C04: The Devil's Nightmare
Perhaps he went too far on ranting towards Emi. As far as he concerned, Emi was Chiho's friend as well, and it was a bit unfair to put the blame to him. He couldn't help it however. He was emotional, just about as emotional as when Emi confronted him about her father. That was probably her emotional limits, and this was Maou. He never thought that he would be able to get into this far, let alone to have any emotions towards any human being at all.
These terrorists have done more than just physical damage. The mental damage towards Maou was unprecedented. He doubt that he could get a good sleep for tonight. Yes, Chiho was diagnosed to be just fine, but it was not good enough news. The fact that he promised to take care of her, the fact that he once promised to keep her out of harm's way, it was all thrown out of the window. He was the one who did all of this, and there was no one else to blame but him.
The Devil's Castle was crowded with police officers inquiring the people who stayed for information about the perpretator. The gunshots were heard off from the neighbors but thankfully both Urushihara and Suzuno were doing just fine. The sight of Maou-san got them startled, and they began to inquire information from him as well.
"Maou-san!" Urushihara said.
"Good Sadao!" Suzuno said. "How is Chiho? Is she alright?"
"Yeah." Maou said. "She's fine."
"Wait, what about Ashiya?" Urushihara said. "Is he coming home?"
"He'll come home later."
Maou ignored the two for more plea of information and went into the stairs directly. He just noticed that the bullet holes on Room 201 were not fixed as of yet, but the scrapes of broken glasses were not there. It was damaged, but it was a lot better than it was before.
"Is it safe to sleep on this room?" Maou said.
"No." Suzuno said. "I'm afraid that we have to clean it all up tomorrow. For now, you can stay in my room."
"Thanks." Maou said. "Don't worry. I won't touch anything. I'll go straight to sleep."
##
For the record, demons should probably be ashamed. How could demons not feel emotions? How could demons cannot think of other beings? How come they don't feel compassion? What has gone through their minds to think such a think? He once thought that becoming humans were filthy, since he was a demon that could think about anything lower than a human. But now he felt it. His human feelings were disrupting him in every single turn that he can think of.
The longer he stayed on Earth, the longer he felt pain. It was something that not even he could feel during his time on Ente Isla. Was it a good thing? Was this truly what they intended for him? Is this really the kind of thing that the gods above wanted to him, assuming if god really wanted him to become this? Is he really even god? He couldn't even take over the land that he deserved.
Maou woke up. It was still in the middle of the night as he checked on the watch and it was 12:34. However, not a lot of people were around him. Perhaps they cleaned up Room 201 without even waking him up? Not sure why they went through that effort. He came home at exactly 10:13. At that moment, everyone should be glad that they could get a good night sleep.
Maou went out of the room and into Room 201. Nope. Nobody was there either. The entire room was still covered in bullet holes and the window was still broken.
"Ashiya!" that's the first name that came to his mind. He shouted his lungs out, but nobody answered. "Urushihara! Suzuno!"
Maou took his phone out. Unfortunately the battery was out, so he went on to the nearest socket to charge his phone. He took out the charger from his bag and let the phone charge, but unfortunately the electricity wasn't running.
"Damn it!" Maou said. "I told him to pay for it yesterday! *sigh* Where is everybody anyway?"
Knowing that there was no more access to communications, Maou decided to go out instead, hoping that at least someone would take care of him. It's 12:34 however and... wait... 12:34... a rather convenient time to be had. Worst of all, he was sure that minutes just passed.
"Getting lost?"
Maou widened his eyes. He was sure that he heard that voice, deep and threatening in every wave that came out of it. The air went cold. It was so cold that he froze still in place. He could not take a good look of what just called him out, and if he did see it, he's going to punish himself.
"No..." Maou said.
"Yes, Maou-sama." there he said again. "You are... lost."
Maou was still in Room 201. He turned around slowly, not knowing if the figure that he's going to witness is going to haunt him forever. Once he got a good look on the figure, he really wished that he didn't.
The devil himself, true on his full red form, his horns, his glowing yellow eyes and his sharp teeth, and those sharp trisula, came just right near him. He never thought that he could witness his true devil form in person, but there he is. That true form was engrained in him all this time, and for the first time on his life, he was scared... terrified.
"Wh... wh... what...?"
"Maou-san." the Devil spoke. "Have you lost your ways?"
"N... no..." Maou said. "I... I wasn't lost. I had a new way."
"Ah, but does this new way is going to save you, or is it going to destroy you?" the Devil asked. "All those times when you become the devil and rule Ente Isla. Good times. It was so simple. You just annihilated those filthy humans and you're done for."
"They're not filthy!"
"Are you saying that because you are one?" the Devil said. "Or are you saying that because your friend is one?"
"Get them away from this!" Maou shouted. "For years I thought that being a devil is my destiny, but now that I'm human, I'm destined for something good! I'm destined to do something that is better than what I did in Ente Isla!"
"You're lying." the Devil said. "God knows how many lies that you were told to you. All this life, you don't even know where you were born."
"I..." Maou trembled. "Born...?"
"Do you know your mother?" the Devil asked. "Do you even know your father?"
"I..."
"You don't even care, do you?" the Devil said. "What kind of human are you for not knowing who your mother and father is? All you cared about is to take over this world. That's because you're the devil."
"YOU'RE WRONG!"
Maou grabbed a knife and threw it right towards the Devil, but the Devil caught it easily, laughing as he said so.
"Nice throw." the Devil said. "You were a born warrior after all. Your father would be proud of you."
"Who is my father!?" Maou shouted.
"That's for you to find out." the Devil said. "My, you truly have lost your ways. For once I believed that the great devil of Ente Isla is going to be reborn, and he's going to bring a lot more nightmare to the people of this world. And yet here you are, staying and working into that crappy place as a Part Timer. Where is the devil that I know? It seems like I'm fading away from you."
"For a good reason." Maou said. "I don't want to be you. I know it now. You're not what I wanted."
"For 300 years you have come into your senses." the Devil said. "Can you imagine the amount of pain you have caused for that time?"
"That wasn't me." Maou said. "That wasn't who I really am! I'm not you, and I will never be you again!"
"Not even for your little friend?"
"Maou-san!"
Maou widened his eyes. That was the echo of a voice that he held dearly. That was the voice of someone that practically helped him to turn into a real human. Chiho shouted her lungs out, and Maou wanted to find her.
"Chiho!" Maou shouted. "Don't you do anything to her!"
"I've known it all this long." the Devil said. "You have gone really soft."
"Maou-san!"
The Devil opened a portal, getting Chiho out. She was still on her hospital gown. That fact alone startled him. He kidnapped her when she was still injured? Only the cruelest of devil would do such a thing.
"C... Chiho..." Maou said. "Don't worry."
"Of course. Don't worry." the Devil said. "Even though he has no more powers. His entire power relies on me, and me alone, and I'm not even inside him."
"Don't you hurt her!" Maou said.
"Or what?" the Devil said. "You have nothing convincing. You have nothing to bargain with. The only thing that you have is your empty promises."
"Shut up!"
Maou charged towards him, but the Devil didn't even have to use magic to take him down. His trisula was the only thing that Maou notice, and it was shoved... right through his entire body. All that he could do was to have a shocked face, with a deep undying pain that cannot be compared to any other pain he had experienced during his human form.
"Maou-san!"
He couldn't even speak. The trisula got him too deep for him to speak. The Devil released it out, letting him to bleed down the floor choking on his own blood.
"You're weak." the Devil said. "You couldn't even bring vengeance to the one you hold the most."
"I..." Maou said, struggling to speak. "I'm... I'm sorry, Chiho."
"Maou-san!"
##
"Chiho!"
Maou was trying to shout just when it all ended. That caused him to wake up with him shouting it all out, but Ashiya was there to grab him before he got a little too far. Ashiya pushed him back down into his futon before covering him back into his blankets.
"You just had a nightmare, Maou-sama." Ashiya said. "You were rambling incoherently. I think you should take another sleep."
"A... Ashiya?"
Ashiya slightly jumped on Maou. His face, it spoke nothing but gratefulness. The one thing that got him shockd was the tears. Maou went on to hug Ashiya, crying right below his shoulder.
"Ashiya..." Maou said. "Ashiya..."
"It's... it's alright, Maou-sama." Ashiya said. "I know it's hard for you to take on."
"I... I saw her..." Maou said. "I couldn't save her, Ashiya. I couldn't save her."
"She's going to be fine, Maou-sama." Ashiya said.
"But I couldn't save her." Maou said. "I'm ashamed to see her, Ashiya."
"If that's what you're worried about Sire, I wouldn't worry too much." Ashiya said. "Chiho's mother wants to thank you after what you did."
Maou literally stopped crying. He went back and glanced at Ashiya, who had an optimistic smile for some reason.
"Wh... what?"
"Chiho's mother, Riho, she wanted to thank you." Ashiya said. "She didn't blame you at all. In fact, she was grateful that you were there. If you weren't there, she doubted that Chiho would be safe at all."
"She... she did?"
"Yes she did, Sire." Ashiya said. "I would never lie to you. That's exactly what she said."
"I... thanks." Maou said. "That makes me feel better."
"If you're not up for the job, you should stay." Ashiya said. "We're going to need some help on fixing the house and everything."
"Oh yeah." Maou said. "I think I'll call the manager for now."
"Sure thing." Ashiya said. "And Maou-sama, I know that I'm not supposed to say this, but ever since our stay in here, we have changed, especially you. You used to be the demon that I swore my loyalty with. And now, you're my roommate and what I can best described as my best friend, or maybe a brother that I never had."
"A... Ashiya..." Maou said, smiling widely before hugging him back again. "If you were my brother, you'd be the best brother that I have!"
"I... I'm glad that you felt the same way, Maou-sama." Ashiya said. "It makes me happy."
They all stayed hugging for at least a couple of seconds before Maou let it go. To be fair, he couldn't remember the last time he hugged his loyal companion. He deserved at least one.
"Right." Maou said. "I think we should start cleaning our room up, shall we?"
"Suzuno and Urushihara did their work." Ashiya said. "Let's do ours."
"Urushihara did his work? Ashiya, are you sure that I woke up from my dream?"
They both laughed. It seemed like this was exactly what the former Devil wanted. That devil was just the shell of his former self, out of his body once and for all. What was left is a newly reborn human, filled with the emotions that could come from such a creature. The thought of humans as filthy creatures faded away, as he realized the joy and struggle of living to become one, and the wonderful moments that came out of it.