Chapter 148: Kamui · Sword of Rage
Although the Darkness Devil instantly regenerated from the massive damage inflicted by the Complete Body Susanoo, its hand-to-hand offensive maneuver had been interrupted.
The Darkness Devil seemed genuinely enraged. Using its four pairs of human arms, it performed a "prayer" gesture in front of the four human heads on its torso—a clear sign that the Darkness Devil was about to get serious.
However, Chiya had no intention of using his Susanoo to tank the Darkness Devil's furious strike, even in its Complete Body state. He wasn't certain he could withstand it, and his current "Vitality" stat wasn't high enough yet. The higher the Vitality, the higher the offensive and defensive ceiling of the Susanoo. Moreover, the chakra consumption required to maintain the Complete Body Susanoo was astronomical. It was far more cost-effective to use "Intangibility" (Kamui) to dodge the attack entirely than to burn through his resources trying to block it.
Just as the Darkness Devil's four pairs of hands came together, Chiya deactivated the Complete Body Susanoo. He plummeted from an altitude of 200 meters, wielding the Sword of Rage—which was now infused with the power of "Kamui"—and dove straight toward the Darkness Devil.
By then, the Darkness Devil's hands were sealed, and an invisible, lethal attack—the very same move that had instantly obliterated the likes of Quanxi and her elite squad of Devil Hunters in the original story—lashed out at Chiya.
Yet, these attacks passed straight through Chiya's body as if he were a ghost. The Darkness Devil seemed momentarily stunned by this unprecedented and bizarre phenomenon.
Capitalizing on the gap while the Darkness Devil was distracted and unable to immediately re-initialize its ability, Chiya shifted directly in front of the entity. He swung his Kamui-infused Sword of Rage, hacking at the Darkness Devil's alien head.
The warping spatial power of "Kamui" completely ignored physical defenses. No matter how "immortal" the Darkness Devil was, its core was still composed of physical matter; the alien head was instantly severed.
However, the Darkness Devil was capable of instant, full-health regeneration. Chiya had no intention of letting it recover, so he attempted to use Kamui to warp the Darkness Devil directly into his Kamui dimension. Unfortunately, even with double Kamui, his teleportation speed wasn't fast enough to catch the Darkness Devil off guard; the entity teleported away the instant it regenerated.
Even if he could successfully trap the Darkness Devil in his Kamui dimension, it wouldn't solve the problem. According to the lore, the Darkness Devil's cloak could manifest a "Darkness Domain" anywhere and at any time, making it virtually unkillable. Unless the Darkness Devil were foolish enough to commit the tactical error of abandoning its domain to fight him on equal footing, trapping it was pointless. Keeping it locked away was only a temporary measure; he would eventually have to release it, or else his ability to access his own pocket dimension would be compromised.
At that moment, as the Darkness Devil teleported, a blade appeared out of thin air above Chiya's head.
It was a strangely shaped blade adorned with four small bells—let's call it the "Bell Blade." Chiya didn't even blink; the blade pierced straight through his heart. Fortunately, thanks to his "Intangibility," the blade simply passed through his body without causing a scratch.
"Ding-a-ling—"
As the bells rang, even though Chiya was in his intangible state, he could feel a terrifying, destructive energy resonating within him. Yet, he remained completely unharmed.
Chiya even had the leisure to chat with the entity: "Since I can't kill you, and you can't kill me, I think it's time we called it a truce."
As long as the Darkness Devil didn't discover the weakness of his "Intangibility," his ability to survive was absolutely unbreakable. That was the core of his confidence in challenging the Darkness Devil head-on.
But the Darkness Devil wasn't the type to negotiate. It unleashed its abilities on Chiya repeatedly. Chiya stood perfectly still, letting the entity pour everything it had into the assault, yet not a single strike could touch him.
The Darkness Devil gradually realized it truly was powerless against this human who had suddenly invaded its territory. It finally ceased its attack. The four human heads on its torso and the main alien head spoke in unison, five low, raspy voices melding into one.
"Leave my domain..."
"Fine, fine, I'll head out in a moment. And believe me, I didn't intend to trespass on your territory—no need to give me the cold shoulder."
Even under these circumstances, Chiya managed to maintain a smile. "There's no reason we have to kill each other the moment we meet, is there? Wouldn't it be better to just chat?"
However, the Darkness Devil seemed to have no interest in engaging in small talk with a human. Since it couldn't kill him, there was no point in lingering. Its domain was vast, spanning far beyond this particular region, and in truth, any shadow in Hell could effectively be considered its territory.
In an instant, the Darkness Devil vanished. As long as this human didn't linger in its primary domain for too long, it had no reason to manifest again. With the entity's departure, the endless darkness dissipated as quickly as it had arrived, revealing the same hellish landscape Chiya had seen upon his initial arrival.
"So, communication really is off the table... oh well. Being able to cross blades with the Darkness Devil made the trip worth it."
Chiya had almost forgotten that the primary reason he came to Hell was to search for Makima. He felt physically drained, and his ocular power had been severely depleted. In his current state, he couldn't sustain another grueling battle.
He didn't expect to find Makima on this run, but he decided to wander a bit further through Hell to ensure that if he teleported back later, he wouldn't end up right back in the Darkness Devil's territory. He began walking straight ahead; he didn't know how far the domain stretched, but moving forward was always the right move.
As he walked, his thoughts drifted back to the Darkness Devil. It was curious—with such an invincible domain, why did the Darkness Devil choose to remain in Hell forever? By all logic, it should have been able to descend to the human world via the Hell Devil.
Is something holding the Darkness Devil back?
Perhaps the Darkness Devil simply had no interest in slaughtering humanity. If it had been actively hostile, even the Master (the Doll Devil) who had consumed a piece of the Darkness Devil's flesh would have been an absolute nightmare. After all, it took the combined efforts of Chainsaw Man, Quanxi, and the Cosmos Devil to bring the Master down—Chainsaw Man and Quanxi handled the suppression, while Cosmos delivered the finishing blow.
The Cosmos Devil's ability was terrifying—a form of psychic assault that forcibly flooded a target's mind with all the knowledge in the universe, leaving them capable only of thinking "Halloween" until they died. Even the Master, bolstered by the Darkness Devil's flesh, couldn't avoid that fate. Yet, the ability required too much "charging" time; if the user were killed before it could be activated, it was useless. In the original story, the Master was decapitated by Makima in an instant.
With the immortality granted by the Darkness Devil's flesh, if the Master had chosen to play it safe and hide, she could have converted half the world into dolls, which would have been functionally no different from genocide.
Just then, Chiya recalled the Rage Devil and called out to her.
"Crimson."
"..."
There was no response.
"Crimson?"
"..."
Crimson remained silent. A thought struck Chiya—could she be angry, sulking because of his reckless stunt...?