So… uh, I did an oopsie, and I spelt Aubrey's name wrong in the last chapter. I blame another fanfic I was reading at the time which had a character named Aubrey but spelt it as Aubury, and it kinda just stuck. So, yeah, apologies for that mistake. I've had a lot of those lately (sleep deprivation is a bitch, ain't it lmao).

Now, before we get into the chapter, how about I respond to some reviews/comments?

[Response to Reviews/Comments]

(Qoutev) TACO SENSEI: Yes. To all of those questions. In other words, you're just gonna have to wait and see. Also, I'm glad you finally clued in that no one has plot armour! Especially in this fic. I mean, it's bloody Chainsaw Man, and if you've read the manga you'd know what plot armour means to Tatsuki Fujimoto… absolutely nothing. So, yeah, character death is definitely a possibility.

(Ao3) Everthegreendragon: I haven't watched the movie (I know I committed a crime, and I will correct this behaviour in the future) but I have seen one too many edits of him, and I know that's one of his lines at some point of the movie. So I have to use it for one of the Devils, because, ya know, fear is their whole shtick and is how they get their power.

(Ao3) Rolledens: Yeah, I know, I did a stupid, my bad. Thanks, though!

(Ao3) Athing: Yup, I've dug my stanky ass out of the hole I crawled out of to continue to write this (writer's block is a bitch). And yes, that is a reference to the movie I have not watched. As for Aubrey being misinformed… well, no, it's not, but basically what happened was that seeing as The Grief Devil gives the users chains, and seeing as, well, a Devil is a Devil, Aubrey kinda mistook Sunny for having The Chain Devil (Which is a separate Devil who we will see later on as Sunny gains more abilities, because he is not just limited to chains) and not the Grief Devil.

Also, while Aubrey's mom is a total shits-for-brains, she's still Aubrey's mom and became that way because of what happened to her, being abandoned by her husband and forced to raise a child she didn't want in the first place. I've seen it happen IRL and I know it sucks but that's just life. And while Aubrey holds resentment toward her mother… well, she is still her mom, and without her, she wouldn't be here, so of course she shows some empathy for her, but not enough to where sacrificing her isn't off the table.

(Ao3) Pouuku: Here's more!

(Ao3) Orosan: I mean, it is an extremely rare crossover, considering not many people can think of a shonen series to crossover with a psychological horror game based on moving on from the past and overcoming chronic fears and depression. Chainsaw Man and its Devils are the only things I can really think of that would be able to fit in this world without it seeming too out of place. Oh, and thank you for calling my story cool!

With that out of the way, let's get into the chapter!

xxXXxxXXxx

Blood coated the floor of the William's household, as Ms. William's corpse hit the floor with an unceremonious thump, the woman's neck having been torn open by the edge of a bread knife. Blood sprayed all over the living room of the house from the gaping wound, as the woman's eyes widened past half-mast for the first time in years, though she had died almost instantly when the blade had been carelessly dragged across and through her neck.

You'd expect there to be a bit of a mess, but that wasn't the case. Oh, it was messy, and everything in front of the woman had been coated in blood, it was just that everything had been covered head to toe in shadows, including the tv, carpets, the chair that the woman had been sitting on, and the surrounding walls.

And as much as it pained the killer to do this, it was all for the greater good of her survival.

Aubrey stood behind the chair that her mother always sat in, her heart racing a mile a minute as she held the bloody knife in her right hand, her left hand shaking as if an earthquake had gone off in her body. Her breath was shaky, her nerves were on edge, and her eyes were closed throughout the whole thing.

If she didn't see it, it didn't happen.

If she didn't think about it, she never did it.

If she didn't hear the gurgling sounds from the dying and dead woman, then she could've never committed such an atrocity.

She was NOT a murderer DAMNIT!

That was all that Aubrey cared about right now. The deed was done, her mother was dead, and now all Shadow had to do was absorb the corpse. "Alright! I did as you said! Now complete your end of the bargain…." Aubrey said, her voice meek and hurt.

She didn't want to do this.

This was all Mr. Wright's fault…

He forced her into this situation…

She didn't do this willingly…

Aubrey felt sick to her stomach. Not only had she killed that, admittedly douchey police officer, but she had also killed her mother.

And all of it just to complete this stupid job that Mr. Wright tasked her to do!

When Aubrey opened her eyes, the body, the blood, and more importantly all the shadows were gone that had been created by The Shadow Devil. The sacrifice had worked, which was good. But, still… she wished she didn't have to resort to this.

She looked down at the knife in her hand, before throwing it away into a far corner of the house, bandaged hands balled up in fists. She'd never do this again. She'd never go to such lengths again.

She hoped she'd never have to.

A sickening laugh filled the house, as Aubrey felt The Shadow Devil fully form behind her, its foreboding presence the same as when she first met it… when Mr. Wright introduced it to her after that long car ride to The Big City. She had never seen it before, as when she first saw it was obscured by shadows—fittingly, might she add—but now she had a chance to see what it really looked like.

The pink-haired teenager spun around on her heels as she turned to look at the monster that she had contracted with, and could only look at it in abstract horror.

It was tall… Like, it was easily 10 feet tall, as it had reached the edge of the ceiling in the living room. It towered over her like a beast would its prey, and that wasn't even the worst part about it.

As expected, it was made entirely of shadows, its body covered head-to-toe with mouths, with various kinds of teeth. Some were sharp, some were blunt, some were smooth, and some were squared. It had a singular pair of ten eyes all of the different shapes as well. Some eyes were slanted, some were closed, some were wide and bloodshot, and others were in a neutral resting position.

And then there were its limbs.

It had at least ten arms, and twelve legs, all of which were different sizes, all of which had different finger types. Some were webbed, some were short, some were long, some were clawed, and some were even cartoonish. Its legs were the same, but they were all of equal length. Some were pawed, there was a pair of elephant feet, and the front two feet were human.

The centermost mouth on the creature stretched into a large smile, as it overlooked Aubrey, its dark abysses for eyes staring down at her. "You've done a good job, Aubrey! Now, let's go finish that job~! All we should have to do is get me to eat him, and he'll be safely contained in my stomach. Then, I'll vomit him out at the bus station, where that human can take him to your boss."

Aubrey felt a chill roll down her spine as the monster talked, although she silently nodded in response, despite what her mind was telling her to do, that being to run away. The Shadow Devil slinked away back into her shadow, as she steeled herself.

It was time to get this job done. Once and for all.

She looked over to where her mother once was and felt her hands clench into fists.

This wasn't going to be a waste of human life.

She was going to finish this. She had to finish this. She already sacrificed too much for this.

It couldn't be all for nothing.

"I'm sorry, Mom… at least you can rest now…."

And with that grim thought, Aubrey left her house.

A house that she would never return to once his job was said and done.

[Sunny's POV]

Sunny frowned as he walked to the town hall, the top of his shirt covered with blue blood that came from The Shadow Devil. He had a lot to report to The Mayor, and seeing as it was getting into the late afternoon, he didn't want to be late. He just hoped that The Mayor wouldn't get mad at him. Because, as far as he was concerned, today had been a total bust.

Not only did he learn that Aubrey was contracted with The Shadow Devil, the same Devil he had to kill, but that also for some reason she was trying to…. Honestly, Sunny didn't know what she was trying to do. All that he knew was that Aubrey had attacked him using The Shadow Devil, and had it not been for his contract with The Grief Devil, he probably would've died.

Maybe she thought the same thing that Kel did.

Sunny's frown deepened at that notion. If that was the case, then goddamn was he screwed. He shook his head. That didn't matter, at least, not right now. He still had to kill The Shadow Devil. He knew that The Mayor probably wouldn't give a shit, but it was worth a shot to at least tell him

As he turned the corner, he glanced over to the park, and he saw The Hooligans all hanging out by the sand pit. They were all playing some sort of card game together, and noticeably, without Aubrey. The black-haired teen sighed, cracking his neck from side to side. A part of him wanted to say hi to them, but another part of him thought it would be a bad idea.

He was about to leave when he felt a hand slam down on his shoulder. He glanced behind him, and saw Charlie looking down at him… and, her eyes weren't covered by her hair this time. She had one black eye and one brown eye—heterochromia.

"Huh. Neat." Sunny thought, as he looked up at the tall teenager. Or, adult? Honestly, he had no idea how old she was but he assumed that she was at least 17, maybe 18 if he was good at guessing.

"Holy shit is that Sunny?!" An energetic voice called out in the distance, one that he recognized as… what did he call himself again? The Maverick or something like that? The blond-haired kid came running over to him and grabbed his face, looking around it to see if it was a mask, or, something like that, before taking a step back. "What in the hell?! It really is you! But, wait… didn't you like… die or something?"

Sunny felt a bead of sweat trail down the side of his face as he glanced over to Charlie, who had a faint smile on her face. And that was a lot coming from her, seeing as she never really emoted, nor did she ever really speak.

Sunny rubbed the back of his neck, chewing the inside of his lip. He was about to say something when a pompadour-haired teen, Angel if he remembered correctly, clapped him on the back as Charlie let go of his shoulder, making him stumble forward. "Who cares! He's alive now, which means he might know what happened to Aubrey!"

Charlie was on his left, The Maverick was in front of him, and Angel was behind him. And, off in the distance, Vance and Kim were just staring at him as if they saw a ghost, Kim moreso than Vance.

"Yeah," Charlie, which shocked even Angel and The Maverick, spoke up. It was the first time Sunny heard her speak, and it was… kinda normal. Considering she was a towering 6 feet tall, he expected her to have a bit of a deeper voice. But, she sounded relatively normal. "Have you seen her?"

Sunny looked at the ground. Should he tell them the truth? And, better yet, what was Aubrey doing to avoid them like this? Was it because she had a contract with a Devil?

Actually, why did she have a contract with a Devil? Maybe he'd ask her if she wasn't trying to attack him again.

"Wait a minute… is she a Devil Hunter?" Sunny thought, as his eyes widened. "Maybe that's why she attacked me… it only makes sense."

"I concur with that," Grief spoke up in his head, which made him do a double take. "Don't act surprised. Although, I am shocked that Shadow of all Devils made a contract with her. She seems more like The Blood Devil's kinda contractor. Then again, she is in Japan right now."

Sunny sighed, ignoring Grief's comment, before speaking up. "I…" he began, as he closed his eyes. "She attacked me in town today. She nearly… uh… knocked me out."

That made Kim snap out of whatever trance she was in, as she walked over to him. When she got close, The Maverick moved out of the way as she loomed over him. "Don't you dare lie about that kinda crap! Aubrey would never—"

"Uh, Kim, hate to break it to you, but she tried to mug your father last time we saw her," Angel interrupted as Kim inhaled sharply.

"Point taken…" Kim breathed out. "Okay, so maybe she did. But… why? She doesn't just… randomly attack people. Especially, uh… dead friends…." Kim said, her voice a little bit on the weak side when she brought up "dead friends." "You know… considering you-know-who."

Sunny nodded grimly. He knew exactly who she was referring to. "Anyway! Depressing shit aside!" Vance spoke up, coming out of nowhere. "We should give the guy some space, I mean if I didn't know better…" As Vance said that he swiped his finger across the blue gunk, and tested it with his finger and thumb. "Dude… this is blood. I don't know why it's blue, but—"

"Devil hunting…" Sunny blurted out, as Vance blinked.

"Devil… hunting? Like, bible devil or like… something else? Like, wanted criminals?" Vance questioned, raising an eyebrow as The Maverick laughed.

"Nice one, Sunny! But, uh… seriously, why are you covered in blood? And why is it blue?" The Maverick asked as Sunny pinched his nose, turning to leave them. He forgot that barely anyone knew what a Devil was.

Well, he was about to leave, when a giant black tendril of an arm slammed down in front of him from between two houses, before another arm came out from his Shadow to grab him. Everyone who had been around him scrambled away, as a giant of a creature rose out from behind a house. It had at least a dozen mouths, and 5 sets of eyes littering its body. It was easily 10 feet tall, if not taller—because it was taller than the house that it was behind—and sitting on its head was Aubrey.

"I'm sorry Sunny! But you're coming with me!" Aubrey shouted from atop the creature's head, as it laughed.

"YOU CARVED UP MY HANDS PRETTY NICELY! BUT LET'S SEE YOU GET OUT OF THIS ONE, GRIEF!" The Shadow Devil bellowed as it opened one of its many mouths. Sunny squirmed in its grasp, as he tried to get to the knife in his pocket. He had left the blade out so that if he had to transform, he could just nick his wrist and cause the transformation without being dramatic. But with his hands bound to his sides due to this thing's grip, he wasn't sure if he could get out of it.

And the last thing he wanted was to be swallowed alive by this big black shadow creature!

"If I get swallowed by this thing, I'm asking for double the pay!" Sunny thought, as he writhed in the thing's grasp.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!" Kim's voice travelled all the way up to him as she stared up at the monster, as Sunny shouted back because he felt like he had to.

"A DEVIL!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Vance cried back, as Sunny bit his lip.

"Damnit, I can't get my wrist close enough!" Sunny thought, as he felt the tip of the knife bite into his skin, but it wasn't anywhere close to his wrist. He grew closer and closer to the thing's mouth, as his squirming became more frantic.

"Oh fuck, oh shit, oh fuck, oh shit! No! I don't wanna be eaten!" Sunny panicked as he kicked. The Shadow Devil squeezed harder, as he felt all of the breath in his lungs get forced out. Sunny gasped for air, but nothing came of it, as he was squeezed tighter and tighter the more he squirmed.

He felt the knife dig deeper into his skin.

He got an idea.

He squirmed more, and more, and more, as The Shadow Devil crushed him closer and closer, so much so that blood was now trailing from his eyes. But, he didn't care. He felt the blade cut closer and closer to his wrist, and after he did one more round of squeezing, when he felt his arm break, his wrist was cut, as Aubrey looked down at him with worry in her eyes.

It didn't matter now.

His wrist was cut.

And the transformation began.

Aubrey's eyes widened, as did the many eyes of The Shadow Devil. And then, Sunny, in his Devil form, bit into the monster's thumb, tearing a chunk out of it as its blood sprayed into his mouth. He didn't know if Devil Blood counted, but he didn't care.

And thankfully, it did, as his body began to regenerate from being half-crushed to death.

Sunny let out a bellowing laugh, as chains exploded from the enclosed fist, damn near destroying the whole thing as he slipped out of it, landing on the ground below, sticking the landing, his now demonic eyes glowing a bright red.

"NICE TRY ASS HAT!" Sunny called out, as The Shadow Devil howled in agony as blood sprayed everywhere, coating the streets and the house in front of it. Sunny stared up at the behemoth of a Devil, as he rolled his shoulders, before looking over his shoulders at The Hooligans, who were staring at him as if he was a monster.

Which, to be fair, he did look like one.

"What the fuck are you all looking at! Get out of here!" Sunny barked, his voice distorted as they all took the hint, and ran away. He looked back up at the Shadow Devil, who was sending one of its many fists toward him. Sunny slinked a few barbed chains the length of a traffic pole out of his cacophony of chains from his hands, whipped them around in a tornado-like motion, and wrapped them around the arm's wrist, before tugging with all of the strength he could muster.

He looked up at Aubrey, who was clutching her hand for some reason before he growled. Why the hell was she doing this? Whatever, it didn't matter to him. Not right now, anyway. He yanked on the wrist, and the entire arm came rocketing out of its… socket? Or whatever was keeping this big bastard together. When he did, his chains went back to him like retractable claws.

He looked up again at Aubrey and noticed that her right arm was now completely limp, as she fell over on her side.

And then it hit him.

"Wait… whatever I do to this thing, I do to her! Shit! Just what kind of contract did she make with this thing!?" Sunny thought, grimacing as The Shadow Devil took advantage of him shocked, and swatted him away with another arm that came from his left, sending him flying through the park, and into one of the metal poles of the swing set, making him gasp in pain.

"YOU ASSHOLE! THAT FUCKING HURT!" The Shadow Devil roared, as Sunny slowly got up, looking over to a child who had been on the swing set. The child began to cry, as Sunny was about to get out of there, not wanting to see a child cry, when a giant shadow loomed over him.

It was The Shadow Devil's foot. Or, well, one of them, and this one looked like an elephant's foot. Not that it mattered.

What mattered was that it was going to crush him… and the child.

Thinking on his feet, Sunny tackled the child off of the swing set and jumped out of the way as The Shadow Devil stomped down on the swing set. Thankfully, no one else was on it, but if he hadn't seen that kid….

"Aubrey would've killed him…. Accident or not, that's fucked up! That is if she's even in control of it in the first place…" Sunny thought, as she looked over to the parents of that child. He looked down at the kid, before looking back at the parents, who looked horrified. The child was crying, both scared of him and scared of the giant Shadow Devil. He dashed over to the parents, dropped off the child, then turned around, and leapt upward toward The Shadow Devil's head, specifically aiming for Aubrey.

His best choice was to knock out Aubrey. Maybe by doing that, the Devil would also get knocked out, reasoning that perhaps whatever contract they forged went both ways. And then, once he knocked her out, he could find a way of taking this thing out without killing her.

At least, he hoped that it would work out like that. Because otherwise, things were about to get complicated. He didn't want to kill Aubrey, not on purpose, anyway. Hell, he had lost too many people in his life already.

The last thing he wanted to do was kill Aubrey, even if it meant forgoing this mission of killing The Shadow Devil.

However, just as he got closer to the Shadow Devil's head, the Devil grabbed him again, and this time he noticed that Aubrey was making some sort of signal with her hand, and her voice, while weak, came to his ears, which proved to him that she was in control the whole time. "Shadow… capture him…."

"So… she was in control this whole time. Damnit Aubrey, what the hell!" Sunny thought, as the monster opened its maw. Sunny's demonic eyes widened, as he looked over to Aubrey. He was about to say something, but it was too late, as The Shadow Devil dropped him into its gaping, open maw, before closing its mouth.

Sunny, had been swallowed.

[Aubrey's POV]

Aubrey hurt all over. Her wrist hurt, her hands hurt, and her arm was dislocated, but at least it was over. Sunny was captured, and now all she had to do was have Shadow spit him up at the bus station, and everything would be alright.

She was finally done with this nonsense. She had done what she had set out to do, and now all she had to do was deliver him to the rendezvous spot.

Shadow bent down, as she stepped off of his head. "Good job, Shadow," Aubrey rasped, as she tried, and failed, to relocate her shoulder. Damn, she'd have to go to the hospital to get it checked. She cursed under her breath. She hated hospitals. They sucked, and she didn't have the money to spend on a medical bill—the last thing she wanted was to be in debt with the hospital.

When she stepped off Shadow's head, Aubrey looked at the swingset that was crushed and grimaced.

Thank god no one was on it. She couldn't necessarily see from up there. All she could see was Sunny because that was who she was focused on, and even then it was a bit blurry.

Maybe she needed glasses? She hoped that Mr. Wright would pay her a lot of money for this because if he didn't, she'd be a little peeved.

She looked over to her right, and there, she saw The Hooligans. They all looked at her, confused, and scared. Most of them were looking at The Shadow Devil, and she couldn't blame them, but then there was Vance, who was looking at her. He looked angry, but not the "you fucking moron" kind of angry, but more or less "where the fuck were you" kind of angry.

She had a lot of things to answer for, and she was going to answer them, but she was still on a mission. One she had to complete.

Just as she was about to say something to them, her throat started to hurt…

A lot.

Like, a lot, a lot.

So much so that she coughed.

And when she coughed, she coughed up blood.

A lot of blood.

It felt like something was lodged in her throat, and was actively clawing its way out.

She looked over to Shadow, whose eyes were widening with pain. And then, pain, unlike any kind she had felt before exploded throughout her body, as she watched as Sunny tore his way out of The Shadow Devil's throat, coated in blood as he screamed to the high heavens.

Aubrey felt a horrible pain in her throat, as her vision began to blur in and out of focus, A giant stream of red came pouring into the grassy terrain below her feet, which she quickly identified as blood—her blood. Her body felt weak, and she couldn't breathe. She gasped for air, but none came. She tried to scream, but nothing happened.

"This is karma," she thought, as she fell to the floor, as her vision went blank, and her hearing failed her completely.

The last thing she saw before everything went dark, was someone's shoes, and the pool of blood that was slowly growing around her.

-To Be Continued in – I completed the mission, but at what cost?