Chapter 272 – The Hero Party v The Demon Lord.

Chapter 272 – The Hero Party v The Demon Lord.

Akagi's words echoed in Kanato's ears, confirming what he'd long suspected in the back of his mind. While he'd expected that the Gods were hiding something, and he'd even begun to suspect that the Spirits were some kind of scapegoat, hearing it confirmed to him was no less devastating to his psyche.

"T-Then that means..." Kanato paled as his stomach swirled. The thought that he'd been part of the slaughter and enslavement of innocent people was too much for him, and Hitomi could tell that he was moments from a total collapse.

{We... We...} (Kanato)

"Don't listen to her, Kanato!" Hitomi grabbed his shoulder, shaking him to snap him out of his internal spiral. "Remember what the Gods told us! That there would be those who seek to trick us, and Demons are notorious for playing mind games." She completely believed the Gods' words, largely because her entire livelihood and power base was built upon those same Gods.

"Believe what you want, fools." Akagi shrugged as she stood up, dismissing Black Company who moved away, slowly. "I honestly don't care if you believe what I have to say, for that is not important." She glanced over the rubble around where Muichiro was launched and watched as it slowly shook and shivered. "It would seem like he finally woke up. What a shame. I would've been much happier had that idiot stayed down." It was taking quite a bit of restraint on her part not to end that specific Hero outright, and the Demon figured that her ability to hold back wouldn't last indefinately.

"YOU BITCH!" Muichiro blasted out from under the rubble, landing next to Amakusa, absolutely seething with rage. "I'M GOING TO MAKE YOU PAY FOR THAT!" His face had several deep cuts and bruises on it.Rread latest chapters at novelhall.com

{HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!} (Muichiro)

"Go ahead and try." Akagi laughed. "You are little more than a paper tiger in front of a storm." That he couldn't understand that she'd held back only made the many onlookers believe that Muichiro was even more foolish than they'd initially believed.

"We... What have we done..." Kanato was still reeling from Akagi's revelation, and was barely able to concentrate on anything else.

{Did... Did we really kill innocent people? Were we really-} (Kanato)

"Snap the fuck out of it, Kanato!" Seeing that Kanato wasn't going to be of any help if he kept thinking about what Akagi said, Amakusa smacked him across the face. "Focus! We can deal with the Spirit problem LATER. Right now, we've got a bigger issue at hand." She bit her lip as she glared at Akagi. "I won't let you take over this world! Not while I draw breath!"

"It's far too late for that." Akagi chuckled. "This world is already mine, little girl."

"What?" Kanato gasped, the smack to his face finally knocking him out of his stupor. “You've already destroyed everyone?!?” The thought that humanity had been exterminated weighed heavily on his mind.

"Not destroyed. Rather, I've already established dominance over mankind." Akagi corrected his misunderstanding. "While it would be entirely possible for me to exterminate them, I've yet do do so and at present I have no intention to change from enslavement to annihilation.” She laughed. “Besides, its much more fun to terrify a population than it is to exterminate it.”

{Akagi...} (Hishya)

"You monster!" Hitomi growled. "You would kill innocent people for your own entertainment?!? You sicken me!" She began casting buffs on the other Heroes in preparation for an inevitable conflict.

"And why shouldn't I enjoy myself?" Akagi asked. "After all, this world is my little sandbox, filled with all sorts of toys for me to break." Her lips curved into a wicked smile. "And I do so loooove breaking my toys." Naturally, Akagi wouldn't go as far as the Heroes were imagining Though, pretending to do so in order to rile up these four was more than fair game.

{She really is awful, isn't she? Though I suppose it is funny to watch these four get all worked up when they've done far worse than her at this point.} (Halifax)

"You sick bastard!" Amakusa screamed, her eyes showing utter contempt. "Kanato, we need to work together and kill her! So get your head out of your ass and focus!" She noticed that he was still flustered and could tell that he was hesitating.

{WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU IDIOT?!? IF WE DON'T KILL THIS THING THEN EVERYONE IS GOING TO DIE!} (Amakusa)

"But we... What we did..." Kanato replied weakly.

"Don't worry about any of that, boy." Akagi called out to him. "Now listen, since I'm such a kind Demon Lord I'll give you all one chance to drop your weapons and come quietly. You'll be taken before the very Spirits you sought to murder, where justice will be administered and you will be punished for your crimes against them." She figured that there was no chance that they'd agree, but decided to offer nonetheless.

"As if I'd do that!" Muichiro scoffed at her offer. "I don't give a damn what you say, bitch, and even if the Gods were yanking our chain, who cares?" He laughed, seeing all the destruction as nothing more than a game that he'd had fun with. "I know I sure don't. I just want to enjoy myself and do whatever I want, so I'm not about to tuck my tail and beg for some kind of forgiveness from a people that I couldn't give a fuck about."

"You speak of justice like you have the right to get it out, but you are nothing more than a monster." Hitomi didn't agree with Muichiro's words but had no intention of surrendering herself to Akagi. "I would never allow myself to be taken by something like you, nor will I ask forgiveness for my actions!"

{You might be able to deceive that idiot Kanato, but I know far to well what kind of lies your kind tell! I am a Hero and I will never be tricked by anyone, especially those with malice in their hearts!} (Hitomi)

"Oh well. I suppose that this was to be expected, but at least now nobody can say I didn't offer you a peaceful resolution to this conflict." Akagi sighed, but was not exactly displeased that she now had carte blanche to hand them their assess.. "Fine, but don't worry, I'll be sure to tell the people of Enoris that YOU are the ones to blame when I'm slaughtering them all."

"What?!?" Kanato yelled in suprise. "You're going to-"

"Did you really think that I'd be satisfied with just bringing you four in? That I'd just leave that other world alone?" Akagi interrupted his prattle,m annoyed with his naivety. "Listen kid, whether or not those idiot Gods knew it, by sending you four here, they've declared WAR on me." She gave a low Demonic laugh that sent chills down everyone's spine. "And if it's a war they want, then it's a war they'll get!"

"Dammit!" Amakusa cursed as Akagi easily deflected another one of her blows with her hand. "Why is she so fast?!?"

{I've never struggled to keep up with somebody, but this damn monster is just too fast! Its as if she's toying with me!} (Amakusa)

"She can't keep this up forever, Shiroe! If all she can do is dodge, then we've got the upper hand!" Kanato said moments before Akagi delivered a punch square to his gut, knocking the wind out of him.

“Puha!” Kanato gasped for air.

“Kanato!” Hitomi called out to him as she finished applying a group buff.

"Why did you think that evasion was all I could do?" Akagi asked as she punched him in the face.

"Ack!" Kanato keeled over slightly, looking up just in time to catch the sight of the Demon's foot slamming into his jaw and sending him flying into the air

"Kanato! Don't worry, I'll heal you right away!" Hitomi used her magic to catch the flying Hero and gently place him on the ground. His injuries were far worse than she'd initially expected, and Hitomi grew nervous as she realized that even her most powerful buffs weren't reducing any incoming damage.

{Muichiro is struggling to stand and Kanato's jaw was shattered from just one blow! What kind of power does this monster have?!? I've used my most powerful Divine and magical enhancements and protections on everyone and its as if NONE of it matters to this thing!} (Hitomi)

"Dammit, Kanato! I guess this means that I'll have to kill you myself!" Amakusa began a quick series of chanting and sutras that Akagi thought sounded like something out of a Shonen Anime she'd watched once. "Secret Technique of the Amakusa School! Dancing Petals of One Thousand Cherry Blossoms!" Once her incantations were completed, time seemed to flow slower from Amakusa's point of view. Dancing Petals was a technique that she'd never fully mastered before being sent to Enoris, and the only other time she'd used it in actual battle was to show Shinlua the difference between them. As she slowly approached Akagi, her steps felt as light as air and all of her senses had been heightened to an unbelievable degree, all while Akagi was completely stationary.

{There's no way that even this Demon can deal with Dancing Petals ! I'll be on top of her before she'll even process the fact that I've moved and each of my blows with hit with the force of a thousand blades!} {Amakusa)

In less than a second Amakusa was on top of Akagi, swinging her blade in what would be the first of countless attacks. However, just as her sword was about to reach the Demon, Akagi's arm quickly moved, slicing Amakusa's blade in two, her fingers running through the sword like a hot knife through butter.

"Eh?" Amakusa squeaked out a strange noise as the top half of her blade flew into the air, clinking on the arena floor as it landed.

{Inori?} (Amakusa)

"Not bad, kid, but far too slow to work against me." Akagi, seeing the utter bewilderment on Amakusa's face, reached out and grabbed the stunned girl by the throat, noticing a small crystal that hung around her neck. "Oh? What's this?" She pulled on the necklace that held the crystal, snapping it, so as to allow her to get a closer look.

{It has some kind of transport magic incorporated into it. How interesting. I wonder if this is how they intended to return to Enoris.} (Akagi)

"Shiroe!" Kanato said as he wobbled to his feet, barely able to speak with his broken jaw. "Let her go!" He couldn't stand without Hitomi's help, and she figured that Akagi's kick had left him with a concussion.

"Ok." Akagi gave a nasty smile as she allowed Amakusa to drop to the ground before kicking her in the face and placing her foot on her chest, crushing the female Hero beneath her foot.

"AHH!" Amakusa screamed as she felt her ribs begin to snap under Akagi's pressure.

"You bastard!" Kanato tried to move forward but found his shoulder grabbed by Muichiro who'd stumbled over in the meantime.

"Nope. We're leaving." Muichiro's face was badly bruised and there was blood leaking from his mouth as he willed his blade to return to him.

"What?!? We can't just leave Shiroe!" Kanato tried to resist further but before he could do anything else, Hitomi whacked him on the back of his head with her staff, knocking him out.

"My apologies, Kanato. But this battle cannot be won right now." Hitomi looked to Muichrio who nodded. His two times being tossed by Akagi told him that winning wasn't possible, and Hitomi wasn't foolish enough to try and fight a losing battle.

"Leaving your ally? I can't say I don't agree with saving your own asses, but what makes you think I'm going to let you flee?" Akagi asked as she continued to crush Amakusa's ribs.

"Because you can't do shit about it." Muichiro laughed as he crushed the crystal around his and Kanato's chest, followed by Hitomi doing the same with her own crystal. In a flash of light, the three of them vanished, and Akagi noted that she was unable to detect their energy anywhere on Earth.

"Well I wasn't exactly expecting scenario 83729A to be the one that played out, but I guess a few surprises are nice every once and a while." The Demon chuckled as Amakusa squeaked out a few words between screams.

"You... will... die!" Amakusa said right before Akagi kicked her across the face, knocking her out.

"No, my child, I will not. But you, you will become a fine little plaything for me." Akagi then proceeded to give the most spine-chilling laugh that Hishya had ever heard as she plotted to do something absolutely horrific to this girl.

{What the fuck is she going to do to her, and why am I so interested in knowing?!?} (Hishya)