The Red Hand

"W-What?" Ariel's entire body froze as she took in Akagi's words. "What are you talking about? What do you mean their reason didn't exist?!?" She raised her voice slightly. The Demon's words implied something that the Princess didn't want to entertain, but nothing in Akagi's demeanor or tone implied she was lying, a fact which all of them understood well.

"It means what it means." Akagi replied curtly, noting that the Elector-Kings all had a dumbfounded look on their face, something that she'd expected. "The Spirits had no reason to destroy this world. They were just as much of a part of it as you are."

"So then, what? Are you trying to tell us that the Gods ordered their deaths just because?" Melfious asked nervously laughing at such an absurdity. “Even the Gods wouldn't be so callous as to-”

"No, you idiot..." Akagi sighed as she shook her head. "I'm telling you that the Spirits were never the ones trying to destroy this world in the first place." Her words took the Elector-Kings and Ariel completely by surprise and left them momentarily speechless. "This world is falling apart at the seams. Not because the Spirits performed some grand ritual due to a desire to kill you all but because it's simply breaking down at a fundamental level. Nobody is actively trying to destroy Enoris, present company excluded, but you can be one hundred percent certain that the Spirits are not and were not the cause of these disasters."

{I figured they'd be a bit resistant to such an idea. After all, it means everything they ever knew was a lie and sadly... Sadly I can relate to that far more than I ever want to admit.} (Akagi)

"Stop lying!" Ariel yelled reflexively. "The Spirits were our enemy! They were trying to destroy this world." Her words seemed more directed at herself than Akagi, almost in an attempt to reassure herself that what the Demon was telling her was a trick. The thought that she'd led a war of annihilation against a people that had done nothing was simply too much for Ariel to bear.

"While I do lie from time to time..." Akagi said as she pulled out her Kiseru and lit it. "In this instance, my words are completely factual, and if you won't believe me, then you can simply hear it from more 'reputable' sources than me."

{At least you admit you're not exactly trustworthy.} (Yumi)

{I'm very trustworthy! It's just that these idiots are too dense to believe me!} (Akagi)

{I mean, I don't think anyone would believe you on your word alone in this case. Maybe if you turned kitty they'd believe you? At this point I think you might as well just default to that form during discussion since people seem to be inclined to work with you when you're cute.} (Yumi)

{I hate that you might actually be right...} (Akagi)

"I don't think there's anyone you use to get me to believe such a thing!" Ariel growled back. "Your assertion is simply too ridiculous to believe and, if true, would mean the Gods killed innocent people for no reason!" She continued, again seeming to direct these words more toward herself than Akagi. "As bad as they can be, they'd never do something so heinous! Nobody is that evil!"

{Stares at the cat.} (Yumi)

{That cat stares back and you and mews until you shut your lying spreading mouth.} (Akagi)

{Continues to stare at the cat.} (Yumi)

"I don't know. I think they are pretty authoritative sources on the matter." Akagi pointed to the lip of the crater where both Elariel and Halifax were standing, the Divine Blade in question holding Penelope over her shoulder while carrying an inert Arcus in her other hand. "But maybe I'm wrong? It wouldn't be the first time." She smirked.

"L-Lady Elariel?" Ariel's eyes went wide as she turned to face the Goddess, shocked to see her in such a place. "No... She can't be here."

{That must be a fake! No Goddess would side with a Demon Lord!} (Ariel)

"I'm afraid that I am..." Elariel said as she and Halifax floated down the crater wall, landing next to Akagi. “Though this is not where I want to be, I am indeed here in the flesh.”

"This... No... What the hell is going on?!?" Ariel yelled in a mixture of rage and disbelief. "Why are you with the Demon Lord?!?" Her eyes turned to Halifax. "And you..."

{I knew Penelope stood no chance against the Divine Blade, but still...} (Ariel)

"Yo! Been a while, Ariel." Penelope said with a tooth smile. She'd met the Demon Princess a couple of times in the past, though by this point at had been over a decade since their last encounter. "I think the last time was when you sent me after that pack of Demon Spawn if memory serves me."

{What in the absolute fuck is going on here?!? Halifax being here was already crazy as is but a GODDESS is backing the Demon Lord?!? Has the world gone mad?!? HAVE I?!?} (Melifous)

"Akagi, I'd ask if making this as confusing as possible was your goal, but I think I already know the answer to this question." Elariel sighed, just happy that the Demon hadn't chosen to deliver the bad news as a cat.

"What can I say? It's more fun when their jaws hit the floor." Akagi snickered while Yumi commented that this was one of Akagi's bad habits.

"Is this some kind of game the Gods are playing with us?!?" Ariel hissed. "Was this all some kind of sick fucking joke?!?" She figured that the most likely answer was that Elariel was using Akagi to be rid of them as part of a scheme the Gods were setting up behind the scenes.

"I mean, in a way it was." Akagi said as she stopped laughing and snapped into a more serious attitude. "And you all performed the roles I assigned you perfectly!" She began clapping, something which did not endear her to anyone present. "Congratulations Princess! Thanks to your stupidity, and the dim-witted nature of those around  you, I've been able to move my plans forward at breakneck speed! If I had an award for best unwitting collaboration I think you might just receive it!"

{Your so-called 'plan' basically breaks down to killing everyone slowly and horribly...} (Elariel)

"You..." Ariel's entire body seemed to burst with hatred at Akagi's mockery, but she found herself unable to speak up in rebuttal.

"Can you drop the theatrics for five minutes?" Elariel rolled her eyes as she chided Akagi for only increasing the temperature of the conversation for no benefit save for her own enjoyment. “Its doing more harm than good.”

"I suppose so." Akagi said with a shrug. "And I'll let you have the floor for a bit while I check on the Vampire. Gotta give my good puppy some head pats for a job well done." She said before casually walking away and chatting with Yumi about what they were going to have to eat once this activity wrapped up.

"I swear, she's far too casual." Halifax said as she sat Arcus and Penelope on the ground. "After all this she should at least take things a bit more seriously. Otherwise, the humiliation might be worse than the actual defeat itself."

{No! That's not how this works! That's not how any of this works!} (Elariel)

"Elariel." Bathrumd called out to the Goddess, not providing any formality to her name which showed just how little of a fuck he gave at this part. "Tell us what is going on. Why are you here and what did the Demon Lord mean when she said the Spirits were not responsible for the disasters?"

“Yeah, I'd say we're owed a few answers.” Melifous agreed with a nervous nod.

"Its... It's a long story... One that I'd rather not tell... But I see I've got no choice." Elariel sighed before explaining everything, lamenting that Akagi had left her with the proverbial bag in this situation and once she was done Elariel braced for a tidal wave of profanity to be flung her way by the angry Demonkin.

"You..." Bathrumd's eyes widened in shock as the reality of the situation hit him. As bad as he could be even he didn't agree with the killing of innocent people for such a purpose.

"I... I think I'm gonna be sick..." Melifous started heaving before finally turning and puking up whatever breakfast he'd eaten before the battle.

{I don't think you're going to be, I think you are.} (Halifax)

"We..." Ariel began to shake violently as the realization of what she'd done washed over her. "You made us... You deceived us... We... We killed them... On your orders..."

{Welcome to the forced to kill innocent people club! It sucks, doesn't it?!?} (Halifax)

"It... It does not excuse our actions, but from the beginning, our goal was to stop Enoris from being destroyed by its degradation." Elariel explained, though it was clear that her words were falling on deaf ears. "Gale did not tell most of us that their deaths were not for that purpose and were actually to enable our flight." She said while turning her head away, not wanting to face them due to the shame.

"When..." Ariel asked her words almost a whisper before screaming at the top of her lungs. "WHEN DID YOU KNOW?!?"

"I..." Elariel seemed not to want to answer.

"ANSWER ME! ANSWER ME, GODDESS! WHEN DID YOU KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT YOU'D MADE US DO?!?" Ariel screamed as she drew her axe, not thinking that she could actually harm the Goddess but doing it simply because it felt right. "When did you know that we'd been sent on a mission so foul and heinous that the very thought makes me ill?!? How long did you lie to my face about our mission?!? HOW LONG DID YOU MAKE MY PEOPLE ACCESSORIES TO YOUR MADNESS?!?"

"The Gods that didn't know from the start were cued in around five years before the war ended." Halifax answered, her words causing the world around them to go so silent that you could probably hear a pin drop. Five years was a long time, nearly half of the time that Ariel had been running the Demon Kingdom, which meant that there was more than enough time to disclose the truth. The uncomfortable silence lasted for what seemed to be an eternity until an unpleasant sound broke it.

*BLARG*

Melifous continued to puke in the background, breaking the silence as his stomach only continued to churn from the revelation.

"Five... Years..." Ariel slowly parroted the words back to Halifax, her axe falling from her hands as she dropped to her knees in defeat. "You knew for that long... And you still marched us forward... Made us... Made us..."

{We killed so many people... We slaughtered villages and killed men, women, and children... All because... All because we thought...} (Ariel)

"I always knew the Gods were no good... But this..." Bathrumd said under his breath as he slowly put the Phimas on the ground. "This is far beyond anything I could've imagined."

"And the worst part is that this is far from the first time the Gods have done fucked up things of this magnitude." Halifax spoke up, taking delight in seeing the Demons brought to their mental knees and at seeing Elariel's complete embarrassment. "Though I have to say that knowingly ordering a genocide of a people so that they could try and save their assess from destruction easily makes the top of that list."

"Did you know too?" Ariel asked Halifax, the Princess' eyes shaking harshly as she was mere moments from a mental breakdown and panic attack.

"No. I only found out what they'd done recently and I've been on a mission to stop them from succeeding with their plans." Halifax replied, shaking her head. "Once they realized that just killing off the Spirits and using them as part of a large Blood Ritual wouldn't cut it they decided to use the rest of you as sacrifices in their disgusting project."

"They plan on killing us all?!?" Melifous exclaimed as he wiped his mouth. "After everything we've done they'd turn their blades on us?!? After everything our people sacrificed for you?!?"

"Demonkind is already something most Gods don't care for." Halifax said, explaining things before Elariel could put any spin on it. "I'm sure you're aware that your kind's lineage has always made you an other to the Gods, and they have no qualms with getting rid of you to save themselves."

{Demonkind was created by the Demons of the Hells to give them a foothold in the mortal world and establish a firm base of worshipers in a cunning attempt to undermine the Gods. For thousands of years their plan seemed to be working and Demons were reviled by the rest of the world for their affinity for such vial creatures. However, the Demons failed to understand that their pawns were not entirely under their control and a large portion of Demonkind resented their Demonic overlords. It was a hell of a civil war, one that makes most other wars on Enoris look tame by comparison, but in the end the faction that wished to chart Demonkind's future free of their creators' meddling won out. But even still...} (HalifaX)

"We fought our ancestors, drove those who could not be reasoned with from Simoea, and have acted as a bastion against the Wilds for centuries!" Melifous yelled, baffled and appalled by what he'd heard. "What the hell more did you want from us?!? Our people gave you their everything! We worshiped you! Brother killed brother. Father killed Son. All so that our people could escape the cruelty of the Demons!" His scream was again followed by an all to familiar silence, on only broken by the Goddess herself.

"To be blunt... Most of the Gods... Most of them wanted to do to you what we'd done to the Dark Elves. You were never accepted as an equal race, and even if you worshiped us and distanced yourselves from the Demons that spawned you none of the other Gods ever truly cared for you as one of our children. " Elariel's words produced a deep sense of shock to the Demons in front of her. Hearing that all their people's hard work and determination amounted to nothing in the eyes of the Gods was somehow an even worse hit to their minds than learning they'd been used to slaughter the Spirits. Demonkind had worked hard to separate itself from its Demon past and took pride in becoming one of the Gods' welcomed races. Being told that the Gods never accepted them meant that the sacrifices their people had made had all been for nothing. It was truly the worst thing they could've heard. More than learning that they'd been used to kill innocents, more than finding out that the Gods intended to back stab them to save themselves. Discovering that the very hope of their people and their struggles against their past was meaningless was truly a fate worse than death. It meant that everyone who'd died in the wars against the Demons of old died for nothing and every hardship their people faced in service to the Gods was completely pointless. This realization was simply too much to bear and was exactly the kind of punishment Akagi wished to inflict upon the Demons for their refusal of her kindness, as well as on the rest of Enoris for its part in the invasion of her world. Finding out that the people you presumed loved you in reality hated your very existence was something few knew better the Demon Lord herself, and she was more than happy to inflict that same level of misery on a people who'd chosen to take up arms against her. Some might call it cruel, and others might note that Akagi may have been trying to offload some of her own mental anguish onto others, but at the end of the day none of that really mattered. The Demons now knew the truth, and Pandora's Box had been opened.