The wind shifted with unnatural silence. Lucifero's eyes narrowed, wings tightening slightly. A faint crack resonated in the air—sharp, deliberate. A magic barrier, ruptured, only meters from his position.
He turned his head slowly, horns casting jagged shadows over the broken terrain.
There. In an instant, all gravity bent violently in that direction. Presence of the Demon King.
The earth ruptured. Any object in that space—crushed flat. But…
Nothing. It was empty. Lucifero didn't blink. Then—Zaiphon.
A volley of runes surged through the haze, glowing with sacred configurations. Lucifero raised one arm, gravity intensifying with a low hum. The runes slammed into the ground around him, detonating shallow craters, disrupting nothing but air. And then—Lichtreigen.
From above, below, from every vector, the heavens bled blue light. A storm of Heilig Pfeil descended—spear after spear, faster than sound.
They struck. Some exploded on contact. Others curved inward as if guided. Yet none pierced his skin.
Too weak, Lucifero thought, standing unmoved beneath the barrage. What are they doing? What is this misdirection supposed to hide? He didn't see it.
Nearly a kilometer away, deep in the shattered belly of the Aokigahara, the rats swarmed like a living river—thousands of them, all moving in unnatural unity. They wrapped around Makima's group, consumed them whole—and vanished into the earth. A trick Makima had only used for herself. Until now.
Denji dropped to his knees on the cold stone, coughing violently. "Hhhack—never thought I'd be transported by rats…" He grimaced. "Worse than kissing an bat ."
Aki didn't smile. "What's the plan, Makima-san?"
Makima turned, eyes hollow, but her posture controlled. "You all leave. I'll kill Lucifero."
Denji tilted his head. "Wait—what?"
Makima's voice didn't waver. "My emotions are still unstable. Kang Woo's gone. Taken from me. killing that intruder… will help me breathe again."
The ground trembled. Above them,. A sleek helicopter cut through the gravity-ravaged sky—its frame unearthly, sleek like a hybrid of Kamov and Sikorsky, its surface glinting with alien alloy. URGA Mstitel.
Kobeni's voice cracked through the channel from the cockpit. "Kang Woo… I brought the helicopter. Just like you said."
Makima's eyes snapped upward. "Kobeni!" she shouted. "Kang Woo's gone. Evacuate. Now. The battlefield is collapsing."
There was silence from the cockpit. Then—a soft cry. Kobeni's shoulders trembled as tears streaked her cheeks. The words from Makima shattered something inside her.
But she clenched her teeth, wiped her face, and slammed a hand on the console. "…Get in!" she screamed. "I'm not leaving anyone behind!"
The passenger door swung open. Himeno, Power, and Denji scrambled inside the helicopter—mud caked on their boots, blood still drying on their skin. Power muttered something about flying rats again, but no one paid her any mind.
Makima stood at the threshold. "Any last words, Kishibe?". This might be the last time you get to mock me."
Kishibe lit a cigarette, eyes narrowed. "If you survive… you gonna kill the Prime Minister for betraying you?"
Makima smiled faintly. "You need to ask?"
Kishibe exhaled smoke through his nose, voice low. "If you don't survive, as good courtesy… I'll deliver the blow for you."
Without waiting for a response, he stepped inside and took his seat.
Aki came next, , blade still sheathed but grip tight. "Makima-san… I'll help you here. I can still—"
Makima turned and pointed her fingers like a pistol. "Bang."
A pulse of invisible force struck Aki's leg. With a sickening CRACK, a deep Bruise across his shin, sending him to the ground with a cry. He gritted his teeth and looked up at her. "Why, Makima-san?"
Makima didn't look angry. Just tired. "You need to move on from me, Aki," she said, , almost motherly. "That crush on me … won't save you. You deserve someone who truly cares. Himeno, for example. She's still alive. She'll follow you to the end. Someone like me isn't what you need."
She knelt down, gently placed a hand on his shoulder… then shoved him bodily into the helicopter cabin and slammed the door shut behind him.
KCHUNK.
Makima turned to the cockpit. "Move, Kobeni. Now."
Kobeni wiped her tears with her sleeve and shouted, "Good luck, Makima-san!"
As the helicopter roared upward into the air, its engines fighting against the ever-warping gravity, a voice came through the comms.
It was Himeno. Her voice trembled but carried strength. "Makima-san… looks like I was wrong about you. Sorry. And thank you… for freeing Aki from his obligations. I—"
A flash. The air folded. Something arrived.
A ripple of space tore open beside Makima—and there he stood.
Lucifero. Towering. Dreadful. Four wings stretched open. Four horns curled skyward like a crown of blasphemy. Hair pale and long. His eyes burned with vertical slits, gaze seething with hate. He looked down at her with disdain. "So… it was you. "You kept me from manifesting completely."
Gravity exploded outward. Makima was slammed to the ground, her knees cracking against stone. The earth around her cratered as the weight intensified,. From the helicopter above, the group watched in horror.
Aki staggered toward the door, fingers at the latch. "I need to help her," he rasped. "I can't just leave her—!"
Kishibe grabbed his collar with iron force. "Look at that monster. His target is her. If he notices us… we all die. That gravity is enough to crush a city block. Stay put."
Aki froze, jaw clenched, his fists shaking. He could only stare downward through the shattered clouds as the helicopter climbed higher. Below, Makima remained pinned in silence—her body battered, the pressure unbearable. Gravity coiled around her like a vice from hell, stacking heavier and heavier, as though an entire island were pressing down on her bones. Several of them cracked. She couldn't move.
And yet—her eyes opened. Her left back palm surged. From the Eye of Mikhail, a swirling eruption of red and blue Zaiphon shot outward, expanding into a translucent cocoon-like barrier that burst five meters wide around her. Energy radiated from her like a pulsing star. The sudden blast pushed Lucifero back.
The great devil hissed as his boots scraped along the fractured earth, his wings flaring. "This again?" he snarled. "It's useless."
Sneering, Lucifero raised both of his arms—but in his arrogance, he neglected to coat his fists with Heavy Infighting, the gravity-enhancing magic that lent his blows unstoppable momentum. Instead, he went brute, slamming his clawed hands against the barrier. "Do you think you can escape me, magicless creature?"
Inside the cocoon, Makima's eyes fluttered.
And suddenly—she was no longer in the world of crushed dirt and falling helicopters.
She stood in a white field filled with drifting clouds. A land where sky met ground, and everything shimmered in sacred stillness. Before her loomed seven towering statues, shaped like cloaked reapers—each wielding a massive scythe. They radiated the aura of judgment. The 07 Ghosts.
And then Footsteps. A figure approached her across the sky-touched plain. A young boy. No older than fifteen. Small, pale-skinned, with red irises. His eyes glowed faintly, unreadable. In his hand danced Zaiphon runes.
Makima's breath caught. "…Kang Woo…?"
Her heart almost betrayed her. She stepped forward, hands trembling, as if to embrace him. To hold onto even the illusion.
But the boy remained still. He didn't move, nor did he smile.
And Makima's heart sank. It was Mikhail.
The Eye had manifested its core form. Her face fell. She stopped moving.
So this was it. She closed her eyes. Take me, then. Kill me. Possess me. It doesn't matter anymore.
But Mikhail's voice rang out. Cool, distant. "If I wanted to kill you, I would've dumped myself into the void of space. Or ended you the moment Kang Woo granted me to you. You know that."
Makima didn't look at him. "If you came to gloat, it's worse than being killed. You never liked me.."
Mikhail ignored her. He raised his palm. From it, a miniature Commandment of Piety appeared—shining with geometric radiance. "I offer choices to mortals. Even invalids like you," he said without emotion. "But… it seems my master was right about you."
Makima blinked, barely hearing. "Right about… what?"
"That you," Mikhail said, "could've been the greatest."
Makima breath caught. But she interrupted him. Her voice cracked. "You mean what Kang Woo said?" she muttered. "That I would be the greatest magician of all time?"
Her shoulders shook. Tears slipped from her eyes. "Newsflash, eyeball," she choked out. "I'm just a Control Devil who lost everything."
Her fists curled.
"My contract to transfer damage to Japanese citizens? Gone."
"My position in the country I held by the throat? Gone."
"My twisted, beautiful dream of a world under control—replaced by a new utopia."
"Kang Woo was that utopia. And he's gone."
Tears streamed freely now, dripping into the white void beneath her feet."There's nothing left in me. Nothing I have now. So tell me, Mikhail— Why am I still alive?"
The answer came not with cold logic—but with something almost like… regret.
"You know what…" Mikhail's voice rang out, low and bitter. "My master, Kang Woo… he was right. And I hate it. I hate it because I was wrong."
The windless white world trembled slightly as the Eye's voice echoed deeper, louder. "I'm one of great gods . A construct born of order. I judged you like a parasite—some manipulative worm clinging to a higher being. I labeled you a pet at best, a leech at worst. That was my decree."
He paused. Then came the words that hadn't been spoken by him in eons. "But I was wrong. I watched you… cling to Kang Woo with obsession, yes. But also with conviction. You never gave up. You followed him when others ran. You pursued him when even death stood in your way."
A soft ripple of Zaiphon runes began to spread around the white field. Symbols from a language that didn't belong to this reality formed beneath her feet.
Mikhail continued. "You said you had nothing left—but you still want to live. That's something Kang Woo lacked. Courage. The courage to live under unoriginality ."
Makima stood frozen, heart pounding.
Mikhail's voice darkened. "You did what I could not. What even himself could not. You made Kang Woo hesitate. You made him spare the Aging Devil.. And that was something I thought impossible. He is a being whose ego could crush planets. And you… Control Devil… you made a spark flicker in him."
Then From above, the sky tore open.
A spiral of Zaiphon runes rained down around Makima, encircling her like a blessing….
Mikhail's form raised one ethereal arm.
Runes flowed out from his palm, streaming like a river of stars. They twisted, coiled, and finally solidified into a single burning seal of commandment—one wordless sphere pulsing with dark-blue light, humming with layered intent.
"Ishimeyoma Shigai Eniwa Kota Garakachi Wa Natore."
Makima's breath hitched. "What… is this?"
"The answer," Mikhail replied."The one you've sought all along. You've asked Kang Woo what he is. And he never told you. Not once."
Mikhail floated forward, stopping just before her. "Say the words. Speak that phrase aloud. And the Commandment of Piety will fuse with you. It will make you stronger. It may give you the answer you seek."
A pause. Then a warning. "But beware—this Commandment is not mine. It is his. It is Kang Woo's extension… his will encoded in divine law. If you fail the integration… I do not know what it will do to you."
Makima said nothing. Her fingers trembled, her nails digging into her palms.
"I've exhausted my mana," Mikhail continued. "That barrier outside? It's the strongest Zaiphon I've ever cast. It won't last long. And I won't either." "When this ends… I will go dormant. But if you survive, Makima… if we survive… then we'll speak again. Make your choice."
And with that—he vanished. What remained was a dark orb floating before her—pulsing. Breathing. Waiting. The Commandment of Piety.
Makima reached out, hand trembling. She then chant : "Ishimeyoma Shigai Eniwa Kota Garakachi Wa Natore…"
The moment the words left her lips, the orb surged forward—piercing through her chest, phasing into her very soul.
And then— The world around her ignited red. Reality screeched. Shadows burst from the cracks of space itself as something vile bled out.. The Demonic Sea, in part, spilled into the spiritual space .
Before her, the Commandment of Piety hovered—no longer an orb, but a throne of writhing scripture. Floating, judging.
And then— Hands clamped around her throat. Makima's eyes widened.
Aki's face—twisted, bloodied—loomed before her. "Why did you let me die…?"
Another hand grabbed her arm—Himeno. "You used us…"
Denji's image. "You only cared when I became Chainsaw Man."
Voices. Countless voices. Surrounding her. Hybrid, devil, human—screaming.
"Why couldn't you just die—?!"
"Because of you, Kang Woo died—!"
Makima staggered backward, the pressure of a thousand accusations pressing into her skull.
She wanted to scream. But Something worse. A figure rose from the Demonic Sea's vapor. A silhouette made of endless smoke, his eyes burning like stars on a corpse.
The Black King. "I am what resides inside him," it said, voice like ash folding over steel. "And , Makima—you dream in delusion. You are a pawn. A discarded character. A tool built to break. Replaced. Forgotten."
Makima fell to her knees. Her hands trembled. "I… I know," she whispered. "I'm just the Control Devil... A curse with a face. I lost everything…"
" My place in the world… dead and buried . My Prime Minister sold me out. Japan threw me away."
"And Kang Woo…" Her fists clenched. "He's gone. Taken. Because of me. And now the Qliphoth have come through. This world—this whole world—is going to be flattened. I'm just a discarded tool."
Her eyes dimmed. But then A cut. Space itself ripped apart as a black sword cleaved downward—Venuzdonoa.
The illusions shattered—burning into nothing as if they were mere paper against the breath of God.
And there—standing beneath a sky of fractured red and silver— Kang Woo.
Makima gasped. "Kang… Kang Woo…"
Without hesitation, she ran forward—threw herself into his arms. Her voice cracked with sobs. Her body collapsed against his like she was holding onto the last real thing in a collapsing universe.