Jump 10: Devil Survivor - Days 4-6 Ascent to Self Doubt and Revitalizing Ones Ideals

It had been a while since I experienced such a lively morning. Kaido was testing his strength against Bruce and Leo, Alice was teaching Yuzu a bit of magic, Midori and Sgt. Shock were just getting excited over the thought of helping people, Psychic and Flyer were discussing the demon summoning program, and Keisuke and Flyer talked about the lockdown and the current state of Tokyo. The Laplace mail wasn’t really helpful. I think changing events so drastically from what it calculated caused it to start malfunctioning. All that really mattered is that it told us that Haru was going to attempt suicide. Yuzu was devastated to hear it, so I assured her we’d save Haru for sure. I kept her in charge of checking the time so we wouldn’t be too late.

            Facing the first day where we could just do whatever, I took Alice, Kaido and Atsuro with me to wander the city and gather information. Everyone else would exclusively focus on hunting demons and saving people until it was the time to go save Haru. Karen would contact me through her pactio when the time came.

The first person my group ran into was Amane. She was giving a speech in the park and approached us when she finished. She asked me some questions about God and the current ordeal he sent us. I don’t think she really liked my answers, but I wasn’t about to lie. I asked her a few things about the summoning server and she gave me some cryptic answers. Tucking the information away for later use I asked her what she knew about the War of Bel. That question caught her off guard, but I persisted she give me some information so I could take the fight to the Bels myself. I’m not sure at what point I caused it, but soon Amane was possessed by the angel Remiel. He told me that seeking out the powers of the Bels selfishly would only lead to humanities ruin and I told him I wanted the power for the sake of humanity in response. With such a vague answer I was surprised that he told me that one of the Bels was actually inside Amane’s soul. She had been weakened from a previous battle, so there was no rush to defeat her. But her power would return in about three days, so if I planned on becoming the King, I would need to access her soul and free her. I thanked the angel for the information and her simply warned me not to disappoint God.

While still in the park, we ran into Gin. He was looking at the gathered people with a look of anger, so I asked him what was wrong. I got a bit more than I bargained for when he told me about Aya, his missing lover. She was last seen getting into a car with a Shomonkai member. As a sucker for depressing stories, I ended up promising to help him out too. We spent a couple hours defeating demons around Tokyo and ended up around the Shomonkai headquarters. The man that had been trying to convince Haru to seek the Shomonkai’s assistance was there. Atsuro and I asked him some questions. We learned that his name was Azuma and he confirmed that the server wasn’t in a place reachable through normal means. He brought the Founder out for us to ask questions. I asked him about the war of Bel and Belial. He gave some usual information. It seems that the god the Shomonkai are worshiping is a Bel.

After leaving the Shomonkai headquarters we encountered Gin, who was wondering how so many COMPs got distributed. The general consensous we came to was that the Shomonkai were the most likely suspects. Parting ways with Gin, we found Honda and I asked him how things were going. He tried looking for a way out on his own, but it was all for naught. He was more desperate than anyone I had ever met in that moment. I decided to put an end to his time in the lockdown. The second I thought it, I saw his death clock disappear and knew I would get him out. He told me of an explosion at a temple that happened six months ago that he believed to be connected to the lockdown in some way as we approached the least guarded area. I took Honda’s COMP away and told him to wait. Alice already knew what I was planning and had precast a binding spell. I tasked Atsuro and Kaido with keeping me safe as I prepared to do something I had never attempted. Accessing my Psychodiver abilities I began to enter the minds of the current SDF soldiers guarding the exit once Aice had them all bound. It was a very foreign experience, and I’d rather not do it again, but once I got the gist of it, bending the soldiers to my will was child’s play. Once I returned I told Honda to just go, before the angels working with the government caught on. He thanked me for what I did and ran off, some SDF soldiers following him as a personal escort I set up. Once they were out of sight, we left the area before someone would think we look suspicious.

The next order of business was to ask random Shomonkai members about Aya. I was getting tempted to just mess with their minds like I did the soldier, but one of the younger members got sick of our asking and told us a time when we could meet Azuma and get the answers we sought in two days. We returned to Gin with the information and he thanked us for it but, his death clock was reduced to two. Something would happen during that encounter with Azuma that I wasn’t going to sit back and let happen. We saw him off, but I made a note that I wouldn’t leave him to his fate. Throughout the day we dealt with thugs threatening the normal people with demons and took them down. In between that we me up with Shoji again and gave her a lot of information on the lockdown. I learned more than enough from my time in the soldiers’ brains.

The time to save Haru had come, and we all gathered to see why she was going to commit suicide. She had in her head that the demon infestation was her fault for summoning demons before. I wanted to utilize my splendid singing voice to soothe her mental pain, but Yuzu beat me to the punch and helped Haru see the truth herself. It was actually pretty uneventful. What was eventful, was the encounter we had with Mari.

Mari had found the killer of Kaido’s brother, a vampire named Kudlak that had more than a few screws loose. Mari wasn’t herself either, as it seemed like she had been possessed by some other demon. Everyone was a bit confused about the situation, especially Kaido, but it didn’t matter. Mari was in danger, but whatever was possessing her told us not to kill Kudlak. Kaido was about to lose his mind had Mari not also told us to leave Kudlak alive. I took offense to the fact that we were being underestimated and told everyone else to handle the other demons and protect Mari. I used my Mystic Eyes and found his point of death. Kudlak seemed to be in a rush to die, so he wasn’t worried about dodging. At first he was happy that I intended to kill him, but he soon realized that I had no intention of letting him resurrect and called me a cheater before I sent flaming arrows of magic at his point of death at point blank range. Kresnik, the demon that was possessing Mari at first thought I had made the mistake of falling for Kudlak’s taunts, but then he sensed that Kudlak was truly dead. Kresnik wondered what sort of human I was to negate Kudlak’s resurrection capabilities, but I kept it a secret. Mari and Kaido appreciated that I avenged the death of Kaido’s brother. Kaido was a bit annoyed that I took the spotlight, but I reminded him that he was the one upset that I didn’t do much until now. I asked Mari to accompany us as we went to lift the lockdown and she accepted without hesitation. Kresnik offered his services if I ever needed him and I gained the right to summon him.

The last thing we encountered were cops with COMPs succumbing to the power granted to them by the COMPs. Needless to say they were dealt with. I finally made use of the supernatural qualities of my voice and made them feel the despair of realizing that you went back on your core ideals and almost did something irredeemable. I would have gone further, but Kaido of all people got me to stop. I was starting to become no better than the numerous demon tamers that abused the power of the COMP. I needed time to clear my head and left everyone else under Flyers command. I trusted her to make good decisions until I returned to the group. I went to go meditate and reflect on what I was doing for the rest of the night.

When I awoke the next morning, I still hadn’t found my answers, and told Alice and Karen as much via telepathy. Karen was understanding, Alice just told me to get over it and finish what I started. The Laplace mail only said that there would be more riots and increased activity from demon tamers. Karen kept me updated on what the group was doing as I just wandered Tokyo and kept a more low profile than before. Whenever someone needed help I aided them from afar. I saw an argument between Amane and the Shomonkai’s founder, who happens to be her father. Amane seemed to be questioning the Shomonkai’s teachings, wondering if so many have to suffer. I tucked the information away in case I wanted to add Amane to the mass of power that was my group. I hung around the Shomonkai headquarters for Azuma, and asked if Naoya left anything there after working on the demon summoning program. He was a bit suspicious, but after informing him of my relation to Naoya, he agreed to have members collect what he left behind and give them to me instead of throwing them out. I killed the time in between by stopping demons in the area. Azuma gave me a COMP with the relevant remnants of Naoya’s stay with the Shomonkai. I knew I’d need Atsuro to decipher whatever Naoya had hid inside there. Before I decided to reunite with the group I ran into Gin and we talked for a bit. He told me about how he used to view the city until Aya helped him change the way he say things. He wanted to get the city back to normal, however boring that would be. The simplicity of his wants helped me realize that I just needed to focus on what I set out to do, carve out a path for humanity free from God’s shackles and the fear the demons can bring.

I met with everyone else at the Akasaka tunnel to try and get some information from commander Izuna. There were demons trying to trying to get through the tunnel so I had the natives of this world deal with them. It would have been over quicker had Izuna and her captain not noticed the demons attacking and tried to use some COMPs they found. They had yet to go through the initial pact making, so I let Bruce and Sgt. Shock help them tame their demons. Once all of that nonsense was taken care of, we went inside the tunnel and got some information from Izuna and Fushigi, her captain. It was pretty much everything I had figured out and assumed, but the others didn’t know varying portions. I told them I’d be ending the lockdown whatever it took, and would like the government’s cooperation if we could be deemed a viable option to support. Izuna defended my claims and helped convince Fushigi that we could help get the lockdown lifted.

We found Amane a bit later, and the angel residing inside her wished to speak with us. I asked why the angels, with all the power they should have, haven’t just gotten rid of the demons themselves. Remiel said it was because man has to rectify its own mistakes and get rid of the demons appropriately. I also questioned why the demons couldn’t be allowed in this world. While most are indeed just out for themselves, the fact that they do follow authority means that they can be reasoned with in some regard. Remiel failed to give me a satisfactory answer, and I let it know I would need some time to consider where my allegiance lies. Thankfully, when speaking about the ramifications of anyone in the lockdown leaving, she didn’t mention Honda. For beings that are constantly watching, they need some better focus.

A couple of hours passed and then we finally met with Naoya again. He seemed…happy to see us safe. He gave us a lesson on how demons are summoned into the world. Before he would tell us more he summoned a number of demons and tasked me and three of my companions with defeating a number of them in a certain amount of time. Before he could finish detailing the rules I combined the Flash Sheath with Instant Movement to defeat all of the demons he summoned before everyone could blink. I don’t think anyone but Alice and Karen could even see what I did. Naoya wasn’t expecting his challenge to be overcome so swiftly, and for once didn’t have a response. I told him that I intended to become the King of Bel and create a world free from both demons and God’s influence. A world where humanity would be left to thrive or decay on its own terms. He started laughing after I said this. I let him know that if he wanted to assist me in my efforts he was welcome to join, but I would find a way to life the lockdown with or without him.

He stopped laughing at some point and decided to give me a little lesson on why I was in the lockdown, and his disdain for God. He was impressed by the trick I used to beat his challenge and said he’d join me once Belial was dealt with and left after answering some questions Atsuro asked him about the server. With nothing more to really do that day, Alice and I set up some barriers and everyone went to sleep.

On the morning of the sixth day, the Laplace mail could only tell us that Atsuro, Yuzu and I, along with others would be killed in a fire. It cancelled its service due to many invalid parameters, which we took to mean that the future had been changed to much. I was surprised it could even still attempt to calculate the future with me and my companion’s presence in this world for six days. With no real guidance the tasks we set for the day were to save Gin and Haru, and to defeat Belial.

We found Gin and asked if he had seen Haru, but he was looking for her as well. We told him the reason she could be in danger and he told places where she might be going to. I was reminded about his death clock being at zero, so I sent Karen and Psychic watch over him. Their ninja skills would stop Gin from noticing them. Karen teleported away and Psychic disappeared in the wind. It was actually pretty cool to watch.

With that taken care of the objective was just to find Haru. Belial would be coming to us, so looking for him would be fruitless until the time was right. Along way we encountered a Jack Frost that Midori had spared and taught to fight for love and peace or something. It had taken whatever she said and made it “love and rage” instead. It was defending weaker demons from demon tamers. Calling himself “Black Frost”, he wanted to dish out magical punishment in much the same way Midori had. I found it amusing, and told everyone we’d be helping it out. After an uneventful battle, Black Frost thanked us for helping. He remembered Midori and I asked him if he’d like to help us end everything so no more humans or demons have to suffer. He was pretty convinced of our strength, but Flyer is the one that really convinced him to join us. He didn’t understand a lot of human conventions, but Midori was happy to teach him, so it didn’t impact us in any meaningful way.

Karen let me know that Gin was going to be ambushed Shomonkai members under Azuma’s command. We rushed over in time to see the end of the battle. Karen’s artefact made the COMPs useless with its ability to send the demons back with a single hit, and Psychic’s psychic abilities left the members that didn’t run away in a state of confusion that left Azuma the only one left. They let Gin take Azuma on by himself, and he had no trouble beating him in a one on one confrontation. We arrived when Gin was questioning Azuma. Unfortunately all he really learned was that Aya wasn’t in the human world anymore. He let Azuma go and talked to us a bit before leaving to sort out his thoughts.

There were various other encounters with Amane, Remiel and Gin, but none of them changed my plans, or gave us any new information. What did give us some insight, was meeting with the Gigolo again. He gave us a lesson on the Bels and the current being regarded as “God”. It was an informative conversation. Afterwards was the real test. Or at least, the first of more to come. Belial, the Fire of Sodom…It wasn’t all that hard. Being a demon of fire made it really easy to abuse his weakness, water and ice. With the numbers we had and the raw power at our disposal Belial never stood a chance. Had he be able to endanger Haru more it would have given him a better chance. But he needed her alive to extract her power, so she wasn’t in danger of dying that quickly. I let the friends I made here take a break and watch my companions have some fun.

Leo couldn’t use his fire, so he couldn’t go all out, but the wrestling he learned combined with the vampiric strength he gained proved to be enough to deal with the demons he fought. Karen and Bruce fought using martial arts and brute strength, Flyer chose to stay out of it and Sgt. Shock provided support with electric attacks to paralyze numerous demons. Belial was left to me. I had Alice focus on keeping Haru safe as I showed Belial what I was made of. When his fire magic didn’t affect me or break the barriers around my clothes he, like Beldr took to physical attacks. He didn’t wield his trident just for show, and I could tell his blows would have been a problem for a normal person without the harmonizer equalizing the playing field. As I delivered the final blow Belial accepted his defeat and gave me encouragement to use the unlimited potential I have as a human to become King of Bel and surpass God. I absorbed his power, his right to the throne of Bel, and Haur was saved.

I allowed the others to explain the situation to Haru, and when Gin arrived they ended up think of another way to end the lockdown involving Aya’s unfinished song. I wasn’t going to stop them from making it, after all, both Haru and Gin were both growing as people from the experience. I told them my plan to become the King of Bel and had them make a decision. In the end they didn’t think joining me was what they should do, and I left it at that.

With everyone else in tow, I sought out Naoya for his cooperation in making myself the King of Bel.