Chapter 33: A Deadly Gamble of Deception
Even with Nirvana protecting him, the light of this heavenly place felt so much sharper and oppressive than before. Naoki had a feeling that he was being watched and judged beyond what Michael was studying his reactions for. What had seemed like a peaceful expanse of nature covered over a fearful obedience that wanted to avoid heavy punishment. How was his family holding up? He could tell they were somewhere past the bamboo screen.
But he had to keep his attention away from there. Satan and Marogareh were combining forces with Iyomante and Muspell to help him play this part. While he had to keep his wits together after the many deaths leading to this, he had to act like he wasn't thinking rationally. "Thank you," he said meekly to Michael's offer of safely made tea, looking down at the table as he did. The white iron underneath the glass top was shaped into interconnected circles that led the eyes to a sun pattern within the center.
"What did you wish to speak of?" Michael said, sitting in the other chair and taking the lid off the mug. "You may confess to anything to me; I will keep quiet to all but God on what you say."
"I don't know why I'm doing any of this anymore," Naoki said, still looking at the table. "I was just trying to find my friends and teacher after the Conception. Since the fiends made it clear that they would leave me dead if I started boring them, I thought I had to fit in with them. But this is turning into a nightmare and they don't really care about me. I started wanting to get away a while ago, but I knew they'd hunt me down immediately if they thought I was betraying them."
Michael had taken a sip of the drink while Naoki was talking; he seemed to like it as he took another drink before setting it down. "It's wrong to give in to the social pressure of a bad crowd; I'm glad I could take you out of it."
While that irritated Naoki, he pretended it hadn't and nodded. "Yeah. I never wanted to be a troublemaker; I had wanted to do good things in the world. But in the Vortex World, it seems just about anything I do will end up being bad or harmful to someone. Is it just because of what I got turned into? I don't want to be a demon, but I can't say that when I'm constantly surrounded by demons. I've gotten away with saying that I won't make any decisions yet, which they find funny for some reason. But I've always been looking for a way out."
"You could have had one while you were here last," Michael said.
Was he trying to guilt-trip him? It was better to play along. "I know, I'm sorry about that. I didn't think it would be bad; I thought I could take anything if it got me back with my family. But that water hurt so much. It was complete agony, made worse when they said I couldn't be strong unless I recovered from that alone. While it seemed to take no time, it was like forever to me and I don't know how I came back from that. I thought about trying to contact you again, but honestly, it makes me afraid."
"That does sound like something they'd do," he said, then took another drink. Naoki sensed that it was starting to affect him. They weren't using physical bodies here, so this might not take as long.
But it would take time. "I did come across the souls of some Mesians by chance," Naoki said. "They seemed like reasonable people. Even though they were in a bad place, they wanted to help me. And, I wanted to help them out because it seemed like they were lost by no fault of their own, like me. I couldn't find anything I could do for them without raising suspicion, though."
"We'll have to keep an eye out for those souls to claim them back from the turmoil of the Vortex World," Michael said. "I don't want to cause trouble for you, but if you can encounter them again, would you tell them that the angels are on their side? That should let them know we're coming for them without alerting those with you too much."
Naoki nodded, although he didn't want to return to their area of the Second Kalpa again. "Sure, I'll keep that in mind. But, it'll be hard to go back. They'll expect me to keep trying that trial again, and keep failing and dying, and..." he shivered to emphasize the point.
"If you need me to, I can do something that will encourage them to call that sadistic nonsense off," he offered. Then the kettle nearby whistled. "For now, I'll make you something to help relax you, all right?"
"Sure, thank you," Naoki said. "Actually, one of the Mesians I spoke to was a priest. He wanted to give me some of their lessons so I had a better idea of what was really going on in the world. But the demons made sure I didn't have time for that. I wanted to hear what he had to say because he was kind to me."
That got Michael's attention as something he thought he could take advantage of. "That would be a good thing for you to hear of. I know their teachings well because we angels help them often. I could instruct you on the true way of the world."
Naoki nodded, which sent Michael off into a sermon. As he was talking more, he took more drinks from the silver mug, smaller ones but he was getting through it. A few minutes later, the seraph passed over his offering for the trust exchange. It smelled like chamomile tea, with a pale golden brown tone in the perfectly white cup. But something seemed sharp about it, like the river.
He's trying to kill us gently now by covering a bit of holy water with an overdose of sleeping enchantment. If that doesn't kill you, you won't be in any state to resist whatever he wants to do. Have Iyomante in the fore; between null sleep and Nyx's protection, the tea won't do a thing to us.
Even with that precaution and having to act, Naoki took just a small sip of the tea at first. The magatama made sure his hands were trembling so it looked like he was still recovering from the apparent nervous breakdown. "This is good," Naoki lied.
Michael accepted the compliment with a nod, then carried on with his teachings. Now it was just a matter of time, of whether he pushed his act too long or Michael succumbed to what he was drinking.
It was clear when Naoki made his move, as he died but time didn't shift back. Amaterasu had never been able to remember what happened in times he had died, no matter what form she'd been taking. However, it was noticeable the more she advanced, a tiny jitter to reality. Now Naoki was dead, but their contract remained active. He was one of those people where such things would not end to death unless he completely ceased to be. Which could happen here.
Amaterasu didn't like it. She fully agreed with the intention of this plan, but the execution would further drive a wedge into his humanity. While that might not have worried her before, now she realized what breaking that might do. Many gods thought humans were something to take advantage of. But in truth, it often took humans to bring about real peace and advance the world. If Naoki got too far from his humanity, he might become just another demon, like the malicious fiends here who were treating this all like a game.
Of course, it might just be the company she was keeping that was making her uneasy now. These were all demons of Chaos, even Wu Kong who was the closest thing to a normal ally she had right now. Amaterasu had no love for the hardcore fanatics of Law who became holy tyrants. But then, these demons would happily tear everything to pieces and leave the moment someone suggested rebuilding things. She had once thought he was too sensitive about violence. Now that Naoki was becoming callous to it, she was concerned that he'd come to enjoy it without remorse.
"Okay, so what do we kill time with?" Hell Biker asked, unconcerned about what was going on.
Amaterasu closed her eyes while the others exchanged ideas. She couldn't give up hope, no matter how things turned out. Naoki was clever; he'd surely come back from this. And, the reason she knew his human name was because she had once been his first demon partner. That definitely counted for something. He had a friendly fondness of her, different from the rest. If anyone could get through to him and keep him from diving too far into Chaos, she had the best shot of getting him to listen. He had a chance to escape all this with Futomimi's Reason.
Not to mention, there was a hidden ally in this world now that she had this form. The goals Naoki was pursuing would surely bring them into contact with each other. If he cherished his heritage as much as she thought he did, then that meeting would turn things around for him easily.
While she was considering what to tell Naoki when he came back, the atmosphere of the area suddenly shifted. Everyone else grew hushed, or fled to hide if they weren't brave enough. Amaterasu opened her eyes in time to see a child appear among them. One didn't have to see his silver eyes to know that he was angry; his aura was intense with it, making things seem darker and colder near him. More than that, he was taking a huge risk coming out in full sight of Kagutsuchi like this.
"What is going on here?" Lucifer demanded in a stern calm.
Even the older fiends weren't up to dealing with their master like this. Counting on Naoki to revive her if Lucifer decided to lash out, Amaterasu spoke up for them. "We're waiting on Demi to get back from a mission of revenge. He had to die over a dozen times to make his deception look good."
His cold glare had bite to it. "What is he doing?"
Steeling herself against him, Amaterasu went ahead and explained Naoki's plan to him. The ones they meant to fool would not be watching here anymore. And even if Kagutsuchi heard, it was beyond the Star's purpose to intervene in something like this. "As Pale Rider has not appeared, we can assume that Naoki has made contact with Michael without immediately being erased."
"That idiot," Lucifer mumbled, looking aside in thought. Seconds later, he had a momentary smile that looked completely wrong on a child. This plan greatly pleased him, which further unsettled Amaterasu. "If he does this, good for him. He must still complete his training, but that would be very good."
The others visibly relaxed now that he was calmed down. "We would have said something to you, but it all came together quickly," Mother Harlot said. "The timing of everything was something we could not let slip, not when the opportunity was right at hand."
"Yes, the timing does seem ideal," Lucifer said, bringing a journal he'd been carrying up to his chest. "I'll let you get back to your vigil, but first, who created this journal?"
No one was able to answer that one, not even herself. Lucifer seemed displeased when he left, but it was much less than he had arrived with. Was he truly worried about Naoki? Or was it that he didn't want to lose his newest toy?
It would be far better if she could convince Naoki to abandon his ties to Lucifer, without somehow inciting the demon lord.
Futomimi shuddered in the middle of his meditations. Something was going wrong. When he cradled his ear for reassurance, he got none. Asakusa had been invaded by the forces of Yosuga, angels and former Mantra demons alike. Unlike before, manikins were simply being slaughtered. It was punishment for daring to go after the power of Creation.
At least they were only suffering for a moment, and then it was all over. Besides, this was a transient world. Futomimi was still safe here; the door's seal would hold. When he made contact with a true god, he would have the power to fight back. He would make it to Kagutsuchi, even if he had to give everything he had to make the star listen. And he had Naoki's allegiance, something that gave Jiyuu a great advantage.
He just needed to call on his god. He'd considered Naoki's suggestion of connecting with Anubis, but ultimately discounted the Egyptian gods. Their society had allowed for slavery on a large scale; even their citizens were treated unevenly. And while the Japanese gods seemed good, their society had isolationist tendencies and wasn't entirely fair either. Neither group matched what he wanted out of Jiyuu.
"There must be some god who still believes in love and equality," Futomimi said, letting go of his ear and putting his hands back in his lap. "If they would please answer my prayers..."
The sound of stressed metal came from far overhead.
He nearly reached for the wooden coin he had. But, no. "You don't believe in love either," he said softly. "Naoki, I hope you come back soon."
Almost there… Naoki took another small sip of his tea. It was lukewarm now, even less pleasant than before. To keep up appearances, he slumped into the back of his chair with his eyelids mostly closed. His horn let him know that Michael had not noticed yet. He was rambling now, having lost his train of thought but trying to keep up the sermon he had going. Opening his eyes back up, Naoki watched as the seraph picked up the silver mug again and downed the last of it. Good, it should be about time.
"But no matter how per…" Michael lost the word partway and had to come up with another, "how far a world gets corrupted by demons, humanity knows on a subconscious level that it is lost and it needs the light of God to return to the peace it has lost. It needs only listen for the words of God, pray for our support, and beg to return to His arms. We will be there for them when they are ready." Michael paused by the seat Naoki was in, looking down at him.
Still acting as if he was struggling to keep awake, Naoki asked, "Then, you hear the words of God often, even here? The priest couldn't in spite of his great faith."
He would have been able to bluff when sober. While he was now unwittingly drunk, it had the effect that Naoki had been hoping for. Michael was caught speechless and uncertain. There was a taste of loneliness to him that, in spite of how Naoki disliked him, was unpleasant to share.
"You're nice to me," Naoki said, letting his eyes droop again. "You saved me. I won't… ever tell..."
His red wings rustled with unease. "I… we haven't actually heard from God in a long time," he admitted in a frail way that was unlike anything he'd shown before. "Well, not directly. Not in words, exactly. Sometimes we feel a confidence and certainty in our plans that should be a sign of reassurance from God. They must be! Except, then they fail and we continue to hear nothing. The silence is, is… maddening, it's worse than outright punishment since it's so hard to tell what's really going on any more. But we remain angels of divine power, seraphim of highest order, so we must be doing the right thing. He watches us from on high, that is a major part of His teachings. He watches us, but we wish so dearly that would could hear from Him again."
Good so far. Naoki straightened himself up, prepared to slowly move into looking fully aware. "You still carry out your god's plans."
"Of course we do!" Michael said, slamming his hands on the table. "We are His agents within the worlds we visit; we will see to it that His will is carried out. But when we're not entirely sure of what His will is anymore, or what the specifics are, it's hard. Sometimes it's like we're lost ourselves. But we can't be! We're His most loyal servants, we will never work against Him!" His eyes were tightly shut trying to close out tears. "We must not fail Him again."
"Again?" Through his horn, he could tell Pale Rider was lurking closer. The fiend would be ready to snatch him back if something went wrong. But right now, he needed to push Michael into the right state of mind.
"We have lost worlds that we really shouldn't have," he said, faltering with the feeling of defeat. "One time, we messed up so badly that He allowed us to be cut down by a human less than a year old! It was so shameful, and then that Messiah went on to temporarily cast down God Himself."
"A child did that?" Naoki asked, bewildered and trying not to seem amused.
"Technically, we allowed some scientists to raise an artificial Messiah to receive a true Messiah's soul from God in a last-ditch effort to bring about His kingdom on that world," Michael explained. "But one of the scientists questioned our motives and we lost control over Aleph with what he did. That false Messiah paid for his arrogance and defiance, you can be sure of that. You're met him since Hijiri is his current incarnation on his eternal punishment."
"That was Hijiri?" he asked, coming alert quicker than he meant to. Not that it mattered much, as Michael was caught up in his self-pity.
He nodded. "God condemned Aleph, his partner, and their descendants to endless lives of suffering. Aleph in particular was given the task of witnessing and documenting the entirety of the conflict between the forces of Law and Chaos, for all of eternity. Since he can only reincarnate as a short-lived human, it is a task his soul can never complete. That is what happens to those who go against His will.
"And that was actually the last time one of us heard from God, when He dealt out that curse. It wasn't even me; I fear I may have lost His attention first, somehow. I don't know why! I've been nothing but devoted to Him! And I'm sure He didn't actually die; He can't die as long as humanity believes in Him. But He hadn't spoken to us for a long time before that, didn't speak to us with that. And now we haven't heard from Him at all even with a threat like you springing up." That made him pause and look down at Naoki. "A threat like you..."
These seraphs were pitiful beings to Naoki now. At least Lucifer kept contact with him and made his presence known. Getting out of his chair and pushing it back, Naoki said, "He should have spoken to you with something like me around. Are you going to get in trouble for this?"
"No, no!" he said, fumbling like a child who realized they had been caught doing something really bad. "He'll understand, He knows that I do what must be done in order to carry out His will! I know His will, I do! This won't happen again. We're the side of justice, light, and, and being right! We honor the one true God and will not fail Him!" Then he sunk down into his chair and covered his face, trying to hide that he was crying. "We haven't failed Him, right?"
Although he still had to keep Iyomante active so the sleep enchantments didn't do him in, Naoki tapped into Satan's power to speak gently. He put a hand on Micheal's shoulder. "Not yet, I'm sure. You had good intentions here. But, it would look suspicious."
"We'll make every world peaceful, every one of them," Michael muttered.
Naoki leaned in closer. "That would be wonderful, but you've got to keep your image of being good. You showed me mercy in speaking with me, so I would like to show some mercy to you."
"Huh?" Michael looked up to him, not understanding why he would do this.
He smiled, but it took some effort to make sure it was a nice friendly smile. "Form a contract with me," he said softly. "Then you won't be responsible for your actions at this meeting, since the contract binds you to do as I ask. I'll even keep it a secret between us that you did so willingly. When I let you go, you can't be held responsible for anything that happens. You can then go back to your god and tell him what happened between us without blame. That will surely put you back in his good graces, to be spying on a dangerous being like myself."
Between the magatama's charisma and the alcohol's influence, Michael took the offer seriously. "Would that really work? It sounds airtight."
"Your god speaks to you in feelings of confidence, so what do you feel?" Naoki asked.
"Yes, yes it would work," he said, sitting up as straight as he could now. "It will work. Very well then. I am the Seraph Michael, I am at your command."
His next move was swift, a particular enchantment he'd learned from the Riders. It used the binding words of the contract to cut through Michael's connection to his god and attach that to himself instead. That was how they commanded angels. "I am the Demifiend, I will use your power well."
And, the rebinding worked. Michael was stunned at it, unable to think briefly. Meanwhile, Naoki felt like something tightened around his mind, squeezing it painfully. He bit his lip trying to bear it. Michael was a powerful being to make a contract with, especially a rebinding one like this. Yet at the same time, the process passed some of the seraph's power to Naoki. If it happened as he hoped… yes, making the contract itself was enough to push his power to the point that he could keep this contract with Michael.
There was a rustle nearby as Pale Rider dismounted his horse. "You truly pulled it off," he said.
"I'm not done yet," Naoki said, moving away from the table to prove that he was handling this. "But I need him alert for what I came to do here."
Fortunately, Michael rubbed his forehead then. He looked over and was surprised. "Ah, m-my Lord?"
"Don't worry, you're fine," Naoki said, making the seraph visibly relieved. "Can you make my soul appear normal? I need to speak with the souls over there."
"Of course, that's simple," he said, reaching over and touching him. All signs that he was the Demifiend vanished: the lines, the horn, even the tinge of darkness that was visible here.
"Good, then I also need the barrier around them taken down," he continued. "I'd rather be left alone to speak with them. Keep an eye on this guy in the meantime, just don't fight him."
"Yes, my Lord," Michael said, promptly following his orders. Pale grumbled softly and leaned against his horse to wait.
When he passed by the screen, Naoki smiled to himself. This had actually worked! Having Michael as a follower was a nice bonus, but the real reward was letting his family go free from this place. "Mom, Dad!" he called over to get their attention.
"Naoki, you've come back!" his mother called. There was a momentary hesitation as they weren't sure if the barrier was still there. But she was there hugging him as soon as he proved that it wasn't. "Oh thank god, what's happened to you?"
Biting back on his initial comment, he said, "I'm sorry, I got pulled into some crazy stuff. I'm glad I'm back with you."
"We were waiting on you," his father said, hugging him once his mother let go. "We could go, but the others..."
"Our kids left with an angel a while back," his aunt said, worried for them. "We haven't seen any of them since."
"They're fine, I found them," Naoki said. "They're in a safe place now. Once you leave here, you'll find them soon."
"What about you?" his mother said. "You're coming with us. Right?"
His throat tensed. He didn't want to lie with them, but didn't want to burden them with the truth either. "No, not yet. I'm actually alive, with special permission to be here and say goodbye to you. I have to get back to the people I'm working with soon. We're going to make a better world. Maybe we have to part now, but I'm sure that we'll see each other again, perhaps sooner than we think."
"I hope so," she said.
"It'll be fine," his grandfather said. His actual grandfather, not the puppet Lucifer was using; even his soul had been captured? But he would be free too. The old man seemed more youthful here, perhaps how he'd seen himself. He patted Naoki on the shoulder. "I've been hearing whispers that a new world is being created. And if our Naoki is involved, I'm sure it'll be a great one."
He nodded, even though it was mostly Futomimi's design. "Yes, I have good faith in those I'm working with, and I'm doing all I can to help them. Even in meeting with you like this. Now I don't have to worry about you all. Please, I hope your souls can be truly at peace."
And with those words, the parting began. He had to let them go for the moment, all of them. But in return, he would bring them to a world that might just find true peace.
Pale Rider had agreed to this plan, in part because he was one of the few who could slip into a place like this unnoticed. The other fiends would stand out too much. Even so, he didn't know why the others were indulging Demifiend like this. This one was doing better than his predecessors, yes, but that just meant that the master would be furious that they were letting him take this risk. Besides, he still wasn't firmly on their side.
Although, the timing of this all meant that it shouldn't be a problem anymore, not unless he turned this deviousness against Lucifer. And that could be a problem since Demifiend could sway Michael into a binding contract. It had built his power immensely. Before long, there shouldn't be anything out of Demifiend's grasp.
"What are you even doing here?" Michael asked him.
"I'm working with him," Pale said, pointing out to Demifiend.
His eyes widened. "T-truly? I thought you'd been cast out forever."
"You've been out of the loop for quite some time," Pale said. To his satisfaction, Michael winced at that. At least this was a plus.
Then he felt something: souls being released to the care of the Great Will. Pale looked over to where Demifiend's family had been. And yes, they were departing to become out of reach to the angels. He could already accomplish that? Perhaps he was better suited to powers of death than he had seemed. The other fiends could have given him some instruction, but this wasn't something that could be done by just anyone.
Demifiend lingered there by himself for a moment. It was likely some human sentimentality. But when he turned back to join them, Pale noticed a change in how the boy was. Maybe this wasn't an indulgence. Maybe it was necessary for him to grow enough in darkness to release all of his sentimentality. Hope was burning brightly within his soul, hope in the Reason he had chosen to support. But that…
Pale Rider knew that he could get Demifiend back to the Vortex World seconds after he had left. But, that might not be for the best. As much as this mission might anger Lucifer, delaying Demifiend now was vital. "It is rare to see one of human birth able to handle a process of death so painlessly," Pale said, an honest compliment.
"I would not want to cause them pain," he said, misunderstanding it. "We can go back now."
"We can," Pale said, patting his horse's neck. "However, I have changed my mind about you as a result of this accomplishment. I had planned on battling you if you chose to prove yourself to me. But I think something else may prove your worth better." He waved the boy closer. "Take my horse and return home."
"On my own?" Demifiend asked, interested.
"I will follow you in case you get lost," Pale said. "I suppose this angel may as well accompany us as some extra muscle. You have taken control over Red's horse, but that was in a rational space that humans could survive in. The space between this place and the Vortex World that was your home is somewhere humans could not survive, much less navigate. If you accomplish this task, I will acknowledge you as worthy of my candelabrum and my loyalty."
"Sure, I'll do that," he said without hesitation.
What gave him that confidence? Whatever it was, Pale Rider would keep his word. He offered a hand to get Demifiend on the pale horse, silently reassuring his bond animal that this was fine. They never put riding gear on their horses, but Demifiend was comfortable with taking the gray mane and guiding the horse that way. While Pale was sure that the boy's soul could handle being out in the Amala Universe itself, the navigation was the true test.
Demifiend was ready to go; he called out the candelabrum that Lucifer had given to him. "Sovereignty," he said, then spent a moment thinking. "Lead me to where my three missing magatama lie."
The candelabrum lit itself, a white light of guidance.
Unexpectedly, his face darkened. "Isamu," Demifiend growled. His determination sharpened with the hunger of the parasites. He signaled the horse to hurry back to his Vortex World.
"I'm coming too," Michael said, hurrying after him. Pale Rider flew after them, unconcerned since it was his horse he was following.
It wasn't long before they were in the vast emptiness of space. Stars of Creation were spread neatly and evenly in spirals, a few watching over their embryonic worlds and searching for their ward's new purpose. Other Stars were watching living worlds, waiting for the time that they returned to this nest. The Stars were all Kagutsuchi, but if Lucifer was correct, there was only one Kagutsuchi. And the time Kagutsuchi was most vulnerable was at the moment of judgment.
In the space between, they encountered the dangers that could end Demifiend's existence just like Michael had been trying to. These were the lost souls of gods: those whose worlds had ended, those who had lost all believers, and worst of all, those who had never been fully born or named. The unnamed ones were capable of anything except willing themselves into existence. They were forced to drift here until a Reason bearer of some Vortex World managed to call them. As Demifiend bore a power of destruction, the lost gods might try to gain favor with Kagutsuchi by killing him.
But Demifiend ignored them all, pressing onward to his goal. Before they got back, Pale Rider felt satisfied with his success. This kind of drive would serve him well.
Isamu had been Naoki's best friend for years, the longest friendship he'd kept. But right now, Naoki felt a desire to kill him if he did not hand over the three magatama he held. Those three held the last of his power; he had to have them. Isamu should realize that, having seen him acquire Gaea. While Naoki hoped that Isamu had gathered them as an apology, he had a gut feeling that his former friend was going to try blackmailing him with them. There was a small part of his mind that couldn't believe this was happening, but his anger was far greater.
Finding his way back to his homeworld was similar to finding his way to the labyrinth from the depths of the network. The candelabrum led the way, this time using his connection to the magatama as a guide. But in this field of stars, it was difficult to gauge how fast the horse was running. There were points where they didn't seem to be making any progress. Naoki still pressed on.
Then one star grew immensely fast in his vision. That was the goal, that was home. Parcels of land shifted around Kagutsuchi like lines on a soap bubble. Like when they left the angelic river, space changed to bring them back into the world. Pale Rider quickly got to his side, placing a skeletal hand on Naoki's soul form to bring him back into a living body as they crossed into normal space.
While he'd used the magatama to get back, they emerged where they had left, outside of Ginza. His followers cheered on seeing them return successfully. Other demons soon joined in out of awe, a few shouting jeers towards Michael with him. The seraph stoically ignored them, back to his former confidence (although not back to sobriety). For the moment, Naoki felt like a victorious champion even though he had no intention of being the one they said they were waiting for.
The crowd was quick to quiet down when Pale Rider spoke up. "I did not believe that a hybrid being was the answer to our prayers, but you have proven to me that I was wrong. I have accepted a few of your failed predecessors out of obligation. However, I accept you now out of respect." He bowed, then called out the Candelabrum of Majesty to pass over. "I am the Fiend Pale Rider, death is now on your side."
Matching his respect, Naoki bowed from where he was on the horse. "I am the Demifiend, I will use your power well." This caused another round of cheers as he accepted Majesty and dismounted. He kept hold of it a moment, but waved Amaterasu and Wu Kong over to his side. They and Michael would now be his traveling companions. Another pair of demons came out of the crowd as well: Loki and Nyx. "You two came out for this?" Naoki asked, surprised to see them.
"All of the customers left, so we figured we may as well," Nyx said, although she seemed proud of him. "Good job."
Loki was in a good mood too. "Yeah, that was quite a stunt to pull off. And I'll keep my word: here." He passed over a gold key that had star insignia on the handle. "This is for a later Kalpa than you can't have reached yet. I was supposed to challenge you for it when you got stuck, but since you challenged yourself far better than I could come up with, I'll give it to you now."
"Thanks," Naoki said, putting it away for now. At least with this, he could potentially get through the rest of the Kalpas in one go. But when to do that was the question. And, there were other things he should get before he went back to the labyrinth.
Nyx chuckled, putting a hand to her mouth. "Loki, I'm sure you could have come up with something better if you weren't blind drunk for the majority of this world's existence."
"Bah, what good is sobriety?" Loki said, waving her off.
"Getting this done means that I just need to finish Trumpeter's challenge to be done outside the labyrinth," Naoki said, looking up to where the skeletal angel was hovering. "You ready to be taken down?"
Trumpeter laughed at this. "Given how you've flown so far, this is going to take half of eternity. But if you want to keep going, I'm up for it."
"Don't be too cocky," Pale Rider said, although it was difficult to say who he was telling this to.
"Let's go," Naoki said, since he needed the borrowed wings back.
"Yes, let's," Trumpeter said before playing that melody again.
Before the skeleton angel could move, Naoki took off on the wings as soon as he could, straight at Trumpeter to punch his skull. Trumpeter got away right after, then fled through Ginza once again. But this time, Naoki wasn't trying to fool anyone. He let the magatama guide his wings and chased the fiend through the small maze of buildings. His reactions moved quicker than he could see, letting him skim right across the corner of one building, then shoot off towards another. While Trumpeter was caught a moment thinking that he'd crashed, he slowed down. Naoki caught up and nailed him with a move that put iron claws on his fists.
Then a beam of radiant light struck Trumpeter as a follow-up. Perhaps not knowing the original terms, Michael had chased after them. And since he came, Wu Kong and Amaterasu decided to join in on the aerial battle. Seeing that, Trumpeter nodded. "If they can follow, we can change things. Come on, I still have the advantage." He then left the Ginza cluster to head straight for Kagutsuchi.
Naoki closed his eyes so that chasing after him didn't require looking straight at the blue star. His sight was more of a hindrance in this situation anyhow. About midway to Kagutsuchi, Trumpeter stopped near a cluster of floating cubes. They were like the ones in the obelisk. What were they doing here? But it didn't matter. This was a test on aerial combat, so landing was out of the question.
Trumpeter then played a different melody, one that healed him back to full health. "With this holy song, the weakest among us shall be returned to strength," he said. "By the count of my breaths, I will play its evil counterpart which will cause the weakest among us to perish. The blades of death hang in the balance. Can you win under its threat?"
"Of course," Naoki replied. He didn't say how many breaths, but the answer to that was simple. They just had to cause enough damage fast enough that Trumpeter didn't get a chance to play his evil song. "Wu Kong, get us buffed to be fast and strong," he whispered to his followers. "Amaterasu, Michael, just hit him as hard as you can so he goes down quick."
They confirmed their orders and carried on: Michael continued with his Expel magic that somehow cut right through Trumpeter's resistance to damage him greatly. Perhaps it was because that was an attack of pure damage, not trying to cast him out of the world like Hama did. Amaterasu shifted around between her elemental spells of Wind Cutter, Ziodyne, and Prominence before settling on the last. With that kind of magic being thrown around, getting in close was not a good option.
Don't worry, you've gotten strong enough to carry out a lot of more powerful attacks yourself. Here, how about these? Mess around with them and see what you think is best.
Messing around in a battle of these stakes might not be wise normally. But Naoki felt like his followers, including Wu Kong once he got their buffs set, were knocking Trumpeter down well enough on their own. He could probably take on a healer's role now with spells that Sophia and Nirvana came with. However, that wasn't what he was meant to be doing. And he had the distance attacks now to keep out of his companion's magic. Divine Shot, Javelin Rain… Friekugel.
The last one from Kailash was particular effective, a bright shot like White Rider's God's Bow except that it counted as almighty physical skill rather than magic like Megido. Naoki couldn't remember running across any demon that blocked out almighty damage. Not even Lucifer. It cut into his energy a lot to use, but not nearly what Deadly Fury took out of him when he'd been brute forcing it to work. He could use it just three times before he had to call for a healing, but Amaterasu had that covered well with Mediarahan.
Although, he decided it as better to use Friekugal just twice before getting a heal. Trumpeter was calling on powerful magic himself against all of them, like the vast blizzard of Mabufudyne that briefly turned the air here frosty. It felt like he could keep his spells going for longer than Amaterasu could hold out without having to back off for Mana Refill to kick in. Michael could probably keep up, although Naoki didn't want to pull him on healing duty when his Judgment Light was more effective right now than Friekugal.
He's going to use Evil Melody.
With that warning from his magatama, Naoki braced himself as Trumpeter got his instrument to his teeth. The weakest… that was actually Michael right now. But Trumpeter was nearly out himself. Naoki fired off Friekugal one more time right as Trumpeter got one note off. And that was it; Trumpeter was defeated.
Wu Kong was quick to move, darting over to catch the candelabrum before it fell all the way back to the sandy patches of land (or even worse, into the void of the Amala Universe). He then came over to hand it to him. "Got it! That was one hell of a ride!"
"Yeah, it was," Naoki agreed, taking the gold-plated candelabrum of Godliness. Wait, that couldn't be right...
Trumpeter reappeared in front of him then. "Well done, so you were faking most of those deaths," he said. "I was one of those who doubted that this would be of any help, but you've convinced me. With what you've accomplished today, I'm sure you can fulfill our master's wishes." He nodded and tapped his feet. "I am the Fiend Trumpeter, I shall herald your coming."
He nodded back, sending the candelabrum away. "I am the Demifiend, I shall use your power well." He opened his eyes to glance back down at the interior surface of this Vortex World. The few remnants of Tokyo stood out here, surrounded by concentric sand dunes like they had been plopped down there. "Since we're up here, I hope you don't mind me landing in Asakusa."
"Go ahead, if that suits your purposes," Trumpeter said. There was a faint scent of something to him, smugness?
"Asakusa is going to be chaotic if we go there now," Michael said.
"Why's that?" he asked, looking over at the seraph.
"The other three are helping the leader of Yosuga take the city forcefully from the manikins and slaughter them so we can call on one worthy to represent her." He said that like it meant nothing to him.
"What?!" Naoki snapped. He was supposed to be helping Futomimi. Was he safe? And had Michael given some signal for this to happen while he had him distracted? But then, Yosuga was Chiaki's Reason. How was she doing this now when the last sign he'd seen of her was Sakahagi having her freshly cut off arm while Yoyogi burned?
Michael was suddenly full of dread, terrorized at his anger. "Ah, well, th-the Divine clan went with her, so we were working to help them, in, in accordance to Kagutsuchi's rules."
There was something so delicious about his magatsuhi right now, a feeling of power over another that Naoki had never really felt before. But that wasn't going to help. Trying to ignore that, he said, "Calm down, we'll just go there and stop them. Trumpeter, are you in on this?"
"A raid against the other three seraphs?" he asked, delighted at the idea. "Certainly, let's strike swiftly."
Naoki nodded and took off for the crater that held Asakusa and Mifunashiro. Was he going to make it there in time to help?