Chapter 108: Master is Too Forceful
"In that case, I'll let her out now."
As the words left his mouth, a spatial vortex formed from Otonashi Chiya's right eye, transferring Reze out of the Kamui dimension.
He certainly didn't want Reze staying in his Kamui space for long. Whenever he used "intangibility," his physical body would automatically transfer into that dimension. Having her in there felt as uncomfortable as having someone constantly standing right behind him—like a Sword of Damocles hanging over his head. Thus, he wouldn't allow anyone to remain in his personal space for an extended period.
"Ah..."
Suddenly teleported back into the real world, Reze was a bit slow to react.
Seeing Reze appear, Shingetsu initially wanted to ignore her; the woman's previous betrayal had left her seething. If it weren't for the fact that Chiya's plan required Reze's help, she would have attacked the woman on the spot.
Or at least, that's what Shingetsu had intended to do...
But when she saw Reze appearing without a stitch of clothing, ignoring her became impossible.
"You... YOU!"
Shingetsu suddenly remembered that Reze had been like this in her Hybrid form as well, but the monstrous torpedo head had been so distracting that she hadn't paid much attention to the rest. She hadn't expected Reze to remain in this state upon turning back into a human.
Noticing the obvious wavering in Shingetsu's gaze, Reze quickly understood that the other woman was quite bothered by her current appearance.
"I can't help it. Master was just so forceful with me~" Reze said, shyly covering her chest with her hands—though she didn't do a particularly thorough job of it.
Shingetsu couldn't take it anymore and immediately reached out to cover Chiya's eyes.
"Put some clothes on first."
Chiya reached into his Kamui space, pulled out a spare military uniform, and tossed it to Reze. If he let her walk back like this, it would be a total scandal. If anyone else saw them, they'd probably brand him a pervert. Besides, his own eyes were having a hard time finding a place to rest; it was one thing when she was a monstrous Bomb Devil in the heat of battle, but facing her human form was a completely different story.
Seeing the uniform emerge from that familiar spatial vortex, Reze was reminded that the vortex that had sucked her in earlier was identical to this one.
"As expected of my favorite Master—so gentle and considerate~" Reze stopped joking and quickly dressed herself. Though Chiya's uniform was a bit oversized for her, it worked well enough for now.
Internally, she was analyzing Chiya's power. The spatial vortexes appearing now and before were clearly "doors" connecting the real world to that mysterious dimension. In her memory, she had never heard of a Devil power like this. However, it didn't matter anymore; she no longer had any intention of fighting him.
Since Reze only knew that Chiya had a mysterious dimension he could lock people in, and hadn't witnessed the full process of "intangibility" being a physical transfer into that space, she couldn't deduce the underlying principle of his invulnerability.
"Truly shameless. You just tried to murder Otonashi, and now you act like this," Shingetsu said coldly, unable to stand Reze's behavior.
Reze's expression finally turned serious. "I will atone through my actions. I don't ask for Master's forgiveness, but I will do everything in my power to carry out the mission."
"Enough of the nonsense," Chiya interrupted. "Once the military high command is wiped out, I'll set you free."
Chiya added, "Once the high command is gone, you'll be free. You can go wherever you like after that, as long as you don't come back and cause trouble for me."
He wasn't entirely certain if Reze would help him in good faith, as her acting skills made her motives difficult to read. By saying this, he was giving her hope; he knew perfectly well that her greatest dream was freedom. With that guarantee, she would naturally work for him with more loyalty.
Reze was genuinely surprised that Chiya intended to let her go. She let out a relieved, soft chuckle. "Actually, Master, even if you hadn't said that, I would have helped you with all my heart."
"That's for the best. Regardless, I don't break my word. When the time comes, start thinking about where you'll go next." Chiya had always made it a principle to follow through on his promises.
"Where I'll go..." Reze trailed off before asking, "Master, are you really that confident facing the entire military?"
"Do you honestly think you've seen the full extent of my power?" Chiya countered calmly.
"I felt like I had a good idea... if you mean that giant that appeared when you dealt with the Typhoon Devil, the military already knows about that." Reze sounded a bit unsure. Hearing him speak this way, she grew curious: was Chiya really hiding even more?
"You'll see when the time comes," Chiya said simply.
The abilities he had revealed in the Soviet Union were only a fraction of his arsenal. He hadn't yet manifested the full form of Susanoo, nor had he pushed the limits of his Double Kamui in front of others, primarily because no opponent had forced him to go all out. In his fight with Reze, for instance, he only used intangibility and martial arts before ending the fight by pulling her into the Kamui dimension.
"Alright then." Reze felt that Chiya wasn't just boasting. She found herself looking forward to seeing what kind of power he would display when he finally confronted the entire military.
"So, what's our move?" Shingetsu asked.
"Reze is the most familiar with the military's inner workings. Let's hear her suggestions first," Chiya said.
Strategizing wasn't his strongest suit; he usually relied on his "God's perspective" to stay in control. However, no matter how much he knew about the original story, it never provided a detailed map of the Soviet military's internal structure. His only natural suggestion would be a direct frontal assault—find the base and start swinging.
"The high command members are usually scattered," Reze began seriously. "We shouldn't go back to the Leningrad department right now. They have informants everywhere, and seeing us return unscathed would trigger an immediate report.
"We should find a place away from their surveillance for now. In two days, the top brass have a scheduled meeting at the Moscow military base. If we strike then, we can take them all out in one go. I'll spend these next two days feeding them false intel to keep them from getting suspicious.
"Just be warned: security at the Moscow base will be at its peak. Every other weapon-human prototype and the cream of the Moscow Devil Hunters will be gathered there."
Author's Note: I've seen many readers mentioning genjutsu (illusions). As explained back in Chapter 45, the principles of genjutsu don't work in the Chainsaw Man world. I can't change that setting now; besides, if I just had him control the high command in two sentences, there would be no battle and the power scaling would collapse...
Enjoyyyyyyy!