The Red Hand

Chapter 276 – The Black Sunrise.

As the group continued their discussion, Imperial eyed up Halifax's sword body with interest. "I see. You must be the lass that I was told about."

{She's definitely made of ta highest quality materials, and there's something about her that's familiar, but I can't quite put my finger on it.} (Imperial)

"Um?" Halifax didn't really know what to say, and was worried that the Gnome would want to inspect her.

{BAD TOUCH!} (Halifax)

"Word travels fast, and Imperial is connected to everyone else via the chat room." Akagi noted that she hadn't spilled the beans on what Halifax was.

"Yeah, he and Imp were posting like crazy when they found out what you were." Hishya snickered as she recalled the flood of messages.

“Well can ya blame us?” Imperial huffed. “The lass is something so interesting, and it taint ere' day you get ta see something made by a bona-fide God!”

{No, but you get to work with something made by a being that is SUPERIOR to a God everyday...} (Akagi)

"For your own safety I would advise against trying to experiment on her. Lest you find yourself in the great retirement home in the sky." Akagi laughed, having gave that same warning to Imp who claimed to have no such desire while barely concealing the fact that she wanted to conduct unspeakable experiments on the living sword.

"Bah!" Imperial scoffed a the claim, though knew internally that Akagi wasn't wrong to warn him. "I would never do something as crass as ya be thinking. Though Imp, the crazy woman that she is, might." He sighed.

{She's... An pain in the arse...} (Imperial)

"Good thing I can slice that little Devil in half if she tries anything." Halifax gave a wry smile.

"Imp might be a bit eccentric, but I highly doubt she'd do anything bad." Hishya figured that even Imp wasn't that bad.

{Probably...} (Hishya)

"Where is she anyway?" Akagi figured that she'd be helping him with the portal, but was surprised that she didn't see her.

"I here!" Imp's head popped out of the duct work above, her goggles dangling in the air, held on only by a chin strap. “Hemlo.”

"I see, and what were you doing up there, Impy?" Akagi asked.

"Power supply-energy work!" Imp smiled before hopping down to the ground. “Many such important things-items to do-complete!”

"You could've at least face-planted for comedic effect." Akagi commented and got a raspberry in return from Imp.

"So how's progress? I know you hit a bit of a snag with energy capacity and coordination. Did that crystal help at all?" Akagi had tasked the two with figuring out a way to Enoris for some time, though progress was slow due to lack of subject matter knowledge.

"Crystal good-amazing! Solved problems instantly-fast!" Imp nodded quickly.

"From ya report and our appraisal magic, we was able to figure out how it worked." Imperial pulled a small blueprint from his inventory and showed it to Akagi. "That crystal twere basically a tether, and once crushed, it'd pull back a designated user to the anchor point.” He said as he tapped on the paper next to a small drawing that Imp had made of a stick figure getting teleported.

"So it wouldn't work on anyone who used it?" Akagi asked if it was only compatible with a specific target.

"No." Imperial shook his head. "If crushed by anyone, only the person paired with it would be transported back ta Enoris. However, they would need ta be within a certain distance for it ta work. Otherwise, nothin would happen."

{Luckily she managed ta get one of those, otherwise we might've had ta take drastic measures.} (Imperial)

"Found Divine power-energy within-inside." Imp interjected. "Crystal filled with God power-energy, very strong-powerful!" She started rambling about how interesting Divine power felt to the touch.

"That's not surprising. The Gods were the ones behind this whole calamity, not to mention that they would be the only beings on Enoris that would have the power to send people between worlds." Halifax commented as Imp mentioned that Divine power made her body tingle when she touched it once.

"I assume that travel between worlds isn't easy?" Hishya asked. "Otherwise, it would happen a lot more.”

{Though if those kids really did come from Earth, then it means that travel isn't THAT hard.} (Hishya)

"No, it's not." Akagi shook her head. "I can freely travel between worlds, but the problem is that I wouldn't know where to go once outside this bubble of reality. What you need is coordinates, and unfortunately those are not very easy to come by for a variety of reasons." She explained that it went beyond mere points on a three dimensonal map and you'd need to have what amounted to a complex mathematical equation that was beyond what even the best quantum computers on Earth's ability to handle.

"Coordinates was provided-given!" Imp said excitedly. "Crystal-thing had magic signature-data. We traced back to origin-start! Now have coordinates-location of Enoris!"

"So that means we can go!" Halifax's eyes lit up with hope.

{Finally! Some good news!} (Halifax)

"As she said, we know have the information that we need. We'll need to create a stable portal first, but with enough time we should be able ta open up a connection to your home, lass." Imperial nodded.

"You said it was going to take a ton of energy to open a portal. I assume that you are going to provide it?" Hishya looked their biggest source of power.

"Yes." Akagi nodded. "It will be a simple matter to cut a hole in reality. Keeping it open though, that will be another matter entirely." She looked at the large archway, inspecting it. "How long?"

"Week!" Imp's comment caught the others off guard.

"Damn, that's fast." Akagi was surprised by the quick turnaround, but wasn't about to think about how Imp was going to make it possible. "To be honest, I was expecting you to tell me months."

"Fu. Fu!" Imp puffed up her chest in pride. "Do not underestimate-discount my ability!"

{It was easy-simple once you got past the need to ignore all commonsense and laws of reality!} (Imp)

"This old hag might be crazy, but she's skilled, and with my help, we can do things quite rapidly. It helps that we've already created most of the technical stuff in preparation for this kind of thing." Imperial had been working on this kind of transportation for months, as Akagi had been trying to make a stable portal between Earth and Omara.

"Not Old Hag! Stupid Rock Eater!" Imp bonked Imperial on the head for his derogatory comment.

"You're old! Don't try and deny it! Underneath that pretty face is a wrinkly old lady, just like how I'm a grumpy old man!" Imperial laughed as Imp continued to beat him with her fists.

"You older than me!" Imp pouted.

"Oh yeah, it's been so long that I completely forgot that these two did this..." Hishya sighed. "I guess it's nice to see though." A small smile crept onto her lips.

"They're cute." Halifax giggled.

"Maybe they should just get together already. You know, Yumi here is technically an ordained minister." Akagi winked.

"Well, I am a Priestess so..." Yumi coughed.

"Akagi... Let me be real with yous for a second. I'd sooner wrap maself in aluminum foil and toss ma sorry ass into da microwave on high before I married this crone." Imperial declined to be chained to insanity. "I was already tied ta one crazy bat, and I don't need another."

"Denied-Declined!" Imp put her hands in an X.

"Yeah, Imperial here can't give her the 'juice box action' that Mixu does." Hishya laughed, which caused Imp's cheeks to get even redder.

"STUPID VAMPIRE THING! WHY SHE TELL SECRET?!?" Imp yelled, vowing revenge for this embarasment.

"Mixu has no filter. You should know that by now." Akagi chuckled.

"Huh. I've heard of Vampire bites being pleasurable, but I always thought that was just an old wives tale." Halifax shrugged.

{Vampires tend to back away from me just due to my holy aura, and also the lack of blood to drink.} (Halifax)

"Shush sword! Before I melt you into slag!" Imp hissed.

"Go ahead and try, but it will take a bit more than your heat to destroy me." Halifax snickered. "I was forged in Divine Flame, and even the heat of a volcano won't do anything to me."

"Speaking of well-crafted blades." Imperial's eyes snapped to Akagi. "We finished that accursed request of yours." He sighed, knowing that he'd done something that he shouldn't've. "It's been waiting for you to pick it up for a few days, and I think it's getting lonely..."

{I swear it heard ta most unholy noises from that thing one night. Good thing it's in a separate room to the main work area. I really don't want to be near that evil thing.} (Imperial)

"Yeah, I haven't gotten around to picking it up. I was hoping to do some big dramatic reveal against the Heroes, but they were just too lame to justify it." Akagi sighed with disappointment.

{At least doing the cat reveal thing was fun...} (Akagi)

"What the hell did you get them to do now?" Hishya figured this meant trouble.

"Just something that's been on my mind ever since I sent Ol' Rivenshaft packing." Akagi smiled. "Would you two like to see it?"

Halifax and Hishya looked at each other before shrugging.

"I mean, I'm far too curious to say no." Halifax figured that this would be interesting, if nothing else.

"Yeah. Whatever you had these two psychopaths make won't be boring, that's for sure." Hishya agreed.

"It's in Imp's sector, and I'd like to hear your opinions of our work." Imperial put his welding mask on a small desk. "That thing might be the most evil item I've ever created, but darn if it isn't also ma finest work." He gave a small smile, proud of his creation but also afraid that he'd just given the Devil something with which to cause more horror.

{I suppose its to be expected... I create weapons...} (Imperial)

"Sword Great-Amazing! Make Kaboom!" Imp cackled as the group walked across the base into Imp's area, which was markedly more chaotic.

{I guess the job requirement for Mad Scientist mandates that you keep a messy work area...} (Hishya)

"So where is my boy?" Akagi asked.

"In there!" Imp bounced her way over to a locked vault door. "We kept safe-secure! Also, sword very dangerous-scary. Makes funny noises-sounds!" She noted that sometimes it sounded like a portal to hell had opened because of the sword.

"That thing gives me da fucking willies just looking at it Akagi. Are you sure it was a good idea to bring something like that ta life?" Imperial knew only a tiny portion of the backstory behind what he'd made, and even that small amount gave him chills.

"Oh, it's not a good idea at all." Akagi allowed her voice to distort. "But well, it's not really a problem." She slowly walked toward the vault door, which Imp happily unlocked. "This one... I've been waiting to see it for a long time." Her lips curved into an evil smile as the blade's energy washed over her body.

"Why is Akagi getting all Demony?" Halifax looked to Hishya, who shrugged.

"No idea. But now I'm very worried." Hishya felt a pit in her stomach, and as the vault door opened, a chill flooded the entire room causing everyone, save Akagi, to become covered in goosebumps.

"Oh hohohoh!" Akagi started cackling as she felt its power. "Imp, Imperial. You've made me a very happy girl today." She slowly entered the pitch-black room before disappearing into the darkness.

[My friend, it's good to see you again. I'm sorry for keeping you waiting.] Akagi spoke in the Demon tongue, which caused Halifax's entire body to twitch and convulse.

"Are you ok? That language is something else, so its no surprise that you're having that kind of reaction." Hishya looked at the slightly hyperventilating Halifax.

"I... I'm fine..." Halifax put on a brave smile, but deep within something stirred. Memories of a time long past, of battle against Vikes, and of something else.

{Those words... That language...} (Halifax)

[The foolish dreams of my childhood self have come true.] Akagi's demonic laugh echoed throughout the building. [It's time. Let's introduce you to the others.] The Demon's footsteps reverberated throughout the air, and as she returned from the inky blackness of the vault, Hishya and Halifax caught sight of the sword in question.

"Ahhh..." Hishya found herself unable to speak, and it was as if the very air had been removed from the room.

The blade that Akagi held in her right hand was black. So black, in fact, that Hishya's eyes started to freak out as she looked at it. No light seemed to escape the blade, and it emitted a visible black aura that followed it around. As Hishya and Halifax stared at the sword before them, both could tell that it was not only dangerous but of a level of power that exceeded anything they could've imagined coming from a weapon.

"A-Akagi..." Hishya finally regained the ability to speak. "What the hell is that thing?!?"

"Allow me to formally introduce you. "Akagi smiled as she rose the blade up and turned it so that its full glory was on display. "This blade's name is the Black Sunrise, and it's a very old friend of mine. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like for you to get along together."