Chapter 35: Return of the Lost Prince of Hell

It was already the next day before I knew it, even if I'm calm, I can't keep this happy act when knowing that Millie and the others are imprisoned by the angels.

Who knows what the angels are doing to the people they've caught... And even if I want to know, I can't, I'm afraid that I won't ever see them again.

Until now, I'm still looking at myself in the bathroom's mirror and washing my face with clean water.

"*Sigh* My anxiousness is killing me..." And thinking about what happened last night.

"Me? My name is Lucifer, what about you?" That is how he introduced himself to me.

It was confusing, the Legendary Lucifer visited me from my dream, we fought with Soul Bound, but I was easily defeated, and after that, he gave me the sword that my father used in the last war.

"The sword huh?" Even now I still can't summon it.

What do I do? I've been useless in the battle, and now that I had the chance to get stronger, it still didn't happen?!

"Just how much hate does luck have that it'll keep torturing poor souls like me?"

Knock! Knock! "Hey, Haruki! The girls are waiting for you, you know? They've already prepared the suit you're gonna wear for your identity reveal!"

My daydream of erasing the word luck has ended when Sora disturbed. "*Sigh* I need to be serious now... *Cough* I'm coming!" Then I better hurry now.

My identity reveal to the citizens of Hell will start in about 4 more hours, so that's why the Archdukes are preparing to make this more beautiful and successful.

Akemi, Chizuru, and Ruri even took the time at night to tailor the clothes that I'm gonna use,

so because of their hard work for me, and as a man, I better not waste the time they wasted just for me.

Now, time for the awesome fantastic dress-up session with the beautiful girls of Hell for Hotaru Haruki!

All I could say is... "What the h*ck am I wearing!?"

What am I even wearing right now? I'm like a priest, this is not what a 'King' should wear.

"*Giggle* What do you mean Prince Haruki? It's actually really good *Giggle* on you. *Giggle*"

This girl! I knew something was off when Akemi and Chizuru are both not here!

My perverted mind got my hopes up when she's alone with me, but I forgot that there's no such thing as luck, because it only gave me the chance to be intimate with both Akemi and Luna.

So if luck hated me, then I'll accept the fact that those two are okay for me! I shouldn't be greedy anymore!

"I'm taking it off now!-"

"Wait-! Don't rip it apart!"

The room was silent and awkward, Ruri is in the corner crying while holding the suit that I destroyed.

She was saying how stupid and sh*ty I am since she worked hard to create and prank me with the shirt.

Even when looking at it, for me she deserved this and I will not tolerate more embarrassment than I get, even if a girl does it.

But also... Seeing her cry is very cute and beautiful, it's really triggering my sadist side. Which is nice and wrong at the same time.

What should I do? I never apologize to people when I make them cry, even if they are girls, so what should I do now?

I'm afraid that I will say something rude that'll make her more upset, and if she's upset she'll tell Akemi what I did, and if Akemi knows what I did, my relationship with her will- then better apologize then!

"Hey Astaroth, I know that you worked hard on that costume, so I'm sorry for tearing it apart. I was just angered when you pranked me... So I'm sorry."

"Then do me one favor, so that I can forgive you and won't tell it to Akemi."

Yes! Successful! I knew that this girl is gonna tell Akemi! "So what am I going to do then?"

Ruri stopped crying and stood up; pointing at me angrily. "Tell me, what's your intention with the relationship you currently have with Akemi? And also Lucas told me that you're also getting closer to Luna too, so what are you gonna do with them both?!"

D*mn that Lucas! He's the reason why my luck with having a harem is not gonna happen! But wait... "Astaroth, you said one favor right? Then I'm gonna only tell you what my relationship with Akemi is!" Stupid girl, you better know what you're gonna say first, before saying.

"Then I'm gonna tell Akemi then."

"Touché." Then I'll have to tell her everything then, and maybe I can use this as a chance to get to know her better, hehe.

"First, Akemi and I don't have that kind of relationship, we are just friends, and I have a crush on her I won't deny that but I'm afraid to confess my feelings due to two reasons: First: I'm afraid that she'll coldly reject me, and second: I won't deny this to you, but for me protecting Hell and our citizens, and getting my revenge and avenge on both the Gods and the angels are far more important than romantic relationships."

Proudly saying that I looked at Ruri's face to see what she thinks of my answer, and what I can see was blank.

It's not the blank that she has no reaction on it and doesn't care about my answer, but more of something like she can't say a thing to my answer, she was neither happy nor sad, and at the same time, I don't know if she was either disappointed or supporting from my answer.

It was like the thing on her mind was, she was both happy and sad about something, while also she both supports and disappointed with something I said.

Could it be that she wants a different answer?

"Then let's move on to the second question, yes, me and Luna are getting along quite well, and I don't mind being with her like Akemi, but as I said, I'm not interested in going with a relationship right now." And she's really cute when she doesn't know what's the meaning of what I say.

And again, looking at Ruri's reaction, her expression is still blank, I was starting to get worried that I might've said something wrong to her, so I immediately asked her. "Hello! Is Ruri Astaroth still operating?"

"Yes... I was just thinking about something, don't worry I heard what you said and decided to forgive you and not tell Akemi..."

She must be thinking about something important that her focus on my answer didn't matter anymore.

"Hoy Astaroth, what's even in your mind? You seem troubled, can I do anything to help?"

"*Sigh* I'll tell you this Prince Haruki, can you stop being annoying for a sec?"

Ow! That hit right directly to my heart. "Fine do whatever you want."

"Actually Prince Haruki, I want to know what you think of Akemi as a whole?"

"What I think of her? She's really nice, beautiful, and smart, so is that the answer you want?"

"*Sigh* Nevermind then... *Tsk* How useless..."

"Hoy did you say something rude..?"

"I want you to answer me this honestly one last time Prince Haruki, and I'm serious."

"First you tell me that I'm useless, no-"

Fling! Impossible I could say, no it really is impossible.

An arrow was shot at me, but it nearly missed me and left a cut on my cheek, and when looking at the obvious person who shot it, I saw her eyes glow red.

Most of all her face was completely pissed and smiling statistically, in an instant seeing that, I tripped and fell from fear, and I shouted to her. "Wa-wait don't shoot!"

"If I say I'm serious, I'm dead serious, so be a nice boy, sit tight and answer what I'm gonna say."

"Yes ma'am!"

"If I die in the future, will you protect Akemi?"

Hearing her say that made me feel angry and tense from what she said.

Seriously, I want to slap her and shout at her to never say something like that ever again, even if I only met her yesterday, the feeling of seeing a friend of a friend saying that, makes me really angry.

I know that she has no chance of survival at this point, but can't she put on a smile and have her hopes up?!

"Shut up."

"Huh? What do you mean Princ-"

"I said shut up and never say that again!"

"I don't understand what you're saying, Prince Haruki."

"No you're the one who doesn't understand what you're saying Ruri, can't you see? You already want to give up when you still have time."

"Are you making me laugh? Or just stupid? I thought Chizuru and Lucas told you about this disease that I have? So why ask?"

"it's because we're gonna get the cure for you! Even if we have zero chances of getting it, but just like what Millie said. 'Everything in science is just a matter of trial and error until we find an answer because there's no such thing as 0%.' But there's more than that, we have magic too right? So if magic and science are involved together, we'll always have at least 1% to try right?"

Ruri was smirking both in joy and sadness, and it feels like she's about to cry, she remained strong and didn't shed a single tear, and she decided to give me a loud hysterical laugh.

"I didn't expect you to say that Prince Haruki, I thought Lucas was lying about you having decent IQ at all, but I guess he wasn't lying when he said that to me. Seriously, being told by someone to remain strong really damaged my position as the General of Vainglory, so what's your answer Haruki? I want it for real."

I gave her a proud smile and gave her my hand. "I'll make sure to make not only Akemi smile, but also everyone, and we'll find a way to cure that disease of yours. So is that okay?"

She let outa smile and shook my hand while saying. "That's not the answer that I want, but I'll take it, Prince Haruki."

"*Sigh* Enough with that 'Prince' stuff, call me by my name Haruki, are you okay with that Ruri?" Also... I held her hand, this is the best!

Crack! "Ow!" I let out a scream when Ruri suddenly crushed my arm, it hurts a lot, I can't believe she's strong enough to break someone's bone with her bare hands.

Due to the pain, I was rolling on the floor; crying again because of the pain that I felt from that crush.

"Sorry, I don't really like perverts, whose degeneracy is beyond high, do you understand Haruki?"

I did it! I made her say my first name, but at what cost?! Nonetheless, I'll consider the handshaking and crushing as both a blessing from her, this is the best day ever.

***

From beyond the gate of the castle, all of the citizens on the eighth floor were gathered around the entire castle.

Every single of them, including the elderly and the children, were crowded in the entire crowd of the citizens of Hell.

And even if they all lived far away from where the capital city is, they still didn't hesitate to come to the city when they read the news of the content of the newspaper that the Archdukes made.

The headline of the newspaper they read was, "The Return of the Lost Prince of Hell."

Seeing that exact headline made the entire people living on the eighth floor both in joy and relief at the same time, because the lost Prince of Hell that they were all hoping to return one day, has finally returned.

Inside the castle was I, Haruki Hotaru finally all dressed up, and was completely nervous and tense at the same time.

It's finally time, I'm afraid that my speech to them won't be good, which I know that it's not good.

Everyone was all behind me to watch me embarrass and fail to deliver this speech that I made, but since I made it on how I feel about this entire scenario were currently facing, I'll tell them how I feel about this.

Looking at them behind one last time, I let out a small cry and said to them. "I can't do this."

All of them just let out a smile and laugh, and Sora who was in the corner almost falling asleep; shouted at me. "Just finish this, so that I can sleep."

"*Sigh* If you say so..."

And when I walk toward the balcony, I can hear Akemi whispering to herself. "Believe in yourself Haruki."

Knowing that she said that to me, I slapped my face and immediately went to the balcony; revealing myself to the citizens.

There's a lot of them outside, so it boosted my nervousness a lot.

But what stopped that is their smiles and awe seeing me come out, and especially the older citizens, I can see some of them crying in tears of joys, which made me have more confidence in myself.

"Our beloved citizens of Hell! We devils, vampires, undead, and many more have suffered a tremendous amount of pain and grief due to the actions of the Gods, so may I ask everyone this: Are you all afraid of them? Do you all feel weak and inferior to them?!"

The crowd was all taken aback by the sudden question of mine. Their minds were all in pain from what they've experienced, both fear and weakness to the Gods.

"Everyone of them! the Gods, the angels, the humans, and everyone else! All of them hate who we are. hated us for how we all truly felt!"

Because of being the hated race throughout the world, what do they feel about it? They can't stay calm and have courage when they all knew how the Gods and the entire human race treated them.

"Did we all feel that betraying our Creator is okay? Of course not! All we want is our freedom to do something beyond their expectations, all we want to do was to be free from their tyranny."

It was like El said to me before, he admitted to me that the devils only what one thing, and it's freedom.

"But because of this, they felt betrayed! So they taunted us! They played with us, and they treated us like nothing but an insect to their own eyes! So how do we feel!? It's wrong to answer to feel fear to them, it's also wrong to show weakness to them too! Because the right thing to show them is our wrath! Our anger from what they've done to us!"

Everyone in the audience felt something from what I have said. Is it right for them to not feel fear against the Gods? It's either yes or no, but they knew that it's okay to feel anger toward them.

"They cursed us all for what we have done to them! They made us all sin to every action we take, so what do we do now! The answer is to show the Gods the sins we all committed and all the sins they blamed on us!"

All of them were all looking at Haruki seriously and wondered how they can use the sins they've been victimized for.

"Wrath!: We'll let them see the anger we all felt from the torment and abuse that they all committed against us!"

Showing the anger they felt is a step for aggression on the Gods and to show them that they're not afraid to show their emotions to them.

"We'll let them see the Greed we all felt when they gave nothing but insults to all of us!"

Their desires for everything, being greedy to everything the Gods owe, can now belong to the needs of the people and Hell.

"We've been very Slothful for being tired of the unfair orders and treatments of the Gods in the past!"

Lazy, even a slight rest to relieve their worry cannot happen, because of the thought of the past happening again in the present.

"All of us were Gluttonous for the delicious treats that the Gods gave to the other races as a gift." The unfairness of being treated as a hungry animal craving to eat just to survive; is like what the devils really are.

"We were deemed as the embodiment of Lust when our ancestors were sent to Earth and eventually fell in love with most of all the humans!"

Even the feeling of having a partner in your life is impossible for the devils; having been in love with the humans caused them to be treated as traitors.

"All of us are Envious to how the Gods treated the other races, but instead of having them treat us the same, we got nothing!"

Jealousy for the other race; jealousy for how they were treated is what the devils hated about the Gods the most.

"And lastly Pride: With this, we'll show them how our Pride as former angels never faded from us, we'll show the Gods that our Pride can never disappear even if we keep evolving to different creatures here in Hell!"

Lastly among them is the most important, the entire crowd's eyes shone brightly for learning that even if they were treated unfairly, they were still proud of what the future holds to them, and to always expect a better one.

These were all their thoughts of the facts that I gave them, they were all happy that the lost Prince returned, but most of all they were all happy that they learned something from the day.

All of them smiled with joy and shouted all at the same time in sync. 'Glory to Prince Haruki and Princess Millie!"

Even the people who were against Millie at first have now change for the best, even if they said many harsh things and now regretting to do it, they accepted everything that their future Ruler has installed, and everyone accepted the future that their future King will hold for their future.

And one last smile and line came from me. "We'll show the Gods that we can get our revenge for the losses that we took, and avenge everyone who has passed away, by my words! We'll wage war on them!"