Educational Suicide

A.N.- Ugh, this story is so much harder than I thought it would be when I started. I got a good ending planned, but let's hope I get that far before I decide to scrap the whole thing! Nevermind, just enjoy, and if you could leave a review, that would be much appreciated now, especially one that tells me you like it so far and to keep going! Oh, and a special thanks to Varanus for your reviews :)

Chapter 3: Interlude- Heart of the Matter

Mao's heart, the constantly morphing dungeon-warehouse that locks away all of Mao's feelings, memories, and passions in a single, convenient-to-access location, just waiting to be changed at any given moment- either by events in the world outside or direct action by whomever dares to search its foreboding depths- not a place to be taken lightly. Mao, Sapphire, and Almaz entered the shifting realm- Almaz and Mao were quite familiar with it, Mao having been through the whole place on many occasions and Almaz on 3 different occasions, all with Mao, but this was an entirely new experience for Sapphire.

"This is so cool! I've never been in a demon's heart before! Do you come here often?!" Sapphire asked excitedly as she wildly looked about the ever-changing realm of Mao's heart, not even waiting for an answer to her question; Almaz quickly following her to make sure she didn't do anything she wasn't supposed to.

"Princess, be careful! If you break something important you might scar lord Mao forever!" Almaz warned Sapphire, who took little notice and continued her reckless exploration of Mao's heart.

"Yes, scar me forever, that would be tragic; huh traitor?" Mao growled, Almaz took this as a warning and took a few steps away, just to be safe; but Mao wasn't done yet- "Maybe she can scar me so badly that I forget you ever existed, that would be catastrophic wouldn't it?" Mao said, strangely calmly and very sarcastically with a disarming smile on his face to mask his inner fury, which was very obvious, and tangible enough to make Almaz take a few more steps away and to keep and eye on him, still just in case.

"Oooh, what's that?" Sapphire asked with a great amount of curiosity, as if she were a curious child that saw something new or shiny, in this case, both. Sapphire was referring to a faintly luminescent small red key tied to a large light purple crystal by way of a rather large iron nail, which was charred black.

Both Almaz and Mao yelled for her not to touch it, Almaz in a cautious tone and Mao in an angry and demanding tone, both were ignored as if she didn't hear them, which in her own world she probably didn't. Immediately Sapphire swiped the key off of the nail and wildly searched about for what it unlocked, like an odd keyhole that seemed otherwise out of place, which there was only one not a dozen feet away.

A dark and foreboding gate of prison-like iron bars wore a lock and keyhole that fit the key perfectly. Much like a prison, it was meant to contain a dangerous power, which didn't cross Sapphire's mind as she rushed over and jammed the key in the lock and turned it until the lock fell to the ground with a loud bang.

The iron gate opened slowly, and the room inside lit up with a light from nowhere, revealing that it was an exact replica of the meeting room used by the election committee.

Mao yelling furiously at Sapphire, Almaz was worried that he would probably kill her in a heat of passion for not listening, so Almaz asked a question to move Mao's mind off of Sapphire; even if it re-directed Mao's anger to him, that's what a hero does, Almaz figured- even if he was less of a hero than when he came to the netherworld, losing his title to a demon, of all things!

"What's in there and why is it locked?" Almaz asked quickly. Mao immediately glared coldly at him for distracting him, then in a low, dark, and cold voice, Mao answered:

"You are!"

The committee room was arranged in a circle, much like that morning during the voting to pass Mao's bill, but instead of the usual committee members, there were only about 2 dozen Almazes and a single timid-looking Mao wearing a light blue version of Mao's usual clothes sitting in the middle of the circle- no overseer, nor was there Mr. Redshirt, just timid Mao and the many Almazes that shouted only one word- nay. In touching the key and fitting it into the lock, Sapphire caused the memory of the meeting to replay as if it was a movie; exactly as it had happened, even better than any of the three could remember even though it only took place that morning- the booming of the overseer's commanding voice, the ominous chatter of committee members once Almaz voiced his fatal vote, even the quiet whispers of Mr. Redshirt to Almaz during the voting earlier- all was the same.

Why didn't I vote nay? Was I afraid? Almaz... I'm sorry... but if I voice my feelings, Mao will punish the both of us... If only it wasn't passed... if only Mao didn't blindly pursue his selfish desires of getting stronger that only led to everyone getting hurt in the process... I wish I could recast my vote... Sapphire thought as Almaz was humiliated by Mr. Redshirt's vote, wondering to herself why she didn't regret her decision before.

That princess-girl, I can feel her regret- she thinks her thoughts are safe when she walks my heart! She, like Almaz, has much to learn- perhaps I can use her for revenge after all...

For a moment, all of the nays stopped as the chorus of Almazes collectively took a breath and let the timid Mao voice himself.

"Please, we must get stronger together... please?" Mao said, so timidly and weakly it may as well have been coming from a mouse, which greatly infuriated the real Mao.

"I'm NOT letting this happen!" Mao shouted as he stormed into the room, his disgust toward his own mirror self was evident, and understandable.

As a new wave of 'nays' was called from the committee of Almazes, Mao used Blast Finger on the wall of desks in front of him, thus breaking the circle and killing a couple of the Almazes in the process, no one took notice of his entrance until he stood in the center, facing his own timid self eye-to-eye. Sapphire and the real Almaz followed him, then stopped as real Mao unsheathed his sword and stabbed the timid Mao through the chest, unsatisfied with his own reflection; the timid Mao disappeared in a cloud of smoke without a word.

"Mao, did you just kill yourself?" Almaz managed to gasp in his shock. Mao didn't answer at first, he simply stood on the cardboard box his timid self had been using and he looked around the room at the many eyes watching him.

The change this caused to the heart was apparant, immediately the Almazes around the room were driven to a deadly fury once timid Mao fell, and even the room was warped into a dark dungeon-like room that made Sapphire and Almaz feel quite uncomfortable. On the outside, the heart took a more bold appearance, its normal color scheme changing from a soft blue to a bright blazing red, if but for a moment.

There are 18 Almazes left after I killed those 2 entering, so that means there are 20 people in this room right now other than myself; and that 95% of those other people are Almaz, how many of them do I want to kill? 100%, but I think I'll settle for 95%; why I felt the need for that calculation I don't know, but after killing my timid self, I'm feeling quite... unleashed- I could kill an army! How nice that the person I hate most right now is standing in front of me coupled with an army of himself! This ought to quench my thirst for revenge for today!

Mao smirked in deadly anticipation of what was inevitably to come as all of the committee Almazes drew their weapons- oddly the same as the real Almaz, but their levels were the same as Almaz's was before the training- 30; compared to Almaz's new level of 43 and Mao's level of 45 (Sapphire was the lowly level of 37, she didn't get as much training compared to Mao and Almaz), these cheap copies of Almaz stood no chance, yet they didn't seem to think so, all of them charged with no regard to personal safety straight to Mao, who slew as many as dared come near him, Sapphire killing the remainder (Almaz didn't feel comfortable killing these warped versions of himself).

"Well I feel better, let's go back and get some new armor! Almaz, you can have my old armor again." Mao said very cheerfully and heartily- so cheerfully it didn't seem like it was the same Mao talking- once the massacre of many Almazes was finished.

I feel so happy, like a weight's been lifted from my shoulders! Everything seems so much brighter suddenly, like someone elected to put up chrismas lights all around my heart, just to make it brighter! Obviously I wouldn't appreciate that person's trespassing in my heart without permission like some kind of... heart parasite, so I'd kill them, after thanking them for their effort... or maybe before... But enough fooling around, revenge starts tomorrow! And I got something good planned!- Mao

I don't feel comfortable around Mao anymore... He seemed to take a bit more... sadistic pleasure in killing those copies of me so many times than he should have... frankly I'm surprised he didn't decide to kill me and say he though I was one of them! Please Mao, open your heart soon- preferably before you elect turn to me to ash! Me and Mao need therapy or something, I wonder if they have anything like that here? - Almaz

So, a demon's heart reflects all of the memories and feelings they don't want to keep themselves- this is quite a strength, but at the same time, a weakness! If only I could get into the overlord's heart, I could find his weakness... If I recall correctly, I have to be invited into the demon's heart- so how can I get invited into the Overlord's heart...? - Sapphire

Mao led Almaz and Sapphire back to the heart's version of a nurse's office, all the while Almaz thought about what had happened.

That place, I get it now! That was Mao's scar in his hear from me voting against him... did it really hurt him that much? Was I really that close to him, does he trust me like a friend would? Maybe that's why he put me on the committee... I feel so bad now, he believes I did this just out of the malice of my heart to deny him what he wants- where did I learn such advanced vocabulary...? Anyways, he must've felt so weak that one of his friends would turn against him like that so the memory in his heart he made himself such a timid weakling at that time... Oh lord... I've gotta make this right, even if I was just looking out for his best interests, which he doesn't seem to be interested in my version of his best interests, which I should've known based on his avid hatred of those delinquents who also look out for his best interests... anyways, I'm still going to apologize, but I'll wait for the right time; after he's killed me several times over it doesn't seem like the right moment right now.

On a lighter note, if I'm feeling regret like I am now, I can't be too close to becoming a total demon!

A.N.- I realize my humor has been pretty dry this chapter and the last (my humor was a bit worse last chapter than this one, in my opinion), but these past 2 chapters were meant as a sort of lead-in to the rest of the story so it'll get much better, I promise. Anyways, I got 4 more chapters planned, each will take place one day after the previous- the first three will be Mao's revenge, the final being the resolution of the fic- of course, this is all assuming all goes as planned, which rarely happens!