Team Aeternum: From Heaven to Hell

by TheRedGhillie

Brought together by a promise from before their time, Naruto Uzumaki, Shikamaru Nara and Shino Aburame are thrown into the world to show what they are made of! Trained by Jiraiya and Yugao Uzuki, these three were brought together to keep Konoha safe, but not everything is what it appears to be. When two higher powers take an interest in the trio, the world will never be the same!

16. Irrelevant Consequences

Team Aeternum: From Heaven to Hell

|{Chapter 16: Irrelevant Consequences}|

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

"Pretend all the consequences one's actions will bring as irrelevant and live life accordingly. Adaptability resides in all of us, after all." –Unknown

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[Character Descriptions]

Naruto: Dark skin tone, Eastern European accent, speaks broken English, smooth deep red-brown hair. Twin scars at each side of his chin, one large horizontal scar across his forehead. Eyes are now a shining yellow. Naruto is now wearing an unzipped, black sleeveless jacket with a body fitting white t-shirt, exposing his right arm as the left one was expertly wrapped with medical gauze down to the his fingertips, letting him move, flex and close his arm and hand with no difficulty. For his lower body, Naruto wore a tattered pair of dark green camo combat pants outfitted with multiple pockets and pouches along each pant leg, and as for his feet, a brown pair of old working boots were tightly laced on. The former blonde looked tired, bitter and distant thanks to the aura his new eyes give off due to the stressed wrinkles around them.

Shino: Dark skin tone, Eastern European accent, speaks broken English, straightened light brown hair, slightly scruffy facial hair well maintained, and shining yellow eyes. Shino is wearing a tired out black vest outfitted with used padded armor covering his chest. His arms were covered up to his wrist with a thin black jacket riddled with cuts underneath the armored vest while his lower half was composed of a pair of faded black denim pants and an exhausted pair of black work boots. Underneath the left sleeve of his jacket, he wore two wristwatches on his arm, both functioning but one had its glass cracked. One bang is free from the restraint on his hair in the form of a tattered black head wrap, letting a single band of hair hang over his right eye while the back of his hair rested on the back of his neck. The area around his eyes is covered with strained wrinkles brought upon by a youth raised in a lifetime of violence, paranoia, and grief. A thin scar travels from his right cheek to the right one, crossing the bridge of his nose.

Shikamaru: Dark skin tone, Eastern European accent, speaks broken English, his hair is now deep brown and let loose against his back, and his eyes are now a shining yellow. A clean semi-thick sheet of facial hair with a matching thin mustache now adorn his face, a long thing scar starting from above his left eyebrow runs down through it along with his left eye, eyelid, and cheek, cutting through the beard she gave him. A triad of jagged claw-like scars runs through his right cheek at an angle. Multiple scars run through his arms, the back of his hands are riddled with damaged skin. His eyes are in a constant glare of a battle tested veteran. Shikamaru is now wearing a brown leather jacket, tattered sleeves gave it an old feel to it, but was still durable. Underneath the jacket, a thin vest of green body armor could be seen covering the black mesh shirt beneath it. On his lower half, Shikamaru was wearing a worn out pair of blue denim pants, a black leather belt around his waistline, and pair of old work boots that have seen plenty of use, adorned his feet. Around his neck he wears a black bandana that could be quickly moved to cover half his face if a situation called for it, and finally, atop his head, he wears a black head rag that covered the top part of his hair, but let several bangs stick out in front while the back of his hair was loose against the back of his neck. As an aesthetic, he wore a broken wristwatch on his right hand. He looks rugged and weary.

[Chapter Start]

"My name is Yugito Nii," The woman revealed her identity, small fangs visible from her smile, "and I think we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on." She relaxed into her spot on the warm pool in front of the three characters. Her arms were spread apart lying lazily across the smooth stone edge of the hot bath, exposing the top half of her towel-covered breasts that peered over the relaxing water. Her smile, the one she perfected, flashed through the steam around them.

They had emotion this time around, she noted with faint smugness as their usual stoic faces had all but crumbled beneath her sudden appearance. Their eyes had gone wide in surprise and their mouths were just a crack open – perfect, she thought. The one in the middle, the same one she had sat down next to in that dainty little restaurant back in Heisui, narrowed his eyes slightly and looked as if he recovered before the other two did. If he was going to say something, heh, she would just love to hear it.

But he didn't say anything, unfortunately. He calmed himself and glanced at the two around him, calming them in the process. 'So, they follow him, huh?' Oh well, she figured as much.

"You three just talked to me," She teased at their mistake, "so there's no need for you to stay quiet anymore." She inhaled and let out a relaxed sigh. "Talk to me."

The one in the middle seemed to understand the situation and after a moment of hesitation, he finally asked: "Who are you?"

His accent was… different, she noted with a smile. If diversity was the spice of life, well, she might have gone above and beyond the recommended serving with these three individuals.

Nevertheless, he talked to her, finally, and she was asked a question that she was entitled to answer.

"I already said who I am." She shrugged, liking the way his face hardened from her response. "But, if you haven't noticed, I'm more curious to find out who you are." She chuckled.

"Evidently," He began slowly, "you are." He left it at that.

"That accent…" Yugito tilted her head slightly and, while still smiling, continued "…where is it from?" They didn't respond and that faintly bothered her in a bad way. "Hey, hey, don't do that to me now. Not when you just began talking to me." Her irritation wasn't missed as they reflected, what she assumed was, her smile from before.

'Smart.'

"Heh, that's pretty good, I'll admit." She grinned playfully before her expression hardened. Their smiles went away. "Answer me."

"It does not matter." He replied, his accent coated the words.

"That isn't an answer." She blocked.

"Like yours, then." He countered.

She laughed, seemingly enjoying the way this conversation was going. "I'm not sure if I preferred you being quiet or the way you are now."

He didn't say anything. She didn't mind.

"Where are you three from?" She asked after a moment of silence where she placed her hands behind her head in relaxation.

"Far away from here." He answered her without answering anything.

"Can you be more specific?" She raised an eyebrow.

"It does not matter." He repeated like before. Her eyebrow stayed raised in place, almost as if questioning him. When he didn't budge from the look she gave him, she let it go.

"I guess it doesn't." She followed.

"What, do you want?" He interacted with her some more while his companions looked bored, giving her a sparing glance every now and then.

"Do you three have names I can call you?" His question went unanswered.

"No." The spokesman of the trio answered again. "What do you want?" He repeated.

She ignored that last part. "Oh, please; you three must have something I can call you."

"You are good at asking the questions; answering them is a different story, lady." He looked angry, she knew that, but that just might be his face.

"Did I not already tell you who I am?" She liked playing around with them; she wanted to get them to snap – just a tiny bit. The way he narrowed his eyes at her was…enough, she guessed. The one to the left of him, the one with light brown hair and triad of scars on his right cheek, rolled his eyes in annoyance. He noticed that she noticed.

He winced, she smiled.

"Maybe you will talk to me?" She had switched targets in the blink of an eye, tilting her head to her right to emphasize that she was now speaking to him rather than the one in the middle. He raised an eyebrow, yawned slowly and went back to relaxing into the bath; all the while he avoided meeting her gaze.

"What is it that you want?" The only openly vocal character of the trio asked one more time in his slow, heavy tone of voice. She could have ignored him, but decided against it – to throw them a bone, so to speak.

"I want to know who you three are." She sighed into her spot in the bath.

"Nobody important." His reply came quick.

She could appreciate that. "Yeah, well, you see…" She groaned as she stretched her limbs, "…when someone says that, it makes me think that they are important, or will be at some point."

"I assure you," he paused, "we are not."

"Perhaps," she began with a click of her tongue, "but you three caught my attention – and that's rare," she let out a miniscule laugh, "someone catching my attention, I mean." Yugito saw the one to her right fidget. "And imagine my surprise, when not one, not two, but three, individuals manage to catch my attention. Why do you suppose that is?" Her question rang throughout the silence of the bath.

"Was it the eyes?" The one to her right blurted out suddenly in a semi-serious semi-uninterested tone as he shrugged.

She stared him down, expression initially serious but soon after began to crumble into a half-grin before she chuckled at the response. Her mirth filled the room for the better part of around ten seconds; her laugh was dignified, strong and rarely used.

It was nice.

When she calmed down, her left arm approached her upper body where she then hid her amused grin with her hand. "…Yeah," she let out a short breath, "I guess that helped in catching my attention at first, but…" her arm submerged itself into the water next to her, "…that isn't it."

They seemed to wait for her to continue.

"I need to know about you three." Her response was painfully neutral. "No tricks, no deceit; I genuinely need to know about you three." Her face softened but still commandeered a serious tone.

"Why?" The one in the middle asked after a second of thought.

"Humor me for now, will you?" She sighed. "There's a reason I need to know about you, just as much as there's a reason why I can't tell you why I need to know."

They turned to one another, yellow eyes met wordlessly before they moved to meet hers. She waited. "Well?"

"Leave us alone, lady." They rose to their feet, towels covering their waists as they turned to leave.

She couldn't help but smile at their decision. "You take another step and all three of you will be dead before you hit the ground." Her tone was of toxic honey, slow and bad for the health. A wave of killing intent flashed from her and interrupted their stride before they stepped foot outside the water.

She saw them freeze.

"That's what I thought." Lips curved into a smirk. "Now, come back here and we can try again from the beginning – no hard feelings, just talking things out, like friends." She could hear one of them scoff softly at her words. "Don't believe me?" She challenged. "Or are you three just confident enough to defeat me?"

They kept still, their backs toward her. "We do not want any trouble, lady." She heard him – the only one that was seemingly able to hold a conversation – mutter in a defeated tone. She nodded her head despite knowing that they weren't able to see the action.

"Will you submit now?" Her voice was businesslike, her eyes hard as steel.

They took a step back before turning around. Once they were seated in their original spot in the bath, the talker of the group responded. "What do you want to know?"

"Where are you from?" She asked once again, her teasing tone was gone for now, it seemed.

The one in the middle sighed before pausing, as if he was collecting his thoughts. "Not from here." He began. "We arrived east from here – far east, came by ship months ago."

She tilted her head in interest. "How many months ago exactly?"

He shrugged. "Don't keep track of time, sorry. It was cold when we arrived, if that helps."

"It doesn't, thanks." She shook her head. "When I first saw you three, you were barely entering Heisui. How long have you been in Hot Springs beforehand?"

The one in the middle sighed as if he were being worked. "Not long. We arrived from another ship – trade ship, I believe – from country east from here…" He paused trying to think of the name.

"Wolf Country?" She offered, knowing full well of Hot Springs' trading partners east from here – Wolf, Sky and Honey.

"Perhaps." He conceded. "We were in country for about two days before we came across the capital."

She intervened. "All trading ships stop at the docks to unload their cargo. The docks are in the capital; why did it take two days for you to enter the capital when you were already there?"

"To avoid detection." He responded casually. "We were not alone making our way to country – when the others began to jump from the ship before it docked, we did the same. We swam to the shore and made our way west from there."

She raised an eyebrow. "There are others?"

He shook his head at her assumption. "No. We did not know them, strangers we were to one another."

"They were just illegal immigrants then?" She made a mental note about this.

"I suppose so."

Yugito rolled her neck. "Where are you three headed?"

"West." He replied swiftly.

"Be specific."

"We do not know what lies ahead, lady." He shrugged. "We have been going west for a long time now." She seemed interested, if her arching eyebrow could speak for her.

"Why? Can you elaborate?"

The one to her left, the one with the severely scarred arm, fidgeted in his spot while the one to her right shuddered. The one in the middle swallowed the lump in his throat and responded.

"There are…memories…we want to escape from. Very, very, very bad memories." His voice was a whisper of its former self.

"Like what?" Her question slightly irritated them, she could tell from the way their eyebrows furrowed and their faces hardened. She didn't retract her question.

"Death." His reply was hesitant.

"Death?" She repeated. "Were you in danger?"

They shook their head together, a negative. "No...we were not."

"Did you three kill someone?" She inquired.

He didn't answer.

"I thought we had an understanding-"

"Plenty of people." He cut in. "We killed plenty of people."

She narrowed her eyes. "For what reason?"

"We…did not know. We were told to – forced to; we were young when we were trained…" He paused.

"War?"

"…" She took his hollowed silence as confirmation.

"Where did this happen?" She pressured once more after a moment.

He sighed heavily. "Enough." Yellow eyes met hers. "Please."

She sighed also, but in disappointment. "Fine, I'll drop the origin questions."

"Thank you."

"So you three are just running westward for no reason other than leaving your past behind?" She relaxed into the water once more.

"No." He replied. "We are looking for work."

"Work?" Her tone was amused. "What type of work?"

"Any kind. We need money, but we want purpose more." He rolled his shoulders.

"Purpose? What for?"

"We are still here for a reason, lady… Even if we do not deserve to be." He muttered under his breath.

She didn't know what to say in regards to that. "What types of jobs have you done since you left?"

He thought about it. "Various jobs – construction, farming, animal husbandry-"

She laughed at the last one. "Animal husbandry?"

"Money is money." He defended neutrally, but she noticed the annoyed undertone.

"So, you'll do any job so long as it pays?" She teased.

"…essentially." He replied with uncertainty.

Her smile could've turned water to stone. "Hmm…okay…" She began. "What if I were to offer you three a job?"

She saw them stiffen. The one to her left with the mangled arm finally looked at her directly before responding:

"No sex." His tone was serious.

She wasn't amused. "First thing you say to me directly and you decide to go with that?"

Mangled Arm – the one to her left – shook his head. "Given the…" He paused, and looked to be thinking on what he should say. "…the…"

Middle One – the talker – offered: "Circumstances?"

"Yeah, yeah; given the cir-come-stances, it seemed as, as if, uh…" He snapped his fingers in thought. "…sex is what you were after, lady."

Yugito looked at Middle One and raised an eyebrow. "Is he an idiot?"

"Oi!" Mangled Arm shouted in defense.

Middle One replied: "No, he is not. He needs to think before he talks – get words he wants ready before he speaks; evidently, he does not do that." He paused. "He is not wrong to think so either."

"Oh? Care to explain?" The blonde asked.

"When such a…" Middle One purposely paused in his wording. "…fine lady such as yourself follows us around for as long you have, enters the male section of the bath with nothing but short towel, then offers us job, well; maybe you can see where we might get such an idea from."

"Cute." Yugito responded. "Very cute."

"The rule stands, lady." Mangled Arm stated.

"Don't be stupid." She rolled her eyes. "Let's see…" She thought about it. "Find me… three, three orange furred squirrels and I'll pay you a solid two grand for your effort," she smiled "how about it?"

Middle One took a look at Mangled Arm before glancing at Quiet Paranoid to his left.

"Just think about it, okay?" Yugito stated before she rose from her spot on the bath, exposing her bare thighs where the towel couldn't cover. "Too much time in a bath like this can get you sick, you know?" She trotted through the water towards them, splitting them apart as she passed in between Middle One and Quiet Paranoid. "I'll see you three in the morning…" Her words were unnaturally loud. "…we'll continue this conversation there."

She walked past them, slightly impressed to find that their eyes did not explore her fleeting form like most men would do.

Oh, the fun she's going to have with them…

{xxOxx}

The bath was uncomfortably silent since the departure of the Kumo ninja half an hour ago, and its only tenants, the three foreigners, decided it was best kept that way – noiseless and soft – as they stared at the warm water they had initially enjoyed thoroughly for a total of five seconds before they realized they weren't alone.

The once rejuvenating water they were soaking in had turned stagnant and heavy; this unfortunate meeting with the woman that would no doubt be the end of them ruined the sanctity of the bath and instead turned it into a boiling pit of stress and anxiety. They didn't move from their spots, not a single muscle had inched from the place where she last saw them; her eyes restrained them in place, her pressure could still be felt from her previous position, her smile still scarred their memory.

She was a huntress, this Yugito Nii… her introduction gave her this title, her actions verified it. This Yugito Nii, was a huntress… her weapons eyes, lips, voice and whim, sharper than any arrow or claw, more vicious than any fang or snarl. This huntress, by every given word earned her title and her name; Yugito Nii. A hunt had begun, and her prey had already been selected, and her own given words assured her prey that their lives could be taken at any moment at her leisure ensured that this hunt was simultaneously far from over and close to the end.

The prey knew their place, their role and the outcome that will result from this hunt if they were forced to play by the huntress's rules…and they had to, play by her rules. The prey – the hunted – were still as the huntress circled them, hidden in plain sight, letting them know she could pounce at any moment and despite the preys' best effort to run away, the huntress would never be too far behind. This is no hunt, but a morbid game of cat-and mouse; cat-and-mice, in this case.

The huntress toyed with her prey, making it known that escape was not an option, just prolongation of the inevitable outcome that the hunt was going to end in her favor. She was cruel to her prey; this huntress took pride in that. She smiled and simply watched her prey squirm beneath her cruel, calm, unnerving gaze – a plethora of hunts far too easy made her relish the moments before her prey fell dead; a plethora of boring, easy hunts gave birth to this huntress, cruel and pleasant, monster and beauty.

This Yugito Nii stared into the yellow eyes of her prey and dared them to run away to finish the hunt or to stay under her gaze to prolong the ending for her cruel, beautiful enjoyment.

The prey cursed her eyes, lips, voice and whim with a scared mind.

She had marked them, they knew.

They had been marked, she knew.

Yellow eyes blinked – the half-second motion could have been their last – not once, but twice, and were not relieved to be still alive, but stressed to find that their lives had been spared.

For now.

She was in their minds, now. The hunt was over. There would be no escape. Just the chase.

Just the chase…

Yellow eyes wavered.

Hope was dim.

The hunt continued…and, therefore, their lives did as well…

With one final blink and one last realization, yellow eyes hardened.

Hope was found.

Hope was found.

The hunt continued, and so did they.

The chase remained, the huntress and the prey knew.

She will hunt.

And the prey will run.

They dared to move from their spot, droplets of water following them out.

Oh, the prey will run.

{xxOxx}

When morning came hours later and the sunlight began to bleed into the room of the Kumo ninja, its only tenant shifted awake from her sleep. With a stretch, and a long deserved yawn as a result from a satisfactory rest, she rose from her futon, clad in a modest lavender robe (it came with the room), and walked to the door of her room. She placed a hand against the screen of the door and was happy to note three individual signatures in the room across the hallway in front of hers.

She stepped away from her door and got herself prepared, refraining from changing into her regular outfit in turn for the comfortable robe she woke up in, and with one final look in the mirror before stepping out to make sure she looked identical to how she looked the day before, she was ready.

Before she took a step outside her room, small chattering was heard from below her. Slowly glancing at the floor, she found three orange furred squirrels gingerly tied together (as to not harm them, apparently) with their backs facing one another.

"Unbelievable." Yugito scoffed as she bent down to pick up the bound rodents off of the ground. The squirrels began to shuffle around at the attention given to them in an attempt to cut free from the string that kept them together. "There's no way I'm going to pay two grand for this." She shook her head, obviously impressed.

Walking towards their room (she had planned for their rooms to be in front of one another) she placed a hand on the door and unceremoniously opened it, holding the bundle of squirrels in front of her as if asking "What's the deal with this?"

"Very funny, but I'm not going to pay you…" Yugito began but stopped when she noticed that the room was empty. "What the…?" She walked inside, confused since she had felt their presences earlier. There was a note at the center of the room atop a small table. Her anger rising, the ninja walked in, picked up the note took a second to read it and crumpled it to the ground before running out the room.

"Motherfuckers!"

The squirrels were dropped onto the ground, breaking the string allowing them to go free. They ran past the crumpled note that read in poor, messy calligraphy:

"We will bill you later."

{xxOxx}

It was a strange feeling, they could admit, being hunted down and all. A small, almost miniscule ball of pressure had formed at the lower base of their necks, but the weight of it was far too heavy and burdensome for them to feel any relief since their encounter with the woman in the bath almost six hours ago.

There was a faint crunch beneath their feet as they ran, thin sheets of sleet covered the grassy plains and it was only getting worse the farther they went towards the borders of Frost.

The clones they had left behind to take their spots in the hotel had dispelled themselves already, alerting the originals that she knew they had left. As dangerous as she was, Yugito Nii had been careless and possibly a little bit cocky since she didn't expect them to be able to sneak past her by using clones to take their presence in their room. As far as she knew, they weren't ninja, allowing them to get the drop on her as she rested up thinking she would be able to notice movement from untrained thugs.

It was a stroke of luck, but that didn't mean anything – only delaying the inevitable confrontation they would have with her in the near future – as this little moment of "freedom" might be their last one until the end of this mission.

As to what the "end" of the mission actually was, well, they could only shudder.

After downing the contents of three certain green vials that Naruto produced from a seal, the trio felt a bolt of energy rush through them, invigorating them past their grogginess and exhaustion, almost like they had the world's most effective cup of coffee…

…two-hundred times…

…at once.

With the amount of energy they now had, the trio would be able to run to Konohagakure and back without the need to stop and rest in one trip, if they wanted to, that is. Now, this wasn't all good with no drawbacks, there were consequences to using a stamina potion that the trio was very aware of – amongst the plethora of health issues that came with using one multiple times, the most important, no, the most detrimental side effect had to be the crash that came afterwards.

With the imminent crash on their minds, the trio reluctantly carried additional green vials on their person, knowing full well that they now have a dependency on them to keep the crash at bay. With that being said, the more potions they take, the greater the crash once the effects wear out.

Isn't it neat when things turn out that way?

…

Yeah, didn't think so, either.

Shino did not want to rely on these potions for this mission as it was supposed to have been simple, generally speaking. This Yugito character threw a wrench at that plan the moment she laid eyes on them, unfortunately, meaning that throughout the remainder of the mission the trio is going to have to be constantly taking supplements while simultaneously keeping their eyes open for the huntress that was no doubt already on their tracks. The disguised bug user shuddered at the thought.

The leader of the mission tried to shake the image of her off of his mind, but found that it was seemingly impossible to do so. Her smile – was it even a smile? – was not a normal one; it was manipulative, twisted and fake but also sincere, meaning she knew what she was doing and she was not planning on hiding her malicious intent or the enjoyment she got when making them squirm. Shino couldn't help but frown with worry at the thought of her reaching them, and from the uncomfortably grim atmosphere that his team was giving off at the moment, he could tell he wasn't alone in that sentiment. Naruto seemed to be trying to keep it together, but the constant shaking of his head spoke volumes as to give a hint on who the former blonde was thinking of at the moment. Shikamaru looked even more troubled than before as he now wielded a pained scowl, and Shino could feel himself rot from the inside knowing he wasn't able to do anything to help the Nara with his demon problems. Shino could only begin to imagine what he was going through at the moment now with the weight of her presence on their minds.

Morale was low, Shino understood this, and as such, it was his job as mission leader to raise it back to normal levels and beyond…but, how does someone do that? How does one raise morale for their team when they are currently being hunted down by an unknown entity – Yugito managed to make Shikamaru's demon tenant uneasy, therefore it hasn't been confirmed that the Kumo ninja was actually human (how she managed to meet up with them at the hotel after they spent hours traveling without noticing her gave the ninja an almost out of this world presence to add to their growing suspicion) – that's successfully implanted herself into their psyches with only words and mild malicious intent? He damned her.

He would damn her for the rest of his life, only because what she did she did great. Damn her eyes, damn her lips, damn her voice and her whim, but most of all, damn her wretched, putrid, beautiful smile.

He sighed, knowing that she was able to (somehow) hear his damnations against her and smile at the words no matter how far away they were from her.

The sleet turned into a thin blanket of snow underneath their feet, making the crunch between the ground and their boots even more pronounced as they neared the border between Hot Springs and Frost.

Calming himself down, Shino focused on his team and tried to tackle their concern before it got any worse, for his sake as much as theirs.

"We out-smarted her." Shino didn't mean to split the word in two halves, but he didn't mind. "We have time with us, and it is far from the end." He tried to assure them, but found it awkward to try when he himself felt as if his words were forced.

They didn't respond back, only silence seemed to be able to have a conversation with them. Shino didn't like to egg things on, hell, he'd be happier to try and drop the entire conversation right then and there, but he couldn't this time. Not when he's the leader.

"We will be fine." His words had confidence, confidence in his abilities and those of his friends next to him. "Whatever happens, we will be fine. Remember your training."

The small, miniscule specks of snow continued to fall to their feet, nature kept moving and so did they. His words were not able to expel her from their minds, nor were they able to ease the tension off of their shoulders, but only because his words weren't meant for that. His words were a reminder of who they were, who they believed in, and what their goal was.

If they have to play by her game, that's fine, they decided simultaneously. They'll play her game by their rules – her experience versus their trust in one another.

When the moment comes, and they are forced to continue playing her game, they'll be ready.

The newly placed snow got crushed beneath their boots and was tarnished grey and brown from the dirt that supported it and from the ones that brought it down.

They will be ready.

{xxOxx}

She was excited.

With an extra bounce in her stride, she hurried past the smiling population of her district with her little home as her destination. She beamed at the congratulatory praises that were sent her way from the populace of her fellow peers and she responded with flushed cheeks and bashful words, almost as if she was trying to water down the honor presented to her by their ruler, but her tone of voice almost betrayed her words as she could hardly contain her excitement. She smiled, laughed and returned her feelings with her fellow peers that would stop her on her way home to congratulate her and not once did she get irritated from all the praise she would receive every other street she would cross, some might even note that the girl was absolutely radiating from all the attention and kind words that were going her way.

Those who smile the brightest are usually the ones who seldom get the chance to do so, right? Is that how the saying goes? Probably not.

"We all heard, El-chan! We're, like, so proud of you!" She had been stopped in front of one of the many gardens where her superiors would train and was promptly swarmed from every direction seconds later.

"A-ah, it's not t-that big of a deal…" She responded the same way for the nth time that hour, but it was fresh and genuine every time she said it.

"Don't be so modest, El-chan!" A plethora of voices squealed in shrill excitement from her coy statement before she was gently assaulted with tender hands and hugs, causing the poor girl to flush at the attention.

"You can have this, El-chan, you totally deserve it!" One of her superiors smiled before presenting her with a small pastry – a sweet roll with cinnamon sprinkles, a specialty that is only available in the neighboring district.

Her light lavender eyes widened at the treat as she accepted it with no hesitation, totally mesmerized by the pastry in her hands. "T-Thank you!" She responded and then bowed after a brief moment of eyeing the treat as if to make sure it was actually there. "T-To give something like this to someone like me…" She stammered during her bow and stayed that way, waiting for her superiors to give her permission to relinquish the pose.

Seconds later she was relieved from bowing and after a couple of exchanges between her and her superiors she was allowed to go. They waved at her, still congratulating her even as she got further and further away, she smiled and said her thanks once again from a distance, a small pink bag that held the pastry was tied to her left wrist.

Not wanting to waste any more time than she had to, she kicked it into high gear and with a determined smile set on her face she ran past the streets, politely avoided her peers with a meek "Sorry!" and successfully managed to leave the highly concentrated part of her district near the bridge that connected her district with the civilian one known as Maria.

Her black sandals stopped hitting pavement once she got far away enough and now met with rough, unworked terrain of grassy plains and dirt paths. Still, the change in terrain did nothing to stop her sprint towards her home as she strolled past several classes of beginners practicing their abilities from both sides of the dirt path she was taking. She took a moment to observe what the beginners were practicing by glancing at the purple sky of Hell where they were directing their abilities.

"Aah…!" She exclaimed with a smile as she saw the sky light up as hundreds of thousands of magical runes were created, each one varying in design and color as a myriad of blues, violets, reds, oranges, greens and yellows and many more splattered the air above them in blatant contrast to the rumbling purple atmosphere they were so used to. The magical runes casted by the beginners began to rotate in the sky clockwise and then counterclockwise – a simple exercise to train the caster to keep her magic as stable as possible – simultaneously, making her swoon at the sight even more so than before.

She noticed a pink rune in the sky begin to falter – one of its inner rings began to expand beyond the outer ring, causing the symbols between the both of them to get stressed before they snapped the outer ring and poured out. She saw the beginners panic as the rune began to grow brighter and brighter, an explosion was imminent and with the beginners not putting as much attention as they should to their own runes, the explosion can cause a domino effect by detonating every rune in its vicinity.

The explosion came by quicker than expected and as feared there was a chain reaction between adjacent runes, igniting them all.

A single rune exploding wasn't that big of a deal, most had a radius of up to a hundred feet.

But several hundred thousand of them at once?

She readied her casting hand and began the incantation for a defense spell to try and stop as much damage as possible. The runes were as bright as stars, their casters on the ground cowering in fear. Detonation was close-

"…go!" She muttered under her breath as she casted the spell to the sky above.

The area was coated in a flash of white for three seconds when the runes detonated, but there was no sound of a realm shattering explosion. When the flash died down, the beginners looked up at the sky and saw something amazing – the explosion was contained in a dark green level 5 containment rune; its large web-like hyper-detailed honeycomb design caged the explosion in its entirety and left it in stasis, to show the beginners why one should always be in control when casting.

She smiled, her eyes closed from the light.

The beginners cheered in celebration and directed it towards none other than…their instructor, who had done the same thing the day before.

And the day before that too.

When she opened her eyes due to the cheering, she visibly paled when she saw her meek, three foot wide blue defensive rune not even five feet from her position. She looked around and was relieved to find that no one had noticed as they were paying attention to the caged explosion. With a cough, she waved her hand through the puny rune in front of her, dispelling it.

She didn't stick around enough to get noticed, however, as her embarrassment got the best of her despite going completely unnoticed. With a shake of her head, she continued her trek across her district towards her home.

She loved her district, she noted as she made her way through a small part of it. From the incredibly long – almost unending, really – plains that stretched out the land, to the gigantic forests scattered throughout the district to their one massive ocean that surrounds it all. Deserts, mountain ranges, jungles and tundra and the likes are all present here, and while she hasn't had the chance to fully explore her beloved territory of origin, she knows she'll miss it all.

It wasn't until she was chosen that she realized just how much she loved her home, and it felt odd now to walk this route she had always taken almost every day, almost as if she's just noticing it for what it is.

Home… District Maya.

Isn't it a little too early to start feeling homesick?

Yeah, more than likely…

She shook her head, dispelling the negative emotions that became present and replaced them with excited ones instead. Her new feelings seemed to invigorate her even more than before and she felt her speed begin to increase faster and faster with every step.

She soared past the countryside where individual clusters of residents formed their own little villages to train in or to simply live a simple life while they could with friends. With no impending war in the horizon the residents of Maya spent their days as they wished, but constant training was recommended from their leader so their abilities would not grow stagnant from neglect.

As far as military districts go, hers was quite tame and relaxed and pretty. She smiled to herself.

Before she even knew it she had already arrived to her destination, District Maya's Combatants' Headquarters – three steps above the normal academies dotted around the district, the Combatants' HQ is where the best of the best are admitted, and as such, only the true elite of the district are allowed admittance once they prove their worth to their district leader by besting every challenge she places before you with no hesitation. Out of the 2.8 billion residents that reside in Maya only five-hundred thousand have been admitted in its entire history and the honor that comes with being allowed inside is what inspires the newest recruits of Maya to try their hardest to join the elite that worked inside.

The Combatants' HQ was massive and quite honestly very intimidating (in her opinion, anyway) the first time she saw it. Spanning nearly 10% of Maya's overall size, the HQ looked akin to that of a hybrid city-barracks behind its marvelous stone walls and castle-like exterior were research labs for the magical arts, libraries filled to the brim with books both new and old and a beautiful garden where one can go to find peace inside. Lieutenants and generals were made here for the Maya army, truly a place for only the elite.

She approached the massive iron gated doors and focused her magic to her fingertips.

She called this place home.

With a *snap* of her fingers, the gated doors opened for her.

She had been admitted here.

She walked in and was met with warm smiles and congratulatory words of welcome from those inside near the entrance.

She belonged here.

She smiled at those who greeted her.

She was part of the elite…

She saw a fellow colleague of hers stumble through the hallway, balancing heavy books in one hand, a stack of papers in the other and various snacks suspended above her (a simple levitation spell) when she suddenly hit a snag on the carpet floor, causing her to trip and fall. Her colleague managed to catch herself with a spell, but the sudden action made her drop everything she had in her possession, making a huge mess in the hallway.

"G-Gah, I'm so sorry!" Her clumsy colleague apologized to her specifically, bowing her head in forgiveness. "Can you forgive me, Ellie-chan? You just got back and all…"

Her smile was genuine as she nodded.

She had been admitted here…

She placed her hands together and began an incantation, her words nothing but a whisper.

She belonged here….

Her hands began to glow before she slowly pulled them apart from one another; a wooden staff slowly began to come into view the more she pulled her hands apart.

She was part of the elite…

With her hands apart and the incantation complete, she slammed the wooden staff onto the rug below her with her left hand and smiled. With a *snap* of her fingers, magic began to form atop the wooden staff, forming millions of tiny white feathers, forming her weapon.

She was part of the elite…kinda.

"Combatants' HQ's Ace Custodial Engineer, Elucia de Lute Ima, reporting for duty!" She introduced herself with pride, her title floated above her head in cute, multicolored child-like calligraphy as she posed with her broom as if it were a saber.

Her fellow peers squealed in delight. "Kyaa~! You're so cool, Ellie-chan!" They all confessed right then and there.

Elucia (A.K.A El-chan, Ellie-chan, Elsie, for short) smirked with confidence as she twirled her broom masterfully in her left hand from finger to finger. "No mess is too big enough for me!" She slammed her broom down after her words, causing all the spilled snacks, papers, and books to fly upwards in front of her.

"And no mess is too small to escape from me, either!" She proclaimed once more with another slam of her broom to the ground to echo her statement, causing every speck of dirt within a ten foot radius to suddenly fly around her alongside her colleague's possessions.

"Banish from my sight!" Her last statement was followed with over three hundred thousand instantaneous vertical and horizontal slashes from her broom directed towards the levitating targets around her, each slash left a bright multicolored gash in her technique's ten foot radius's wake in the middle of the air. She smiled. "Cleansing…" The floating gashes began to glow before fading away with a bright flash of light. "…complete." She tapped her broom to the ground as she finished her statement.

Her peers 'Kyaa'd' one more time as everything within ten feet had been systematically cleaned to the point that even the exquisite fur rug was literally, and I mean, literally sparkling clean. Her colleague's things had also been cleaned to the point that every paper, every book, every snack was shiny and could reflect light from its surface.

"T-Thank you Ellie-chan~!" Her clumsy colleague bowed once more.

"It's okay! Making sure the entire Headquarters is squeaky clean is my responsibility and my responsibility only!" Her words were filled with so much concentrated pride that those in front of her could only blush in response.

"S-So cool…" They swooned, almost passing out.

She's a janitor.

Just making sure you're following along.

A janitor.

Still with me?

…

Good.

Elsie (how the author will refer to her as, starting now) twirled her broom once again before "sheathing" it back inside her palms, an action she's had plenty of experience doing.

It was a hard life for Elsie, honestly. The entire complex was her responsibility to keep clean and tidy, but she didn't complain! It was strenuous work to maintain the complex in a clean state in the beginning, sure, but after doing so for a little over three hundred years, it became progressively easier as time went on – or at least, that's what she told everyone else, anyway. She made friends with just about everyone here rather quickly, as her bubbly personality and their – all of the residents of Maya, really – quirky, lax attitudes mixed well together, and as such, she was treated with kindness and respect that even the higher-ups received.

Not that it could be considered a big achievement, mind you. Maya's people are known for their kindness and respect to one another just as much as they are known – and somewhat respected – for their amazing skill with magic spells. Even the lowest of the low beginner would be treated as kindly and as respected as the district leader here, abandoning any form of superiority for comfort, but that didn't stop anyone from bowing to their "superior" in terms of rank or the like.

Maybe that has something to do with how Elsie was allowed entry into such an exclusive complex reserved for the elite…or not! She smiled as she pushed those thoughts away.

"We heard about what happened, Ellie-chan!" Her clumsy friend grasped her hands. "That you were chosen by Maou-sama himself to help Hell get the champions on our side! That's amazing!" The girls behind her agreed unanimously with similar words of their own.

"Eh~ it's not that big of a deal, h-honestly…" Elsie flushed.

"It's a huge honor, Ellie-chan!"

"We're so proud of you!"

"No need to be so modest!"

"You're like, a hero!"

Her comrades, the elite, congratulated her and all she could do was smile in response to the praise that she really didn't think she deserved. She muted them out, but kept her smile on the outside to not betray their expectations. They didn't seem to notice either…

"I-I need to get going actually…" She found a gap in their overlapping chatter to take advantage of, her giggle followed her words. "I need to start packing and all that, you know?"

"Oh, that's right!" One of them responded with a nod. "Don't let us hold you back!"

"We'll miss you!" Said another.

"We'll do our best to keep this place as clean as possible!" One of them added thoughtfully, and Elsie appreciated the gesture.

They waved her off as she exited towards the main piazza of the complex where more than five garden ranges, three parks, two grand lakes and a small mountain range spanned the length of the complex with the open sky It was a beautiful sight to see, the beauty of the district's landscape captured within the mighty and wonderful walls of the complex where the labs, libraries and homes were for the members.

Walking the red-black-red brick designed path that went through the piazza, Elsie sighed when she knew she was alone. She was excited! Her smile came back, but slowly faded away. She was nervous…

She was going to leave Maya, no, she was going to leave Hell in a matter of days for a different realm. That was a scary thought! And… And something more…

Her stride slowed down considerably, her left hand held her right wrist behind her back as she looked at the pattern of the brick path below her.

'Why…?'

She shook her head, getting her doubts away from her mind. "Maou-sama selected me for this!" She whispered to herself for motivation, but found it strange to hear the words coming from her mouth.

Ever since she was summoned to the civilian district of Maria where the announcement went live that she and two others had been given the honor of helping their realm acquire the three champions by unconventional means, she had been praised and hailed as a hero – a vast difference to how she lived her life beforehand as a semi-popular (in her meek opinion) janitor.

She remembered the ceremony where she stood upon a stage with the other two selected in front of the entire population of Maria, the speech that Maou-sama had delivered had been beautiful, but when he mentioned… what was it again…? …a pact of some kind – she was still shocked from what was going on at the time – the crowd went quiet and the other two chosen had paled visibly, but his words quickly turned the crowd's feelings in several seconds from shocked silence to overjoyed cheering.

It was a very confusing, surprising day that day, poor Elsie sighed as her head ached from everything she didn't understand.

The wind picked up, waves of grass shifted throughout the plains of the courtyard with her in the center, her long black haired followed suit not too long after. There was change coming, she knew that, but she wasn't sure whether or not she was ready for it when the time came. She wasn't confident in her ability as a mage compared to her comrades – she was a janitor, after all, not some…hero – whatever that meant – or a role model that others should look up to – it's weird when her superiors and actually talented peers started to praise her over a simple declaration, right?!

Isn't it?!

Maybe she wasn't used to respect… whatever the case it may be, she didn't like it!

She shook her head.

W-well, not that she didn't like it, but it was strange to her; sudden increase in respect and appreciation out of nowhere when she's worked tirelessly for a little over three-hundred years to get where she was now… and for what? Something she didn't understand?

Her head was beginning to hurt…

…and as such, she did what everyone in her district would do when something troubled them:

A shrug of the shoulders, a sigh and acceptance of what irked them was district Maya's way of dealing with trouble to avoid stress and worry, and it worked rather well.

So, at this moment, here in the courtyard, Elsie simply accepted her fate and wouldn't question it any further; her peers believed in her, her superiors believed in her, Maou-sama must see something in her to choose her for such a role, so why not go along with it?

She sighed once again with a little smile… as if she had a choice in rejecting the offer…

Before she knew it, Elsie reached her little home near the start of the mountain incline deep into the massive courtyard. Her home was cute, small, and pretty – a pretty pink paint coated the outside walls with a nice shade of purple composing the roof – and it was just to her liking. The garden where she grew all her vegetables and fruits to the right of her house looked beautiful and just about ready for harvesting in the coming weeks. She reached for the light violet colored door with her left hand to her home and opened it, stepping in once she completely had it extended all the way.

Oh, how she loved her quaint little home with its cutesy wooden floor softened with nice fluffy rugs, colorful interior design, wooden dining room set with multiple chairs (in case of company) and the cozy fireplace near the nook where she would read her little novels after work. Her home was apart from the rest of residents for reasons she didn't understand, but ultimately didn't mind in the end as she was comfortable here in her own quiet corner of the HQ.

Setting aside the treat her superior had given to her earlier on the dining table; Elsie stretched her joints and snapped her fingers, producing a small flame atop the magic fueled stove in the kitchen area. She concentrated as she manipulated several objects and ingredients to start making tea while she sat in one of the chairs at the dining table several of feet away. After it was all done and the water was being boiled, Elsie heard a knock on the door first and the sound of wings cutting wind – the sign of either one of her superiors or one of Maou-sama's messengers.

Rushing to the door, Elsie found a curious looking box surrounded by elegant black feathers, the sign of winged travel after a brief break.

"A gift?" She muttered to nobody in particular as she picked the box off of the ground, looked around for a second and retreated back into her home. Setting the box on the table, Elsie looked it over once, interested in the box's black and purple design that seemed to radiate energy off of it.

"A barrier…?" She hummed out in interest before testing out her assumption by placing her left hand atop the box, casting a spell that would hopefully release the barrier placed upon it.

"Oh!" Elsie reacted as the barrier seemed to dispel the moment her magic made contact with it in a flash of bright light. She hadn't even finished casting the spell before it reacted that way, confusing her for a brief moment before opening the box to see the contents inside.

To her surprise and bewilderment, she saw a faintly transparent white cloth inside with a small card underneath it. Reaching inside to grab the card, Elsie moved the cloth aside with her left hand, but was shocked when the cloth seemed to come to life and wrapped itself around her hand then her arm.

"Eh?" Elsie jumped back, keeping her arm in front of her as far away from her face as possible. "What is this…?" She shook her arm frantically, as if trying to remove it off her arm that way. She felt her arm begin to heat up slightly, and while it didn't hurt, it felt extremely uncomfortable for the little devil, only amping up her spastic movements to get the cloth off her body without having to touch it any further.

"Come off, please! Oh, please!" She whined, large comical tears on her eyes threatening to fall if the cloth didn't politely do as she said. She could feel the cloth getting warmer and warmer as it slowly started to inflate in size.

"Waaah!" She cried in panic as it consumed her arm entirely before it moved to her shoulder. She stretched her arm to the side and tried to cast a spell, but to her shock, the cloth immediately siphoned the magic she gathered and nearly exploded over how large it got right then and there.

The cloth looked more like a transparent balloon at this point before it began to vibrate rapidly, forming large puffy lumps in the process of growing thinner and thinner, longer and longer. When the cloth was as thick as her arm and when half of it rested on the ground from how long it had gotten, it began to change in color from the pale transparent white it was originally to a solid pink.

Elsie, now interested in how cute the cloth looked, completely forgot that it nearly tried to kill her and started to rub the material between her fingers.

"It's soft…" She murmured softly before rubbing it against her face. "It's so soft!" She let out an excited gasp with a smile. "…but what is it?" Her question rang through her home as she picked up the remainder of the cloth off the ground and placed it around her shoulders, like a scarf.

Elsie walked back to the box and grabbed the card inside, hoping that nothing else would try to attack her by doing so. When she picked up the card and brought it to eye level, Elsie was once again surprised as the cloth end from her left hand side instantaneously moved on its own and covered the card with its material.

"Huh…?" The cloth absorbed the card from her hand before moving back to its original position on her left hand. "Hey! I wanted to read that!" Elsie whined, giving the cloth an upset look. The cloth, being a, well, a cloth, didn't seem to react at her scolding at first, but at her words it began to shift from both sides before both ends came together in front of her, molding together to form a screen where words suddenly began to form.

Elsie, more surprised today than she has ever been in her entire life combined, began to read the words that came up on the cloth's screen.

"Elucia de Lute Ima,

We hope you are doing well on this fine day and we also hope our little gift didn't startle or drain you out too much. We wanted to congratulate you for being chosen by Maou-sama himself as district Maya's representative in Hell's attempt to successfully bring the three champions from the mortal realm over to our side, where we all know they belong."

Elsie scratched her head, but kept reading.

"Counting that everything worked out as planned, you are reading this letter from your very own custom made Hagoromo, or, by its official name: New Magical Cloth Type 5-f, after its initial set-up phase. Do not worry if you are feeling weak, dizzy and/or magically drained as these are common, temporary side-effects to having the hagoromo activate based on your essence."

Elsie checked herself over and felt none of the listed side-effects.

"The hagoromo is Maou-sama's Technology and Research team's crowning achievement that can revolutionize the way we devils go about things, whether it be for defense, for assault or even recreational use." [The text shifted to the side while an animation showcased what the last three listed terms could mean. For Defense it showed a devil stretching the cloth to form a shield against a fire attack, at Assault it showed the same devil transforming the hagoromo into a spear then an axe and finally a bow with arrows, at the word Recreational it showed the same devil swinging on a tree using the hagoromo as the swing itself. The animations went away after several seconds, the text shifted back to the center.]

Elsie let out an awed "Ooh!" at the animations displayed on the pink screen.

"The hagoromo is extremely versatile and nearly indestructible thanks to the magical nanomachines you activated upon coming into contact with it. It can be stretched to incredible lengths, used to contain items of virtually any size and can be used for purposes such as the one that it is currently doing, but beware that the bigger the action is, the more taxing it will be on you as the owner. Integrated into the hagoromo is the constantly updated library of every district's public records, tomes, and files for your use in case you need them for your stay at the mortal realm along with the hagoromo's instruction manual – to access these files, you simply need to say the words "Open library" and you will be shown an index in alphabetical order onscreen to help you find what you are looking for. Try it now."

"Oh!" The text disappeared from view, showing a blank screen in front of her. "Uh, o-open library?" Elsie meekly said to the cloth.

The screen buffered for a second before a huge list of bulleted terms came across it, filling it all. Before Elsie could make a confused whine at all the information, a small window appeared on the screen before it expanded. It was the letter again.

" Good! You successfully opened the library and now have access to anything you might need. We highly recommend you read the hagoromo's instruction manual as soon as possible to have a much better understanding of its capabilities and uses in and out of combat and taking a look at the "Observed Human Culture and History" couldn't hurt either! If you have any questions simply say the word "Help" and the hagoromo will direct you to our selected FAQs to hopefully help you in any way possible.

Once again, we wish to congratulate you on your devotion to Maou-sama's and Hell's will to grow even stronger! Take care!

-Hell's Technology and Research team."

The letter went away, leaving Elsie's utterly confused reflection on the screen in front of her. At the shake of her head, the hagoromo went limp, going back to its original place around her shoulders.

She didn't even notice that the kettle was whistling over by the kitchen area for the last five minutes or so.

With tea in her cup and her lounging chair by the fireplace all comfy, Elsie was ready to tackle the first thing she needed to get done: the sweet roll given to her by her superior earlier in the day.

She relished the pastry and the tea made a surprisingly good addition to the sweetness of the treat. Now with her sweet tooth satisfied, Elsie uttered the words and prepared herself for what was to come.

"Open library, p-please."

It was going to be a long reading session.

Two days later…

The door to her beloved little home closed behind her back after she stepped outside to gaze at the purple sky above. With a glint of determination in her eye and a small smile on her lips, Elsie was ready.

With the basics of owning a hagoromo under her belt – some of the advanced stuff was too advanced, okay? – she felt confident. Today was the day, after all. Today she had to go to district Maria, the civilian one, to meet up with the other two devils from districts Andrea and Rosa before they were summoned to the mortal realm.

She hoped they were nice…

E-either way, they were supposed to meet in a couple hours and, upon checking, Elsie knew there was no way she would ever make it in time on foot, but she wasn't planning on traveling by conventional means anyhow.

One of the uses of the hagoromo, she discovered, was that it granted the owner the ability of flight! Simply by wanting to gain altitude, the hagoromo would make its owner levitate using magic, if the owner wanted to gain speed, the hagoromo would take care of that too. Combining those together would give her the ability to fly!

How exciting!

She giggled at the thought.

In Hell, wings were only given to those that Maou-sama chose – generals, district Leaders, and his own group of messengers and scouts were almost only chosen for the special privilege of flight – with the only exception being when Hell was at war, where everyone would be given wings to fight, so being able to fly without the use of them was considered blasphemy!

Until now, that is…

From the animations and the text provided by the hagoromo manual, it looked simple enough to the point that even she could do it without messing up, you know, hopefully.

Hopefully.

"I… I want to go up?" Elsie knew that after a while her hagoromo would automatically pick up on her desires and wouldn't need to be told automatically, but until then, this was good practice for her to get used to giving it orders.

Upon Elsie's request, she began to levitate about five feet off the ground, amazing her.

"O-Oh wow!" Her smile was wide as she began to do somersaults in the air, giggling the whole time. "Can I go higher up, please?" Another five feet.

Elsie placed a finger on her chin, remembering that the hagoromo followed the desires of the owner. So if she wanted to really go up high, she should…

"I want to go up high!" She declared it out loud this time around.

Nothing seemed to happen. "P-Please-?" She was interrupted as she skyrocketed into the sky above, hundreds of feet from the ground.

She was scared, no, she was terrified from up there – one wrong command and she would end nothing more than a splatter on the ground! With her eyes closed, Elsie managed to utter the words: "L-lower than this, please!"

When she opened her eyes, she found herself still in the air, but nowhere as high up as she was seconds ago. Feeling more confident, Elsie leaned forward and found herself moving in that direction; she leaned back and she found herself slowly moving back, leaning to the left/right caused her to shift in that direction slowly. After trying to get used to being in the air for a few minutes, she decided it was best that she begin heading in the direction of district Maria before she got there late and practice on the way there.

"F-faster, please…" Elsie stammered as she didn't want to get hurled at a speed she couldn't control. Her speed barely increased from the command she gave; seems as if her confidence also played a part in determining the intensity and speed that the hagoromo went by.

"Faster." She could tell the difference in speed this time around, but it was still rather slow.

She gulped. "F-faster!" She wasn't able to comfortably lean forward at the speed this time around so she was forced to lead with her body straight, her head leading the way.

"Faster!" She commanded with confidence, hoping that she'll be able to maneuver herself better in this position. "!"

She wasn't able to, evidently.

The populace of Maya could swear they all collectively saw a pink screaming bolt of light soar across the sky towards the civilian district of Maria while they did their daily routine. The winged superiors could have flown and inspected the abnormality in the sky, but with a quick shrug and an even shorter attention span, they left it alone to continue the consumption of the sweets in front of them.

Elsie's panicked, frightened screaming went by largely unnoticed as she easily cleared the span of most of her district in just under an hour and a half, crossing over to the neighboring district in record time. With how fast she was traveling, the little devil needed time to adjust her eyes to the speed, as all she could see at the moment was nothing but a blur. Furrowing her brows and blinking repeatedly, Elsie focused her eyesight and knew instantly that she was in Maria based on the massive city that was steadily getting larger and…larger and… larger…?!

Elsie gasped in shock as she realized at some point in her flight she had shifted her head down towards the ground, thus shifting the speed of her flight downwards rather than forward. She was going to become a temporary accessory to the pavement if she didn't do something in the next few seconds!

"STOP, PLEASE STOP, STOP-STOP-STOP-STOP-PLEASE!" She cried out to her hagoromo as she neared the ground. With her speed not decreasing, Elsie closed her eyes and waited for the impact.

…

"What are you doing?"

Elsie heard a voice in front of her. Slowly opening her eyes – almost as if she was afraid to see herself still getting closer to the pavement – Elsie found herself looking into somebody's chest. She was levitating about five inches off the ground, mostly safe.

Resisting the urge to celebrate the fact that she lived the ordeal, Elsie looked up at the owner of the chest she had been staring at and instead of seeing her face first, what caught her attention was the light blue cloth that was hanging from the stranger's shoulders. It looked similar to her hagoromo…

"My eyes are up here." The stranger's tone already sounded tired of having this "conversation" with her.

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Elsie corrected her stance, her feet touching the ground now. "I didn't mean to stare!" Elsie bowed in respect.

"Don't bow to me, idiot. You're making a scene." The stranger scoffed as she freed her right hand by moving the small plastic bags she held to her left one. She reached underneath Elsie's head and placed three bandaged fingers under her chin and lifted it up, breaking her bow so she could look at her face directly. "Look at me for a moment, will you?"

"H-hai." Elsie stammered under the stranger's red eyes.

"You." The stranger began. "You were there, right? The ceremony three days ago?" She flicked her wrist slowly upwards, causing Elsie's head to nod.

"H-hai! I-I was t-there!" Elsie responded, stuttering slightly from the stranger moving her head up and down.

The civilians who were still watching began to murmur amongst themselves at the sight.

"Stand, you're making a fool of yourself." The stranger ordered, but her words contained zero aggravation, or, for that matter, no emotion whatsoever.

Elsie bolted upwards at the order; the air around her seemed to apologize somehow. Magic maybe?

Elsie managed to get a good look at the red eyed stranger, instantly recognizing her long green hair with trimmed bangs and the small twin horns that adorned her head.

"Y-You were there too! I remember you!" Elsie stayed at attention.

The stranger nodded but kept her red eyes glued to Elsie's hagoromo.

"T-That, around your shoulders, is it the same thing that I have?" Elsie questioned the stranger as she relaxed from her strict stance earlier.

"Yes, I thought that was obvious enough, but I was wrong apparently." Her patronizing tone of voice went flat against the naïve devil in front of her who simply tilted her head with a infuriatingly confused smile. "Hold these for me." The stranger held her bandaged left arm against Elsie's chest, the multiple plastic bags she held by her bandaged fingers rested against her stomach.

"H-hai…" Elsie grabbed the plastic bags off of the stranger's injured(?) hand and took them on herself. Elsie peered into the bags and saw an incredible amount of candies inside each and every single one of them. The amount of sugar in these bags could have given Elsie cavities just by coming into contact with them, metaphorically speaking, of course.

Her teeth began to ache for some reason, however…

"Are you coming or not?" The stranger spat out from behind Elsie. She had begun walking while Elsie snoop her nose into the contents of her bags. "I don't particularly care, but I'd rather not get there too late for the meeting." Her words startled Elsie back into attention before adding a cold: "And I'd rather get my sweets back if you decide not to show up at all."

"R-right!" Elsie shook her head and followed behind the red eyed stranger. Speaking of which… "U-um, s-sorry, w-what was your name again?"

The stranger shook her head without looking back at her. "I'm insulted." She began. "Maou-sama even went out of his way to say it out loud during the ceremony and all…" The stranger shrugged her bandaged arms outwards.

"Gah! I'm sorry! I wasn't paying attention during the ceremony because it was all so much to take in!" Elsie bowed in apology.

"It's alright." The stranger muttered before adding: "You better not be bowing at me right now."

Elsie walked normally in response; a blush adorned a majority of her face.

"My name is Lune, from district Andrea." The stranger finally had a name.

"Lune-san from Andrea, okay, I think I got it!" Elsie pumped her fists in determination as she repeated her name mentally as to not forget.

There was a slight pause between their conversation.

"…?"

Elsie, now confident that she won't forget Lune's name, didn't notice the anticipating air around the former stranger.

"It's usually customary to give your name back, y'know." Lune informed her.

A pink [?] appeared atop of Elsie's head – a product of her magic seeping through her emotions. "I didn't think it was necessary…"

Lune didn't say anything in return.

"…with you know, Maou-sama saying it out loud too during the ceremony and all…"

Elsie saw Lune twitch for a quarter of a second and with that she smiled. Concentrating her magic onto her hand, Elsie casted a simple spell she taught herself.

As Lune walked, a myriad of multicolored childlike letters and symbols scrambled in front of her field of vision before apparently organizing themselves until they spelled:

[My name is Elucia de Lute Ima! Pleased to meet you, Lune-san! 3 :)]

"But you can call me Elsie!" Lune heard her call from behind.

"Right…" Lune responded, her eyebrow rose at the cutesy calligraphy before swatting it away with a bandaged hand.

Elsie followed Lune in relative silence bar the noise coming from the multiple bags bumping into one another. The shorter devil in front of her seemed a bit… rough around the edges, sure, but Elsie was positive that they could get along if she tried her very best to appeal to her. From someone who's from Andrea, however, Lune seemed very… tame.

Elsie has heard plenty of the...district and its people, and based on what she's heard… she shuddered. But Lune seemed normal, Elsie nodded, normal except for her bandaged arms, hands and legs… Was she injured recently? Was Andrea that brutal that they would fight amongst each other?!

Elsie frowned for the shorter devil's sake, but thought it would be better if she didn't mention anything (yet).

Leaving the highly condensed city area of the civilian district and onto the rural region towards the west of where they first met, Lune and Elsie eventually found themselves in front of a mountain range with a tremendous stairway carved into its side leading towards the very top.

"Is this the correct way, Lune-san?" Elsie asked as she stared up at the mountain in front of them.

"I hope so." Lune shrugged as she muttered an order to her hagoromo before she quickly ascended upwards, ignoring the steps all together.

Elsie felt herself get nervous at the thought of flying again. "Um… hagoromo-chan, I… I want to keep up with Lune-san…" Nothing happened. "P-please…?"

…

Lune didn't care much for the mountain in front of her as she humbly cheated her way up using her hagoromo's flying ability. Why the meeting point had to be atop a mountain was beyond her, honestly. Still, it could be worse, somehow.

Just to check if her sweets were safe in the hands of that pathetic devil below her, Lune took a glance down to the ground and had enough time to register the sight of said pathetic devil skyrocketing towards her, but had no time to even think about getting out of the way before she crashed into her, launching them both up the mountain side at speeds that Lune was far from comfortable with.

…

The scene changed to an upset Luna, plastic bags on her hands once again, walking towards the entrance of a shrine atop the mountain, a crying pathetic devil rubbing her poor little head behind her.

When she neared the large golden doors she would have said she was surprised to see them open by themselves, but that would have been a lie. Hardly anything surprises Lune.

"You're late, you know that?" A new voice caught her attention. Looking to her left, Lune found the third and final devil that was part of the ceremony leaning against a pillar, a scythe in her hands. A purple hagoromo was what first captured her attention, then came the nasty scowl the owner sent her way.

"You're Lune, from Andrea." She stated neutrally. "And the one outside is Elucia de Lute Ima, from Maya."

"You're not wrong." Lune copied her tone. "Sorry to say that I don't know who you are." She wasn't sorry.

"I figured well enough." The scythe wielding devil shrugged, her superior tone of voice coming out. She raised an eyebrow when she saw Elsie gasp at the opening doors by the entrance before she walked around looking at the beautifully constructed altar of the shrine.

The doors behind Elsie closed automatically, but the sound of gears turning and metal colliding with metal made it obvious to the stranger and to Lune that those doors will not open again.

Elsie, now done ogling at how beautifully constructed the shrine was, noticed the two devils sizing each other up. She waved meekly before walking towards them.

"Hello! My name is Elucia de Lute Ima, from district Maya!" She bowed respectfully at the stranger before them.

Lune watched in interest as the stranger's cold, calculating expression disfigured itself into a smiling warm one.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Elucia, but there's no need to be so formal."

Lune's eyebrow quirked upwards for a second at the stranger's words.

Elsie stood up and blushed as she's been getting a similar reaction every time she bowed. The habit has to go, apparently. "You can call me Elsie, if you want!" She added afterwards.

"Introduce yourself too, Lune-san!" Elsie half-whispered to the red eyed devil next to her.

Lune said nothing.

"There's no need for that, Elsie. I already know who you two are, but I appreciate the introduction from you." The stranger dropped her leaning stance and adopted a more warm, standing pose, as if to establish her personality.

Elsie didn't really understand the devil in front of her, as if her tilted head and furrowed brows weren't an obvious indication of her confusion. Why did the scythe wielding devil let her introduce herself if she already knew her identity? Weird…

"Well, I'll return the favor and introduce myself." She began by tapping the base of her scythe on the ground, the large room they were in successfully echoed the noise across the altar.

"My name is Haqua du Lot Herminium, one of district Rosa's elite devils, top of my generation's class and rising tactician amongst my superiors." Haqua, the blue-violet haired devil, masterfully twirled her weapon across the palm of her right hand, handed it to her left hand, twirled it from finger to finger before tossing it up into the air before catching it and finally slammed it against the ground, the top of her scythe enveloped in a blue flame.

Elsie clapped her hands at the introduction, her eyes twinkling from being awed. "Ooh~! That was so cool!"

Lune stopped paying attention to her after she said her name, fiddling with the contents of her plastic bags in search of a candy instead of giving the flashy devil her time.

"Since we're going to be working together from now on, I'll let you shake my hand – just this once." Haqua extended her hand to Elsie.

The naïve little devil was blind and deaf to the condescending gesture and tone of the Rosa devil and gladly took her hand to shake it. Haqua looked pleased.

"If you're done feeding your ego over there, we should probably get started with what we need to do." Lune rudely advised as she finished off a lollipop and began on another one.

Haqua bristled at the comment, but didn't let it affect her image. "Funny you say that, considering you were late." Haqua saw Elsie bristle at that, but that didn't matter as her words weren't directed at her – even if she fit the accusation.

"You could have started without us, couldn't you?" Lune arched an eyebrow before walking to the altar, each step echoed throughout the room, Haqua's eyes following her.

Before the scythe wielder could retort, Elsie unknowingly broke the argument with a curious: "Uh… What are we supposed to do…?"

Lune's red eyes and Haqua's magenta eyes met before simultaneously parting – a ceasefire if there ever was one.

Haqua turned to Elsie, who was still holding her hand (ugh!), and gave her a questioning look. "Elsie…" She began carefully, "…didn't your district leader explain to you what you were supposed to do?"

The devil placed a hand on her chin and stuck out her tongue – Maya's signature thinking pose – and let out an "Hmm…" for several seconds before responding with a straight: "Nope!" Lune didn't bother hiding her frown while Haqua disguised it with furrowed brows and a forced smile.

"S-she didn't, Elsie…?" Haqua asked once again for confirmation.

"She must have forgot, or something." Elsie laughed, but the others didn't.

Remembering the district where she hailed from, Haqua simply nodded to suppress what she really wanted to say. "I…see." Haqua managed to free her hand from Elsie's grasp and headed towards the altar where Lune was.

"What are we supposed to do?" Elsie repeated her question in hopes of getting an answer from them as she followed Haqua.

Upon reaching the shining altar, three pedestals came into view, where three intimidating black scrolls were found resting atop different colored ceremonial pillows – orange, grey and green, respectively.

Elsie tilted her head as she inspected the scrolls more closely, unsure as to what to make of them. "What are these?"

Lune sighed.

"Elsie," Haqua motioned her to the green scroll, "come here, please."

Elsie did so.

"Concentrate your magic onto your dominant hand…" Haqua instructed with a raised finger.

"Okay!" Elsie nodded; her left hand eventually began glowing with a vibrant array of colors after several seconds. "Now what?"

"Very good." Haqua patted Elsie on the head twice. "Now, touch this scroll with that hand."

Lune raised an eyebrow.

"Okay!" Elsie reached for the scroll with that hand and firmly grasped it. "Now wha-" A second after her magic coated hand came into contact with the scroll Elsie froze in midsentence as all of her magic was drained from her body and into the scroll far too rapidly for her to properly react.

Haqua and Lune took a step back as they saw what was happening to the poor naïve devil.

"…wha…?" She didn't get to finish the word before her body turned into stone, her terrified visage was left in place for the last two devils in Hell to see for a brief few seconds before her hand crumbled into dust, her arms next, then shoulders, and so on until only her feet remained before they followed suit too.

Lune and Haqua were told that this was going to happen, but still… But to actually see it happen to someone right in front of them…

Lune could only shrug as she focused her dull and tiny magic to her right hand before grabbing the orange scroll in front of her.

Haqua looked mortified at what she had just witnessed but in the end she gathered her small sized magic to her right hand and grabbed the grey scroll in front of her.

They didn't suffer any pain as their magic was absorbed as Elsie did and their petrification was almost instantaneous, unlike the poor devil that went before them.

Lune's stone visage would go unseen; the sadistic smile she gave would be the last to break apart.

Haqua let the façade drop in this last moment captured in stone, her smug, calculating, smirk would never be seen again.

They crumbled to dust, and with that, the contract was made.

The altar shook, the pedestals stirred, and the scrolls vanished, leaving Hell once and for all.

At least, that is the plan, Maou thought solemnly.

---

[Chapter End]

---

There you have it!

Sorry about the long wait between chapters, you guys. Finals were coming and I had to study, blah blah blah… Ugh… Anyways, I'm free now for the summer so what does that mean?

…MORE CONSISTENT CHAPTER UPLOADS – y'know, probably.

I'll try my best!

Now, about this chapter, I was kind of split between introducing the next set of primary characters so soon or much later, but ultimately decided to introduce them now to not only get it over with, but to also establish the fact that the story's namesake will officially start soon. How soon?

I'm working on that. As I said before, this story is going to be long. Like, long long, like epic long. With what I have planned, the story is going to have plenty of arcs, sub-arcs and plenty of "filler-ish" chapters to help establish the characters and their personalities, the environment and the rest of the world as a result.

This chapter didn't specifically focus on the trio, but more on Hell's involvement with the story, and I felt that it was justified since it's been a while since Hell – or Heaven for that matter – has come up in this story, and that's a problem since, y'know, it's a pivotal point for it. This chapter was to make up for the previous ones where either realm was completely ignored in favor for the trio's shenanigans.

The trio's "phobia" of Yugito… I like it, actually. The whole "huntress and prey" segment was actually planned to happen since before I even started this story; the feeling of being hunted down, of becoming prey for a force to be reckoned with… She has invaded their minds, instilled herself as an entity instead of a human being by being too close and invisible, too dangerous to be as docile as she acts, etc., and marked them as her prey for the hunt.

The "hunt" in this story is more of a status of being than anything else – the trio knows she's on her way because they expect her to be, she knows where they are since she marked them as her prey.

They're afraid of her and she knows that they know that.

The preys do not become the predator.

Also!

Check out my profile for links to Elsie's, Haqua's and Lune's characters (well mostly on how they look, really) from the manga/anime: The World God Only Knows. Their appearances are based on how they look like from the anime, so make sure to take a gander over yonder – and give the anime and the manga a shot, they're really good!

Make sure to leave me a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter! Did it suck? Was it good? Was it just "meh"? Make sure to tell me so and why with a review and/or a PM! Reviews/Responses are what I live on as I type this out day after day – if I'm not busy – and getting a new one from each of you guys is always a treat!

So, what would you guys like to see more of? More comedy (when necessary), more romance (when appropriate), more omakes? Etc.? Let me know!

Thank you all for reading, and as always, have a good day!

P.s. Omake ahead!

[OMAKE]

Teenage Boys and Masculinity

"What makes a man?" Shino asked, one hand on his glass cup (Koca-Kola , no ice) while the other laid across his section of the restaurant table in front of him.

"Huh? What are you going on about now, Shino?" Shikamaru, who sat across the table from the Aburame, arched an eyebrow at the question.

"Just wondering what you think makes a man, is all." He replied coolly.

The chatter of the family fast-food joint the fourteen year olds decided to eat lunch in was lively around their yellow-red-yellow colored table next to the third window from the exit. Shino looked at the reflection from the window, primarily at himself in the beginning, but his eyes wondered behind him, where he could see his blonde friend ordering at the register. They were still waiting for their food to arrive.

Shikamaru's fingers hit the wooden table *tap-tap-taptap-tap* repeatedly as he waited for his order, the ice in his glass cup (Sprute with ice) *twinked* against each other with every *tap* of his fingers. He exhaled as he leaned back, looking to entertain his friend's rather strange question.

"'What makes a man', huh?" He repeated the question. "I don't know…being strong?" He offered.

Shino let out an amused breath. "Oh."

"'Oh?' What do you mean, 'oh'?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, his fingers rested against the wooden table.

"Such a generic answer is all." Shino mused.

Shikamaru scoffed and decided to just drop the subject and just stay in silence.

Shino continued to look at the reflection on the window, unmoved by the silence.

A minute of silence passed between the both of them before Shikamaru's reflection from the window slammed his hands on the wooden table.

"What the hell do you mean by, 'generic answer', you dumbass?!" People in other tables turned to look at their table from the sudden noise. "Isn't being strong like, a staple of what makes a man a man?" Shikamaru didn't even notice the multiple splinters from the weathered table dig deep into his hands from the previous action. He didn't feel a particularly large splinter dig into the sensitive area beneath the nail of his ring finger, where the wooden intrusion tore up the nail bed by digging deeper and deeper.

"Tsunade-san is strong." Shino raised an eyebrow at Shikamaru's reflection. "Does that make her a man, you idiot?" His voice was a small decibel louder, but was impossible to notice from the loud crash that came with him shattering his glass cup in his hand, the large jagged pieces of glass cut into his hand while his blood dripped from the lower base of the cup that remained. He didn't notice the blood staining the sleeve of his shirt just as much as he didn't notice the shards of glass cutting the areas between his fingers like saws reserved for cutting down trees.

"Oh, you're full of it, shithead." Shikamaru retorted as he clenched his fists, digging the splinters even deeper than before. "She's stronger than any man there ever will be, she doesn't count!" He didn't even notice the nail of his ring finger slowly start to painfully lift from the splinter going deeper and deeper. "Then what about you, huh? What makes a man? Hmm?" Shikamaru asked the Aburame.

Shino could have laughed as he turned to face his friend, but he didn't and instead moved his glass and blood covered hand to raise his glasses from the bridge of his nose upwards, leaving a trail of blood across his face. "Honor, obviously."

Shikamaru had raised his glass for a drink, but upon hearing his response he all but shattered it with his splintered hand, adding more glass to the table while covering a majority of his hand and face with shards of glass that easily cut through his skin, making him bleed.

"Oh, please, the majority of this world is nothing but backstabbing, deceitful ninja, you ass! There's no 'honor' in this world so does that mean there's no men? Get over yourself." Half the restaurant was now looking at their blood, glass and splinter filled table with concern/curiosity/shock.

Shino slammed his hands on the table, only adding more and more glass and splinters to his bloodied hands. "You seem to not know the meaning of the word if you describe it like that, bitch." Blood began to free flow from his hands at this point as the large shards of glass that impaled his palms had dug themselves deep enough to scrape the bones in his hand, one particularly large shard of glass had missed the bones completely and cut through his left hand, piercing the skin of the back of his hand. Splinters invaded the small gashes and tore into the muscle.

"Listen here, punk…" Shikamaru stood up from the table and pointed a bloodied finger at him. The hand he leaned on against the table when he stood up was the one where the splinter was digging out his ring finger's nail, and with the weight placed against it, the splinter was pushed in deeper, completely forcing the nail off of his finger. He didn't notice.

People started to scream.

"What are you guys talking about?" Naruto asked casually as he took a seat next to Shikamaru. He didn't even notice their horrendously disfigured wounded hands. He placed his glass (Dr. Prepper, no ice) on the table.

They turned to look at him.

"Naruto, what makes a man?" They asked simultaneously.

Naruto tilted his head at the question before placing his elbow on the table to gain leverage as he thought. His bare elbow scraped against the wooden table, amassing a series of splinters that dug into flesh with added blood-stained shards of broken glass to boot.

He didn't notice.

"Hmm… being strong, maybe?" He guessed, causing Shino to face-plant against the table at the answer. As if the glass and splinters stabbing his face wasn't bad enough, Shikamaru took it a step ahead and slammed his hands on his head, causing his sunglasses to break from the sudden pressure.

"I told you, motherfucker!" Shikamaru gloated as he pushed Shino's head against the table with his hands, only pushing the glass and splinters in his hands deeper. He bled on Shino's head.

Neither of them noticed.

Naruto tapped his elbow against the table again, still in thought, unknowingly forcing a large gash to form on his elbow. "Hmm…but maybe also honor…?" Shikamaru and Shino traded places immediately. "I don't know…"

There was a shard of glass going through Shino's jaw and dozens of splinters piercing the bridge of his nose with plenty more dangerously close to his eyes. "Now do you understand, Shikamaru?"

A muffled "Fuck you!" was all they heard in response.

Naruto picked up his glass to drink, but stopped as it got to his lips. "But what definitely makes a man has to be loyalty, no?" He barely tasted his Dr. Prepper before Shikamaru and Shino punched his face through the cup, shattering the glass on his face and their hands. There was broken glass on his lips, face and on his left eye. Blood stained his clothes.

He didn't notice.

"Are you fucking stupid?" They both asked him at the same time.

"What?" Naruto began as he swallowed the glass that was on his mouth. "You assholes don't think being loyal to one woman is what makes a man a man?"

"SAY THAT TO THE INCREASING NUMBER OF DIVORCES, FUCKER!" Shikamaru yelled while he and Shino delivered a monstrous dual uppercut to the blonde's chin.

He didn't notice the way his teeth rattled from the punch or the way some of the leftover glass that was in the process of destroying his gums broke inside his mouth into thousands of tiny pieces that just shredded everything they touched..

"AND JUST HOW MANY OF THOSE DIVORCES WERE FROM MALE-SIDED ADULTERY?!" Naruto countered as he grabbed what was left of his cup and slapped it across their heads, cutting them.

They didn't notice the pain.

People were evacuating the establishment.

The trio all stood at the table giving each other death stares. They didn't notice their wounds, or their horribly disfigured hands, chipped nails, splinter riddled faces, or their blood covered faces.

"What makes a man?" They asked each other one more time.

They sighed before sitting down, rubbing the sweat off their faces – spreading the blood across, actually.

They noticed something.

"What makes a man…?" They said one more time with a small, wounded smile.

Naruto laughed, only occasionally coughing up blood from swallowing glass. Shino grinned, causing the large glass shard going through his cheek to cut him more. Shikamaru tapped his fingers against the table again, nearly losing a finger in doing so.

What makes a man isn't strength, or honor, not even being loyal… no, what makes a man is…

The trio looked at one another.

What makes a man is… what makes a man is being able to have an argument with someone else and still see them as you once did before, no matter how different your opinions are from one another…

Their smiles wavered.

That….or having the will to ignore the mind-numbing, excruciating, horrendous, unbelievablepain they had been feeling since the very fucking beginning to try and look cool in front of one another for as long as they could while shouting mean things to each other… yeah…that sounds like something that makes a man…

They were pale from blood loss, now.

They face planted against the table, inflicting themselves with more pain.

Before they passed out and would later wake up in the Intensive Care Unit of the village hospital, a single thought crossed their mind before everything went dark:

'Where the fuck is our food…?'

Omake end!

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