Past
The day started again, but unlike the usual of waking up on a comfortable not-so-smooth wooden floor, he woke up on a bus bench where he had slept before.
The reason? He and Kobeni had an argument, and he ended up leaving her house. The blonde couldn't take the humiliating situations that the little devil girl made him go through almost daily.
That wasn't the only reason, of course; sleeping on the floor covered by an old towel was another, even below what he used to live in the now abandoned house of the original body owner.
Speaking of which, something the author forgot to explain is that yes: The nerd who holds Denji's body recovered the memories of the true Denji, but it took a few days for that to happen, and it almost always occurred during sleep.
But as always, and this was becoming habitual, an explosion caught his attention, seeming to have occurred a few streets away.
With no time to even wake up properly, he gets up and heads to the location, running and already activating Airjitzu.
Arriving at the place in less than a minute, he sees a demon causing chaos in traffic and, as if to differentiate a bit, the surrounding buildings were being ignored, leaving them almost intact.
(Ah, but it's not possible!) - In the distance, the young man recognizes a certain person, Kobeni, unconscious inside a car with her head bleeding.
(No, screw that! I'm not saving her again!) - He thinks for a moment, while descending to the location with a punch already prepared towards the demon.
The punch crushes some of the flesh, leaving a dent in the skin of the creature. The monster consisted of a kind of meat plant, with grotesque roots resembling veins and appearing to have bones stuck in the ground.
It had a bulb or head full of teeth and eyes everywhere, while what seemed to be blood leaked from the "mouth" and fell to the ground, melting it slowly.
(It must be some kind of carnivorous plant. And I definitely am not trying to help that... Ill-mannered one!) - He thinks, momentarily distracted and taking an acidic spit towards his face, which is defended by his left arm.
A sound like that of flesh being made echoes around, the creature seemed happy with the sight of skin and flesh melting and joining the ground, which is devoured by its "roots".
With a deep inhalation, the arm begins to regenerate with visible speed, a determined look on the young man's face is replaced by anger, and he begins to launch consecutive kicks using the emulated Spinjitzu.
"THIS HURTS LIKE HELL!" - He shouts amidst kicks that increasingly crush the demon's body, while the blows become heavier and faster.
In a moment of desperation, the demon seems to pull one of the tendrils and use it as a kind of spear to pierce a car and kill a person, thus using the blood to regenerate.
(Kobeni! The civilians! I need to get everyone away from here!) - He realizes that his impulse would be useless and would only cause casualties this way. - (Damn, if only I could cut these damn roots!) - And then, an idea pops into his mind.
Denji at that moment remembered that water under high pressure can cut even iron, so he could achieve something similar with his air control.
He created a bubble around himself using Airjitzu, but instead of stopping at this result, he continued to add force with more spins, and the bubble began to have a dry and rough appearance.
To test if it could cut, he decided to go after the carnivorous plant demon and try to destroy the whole bulb at once, which seems to work, and a "Screeech" of pain comes from the demonic being, but it's not enough to crush the head.
The demon tries again to get more flesh to regenerate, but Denji starts to increase the spin, and a second scream of pain echoes, with the tendrils losing strength by pain shortly after.
The "show" continued for a minute and a half with the rotation becoming faster and faster until the head disappeared and a pool of blood appeared under the tired blonde's feet, with blood flying into nearby buildings and staining everything in a random pattern with a clean center.
The young man starts to walk towards a car, slowly as he catches his breath. With difficulty, he opens the door.
"Are you okay?"
"Uh... Oww... Denji?"
The blonde just smiles a bit, and Kobeni looks a bit confused.
"Don't worry" - He points to himself while giving a thumbs-up - "I'll never lose!"
(I might have said that, but I don't know why I'm worrying so much...) - He thinks to himself.
Back to the present
Denji walked alone through the streets of Yamanashi, with a small smile on his face.
It had been 2 days since the incident with the Devil Hunters, and he was feeling great.
He didn't worry about anything at all, only about Kobeni and Shizune, whom he always took care of as much as he could.
Sure, the brat never left him alone and was unbearable, but honestly, sometimes, even if he never admitted it, he enjoyed her company.
He felt so good, so free. Nothing could ruin this moment in his thoughts.
Until suddenly he stopped abruptly, with wide eyes. The reason? He had felt something that made him tremble to his bones... one of his clones had been destroyed.
(Wha-what?!) - He questions himself, a little frightened.
He had felt the presence of an old companion, who had accompanied him throughout his previous life... fear.
But he quickly composed himself and decided to do something about it. Running through the streets of Yamanashi, where no one could see him, he began to take off his civilian clothes, and underneath was a kind of burka mixed with homemade tactical gear.
Finally, he put on a mask and was able to activate his Airjitzu, flying towards the opponent, or rather, from where his clone had disappeared, as fast as he could.
He could see a giant shadow flying overhead, and when he least expected it, he was attacked by two sharp claws.
Before he could react, his bubble was easily pierced, and he was caught, then sent to the ground with immense speed.
He fell on the asphalt, rolling several times until he managed to stop on his feet while dragging himself.
"Are you really who they sent me after?" - A voice questions him, and when he looks up, he sees a giant eagle with only its wings having feathers, sharp as razor blades, and a head with giant golden eyes, with a crown of flesh and bones with small "jewels" of crystallized blood adorning it.
Frowning, he gets up and enters a completely amateur fighting stance.
"What do you want, demon?" - He asks angrily.
"Hahaha.... You'll find out." - Without another word to be said, his opponent gives a war cry.
Denji grits his teeth and, creating a tornado beneath him, jumps onto it and propels himself towards the enemy in a burst of speed.
Spinning awkwardly in the air, he attempts to land a kick to the opponent's face, which easily dodges and moves upward.
Upon hitting the ground, Denji stops sliding and, using his Super Strength, picks up small rocks from the ground and hurls them with force.
The demon easily dodges as it spins in the air, beginning to create a tornado in the sky.
Denji watches with widened eyes as the attack rapidly approaches him.
He creates a bubble of Airjitzu and then dodges the tornado, beginning to hover over his opponent.
After reaching a decent height, he deactivates the bubble and attempts to land a kick with both feet on the opponent's head.
Once again, the bird dodges, and as Denji falls, it swoops down and hits him with its beak, piercing his flesh and scratching his skin.
Coming back around, it hits Denji again, this time in the arm, cutting off his left wrist.
To finish, the eagle flies upward and, letting itself fall, hits Denji hard with its beak, right in the stomach.
The two plummet towards the ground, leaving a crater in the street.
"What is this?!"
"Another demon attack?!"
"Run for your lives!!"
Denji lies on the ground, completely shredded with his stomach open and some guts spilling out. The world was starting to fade to black, but then he uses his ability to release adrenaline and gain a bit more time, inhaling deeply all the air he can.
"Still alive? I guess the only special thing about you is resilience."
Denji just ignores it, and sees a shadow in the distance diving towards the eagle; one of his clones had arrived at the scene, and he was sure the others were coming too, which would buy him enough time to regenerate.
(Darn it! I can create more flesh, but how am I going to put my organs back in the right place?) - He thinks, while inhaling air forcefully and trying to direct the creation of a hand to stop the bleeding, while creating more blood to avoid dying.
(Create an ability that reads the original chromosomes who created the body and checks if there's anything to fix in the body based on that!) - Putting his creativity to the maximum, Denji manages to come up with a solution to the problem that would exist after closing the wounds.
{Ability |Sequential Reconstruction| created}
{Ability |Sequential Reconstruction| synergizes with |Wind Recovery|. Do you wish to merge?}
(Sure, why not!)
{Ability |Wind Recovery+| acquired}
Unlike expected, Denji realized that his recovery was slower now, and seeing that his clone had already been destroyed, it was almost the last straw to give up.
He underestimated this world, he knew there were outliers like Makima, the Darkness Devil, and the Gun Devil, but he didn't expect such a powerful being to simply appear in his backyard.
The lack of knowledge about the universe in general was a big mistake. He only knew about things that became famous in the community and some that broke through the bubble, but he never ventured into the manga or anime.
Luckily, it seems that the mobilization of Public Safety didn't take so long this time; perhaps the reward for his head was higher than expected.
"Hmm? New prey?" the demon wonders, turning around.
There! It was his chance, he needed a way to get out of there, and fast! But how?
(If I drag myself now, I'll die from blood loss... I need one more clone.) - He thinks, taking another deep breath, but trying to direct the creation of his hand, which was almost halfway there.
(Hehehe, interesting... a human regenerating, and without even drinking blood.) - Something in the distance, spying on Denji, thinks.
When the blonde manages to form the index and middle fingers, he makes a symbol with his hands in the shape of a plus sign, and smoke appears beside him. When the mist clears, it shows an exact, but healthy, copy of himself.
Without a single question, the clone starts dragging him out of the confusion, towards an alley nearby. The darkness in the corner of his vision was gradually increasing and generating great fear in Denji; in desperation, he started breathing faster to accelerate the healing, which worked in parts.
But, as if to reinforce his bad luck, the clone suddenly disappears, along with the appearance of white barriers on the sides of the landscape, 2 and a half meters on each side from him, while following an "infinite" line forwards and backward.
(Now I understand why he's strong. It's because of the special power that is feared!) - The reasoning was correct. Normally humans don't have a gigantic fear of flying animals, which left him confused as to why the opponent was strong.
In the distance, he could see the demon entering the white barrier and coming towards him with claws ready to cut him, when suddenly there's a pull on his neck and he slows down, but still moving towards him.
(What was that? He seems to be being controlled... MAKIMA!) - Fortunately for Denji, at this point, he wouldn't be killed, nor would he die from the bleeding in his belly and hand at the pace of his recovery.
"Oh, i'm fucked!"
To be continued...