The other hunter, apparently the unknown bearer of the contract with Kon, had short brown hair tied in a ponytail, green eyes with black slit-shaped pupils, giving him the appearance of a fox.
"Kon!!!" said the boy in a somewhat desperate yet furious voice as he placed the manual seal near his eye, pointing it at Toji.
The next moment, a white fox head with multiple ringed eyes appeared, destroying the entrance to the warehouse but not collapsing it, much to the hunters' luck, and seemed to swallow both the assassin and the metal in one gulp.
As soon as the head swallowed the assassin, Kishibe slightly furrowed his brow, realizing that everything seemed too easy, given that the strange man was wrapped with something weird around his body. He had an inexplicable feeling, perhaps a premonition or something else. He didn't know, but he felt that his senses and instincts had suddenly been triggered.
Seeing that they had apparently won, the hunter who thought he had killed Toji simply sighed and turned towards Aki and his comrades, including his boss, who was a few meters behind them.
The other hunter, who was just inches from Aki, sighed and looked down, seemingly about to break into tears over the loss of his comrade.
Aki simply sighed with a trace of sadness, but his face remained stoic as he looked at the person who had taught him most of what he knew about the Fox Demon and whom he considered his only friend.
The hunter next to Aki moved from his position and approached the fallen comrade's body, placing his hand over his eyes, closing them as they had been left open.
The next moment, Kishibe vanished from his position and reappeared behind Aki, throwing a punch directly at Toji, who had inexplicably reappeared with his Reverse Heavenly Spear behind Aki at an incredible speed.
Just as his fist connected with Toji's face, Toji's image distorted right in front of him, momentarily surprising him.
Aki turned to see Kishibe in shock, but he was even more surprised when he saw Toji stabbing the brown-haired hunter in the throat with a wild grin, and then his other companion had his throat slit.
"Keiroooooo!!!" Aki exclaimed, witnessing his brown-haired comrade being stabbed in the throat, causing him to choke on the blood as he tried to attack with his katana. He then witnessed an explosion that caused the place to begin collapsing.
Aki and Kishibe ran out of the area at high speed, barely crossing the hole created by the Fox Demon's head while positioning themselves at the entrance.
Kishibe focused and took a deep breath, while Aki seemed to be a sea of rage and sadness.
After the place had completely collapsed and a cloud of smoke formed between them and the area, they could hear calm footsteps coming from the smoke.
Emerging from the debris with an unusually calm expression and his Reverse Heavenly Spear stained with blood, Toji smiled to himself, seeing that his plan had gone perfectly.
As soon as the Fox Demon closed its mouth, Toji managed to escape thanks to his superhuman agility and speed, concealing his presence from the hunters. His plan had several purposes:
To shock most of the hunters and give them too much confidence. To generate a sense of victory in them, even though they wouldn't get to enjoy it because he had taken down one of them. To give them time to mourn their loss and make them emotionally vulnerable. It wasn't necessary to traumatize them, just to give them enough confidence to mourn, but Kishibe had always been on high alert and almost prevented Toji from stabbing Aki.
The smoke allowed Toji to extract those he was interested in and move them to an open area where he could keep track of their movements and what they were doing. However, the smoke served another purpose: it helped him recover the bodies of the slain hunters, including the user of the Fox Demon contract, to take them to the contractor, since the Rat Demon's body was in bad condition and the Nid Demon's body was nowhere to be found.
Waving his Reverse Spear in the air to remove the bloodstains and residual blood on his weapon, Toji simply grinned broadly. The final part of his plan was about to unfold: to humiliate them.
Makima's day had been normal for her, giving orders to her subordinates and handling paperwork while sinking into her past.
Although she generally felt no remorse for what she had done, including the massacre of families and more, there were certain thoughts that tormented her, especially from her childhood with the boy she had once loved.
Unusually, she had a rather strange dream, as it seemed like she had fallen asleep, something that had only happened to her once before, when she began working in Public Safety.
But what surprised her was the dream she had.
(Makima's Dream)
On a beach with somewhat cloudy views, as the normally blue sky was covered by rain clouds that completely darkened it. A well-formed woman dressed in a black dress that reached her calves, pale reddish hair with quite attractive curves, and smooth skin, stared at the sea indifferently.
Her yellow eyes with multiple black rings scanned the waves of the sea as they reached her feet and receded in a rhythm that could calm even the strongest and most energetic of warriors.
With a soft sigh, Makima turned to her left and saw nothing but an endless beach; turning to her right, the same.
She was alone, as she had always been, and always would be.
Sighing softly again, Makima simply looked up at the sky, seeing the black clouds that covered the entire sky.
Closing her eyes, Makima took the time to relax and focus on the sound of the waves.
After a while, letting the sound of the waves fill her mind, she sighed once more when her senses caught something.
Opening her eyes, she smelled a familiar scent, a scent she would do anything to experience again, a scent she would kill to feel once more.
Turning to her right, her eyes widened when she saw a man with black hair and bangs, tall and muscular, dressed in a black yukata and black sandals, standing on the sand with his arms crossed over his broad, muscular chest.
Makima simply stared at the man on her right, who was calmly contemplating the sea, the sea breeze gently moving his long black hair.
The wind tousled his hair again, darkening his eyes when she saw him.
A scar near his mouth that started at the upper lip and ended at the lower lip.
Her eyes opened wide, and her mind went blank as she recognized the scar on the man's face.
"Toji..." was all Makima managed to say before tears began to fall from her eyes.
"It's been a while, Makima," the man said in a deep voice that sent chills down her spine before pulling out a knife and quickly stabbing it into Makima's neck, not giving her time to react.
The last thing Makima saw was the man she had once loved before her eyes closed completely, sending her back to the real world.
(End of Dream)
A few minutes had passed, and Makima smiled without emotion as she stroked her own neck while a stray tear fell from her right eye.
"Toji... you're alive," Makima said softly, her voice gentle and somewhat broken.
She never showed her emotions, not even to her self-proclaimed younger sister, but Toji was the only one who had seen her as human, as Makima, not as the Control Devil, though that wasn't something he needed to know.
Rising from her chair, she stood and looked out of her window, which faced the street where those inferior beings called humans were, beings she despised.
Let's return to the battle between Aki and Kishibe against Toji in the now-destroyed old warehouse.
With a mocking smile, Toji took a few more steps before stopping.
They were currently about 20 meters apart. Aki was in a close combat stance, and Kishibe was expressionless, studying Toji's body and expression for weaknesses.
Toji had formed a plan in his mind to destabilize Aki and Kishibe.
Aki was currently a rookie, and by killing someone with whom he seemed to have a close relationship based on his reaction, Toji realized he could make Aki explode if he applied some pressure. But what concerned him was Kishibe.
Although Toji physically surpassed Kishibe by a million times, it was not wise to attack someone with years of experience on their shoulders. He needed to stay calm and observe Kishibe.
Kishibe, who was watching the man before him with an analytical expression, realized that the man in front of him was not only smart and strong enough to eliminate several Public Safety members in the blink of an eye, but he also knew deep down that he couldn't defeat him, just like with Makima.
Sighing and with the aim of gathering information and seeking reinforcements, Kishibe began to speak.
"Aki, I'll handle him. Make sure to escape and call for reinforcements," Kishibe said expressionlessly as he took a few steps forward.
Aki turned his gaze to Kishibe with a mixture of anger and sadness.
"If we fight together, we can defeat him, and we can—" Aki began, his voice full of rage, anger, and sadness, but he didn't finish because he felt the aura of the two men before him and understood.
He couldn't stay, or he'd just be an obstacle to Kishibe.
Aki clenched his fists and looked at Toji, who was standing in front of him with a mocking grin, observing the events unfolding.
"Well, this is pathetic," Toji said with a seemingly disappointed look and a mocking smile that grew on his face.
Upon hearing the man's words, Aki felt his anger rising inside him, but he managed to control it with all his willpower.
Without further ado, Aki turned and shot off towards the city at a speed that, by Toji's standards, was decent but still slow.
Kishibe, the veteran demon hunter, sighed as he felt Aki's presence move away from the scene and refocused on the opponent before him.
Kishibe, the veteran demon hunter, stepped forward with determination, while Toji maintained his mocking grin. They were both separated by about twenty meters, eyes fixed on each other, in a battle of gazes.
Without warning, Toji lunged forward with incredible speed. His muscular legs propelled him forward as he grinned wildly, closing the distance between him and Kishibe in the blink of an eye. In his hand, he held his Reverse Heavenly Spear, ready for battle.
Kishibe reacted quickly, unsheathing his katana with a flash of steel. His experience and sharp reflexes were evident as he stopped Toji's initial strike with his sword. The sound of metal against metal resonated through the destroyed warehouse behind them and the surrounding area as the ground beneath them cracked.
The two became locked in a frantic duel, their movements a deadly dance. Toji was fast and powerful, combined with his savagery, he could be described as a beast, and he quickly overwhelmed Kishibe, who hadn't expected such capabilities from a human. His blows were devastating, but Kishibe was a master of technique. His movements were fluid and precise, deflecting Toji's attacks gracefully and countering with precise strikes, but he knew he wouldn't last long.
With a swift motion of his halberd, Toji delivered a vertical cut towards Kishibe, who barely managed to block Toji's attacks, although his hands were trembling from the effort. No matter how monstrous Kishibe's resilience was, he knew he wouldn't last much longer against this "savage" opponent. Toji's strength, speed, and tenacity were only increasing, leaving Kishibe in the dust.
At that moment, Kishibe felt his sword shatter under the force of a powerful strike, making his hands tremble for the first time in years. Throwing his now-broken katana towards Toji's face, Toji effortlessly dodged the incoming sword and unleashed a slash to Kishibe's chest. It was a feint, but Kishibe couldn't anticipate it.
Barely dodging the cut, Kishibe, initially confident and seemingly having the upper hand, launched a kick to Toji's face. Toji received the kick without much trouble, surprising and worrying Kishibe. However, Toji easily dodged a low strike from his Celestial Halberd aimed at his leg.
Retreating a few meters from Toji, Kishibe drew a gun from his suit and shot at Toji point-blank, not caring where the bullets landed, just wanting to hurt him.
In a second, Toji reappeared in front of Kishibe, and in another, he stabbed the hunter multiple times at supersonic speed, striking his torso and legs, then delivering a powerful kick that sent Kishibe flying into the nearest four-story building, causing a loud crash in the area.
With a satisfied look on his face and a wild grin, Toji felt something warm and wet drip down his cheek. Knowing what it was, he wiped the blood from his cheek, where a small cut had appeared, and smiled wildly.
When he tried to walk again, not only was his cheek injured, but there were multiple cuts, some of a decent size, covering his chest, causing him to bleed, but it wasn't something to worry about.
"Well, a veteran is still a veteran, no matter how much strength you have," he said with a confident smile as he sheathed his Celestial Halberd and continued forward at a moderate pace.
Kishibe was quite surprised to see how the mysterious assassin managed to stab him at an absurd speed and kick him with monstrous force.
In the building where Kishibe was buried under some rubble, he looked toward the street in front of him as blood seeped through his clothes and wounds.
Rising from the ground, despite his deep wounds, he knew the assassin wouldn't kill him for now.
Toji approached where Kishibe lay, now holding a gun since his Celestial Halberd was not in sight.
Toji aimed the weapon at Kishibe's body, specifically at his legs.
"Damn it." Rising from the ground with his last bit of strength, he lunged at the assassin with a knife, slashing him several times, forcing Toji to confidently evade his attacks without concern.
At one point, Kishibe withdrew from his attack and retreated to the destroyed building to plan something.
However, Toji shot at his legs with enviable precision, causing Kishibe to fall to the ground.
Toji simply began walking, and before Kishibe could think any further, Toji kicked him in the face, knocking him unconscious.