"Gua Gu..."
The frog's croak faded.
No one even had time to blink.
The Darkness Devil suddenly appeared in the middle of the group.
Too fast.
Even with Cael's abnormal agility, he couldn't track its movement at all.
Swoosh.
Blood sprayed everywhere.
Quanxi, Kobeni, Fami, the four fiends, and Cael.
Everyone in Hell was instantly dismembered by invisible spatial slashes from the Darkness Devil.
Quanxi, who could overwhelm Weapon Humans, looked utterly helpless before this primal terror.
Fami's severed limbs rolled across the ground as she screamed.
"Waaaah... it hurts so much!!"
"Darkness Devil... this has nothing to do with me, stop attacking me!!!"
"Our hands... Cael, our hands and legs are gone..." Kobeni's voice trembled with pure fear.
The ground was littered with mutilated bodies.
The Darkness Devil stood still, silently admiring the scene.
Only now did everyone clearly see its true form.
A grotesque figure.
A massive skeletal body formed from layered corpses, draped in darkness so deep it swallowed light.
Its lower body was made of two corpses, its torso of four more.
Above them sat a monstrous head shaped like a warped, ancient skull.
Beneath it, four human skulls were aligned vertically.
Each missing something different, one without a nose, one without a mouth, one without eyes, one without ears.
See nothing.
Hear nothing.
Speak nothing.
Move for nothing.
A suffocating dread filled the air.
Rustle.
At that moment, Tolka, who had been lying motionless in the mud, slowly stood up.
Dragging his injured body, he approached the Darkness Devil and knelt.
"I am... the Doll Devil."
He turned his head slightly toward Cael's severed body.
"As agreed, I have brought you the heart of the Chainsaw Devil."
"Grant me power... power that surpasses all devils in the human world... power enough to kill the War Devil and the Control Devil."
The Darkness Devil lowered its head slightly and observed him.
Then it nodded.
It had long been displeased with the Control Devil.
This request was acceptable.
From within its cloak, it tore off a piece of its own flesh.
Dark, dense, and unnatural.
It tossed it aside.
The Hell Devil appeared, catching it with a massive hand before vanishing.
In the human world, outside Ginza Mitsukoshi, the flesh was fed into a woman's mouth.
She swallowed it, her eyes lighting up with unnatural excitement.
"The Darkness Devil's flesh... thank you, Tolka."
The contract was complete.
Tolka had fulfilled his purpose.
He was no longer needed.
The Darkness Devil examined him one last time.
Then, without hesitation, it reached out.
Crack.
It lifted him effortlessly and tore off his head.
Several skeletal hands moved in precise coordination, peeling away flesh and skin with chilling care, preserving the skull beneath.
A grotesque display of craftsmanship.
No one could move.
No one could fight.
They were trapped between life and death, overwhelmed by fear.
Everyone except Cael.
The Cockroach Devil's effect suppressed his sense of pain completely.
Even torn apart, he could still fight at full strength.
And right now, he was furious.
That bastard just said he wanted power to kill the Control Devil and the War Devil.
Another idiot aiming for his women.
"Fuck that."
A low growl escaped Cael's throat.
Hum.
He pulled the starter cord.
Chainsaws erupted from his head and arms as he transformed into Chainsaw Man, restoring his body.
Then, another change.
A bomb pin emerged from his neck.
He pulled it.
Boom.
An explosion roared.
His head shifted into a missile-like form.
Still not done.
He crushed the molars inside his devil mouth.
Crack.
Boom.
Flames burst from his body.
When the smoke cleared, Cael stood revealed.
A monstrous hybrid.
Missile-shaped head, a chainsaw arm, a flamethrower barrel on the other, his entire body lined with burning fuses.
Using the Fire Devil's ability, he fused multiple Weapon Devil powers into one.
His strongest form.
A complete stat monster.
He had planned to save this for the Death Devil.
But now?
"Anyone trying to touch my girls is getting turned into dust."
Hum.
Fear energy surged into him.
Fami, Aki, and the others fed him enough fear to amplify his strength further.
Cael gripped the dark red spear.
Then he moved.
He vanished.
In the next instant, he appeared directly in front of the Darkness Devil.
The spear drove forward.
It pierced straight through the Darkness Devil's body.
At the same time, Tolka's head was obliterated into dust.
The Darkness Devil bent forward slightly, its hands grabbing the weapon as dark blood poured out.
Real damage.
No tricks.
No resistance.
Crack.
It snapped the spear in half.
Cael clicked his tongue.
Even with his current strength, he couldn't completely destroy it.
Still, he didn't hesitate.
He smirked.
"Oh? Tough bones, huh? Let's see how you handle this."
A black vortex formed at the tip of his flamethrower arm.
He swung it toward the Darkness Devil's head.
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
Clap.
All eight of the Darkness Devil's hands clapped in sequence.
A harsh grinding sound filled the air.
Instantly, Cael's chainsaw and flamethrower twisted out of alignment.
His attack veered off.
It only managed to destroy part of the horn on the Darkness Devil's head.
The counterattack came immediately.
"Gua Gu..."
The croak echoed again.
A spatial slash cut through reality itself.
Thud.
Cael's body was split clean in half at the waist.
Effortless.
Even with his absurd durability.
The Darkness Devil quickly retreated, creating distance.
It lifted its cloak, beginning to recover.
It understood Cael's abilities.
Close combat was dangerous.
Cael dropped to the ground in two halves.
Then—
Quanxi's voice rang out.
"Cael."
"Take off my right eyepatch."
"Pull out the arrow inside."
"I'll help you."