"That shirt was ¥700 . . ." Maou said, black smoke streaming toward him like a fire working backwards. "I can't rip it!"

A whorl of darkness gathered around him as Maou drew from their surroundings, and for a moment, light flickered through the canopy. The rare rustle the forest had previously produced stopped altogether, leaving them in brief, total silence.

The shadows faded back into the trees, and the Demon Lord stepped forward. His one viable horn snapped a twig as he moved. He cracked his thick neck and rolled a shoulder, making ridiculously bulging muscle ripple.

"Much better," he rumbled. Then Satan looked down at his goat-like hooves and stared. "Aw man, I forgot t' take off my shoes!"