The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 8

by Satoshi Wagahara

  “Suzuno!!” Chiho shouted. Before she stopped, she felt a strong momentum as Libicocco, who was right in front of her, shrank away. Suzuno had jumped back in midair.

  “S-Suzuno?!”

  “Do not worry about me,” she replied, pained but resolute. “It was the butt end. Hakk…!”

  “The butt end?!”

  To Chiho, not all that familiar with midair warfare, all she could imagine was people’s rear ends in her mind.

  “Agh!”

  She didn’t have much time to dwell on the thought. A red Regiment member was advancing upon Suzuno, this time with the pointy end of his tri-tipped spear aimed at her.

  “Curse youuuuuuuu!” Suzuno shouted in a fashion not befitting a cleric. She swept the tips away with her hammer, glided through the air to dodge them, and tried desperately to create more distance between her and the fighters. But it was for naught. They were far better trained than Gabriel’s posse. Like the lead jet in a dogfight, one of them always made sure he was behind Suzuno’s back; another kept his sights on Chiho, knowing full well she was the weak point. Yet another applied pressure from below, lest Suzuno attempt a landing.

  And even if she managed to shake all five of them off, Urushihara was no longer able to stand—and Libicocco and Camael were still waiting.

  “S-Suzuno! I—you…you don’t have to worry about me, so…” Chiho, swung around in the air and barely able to take the g-forces, had to work hard to keep from biting her tongue as she spoke. “Go ahead and…and drop me, okay…? I don’t mind if I’m hurt a little bit… It’ll be, be easier to fight—”

  “Silence!” Suzuno exclaimed as she threaded the needle in the air, executing an acrobatic maneuver to avoid another spear. “They are after you, Chiho, not I! If I let you go now, it will be the end for us both! …Ngh!!”

  The spear from another Regiment soldier grazed her leg.

  “Suzuno!”

  “D-damn it! Chiho, close your eyes!”

  Without waiting for a reply, Suzuno softly chanted a spell, then swung her hammer at the soldier in front of her.

  “Lightwave Flash!!”

  The face of her hammer began to shine as brightly as the sun, blinding the soldier she targeted.

  “Go awaaaaaaaay!!”

  While his guard was down, Suzuno took a big swing and struck the soldier squarely in the pit of his stomach. She could feel the thud of the impact as the soldier disappeared from sight.

  “Hang on, Chiho! We’re moving!”

  Before anything else, she had to escape the school. As it was, it was only a matter of time before students and teachers would be in danger. Urushihara’s seal seemed to still be in effect, but Camael was just about to vaporize the entire roof of the old school building. She could protect Chiho alone, perhaps, but not the several hundred people currently on school grounds.

  While Urushihara was still on Suzuno’s mind, priority one right now was to keep Chiho and her Yesod fragment free from enemy hands. She zoomed in the air, almost causing Chiho to black out, before a sudden flash of light made her gasp in desperation.

  “Sorry, pal, but your illusions won’t work on Malebranche.”

  “Ngh?!”

  The enormous body that stepped out from the light was Libicocco’s. His remaining good claw was suddenly right in Suzuno’s path. She couldn’t avoid it. Instead she swung her hammer, slowing herself down as she attempted to smash the claw in her way.

  “Graaaah!!”

  Chiho, eyes seared by the light even through her eyelids and still about ready to pass out, heard Suzuno’s scream just as she felt a warm liquid on her cheek. It made her consciousness literally white out. It should have been just a few seconds, but the next thing Chiho saw after the light fizzled and she came back to her senses was—

  “…!!!!!!”

  Chiho writhed as she let out a soundless scream. But her body didn’t move. She couldn’t move it, because now she was in Libicocco’s arms. And Suzuno, who had tried too hard to bring her to safety…

  “…You just had to make this difficult, you little wench…”

  …was Suzuno, lying in the middle of the roof before Libicocco’s eyes, covered in blood.

  “S-Suzuno! Suzuno!!”

  Even from her vantage point, Chiho could tell that something had cut deeply into her near the top of her shoulder. There was another slashing wound running from the visible part of her leg beneath the kimono. Fresh blood was gushing out of it.

  But the worst part of it all was how her hair and kimono were both strewn across the concrete, kept in place by the Regiment soldiers that kept her down with their spears like they were performing a crucifixion. Her great hammer was now a powerless hairpin a few inches away from her hand.

  “Ah…gghh… Chiho, ngh…”

  But she was still trying to reach out to Chiho.

  “Suzuno! …Agh!”

  Chiho tried to reach out herself, but Libicocco was having none of it. He kicked Suzuno’s outstretched arm away, looking down at her with a face that had almost a trace of pity on it.

  “Why must you defy us so much? You’re a Church cleric, no? He, and everyone around you, are all angels! The messengers of the gods, worthy of your unquestioning worship! What would you accomplish by defying them?”

  Withstanding the pain, Suzuno glared at Libicocco, face drenched in blood.

  “Angels… Angels willing to do things like this… I refuse to accept it! The only thing I worship is the path of righteousness… The path that leads us all to peace, and justice!”

  The more she screamed, the more blood pumped out of her wounds. Chiho shivered, unable to speak.

  “How can I accept angels who…who are willing to bargain with evil? Who hurt the people that serve them? Who bring chaos to the entire world?!”

  “Very well. Warriors with a single-mindedness like that… I don’t mind it. But there’s nothing to do for it now.”

  The soldiers stepped up to Libicocco, as if summoned to him.

  “Come on, you little ant. I’m not gonna ask you again. Give it.”

  The warning failed to reach Chiho’s ears. All of her senses were paralyzed.

  “Listen… Koff koff! Ch-Chiho… Never give it up…”

  “S-Suzu…”

  “I said, I’m not gonna ask you again. Do it, or you’ll be damn sorry.”

  They were at the proverbial cliff, Libicocco and the soldiers advancing upon them—the hands of evil, posing as divinity.

  “This… What the hell…is this?!!”

  Rika’s shout echoed across the streets of Sasazuka.

  The rain grew stronger and stronger, soaking Villa Rosa Sasazuka’s front yard. Accompanying the storm was the arrival of a group the likes of which she had never seen before—and for some reason, the phone she currently had in a death grip couldn’t pick up any service.

  “Ashiya! Nord!!”

  And now Rika, sunken down on the wet ground, was watching the limp, wounded bodies of Ashiya and Nord.

  “What’s with you?! What’s with you guys?!”

  Rika, in a state of panicked confusion, threw her useless phone into the air. It bounced off the chest of the large man in front of her, the one who defeated Ashiya and Nord, and landed helplessly in a water puddle.

  “Well, this sure got messed up. And here I thought having the Nord Justina was a total stroke of luck for me, too.”

  The man—standing out like the statue of some Greek god among the strange group—shrugged, a look of sheer disappointment on his face.

  “I wasn’t expecting any third parties here,” he glumly muttered as he took a step toward Rika. “Now what’m I gonna do?”

  “Ah, ah…”

  Rika couldn’t move, her legs failing her. She couldn’t be blamed for it. A platoon of fully armored soldiers was scary enough of a sight—but this guy had just smashed Ashiya and Nord to the ground with a single swipe, right before her eyes. She could take a lot of things, but pure, unfiltered violence wasn’t on
e of them. Her fear had frozen her solid.

  “Man, I really don’t like freaking girls out like this… Hey, uh, let me get one thing straight with you, mm-kay? I promise I don’t want to hurt you or—”

  “S-stay away! Stay away from me!! Help me! Ashiya, help me!!”

  “…Geez, who do you think I am, anyway? I’m not a home invader or any—ow!”

  The man winced at the piece of rock or whatever Rika had just picked up off the ground and thrown at him.

  “…Well, yeah, guess it’s too late for excuses, huh? …Look, I’m sorry, mm-kay? You can cry or scream as much as you want, so just sit tight for a second, all right? …Hey.”

  He signaled something to the group behind him. Four of the knights advanced toward him.

  “Wait… Wait, what’re you…?”

  Rika watched as they picked up Ashiya and Nord, lying motionless on the ground.

  “Where… Where’re you taking them…?”

  “Taking them? We’re not taking them. We’re returning them—back to where they came from.”

  “Where they…?”

  “Ah, no need to worry about it. Oh, and don’t bother going to the po-pos or anything, mm-kay? ’Cause we’re kinda out of their jurisdiction, if you know what I mean. Just chalk it up as, ‘hey, accidents happen,’ y’know?”

  “Ah!!”

  “…Wait, huh?”

  Although still too dumbfounded to speak, Rika suddenly found herself rising to her feet, walking up to the knight holding Ashiya, and grabbing him.

  “Gah!”

  “……!!”

  “Wh-where’re you taking him?! Quit giving me all this nonsense! Gimme Ashiya back! Give him back, goddammit!”

  “Whoa, lady, come on! Can you knock that off? Geez, you spooked me…”

  “Ah!!”

  The knight finally managed to shake Rika off. She flew through the air before landing face-first in a puddle.

  “Hey, whoa, uh…!”

  Now it was the large man who sounded like he was in a panic. Not only did the knight release his grasp on Ashiya’s body—now he had his sword out.

  “Hold your frickin’ weapon, you idiot! Don’t make this more complicated for me!”

  But the man was nowhere near close enough to the knight to stop him. Rika, on hands and knees, looked up to find a sight she never imagined seeing in her life in Japan—a weapon, an enraged knight, and her life ending right at this moment.

  “Nh!”

  She didn’t even have the time to gasp. The weapon seemed to crawl in the air, glinting silver against the rain that tapped against it. But then:

  “Hraaahahhh!!”

  A scream penetrated its way through the air as the knight careened to the side like a rubber ball, just before the sword went all the way down.

  “Whaa—?!” exclaimed the man, astounded beyond belief as the knight was plastered against the concrete-block wall that encompassed Villa Rosa Sasazuka. Slowly, ever so slowly, he crumpled to the ground.

  “Wha…?”

  The first thing Rika saw was a pair of feet clad in flat, rubber-soled shoes. Following the legs upward, she saw a pair of denim pants, posed in the tail end of a classic kung-fu kick. Farther up this person’s body was a black shirt, tanned skin, and a black ponytail.

  “…Who’re you, huh?” Her assailant, so easygoing a moment ago, was now in a flustered panic. “And how’d you get in here?”

  “How…?”

  The woman, lowering her kicking leg with the grace of a kung fu movie star, was wholly unfamiliar to Rika.

  “Since when did I need permission to horn in on your territory?”

  She flashed an evil grin.

  To a man, the rest of the knights, several dozen of them, unsheathed their swords and pointed them at the newcomer. The large man didn’t stop them this time—but despite this threat, the tanned woman held her ground.

  “Mess with me, and you’ll pay for it with your lives, you got that? And that applies to you, too, mystery man.”

  “…Sure like talkin’ big, huh? Who’re you, anyway?”

  “Well, I don’t know this girl or that guy over there, so to put it simply…”

  The woman turned her eye to Ashiya, still under close watch from the knights, and snickered to herself.

  “I’m this Ashiya here’s ex-boss.”

  As Suzuno’s bloodstained consciousness faded, she watched in desperation as Chiho fell into the hands of the Regiment. She wanted to stop them, but she could no longer lift so much as a finger. All she could do was writhe in the pain her shoulder and leg were causing her.

  Just as a Regiment soldier was about to lay hands upon Chiho, a beam of purple light, more powerful than the sun itself, burst from beyond the stormwall.

  “Wh-what?”

  “……?”

  Both Libicocco and Suzuno—Camael, too, no doubt—turned toward the source of the light. It came from outside Sasahata North High’s front gate.

  “Mngh!” the demon moaned, fearing the new threat. His wall suddenly weakened by a considerable measure; the border that shut the school away from the rest of reality grew increasingly vague as the rain and wind simmered down. Soon, the entire wall was dismantled. The wind caused by this sudden change in barometric pressure was strong enough to knock down the entire Heavenly Regiment.

  At that moment, the purple flash zoomed across the school grounds like a shooting star. The moment they all spotted it, the storm that had formed the wall up till now followed after it with intense momentum.

  “Huh…?” Libicocco exclaimed as the light and the storm passed by his side. Then he realized his arm had started to feel oddly lighter. Or not lighter, exactly—

  “Agaaaahhhhhh?!”

  Libicocco’s arm, the one he had used to grab the small girl before him a moment ago, was completely gone from the shoulder down. Blood spattered from his wound, coinciding with the intense pain that reached his head. He tried frantically to stop it as he fell to his knees.

  “Ah?!”

  Then he realized that the other human who was lying before him was now completely gone. The spears of the five armored soldiers charged with pinning her to the ground had been neatly sliced halfway down, like someone taking a butcher knife to a cucumber, and were now totally useless. The knights stared, dumbfounded, unable to parse what had just happened, before turning around to trace the path of the light and storm. It was a monster, and now it was standing in front of the downed Urushihara, protecting him. It was human in form, but its limbs, and the two horns on its head—one still partially severed—were unmistakably demonic.

  “Ah…ah…”

  Even though she was still being held by a demonic arm, the sense of serenity and safety Chiho felt now was more than enough to make the tears flow. It was Chiho’s hero, the man who always stepped up for her in times of danger.

  Sadao Maou now held Chiho and Suzuno in his arms. But not as the Devil King he once was. His height was the same as always. And unlike before, it did not physically pain Chiho to be near this demon—and demon he was, as shown by the legs and arms poking out from his UniClo outfit.

  “M-Maou…”

  “Sorry I’m late. I was kinda far away.”

  Maou didn’t take his eyes off Libicocco and the Regiment, but the voice directed toward Chiho remained firm and strong.

  Chiho nodded, the tears running down her already-wet cheeks.

  “…It’s…it’s okay…snif…”

  “You ain’t hurt, are you?”

  “No… Urushihara and…and Suzuno protected me…”

  “Yeah?”

  Maou gave her a gentle nod, then turned his attention toward Suzuno. “You are far…far too late, Devil King,” she said before he could speak up, glaring with what consciousness she had left through the pain.

  With Chiho in his left arm and Suzuno in his right, Maou gently dropped them off on the roof.

  “I couldn’t have possibly gotten here any faster, man,” Maou sneered
at Suzuno’s unrelenting criticism. “At least I made it in time, okay? You could give a little thanks for that. Always darkest before the dawn and stuff.”

  Suzuno couldn’t help but smile a little at that. Between Urushihara going down, Suzuno joining him, and the worst just about to happen to Chiho, it was the very definition of “dark.”

  “I would…appreciate it…if you left such dramatics to the Hero. Not you, Devil King…heh-heh…ngh.”

  Her face contorted as a wave of pain seized her. Her entire body was wounded and doused in blood—but she, and Urushihara, were both somehow still alive.

  “You ain’t dead, are you?” Maou asked, back turned. Suzuno shook her head lightly at the question, relieved—relieved that Maou was here, of all things—as the pain dominated her mind.

  “It hurts enough to die…and the fact that it does means I am still safe.”

  Maou nodded. “Great job holding out for that long. I’ll take care of the rest.”

  He was facing an archangel in the sky, a Malebranche leader in front of him, and five well-trained members of the Heavenly Regiment. He had the wounded Suzuno and Urushihara covered, as well as the helpless Chiho—but he still exuded an air of supreme confidence. He looked unarmed at first glance, his transformation to Devil King incomplete, and none of them felt any demonic force from him—and yet, Suzuno felt no anxiety at all. She felt safe, watching him from behind, and that confidence in him filled her heart.

  “Right… I dunno what’s going on here, really, but you guys were sure kicking some ass, weren’t you? That’s the first time I lost three Great Demon Generals in one go since Emi.”

  “Y-you…”

  Maou sauntered up to the kneeling, armless Libicocco.

  “You, you took my arm!” he screamed, still in shock that he had left his guard down around this half demon—the one who, even now, was grinning as he presented the severed arm to him like a prize.

  “Well, look at this Malebranche wannabe, huh? Tryin’ to act all tough around me, aren’tcha?”

  The hand he had held out was surrounded by a purplish gleam.

  “Mmm,” Camael murmured to himself within his iron helm. It was the first time he had spoken so far, although no one else noticed.