“Please don’t take Alas Ramus away.”
The voice, and the physical act, were both sincere.
“Daddy…?”
Alas Ramus, unable to grasp the meaning behind Maou’s behavior, swiveled her head between Maou and Gabriel.
“Um, look, if I have to remind you, I’m an angel, mm-kay? And you’re the Devil King, last time I checked. If you think I’m gonna fold like I did with that girl yesterday, you’ve got another think coming, bucko.”
There was a touch of irritation to Gabriel’s reply. But Maou was expecting it.
“I’m not saying for free, okay? You let her stay, I’ll let you have my head. That ain’t a bad deal.”
“What?!”
“Whoa, whoa, come on! Stop being stupid!”
This was enough to bewilder the both of them.
“You… I’m supposed to defeat you! You can’t just toss your life away here!”
“Lay off. Tell all your pals back home that you teamed up with an archangel to do me in, for all I care. What’s the big problem with that?”
“That’s a huge problem! Who the hell would ever want to team up with these freaks?! I need to defeat you by my own hand, or else it’s meaningless!”
“Why’s it matter what you think about it?! We’re supposed to be worried about Alas Ramus!”
“Uhm, would you folks mind not bickering like a married couple for a moment?”
“We’re not married!”
“We’re not married!!”
“Wowwww, way to give it to me in stereo…”
Gabriel was at least half impressed by the show.
“Mommy, Daddy, stop fighting!!”
For the first time in the past twenty-four hours, Gabriel and Alas Ramus agreed on something.
“Hey, uh, can I butt in with a question real quick? Why are you, the Devil King, being such a concerned hen over this girl? This girl you all but forgot about until a few days ago?!”
“Because I became ‘king.’ Because I got distracted by greed, just like that demon did. Because I forgot about the things I needed to cherish!”
His mind flashed back to that day, when the claws descended upon him, giving him a vision of death amid the red sky and parched land.
“This girl is a symbol of hope. A symbol I picked up after being snatched away from the edge of death. After getting a new lease on life. …But somewhere along the line, on the way to becoming the leader of all demons, I forgot about that.”
Sadao Maou, once a lowly demon hardly even worthy of the name Satan, rose up and slowly hugged Alas Ramus.
“Daddy…ow.”
The girl squirmed a bit in Maou’s tight embrace.
“You let this girl be for hundreds of years by now and nothing bad happened, right? So please…don’t take her someplace she doesn’t want to be. I’ll stake my life on it.”
“…Y’know, I can’t say I like this assumption that I’m gonna do all these mean things to her, mm-kay? Like I’ve been trying to tell you, she belongs in heaven. She is a fragment of Yesod—”
“I know all about that! That, and the Devil Overlord Satan of the past!”
Emi noticed Gabriel’s face harden the moment Maou said it.
The “Devil Overlord Satan of the past” must have been the one Maou was talking about last night. But what did that have to do with Gabriel?
“…That’s why I can’t let her go. I don’t want to let her go. So please…just…!”
Maou fell to his knees, unable to finish.
“Sorr-ee. Change of plans!”
“Gah…nh…”
Maou writhed in pain on the floor. It was hard for Emi to tell, her sword still restrained by Gabriel’s strength, but it seemed like he was unable to breathe.
“You know, I really had no intention of going this far, but that’s kind of digging your own grave there, mm-kay? I try to be a good-natured angel when I can, but if that’s what you’re going to bring up, I’m kind of obliged to take action.”
“Graaaaahhhhh!!!”
“D-Devil King?!”
Gabriel peered closer, as if to bring home the point. As he did, Maou’s neck began to twist inward, enough that Emi could see it, as if being clasped by an invisible hand.
“My liege! My liege, what is it?!”
“Get back, Alciel! Let me crush him with my Light of Iron!”
Suddenly, the alarmed voices of Suzuno and Ashiya rang out from the outdoor corridor.
“Oooops! Got a little too loud for my own good, hmm? Well, not that it’ll amount to anything. That barrier isn’t gonna fall apart that easy!”
Gabriel remained unfazed. They could hear the sound of something heavy banging against the door, but despite being an original from the apartment’s construction sixty years ago, it didn’t so much as crack.
And even now, Urushihara was nowhere to be heard from. He was probably the lone resident who was still asleep.
“Emilia, the Hero… Just to make sure we don’t regret anything later, I’ll take care of the Devil King, mm-kay? I know you’ve got your own issues and stuff, but I’ll be happy to pass along a revelation to the Church or whatever about you getting the blessings of an archangel, blah blah blah, like what the Devil King said. That sound good to you?”
The situation was desperate.
The demons in the apartment were powerless, the holy sword’s power bound.
“That does sound good to you, doesn’t it, Emilia?”
Gabriel’s eyes remained on Maou as he spoke, his voice as free and guileless as if he was asking someone for extra sugar in his coffee. That was about as much as he cared about the human world.
“…No deal.”
“Hmm?”
“It’s my turn to tell this girl a story. If you take her away, I’ll wind up breaking my promise.”
“Whaaa? Aw, come on…”
His words belied disappointment, but his tone betrayed a singular lack of interest in Emi’s declaration.
Emi’s frustration mounted.
“I don’t care about what all you stupid angels are dealing with! I am the only one who’s gonna cut the Devil King Satan down! I’d never give anyone else the honor!!”
“Um…do you have anything less hackneyed you could say right now…?”
“Besides, what kind of so-called good guy would take a crying girl away from her own father?! Heavenly Flame Slash!”
“Oh? Whoa! Agh, ow, ow, ow, ow! Jeez, that’s hot! What’s up with that?”
Emi infused the blade of her holy sword with searing flame.
It had been enough to slash through the fallen angel Lucifer, but now it didn’t so much as singe the palm of Gabriel’s hand.
“Okay, maybe that didn’t look like it hurt, but it did, mm-kay? Like, a lot! Y’know, I really didn’t want any rough stuff with you, but why can’t you see things my way here, hmm? I’m supposed to be the guardian of these fragments, y’know!”
“Who asked you?!”
“Well…nobody asked me, exactly, but this is my duty, and—”
“……”
“Gnh…haggh…”
“Who…was that just now?”
Even Gabriel, previously replying to Emi’s question with a sullen tone, suddenly turned serious.
“We were playing. Having fun. That’s all!”
A voice rose up from the feet of Emi, Gabriel, and Maou:
“Market told me. You were all big liars.”
Her arms and legs were tiny, her eyes little buttons, but her will was strong enough to take over the room.
“He said you were liars, but you got to be gods anyway!”
Alas Ramus lightly brought her hand to Maou. That was all it took.
“…Gahaa!! Koff…egghh…”
“Huhhh?!”
Gabriel’s hold on Maou loosened, letting him catch his breath as he broke into a cold sweat.
“I hate you! I hate all of you!”
“Truly?…”
Alas Ramus toddled
toward Gabriel as she spoke.
“You took us all away, you kept us all alone…and…”
At that moment, the purple crescent-shaped mark formed across Alas Ramus’s forehead as her yellow dress began to glow as brightly as the summer sun.
“…And now you’re mean to Mommy and Daddy! That’s bad!!!”
“Yagh!”
“Aaaahhh!!”
Then she emitted a bolt of golden light, sending Gabriel flying against the Devil’s Castle wall.
The holy sword fell out of his hand, freeing Emi from his grasp.
“Alas…”
“Wait, Daddy!”
“Whoa! Hang—”
From the side of Maou, still unable to get up, the glowing Alas Ramus flew toward Gabriel’s chest like a bullet.
“Grhhh!”
Squeaking like a toad caught under an eighteen-wheeler, his body was sent right through the wall with Alas Ramus, flying into the air.
“Whoa! Alas Ramus! …Heavenly Fleet Feet!!”
Leaving Maou behind, Emi focused her Cloth of the Dispeller upon her legs, giving her an instant blast of speed as she chased after them.
“Emilia!”
“Your Demonic Highness!!”
Gabriel’s unexpected departure must have removed the barrier from the door, because Suzuno and Ashiya both suddenly barreled through it, taking the hinges off as they did.
Witnessing the disabled Maou and the giant hole in the wall, Ashiya’s eyes burned with menacing rage.
“Currrrrrse youuuuu, Emilia! Such a heinous, despicable act of treachery!!”
Between the way Ashiya’s mind worked and the scene he was presented with, no one could blame him for that conclusion.
“No… G-Gabriel…and Alas Ramus…”
“What?! He is here?!”
“Alas Ramus…she’s fighting. Get…after her… Kagff!”
“Alas Ramus…?”
“Fighting?”
Ashiya and Suzuno, unable to grasp the situation, could do little more than glance at Maou and the wall.
“Suzuno, please, get…me up…”
Suzuno nodded at the groaning Maou. But:
“Halt, human! Stay where you are, Devil King Satan!!”
“Do not defy the will of Lord Gabriel!!”
Suddenly, the four lackeys that Gabriel had brought along the previous day flew upward, blocking the hole Alas Ramus had poked in the wall.
The Heavenly Regiment each bore a pair of white wings upon their backs.
“Ngh… Not you…”
Even if they wanted to fight, Suzuno was the only one with any capacity to do so. And no matter how weak Gabriel said they were, going one against four with a group calling themselves the Heavenly Regiment didn’t seem to present the best of odds.
Not at first.
“Heh. Do you even know who you’re talking to?”
A new voice suddenly made the four angels freeze in place.
“You think a bunch of Gabriel’s hatchet men are in any position to tell me to stay here?”
“Uh…Urushihara?”
Urushihara, clearly just waking up, stared the four angels down as he leaned groggily against the front door.
“Get out of our way.”
There was nothing special to the order.
“……”
But it was still enough to make the four angels meekly clear the way.
“Maou, Bell: You’re good. Get going. I’ll make sure they don’t bother you.”
“Wh-what is…?”
“Did you forget what kind of angel I used to be, Ashiya?” Urushihara whined, cranky.
Lucifer was one of the Great Demon Generals who commanded his lord’s demonic forces. But in another life, one chronicled in the many legends and scriptures that retold his fall from grace, he was the strongest angel in heaven—one who grew so powerful that he attempted to usurp the heavenly throne for himself.
“Before I fell, I was the leader of the archangels. Remember? And maybe I couldn’t get away with that in front of Gabriel, but a bunch of Heavenly Regiment foot-soldier lackeys aren’t about to defy me.”
It was difficult for the denizens of heaven to resist an upper-level angel, even a fallen one.
That may have been the case, but the sight of the Heavenly Regiment folding against a fallen angel who slept all day and tapped away at his computer all night brought the quality of the Regiment’s recruits into serious question.
“Eesh. You have the worst habit of actually being useful sometimes.”
“You don’t have to add ‘sometimes,’ Maou. Just go, all right?”
“R-right! C’mon, Suzuno!”
“Very well. Climb on to the head of the hammer! Hang on tight!”
Through the hole the archangel made, Suzuno and Maou flew off into the early-morning sky.
“Alas Ramus?!”
Emi’s eyes were focused high in the skies above Sasazuka.
Alas Ramus charged forward like a heat-seeking comet. Gabriel could do little but defend himself.
“Ow! Owwwww! Agh!”
“Gabriel! Get away from Alas Ramus!”
“I kind of would if I could, but I can’t!”
Emi’s distraction left Gabriel’s face wide open—long enough for Alas Ramus to smash right into it.
The collision was almost too painful to watch. It sent Gabriel hurtling into the heavens like a bottle rocket.
“Alas Ramus! You okay?!”
Ignoring Gabriel as he zoomed upward, hand covering the edge of his nose, Emi took Alas Ramus into her arms in midair.
“That’s not faaaaair! I’m way less all right than her, mm-kay?!”
Gabriel whined in pain as he spread his large wings to slow his ascent.
“Ugghhh. I’m not even that good at fighting, either!”
He rubbed the side of his head with his empty right hand for a moment. Then:
“Whoop! Ta-dah! ‘I’ll be back,’ am I right?!”
Emi had trouble figuring out what kind of reference Gabriel was making, but either way, he was clearly ready to ratchet up the battle.
“You’re taking a sword to that child?!”
“Now listen, lady! Did you think the animal trainers at the circus take on those lions and tigers bare-handed?! I can’t be Mr. Nice Guardian all the time, mm-kay?!”
“Oh, so now you’re comparing Alas Ramus to a wild animal? I dare you to say that again!”
“Come onnn! That was just an example! You don’t have to start acting like a mama lion on me now!”
“Mommy, be careful! That sword’s really strong!”
Alas Ramus stood between Emi and Gabriel, as if protecting her.
“Strong? Oh, you bet it’s strong! Though, to put it another way, this is getting scary enough that I feel obliged to whip this out, y’know what I mean?”
The easygoing tone of voice hadn’t disappeared, but even if Alas Ramus hadn’t pointed it out, it was clear that the regular-looking longsword in Gabriel’s hand was nothing regular at all.
“The sword of Gabriel… Durandal, right?”
“Bingo! You know, this sword… There’s no special voodoo magic on it or anything, but it’s built to last and it’s capable of slicin’ and dicin’ through just about anything! No fuss, no muss! Probably your Better Half, too, even. Besides, what kind of guardian gets beaten by just one of those fragments? Though I really wish she’d surrender. Maybe she’s really a Yesod fragment, but slashing up a little girl kinda leaves a bad aftertaste, mm-kay?”
“…And you think that’ll make us surrender? You know a villain’s about to die when he starts acting like it’s in the bag for—”
Just then, a light breeze passed by Emi’s side. She felt a small impact on her right hand.
“Well, hopefully we can avoid being that clichéd with the script here, mm-kay?”
Gabriel’s voice was now behind her.
“…!!”
Suddenly, Emi felt all the holy strength within her drain a
larmingly fast.
Her holy sword was now broken at the middle of the blade—not broken, actually, but sheared off.
The residual glow from the sword flickered like a firefly, creating a mirrorlike glow at the edge of the cut. Until it sunk in that it had been sliced in half by Gabriel, Emi found herself unable to even move.
“Mommy!!”
Alas Ramus had the same response, flying over to Emi’s side. But the child’s only real fighting move was a head-butt.
What was Durandal capable of against her…?
“Not that I really care what happens to that sword, y’know. As long as I get the Holy Silver core, the fragment of Yesod housed inside, everything’s hunky-dory!”
Gabriel rested Durandal against a shoulder in a show of strength.
“…Ow! Shoot, I cut my shoulder!”
Putting the double-edged, finely honed sword against his shoulder was enough to cut right through his clothing and penetrate skin.
“Hey, Alas Ramus?”
“…Mommy?”
Emi paid no attention to the farce unfolding in Gabriel’s direction.
“…Do you like ‘Daddy’? Do you want to be with him forever?”
“Uh-huh!”
Alas Ramus reply was immediate and unwavering.
“Oh, but I like you, too, Mommy! I don’t want to leave you, either!”
It was oddly touching, how she hurriedly tacked that on to the end.
“Well, good.”
Emi nodded lightly.
“In that case, I’m not about to sit and watch a child who loves her daddy that much get separated from him.”
Summoning her resolve, Emi funneled her holy force into her sword.
The broken blade gradually repaired itself, returning to its original, Phase One shape.
It was a bit thinner and less sturdy looking than before, but it was enough.
“If it’ll make those I need to protect happy, I’ll keep fighting all I want!”
“Geh… This is getting really complicated, you know that?”
Emi’s show of force was enough to make Gabriel wish he was somewhere else.
“…Try not to see me as the bad guy here, mm-kay? ’Cause I know saying this is gonna make me sound kinda like one.”
Gabriel struck a fighting pose, one that seemed to fly in the face of all known fencing styles. But with his speed, his strength, and the honing on his weapon, one hit was all he needed.
“You know that once you lay a hand on me, it’s kind of my job to make a serious response to that, right? Just so you’re aware of that beforehand?”
The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 3 Page 21