Honestly, to a point. I might make a lazy loose note comparison on a 'what can go wrong', if War get's involved. Possible early forced symbiosis, or what-have-you. If, going as a potential "wild card" that could? Go against Makima? (Imagine all the things you Controlled in Conquest, going awry when War wrecks everyone, equally).
But that'd probably be "best case scenario, Foe Yay", in War wanting to be at War with our little Carron. Or actually setting up conflict, just to see you at your peak, instead of say; "I want thermonuclear war, goddmanit!"
The new prologue's coming along nicely people, expect it soon, along with an announcement about the rewrite "changelogs" and that I'm discontinuing this thread on QQ and moving to the NSFW one (with the SFW version will be on Spacebattles/Ao3). It's a shame I couldn't have the new prologue finished by the anime release date, but ah well. Fingers crossed for luck... and might as well talk a little about how Part 2 would factor into this story.
Now, speculation time.
Ironically, there's a good chance War Devil would become the SI's "fan" (read: obsessive yandere stalker) like Makima was for Chainsaw Man, mostly because one of his yet-to-be-mentioned concepts falls under War Devil's sphere of influence, and if you've been following the plotline of Part 2, you'll know that War Devil is deathly afraid of being forgotten because the fear of the possibility of wars between nations have decreased since Chainsaw Man retconned World War 2, Nazi's, and likely a lot of other weapon and warfare related Devils. Even if he is supposed to be her "enemy", War would probably be popping off the second she figures out who the SI really is, mostly because the SI's presence alone guarantees that there will be some kind of large-scale conflict, i.e. "war" that will drag her back into relevancy in the minds of humans and Devils alike as a concept to be feared by them. War would also have great synergy with the SI if she was able to become close friends or lovers with him, mostly because he's essentially a reusable "soldier" that can provide any amount of biomass for her to shape and meld at her will and still be alive once she's done turning him into a weapon, and I'm willing to bet she's a tragic character like Makima who is destined for loneliness because War Devil's ability ensures that she is forced to throw away her close friends and allies in order for her to defend herself (though this doesn't mean she's not evil or "misunderstood"). A team up like that probably wouldn't happen though, mostly because the SI would absolutely loath her guts for being the type of psychopath he cannot stand (the doing evil for the sake of it type), and there's a very real risk of War Devil potentially corrupting the SI by using his anger at the current state of the world (this is something new added in rewrite as I'm fleshing the SI's motives and backstory out more) and making him "fall" (not sure yet if I want fallen angels to really be a thing in CSM), and also because Makima would become positively frothing-at-the-moth rabid at a fellow Horse(wo)man trying to steal her
property hubby. If you were expecting for the SI to get a harem in this story, don't hold out too much hope, Makima is
very possessive.
I'm not sure if War Devil has some kind of bond that made her contract with Asa Mitaka like how Denji did with Pochita (I'll eat my shorts if it turns out that Bucky was the fucking War Devil all along), but since CSM canon is going to irreparably broken by the end of Fumigation, and the SI has only ever read Part 1 of the manga for his "future" info, anything's possible. I'm sure I can speed the timetable on events up, although I want to see how Part 2's story develops first. As for how a first meeting between those two would promptly devolve into, in the event Asa/Yoru got hit with Parasitism and the SI manifested as a hallucination, able to see the both of them...
SI MEETS WAR DEVIL OMAKE (Probably not canon or fully accurate, but who knows... the writing bug bit me.)
I stared in absolute befuddlement at the two teenagers that were now standing before me, the two of them perfectly matching the appearance of the now immobile body of a random-ass civilian girl who had just pulled out a fucking sword made out of a human head and spine of all things from the guitar case she had been carrying, screaming "Die, Chainsaw Man!" while she had tried to slice Pochita open, before she had been rudely interrupted from killing my friend by lieu of my right index finger extending into a spike and impaling her through the chest with extreme prejudice, with enough force behind it to lift her off the ground as her feet dangled in the wind idly.
Now in my defense, if this girl had screamed anything other than "Die, Chainsaw Man!", something that the average civilian probably most definently wouldn't have known, I likely... hopefully... wouldn't have tried to reflexively kill her on the spot instead of restraining her like I'd originally planned to. I'd known she was coming, thanks to the sheer amount of anger and resentment I could sense radiating off her as she had calmy approached the bench me and Pochita were sitting on, that made her a shining beacon of negative emotion in this very inhabited, very... public... park.
Said park was now being filled with the sounds of screams and the panic of parkgoers watching a girl being murdered in broad daylight by a Public Safety employee, and inwardly, I despaired at the paperwork that would no doubt result from this incident, those accursed stacks of dozens upon dozens of never-ending papers that Makima would be remorselessly dumping into my lap to deal with, no doubt with that stupid, smug-ass smile on her damn face alongside some wiseass comment about "show some more restraint". Me, needing restraint?! You bitch, you're the main reason our initial fight escalated to the point of destroying most of the Tokyo HQ's building!
In any case, I'd fucked up, which was why instead of removing my spear-finger and letting what I thought was an ordinary teenage girl with a grudge against Devils lifelessly drop to the ground, I instead tried to save her life by immediately turning that keratin spear back into a tendril by using Parasitism on her to link her vitals with mine...before I had then heard an oddly staticky noise as I felt a sensation not dissimilar to me creating a drone...
And suddenly, I was standing next to Kusumoto Kazuki's immobile form and Pochita sitting in his lap, who looked incredibly nervous at my sudden display of homicide and the would-be attempt on his life, as I tried to make sense of the travesty before me. While this was an out of body experience, I was still connected to my Hivemind, and I could still move my body just fine, but standing opposite the three of us...were two identical teenagers.
The only difference between them was that one had a facial scar and the same patterned eyes as Makima, albeit they were a ruby-red instead of goldish yellow. The one that looked like a normal human had fallen over on her backside, and was practically hyperventilating in fear, probably because looking down, I could see I'd taken upon the form I'd used in my conversations with Denji and Makima, a humanoid figure with an altered version of Shin's mask from Dorehedoro as their face, albiet with tentacles instead of heart ventricles. While the other girl, lunging forward at me with mania in her eyes and grabbing me by the suit I'd somehow kept, shouted at me....
"You don't know how long I've been wanting to meet you, [Censored spoiler, but War calls the SI by his "role"]. I am the War Devil, and- mmrph!" Her words were cut off as I placed a red hand over her mouth, mercifully cutting off a tirade that didn't sound much similar to a full-blown chunniyubo (Japanese weeaboos) who had just met her favorite character at a convention. In hindsight, introducing anime to Denji had been a mistake...
But oh yes. Makima had warned me about this one and what exactly I should expect from her, and while I didn't have a mouth in the proper place, my eyes crinkled kindly, nearly closing as I reached out my other hand to pat the supposed "War Devil" on the head, who's eyes widened in shock at my rudeness and nonchalance. I have to admit that her expression looked really funny, but I wasn't in any mood to play any games with a Devil like this.
"Shhh. Yes, yes, by a series of unfortunate events you, a teenage brat, now have superpowers and it's gone entirely to your head, but I know how these things usually go." The mouth on my hand grinned as I felt a spark of rage blossom from the diminutive girl on me, as I forcibly turned her around to point at the supposed "human" behind us, the one who was generating an awfully suspicious amount of malevolence despite her apparent fear.
Still flat on her ass, she froze in place, as if they were a rabbit coming face to face with a very enormous mountain lion. Not too off the mark, to be honest... but I wasn't fooled. In an unknown space formed by a power that wasn't my own, potentially subject to illusions meant to deceive me about which of these two was the real "War Devil"?
Always suspect the quiet ones. Always.
"You're the real War Devil, aren't you?" I said innocently in complete certainty, only for the girl I was using as a support pillar to break free from my grasp and-
swak!
Slap me across the face, before grabbing me by the suit once more before I could recover, beginning to beat my chest with her fists hysterically as tears streamed down her face as she pointed desperately to her eyes. "No [BLANK], I'm the real War Devil, don't you see?! Don't tell me you've forgotten me too, you can't do anything without me!"
I blinked, mentally taking a moment to recheck that I wasn't wrong in that hatred was practically seeping out of the terrified human but looking closer it was more of a self-loathing kind of hatred, and one that whooopesies.
...Nevermind. I gave the War Devil too much credit.
Letting go of me, the real (ok fine, I was wrong) War Devil frantically paced back in forth in despair, before wildly swinging her foot at an unseeing Pochita... before it harmlessly phased through him, to my immediate relief.
"Damn you! Damn you! Die Chainsaw Man- ow!"
tunk!
And apparently, despite being incorporeal, she could still hurt herself, her third kick hitting the metal bench as she fell over on her side, tears and snot dripping from her face as she sat there and looked absolutely pitiful.
Slowly, I blinked, not sure whether I should feel bad or feel bad about not feeling bad. I mean, she did just try to kill Pochita... but...
I looked down at the sniveling wreck in front of me.
"not fair... not fair... damn you, Chainsaw Man..."
...
I... I had no doubt that she was still an enormous potential threat and someone who I shouldn't take lightly, but...
Flabbergasted, I scratched the back of my head with a hand as my "eyebrows" scrunched in thought.
Lord almighty, it's like what happened with Makima all over again, granted that time... her mental breakdown had been a lot more justified (and dignified) than War's currently was/is. But seriously, what's wrong with these unholy abominations that are supposed to be pure evil incarnate? Do all of the fucking Horsemen of the Apocalypse get like this when things don't go their way? Surely not, right?
Right?
Turning my head, I looked back at the real human to see what she thought of all this.
"I told her this was a bad idea... why..." Placing her hands in her face, the girl let out the deep, long-suffering groan of someone who had to suffer being the babysitter of a surprisingly immature Horse(wo)man of the Apocalypse, something I could personally relate to. Only instead of being able to run away like I could, she was stuck dealing with an immensely powerful brat 24/7, and likely didn't have their fear or respect to reign them in.
In that moment, I pitied her immensely.
OMAKE END
I especially like how Fujimoto had War Devil/Yoru display juvenile behaviors like throwing a tantrum at Chainsaw Man (Denji) saving her, because that means that when the SI inevitably reaches the end of Makima's patience with his antics and her charisma breaks as she throws a temper-tantrum, it's not going to seem like some incredibly OOC behavior I pulled out of my ass. Fighting instead of talking to resolve a conflict can be seen as a juvenile behavior that fits War Devil really well, and I really like that Fujimoto has chosen to portray these all-powerful entities as having low emotional intelligence, which fits in nicely with my portrayal of the differences of Devils and Angels, as Devils being entities that mainly follow their instinctual desires and impulses (as Id of the cognitive traid) and Angels being hyperfocused on logic and their own morality (representing Superego of the cognitive triad).
