The Red Hand

Chapter 231 – Glitter Bombs.

While the girls were busy enjoying themselves at the beach, Akagi stood atop the RRT headquarters in Tokyo. Elna's condition after her 'battle' with Akagi, left the Elf in a delirious and broken state. With one single blow, the Demon had shattered a portion of her mind and induced a state of being that was truly unpleasant. Superbia and Excelsior had tried numerous times to help Elna recover, but each time they were met with little more than mad ramblings and yelling, with only brief flashes of anything else.

"Alright, I suppose nearly eight months of psychotic hell is ample enough, so lets let the Elfy out of her mental prison." Akagi chuckled as she looked down upon the city. It was mid day and the overcast sky and light rain seemed to be an ominous foretelling of her arrival "I have a feeling that nobody in the RRT or the Japanese or American governments is going to like this, but oh well." She smirked, knowing that they couldn't and wouldn't do anything. "Their opinions don't really matter anyway." She laughed as she hopped down to the sidewalk in front of the RRT headquarters and using her shadow powers, Akagi made herself completely invisible to everyone around her and walked inside.

"Now, if I'm not mistaken, I need to go allllllll the way down to the subfloor lockup to find my little Elfy." Akagi stretched as she walked past multiple members of the staff, none of which noticed her. "Elna and the other ex-Libra members should be down there in one of Imp's nice little cells, but first..." Akagi cackled. "I'll have a little bit of fun. After all, what's a Demon if she doesn't cause a bit of mischief?" She cackled as she ascended an elevator to the RRT's main breakroom, ready to cause a bit of chaos.

At this time of day, most of the members weren't around, but Imp, Mixu, and Shimari were currently relaxing and chatting while eating lunch as Akagi stepped out of the elevator.

"Do you really think Superbia can beat the cat?" Mixu asked Imp as she sipped on some tea. "Akagi's give her a powerup, and she already beat Sabia and Merkyul in a 2v1. I know that they weren't the most powerful of us, but I'd like to think that Chloe is just a bit out of our league at this point."

{Plus, that cat has far more training and experience in killing people than we do.} (Mixu)

"Didn't Akagi say that we couldn't beat her anyway?" Shimari recalled a comment that was made during the Silfana investigation. “I know I wouldn't want to fight her.”

{Chloe scares the heck out of me! Her eyes are like a predator and I'm her prey!} (Shimari)

"Kitty-floof strong, but not unbeatable-invincible." Imp shook her head. "She is powerful-strong, yes, but so is Superbia. I gave Oni gauntlets-gloves that boost power-strength, and she has access to Greater Ability Boost now." She'd worked closely with Imperial and could now easily replicate and improve upon his work.

"Yeah, but I mean, Chloe has to have something like that too." Mixu said as she put her cup down. "Anything you can give Superbia can also go to Chloe, which means that nothing changed." She figured it was still a lost cause.

"Superbia powerful-strong, but also hot-headed-angy. If Oni keeps cool, Oni can win." Imp nodded with total confidence in her assessment. "Akagi's power gives boost to base stats-power, which on NPC are much lower-smaller. Chloe is strong, but Superbia gets better benefits from each multiplier-boost." She'd been doing calculations and dug deeper into Akagi's ability to strengthen her followers, and determined that while it was a massive powerup, it had diminishing returns with how much power could flow through it.

{Looks like Superbia and Imp have been getting very interested in the Tournament. I suppose the fight between Chloe and Superbia will be one to watch with great interest.} Akagi laughed internally before walking over and moving Mixu's cup slightly further away from her, which Shimari saw slide and freaked out a bit.

{What was that?!? Why did that cup move?!? IS THIS GHOSTS?!?} (Shimari)

"If you say so." Mixu reached for her tea but missed it since it had moved slightly. "Hmm?" She looked down confused for a moment, but quickly got back on track and grabbed the tea. "Though since Hishya is going to be in this, the winner is already decided." She shrugged, but as she tried to take a sip, Akagi poked her in the side, scaring the heck out of her and causing her to spill the tea.

"The fuck was that?!?" Mixu jumped up, tea covering the front of her coat as it splashed around. "Did someone just poke me?!?" She looked around, but nobody was there. "Imp... Did you just just do something?" She glared at the troublemaker, who shook her head.

"Did nothing! False-accusations-lies, not appreciated." Imp crossed her arms in an X. "Maybe just mind playing tricks-games?" She didn't see anything going on and figured the vampire was just jumpy.

"I swear to God something poked me in the side." Mixu sighed. "And now my outfit is covered in tea." She shook her head as she threw her coat into storage and pulled out another one. "Maybe I just felt the chair rub against me or something, I have no fucking clue." As she went to sit down, Akagi pulled the chair out from under her which caused her to fall to the floor, something that caused Imp to laugh hysterically as Shimari screamed.

"ITS A GHOST!" Shimari yelled at the top of her lungs. "I saw it move the teacup, and now it moved the chair!"

{SAVE ME!} (Shimari)

"HA! Vampire fall-went bang!" Imp snickered, which earned her a wack on the head from Mixu.

"It's not funny, you glorified juice box!" Mixu growled.

"Not juice box! Am Imp!" Imp pouted as she corrected the not so incorrect statement.

"Well, I drink you like one, so that's what I'm calling you." Mixu smirked. "But what the fuck was that?" She looked around the room and saw nothing. "I swear to Christ, if you're fucking with me, Imp you're getting drank again tonight." She glared at the innocent woman, who just shook her head.

"Not me. Would never prank anyone." Imp claimed innocence.

{Am good Imp!} (Imp)

"For some reason, I don't believe you." Mixu continued to glare at her, and while she did, Akagi slipped behind Shimari, went up to her ear, and said one word.

"Boo." Akagi's whisper caused Shimari to leap from her chair and draw her blade.

"THERE'S A FUCKING GHOST IN HERE!" Shimari swung her sword around in circles, which caused everyone to duck out of the way. "SHOW YOURSELF EVIL SPIRIT!" She'd never been good with horror movies and couldn't tolerate haunted houses or anything to do with the supernatural.

{HELP!} (Shimari)

"Stop swinging that thing around!" Mixu yelled, which caused the dog-girl to freeze. "You're gonna hurt someone, you idiot!" She sighed. "What the fuck was that all about?!?"

"Something whispered in my ear!" Shimari started shaking. "It said BOO!"

{IT SAID BOO! IT WANTS MY SOUL!!!!} (Shimari)

"Boo? Really? Come on. Even Akagi isn't lame enough to do something like that." Mixu shook her head. "You probably just heard the wind or something."

"I don't think wind says boo." Imp commented as she nervously looked around.

"Somebody or something must be here!" Shimari looked around in a panic but again saw nothing.

{WHERE ARE YOU, GHOST?!?} (Shimari)

"There are plenty of returnees that have illusion powers, chief among them is a certain Demon Lord." Mixu sighed. "I swear to god, if she's playing poltergeist on us..."

{I will fucking chew her out!} (Mixu)

"Akagi too busy to be here." Imp shook her head. "Making Tournament building-arena and other set up. Being here is unlikely-doubtful." She figured there was no way Akagi would take time out of her busy schedule to perform silly pranks on the three of them.

{Thanks for covering for me, Imp! You're a great collaborator, even if unintentionally! Though I really should wrap things up. I do have important things to do after all.} Akagi snickered as she pulled out her final trick, water balloons filled with glitter powder.

"Alright, then who else could it-" Mixu's words were stopped as she was smacked in the face at high speed by a water balloon that exploded, soaking her and covering her with glitter. "WHAT THE FUCKING HELL?!?" She wiped away the glitter in her eyes. "GLITTER?!? What is this? A high school prank?!?" She growled as she took three more water balloons head-on. "I WILL FUCKING END WHOEVER YOU ARE!"

{I've always wanted to do this!} (Akagi)

"ITS THE GHOST OF A CLOWN!" Shimari screamed. "IT HAS COME TO DROWN US IN GLITTER AND TAKE US TO THE GREAT CIRCUS IN HELL!" She screamed as a barrage of balloons converged on her. "NO, I DON'T WANNA DO TRICKS FOR THE CROWD!" She started swinging her blade around, and accidentally split the table in half.

"You idiot, stop!" Mixu tried to stop her, but the water balloon barrage wouldn't stop, and she fell to the floor after slipping.

"NO-NO!" Imp cried out in horror as she was pelted with dozens of balloons. "GLITTER EVIL-HORRIBLE! GETS EVERYWHERE! IT'S SHINY STICKY, AND IT GETS EVERYWHERE!" After a few minutes, Akagi stopped throwing the balloons and nearly doubled over in laughter as she looked upon the hell she'd created. The entire break-room was covered in glitter and water, and all three girls were laying on the floor in either abject terror or irritation.

"I have glitter in places that glitter should never be." Mixu said as she looked up at the glitter-covered ceiling. "I'm going to be cleaning that off me for weeks..."

"Please evil clown spirit, I'll be a good little doggie. Just don't make me do tricks..." Shimari was curled in the corner of the room with her blade pointed outward.

{I'LL EVEN FETCH THE BALL!} (Shimari)

"Glitter... Evil..." Imp sat on her chair, completely soaked and covered in the shiny substance. "Will need to invent glitter cleaning machine..."