...

"Lady Melfissa, I firmly wanted to emphasize to you that those maggots will attack again!"

"Let them."

"Milady!"

"So what if they did? They're going against the family who inherited the Holy Sword of Kris from the first hero of this kingdom. If you asked any logical person out there, what they're doing is suicidal."

"Yes, I mean, what I'm trying to say, Lady Melfissa, is that our former ally betrayed us and is selling valuable information."

"Yes yes, but like what I said, just let them be."

"We should at least prepare a plan."

"This is a plan."

"What plan?"

"...nothing. Easy, they'll be charging to a meat grinder anyway."

"Signals of Hololive 2: The Tale of Risu"

CHAPTER 4: One Way or None-other

Risu woke up, feeling tired and parched up. She found herself in an unknown place until an old couple entered the room. She asked who they are and they answered that they are a couple. They introduced themselves as the parents of "Arurandeisu", the same man who helped her find that secret tunnel. The old couple was happy to see her fine after finding her flying in the sky and landing on the ground near them, surprisingly, still alive.

They are located near the Pav City and inside of the forest. She thanked the old couple who saved her but the couple do not want to take credit for it was Aruran who saved her.

Thankfully, the scratches on her body proved to be simple and was easily healed using a Health Potion. The old couple bid her goodbye for the moment. Risu clutched the covered of the bed, she painfully remembered the face of the Sage and the Captain at the same time, who looked at her as if she was the only one who can do this. She do not know what to do next after that but then she remembered that there was another sanctum somewhere.

She found the chest that contained the second key and the forged hammer in the strange pocket given by the Sage. It was as if there was a big space inside as she pulled the hammer out from it, despite being so small. She was then startled to see Aruran opened the door, he was glad to see her fine after that fall.

Risu thought hard as she asked Aruran if he knows every sanctums out there. The man nodded to her. He explained to her that there was three sanctums in the Continent of Lo. The first one is the Noble Sanctum in the Kureiji Region. One is here, in the Pavolia Region, the Peafowl Region. And the last one is in the Melfissa Region, the Kris Sanctum, which is close to the second one.

But Aruran told her that the first sanctum, the Noble Sanctum, was destroyed just a week before, and judging by the date, Risu assumed that it was probably the first sanctum where the dark individuals first stole the key. Aruran then continued that the sanctum just nearby, the Peafowl Sanctum, was also destroyed a few days ago, and Risu knew it was the place where the late-Captain had died and where she killed Mo.

Lastly, Aruran told her that the last one, the Kris Sanctum, was still standing and was under attack by demons a few days ago. Though he suspected that it is still under attack. Risu thanked him as she prepared to leave, but Aruran tried to stop her, saying that she was still not in a good condition. Not to mention, she looked a little pale and was thinner than he had originally met her - even though it's not too long ago.

The mercenary told him not to mind her as she made her way out. She thanked the old couple whom she passed by, but Cracker still tried to stop her, saying that she was not in a condition to continue any longer or else she will definitely pass out on her way to the third sanctum.

Risu had enough and pulled out her brittled dagger right at Aruran, threatening him to stop forcing her to rest. The man could do nothing as Risu left, he watched the mercenary woman walked away and disappeared in the distance.

She passed by the Pav City and noticed that the place was empty. But nonetheless she did not mind it as she made her way pass by the tall hill and the ruined Peafowl Sanctum. The place she will be going to was still far away and that she can rest by the side.

Not to mention, under the hot sun, everything feels like burning and it made her vision blurry. Risu felt her strength weakening as she decided to rest by the side. She slumped over by the bark of the tree as she cooled herself down. Somewhat, her slumping over reminded her of when she rescued Iofi in the Bandit Forest. She remembered Mo's words about it being the forest as ghostly.

Suddenly, she was startled when a voice of a young woman called her out, she looked forward and saw that it was Iofi, carrying a bag, probably her belongings. Risu was glad to see her once again after she saved her in the prison and asked her what happened.

Iofi simply replied that she had something to do. While vague, Risu did not press what it was, maybe she was too tired to speak too much. The young woman noticed this and pulled out a bottle of water. Risu accepted the water and drank it, feeling relieved and strength slowly returning back to her.

The mercenary asked Iofi what she was doing here in the first place, the young woman answered her that she was looking for her long lost friend. They were separated for two years by now and she had no clue where to find her, she had been searching around the Sunflower Field and even beyond but to no avail.

Risu asked her what made her this faithful to a friend, and even searched for someone who was probably far away now. Iofi happily told her that they promised that they would always be together until the very end. And besides, she can tell her friend is still thinking about her even until now.

The mercenary simply made a small laugh at how could she tell, then again, she do not know, since she never...

The mercenary looked at Iofi who then looked back at her with a tilt to her head.

Risu shook her head and stood up, she thanked Iofi for her water, then two continued to talk for few seconds more when the Grey Demon suddenly appeared in front of them.

Risu was shocked to find the demon who killed the Sage. She told Iofi to run away quickly as the mercenary woman charged forward to create her first strike against the Grey Demon. She landed a strike to the demon who screamed at her before attacking back with a blazing fire.

She narrowly dodged the attack before she made a counterattack. But the Grey Demon appeared to be expecting that as it launched a counterattack. Risu noticed that she would not be able to dodge the flame attack this time and simply braced for it. But then a faint barrier appeared in front of her and the attack was blocked by it, using that moment of opportunity, she managed to successfully land her hits against the Grey Demon who cried in pain.

Risu looked back to see Iofi holding a palette, a magical palette to be exact and she was casting a spell by drawing something on the air. Another faint barrier appeared in front of her and she felt her strength greatly increased, it was probably from Iofi's spell so she fought back against the Grey Demon.

The Grey Demon then roared at her, before it started talking to her to just simply hand over the chest of the second key and the Hammer of Eradication, and if she did that, the Grey Demon would spare their lives. The mercenary simply laughed at the Grey Demon and told him that he will only get it over her dead body. The Grey Demon let out a growl and introduced himself with anger at that taunt.

He was "Left-Hand On", serving directly under the Baneful Moon.

The two fought, with Risu having a great advantage thanks to Iofi's support. The Grey Demon On started to lose his footings before he changed his target from Risu to Iofi. The mercenary immediately sensed this danger up ahead and used this distraction to land a critical blow from its weakened side.

The strike caused the Grey Demon to rage out a far more powerful flame around him. This ended up leaving burnt mark on the mercenary's arms as she cried in agony from the heat.

The Grey Demon roared in pain as he cursed Risu before he turned into a small flame and 'poofed' into thin air. Risu dropped on the ground and let out a sighed of relief. Thankfully, Iofi was there or else she would not be able to take the Grey Demon for long, who undoubtedly felt stronger than Mo. But maybe that was because it was always using magic, and not its brute strength.

Iofi then tried to heal Risu's burnt marks but she could only relieved her of her pain, the mark was still there.

Risu thanked Iofi for her quick assistance. The young woman welcomed her as the two gave each other a thumbs up. But then Risu heard a bunch of heavy footsteps, and she immediately got what it was and told Iofi to hurry and go straight. The young woman asked and the mercenary told her that those heavy footsteps are a group of demons that are coming this way.

While they run to escape, Risu could not help noticed how eerily quiet the place was and found a wall. It means that there is an entrance somewhere. She found it and the two entered the building immediately. They hid in the other side of the wall and waited there. They heard the heavy footsteps stopped for a moment, and then she heard the demons talking.

A demon talked and it said that it was afraid. Risu got curious and peeked through from behind. She saw a demon and a Higher Demon talking to each other alongside a group of demons just behind them. The demon argued that they must come up an argument with their lordess or else they are over with, the Higher Demon could only apologized to the demon but they must find the person first who killed Mo and On, or else they will be the one who will get killed instead.

The Higher Demon simply cursed, if only the Baneful Moon did not appear, they would have just stay in the underworld, serving the Demon King, and not to come up here just because of an ancient contract. They then eventually left the place and went somewhere else.

Risu cannot believed what she just heard. The demons are unsure what they are serving, could it be that they are forced? She had no time to contemplate with her thoughts as Iofi pointed to her that they are in some sort of a stronghold.

The mercenary looked around and found no soul sight. She searched the vicinity other than the large, which eerily reminded her of the one in Peafowl, but she saw no one. And then she saw a strange symbol upon the building. She immediately recognized where she was in now.

This was the Kris Sanctum - the last one. She thought but something struck her odd. There are supposed to be the remaining Knights of Faith here, along with some reinforcements from the kingdom. But, where are they? As Risu looked around, she failed to notice Iofi entering the tower-like building. The young woman looked at the mercenary, who was still in deep thoughts, before she closed the door.

Finally, Risu had enough and decided to enter the tower-like building. She looked behind to tell Iofi but she was nowhere to be found. She called out her name but no answer came. She then looked back to the main building and a shiver went down her spine. She charged towards inside and slammed open the door.

She saw the signature podium there but the third chest was nowhere to be found. She gritted her teeth as she went pass by it and found the same door similar from the Peafowl Sanctum. She pushed the door open and ran down the stairs. She stumbled upon the way and she was greeted by an underground cave system.

What's with the geography in these regions? She thought as she stood up.

But this time, the area was wider and torches from the walls lit the place up, unlike the underground back in Peafowl Sanctum. The mercenary felt a call coming to her, telling her to step forward. She did and a strong, dark wind manifested itself a few meters in front of her. Risu prepared herself as she readied her weapons.

And what appeared before her was A. The same person whom she met by the spring. Risu asked what she was doing here and told her that she was here to take the second key. The mercenary, obviously, refused.

A had expected her resistance and so she summoned a weapon, similar to a scythe, into thin air and coiled it with dark winds. A then told Risu to prepare for her to die, in which the mercenary woman did. And so A properly introduced herself as the "Lunar Demon A".

And then, they clashed.

As the two fought, both of their wind magic clashed against one another, but the Lunar Demon appeared to be superior in using her dark wind magic. Risu had to use a lot of spell in order to block A's single spell. While Risu may not lack when it comes to powerful direct hits, she may still have a way to strike A's back decisively.

And then the Lunar Demon made a powerful strike to Risu. The woman had struck Risu's left eye but the mercenary also did a strike too, making a horizontal strike right at A's abdomen.

Risu cries loudly in pain as she fell on the ground, the excruciating pain in her left eye from that strike left her eye started bleeding out as she dropped her weapons. Unfortunately, her strike to the Lunar Demon proved not to a problem as the woman simply healed herself up.

The mercenary laid on the ground in extreme, excruciating pain revolving around her eye. Almost half of her face started to go red. She tried to hold it in but it proved to be too much as half of her vision finally turned red and went dark.

The Lunar Demon propped up her scythe and prepared to kill Risu when a ray of light struck her down. She looked around and saw a young woman in a strange outfit, holding a palette, casting a spell towards her. The Lunar Demon tried to dodge whatever was coming to her but her vision turned white as she passed out.

It was Iofi who suddenly appeared out of nowhere and managed to somehow forced the Lunar Demon down, making her fall unconscious. She then looked at Risu and casted a barrier of healing to her.

Risu felt the pain slowly went away as she blinked for a moment but her left eye was still dark. Using her only right eye, she looked up to see Iofi smiling down at her, she asked what happened and the young woman told her to be calm.

The mercenary tried to say something but a soothing relief washed over her body, making her feel heavenly from her hellish pain. She watched Iofi for a moment before her only eye closed and she drifted into a slumber.

Iofi watched Risu sleep in the healing barrier before she stood up and picked up the Hammer of Eradication, alongside the chest that contains the second key. She held the hammer like it was nothing and placed the chest on the ground. And without a second thought, she smashed the chest using the Hammer, turning it into a small fragmented pieces.

She then turned around and walked towards the darkness. A moment later, Risu opened her eye, but more like, she was forcing her eye to open. She pulled back a fist and let out a cry as she destroyed the barrier.

Fortunately, the pain from her left eye had disappeared, and blood seemed to stopped flowing out from it. She then pulled out her broken, fleshy left eye. It was not painful, but she felt uncomfortable touching her left eye that was not connected anymore to her. After she took it off, she threw it to the side and saw A, the Lunar Demon.

The woman was unconscious and was snared around by strings of light. Risu then picked up her daggers and left the place, leaving the Lunar Demon as she moved forward towards the darkness where she assumed where Iofi went.

With her only right eye, traversing in the darkness proved to be difficult as Risu used the cold walls as a support. The place appeared to be more a cave than a simple underground this time, nonetheless, she carried on.

Finally, she saw a light in the end. She continued through and slipped forward as she entered the room.

Immediately, Risu heard a cry of pain. She recognized the voice as Iofi, and another woman but deeper and darker tone. The mercenary lifted herself up and saw Iofi being lifted up by the neck by the traitorous knightess that is Moona, whose form looked so deformed and outrageous.

She then noticed something odd from the deformed form of Moona, she seemed to be shaking and groaning. The mercenary then poured her remaining wind magic in her dagger, creating a long blade. Risu then threw the wind-blade at the arm of the deformed Moona, forcing her to let go of Iofi as the monsterfied knightess screamed in pain.

The dagger she threw completely shattered from the impact, nearly cutting the arm of the monster, but she still had one more. She stumbled forward to Iofi and asked the young woman to go behind her, the mercenary asked her what was happening.

Iofi looked up at Risu and was about to cry but she answered her question. The long lost friend she was looking for was Moona and that she, Iofi, had died before. The 'Iofi' that is with Risu was just a ghost from the soul of her being coming from a lineage of the Wisp race.

A special thing about her race is that they can connect their soul back in the worldly realm, so that even though their body had died, they would still exist and they can turn into a ghost. In exchange, however, they will constantly remember the day they died.

The day Iofi and the mercenary met was the day when she saved her from death. She died in the Bandit Forest and was killed by the bandits. Moona found out about this tragedy and that she cried in despair about the news. In her grief, the Lunar Demon A manipulated her by telling her that if she were to turn into a vessel for the Baneful Moon, she promised that her wish to revive her will happen.

Risu immediately understood what was going on around her. Those dark individuals that invaded the first sanctum was none other than Mo, On and A. Then, Moona betrayed the Knights of Faith because of this promise. So she asked what was going on to her lost friend as she carried Iofi to dodge the deformed Moona's attacks.

Iofi replied that Moona was about to turn into a Baneful Moon, even if there is only one key, using Moona's soul as a replacement for the second one, and wait for the mean time until the third key was obtained, the transformation will forcibly bring the Baneful Moon back into existence.

If that was to happen, the same tragedy that had happened long ago is bound to repeat. However, the Realm-Emperor of Hololive will not be able to salvage the Continent of Lo this time.

Fortunately, the two arrived at the right moment. Right now, Moona was trying to escape from the Baneful Moon's control and influence. Iofi suspected that two, Moona and the Baneful Moon, had a disagreement.

Risu clicked her tongue as she asked Iofi what to do next. There was only one way left; that was using the Hammer of Eradication. Risu still vividly remembered how Iofi used the hammer when she closed her eyes back. She asked her how. Iofi already used her soul as payment to destroy the second key. She knew that she can cheat her way out from the Hammer of Eradication, since her soul was connected not to her, as she's dead, but to Moona's. But it probably won't happen anymore, not the second time.

As Moona and Baneful Moon cried and fight each other whoever controlled the body, the mercenary simply picked up the hammer and started walking towards Moona. Iofi watched in horror as she tried to stop her but the mercenary ignored her.

Risu raised the hammer up and was about to brought it down to the deformed Moona before she told her to stop. It was Moona who was speaking to her, she then told her how Risu was truly afraid deep inside and she was just doing this quickly in order to end everything now without a problem.

Moona's voice told her to put the hammer down and let Iofi hold it, she pleaded to her to let her lost friend do it, so that the two of them will be the one who will seal the Baneful Moon. The mercenary woman shook before she let go of the hammer, her legs were shaking as she dropped on the floor, and started crying out.

Iofi thanked her as she picked up the hammer. She gave Risu a kiss on the forehead before she went in front of Moona, who managed to control her deformed body and held the hammer as well.

And a strong, bright light covered the whole area. The whole sanctum was covered in a bright pillar of light as it shone towards the dusky sky. Every people out there can see this pillar of light had emerged and watched it in amazement.

...

And so the heroic sacrifice of both Moona and Iofi was written in history, they became legends and their story turned into a tale. They had successfully sealed the Baneful Moon for eternity and the great land of the Continent of Lo will never forget of what they had done.

Even if that was the case, there are still other evil people with dark intentions, even if they managed to be successful in carrying their plans out, the people would never lose hope as the tale of Moona and Iofi gave them an inspiration to rise up and protect their continent.

And then the heroes were replaced by conflict that would engulfed the world of Hololive and the Underworld. And their tales will disappear, and nowhere to be found, nor even heard of.

They are just like the unknown mercenary, who simply wandered aimlessly across the land and beyond.

...

THE END

I find things difficult.

To manage both worlds in merge.

"Signals of Hololive" and the other "A Deal with an Angel".

One's unaware, and the other do.

The Father of Chaos do love to put these two worlds in such dire confusion and... I am all for it.

Let the fools read an incomprehensible text, and those that are willing are to proceed.

You can search the "A Deal with an Angel" in Red*dit. It's a story using polls as a key feature for the members of the subred*it Hololive to vote in order for the story to proceed.

It's finished two adventures already. But the third ones is undecided for my time is limited.

But do still to check them out if you have time.

Thank you.