Beyond Control 3 (Patreon)

Beyond Control 3 - or ‘I refuse to be Controlled, so I will attain the [Heavens] to not get dommed by a certain redhead Control Devil' (Chainsaw Man, SI!)

Stealing is bad, kids. Unless you are poor and you need a disguise for your personal survival.

Truth be told, I could have managed this ‘disguise’ in another fashion, but considering this world’s appreciation for Devils, I decided it was more than fitting to go for my registration to the Private Devil Hunter Association.

To say that Devil Hunting is a common job would be the same as one mentioning that the sun is a hot ball of energy that was fueled by constant explosions. The difference that really mattered on the topic was the one between the ‘Public Workers’ and the ‘Private Freelancers’.

The former received a regular monthly salary, the latter was meant to sustain themselves with each bounty.

Some companies did help in creating independent branches, but there were also ‘solo’ mercenaries that could register with nicknames to prevent any potential issues with their personal lives.

I was aiming for the last option, going through the gates of the government’s building holding both the registration area and the bounty production section. I didn’t go through the first step as John Bukharin… that would have set me in a bad spot.

Still, I would say I got the attention of many due to the outfit I wore. A white tunic with a cloak and hood, a yellow-skeleton mask and… some ‘fake sunglasses’ under the mask to hide away my eyes from anyone trying to know who I was.

It was creepy, but I intended it to be so. Some guards were tense when they spotted me enter the building, but merely watched me as I calmly made my way to register. The assistants set to the counter were nervous themselves, but managed to handle themselves through the process with just a little bit of stuttering.

I picked a name, something ‘ominous’ but overall flashy in a silly way.

Anti-God Preacher.

Such an edgy name for an edgy outfit. I wasn’t exactly trying to sound cool but… since it was the 90s, I was sure some edginess was allowed as the emo era had yet to truly begin.

Soon I was on my way to claim my first bounty and the board that I studied, one meant to be studied by beginners, held a few interesting ones. I picked three that sounded interesting and decided to give it a shot to make a lot of money really fast and… get myself a proper home. And food.

I refused to play the murderhobo for too long.

My first Bounty was tied to a curious case of ‘electrocution’ happening near the Tokyo Bay. Some of the so-called ‘Urban Fishermen’ had been killed by getting their bodies cooked by electricity.

Water suddenly got ‘touched’ by electricity and some suspected that a Devil was behind this as energy of the kind had been found to be matching with some ‘old Eel Devil’.

Not much is known of this monster beyond its favorite interest in frying people trying to fish in its territory and its power, but that was more than enough for me as some had managed to get a rough estimation of where this Devil was.

From what I heard from the assistant that helped me get my name assigned to the mission, this was considered a ‘Public Devil Hunter Rookie’ assignment, mostly because most private ones tended to be unprepared for this sort of business but…

“I will handle it. Thank you for your concern however,” I replied humbly, fitting well with my ‘mask’ of a pious man that worshiped God in a ‘different way’. I was trying to pull a Pucci without being too obsessed with it.

And this was where the legend of the Anti-God Preacher would begin.

Once I found my path to my destination, I took a cursory look over the small ‘river’ that led to the bay. It was a place where some fishes would go to find refuge from major ships, so it was a neat spot for experienced fishermen to get some ‘rare’ prey.

However, with the Eel Devil being around, this was a deadzone… or should be one. From what the reports of other hunters suggested, this monster seemed to react only when something was quite close to its lair. So, dipping a finger in the water shouldn’t cause any issues. Having a fish drag the hook down four a couple of feet underwater would definitely cause a painful death.

So, I had to play it carefully. I wasn’t alone as an ‘instructor’ had been assigned to me to check if I was a reliable new addition and soon was staring at what I was doing as I looked down to the water… where my Stand now was.

｢King Crimson｣ landed on the water and proved that he could swim really fast after we absorbed the Sea Cucumber Demon’s essence, but there’s a chance the monster’s reaction may be even faster than this so… we had to move on the expectation that it was a voluntary power.

Rather than being something tied to muscle memory, the electricity had to be something dictated by the monster’s own will for this plan to succeed. Deciding to take a gamble, I went for it.

“｢King Crimson｣.”

Time got ‘erased’ as the Stand rushed down to its target. He had spotted it underwater, rushing to catch its prey and soon decimated it with its fists.

A moment there was peace, then the water started to suddenly bubble as the butchered carcass of the Eel Demon the water’s surface. The Instructor noticed, and he looked at me with a rather surprised but overall flat look.

“Did you do this?”

I turned to the old man and nodded. “I prayed hard enough and it died.”

“...Did you?”

I sighed piously. “No, I have a power that allows me to handle threats. It’s not visible as this is the limitation of this blessing.”

That sounded far more reasonable than divine retribution and yet it was enough to confirm I was to be trusted. Once back to the PDHA, I got my card validated and my next two missions assigned.

Much to my grimace, I couldn’t exactly… claim the third one as it was the Bat Devil. I didn’t want to deal with Denji or anyone from the Public Devil Hunters’ group, so I would stop at my second task.

After all, I was getting a lot of zeroes despite the job being that easy. Plus, this second job allowed me to test out my theory about ｢King Crimson｣ turning Devils’ essences into known Stands’ powers.

If I got ｢Dark Blue Moon｣ last time, then what sort of Stand I got from killing the Eel Devil?

The situation I got to handle was a bit dire and came up quite recently. So recently  that the police and firefighters were still dealing with what looked to be a Fire Fiend. It was quite the common case but… this time there were still civilians inside, so a quick intervention was needed.

Luckily for these people, the building still had plenty of electric sockets around and ｢King Crimson｣ could now travel through them to find the Fiend and drag him into the electric system.

So, the Eel Devil gave ｢King Crimson｣ the powers that were common with ｢Red Chili Hot Pepper｣ from Part 4. That’s such a broken ability to have so early on but… everything was very needed to cover my ass from Makima.

The death of the Fire Fiend was enough to put away the flames and provide the firefighters and paramedics the chance to retrieve the survivors of that attack. If it had been the ‘Devil’ rather than the Fiend, maybe I would have gotten something out of this, maybe ｢Magician Red｣ but that was not something that happened with the Fiend.

So, I can absorb Devils’ essences when they were at their fullest power, but not when they were fiends. Sad.

Despite that, I got the chance to claim the kill after showing the police the corpse of the now deceased Fiend, which now lacked his head and legs as those were manifested in flames. With that done, I swiftly left to claim the bounty’s prize and dodge any chance for reporters to learn more on who I was or what I am.

I was still going to make the news, but I would just be an odd blur in a city with odd blurs.

As I switched back to my main identity by an alley, I focused on the real thing that mattered at this point. Putting that cash to use by buying myself an house, set up the electric bill and other services and… eat at the local hamburger-serving fastfood establishment because I was hungry as fuck.

I literally skipped lunch to get this mess worked out before the end of the day so… I guess dinner will be a nice burgah to satiate my belly.