WARNING: The following contains graphic violence and descriptions of injuries and gore and genocide and torture, strong language, sexual themes, gaslighting, mentions of rape and suicidal thoughts, as well as rampant demon horniness... so yes, it's intended for mature audiences.

VIEWER/READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

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3rd Person POV (WHOLE lot of POV changes this chapter again)

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3333 Years Ago… (1290 BC, Japan)

…

It was a quiet day by a small river just a little ways away from a small village of semi-buried houses where a hunter was seen standing ankle-deep in the water, a pole in his hand, and a basket of fish nestled in the rocks by the bush-lined riverbank.

The hunter managed to reel in another fish to add to the basket and had turned back to his efforts, wiping his sweat-beaded brow with a small white cloth, when a small cat paw was seen reaching out from the bushes for the basket.

TSSSS!*

A few seconds later when the hunter heard a sizzling noise, he rapidly turned to see that all the fish in his basket had been cooked to near perfection and were laid neatly in a row within the basket.

"Haha!" The hunter cheered, throwing his sweat napkin into the air in his celebration and it landed on his head as he danced joyfully.

While the hunter continued celebrating the seeming miracle, a look to the bushes revealed a hellcat with red eyes peeking out with mischievous intent before shifting into Den in his demon cat form, wearing a plain red traditional robe with an orange belt as he prepared to pounce before-

"Eeden-san…!" (Ayden!) Another hell cat who looked like a Japanese Bobtail wearing a matching red robe but with a yellow belt tied to look like a rose with an actual rose bud situated in the center appeared from out of nowhere behind him and hissed from behind him, startling him and making him snap back,

"Nani Fuji…?!" (What Fuji…?!)

"Ikanakereba narimasen...! Hyōgi-kai ga kaigi o shōshū shimashita…!" (We have to go…! The council called a meeting...!)

"Daijōbu..." (Fine…) Den gave one last sly smirk as he used his tail to reach out and snatch the basket of fish before the hunter could grab it after gathering up his fishing gear, making him yell after Den as he and Fuji were seen bolting out from the bushes in their hellcat forms,

"Norowa rero Bakenekos!" (Curse you Devil Cats!)

Once they got far enough away, Den and Fuji shifted back to demon cat forms and approached a burnt tree that was situated in the middle of a small tree clearing.

While Den munched on the cooked fish he had swiped after pulling off the robe to uncover his Western-style scholarly outfit underneath, Fuji held a paw out to a knot in the tree and twisted it left then right, while his other paw reached up to his ear to show an earring with an orange crystal embedded in it before the tree knot swirled and opened into a fiery portal to Hell.

After stepping through and landing in what looked like a courtroom, a large gathering arena set in front of a council's table with six seats while a larger throne was situated behind it for the presiding power, a red sigil glowing behind it with the name "BELETH" in the outer rings boundary, Den and Fuji took silver rings out of their pockets and put them on their left middle digit as they walked into the crowd.

Dozens of other hellcat demons had already or were currently arriving as well, all wearing different clothes from the different Earth regions and even Realms they were most likely coming in from, all chatting amongst themselves with mixtures of worry and ire in various languages, each with their own Asmodean crystals and silver rings.

The two of them caught bits of conversation as they maneuvered their way to the front;

"Čo by teraz mohli chcieť?" (What could they possibly want now?) A fluffy hellcat spoke in a Slavic dialect, an Asmodean crystal in the middle of his 8-pointed star amulet.

"Chuathas i dteagmháil liom maidir le cinneadh a dhéanamh faoi cá bhfuil mo dhílseacht…" (I was approached about making a decision of where my loyalty lies…) Another gray shorthair hellcat demoness spoke in Celtic with her crystal in the knot-patterned brooch on her woven cloak.

"Pensi che si tratti delle voci di insurrezione?" (Do you think this is about the rumors of insurgence?) A white hellcat demoness "whispered" from behind her paw in Italian, her crystal in the golden bangle on her wrist.

"Nopa consejo kimatis..." (The council will know…) A jaguar-patterned hellcat spoke in Nahuatl, his crystal in the golden labret that pierced his lower lip.

"Warui shirasede wanaito ī nodesuga… Kekkyokunotokoro, tengokutodjigoku no hitobito wa saikin watashi o miru no ni tae raremasen..." (I hope it's not bad news… After all, those in Heaven and Hell can hardly stand to look at me as of late…) Fuji whispered to Den who waved a paw dismissively as he switched to English,

"I'm sure this is nothing and all will settle down in no time."

"Fuji-kun!" A voice called out as another hellcat, one who looked like a Maine Coon, wearing a robe similar to Fuji's with his yellow belt also in a rose knot, but his actual rose was pinned to the collar of his robe.

"Kyu-kun!" Fuji exclaimed as they twirl-hugged before sharing a kiss that made Den roll his eyes playfully before the moment was broken with,

"Hellcats of the Nine Circles!"

As a loud voice bellowed out, silencing all the hellcats before their attention was directed to where six robed (two red, two white, and two brown) figures were seen marching in procession to the six seats on the councilor's table before taking their seats just as a horn's blare sounded off cueing the large doors to the courtroom to swing open with twin harsh bangs,

*BRRRRRR!*

TCH!* *TCH!*

The smoke cleared to show a noble cat-like demoness with feline features such as whiskers, green eyes, fangs, a long furry tail, and light amber-speckled dark brown fur riding atop a pale horse with a golden horn to her mouth before lacing it back to her side, making her subjects part the way to the throne that she sat in, revealing herself to be Beleth, after dismounting her horse and sending it away before the council of six took their seats as well.

Beleth wore a tailored red vest coat with heart patterns on the linings, a pair of gray leather armguards, a gold looped belt, a dark gray body suit, and speckled gray thigh-high stockings that left her feline toes exposed. She also wore a red tiara designed to be reminiscent of a trio of flames that depicted her noble status while also wearing a silver ring on the middle digit of her left paw that glinted in the light as she held her paw up to cue her subjects to quiet down and announce,

"I'm sure you are all wondering why I called this emergency meeting… No doubt you have all heard about the rumors of Heaven and Hell calling for each of you to declare your loyalties to a single Realm otherwise they threaten execution."

Some worried murmurs rose up at that that Beleth silence with another paw raise as she continued announcing,

"I have decided that we shall continue life as is and bide our time to see how it will all play out…"

There were a few uproars of complaints at the course of action being simply "wait it out" before the six members sitting below Beleth pulled their hoods off to unveil each of the council members, in pairs representing the three Realms; Heaven being represented by one white and one light tortoiseshell cat, Hell being represented by one black and a dark tabby cat, and the Mortal Realm being represented by one tuxedo and a calico.

"We must trust in our overseer." The tuxedo cat councilmember spoke as she folded her digits together and the black cat councilmember reasoned, adding hotly toward the end, as if he didn't want to say it but had to,

"Once we have definitive confirmation that any of the Realms are coming to exterminate us all, then we can discuss possible countermeasures to ensure our survival!"

"A quel punto sarà troppo tardi!" (By then it will be too late!) One hellcat from the crowd shouted, making more yell in indignant agreement.

"We cannot risk provoking any of the Realms using any perceived slights as reason enough to justify erasure." The white cat councilmember tried to calm the crowd as her light tortoiseshell cat compatriot added on,

"It is better we project ourselves as neutral as possible to avoid any stirring of trouble."

Some more loud disagreements from the crowd sounded with Den looking a tiny bit more annoyed that this whole meeting was going in this direction before Beleth held up her paw again to declare,

"I have attempted meetings with the Sins to discuss potential courses of action but none have responded, therefore I decided it is in our best interest, for now, to wait and see how things will progress before making any rash decisions."

There were still some grumbles of disapproval, with Den being one particularly loud one, before all were silenced with the council members glaring in unison.

"That is all, now return to your duties in your respective fields." Beleth ordered, closing out the meeting with finality and, soon enough, all the hellcats started trickling out of the meeting room with Den, Fuji, and Kyu heading out together.

Unfortunately, they were waylaid when the calico councilmember stopped Den to tell him,

"Ayden, Beleth wishes to speak with you.. privately." Looking to Fuji and Kyu, the former raised his paws in surrender while the latter ruefully shook his head, before they both waved to Den as they headed out, arms linked at each other's sides.

After giving him a nod of affirmation, Den followed the councilmember to the backroom of the courtroom which looked like a mini museum with numerous artifacts depicting hellcats in various forms collected and displayed before departing leaving the two in the room.

Beleth was writing in a familiar-looking large, ornate, and warm-hued book with a bright bronze flame outline on a podium, but stopped when she heard Den approaching and placed a glass cover top over it, the pages magically flipping closed when she stepped away from it to face Den.

"Yes My Queen…?" Den greeted with a half bow and his left hand against his face as a show of respect but with an obvious lack of genuine sincerity on his part.

"Ayden, you are one of our leading antiquarian researchers," She praised before the mood abruptly turned grim as she continued speaking in a warning tone, "However, as of late, I have heard whispers of.. illicit.. work with the Asmodean crystal you've been given… is there anything you would like to enlighten me on…?"

"Only continued research into individualized usages of the crystals as well as preserved restricted usages for in-family descendants." Den reported with a mildly bored tone as he reached under his shirt collar to expose his locket with a crystal in the face, its coloration light pink rather than the orange or dark pink of most normal Asmodean crystals.

"Very well…" Beleth nodded affirmatively as she continued to speak with her brows furrowed, "We are already in tenuous partnerships with Asmodeus for those crystals as well as the Virtues in Heaven with our initial agreement for uses in the Mortal Realm to cause benign chaos in order to drive nonbelievers to worship." She turned back to Den to emphasize with an eye roll, "I do not want to give either of them a reason to reconsider their collaborations with us with all the commotion already in progress…"

"Why should we have to cater to higher demons and even angels for our work?" Den questioned hotly, "We are practically a race of our own, surpassing all others with our skills and powers, yet we limit ourselves based on restrictions from all who fear our potential…"

"I wish more respect for you all as well," Beleth placed a paw on Den's shoulder before reminding him, "but we must work within the systems to gain acclaim for our race, lest we validate their presumed views of us…"

"'Us?'" Den jerked his shoulder out of her grip with a paw swatting hers fully away before pointing at her to snap, "You are not one of us. We may have been made in your image with assistance from two of the Sins, but you are a royal. You have no idea of our daily struggles…"

Beleth furrowed her brows and took her paw back before speaking evenly again,

"I do not.. but you were all placed under my jurisdiction, therefore your actions reflect on me as well…"

She walked a little way to showcase a few more tapestries and paintings of Hellcats throughout history hanging on the walls of the courtroom as she spoke eerily,

"I would rather not see you eradicated for this same attitude that is convincing the higher powers you are all unstable and volatile." Turning back to face Den to order, "Just continue the designated research and refrain from.. unsolicited projects.. until I handle these.. frictions."

She leaned down to be face to face with Den as she questioned firmly,

"Are we clear…?"

"Crystal…" Den "joked" flatly before bowing and heading back to the empty courtroom to leave for his workshop.

With a final look at the empty courtroom, Den looked down in a paw to expose a small bundle of fur from Beleth, discreetly collected when he'd swatted her paw away.

"I believe a new 'unsolicited project' may be in question to deal with these.. frictions…"

Before walking out of the courtroom with a determined stance and stride as he pulled the cat-head whistle from his pocket to summon the portal to his pocket dimension with its demonic screech,

*REEEEEEHHH!*...

…

651 Years Ago… (1374, Europe)

…

The whistle screech transitioned to the sounds of a mob chanting hatefully,

"Magam interfice! Magam interfice! Magam interfice!" (Kill the witch! Kill the witch! Kill the witch!)

As the religious zealots were dragging a woman in their midst, thrashing and vocally resisting, as they took her away from her home, the supposed "wife" of the mob's leader stayed behind with a torch in her hand with the intent to burn it down.

The woman entered the house, where a few human bodies were seen with gaping holes in their chests, as well as a woman in a white robe and a dark red, eye-ridden metallic dagger in her back with glowing gold blood pooling out, and swiftly pulled out an Angelic spear that she struck through a closet door, piercing right through the wood before drawing it back out with the tip covered in blood as the door was opened for a human man to drop out and his disguise to fade, leaving a hellcat demon corpse in its place.

As the spear was whirled around to clean it of the blood, the firelight from the torch she held revealed that the woman had pale yellow eyes, the primary characteristic of the Exorcists from Heaven.

After putting her spear away, the Exorcist tossed the torch to the ground close to the body before leaving the house, just seconds before it completely burst into flames.

As she was beginning to leave, another yellow-eyed woman showed up and they conversed secretly,

"How is the search progressing, Catherine…?" The new Exorcist asked.

"I've convinced the local humans that witches are real and the Pope 'Gregory' has been inadvertently helping our cause in calling for more hunts to wipe out all of the hellcat scum who thought they could hide out here…" Catherine answered while smiling sadistically.

"Remember, we must be careful; we can't let the powers in Hell catch on to what's happening until they've all been dealt with…" The new Exorcist reminded her sternly.

"Yeees Bianca…!" Catherine whined before the two of them walked into the forest to summon a portal back to Heaven.

Once the duo passed through the portal and it disappeared in a flash of heavenly light, a cloaked figure with a bundle slung around their back appeared from behind the trees and ran through the town behind homes to avoid the mob's attention.

"Wah! Waaahhh…!" The bundle started crying and the figure pulled their hood down to unveil Den, looking more haggard and irritated than before until he reached into a cloth bag at his side and pulled two dripping hearts out, one bleeding scarlet red and the other glowing golden.

After eating them in a single gulp, he sighed as he was instantly refreshed before his attention was diverted by the crying bundle again, "Waaahhh…!"

After bringing it to his front, Den peeked down at the bundle in his arms, uncovering a small being with a mini red halo with edges like licks of fire, multiple magenta glowing eyes on his head, body, and on the pair of scarcely feathered wings tucked between his back and the blanket he was wrapped in.

After waving a paw over him, causing his halo, multitude of eyes, and wings to vanish in favor of a more feline-like form with black fur and one pair of magenta eyes that closed as he was lulled to sleep, Den spoke quietly with a hint of malice for the intention the baby was made with,

"I shall call you Einar… for you are the first one-person army that will win acclaim for our entire race…" Adding with an indifferent shrug, "or instill me with the ability to do so myself."

At the sound of the villagers getting closer, Den pulled his hood further down his face and swung Einar back onto his back as they retreated further into the darkness of the forest for him to use his whistle to get back to his pocket dimension with another demonic shriek.

*REEEEEEHHH!*...

…

17 Years Ago…

…

The whistle then transitioned to the sounds of blaring traffic horns,

BEEEEEEEEP!*

Before-

"Ugggghhhh…!" Den, in a human disguise, groaned frustratedly and loudly as he sat in the patio space at a cafe in Los Angeles.

He looked through his notebook where a stock chart with little sketches of various species from all three Realms were lined up in outlined rows with smaller babies next to each figure, some multiples next to certain initial figures.

Most likely representing the different number of couplings he'd attempted for his "one-person army" child but red scribbles over all 27 baby figures and numbers next to them signaled they had all served their purpose at different ages and the green dollar symbols next to the mothers racked up to a large total at the bottom with a side note reading "Get Crim back on board!" with multiple other names above his, but all crossed out.

Flipping back to the front, a single strand of golden fur was shown to be taped to the page where tally marks adding up to 26 were scribbled in.

"AAAAAAARGH!" Den groaned loudly again at his failings while crushing the notebook, its pages, and his pen in his grip as he seethed while throwing his hands in the air, "There's gotta be something I'm missing…!"

The abrupt motion caused his pen to fly out of his grip before a noise of impact and a woman yelping out in pain sounded,

DOINK!*

"Yah!"

Den looked back to see that his pen had hit a younger Ade, going by Kaiya at this time, and a younger Allora as they were both walking side by side, wearing semi-formal outfits like they were on their way to an interview.

Kaiya was rubbing a small red mark on her forehead, no doubt from where the flying pen had smacked her, as she sheepishly smiled while holding up Den's pen,

"I uh think ya dropped this…"

Den took on a look of interest before switching to a matching sheepish look as he thanked her while rubbing the back of his neck with a hand,

"So sorry about that! Writer's block can be a real doozy…"

"I woul' think so if yer chuckin' yer stuff." Kaiya held the pen out and Den took it before taking her hand in his.

"Name's Ayden." Den introduced himself and bowed slightly with faux genteel before prompting, "So nice to meet you…?"

"It's Kaiya.." Kaiya responded a bit wistfully before Allora quietly cleared her throat a bit and elbowed her side and she jolted before introducing her, "And this's Allora, my siste'."

"Charmed…" Den attempted to shake her hand, but Allora just backed up a bit out of his reach, making him narrow his eyes imperceptibly at her.

"Yeh big cha'm…" Allora shifted uncomfortably before telling her sister, "Aye we gotta go…"

"You go on ahead, I'll catch up…" She responded in a slightly dreamy tone as she couldn't take her eyes off Den.

Allora looked conflicted about leaving when her burner phone buzzed and she hesitated before deciding and telling her,

"I'll see if I c'n get yer inte'view moved ta anothe' time."

She hurried away, casting one last look behind her before continuing on her way, leaving Den and Ade as he pulled the seat out for her.

She delighted in sitting and getting pushed in a bit before Den took his seat and asked,

"So what brings you and your.. lovely sister to the city?"

"Thin's we'e gettin' ha'd back home so we wanted ta come he'e and get a fresh sta't," Kaiya recounted, looking down at the table with some remorse before continuing, "They say the city's whe'e ya get yer big sta't, but we haven't had a lotta luck…"

Seeing her down expression, Den narrowed his eyes in plotting slyness before shifting to an expression of nonchalance as he pretended to examine his nails as he "humbly" bragged/offered

"Maybe you just don't have the right connections…"

He trailed off to make Kaiya look back up at him before continuing,

"I've got an in with local politician, Patrick Davies, who's been on the lookout for a new consultant…"

"And you'd be willin' ta help me out, jus' like that?" Kaiya questioned with a mixture of shock and a little bit of hesitant disbelief before voicing the question, "Why?"

"People who've been willfully overlooked often hold the greatest potential, don't you agree?"

"Huh… 've neve' had anyone believe in me like that…" Kaiya smiled shyly yet genuinely before admitting with a bit of a lovesick look, "I'm not sure which is mo'e refreshin' today, the sunshine, the atmosphe'e, o' meetin' you."

"Oh we're playing that game ~huh…~" Den raised a brow suggestively before teasing, "Well, if I had nine lives as a cat, I would want to spend every one of them with you."

"Hehehe!" Kaiya giggled at his flirting before saying as she rested her head on a hand, "I've neve' had 'nyone try ta sweep me off my feet like this…"

"~You don't say…~" Den teased as he leaned further over the table toward Ade as she did the same with a semi-shy smile as her other hand resting on the table silently reached for his.

…

*10 Months Later*

…

"Say cheese!" Den held up a Polaroid camera and aimed it at him, Ade, and baby Ally as she was fussing around in her grip before the camera caught her attention and she started reaching out for it.

BVVVV!*

CLICK*

Bzzzzz...*

After pressing the button, there was a bright flash before the mini photo was spat out for Den to grab.

Ade had visibly shivered after the picture was taken before shaking her head to brush it off as Ally started crying and she had to jiggle her to try and calm her down.

"You know? Ancient legend says that people used to believe you could capture and steal a person's very ~soooouuuul in a photooooo!~" Den made "spooky" gestures to tease Ade and she chuckled with baby Ayden babbling excitedly while making grabby motions toward Den.

When the small Polaroid photo finished developing, it showed the familiar photo of the three of them making Ade coo at her baby,

"~My li'le Alinta!~"

"Or Ally." Den noted, making Ade frown a bit as she admitted,

"Allora doe'n't really like that nickname…" Before she turned to him and remarked, "Speaking of, she shoul' be home soon."

TCK* *CRRRR!*

"'M hoooome!" Allora's voice called out from the front door.

"Speak of the devil!" Den announced when Allora entered the living room, looking tired and dressed in a barista's hat, apron, and uniform under an open sweater.

"Haha!" Allora "laughed" before muttering as she took her sweater, hat, and apron off to lay on the back of the couch, "You'd know, woul'dn't ya…"

Before noticing the photo Den was holding and asking,

"Whatcha got the'e?"

"A photo we just took now." Den tried to discreetly move it out of sight to avoid further questions.

"Let's take anothe'." Allora tried to suggest before Den "apologized,"

"Sorry but that was my last photo film."

"...real convenient…" She muttered with a hint of suspicion before Ally started fussing and reaching for her so she cooed, "~Aww come to Titi, Alinta!~"

Ade handed her over so Allora could kiss her face, making her giggle, before Ade sniffed and commented,

"Ya smell like coffee an' chemicals."

"New nitro col' brew…" Allora deadpanned before venting, "'T's all anyone wanted today…"

"Speaking of, let me go grab us some drinks." Den quickly excused himself to get drinks for them all as Allora was vaguely heard "complaining" to her sister while Ally was seen burrowing her face into Allora's uniform shirt,

"How you managed ta end up wo'kin' for that Davies guy while I got stuck as coffee make' is still wild ta me…"

When he got to the kitchen, Den was seen removing a glamour from the Polaroid camera, exposing it to be some kind of eldritch-looking relic with the photo highlighting some runes along the edges, his human disguise dropping a bit with the redirecting of his power.

After tapping a claw on her in the photo, the glow focused in on Ally before dissipating and leaving it looking like a normal photo as the camera vanished into thin air.

Taking out his notebook, Den tucked the photo into the fold as he opened it and went back to the chart of previous children.

He made a new row where he drew figures representing Ade and Ally before writing a 16 next to Ally, circling it a few times before closing the notebook with a snap and tucking it away as he grabbed some bottles of soda for himself, Ade, and Allora before heading back to the living room with his disguise back on.

…

A Few Months Ago…

…

"Heellllooooo!"

Den called out after appearing in Striker's battle-ruined hideout and whined childishly when he realized no one was around,

"Maaan, why'm I always late for the party?"

He kicked a piece of rubble aside before his gaze fell on Ayden's family picture near the lava stream where he sensed some energy remaining within the molten rock.

"~Well helllooo power-up...~" He kneeled down beside the stream, picked up the picture to pocket, and held a paw out to draw the energy back upwards where it wrapped around his arm in a swirling manner giving him a boost of energy.

"Oh yeeaaaah!" He cackled triumphantly before red cracks started to spread through his body and he unleashed a yell of pain,

"YAAAAHHHH!"

Before his physical body was seen bursting into a flare of sparks and molten rock that started morphing into the large lava hellcat from before.

Within a dark space, Den was seen sitting up as he questioned,

"Where the fuck am I…?"

"Shite!"

A yell made him notice what looked like a theater room with curtains at the entrances in front of him.

He peeked through the curtains to see a viewing room where the five Aydens were in various seats around the room as Security was pacing around the front where the screen was showing a super blurry and bright orange and red swirled projection as she shouted,

"Everythin's all fuzzy, I can't tell whe'e we'e at!"

"I still smell lava and gunpowder…" Confidence spoke up softly from where she was sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest and spreading her hoodie over them.

"So we'e still he'e…" Security reasoned before questioning as Den was wondering the same thing from where he was still watching everything, "How a'e we back then?"

"MMMH!" Mini A hopped down the stairs leading to the front and tugged on Security's sleeve as she pointed to the ceiling where a reddish-pink fog was swirling around before a whispering voice echoed around them,

*Must find… Others…*

Before the image being projected started to form faint images of them moving through what looked like the cave.

"Hmmm…" Den hummed with a sly expression as he retreated back to the darkness of the mindspace while the Aydens worked on trying to work with the mysterious voice to direct herself back home amid the foggy images, sounds, and smells.

…

Now…

…

"How the fuck are you still alive?!" Millie shouted, enraged at seeing Den again to where Moxxie had to grab her arm to keep her from surging forward.

"Well Ayden certainly doesn't get her resilience from her real mother, I can tell you that much." Den made sure to provoke smugly to rile Millie up more.

"RAH!"

About to lunge for him when Moxxie hugged her waist to keep her from going feral so Blitzø could step forward to shout,

"It doesn't matter how the fuck you got in here, we're gonna get you out!"

"Awww but I just got comfortable in here!" Den whined petulantly before grinning madly as he added, "After all, I've been in here since that little scuffle with my business partner Striker."

At that mention, Angel furrowed his brows in confusion, Blitzø took on a slightly guilty expression, Via took on a troubled expression, and Millie and Moxxie both looked shocked and angry as Moxxie exclaimed,

"That was months ago!"

"And we've been busy!" Den whirled around dramatically causing the tendrils holding each of the Aydens to wave around as he listed off while enthusiastically motioning with his arms, "Sowing doubt, feeding off insecurities, building up strength, and now we're almost ready for the full transfer…!"

"Whaddya mean-AGH?!" Millie started to question suspiciously when the whole area jerked causing them all to jolt and stumble before red cracks of light streaked through the ground.

"AGgHhHhhHH!" All the Aydens shouted in pain as streams of energy went through the tendrils to Den, making him hover in the air from the power boost before they all went pale and semi-see-through.

"LET'S GET'IM!" Millie charged forward despite not having her weapons with her and the others followed her, ready to fight Den when he put a digit on his chin and tilted his head fully to the side in faux thinking before saying,

"Mmmmm… Nope!"

Before flicking his digits to make the tendrils rocket each Ayden toward the group and they were all launched through the fabric of the space, disappearing in multiple flashes of red light.

…

3rd Person POV on the Outside

…

Back outside, Cherri and Husk were seen grappling with keeping Ayden's body from floating up to the sigil burning brightly through the ceiling/floor above them, Husk grabbing her legs and Cherri wrapping her arms around her neck and midriff as she shouted urgently yet impatiently,

"When are those sheilas gettin' back with help!"

"Fuck if I know!" Husk shouted back as he wrenched down harder when she screamed in pain,

"AHHH!"

As her body seized and jerked upward, almost making the two of them lose their grip-

"Mrow!"

If Jin hadn't leaped up to attach themself onto Ayden's chest, adding more weight to her body so Husk and Cherri could regain their holdings before he yelled,

"Someone just better hurry the fuck up!"

Before Jin's ears twitched as they looked to the staircase leading upstairs…

"AGH!"

Where Loona was thrown back into a wall from trying to mess with the sigil that Hannah drew to try and deactivate it, but she was running on fumes from the previous fight as she panted tiredly and held her shoulder with the visible bruising showing.

"You're lasting longer than I thought." Hannah spoke callously, still more or less unscathed from the fight before smirking as she provoked, "Definitely a lot longer than Ally ever did…"

"HRRR!" Loona growled defensively with her eyes glowing slightly.

*FWTCH!*

"KAH!"

Before a rapid movement cut her off when Hannah managed to pin Loona down with one forearm pressing against her throat and the other bracing against the wall by Loona's head as she pinned her body down by straddling her, Loona trying and failing to pull her arm away from her neck with both hands.

"Maybe you'll be more fun too…"

She took her hand off the wall to reach behind her and pull out a spray bottle filled with green liquid that had a pinkish shimmer and bubbles to it, making Loona's ears fold back and growl in outrage as she recognized the tool Ayden once told her had been used to keep her repressed.

"Know about this?" Hannah shook the bottle a bit as she started to monologue with a vicious smirk, "Pure catnip makes it hard to see, harder to move but a special.. addition made it so, while under its effects, Ally never wanted to leave and liked everything we did to her…"

"Urh! You're a real piece of shit…!" Loona grunted breathily as her head was forced upward and Hannah rolled her eyes to drone annoyedly, going high-pitched in mock remorse,

"What? You want some sob story about how 'I was hurt so that's why I enjoy hurting others' or 'how I fear being unloved so I force others to love me?' Think again…"

She drove Loona's head further up, right up to her limit as she got right in her face to speak viciously,

"I like hurting others because I get a kick out of watching the light and hope drain from their eyes as they're overpowered and give up… like so…"

She raised the spray bottle, about to pull the trigger when-

"MROW!"

Jin came crashing into Hannah from behind, making her lose her grip on both the bottle and Loona, the first one she reached for before Loona managed to slap the bottle to skid away on the floor before Jin sank their teeth into her arm.

*KRSH!*

"YAAAAHH!" She screamed as she straightened up to pry Jin off, giving Loona a window of opportunity to get her legs out from under her.

She kicked her right in the chest using both feet, sending her across the room from the kick's force as Jin let go so they could land right on Loona's lap.

"'Bout time ya showed up…" Loona grunted jokingly and they reared up to nuzzle their face to hers as they meowed apologetically,

"Mrow…"

Before their attentions were caught by Hannah laughing grimly as she was grabbing onto the bleeding bite mark on her arm while getting back onto her feet,

"Hehe… really riskin' your neck for those little runts huh…?"

Loona pretended to think as Jin climbed onto her shoulder before declaring,

"Well she's pretty much my 'sister from a bastard mister,' the one you're working for, and I guess they're cool too.."

Loona rolled her eyes, pretending she could barely stand them, before Jin nuzzled their face against hers, making her smile again before it turned fierce as she finished with,

"So yeah… now we gotta kick your ass…"

"HA! In case you've got brain damage, little pup, I've been doing most of the ass-kicking."

"Yeah?" Loona challenged as she got up again as Jin hopped down to be right by her side as she asserted, "Let's change that…"

The two of them charging forward at the same time as Hannah, the two groups set to clash.

…

3rd Person POV Inside Ayden's Mind

…

Everyone had gotten split up, some in pairs, as they were tossed back into the memories they had landed in or explored through as the Corrupted Selves were sent with each of them to "dispose" of them.

With each group, they saw the Selves they were facing were being subsumed by Den's powers in reddish fractal surges with glitchy screeches,

*BBZZRRTTTT!*

With Millie and Moxxie, the stolen goods store had somehow grown to become a large maze-like place where they ran through various aisles in an attempt to escape the two semi-merged Corruptions of Self-worth and Confidence as they shrieked,

*NOT GOOD ENOUGH!*

*FAILURE!*

With Via, she was back in the Observatory running through different exhibition rooms, each with twisted versions of Ayden's life if she'd stayed on Earth, as the two Corruptions she ran from, Trust and Security, stayed separate and each tried to attack her.

She was able to use her powers somehow, but they were still not all that strong as a few punches were able to shatter her shields as they screamed,

*OTHERS LIE!*

*NOWHERE'S SAFE!*

*ALWAYS ALONE!*

With Blitzø and Angel, they were sent back to the warehouse, looking more rundown and spooky than before, as the Corruption started to overtake Innocence, the subjection not quite complete since a small bit of her was still visible to the outside.

"NO!" Angel charged right for the Corruption, grabbed onto her paw, and started yanking, even as the Corruption started screaming,

*PAST HURTS!*

"Get over here and help me pull!" Angel yelled at Blitzø, who scrambled over and grabbed the other hand as the both of them started to pull, more and more of Mini A being freed,

*ALL GON-GAH-KLCK!*

Abruptly, the Corruption choked and seemed to lose some power as Mini A was pulled free from its hold, landing right in Angel's arms as she shook and cried.

*RAAHH!*

The Corruption reached for Mini A, but Angel was quick to toss her into Blitzø's hold as he threw a double punch at it, making it fly back.

"Get'er outta here while I deal with this!" Angel ordered and Blitzø nodded before readjusting his hold on Mini A so he could try running out the door that led them out the first time-

"Fuuuuuuck me…!"

Only to end up right back in the warehouse where Angel was jumping around, rebounding off of crates and machines to hit the Corruption and keep its attention off of trying to absorb Mini A again.

Blitzø tried running through other doors hoping they'd lead out, only to end up back where they started so he tried running across the warehouse.

Mini A had started squirming in his grasp, almost slipping through as he ran, and Blitzø panicked before remembering what Angel did and trying it for himself with… little success…

I always knew you.. could be.. great!

Mini A covered her ears at his off-key singing and mixed-up lyrics but he kept going out of mild desperation,

And you know it's true too…?

As they made it to a tall pile of crates that were able to hide them for a bit, Blitzø kept singing even as her scrunched eyes started welling with tears,

Cause you're so.. cool-?

"WAAAHHH!"

Before Mini A cried out with tears pouring down her face and futilely wiping them with the backs of her hands, only for more to stream out.

"SHSHSHSHSHSHHHH!" Blitzø put her down and frantically waved his hands around, not wanting to silence her forcibly.

*BBZZRRTTTT!*

The sounds of the Corruption fighting got louder for a bit before Angel managed to draw it away with more fading taunting as they went further away.

"Hmmm…!" Blitzø muffled a groan of frustration, at a loss of what to do seeing as how it seemed like Ayden, in any form, was still upset with him.

He looked torn, about to call for Angel, when he looked down at where he was clutching his skull charm and had an idea.

"Hey Mini A…?"

She stopped crying long enough to peek up at him from over the back of her paws with a little sniffle,

"*tsff…!* …hmm…?"

"You like keeping promises, right?"

"...mmhmm…" She nodded hesitantly as her tears stopped flowing and Blitzø kneeled down in front of her, detaching his skull charm from his neck to tell her,

"This is real important to me cause it came from someone special and I never let anyone else touch it."

He held it out to her and she looked at it and him in shocked wonder before she took it in both paws reverently as Blitzø gently ordered,

"Just close your eyes and hold it tight OK? Promise to keep it safe?"

"Mmhmm…!" Mini A hugged it close to her chest as she wiped her tears off her face to nod affirmatively with a committed look, reminding Blitzø of his younger self for a split second as he smiled proudly.

"Good, now stay here, stay down, and keep it safe." Blitzø ushered her to sit and curl up between the crates as she scrunched her eyes shut with the charm clutched in front of her face.

Once he ensured she was safely hidden, Blitzø grabbed Ayden's Glock from his side and ran back to the fight as Angel was getting pinned against the wall by the Corruption's tendrils on all his arms and flirting,

"~Ooooh got quite a grip there…~"

"Keep in your pants!" Blitzø yelled with an eye roll as he took aim and fired at the Corruption,

*KRSH!*

A blast of ice coating the tendril about to strike Angel so he could kick up and shatter it to pieces, making it screech in pain,

*REEEEEEHHH!*

Releasing him so he could drop to the ground and gracefully front flip back over to Blitzø.

"So Blitzy," Angel started to ask, Blitzø giving him an irritated glare at the nickname, "How d'ya reckon we get ridda this chump?"

"Wear it down?" Blitzø spun the Glock around before snapping it to a fire-ready position with a devilish grin that Angel matched as he cracked and raised his four fists while getting in a jump-ready position as he quipped,

"My favorite approach."

The two of them leaping forward to fight before-

…

3rd Person POV on the Outside

…

The scene transitioned to Loona surging forward and headbutting Hannah right in the nose, causing her to yell in pain,

"AGH!"

Falling to a kneel as she held a hand to her bleeding nose-

"MROW!"

Right before Jin jumped off Loona's back to slash at Hannah with a claw swipe that she managed to block with her forearm, leaving three bleeding streaks similar to the ones Ayden had on her arm.

Hannah was sent reeling back with one hand on the scratches while the other tried to stem her bleeding nose before Jin meowed protectively from where they were in a defensive stance alongside Loona with their tail brushing the side of her leg,

"Mro-reow…?"

"They said 'doesn't feel so good, does it?'" Loona translated for them with a defensive expression.

"Heheh…" Hannah chuckled darkly again as she harshly wiped her nose with the back of her hand before glancing up with a glint in her eye while her other hand snaked to her back.

*FW-TCH!*

A split second later, a flash of reddish light streaked right by Jin's face before a cut opened up on their face to start bleeding softly glowing red blood.

"Shit!" Loona looked down at them with worry before-

*FW-TCH!*

*TCH!*

"AGH!" Loona was able to block a hit from another blur that was also aiming at her face with her forearm, but it opened a fairly large cut that she ignored as she scowled furiously.

The blur was revealed to be a leather bullwhip with a pointed dagger-like point of red-edged black metal that had a large crimson eye in the center of it.

Hannah gloated as she rewound it around her hands, snapping it taut when she emphasized while keeping her stance in front of the sigil she was still protecting,

"To think I'll use the same stuff that came out of Ally to end both of you, fitting..."

Loona's eyes quickly darted around to see a vanity desk where a thin, double-jointed desk lamp rested on top of an apple-patterned table runner that was nearby on her side, while on Jin's other side, there was a bed piled high with fluffy pillows before retorting back,

"Yeah, if you can manage to hit a moving target!"

Darting to one side before Jin followed her lead and went the other way as Hannah whirled the whip above her head and snapped it out in Jin's direction with a crack,

*FW-TCH!*

*RRRRIP!*

Only seemingly missing hitting their tail by a tiny bit as they leaped off the bed and the whip sliced through a pillow, sending downy feathers flying around.

"PFT! PLEH!" Hannah started to sputter and wave her free hand around and on her face trying to get the feathers off while her whip hand was still waving it around haphazardly until-

TCH!*

It coiled rapidly around the handle of the desk lamp that Loona grabbed and held above her to catch the whip end before folding it over to trap the loops and wrenching it to the side to pull it taut again as Hannah refused to let go of her end but allowing Jin to rush in and slash it with their claws with a fierce yowl,

"MROW!"

"HRR!" Hannah growled, losing her cool, before tossing her cut-off end to the side and charging right for Loona but she managed to half side step half twirl out of the way of the initial blow before whirling back around to kick her back right in the ribs after she stumbled from the missed hit with a grunt,

"URGH!"

Hitting the wall close to the sigil before Loona bolted forward, breaking off the tip of the whip end and stomping right on the sigil to erase some of it, breaking its power right as an arc of light cut through the air that ended in the air where Loona was holding the weapon tip.

There was a moment of quiet as nothing happened before a large slash was opened on Hannah's lower abdomen area, close to where she had once left her mark on Ayden, as referenced when Loona gritted out as blood started seeping through the front of her outfit,

"Seemed fitting…"

Hannah dropped to her knees in the puddle of her own pitch-black blood before crumpling to her side as the light left her eyes and final breath escaped her lips, signaling her death.

"Damn…!" Loona leaned heavily against the wall on the opposite side of the room as she let the weapon tip drop from her hand while panting tiredly as the adrenaline from the fights started wearing off and she looked at the cut on her arm that had stopped bleeding.

"Mrow…" Jin meowed weakly, turning her attention to them as they padded over and dropped right onto her legs before she felt a warm liquid seeping into her fur,

"Fuck…" She saw it was coming from a large cut on their side that was bleeding glowing blood, most likely from when Hannah had been waving her whip around randomly.

"Fuuuuuck!" Loona bolted upright before hovering her hands around their body like she didn't know how to pick them up without hurting them further and settled for holding them up with one hand under their head and the other close to their hind legs as they spoke weakly,

'Took too long heh…'

"Come on, maybe the others can do something about that." Loona grabbed the table runner and hastily wrapped it around their middle to stem the bleeding as she headed back downstairs.

…

3rd Person POV in Ayden's Mind Earlier…

…

"I'm not sure how much longer I can keep this up!" Angel shouted as he was hanging off the edge of a crate with an arm and feet braced against the side, panting a little with some sweat dripping down his forehead.

"Ditto!" Blitzø added as he shot another trick bullet, an explosive one but it seemed to hardly make a dent in the Corruption as it kept screaming self-depreciating affirmations,

*NOT BETTER NOW!*

*NO ONE CARES!*

"We gotta keep this thing from gettin' Mini A though, if it keeps feedin' off her insecurities, that asino is gonna win!" Angel reminded Blitzø who was annoyed at the insinuation he didn't already know that from the way he yelled back,

"I know!" Before adding as he shot away another tendril with an acid trick bullet, "This thing's spewing a loada lyin' crap anyway!"

From where she was hiding behind the crates, Mini A's head was seen peeking out and watching the fight with a scared look on her face as she still clutched onto the skull charm with both hands.

*ALL GONE!*

As the Corruption kept yelling, despite a pile of crates falling on top of it, it started sounding more and more defeated and Mini A's face dropped to concern so she stepped out from her hiding place to walk closer to the seemingly ending battle.

Angel and Blitzø were both holding back the last two tendrils that remained after Blitzø had shot and destroyed the others with Angel's help when he noticed Mini A approaching and yelled at her,

"Kid, get back!"

But she kept walking toward the Corruption with both her hands on Blitzø skull charm and it kept screaming, now sounding more beaten and teary,

*HURT ST-AYS..!*

"...the past doesn't hu't me in the now…" Mini A spoke in a small tone, surprising both Blitzø and Angel that she could speak, as she kneeled down to where the "head" of the Corruption was lying against the floor and put her hands on the sides of its face to continue whispering, "...we have care now…"

The Corruption went more limp, letting Blitzø and Angel feel safe enough to loosen their grips on the tendrils and walk over to Mini A as she hugged the Corruption, surprising them even further when it didn't attempt to attack her.

"...not perfect… but better than before…"

The Corruption was now fully resting on Mini A's lap with its body completely limp and Angel and Blitzø were surprised even further when it started purring deeply as its dark red hue changed to reddish pink,

*PRRRRR….*

Before Blitzø put a hand to his chin in thought as he pieced together,

"These things came from her… they were just juiced up and twisted by Den…"

Angel caught onto his reasoning as he continued, thumping two fists down onto his palms in realization,

"If we can get to the others for her to do her thing, she could take back her power and leave'im high 'n dry enough for us ta get'im out!"

When they looked back to Mini A, they saw that the Corruption had crumbled into embers that slipped right through her grasp, where she still clutched onto the skull charm.

After she stood back up to present it back to Blitzø with both hands so he could reattach it to his collar, Angel asked her gently,

"Think you could lead us to the others?"

"...mmhmm…" She hummed affirmatively before walking back over and placing a paw on the door that led them out before, a red light spreading out from her paw before the knob twisted and opened on its own.

…

Millie and Moxxie were climbing up the giant clothing on the grown racks to get away from the Corrupted Self-Worth and Confidence as they crawled up after them screaming,

*USELESS!*

*TOO WEAK!*

"AHH!" Moxxie yelped as a tendril snagged his leg and started trying to yank him down towards the Corruptions.

"Moxx!" Millie reached an arm out to snag her husband's arm and stopped his descent but was fighting to keep the both of them from getting dragged back as she strained out, "H-Hold on!"

*Ding!* *Ding!* *Ding!*

Metallic glass-like tings were heard as Mini A used her growing power to create mini running platforms in midair, getting on the other side of the Corruptions before holding out her hands as a soft but still bright glow started emanating from her hands like a visible heatwave warming them enough to slow their pursuit of the imp couple so Angel and Blitzø could haul them to the top of the rack.

"... we'e enough… I'm enough…" Mini A was heard reciting before the two Corruptions sagged some more, their grips on the clothes loosening until Mini A created a platform underneath them to catch them before she walked up to them to put her hands on their heads to comfort them like she did the first time.

And just like the first time, they both calmed down, changed from red to reddish-pink, and fragmented apart, leaving only the Selves in their places.

"What the…?" Self-Worth sighed before she and Confidence saw Mini A holding her hands out to them with a look that voiced the question 'will you trust me?'

They both looked at each other before nodding slightly and took her hands before becoming light, absorbed by her touch, as they trusted her to set things right.

After running back up to where the others were safe, Blitzø told Mini A,

"Alright, take us to Via now."

Mini A nodded before manifesting an orb of fire that grew to the side of a yoga ball and jumping right into it before the others followed her lead.

…

With Via, she managed to trap Corrupted Trust and Security, pinning them both between two load-bearing marble pillars after she had been cornered in the West wing of the Observatory, but her purple cosmic energy barriers were being beaten against as they attempted to get free while yelling,

*THEY ALL HURT US!*

*CAN'T TRUST ANYONE!*

"AH!" Via yelped as a hard hit made her shield weaken a bit more before-

*FWOOSH!*

Angel, Blitzø, Millie, Moxxie, and Mini A popped out of the sun in the "Live Image of the Sun" exhibition close to her and they saw the position she was in.

"What took you all so long?" Via borderline demanded as she kept struggling with keeping her powers up.

"Sorry kiddo, we got held up with other ones." Blitzø answered and Via just scoffed and rolled her eyes a bit before focusing her attention back on the Corruptions-

*KRSH!*

"AH!" Via yelped just as a tendril broke through and started flailing towards them all.

She raised a hand back, about to create something to fight back when Mini A put a hand on hers and slowly shook her head.

"What?!" Via exclaimed in disbelief before Mini A walked over to the makeshift enclosure and performed the heating move again to lull the Corruptions into a sleepy state as she whispered to them,

"…we c'n be open and still safe… we don' hafta hide ta be accepted…"

Once they both slumped to the ground in lethargy, Mini A looked back at Via and made a 'let it down' hand motion and she looked a little hesitant to do so before she saw the familiar shine of confidence in her eyes and let her powers fade as her hands fell back to her sides.

Corrupted Trust leaned forward first when Mini A bent down to stroke their head, easily accepting her comfort and purifying back to normal before being absorbed into Mini A.

However, when she got to Corrupted Security, it snapped weakly at her as it attempted to get into a defensive position, making Via almost surge forward in worry before Blitzø gently grabbed her arm to stop her, only for her to pull away as she resigned to just watch.

Mini A held her hands up placatingly before scooting closer slowly and smoothly before she managed to wrap her arms around the Corruption's head in a hug.

*BBzzrrtttt…!*

The whines coming out of the Corruption quieted as Mini A started rubbing its back comfortingly in her hold to where it finally sagged against her, the Corruption fading into her, leaving Security still in her embrace.

Pulling away, Security was seen with some tears in her eyes and a tired expression on her face that Mini A could only help with by wiping her tears away.

"I unde'estimated you…" Security remarked in admiring acknowledgment before chuckling ruefully and apologizing as she let her essence be absorbed by Mini A, "Sorry I called ya broken when you're the only one who's gonna be able to fix this all… haaah…"

Security sighed as she disintegrated completely and, when she finished absorbing the energy from the last of the freed Selves, Mini A let some of her powers flow around her hands in mini streams.

*Fwwwwww….*

Before kneeling down and placing both palms on the floor to let the light spread out and take them all back to the blank space where Den, unnoticing of their arrival in his powering-up state, was.

She stood back up and held her hands up to let her powers manifest again, some energy from the flow that was fueling Den diverting to go towards her, starting the process of taking it back, making the others cheer her on,

"Woo! That's my girl!" Millie whooped as Angel cheered,

"You got this Sorellina!"

"Come on…" Via was seen quietly encouraging her with her hands wringing each other before Moxxie cheered and got cut off by Blitzø shouting upliftingly,

"You've got thi-AH!"

"Kick his ass!"

With each encouragement and motivation, Mini A floated into the air as she held her hands to her chest with a peaceful smile on her face as the energy flow continued redirecting to her, making Den question confused as he finally noticed the waning power,

"What the-?!"

Dropping to the ground with disbelief on his face as Ayden also floated back to the ground, having fully reformed from Mini A and the other Selves' essences, as she snarked determinedly,

"Hey the'e Jackass…!"

Den made a move to lunge at her, but she used a paw to send some power at him and block him with a temporary wall of solidified fire. He then started trying to beat through it with brute force as his patience was wearing thin.

She held her other paw back towards the group and her Glock went flying from Blitzø's side to hers as she told them all while only partially facing them,

"I got it from here, you all wait outside…"

"Like Hell we're leavin'!" Millie shouted incredulously as she stepped closer to Ayden with Moxxie following behind her, the others staying back but looking equally as upset at her request, while adding in a matching tone,

"We just got you back! We're not abandoning you!"

"Mum… Dad…" Ayden turned to face them, both of their faces turning to shock at the new titles, with a watery smile, "You've given me so much suppo't… all o' you… now I'm askin' fer yer trust… I need ta do this, ta finally break free on my te'ms…"

Millie and Moxxie looked at each other before seeing the determined look on Ayden's face and they each put a hand on her face to bring her down to their level so they could put their foreheads against hers before Millie seethed out protectively,

"You better come back or else you're grounded for life! Ya hear me?! Life!"

"We're proud of you, remember that…" Moxxie told her earnestly.

Before they all blinked and found themselves back in their bodies on the outside, Cherri and Husk gaped in shock at Ayden's body just floating there without any more struggling.

"Hold up, if you guys are awake, why isn't she?" Cherri questioned as she made that observation.

"She's got one more fight to finish." Millie declared as she and Moxxie hugged each other while watching Ayden's body.

"On her own?" Husk questioned with slight disbelief before Angel told them as he stood up to side hug both of them,

"She's got this…!"

…

Back inside, just after the others left, Ayden turned back to Den as he managed to break through the wall and she was waiting for him with two fireballs lit in her paws as she quipped before throwing them at him,

"Let's get lit!"

"Fire puns?" Den tilted his head in curiosity, swerving out of the way of both fireballs, before he grinned widely yet madly as he crowed, "Just like your old man!"

Dodging another fireball Ayden threw at him as he started messing around,

"I got one for ya; How quickly can a wildfire start?"

Den caught one of Ayden's fireballs, changing its color from pinkish-red to orange-red before it was juiced up into a lightning orb as he made the pun, "Lightning fast."

Throwing it right at Ayden's head if she hadn't ducked backward, the energy barely missed her whiskers where Vaggie had cut the physical ones earlier.

Flipping back up, Ayden questioned with some frantic worry,

"How the-YAH?!"

Before rapidly "catching" and redirecting another lightning orb to launch it away from her as she had to keep whirling around and side-stepping out of the way of the lightning orbs Den started creating and firing as he declared,

"You're still only barely scratching the surface of what you could be doing with your powers."

"AH!" Ayden yelped as one lightning orb hit her leg, causing it to go slightly numb before Den bolted forward to rapidly kick and punch at her, wearing her down and, on the outside, Ayden's body and face were seen flinching around with each internal hit.

With one powerful punch to the chest, Ayden was sent sprawling on the floor, gasping as she looked up at where Den was standing over her with a large, red with black outlined lightning orb above his paw, still being fueled by a line of light that connected to two of them through the floor.

"Luckily, I'll know how to better put them to use once I completely drain you, something I wasn't able to do fully with any of the others."

Raising his paw up to unleash it on her when-

*FWW-PSHHH….!*

"HA-HUH?!" Den's power fizzled out abruptly just as he was about to deal a final blow as the line between them snapped.

…

Back outside, Loona was seen to have made it back downstairs with an injured Jin in her arms, just after ruining the sigil that had been allowing Den to siphon from Ayden's power, something they saw on the inside.

"Heh… looks like the o'hers lent one mo'e helpin' hand…" Ayden whispered, chuckling a bit in relief.

…

Back outside, Ayden's body was seen relaxing after the attacks stopped but was now unresponsive, worrying the others as they stayed gathered around her hovering body, even Jin after Husk had quickly patched them and Loona up.

"Is she OK in there…?" Via questioned worriedly seeing Ayden unresponsive.

"Come on Kid…" Blitzø muttered as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Soon enough, the others followed his lead, Angel and Jin put theirs on her head, Millie and Moxxie on the sides of her face, and Via and Loona on her wrists near both her paws, "You got this…"

…

Back on the inside, Ayden could feel the presence of their touches, reminding her she wasn't alone, as she panted while turning to lay stomach-down on the floor before Den yelled again, thumping a digit to his chest in emphasis,

"Everything about you is by my design!"

"...I don't believe you…" Ayden spoke dully with an unamused expression at his manipulation attempt.

"Oh no?" Den smirked knowingly as he began to list off while circling Ayden like a vulture as she slowly pushed herself to get back on her feet, "Your fascination with space? You're meant to travel to the Heavens to destroy it…"

Ayden pushed herself to a half-lay position,

"Your Aroace orientation? Cambions aren't able to reproduce in the first place but I also needed you to not get distracted from your purpose…"

She pushed herself up to a kneel,

"Of course your inner turmoil surrounding that feathery little fling of yours, you know, deep down, she'll eventually leave you behind for her status…"

He stopped right in front of her as she was now fully standing again, her face mostly obscured by shadows, to strike the final nail,

"But most of all, the reason you're suuuch a people pleaser, always accepting every mission, every task, no matter how much you don't want to take it, is because you were meant to serve! And as your creator, you. serve. me!"

He made a grab for her, but she stopped it without missing a beat by blocking it with the back of her paw and asserting,

"No…"

Den was taken back when Ayden looked up with a determined scowl and light shining in her narrowed eyes,

"Everythin' about me is by my own choices…"

She shoved him away and he started looking drained from the action before Ayden started speaking determinedly, flickers of multicolored fire appearing on her form,

"The choices I made ta keep fightin'..."

She took a step forward as a shockwave washed over Den and seemed to weaken him as her own fire started flaring up more and more.

"Ta keep learnin'!"

Another step forward made him step back and stumble to his knees as Ayden kept going, more power being taken back to fuel her flames.

"Ta keep bouncin' back from all the shite I've been through! And doin' what I can ta make su'e no one eve' feels 's helpless 's I used to feel if I c'n help it!"

Den managed to pull himself to his feet, but he was still severely weakened as Ayden now had a brightly burning aura around her form,

"And ta keep livin' with my real family an' friends who ca'e an' love me and who I love enough to keep goin' for'em."

She grabbed onto his shirt to pull his face down to her level as she declared,

"And no one's gonna take me away from'em EVE'!"

A column of fire burst out around her, fueled by the last of energy that Den had tried taking from her, and the force shoved him back as the same thing happened on the outside but with a burst of light that didn't shove the others back and instead made them turn away to avoid going blind.

When the fires and lights subsided, Ayden was seen in a brand new form;

Her neon red highlighted hair was in more of its natural curly and semi-pointy form around the four ears that were on her head alongside a pair of small black with thin white stripes horns, a black tri-pointed blur slightly visible under her bang curls, four more eyes opened up over and under her two normal ones, her glowing freckles were white now, she had two black heart tattoos on her shoulders, and her white scars now looked like mini red nebulas on her skin with her crystal from her locket now embedded in her chest.

Her clothes had stayed more or less the same but were schemed more in fiery tones now with the hems of her shirt and shorts having silvery gray crescent moons lining the edges, her half-skirt changed to a fiery gradient as it covered the Glock holster on her right thigh where her weapon was set, she wore a bright yellow fingerless glove on her right paw while the Aroace heart on her bracelet from Via changed to be a bright yellow heart, her bronze armbands became golden, and her toeless foot covers lost their ribbons and changed to red.

…

On the outside, everyone saw that the sigil on the floor had changed to a glowing neon red one that looked like one similar to the Sins or Ars Goetia with "AYDEN HELLFIRE" spelled in the outer ring.

"No way…" Via looked in surprise at the official-looking sigil as she looked back at her friend with shock and wonder in her eyes.

…

Back on the inside, Ayden had started rapidly throwing punches and kicks at Den, moving so fast her motions were bright streaks of light before a powerful uppercut sent Den flying back.

"KLCK-KOFF!" Den coughed, trying to catch his breath from the beatdown as he saw Ayden standing a little ways from him with her arms by her sides while she looked at him with a dull "over it" expression, her hair and outfit undulating a bit as if it were caught in a slight breeze but looking overall unbothered and aloof.

"Nice outfit, love the vibe, but I think this is where I make my retreat." Den held a paw out to show he had the cat-headed whistle from waaaay back when and was about to blow into it to summon a portal out when-

*TCH!* *TCH!*

Two hand-like tendrils snagged him around his wrists, keeping him from using the whistle before panning back over to Ayden where the second pair of arms made out of solidified fire were seen forming from her sides under her first set of arms.

One fire arm rapidly plucked the whistle out from his grip before the other one lassoed around him and reeled him back toward Ayden, where she summoned her Corrupted Blade from her gemstone and-

*SCHINK!*

In a familiar position, Den looked down and saw the dagger embedded in his chest.

"Heh.." He chuckled as some blood spilled out from his mouth, "You truly are my little Hellspawn… heheh…"

*SCHLL!*

Ayden twisted her dagger further into his chest to shut him up, some more glowing blood spraying out from his mouth with a strained choke before he grabbed onto Ayden's paw as he spoke his final words,

"Well you know what they say about fighting fire with fire… everyone gets burned…!"

His body burst into a shower of sparks and streams of light that all but slammed into Ayden's body as she screamed while glowing cracks began spreading out from her heart where a red glow tinged with black flared.

…

Back outside, some sparks started popping off of Ayden's body as she thrashed around in midair before a powerful fiery whirlwind formed and picked up around her to where no one was able to get close without risking getting burned or even incinerated by pure hellfire.

"What's happening?!" Angel questioned as he shielded his eyes from the quick-blowing embers.

"No fucking clue!" Blitzø replied to him in a similar position close to Loona before shouting over the winds, "KID! What's going on in there?!"

"Hey everyone we're bac-OH MY GOSH WHAT IS THAT?!" Charlie had begun to announce hers, Vaggie's, Alastor's, and Lucifer's arrival back to the hotel when she shouted abruptly, seeing what was going on.

"AHHHHHHH!" Ayden screamed as the light cracks started appearing on her physical body, making Jin's face change to horror before they frantically wriggled out of Millie's hold.

"JIN! NO!" Millie tried to make a grab for them but was pulled back by Moxxie so all they could do was watch as Jin pushed through the firestorm with some resistance.

"What are they doing?!" Via shouted while covering her face from the blowing embers.

Jin made it to and jumped onto Ayden's floating and flailing body, attaching themself to her torso before looking back to the others with a remorseful expression on their feline face.

"Take care of our sister for us…!" Jin spoke for the first time without meowing, making the others gape in a mix of shock and impending sorrow.

They gave them all one last teary look of gratitude before turning back to Ayden so they could nuzzle her face and gently lick her nose in a kiss before curling up on her chest and their body started crumbling into glowing particles of light.

Once their body fully crumbled apart, some more light spread through Ayden's body, sealing the cracks and washing over her scars, keeping them as red nebulas as she was returned to her original demon cat form and set gently down on the ground, still unconscious as the fiery whirlwind calmed down, leaving only singes and ashes in its wake as her personal sigil also faded out.

"Ayden…?" Via was the first, along with Millie and Moxxie, to go by Ayden's side as Millie sobbed a bit,

"Baby…?"

"Hmmm…?" Ayden hummed a bit in waking before she opened her eyes and saw everyone looking down at her as she smiled a tiny bit to ask, "Heya… is ev'ryone a'ight…?"

Everyone's face falling before Moxxie started to say,

"Jin… they-"

"Don't…" She cut him off as tears welled and fell from her eyes, "Don't… I already know…"

Ayden clutched a paw over her chest where Jin's golden tail ring remained and where her crystal was still embedded in her chest.

"OK I don't know what the me happened here, but I'm gonna hit the hay!" Lucifer announced, completely breaking the somber moment before he twirled around and headed upstairs, leaving the others still upset at what had just happened.

…

A short while later, they were all in the kitchen, the "sun" setting outside, as Ayden sat at the table with Via by her side, Millie and Moxxie on her other side, most of the Hazbins sitting across from her, and Loona and Blitzø standing by the door to the kitchen.

Lucifer was still in his room, Charlie failed in coaxing her dad to hear the recounting of what happened, and Alastor had departed when he mentioned how he smelled a fresh corpse nearby and would be dining early that night, Loona only looked slightly disturbed by that before shrugging and going back to her phone.

Ayden was seen drinking a glass of water and handing it back to Charlie's goat bodyguard, Razzle, with a quiet,

"Thanks…"

Before he nodded and went to fly back over to Charlie, who she was sitting with Vaggie as she asked,

"So… that's it then…?"

"They're both.. gone…?" Via asked and Ayden nodded while looking down at her paws, the red nebulas where her white scars all over her body used to be shimmering with each movement she made and 27 stars dotted around as well.

"Yep…" She answered before her fist tightened as she explained, "Den tried to shatte' my soul when I beat'im and they all used thei' souls to fuse it back togethe' but their consciousnesses a'e gone now…"

"Den's too?" Moxxie questioned hopefully and Ayden nodded while explaining,

"Yeh… his consciousness is gone but I got all his powe's, his 'n Jin's that he took from'em too…"

"Then he's gone for good and that's what's worth celebrating…" Millie assured her and Ayden perked up a bit as she remembered,

"Don't you two have yer date ta get to?"

"We'll skip it." Moxxie answered plainly, trying to leave no room for argument but Ayden argued,

"You should go."

"Ayden, we're not just gonna pretend like nunna this happened!" Millie argued before Ayden spoke again,

"Jin sacrificed themself so I.. so we could keep livin', I wanna honor that by doin' that.. livin'.. an' you both should too…"

Millie and Moxxie both looked at each other in apprehension before leaning their heads against each other with small fond smiles…

…

A quick scene transition revealed they had gone to the Ring Elevator, already dressed up and heading down to Lust for their scheduled date night while texting Ayden to make absolutely sure she was still doing OK.

However, a quick peek into the Elevator's internal mechanisms under the floor beneath everyone's feet revealed a platform where singe and scrape marks marred the floor where something looked to have burned and extinguished while a familiar-looking cigar that had been stepped on rested nearby.

…

Back at the hotel, a look outside showed that Blitzø was in his van, after driving it out of the hotel's wall so it could be repaired quickly, was sitting there after Loona told him she'd been staying at the hotel and would be home the next day.

"Christ on a fuckin stick.. I need some cheese and ice cream…" Blitzo sighed while pinching the bridge of his face before driving off into the night.

Inside the hotel, everyone else had gone to their rooms to go to sleep, except Angel and Cherri who decided to join in the sleepover that Ayden wanted to have at the hotel and Via agreed to it, a bit hesitant at first, before Loona announced she'd be staying too so she'd have another familiar face around.

Ayden was seen on the balcony on the phone texting Millie and Moxxie back before calling someone, the line only ringing a few times before she heard an answer and asked,

"Hey.. think I could ask that favo' now…?"

After Niffty managed to clean up all the damage from the living room before retreating to her room for the night, everyone who was gonna be sleeping in the living room was seen getting pillows and blankets out and pjs on.

Once Ayden went back inside, Via handed her her bag she had left in her room before the whole day started and she changed really quick before helping her with setting everything out for them.

"Sorry this pro'lly i'n't what you we'e expectin' when I said we should do ou' sleepove'..." Ayden apologized as she laid out the sleeping bag Via had gotten for her; a glittery red one with crescent moons on the upper lip while the rest of the bag was decorated with stars and meteor strike icons, on the floor where they'd moved the living room table so they could have the floor to themselves.

"I'm just glad we finally got to do it…" Via told her earnestly as she rolled out her sleeping bag; a sparkly purple one with ringed planets on the upper lip and crescent moons and four-pointed stars decorating the rest, adding while settling in, "Sorry we can't fit in the space trip tonight."

"'T's alright, next time…"

"Hey Chatty Cathys, time for some sleep after the shitshow of a day we all just had." Loona groaned as she stretched her arms above her head and plopped down on the couch where some spare blankets and a pillow were already ready for her.

"I like this chick, she's got a 'tude." Cherri commented with snarky admiration and Loona rolled her eyes before turning to lay on the couch with her back to the others but a quick peek at her face revealed a fond smile as she settled in to sleep.

"She's right about one thing; I'm gonna crash out after all the action today. G'night." Angel pulled a light pink silk sleeping mask that had "BEAUTY SLEEP IN PROGRESS" in hot pink glitter over his eyes as he and Fat Nuggets settled in on another couch while Cherri draped herself over a loveseat with only a blanket covering her and gave a quick hand wave to gesture she was going to sleep too.

"Hmm! You have the weirdest friends…" Via gave a small chuckle before commenting fondly as she and Ayden fully settled into their sleeping bags on the floor, lying on their sides facing away from each other with a sizable space between them.

"Hmm… yeh…" Ayden matched her fond tone before trying to settle down to sleep.

About an hour later though, as shown by the grandfather clock nearby, they still hadn't fallen asleep so Ayden took a quiet deep breath before turning around to face Via and question,

"Hey Via…?"

Via turning back around to face her as she hummed in question,

"Hmm…?"

"I wanna kiss you."

"Wh-mph..?!"

Ayden gently but still rapidly put her paw over Via's mouth as she got up slightly to look at everyone; Angel still unmoving on the couch as he cuddled Fat Nuggets close, Cherri still draped over one of the loveseats with her blanket half kicked off, and Loona still snoring on her couch with her phone still barely being held in a hand hanging to the floor.

After confirming they were all still asleep from their even and unbothered snores, she lay back down and explained with a sheepish look as she removed her paw to rub the back of her neck,

"Sorry, jus' had ta make su'e they we'e really asleep…"

"Oh… haaah…" Via sighed in relief, making Ayden's sheepish look turn a bit disheartened before she shook it off to look at the carpet with a pensive expression.

"Su'e ya don't wanna.. bail while ya can…?" Ayden looked to the floor and bunched her fist as she rambled a bit, "Can't guarantee any o'her outs like this a'e gonna pop up ev'ry time shite hits the fan.. like… this…"

She was gently cut off when Via took hold of her paw and looked into her eyes to gently affirm,

"I'm not going anywhere…" Her hold on her paw tightened a bit in a comforting manner as she swore, "Promise…"

All at once, Ayden felt a swell in her chest, as if someone was urging her to say or do something more, but it just reminded her that Jin was gone, a part of her now but they couldn't interact with her like they used to be able to, and a mixture of guilt and grief surged through her.

Ayden bunched the front of her shirt in a grip as she clutched at her chest with her other paw while her ears flicked back, her hair spiked up, and her paw began shaking in Via's grip to show her barely-contained despair but Via kept a hold of her paw and scooted closer so they were right beside each other.

As glowing tears started dripping from Ayden's scrunched-closed eyes, Via's eyes lit up as she let some of her magic flow around them, a glowing tear shed from her own eye, hoping her improvised spell would soothe her friend's suffering.

Sure enough, Ayden's tense state started to relax before her even breathing signaled she had fallen asleep, her glowing tears leaving only slightly watery marks on her face as her hair smoothened back down, making her bangs fall in front of her closed eyes.

With the utmost care and silence, Via leaned up on her elbow so she could use her free hand to brush the stray hairs back before wiping the tear stains away with her knuckles as she let her magic dim back down.

After hovering her hand in the air and waiting a few seconds to make sure she was still asleep, Via put her other hand around Ayden's paw to bring it close and place a gentle kiss on the back of it.

With that small gesture of comfort, Via went back to just holding Ayden's paw with just one hand as she laid back down to go to sleep, her face falling to a disheartened one as she couldn't help but remember the memory she saw of her friend and her former best friend in a similar position to them at that moment, making her hidden fear rise up.

"I won't let you fade away like she and they did… just please don't leave…" She whispered in an attempt to plead before closing her eyes and falling into a semi-peaceful sleep.

AN- And that concludes "Forged In Fire!" Sorry it took A LOT longer than anticipated, but hopefully it was worth it… ;

LOTS of notes and references for this chapter:

- Hellcat history here was cobbled together from some actual myths and history, some D lore, and personal imagined history; Way too much to put here, so if there are questions about certain aspects and tidbits feel free to comment or PM/DM me and I'll be happy to explain some of the inspirations behind hellcat lore

- Designs of some of the hellcats during the meeting as well as culturally significant actions and symbolisms were visualized and taken from various articles, images, and research but if anything is inaccurate or potentially offensive, please let me know so I can make edits if necessary

- I'm pretty sure the "sister from a bastard mister" nickname came from somewhere but I don't remember where (if you have an idea feel free to comment it)

- Ayden's "Hey there Jackass!" line to Den was based on Yondu's same line from GOTG Vol. 2

- Ayden's Upgraded Demon Cat form has details that tie her to each member of IMP as well as Angel and Via, similar to how in She Ra and the Princesses of Power Adora's newer She Ra form had attributes that tie her to her friends

- Yes Jin's death and Ayden's reaction to it were based on Flapjack's death and Hunter's reaction to it from The Owl House and No I didn't have fun writing that scene…

- And yes Ayden having her Asmodean crystal now in her chest was purposefully made to make her similar to Amethyst from Steven Universe since she's her favorite character from that show

- Ayden's scars changing to stars was based on the "You drew stars around my scars" trope and I thought that would be fitting for what Jin's sacrifice means for her

Full disclosure, I had a completely different sequence of actions and ending intended but for what's planned for the last three episodes of the season, this path and ending needed to happen unfortunately… (and I don't just mean Jin's "death" unfortunately…)

I had been sorta been working on the last three episodes while also working on this last chapter (which is another reason why it took so long to get this posted along with family drama, classes, and work ;) so there's some progress on them but not a lot so I'm hoping to have Ghostfuckers finished within the next few weeks and then once I finish at least half of Mastermind then I'll go back to posting every Sunday until the season is completed : D

As of posting this chapter, the following digital drawings I've made in the last couple of months should have been or will be posted to my Deviant Art account:

- Allora and Young Ayden's photo

- Jin's Mission Antarctica Outfit

- Taylor's Sinner form

- Ayden's Upgraded Demon Cat and, going to be shown in a later chapter but might as well give a peek of it now, Hellcat Form

- Taylor's final death

- Ayden's Corrupted Dagger

- Ayden's mourning

- Beleth's and Hannah's appearances

- Via's comforting moment with Ayden

Once again, if anything doesn't make sense as to why I wrote it that way or how certain characters reacted to things a certain way, don't hesitate to comment or PM/DM me so I can make things clearer. It helps me in the long run so I know what I could be a little more detailed about in a way to where there's suspense without total confusion about what could happen.

Until the next one, and once again thank you all so much for sticking with me this far, Byeeeee!