Authors Note: FYI there is some mild gore in this chapter.

When Kai had returned to the hotel with Free, she was no longer buzzed. The cold air of Russia had sobered her up considerably, much to her chagrin. She had contemplated stealing the beers from the hotel to get drunk but that was pointless. There was no time to even attempt that with how Medusa was rushing her to get changed and dressed while debriefing her on all the changes the Acolytes had gone through since Kai had left them a couple hundred years ago.

The cult had grown tremendously since their first war with Death. Kai had thought that Death had completely destroyed the Acolytes, but apparently they rebuilt themselves in the shadows and now their numbers were over three times that of what Kai had left them at. It had grown so much that the structure had changed so there were branch leaders across the world. Kai and the others would be meeting with the Russian and Northern branch, but word of what happened in the meeting would spread to all the branches.

Their core attributes had not changed at all over the generations. They were still incredibly devoted to their ideals and religious beliefs. Death was still the 'False God' in their eyes, and even more, Kai was still their 'One True God' or whatever. She had never really understood their devotion to her, the religious fanaticism they held, believing her to be some immortal god. But the Acolytes believed that she was their God, and that with her magic she would bring about a Great Flood to kill the wicked and nonbelievers.

It didn't matter. So long as they would still do as she said without question, she didn't care if they worshipped the ground she walked on.

The plan was simple; Kai would go up to them, say some fancy words and take over. Medusa probably intended for Kai to be a puppet-ruler with the snake leading the cult from behind the scene. Though what was going to happen has yet to be seen, Kai was still debating on what to do with Medusa at the end of the day.

Even as they left the hotel and began their trek to the meeting zone, an old abandoned gulag or military camp or something, she hadn't paid much attention to that, that was several miles out of town, Kai was still debating on what to do with Medusa. The air was bitter and cold and Kai wished she was wearing something warmer right now, but there was no use in crying over what she didn't have.

They went by snowmobile, breaking off into pairs to travel by. Kai had slipped onto one with Kom situated behind her, hands on her waist as she rode through the snow. It took about an hour, visibility terrible as a snowstorm began to roll in one them, but eventually they came to the old rundown camp of tall concrete walls and barbwire fence.

Two men stood guard up front, dressed in heavy black coats and wearing masks. Not theater masks or masks someone might find in an anime or at a convention, but rather they wore gasmasks, the full-head kind with the lenses tinted so that it was hard to see into. There was no way to even tell who was beneath the mask, if it was someone Kai had seen before, if they were someone famous or someone poor.

Obscuring their identities like that, clever. Can't be held responsible when no one knew who they were.

Medusa slid off the snowmobile she was sharing with Eruka to go talk to them while Kai got off of hers and tossed her helmet at Kom and looked around. Where they were was desolate, the camp long defunct, no one would even think to come find them here, especially not with a snowstorm coming in to make travel harder. Though the snowstorm would make leaving that much harder, too. Not something that Kai was especially looking forward too.

Their group was led through the gates and the snow covered courtyard, crushing the fresh layers of snow under their feet while their tracks were covered by a new layer behind them. The guard leading them balanced his rifle against a shoulder as he marched, leading them to a somewhat long building towards across the gates.

Their guide said nothing during the short few minute walk, but bowed his head in respect as he let the group walk past them into the building before returning to his post up at the gates.

As the heavy door closed behind them, Kai could hear chatter farther ahead. Dozens upon dozens of voices chatting with their words echoing through the thin stone halls. Kai was impressed that the floors weren't ice as they walked, as even though they were inside it was still rather cold, making it apparent that the building had no form coursing through the walls.

They had reached the end of the hall and to a flight of stairs. Huh, so they were meant to go down. Must be a big bunker down there or something for them.

"Remember, Kai," Medusa began as she took point, leading them through the halls as though she was the center of attention and the rest of them were just her followers, decorations to her. "Behave and impress them however you can."

"Whatever."

The lights were dim, no electricity and so the Acolytes had hung and laid lanterns along the hall to help illuminate the building, but even with the faint light that they provided, it was hard to see clearly. Kai especially did not like how confined and trapped she felt between the walls as they descended farther and farther down.

She didn't like the claustrophobic feeling it gave her. So far underground, limited places for her to run. Of course if a fight broke out she wasn't worried about her chances of winning, but she didn't like the idea of fighting in a confined space. If there was, for example, a cave in; they'd be trapped. If the storm got especially bad and no one could get out, that'd be just as bad.

Kai wasn't so sure she could endure dealing with possible hundreds of people she didn't know for longer than necessary.

A hand brushed against hers, cold and rough. Kai glanced up and saw Kom was looking at her with a knowing and worried look in his eyes. He brushed his hand against hers once more in what she supposed was supposed to be comforting for her. He was naïve if he thought that just holding her hand, or whatever it was he was trying to do, was going to magically make her calmer and better.

What did make her better was the sensation of water.

As the group neared the bottom of the stairs, she began to feel it. Bodies of water farther ahead. An underground stream? No, too scattered. Not a spring, either. Brought down here, probably, that was good, it made this just a little better.

Her suspicion was confirmed when they reached the main room of the underground bunker, a massive empty space full of men and woman standing and talking. In the center was a platform of sorts, surrounded by a few 30-gallon plain plastic drums full of water. What Kai noticed after the water was that every person down there, apart from her own small group, were dressed in full face and full-head gasmasks.

(Wonder when they started doing that…)

That wasn't an attribute of the Acolytes when Kai was still a part of them. The members she had run around with a few centuries back never hid their faces, they wanted the whole world to know who they were and who they were with when they fought, wanted their faces to be the last thing their victims saw before death.

Though, in today's day and age it was understandable that they would have to cover their faces, to keep their identities secret, it would be harder to get around when all it would take is them to be found in one town without their mask on for them to be known throughout the entire world. Even in a meeting such as this; there was no guarantee that there might not be a spy lurking among them, and so to keep masked would protect them from possible infiltrators working for Death or some other organization.

They were dressed in thick coats and gloves to protect against the cold of the bunker, some rubbing their hands together, shifting from foot to foot to keep as warm as they could before the meeting to begin. There were so many of them, Kai noted, far more than she could accurately count but she could guess that they were in the hundreds. To think that this was only a portion of the Acolytes total numbers. How large the cult had grown since Kai had left, their ranks swollen.

"They're all human," Kom whispered in surprise.

Kai wanted to ask him what he expected; was he thinking they'd be Kishin Eggs, or even witches? Of course the Acolytes would be a primarily human-based group, maybe there were a few witches in the ranks, maybe a couple people who'd gone so far gone that they'd become Kishin Eggs, but it would be mostly humans. Only humans would be naïve enough, dumb enough to be a part of a cult like this. Only humans were so desperate for a place to belong, for ideals and beliefs to hold on to that they'd drink the Kool-Aid.

The chatter fell silent as more and more people began to realize that they had visitors until the entire bunker had gone dead quiet, faces turned towards the group. Even with their masks on, with tinted lenses in the way, Kai could feel the hundreds of eyes falling on them, falling on her. It was suffocating. It made her skin crawl and her fingers itch.

"Go on," Medusa said in a hushed voice, nudging Kai to take the lead, nudging her to start walking.

With a glare shot at Medusa for being told what to do, Kai turned towards the crowds and with her head held high she started marching as the others fell in line behind her.

Like the red sea the Acolytes parted before Kai, bowing their heads in respect or reaching out slightly as though to touch her but unable to bring themselves to do so. She kept her mouth in a thin line as she walked to the empty center where the stage had been erected, to where the water had been left in offering for her.

She didn't like being stared at, but there was little that Kai could do.

As she climbed onto the stage, whispers rippled through the crowds. Medusa and the others stayed on the sidelines; this was Kai's moment, this was her time to work and for them to stand back.

Movement on the other side of the crowd caught her eye. She watched as the members parted and backed off as someone pushed their way through. An eyebrow quirked upwards as a man broke through the ranks.

He wore no mask over his face, though there was a gasmask hung around his neck. He was older, too. White hair, partially balding, he was dressed in a winter's coat just as the others and his hands were gloved too, but even as he walked there was an air of… not quite superiority but rather authority to him. A gentlemanly form of authority if such a thing existed. Right away Kai pegged him as the leader of this branch.

Her assumption was quickly proven right as the man climbed onto the stage and took a stand beside her, though he kept a respectful distance. The Acolytes went silent as he watched them all. Yuri Mashkov, her mind supplied as she watched him from the corner of her eye. If he was the leader of this branch and not just a mouthpiece, than this man must be Yuri Mashkov, former pilot in the Russian air force.

"Brothers, sisters, welcome!" Mashkov began, his voice booming through the bunker even without a microphone. He clapped his hands together while his eyes surveyed the Acolytes before him. They were deathly silent, as though it was a great insult to even speak when he was talking. "Today is a wonderous day, though you can all see why."

The man waved his hand to Kai as he said that, and though no one spoke up, the agitation, the excitement of the crowd surrounding them became more and more palpable.

"For almost three hundred years we have been wandering. Aimless and lost. Our ranks have grown, with each day more come to us, eyes opened to the truth. Our belief never wavering, but our guide was gone and so our purpose had become muddied. We were forced to go into hiding from the False God." he spoke, his voice growing louder with each second. "Today our prayers have been answered. Today our leader, our queen, our Goddess has returned to us, and with her we have been given purpose once more."

The crowd began to ripple once more, people moving, people wanting to cheer, to scream, to cry out how they felt, but they did not. No one dared to speak, not yet. But the tension was growing and soon nothing could hold it back.

"Our war with the False God was lost, but we were not defeated. For almost three hundred years we have grown in strength and numbers, our tactics improving, our tools improving because we knew that one day we would fight the False God once more and this time we would not lose. Our time to rise up and fight has come again at last!" Yuri called out marching across the stage with a passion that could not be matched. "We shall fight the False God and his followers, we shall tear them apart and let their blood water the earth as we return our Goddess to her rightful throne as the true Queen of our Earth! Our war shall return, and let the war against the fake begin here!"

Once more the crowds rippled and it didn't stop. People were cheering, fists thrown into the air, cries of joy. The echo of chains was just barely audible over the Acolytes cries of joy and for war. But the ranks parted and Kai saw them.

A large man was in the front, in his meaty hands a thick chain and attached on the other hand was another man in disarray. His clothes were torn, clearly he hadn't showered in days and his face was swollen from beatings. Yet even as the Acolytes jeered and shoved at him, the man held his head up high with pride as though nothing they could do would bother him.

Kai's eyes lowered and she noticed the DWMA insignia sewn onto his tattered coat. Her eyes narrowed and her mouth curled into a scowl. A meister most likely, a weapon would have probably transformed, or partially transformed, to fight back. But it didn't matter if he was the meister or the weapon, he was part of the DWMA, part of that loathsome organization, part of the people who had stolen her son.

The large Acolyte dragged the meister up onto the stage and then knelt down between Kai and Yuri, hooking the chain to the stage so that the DWMA's little soldier couldn't run away. He rumbled some words of respect to Kai and backed off the stage, disappearing back into the crowds.

The man stared up at Kai, hate in his bruised eyes, but there was no fear. "Witch," he spat, a dribble of blood running down a busted lip.

"Human," Kai replied coolly and knelt in front of him. "You're from the DWMA, are you not?"

"I'm one of their top meisters here in Russia," he answered in rough English, his glare didn't waver. Either he had accepted that he was going to die and was not going to give her the satisfaction of showing her fear, or he was far too arrogant to understand his own position. "I know who you are."

"Do you now?"

He didn't let his gaze waver as Kai stared at him. "A witch. Kai Palakiko, though that's not your real name. An alias to get by in human society? You went by Keone in the past. Your magic grants you control over water. A few hundred years ago you caused a bit of Hell by brainwashing humans into creating a cult that worships you and then you went to war with Death," he spat and glared at the Acolytes. "Even after you went into hiding, they remained brainwashed and continued to indoctrinate more and more over the centuries. Now, after years of silence, you've decided to start up more Hell."

He barely knew anything about her, bits and pieces from the little information Death was ever able to get on her in the first place. "Keone… That was the alias I took up when I started the Acolytes, but it was just another alias," It had been so long, she wasn't sure she could remember what her true name had been. "But you're wrong. I never brainwashed anyone. The Acolytes? They started this on their own."

"Forgive me if I don't believe that at all."

"Suit yourself," Kai shrugged, glancing at the crowd that was still hurling jeers at the man, calling for his head, for his death, for Kai to punish him. She tuned them out and settled her gaze back on the meister. "Your superiors took something from me… someone from me. A child. My son. What has the DWMA done with him?"

Would he even know what was going on? They were in Russia, not America, not Nevada. How much would the Academy tell it's foreign agents what was going on? Would they have even tell others that they took a child hostage? Sorcerer or not, involving children couldn't possibly help the organization's image.

The meister chuckled and then spat a wad of spit and blood onto the wooden stage, "If he's a sorcerer then he's been executed already," he answered with a bloody smile. "There are far too many of you monsters, if the people handling him had any sense they'd have killed him before he can mature into a bigger threat. My money is that a weapon's already eaten his soul, or maybe Death's buried it in his room with all the other souls there."

The cheers only grew louder as Kai stood back up, staring down at the meister as her expression turned calm.

Dead.

By all accounts, it was the most likely scenario, one that Kai had not wanted to think of, had not wanted to humor. But… he was in the middle of the heart of the organization. He was a sorcerer, one with the potential for unbelievably destructive magic. Fire. Fire could destroy anything in it's way. There was no way that the people there wouldn't acknowledge how much of a threat Maleko would grow to be.

They had no reason to keep him alive, not when his soul could be used to bolster their own strength, to make new Death Scythe.

Kai took in a deep breath and held it. She counted five seconds before exhaling through her nose, it was the best she could do to control the storm billowing within her. As she closed her eyes, she saw Maleko's smiling face, him laughing and dancing around her in his innocent joy.

"Thank you for telling me," Kai said and took a step back, and then she took another. There was no emotion in her voice, no inflection, her tone was dead. "That was all I needed to know. Goodbye."

It was as if clarity had finally struck her, as though everything suddenly made sense. Everything she needed to do now was perfectly clear. With a terrifyingly clam about her, she raised her hand, palm outstretched to the meister chained to the floor before her.

Water was in everything.

The human body itself was mostly water at roughly 60% in a healthy young adult. Blood was 92% water. The skin was made up of 64% water, the bones were water at 31%. Even the organs, the most vital part of the body raged from 70% to 83% water depending on what the organ was; be it the brain, the heart, the lungs or even the kidneys. Water was the key to every organic substance.

Right now, Kai could feel every ounce of the water within him, could feel it all pulsating.

The meister was staring at her, trying to seem unaffected but was betrayed by his own body as she could see the hint of unease starting to show through in his eyes. Then, without warning his body began to violently convulse.

Mouth open in a wordless scream, all the man could get out were gurgles and gasps as his eyes bulged and he writhed in his chains, unable to do anything. Right before Kai his body began to bulge and swell, a pulsing forming under his skin. With every small twitch of her hand, his body contorted in a new way, the compositions of his own being surrendering to her will.

He bulged and swelled, the chains digging deep into his skin as his body gradually grew bigger and bigger, like a balloon being inflated. He gasped and shuddered, the most he could do.

Then, like a grape, the meister burst.

It was messy. It was disgusting. The weaker willed of the Acolytes flinched back, one or two had ran to the walls and began to retch onto the floor in response to the grotesque sight. Silence had fallen over the crowd.

The stage was covered in blood, in chunks of flesh and meat. His own entrails were a pile of unidentifiable mush. There was no way to easily recognize who this meister had been, not without a lab. Even then, with no body and only a pile of gore remaining, it might be impossible for even a lab to find out who this meister was.

Kai let her hand fall limp at her side as she stared at the mess of pulpy, bloodied meat on the stage. It had been so long since she had used her magic for that. She always preferred to kill others in different, less messy ways. It was easier, less bloody. But no agent of Death deserved a less painful death.

Slowly but surely the Acolytes began crying out once more in cheers. Overcoming their surprise, they let screamed out praises, insults to Death, and other cheers for Kai. Overjoyed at the savage murder of the meister, of the death of the False God's follower. So easily pleased. It would be hard for Kai to do something that would turn them against her, they were far too gone.

She was starting to remember why she stuck around them for so long. Blind loyalty like theirs was rare to come by. They asked for nothing in return and would die for her if she asked it.

Yuri stepped over the mess, kicking what might have been a liver out of the way as he addressed the cheering crowd. "What other proof do we need that this woman is the one we believe her to be? She is, without a doubt, our Goddess! She has brought punishment to the heretic!"

The crowd only grew crazier with their cheering as Yuri spoke.

"We are the children of the sea, my brothers and my sisters. From the sea we came from and to the sea we shall return," Yuri yelled out to the cheering crowd. "Water is the absolute of this world, the source of life and death. We are the Acolytes of our Goddess of the Seas, the one true God of this world and the next!

"The world has grown sick, a corruption taking over the earth and the people. They have forgotten the truth. They worship the False God," Yuri continued as he paced the stage, the crowds only grew stronger and louder, far too much for Kai to make out what they were saying. "It is time for us to reclaim what is ours. The sea is dominant, the waters rule us all. We must strike down the False God and his followers!"

He turned to Kai, his words English now, his face serious. "The Acolytes have been and will always be yours."

"I expect that the ones who could not attend to this will be informed?" Kai returned as the crowds continued to cheer.

The corners of Yuri's lips quirked upwards in a smile, "Of course. We have recorded you, and if you permit us, we will send the recording to the others so that there is no doubt that our Goddess has returned to us."

That's smart. Let them see what she can do, they wont doubt her authority. If not out of respect for her as their 'God', then out of fear that they may suffer the same fate as the meister if they betray her. Let them love her unconditionally, worship her, and for those who do not, then fear will be how she controls them.

"We have a lot of work to get to, Mashkov," far too much work. Everything that Death had ever built was going to burn to ashes before she was done. "We will start working right away. I want you and the others at the top of the Acolytes ready to meet privately with me to discuss our first course of action before the night is over. Is there a place we can meet away from the others?"

There was a nod, "There is an administrative building that we can use to meet. Tell me when and we will be ready."

Good. That was good. Kai nodded and glanced back at the crowds, "Get what men you need to attend this meeting, get the room ready. I will be with you shortly." There were things she needed to do first before she met with the top brass of this branch.

With a slight bow, Yuri Mashkov confirmed her orders and backed off the stage, being swallowed up into the still cheering crowds.

Glancing back at the mess on the floor, Kai took in a deep breath and closed her eyes. Even after killing him, the storm inside her was still raging. It wouldn't quell, couldn't be quelled. No, there was too much rage in her soul for it to die down so easily. The urge to destroy was too strong.

"You did wonderfully," Medusa was suddenly at her side and Kai's very soul felt slimy. A small hand fell on her arm. "I couldn't be prouder, you impressed them, you did more than that, you affirmed their faith and their loyalty. This went better than I could have imagined. But this is only the beginning."

(Get your hand off me) Kai felt her hand clench into a fist as Medusa kept her hand on her. The storm continued to grow stronger and stronger.

"We've still much work to do," Medusa continued as though she couldn't sense the tension in Kai, or perhaps she just didn't care.

Instead of replying, Kai stared at the hundreds of bodies still cheering while watching them, watching Kai. Her eyes glanced to the bloody mess on the floor, her nose twitching as the rancid stench of death began filling the air and her eyes moved back up to the crowd. They were cheering for Kai. They were screaming out their devotion and loyalty to her, to her. Not Medusa, but Kai.

They would never follow Medusa.

There was something awful building up inside of Kai, something toxic and poisonous. But she swallowed it down and let it dig its roots in.

"You know," Kai began, her voice a calm against the hate and rage within her. "This partnership is entirely one-sided, completely dependent." From the barrels surrounding them water rose into the air and in clear tendrils, they flowed towards Kai and Medusa. The cheers began to quiet as an anticipation filled the crowd.

"Kai?" Medusa began warningly.

She ignored her. "Absolutely dependent. You need me, whatever your plans really are, you need me for them to work, because you need me to use the Acolytes. But I don't have any need for you, none whatsoever," Kai said absentmindedly as she watched the water dance around in the air. "And I don't even like you enough to keep you around when you have no use."

The water shot out and faster than Medusa could respond, it had wrapped itself around her like a bubble. Her body, the child whose body she was using, wasn't strong enough to force itself out of the water Kai had swallowed her in.

Slowly the water began to inch higher and higher up and it submerged more of Medusa into it, and just for extra measure, Kai began increasing the pressure of the water so that Medusa would feel the pain of her body being crushed.

"Kai, let me go right now!" Medusa's face was contorted in anger. As if she hadn't planned on a betrayal like this. A grave oversight on the snakes part. "Let me go—mmph!" she was completely swallowed now and as Medusa spoke she instead swallowed a mouthful of the frigid water.

Kai watched as Medusa squirmed in the water, the clock ticking, bubbles filling the water as Medusa fought for air that wasn't there to be found. Even as Kai watched Medusa drown, she couldn't feel anything inside her. No satisfaction at finally seeing the witch die, knowing it was unlikely that Medusa could survive this, no satisfaction at seeing someone in pain and die.

She was empty.

Maleko had been the one who gave her feelings, had been the one who let her feel something, anything. But he was gone, had left her and with him he had taken her feelings. Once again she was as numb as she had been before she met him, she was as empty inside as she had been when she had first met Maleko, as she had been her entire life before meeting him.

The water dispelled, falling to the ground and mixing with the blood and gusts of the meister as Medusa's dead body fell ungraciously to the stage.

"Kom," Kai called out, her voice dead. She glanced to the edge of the stage. Eruka and Free were staring in absolute horror of what Kai had done, but Kom was pushing between them to scrambled up the stage and to get to her side.

He was careful to step over the messes that Kai had caused, but didn't appear too bothered by what had occurred. "What do you need?" he asked. Loyal. Kom had always been loyal to her for as long as she had known him. He would make for a good ally. She wasn't sure about the other two.

"I have a task for you; you're one of the best sorcerers when it comes to poisons, and there is a poison I need you to make, and I need you to make it as quickly as possible," Kai was already walking off the stage, through the parting crowd to make her way back to the stairs, leaving the other two by the stage behind her. If they wanted to work with her, they can stay. But if they wanted to stay away and out of this mess, this would be their only chance to leave.

Kom hummed as he walked at her side. "As long as I can get the ingredients and tools I'd need, I should be able to make what you want, within reasons."

She expected no less of him. Poison was his specialty; in magic and in science. Though he was just as adept at creating antidotes, his poisons were among the best. He sold them on the black market on occasion. There was no one else she could imagine doing a task such as this. "Without weapons, the academy would be useless. The meisters need their weapons, can't fight without them." Meisters were far too dependant on their partners. The weapons were the real threat when it came to the DWMA, most meisters, save for a few, were useless and weak without their weapons. "I want you to make a poison that'll affect the weapons. Get them out of the picture."