Satan, July 7th

Satan stirred in his bed. Every couple of seconds his phone dinged. He turned in his sleep and buried himself in the covers of the bed, trying to drift away again. But the phone dinged a few more times. He groaned as he grabbed his phone. He turned it on, thinking of nothing.

When he looked at the screen, there were more images of gore.

He turned it off before he could linger on the pictures. He clamped a hand over his mouth. Satan got up and raced to the bathroom to empty whatever was in his stomach.

After he was done, he splashed water on his face. His eyes happened to look at himself in the mirror. He looked almost like a skeleton. His skin was tight against his bones. He felt sick all over again.

After the second round, there was a knock at the door. Satan wiped his mouth and face with a paper towel and raced to the door.

When he opened the door, there stood Eris. She leaned against the door frame. She had her usual off the shoulder crop top and shorts with the golden sneakers and all.

“Well, I may be a little late-”

“A little.” Satan rolled his eyes while he moved out of the doorway.

“Okay still! There’s a fuck ton of deities in Ayuzuma and we couldn’t even get them all despite me working with all my old friends! Anyway, we’ve gotten as many on our side as we could. Some still defected to the other side.” Eris collapsed onto the couch.

“Of course. Did you count how many?” Satan groaned.

“Last I counted it was like… thirty four?”

“What? Ugh, whatever. Thanks.” Satan went into the kitchen.

“Dude, you good? You look even worse than the last time.” Eris sat up from her seat.

“Take a guess.” Satan sighed as he got a hot pocket from the freezer.

“I feel like there’s something more that’s going on than just the war.” Eris rose from her seat.

“It’s nothing.”

“Are you sure?”

“Doesn’t seem like nothing.”

“Just leave me alone.”

“Alright then… Bye.”

“Bye.”

Satan stared at the spinning hot pocket in the microwave as he listened to Eris leave. His mind flashed back to the events of the past six months.

Six months.

Only six months.

‘Can I change anything anymore? They have gods and can take whatever we throw at them. But, we have a bunch of Ayuzumian deities now too… I need to meet with the remaining kingdoms and the resistance. It’s been a suspiciously long time since the last battle. We need to be prepared for the end.’ Satan thought while he began contacting the rulers of Light Blue, Blue, and the Queen of the Heaven Sector.

Satan sat in silence while other rulers, past and present, chatted happily. Mostly. Though he had spaced out and focused all his attention on a random spot of the meeting table, he knew the other rulers were staring. Their eyes were all probably burning into the face of their skeleton-demon friend. If he could even count as a friend to most of them. Hell, they’re probably talking about his condition too. More people and faces piled into the room. Other deities, resistance members, common folk. They all filled up the room, making leaving it anytime soon impossible.

Finally, Satan made his way out of his trance. His eyes snapped upwards and he looked at everyone in the room. The rest all began to quiet down as they started to give him their attention.

‘Time for an inspirational speech, even if I don’t really believe in it at this point.’ Satan thought.

He rose from his seat, his body shivering even though it was the summer. Hopefully they didn’t notice.

“Resistance members, deities, fellow royals, and whoever else showed up to this meeting, I shall first thank you for your time. Secondly, only both sectors of Red, Light Blue, and Blue currently remain. We have been searching, but unfortunately, we do not have access to any plans by Takahiro at this time. Currently, the plan is to divide up our numbers and split them between what remains. Any questions?” Satan asked.

Silence washed over the room.

“Then I think that’s all for today, let’s not waste any time.” Satan rose from his chair and distributed papers with how they’d all be divided.

Satan, July 14th

“They’re going after Blue and Light Blue. I don’t think it’ll be long before they come for us too.” An advisor explained.

Satan knew he heard him, but it was like there was a haze or mental fog in his brain. He knew it was bound to happen eventually, but he still couldn’t believe it.

“Ah shit. Are you fighting or leaving the capital?” Satan raced from his throne to find his walkie-talkie.

“Leaving.”

“You should get out of here quick then. Who knows what Takahiro’s up to this time.” Satan fished his walkie-talkie out of a drawer.

“Alright then. Hope to see you again someday.” The advisor said before teleporting away.

Satan looked sorrowfully at the walkie-talkie. A symbol of the war, the hurt, and everything he’d been through.

“Takahiro’s after Blue and Light Blue right now. Get ready for them to make their way to Heaven and Hell next. Over.” Satan said as he marched outside the palace entrance. He quickly teleported onto the roof.

He lowered himself onto the roof, gripping the roof of the palace to keep steady. His eyes scanned the surrounding area. Demons walked around like normal.

‘Shoot, I should warn them…’ Satan hopped off the roof. He rapidly texted a news station the news. Soon enough he could hear faint alarms going off, and news anchors reporting the situation.

Four distinct sets of magic particles slowly faded into view right in front of Satan. His immediate gut reaction was to aim his pitchfork at them. Slowly Lucifer, Araya, Arsene and Nico all descended from the sky. The particles all cleared as they came into full view. Lucifer’s eyes first landed on Satan. He jumped back slightly upon seeing him.

“Jesus christ,” was all Lucifer said.

Araya immediately swatted him on the shoulder and glared at him.

“What? I’m just-”

Satan growled. “Really not the time for that. Anyway, I checked and they’re not close by, but I don’t know if they’re in Hell in general. Can someone check that for me?”

“On it! Oh, wait. Nico, take this.” Lucifer handed Nico a pair of golden knives before teleporting away.

Just as he left, shadows appeared. Satan and the others all braced themselves for something, and…

It was Zeta and Yami.

“You guys gotta start letting me know it’s you,” said Satan.

“Sorry, sorry.” Yami apologized quickly.

“Um, does anyone know what this is? And why is it different from my usual daggers?” Nico held up the golden knives.

“Ooh! Those were created by the goddess Marika in my pantheon! Golden weaponry is the only thing that can kill a deity, traditionally they are usually in dagger form. Now that Marika is passed I can only guess the gem nontuplets and Arista worked together to make it since she passed…”

Slowly, more of the members of the resistance began flooding in. They waited for twenty minutes for any sign of Takahiro. But nothing.

Until Satan spotted blood zipping down to the ground. Lucifer came out of the blood magic huffing and panting. He had some minor cuts and bruises on his face.

“I found them. They’re on the western side, and they’re on their way now.” Lucifer pointed west.

Satan looked behind Lucifer, and sure enough, there they were. Some even began teleporting right in front of the group. Satan charged at them with his pitchfork, fighting them off. The other members of the resistance slowly joined in as well. Some ran off to the portion of Takahiro’s army that was in the west. Others stayed on the palace bridge to fight off whoever teleported over. A resistance member pulled out an unconscious potion. Just as they threw the potion at one of Takahiro’s men, Satan jumped away. Satan’s boots were stained with the liquid, but it didn’t touch his skin.

They all continued fighting off the portions of Takahiro’s army. Satan used his blood magic to chain up members of Takahiro’s army. Slowly though, the part that was in the west made their way to the bridge. The bridge got crowded. Even moving one step forward became a challenge. And if things couldn’t get any worse, Satan’s walkie-talkie went off right in the middle of fighting off a horde of soldiers.

“We’re struggling with Blue and Light Blue, could we get some help?” A frantic voice begged.

Satan swung his pitchfork around while trying to grab his walkie-talkie. “We’re struggling too!” He teleported off the bridge inside the palace.

“Shit. Maybe just send a few people to us?”

Satan made sure his voice wasn’t being transmitted before groaning. “Hey, Araya, Nico, Lucifer and Arsene, any of you wanna go to Blue or Light Blue?”

“We could go to Light Blue, but aren’t those underwater kingdoms?” Nico rapidly spoke over the walkie-talkie.

“Just go on either ends of Green, we’ll send someone with transformation magic to transform you into merpeople.” The voice spoke.

“Alright then, we’re in.” Nico said.

“Araya and I could go to Blue then!” Lucifer said.

They both teleported back into the fray of the claustrophobic fight. He used the excess blood he’d collected to use his magic more. He created multiple little blood daggers and threw them at many of Takahiro’s army. He created twice as many chains. It all felt like no use, for every blow he landed, ten blows would be landed on Satan in turn.

A flash of light threw Satan off. Deities zipped around and began helping, whether that was in the form of magic, punching or whatever else they’d been doing. Sudden determination made Satan kick into overdrive. He fought faster, harder, longer. Even when his limbs hurt. Even when he was starving. Even though he still had his doubts.

Eventually, he got dizzy and stumbled. His vision was blurry, all he could make out was moving figures, and nothing else. Someone approached him and he clutched his pitchfork and pointed it at them, despite his entire body quivering.

“Relax, Mr. Satanel. I’m not part of Takahiro’s army.” They said as they leaned down and touched Satan’s forehead with their hand.

Their hand glowed yellow as Satan’s quivering slowly stopped.

“I can’t do much else unfortunately. You seem like you haven’t eaten in a while.” The assumed deity commented as they got up.

“Oh, I just haven’t been… able to access food for a bit. Hell’s been having a food shortage and I’m letting my citizens access it first.” Satan stumbled over his words as he lied through his teeth.

“Makes sense, but you really should try to eat something if you can. You know what not eating does to immortals.” The god turned around to charge back into the thick of the battle

“I know.” Satan trailed off, as he thought: ‘Wow, perks of them not knowing what's going on.’

He slowly rose from the ground. He charged back into the fight. He punched, kicked, used his magic, his pitchfork, whatever. But even with the help of the gods, he was overpowered. Someone used magic on Satan that he couldn’t do anything else to but be under their spell. He was flung in the air far away from the bridge. Satan watched helplessly as the gods tried to put barriers in front of the palace entrance, but the other deities were either thrown, flung or hurt enough they had to withdraw. Satan watched with widened eyes, still in the air, as the gates were forcefully opened and they ran inside.

As soon as he landed on the ground he teleported back in, trying to make or do whatever, but he was handcuffed to a wall as he could only watch them torch everything. Shadows appeared in front of Satan, slowly forming a vague human shape until Takahiro appeared more clearly. Takahiro frowned at seeing Satan.

“Oh, you’re here.” Takahiro glanced at Satan and walked down a hallway.

“I’m sorry.” Satan said.

“Oh, so all I get from the one that almost made me blow my brains out is just a sorry?” Takahiro shifted into his shadow form. His entire body became silhouetted black with only his eyes and open mouth being a more visible gold that glowed.

“Well, what else do you want?”

“For you to die? Has that not been obvious enough?”

“I can’t die, because I have to deal with this shit you and Katherina have been putting me through!”

“I really don’t care.”

They stared each other down, before Takahiro reached where his pockets were visible earlier. He quickly whipped out a familiar potion.

An unconscious potion.

Satan tensed up and tried to wriggle out of the handcuffs or avoid it, but it was too late.

When Takahiro threw the potion at Satan, the liquid splashed on Satan’s skin, along with the glass.

Satan collapsed on the floor.

‘This is it. I hope I never wake up again. I’m sorry, Phoenix.’ Satan thought as he faded off.

***

Arsene, July 7th

As Arsene stepped into the water, magic surrounded her entire body. The farther she waded into the ocean the more her legs turned into blue tentacles. Her dress skirt turned into a more high-low skirt. Slowly, she was able to breathe normally underwater as she did on the surface. As she heard Nico being transformed behind her she looked at the beauty of the ocean. Sea creatures swam with Water Elementals and down below were endless aquatic buildings and architecture.

“Arsene, are you ready to go?” Nico swam next to her.

Arsene turned and looked at Nico’s merfolk form. His aquatic tail looked akin to a seal. Unlike with Arsene, his clothes didn’t change much.

“Yeah.”

“You better be. Let’s hurry.” The person that helped them transform said.

The trio quickly swam downward. The transformer swam quickly ahead, while Arsene and Nico lagged behind slightly. It was all so unfamiliar, moving their tails up and down, the gills on their body, the fact they even had a tail.

As Arsene focused again she noticed how many soldiers there were. She swam faster upon seeing a soldier attack a woman and her child. The soldier stiffened upon seeing Arsene charge at him. The soldier’s spear and Arsene’s scepter smacked against each other. Arsene pushed the soldier back. Arsene used her magic to throw the soldier as far away as possible. The woman quickly thanked her as she swam away.

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Nico and the transformer caught up to Arsene.

“Holy shit…” Nico mumbled.

“I can’t believe he’s going after a woman with her child!” Arsene said.

“We have bigger fish to fry right now.” The transformer led them over to where the real fights were going down.

Likely thousands of soldiers and citizens were fighting against each other. Nico and Arsene charged into the fray immediately. They pushed back the soldiers with their weapons and magic. A mermaid with a striped blue and white tail zipped past them. Arsene glanced at the mermaid as she continued fighting off the soldiers.

“It’s me, Queen of the Blue Kingdom!” The woman yelled over the commotion. She twirled a spear and stabbed a soldier.

“Oh, sorry Marisol. How long has this been going on?” Arsene apologized as she struggled to hold off a soldier.

“Like, ten minutes?” Marisol swam to the soldier and used her tail to force them away, like a kick but a version for mermaids.

“Ten?” Arsene and Nico yelled.

“Yes!” Marisol dodged a spear.

“What even… you know what, I’m not even gonna question it anymore.” Arsene said. She used her vanilla magic to lift up as many soldiers in the air and throw them like she threw the other soldier.

Arsene turned in the water to look behind her and saw more soldiers rapidly swimming forward. Arsene groaned at the sight. Nico and Marisol turned to look in the same direction. Arsene immediately used her magic to teleport them away.

“Get the citizens closer near the palace, I’m gonna put up a force field!” Arsene turned to the two for a moment. They nodded.

Arsene swam out to the edges of the capital city. She circled the city, placing her magic down onto the floor. Once she’d encircled the entire city, she went closer to the capital city and raised her arms above her head. A dome came from the magic she placed on the floor, expanding until it completely covered the entirety of the capital. The dome was a semi-see through teal. She immediately looked for Marisol and Nico.

“Is that all? Are we safe?” Arsene asked almost breathlessly.

“Um, yeah, about that-” Marisol started.

“Takahiro’s army is charging back at Blue again! Over!” said someone from the underwater walkie-talkie hanging off of Marisol’s skirt waistband.

“Oh come on!” Arsene yelled as she swam off towards the barrier. Marisol and Nico quickly swam behind her, weapons in hand.

Arsene began using her magic again, throwing them around like bowling balls.

“Uh, Mrs… Mendoza was it?” Marisol tapped Arsene on the shoulder.

“Yes.” Arsene said while she swam rapidly to keep a soldier from even touching the barrier.

“I don’t think throwing the soldiers is quite working, they’ll just come back.” Marisol dodged a spear.

As Arsene began to apologize, a soldier charged at the barrier. Nico and Marisol went to charge after them but they already broke the barrier. Arsene turned around at the commotion and tried to fix the barrier as she used her magic against a soldier. But the crack became big enough for the soldiers to begin flowing in.

“Ugh, we can’t trap them in the capital now! That’ll make things worse. Let’s just go.” Arsene swam by. Marisol and Nico followed again. They swam through the capital towards the middle, where soldiers tore down buildings and went after more citizens.

Immediately upon reaching the middle soldiers lunged at the trio. Arsene felt her body being wrapped in unfamiliar magic. She swam but the magic followed. She whipped her head around and saw them surrounded in familiar magic. Looking around she spotted a merman with his hands glowing the same color of the magic they were wrapped in. Arsene began using her magic while swimming rapidly towards him. She got close enough to begin creating a potion to stop his magic, but she shot into the air against her own will.

When she was able to move of her own will again, Arsene swam forward but stopped at the absence of the merman. As she turned around she saw Nico and Marisol appear as well.

“That damn merman!” Arsene crossed her arms.

Nico laughed as Arsene took a moment to take in her surroundings. Now, they were close to the top of the sea. A few swishes of the tail and they could be in the sun and the sky. The capital of Blue was down below, just a barely seeable blob of blue houses. Arsene grabbed the wrists of Nico and Marisol swimming as fast as she could manage back down.

“How are you even seeing that with the blindfold on and still managing to swim so fast?” Marisol mumbled.

“Oh! I can use a tiny bit of magic to see as normal.” Arsene said.

“It’s like you were always a mermaid.” Marisol said.

“I guess so.”

Silence washed over them as the sight of the capital moved closer and closer. Arsene’s barrier slowly crumbled like glass. Arsene immediately began her magic again and went to teleport.

But in the span of seconds, she was back where she started. Looking at the capital again she noticed a new barrier taking the old one’s place. It looked like some huge shadow was cast over the capital that blanketed it in darkness. Arsene went to teleport again, but was brought back again. She groaned, holding her head. Arsene tried to use her magic but she ended up creating some indecipherable object.

“I think they did something with my magic. I wonder if my magic stopper potion was created still, but since I didn't quite finish it got corrupted or something.” Arsene mumbled. Slowly, merfolk from inside the enclosed capital began teleporting or coming out of the capital. Arsene watched Marisol swim forward as the pain in her head throbbed. Marisol’s body became blurred as she swung a spear at a soldier. Arsene struggled to stay upright, and she blacked out. A dreamlike voice called out to Arsene, but she couldn’t even move.

***

Araya, July 7th

“Wow, of course you’re an axolotl.” Lucifer said.

Araya rolled her eyes as she continued taking in her mermaid form. She had orange feathered gills on the side of her head, and a yellow tail. The rest of her outfit on land was the exact same.

She watched as Lucifer zipped around underwater. Lucifer had a light pink shark tail and fins all across his body. He even had a fin on his head.

“A shark huh? Fitting.” Araya commented to the person that transformed the two.

“Yeah…” They added awkwardly.

“Do you consciously decide on what animal we transform into or..?”

“I can, but I didn’t do it this time since I don’t know you and all. Anyway, we should get going.”

The merperson that transformed them led them downwards to a city just below where Araya saw soldiers fighting citizens and destroying buildings, as per the norm. The citizens looked like a mix of normal looking humans, to having parts of their body look like water, to having every part of their body look like water. There were some merfolk and other species sprinkled about, but they were far and few. Still, as they got closer to the Light Blue capital city, Araya’s eyes were drawn right to the non-Water Elementals.

She also noticed a Water Elemental swimming upwards, with a stocky, bronzed and tattooed body of a Water Elemental showing himself. His hair was even water-like, if not straight up water.

“Who is that?” Araya whispered to the transformer.

“That’s the king of Light Blue.”

Araya tensed up and grabbed Lucifer to stop his crazy swimming as the king stopped in front of the trio.

“Um, hello. I’m King Kairangi of Light Blue.” The king awkwardly put out a hand.

“Sir, I don’t think we have the time.” The transformer merperson swam towards the capital.

Araya, Lucifer and Kairangi began swimming downwards.

“How long have they been here for?” Araya asked.

“Ten minutes.” Kairangi said.

“What?”

“I’m just as surprised as you are. I got all my best soldiers in the capital and I’ve been prepared for this since they took Tempest, but they still got my ass.” Kairangi groaned as he got close to the bottom of the ocean.

The three all readied their respective weapons as they slowly paddled forward. Their eyes all darted around as they entered the capital city. Suddenly, a soldier of Takahiro’s swam right at the trio. Araya immediately took to hitting them in the face with her pole, knocking them out.

“Shit.” Araya mumbled.

“Just leave them here.” Kairangi said.

“Alright… Have you spotted Takahiro, Katherina, or even Milena anywhere?”

“No.”

Just as Kairangi spoke, familiar fuschia hair slowly revealed itself. Katherina had pink and black jellyfish tentacles that replaced where her legs would usually be. Her normal outfit was mostly the same, with the usual dress becoming a two piece instead.

Upon seeing Katherina, the trio all readied their weapons and began charging at Katherina. Katherina glared down at them with a smirk and snapped. She accelerated away while a huge Water Elemental began approaching the city.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Kairangi yelled.

“Quick question. What the hell is that?” Lucifer said.

“That’s Moana, the goddess I worship!” Kairangi gripped Araya and Lucifer’s shoulders as he pulled them backwards while Moana brought a hand down to the ocean floor.

Katherina caught Araya’s eyes from afar. Araya watched Katherina zip around, stabbing citizens and making her way towards the palace with other soldiers.

“There’s Katherina! If they get to the palace, who knows what’s next!” Araya pointed.

“I can’t fight my deity, I’ll get Katherina. You fight Moana, just… don’t kill her, alright? And meet me at the palace if you can stop her, I’ll try to get Katherina in there.” Kairangi said.

“Of course.”

Kairangi disappeared into the water, literally. Araya and Lucifer readied their weapons again and swam up to Moana. Lucifer swung his scythe at her chest while Araya swam farther up to her head to smack her. Both weapons phased through Moana’s body.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!” Araya swam backwards to avoid another hand.

“Well now what?” Lucifer said.

“Only thing I got now is to pollute the water so it hurts her, but I don’t think Kairangi or the other residents of Light Blue would be very happy about that, so…”

“Electricity?”

“No, that’d kill everyone! You think there’s a way we can like… blow her away with air or something?”

“Well, I don’t know. Can we get a huge fan or something?”

“Maybe from Arsene…”

The fan slowly materialized, as evidenced by Arsene’s blue and white magic particles. Araya kept glancing over towards the fan as she and Lucifer led Moana over. Araya swam behind the fan once it was ready. She turned on the fan as Moana tried to make her way over but was blown away. Araya and Lucifer high fived each other but noticed soldiers and other citizens being blown away as well. She quickly shut it off.

“Now what?” Lucifer said.

“Let’s go check on Katherina and Kairangi.” Araya grabbed Lucifer’s arm and swam towards the palace. The palace was a similar low building, but with many more rooms attached at the back and sides. They swam towards the open entrance and entered. The first room was a long hallway with glossy floors. In the middle of the hallway was Kairangi and Katherina duking it out, Kairangi struggling to swim away from Katherina’s seemingly endless kunais.

“Oh, it’s you.” Katherina turned her head to Lucifer and Araya.

“Yeah, it is. What’s that supposed to mean?” Araya spun her pole as she raced up to Katherina. She and Lucifer glanced at each other

“I see now why he likes you.” Katherina dodged Araya’s attempts at swinging at her head.

Before Araya could make a proper response, she managed to hit Katherina in the head. Katherina’s eyes widened before hitting the ground. Her eyes closed and she went limp.

“Wow, I didn’t know you could give people concussions.” Lucifer stared at Katherina’s body on the seafloor.

“I didn’t mean to!” Araya yelled.

“Well, she probably deserved it. How’s things going outside?” Lucifer floated over to the windows. He watched soldiers attacking citizens and other buildings. Another soldier even jumped through an open window and Lucifer started fighting them.

“Do we just… leave her there?” Araya joined Lucifer in fighting the soldier.

“I guess?” Kairangi shrugged as he kicked back the soldier.

Other soldiers began attempting to flood into the palace. Lucifer created a large iron block to keep them out as Kairangi used his water-shaped hair to blast waves at them. For a moment, they cheered, but the roof of the palace was immediately torn off. The trio looked up at Moana once again. She lowered her head into the opened palace as the trio tried to scurry off. Moana grabbed Kairangi in her left and Araya and Lucifer in her right. She threw them out of the capital. As Lucifer and Araya twirled and struggled to stop, Kairangi used his water powers to force them towards the capital again Araya swore she spotted shadow magic in the now partially destroyed Light Blue palace. Just as they were about to arrive back at the capital, a shadowed barrier went up. The trio landed on the barrier, hard as a rock. Araya banged against the shadow barrier.

“It’s no use,… What now?” Kairangi said.

“We could call someone else for help!” Araya suggested. She pulled out her walkie-talkie. Satan and an unfamiliar voice both asked for help though, and Araya slowly slid her walkie-talkie back on her dress collar. “Nevermind!”

Lucifer whipped out his walkie-talkie from his jacket pocket. “Hey, soldiers in Light Blue, if you can hear this, how’s things going inside the capital?”

“They’ve been picking us off one by one since we were trapped in! We can’t find a way to escape. There’s not much we can do now. Just leave us.”

Kairangi grabbed the walkie-talkie. “Are you sure?”

“There’s not much that can be done. I’d give my life for Light Blue if I must.”

Kairangi sighed. “I salute you soldier.”

“Fuck! Red’s taken, Light Blue’s taken, and Blue’s probably gone too! Arsene, Nico, what’s your status? And Nico, if you can hear me, I have something to tell you.” Satan’s voice pierced their ears from the walkie-talkie.

“They used the barrier to block off the capital and we can’t get back in. Arsene’s magic got messed up and she passed out. Marisol helped us escape to land and she went back to her kingdom to help her citizens evacuate. But what did you need to tell me?”

“They torched the palace again, I don’t know why they keep burning down so many things but with it, they got the ruins of your parents… I’m sorry.”

Silence washed over them. They stared at the walkie-talkie, waiting for Nico’s response, but it never came.

“If taking those kingdoms back is now proven hopeless, anyone wanna help me with Heaven? Oh, uh, is this a bad time?” An unfamiliar low pitched voice said.

“Wait, is that… Queen Angelica?” Satan said.

“That’s me. Can you help?”

“Yes, yes! I’ll be on my way.”

“Don’t we need passes to be up there? And don’t we have to wait on them too?” Araya said.

“Just teleport in, you’ll be fine. I can cover you.” Queen Angelica said.

“Give Luce and I a minute, we’re still in our merpeople forms.”

***

Satan, July 7th

Satan peaked out from the floor, watching the palace gates where Queen Angelica was leaning against. Her straight platinum hair was long enough to sit on, her dress dragged on the ground and her huge feathered wings flapped idly. Her jewelry even shined in the light. Slowly, the others would teleport up. Satan giggled as he watched them step hesitantly on the clouds. He even watched as the guards tried to send them back where they came from.

Finally though, they began making their way into the palace. Satan slowly rose from the floor and put his hood on. As he began walking he looked down at his bony hands.

‘Please don’t comment on my… everything. Please…’ Satan begged in his head as he made his way to the palace gates.

The palace gates opened to Queen Angelica, Nico, Lucifer, Araya, and even Kairangi.

“Let’s skip the greetings and whatever else. Follow me, and quickly. We really need to be out there soon.” Queen Angelica said.

The group silently followed Queen Angelica down a left corridor. Araya, Lucifer and Nico looked at Satan in concern, but he averted his eyes. They entered a small room of chairs and tables galore. It looked more akin to a cafe space than a meeting room, with brown walls and a cozy atmosphere. Everyone grabbed the closest seat as Queen Angelica made her way to the middle of the room.

“So, I’ve sent my angel soldiers and they’ve told me that Takahiro’s soldiers are coming from all directions. Despite many of them having experience in the war between Heaven and Hell they’re still having problems. I want you five to go join my troops while I stay at the palace. Any questions?”

Everyone remained silent. Taking that as a cue, everyone immediately left and teleported away. Lucifer and Araya teleported east, Kairangi went south, and Nico went west.

Satan walked outside the palace and began teleporting north. As he teleported higher in the sky, he glanced downward, looking for any sign of soldiers. To his surprise though, he found them quicker than expected. Within a minute of teleporting, he had to land on the clouds in a town not too far from the capital city.

As Satan’s feet touched the ground, he wobbled. With every step he hesitated.

‘There’s no time to be afraid. If I fell through these clouds right now and died that’d probably be the best damn thing that happened for everyone else.’ Satan thought as he suppressed his fear as best he could. Though it lingered as he ran forward to attack a soldier from Takahiro’s army he continued on like it wasn’t even there.

Satan blocked a sword with his pitchfork. The soldier tried to stab Satan but Satan quickly teleported away.

“Excuse me, who are you?” An angel soldier kicked the soldier to the ground.

“Satan Satanel, here to help prevent your kingdom from being taken over?” Satan dodged a dagger thrown at him.

“Oh! My bad, sorry.”

“It’s all good- Milena?” Satan’s eyes fell onto Milena.

Milena was in a fighting stance, gripping a golden knife. Her platinum blonde hair was tied in a long braid, and she’d ditched her usual corset, hanging fabric from her belt and flared pants. She wasn’t armored or uniformed like the rest of Takahiro’s soldiers, making her stand out. Milena didn’t even speak in response, she just charged directly at Satan. She aimed her knife right at Satan’s chest.

“Who is that?” The same soldier asked.

“An old friend that’s worked with Takahiro and Katherina for a long time.” Satan tried to jab her in the stomach with the opposite end of his pitchfork.

Milena remained wordless even as they talked about her, right in front of her. She dodged Satan’s attempt and teleported away, leaving behind yellow particles.

Satan whipped his head around, scanning the battlefield. All he could see were other angel soldiers and soldiers from Takahiro’s army. He jumped at hearing a scream from the same angel soldier. He turned around and saw Milena behind the angel soldier with a knife at his throat. Satan ran behind them, causing Milena to push the angel soldier to the ground. They charged at each other, Satan trying to stab her with his pitchfork and Milena doing the same with her knife. Eventually, Milena teleported away, and the rest of Takahiro’s army in that town joined her.

“Takahiro’s army is surrounding the palace. As soon as you can, you need to get over here.” Queen Angelica’s frantic voice sounded over the walkie-talkies of both Satan and the rest of the angel soldiers.

Satan immediately teleported with the rest of the angel soldiers. As they teleported, Satan watched the angels. Since they had light magic, their form when being teleported was more like a comet or a tiny light flying through the air.

The scene nearing the palace wasn’t pretty, as Takahiro’s soldiers crowded the outside of the palace. The gates had already been destroyed and they seemed to be working on tearing open the walls.

‘How the fuck did they do this so quick- oh, wait…’ Satan thought as he landed on the top of the palace and slipped inside by one of the palaces. As he walked down the stairs he heard footsteps. ‘Oh shit, did I implant that idea in their heads too? Motherfucker…’

When Satan made it in the main hallway, he paused. Queen Angelica was on the floor, every part of her body bleeding. Takahiro stood over her with a grin. Milena was right next to him with the same golden knife from earlier, now entirely covered in blood. All the others that Satan came to the Heaven Sector with were pressed against some barrier. They punched, kicked, stabbed, slashed, whatever, but they were still stuck near the palace gates. Satan immediately sprung into action. He teleported Queen Angelica out of their sight, deep in the palace. He also teleported Araya with her. As Takahiro and Milena reacted to Queen Angelica disappearing out of the blue, he used his magic to grab Milena’s golden knife to shatter the barrier. Finally, the others could destroy the barrier and began fighting Milena and Takahiro with him.

“This ends today.” Satan twirled the golden knife in his hand as he ran up to Takahiro. His skin involuntarily shifted to his light red demon skin. He didn’t even realize that he was angry until now.

Takahiro also went into a different form as well, this time in his shadow form. He raced up to Satan with a golden knife of his own. They two both tried to stab each other, but they kept missing.

As they fought, Satan couldn’t help but notice a troubling scene. Milena was facing off Nico, Kairangi and Lucifer. She seemed to be merely dodging Kairangi and Lucifer and actively going after Nico. At some point Nico got distracted, looking away for one moment. Then the next moment, he was on the floor with multiple stab wounds in his chest and panicking. And thanks to Milena’s magic, Lucifer and Kairangi were both rendered immobile and unable to help.

One moment of Satan looking over at them in panic, and that was all it took.

Takahiro finally used his golden knife to stab Satan in the heart.

Satan fell backwards.

‘Second time today, huh? I hope I die this time. I don’t want to deal with any of this anymore. I’m so tired. I’m sorry Phoenix. I’m sorry Araya. I’m sorry Takahiro. I’m sorry everyone. I failed you all,’were Satan’s last thoughts before he passed out.

He didn’t even expect to shed some tears.