She was screaming, to the point where she seemed ready to hurl her sword—and Alas Ramus—at them.
A gust of wind blew through, perhaps hurried along by Emi’s miniature sonic boom, and created an awkward silence.
“Uh, I really don’t feel like you trust me at all, and I’m not really sure ‘space junk’ works as an insult…”
Maou looked at the night sky, a wide beam of light spinning its way through it, and nodded.
“But thanks. I’m glad you do.”
Maybe it was just his imagination, but it seemed like Emi’s face loosened just a touch to him.
And after that momentary, almost illusory softening, there was a wail akin to the howl of a cackling hellspawn.
“I said, forget about it!!”
Emi swung the Better Half, creating an arc of light that mimicked the lighthouse’s leisurely sweep.
“Hey, uh, hey, Alas Ramus work hard, too, okay?”
She almost seemed like a celestial being, standing there like a war maiden, but the bouncy voice from her sword didn’t quite match.
It wasn’t bad, though.
“…Quite a peep—an enigmatic relationship, this.”
“You said it. But what’ll we do now? ’Cause if we’re really going face-to-face with an entire demon squadron, I really don’t like my chances.”
“Yes, well, peep, I have a plan. The jeweled sword I peeped along with me…”
The chirping was starting to grate on everyone, but still they all leaned over, lending an open ear to Camio’s idea.
Then it happened. At a faraway point over the sea, the light from the tower flickered for a moment.
A rift in the darkness caught it.
“…They’re hee-eeere.”
Urushihara, surprisingly, noticed first.
Although neither Maou, nor Emi, nor Ashiya picked up on it at the time, he was also the first one to spot the Gate that spat Gabriel out into this world.
The group turned toward the direction he was facing. The sight they saw made them doubt their eyes.
In the darkness of the night, there was now a long, horizontal rift in space, extending across the sky.
“Uh, whoa whoa whoa, this is more than just a squadron, guys.”
Like a mammoth flock of bats fanning out across the dark, or a group of migratory birds soaring toward some far-off destination, a massive number of shades emerged from the rift.
“Farlight Dazzle.”
Urushihara mumbled the words, then focused his eyes on the shadows, still a faint line of mist in the faraway air.
“Camio was right. I don’t see Barbariccia, but they’re from the Malebranche tribe. Malacoda’s servants.”
“You can see that from here?”
Urushihara rolled his eyes at Emi, squinting as she surveyed the sea.
“Dude, that’s like Holy Magic 101. I’m half angel, and I’ve been eating Bell’s food pretty much daily lately. Her consecrated food. Any more questions?”
That went at least halfway toward understanding why Urushihara’s wings were white when he dispelled the fog a day ago.
But that wasn’t the question to ask right now. Ashiya provided the cue.
“…If they’re in Japan, why are they still in demon form?”
“I dunno. Maybe they brought a source with ’em, maybe it’s ’cause they left the Gate wide open; something like that?”
Either way, they couldn’t tell from here.
The more pressing issue was that, right before Maou’s eyes, a huge army of demon warriors was pressing down upon Japan. In their original demon forms, and likely with their original demon strengths.
The Malebranche tribe led by the Great Demon General Malacoda was gifted in what the human race would call necromancy.
In the human world, the art of reviving corpses and spirits to do one’s bidding was seen as a taboo, a forbidden and arcane form of magic. But, practically speaking, it was nothing more than charging a corpse with a little demonic power. The necromancer had to fully control every part of this puppet, or else it was of no use at all in battle.
Among the Great Demon Generals working under Satan’s rule, Malacoda—leader of the Malebranche, a tribe gifted in the ways of psychological warfare—was the last to pursue a military career.
His tribe were of similar height as the average human, but their batlike wings, and the worryingly long claws that grew from each limb, made them unique among the demons.
“Uhh, I just did a quick head count, but…I think we’re lookin’ at a thousand or so.”
It was almost too many for their needs. And the fact they were visible from Cape Inuboh-saki meant the fishing boats might have already picked up on them.
“The people on the boats out there might be in danger! I’m going on ahead!”
Emi removed an energy-shot bottle from her pocket and hurriedly glugged it down.
Wiping her lips with the back of a hand, Emi focused on her legs as her entire body began to shine in a light-infused aura.
“Here we go, Alas Ramus!”
“’Kay!”
“Heavenly Fleet Feet!”
Before Maou could stop her, Emi flew toward the sea like a shooting star.
The Malebranche must have noticed Emi’s vast holy magic. The shadows in the night sky began to waver to and fro, joining in formation.
“Um… Okay, uh, Camio? I’m still waiting for some hot ideas from you? Something about a jeweled sword?”
Maou and Ashiya had only a bare minimum of demonic force left. And even though Urushihara had the basics of holy magic at his disposal, it was nowhere near enough to take on a mob of maniacal gargoyles.
At this rate, they had little option but to watch Emi clash against the Malebranche. It wasn’t the most appealing spectator sport they could think of. Presumably they’d die at the end, for one.
“Peep! How could it have peeped my mind?! Yes, Lord Satan. The sword I brought with me… If you take it by hand and unsheathe it from its scabbard………peep?”
Camio suddenly noticed that all three demons were looking at him in abject horror.
“Oh, dude, dude.”
“My Devil Regent! Such a fundamental error in judgment!”
“L-Lucifer? Er, General of the Eastern Island? Peep, why are you…?”
“If we needed that thing, frickin’ say so before we left, you dumbass!!”
Maou grabbed at Camio.
“Ah! Peep!”
“Don’t ‘ah’ me! You knew we were gonna need it the whole time! You want me to sprint all the way over to Ohguro-ya from here to fetch it?! Emi’s gonna be done by then!”
“Peep-peep-peep… Lord Satan…I cannot…peep.”
“Ugh, we don’t even have the time to make yakitori outta you. Yo, Ashiya. You mind running over for me?”
“Y-Yes, my liege!”
Ashiya lowered his body and began to run.
“…Ah!”
Then, after five or so strides, tripped.
Watching a nearly six-foot-tall man try out for the next installment of Japan’s Funniest Viral Videos caused little more than annoyance to his friends.
“I… These beach sandals… I am not used to them…”
Ashiya understood that much, it seemed, as he brushed himself off underneath the demons’ withering stare. Before long, he was off again.
“You all looking for this?”
Then, seeing something dangling in front of him, applied the brakes.
“I thought this was a bit too fancy a sword for our little birdie here. But it’s kinda more a tool than a weapon, right? A major one.”
There was the refined, makeup-free face, the flat T-shirt and apron…and the jeweled sword that never lost its luster, even when Camio had lost his form and his armor had shattered to pieces.
“Um…Amane? Ma’am?”
“‘Ma’am’? Lord, I hope I don’t look that old yet!”
Amane Ohguro, the more-or-less proprietor of Ohguro-ya, waved and
flashed her usual freewheeling smile.
“You know, I was wondering, too, why there was just a little bit of demon force left after I whisked it all away. Well, no wonder! Look at this sword. Take it by its gem-encrusted hilt, unsheathe it from its scabbard…”
Amane unwrapped Camio’s cape and slowly removed the sword from its holder.
The blade that appeared was dark red, the color of blood.
“Et voila! Look at the demon sword we have here! …Oof. Just removing it a little bit gives me the willies. What’re you gonna use this for, anyway?”
Amane slid the sword back inside its sheath and turned her eyes to Maou.
“Oh, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t go all ‘Gee whiz, ma’am, what’re you doing here?’ on me. No need for all that trite nonsense. What I need to know right now is, what are you planning to do with this sword, question mark.”
The question was light and airy, like Amane was asking what food needed to be prepped for tomorrow.
Neither Ashiya when he first saw the sword thrust in front of him, nor Urushihara nor Camio nor Maou behind him, bothered to hide their bewilderment. For a moment, everyone hesitated to answer.
Time passed—enough that Emi was just about ready to engage in active warfare with the Malebranche.
“Sadao Maou! Get a grip on yourself!”
Amane scolded the indecisive Maou.
“You let those girls run roughshod over you without saying anything back! And you call yourself a man? What a bum!”
She followed this up by tossing the eerie sword, scabbard and all, at Maou.
“Wah…! Ah, I, um—”
“Bzzt! Wrong answer, you dope! I know we’ve only known each other two days, but I think I already know what type of guy you are. So go and show me what you’re made of already! Show me how you guys take responsibility around here. Go on, take the sword out! And you call yourself…”
All but coerced by Amane’s griping, Maou placed a hand on the hilt and removed the sword.
The moment he did, a single pillar of black light shot up to the heavens, dark enough to dispel the lighthouse’s lumbering signal from the edge of Cape Inuboh-saki.
“…the Devil King of a faraway world, do you?!”
Buooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnn…
Buooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnn…
Buoooooooooooooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn…
A low scream rang across the Choshi sea, as if keening in horror at the dark beam.
“Are you well, Chiho? How do you feel?”
“Oh, good… Just fine this time, actually.”
Chiho and Suzuno stepped out of their inn, into a now-deserted Cape Inuboh-saki. They surveyed the fog that all but cut off their vision.
“…I detect traces of demonic force… But, why…?”
The answer materialized in the mist.
“Well, because whether they’re indoors or not, releasing that much demonic power at once would make everyone within earshot of Inuboh go unconscious, is why. I just happened to take a few precautions.”
“!!”
Suzuno tensed herself, carefully keeping Chiho behind her.
“Oh, there’s no need to be so jumpy. We all ate yakisoba from the same griddle, y’know.”
It was Amane Ohguro, still in her rough T-shirt.
“I’m not your enemy, I can say that much. They promised me they’d take responsibility for this, so I’m just kinda watching from the side. But don’t worry—if they miss any of ’em or start tossing guys out of the ring, so to speak, I’ll lend a hand.”
Telling someone not to worry following that explanation was asking an awful lot.
According to Emi, a huge brigade of the Devil King’s remaining warriors was staging an all-out assault on Choshi.
Could Amane just flick away any of the marauding demons Emi overlooked? It seemed impossible for Suzuno to believe that Amane was anything other than the laid-back beach girl she knew.
“Y’know, human, you really shouldn’t underestimate me.”
But, as if reading her mind, Amane flashed a supremely confident smile and slapped a hand on her hip.
“!!”
“Agh?!”
Unconsciously, Suzuno and Chiho covered their eyes.
The fog swirled into a tornado, centering itself in the area around Amane.
Her T-shirt and apron; her jeans and sandals; the simple rubber band holding her hair back…
The sort of shopkeeper you’d see in a million places around Japan was now the master of a mist-laden world, surveying her domain across the seas below Cape Inuboh-saki. The power she brandished was neither demonic nor holy, but something wholly unfamiliar…and wholly overwhelming.
“They don’t call me Ohguro for nothing. The characters for ‘great’ and ‘black,’ you know? If you doubt me, I could always take all these interlopers into our world and blow them to the edge of the universe in the blink of an eye. How’s that sound?”
Like it was all scripted for the stage, the beam from the lighthouse stopped dead just as it illuminated Amane’s back.
Chiho and Suzuno shut their eyes. The light from the first-order Fresnel lens was too much for them to bear.
But for just a single fleeting moment, they thought they saw another ring of light behind her, one separate and distinct from the white glare that framed her body.
“Well. Anyway. Just take a load off and wait, okay? Besides…”
The afterimage disappeared as quickly as it came, and by the time Chiho and Suzuno recovered their eyesight, all that remained was a personable beach-house proprietor.
“Once Maou and the rest get back, I might just have something I can talk to you about.”
“Amane…”
“Now, I’ve got something Maou and that little birdie asked me to do. See you later!”
With that, she gave them a friendly wave and disappeared into the mist.
Ahead of her was the Inuboh-saki Lighthouse.
With another roar from the dragon, Chiho and Suzuno saw her gazing sharply into the sea of fog.
“Mommy! Knife!”
Thanks to her Idea Link with Alas Ramus, Emi deflected an attack on her left with her Cloth of the Dispeller shield without having to look.
“Fork!”
The wave of surging claws from the right was quickly deflected with her Better Half.
A Malebranche warrior, by himself, was not the most formidable of fighters.
But Malacoda, their leader, and his necromancy could conjure up some tricky moves, and—
“!!”
For example, the warrior who just appeared in front of her detached into several pieces the moment it came into sight.
It was a simple illusory feint, but Emi, fighting a very literal 1-vs.-1,000 battle by herself, had no time to guess whether the sight was real or not.
The moment she raised her shield to block the onrush of body parts:
“Fork!”
Alas Ramus’s warning rang out.
She didn’t notice the looming ball of demonic energy in time to dodge it. “Heavenly Mirror Beam!”
She reacted instinctively to the threat.
“Grahh!”
But, thanks to having her concentration distracted by the two separate attackers, she was caught in her own beam of light.
Staggering in midair, Emi found a dozen or so Malebranche closing in on her.
“Whoa, what’re you… Let go! Ugh… Yah! Don’t touch me there!”
If another demonic energy ball struck while she was restrained in midair, there would be no way to block it. Emi gritted her teeth.
“Shock wave of Light!!”
The holy magic triggered from the pit of her stomach. It was a powerful, power-exhausting move, one where holy magic gushed forth from her body and tossed the Malebranche away like rag dolls. But as they flew off in all directions, one of their claws grazed Emi’s forehead.
A line of blood ran down—and in an even worse turn of events,
seeped into her right eye, blocking her vision.
“Mommy, you okay?!”
There was no time to answer Alas Ramus’s cry. It’d be harder than ever to fight now.
“Ugh! This is enough of a pain in the ass as it is!”
That was because this horde was using a battle strategy Emi had never encountered before.
“Knife!”
To dispatch the Malebranche approaching from the left, Emi used:
“Air Rush!”
Neither holy magic nor her sword, but a martial-arts move.
Her holy magic–infused fist smashed into the Malebranche’s claw, crushing it to fine particles. The beast wailed and retreated back.
“Thanks for that one, Albert!”
Clenching her left fist once more, Emi rained strikes down upon the Malebranche attempting a frontal body tackle.
“Air Strike Assault!!”
The wind struck by Emi’s fist formed projectiles that flew toward her attacker.
Some hit it in the stomach, others on the top of his head. It flitted away, not fully in control of its faculties.
The Malebranche who dodged the wind bullets fired energy balls of their own in retaliation. Emi vaporized them all with a sword slash, then:
“Hrah!”
She launched a frontal kick on the chin of the lead Malebranche, leaving the ones behind him wide open for a flurry of Air Rush strikes.
“This is…harder than I thought…it’d be…!”
Emi had only known how to fight with weapons before Albert taught her martial arts.
Before Ente Isla’s Northern Island was conquered by Adramelech, commander of the Devil King’s forces in the region, it was home to the famous Mountain Corps, a team of elite soldiers whose varied martial and holy magic skills were passed down from generation to generation.
By the time Emi met Albert, his Corps was scattered to the winds, himself dividing his time between training and woodcutting. But as a talented fighting monk, he was well-versed in all types of techniques, including sword combat.
“The Northern Island’s packed with all kinds of tribes and warlords and the like, y’see? So when we fight, we fight like this. That way, we keep it civil. Keep it from getting worse. That’s how it’s always been.”
But that didn’t seem to apply to Emi’s quest. She thought it only worked against human opponents, the idea of fighting without killing.
The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 4 Page 21
