"Thank you, Miss Reze, and all our esteemed guests. We hope to see you again soon." The proprietress beamed as she bid farewell to Otonashi Chiya, Reze, and the rest of the group.
"Mmh-mmh, we'll definitely be dropping by often," Reze replied cheerfully.
"I thought the food was quite delicious," Kobeni added softly.
"Right? I'm sure Pochita found it super tasty too, didn't you?" Denji asked with a grin, turning to the little canine.
"Woof..."
Pochita, however, did not look particularly thrilled. Having been relentlessly force-fed by Denji throughout the meal, it was currently stuffed to the point of barely being able to waddle forward.
As the group strolled back home together, Reze broke the silence. "If we're launching the campaign against the Devil Church in a few days, didn't intelligence indicate there are quite a few known strongholds?"
Back when she was operating as an agent for the Soviet Union, her intel placed the Devil Church's network at seven distinct bases across China, though she couldn't be certain if they had established any new ones since then.
"Mmh, Chairman Jiang gave me the exact same figure—seven strongholds," Otonashi Chiya nodded.
"Seven of them, huh? In that case, Miss Shingetsu, myself, and the five weapon hybrids could each take charge of one of the battlefields. As Supreme Commander, though, shouldn't you be staying back at base to coordinate everything?" Reze asked casually.
She wasn't taking the Devil Church particularly seriously.
Under normal circumstances at their peak, the cult would have posed a formidable threat, but with the vast majority of their elite forces already wiped out, they were practically toothless.
The most terrifying aspect of the weapon hybrids was their capacity for endless resurrection; as long as their teammates didn't all perish simultaneously, a weapon hybrid functioned as an unceasing, tireless killing machine on the battlefield.
"No, that title is mostly just for show. Even as Supreme Commander, it won't stop me from getting my hands dirty," Otonashi Chiya stated matter-of-factly. "I'll take direct charge of the cult's primary headquarters; the rest of the bases can be managed by you guys."
He had zero intention of camping out in a command room the entire time, nor did he possess any exceptional tactical genius for large-scale military coordination.
When it came to strategic planning, he probably couldn't hold a candle to professionally trained operatives like Reze or Fumiko anyway. He much preferred a direct, hands-on approach.
With the ability to summon the Falling Devil or simply manifest a Susanoo to obliterate everything in sight, sitting idly in a command bunker made little to no sense.
......
Meanwhile, completely unbeknownst to Otonashi Chiya, the Control Devil had just crossed over into the human world via the Hell Devil's power, touching down directly within Chinese territory.
Perhaps the Control Devil simply held a peculiar affinity for China; in the original timeline, the reincarnated Control Devil, Nayuta, likewise transmigrated from Hell into China before Kishibe secretly smuggled her over to Japan.
Finally made it to the human world. It seems the Famine Devil arrived ahead of me... and her target is also the Chainsaw Man, I presume...?
The Control Devil materialized amidst an expansive, uninhabited stretch of farmland.
Given the sheer scale of China's landmass, she hadn't landed directly in Modu by sheer coincidence. With the immense distance separating them, neither the Control Devil nor the Famine Devil could actively sense the other's presence.
The very first action the Control Devil took upon entering the mortal realm was to exert her dominance over the local wildlife, utilizing the ears and eyes of small animals scattered across the region to gather information on human affairs.
Unlike the newly reincarnated Nayuta, Makima had already fully matured by this stage, wielding a control capability vastly superior to Nayuta's early-stage power.
For instance, when Nayuta deployed her abilities, visible "chains" manifested in mid-air—projectiles that could theoretically be dodged by anyone with exceptional agility and reflexes. Makima's control, by contrast, required no such cumbersome mechanics.
Makima's control differed fundamentally from such limitations; it was entirely invisible to the naked eye. The moment she perceived someone as inferior to herself, her sheer will was all it took to instantly subjugate them, making evasion practically impossible.
The powers wielded by the three Horsemen—Control, Famine, and War—all operated on deeply abstract, conceptual logic. The War Devil provided the most telling illustration of this principle in action.
In the original timeline, Asa Mitaka shared a body with the War Devil and could harness her powers. Because Asa subjectively believed that 1.33 million yen was a fair and sufficient price to purchase highly advanced weaponry, those objects genuinely transformed into Asa's property—capitalizing on the War Devil's innate ability to convert anything she owned into a "weapon."
In reality, 1.33 million yen fell ludicrously short of the actual market value for cutting-edge military hardware, but Asa possessed zero understanding of real-world arms pricing and thus assumed the modest sum was plenty.
The War Devil herself could never have pulled off that feat independently, simply because she was acutely aware of what advanced weapons actually cost.
Such phenomena highlighted how heavily reliant these abilities were on perception and subjective belief.
Ultimately, if the Control Devil possessed a thick enough layer of absolute, unshakeable delusion, she would essentially be invincible.
Unfortunately, such a mindset was fundamentally impossible for someone as brilliantly calculating and rational as the Control Devil.
With a subtle shift of her intent, every animal within a designated perimeter fell under her sway, obediently dispersing into human society to gather intelligence on her behalf.
At that moment, Makima manipulated a small squirrel she had just subjugated, coaxing it to scramble up her arm and rest in the palm of her hand.
"These are small creatures one simply doesn't find in Hell... The mortal world is truly wonderful, filled with so many charming little animals."
Makima murmured softly, a gentle smile gracing her features as she gazed down at the tiny squirrel.
The Control Devil harbored a deep fondness for humans and animals alike, with dogs holding a particularly favored spot in her heart, as their inherent obedience matched her compulsion for absolute dominance.
Her affinity for humanity stemmed from the fact that she was a humanoid devil closely mirroring human form, differing only in the distinct, hypnotic rings within her eyes.
I suppose I should wander about and track down the Chainsaw Man as soon as possible...
Weighing her options, Makima set off on foot toward a nearby town.
......
District 13 (a fictionalized designation for convenience).
Donghai City.
Dressed in a pristine white dress suited for human fashion, Makima strolled down the bustling thoroughfare.
She viewed the unfamiliar human civilization with a fresh sense of wonder and curiosity, her gaze darting about like an inquisitive child taking in the sights.
Out of her inherent fascination with humanity, she refrained from arbitrarily asserting dominance over the ordinary people passing her by.
Just then, a well-dressed noblewoman walked past, leading a pet dog on a leash.
For reasons she couldn't yet articulate, Makima's attention was instantly captured by the little canine the moment it entered her field of vision.
Freshly arrived in the human world, Makima hadn't yet realized the extent of her innate obsession with dogs.
"Pardon me, would you mind if I interacted with it for a moment?"
Pointing a single finger toward the small dog, Makima asked the woman with polite, measured grace.
Interrupting her stride, the woman furrowed her brow slightly, a look of annoyance crossing her face as she snapped, "What? You want to pet my precious dog? And on top of that, I'm in a rush—I don't have time to waste on strangers."
"..."
Hearing that blunt rejection, Makima fell silent for a brief second.
Yet her exquisite face remained entirely free of displeasure, maintaining a serene, faint smile.
At that exact instant, the woman's posture abruptly stiffened, her gaze glazing over into a momentary vacuum of expression.
Her demeanor shifted with startling abruptness, transforming into an effusive, smiling welcome as she eagerly began boasting about her beloved pet to Makima.
Clearly, the woman's will had just been overwritten by the quiet application of Makima's control.