Beyond Control 5 (Patreon)

Beyond Control 5 - 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!)

I have been preparing for ‘First Contact’ for a while.

Truth be told, I would have loved to avoid this happening, but there is no chance for me to avoid an eventual ‘collaboration’ of sorts with the Public Devil Hunters. It wasn’t even much of a choice as this was the best job available with a Devil as a target since most of the contracts nowadays had just Fiends or Cultists behind these issues.

And those neither gave me new powers or good cash to keep paying for rent, bills and groceries.

So, I had to take the first step forward to be ‘noticed’. It was better to do this now despite what I would have wanted- I just had to make a ‘good impression’ and ‘leave no clues’. Which was something feasible considering the foe I was soon going to face.

Hotel Morin, there was a serious disturbance in the Eighth Floor. I remembered this is where the Eternity Devil set his lair to conduct large eating efforts while also trying to claim Denji’s flesh.

Sounds horrendous, but also exciting as I found myself dealing with the very question I really had been pondering in regard to… ‘what power will I get from the Eternity Devil?’.

｢The World｣? No. I had been hopeful for this to be the case but… not only did it feel too quick, but it also didn’t fit with the Eternity Devil’s powers. The Fear did fit with the motif, but the overall abilities used by the Devil extended into different Stands.

A pity, really. I would have loved to add my ‘Time Erasure’ with Time Stop. That would have added more memery to my arsenal. Still, that was still nothing to scoff at. A new Stand’s power was a new power. Always useful even if limited by situational requirements.

“So… are you a priest or something?” The question came from a blond young man that was quite bored of walking up so many staircases.

He wasn’t the only one, but he was one of two members in the squad that had no filter on politeness so… this was going to be fun.

“A preacher, Denji-san. I prefer to ‘preach a truth’ rather than a religion.”

“How does that even work?” Power pointed out flatly. “Like, isn’t Religion a Truth or some shit like that?”

“Religion is faith. My truth is driven by the lack of faith for I have seen with my own eyes and become a testament of what this truth is about,” I explained calmly. “One of these powers I was bestowed with is situational awareness, Blood Fiend.”

The girl tensed up at being called out like that, but still smiled.

“Heh, you will need more than-”

“I am not really in the mood to discuss matters with someone that rarely flushes the toilet after pooping.”

This time, the reaction reached others.

“W-What? You don’t flush?!” Kobeni exclaimed in shock, causing Himeno to gag at the info and for Arai to look away in disgust.

“I flush. Only occasionally,” Power proudly stated, with Denji and Aki’s silence being confirmation of that ‘boast’.

“It’s still disgusting and unhygienic. You may end up with some illness on the butt and you will end up unable to sit anywhere.”

“Yeah… wait, is that a thing?”

“Of course it is!” Himeno snapped in pure horror at Power’s naivety on the topic.

And with that, I turned the mere exchange into a healthy discussion on flushing n’ wiping. I was already a good influence on this group… even though I doubt Power is ever going to surrender her beliefs on the topic.

Pity, but it was enough of a distraction to bring us to our destination. And right to the ‘harmless-looking Devil’ that Himeno swiftly killed with her Ghost Devil contract.

“We should start looking for the Devil and-”

“It’s unnecessary,” I interjected the leader of the team, the one-eyed young woman turning to give me an annoyed look. “We are where we need to be. The Devil is here… around us.”

“You- you mean-” Arai muttered, looking around for proof but seeing the floor being as normal as it could be.

“It’s a belly. We just don’t see it, but I can sense it is and…”

I turned to the ‘dead Devil’. “That thing is part of it. Hence why we should work to make us ‘leave’.”

“Never!” The small head with wings rebuked angrily, suddenly awakening and trying to fly away… only for ｢King Crimson｣ to punch it back on the ground, creating a small indentation on the floor with the creature’s frame as it started to suffer quite the concussions.

The rest of the hunters moved to encircle it and I looked at the one I needed to get this situation handled appropriately.

“Kobeni-san, may I have your assistance in using knives against this mongrel?”

Surprise, then a nervous look to Himeno. The older woman shrugged and Kobeni, gulping a bit, nodded and proceeded to sit down in front of me as we both looked at the lil’ avatar of the Eternity Devil.

“Y-You all think you have won!? I am the Eternity Devil! I will devour you and the only way for me to free you is for you to give me the human known as Denji- GAH!”

I zapped it a bit, silencing it for a moment before turning to the girl.

“The first thing to know is that this kind of Devils are a bit of a nasty bunch. Always being bossy, thinking of using their title to claim a clout of protection and ‘supremacy’. In truth, the ‘Eternity Devil’ is less than it sounds- its avatar is, in fact, its weakness. And you know what would let us win?”

“...Kill it?”

“Eat it!” Power exclaimed and I shook my head, until Aki spoke up.

“Hurt it.”

That’s where I nodded.

“That’s correct, which is why I want this to be a learning experience for you, Kobeni. Please, retrieve your knife.”

She did so, slowly but still with a bit of submission to my demand. Yet, she hesitated as the creature started to chuckle at her and call her a ‘pathetic whelp’ and other shit like that. That was until I zapped it again.

“Kobeni?”

She looked at me with the most uneasy look possible.

“Y-Yeah, Preacher-san?”

“I don’t wish to sound too harsh to you, but I would like for you to stop being a doormat and think of how you would behave if you were to say no once in a while,” I bluntly told her, her eyes widening a bit. “Let me put it quite simply: I know you have excellent skills, but you will never achieve your true worth if you are always relying on your fear. Paranoia is good within moderation and allowing it to guide your steps so intensely will only hurt you in the long-term.”

“I-I don’t want to disappoint-”

“Then don’t. But being a yes-woman is hardly going to be likable by everyone. You need to be a bit independent yourself and this Devil clearly doesn’t know who it is provoking. Show him that. Show him that Higashiyama Kobeni is no doormat.”

Her eyes were wide open and then Himeno piped in.

“The skull-mask guy is not wrong. You’re an excellent hunter, but you can’t exactly find your path in life if you are always bowing down to others.”

“...Oh.”

Kobeni readied her knife as she hummed that and… started to stab. Viciously, intensely and with quite the speed behind each thrust. The agonizing pain coming through the Eternity Devil’s voice confirmed my suspicions- the bigger it gets, the higher his pain tolerance gets. But in this reduced form, it will suffer far more and with swiftness.

It didn’t take too long before its trembling and bloodied frame squished to show a heart-like thing that extended out of it.

“P-Please, I don’t want to- Gah, God! It hurts!”

Kobeni’s stabbing process had not ceased for a moment as she just turned her subject of stabbing onto the heart. Quite dreadful of a sight, but the end result was nonetheless positive in the long term.

She was breathing heavily after she was done, blushing a bit as she burned out a lot of stamina with that and… I reached out to pat her head.

“Good job.”

Much to my surprise and amusement, she leaned a bit onto the head pat, clearly appreciating the ‘positive reinforcement’. It didn’t last long but… it was quite the adorable and murderous bonding moment I had with the ‘nervous killer’.

The heart was in tatters, but one thing stood out from the most. I picked up what looked to be a bullet and-

“Denji, catch!”

The blond caught the item and gave it a look. “A Gun Devil’s piece of flesh!”

The delight was infectious to an extent and… I stood up.

“And my job here is done.”

Himeno frowned dryly at me, same for Aki.

“You literally did nothing.”

“I wouldn’t say I did ‘nothing’. I pep-talked your serial stabber. That’s meant to amount to something rather than let your boss treat you like dogs.”

Some tensed up at this, but I was already leaving… but not without a little confession.

“Oh, and Denji?”

“Yeah, Preach?”

I grinned behind my mask. “Don’t kiss a drunk woman or you will eat barf.”

I was soon ‘gone’. The essence I gained from the Eternity Devil’s confirming my early assumptions on the Stand power I got not being ｢The World｣ but… ｢Cream｣.

It may not sound much but having the power to move around in a Void Dimension sure sounds like an OP ability if used in conjunction with others. And while this confrontation had gone quite well on my end, I sure as hell got Makima’s attention as the ‘Preacher’.

I wonder how she will react to this… probably not too positively.

—------d-d-d-d—------

AN

Kobeni is a bit of a lebanon, but also a patslut. Also, for those that don’t remember who is ｢Cream｣’s User, it is Vanilla Ice of Part 3, the guy that kills Iggy.