Laughter of the Underworld

(冥界の笑い; Meikai no warai)

Orion Eden witnessed a darkness that reflected the days of when his mother and father were still living. They threatened the Earth with eternal destruction for it to bloom into a paradise. Despite the term's context of purity, the ambitions churned his stomach. Wherever he was, it was a dark place where the sun couldn't reach. Before his eyes, parts of the darkness slowly seeped away, giving form for Eden to finally perceive where he was. Looming from the shadows were hills structured in low canyons and reaching up to craggy mountains; soft, gasping voices howled from every direction. Eden got to his feet and looked around. The place was unrecognizable; faceless beings void of color hobbled past him. They joined a line and trudged towards the summit of a wide-mouthed rock mass. Scanning the area, he found someone known – not far from him was the figure of Cancer Schiller.

"What?! This is Yomatsu Hirasaka (黄泉比良坂)!" Schiller, a Gold Saint, looked around in complete panic. Yomatsu Hirasaka was a term describing a slope or hill coursing a road leading to the Underworld, the land of the dead. Nominal Japanese Gods had legends here and was said to be connected to China's Sanzu river and Japan's Matsue city in Shimane. Schiller's anxiety was peculiar to see, not only because of his rank, but because this was a familiar territory inhabited by the Cancer Saints.

His glare darted at Eden. "What the Hell are you doing here?!" barked Schiller. Eden didn't respond, in which the Cancer Saint grinned wickedly.

"Well, no matter. You're in my playground now. Once I wipe out your soul, I'm going back to get Pegasus."

"I'm afraid not!" An unfamiliar voice called from a far distance. It was a brisk tone, like fresh air within Yomatsu's ghostly ambiance, but combined with a heavy modulation.

"Hey Schiller," it called again, "your disgusting carcass doesn't belong in the living world, nor the dead."

Schiller was livid from returning to the place where he lost his life, only to be taunted by some expectation that it was about to happen again. He sought for the phantom that challenged him. He saw eighteen wisps of flames coming towards him. They were different from what he usually saw, unlike the tailed spirits of those who died, coursing through the air and entering the entrance to Hell at Yomatsu's tallest mountain. The wisps were tiny bundles of flame. Upon touching Schiller's body, they exploded, their size belying their force. A rippling flash blinded Eden, who shielded his face. Schiller screamed only for a short moment, and he lost his mind. When the flames engulfed him, he could not fathom the sight of image after image, one after another, of him being bludgeoned and ripped apart. The images came after a flash; a giant saw lopped off one leg, stakes entered his other leg, a fanged bald creature bit him in the stomach, and his body was dropped into a smoldering cauldron of boiling lava. It was not a dream. He could not remember much else; without thought, his hand reached out for someone, something, somewhere, for an exit. From Eden's point of view, the flame died and Cancer Schiller was nowhere to be seen; not even a hint of ash wafted into Yomatsu's air.

"Oh, it only took five lanterns?" Paying Schiller adieu was only a taunt; a shadow emerged from the cliffs, reaching for Eden. In an unknown place, Orion was on edge and expecting an enemy, posing to attack. Contrast to the bleak, deathly atmosphere of Yomatsu, a golden glimmer appeared before Eden. A body of shining armor; a smiling, bespectacled man with ebon hair greeted Eden.

"There we go, much better. Don't you feel safe?" He said, raising his palm up to his cheek in a greeting. "Hello!"

Bewildered, Eden was without words as he examined the man; by the looks of his armor's jagged style, particularly the shoulder and shin guards, it was much akin to Schiller. Without question, it was an authentic Gold Saint.

"I saved you, so mind if I know who you are?" The man sounded puzzled, but never lost his smile. Eden found his manners atrocious; in fact, he believed that the Saint had the same geniality, or disconnection, as Amor and wondered if he was truly safe.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself before asking another's name?" Eden kept his ground and made the new Saint close the distance between them.

"Fine then. If I remember from upstairs, your name is Adan or something like that, right?"

"Bronze Saint. Orion Eden."

"Eden?" The new Cancer Saint looked surprised. "What a nice holistic name. As expected from the son of a God. I am the same, see? Eden." He pointed to the Bronze Saint, and then to himself with his thumb, his smile remaining. "Hermes."

"Hermes?"

The man in the golden armor bowed, "Gold Saint. Cancer Hermes. I have no holy relations though. All I have is the star that I'm born under."

"It makes sense now," Eden realized the confirmation; the controllers of the dead can send souls to Yomatsu and bring them back. He recognized the name from Athena before departing from her temple, but he didn't connect that she was referring to a Gold Saint, let alone a new Cancer Saint. It was the first time he met him, and he thought that Hermes was ordained sometime during his travels with Kouga.

"You brought me here didn't you?" He promptly asked.

"Looks that way huh?" The Gold Saint scratched the back of his head and guffawed. "You see, I happen to miss." His smile crinkled into a wry one.

"You 'missed'?"

"I got Schiller."

"Your aiming is atrocious." The Orion Saint frowned. "I assume you can send my soul back to the living world?"

"Absolutely!"

"Please hurry, I have to get back and go to Athens Port."

"Sure!" Hermes spoke with enthusiasm, even raising a thumbs up and a smile of fangs. He paused, and then furrowed his eyebrows. "But, I don't plan to."

"Say what?!" Eden's face changed as his credulous heart skipped a bit. His anger showed immediately, in opposite of Hermes' innocent mood. "Matter of fact, I need to show you something. Come with me." There as an oblivious manner in which he spoke, careless of life or what he did to Eden. Even with Cancer's optimism, Eden proceeded to follow him towards the top of Yomatsu's tallest mountain, where the hunkering bodies were making way for. At the top, Eden gasped as he realized that the bodies were falling into the mountain, which led into an abyss of unknown reach. Not believing his eyes, Eden was held back by Hermes's hand; he was told that there was no coming back from the fall and he'd float in limbo. Suddenly, a large roar rumbled Yomatsu Hirasaka. A giant tendril of light seeped out from the abyss and into the dusk air, slowly dissipating.

"Looks like we got a mean one." Hermes watched with a smile on his face, crouching before the maw of the gape that led to Hell, with strange light, the embodiment of spirits, seeping out of it. There was no concern from him.

"What was that?"

"Something that is going to wreck the Earth, I'm afraid. Here in Yomatsu Hiraaka, the dead are lead to the Underworld to wait being judged by purgatory." Cancer peered into the mountain depths, and then looked up to Eden. "But what if there's no purgatory, Orion Eden?"

"What do you mean? And what do you mean 'wreck the Earth'? Does that have to do with Demeter?"

"You have a lot of questions don't you? I guess it's great to be an inquisitive boy. In short, spirits that can't find a place to settle end up trapped. Rarely do the dead return unless there's some divine intervention, but in this case, the lack of an afterlife is so painful, a spirit escapes and to the mortal world bearing scars. So for that big one to break away from oblivion, it holds a bit grudge."

"No death?" Eden muttered under his breath; Hermes' words made him quite thoughtful of the scene, which led back to the behavior of the Goddess of Fertility. "Demeter was able to revive dead Saints. I'm assuming it's connected."

"She…" Hermes got back onto his feet and turned his back to the mountain's crevice. He started to walk away. "I can only make a guess since she didn't tell me yet."

"When she was asked at Athena's Temple, she said that she wanted to revive the Underworld and that what it was for 'her'."

"Ah-ha!" Hermes suddenly clapped his hands together. "Of course, that silly Mother Goddess."

"Also Hermes, what do you mean 'didn't tell you yet'?"

Hermes turned back and rested his hand onto his hip. Each moment, his postures are more and more easygoing. "I was supposed to get Integra, but instead I confronted the Goddess before reaching Pavlin."

Eden further remembered what Athena said, in which she wanted the Gold Saints together as the situation felt grim. From a growing disquiet within, he narrowed his eyes. He started to presume that the new Cancer was starting mischief.

"For what purpose?" Orion asked.

Lifting his arms into the air, Cancer Hermes answered with glee. "To save everyone!"

"You tried to convince her to stop her plan?" Eden asked dryly, to which Hermes lowered his arms and his mouth slid into the smirk.

"Not at all. There's nothing wrong with the Underworld, kid. It needs to return."

"What?! According to Athena, reviving the Underworld will bring about calamity."

"Would you rather have Hell here or Hell on Earth?" he shrugged. "I guess it doesn't matter to me either way, but I rather have what's easier. Because you are a Saint, are you worried about what will happen to Earth? It's fine. I do not concern myself with these things too much. However, wouldn't it be easier to stop Demeter by just letting her have her way?"

"Easier?! Kouga and I were told to stop her."

"Remember that big spirit that came out? That thing is going back to Earth."

"If you're concerned about these vehement spirits spilling out, then why allow Demeter to go along with her plan?"

"Hey Orion, it's all about choosing how you want to see things. The Mother Goddess's actions may ruin everything, but she has her own righteous cause. Essentially, the best ways to remedy this is to create a war and fight for a side. Indeed. People with her mental woes are easy to sway."

"Hermes! Are you saying that you're going to conspire against Athena? Betray her?"

"Athena is worried about the Underworld because of the past catching up to her. Anyways, I got a job to do. I have to let you stay here. Maybe at least until everything is done." At every word that slipped out of his mouth, Cancer Hermes hasn't moved his smile. A punch entered his hand.

Eden had lunged right at the Gold Saint. "Do you think that I'll allow you to do that?!" His fist was held tightly by Hermes's hand.

"Smartass, how are you going to get back? Your soul was sent to these deathly Hills with my Sekishi mekaiha. You can't return easily."

The bodies that dropped into Yomatsu's mountain kept going towards their destination, an unknown afterlife, and unperturbed by the bright flashes of Eden's Tonitruī Fera Caelos and Hermes's Cosmos clashing against one another. One power fought for the peace of Earth, and another supposedly for the Mother Goddess's plan. Every where he looked, upon returning to his activities as a Saint, he felt like he must face an enemy. It was one traitor to another; did Cancer truly want war? Or was it more death? Eden's frustration welled up as much as his confusion did.

It did not end as another voice entered Yomatsu Hirasaka. The tone was melodious.

"Indeed. Salvation comes in all forms, and indeed, the afterlife is needed. However, the bright conviction of Athena's Saints prospered the beauty of Earth. That has been proven for centuries. Evil is broken, and good is repaired."

The Cosmo clash died down and Eden stiffened, feeling a hand tap on his shoulder.

"It's been a long while, son of Ludwig. Don't you have somewhere to go? Hermes here, not unlike those who precede him, does not seek strength, right?"