Atsuku had no time to bring the thug to the Tokyo Tower.
The time had been ticking down considerably, and the countdown had reached the last 20 seconds as Atsuku was done killing two thugs in the alleyway.
'I can only bring it here. If it remembers my soul and Arcane, then it will come to me willingly. I just hope that creature will choose this crack instead of the others.'
That was why he stood in the middle of the street, ignoring the still panicked people around. Some of them tried to rob banks and apartments, using the situation as a cover to commit crimes, while a lot of people hid in the shelter.
In the Minato ward, people hid in the station or big hall, curling each other to give a sense of safety.
But that would change shortly. Those people out in the street would run away shortly.
"H-Hey. W-What should I do, Y-young Boss?"
Somehow, the thug called Atsuku a young boss. It was strange, coming from the person that he had threatened earlier.
Atsuku looked over his shoulder at the skinny thug. His long hair was messy, and a foul stench was coming from his body.
'Did he not take a bath for a few days?' he thought.
"Sit here." Atsuku pointed at the ground in front of him. "And don't do anything."
"H-Huh?"
"Right now." He pressed the thug with his cold gaze, and the skinny man shuddered in fear.
A small-time thug like him wouldn't be able to defy Atsuku's words. He was a seasoned villain from Fantasia, a world not so peaceful as Earth.
The thug's body moved almost automatically under the fear. He bent his knee and sat in front of Atsuku, looking at him with a trembling gaze.
Seeing the thug's obedient behavior, Atsuku nodded, satisfied, "Good."
He raised his head, looking at the countdown. It was already 00:00:03, and the first Trial was almost over.
'It's almost time.'
Puffing a smoke from his mouth, he spat out the short cigarette and moved his Arcane inside his body, dragging it outside to make his target recognize him.
In Fantasia, there were three special Devils.
The first was Iblis, the worst Devil that assimilated with John in Fantasia and, by extension, Atsuku on Earth.
The second was Adam's Devil. It was born and grew together with him, the protagonist of the Miracle Hero's Adventure.
And the last one was this Devil, whom Atsuku tried to eliminate.
This Devil was special because it could take over a person's body instantly rather than assimilating with them like the other Devils. It was by no means strong at first, but it had a fast growth rate and wreaked havoc in Fantasia, destroying a few countries with her prank.
For that reason, Atsuku wanted to kill it first before it messed with Earth. The last thing he wanted was for his hometown to turn into a wasteland because he didn't eliminate that Devil tonight.
When the countdown hit 0, the crack in the sky began to close, starting from the smaller one to the bigger one. The people on the street looked at the sky in wonder. They didn't know why the crack in the sky fixed itself slowly, like rewinding a time.
At that moment, Atsuku flared his Arcane, creating a yellow layer of aura around his body. It was even visible to the thug.
"H-Hie! W-W-What are you?!"
The thug shrieked in fear and tried to move, but Atsuku pressed his knee with his feet, stopping him from crawling back.
"Don't move," Atsuku warned coldly.
He needed to concentrate on getting the Devil's attention. And when the crack was about to fully close, it appeared.
The shadows on the ground began to fly to the sky at one point, right above the Tokyo Tower. Those shadows belonged to small ones with no horns or one horn. They created a big sphere above the tower, and it kept increasing in size as some small Devils in the area got sucked in.
"Whaaa?!"
"W-What is that?!"
"Run! Run away from the Tokyo Tower!"
The people on the street who robbed banks and stores ran away in panic after seeing the unknown.
But Atsuku stayed in that place, grinning excitedly.
"H-Hey, Young boss?! W-What is that? Do you know something?" The thug asked with a cracked voice. He was scared shitless. His pants were wet because he was leaking.
"Just shut up." Atsuku simply said so. He didn't want to explain anything to the thug in front of him.
He didn't look at the big shadow that made a big sphere, which was now around 30 meters in diameter, but he looked at a Devil that sat on the top of the Tokyo Tower. It was visible thanks to his enhanced senses after his assimilation.
It was slightly hard to see the Devil because it was night, and he was far away, but he felt that Devil was looking back at him. Its body was more defined and looked more like a sexy woman with an erotic body, even when compared to Asmodeus.
Extending his hand toward the Tokyo Tower, he made an inviting gesture as he said, "Come. You remember me, right?"
Atsuku managed to get its attention, so he pulled his Arcane back, erasing the yellow aura around his body. Flaring his Arcane was like burning it constantly, making him tired easily. So he preferred to preserve it if possible.
The Devil stood up, extending its hand toward the large sphere. Then, the large sphere moved toward the Devil for some reason. Atsuku allowed that because those Devils were actually part of that humanoid Devil. He needed it to be complete if he wanted to erase it fully from this world.
So he waited.
"Y-Young boss, why did you provoke it?!" The thug yelled at Atsuku. "Look! The big sphere is shrinking down!"
The thug couldn't see what had actually happened. The truth was that the Devil on top of Tokyo Tower absorbed the sphere with its hand and slowly became bigger.
The big sphere was fully engulfed in just a few seconds, and the Devil sitting on the tower created a pair of shadowy wings behind its back.
It now stood around 3 meters tall, and the wing easily spanned over 5 meters, so almost everyone could see it.
"What is that?" The thug asked. "Young boss, did you just provoke that- that thing?! It flies toward this direction!" The thug tried to stand up, but Atsuku didn't let him. So he shot his leg.
Bang!
"Aarrrgh! Y-You! You said you would spare me! I even called you young boss, you bastard!" The thug screamed loudly as he held his leg. He tried to crawl away, but it was useless.
The skinny thug only managed to get 5 meters away before…
Bang!
"AAAAARHHH!"
Atsuku shot him once more.
"Stay put. I told you to sit down." Atsuku replied coldly. His attention was still on the Devil, and it flew at a fast speed toward him.
Putting his gun back into the holster, he then opened his space storage and took out a sword. This sword looked like a normal sword, but there was a rune written on its blade. The rune glowed a faint blue light as Atsuku inserted Arcane into the blade.
'Grade 1 Arcane Sword. It should be enough to deal with that thing.'
Grade 1 was the lowest one, with the highest known in Fantasia being Grade 5. Originally, Atsuku's space storage had various items ranging from Grade 1 to Grade 4, with only one Grade 5.
But they were lost, and so was his space storage. The fact he was able to get them back, although only Grade 1 and Grade 2 were salvaged, was a godsend for him in this early stage.
In a few seconds, the Devil reached them. It landed in front of the thug.
Unlike Iblis, this one couldn't talk even though it had 10 horns after devouring all small Devils that created the big sphere earlier.
But, compared to the other Devils, this one was still special. Having 10 horns meant whoever could assimilate with it could get a maximum of 9 different abilities from the Nine Stage possible instead of only having 4 or 5. That was if they were able to assimilate with it.
Back in Fantasia, this Devil was the third strongest after Iblis and the Devil inside Adam.
It looked at the thug with interest before it turned to Atsuku. The thug had long since lost consciousness, unable to stand the Devil's presence.
Atsuku swung his blade to the side and greeted the Devil.
"We meet again, Eve. Now, enter that body, and let's have a little talk, shall we?"