The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 2 (23 page)

Suzuno’s appalled face shot upward.

“I want to slay the Devil King in a way that everyone can smile about at the end. The idea that we don’t want to get Japan caught up in this just shows how arrogant we are, coming from Ente Isla. We have our thoughts about the Devil King, and other people have theirs. We don’t have any right to make one-sided decisions for them.”

“…Do you truly believe that?”

Suzuno’s voice was shaking as she asked.

“I sure do.”

Emi’s was clear and defiant.

“It is a pipe dream. Do you want the permission of every man, woman, and child on Ente Isla and Japan before slaying the Devil King? Such an approach is impossible. There are always going to be sacrifices that must be paid.”

The energy seemed to drain from Suzuno’s eyes and voice as she spoke.

It hurt her deeply. How could her own words stab so deeply into her heart?

She had searched for Emilia precisely because she wanted to rid the world of “sacrifices that must be paid,” because she wanted to do away with a world so willing to turn its back to those sacrifices and the reasons they were made.

“But that’s what I have to do. I am Emilia, the Hero. The hope of mankind.”

Suzuno knew Emilia would have understood that. Just as she did back in her own world, a world that tried to bury her in the darkness once.

Emi lightened her expression for a moment before continuing, her words aimed squarely at Suzuno’s heart.

“And there’s a more present problem, too. If we meddle with them too much and the Devil King, Alciel, and Lucifer all awaken to their true natures at the same time, the two of us would be at a serious disadvantage. The skill that mystery attacker showed off to me… That wasn’t the Devil King’s style, either. If we hurried along with
attacking the Devil King, we’d simply find ourselves in a two-front war without enough manpower or information. So…”

Emi placed her hands on Chiho’s shoulders.

“Right here, right now, I just want to keep you smiling, Chiho. I won’t erase your memories, and I won’t let the Devil King die. And if you insist on pushing the point, you’ll have to fight against me first.”

She held her hands against her chest.

“The holy sword… Are you serious?”

Her right hand lit up as her holy energy resonated with the Holy Silver within her body, the core of her weapon.

That tiny release of power was enough to send a powerful flash of light across the deserted evening intersection, dark except for the streetlights and flashing stoplight.

“You are a citizen of Ente Isla. I protect you, just as I protect everyone else. But if you want to do anything to Chiho because of all those pretexts you spouted off, then I will fight it. I will fight for Chiho’s memories, for her indelible past. She is a friend, a precious one, who I need to protect.”

“Yusa…”

Chiho’s voice was laden with pure emotion.

“Besides, you came to Japan because you didn’t like having to cover up things that were ‘inconvenient’ for your mission, right?”

“……”

Suzuno put up a brave front as she stared at Emi, but the bravery was brittle and fleeting, liable to crack at the slightest shock.

“If all you cared about was the good name of the Church, you would have tried to cover up Olba’s crimes the moment you found out about them. That would have created the ideal postwar scenario in the Church’s eyes, right? Me and the Devil King being dead would let them build the legend of this great Church guard knight who sacrificed her life to defeat the ultimate evil.”

Suzuno gritted her teeth, eyes turned downward toward the street.

It was exactly the scenario all the old sanctuary archbishops wanted.

“But even though you worked for Olba, you weren’t satisfied with that. That’s why you’re so preoccupied with bringing me back home, isn’t it? You want to reveal Olba’s crimes and the dark side of the Church to everyone, so it can purify itself and become the proud beacon of faith that a peaceful Ente Isla deserves.”

Emi stepped away from Chiho and approached Suzuno, whose eyes were pointed squarely downward.

“You are, after all, chief of the Reconciliation Panel. The Church wing whose mission it is to spread it the Church throughout the world. To portray it as a just faith.”

Emi extended a hand, attempting to touch Suzuno’s shoulder. Suzuno twisted her body to avoid it, staggering backward as she did.

“Whoa! Be careful!”

But Suzuno paid the red light no mind, darting into the intersection. The loud car horn didn’t stop her, either, as she plunged into the darkness, attempting to flee the scene with all of her shopping purchases.

Emi, to her, had accused her of being just the same.

She made her realize that she was no different from those monstrous old men, the very ones she judged as being so below her.

Those ugly, twisted powermongers, unable to protect those who needed protection the most, who saw sacrifice as a necessary evil, the “evil” of which should be shunned and ignored.

The skidding tires of the screeching cars sounded like the howling laughter of the “heretics” she had cleansed from the world during her long career.

Emi watched on, her face gravely concerned as Suzuno continued her dangerous escape.

“I’m sorry. I think I probably went too far.”

Chiho was behind Emi, tears still rolling down her eyes.

“I don’t really know much about Ente Isla. Everything I do know is secondhand knowledge. But all I cared about was myself, and Maou, and…and I was so mean to Suzuno…”

Emi, conflicted internally, patted the sniffling Chiho on the head.

“It’s all right. You can’t choose who you wind up liking.”

“Yeah, but it embarrasses me, you saying that…”

Emi gently hugged Chiho as she tried her hardest to choke back the tears.

“Yusa…”

“It’s hard for her, too. I’m sure she has a lot to think about. So try to remember that, too, all right?”

“All right…
sniff
…I better apologize to her later…”

“Sure. And make sure it’s a nice, long conversation next time. She’s a lot more open to other people than it looks.”

“…All right.”

Chiho returned the hug, a little more tightly than Emi.

“You’re like a big sister to me, Yusa.”

“I don’t think we’re really that different age-wise.” Emi flashed a deliberate smile as she ran a hand through Chiho’s hair. “But…I think we’ll all need to be on guard from now on.” Her smile tightened as she whispered.

Suzuno seemed to cozy up to Emi’s story in her own chaotic way, but her anxiety toward Maou had hardly vanished. There was no telling what she would do next.

That, and there was that scythe-wielding freak who messed around with Emi earlier.

That was obviously a targeted strike. An assassin from the Church, perhaps, as they took action in response to Olba in their own way.

There were all these unpredictable elements running around unfettered, and she had no idea what they would do next. It wasn’t good.

Her mind heavy with thought, Emi emitted a long, troubled sigh.

It was probably time to tell Maou and the others about the attacker, and about Suzuno’s true colors. They needed to be prepared for the unexpected, and Emi needed to ensure she could slay the Devil King on her own terms.

She was reluctant to do anything that seemed like she was looking out for Maou’s safety, but knowing that his next-door neighbor was
a powerful Church figure was the perfect way to ensure the demons, already mostly robbed of their strength, would stay in line. In that regard, it wasn’t all bad in the end.

She kind of had to think about it that way in order to drum up the willpower for the task.

“Well, so be it… I really hate this. It’s like I’m helping him or something.”

“You know, if you and Maou are being nice to each other, that’d make me happy, too.”

Chiho chimed in, taking advantage of the now somewhat lightened atmosphere.

“Sorry, but if you want us to be friends, that’s one request I’m
definitely
not taking.”

She liked Chiho, but not enough to do
that
.

“But if you’re gonna tell him, then probably the sooner, the better! If you leave a text and a voice mail on his phone, he’ll probably return it once he gets off of work.”

Chiho took a step away from Emi before removing her cell phone from her bag and searching for Maou’s number from her contact list.

“But when did you find out, Emi? About…Suzuno, and stuff?”

“It was just this morning, actually. She told me everything after breakfast at Sasazuka station, and then…”

Then Emi noticed.

“Sorry, Chiho!”

Her voice ratcheted up in intensity.

Chiho was struck dumb on the spot. Then Emi leaped at her from the side. Then, a loud crashing sound.

“Huh? What…what…?!”

Chiho had trouble understanding why Emi just knocked her over.

“…Speak of the devil, as they say. These stalkers must really love me.”

Emi whispered in response, the anger clear in her voice.

The figure was about the height of Suzuno or Urushihara. The black ski mask made a return, as well as the plastic rain poncho and camouflage-print pants. The lack of paintball stains on the mask made Emi conclude that her attacker had purchased a new one.

In both hands was an enormous scythe, as if the attacker had plucked the evening’s crescent moon straight from the sky.

“Y-Yusa, this guy…”

“Yep.”

Emi kept Chiho behind her as she steeled herself for a fight.

“The Ente Isla assassin. The one who crashed into the convenience-store door in Eifukucho before getting driven away by that clerk’s paintball arsenal.”

“……”

Chiho’s eyes darted between Emi and the scythe-wielder.

“Is that…really an assassin?”

“Well, I can’t think of any Japanese people who fall from the sky spinning that thing around.”

“Y-yeah, I guess…”

“You know, it was the same thing before. Why’s this guy always attack me in public streets? We’re gonna have a ton of witnesses!”

The three of them had just held a heated argument a moment ago. That could be ignored. Bladed weapons, on the other hand, generally wouldn’t be.

The area seemed deserted at first glance, but once things actually got started, someone would be calling the cops within a couple of minutes. Emi found that out for herself two months ago.

Considering this was a foe perfectly willing to involve other people in battle, she would need to make this an extremely short conflict, both to keep Chiho safe and to keep her name off the arrest records for a change.

“I can’t spend a lot of time on this. It might get a little messy.”

This time for real, Emi focused her energy on her right hand, binding the Holy Silver with the divine power within her body. The Better Half holy sword formed in an instant, shining in the night as it filled with holy force. That should be enough power to deflect at least one or two of those violet beams.

The next moment, a flash of purple shot out from the holes of the attacker’s ski mask.

Emi darted to the side, predicting the direction of the beam. The
light barely whizzed by her chest, striking an intersection guardrail before disintegrating.

Emi and Chiho both shot a look toward the rail. It wasn’t twisted, warped, or otherwise damaged at all.

It confirmed that the beam caused no physical harm, but interacted with holy energy in some way that gravely affected Emi.

“Heavenly Fleet Feet!”

Focusing the Cloth of the Dispeller on her legs, she was face-to-face with the masked opponent in the blink of an eye. There was no time to let Chiho escape, so Emi had to keep her foe from striking instead.

Since this attacker’s scythe had a longer attack range than her holy sword, she needed to settle this with close-quarters combat.

The darkened intersection sprang alive with the shrill sound of metal against metal as sparks flew through the air. To Chiho, looking on from afar, it seemed like the two combatants had only just begun to wage their pitched battle.

But while Emi succeeded in closing the gap, she was surprised to find this match to be a great deal more even than anticipated.

To combat the purple light, she had powered her holy sword up to maximum, a feat made possible by her now-regular 5-Holy Energy β habit. This sword, and the Hero’s lightning-fast advance, had been stopped front and center by the scythe’s handle.

No matter how much power she put into her blade, it didn’t seem like she could put even a nick on the weapon. In fact…

“I’m…getting pushed back…”

Even with the Cloth of the Dispeller granting her enhanced speed, she was finding it difficult to advance upon her foe. Unable to support herself against the scythe-wielder’s oppressive attack, Emi was slowly, but surely, giving up territory.

“Who
are
you…?!”

Somewhere along the line, the match had gone from an even battle to a matter of the scythe-wielder completely outclassing Emi. Then a voice rang out.

“Didn’t I tell you? Men like to seize upon weak women.”

“…!! You…!!”

The voice within the mask, close enough that it seemed to touch her, made Emi instinctively open her eyes wide.

“Ngh…! Divine Flying Blade!”

A flash of white ran across Emi’s sword.

The move was originally meant to dispatch faraway foes with a leaping slash. At such close range, it was entirely possible Emi would be caught in the shock wave as well.

But there was no other way to break through this. Just as she was ready to release this potentially self-destructive blast, another purple beam glowed before her.

“None of that. Nothing that would make a woman hurt herself.”

The violet beam released alongside the breezy, unhurried words and struck her glowing sword. Then:

“Wha…!!”

Emi’s shout betrayed her honest distress. Just before she could release it, Divine Flying Blade had been completely annulled. In fact, the holy energy inside her sword, brimming with her bodily strength, was rapidly ebbing away.

She groaned as she felt her enemy grow even stronger.