Elysium

Inari’s war room

Kento Sanosuke had been waiting in Lady Inari’s war room watching a bunch of movies to pass the time. Each retainer had been given one angel who guarded them and would grant requests while they waited to enter the Fantasia world.

He couldn’t focus on the screen in the room, there was a lot of commotion going on in the war room hallways. Not to mention, he was getting a bit hungry. He got up from his chair and put on his sandals.

“Helloooo? Haniel, are you there?” Kento opened the door and peeked his head out to see if his guardian angel was outside.

The hallways were suspiciously quiet. The old man saw no one as he looked from side to side.

“Hmm, looks like something big is happening. Haniel must be busy, better not bother him and just head to the vending machines.”

The angels had placed vending machines with various items for humans. From snacks, candy, drinks, and products for the typical health of a human. They were mini merchandise retailers, for free!

Kento Sanosuke hadn’t been told he couldn’t walk around Elysium, he just preferred to stay in the war room when Lady Inari wasn’t there. He was an old man, what if he fell walking by himself? That would be embarrassing for Lady Inari! he thought.

As he reached the vending machines, he couldn’t help but feel like he was back in his country of Japan. He whistled a little tune as he tapped the vending machine. They had his favorite snack Senbei, courtesy of Lady Inari herself.

He also grabbed a cup of black tea from the other vending machine. Sitting down on the cushion bench placed in front of the vending machine, Kento Sanosuke ate in silence. He hadn’t been in Elyisum for long but even he could tell this wasn’t a common thing here.

“I wonder if the angels are okay?” As he took another bite, one of the doors of the other war rooms opened loudly.

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be back quick.” A voice boomed throughout the hallway. “Muriel’s slacking off somewhere, hopefully Ra is going to complai—”

Darren had stopped monologuing the moment he saw Kento stuffing his face with his snack.

“Hello, young man, you must be one of the other retainers,” Kento said. At first, he had a smile on his face but mid-sentence he saw Darren ignore him and face the vending machine.

“You don’t have to be rude. The Tryfing hasn’t started,” Kento said with a semi-angry look. In Elysium, humans speak their native tongue that then gets translated for other humans to understand immediately.

This ability is courtesy of Hermes, one of the Greek deities, and one of the many deities that helped develop the many languages humans used.

“I could care less what a weak old man like you has to say to me,” Darren said, bending down to grab the bag of chips he’d bought from the machine.

On Earth, Kento Sanosuke would have just let it go, he would have put his head down and said nothing. But this wasn’t Earth. He wasn’t the same anymore, when his dream of fighting in the Tryfing came true he became alive again. Like a breath of new life was blown into him.

He stood and slowly walked to the arrogant young man. His hunch back didn’t stop him from looking up at Darren in his eyes.

“If that’s how you are going to act then so be it, this old man has a name. Kento Sanosuke. When we meet on the battlefield, I’ll be the one that deals the fatal blow.” Kento stood his ground.

“If you don’t die before that happens. We aren’t going to remember this exchange until we see each other in the fantasia world. But if somehow you survive before I arrive…” Darren had turned his whole body to face Kento. “I’ll kill you first.”

Darren opened the bag and grabbed one of the chips. He bit the chip and made an obnoxious loud crunch. “Unlike you and the rest of these goobers I’ll be facing, I’m perfect. So, instead of wasting your time, head back to Earth and wait for your pathetic life to end. Should be soon too.” He went to the other vending machine and grabbed a bottle of water.

Kento Sanosuke stood watching Darren walk away. He was pissed off, not because of what Darren said or how obnoxious he was. No, he was mad that the young man didn’t tell him his name. This was supposed to be a battle of honor, one where retainers fought against one another with respect.

Just like the story his great grandfather told him. No… like the Tryfing his great grandfather participated in!

“You are not going to give your name after a fellow samurai gave his?! If you are so perfect, where is your honor, child?” Kento yelled after Darren, who was near the war room dooms at this point.

“Honor? Name? I don’t owe you anything other than killing you in this competition, Sam-u-raii” Darren said mockingly. He turned back and walked towards the old samurai. “I hate old people like you, you bring nothing to society anymore, yet you ask for respect. I’m not here to respect my competition. I will remember your name, Sanosuke. But you will never know the name of the perfect being that killed you.”

Darren threw the open bag of chips in Kento's face, chips scattered all over the floor.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“Pick up your trash, child. We are guests here,” Kento demanded.

“Like hel-”

“Pick. It. Up.” Kento's blood had never boiled like this before. The two men held anger and contempt in their faces.

///

America

Luther’s Jail cell

Lucifer had crushed the minds of his two siblings yet they still stood. He released the crushing aura that was trying to close the portal.

He then used that energy to create his ethereal form. He had long beautiful blond hair that hit the ground around his feet. On his forehead were small horns, yet they looked as elegant as his face.

He still had his angel wings, but only one, while on his other side had three demon wings of small to medium length. He held the chain with his right hand, with no effort.

“Uriel was quite annoying to deal with,” he said as he started to seriously pull the chain, inch by inch. Luther was having a panic attack; he saw the form the whispers took when it would abuse him.

“No, please, I'm sorry! I know I failed you by getting captured by them but it’s not my fault. Don’t hurt me please!” Luther was terrified.

“Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you. You fought hard, I’m proud of you Luther,” Lucifer said with a cold and calm voice. “Thanks to this little reunion, I’ll be able to give you two new guardian angels to look after you.” He pulled the chain once more.

“I’ll need to crush their psyche more for that to happen, once they stop resisting and get closer to me…” Lucifer gave a merciless smile toward Luther, who after being so scared, after losing everything he loved, figured he was going to die.

“Finally…. finally I can be released from this pain,” he whispered, sobbing the whole time.

Shing.

A slice broke through the subspace near the angels and Luther. Michael appeared holding his blazing sword in his right hand.

“Brother,” Lucifer said with a genuine smile.

“Mich… ael” Uriel whispered, despite what had happened to her. Michael saw that both Uriel and Raphael were still fighting. He looked stoically at Lucifer and the chain.

“Not going to speak? How on-brand for you,” Lucifer said with hatred. “That’s what I always hated about you, always trying to be this cool stoic angel and taking everyone’s burdens onto yourself. The perfect example of what an angel should be.”

“It’s too bad you always fall short of what you are faking to be. You’ll always be that annoying brat following me around, trying to learn from me.”

“Enough, there are no words I have for you.”

Michael hovered behind Uriel and Raphael, he could see Luther and how broken he was. What Lucifer did to this poor soul, it wasn’t right. He couldn’t use the blazing sword to strike at the chain; he already knew Lucifer wasn’t going to be affected by it. So, he returned his sword to the subspace. Michael then grabbed the chain with his left hand.

Stoically he held the chain firm. No pain was greater than the pain he felt seeing his fellow angels like this… his fellow sibling like this. The tug of war rematch began.

Michael started to pull as hard as he could, using his free arm to pull his siblings into the original portal that had been opened by Raphael.

“Hooo? I see you're just as strong as you usually are. I can’t play around with you.” Lucifer's face twisted into a dangerously evil smirk as he started to pull the chain with his one hand.

Michael was yanked forward, shock in his face. He needed to hold firm! The mental attack came next. Lucifer sent visions of all the angels and deities' deaths to him. But that didn’t work on

Michael. Lucifer chuckled and remembered who he was dealing with.

He sent the most impactful mind crush to Michael. Michael saw a younger version of him, one that had less experience.

“Lucifer, why not just teach me to use a sword?” young Michael asked.

“Because, Mikey, you have no talent.”

“Every day of your future life you will be trying to catch up to me. But you will always fail. You couldn’t stop me by yourself. You’ll need that egotistical Egyptian deity's help and you hate him deep down in the bottom of your lil angel heart. You know what hurts you the most?”

Michael didn’t answer, he was trying hard to block this attack. It wasn’t real, this never happened. Yet it felt so damn real.

“That if it was me in your shoes, I would have done it. I would have beaten the big bad Satan all by myself. You hate me so much don’t you? Because you could never reach the heights I have. You could never be the bright morning star!”

Michael closed his eyes, gritted his teeth and pulled with all his might, moving the chain back. The pull caused the chain to move through Lucifer's palm. Michael wrapped the newly excess amount of the chain around his forearm and tightened his grip. His eyes flared red and his skin turned orange as he activated his flaming ather.

“Another reason I always hated you. You never know when to give up. I blame father for creating you from that blasted sacred flame of Vesta.” Lucifer shouted.

Michael pulled more and more, Lucifer was getting more worried as Michael was overpowering him.

“I looked up to you, you had everyone's love and trust! YET YOU STILL BETRAYED US!” Michael screamed as he pulled on the chain. “MY HATRED FOR YOU WILL BURN AS AN ETERNAL FLAME. UNTIL THE DAY WE SEND YOU TO OBLIVION!” He screamed again, and shouted out a command in the sacred tongue of angels.

“!MĮŃÑÆ¡”

Michael's tone and voice changed after issuing that word. To Luther, who was human, Michael sounded like millions of deep voices fused together. It was a voice that hurt his ears. A mini battalion of Angels bursted from the nearby subspace into the human world.

Cassiel, Daniel, Haniel, Jopheil, Muriel, Maakil, Seraphiel, Temeluchus, Zagagel and many more entered the fray. All waited for their leader to attract Lucifer’s attacks and attention.

Seraphiel gently touched Uriel and Raphael’s faces, breaking them from their hold Lucifer had on their minds. Uriel regained herself and looked at all the angels that had arrived. She was upset and angry at Lucifer for the attack he’d made on her. But more so, she was angry at herself for falling to his tricks.

Some angels grabbed the chain, others gathered around Michael to help support him. He was getting the full force of Lucifer’s mind crush but still held his conscience.

They pulled together and shifted back the momentum in their favor.

“Damn it…” Lucifer was struggling. It was only a matter of time before they stole his vessel away. “You all are so irritating! Hades thinks he’s so sly, he hasn’t even begun to know what I've been doing, know true despair angels. Baphomet! Asmodeus!”

Two arms broke the subspace near Lucifer. They wore gauntlets of dark armor, each with a different numerical symbol that ranked them.

The two were members of Lucifer’s ten nephilim, who were all supposed to be sealed away in different areas of the underworld. Baphomet, whose gauntlet symbol was “VII” and Asmodeus, whose symbol was “X”.

“You've been breaking the seals of your fallen angels,” Uriel gasped. How long was Lucifer planning this? How was he able to go undetected for so long by the wardens and Angels? All these thoughts ran rampant in the minds of all the angels there.

“Pull, my nephilim!” Lucifer gave the order and the two arms that appeared to be floating pulled the chain. The angels all started to move towards Lucifer, their feet sliding on the ground and their wings desperately flapping.

Lucifer moved his free hand slowly as if to taunt his adversaries. He grabbed the chain and pulled using both hands. With the combined strength of Baphomet and Asmondeus, they dragged the angels the farthest they had been to the portal at this point.

Lucifer was right; they had started to know true despair. Doubt, shame and guilt, the angels felt every one of those emotions. They were going to fail this mission before the Tryfing even started.

“Is that all you and your angels got, Michael?” Lucifer said with a cold glee.

Michael was at his breaking point, the pain he received amplified thanks to the added strength of the two nephilim. He just had to hold on just a bit longer. There was still one more trump card they hadn’t played yet.

Lucifer smiled. He was going to win! This was it, all his planning was going to pay off. And on top of that he would deliver a soul crushing defeat to his angels. The joy quickly faded away as he felt something that disgusted him.

“This ather… it’s his ather…” Lucifer looked around and saw a pink-haired angel girl that he didn’t remember being a part of his army. “You…” he snarled, “your ather smells like Father. He created you after he closed Eden didn’t he?”

Damaris appeared next to Michael, smiling with her tongue out at Lucifer. “Hey-o, ex big brother Lucifer. I’m your cute little sis, Damaris!”

She grabbed the chain like her siblings and pulled with them. “We ain’t going to give up just yet ex big bro!” She pulled as hard as she could but was clearly not making any difference. But, it was the thought that counted, as the humans would say.

“Oh and it’s not my ather that smells like Father’s.” She smirked at Lucifer with a bizarre expression… an expression of confidence that the battle had already been won. Lucifer was confused and looked back at Michael, whose face was supposed to be filled with great pain and despair.

He had the same expression that the battle had been won.

3rd Tryfing

Official judge: Heroic Greek deity, Achilles.

Support judge: Angel, Damaris.

Chosen deities:

Ra: Demi-God: Darren Donaldson

Lugh: Knight: Ariel Morales

Zhong Kui: Exorcist

Inari: Polymath: Kento Sanosuke

Freya: Assassin: Charlie Wilson

Nuada: Conqueror

Minerva: Tactician

Team Arc-Angel: Hero Luther Satenly

Fantasia world: underdevelopment.

Starting year: not yet decided.

32:17:77