The Red Hand

*SPLOOSH*

*HACK* *COUGH* *WHEEZE*

"Did you have a nice nap?" Akagi asked the freshly roused Vampire with a smirk. She'd dumped a bucket of water on Silfana to wake her up, a method that was clearly not appreciated.

"I was great until someone went and rudely woke me up." Silfana grumbled as she used magic to dry herself off. "I was wondering when you'd show up." She said as Akagi helped her up. "And I'll admit I was a bit worried you'd steal my fight." She said, glancing down at the still unconscious Sariel.

{Though sadly that may have been necessary if Queen of the Night Lords didn't work on her.} (Silfana)

"Who? Me? Steal a fight? I would never do such a thing! Perish the thought!" Akagi smirked.

{I have a literal list of the amount of times you've done exactly that.} (Yumi)

"Quiet you." Akagi said while chuckling.

{Tell me I'm wrong! You can't can you?!?} (Yumi)

"Regardless..." Akagi said as she turned to Ariel and co, who were slowly sliding down the crater wall as they approached. "It seems this little farce is finally coming to an end, a shame, but unavoidable." She said as she slowly raised her right hand into the air. "I suppose we should at least wrap things up nicely while we're at it. I'll clean things up. Just give me one moment to take out the trash."

Many soldiers were still alive, and most were either frozen in fear or fleeing for their lives after the rampant death and extraordinary display of power between the fighters. The nearly one hundred thousand-strong Demon Army was cut down to size, reduced to roughly a quarter of its initial strength, but Akagi wasn't finished with them yet. No, she promised them death and that was what she was going to deliver.

"Blade Starfall." Akagi said as she snapped her fingers.

_____________________________________________________________________________

<Ariel POV>

"Most of our men were wiped out. What a disaster." Ariel growled as they reached the bottom of the crater.

{This was their plan all along, wasn't it? They wanted to slaughter us and punish us, and I walked our people to their deaths. I... I'm sorry father...} (Ariel)

"If possible, we should retreat." Bathrumd's words surprised the others, who never expected him of all people to sound the retreat. “Its clear that this battle is over.”

"Yeah... If Bath's calling it quits, we really are doomed." Melifous gave a dry laugh as the gravity of the situation hit him. "Though I can't blame him. They defeated an Arch Duke of Hell, after all."

{Even if she was here in a weakened state, that she was still fought to draw is unbelievable! And that Vampire isn't even the actual Demon Lord herself! How the fuck powerful is that thing if its got someone like HER as a subordinate?!?} (Melifous)

"We need to warn the other nations." Ariel said as she paused, looking into the sky where a dark tear seemed to open. "The only way that can stop a monster like this is if the whole world comes together."

{Gods and Demons fought side by side against Vikes, and we'll need that kind of cooperation if we're going to win this war, but...} (Ariel)

"Ariel." Bathrumd called out to her, breaking her train of thought. "I'm afraid that there's a high possibility that we won't be getting out of here alive." He pointed out that fleeing was likely impossible at this point, at least for all of them. "Even if these two idiots woke up, I doubt they have the mana to teleport us all." He was still carrying the unconscious Phima, who'd been entirely drained during the battle.

"If even one of us can report back what happened here, that would be enough." Ariel said, sweat dripping down her forehead as she realized they may have to make a hard choice. "People need to know just how dangerous this Demon Lord is."

“I agree, and as the Regent it should be you who-” Bathrumd's words were cut off as Melfious yelped and pointed into the sky.

"H-Hey..." Melifous said, pointing to the massive tear in the sky. "Is... Is... What's going on up there? That power... I..."

{WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!?} (Melfous)

“What... are... you... By the Gods...” Ariel's words slowed as she dropped her axe to the ground in shock as the three of them stared into the dark vortex forming into in the sky. As they stared into the black abyss they got a terrible feeling of dread in their stomachs. However, before they could even react, a swarm of thousands of dark blades poured out of the vortex in the sky and began raining down on the battlefield, skewering, slicing, and killing whatever soldiers managed to survive the initial battle. Screams echoed throughout the battlefield as men and animals cried out in pain and misery. However, the screams didn't last long as mere moments later they started, large pillars of black fire erupted around the destroyed grassland, and everything went deathly quiet. It took a moment to process what happened, but when they did Ariel, Bathrumd and Melifous realized that they and the two Phimas were members of the Demon Army still alive.

"She..." Ariel began trembling as she realized what had just happened. "She slaughtered them..." The Demon Princess fell to her knees. "In an instant..."

*BLARG*

Melifous vomited as the realization hit him that not only did all the soldiers die but that Akagi had eaten their souls as well.

{I could hear the screams! The screams! They all... My Gods...} (Melifous)

"She was toying with us this whole time." Bathrumd growled as he realized that Akagi could've done that from the start, but hadn't. "She could've wiped us out in an instant, yet she chose to play with us like captured prey. Fucking monster."

"Such kind words you have for me." Akagi said as she approached the five of them, arms folded behind dramatically her back. She'd reverted back to her usual form so as to not scare them too much, though Yumi pointed out that it was probably a meaningless gesture as she was not only still using a distorted voice but had just consumed nearly one hundred thousand souls. "And here I gave you all multiple chances to avoid this tragedy. So tell me? Who's the real monster here? All I did was kill those who tried to kill me."

"You..." Ariel's entire body tensed as she barely managed to speak. "You killed so many people..."

"People die." Akagi shrugged. "It's just the way of the world, and those who live by the sword tend to die by it. This was a battle like any other, and in victory I simply chose to end those who raised their blades to me. Don't tell me you've never done something like that before."

"Don't try and compare us! This wasn't an honorable battle!" Ariel yelled back. "These men didn't die with dignity! They were slaughtered like animals! And don't try and justify yourself by painting this as some noble defense of your people or land! Your attack on Amdamell and the assassinations and killings you've orchestrated since your arrival proves that you're just a bloodthirsty monster no different than Vikes! YOU declared war on us!"

{Her finding out the truth is going to be some serious whiplash, huh?} (Yumi)

{Just give it a minute, I'll make it even worse for her.} (Akagi)

"No different from Vikes?" Akagi shifted her jaw in thought as she approached closer. "Perhaps in some respects, we are similar. After all, I'm still a Demon Lord despite my... Lets call them peculiarities." She laughed demonically. "Though I'd say between the two of us..." She paused as stopped just in front of Ariel. "I'm the much better monster to be facing. Unlike him, I'm quite reasonable and willing to work with people rather than jump straight to killing them. As seen by my numerous attempts at diplomacy. Attempts that YOU snubbed your nose at."

"Take the Spirits." Ariel spat back at her in disgust. "I'll give all of them within the Demon Kingdom to you just as you asked, so leave."

"While I appreciate your capitulation to my demands, I'm afraid that offer is no longer on the table." Akagi smirked as she began slowly circling the group like a predator stalking its prey. "You see, that deal expired the moment you rejected my last offer at the start of this battle. Now... Now I think I'll demand something more from you."

"What is it that you want then?" Ariel asked, her words sounding strong as her body trembled in fear. She was hoping to buy some time for the Phimas to wake up and allow them to flee, but had a sinking feeling in her chest.

"Naturally I still want the Spirits, but in addition to that... Well, let's see..." Akagi put her finger to her lips as she thought for a moment. "As for the penalty for denying my generous offers, hmmmm..." She hummed in thought. "I think I'll require that you surrender your NATION to me. I think becoming my subject is more than sufficient punishment for continuously spitting in my face."

"So you want to enslave us?" Ariel asked, taking a half step back.

"Slavery is such a dirty word." Akagi laughed as she held back from making the intern joke. "Not quite. You see, I've got a special little Vampire over there who has a dream that I'd like to see fulfilled."

"The one who claimed to be Erlathan's heir?" Bathrumd asked.

"Indeed." Akagi nodded. "She has dreams of ruling this world as its rightful Empress, and I'm such a nice an generous Master that I've decided to indulge my subordinate's whims." She chuckled. "So, what I want from you all is to Elect her as the next Demon King, thus your nation will become my vassal by extension."

"No one will acknowledge such a thing." Ariel replied as Akagi continued circling. "Even if she really was his heir, and I know damn well that she's not, our people would never accept her as King, nor would the other nations. The moment they see the Demon Kingdom fall under your-" She paused, a horrifying thought flashing through her mind.

"I see you figured it out." Akagi stopped just in front of her again. "Though it wasn't exactly that hard to discern my true objective here."

"You... You want everyone to attack." Ariel's heart started racing as she understood Akagi's plans. The Demon was going to drum up whatever justification she needed to conquer the world and was more than happy to direct things toward conflict to satisfy her aims.

{This is madness! Why would anyone want to put the entire world against them?!? Surely she doesn't think that she can win!} (Ariel)

"Why?" Ariel asked, her words getting slightly faster due to fear. "Why go this far? Why start a fight with not just the Gods but the entire world?"

"I'd like to make one small correction in your comments. I didn't start this fight." Akagi shook her head. "But I do intend to finish it." She continued. "The Gods are responsible for this series of events, and they and you have no one to blame for what's going to happen but yourselves."

"They chased down those who sought to destroy this world." Ariel retorted. “Their goal was to destroy our enemies and save us!”

"A convenient lie, but still a lie." Akagi waived her off. "Your Gods have been deceiving you, Demon Princess. Tell me, why did the Gods declare the Spirits to be the ones responsible for the Magic Disasters plaguing this world? Why were THEY the target of this whole kerfuffle?"

"Because they found out about their rituals, and how they were using magic to destabilize the world to destroy it." Ariel answered. “They'd been using magic to destroy this world.”

"And why prey tell would they do that?" Akagi asked her to think a bit more critically. "What reason could they have for wanting to kill everyone? To destroy their home and even risk killing themselves? What purpose would that serve?"

{If people actually thought about things for a second we wouldn't have half the problems we've been running into.} (Yumi)

{TELL ME ABOUT IT!} (Akagi)

"I... I don't know." Ariel couldn't give a straight answer since they'd never really been told much about the reason for the Spirit's actions. The Gods had merely told them of their responsibility and provided 'evidence' that they were behind it. The only motivation ever described was personal animus against the Gods, but little was ever expanded on regarding it.

{I... We never really questioned it...} (Ariel)

"And you don't know the reason, because it never existed in the first place. The Spirits never wanted to destroy this world, Princess, they were just victims of the Gods' plan to save themselves." Akagi's words echoed throughout the battlefield as the Demons' entire world was turned upside down.