HMS 3-4

Chapter 4

The Demon King Learns the Pain of Losing Something Precious

A great, vast world existed in the midst of the darkness between stars that did not twinkle, accompanied by two worlds of blue and red.

A bright, blue world, overflowing with life, bearing a cross-shaped crest.

And next to the world full of life was another world of a deep blue color, spanned by a silent wasteland not even disturbed by wind.

In the midst of that wasteland stood a great tree of the same color as that world.

The great tree that stood in the endlessly flat world had existed for countless years, and would continue to endure for even more countless years, but had the appearance of a dead, inglorious tree.

It had no leaves to cover itself from the heavens, no flowers to color it with the season of spring, and no fruits to sing of its fertility. Only the dispirited tree stood for time eternal.

Ten small shrines surrounded the great tree of the deep blue world, and each shrine’s entrance had a “name” carved into it.

The first shrine, Keter. Next, Chachmah. And the rest, in the order of Binah, Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, and lastly, Malchut.

They were the names of “some beings.” The whereabouts of those who used that language were unknown.

No pillars or roofing that would be commonly found in temples or monks’ shacks could be found. Ten perfect spheres that looked like they had been carved out of stone lay on the ground around the great tree, almost as if they were fruits that had fallen from it.

A moving figure finally appeared in the blue, vast wasteland where the great tree stood.

A large shadow emerged from the sphere with the engraving that read “Yesod” in the lost language.

“Great, we found it faster than we thought we would.”

It was a man’s voice.

As the shadow murmured quietly, four pillars of light appeared which also took human-like forms appeared next to it.

“I thought we’d be looking for it again for another few hundreds of years after we lost track of its signal in the central continent, but seems like we didn’t completely lose it after all. There was a resonance signal between the ‘fragments’ from a fateful place.”

The four figures that had emerged from the pillars of light reacted in shock at the news.

“It’s where Sariel went missing recently, and…”

The large-figured man looked up to the gigantic, living-yet-dead tree.

“The woman who stole and shattered the Yesod Sefira is there, too.”

The large man extended his hand to the starlit sky, and a bright opening that connected to an alternate world appeared in an instant.

“Let’s go. We’ll restore the ‘Tree of Life’ to the way it was meant to be.”

The five figures disappeared into the Gate.

The last remaining traces of light from the Gate disappeared, and silence once again visited the deep blue world.

Two worlds silently watched the five figures that stood in the world with the gigantic tree. Ente Isla, the world overflowing with life and engraved by a cross-shaped seal of continents, and the red world that circled, yet came closer to the world of life, just as the deep blue world did.

***

A moment shortly before Maou and Emi got off of the ferris wheel gondola at Tokyo Big Egg Town.

“Hey, Bell! You there!?”

“Ngh… wh-what is it, Lucifer?”

Suzuno was caught off guard by Urushihara, as he hardly ever came out of his closet, much less asked questions with an urgent tone.

She had just finished making udon and was having a late lunch, and nearly choked.

Urushihara eyed the large helping of udon in the traditional Japanese basket tray, but his state didn’t escape Suzuno’s gaze.

“None of that is for you.”

“I probably don’t need any of your udon, I ordered pizza just now… I mean, that’s not what I wanted to talk about!”

Urushihara nonchalantly let slip words that might invoke Ashiya’s fury to the point that it would return him to his demon form, and then asked Suzuno,

“Did you sense that just now?”

“Sense what?”

Suzuno tilted her head, having no idea what Urushihara was talking about.

“I figured you didn’t. You can get in touch with Emilia, right? I’ll call Maou. Tell them to get back as soon as possible.”

“What is it? What is going on?”

Suzuno’s expression grew serious after witnessing Urushihara’s extremely rare display of urgency.

“No time to explain, just hurry. I don’t know why, but a big Gate opened somewhere in Tokyo just now. There’s probably going to be trouble.”

Urushihara said nothing more, and ran back to Demon King Castle and opened Skyphone on his laptop. Suzuno saw that his serious actions could not possibly be a joke, and took out her phone and dialed Emi.

It was at that instant that five figures appeared in the yard of Villa Rosa Sasazuka.

 

 

“Hey, no one told me we had guests.”

Maou smiled confidently, but hid Alas Ramus behind his back.

“So who was here first?”

“I am sorry, Demon King…. we were taken completely off guard.”

“Weell, I’ll admit that I took their speed lightly.”

Suzuno muttered bitterly, but Urushihara showed no sense of remorse and replied in his usual nonchalant tone.

“Weell, don’t blame theeem. They even tried to call you to warn yooou.”

The person who greeted Maou, Emi, and Alas Ramus when they returned to Villa Rosa Sasazuka was neither Urushihara nor Suzuno.

“Besides, we haven’t laid a finger on anyoooone. I think it’s best if we just talk and come to a peaceful solution, so I hope we can get through this without any troubleee.”

The air in Demon King Castle was different.

The difference was that its occupancy limit was being completely ignored and the temperature was steadily rising.

A logical result of a six-tatami room filled with ten people. To be more precise, the only actual human among the ten in the room was Suzuno Kamazuki.

“Gabriel.”

“That’s meee! How’dya know? Have we met?”

The obnoxiously enthusiastic, carefree giant with the personality that would make one want to punch him in the face seemed to be the leader of the guests.

He had deep blue hair and eyes that showed no sense of urgency. He was as tall as Ashiya and built like a muscular wrestler. He also wore a toga similar to those worn in ancient Greece, but it did not suit him at all.

Inside Demon King Castle were four other men who had come with the giant Maou had called “Gabriel.” One of them was holding an excessively ornamented longsword to Suzuno’s throat, and the other three sat cross-legged, surrounding Urushihara.

“I’d heard that there was a giant who’d give you a headache just by talking to him among the archangels.”

“That’s mean, talking behind my back like that. Who said that?”

“Besides, you’re the guardian angel of the Yesod Sefira, aren’t you?”

“Ew, I’m not giving you anything just because you’re flattering me.”

“Stop that, you’re draining me. I don’t want any questions or answers, just tell me what you’re here for.”

“Give me the child hiding behind you, and if you can, Emilia’s holy sword too. Oh, and we ate the pizza Lucifer ordered from Pizza Cap. Sorry.”

“What the hell were you doing until we got back!?”

Even Maou had gotten angry, and Urushihara drew himself back.

“Oh, since we ate it, we’ll pay for it.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about! No, I am worried about it, but that’s not the point!”

Maou added the last bit to not invoke Ashiya’s fury.

“Fine, I take that back! If you don’t give that child back, don’t think you’ll see that pizza money ever again!”

“Where the hell do you see a parent giving up a child to a kidnapper because of pizza money!?” Maou screamed back. “Why did it take you so long to show up? How many days do you think it’s been since she got here?”

“Well, it might be days to you, but we’ve spent hundreds of years looking for her, so let’s not get hung up on a day or two. I thought it was a dream when we sensed the Yesod fragment. When that child’s fragment was taken out of your castle in Ente Isla, we were pretty much in despaaair. We thought we’d have to spend another hundreds of years looking for it agaaain,” said Gabriel, and then,

“Oh! But you’re the one who said you didn’t want any questions! A-anyway! Are you going to give her back or not!?”

He did not follow the preceding example at all and did not have a shred of resemblance to it, but combined with his desire for Emi’s holy sword, all this meant was no mistaking that he was an agent of the heavenly world; in other words, an angel.

He did not refute his identity as “Gabriel,” either. By all means, he was the closest thing there was to an actual parent to Alas Ramus.

“…”

However, Alas Ramus openly glared at Gabriel suspiciously. No matter how one looked at her, she did not show a hint of friendliness or affection towards him.

“Hey, Alas Ramus. Do you not like that old man? He wants to take you with him.” “no!! i hate him!!!!”

“Whaaaaaat!!?”

Gabriel gave an exaggerated reaction to Alas Ramus’s answer.

“Don’t call me an old man. You’re hurting my feelings.”

“That’s what he was upset about?” Even his henchmen around Suzuno and Urushihara gave a tired expression.

“markoo, keteh, bina, ko’mah all took away! i hate yu!!”

“Uuugh, stop saying that kind of stuuuff…”

Gabriel placed his head in his hand at Alas Ramus’s words.

“…I don’t understand it all, but looking at how much Alas Ramus doesn’t want to, I couldn’t give her back to you even if you were her real parent.”

“Whaat…? Then the holy sword…”

“Absolutely not. Even if God Himself begs me, I won’t give up my holy sword until I’ve achieved my goal.”

“…Uuugh, so annoying. What’s wrong with this demon king and this hero? So annoying. I don’t want to have to resort to force, but with that child on the line, I can’t refuse. Please, can you give her back to me?”

“I refuse.”

“She’s mine to begin with, ya know?”

“I’m her parent now.”

“No matter what?”

“No matter what.”

“You might turn all of Heaven into your enemy.”

“I’d rather die than make her cry.”

“…Sheesh, seriously. I really don’t want to do this, you know?”

Gabriel muttered sadly, and then,

“!!!!”

He began emitting holy power from his entire body like a jet engine, letting out  enough pressure to flatten someone against the wall.

It happened in the blink of an eye , and Maou staggered in reaction.

“I really don’t like using force. I’ll listen to you if you give up, so tell me whenever you want to.”

Gabriel’s attitude had not changed at all, and he was standing in front of Maou before he realized it.

“Whoa!”

In the corner of Maou’s field of vision, he saw that Gabriel had blown a hole in a tatami mat just from taking a step.

“Even if you were to regain your demon king powers, I’d probably beat you, you know? So, please? Will you return the child to me?”

The quiet yet overwhelming pressure and holy power would have made any being fall prostrate.

“…Seriously? Damn it…”

Maou gulped. He had never experienced an enemy this overwhelming in his countless battles.

And that wasn’t because he had become weak.

The reason was because this was his first encounter with a guardian angel of a Sefirah that was on a completely different level from other angels.

However, although Maou was shocked, he never backed down.

“No, I’m not giving up. I’m the king of demons who loves anything that makes humans or angels miserable. I’ll raise her to be a great successor to me once I’ve conquered the world.”

“You have lost your powers, so I’ll at least take it easy on you… Like I said, I’ll listen to you if you want to give up.”

And thus, the sign that all negotiations had ended was given.

Even though Gabriel had given Maou a handicap, the outcome of the battle was clear before it had even begun.

It would not have been strange for the touch of a lazy swing of an arm to pulverize Maou.

However, there was something that could stop an archangel’s attack that brimmed with holy light.

“Maou-san!!!!”

It was a simple yell. Not a supernatural power. Not a blade. A simple voice.

However, that voice had stopped the archangel’s attack.

The entire group turned to look at where the voice had come from.

“…Maou… san.”

It was Chiho.

Chiho had run up the apartment stairs and looked in, sweating and panting.

“Chiho-chan!? No! Run!”

Emi quickly warned Chiho at her sudden appearance, but Chiho shook her head.

“…I thought I really should apologize for what I did today…”

“What you did today?”

“And… I didn’t know this was happening… I know I can’t do anything, but I couldn’t just keep quiet anymore…”

Maou still had no idea that he had been tailed by Chiho, Ashiya, and Rika.

Chiho had returned to Sasazuka before anyone else, but she hadn’t been able to hold in her regret for betraying Maou’s trust in her, and had ran to Demon King Castle  as fast as she could, even though she had already gotten home.

“…You seem like a human from this world. But this is not somewhere you belong. Calling the police or whatever is useless, and you might not believe me, but Sadao Maou and I are…” “I already know!”

Chiho yelled, interrupting Gabriel.

“I’m Japanese. But I already know. About Maou-san… Demon King Satan, Hero Emilia, and Ente Isla. And you’re… probably an angel who came to pick up Alas Ramus-chan.”

Gabriel shook his head in surprise upon hearing Chiho’s words.

“Oh? I’m surprised that people from alternate worlds could be so naturally friendly with each other, but how did you know I was an angel? Do I look that godly?”

Chiho frowned at Gabriel, who was still cracking jokes in this situation, and replied,

“…Pretty much all the terrible things that have been happening to Maou-san and Yusa-san have been because of angels.”

Chiho gave an answer that was perhaps too honest.

Maou, Emi, and Suzuno’s jaws dropped, Gabriel and his subordinates scowled, and Urushihara burst out laughing by himself.

“I won’t say anything about what Lucifer did, but what did Sariel do?”

Even Gabriel was not happy about the implications of that bluntly honest answer.

“It’s true that Sariel and I haven’t been exactly like what this world portrays ‘angels’ to be.”

“Hey, public perception is still important, so let’s not do anything that would tarnish our reputation any further.”

“Isn’t it too late for that? Your image is already pretty bad. And these guys don’t look any better than third-rate yakuza henchmen.”

Urushihara casually glanced at the four subordinates that surrounded him and Suzuno. However, for some reason, they drew back slightly as if they were afraid of Urushihara.

Urushihara grinned broadly at their reaction, and Gabriel let out a sigh.

“Well, anyway. Sorry, but we’re in the middle of something. I want to just negotiate things peacefully, but you should get out of here just in case things get rough around here.”

“Heh, I like that line. Sounds like some third-rate’s bluff. I don’t dislike that.”

No one was listening to Urushihara’s jabs anymore. Because,

“Please, don’t take Alas Ramus-chan.”

Chiho fell to the floor before Gabriel.

She already understood that the time had come.

Even if she knew that it might have been her ego, and even if she didn’t know for sure what would bring true happiness to Alas Ramus, everything she had been seeing until now had put her into motion.

“Alas Ramus-chan really loves Maou-san and Yusa-san. Please, I’m begging you…”

Tears fell next to Chiho’s feet.

“Chii-chan…”

“Chiho-chan…”

“S-stop that! Raise your head!”

Somehow, the action of a powerless, ordinary, human, high school girl had completely thrown Gabriel off course.

“Come on! Knock that off! That makes me look like I’m the bad guy! It’s like I’m a credit shark character from some old-school TV drama who says something like ‘Shut up, I’m just doing my job too!’ and completely ignore some girl’s tears and grab the shoulder of some broke guy!”

“What the hell is he talking about?”

Maou tilted his head in confusion, as he had never sern a TV drama before.

“Please… please…”

“Gaaah!! I said, stop crying! Seriously, knock that off! This is worse than being attacked by a murder weapon! Hey you, come on!”

Gabriel had already stopped paying attention to Maou and Emi and was completely focused on placating Chiho.

“Please… please…”

However, Chiho never raised her head. She continued to beg Gabriel.

“Aaaaargh!”

Gabriel flapped his arms and legs for a bit, and indignantly said,

“You have until tomorrow!!”

“Lord Gabriel!?”

“I beg your pardon, sir!?”

The men that surrounded Urushihara and Suzuno stared at Gabriel with incredulous expressions.

However, Gabriel paid no attention to them and looked down at Chiho with an indecisive face as she looked back up at him with teary eyes.

“Uuuugh, I have my problems too, you know!? So I’m coming here first thing tomorrow, okay!? Take your commemorative photos or whatever you want! But don’t think that you can get away from us!”

“Re-really!?”

Chiho’s face suddenly glowed brightly.

“…Uuugh.”

Gabriel looked away, unable to make eye contact with such a face.

“To-tomorrow! I’m not waiting any longer! A-and Demon King! If you gather your power and try anything funny, you’re going to be sorry!”

“T-thank you so much!”

Gabriel had tried to have the last word, but Chiho’s sincere thanks overpowered him.

“We-we’re leaving!”

The overwhelming holy power had disappeared without a trace before anyone had realized it, and as he took stomping steps,

“…Even my last line sounds like some third-rate villain’s!”

Gabriel insulted himself, perked up his shoulders as if he were doing it on purpose, and he and his subordinates began walking out of the apartment.

As if being round up by a mother duck, the rest of his subordinates also walked out, bumping their shoulders one by one into Maou angrily, a textbook definition of group of third-rate villains.

“Ogh, ugh, uhf, hey!”

Maou voiced his complaint against enemies he could not match up against in a fight, and watched their backs bitterly. As Gabriel, who was first in line, reached the stairs,

“Wah!”

The sound of something heavy crashing down could be heard.

“Lord Gabriel!”

“Lord Gabriel!!”

Judging by their reactions, Gabriel seemed to be what had fallen down the stairs. Furthermore,

“Ah!”

“Wah!”

“Whoa!?”

“Ngh!”

The sounds of four men’s short screams and four potential energies of four masses falling down were heard next.

“Give me a break!!”

The sounds of Gabriel yelling at his subordinates outside could be heard, but they gradually disappeared.

And as if taking their place,

“I have returned… sigh, it’s so hot…”

Ashiya had returned, lackadaisically  wiping the sweat off his face. He had no idea about the events that had just transpired, and even smiled broadly at seeing that Maou and Alas Ramus had made it home safely.

“I came across some people on the way in. Was it MHK’s bill collectors again?”

“…You, how do I say it… you’re so peaceful… but where were you to begin with at a time like this, idiot?”

“Huh? Huh? What?”

Ashiya finally noticed the cold atmosphere around him that contrasted sharply with the hot weather outside.

“…Anyway, leaving the clueless Ashiya aside,”

The one to break the cold, silent atmosphere after the noise was long gone was Urushihara. “What are we going to do?”

***

The sun had set and the curtain of night had fallen on Demon King Castle.

“oyuuuu…”

In the demon king’s chamber of the “castle” that bore his name stood two figures: Demon King Satan, who aimed to conquer Ente Isla and struck fear in the hearts of all who lived there, and Hero Emilia Justina, who vowed to stop that ambition. They were at a standstill.

“dauuuu…”

The entire Demon King Castle was filled with tension and hostility where the drop of a pin would have caused a battle to break out.

“nyaaaaauuu…”

A gentle breeze, a drop of rain, or a pebble on the road would have been enough to throw the tense atmosphere into chaos.

“maaameeee, maaameeee!”

And just when the tension and hostility was about to reach its peak,

“wapu!”

The figure that had been running around the demon king and hero got tangled in its own feet and nearly hit its head on the corner of the table in the center of the king’s chamber.

“‘!!’”

The demon king and hero both reacted extending their arms.

Their save was successful, but because they reacted at the same time, the demon king’s hand touched the hero’s hand. “Do-don’t touch me!”

“Ow! Yo-your nail…”

The flustered hero slapped the demon king’s hand away, and a red line was left on the demon king’s hand. There was no blood; just a red line on his skin.

“What’s gotten into you all of a sudden!?”

“You were the one who wanted to leave it to others and didn’t want any trouble, so mind your own business!!”

“T-that’s my line!”

“no! i dun like fight! no!”

A figure much, much smaller than the demon king or the hero had wedged between their hostile verbal exchange.

“Oh, um, we’re not fighting, Alas Ramus!”

“Th-that’s right! So don’t cry, okay?”

“…weally?”

As if trying to verify the adults’ suspicious, half-hearted words, Alas Ramus looked up at the two of them with the most worried look they had ever seen.

“Re-really! Really!”

“Reeeallyyy.”

“ehe.”

The little girl believed the habitually lying demon king and hero, and gave a great grin of relief and clinged to her “mommy,” Emi.

“mommy, will yuu always be with me?”

“Uh, uum…”

“…! …!”

Maou made frantic hand signals from an angle where Alas Ramus couldn’t see. Emi ignored him and asked,

“What do you want, Alas Ramus? Do you want me… do you want your mommy to always be with you?”

“yah. mommy, we oohways toge’er.”

“Uuuuh…”

Emi was torn from the bottom of her heart, but she tried her hardest to not let that show on her face and hid behind a smile.

“daddy too!”

“Yeah…”

Maou did not attempt to resist her confirmation.

And the awkward silence visited once again.

Meanwhile, Alas Ramus continued to be oblivious to the tense silence and attempted to climb onto Emi.

 

 

With Chiho’s sudden arrival, the worst-case scenario of Alas Ramus being taken away after Maou and Emi were injured and defeated was averted.

However, it merely seemed to delay the inevitable.

No matter how much Alas Ramus resisted, neither Maou nor Suzuno, the expert in theology, could deny the fact that the Yesod Sefirah was from Heaven to begin with.

And furthermore, none of those who had come into contact with Alas Ramus had any means of resisting Gabriel.

Sariel’s special ability was an outlier, and Emi and Suzuno had some ability to fight.

However, it was also true that neither of them had a reason to fight.

After Gabriel had left, Chiho unsurprisingly expressed her doubts about the unfamiliar “Tree of

Life.”

“The Tree of Life is supposedly a tree that exists in Heaven which created the world, and whoever eats the fruit from the Tree of Life will supposedly gain eternal life and unlimited

wisdom. Supposedly, the first humans that were made by God ate the fruit and were exiled from paradise.”

“Earth also has a story similar to that. Adam and Eve from the Bible…”

Suzuno nodded to Chiho, and continued to talk.

“That tree’s ten fruits, called ‘Sefirot’ are said to correspond to various elements of life in the world, such as planets, colors, metals, jewels… for example, the first Sefirah, ‘Keter,’ represents soul, thought, and imagination. Its number is one, its precious jewel is diamond, its color is white, its planet is that of the King of Hades, and its guardian angel is Metatron. Meanwhile, the fourth Sefirah, ‘Chesed,’ represents the kindness of God, its number is four, its metal is tin, its color is blue, its planet is that of the Thunder God, and its guardian angel is Zadkiel, and so on. Each of the ten Sefirot have characteristics that correspond to elements of the world, and the reason Alas Ramus is attracted to brightly colored objects must be because of the influence of the Sefirot’s colors on her. By the way, the ninth sefira, ‘Yesod,’ represents what is called the astral body, the mind and self. Its number is nine, its’ metal is silver, its color is violet, its planet is the planet of blue heavens, and its guardian angel is Gabriel.”

The rest of the group was speechless for a short while at Suzuno’s explanation.

“…You… have all that memorized?”

Maou asked inquisitively.

“It is the very basic foundation of theology.”

“I don’t get it. Just give us the short summary.”

“Are you not a former archangel!?”

Suzuno was shocked at Urushihara’s lazy words.

“Come on… Urushihara-san’s just being Urushihara-san.”

Chiho’s words did not completely satisfy Suzuno, but she understood her point.

“But why did she call herself ‘Alas Ramus’ and not ‘Yesod?’”

This question was from Emi.

“We do not know whether this child is a fragment or not, nor do we know who did it or how, but it does not seem like Gabriel was the parent who gave her that name. He has not used the name ‘Alas Ramus’ once so far. If we were to go by the legend and assume Alas Ramus really is a fragment of the ‘Yesod’ Sefirah… or a part of it, then what Gabriel said makes sense. In other words, the elements that the Yesod Sefira represents are in danger. The world is in danger. For Gabriel to maintain the balance of the world as a guardian angel, he needs Alas Ramus.”

“No… then Alas Ramus-chan has to go back after all…” said Chiho sadly. However,

“But that may not necessarily be true.”

Chiho was shocked that Suzuno refuted her own explanation so plainly.

“The Tree of Life and Sefirot are said to be the source of what composes the world, and guardian angels watch over it all, but that is all based on the sacred texts and legends. No one has ever seen it for themselves, so there is proof that this is all true.”

“Proof…?”

“For example, the tenth Sefirah, ‘Malchut,’ is…”

As soon as Suzuno said that,

“malkoo!”

Alas Ramus responded to the word.

“…Come to think of it, Alas Ramus said Malchut was her best friend or something like that on the ferris wheel. Does that mean Malchut or the other Sefirot have personae like Alas Ramus?” Suzuno thought hard for a moment, then shook her head at Maou’s question.

“I have never heard of such occurrences… but that may have something to do with what I was just about to say.”

“Oh, sorry for interrupting. Go on.”

Maou urged Suzuno, who nodded and resumed her explanation.

“Malchut is located on the lower part of the Tree of Life, and represents the material world Its number is ten, its precious jewel is crystal, its color is bright yellow or olive or several others, and its planet is the Planet of Life — in other words, Ente Isla. If we were to believe the legends, if Malchut really had disappeared for one reason or another, crystals, the color yellow, and the existence of Ente Isla would be in danger.”

Suzuno stopped talking for a moment to look at others.

“However, think about this logically. Can you imagine every crystal in the universe disappearing at once because a fruit of a tree in some other world disappeared? What physical phenomenon can explain a fruit that could threaten the existence of oceans and continents? Even the story in the sacred texts is being debated even today, whether the ‘first humans’ that ate the forbidden fruit were related to the Sefirot or not, and no conclusions have been reached. Like the demon king just said, each Sefirah may have a humanlike incarnation. In other words, the assumption that the Tree of Life forms the foundations of the world is only a legend, and there is nothing that proves it. There are numerous humans that have communicated with the heavenly world, but none have gone there physically. Therefore, I do not believe that the world would be in danger if Alas Ramus were missing.”

“You’re pretty blunt about this.”

“…However, we cannot deny the existence of the heavenly world or angels regardless of what we think, and if they come to retrieve the Yesod fragment, then we have no way of resisting. There is nothing we can do.”

Everyone in the room turned to look at Alas Ramus, who sat in Maou’s lap.

“…Man, we’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

Maou dug into his ears as the rest of the group looked at him.

“Hey, Alas Ramus,”

“what daddy?”

“That old man wants to take you back with him. Do you want to go?”

“no!!!”

A definitive, emphatic refusal.

“I see.”

Maou slapped his crossed knees.

“Alright, that’s all for discussions. If they do anything that upsets Alas Ramus even a little, I’m fighting back to the bitter end.”

“Wa-wait a second!!”

Emi objected, expectedly.

“Do you even understand the situation you’re in!? Bell and I can’t resist Gabriel openly, and Alciel and Lucifer haven’t regained their powers, either!!”

“I know. That’s why I said I’ll do it.”

“You? By yourself? Are you stupid!? What can you possibly do on your own!?”

“Hey, stop pestering me. What do you lose if I take a stand by myself and get beaten to a pulp?”

“…Um… we-well…”

“I’m just being selfish and don’t want to give back Alas Ramus. And my reason is because Alas Ramus doesn’t want to go back. You humans get to finally celebrate the end of the demon king, and the Yesod fragment will be back in Heaven where it belongs. Do you have any complaints?” “Bu… but!!”

“Demon King! Is that what you really want!?”

“Maou-san!”

Emi could not be satisfied with such an idea, and Suzuno and Chiho could not stay silent. The trio drew in close to Maou and his eyes opened wide. “He-hey, Ashiya, Urushihara, say something.”

“…Ho-however, I can’t agree with you, my lord…”

“…I… well, I don’t really care what happens to you, but I’m starting to like living in the closet. I’m not sure what to think, either”

“Wh-what, even you two?”

“You fool! Do you still not understand!?”

Suzuno yelled at Maou.

Alas Ramus was shocked by Suzuno’s aggressive tone and got out of Maou’s lap.

“suzu-neecha, no! don pick on daddy!”

She stood as firm as she could in front of Suzuno with her arms wide open to protect her daddy from danger. Suzuno calmly moved Alas Ramus aside, and once again grabbed Maou by his collar.

“It does not matter whether you are the demon king or not! But none of us… not even Lucifer wishes to see Alas Ramus taken somewhere she does not want to go!! If she were going to be taken away to somewhere she does not want to go, even you would be a better option!!”

“…I don’t know if a clergywoman should be saying something like that…”

“I am a clergywoman, yes, but I am also a politician! Who do they think they are, suddenly appearing and acting like they have authority over something they lost for hundreds of years!?

The Tree of Life is a lie!”

She reached a conclusion unbecoming of a clergywoman, without logic or proof.

“…In other words…”

“What!?”

“What do you want?”

“…What is it?”

“What is it, my lord?”

“Whaaat…?”

Maou smiled with his teeth showing, with an expression like as if he was concerned.

“You all love Alas Ramus, right?”

“…”

Suzuno gulped in reaction.

“…Thanks.”

Words that should never come out of the demon king’s mouth. Yet, they had already come out many times.

“But going against someone sacred is the demon king’s specialty. It’s not a burden for any of you to bear. I’m just acting out of my selfishness to keep something like a child that belongs to God for myself. So if I end up doing something against Gabriel, you don’t have to do anything.”

Suzuno was speechless, and opened her hand that held his collar.

“…If it all goes well, then that’d be great. It’d be like going out with a bang.”

“Hey!”

“Stop!”

“Maou-san!”

“My lord!”

“…Seriously?”

“Shut up!”

Maou waved his arms angrily as he was surrounded by weak responses.

“This isn’t some little kid’s comic book! The enemy’s not someone that I can beat with some emotional high or anything like that. It’s only natural that I prepare for the worst and do some risk management! Hey, Emi!” “What do you want!?”

“Stay here for the night!”

At that moment, everyone in the room tried to remember the definition of risk management. “…Whaaaaaaat!?”

 

 

“How is this risk management!?”

Emi sat glaring at Maou, while holding Alas Ramus in her lap. Meanwhile, Alas Ramus happily kicked her legs up and down as she was held by her mommy.

“Well, if I end up fighting Gabriel, my brilliant strategic plan is to drag you into this as payback for all the times you’ve dragged me into your problems.”

“…You’re not serious, are you?”

“I’m seventy percent serious. I think I’ve said this before, but I don’t think you’ll suddenly be struck by lightning for cleaning up some trouble every once in a while.”

“I can hear the clap of thunder just from you suggesting that I clean up trouble for the demon king.”

“clap?”

Perhaps accidentally, Alas Ramus clapped her hands as she repeated a word Emi said, and for a moment, the atmosphere around them relaxed.

“Well, I’m seventy percent serious, but I also have to think about what I have to do with the other thirty percent. I’m not asking for you to take my side, but if a fight were to break out, at least protect Alas Ramus from harm.”

“Well… um, if it’s just that, then… but, what do you mean, ‘have to think about the other thirty percent?’ If you don’t know that, then you might not be able to protect what you’re trying to protect. What are you actually thinking? Are you really just trying to make memories with her?”

According to what Maou had said, , he didn’t plan on just losing without a fight, but he didn’t seriously believe he’d be able to win, either. Therefore, he seemed to have planned to make as many fun memories for Alas Ramus as possible so that she could live to the fullest when she was finally taken away.

And the conclusion he arrived at was to sleep together as a family, with no one else.

Alas Ramus had been a good girl until now, but occasionally she would get lonely and long for her mommy. Therefore, it was only logical for a loving parent to let her sleep with her mommy, even if it was for just one night.

Chiho had agreed with this plan wholeheartedly, and Suzuno also gave her consent, albeit with a grim expression. Ashiya was completely against it, but eventually agreed to the plan under the condition that he would be on standby in Suzuno’s unit next door, ready to take action at a moment’s notice. Urushihara didn’t care where he slept as long as he had his laptop with him.

Since there was no guarantee at all that anyone there would be safe, and therefore with the condition that Chiho returned home right away, Emi grudgingly agreed to stay at Demon King Castle.

Ashiya walked Chiho home, then moved to Suzuno’s room along with Urushihara. The group was strangely divided into different rooms with friends and enemies together under the same roof.

Maou answered Emi’s question simply, with a casual expression.

“I’m just putting my life on a line as a parent to protect my child. Either way, don’t worry too much about it. When things go down, I probably won’t give you any trouble.”

“…Where do you get that kind of confidence from?”

“I don’t have any basis for it. But it’s weird. I feel like I can do anything if it’s for Alas Ramus.”

“You, the demon king, are saying that you’re responsible for someone else? Weren’t you the one who just said just having an emotional high won’t do anything?”

“That’s probably why this is happening to me. It’s retribution. But even the people that died because of my army’s invasion probably would have put their lives on the line and never given up to the very end for their children. Then why can’t I do the same and put my life on the line for my kid?”

Even though Emi had asked Maou a question filled with cynicism, having her question answered with such a calm tone made her flustered instead.

“…Wh-what are you talking about? … You demon king, why are you talking like you understand everything?” mumbled Emi as she felt as if she were the one who had hurt Maou, and couldn’t help but break eye contact.

Maou’s words reminded her of her memory of being pulled away from her father.

Just as Maou had said, this was retribution. This was something he deserved for being the demon king that killed countless people and separated her from her father.

But for reasons unknown to her, Emi could not suppress the tightening feeling in her stomach.

The demon king was feeling the same pain she had felt before. But why did she have this much pain in her chest?

“mommy?”

Alas Ramus looked up at Emi worriedly.

Maou looked at the two, and smiled ever so slightly.

“Well then! It’s bedtime!”

“Wh-whaat!?”

Maou declared with a bright tone as he looked up at the clock, dispelling Emi’s complicated mix of emotions.

“Isn’t it…. isn’t it a little too early!? It’s only ten-thirty!!”

“Even if we’re still fine, Alas Ramus has to go to bed now. Even if you stay up all night, it’s not going to change when Gabriel comes tomorrow.”

“B-but… but…”

“mooommy, sleep! we all sleep toge’er!”

“Uuuuhh…”

There were no futons at Demon King Castle. It only had several bath sheets, so even though the three of them were sleeping together, they would just sleep next to each other like sardines or the Japanese 川 character for river. They wouldn’t be sleeping under the same cover.

To Emi, though, unlike previously when she had no choice but to stay for the night, she had to sleep close to Maou with Alas Ramus in between, and that was enough for her to feel against the idea.

However, Maou was in the same situation. He would never be able to turn his back on Emi in fear of her murdering him in his sleep as soon as Alas Ramus fell asleep.

Alas Ramus, on the other hand, was so ecstatic about being able to sleep together with Mommy and Daddy that one might doubt she would ever be able to fall asleep, and she began trying to pull the bedsheets out of the closet by herself, crumpling them all in the process.

“Oh, hey! You’ll trip again!”

“Alas Ramus, come to Mommy. We’ll make that useless daddy over there do it.”

Emi watched Maou get the makeshift beds ready.

“…Leave at least a dim light on, ” said Emi, just to make sure.

“Well yeah. If it’s pitch dark, Alas Ramus will get scared.

That wasn’t the reason Emi had in her mind, but it also made sense. The dark would obviously be scary to a little child.

“Oh… does Alas Ramus have a set of pajamas?”

“Pajamas? Oh… right. Come to think of it, those’re all the clothes she has.”

Maou put his hands together after taking out three bath sheets.

“Wait… you did laundry for her, right? And made her take baths?”

A few days had passed since Alas Ramus had arrived. Emi couldn’t hide her shock at the late revelation that the baby only had one article of clothing in the heat of summer.

“I took her to the public bath and washed her clothes. Don’t take me for an idiot. Since it’s the middle of summer, her clothes dry really quickly, and she just ran around the room in her diaper while they were drying.

“…Unbelievable.”

Maou ignored Emi’s incredulous expression and looked at Alas Ramus’s straw hat that was hanging on the wall.

“In the end, that hat was the only thing I bought for her. I wonder if the Unislo in Sasazuka has children’s clothes.”

“yoonieslo?”

“Like I said, don’t make Unislo the be all, end all to all your clothing needs. She’s a girl, so why can’t you try to find something cute for her?”

“Even if you say that, I don’t even know where to begin.”

“This is why men are…”

“Well, either way,”

Maou stood up calmly and pulled on the cord to the lights.

“I have to do my best for a tomorrow like that to come.”

“…Uh, um, yeah.”

Emi nodded naturally as she was caught off guard, and the complicated conversation went right over Alas Ramus’s head.

“mommy, mommy, here!”

Alas Ramus slapped the tatami next to her repeatedly.

“Ye-yep, yep.”

Emi lied down slowly and uncomfortably, while still being wary of Maou.

Seeing that Emi had completely lied down, Maou spurred Alas Ramus on by saying,

“Here, grab onto Mommy so she doesn’t leave again.”

“ya, grab!”

“Wah…”

Alas Ramus clung onto Emi with a smile that stretched across her face, and Emi hugged her back somewhat reluctantly.

“Huh? Alas Ramus… what are you holding?”

Emi had felt something hard and thin between her and Alas Ramus, who she was holding tightly.

“foto!”

It was the photograph in the folding frame that they had bought at the ferris wheel.

“So you really like it, do  you? …But if you hold onto it while you sleep, you’ll crumple it up. Let’s leave it next to the bed, okay?”

“au…”

Emi gently took the photograph and placed it next to their makeshift beds, and Alas Ramus followed it longingly with her eyes. Maou watched them, laughed slightly, and said,

“I’m turning the lights off.”

Maou turned the lights off after warning them, but left the dim light on as they had agreed to earlier.

“Umph.”

While her eyes were still unadjusted to the darkness, Emi felt her hair stand as she had heard Maou’s voice from much closer than she had expected.

“Yo-you’re too close!”

“I don’t want to be this close to you, either. But what can I do if Alas Ramus is grabbing me?”

Upon a closer look, the sleepy Alas Ramus had grabbed onto Emi and Maou’s shirts in each of her hands in the darkness.

“…If you try anything funny, I’ll kill you.”

“Like I said, don’t say something that would have a bad influence on a child.”

“What are you talking about? You’re bad influence incarnate.”

“Even if I am, you still love your daddy, right, Alas Ramus?”

“mm… nehehe…”

“Isn’t she disagreeing with you?”

“Nah, she’s just being really shy.”

“daddy, daddy, telme ah stowy…”

Alas Ramus asked for a bedtime story, with sleepiness mixed in her voice.

“Hm? A story? You don’t want to hear a story from Mommy?”

“mm… mommy tomooroh…”

“…”

Emi felt a prick in her heart as she heard Alas Ramus’s innocent plan.

Maou also gave a difficult smile, patted Alas Ramus’s stomach gently, and tried to think of something as he stared into space.

“Hmm, let’s see, how about we continue yesterday’s story?”

“‘kay.”

“Let’s see, where did I leave off…? Hmm…”

“a travelah met a angel.”

“Oh, that’s right, that’s right. Good job, you remembered. I’m proud of you.” “niheh.”

Emi watched and listened to Alas Ramus and Maou’s conversation curiously, and gulped when Maou suddenly looked in her direction.

“When she couldn’t fall asleep or cried because she was lonely, I had to tell her stories. Well, I didn’t realize that it was because of her diaper the first day, though.”

“…I didn’t ask you anything.”

Emi replied bluntly, but Maou ignored her and slowly began telling his story.

“Let’s see, um, a poor, hurt traveler was saved by an angel.”

The poor traveler who had been hurt by an evil demon was saved by a kind angel.

The angel told many stories that the traveler had never heard of.

Stories of high, high mountains. Stories of deep, deep oceans. Stories of thick, thick forests. Stories of kings. Stories of princesses. Stories of shops and money. Stories of vegetables and fish. Stories of soldiers. Stories of God. Stories of stars… The traveler excitedly listened to all the stories.

One day, the angel gave the traveler a charm as a present.

The traveler treasured the stories and the charm, and went on a journey again.

With the stories and the charm, the traveler became a king and lived happily ever after.

“…spuuu…”

“…The end… ‘kay, good night.”

It was unclear when Alas Ramus had fallen asleep, but Maou finished the story and quickly turned his back to Emi.

The sound of nocturnal summer insects filled every corner of the room.

“…Hey,”

“…What?”

Emi asked Maou while stroking the peacefully sleeping Alas Ramus’s hair,

“What happened to the traveler after he became a king?”

Maou turned his face to Emi. Even in the dim lights, she could tell he had raised his eyebrows incredulously.

“You do know that it was just something I made up for a little girl’s bedtime story, right? How should I know? He lived happily ever after, the end. What more do you want?”

“Did the traveler never go back where he grew up, or look for the angel?”

“…Like I said…”

“It’s fine, isn’t it? I need to continue the story tomorrow. Give me something to work with.” “…”

Maou had no idea what Emi meant by “tomorrow.” With another tired expression, he looked away from Emi again.

“If you make the story too hard, little kids won’t get it. You just need to make it up like I did.”

Maou refused to answer Emi, which left her frowning in unsatisfaction.

“The story’s going to change.”

“Just go to sleep already. If I keep talking to you, we’re going to get into a fight and Alas Ramus will wake up.”

“Why did the traveler want a foreign country for himself when he was already a king? Wasn’t he supposed to have lived happily ever after?”

“…”

“…Well?”

His reply was a mumble that could barely be heard.

“He must have gotten greedy after becoming a king.”

“Huh?”

“…if Alas Ramus wants to hear more of the story, just make it up as you tell it, ” said Maou quickly, then began snoring loudly as if it were intentional.

He shouldn’t have been able to fall asleep instantaneously like Alas Ramus, so it was most likely a sign that he wasn’t going to answer any more questions.

And as if responding to the snoring, Alas Ramus released her grip on Emi and stuck onto Maou’s stomach.

“…”

Emi watched Alas Ramus and patted her one last time. She then pulled the sheet up to her shoulders and turned her back to the two of them.

She looked towards the wall that separated them from Unit 202.

“…Honestly… I’m worried. I can’t just leave it all to him,” Emi said to herself without thinking.

 

 

Suzuno and Urushihara sat silently in Unit 202 of Villa Rosa Sasazuka.

The unit was furnished with a dresser made from cherry wood that gave an old-fashioned atmosphere, along with a charmingly old-fashioned, circular dining table and a brand-new paulownia dresser.

The furniture was all in the traditional Japanese style, but the refrigerator was a new, energysaving, family-size model, and the washer that sat in the public hallway was a large drum that could even perform air iron disinfection drying. But perhaps because of the limited power, the microwave did not differ much from the simple model Demon King Castle had.

The fan was the newest Tyson model with an ellipsoidal shape, and it mysteriously blew air from its side without any fan blades. Urushihara curiously stuck his hand in and out of the side of the fan.

“…Nothing seems to have happened. ”

And then, Ashiya walked through the door.

“You were able to see Chiho-dono home?”

“Of course. She was worried for my lord and the rest of us all the way home.”

“However, we cannot let Chiho-dono become involved in this matter.”

“Of course. If something were to happen to Sasaki-san, our livelihood would be in danger. No matter what happens, I instructed her not to approach Demon King Castle until everything is settled.”

“…Well, I do agree with your judgement.”

Suzuno had not asked the question with that type of answer in mind, but let Ashiya inside without objecting.

Ashiya lazily sat down in the middle of the room, and Suzuno asked him yet another question.

“Alciel, let me ask you something.”

“What? I’m not paying for lodging.”

“Do you take me for a cheapskate? I am not like you. I was going to ask about your demon army.”

Suzuno raised her head above her knees that she had her arms wrapped around.

“Why did you plot to conquer the world?” asked Suzuno to two lower-middle- class men of the type that could be found anywhere in Japan.

“I thought I understood everything, but now I cannot say I understand why you wanted to take over the world.”

“…That refrigerator is wonderful, isn’t it?”

“Huh?”

Ashiya’s response seemed to have come out of nowhere.

However, Ashiya said so with the most serious expression while looking at the newest energysaving model refrigerator that Suzuno had purchased a few days before at Emi’s recommendation.

“If you open the door to that refrigerator, vegetables, meats, and milk that were purchased yesterday can be found. If you were lacking anything, you could just go to the store and buy anything and cook whatever food you wanted for any particular day… perhaps my lord and the rest of us dreamed of something like that and began the invasion of Ente Isla.”

“…?”

“If you don’t understand, that’s fine. Either way, we work diligently now for the future we will have when we return to Ente Isla… do you get that, Urushihara?”

“…I’ll um, work when I can work.”

“You scum.”

Perhaps because of situation at hand, Ashiya and Urushihara’s verbal exchanges were relatively peaceful.

Suzuno listened to the two of them talk, and slowly put her face into her knees again. ***

“…Uh…”

Because of the combination of the early sunrise and increasing temperature, Emi woke up. She opened her eyes slowly and saw wooden boarding on the ceiling that she was not accustomed to.

“…!! Uh oh…”

Emi nearly jumped up as she had just remembered that she had stayed overnight at Demon King Castle.

“…That was close.”

She noticed that Alas Ramus was clinging onto her and sleeping peacefully.

If she had jumped up as she almost did, she also would have woken up Alas Ramus.

Emi sighed in relief and rotated just her head to look at Maou on the other side of Alas Ramus.

His sleeping posture was incredibly disgraceful.

The room was certainly hot, but he even had rolled up his shirt, exposing his stomach, and was snoring loudly with his mouth wide open. It would not have been surprising if he started making bubbles with his nose.

Emi looked at the clock, which showed five-thirty. It was the time of the year when the sun rose early.

Since she had slept on a tatami with just a sheet, her entire body was stiff. Emi started trying to loosen her neck and shoulders, and yawned loudly as she thought she should make Maou at least buy a futon for Alas Ramus.

Not a sound could be heard from Suzuno’s room next door. Perhaps they were still sleeping. Emi began wondering if Chiho has been able to get home safely.

Emi stroked Alas Ramus’s hair, then reached for her bag, took out a bottle of Holy Vitamin Beta, and drank it in one gulp.

Since she didn’t know when Gabriel would be arriving, she decided that it would be best for her to recharge her energy as much as possible in case a fight broke out.

Of course, it was all for protecting Alas Ramus and not because she was falling for the demon king’s tricks.

“It’s all for Alas Ramus, it’s all for Alas Ramus.”

Emi mumbled, and frowned at the aftertaste of the vitamin drink in her mouth.

“I should wash my face,” muttered Emi as she turned towards the kitchen sink, and then,

“Yo, morning!”

Until that precise moment, she had had no idea that someone besides Maou and Alas Ramus was in the room.

“…Ngh!!!!!”

The man was hiding in the blind spot beyond Emi’s field of vision. He then placed his hand over Emi’s mouth before she had a chance to react.

“Don’t struggleee, I won’t do anything rooough.”

“Mgh, ngnggh!”

Emi tried to kick Maou with her foot, but he was just outside her reach.

“It’s uuuseless. Eeeveryone is deep asleeep. They won’t wake up for a whiiile.”

Emi glared at the source of the happy-toned voice while still being muffled, and concentrated her will on her right hand without hesitation.

“Whoa, that’s dangerous.”

The man removed his hand from her mouth surprisingly easily and backed off some distance.

However, since they were in a six-tatami apartment unit, said distance was no more than the width of two tatamis, which was still easily within reach of Emi’s holy sword.

“Angels nowadays really have no manners, do they? Kidnapping people, putting transmitters in people’s bags, breaking into people’s homes…”

The man who did not show a hint of angelic holiness laughed proudly.

“Yeeeah, but don’t you think it’s okay if it’s Demon King Castle? It’s basically a villain’s base…”

“And why are you here so early? Is it because you changed your mind and decided to take her by force after all?”

Emi extended her right hand to Gabriel’s throat.

In a blink of an eye, the Evolving Holy Sword, Better Half, appeared in Emi’s right hand, the tip of its blade pointed to the archangel’s throat.

“Hey, didn’t I say yesterday that I just wanted to talk? You look like you don’t want to hear anything I have to say.”

“Alas Ramus aside, you want my holy sword too, don’t you? I can’t go easy on you if you plan on interfering with achieving my goal.”

“Geez, what a paain, all the girls nowadays have such strong personalities. No wonder boys without a shred of manhood are everywhere now. Girls these days are scary.”

Perhaps because it was his personality, or perhaps because of his confidence as an archangel, but Gabriel did not show any change in attitude even while the holy sword was pointed at his throat.

“Ooh, by the way, let me at least make this clear. The reason the demon king and the people next door aren’t going to wake up isn’t because I used some power or put up some barrier or anything like that.”

“…What are you saying?”

“Well, it’s just my guess, but they probably haven’t gotten much sleep recently. They looked like they did their best trying to stay up and stand guard, but they all passed out just one hour ago. Seriously, even you didn’t wake up at aaall. I came into this room, used the microwave to heat up the food I bought from the corner store, used the bathroom, and did some radio exercising in the yard, but no one woke up. I was actually starting to get lonely.”

“…”

Emi remembered Maou saying something about working until midnight, but being forced awake by Alas Ramus early in the morning the previous day.

“So, since I try to be the most gentlemanlike being in the universe, I wasn’t going to attack someone in their sleep. So that’s why I waited aaaall this time for you or the demon king to wake up so we could try to have another discussion… so, let’s put away our sharp objects, okay?”

Gabriel tried to curry favor with Emi by making an innocent expression and attempted to move the point of the sword away from him, but Emi refused to budge her sword.

She didn’t want any more alternate world beings becoming infatuated with worldly desires such as eating corner store food or doing radio exercises.

“Unlike Sariel, I don’t have a technique that nullifies holy powers, so seriously, can we please do this peacefully?”

“…Yeah, right.”

“Huh?”

“I bet your henchmen have the apartment surrounded, don’t they? Are they what you call heavenly soldiers?”

Gabriel became flustered at Emi’s aggressive questioning.

“I just want what I came for, and I seriously don’t want to hurt anyone, but what was I supposed to do? The demon king wouldn’t back down yesterday, so I have them on the lookout from a distance. Oh, but I take up a lot of the Gate’s capacity, so the rest of them aren’t really strong. Besides, when I take that girl back, it’ll eat up even more of the capacity. So, pweeease, will you listen to me?”

“…”

“Whaaaa!? Did you seriously sink the tip of your sword into my neck!? Aren’t you supposed to be the hero? You’re too good at threatening people with a sword! Scary!!”

Emi had silently thrusted the tip of her sword further, and it had touched Gabriel’s neck. He wasn’t hurt, but he acted flustered.

And because they were causing such a commotion,

“…Man, what are you being so loud…? Geez, it’s only five-something, what… the hell!?”

Even if he had been lacking sleep recently, it wasn’t surprising that all the shouting right next to him had woken him up.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Emi and an unfamiliar man, with the holy sword between them, fighting in a extremely confined, six-tatami room.

“uiiiuh… daddy?”

Alas Ramus had also woken up. Maou couldn’t think clearly at such a sudden turn of events.

“Gabriel… why the hell are you here so early…?”

“Oh, Demon King Satan, ‘morning. Sorry to intrude so early. Weell, I have a schedule to keep myself, you seee.”

Maou shielded Alas Ramus with his body for the time being, but with Gabriel having been able to get so close undetected and almost no reserve power himself, the situation was hopeless.

“Se-see, you shouldn’t use a sharp object in front of a child. It’s not a good influence, so can you pleeease put it away?”

Gabriel still tried to get them to do what was convenient for him.

However, there was no way she could trust what he had said. There was no guarantee that he wouldn’t attack the moment the holy sword was resealed.

The fact that Gabriel had come himself, even with the weaker Heavenly soldiers, meant that he was just that confident in himself. An angel with the name Gabriel couldn’t possibly be the simpleton that he portrayed himself to be.

“I don’t want to make enemies with Heaven or angels either. But you’re the one forcing me to take an aggressive stance.”

“Whaa… that’s scaaary logic.”

Gabriel cowered as if he were despairing for the world.

“Then I’ll just talk like this… the tip is touching my throat, scaaary… well, if I had to concede something, I just need either the holy sword or the little child for now. I’m not going to lie to you, you have two choices. Give, or don’t give.”

Gabriel calmly but annoyedly explained as he waved his raised arms around.

“The Yesod Sefirah that I guarded was stolen from the Tree of Life, the foundation of the world, a long time ago. And the thief even had the guts to split the Yesod Sefirah into many fragments and scatter them all over the place. Your Evolving Holy Sword, Better Half, and the little child behind the demon king all came from Yesod fragments, Emilia. So it’s not good for them to be outside Heaven for an extended period of time.”

“My holy sword… came from a Yesod fragment?”

Gabriel stuck his index finger out and spoke as plainly as if delivering the morning news.

“Yeep. Here, see, it’s embedded right there. A violet crystal.”

Gabriel pointed to the holy sword’s handle with just his finger and eyes.

The Evolving Holy Sword Better Half’s handle had carvings of wings, and in the center of them was a violet jewel ornament. However, Emi had assumed long ago that it was nothing more a decoration.

“The ‘Evolving Holy Sword, Better Half’ is pretty dangerous, even compared to the other stuff. It was pretty high on our priorities to recover it, but until you invaded Ente Isla, Satan, its whereabouts were a mystery for a looooooooong time. We’ve spent hundreds of years recovering the fragments little by little, but we just couldn’t find the holy sword and the little girl. And I didn’t want others to know about my failure, so I’ve been recovering them by myself secretly, but you can’t hide something like that for so long. I was accused of rebelling against God, and Sariel found out about what happened to me. I almost became a fallen angel, haha!”

Gabriel laughed at what he was saying, which didn’t match the tense atmosphere.

“How is it dangerous? The holy sword is an object for defeating the demon king, and shouldn’t pose any danger to anyone.” “It poses a danger to me, though.”

Maou’s joke was ignored.

“Well, that’s what you humans… I mean, that’s just the story told by the Church that obtained the Yesod fragment long ago. And if I tell you why it’s dangerous, that’ll ruin all the effort I put into chasing after the fragment. Can’t tell ya!”

“What… a story…?”

“Besides, why would there just happen to be a convenient weapon that works well against the demon king or the demons? ‘The ‘Evolving Holy Sword, Better Half’ derives its strength from holy power, right? How is it different from those people from the Church who use ‘Materialization War Art, Iron Light?’ They’re just made from different materials, so the holy sword isn’t a weapon made specifically to find demons.”

“But… but, the holy sword led us to where the demon king was…”

When they had infiltrated the demon king’s castle, the holy sword had led Emi and the others straight to where the demon king was with its light. That was the reason why they had been able to take the castle in such a short time.

“It probably wasn’t leading you to the demon king, but to that girl,” Gabriel said plainly.

“The Yesod fragments just attracted each other, that’s all. Well because of that, finding that little child took longer though.”

The events that ensued after the fragments attracted each other was the great battle between the demon king and the hero, in which she had drawn out all the power she could from the holy sword.

“Because of the strong signal that the holy sword was giving off, the signal from the child that was already weak to begin with was overpowered. And then, Emilia coming over to this world erased the signal altogether, and we didn’t know which way it went and we just panicked. Who would have guessed that it became part of demon king’s gardening hobby?”

The last time Maou had seen the tree that was born from the crystal, its two branches had just began to twist into each other, there were no flowers or fruits, let alone trees yet.

Regardless, he had never expected the crystal to do anything to begin with, and he had completely forgotten about it until very recently. And just when Maou had began thinking that it was a bit of a miracle that it was able to even grow,

Gabriel suddenly grabbed the holy sword with his bare hands.

Emi was caught completely off guard and tried to pull the sword back, but it would not budge.

“It’s useleeess. It might hurt a bit like a paper cut, but the holy sword in its current state wouldn’t be able to defeat me unless something really off the wall happened. Soooo…”

Gabriel turned his eyes to Maou, still with a carefree attitude.

“Do you get everything now? Please, will you listen to me without throwing a fight?”

This was the final warning.

Gabriel’s actions were to show that even if Emi had attempted to fight, the outcome would be clear. Maou did not even have any reserve power stored in himself and nothing he could do would help.

Even if they had help from Suzuno, the outcome would most likely not be any different.

If that was the case, Maou was only left with one choice.

Maou took a deep breath and turned to Gabriel.

Emi and Gabriel nervously wondered if Maou was going to try some desperation attack, but,

“…what?”

“Wha-what do you think you’re doing!?”

Maou’s action was not expected by Gabriel or Emi.

“Please,”

Maou knelt down on the floor.

The Demon King Satan, who stood in the pinnacle of the demon world and held aspiration to conquer the world had lowered his head to an archangel.

“Please don’t take Alas Ramus away.”

Maou earnestly pleaded, with his forehead on the tatami.

“daddy…?”

Alas Ramus did not understand what Maou was doing, and looked back and forth between him and Gabriel.

“You know, I’m an angel and you’re the demon king. I can’t do what I did with the girl yesterday.” Gabriel replied with a tired tone, but Maou had expected such an answer.

“Of course, I’m not asking you to back off for free. How about my head in exchange? Not a bad deal, right?”

“What!?”

“Wh-what!? Don’t be stupid!?”

The two of them were completely dumbfounded.

“I-I’m going to be the one to defeat you! Don’t toss your life away in a place like this!”

“Oh, shut up. Just tell them you had the guidance of an archangel and defeated me or something. What do you have to lose?”

“Everything!! Who’d take guidance from people like them!? It’s pointless unless I do it myself!”

“I couldn’t care less about what’s important to you! What’s important now is Alas Ramus!”

“Uuum, hey, can you not have a family fight while ignoring me?”

“‘Who are you calling a family!?’” said Maou and Emi simultaneously.

“Wow… You two practically finish each other’s sentences…”

Said Gabriel, somewhat impressed.

“daddy mommy no fightiiiing!!”

In an rare occasion, Gabriel and Alas Ramus’s opinions coincided.

“Let me ask you something then. Why does a demon king such as yourself care so much about that child? Didn’t you forget about her existence until very recently?”

“It’s because I became blind with my greed after becoming a King like ‘that demon,’ and forgot what was really precious to me!”

That day when he was caught in the claws that came down on him, and saw the red sky and ground as he saw death.

“She’s a symbol of my hope that I obtained when I was saved from the brink of death and was reborn… but I somehow forgot that and became a ‘king of demons.’ “

Sadao Maou, who also was the worthless demon Satan, slowly embraced Alas Ramus.

“daddy… you hurtin’ me a wittle.”

Alas Ramus wiggled in Maou’s arms.

“Nothing happened even when you didn’t know where she was for hundreds of years, right? Please, in exchange for my life, don’t take her to where she doesn’t want to go.”

“…you make it sound like me taking that child back is the most terrible atrocity in the world, but

I’m going to say it again, she’s originally a Yesod fragment so she belongs in heaven…”

“I know about the legends of ‘The ancient great demon king Satan!’ “

Emi saw Gabriel’s face stiffen as soon as Maou had said that.

“The ancient great demon king Satan” most likely referred to the demon king from long ago that Maou had mentioned last night, but how that was related to Gabriel was unclear. “…so please, I can’t let her go. I don’t want her to go. Please. For now, let her…!!”

Maou could not finish his sentence, and fell on his knees.

“Sorry, but change of plans.”

“Gah…hng…”

Maou struggled as he was on his knees. Emi could not tell what exactly was happening, but he seem to be struggling to breathe.

“Well, I wasn’t going to do this, but you know, you just dug your own grave. Even for a gentle soul like me, I have to do it after hearing what you just said.”

“Gaaaaaaah!!!”

“De-demon king!?”

Gabriel drew close to his face as if he was making a point. At that precise moment, even Emi’s eyes saw that Maou’s neck was beginning to be dented in, as if an invisible hand was choking him.

“My lord! My lord, what’s going on!?”

“Step back, Alciel, I’ll smash through with my hammer!”

Suddenly, the hallway outside became filled with commotion, and Ashiya and Suzuno’s panicstricken voices could be heard.

“Oooh, I guess if we make this much noise, they’d wake up. But it’s uuuseless. That barrier won’t be broken by just tapping it here and thereee.”

Gabriel was not fazed in the slightest. A sound of a heavy object smashing on the door could be heard, but the sixty-year old apartment’s door did not even crack.

And even at a time like this, Urushihara’s voice could not be heard. He was most likely still sleeping by himself.

“Hero Emilia, sorry, but I’m going to put an end to demon king satan for good. I know you have your issues, but like he said earlier, can you tell the church something like being guided by an archangel or whatever it was? I’ll even make some people see dreams and oracles about it.” The situation was completely hopeless.

The demons without their powers could not do anything, and the holy sword was neutralized.

“‘kay, Emilia? Sound good?”

Gabriel asked Emi while still not taking his eyes off of Maou. He still had the carefree tone as if he was asking for directions. It was reflective of how little he looked to the human world. “…I refuse.”

“Huh?”

“It’s my turn to tell her bedtime story tonight. If you take her away, I’d be breaking my promise.”

“Whaat… seriouslyyy…?”

Gabriel’s words suggested that he was disappointed, but his tone suggested that he wasn’t concerned.

Emi’s aggravation grew further.

“I couldn’t care less about what situations you high and mighty beings are in! The Demon King

Satan will be cut down by my hands! No one else is going to take that from me!!”

“Uuuh… I don’t know about that line that you’ve used to death…”

“To begin with, someone who tries to separate a daughter from her father forcibly can’t possibly be a good person! Heavenly Light Flame Strike!!”

“Huh? Wha, wha-hot hot hot! Hot! Hot! Hey! What do you think you’re doing!?”

Emi emitted fire from the blade of her holy sword.

The technique had cut open the fallen angel Lucifer, but it did not burn Gabriel’s palms.

“It-it doesn’t look like much, but it was actually really hot! Geez! I already said I don’t want to be rough with you, why can’t you understand it? Didn’t I say I was in charge of her?”

“I didn’t ask you to!”

“Well, yeah, but it’s my duty…”

“…”

“Gah…ngah…”

“Who… was that?”

Even Gabriel, who had been talking lazily until now grew serious.

“all we were doin’ was playing.”

The voice came from near Emi, Gabriel, and Maou’s feet.

“malkoo said so. you are liars.”

Tiny feet and tiny hands. Cute but with strong determination in her eyes.

“you all lied to become gods!”

Alas Ramus gently touched the struggling Maou. With just that,

“Gah!! Cough!… gaaaaah…”

“Whaaaat!?”

Gabriel’s grip was loosened and Maou regained his breathing while in cold sweat. “i, hate you all!”

“Whaaa…”

Alas Ramus took a step towards Gabriel.

“you separated us, you locked us, and,”

In that moment, a violet crescent mark appeared on Alas Ramus’s forehead, and the yellow dress she had been wearing began shining like the summer sun.

“i wont forgive anyone who pick on mommy and daddy!!!!”

“Nwah!”

“Kyaah!!”

Gabriel was blown away by the golden light and slammed against the wall of Demon King Castle.

With that, the holy sword was freed from Gabriel’s hands and Emi regained her freedom.

“Alas…”

“wait daddy!”

“Wa-wait!!”

From beside Maou, who was still unable to stand up, Alas Ramus, cloaked in the golden aura, flew into Gabriel’s chest like a cannonball.

“Gweeeeh!”

Gabriel was blown through the wall by Alas Ramus while letting out a cry that sounded like a frog being smashed with a brick.

“A-Alas Ramus! Heavenly Light Swift Step!!”

Emi ignored Maou, activated her speed-boosting technique by concentrating her power into her evil-slaying garment, and chased after them.

“Emilia!”

“My lord!!”

Since the barrier seemed to have dissolved with the Gabriel’s disappearance, the door was suddenly blasted off its hinges and Suzuno and Ashiya rushed into the apartment.

Seeing the immobilized Maou and the great hole in the wall, Ashiya’s face erupted with fury.

“H-h-h-h-h-how dare you, Emilia! How are you capable of such atrocity!?”

Ashiya’s thought process of making a judgment just based on what he saw was understandable.

However,

“No… Gabriel… Alas Ramus is…”

“What!? He has come already!?”

“Alas Ramus… is fighting… hurry… go after… cough!”

“Alas Ramus…”

“Is fighting?”

Ashiya and Suzuno couldn’t understand what Maou was trying to say, and could only look back and forth between the wall and Maou.

“Suzuno, please… take me… up to…”

Suzuno saw Maou struggling to speak, and nodded. However,

“Stop, human! Demon King Satan!!”

“We will not allow you to interfere with Lord Gabriel!!”

Suddenly, Gabriel’s four subordinates from the previous day flew down and blocked the hole that Alas Ramus had blasted open.

Even the Heavenly soldiers had white wings on their backs.

“Ugh… you bastards…”

Even if they wanted to fight, Suzuno was the only one able to. No matter how weak Gabriel considered them to be, fighting four-on-one against Heavenly soldiers was not a desirable position.

However,

“Huh? Who do you think you’re talking to?”

The expressions of the four angels suddenly became stiff.

“You pawns of Gabriel think you can dare to tell me to back down? Hm?”

“U-Urushihara?”

Urushihara had the appearance of just having woken up, and lazily leaned against the doorway, glaring at the four angels. And then,

“Step aside.”

Two simple words. However,

“…”

The four angels moved out of the way without resistance.

“Maou, Bell, it’s okay. I won’t let them get in your way, so go.”

“Wha-what’s going on?”

“Ashiya, did you forget what kind of demon I am?”

Urushihara clicked his tongue with an annoyed expression.

Lucifer was an archdemon general of the demon king’s army. However, before he became the fallen angel told of in countless sacred texts and legends, he was also called the Morning Star, and was Heaven’s highest-ranked angel who had tried to become God.

“Before my fall, I was the head of the archangels. I won’t be able to do something like this with Gabriel himself, but his small fry soldier pawns can’t oppose me.”

Heaven’s customs dictated that angels could not disobey a higher-ranked angel, even a fallen one.

However, contrary to his name, the Morning Star woke up in the evening and went to sleep at sunrise on multiple occasions, and his sleep cycle was in complete disarray. One might even feel sorry for the hard-working angelic soldiers who couldn’t disobey the hardly working fallen angel because of a rigid law.

“You… really are useful sometimes…”

“The ‘sometimes’ was unnecessary, Maou. Just hurry up and go already.”

“Ye-yeah. Suzuno, I’m counting on you!”

“Very well. Get on the head of the hammer! Do not be thrown off!”

Suzuno and Maou flew into the early morning sky, through the path opened by the angels.

 

 

“Alas Ramus!?”

Emi looked up into the sky above Sasazuka.

There, she saw Alas Ramus charging like a comet with a conscience and Gabriel on the defensive.

“Ow, ow ow ow ow ow!”

“Gabriel! Get away from Alas Ramus!”

“Wha-what do you think I’m trying to doooo!?”

Gabriel was distracted by Emi’s voice, and Alas Ramus headbutted him with all her power.

After a cringing clash, Gabriel was sent flying into the air like a bottle rocket.

“Alas Ramus! Are you okay!?”

Emi ignored Gabriel flying down toward her and holding his nose, and grabbed Alas Ramus into a hug in mid-air.

“What are you, bliiind!? No matter how you look at it, I’m the one being hurt!”

Voicing his complaint loudly, Gabriel braked suddenly by stretching his great wings.

“Geez! I’m not that good at fighting!”

Gabriel took his empty right hand and made a fist in front of his face. Then,

“Tadaa! My sword’s bigger now!!”

Emi had no idea who he was trying to imitate, but yelled back at Gabriel, who now held a dangerous object in his hand.

“You’re going to use a sword against a little kid!?”

“Hey! Would a beast tamer in a circus fight back against a rampaging bear or lion with his bare hands!? Just because I’m her guardian doesn’t mean I can always take her lightly!”

“Sa-say that again, I dare you! How dare you compare Alas Ramus to a bear or a lion!!!”

“I just wanted to make an example that would be easy for you to understand! Why are you acting like an upset motheeer!?”

“mommy careful! zat swood is weally strong!”

Alas Ramus stood between Gabriel and Emi to protect her.

“Yep, it’s strooong. If you put it another way, I was so scared just now that I had to resort to pulling this out.”

His confident manner of talking still didn’t change, but it didn’t take Alas Ramus’s warning for Emi to see that his longsword was anything but ordinary.

“The sword of Gabriel… Durandal, right?”

“Exactamundo! This sword doesn’t have any special power imbued in it, but it’s incredibly tough and can cut through anything. It’ll slice anything you throw at it in half, including your ‘Evolving Holy Sword Better Half,’ probably. I’m the guardian, so I can’t lose to just a fragment. Even if she’s actually a Yesod fragment, it wouldn’t make me feel good to cut down a little child, so I’d rather you surrender.”

“…Do you really think we’ll surrender because you asked us to? Villains usually get defeated when they get confident…”

At that exact instant, a gentle wind blew past Emi, and she felt a slight impact to her right hand.

“Nooo, if I act like a gentleman, I actually end up breaking the flag.”

Gabriel’s voice came from behind her.

“!!”

Suddenly, Emi felt her holy power draining rapidly.

She then realized that the blade of the holy sword had been broken in half. To be more precise, the top half was cut off.

The piece of the sword flickered in the air like a firefly. The edge of the sword that had been cut off shone like a mirror. Once Emi realized Gabriel had cut her blade off, she couldn’t even move.

“mommy!!”

Alas Ramus had the same reaction, and began flying towards Emi. Emi realized what would happen to Alas Ramus, whose only way of attacking was tackling, if she were to come to contact with Durandal’s blade.

“It’ll be fine as long as it still has the Yesod fragment, the evolving heavenly silver core. But I couldn’t care less about what happens to your holy sword either way.”

Gabriel then tried to strike a pose, and placed Durandal on his shoulder.

“Ow! I cut my shoulder!”

He placed his sword that could cut anything on his shoulder, which caused the sword to cut his clothes and shoulder. “Hey, Alas Ramus,”

“…what mommy?”

Emi ignored Gabriel for the time being, and asked Alas Ramus a question.

“…Do you love your ‘daddy?’ Do you always want to be with him?”

“yah!”

Alas Ramus gave a definitive answer.

“oh, but i love you too mommy. i want to be wis you too,” she added afterwards in a hurry, which made her all the more adorable.

“Okay.”

Emi grinned.

“Then I can’t abandon a little girl that wants to be with her beloved daddy.”

Emi concentrated her will on the holy sword and poured her holy power into it.

The broken blade began repairing itself, and returned to its original appearance.

It was thinner and seemed less dependable than it was when she had first drew it. However,

“I’ll do whatever it takes to bring happiness to those whom I’ve been entrusted to protect!”

“Uuugh… I feel like this is going to be really troublesome…”

Emi poured all her willpower into her action, while Gabriel frowned from the bottom of his heart.

“…Don’t hold it against me. Man, you make me sound like such a villain.”

Gabriel took a stance that showed complete and utter disregard to sword-wielding techniques. However, judging from his speed and the power and the sharpness of the sword, she would lose her life if she got even nicked.

“Like I said, if you get in my way, I won’t have any choice but to fight back seriously. Think about what you’re trying to do.”

“Compared to seeing a little child cry, fear of my enemies is nothing!”

“That child might look like a child, but she’s actually a Yesod Sefirah originally… Geez, stop making me sound like a villain!”

Emi no longer cared about Gabriel’s complaints, and began strategizing for the desperate battle.

Even in its optimal form, the sword had been snapped in half. She could not parry his sword with hers. She would have to cut down Gabriel in one strike. However, his speed made that nearly impossible.

“Aaaaaaaaah!!”

In that moment, someone attacked Gabriel from his back at high speed.

“De-demon King!?”

“daddy!”

“Nngh!”

Maou flew into the sky on the head of Suzuno’s hammer, and somehow managed to land on Gabriel’s back.

As Maou jumped onto Gabriel, Suzuno swung her hammer at Gabriel at the same time.

“War Light Shockwave!!”

The shockwave that came out as Suzuno screamed hit Gabriel right in his behind as he tried and failed to dodge the hammer with Maou on his back.

“Whooooooooaa!?”

“Whaaaaaaa!!”

Because his center of gravity was closer to the top of his body due to Maou, Gabriel began rapidly spinning in the air.

“LET GOOOOOOOO!”

“LIKE HELL I WILLLLLLL!!”

In the midst of the rapid spinning, the fight between an archangel and the demon king seemed to last forever.

“Eeemiiii! Do it noooow! Cut him down along with meeeeee!!” Emi snapped back after hearing Maou’s desperate scream.

“Yo-you idiot!! How can I do that in front of Alas Ramus!?”

“Iiidiooooot!! This iiiiis our only chaaaance!”

“Humph!”

“Gyah!”

Even Gabriel wouldn’t keep spinning forever.

The moment he stopped, Gabriel cast Maou aside into the air with about as much effort as brushing off a fly.

“Daaaaahh!!”

Maou was sent spinning at an incredible speed yet again down to the ground.

“De-demon king!!”

Suzuno flew after him, but the distance and speed at which he fell were too much for her. “mommy.”

As Emi watched everything helplessly, Alas Ramus suddenly asked her a question.

“…What is it, Alas Ramus?”

“mommy, will you oohways be wis daddy? do you love daddy too?”

Emi didn’t understand what she was asking and why now, of all times.

Even after having so many huge fights right in front of her. Even with their differences as the demon king and a human.

Emi could do nothing but smile at such a strange turn of events.

She wouldn’t dream of hurting a little child. But she couldn’t lie either.

“I… yeah, I’ll always be with Daddy.”

“weally!?”

Alas Ramus smiled from the bottom of her heart, brimming with happiness. Emi also answered with a smile.

“Yes, always.”

Emi then spoke words that were to be taken literally.

“Until death do us part.”

As long as Sadao Maou is Demon King Satan.

“yaaaay!!”

Alas Ramus let out a childlike shout of joy, and in that instant, “!?”

The impact was like an earthquake in space.

Suzuno was flying towards the falling Maou, but someone flew past her at such an incredible speed that she nearly lost control.

When she finally regained her position, Maou was mere moments from hitting the ground. However,

“daddy.”

Maou was floating just above the ground.

Somehow, he was enveloped in the golden light that surrounded Alas Ramus.

“Alas Ramus… you…”

“hey daddy, mommy said shell oohways be wis you.”

“Huh?”

Maou didn’t understand what she was saying at all, and tilted his head in confusion while he floated a few centimeters above the yard of Villa Rosa Sasazuka with his four limbs extended in an awkward position.

“so daddy, youll nevah be lonely right?”

“What are you saying…”

“im always with mommy and daddy, okay?”

“Huh?”

The carefree words and the immense light came out at nearly the same time.

The light that was soft as feathers filled Maou’s eyes in an instant.

“so byebye, for a wittle bit.”

Maou lost his support and fell to the ground as the golden comet flew high into the sky. Maou could do nothing as he watched from below.

Suzuno finally landed on the ground, but Maou didn’t even look at her, and screamed. “Alas Ramuuuuuuuuus!!”

 

 

As if answering Maou’s desperate scream, an explosion of silver light came from high above the skies, shining with the intensity of a second sun.

 

 

“It looks there’s a third choice, Gabriel,” said Emilia as she donned arm leg guards that shone with the brightness of a full moon.

On her right hand that held the holy sword was a simple arm guard that protruded slightly without touching the hand guard of the sword. On her empty left hand was a large, majestic arm guard with an attached shield. Her leg guards were of similar design.

Her evil-slaying garment, which normally only took the form of a glowing light surrounding her, had now physically manifested itself in various places.

The areas aside from her arm and leg guards were still enveloped in the veil of light from before. However, the “Evolving Holy Sword, Better Half” had completely returned to its original form, including the tip that had been cut off by Durandal, and was emitting a silver glow.

“Oh man… That’s right, the Church gave you more than one ‘Evolving Silver of Heaven.’ I completely forgot.”

Gabriel’s face grew serious as he took a stance with his Durandal once more.

“I can’t tell where the fragment that makes up the core of the evil-slaying garment is, but no wonder that child was drawn to you. This isn’t good, I didn’t expect it to evolve like that… I really have to get serio…!”

Even as Gabriel’s expression showed his determination to fight, his carefree attitude had never changed. Something passed by him to his immediate right.

And in the next moment,

“Nggaaaah!!! What? What!? What is this!?”

A sharp pain ran through Gabriel’s back, making him scream.

It was “pain” that he had never experienced before. It was a foreign concept to the archangel from Heaven who had almost never before been hurt by humans.

“Wha-wha-what…!?”

Gabriel’s left arm was cut, albeit very, very shallowly.

However, this was an event completely unforeseen by Gabriel. Just moments ago, he had felt nothing as he gripped the holy sword’s blade with his bare hands.

“…So angels’ blood is as red as ours, huh.”

Emi, Hero Emilia Justina, turned to face Gabriel once again after flicking off the drop of blood on the tip of Better Half.

“Leave, Gabriel. I don’t have any intention of fighting against Heaven. I just don’t want to see that

little girl cry.”

Emilia looked toward the ground as she spoke.

“I-I can’t do that… I have my reasons for not being able to back down, too. How many centuries do you think I’ve been looking for that Yesod fragment?”

“Oh? So you’re saying you still want to fight me with that sword?”

“!!”

All traces of confidence disappeared from Gabriel’s face.

The archangel’s sword that was spoken of in the sacred texts, Durandal, had had its blade cut off, not unlike how Better Half had been damaged just moments ago.

As if to add insult to injury, a crack began to run down the middle of the blade from the open edge, and the sword crumbled to pieces like ashes.

“…I-I guess I really have to leave.”

Gabriel gave up surprisingly easily.

“But neither Sariel nor I have given up. We will obtain all the Yesod fragments someday. We’re just letting you keep this one until then.”

“You sound like a defeated dog. There’s still one thing I don’t understand, though. Just like the demon king asked, why are you so desperate to gather them all when nothing’s happened, even though they were missing for hundreds of years?”

Gabriel made a short gaping expression at Emi’s question.

“…Really? Are you really asking me that?”

“?”

Confused, Emilia glared at Gabriel.

“…You should think about what you are. And the meaning of the battle that you just fought against me. If you do that, you’ll understand someday.”

Gabriel gave a mysterious response, and suddenly thrust the broken Durandal into the air before Emilia could say anything further.

“I pray that when that time comes, you will choose to preserve the peace of the world. So that…”

Light began emitting from his hand.

“…we don’t repeat the tragedy of ‘The Great Demon King Satan.’”

“Wh-what!?”

The sky was filled with a great light, forcing Maou and Suzuno to turn away for a moment.

It could also be seen as an great explosion of light, but as they looked up to where the light had come from, they saw that it was something falling.

Suzuno kicked off of the ground and flew into the air, and began to close in on the falling object.

“E-Emilia!?”

Suzuno realized right away that it was a human, and in fact, Emilia.

She couldn’t discern whether Emilia was injured or merely unconscious because of the previous burst of light. Either way, Suzuno caught Emi just in time, as the hero fell limp into her arms. “Emilia! Are you alright!?”

Emi appeared to be incredibly feeble, but she opened her eyes as soon as Suzuno spoke to her.

“…Bell? …Yeah, everything’s fine… or at least I am. And Gabriel is gone.”

“What!?”

Shocked, Suzuno quickly looked up into the light remaining from the explosion.

There, she saw only traces of the light, and the usual sky above Sasazuka. Not a single person was there, and certainly not Gabriel.

However, Suzuno was not relieved.

There was no one there.

Only Suzuno and Emi were in the sky.

“Hey, Emi!”

A voice from below called out to her, and even without looking, she could tell that it was a voice of desperation.

“Where’s Alas Ramus?”

“…”

“What happened to Alas Ramus!?”

“…”

Maou’s voice grew louder without him realizing it, as he looked up to the slowly descending Emi and Suzuno.

Emi looked away from him while making a grim expression, and a shiver ran through Maou’s spine.

“No… Did Gabriel…”

Emi did not give an answer.

And instead of a response,

“Uuuugh… what am I supposed to do…?”

Emi quietly moaned to herself in a voice no one else could hear.

***

“Hey, Chii-chan,”

Chiho’s shift had just finished, and she had been stopped by Kisaki.

“Oh, Kisaki-san? Thanks for your hard work.”

“Yes, same to you. Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Of course. What is it?”

It was 9:00 PM. Chiho already had a good idea of what Kisaki wanted to talk to her about.

“Did that child go back to her relatives?”

Chiho’s guess was correct.

“You could tell, right?”

“He was… how should I put it… like an empty shell.”

They were talking about Maou.

Maou was absolutely lifeless. He made one simple, careless mistake after another, his voice had no energy, and his lack of diligence was so contrary to his usual self that Kisaki was actually worried.

“I suppose we have to wait for him to sort out his feelings by himself, but this isn’t good… Sorry, Chii-chan, but if he’s going to keep being like this, can you keep an eye on him and follow up if he makes any more mistakes?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Maybe I was too tough on him back then. I can’t be too soft on him all of a sudden, either.”

“It’s fine. Maou-san knows that you said all those things with his best interests in mind, Kisakisan. I’ll be leaving now. Excuse me.”

“Yeah, be careful on your way home.”

Chiho left the restaurant after thanking Kisaki, checked the time, and began heading towards Sasazuka Station.

Alas Ramus had disappeared.

Maou had seen Emi coming back by herself after chasing after Gabriel out of the apartment. He was absolutely devastated.

Chiho had only heard about the early morning battle with Gabriel from Suzuno.

What had been waiting for Chiho as she headed for Villa Rosa Sasazuka first thing in the morning was…

“Alas Ramus is… gone.”

Suzuno’s brief, shocking words.

Suzuno, Ashiya, and Urushihara sat on the stairs outside, seemingly at a loss, and there was a great hole in the wall of the second floor.

Chiho was already used to the supernatural events that the people of the alternate world invariably brought with them, and knew right away that it was the aftermath of a battle.

She did wonder briefly why no neighbors had noticed or reported this to the authorities, but that was the least of her concerns.

“A-Ashiya-san, what…”

“My lord is… safe. He is in Demon King Castle… but he has asked to be left alone.”

“What happened to… Alas Ramus-chan? What did that Gabriel person do!?”

Chiho quickly brought up Gabriel’s name,

“We don’t know. Emilia was completely out of it, just like Maou.”

Urushihara was the one to answer her.

“The most likely scenario is that Alas Ramus was taken by Gabriel.”

“N-No!”

Chiho let out a heartbroken cry.

“This time, we were under the watch of the Heavenly soldiers, so there was no time or way for the demon king to regain his powers. I cannot imagine Emilia being able to fight on even terms with the guardian of the Tree of Life… I suppose the silver lining is that neither Emilia nor the demon king were injured significantly… but sadly, she was most likely taken away.”

“But maybe this was for the best? If Alas Ramus really was the Yesod Sefira fragment, then it’s only natural that Gabriel would take her back to Heaven. I mean, we had no responsibility or obligation to take care of that kid in the first…”

“Urushihara-san!”

Chiho interrupted Urushihara with a shout before he could speak further.

“Just try saying another word, I dare you!”

“…What did I do?”

Urushihara pouted and sulked, but listened to Chiho anyway and shut his mouth.

“…What happened to Yusa-san?”

“Emilia has already returned home. She said she has work today as well… I understand that her belongings and clothes were tattered… but she’s just a heartless witch…”

Ashiya replied with little energy.

“Sasaki-san, please go to your school. My lord…”

Ashiya looked up at the hole on the second floor wall with a grieved expression.

“…probably don’t want to speak to anyone at the moment.”

Chiho also couldn’t help looking up at the hole, but at that moment, she felt an emotion she couldn’t understand in her chest, and shed a tear.

“I-I’m sorry… I’ll be leaving now.”

Chiho tried to hide her tears by giving the three others a short bow, and left the apartment. “Alas Ramus-chan…”

Chiho muttered the little apple girl’s name as she headed for school, and shed another tear.

She had only been with her for a short time, but even Chiho felt a great sense of loss. She couldn’t imagine what it must feel like for Maou, whom Alas Ramus thought of as her beloved father.

In a time like this, Chiho could not even be next to Maou.

She despised her powerlessness from the bottom of her heart.

“…Oh, a text?”

Chiho felt her phone vibrate in her bag, wiped her tears away, and took it out.

“Yusa-san?”

The message was from Emi. She wanted to see Chiho sometime today, and any time was fine.

Chiho replied that she had work after school until evening, but if that was alright, then she could meet her. If the time didn’t matter to Emi, then there was no reason why she couldn’t meet her.

And now, Chiho found Emi next to the Sasazuka station on her way back from work.

“Yusa-saaan! Sorry! Did I make you wait?”

“Hey, Chiho-chan. Sorry for asking you to see me when you’re so tired.”

However, Emi seemed far more tired than Chiho was.

Chiho wondered if the loss of Alas Ramus was taking a toll on her in her own way.

“No, it’s fine… but is something wrong?”

“Um, well… It’ll be my treat, so can we talk inside that Eccentric Sihol over there? I see an open corner booth inside.”

“Huh? Oh, yes, that’s fine…”

They went inside the Eccentric Sihol in the mall next to Sasazuka Station, where Emi ordered a coffee and Chiho ordered a soy milk latte.

Emi took the corner booth where fewer people would pass by, sank deep into the cushions of the seats, and gave a great sigh.

“Did you hear about what happened this morning?”

Emi went straight to the point, and the topic of the conversation was unsurprising. Chiho nodded with a pained expression.

“…I stopped by their apartment.”

“I see…”

“Um… did Alas Ramus-chan get taken back, after all?”

“…”

Emi’s forehead formed even more ridges, with a frown far deeper than Chiho’s.

Chiho thought that her expression confirmed it.

“…If only I were stronger…”

“No, it’s not your fault, Yusa-san…”

“…If I’d had the strength to fight Gabriel on my own, this wouldn’t have had to happen.”

“Please, don’t blame yourself…”

“No, there’s no way around it. This is the result of my incompetence.”

“mommy, are yuu okay? does yur tummy hurt?”

“Yusa-san…”

“chii-neecha. is mommy hurt? is she hurt?”

“No, that’s not it. Her feelings are hurt… wait, what?”

“ou?”

Next to Emi and Chiho’s feet was…

“Whaaaaaaaaat!? !?”

Chiho tried to stand up on the spot, and hit her knee on the table, nearly flipping her soy milk latte over. “Ow!”

She lost her balance and fell on the floor.

“chii-neecha! are yuu okay!?”

Her small, maple leaf-like hand patted Chiho’s face over and over again.

“Alas Ramus-chan!!”

Chiho yelled, while still on the floor with shock.

“Huh? But how!? Why? Why is Alas Ramus-chan here!?”

Chiho looked up, and saw Emi resting her head on the palm of her hand, looking away with an embarrassed blush.

“You’re okay! Oh, this is wonderful!!”

“wapu!”

Chiho shouted in joy, and hugged Alas Ramus tightly.

“Bu-but, why!? Maou-san, Suzuno-san, and Ashiya-san all think that Alas Ramus-chan was taken away, you know!?”

The unpleasant Urushihara was not important enough to be even mentioned in the conversation.

“…Even I didn’t think this would happen.”

Emi began explaining while still looking away.

At the moment Alas Ramus had emanated her dazzling light, Emi felt a strange sensation in her holy sword.

“Alas Ramus ate the holy sword.”

“…What?”

Alas Ramus, ate, the holy sword.

Chiho’s eyes widened, as she could not remotely understand how that set of subject, verb, and object could be used together in a sentence.

“She balled it up like this, like she was eating bread or something. Can you imagine my panic when she did that?”

“…”

Chiho could not even find the words to reply.

“Well, that was apparently what you’d call a ‘fusion of Yesod fragments.’ Gabriel and I had no idea what happened, and just kind of froze in place for a while.”

“im oohways wis mommy!”

“And then, well, the Yesod fragments fused together, but the holy sword is part of my body as well, and what ended up happening is…”

Emi hid Alas Ramus with her body so that the rest of the cafe couldn’t see her, and put her hand on Alas Ramus’s forehead. And then,

“wabu!”

Alas Ramus lost her form and became a cloud of light.

A beautiful short sword had appeared in Emi’s right hand in the brief moment Chiho blinked in shock.

The short sword, which seemed to be the holy sword, had a significantly different form from before. The violet orb embedded in it glowed even stronger than before.

Emi’s right arm had a beautiful silver arm guard, and…

“mommyyy yuu scared me!”

The sword spoke.

“…It-it talked… wait, whaaat!? What!? Then, does that mean…”

“Yep.”

“chii-neecha, do i luk cool?”

“…Alas Ramus became part of the holy sword and evil slaying garment.”

Chiho could not close her gaping mouth.

“The-then why didn’t you tell Maou-san and the others about this? Maou-san was completely lifeless today, and hasn’t been able to work competently yesterday or today!”

“Oh, really? So he’s suffering after all?”

“Of course he is! He adored her so much…”

“Heheh, sorry. But, I think this is good. For him, too.”

And then, the holy sword disappeared from Emi’s right hand and Alas Ramus appeared in front of Chiho again.

“He has to learn the pain of losing something precious.”

Once the light that emanated from Alas Ramus’s transformation faded, Emi patted her head gently.

“Gabrel went back crying, too. Well, even Sariel with his Wicked Eye Light of the Fallen couldn’t rip the holy sword out of me, so there’s nothing they can do. What the demon king and Bell saw was the light from the Gate that Gabriel opened as he ran back while making grade-school level comebacks… and anyway, here’s what I really need to talk to you about.”

“…Huh, o-okay, what is it?”

Chiho was still struggling to understand the situation, but Emi kept pressing forward with the conversation.

“Alas Ramus fused with the holy sword, but as you can see, she does have a certain degree of independence.”

“Yes.”

“And… this is something about what she’s been saying since before the fusion… but she seems to have the misunderstanding that I’m always with her ‘daddy’…”

Chiho let out a short cry after a brief moment of silence.

“What!?”

“She was throwing a huge fit inside my head all day long while I was at work. But if I were to leave her at Demon King Castle, I wouldn’t be able to use my holy sword if something were to happen.”

“What in the world?”

“And today of all days, Rika was completely out of it too, so I couldn’t ask her for advice, either.”

“Suzuki-san was out of it?”

“She was eyeing her phone nervously all day long. In the morning, lunch time, and even when she got off of work.”

Emi downed her now lukewarm coffee in one gulp and buried her face in her head while making a desperately troubled expression.

“Anyway, if this keeps up, I’m going to fail as a working lady and the hero! I have to defeat the demon king, but then that would mean Alas Ramus would have to kill her own ‘daddy,’ and to begin with, if she stays part of my holy sword and still has that misunderstanding, she’ll just keep clamoring in my head and drive me insane… I don’t know what to do anymoooore…”

“You’re having quite the maternity neurosis…”

The desperate complaints from the hero bearing the holy sword. Chiho’s head began to hurt. There was nothing Chiho could do for her.

There was nothing Chiho could do, but she would have loved to switch places with Emi.

“I don’t know if this would solve your problem, but…”

“What is it!?”

Chiho began to reply very calmly, while Emi eagerly listened to her.

“If you move to the empty unit at Maou-san’s apartment complex, at least Alas Ramus will get her wish.”

“I feel like I’d have lost if I do that, so absolutely not!”

“Don’t be such a child, Yusa-san!”

“Buuut….”

“move to daddys hooome!”

Alas Ramus, the little apple girl, continued to be blissfully unaware of the problems of the adult world and her mommy’s dilemmas.

***

“That bonfire again?”

When Emi and Chiho arrived at Villa Rosa Sasazuka while the setting sun basked them in the last light of the evening, Maou was burning ogara next to the staircase of the apartment and staring idly into the smoke.

“Why don’t you study your Japanese culture a bit? It’s called a sending fire.”

“Sending fire? Okay… what purpose does it serve?”

“…It’s for sending ancestral spirits back to the other world after they come to this world with the welcoming fire. Traditionally, it’s done at the end of Obon, but I don’t think anyone’s going to have problems with me doing it a little early or a little late.

Maou let out a deep sigh.

Out of the corner of her eye, Emi saw that Maou was feebly holding onto the folding picture frame with the photo of the three of them together.

“Alas Ramus came with the welcoming fire, that’s why. But… in the end, that was wasted too. We never used it once.”

Maou looked at the yellow plastic child seat strapped onto Dullahan II, which reflected the white light of the setting summer sun.

A gentle summer evening breeze blew and scattered the smoke into the sky.

“I don’t want to talk to you. Go away.”

“I know. But I wanted to ask you something, so that’s why I’m here. Now answer this.” “…”

Maou looked down annoyedly, but said nothing. Emi continued to talk.

“What did the traveler do with the charm he received from the angel after he became the king?” “…”

Maou groaned quietly, with his eyes still downcast.

“I want to use it as a reference. If there’s more to the setting, can you tell me?”

“So you just came to kick me while I’m down, is that it?”

“Yeah. Think of it as me coming to laugh at the demon king who’s depressed with all of his heart.”

“Really, you heroes and angels know no shame.”

“We know more than the demons.”

Chiho silently watched the scene unfold.

Maou did not react angrily, but began mumbling quietly after a brief period of silence.

“…The traveler forgot about the charm after he became the king. After he had become a worndown, desperate traveler like he’d before, the charm appeared in front of him again. He tried his best to treasure it this time, but maybe because his deeds as the king had been too evil, the charm was taken from him. Probably.”

“Hm, I see. But that traveler did eventually realize how precious it was to him.”

“…What are you getting at?”

Maou glared up at Emi, his eyes filled with aggression.

However, for some reason, unlike just a moment ago when she had been mocking Maou, Emi blushed slightly and avoided making eye contact with him.

“…What?”

Maou didn’t understand Emi’s attitude.

“So this time, you’ll treasure it. What do you think?”

“I think so, too.”

Chiho spoke for the first time.

“What are you two talking about…?”

Maou was thoroughly confused by Emi and Chiho’s mysterious actions.

“Well, I don’t know what exactly the traveler’s treasure was, but it was just that important to him, right?”

Emi extended her right hand, and a faint light began to glow.

“Do you now understand the pain of losing something precious? If you do, then treasure it this time.”

The little miracle materialized before Maou’s shocked eyes.

“daddyyyy!!”

Maou was absolutely stunned by the little girl who appeared to descend on the sending fire, and froze in place with his eyes wide open as if he were a pigeon that had just been shot by a peashooter.

“Alas… Ramus…? Wha… hey, what is…”

Maou staggered as he stood up and lost his grip on the photograph, which fell to the ground.

Alas Ramus, the girl who had supposedly been taken away, did not like what he had just done.

“daddy noooo! dun drop it, gwound is dertyyy!”

She picked up the photo quickly and held it against her chest.

“He-hey, is it, is it really you? Are you really Alas Ramus!?”

Maou knelt on the ground and patted Alas Ramus on the head, face, and shoulders while she continued to hold onto the picture.

“daddy noooo, it tikkos!”

The word “tickles” was too hard for Alas Ramus to say.

Alas Ramus laughed out loud like a little puppy, and grabbed Maou’s hand with one of her hands.

“…So that’s how it is.”

Emi’s words no longer reached Maou’s ears.

“I-I see, so you weren’t taken away…”

“I wanted to torment you a little longer. But Alas Ramus kept saying she wanted to see her daddy, and I didn’t want to stoop down to the same level as demons like you, so I had no choice but to take her here. You should be thanking… hey,”

Emi was spewing out excuses at a rapid pace, but she panicked upon seeing something completely unimaginable to her.

“Are you… crying?”

“Huh? What? Huh?”

Maou touched his face as he was asked the question, and found a streak of tears running down his face. He had never cried once since the day he almost lost his life long ago.

“Wh-why are you crying, aren’t you the demon king!? Are you an idiot!? Stop it!”

Emi was completely dismayed at Maou’s reaction, and had no idea how to react, so she ended up insulting him.

“daddy, das yor tummy hurt? tummy hurt!?”

Alas Ramus also noticed Maou’s tears, and looked up at Maou while she teared up herself.

“Um, this is that, yeah, it’s like, an accident or something, and…”

Maou, on the other hand, tried his best to hide his tears while making excuses.

“Maou-san, you’re happy, right? Because Alas Ramus-chan came back?”

Chiho’s smiling guess was right on the spot. “You do cry, right? When you’re really happy.”

Maou looked at Chiho absent-mindedly.

“Now you understand one more thing about the world, right?”

“chii-neecha, iz daddy okay? iz his tummy okay?” Alas Ramus asked with teary eyes, and Chiho patted her on the head.

“It’s okay. Your daddy is just happy to see you again, Alas Ramus-chan.” “I-I’m not crying!”

Suddenly, Maou angrily stood up and shouted.

“Wh-who’s crying!? I-I knew already! I-I’m her dad! I already knew that Gabriel and his angelic soldiers ran away!”

He tried to act tough, but it wouldn’t have fooled even a grade schooler.

“wabu!”

Maou picked up Alas Ramus somewhat roughly.

“I-I have Alas Ramus’s dinner ready, too! Hey! Ashiya, Suzuno! Dinner! It’s dinner time!”

He then ran up the stairs without putting out the bonfire that he had made as a sending fire.

“…I can’t believe he would go that far to act tough. But when he said dinner, does he mean he eats in that room?”

“I heard that for the time being, they go to Suzuno-san’s home for meals. They go back to their room for sleeping, though. He said something like, ‘It’s summer, so it’s cooler there.’”

“Sounds just like them.”

Emi gave a strained laugh, and looked up at the second floor of Villa Rosa Sasazuka.

Seeing Maou react in a way that was like his usual self, Emi couldn’t help but admit that some part of her felt relieved.

Her holy sword, Better Half, was still shrouded in mystery, and she had no idea how it was related to “The Great Demon King Satan” that Maou and Gabriel had mentioned.

Meanwhile, the clamoring voices of Ashiya and the others could already be heard from upstairs.

“But… how is it that this hasn’t been reported yet?”

“Come to think of it, yeah… I hear people look at it curiously from time to time, but the building is so old to begin with… If they contacted the police, that’d be nothing but trouble, but I think they’ll be fine.”

“You’re probably right. I’m the one who has to take care of Alas Ramus for the foreseeable future anyway, so I guess it’s not my problem.”

“mooommyyyy! chii-neeeechaaa! dinnaaaah! dinnaaaaah!”

“Hey, Alas Ramus! That’s dangerous! You’ll fall like Mommy!”

             

Alas Ramus called out to Emi and Chiho from the second floor on top of the staircase. Maou grabbed her from behind.

“Hey, eat with us. Suzuno cooked, so I promise we haven’t done anything to the food.”

“…What do you want to do?”

“I’ve been made a mother, so I should make sure she’s eating okay,” said Emi, as she carefully walked up the stairs.

Emi also sensed Chiho following her upstairs with a wry smile. She seemed to have seen right through Emi’s tough act.

She still had no idea what Gabriel’s parting words had meant. However, as the hero, she would do everything within her power to protect peaceful dinner times like this.

Or so she was able to think that, only in this moment.

***

“That baby and Emilia’s holy sword fused!?”

“That’s right, that is exactly riiight! Seriously, this is the worst…”

“Sorry about that. But anyway, I was thinking about finally making a move on my goddess. What do you think?”

“Uuuugh, I was an idiot for thinking you’d be someone who’d listen to me, even if just for a little

bit!”

“Don’t get so mad. But even my Wicked Eye of the Fallen was completely useless, so I can’t really help you.”

“You really are useless!”

“But isn’t the fusing of Yesod of ‘Alas Ramus’ and ‘Better Half’ really bad?”

“Isn’t that why I’m in a bind!? Isn’t that why I’m worried!? Isn’t that why I’m talking to you right now!? Hey, why can’t you feel a sense of urgency!? This isn’t the time to be daydreaming about some human woman! Geez! I shouldn’t have been so soft on that girl!”

“We’re both weak to women, aren’t we? I suddenly feel a strange connection with you.”

“Uh-oh, I wanna punch this guy!!”

“Don’t get so angry. Here, isn’t she beautiful? It’s a picture of when she got on the tray paper. I even sold it for five-thousand yen on Wahoo Auctions!”

“I’m punching!”

“Gah!!”

“I said, feel some urgency!!”

“How can you not see the pricelessness of this… geez… but anyway, Emilia didn’t fuse ‘Alas Ramus’ and ‘Better Half’ knowing what it would do, right?”

“No, she didn’t! So!?”

In the middle of the night, on the second floor of the now-closed Hatagaya Station Sentucky Fried Chicken, archangel Sariel spoke to the panic-stricken Gabriel while eating cold fries and chicken wings.

“Then if you seize the other ‘wing,’ then you’d at least avoid the worst-case scenario, right?”

“…Sure. But who would have the other one…?”

“Humph! A social recluse like you would never understand. Why don’t you try learning more about love between a man and a woman?”

“…”

“Don’t clench your fist in silence! You’ll understand if you just think calmly for a second!”

“Who!? I’ve no idea at all! And you act like you know everything, but has your love ever been returned, even once?”

“Fufu, everything until now was just mere practice for making my goddess mi… agh!!” Gabriel slapped Sariel without warning.

“You need to return the favor for all the times I’ve had to clean up after your messes!”

“O-okay! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I still have to do business tomorrow, so not in the face!”

“Business? Are you serious…? Think about the position you’re in. Sure, the recovery of the holy sword is a mission entrusted to me to make up for my failures, and its responsibility ultimately falls on me, but if others were to find out that the reason the mission is not complete is because you’ve fallen for a human woman, there’ll be trouble. Do you want to end up in the same situation as someone we know?” asked Gabriel annoyedly. Sariel, with a red cheek on one side, scoffed and answered,

“One must be prepared to make God or the entire world his enemy if he is to prevail in love!”

“I don’t know how serious you are… and? Who’s this person I would understand if I learned more about love between a man and a woman!?”

“Who took the Yesod Sefira to begin with? Once you just think about that, the rest is easy.”

Sariel smiled boldly, and continued,

“She left one of the wings to her daughter. Then it’s obvious where the other half is.”

Sariel waved the bone of the chicken wing he just ate, and said,

“Nord Justina. Emilia’s father.”