As Makima felt an odd compulsion, her left hand moved to form a pistol gesture. Suddenly, her surroundings changed, replaced by a white room. Incarnations of the Control Devil stood around her, and at the forefront was a young Nayuta, her future self.
"I'm Nayuta, your future," the young version said.
Makima's thoughts flashed to Kang Woo's words. Ah… the Nayuta personality, she recalled, realizing he had foreseen her future.
Nayuta placed a steadying hand over Makima's left hand. "We're so glad you continued living for us," she whispered. "Here it comes—the concept of control itself."
Makima felt a surge of clarity and strength, a merging of all Control Devil aspects. She whispered, "Bang."
The shot streaked through the sky like a shooting star, striking Lucifero's descending boulder sword and disintegrating it into dust.
Lucifero's eyes widened in seething rage. "Did you just use soul magic?" he bellowed.
Aki's eyes widened as well. "Did Ms. Makima just create a phenomenon like Kang Woo? His power always appeared like a dark comet, and now, Ms. Makima made a shooting star…"
Himeno exhaled her smoke and smiled, saying, "We're still alive, Aki. You better keep your promise about marrying me."
Aki chuckled, replying playfully, "Fine, fine. I'll marry you and spoil you with smokes every day."
Kishibe thought to himself, I never thought Makima would save the world. I was just here waiting for her suicidal move against that white creature, Lucifero… then I'd kill the Prime Minister as a sign of good faith.
Prime Minister Kentaro stared, dumbfounded. How can the Control Devil be this powerful? he wondered.
Lucifero, fuming, activated Presence of the Demon King to pin everyone down. However, Makima focused her Darkness Manipulation, creating a veil-like barrier that protected everyone within a 200-meter radius from the terrifying gravity pressure.
Makima breathed heavily. This is the first time I've ever done something like this, she thought. She drew inspiration from Lucifero's own wide-ranging techniques.
Lucifero sneered, recognizing her tactic. "Another imitation of a Mana Zone? What do you think you can achieve against me?" he taunted, using Gravity Magic: Evil God Pressure Craft. But just as a new boulder began to form, Makima's Hellblaze flared up around it, destabilizing the construct.
Makima taunted back, her tone unwavering. "You're right. All of us are just magicless scum compared to you, the King of Devils. I only attained this power by absorbing a Commandment that was given to me. I'm just a fake, a borrower of power… but there's no rule that says a fake can't surpass the real thing. So, have you gathered enough mana in your body?"
Lucifero's eyes narrowed. "You think highly of yourself, whore," he snarled.
Meanwhile, Kishibe, in a secretive whisper, addressed the Hell Devil, "You were told by Kang Woo to protect me, but if he's gone, I'm willing to sacrifice—"
The Hell Devil interrupted firmly, "There's no need. This Lucifero is an intruder, an alien force in this world. I'll do whatever it takes to stop him. And don't underestimate the noble one he's a man with a thousand plans."
Kishibe gave a nod of acknowledgment. Aki, noticing the exchange, asked, "What should we do?"
Himeno, hearing this, took a deep breath and steeled herself for what was to come.
The tense air was shattered when Lucifero's boulder swords began descending in waves, their mana-reinforced edges making them near-impenetrable. As Makima dodged the incoming barrage, the Hell Devil opened a portal, absorbing several of the boulder swords into its Hell Door.
So he's reinforcing the boulder swords with intense mana to stop me from summoning Hellblaze directly on them, Makima noted, her eyes narrowing. And now his mana is spread within a 10-meter radius to prevent any Hellblaze bombs from forming near him…
Makima glanced at Kishibe, who seemed assist her via hell devils , and thought to herself, Kang Woo… your joke about enemies killing each other while working together is about to become reality.
Turning her focus back to Lucifero, Makima taunted him, her voice laced with confidence, "Although you possess immense mana, you're just a failed king. You flaunt your gravity magic with brute force, but no skill. That makes you no different from a magicless scum in this world."
That should get him pissed, she thought, watching Lucifero's expression carefully.
Lucifero's face twisted in fury, his eyes burning with rage. "You WHORE of a cheap devil from this wretched world!" he roared, his voice filled with seething malice. "When I'm done with you, there won't be a bone left to mourn!"
As he spoke, dozens of boulder swords materialized in the sky, formed by his Gravity Magic: Evil God Pressure Craft.
Makima dodged the raining boulders, deflecting one with a swift swipe of her arm. She summoned a sword of darkness in her right hand, its black edge crackling with volatile energy, and charged at Lucifero, meeting his outstretched claws with a clash that sent shockwaves through the air.
Lucifero growled, each of their clashes pushing him further into a boiling rage. "Impossible… the King of Devils being pushed like this…" he muttered, disbelief seeping into his voice.
Makima met his gaze with an unwavering, silent look—an expression that seemed to say If my opponent had mastery of their abilities like you and used them with skill, I would lose. But against you, a fake king… I can stay one step ahead.
Lucifero's eyes narrowed in anger, his thoughts a chaotic storm of frustration. Damn you… He couldn't suppress his fury any longer. "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU, WHORE!"
Their battle intensified, both moving at blinding speed. Makima, calculating each strike, deftly evaded Lucifero's slashing claws while countering with precise sword strokes. As their blades met, sparks flew, and with a swift maneuver, Makima severed Lucifero's fingernails and cleaved off one of his horns, sending him crashing from the sky.
Lucifero hit the ground hard, his massive form creating cracks in the asphalt streets of what appeared to be a Tokyo-like cityscape within Makima's darkness zone intensified . Glaring up at Makima, who hovered above with her single dark wing , he seethed, "DAMN YOU, WHORE! To think you're this hard to kill!"
Makima's expression remained calm, her piercing gaze locked onto the enraged devil. Lucifero's fury reached a boiling point as he prepared to unleash hundreds of boulder swords from the sky, each brimming with intensified mana.
Makima's eyes narrowed as she deflected the oncoming boulders with skillful swordplay, redirecting many of them mid-flight with a mixture of darkness manipulation and precise timing. Simultaneously, she created Hellblaze Bombs in rapid succession, causing them to explode upon contact with the boulders.
Makima angled her single dark wing, which now stretched wide and strong, to propel herself forward at maximum speed. The ground beneath her cracked from the sheer force of her acceleration, and she pierced through the air like a black arrow, breaking the sound barrier at Mach 10. Her battle cry resonated like that of a determined warrior "Wahhhhhhhhhh!"
Lucifero gritted his teeth, his eyes flaring with intensity. He activated Gravity Magic: Evil God Pressure Craft and summoned a thousand boulder swords, directing them at Makima from every direction, closing in to strike at dangerously close range.
But as the boulders converged on her position, Makima vanished in an instant, leaving behind only a flickering afterimage. Suddenly, a hellish portal opened behind her previous position—the Hell Devil's handiwork. It had teleported Makima to safety in the nick of time.
Before Lucifero could react, he felt a dark presence directly above him. Makima descended from the sky at an incredible velocity, her body encased in a swirling Darkness Shield to withstand the altitude and the speed. The Hellblaze enveloping her fist grew even more intense as she channeled all of her focus into the attack.
Lucifero looked up in horror, barely processing her sudden reappearance. In a desperate counter, he activated his trump card, intensifying Presence of the Demon King by a hundredfold, focusing its crushing gravity on a single target—Makima. The immense weight pinned her down violently, disabling the wider effect across kilometers. For the briefest moment, Lucifero allowed himself a breath of relief, convinced he had subdued his enemy.
But something was off. The Makima pinned down under his power began to flicker and fade—a spectral afterimage dissipating like mist.
"A fake…?" Lucifero muttered, his eyes narrowing in realization.
From the distance, Himeno, who had overheard the conversation about Makima and this world's so-called magicless scum, grinned as she exhaled her cigarette. "You know what they say… Ghost Devil illusions and magicless scum tend to stick together."
Lucifero's rage ignited at her taunt, and he turned towards Himeno, intent on erasing her. But before he could move, a gigantic fox head emerged from the ground, jaws parting wide, revealing Makima within. She had been teleported to safety by the Fox Devil's aid, strategically positioning herself within striking distance of Lucifero.
For a brief, critical moment, Lucifero's focus shattered, causing his Presence of the Demon King to momentarily deactivate.
Makima seized the opportunity, her eyes blazing with determination. She lunged forward, her Hellblaze-infused fist aimed at Lucifero's chest, which was reinforced by dense mana. With a ferocious cry, she shouted, "HELLBLAZE BOMB!"
Her fist connected with explosive force, piercing through Lucifero's mana-reinforced chest. The impact was cataclysmic. Dark flames surged and twisted violently around her hand, carving through his defenses. Lucifero's eyes widened in utter shock as blood erupted from his mouth, splattering across the broken asphalt.
Makima, undeterred, let out a raw, primal cry and unleashed all her strength into a follow-up strike. "HAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she roared, her voice echoing like thunder.
Her fist dug deeper into Lucifero's chest, the sheer power of her attack overwhelming his defenses. The ground beneath them shattered, and Lucifero's massive frame was launched backward, hurtling through the air for a hundred meters before crashing into a row of crumbling buildings. Dust and debris erupted from the impact, the echoes of destruction reverberating across the cityscape.
Makima, who had watched from a distance, now fell to her knees, coughing violently. "Hah—cough—hah," she struggled to breathe, each gasp audible in the silence that followed.
Aki rushed to her side, kneeling beside her. "Ms. Makima… did it work?" he asked, his voice full of uncertainty and concern.
Makima, panting heavily, managed a nod. "Yes… Aki-kun… we—" she said between labored breaths. She glanced over at Kishibe and Himeno, acknowledging their part in the plan, even though she hadn't needed to ask them to help. She placed a trembling hand on Aki's shoulder and forced a smile. "We… won."
Aki nodded in response, his expression a mixture of relief and exhaustion.
However, their brief moment of victory was shattered as Lucifero, who had been lying in the rubble, suddenly moved with immense speed, using a warp technique to appear right in front of them. "Presence of the Demon King!" he roared, and the crushing gravity pinned everyone to the ground. The Darkness zone that had previously protected them dissipated, as Makima was too exhausted to maintain it.
Makima's eyes widened as she looked up at Lucifero, realizing something was off. Her gaze shifted to his chest, noticing that it was now completely empty no heart.
Lucifero sneered, revealing a dark secret. "As King of Devils, I can move my heart anywhere," he declared, his voice dripping with contempt. He pointed to his neck, where his heart now beat steadily beneath the surface. "You may have won a round against me… but I have won the overall combat."
lucifero raised his remaining hand, forming a swirling black sphere. "Gravity…" he intoned, and suddenly, a void began forming on their right, the very fabric of space warping into a dark chasm—a void , the Space Between Time.
Just as the black void threatened to consume everything, an unknown figure stepped out of the rift, the distortion rippling around him like a halo. With a calm voice, he uttered a single word, "Singularity."
In an instant, all of the gravity around them vanished, the crushing force dissipating as if it had never existed. Lucifero and Makima both turned their eyes to the newcomer, shock and curiosity evident in their expressions.
The unknown figure stood with a casual air, his presence radiating an aura of authority and power. He glanced around at the battlefield, then locked eyes with Makima and Lucifero .
"Yo… long time no see," he said, a smirk playing on his lips.