The Red Hand

Chapter 136 – Keep that a Secret.

Her threat to eat half the Spirits within Omara stunned everyone, except Kana.

{And here we go... Why must people always provoke her?} (Kana)

"Do you think this is some sort of joke?!?" Daruma yelled, slamming his hands on the table in front of him. "How dare you make such statements!"

"I'm not joking." Akagi laughed. "You lot keep going on about how I can't possibly be the Demon Lord, so I offered a method of proving it. I figured half your population getting consumed by me would make you change your tune." She smiled.

"Please stop!" Mizumi intervened to prevent disaster. "You are playing a dangerous game by continuing to insult her! Need I remind you that, Demon Lord or not, she has the Anchor which binds our world to hers!" Mizumi was trying to get the Council to listen. "If she wants, all of us could die in an instant. So I implore you to cease your insulting of someone who holds our lives in their hands!"

"I am certain we can handle things if it comes down to it." Onmiyame said. "The Anchor is important, yes, but it's not the be all end all. So we are not concerned about it."

Mizumi couldn't understand his statement. "That Anchor is what keeps our world stable! What do you mean it's not that important?!? If she destroys it, this entire plane of existence collapses, and all within perish!"

{Has he gone MAD?!?} (Mizumi)

"As I said, we have contingencies in place. Keeping the Anchor intact would be beneficial, but its destruction will not kill us all as you've suggested." Onmiyame smirked.

"So then, you don't mind if I destroy it?" Akagi grinned. "If it's not that important, you won't try to stop me."

"That's assuming we don't stop you before you get the chance. The four of us are more than able to take you down, so return the Anchor to us before you get hurt, little Demon." Daruma taunted her.

"Ho?" Akagi's grin turned into a smirk. "You think you can beat me? A weakling like you? Perhaps I really should consume you all. Such disrespectful creatures that you are."

{Just throw more fuel on the fire Mr. Red Haired Man... go ahead piss her off. I've already learned how bad of an idea claiming to be more powerful than her is.} (Kana)

"I urge you not to take these fools as proper representatives of our people! Please limit any retaliation to them, and I would gladly give my head if it appeased your anger." Mizumi bowed deeply. Her statement also angered the Council as she just undermined their authority and legitimacy.

"Mizumi, you might be a High Spirit, but that does not give you the right to make such statements. Hold your tongue or we will be forced to censure you!" Onmiyame reprimanded her.

"I will not!" Mizumi glared at him. "If you keep this up, all the effort the elders went through will have been for nothing! You fools are intentionally antagonizing someone who can and will kill our entire people! Of course, I'm going to do anything in my power to save them from your mistakes!"

*CLAP* *CLAP*

Akagi clapped to get everyone's attention.

"Alright, Alright. This entire conversation has bored me. I'm taking my leave. Otherwise, if I stay any longer, I might just kill you all and be done with it." Akagi turned to leave, but before she did, she reached into her shadow and pulled out the Anchor. "Mizumi catch!" She threw it to the spirit, who caught it.

{This is!} She noticed something about it but kept quiet.

"There's your Anchor, but don't go giving it to those idiots. I'm giving it specifically to you. If I find out you handed it over or they took it." Akagi looked over her shoulder. "Well, I'm always down for a good feast." She laughed maniacally as she and Kana left the Council chamber.

It took a moment to register everything that just happened, but once she composed herself Mizumi ran after Akagi.

{It seems we'll need to speed up our plans. The old order of the Elders interfering with the Council must end, and Lady Mizumi is the last thing standing in our way. It won't be much longer until our plans come to fruition and we remove her and her pet Demon. Once that's finished, we can move on to phase two.} (Onmiyame)

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"Wait!" Mizumi yelled as she chased the sisters down the hallway.

"You don't need to follow us." Akagi stopped and turned around. She'd reverted back to her usual appearance now that the meeting was over.

"Yes, I do!" Mizumi regained her breath. "I am so sorry for how they acted. Please allow me to offer my sincerest apologies on behalf of all Spirits." She bowed deeply.

{Demon Lord or not, insulting the guest of a High Spirit is unheard of!} (Mizumi)

"It's really not a big deal." Akagi waved off her concerns. "Honestly, this was expected. I figured they wouldn't want to believe the truth and would act like idiots. Its kind of part for the course at this point, so I'm used to it."

"I'm shocked you didn't attack anyone." Kana sighed. “The moment that red haired guy said they could beat you, I figured you'd give them what for.”

{Glad to see you held back.} (Kana)

"Kana." Akagi put her hand on her sister's shoulder. "If I killed every person who was an asshole to me, reality would start looking real empty." She laughed. "Besides, my rules still apply even as a Demon Lord. Unless these fucks actually do something to me, I'll just let them stew." She shrugged. If they were dumb enough to try anything, they'd get to see the Demon Lord's fun side.

{Being an asshole is annoying, but I don't kill people just for words. My pride as a Demon Lord is one thing, but my personal standards are more important. If people want to run their mouths, fine. But cross that line and start fucking around, and you'll find out.} (Akagi)

"Now then." Akagi turned to leave. "Let's get back to enjoying our little vacation. You too, Mizumi. Come on!" She ushered the Spirit to join them. Figuring it best to keep away from the Council for now, Mizumi followed, and the three of them returned to Omara. Mizumi ended up acting like a guide, showing them some unique places and telling the two some interesting history. Kana was much more interested in such things than Akagi, and as they traveled around, the two girls went into their own little world as the Demon zoned out. She might love history, but this conversation bored her.

"Hey, Mizumi." Kana wanted to ask Mizumi a question while were taking a break at one of the town's parks, and eating ice cream. "Do your people not have any temples? I've not heard you talk about your faith at all and I don't see any religious buildings." She noticed none of the buildings in the town looked like shrines or churches.

Mizumi took a bite of the cone. "We don't really worship gods like humans or elves." She thought for a second. "Which makes sense, as we've recently learned that I am technically what the humans of Japan would call a god." Mizumi had talked a bit more with Kukurihime about their shared history. While not exactly the same due to nearly four thousand years of evolution, Mizumi was similar to a guardian deity. Though unlike Kukurihime, she did not require faith and prayer to subsist.

"Yeah, mortals might refer to you as such, but we both know that's very wrong." Akagi laughed.

"I am aware." Mizumi sighed. "The gods from our old world were leagues more powerful than I."

"Your world actually had gods? Like real gods?" Kana was increasingly interested.

"Yes." Mizumi nodded. "All other races worshiped the same gods, though the names differed."

{The humans called the god of light Sozin, while the elves called him Eiros.} (Mizumi)

"And they were like actually real? Not just theorized to exist?" Kana pressed further, as she wanted a clear answer on this.

"They indeed existed. Unlike Earth which has no gods, ours did, and they were quite real." Mizumi thought for a moment, popping her tongue out unconsciously as she thought. "They rarely appeared in the flesh, but they did speak to their followers, and they would sometimes descend in vessels to take more direct action. In fact, that was part of the reason Vikes was defeated, as they played a pivotal role in trapping him."

{Real gods aside, that part about Earth's gods...} (Kana)

"You might not want to let that cat out of the bag on Earth, Mizumi." Akagi gave a nervous laugh. "Humanity will probably not take too well in being told that every faith it's ever had is... well..." She didn't want to finish that statement.

{Oh man. I can imagine the pandemonium that would erupt. I guarantee that plenty of people would just start doing horrible shit to each other knowing that there is no judgment for their sins once they die. So lets just keep that a secret. I might not like religion very much, but it has been useful for giving human society a moral foundation.} (Akagi)

"Point taken." Mizumi nodded. "There are very few who know this, so it should be fine." She looked at Kana. "Are you ok with that? Knowing that your world's religions are... off the mark?" She wasn't sure how pious Kana was.

"I never believed to begin with." Kana bit into her ice cream. "Knowing human history, it only made logical sense that faith was little more than just that, faith." Her level of intellect made her predisposed to challenge any established idea, and religion was no exception. "Though I must admit, finding out that we simply die and get reborn for eternity is kinda..." Kana gave a wry smile.

"That depends on the world, since others can have a heaven equivalent. Earth just happens to be one of the ones that have no such thing." Akagi said. "And don't go worrying about that. I'll handle things."

{I wonder what Excel would do if he found out? I doubt he'd believe me if I just told him, but if he did, would that change things about him? Would he fall into a crisis?} (Akagi)

"Do I even want to know what you mean?" Kana asked her sister, who just smiled. "Don't tell me you're going to try and become some kind of god?!?"

{Your family members already quasi-worship you. Please don't go becoming some Demon God that demands blood sacrifices on an alter.} (Kana)

"Hell no!" Akagi exclaimed. "Why the hell would I want something like that?!? A Demon Lord is leagues above gods in the pecking order! Becoming one would be a massive step down in my power. Fuck that." She didn't think such a thing was possible anyway, and even if possible, she'd never do it. "I was just saying that I'll figure something out to make that whole reincarnation issue less of a problem, is all."

"I mean, from our perspective, a Demon Lord is already a type of god anyway." Mizumi said. "She's more powerful than traditional gods and can easily destroy them. If she demanded to be worshiped, it would probably happen."

"Yeah, no thanks." Akagi sighed. "I don't want any of that. Sorry, but if you pray to me, all your going to hear is a dial tone, like when someone hangs up a phone."

"Pffff." Kana laughed. "Oh my god, that's horrible."

"But not inaccurate." Akagi laughed.

“I imagine your faith would be one that requires copious amounts of sacrifices.” Mizumi chuckled.

{Yeah, skulls for the fucking skull throne...} Akagi rolled her eyes.

The three chatted for a bit more before continuing their exploration of Omara until the time came for the play. As Mizumi said, it told the tale of their people's origin, their founder's journey to unite the Spirits, and how the their nation was created. Kana thought it was fascinating, but Akagi was bored out of her mind as she had no interest in the Spirit's history. Once it was over, Mizumi bid the two of them farewell before they returned back to Earth. She would stay in Omara for a few more days to clear things up with the Council and handle a few tasks Akagi had assigned her.

Akagi and Kana returned to the house just after sundown, Kana was tired and wanted to get a nice hot bath. While Akagi immediately grabbed Yumi and forced the priestess into a snuggle session, something Yumi only pretended to resist. Their little vacation to Omara was short, but nice. The two sisters got to spend a bit of time together, and Kana got to learn a bit more about Akagi's life in FWO. All in all, it was the best family trip they ever had, not that they had any others to compare it to. But that was beside the point.