The Red Hand

"Oh... Gods... This... Oh my God." Amakusa had been spared the horror of taking part in the massacre of the Demon Army, but Akagi required that she watch the ensuing slaughter the entire time. The battlefield, if one could call it that, was covered in blood, though the corpses of the deceased Demon Army soldiers had all vanished after Akagi devoured their souls. "She... So many people..." The Heroine was trembling heavily after witnessing everything, though Akagi's command left her unable and technically unwilling to look away. It was a reminder to the Heroine that the Demon was willing and capable of doing far more horrific things than she'd expected. Amakusa was fully aware of Akagi's true nature and understood that she was this kind of person but actually seeing it in person and seeing just how far she was willing to go made it finally set in.

{I knew she was a fucking monster... But this... She just... She just killed and then ATE a hundred thousand fucking people! Someone... Someone needs to stop her! This... This whole thing is...} (Shiroe)

"I suppose that's the end of that." Nima said as a small drone landed in front of her. She'd been using them to keep an eye on the battle and appreciated the utility of the cute little tool. "Our methods and tactics seemed to work well in conjunction with the new equipment, but I think it will need some refining." She said while bringing out a tablet and writing down data and information. “Mixing magic and technology is going to do wonders for our ability.”

"Do... Do you feel nothing about what just happened?" Amakusa said to the cat ninja who had been overseeing and commanding the battle. "You watched tens of thousands of people die. They were massacred and then eaten! How can you just act so blasé about this?!?"

"Its not that I feel nothing. In fact, I feel a sense of pride or having served our Lord so well and a bit of shame that we were unable to outdo Silfana in the end." Nima said without looking at her. "It's humiliating for someone like her to better serve our Lord than us. I'll make sure we redouble our efforts so that the next time Lady Akagi calls on us we'll not shame her again."

"Y-You're crazy...." Shiroe tried to take a step back in shock, but the pet sub-personality overrode her will and prevented it. "Do you feel no remorse? Guilt? Anything for what you just did? You slaughtered so many people. I know they were an enemy but even then, you can't just feel nothing for killing that many people!"

{RIGHT?!?} (Amakusa)

Her question caused Nima to turn up from her tablet and look directly at the heroine with a puzzled on her face. "Why would I feel remorse for killing those lessor beings who stand in Lady Akagi's way? It is only natural that we remove them, and hopefully, this will serve to remind the rest of their place." She spoke without a hind of sarcasm, and to Amakusa it was as if she was speaking to an alien from another planet. The Ninja held a fanatic loyalty to Akagi. To them she was the supreme existence, a belief that had only gotten stronger since she'd awakened as a Demon Lord. She was for all intents and purposes their Goddess, and like any true believers in an infallible God they would do anything she asked of them without question.

{W-What kind of hell is this?!?} (Amakusa)

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"Are you wishing you took my generousdeal now, Princess?" Akagi asked the exhausted and drained Demon Princess, her smirk seemingly going from ear to ear. After Sariel's return to the Hells she and Silfana had wondered over just in time to enjoy the ongoing despair the Demons were sinking into after learning that their entire people's existence was basically a lie. "So many of your men could've been saved had you just given in and given me what I wanted from the start. Oh well, in the end I've gotten what I wanted anyway."

"You're... You're a truly despicable existence." Ariel spat back, disgusted with both herself and Akagi, but mostly Akagi. "You were more than happy for things to end up this way... The slaughter... I realized partway through the battle that we were playing into your hands by coming down here, but by then it was already too late." She balled her right fist and punched herself across the face, causing her nose to bleed slightly. "However, at the end of the day, this whole mess falls on me

{I've failed you Father... I've failed... All of us... I am an unworthy Daughter.} (Ariel)

"Don't go taking it all on yourself, Ariel." Bathrumd spoke up, surprising her with his supportive words. "We all agreed to go to war, and we lost. This is as much on the rest of us as it is you."

"Yeah, we were all goaded into action and allowed ourselves to be swept up by our own egos." Melifous said with a wry smile. "We were so hell-bent on trying to erase the stain on our people's honor that we didn't even think to ask why we cared about what others thought of us in the first place." The Demon Cult of Vikes had been largely populated with members of the Demon Race, something that had been a source of racial shame for thousands of years. The Kingdom had been hell bent on hunting them down and it was always a priority for those in power, despite what it could cost in blood and treasure.

"In fairness had you all been level-headed and calm about the situation then I would've had to retool my plan so this outcome works extremely well for me!" Akagi smiled. “I got to smash you in a spectacular manner which also let me send a message, so I see this as an absolute win!”

{Mika was right, the Kitty did end up making the streets run red with blood.} (Yumi)

{MEW! I was just thirty! MEW! Forgive the kitty, MEW!} (Akagi)

"Only you could be happy that war won out over peace and you got to wipe out so many people." Elariel scoffed. "Had I the ability to I would've destroyed you. Demon Lord or not you're clearly a being that could not be left alive."

{At this point there is no happy ending. Either this world is destroyed by Gale and the others to enable their torment of an entirely different one or BOTH world's are brought under the control of this psychopath. I honestly... I don't know which is a worse fate...} (Elariel)

"Well too bad for you that you can't!" Akagi laughed. "And you'll get to watch as phase three of my plan goes into action. So pull up a chair and get some popcorn because the next part is gonna be a doozy!"

"You intend to attack the entire world, don't you?" Ariel asked, her tone sharpening. "This battle was simply a way to shock the rest of Enoris into banding together against you, wasn't it?"

{But why? What reason could you have for making such an outlandish statement?} (Ariel)

"Oh?" Akagi grinned, happy to see that she'd caught on. "You seem to have put some of the pieces together. Not bad, Princess, not bad." She continued with a mocking slow clap. "Its exactly as you say. This little battle was merely a sideshow, one that served only to set other pieces into place. With such a bold display of my power the Gods will no longer be able to ignore me, nor will they be able to sit comfortably in their little home putting their heads in the sand."

{And for that matter, it won't allow the population to do that either and it will put further pressure on the Gods to do something to stop me, and all that pressure is bound to create slip ups as they make haste.} (Akagi)

"While I doubt Hadrus or Northwind is going to shed many tears over the destruction of the Demon Army, they're absolutely going to get nervous." Halifax commented. "I'd wager they're going to meet up with the Gods soon to determine what the next... step... is..." Her eyes went wide as her words slowed to a crawl. "You... You've already got that moving, don't you?"

{Kitty... What did you do?} (Halifax)

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Akagi began whistling in an attempt to deny the Sword's words. "I most certainly didn't have my agents zipping around the continent to put the idea of a grand alliance of Men and Gods into people's heads in an attempt to get it started juuuust in time for the Demon Army to go squish, nopers! And I most certainly

{She reminds me of Gale. Having plans on top of plans and people embedded in everything to let him play both sides so that he never loses. But even he wouldn't go so far as to have people on both sides of a war and use them to make the sides fight to create so much slaughter that it brought the world to its knees. Perhaps even he has a sense of morality, twisted as it may be.} (Elariel)

"Just limit your shenanigans to soldiers and political leaders, okay?" Halifax sighed, not wanting the common people brought further into the impending destruction. "This was already bad enough, but I can ignore it since it was part of war. Blowing entire cities of people up just because is going to be my red line."

"What if let you scratch my ears more? Will that change your mind?" Akagi walked over and nudged her on the shoulder. "I'll even budget in extra kitty time every week for you. One city for one extra hour? We can even negotiate if you'd like." She said giving an overly dramatic wink.

{No you won't! That will eat into MY kitty time!} (Yumi)

"Tempting, but no." Halifax rolled her eyes as she pushed Akagi away. "Besides, I already get as much kitty time as I want anyway. So I don't think you have much leverage here."

"Fair, fair." Akagi laughed before turning back to the Demon leadership. "So are we ready to end things? I presume you'll go quietly at this point. Lest you want more of your people to end up like this.” She said, pointing to the destruction over her shoulder

"Ordinarily I'd kill myself rather than live with the shame you're going to inflict on us..." Ariel took a deep breath before turning her eyes to Elariel. "But after finding out what they did... What they've done and how our people's entire struggle has been for nothing..." She paused. "I suppose I can live with my failure if it means repaying the Gods for everything."

{If nothing else I need to live long enough to see them destroyed for everything they've done to my people!} (Ariel)

"I second that." Bathrumd's quick agreement came as a bit of a surprise to the others. "I never liked the Gods in the first place and I honestly couldn't care that much about who or what they've killed, but to so callously throw our people away when they've worked so hard is something that I won't take sitting down." He growled.

"Bath..." Ariel was truly shocked to hear him say something like that, especially after how long she'd known the man. He was never the kind of person to care that deeply about Demonkind, at least not openly so to hear him get angry on the population's behalf came as a shock.

"Don't get me wrong, Demon Lord." Bathrumd glared at Akagi. "I don't like you and I won't ever be your loyal subject. I'm merely going along with this because it gives me the one and only chance possible to get back at those assholes. If someone else comes along that can take you down I'd side with them."

"Bath!" Melfious yelled, afraid that his words could anger Akagi and doom them all.

{Are you insane?!? Why would you say that to her face?!?} (Melifous)

"Bahahaha!" Akagi burst out laughing at his declaration. "Man, you've got some balls on you! I don't think I've met that many people who could look me in the eye and mean what you just said after witnessing something like this!"

{As much as I despise the thief, I'll give her credit where it's due. Not many could declare their intent to stand in their way knowing full well it's pointless.} (Yumi)

{It's what I love about the little sword. The feisty attitude makes it fun! Having friends that cower in fear of me is boring! Hishya is a decent mix of both but Halifax is on another level! Its nice to have someone actually have the guts to stand up and talk back!} (Akagi)

"Ah, man..." Akagi shook her head to stop laughing. "No that's fine. I don't need undying loyalty since I've got plenty of that back home. As long as you cooperate with me then I'll do everything in my power to bring those Gods to their knees."

"Then I think we'll get along just fine." Bathrumd smirked as he and Akagi shook hands, both gaining a strange respect for the other as the others watched along either sighing or shaking their heads.

{How are these two somehow getting along?!?) (Ariel x Elariel x Silfana x Melifous)