denji stick out his tongue. As if injected with adrenaline, he shouted, "I won't let you down, Miss Makima!"

"Also, if any of you manages to kill the Gun Devil, I'll grant that person any wish."

"Any wish?!"

With his tongue hanging out, Denji instantly pictured himself having a hands-on encounter with Makima.

"Anything at all?" Power asked.

"Yes, any wish at all."

"Great! I'll definitely kill the Gun Devil, then become president!"

"Miss Makima, are you sure you meant what you just said?"

Meng Fan walked toward Makima with a smile.

"Yes. What do you want?"

"I haven't decided yet. But shake my hand. Let's make it a promise."

Meng Fan held out his right hand. Makima didn't move. "Why should I shake your hand?"

"Because I have the best chance out of all of them. You've seen a little of what I can do, after all. If I unleashed my full strength, I'd definitely shock you. So let this handshake seal our promise."

Makima couldn't see why Meng Fan insisted on shaking her hand.

Still, he wasn't wrong. She had underestimated his strength from the very beginning.

He was also the one she found hardest to figure out.

"All right. If you can kill the Gun Devil, I'll grant you any wish."

Makima reached out and shook Meng Fan's hand.

The instant their hands clasped, Denji's jealousy surged.

"I want to shake hands with Miss Makima and make a promise too!"

Watching the rookies scramble to volunteer to kill the Gun Devil, Himeno shook her head helplessly.

Rookies really were the easiest to fool.

An empty promise was all it took to make them risk their lives.

If the Gun Devil were easy to deal with,

it wouldn't fall to them to handle him.

After all, there were countless outstanding Devil Hunters all over the world.

"Don't celebrate just yet. First, we have to find the Gun Devil."

With that, Makima took an ornate box out from under her desk.

She opened it to reveal pieces of flesh that resembled bullet casings.

"What are these?"

"These are pieces of flesh that fell off the Gun Devil. Any other devil that eats one will become stronger."

"Like a Special Grade Cursed Object," Meng Fan chimed in. Nobody understood what he meant, so they paid his words no mind.

Instead, they kept watching Makima, waiting for her explanation.

But Meng Fan drew their attention back with his next words. "Because the Gun Devil is so powerful, once these pieces grow large enough, they'll start moving toward his main body. So if we collect enough flesh, we can find him."

"Exactly." Makima snapped her fingers in affirmation.

Knock, knock, knock!

Just then, someone knocked on the office door.

Aki Hayakawa pushed it open, his expression grave.

"Aki, you're back!" Himeno immediately went over to check on him. "Have your wounds healed?"

"Thanks to you finding someone to heal me, Himeno. Otherwise, I'd still be stuck in that hospital with nobody looking after me and no dinner."

As he spoke, Aki Hayakawa glared fiercely at Meng Fan and the others.

He couldn't hide the murderous look he directed at the three of them.

Meng Fan could tell Aki Hayakawa was very dissatisfied with their care, so he hurriedly said, "Aki, we just accepted a mission to take down the Gun Devil."

"Yeah, and Miss Makima said that if we kill the Gun Devil, she'll grant everyone's wishes."

"Miss Makima said she'd grant the wish of whoever kills the Gun Devil, not everyone's," Himeno hastily clarified on Makima's behalf.

"Whatever. I'm definitely killing the Gun Devil, all so I can... with Miss Makima..."

Denji suddenly stopped halfway through.

He felt it wouldn't be a good idea to say it out loud now.

"What do you want to do with Miss Makima?" Himeno suddenly leaned closer to Denji and asked.

"Nothing. I haven't decided yet." His face flushed bright red, Denji rubbed the back of his head and forced a change of subject.

Apart from Meng Fan, nobody present understood what Denji actually wanted to do.

If they knew his wish, they would probably all look at him with contempt.

"You? I'm afraid you won't live long enough to even meet the Gun Devil."

Aki Hayakawa looked utterly disdainful.

Rather than ask Makima to grant him a wish, he wanted to kill the Gun Devil to avenge his family.

While everyone was talking,

another knock came at the office door, and it opened.

An officer who answered emergency calls rushed in. "Miss Makima, a devil has appeared at the Morino Hotel. The guests' whereabouts are unknown, and quite a few Civilian Devil Hunters who went in to rescue them have already died."

"According to reports from other Public Safety Devil Hunters, the devil at the Morino Hotel has very likely eaten a piece of the Gun Devil's flesh."