Chapter 14

Written By Illuminet

Disclaimer: Refer to the first chapter to view it.

"..."-Indicate Speech

'...'-Indicate Thought

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Netherworld, Overlord's Castle, Balcony

"What? So Laharl already left for the Alternate Netherworld, huh?"

Priere asked. Etna nodded.

"Hmm...so he finally begins his journey...even if it's been over a century since the incident with Baal, many of people have yet to truly forget the horror he brought with him. I hope Laharl will have an easy time to convince the people, otherwise things could get very ugly."

Michaelangelo stated. Priere turned to face him.

"No kidding. Still, we've done what we can so the rest must be done by Laharl alone."

She said.

"That's not totally true. While he may physically need to do the rest of the work, we can still support him emotionally. Laharl is still tender and can crack under too much stress. We should lend a helping hand whenever possible."

Etna stated. Both Priere and Michaelangelo looked at her.

"You know, Etna, that doesn't sound much like you at all. When did the carefree spirit of yours grow so old? You sound like a mother doting over a child...or maybe more of a wife worrying over the well being of her husband."

Priere teased. Etna lowered her head, hiding a faint blush.

"What are you talking about? I'm still me, aren't I? I don't sound like some mother or a wife or whatever."

She stated, thankful she didn't stutter. Priere smirked.

"Oh please...would you stop pretending you don't have feelings for the guy already? I've been knowing about your feelings for over a century now. Just tell him already and stop beating around the bush."

Priere said.

"I..."

Etna began, but was interrupted as Longinus, who was resting against the railing of the balcony, stood up on it's pommel.

"Your highness...!"

He, too, could not finish his words as a terrible shaking rocked the castle.

"What's going on?"

Michaelangelo asked.

"How entertaining...the trio is all here."

A voice rang out as the shaking stopped. Etna and the others looked around for the source of the voice, knowing all too well who it was.

"Can't be...!"

Priere stated, a shiver running up her spine.

"Oh, but my dears, it very much can be."

The voice came again. Manty came rushing onto the balcony.

"Your highness, your not going to believe it, but there is this giant..."

Before Manty could say anything more, the largest Prinny Etna had ever sense waddled through the entrance, having to duck in order to not hit the top frame of the ceiling. With a wave of his fin, he swatted Manty clear off the side of balcony.

"It's been awhile, Overlord. Over one hundred years, and not much has changed for you all. I can't say the same for me, but..."

The massive Prinny began. Etna's hand clenched the shaft of Longinus tightly.

"Baal...there's no way you'd be able to reappear into the land of the living after such a short time."

She said firmly. The giant Prinny chuckled.

"Heh...you make it seem as if I couldn't bend some of the laws of nature. Krichevskoy did it, and so can I. And for the record, Baal is dead now. I am the original Lord of Terror."

Raol stated.

"Going to try and take over the worlds again, are you? As long as we have Laharl on our side, your little dreams are going to be crushed, Raol."

Priere said through clenched teeth. Raol shook his head, as if not caring what she just said.

"Laharl? Unfortunately for you all, he has already been taken care of."

Raol stated in a satisfied tone of voice. Etna's eyes narrowed.

"What have you done with him?"

She said in a dangerous tone of voice.

"Not much, Overlord Etna, so stop worrying. Laharl is far too valuable to be killed."

Raol said. Everyone looked puzzled.

"What do you mean?"

Michaelangelo asked. Raol's eyes gleamed brighter.

"Don't you get it yet? He carries a fraction of my powers. Powers I intend to get back. Allow me to rephrase my earlier words: It is not Laharl's soul which is valuable, it's Laharl's body which is the valuable one. Unfortunately, he lacks the former negative feelings which allow me to board him so easily anymore. My reason for coming here is specifically to kidnap Overlord Etna. I will kill her in front of his very eyes, so that he may be filled with the guilt of having lost yet another loved one who he could not protect. With the feelings of guilt restored, he will be easy to possess again."

Raol explained.

"YOU BASTARD!!!"

Etna charged at him in blind rage. It was not the smartest thing to do. Raol did not even try and raise a fin to protect himself as the head of Longinus impaled his stomach. His stomach caved in as Etna kept pushing into him. Etna was surprised at how much of Longinus and her arms had disappeared within the soft confines of his stomach. Soon, Etna was propelled back as if she had been shot from a sling shot, and fell hard on her back. Longinus skidded right next to her.

"Whoa, you okay, Etna?"

Priere asked as she knelt beside Etna. Etna nodded, although her head remained lowered, and Priere couldn't see the expression on her face.

"Baal's skin may have been so tough it couldn't be pierced through by normal means, but this Prinny skin of mine has an elasticity that renders all forms of attacks useless. You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"

Raol asked in an amused sounding voice. Priere glared at him, her hand tightening over her baton as she stood up to intercept Raol. Michaelangelo's hand came to her shoulder to halt her.

"Don't bother, Overlord Priere. You'll end up like Etna. Let me try something now."

He said. He pushed her gently aside, before staring Raol in the face. Lightning coursed through his arms. He brought his hands together, forming a large ball of electricity. The ball was soon released, transforming into a large blade as it came to Raol, leaving trails of electricity behind it. Raol's eyes opened wide in surprise as the lightning blade made contact with his chest. His beak was opened as if he was screaming out in pain, but no sound came out. Similarly to Etna's attack, the magic spell sunk into Raol's elastic flesh before deflecting off. The blade shaped spell dispersed into many fragments of electricity. The three had to take flight as a massive stream of lightning balls crashed into the balcony, obliterating half of the entire floor.

"Damn...his skin can even reflect magic."

Michaelangelo muttered under his breath.

"Why not just give up and make things easier on yourself, Overlord? Save us both this useless amount of time and effort?"

Raol said in an amused tone.

"Sorry, but as the Overlord, I have to protect my world from a nutcase like you."

Etna declared bravely. Raol sighed.

"Protect? You really think you can protect your world from me? The Lord of Terror? What do weaklings like yourselves hope to accomplish against someone like me? You believe that by fighting you can stall for your precious Laharl to come save you? Such nonsense."

Raol raved. Everything was feeling near hopeless, but Etna and the others refused to give in so easily.

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Alternate Netherworld, Tower of Laharl, Patriarch's Seal

"OPEN UP!!! DAMN YOU!!!"

Laharl roared as he charged into the barrier, only to be bounced off and hit the ground hard. Laharl got up slowly.

"This is useless...I'm useless..."

He said lowly as his head bowed low in shame. He pounded his fists into the ground in anger.

'Stay calm Laharl, and think. Baal was able to get himself out...but it took him many years to do so...but now I'm much stronger than him...we both are now, aren't we? Me and Raol...'

He got up and started pacing, trying to calm himself down so he could think logically.

'The core...'

A voice said to him. Laharl looked around, started.

"Who's there?"

He demanded, but no one responded.

"Must have been my imagination...but that voice sounded familiar somehow."

He told himself.

'Wait...of course! I let it slip my mind...a seal like this has to have a core to it. A seal like this one allows a weaker Demon to seal another one, no matter how much more powerful the other Demon is in comparison. That's because a seal can be created and a special core is created to keep energy going into the barrier, by using the very energy powered off by the occupant of the seal. This allows the barrier to withstand any force used by the occupant because the two powers will cancel each other out because they have equal amounts of force used against one another...if I can find the core, then...!'

He realized what he had to do. The mysterious voice that he heard was left forgotten as Laharl decided he'd better track the core down, wherever it might be hidden. He knew it had to be within the barrier itself: A Demon as powerful as him had to have a lot of energy drawn from the core into the barrier, and the closer the core was to the occupant of the seal, the more efficient it could be. Laharl was filled with a new sense of hope.

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Netherworld, Overlord's Castle, Summit

"Great...back to this again. Why do the Lords of Terror have to be so damn tough? First it's the impenetrable skin and now this elastic one...which even bounces back magic."

Priere said. Michealangelo nodded.

"Indeed. This could be very troublesome for us. How do you try and hurt something that can't be struck by normal means?"

Michaelangelo pondered. Priere snapped her fingers in realization.

"Hey, I think I've got it! You've all seen those floating balls filled up with air in the Human world right? The ones they call balloons. If we can apply enough pressure to Raol, maybe we can...uh, pop him?"

Priere explained. Etna stared wide eyed at her.

"That might work!...but, how are we going to apply enough pressure to do something like that?"

Etna asked.

"Don't forget that balloons also don't fight back like the Lord of Terror does. We'd have to be extremely careful if we were to try pulling that kind of feet off on Raol."

Michaelangelo interjected. Priere nodded.

"I know that, but here's what were going to do..."

Priere began whispering her plan. Before they could completely finish, Raol appeared as if from nowhere and swatted them down like flies with the blunt oh his giant swords.

"Come now, I was getting lonely having to search for you three up here on the volcano. That wasn't very nice running away from me like I'm some kind of monster."

Raol said sarcastically. Etna growled.

"You ARE a monster, Raol."

She said through gritted teeth.

"I've had about enough of you, Raol!"

Priere said as she jumped up to his head, clubbing him with her baton. His head caved in much the same way as his stomach did when Etna and Michealangelo struck him in the stomach. She repeatedly struck his head, watching it swerve about in its flexibility.

"Such an annoyance."

Raol said as he brought his blades up to strike her, but Priere dodged them quickly before keeping him busy with attacking his head.

"Ready?"

Michaelangelo asked Etna. She nodded. She flew towards Raol's stomach side by side with the Seraph as they both grasped Loginus' shaft and aimed the blade at Raol's stomach. The two charged quickly and impaled Raol's stomach, and began pushing furiously together in hopes of driving the legendary spear right through Raol's body. It did not take long for Raol to notice this, but Priere did a good job of keeping his attention. She was currently swinging at him from behind. Raol was beginning to become annoyed. To Priere's shock, Raol's head twisted three hundred sixty degrees, catching her baton in his beak when she came to swing with it. Priere continued to stare dumbly in shock before she was sent back as he spat her baton back at her like a projectile. It struck her square in the forehead, knocking her to the ground, unconscious.

"As for you two..."

Raol said softly as he watched the Overlord and Seraph push furiously into him with Longinus. Raol smirked.

"Your both very close to succeeding in going right through me, but unfortunately, I can't have you do that, so..."

Raol didn't finish as he let himself fall on his back against the ground. Despite their efforts, Etna and Michaelangelo were shot up high into the air. Raol disappeared from their view, to reappear above them. The two sunk into his stomach deeply before being flung to the ground at tremendous force. The impact was very hard.

"Ow..."

Michaelangelo said as he lifted his head up, rubbing his forehead. Etna groaned.

"Longinus..."

She said, seeing the spear impaled into the ground a few feet away. Priere also lifted up her head, finally arising from unconsciousness.

"I guess that idea really sucked..."

She said half-heartedly. Michaelangelo shook his head.

"It was actually quite clever, we just didn't have the power to pull it off..."

He began. A shadow fell on each of their figures, making the two Overlords and Seraph look up. Raol was descending upon them at an alarming rate.

"This is going to hurt..."

Priere said as she stared in awe. Raol crushed the three underneath him, and the impact of his dive made the volcano shake violently as it became unstable and began to erupt slowly. Raol got up, staring at his unconscious victims. Etna was the only one who had a single eye opened.

"Laharl..."

She whispered softly, before her vision faded to black as her eye closed.

"Good. It seems I've taken care of them with little problem. I think I'll take all three of you with me to Laharl so that he can watch all three of you die."

Raol said with eerily glowing red eyes.

"Hold it..."

A deep voice said roughly. Raol turned to see a bruised up Manty facing him.

"Oh, so you survived, huh?"

Raol responded.

"Stop where you are."

Raol turned to see Aramis and the other Vassals. They had him surrounded for the most part. Raol simply chuckled.

"I would worry about the castle if I were you. This volcano will erupt from all the disturbance caused to it. Don't worry, I'll be back to claim this world again."

Raol said as his fin moved in a circular motion, erecting a Dimensional Gateway. He scooped up the three world leaders and disappeared within the gate before it, too, disappeared.

"Damn!"

Aramis stated as he turned to the castle.

"This ain't gonna be pretty."

Zommie said.

"Aramis, we have to do something before the castle sinks into the lava!"

Dratti said.

"Alright, let's calm the volcano and leave the rest to Laharl."

Aramis ordered.

'I just hope Laharl is able to figure out a way to save them. Raol said Laharl had been taken care of, but hopefully he'll find a way to escape...hopefully...'

Aramis thought to himself deep down.

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(T.B.C)

Note: I'm really sorry for not updating sooner. On top of that, this chapter is not a very long or good one and I don't have another chapter to go with it like with the last update. I'm trying to get another story of mine's completed, so I've been making the final chapter for that one top priority, and have been typing it up at any chance I can, so updates for this story will be a little slow. All I ask is that you readers bare with me and be a little patient. This Disgaea story has some ways to go, but it will also be complete soon, I hope (trying to go for twenty chapters at the very least...). Finally, to reviewer Kenshin, While Michaelangelo and Priere do continue to make appearances, I've have decided long ago not to add Marjoly. She's the only secret character in the game who has her own story tied in with a previous Atlus Inc. / Nippon Ichi RPG, Rhapsody : A Musical Adventure, so I didn't really see it fit to truly add her into this story. If you readers out there really want it, I suppose I could add her in for a small cameo appearance within the story somewhere in the chapters to come, but her role won't be anything supremely big or anything but we'll see. If you all want her in the story, if only for a little bit, I will add her, otherwise I'll proceed with the story as it was originally planned. I guess I'll let you all decide in a review if you want her in the story or not. Anyway, I'll do my best to get the next chapter up when I can.