The Red Hand

Chapter 240 – The Elephant in the Room.

"That's one heck of a view." Naomi stood in awe as she looked down at the stadium. Akagi had brought the girls up to the 'commentator's booth' that sat around halfway through the seating so that they could get a better look at the size and scope of the arena. It was a large glass enclosure and they could tell that Akagi had spent an inordinate amount of time and resources making it as modern and stylish as she could "You really did make a whole stadium..."

{Onee-chan, why do I get the feeling that this booth took far more funding than it should have...} (Kana)

From where they were standing they could see everything via the countless monitors and screens, and in the distance, a few men were laying down networking cables and other devices.

"You really built this all with magic?" Mika was similarly shocked. She'd thought the arena seemed grand from the inside, but as Akagi had teleported them here rather than had them walk, the true scope of the arena was lost on her.

"Yupper!" Akagi chuckled as she sat happily in Kana's arms. "This place was done with the help of a certain Shiru and Alveron. The Rat Lord was quite interested in testing his spacial capabilities in conjunction with some of the Earth Mages I have on my team, and Shiru wanted to see if some of her plant-based magic could be used for construction and other such things." The Dyrad had actually been quite a big help during the procedure, and the arena was partially made using hardened plant matter to give it support. "So far things are looking good, and word on the street is that Shiru was contacted by a few third-world nations to help with housing construction and land reclamation efforts!"

"Why am I holding you?" Kana decided to ask something that had been on her mind since Akagi jumped into her arms from Mika.

"Because I'm cute, and you love me!" Akagi said confidently.

"Yeah, you're right! You are cute." Kana snickered.

"You don't love me?!?" Akagi gasped in fake shock.

"Can I get back to you on that?" Kana retorted.

"Meanie!" Akagi puffed up her cheeks as she pretended to bite Kana's arm.

"Considering Kana is holding you against her and is visibly happy to squish you, I'd say she loves you very much." Yumi chuckled as she observed Kana happily petting the Catkagi.

"Hey, if she doesn't want the kitty, then I'll take her back!" Mika volunteered to hold Catkagi if Kana didn't want to.

{I will never turn down good floof!} (Mika)

"I never said I didn't want to hold her, now did I?" Kana rolled her eyes as she turned slightly, indicating that she didn't want to give up the fluffy kitty. "I was just wondering why she's been jumping around between us is all." She genuinely thought her sister was acting strange with all the open affecting she was giving at the moment.

"Because I missed you three." Akagi's blunt answer took the girls off guard. "It was sad not having you around, and it was too quiet without you..."

{I missed my friends...} (Akagi)

"Huh..." Naomi hadn't expected such frankness from the Demon since Akagi usually saved such openness for Yumi.

"Who are you, and what have you done with Akagi?!?" Mika exclaimed. She'd almost never seen Akagi say such things and thought it was strange.

"Yeah, Onee-chan never says those kinds of things." Kana poked her sister in the cheek. "Did someone replace the kitty who messed with us with some kind of nicer one? Because I'm down for it."

{Wait, does that imply she didn't miss me since she only said three?!?} (Yumi)

"You three are my friends. Is it that strange that I'd miss being around you?" Akagi was a bit embarrassed by her own comment and buried her face into Kana.

"I guess not. It's just that I never expected you of all people to be so blunt about it." Mika gave a wry smile. "Normally, you'd just dance around it or try and frame it differently. So it's strange to hear you just openly say you missed us like that, but I'm kinda happy to hear it." She chuckled.

"I guess we were gone for like a week, and normally we see her almost every day." Naomi laughed. "Sorry for making you miss us." She pat Akagi on the head. "You should come with us next time we go somewhere. The beach was really fun, and it was a good break from all the chaos around here."

"Onee-chan can be such a dork sometimes." Kana laughed as she scratched Akagi's ears. "I sometimes forget about that with the whole Demon Lord thing."

{Though it does kind of make me happy to hear her say that kind of sappy stuff...} (Kana)

"Anyway." Akagi hopped out of Kana's arms and onto the ground before returning to her usual appearance. "This place took a hell of a lot of planning to get it right, though I may have cheated a bit by copying the plans for a similar arena in the United States." She winked.

"Cheating?!? How could you do that?" Zephiria said with fake shock as she floated down from above. "Foreshame, Akagi! Foreshame!"

"Didn't you cheat by getting power from me?" Akagi raised an eyebrow as the warlock touched down in front of them after teleporting past the glass.

"Nah, it's not cheating." Zephiria shook her head. "I call that finding an alternative source for my power." She snickered.

"Is that what the kids call it these days?" Akagi rolled her eyes. "What are you doing here anyway? You're generally not one to stick around these parts. I figured you be messing about in Antarctica again." The Warlock had made it her home ever since she'd awoken from FWO and was using it as a testing ground for magic since it was far away from any inhabited places.

{Antarctica?!?} (Kana)

"I mean, I was, but I couldn't not come check out this tournament." Zephiria shrugged. "It will make a great place for collecting data, and I'm quite interested in seeing how those items of yours work in combat." She'd worked with Imperial on developing a few items for herself to various degrees of success.

"Are you going to be taking part in the tournament?" Mika asked. She figured the Warlock would make quite the interesting contestant.

"But of course!" Zephiria smiled as she did an overly dramatic bow. "How could I pass up the chance to put my research and testing into practice? I doubt I'll win, but it will be an invaluable experience, and I'd like to see how far my magic can go against so many martials." She'd never been that good in duels, but her magical prowess was second to none, and her knowledge of the magical arts rivaled the best Spirit Mage.

"Just be careful using the power you've been granted by our contract." Akagi warned her against relying on it too heavily. "It's still rough on your body, and worst case scenario either you or your opponent could die since my own energy is far more potent than normal magic." She'd cautioned the Warlock about using it before and was glad to see that she'd taken it seriously.

"Don't worry, I'll mostly just stick to using that power to buff my spells and other techniques rather than using it to directly attack people." Zephiria replied with a lazy handwave. "Funny enough, I've been doing tons of testing back home, and I've found out a few interesting things about your power."

"Oh?" Akagi was intrigued by potentially new information about herself. "What did you find?"

"Well, for starters, your power is very compatible with regular magic." Zephiria explained some of her testing and findings. "When properly mixed together, it boosts the effectiveness of ordinary magic by an order of magnitude and basically acts like an accelerant. I've noted an increase in power in the hundreds of percent, and that's likely just the beginning."She figured that as she gained more confidence in using Akagi's power she could easily bump that up to an over one thousand percent increase.

"Hmmm. Interesting." Akagi nodded. "I don't really use normal magic anymore, so I've never noticed, but that's good to know."

"Additionally, I've found that your power is actually far less corrupting than first imagined." Zephiria continued. "My testing is still in its early stages on this mind you, but I think your 'Demon power' is actually quite stable. Though I don't think it and souls get along very well." She gave a wry smile as she recalled what happened to the people she used as test subjects.

{The test subjects have not enjoyed having it start getting near their souls, and some even broke. Oh well, I was taking death row inmates for a reason, so it doesn't matter either way.} (Zephiria)

"Not surprising." Akagi laughed. "I eat souls, and I'm basically the equivalent of an apex predator. Elna's soul didn't like the small amount of fun I pumped into it, so I can imagine what happens if you start really fucking with people."

{I heard from Mixu that our little Elf 'disappeared' and that Akagi was likely behind it, which is true, but I'll keep that to myself since it's best that information not spread.} (Zephiria)

"Those who I've run tests on tend to break down fundamentally after a bit of exposure, and so far, it seems that your power is basically an anti-soul force." Zephiria noted the rapid destruction of souls when introduced to enough of Akagi's power.

{Do I even want to know what kind of 'test subjects' she's talking about?} (Kana)

"Well, keep doing those tests. I'm curious what you find, and if you need anything go ahead and ask." Akagi shrugged. She figured it best if she understood more about her power than just the base information it gave her upon awakening. "Between you, Imperial, Daikael, and Imp, we've got one heck of an R&D team." She laughed.

"Yeah, though unlike Daikael, I'm not looking to clone myself just to make the perfect waifu." Zephiria sighed. "That nutty fox is going to figure it out one day, and then the world is doomed."

"Wait, what?!?" Mika exclaimed. "She's going to what?!?"

"Daikael wants to clone herself and then marry said clone." Akagi answered. "It was apparently an idea that was given to her in FWO, and she wants to make it possible."

"That's...." Mika didn't really know what to say.

"Weird." Zephiria finished for her. "She'd basically be dating a twin of herself, and that comes with all sorts of issues since I have a feeling they're going to want to multiply the old-fashioned way."

{Eh?} (Mika)

"Do I even want to know how that would work?" Kana gave a wry smile.

"Yeah actually, since it might be helpful to you and your little lizard one day." Akagi laughed, and Kana's face went red as she understood what her sister meant.

{NOW I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT HISHYA WITH A... A... A...} Kana's face got redder, and steam started coming out of her ears as she fell to the floor, a delirious and embarrassed mess.

"I think we broke her." Akagi laughed.

{No, I think YOU broke her...} (Naomi)

"Hey, it's something she needed to think about eventually." Zephiria shrugged. “Might as well get started on that now.”

{WHICH ONE OF US WOULD HAVE IT?!?} (Kana)