Prolouge
A war no one was expecting - to turn out like this. A war that could take anywhere from three months to a thousand years. A war, in actuality, only took one month before failure was ensured. A defeat on an epic scale, that sent every surviving member of the new Ente Isla Hero's party scattering in every direction from injuries and more. No one thought a party of this many powerful people would lose so fast - so terribly bad. The frontliners - Emilia the Hero, the Devil King Satan, Great Demon Generals Lucifer, Alciel and Chrestia Bell, Sorcerer Emeralda and known fighter Albert were blasted with a magic never felt before in any of the lands they visited - and were thrown through the wasteland that was once known as the Devil's Castle - thrown so far apart that one party could not even see a spec of the another on the Hero Emilia panted, struggling to stand as she scanned the horizon line. She cast her fear-filled bloodied eyes downward at what was her sword, only to see her 'daughter' unconscious before her, pale and bruised.
She fell to her knees and picked up Alus=Ramus gingerly, cradling her in her own bruised and beaten arms - and sobbed silently in relief that she was warm and breathing. This was not the outcome that was planned, this was not how it was supposed to happen. Emilia's evil-repealing armour was shattered and gone from her body, her white hair had faded away leaving her unable to heal in her mortal body. Nothing but silence surrounded her, and her gasps for air through her sobs echoed around her. That, and a shuffling of sand that she took no notice of behind her.
"Em… Emi-" A faint voice said not too far off from behind the Hero. Emilia's head whipped around behind her and saw a small shape covered in sand slowly drag its way towards her. With no strength to stand, she herself crawled on her knees while carefully holding Alus=Ramus, towards the shape that called out to her. Once finally within a few feet of each other, she paused in shock. There lay a small child gasping for breaths. In front of her laid a horribly injured demon child, hooves bloodied with mangled fur, every bloodied part covered with sand, burn marks from the heat of the desert, and two horns - one broken on his left side.
"Ma… Maou…?" Emilia managed to gasp out, gently reaching out as the child continued to pull himself to her. "What happened to you? Why are you so small?" She said while using her free hand to pull him gently onto her lap. Maou gasped for breath, feeling relieved he was finally off the hot hand. He turned his only current good eye towards Alus=Ramus and weakly reached out to graze her cheek.
"Alus…?" He asked, choking on his works, eye filled with worry. Emilia shook her head.
"She's just unconscious. She'll be fine, I promise." She responded to his unfinished question. Maou gave one small curt nod and turned his head into her torso to rest. Emilia gently held him and Alus=Ramus as she looked around again, in case she missed anyone else, and sighed heavily.
"Maou, I have almost no magic left. Do you have any to heal yourself before I move us? I don't think you will survive transport in that state…" Emilia asked, looking down at his tiny body only slightly larger than their 'daughter'. Maou cracked his good eye open.
"Gate, huh…? I can heal them shut, but I won't even be 60% healed. Just enough to put off death from turning back into my human state if we go back to Japan…" He managed to mumble out. He closed his eye and focused, a small red glow emanating from his body. Emilia nodded, thankful she wasn't alone. Suddenly a presence was felt and her head snapped up.
"Crap…" Maou mumbled. "They must have sensed where we were when I used my powers…" Emilia looked with concern at where the presence was coming from and turned to the empty space in front of her - closing her eyes to focus on the feather her mother had given her. A gate appeared, and Emilia used all the strength she had to stand up and carry both Alus=Ramus and Maou's shrunken form through the gate back to Japan, hopefully escaping whatever fate was about to meet with them in that wasteland of defeat.