The Red Hand

After devastating Elariel's will to live by crushing her in several hundred more matches, Akagi hopped out of Yumi's lap and declared that she was going to the Holy City.

"Alright! Time to kick in the door to the House of God and perform sacrilege in his living room!" Akagi cackled as she returned to her usual form. "I've already prepared my dramatic speeches, and I have the comedic timing to my jokes down perfectly! So now we can finally move forward!"

"I..." Elariel shook her head. "Just forget it. Do whatever you want..."

{Don't question the cat... Don't question it...} (Elariel)

"Why do I have the feeling that the last few weeks were actually more about her planning out all the movie villain BS than actual strategic reasons?" Amakusa sighed.

"Because Akagi." Halifax and Yumi said simultaneously.

{And that all but confirms it...} (Amakusa)

"Eh, I probably could've done things a bit faster, but I saw no reason to rush things." Akagi shrugged. "Besides, the ninjas have been hard at work infiltrating the different nations, gathering intel, and bumping off more political figures. Heck, we even received a shipment of Spirits that they pulled from some creepy lady's basement the other day." She pointed to the plant-like woman, who was tending to a small garden near the building used as temporary Spirit housing.

"I don't know. I'd think you just wanted more cuddle time with me." Yumi chuckled. “Realistically how much time did you spend doing something other than letting me spoil you?”

"Cuddles are good, but they were only 80% of my reason for delaying." Akagi huffed. "Besides, Miji might soon overtake you as cuddle Queen at this rate!" She snickered and was bopped on the head by the Priestess

"You just like that Miji is an innocent little girl who pets her kitty and thinks you are amazing just by existing." Yumi rolled her eyes. "And here I am giving you my everything. I guess I should just yell kitty and squeeze you from now on since that's all it seems to take to placate you."

{Don't you worship the ground said kitty walks on?!? I'd say you're no better than your sister! At least she has the defense of being a kid and kids like cute things! Fuck, I just admitted that Catkagi was cute...} (Amakusa)

"I mean, won't tell you not to do that." Akagi snickered again and was bopped on the head again. "Why hit me?!? Am kitty!" She turned and puffed her cheeks. “MEW! This is kitty aboose!”

"Kitty still gets hit for being a pain..." Yumi sighed again a the bopping continued. "But getting back on task, it seems that the Holy City shouldn't pose any issues for us. However, I've received word that Kanato arrived there yesterday. Apparently, he seeks to meet with that Hitomi girl, likely to work together to defeat you or something stupid." She shrugged.

"I... I suppose it's good to hear that he's okay..." Amakusa was conflicted on the matter. "Though at the same time, the guilt he must be feeling is probably making him wish he wasn't..."

{That idiot is the only one of us who really took the Hero thing to heart and I can't imagine how he's feeling at the moment.} (Amakusa)

"Guilt? What's that?" Akagi snickered as she was bonked on the head once more, this time by Halifax. "WHY?!? WHY HIT KITTY?!?"

"Bad kitty!" Halifax chuckled. “The bonks will continue until kitty stops being so mean.”

{Also you aren't in kitty mode right now, so you can't use that defense!} (Halifax)

"Remind me to get you a paper fan. You'll need one for when she really gets out of hand." Yumi chuckled.

"NO! My one weakness!" Akagi cried in fake horror. "The papercuts, they burrrrrrrrrn! HISS!"

"Quick! Defeat the Demon Lord and free us all from her tyranny! Grab as many pieces of paper as possible and slice her into pieces!" Amakusa giggled.

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Akagi slowly faded away into mist before reappearing behind Yumi a moment later.

"I honestly thought you were going to explode again..." Yumi rolled her eyes.

"I can still do that if you want!" Akagi laughed. "Explosions are always fun!"

"No, I'm good. No exploding, please..." Yumi groaned.

{I don't need you to add spontaneous explosions to your list of antics...} (Yumi)

"What are your plans in the Holy City exactly?" Elariel said after finally recovering from her utter humiliation by Akagi.

"Nuke it from orbit?" Akagi tilted her head cutely, causing everyone to facepalm.

{WHY DOES SHE KEEP DERAILING THE CONVERSATION?!?} (Amakusa)

"But seriously, I'm going there to find those Primordials, that's all." Akagi answered seriously as to avoid further bonks. "I've already had the ninjas scope out the place, and it looks like the Church is taking a whole lot of Spirits into its facilities beneath the city. So maybe while we're poking around, I'll deal with that if I get the time."

{Though, I'm beginning to suspect that there's more going on the the Holy City than meets the eye. Why would the Church want to collect all those Spirits, especially when they aren't seemingly used for anything? The ninja team up there said they just go into the Cathedral and then vanish. I'd love to get better information, but sending them to the place most connected to Divine power is not a great idea even with my precautions.} (Akagi)

"There is not a shred of doubt in my mind that we're going to go to the Holy City, and all hell is going to break loose due to something she does." Amakusa deadpanned.

"Well, this is Akagi. Besides, if things went smoothly, that would take away the fun." Halifax laughed. “Half the fun of the kitty is watching it cause chaos.”

"Says the so-called Holy Sword of Justice..." Amakusa rolled her eyes. "Good to know that you've been corrupted by the Demon Lord so thoroughly. Was the kitty truly enough to turn you evil?”"

"Eh, I've always kinda been like this." Halifax shrugged. "Plus, no longer giving much of a fuck about this world has made me loosen up a whole bunch. Maybe in the past I'd raise some kind of objection but nowadays I just can't be bothered."

"That you can so casually..." Elariel facepalmed. "You really have corrupted my child..." She glared at Akagi.

{And she's doing it without even knowing. If she ever found out...} (Elariel)

"I merely awakened that which was within her all along!" Akagi laughed, not noticing that her words caused Elariel to flinch slightly. "But in all seriousness, I don't really plan on causing much chaos, this time." She continued. "The main goal here is to find the sealed plot devices and interroga- I mean politely persuade them to help me get into the Heavenly Realm."

{Yeah politely...} (Amakusa)

"Though I'm going to imagine that Ro and Zo are going to require quite a bit of that polite persuasion to get them to do anything beyond causing chaos..." Elariel rolled her eyes and sighed. "Those two problem children are nothing but trouble, and I'd say they're more like juvenile delinquents than Primordials."

{Their past actions were basically an advanced version of teenage rebellion, and I had half a mind to spank them over my knee and give them a serious lesson in discipline!} (Elariel)

"That might actually make things easier though." Akagi thought for a moment. "As long as they don't take the stance that I'm an evil that they will not work with, a show of force should be enough to bring them under control. Their kind tend to hold power as the most important thing in the world." She'd dealt with many who were exactly like that in the past.

"That's... I don't know... Those two are trouble. Not to mention that they may not know what a Demon Lord is since they are so young." Elariel commented.

"Hey, as long as they give me the info I need, then I don't really care if they go on some crazy explosion fest afterward." Akagi laughed. "If they have beef with this world or its Gods, then they're okay in my book!"

{…} (Amakusa)

"I don't even want to imagine what those two would do if they're allowed to run around freely..." Elariel pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration. “They already caused enough chaos when they ran around before, and they'd probably do even worse this time...”

"I mean, they wouldn't really do anything that bad, right?" Halifax figured that the risk to the world was minimal at best. "At the end of the day, they're still Primordials. They might hate the Gods for what you did to their ancestors, but I highly doubt that they'd start wiping out the general population."

{Nothing that I know about their kind indicates that they hate mortals, so why would these two be any different?} (Halifax)

"You are probably right..." Elariel gave a wry smile. "But these two are nothing like the other Primordials. They were more than willing to attack and kill people to draw us out, so I would caution against trusting them to be any different, especially after six hundred years of imprisonment." She figured that their attitudes had probably gotten worse after imprisonment, thoough she held out hope that they'd reformed somewhat.

"Well, the only way to find out is to go!" Akagi snapped her fingers, causing Yumi, Elariel, Halifax, and Amakusa to start floating.

"NO! NOT AGAIN!" Amakusa screamed in terror, knowing what was coming. “I DON'T WANNA FLY AGAIN!”

"Hey, can we try going faster this time? I want to see how loud Shiroe screams." Halifax giggled.

"YOU BITCH!" Amakusa growled. "I'LL FUCKING DESTROY YOU, SWORD!" She said while trying to swipe at her.

"Alrighty passengers, buckle up as Air Akagi is about to take off once again! We kindly ask you to keep to your seats until we reach a nice cruising altitude, and don't forget to watch out for bugs!" Akagi cackled as she charged up her power.

"PUT ME IN THE SHADOW INSTEAD! I DON'T WANT TO FLY ANYMORE!" Amakusa pleaded for mercy, but it was never going to be granted.

"Three... Two... One... Zero!" Akagi snapped her fingers, and the three of them took off at high speed, leaving the base behind them. Amakusa's screams of terror resounded in the distance before vanishing once they got far enough away.

_____________________________________________________________________________

<Penelope POV>

"That group that just took off, are my eyes deceiving me, or was that Lady Elariel alongside Halifax and Shiroe Amakusa?!?" Penelope said as she watched the five of them fly away. “What's going on here?!? Is this not the base of those Cultists?!?”

{Why are they here?!?} (Penelope)

"I'm not sure. I think that was Halifax, but the red-haired woman was hard to make out, and I think it would be a cold day in the Hells before Lady Elariel wore a maid outfit." Arcus answered her from her back. "Though even if that wasn't Lady Elariel, the fact that Halifax has seemingly joined forces with this so-called Demon Lord is concerning." They'd heard rumors of the Demon Lord's base in the South, and after a bit of searching, they'd come across the Dumetor base camp.

"Indeed..." Penelope looked down at the base. With Akagi gone, she initially thought about attacking the seemingly undefended location, but something in the back of her mind said that an assault on her own would be suicidal. "Let's head to Targul. I'd like to see if the Demons would help crush these fools."

"Oh?" Arcus was surprised by her hesitancy. "For you of all people to not only retreat but desire aid, I'm not sure if you've gone soft or if we're looking at a very dangerous opponent."

"I simply wish to fulfill the mission given to me by Mother, that is all." Penelope said as she hopped down the side of the cliff.