CHAPTER 1: Rebirth

Pain. Unbearable, excruciating pain. That was the last thing Akira remembered, as he was struck by Satan's beam of light, which obliterated him from the waist down. Then darkness enveloped him. For what seemed like an eternity he felt like he was falling in a endless dark abyss while having his soul being torn apart over and over again.

"Just let me die already", said Akira, as he felt himself slowly drifting closer and

closer in the stream of the void.

But then he realised it. He was thinking. Which meant that he was alive!

He must have died: it was the only explanation for why he wasn't suffering. His pain had completely disappeared and, oddly enough, he felt his legs again.

Then he opened his black eyes and, to his bewilderment, he found out that he was completely submerged in water. As if on clue, he started choking on water, putting his hands around his neck as he gasped for air. Normally as a result of his demonic powers, breathing underwater was not a problem for him. However since he was in his human form, and since he had no time to even figure out what was going on, let alone recover, he felt himself growing weaker and weaker

as water started to fill his lungs.

But Akira, ever determined, reached deep inside, gathered all of his remaining strength and after a few strokes, reached the surface. Finally, he slowly pulled himself on dry land and collapsed on his knees and hands.

And then it all came back to him. All of it.

From when he became Devilman, his battles against many powerful demons, the demon invasion, humanity's rampage on each other, Miki's death the climatic battle between demons and-

Miki. All of his thoughts came back to the love of his life, the girl, that was always there with him and for him, even back when he was such a wimp, a good for nothing crybaby. And yet, she always stood up for him even against bullies two to three times her size. He had promised her that nothing would have kept them apart, after he revealed to her what he had become.

"M…. Miki….." spoke Akira weakly, his voice cracking as tears started to freely descend on his face. But then again, who could blame him? Even though 20 years had passed, he remembered it like it was yesterday. Of how an angry mob of people armed with all sorts of weapons, the very same humans that Akira swore to protect, stormed her house, burned it to the ground, and tore her apart along with her younger brother. All because they believed that she was a demon, after the existence of demons was revealed to the world. But they didn't stop there, no. They even had the nerve to stick her body parts, including her head on stakes, as if she was some kind of witch. The things that Akira did to them that night made the Black Sabbath look like child's play. It was the breaking point for Akira: his faith in humanity died with her. It made him realize that humans in the end were no better than the demons Akira fought against.

"I'm so sorry… i coud- i coudn't protect you…." continued Akira, his tears flowing even more. He had let her down. No, not just her: he had let all of his friends down and all the people who had become devilmen, people who had been inspired by him, people that he gave them a new purpose and who were at his side up until the final battle.

"Tare, Dosu-Roku, Mikiko, Izumi, Agira, Bokuto… forgive me. I…. i….. i wasn't strong enough….."

No matter how hard he had fought for all those 20 years, no matter how much he became stronger, he never stood a chance against Satan. All he had to do was fire a beam of light and it obliterated Akira in half. The difference in power between the two coudn't have been greater. After all his opponent was a being that could destroy entire planets, warp reality itself, and even create life. Satan was the son of God after all.

What's more, Satan was behind everything. He had his memories erased, replaced by those of a young man, named Ryo Asuka, so that he could infiltrate humanity, learn about their ways, and destroy them from the inside. And it was Satan who had sent humanity on a rampage on one another, by rolling a film of how Akira first became Devilman, after the existence of demons was revealed to the world, which resulted in the death of Miki and milions, if not bilions of innocent people. More shockingly, he had planned the Black Sabbath so that Akira would have fused with the powerful demon Amon, so that he could survive after humanity's extinction. Ryo, Akira's best friend never truly existed. Satan's plan went on perfectly, except for one little thing: while he was a human, he fell in love with Akira. And his feelings for him remained, even after he returned to his true self. Akira, unsurprinsigly, never forgave his former best friend for what he did. And that lead to the 20 year war between demons and devilmen which resulted in the extinction of both.

And yet, after being obliterated in half, and near death, Satan laid alongside Akira on an isolated rock in the sea. And at that point, Satan, or rather, his human self, Ryo opened himself up to Akira. He revealed that the day God, created the Earth and planted his seed on it, many life-forms grew. Hundreds of millions of years later, God returned to see what he had created, only to discover that some beings that he didn't plan to create, had evolved: the demons. God despised them: he though of them as nothing more than bloodthirsty monsters, abominations of nature. So he decided to exterminate them and start again.

That's why Satan, his own son, opposed him: what right did his father have to destroy something that he created on accident? To destroy creatures that weren't born of their own free will, but that were still sentient beings. Beings who fought each and every day just to survive.

And so, Satan joined forces with the demons, eventually becoming their leader, to fight God, just like Akira fought to protect mankind. And he succeded in defeating the forces of Heaven, but their war still wasn't over: in order to prepare himself and the demons for the final battle with God, Satan decided to hibernate himself and the demons for 2 million years, waiting for when the time of the final battle would come.

However, when Satan and the demons awoke, the Earth had changed. It was now inhabited by a new kind of living beings: humans, which had evolved after the demons dissapeared. Satan coudn't forgive them. They had polluted, ransacked and ruined the Earth. The same Earth that Satan fought for, with all his might, had been stolen from the demons. And that's why he decided to exterminate them.

However his time as a human, and most importaltly, his feelings for Akira, made him realize that what he did to humans was the same thing God did to the demons. He thought he could just eliminate them simply because he, and the demons were strong, and the humans were weak. The same reason why God wanted to eradicate the demons. But by the time Satan realized it was too late. Too much blood had been spilled at that point, too much pain and suffering had been caused. There would have never have been a ceasefire, not after all that had happened. The result of all of this? Two entire species of sentient beings annihilated. All for nothing.

"Ryo… you fool…. None of this had to happen. If only you had realized how wrong you and the demons were, Miki would still be alive. We all would be. We could have joined forces to fight God together. But you were too prideful to admit it, did you? You were too prideful to admit that you loved me, did you? You were always like that. And look were that brought us. Hope you enjoy whatever God has in store for you. And pray that we will never meet again." spoke Akira, crying no longer. As far as he was concerned, he was done with him. It wasn't enough for Ryo to manipulate him in turning into a demon, turning his whole life upside down, putting him through many brutal battles with other demons. He caused the death of all the people he loved. He hoped they would never see each other again. For if that day will come, Akira will not hesitate: he will tear his angelic ass a new one.

After having cried and reflected on his past for who knows how long, Akira finally took a look at his new surroundings: it was night, and he had pulled himself out of a river and now he was standing in a riverbank where people usually walked on. He quickly noticed a bridge on his left and not before long he noticed that he was surrounded by countless buildings, some even skyscrapers.

"Where am i? A city?" thougth Akira. And a perfectly intact city at that. The war between devilmen and demons had completely erased everything that the human civilization had built in its 5000 years of history. And yet there he was, in a normal city, as if nothing had happened.

It only took Akira a couple of minutes to notice a peculiar building amongs the others, a red and white tower that easily dwarfed all surrounding buildings.

"Tokyo Tower? I'm in Tokyo?! But how?" thought Akira, completely dumbfounded. Then he spotted two people heading in his direction, a woman and a man, both of them supposedly in their fifties and in turn they spotted him. He was about to ask them a couple of questions when suddenly they screamed in disgust and covered their eyes with their hands.

"Is there something wrong?" asked Akira.

"Hrrrr… Kids these days. Have you no decency?!" Spat the man with disgust.

"I get it, it's a nice night for a walk, but ehm….. aren't you exaggerating a bit? Spoke the woman, in a far more friendly tone.

"Huh?" was all Akira could manage. Then he took a good look at himself…

And found out that he was naked. All the way up to his crotch. And after letting out a screech that would have woken up every single person in the neighborhood he yelled "SHIT!" and then hastily covered his jewels with his hands. The couple sweat-dropped. This young man didn't know up until now that he was naked?

"Man, you really let yourself go tonight. Had too many drinks?" teased the woman, with a giggle.

"IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT!" exclaimed Akira, his face completely red at this unfortunate turn of events. This caused the couple to break into a laughter and they just stood there for what seemed like minutes.

Recovering himself from the initial humiliation Akira explained: "Look, i just woke up here. I don't even know where i am or how i got here."

"They must have really beaten the crap out of you." spoke the man with an hint of sarcasm. Then he reached in his pocket and pulled out 5000 yen and then he handed them to Akira. "Do yourself a favour and buy some clothes." said the man with a sigh, completely shocking Akira.

"I'm sorry, i can't accept these, not after what i've put you through", said Akira, looking away in shame.

But then the woman came at his side and placed a hand on his shoulder, comforting him "Don't worry, young man, it probably wasn't your fault. And besides it's nice to see something that you don't see everyday.".

Recovering from his laughter the man said:"I haven't laughed this much in months. But she's right. Plus you seem such a nice young man. It would certainly not feel right not to help such a nice guy."

Akira, moved by the kindness of these people, didn't need to be told a third time. He accepted the money, thanked the couple and bid them farewell. Perhaps this was the first step of him regaining his faith in humanity? Either way he set off to find some new clothes, and to take his first steps in this new, yet familiar world.