"I'm glad we were able to convince Ryo to keep us around to take down demons. Undercover Demon Hunters… that's got a good ring to it." Hope said.
"Welcome to a day in the life, Hope my boy." David said.
"Thanks." Hope said.
"Still, those demon attacks have been getting quite frequent lately, have they?" Petra asked.
"I'm not sure what you mean." Law said.
"Well, we've only been here for two days, right? Don't you guys find it weird that demons show up just hours after we did?" Petra asked.
"You think it could be part of the loop? Or is our involvement changing events already somehow?" Noel asked.
"Nah. Right now the attacks are small and towards civilians, so it doesn't look like our presence has changed much yet. I think we can rest easy and say that all of the loops have been like this." Mayumi said. "Up to this point, anyway."
"So we just have to keep waiting until the moment Akira told us about arrives and keep taking demons down as they appear." Adora nodded.
"Right. Hopefully, we can find ways to keep ourselves busy before-" Mark started before his phone binged with a text. "Our next call!" he said, bringing up his phone and reading the text.
"Ryo's being paranoid. Come to the address below tonight. Bring a bomb expert."
Below this message was an address the group didn't recognize.
"Hoo boy looks like we'll be dealing with Satan's brand of crazy directly this time." ZS winced.
"Why did Akira ask us to bring a bomb expert?" Connie asked.
"Well, the boss did say that this Ryo guy set up a bomb to take out someone who got an idea about his kind." One of the Dark Hell grunts remarked. "If the boss is telling you about it… the guy might be preparing something. You might want to track where they go."
"Good idea. Miu, you can defuse a bomb, right?" Shirou asked.
"Sure can. I'm no Tails, but I can defuse a bomb, no problem." Miu said.
"Great, you're in charge of…stopping whatever the heck Ryo's gonna do." Mark said. "C'mon guys, let's get ready for tonight."
That night, the group headed out to a run-down part of town, running into Akira and Ryo as the latter handed a man standing on the street a wad of cash.
"Hey guys!" Mark got their attention. "What brings us out here?"
"You called them?" Ryo asked Akira, annoyed.
"Hey, the more the merrier." Akira shrugged. "Nagasaki will be more liable to talk if he's surrounded."
"...Fine." Ryo said as the man he handed cash to pointed the group in the direction of an apartment. "I'm sure you all remember the man from last night."
"Well, yes. What happened to him, by the way?" Mayumi asked.
"According to my testimony, he went into work today, speaking about seeing demons last night." Ryo answered. "No one believed him, of course, but now he'll keep trying to find evidence. We need him to stop."
"Who is that guy anyway?" Eddy asked.
"Koji Nagasaki." Akira spoke up. "Guy wants to be a reporter, but he ended up as a photographer for…let's say less the reputable magazines. He also happens to be Miki's manager for her modeling career."
"I don't think we need to go into the implications of that, do we?" David asked.
"No, we don't." Akira said firmly, though the group could hear the growl under his breath. "We're just gonna find the guy and persuade him to keep quiet. That's all."
As the group reached up the doorstep of Nagasaki's home, which was fairly disheveled for a man of his occupation, Ryo walked up, before he pressed the doorbell, repeating it several times when there was no response.
"Yes?" A fairly worn female voice rang from the other side of the door. "Who is it?"
"Is Koji Nagasaki home?" Ryo asked calmly. "We're co-workers of his."
There was a pause before the door was opened, revealing an elderly lady on the other side.
"My son is at work, he only comes back in the night." The now-identified mother of Nagasaki declared in response, as she was about the close the door, only for Ryo to stop it.
"Excuse us." Ryo remarked, before shoving the door open to the mother's shock.
"What do you think you're doing!?" The mother exclaimed.
"Ryo, maybe we shouldn't try to be-" Akira told Ryo, who was already forcing his way in.
"Close the door." Ryo remarked as he was about to walk up the stairs, only to be stopped by Izuku.
"Ryo, please, we can talk about this peacefully with the mother!" Izuku pleaded firmly, as Ryo looked at him. "There is no need to cause distress for her when we are just trying to do the right thing."
"Would you have her risk knowing what is happening?" Ryo retorted back, as Izuku looked back, as he tried to find the words to argue.
"Look, Mrs Nagasaki." Ryo tried to explain, as he took off his shoes. "We're… We're doing something important for your son. He's given us his permission to visit his room. It's an urgent matter, so please… Just believe that we need to do this for the sake of our company."
"And we'll make sure that you'll be recompensed for this trouble." Arven firmly apologized.
"I… I understand." The mother relented, as they searched the room upstairs, as Ryo noticed a camera on the inner side of the room door, before using a weighted book to destroy it.
"Hmm…looks like his phone and computer are linked." Ryo said as he accessed it.
"Wait…isn't that…" Izuku said seeing pictures of Miki also on it. "Oh no…"
"So he's that kind of photographer, huh?" Mark asked angrily.
"What a slimeball…" David said with a look of disgust as he turned away, not even wanting to look at the photos.
"We're not going to kill him." Akira growled.
"Uh…you don't sound very sincere." Penny said.
"We're not going to kill him." Akira repeated.
"It seems our unseen allies managed to knock him out before he got the video onto his phone. How fortunate." Ryo remarked, looking through the computer. "Hmm…a note: 'ask Makimura about her friend.' He's already connecting Akira and Devilman."
"Guess he really won't let this go…" Akira remarked, as there was a resigned look on his face, before muttering. "Some things don't change, I guess."
"Any clues as to where he is?" Steven asked.
"He has a studio in the downtown area." Ryo said, as he pulled a memory stick out of the computer and tucked it into his bag. "Seems he has an appointment with Makimura right now. We'll find him there."
"Wait, with Makimura? Right now?" Mark said. "Shoot, we gotta get over there, stat!"
Ryo then left the room, as Jexi and David gave Miu a nod, to make use of the chance to locate Ryo's booby trap.
Miu went over and looked over the computer. "(He's got it configured to blow as soon as the login password is inputted. Smart play.)" she thought before short-circuiting the computer and the bomb attached. "(But I'm just as clever.)"
As they descended, Ryo shoved a face of 10,000 yen bills into the face of Nagasaki's mother, as she received them with a stunned expression.
"Keep quiet about this." Ryo told the mother sternly. "And don't think of opening the laptop on the second floor. This is information that he doesn't need spreading out."
"I won't go up there." The mother answered back. "My son would get angry."
"Good idea. That would be best." Ryo declared, before turning to give her a friendly smile. "Sorry for the disturbance, ma'am. That money should fix the damages."
"And have some more from me." Akira remarked, before producing a wad of bills himself. "Consider it my apology."
"Oh, it's fine. You're just doing your jobs…" The mother remarked, fairly flustered at what seemed to be a fair fortune reaching her hands.
"Where did you get that money?" Ryo asked Akira as the group left the apartment.
"Oh…you know…" Akira said, thinking back.
Devilman fought back against the blood-red hands that attempted to restrain him, tearing them to bloody pieces, as Dark Hell troops did battle against the army of thralls that stood in their way. "DIE, YOU F***ING PIECE OF S***!"
" P̸̦̬̞̱̤̤̜̐͐̽̾͆̉̀͘͜A̸̧̡̘̞̻̦̲͈̓Ṅ̶̗͇̩̾̈́̆̐͊̓̈D̴̡͔̳̖͘̚Ḛ̶̡̩͍͚̮̻̫̑͋̃͝M̶͍̲̝̪̙͈̞̈́͊̊͌͝O̷̧͑̄̌Ǹ̶̹͕̪̀̃Ǐ̴̙͚͕͚͍̤̜͗͋̏̔̈́͘͘U̶̦̭̭̹̦̒̌͠M̷͔̰̓̾̆͘ ̶̢̢͍̰̺̓̏̎͜R̵͔̹̜̘͔̦̝̮̽Ȅ̷̡͓͓̣̳͙̀͝G̷̥͗Ǹ̶͉͚̎͆̄͐̐̕͝A̸̫͙̯̦͘̕͜ͅT̴̢̪̞͇̏̕ͅ!"
"...Odd jobs, here and there." the Devilman finished.
The group rushed to find Miki before something terrible happened, rushing for the studio at the fastest pace they all stuck together on.
"Hey, this might get ugly." Vashryon said.
"Wait, you think Koji's gonna get demonized?" Kaibara said.
"I don't think, I know. Based on what we saw on his laptop, he's obsessing the hell outta Miki. That's a lotta Lust." Vashyron said. "And Demons around here feed on that kinda stuff."
"And we promised that we wouldn't let Miki die no matter what, didn't we? We won't let her die in this loop." Hope said.
As the group managed to reach the scene, they were able to see the scene in motion, as Nagasaki, along with his partner photographer, was watching Miki through a see-through wall, as the young woman was in a bath, with her upper body exposed to the air.
"It was just an excuse, wasn't it?" Miki remarked, as her expression looked angry and betrayed. "To take photos! Well, today will be the last time. I felt sorry for you. I've never been poor, or homeless, or had parents who got divorced like you did. I never experienced any of those things… So I…!"
Miki then fell silent, before Nagasaki began to walk around the wall, preparing to enter the bathroom, as the hero group tensed up, waiting for the right chance to intervene.
Suddenly, they watched as Nagasaki let out a flood of blue slimish liquid, as the man collapsed onto the ground, while they saw the liquid beginning to flow through the floor of the bathroom, towards Miki.
"Is that the demon possessing Koji?" Frosta said.
"We have to stop this!" Klonoa exclaimed as he was about to rush forward.
"Don't. We don't know how this demon works." Law growled. "It would be best to examine how it does its work… if it tries to kill Miki, that's when we will act… but I have a feeling that this demon wants something else."
The liquid demon then began to sink into the bathtub, before the liquid began to expand, engulfing Miki, as her eyes snapped open with a loud gasp before they began to dilate for a moment, until the liquid finally receded, dropping Miki down back into it.
Suddenly, Miki climbed out of the tub, before striding forward as her entire posture changed, with a devious smile on her face, as she stepped over the body of Nagasaki along the way.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The photographer told Miki, who was now possessed by the demon.
"This girl's family and Devilman seem to be somehow related." The demon declared through Miki's body. "So we'll use her body and-"
They were then interrupted by Akira pressing the doorbell, as they stopped talking, while the photographer looked at the camera feed through the door.
"So he came to us." The photographer remarked as he hid away, while the demon-possessing Miki dressed herself in a bathrobe, and opened the door.
"Miki." Akira remarked, as his tone was controlled.
"Come in, we-" The demon-possessing Miki was about to say, before the rest of the hero group came out, revealing themselves.
"We saw everything." Adora said.
"Spit yourself out of Miki, right now. And tell your partner to stop sniffing around Miki and Akira." Ragna said.
"Is that so?" The photographer remarked as he came out of his hiding spot, before beginning to transform into a humanoid mantis-like creature. "Then we'll just have to-"
Suddenly, the mantis demon found himself being destroyed by a barrage of shots from Simon, as the body fell backward, with little remaining of the demon, with Simon's own firearms smoking.
"Too slow." Simon mocked, as the yellow blood of the demon flowed across the floor.
"What…!?" The demon in Miki remarked, as Miki's expression froze, before turning to Akira. "Akira, it's me-"
"Don't bother. I know Miki far more than you ever will." Akira growled, before raising a hand, as it began to glow with dark hellfire. "Get out of her, before I force you out. And believe me, I can destroy you in her without her dying."
The demon growled, before the fluid ejected from Miki's body, as Miki slumped to the ground like a stringless puppet before the liquid flowed right into Akira's orifices.
"Akira!" Ace exclaimed.
"Hahaha, how foolish of you, Devilman!" The demon cackled from within Akira. "Now that I'm inside you… I'LL DESTROY YOU FROM THE INSIDE!"
Akira looked at the situation, before he then began to laugh, shocking the demon inside.
"...Oh, believe me. You're not the first to try that." Akira cackled before he then shifted into his Devilman form. "Welcome to your blazing hell! Let's see how long it'll take for you to jump out!"
The demon screamed, as Akira roared, engulfing his own body inside and out with his own hell-fire, as steam began to emit in mass amounts from his body.
"GYAAAHHH! IT'S HOT! IT'S HOT!" The demon screamed in agony.
"How's it feel to boil to death, Ghelmer?" Akira said before the demon forced its way out of his mouth, revealing him to be more eel-like in appearance.
"So this is the true form of the demon…" Izuku remarked. "He reminds me a bit too much of… of Sludge already."
"You're scrawny without your fluids…" Akira remarked.
The demon named Ghelmer attempted to flee, only to be caught by Akira. "W-Wait! Forgive me! I won't tell anyone about you, I swear!"
"Well, aren't you the pathetic one? Asking for forgiveness from the guy you wanted to kill a minute ago? You aren't worth me killing…" Akira started, as he regressed his form slightly.
The demon began to let out a sigh of relief.
"...So let's let them get a kill in!" Akira said, tossing the helpless devil towards the group.
"Who's up for some Eel Sashimi?!" Gemini asked as she readied her blade.
"No! No! Not at the hands of a human!" Ghelmer panicked.
"Too late. You crossed the line when y'had to go and violate our friend's privacy!" Gemini said, swinging Blazing Stallion and slicing and dicing Ghelmer with multiple flaming slashes all over his body. "Flame Breathing: Mifune Sword Style. Second Star: Scorching Sunrays!"
Ghelmer screamed as he was sliced and diced, dying instantly, as his pieces fell apart into neat chunks, like how a chef prepares a unagi dish.
"That's what you get, perverts." Lei K said.
"Sorry for all of this." Akira remarked to the group. "...Really is something when you have to see that bastard try to use Miki against me… It get truly on my nerves after how many times of watching this…"
Akira then walked over, before lifting Miki up. "...I don't know how much I can change this…" He remarked. "But after all of the times she had to end up suffering… I will use everything I have to ensure that this time… this time, she will not die for being dragged into this by my own actions."
"Amen to that. She's not dying this time out of the other 665." DW typed.
As the group was about to leave, they suddenly heard the sound of a gunshot, startling them.
"S***…!" Akira exclaimed, as he turned around.
What surprised them, was the scene of Ryo holding his hand-gun, as Nagasaki was slumped over, with a fresh bullet hole through his head.
"Ryo… Why?" Izuku asked in betrayal.
"He would have found out the truth about Akira." Ryo remarked, before turning around. "Do you know how close he was to learning the truth? More than you think."
"We could have found another way!" Ochaco argued. "Even with all of his mistakes, he's… he's human!"
"Human or not, the truth must be hidden." Ryo declared in response. "If you're known, Akira, there will be hell upon earth."
"Even so…" Akira growled, as he thought back to the previous loops, where Nagasaki's mother would end up dying for the secrecy as well. "Killing these people is not an optimal solution."
"Then tell me Akira? Are you saying this, because you believe?" Ryo remarked, before he then pointed the gun at Miki, although his finger did not move on the trigger. "Or are you saying this, because you want to protect her?"
"That's not-" Akira growled.
"Put. That weapon. Down." A harsh feminine voice rang out, and suddenly, a dark magical spell circle was under Ryo's feet, belonging to a familiar voice from before the group turned to see the two nuns from before, as the light blue-haired one was glaring at Ryo. "...Your very actions threaten to cause what you are afraid of. Is this truly your desire?" 'Sister Eirika' stated firmly.
"...Women of the cloth, right here, with that kind of force…" Ryo remarked, facing both of them. "I never thought I would see that day come… Guess some things are more possible than you think."
"You underestimate the forbearance and omnipresence of the Lord, and his way or speaking to us." 'Sister Luma' proclaimed. "Now I'll not repeat it for my sister but rather put it in a more forceful tone. Drop the weapon."
"Are you willing to accept dealing with the consequences?" Ryo asked back firmly as if challenging the nuns to debate his concerns.
"We are. Is it you, however, that fears dealing with them, which is why you're acting so cynical?" 'Sister Eirika' countered right back.
Ryo glared back before he then slowly lowered his fire-arm. As he did so, the magic circle slowly faded away.
"...You win, Akira." Ryo answered back, before turning to the nuns. "...Perhaps you are right in a sense. After all, you were the ones who stopped Nagasaki and gave us the chance to stem his actions before they became far worse…"
"The misguidance of that young individual would have led to the events you were about to cause, at a much faster pace. Killing him, we do not discredit you for." 'Sister Luma' declared firmly. "But I don't believe you truly understand the importance of the young woman Akira is holding right now."
"What does that-?" Ryo started.
"Not all secrets the Lord has bestowed to us can be revealed. Pray, and follow the path that the Lord knows will change fate itself." 'Sister Eirika' declared, before the nuns took their leave.
Ryo looked at Akira for a moment, as Akira tilted his head in a slight nod before the following silence was interrupted by the sound of Akira's phone ringing.
"Your mother's calling you." Ryo told Akira.
"Yeah." Akira remarked, before receiving the call, put on speaker for the rest of the group to hear. "Hey, mom… I've been going through something… You're okay, right?"
"Akira!" Mrs Fudo exclaimed. "Oh thank goodness, I thought that you ended up… Look, Akira, have you… have you heard from your father?"
"...No, mom." Akira sighed. "...No, I haven't."
"I see… I'll arrive in Narita, Tokyo at 2 pm on the 27th. I'll tell you more then. I'm sorry, the attendants are coming to me… I have to hang off. I love you." Mrs Fudo declared before the call was hung up.
"My dad…" Akira remarked, as there was a contemplating look on his face.
"Akira, there are more important things than your errant father." Ryo chided Akira. "Disregarding the fact that this could be another trick, as did all of this with Miki, do you really want to drag your mother into all of this further than she needs?"
"I can handle both, Ryo. And with who I am… it could be more important than you think." Akira growled back.
"...Akira, you can trust me. I'm trying to help you. I admit it. I made a mistake." Ryo remarked, after a pause. "But I'm trying to help you stop this as much as you are."
Akira was about to say something before he then closed his mouth.
"I know." Akira answered back, before he then collected the bathrobe, before wrapping Miki in it. "I have to head back home. Miki's parents will be horrified if any part of the effects of this are known."
Akira then left the studio, leaving the group with Ryo, as the latter turned towards them.
"...I'm beginning to think that you know a lot more than you say you do." Ryo remarked, as his eyes narrowed. "Being able to understand all of this, and even managing to resolve all of this before I could even start getting here… And those nuns… I know that they're related to you in some way… What are you all hiding?"
"We don't have to tell you anything. Just know, we're here to save the world." Izuku said, knitted his eyes with a frown.
"Save the world? That's what I…" Ryo started before he grabbed his head with one hand, more images flashing through his mind. "Ugh…I…fine. Just…do what you came to do, then leave." Ryo said, walking out, murmuring to himself. "I need to sleep…"
As Ryo walked away, the others noticed the same thing that happened to Miki.
"So…it seems we have our three main characters connected to this world's fate and have begun awakening memories. Akira, Ryo and Miki." Sheer said.
"It's a step in the right direction. But Ryo was close to figuring us out." Hope said.
"I think you're giving him too much credit. He's only just begun awakening his memories. It'll take a while before he reaches the ones involving his…true nature." Sheer said.
"Sheer's right. For now, all we can do is keep waiting until the time arrives, and Akira tells us to take action." Sabo said.
"Yeah…wait until then, and everything will be fine." Mark said, looking troubled. "So why do I feel…?"
In the planet's atmosphere, space warped for a moment before a portal out of the Lanes Between opened, a ship with a cross emblazoned on the side emerging from it.
"That things are about to get a whole lot worse?"