Mao woke up in excruciating pain, every muscle aching, every bone he could feel bruised from being tossed around like a ragdoll. Four Academy buildings destroyed, Twenty classrooms, the entire PTA, the ENTIRE Vato family, and one Gold Knuckle later and Zetta had hardly broken a sweat. Mao could barely pick himself up. He could see Zetta gloating in the opposite direction, and took the time to survey what was left of the Gym building he'd exploded in. He could just barely make out Almaz picking up the princess and moving to a hidden position. Asuka and Kyoko were nowhere to be found.

"Beryl" he could barely whisper to himself. She was on the floor, her tiny frame almost entirely covered by a much larger piece of rubble. His nerve endings screamed as he pushed the bit of rubble off of her, trying to be as silent as possible. Trying to ensure he didn't have Zetta's attention.

He picked up his rival's body, a solemn look on his face. He desperately checked her pulse and tried to listen to her breathing.

It was there. Faint, but there.

"Rivals, huh" He could hear Zetta's voice behind him. Serious, but kept to a volume that only Mao could hear.

"D.. Damn it" Mao said "We couldn't stop you. Not at all" He had already resigned himself to being beaten by this other overlord. If he couldn't stop him with his friends, how could he stop him alone.

"You made a respectable effort out of it" Zetta said calmly.

"Everyone is hurt, or run away. I fear the worse for some of your victims" Mao said, his eyes never leaving Beryl.

"You don't have to worry about that. She's a tough girl. You know that better than I do" Mao could feel Zetta's hand on his shoulder.

"You seem surprisingly patient and merciful for an overlord who came here to take over my netherworld"

"Wait, I'm here to take over your netherworld?"

"Why else would an overlord show up."

"Man can't look around and enjoy the landmarks?" Zetta asked in pseudo-mocking tone. "Look, the fact is. I was friends with your old man, alright. And now I hear he died." Zetta looked at him, brow raised.

Mao cringed at the way he put it. "I.." he sighed "yeah. I hate myself over it too."

Zetta just smiled "we've all got a lot to learn from our youth"

"What are you talking about, geezer"

"Well, from what I can tell, you don't seem too satisfied with your own behavior" Zetta looked at the boy, whose eyes wouldn't turn from the little succubus but for a split second to tell him off. "I mean, just look at your problem with that girl. You don't even know how to act around her anymore. Your little act is growing older than the two of you, and you're growing out of it"

"So you're just here to beat me down and make fun of me then"

This idiot reminded Zetta of a younger self a little too much "Kid. Life is more complex than just destruction and gloating, alright. Now, you're on the cusp of discovering that little gem on your own, but learning it that way is going to cost you, and pretending that you haven't learned it at all is going to leave you a very lonely demon."

"Demons must relish..."

"Solitude? Really? That's what you're after here?" Zetta blasted off parts of the rubble, revealing Mao's defeated comrades, the other two delinquent girls, even the orc triplets "If I weren't here, very looming, badass, awesome threat that I am, you'd be crying like a baby, carrying that girl to the nearest hospital."

For once, Mao didn't have the choice of shutting up someone who told him the truth.

"You want solitude the same way prinnies want to do jobs for free. It's not even being a poser. At least a poser has a goddamn goal"

"So what do you want with me then?" Mao screamed. He could feel Beryl starting to move in his arms.

"It's not about what I want to do. It's about what you want." Zetta scoffed "When you can be honest with yourself, maybe you'll be worth my time"

"I am being honest with myself!" Mao's tone was insolent as ever

"Keep lying to me like that, and I'll make sure the succubus doesn't wake up from her sleep"

Mao's expression changed so quickly Zetta almost burst into laughter "F-Fine!" He stuttered "But we'd better do this someplace where everyone is out of earshot"

For once, the kid actually deserved some words of encouragement.