The Red Hand

Interlude 18 – Joy Turns to Despair.

"Dammit!" Muichiro punched a tree, causing it to snap in half and collapse to the ground with a massive thud. "That fucking bitch! Argh!" He picked up the broken tree trunk and threw it into another tree. "She humiliated me! That bitch toyed with me, and I'm going to make her pay!" He'd been sent somewhere in the Merchant Confederation of Northwind after breaking his crystal and was wandering the wilderness for a few days before finding civilization. His temper had gotten the best of him, so he'd decided to avoid cities until he calmed down, lest he start taking out his frustration on random people.

{I just need more power, and then I'll take that bitch and show her her place! Fucking stupid cat bitch!} (Muichiro)

"Fuck, man." Muichiro put his head in his hands. "This sucks! I'm not supposed to fucking lose! I'm a goddamn Hero! Everything should go right, and I should get to do whatever I want! Fuck!"

{This is bullshit!} (Muichiro)

He'd only rarely lost until he met Akagi, and the ease with which he was defeated only served to drive salt in the wound.

"I need a fucking drink in my hand and a woman in bed." Muichiro groaned before walking over and picking up his blade which had fallen to the forest floor. There was a medium-sized city not too far down the hill, and he decided to make his way there for some 'stress relief.' "Hopefully, they've got some good brothels here. Northwind has too many Halfings for my taste." He'd been with one before, and the entire experience made him feel like a criminal.

After slowly walking toward the city, he quickly got to work finding the Red Light District, which was quite simple. As one of the Heroes, it was quite easy for him to get the best Courtesan that he wanted, and after debating on his choice of partner, he spent several hours enjoying himself, and indulged every desire that he had.

"Come back later, Mr. Hero." Some of the Courtesans waved at him as he left the Brothel, giggling in the background.

"I won't forget about ya, ladies!" Muichiro winked as he spun around and left, his face and neck filled with the proof of his fun. "Alright, I feel a hell of a lot better! Now to get some fucking booze and drink away this stupid night!"

{I wonder where the other idiots went? Bah! Who gives a fuck! Tonight I drink!} (Muichiro)

The City of Lovelin was quite small and heavily populated with Beastkin due to its location within the Merchant Confederation, and as he walked around Muichiro got the strange feeling that somebody was watching him.

{Two, no three. Are they assassins?} Muichiro decided to duck down an alleyway in an attempt to throw off his pursuers, and as he bobbed and weaved his way through the back alleys, he eventually shook off his would-be pursuers.

"Hah! Idiots." Muichiro said as he stepped back out onto the street. "It's not the first that time some idiot came for my head, and those ones were quite possibly the worst assassins of all."

{I should be careful, though. They're probably still around and I doubt that they'll just give up. But who the hell are they? I doubt they were specifically looking for me since being in this town wasn't really planned. Maybe they're surviving Spirits looking for payback?} (Muichiro)

"Oh well, if they try and fight me head-on, then I'll just crush them." Muichiro laughed as he continued his search for a good drink before finding a busy bar where he sat down, chugged a great deal of alcohol, flirted with a cute beastkin waitress, and generally enjoyed himself.

As the night moved on, he got slightly drunk, though due to his constitution and magical power, he wouldn't be too affected by his slight inebriation. After downing enough liquid to drown a horse, Muichiro decided to call it quits and went to find a place to rest.

"Yeah... That was so nice..." Muichiro yawned as he headed out back to where the bathrooms were. "Now to piss and then to sleep. I'm beat." He went to open one of the stalls, but just as he was about to open one, a voice called out to him.

"You're about to be a bit more than sleepy, Hero." A man's voice came from behind Muichiro and a moment later, half a dozen cloaked figures surrounded him. He couldn't see their faces, but he could tell that they weren't human due to the amount of magic in their bodies.

{Spirits? No, those are definitely beastkin. Interesting...} (Muichiro)

"There you are." Muichiro turned and looked at the hooded figure that spoke. "I've been wondering if you would show back up, and I see you went and got more friends." He wasn't particularly worried about their power since even Spirits in this number would be no match for him. "If you want to die, then bring it." He drew his massive blade and allowed its tip to slam the ground in front of him.

{I guess a bit of exercise after my meal to work off the booze won't be so bad.} (Muichiro

None of the hooded figures moved in response to his provocation so Muichiro decided to take the initiative and strike. "If you won't come to me, then I'll come to you!" Muichiro ran forward, ready to strike, but just as he was about to bring his blade down on one of his would-be assassins, his entire body began to feel heavy, and he quickly fell to the ground, limp.

"W-What?!?" Muichiro struggled to move but found his consciousness quickly fading. "What... did.... you... do?!?"

"It seems to be working, good work, Nala. Your performance earlier was impeccable." One of the hooded figures spoke to another.

"How? I... Poison doesn't.... work.... on me!? Muichrio continued to struggle, but could tell that he'd black out soon.

"Well, that's normally true. But I used a special kind made just for you." A female voice came from the hooded figure that stood in front of Muichiro. "Now, sleep, and when you next wake up, you'll be helping us to finish our Lord's work." As his consciousness faded, Muichiro caught a glimpse of the woman's face. It was the same green-haired dogkin that he'd been buttering up all night. "Nitey nite, Hero."

{She... In my drink...} Muichiro fell unconscious, and just as swiftly as these unknown figures had arrived, they disappeared, taking him with.

_____________________________________________________________________________

<Hitomi POV>

"Y-You were defeated?!?" Elariel nearly fell over as she spoke with Hitomi. The Holy Saint had found herself relatively close the Holy City upon her return to Enoris, and she quickly moved to contact the Gods via the Great Cathedral and inform them of what happened. "I... What happened? Please tell me in detail." She was the only God near the proverbial phone when Hitomi came calling, and she was barely holding back her joy. The two of them were alone within the Great Cathedral, but that didn't mean she could let her guard down.

{SHE DID IT! HALIFAX DID IT! I KNEW SHE COULD!} (Elariel)

"I... That's the problem." Hitomi gave a wry smile. "I remember being defeated, but... I can't recall who defeated us." She'd tried using healing magic on herself to restore her memory, but to no avail.

{My mind was definitely messed with. Perhaps that enemy used the same method that I found?} (Hitomi)

"Eh?" Elariel let out a very ungodly squeak. Having the Heroes get defeated was one thing, but having Hitomi not be able to explain what happened was shocking. "Wait. Y-You don't remember?"

{Did something happen to her mind? We protected the four of them against charming or any kind of mental manipulation, so that shouldn't be possible!} (Elariel)

"I can recall that something defeated us, and I can tell you that it was something evil, but other than that..." Hitomi shook her head. "Please forgive me... I've failed you, my Lady."

"No, it's fine." Elariel waved her arms to dispel Hitomi's sadness. "Let me take a look. If something is impairing your memories, then I'll see what I can do to remove it." She placed her hand on Hitomi's head and used her Divine power to reach into the Hero's mind.

{Now, let's see what's going on here. If somebody placed blocks on her memory, then I'll just remove them, and-} Elariel froze as she found the source of Hitomi's memory issue. {That power... No... It can't be, it's not possible!} She quickly withdrew her hand from Hitomi's head to hide the slight quiver in her palm.

"My apologies, Hitomi, but I will need more time to deal with this. Removing magic this intricate requires special tools since I don't want to accidentally harm you." Elariel kept up her calm facade, but underneath she was freaking out.

"Okay?" Hitomi didn't know what else to say, deciding to leave things in the Goddesses' seemingly capable hands.

"In the meantime, please take time to rest and recover from your ordeal. I'll contact you with further information when I have it." Elariel continued. "And I'll tell Harmes to start looking for Muichicro, Shiroe, and Kanato as well. They're probably quite frustrated about being scattered around the continent like that, so I think it would be best to bring them home ASAP."

{I need to find out what happened. If I'm sensing Demon Lord power than that can mean only one of two things, and neither of those possibilities are good.} (Elariel)

"About that..." Hitomi gave a nervous smile as she explained that Amakusa was left behind, but again, couldn't give much detail beyond that.

"I see..." Elariel had already partially mentally checked out, and the fact that a Hero might be dead or worse basically just bounced off her. "Don't worry, we'll make sure that she comes home safely, so just relax, okay?"

{Fuck...} (Elariel)

"I will. Raffey is probably worried about me, so I'll go check on her." Hitomi bowed before turning and leaving, with Elariel falling to the floor as soon as she did.

"That power... Its... Its not possible!” Elariel started shaking. “There... There can't be... Halifax... No...”

{Halifax, please... Please don't tell me that you...} (Elariel)