Anyway, here's another chapter that I do not own anything of.
(I wrote a lot of chapters a week or two ago that took a while to edit. That's why you're getting them all in one go.
"Help as many as you can and eventually your feelings will reach them, and they'll help others, too." -The Heavenly King
Tamama shivered in the corner of the cavern that he had hid in. Keroro hid with him. There was no shelter though from the Lord's anger.
Just shaking. Shaking of the ground, walls - everything. Destruction and terror was in each of the Sins' hearts as the Lord of Hell unleashed her anger upon the world.
"H-have... Have you always been able to do that?" Keroro was the one to speak up first, as the shaking finally stopped and the Lord of Hell evaporated the spear she held previously in her hands to nothing. Instead of grief being expressed from Kululu's betrayal and canoodling with a virtue, calm anger remained in her eyes. Any remnants of the angry, terrifying outburst were now vanquished.
"It's not important." The Lord of Hell didn't answer completely. She stood up with a swish of her silver hair and letting her blue cape fly behind her she turned around. "Tell me when Pride returns. That's an order." With that, she left to her room.
"Well... that was... terrifying..." Giroro had clung to the ground for dear life while the planet had shook. If it had affected their realm so greatly, who knew what had become of the mortal plane.
Keroro nodded in agreement. "What else... What other power do you think she's hiding that she can use to punish us?"
Giroro thought for a moment, not quite knowing. It was just like Keroro to think of himself the most and fear for his own life, but he made a decent point.
How can I fight against the Heavens completely when my own team is still a mystery to me, and my leader can possibly harm me? Giroro thought to himself. He knew it was a thought that he shouldn't have had, that he was supposed to be a loyal Sin and soldier forever, but he couldn't help wondering about the bigger picture and what the agenda was of his leader, the Lord of the Underworld.
I'm the newest Sin, I'll probably be told more when I have more experience, Giroro hoped. He wasn't too sure, though.
His duty was to fight, not to wonder about secrets. His duty, his calling, was anger and rage. Wrath.
He was Wrath and that was all he would ever be. He shouldn't need more. He should be on the Lord's side for feeling such wrath towards a fellow Sin.
But this weird, empty feeling had entered his heart after the last battle he had with the Heavens. He didn't know what it was, but it felt inconvenient and weird.
Like he was missing something crucial.
Kululu returned soon enough, entering the caverns in the dark underworld illuminated with candlelight of all colors. He smiled, in a rather good mood.
"Ku, ku, ku, what was with that quake? Something the Heavens set up? Or us? Either way, it was pretty big. I monitored it with an invention and it was pretty impressive," Kululu announced as he walked in.
Keroro tried to make desperate signs at Kululu to leave - silent ones so that nobody would hear.
"Hm?" Kululu looked a bit confused.
"He's back." Giroro gave a small grin ready to watch the events unfold. As if coming from out of nowhere, the Lord of the Underworld appeared, hovering above the ground and landing lightly, her cape spreading out like dark angel wings.
"Kululu. You have betrayed the Underworld." Her voice was cold and uncompassionate.
"W-what are you talking about?" he said. His voice wavering ever-so-slightly due to the cold heartless expression of the Lord towering above him.
"You have been spotted 'seeing' a Virtue. You're supposed to be a loyal Sin to this kingdom, but you have instead strayed to the Heavenly Kingdom, possibly even striking up a romantic relationship with a Virtue," the Lord of the Underworld said.
Kululu gulped and glanced over to Tamama, who he knew had betrayed his secret. He had expected the Lord of the Underworld to be angry with him, in an overly terrifying way if she found out, or even the worse alternative of her crying and feeling honestly betrayed. But it was the cold, unfeeling justice that was the most unsettling to him. He wasn't sure what was going to happen to him.
Am I going to... die? Well, die again? Is she going to destroy me as a Sin and make me disappear? Is she... going to execute me? Kululu wondered. He didn't put it past her.
"If you throw away your relationship with that other woman, there will be no long-term negative consequences for you. I will not have to strip you of your powers and sins. Swear your loyalty to the Underworld and to me, the Lord of It All, and I will not be forced to exact judgment on you." The Lord of the Underworld spoke curtly, like a Judge, as if Kululu was on trial for an awful murder and only she had the gavel to hear his plea and sentence him.
Well, Aki, it was a fun fantasy to try to get away from the Lord of Hell, but unrealistic. Good-bye, Kululu thought to himself. The choice was clear that he had to make. There really was no choice, actually. It was his life or nothing.
He nodded to the Lord, knowing he had lost. "I swear my loyalty to the Underworld. Ku, ku, ku. After all, it's so fun being a sin. Why would I ever want to get rid of it?" he laughed.
"You will be quarantined here for a week, unable to leave the Underworld." The Lord of Hell ordered flicking her fingers, causing all the barred gates to lock all the doorways on her domain for only Kululu to be seen.
"Ku ku ku - but that's all, right?" he asked, slightly worried. He hadn't been punished in a professional fashion before by the Lord, instead having mild scoldings, angry screaming sessions, and other painful punishments, but nowhere near this level of professionalism. He had instead stood by and watched his fellow Sins, Tamama and Keroro, get the blunt of actual punishments.
The Lord of Hell didn't respond, and instead bent down to him, with a few mortal objects in her hands.
Kululu picked up tape as one of them.
Ku ku ku. What's she planning to do, cover me in duct tape? he wondered.
"You didn't swear your loyalty to me, yet." The Lord of Hell gave a cold smile - looking almost innocent, but with sadistic intentions masked underneath.
Kululu could tell by the evil spark in her eyes.
"Wh-what?" Kululu wondered as rope covered his entire body, slithering around him like snakes and tying him to a post.
"I haven't done this in a long time, you know~!" The Lord hummed as she removed his glasses, making sure he couldn't see, but taping his eyeballs open anyway.
Is this getting kinky or is she going to torture me until I swear loyalty to her? he thought. I... I should probably just wait and let her torture me for a bit. After all, it will let any anger out and she won't have any more of it after my almost-infidelity. It would probably be for the best... and I kind of deserve it a little.
Kululu knew there was no chance of him feeling guilty if he was properly punished for his actions instead of upfront forgiven, which she was bound to do if he pledged loyalty upfront. That, and I kind of want to see what she's planning. Ku, ku, ku! Kululu admitted to himself.
The other Sins watched what the Lord of Hell did to Kululu, because Kululu couldn't.
She put a candlestick in front of him, just close enough that he could barely make out the bright - albeit blurry - light.
"Pledge your loyalty, and your punishment will just move onto a week of imprisonment," the Lord of Hell bargained as she started peeling an orange.
"Why? Why do you need it so much? Why do you need my loyalty?" Kululu asked. The Lord of Hell didn't answer.
He already knew, he just wanted to goad her into saying it. That he was being used as an example and that she had to be a good leader for the Underworld and nothing in her domain could stray from its rightful place.
He would have ruled the same way, so there was no reason to be angry at her.
The Lord squirted the first drop of the orange through the candle, letting it light on fire and hit Kululu's eye.
"AHHH!" He hadn't honestly expected that much pain from such a little tiny thing. She squirted another drop into the other eye. The pain was excruciating. It took a lot for even Kululu to mask the level of agony that his eyeballs were in.
"F-fine! I'll pledge my loyalty to you, the Lord of the Underworld. I am loyal to this war and cause!" Kululu pledged through his tears. The tape was torn off of him and he was granted his glasses again.
"That wasn't too hard, was it?" The Lord of Hell asked, taking off Kululu's ropes and letting him go.
Kululu nodded, and glared at Giroro, Tamama and Keroro who were giggling as they looked at him as he tried to wipe away the tears from his throbbing eye sockets.
Kululu was in utter pain, and felt horrible from the humiliation, but it was still way better than suffering from a horrible grudge his entire existence, in having the Lord of the Underworld, one of the most powerful beings besides himself, as his biggest enemy.
The Lord of Hell still looked at Kululu in a cold way, as if she were personally hurt by the betrayal but unable to say it.
On second thought... put me back in the orange torture. I'd much rather have that than this. Kululu was unable to look at the person he had betrayed.
The Lord of Hell stood up from her place at the ground and turned away as if she were to leave Kululu to his solitude.
That was when the barren entrance to her throne room banged. It was as if the giant doors at the end of them, the portal to the mortal plane, were being knocked from the other end.
"B-but... that's impossible... A mortal can't get down here..." Giroro whispered.
"If they have a strong enough conviction and hate, they can. But it doesn't happen much," the Lord quickly explained.
"It's like we're evil witches granting wishes!" Tamama piped up with a bad explanation.
"We're supernatural Sins who rule this world. Ku ku ku. 'Witches' is a bit of a downgrade," said Kululu.
"Sloth, would you get that?" The Lord of the Underworld yawned, not bothering to get the door herself.
"It's always me." Keroro sighed, quite unhappy. He trudged off to the door and opened it.
A gray, metallic Keronian with one eye stood outside. His body was half-metal and the rest of him was a dull gray color. His mouth, or what his mouth had once been, was covered in bandages. He entered the underworld, his body glowing as it made a contract with the evil lands to grant him access.
"I hate you. I always have. The Underworld is evil." The Keronian told them.
"Oh? So you've found us to exact revenge?" The Lord of Hell finally approached the gray Keronian, looking rather bored.
"No," the gray Keronian admitted. "I hate you all, but that hate is a drop of rain compared to the hate I feel towards the Heavenly King," he told them. "He... He ruined me. He turned me into this monster. Made me something half alive and half not. I'm not who I was, I'm just a monster that he created."
"So you've found us to tell us your pitiful story?" Kululu crossed his arms. "Ku, ku, ku. Boring. I'm not amused."
"No! What I'm saying is I hate you. But our goals are the same. I want to take down the Heavenly King with this... monstrous second chance at life I've been imprisoned with. I offer myself as a loyal spy on the mortal planes to take out anyone that the Heavenly Kingdom believes can help them. Anyone they like or find important." Bowing, Zoruru spoke, "All I wish is Dororo's demise and destruction."
"Well, this is unusual... Ku, ku, ku. A mortal betraying his own kind for revenge." Kululu seemed interested.
"I accept your offer." The Lord of the Underworld sat down in her throne of bones. Thinking for a moment of what would best help the Underworld in their war, she told Zoruru what his task would be. "There is someone on the mortal plane who is both a daughter of a Virtue, and the sister of one. Her death will hurt the Heavens greatly," the Lord told him.
"Ku, ku, ku, there's someone like that on the mortal plane? Someone still alive and related to the virtues?" Kululu asked, intrigued. Their side's power would increase greatly if they killed that person and mentally harmed several Virtues.
"Her name is Natsumi Hinata. Find her - " The Lord of the Underworld was cut off by Zoruru's raspy metallic voice.
"I know her. Don't worry," he said.
" - and kill her. Take your time with it, though. Gather information, gain her trust," the Lord ordered. "That is the job I give to you."
"Thank you." Zoruru bowed again, "I won't disappoint you. I'll hurt the Heavens." And with that he turned away to walk out the door and back to the mortal plane after making a contract with the Devil herself.
Kululu turned away as well, to leave to work on some inventions on his own, now that the new, interesting thing had vanished.
"Kululu." The Lord of the Underworld stopped him.
"Hm?" He turned around for a brief moment to see what she wanted.
"Aki Hinata would have never made a war for you. She'd never take down the Heavens just for you. Think about that the next time you're trying to cheat on me," was all she said to indicate she hadn't completely forgiven him and was still holding a small grudge. With a flick of her wrist, she closed the doors to her throne room, and the doors while closing pushed Kululu out, signaling she wanted to be alone.
Kululu wondered blankly to himself one thing, and one thing alone from her words. How did she know Aki by name? And who she was?
Kululu didn't know.
There's so much about this place's history that I don't know, Giroro realized, feeling a bit left out and out of the loop since he didn't know mortals could enter the Underworld. It's not my place as a loyal sin to wonder about this place's secrets. I'm the only one the Lord hasn't ever punished, and I hope to keep that track record clean. Giroro smiled to himself. The answers will come to me as I gain more experience and as more time passes. What Giroro didn't seem to understand and realize was that not even Kululu, the very first Sin, had the answers about the Underworld and the Lord herself.
It wasn't about time at all; no secrets were going to be given to Giroro.
Natsumi Hinata, huh... Giroro thought back to the name. There was one thing he could learn about and not be kept in the dark about, and it was her.
The mortal that Heaven and Hell seemed to both be indirectly attached to and fighting over.
Maybe I'll pay her a visit. Giroro grinned. There was no reason to be kept in the dark about her.
And it would be fun to wage war on the mortals and to experience battle again.
Wrath wouldn't wait any longer. He would have a battle, feel wrath of mortals and himself, and see this Natsumi girl.
He would have all of it.