Chapter 34: The Opening Blows of War

The Gaea tournament ended up with a sixty percent mortality rate among the humans. So about what Hikaru expected. Thankfully, she hadn't missed much despite getting whisked away to dreamland on fate's call. One of the winners probably wouldn't survive his wounds, but that death would be honored by the Ring. But now that it was over, she should probably head over to Shinjuku. The game plan had been delayed, but it should stay in the same basic form. Their visitors would have a limited path before them.

There was no point to sticking around, so Hikaru headed off to reach the Ginza terminal. But in the crossroads, she spotted something interesting. Or rather, someone, a man in a green suit that had the air of a lost god. This one wasn't a guy to rely on, since he could be unpredictable. But he was powerful in his own way, enough that he should be sealed up when he wasn't needed.

In fact, he should be sealed since the last Hikaru had heard of Krishna, the Japanese pantheon had captured him since he'd tried to instigate trouble against the Hebrew God. But here he was, with several empty bottles near him. Masakado was watching him, but he was stuck as a boulder and unable to do anything about them.

Hikaru went over to Krishna, considering what she might be able to do with him. "Hey, what are you doing out and about?" she asked, smiling in anticipation.

"S'none of your business," Krishna said, not looking up at her.

"Come now, you must have done something clever to get out of your prison," she said. "They locked you up pretty good behind a lot of layers."

"I dunno, don't care," he said.

"I don't know how he got out either," Masakado's ghostly voice said.

"So what's he doing here?" Hikaru asked.

"Whining and being drunk," Masakado said.

"What else I'm I supposed to do?" Krishna mumbled. "Would rather still be in the seal, cause I could knock myself out."

He was desperate, probably driven mad being sealed when his homeland was destroyed. In that state, he could be easy to convince into helping out her plots. "Hmm, that does sound tough," she said. "Hey, Masakado, do you mind if I take off with your cute friend?"

"I don't like either of you," Masakado said gruffly. "If it gets rid of both of you, go right ahead."

"Nice!" Then a chiptune ring interrupted her with a text alert. "Oh, hang on," she said, getting her phone out of her bag.

It was from Samyaza: 'You might want to come over here to Kinshicho. Lilith just rushed down and said Gabriel was in a rage coming after her.'

"Hmm, that could be fun," she said out loud.

Inwardly, she wondered what was going on. Gabriel wouldn't come all the way down to Tokyo for nothing, especially after she'd come down on a mistaken premise. Hikaru didn't want her gaining ground down here. But if she was in a rage, she might just be easier to capture. Hikaru sent a text back saying that she'd think about it for a moment.

And there was the matter of Krishna too. Hikaru tucked her phone away, then leaned down. "Hey, Krishna? You were out to fight YHVH, weren't you?"

"What about it?" he mumbled, finally looking up at her.

"Why don't you prove your willingness to do so?" she asked.

If nothing else, even if he lost, a battle between an enraged Gabriel and a drunken Krishna might just be hilarious.

It had taken some time for him to locate Hallelujah, during which he had dropped his human guise to ward off the weaker demons in the streets. In doing so, Samyaza couldn't enter Kinshicho. But without the need to maintain the Abe disguise, he could get a glimpse of what was around Hallelujah from outside.

Unfortunately, the boy was asleep now. He had located Nanashi, though, as they were sharing a men's bedroom. Nanashi was definitely someone special, although Samyaza wasn't sure how he was special. He simply had an unusual soul. And if the angels meant to come down and cause trouble, a soul like Nanashi would be drawn in as a potentially powerful piece to this cosmic game. Then it was good that they were aware of him now.

While Samyaza was considering what he should scold Hallelujah about (though it was pleasantly surprising that he managed to get here with just Chiron's help), one of his lilims squealed and burst into black flames. He glanced around to find who could have done such a thing, but then she transformed and became Lilith. "Phew, barely out of there."

"Hey there, babe," Samyaza said, smiling at her. "It's been a while."

"Hey Samyaza," she said, sounding tired. "Sorry, I need to talk to Hikaru."

Not wanting her to slip off, he summoned out his phone; he didn't have a convenient pocket in his normal form. "No problem, I can text her. What's the deal?"

"Things have gone really awry, and now Gabriel is pissed off," Lilith said. "I barely got away from her in Naraku and she's going to chase me down here."

"That's rotten," Samyaza said, quickly tapping out the text and sending it. "What's gone wrong? I saw her earlier down here, trying to mess with somebody I'm watching."

"We got the wrong names for the heroes somehow," she explained. "So we ended up coming down here for a few hours, leading to us missing most of a year up above. That year was enough for a social revolution in Mikado."

"Well that explains why she'd be pissed, but it should be good to us," he said. Maybe he should go up there, since social revolutions tended to loosen social restraints. It could be fun to make sure they didn't hold back from their changes and went all out.

"Actually, it's going to be a tough sell," she said. "They managed a bloodless pacifist revolution and don't want to rely on demons. I got them access to books and knowledge, but since I left them to their own devices, they think they can handle things all on their own."

"Well don't be giving up early," Samyaza said. "We have lots of time to deal with things and they don't. They'll have to rely on us."

"That's true, but things are starting and the human players will be coming down here," Lilith said. "We might need your help to get things back in place."

"You know I'm always happy to work with you," he said, smiling at her.

She gave him a smirk and waggled a finger at him. "Now now, I know you have a one-track mind. You can get things done, but you'll get us both distracted."

"You're going to end up waiting on those heroes anyhow, so why not?" Samyaza asked. "Heh, but I will discuss how to change plans. I have connections to the Ashura-kai and you had nothing for me to do aside from watching Kagome."

"So why aren't you at Kagome?" Lilith asked.

"Had an argument with Asmodeus," he said. "Again. I needed some time away, and had to do some things for Tayama to keep in good standing."

"Alright, I'll take that excuse," she said. "But you'll want to inform Asmodeus that Gabriel is going to be down here."

"Sure, I'll do that," Samyaza said, already sending a text to Asmodeus. He doubted Asmodeus would look at it, but he could say that it had been done.

He chatted with her for a while, having some fun with it to get her in a good mood. Then Hikaru showed up with a drunken god, but not one of the usual suspects. "Hi guys!" she said, giving them a wave.

"Hey there," he said, waving back. "Who's your date?"

"What date?" the guy said, confused.

"This is Krishna," Hikadu said. "I picked him up in Ginza. So what's up with Gabriel?"

Lilith explained again, this time with some more detail. "I suspect she'll be here soon."

At that point, Samyaza caught sight of something moving in the darkness overhead, moving rapidly towards them. "Very soon, it seems."

Gabriel was soon there, screeching at them and lashing out even though they were probably not the source of her frustration. It was strange, though, to see her using this almost demonic form rather than her pretty usual self. But, looks weren't a concern at the moment as she seemed ready and willing to kill them straight away.

And there were a lot of things that didn't matter after a few moments when Gabriel annihilated his physical form.

"What did you do to them?!" Gabriel shouted, pummeling Lilith without a thought to grace. "None of them are right! It's all wrong, what did you do?!"

Lilith had shifted back to her black echo of Gabriel's current form; she was fighting back just as recklessly, kicking Gabriel's mask trying to break it. "What did I do? Don't accuse me of things that you're responsible for! You wrecked the stage we'd set up."

Away from the fight, Hikaru was finding this a lot more interesting than the tournament fights. So those two had been working together, staging something. Staging the opening to this war? Lilith had been giving her a lot of odd ideas and plans that she seemed completely confidant she could pull off. Hikaru had thought it was her usual pride. But if she'd been working behind Hikaru's back with Gabriel, that could explain things. It didn't answer what was going so wrong that the two of them were forgoing any pretense at subterfuge.

"Those pitiful seraphs have duped so many demons," Hikaru said. "One would think they'd learn better. But I doubt this is staged; Gabriel's really coming apart at the seams." She chuckled.

"What's this fighting for?" Krishna asked, looking at the brown empty bottle in his hand and shaking it.

"Our entertainment at the moment, perhaps a very early victory," Hikaru said, then tapped his bottle. "Here, have some more, why not?"

"Thanks, I don't want to be sober," he said, taking a swig of it.

"You any good at drunk fighting?" she asked. He'd probably die against Gabriel just like Samyaza a bit ago, but anything to anger the seraph more and get her to make some critical mistakes would be great.

"Ahm a lover, not a fighter," Krishna said, waving the combatants off. "I ain't going in there."

"Not really what I need at the moment," Hikaru said, tapping her foot. That usually got people worried.

"What's they fighting over?" he asked again.

"A bizarre circumstance surrounding the Messiah and the heroes," she said. "Weren't you listening earlier?"

"Nope," he answered without a trace of shame.

"That's a pity. See, our Chaos hero has evidently turned religious for some damnable reason; he is getting married sometime, but is doing so to support his woman's dreams and is patiently following civil proceedings up in Mikado. So he's not very chaotic from what I've heard."

"Nuh-uh." He looked over at Gabriel and Lilith wrestling with each other, but still didn't seem inclined to intervene.

As she needed to think this over, Hikaru crossed her arms over her chest. "The Law hero is already married, but his was a marriage of passion that crossed class lines. Recently, he's been supporting the lower class of Mikado in their push for better treatment. So he's not very lawful. But they were picked out as the heroes of the respective sides, so it's not like we can swap them around. Neither side can use their heroes well.

"And then, the Messiah himself sounds like quite a character so far. He has a male lover, which should be utterly unthinkable up in Mikado but it happened anyhow. She didn't get to explain it much before we got disrupted, but something about him has Lilith concerned, like he could be a legitimate problem despite what should be a clear sign that he's Chaos leaning already. You got it now?"

"Hmmm…" he took another drink. "Nope."

Hikaru sighed, shaking her head. "It means that the human players are not going to be easy to control for any side. It could be great fun to con the Law hero into working for us, but at some point his nature should snap him right back into place." She could also take advantage of Walter's religious searching if she could determine what exactly he was searching for, causing him to worship demons instead.

"What's it matter anyhow?" Krishna said darkly. Apparently his mind was drifting back to his despair despite how drunk he was. That was not good to anyone; Hikaru knew that the White were watching for any opportunity to advance their nihilistic agenda. She would rather have Gabriel win again than to have the White gain control over humanity.

"Well you're no fun," she said. "Won't fight, won't plot, geez. I bet you have no artistry at all."

"Hey, hey, I have plenty of artistry," he insisted. "I play the flute and I know how to dress well. Much better than that lavender-skinned weirdo that was here before."

"I'll give you that," Hikaru said. "He's probably been talking to Adremmalech if he was wearing that. You're still a wimp for not wanting to fight and help end this sooner."

"Not a wimp, just not stupid," Krishna said, shifting his hat. "But if you want this to end sooner, I got the deal for that." He put his hand in front of his face, covering up some mumbling.

A flash of fire that seemed to come straight from the sun erupted around him; the force of it knocked her several feet away onto the ground. Scowling, Hikaru picked herself up in time to see a fiery tail lash out at both Gabriel and Lilith. Screaming again, Gabriel made a bright light flash in the park, briefly blinding them all with holy power. It also powerfully sealed their magic, not letting them heal at all.

Feeling like she should get involved now, Hikaru focused herself to get ready. The snake Shesha had reduced itself by the time she could see half-decently, hovering around Krishna who had collapsed onto his knees after summoning the great snake. Well he wasn't going to get hurt any time soon, but he also wasn't going to be of any more help here. When Hikaru could fully see again, Gabriel had defeated Lilith as well. She was still shaking with rage, perhaps in being damaged too.

Hikaru wasn't at her full strength right now. Even discounting the brand, she couldn't fight as well as she was capable of. But in this situation, she should be able to emerge victorious still. "Wow, you are in a murderous mood tonight," she taunted Gabriel. "I would've thought you a demon if I didn't know better."

"I am doing God's will!" she insisted, quick to lash out at her. Hikaru jumped out of the way, although her shoulder bag's strap got snapped. "I am doing God's will, you all are to be terminated!"

Throwing her bag back to keep what she had from getting disintegrated, she approached her foe while trying to sidestep all of her angry strikes. Hikaru would have liked to retort to Gabriel's maddened chant, but their attacks were being exchanged so swiftly that she couldn't take the moment for that. When she finally got close enough, she called dark flames to her fists in order to punch Gabriel's mask and break it. But that wasn't enough.

And she was taking a lot of blows too, and her uniform was being torn up! Whatever, Hikaru could care later. In this form, Gabriel did not have standard biology and thus any usual targets were not where one would expect them to be. But she did have areas where her soul had more power: a heart, mind, or lung equivalent, or something of that nature. Hikaru tried attack those areas, trying to find the one with the soft spot to really hurt Gabriel… but she knew her own human form would have easier to find weaknesses.

And… she punched Gabriel in the left shoulder and found one of those soft spots. It was enough to knock her on her back, breaking the rage that the seraph had been fighting under. That let the reality of her weakened state sink in, making it harder for her to recover from the fall. Hikaru grinned eagerly; this was it, a quick easy victory.

She tackled her again and put her weight against Gabriel's shoulders, hoping that kept her down until Hikaru to get someone (other than Krishna) to help out. "My, how the mighty have fallen," she chided. "Letting yourself get ruled by anger so. Just wait until the others know how deplorable you've become. Oh wait, they can't care and soon neither will you."

"You will never win!" Gabriel growled defiantly, lashing her leg tentacles around Hikaru's chest and threatening to choke her that way. "Never, never, that's not in the plans!" And then she threw Hikaru into a nearby light pole and fled the park.

All of a sudden, a string of flute sounds (it couldn't be called music because it was done so sloppily) filled the air, sending a wave of healing power over Hikaru. It even cut through the brand, lifting it as well. "That's, that's it, right," Krishna mumbled.

He could remove an angel's brand? Now that was interesting, potentially a game-changing power. And Shesha was an incredible beast, one under Krishna's control. Perhaps the lost god could actually be of use. Getting back to her feet and flexing out some of her joints, she went back over to retrieve her bag and talk to him. "Well now, I don't think anybody's going to doubt her insanity at this point," she said.

"Could we not do with the fighting?" Krishna asked, unsteadily trying to get back to his feet. He nearly slipped, but Shesha caught and supported him. "S'not, um…" he rubbed his head. "What're we doin' here, Shesha?"

"We were going to go out to talk privately, but then got interrupted by that nonsense," Hikaru said, snapping her fingers. That repaired her uniform and bag.

Shesha looked right at her and hissed, suspicious. Its fiery hood flared open.

"Were we?" Krishna asked, puzzled.

"Of course," Hikaru said, looking back at the snake. Carefully, she reached a hand up to its snout. "So, could you call your bodyguard here off? It could get in the way."

"Mmm, we could give her a chance," Krishna said to Shesha.

The snake hissed again, glancing back in worry.

"Come on, don't you trust me?" he asked. "I've just been drinking a bit, entirely reasonable." After a moment, he sighed. "Mm, sorry, I don't think Shesha's gonna leave me alone now. Vishnu mighta sent Shesha along with word to watch over me. Is that so? Yeah, can't get ridda Shesha now."

"Well I can deal with your snake guard if it can deal with me," Hikaru said. "I don't mean to hurt him, Shesha, I just want to talk with him."

For a moment, Shesha stared at her. Then it bumped her hand, reluctantly going along with this. But the snake stayed right by Krishna's side, maybe in part to keep him on his feet.

"So, how about we nip on over to Shinjuku to relax for a bit?" HIkaru asked with a sweet smile.

Gabriel flew as fast as she could, straining her body to do so. She kept going until she simply couldn't anymore, leading her to crash in front of one of the old Shinto shrines scattered around the city. What now? If she ran into another demon, she didn't have the energy to fight anymore. Was she going to get captured like the others? Was… was she abandoned to this miserable fate of being alone to her very end?

"No, I trust God," she mumbled, feeling like she might turn delirious. "I've always been faithful; I've always served Him. I trust myself to You, God. P-please help, please help your poor servant even though I have failed on so many levels and I don't know why."

She nearly broke into tears again, but movement nearby caught her attention. It was… humans, a small group of men and women who had been in prayer around the shrine. The Unclean ones, the filth that had been declared unfit for the kingdom of God, they still lived down here. However, it was clear that these ones were not doing well. Their frail bodies were gaunt and pale; their souls were desperate in hunger. They were unworthy.

But, she remembered times when she'd helped humans, those who'd nearly fallen astray and were being punished for losing faith right before they were given an important sign. They were given a second chance. But, they had needed some help or else they'd starve while they were finding their way.

Maybe… she had a little power. And she remembered that magic, the miracle of producing manna from nothing. There was an empty basket nearby that she could fill. "There… some food for your prayers, by God's mercy."

The people gasped, immediately grateful for the food. "Th-thank you, Great One," one of the women said.

Gabriel laughed, feeling bitter in it. "I am not great. God is the one who is truly Great. I am, a mere servant. Gabriel."

"Is there something we can do for you?" the woman asked, crouching down by her. "We are from Tennozu, just over there. We've been praying for some assistance… any assistance, from anyone."

"Direct your prayers to God, the only true power that is," she said. "As for me, I need a place to recover for now. I should be able to set this place apart, this shrine and your home. Just over there?"

Once she got confirmation of where the Tennozu shelter was, Gabriel gathered what little energy remained to her and summoned a powerful shield around the area. That should keep demons out. Then she entered the pagan shrine. It wasn't suitable, but there wasn't a suitable place anywhere nearby that she could reach. And thankfully, the humans left her alone so she could collapse into sleep.

She had faith in God, He would deliver her… somehow…

'To Fujiwara and the Association:

Just a brief time ago, a battle between a powerful angel and several demons took place in Kinshicho Park. All the residents and Hunters that were in the area were still underground due to the lockdown earlier today, so there were no injuries among us. Cameras were able to capture most of the battle but little of the sound; we can send you a recording if you want. While I know it is the responsibility of a reporting Hunter like me to further describe what occurred, I'm afraid that words fail me in trying to make a report about this battle that does not sound like a bad porn story. Thus I will report what I witnessed as is and ask your pardon in how ridiculous this reads.

I was on guard at the gate into the park proper during the lockdown caused by the power system instability. During that time, several unusual demons came and went, meeting with each other to discuss something. I was unable to ascertain what it was they spoke about due to distance, but I have made a separate report detailing who my demon summoning program could identify of them. At one point, the main demons I was keeping an eye on were Samyaza (who is normally witnessed around Kagome Tower), several lilims, and a succubus.

Then what seemed to be two humans appeared suddenly on the other side of the gate, one a teenage girl wearing a high school uniform and the other a man who appeared very drunk. They ignored me and proceeded over to where Samyaza was. It was then that I noticed that he was suddenly accompanied by a nude woman with a snake, who also turned out to be a demon. Unfortunately, my smartphone was unable to determine one demon's identity (the schoolgirl), but I was able to identify the others as Krishna (the drunk) and Lilith (the nude woman).

While three of the four (the schoolgirl, Samyaza, and Lilith) started talking, an angel identified as the Herald Gabriel flew down and started lashing out tentacles at the assembled demons. Lilith twisted her body around and grew her own tentacles to strike back, while Samyaza attacked back by using dancing to call on magic. Samyaza, the lilims, and the succubus were soon pierced by Gabriel's power and fell quickly to her. Lilith and Gabriel then fell upon each other, screaming and tumbling about.

Meanwhile, the schoolgirl had pulled Krishna aside and kept very close in whispering to him. As Gabriel got the upper hand in her struggle with Lilith, Krishna called out a giant red snake which struck all three of the female demons remaining, taking down Lilith. The snake, identified as Shesha, then knocked over the schoolgirl and pulled Krishna away from them.

Gabriel wasn't content to leave off the battle and then attacked the schoolgirl, Krishna, and Shesha. Krishna stumbled to the ground, presumably because he was drunk, and Shesha wrapped around him protectively. That left the schoolgirl to begin wrestling with Gabriel. Her uniform got shredded in the fight, but she managed to knock Gabriel down to the ground. Gabriel quickly wrapped a tentacle around her to throw her off, then fled before she could be fully defeated. The schoolgirl then went over to pet Shesha, convincing it to let her take Krishna somewhere out of my sight.

As I said before, there's video evidence of this that proves that this was a battle and I am simply reporting what happened.'

It was a ridiculous report, Fujiwara agreed, but it had really happened. They were getting into another war between the angels and demons, just as Nanashi had warned. And while Gabriel had lost that fight, she hadn't been defeated and thus would be a danger lurking around. She also had some allies down here that she would most certainly try to rescue. That was something to remember to mention in just a few moments.

Usually Tayama insisted on meetings at Roppongi where he was based. This time, the Ashura-kai leader came right to him at Cafe Florida. "Well this is a surprise, seeing you here," Fujiwara said, smiling at him.

"Cut the crap, Fujiwara," Tayama said, glowering at him. "What just happened with the JDSDF systems?"

Fujiwara raised an eyebrow at that. "What happened with that?" he asked back.

"I know you were in the system," Tayama challenged him, putting his hand heavily on the table. "And all accounts of us in the Ashura-kai were suddenly deleted, kicking us out. Why did you do that?"

"I didn't do anything of that nature," he said. "I was investigating an anonymous report that someone was trying to launch missiles from Kasumagaseki. And that was true, but it managed to sort itself out."

"Can you prove that?" he said, keeping his hands on the table.

Exactly as he expected. Fujiwara nodded and turned his laptop's screen so that Tayama could see it. "Yes, this is my log for today. I got a message from a partner in northeastern Tokyo about the missile launch and logged in right away. I did an active account check: there was my partner, two accounts of your group including yourself, and someone using Akira's account. Akira's account used its administrative allowances to end the missile launch and ban your accounts. As you can see here, whoever logged in as Akira was on network 3, northeastern Tokyo with Kinshicho, Ueno, and Akihabara."

Tayama leaned over and read the log over twice, probably searching for something to argue with him over. Fujiwara had checked it carefully himself even though he had nothing to hide. After a bit, Tayama rubbed his chin. "So it was probably the rebels up there."

It had been a boy who might be trying to imitate the rebels. Then again, there were some unusual things to Nanashi just in having Akira's demonica. "Most likely," he agreed. "You'll also note that my log does not include stopping nor starting the missile launch. Instead, it was one of your men who tried to fire missiles at Akihabara."

"What about that?" Tayama said, looking down at him. He had to be getting a clue that he was becoming cornered.

"Both accounts were accessed from within Kasumigaseki," Fujiwara explained, acting relaxed in his seat. "So what were you doing there?"

"It's not something you need to be concerned with," he said.

He shook his head. "No, it is of great concern, possibly to everyone in Tokyo. Things that happen in one area can affect the whole city with the Firmament over our heads. Just look at what occurred in Minami Sunamachi. We're not sure what happened there, but now we have poisonous swamps across the whole city. If those missiles had struck Akihabara, everyone would have heard it. Everyone might be affected, but mostly the people in northeastern Tokyo who are already having trouble with the Ginza bridge out. They could have been cut off from the rest of us entirely."

Tayama's eyes narrowed; he didn't care about that section of Tokyo since other than guarding Sky Tower, the Ashura-kai had little they were doing out there. But since they claimed to rule over Tokyo, he couldn't express those feelings. While Fujiwara felt Tayama was a very poor leader, he was the leader they had. The laws of the past were used as convenient to the Ashura-kai; there was no justice system to challenge Tayama through. He had to be handled with caution.

"I understand if it was a mistake," Fujiwara said. "It is very difficult to believe, but it might just happen."

At the table with them, Skins had been keeping quiet. But he couldn't resist adding, "If it wasn't a mistake, that is a very serious offense against everyone in Tokyo."

"Of course, we need to consider the safety of everyone in Tokyo," Tayama said. "We also need to consider the stability of the city, not allowing disturbances to give the demons an advantage over us. It may be best to explain this all as a mistake and not raise a fuss about it." He wanted it to be covered up.

Fujiwara did not; he turned the screen to look for a message. "That could be difficult. Many people asked me if I knew anything about what occurred with the instability that got reported to everyone. I sent my associates the Kasumigaseki log as the best explanation I had. As a result, they want an explanation from you about what occurred there." He turned the screen again to show a message from the Association leader in Ueno; that town had been compliant with the Ashura-kai's rules, but this was angering the people there.

"I was just saying that disturbances are unwanted," Tayama scolded him.

"Of course," Fujiwara said. "And things that are left with no explanation can disturb communities greatly. They wished to know and I informed them the best I could. Now it's on you to explain what you were doing there since that started this whole trouble."

Tayama tried a few other ways to worm out of saying anything, but he eventually said that he'd give some message to the people. But he would not admit to launching the missiles, taking the excuse that it was a mistake. It was a weak excuse; Fujiwara expected that few people would accept it. He didn't want to become a leader that people saw. But if Tayama couldn't stabilize things after this foolish misstep, Fujiwara might have to openly step up to the role at last.