Sex and Selection

Laughing, Yoru asks Denji why he thought the dove ploy would land, and he points back to her pledge to sleep with him. Pushed to come clean, he admits he once knew a Devil who, despite trying again and again to kill him, shared a tenderness for animals, and he hoped Yoru might prove the same. Asked why that matters to him, Denji pauses, then quietly admits he feels lonely and only wants a friend. Yoru proposes they simply be friends, but he cuts in, insisting on friends who also have sex. Tickled by his honesty, the War Devil gives in, saying that while Chainsaw Man earns her hatred, Denji does not. After feeding him blood, she agrees to the act and assures him Asa is willing too. Denji returns to his human shape, on the brink of tears before bursting into joy.

The celebration is cut short as insect and pest Devils swarm them, led by three far stronger figures: the first crowned with spikes, the second sunken-faced, the third wearing a crescent-moon visage. Elsewhere, India's Fumiko sees bats blanket the sky and consume crowds, while Canada's Fumiko notes the same with roaches and theorizes that fertile species which once culled their newborns no longer need to, driving them to hunt humans to feed their swelling numbers; with death itself gone, people dread the insects above all. India's Fumiko is devoured mid-sentence, yet keeps musing on how last year's representatives each named a different fear, hers unclear until roaches pouring through her door reveal it. Back at the fight, Yoru tells Denji to run since both are nearly bled dry, and Asa stirs to bring him to his senses. He refuses, insisting his goal was finally within reach, and starts to repeat the line he gave the zombified Yakuza about anyone in their way dying, then halts to ask Pochita how it ends as the crescent-moon Devil winds up to strike.

Denji admits his loneliness and desire for a friend, and Yoru agrees to be his friend who also has sex with him, confirming Asa's consent and feeding him blood. He reverts to human form in elation before a horde of insect and pest Devils, fronted by three powerful entities, attacks. Around the world the Fumikos witness bats and roaches devouring people as fertile species stop culling their young. Denji refuses to flee as the crescent-moon Devil prepares to strike.

This Volume 24 chapter of the War Devil arc cements the strange bond between Denji and Yoru and pivots into a worldwide ecological collapse, where deathless, hyper-fertile species turn on humanity. Power, Asa, Pochita, the Sickness Devil, the People Devil, and the international Fumiko representatives all feature.