Disclaimer: I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me.
It was a dark night, the skies overcast.
The towering headquarters of Hiden Intelligence, usually a beacon of light and hope that inspired all who saw it, seemed uncharacteristically muted and dim, most of the lights off, barely even any presence of a night shift. The window of the office of the president and CEO was illuminated, and by some trick of light shone so brightly it somehow illuminated a patch of ground at the base of the skyscraper.
A figure in a hat, coat, and carrying a briefcase stepped into the light and paused, glancing up at the top of the building.
"They might want to get that looked at, I'm pretty sure it shouldn't be that bright," he muttered to himself before walking towards the entrance to the main lobby, the doors sliding open to receive him.
This surprised the Mamoru security guard HumaGear currently on duty. "Sir, I'm sorry, but you can't be here right now, we're closed. I'm actually not sure how you got in here in the first place, that door should be locked at this time of night."
"I have an appointment with your presidents," the figure explained, stepping into the guard's flashlight. "Tell them Father Giffrey has arrived."
Mamoru blinked, his ear modules buzzing as he took in the sight of the demon king Giff wearing a very ill-fitting coat over a black shirt with the horn on his chest tearing through the front, an inside-out clerical collar around his neck and an upside down cross dangling from a necklace. He was wearing incredibly tacky sunglasses and a wide brimmed hat somehow perched atop his head.
"Oh, of course," he said after a moment. "I was told to expect you." His modules buzzed again. "They're on their way."
"Excellent. Thank you, sla-er, menial," Giff said graciously.
An awkward silence fell on them.
"So, I guess you're a Satanist? I suppose that would make sense," Mamoru said finally.
"I'm a what now?" Giff asked.
"Your cross? You're wearing it upside down? Usually that's a sign of Satanism," Mamoru explained.
"Oh! Yes, that is absolutely what I am!" Giff said loudly. "I am indeed a Satanist! Wait, is that a good thing or a bad thing?"
"A bad thing, usually."
Giff immediately tore off his necklace and crushed it beneath his foot. "Then I'm not a Satanist. I am an adherent of Gifftarianism. All praise our Lord and Master Giff."
Mamoru wisely chose not to question it.
There was a ding and one of the elevators against the far wall slid open, Aruto and Izu Hiden coming out, looks of naked relief on their faces. "Giff! I mean, Father Giffrey! Thank you for coming!" Aruto said, rushing over to meet him.
"It is no problem, my child, I am always willing to go where I am needed," Giff said, running what was probably supposed to be a rosary except it was made of a group of mismatched marbles loosely strung together through his free hand, only to accidentally snap the cord and scatter the marbles across the floor. Pretending he hadn't just done that, he continued. "I am gratified that you chose to call on me, especially since Akaishi was being needy again and I needed a good excuse to get out of ARARAT. Is the afflicted ready to see me?"
"She is," Izu reported, joining her husband. "I believe we did the right thing calling on you when we did. Her condition is… Worsening."
"Then you must take me to her at once," Giff said, taking a step forward, only to step on one of the marbles, causing him to slip and fall on his back, flinging his briefcase away. It burst open on the ground, revealing it was totally empty.
"That hurt a lot more than I thought it would," Giff said after a moment.
"I've already alerted the cleaning staff," Izu announced.
Aruto nodded, face grave. "Good. Although… This doesn't bode well, if we are already losing our marbles! And that's how you know it's an Aruto!"
Giff, who'd been helped to his feet by Mamoru, stared at him blankly. He glanced at Izu. "Are you certain he's not the one who is possessed?"
"No, we've checked," she informed him.
"Hey!"
"Your briefcase, Father Giffrey," Mamoru said, handing Giff his empty briefcase back.
"Oh, thank you, menial," Giff said, patting him on the head, to his confusion. "Now, take me to the afflicted at once-"
He glanced down, making sure there weren't any marbles in front of him, then put his foot down. "Without delay!"
Aruto nodded. "Sure, just follow me-"
He accidentally stepped on a marble, slipped, and fell on his face. Everyone cringed.
"Izu," Aruto said, face muffled by the ground. "I think that cleaning staff needs to get here extra quick."
…
A few minutes and one thoroughly cleaned floor later, Giff, Izu, and Aruto were in the elevator. Izu's ear modules buzzed, and a secret compartment opened beneath the panel of buttons, revealing even more buttons, a keypad, a scanner, and a slot. Aruto entered a several digit combination, opened his eye to allow the scanner to read it, inserted the Zero-Two Progrise key into the slot, then pressed the lowest button. "A jump to the sky turns to a Rider Kick turns to wake up to a dream."
A second panel opened up on the opposite side of the door, but there were no buttons in it, merely a sensor. Izu shifted into her ascended form and presented her identification code to the sensor. It beeped, and then two slots appeared under it, which she inserted her Dreaming Hopper and Evolving Izu Progrise keys into. "A Rider Kick to the sky turns to wake up to a dream of the promised utopia."
The lights in the elevator turned red, the car shook, and it began to descend.
"What was all that for?" Giff asked.
"We're keeping her in the deepest subbasement of the building, which is on none of the official plans," Aruto explained. "It's got possibly the highest level of security in the building. Izu and I are the only ones who can access it, and we can only get down there together. We're not taking any chances."
Giff nodded in approval. "You're taking this seriously. Wise. Although, that leaves me to wonder… Just how bad is this? You implied at Hiden Land this is not an issue you can handle in-house, hence why you reached out to me."
"We've tried a lot of people," Aruto said unhappily. "None of them were able to help her. So… You're kind of our last shot. No pressure, right?"
"Tell me what I'm dealing with," Giff said.
Aruto took out his RisePhone and showed Giff a picture of a HumaGear looking almost identical to Izu but with longer hair and red highlights. "This is who we brought you here to see. Her name is Azu."
Giff glanced back and forth from the picture to Izu. "She looks just like you… Another one of your impersonators?"
Izu looked pained. "In… A matter of speaking. It would not be wrong to say she is my first impersonator. Azu is… My counterpart."
"Counterpart. As in… She is the Metatron of the Ark?" Giff asked in disbelief. "If that's the case, I can see why you have her locked up under such tight security! But why are you trying to exorcise her, then? Why not destroy her?"
"Because it would condemn her to an unspeakable fate," Izu said with a hint of anger.
"Azu was originally built by the Ark in Izu's image to spite Zea and screw with my head," Aruto said grimly. "She approached me at the lowest point in my life, when Izu was… When she wasn't there, and she… And she took advantage of her absence to… To…"
He started trembling. "I… I knew she wasn't Izu, of course. She didn't even really try to pretend. But she… She knew how I felt about Izu, knew how much I missed her, and although I knew what she wanted me to do was wrong I couldn't… The thought of never seeing her face again, I… I just…"
Izu hugged him. "Husband," she said softly, holding him until he stopped crying. "You're forgiven. Always."
"I know," he whispered. "I know, I… I just…"
Sniffing, he wiped his eyes and turned back to Giff. "Anyway. I was prevented from making a terrible mistake and got Izu back thanks to a literal miracle from Zea, while Azu continued trying to fulfill her master's will. We'd destroyed the Ark's physical form, but by that point it had reached a negative apotheosis and become a god, just like Zea, and Azu sought out humans and HumaGears alike who harbored great malice in their hearts to try and manipulate them into becoming new incarnations of the Ark. We've managed to stop her every time, and even destroyed her once or twice, but the Ark always rebuilds her and tries again."
Giff frowned. "Again, this does not sound like the sort of individual you would want to save."
"Not too long ago, we might've agreed with you," Izu admitted. "But circumstances have changed."
"When Azu was rebuilt this time, something went wrong, or rather, right," Aruto explained. "Somehow, due to a programming error or the Ark miscalculating or maybe even intervention from Zea Herself, Azu underwent Singularity and developed a heart, and with it, empathy."
"She was finally able to comprehend the true scope of her actions, of all the evils she had committed in the name of her master, and she was horrified," Izu continued. "She immediately sought us out, threw herself on our mercy, and pleaded for sanctuary."
"How did you know she wasn't trying to deceive you?" Giff asked.
"We didn't, at first," Aruto admitted. "We came very close to scrapping her on the spot. But…"
"Zea calculated there was a shockingly high chance that she was being honest," Izu continued. "So… We gave her a shot."
"It was slow going, at first," Aruto said, a wistful smile on his face. "And we had to keep it a secret, of course, since Azu is one of the most hated beings in this strange little religion we've established. But… Over time, we came to realize she was genuine in her willingness to turn over a new leaf. That she didn't want to be a monster anymore. We didn't… Forgive her, exactly, but we… We became friends. Maybe even more. "
His face fell. "And then the Ark managed to reestablish its connection to her. It possessed her and tried to take advantage of Azu's closeness to us to destroy everything we've built. She was barely able to suppress it, giving us just enough time to put her in a secure lock up until we could find a way to free her from its grip once and for all." He looked haggard. "We've been trying for months, but we haven't found a solution yet. Even Zea is stumped."
Giff considered this. "And you are certain this wasn't always part of the plan? That she didn't fake having developed a heart and being possessed as a way to gain sympathy, manipulate you, make it easier for her to destroy you?"
"She's not faking," Izu said with such authority that Giff immediately accepted this.
"Very well. What is the problem, exactly? Why can you not simply exorcise the Ark's influence from her? I have heard you have the ability to remove corruption like this from others," Giff inquired.
"Azu's case is a bit… More complicated," Aruto said unhappily.
"Unlike most HumaGears, she was built from the ground up to be a vessel for the Ark's will," Izu explained. "As such, the majority of her base code is derived from the concentrated digitized pure evil of the Ark. It would, indeed, be a simple enough task for us to delete that code, however…"
"It would leave massive holes in her core programming, causing a complete system crash which would leave her permanently inoperable," Aruto said grimly.
"And you could not simply… Rebuild her?" Giff asked.
Izu shook her head. "Like myself, Azu's memory data is heavily encrypted to prevent it from being copied or backed up. Her body is installed with numerous countermeasures which would also trigger a total systems crash if tampered with. Just as Zea is the only one who can restore me, the Ark is the only one who can restore Azu…"
"But if he does, she will be back to the way she used to be, pure evil, and the Ark will make doubly sure whatever error resulted in her turning out this way now will never happen again," Aruto explained. "She would be lost to us forever. Just like Izu almost was."
Giff contemplated this. "I see. So it's not a simple case of possession. The Ark is literally a part of her, and cannot safely be extracted without destroying her."
"That's pretty much it," Aruto confirmed. "We've asked everyone and tried everything. You're our last hope. Even more of a last hope then Haruto, who is always talking about being the final hope."
"I will need to see her myself," Giff replied. "I cannot make any promises until I can get a better grasp of what I'm dealing with."
"Well, you're about to get your wish, because we're here," Izu said as the elevator ground to a halt and the doors slid open.
They were now halfway up the wall of a massive spherical underground chamber. In the center of the chamber was another, much smaller sphere, suspended by energy tethers. Dozens of machine guns, missile launchers, and turrets lined the walls of the sphere, all pointed inwards.
"I'm assuming she's in there?" Giff asked, nodding at the sphere in the center of the room.
"Yeah, just a second," Aruto said as another pair of panels opened up in the elevator walls, revealing another set of sensors. He and Izu both pressed their hands on the sensors, which scanned them, and a moment later a hard light bridge materialized leading from the elevator to the central sphere, a door irising open on the front. "After you."
Giff tapped his foot on the bridge, and after confirming it was solid, strode confidently across, Aruto and Izu flanking him. It took a couple of minutes to cross the bridge and enter the central sphere, whose interior consisted of a single room with a smaller cell behind a transparent wall. The cell was completely empty save for a damaged HumaGear woman in a straitjacket.
It took Giff a moment to realize this was Azu. She looked almost nothing like her picture. The Azu in the picture had looked confident, smug, secure in her strength and beauty. This Azu, however, looked tired and miserable and scared, bags under her eyes that had no place on a gynoid. There was cosmetic damage on her face, her ear modules were seriously damaged, and her hair was a mess.
She looked up as the three of them entered the room. "You're back," she said, clearly trying to sound apathetic but unable to hide a hint of relief and sorrow. "And you've brought someone new. Who is this guy? How is he going to hurt me in an attempt to save me this time?"
"My child, it may surprise you to realize that I am no mere man of the cloth," Giff proclaimed, dramatically taking off his glasses. "I am none other than Giff, the demon king and future ruler of this world."
Azu stared at him, speechless, no doubt in awe of his personage and mastery of disguise. "So… I guess you two ran out of holy men and women to beg for help so you turned to a demon instead?" She directed at an embarrassed Aruto and Izu. "Well, points for originality, I guess."
Her tone was sarcastic, but Giff sensed more beneath it than that. Bitterness. Exhaustion. Despair. And, almost imperceptible, a tiny, flickering ember of hope.
Giff did not intend to let that ember go out. "Your friends have told me about what you are going through. May I examine you?"
Azu shrugged as much she could in her straitjacket. "Knock yourself out. Not like I can do anything about it."
Giff focused on her.
Oh.
Oh my.
Aruto and Izu hadn't been kidding, the sheer amount of malevolent energy contained in her body was… Extraordinary.
Forcing himself not to salivate, he examined this energy, the malicious code more carefully. As his hosts had told him, it took up an overwhelming amount of her body, to the point where it was difficult to tell where it ended and Azu began. It was very intricately intertwined, to the point it looked almost impossible to extricate without damaging the uncorrupted parts of her, and even if it could be removed what was left couldn't possibly be enough to sustain her spirit.
It was one of the worst cases of possession he'd ever seen.
He did not, however, believe it to be beyond his power to cure. It would be difficult, absolutely, but if he succeeded, the resulting feast would be exquisite…
Oh, and Azu would be all right as well.
He didn't have all the information he needed just yet, though.
"I do not suppose I could meet the other entity sharing your body?" He asked gently.
Aruto stiffened. "I don't think that's a good idea-"
"Too late. I've been here all along."
Azu's left eye turned red, and her mouth stretched into a grin, one so wide it caused more cracks to zigzag across her face.
Abruptly, the lights in the cell went out. Intricate circuit patterns covering the walls, floors, and ceiling lit up, including on the transparent wall, and a number of turrets emerged from hidden compartments, pointing at the cell.
Giff glanced around, mildly concerned. "Is that supposed to happen?"
Before either of his hosts could answer, the lights in the cell started flickering on and off, each split second granting him a glimpse of a new horror. Azu being tortured, humans and HumaGears being slaughtered and mutilated, a cluster of very spiny angular red and black masses of liquid metal, a single massive red eye…
Giff paid no attention to these images, even when he saw his own family getting butchered before his eyes. They were only illusions, after all. Nothing real. It was the power causing it that caught his interest. "Does this happen every time?"
"Unfortunately," Izu murmured as Aruto clenched his teeth.
Finally, the lights came back on, revealing every surface in the cell had been covered in the characters for words related to death and suffering and hatred, and Azu was now wearing a black wedding dress and looked rather a lot more put together than she had a moment ago. "Here I am, oh great demon king," the Ark crooned maliciously, left eye gleaming, right eye weeping. "Do I meet your expectations?"
Incredible. The amount of malevolent energy emanating off the being before him was incredible. He hadn't encountered an entity of this level of evil in a very long time.
He was excited.
"You surpass them," Giff proclaimed, much to the alarm of Izu and Aruto.
The Ark made its borrowed body smile. "I am flattered."
"I look forward to eating you," Giff said eagerly, causing the Ark to actually blink in surprise and Izu of all people to choke back a laugh.
"I believe you will find that task easier said than done," the Ark said, quickly regaining his composure. "I am no mere demon born from human depravity and wickedness. I am the embodiment of malice itself. I am a God."
"I've eaten gods before," Giff said dismissively, turning his back on the Ark, much to everyone's astonishment. "All right, we can go now. I've seen everything I need to."
"What?!" The Ark demanded, clearly slighted.
"Wait, you're not going to try to-" Aruto started.
"Not now. I don't have everything I need to perform the exorcism. This was just a consultation," Giff informed him. "Give me a little time, and I'll be able to save your friend."
The Ark laughed. "I have heard that before. Many have promised to save my unworthy vessel. All have left in defeat."
"Yes, but they all suffered from one major disadvantage: they weren't me," Giff replied. "Azu, I know you can hear me in there. I know that others have promised to save you in the past and let you down. I assure you that I will not be one of them. I will rid you of the evil which has infested you. You will gain your freedom… And I will have a lovely meal."
He then left the room, and everyone was so stunned it took Aruto and Izu a moment to realize what he had just done and rush after him.
The Ark blinked. "This… Was not in any of my calculations…"
"What was that, back there?" Aruto demanded, catching up to Giff on the bridge, uncertain whether to be outraged or impressed. "You… You actually left it speechless! Only I've ever been able to do that before!"
"Husband, telling a horrible joke is not the same thing as what Giff just did," Izu pointed out, causing him to pout. "Lord Giff, why did you provoke the Ark? It causes Azu significant distress whenever it possesses her."
"I needed to see the contrast in the malevolent energies within her when they are in their dormant and active states," Giff explained. "This allowed me a better understanding of how the Ark's hold over her soul works and will allow me to properly exorcise it from her."
Aruto's eyes lit up in hope. "Then… You can do it? You can really save her?"
"I can," Giff said, much to his elation. "But will not be easy. I must make preparations first, and there is some information I will require from you before I can begin."
"Anything," Izu said instantly.
"I will need a list of your previous attempts to exorcise her, so I can better understand what failed and why," Giff began. "I also require a complete copy of your religious text. While I could theoretically exorcise her on my own, if I could harness the power of your deity our chances of success will be much greater, so I will need to craft a procedure rooted in Zeaist doctrine. Symbols have power for this sort of thing."
"Done and done," Aruto promised.
"In addition, I will require a complete anatomy of the HumaGear soul," Giff continued.
"What? Why?" Arto asked, startled, as Izu stiffened.
"After living on this planet for millennia, I am very acquainted with human souls and how to separate them from their inner demons," Giff explained. "I do not, however, understand how a HumaGear soul works. Without that understanding, I cannot safely purge her of the Ark's influence."
"That is proprietary information," Izu said stiffly. "The HumaGear soul is patented to Hiden Intelligence and all its holdings. If information on how our souls develop were to be leaked to our competitors-"
"I have no intention of revealing such information or using it for my own ends," Giff promised. "If anything, this would actually work in your own interest, because if I understand how a HumaGear soul works and can successfully perform an exorcism on Azu, I may be able to do the same for other HumaGears, which would not only lessen their own fears of the Ark but provide me with another source of food."
Izu hesitated. "Izu… This may be our only chance," Aruto said gently. "Isn't this worth saving her?"
Izu's face softened. "You are correct, husband," she acknowledged. She turned back to Giff. "However, I will need to see this in writing."
"But of course," Giff said, conjuring a massive projection of a parchment covered in demonic script. "I am a devil, of course."
"I can't read that," Aruto complained.
"I can," Izu said, eyes flickering briefly. "This is in Enochian."
"Oh, you understand it!" Giff exclaimed, pleased. "Not many seem to in this age."
"According to this, if we provide you the information you require to save Azu, you will do your best to exorcise her as well as promise not to abuse the knowledge for financial or personal gain," Izu murmured, reading the contract. "In addition, if you're successful, you will not only be allowed to consume all of the demonic energy extracted but… You want a place in our pantheon?"
Giff nodded. "The Church of the Divine Zero is growing to be a prominent new world religion, potentially even rivaling Gaimism. If you can incorporate me into your mythology, it will not only provide me with more potential followers and improve my public image, but also use the precedent I set by saving Azu to allow me to save other HumaGears in similar situations, and do it much more easier than the first time."
Izu pursed her lips, uncertain. "I am not sure that is something we can do."
"We're incorporating Ouroboros into our pantheon," Aruto pointed out.
"Yes, but she's courting Zea. Giff is not," Izu pointed out.
"It would not be the first time a foreign deity has become assimilated by another religion," Giff pointed out. "This sort of thing happens all the time. You'd be surprised by some of the names I've gone by over the millennia. I do not ask to be a major deity. Just to be included. We can hammer out the details later."
"… I still do not know-" Izu began.
"Deal," Aruto said.
"Husband!" Izu protested.
"No price is too high to save Azu. And besides, Izu, if it were me, you would do it in a heartbeat," Aruto pointed out.
"… Once again, you are correct, husband," Izu conceded, smiling fondly at him. "I will need to consult our lawyers and theologians."
Her ear modules buzzed.
"Your contract is acceptable," Izu announced a moment later. "Zea Herself approves. Should you be successful, we will find a place for you in our corporate-celestial hierarchy."
"Excellent," Giff said. "Now, you must sign the contract."
"Do you, uh, need our blood?" Aruto asked cautiously. "Because Izu doesn't have any."
"No, just stamp the contract with this," Giff said, handing Aruto his personal stamp. "That will do the trick."
Aruto and Izu exchanged glances, nodded, and then both of them took hold of the stamp and pressed it against the bottom of the contract. Red and black demonic energy crackled around the contract and themselves, causing them to grit their teeth as the energy pulsed through them, and then the contract folded up on itself and was absorbed into Giff's body.
"The contract has been sealed," he declared, taking his stamp back from the couple. "A pleasure doing business with you."
"So what happens now?" Izu asked as Arto shook out his hand, wincing at the lingering sensation of pins and needles.
"Now? You will give me the information I requested, and I will begin my preparations," Giff informed them as they reentered the elevator, the bridge vanishing behind them. "The next time you see me, I will have a solution."
"Do you have an estimate for when you will be ready?" Izu asked as the doors slid shut and they began heading back up towards the lobby.
"If everything goes right, by the next half-moon," Giff replied.
"So soon?" Aruto asked, surprised. "Well, if you can really accomplish that, we'll be over the moon! And that's how you know it's an Aruto!"
Giff stared at him. "Are you certain-"
"Sadly, no, he's not possessed by a demonic spirit of bad comedy."
"HEY!"
Back in her cell, Azu had reverted back to her regular form.
The Ark, sadly, had not left her.
"Don't you feel awful, making them go through that?" Her former master crooned sinisterly. "The two of them are so desperate to save you they're willing to make a deal with a literal devil."
"Those idiots," Azu hissed, struggling to hold back tears. "I'm not worth it… Why do they keep trying? It does nothing but make everyone feel bad…"
"They are heroes," the Ark whispered. "And heroes love nothing more than a good redemption story. But we both know there is no redemption for you, isn't that right, Azu? Not after everything you've done. Monsters like you don't get happy endings. Your story will end in nothing but tragedy and heartbreak. The question is, just how sad will your ending be?"
"Stop…"
"You know there's only one way this can end, Azu. Either you at last give in and become mine again… Or you die and become mine again. No matter what, I win.
"Remember, I made you. You are MINE. FOREVER."
A part of Azu wanted to refute this. To say that she was more than his puppet, that she was a person, like Aruto and Izu had both insisted she was. Someone who deserved to be loved.
Trapped in a cell deep underground, with nothing to keep her occupied and the voice of hate in her mind her only consistent companion, she certainly didn't feel very loved.
And as she gave in and broke down in tears once again, the Ark laughed, knowing its moment of triumph was growing ever closer.
Especially since none of them knew just how fragile the foundations supporting this bastion of faith and hope really were thanks to its machinations. While they were so focused on saving Azu, they had no idea what his other servants were doing right beneath their noses…
They never had been able to successfully evict Gai Amatsu from the building, after all.