Mess

Across the city, the four hostile parties gathered to claim Denji ready themselves at once: Tolka with his female partner, Aldo alone, the elderly man, and Quanxi. In a separate building, Makima strolls among the heaps of doll-like corpses and dispatches Beam and Princi to guard Denji, with shielding the remaining hunters left as a lesser priority. From across the way, the elderly man tracks Denji's group through a department-store window and orders his dolls to pounce the instant they step inside, their arms morphing into blades as they pursue. The trap, however, is sprung in reverse: Kusakabe waits within a drawn ritual circle and channels the Stone Devil to turn the attacking dolls to rock.

Yoshida lays out how the Doll Devil works, warning that contact with any scrap of a person, clothing included, converts them into an obedient doll. Aki reasons there must be a ceiling on how many can exist, only for a fresh wave to smash through the glass and rush the group. Bolting to the upper floor, Power is snatched, and as she and Denji shred the things apart, Kusakabe deduces that fiends shrug off the devil's influence. The hunter Nakamura then arrives and calls on the Fox Devil to sweep the swarm aside. Tamaoki confesses the real design: hunters had been planted in every building along the block, and the operation's true aim was to flush out the assassin spawning the dolls, Santa Claus. He notes the conversion can never be undone, that the short reach of the ability means the culprit is close, and offers Denji an apology for serving as bait.

The chapter closes on the other players poised to move: the woman lingers at a nearby amusement park, Tolka grips his nail with Denji in mind, and Aldo steels himself in a store restroom. The elderly man conjures yet another doll wave while Kobeni fusses over the dent in her car and Quanxi sets out to hunt. Trivia notes that the lodging used by Quanxi and her fiends, Hotel Tatsuki, is an obvious wink to series creator Tatsuki Fujimoto. The installment runs in Volume 7 as part of the International Assassins arc.