Kang Woo flung his severed arm toward the Future Devil.
"Why don't you try seeing my future?" Kang Woo taunted, voice low and mocking. "There are two ways, right? Either I stick my head into that hole in your chest—" he gestured coolly toward the massive, glimmering eye embedded in the Future Devil's trunk—"which I'd rather avoid… or you can look through my body parts."
Aki stared at Kang Woo's regrown arm, jaw clenched. "…Seriously. You cut off your own arm… just to prove a point?"
Kang Woo gave a cool shrug. "It's just flesh."
Himeno whistled. "And here I thought I'd seen all the crazy in Public Safety."
The Future Devil's many eyes blinked in rapid succession. Its vines coiled around Kang Woo's severed arm, drawing it carefully toward the gaping eye in its chest.
With a low, eerie groan, it pressed the severed limb into the glowing socket.
For a moment, the entire chamber seemed to pulse with the Future Devil's power. Its limbs twitched, and all of its eyes widened in alarm.
"I… I can't see your future… at all, it whispered, voice trembling with disbelief. Why? Why can't I see it? What… what kind of man are you? Why are you even here?"
Kang Woo tilted his head slightly, a thin smirk creeping across his lips.
"Why you can't see my future… that's your homework, Maybe it just means… you suck at your job."
The Future Devil paused, his branches rustling faintly as he seemed to regroup his shattered composure. Then his wide mouth split into a grin. "All right… I'm more curious about you now, I'll make a contract—twenty minu—"
But Kang Woo cut him off, his tone sharp as a blade. "No. You will live inside my right arm until I say you can get out."
The Future Devil froze, his vines coiling tighter. "…And if I choose another contract, or try to bargain?"
Suddenly, the air pulsed with a menacing energy. From Kang Woo's left back palm, the Eye of Mikhail flared open in a brilliant burst of crimson light. Crimson Zaiphon symbols etched themselves into the walls around them, glowing like sigils of a divine artillery lining up for a kill shot.
Mikhail's voice boomed from the glowing eye, arrogant and utterly disdainful. "Then you have no use anymore… for me or my beloved master."
The Future Devil's grin flickered, and he let out a sharp, unhinged laugh. "Heh… Ahahahaha! Fuck—the Eye of Mikhail… I never thought I'd see it exist."
Mikhail's gaze seemed to burn even hotter, his voice dripping with contempt. "Oh? You've heard about me? I'm surprised a low creature—who can barely glimpse splinters of future—knows my name." The eye's pupil contracted, dark and dangerous. "But compared to Verloren itself… you're just a poser."
The Future Devil's gaze shifted past Kang Woo, landing on the group clustered behind him. "…Your group doesn't even know what the hell that eye on your back palm really is."
Himeno lifted an eyebrow and snorted, flicking ash off her cigarette. "Ehh? You stupid tree, we just thought it was some alien thing latched onto Kang Woo's palm. Pretty cool from what I see."
Aki quickly stepped in, shaking his head."Wait, Himeno-senpai."
He turned his sharp eyes toward the Future Devil."Then tell us, Future Devil… what exactly is Mikhail?"
The Future Devil recoiled slightly, vines twitching nervously."I refuse. I mean it. If I say the wrong word… Mikhail could kill me on the spot. … every devil should fear him. Because he's a Outside being who can kill devils permanently."
Denji, still looking pale from earlier, glanced sideways at Power. "…Power was right."
Power puffed out her chest triumphantly and slapped Denji hard on the back. "THERE, Denji! I'm smarter than you! I told you that red eyeball is a predator!"
Kishibe exhaled a thin stream of smoke, eyes narrowing at Kang Woo. "I'm more surprised about you, Kang Woo. You deliberately let the Future Devil spill one of your secrets. Any particular reason for that move? And it confirmed that Mikhail can kill devils for good—since even devils fear him. So why didn't you tell us yourself?"
Kang Woo tilted his head slightly, his voice flat. "If I'd told you, would you have believed me? Besides… I have no obligation to reveal what I possess. What's mine… is mine alone."
Kishibe's gaze hardened, a calculating glint in his eye as he thought to himself: There it is again—that dangerous part of his personality. Sometimes he gives cryptic answers as if warning us that knowing Mikhail's secrets would bring disaster… or maybe he's just bluffing.
Aki sighed and said quietly, "I'll take my poison. So, Kang Woo… if we do find out about Mikhail… something horrifying won't happen to us, right? Like… Mikhail won't just kill us on the spot?"
Kang Woo gave a humorless little smile, eyes glinting. "If you learn even a piece of the red pill… doors will open one by one. Until you're left with something worse than death an existential crisis about how low you truly are."
Kishibe let out a dry laugh, flicking ashes to the ground. "But we already know , at least Aki and I do—that you've got that alien friend called Evil Morty, right?"
Kang Woo shrugged lightly. "Maybe. But that's just… an offering. And what the Future Devil will tell you? Probably not the whole truth. Some pieces are missing. But honestly… I don't care."
He turned his head slightly, gazing at his left palm. "You don't mind, right, Mikhail?"
The eye of Mikhail flared brilliantly, crimson light pulsing like a heartbeat. "About time I get respected, "Not just being known."
From Kang Woo's back palm, vine-like tendrils unfurled, adorned with smaller eyes that blinked and swiveled. They slithered forward, coiling ominously as they focused on the Future Devil.
Mikhail's voice turned glacial. "If you say even one false word about me… I'll give you two choices: Serve my master as a slave for all eternity… or I'll show you where Verloren's body lies sealed forever in darkness—and you will join it there for eternity."
The Future Devil's eerie, leaf-like limbs trembled. He nodded so vigorously it was almost comical. "Of course, sir! Of course!"
Then the Future Devil slowly turned his multi-eyed gaze toward the group, swallowing audibly. "Mikhail… is a gods. A very powerful gods ."
Aki stared at him, incredulous. "A gods…? Devils, I understand. Monsters, I understand. But a gods…? What does that even mean?"
Himeno let out a dry laugh, flicking her cigarette ash. "Heh… great. A gods. Can he pay my rent or debt too? Or is he just gonna destroy the world next?"
Denji's eyes went wide, bouncing between the others. "A gods ?! Like… can he give me meat? Or women? Wait—is he stronger than the Gun Devil?!"
Power threw her head back and crossed her arms defiantly. "LIES! There are no gods stronger than me! …except maybe the Gun Devil. AND MAYBE that red eyeball. …But still—LIES!"
Kishibe just smiled faintly, eyes glinting with a mix of weariness and curiosity. " That means the theory Makima and I came up with about Kang Woo… is at least half right. At least I've got confirmation now… The Man Up stairs ."
He shifted his gaze toward the Future Devil, voice turning sharp. "How powerful can Mikhail actually be?"
The Future Devil wavered, leaflike arms rustling. "That… depends on Mikhail himself. As far as I know, he rarely fights. This is the first time I've ever even seen him in offense ."
Aki frowned deeply. "So you are bullshitting us about how powerful Mikhail is?"
The Future Devil waved his long arms frantically. "No, no! I'm trying to put it in simpler terms. Mikhail… beings like him… are like anti-devils. . We're the prey. And Mikhail… Mikhail is the predator."
Kishibe squinted at him, voice low and probing. "You say 'as far as I know.' That means there was a host before Kang Woo, right? So… does Mikhail jump from one host to another? Is there some kind of criteria for choosing?"
The Future Devil hesitated, his leaflike tendrils twitching. "That… depends entirely on Mikhail himself. From the visions I've caught—a few splinters, nothing clear—I saw… not from this world… but he did have a host before this one."
Deep within Kang Woo's mind, Mikhail's voice echoed via telepathy, crisp and edged with satisfaction.
Mikhail: We've managed to bait the Future Devil, Master. He's revealed that he can detect my world… or at least fragments of visions connected to it.
Kang Woo responded silently, his mental tone cool and analytical. Heh I don't have to worry about using the Future Devil to create additional steps for the Kaisergesang ritual.
Mikhail's mental "voice" flickered with an undercurrent of curiosity. You mean… you're planning to kill the Future Devil, Master?
Kang Woo's mental reply came swiftly. . I don't want him dead. I just want his ability. Think of it as… a generator for my own precognition.
Back in the physical world, Kang Woo turned his gaze on the Future Devil, his voice steady. "It's a good conversation we've had, But it's time for you to get inside my right arm."
Aki suddenly raised a hand, stepping forward. "Wait, Kang Woo. I know you won't answer this… but maybe the Future Devil will."
Aki's eyes shifted to the creature. "Future Devil… what about Kang Woo? What did you see from him? And… give me your theory. What is he?"
The Future Devil's vines rustled nervously. "Nothing. Black. Gone. I can't see it. He has no future."
Aki clenched his jaw. "So… nothing at all?"
The Future Devil shifted uneasily, beginning to shrink, its form folding in on itself as it started being absorbed into Kang Woo's palm.
But just before it vanished entirely, it spoke one final time: "My theory… he can't be steered. That means… his future is his own. He writes his own fate."
With those words, the Future Devil fully disappeared, absorbed into Kang Woo's arm.
Aki stood there, silent for a long moment, then finally spoke, voice low and tight. "Must you really need the Future Devil… even though you already have a walking gods on your palm?"
Without warning, the back of Kang Woo's left hand flared open, revealing the blazing red eye of Mikhail.
"My master has already said," Mikhail intoned coldly, his voice vibrating with arrogance, "that he will fulfill his bargain should you all come close to kicking the bucket. Shouldn't you be grateful you even know about me, low creatures?"
And with that, Mikhail's eye slowly closed, the glowing runes fading as the skin of Kang Woo's hand sealed back over it, leaving the surface smooth once more.
Kishibe let out a sharp bark of laughter, shaking his head. "Looks like I'm making a good haul. I'll have my own pack of trained dogs soon enough."
Kang Woo tilted his head slightly, his tone dry. "you suppose to be terrified knowing about Mikhail… and that he's not an alien "
Himeno threw her arms behind her head and gave a lopsided grin. "Nahhh. I'd prefer if one day he switched over to me. I mean—cool eye like that? It's like something out of an RPG game."