Chapter 78: Snowball Fight

Within Aki's fantasy, Power joins the game and he starts lobbing snowballs at her as well. In reality, a single powerful blast hurls the pair backward. Spotting a couple of bystanders, Aki kills them without a second thought. When Denji begins to fight back, Aki simply reads it as Denji tossing snowballs in return.

The clash intensifies, each of Aki's blasts flattening enormous swaths of the surroundings and racking up casualties. Denji tries to shield some people but accomplishes little. As he begs Aki to come to his senses, the fantasy version of Aki remarks that for the first time he is genuinely having fun. A blast catches Denji in the stomach and knocks him down.

Aki, lost in his snowball delusion, kills bystanders casually and devastates the city with every blast. Denji's attempts to protect civilians largely fail, and his pleas for Aki to return to normal go unanswered. Aki's fantasy-self admits he is having fun for the first time, underscoring the tragedy. Denji is struck in the stomach and knocked down.

The chapter belongs to the Gun Devil arc and runs in Volume 9. The contrast between Aki's joyful snowball fantasy and the real carnage drives the chapter's emotional weight. Aki's late brother Taiyo appears in memory.