Welcome, everyone, to my first fanfiction under this alias. If you don't know who I am, good, you probably shouldn't. I've published a few, incomplete works under different accounts, but that's irrelevant. This time, I have something of a backup plan: write out every chapter once ahead of the one I upload. For example, by the time this was uploaded I will have finished chapter 2 and at least started work on chapter 3, chapter 2 will be uploaded when I am working on chapter 4, etc. This way I can have at least one last chapter to upload before I burn it down for the insurance money. But again, there's no guarantee I will ever complete this: I have an outline in my head, but I can't promise my attention span will be long enough to write it all out. Whatever, we'll see what happens.

Before we start, let's get a few things clear. First off, let it be known that I failed college-level English. Though to be fair, they wanted me to write a lot of reflective and personal opinion essays, and frankly, I don't give a shit about Renee Zellweger or her plastic surgery (Yes, that was a mandatory topic.) So if I misspell a word or two, please try to contain your inner Grammar Nazi. Besides, I'm sure even this is better than about half of the entries uploaded to the more popular source materials on a daily basis (C'mon guys, spell-check, it exists.)

Second, this fanfiction takes place after anime series, and does not follow the storyline of the light novel or the manga at all. As soon as someone releases an English version that I can access, I'll probably read it.

Third, if my rant about English didn't tip you off, there will be some swears. It's definitely not gonna be saturated with cursing, but just in case I'm gonna keep this a high T rating. If someone feels like that's too low, PM me or something, but if the new Robocop movie got by at a measly PG-13, I think this can stand its current rating.

Finally, I will not write a lemon. Because fuck lemons. (LOLPUNS)

Alright, enough with the intro, let's get on with it.

Disclaimer: this is a fanfiction, BUY THE DAMNED SHOW

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"The Devil remains on Earth in hiding, and our hero has betrayed us."

"We have already sent three other agents to slay him, but both have either been killed or are unresponsive to our attempts at communication."

"The Church is tasking you two to travel to this dimension and execute the Devil, along with any usurpers who may get in your way."

"We also require you to silence our former hero as well. Once said task is complete, retrieve the Better Half and bring it to us."

"Are our instructions clear, Ruber and Caeruleus?"

"We understand. These heretics must pay for their insolence."

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All was quiet at the central island of Ente Isla. A sterile wind blew through the remains of the Devil's Castle. With the crusades over and their civilization in shambles, most of the sentient demons fled to the most remote forests of the isle, some to forge new lives, other to attempt to rebuild even greater than before and strike once more. All, but one.

Malacoda, the dark sorcerer, rivaled only by Satan himself in his demonic magical abilities. He stood at the tallest peak of the once-grandiose castle, his hands focused into a ball. His eyes were closed, and his long, blonde hair that normally rested at the sides of his head in bangs blew effortlessly in the breeze. After a few moments, a faint ripple could be seen in the air in front of him. It grew and grew, until there was now a purplish wormhole directly in front of him. A diabolical grin appeared on his face, his eyelids opening to reveal his gray irises.

"Satan," He monologued, "I will find you, and I will kill you. And when I do, I will conquer Ente Isla in the name of the demons!"

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"Thank you, please come again!" Maou cheerfully waved out the last customer of the day. He sighed a breath of relief. Today had been slightly longer than his usual shift, due in part to quota day coming up, and his desire to exceed last year's record sales (a record set by yours truly, of course).

"Excellent work today, everyone!" He announced to the few remaining employees who were hanging around at this hour, "With today's rush hour, our numbers shall have excelled far beyond our wildest imaginations!"

"You really think so, Maou?" Chiho excitedly yelped.

"Oh, I know so!" Maou continued his over-the-top monologuing, while most of the other employees simply ignored his tirade and continued preparing to leave. "Soon, our MgRonald's will be the greatest in all of Japan!" He raised a fist as he almost shouted the last sentence. Chiho simply smiled at his antics.

"Hm?" She opened her eyes and saw a very distinctive redhead from across the street staring into the restaurant, an uneasy look in her eyes. "Hey Maou, isn't that Emi over there?"

"Huh?" Having been brought down back to reality, he turned his head to look at the Hero, only for her to avert his gaze, choosing to focus on the pavement instead. This caused the devil to raise an eyebrow. It was about two years after both of them entered this world, and they were getting along much better than they did when they originally came here, at least superficially. Although, for the past few weeks, Emi started to deviate from the norm as she waited for Maou to get off work and began to follow him most of the way home, striking up whatever small talk crossed her mind. It had even gotten to the point that he wouldn't bother riding the Dullahan II anymore, because he would just be pushing it along as they walked.

Now, she had stalked him multiple times before, but previously it was out of suspicion; however, her goals are much less clear now due to this new behavior. Was she trying to catch him off guard by being more amiable towards him? It couldn't be that. Was she simply bored and had no friends to hang out with? Nah, that Rika chick is always bugging her about stuff like that.

Does she... like me? Maou shook his head in disbelief. It was true though, the demon had also grown to enjoy her presence. Her bantering began to grow on him, and he even began to go out of his way just to seek her attention. After a while, though, he wondered if these were human emotions that he was feeling. He scoffed at such a naive thought. The demon lord and a half-angel, in love. How poetically ironic.

...Besides, she couldn't if she wanted. As his thoughts about the hero became more frequent, so did his retrospecting on his action in Ente Isla. He had to bring himself to confront his previous behavior. He had no choice but to bring himself face-to-face with reality: He was everything wrong with her life.

He was the reason her father died. He was the reason she was taken by the church to become their killing machine. And he was the reason she was now stuck in Japan, doomed to listen to the rants of people too stupid to pick up a manual for a living. His hand balled into a fist. These thoughts ate away at him like acid on a near-daily basis. He didn't even want her forgiveness anymore; he just wanted to be able to forgive himself.

"Go to her, Maou." Chiho nudged him in the side.

"What?" Maou snapped out of it, slightly confused as the buxom teen encouraged him.

"C'mon, I know you can't be that dense," She explained, closing her eyes, "It's obvious from her past behavior that she likes you, whether or not she consciously realizes it, and judging the way you look at her, the feeling is mutual." She almost sobbed the last part, but retained her composure and continued, "At first, I thought I could have you all to myself. But then, as I grew up, I thought more and more about what it meant to truly love someone. And, well..." She opened her eyes and looked at him, a bittersweet expression on her face, "If you truly love something, let it go."

"Chiho..." The devil smiled, pulling her into an embrace, "I promise I'll still be there for you whenever you need."

"Th-thanks, Maou..." The two let go of each other, "Just don't let that floozy get the better of you, or at least tell me if she does, so I can personally set her straight." She jokingly stuck her tongue out at the shift manager.

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The hero solemnly stared as she watched her "arch-nemesis" hug the teenage girl through the glass. Wait a minute, she scolded herself, Am I... jealous!? Get a grip, Emilia, he is Satan! Evil incarnate! The very essence of darkness! You h-hate him!...

A part of her truly, deeply wanted nothing more than to forgive him, to completely forget all the heinous acts committed by his hand in Ente Isla, to let go of the past and start a new future. She quickly buried this part of her as deeply as she could muster, but it didn't take long for doubts to spring up in her head once more.

Can I even forgive him? Her internal struggle raged on, Should I forgive him? Wha-o-of course not? My father is dead because of him! Ugh, Why can't I shake these feelings, like I'm doing something wrong?

"Hey," A distinctly male voice brought the half-angel out of her stupor. Emi looked up and saw the man in question, out of his MgRonald's uniform and into more casual attire.

"H-hey," She uneasily responded. An awkward moment of silence filled the gap between the two.

"...You feeling alright?" Maou finally broke the silence.

"A-as if you care!" Emi put on her signature act, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Stubborn, as always," Maou sighed, a weak smile growing on his lips. He then offered the hero a hand. "Walk with me," he pleaded with her, the grin from before still on his face. She rolled her eyes and begrudgingly began to follow him as he aimlessly strolled down the empty streets of Tokyo with no real goal in mind.

"So tell me," Maou began, "What exactly is it that you want? You've been following me home almost every day for the past few weeks now. I'm beginning to even wonder if you spend any time at your own apartment."

"Well, isn't it obvious?" She scoffed, "I'm the hero, you're the devil, I have to keep tabs on you to make sure you're not up to something nefarious."

"Right, see, I would have believed that lie a year ago," The demon lord chuckled, "And if you really were doing as you say, then why not have the least bit of subtlety about it?"

"W-well, I figured that would be pointless, since I already tried that before and you took note," She had a slightly harder time coming up with an on-the-spot lie for that.

"Emi-No, Emilia," They both stopped dead in their tracks when she used her original name, "Please, stop lying to me-" SMACK.

"Don't you ever call me by that name!" Maou's head remained in recoil from where Emi's hand came into contact with his cheek as an aggressive speed. "You are not allowed to call me by that name, Satan! Only my closest allies are permitted to call me by that name in this world! But YOU!?" A single tear flowed down her cheek at this point, "You're my sworn ENEMY! You have nothing but evil inside of you! If you ever try something as audacious as that again, I will destroy you where you stand, you got that!?"

Maou did not have an initial reaction. His head was still turned, so his face was out of her view.

"...Emi..." He spoke in barely a whisper, "...is that...truly what you think of me?"

The hero was initially taken aback by his response, but quickly regained her angry demeanor. "O-of course it is!" She snapped.

"...Well then..." He finally turned his head to look her in the eyes, a storm of emotions churning in his pupils, his ice-cold gaze causing Emi to flinch once again, "If that's truly the case... Then just kill me."

"Wha-"

"You h-heard me, hero!" He broke into a yelling tone, "Go ahead and end my life, right here, right now! Draw your Better Half and strike me down where I stand! What are you waiting for then!? Is this not what you want!? DO IT!"

He somehow found it within himself to regain his cool after that rant, leaving Emi stunned and speechless, golden irises wide with a mix of emotion. He simply stood there and waited for her attack. He's giving himself up?... Well, What the hell are you waiting for, Emilia! This is what you want, kill him now! Her face cringed. ...Is it, though? He's done so much for this world, for these people... for me. What good will killing him now bring them? What good will it bring me?... I-I don't think I can do it, I...

Seconds, moments, minutes passed, and she did not make a single motion to kill him. He closed his eyes, breaking eye contact. "...Goodnight, Emi." He solemnly said before turning around and walking away. Before he could make more than one step, however, a hand grabbed his wrist, and before he knew what was happening, something warm and sweet was pressing against his lips. The devil's senses kicked back in just in time to realize the events that were unfolding before him: It was Emi, it was her hand that grabbed his wrist, and it was her lips that were pressed up against his. For a moment, he felt like he had died and gone to Heaven (if that was even possible for lords of the damned). But not a moment too soon, Emi pulled away, her confused, strangely joyful expression almost matching his.

"M-Maou, I-"

BRRAP.

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"Hm," A pair of binoculars lowered to reveal a set of golden eyes, framed by cropped ultramarine hair, "It would seem that the Church's suspicions are correct after all." The young man turned to his partner, "What say you, Ruber?"

The one now identified as Ruber stood up from his relaxed pose in the empty room they had retrofitted into a sniper's roost, flicking his similar-length scarlet hair. "I wouldn't say anything, Caeruleus," He raised his hand, a tiny ball of divine energy forming in between his fingertips, "I would merely shoot the bloody heathens."

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To say the truth, Emi did not remember much of what happened after hearing that noise. She still managed to retain a few fuzzy images, though. She remembered being in an immense amount of pain for a split second, before going completely numb. She remembered blood, both from her and from the Devil. The last thing she heard was Maou telling her to "hold on," before a reddish aura over took the both of them and she blacked out.

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"It would appear as though they teleported away," Caeruleus observed, a significant amount of disappointment in his tone, "Looks like Satan still has a bit of fight left in him after all."

"He couldn't have gotten far with all the holes we put in them both," Ruber shrugged off the failure, "We'll find their bodies, get the Better Half, and complete the mission with flying colors."

"About that," The blue-haired assassin turned to his comrade, "Those attacks, I do not believe that all of them were from us."

"Mhm, yes, I noticed that as well," The other man placed a hand on his chin, smirking, "Looks like we have a guardian angel, or, more correctly, we are the guardian angel of someone else."

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The young entrepreneur casually roamed Tokyo's sidewalks, adjusting his perfectly round glasses. His jade eyes looked aimlessly at the empty street that sprawled out in front of him. He always opted to scout late at night, so if things happened to get hairy there would be less witnesses to worry about. The green-eyed man had only set up shop a little over a month ago, however, the condition of his shop was the least of his concerns at the moment.

"...There!" His lax gaze snapped into a fiery glare, as if sensing something. That must be the source of magic I sensed a year ago! His casual walk broke into a brisk jog, despite him trying to keep his suit unwrinkled and presentable. By the time I get there, things should have cooled down between whatever forces I am sensing, so when they do, I will-

His train of thought was interrupted as a flash of demonic light in the street temporarily blinded him. The grunted as his senses returned to him, and when they did, he noticed a major difference from before: a raven-haired man and a auburn-haired woman, both lying in the street. They both seemed to be unconscious, and a red puddle quickly grew underneath their resting spot.

Is... this what I have been sensing all this time? He quickly rushed up to the unconscious pair, placing a hand on both of them. Yes, there's no doubting it now. These two are from Ente Isla. He removed his hands, which were now both red from their blood. So, the elephant in the room: do I heal them? If they are with the church or with the devil's forces, then they will undoubtedly try to kill me as soon as they are conscious. And it will take a significant deal of my magic to heal them if they are: at least a month's worth for both of them.

But... If I don't heal them, then I will never get the answers I came here for. On top of that, it is highly unlikely that they are aligned with either. The fact that they were attacked in this manner highly suggests they are deserters to whatever cause they were once affiliated with. He took into account the pool of blood that was growing at an alarming speed under his feet. I don't have much time, they are bleeding out. Caution to the wind, then...

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And there you have it, the pilot chapter. By all means, give me your thoughts. Is it worth reading? Do I continue? Send me anything, really, I'm not a hater-hater. But keep in mind how seriously I take your review is inversely proportional to the amount of caps-lock ;)