The Devil Is a Part-Timer!, Vol. 8 Page 12

  “…He came in from there?”

  Chiho peeked inside the chamber. There was no sign of damage—just some old desks, sinks, and bookshelves with thick layers of dust on them. But she could see brand-new burn marks in the middle of the floor. What could that be?

  “…Oh, now’s not the time for this!”

  She could go in-depth on it once Suzuno arrived. The Malebranche outside came first. Running up the stairs, Chiho was met with a door that was obviously going to be locked. But this wasn’t a problem for her. She looked around the rest of the floor, ensuring nobody was around, then took a deep breath.

  “Welcome to a new morrrrrniiiiing!! A morning filled with hope for aaaaaaall!!”

  Focusing on the powers deep within her, she began belting out the song from the morning radio calisthenics program, activating her holy force. There was no need to go this far for Idea Link purposes—but she wasn’t activating it to cast any other sort of spell, either. She knew from her training that the longer she sang, the more power she could activate—so she sang it over and over, extracting all the holy force she could.

  At around the third repetition, her efforts paid off. She could feel some kind of large mass arrive at the other side of the door.

  “…Did you call for me?”

  It was a quiet, heavy voice, similar to Farfarello’s. Chiho breathed a sigh of relief. He must have picked up on the holy energy she was releasing.

  “…Well, good thing you can speak Japanese.”

  “Who are you? Why did you summon me?”

  “Um, it’s kind of a lot to explain all at once…but I just thought we could talk a bit, before the other students and teachers tried anything dumb against you.”

  “Hmph,” the presence disdainfully grumbled. “Bold words, considering the pathetic amount of holy force you wield.”

  Chiho, fortunately, was mature enough to admit when someone was right, no matter how scornfully he put it. “Well,” she responded, “I really don’t have the power to fight or anything, and I don’t think I could do anything against you anyway. But I called you here for a really good reason.”

  “Oh?”

  None of this was scaring Chiho all that much—partly because this presence was unseen, partly because she was sure Suzuno was nearly at the school by now.

  “Could you open this door for me with your strength? I couldn’t bring a key up here with me. You Malebranche can do that much, right?”

  “…”

  The sense of indecision on the other side of the door was palpable.

  “You see, they’re pretty rough on children in this world. If I asked a grown-up to borrow the roof key so I could talk one-on-one with a demon from another world, they probably wouldn’t give it to me.”

  The moment she fell quiet, the heavy steel doorknob began to rattle.

  “…!”

  Then she could hear it be crushed on the other side. Just as she thought, he had broken down the lock for her. The knob, losing its mounting, fell to the floor by Chiho’s feet.

  The hole it created was occupied by a single, sharp claw, one that looked familiar to her. That scared her—Farfarello didn’t do much to faze her, thanks to the way he relied on Erone for most things, but now, she was about to go face-to-face with a demon she knew nothing about.

  It’ll be all right, Chiho said to herself as she watched the door creak open. These demons… You can talk things out with them, it turns out.

  “Huh. You’ve got guts, don’t you, you puny little excuse for a human girl?”

  The voice was rougher, more uncivilized than Farfarello’s; a good match for his much larger size. The claws weren’t as long as she had thought at first—he had a large body, but the claws and wings and such were actually a bit more compact than the other Malebranche she had met. But the sheer demonic force exuding from him was a far cry from Farfarello’s. It wasn’t Maou-as–Devil King level, but without having unleashed her own full holy powers beforehand, just standing next to him would sicken her enough to keep her from even speaking.

  “You appear to be a human from this nation…but judging by the way you stand before me without faltering… Hmm. You are the one that little minnow Farlo has prattled at me about? The so-called MgRonald barista, general in the New Devil King’s Army?”

  Being asked deadpan by an officer-class demon from another world about her workplace qualifications almost made Chiho laugh. And was “Farlo” the nickname they had for Farfarello over there? It was kinda cute.

  “I suppose there’s no need for an introduction,” Chiho said, attempting to give him a bold smile instead of ruining the atmosphere. “Hopefully you will be just as polite and gentlemanly as the other demon I met before.”

  The large demon roared in deafening laughter, blowing his fetid breath around the area as he did.

  “Gah-hah-hah-hah-hah!! You should know your position in the world, girl. Your voice is shaking. You cannot hide your fear of demons!”

  “Ah…!”

  Chiho reddened at the presence of this unknown threat.

  “But though a rotten ant you may be, you are a rotten ant with guts. If it is human politeness you seek, then allow me to introduce myself first.”

  “S-sure…”

  Chiho took a look at the sky behind the Malebranche’s back. Suzuno still wasn’t there.

  “You may call me Libicocco—as you no doubt inferred, one of the chiefs of the Malebranche. But know this, girl: I am not a toddler among men, like that pipsqueak Farlo. While I rejoice at the news that our lord the Devil King is alive and well, I refuse to accept the appointment of this new set of four generals!”

  The wind and rain suddenly strengthened. It wasn’t her imagination playing tricks on her. The faraway clouds began to darken and bunch up against each other, visibly in motion as they descended upon the cityscape. The power of this Malebranche, Libicocco, was now too much to fully dispel with her activated holy force. That was the main reason why not even Chiho was willing to correct him and mention there were now five generals.

  “Ah—agghh!!”

  Suddenly freed from the bonds of Acieth’s telekinesis, Maou fell on his rear end, straight onto the wet ground.

  “Come on, man! What’s with you? We aren’t at Chi’s school yet!”

  “Sorry. A little side trip.”

  The rainwater had now thoroughly soaked him down to his underpants. He looked down at his legs, resigned to his fate.

  “…Damn, this is seriously a major typhoon… Hey, why’re we at MgRonald?”

  Looking up, he realized he was in familiar surroundings—the MgRonald in front of Hatagaya rail station. At least this weather kept anyone from being near them. That was a relief. He couldn’t see how Kisaki and the crew were holding up since they didn’t land (more like drop) within eyeshot of the registers, but scoping out the tables, he could tell the rain wasn’t exactly making customers swarm over.

  “Even if we put up those banners, they’d probably be ripped apart by now, huh?”

  They had turned the vertical banners advertising their new fall campaign sideways, following company storm guidelines, but the weights holding them were still clattering in the wind.

  “Someone was…here, no?”

  “Huh?”

  Acieth was looking nowhere near the MgRonald. She was turned toward Sentucky Fried Chicken across the path. Maou followed her eyes to the rival chain.

  “…Whoa! They all right in there?”

  One of the large windows overlooking the dining area had been shattered to tiny bits. The wind must’ve driven a rock or something through it. Maou hoped that none of the crew or customers were injured, although he couldn’t have cared less about the archangel managing the place. It looked like the lights were out as well—maybe a lightning strike had triggered the circuit breakers.

  “But…he not there anymore.”

  “What? You got something to do with SFC?”

  Perhaps it was a given that Acieth Alla, being so simi
lar in nature to Alas Ramus, would spot the presence of the archangel Sariel. But what did she mean, “not there anymore”?

  “…I’m sorry. You are in hurry. No more delay.”

  “Nnnh………!!”

  Before Maou could reply, Acieth violently cast him into the air. Just as she did, the two of them disappeared into the sky, sucked up by the rainclouds.

  “So, Libby-cocka, what brought you here to Japan…or to Earth, for that matter?”

  The howling wind and rain had soaked both her school uniform and her hair. The demon’s huge body and huger magical force unnerved her. Both considerations were making Chiho shiver at the moment as she attempted to push the conversation forward. It didn’t look like he had any Erone-style backup at his side, but there was no telling yet. She recalled the vast army Ciriatto had taken with him to Choshi.

  But Libicocco scowled in reply, a scowl that, even to someone relatively new with demon body language like Chiho, made it clear he was in a foul mood.

  “The way you pronounce your words truly annoys me.”

  “Huh?!”

  She was trying to figure out what the demon wanted—only to have her diction criticized?

  “It is Libicocco. Say it again.”

  “…L-Libi-cocka?”

  As demonic conversations in the pouring rain go, it was generally dissatisfying for both sides. But Chiho kept up with the impromptu language lesson, not wanting to fall further on his bad side.

  “‘Cocka’? Do you want to die? I am not a rooster.”

  “Oh, do they go cock-a-doodle-doo on Ente Isla, too?”

  “Are you making fun of me? Allow me to give you a word of advice: If you mispronounced names like Draghignazzo or Scarmiglione in front of them, they’d have your head off, human. They are young. Hot-headed. Very intolerant of mistakes.”

  “Do…du, Dra…Drag-nihh… Oh, geeeeez.”

  This was too much to handle. Chiho didn’t know much about popular demon-baby names in this day and age, but assuming Malebranche were named by their parents, it seemed like giving them such unpronounceable names was like making them go through life with one hand tied behind their back.

  “Well, no matter. Just remember that much for us. The rest are gone anyway.”

  “Oh?”

  Something about this casually thrown-out statement sounded important to Chiho. But in the next instant, Libicocco’s voice bellowed out again:

  “One more time! Libicocco!”

  “Li… Libi-cocco!”

  “Fine! See? You could do it the whole time! Not quite native-level, but fair enough for a human from another world. I will allow it.”

  “Th-thanks…”

  At least she passed that test.

  “So, Li…Lib…Libicocco, what is it that brings you here…?”

  “I’m here to kick some ass.”

  “Huh?”

  Chiho thought she had messed up his name again, inspiring more ire. But it didn’t seem to be that.

  “When I say that, however, I do not mean grand massacres or anything of the sort. I am here in this set of buildings because that is where the Gate took me. I was merely told that I should bash things up and cause as conspicuous a disturbance as possible, wherever I found myself.”

  “As…conspicuous?”

  “Yes. Like this.”

  With a gnarled grin that exposed rows of pointy fangs, Libicocco summoned a mighty wind as he raised his arms into the air. Chiho covered her eyes with a hand as the rain and wind surrounding Sasahata North High School seemed to compress and whirl within itself, like the school was now in the eye of a major hurricane.

  “W-wait! Stop that!” Chiho shouted.

  The storm on the other side of the border was like nothing before. It was a violent wall of rain and wind, sending roof tiles flying from the surrounding houses, knocking over garden trees, and slicing live power lines in half.

  “See?” Libicocco crowed as he cast his meteorological magic, gauging Chiho’s reaction as he did. “Conspicuous, is it not? Perhaps I should try this next.”

  His clawed fingers danced in the air around him. Chiho couldn’t tell what had changed. But then she felt the hairs on her nape stand up, and then light flashed across a calm, soundless world.

  “Aaaah!”

  Chiho’s scream ripped through the air. It seemed like the wall of rain had set off the light, but then she noticed the countless bolts of lightning that now crashed down from the heavens. They touched down one after another on roof antennas, on telephone poles, and on lightning rods perched over apartment buildings. But their sheer number, enough to make one’s vision fully white, had to be too much for the town to handle.

  “Hmph. This isn’t working.”

  The lights stopped. Chiho carefully opened her eyes, then gasped as she noticed several buildings around the school now on fire. Not even that was enough to satisfy Libicocco.

  “Bah. I was hoping that would generate more of a sea of flame.”

  Chiho was expecting exactly that after such an onslaught of electricity. But with all the precision electronics in modern homes, a lot more thought had been given to lightning protection than in previous generations. Electric lines hung on poles were also more heavily protected than before, since they were now being used for Internet connectivity and a host of other applications; lightning-safe equipment was a legal requirement in all electrical facilities now. The effect of all those wires and poles acting as electrical grounds meant that Libicocco’s anticipated firestorm never came to pass.

  But that didn’t mean he was done. Far from it.

  “Well, I suppose it needs a little more power, then.”

  Of course he would do that.

  “Wait a minute, please! What’s the point of doing all this?!”

  “Huh?”

  “Just spreading chaos like this…? The demons who came here before had an actual purpose. Whether it was getting Satan back or taking Yusa’s…taking the Hero Emilia’s sword away from her, or whatever. Is this all you want to do?!”

  “Rather talkative ant, aren’t you?”

  “Libicocco, your mission is light-years more low class than what ‘that pipsqueak Farlo’ was doing! Why don’t you act more like the arch-demon you are and do your evil with a little more class?!”

  “Girl, do you have the wrong idea about this?”

  “…What?”

  “Right now you, the kids in this facility, and everyone else in the neighborhood are being struck by fear. They’re racked by feelings of horror and sadness. I don’t know what kind of grand mission that little rat Farlo betrayed to you…” He grinned. “But a job like this is what every demon dreams of! Spreading terror and desperation provides us with a feast of demonic power!”

  Once again, Libicocco spread his arms out, straining them even more this time.

  “Ohh…!”

  Exposed to the emanating demonic force, Chiho found it hard to breathe. She fell to her knees. Activating all her holy force at once drained it far too quickly. Time for a 5-Holy Energy β, she thought—but her spare bottle was still inside her schoolbag. She couldn’t show her back to Libicocco now—this demon was cruel enough to snuff her right out if she did.

  “If you don’t like it, you’re free to stop me by force,” Libicocco scoffed, as Chiho felt her strength wane. “You are the MgRonald Barista, our next great general and leader…am I wrong?”

  Despite it all, though, Chiho kept her eyes on him, keeping her head up and glaring strong as she fought against the cruel force.

  But then…

  “So shall it be.”

  With a dignified-sounding voice and a loud crash, Libicocco’s body disappeared from in front of Chiho. The devilish force surrounding him faded away, easing Chiho’s mouth and throat.

  “Gn…nnh…!!”

  He was now in midair, wings spread wide as he growled at where Chiho was.

  “I am, more or less, another one of the new generals. And I happen to not like this, thank
you very much, and so I will stop you by force,” a certain cleric said.

  A giant hammer swung breezily through the air, making the rain splashing around it sparkle in the rays of sunlight beaming down.

  “S-Suzuno!” Chiho shouted with her freed lungs.

  Suzuno, her hairpin transformed into her trademark weapon, let her rain-drenched hair blow in the wind as she turned her eyes to Chiho, safely ensconced behind her.

  “My apologies for being late. The storm wall suddenly grew stronger, and penetrating it proved a trial.”

  “Dude, if you put it that way, it sounds like you got through it all by yourself!”

  Another familiar voice from above them. Turning around, Chiho was just in time to see Urushihara land on the roof, white wings folded behind him. Their color stymied her.

  “Urushihara… Is that…?”

  They were no longer the jet-black that they were during the battle against Maou. They were a radiant, angel-like white. He turned his back to her, resentful at what she was paying attention to.

  “Dahh,” he groaned. “If I knew he was gonna try kicking this much ass, I woulda focused more on filling up my demonic force.”

  “Do not even joke about that, Lucifer,” Suzuno warned, eyebrows furrowed in dismay.

  “I’m not joking,” came the cool reply. “But let’s forget about that for today, okay?” Urushihara looked up at Libicocco, freshly bashed into the air by Suzuno. “That guy opened up a Gate and landed here in this school. That can’t be a coincidence. I gotta admit, I feel kinda at fault for this.”

  “As do I?”

  “Huh? …What?”

  Suzuno and Urushihara both took a breath—coming off as a highly unlikely team to Chiho—and then turned back to Libicocco. He was clutching the side of his body Suzuno’s hammer hit as he gradually landed on the roof.

  “…Lord Lucifer, and…the Scythe of Death?”

  “Mm?” Suzuno lifted an eyebrow. “You know me?”

  “Yes. You match the description that dung-beetle Farlo gave me. And…”