Chapter 45: The bond of nature draw me to my own[.] – IX, 956
Turns out, Iblis’ ‘true form’ is just more smokey darkness, spiky tentacles and black gunk.
The tentacles come out of nowhere. In fact, for the first few seconds of their appearance, you don’t notice them until they’ve already taken a chunk out of you.
So, the gang made the executive decision to slash first and ask questions later.
“Do you think we’re wearing him down?” Hayley asks, deftly lopping off two incoming murder-limbs.
“I haven’t even broken a sweat,” Iblis answers for himself, slipping a tentacle by Damien to embed itself in Will’s leg.
When he pulls back, Iblis appears to be trying to drag Will along, into the dark where the headlamps don't reach, but with a bone-jarring snarl, Damien is on top of the tentacle, hacking it off, and Rhys pulls the glass-like spikes free of Will’s calf and drags him back to the others.
“We’re not winning here!” Damien says, grabbing up Will’s gun from his hand and firing two neat shots into the blackness.