Welcome to Gaia! ::

"If you'd ever known... if you'd ever understood," Faust said, standing between Hao and Shizuka and shaking his head sadly, "Perhaps your life would have been worth something. As it is, you owe a lot of people debts that can never be repaid." He raised his cleaver. "You deserve to die, Hao Asakura. The question is whether you'll be a man and do it yourself."

Mephistophiles manifested next to Faust, looking like his evil twin. "Hey, Haaao..." he sang. "Guess what the especially sinful get?"

"Don't worry about it, boys," sighed Faust. "He's a coward... his time will come. As the matter stands, killing him won't repair the wrongs done, to me, to Shizuka, to any of his victims. It won't bring Marie back," he sighed. "But I want you to do something for me, Mephistophiles."

"Go on."

"First, put my arm like it was before..."

"Oh, don't you like the wing?" pouted Beelzebub.

"Very much, but I really do need my arm back. Second, make sure that Hao can't harm others ever again. I don't care what you do to ensure it, just make sure it gets done."

"I'm Mephistophiles," Mephistophiles said. "Me and Faust go way, WAY back... back seven generations, as a matter of fact. Go ahead, say you don't believe me, I'll understand. AND have a reason to prove to you that I'm a devil."

"Let's kill him," said Beelzebub. "And we can take his soul, and..."

"No," Faust said quickly. "The last thing I need is an angry ghost haunting me. What about..." he leaned quickly over to Mephistophiles, and whispered in his ear. Mephistophiles grinned broadly, revealing pointed teeth, and nodded.

"Great!" he said. "OK, Hao... crap, I've forgotten my 'thou shalt not' speech..."

"Can't blame you," Beelzebub said. "We're fallen, remember? We live by a different set of rules."

"Don't interrupt!" shouted Mephisto angrily, momentarily sprouting horns and a tail. Recovering, he said, "All right, Hao. As requested from Faust VIII, who we've now repaid our debt to, you are stripped of your Shamanic powers. You'll be able to see ghosts, only so that you'll be aware of your transgressions in the past. Hope you'll take the opportunity to start a clean slate."

"Are you kidding?" snorted Mephistophiles. "We wanted it, sure, but when you get right down to the wire there's hardly any of the original blind arrogance that made his ancestor so appealing. He's a good guy. But you... you're like us! Pure evil!"

"Yes, it's all real," Faust sighed. "You can see them too, right?"

"They are devils," Faust explained slowly, allowing it to sink in. "But it's all right... I know them, and they sort of owe me."

"Funny thing about pure evil..." Beelzebub buzzed. "It's never terribly smart. You made a lot of mistakes; you underestimated everyone here! Just because Mephisto and I don't take things seriously doesn't mean we're not strong. Now, would you rather let us take your immortal soul, or become human until you've repented sufficiently?"

On hearing Lucifer's name spoken, the two devils bowed their heads respectfully. "He exists," Mephistophiles said. "And glorious is he, and we are but dust in his presence..."

"As you are in ours," Beelzebub said. "We're still demi-gods."

"Fallen angels," corrected Mephistophiles. "We're a bit different. But we're still powerful! One complete and total human, coming up!" he said, snapping his fingers to turn Hao into a human.

Faust blinked. "Um... they killed my father outside the bounds of their contract."

"It was an accident!" insisted Mephistophiles. "I had no clue that panther wasn't tame..."

"You were that panther," sighed Faust.

"Right," Mephistophiles said; there was a very awkward silence. "Well, he was asking for it. Your father, no offense, was a first-class git."

"I won't disagree," shrugged Faust.

"Well, with ME, to be precise," said Mephistophiles, preening. "Satan ultimately sealed the deal, but it was me that won him over with my seductive arguments."

"Yeah, yeah," Beelzebub groaned. "You're very beguiling and clever. Whereas I'm..."

"Heavy handed and dumb?" Mephisto interjected.

"Well, I was going to say stoic and serious..."