This Kind of Taste

Makima picks her way through the graveyard's corpses, lifts a pack of cigarettes from a dead officer's jacket, and lights one against a headstone, coughing as she smokes. She cradles Pochita, telling him this marks her second victory over him and that he now belongs to her, promising a happy life together. Behind her, Denji rises from the bodies in an oversized Public Safety uniform, walks over, and slashes her down the chest with a chainsaw. As she falls bleeding and bewildered, he reclaims Pochita, noting that the stunt drained the last of the blood Power had given him through their contract.

Makima asks how he survived, and Denji reveals she had been fighting Pochita the whole time while he held only a hazy memory of those movements. He explains that the blade came from Power's blood, which he is now letting run wild inside her, though he admits such a cheap trick could never truly kill her. When Kishibe's van pulls up, Denji cheerfully greets his ride, apologizes to Makima, and levels the chainsaw at her.

Later, in a rundown apartment, Kishibe warns Denji that the plan may fail and cost him his life, then departs, calling Denji the most suited of anyone to be a Devil Hunter. Alone, Denji cooks rice, miso soup, and ginger-fried meat with onions from a fridge stuffed with tied boxes, resolving to share the weight of Makima's sins by becoming one with her. As he eats, he remarks that the flavor is what Makima tastes like. The chapter ran in issue 2021-1 on December 7, 2020, across nineteen pages within the Control Devil arc.