Chapter 232 – The Elf Returns.

Chapter 232 – The Elf Returns.

With the glitter chaos completed, Akagi rode the elevator down to the lowest level of the RRT Headquarters. There were plenty of security guards along the hallway and around the door leading up to the holding cells, but she simply walked straight past them with no problem.

{I'm so tempted to use up these other glitter bombs, but I'll restrain myself in this instance.} (Akagi)

"Wow, we've got all kinds of familiar faces in here." Akagi said as she walked past the holding cells. "Salamandra's here, Ketoki too, and even Remiru. I haven't seen them for a long time. Maybe I should pop in for a visit sometime?" There had been minimal issue from the ex-Libra prisoners and most had resigned themselves to their fate, with only a few putting up sparse resistance. “Alright, so where's the Elf? I'd imagine that she wants out of this little nightmare ASAP.” She laughed as she continued down the hallway to where Elna was housed.

"D-Dark... Bad... N-No..." Elna was sitting on her bed rocking back and forth, something that was normal by this point. "The eyes... the darkness... the light..." As Akagi phased through her cell and appeared in front of her, the Elf was muttering like a madwoman

"Hello there." Akagi smiled as Elna looked up at her.

The moment that she laid eyes upon the Demon Elna went to scream but found that, no matter how hard she tried, no noise came out. Akagi was preventing any sound from escaping her throat so that nobody could hear her scream.

"Not that anyone would hear you, but I really don't need you doing that to me." Akagi shook her head. She was using illusion magic to make it seem as if nothing was amiss within the cell, and from the outside Elna, was continuing her usual routine of madness.

"So, first of all." Akagi reached out and put her hand on Elna's head, which the weak and afraid Elf tried and failed to avoid. "Let's get rid of some of that madness. You've been a good test subject so far, so your reward will be a return to 'sanity.'" During her destruction and consumption of Libra at their base, Akagi implanted a bit of dark energy within Elna's mind with her single punch. The Demon was curious about what would happen to mortals whose soul was exposed to the substance that made up her very being, and she'd been keeping a close eye on Elna to see the results.

After a few seconds of having Akagi root around within her body, Elna began to writhe and turn as a black substance oozed out from her mouth and eyes before flowing into Akagi's hand. It was an inky black, nearly liquid substance that seemed to absorb all light that touched it and Akagi figured others would describe it as nightmare fuel.

"There we go." Akagi smiled as she took her hand off Elna, who slumped onto her bed. "How's that? Any better?" She laughed as she poked the Elf in the cheek.

"I... What... Where..." Elna slowly sat up on the bed, confused and disoriented. "Ow, my head..." She held onto the side of her head as she teetered back and forth. It was pounding and it was as if she had the worst migraine imaginable. "Where am I?" She seemed to barely understand what was going on and her mind was fuzzy.

"Aww, don't tell me you don't remember the last few months of fun." Akagi snickered. "That would be quite unfortunate."

{Though not surprising.} (Akagi)

"You... I..." Elna slowly looked up at Akagi. "A-Akagi..." Her eyes went wide and her body started trembling as she recalled what had happened to her. "You... You were..." She backed away from Akagi. "You were in my... my..."

"Your mind." Akagi finished for her. "For a lack of a better term, yes." She nodded. "Do you remember everything?"

"B-Bits and pieces, yes." Elna answered while shivering. "T-The screams... the darkness... the fear..."

{It was hell... I was... I was both dead and alive... I felt as if I was both everywhere and no where... and there... there was nothing...} (Elna)

"Ah, good." Akagi nodded. "Then things worked out in the end. It would've defeated the point of everything if you ended up purging it from your memory."

"W-What did you do to me?" Elna asked. "It was... everywhere... the darkness... There was nothing... no one..." She seemed to be on the verge of tears.

"The simple answer my dear, is that you got a very rare glimpse at something neat." Akagi laughed as she leaned in closer to Elna's face. "You got to see me."

{A rare treat I assure you, and one that most better hope they never end up getting.} (Akagi)

"Y-You?" Elna squeaked out her question.

{That hell... It was you?} (Elna)

"Fine." Akagi shrugged, not really caring about such a condition. "I don't really need you for that anyway, so I'll agree never to subject you to such things again. Though that doesn't mean I won't take you within my shadow for testing or other purposes." Her word was binding, and unless given a damn good reason she wouldn't go back on it, so Elna knew she could trust Akagi on this.

"F-Fine." Elna nodded. "T-Then I agree."

"I agree?" Akagi rolled her hand indicating that she wanted her to say something else.

"I-I agree... Master." Elna cringed inside as she called Akagi her master, and the Demon laughed as she wrapped the Elf in her shadow, the two of them vanishing without a trace.

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<Imp POV>

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN ELNA VANISHED?!?" Aoi screamed at Imp, Mixu, and Shimari. They'd come to her office after being contacted by security, still covered in glitter. "HOW COULD SHE JUST VANISH LIKE THAT?!?"

{AND WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING IN THE BREAKROOM THAT ITS COVERED IN GLITTER AND WATER?!?} (Aoi)

"Please calm down, Aoi. Screaming won't do anything to get her back." Mixu sighed. "We have no idea what happened to her, and the camera footage just shows that Elna was there one minute and gone the next." She was in no mood for this nonsense and was desperate to get a shower to remove the glitter.

"No magic-spells used. Nothing on scanners-detectors." Imp had looked over the footage and used her tools to check for any kind of interference or other ways that the Elf could've disappeared. "No idea how Elf-thing vanished-disappeared." She shrugged.

{Though, I have idea-guess...} (Imp)

"There aren't many people who could do something like this." Mixu sighed. "And combining this with our glitter bomb incident, I'd bet that Akagi was the one who sprung her."

{But why?!? Wait, I know why... Just to fuck with us...} (Mixu)

"Eh? But why?!?" Shimari was surprised. "She fought Libra and took them down. Why would she want to take Elna?" She thought it would be strange for Akagi to take Elna after all that.

"Who knows, Akagi does all kinds of strange things." Mixu's eyes slowly moved to Imp. "Now, you wouldn't happen to know what's going on, do you?" She was suspicious of Imp since she spent time with Akagi and involved herself in the Demon's crazy plans.

{At this point, you're more Dumetorian than Japanese, you crazy little juice box.} (Mixu)

"Not this time." Imp crossed her arms in an X. "Akagi not mention-tell jailbreak of Elf-thing. I is innocent-not guilty in this instance."

{Still find it funny-amusing though.} (Imp)

"Why me?" Aoi groaned as she slammed her head on her desk. "I'm going to get a massive ass chewing... Elna was our number one prisoner, and she got out on my watch."

{I need a vacation...} (Aoi)

"If it was Akagi, then you're not really at fault." Mixu shrugged. "Stopping her isn't really possible." She figured it best to just wash their hands of Elna, and move on.

{Though Superbia and Excel are gonna be pissed if she really did take her...} (Mixu)

Over the next few days, Aoi was bombarded with messages from both the Japanese and American governments, demanding to know what happened to Elna. She couldn't tell them anything other than the fact that the Elf just vanished, and when queried about the whole ordeal, Akagi told both nations that she had nothing to do with any vanishing Elf and that another player might have sprung her. With no proof of her involvement, and an unwillingness to upset the Demon Lord with accusations, the Americans and Japanese quietly shuffled the disappearance under the rug and pretended that nothing ever happened. While at the same time, and by total coincidence, Black Company got a fifth member, who proved to be exceptionally skilled in martial arts.