The Red Hand

Chapter 274 – Can You Kill a God?

After Akagi gave a quick announcement explaining that she had been attacked by people from Enoris, she postponed the final match between Hishya and Halifax to a later date, much to the disappointment of the blood thirsty audience. With the arrival of the Heroes, Akagi could no longer afford to split her attention and forces, and once her joint operation with the United States was finished, she planned on returning all of her operatives to Dumetor for the coming counter-invasion.

"So, those bastards really did send people to Earth." Eris clicked her tongue in disgust. She, as well as a group of other players, were standing around Akagi's living room as the Demon explained the situation. "Too bad that you hogged all the fun. I would've liked to knock them around a bit before then ran away like cowards." She gave a very angry chuckle, and was disappointed that she hadn't gotten the chance to inflict some punishment on the four of them. "Those fucks are responsible for..."

"They acted without knowing what they were doing was wrong." Excelsior stepped in to try and calm her down, sensing what she was about to say. "While I cannot condone their actions... Is it really right to blame them for everyone's deaths?" He didn't like the idea of punishing them for something they had no way of knowing, especially since it involved Gods lying to them.

{We can't allow ourselves to be swept along by our emotions, no matter how justified it might be. Those four are just as much victims as anyone else.} (Excelsior)

"Hold up, don't tell me you think they should get off scot-free?!?" Eris barked at him. "Not knowing what they were doing was wrong is no excuse for all the hell they've wrought! We lost a lot of good people because they forced the Spirits to run to our world! Not to mention they slaughtered innocent people during their stupid war!" She was surprised that he of all people was trying to talk them out of punishing evil.

"Calm down. Calm down." Ayame put her hand on her wife's shoulder in an attempt to defuse the situation. "Getting worked up isn't going to do anything but spike your blood pressure." She sighed. "But I do agree that those four need to be punished. They might not have known what they were doing would cause the deaths of innocent people, but a lot of us..."

{When people on the forum were told the full extent of what happened, there were a lot of survivors who wanted these 'Heroes' heads for what they did. Everyone lost somebody and those four are the easiest to blame for everything, even more so than the Gods, since, they're human.} (Ayame)

"Never fear, at the end of the day, the 'Heroes' will get their just desserts." Akagi said as she sat on the couch next to Yumi. "I've already nabbed one, and the other three will eventually be brought in. I fully intend to let the Spirits do with them as they please." She figured that was the best way to handle things, especially as she was more interested in the Gods than the Heroes.

{Mizumi has been practically banging down my door to talk to the Hero I caught, and I don't think I've ever seen as much HATRED in the Water Spirit's eyes then when I told her I took the new pet prisoner.} (Akagi)

"What did you even do with that girl anyway?" Minazawa asked about where Akagi had taken her. "I saw you shuffle her into your shadow, and I assume that you didn't place her in a land of sunshine and rainbows."

{Knowing what that shadow is like part of me pities that girl, but only a bit.} (Minazawa)

"As of right now I've got her locked up. Eventually she will be handed over to Mizumi, and I fully intend to allow the Spirits to have their way with the four Heroes." Akagi answered, figuring that the Spirits wouldn't let them off with anything less than gruesome and painful deaths.

{Though, before that, I intend to have a bit of fun with her.} (Akagi)

"Ah, so that means we're going to see them bludgeoned to death in the center of Omara." Mixu rolled her eyes.

{Mob justice transcends species, it seems.} (Mixu)

"I'd be down to help!" Avahn gave a tooth smile, and was always down for a bit of violence. "I shall paint the town red, literally!"

"Bad nyavahn meow~! nyo public nyexecutions meow~! we talked nyabout this meow~!"

[Bad Avahn! No public executions! We talked about this!] Ara bonked her girlfriend on the head.

"Just this once! Please!" Avahn pleaded but was denied.

"Nyo!" Ara huffed.

"What they end up doing with those four idiots isn't really of any consequence anyway." Akagi waved away the issue figuring that it was the least of their problems. "The real issue is the Gods." She looked to Halifax, who took over the discussion.

"Yes... They are the ones behind all this, and your world won't be safe until we stop them." Halifax figured that the Gods would try something else to complete their goal of fleeing, and she had a few ideas about what they would do.

{If push comes to shove, Rehael is going to get involved, and that's going to cause big problems. I'm sure that Akagi could handle her, but she's easily as powerful as me and if she comes here it could result in chaos.} (Halifax)

"I can't imagine killing Gods will be easy." Superbia said as she flicked hair out of her face. "They're usually the kind of beings that aren't exactly supposed to die. Even the Shinto Gods are generally beyond the reach of death, at least mostly anyway." She figured that destroying such beings would also have negative effects on Enoris as well. “Is killing them even possible anyway? I know you're bullshit Akagi, but can you actually destroy beings like that?”

"I think I can actually answer that." Halifax commented. "In the distant past, long before I was created, there was a set of beings that competed with the Gods for dominion over the world." She started explaining a bit off ancient history. "They were known as Primordials, and they were essentially Gods, but instead of divinity, their power came from the very elemental building blocks of Enoris itself."

{So like nature Spirits, or even something more akin to Land Deities?} (Akagi)

"We have such myths on Earth, and I've read plenty of books that had such a backstory." Hishya noted that most Earth religions had something similar regarding a conflict between the Gods and another group, such as the Greek Gods and the Titans. "So let me guess, the Gods and Primordials fought, and the Gods eventually killed them all?"

"Not quite." Halifax shook her head. "You are correct to assume that the Gods came out victorious. However, it was anything but clean, as at least three Gods were permanently slain. Denon, the God of Dusk and Dawn, Melonia, the Goddess of Blood and War, and Zeithal, the God of the Void." She continued. "After a long and bloody conflict that nearly destroyed the world, the Gods got the upper hand on the Primordials and banished the few survivors deep into the Under as part of a peace deal." She'd never met any of the banished Primordials as they were more or less dormant and undetectable.

"Neat history lesson, but does this have any bearing on the current issue at hand?" Alveron asked, keenly interested in what kind of power such creatures might have had.

"It means-" Halifax was cut off by Mizumi, who entered the room and interrupted her.

"It means that you can kill those BASTARDS!" The Water Spirit's eyes were filled with anger, and her words were practically soaked in venom.

"There's our resident Spirit, right on time." Akagi chuckled. "Though you are technically late."

{And by the looks of things, what Shinlua and I spoke about the other day needs to happen ASAP.} (Akagi)

"Listen, I don't really care what you do to the people of Enoris. You could wipe them out in a blood frenzy for all I care. But those Gods..." Mizumi's eyes burned brightly with anger. "Well, let's just say I'm really glad to have Demon Lord as my boss." She gave a sadistic smirk that reminded everyone of Akagi.

{Akagi corrupted her...} (Everyone else)

"Oh, don't worry." Akagi pat the angry Spirit on the head, which elicited some grumbling. "I'll make sure they get what's coming to them." She smiled. "They declared war on me by sending their lackeys here, not to mention their actions..." She shook her head, not wanting to dwell on useless thoughts. "Anyway, all we can do now is wait for the dream team of Imp and Imperial to make a connection for me to use. Until then, there's not really much to do."

"You don't think those three Heroes will come back, do you?" Eris asked what Akagi thought would happen next. "Who knows what kind of destruction they could create if they popped up elsewhere. You're quick but imagine if they appeared in Tokyo or something. They'd probably rampage long before anyone could stop them."

"Fortunately for us, that's unlikely." Halifax answered in Akagi's stead. "From what Elariel told me the amount of energy needed to send them here once was already high, so I doubt we need to worry about a second attack. At least for the foreseeable future."

{Though that's assuming that they wanted to send four people. I don't know how fast they can regather energy, but its entirely possible that they could send less people in a shorter time frame.}(Halifax)

"Not to mention that those Gods are probably gonna be spooked when only three Heroes return, and said three talk about some unspeakable evil that kicked their ass!" Akagi laughed as she imagined the look on their faces.

"Akagi." Eris's eyes locked onto the Demon. "Drop all bullshit for a moment, and tell me. Can you really kill these Gods?" She figured the answer was yes, but wanted the Demon's confirmation. "Can you actually stop them?"

"HAH!" Akagi laughed, her voice distorting slightly. "I am confident that when I'm done with things, Enoris's Gods will be little more than a distant memory." She turned to Halifax. "I hope you don't mind that your own 'mother' will be included in my wrath. I don't pull punches and she is just as much involved in this as all the rest, and her change of heart later affords her only limited mercy."

"I..." Halifax stammered. She'd already explained things to the other players, and just as Hishya said, they were all supportive. Though she was still unsure of how to treat Elariel going forward. "Can you at least promise me that you'll give me a chance to speak with her before you..."

"I'll do you one better." Akagi said. "I'll work things out so that you get to decide what's to be done with the Time Goddess." She figured that letting Halifax be the one to work out her own problems was for the best.

"Thank you..." Halifax's face looked conflicted, though deep within, Akagi knew that she wanted some kind of revenge against her creator.

"I still can't believe that your own Mom would do such things to you." Ayame said as she hugged up on Ema. "I would never make my daughter do bad things! She's too cute to hurt people. The only thing she needs from us is love and affection!"

"Though that doesn't stop you from having me clean the house..." Ema sighed.

"You say that, but then you get all mad if we don't leave you anything to do!" Eris poked her on the cheek, which caused Ema to blush.

"You are both just terrible cleaners! It's better if I do it so that the place isn't a mess!" Ema tried to hide her face as the room erupted in laughter.

"Superbia." Akagi called out to the still laughing Oni. "And Zephiria."

"Yeah?" (Zephiria x Superbia)

"I've got a job for the two of you if you don't mind." Akagi said.

"Depends on the job." Superbia sat up to listen.

"I assume I can't say no to this one..." Zephiria figured this was more of an order than a request.

"Nope!" Akagi smiled. "When the portal to Enoris is complete I'm going to need some people to help guard it. There's no telling what those Gods might try to do with an open connection between worlds, so I'd like you to help keep that crossing safe."

"I'm surprised that you didn't ask Hishya." Superbia figured that Akagi would want the most powerful being on the planet, other than herself, to do something like that.

"I do want Hishya involved to an extent, but I'm talking about dedicated guard duty." Akagi clarified. "The two of you would basically be keeping an eye on both ends of the connection. It will be boring as hell, but you two are the most powerful people I can put in that position. Naturally, my people will be helping, but I'm not taking the chance that something really strong gets through and starts wreaking havoc on the world while I'm away."

"What the hell are you going to have me do?" Hishya sighed. She'd wanted to go with Akagi to Enoris but was told that having the two of them away from Earth was asking for trouble.

"Primarily, I want you to act as an enforcer while I'm gone." Akagi answered. "I likely won't be popping back and forth between worlds much, so I'd like you to take up the mantle of keeping the Earth safe while I'm away."

"Oh, is that all?" Hishya rolled her eyes, though on the inside the idea of playing world Hero make her giddy.

"After me, you are probably the most powerful person in this world, at least that I'm aware of." Akagi glanced at Halifax. With their match delayed she still had no idea which of the two was more powerful, and that annoyed her. "Though our little sword here might have you beat. Too bad we didn't get to see how that fight turned out."

"We'll just have to duke it out later." Hishya snickered. "Though I will come out victorious."

"Think what you will Dragon, but I'm no pushover." Halifax grinned. "Recall that I've killed a Demon Lord before and that you are one's pet." She laughed.

"Oh? A wise guy, are we?” Hishya cracked her knuckles. “Well then, I hope you don't mind being a doorstop for a while! Cause that's what I'm going to use you for once I'm done with you!" Hishya and Halifax started cackling as the others watched on helplessly.

"Please don't blow up the planet when you fight. Other people do live here..." Shiru sighed as Alveron floated onto her head.

"Too late, they're not listening." Alveron laughed.

"It will make for good entertainment at the very least!" Akagi laughed.

{You just enjoy seeing chaos unfold!} (Everyone else)

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