The Red Hand

Chapter 166 – The Hero v. The Vampire (Part 1)

*CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG*

Hishya and Silfana began exchanging blows as they dueled under the moonlight. Silfana was a master swordsman who was highly adept at using finesse weapons to control the flow of combat, and her blade flourishes kept Hishya at bay, as the dragon grumbled about her inability to get in a hit.

"Come on dragon, I thought you would be a little tougher than this!" Silfana laughed as she deftly moved around Hishya's blade. "I guess it's as I always thought, you're nothing more than a stupid girl with power! You've got no skill to back it up!"

"Keep running your mouth Silfana. It's only a matter of time before this blade runs straight through your heart like it did before!" Hishya yelled as she swung her sword.

"Oof. Come on, Hishya. You can do better than that, and I've been training with you, so don't go making me look bad." Akagi shook her head as she walked around the fight and over to Shima.

"Y-you saved me." Shima nervously stood up.

"Yeah, saved." Akagi laughed. "Trust me, I want you dead. But as I said, I'm the only one who gets the pleasure of doing that." Akagi sighed. "Also, your death will be really bad for Kana, even if she comes to hate you."

{Having you idiots die will be problematic, and as tough as that girl is. I know she wouldn't take their deaths well.} (Akagi)

"I-I don't understand how she could still care about me or her father after everything we've done to you." Shima said quietly, her words catching Akagi's attention.

"Oh? Have you finally realized just how bad you were?" Akagi glared at her.

"I-I just... when she appeared before me." She pointed to Silfana, who was making a fool out of Hishya. "I saw everything. My life... it flashed before my eyes. I saw Kana, all the birthdays, the family trips, the happy moments... everything."

"Well, good for you." Akagi rolled her eyes. "At least you had one child you cared about."

"But at the end of it all, I saw you..." Shima's words caught Akagi off guard. "I saw the day you were born and the happiness that you brought me. I don't know how or why, but sometime after that... I came to resent you. I hated you just for existing, and I don't know why."

{Nothing about my hatred makes any sense... why did I come to view my first child as such a disgusting creature? Why did I push her away when she never did anything to deserve it?} (Shima)

Akagi hadn't expected this. To be honest, she expected Shima to yell at her and then storm off, and she found herself lost for words as Shima continued to speak.

"I know this won't mean anything, and I don't deserve forgiveness for what I did to you, but... I'm sorry." Shima stared into Akagi's eyes. "For everything. I failed you as a mother, and what I've done to you can never be taken back. You have every right to hate me, and so does your sister."

Akagi took a moment to respond. "Yeah, you're right." Akagi's face darkened. "I'll never be able to forget or forgive what you two did to me. All the pain, the torment, the torture... all of it. I've told Kana about it, and as you can imagine she was furious."

*CLANG**CLANG**CLANG**CLANG*

Silfana and Hishya continued to clash as Akagi and Shima spoke. It seemed that the dragon girl finally got her act together and was actually making some progress.

“As garbage as the two of you were to me, you were always there for her, and I don't want her to be like me and grow up without parents." Akagi glanced over at her. "Perhaps this was just fated to be. As the Demon Lord, I was meant to go mad and destroy this world. Perhaps my very existence pollutes the minds of people around me to make forming connections less likely. That might explain why you took an irrational turn and began hating me for no reason." Akagi shrugged. "Though that doesn't matter, and I don't care if you were controlled or charmed or whatever. You still did what you did to me for all those years. Perhaps if you were speaking to the me from before FWO, I would have happily accepted your apology and run into your arms to get the love I always wanted." Akagi turned and glared down at her, her Demonic eyes ablaze with fury. "But now, now all I can feel when I hear your apology is anger. You took something from me, Shima. Something I can never get back, and I will never forgive you or Taichi for that." Akagi turned back to watch the fight. "So just stand there and watch as your future daughter-in-law fights the vampire who was going to kill you. And perhaps think about ways to salvage your relationship with Kana, before it's too late."

Shima shook a bit as Akagi turned away. The brief glimpse into Akagi's eyes told her everything she needed to know about Akagi's feelings toward her. The hatred in her eyes burned hotter than any star, and was of such an intensity that Shima was baffled at how it hadn't consumed her. But she was grateful for Akagi's restraint and vowed to meet Kana honestly next week and try her best not to lose her remaining daughter to hatred.

{Rishia, I'm sorry...} (Shima)

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Hishya and Silfana's little dance had left each with a few cuts as their blades found their marks.

"I suppose that's enough of a warm-up." Silfana smirked. "Try to entertain me just a bit before you die, little lizard."

Her taunt seemed to amuse Hishya more than irritate her. "Fine by me, but I wouldn't be so confident in your victory, you leech." Two could play at the name calling game and Hishya had was a master at verbal warfare.

Silfana's eye twitched at the use of the term leech. It seemed Hishya's insult was more effective. "You're going to regret your words, you stupid lizard!" She yelled out in anger as began moving towards Hishya. However, before the two could continue their battle.

*CLAP* *CLAP*

Akagi clapped her hand, causing both women to look over at her. "Before you start tearing up the city." She snapped her fingers, causing darkness to pour out from her body. "How about we move this to a place with less chance of collateral damage?" As she said this her shadow engulfed the entire area, bringing the four of them inside her.

"Alright now that we've placed you in a safe space, you kids have fun." Akagi summoned a comfy chair next to her and took a seat, creating a cup of coffee as she leaned back, ready to enjoy herself.

{Now all I need is some cookies. I wonder if I still have some those animal ones Alice and Yumi baked the other day?} (Akagi)

"What is this?!?" Silfana looked around. "This place feels wrong."

"Yeah, welcome to the closest thing to hell in this world." Hishya gave a nervous laugh. She'd been in here once before and really didn't like it.

In the distance, the two of them could hear something that sounded like crying, sad whimpers and ghastly screams.

"Do I even want to know what that is?" Hishya looked over at Akagi, who summoned a T.V. remote and pressed the mute button, causing the crying to stop.

"Sorry about that. I forgot to mute the Happy Farm. Continue." Akagi waved them on.

{What the fuck is going on?!?} Silfana was simultaneously confused and afraid, a feeling she'd only experienced a few times.

"Pay attention, vampire!" Hishya flashed forwards and slammed her blade down. Silfana's concentration momentarily lapsed, and she failed to properly block Hishya's strike, allowing the dragon's blade to swipe across her left shoulder. A small amount of blood spilled from the vampire, who winced in pain.

"Not so fun to have your blood spilled, is it?" Hishya laughed.

"Oh, don't worry. I'll be replacing it soon enough once I've drained you dry!" Silfana screamed. She lifted up her left arm and pointed it into the air.

"Maximize Magic! Swords of Damocles!" She shouted the name of her attack as multiple magic circles appeared above her. Once they formed, Silfana threw her arm down and pointed at Hishya. A moment later, the magical circles shot out a variety of energy blades, which flew directly toward Hishya.

"Oh yeah, I forgot she could do that." Akagi said as she bit into a cow shaped cookie with sprinkles on it. "This is gonna be fun."

{Oh fuck. I forgot she could do that. This is going to suck...} Hishya thought to herself as the blades collided with her, causing a massive explosion.

One of Silfana's primary abilities, beyond summoning minions, was to create a variety of weapons and attack with them. Akagi always compared her to Gilgamesh and his Gate of Babylon from myth, since she could attack with an unlimited arsenal of magical weapons from her vaults.

Hishya took quite a bit of damage from the blast, despite her armor and resistances. Her face was scorched and there was a bit of blood trickling from her mouth. It wasn't fatal damage, but she would be best served avoiding hits like that from now on.

"There we go. That's much better." Silfana laughed as she shot more blades toward Hishya, which the dragon avoided by running at high speed as the blasts chased just behind her. "You can't run forever, Hishya! My arsenal won't ever run out, and it's only a matter of time until you get tired!" She goaded her. Silfana was actually more interested in close combat and wanted Hishya to charge her. Her skills were a combination of ranged and close quarters, but she was generally more adept at direct combat with her blade.

"Don't be so sure of yourself! I'm a lot stronger than last time!" Hishya roared as she swapped her blade into her other hand and started firing blasts toward Silfana, which the vampire blocked with her sword. Thus began a silly game of Hishya running in a giant circle while shooting blasts toward Silfana, who was also chasing her with magical explosions.

"This is so fucking stupid." Akagi groaned. "Come on! At least make it interesting for me! If I wanted to watch two super powered idiots shoot explosions at each other, I've plenty of Shonen anime I could watch!" She called for entertainment, and was met with a blast from Silfana, which she easily deflected into the darkness. "Now that was uncalled for!" She smirked.

{That stupid Demon!} Silfana raged in her mind. {Once I'm done with this stupid dragon, she'll be next!} She turned all her attention back to Hishya, who was still running from her attacks. {Come on! Charge me! I know you can't resist the temptation!}

The farce continued for a while longer, with neither warrior wanting to change tactics and give the other the upper hand. Hishya couldn't slow down lest she get hit by the torrent of attacks, and Silfana couldn't stop them since Hishya would take the chance to launch a powerful ranged attack.

{I think it's about time we kicked it up a notch. 90% is my max right now, and I think that's more than enough if she's only this strong. I think Akagi was right about our relative strength levels. As usual, that monster knows everything about a battle before it even begins...} (Hishya)

"Hey Silfana, you wanted me to charge at you, right? That's why you're doing this?" Hishya laughed. "Fine, I'll give you what you want." She launched forward, unleashing even more of her power and causing scales to cover a large portion of her skin. Her speed increased to incredible levels, and Silfana, who didn't expect this sudden increase in speed, was left shocked as Hishya appeared directly in front of her, the dragon's blade bore down on her, and her eyes showed intent to kill. "Let's see just how strong a World Boss really is!" Hishya roared as she brought Sun Strike down.

{Oh? Is Hishya finally going to make this fun for me?} Akagi thought to herself. {I must admit that Dragon has some serious power packed in her small form. Perhaps I actually underestimated her abilities. How interesting.} Her lips curved into a smile. {Best of luck Silfana. You might need it against Hishya.}