The Red Hand

Chapter 128 – The Family Trip and The Broken Elf.

Once the two sisters were finished, Yumi healed Kana's minor cuts and bruises from her practice with Akagi. It would take time, but Akagi figured Kana would become quite competent with the sword after some training. Akagi reminded her sister of the deadly nature of the weapon, despite how cute it might appear, and made sure to lecture the three girls on the danger magic posed and reminded them not to misuse it. A comment that caused them to retort that Akagi had little room to talk about misusing power. Which caused her to simply say that she could do whatever she wanted and that this wasn't about her.

Yumi then returned the two girls to their respective homes, but not before Kana asked everyone to keep Himari and Momo a secret from Hishya. She told Akagi about a fun idea she wanted to use to mess with the dragon girl, and after an explanation, Akagi was onboard with the idea of pranking Hishya, finding Kana and Himari's idea hilarious.

Once things settled down and everyone was returned home, Akagi, Kana and Yumi went and had dinner. It was curry night, and even Himari was given something to eat, despite not needing food. The four enjoyed a nice meal together until Kana asked about Akagi's planned trip to Mizumi's world.

"So when are you going there?" Kana asked while eating some rice.

"I believe this weekend if I'm not mistaken. Things are taking a bit more time than expected, and Mizumi is inundated with meetings, so she asked me to wait." Akagi answered.

"Hmmm." Kana thought while chewing. "Can I come with?" She asked something unexpected.

"Errrr." Akagi wasn't really thrilled about bringing her, and her paranoia was telling her to minimize risks. "I don't know. I'm still worried about what effects entering a different world might have o you."

{I'd rather not find out later that you were made sick because of me.} (Akagi)

"I can use magic now Onee-chan, and I think you should stop coddling me all the time. I'm nearly seventeen, I think you can back off the overprotectiveness just a bit." Kana sighed. "I know you're super paranoid about things, but you really should learn to tone it down once and a while. Living like that can't be good for you."

{At this point, being paranoid is just my default state. Though she might be on to something.} (Akagi)

"None of our agents have reported any issues going to and from that world, so I think taking Kana would be fine." Yumi joined in to aid Kana. "Besides, if you take her, you can make it into a family trip."

{You two really should spend some time together, alone.} (Yumi)

"You too..." Akagi groaned. "Fine... but if anything starts being weird, you go back instantly. No, if's ands, or buts. Kapish?"

"Fine by me." Kana smiled. She rarely got to spend much time alone with Akagi, so a trip like this would be great. They'd never really done family vacations before, so that would also be a plus.

"Hmmm, dish karre is reewy goob!" Himari talked with a mouth full of food. She was happily enjoying herself.

The three of them looked at her and sighed. "It's like we gained another child in our home." Yumi said.

“I don't know. I think Alice might be better.” Kana sighed.

"Oh well, she's your child. Have fun straightening her out." Akagi laughed.

"I'll try my best..." Kana had no hope of actually doing so, for Himari was much too set in her ways to change. Once dinner was over, Kana opted to practice a bit with Himari. She wanted to at least be able to get her eye back to normal, which she managed to accomplish by the end of the night.

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<Elna POV>

It had been around two weeks since Akagi defeated Libra and brought the terrorist group down with her violent display of force. As the only surviving member of Libra's upper echelon, Elna was effectively made into the face of the tragedy. She'd been charged with countless crimes, and was facing the death penalty for her actions.

She had no hope of escape either, as Imp's magical shackles combined with the reinforced cell meant that she wasn't going anywhere, not that she even wanted to. She'd rarely spoken to anyone during her time in captivity, and the other players who'd come to speak with her got little more than sporadic phrases out of her. Most of her time was spent mumbling to herself about a monster, darkness, and other similar ominous words. Hishya postulated that she'd been completely broken, likely from the utter horror Akagi inflicted on her. When she later queried the Demon on this, Hishya was told that her strikes were filled with dark energy which had seeped into and damaged the Elf's soul.

The effect was similar to what Hishya went through all those years ago, only this time much worse. Elna was a broken woman, her mind partially shattered by exposure to Akagi's darkness, and her failure to damage Akagi with her full power only helped drive her into madness.

Excelsior and Superbia came down to visit her today, something they did frequently, as Elna was someone the two knew reasonably well. Excelsior knew her IRL before the game, and Superbia was friendly with her within FWO. While they both agreed that Elna and Libra needed to be stopped, seeing the Elf in such a broken state didn't sit well with them.

"Still no better today..." Excelsior said as he looked through the glass into Elna's cell. "I know she probably won't ever get better, but part of me wants her to. If nothing else, I want to talk to her... one more time."

{Chi, why did it come to this?} (Excelsior)

"Akagi really did a number on her, huh?" Superbia sighed as she watched Elna twitch while sitting on her bed. "Breaking a person's mind so easily. It's horrifying to think she can do something like this."

"Yeah, it's a wonder that Hishya didn't end up in the same state." Excelsior recalled how Hishya described her own mental break. "Such a monster is just freely walking in our world. And there's nothing we can do to slow her down! Let alone beat her."

{Its like we're living in a nightmare} (Excelsior)

"Be grateful that this ancient evil doesn't want to destroy the world at least." Superbia shrugged. "At this point, I'll take what I can get. Even if this isn't exactly that ideal of an outcome for us."

{We're basically just Akagi's toys. Hishya might have been joking about the branding, but Akagi really does believe she owns us all. And I can't exactly say she's wrong after what Hishya told me.} (Superbia)

"The monster... the monster... it... it ate them!" Elna started rocking back and forth. "Consumed... eaten... devoured... all gone..." She looked over at Superbia and Excel. "And it will devour all... it will devour you too." Her eyes twitched as she spoke.

"You got what you deserved, Elna." Superbia spoke to her. "So did Herlex and the others. Akagi only came after you because it became necessary. If you hadn't gone on a rampage, none of this would have happened."

"Akagi... Akagi... Akagi... the monster... the evil... the darkness... Akagi... Akagi is-is... all the darkness... all the evil..." Elna began ranting. "You!" she pointed at the two of them. "You-you don't you-don't understand!" She stood up and walked to the glass pressing her face against it. "She-she is... a never-ending pit-pit of darkness... where no light can escape!"

"She's the Demon Lord, we know." Superbia sighed. "She told us all about what she is and what she-" Superbia was cut off as Elna screamed.

"SHE IS THE DARKNESS! THERE IS NO LIGHT!” Elna's scream startled them both. “The darkness swallows the light. The darkness swallows the light. The darkness swallows the light. The darkness swallows the light. The darkness swallows the light. The darkness swallows the light. The darkness swallows the light. The darkness swallows the light. The darkness swallows the light. The darkness swallows the light." Elna repeated the phrase Akagi had put above her grisly display at the Tomogawa compound, as she sat back down on her bed. "Superbia, Excelsior. I'm sorry. We did it. We released it. The Darkness has been unleashed, and it was all our fault. The Darkness knows. It hungers. It-It laughs." She ranted until passed out on the bed.

"Oh shit, get medical!" Excelsior screamed, and a team was quickly brought in, including Imp. After a brief examination, it was determine that Elna would be fine, she had simply fallen just asleep, but Elna's words rang in their heads. The cell was recorded, so Imp was able to watch a playback of what she said before she fainted.

"How did she even know that phrase?" Superbia asked. "Nothing about that incident hasn't been made public, and no one is allowed to give info to those in custody."

{Did Akagi sneak back in here?} (Superbia)

"Nothing in video-recording or other sensors-detectors. No info given-transferred to Elf." Imp looked through some video logs. "No clue-idea."

"At the end, she spoke to us/" Excelsior pursed his lips. "She apologized for unleashing Akagi." He sat down in a chair. "What the fuck man!" He put his head in his hands. "Are we dealing with Satan?!?"

{Is this punishment for our sins? Is Akagi an agent of the great evil himself?!?} (Excelsior)

"Not wrong-far off." Imp spun around in her chair and looked at him. "Akagi is darkness-evil incarnate. She is being of malice-hatred. She exists to murder-kill-enslave." Imp continued. "The stories she and blue-haired girl told me... make biblical-Christian stories sound tame." She gave a dry laugh.

{Spooky-scary stories... But fun. Demon Lord Akagi, is best Akagi!} (Imp)

"The more I think of this, the more this feels like one of those horror movies where it's already too late, and everyone starts dying to the monster." Superbia gripped her arm.

{Are we suppose to just live in fear everyday, and hope that Akagi doesn't get bored and kill us all?} (Superbia)

Imp just shrugged. "Perhaps, but this monster-demon wants to be left alone-ignored. I estimate-predict a less than 1% chance-possibility that Akagi goes crazy-psycho."

“Even a 1% chance, is still a chance Imp.” Excelsior sighed. “That's still far to great of a risk.

"Maybe." Imp shook her head. "But no point-reason to worry-fret over something you cannot control."

{Extra stress is bad.} (Imp)

"Heh," Excelsior laughed. "The literal incarnation of evil walks the Earth, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it!" He slammed a nearby table. "It's ridiculous, you're telling me that all we can do is pray that nothing happens. That she just lets us live our lives!"

{That's unacceptable! There has to be something we can do to beat her! She said herself that killing her is possible, but damn if I can't see a way to do it!} (Excelsior)

"As much as I don't want to admit it, that does seem to be the case." Superbia looked at him. "We can't fight her, Excel. You saw how easily she took Libra apart, and that was her just fucking around!"

{If Herlex can't harm her, and Hishya won't fight her. Than nothing of this world can ever hope to defeat her.} (Superbia)

"I know. I know" Excelsior let out a deep breath. "It's just.... this is a lot, ya know. We get back from FWO. From fighting for four years, and what do we get? A world where our ex-teammates start rampaging. A world where Akagi holds all the cards and could kill us at any moment? A world that hates us because of what they did?!?" He groaned. "I don't want to live on this planet anymore."

"Akagi could lift-fly you to Mars?" Imp giggled.

"I don't doubt she could, Imp." Excelsior laughed. "Honestly, I don't think I'd feel better on Mars or the other side of the Universe. She'd just find me there anyway." He wasn't wrong.

"Let's just do what Imp suggested and put it out of our minds." Superbia shrugged. "If we treat Akagi like a volcano or a tsunami that might be better for our stress levels."

"Yeah, your probably right," Excelsior said.

{Maybe we'll get lucky and something will come along and kill her, that would be nice.} (Excelsior)

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“A-choo!” Akagi sneezed.

“I guess someone's talking about you.” Yumi giggled as she cuddled up next to Akagi.

“Yeah...” Akagi was a bit confused.

{How did I just sneeze?!? This body lacks both lungs and muscles!} (Akagi)

It would seem even the Demon Lord was not immune to the gag.