Chapter 5: The Aftermath and Prayer

I DON'T OWN ANKOKU KISHI MONOGATARI OR KAMEN RIDER, AND THEY BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

—-

At the bottom layer of the Heavenly Castle, the god of smithing, Heibos, resides. His distaste for his fellow Gods of Light and his desire to be alone made the lonely place perfect for him.

Until now.

"Smithing God Heibos!"

An angry voice called out to Heibos. The smithing god knew this day would come and was prepared for it. He came out of his workshop to meet the owner of the voice: the Goddess of Wisdom and Victory, Arlena. Usually, she sends her messengers whenever she wants something from him. Even the tools that she used to summon the hero that he made, and still not even a word of gratitude from her.

"What's the matter, Arlena? How rare of you to come here yourself," Heibos greeted, even though he knew the purpose of her arrival.

"Don't you 'What's the matter' me! You taught Modes how to summon a hero, right?" Arlena angrily accused.

"Yes, I did. Now, what of it? Modes is my friend who happens to be in danger. I just gave him a helping hand," Heibos calmly replied, not letting himself be intimidated by Arlena's wrath.

"Modes is a God of Darkness! And you are a God of Light! In the first place, those Gods of Darkness who won't submit to us are nothing more than vermin! They are enemies!"

"Enemies, huh? No wonder things took a turn for the worse," Heibos was disappointed by that declaration. The conspiracy to evict Modes out of Elios is the lynchpin for the other Gods of Darkness to be expelled from Elios. But those Gods of Darkness happen to be collaborators in Modes's exile. They just reaped what they sowed. There are still Gods of Darkness left in Elios, but they are under the Light Gods' control.

"My bad, Arlena, but despite your vendetta against Modes as your enemy, he was still a precious friend of mine. I will not sever my bond with him."

"Then you are implying that you are my enemy now, Heibos?" Arlena accused the smithing god.

"If yes, will you strike me where I stand now?" Heibos bravely stood his ground.

Arlena was not expecting that reply, and her bravado was suddenly deflated by Heibos's words.

"I...I cannot kill you. You are an important asset to Elios."

Heibos's skill as a blacksmith is unmatched, and killing him would be a stupid move. Also, that would greatly weaken their force.

"Arlena, I am wondering, why are you so hostile to Modes? He keeps mostly to himself in Nargol. Could you answer my question?" Heibos inquired. Even though he knew the answer, Heibos wanted to hear it in Arlena's own words. He was getting suspicious as to how she knew about the existence of Mona, even though it was a closely guarded secret.

"What are you talking about? Can you be more specific?" Arlena dodged the question by asking a vague one. Heibos just sighed as he knew she would never admit her agenda.

"If that's all, I'll be taking my leave. Let me give you a warning: I will know if you are helping Modes," Rena threatened the smithing god.

Heibos just took it in stride as he knew she couldn't really do anything about it. Although...

"Can I ask another question? What are you planning to do with the Hero and his party once you are done with them?" Heibos asked as that had been bugging him for quite some time. The strength of the hero was said to be equal to Oudis, and that meant his existence itself could disrupt the balance of Elios.

"Oh, them? I would just send them to 'another world' after they serve their purpose."

"Did you tell the Hero and his companions about this?"

"Of course, I did say that it would be 'possible' to send them back to their world at the same time to their world," Rena nonchalantly replied.

Heibos was speechless when he heard that. The ritual to send them back had not been done even once. Since the variables were unpredictable, there might be a chance that they would be sent into an unknown world or worse, get stuck in between dimensions.

"Do you have any other questions? I will be taking my...wait." Rena remembered something about what had happened yesterday.

"What is it?"

"Yesterday, in the direction of Nargol, a strange kind of energy was felt by the gods. They described it as if a burning inferno and a bottomless void suddenly appeared. Do you think Modes had a hand in that?" Rena questioned Heibos.

"I...don't know anything about that, apologies."

"Hmph. Well then, I am taking my leave now." Rena left as fast as she arrived.

"So the hero is just a disposable pawn for you. Modes may be ugly, but he wasn't despicable like you. Gods of Elios," Heibos muttered as Rena vanished from his sight. Rena had a hand in banishing Modes in Elios just because of his ugliness. Heibos approached his work desk and picked up the letter of gratitude from Modes. He just smiled; as far as he knew, only Modes thanked him for asking a favor.

"The Hero party sure is lucky. Had they been able to kill Modes, who knows what godforsaken place they would be thrown into."

As long as the Hero and his party have their uses, at least they won't be disposed of. Also, they won't have to worry about being replaced by another hero, as the Gods of Elios banned the ritual because the balance of power might be upset. Even Modes and Mona can't summon another hero because of the materials needed, and he knew how hard they scraped by just to summon their champion.

Heibos then recalled what Rena had said earlier. He did feel that energy that she described. The fire was hotter than his forge could produce, and that bottomless void that consumes anything that falls on it. It was the same time when Modes performed the ritual.

"Could it be... Kuroki Ryuuga is the reason?" Heibos wondered.

"Modes, my friend, I hope we won't regret what we have done."

—-

The Queen of Darkness, Mona, arrived at a certain place in the Nargol Palace.

"Mona-sama! It is a pleasure! Welcome to my humble office," greeted Loughas, The God of Knowledge. He was one of the few gods who went with Modes when the latter was banished. Loughas also served as a prime minister. Despite being a master of magic, he was pretty weak in combat, so he served as an advisor when it came to those matters.

"Raise your head, Loughas."

Loughas did what he was commanded and led his Queen to the guest chair.

"May this humble servant ask what is your business with me?" Loughas asked.

"I have a question, what do you think of Kuroki Ryuuga?" Mona inquired.

"About Kuroki Ryuuga? Everyone saw the fight between Kuroki and the Hero on that day. They were surprised that not only was Kuroki an experienced warrior who knew how to fight, but he even overpowered the Hero of Light. Loughas still remembers the cheers of the crowd when Kuroki pummeled the hero's face nonstop and after that pierced a hole in the hero's gut. "Kuroki-dono was an extremely powerful man. He not only easily defeated that Hero of Light using only his fists and that strange armor, Kuroki-dono also crushed the Hero's pride in front of his women. I can say that he was a great boon to us," Loughas stated his honest opinion.

"Yes, his combat prowess and that strange armor of his defeated that stupid hero, but can't you help but reconsider your opinion about him?" Mona stated her thoughts.

"Reconsider?"

Mona continued, "That he could be possibly a threat to Modes-sama, remember Casa's prophecy about the death of Modes? A man from the spirit world would be the one to kill him? Kuroki-dono is a man who came from the spirit world, not to mention his skills and equipment are nothing we have seen before."

Loughas couldn't deny what Mona claimed, as that could be possible, even though he didn't want to believe in it.

"But Mona-sama, our forces can't fight Kuroki-dono as of now. Our forces need to rebuild as of now, and that could take a long time." Loughas gave his opinion.

"Ah yes, I heard Runefield is in distress about that."

"And to be honest Mona-sama, even if our army managed to get their former strength back, I can't see them winning against Kuroki-dono, much more that we knew he isn't an ordinary person either." Loughas added.

Mona didn't rebuke what Loughas said. She knew that he was right in that regard.

"Kuroki-dono also is our greatest weapon as of now, not only against the hero of Light but possibly Elios too. If possible, I don't want to consider him our enemy." Loughas didn't want to break the rising morale of the Demon race by treating Kuroki as a possible liability against their forces.

"I also have the same opinion of not wanting to make Kuroki-dono our enemy. I just want to prepare for the worst-case scenario," Mona explained.

"Mona-sama, have you told about his Majesty about-"

"No, I have yet to tell Modes-sama about Kuroki-dono's potential danger. My husband took a liking to Kuroki-dono. One thing I also noticed about Kuroki-dono is that he was quite humble and accommodating to Modes-sama, and spoke like equals despite his power. That's the reason I am not considering him a full enemy, but it never hurts to be cautious. We will need a countermeasure, and since Loughas, you are the wisest person in Nargol, I command you to observe Kuroki-dono if he is a possible threat and find his potential weakness that we can use against him," Mona commanded.

"Yes, my queen, I will assign a personal attendant to Kuroki-dono as an observer. In that way, we could keep tabs on Kuroki-dono's movements," Loughas replied as he bowed down to follow Mona's orders.

"I will leave this matter to you then, Loughas."

Mona left Loughas's office. While walking back to her quarters, Mona was pondering her actions. It's not that she hates Kuroki personally, but the fact that the prophecy isn't straight to the point. Mona was, in fact, glad that her Modes made a new friend that didn't judge him based on his looks. She even saw Modes and Kuroki talking while drinking tea in the garden, the former being himself and not as a ruler of Nargol. She also remembered how Kuroki immediately agreed to protect them from the hero without any hesitation, as he knew what it felt like to lose something important, and Kuroki didn't want them to experience it. For that, she was grateful but...

"Kuroki-dono... I hope you understand my would-be actions. I just want to keep my husband safe," Mona apologized to Kuroki in her heart.

CHAPTER 5 END

A/N: Whew, apologies, that kinda took long.

Have any of you watched the Kamen Rider Vail sidestory? It's a love letter to Showa Kamen Riders, not only in design but in origins too. Who would have thought that the goofy dad is a broken shell of a man who was saved by his wife from his personal hell? Honestly, I hope the next Kamen Rider story will have the same plotline. I'm kind of a sucker for that.

Anyways, if you read Ankoku Kishi, you'll notice that Mona seems kinda less yandere. Well, it's because I made her like that due to having genuine gratitude for Kuroki for saving them and being quite sympathetic to their plight. Now she just wants to have a backup plan rather than seeking to eliminate him.

Well, just PM me or something if you have questions. Thanks!