A Devil Amongst Worms is a crossover between Chainsaw Man and Worm, you bet there's going to be fair number of heart-rending moments.
As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
- During her first fight with Leviathan, at one point when it seems like she's about to be Killed Off for Real, Makima's filled with thoughts of bitterness and frustration over her past and current failures and humiliations, in particular her loss to Denji. But the thought that stands out the most, the one that nearly causes her to give up, is the knowledge that she would never experience the joy and happiness of having a family like humans. It's a sad reminder that as monstrous as Makima is, all she really wants is genuine love and affection after having been raised in an environment without either that turned her into what she is today.
- When Makima vows to defeat Leviathan to the others, by herself if needed, Taylor really wants to believe in her words but she finds that Hope Is Scary after being let down so many times by nearly all the adults in her life in the past two years when she needed them.
- Taylor also figures out in the same chapter that Shadow Stalker is Sophia Hess, one of her main bullies at school, it won't take long for her to realise that the PRT were covering for her and turning her against them.
- Myrddin's death. During the tail end of the Protectorate's fight with Leviathan and before Makima's return to the battle, he stores Alexandria in her pocket dimension, saving her life after she was almost drowned by Leviathan, but leaving him with only Dragon as backup against Leviathan. By the time she comes back out, he's been almost bisected by the monster.
- Both his and Chevalier's deaths hit especially hard as they're both among the best and most noble heroes in the setting. It's even more gut-wrenching for Alexandria, as they're among the few people left who she can genuinely count as friends, and they both end up dying for effectively nothing, as Leviathan's ultimate defeat has nothing to do with their efforts.
- When Canary wakes up in a PRT van, she remembers she's going to the Birdcage, a life sentence, and breaks down into tears. Her only company is Lung and Bakuda who both display No Sympathy towards the poor girl, with later first telling her to stop crying before changing her mind and telling to keep on crying to collect her tears to make a new kind of bomb out of them.
- The Mook Horror Show Makima puts the PRT guards through can be seen as this, especially the last one that has a brief Hope Spot that he would be spared if he co-operated with her, only to be Killed Mid-Sentence anyway once she no longer needed him.
- The vitriol and bile directed by many of the PHO commenters towards the heroes for retreating against Leviathan, considering the kind of losses they went through, seeing the way in which they're disparaged and called fakes can be hard to read. (The only ones that escape their criticism are the Wards, being minors). It becomes even worse when the same commenters effusively praise Makima, calling her the one true hero present. Seeing them singing the praises of a monster who ultimately cares nothing for them, while hurling insults and jeers at heroes who gave up their lives, were maimed, or watched friends and comrades die in front of them is utterly soul-crushing.
- What makes it even sadder is their vitriol towards them isn't entirely unjustified. As pointed out later on, many of the Brockton Bay residents have basically been left to the mercy of the supervillain gangs in order to keep things stable. Now when they need the heroes most, they end up failing and giving up on them. Granted, while it's not their fault for things going so wrong, you can understand the frustrations behind their vitriol.
- Makima tries to convince Rachel to join her new Public Safety Bureau, pointing out how the system failed her when she first gained her powers. While the Undersider tries to put on a front that she managed to live just fine regardless of that and believes it is too late for her to pull a Heel–Face Turn anyway, she can't help but be affected by the notion that she didn't have to become a villainess in the first place. Near the end of the chapter, she admits she finds Makima's offer quite tempting.
- Later on in the story, Alan Barnes is frantically searching for his missing daughter, Emma, after Leviathan's recent defeat, completely unaware that she's already Dead All Along with Not Enough to Bury at the hands of Earth-Bet's so-called saviour, Makima.
- Its later revealed that Makima is dating Alice (a.k.a. Bakuda). While the later seems to have fallen in love for the Control Devil (if mind control isn't involved), the former just sees the Parahuman as a means to an end with her Tinker bombs.
