The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 3 (25 page)

“Ow! Owwwww! Agh!”

“Gabriel! Get away from Alas Ramus!”

“I kind of would if I could, but I
can’t
!”

Emi’s distraction left Gabriel’s face wide open—long enough for Alas Ramus to smash right into it.

The collision was almost too painful to watch. It sent Gabriel hurtling into the heavens like a bottle rocket.

“Alas Ramus! You okay?!”

Ignoring Gabriel as he zoomed upward, hand covering the edge of his nose, Emi took Alas Ramus into her arms in midair.

“That’s not faaaaair! I’m
way
less all right than
her
, mm-kay?!”

Gabriel whined in pain as he spread his large wings to slow his ascent.

“Ugghhh. I’m not even that good at fighting, either!”

He rubbed the side of his head with his empty right hand for a moment. Then:

“Whoop! Ta-dah! ‘I’ll be back,’ am I right?!”

Emi had trouble figuring out what kind of reference Gabriel was making, but either way, he was clearly ready to ratchet up the battle.

“You’re taking a
sword
to that child?!”

“Now listen, lady! Did you think the animal trainers at the circus take on those lions and tigers bare-handed?! I can’t be Mr. Nice Guardian all the time, mm-kay?!”

“Oh, so now you’re comparing Alas Ramus to a wild animal? I
dare
you to say that again!”

“Come
onnn
! That was just an example! You don’t have to start acting like a mama lion on me
now
!”

“Mommy, be careful! That sword’s really strong!”

Alas Ramus stood between Emi and Gabriel, as if protecting her.

“Strong? Oh, you bet it’s strong! Though, to put it another way, this is getting scary enough that I feel obliged to whip
this
out, y’know what I mean?”

The easygoing tone of voice hadn’t disappeared, but even if Alas Ramus hadn’t pointed it out, it was clear that the regular-looking longsword in Gabriel’s hand was nothing regular at all.

“The sword of Gabriel… Durandal, right?”

“Bingo! You know, this sword… There’s no special voodoo magic on it or anything, but it’s built to last and it’s capable of slicin’ and dicin’ through just about anything! No fuss, no muss! Probably your Better Half, too, even. Besides, what kind of guardian gets beaten by just one of those fragments? Though I
really
wish she’d surrender. Maybe she’s really a Yesod fragment, but slashing up a little girl kinda leaves a bad aftertaste, mm-kay?”

“…And you think that’ll make us surrender? You know a villain’s about to die when he starts acting like it’s in the bag for—”

Just then, a light breeze passed by Emi’s side. She felt a small impact on her right hand.

“Well, hopefully we can avoid being
that
clichéd with the script here, mm-kay?”

Gabriel’s voice was now behind her.

“…!!”

Suddenly, Emi felt all the holy strength within her drain alarmingly fast.

Her holy sword was now broken at the middle of the blade—not broken, actually, but sheared off.

The residual glow from the sword flickered like a firefly, creating a mirrorlike glow at the edge of the cut. Until it sunk in that it had been sliced in half by Gabriel, Emi found herself unable to even move.

“Mommy!!”

Alas Ramus had the same response, flying over to Emi’s side. But the child’s only real fighting move was a head-butt.

What was Durandal capable of against
her
…?

“Not that I really care what happens to that sword, y’know. As long as I get the Holy Silver core, the fragment of Yesod housed inside, everything’s hunky-dory!”

Gabriel rested Durandal against a shoulder in a show of strength.

“…Ow! Shoot, I cut my shoulder!”

Putting the double-edged, finely honed sword against his shoulder was enough to cut right through his clothing and penetrate skin.

“Hey, Alas Ramus?”

“…Mommy?”

Emi paid no attention to the farce unfolding in Gabriel’s direction.

“…Do you like ‘Daddy’? Do you want to be with him forever?”

“Uh-huh!”

Alas Ramus reply was immediate and unwavering.

“Oh, but I like you, too, Mommy! I don’t want to leave you, either!”

It was oddly touching, how she hurriedly tacked that on to the end.

“Well, good.”

Emi nodded lightly.

“In that case, I’m not about to sit and watch a child who loves her daddy that much get separated from him.”

Summoning her resolve, Emi funneled her holy force into her sword.

The broken blade gradually repaired itself, returning to its original, Phase One shape.

It was a bit thinner and less sturdy looking than before, but it was enough.

“If it’ll make those I need to protect happy, I’ll keep fighting all I want!”

“Geh… This is getting really complicated, you know that?”

Emi’s show of force was enough to make Gabriel wish he was somewhere else.

“…Try not to see me as the bad guy here, mm-kay? ’Cause I know saying this is gonna make me sound kinda like one.”

Gabriel struck a fighting pose, one that seemed to fly in the face of all known fencing styles. But with his speed, his strength, and the honing on his weapon, one hit was all he needed.

“You know that once you lay a hand on me, it’s kind of my job to make a serious response to that, right? Just so you’re aware of that beforehand?”

“If my choices are ‘fight’ or ‘watch a child cry,’ I’ll fight anyone, anytime!”

“Look, I know she
looks
like a child, but she’s the Yesod Sephirah inside, mm-kay…? Oh, now I’m sounding like
such
a villain…”

No longer willing to listen to Gabriel chide himself, Emi tried to work out a way to win this apparently hopeless battle.

Even when she’d been at full attention, she’d had her sword cleaved in two. A well-timed pattern of strikes wouldn’t work here. She had to finish off Gabriel with a single strike…but how could she deal with that speed…?

“Moooove!!”

Just then, someone zoomed in behind Gabriel’s back.

“D-Devil King!”

“Daddy!”

“Ngh!”

Maou, now up to lofty heights riding on Suzuno’s war hammer, barreled right into Gabriel from behind.

Just as he leaped off of the hammer, Suzuno swung her Light of Iron at the angel.

“Searing Lightwave!”

The shock wave emitted from the head of Suzuno’s hammer as she shouted made a direct hit on Gabriel’s rear end as he attempted to dodge the hammer itself. Maou, for better or for worse, was still on his back.

“Whooaaahhh!!”

“Aaaaagh?!”

The blow was enough to send Gabriel, his center of gravity up high due to Maou riding piggyback, tumbling end over end in the air.

“Leeeeettt meeeee gooooo!”

“Nooottt haaaappeninnnnng!!”

As they spun like a top in midair, the archangel and Devil King engaged in…something. Whatever it was, as the Doppler effect made their shouting indistinct, it wasn’t exactly an epic battle of good and evil.

“Eeeeemiiiii! Hurry uuuupppp! Take ’im down with meeeeee!”

Maou’s yell as he and Gabriel continued to imitate a clothes dryer finally made Emi snap to.

“N-no! What are you, stupid? I can’t kill you right in front of Alas Ramus!”

“Shuuutttt uuuuuppp!! This’s the only chaaaaannce!”

“Hngh!”

“Agh!”

Not even Gabriel was willing to stand this for long.

With about as much effort as it takes to swat a fly, Gabriel peeled Maou off his back and tossed him into the air.

“Daaahh!!”

Maou, his momentum still spinning him around, hurtled away at subsonic speed. It took several seconds for him to begin falling.

“D-Devil King!!”

Suzuno chased after him in chagrin, but she was too slow and too far away to catch up.

“Mommy.”

Emi, watching this helpless charade unfold, suddenly found herself under the full attention of Alas Ramus.

“…What is it, Alas Ramus?”

“Mommy, are you always gonna be with Daddy? Do you like Daddy?”

The child had a tendency to ask the most inopportune questions at the most inopportune times.

And after they had that massive argument in front of her, too. And even though she knew full well the difference between regular people and the Devil King.

This farce was enough to bring a smile to Emi’s lips.

She didn’t want to hurt a child. But she couldn’t lie, either.

“I… Yeah. Yeah, we’re always gonna be together.”

“Really?!”

Emi answered the sweet, innocent smile on Alas Ramus’s face with one of her own.

“Really. I mean it.”

It, along with her smile, came directly from her heart.

“Until death do us part.”

As long as Sadao Maou remained the Devil King.

“Yaaaaay!!”

Alas Ramus gave a sincere, childlike yelp of excitement. Then:

“?!”

Along with it came a shock wave, one that made it feel like an earthquake was rumbling across the air itself.

Suzuno, in pursuit of the falling Maou, was rocked by someone passing by at enormous speed, almost making her lose control of her own flight.

He would have hit the ground by the time she regained control. Or should have.

“Daddy.”

But Maou was there, hovering in midair, just a few feet above his landing point.

Or, to be exact, he was stopped by the embrace of Alas Ramus and the ball of golden light around her.

“Alas Ramus… You…”

“Daddy, Daddy, Mommy said she’ll always be with you!”

“Huh?”

Maou remained outstretched in the air, unable to parse Alas Ramus’s report. He was floating maybe a yard or two above the Villa Rosa Sasazuka front yard, sure, but
this
was a lot more puzzling to him.

“So don’t get all lonely, okey, Daddy?”

“Uh, what are you…?”

“I’m gonna be with you and Mommy forever, okey?”

“Uh?”

The simple, innocent words were spoken alongside another unexpected wave of light.

This one was softer, warm like a bunch of feathers, and it whited out Maou’s surroundings in an instant.

“So bye-bye for a little bit, okey?”

By the time Maou fell to the ground, his support suddenly taken out from under him, the comet of golden light was already rapidly ascending to the heavens. He watched on from below, incapable of anything else.

He shouted loudly after it, not paying the alighting Suzuno any notice.

“Alas Raaaaaamuuuuuuuuus!!”

As if responding to the roar, a burst of dazzling light unfurled itself from high above, soaking in the rays of the sun as it shone a bright silver.

“Gabriel… Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m going with choice number three.”

Emilia was there, her silvery gauntlets and leg guards emitting a clear, bright light, like an evening street lit by the full moon.

The right hand bearing her holy sword featured a simple, fingerless gauntlet to prevent the hand armor from butting against the blade’s handle. Her left hand featured a much heavier glove, the streamlined pattern on the shield it bore resembling the one on her metallic gaiters.

It was the partial corporeal form of the Cloth of the Dispeller, something that never physically existed before but had now materialized in a mere flash of light.

Outside of the gauntlets and leg guards, she still wore her standard Cloth. But the Better Half grasped by one hand was now whole once more, the edge lopped off by Durandal before now glowing silver.

“Aye yai yai… Ooh, yeah, I guess the Church didn’t stop at giving you
one
piece of Holy Silver, did it? I kinda forgot.”

Gabriel frowned, his Durandal at the ready.

“I don’t see any shard forming the core of your Cloth, but, eesh, no
wonder
that girl was attracted to you. Well, this is just
great
. I wasn’t expecting you to evolve it
that
way… We’d better get serious, mm-kay…?”

Gabriel’s expression hardened as he prepared for battle, but his words were just as light and airy as always.

Just then, something passed by his side.

“Nagghh!!! Uh? Huh?! What the heck was
that
?!”

A sharp pain ran across Gabriel’s back as he shouted.

He had never experienced this kind of pain in his life. To Gabriel—an archangel of heaven who had almost never had a human lay a scratch on him—it was a wholly novel sensation.

“Is…is…is that…?!”

A small, faint, extremely superficial cut was clearly visible on his left arm.

This was a completely unthinkable state of affairs for Gabriel. Just a moment ago, he was clenching his fingers around the Better Half like it was a French croissant.

“…Nice to see angels bleed just as red as we do.”

Emi—or, to be more exact, the Hero, Emilia Justina—flicked a drop or two of blood off the tip of her Better Half before turning back toward her foe.

“Leave here at once, Gabriel. I have zero intention of meddling in the affairs of heaven. But even more than that, I don’t want to see that girl cry.”

Emilia averted her eyes in sadness.

“W-well, it kinda doesn’t really
work
that way, mm-kay? …I’m not exactly in a position to just turn around and leave, y’know. How many hundreds of
years
do you think I’ve been looking for that Yesod fragment?”

“Oh, so you still want to fight me with
that
sword?”

“!!”

Finally, the look of breezy disaffection on Gabriel’s face disappeared for good.

Just like what happened to the Better Half earlier, the top part of Durandal, the archangel’s sword sung about in mythology, was sheared off.

Adding insult to injury, cracks ran down from the mirrorlike edge of the cut, all the way to Durandal’s handle. The next moment, the blade fell to pieces, losing its shape entirely.

“…Well. Guess I just punched my ticket back home, didn’t I?”

Gabriel’s surrender came far more easily than expected.

“But this doesn’t mean I gave up, mm-kay? And I doubt Sariel has, either. Someday, we’re gonna bring all the fragments of Yesod back in one place. I’m just giving you a reprieve ’til then, got it?”

“Heh. Try not to sound like such a loser, loser. But I still got a question for you. Like the Devil King said, if you’ve really been searching
for centuries and nothing bad’s happened in the meantime, why are you so hell-bent on getting it back now?”

The question left Gabriel agape for a moment.

“…Well,
that’s
a surprise. After all that’s happened,
that’s
what you’re asking me?”

“?”

Emilia squinted her eyes in confusion.

“…Maybe it’s time you think a bit about what you really are, lady. That, and why we had this little fight just now. You’ll work it out sooner or later.”

Then, without waiting for a reply to his enigmatic answer, Gabriel raised the hilt of his all-but-ruined Durandal higher into the heavens.

“And I’ll hope, when that time comes, that you’ll put the peace of the world first. For
real
this time.”

Another blast of light emitted from his hand.

“Unless you want the scourge of Satan, the Devil Overlord, to return.”

“Wh-what the hell?!”

Maou and Suzuno had to shield their faces against a particularly strong burst of light in the air.

It looked like a gigantic explosion at first sight, but as the light dissipated, they realized that something was falling out of the sky.

Planting a foot on the ground, Suzuno flew into the air, attempting to find a closer look.

“E…Emilia?!”

She quickly realized the falling object was human—and none other than Emi.

She was either wounded, or that previous burst of light had knocked her out. Either way, she was plummeting downward, unable to control her descent. Rolling directly under her, Suzuno managed to catch the limp body before it struck the ground.

“Emilia! Are you safe?!”

Emi seemed unconscious at first sight, but upon hearing Suzuno’s voice, her eyes popped right open.

“Oh…Bell… Yeah, I’m fine. Also, Gabriel’s gone.”

“What?!”

Shocked, Suzuno turned up toward the quickly fading explosion above.

There, she saw just a faint, twinkling light in the air, the Sasazuka sky otherwise back to its normal self. No one could be seen, and Gabriel was clearly out of the picture.

But the sight did nothing to soothe Suzuno’s mind.

There was nobody at all up there.

Suzuno and Emi were the only people in the sky.

“Hey! Emi!”

They couldn’t see who was shouting from below, but the pained concern was clear in his voice.

“Where’s Alas Ramus?”

“……”

Maou, watching Emi and Suzuno slowly descend, found his voice rising.

“What happened to Alas Ramus?!”

“……”

The sight of Emi averting her face to him made a painful sense of foreboding rush down his back.

“He… Gabriel didn’t…”

Emi didn’t reply. Instead she simply muttered to herself, as if complaining to some unknown presence.

“Ugh… What’re we gonna do about
this
…?”

“Yo, Chi.”

Just as she was departing from her shift, Kisaki stopped Chiho from leaving.

“Oh, hi, Ms. Kisaki! I’m just about off.”

“Sure thing. Good work today. Do you have a moment?”

“Oh, of course. What’s up?”

It was nine in the evening. Chiho, beckoned by Kisaki’s hand, had a fairly clear guess what the topic was.

“I was just wondering… That little girl you had with her, is she back with her family?”

Chiho resignedly nodded to herself inside.

“Oh, I guess you noticed, huh?”

“Well, you know, he was kinda shambling around out there like a zombie, so…”

She was referring to Maou.

At the dining area and behind the counter, Maou acted like the quintessential puppet with its strings cut. There was no strength to his voice, he made a litany of careless mistakes, and his overall work performance was a far cry from the typical Maou—enough to make Kisaki more concerned than angry.

“And I know we’re just gonna have to wait for him to work through his feelings and everything, but that’s just… I’m sorry to put this on you, Chi, but if this keeps up with him, can I count on you to maybe give him a little support on the work front?”

“Sure. No problem.”

“I know I was just a little bit harsh with him today, but…well, I can’t get
too
soft, so…”

“Oh, no, not at all, Ms. Kisaki. I’m sure Maou knows you’re just saying all that for his sake. Anyway, see you tomorrow.”

“You got it. Be safe.”

After leaving Kisaki with a bow, Chiho checked the time and began walking toward Sasazuka station.

Alas Ramus had disappeared.

Maou, seeing Emi fly off with Gabriel and return by herself, was crushed. Heartbroken, was how Suzuno put it, and that was the only window Chiho had into the battle that took place in the wee hours of the morning.

She thought she had come to Villa Rosa Sasazuka early enough for
a front-row seat before Gabriel’s gang arrived. She hadn’t. Instead, Suzuno had shocked her with the words:

“Alas Ramus is…gone away.”

Suzuno, Ashiya, and Urushihara sat dejectedly on the stairs, their minds far off in another place. The massive hole in the upstairs wall told the story well enough for them.

Chiho was used enough to witnessing extraordinary events engineered by beings from other planets by this point to realize she was at the scene of a battle.

The fact this apparent early-morning furor wasn’t enough to alarm the neighbors or summon the police bothered her a little, but there was no time to dwell on that.

“Um, Ashiya, is this…!”

“My liege is…unhurt. He is resting in Devil’s Castle…but he wishes to be alone at the moment.”

“What happened to…to Alas Ramus? Did that Gabriel guy do something to her?!”

A sudden rush of concern drove Chiho to bring up Gabriel’s name. Urushihara was nonplussed.

“Dude, how should we know? Emilia’s kind of off in her own little world, too, so… But it’s kinda logical to assume that Gabriel took her and left.”

“N-no!”

Chiho’s voice was a mix of pain and sadness.

“There was no way to restore my liege’s power this time. Not with the Heavenly Regiment guarding us. And I doubt Emilia could have fended for herself against an angel guarding the Tree of Sephirot. Neither of them are hurt, at least, but…as much as it pains me to say, chances are that Gabriel left with her.”

“Well, not like
we
coulda done anything about it, right? I mean, that girl was a Yesod fragment, dude. It’s kinda natural that Gabriel would want her back in heaven. Besides, it’s not like we had any duty to—“

“Urushihara!!”

Chiho bellowed at Urushihara to find his silence.

“Don’t
say
anything else! If you do, I…I’ll make you regret it!”

“……Eesh.”

Urushihara pouted for a moment, but still took the hint.

“…But what’s wrong with Yusa?”

“Emilia has already returned home. Apparently she had to report to work. …I understand that her clothing and belongings were ruined, but how could that girl be so heartless…”

Ashiya’s reply was weak and droning.

“You had best go to school yourself, Ms. Sasaki. I’m afraid His Demonic Highness is…”

Ashiya paused to take a pensive look at the hole upstairs.

“…likely not in the mood for conversation.”

Chiho followed his eyes upward. Just then, she felt some unknown sensation bubbling up into her chest, something strong enough to make tears well into her eyes.

“I-I’m sorry… I’d better…”

She briskly bowed at the trio, hiding this onrush of emotion, and left the apartment building behind her.

“Alas Ramus…”

She whispered the little apple girl’s name on the way to school as another tear came to her eye.

They had only been together for a short while, and yet even Chiho was experiencing a profound sense of loss. She could only imagine how it was for the man Alas Ramus had loved as her father.

And even at a time like this, I can’t be by Maou’s side.

She clenched her teeth at her helplessness.

“…Ooh.”

Noticing the phone in her bag vibrating, Chiho wiped away the tear and took it out.

“Yusa?”

It was a text from Emi. It invited Chiho to meet with her, whenever it was convenient.

Chiho replied that she had work after school, only to have Emi say
that even late night would be fine, so could they meet up? If she was that insistent, there was no reason to say no.

And now, on the way home from her shift, Chiho spotted Emi inside Sasazuka station.

“Hey, Yusa! Sorry to make you wait!”

“Oh, hi, Chiho. I’m sorry to keep you out. You must be tired.”

Emi looked far more tired than Chiho was.

The loss of Alas Ramus must have weighed upon her as well, in its own way.

“Oh, no, it’s fine…but what’s up?”

“Um… Well, how ’bout we chat inside that Tacoma’s Best? There’s a table free over in that corner. My treat?”

“Oh? Um, sure, but…”

Emi ordered a coffee blend at the Tacoma’s Best coffee shop at the far end of the Sasazuka station mall. Chiho went for an iced soy-milk latte.

Scoping out a table in an isolated nook of the coffee shop, Emi plopped down on the cushioned seat and let out a long, deep sigh before diving straight into the topic at hand.

“So did you hear about this morning from anyone?”

So
that
was it. Chiho nodded solemnly.

“…I went over to the apartment.”

“Oh…”

“Um…so, so did Alas Ramus really get taken away?”

“……”

Emi looked even more somber than Chiho, hanging her eyebrows low against her face.

That was what must have happened.

“…If I just had a little more power…”

“Oh, no, Yusa, this isn’t your fault…”

“…If I had the power to fight against Gabriel by myself, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“No, you…you really don’t have to torture yourself over this…”

“No. This all happened because I didn’t have the strength to do it.”

“Mommy, are you okay? You feel sick?”

“Yusa…”

“Chi-Sis! Mommy, are you hurt? Where’s it hurt?”

“No, no, I’m fine. Just in the heart, a little. …Huh?”

“Oo?”

Emi and Chiho stared down at their feet.

“Aaaaggghhhhhhhhh?!!”

Chiho instinctively tried to stand up, bumping her knees and almost toppling her soy-milk latte as she did.

“Ow!”

The blow was enough to send her tumbling to the floor.

“Chi-Sis! You okay?!”

A small, chubby hand patted Chiho’s face.

“Alas Ramus!!”

Chiho, still kneeling on the floor, shouted out in surprise.

“What? Why? How?! Why are
you
here right now, Alas Ramus?!”

She looked up at Emi, back turned as she sat, her face clearly red as she rested an elbow on the table.

“Wow! You’re okay! That’s great!!”

Chiho let out a delighted cheer as she embraced the child.

“Wabpf!”

“B-but why?! Maou and Suzuno and Ashiya all thought that Alas Ramus was gone!”

She didn’t mention Urushihara, who largely couldn’t have cared less.

“…I never thought
this
was gonna happen, either.”

Emi mumbled the response, back still turned.

The way she put it, Emi had felt something strange from her holy sword the moment she saw Alas Ramus emit a flash of bright light.