He swung the dagger down.

Keima sighed once before opening his eyes once more.

Now he was confused. What was happening?

It was like he was in a dream, inside that surrealist painting that made no sense, and everything was pliable and flexible and malleable.

He felt like he was being dragged, like a lump of meat taken prisoner, behind a horse, strung by his ankles.

He slept feverish dreams,

He would awake, and the surrounding had disappeared, and the walls all closed around him. Around him there were many jeers and calls and boos.

Afraid, Keima ran and ran to where the exit should be. Some figures robed in white stood there, barring his path.

He became angry, and struck. His fist connected with cold, hard stone.

He slept feverish dreams.

Now he saw himself seeing, as if perched on the shoulder of someone like a loyal falcon, many hideous things grovelling before him. He wanted to move his legs, but found that he could not.

There was a harsh cackle near him, and he strained to look around for where it was.

Then he was sailing through the air, and he felt his arms rise, unheeded, glowing white and red and yellow and many colors besides.

"Oh yes, I do remember you, old friend. How fortunate for me to meet you in this place, after all this time.

"Come, you must meet your former protege! I remember it was only centuries ago . . . "

Keima struggled to find the source of the voice, but found that he could not.

He slept feverish dreams.

He felt himself falling, falling down and down into a deep dark, darkened deep where nothing was, and nothing will ever be.

OoOoOoOo

OoOoOoOo

OoOoOoOo

AN: And thus it is ended.

Well, not really, it's just that I'd only written up to this point. This was all the work of an antire September afternoon, almost as soon as I saw the images on my girlfriend's screen and was reminded of the novel idea presented by the manga series.

I'm afraid to say there will probably will be no continuation from this point, even if I did have my computer with me already. It is stuck in a cliffhanger, sure, it must be really frustrating. But be assured that the plot has been fully mapped out in my brain. (If you've noticed, there's still a lot of loose ends) It's just that the story isn't a priority, as when I will be getting that computer I'll be focusing more on Anarchy more than anything.

Now, to the story. This little fic was born out of two mutual interests of mine combining into one: VN gaming and a manga with a genre-savvy protagonist. Primarily I'm a VN sort of guy, as my girlfriend could attest, and I always find time to mooch off her laptop to read the latest hot stuff. The fic was entirely prompted by a chain of thought that started from Elsie's statement that Weiss would be reincarnated if they were still inside a woman's body when they bore children. That plus the interesting segues into familiar Hell mythology as the plot of the manga progressed. As a side-note, I'd only read up to the shogi girl's arc, so I wouldn't know how the plot has progressed thus far, whether there have been newer elements of Hell that has cropped up that would have had the potential to intersect with my story, or new elements of Heaven – I just havent' have the time and will have to rely on either my girlfriend or you, faithful readers, whoever you are to provide me with details.

Initially I wanted to preserve the status quo so to speak, by introducing an OC and keeping Elsea as a partner. But then that afternoon must've seen a freak wind blow, as I soon had the idea of having Hakua and Keima team up. Their clashing personalities would make for an interesting dynamic, and I tried to preserve as much of both of their personalities as I wrote the story. (Tell me what you think) And also, introducing an OC might have been detrimental to the plot, as there'd me one more character to develop and keep track of, a character that doesn't have an "image" so to speak, that's developed from the canon manga.

Lastly, I shall now be reading the reviews, as per usual when I conclude a fic, and I shall respond here in a future edit when I feel like responding. To concurrent Anarchy readers, please don't despair. I realize it's been a year since I reactivated my writing cravings, but that story will be finished, even if the world ends. So says Merlin!

I shall bid you a Happy Valentine's and here's to the birth of more computers! (that are cheaper)

Merlin out.

Vivian's note: Merlin gave me this last chapter to publish right before Valentine's Week, instructing me to time it on the exact 14th. However I delayed it to wait for more reviews, to see how people reacted to his work. As there's been nothing and the author would've been suspicious if he were to look in my laptop, the snoop, I'm forced to put it up despite my misgivings. Tsk. Tsk.

Hopefully he'll allow me to publish my stories under his account name.

Just watch if the author profile name suddenly gets reversed, nishishishi~