Satan travelled back to Hell as fast as he could, carrying Damien with him.
He reached the Devil's Tomb, the family burial place. He placed Damien's body in the coffin designated for him and gave a sad smile.
"Goodnight, my son."
As he turned to walk away, he saw Lucifer approach the coffin. He stared into it with a look of confusion on each face.
"Sir," Lucifer said. "I don't mean to sound like I'm questioning your judgement, but why did you lie?" He tilted his heads. "Why are you pretending that the prince is dead? They're all crying for him, but he's not even dead."
Satan sighed in regret. It was true, Damien was very much alive. He was only stabbed seven times, not the required sixteen times. In the panic and frenzy, nobody noticed.
"I'm sad about the pain they must be feeling, but they can't know." Satan explained. "He's mortally wounded and needs to sleep for a while. In that time, Dana could find him and finish him off for good. He can't fight back when he's comatose. So no one can know where he is, not even his allies. Word might get back to God that he's not dead. He may not be able to see in Hell, but he can send angels to assassinate him."
He gazed at the row of coffins, all the graves of his deceased children, the antichrists who came before Damien and his siblings. Things were different now. He failed them, but now he had the chance to make things right.
He'd protect his living children. The other three should have been meeting up soon.
☽☾
Despite being back home, the death of his love still stung Kitty's heart.
It had been a few days after Damien's passing. He hadn't stopped crying the whole time. Going to bed was the worst, surrounded by his possessions. But Kitty didn't want to throw them away. They were the last things he had to remember him by.
Kitty sat in the living room, eyes red and puffy. He felt like someone had kicked him in the head from all the sobbing. Gabriel sat next to him with his arm around him.
"I'm sorry." Gabriel said. "I was so suspicious of him. I didn't realise how much you loved him, or how strongly he felt about you."
Kitty sniffed and bit his lip. "It was my fault. If I wasn't so weak, he wouldn't have had to protect me." His bottom lip wobbled. "He wouldn't be dead."
He couldn't suppress his tears anymore and broke down into a fit of grief. Gabriel hugged him tight.
"It wasn't your fault, sweetie." Gabriel said, stroking his hair. "He protected you because he cared about you. He would have saved you no matter what, even at the cost of his own life."
Kitty nodded, but it didn't lessen the guilt he felt.
Claire hadn't left her room the whole time they had been back. She seemed like she was broken. She didn't speak, didn't eat, didn't sleep. She lay on her bed, hugging her pillow and staring into space. She thought of Damien as her own son. She promised Sumire that she'd protect him. His demise completely tore her apart.
There was no hope left for any of them. Any day now, Dana would arrive to execute them. They had to leave as soon as possible. But what would happen to the world without Nyuujaku?
Glancing over at Damien's Nyuujaku mask, Kitty had an idea. Someone had to step up and protect the world now that he couldn't. Someone had to erase the evil on Earth, to keep Damien's memory alive. Kitty walked over and picked up the mask. It had to be Kitty. He had to continue Damien's legacy. He made a silent vow to help Satan combat this evil.
He had to become Nyuujaku.