The Red Hand

*CLACK* *CLICK* *THUNK*

"And that's checkmate, Elariel." Akagi said smugly as she defeated the visibly angry Goddess at chess with a spectacular turn around. "That makes 79 times in a row. Care to try again? Or perhaps we should try a different game? Shogi and Go are great!"

{Too bad she doesn't know how to play video games, otherwise I'd get her to face me in Galactic Wars and watch as her entire fleet gets reduced to slag.} (Akagi)

"Stupid Demon Lord..." Elariel grumbled as she gazed down at the board, checking to make sure that Akagi really had won. "How can I lose that many times consecutively?!? I should've at least had you once during all these matches!"

{She cheated, didn't she?!? There's no way you win against me 79 times in a row otherwise!} (Elariel)

"I'm just that good at games, I guess." Akagi said while sporting a shit-eating grin, knowing full well that the deck was stacked massively in her favor due to her calculation ability. "That you are laughably predictable has nothing to do with your defeats, I assure you."

{Taking the best possible options at all times means that you're easy to read, and I don't even need to break out the high-tier calculation power to sweep you aside.} (Akagi)

"I will defeat you! I've been playing these kinds of games longer than you can imagine, so just you wait, Demon Lord!" Elariel's eyes burned with a hot fire that was soon doused as Akagi proceeded to crush her in Shogi, Chess, Poker, and around a dozen other games throughout the afternoon.

*SLAM* *BANG* *SMACK*

"HOW?!? HOW DO I LOSE SO MANY TIMES IN A ROW?!?" Elariel's frustration erupted as she pounded the poor, defenseless table. "AND THAT STUPID BOAT GAME SHOULD BE LUCK! SO HOW CAN YOU KEEP WINNING?!?" She seethed at her inability to win once against the Demon.

"You know, its good for you that we didn't bet anything on these games!" Akagi laughed as she imagined something akin to strip poker rules being enforced against the Goddess. "And now you know why I'm banned from basically every game shop and casino in Kyoto!" She snickered.

{Kana always did wonder how I paid for my things, and I never had the heart to tell her that it was from illegal gambling. Part-time jobs were not for me, but taking old people's retirement money through high stakes bets, THAT was where it was at.} (Akagi)

"You must've cheated! There's no way you beat me all those times, especially not at card games!" Elariel was still angry. “So just come clean! What kind of foul magic did you use against me?!?”

{That card game where you get 21 or bust is pure luck, and yet you always beat me!} (Elariel)

"No cheating, but I'll let you in on a wee secret." Akagi leaned in slightly. "You can count cards." She laughed as she explained the concept and how it worked

"ISN'T THAT CHEATING?!?" Elariel growled, feeling like it was defiantly agaisnt some kind of rule.

"Nope! Just very frowned upon in casinos!" Akagi laughed as Elariel continued to complain about her unfair use of math to win games of luck.

"What the hell is all the noise out here..." Amakusa said as she slowly stumbled toward them, her hair a complete mess, and her fluffy ears bent in opposite directions. "Do you people have any idea what time it is? Some of us are trying to sleep..." She yawned as she walked up to their table, half-asleep.

"I think it's like 2 pm." Akagi checked the time on her non-existent watch. "So a better question is why were you still asleep?"

{Lazy pet.} (Akagi)

"The bed was warm and fluffy..." Amakus yawned. “And I was nice and snuggled in...”

"Aww, the poor pet is eepy." Akagi laughed. "Do you want ear scratches?"

"Please don't..." Amakusa sighed. "I'm not awake enough right now for your bullshit..."

"From what I've heard, Shiroe was never a morning person." Elariel giggled. “Kanato said that getting her up in the morning for missions was miserable.”

"To be fair, I don't think noon counts as morning though." Akagi rolled her eyes.

"Hey, wait! You have no right to talk shit about my sleeping habits when I've seen you happily snuggled in bed until well in the afternoon! Amakusa protested.

{I've seen how happily you sleep on your big pillow, you stupid cat!} (Amakusa)

"Ah, but you forget. I'm the Demon Lord, so I can be as hypocritical as I want." Akagi smirked. "It's perfectly fine if I go cat and sleep the day away, so you can't complain."

{I STILL WILL!} (Amakusa)

"But still, your appearance was good timing, pet." Akagi snapped her fingers and told Amakusa to sit, which she happily did.

"ARF!" Amakusa barked happily as she wagged her tail.

"I will never get over how strange that is." Elariel snorted.

"Try being the one who's made to do it!" Amakusa growled.

"Now, Now." Akagi reached into her inventory and pulled out a dog biscuit.

"YOU WOULDN'T!" Amakusa sensed danger but couldn't flee due to the sitting command.

"Okay, puppy, open wide for a treat." Akagi smiled as innocently as a child who was about to give their favorite pet a treat as she held out the biscuit.

{Is it bad that I want to see this?} (Elariel)

"DON'T MAKE ME EAT THAT!" Amakusa plead for mercy, but Akagi was in one of those moods and was more interested in watching her consume the biscuit.

"Have a biscuit!" Akagi tossed the dog treat to Amakusa, who happily caught it in her mouth and chewed it up.

*MUNCH* *CRUNCH*

"EW! BLECK!" Amakusa tried spitting it out, but it was already too late. "GOD IT TASTES HORRIBLE! WHY DO DOGS LIKE THAT STUFF?!?"

{IT TASTES LIKE CARDBOARD!} (Amakusa)

"Pfff." Elariel started laughing unintentionally.

"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?!? THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" Amakusa glared at the Goddess, ready to give her a pounding.

"I'm... I'm sorry." Elariel was struggling not to laugh. "It's just... Pfff. Hahaha!"

"Did the pet enjoy her treat?" Akagi asked with a smirk as she pat Amakusa on the head.

"Yes!" Amakusa said happily. "It was great! Thank you, master!"

"Do you want more?" Akagi asked.

"Yes!" Amakusa smiled before reverting back to normal. "Please don't make me eat another..." Her ears drooped sadly as she cried internally.

"Fine, fine." Akagi pat her on the head. "We do not condone animal abuse in this household, so I will stop."

{AND YET HERE WE ARE!} (Amakusa)

"You say that you don't condone animal abuse, yet you do seem to find it funny." Elariel said as she calmed down.

"Hey, this would only be the second pet that I've tormented in the last year." Akagi shrugged. "With Hishya grown up, I can't get as good of a reaction from her anymore, so I needed a replacement."

"I should've stayed in bed..." Amakusa pouted.

"Nah, it's best that you did get up anyway." Akagi said as she pulled a small notepad from her inventory. "I've got things to tell you, so get those ears nice and perky, pet."

"Oh, so you didn't want to just humiliate me?" Amakusa rolled her eyes as she stood up.

"I can do that whenever, but here." Akagi tossed Amakusa the notebook, which she read.

"Hold on! I said to talk with Feline, not prepare to lay waste to Riftwood!" Amakusa slammed the notebook back down onto the table, furious with what she'd just read. "Why the hell would you give them that demand?!? You know full well they're just going to ignore it!"

{There's no way in hell that demanding the release of the Spirits will work! Least of all from those two chucklefucks that run Amdamell!} (Amakusa)

"Carrot and Stick, my pet, Carrot and Stick." Akagi wagged her finger and tutted. "We're in the middle of preparations for a similar bit of discussion with the Demon Kingdom and I'd like to have an example ready so that they can see what the consequences of defiance are." Nima was planning on heading there within the next few days now that Nemino and his team had replaced one of the Nobles that they had their eyes on.

"I think your plan might end up being 99% Stick, as there are few who would willingly defy our word." Elariel interjected. "Amdamell will not be willing to take such a risk, and despite our poor relations with the Demon Race, I highly doubt that Ariel will Kow-Tow, especially to a Demon Lord."

{The Demon Race hates the Demon Lord and Vikes' Cult since their kind is constantly associated with them. Not to mention that the Princess-Regent has a particular hatred for them after what they did to her father.} (Elariel)

"On top of that if people find out that someone is trying to spring the Spirits, they're liable to massacre them!" Amakusa shouted, worried that Alm may be killed before they could even find her. "The people of this world are far too loyal to the Gods to allow them the Spirits to be freed by you! Did you think of that?!?"

"I have, and if they dare do something like that, then I'll erase this miserable world from existence!" Akagi stood and shouted, slamming her hand down onto the table, splitting it in half.

{Oops...} (Akagi)

"But Shiroe is right." Elariel commented as Akagi repaired the table. "I don't know about Amdamell, but the Demon Kingdoms and the Church would probably kill off the Spirits rather than turn them over to you, even at great cost to themselves."

"Well, the problem is that I don't have the manpower to scour the entire continent simultaneously for the slaves and have the ninja do other jobs." Akagi clicked her tongue. "The Ondai are good, but even they can't be in two places at once. Thus, my best bet is to force these nations to turn them over, by force of annihilation if necessary."

"Can't you just have the ninja focus on freeing them instead?" Amakusa asked. "There can't be that many survivors, so finding them shouldn't be too bad."

"I have a team on that as we speak." Akagi said as she sat back down "Nemino is in charge of infiltrating the Demon Kingdom while Chloe and Sakura are hunting down Spirits and gathering information on assassination targets. My forces number less than a hundred in the field, and spreading them too thin risks something bad happening."

{All it's going to take is one ninja to go down for me to start vaporizing cities, and I'd assume that nobody, including me, wants that.} (Akagi)

"Yeah, and meanwhile, you sit on your ass and play cards with a Goddess. Seems to me that you don't actually care about the Spirits at all." Amakusa scoffed.

"I do care about them." Akagi replied curtly. "It's just that I have other considerations that outrank their immediate safety." She shrugged.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sure that saving the Spirits will be such a difficult chore for someone as powerful as you are." Amakusa rolled her eyes, figuring that if Akagi wanted to she could zip around and find the Spirits in a heartbeat.

"Saving the Spirits is and will never be my primary reason for coming here." Akagi retorted. "Sure, I do want to see them freed, but I'm more interested in bringing the Gods to their knees than running around and acting as some kind of savior."

{It just seems kinda ridiculous to not go and save them right now though...} (Amakusa)

"Do my priorities displease you, pet?" Akagi glared at her, reading Amakusa's mind based on her facial expressions.

"I can't say I'm happy with them..." Amakusa replied, looking off to the side.

"Well, tough luck." Akagi rolled her eyes. "My main goal here was to deal with the Gods. Rescuing the Spirits was simply incidental to that since I was never really interested in saving them to begin with. Had you and the other Heroes never attacked Earth like you did, then I was planning on leaving things as they were regarding their enslavement anyway."

----‐-----‐--------------‐-

<Muichiro POV>

“Ugh...” Muichiro slowly opened his eyes. His body felt stiff and heavy, and his thoughts were cloudy. “Where.. What's going on?” As his eyes slowly focused he was greeted by the sound of people speaking in the distance.

“Valuru, are you sure this will work?” The same green haired beast woman that Muichiro remembered flirting with that night stood next to a black-haired man from the Demon Race. Both were wearing something akin to white lab coats, while Muichiro was strapped to a table and was facing them.

“Lord Labrys has already confirmed the Hero's compatibility, so all we need to do now is follow his instructions.” The Demon man named Valuru spoke.

“Labrys?” Muichiro's thoughts were still hazy and he struggled to even move a finger.

“Oh? It would seem that my vessel has awoken earlier than expected.” A deep and distorted male voice rumbled throughout the room.

“How unexpected, but I suppose that's the kind of resilience that makes Heroes so irritating.” Valuru laughed as he turned to Muichiro. “But don't worry, my Lord, he won't be conscious for very long.”

“Hey, you bastard! Let me down from here!” Muichiro tried and failed to move. “Don't you know who the fuck I am?!?”

“Of course we do, why do you think we brought you here?” The green haired woman laughed.

“Now, Now, Tanya. Its not polite to tease him. You know that idiots don't tend to get rhetorical questions.” Valuru laughed.

“I hope you know that the moment I get down from here I'm going to tear you apart!” Muichiro growled.

“I'm sure you would, but alas you will never be given the chance to go through with such a threat.” Valuru said as he walked over to a console and pulled a series of levers. “Now, Hero, prepare yourself! You will have the honor of becoming the vector for this world's destruction!”

“If only I could allow Master to take my body...” Tanya pouted.

“Do not worry, my child. You will be rewarded greatly for your efforts.” The booming voice spoke again.

{Why... Why does that voice sound familiar?} (Muichiro)

“OH! Lord Labrys!” Tanya swooned. “I await the day where I can give you everything, body and soul!” She squeed as a large hydraulic arm lowered in front of Muichiro's face. It held what looked like what Akagi would consider to be similar to the famous masks associated with Sol Invictus.

“H-Hey...” Muichiro struggled as the mask slowly moved toward his face. “Get that fucking creepy thing away from me!” Try as he might none of his power would respond, and in that moment he felt like the Gods themselves had abandoned him. “No! NO! NO!” As the mask slipped over his face Muichiro felt his skin burn as if he'd been touched by hot metal.

*SIZZLE* *HISS*

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Muichiro screamed at the top of his lungs. The pain was unbearable, and in all his years he'd never felt anything like it before. “SOMEONE HELP! PLEASE! HELP!” He screamed and screamed for help, but no one came. The last thing he recalled before his consciousness faded out for good was a deep voice that echoed in his mind.

“Its time to finish the job.” (Labrys)