Cherreads

Chapter 57 - Already

[1st POV]

"You seem awfully happy," I said when Reze walked past me and headed into the Special Division building.

She didn't know exactly where the building was located, so she let me lead throughout the journey. But once we saw the building in the distance, she quickened her pace and walked in front of me.

"I am," she said, "I've heard you talking about your work so many times, it's good to finally see all of our talks in real life,"

I couldn't help but have a smile to match hers. Happiness was contagious, and somehow, having her so giddy by my side made something as mundane as walking to work exciting.

We head into the building and I gave a small tour of our building as we climb the floors. Aki and Denji were currently out on patrol together because they hadn't filled today's quota yet. Power disappeared somewhere, which usually meant she was with Makima to have her issues fixed.

"And here are our Devil Hunters," I said, leading her to the section in the upper floors which looked like a gathering place of some sort.

It was meant to be a comfortable space that was unlike the usual rows of office tables or private offices. This looked like some type of hotel lobby with a big couch and a TV screen in the middle.

"The humans are Kobeni and Himeno. We also had another Devil Hunter, Madoka but he is currently out on a mission," I said, introducing the people in the room.

"New member, boss?" Himeno asked, a cig on her lips and she had a magazine open.

"Yes," I said.

Most of us had gotten used to new members ever since the recent loss in our numbers. Everyone was still in a gloomy mood. That was especially true for Himeno and Kobeni.

"hi..." Kobeni said weakly with a wave.

I think they would need at least a month to fully recover from the trauma of the whole thing.

"Is she a fiend?" Himeno asked.

"No, she is a hybrid like Denji and me," I said.

"Weird. A few months ago, I had never even seen a hybrid, and now you guys are popping up here and there," Himeno sighed, "Times sure are changing."

I turned towards the non-human members of our squad.

"The pretty boy is the Angel Devil and the one with the mask is the violent fiend, Galgali," I said.

"Good morning to you, sir!" Galgali said with a straight posture, standing at the corner of the room. He still had not gotten used to my presence and had even stayed quiet until I talked about him directly.

"We have two other members, Beam the Shark fiend and Princi, a spider devil. You'll meet them eventually, too," I said.

"Nice to meet you, everyone. I'm Reze," she said with a polite bow.

After introducing her, I took her up to my office to finalise her paperwork and send it to the higher-ups. The thing took nearly half an hour.

Reze was already wearing the Devil Hunter uniform, and she was absolutely rocking the outfit in my opinion. We got the uniform from Power since she had lots of them. Apparently, the two were nearly the same size, albeit Reze was a little bigger in certain areas. But it was only tight enough to complement her figure.

I never thought this day would come. But I was happy it did.

"You seem awfully happy, boss," Reze said with her natural, flustered smile, standing in front of my table in the office.

"Well, I am," I said.

For a moment, we smiled at each other.

But only for a moment.

Just a moment.

Now I am the only one smiling.

"Reze?"

Ever so slowly, her eyes widen.

Then a voice that came from neither of us became everything.

"I offer my heart and my beloved children."

A giant hand in the sky, above the building of the special division.

"In exchange, Hell Devil. Take the thief that steals from you,"

And I was gone from the world.

My existence was dragged into hell.

..

..

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[3rd POV]

The lights flickered.

Bright.

Sudden darkness.

And when light came back, Reze stared at the empty chair where he sat moments ago.

Now he was gone. And it all happened in the span of a single moment.

When her mind caught up to what happened, Reze found her pin already pulled out. Her transformation was rapid and in a burst of flash explosion, she ruptured through the wall of the building and descended onto the ground.

BOOOOOOOOOM!!!!

She landed on the pavement that led to the building gate. The white cement was immediately charred by remnants of solid smoke. She held a corpse beneath her palm.

A puppet corpse.

"Santa Claus," she muttered, her voice coming out demonic with her devil transformation.

Her palm ignited once more, blowing up the body of the old man until it turned into smitherens and you couldn't put together the ashes anymore.

Reze stood up and watched the blue sky and the sun that hung in the middle. It was the height of day. Everything was still bright out, meaning people would easily be able to see her and identify her.

The Russian Spy part of her cringed and hesitated. But the part of her that was Reze, did not hesitate and launched into the air to find the person responsible for his disappearance.

As Reze left the building, the Special Division Four finally reacted. Alarms began to ring throughout the whole building and the small speaker in every room began chanting, 'emergency, emergency. Devil attack, Devil attack'

It had not even been a week since the last Yakuza attack, and now there was already another attack.

The Devil Hunters immediately burst into action. The Division followed the newly crafted protocols. And since an attack on Jin was suspected long ago, it was not long before the situation was discovered.

'emergency, emergency,'

'the captain is missing, the captain is missing,'

'the pig devil has been neutralized,'

By ten minutes, the news had reached the headquarters and had spread to every branches of the Public Safety Commission.

...

"Hey, that's weird," Denji said, eyes wide for unknown reason.

He stopped first on the side of the road and Aki also paused, turning to see what was going on. Denji stared at the ground for a few seconds before his head slowly turned towards the general direction of Division 4.

"Anything wrong?" Aki asked.

"...." Denji just continued to stare into the distance. His vision was blocked by the streets and buildings but his nose went further than that.

"...Ya," Denji said and turned back to Aki, "Brother's scent is gone,"

Jin had very huge presence to Devils and hybrids alike. His presence alone was a beacon that could always be felt if you were in Tokyo. When being on the same ward, most devils found his presence so suffocating that they avoided his vicinity.

Aki knew immediately from his reaction that something had gone wrong.

"Let's go back,"

"Ya," Denji nodded dumbly.

The two immediately ran towards the Division.

The people of the city were completely unaware of what was unfolding before their very eyes. On the other hand, Denji and Aki continued to make their way back.

But the more they ran, the more they panicked.

And the faster they ran.

It was Aki who reacted first when...

"Denji!!"

SWOOOOOSHH*

A sharp whistle, filled with guilt and pity. It was basically sound, apologizing for not able to warn at all.

The object moved way beyond that of sound.

"What?!" Denji slid to a halt, staring with wide eyes at the lady that suddenly appeared before them.

"She just teleported!!"

No.

"Eh?"

As if reality was a poorly programmed game, Denji's body began to slide off in layers. First at the ankle, then the shin, the knees, the thighs, the waist, the abdomen and so on.

The same thing was happening to Aki as well.

But he reacted fast, turning to Denji and pulling at the pin on his chest. Aki kicked at Denji's body, violently pulling at the string like a man trying to make a chainsaw come alive.

It was almost too late.

Denji's heart could be seen, a weirdly shaped heart that looked like his pet Pochita. But as the engine was pulled, the heart came alive with a beat. Chain like strings erupted, catching and connecting all the bisected bodies and assembling them mid air before they fell on the ground.

VROOOOOO*

Aki on the other hand crumbled from torso down. His legs were literally in chopped pieces. But somehow, he was unharmed from the waist up.

"Strange," the lady with an eyepatch, Quanxi said while looking at the sword in her hand.

"What are your ribs made of?" she asked and her sword crumbled.

She cut Denji first, and when she continued on with Aki, her movement and combo stopped because her blade was broken when she tried to cut him on the ribs.

But she didn't get a reply.

Because a very angry chainsaw was already on her, rotating blades swinging.

..

..

[IMAGE]

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