#imagine dying in this fit not even the flames of hell would burn hotter than my unadultered rage 💀💀

[lotus-pear]

he's so crazy we can't take him anywhere 😭🤣

[victorsandvanquishers]

i am plagued by liebe pulling a tenemos on asta's life (thank you for reminding me of the meme's name btw), throwing riots in his head, etc. also asta has a whole line of people looking his way, but what of this devil that now actively participates/shares in his life? perhaps Mohabbatein fits for this? idk have at it, bless you and have a good week

Hi! I’ve taken some liberties with the Mohabbatein prompt due to the recent happenings in the manga. If you’re not satisfied with the story I’ve written, please feel free to request another prompt with their dynamic (platonic or romantic).

The story I’ve written explores friendship, rebellion, and acceptance through Liebe’s eyes. This fic is rather lore-heavy! The relationship between Liebe and Asta remains ambiguous here, but you can take it anyway you like. :D

Thank you for requesting, and happy reading!

~~~

In a way, Liebe always knew he was fated to die in the worst possible way.

In the grander scheme of things, it made the most sense. He was born in the lowest caste, and his days leading up to his fateful meeting with Licita could hardly be called 'living.' Who wanted to spend their existence suffering? If anything, Death was a reprieve – a gift, even.

And so, Liebe made his peace. He'd die horribly, if only it meant that he could exact his revenge, and maybe then, just maybe, he'd finally find some peace.

In hindsight, Liebe probably should have known that in this life, some fates were that much worse than Death.

'Who would take you?'

'There's no value in magicless little critters.'

'You'd be wiping shit off their floors, and eating roaches.'

*

Licita had loved him and wronged him in the same breath. She hadn't known at the time, of course. She'd been dying, dying, dying, and Liebe didn't had the heart to beg her to stop, to beg her not to lock him away in the grimoire, to beg her not to put him in another Hell, a Hell where he'd become someone's slave.

But she had – she'd loved and betrayed him in the same breath, and locked him away in the five-leaf clover grimoire.

*

In Hell, there was no concept of time. He'd eaten nothing, breathed nothing, cried for nothing. A grimoire was a holder of power, whether it be magical or non-magical, a binding portal that chose its holder, that didn't take into consideration if any of the objects locked inside its pages were sentient or not. Licita had bound him in a house with no door. His revenge was useless until the grimoire found its chosen holder.

And so he simmered – simmered with hatred he hadn't even experienced in the Underworld, a distinct rage that only grew every time he screamed, every time he cried, every time he remembered.

*

When the anti-magic power first flooded into his body, he started reciting the names of every demon who'd ever laid a finger on him. After his recitations, he fell asleep. Lucifero's name was the first name he uttered when he awoke, and the last one he whispered before he went to sleep.

*

'The smells! Oh, the above world smells of everything! Fragrant flowers, piping hot food, perfumes – even smoke has a scent! Who wouldn't want to make the contract? As long as you give them power, the humans above don't care what you do. Some even take you as lovers! Can you imagine – desiring power so much that you'd lay with a spawn of the Underworld? Humans will do it! They'll do anything for power!'

*

Liebe would do anything for vengeance – even kill.

*

Time didn't exist in Hell, so somewhere along the way, his eternity came to a stop, and suddenly there was someone holding the grimoire he was trapped in.

It was a performance in three parts – one moment he was floating in nothingness, the next moment he had unimaginable power, and then finally, there was a human with Licita's eyes, her smile, her infectious kindness.

It burned him up inside, because he'd already been marked for a violent death, and knew murder was the only option if he wanted to exact his revenge.

He couldn't kill Lucifero if he couldn't even kill his vessel.

*

'Warmth! Do you know how warm humans are? They're like flames with flesh! If you hold on too hard, they can die out quickly, but if you fan them gently, they just get bigger and hotter! And when they hold you – there's nothing warmer! Even the Allfather's womb didn't give us warmth. Cold, cold, cold! It's all so bloody cold!'

*

Liebe figured out the grimoire's holder was Licita's son when he and the other boy went back to the orphanage after their fight with the Magic Knight. Licita never spoke about the child, but Liebe had been around long enough to know when someone was overcompensating. Licita could never hide her true feelings, but he'd never made it a point to call her out on it. Instead, he'd noted the hidden glances, the longing looks, and the late-night sobs that filtered throughout their little house when Licita thought he was sleeping.

It was one of the reasons why he never tried to call her 'mother,' not until the very last moment. He knew he was a replacement, the acceptable changeling of her story, because no sensible human would ever do what she did, just pick a demon up off the forest floor, and pretend that it was her child.

Liebe wasn't even a child – there was no such concept, not in the Underworld. One day he just was, and it was beating after beating from then onwards, always the one to get chased down and knocked out, a mistake born in the Allfather's womb, a short, ugly little creature that would never attract a human long enough for it to escape the Underworld and experience warmth up above.

And so Liebe said nothing and pretended he didn't notice, and he pretended, and pretended, until he couldn't pretend anymore, and then Licita was gone.

*

Asta cared as much as Licita did, and Liebe hated him for it.

*

'If they truly love you, they'll worship you. Megicula found a human and gave them so much power, they created a cult around her! To this day, she lives above. She eats, sleeps, and experiences all the warmth the world above has to offer. That's why we have to make ourselves desirable enough that the humans will take us in. That's why we're here – to use them to return to Allmother's arms. The Allfather will not let us go, not until we find our vessels!'

*

Liebe needed Asta to live long enough for him to be able to take over completely. Asta was barely a flicker when they first met, him inside of the grimoire, while Asta unknowingly stared at him from the outside. Liebe started slowly, gave him a little of his power everyday, so that the vessel could get used to his presence, to his rage, to the power he'd birthed inside of the grimoire much like the Allfather had birthed him.

He knew it was time to take Asta's life when he met Lucifero again – when he realized Lucifero didn't remember him.

*

And he'd do it! He'd wring Asta's neck and suck the soul out of his mouth, and then settle himself into the bulk of flesh before hunting Lucifero down and torturing him for seven hundred years. Liebe had it all planned out. He had every step memorized, every action already practiced in the hollow nothingness of the grimoire, all he had to do was put it into motion, all he had to do was murder Asta and take his body so that he could exact his revenge.

All he had to do was kill Licita's son.

*

He couldn't, of course. He was weak, the runt of the litter, Allfather's biggest mistake in eons.

*

Liebe succumbed even before the ritual binding ceremony, because this was Licita's son, Licita, the first creature in his miserable existence that showed him a modicum of warmth. He couldn't kill her son. Licita only loved him because she gave Asta away. Liebe wouldn't be Liebe without Asta, because at the end of the day, Liebe was a product of her loss. His existence hinged on Asta's existence. He was Liebe because Asta was Asta.

He couldn't kill the one who had Licita's face. He couldn't kill his doppelganger.

*

The shackles and collar threatened to strangle him, but Liebe didn't care. He was fated to die a sad, lonely death, but at least he'd die knowing he'd let Licita's son live.

*

'And if the human takes you, then you take the human! They don't realize it because their lives are so short, but when they bind themselves to us, they take our lifespan. It's a deal that spans eons, eons spent in the sun, in Allmother's arms, until they're dragged down to the Allfather's womb! How's that for irony, runt?'

*

“You're the type who can't kill people, aren't you? You can hate or be sad for someone else's sake, right? In that case, we can get along! That's why I want us to be equals! This isn't a ritual for devil-binding, it's devil-friending! Let's crush the bad guys together!”

*

Liebe couldn't do anything but give him the name Licita gave him, and shake his hand. He couldn't tell him about the things he'd heard in the Underworld, or about the cold. He couldn't tell him sorry, or thank you, because there was nothing to be sorry or thankful for. They just were, and now there was an eternal bond, for eons in the sun, and for eons down under.

*

'It's easier if you fall in love. That way, you'll want to be around them. It's a forever kind of thing, runt. You'll learn to love them. With their hot skin, horrible tempers, and wicked, wicked deeds – this place is like heaven compared to up above! But it'll always be warm – they'll always keep you warm. Megicula sleeps with her woman now. She'll never be cold again. I'm going to find my human one day, too. A shame you'll never be enough for anyone, runt. So weak, so brittle – just pray someone's desperate enough to take you in one day. Just pray! That's all you can do! Allfather have mercy, that's all you can do!'

*