(A/N: To be perfectly honest, I feel bleh lately, like I don't want to write at all, but I do it for you, my fans. Laziness is not an option).
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima. Code Geass is owned by Ichiro Okuichi
The Demonic Realm
Two demon guards stood on duty in front of the Castle of the Demon King. Guard duty was boring, even in the demonic realm. Or rather, especially in the demonic realm since no one ever dared approach the keep without an invitation. So, when they saw Mia approaching the front gates, they were not only surprised, but happy. As far as succubus went in the demonic realm, Mia was one of the most popular and the most powerful. That got you far in the demonic realm.
With her usual sexy walk, Mia stepped right up to the guards. "Good morning, gentlemen," she said in a sweet seductive voice. "How are you today?"
"L-lady Mia," one of the guards stuttered. "Wh-what brings you to the castle? If Lord Ein sees you—"
"Oh don't mind me boys," Mia said, flapping her wings and stretched as she twisted her body to show off her ass. "Just enjoy the view."
Sometimes I can't believe I have a mother like that, Kasumi grumbled.
Mia stretched one arm high above her head and wiggled her fingers to indicate that the guards were certifiably distracted.
"Okay," Suzaku whispered to Kasumi. "It's up to you and Kallen now."
"Right," Kasumi nodded.
Sending Kallen out first as she followed Kasumi's directions, she walked in front of the group towards a secret side entrance that Kasumi knew about having lived in the castle for nine years. No guards were posted near it, just as Kasumi suspected. Suzaku's plan was that if any demons stopped the group on their way to the dungeons, Kallen could state that everyone was her prisoner.
Unfortunately, Suzaku didn't count on one thing, which Lelouch would have. Although Mia's butler had failed to recognize Kasumi, Ein's men were on the lookout for her and the group. So, when the group reached the foyer of the castle's first basement, they were ambushed in a cramped space by fifty demons.
"This all of part of your plan too?" CC asked. Suzaku gave her a look.
Floating by the opposite side wall by the ceiling was a white demon with thick, black claws and horns so large and quantitative they were coming out of his neck.
"Well, well, well Lord Ein anticipates and plans well it seems," the demon said, his arms folded.
Kasumi thrust her arm out sideways. "Stand aside Kariya! Ratatosk must be freed."
"You know as well as I do the law of the demonic realm, Kasumi," Kariya said to her.
"I don't buy it! Ratatosk could never lose to anyone!" Kasumi shouted.
"Whether or not he can is irrelevant, the point is that he did and as such, Lord Ein's orders are absolute." Kariya landed, his thick legs, creating a small shockwave as the massive demon stood at a whopping eight feet tall. "I am under strict orders not to let you leave this basement alive."
Kasumi gritted her teeth and prepared to strike, but Mirajane stepped forward. "Leave this lot to me," she said seriously.
"You're sure?" Kasumi asked. "Kariya is one of the strongest of Ratatosk's generals. His soul steal will heal him as he hurts you and soul burn converts his own energy into raw killing power.
"Just trust me," Mirajane said, as dark magic swirled around her. "I can handle it." She then transformed into her Satan Soul form. "Soul Extinction!" With a blast of her demonic powers, Mirajane cleared the room of all demons except for Kariya. "Go!" she shouted.
"Right!" Kasumi shouted and ran towards the staircase. "Everyone follow me."
"You think you can take me on?" Kariya asked.
"Only one way to find out," Mirajane chuckled as the two launched at each other. Their fists created a shockwave that caused the entire room to shake. Mirajane smirked. "We'd best take this outside." Grabbing Kariya by the neck as her claws sunk into his skin, Mirajane flew up and out of the castle, taking the fight to the skies. She and Kariya punched each other again, their fists equaling each other in power.
A rapid flurry of punches and kicks then ensued, each strike too fast for the naked eye to see. As the rapid fire exchange died down, Mirajane took a swing at Kariya's face, but he ducked under it and then took a swing at her head. She dodged left. He took another swing at her face with his other arm, but she dodged right.
Mirajane then spun and whacked Kariya in the face with her tail. "Evil Spark!" A blast of electrical dark energy his Kariya in the face. However, as the dust cleared from the explosion, he appeared undamaged.
He spoke without any inflection in his tone. "You fight well for a human."
"I think you'll find that I'm not ordinary human," Mirajane said and then flew at Kariya with intense speed, decking him in the face. "I'm a proud mage of Fairy Tail."
Back underground, Kasumi and the others traipsed down the staircase, Kallen forced to move on all fours at the back of the group to avoid hitting her head against the ceiling and so that she wouldn't hit anyone by accident.
This is humiliating, she thought. I really hope I can turn back to normal.
As the group reached the bottom of the winding staircase, the second floor basement, contained the jail cells for low level demons. Standing at the far side of the large prison block was the demon general Ash.
"So, Kariya wasn't strong enough to stop you," he said.
"More like he got held up in a little traffic," Loke retorted. "Do you intend to get in our way?"
"I am on orders from Lord Ein." Ash stuck his battleax into the ground, his hands on the base of the weapon. "You won't be getting any farther than here."
"Intending to fight us all by yourself?" Kasumi asked.
"It will be enough," Ash responded and with a single lunge was already on the group. With her bulky arm, Kallen blocked his ax.
She then pressed her palm into his chest. "Radiant Wave Surge!" With her standard attack, Kallen blasted Ash all the way across the room.
"You'll have to do better than that," Ash said, righting himself.
"Can do." Kallen charged her right fist and thrust it forward with all her might. "Breaker X!" Everything caught in the blast disintegrated before Kallen's attack. Even the wall behind the group crumbled. Thankfully the foundation was strong enough that the entire prison block didn't come down on their heads.
"Nice work, Kallen," Suzaku complimented.
"Not really, he's still alive. I can feel it."
Ash's foot was the first thing to emerge from the smoke, followed by his ax. When he finished stepping through the smoke, it was clear that Kallen had blown his helmet clean off. It had also shattered his false face, revealing a more human visage. Ash reached up, touching his left hand to his face, frowning.
"Impressive. It's been a while since my etherious form was damaged to such an extent." Ash's face had dark skin, and black hair with yellow eyes. However, the style and shape of his face, along with the style of his hair, shocked Kallen. It couldn't be. It just couldn't be.
Before she could react to the revelation, Ash charged forward again. However, before he could reach the group, Kallen called out, "Naoto!"
Ash stopped short, his blade mere inches from giving Kallen a nasty scar across her chest. "What did you just call me?"
"Is it you? Naoto, can it really be you?"
Ash took a few steps back. "Who are you?" he demanded out of Kallen. "I haven't gone by that name in over a decade."
"Wait, are you really, Naoto Kozuki?" Suzaku asked.
"I am, or rather I used to be," Ash answered.
"It really is you," If Kallen wasn't in her demonic form, she would've started crying. "Brother."
Now it was Naoto's turn to be shocked. "K-Kallen?"
Kallen nodded. "Yes."
"I…what happened to you?"
"Just a little mishap with takeover magic," she answered, "We're hoping Ratatosk can reverse the effects."
Naoto didn't know what to do. "Kallen, Ratatosk is…"
"We know. We came here to free him to help in my search for you, but…I didn't expect we'd run into you like this."
"You…came looking for me?"
"Kallen's been looking for you ever since she lost you," Suzaku told him. "She either wanted proof of your demise or confirmation that you were alive and well."
"I see," Naoto answered.
"How is it you came to be a demon, let alone one of Ratatosk's elite?" Kasumi asked him.
"And what were you doing in Unistrad?" Suzaku wanted to know.
"The second question is easy to answer: Ratatosk asked me to move Withengar's dagger to one of Morrigan's shrines."
"Did he tell you why?" CC asked.
Naoto shook his head. "No, but I owe Ratatosk much. I wasn't about to disobey him, so I told the sister running the church that the hallowed shrine of Morrigan might sap the demon of its power."
"How did Withengar know your name then?"
"He spoke to me through the dagger as I was carrying it."
"I'll have to ask Ratatosk about this later. Your actions, from what I've read, brought back Withengar out into the open."
"Goodness! Was he defeated?"
Kallen nodded. "We got him, big brother."
"Like that woman Nessa said," Naoto said with a smile. "You've become so strong Kallen. I'm proud of you for becoming a mage. Even though, you know, it seems like you're still working out a few kinks."
"Naoto." If Kallen was in human form she would've broken down sobbing in her brother's arms, but her current form prevented any such emotion.
"So what now?" Kalina asked.
"Well, mission complete, but as long as we've come this far…" Kasumi trailed off.
"I agree. Let's get Ratatosk back in power. It's in the best interest of humans that he's in charge," Suzaku stated.
"Agreed," Naoto nodded.
"Wait a minute. You didn't answer Kasumi's question. How did you become a demon?"
Naoto sighed. "It's not a pleasant story. I don't remember the details very well, but I'll share what I remember."
15 years ago
The Demonic Realm
As Naoto was dragged into the demon realm by the demon that Kallen and he had summoned he landed on the ground of the realm with a thud. "Ugh," he groaned. He then immediately began choking on miasma.
"Oh my, what have we here?"
Naoto turned to see the silhouette of two demons. One of them he recognized as the demon that had brought him here, the other had a more human figure to it. The voice that had spoken to him was definitely that figure's since the voice was decisively female. The silhouette, with how dark it was had no defining features Naoto could discern except for the fact that the woman had two tufts of hair poking out the sides of her head. He couldn't discern the color or how it looked compared to the rest of her head though, too dark and he was continuing to choke.
"Interesting," the woman said. "You can live in our realm however temporarily even though you have no magic at all. Perhaps I should help you with that." Naoto saw the woman pull something out and heard the crack of a whip. He barely made out that her right finger—and possibly whole hand—was a claw. She then began twirling what appeared to be a snake sword by her right hand side. "Here in our native realm, I don't need machinery to turn humans into demons. Just relax, boy, and let the darkness take you."
Present Day
"She whipped me once and my body was in pure agony. By the time I came too, my transformation into a demon was almost complete. Ratatosk found me and recruited me into his army. He knew what I was and volunteered to treat me properly as long as I did proper work in the demonic realm. He even taught me how to control my demonic form. I've been here ever since."
"And what about that female demon that transformed her?" Kallen asked.
"Haven't seen her at all," Naoto stated. "If I did I would've clawed her throat out."
"Well, I'm just happy you're alive brother. You can come home when this is over, right?"
"I'm afraid not. I'm not a takeover mage, Kallen. I'm as good as a full-blood demon. I've spent too long in the demonic realm. This is my home now."
"That's…"
"Understandable," Kasumi said. "You've been corrupted almost fully by the miasma. I've seen cases like yours before."
"But then how come I can live as a human?" Kalina asked.
"You were born in the human realm," Kasumi told her. "I raised you in a mana rich environment, so you adapted to it. Same as my first few years of infancy were spent here in the demonic realm. I'm only a half blood so I simply built up immunity to miasma. For a human to adapt to miasma without having any magic potential at all, it's understandable that they wouldn't be able to survive, except periodically, in the natural realm."
"But that's not fair!" Kallen complained.
"Why not make a contract with my master," Loke said. Everyone looked at him. "Demons can be summoned in a variety of ways. One of which involves a black key similar in fashion to a silver or gold key from the celestial spirit realm."
"So, what, I should just go to Lucy and be all 'hey can I see my brother?' Sounds inconvenient."
"Well, maybe not like that," Loke scratched his cheek. "But at least Naoto will get out more right. Who knows, maybe before you're old and gray he might properly adapt to mana."
"Wishful thinking to be sure, but it's certainly better than nothing," Kasumi said.
As the air above the group shook, they realized they had a job to do. "Looks like Mirajane's giving it her all," Suzaku said.
"Oh please, you haven't seen her all, trust me," Loke chuckled. "But I get your point. What's the plan?"
"Well, since we've found Naoto by a stroke of luck and Mirajane's no longer back the way we came from the sound of it, let's split up a little. Kallen, Naoto, you two come with me and we'll bash up the front gates a little. Ein might divert some of his forces to deal with us thinking we might intend to challenge him directly."
"And what if Ein enters the field of battle himself?" Kasumi asked. "You three aren't strong enough to take him together, even if my mother joined in to help."
"Then let us hope you free Ratatosk before that happens," Suzaku said.
"Ein wouldn't enter the field of battle himself unless he had to, he's too prideful for that," Naoto stated. "This plan has holes in it, but we've no better options."
"You just want to fight side by side with your sister," CC retorted.
"Anyone ever told you, you're a rude woman?" Naoto asked.
"Okay let's not break team synergy before it's formed. Let's follow Suzaku's plan and get going. Kalina, Loke, CC, let's go!" The group nodded and everyone split up.
As Kasumi and the others raced down the stairs, Loke asked her, "How much further do we have?"
"About two more floors," Kasumi answered. "Why?"
"Just wondering."
"Would you stop complaining about the journey?" CC asked. "You're a celestial spirit, shouldn't you have limitless stamina?"
"I don't want to hear that from someone that can float!" Loke exclaimed, noting that CC's feet weren't touching the ground.
"Not my fault I mastered levitation magic."
"I said shut up!"
"She started it!" Loke exclaimed like a school child. Kasumi glared. "I mean, sorry ma'am."
The quartet reached the next floor where upon they were greeted by a red demon with a spider for a head. "Grixis," Kasumi called his name.
Without answering her, Grixis thrust both his hands forward, unleashing a torrent of buzzing insects towards the group.
"Careful those bees are poisonous," Kasumi shouted as the group scattered to avoid the swarm.
"He uses bees?" CC seemed unimpressed.
"Why are you so calm?" Loke asked her only for CC's Geass: Vision to wipe out every last bee as she swept the beam across the room. "Oh."
Enraged, Grixis summoned twice as many bees as before, causing Kalina to yelp and cover her face. Insects were okay to her, but this was too many.
"Geass: Freeze." In an instant the whole room the group had emerged into froze as if time inside it had stopped. "Geass: Vision!" With her hex, CC blasted a clear path towards Grixis and stood right in front of him as she put a hand on him. "Geass: Detonation." The same sparrow silhouette that appeared in CC's eyes, appeared on Grixis' body. Time then resumed. "Geass: teleport." CC retreated to her original position just as her detonation geass blasted a big hole in Grixis' body, killing him. Instantly all the bees disappeared. CC thread her fingers through her hair and threw it out at her side. "Child's play."
"What just happened?" Loke asked.
"The power of geass," CC said. "Now, you said we have one more floor to reach?" She asked Kasumi.
"Uh, yeah." She watched CC walk down the linear staircase, confused. What was that just now? Everything happened in a split second, but more importantly, the level of power needed to damage Grixis like that far surpasses my own. Just who is this woman?
Back above ground, Suzaku, Kallen and Naoto began making a ruckus in the main courtyard by smashing it up. It wasn't long before their vandalism caught Ein's attention and he sent a horde of demons at them. When the army of five hundred demons failed to stop three rebels, he sent one of his most trusted subordinates out to deal with them.
The demon was purple with two, piercing blue eyes, a rather short tail, large red wings and carrying a black broadsword with spikes in seemingly random locations along the blade.
"Who dares disturb Master Ein's fortress?" the demon demanded to know, his voice high pitched and wispy.
"It's not Ein's Castle. This castle is the property or Ratatosk!" Kallen roared.
"It's Master Ein's now," the demon answered.
"Don't try to convince Khaz," Naoto told his sister. "He's loyal to Ein, not Ratatosk. Ein put him as one of his personal elite commanders after he dealt with Ratatosk."
"He doesn't look that tough." Kallen charged forward and gripped Khaz around his torso, overloading him with radioactive energy. It seemed to work, but then Khaz reappeared high in the air by the outer wall of the courtyard. "He can teleport?"
"And that's not all I can do," Khaz said. That's when Suzaku, Kallen and Naoto realized that they had numerous eyes all glaring at them from a multitude of directions and coming out of every nook and crany around the courtyard.
"Spiders! An army of spiders!" Suzaku declared.
"Thanks captain obvious! We all have eyes!" Kallen shouted. "What's up with their eyes though?" Indeed each spider's eyes were of various colors and not all of them had eight eyes. In fact some only had a single eye. Others had as many as ten.
"Curse of the spiders. It's Khaz's specialty," Naoto pointed out. "That's cute Khaz if you think an army of spiders is going to stop us."
"You're significantly outnumbered, Ash! Just the three of you against my legion won't be able to win."
"I see someone's forgotten my ability," Naoto drew his hand over his face, replacing both his helmet and his false elongated face. Red energy encased his body as he shouted. "Pride of the Ancients!" With a single swing of his axe, the shockwave caused by Naoto's swing, sent the spiders off their feet and towards the wall in droves.
"That was amazing!" Kallen exclaimed.
"Don't get too excited by it. The more power I put into this curse, the less rational I become. You or Suzaku handle the other half of the legion. The other should take out Khaz."
"Leave it to me then," Suzaku said.
"You're sure?" Kallen asked him.
"Just trust me," Suzaku said and tore after Khaz's current location as he jumped into the air higher than Khaz's altitude. He drew back his arm and shouted, "Shotgun!" He missed Khaz as the demon faded into mist, causing Suzaku to tear down the back wall and almost fall into the abyss below. Khaz took a swing at him with his sword, but Suzaku leaped backwards up and over the demon general's head.
Looks like I'll need to be careful, he said to himself as he panted. I was able to resist Kasumi's miasma because I was calm and collected. An opponent like this will force me to use quite a bit of magic. I just hope my body doesn't give out at the worst time. "Shinku Hadoken!" Suzaku unleashed the attack upon Khaz, keeping the beam out as he pursued Khaz with it before ending the attack prematurely, realizing he wasn't getting anywhere. "Hadoken!" The fast travelling shot missed. Looks like I need to either ground him or bring him into close range. Suzaku stood still and watched Khaz circle overhead. Think, Suzaku, think, how would Lelouch go about this? Suzaku then began looking around for some kind of tool he could use to catch Khaz and bring him down. However, as he looked around, Suzaku noticed a window in a nearby tower. He examined the trajectory angle between where Khaz might be and as he moved away from the tower, he noticed a second window in the same tower ninety degrees from the first one. That might do it, but if I miss I'm in big trouble.
Running underneath Khaz, Suzaku made a beeline for the wall to his left. Jumping towards it, he kicked off the wall, defying gravity as his foot kicked off the base of the windowsill and Suzaku was in the tower. Khaz pursued only for Suzaku to come in from behind him.
"Spinzaku!" Spinning like a helicopter, Suzaku had spun around the outside of the building and drove his foot into Khaz's face. Khaz crashed into the wall and fell down the slope. Suzaku landed on the banister and began pelting Khaz with fireballs while sliding down the railing. He hit Khaz a few times, but it was then that he noticed that there were a bunch of spiders that began to appear and began throwing themselves at him.
Suzaku abandoned the railing and began using the edges of the winding staircase to bounce downward towards the ground floor. Khaz floated a floor above him, but in these cramped quarters, Suzaku couldn't miss. "Shinku Hadoken!"
Kallen and Naoto noticed the top of the tower blast off as a bright beam of blue light ascended into the sky.
As rubble began to fall inside the building, Suzaku coughed as dust got into his lungs from the destroyed bricks and mortar. He had hoped that that had done considerable damage or finished Khaz, but the demon was alive and well. Fortunately, it appeared one of his wings had been shredded in the blast.
Yes! Grounded him!
"Don't think you've won just because I can't fly," Khaz lunged at Suzaku, intending to club him with his sword, but Suzaku dodged.
"Shoryuken!" Rising into the air, Suzaku knocked back Khaz into part of the tower that hadn't been destroyed. As Khaz bounced of the wall Suzaku fired another Hadoken. This blasted Khaz through the wall and Suzaku was able to run out and greet the demon with a powerful ball of energy. "Kokosho!"
Khaz was significantly damaged by Suzaku's kinetic magic. Realizing that unless he was dead, the spiders wouldn't disappear and his friends would still be in danger, Suzaku finished the demon off with one more Kokosho. The spiders disappeared and he then dropped to one knee, panting.
Kallen ran over to him. "Hey, are you all right?"
"My body," Suzaku panted, "feels heavy. I think fighting keeps me from resisting miasma quite as well as I had hoped."
"But you passed Kasumi's test with flying colors."
"I had calmed my breath to resist the demonic powers afflicting me. Agh," Suzaku grabbed his shoulder.
"We have to do something."
"Oh, are you peasants having trouble, perhaps I can assist."
Naoto took one look at the demon in human form approaching the trio and winced. Ah, shit.
Ein merely smirked. "It is a poor host that does not greet his guest. Allow me to escort you three to the next world."
In the castle's lowest basement, Kasumi, Loke, CC and Kalina had finally arrived. Flower shaped pods surrounded them in a blue tinted room big enough to fit a theater. Not everywhere in the room had a walkway and in between the branching paths was a bottomless abyss with a swirling black mass at the bottom.
"I don't think I need to say it, but don't fall into that," Kasumi told the others. "You won't die, but there's no telling what might happen to you. I just know that it's nothing good."
"Oh don't worry about falling in alive," Kasumi gasped as she and the others turned around to see three demons high up on the wall by the ceiling behind them.
One demon was black and thin with orange wings and a horseshoe shaped golden crest on his head. He was the one in the center of the demon trio. To his right was a pinkish red demon with a forked tail, two pointed horns and black armor on his stomach and wrists. The last remaining demon looked old even for demon kind with tattered wings, dark blue skin that appeared to have wrinkles and he was carrying a scythe with a barbed blade.
"Nidhogg," CC looked at the center demon, "Moulbacher," she looked at the red demon, "Morton," she looked at the old demon.
"How surprising that you know our names," Nidhogg said as she and the other two demons floated down to meet the party.
CC's eyes flashed. "Telepathy magic."
"I see."
"Where is Ratatosk?" Kasumi demanded to know.
"Who knows, maybe we already through him in the black vortex," Nidhogg chuckled. "Ein was always a cold, calculating type."
"Don't screw with me!" Kasumi shouted as she rushed forward to stab Nidhogg with her claws. However, as she drew near a wave of dread washed over her and Morton began to swing his scythe.
"Geass: Freeze!" CC shouted quickly and immediately ran towards Kasumi, grabbed her and retreated back with her. They're powerful, very powerful.
As Kasumi realized she had been rescued, she wondered what the hell happened to her just now and why she suddenly felt so afraid.
"Kasumi, look at me."
Kasumi looked CC in the eyes.
"Geass: Dispel."
The fear she had felt moments ago vanished from Kasumi in an instant.
"What was—"
"Nidhogg's curse. If I hadn't grabbed you when I did, Morton's scythe would've done worse than lacerate you." CC stood in front of the party. "Loke! With me! Kalina! Kasumi! I can sense Ratatosk in one of these pods! I can just barely hear his thoughts! Find him!"
"Right!" Kasumi nodded. "Let's go, Kalina!"
"You boys take care of these two, I'll go get Ratatosk's lovely lady," Nidhogg flew past CC before she could surmount a geass to stop him.
"Any hints?" Loke asked her.
"Take the red one. The old one's not someone you want to tangle with. Leave him to me. Also, avoid blood loss."
"Gee, thanks," Loke said, less than thrilled by CC's less than helpful advice. Still, he engaged Moulbacher up close, while CC used her Geass: Vision to attack Morton.
With half their previous party split, Kasumi and Kalina ran around the room, wondering which pod could possibly have Ratatosk in it.
"Don't you have any idea mom?" Kalina asked.
"I don't. And even if I did, I would have no idea how to release them."
"Poor you, almost makes a fella cry. Except me, of course. I make people cry. Tears are delicious." Kasumi and Kalina turned to face Nidhogg just as they came a big flower pod at the far end of the room. "End of the line, ladies. Tell me, do you prefer it to be over quick and painless or slow agony."
"How about you just die?" Kalina shouted. "I summon thee: Mesmera." Suddenly a purple, worm like creature with yellow fangs like a crocodile mixed with a Rottweiler and a skull shaped like a beaver lunged at Nidhogg to attack him while its tail remained coiled around Kalina's arm.
"Aww, you have a pet, that's cute. Really it is." Nidhogg said as his claws slashed through the creature and chopped it's body in half.
"Mesmera!"
"Be wise not to underestimate me, kid." Nidhogg told her. "You'll wind up regretting it."
I can't use Hypnox in an area like this. What do I—
In the next instant Kasumi took out her claws and tapped them together at a perpendicular angle. A small, black sphere formed in front of her. "Face the embrace of death: Imhullu!" A blast of dark energy fired forward from Kasumi and spread out like a flood light. It was so dense and massive that it consumed Nidhogg and everything in its path completely in darkness. It destroyed the incomplete wall at the far end of the room she and the others were in.
Unfortunately, just by being this close to Nidhogg, Kasumi and Kalina were under the effects of his Emotion Eater Curse. So, although Kasumi had done considerable damage with her most powerful darkness spell—shredding off Nidhogg's wings and leaving him thoroughly bleeding—the wave of dread she had felt from before was more powerful than ever.
That was my best attack. There's nothing I can do. Kasumi dropped to her knees in despair. The loss of her confidence and other emotions save fear and despair were feeding Nidhogg and helping him recover. We came all this way only to fail.
"Yes, that's it, give in to despair," Nidhogg encouraged.
Kasumi fell forward onto all fours. Ratatosk…please…help. "Ratatosk!"
As if triggered by her call, the ground beneath Kasumi lit up as did the flower pod behind her, blinding Nidhogg with its light.
"What?"
The pod opened as the familiar appearance of the blond, barefooted king of demons stepped out from the flower sealing pod and onto the ground in front of him. He was tugging at the scarf on his neck and scratching the side of it with his index finger.
His eyes were still closed up until he slowly turned the increasingly growing nervous Nidhogg and opened them. His piercing red eyes formed a scowl at the worker for his usurper. "Don't worry, Kasumi," he said to her. "I won't let anything happen to you." With a thrust of his arm, Ratatosk declared. "Away with you!" Nidhogg was pushed back, removing the effects of his curse from Kasumi now that she was at a farther distance from him.
"Ratatosk!" she exclaimed, now surprised by his appearance.
"How did you get out of there?" Nidhogg declared.
"Nidhogg, Nidhogg, Nidhogg," Ratatosk shook his head. "Did you really think you could contain me so easily? I let myself be captured by Ein. I've been conscious from within this sealing pod for the last month fully aware of Ein's intentions to turn all of demon kind against the humans."
"But if we were no match for you then why didn't you stop us?" Nidhogg demanded to know.
"Simple, your rebellion amused me. I thought I'd simply bide my time until I could wait no longer and give you all a proper spanking. I had thought to wait a little longer, but when Kasumi arrived in the realm, I figured I'd wait until she reached me." He glanced at her. "I wanted to know if she really cared."
Kasumi covered her reddening cheeks with the back of her hand. "D-don't get the wrong idea."
Ratatosk smirked. "Heh, same as ever." He looked at Kalina. "And you, Kalina. Have you been a good girl since I last saw you?" Kalina only nodded.
"Good, now why don't you two just sit back and relax and let me clean up my own mess. Hah!" With a single lunge, Ratatosk's sword was drawn and he had slashed Nidhogg not once, but twice as the demon was obliterated in an orange explosion.
"This is…"
"…the power of the king of demons," Kalina finished her mother's sentence.
Ratatosk put his sword away and gazed at the sky. "Hmm, seems like there's a ruckus going on upstairs. Kasumi, can I trust you to help your friends down here, I'm going to go handle Ein myself."
"That's fine, but…"
"Don't worry about what you were feeling earlier. That was just Nidhogg's power. Just avoid Morton's scythe and don't let Moulbacher drink your blood and you'll be fine. And also…" Ratatosk trailed off. He appeared to be examining CC. Is she…?
"What? What is it?" Kasumi asked him.
"It's nothing. Just…no nevermind." If she doesn't know, probably best I don't say anything either. Ratatosk then snapped his fingers. Instantly, two demons were summoned before him.
One was blonde with aviary hands and feet and a mark of some variety on the lower left side of her abdomen that Kasumi could've sworn she'd seen before. Her ears were pointed and she had a black chin guard. Her body was perfectly hourglass shaped and her bust was bigger than Kasumi's own. The guildmaster of Kraken's Eye was surprised by how little the demon was wearing by comparison to her mother.
The other demon appeared a bit more modest. Granted Kasumi was still losing in the chest department, but she was wearing a leopard skin dress covering everything from her bosom down. The most striking features of this other demon were the two golden horns on either side of her head of long dark hair that pointed up and the strange mark on her forehead very different from the other demon's.
"You called, Lord Ratatosk," the dark haired demon spoke.
"Kyouka, Sayla," Ratatosk addressed them, "If you wish to have the freedom to leave this place, now is the time. I need you to fan out the flames of rebellion stirring up for me. Ein will have certainly begun to propagate my defeat over the last month. I need you two to establish that such is not so. Eliminate any and all of Ein's supporters.
"Thy will be done, Lord Ratatosk," the blonde demon, Kyouka, chuckled as she and Sayla took off into the air together.
"Who were those women?" Kasumi asked, more confused than jealous.
"Kyouka and Sayla, two demons of Zeref's. They came here seeking knowledge of my realm and of me. However, when they arrived, I told them they could stay forever if they wished, but I chose when they could finally leave. They changed here due to the miasma level. I fear if they return to the human world, despite what they intend after being here for fifteen years now, they'll forget everything the moment they step outside. Among demon kind they are incredibly powerful, but they lack any sort of mental mana control, such is the curse of being part of Taratarus.
"Tartarus? The dark guild?" Kasumi exclaimed.
Ratatosk put a finger to his lips. "I've said too much. This is a secret between demons."
"Oh no, no, you can't just hold back information that would be beneficial to us!" Kalina shouted.
"Let the matter go, Kalina. I told you, this is only a concern to demon kind."
"No it's not! Tartarus is one of the three main guilds of the Balam alliance. If you have any information—"
"Kalina, let it go," Ratatosk told her. "I told you, this is a secret between demons. It's not like Tartarus is directly threatening Kraken's Eye at the moment. I cannot overstep my role as the King of Demons."
Kalina humphed, but understood her father's point.
"Now then, if you'll excuse me I have some house cleaning to do. I would advise that you all gather your comrades and make for my chambers. I'll meet you there."
"Don't tell me what to do," Kasumi snapped.
Ratatosk smiled. "You've grown up to be a remarkable woman. In the time since we last saw each other I believe I've come to understand Mia's feelings towards your father, but it can never be."
Kasumi "Who says I want you around?" Kasumi snapped. "I told you before, what happened between us was a mistake. I shouldn't have—"
"Kasumi, why do you deny your feelings so strongly? You care for Kalina with such fervor, so why do I not receive your love as well?" Ratatosk asked her. Kasumi was silent. I suppose you must still regret the circumstances. However, no one fabricated the feelings we had for each other when you were here."
"Just shut up and go," Kasumi told him.
Ratatosk sighed. "All right, I see I'm just as unpopular with you as ever. Poor me." Ratatosk began to walk past Kasumi and Kalina and prepared to take off just as Kyouka and Sayla had done before.
"H-hey mom," Kalina tugged at Kasumi's arm. She noticed her mother ball a fist. She wondered what was so complicated about her parents' relationship. Did they not love each other? But then, as Ratatosk had pointed out, why did Kasumi love her so much? Adults are complicated, Kalina thought.
"Please be careful." Kasumi suddenly said.
Ratatosk appeared to pause, but it was hard to tell from the distance he was at.
"Sheesh mom, we come all the way out here to see dad and you act like you aren't happy to see him."
Kasumi sighed intensely, "Kalina, when you finally find someone to fall in love with, I pray it's someone you can always keep at your side and isn't someone society will hate you for. Now then," Kasumi pulled out her claws and smiled at her daughter. "What's say you and I help your father tidy up?"
"Sounds good to me," Kalina said. Putting her hand to the ground, Kalina shouted, "I summon thee: Wert!" Suddenly a gigantic blue creature like someone had mixed a newt with a bullfrog and increased its mass to the size of a horse appeared.
Together both mother and daughter said simultaneously, "Kraken's Eye has its eye on you!" They then rushed to help Loke and CC. However, as they approached the two watched as CC got stabbed by Morton. Of course, having regenerative tissue magic came in handy and with Geass: Vision she blasted his head off his torso.
"Nice scythe," CC remarked as she dispelled it into a pocket dimension. "I think I'll keep it."
And, at the same time, Loke smashed his fist into Moulbacher with a loud shout of "Regulus Impact!" The bright light from Loke's attack finished off the injured demon. Loke then massaged his wrist. "Piece of cake."
"Remind me never to underestimate celestial spirits ever again," Kasumi said, dumbfounded that her and her daughter's battle cry had been pointless.
"Noted."
"After incidents like Withengar and fighting your friends, you sometimes tend to forget that, yeah, you are actually a force to be reckoned with."
—Loke
(A/N: …yeah our heroes kind of overcompensated for this mission. Or maybe that's just cause I want the arc to be over. Writing's tough when all of your cast lacks any sort of quirks to be entertaining. We'll be wrapping up the Journey to Hell arc with Mirajane fighting and defeating Kariya and Ratatosk's fight against Ein. And yes we will get to see both of their Etherious forms. As for Kyouka and Sayla showing up out of the blue them being here will actually affect the Tartarus arc. Expect to see Kyouka sooner than that though. Anyway, I'm happier with this chapter than the previous one, probably because I got to let Mirajane punch a demon in the face and next chapter I get to write the fight out in its entirety. Until then, have a good one folks. No, I do not intend to elaborate on what's up with CC or who actually transformed Naoto. Figure it out! Ja ne!)
