Recap: The Hero Alliance has taken up a mission to help the Demon King of Discord J-Hack in his campaign to become the Demon Lord of Pride. To fulfill the first requirement, controlling an entire world's worth of demons, they seek to save the world of their acquaintance, Akira Fudo, from a time loop of destruction. They await for the Devilman to join them, prepared to fight tooth and nail to prevent the tragedies that befell this world 665 times before…

The transport sailed through the Lanes Between before it stopped over the atmosphere over the world of Devilman, within sight of the Galaxy King. In a few minutes, the transport approached the King, landing in one of its hangar bays. From the ship, the 4th sub-leader of Dark Hell, Akira Fudo (aka Devilman) disembarked, followed close behind by a squad of 10 Dark Hell grunts.

"Sir? Lemme be the first to say this: me and the rest of the guys here with you think the same thing. We're all happy you decided to come back to your world and save it." the lead grunt said. "Us in the fourth division, we were all waiting for the day you wanted to do this. Now it's here. You're ready to finally break the cycle. Ready to finish the story."

"Thanks, Jeffery." Akira said. "But we aren't doing this alone. Where is everyone?"

"Sorry we're late, Akira." A voice rang out in the comm as the team leaders entered the hangar bay.

"Nah, it's okay." Akira said. "At least you made it."

"Thanks for agreeing to do this. Even though you work under Damien, you're still willing to help us get J-Hack elected over him." Hope said.

"Hey, I may work for the guy, but Damien sure as hell wasn't gonna get my vote. He's got half of the branch as his own little cult." Akira huffed. "If this plan of yours is gonna get him knocked off his high horse and make him cut this whole BS about the Lake of Fire stuff, count me in."

"About that… we're not just looking to humiliate Damien." Hope said. "We're aiming to… well…"

"Don't tell me: You're out to try and off an Antichrist?" Akira asked.

"That's the plan." David said.

"That won't be easy." Akira said. "He's one of those assholes who can get away with mouthing off to others cause he's generally the strongest guy in the room. I'm not ashamed to say that I'd lose a fight with him."

"We'll be fine when we get to that bridge." Mark said. "For now, let's head to the planning room so we can figure out what we need to do."

"Right. Lead the way." Akira said, as the alliance leaders guided Akira and his men to the strategy room, where everyone else was gathered.

"Alright folks. For those of you who don't know, this here is Akira Fudo. Dark Hell's fourth sub-leader, and the hero-" Mark introduced.

"Anti-hero." Akira interrupted.

"Anti-hero known as Devilman." the half-angel finished.

"Nice to finally meet ya." Denji said. "Didn't really get to know you all that much before you bolted on me."

Akira did a double-take when he saw Denji. "Uh…who let this jackass in here?" he asked.

"He…kind of forced his way in." David said. "He tried to take out Damien himself but failed."

"He works for the Team Revival agency as a janitor, but he's on vacay right now." ZS said.

"And he's a part time devil hunter. Damien's his main target." Adora said.

"I'm with these guys so that I can get to the Antichrist, and kill him. Not gonna be a problem, is it?" Denji said.

Akira glared at him before he let out a long suffering sigh. "Just don't do anything stupid." he said.

"Says the guy who works for the Antichrist." Denji said.

"Can we start the briefing before I rip his head off?" Akira asked.

"He's right. We know why we're here. The sooner we start, the better." Merrin said.

Adora then brought up an image of their target. Ryo Asuka, taken as an image from Lyoko when he was created as a Phantom.

"This is the main threat in Akira's world. Ryo Asuka. Incarnation of Satan, the Demon Lord of Wrath." Adora said. "He is also Akira's best friend and secret admirer."

"Was my friend." Akira said bitterly. "It's going to be hell, acting like I…grr…" he seethed.

"Well, it'll make getting rid of the jerk all the-" Emo started.

"No." Akira said, composing himself. "We can't kill Ryo. If it were that easy, I would've tried."

"He's not wrong. Demon Lords are a lot more powerful than they appear. We've seen numerous examples of that." Sheer said.

"It's not just that." Akira clarified. "After what Madoka said back in Lyoko, I did some research, and Ryo thought ahead: see, he doesn't actually know time is looping. He set it up in such a way that whenever he dies, the loop pulls a hard reset, going right back to the beginning. And the memories of everyone inside of the loop gets reset with it, including his."

"Wait, if his memories are gone each loop, then how does he know where to start each time?" Penny asked.

"That I don't know." Akira admitted. "Someone has to keep their memories, someone who could nudge him in the direction he has to go, but…I don't know who that is. Point is, we can't take the easy way out."

"Akira's right. He dies, the loop resets, and since we're not from the world itself, we'll all cease to exist." Hope said. "But…what if we could change things up so that EVERYBODY lives, including him?"

"Why do you always make that kind of stuff sound so easy?" David asked.

"It's unfortunately who he is." Jexi said. "We aren't going to be able to save everyone. But…maybe we can at least change the outcome."

"Akira, when exactly do things really start going to hell, literally, in your world?" Catra said.

"Let's see… it was when a trackstar named Koda got possessed by a demon, which revealed the existence of Hell to the public. Thanks to Ryo's nihilistic speech, people started turning on each other and killing anybody they thought were Devilmen. Think of the Salem Witch Trials, without the trials." Akira said.

"Witch Hunts, or in this case demons." Simon said.

"Hmm…is this Koda guy good or a piece of trash?" Denji asked.

"He's…" Akira trailed off, trying to find the words. "He acted like an asshole near the end, but…honestly, I'm not sure I can blame him. The end of the world brought out the worst in people, and he was already in grief when his boyfriend died. If things had been different, maybe he would've made better choices."

"Yeah, the apocalypse tends to do that." David said with a sweatdrop.

"Well, then you won't mind me suggesting we kill him once he goes demon then." Denji said.

"...I'm going to keep that as Plan Z." Akira deadpanned. "Anyway, that's just when things start going bad. The real beginning is when Ryo showed back up in Japan after he studied abroad. That's when the loop starts."

"So when exactly do we start, when the loop begins or when Ryo makes his big reveal?" Balthus asked.

"We have to start at the beginning." Akira said. "Ryo's no idiot. If he sees me like I am now, he's going to know something's up. We need to make him think he's in control, at least until we can run interference when he tries to spark the chaos."

"What did you have in mind?" Kieran asked.

Akira reached into his pocket and pulled out a pill bottle. "First, I need to be as I was at the start. This medication will suppress my devil powers, letting me look normal until I get drugged again. I'll follow the motions when Ryo shows up and takes me, while you guys follow. Once things start going crazy, you jump in and do your hero thing, until I get my powers back."

"Are you sure that's safe? What if you get hurt before we jump in?" Connie asked.

"I won't." Akira stated. "Look, Ryo will be suspicious of you guys from the start. If you try to pass yourselves off as friends I made, he'll try and get me away from you. This way, he'll have no choice but to bring you into the fold. We'll be able to keep an eye on him if he thinks he's in charge."

"Akira's right. We have to trust him on this one. If we go in half-cocked, we'll only make things worse." Mayumi said.

"We'll need to keep it small then. Also, there is one other thing…" Izuku said. "The protection of this girl…is top priority!" he said showing the picture of Miki.

"Don't worry. She won't die this time… Not if we have anything to say about it." David said.

"Yeah…" Akira said, his eyes filled with shame and grief for a moment before it passed. "If Miki dies, we've lost. Don't…please don't let her die." the Devilman said, almost pleading.

"You have our word." Ace said.

"She won't die so long as we're all still standing." Asta said.

"We promise she'll be unharmed." Sanji said.

"...Thank you." Akira said in gratitude.

"Well, we should start getting ready to go down." Scarlet said.

"Wait. One more thing." Akira said. "The demons of this world…they're more visceral, more nightmarish than what you're used to. You're going to see things that'll keep you up at night, maybe even stay with you for the rest of your life. If…if it gets too much for you, then remember this: it's okay to run. It's okay to be scared, it's okay to cry if you need to. Just…remember that, okay?" he asked.

"...We will." Mark nodded.

"But there's nothing to worry about. You forget…what some of us do for a living." David said.

"Those demons…won't be doing anything bad to anyone." Inosuke said.

"Indeed. Their last mistake will be facing us." Miriam added.

"...I'll take your word for it." Akira said. "We'll start tomorrow. Try and get a good night's sleep." he said, heading out. "(It might be the last one you'll have for a while.)" he thought to himself.

And so, the group headed to sleep to prepare for the coming days. Akira Fudo has tried 665 times to break the cycle of pain and death, only to fail each time, leading him to forsake his own world, and abandon it.

On his own, he stood no chance. But, now that he has trusted allies and a solid plan, the 666th time may just be the charm. Of course, not every plan goes exactly as concocted.