The Red Hand

Chapter 133 – A Bit More Knowledge.

While the awkward conversation between Akagi and Kana continued, Mizumi brought the three Spirits from earlier to the Council's main building. She pulled them into her office and was laying into them for their mistake, and her anger left her unable to hold back.

"YOU FOOLS!" Mizumi screamed. "One wrong move and our entire people could've been wiped out! I deliberately put out that warning to ensure that nothing stupid like this would happen, but I guess that wasn't enough!"

{Even if these three are part of the exploration team, how could they have missed this? I informed their leadership of Akagi's presence in the city! Did they not pass things along? Dammit Kumora!} (Mizumi)

"Lady, Mizumi-" Shisa tried to speak but was cut off.

"No! No excuses, no buts, no nothing! I don't care that only Ferrix did anything wrong, and I don't care that you left the city on the day I gave that warning. Akagi can eliminate this entire world with thought, and even if she didn't have the anchor in her grasp, she could genocide our entire people with no issue." Mizumi took a deep breath before glaring at Shisa and Mami. "You two should have controlled him better and stopped things before they got out of hand. End of story."

{Even if it wasn't Akagi, a member of the exploration team shouldn't be acting like that, and from what I've heard Ferrix has a history.} (Mizumi)

The two women glared at Ferrix, who was trying to avoid eye contact.

"I will recommend punishment for the three of you to the Council, and I shall speak with Kumora about further discipline. I'm sorry, but I risk Akagi getting upset with us or seeking her own form of justice if I choose to let you off lightly." (Mizumi)

"It's ridiculous that we have to cower before some Demon." Ferrix said under his breath, but Mizumi heard him.

"She's not just some Demon, you idiot!" Mizumi exclaimed. "She is the Demon Lord, a being that exists for nothing but destruction. Akagi is the literal incarnation of evil! Have you forgotten what happened the last time one of her kind appeared?!?"

"Didn't we defeat that Demon Lord though?" Ferrix scoffed. "If we beat one once, we can do it again."

"What we defeated was effectively a baby Demon Lord, Ferrix." Mizumi corrected him. "The one from our former world was young and undeveloped. Akagi is a fully-fledged and realized Demon Lord. Her power is on a completely different level, and even if you take away her ability to destroy us via the Anchor, we could never defeat her in a fight."

{Not to mention, the only reason we beat Vikes was because the gods descended and used vessels to fight him directly! We have no such luxury here!} (Mizumi)

"I still think you're exaggerating." Ferrix shrugged. "The Council is right, you've let yourself get too involved with that Demon and the other world to keep an objective mind. And Councilor Onmiyame is right to question if she's even the Demon Lord in the first place. The only proof you have is those ancient texts and your trustworthiness has come into question due to your relationship to her!" In the past, it was unthinkable that any Spirit would speak to Mizumi in such a way, but this was becoming the norm within Omara's political class. Since they'd arrived, the factions within Spirit society have begun to bicker and fight now that the threat of annihilation was over. The Trading Guilds under Momorma had been the only reasonable voice in Spirit Politics, but his power was much too weak at the moment. The Exploration Team under Kumora should have been apolitical, but in practice she'd been using her position to accumulate power. While the other members of Spirit 'nobility' were constantly vying for concessions, privileges and kickbacks. 

This political maneuvering and blatant corruption caused Mizumi no end of conflict with the Spirit Council since they'd first made contact with Earth. Freed from the threats to their power, the Council had gotten back into its bad habits and the wartime unity had entirely disappeared. No matter what world you were from, politics was always at play.

Despite her high status, Mizumi did not have control over the rest of her people, and was more of an advisor than anything. The Council treated her respectfully on the surface, but it had intensified its efforts to undermine her position ever since Akagi's status as a Demon Lord was revealed. Her most recent trip with Kukurihime had only caused further arguments and bickering, and currently, the Council was unwilling to even accept Akagi's status as a Demon Lord.

"Go ahead and call me crazy or foolish, but I will not allow you or anyone else to put this world and our people at risk!" Mizumi said. "I know what she is. She knows what she is. And I've watched her eat souls, something we all know can't be done under normal circumstances!" She continued. "Lucky for us, this Demon Lord can be communicated with, and is uninterested in mindless slaughter. But that part of her still exists, and she's willing and able to flip that switch!"

{I know damn well what Akagi can be like if she really wants to be. She might normally be a kind person, but piss her off and she'll have no problem reminding everyone what lurks within.} (Mizumi)

Once she was finished her lecture, Mizumi called for some guards to escort the three of them to holding cells until they could be punished later. After they left, she walked over to the window behind her desk and leaned her head against it, staring into the city below.

"That fool Onmiyame just wants to consolidate his own power, and he's been more than happy to use the chaos of our exile to build his faction and increase his control over our people.” Mizumi groaned. “And the rest of the Council! The second we get peace, they get right back to their politics!”

{Even Shinlua has been reluctant to take things seriously! And she's not even part of the normal cliques!} (Mizumi)

“They don't respect me because I was the youngest high spirit and treat me like a fool! GAH!” She as she ran her hands through her hair in fury. “If Hymone was here, he could handle these idiots, but its up to me...”

{If... if things don't improve. If the Council continues to put our people in danger... I might have to take drastic measures, its my duty to keep our people safe... even from our own leaders.} (Mizumi)

She stared out into the city looking upon the bright and happy world they'd begun to call home, as her stomach was twisted in knots. She could only hope the Council would heed her warnings and give Akagi the respect she deserved, lest this new home turn into their and everyone's graves.

_____________________________________________________________________________

Kana and Akagi had finally finished their conversation about activities and moved on to their continued exploration of the city.

"This place really is impressive." Kana said as they looked out upon the massive lake next to the city. "They really built all this in only a few months?"

"From what Mizumi told me, the Spirits were basically in stasis until the transfer was complete, so they've had maybe around a year to build this." Akagi explained. "This place was much less developed until I started pouring resources into it though."

{She hasn't given me too much information about things, not that I really need knowledge of world traveling at the moment.} (Akagi)

"I imagine all the assistance you've been giving sped it up quite a bit." Kana said as the wind blew through her hair.

"Modern building equipment and techniques really helped make things go faster." Akagi replied. "It's been busy, but I put a team on doing all that stuff. Albrecht is quite the supervisor, and that man could create a metropolis in the Sahara if I gave him the time and resources. When things get up and running on Earth, I'll have to start drafting city plans with him."

"You're going to build a town? Around the estate?" Kana looked at her. "I guess that makes sense, but is that even necessary?" Akagi only had around a hundred people, and the number of FWO survivors that would come was likely small.

"That mindset is because you're not thinking in the long term, Kana." Akagi smiled.

"Long term? I guess a few years isn't that long when discussing a country." Kana thought about it for a minute. "Even if you get more people and they had children and such, you wouldn't have that many. Maybe after a few decades, you'd have a large enough group."

Akagi shook her head. "Long term for me, Kana, is in thousands, not tens of years." She glanced at her. "Remember, I am a being that has no concept of lifespan or time for that matter. In a thousand years, I'll still be here, and I need to plan for that." Akagi was ageless and was no longer bound to the limited scope of a human lifespan.

"Y-yeah, that's right." Kana had a hard time understanding something like that. She was only sixteen, and even just ten years seemed like a lifetime for her, let alone one hundred.

{I suppose, depending on how things go, I'll be here for the end of it all. Huh?} It was an amusing thought, but Akagi pushed it aside for now.

"That's not relevant right now anyway. It just means that I've got all the time in the world to think about things." Akagi laughed.

"More like you'll have all the time in the world to laze around and do nothing." Kana laughed.

"Yeah, just like in FWO where I did nothing at all." Akagi rolled her eyes. She did spend a lot of time having fun though.

"What did you do when you weren't out on a job anyway?" Kana asked. It was something she'd wanted to know for some time.

"Besides hanging out in places like we discussed before? I spent a lot of time traveling checking out the world and seeing the sights. I actually want to do that back on Earth once I get the chance." Akagi recalled some fond memories of trekking across the continent. "Discovering local cuisine, seeing landmarks, and just generally taking things in. Yumi and I hit up just about every interesting place you could imagine. I also enjoyed honing my skills and pushing my abilities to their limits."

"Huh." Kana was kind of impressed. She never thought Akagi would act in such a mundane manner.

"Also dealing with the countless bounty hunters. Yumi and I made a game out of killing them in creative ways." Akagi laughed.

"For a moment there, I thought you could be normal. I see now that I was naïve and foolish for thinking so." Kana sighed.

{Some days I forget just what kind of things you do for a living. Then I turn on the news and see a report that you took out some business mogul. People at school were even speculating that it was you who wacked the Brazilian President last week.} (Kana)

"Hey, don't blame me." Akagi shrugged. "They came for me, not the other way around."

The two continued to traverse the town and Akagi discussed a bit more about her time in FWO, telling Kana a few interesting stories about some of the more interesting locations she'd seen.

“My favorite place was actually the Great Northern Falls in Galicen, they were massive, even larger than Victoria Falls.” Akagi continued. “There was a small village nearby, I think it was named Hypa? Anyway, the villagers were a nice bunch and they really liked it when people came to their town to enjoy the local ecosystem and see the falls. They even had a unique religion that worshiped a god that created those falls in their folklore.”

“Huh, sounds like the devs put a lot of work into things like that.” Kana said.

“Yeah, there were a few places like that throughout the continent, and while most were little more than something for sightseeing, a few like the Dragon Graveyard had more significance.” Akagi ran through her memories on the location.

“Dragon Graveyard? I assume it was a place with lots of dragon bones.” Kana figured the name told you what it was.

“Yes, the name is pretty self explanatory. However it was a really cool place, and more importantly, its the location where your girlfriend was transformed, and Kira's home was close by.”

“Really? You said Hishya became a dragon because of a quest, but what did that have to do with dead dragons?” Kana asked.

“Its a long story, and you can ask her more about it later, but the end of the quest required her to fight and defeat a massive skeletal dragon in the graveyard. Once she did that, she was given the ability to become a dragon via one of the bosses bones.” Akagi smiled. “At the time, we had no clue what the ending of that questline would be, and it was crazy difficult. But damn was the reward sweet.”

“Oh? Why didn't you do it then?” Kana asked, she knew her sister was an optimizer and loved finding secrets in game. So it was strange that she hadn't gone after something so rare as well.

“Well by then I'd already become a shadow, and on top of that. My build wasn't really good at dealing with the challenges that questline presented.” Akagi gave a wry smile. “Back then, fighting a boss on my own wasn't going to be easy and I could have died. Do recall that my kit was designed to kill players, not monsters.”

{That bone dragon was also something else as well. Hishya only barely managed to win, I doubt I could have pulled it off at the time.} (Akagi)

“I can't imagine you being a dragon, that would be strange.” Kana laughed.

“Well, I mean.” Akagi chuckled. “I can turn into one.”

“Wait what?” Kana's laughter stopped. “Since when?!?”

“Remember, I can transform into anything with my powers.” Akagi lightly bonked her on the head. “Dragon is just a shape, so becoming one, at least in appearance, is easy.”

“T-true.” Kana swiped at Akagi hand. “I sometimes forget that aspect of your powers. But when did you transform into something like that?”

Akagi went through her memories. “A while ago, I think it was around the time that Hishya first tried out her full dragon body. I was curious how well I could mimic it, and the results were surprisingly good.”

{Though I really have no use for it.} (Akagi)

“I kinda want to see it.” Kana smiled.

“I'll show you at some point, but just don't go telling Hishya. The poor girl would get jealous. Believe it or not, she likes being the world's only dragon.” Akagi put her finger to her lips.

“Don't worry, I'm good at keeping secrets. Like how I've never told anyone about her pillow hoard!” Kana smiled, but then slapped her hand over her mouth.

“Good job keeping those secrets...” Akagi sighed.

“You. Heard. Nothing!” Kana glared at her.

“I'd say I'll forget about it, but that's literally impossible for me.” Akagi shrugged. “Don't worry though I won't say anything, and instead I'll just tuck that little factoid away for later to use as ammo.” She gave a nasty smile.

{I'm so sorry Hishya...} (Kana)

The two continued walking around Omara and seeing the sights. Kana really enjoyed the murals painted on the sides of buildings, and they even checked out the library for a bit. Kana was interested in reading more about the Spirit's history, so she and Akagi checked out some history books.

"So the people of the other world, the one they came from, thought the Spirits were causing magical disasters?" Kana talked with Akagi as she read a book.

"Yeah, kinda stupid since none of them have such power. Those issues were probably because of world structural destabilization due to the magical breakdown of reality causation. The Demon Lord they killed was probably spawned for that reason, since that world is most likely going to die eventually." Akagi started ranting in technical terms that even Kana didn't understand.

"Wait! Stop, I'm not getting any of that!" Kana exclaimed.

"Sorry, Demon Lord talk. I've got all kinds of knowledge on how the fundamental parts of reality work, at least the parts relevant to a Demon Lord." Akagi giggled.

"Oh? So does that mean you're finally smart?" Kana asked sarcastically.

"Nope, being the Demon Lord does not make one smart." Akagi stuck out her tongue. "I still suck at Grammar and English."

"Only those two?" Kana smirked, recalling how many hours of tutoring she gave her older sister all those years ago.

"Doesn't matter, since I have the power to hammer every nail I find. It's as they say, Kana. Violence isn't the solution, it's a question, and the answer is yes!" Akagi laughed, and Kana rolled her eyes.

"Getting back to the point about the magical disasters. What was the reason you were created in our world? Do you know? You said something before about stagnation and low energy, but was there more?" Kana asked.

Akagi thought for a moment before answering. "Stagnation is probably the best descriptor." Akagi continued. "Imagine it like this. All reality, not just our universe, but all the countless other ones beyond it. Imagine that they exist as fruit growing on a vine. Sometimes the fruit can spoil or become otherwise toxic. Good fruit produces energy that feeds back to the vine, allowing it to grow and expand, producing new fruit, while bad fruit consumes more than it creates."

"So our world was one of those bad fruits?" Kana asked.

"Kinda." Akagi shifted her jaw. "My purpose was to kick things up in the world and see if it could be changed into a net producer or at least energy neutral." Akagi continued. "Now granted, that was to be done via mass chaos and destruction. If all went as it should have, I would have wiped humanity off the face of the Earth and then started planet hopping throughout the cosmos to do the same to every other bit of life I could find out there."

"Like a forest fire? You said that before, how the new growth was better than it was before the fire." Kana recalled Akagi's first description of what she was.

"Yes." Akagi nodded. "If I was defeated, the world would be given the chance to heal and change. Effectively, the vine would say. Ok, you killed the immune response, so you get to live. Congrats. Since the few worlds that do manage to pull that off really don't matter in the grand scheme of things." Akagi explained. "Generally when a Demon Lord is sent in, that's the end of it. It may take a very long time, but we'll clean the world up."

{How long is a long time if you are saying it?} (Kana)

"So really my existence as a strange Demon Lord that retained their sanity doesn't really matter. There's no admin whose gonna bitch at me to do my job or anything." Akagi laughed. "Though it does mean that if a world was suffering from structural issues, like what I assume is happening there, it will continue to do so. Those magical events from the other world are most probably the symptoms of a much larger issue."

"What happens to the Demon Lord after it wipes everything out?" Kana asked.

"Nothing." Akagi shook her head. "They're left in an empty reality devoid of life. They've completed their job, and that's all."

"That's horrifying!" Kana exclaimed. "All alone in an entire universe."

"I mean, I'm an exception. Normally, they don't care. Demon Lords will have already lost all sanity by that point, and what does it matter if the rampaging monster is allowed to run freely in a dead world?" Akagi chuckled.