Arriving at her car with a driver waiting for her, the smiling Makima got into the car and spoke softly but firmly to the driver.
"To the office," Makima said, distractedly looking out the window.
At Toji's house. 11 a.m.
Toji, who had been sleeping peacefully, clutching his pillow like a koala, suddenly woke up, feeling a chill run down his spine.
"What the hell..." Toji murmured to himself as cold sweat ran down his back.
He had the feeling that he was the target of something or someone, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.
Sighing to himself, he got up and headed to do his morning routine.
After stretching, showering, and having breakfast, he sat down on his sofa and, with a smile, picked up his phone and dialed several numbers rhythmically.
With a soft and concerned voice, a woman's voice answered after a fraction of a second.
"Three months without calling me, Toji, idiot," was the response from the soft yet concerned voice on the phone.
With a gentle smile, Toji responded to the female voice, "I've been busy with work, Nakame."
(The day before the mission)
In an elegant office adorned with high-end furniture, such as the finest quality wooden tables, marble figure decorations polished to the highest level, and a gleaming floor, three figures were present.
The first figure was a man with blue hair and indifferent eyes, with a smug smile as he looked at the two figures in front of him, who were familiar to him.
A young woman with yellow hair and a black sweater with shorts stood next to a middle-aged man dressed in black, with messy hair sticking out from his head.
"I've called you here for a special mission," said the man seated in front of the two figures, who looked at him with anger and annoyance.
The girl shot him an annoyed glance before speaking. "And where's the muscle?" Despite her seemingly angry expression, the girl secretly felt terrified of this man. She simply couldn't believe that a human could be so powerful.
The man in front of her chuckled while looking at the two figures in front of him and cast a bored glance at the man who had remained silent until now.
"I hope your humiliation taught you something, Katana," said the man with an indifferent smile, earning an angry and hate-filled look from Katana.
"Annoying piece of trash... Hiroshi, tell us what you want from us now. I'm not in the mood for games," Katana said to the man identified as Hiroshi.
Hiroshi, who maintained a flat, emotionless smile, simply smiled back, but it wasn't his usual smile—it was a twisted one.
"Surely you've noticed that someone like Toji has a lot of power, but that power comes at a price. Many governments and organizations, upon learning that there's someone stronger than Kishibe who isn't under their control, consider him a threat. Some want to hire him, and they won't hesitate to approach him," Hiroshi declared with a twisted smile while looking at Katana and the girl in front of him, who immediately shuddered at this statement.
Hiroshi knew that if Toji kept working for the highest bidder, knowing his rivals and Toji's personality, he wouldn't hesitate to eliminate them—not just them but any existing organization.
"What if they hire him to kill me? Or what if they hire him to kill you, Katana? You know he could do it, and after his show of power, many are looking for him, while others want him dead," Hiroshi said with an even more twisted smile.
"He's a danger to everyone, not just to me, but to all of you," he declared once again to his listeners with an even more twisted grin.
Noticing their intentions, the yellow-haired girl smiled dangerously and looked at the man in front of her with hatred and anger, knowing that someone like Toji, a human with such abilities, could be against her future plans—like defeating Chainsaw Man and winning his heart. She could even fall under Makima's control. Moreover, she couldn't forget the humiliation he had made them endure.
Hiroshi returned her smile in the same manner. "Very simple. You'll take care of it," Hiroshi said with an even more twisted grin.
Katana and his weapon companion immediately tensed, clearly shocked. 'Is this guy asking us to kill that monster?' both thought because, no matter how arrogant they were, they knew who they could mess with and who they couldn't. Although Katana, due to his pride, wouldn't back down.
Realizing their confusion, Hiroshi smiled at them emotionlessly, abandoning his twisted smile.
"Here's the plan," Hiroshi said.
"You'll take Toji to the mission site, and then you two will escape to collect the reward," Hiroshi said simply.
"What?!" both exclaimed, surprised by the absurd simplicity of the plan.
"The issue is who will be waiting for you there," Hiroshi said with a wild smile before continuing, not noticing their confusion after the initial shock.
"You see, I've leaked information to the Chinese government, which they probably passed on to the Assassin's Association, Japanese Public Security, and an old shadow organization," Hiroshi said simply.
"An ambush..." Katana said cautiously to Hiroshi, as no one could guarantee that they weren't the target of Hiroshi's schemes.
Sighing to themselves and looking into each other's eyes, both Katana Man and his weapon companion came to an unspoken agreement.
"I'll give you the rest in your..." Hiroshi started before being abruptly interrupted by the indifferent and threatening voice of Katana Man.
"If this is a trap, your sister will die," Katana stated coldly and calculatingly while looking into Hiroshi's eyes, who only tensed slightly but maintained his indifferent facade.
"I assure you, it's not a trap. Just follow the plan..." Hiroshi said with a hint of annoyance in his voice, something that surprised and pleased Katana, as he knew he had struck a nerve with this creepy man.
Extending two folders to the people in front of him, Hiroshi simply smiled slightly.
"The weapon hideouts are in the same place," Hiroshi said with a stoic smile to his listeners.
Katana Man and his partner, Sawatari, took the folders and turned to leave, but just as they were about to exit the room, they heard Hiroshi's voice behind them.
"If he doesn't die from that, make sure to give him the finishing blow..." Hiroshi declared with a twisted smile.
Katana and his comrade Sawatari simply opened the door and left the luxurious office. As they walked away, both wore killer smiles, the image of the human they most wanted to eliminate firmly etched in their minds.
Back in Hiroshi's office, he leaned back in his chair, a thoughtful expression on his face.
He had already gathered the pieces of the game. With this, he planned several things:
He knew that Toji wasn't weak and would put up a fight. If that happened, it would weaken both Japan's Public Safety and the Chinese Assassin Association, who had been harassing members of his religion in that country, and would likely eliminate the organization hired to kill Toji.
Toji had fulfilled his purpose, and to avoid potential problems, such as being hired by other rivals or individuals wanting to eliminate his religion, he knew he had to get rid of him before he became a bigger issue.
He would divert suspicions and attention from his religion, placing them on Sawatari, Katana Man, and Toji. Although it would be temporary, it would give him a breather, both for himself and his members.
If this went as he wanted, he would have a clear path to carry out his plan.
Destroying Public Safety, with Kishibe in that comatose state, Aki injured and traumatized, and Makima probably in China with the annoying Angel Devil, it would only be a matter of time before not only his religion but other terrorist groups that despised Public Safety caused chaos throughout Japan.
Smiling to himself, he was confident everything would go well.
(Japan, Public Safety, Unknown Location)
In a wooden room with a large wooden table, five people sat, most, if not all, in suits, exuding an aura of indifference. Behind them, five large windows illuminated their figures.
In front of them stood Makima, maintaining a confident posture with her hands behind her lower back and a stoic demeanor. She observed the men in front of her without showing any emotion.
"You know what you have to do, right?" one of the men asked Makima, who simply nodded in confirmation of the man's words.
"Say your goodbyes," another man ordered Makima, who quickly obeyed and left the room, closing the door behind her. She knew the executives weren't happy with what had happened to Kishibe and Aki. According to her informants, the assassin was heading to China with an unknown target, but the only orders she had received were simple: "Capture or kill him." She was convinced the latter wouldn't happen, but she had to be prepared for anything. So, she had to go to China under the radar, making sure nothing went wrong in her absence, knowing that there were some sinister minds in Japan waiting for her to leave Tokyo to disrupt her plan.
Sighing, Makima got into a black van, where a Demon Hunter was her driver.
"I hope everything goes well," Makima thought, shifting her thoughts to her beloved Toji as she tried to imagine their reunion.
ALARM SOUND
ALARM SOUND
ALARM SOUND
Hearing the repetitive sound of her alarm, she smashed it with a punch, breaking the alarm clock and, unintentionally, making a hole in her nightstand.
For Toji, this had been a routine for the past few years: destroying his alarms with one punch. To him, alarms were the worst enemies of a person. They only had one purpose: to wake you up, but to Toji, their sound was the harbinger of the apocalypse, destroying his world of dreams.
Lazily getting out of bed, dragging his feet due to his immense laziness, he took a few steps before turning to his nightstand and noticing that he had broken it again.
He simply sighed in annoyance and rubbed his face in frustration as it happened over and over.
Walking sluggishly down the hall, he washed his face and brushed his teeth before preparing some breakfast.
After that, he began to stretch and warm up, as his muscles needed the necessary maintenance to continue functioning and performing at their best.
After warming up, he sat in the room, lost in thought, and began planning possible scenarios.
"Today is the day," Toji thought in his mind. Today was the workday, the day he would go to China with Katana Man and Sawatari. While that was the plan, he knew something strange was going on.
"What's in China? What's so important there for Hiroshi? And what exactly are Katana Man and his partner doing working with Hiroshi? What benefits do they gain from this? Or could it be..."
As he wandered through his thoughts, a spark of insight suddenly hit him, and he quickly got up from the couch and headed to his room.
He quickly opened his closet and found his laptop. He usually used this laptop to gather information on a target that was public or had at least part of their life on social media. It was one of his main sources of information. He also used it when he got a job, although that didn't happen often because his contractors preferred to contact him in person rather than electronically.
Upon opening his laptop, he accessed a reward website, a platform used to hunt targets with significant financial or political power. The good thing about this website was that it wasn't limited to Japan; it covered all countries. Mercenaries used this site to kill and earn money.
It had a simple system.
You entered the name of the victim along with all the information you had, including their photo, their routine, where they frequently spent their time, their relationships, social or political ties, and more. Then, a fixed amount of money was placed, expressing the value of the target along with the work conditions, like whether they had security or if they were a demon or demon hunter.
After that, you had to wait for an assassin to take an interest in your job. It should be noted that the lower the money offered, the less likely someone would show interest.
As with any website of this type, it was anonymous, and there was a leaderboard with the best-ranked targets, their status, and their reward.
On this website, you could put anyone; it didn't matter. You could even put Kishibe here; it didn't matter.
But what he had come to look for wasn't a new job, but something more important.
By typing something into the search bar, he found something he didn't want to see and had never imagined finding. When he mentally considered it, he thought it was an unlikely possibility, but it turned out to be true.
His hands and body tensed, and his danger senses went off.
The Chinese Assassin Association had a reward of 100 million for him, and not only that, but Public Safety also had one for 50 million, which increased his value.
On this website, there was something that made many assassins consider him the best option to earn money.
"The bag effect," or as it was called, this was something that happened when you offered money for a target; immediately, a general reward would open. Anyone interested could offer part of their reward for the designated target, which would increase the general reward and make it more significant once the assassination was completed, and the reward collected in the target's bag would be inserted into their credit card. Basically, it was like putting money in a bag that grew in weight and size before being emptied.
And this was what was happening with him; his total reward was 150 million dollars. Obviously, the general currency was the dollar, as it was the global currency.
What shocked him was the fact that they had a photo of his face and information, along with his Cursed Inventory and the weapons he had used up to that point, along with his real name.
"So, you plan to take me out of the game," Toji thought while immediately looking at his information and what they had on him.
Swallowing hard at what his eyes had just registered, he immediately grinned bloodily while sweating a little.
---------------------------Information---------------------- ----
Toji Zen'in ---- Reward: 150 million dollars.
Fights:
Toji Zen'in vs Kishibe (Devil Hunter: Nickname, Strongest Living Hunter, Result)----Victory
Toji Zen'in vs Aki Hayakawa (Devil Hunter, Nickname of Defeated Hunter: Prodigy...Result)-----Victory
Toji Zen'in vs Gang (Kagoshi street in Japan)----Victory...
And from there, a long list of fights that didn't have much relevance but added to his reputation.
Information:
Date of Birth: ???
Age: 18 years
Known Weapons: Double-edged knife, unknown range iron chain, wooden sword, knife, gun, grenades, smoke grenades.
Combat Skills: Experienced assassin, great physical abilities, user of all types of weapons.
Bonus: Has a worm speculated to take his weapons and is a demon with whom he has a contract.
Appearance: He is a tall, muscular young man with dark, messy hair that often covers part of his face, framed by two bangs on the sides. He has a scar running down the right side of his mouth, which gives him a distinctive look and serves as a recognizable mark. He wears casual clothes, such as black t-shirts and loose white pants.
Warning: Kills at sight, do not kill the target if you're not an assassin with at least 3 years of experience or do not have physical abilities that rival those of the target.
Nicknames: The Strongest Human Assassin, Demon Hunter Hunter.
"Son of a bitch," he hissed with maximum venom and hatred in his voice at this strange turn of events.
There was only one person who would do this, and he knew his last name along with all this information.
"Hiroshi," he murmured with intense hatred as he thought of the most painful ways to kill the man.
But then he smiled, a bloody and wild smile. If Hiroshi wanted to play this game, then he would play it too. He would interpret it brutally and savagely, in his own style, the style of Toji Fushiguro.
While lost in contemplation, the sound of a phone call echoed through his apartment, pulling him out of his thoughts.
Getting up to answer the phone, he raised an eyebrow, amused when he saw the name of the person calling.
"Speak of the Devil," he thought, amused by the name that appeared on his phone screen.
Answering the call, he waited for his favorite contractor to speak.
"I'll be waiting in 10 minutes," the indifferent voice of a man came through the phone, amusing Toji and causing him to grin wildly.
"Alright," Toji replied in the laziest voice possible, trying to hide his eagerness to kill someone.
When he hung up the phone, he simply sighed and walked toward his closet where his clothes were.
Once changed, he went to the fridge and grabbed a glass of water, which he drank quickly.
Using his index finger, he inserted it into his throat and pulled out a small brown ball.
The ball in his palm dissolved, revealing the head of an amorphous worm that spat out its own body and wrapped around his arm before moving up it and reorganizing itself into its usual position, which was his torso, shoulders, and lower back.
Caring for his Pet, he smiled almost roughly as he began to speak.
"We have work to do, buddy," said Toji as he gently patted the worm's head, which rested on his shoulder as if it didn't care about anything.
Walking towards the door, he was surprised when he opened it and found a man pointing a gun directly at his head.
"Any last words, Zen'in?" said the mysterious man dressed all in black with a half mask covering the lower part of his face.
"You're slow," Toji said before disappearing from the mysterious man's sight and reappearing behind him.
Honestly, it was stupid on the assassin's part not to kill him directly without speaking, a rookie mistake in this world, one that was unacceptable. For that mistake, he would pay with his life.
Grabbing his head, Toji smashed it violently against the wall, killing the man on impact and leaving a large dent in the wall where his skull had been crushed.
Sighing, he made his Cursed Inventory consume the man's body.
Getting up, smiling confidently, along with his Cursed Inventory, which smiled just like him, he spoke.
"It's starting pretty fast, huh? Let's play then, Hiroshi," said Toji, as he walked away from the apartment with his hands in his pockets.
In a luxurious office with high decorative value, three people were present. Two of them, visibly exasperated, stood before the third, who looked at them with coldness and boredom.
"Where the hell is that idiot?" exclaimed one of the figures dressed in a red sweater and black shorts that left their legs exposed. His bright yellow hair fluttered as he crossed his arms over his chest, and his voice resonated with indignation over the delay of a certain black-haired man.
The man standing next to the energetic and noisy young woman glanced at the individual sitting in front of them. The exchanged glances between the two men reflected stoicism and mutual distrust, indicating that they didn't get along.
The man sitting in front of them sighed, closed his eyes, and crossed his arms over his chest. A malicious smile formed in his mind as he seemed satisfied that his plan appeared to have worked perfectly from the start.
"Let's see how Toji handles this," thought the man with blue hair, allowing arrogance and ego to take over his thoughts as he believed in his apparent victory over the strongest human.
Meanwhile, outside the thoughts of the man, his guests appeared impatient. Each of them feared for their lives. If their contractor gave them the option to kill Toji and they could help, they would undoubtedly accept the offer. Since Toji had defeated the strongest demon hunter, their plans had been threatened by this man's mere existence.
The Toji factor was a variable they hadn't accounted for in their most far-fetched plans. He was a human who seemed to excel in every way and didn't even have a contract with a demon. Not only demon hunters and politicians were interested in his existence, but the governments of several countries were planning to dissect his body for DNA research and possibly create a perfect warrior according to their own vision of an ultimate weapon. If they couldn't dissect him, the only option would be to destroy his body.
But the real problem was whether Toji would survive. If he did, they couldn't even imagine the consequences it would bring.
Katana Man, who remained stoic and calculating, devised escape routes in case everything went wrong. Although the plan promised success by uniting three organizations against one man, the uncertainty of Toji's full potential kept him nervous. Throughout his experiences, he had noticed that Toji hadn't revealed all his power, making him an unpredictable enemy. And he knew all too well that unpredictable adversaries were the most dangerous.
Sighing to himself, Katana Man turned his gaze to his companion, who was huffing irritably while her feet tapped the floor with a quick rhythm, revealing her anxious state.
'This brat,' he thought. Despite her arrogant and sometimes childish attitude, she possessed an invaluable contract for their plans.
The contract with the Serpent Demon was extremely powerful. It allowed the user, at a high price, to have the Serpent Demon devour other demons with its giant mouth and then release them later to fight in their name. By doing so, any released being would be completely healed and could fight in place of the Serpent Demon. However, Akane's contract came at a significant cost. The price could increase depending on the rank and power of the summoned demon. Moreover, it allowed Akane to use both the Serpent Demon and those it had absorbed. However, this came with a major drawback: Akane's price included the loss of four of her nails, and for particularly powerful demons, it might even require the extraction of internal organs.
This potential disadvantage concerned Katana Man, as if they faced a more powerful demon than they could handle, or even Makima herself, everything could fall apart.
As the three individuals waited in the room, each immersed in their own thoughts and states of agitation, they felt the air and atmosphere of the room growing colder. Gradually, they sensed the ambient temperature dropping.
Hiroshi, who remained impassive, cold, and indifferent to his surroundings, sighed softly. This caught Sawatari's attention, who was trembling slightly and hugging herself in an attempt to generate warmth. Katana Man, whose body was somewhat rigid, also turned to look at Hiroshi, puzzled.
"He's here," murmured Hiroshi calmly, his voice serene as his eyes slowly directed toward the large white door in front of them. His gaze sharpened like daggers, preparing to face his target while maintaining an air of indifference.
Sawatari, feeling a chill run down her spine, quickly turned toward the door, her heart pounding. Katana Man's expression grew even more severe as he perceived the intense murderous intent emanating from behind the door. The atmosphere became increasingly oppressive and dense, as if it were about to explode at any moment.
The resonant, strong, and deliberate footsteps filled the room. Each echo of their steps heightened the tension in the room, plunging those present into a growing state of anxiety. It was impossible to determine whether those footsteps were real or simply a product of their imagination, but their intuition told them that something terrible was approaching.
And then, in an instant, the room fell silent for a few seconds, as if everything had been an illusion. The large door separating them from the outside was shattered with a deafening crash. The impact left everyone momentarily stunned, and a cloud of smoke swept through the entrance, obscuring their vision.