The Red Hand

Chapter 269 – An Explanation and the Arrival.

 "What a hell of a day." Halifax smiled as she looked out her bedroom window into the night sky, stretching slightly as a light breeze washed over her face. The days events had gotten her proverbial blood pumping, and she was excited to see just what kind of battle her clash with Hishya would be. As she stood at the window she changed into a nightgown and was preparing for bed when an unexpected knock came at her door.

"Come in." Halifax took a seat on a nearby chair as her late-night guest entered.

"I hope I'm not bothering you this late. I can come back in the morning if you're tired." Hishya said as she entered the room wearing some fluffy pink pajamas.

{I heard she has some kind of animal themed nightwear, too bad she didn't wear that since it would've been cute.} (Halifax)

"No, I'm good." Halifax shook her head. "Sleep is basically a luxury for me anyway." She didn't need to sleep but, like Akagi, enjoyed it. Not to mention that even if her physical body didn't tire like a human's world, mental fatigue was a thing, even as a sword. "So what do you need? It's unusual for you to approach me, especially so late at night." Hishya hadn't spent much time with Akagi's otherworldly guest, so a visit like this was unexpected.

Without answering, Hishya quietly walked over to Halifax, her eyes showing a mixture of apprehension and anxiety. "I'll be blunt. Who the hell are you?" Her words were sharp and to the point. "Akagi said that you were an adventurer from Enoris who came to warn us about the Gods' plans, but..." She bit her lip, pausing for a moment. "I don't buy that you're just some adventurer."

{Akagi won't answer any of my questions, so I have no choice but to go to the source.} (Hishya)

"What makes you so sure that I'm not just that?" Halifax asked with a smile. She'd been around long enough that she wouldn't allow herself to slip up when asked such questions out of the blue.

"For starters no 'adventurer' from Enoris could do what you just did in your last two fights." Hishya shook her head.

"My world has strong people, so what?" Halifax shrugged. "There are many in my world who have extraordinary strength just as this world has you and the others." While that was technically true, few from Enoris could be considered anywhere near as powerful as her, and even then those individuals tended to be related to the Gods in some way.

"Getting past the part where we are outliers, you were able to defeat both Zephiria and Avahn, two people who I'd say have far more power than those of your world." Hishya continued with her questioning.

"And what makes you so sure that the people of my world aren't of similar levels of power?" Halifax asked, figuring that she could just have Hishya run in circles rather than answer her.

"Simple, because Mizumi herself confirmed it." Hishya smirked, recalling how the Water Spirit had reacted to both her and Akagi when she first appeared. "Listen, you can try and give me the run around all you want, but I know for a fact that Enoris didn't have people anywhere close to us in strength. Mizumi was floored by what Akagi and I could do, and while the other players aren't at that level, that little Water Spirit was no less surprised by their power." She crept slightly closer. "So if it was common in your world for people like you to be running around, then why would Mizumi be so shocked at our power?" She figured this was her best evidence and Halifax sighed internally, knowing that her logic was sound.

{Dammit Mizumi...} (Halifax)

"I'll concede that those of my power aren't common." Halifax noted that perhaps she was stronger than the average person, and that others like her tended to hide themselves from the world. "Maybe I'm just one of a smaller group of powerful adventurers?”

"I might be able to buy that, but..." Hishya raised one finger. "If what you claim is true, then tell me..." She pointed at Halifax. "Why are Mizumi's people still alive, and why did the Gods need to summon Heroes to deal with them? If they had even a few people in that world that were on or even near your level, then not only wouldn't they need to summon potentially unreliable outsiders when they could've easily finished Mizumi's people off before they fled."

{I've thought about this long and hard, Halifax. You're not going to weasle your way out of answering! I've played too many mystery games that required you to logically pick out all the clues!} (Hishya)

Seeing that Hishya had her cornered, Halifax started laughing. "Boy, you really did your homework, didn't you?"

{I see she's got a good head on her shoulders in addition to being powerful. A welcome change from the rest of her kind, who tend to be idiots. Though she there is one rebutall to that comment that she couldnt possibly have anticipate, but lets allow that to slide for now.} (Halifax)

"I just like to know who I'm dealing with is all. Call it a holdover from my days leading an army of idiots that came from all walks of life." Hishya gave a dry laugh. "Akagi seems to trust you, uncharacteristically so if I might add, but that doesn't mean that I do. So I'll ask again, who are you?" She wasn't going to back down, especially after she essentially confirmed that Halifax had something to hide.

"And why should I tell you?" Halifax asked, still not giving in. "I came to this world to warn you of an impending danger and to help avert a crisis, which I've done. So I don't think that I owe you any explanation of who or what I am." She smiled, subtly telling Hishya to back off.

"I suppose you're right." Hishya nodded. "You don't owe me anything. But I think it would be unfair for so many of us to stick our neck out for your world, only for you to keep hiding secrets from us."

"Us?" Halifax titled her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that not only me but a lot of the players want to help you and your world, Halifax." Hishya replied with a deep sigh. "Believe it or not, we have beef with those Gods too. Their actions are what started this whole series of events, and we all lost plenty of good friends in FWO. When Akagi explained to us the full series of events, a desire for vengeance took hold in most of the surviving players." She shook her head as she recalled how heated that discussion turned on the message board. "I've been watching you over these past few weeks, and I get the sense that you are a good person... I don't know why you're so hesitant to tell me or anyone else anything about you, but I can assure you that, at least here, you're among friends. We won't be angry with you, nor would we seek to use you." Her use of the word 'use' caused Halifax to flinch unintentionally.

"Ah... That's the problem, isn't it." Hishya caught her involuntary movement.

"I... I just... When people find out... All they ever want... They just want my power..." Halifax said quietly.

{Few have wanted me for... me...} (Halifax)

"Listen..." Hishya pulled Sun Strike out and held it in front of her. "I swear on my title as the Amethyst Dragon Empress that no one of this world will ever try to use you for your power." She smirked. "And any that dare try will know my full wrath."

{There, an Oath like that compels me to act.} (Hishya)

"Why... Why would you go so far for somebody you hardly even know?" Halifax didn't understand why Hishya would make such a vow, nor why she cared so much.

{And how could I even trust your words when...} (Halifax)

"Because I'd like to be your friend." Hishya smiled as she put her blade away, her words bringing Halifax out of her internal thoughts.

"What?" Halifax hadn't expected that reply and half-blurted out her own words. "What kind of answer is that?!?"

"An honest one." Hishya snickered. "And I can safely say it's the same for the rest of us. You might not be from this world, Halifax but as far we're concerned, you're one of us."

{Honestly its almost as if you've been around forever at this point, even though we've known you for only a few weeks.} (Hishya)

"You really are a silly girl, aren't you." Halifax gave a defeated sigh.

"I've been called worse." Hishya laughed. "But yeah, I've been known to be a bit cookey at times. I think it's just part of who I am after the events of the last few years." At this point Hishya figured that rolling with things was for the best, and that it was more fun this way.

"Just like Akagi..." Halifax sighed.

"Hey, that idiot is far stranger than me!" Hishya quipped. "Do you see me running around getting pets in cat form?"

"No, but I don't dislike the kitty." Halifax said before taking a deep breath, and answering the Dragon's original question. "I... I am a Divine Blade created by Elariel, the Goddess of Time over four thousand years ago to destroy Demon Lord Vikes." The words flowed out of her mouth like a river, surprising her and Hishya.

"Over my long lifetime, I've had many wielders, some good but most... bad." Halifax shook her head. "Things were good, for while many of my mortal wielders were... less than ideal, my relationship with Elariel, a woman I once referred to as my mother, was great." She smiled as she recalled better times. "Elariel treated me as her own. We spent so much time together, and I felt her loving embrace. I... I was happy... That was... That was until..." Memories of burning villages and Dark Elves flashed through her mind. "Until she used her power and... and compelled me to commit an act of slaughter so heinous that I do not wish to speak of it in detail."

{I can still see it... I can still feel it all... And that woman... That crazy woman that they gave me to...} (Halifax)

"Your own... mother..." Hishya repeated quietly.

"After that day, I... I kinda snapped for a while. Once I regained my mind it had already been so long since I'd seen Elariel that I just... I decided to stay away and find myself. I have been told that she regrets what she did to me, and that she was compelled by the other Gods... but..." Halifax started to cry. "But none of that makes it any better. I can't undo all the death that I caused, and that it was done against my will makes it no better!" She nearly screamed. "I was forced to let somebody use me to kill innocent people." Halifax looked Hishya in the eyes. "I... I caused an entire race to be enslaved..." Her tears dripped onto the floor. "After that... After it was all over... I... I never returned to my home... I spent decades and centuries moving around between different Royal and Imperial Palaces as what basically amounted to a museum piece as I tried to figure out what I wanted in life. Until, one day... I decided that NO ONE would ever wield me again." She continued. "So I left... And here I am today. Three hundred years later..."

{I know that Akagi said that people can learn... That people can get better... But I don't know... I don't know anymore... Is there really any hope for a people that would the kinds of things that I've witnessed?} (Halifax)

"I... I'm so sorry." Hishya put her hand on Halifax's shoulder.

{What in the ABSOLUTE fuck?!?} (Hishya)

"None of that is right... To force you to..." Hishya bit her lip. "Listen..." She knelt down in front of Halifax and looked into her eyes. "We'll make them pay, Halifax. I swear on my life that we'll make those Gods pay for what they did to not just me but you." Her anger had only increased after hearing this story, and she was this close to asking Akagi to let her go on a rampage on Enoris when the time came.

Halifax laughed. "Funny... Akagi said the same thing..." She gripped onto Hishya's hand. “She's... She's been probably my best friend since... Since Sherry passed.”

{I wonder if it has anything to do with Akagi having issues with her own mother? Shima never forced her to kill, but she was basically betrayed and abandoned by her...} (Hishya)

"But there you have it." Halifax said, wiping away any remaining tears. "Now you know the truth... I'm somebody that most of the people from my world never saw as anything other than a tool to be used, and if I stepped out of line..." She didn't need to finish for Hishya to understand.

"Well I can promise you that you will never have to worry about that again." Hishya's words were laced with anger. "Akagi and I will see to that."

{We're burning that fucking world to the god damn ground, and we're going to drag those fucking Gods into hell, kicking and screaming!} (Hishya)

"You know." Halifax giggled. "For some reason, I believe you."

The two then spent countless hours discussing all sorts of topics. Halifax had a lot that she needed to get off her chest, and Hishya was more than happy to hear her out. When the Sun came up the next morning, and it was nearly time for their grand match to begin, they exchanged handshakes and promised to give this match their all.

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"So, are you ready to get stomped?" Hishya quipped as she and Halifax started walking to the center of the arena.

"I could ask you the same." Halifax smirked. "Don't worry, when I kick your ass, I'll be sure not to humiliate you too bad."

"And when I win, I'll be sure not to drop you in a nice muddy puddle filled with all sorts of slime." Hishya laughed as the two took center stage, ready for the 'match of the century'.

"Just don't forget your promise." Hishya said as she drew her blade.

"I won't." Halifax nodded. "When we're done here, I'll tell everyone what I told you last night."

{She's right... I need to do this.} (Halifax)

"Good, then..." Hishya took a defensive stance.

"Are the contestants ready to begin?" Kira looked between the two women, who were visibly eager to start.

"Yup!" (Halifax x Hishya)

"Then. The final match of the Dumetor Interworld Tournament will begi-" However, before Kira could start the final match, she was interrupted by a loud voice that called out overhead.

"Starting the party without us?" Muichiro said as he and the other three Heroes landed nearby. "That just won't do! Besides if there's going to be any butt-kicking around these parts, then it's going to be by us!" He flashed a toothy smile as the arena went silent.

End of Book 4