XIV

Leaving her cousin and friends behind, Yumi took Shimako by the hand as she shadow-stepped from within the house into the depth of Hel. In the pit of darkness, Yumi's eyes glowed of beautiful burning charcoal as she maneuvered around the place without the need of light. Pulling the young maiden into her arms, with a single swoop Yumi carried Shimako so that the maiden wouldn't trip over things or fell down the stairs.

"That fools of a god think he could do whatever he wants?" Yumi growled as her walking speed increased. "Then he might blackmailed them into surrendering to him without a fight," Shimako added. "Of course, my mother would never go down without a fight and my master isn't someone you can take lightly. Damn that bastard," Yumi cursed as she continued to walk a little bit further before letting Shimako down. "This dungeon had been fortified by his power," Yumi said as she reached out to touch the wall, causing it to illuminate in a blood red color in lines like veins and words of ancient writing.

"He's messing with the wrong people," Yumi murmured and Shimako noticed what looked like flame marks glowing brightly on Yumi's cheeks like they're alive. Summoning her scythe, now oozing with darkness, she cuts through the vines that grew so thick it became a barrier.

MgM

"So Fenrir had a bastard child with a mortal, here I though he's nothing but a filthy dog." "SHUT UP!" Noriko roared. A sudden gust of wind caused Baldur to back up a little, but when he realized what it is half of his armies were slaughtered.

"You shouldn't look down at other people just because you escaped Hel after Ragnarok," Sachiko said pointing the spear at Baldur. Beautiful blue statics surged elegantly from her body over to her spear and back, dancing slowly yet wanting to have a taste of her enemies. Her beauty and grace had gotten even the mighty god lost at words, mesmerized and dark desires stirred from deep within him.

"Indeed, if Hel hadn't held you back, you wouldn't be alive this day to try and rule over everything." Hannah added. Frost started to cover the ground as cold air emitted from her guan dao; the gleaming blade hummed lightly begging to taste the blood of its master's enemies. Baldur couldn't help but shuddered when he saw the determined look in Hannah's hazel eyes.

"Destroy them!" he roared commanding his armies to do his bidding. Howling at the now frozen cold air, Noriko called forth her weapons with just her howling. A blazing fiery sword and a crystallized ice sword answered her call, they are large and heavy but Noriko grabbed onto it and wielded it with ease. The battle started and the three women fought with all of their might, Hannah riding the kitten battling against Baldur. Every strike she made, she aimed to destroy the man pushing him back to be on defense against her deadly blows.

Meanwhile elsewhere, Hel and Dante remained bound by the chains and thorny vines, as they both stared into the infinite coldness of darkness. "You know, you could've killed him," Hel spoke, shattering the silence around them. "And lost the chance of testing their power?" Dante smirked even though she's bleeding from the thorns digging into her flesh; there was no pain for her to feel. "True, but what will you do if your love dies?" the woman who ruled over Hel asked. "Then I too shall perish with her," Dante replied without hesitation. "I've been alive for far too long," Dante said as a sigh escape her lips. "Indeed, but you should think of such dark thoughts when you've found her," Hel said. "You're right, though it's a bit hard not to when we're surrounded by nothing but darkness. I'm beginning to think we need some kind of light fixture in this place," Dante said grabbing onto the thorny vine that cut into the palm of her hand. Her body illuminates in a golden aura, and the aura moved from her onto the vine and spread down to its root causing every vine from the same root the glowed golden.

"What the hell?" Yumi exclaimed when all of the vines lit up in a golden aura that even the vines turned a golden color. Following the light, the two moved as quickly as possible toward the source and maybe toward Yumi's mother. To their surprise, the two women looked as though they'd fallen asleep, and as soon as Yumi started to approach them she triggered a trap causing the ground under her feet to shift.

"Move!" Shimako shouted yanking Yumi back just a few seconds before the spikes popped up from the ground. Appearing on the other side of the spikes, two giant beasts, one with the head of an ox and the other one with the head of a horse and spikes covered their back as though one of their parents is a porcupine. "Thanks," Yumi said after a long moment of silence. "You're welcome," Shimako returned curtly and politely.

Breathing out hot air, the spikes where released, leaving the four of them to square off. Yumi clenched and unclenched her hands a few times and un-summoned her weapon at the same time. "Can you take them on without a weapon?" she whispered to Shimako. "Certainly," Shimako replied getting into her fighting stance. A stance that looks grounded and natural like the flow of water calming a person's soul (think Tai Chi), Yumi didn't have to worry about the miko as she got into her own fighting stance of pure strength utilizing the ground under her feet.

Shimako with her fluid and graceful moves took down the beast within five minutes, exuding her true demi power and the ability to use the enemy's strength against them. Yumi on the other hand, showed off her prowess through generating the power from the ground as her strength and ripped through her enemy. And using the power of earth, Yumi ripped the chains that bounded her mother and teacher to free them. Yumi took her mother and Shimako helped Dante out of the dungeon and back up to the throne room, there Dante flopped down onto the floor before falling flat on her back.

"You two should go back and help out, I'll stay here and look after her wounds." Dante said after a long moment of silence. "But you're both weak…" Yumi protested. "Yumi, I'm not weak as you think, now go you two." Dante said getting up and opened a portal before tossing both women into it.

"Damn stubborn kids," Dante murmured standing there as her ceras started to came back in its full glory and her wounds healed completely. "To think that he dared to defile my home with those monsters and undead," Dante growled as anger flashed through her eyes. "Remember Dante, this is for their own good to exhibit their prowess and maybe one day they will be able to prevent another Ragnarok." Hel said as her words echoed around the emptied room reminding Dante the reason why both of them so willingly surrendered to Baldur without putting up a fight. "True enough," Dante nodded and the anger in her vanished. Together the headed out of the room toward the private kitchen and whipped up something to eat while waiting for the outcome of the battle instead of watching it.

A/N: I have a feeling that I'm digging my own grave here (laughs) Let's hope for a wedding soon or my brain would explode from overload. Hope y'all enjoy~