Sorry for taking so long. My motivation with this story comes and goes. Thank you for the reviews, they encourage me to write more! Battles are tough.
"I thought- but- I thought you- HOW?" stammered Viridi.
"Hades kept me captive. With him dead, and no one left to guide the Underworld, I became its caretaker," Persephone replied.
"Why are you HERE?" Viridi demanded. "Are you here to stop me? Why?!"
Persephone took a deep breath and straightened. "You are upsetting the balance, Viridi," she said. "Cease your slaughter of the humans. With less and less chance for reincarnation, human souls are flooding the Underworld. If you do not stop, the cycle of life will be completely broken, and the world will fall into ruin." She spoke in a strong and clear voice, ringng out towards her sister.
"The world will be a BETTER PLACE without humans!" Viridi cried. "Can't you see that?"
"Viridi, the cycle of life exists for a reason," pleaded Persephone. "The circling of human souls keeps this world in balance, gives this world energy. Please, stop this."
"Or what? YOU'LL stop me?"
"Yeah, we will," snarled Kuro. Next to him, the Dragon bared its teeth, growling deep in its throat.
"We will if we have to," said Persephone. "But it doesn't have to be like this! Sister, you and I, we can safeguard the cycle of life and death together!"
"Not so long as these humans are around," said Viridi. "And if you're going to oppose me on that, you're not my sister."
Persephone's face showed an ache of pain. "Very well."
"Forces of Nature, crush that pitiful human town!" cried Viridi.
"Kuro!" cried Persephone.
"Peacekeepers, defend it!" he echoed, diving for the town. "Keep the Forces of Nature off of the humans. Help them escape, whatever you need to do, just- defend them!" If they could do something to help this town, it would be their first victory in shutting down Viridi's campaign.
An assortment of cries met his orders. Beside him, the Dragon pumped its wings, keeping up with him easily. Its pupils had sharpened into an active hostility. "You stick with me," he said. "She didn't bring a commander this time, but next time, she might. We're pretty much both commanders here, and she doesn't know that. It'll give us an advantage."
It rumbled an acknowledgement. Kuro targeted a cluster of Nutskis and shot them down. He followed up with a set of Parashooters and a Blader. All around him, many Peacekeepers succeeded in preventing Forces of Nature from even reaching the town. Viridi's attempts at bothering them with wind only affected Kuro, who carried on anyways, and hindered her own troops more than anything, often blowing them right into the ghostly point of a spear. At one point, a Nutski blew right into the Dragon's jaws. A single crunch made it vanish.
The Peacekeepers weren't doing so badly. Many of them contained vengeful souls of those Viridi had killed, and "death" would merely return them to the Underworld, knocking them out of this battle. Meanwhile, Viridi's forces required greater time and energy to make, and dealing with them would actually set her back.
The Dragon growled at Kuro to get his attention for a moment, mid-battle. It gazed at him intensely, its eyes glowing a miryad of colors. It puffed a small flame and indicated the large swath of ground forces still approaching. A few Peacekeepers had moved to fight them off, but the majority were still occupied in the air. "Go for it," Kuro said, grinning wickedly. "I'll be right behind you."
The Dragon "grinned", eyes narrowing for a similar wicked smile before turning and tucking its wings close to dive for the attackers. It breathed out a rolling cloud of white, flickering fire, leaving life-stripped shells in its wake that vanished after a few moments.
"She's taking their Life," murmured Persephone.
"And I'm gonna take the lives of the other ones," added Kuro, diving down to nab any enemies the Dragon had missed. The very earth blackened with death where the Dragon so chose, and Kuro silently hoped that the Dragon would never have cause to destroy on a truly large scale.
Kuro shot down any remaining creatures (there were very few) and circled back to another side of the town as the Dragon moved for another pass. At this other side of the town, some of the Forces of Nature had broken in already, and he dove in for a landing. The Persephone Blade cut through his enemies smoothly, and he grinned as hearts flowed out from his targets and around him, into Persephone's reservoir of power. He was stealing the energy Viridi had put into making these creatures.
At one point, he saved a pair of humans- one older woman and a young girl- who had failed to escape. He cut apart an Urgle which had cornered them to find them, and they looked up at him with a mixture of fear and hope. He backed out of the alley which they were huddled in. "Go on, get out!" he snarled, shoving them along as they ran. He tasked a winged spear-bearer to follow them as they moved, and returned his attention to the walls of the town, where the enemies were thickest. They'd broken several holes in the wall and broken the gates, where he decided he'd take a stand. He planted Peacekeepers at the other holes.
"You're doing well, Kuro," said Persephone. "Viridi did not understand how strong we are."
"Yeah?" he grunted. "Great. Maybe this'll be over soon. What a pain."
There was an arcing cry, a familiar roaring- the Dragon sailed over the town and landed beside him. "Hey," he greeted it, in a lull between waves. "Dealt with the force over there?"
Rrrrrrr. The dragon's eyes narrowed proudly. "Good job," he said. "Help me here."
The Dragon joined him, a whirlwind of teeth and claws to match his flashing blade. Between the two of them, none got close to entering through the gates, preventing a little more structural damage. He hadn't exactly prioritized protecting the humans and their homes, knowing that this was just the first of many power struggles- but now that it might be possible, he felt slightly proud of it. Many might return to find their homes undamaged.
"Honestly, this is too easy," he muttered.
"Viridi wasn't expecting resistance," said Persephone. "She brought this force to demolish multiple towns in succession, and the humans are too weak to defend themselves from most kinds of godly power."
"I guess."
"We'll have to be careful," she murmured. "Viridi will know us now."
Kuro cut through another enemy. "Yeah, yeah. We'll handle it."
"I hope so."
Kuro made a face. "Will you calm down? We'll handle it. If we don't, the balance is broken. Simple as that. Plus, we have me." He grinned.
The Dragon snorted. "And the Dragon," he added, rolling his eyes.
The Forces of Nature were dwindling, and Viridi snarled out, "Argh! That's enough! Fine, you win. Forces of Nature, RETREAT!"
Kuro lowered his blade as they turned and sailed backwards. "Good choice," he scoffed.
"Don't think this is over, Pittoo. I'm just cutting my losses. I haven't given up yet."
"Nobody said you had," he replied coolly. She made an irritated noise. "I WILL come back."
"Sure," he said. "We'll be ready for you."
"UGH! Your impudence is so… infuriating!" Viridi's face changed and cooled. "And you. Persephone. Don't think I'll forget this."
Her presence faded. Persephone sighed. "I'm sorry, sister…"
"Don't apologize, she disowned you," said Kuro. This only made her look more gloomy, and he failed to hold back a sigh. "Well, we won. Don't look so disappointed. How many casualties?"
"A lot of humans," said Persephone. "But… not as much as there would have been. The majority are still alive, being guarded by Peacekeepers outside the town. As for us, we lost maybe a quarter of our forces. Viridi lost two-thirds."
"Yeah, that's not an even match. She didn't expect an actual fight. Tell the Peacekeepers to bring the humans back."
"Yes."
Kuro ascended and watched the stream of humans re-entering. "They'll rebuild," he said. "Humans are tough that way. Kind of."
"Yes, they will. Gather up the Peacekeepers. I'll open a portal and you can come home."