The Red Hand

Chapter 302 – Prelude to War.

After an excellent dinner, and a bit more discussion of Elariel's proclivities, Akagi and Co. turned in for the night at a local inn. Compared to the estate even the most high-end rooms available were lacking, but it was good enough for the girls.

"Finally... Bed..." Amakusa flopped onto her bed. The five of them would technically be sharing one three-bed room, but Akagi and Yumi would go into the Demon's shadow where they could relax in a much comfier environment. "I'm so exhausted..."

{I never thought being a pet could be so exhausting...} (Amakusa)

"Awww. Is the poor puppy tired?" Akagi laughed as Yumi poked Amakusa's ears, causing them to twich. "Are you eepy?"

{Does puppy need snuggles?} (Akagi)

"You're exhausting to be around, you know that?" Amakusa said, her face buried in a pillow.

"Nonsense! I spread energy around, and I never cause problems for anyone!" Akagi smiled, while Yumi just looked away.

"How are you friends with this girl?" Elariel asked Halifax as she changed into night clothes.

"No idea, I just find her fun." Halifax shrugged. "Plus, kitty is nice." She snickered. “So there's that.”

"All shall fall to the floof!" Akagi said proudly. "None can resist the urge to pet me!"

"A Demon Lord turning into a cat so that others can pet her... I've been alive for millions of years, and yet here I am, dumbfounded by something so absurd." Elariel sighed as she sat on the bed.

{Absurd, but cute.} (Halifax)

"It's like I said, just don't think about what Akagi does. It makes things better if you just go with the flow and don't allow the insanity to get to you." Halifax said as she changed and got under the covers.

"Akagi is a bit goofy, but that's probably her best quality." Yumi giggled.

"I see how it is. Yumi only loves me because I'm cute!" Akagi feigned being hurt.

"I mean, being cute is a solid forty percent, but the other sixty is because..." Yumi paused. "Let me get back to you on that." She snickered.

"Mean!" Akagi pouted.

"Ok well, I'm going to bed now. Wake me up as late as possible, please..." Amakusa nuzzled in, quickly falling asleep.

"Damn, she went out instantly." Akagi chuckled. "I guess the pup really was tired."

"I think I should head to bed too." Yumi yawned. "It's been a long day, and I'll be up early tomorrow." She had a few things to attend to, specifically coordinating with Chloe and the ninja team.

"Sounds good." Akagi waved her hand, opening a shadow portal. "I'll see you later, nighty nite."

"Good night." Yumi hugged her before disappearing into the shadow portal.

"I still can't believe she just willingly walks into a place like that." Halifax commented. She'd seen the inside of Akagi's shadow once and vowed never to return.

{That place is fucking spooky.} (Halifax)

"Where did she even go anyway?" Elariel asked. "I can't sense her anywhere."

"Inside me." Akagi answered, and Halifax's eyes told her to answer the question completely.

"What? It's technically true, and isn't that all that matters?" Akagi laughed. "But basically I can take people inside my shadow body. It's its own little world in there, and I can control it completely."

"What?!?” Elariel was surprised that something like that was even possible. "That's... How is that even possible?!? The creation of such a pocket dimension should be far beyond what any one being can create!"

{That's basically just an entire world! How could even a Demon Lord have such power?!?} (Elariel)

"Well if you want to get technical, and well this is me so I do, technically, it's your fault that I can do this." Akagi smirked. "Your little Spirit Pogrom resulted in the Spirits fleeing to Earth, and as a side effect of their ritual, I was merged with a being that had such an ability."

{Other Demon Lords can't do something like this, and for good reason. Having this kind of power basically breaks any semblance of balance that keeps our kind even SLIGHTLY in check. As long as I can drag somebody into my body I can never lose, since inside NOTHING happens without my approval. The only thing I'm not sure about is just who and what I can drag inside, since there's a chance that certain more powerful beings might be able to resist it in some way.} (Akagi)

"???" Elariel looked to Halifax, who yawned.

"I'll tell you all about it later." Halifax said as she got comfy and turned out the light. "But for now, just go to sleep."

"And no going off into the night hunting for your newest lover." Akagi winked, which caused Elariel to roll her eyes.

"But anyway, I suppose that's my cue to leave, though." Akagi stood up and began walking toward the door.

"And where are you going at this hour?" Elariel figured that Akagi wasn't just going out to enjoy some fresh air..

"I'm going out for a walk." Akagi looked back at her over her shoulder. "♫Don't wait up for me!♫" She waved goodbye as she left the room, closing the door behind her and leaving Elariel with a bad feeling.

"Why me..." Elariel sighed as she went to bed, though her rest was not to be very good as her mind kept her up most of the night. She was worried about the fate of the world, Halifax, and how she would move forward from here. Her most beloved child had come to despise her, largely of Elariel's own doing, and with Akagi now freely roaming Enoris, there was no telling what the Demon Lord might do next.

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"Ahhh!" Akagi stretched as she walked down the street. "Oh man! It's been a while since I did something like this!" She smiled and was downright giddy with the idea of going some good old-fashioned assassination again.

{It's nice having the ninja to do things for me, but there's a certain satisfaction I get from planning these things out myself!} (Akagi)

Moving between shadows, Akagi decided to have a bit of fun by scouting out several key locations within the Capital, with her primary focus being the place where she intended to kill a God. She knew that Tahena primarily worked out of the Regenalus Church and that she performed blessings in the morning for the sick and injured.

The building in question was quite large and stuck out with its many flying buttresses and intricately designed windows. The Demon likened it to one of the many large Catholic Cathedrals of Italy or France and decided that her best option for spreading panic would be a broad daylight take down of the Goddess in question.

{This place is huge.} Akagi thought to herself as she wondered inside, one with the shadows. {It really is like a Cathedral. You've even got the pews and the massive stained-glass windows. I can tell this place is regularly visited by a God, as their energy is baked into this place. Halifax did mention that Tahena is here quite frequently, so I guess that makes sense.}

Moving around the interior, Akagi checked out the different offices and storage rooms to get a general idea of the layout. There were a few interesting documents lying about, such as a list of those the Goddess had cured and their payments, though one piece of writing in particular caught her eye.

"Collection of Spirits..." Akagi hummed as she read through a small document.

{I see. So the reason I don't sense any Spirits in the Capital is because the Church already bought them up and sent them to the Holy City. It looks like they've been collecting them and buying them whenever possible. Do they have some kind of plan? Spirits have higher than average magical power, so perhaps they want them for some kind of ritual?} Akagi continued to read through the different records, confirming that Tahena was aware of the purchase and transfer of slaves, though nothing detailed the reason behind it.

"I suppose that it doesn't really matter." Akagi slid the paper into her inventory. "I'll find them soon enough." She walked over to the window, where she could see Enoris' twin moons peaking out behind some clouds. The green and white orbs floated over head and Akagi couldn't help but compare them to similar celestial bodies from an old fantasy setting that she knew far too much about.

{I suppose I'll need to have a chat with some of the slave merchants tonight as well. Sorry Yumi, but you might not get your kitty body pillow tonight after all.} Akagi snapped her fingers, vanishing in a black mist.

Taking off into the dimly lit city, Akagi visited the homes of many different slave merchants. Sometimes she merely broke in to find their records, while in other instances, she interrogated them quite thoroughly. Most couldn't tell her anything about the location of other Spirits, while a few informed her that the Demon Kingdom had taken the lion's share of the captives for forced labor. Based on what Mizumi told her of the pre-war population, the level of destruction inflicted upon their home, and the small number of people that managed to flee to Omara, Akagi concluded that less than ten thousand Spirits likely remained on Enoris, a number that she was sure would dwindle every day.

"I suppose it's good that I sent Sakura to the Demon Kingdom first." Akagi sat on the edge of one of the highest buildings in the Capital, the dead body of one of the merchants laying in an alley below after he'd chosen to mouth off rather than talk. "I'll move her from intelligence gathering on continental politics and switch her to Spirit recovery. If she's on the case then I imagine that we'll recover quite a bit of them. After that..." She summoned Black Sunrise from her inventory, the blade seeming to bend reality around wherever she slowly swung it. "What do you think? This world isn't Earth, so I don't need to be as nice. It's only a few overlapping layers of reality, so I think we could wipe it out in short order if we wanted." She spoke to the blade, but it said nothing in return. "Though I suppose we'll save that as a last resort." She continued. "If I destroy the world, then who will populate my little sandbox?" She laughed manically as her form vanished into black mist, the sleeping citizens below not knowing that tomorrow morning would mark the return of the Demon Lord to Enoris.