A few years later
The wind was different here.
Gentler. As if this part of the world had never seen the chaos I could summon. As if, for once, it had no fear.
I stood outside a small cottage at the forest's edge, watching as a young boy with silver hair chased a wooden stick around the grass, pretending it was a sword. Nearby, a woman with natural grey hair hummed softly while hanging clothes to dry.
Lichita. And Liebe.
I had seen her before. Prophesied the child's arrival. Then vanished from her life.
Now I had returned.
Not as a destroyer.
Not as a devil.
But… as a visitor.
"Is this really a good idea?" I muttered to myself, adjusting the black cloak draped across my shoulders.
Then, with a sigh, I stepped out from the trees and approached.
And I instantly felt my magic being absorbed but with my enhanced mana pools it didn't really matter.
---
At first, she didn't recognize me.
But when I said her name, Lichita froze.
Her eyes narrowed as she reached for Liebe and pulled him behind her.
"You… You're the one from back then."
I smiled gently. "Still sharp."
"You said a devil would come. You told me to care for him. And then vanished."
"I did," I said softly. "And I meant it. He's important."
She didn't move. "Why are you here?"
"Because I'm curious. And because… I don't have many people worth talking to."
She stared at me, suspicious.
And yet, when Liebe peeked out from behind her and gave me the tiniest of smiles… something shifted.
She didn't invite me in. Not at first.
But I kept coming back.
Sometimes I brought rare fruit. Sometimes stories. Sometimes just silence.
And slowly… over months… she let her guard down.
---
Lichita was many things.
Tired. Lonely. Stronger than she knew.
Liebe adored her. Called her "Mama." He was mischievous but sweet. He asked me about my powers, and I showed him harmless tricks levitating pebbles, controlling air currents, harmless illusions made from vibrating light.
"I wish I had magic…" he mumbled once, watching my fingers dance with violet energy.
"You have something better," I told him.
"What's that?"
"You have a heart. Magic can be copied. Hearts can't."
Lichita overheard that. She didn't say anything, but I caught her smiling.
---
Weeks passed into months. I never revealed my true name, only ever letting them call me a fake name I made up 'Adam Malek'.
And I never stayed too long. Always left before nightfall. Always from the shadows.
But for the first time in centuries, I felt something strange.
Contentment.
I was starting to think maybe I could get used to this.
But peace… is never allowed to last for devils like us.
---
That Day
I sensed it before it happened.
The atmosphere changed. The mana in the air grew dense. Wrong.
I was in the forest, gathering berries... yes, devils eat, get over it, when the sky shivered.
My body tensed.
"No…"
I bolted through the trees, Disaster Magic swirling behind me.
But I stopped before the clearing.
And I watched.
I had to.
Because interfering now… would change everything.
And I couldn't afford that.
Not yet.
---
Lucifero had come.
Not in his full form.
Just a fragment.
Just enough to seize a weak, defenseless devil.
Liebe.
I saw it. The way the boy writhed as the King of Devils forced his will into his body.
And Lichita... gods, Lichita she ran forward, arms spread, trying to save him.
Even as her curse drained the fragment's strength.
Even as she screamed and staggered, bleeding from every pore.
She fought him.
And she failed.
Lucifero's sneer twisted through Liebe's mouth. "Disgusting woman. This body… is mine."
Then his hand pierced her chest.
She gasped.
"...Liebe…"
But she didn't stop.
With her last strength, she reached for the grimoire floating beside them—blackened, five-leafed, cursed by fate itself.
And she sealed him.
Liebe was ripped from Lucifero's grasp and locked inside the book.
Lichita collapsed, lifeless…
Almost.
---
I was there instantly.
Catching her body before it hit the ground.
Blood pooled in my arms, thick and sticky, like molten despair.
But her eyes… fluttered open.
"Y-you… were watching…"
"I had to," I whispered.
"C-coward," she smiled faintly.
"Maybe," I said, voice trembling.
I began flying immediately as fast as possible.
I had only one destination in mind.
---
Clover Kingdom – Julius Novachrono's Study
Light flashed as I appeared, the scent of blood thick around me.
Julius blinked from behind a mountain of papers, eyes going wide.
"...A devil?"
"I need your help," I said.
His hands tensed but he didn't attack. Just stared.
"Her body's failing. Magic drain. Internal rupture. She has minutes."
He stood, moving faster than expected.
"How are you even here?" he asked, casting spell after spell to slow her dying.
"Later," I snapped. "Just save her."
"I...I don't know if I can..."
"Try."
Julius flinched at the venom in my voice.
Then nodded.
Stasis Magic. Temporal Lock. Vital Pulse Suspension.
He layered spell after spell even with her curse absorbing his magic, until her breathing stabilized. Barely.
She was comatose.
But alive.
"…You did it," I whispered.
Julius stepped back, eyeing me. "What's your name?"
I didn't tell him instead I raised a hand, and my own grimoire formed in the air beside me.
Five-leafed. Bound in dark steel. Pages whispering.
He stared, fascinated.
"Disaster Magic," I said.
His eyes gleamed. "Incredible. I've never seen a type like..."
I snapped the book shut. "That's all you get."
"Why bring her to me?" he asked. "Why not heal her yourself?"
"Because disaster magic is really more destructive than healing."
He looked troubled. "Will you come back?"
I turned away.
"No."
---
I returned to the forest clearing.
Liebe's grimoire was gone.
Just as it should be.
Vanished until the day it would find a certain magicless boy.
I stood in silence for a long time.
Then whispered:
"Good luck, brat."
I meant it.
For once, I actually did.
---
Somewhere far below the surface of the world, in a silent place untouched by time,
The Devil of Disaster closed his grimoire.
And disappeared into the shadows.
"Until canon."