Chapter 1
On the green hills at the city's edge, two silhouettes—one large, one small—could faintly be seen walking along a stone path overgrown with wild grass.
It was an odd pair: a blond boy with red eyes wearing an eyepatch, accompanied by a dog whose head sprouted a chainsaw.
As the boy strolled along the path, he clutched a thick stack of billing statements, muttering calculations under his breath…
"The kidney I sold before went for 1.2 million… And the testicle, how much was that again?"
The boy tilted his head, thinking hard. Unfortunately, his memory had never been great.
"Something like… less than 100,000?"
He frowned, managing to recall a rough figure.
Reaching this point, he subconsciously touched the eyepatch covering his right eye.
"Right eye… 300,000."
He could always feel the empty socket beneath the patch, yet he didn't care—or rather, he had forgotten to care.
His tone stayed casual, his mindset unchanged.
"Chopping wood should earn me about 60,000 a month, right~?"
"Then there's still the debt… 38.04 million."
Staring at the number on the bill, the boy felt nothing at first. But suddenly, a wave of dizziness and emptiness washed over his mind.
Huh? Me?
In that instant, a faint ripple spread through the fabric of space-time, then quietly faded away.
Flesh and soul had fully fused into one.
"Woof!"
The chubby little dog with a chainsaw on its head sensed the demonic aura ahead and let out a warning bark.
?
No response came from his master like usual.
Pochita turned back in confusion, only to see his master standing frozen in place.
Sensing the familiar-yet-strange aura coming from him, the dog tilted its head, puzzled.
"Pochita~!"
The boy—no, Denji, snapping back to himself—rushed forward and scooped Pochita into his arms with pure, childlike joy spreading across his face.
"Woof…?"
Pochita let out a small, confused whimper at the sudden shift in mood, but quickly melted into the warm embrace, purring contentedly.
Only when that familiar touch and heartbeat enveloped him did the warmth and closeness finally convince Denji—he had truly returned to the past…
(Flashback: Time rewinds to the future before the rebirth)
The end of the world arrived after all—not just for the human world, but for Hell as well.
The gates of Hell tore open across reality. From the sky they poured, the violent clash of two worlds colliding on a massive scale. And finally, somehow, a bizarre "black hole" appeared.
In his complete Black Chainsaw form, Denji hovered in outer space above Earth. He watched clearly as the entire planet was devoured from within by a gaping black maw—its jaws widening until even the horizon shattered like glass. The sky was riddled with portals; their doors crumbled simultaneously. White ash and rivers of blood flowed backward in rings. All color drained away, condensing into a single swirling vortex of cosmic annihilation…
Despair had long since become routine. Just as Denji's vision began flashing through his life like a zoetrope—
A soul abruptly invaded his inner world.
Inside the sealed alley of his mind.
A blurry figure stood there, radiating an overwhelming sense of dissonance with this world. On its face was the same fake, hypocritical smile Denji had seen on Yoshida Hirofumi and Mifune Fumiko—only this one carried far greater malice than any devil he'd ever encountered, and an arrogance so absurd it was unprecedented.
The figure proposed a contract deal.
It claimed it could go back in time, save the world, and let everyone Denji cared about live happily.
All it required in exchange was one condition:
Hand over everything that made him "Denji."
That phony gentle smile triggered an intense sense of déjà vu—like every time Denji had made the wrong choice in life, he'd seen exactly that expression.
The coaxing tone was extreme, treating Denji like a gullible child.
Denji pondered, giving no answer.
After reciting its prepared speech and receiving silence, the figure grew anxious. The world's rejection was rapidly draining its system energy.
Seeing the childlike version of Denji in the inner world, it dropped all pretense of kindness and moved to force the contract.
With an adult body's advantage, it easily pinned the small Denji down. This special contract could be forced through more than just consent—provided one condition was met:
Kill the other party.
One hand pressed against little Denji's forehead, the other clamped around his throat.
Too easy. Something felt off.
Why no resistance?
Their eyes met. Denji's gaze—cold, forged through endless pain and despair—made the intruder's heart shudder.
After the fear came burning humiliation.
To be frightened by a mere "native"?!
Even if it was the original protagonist, that was unacceptable!
I'm a noble transmigrator, damn it!
Fueled by that thought, the grip tightened.
He glared furiously at little Denji, growling incoherently as if to intimidate him back.
But at some point, Denji's small hand had already rested on the intruder's chest—clutching something faintly visible.
"How is this possible? Pochita burned himself out just to let you see one last glimpse of dawn. You're bluffing—you're nothing but an empty shell covered in that black chainsaw exterior right now…"
Before the words finished, a hellish roar echoed:
Buzz… BUZZ—!
In an instant, the intruder's hand was sliced clean off by the chainsaw sprouting from Denji's head.
"AHH! My hand—my kingly power!"
The intruder collapsed, clutching the severed stump, wailing and sobbing in agony.
Little Denji stood up. Blood dripped from the chainsaw on his head, sliding into his mouth. The fear before him only made his transformation more complete.
"Why… why can you transform in your inner world? Why now…?"
"It's fear," Denji said calmly, licking his lips.
"Pochita left me one last fragment of power. That tiny bit of fear you felt just now—it gave me a pull-cord in this place."
As he spoke, Denji slowly advanced toward the creature wearing human skin—the twisted "devil."
BUZZ—BUZZ—
The roar of Hell continued to reverberate.
"No—no! Stay back!"
Pain rendered any real resistance impossible.
And Denji simply did what he always had—
What he had done so many times before—
He cut the evil in front of him to pieces.
And devoured it.
During the process—perhaps because it was a soul—he seemed to absorb the intruder's memories, experiences, and a flood of information.
Vaguely, he also heard strange mechanical voices:
[Beep beep beep! System encountered unknown situation—shattered!]
[Beep beep beep! Intelligent AI assistance initiating self-destruct…]
[Self-destruct failed. AI program collapsed.]
[Default rebirth program auto-activating…]
[System functions auto-retaining… Retention failed (Sign-in), Retention failed (Lottery), Retention successful ("Devour").]
[Failed portions… auto-fragmented into universal points…]
[Successful extraction: "Devour", Affection Contract, Universal Points.]
[Re… Rebirth successful…]
[...]
After that, the annoying voices finally stopped.
"Pochita~!"