chapter 275

Chapter 275:

–Ajuka Beelzebub–

“For fuck’s sake! This is why I hate humans—useless vermin, the lot of them!” Ajuka cursed, his voice echoing with frustration as he sensed his generals either unconscious or dead. He had granted them power surpassing that of most gods, yet they couldn’t even last a week. Granted, he hadn’t actually taught them how to properly utilize that power… but still!

All of his carefully laid plans were probably ruined, and he still hadn’t finished dealing with the Magical Girl menace. How dare she betray him! Their race had been on the precipice of world domination! His greatest ambition had been so close to realization!

“Sunshine Smasher!” Serafall snarled from directly above him. A giant hammer, appearing rainbow-colored but actually crafted from ice magic, materialized in her hands. She swung it down at his head with crushing force. Few knew that Serafall was, in fact, the physically strongest of all the Maous.

“You’re wasting your time, Serafall!” Ajuka raised his hand, dispelling the ice hammer with a burst of superheated fire magic before it could make contact. “Just give up. You got one lucky shot on me at the start, but you’ll never land another now that my guard is up.”

“Never!” Serafall shot back with an angry pout. “You threatened So-tan, so you have to die!”

Ajuka gritted his teeth in annoyance, regretting that spur-of-the-moment threat. Serafall could hold a grudge like no other woman he had ever known. While she wouldn’t be able to defeat him, she was doing an annoyingly good job of preventing his escape. He knew why, of course—she was buying time until that monstrously strong Fallen Angel arrived to slay him. He could already sense her approaching; her power was unmistakable and indescribable.

“I promise I won’t target Sona Sitri in retribution,” Ajuka said, desperation seeping into his voice as sweat beaded on his brow.

“Liar!” Serafall charged at him again, fury etched on her face. This time, an icy blue greatsword appeared in each of her hands. She wasn’t wasting any Demonic Power on making them look like pretty magical girl weapons—this meant she wasn’t playing around anymore. With both swords raised, she swung down at him, channeling an enormous amount of power into a single strike. Ajuka knew he could dispel the attack, but doing so would cost him precious Demonic Power that he needed to conserve for his fight with the Fallen Angel.

A short-range teleportation magic circle flared to life beneath Ajuka’s feet. It always stung his ego to dodge an enemy’s attack rather than countering it, but he swallowed his pride this once.

His eyes widened in shock when the teleportation abruptly failed. “What the hell!?” In a panic, he encased himself in a cocoon of flames, forming a desperate, last-second shield.

“I won’t let you hurt So-tan or Layla! Die!” Serafall roared, putting everything she had into her dual strike. The moment the icy blades touched the flames, they snuffed out the fire instantly.

Ajuka took the full force of her blow head-on. Blood spewed from his mouth as he was violently hurled from the sky, plummeting over a thousand meters before crashing into the forest below. His innate resistances were the only thing keeping him alive. Bruises marred his entire body, and two deep gashes on his chest marked where the blades had struck him. “My teleportation failed, and her blades snuffed out my fire magic instantly. How is that even possible?” he muttered to himself, struggling to comprehend the situation.

Serafall slowly descended, hovering 30 meters above him. The icy greatswords in her hands dissipated, unable to be sustained any longer. She was breathing heavily, drained from expending so much Demonic Power in a single attack. Despite her exhaustion, a vindictive smirk curled her lips. “Everyone always says I'm the weakest Maou, but no one knows how much I've truly mastered ice magic!”

Ajuka, pulling himself out of the dirt, came to a chilling realization. “You reached the impossible… Absolute Zero.”

Absolute Zero was a concept even he, with the Power of Imagination, couldn’t believe Serafall had actually achieved. Those icy greatswords of hers had reached an impossible temperature, rendering his fire magic useless. They had even managed to temporarily freeze him in place, disrupting his teleportation.

Fortunately, it seemed such an attack had taken a toll on her. He doubted she could summon those swords again in this fight.

He was severely injured, but she was nearly out of Demonic Power. Sensing an opportunity, Ajuka decided it was time to finish Serafall off and escape. But he couldn’t resist taunting her one last time. “You were right, Serafall! I was lying. I’m going to kill you… But I’m going to do so much worse to your baby sister. The Devils can’t afford to lose another pillar clan. I’ll destroy Sona’s mind. For the rest of her existence, her only purpose will be as a baby-making slave!” he gloated, his voice dripping with malice.

Instead of the expected rage, Serafall simply looked at him with pity. Confusion flickered in Ajuka’s eyes—until something massive suddenly gripped him tightly. A crushing force enveloped his body, lifting him into the air.

He was caught in the hand of a colossal, purple, angel-like construct. It radiated burning Light Energy. The massive angel raised its hand, bringing him level with its face. Embedded in its forehead was a large purple gem, and inside it, Layla, the 14-winged fallen angel, stared at him with fury blazing in her eyes.

“You just threatened to kill one of my previous lovers and turn the other into a mindless sex slave…” she said coldly. “I was planning on killing you slowly, but now, I just want you gone.”

The construct’s grip tightened, the pressure increasing dramatically. Ajuka screamed in agony as he felt his bones on the verge of shattering. Never before had he endured such humiliation, such helplessness. He couldn’t do anything against this woman!

‘No, I can’t die!’ Panic surged within him. ‘My race is doomed without me!’ He thrashed wildly, desperately summoning every ounce of his Demonic Power reserves to escape the crushing grasp of the giant hand.

But no matter how fiercely he struggled, he couldn’t break free!

–Layla–

Serafall had done far more damage to Ajuka than I’d expected. I caught the tail end of their battle and was amazed to see her wielding ice at the temperature of absolute zero! Ajuka bore two massive gashes across his chest, his attention entirely focused on Serafall. It was remarkably easy for me to sneak up on him—he was so consumed by anger that he didn’t even sense me summoning my Susanoo.

With Ajuka gone, the Devils would be effectively neutered. He wasn’t just a genius—he was *the* genius of their entire race. Without him and Serafall, their race would have imploded long ago under the weight of infighting and greed.

I tightened my grip, and my Susanoo mirrored my actions perfectly. Ajuka’s struggles ceased after a few seconds, his body going completely limp. I maintained the crushing hold for a moment longer, just to be sure he wasn’t faking. When my Susanoo finally unclenched its hand, his arms and legs hung like broken pretzels, bent at grotesque angles.

I set his mangled and unconscious body down beside Serafall and canceled my Susanoo. She was grinning at him vindictively as I landed next to her.

“You were pretty amazing, Levia-tan,” I said sincerely.

Serafall shuddered, then gave me a flustered grin. “Fuck, I really love it when you call me Levia-tan! No one else ever does! It gets me so hot and bothered. I just want to push you down and right here and now!” she said with hearts in her eyes–literally. She was using some kind of unconscious magic to turn her pupils heart shaped.

I felt myself grow flustered at her declaration, but this wasn’t the time or place, unfortunately. “Easy, girl. I still have to get back to the castle and remove all the Evil Pieces from the Slytherin students. The only reason Ajuka is still alive is because I want to figure out what kind of trap he put on those pieces inside them.” I almost gave in to my anger and killed him before I remembered that. I conjured a chakra-disrupting collar and placed it around his neck, making it extra tight. Unlike everyone else, I’m sure Ajuka would eventually find a way to escape his bonds—even with his heavy injuries.

That’s why I’m not planning on keeping him around after I get the information I need.

“I can’t believe I almost beat Ajuka one-on-one! I didn’t think I’d gotten so strong,” Serafall said once he was secured and we were back in the air.

“It was obviously the power of love and friendship that drove you past your limits!” I told her with the straightest face possible. In reality, I had secretly given her one of my blessings while she was asleep next to me the other night. I’d done it without her permission, and I felt a bit guilty about it, but I wanted to keep my girls safe. In hindsight, it was clearly the right decision—her power was nothing to sneeze at.

{The Magical Girl Maou, Serafall Levia-tan: Level 92}

It was an odd sight when we made it back to the castle. The place looked like a warzone. Dead or unconscious Hydra agents littered the landscape alongside the wreckage of destroyed tanks and heavy weapons. Steve, Frank, and Isane were all waiting in the Hogwarts courtyard when we landed.

I dropped Ajuka’s unconscious body next to Norman Osborn and Baron von Strucker. They both looked much worse for wear. The Green Goblin’s armor was torn to shreds, and his body was battered, black and blue all over. The Baron was covered in burn marks, evidence of the Punisher’s liberal use of his new alien weapons.

“Good work, everyone. We saved an entire school of students from becoming mindless puppets. Did we find the missing SHIELD agents, Steve?”

Captain America solemnly nodded. “We found their bodies down in the dungeons. They were all deceased, and it looked like they had been tortured as well,” he said, clenching his fist in anger.

“Make sure we collect all the bodies so I can revive them over the next few days,” I instructed. These men had been doing good work here at Hogwarts, and I wasn’t going to let them stay dead. For now, I focused on reviving the most important individuals—the ones in charge of the other SHIELD agents. I placed my hands over their bodies, and they were pulled back from the clutches of death—Lady Death had willingly released them for me, of course.

Three men sat up in a panic, their eyes immediately searching for threats. Steve crouched beside them, reassuring them that the danger had passed. Lady Death usually didn’t allow souls she released to retain memories of the afterlife. To these men, it would have felt like only moments ago that they were being tortured to death. They calmed down upon recognizing Captain America and me, but it would take them a while to recover fully.

The only cure for PTSD is time, or the erasure of memories. I tacitly refused to meddle with people’s minds except in dire circumstances. SHIELD had also declared most forms of mental magic illegal, including Occlumency, as it dulled emotions and could turn people into sociopaths. There’s a reason Snape was so messed up in the head.

Speaking of Snape… “Have either of you seen Severus Snape? Wasn’t he with Dumbledore when the old men took over the castle?” I asked Isane and Frank. Both of them shook their heads.

“I just got back here too,” Isane said. “The greasy-haired guy wasn’t in the room where the old guys were plotting world domination,” she pointed out. I realized that she was correct, we were so focused on the actual threats that he slipped all of our minds.

“I haven’t seen him either,” Frank said. “He might have escaped in all the chaos, if he’s smart. He has a pretty recognizable nose, though.” He cracked a small smile. “...He won’t get far before being spotted by a camera.” Frank wasn’t exactly a fan of how big brother SHIELD was in this world, but he understood the necessity when dealing with so many abnormal threats.

Our first order of business once we made it back inside the castle was to free all the teachers. Unlike the SHIELD agents, they were relatively unharmed. We found them locked away in one of the upper towers. I easily tore the door off its hinges.

“Thank you for rescuing us,” Headmistress McGonagall said to me. “I don’t believe we’ve been properly introduced.”

“We haven’t. I am Layla of the Fallen. I’m the one who locked up Dumbledore and his Order of the Crazy Chickens the first time. I’m also Heather Potter’s adoptive mother.”

The older witch nodded. “Yes, I knew about you being Heather’s mother from the Muggle internet.”

“It’s quite the genius invention,” Professor Flitwick said as he hopped over towards us.

“You are absolutely adorable!” Serafall exclaimed cheerfully. She reached down and enveloped the three-foot-tall charms professor in a big hug!

“Guwaff! Unhand me woman! I am a professor, not a cuddly toy!” he let out some indignant noises, but she wasn’t going to let him go that easily.

I chuckled and shook my head as I glanced at the other teachers who had been locked up in the tower. I had been pretty hands-off when it came to Hogwarts, so I didn’t recognize any of the other teachers here. Not even Hagrid remained on the campus after Dumbledore had been locked up. When it was discovered that he was responsible for the tens of thousands of giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest, he was unable to keep his job as both teacher and groundskeeper. At some point, stupidity turns into danger, and he unfortunately passed that point long ago. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t allowed within 100 meters of any school now.

“What’s happened since we’ve been locked up?” McGonagall asked me.

I gave her a small recap of what had been going on in the castle the past few days. When I told her that most of the Slytherin students had lost their humanity and were probably mindless Devil slaves, she looked mortified.

“We need to get down to the dungeons immediately!” she exclaimed in shock. “You can fix them right? A lot of those students have been getting better with the introduction to the muggle world, they don't deserve such a fate!” she exclaimed.

“What about students like Blondie and Blondie’s friend who both accepted it willingly?” Isane asked the older woman.

“Blondie?” the Headmistress asked, confused by Isane’s non-description. I explained to McGonagall that Isane meant Draco Malfoy and Theodore Nott.

[Both willingly pulled a Dio Brando and rejected their humanity!]

As a member of the non-human club myself, I can’t judge them for their choice, but I can criticize them for willingly agreeing to follow Dumbledore of all people. What did they honestly expect would have happened?

Our group made our way back down the stairs with McGonagall in tow. The rest of the professors went to check up on the students in the other three common rooms. They were also instructed to keep an eye out for Snape. We didn’t know if he was still hiding somewhere in the castle. There was so much ambient magic in this castle that I couldn’t sense a single wizard. Unlike Dumbledore, Snape had not been turned into a Devil.

“What is wrong with the stairs in this freakin’ castle?” Serafall commented as we finally made it to the dungeons. “Aren’t humans squishy? These moving stairs can’t be safe for students. One slip up and its SPLAT–GAME OVER!”

McGonagall raised her nose in the air. “Hmph! We haven’t had a single fatality in over 20 years. It’s perfectly safe. Wizards and witches are made of sterner stuff than the average Muggle. A fall from 30 or 40 feet won’t kill them,” she didn’t like people talking bad about Hogwarts.

“What about horrific injuries, though?” Isane asked.

McGonagall pointedly avoided answering.

“If either of my kids turn out to be magical, they’re never coming to this school…” Frank said, and the older woman grumbled in response. I decided not to mention that his son and daughter were both magical. Whether it was pure coincidence or because I awakened any latent magic in their bloodline after healing them, I wasn’t sure. All I knew was that Frank’s reaction would be priceless when both his kids received their letters on their 11th birthdays.

Eventually, we reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room. McGonagall, as the Headmistress, knew its location but had admittedly never been inside. With the removal of the Slytherin head of house last year, the students were now monitored by an alternating team of SHIELD agents to ensure they corrected their behavior and moved away from their deeply ingrained racism.

Since we didn’t know the common room password, I simply punched the wall in front of us. There was a hidden door concealed with some basic illusion magic. The door collapsed backward with a heavy thud. I ignored the glare McGonagall shot me for damaging school property. It shouldn’t be too difficult to repair with magic later, I don’t know why she was so upset.

The sight we encountered inside was unsettling.

“Okay, this is kind of messed up,” Isane said while taking a few steps behind.

“This is like the start of a horror movie, or the end of it,” Serafall added, even she sounded a bit unnerved. “I can’t believe Ajuka actually did this, even an Evil version of him…”

All the Slytherin students were standing in the middle of the common room, completely motionless. They were entirely mindless, awaiting orders from their devil masters. Ajuka might have succeeded in creating his perfect mind-controlled army if we hadn’t intervened in time.

“Have any of you seen Professor Snape?” I asked the unmoving students. Not a single one responded.

[Maybe they only respond to commands from a noble devil.]

That made sense. I asked Serafall to try giving them orders.

“Listen up. We’re looking for that ugly Snape guy! Has he been through here?” Serafall shouted. This time, there was a response. As if they were one organism, they all raised their right arms and pointed to a door at the back of the room. Their arms stayed raised and didn’t move afterward, awaiting further instructions.

“This is horrible. Please fix them, Layla!” McGonagall pleaded.

“I will,” I assured her. “But I can’t do that until I interrogate Ajuka and find out what he did to them. Before that, we need to capture Snape. He was locked up with Dumbledore when Ajuka freed them. He might have some information for us. I still don’t know how the Maou found out about them in the first place.”

I carefully navigated through the students and reached the door I suspected to be Snape’s old office. As expected, the handle was locked tight with magic. With a playful smirk at McGonagall, I proceeded to break down my third door of the day!

Frank stormed into the room with his weapon at the ready. “It’s clear—he’s not in here,” he called out to us, and we followed inside.

“Where is this guy?” Isane asked. “Didn't the zombie students all point here?”

“There’s no Floo in Snape’s old office. He couldn’t have escaped from here,” McGonagall said, glancing around the dusty room. It was clear that no one had been here in over a year.

Thanks to the neglect, I spotted a pair of footprints on the dusty floor, leading to a bookcase in the corner. “It’s always the classics…” I muttered to myself with a smirk. Behind the bookcase, a secret passage awaited.

“Please don’t break anything else, Layla. The castle has already taken so much damage today…” McGonagall pleaded as I prepared to rip the bookcase off the wall.

I pouted but eventually relented and let her handle it. With a wave of her wand, she cast a few unlocking spells, and the bookcase slid smoothly to the side.

Beyond it was a small room, housing a shrine of some kind. Snape was kneeling in front of it, as if in prayer. On the shrine sat a photo of a red-haired woman, a wand, and a few locks of red hair.

“Oh, Lily! I’m sorry it took me so long to get back to you! Muggle prison was awful. I thought I’d never escape! But I never gave up hope, and true love found a way! I’m back with you now, my love.” Snape reached for a lock of the red hair, bringing it to his nose and inhaling deeply. “Even after all these years, you still smell amazing, my love!” he declared passionately to the shrine of Lily Potter.

“Jesus Christ…” Isane muttered.

“Ow!” Serafall pouted at Isane while rubbing her head.

“This guy is absolutely messed up,” Frank said. “Can I shoot him?”

Snape hadn’t noticed the bookcase move or that we were no longer alone. His entire focus remained on his disturbingly creepy shrine dedicated to Heather’s deceased birth mother.

Heather was going to be pissed when she finds out Snape had been holding onto her mother’s wand all this time, keeping it locked up in this weird shrine.

[Definitely don’t mention the hair sniffing…]

XXX