"We are all going to die. It's not a question of if, it's a question of when. But it's the es we make and the love we share that live on."

  — Nagisa Furukawa, ad: After Story

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  Just then, scattered zombies appeared up ahead.

  "Zombies!" Saya shrieked.

  "Don't worry. You're a Devil now, remember?" Roy said, giving Saya a reassuring head pat before direg the two women. "Saya, navigate. Shizuka, we're going to ram through."

  "Okay, Shizuka-seur…" Saya called out, direg Shizuka as the number of zombies on the road increased.

  "Oh no, there's a barricade!" Saya cried, pointing ahead.

  "Leave it to me. Shizuka, get ready to drive straight through the middle," Roy told Shizuka. He theended his right hand towards the roadblock. "Magic Bullet!"

  A blue orb of magiergy shot from his hand, one of the few spells he had mastered.

  *Bang!*

  The barricade exploded, creating a gap just rge enough for the car to pass through.

  "So cool!" Saya excimed, her eyes wide with admiration for Roy's magic.

  Since her transformation into a Devil, Saya had bee fasated by magic. True to her nature as a bright, inquisitive girl, she was curious about everything.

  "I'll teach you whe back," Roy promised.

  "Really? That's great!" Saya cheered, her excitement bubbling over.

  "Hmm, that's strange. Why are there still zombies ihe barricade?" Shizuka wondered aloud, eyeing the scattered zombies ahead.

  "It *is* odd. If someo up a barricade, there should be JSDF personnel inside," Saeko observed, her tone analytical.

  "JSDF? Mom…" Saya murmured, a note of worry in her voice. Her mother was a member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

  *This isn't how it happened in the inal,* Roy thought to himself. The JSDF were supposed to be here, and Saya's mother among them.

  The car tinued forward, soon reag Saya's home, an impressive structure resembling a castle.

  However, the density of zombies had increased drastically. Even with Roy's demonic power reinf the Humvee, it was impossible to drive through.

  "How this be?" Saya whimpered, her gaze fixed on her house, now overrun by zombies. The front gate was broken. Her worst fears had been realized.

  Saeko and Shizuka watched in silehe gravity of the situation evident.

  Just then, a gunsh out from Saya's house.

  Saya's head snapped up at the sound.

  "There are still survivors!" she excimed, a glimmer of hope in her voice.

  "Shizuka-sensei, hurry! Drive inside!"

  "But…" Shizuka hesitated, her gaze fixed on the imperable wall of zombies blog their path. With so many zombies, there was no way through.

  "Saya, calm down. We 't drive through this," Saeko said gently.

  "Then what do we do?" Saya was frantic, her eyes pleading with Roy for a solution.

  Roy smiled. "Saya, don't fet you're a Devil now. We fly." He unfurled his rge, demonigs, looking at Saya reassuringly.

  Saya blihen spread her own demonigs. Saeko and Shizuka emerged from the Humvee, extending their wings as well.

  "Shizuka, take Alice. Let's go!" Roy instructed, taking the lead and flying towards the source of the gunshot.

  The three women and the little girl, Alice, followed close behind.

  They soon reached the location of the gunshot, the rooftop of Saya's house. A horde of zombies pressed against the rooftop access door, threatening to break through at any moment.

  Not far from the door, a mature woman y in a pool of blood.

  "Mom!!" Saya screamed, rushing towards the woman.

  Hearing Saya's cry, the others uood. This was Saya's mother.

  It appeared that, driven to desperation by the zombies, she had chosen to end her life on the rooftop...

  Tears streamed down Saeko and Shizuka's faces as they watched Saya's heartbroken sobs.

  "Mom… Mom…"

  Saya, in the midst of her grief, suddenly turo Roy.

  "Roy, you save my mom? You're a Devil! You do it, right?" Her tear-filled eyes held a desperate plea, even though she khat resurre was almost impossible.

  "Hmm…" Roy frowned in thought.

  He pted whether to save the woman. Even the pieces in Rias's peerage could revive someoly deceased, like Asia. His mutated Evil Pieces were even more potent.

  But Roy erfeist, and this woman was…married…

  Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He had an idea.

  "I'll try," he told Saya.

  "Thank you! Thank you, Roy!" Saya cried, her face radiant with gratitude.

  "If you really want to thahere's something I want ter…" Roy whispered in Saya's ear.

  Saya blushed crimson but nodded in agreement.

  Roy smirked.

  A rge magic circle appeared beh Saya's mother, Yuriko.

  "By my name, Roy Lucifuge, I and the soul of Yuriko Takagi to bey servant Devil, reborn as my [Bishop]!"

  This intation was different from his usual ones. A spectral image of Yuriko's soul emerged from her body.

  The [Bishop] pie Roy's hand floated towards Yuriko's soul, merging with it.

  In the instant, Yuriko's spectral flowed brightly.

  Moments ter, the light subsided, revealing a perfect, restored body h in the air.

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