Darling in the FranXX: Gods Rising
Chapter 1: The End War
A/N: Welcome everyone to Darling in the FranXX: Gods Rising. This story is a continuation of Darling in the FranXX: The Reaper Squadron and is set 15 years after Reaper Alpha's return. Peace has reigned for the past 15 years over Earth, but that is all about to change. Seeing as this chapter took about 4 weeks to hash out with my brother I'm not going to set any sort of upload schedule, I'll post the chapters as soon as we are both happy with the way they are worded. I do have another story for Irregular at Magic High School sitting on the back burner so if the time between updates gets to be too long I'll post a chapter of that story to fill the void. With the nuts and bolts out of the way, Enjoy!
Earth. Once, nothing more than an inhospitable desert world courtesy of APE, was now a thriving world once more. It had been 15 years since Reaper Alpha returned. and the human population had started to expand across the globe once more. With this new age of exploration, came the discovery of lost technologies as well as the rediscovery of religion.
Despite APE's best efforts, APE was unable to destroy the original religious structure of the old world. As such, as humans began to expand to spread out once more, they discovered several old temples hailing to the original gods. Being the resident experts, the people turned to Reaper Alpha for an explanation as for what the temples were for. In short order, Reaper and his squad had identified to which god the temples were dedicated to and, since Papa turned out to be a false god leaving the humans with no god to turn to, humanity decided to worship the old gods once more.
Speaking of Reaper Alpha, in the time that had passed since they returned, the family of Reapers had expanded. Each member of Reaper Alpha had gotten married, with Reaper and Havana renewing their vows since Zero Two pretty much demanded that Reaper and Havana get married again since everyone else had, and had children of their own. Reaper and Havana had a daughter, Crow and Raven, a son, James and Owl, a daughter, Snake and Ikuno, also a daughter, and strangely enough, Cypress and Naomi, a son, although Reaper had yet to get an answer as to how that one happened yet.
All had been calm for the past 15 years. For the most part, the gods had been content to let humanity be, there was the occasional issue here and there, but they had been quickly resolved before it affected humanity. But that moment of peace was about to come to an end as an old feud was about to come to a head.
Reaper was in his home office, pouring over the design plans for an obscure type of energy generator, when his daughter, Amelia, walked in. Amelia was 15 and she had Reaper's blond hair, although longer, and Havana's royal purple eyes and stood at about 5' 7''. Amelia was the leader of the little group that had formed from Reaper Alpha's children as well as Zero Two's daughter. She had taken to calling their little group Reaper Gamma in keeping with the Reaper tradition as well as the fact that they had powers of their own.
Each one of Reaper Alpha's children had powers, specifically, Umbrakinesis. When Havana heard about this, she was of a mixed opinion while Reaper was happy but confused as to how it happened. When Reaper inquired Death about why they were umbrakinetics, he explained that umbrakinesis was, in fact, hereditary. While Amelia and the others would not be as strong as Reaper and the others since they did not have Death's blessing, with training, they could be powerful umbrakinetics, training that Reaper was happy to provide when they asked for it.
When Amelia walked in, Reaper turned around to face her and saw that Gythin was sitting on her shoulder. Gythin was a shadow construct of a miniature dragon that Amelia had made when she was six. Gythin was unique in that, it was a living shadow construct with its own intelligence. Most shadow constructs can't think for themselves and need commands from their creator as well as a constant source of shadow energy. Gythin, however, did what she wanted with no commands from Amelia and, after monitoring her energy levels over several weeks, Reaper determined that Gythin took no energy from Amelia, instead she got her energy from regular food. It reminded Reaper of Draco, the black dragon he had found a couple of centuries ago. Draco had disappeared shortly before Havana died, and Reaper often wondered where he went.
"Dad, do you have a moment?" Amelia asked.
"Of course, Amelia, and hello Gythin." Reaper said, and the miniature dragon bowed her head and lifted her wings in greeting.
"Why hasn't that storm gotten any closer?" she asked.
The storm she was referring to was one that had appeared in the east several weeks ago. It had acted like a normal storm system at first, until it rapidly approached Gran Crevasse about 4 days ago and halted its movement. There was no rain from the storm, just the occasional odd rumble of thunder.
Reaper looked out the window toward the storm. "I don't know. It's something that we will have to look into later." He responded.
"We? Is this another order from Death?" she asked.
"No, just something to satisfy my curiosity."
Red lightning flashed through the clouds and Reaper suddenly became uneasy.
"Lightning is never red unless… oh no." Reaper thought, his mind turning to the one reason he hadn't considered yet.
Reaper saved his work and stood up from his chair. He held out his right hand and summoned Harvester.
"Dad?" she questioned.
"On second thought, this needs to be dealt with this now. Grab your friends and go to Zero Two's house. Tell her something has come up and we will be back in a while." He said, and Amelia scurried off.
…
The Divine Council Chamber
The Creator and Lucifer were glaring at each other across the room while the others sat in a tense silence. The Creator had called an emergency meeting but had yet to explain why, although judging by the looks that he was giving Lucifer, it had something to do with him.
"Mind explaining this, Lucifer?" The Creator said and gestured to the swirling blue viewing portal that sat in the center of the chamber.
In the portal it showed the storm outside of Gran Crevasse as well as what was below it. The storm spanned several miles and, hidden beneath its dark clouds, lay an army of demons.
"I'm merely claiming what is mine." Lucifer said smugly.
"Earth is not yours to claim, Lucifer." The Creator said. "It is designated neutral ground due to humanity's existence on it."
"Not for long." Lucifer replied.
A woman with long brunette hair and white wings then spoke. If her attire was anything to suggest, she had a love of pink.
"We agreed that any claims on Earth were forbidden until the seal was broken, Lucifer." The woman said.
"Ah, but the seal has been broken Love." Lucifer replied, causing the woman to gasp and glance at the Creator.
The Creator sighed. "It was necessary to prevent the entirety of humanity from dying at the hands of the VRIM. We nearly lost Earth a million years ago when they first arrived due to our inaction and I was not about to allow history to repeat itself."
"Why wait until now to attack then?" A giant of a man with bright red hair and beard and arms the size of tree trunks said. "You've never been one to delay when an opportunity arose, so why now?"
"And why did you think it prudent to break the seal and release Death from his prison?!" A woman wearing a dress the color of grass and blue hair cried.
"I attack now, Will," Lucifer said. "because humanity now has some use to me."
The man now known as Will raised a skeptical eyebrow as Luck attempted to calm the blue haired woman down.
"Calm yourself Life. Death was the reason that Earth was not lost and the reason the threat to its continued existence has been eliminated. He has caused no undue harm since his release." Lady Luck said.
"Favoritism." Life muttered.
"It is not favoritism. It is the willingness to move past old grudges, something it seems you have yet to learn to do." Luck retorted.
Life muttered something under her breath.
"I heard that." Death said, appearing in the room.
"Ah there you are Death." The Creator said. "Please, take a seat."
"I won't be staying long. I have other matters to attend to." Death replied, sitting next to Will.
"Yes, because collecting the souls of innocents is more important than attending a council meeting." Life replied.
"Yes, it is. I still have several billion souls to track down from the destruction of the VRIM homeworld." Death replied, causing Life to shut up.
"Death." The Creator said. "What is your opinion on this?" The Creator gestured down to the viewing portal.
Death looked down at the portal and saw the awaiting demon army. He then looked Lucifer dead in the eyes.
"I believe you are about to make a big mistake, Lucifer." Death said.
"What are you implying Death?" Lucifer asked.
"As you know, I stay out of the squabbles that you two get in, especially since one of those ended up with me imprisoned in the Shadow Realm until very recently." Death glared at Lucifer.
"Death," Love said with a sigh. "that decision came at the agreement of the entire council. I'm not saying that you were in the wrong for that event, but blame cannot be placed on one person."
"It can." Death said, sending a heated glare at Life. "But that is a topic for another time. As I was saying, I stay out of any fights between you two for obvious reasons, however, what my servants choose to do is another matter entirely."
"Death." Lucifer growled in warning.
"You placed a demon horde outside a city with 8 of my servants in it whose job is to contain or eliminate escaped souls. What are demons outside of hell but souls attempting to escape eternal torment."
…
Earth
"Demons." Reaper growled.
Hordes of demons could be seen setting up a camp beneath the storm. They easily numbered in the thousands and were armed to the teeth. This wasn't a single escaped horde, this was a legion.
"Reaper, what the hell is going on?" Owl asked.
"The Apocalypse Seal. Oh no." Havana whispered in horror.
"What are you talking about?" James asked.
"The Apocalypse Seal was broken during our first battle with the VRIM remember? It's what allowed master to aid us on the battlefield." Raven said.
"Snake," Cypress said slowly. "didn't the Apocalypse Seal have some strings attached to it?"
"Major strings." Snake said solemnly. "That had the End War clause tied to it."
Reaper cursed. "Fall back, now. We are going to need some help on this one."
As the group retreated, Crow looked back and saw that they had been spotted.
"Reaper, we've been seen." He said.
Just then a war horn sounded behind them and Reaper cursed again.
"Keep running. We will deal with whoever they send after us after we are farther away."
As they retreated out of the storm Reaper looked back and saw that they were pursued by a mixture of 20 lesser demons and imps. Lesser demons were a 150 pounds of dumb muscle. They stood a little taller than the height of a man and, like all demons, had blood red skin. Lesser demons were just under warlords in terms of demon rankings. Their primary weapon was their sheer strength and the black claws they had on their hands. Imps were below lesser demons in ranking and stood at about waist height. They were even less intelligent, if it were possible, than a lesser demon, relying on their agility as well as their ability to conjure and throw fireballs to take out targets.
Turning around, Reaper drew Harvester and began attacking the nearest demon. Reaper hated demons, they were the souls of the damned that had taken on a physical form. The only thing they craved was destruction and watching everything burn. Being a Reaper, they had a great hatred for them as well as, more often than not, they were responsible for their deaths.
Reaper killed his demon first and spat on the corpse as it burned away before going toward the next. Demons, as a rule, were impossible to kill with normal weapons, their thick scaly hide caused bullets and swords to bounce right off them. Only Angelic Metal or their shadow weapons, which were made from a divine element called Cosminium, could kill them. Reaper was going to have to find a way to give Hachi and Nana weapons to deal with them, if the End War was indeed on the horizon.
Reaper and his squad killed the last of the demons and made sure they were dead before running back to Gran Crevasse. As they entered the city proper, a bright light shown from the heavens and several winged beings descended above the city.
"Angels." Havana said.
Angels. The Creator's holy army against Lucifer's demonic hordes. They resided in Heaven, the Creator's domain and final resting place for souls deemed 'good enough' by the Cosmic Scales. There were six tiers of angels; at the top, were the rarely seen six winged Seraphim, they made up the Angelic Council and were the Creator's most trusted servants. Next were the four-winged Cherubim, the Creator's generals, after them were the archangels and finally the standard angel.
As the angels descended over the city the storm clouds that covered the demon legion advanced and quickly covered Gran Crevasse. The clouds rumbled ominously.
"We need to get to Ichigo, now." Reaper said. "She is going to need the support when the envoys come calling."
"Agreed." Snake said.
Just as they approached the capitol, the clouds rumbled again as a bolt of red lightening lanced down toward Reaper. The angels, who had quickly formed a perimeter around Gran Crevasse, acted without hesitation, raising their arms and causing a shimmering white dome to settle over the city, blocking the bolt.
"It seems I've made someone angry." Reaper muttered as more red lightning bolts pounded at the angelic shield.
A loud explosion was heard as sky turn green. All activity stopped as everyone turned their eyes skyward, waiting in tense silence. The city seemed to be holding its breath, waiting to see what happened next.
Then the war horns were heard.
"Lucifer has declared war! Prepare yourselves!" an angel shouted their voice echoing across the city.
"To the capitol, now." Reaper growled as Reaper Alpha advanced once more.
As they entered the capitol building Ichigo came running up to them.
"Reaper, what the hell was that sound? And why are there angels here?" Ichigo asked.
"There are many aspects of the gods that we have yet to inform you of due to lack of time. This is one that we were hoping we would never have to deal with." Crow said.
"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked.
"All will be explained in time." Owl said. "Right now, we need to get you prepared for a royal visitor, come Ichigo."
Owl, Cypress, Havana, and Raven pulled Ichigo away all the while Ichigo was asking question after question.
Reaper signaled the guys to make their way to Ichigo's office as they waited to see who would show up first.
…
Divine Council Chamber
"As I said, Lucifer," Death said. "you are making a big mistake. I may stay out of your fights, but I will not order my Reapers to stay out as well."
Lucifer growled and sent a bolt of lightning down Earth, intent upon killing Reaper Alpha where they stood. When the Creator's angels conjured the shield around the city, Lucifer sent blast after blast at the shield, intent on shattering it and removing the threat that Reaper Alpha presented.
"You will not break through my angel's shield, Lucifer. Stop at once and surrender." The Creator said.
Lucifer growled and, in his rage, did something that he would later regret. He struck out at the Creator.
Hellfire met a divine shield in an explosion that rocked the council chamber. Lucifer had not been holding back when he launched the attack and the resulting explosion destroyed a quarter of the room. When the dust finally settled, everyone was staring at Lucifer in shock as the implications of what he just did settled in.
"You struck first Lucifer." The Creator said. "You have just declared war."
Lucifer was then blasted out of the council chamber by a white beam of energy from the Creator. Hands crackling with energy, he followed Lucifer out.
"This is all your fault Death!" Life cried, slamming her hands onto the table. "If you had just stayed in your prison, we wouldn't be in this situation!"
"And allow Earth to be destroyed by the VIRM? I think not." Death retorted.
"I agree with Death." Will said. "If it hadn't been for his intervention, Earth would have been lost."
Would it though?" A woman wearing a white kimono said, her icy blue eyes glancing at Death. "If the issue had been brought to our attention, I'm sure myself or one of my brothers or sisters could have easily handled the situation."
"Yeah, I would have been able to take them on no problem." A man with bright yellow hair said. "Death didn't need to be freed."
"By the Creator, here we go again." Love said, facepalming. "You cannot do everything Lightning."
"Sure, I can, Love." Lightning said with a wink.
"Oh really?" A willowy man with hair the color of leather said sarcastically.
The meeting quickly devolved into heated arguments between the other gods. Just by listening in on the arguments, Death was able to determine who would support who. For Lucifer it was Life, Lightning, Ice, Water, Fire, Air, and Earth. For the Creator, it was Will, Knowledge, Emotion, Love, and his Riders. The only person unaccounted for at this point was Luck and Misfortune.
Speaking of Luck, she was approaching Death now.
"So where is it that you stand, Luck?" Death asked.
"I believe that we will follow your example and stay out of this." Luck said.
"And Misfortune agrees with this?"
"Of course. Much like death, luck and misfortune affect both sides, so it is best if we do not play favorites."
"Good. I would hate to see Misfortune as an enemy."
"That you would." Luck chuckled.
After a short pause to listen to the rising arguments, Death continued.
"I trust your Chosen is doing well?" Death asked as if on a leisurely stroll and not in the middle of a room full of arguing divine beings.
"Well enough." She replied. "He's currently out on a garden world waiting for our return. We were in transit to another planet and it was the safest place we could put him when the Creator called for the emergency meeting."
"Although I think I know the answer, what will he choose when presented the options?"
Luck crossed her arms and huffed, causing her rather impressive bust to bounce. "Unless we force him to go back to Earth, he won't be participating in this war. We hate to leave him alone out in the vacuum of space, but we need to be here for the war, the Creator would have our head if we weren't."
If Death had eyebrows they would be raised right now. "From your tone in that sentence, I take it the boy has left you rather… unsatisfied?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Luck said with a blush.
"Your face says otherwise." Death placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Luck, he'll come around."
"I hope so." Luck muttered.
"You never told me the boy's name."
"Um, another time perhaps." Luck said nervously. "I'm afraid I must be going, farewell Death."
Luck vanished from the council room in what Death thought was embarrassment. This cause him to chuckle. Whoever the boy was, he pitied him for having to deal with two opposing personalities. With Luck being the first to leave, the other gods soon followed suit, some saying their goodbyes to Death while others sent him condescending looks or glares.
Death looked down at the still active viewing portal. It showed the angels reinforcing the protective barrier around the Gran Crevasse and an archangel approaching the capitol building as a group of three riders departed from the demon encampment carrying an envoy flag.
"Now it is your turn, Ichigo." Death muttered. "What path will you choose for humanity?"
…
Earth
Reaper and his squad were spread about Ichigo's office, hidden in the shadows. They expected the first envoy to arrive any minute and were prepared if things were to get out of hand. The female half of Reaper Alpha had taken Ichigo to change into a beautiful traditional kimono. It was a dark violet that slowly faded to black and was dotted with falling white flowers. The kimono was, once again, courtesy of Havana's massive clothing closet.
The sound of metal heels walking down the hallway gave away which envoy arrived first. The angels had gotten their envoy to the capitol first which relieved Reaper a bit. Angels were the more level headed of the two groups when it came to negotiations and treaty signing. Demons tended to try and cow their enemies into submission at the negotiation table. A knock was heard on the door.
"Enter." Ichigo said.
In walked a Cherubim with four beautiful white wings. She was wearing the light armor version of the angelic armor. She wore a white breastplate which covered her breasts and part of her stomach and white vambraces. She wore white thigh high boots, white greaves and a white armored skirt. She knelt before Ichigo and bowed her head.
"Thank you, Leader of Humanity for allowing us to reside within your walls. I am Zuriel, general and envoy of the Creator." The now named Zuriel said.
Ichigo was confused, she didn't understand why this Cherubim was bowing to her, of all people. While she was the current leader of humanity, she was not ranked higher than a Cherubim, it should be her bowing to Zuriel, not the other way around. Reaper saw Ichigo's confusion and used her shadow to explain to her what was going on. Unfortunately, Zuriel saw Ichigo's shadow rise from the ground and whisper in her ear.
"Ichigo, angels work on a system of honor and chivalry reminiscent of the medieval era. Since we exist outside of their hierarchy of rank they treat us differently than they do other angels. In your case, since you are the leader of humanity, they view you as our 'queen' and that puts you above a Cherubim in their hierarchy. So, they treat you as someone of a higher rank and nobility even though that is not your official title among humans."
Zuriel tensed as she saw Ichigo's shadow rise and speak to her. She slowly began to draw her sword and Reaper Alpha summoned their weapons when they saw Zuriel drawing her sword. If Zuriel wanted a fight, they would gladly give one to her. Fortunately, this would not be the case.
"Show yourself, deceiver." Zuriel said, glaring about the room. "I know you're here."
"How can one deceive when they speak naught but the truth." Reaper said as they stepped out of the shadows.
Zuriel looked shocked. "Death's Riders? When did you reappear again? The last report the Angel Command received stated that you 6 had disappeared." She gestured to Reaper, Owl, Cypress, Snake, Crow and Raven. "And you two had died a few years before they disappeared." Zuriel pointed to Havana and James.
"Well as they say, rumors of our demise are greatly exaggerated." Reaper replied with a chuckle.
"State your business, Zuriel, we are running out of time." Havana said.
"My apologies." Zuriel said before turning back to Ichigo and getting down to business. "I come on the behalf of the Creator to request your assistance in the End War."
"End War?" Ichigo queried.
Zuriel glanced at Reaper. "You didn't tell her?"
"Unlike you, we were hoping this day wouldn't come, not in their lifetimes at least." Raven said.
"You should have expected this, this is Lucifer we're talking about." Zuriel said before turning back to Ichigo.
"Since they have neglected to explain what the End War is, I will do so." Zuriel said.
Zuriel pulled a golden disk out of her skirt and activated it. An image of the Apocalypse Seal appeared in the air above the disk, spinning slowly.
"This is the Apocalypse Seal. This Seal was forged as a treaty between the gods as a ceasefire with the added clause of keeping Death chained to the Shadow Realm." Zuriel said.
Raven glared at the seal. "The Death clause was complete bullshit. That woman had no business trying to do what she was doing. Master was not in the wrong."
Zuriel glared back at her. "The addition of the Death clause came at the agreement of the entire council. Since the last fight between Heaven and Hell was caused by Death, it is only fair he faced punishment for causing the war."
"That woman was the one to propose the clause in the first place!" Owl shouted. "She shouldn't have been able to propose a clause to the Seal because she was the reason master had to get involved in the first place!"
"Enough." Reaper said.
Zuriel turned back toward Ichigo and cleared her throat. "Continuing." She said. "The Apocalypse Seal was broken by the Creator toward the end of the Human-Klaxo-VRIM war to keep humanity from falling to the VIRM. The breaking of this seal is what allowed Death to come to your aid and turn the fight in your favor. However, the breaking of this seal also triggered the End War. The End War, as decreed by the Fates, is the final fight between Heaven and Hell. It is when the limiters that are normally placed on the gods when they enter the mortal plane are removed and they fight at full strength. I have come on the behalf of the Creator to ask for your assistance in the End War."
"What do you mean by aid?" Ichigo asked. "We have not the manpower or supplies to devote to war."
"Nor do we expect you to." Zuriel replied. "The Creator has decided that, if you side with him, humanity will be left out of the war aside from any contributions you decide to make. No, the only thing we require from you is a place to get up our bases of operation for earthy battles. Other than that, we will handle the rest."
"Earthly battles?" Goro asked, he had walked in during Zuriel's explanation of the End War but had kept quiet until now.
"Yes, the End War has two battlegrounds. The first is here on Earth, where us mortals will wage war, and space, where the gods will wage their battles, unrestrained. The first fight will be on Earth, where our army will repel the demon currently camped outside your walls. But after that, most godly battles will occur out in the Solar System, to reduce the damage done to the Earth."
"Most battles?" Ichigo asked.
"Most, yes. There may be some godly battles here on Earth, but they should be few and far between and far reduced in strength."
"Why is that?"
"That is due to the Fates." Snake said, catching everyone's attention. "When it was decided that Earth would be the cradle of humanity, the Fates placed a special ward on the planet, one even the gods have yet to figure out. This ward half's the power of any divine entity that enters the Earth's atmosphere and there are no exceptions to this rule. There are workarounds, of course, us being one such example.
"What do you mean?" Goro asked.
"Remember when we went into our full release states when the VRIM first appeared?" Snake asked.
"Yes, and it was terrifying." Ichigo said with a shudder.
"When we are in that state, we could be considered pseudo-Death's, but our powers are not halved. Since we are still humans and not divine entities, the ward does not trigger, allowing us to fight like a full powered Death."
"I see, thank you Snake." Ichigo said.
"You're welcome." He responded.
Ichigo looked at Zuriel. "In response to your request, Zuriel, on behalf of humanity, I choose to side with the Creator for the End War."
Zuriel bowed to Ichigo. "Thank you, I will send your response to the Creator at once. May the Creator guide you."
Zuriel bowed to Ichigo once more and made to walk out the door but Reaper stopped her.
"Stand fast, Zuriel. We have incoming." Reaper said as he heard several heavy footsteps approach the office.
Reaper and Havana stood to the left of Ichigo's chair while Zuriel took to the right as the rest of Reaper Alpha fanned out behind them.
*BANG! BANG! BANG!*
A heavy fist slammed into the office door three times before it opened and in walked Lucifer's envoys which was a group of three demons. The first two were imps, there short stature being a dead giveaway, the third, however, was undoubtedly a warlord. He was tall, at least 7'5'' if not taller and wore bone armor. He had long obsidian claws, two polished black horns on his head and a thick red hide that was covered in scars. To top it all off, he had a Stygian iron sword strapped to his back.
Stygian iron was a rare metal that was only found in Hell. The ore had to be heated to a toasty 5,000 degrees Celsius and it took several weeks just to forge one weapon. A Stygian iron weapon was almost as strong as a Cosminium weapon, the main difference being who forged the weapon and the rarity of the metal in question. While one could call Stygian iron rare and not be wrong, it was nothing compared to the rarity of Cosminium. Finding Cosminium this late in the universe's creation would be next to impossible as Cosminium only exists in the heart of a collapsing O type star. Also, Cosminium is a divine element, something that cannot be forged by mortal hands, unlike Stygian iron which can be forged by anyone with the right skills.
"State your business, demon." Havana growled.
"We come to offer protection." The demon rumbled. "If you pledge your allegiance to Lord Lucifer, we will grant you power, the power to easily stomp out those who would see your race stagnate and eventually collapse back to the apes you once were. All we require are some food supplies and raw materials from your people in return."
"You speak naught but honeyed lies demon." Zuriel said. "Lucifer does not offer protection, he offers the shortest route to the destruction of everything humanity has built. Humanity has chosen its side. Begone!"
"Zuriel." The warlord rumbled. "You are a fool if you think Lord Lucifer will lose to a peace-loving fool, a love-struck woman, A race that is only just starting to regather its bearings and three isolationists. You and your ilk had best surrender now while we are still willing to make your death's painless."
Reaper Alpha summoned their weapons. Reaper then spoke,
"You're toeing a very thin line, Warlord. Continue, and you will experience death a second time."
"A Rider?" The Warlord muttered. "This changes things considerably. We do not have the forces to beat 8 of Death's Chosen on top of the angels and the Creator. Retreat is the best option here."
"Fine." The Warlord said aloud. "It is obvious that Humanity has chosen to side with the Creator. Farewell mortals. Come you two."
The Warlord turned and began to walk toward the door but the imps that were with him apparently didn't agree with his decision. With a screech the two leapt at Ichigo, determined to rip her apart. They never stood a chance. One met it's end by being decapitated by Zuriel's holy sword while the other was stabbed through the gut before being sliced in half by Harvester, the blood and bodies soon turning to nothing more than ash on the floor.
At the sound of his companions' bodies hitting the floor, the Warlord looked back over his shoulder and spoke one last time.
"I am a Warlord that knows when it is best to fight and when it is best to retreat. As you have just seen, most of my brethren will not show you any mercy, I hope you don't regret your decision." He then lumbered out the door and slammed it shut behind him.
…
Divine Council Chamber
"That went as well as expected." Death muttered as the demon left.
Death was alone in the damaged council chamber, the other gods having already taken their leave to prepare for the war.
"That was an extremely odd warlord." Death thought. "Most would have threatened Ichigo if she hadn't agreed to Lucifer's offer and he also understood that my Riders were a threat that they couldn't beat. There is something off about him and I will need to keep an eye on him."
A swirling white portal opened to Death's right and the Creator walked through, dusting off his clothing.
"Well, that's Lucifer subdued, for now." The Creator looked around the damaged room. "What happened while I was occupied with him?"
Death shrugged. "Life immediately blamed me for you two get in a fight. Will came to my defense and everything went downhill from there."
"Whose loyalties lie where?"
For Lucifer, he's got Life as well as the Elementals and you have Will, Emotion, Knowledge, Love, my Reapers as well as Humanity."
"Since you didn't name them, Luck and Misfortune chose the same path as you?"
Death nodded.
The Creator sighed. "Well I am a bit outnumbered but Humanity as well as your Reapers will certainly help. Funny that it shaped up exactly like our last war did."
"That was the main topic of the argument after you left so it didn't surprise me."
The Creator looked down at the still active viewing portal. It was currently showing a rather odd sight, part of the demonic legion was apparently leaving the area and heading toward the west.
"What's going on there, I wonder?" The Creator muttered.
"If I had to guess, it would be the demonic envoy that Lucifer sent to Humanity making a strategic retreat." Death said. "He was a rather unique warlord, he had a higher thought process than most warlords and knew that, with my Reapers added to your forces, there would be no chance of winning with their current forces."
"Hmm. Could he be a Fallen?"
"Not a chance." Death said, shaking his head. "The Fallen can't disguise their presence from me, the soul cannot lie, and his soul read nothing but demon. And besides, the Fallen are sworn to help Lucifer so they wouldn't retreat in the first place."
"Perhaps you are right." The Creator said. "However, I want you to keep an eye on him. Demons, even the ones of warlord and above, only have a basic intelligence. For a demon to understand strategy and know when to retreat against a hopeless battle is…unnerving. It's too similar to the Fallen."
"Agreed."
Both Death and the Creator looked down at the viewing portal and simply watched for a while. The Creator then spoke.
"The first battle will be at dawn, I will see you there I presume?"
"Where there are souls to collect, I will be there."
...
Earth
After Zuriel left, Ichigo immediately scheduled a press conference to inform the people as to what was happening. Angels had appeared in the other human cities as well and surrounded them with the same shimmering shield that they had around the Gran Crevasse although the only demons that showed up were at Gran Crevasse.
As Ichigo explained what was going on, many of the people were afraid of getting into another war so soon after getting out of another, but a quick explanation from Reaper and Ichigo that humanity was taking on a supportive roll helped to smooth things over. Gran Crevasse would serve as the hub of angel operations with the angels building their HQ just outside the city. There would be bases in the other cities as well, but all collected information as well as orders would flow into and out of Gran Crevasse.
The angel's first priority, aside from building their HQ, was preparing Gran Crevasse, and to a lesser extent the other cities, for the End War. Gran Crevasse and the other human cities were not designed with war in mind, thus they had no defenses should they be attacked, something the angels sought to remedy. There was already a large army of angel engineers and builders working with the city designers, minus Reaper as he didn't design Gran Crevasse, to get part of a defensive wall built around the city for the upcoming battle, as well as working with Hachi, who oversaw defense, to determine the best placement of anti-demon weapons. As an added security measure, in case they didn't get the wall built in time, several groups of angels were summoning massive stone golems to help guard the city until the defenses were in place.
…
Ichigo had called Reaper and his squad as well as the rest of Reaper Beta to discuss how things were going to go from here on out as well as figure out a battle plan for the upcoming fight, and it was here that Reaper was having to put his foot down.
"No Ichigo." Reaper said.
"But…" Ichigo started to protest.
"No buts. You guys are staying out of this."
Ichigo and the others wanted to help fight in the upcoming battle and Reaper had to tell them no, it was too much of a risk to take. The only one he would trust to go up against a demon is Zero Two, but even then, he would be extremely hesitant to let her go.
"Why? You've seen that we are proficient in combat so why do you refuse to let us go?" Ikuno asked.
Snake sighed, he was hoping to avoid this argument. "Ikuno, love, we know that you guys are excellent fighters, but this is a different battle entirely, there's too much risk in allowing you to go and I don't want to lose you."
"Too much risk?!" Zorome said. "We fought against Klaxosaurs, hell, we fought in space against and army of VRIM and were fine! We can handle this!"
"No, you can't Zorome." Havana said. "The only thing that can pierce demon hide is Angelic Metal or our scythes. Bullets don't affect them, and conventional weaponry would just bounce right off. And," Havana quickly cut off Zorome who was about to interject. "Even if Ichigo hadn't banned Magma Energy, it wouldn't have done anything more than annoy them."
"Please, think about this." Crow said. "Remember what Zuriel said? When the gods come to the mortal plane, they have a limiter placed on them to reduce their power, that limiter is now gone. The only saving grace Earth has is that the ward is still in place, but that only halves the power of the god in question. No one has ever seen a god fight at full power and lived to tell the tale that alone should tell you the destructive power each one contains. Are you sure that you want to go up against that?"
"If that's not enough, think of your families." Raven said. "You have children who are dependent on you and need you. You can't just abandon them in order to help us fight."
"You all have families too!" Zero Two said. "Are you not abandoning them?"
"Yes, we have families." Reaper said. "But they also know that this is part of our work for Death and understand that we have to do this. Also, think about this Zero Two, if we were to fall on the field of battle, the first people our children will turn to, are you guys. If all of us are on the battlefield and die, who will they turn to then? Who will make sure they stay safe should things go wrong?"
Zero Two looked down, she hadn't thought of that.
"We aren't mocking your ability to fight." Cypress said. "We are simply being overly concerned for your wellbeing. If you were go out onto that battlefield with us, you won't come back. We've fought against demons long before we were frozen, and we can assure you, demons aren't like Klaxosaurs or even VRIM, they don't give an inch."
Hiro glanced around at the others who all had the same worried look on their faces.
"Alright, I think I speak for the group here when I say we will stay."
The rest of Reaper Beta nodded.
"I'll see if I can get the angels to set up a Holocaster in Ichigo's office, so you guys can see how the battle is progressing." Snake said, which gave the others some assurance.
Zero Two walked up to Reaper, worry written all over her face.
"Reaper." She said.
"Yes, Zero Two?"
"Promise me that you guys will come back."
"We promise."
…
The Next Morning
The next morning, just before dawn, Reaper Alpha stood at the forefront of the angelic army, weapons drawn. Several thousand angels and come to fight off the demon horde and along with Reaper Alpha, they stood a good chance of victory, as long as Lucifer remained occupied.
The main strategy for this battle was to keep Lucifer occupied with the Creator while everybody else helped wipe out the demons. It was key to keep Lucifer occupied because, if he wasn't, he could easily eliminate several dozen angels without a sweat. This also prevented him from summoning more demons should he realize that he was beginning to lose.
The storm that shielded the demon horde from sight had faded late yesterday evening, allowing the angels to see exactly how many demons they were facing as well as what type. The army was made up of mostly imps and lesser demons with a smattering of warlords here and there to direct the army. It was Reaper Alpha's task to eliminate the warlords before assisting the Creator, although Reaper was not averse to taking a few cheap shots at Lucifer.
The two armies faced each other waiting in tense silence. The demons were growling at the angels while Reaper Alpha was making any demon who looked at them regret doing so. White light shown from the heavens as the Creator descended, floating just above his army. Silence prevailed again before a red portal appeared just above the demonic army, Lucifer stepping out moments later. The two gods glared at each other for a moment before the Creator spoke.
"This is your last chance Lucifer. I am willing to let this transgression go if you surrender and recall your army to Hell. Refuse, and you will be annihilated."
"Hmph. As if a peace-loving fool like you could defeat me." Lucifer replied.
The demons sounded their war horns as the Creator and Lucifer began to fight.
"Attack!" A demon shouted, and the horde rushed forward.
"Release authorized!" Reaper shouted as he made a B-line toward the nearest warlord.
"Charge!" Zuriel shouted and the angel's advanced.
The battle quickly dissolved into chaos. Reaper and his squad sliced through any demon stood in their way as they made their way to the various warlords while the angels and demons fought all around them. Up above, the Creator and Lucifer destroyed huge swaths of landscape as the two battled for dominance. Back near Gran Crevasse, the stone golems dealt with any demons that attempted to break into the city as a small group of angel rifleman took care of any that, somehow, managed to get past the golems.
Unfortunately, about halfway through the battle, Lucifer realized that he was losing. Lucifer growled and hit the Creator with a particularly strong blast of Hellfire that nocked the Creator away. Lucifer raised his hands and red energy began to gather between them, behind his army, near the tree of the forest that surrounded Gran Crevasse, obsidian began to grow out of the ground, creating the framework for a portal. Once it was complete, Lucifer fired the hell energy that he had been collecting at the framework, completing the portal. Reaper saw what Lucifer was doing too late.
"NO!" Reaper shouted and fired a wave of shadow energy at Lucifer.
The shadow wave arrived just a second too late. The hell energy condensed into a ball before expanding to fill the framework, forming a swirling portal. Lucifer began to laugh as a veritable flood of lesser demons and imps came pouring out of the portal. They quickly began to overwhelm the angels.
"Reaper Alpha, priority orders, close that portal." Death said. "Limiter removal authorized."
"Limiter removal authorized!" Reaper shouted as shadow began to condense around him. "Reaper Alpha, close that portal!"
Reaper slammed the butt of Harvester into the ground releasing an army of shadow creatures to attack the demons. While it stemmed the tide somewhat, it was not enough. Even as their respective elements gathered around them, slaying any demon in their path, Reaper Alpha was still having trouble getting to the hell portal.
Lucifer kept laughing. "If you think this collection of shadow creatures as well as your full removal states will be enough to defeat my endless army, think ag-ack!" Lucifer was cut off has he was hit in the face by a white mace and was sent flying, Lucifer forgot about the Creator.
"Get back here, I'm not done with you." The Creator said as he chased after Lucifer.
And the battle raged on.
…
It was an uphill battle trying to get to the hell portal, one that Reaper Alpha was still fighting despite trying to get there for almost 2 hours. Demons were still pouring out of the hell portal and the angels were beginning to lose. However, they were about to get some unexpected, yet not unwelcome, backup.
"It seems you could use a little help." An unknown voice said to Reaper.
"What?" Reaper said back but got silence as an answer.
As Reaper continued fighting, he wondered who that voice was as well as what they were talking about. He would find out a few minutes later.
A rumbling was heard from the forest behind the demon army. The demons cheered as they thought they were going to receive more help, those cheers soon turned to screams of horror. The entire forest was moving. The trees were literally pulling themselves out of the ground and beginning to attack the demons. And leading the group of living trees was a familiar face.
"Hey James! Isn't that Bregalad?"
James looked over to the trees. "I'll be damned, it is."
Bregalad was and Ent that James had made friends with a long time ago after preventing a rather insidious logging company from cutting down an entire forest of magical trees. In return for saving the forest he was guarding, Bregalad agreed to assist James whenever he needed help. However, much like Draco, and a couple other creatures they knew, they inexplicably disappeared a few years before Havana died.
From the north, Owl heard rapidly approaching howling. The demons turned to the north, hopeful expressions on their faces, surely this was some gift from Lord Lucifer to help them. Their hopes were rather quickly dashed as out of the north came several varieties of wolves led by a very odd group. The leaders were a white humanoid wolf, four wolves made of ice, a sabretooth tiger, a regular tiger, and a lynx made up of white light. As the wolves collided with the now screaming demons, some of which were trying to flee back into the portal, the four leaders broke away from the pack and made their way over to Reaper Alpha.
The four ice wolves practically bowled Owl over with their enthusiasm, licking her face and snuggling up against her.
"Alright, alright, it's nice to see you guys too." Owl said.
The ice wolves were actually shadow constructs that Owl had made some years ago to help them hunt down a necromancer. They, much like Gythin, had somehow become actual living things sometime between their creation and when they found the necromancer.
The tiger, whom was currently wrapped around Cypress's leg purring like mad, was Ivy. Cypress had saved her from a poacher when she was a cub and she decided to keep her as a pet. Due to her constant exposure to leaking shadow energy, Ivy could be summoned at will, was immortal, and excelled in combat.
"Where did you run off too, Fang? You didn't get sucked through another time gate, did you?" Snake asked the sabretooth tiger sitting at his feet.
Fang was the result of a time gate. Time gates are caused by errors within the Time Continuum that the Creator overlooked. They can be caused by something as simple as a rock not shifting like it was supposed it or as large as an invasion force assembling faster than it was planned to. Time gates, as the name implies, are doorways through the time line, linking one end of the timeline to another. Since Snake's proficiency is time, whenever time gates appear, he is sent to close them up so that people, or animals in this case, don't go wandering through them. The gate Fang wandered through was up in the northern part of Russia, near the Siberian border. Fang had wandered through the portal and was living in the area when Snake showed up to close the portal. Unfortunately, Fang didn't show himself until Snake had completely closed the portal, leaving no way to send him back. Snake decided to take it upon himself to take care of Fang much to Reaper Command's displeasure. However, the only other option was to euthanize Fang if Snake refused to take care of him, so they really didn't have a choice. Much like Ivy, Fang could be summoned at will, was immortal, and excelled in combat.
The white humanoid wolf walked over to Raven and kneeled before her. "I have returned mistress."
"So, you have." Raven said with a smile. "Stop acting so formal, Ruby, you know I hate that."
Ruby the Werewolf was one of the more violent cases that Reaper Alpha had to deal with. She and her pack had been terrorizing a city in Alaska for months before Reaper and his squad were called in. Of the pack, she put up the biggest fight, taking hits from their scythes and being able to withstand being thrown around like a ragdoll. When they finally got her down she made a plea deal with Raven, in return for her life, she would swear her undying loyalty to Raven, and she accepted.
"Aww. Did I miss the fun already?" A voice said from behind them.
Coming out of his shadow portal, Reaper saw a tall, curvaceous woman with a penchant for black and red. She had large black bat wings, fangs and burning red eyes, marking her as a vampire.
"Lilith, what were you doing in the Shadow Realm?" Reaper asked.
"I go where I please." She responded as she draped herself over Crow's shoulders. "You didn't answer my question, and where is that overgrown lizard?"
"The fun hasn't even gotten started yet." Crow responded with a smile. "As for your other question…"
A loud roar was heard in the distance and all fighting on the battlefield stopped as everybody slowly looked up. Reaper couldn't hide his grin if he tried. There, cresting the mountaintops to the south was a 160-foot-long black dragon with a 100-foot wingspan. The dragon let out another earthshattering roar.
"DRACO!" Reaper shouted as the dragon descended toward the two armies.
With the shock of seeing a dragon finally wearing off, the demons and angels resumed the fight, although most of the demons were beginning to flee back into hell.
"Now the fun has started." Crow said to Lilith as Reaper Alpha began their charge to the portal once more.
"Excellent." She replied.
With the added armament of a black dragon, a werewolf, a vampire, an army of Ents, four ice wolves, two varieties of tiger, and a lynx, the group quickly made their way to the hell portal. One blast of ice and four swipes from Draco's claws later and the portal was destroyed.
"Now then," Reaper said, setting his sights on Lucifer. "On to target two."
…
Lucifer was getting annoyed. This battle should have concluded 3 hours ago with him claiming victory and reducing that human city to nothing more than ash. Instead, he had an army of mutts and sentient firewood to deal with as well as an overgrown lizard and a slut with a lust for blood. Lucifer grunted as he blocked another blast of divine energy. And getting slammed on all sides by the Creator wasn't helping!
Ichigo's jaw was on the floor. It was bad enough when the trees came to life, but now there was a dragon of all things?! Even in the books that they had retrieved from the temples they found contained nothing about this! Ikuno just checked! Where the hell were these things coming from?!
Now that the portal was dealt with Reaper and his squad made their way to where the Creator and Lucifer were fighting. Lucifer turned around and growled when he saw that the hell portal had been destroyed.
"You think you can best me?!" Lucifer roared.
His response was a shadow wave to the face, followed by a blast of divine energy. With Reaper Alpha on his side, the Creator began to beat back Lucifer. The angels, Ents and wolves were beginning to mop up the last of the demons as Lucifer began to take some serious damage. Suddenly Lucifer began to laugh.
"What are you laughing for?" Reaper growled.
"Oh nothing. Just imaging your face if you found your precious family suddenly missing." Lucifer said still laughing.
Reaper growled and fired wave after wave of shadow at Lucifer. His eyes slowly beginning to turn black.
"ToUcH. ThEm. AnD. YoUr. ImMoRtAl. LiFe. Is. FORFEIT!" Reaper said, punctuating each word with another shadow wave.
"Reaper, you need to calm down." Havana said, seeing the telltale signs of Reaper starting to become Consumed.
Lucifer just laughed again as if Reaper's threat was no more than a funny joke. "Hilarious! You, killing me? Hysterical!" Lucifer looked around once more. "It appears I've been bested. Farewell then, Reaper. We will see each other soon."
And with that ominous statement hanging in the air, Lucifer vanished.
Reaper growled as the black faded from his eyes. Around him, the shadow army which had been forming due to his anger faded back into the shadows and the shadow portal closed. The angels slaughtered the last of the demons as all the Ents, aside from Bregalad, when back into the forest and became still once more. The wolf packs howled one more time before trotting off back to the north.
"Thank you for your help." The Creator said.
"Of course, Creator." Owl said, and the entire squad bowed.
"You had best head back to your friend, Ichigo. After watching that performance, she no doubt has many questions."
"Right, right." Reaper said, the Creator nodded at him once before vanishing.
As they headed back to Gran Crevasse, Reaper's thoughts swirled around Lucifer's statement. He tightly hugged Havana close to him. She lightly patted his back.
"It's alright Reaper, I'm not going anywhere." She said.
…
Location: Far side of the universe
Thousands of light years from Earth lies a planet in ruin. The once thriving vegetation, reduced to nothing more than dust, once proud cities lie in crumbling ruin, the surface of the planet was pockmarked with craters and gouges. The original inhabitants of this world were long gone but their creations remained. It was here that Jonasan and Lady Luck landed.
"Liz is here? On this inhospitable rock? There's barely an atmosphere left anymore." Jonasan commented.
One of the benefits of the immortality that the Chosen enjoy is that they don't need oxygen to breath. The Chosen, much like Death's Riders, can only die in one way, and that's combat. Otherwise, any other forms of death don't affect them, hence why Jonasan was still alive and not struggling to breath in the deoxygenated atmosphere the planet currently had.
"I am positive she's here." Luck said. "This was her last assignment from Death that she took after Kurisu disappeared."
"I wonder why he sent her here?"
"Why don't we find out? Someone is engaged in quite the fight to the east."
Jonasan lightly sprinted to the east while Luck followed him. As the fighting got louder, the terrain got rougher, with patches of ice, more gouges and whole chunks missing from the ground all working to trip up the unwary. Jonasan was having to do some fairly fancy acrobatics in order to keep his speed while Luck simply flew over the obstacles. For a measure, Jonasan was traveling at approximately 30 miles an hour.
"You continue to impress me, Jonasan." Luck said as she watched him do a particularly difficult series of acrobatics to get over a group of large craters.
"I try." Jonasan said as he hit solid ground again. "Thank the Creator for that athletics training on Uthomia. I would have never been able to get through this otherwise."
"I could have carried you." Luck said.
"Luck," Jonasan sighed. "I'm supposed to serve you, not the other way around."
"I wouldn't have minded." Luck insisted.
"Another time, perhaps."
"I'll hold you to that."
"I'm sure you will." Jonasan said as they crested a hill.
Down at the base of the hill, Jonasan found Liz fighting a group of one-eyed white humanoid…things. They let out inhuman screeches and slashed at her with their sword-like hands, they looked like genetic modification experiments gone horribly wrong. Liz was cutting them down left and right with her signature glaive, but they were getting back up just as fast as she was cutting them down. Jonasan then noticed 4 of these white things attempting to sneak up behind Liz.
"Umm, no." Jonasan said and darted down the hill.
Jonasan drew the two daggers at his waist and held them in a reverse grip. The daggers were made up of a type of crystal compound which made them on par with Cosminium with the added bonus of allowing Jonasan to channel luck or misfortune into the blades. Jonasan quickly ran up behind the four and sliced their heads off, when they started regenerating their heads, Jonasan powered his daggers with misfortune and slashed at them again and backed away. Jonasan lifted a hand and four tendrils of purple energy connect the white things to Jonasan's raised hand.
"Looks like you just ran out of luck." Jonasan said, and he snapped his fingers.
The earth rumbled. Cracks began to appear across the battlefield throwing the white things off balance. Jonasan found himself being picked up by Luck as the cracks began to turn into gaping chasms, causing the white things to fall in. The cracks soon filled with magma and Jonasan highly doubted anything that fell in was alive after that.
Luck set them down on top of the hill that they descended and surveyed the damage. The battlefield had turned into a field of magma and floating rocks.
Jonasan scratched the back of his head and looked sheepishly at Luck. "I think I over did it a bit."
"A little bit, yes." Luck said.
The two looked down at the magma field. "I sure hope Liz isn't still down there." Jonasan said, worried.
His question was answered a moment later when the woman in question landed beside him.
Liz was a woman who looked to be about 26 years old although the blond man knew her to be much older. She was 5'5'' with medium length brunette hair. She had an average build although it did not detract from her womanly charms. She currently had red eyes, but the blond man knew them to be sky blue at one point.
Liz was staring at Jonasan in shock.
"yoo-hoo, Liz?" Jonasan said waving a hand in front of her face. "You in there? Your eyes aren't lying to you, you know."
This seemed to break Liz out of her stupor and she immediately rounded on Luck, her eyes narrowed.
"Luck are you responsible for this?" Liz said gesturing to Jonasan.
"Umm. You know I'm right here you know." Jonasan said.
Liz glanced at him. "You hush. You're not supposed to look that young so she as some explanation to do."
"I'm not sure whether to take that as a complement or an insult." Jonasan muttered. "And hello to you too."
"Jonasan, I will greet you properly once I get my answer." Liz said. "Luck, explanation, now."
"I thought the answer was obvious." Luck said as she walked over to Jonasan, changing to Misfortune along the way. Misfortune ran a hand along Jonasan's jaw line and shot him a seductive look which caused Jonasan to blush before smirking at Liz. "He is mine." Madam Misfortune purred.
Jonasan had been reduced to a blushing mess at this point. "Madam, I told you not to do that."
"But your so adorable when you're flustered." Misfortune said.
Liz quickly walked over and shooed Misfortune off Jonasan.
"How rude." Misfortune said.
"You keep your corrupting hands off of him." Liz said.
"Far to late for that dearie."
Liz decided to ignore Misfortune for the moment and placed her hands on Jonasan's shoulders.
"Jonasan." She said, her red eyes staring into his ocean blue ones. "How long have you been with her?"
Jonasan thought for a moment. "3? 3 years give or take after you guys joined Death, without telling me might I add."
Liz sighed and looked away. "We didn't tell you for good reason." She muttered.
"Did you expect me to never find out?" Jonasan said. "Surely you guys realized with how much I traveled that someone would tell me that you two were serving Death."
"We were hoping that you would never find out." Liz said.
"Why?"
"It was necessary."
"Was it?" Misfortune asked. "What is the worst Death could have done, hmm? He wouldn't kill him, Kurisu would have gone on a rampage if that had happened. Same if he had wiped his memories of the two of you, so what harm would it have done?"
"I…Well…" Liz tried to come up with an answer.
"But instead of telling and saving him the worry, you left him in the dark. I watched Jonasan for years before I took him as my Chosen and every time you left on a mission, he worried about the two of you to the point of making himself ill. Every. Single. Time. He was fortunate enough to still be in elvish lands whenever you went out on missions, so he had them to take care of him. It wasn't until he had been my Chosen for a year and you two went on that mission to slay Nazzaroth that I finally told him what you two refused to tell him."
"Do you realize what that did to him? To find out that the one person that he had been the sole confident to for years, the one you told every secret to, the one you went on and on to about Kurisu long before you realized that he was related to him, didn't trust him enough to tell him that she and his brother were working for Death. I'll tell you what it did, it destroyed his self-confidence, to the point that he was ashamed to even look in the mirror. I spent years, even after Kurisu disappeared, repairing the damage you two did. You could at least give a better excuse as to why you didn't tell him other than 'it was for your own good'"
"You want the answer? Death told us not to." Liz said with a sigh. "When we agreed to be his servants he made us swear not to tell you we were working for him. He had his reasons I'm sure, but we weren't about to question them."
"Liz," Jonasan said placing a hand on her shoulder. "I forgave you guys long ago for keeping that from me. I simply wished to know the reason why."
"Thank you, Jonasan." Liz said with a smile and she gave Jonasan a hug. "It's good to see you after so long, what have you spent the last 4 millennia doing?"
"Looking for Kurisu." Jonasan said.
"'looking for Kurisu?' What do you mean? Kurisu is dead, you were at his funeral, I remember seeing you there."
"Kurisu is not dead, Elizabeth." Misfortune said.
"What?" Liz said in shock. "How? How is he not dead, not even Death could find him."
Jonasan held out a hand and a dense ball of swirling green particles appeared.
"What is that?" Liz asked staring at the ball.
"This is what I call Essence, its yours to be exact." Jonasan said.
"And what is this Essence and what does it have to do with Kurisu being alive?"
"I'm getting there." Jonasan reassured. "Essence is an individual's luck stores, or lifetime luck. Each person has a set amount of luck that gets used in their life. Essence is spent naturally over the course of a lifetime and the size depends on how long a person is slated to live." Jonasan gestured to Liz's Essence. "Your Essence is very dense due to your indeterminate lifespan." Jonasan brought up another ball of Essence, this one was more dense that hers. "And this is Kurisu's Essence, Essence disappears when a person dies, so this is how I know that Kurisu is still alive. See how it's in a compressed state, it means he is in a type of stasis."
"Does this tell you where he's at?"
Jonasan sighed. "Unfortunately not, just tells me that he is still alive."
The planet suddenly trembled as the cracks in the magma field spread.
"Umm, Madam Misfortune, what's happening." Jonasan asked.
"You unintentionally caused the planet to go critical. It's time to go."
Misfortune flew over to Jonasan, grabbed him by the waist. "You should get off world as well Liz." Misfortune then proceeded to haul Jonasan up to orbit, Liz right behind them. From orbit, the three watched as the planet turned from an inhospitable rock to a ball of magma.
"…well that's one way to complete an assignment." Liz said.
"What do you plan on doing now?" Jonasan asked.
"Well…"
A wave of blue energy came rippling through the stars, slamming into the three of them. After they regained their bearing they looked at each other.
"That came from Earth didn't it?" Jonasan asked Misfortune.
"Yes."
"I wonder…" Jonasan said as he held up a hand and summoned Kurisu's Essence.
Jonasan's eyes widened in shock, the once compressed ball was now a large ball of Essence, Kurisu was active. Jonasan immediately began performing process of elimination to determine where he might be.
"Where, where, where, where." Jonasan muttered as he was narrowing down the options.
Liz looked over and saw the expanded state Kurisu's Essence was in and immediately knew where he would be.
"Earth." Was all Liz said before she shot off in the direction of Earth.
"Liz! Wait! Damn it, she's gone." Jonasan said and tilted his head back to look at Misfortune. "We need to head back to Earth Madam."
"Do we have to? I won't get to spend as much time with you if we go back~"
"Madam…" Jonasan said with a sigh.
"Say my name, and we'll go back."
"But Madam…"
"My name, not Madam."
Jonasan sighed. "Let's head home, Misfortune."
"Now was that so hard?" Misfortune said as the two shot off after Liz.
*View switches and we see the author sitting in the middle of a white void tapping away at a computer*
Code 089: And there we go. Alright that's the first chapter done.
*Turns toward the reader*
Code 089: Alright, the story is set. It's time for the End War, the gods and goddesses have returned, and war has broken out between the Creator and Lucifer. Who is going to win? Only I know.
*Death and Luck appear out of nowhere*
Code 089: What the…? Umm, Hi Death and Luck. What are you doing here, how did you get here and why are you here?
Death: You opened a door and we walked through.
Luck: Besides its more interesting here than spending a week or two traveling to Earth.
Code 089: OK?
Death: Worry not mortal, we will stay out of your way.
Luck: *immediately starts previewing the next chapter* You have a spelling error here, and here, and here.
Code 089: Ack! *Corrects errors* Better?
Luck: Yes.
Code 089: Good. Anyway, as always, reviews and criticism are greatly appreciated, and flames will be used to roast marshmallows. Ciao!