8:30 a.m., Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo—inside a train station.
"I left a bit early… but today's the first day of high school. And it's also my first day living on my own after moving out. I absolutely cannot be late."
A girl in a sailor-style school uniform stepped off the train. She wore her long, flaxen hair loose and glossy, and in the crush of the morning rush she was clearly struggling. Nervousness showed in her bright hazel eyes as she kept her head down, staring at the map on her phone. Her soft lips pressed together as she murmured to herself.
"To get to school… that exit is closer. Come on, Asuna—this is your first day being independent as a high schooler. I absolutely have to…"
Yuuki Asuna was only halfway through her pep talk when screams erupted up ahead—shrill, chaotic, cascading through the crowd.
She reflexively looked up.
And what reflected in her eyes was a scene of cruelty straight out of hell.
"Delicious… delicious!"
A massive monster, its body carpeted in gray fur, stood upright on two legs. Its head was unmistakably bat-like. It tore into the fleeing commuters with hooked claws, ripping bodies apart as if they were paper. In the storm of gore, it threw its head back and gaped its maw wide, savoring the shredded meat and blood that poured down like rain—moaning in warped delight.
"The taste of flesh and blood… it's incredible!"
"Th-this… what is this… a Devil…? How could—"
Asuna's mind went blank. She stumbled backward—then her legs gave out entirely and she collapsed onto the floor.
She wanted to run. She wanted to scream.
But the fear was so overwhelming she couldn't even force a sound from her throat. All she could do was watch as the Bat Devil's claws rose and fell, harvesting every life in the station—
until only she was left, slumped against a pillar, the station falling into a dead, unnatural silence.
"Hm? Something smells good."
The Bat Devil scooped up gore from the floor as it turned its gaze toward her. Its bloodshot eyes narrowed, greed burning within them.
"Your blood smells… exquisite. A delicacy—prime food!!"
It lunged.
Asuna's thoughts completely stalled—and at that moment, something appeared beside her as if torn out of nowhere: a lump of metal that looked like hundreds of long swords fused together. It spoke in a hoarse rasp, like iron grinding on iron.
"Will you form a contract? Do you want my power?"
For reasons she couldn't explain, Asuna felt it—felt that if she answered, if she responded to that question, she really could obtain the power to survive.
"Help me. No matter what kind of price I have to pay—"
A thunderous explosion cut her off.
BOOM!!
Something—thrown so fast it left an afterimage—slammed into the Bat Devil's head and detonated. Half its face was instantly shredded into a mess of meat.
"This student—"
A voice sounded beside her.
Asuna lifted her head and looked over.
A boy in a high school uniform stood calmly at her side, a single-strap shoulder bag slung across him. Black hair. Black eyes. A sharply handsome profile. He wasn't even looking at her—his attention was fixed on the Bat Devil in the distance.
"'No matter what price'?" he said, almost lazily. "You don't even realize how heavy those words are. You're the kind of person who doesn't consider yourself at all."
"Huh? I…"
Asuna didn't know how to respond. She truly couldn't understand it—why, in front of something so bloody, so terrifying, so overwhelmingly strong, his voice held not a trace of panic.
If anything… he sounded relaxed.
"You… you little—!!"
The Bat Devil roared. Its mouth began to compress and draw inward, reshaping into something like a cannon barrel.
The boy—Hōjō Yoru—swiftly reached into his bag and pulled out a specially made grenade. With a light chuckle, he spoke as if this were all routine.
"So you're going with that move, huh? You like opening your mouth—then you can…"
He shifted into a pitching stance like he was throwing a baseball. With explosive power so absurd it didn't seem human, he hurled the heavy grenade hard enough to leave a blur.
It flew straight into the Bat Devil's tightly gathered mouth—right as it was sucking in air.
"Eat this!"
"Gulp."
Because it was inhaling—and because the throw was simply too fast—the Bat Devil swallowed the grenade before it even understood what had happened.
Asuna was so shocked she couldn't react at all.
From over ten meters away… throwing something that heavy at that speed… and threading it perfectly into the Devil's narrowed mouth?
Was this boy even human?
"I'm Minato Namikaze."
Hearing that, Asuna answered on reflex.
"Ah—hello. I'm Yuuki Asuna…"
"Ready for the explosion?"
The instant his words fell, a dull thump sounded from where the Bat Devil's neck met its chest. Firelight blossomed from within, and a rain of blood and shattered bone burst outward.
Asuna raised an arm to shield herself—but Yoru moved faster. He stepped in front of her and lifted his right hand.
"Devour it all, Gluttony."
A colossal black serpent, its body etched with pale-gold markings, tore out of the void. It opened its mouth to an exaggerated, impossible width and sucked every last scrap of the Bat Devil's scattered flesh into its belly. After feeding, it vanished in an instant, satisfied.
"Namikaze-kun…"
Before Asuna could finish, Yoru cut her off.
"Who's Namikaze-kun? What are you talking about?"
"Huh?" Asuna froze, baffled. "Aren't you Minato Namikaze?"
Yoru glanced at her, then waved a hand with complete casualness.
"What 'Namikaze,' what 'Minato'? I was just memeing."
Asuna had no idea how to even begin responding to that.
Facing a Devil like that, he'd been completely at ease—and he'd still had the spare brainpower to joke around?
Just what was he?
"Oh, right—there was also that…"
Asuna looked toward her right, but the lump of metal from earlier was already gone.
"Hah. So it ran off?"
Yoru didn't seem surprised at all. He stared at the spot where it had appeared, his tone flat.
"Lucky it was fast. Otherwise, I would've tossed it in too—while I was at it."
Join here to read ahead.
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Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 80)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter50)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter50)
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I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter50)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 10
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 10
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