It was a quiet late night in Sasazuka, the traffic of the Shuto Expressway clearly audible in the background, as a man and woman walked slowly home, letting the warm air soothe their work-weary bodies. It was now a month since the assault on heaven. Most of the troublesome decisions had been made, and with all the other miscellaneous questions left to other people, Maou and Emi were back to the normal grind.
Iwaki and Kawata didn’t say much upon their return. Akiko did, and Maou and Emi handled all of them—although talking to your fellow MgRonald employees about how you defeated the god of another world and helped lead it to peace, they realized, sounded incredibly stupid now that they were actually doing it. It was the truth, but it was incredibly stupid. That’s how faraway a tale it was, this story of war in another world.
“Man, I am spent. Delivering to the same apartment building three times in a row…”
“Yeah. We all had a laugh when you left the third time.”
“The groundskeeper was totally giving me the stink eye the third time…”
They were discussing the day’s events, just like after any other work shift, laughing over them as they walked toward the home they shared. They were the Devil King and the Hero, two people who had once warred over the fate of an entire world.
It was a little past midnight. The sky was overcast, and now thick clouds covered the moon and the stars, making things dark. The Devil King pushed his bicycle along, the Hero carrying a large shoulder bag—and on the way, they spied a deserted intersection. The neon sign for the Italian restaurant on one side was shut off, the streetlights and stoplight the only things illuminating the two of them.
“Brings you back, huh, Devil King?”
“Here? Yeah.”
Maou knew exactly what Emi meant.
“It was around this time, wasn’t it? I was on my way home then. And then you threatened me with that 100-yen knife.”
The crosswalk light turned red.
“I was so humiliated when they thought I was your girlfriend.”
“Yeah, that was hilarious. Even funnier how we’re treated as a pseudo–married couple now, huh?”
“It sure is.”
Emi smiled a bit.
“But…that’s all over.”
Maou dodged the blade tip suddenly swinging at him by nothing more than sheer luck.
They had been chatting along, on their way home like always, and right in the middle, she’d broken out her holy sword of light.
Maou was stunned. “What…what is this, Emi?”
“The assault on heaven is over. It ended in a place where nobody knew about it. But there’s something still going on in Ente Isla.”
Emi still smiled softly, affectionately, as she spoke.
Maou immediately knew what she meant. “Slaying the Devil King, huh?”
“Yeah.” Emi nodded. “Last time, you fled to another world. This time, it’s somewhere up in the sky, on that rocket. To the people of Ente Isla, you’re still a symbol of fear, one that might still be alive somewhere. Are you aware of that?”
“Well, yeah, more or less.”
“Isn’t that hard for you? I ought to rid you of that baggage already.”
Maou put up a barrier. That way, if anyone happened to pass by, they wouldn’t get all huffy about the blade in Emi’s hand.
“You’re serious, huh?”
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“I’ve got to get over this already, or I think I’m gonna be dragging it along forever.”
In their little world under the barrier, time frozen for everyone except them, the Devil King danced around, continually avoiding the Hero’s holy sword. She was fused with the Sephirah Yesod, wielding a sword like none he had faced before in battle. All he had was demonic force and his own body. The difference in power was clear.
With divine footwork, the Hero got behind the Devil King, the edge of her sword flat against his back.
“You know, Devil King…”
“Hmm?”
“When you saved me in Efzahan, there was one thing I couldn’t remember.”
“What’s that?”
“The words we exchanged when I first saw you.”
She had encountered Satan, the Devil King, as he fought in Heavensky to save the cornered Great Demon General Alciel. The words she screamed back then, driven by hate, came to her lips once more.
““Hello!””
They both said it at the same time. It made them both crack up.
“And that’s how your journey’s gonna end?”
“Yeah. The Hero Emilia’s slaying of the Devil King is over, as of today.”
Maou stood up, still feeling the blade at his throat. His gaze turned away from Emi and the holy sword, instead examining the darkness behind him.
“Well, tell Ashiya I said hi. That I apologized to him. He’ll understand.”
“All right. I will.”
The next moment:
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“Maou!! Yusa!!!”
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The shout that ripped through the night came just as the sword of light stabbed through Maou’s back.
“Hey, Chi.”
Before Chiho, gasping with her hands at her mouth, Maou was on his knees, head against the ground. Vast clouds of dark fog seeped from his body, quickly dissipating into the air. Behind Maou, who had collapsed and was immobile, Emi dispelled her sword and let out a deep sigh.
“Hello, Chiho. Pretty late for a walk, isn’t it?”
“Yusa… You…”
“I had to,” she calmly said to the lone eyewitness. “Think about it. No, I don’t hate the Devil King any longer… But…still, he… What the Devil King’s Army did to the people of Ente Isla was unforgivable.”
Chiho’s legs were too shaky to move. Instead, Emi knelt and pulled Maou’s top half up for the other girl to see.
“Even if I defeat our god, even if I save the world, that still won’t calm the souls of the murdered. You see?”
“But… Why… At this point?”
Emi gently caressed Maou’s hair. His eyes were closed, his face serene.
“Now was the best time. Now, when everything is over… Everything with me and the Devil King’s battle… Now, I had to settle things.”
Before Chiho, her face straining to withstand the waves of despair, Emi brought her face to Maou’s and whispered into his ear:
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“Hello…Sadao Maou.”
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The barrier disappeared. The clouds spread out in the sky above the Hero and the Devil King were gone, the bright moonlight illuminating the town of Sasazuka as if it were a beautiful flower.
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