"Talk"

'Thought'
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"THIS GUY WAS SUCH AN ASSHOLE!"

"TIS RIGHT MY QUEEN, WE'VE BEEN MURDERED COUNTLESS TIME BY THIS RUFFIN!"

Back at the home of Higashiyama, aka the luxurious penthouse apartment, a very bruised and beat-up Denji and Power could be seen sitting on the couch together, all while complaining and hating a certain older gentleman, who was seen in the kitchen, making a sandwich and having a beer for lunch. That older man was none other than Kishibe himself.

"Don't you think you went a little too hard on them, Kishibe?"

Kobeni Higashiyama, who entered her own home with Aki Hayakawa and Himeno behind her, looked at the Experienced Hunter with a disapproving expression.

"They're Devils, they can handle it, besides, it was the only way to train these kinds of people."

Kishibe just shrugged as he sat on the couch, making himself comfortable and familiar in the penthouse as he enjoyed a sandwich. This only made Higashiyama sigh and shake her head, looking at her two Devilish teammates.

"I'm sorry you two had to go through that, please, let me make up for you."

Before the two Devils could question what Kobeni meant by that, she reached her Deviltrix and pressed it, turning herself into Mothra.

"Please hold still."

Mothra turned both of her hands intangible and transparent, as she then reached into the body of her Hybrid and Fiend friends.

"Oh! Oh~..."

"Haaaah~..."

This at first startled both Power and Denji, not to mention made them feel slightly weirded out from having the Moth Kobeni touching their insides, but soon they started to feel true bliss and relaxation, as the controlled cold temperature was just enough to not only cool down their hot, sweaty bodies, but also relax their muscles and release tension. Stress turned into a pure form of ease for their body and mind.

"Um, what are you doing?"

Kishibe was confused at what he was seeing.

"Just a neat trick she does to help others relax."

Himeno was the one to simply explain what was going on.

"And I have to say, it's better than any kind of message you could get at from professionals~"

It was clear that Himeno looked jealous for seeing someone else getting such a relaxing treatment instead of herself.

"She mostly used it after a day's worth of training with us, it's very effective."

Aki also seemed to have experienced and even liked it, given how positive he spoke of it.

"Huh, I wonder if it works for hangovers."

Kishibe was now curious, as if wanting to try it for himself, going off all the good things he was hearing about Frozen Higashiyama "Ice Cold" treatment.

"It sure does!~"

As Himeno and the others continue to talk about something very unrelated to the situation no doubt, the Deviltrix host by this time had just finished helping her Devil partners relax before turning back to her human form.

"Feel better?"

Kobeni was hopeful that what she did had helped her Devilish friends recover from what they experienced.

"Much better~..."

"You have the hands of angels, my Queen~"

And from the looks of it, it had, as both Denji and Power looked much more lively than before, both standing up from the couch and acting as if they could take on the whole world.

"I'm glad to be helpful to my friends."

This of course made Kobeni happy to hear and see.

"Kishibe, I'm guessing you're still here to tell us about our new mission given by Makima?"

Once all that was said and done with helping the Chainsaw Man and the Blood Devil, Kobeni turned her attention back to the older man, her expression turning more serious.

"Something like that."

Kishibe nods as he just finished his sandwich and took one last gulp from his beer can.

"And it involves the people who attacked us?"

Kobeni frowns softly, as she remembers very clearly the people who killed her, one of her teammates, and hurt the rest. She had no doubt very negative thoughts and feelings about those specific people.

"We found the location where they're holding up, as well as the kind of trouble they'll give us."

Kishibe wasted no time explaining the full situation of the mission they were all about to go on, as he reached in his goat and pulled out several pictures.

"To be specific, in the basement, there is an army of Zombies, all led by the Zombie Devil of course."

The first set of pictures that Kishibe revealed was just a large horde of zombies, all together and stuck in some kind of basement area.

"A room or two above that is where you can find the lady with the Snake Devil, Akane Sawatari, apparently she was the one who set all this up."

Next sets of pictures were of Akane Sawatari and her Snake Devil, Kishibe mentioning how she was the leader of some kind.

"And of course, the guy with the Katana, he was seen spotted near the upper levels of the building, hasn't really moved there since, as if expecting someone to meet him there."

And the last set of pictures that Kishibe revealed was of the Samurai Sword, aka the Katana Man, which made most of the team members look at said pictures with mixed emotions, most of them being very negative.

"Of course there are other gang members and random zombies roaming the area, but nothing more than that, or at least what we could gather."

There were few other pictures of random human thugs and zombies, but that was all Kishibe had on the situation of the mission at the moment.

"It sounds like they're expecting us to come after them."

Aki crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the information they were given.

"Think this could be some kind of trap?"

A feel shared by Himeno, rubbing her chin as she considered the possibility of this being some kind of trick.

"Even If It Was A Trap, I! THE MIGHTY POWER! Would Just Simply Break Through With Little Effort!"

Power on the other hand could care less about the possibility of this being a trap, being more concerned with getting revenge and killing everyone who did her wrong.

"Yeah! Those Fuckers Need To Pay For What They Did To Kobeni!"

A feeling deeply shared with Denji, already imagining himself turning into his chainsaw form and cutting everyone down to size and pieces with no mercy.

"Oof, I guess no one cares about me~"

Himeno gave a teasing pout and fake hurt expression when the two Devils didn't mention or care about what happened to herself. Of course, she didn't take it seriously and wasn't offended, but that didn't stop her partner, Hayakawa, from grabbing her hand and holding it comfortingly, which surprised her and made her blush softly.

"So, "Team Leader", with what I just told you, what do you plan to do now, hm?"

Kishibe, who took out his Flask and took a swing from it, once he finished explaining what the mission was, as well as letting the others express their own thoughts and ideas, was now curious about what Higashiyama had to say about all this.

"Well, what do we do best?"

And what Kobeni did have to say, definitely caught everyone's attention and surprised them.

"Hunting Devils..."

Kobeni expressed a very hateful face, not to the same degree as the others, but it was definitely unexpected for someone like her, usually kind and timid. It was especially unexpected for Kishibe, though he couldn't help but smile at this.

'Ah, so even someone like her can be vengeful, I'll be sure to keep that in mind.'
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A simple "Calm Before The Storm" chapter~

(BTW someone made me a TV Trope about my story, be sure to support the person who made it and say thank you to them~)