[1st POV]
I didn't know how long had passed.
I guess time moved differently in hell compared to Earth. Or maybe it was because of the unholy things I experienced and met while I was in hell.
It felt like months at least, while I was down there.
But let's focus on the more important matters.
The Primordial Devil.
The Darkness Devil.
How the fuck do you win against that?
No, how the fuck do you survive against that?
Even with all my weight and mass, the world refused to utter a sound when I crashed on my belly.
And I crashed on my belly because I lost my limbs before I even touched the ground.
That wasn't even the issue, though, as I quickly realised I was blind and completely deaf too.
The only thing I had to rely on was my sense of smell. The scents painted a perfect image in my mind. I could smell the gigantic imaginary mass of the Darkness Devil as it strode towards my helpless form.
Yup, going big did not work.
'I told you,' Makima said inside my mind.
I didn't know exactly what happened, but Makima was inside me now. Which was completely opposite to what I thought our relationship would lead to.
Regardless, she was one of many new prisoners. And yes, I went absolutely wild in hell and got a few power-ups.
But none were nearly enough to match my opponent, though.
I think this was the biggest gap in strength I had ever needed to cover.
'You can't fight the Primordials like you do weaker devils. At this level of strength, it is a clash of concepts rather than violence between living creatures,' Makima said.
Ok, do tell what I am supposed to do.
'Use me,' she said.
And so I did. I called forth the power of the devil I imprisoned inside me. The huge pig that I was spat out a tooth as far as possible. Said tooth slowly changed into my human form before I landed on the ground kilometers away from the Tokyo Tower.
Now I was in my human form again, and I could see and hear clearly.
I was standing in the middle of an empty street, sandwiched between rows of buildings. The place seemed completely empty. It was a miracle how fast and swift the evacuation was in this world.
But I guess they had always prepared for a time like this.
As I wait for the Darkness Devil to come, I focus on the power of Control and what the concept entails in this world.
Absolute control and domination.
'The main power of the Control Devil is the ability to control and manipulate all those you consider lesser than yourself,' Makima said in my mind, although I didn't really need the explanation as those powers were basically ingrained into me.
"Does this mean you view me as superior?" I asked.
'The power has limitations as well. For example, whether you also consider yourself inferior to me or if you are already controlled by other things, be it love, loyalty, or another person,' she said.
It was an interesting concept, but a very limited power.
I'd assume being the Control Devil would allow you to control everything. Maybe you can even control the world. But perhaps Makima, although egotistical, did not put herself above everything in the world.
So I guess the power depends more on the user than it does on itself.
And from what I could tell, since all Devils were born from human fear, the concept of control was personal. Humans feared being controlled by other humans, which was why the concept of Control was stronger on humans and living things in general.
Not objects or phenomena like fire or air.
'It's here.'
Among the shadows of the building, the Darkness Devil walked out. I said walking, but it seemed more like it was gliding on the earth like ice. It also seemed not to be in any hurry. I guess the longer this fight took, the more advantages it would have since night was coming soon.
After moving towards me, it stopped a few distances away. Its head tilted, and it looked at me curiously.
What was it doing?
'The Darkness Devil is after me because of a contract. It is confused as to why you suddenly became the Control Devil and are being analysed,' Makima said.
So it was just curious.
"Are you the Hell Devil?" it asked. Not in a voice, but in a cryptic system that was not sound, but somehow I understood.
It was not telepathy either.
"No," I answered.
"Are you one or many?" it asked again.
"Both," I said. "I am many in one,"
After hearing my answer, it seemed to lose curiosity and launched an attack. Darkness seeped out from under him and came towards me. The shadows around the city expanded, turning from a dark shade to complete black.
I also felt a tug at my body, specifically my arms. But I didn't lose my limbs this time. The concept of Control was strong and specifically opposed others doing as they liked to me.
...
"Stop," I said.
And they stopped.
'!!!!!!'
...
Darkness froze like a solid. The Devil itself trembled for a moment, completely caught off guard by the reason why my command affected it.
I continued to stand there, seemingly unfazed. I noticed the shadow on my back coming out and trying to attack me from behind.
If the Control Devil's power allowed one to dominate all those it considered inferior, then I would say I was the strongest possible user.
The Primordial Devil. The Darkness Devil. It would be impossible for anyone to imagine themselves superior to this entity.
But I was different.
No matter how powerful you are. No matter how primordial you think you are. It made little difference to how I see you.
I may nod along at your titles, maybe gaze in wonder at your power.
But a big part of me. A very big part of me sees you as only a figment of imagination from a weird, strange man.
You're not even real.
I am the only one who's real in this world.
"Forget about your contract and return to hell," I commanded.
Nothing happened for a while.
But then darkness began retreating towards the Devil. Even shadows left the structures they were imitating, and all came back to him.
But to think that that would be enough was a pipe dream.
I felt the presence of the Darkness Devil becoming bigger and bigger. Before, it was a presence I felt throughout the whole world, and the spike of presence was its main body.
But as all the darkness returned, I could smell its scent turning more and more disgusting to my nose.
That meant it was growing out of my league.
Before, the Darkness Devil was akin to small sticks around me that I could break one by one. But now, all those sticks gathered and I didn't have the strength to break them all when they merged.
A few seconds later, there it was.
A concept personified and encased in one dark body. Its power no longer spread throughout the world like before; it was concentrated here.
And its appearance had changed too.
It looked like a proper Devil. Like those whom humans would imagine when they think of a Devil. A mix of a man and a goat, with giant curved horns that curved down and pointed towards hell. A tail at the back, and its body was a towering 12 feet of pure darkness in the shape of a ripped man.
I saw it try to take a step forward.
"Don't move," I said fast with all the command in the world.
But it stepped forward. A single movement of the foot was enough to send a shockwave that turned the earth into a moving carpet and made concrete structures dance before shattering.
Although I saw the Darkness Devil as inferior, it had the same perspective of me. But I doubt that it could be as out of touch with reality as I was.
Which meant my perspective was weaker than I thought. In my past life, I had only watched the anime of Chainsaw Man. The Darkness Devil had not appeared then, so I never saw it literally as a part of a fictional story. So I would say the control I had on him would be weaker than I would have for, say, Denji.
'I can't believe you managed to bring him on equal grounds,' Makima said in disbelief.
'Just how superior do you think you are to us?' she asked.
"Well, clearly not enough," I said and braced for impact because I saw it move.
I did an X block when the Darkness Devil threw a punch. The impact was ridiculously powerful, enough to shatter my arms and launch me through buildings without showing any hint of slowing down.
A few kilometres away, I slowed down and made a gun sign towards it.
"Bang,"
I had ridiculously good eyesight in this Control Devil form and since I shot out in a straight line, it wouldn't be hard to hit it.
But then it disappeared and teleported to the shadow of the buildings.
It choked me on my neck before piercing through my abdomen with the other hand. I morphed my head into a grotesque pig head filled with razor-sharp teeth. I struck my head out, trying to bite, but its horn grew in size and completely blocked my bite.
And then with a twist of its head, I felt my neck break.
It threw me to the ground. I crashed in a loud explosion and made a crater.
I was on all fours, pushing myself up, but then the Darkness Devil came out from my shadows with a sword in hand. A weird katana-like sword with a long hand guard and small bells on it.
It towered over me from the side, like a man about to butcher a pig.
The bells jingled as the sword swung down.
I could almost feel the darkness of death.
But a bright light blinded us. The Darkness Devil released a sort of annoyed grunt and then the unimaginable shockwave blew it away before it could finish its job.
After the Darkness Devil was blasted off, I pushed myself up. There was a big hole in my chest. My regeneration was incredible but even then, I could not close the wounds. When I tried to regenerate, dark flames erupted and turned my flesh into liquid.
But still, my body tried again and again.
"This is hopeless," I said while writhing in agony. The pain was at a completely new level.
'Don't say that. I've never seen Primordials fight like this before nor had I seen or heard of the Darkness Devil taking a form he does now,' Makima said.
"What does that suppose to mean?"
'It means that although you cannot control him anymore, you control this battle. He fights in a way that you want him to fight you. In a way that you believe you can be beaten,' she said.
Almost like trying to beat a child in a game. If you try to win in a way that was above him, he would say that it's bullshit and doesn't count. You need to beat him in a way that he can comprehend how he lost.
I was basically that child. Perhaps it can beat me in ways that were unimaginable to the human mind, taking the form of an incomprehensible being that could swallow me whole.
But since I had some control over him, he had to abide by my rules. Throw hands and fight me properly in violence; that's how one can win and lose.
The rest are just bullshit.
"So there is hope?" I asked.
'I wouldn't call it that. But I've never seen my concept being used like this. It's why he has to take the form he did now,' Makima said.
I stood up with a gaping hole in my chest that was constantly trying to heal.
'Call my dogs,' Makima said.
I could feel connections to many individuals around Tokyo. I felt that I could call upon them and control them whenever I wanted to.
I could also feel the small amount of connection I had with the entire population of the Japanese people.
"You truly were evil," I said when I explored everything Makima had in her arsenal. Normally, no Devils I ate cooperated.
But Makima was fully cooperating and even went as far as sharing knowledge and memories with me.
I was also getting a quick flashback on all the events that happened while I was away from Makima's memories.
"Santa Claus," I said with wide eyes.
Okay, new strategy.
Let's forget about beating the Darkness Devil for a moment.
,,
,..
[IMAGE]
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