Chapter 21: The Battle Against The Demon Lord of West Japan

            Kosuke picked up speed, he readied a massive strike, only for Barminius to block it with his own blade. Neither combatant budged, only their blades shook from the tension. They stood there, locked in, a battle of wills, Kosuke pushed with a mighty scream, the demon lord’s sword began to tilt towards it’s wielder. Barminius wrapped his tail around Kosuke’s ankle, the boy slipped backwards, falling hard onto the ground. Barminius dangled the boy upside down in front if him and sneered. Kosuke opened his mouth and spat a blessed fireball right into his opponent’s face. Barminius covered face with his hands as he screamed. Kosuke took to opportunity to try and cut Barminius’ tail off, but then the demon lord tossed the teen across the arena before he could lose his tail.

A microwave smashed through a window from a nearby apartment building, the demons down below only moved out of the way and continued to watch the fight that would determine the fate of Western Japan.

“You’re going to learn what it’s like to burn!” Barminius roared. He crossed his arms, creating blue flames in the palms of his hands. He spread out his arms, engulfing most of the arena in the blue flames. “Taste hellfire punk!” He shouted before laughing maniacally.

Kosuke’s breathing became labored. His shirt caught on fire, all he could see was twinkling bright shades of blue, he felt the lick of flames, was this what it was like to be burned. He let some of the hellfire take to his hand, he watched it. “No…this can’t be burning… burning is supposed to hurt. This… isn’t… pain.” Kosuke raised himself to his knees. “I’ve never seen flames like this before.”

“Why am I not hearing screams of agony? Is he already dead?” Barminius questioned.

“Um, my lord?” A demon piped up. “Hellfire can’t hurt innocent souls, it only burns sins. If that boy was a saint…”

“Crap!” Barminius realised. He let the hellfire go out, to reveal Kosuke unharmed, his clothing still intact despite having been on fire.

“But…I’ve killed so many people.” Kosuke let some tears fall for the lives he took. He stood up, adjusting the katana in his hand. “Now I know for certain I’m doing the right thing.”

“You had doubts!?” Yuzuru, Shingo, Kanako and Kotone shouted at him.

Without another word Kosuke dashed at Barminius, creating a blue hellfire flame on his sword. Kosuke slashed the demon lord’s chest, causing him to stumble backwards into the barrier. “Gah!” Barminius gasped. He looked down at his crest. “I-I’m bleeding…” His face twisted in anger. He charged at the teen who created a wall of hellfire to slow his advance. Barminius barrelled through, not caring that he was now on fire and every move he made burned like all the pain he had caused over seven hundred years. “Die!”

Kosuke was barely able to dodge. Orbs came flying at him again, but he had to focus on blocking the strikes from Barminius’ sword. The teen created a burst of fire from his hair to take care of the orbs, causing Barminius to become more annoyed. The combatants clashed swords, when Barminius knocked Kosuke’s blade away, the teen saw a chance to attack another part of the demon lord. Kosuke ducked and cut deep into Barminius’ leg, he then ran a few meters away to give himself a chance readjust his stance.

Kosuke put his back to his friends, he made a small hand gesture, pulled back his sword, ignited it with fire and charged. Shingo, Kotone, Kanako and Yuzuru, shouted in unison. “Kosuke!”

Hisakawa and Minami caught on. “Kosuke!”

A few voices within the demonic forces joined in. “Kosuke!”

High above the street, in a broken window of an apartment, Emiko screamed down. “Kosuke!”

With everyone channelling their hope into him, Kosuke’s flames turned white. The demon lord stopped in his tracks, realizing what was going on. Kosuke launched himself into the air, he struck Barminius, engulfing him in white flames. The demon lord went sliding across the ground, when he finally stopped, the barrier vanished and the captives were released. To ensure his victory, Kosuke put his foot on Barminius before extinguishing his flames.

The demon lord was badly burned, he could barely open his eyes. “d-do…it…kill…me…” He uttered. Kosuke raised his blade, and slammed into down into the platform, only nicking Barminius’ neck.

“You can’t create portals for me so I can launch a crusade on Hell if you’re dead.” Kosuke told him with dead seriousness.

Kanako fainted for a brief moment, luckily Shingo was able to catch her. Kotone climbed the platform and approached her boyfriend. “Kosuke-kun! You did it!” She started to open her arms for a hug, but immediately retracted them and politely held her hands in front of herself. “Congratulations.” She said to him.

Shingo dashed past Kotone, nearly knocking down Kosuke when he hugged him. “You won! Kosuke, you won!”

Emiko floated down from the window in a water bubble, which she burst the moment she reached the platform. “Shingo!” She called out as she ran to her big brother.

The long-lost siblings hugged each other. “Emiko, I’m so glad you’re alright!” Shingo exclaimed.

Kanako gently punched Kosuke. “Congrats on beating a demon lord. Don’t let this go to your head though, I’m still just as strong as you, if not more!” She squawked.

A nearby demon whispered to one of the other demons. “Did you hear that? Each one of the saints must be as strong as a demon lord.”

“We’re lucky that they just had a one vee one, otherwise we might not be alive right now. We should do what they say if we want to continue living.” Her companion told her.

Hisakawa and Minami stood over top of Barminius for a moment, Kosuke had managed to completely reverse their situation. The women sat the former demon lord up. Hisakawa created handcuffs around his wrists using her blessed metal. She then noticed Kosuke was beginning to sway, before collapsing into Yuzuru’s arms. “Can we get a medic over here!?” Hisakawa shouted out towards the crowd.

Kosuke woke up early the next day in a hospital bed, Shingo and Kotone were passed out in the couple of chairs that occupied the room. He gazed around, fully taking in his surroundings. “How much of that was a dream?” He asked himself. “Kotone-chan is still here, so the whole apocalypse wasn’t a dream.” He pulled himself into a more upright position. “Ow, ow, ow. Feels like the fight was real.” He then thought for a moment, contemplating what that meant, the words of his deal echoed in his brain. ‘If I win, you become my servant and I gain command over your legions, all the land you control, both on Earth and in Hell, all you have will be mine.’ Kosuke’s mouth parted as he realised what he had done, what he now was. A smile appeared on his face.

Hisakawa and a demon doctor walked in. The doctor demon bowed deeply. Hisakawa’s face lit up when she saw Kosuke. “Oh good, you’re awake. I was starting to get worried.”

“Is everyone alright? Where is everyone else?” Kosuke asked Hisakawa.

“Everyone is fine. Yuzuru-kun, Kanako-chan and Emiko-chan are keeping an eye on Barminius.” She then leaned in, and gave him a warm smile as she spoke. “Don’t you ever pull a stunt like that again.”

Kosuke returned a mischievous smile. “It worked though.”

Hisakawa giggled darkly, she leaned back and looked to the doctor, who adjusted her glasses and addressed Kosuke. “Um, uh, good morning, my lord. Your wounds are healing quite quickly. You should be fully recovered in a few days. Your face may be scarred, but it should be barley noticeable in about a year.” She explained.

“Alright, thank you.” Kosuke nodded.

“Is there anything else you need, my lord?” The doctor asked.

“No, I’m good.” Kosuke told her politely.

The doctor bowed deeply once again. “I will take my leave then.” She left without another word.

“That ‘my lord’ thing is going to take some time to get used to.” Hisakawa remarked.

“Yeah, it’s weird.” Kosuke agreed. “How is everything going? Like how is the city, were there any riots, or demons fighting back?” He asked almost franticly.

Hisakawa shook her head. “Actually, no. It’s been shockingly peaceful, things are tense though. I think you really scared them when you defeated Barminius all by yourself.”

“I can’t take all the credit, you are the slayer of house Fuzen-bocho.” Kosuke reminded her.

“Minami-chan is currently looking for Kanako-chan’s father. She should be back soon. Later today we should make a plan. You now rule over humans and demons, and many laws Barminius had, were not favourable to humans.” Hisakawa explained.

Kosuke understood. “Got it. We need to officially restore peace. Do you have some paper so I can start drafting my speech?” He asked.

That evening, Kosuke stood on the platform he had fought the former demon lord on, he had been given a microphone, and two large speakers were set up on either side of the platform. Hisakawa and Kotone stood to Kosuke’s right, Shingo and Kanako to his left. Yuzuru, Minami and Emiko guarded Barminius, watching Kosuke’s speech on a tablet. Demons all on the western side of Japan watched in anticipation and worry via screens.

Kosuke began. “All of this must seem unprecedented to you all. This is possibly the first time a human has ruled over demons, I’m sure you know that your way of life is about to change. As for my first decree as the lord of West Japan, humans and demons are to be equal in all ways and shall have all the rights of one another. As my second decree, slavery is abolished, a person may not own another. Third decree, cannibalism or eating another person is illegal. If anyone enslaves, murders or cannabises another from this moment forward, they shall be arrested and put on trial. As for property disputes, I’ll be setting up governors and creating guidelines to resolve those. I hope to lead us all into an era of peace and unity, which will hopefully spread to all lands on Earth and in Hell.”