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Chapter Text

“Phew. We finally finished.”

Wiping the sweat off his forehead was a young man named Asta. 

He was rather short, however, he made up for his lack of height with his incredibly well toned muscles. He had fair skin with green eyes and messy ash-blonde hair that was held up by a black headband with red-colored four-pointed star design on the front of it.

He wore a plain-white collared button up shirt over his torso and a red full arm glove with black finger holes. He had a brown double-prong belt around his waist which held a pouch shaped like a book. His belt held up a pair of black knee-high pants that were tucked into a pair of brown knee-high boots.

Asta had just finished hammering a sign above the double door of a two story building.

Climbed down the ladder he used to climb up and hammer the sign in and took a good look at the building in front of him and smiled proudly. 

The building was made of red brick, had a porch roof, and had a small set of steps that led to the building’s double door with a small sign that hung right next to it that said “Closed”. Above the door, the sign that he had just finished nailing in was on display; it was a big wooden sign that was painted black. The sign spelled the words “Devil May Cry” and had the design of a large greatsword going through the top of the word “May”.

“The sign looks great! Not bad, Yuno!,” Asta complimented, turning to his right and smiling at someone who stood right next to him.

To his right was a boy around Asta’s age that went by the name of Yuno.

Unlike Asta, he was rather tall and had a more lean body. He had fair skin, golden eyes and messy black hair; he got complimented on his looks quite frequently. 

His attire consisted of a black long sleeve shirt with a high collar, brown pants that were held up by a pair of brown belts that overlapped that held a pouch similar to Asta’s, and a pair of light brown boots. 

What stood out the most about his attire was how plain it looked compared to the beautiful necklace he wore. The necklace was made up of a gold chain that held a blue stone that had the design of a cross in the center and four-pointed stars on each corner of the stone.

“Thank you,” Yuno replied simply, a small smile gracing his face.

Asta walked up to the front of the double door and put his hand over the “Closed” sign.

“Now that we fixed up the place, Devil May Cry…”

The short meathead flipped the sign from “Closed” to “Open”.

“…Is open for business!”

As Asta looked back at Yuno with a smile on his face, ready for what the future had in store for them.

~One Week Later~

“Why hasn’t anyone shown up yet!?,” Asta groaned as he gripped his head in frustration. “It’s been a week already! We should have gotten a customer by now!”

“We only just opened and no one knows who we are. Of course we don’t have any customers,” Yuno explained. “Besides, it’s not like our sign advertises what we do.”

“Well, you’re the one who made it!,” Asta pointed at Yuno in annoyance.

“And you’re the one who came up with the name,” Yuno countered.

“Well, I didn’t hear you complain about it!,” Asta countered back.

Yuno opened his mouth as if he was about to retort Asta’s claim but ultimately decided to keep his mouth shut once he realized that Asta was right.

Despite winning the argument, Asta didn’t look pleased with himself in the least, sighing heavily before slumping into a metal chair that stood behind a large mahogany desk.

The room that they were currently residing in was the first floor area of Devil May Cry. It was a large, square shaped room that had white painted walls and a wooden floor; the room was mostly empty with the only objects occupying the room being the desk and the chair.

To the left side behind the desk was a staircase that led to a room upstairs while the right side behind the desk was a door that led to a small kitchen.

The somewhat empty room was filled with silence until Asta stood up and slammed the palms of his hands on the desk.

“Hold on! I just came up with a great idea!,” Asta proclaimed, smiling excitedly. “Why don’t we go around town and see if there’s anyone who needs our help! That way, we can tell people about the shop after we’re done helping them!”

Yuno’s eyes widened in shock as he realized how good of an idea that actually was. Not only was it a chance to get yul, but it would also attract future customers to Devil May Cry and possibly put their name on the map.

“That is a good idea,” Yuno admitted. 

Yuno’s look of surprise didn’t sit well for Asta as he stood up with an annoyed look on his face and pointed accusingly at the pretty boy.

“Hey, why are you acting so surprised for!?”

“Sorry,” Yuno dryly apologized. “ I just never would have expected a musclehead like you to come up with a good idea.”

“Oh. I guess I can understand why-,” Asta started calmly before completely processing what Yuno said and glaring at him. “Hey, you don’t sound sorry at all! And who are you calling a musclehead, you handsome jerk!?” 

Yuno looked unimpressed with Asta’s temper, choosing to turn and walk towards the door.

“Come on. We only have a few hours until it turns dark out. By then, there won’t be many people outside.”

“Don’t ignore me!,” Asta yelled as Yuno continued to not respond and walk toward the door. Seeing that Yuno wasn’t stopping, Asta got up from his chair and ran towards Yuno. “Would you stop walking away from me!?”

Currently, Yuno was trying to convince a red haired woman who had two children standing on each side of her and a baby strapped to her back to hire him and Asta as babysitters. The children and baby looked close to her in appearance, with all three of them having red hair, so Yuno assumed they were either her children or siblings.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I could afford your services,” the woman apologized.

“What if we were to cut the costs so that they could be more affordable for you?,” Yuno bargained.

Much to Yuno’s displeasure, the red haired lady shook her head no.

“I’m sorry, but even then, I wouldn’t be able to afford it.”

“I see,” Yuno accepted. “Thank you for your time. If you ever change your mind, you know where to find me.”

The red haired woman nodded before her and the children standing next to her turned and walked away.

Yuno let out a sigh of annoyance as he began to walk and look around for Asta. He thought it was a good idea if he and Asta were to split up and look around town for potential customers, that way, they would have a chance to talk to more people. So far, he had approached ten different people, and all of them said that they weren’t interested in his and Asta’s services.

“I wonder if Asta’s doing any better.”

“YUNO!”

Yuno let out another sigh as he turned toward the direction his name was called.

“Speaking of that loud mouth…”

Asta ran toward his business partner with a huge smile on his face, seemingly excited about something. Once he got closer to Yuno, Asta slowed down and came to a stop once he was face to face with him.

“You’ll never guess what happened! I found someone who wants our help!,” Asta exclaimed with his arms raised horizontally.

Yuno was shocked by this. Not that he wasn’t glad that his partner did it, but how was a loudmouth idiot with no manners like him able to convince someone to hire them when Yuno couldn’t.

“You did?,” Yuno questioned.

“Uh-huh,” Asta confirmed, as he smiled proudly. “I met this guy named Seihi from Saussy Village and told him all about Devil May Cry! So he told me that he was looking for someone who could get rid of some boars near his village and that if we did it, he’d pay us 100 yul for every boar we killed!”

Asta rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly.

“It may not be much, but at least it’s a start, right?”

Yuno couldn’t help but smile proudly at Asta; despite his flaws, he was able to find a job for them to do.

“It’s perfect. Good job, Asta.”

“Thanks, Yuno,” Asta accepted before looking expectantly at the pretty boy. “So, what about you? Did you find anyone that wanted our help?”

If Yuno was anything like Asta, he would have the decency to look embarrassed by this question due to him being told no ten times. However, since he was nothing like Asta, he looked at his business partner with a blank expression and answered in a neutral tone of voice.

“I was just about to find someone who would hire us.”

Asta blankly stared at Yuno for a few seconds before scowling and pointing his finger at him.

“You’re such a liar! Why can’t you just say that you couldn’t find anyone!? It’s not like it’s that big a deal!”

“I was about to come up with an effective strategy to get people to hire us,” Yuno stated, unaffected by Asta’s accusations.

“Yeah, right! Just admit you couldn’t find anyone already!”

Asta stared at Yuno angrily while Yuno stared right back at Asta with a blank expression on his face. 

*Growl*

Asta immediately looked down at his stomach, the source of the sudden loud, rumbling sound, and once again rubbed the back of his neck and sheepishly looked at Yuno with a smile on his face.

“We should go home and prepare dinner,” Yuno suggested. “You could tell me more about the job while we’re eating.”

“Sounds good to me!,” Asta accepted, forgetting the overdramatic angry way he acted towards Yuno. “Hey, can we have mashed tatoes tonight?”

“I don’t see why not,” Yuno answered.

“Alright!,” Asta cheered as he and Yuno walked side by side, ready to have a nice dinner after having a good day.

Alright, hey guys, Phoenix here, and I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of “Making The Devils Cry”. Although it may seem strange that Asta and Yuno own a business instead of becoming Magic Knights, I have a reason for this that will be explained over time. I thought it would be fun to somewhat make a crossover between Black Clover and Devil May Cry considering how interesting both of them are, which is why I made this story. Make sure to review, give me your honest criticisms, and follow and favorite if you liked the chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter, and until next time, later!

Chapter Text

Sitting across a small table from each other, Asta and Yuno were getting ready to eat mashed tatoes that Yuno had made.

“Wow, this looks amazing, Yuno!,” Asta complimented before taking a big scoop from his bowl and taking a bite. “This is awesome! They taste like the mashed tatoes we had back in the village!”

“That’s because they are,” Yuno revealed with an unamused look on his face. He liked tatoes as well, but he never understood how Asta could get so excited to eat them everyday. “I learned from helping Sister Lily whenever it was her turn to cook.”

Upon hearing Yuno mention ‘Sister Lily’, Asta visibly flinched which didn’t go unnoticed by his business partner. Yuno felt a pang of guilt for mentioning her name so casually like that and was just about to apologize to Asta.

“Asta, I’m-”

“Don’t worry about it, Yuno,” Asta interrupted, raising his hand to signify him wanting Yuno to stop. The muscle brained business man smiled sadly, yet reassuringly at his partner. “We shouldn’t stop talking about her just because of what happened. She deserves better than that.”

The smile on Asta’s face started to become more reassuring as he continued to speak.

“Besides, Sister Lily’s one of the strongest people I know. She’s going to get better, just you wait and see.”

Yuno looked at Asta with an unreadable expression before a smile graced his face.

“You’re right. I’m sure she’ll be just fine,” he agreed.

Asta smiled brightly and nodded, responding with a “Yeah!” before going back to eat his dinner.

As they continued on with their dinner, Yuno decided to start the conversation back up again.

“So, how did you manage to get us that job, anyways?,” the raven haired teenager asked.

“Oh, that?” Asta responded with his mouth full before swallowing the food in his mouth. “It was pretty easy, actually.” 

A few minutes after Asta and Yuno split up, the muscular loud mouth went up person to person to talk about Devil May Cry. Unfortunately for him, no one seemed interested in the services that him and Yuno could provide for them.

“Come on! I can fix your door in no time! And I’ll do it for a way cheaper price than anyone around!” 

The last person that Asta had gone up to before meeting Seihi was a restaurant owner who was having troubles with their door. 

“Like I already told you, I don’t want your help! I’m already having a repairman come to fix it tomorrow! Now, would you get lost already!?”

Before Asta could respond, the restaurant owner walked back into their establishment, leaving a frustrated Asta behind.

“Urrrrgh! I don’t get it!,” Asta complained while gripping his head in exasperation. “What’s with everyone!? Why does nobody here want my help!?”

“Hahaha!,” the sound of a man chuckling came from behind Asta. The young, ash-blonde business owner turned to see an old man with short gray hair and a mustache and goatee. “You’re new around Kikka, aren’t you?”

“Uhhh, yeah,” Asta answered with a confused expression on his face. “How could you tell?”

“I’ve seen your type around here plenty of times,” the old man responded.

Asta tilted his head in confusion, not understanding what the old man was saying.

“My type?”

“Young and bright eyed business owners, hoping to one day make it big,” the man explained with a smile. “Though I’ll admit, out of all the new faces I’ve seen open up shop around here, you’re the youngest.”

“Is that a good thing or a bad thing?,” Asta questioned.

“I didn’t really mean anything by it. It was more of an observation,” the old man assured. “Though usually people around here that start their own businesses tend to close down after a few months without any kind of connections to nobility or royalty.”

“Seriously!?,” Asta exclaimed, gripping his head in fear. “I don’t have connections like that! What am I going to do!”

The old man looked at the panicking ash-blonde businessman with amusement before deciding to assist him.

“You know, there is another way to keep your business open. And you won’t need any types of connections in order to do it.”

“Really!?,” Asta questioned, getting close to the man’s face, eager and curious. “What do I have to do!? Come on! Tell me!”

“Haha! Calm down,” the old man chuckled, gently pushing Asta’s face away. “You really want to know?”

“Of course!,” Asta responded eagerly.

“In that case, in order for you to have a successful business, you need to build up your reputation.”

“And how do I do that!?,” Asta asked, anxious to get the answer he needs.

“You’ll need to start by trying to provide your services for everyone, both inside and outside of town. The more people that know about your business, the more people far and wide will flock to you.”

“Okay, I get it now,” Asta replied with a thoughtful expression “I should try advertising my business outside of town too. That way, more people can find out about it.”

“Precisely!,” the old man confirmed. “Say, what kind of business do you own, anyway?”

“Well, it’s not just my business,” Asta admitted while sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. “My brother Yuno and I own this shop called ‘Devil May Cry’.”

“‘Devil May Cry’, huh? That’s quite a name you’ve got there,” the old man commented amusedly. 

“Ahhh, thanks! I came up with it myself,” Asta admitted proudly. “We’re basically an odd job shop. We’ll do anything. Fix roofs, farm crops, clean houses. Whatever you need, we’ll do it for you!”

“Whatever I need, huh?,” the old man repeated, while stroking his goatee. “Say, what’s your name, young man?”

“My name? It’s Asta,” Asta introduced himself.

“Well, Asta, my name is Seihi,” the old man introduced himself. “How would you feel about helping my village? It won’t pay much, but who knows, it might be a good way to start building up your reputation.”

“Seriously!?,” Asta asked rhetorically with excitement in his eyes at the prospect of getting his first job. “Of course! I’ll do whatever you need, old man!”

“And that’s pretty much how it went,” Asta finished telling his story, while simultaneously finishing his dinner. 

“I shouldn’t be surprised that you got us our first job through dumb luck,” Yuno sighed, looking at Asta with a deadpan expression.

Asta’s eye twitched at that comment before scowling and pointing at his brother.

“Oh, shut up! At least I was actually able to get us a job!”

“So, what time does he want us to be there anyway?,” Yuno asked, ignoring Asta’s outburst and collecting his and Asta’s empty bowl.

“He said to come after noon,” Asta answered, watching as Yuno began washing their bowls over the empty kitchen sink.

“In that case, I’ll be sure to wake up early and make breakfast. After we eat, we can head over to Saussy.”

“Sounds good to me,” Asta yawned while stretching his arms out. “I’m going to go upstairs and head to bed early. You want me to lock up the shop?”

“I’ll do it. I still need to mop the floors, so I won’t be going to bed for a while,” Yuno revealed.

Asta shrugged his shoulders before getting up from his chair and leaving the kitchen.

“Alright, suit yourself. Night, Yuno.”

“Goodnight, Asta.”

Once Asta left the kitchen, he climbed all the way up the stairs until he was met with his and Yuno’s bedroom. It was a rather large room, with wooden floors and white painted walls that matched the decorum of the room downstairs. For the most part, the room was empty, except for two beds at the opposite sides of the room and two small dressers that were placed next to both of the beds.

Asta changed out of his regular clothing and changed into his sleepwear, which consisted of a white long sleeve shirt and a blue pair of shorts. He looked at the glove that covered his entire arm before taking it off and throwing it to the side of his bed, where he had laid the rest of his clothes.

Unlike his left arm, Asta’s right arm looked incredibly peculiar, otherworldly even. His arm was black with red jagged markings that ran down the front and back. His fingers were bright red and resembled claws more than they did fingers.

He sat down on his bed and continued to look at his inhuman right arm, his expression growing stern as he continued to look at it.

“Sister Lily… I don’t care what it takes. We’re going to find whoever brought that demon to our village and make him pay!”

He gripped his right hand tight, determined to see his promise through to the end. 

After a nice and hearty breakfast of roasted tatoes the next day, Asta and Yuno made their way to Saussy Village. Their mode of transportation was Yuno’s magic broom, with him riding up front and Asta riding on the back of him.

Asta was gripping Yuno’s shoulders for safety, making Yuno feel uncomfortable with his brother riding behind him.

“Would you let go of my shoulders?,” Yuno finally spoke up, not being able to take much more of Asta’s grip strength. “I can’t concentrate on flying on the broom when you’re holding onto me like that.”

“Heh, heh, my bad,” Asta apologized, releasing his grip on Yuno and opting to hold onto the broom itself. “So, how long until we get to the village?”

“We’re not that far actually,” Yuno admitted, not turning back once to meet Asta’s gaze. “It should only take us a few more minutes until we arrive.”

“Alright!,” Asta cheered. “Just you wait, Yuno! I’m going kill way more boars than you!”

“Like that’s going to happen,” Yuno brushed off Asta’s claim with a confident smile. “I’m going to kill twice the amount of boars that you kill.”

“Oh, yeah!? Well I’ll kill ten times that many!,” Asta proclaimed.

“Not a chance,” Yuno replied with a shake of his head.

Getting wound up from Yuno’s nonchalant confidence, Asta got ready to up the ante.

“Then I’ll kill!- Huh?”

Before Asta could finish his sentence, he noticed that his arm was glowing red underneath his full arm glove.

“Uhhhh, Yuno. My arm is glowing.”

Hearing this, Yuno’s eyes widened in surprise before turning back and looking at Asta’s arm.

“Has that happened before?”

Asta shook his head in response, still looking at his arm in confusion.

“No, this is the first time I’ve ever seen it doing this. What the heck is going on?”

Yuno looked back in front in order to see where he was going, only for his eyes to once again widen in shock.

“Asta, you might want to look at this”

Turning his attention away from his arm, Asta looked forward and was surprised to see the sight in front of him.

“The whole village is covered in mist!”

Around the small village of Saussy, a dome of mist had formed, making it difficult for anyone coming into the village to see where they were going.

“This looks like the work of magic,” Yuno deduced, slowing the broom down as they got closer to the village.

“You think so!?,” Asta exclaimed, having formerly believed that the village was experiencing some weird weather.

Yuno nodded his head in response, furrowing his eyebrows.

“The area outside of the village isn’t affected by the fog at all. It’s possible that someone is trying to keep the villagers from escaping.”

“If that’s the case, then we need to help them!,” Asta declared.

Yuno silently agreed as he lowered his broom down to the ground. Once he landed the broom, Yuno dropped it to the ground as he and Asta rushed toward the village.

Just as Asta was about to rush through the mist, Yuno caught him by the shirt, stopping his musclebrained brother from running.

“Hey, what’s the big idea!?,” Asta shouted, trying to break free of Yuno’s grip. “We need to hurry before something bad happens to the villagers!”

“You won’t help anyone by getting lost in that mist,” Yuno countered before letting go of Asta’s shirt.

“Well, what’s your idea then, huh!?,” Asta yelled, raising his fist toward Yuno in anger.

Yuno looked at his brother with an unamused and deadpan expression.

“The mist is made of magic. You can nullify that magic using your sword.”

A blank expression made its way to Asta’s face before being quickly replaced with a look of realization. 

“Oh, yeah, you’re right!”

The book that hung from Asta’s belt quickly flew out of the pouch that was holding it and opened up in front of Asta. The book was black and tattered with the insignia of five-leaf black clover on the center of its cover. 

Materializing from the pages of the book was a large black greatsword, covered in dirt and grime. The sword’s blade and hilt were separated from each other, connected only by fuller. The greatsword resembled the greatsword design from the sign hanging above Devil May Cry.

“Stand back, Yuno! I’ll clear away this mist in no time!,” Asta declared as he swung his sword around the mist.

Yuno couldn’t help but look at his brother in exasperation as he worked on dispelling the mist magic covering the village.

“Idiot,” he sighed before following Asta.

Once Asta dispelled the magic plaguing, he and Yuno found themselves in the village square, standing across from the villagers, who were huddled up next to one another on the ground. Each and every one of them looked scared, some of them even began to cry. They were all covering their heads, prompting Asta and Yuno to look up, seeing what had the villagers so fearful.

Floating above the villagers heads were large shards of ice, large and sharp enough to impale them if they were to fall.

“Die”

After someone uttered that single word, the ice began to fall, heading down towards the heads of the villagers.

“ Wind Creation Magic: Wind Blade Shower ”

Floating in front of Yuno was a green book with gold ornaments around the edges and a gold four-leaf clover insignia on the cover. Over a dozen blades of condensed wind formed around Yuno’s body before flying forward and attacking the shards of ice, destroying them in the process.

“What’s going on!?,” Yuno asked the villagers, approaching them slowly. “Who did this to you!?”

The villagers didn’t respond, and instead looked toward a single body that was laid out on the floor, blood emitting from the person’s stomach. 

Once Asta noticed the body and saw the person’s face, he quickly rushed over and got to his knees. 

“Seihi!,” he cried out before grabbing onto the old man’s shoulders and shaking him. “Come on, get up! You can’t give up that easily!”

No matter how hard he shook the old man, Asta couldn’t wake Seihi up; it was already too late for him. Seihi had died a while before he and Yuno could arrive.

“No! Why!?,” Asta shouted, slamming his fists into the ground.

A young boy with messy blonde hair who was crouched down next to Seihi’s head rubbed his eyes as tears threatened to fall.

“You’re Asta, right?,” the boy questioned, causing Asta to look up at him. “Grandpa said you’d come. He knew it would be selfish to ask you this, but he didn’t have another choice.”

The boy stared pleadingly at Asta and Yuno as tears ran down his cheeks and snot ran from his nose. 

“Please… protect our village!”

Asta and Yuno looked toward the kid in surprise before Asta got up from the ground and looked toward the child with determination.

“You don’t need to worry! We’ll do whatever it takes to save everyone!”

A mix of different looks had appeared on the villagers faces. Some looked at the duo with skepticism, while others looked at them with a look of hope. 

However, whether the villagers believed in them or not, Asta and Yuno would do whatever it took in order to help them.

Feeling someone’s presence nearby, Yuno turned to his left and noticed a group of cloaked individuals standing away from the villagers.

“You must be responsible for the attack on this village,” Yuno deduced, scowling at the group. “Don’t think for a second you’ll get away with this.”

The person standing in the middle of the group removed his cloak, revealing his face. He was a man with incredibly pale skin, having short gray hair that he had combed backwards. He had slanted gray eyes and a large scar that went from the right side of his forehead all the way down to his cheek. 

In his hand, the man held a pocket watch which he looked at blankly.

“You’ve thrown me off my schedule. I don’t appreciate that,” the man commented. 

Hearing what the man had to say for himself angered Asta to no end. Returning his sword into his book, Asta removed his glove, revealing his monstrous arm for everyone to see. Reaching his hand forward, a large black spectral arm manifested from the palm, before grabbing hold of the gray haired man and slamming him hard into the ground.

“Who gives a crap about your schedule!?,” Asta yelled as the spectral hand disappeared. “How dare you attack these innocent people!?”

Recovering from Asta’s sudden attack, the gray haired man got up from the ground and reached into his pocket, pulling out a fang shaped piece of ice.

“Dealing with these riffraff would be a waste of my time,” the man addressed the piece of ice in his hand. "So instead, I’ll leave it up to you.”

The next word to come out of his mouth would quickly turn the tide in his favor.

“Summon.”

The man quickly let go of the piece of ice as it slowly began to crack before shattering and emitting a large gust of cold air. Asta, Yuno, and the villagers all shielded their faces until the gust of wind died down. 

They then looked toward the direction the shard of ice had shattered with shock. Standing in front of the gray haired man was a large three headed dog covered in ice from head to toe.

All three of its heads glared at Asta and Yuno, looking ready to fight with the two of them.

Looking down at his right arm, Asta noticed that the red markings that ran down the front and back were glowing red.

“So that’s why my arm was glowing before,” Asta realized before looking at the three headed canine and scowling. “I wasn’t expecting to run into another one of these guys so soon.”

His book once again floated right in front of him and manifested his greatsword from its pages. Asta quickly grabbed the sword before pointing it in the direction of the dog.

“It doesn’t matter how strong you are! I’m not going to let you demons hurt any more innocent people!”

Alright, hey guys, Phoenix here, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter of “Making The Devils Cry”. Next chapter will really ramp things up for the story, especially considering Asta and Yuno will be fighting Cerberus so soon. Make sure to review, give me your honest criticisms, and follow and favorite if you liked the chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter, and until next time, later!

Chapter Text

“ Rrrrrrgh! ”

The three headed demon dog growled loudly before scanning the area around it. Once it took notice of Asta, all six of its eyes focused on the undersized muscular boy and scowled once it noticed Asta’s corrupted right arm.

“ You… you are a mere mortal, yet you possess the power of a Devil. Are you a half-breed? ”

Gripping his greatsword, Asta glared up at the three headed beast, not at all intimidated by its terrifying appearance.

“No way! Like I’d ever be related to a monster like you!,” he yelled, lifting his right arm up to eye level and clenching his hand shut. “One day, out of nowhere, my arm changed! I don’t know how it happened, but as long as I can use it to help people, I don’t care!”

After hearing Asta’s response, the demon looked at the teenage business owner with great interest, though more specifically, he was looking at Asta’s arm.

“ How interesting… Tell me, was it you who summoned me to this world? ”

“It was I who summoned you,” the man with the scar revealed to the demon, garnering its attention. As a sign of respect, the man bowed his head to the beast, causing it to look at the man in intrigue. “Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Heath Grice. My master has told me many stories about you, Cerberus, Ice Guardian of the Underworld.”

‘His master?,’ Asta thought to himself in confusion.

‘ It seems like this man’s master is knowledgeable on Demons, ’ Yuno realized in his head. ‘ If we can get him to reveal who his master is, we might be able to find out who released that demon onto our village. ’

“ Enough with the pleasantries, mortal! ” the demon known as Cerberus growled. “ Tell me… what reason do you have for summoning me. ”

Raising his head up, Heath smiled up at Cerberus as he addressed the three headed ice demon.

“I ask that you help me wipe out this entire village.”

Heath then turned his attention toward the villagers, gesturing towards them with his hand.

“The people of this village have a meager amount of mana dwelling within them. They provide nothing of value to this world; they’re more like disgusting animals than they are human…”

Hearing this had caused Asta to get his sword even tighter than he had before and Yuno to glare sharply at the scarred man.

“…That is why I wish to dispose of them. The world would be a better place without them here.”

Cerberus had stayed quiet, which made Heath believe that the demon was carefully considering his words. Once it finally opened one of its mouths, he believed that the beast was about to finally give him an answer, however, that was quickly shown to be untrue once a beam of ice fired out of its mouth. The beam was aimed for Heath, trapping him inside the ice.

“Master Heath!,” one of the cloaked men exclaimed before Cerberus had decided to freeze him in solid ice as well.

One after another, Cerberus had frozen all of Heath’s men solid, not giving them a chance to react. It then turned its attention to people of Saussy Village, huddled together, shaking in fear.

“ The arrogance of you humans! Thinking you can so much as make eye contact with me, let alone ask for my help! You all disgust me! ”

Angered by the fact it had to be in the same presence as humans, it once again opened one of its mouths in order to fire a beam of ice at the villagers. Helpless in their current situation, they all closed their eyes in anticipation of being frozen solid. However, thanks to Asta, that never came to be…

“I won’t let you hurt them!”

Switching the grip of his greatsword from his right hand to his left, Asta raised his right hand towards the direction of Cerberus and manifested a black spectral arm once again. Using the spectral arm, Asta reached forward and grabbed the mouth that was about to shoot the ice beam and slammed it shut.

“ Grrgh!, ” the demon dog grumbled, not expecting to have one of its mouths forcibly shut.

The inside of its mouth began to fill up with ice until it completely froze shut and ice began to fill up its throat. Wanting the pain to end, Cerberus tried shaking Asta off of him, causing the ash-blonde teenager to flail around in the air.

“W-Woah! H-Hey, knock it off!,” Asta yelled, his spectral arm’s grip never wavering. “I’m starting to feel sick to my stomach!”

Tightening his grip, Asta used his spectral arm to launch himself toward Cerberus, catching the demon dog off-guard. As he got closer to Cerberus, Asta lifted his greatsword with his left hand as a means to strike the head that had its mouth incapacitated.

“HAAAAAAAAA!,” Asta cried out as he reached the demon's head, ready to strike down on it.

However, before Asta could land the attack, one of Cerberus’ other heads launched a large shard of ice from its mouth towards Asta. Catching sight of the ice shard from the corner of his eye, Asta’s body acted purely on instinct. 

He let go of Cerberus' mouth in order to get a two handed grip on his greatsword, positioning the sword as if he were swinging a baseball bat. Once the shard of ice got close enough to where he could hit it, he swung at it with the flat of his sword, causing the ice to get sent back toward the head that shot it at Asta. As soon as the ice shard had hit its head, Cerberus cried out in pain as Asta fell back on the ground, landing on his feet.

‘ Woah! I had no idea it could do that!, ’ Asta admitted in his head, staring down at his sword. ‘ So not only can this sword slice through magic, but it can reflect it too!? That’s amazing! ’

“Asta! Look out!”

Hearing the cries of his brother coming from behind him, Asta tore his gaze away from his sword and looked forward only to see one of Cerberus’ claws about to slice into him.

‘ Crap! I should have been paying more attention!, ’ Asta thought in a panic before lifting his sword up and using the flat of it to guard his body.

Luckily for Asta, he was able to successfully guard against the attack, though not without being sent flying backwards. After recovering from the attack and getting back on his feet, Asta stared up at the demon as it stared down at him with sinister smiles from both its unfrozen mouths.

“ No mere mortal has ever been able to injure me in such a way!, ” Cerberus admitted to Asta, who didn’t seem to care all too much. “ You… What are you? ”

“I’m Asta, a commoner from Hage Village. But more importantly…,” Asta drifted off as the pages from his book had started flipping before stopping on a certain page. Black and red miasma appeared around the tattered black book as a pair black metallic gauntlets, greaves, and shoulder pads materialized over Asta’s hands, feet and shoulders. The gauntlets and greaves had yellow eyes with black slits on the back of the hands, signifying that the weapon was very much alive. The shoulder pads had two spikes that curved upwards, giving them the appearance of horns. “I’m human!”

Cerberus stared wide eyed at Asta’s gauntlets and greaves, shocked for a second time that day. 

‘ This boy… Not only does he have the power of a Devil, but he also possesses a Devil Arm. ’

Asta dashed toward the demon dog, sword in hand and his gauntlets and greaves emitting small wisps of fire from them. 

‘ Whatever he may claim to be, this boy is no mere human! ’

Once Asta got close enough to Cerberus, his gauntlets had begun emitting more fire, coating his sword with flames. He then jumped up towards the head of the demon that had its mouth frozen shut before slicing at it with all his might. Thanks to the flames surrounding the bladed weapon, Asta was able to easily cut the head off, smiling happily as he saw the disremembered head fall to the ground and fade away into nothingness.

“ Arghhhhh!, ” Cerberus cried out in pain.

“How’d you like that!?,” Asta cheekily asked the Ice Guardian, pointing his sword at the beast. 

The two remaining heads of Cerberus scowled, growling in anger at having one of its heads cut off; its ice covered body had started turning red until its skin was red from head to toe. 

‘ What’s going on? It feels like this thing just got stronger all of a sudden, ’ Asta thought to himself, the smile he had on before quickly replaced with a concerned frown.

Without saying a word, Cerberus charged toward Asta at breakneck speed, not giving Asta time to react. The middle head opened its jaw as it got closer to Asta, about to chomp down on the musclebound shortstack.

‘ I’m dead, ’ Asta thought, unable to guard or block against Cerberus’ oncoming attack.

“ Wind Magic: Tornado Fang ”

Before Cerberus could bite down on Asta’s body, a horizontal tornado drilled into the side of its head, causing its body to be slightly pushed to the side.

“Can’t you do anything on your own? I can’t always be there to save you, Asta.”

Turning backwards, Asta saw that it had been Yuno who had saved him, using the power of his book in order to cast a powerful attack. In spite of Yuno’s taunting, Asta grinned at his brother, grateful to have been saved.

“Stop acting all high and mighty, pretty boy! Don’t forget I’ve saved your life before too!,” Asta reminded Yuno, who smiled back at his brother in response.

“Let’s call it even for now,” Yuno compromised, approaching his brother until he stood by his side.

“Sounds good to me!,” Asta accepted, lifting his sword over his shoulder, looking towards Cerberus. 

While Asta and Yuno were gearing up to take on Cerberus, the villagers had looked at the duo in shock and intrigue, awestruck by their power.

“Those two are incredible!”

“Such power! Is he really a commoner?”

“And from Hage Village to boot! I never knew someone so powerful could come from the Forsaken Realm!”

Recovering from the surprise attack. Cerberus glared at both Asta and Yuno, positioning itself so it could launch itself forward again.

“Try not to get in my way. The last thing I need is to have to pull your weight,” Yuno taunted.

“Yeah, right! If anything, you’d be the one getting in my way!,” Asta countered. “I can handle myself just fine, thanks!”

As the two brothers got into offensive stances, they smiled confidently, ready to attack at a moment’s notice… It was Asta who made the first move.

( Devil May Cry 4 OST: The Time Has Come )

Dashing toward the ice magic wielding demon dog, Asta once again reignited his greatsword using his gauntlets. Although momentarily caught off guard by Asta’s willingness to charge at it headfirst, Cerberus quickly recovered from its shock and dashed toward the swordsman as well. 

Once they were face to face with one another, Asta quickly threw his sword at Cerberus’ middle head as if it were a spear. Even though it was surprised by the attack, Cerberus’ middle was able to catch the sword with its teeth. 

“ Ha! Are you that desperate to land a hit on me that you had to resort to such a futile attack!?, ” Cerberus’ other head cackled mockingly. It wasn’t until it felt its life force slowly drain away that it stopped laughing. “ W-What’s happening!? What did you do to me! ”

The beast's eyes widened in realization as it figured out what was causing it to lose its vitality.

‘ This sword! It’s draining the mana from my body! How is this possible!? ’

Before Cerberus could let go of the sword, Asta jumped towards the head that held his sword in its mouth and delivered a powerful right hook imbued with fire. As Cerberus cries out in pain, it lets go of Asta’s sword, allowing Asta to grab it midair and slam it into the side of its middle head. 

“Your turn, Yuno!,” Asta stated, as he began falling towards the ground.

Using his wind magic to propel himself forward, Yuno managed to quickly reach Asta, jumping onto his brother’s back before using it to jump higher into the air.

“ Wind Magic: Crescent Moon Sickle ”

Extending his hand forward, a thin crescent shaped blade of air formed before flying forward and hitting Cerberus in its face. Unfortunately for both Asta and Yuno, neither of their attacks were enough to sever another of Ceberus’ head.

“This guy’s a lot tougher now! We’re gonna have to hit it with everything we got!,” Asta announced, having landed back on the floor and returning his sword into his book.

Landing next to Asta’s side, using his wind magic to carefully float safely down to the ground, Yuno wordlessly nodded as pages from his book started to turn until they landed on one specific page.

“ Wind Creation Magic: Swift White Hawk paired with Wind Blade Shower ”

In front of Yuno, wind began to take the shape until it formed into a large hawk while around him, over a dozen wind blades had formed. As soon as the hawk and blades of wind went flying forward toward Cerberus, Asta ran alongside wind creations, raising his gauntlet-covered fists towards his face, ready to fight.

Recovering from Asta and Yuno’s previous attack, Cerberus wasn’t ready to defend itself against Yuno’s wind spells as the blades attacked both its heads while the hawk focused on its middle head. Using its beak as a means to pierce the demon, the wind hawk attacked Cerberus once before completely dissipating, though not without having dealt a great amount of pain to the demon dog.

“ Uraghhhhhh!, ” the beast roared in agony.

Having had enough of being attacked, Cerberus slammed its paws into the ground, causing large pillars of ice from the ground, guarding itself from oncoming attacks. Fortunately for the two brothers, Asta’s gauntlets and grieves were enough to handle those pillars of ice.

“Don’t think you’ll be able to stop us so easily!,” Asta yelled, breaking through the pillars with a barrage of flame-enhanced punches.

Once he had broken through all the pillars, Asta quickly made his way up to Cerberus’ middle head and brought his right arm back, ready to punch it with all his might. Cerberus, however, was ready for the oncoming attack and raised its right paw and swept it at Asta.

Smiling cockily, Asta let go of his fist and reached his arm out, causing his spectral arm to manifest for a third time that day, reaching and grabbing onto Cerberus’ right front leg, stopping the attack. He then let go of the leg before swiftly grabbing onto its middle head and lifting it and its entire body into the air. As Asta looked up at the demon dog as it tried and failed to wiggle free of his grip, his right eye turned red as he smiled sinisterly at the demon.

“It’s over! You lose!,” he yelled before throwing Cerberus high into the air. 

As Cerberus began to fall back down, Asta caught it by the neck with his spectral arm, choking it in the process. He pulled the demon dog towards him before releasing the demon dog as it flew towards him. Tightening his fist and his spectral fist, Asta jumped toward Cerberus and punched its middle face as hard as he could, causing the head to fly off its neck and crash into one of the villager’s houses.

“Ahhhhhhhh!,” Asta screamed, using his spectral arm one more time to grab onto Cerberus’ final remaining head and slamming it into the ground as hard as he could.

Panting heavily, Asta stared down the heavily injured Cerberus as his spectral arm disappeared and his right eye turned back to normal. 

( OST Stops )

“Not bad, Asta,” Yuno complimented his brother as he approached his side.

Turning to look at Yuno, Asta smiled tiredly, slowing his panting down as his breathing started turning back to normal.

“I * pant * told you * pant * I could * pant * handle it,” Asta replied cockily before he was able to breathe normally again. 

Scowling at the ice-coated demon, Asta’s greatsword materialized from his black tattered book. Taking the sword, Asta approached the demon with Yuno by his side until they were both in front of the downed beast and raised the tip of the blade in front of its face.

“ You two… are truly strong for a pair of mortals, ” Cerberus begrudgingly admitted, groaning in pain as it raised its head toward Asta and Yuno. “ I acknowledge your abilities. Take my soul and wield it as you please. You have my blessing. ”

Before the duo of business owners could say anything, Cerberus’ body started glowing pure white before completely fading away, leaving a small floating light in its place. The light descended toward Asta, as the young ash blonde reached his left hand out and grabbed the light. Once the light had made contact with Asta’s hand, the light disappeared and its place was a triple nunchaku held together by metal ring and black chains while its rods were colored icy blue.

Looking down at the weapon for a moment in amazement, Asta put his greatsword back into his book and started to test out the new weapon for himself. He swung the weapon around masterfully, as if he had been training with the nunchaku for years. He quickly tossed it into the air before lifting his hand up and putting his hand through the nunchaku’s ring. He then proceeded to swing it around using his wrist, until tossing it into the air again, and catching the weapon by two of its rods. Asta then held one rod up and the other down, posing and showing off the nunchaku to his brother.

“So, what do you think?,” Asta asked, stopping his pose while holding the weapon proudly. “Pretty cool, huh?”

“Not bad,” Yuno admitted with a smirk. “Then again, if I were to have them, I’m sure I’d be able to put them to better use than you.”

“Whatever you say, pretty boy!,” Asta scoffed, holding his nunchaku over his book before letting go of it, causing the book to open up and suck the weapon into its pages. Suddenly, Asta’s eyes scrunched up in confusion as shoulders started to slump. “Huh?”

Without warning, Asta fell over on his back, causing Yuno to look down at his brother.

“Asta!,” Yuno exclaimed, crouching down to check on his brother’s condition. However, Asta’s condition was quickly diagnosed once Yuno noticed that he was still breathing, palming his face in annoyance. “That idiot… he fell asleep.”

Hours later, Seihi’s body had been buried on a hilltop near the village due to the deceased village chief’s appreciation of the view. Crouched over his grave was his grandson, Nick, who was close to tears after having lost his grandfather. His sister, Anna stood behind Nick, worried for her brother.

“Please, Nick, we should go home now,” she begged, pressing a doll she had in her hands against her chest.

“Just a few more minutes, okay?,” Nick pleaded, not moving from where he was crouched over. “Grandpa always used to love the view from up here.”

“I’m sorry for interrupting, but we’d like to pay our respects to Seihi as well.”

Turning their heads backwards to see who was talking, Nick and Anna saw that it had been Yuno who was walking alongside Asta.

“You want to pay respects to Grandpa?,” Nick uttered in surprise. “But why? You guys barely even knew him.”

“Yeah, I know that, but still,” Asta began, rubbing the back of his neck with his right hand, which was covered by his full arm glove once again. “Seihi gave us our first job when no one else would. We’re really grateful to him for that, so the least we can do is pay our respects.”

Yuno nodded in agreement before deciding to add something, “We heard from the villagers that your grandfather died protecting your village. He must have truly cared for this village if he was willing to risk his life to protect everyone.”

After listening to Asta’s reasoning for visiting his grandfather’s grave and Yuno’s kind words, Nick turned to look towards the sunset as tears ran down his cheeks.

“Grandpa always dreamed of becoming a Magic Knight. It’s what he wanted more than anything,” Nick confessed, causing Asta and Yuno’s eyes to slightly widen in surprise. “And… he regretted it his whole life.”

“What did he regret?,” Asta questioned the blonde boy in intrigue.

“He said he should have worked harder when he was young. Then maybe he could’ve become a Magic Knight, just like he dreamed of,” Nick revealed, before wiping his tears and turning toward Asta and Yuno. “But even though he didn’t make it in, he was happy, because he loved looking after the village!”

Getting on his own two feet, a look of determination made its way onto Nick’s face, gripping his fists tight as he asked the duo of businessmen a question.

“Still though… I don’t want Grandpa’s dream to disappear just because he’s not here anymore. So do you think… if I work hard every day… Do you think that I can become a Magic Knight!?”

“Of course you can!,” Asta told the boy, causing Nick to look at Asta in awe. “It’ll be tough for you to get on a Magic Knight squad because you’re a commoner, but as long as you work hard and never give up, I know you can do it!”

Walking towards Nick, Yuno smiled at the boy, “Even if it feels like it’s impossible or hopeless, you should never give up on your dreams.”

“I won’t! Thank you, guys!,” Nick smiled at the brothers, feeling a bit better about his grandfather’s death. Out of a sense of curiosity, there was one more thing that Nick wanted to ask them. “Hey, Asta, Yuno? Can I ask you guys something?”

“I don’t mind,” Yuno allowed.

“Sure! Ask me anything!,” Asta agreed, smiling encouragingly.

“What are your dreams?,” Nick asked.

Turning to face one another, Asta and Yuno smiled and nodded at each other in understanding before answering Nick’s question simultaneously.

“ My dream is to one day become the Wizard King! No matter what it takes! ” 

Alright, hey guys, Phoenix here, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter of “Making The Devils Cry”. Glad to have been able to get the Cerberus fight written. I had a lot of fun writing it. The next chapter is going to finish off the Saussy Village Arc and wrap up some of the loose ends this chapter may have, which I’m definitely looking forward to because I’m looking forward to slowly revealing the mysteries behind Asta, Yuno, and Devil May Cry. Make sure to review, give me your honest criticisms, and follow and favorite if you liked the chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed, and until next time, later!

Chapter Text

Standing in front of Saussy Village was a young man in his early twenties with shaggy brown hair. He looked out towards the distance with a look of worry, tapping his foot impatiently.

“I wonder what could be taking them so long,” he wondered aloud. “Surely those boars aren’t as powerful as that magical beast they fought.” 

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

Snapping him out of his worried stupor, the young man heard screaming coming from farther away. As it got closer, the brunette saw that the source of the yelling was Asta, as he and Yuno were racing against one another to see who could make it to the village first.

Over Asta’s shoulder, he carried the dead bodies of four incredibly huge boars while using his spectral arm to carry six more corpses. Meanwhile, Yuno was using his Wind Magic to hold up ten additional boar corpses in the air.

Once they made it to the village, Asta and Yuno stopped in front of the young man, as he looked at the pair of brothers in confusion.

“So… who got here first?,” Asta wheezed, panting heavily as he looked towards the young man expectantly.

“Uh, I think you two tied,” the young man answered, while Asta and Yuno looked disappointed by the results of their race.

“Ah, come on! I was so sure I was going to beat you this time!,” Asta whined to Yuno who didn’t look all that impressed with him.

“Not in a million years,” Yuno replied stoically, lowering the boars he was carrying to the ground with his magic.

Asta looked annoyed by Yuno’s taunt, muttering a simple “Whatever” before lowering the boars he had in his spectral hand to the ground and shrugging the remaining boars off his shoulders.

“Anyway, sorry we took so long,” the ashen-blonde musclehead apologized to the young man. “Those boars were a lot bigger and stronger than we’d thought they’d be.”

“We told you that you didn’t have to hunt them for us anymore,” the young brunette replied, referring to himself and his fellow villagers. “We would have gladly given you two your payment after defending our village from that beast.”

“No way!,” Asta quickly denied, shooting down the idea. “It would’ve been wrong to take that money without even doing what we were hired to do!”

Yuno nodded his head in agreement, causing the young man to smile at the two teenagers appreciatively. 

“You’ve got good hearts, boys. You’ve more than earned this.”

The young brunette then took two small bags of yul from his pocket and handed one bag to Asta and Yuno. Asta holds his bag in his hand and looks at it with stars in his eyes while Yuno looks at his bag with a smile of satisfaction on his face.

“I wish we could give you guys more, but we could only afford to give you what Seihi had promised,” the young man explained apologetically.

“Are you kidding!? This is perfect!,” Asta assured, looking through his bag happily. “I’ve got about 1,000 yul in here! That’s enough for a whole bag of tatoes!”

“I’m going to buy some meat with my share,” Yuno revealed, not too keen on the idea of using all of their money to buy tatoes.

“Great idea, Yuno!,” Asta told his brother excitedly. “We can have a steak and tato dinner to celebrate finishing our first job! Doesn’t that sound awesome!?” 

As Yuno smiled and nodded in response, the young brunette from Saussy Village couldn’t help but smile warmly at the sight of the brothers.

“Oh I almost forgot to ask,” Asta began, snapping out of his excitement at the prospect of eating meat and tatoes. “Were you able to break through the ice yet?”

After being led to the center of town by the young man with the shaggy brown hair, Asta and Yuno were faced with the men who had attacked the village, frozen in a pillar of ice.

“We got everyone with fire magic together to try and melt the ice, but no matter how many times we’ve tried, we weren’t able to melt it.”

“Let me give it a try then!,” Asta suggested with a stern expression on his face. 

“Well, if anyone can do it, it’d be one of you,” the young man relented before shrugging his shoulders. “I say go for it. Not like there’s anything to lose from you trying.”

He then pulled a blue book with a golden three leaf clover insignia on the cover out of a pouch he had hanging on the waist of his pants.

“Luckily, my grimoire has a binding spell, so I’ll be able to restrain them once they’re free.”

Asta nodded his head at the young brunette before his grimoire floated from his pouch to right in front of his torso and opened itself up. As soon as his greatsword manifested from the pages, he quickly took it and readied himself to swing it. Behind him, Yuno had his grimoire open as well, readying an attack spell in case something went wrong.

‘ This is it. Our chance to find out who released that demon on our village, ’ Asta thought to himself as he tightened the grip on his greatsword.

“HRRRRAGH!”

Swinging with all his might, Asta managed to break through the ice in one attack, freeing the villages’ attackers from being frozen.

“ Water Magic: Water Binding Whips ”

Using the power of his grimoire, the young brunette was able to restrain the criminals with whips made out of water. The attackers attempted to try and break free from their restraints, but they were unable to do so. Seeing that they weren’t able to escape, Asta walked up to Heath and pointed the tip of his greatsword towards his face.

“Listen up… I want you to tell me everything you know about this master of yours!,” the ashen-blonde swordsman growled. “Was he the one who released that demon onto our village!?”

“I’m under no obligation to tell you anything about my master,” Heath replied calmly, unconcerned with the sword being pointed at his face. “Threatening my life isn’t going to change that.”

“Urrrrrrrrgh! Why you…!” Asta trailed off, suppressing his anger and hatred towards the man in front of him.

‘ How peculiar… I can’t seem to sense Cerberus’ presence, ’ Heath  noted curiously. ‘ I doubt a noble demon such as him would leave common trash like these three alive. ’

“You,” he began, referring to Yuno. “Tell me… where is Lord Cerberus?”

A small smile appeared on Yuno’s face before quickly turning into a cocky and confident grin.

“That demon never stood a chance against Asta and I.”

“What an obvious lie,” Heath brushed off Yuno’s answer. “The only ones that are capable of defeating a beating as powerful as Lord Cerberus are those with royal blood, the Magic Knight captains, or the Wizard King himself. As if two no name kids could ever injure Lord Cerberus, let alone best him in battle.”

Smiling cockily, Asta pulled his triple nunchaku out from his grimoire with his free hand and showed it to Heath.

“You sure about that?”

 The nunchaku had somehow changed from an icy-blue color to pure black color since entering Asta’s grimoire. Sensing Cerberus’ presence in the nunchaku, Heath’s eyes widened in shock and awe.

‘ Impossible! They actually managed to defeat Lord Cerberus!? How is this possible!? ’

“Now tell us what we want to know already!,” Asta demanded, having returned the nunchaku to his grimoire and pointing the tip of his greatsword at Heath again. 

“You could either tell them now, or we’ll have the Magic Knights get the information out of you,” the young brunette villager stepped in. “Either way, the information is going to get out.”

“It will not,” Heath declared confidently, causing Asta, Yuno, and the villager to scowl at him. “The end times are upon us.”

Before anyone could question what he had meant, Heath’s body began to glow purple.

“He’s using a magic item! He must have it hidden somewhere on his body!,” the young brunette realized before turning to Asta. “Quick! Stop him before he’s able to fully activate it!”

However, it was already too late…

“ Ice Magic: Ice Burial ”

As soon as the spell had activated, Heath and his men had turned to ice before breaking apart and fading away. 

“He… he just sacrificed their lives without a second thought,” the young brunette uttered in shock.

Yuno clenched his fists in anger, not uttering a single word after what had just happened. 

‘ That was our chance to find out who attacked our village! And it slipped from our grasp!, ’ the wind mage thought in frustration.

“How could he just treat life like it's nothing!?,” Asta snarled, trying his best to suppress his anger. “I’ll never understand that! Never!”

Hours had passed since the death of Heath and his men. It was evening, and Asta and Yuno were standing in front of the village’s entrance, alongside the young brunette villager that had restrained his village’s attackers.

“Once again, I’d like to thank you two for saving our village and avenging my father’s death,” the young man told the two teenagers, bowing in respect. 

“There’s really no need to do that,” Asta awkwardly assured him, uncomfortable with being bowed to.

“Nonsense! As the new chief of Saussy Village, this is the very least I can do!,” the young man brushed off Asta’s humbleness. “I just wish I could do more to reward you both.”

“You told us that you would have the Magic Knights investigate those attackers for us. That’s more than enough,” Yuno assured the young village chief with a small smile.

“Yeah! You have no idea how much that means you us!,” Asta agreed with a huge smile. “Seriously, thanks a lot!”

Assured by the brothers’ attempts at easing him , the new village chief decided to accept their words and smile back at the two in silence. The quiet was then swiftly interrupted once a black bird with black horns on its head, red feathers covering its face, and white feathers covering its stomach landed on Asta’s head. The bird had something purple and shiny in its mouth, which it used to peck Asta’s head.

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!,” Asta yelled in pain, trying and failing to grab the bird as it flew off his head and into the air. “What do you have against my head, feather brain!? You wanna fight!?”

“An anti-bird?,” Yuno questioned aloud before noticing the shiny purple thing in its mouth. “What’s that in its mouth?”

“Huh?,” Asta uttered, stopping his attempted attack on the bird to consider what Yuno had just said. The bird slowly approached Asta before dropping the shiny purple thing from its mouth and into the swordsman’s hands. Taking a closer look, Asta noticed that the purple thing was a stone with the pattern of a crescent moon with three stars. “It’s a stone.”

Noticing what it was that the bird had given to Asta, the young village chief’s eyes widened in surprise. 

“I recognize that stone. It’s a charm that belonged to my father.”

“SERIOUSLY!?,” Asta exclaimed. Flabbergasted by what the bird had given him, Asta quickly tried to give Seihi’s charm back to the young brunette. “Sorry about that! Here you go!”

The new village chief chuckled before pushing the hand that held the charm back towards Asta. 

“Keep it. Consider it a token of gratitude for everything you’ve done.”

“Oh. O-Okay,” Asta accepted, surprised that the young man would give such a precious charm that belonged to his father to him.

The anti-bird once again landed on Asta’s head, ruffling its feathers before quickly falling asleep.

“Looks like that anti-bird has taken an interest in you, Asta,” Yuno commented amusedly, finding humor in the fact that the anti-bird had made Asta’s head its new home.

“Come on, seriously!?,” Asta loudly complained, not finding the situation as humorous as Yuno had.

The young brunette laughed at Asta’s predicament while Yuno quietly chuckled to himself, causing the young ash-blonde business owner to focus his ire on the two of them.

“This isn’t funny!,” he yelled, failing to stop the laughter or wake the anti-bird up. Lifting his head towards the sky, Asta let out his frustration by yelling at the top of his lungs. “URGGGHHHHHH! MY HEAD IS NOT A BIRD’S NEST!”

In a dark room with cobblestone floor, a cloaked man dressed similarly to Heath’s men was crouched down on his knee, looking up at a man wearing a golden cloak with a blue fur trim around the neck of the cloak.

“I see… so Cerberus has been defeated, and Heath chose to sacrifice himself,” the man with the golden cloak recounted what he had just been informed. “Not only that, but the magic stone fell into the hands of the two children who managed to defeat Balrog.”

“That is correct,” the other man confirmed.

Turning away, the golden cloaked man did not seem the least bit tense or nervous about this new development.

“No matter. We can retrieve the magic stone from them at any time. And if they think that they can defeat me simply because they beat two of my demons already…”

Reaching into his pocket, the man with the golden cloak pulled out a brown feather and grasped it tightly.

“…They will quickly realize they are sorely mistaken.”

Alright, hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter of “Making The Devils Cry”. Sorry this chapter is so short, but that’s because it serves as an epilogue to the Saussy Village arc. Next chapter should be longer, as it sets up the beginning of the Dungeon Exploration arc. Make sure to review, give me your honest criticisms, and follow and favorite if you liked the chapter. Also, comment what you think the new demon I teased will end up being. I hope you guys enjoyed, and until next time, later!