¡Viva la Revolución!
"We ready?" Mina whispered, trying to keep her voice calm as her heart thundered in her chest. Behind her crouched the ranks of Wiz's liberated and armed slaves, to her left was Eris disguised as Chris the Thief, and to her right Kirishima, holding the Hammer of Therazane. They were currently hiding in a tunnel that led up to the basement of the Shrine of the Tomb in Axel. They'd been raiding the countryside for weeks, putting undead abominations to rest, and freeing humans from bondage. So far, it had been relatively easy, but that all changed today.
"Let's do this," Kirishima agreed. "Chris?"
"It's time to cleanse these abominations," the disguised goddess agreed, her teeth bared in a snarl of rage. "Once, this was my church. It's time we restored it."
"DEAM VULT!" Kirishma bellowed, activating his quirk and crashing through the walls of the basement.
A group of goblinoids looked up, paused in the act of ritually sacrificing a girl to the glory of Nazarick. Mina melted two of them to pulp with a spray of acid as Kirshima barreled forward, his hammer splattering two against the wall as he trampled another. Chris' knives took the last two goblins in the eyes, as the girl let out a scream of panic.
"Don't worry!" Mina told her, using her acid to cut through the ropes that bound her. "We're the good guys! Come on people, up and at 'em!"
Mina and the others boiled up out of the basement before the priests and attendants of Ainz could manage to mount much of a defense, her teeth barred in a fearsome grin as she slung acid both at the liches and other undead and at the profane idols to Nazarick and its denizens.
"What is this?" a lich hissed. "Humans?!"
"DEAM VULT!" Chris cried, and sliced the lich's skull from it's boney shoulders with her dagger.
"DEAM VULT!" the rebelling slaves roared as they swarmed out into the streets, attacking anything that wasn't human. Mina felt a little bad about that, some of the lizard people and goblinoids probably weren't totally evil, but then again she'd seen enough of them abuse human slaves or literally kill them out of hand for minor offenses it was hard for her to get that worked up about it.
The various monsters and undead that made up the majority of Axel's population fled to the Ducal Seat where Vanir and Wiz's headquarters were, seeking shelter. Wiz put up an icy barrier, keeping the humans away, but they weren't interested in fighting the Witch or the Demon, instead herding more monsters towards the center of town.
A few monsters put up fights, one troll managing to slaughter a dozen rebelling humans before Mina showed up with her acid. She'd learned that trolls could heal from just about anything, but not a blob of concentrated hydrochloric acid. The beast bellowed as the acid washed over it, and Mina skated around it, spraying the still sealing wounds the others had inflicted. With a groan, the troll collapsed to the earth, dead.
Once they had corralled the surviving inhabitants, Wiz and Vanir made an appearance, striding forth from their stronghold with dozens of well armed guards.
"What is this, do you foolish humans truly think you can hope to defeat moi, the Duke of Hell?" Vanir laughed. He snapped his fingers, and dozens of miniature versions of himself formed out of the earth.
"This is my domain! I have sheltered you humans, and this is how you repay me?" Wiz demanded, her eyes glowing with icy fury.
"Maybe we can't," Mina said. "But the goddess can!"
"What is this, oh foolish girl who appears to be a monster yet is nothing but human?" Vanir demanded. "You think your deity can save you? Ha! There are no gods left in Belzerg!"
"No longer!" Eris cried, moving out of the crowd. "I have returned!"
"Eris!" Wiz screamed. "Quickly, before she-"
Holy light suddenly radiated from Eris, her form changing ever so slightly as the filth fanished, her hair grew out, and her rags became an elegant gown. She pointed a finger at Wiz and Vanir. "Exorcism!"
Both of them screamed in pain, and Wiz suddenly vanished. Vanir stumbled back, a look of horror on his face. "No! This cannot be! Moi is immortal, nothing may-"
"Begon, foul spirit!" Eris snarled. "Sacred Exorcism!"
Vanir's form crumbled to dust, his mask falling to the ground, cracked and dissolving to earth.
"Eris, I'm out of the way now," Wiz's voice whispered. "You can-"
"SACRED TURN UNDEAD!" Eris roared, and the center of the town suddenly was bathed in golden light. The undead that had rallied there crumbled to ash, and Wiz let out a groan, slumping to the ground with a spray of dust. Mina hoped no one saw that, and was grateful the invisibility spell didn't fade.
"DEAM VULT! DEAM VULT!" the humans cheered wildly.
Eris took a deep breath. "From here, our reconquest of Belzerg begins!. You, monsters. I have no quarrel with you. Leave these lands at once, and you shall not be slain. But if we see you again, you shall all be destroyed!"
Quickly, the monsters were herded from Axel by the human troops, but Mina and Kirishima wasted no time. They found Wiz's body, still invisible, and quickly carried her to the safe house they'd set up earlier. Vanir was already there, waiting impatiently.
"Foolish goddess! Does she not know that such things can harm my dear Wiz! She has gone too far!" Vanir huffed, snapping his fingers to dismiss the invisibility spell. Wiz had gone translucent, and they placed her on a bed.
"I-it's fine. She kept her promise. Only the demons and undead of Nazarick were purged," Wiz whispered. "We already sent away those that were not evil. The succubi are hidden in their old brothel, and are caring for the others."
"Wow, Eris really doesn't like undead, does she?" Mina asked, feeling uncomfortable at seeing Wiz so hurt.
"No. But she has good reason for it," Wiz sighed. "She spent her mortal life fighting demons and undead, her family slain by the Devil King of her time. As a goddess, one of her primary tasks is to keep the mortal world free of my kind."
"Bah, it is a foolish, reckless thing. Moi would not stand for this if moi did not know it was what you truly desired, foolish lich," Vanir said, coming over and beginning a few negative energy spells.
"It's ok. Go, you two. Let Eris know we'll help when Demiurge comes," Wiz whispered as Vanir tended to her. "Just be careful. I've heard that The Son of Ainz is here as well. He's probably even more dangerous."
"Ok. Hold on, Wiz. And thanks. You really helped all the humans here today," Kirishima said. "That was manly of you. Er, or-"
Wiz giggled. "I understand. Please, don't worry about me."
Mina and Kirishima left together, walking through the town as the other humans began to celebrate, breaking into the houses of the goblinoids and lizard folk and looting food and other supplies. Many of them appeared not to know what to do without a master to tell them what to do, and simply turned to random acts of destruction. Mina winced, glad they'd gotten the monsters out. Some of them had been kids and stuff: she didn't want to see them dead, even if they weren't human.
"You think this will work?" Mina asked Kirishima as they headed for the chapel they'd first emerged from. Already, crude icons of Eris had been scrawled on the walls, the images of Nazarick ripped away and tossed in a burning heap.
"I dunno. I mean, I'm just sort of going along with what Eris had planned," Kirishima admitted. "I mean, it's been good to free people from slavery and stuff, but honestly this is all way over my head. Sure, we've freed one town, but now what?"
"I'm glad you asked," Eris said striding towards them. "Come. It's time I filled you both in more fully on my plans."
Mina and Kirishima fell in behind Eris, who led them away from the shrine to a back alley. When they got there, the goddess groaned, slumping down into the dirt, closing her eyes.
Mina exchanged a worried look with Kirishima, then they both squatted on their haunches close to Eris. "You OK, Eris?"
"No. That took a lot out of me," Eris admitted, her head resting on the boards of the building behind her.. "All of us gods and goddesses are low on followers these days. I'm doing a bit better, with so many new and zealous converts, but it's still exhausting using my powers like that. And…"
Tears began to leak from Eris' eyes, and she shook her head. "Do you know how many people died for me, today? Just here, in Axel?"
Mina shook her head, feeling sick, while Kirishima looked away, trying to hide his tears.
"Twenty eight. I know it's not much, in the grand scheme of things, but...but I was never as good at resurrection and healing as Aqua. And with so little power left to me...I won't be able to raise more than one or two of them. Damn you, Vanir, I really am a luckless goddess…"
Eris was really weeping now, her shoulder shaking as she sobbed into her hands. Gently, Mina moved in, pulling Eris into a hug. It was really weird, since she was some sort of ageless immortal, but honestly she looked like she was maybe a couple of years older than Mina. Which begged the question of how old Mina WAS. They'd died in mid-May, and that had been at least a month ago now. Did you keep getting older if you died? Who knew.
"Hey, it's ok. We're winning, right? We'll drive Demiurge away and save the world so no one else has to die," Mina said gently.
"But you all die eventually," Eris sobbed. "It doesn't matter what I do. I'm just...I'm so tired, Ashido. I've only been a goddess for a thousand years, but I'm so, so tired."
Kirishima met Mina's eyes and mouthed, "A thousand years?!"
Mina grimaced and nodded. Seriously? Eris was a thousand years old? Well, Mina wasn't going to argue with her.
"I'm sorry," Eris said after a few minutes, wiping at her eyes and blowing her nose into a lace hankie. "The plan, yes. You see, you're not the only heroes from your world I've brought here."
"Really?" Kirishima asked, sounding as surprised as Mina was. "Who else is here? Where are they?"
"The ones called Sero and are moving about Belzerg, striking at the strongest of the enemy's forces," Eris explained. "With them is my disciple Yunyun, and the last of her Crimson Demons. Along with, well, the last hope of this world. The last surviving member of the Belzerg royal line. Queen Iris."
Mina let out a soft groan. Why did it have to be Bakugo? True, Sero was pretty cool, but if she had to pick someone to be stranded in a strange world with, Bakugo didn't make the top ten. Why not Jiro or one of her other friends?
"That's weird, those are the guys we were on the same team with in the Sports Festival," Kirishima observed. "Well, Sero's pretty cool, and well, Bakugo's strong. That's why we teamed up with him."
"So, um, what exactly is the plan for Bakugo and the others?" Mina asked.
Eris bared her teeth. "We are the bait. They are the trap, along with Wiz and Vanir. We're going to lure Demiurge out, and then destroy him, then the portal that they send reinforcements from Nazarick through. Then, we reclaim this world."
"Wait, so we're bait?" Mina asked, suddenly feeling very nervous.
Eris nodded. "More precisely, I am. Nazarick has always targeted gods and goddesses especially. They really seem to want to kill my senior, Aqua, but we don't know why. Honestly, she's, um, well, her only remarkable feature seems to be her lack of, ah, intellectual rigor."
"So she's stupid?" Kirishima asked bluntly.
Eris winced. "She's not stupid, just...she's a Muse of the Arts and a Goddess of Water and Healing. She's a creature of emotions and passion, of creativity and nurturing. Not of intellect."
"Hey, I get that," Mina commiserated. "My grades were never the best, but I'm totally awesome at dancing, gymnastics, and making friends!"
"Yeah, I suppose neither of us are really what you'd call book smart," Kirishima admitted. "So, what, we just hang out and wait for Demiurge to come and get you?"
"Of course not. We're here to free humanity, and restore my lost followers. It's time to reward my faithful," Eris said, standing and dusting herself off. "You two get some rest. I have a clergy to reinstate, and healing to perform. Soon, we'll start raiding the countryside in earnest, and bringing in more freed humans. I'll just have to see if we can find a few people capable of teleporting large groups."
Eris went back to her new place of worship, leaving Mina alone with Kirishima. She went over to him, putting her arms around him and resting her head on his shoulder. He gave her a squeeze back, looking as worried as she felt. So, she smiled at him.
"Well, sounds like we're closer to getting to go back home!" she said, trying to force cheerfulness she didn't feel into her tone.
"Yeah. I just...I dunno, Mina." Kirishima looked down at his hand, activating his quirk for a moment. "I'm not the same person I was a month ago. I've fought against all these monsters, just like you. We've seen a lot of people die. Can we really go back?"
"We have too," Mina said, fighting back the urge to cry. "Otherwise, what was the point of all this?" She swallowed, then laughed. "Well, I mean, other than saving the world. And finally getting to know you."
She stood up on her toes then, and Kirishima bent down to press his lips to hers. It had taken a solid week of her dropping endless hints that she liked him and was lonely, but he'd finally caught on. Of course, then one thing had led to another then, just as it did now…
They found a house with a comfortable bed that hadn't been too looted, and lay claim to it. A couple of people tried to accuse Mina of being a monster, but enough of the rebels knew who she was to hastily correct the more recently liberated, identifying her as the Divine Hero Ashido. She sort of liked that, even if it did sound pretty silly.
"You know the best thing about being here?" Kirishima said, his hands playing over her back as they lay together under the blankets.
"What?" she giggled, though she figured she knew the answer.
"You," he whispered, and gave her a long kiss. "Who'd have thought I'd end up with the hottest girl at our school? And I mean, I count UA and our old one there."
"I mean, you really changed over the summer. You were kinda a dork before," she laughed.
Kirishima chuckled, his hand going to his hair. You could really see the black roots now, and the vibrate red was fading since he couldn't dye it anymore. "Yeah, guess I really changed. You're still the same though."
"No," Mina said, flipping over and looking up at him. "I'm really not, Ejiro. I try to act like it, but...I'm just as scared as everyone else."
"Hey, don't sweat it, I'm here, remember? We'll get through this, together. Plus, I mean, we got a goddess on our side. That has to count for something, right?"
Mina nodded, forcing a smile on her face. "Yeah. Of course it does."
She pressed herself to him, trying to feel safe in his strong arms. He clung to her, desperate for the same comfort and warmth. Together. Somehow, they'd get through this together.