"Ashufiriya."

After they heard that, Shido, Miku and Maya's vision went white.

By the time they were able to open their eyes again, they were in a completely different place.

"... What?"

"... Where are we?"

"Could it be… inside the book?"

Although Maya's was a considerable logic leap, it was the answer they were all inclined to believe.

Before they had been taken here, Beelzebub's book had been pointed towards them. And now, they were in this completely white space, much like a new book's pages.

Not long after, the Demon King Beelzebub herself showed up. She no longer had the floating book with her, but instead something that looked like a pen.

At first, nothing happened, which Shido and the others couldn't decide if it was a good or bad thing. Since it seemed like nothing was going to happen, Maya tried talking with Beelzebub again.

"Nia."

Beelzebub looked at Maya as if she was indiference. Then, she began to move her pen.

Although her movements seemed like she was just scribbling on the air, something did happen.

The scenery around them changed. They were now in a place that looked like an abandoned city. Buildings around them were collapsed, and moss was growing on all of them.

With a few more scribbles, zombie-like things began to appear. Shido and Miku got worried and prepared to fight.

"This… wait, I remember."

However, Maya seemed to have a different idea.

"Rasiel"

Maya's Spirit CR-Unit, Chokmah, formed something like a coat over her sweater-like plugsuit. She summoned her Angel, a book not unlike the one that had been in front of Beelzebub previously. It also came with a pen-like thing, Maya drew something on it and then ripped off the page.

The ripped off page glew, and it transformed into a woman. Miku had no idea who that was, but Shido was able to recognize her.

That was Fatima, the protagonist of Nia's manga, Silver Bullet.

"Maya, this is…"

"This scenario and zombies, they're from an extra of the Silver Bullet manga. There's no doubt about it, Beelzebub is Nia Honjo. Her memories must be locked deep in her head somewhere, just look at this scenery, it's like it was ripped from those pages."

"I-I see."

While a sweat dripped from Shido's forehead, Fatima began to fight off the zombies.

With her dual-wield pistols, she was able to make quick work of the slow zombies. They posed absolutely no threat at all.

It was to the point where Shido and Miku didn't even know what they should be doing. Well, now that Shido realized this was similar to the manga, he actually got a little excited about watching it.

"Tenka seemed like her head was hurting, so maybe it's the same for you. But still, I'll pull out your memories even if I have to rip your head open!"

"Grrr!"

Maya was still trying to have a talk with Beelzebub, but her success was questionable at best. It only seemed to be irritating her.

Beelzebub began to scribble the air again, and something new happened.

The ground shook and cracked. From these cracks, lava started coming out, but it wasn't simply flowing out.

A hand of lava came out and then grabbed the ground, as if trying to pull itself up. More and more of these hands started appearing.

Soon, many lava monsters came out from the ground.

"... I'll leave these to you, Shido."

"Eh? Sure, but maybe these are also from some manga? If so, this could be a good chance to jog her memory."

"That's not it. I can only do one summon at a time, so I'll keep Fatima around. Also, since my summons are made of paper, they're not really compatible with fire."

"... I see."

Shido felt like a child who just lost the shine in his eyes because he learned an ugly truth of the world.

Regardless, Shido shook his head. It was time for him to play his part.

"Sandalphon"

Shido summoned Tohka's Angel and then made use of his speed to attack the lava monsters. Although the lava monsters were much faster than the zombies, Shido was still faster.

Shido moved through the monsters and cut them. Maybe because of Fatima in the background, Shido felt like he himself had become a manga character.

"... But it's not going to be that easy, huh."

Likely because they were made of, well, lava, the lava monsters simply grew back from the parts that he cut. Rather, he made the situation worse because the parts he cut became new lava monsters.

Shido unsummoned Sandalphon, it wouldn't do him much good. Since that was no good, another idea came to Shido's mind.

"Kyaa!"

Miku had been distracted, or maybe she simply didn't expect one of the lava monsters to suddenly launch part of itself at her.

But she was never hit. That's because Shido used Yoshino's Zadkiel and created a wall of ice to protect Miku.

"Are you okay, Miku?"

"I… I didn't ask for your help!"

Out of sheer anger, Miku focused her Territory and shouted. Shido barely managed to dodge her attack, though it ended up hitting the lava monster behind him. Her powered-up voice shot through one of the lava monsters like a cannon… which was a bit problematic since that one monster became several others.

"... But thanks…"

Miku mumbled. Shido managed to catch it, but he figured it would be smarter of him to not react, otherwise he might have to keep dodging Miku's voice.

Of course, the lava monsters melted through the ice as they continued their advance. Even Zadkiel's ice wasn't free from this rule.

"Miku, help me. My ice isn't strong enough to stop them, but with your help I think I can do it."

"... Alright."

Miku focused her Territory to give support to Shido. Now, the ice he created with Zadkiel wasn't being melted, and with some effort Shido could even seal the lava monsters inside the ice.

… Well, he could have used Natsumi's Haniel to double the power of his Zadkiel and arrive at this same result on his own, but the simple fact that he and Miku could work together was important on its own.

Once Shido had taken care of all the lava monsters, he began to seal the cracks on the ground, stopping more from appearing. The frozen pockets of lava made for an interesting contrasting image.

"Nia, listen to me!"

"Aaah!"

Maya was still trying to force Beelzebub's memories out, but she wasn't having much success. Shido began to think that Beelzebub, Nia might have a stronger seal on her mind compared to Tenka, given that she didn't even move usually.

Maya continued trying to talk with Nia, even trying to make Fatima behave in ways that should jog her memory from her story, but Beelzebub didn't seem to be giving in.

While he was thinking about what to do, Shido remembered what happened with Lilith a month ago, and what his mother had told him before they came on this mission. It was a bit out of order, but he figured he might as well try to break this deadlock with his ability.

"Miku, keep giving me support."

"Huh? Okay…"

Miku didn't seem to understand, but Shido figured that his time would be better spent acting instead of explaining.

In the blink of an eye, Shido approached Beelzebub. Now that he took a good look at her face, he could see how pretty Nia was. He almost faltered for a bit, but then he steeled his resolve.

"Sorry."

He said, and then kissed her.

Because of how Beelzebub acted, or rather, didn't act, Shido had to force her mouth open so that he could properly kiss her.

But also, Shido's ability is activated by sexual excitement, a simple kiss didn't qualify. In that case, he needed a way to activate it. Luckily, that was very easily done. He simply let his hands grope Nia's ass, and in a few seconds the job was as good as done.

"Huh?!"

Miku couldn't help but let out a surprised voice. Even Maya was a bit surprised, though she understood why Shido was doing that after thinking about it for a second.

At first, there was no movement on Nia's part, but that gradually changed. Her tongue began to move, reacting to Shido's, and her eyes regained a bit of focus. Shido continued kissing Nia.

"Mmh!"

Beelzebub scribbled on the air again, and this time mechanical tentacles came from the ground.

Luckily, Shido had foreseen that he would be attacked and was able to dodge in time. Fatima was also dodging the tentacles as she continued to shoot her guns. She wasn't having as much success with the mechanical tentacles as she had with the zombies, but the mere fact that she was in front of Nia's eyes was important.

"... This…"

"Huh? Nia, you-"

"Y-you! What are you doing to a defenseless woman?! You fiend, devil!"

"W-wait, I-"

"Heh, seems like your plan worked, Shido. Now I'm going to pile on the pressure again."

Nia seemed to have regained a bit of her mind, touching her lips after Shido moved away from her. Miku was lightly hitting Shido, who would have tried to explain himself if Maya hadn't immediately gone into action again.

"These tentacles… yeah, I remember. It's from the Silver Bullet doujinshi that Nia-chan, aka Souji Honjo, aka yourself, wrote. It was… an unexpected situation to see Fatima in, but some people enjoyed it enough to even consider it canon."

"It's… that…"

Nia started holding her head. Now things were getting similar to how they were with Tenka, which meant that they were on the right path.

"Miku, please let Shido go. You know how his ability works."

"I-I know! But still!"

"Right now is not the time to discuss consent or anything like that. It's the hand we were dealt, so it's what we will play."

Miku seemed less than happy but she let Shido free. Maya then told him to come closer, and she whispered a plan in his ear. Shido blushed, but he didn't have any alternatives to offer, so for now he decided to go along with it.

"Miku, I'm counting on you to keep Maya safe."

"? What are you going to do?"

"... Just please don't hate me after."

Miku didn't understand, but Shido didn't explain. He flew straight upwards and was soon out of sight.

Miku focused her Territory to support Fatima, who continued to protect the two of them. Meanwhile, Maya continued trying to talk with Nia.

"Hey, it's not like we know each other properly, but I feel like you're quite the pervert, right? I mean, maybe that speaks a lot about myself, but I've read all the doujinshi that 'Nia-chan' made and… well, I'll say that they were quite amazing and leave it at that."

"Uugh."

Maybe it was what Maya wanted to believe, but she felt like Beelzebub was showing a different reaction. Maybe embarrassment? Well, even Maya's cheeks were a bit flustered, but when she saw Miku's perverted smile, she regained her composure.

For a few minutes, Maya kept talking to Nia, trying to force her memories out. It was clearly having an effect, but it was still too little.

But that was within Maya's plan. That's why she whispered her plan to Shido.

She noticed he was coming back from the sky, so it was time to move to the next step of the plan.

"Hey, Nia, I got a surprise for you. Look up."

Whether because Maya had said it or because she was worried about another possible attack, Beelzebub looked up towards the sky.

There was a boy flying towards her. But it wasn't Shido, at least not in appearance.

Actually, it was Shido, but he looked different. Right now, he had the appearance of the character Tokiya thanks to Haniel.

Souji Honjo mentioned many times in her notes and interviews that her favorite character was Tokiya from Chronicle. As Nia-chan, she even made a number of doujinshi featuring him. Although it seemed like a mostly useless piece of trivia, Maya recalled it and offered the plan to Shido.

Basically, he was supposed to seduce Nia using the appearance of her favorite character. That would give him both a chance to use his ability and a way to probe her memory.

"..."

Shido landed right in front of Nia. Then, he lifted her chin with his hand.

"Ah, how beautiful you are. Don't worry, Nia, I'm here to rescue you."

Shido didn't know the character, so he wasn't sure if he was acting the part. The best he could do was act in a way that he thought befitted his current appearance.

Regardless, Shido didn't give Nia any time to raise any complaints. He simply kissed her once again.

He could already imagine Miku's complaints waiting for him, but he still needed to do more. As soon as he started kissing her, he also groped her ass and breast to make sure his ability would activate.

"Oh wow, that's Tokiya. You know, your favorite character. It must feel quite good to be kissing him. And it doesn't seem like he plans to stop at kissing."

While Shido was using his ability, Maya was doing her best to bring out Nia's memories. Miku was using her Territory to support Fatima, who was protecting them as best she could.

Strangely enough, after Shido kissed Nia, the mechanical tentacles started moving in a way that seemed more like they were trying to capture Fatima than attack her properly… but that was probably just the impression and not actually true.

In a few seconds, Shido started feeling a warmth similar to when Lilith kissed him. Nia's clothing started glowing and began to disappear. At the same time, her eyes completely regained their focus, reasoning was coming back to her.

"Mmh!"

But Shido didn't stop. For some reason, he didn't feel like stopping. He continued to grope and kiss her. Nia began trying to resist, but it didn't seem like Shido was noticing it.

"Mn, st, mmhh, stoop! This isn't Tokiya!"

"E-eh?"

Shido finally came back to his senses. Once he realized what he was doing, he undid Haniel's transformation and took some distance from Nia.

Nia, apparently not noticing the fact that she was in her birthday suit, pointed at Shido as she continued.

"Who are you, boy?! I'll admit your cosplay was perfect, and I know how irresistible I am, but that doesn't just give you the right to do something like this. But more importantly, you were incredibly disrespectful to Tokiya's character!"

"... Is that the problem?"

While Shido was still confused, and about to receive another rant from Miku, Maya walked up to Nia and decided to ask her.

"Um, do you remember your name?"

"My name? Obviously. It's… ah, yeah, Nia. Haha, I must really be getting old if I'm forgetting that."

Maya let out a sigh of relief. For now at least, it seemed like their plan worked.

"... Wait, where are we? Who are you people? … And why am I naked?!"

Nia seemed to finally realize the situation and covered her breasts and crotch with her hand. Thank goodness, because Miku was about to pluck Shido's eyes out to make sure he didn't look.

"There's going to be a lot to explain… for now, my name is Maya, and you can wear this."

Maya used her Rasiel to draw a simple shirt for Nia, who then promptly put it on. Nia seemed rather impressed by the unexpected thing she just saw.

The next problem would be how to get out of where they were, but the solution came on its own. The world started shaking and cracks appeared everywhere. Although it seemed worrying at first, Maya guessed that they would soon be returned to the Neighboring World.

And it was true. In a few seconds, they were back to where they had previously been.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.