Hataraku Maou-sama! - Volume 6 - Chapter Pr

PROLOGUE 
The red sky grew blurred and bleary above him. 
It was a short life. And, in his young mind, he was ready to give it up. 
Lacking even the strength to move his fingertips, his indistinct view of the world around him was enough to make him realize his life would disappear before long. There was no fear. He was so young that there wasn’t any capacity to dread it yet. 
In terms of life expectancy, he should have had a while to go. His parents had each lived for a thousand years, he was told. But that meant little compared to the whirlwind of violence he was faced with. Everything around him was stained in red, red, red, making an already scarlet-tinted world even bloodier as it began to consume him. 
There was no despair, no sadness; but there was something … 
“…” 
…He was bitter. 
Was this soul infused within this body just so someone else could squeeze it out? Did time march on to this point just so that his entire tribe could die in pools of blood? 
Just when he began to consciously recognize himself and the paths he had taken in life, that life of his was about to be lost, valueless, like a cloud dissipating into the air. Like a passing breeze, like the loose earth, soaking up the blood around him. 
Why did my soul have to take up residence in a place like this? 
If a soul being born, then fading away, is the natural order of things, why did mine have to find itself in a body like this? 
The red sky blurred a little more, growing further indistinct. Then from his eyes, a strange, clear liquid, different from the red puddle around him, fell downward. At that moment, there was something else ruling over his soul, pushing away the red sky, red ground, red wind, and red-stained body that was at the brink of death. 
Within the vast, dark sky above him, untold hundreds of points of light twinkled. Among them were two spheres, much larger and distinct than the rest. Two places that untold numbers of souls called home, or so it seemed to him. And, he felt, lands he might find himself traveling to very soon. 
They had an attraction that was difficult to define, their unknown colors alluring and comforting. It was a far cry from the red that now enveloped him, and it called him closer. 
But he could not reach them; his body and soul refused to move. And yet they seemed so close, within arm’s reach—these spheres where both could finally find solace. 
The lights floating in the emptiness grew indistinct once more. 
“…Well, not to disappoint you or anything, but it’s not exactly a lovefest all day up there, either. If you asked me, there isn’t a word out there used and abused more than paradise .” 
The crimson quickly returned to his vision. 

His consciousness was buffeted by the jolts of pain that ran across his body. But he had definitely heard it. 
“A lot of things change when you have a different perspective, I guess you could say. In fact, I’d say all the red around here is a lot prettier.” 
“But…I’m scared. Of red.” 
“Oh? Scared, huh? Well, that’s a surprise. Seeing a demon cry is one thing, but I didn’t think you’d start whining about the one color that defines the entire demon realms, too.” 
The existence of a voice meant that someone was nearby. The life was almost vacant from his body, but the fact he was now lying on the ground, defenseless, filled him with a new sensation: fear. And a fearful heart is a heart that wants to live, a heart that thinks it wants to keep muddling forward. 
He furtively searched for the enemy with his blurred eyesight, only to find an unknown someone looking down upon him. Its form was not much different from his own young body—even thinner, if anything. It was a foe like none he’d seen before, and now its lips were curled upward in a smile. 
“Would you like to know the name of that color you just saw?” 
He found himself nodding without hesitation at the query. Enough spiritual force had found itself back inside his soul to make it happen. 
The enemy’s hair seemed to shine, its aura reminiscent of the color he was now so curious about. 
“Once you do, you’ll learn more about the world itself. That, and you’ll learn about a new aspect of the red that you fear so much.” 
He found himself bathed in a dim light, the pain palpably easing away from his body. 
“What’s your name?” 
“…Satan.” 
It was an extremely common name, where he came from. But the enemy still gave it a grandiose nod. 
“That’s a nice name.” 
What was so nice about it? It came from some great emperor who united this land at some point in the ancient past. Too regal a name for some kid from one of the bog-level tribes, all but ready to give up the ghost right here. He never had a chance to even try living up to it. 
“I’m going to impart to you the knowledge you need in order to learn about the world. The knowledge you need to make that fear-tinged red seem beautiful to you.” 
The smile seemed to etch itself within his soul. 
“The color you saw was—”