The abandoned factory sprawled over a vast area, overgrown with weeds and falling apart in nearly every corner.
Renji Kuroda slowly pushed open the rusted, yellow-stained iron gate. Its hinges groaned loudly, the sound echoing eerily throughout the hollow structure.
"Ugh… ahhh…"
From the darkness inside, a cluster of zombies slowly emerged, dragging their stiff limbs across the debris-strewn floor. Their ragged clothing hung off them like skin from bone.
Drawn by the noise, all their heads turned in unison toward Renji and Hayakawa Aki, hollow eyes locking onto them. With a guttural roar, they surged forward.
Cold sweat beaded on Aki's tense temples. She swiftly drew the katana from her back.
With a sharp twist of her slim waist, Aki dodged a zombie lunging from the side. Her movement was fluid and precise, almost dancer-like in grace.
In the same instant, her blade flashed through the rain-filled air in a dazzling arc—slash!—cleanly decapitating the zombie. Blood sprayed in a wide arc.
That scent of blood triggered the others.
Like a tide drawn to violence, the remaining zombies turned, shrieking and charging toward her.
Aki extended her fingers and made a fox-shaped hand sign.
Snap!
With a sudden gust of wind and a crack like thunder, a massive fox's head materialized in midair. Its gaping jaws opened wide—and snapped shut—swallowing the wave of zombies whole in a single gulp.
Seven glowing orange eyes swirled around its head, settling on Aki.
"Aki, your injuries are severe. You can only summon me twice more at best. I can sense the Zombie Devil's main body nearby. You're not in shape to deal with it,"the Fox Devil spoke directly into her mind, its tone laced with concern.
But Aki wasn't finished.
Katana in hand, she kept slashing through the surging corpses. Each swing was a whirlwind of motion and gore.
"I'm not leaving," she gritted through clenched teeth. "Not until the mission's done. If necessary, I'll use that blade."
Two blades were strapped to her back. One—a traditional katana—was already slick with blood.
The other remained sheathed.
It wasn't a sword, not really. It was a long, black nail—more of a cursed weapon than a blade. A tool forged through a contract with the Curse Devil, known as Kas. Its power: the ability to curse its target to death. But that power came with a cost—life span, and a significant amount of it.
"That's truly regrettable..."sighed the Fox Devil as its massive head faded from existence.
Aki pressed forward, slaying the last of the attacking corpses. Gradually, their numbers thinned.
Finally, the last zombie was decapitated, collapsing with a thud.
"…It's over?"
Aki breathed hard, eyes scanning the carnage. Severed limbs and rotting torsos littered the ground, filling the air with a putrid stench.
But something felt wrong.
She had killed maybe thirty—forty at most.
Yet the floor was piled with more than twice that. The math didn't add up.
Someone else had finished off the rest.
A terrible realization struck her.
"Renji?! Where's Renji?! Renji!!"
"Up here."
The voice floated down from above.
Aki looked up.
There, on the second floor of the factory, stood Renji Kuroda, moving with effortless precision.
He spun his laundry pole like a blade of divine judgment, each flick slicing through the air—and a zombie's neck. Heads flew like fruit, spinning and tumbling through the dim light.
Renji's face was calm, almost serene. He moved like a man in meditation, lost in his own rhythm.
The zombies weren't just being cut down.
They were retreating.
Faces twisted in panic, they scrambled to get away, fear clearly etched into their rotting features. Some tripped over each other. Others had their heads crushed by their own kind in the frenzy to flee.
"They're afraid?" Aki blinked in disbelief.
Zombies… afraid?
Renji stood tall, laundry pole resting lightly on his shoulder. He gave a slight flick, sending a cold arc of steel through the air.
Another headless body hit the floor.
"As expected of Kojiro's insights,"Renji said softly,"Truly remarkable."
The reason those zombies felt unprecedented fear was because they had never encountered such a bizarre opponent.
They watched countless comrades fall under Renji Kuroda's sword—each swing, each strike, executed with terrifying precision.
Whenever another zombie saw an opening and lunged in during the brief gaps between Kuroda's attacks, a sudden flash of steel would arc through the air, severing its head before it could even register what happened. It was as if the sword could read their intent.
No matter how many times they tried to anticipate his rhythm, convinced they had figured out a way to dodge, the moment they charged in, it felt like déjà vu—a return to their first encounter, one that offered no chance of survival.
They couldn't adapt to his pace, nor could they overcome the overwhelming pressure he exerted. This was the result of Sasaki Kojiro's innate technique.
In the end, every zombie within his line of sight was cleanly and ruthlessly dispatched by Renji Kuroda alone.
Hayakawa Aki ascended to the second floor. The scene before her was a grotesque tableau—severed limbs, shattered bones, decapitated corpses scattered in all directions. She stood frozen, overwhelmed with disbelief, even questioning whether she was dreaming.
As a member of the Public Safety Devil Extermination Special Division, she hadn't even needed to lift a finger. Everything had been taken care of by Renji Kuroda alone. Was he truly just a mercenary, as he claimed?
[Ding~ Detected Hayakawa Aki's shocked emotion, system rewards 10 points.][Ding~ Detected Hayakawa Aki's doubtful emotion, system rewards 20 points.]
Renji Kuroda calmly shook the laundry pole in his hand, flicking off the crimson blood clinging to it. He gave Hayakawa Aki a brief nod, signaling that they could move on.
"Let's go."
"Mhm, okay."
Hayakawa Aki followed behind Renji Kuroda as they proceeded forward.
Suddenly, a strange sound echoed through the building—the roar of a chainsaw, coupled with a woman's unhinged laughter.
"Someone else?" Hayakawa Aki stiffened, quickly dashing a few steps ahead to reach the railing. She peered down into the center of the factory below.
Renji Kuroda joined her, his gaze dropping to the scene below.
At the heart of the factory stood a woman whose head had transformed into that of a Devil—shaped like a yellow-orange shark helmet, with massive chainsaws sprouting from both her arms.
The chainsaws whirred at a deafening speed, shrieking through the air.
"Denji?" Renji Kuroda immediately recognized her.
Denji was laughing maniacally, her voice laced with madness, reveling in the chaos of her massacre.
Her chainsaws tore through the surrounding zombies with relentless fury, dismembering them in seconds. Piles of mangled corpses amassed around her, and the air reeked of blood and burning gasoline.
Renji Kuroda's eyes momentarily paused on Denji's chest, which bounced with each movement—bloodstained and forming a half-red, small C.
"Where are her clothes?"
His gaze slowly drifted downward.
"I haven't even touched a man yet! How could I possibly die here!!!"Denji howled, wild and desperate.
[Ding~ Detected Hayakawa Aki's jealous emotion, system rewards 20 points.]