The stray devil gnashed his teeth at me and pointed menacingly. "You think you can mock me? I am Argath, the Skinning Devil! Hundreds of lives have fallen before my fury!"

  "Hundreds?" I ughed. "That sounds like an infted count. I bet it's like when a RPG pyer lies about its level."

  Argath roared and charged at me. He moved fast, faster than any normal human could, but unfortunately for him, I wasn't a normal human.

  The moment he extended his cws to strike, I sidestepped gracefully, leaning forward just enough to dodge his attack.

  "Uh-oh, almost got me," I teased, patting him on the shoulder as I moved to the other side.

  The stray devil spun around, already attacking with his cws again and again.

  My feet barely moved as I dodged each blow with ease.

  "You're more loud than dangerous, you know that?" I said, dodging a series of sshes that embedded his cws into the wall behind me. "Maybe I should sign you up for a beginner's martial arts css."

  His patience seemed to be at its limit. He took a few steps back, panting, his eyes fixed on me.

  "You're not human... What are you?" Argath asked.

  "Ah, you finally figured it out!" I replied, opening my arms in a theatrical gesture. "But you don't deserve to know the answer. For now, think of me as... the guy who's going to send you back to the pce your disgusting soul never should have left."

  Gritting his sharp teeth, he lunged forward with everything he had. This time, I let him get closer, calcuting the exact timing before moving.

  When he attacked, I moved to avoid the blow. But he was smarter this time. His cws changed trajectory at the st moment, and before I knew it, a shallow cut had appeared on my left arm.

  "Really?" I muttered, looking at the scratch. "You managed to cut me? Impressive! I think you deserve a gold star."

  The stray devil, however, wasn't listening. His eyes were fixed on the drop of blood dripping from his index finger. Suddenly, he stuck out his grotesque tongue and licked the blood.

  I grimaced in disgust. I already knew he was the cannibal type, but it was still bizarre to see.

  He stopped, and his eyes suddenly widened. "Yes, yes... It's WONDERFUL! The taste is indescribable! Wonderful! Wonderful! WONDERFUL!"

  "Okay, this got weird fast," I said, taking a step back.

  The stray devil began to tremble. "I need more! Your blood will be mine!" he shouted, lunging toward me with his hands outstretched.

  I sighed. "Okay, enough pying around. You've used up your weird quota for today."

  Raising my right hand, I closed my eyes for a brief moment. A fsh of red light enveloped my hand, and when it dissipated, a sword appeared. The Stygius was an imposing weapon that carried an aura of its own.

  The stray devil stopped in the middle of his attack. "W-what is that?! A Sacred Gear?!"

  "Ah, I guess a weapon born in the underworld can't be considered a Sacred Gear. And you know what's funny? It likes to cut down annoying monsters like you.

  It was then that I moved like a blur toward Argath and swung Stygius several times in quick succession. The movements were so fast that the stray devil only saw them as a single attack. In the end, I stood behind him with the sword resting on my shoulder while the stray devil stood motionless.

  He started ughing. "Hah! Is that it? Such a weak blow—"

  The words died in his mouth as a ssh split his head in two. Then his entire body began to split into several pieces like a broken puzzle. He didn't have time to scream before colpsing to the ground, torn apart by multiple clean cuts.

  "I warned you," I muttered, wiping my hands after putting away Stygius as if finishing a trivial chore.

  I crouched down next to Argath's corpse and summoned the Stygian Fme to consume it.

  [Stygian Fme consumed 1 Stray Devil Corpse.]

  [25 EXP obtained.]

  [Sin Gluttony detected.]

  [15 Bonus EXP obtained.]

  The dark aura that permeated the area dissipated, and silence returned to the alley.

  I took the two hot chocotes from the machine, still intact, and started walking back to the bookstore.

  Yuuma was looking at me through the window when I arrived. She opened the door with a curious smile.

  "You took a while. Did something happen?" she asked.

  [Ding! The system proposes the mission 'Lying Retionship!']

  1 - Make up a complete lie to answer Raynare (Reward: 1 Fusion Point)

  2 - Tell Raynare a half-truth (Reward: 3 Fusion Points)

  3 - Tell Raynare the truth about what happened (Reward: 30 Fusion Points)

  *

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