Chapter 117: A Heaven-Rending, Earth-Shattering Strike (Bonus Chapter)
The moment the Susanoo appeared—especially in its direct transition to the third form—every Devil Hunter present felt their necks stiffen as they slowly looked up. With looks of utter disbelief, they stared at the cyan giant towering above them, a massive blade gripped in its hand.
They had only been told that intruders had breached the perimeter; unlike the Hybrids, they hadn't been privy to the intelligence reports on Otonashi Chiya. Consequently, the sight of the Susanoo left them completely dumbstruck. As ordinary Moscow military Devil Hunters, they had no idea an intruder could possess such overwhelming devil power.
"Ha... haha... Is this some kind of joke?"
"An enemy like this... how could we possibly win...?"
"Don't—don't lose heart, everyone! If we attack together, there must be a chance... right?"
"..."
Gazing up at the giant, many Devil Hunters wore expressions of slack-jawed despair. Their once-firm resolve was shaken to its core. Yet, a fair number remained stubborn, attempting to resist the colossus before them.
"Do not lose your fighting spirit so easily!"
Captain Victor was drenched in sweat, cold droplets rolling down his face, but he did his best to rally the others. He had initially assumed Reze was the strongest among the intruders, never imagining the mysterious masked man would be the most terrifying of all. If "The Tsar" had put him under immense pressure, and Reze had made the odds feel slim, this even stronger masked figure made him feel that all hope was lost.
However, it was still early; these Devil Hunters didn't yet grasp the true might of the Susanoo. For now, its sheer physical scale alone was enough to make them break out in cold sweats. Encouraged by Captain Victor, the hunters lunged toward the Susanoo.
But regardless of whether they used conventional weapons or devil powers, they couldn't leave so much as a scratch on the Susanoo's outer shell, let alone breach it. Inside the diamond-shaped gem at the Susanoo's forehead, Chiya stood with Reze and Shingetsu.
"Master, are you going to kill them all?" Reze asked, her voice tinged with concern.
"No. I'm just making them face reality."
Watching the Devil Hunters below continue their futile struggle, Chiya said flatly, "The sight of people clinging to life while refusing to admit defeat is truly unsightly..."
With a thought, he commanded the Susanoo to deliver a horizontal slash toward the horizon. The area ahead was a desolate mountain range; given the importance of a military base, there were no civilians nearby.
The shockwave from the swing quite literally "gave a haircut" to the hills for miles around. Every Devil Hunter froze, turning back with vacant stares to see a vast expanse of mountain peaks leveled. Everything in the giant shockwave's path had been obliterated.
Their pupils shook as if experiencing an earthquake. Even though the wave had passed safely over their heads, they had felt the terrifying, world-ending aura of that strike. If that blade had hit them directly, wouldn't they have been vaporized instantly?
Victor now knew with absolute certainty that he could never have blocked that strike. This was an opponent that simply could not be defeated. No matter how strong his devil power was, he had to be alive to use it; since a strike like that would erase him from existence, his so-called power felt like a bad joke.
Victor sank to his knees, completely abandoning his meaningless struggle.
"I beg you... spare the lives of my subordinates..."
Victor knew full well that for the mysterious masked man to crush them would be as easy as moving a finger. Thus, he pleaded for the lives of his team. With even Captain Victor losing his fighting spirit, the morale of the other Devil Hunters shattered completely. They either dropped their weapons or sank to their knees, their legs turning to jelly, devoid of any further thought of combat.
Even Reze and Shingetsu were shaken by that single strike; the sheer, horrific power of it was simply unbelievable. This level of devil power—capable of instantly erasing vast swathes of terrain—was something even Reze, who had read countless records on devils, had never encountered.
Reze couldn't help but wonder if the devil Chiya was contracted with was an existence even more powerful than the Gun Devil. At the very least, in her eyes, if that strike had been unleashed in a densely populated residential area, its disaster rating would have surpassed the Gun Devil's descent upon the world!
However, what Reze and Shingetsu surely couldn't imagine was that this still wasn't Chiya's full strength. The Susanoo had only reached its third form; beyond that lay the fourth form and the Perfect Susanoo...
(Note: In Naruto, Itachi called the armored version "Perfect," while Madara's fourth form was the armor and his ultimate was the "Completed Body." To avoid confusion, I'll use Madara's progression: Third Form has legs, Fourth Form has the armor, and the giant mountain-sized one is the "Perfect Susanoo".)
Of course, that strike wasn't just the power of Susanoo alone; it was combined with the ultimate form of the Blade of Berserk. Unleashing the Perfect Susanoo alongside that blade would undoubtedly be far more devastating.
Seeing that these Devil Hunters had completely lost their will to fight and were begging for mercy, Chiya didn't waste another word. He deactivated the Susanoo and vanished from the air, taking Reze and Shingetsu with him.
[Ding! Host has activated the achievement "Night of Slaughter." Reward: 100 Attribute Points!]
Because the transfer speed of Double Kamui is so high, Reze and Shingetsu only felt a blur before their eyes as a single frame of imagery flashed by. They didn't even realize that image was the interior of the Kamui dimension. In an instant, they reappeared in Reze's small house.
As soon as they landed, Chiya turned to Reze. "As promised, you are free now. The military high command won't dare do anything to you—even if they wanted to, they no longer have the capability."
Originally, the military had other Hybrids to keep Reze in check. Now, the corpses of those five Hybrids were lying in his Kamui dimension. From now on, the military brass lacked the means to touch her, unless they went completely insane and deployed the Gun Devil itself.
On the surface, Shingetsu remained expressionless, but internally, she was hoping Reze would leave immediately.
"Well..." Reze hesitated for a moment. "Can I choose to stay by your side, Master?"
"...Why?" Chiya asked, though he had already guessed the reason.
"Because I like you, Master, of course~ Plus, it's probably best if I don't stay in the Soviet Union anymore. I want to go and live in your country."
Reze spoke without a hint of shyness, the faint blush on her cheeks likely a habit of her acting. Even if the confession itself was part of her "performance," following Chiya was undeniably her best—and safest—option.
Hearing this, Shingetsu's pupils trembled slightly.
Chiya, however, fell into a contemplative silence. He suddenly thought of the five Hybrids inside his Kamui space... perhaps he could establish a special organization composed entirely of Weapon-Humans.