Not again, not again—!
She curled up on the cold ground. The terror in her heart swelled, and she could feel the pinpricks of the eyes glaring down at her, daring her to raise her head.
You look so small, so insignificant.
NoNoNoNO—get away, get away from me!
The glowering, disappointed looks of her parents loomed over her. They melted away, and were replaced by a chorus of her siblings, laughing at her, pointing fingers at her. Her dead sister, though without any lungs to breath nor vocal cords to speak, laughed the loudest of them all.
It's all my fault.
Kobeni clutches the sides of her head, covering her ears. It does nothing. She clenches her jaw and tries not to cry.
Have courage, have courage—
Ringing. Aching. Pain. Her muscles convulse under pressure. The devil smiles.
Surrender.
Leave me alone!
Give in, and your fate is yours.
It's right there, within reach. A sweet release from the pain—make the pain stop, go on, make it stop—
You're not meant to be a slave to Control. You're not meant to be begging for your life.
Give up, Kobeni. You cannot stop this on your own.
Salty tears sting her eyes. The ground is rumbling underfoot, great tremors send groaning mounds of rock up and down. It seems that the very earth was intent to swallow her whole.
She desperately thinks of the compliments she received by Himeno and Hayakawa, on her efforts as a Devil Hunter. She remembers the way Arai, stranger that he was, sacrificed himself in her place. She recalls the fun times she shared with the domesticated Devil of Violence, who had treated her to vanilla ice cream and listened to her stories.
She imagines Denji, the Devil of Chainsaws, shielding her from a killing blow, knowing well she was insignificant, just another human to chop to pieces like what he'd done at that restaurant she once worked at.
This silent promise given unto her in their actions and words, this subtle wisdom behind the interactions she's shared with these people—perhaps they had known, if only the slightest, what it meant to be courageous, and extended such courage to her as a parting gift.
Maybe this was the promise she made, and she just didn't realize it until now.
Give in, Kobeni.
It was no longer a sweet whisper in her ear. Control was demanding it of her. But there was something unique to how the devil spoke this command, almost as if it was desperate—
Her hands clutched the ground. Slowly, Kobeni pushed herself up to her feet. Her head was raised, and looked up to meet the devil's stare.
Surrender.
…no.
The ground tore apart even more so. The golden eyes shimmered powerfully at the blunt refusal.
Surrender yourself.
No.
Control frowned. A black miasma bled from the eyes, and fell in a cascade to the ground. The substance morphed into creatures, hell-spawns and freaks of all kinds. Crispy and gooey flesh and jagged teeth covered with blood red gums, arms curled backwards and eyes like empty holes. Long claws and longer limbs, melting and swelling and bursting under this flesh made anew. They clacked and snickered, advancing like a pack of wolves.
Kobeni did not budge. She paid them no heed, and kept her eyes locked to the puppet master.
The devil commanded, one last time—
Beg for your life.
The human snarled. Courage, long buried under the years of torment, under a thousand moments passed in fear, boiled to the surface, and showed itself in pinched brows and taut lips.
NO!
A howl gave the first signal, and the pack of monsters attacked. They converged, their maws awaiting the delicious taste of human bone and human blood. Sweet, tangy iron and soft tissue—
The first to close the distance brought its arm down to cleave her into halves. Its blade met dirt instead, and before it could pull its arm back out and try again, its head was detached from its small, wiry neck. One of its back legs had been pulled apart at the knee-joint, and was whisked away as Kobeni immediately threw herself at the next apparition.
This one also hadn't the time to prepare for the sudden counterattack, and in one swing with the stolen limb, the five legs sprouting from its pear-shaped body were sliced clean off. It squealed, and rolled away to give room for the third opponent to pounce Kobeni. A lion it was, with a large tar-black mane and bright silver claws. Half its face was but the skull, and black flames spewed from its open mouth.
Its screech was terrifying, but it was met with an equally vicious reply, as Kobeni brought her improvised scythe up and met its charge by blunting it. Hateful brown eyes willed this beast to be drawn back from the evil it had come from, and it belched black ink as it was thwarted by her weapon, landing roughly on its side and fizzling into atoms thereafter.
Another came at her. It balled itself into a fleshy snowball and rolled quickly. Kobeni hadn't the chance to stop its momentum, and dove from its trajectory, barely missing the stray claw of another devil wanting to snag its prize for itself.
Balancing on one foot, the scythe was locked in the crook of her arm and spun round-and-round, slicing at the eager claws of Control's puppets. They knew their strength was in their numbers, and a vicious back and forth between Kobeni and Control's apparitions ensued. She was too quick for them to catch, but she could not divide and decimate them.
Give in, human.
"NO!" the human roared defiantly, "I don't fear you anymore!"
One of the apparitions morphed into a giant insect, a mosquito with veiny translucent wings and a long pointy needle at its front. It zipped through the air, ready to run her through with its pointy end. She dove away, and it missed her by inches, its needle striking the ground instead. Before Kobeni could take advantage of its mistake, another one of the same kind dashed forth, forcing her to dodge a second time.
A third, a praying mantis with four serrated arms, timed its attack as she landed. It was received by the detached leg of its kin, which punched through its bubbling tissue with ease and sent it flying back.
Her mind thinks of the Devil of Decay, the terrible image burned in her head. She remembers the way its rotten skin felt when it had gripped her arm, but she focuses on the knife that had been clutched in her hand—
The buzzing of the mosquitos zeroed onto where she stood, and the two apparitions did not take care to watch where the other flew. They homed in, and accidentally collided with each other just before their needles could pierce skin. Not that they would've, for she already weaved out of their path, and swiftly took the knife in her hands and sliced them to ribbons.
The mantis was still reforming itself, so she had enough time to catch the hellhound that had just tackled her, the both of them rolling with the momentum. The hound apparition planted itself atop where she lay, and all that separated her exposed neck and its jagged bite was her knife, which had pierced the hound's lower jaw and gave her the leverage needed to literally pull the hound off her.
And she wrestled with it, raising a curled fist and punching down at it. So blind was she by instinct, by the thrill of violence; and Kobeni likened this apparition to be an extension of Makima herself, and threw her righteous fury down upon it. A gnarled cry tore from her throat, as her fist punched through the hound's flailing skull, spilling its goopy brains.
She pulls the knife out from its jaw. Glaring down at the convulsing entity, she brings her arm up to deliver the finishing blow—
—and ducks away as the mantis strikes, its arm-blades skewering the hound in her place.
The ground rumbles again, but Kobeni is assured in her step. She pushes off one foot and latches onto the back of the creature, already it tries to shake her off and prevent its assured demise, but she will not have it any other way.
A hand takes hold of the antennae sticking from atop its head, and when yanking back, Kobeni runs her blade across its throat, spilling black ooze. Whatever shrill cry it had was cut abruptly short, and the creature gave up easy, collapsing to the ground. Kobeni watched as it faded away to nothing just like its other companions, trails of dust billowing with the wind.
She looks up. Control is still there, looming above her with that oppressive golden gaze. But no longer is the devil an intangible abomination; Control gazed down at her in her human form, with her perfect face and blank expression.
Kobeni, small and meek as she was, glares back. Her knife drips black blood, clutched in her hand, and her heart drums in her chest.
It's time to face your fears.