Beyond Control 7 (Patreon)

Beyond Control 7 - 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!)

The Katana Man Arc.

This was by far one that I had to be involved about for a couple of reasons- in the specific, to prevent a few unneeded demises, and for the acquisition of a new power-up I knew was the best I could hope to get this soon.

It wasn’t the one given by the main antagonist of this part, as I considered the Katana Devil able only to provide either ｢Silver Chariot｣ or ｢Anubis｣ due to its power relying on a blade.

The big win was the Snake Devil. Not only its name was telling, but its ability of turning anyone it devoured in a reliable ally made it a valid candidate to provide me the power of ｢Whitesnake｣. If that was indeed the case, then I was going to be able to have one thing that could defeat and kill Makima if I got close enough to her.

To make it simple, ｢Whitesnake｣ can retrieve ‘DISCs’ from living beings’ traits. This could go for something generic as their mind into minimal elements such as sight, taste, the other senses or even involuntary traits such as breathing.

To a Devil like Makima, I could actually remove her capacity to use her abilities and turn her into a harmless being. Well, directly so. I should still get close enough to get that done- and considering how her abilities reacted, I doubted that was possible even while using ｢King Crimson｣’s main ability.

Now, backtracking for just a moment, I believe some explanations are needed on how I was sure that today would be the day that things would get intense. Two reasons actually:

1) Looking into some strange ‘assignments’ by fellow Private Devil Hunters into cases that weren’t registered confirmed that they were being hired by someone that was not legally booked for this sort of shit- not only that, but those individuals were people that had some experience with ranged weapons. They were meant to use ‘guns’ despite the ban on those;

2) It took me a while to track down someone of Special Division 4 to know if they were going to eat at a restaurant one of those days. Luckily for me, Himeno’s home lacked any sort of trouble to ‘wire’ it up through ｢Red Hot Chilli Pepper｣’s ability to enter through electric sockets.

I got an ear in, and the chance to hear the planning for a ‘celebration’ for some successful works after the Eternity Devil mess. They were all doing good, but it wouldn’t be the entire Division- only their squad.

So, I knew it was time for me to prepare for the inevitable. And I got the ‘sign’ through the distant ‘bang’ noise that came from somewhere near the restaurant.

The attack on Special Divisions 1, 2, 3, and 4 had begun, and I spotted both the Katana Man and Sawatari Akane, the contractor of the Snake Devil, moving to their planned position. To take down Denji and the rest of the squad there.

Before they did so, I managed to sneak near the toilets, right by the entrance there as I could see from a safe distance and with some cover at what they were doing. ｢King Crimson｣’s main ability activated right as the Katana Man used his handgun.

Several bullets were shot, and they were all going to get some vital spots. Denji’s head, Himeno’s chest, and Aki’s arm. The Stand redirected the bullets in a ‘believable’ fashion to produce the best scenario, with Denji’s head barely hit by the bullet, Himeno getting her share of lead on her hip as a flesh wound while Aki’s shoulder got barely grazed by it.

I shifted to the ‘unused’ section within the men’s bathroom right as I saw Power spring in action and right as the rest of the occupants of the restaurants started to flee the scene. I had the bag with my costume there as I couldn’t have gotten inside the restaurant without catching some attention in my Preacher’s outfit.

A bit of a gamble, but one that was paying off immensely. I finished my preparation right as the Fox Demon that Aki summoned in an effort to devour the Katana Man was forced to retreat due to the hybrid’s transformation and dangerous power.

My gamble paid off big time. Himeno was taking a stance beside Aki, Power was covering for Denji and I… left the toilet with a copy of today’s newspaper. I sighed loudly, gaining the attention of people and smiling behind the mask.

“Man, that’s the last time I eat so much Sushi. My belly is going Afghan Civil War on me.”

“What?” Aki asked ‘honestly’, while Himeno seemed to recoil better.

“You… How long have you been in there?”

“A few hours. As I said, it was the most unforgiving moment of taking a dump. And I flushed the toilet unlike how a certain Blood Fiend would.”

“Fuck you!”

“Not the right time, Female Eric Cartman. I have a job to do and… you’re not my type.”

As I finished saying that, I turned to the two troublemakers. “Now, I just finished a turd-related issue and I am dealing with two crap stains.”

“That’s… the Preacher guy? I thought he would have been worse?” Akane hummed with a hint of disgust.

“Now, now- no one here is saying you are that bright, but I never showed much of myself to begin with. After all, I am but a humble preacher.”

The Hybrid took a step forward. “This is not a matter that concerns you, priest. We are here for-”

“First thing first, unabashed worshiper of the Kodoha Faction, I am a Preacher, not a Priest. I don’t have Lil’ Timmy tied to my crotch as some Catholic priests would and- you are failing to see why am I here.”

“And that is?” The blonde half-whined half-asked.

“Well, it’s you two in the specific. You know, your powers are… interesting. And I want you dead.”

The Katana Man growled, but before any escalations could have further unfolded, Aki felt the need to jump the ‘gun’.

“Preacher-san, the Fox Devil said that these two are not normal Devils. We need to cooperate for-”

“No.”

The young man tensed up at my refusal. “W-What?”

“Aki-kun, I am glad for your concern and pragmatic thought, but you ignore my limits and thus should not bear the burden of assuming I am weak before these two fools. After all, I was prepared for this encounter for weeks now.”

That seemed to get a lot of surprise from the antagonistic group.

“You… did?” The Katana Man inquired with a hint of surprise..

“Of course. Your revenge, such a foolish endeavor as your grandfather was scum. And you did right- by exposing yourself and your little friend to me to claim victory from. For that, I am thankful.”

Rather than speak further, the Katana Man jumped into action, trying to end me with a simple attack but… only ending up with a broken jaw and several cracked ribs as ｢King Crimson｣ reacted actively to punch his body fast and hard. The end result was the approaching moron getting hurled back and forcefully slammed onto the ground.

His partner aimed her gun at me, four bullets soon rushing towards me and… then ending up pulling a full u-turn as they stabbed onto the downed hybrid’s chest much to the blonde’s growing shock.

“What- How did you do that?!”

“...I prayed hard enough for you two to get screwed by statistics.”

That seemed to be her trigger button as she unleashed the one thing she was confident would kill me. The Snake Devil was soon manifested and coming for my sweet booty.

Akane’s amusement was brief however.

While I didn’t have ｢King Crimson｣ to protect myself in its usual form, the reason that was that connected to the invisible sphere now putting itself between me and the approaching Devil and then rushing against it.

In a brief moment, the Snake Devil’s capacity to devour was decimated as the void proved to be far too much for it to absorb. ｢Cream｣’s offensive ability allowed my Stand to become a ‘portal’ to the void dimension, thus becoming something that nothing can pierce or block.

Panic surged within the blonde’s face, but then pain erupted in an agonizing scream as the portal rushed back to her, tearing into her left arm and removing a chunk on her upper chest.

She survived, barely so, but the deed was done as I saw the Snake Devil’s essence slowly surge to the reforming frame of ｢King Crimson｣ and… I saw my Stand smile deviously as our assumption had been right- he could now use DISCs!

“W-What did you- What is that red guy?!” Katana Man snarled, his outburst making my joy cease as I realized one thing- he could see my Stand… which was odd.

Up to this point, Devils could not see my Stands but… this was not a normal Devil- a hybrid. Can hybrids pull that shit? That was a novelty but… I was up to no good to deal with this news.

“Oh? You can see it? That’s rather unfortunate. It means I can’t play with you and… I shall cast judgment at once.”

He looked confused, but right as he braced to fight ｢King Crimson｣, his body went still as a small DISC emerged from his head containing his mind with all its memories. His transformation faltered, leaving him vulnerable and… dying as he was unable to properly function as a living being due to the lack of mind- he couldn’t think, he couldn’t breathe and thus was soon unable to properly live.

With his passing came the death of the Katana Devil himself and, much to my delight, a scarlet rapier appeared for ｢King Crimson｣ to brandish. ｢Silver Chariot｣ and ｢Whitesnake｣ at once was quite the big reward and-

“What did you do?!” Himeno’s loud voice caught me off-guard to an extent and I realized I still had the DISC containing the Katana Man’s mind in my hands.

“Defeated our mutual enemies," I paused to nod at the bleed-out form of the Snake chick. "Or the head of the conspiracy as they were the direct members, with their minions waiting outside. They are armed with guns, but they lack contracts with Devils.”

“Wait, how did you know they were going to be here?” Denji finally spoke up and he raised a fair question.

“I am very good at tracking people,” I replied in a rather bastardish manner. “By the way, did you listen to my advice?”

He opened his mouth-

“He did not!” Power exclaimed happily much to Denji’s PTSD and Himeno’s embarrassment.

Boy, is that guy a dum-dum.

“Well, with that being said, you should probably clean the rest. I did my magic, now it’s your turn to get your share of work for your wages.”

“Wait-”

“Smell ya later!” Denji waved with Power while the two ‘adults’ of the group tried to stop me but… I used ｢King Crimson｣’s power to leave the scene.

There was much for me to do now and the more I remained around after this display of powers, the more Makima would have the means to track me down. And that didn’t sound nice.

Plus, with all this talking of taking a shit, I felt a deep need for release manifest in my bowels.

When nature calls, even a preacher of gravity has to abide by it.

—-----------d-d-d-d—-----

AN

The Katana Devil Arc… is not over yet. Next time, Makima finally meets the newest source of migraines at her workplace. Surprisingly enough, she doesn’t find him annoying in person as he is by deeds alone.