Cousin Giffrey Gets Schooled

by Ri2

With the rest of the Igarashi family busy on a rescue mission, it's up to Giff to attend Family Day at Lovekov's school and spend some quality time with his favorite great-grandchild. But of course, he can't simply attend as his true self, which means it's time for everyone's long-lost relative, Cousin Giffrey, to make his big return! Absolutely nothing will go wrong.

7. Schoolyard Brawl

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.

---

Evolto-Chan pouted, staring at the mangled, dismembered, crushed, broken, beaten, twitching, mutilated, and tortured bodies of demons scattered across the ground before her.

Some of them were still alive, the poor bastards.

"Honestly? Is this the best you can do-Evo?" Evolto-Chan huffed, pushing up her breasts so they jiggled and twitching her ribbons. "I'm so disappointed in you all, and you should be disappointed in yourselves! No stamina whatsoever! I didn't even climax ONCE-Evo!"

"Then perhaps I can give you what you desire, whore!"

Evolto-Chan perked up as a humanoid thrush with six jet-black wings, a head made of four bird heads clustered together, eyes dotting its chest, bird legs put on backwards with talons growing from the front and back of its feet, a serpentine tail ending in the head of a hag, and two swords burning with hellfire approached. "Ooh, and who are you supposed to be, big boy?"

"I am Caim, a great president of Hell, servant of Lord Barbatos and potential claimant to the title of Noble King!" The bird demon bragged.

Evolto-Chan gasped in delight, clasping her hands together and making sure to jiggle her breasts. "A president? Oh my! That must make you a very important demon-Evo!"

Caim puffed his chest out in pride. "Indeed! After all, there are only 14 of us in all of hell!"

Evolto-Chan blinked. "14 presidents? How does that work-Evo?"

"There are a lot of very powerful demons in hell with very big egos that can easily be satisfied by handing out big important-sounding titles to everyone," Caim admitted, deflating somewhat.

Evolto-Chan clucked her tongue – which she had just generated, not having had one a second ago – in disappointment. "Really? Guess you're not worth my time after all, then-Evo."

"I absolutely am!" Caim protested, offended. "I rule over 30 legions of demons! I am a good disputer! I give men understanding of the voices of birds, books, dogs, and other creatures, and the noise of the waters as well! I give true answers concerning things to come!"

"Do you know tomorrow's winning lottery number-Evo?" Evolto-Chan asked.

"I do!" Caim bragged.

"And who will live and who will die on the season finale of Doctor Lord Nobunaga, MD-Evo?"

"Naturally!"

"And what I'm going to do to you in a minute-Evo?"

"Yes-"

Caim choked, turning pale. "Wait… No, that… That can't be right…"

Evolto-Chan chuckled and sauntered over, making sure to undulate her body in extremely unnerving ways. "Tell you what, Mr. President… Tell me the most horrible thing you've ever done, and if I'm impressed, I won't shove a micro blackhole up your ass and watch as your own butt eats you alive-Evo."

Refusing to admit he was intimidated and slightly turned on, Caim said, "As I said, I can grant men the understanding of certain animals. A certain king summoned me a very long time ago and asked me to bestow upon him that power, so he might use animals to spy on his enemies and his own people, offering his firstborn in exchange. I granted him his wish, and he created a massive spy network of birds and beasts across his kingdom. He gained a reputation for knowing and seeing all, filling his people with terror, and upon hearing of their fears, became convinced that they were planning to overthrow him, and so began cracking down on his own subjects, stripping them of whatever few liberties they had left, and imprisoning and executing people by the dozens because he was certain they harbored resentment towards him, which was absolutely true, and his actions only made it worse.

"Eventually, someone caught on to the fact that he surrounded himself with animals and realized the source of his power – by which, of course, I mean I told them since those imbeciles would never have figured it out on their own. His subjects began slaughtering all the animals and kingdom, from the largest horse to the smallest insect to deprive him of his eyes and ears. They then marched upon his castle, dethroned him, and fed him to his own pets before killing them as well.

"However, in their zeal, they had killed all of their livestock and draft animals, the water was poisoned due to their attempts to kill the fish 'just to be safe,' and the harvest had been neglected due to all the enforced curfews, the king hoarding food for himself, and the plot to overthrow him. People began to starve. Blame was thrown around, and former comrades in arms began to take arms against each other. I made sure to spread a few whispers and rumors to escalate the civil war, of course.

"And then, just all hope seemed lost, the King's firstborn returned to take the throne, promising a solution that would make everything right:

"He legalized cannibalism. The desperate, starving citizenry immediately fell upon each other in an orgy of carnage and blood. Their neighbors, who had been waiting for a moment of weakness to strike, invaded the kingdom, only to be driven mad by horror by what they found there, those who weren't also devoured. And the new king, whom I had raised in hell for just this purpose, delivered unto me an entire nation consumed by sin and perfidy. I received a commendation for my actions and was accepted into Lord Barbatos' army."

Evolto-Chan, who'd been listening with interest… Yawned. "What, that's it-Evo?"

Caim stammered. "That's it? What do you mean, 'that's it!?'"

"I'm sure that counted as something very impressive to all your friends down under-Evo," Evolto-Chan said very condescendingly. "But honestly? I do way worse than that all the time. Heck, what I did last weekend blows that weakass story of yours out of the water-Evo!"

"Last… Last weekend-" Caim stammered.

"Here, let me tell you-Evo," Evolto-Chan said, leaning over and whispering seven words into his ear.

Those seven words were more than enough to drive him irrevocably insane.

"OH LUCIFER! WHAT…WHAT ARE YOU?!" Caim shrieked, voiding himself and scuttling back as far as he could, only for Evolto-chan's ribbons to lash out, slicing off his wings and limbs, and causing him to fall to the ground as a bleeding quadriplegic hunk of meat.

"You see, Caim, you demons think you're so big and bad and evil because you claim to be the first to sin, the first to rebel against your God, you preside over a realm of eternal torture and suffering and tempt people to damn themselves and all that… But shit, that's just a slow day back where I come from-Evo," Evolto-Chan scoffed as the Caim screamed in agony.

"We murdered our gods first thing after we were born into this universe. And then one of us killed them again, and Pandora knows how many other dead gods while she was at it. That thing I just told you? That doesn't even break the top 100 evilest things I've ever done. It's not even among the top thousand. You demons think you're all that, but in reality, you're just a bunch of cosmic losers who think you're tough shit because you told your old man to shove it and got kicked out of the house until you grew the fuck up. Bullies and cowards and sore losers the lot of you. But my kind? Oh, we know a thing or two about real evil-Evo," she crooned, grabbing him by the chin and forcing him to stare into her eyes. "Want to see-Evo?"

And oh, what sights she showed him.

---

Elsewhere, Jinx, wearing a costume that looked like a sexy feminine mashup of Regis Philbin, Alex Trebek, Bob Barker, and Jeff Probst, took the card spat out by the slot on her podium and examined it carefully. The three demon contestants – two from the legions of hell, and one Giff Junior – each standing behind podiums of their own on the stage across from the Gangler, which had a huge lit up backdrop with a gigantic Jinx bonking herself on the head with a giant stuffed whale with the flashing words "YOU'D HAVE TO BE CRAZY TO PLAY THIS GAME" fidgeted nervously, wondering what madness their host would unleash on them next. The demons in the audience, having completely forgotten they were supposed to be fighting, watched with bated breath.

"It's time," Jinx said slowly. "For the LIGHTNING ROUND!"

Instantly, bolts of lightning shot down and struck the contestants, causing them to writhe in agony.

"And that's it for the lightning round," Jinx said, stuffing the card in her mouth and eating it. "And now, for the next question!"

The slot on her podium spat dozens of cards into her face. She snatched all of them out of the air with incredible speed and precision and assembled them into a card statue of herself about to step on a castle. She then slammed her face into the podium, scattering the cards everywhere, and when she pulled her head back up, spat out a card, which she caught and examined.

"The Rainbow Express departs from the Hyper Express Terminal at nine in the morning in the direction of Pleiades Shore. The Build Express is currently making repairs to the Rainbow Line at Odaiba and will be finished at approximately 3:30 in the afternoon. Due to sunspots, there will be a countrywide communications breakdown at 11 AM. My wives and I will have sex at least half a dozen times in the morning before pausing to eat out at 12:15, then we eat out when we get home at 1:30. My evil sister Fortune tries to rob a bank at 5:07 and attempts to frame me, only to get hit by a bus and stepped on by Yoshi. It is currently National Hotdog Day in the United States. Gaja turns over in his sleep in sunken Goadam at 3 AM. Ryo Kajiki sees a weather satellite at 7 PM but it's actually a UFO. My wives and I have sex six times throughout the afternoon, then eat out for dinner at six, then eat out when we get home. I like pudding. Rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb rhubarb. I'm thinking of a number between one and infinity. My daughter is very cute and very hungry. I don't have a favorite color. Baloney trampoline. Liberty biberty. Nitwit. Blubber. Augment. Tweak. If there was a species of alien who had breasts instead of faces, would they have faces instead of breasts, and which should I shove my face into?"

The three demons frowned as they considered this, looking stumped. One of the imp-like ones raised a hand. "May I use a lifeline?"

"Sure!" Jinx threw a life ring at him. It landed neatly around his neck, causing the audience to applaud.

The demon glanced down at the ring and rotated it around his neck so he could read all the letters. "Your middle name – wait, sorry, have to do this in the form of a question – is your middle name Bob?"

"No!" Jinx shouted as lights flashed, bells rang, and money rained down on the ecstatic demon as the audience cheered.

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!"

A heavyset demon with snakes for legs, tentacles for arms, and a large hump where his head should've been with a snaking neck extending outwards ending in some grotesque mix of human and dromedary with crowns on his head, hump, and shoulders stomped forwards. There were two large slits on either side of the hump with big flat teeth in them, from which the voice had been projected, and the mutant dromedary head was chewing on its own long shaggy hair which covered its eyes and drooped almost to the ground. There were eyeballs on the points of the crowns, and it had a massive potbelly with another big eyeball on it, upside down faces for nipples, and spines growing from its back.

"What are all of you doing?!" The demon demanded, his mantle and kilt of flesh swishing around him, the sewn together bits of faces moaning in agony. "This is a battle! You're supposed to be KILLING her! Instead you're, you're playing a game show?!"

As his subordinates cringed, Jinx cheerfully waved at him. "Hi! I'm Jinx, the host of this show! Who are you?"

"I am Paimon!" The demon proclaimed. "A King of hell, which makes me a more than worthy candidate for the title of Noble King!"

"Oh, neat," Jinx said. "Well, if you want to play, come on up, but otherwise I'd appreciate it if you take a seat with the others so as not to disrupt these proceedings."

"Excuse me?! I will more than disrupt this, I will kill you and put an end to this absurdity-" Paimon started, only be interrupted by a shrill beeping sound.

Jinx glanced at her watch. "Whoops! Sorry, time's up," she said, taking off her outfit, stuffing it into a briefcase, and then shoving it into her safe. "Gotta go help my kid and her friends, they just saw a Princess of Mars die before their eyes, which is sure to be all sorts of traumatizing."

"What?! You can't just leave-" Paimon protested.

"Oh, hey, would you mind hosting in my absence?" Jinx asked.

"Wh-what?!" Paimon stammered. "I will do no such-"

"Great, thanks!" Jinx said, having somehow dragged him on stage, plopped him behind her podium, and dressed him in her host outfit, without bothering to adjust for his gender. "Just read off the cards and you'll do great. Thanks a bunch!"

She kissed him on the lips, took out a jackhammer, strapped it to her head, and walked away, making airplane noises and flapping her arms.

Paimon stared after her, dumbfounded.

He suddenly became aware of the rather large group of demons staring at him expectantly. Feeling bewildered and more than a little self-conscious, he cleared his throat and grabbed the card the podium spat at him. "According to this, it's time for the lightning round?"

He immediately got hit by a bolt of electricity.

The audience cheered.

---

Nushi zipped across the battlefield, moving so quickly she was little more than a red and black blur, delivering crushing blows that smashed skulls, caved in chests, and broke limbs. Her suit hummed, the circuit patterns glowing brighter and brighter with every motion she made as they built up more and more kinetic energy, her hair billowing around her.

All systems seemed to be working at full capacity, she thought to herself as she kept battling the demon horde, data flashing across the interior of her visor. Speed and strength are 300% greater than baseline human, which is lower than it should be but with the dampening field it's to be expected. Processing power is 600% greater than baseline, still too low but a lot closer to projected maximum capacity at this stage. Reaction time, regenerative ability, and durability all have marked increases across the board. And… Hello, cellular damage is being repaired as well. If I push this, will I become immortal?

Her suit warned her of a proximity alert, but she was already in motion before the first alert could go off, backflipping to avoid a tremendous blast of hellfire. I knew that was going to happen before the suit did! Precognition? Or the result of my enhanced senses? Is there really a difference? Well, Ariel would say there was…

With a roar of fury, a massive beast swooped down at her, exhaling more flames. Nushi crossed her arms in front of her, causing a force field resembling a ladybug shell to form around her just before she could be consumed by the hellfire.

Oh dear… These flames are hotter than the surface of the sun. My shield can hold them back, but only just. Starting to get hot in here…

There was another roar, and then a tremendous claw smashed into the shield, shattering it and slicing into her chest, causing her to cry out as she was flung back, large gashes forming in the suit.

GAH! That HURT! Just one hit, and I'm already in the red… Wait… I'm recovering that quickly?

As Nushi marveled at her suit regenerating much faster than anticipated, the demon landed and bellowed at her. It was a huge wolf the size of a minivan with four bat wings and a serpent's tail. Its coat was pitch black and riddled with cracks oozing what was either lava or blood or some combination of both. It had massive, curved horns, far too many eyes, and a multipartite jaw dripping with flames. "Fear me, mortal!" He howled. "For I am Marchosias, a Marquis of Hell and candidate for the title of Noble King!"

"Marchosias… I heard about you from my wife," Nushi recalled, her memory enhanced further by her transformation. "I thought you had realized the error of your ways and returned to heaven. What are you doing here?"

Marchosias blinked, surprised. "You know of me? Your wife is truly well-informed. I had intended to return to heaven alongside my friend Phenex. However, Barbatos learned of our plans to escape. Phenex made it out. I didn't. I… Was strongly discouraged from making another attempt."

"… I'm sorry."

Marchosias scoffed. "Pity? From a mortal? Do not humiliate me, human. What is done is done. My fate is sealed, as is yours. Yield, and I shall kill you swiftly."

Nushi shook her head. "No. I have a daughter to protect and a wife to go home to. I will save everyone… Including you. You may have given up on your dream, but I won't let you."

Marchosias snarled. "And now you're mocking me. You know not of what you speak, human. You have not the means to liberate me from hell-"

"My wife is Ariel Ozu."

The demon hesitated. "Ariel Ozu. As in-"

"The Messiah of Magic and next in line for the Heavenly Throne of Magitopia, yes," Nushi confirmed.

Marchosias contemplated this for a moment.

And then he smiled. "That… Changes things."

"Lord Marchosias, what are you doing?! She is the enemy! Kill her-" a demon cried, only to be silenced when Marchosias bit his head off.

"Marchosias! Are you really betraying us?!" Another demon cried, peeking out from behind a colleague.

"Do you know, I think I am," the demonic wolf said, licking his lips. "How odd. A moment ago, I was resigned to my fate, but now I feel hope again. Human. What is your name?"

"Nushi Cheng," Nushi said. "But trust me when I say I'm far from human, or least, I intend to be."

Marchosias chuckled. "That does not surprise me. Very well, Mrs. Cheng. Let's see if you can keep up."

In a flash of red, Nushi crossed several meters in less than a second, burying her fists in the chests and heads of two demons, the impact causing them to explode in a shower of blood and brimstone and blasting all the surrounding demons back. As they cursed and struggled to their feet, she tensed all her muscles, the numerous cylinders on her body extending even further, then slamming back down, sending energy coursing through the lines of her body and causing dozens of massive lasers to fire from all her spots, the beams sweeping through the fiends around her and disintegrating them in a brilliant blast of scarlet light.

She glanced over her shoulder at the Marquis. "I think I'm the one who should be saying that."

Marchiosias blinked, then grinned. "I believe I'm beginning to see why the Messiah of Magic chose you to be her mate."

Nushi laughed, cracking all four knuckles and tossing back her hair as the surviving demons regarded her with terror. "Hardly! I'm the one who chose her."

---

DASH!

Raum cackled as he glided through the air, spawning birds which streaked through the air and chased after Izu, the HumaGear running at top speed – or at least top speed in her weakened state – with a cheetah Rider Model overlaying her body, leaving trails of light in her wake. She zigzagged in seemingly erratic patterns, making turns far too quickly for the bird missiles to keep up with her, flying past and exploding on the ground whenever they missed her.

Raum didn't seem particularly concerned, though. "You are very quick indeed, human," he sneered as he conjured up more birds to chase her. "But eventually you will tire, and then my talons shall be the last thing you see!"

"You're incorrect on two counts," Izu said calmly, racing for a school wall then jumping onto it, racing up its side as the birds blew themselves up in her wake.

(Hiden Intelligence would pay to have it fixed later.)

"First of all, I am not a human," Izu said as an annoyed Raum started firing feather flechettes at her, which buried themselves harmlessly in the bricks beneath her feet. "I am a HumaGear. Which leads into your second error."

"Which is?" The demon growled, a few of his wings folding alongside one arm to form a feather-edged blade, speeding up to divebomb her, aiming to decapitate Izu the moment she cleared the top of the wall.

"I don't get tired."

Just as Raum was swinging his sword at her head, Izu back flipped over him, twirling through the air, kicking him in the back as she passed over and causing him to crash face first into the school roof, the avian devil squawking and molting feathers as he tumbled and skidded across the rooftop.

At last, he came to stop…

With Goro's gun pointed in his face. "Oh-"

Goro fired.

At the last second, Raum burst apart into a flock of birds which flapped away, shrieking and cawing. Without missing a beat, Goro fired a dozen more shots, each causing a bird to explode in a squawk and a burst of feathers.

A few moments later, the demon birds reassembled into Raum several meters away, the demon cackling smugly. "A nice try, mortal, but WHERE'S MY ARM?!" He screamed, suddenly noticing that his left arm hadn't reformed, and he was missing a chunk of a thigh and bits of the wings on that side of his body as well.

"I'm using holy bullets," Goro said, reloading. "Which means you can't regenerate from damage inflicted by them, even in your disassembled form."

"Just how many bullets do you have?!" Raum shrieked in rage, fear, and disbelief.

"Enough."

Goro fired again, putting a round through one of the demon's wings. He had tried to dodge in time.

He'd failed.

WING!

BULLET!

As Raum flailed, shedding feathers and blood and shrieking in pain, Izu rose into view, overlaid by a falcon Rider Model while the head of a wolf Rider Model overlaid her Satelleyezer.

"I believe the appropriate thing to say right now is 'Bang.'"

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Izu pulled the trigger, firing a MASSIVE wolf-shaped energy bullet at Raum with such force the recoil nearly knocked her out of the sky.

Just before the attack could strike, Raum once again scattered into a flock of birds which quickly attempted to disperse-

EVERYBODY JUMP!

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As a grasshopper Rider Model overlaid the Satelleyezer, Izu fired again, this time releasing a swarm of Cluster Cells which scattered all over the place, dozens of metal grasshoppers homing in on and landing on Raum's birds, digging their mandibles into their demonic flesh and beginning to chew.

METALCLUSTER PULSAR!

As the birds screamed and started chaotically flailing about, Goro quickly took advantage of their disarray and unloaded another clip, taking out another dozen or so birds. In the meantime, Izu inserted another Progrisekey into her weapon.

TERRITORY!

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As the Satelleyezer was overlaid by a Rider Model of a spider, she fired once more, releasing a purple energy web which ensnared all of the remaining birds, forcing them together and causing them to recombined back into realm, now missing even more body parts thanks to Goro's precise shooting, crying in frustration and pain as the locusts continued to ravage him.

TRAPPING PULSAR!

"Malice identified. Preparing for deletion. Praise Zea." Izu switched her Satelleyezer into its sword mode and started powering it up, shooting towards the bound demon as a colossal blade of light, more like a laser cannon pretending to be a sword, erupted from her weapon.

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Time seemed to stop, milliseconds before Izu's colossal beam sword could bisect Raum.

"How?" He whispered, incredulous. "I am a Great Earl of Hell, a Noble King, and you are just a machine!"

"No," she replied calmly. "I am the future."

Time resumed its course.

Izu struck.

A millisecond later, she landed on the ground, skidding across the pavement, blade at her side, back to Raum.

The demon gurgled, and then split in two, the two halves exploding and sending bird feathers flying everywhere.

ZEARISING STRASH!

Izu looked skyward and made the sign of the Eye. "Thank you, as always, for your blessings, Zea. I will never doubt your provenance ever again."

---

READY, GO! MARTIAN FINISH! YEAH!

An energy construct of Mars forming around her fist, a star map generating under her feet, Misora threw a Superman punch at Purson, who countered with a punch of his own, swirling red energy and hellfire forming upon impact and blasting both of them backwards.

Recovering first, Purson inhaled deeply and spat a fireball bigger than he was at the Rider. As she fell back through the air, Misora grabbed her cape and wrapped it around herself just before the fireball could strike her, seeming to be consumed in the resulting explosion.

Purson laughed malevolently. "So much for a Princess of Mars-"

There was the sound of space warping and Misora appeared right behind him, cape billowing behind her as she shot down in a diving kick at his back, cranking the handle on her Driver as a construct of Mars formed around her foot and a star map materialized behind her.

READY, GO! MARTIAN FINISH! YEAH!

Just before she could strike, Purson twisted around and struck her with a flaming backhand, fire and waves of energy blasting off the point of impact. Roaring, the demon spat another fiery blast at her, then immediately shot a claw out, grabbing Misora by the neck right where he predicted she would reappear via teleportation after dodging his attack. "Did you think you could deceive me so easily? I am a Great King of Hell! I did not achieve my rank by being a fool!"

"Really? Could've fooled me, considering your boss," Misora taunted irreverently despite the massive paw slowly crushing her.

Purson calmly responded by setting his hand, and Misora, on fire, causing her scream in agony. "Such nasty words, from such a pretty girl. I will enjoy ripping your tongue out and feeding it back to you."

Misora managed to laugh in his face, much to his ire. "You think that's going to scare me? Kitten, I deal with a guy far more terrifying and eviler than you or any of the demons here put together on a regular basis. And you know how I deal with him or anyone else who pisses me off?"

READY, GO! MARTIAN FINISH! YEAH!

Her hand vibrated, a red and gold energy blade forming around it.

"I cut them!"

She sliced her hand up, the blade slashing through Purson's wrist and separating hand from body, the mighty demon bellowing in surprise. As she fell, Misora wrapped her cape around her and disappeared once more.

READY, GO! MARTIAN FINISH! YEAH!

Reappearing right beside the demon's head, she punched him in the face as hard as she could…

And although his head twisted to the side, he didn't move an inch.

Her eyes widened. "Oh-"

Snarling, he grabbed her with one of his remaining hands and slammed her into the ground, then began running, his six legs allowing him to move at incredible speeds as he dragged her across the ground face first, using her body to plow a deep trench as he went. "There you are," he sneered. "In the dirt, at my feet, where you belong."

"I belong at the feet of no man… Especially not you!" Misora shot back as her cape flicked about, wrapping itself around her…

As well as the hand gripping her. "Wait-"

Misora warped away, taking the hand with her.

As Purson bellowed in fury, Misora once again reappeared behind him, but this time instead of attacking her cape shot out to wrap around his eyes. Misora planted her feet between the spines running down his back and yanked backwards hard, pulling his head up and causing him to rear upwards, flailing his forelegs. "Get off of me!"

"Nah, I don't think so," Misora teased, twisting his head left and right. "I never had the courage to try and ride a Lynel like this – Those things are terrifying - but I happen to be a bit stronger than Link so maybe I can pull this off! Ride, kitty!"

She kicked him in the side, infuriating him. "I am not a mount to be ridden!" He bellowed as he thrashed and bucked to try and throw her off, ironically making himself look even more like a horse at a rodeo show. As he wildly flailed about, he happened to crush and trample over a sizable number of demons, but it's unlikely he would've cared even if he could see what he was doing.

Misora laughed giddily. "Oh wow, this is great! And I'm not even feeling remotely motion sick-" She gulped. "No, wait, there it is-"

She abruptly warped off Purson before she could throw up inside her helmet. Livid at his humiliating mistreatment, Purson roared to the heavens, all of his eyes glowing red as hellfire engulfed his entire body. "ENOUGH!"

He slammed his fists into the ground, releasing a tremendous shockwave of hellfire which rippled outwards, incinerating everything in its path. He then started rampaging wildly all over the place, spewing fireballs as the mouth on his chest opened up and started spitting out tremendous energy blasts, ripping apart the ground and filling the space around him with nonstop explosions.

Misora tried her best to evade the blasts using her cape, but when she was forced to rapidly warp multiple times in quick succession, it was regrettable but unsurprising when she reappeared in the path of another massive explosion just a second too late to get out of the way and was engulfed in it.

Her mistake was compounded when Purson charged forwards, smashing a fist into her chest which sent her flying, but moved at such speeds he was able to keep up, juggling her through the air with rapid-fire blows, pulverizing her body and cracking her helmet.

Finally, he grabbed her head in both hands, breathed fire all over her, then started crushing her skull as his chest mouth opened wide, ready to receive her. He grinned sadistically, exulting in his triumph…

Only for her to laugh again.

"WHAT?!" He howled, so angry he had trouble seeing straight. "WHAT'S SO BLESSED FUNNY?!"

"You are, kitty!" Misora chuckled a little raggedly. "I may not have most of my Martian powers right now, so can't fight at full-strength… But even so… I can safely say that Evolt hits way harder than you."

"WHAT?!"

She grinned. "Oh, and also? Thanks for keeping your mouth open."

READY, GO! MARTIAN BREAK! YEAH!

As another star map formed behind her, she cupped her hands, forming a red energy sphere resembling Mars, which she thrust forwards, expanding as it went until it completely filled Purson's chest mouth.

And then it started flashing.

The demon's face paled.

Misora smirked. "Ciao."

She snapped her fingers, and Purson's torso was obliterated in a spectacular crimson explosion.

With a swish of her cape, Misora reappeared a few meters away, smirking herself as Purson's lower body collapsed. "Well, that's one bad kitty down-"

Much to her astonishment, the lower half suddenly got back up, all its mouths roaring. "Huh?"

The snake serving as a tail laughed in a familiar voice. "Foolish girl! Did you think I could really be beaten so easily?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"What you just destroyed was nothing more than a decoy! I am the true Purson!" The demon bragged, pawing the ground with his feet. "I doubt your precious Evolt could pull off a trick like this!"

"Evolt's consciousness exists in every scrap of his DNA so he can regenerate from a single cell," Misora pointed out bluntly. "Dude got smashed between two entire universes and he came back a few months later from the bits of him in his son's bloodstream. I'm not entirely sure he can be killed currently at this point."

Purson gawked. "That's… That's impossible! You're making that up!"

"I'm really not. Isn't that right, Evolt?" Misora asked.

Purson stiffened, feeling an unexpected aura of unspeakable evil and dread that rocked him to his core. What… What is this? No demon I've ever encountered, not even the Sins, has ever filled me with such… Terror!

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiii Misora-kun-Evo!" Evolto-Chan saying as she skipped over, ribbons flailing about and incidentally lacerating some unlucky demons as she sprang past them. "How's my favorite stepdaughter doing-Evo?"

"This guy refuses to believe you're the strongest and evilest creature on the planet," Misora said, not even bothering to try and correct her on the stepparent part anymore.

Evolto-Chan gasped. "What?! Well this won't do, this won't do at all! I'll just have to show him how wrong he is… The hard way-Evo."

"W-wait… What are you doing?" Purson stammered, instinctively taking a few steps back as Evolto-Chan approached, her form and presence seeming to grow with each step. "S-stay back! I'm warning you! No! NO! NOOOOO-"

Despite herself, Misora couldn't help smiling as Evolto-Chan started having her fun. As much as she despised her so-called "stepparent," she would be lying if she claimed a part of her didn't love seeing them work.

---

"Your flesh, your soul… It smells so delectable," Agares slavered from all his mouths, his arms extending like tentacles, the mouths on their end snapping as he tried to catch Slavi between their teeth. "Ever since you Pythonians came to Earth, I have been driven mad with hunger! I must have you!"

"You sure that's a good idea?" Slavi asked, her legs merging with her tail to become a much larger appendage she was able to speedily slither about on, her serpentine body granting her incredibly fluid motion and flexibility to evade the toothy maws.

(It also made her girlfriend and other partners very happy.)

"I mean, after all, my entire species are blessed by our goddess," Slavi added as she punched one of the crocodile heads in the mouth, breaking some teeth and causing it to recoil backwards, striking the second one with a backhand as it tried to bite her from behind. "And I in particular am doubly blessed thanks to what I'm wearing and who I'm dating! You sure your stomach can handle it?"

"I have devoured sacred maidens before," Agares drooled as he stomped the ground, causing Jade spikes to erupt from it. "And after all, is not the forbidden fruit the most delicious?"

"Well, if you say so," Slavi replied as she rapidly slithered around the crystalline spikes as they tried to skewer her. "But you should know, I haven't been a maiden in a very, very long time!"

Agares laughed and licked his lips. "All the better!"

Slavi frowned, barely managing to avoid another skewering. "You know, you're starting to creep me out a little here. Do you want to eat me, or eat me?"

Agares grinned as his crocodile hands erupted from the ground just as Slavi was dodging another crystal spike, grabbing her by the arms and lifting her into the air. "Who says I would be satisfied with one or the other?"

Slavi started screaming as he pulled her closer, his entire upper body splitting in half as he opened his mouth wider, revealing that pretty much his entire torso was just part of a giant mouth full of far too many teeth and tongues eagerly reaching towards her…

And suddenly something small and glittering stung a tongue, causing it to recoil. "Gah!"

More small glittering objects began to swarm in from all over, stinging his tongues and eyes, causing him to flinch and let go of the confused Slavi as he started wildly flailing his limbs about and tried to catch them in his jaws. "What is this?!"

"Ms. Slavi. Are you well?"

Slavi yelped. "Baron?! Where are you?!"

"Outside your right ear hole. A piece of me, anyway. As you can see, I'm all over the place," the Fangire Noble said with a chuckle.

"… Wait… Then all this… Is you?" She realized, astonished.

"Indeed! You know, people always think of bats when it comes to vampires, but mosquitoes are far too underrepresented as far as bloodsuckers are concerned, wouldn't you say?" Baron chortled as more and more small glittering objects – or rather, stained-glass mosquitoes – flew in to pester the increasingly irate Agares.

"How does he taste?" Slavi asked, genuinely curious.

"I've had better," the Baron said evasively. "Now, quickly, while he is distracted! I shall support you."

Slavi nodded and primed her Driver. "Right!"

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Slavi's tail elongated and grew immensely, whipping out to wrap around the startled Agares and constrict him tightly, several of the Bishop's mosquitoes embedding themselves in her scales so they pierced his hide. "What?!"

Slavi's enlarged tail lifted her into the air, where more of Bishop's mosquitoes coalesced behind her to form a pair of spectacular stained-glass butterfly wings, causing Agares to cry out as the dazzling light blinded him. More mosquitoes coated Slavi's right foot as she launched forwards in a diving kick, a snake Rider Model wrapping around her leg with the fangs over her foot, slamming into the demon's chest hard enough that it partially caved in in the shape of a heart, and a heart-shaped crater was blasted into the ground around them.

"So what do you think of this taste, Agares?" Slavi taunted as Bishop's needles and her snake's fangs dug into the demon's flesh.

"I think… You might be a bit too spicy for my appetite after all," Agares admitted with a weak laugh. "Even so… The flavor… Is truly divine!"

LOVING IMPACT!

With that, he was engulfed in a spectacular pink heart-shaped explosion, a hissing serpent rising into the air before dissipating.

"Well, say what you will about that fiend, but he certainly had a refined palate," Bishop admitted as he reassembled his shards and appeared beside Slavi. "You truly are delicious."

"Did you drink my blood without asking?" Slavi asked, offended.

"Of course not! I don't drink blood!" Bishop said indignantly. "I just had a very tiny, minuscule nibble on your soul. Don't worry, it's already grown back. Nothing important was lost. I apologize for doing it without your permission, but I was hungry, and you just smell so good!"

"… Right," she said uncertainly. "Well, if you really have to take a bite out of my soul, ask next time, okay?"

"But of course," the Fangire said, sketching a bow. "Are all your kind so delectable?"

"Probably, yeah," Slavi admitted.

"Fascinating."

---

Barbatos howled with all four mouths, the sonic blast from all his jaws combining to buffet Lilim back, causing the risen Angel to grunt as her wings struggled to keep her aloft.

Giff, on the other hand, was unmoved. While his robes billowed about him, he took a step forwards, followed by another. Clutching his stamp in one hand, he fired a powerful red energy blast at the demon lord with the other.

The beam struck Barbatos in the chest, but seemingly did no damage. He laughed. "That barely tickled! After all I've heard about you, 'demon king,' I have to say I am disappointed!"

"Oh, but Barbatos, I have only just begun to fight," Giff said calmly. "And besides… This is not my fight to win, but hers."

Gritting her teeth, Lilim concentrated her power, creating a javelin of shining light. With a cry of fury, she flung it at Barbatos, who snatched it out of the air in one of his mouth-hands and snapped it. "Sorry, babe, you need to do better than-"

"Do not call her that."

Barbatos blinked, startled, suddenly realizing that Giff had somehow made it within arm's reach without him noticing. "What-"

"She is no longer yours to toy with as you please."

And with that stated, Giff slammed his stamp into his chest, causing Barbatos to scream in agony as it was seared into his flesh, energy swirling up the artifact and into its master's body. Roaring, he thrust his head forwards to spew a double fire blast, but Giff sidestepped the attack and stamped Barbatos in the side of his face, draining more energy and creating another brand. Snarling, he tried to grab him, but Giff proved to be faster than expected, ducking before he could be caught, pressing his stamp into his chest multiple times and slamming it into his groin just before sliding between his legs, causing the demon to yipe in agony, reaching for his crotch.

With a wrathful cry, Lilim conjured another javelin of light and thrust it at her ex. Grimacing, Barbatos caught it between his hands inches before could pierce his chest, smirking at her even as his flesh sizzled and his tongues melted. "Baby, your sister could do better than that."

"I know that," she replied with a proud smile. "Which is why she's always been better than me, and she deserves it!"

"Now now, don't put yourself down, you are a talented young woman yourself," Giff chided her, stamping Barbatos' back repeatedly and causing him to cry out and nearly lose his grip on the javelin. "But of course, there is no shame in you having a little help."

With that, he flipped his stamp over and slashed the sharp end across Barbatos' throat, causing demonic blood to gush from it. The demon lord gurgled in pain and surprise, his grip faltering more, allowing Lilim to bury her spear right between his ribs.

"Get back!"

Lilim quickly hovered back as Giff snapped his fingers, and suddenly all the marks he had stamped onto the demon lord exploded with red light, Hell Gifftarians ripping their way out of his body and into the daylight. Giff's eyes glowed as Barbatos collapsed to his knees, vomiting blood, practically salivating. "You truly have amassed quite the menu of palatable sins, Barbatos… Sins which I shall feast upon right this instant!"

He snapped his fingers again, and the Hell Gifftarians all knelt before him before dissolving into clouds of red energy which swirled around him before flowing into his mouth. He chewed a few times, growled, then roared, eyes glowing as a red aura blazed up around him and his geoglyph was embedded into the ground he was standing on. "Ahhh… Now that's more like it!"

Barbatos staggered to his feet, his wounds struggling to heal, leaving him looking even more scarred and gruesome than he already did. "You… How DARE you…"

Eyes glowing, he howled to the heavens, hellfire engulfing him. "I have beheld God in all His glory, and still chose to turn away from His Radiance! Angels, mortals, demons, all have fallen before me! My name invokes fear throughout all of Hell, and I have forced older and mightier demons to bow to my will! I have even seduced one of the Heavenly Host away from her duties and destiny! I will not be-"

"Oh, shut up already!" Lilim shouted, creating a bow of light and firing holy arrows at him. "God, I don't know what I ever saw in you!"

"The young often make mistakes because they are young and foolish and think they understand the way the world works better than their elders," Giff said gently. "It is regrettable, but a natural part of the learning process, and by making mistakes, it is how one grows."

"I'm thousands of years old!" She snapped at him.

"Is that all? I'm at least a billion, maybe more," Giff said dismissively.

Roaring, the blazing Barbatos charged at Lilim, not even seeming to notice as the holy arrows embedded themselves in his hide. "I'll rip off your wings and suffocate you with your own feathers!" He bellowed.

Lilim grit her teeth, put her hands together, and fired a powerful pulse of holy light at Barbatos, who growled, his hellfire burning even brighter to take the brunt of the energy as it manifested as a massive demonic hell hound, jaws opening wide to devour her…

And then suddenly Giff appeared in front of her and casually backhanded Barbatos, extinguishing the flames in an instant and sending him crashing back to the ground. "I think not."

Barbatos' head snapped up, face twisted in a rictus of rage. "You want to go? Fine! LET'S GO!"

Setting himself on fire again, he leapt into the air, the hell hound construct forming around him once more as he drew back a fist, throwing a massive demonically charged punch at the other demon. Giff formed an energy platform beneath himself to give him something to brace himself against, then thrust a palm out, catching the punch in one hand, a tremendous shock wave of energy blasting out from them, shattering all the nearby windows in the school building that weren't already broken.

In a flash of light, Lilim appeared by Giff's side and flew past him, forming a sword of light and driving it into the "mouth" formed by Barbatos' arm, breaking teeth, searing his tongues, and ripping through flesh and bone, slicing off one of the limbs at the elbow and causing it to fall away, disintegrating as Barbatos roared in agony. "MY ARM!" He shouted. "THAT WAS MY FAVORITE ARM!"

Lilim grinned. "Yeah, that's why I took it off!"

Giff closed his hand over the remaining fist, arm glowing with red energy, and sent a pulse of power through the appendage, vaporizing the arm in a blast of red light. As Barbatos fell forward, eyes wide in rage and shock, Giff thrust the pointed end of his stamp into the demon lord's belly and pulled it upwards, disemboweling his adversary.

Barbatos' upper half slammed into the edge of Giff's platform and started to slide off. He frantically tried to hold on with one hand while holding his chest closed with the other. His eyes were wide as Giff raised a foot…

Then he nodded and took a step back, allowing Lilim to drive a dagger of light into Barbatos' hand, severing some of his fingers and causing him to once again plummet to the ground.

The demon hit the ground on his back hard, and a screaming Lilim shot down to impale him another holy Lance. Pointing his remaining arm upwards and forming its dog head configuration, he fired a tremendous blast of hellfire and dark energy at her, forcing her to dispel the lance and shield herself with her wings.

Giff appeared over his head, thrusting an energy charged foot at his skull, but he rolled out of the way in the nick of time, clamping his arm mouth around Giff's ankle. "You know," Barbatos sneered, eyes glimmering with malice and hunger. "You don't taste too bad yourself, Giff."

"Truly? Thank you for the assessment," Giff said calmly, pointing his hand down and firing an energy blast at Barbatos' head. Barbatos responded by firing fiery beams from his eyes, deflecting the blast and causing it to explode in Giff's face. Grinning, the fiend used his grip on Giff's ankle to flip him off his feet, launching himself forwards to try and pin him down and rip out his jugular.

Much to his surprise, before that could happen, Giff planted one hand on the ground and fired an energy blast, flipping him over and allowing him to land a kick directly in the middle of Barbatos' face, firing a blast from it which sent him reeling backwards. Landing on his feet, Giff surged forwards, thrusting his stamp forward like a dagger, but Barbatos' arm shot forwards, his mouth snapping shut on Giff's limb. He clenched his teeth in pain as Giff stabbed upwards, the tip of the stamp ripping out the top of his arm, but he chuckled and fired a double fire blast directly into Giff's face, setting him on fire.

To his astonishment, Giff didn't flinch. "What?!"

"Fool!" Giff exhorted. "I have bathed in stars!"

Barbatos heard wind gusting through wings, and realized Lilim was about to hit him from behind. He attempted to break free, only to discover that Giff had buried his stamp deep in the upper roof of his mouth and wouldn't let it be extricated so easily. Frantic, he blasted Giff with more fire, and when that didn't work, jerked his body to the side as far as he could go, managing to wrench himself free from the stamp in a shower of blood just before the risen Angel could strike.

As such, Lilim's light blade did not go through the back of his skull.

It did, however, slice off his remaining horn.

It took Barbatos a second to realize what had happened.

And then he was livid. "You BITCH! MY HORN!"

Lilim smirked as she hovered beside Giff. "As long as I've known you, you've always complained about how big sis took your other one. Figured it was my turn." She chuckled. "Though I suppose it doesn't leave much for Cherubi… Unless… Hey Giff, think his other horn still works?"

"Considering how hard I stamped it? A good question," the demon king murmured.

"How?!" Barbatos demanded, punching the ground repeatedly. "Your powers have been suppressed! And yet, despite that, you both just seem to keep getting stronger! How are you doing this?!"

"It's because, after so many years of defining myself based on what you want… I at last believe in myself, in my own potential," Lilim declared.

"There is only so much this Jyamar Area can do to hold back beings of my age and experience," Giff bragged. "Also, the Martian child is probably responsible."

"Wait, what?" Lilim asked in surprise.

"I didn't say anything," Giff lied badly.

Barbatos snarled, remaining eyes seething with fury. "No… Your family has humiliated me for the last time, Lilim! You, your baby sister, your fucking pet… I'm going to torture and rape you all to death, then send you to your mother and bitch of an older sister piece by piece as a sample of what I'm going to do to them because of you!"

Lilim smirked. "Don't threaten me with a good time."

Howling, Barbatos charged forwards on all threes, a hell hound aura forming around him again as he lunged at Giff and Lilim, who readied themselves to continue the fight.

---

Everyone screamed as the very dead Kaseihime hit the ground.

"No! Martian girl!" Jinx cried as she jogged over, huffing and puffing to catch her breath. "Don't worry, I will avenge you-"

Her watch beeped.

"What? Already? But I just got here!" Jinx complained. "Oh well."

She started walking away.

"Where are you going?!" Mugensai demanded incredulously.

"Gotta get back to the classroom! There're people who need my help!" Jinx called back over her shoulder.

"There's people who need your help right here!" The hamster protested.

"Nah, you'll be fine," Jinx said dismissively. "Have fun, sweetie!"

"Nom-Nom!" Nom-Nom chirped.

The demon who murdered Kaseihime chuckled, removing his sword from Kaseihime's corpse. "So, who's next-"

Shrieking, Mugensai leapt at his face, causing the demon to cry out as he started clawing and chewing at his eyes. "GAH! GET OFF!"

"You… You FIEND!" An outraged Cherubi screamed, firing an orb of holy power at the demon, scorching his chest and causing him to stumble back. "You killed our friend! I'll never forgive you!"

"Nom-Nom!" Nom-Nom shouted, lunging at the demon and biting his arm, causing the demon to shriek even louder as she started chewing.

"Leave some for me!" Neycombe howled, conjuring a set of stained-glass fangs which dug into the demon's neck, causing his body to begin turning to glass as she drained his energy.

Glass that shattered as Mugu unleashed a bestial howl and lunged at the demon's neck, ripping out his throat with her buck teeth and feasting on his flesh.

"Whoa! I thought you were vegetarian!" A startled Cherubi cried.

"It's hard to be an Amazon and adhere to a strict no-people diet, okay?!" the Squirrel Amazon snapped, blood dripping from her fangs. "Consider this a cheat day!"

"Get them!" One of the other demons shouted, and they brandished their weapons and charged at the children.

An ax spun through the air and buried itself in the forehead of a demon, who immediately collapsed as the holy blade pierced its skull. Shitsuki dashed over, ripped out the ax, and started lopping off the legs of other devils as they rushed all over the place, chopping them to bits as they fell.

"You killed my friend and hurt my Courtney!" Cherubi cried, enraged, eyes and wings glowing. "I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

She rose into the air, spreading her wings, beams of holy light blasting off her and piercing the skulls and hearts of all the demons below.

"Hungry… So hungry… Must have more!" A bloodstained Mugu howled, pouncing on another demon and digging into his flesh.

"She's become a monster… well, I'm hardly one to judge," Neycombe admitted as she drained another demon dry.

"Nom-Nom!" Nom-Nom agreed, chewing on a severed leg.

"Malice detected. Initiating combat routine." Hazu's eyes flashed, her ponytail flying in the air behind her as she powered up, her ear modules positively singing as lines on her body lit up and a teal aura flared around her, cratering the ground beneath her feet. "Optimal path to victory confirmed. Execute."

"PICOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Pico cheered as her future wife launched herself at the demon horde so fast she shattered the ground and caused a Sonic Boom, leaving a trail of light in her wake as she skated forwards using the heelies that had emerged from her shoes.

Her eyes lit up as attack vectors, probability counts, weak points, and a highlighted path to eliminate her enemies as efficiently as possible formed in her HUD, along with smiling emojis of her parents, with her father giving her a V sign and spouting a terrible pun, while a chat log scrolling faster than the human eye could comprehend rapidly filled up as her precious Pico gushed nonstop about how amazing her soulmate was. Smiling at the thoughts of what the two of them would do once they were old enough, Hazu sped through the demons, who might as well have been standing still compared to her overclocked perception of time, delivering several hundred blows per picosecond to every square inch of their bodies simultaneously.

She skidded to a stop on the other side of the horde, her ponytail flowing behind her, her aura fading just in time for all the demons to explode. "Malice has been terminated. Praise Zea."

"PICOOOOOOOOOO!" Pico shrieked again happily.

"You! Demon! Face me!" Mugensai shouted to a confused demon.

"I'm sorry, are… Are you a talking hamster?" The demon asked, bewildered.

"I may appear to be a hamster, but I'm also a powerful ninja master! Hiyaaaaaaaaaaa!" Mugensai shouted, launching himself at the startled demon with a flying kick…

And bouncing harmlessly off his chest.

The demon stared at him.

"This went differently in my head," Mugensai admitted, yelping as the demon picked him up.

"Hey! All of you brats cut it out now, or the hamster gets it!" The demon shouted, shaking Mugensai to grab the children's attention and making him feel sick.

"Children!" Mugensai groaned, trying very hard not to throw up. "Do not listen to him! You must keep fighting, no matter what happens to me-"

Shitsuki's ax spun through the air and buried itself in the demon's chest, causing him to combust, flinging Mugensai through the air.

"Got you!" Cherubi cried, swooping down to catch him. "Are you all right!"

"I almost died!" The ninja master screamed.

"Mugensai said not to stop fighting," Shitsuki pointed out as they retrieved their ax.

"I thought you would at least hesitate for a minute!" The hamster whined.

"Hey! All you brats cut it out now, or the imp gets it!" Another demon shouted, as he and a handful of others pointed their weapons at the crucified Courtney, points inches away from her badly abused flesh.

The kids gasped, exchanged concerned looks…

And reluctantly yielded.

"Oh, so for her you'll immediately surrender, but not me, the beloved class pet! I see how it is!" Mugensai groused.

One of the demons chuckled as the children found themselves surrounded. "You did a nice job of hurting us. Allow us to return the favor. I think we have a few more spare crucifixes lying about…"

"No, I don't think you'll be doing that."

The demon started and the children gasped. "KASEIHIME?!"

Indeed, the Martian Princess was sitting up…

But no, that wasn't quite right. Her corpse was still lying right there, but she was also sitting up, her body seeming to clip through her own remains like a poorly programmed videogame. "Yes, that is my name," she confirmed, standing up and leaving her dead body behind.

She wasn't a ghost or anything like that. She hadn't shed her previous body. It was just… There, and she was here.

"So, that's what death is like," she remarked. "Fascinating experience. I've been told a person should die at least once in their life to see what it's like. I can't recommend the part where it hurt, though, that seems like an unnecessary feature. Here, kill me again, I want to see what it's like without pain."

"I… What?" The nearest demon, whom Kaseihime had been speaking to, stammered.

"You won't do it? Oh fine, I'll do it myself," Kaseihime said, grabbing the pitchfork from his hands and stabbing herself in the chest.

The children gasped.

Mugensai fainted.

Kaseihime frowned, glancing at the weapon protruding from her chest. "Nothing's happening. Am I doing it wrong?"

"I… N-no, that's, that usually kills people," the baffled and rather frightened demon told her.

Kaseihime frowned. "Then why am I not… Oh, that's right, forgot to turn off my immortality."

She immediately dropped dead.

A second later, she sat back up, leaving another corpse behind, plucking the Trident from her chest and handing it back to the demon. "Thank you, this has been very educational. That time was much less uncomfortable. However, I've decided death is not for me, so I have decided I will never do that again. Nor will my loved ones."

"… Wait, are… Are you implying that none of us will-" Mugu stammered.

"In any event, I thank you for contributing to my greater understanding of my own existence, but I believe this is played out for long enough. There are more important things for us to do. Begone," Kaseihime said casually, and just like that, all the remaining demons disappeared.

There was no sound, no flash of light or teleportation effect; one second they were there and the next they weren't.

"I hope that none of you mind me eliminating the remainder like that. You seemed to be having fun defeating all the previous ones, and I'm aware no one likes a kill-stealer," the Martian Princess said apologetically, bowing to her friends.

"That's… No, no, that's… That's okay," a stunned Mugensai said.

"Shitsuki supposes Shitsuki will forgive you, but Shitsuki was looking forward to having more demons taste their blade," Shitsuki grumbled, cleaning their ax.

"Nom-Nom?" Nom-Nom asked.

"Yes, you can eat my old bodies, they're of no use to me anymore, but you should know there will be some side effects-" Kaseihime said, only for the plant girl to clap happily and quickly started devouring one of the corpses. "Oh, never mind."

"Um. What side effects?" Mugu asked nervously.

"Since I granted her permission, only very, very good ones. If I hadn't…" Kaseihime trailed off ominously.

"…Right." Mugu stared longingly at the dead bodies.

"You can eat too," the Martian said gently.

Blushing in embarrassment, the Amazon murmured her thanks and quickly ran over to eat the other body before Nom-Nom could get at it.

"You… Just how powerful are you?!" a shocked Neycombe demanded. "You died, twice, once by your own hand and treated it like no big deal, may have just casually made all of us immortal assuming I interpreted that statement right, and you just… Erased all those demons from existence-"

"I didn't erase them," Kaseihime corrected her. "I could have, but I didn't. They're very much alive, though I'm sure they'll wish they weren't."

"… Did you send them to the cornfield?" A fascinated Shitsuki asked.

"What?" A confused Cherubi asked.

"It is a reference to a popular horror/sci-fi show from the last century, The Twilight Zone," Hazu informed her.

"Pico!"

"No, I didn't send them to the cornfield, but to the Big Red Spot on Jupiter," Kaseihime said calmly.

Hazu stiffened. "Oh. That… May actually be a lot worse."

"Wait, the Big Red Spot? But that's… Some giant super storm on Jupiter, right?" The confused Neycombe asked. "Why there?"

"It's not a super storm," Hazu insisted.

"Oh, so you know about that? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," Kaseihime said in faint amusement. "So, you know our solar system used have nine planets, right?"

"Yes, until they axed Pluto," Shitsuki said, demonstrably chopping their ax through the air.

"It always seemed so unfair to me that they did that," Mugensai complained. "So what if Pluto is smaller than the other planets? And can't really contribute as much anymore because the other planets are all so much bigger and further away and constantly growing and don't have time to call as often because apparently they have lives of their own and can't be bothered to check on their mentor and father anymore because all it's good for these days is entertaining children…"

Everyone stared at him. "What?"

"Ignoring the class hamster's loneliness and existential crisis," Hazu said, ignoring Mugensai's protest. "She is not referring to Pluto. The asteroid belt used to be a planet between Mars and Jupiter."

"What happened to it?" Mugu asked, having finished eating the second of Kaseihime's bodies, much to Nom-Nom's disappointment.

"We did," Kaseihime said mildly. "The inhabitants of that planet abducted my eldest aunt, defiled her, broke her, and tried to use her as a weapon to destroy Mars." She paused, a dark look in her eyes, and everyone suddenly felt the temperature drop several degrees. "My grandmother was… Displeased."

The words hung in the air for a few moments. Nobody dared to comment, feeling a sudden unbearable weight of absolute terror and unspeakable dread, the lingering psychic echoes of that ancient atrocity still resonating to this day.

Was that screaming they heard?

"After she was done, there was still the matter of my aunt," Kaseihime continued. "She had been consumed by her own power, turned into a massive, world-ending storm of pure, unfettered psychic power, rage, agony, and madness. The best thing my grandmother could do for her was banish her to Jupiter, where the gravity would keep her from leaving the gas giant's surface and terrorize the rest of the solar system and fed her the souls of those who had turned her into what she is now to draw sustenance from. And play with."

There was a long silence.

"Then…" Neycombe said slowly, horrified.

"Those demons believed they knew what Hell was. They shall, rather quickly, discover they were wrong," Kaseihime said casually.

"… Those poor souls," Cherubi whispered.

"I would not pity them if I were you. They have done far worse than what they did to dear Courtney and would've done the same to us given the chance," Kaseihime said without sympathy. "If it brings you any comfort, though, they will not remain there forever. We believe that my aunt will eventually reconstitute herself and either extinguish or release the souls she's consumed. It won't be much longer now, maybe 100 million years at most. Practically no time at all."

She paused, suddenly staring at her friends as if seeing them for the first time. "… You're frightened. I scared you," she realized, dismayed. "I'm sorry, that… That wasn't my intention, I don't want you to be afraid of me, I… I can erase your memories of all this if that would make you feel more comfortable."

"I'm not sure it would, actually," Neycombe said in a strangled tone.

"If she made us forget, then we wouldn't ever remember being uncomfortable with her," Shitsuki pointed out.

The Fangire glared at them.

"I am uncertain that would work on me," Hazu said hesitantly.

"You'd be surprised," Kaseihime replied.

"Can we, um, get back to you on that?" Mugu asked anxiously.

"Of course," Kaseihime said, chastened. "This wasn't what I wanted. I just… I suppose this is why we prefer to use a gentle touch around mortals…"

"Nom-Nom," Nom-Nom said, hugging her, to her surprise.

There was a groan from nearby, and Cherubi gasped. "Oh no, COURTNEY! I nearly forgot!"

She sped over to the nearby crucifix and swiped a hand through the air, shattering Courtney's bonds in a flash of holy light, causing the tortured imp to collapse in her arms.

She felt far too light.

"Courtney! Speak to me!" Cherubi pleaded as the others crowded around her, tears dripping onto Courtney's body, sizzling as they made contact with her flesh and causing the demon to flinch.

Even so, she managed to give a broken smile. "Hey, Cherubi. Sorry I don't look my best. It's been a really bad day. Still…you being here now makes it a bit better." She coughed, spitting up blood. "Damn… I've never wanted you to see me like this… But at least I got to see you one last time…"

"Don't talk like that!" Cherubi snapped, eyes so thick with tears she was barely able to see anything. "I'm going to heal you! So stop acting like you're going to die!"

"Heal…" Courtney gave her a confused look. "Cherubi, I know I'm an idiot, but even I know that won't work. You're an angel, I'm a demon. Your magic will just kill me faster… And much more painfully."

"No," Cherubi said insistently. "It won't."

She produced a golden collar which she snapped shut around the badly wounded imp's neck, the incredibly elegant scrollwork lighting up along with a clear blue gem at the front.

Courtney blinked in surprise. "Wait… An Angel collar?"

Cherubi nodded as she placed a hand on the imp's stomach, holy light began to wash over her body… And to Courtney's amazement, instead of feeling like every cell of her body was being torn apart, this was… Warm. Warmer than Hell had ever felt. Her wounds began to heal, all her pain, including old hurts she'd lived with for as long as she could remember, fading away. "Yes. This collar means that holy magic will work on you without killing you, and that you can enter any sacred place, even Heaven, without fear of being incinerated."

Courtney blinked up at her in confusion. "But… Why would… Why would you just happen to have that on you?"

Cherubi managed to smile. "Silly imp. I always have it on me, so that whenever Big Sis finally realized where she really belonged, you could come home with us right away. You understand? You're safe now. Nothing and nobody will ever hurt you again. No matter where you go in this or any world, we'll be able to find you. You belong to us now, forever. To me."

Courtney stared at her, wondering. "Then… I'm yours?"

Cherubi nodded fiercely. "You're mine. For all eternity."

"… You have no idea how happy that makes me," Courtney whispered, embracing her new mistress, who folded her glowing wings around the both of them.

There wasn't a dry eye among those present, except for Shitsuki, who didn't cry easily. "It's so beautiful," Mugensai sniffled.

"I hope that when all of us marry Lovekov, it'll be just as wonderful," Mugu said.

"It'll be even more beautiful once I marry all of you," Kaseihime said.

"Yeah," Neycombe agreed absentmindedly. "Wait, what-"

---

JYA-JYA-JYA STRIKE!

More vines erupted out of the floor, wrapped themselves around the next batch of demons who barged into the classroom, crushed them, then hurled them out the window. "I'm giving you all a failing grade! From existence!" Nana declared.

The children, safely behind a barrier made of the teacher's vines and Asagi's magic, cheered.

Bellowing, Asagi jumped off a desk, coming down on a demon with an elbow press, slamming it to the ground and driving her wand into its eye and firing off a spell, causing it to explode and splattering her dress and face with bloodstains, joining the considerable amount of demonic ichor already coating her body.

As more demons rushed at her, she snarled furiously and swished her wand through the air. "Bibidi-babidi-boo, BITCH!"

Pretty blue magical sparkles engulfed the demons, transforming them into a large pumpkin and several mice, which frantically started scurrying all over the place. Stomping on one mouse, she hefted up the pumpkin and threw it at another demon, roaring as it struck the fiend and exploded, splattering the room with pumpkin guts. "RAAAAAH!"

"… Masaki, your mom's cool," an amazed Rayco admitted.

"Yeah, that's what I've been telling you!" The human replied.

Pupils shrinking, tails wagging, Jun and Mei suddenly rushed out of the barrier and started chasing the mice about, pouncing on and eating them.

"Children!" Nana cried in dismay, sending out more vines which grabbed and snapped the necks of some demons before they could attack the kittens. "It's not safe! Get back behind cover! And don't eat those, they'll spoil your appetite!"

"Sorry Ms. Takayama!" The kittens apologized, quickly hurrying back behind cover…

Only for a group of demons to smash through the ceiling, bypassing the barrier and landing right in front of the children, who screamed in terror.

"NO!" Nana, Asagi, and Parasoleil screamed as the demons prepared to kill the kids…

When suddenly Jinx smashed through the wall, leaving a hole shaped like her body behind. "I am here! Oh yeah!" She declared, dressed like a mix between All Might and the Kool-Aid.

The demon stared, the children cheered, and an exasperated Nana protested, "Jinx, there was a window right there!"

"Fear not, helpless children! I'm here to-" Jinx started to say, only for her watch to start beeping. She frowned. "What? Already? But I just got here!"

"Wait, where are you going?" Parasoleil insisted as Jinx turned away.

"Sorry, gotta get back to hosting my game show! Can't let Paimon have all the fun!" She explained, clarifying nothing as she smashed through the wall, leaving an identical hole right next to the one she'd already made.

Nana facepalmed.

The demons exchanged confused looks, then shrugged and prepared to murder the kids…

"As from the One, are all things born!"

Abruptly, all the desks and chairs in the room rose into the air, broke apart, and flew at the Alarm demons, slamming them into the wall and piercing their bodies in multiple places, pinning them against the wall and rather messily killing them.

Everyone stared at the deceased demons in astonishment, then at Masaki, who was standing with one hand outstretched, a ring bearing an arrow-shaped jewel gleaming on one hand, suddenly wearing a light blue tunic and trousers with a short cape. "… Miss Takayama, how long have you been offering magic classes?" An astonished Parasoleil asked.

"I didn't teach him that!" Nana insisted.

"Well I sure as hell didn't!" Asagi shouted. "Oh damn, maybe I should have…"

"Oh my Ouroboros… Masaki, you're a wizard?!" An incredulous Hislava shouted.

Masaki sighed. "No, I'm an alchemist."

"But you cast a magic spell, like a wizard!" Rayco protested.

"It was an alchemical formula."

"And have a magic ring, like a wizard! Specifically, Kamen Rider Wizard," Jun pointed out.

"It's an Alchemist Ring."

"And wear a wizard's clothes, like the Magirangers!" Said Veila.

"It's an Alchemist Uniform."

"I don't really see a difference," a skeptical Mei said. "Isn't alchemy another kind of magic?"

"Well, it's the art of creating something from nothing and giving life to the lifeless, so yes," Masaki admitted. "But you don't have to be a wizard to be an alchemist!"

"Does it help?" Rayco asked.

"… Yes."

"So, you're emphatically not a wizard," the Rainian said. "But you dress like a wizard and have a ring like a wizard. Kind of sounds like you wish you were a wizard but can't be and are in denial over it."

Masaki sighed. "We… very well might be."

"If you're an alchemist, does that mean you can do awesome stuff like the Elric Brothers?!" Hislava asked eagerly. "Like transmute matter or create Homonculi or Chimeras or Philosopher's Stones?!"

"What? No! That franchise wildly misrepresents what alchemists can do!" An offended Masaki declared.

"How so?" Jun asked.

"Well, for one thing, we aren't nearly that cool," he admitted. "And we don't make that other stuff."

"Well, that's probably a good thing, considering the methods used in Fullmetal Alchemist," Mei admitted.

"That show gave me nightmares," Veila said morosely.

"I thought everything did," Hislava said.

"It does, I just thought I should point it out," the Worm said.

"But didn't ancient alchemists create the Greeed?" Rayco pointed out. "And I believe Wiseman used a Philosopher's Stone, didn't he?"

"Yes, and look how well those turned out," Masaki said acerbically.

"Ah, a fair point."

"I mean, the closest we come these days are Chemies, but those are usually accidents," Masaki admitted.

"What's a Chemy?" Philia asked weakly, finally taking part in the conversation.

"Artificial life forms created from inanimate objects coming to life possessing supernatural powers that defy the natural order, so we seal them in cards whenever they get created," Masaki explained.

Hislava gasped. "And then you use them to battle each other in absurdly high-stakes children's card games to decide the fate of the world?!"

"No, that would also be much cooler than what we actually do," Masaki grumbled.

"Brat! When and how did you become a wizard-" Asagi demanded.

"Alchemist."

"And why didn't you tell me?!"

"Well, Mamataros, you know all those extracurricular activities I've been taking?" Masaki asked.

"Yes, and I'm very proud of that, it will definitely make your college resume look that much more impressive," the Imagin said.

The boy fidgeted. "Yeah, pretty much all of those are lies except for basketball. I've been attending a secret Academy hidden beneath this very school where promising students are taught to be alchemists."

"What?! How did this never come up during PTA meetings?!" Asagi demanded.

"This is just as much news to me as it is to you," Nana insisted.

"That's because the whole thing is a secret. None of the other faculty knows about it, and the teacher said we can't tell anyone about it because the world of alchemy is supposed to be hidden from the rest of the world," Masaki explained.

"… But… Isn't the existence of magic and alchemy pretty well known by now? I mean, there's tons of schools, everyone knows about the Magirangers and Wizard, plus Mugu's other mom is a worldwide magical celebrity…" Mei pointed out.

"That's what I said," Masaki complained. "But the teacher got all huffy and asked if I really thought I knew better than the Alchemy Association, so I stopped talking."

"What?! How dare he! Tell me who he is, and I'll give him a piece of my mind," Asagi said angrily.

"Okay, but it won't go better than the other half dozen times you've talked to him," Masaki said wearily.

"I'm sorry what."

"This isn't the first time any of you have found out I'm an alchemist, and every time you do you get your memories wiped," Masaki said uncomfortably.

Everyone gasped.

"Brat, have you been screwing with my memories?!" Asagi demanded.

"I haven't," Masaki emphasized.

That just made his mother angrier.

"Dude, are you in a cult?" Rayco asked. "Because it kind of sounds like you're in a cult."

"It's not a cult!" Masaki protested.

"Which is exactly what someone who was in a cult would say!" Hislava pointed out.

"I'm outraged this has been going on right beneath everyone's noses this whole time!" Parasoleil said angrily. "On a related note, are they accepting new students, and how big a bribe do I need to make?"

Rayco groaned. "Mooooooom!"

"Masaki, from what you said, you're spending a significant amount of time every day with other children in a subterranean area with a powerful and controlling man telling you what to do and what to think and insisting you keep this a secret from your parents and other teachers and abusing power to make sure it stays a secret," a very concerned Nana said, kneeling down to look Masaki in the eye, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Please answer me truthfully: do you feel safe with this man? Has he done or said anything that makes you uncomfortable?"

Asagi conjured a lovingly crafted doll of Masaki and pointed at it with her wand. "Brat, if he's touched you, please indicate where on the doll. This is a safe space."

A snarling demon charged at her, and she backhanded him without looking.

Masaki groaned. "This is why I hate it when you find out, we have to go through this every time, you get all worked up and try to get my hopes up, and nothing matters in the end because he'll just make you forget it all again."

"This time will be different," Nana promised.

"You've said that before and you've always been wrong," Masaki countered.

"This time, things really are different," she insisted, gesturing to herself, the ruined classroom, and the fighting outside. "Please, Masaki. Who is he?"

Masaki hesitated. "… Fine. It's-"

"Mommy?"

Startled, everyone turned to look at Lovekov, who'd been meditating all this time as her eyes shot open, glowing blue. "Mommy… Yes! I got through, Kobu!" She cried excitedly. "She's going to summon me! We're all getting out of here, love!"

Everyone cheered at this, except for an upset Philia. "But I still can't reach my mother…" She murmured unhappily.

Lovekov, glowing brightly, started to levitate into the air. "Mommy… I'm coming! Wait for me, love!"

As she was surrounded by red and gold energy, she shot towards a wall.

"Wait, there are several windows and a couple of perfectly good holes you can use-" Nana spoke up frantically.

Lovekov smashed through the wall right next to the two holes Jinx had already made, leaving a third hole behind.

The Jyamato's eye twitched. "That had better not come out of my salary."

Everyone rushed to the hole – or the windows, which still existed despite everyone seeming to forget about them – to stare in wonder as Lovekov flew through the air, elongating and transforming into her red and gold Dragon form. On the ground, everyone looked up in surprise as she shot past overhead.

Neycombe smiled fondly. "Truly a woman worthy of me."

"Of all of us," Cherubi said, cuddling an overjoyed Courtney.

"A dragon?! Where did that come from?!" An incredulous Barbatos demanded.

Gifts marked. "That would be my great granddaughter."

"… What, the fat snake?"

"She's not fat, she's perfectly proportioned and how dare you insinuate otherwise!" Giff snapped. "In any event, this is where you lose, Barbatos! This whole fight has been nothing more than a distraction to allow my dear great-granddaughter to focus on her connection with her mother, a bond of love that transcends space and time and can only be possible because of the superiority of my genes and the strength of our family! So great is this bond, that it will allow Lovekov to smash through any barriers separating her from her mother, who has called upon her in this hour of need! Behold, as the seemingly indestructible Jyamar Area falls before her, allowing all of our allies in and restoring our full power to us-"

Lovekov flew into the Jyamar Area…

And smashed into it face first, her body splayed out across its inner curve and her face twisted into a comical expression.

There was a pause.

Lovekov's friends and the other adults stared in horrified disbelief.

The demons started cheering as Barbatos laughed raucously.

"… All right, perhaps she could stand to have a little more weight," Giff muttered, embarrassed.

"Oh! OH! You almost had me there!" The Demon Lord cackled, pointing at Giff as the demon king fidgeted awkwardly and Lilim glared hatefully at him. "So much for the power of family! I hope you weren't pinning all your hopes on her doing that, because now you're completely out of luck and there's nothing stopping us from killing you!"

"What are you talking about? We've got you and your minions on the ropes, and we've still got our allies outside trying to break through, so even without Lovekov breaking the force field it's only a matter of time until we end this," Lilim pointed out.

Barbatos grinned. "Oh?"

And just like that, several dozen new demons manifested.

Lilim's jaw dropped. "What?"

"You were able to summon reinforcements? But we were led to believe that none of us could enter or leave the Jyamar Area, including you," a shocked Giff murmured. "Which means…. Of course. You're cheating."

Barbatos burst into laughter. "We're demons! Of COURSE we're cheating! Did you forget that the guy who set this all up specializes in creating Bad Ends? You never had a chance of winning! No matter how many of us you defeat, more and more will just keep coming until you're all wiped out! Even killing me won't change anything! This game doesn't end until every single one of you are dead!"

In the classroom, Nana fell to her knees. "No… I should have realized that Zitt had rigged it… We never had a chance."

"Our allies outside-" Giff started.

"Might be able to break through eventually, yeah," Barbatos conceded. "But can they do it before we overwhelm you?" He took a step back as his minions swarmed in to level their weapons at the demon king and Angel. "Let's find out, shall we?"

Giff, Lilim, and everyone else braced themselves for the next wave of battle…

When a loud crack rang through the air.

Instinctively, everyone glanced up at Lovekov, whose body was still pressed up rather uncomfortably against the barrier… Which actually seemed to be bulging outwards.

Barbatos gaped. "What?"

"Aha! Once again, you've underestimated the power of my family!" Giff proclaimed. "I knew it was only a matter of time before she could break through! Even as we speak, the unbreakable bond between mother and daughter is weakening the barrier! Soon, the Jyamar Area will be destroyed!"

"Actually," Izu reported, flying down. "The barrier's integrity is still at 100%."

"Aha!" Barbatos cried in relief.

"What? Then what was that cracking sound?" Bishop asked.

Another loud crack could be heard.

"You see, there it was again!"

More cracking sounds echoed, but although everyone looked around in confusion, nobody could spot any cracks in the barrier.

"Okay, this is getting annoying-Evo," Evolt complained. "What's causing that?"

Izu frowned. "And why am I detecting seismic activity?"

Immediately, everyone looked down.

The ground, while hardly intact after all the heavy fighting, didn't have any new fissures in it.

"Wait," Goro said, standing up on the roof. "I see it! Outside!"

Everyone turned to look through the barrier, where cracks were forming in the ground outside, the largest right beneath where Lovekov was pushing the force field outwards.

"The heck is that?" Slavi wondered.

"Oh," Izu said, instantly realizing what was about to happen. "Everyone, I suggest you brace yourselves."

"Why-" Misora started, only to be cut off when the loudest crack of all split the air…

And the entire landmass enclosed by the Jyamar Area was ripped out of the ground and flew through the air in the direction of Area 666, everyone screaming in terror, aside, of course, from Jinx, who sounded as if she were enjoying herself.

The many friends and allies who had gathered to try and break through the barrier were left standing at the edge of the crater where the school had once been, staring blankly.

Only one thought ran through their minds.

"EHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!"