About half an hour after Asaba Kotone informed the Gangster Boss, the boss gathered a group and set off for the Abandoned Factory. Matsuno Yoshiko was among them.
"Yoshiko, why do you look so unhappy?"
The Gangster Boss and Matsuno Yoshiko were sitting in the back seat of a car on their way to the Abandoned Factory when he noticed her unhappy expression.
"It's nothing. I just slipped up today, and it's eating at me."
Matsuno Yoshiko offered a casual explanation without telling the Gangster Boss much.
Letting Asaba Kotone slip away had really pissed her off. She had always been the one to toy with others, but today she felt she had been toyed with.
She just couldn't figure out how that brat had escaped. She had clearly given those Yakuza members instructions.
Of course, the Gangster Boss knew about Matsuno Yoshiko's peculiar tastes, but since she hadn't gone into detail, he never connected it to the boy who had spoken to him at the bar earlier.
Matsuno Yoshiko usually targeted clueless hotheads, and he felt that boy was clearly no such fool.
Soon, the Gangster Boss and his group arrived at the Abandoned Factory.
"The Zombie Devil should be in here. Let's go in and have a talk with it."
With that, the Gangster Boss ordered his men to force open the tightly shut doors before them.
Of course, the Yakuza boss wasn't accompanied only by his own men. Members of other Yakuza groups had also come along. They all wanted to make a contract with the Zombie Devil, gain greater power, and make more money.
They switched on their flashlights and found the Zombie Devil farther inside.
Some of them were still frightened after all. One look at the Zombie Devil's horrifying appearance left them too scared to approach.
The Gangster Boss, however, walked closer without so much as a change in expression. "Let's make a contract, Zombie Devil. Give us power, and we'll fulfill your demands."
"Sure... you want Devil Power, and what I want is the life of a Devil Hunter!"
The Zombie Devil agreed to make a contract with them.
"...The life of a Devil Hunter?"
Hearing the Zombie Devil's terms, the Gangster Boss froze for a moment, then slowly turned to look at Matsuno Yoshiko.
He wasn't the only one. Everyone else who had come along looked at Matsuno Yoshiko too.
The reason was simple: Matsuno Yoshiko was the only Devil Hunter among them.
The Gangster Boss had only brought Matsuno Yoshiko along because he happened to run into her at the bar. He hadn't expected her to come in handy like this...
"Wh-why are you all looking at me?"
Matsuno Yoshiko began to panic, realizing she was in danger.
Just as the thought of running crossed her mind, someone stabbed her through the heart from behind.
"Ugh..."
Matsuno Yoshiko stared blankly down at the blade protruding from her chest.
When she came to her senses, she tried to use her Devil Power for one last struggle, but it was already too late. Others immediately rushed in and stabbed her as well, leaving her collapsed in a pool of blood.
With the contract's terms fulfilled, the Gangster Boss and the others immediately received the Zombie Devil's Devil Power.
But this power wasn't what they had imagined. Before they even realized anything was wrong, the Zombie Devil had turned them all into zombies.
"Hahahahaha...!!"
The Zombie Devil burst into wild, bizarre laughter.
At the same time, applause rang out from another direction.
The Zombie Devil's laughter cut off abruptly as it looked that way. "...Huh? There's still a human here."
Asaba Kotone slowly approached from that direction, with Pochita beside him.
"A human and a... small-fry devil?"
The Zombie Devil seemed to realize something. "You're a Devil Hunter?!"
"That's right."
Looking at the Gangster Boss and the others, who had already become zombies, Asaba Kotone nodded in satisfaction.
Thanks to his bait, these people had encountered the Zombie Devil earlier than in the original story and become zombies ahead of schedule. All of Denji's debts were gone too.
Denji's creditors were all among them, especially that old man named Hamano, his biggest creditor. Now that they had all become zombies, Denji naturally no longer needed to repay his debts.
"Mr. Devil Hunter~ Seriously! These guys are idiots! Total idiots! They actually wanted my power, but now that very power has turned them into zombies. I am the Zombie Devil, after all! Hahahahaha..."
Perhaps because it was in such a good mood, the Zombie Devil even felt like chatting with Asaba Kotone.
"They really are..."
Before coming to this world, when Asaba Kotone had read the manga at home, he had wanted to ask how these idiots had ever made a name for themselves. Had they gotten by purely on cruelty and ruthlessness, without a brain between them?
"Mr. Devil Hunter! Be a good boy and die too!"
The Zombie Devil abruptly changed its tune, no longer interested in chatting with Asaba Kotone. "Devil Hunters kill us devils, so they're really annoying! That's why they have to die!"
"Everyone! Chop him to pieces and throw him in the dumpster!"
At the Zombie Devil's command, the people it had transformed into zombies immediately charged at Asaba Kotone with knives in hand.
Yet Asaba Kotone remained perfectly calm.
"Pochita, let's do this."
"Woof, woof!"
Asaba Kotone grabbed the handle on Pochita's body and pulled his tail. The chainsaw on Pochita's head immediately extended and began spinning at high speed.
The zombies were already upon him. He didn't even blink at the blade thrusting toward him. The next instant, the entire knife-and even the whole zombie-passed straight through his body.
It was the same for the other zombies. No matter how they swung their knives, they couldn't touch so much as a hair on Asaba Kotone.
Of course, Asaba Kotone couldn't attack the zombies in his current state either. To attack, he would have to deactivate Intangibility. He couldn't make only his body intangible while keeping the chainsaw solid. If he didn't apply Intangibility to Pochita as well, the Chainsaw Weapon would pass straight through his hands, making it impossible to attack.
He wanted to take care of the Zombie Devil first, then deal with these zombies at his leisure.
Asaba Kotone advanced toward the Zombie Devil, step by step. None of the zombies could stop him. Even when they lunged at him together from every direction, they hit nothing.
"What's going on? Why can't they touch you?! Aaargh... another one of these bizarre powers! Disgusting! This is why I hate Devil Hunters more than anything!"
The Zombie Devil's tone shifted from shock to anger.
But it also noticed that while the zombies couldn't touch this Devil Hunter, he couldn't touch them either, so it still didn't consider him a threat.
Asaba Kotone couldn't be bothered to waste words on the Zombie Devil. His expression remained cold and composed. As he drew near, he suddenly picked up speed and charged.
"Come on! Come and die!"
The Zombie Devil remained as arrogant as ever.
It figured that if this Devil Hunter wanted to kill it, it would be able to touch him too. Any human it touched would become a zombie.
But Asaba Kotone had only feinted an attack. His entire body passed through the Zombie Devil, taking him behind it.
At that instant, his body and the chainsaw in his hands became solid. He spun around in a sweeping horizontal slash, sawing the Zombie Devil clean in half.
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