“So…no ultra-long-range weaponry, then. If they had thaaat, they wouldn’t have a problem.”
“Indeed. If they did, there would be no reason to kill Archbishop Robertio, or to put any ‘revelations’ in their dreams. No need for these roundabout ‘miracles’ to drive a crusader force our way. If there is no way to engineer ‘divine judgment,’ it proves that the heavens’ offense does not work at long distances.”
Plus, as Gabriel had made no secret of multiple times, the heavens never had that big of a standing army. In fact, after Camael, Suzuno and her friends hadn’t seen another new angel come their way.
“But in that case…”
Emeralda returned the message to Suzuno, her face still dubious and anxious as she looked up at the moon, blue as ever in the daytime.
“What are the people up there doing if things have gotten that bad, I wonder?”
“…”
The angels Suzuno had encountered—no matter what supernatural powers they possessed, no matter how wildly they acted—all seemed to have personalities, characters, and motivations that were recognizably “human” in nature. Even Camael, with his extreme overreaction to the name Satan, didn’t deviate from the standard for human beings. So really, if you thought about it, there wasn’t a single factor that Suzuno’s side lost out to against heaven. Maou and Acieth, in fused form, completely overwhelmed three angels. Even with the guy in the space suit, they had been caught by surprise after Maou’s and Camio’s power was drained, leaving Emi their only fighter—and Acieth dominated that fight solo.
And even now, even if all their demonic force wielders stepped down, they still had Emi, Alas Ramus, Acieth, Laila, and Urushihara ready to do battle. All of them, plus Amane Ohguro. The Earth Sephirah vowed not to interact with Ente Islans, no matter what the circumstances—but based on previous experience, Alas Ramus and Acieth were exceptions.
Meanwhile, based on what Suzuno and the rest knew, the enemy’s deployable force consisted of Ignora, Camael, Raguel, and the requisitioned Heavenly Regiment. In the case of the space suit, Laila’s impression was that Ignora was inside, not some new, unseen foe. It was more natural to think that Ignora, having run out of pieces to play, was now coming out herself. Plus, though it had been caught by surprise, even the space suit had tasted defeat already.
“There should be nothing to worry about…”
But Suzuno had deliberately avoided thinking about it. The angels were human, too. And if they were, and if they hadn’t shown any sign of resistance or surrender yet, Ignora had only two plausible choices to make.
“No… Even if that were the case, something would have happened long ago.”
Suzuno tried her hardest to banish the thought. Ignora, too, was human. A human with a mission she had to fulfill, no matter how cornered. To the people of Ente Isla and Earth, and to the family members of the Tree of Sephirot, that mission was unacceptable, but it wasn’t a problem they could solve via negotiation. Ente Isla, after all, had nothing to do with why their homeland was attacked.
And so…
“Your face is all tense, darling.”
“I haven’t been able to eat any udon lately. I must be going through withdrawal.”
And so she busily banished the possibility that heaven would detonate itself out of despair.
“Ohh?!”
But the moment she chased that final ray of anxiety from the bottom of her mind, the phone nestled within her Church robes began to vibrate, making her voice ratchet up. Running back to the tent, she crouched in a corner and looked at it. It was a call from Maou. With a contented smile, she answered it.
“Hello? Sorry this is so sudden. You okay right now?”
She heard an unexpectedly low, sunken voice, erasing her smile in an instant.
“No problem. What’s wrong? What happened? An attack from heaven?”
She jumped straight to the worst thing she could imagine.
“No, not that. Not that, but…an equally important problem we gotta solve.”
“Oh…”
It pleased her to hear that nothing bad had happened to the members in the demon realms, but if it was something as serious as an invasion from heaven, she couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief yet.
“Emi told me she texted you about most of what happened here…”
“Yes. We’re seeing the red moon approach the blue moon here Ente Isla as well. Also, I find this hard to believe since I haven’t seen him, but she said a Sephirah that looks exactly like Lucifer showed up?”
“Yeah. He’s completely identical…and unlike Alas Ramus and the others, he didn’t come with a name. So I dubbed him Copyhara.”
“…Wow. Well. Right. Yes.”
Suzuno had only a vague response for this, unsure whether to laugh or yell at him.
“Did she tell you about how he came from Chi’s house?”
“She did. He appeared from her fragment.”
“Yeah, so about Chi…or Chi’s house, more like…”
“What? Wait… Did something happen to Chiho or her family?!”
If danger had befallen either of them, that would be more urgent to Maou’s team than a heavenly invasion.
“Did someone break through our protection around the Sasaki residence, or Sasazuka overall…? Ah, yes, Amane is with you, so… Oh, we should have contacted Sariel… Damn it!”
Why had she never considered the possibility?
“The enemy is not in Ente Isla. They are attacking Earth, attacking Japan, attacking Sasazuka! Was Ms. Shiba unable to do anything?! Ahh, now is no time for this. Emeralda and I must go at once…!”
“No, it’s not that. It’s not that…”
Maou, compared to the panicking Suzuno, was oddly calm. Frigid, even. There was nothing but remorse in his mind.
“In a way, there’s already nothing we can do.”
“What…was that…?”
“All we can do right now…to…nothing else.”
“Devil King! Devil King? Stay with me! I did not hear you. What are we doing? I will do anything that is required! Do not lose heart! Whatever I can do to help you…”
“…Sorry.”
“Sorry? For what? At this point…?”
Something devastating had happened—something that had depressed Maou like nothing before. That alone made Suzuno’s heart quiver.
“Devil King…”
“So we need to go and clean up the mess right now. I’m gonna get Emi and Urushihara to join me on the way to Sasazuka. I’m also gonna call Ashiya in from the East, but can you come to Sasazuka as soon as you can, too?”
“Yes… Yes, I understand. Just calm down… Ah, no, I also need to take a step back, but please, explain in detail what is going on. I must know what to prepare for.”
“Ah, yeah. Okay. You may wanna sit down for this, Suzuno, but…”
She strained to hear the dejected voice, speaking slowly in fits and starts.
“…………What?”
The words that flew into her ear were, in a wholly different way from before, completely beyond what she had imagined.
“………Ughh…… Ah, no, um, that is true… Devil King, why did you put it like that…?”
The more she heard, the closer Suzuno came to throwing in the towel on the whole thing.
“Yes… Right… Ahh, all right, all right. So? …Yes, yes, I understand this is very important. Ah, and it is meant for that, certainly… Well, no, not ‘meant’ per se, but yes, I do have it. All neat and ready. Anything else? No? All right… Right. I will wait for you to contact me, then. Okay. Farewell.”
At the end of it, Suzuno’s rear end was on the floor of the tent. She had been bowled over.
“…Ughhh.”
She looked at her closed flip phone, scowling at it.
“Do not dare threaten me!”
“What is it, dear?”
“Wahh?!” Emeralda suddenly came into sight, surprising her anew. Suzuno shot up to her feet.
“E-E-E-Eme…”
“You had quite the ominous conversation going, so I cleared out the folks by the entrance, all righty?”
“Oh. Right. Thank you. Yes, I should have been more careful. Thank you for being considerate.”
“It’s fiiine, but is there a problem with the Devil King, by chance?”
“Yes, a problem, or… Well, yes, an issue, but not exactly a big one. Serious, but perhaps in a different sort of nuance.”
“You’re not making much sense, but it’s not bad news? But…” Emeralda grinned a bit as she glared with her eyes—a neat trick to pull off. “You were all impassioned, going on desperately, like, ‘Ohhh, whatever I can do to help you’…”
“Aghh!”
Suzuno attempted to throw her phone at Emeralda. Instead, she bobbled it. It fell helplessly to the ground.
“You knowww, I have recently been flustered by the strange mysteries of human relationships…”
“Y-yes?”
“And I hardly want to aaask this, but you haven’t fallen victim to the Devil Kiiing as well, have you?”
“No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!! Such nonsense!!”
“Will you knock that off, please?”
Now she was no longer smiling. Suzuno couldn’t tell if she saw through the lie.
“Sooo? Did something happen with Chiho? Will you be back in Sasazuka soon?”
“Ah, um, yes! I must return once I hear from the Devil King again.”
“And this can’t wait until everything else is over, dear? Aren’t you a bit pressed for time at the moment?”
“No, it definitely must be addressed right this minute. If any of us lose our lives during the assault on heaven, it will be too late after that.”
“Oh, myyy, rather serious all of a sudden, no?”
“I am serious. This could not be more serious. It could not, but…yes.”
Suzuno sighed, head buried in her lap.
“It can only be done now, is all I can say, yes.”