Beyond Control 12 (Patreon)

Beyond Control 12 - 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!)

There is a particular reason why I saw the International Assassins Arc as a dreadful experience to go through.

Specifically, I found the various antagonists coming out of the woodwork somewhat frustrating to fully track down. I had three groups to target, the first one being the Santa Clauses (plus the dipshit apprentice the main body had). First, I focused on the German bastard that was coming from the airport.

I had been careful in plotting this event, and I struck with my Stand through its void ability to avoid detection. The seemingly senile but sober old man with a balding head and blue eyes exploded on the spot, causing major hysteria but still dodging an issue of the mass-dollification kind.

This was just ‘half’ the problem solved, but this group was split up and I had to carefully track down the rest before they had a chance to relocate. While I was busy with this mess, Reze took care of another group with… a rather specific power: the ability of setting up a fuel truck to drive in the opposite direction as the car carrying Aldo, Joey, and… that other brother. Did the guy have a name? Heh, it didn’t matter.

The truck took them by surprise and killed them, and I heard from Reze that a closer look on the aftermath confirmed all of the brothers to be deceased by finding their dead bodies either mutilated or outright burned up.

That was one of the groups down, but I still had to finish the first one while the third one was… ‘work in progress’. Out of the three groups, the one made by Quanxi and her harem was the one I knew I could strike a deal with to acquire another tool to deal with Makima.

“I will have them find the message, but… how come you are struggling to find the rest? I thought you knew where they were.”

I huffed at the phone as I continued to pace fast through the rooftops.

“I thought I did, but they are covering their tracks too well. It’s as if they knew we are onto them,” I remarked, knowing this jarring chance was not truly discounted. Not when I could have gotten the God Devil onto my ass with the recent developments I caused and my clear mission to dethrone him.

Arrogance can cloud one’s self-preservation for so long. And I had a feeling I broke the limits in recent occasions. My race to try and find where that damn woman and boytoy were proved to be quite intense.

Santa Claus was an expert in dodging people trying to get to her, but I ultimately managed to find something anomalous in what details I was familiar with- and that was through one of old Reze’s contacts which I managed to ‘convert’ into a spy for me.

Since my target was of Soviet descent, it was slightly easier for them to catch their recent relocation and provide me with directions to my destinations. The goose chase went on for roughly an hour, but I ultimately managed to track down the woman in a desolate warehouse near the docks.

I smelled an ambush, so I decided to enter through the vents and sneak inside from there. Much to my surprise, however, there seemed to be no traps along the remaining path to where Santa Claus was waiting and… she was smiling, looking at me as she was kneeling on the ground, her boytoy, Tolka or something, was dying on the ground.

I was confused, but this distraction was all she needed to say something-

“Hell Devil, I give you the three children I claimed from my contract with Germany to bring the Anti-God Preacher to Hell.”

Shit!

I tried to move away, using ｢King Crimson｣’s main ability to try and ‘go invisible’ while bolting from the large hand that manifested from the sky but- It was too quick. The hand rushed down, the palm big enough to easily snatch me and ‘crush’ me as it sent me to the odd dimension that was Chainsaw Man’s Hell.

A grassy flowery field with endless doors covering the sky and the air. A rather abstract way to consolidate a realm of damnation, but it wasn’t Hell that worried me as I rushed around to find the right door to leave from.

It was the thing that was lurking. The crawling, the deadly silence, the choked scream, I could feel it all at once. It was rushing me, but it was far and yet not! It was one of the scariest experiences possible as I had done a lot to dodge this very moment, but something had urged this to happen.

But rather than see this monster face a large group of people and easily ‘destroy’ them, it was just me. In a sense, it was fitting, but the way this all happened was unpleasant.

One moment I was running, the next one I was forced to stand my ground, holding my best against this thing as I found my entire body conditioned by a full-fledged assault in the form of invisible pressure. It wasn’t just the feeling of being crushed, it was the silent razor-like attacks that were tearing into my robe and flesh, cracking at the mask, and wrecking my body.

I was blocking by instinct, my arms close to my face as I gritted my teeth in anger and pain. But while I thought the monstrous entity known as the Darkness Devil was striking me directly, the truth was far more different.

It was my Stand. ｢King Crimson｣ was rendered unable to use any ability as it found itself besieged by all sorts of attacks from the Darkness Devil, the towering being standing over me but focusing on the representation of my soul- knowing what it was and craving its destruction.

At a glance, it was working. Various aspects of the humanoid Stand were being chipped away, shredded and broken off its body as it growled in agony and wrath, trying but failing to find resolve to act and do something.

Despite the seemingly hopeless situation, I felt the urge to persist.

“E-Endure!” My order seemed to do more than just raise the Stand’s morale. I saw its body slightly reforming- albeit it was too limited to make up for the damage it was suffering.

Again, ‘Endure!’ I bellowed as ｢King Crimson｣ mightily resisted the assault from the Primal Devil. I felt my resolve holding despite declining against such abuse, but while my hope was high and my endurance even higher… my chances were seemingly crushed when I felt something sharp stab into my chest, straight through my heart.

The Darkness Devil’s blade. I felt my entire body burning at once and my cognition of the world collapsed on itself as my mind went instantly numb. This was… defeat. I felt dying, I knew I was dying but… it wasn’t the worst thing.

In those last moments, memories that were deformed appeared to my weak brain.

The first one was one of the furthest in my soul, back when I was a baby- back when I was left on my cradle alone and… in the dark. The noises, the chirping of bugs crawling all around, incoherent with the true silence and tempting me to be afraid as there was nothing but my own fear of the Darkness.

The second memory was one of when I was a toddler. The car of my parents, mom and dad in the front as they had left me in the rear seats and we were going through tunnels. Darkness flashed, and then lasted longer. Soon, my parents were gone and only Darkness reigned.

The third memory, walking back home from school after the clubs, the clouds had darkened the world so much it felt like night. But there wasn’t much of a light around to illuminate the path. Darkness rushed through like a deluge.

It was the fourth memory that saw a change. I felt confused at first as I didn’t recognize it. I was on the ground, bleeding profusely as I had been browsing the store for the weekly grocery trip. The entire place was trashed, and I found the only surviving entity of it all whistling while approaching my body.

“Took me a while but… I finally found you.”

Who is this guy? And why can't I see his face? He was clearly humanoid, wearing a full on black-jacket and black-pants combo outfit. He appeared fancy, if not flamboyant with the peculiar flower by his chest pouch.

“Now, be a dear and… take… this~.”

His fingers jammed into my head, pain erupting as I felt something strongly induced within my brain, scarring deep into it. It felt like words were being burned into my soul and… and I felt anger. I felt resolve. Kill. Kill her. She has to die, regardless of my survival!

“Goodie! Now, let’s give my good ‘friend’ a good trap to deal with. And be a dear and… kill him too, okay~?”

Anger poured within me as I felt my last breath consume the anger, the wrath and the unneeded fear. I felt… matured. And I felt my body renewed with energy out of nowhere as I felt my bond with my Stand explode with new clarity and understanding.

Words flashed before me and… I felt it. I got it. I understood him.

This is a test. I've accepted this test to stand victorious against my past. A person grows once they are able to defeat their weaker self.

Diavolo’s words, back then. Those he used with Polnareff! Those would seem so little, but the truth was greater. He wasn’t just trying to hide, he was trying to ‘become stronger’. He had a plan, one that was ruined by Giorno, but that I ultimately became the primary successor of due to ｢King Crimson｣.

But no, that name didn’t fit that Stand anymore. I felt it through the connection, the truthful explanation that he was no more King, but Concept. He was higher, like the Heavens.

And then, with my last breath, I called upon it.

“｢Profondo Rosso｣!”

My sight went deeply red, and I felt my whole body burning while the angry and painful screams of the Darkness Devil consumed the realm of Hell. Soon, something… changed. Reality shifted, the damage in my body reverted and I felt the world twisting as I found myself dragged hours before this torture and back in that airport where the murder spree started.

There is a particular reason why I saw the International Assassins Arc as a dreadful experience to go through.

I, John Bukharin, just reverted time by a few hours by the power of ｢Profondo Rosso｣.

And I could now tell, as I regained memories of what had just happened, that now I had another new reason to be annoyed about it all…

—---------d-d-d-d—-----------

AN

Evolved Stands! Such a strange phenomenon and… Profondo Rosso is particular. The choice for the name was a bit ‘immediate’ as I felt it was fitting for a horror/crime movie like Dario Argento’s Profondo Rosso (Deep Red) was quite fitting with the reference pic I used for the Evolved Stand.

It’s ability is, as mentioned at the end, reverting time by a few hours, at best a full day, and it allows the user to retain memories and upgrades as John kept his new Stand and also obtained something from defeating the Darkness Devil. The thing is… this is not a new Stand Ability!

Next time, John handles this mess accordingly, and ends up with a lewd new minion, a group of lesbians that can be reasoned with- Halloween- No, it’s close to Summer, Cosmo. Stop it.

Yeah… that’s all for now.