Satan, June 16th
Blood flowed from the multiple cuts on Satan's arms like the tears that rolled down his face. He dragged the tiny razor against his skin for what felt like the millionth time, yet the tears kept flowing.
Satan remembered the millions of times he'd cut himself in the past, and the relief it gave him. The happiness of it. It used to be one of the few joys in his life. Yet now it had no effect. No relief. No happiness.
'Fuck this.' Satan thought as threw the razor back into the cabinet by the bathroom sink. He grabbed the bandages and began wrapping them around his arms. Blood seeped into the bandages immediately.
'More for the collection, at least.' Satan used his finger to guide the blood to the chains around his waist. With the amount he bled he was able to have an entire new chain around his waist.
Satan pulled his flowing sleeves down his arm and waved it in front of the mirror. He peered closer, moving his arms around. No sign of bandages, thank Diablo. Satan wiped away his tears and splashed water from the sink on his face. Still had red eyes. Oh well. He readjusted his side ponytail which had become loose. He leaned over to look in at the clock right next to his emptied jar of blood.
3:05 PM.
"FUCK!"
Satan quickly scrambled to get his demonias, cursing at himself the whole time. Finally, when they were on, he teleported over to the palace.
He ended up in the throne room standing right on the carpet that led to the throne. His head darted around, searching.
"Yo." Said Eris' voice from behind him.
Satan jumped upon hearing her voice.
Eris was leaning against a random pillar. "You look awful dude."
"Don't even mention it, ugh." Satan sighed, "Anyway, I assume you've heard the news about a bunch of Ayuzumian deities betraying the kingdoms that worship them, correct?"
"Yup."
"I need you to round up as many Ayuzumian deities that haven't defected."
"Why?"
"The only way we might be able to change anything at the rate things have been going is if we can get their help. We only know of four deities that have defected but I'm hoping the number of defections are low so the rest of the gods can easily help us."
"Alright, I can do it. Before I go, have you talked to anyone lately? Or done something... I don't know... Not war related? I know you're struggling." Eris' brows turned as she walked closer to Satan.
"I can't do anything that isn't war related without feeling guilty about all the lives lost and destroyed... I know I'd probably blow up on them for something small, avoiding everyone is best for everyone." Satan turned around, completely avoiding her gaze.
"If you say so... Just know we're all here for you if you need, okay?"
"Okay." Satan mumbled.
He watched Eris teleport away with her vanilla magic, while he felt his stomach drop at her words, the guilt eating at him, making him feel like he was sick.
***
Eris, June 17th
Eris immediately headed to Rainbow and requested to see both Iris, and the other eight love deities of Pink. She was inside a different meeting room this time. Like the meeting room for the reigning monarchs of the kingdoms, there were chairs all along a long table, each chair decorated and customized to fit each deity. Eris' chair was an ancient roman style chair in black with golden accents. And golden apples as well, of course. The whole thing was a new sight to Eris, she'd never been allowed in meetings like this before. Eris glanced around, as she tried to guess which belonged to which god. Once she made her way to thirteen rainbow chairs with gear and clock adornments, she stopped.
'Oh. I forgot about that...' Eris thought.
Just as she thought that, the door burst open and she almost jumped in surprise. Nine familiar deities showed themselves, most notably Iris and Eros. Eros still had his pink hair that curled around itself that was cropped short. He had a much more modern outfit on, with blue jeans and simple white shirt underneath a black leather jacket. Iris had her flower crown with her wavy mood ring hair and wings in yellow. Her off the shoulder dress was flowy and light, with pastel rainbow colors. Eros' other siblings blended in the background. Eris was never close with them like with Iris and Eros, so she couldn't really put a name to their faces.
'At least she's happy to see me.' Eris thought.
"Eris Koizumi. Never thought I'd see you again. Last we remember, you Takahiro got engaged. I guess-"
"It didn't work out quite the way I planned. It's a very long story, but the short of it is that I eventually figured out I was aroace, and Takahiro was using me for immortality and it was barely based on love." Eris sighed as she got up.
"Yeesh. I knew he was trouble when I first met him," Eros said, "Anyway, uh... are we good now?"
"Yeah. I have one problem though."
"Shit, what?" Eros visibly panicked.
"Your real name is Cupid." Eris leaned in.
"Oh fuck you Discordia!" Eros raised his middle finger.
"Ahem, wasn't there something else serious we were gonna talk about?" Iris mumbled.
"Oh, right! So, you've all heard about the gods betraying their kingdoms..."
"Not even just the others, fucking Xenia betrayed us, and my other siblings and I had to learn it from Xenia's descedant." Eros huffed.
"I'm not really surprised now that I think about, in our deity meetings she always brushed off Takahiro, even after the war began.." Iris said.
"By the way, I'm really sorry about Xenia," Eris looked at Eros and his other siblings, "Anyway, Satan proposed a plan. Round up all the deities that haven't defected so we can hopefully help Satan have enough strength to defeat Takahiro once and for all. I also ended up thinking that maybe we should try to get Ayuma, since, well, you know..."
"That was you that made her leave?" Iris frowned and put her hands on her hips, her wings and hair shifting to deep red.
"Okay, well, technically- yeah I can't really justify this, but to be fair, Satan helped. We're both to blame. Anyway, I still need to run it by Satan. So there's ten of us, fourteen kingdoms, and like... twenty other deities we need to talk to."
"So we each talk to two or three deities, ones that remain, anyway. Simple enough." Eros shrugged.
"We have to hurry though." Eris locked eyes with all her fellow deities in the room.
"Of course." Iris nodded.
"Oh, can I just say. It's nice to see each other again. Not the circumstances I would've liked to have a reunion in, but good enough." Eris said.
"I'll do my best to make sure we'll have that." Iris smiled before she and the others took their leave. Iris teleported away with her rainbows, that shot off into the ceiling of the meeting room.
Eros and his siblings all teleported away with various multicolor hearts and love symbols being left behind, like evidence they were there.
Eris sighed before she took her leave as well with her vanilla magic, leaving behind her plain in comparison black and gold magical particles.
***
Satan, June 17th
Satan paced back and forth in the throne room of his palace. Waiting, Watching. Fearing. He turned on his phone and opened up his camera, looking at himself. His eyes seemed devoid of color, devoid of life, and his eyebags were still, very, very present. Despite the concealer he put on. Maybe the concealer was garbage anyway. His hair looked messy, and not in the way it naturally looked. It looked like it was on the verge of matting.
'Can't wait for more jokes about me needing to cut my hair to make me snap.' Satan thought.
While trying to look at himself, his sleeve slipped, and he could see a sliver of the bloodied bandages around his arm. Satan quickly adjusted his sleeves to hide it again. He looked down at the chains around his waist, feeling the cold metal and hearing them jingle against each other.
'Are they gonna notice I have more chains than usual?' Satan pondered. He went through his camera roll, scraping for any full body picture of himself. Even pictures of his nails, boots, lips, anything but his full body were absent. Until he finally managed to find a picture of himself from back in 2010.
He was smiling, surrounded by Takahiro, Katherina, Milena and Eris, each wearing clothes from the horrendous fashion choices of 2010.
It finally sunk in how long ago that last picture was.
'Has my self-esteem really been that bad for so long?' Satan thought. He was quickly brought out of his head by a random number texting him a picture.
A picture of dead bodies bleeding out on the floor of a palace.
149 1934 1393
You're next.
3:14 PM
Satan felt sick, his stomach squeezing and rejecting the photo. He groaned.
Only one person would be keeping up with these texts.
Satan Satanel
Cut it out Katherina
I know you want me dead no need to remind me
3:14 PM
149 1934 1393
its not just that anymore
do you feel any remorse for what you've done?
3:14 PM
Satan Satanel
Oh my fucking god is it about that again
Yes I fucking do
He was my best friend
But him being my best friend doesn't excuse what he's done to Ayuzuma
3:14 PM
149 1934 1393
do you know what happened that night?
3:15 PM
Satan Satanel
He broke down?
Yes.
3:15 PM
149 1934 1393
not just that
because you left
he wanted to kill himself
i remember seeing him in his room
with his gun
to his head
If i wasn't there he'd be dead
do you know what it feels like for the man you love to have almost killed himself?
3:16 PM
Satan Satanel
Wait what?
3:17 PM
149 1934 1393
exactly
i think it should've been you
you should be dead
you deserve to be dead for that
3:17 PM
Satan Satanel
I had no idea.
Why are you telling me now though?
3:18 PM
149 1934 1393
:)
3:19 PM
Satan Satanel
You're doing this now too?
3:19 PM
149 1934 1393
i think you deserve to feel the pain takahiro felt when you left
maybe you should stop fighting against us
give up
and i'll make you feel pain like he did
or
kill yourself
if you don't do either we'll end you and your family too
3:20 PM
Satan Satanel
I'll keep fighting you rather then do either.
3:20 PM
149 1934 1393
you still have time to give in
time's ticking though
be quick or these bodies could be you
3:20 PM
Satan Satanel
Wouldn't this upset Takahiro again?
3:20 PM
149 1934 1393
we've agreed at this point that anything terrible that happens to you is deserved
3:20 PM
Satan Satanel
Amazing.
Are we done now?
I have a personal thing I'd like to get to.
3:20 PM
149 1934 1393
nope unless you plan to visit me or kill yourself
i'd love to see you hanging from a noose
3:20 PM
Satan Satanel
Actually, I do have one more thing.
You are a vile human being.
Stay away from me.
3:20 PM
Finally, Satan blocked the number, and just in time, as he heard footsteps. He became suddenly aware of the tears rolling down his face and wiped them away.
'I hope I can keep this facade up...' Satan growled, 'No, no anger today. You know how that usually goes, let's be a pleasant face for once.'
The footsteps got closer, and Araya, Arsene, Nico and Lucifer all chatted. Despite everything going on, Araya, Nico and Arsene all looked relatively normal. Lucifer however had the flashiest jewelry on, the most ridiculous sunglasses and the most decked out leather jacket.
"What the hell are you wearing?" Satan raised an eyebrow.
"Fashion. I don't think you haven't heard of that in a long time, bro." Lucifer dramatically moved his sunglasses to his head.
'You don't know what I've been through. While you went out and screwed around for over two thousand years I stayed on Ayuzuma and now I have a whole war on my shoulders while you get to play family? Fuck you.' Satan wanted to say, but he bit his lip to prevent himself from saying any of it. "Uh-huh. I don't have time for any jokes or whatever. Moving on, I'm sure you've all heard the... recent unfortunate news. Morale in all of Ayuzuma is almost at rock bottom, and the only remaining kingdoms are Red, Blue, Light Blue, Purple, Cyan, and Rainbow. The current rumor is that Rainbow will be last to fall but we have no way to confirm. At the rate things have been going, we need all hands on deck, anyone that can help should. Are you in?"
"Of course. And Arista probably can't chip in but she'll probably send some kind of chaos or destruction artifact or whatever." Said Lucifer.
Everyone else agreed with no hesitation.
"That's it then, goodbye." Satan began to walk off.
"What? That was like, only a few minutes tops!" Lucifer said.
Satan turned his head to face them slightly. "And I still have a thousand plans to end the war to make, plus run a kingdom. Not like you'd know about that, Lucifer."
"Wh- Oh fuck you Satan!" Lucifer's skin shifted to his demon skin color, the same light red, or pink as he claimed it was. He attempted to lunge forward but was held back by Nico and Araya.
"I guess it's not an interaction between the Satanel brothers without a fight happening." Araya said with clenched teeth.
"This is a tamer fight, Mendoza, you should know that." Satan said. He watched her annoyed expression shift from worry as she looked down, probably at the amount of chains around his waist.
'Fuck.'
"Anyway, I have to get back to work, seeya." Satan rapidly teleported away, managing to hit the ceiling while making his exit.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
June 23rd
For the eleventh time within ten minutes, Satan opened his phone and stared at the news app. He scanned for any mention of war, battle, Cyan, Rainbow, Light Blue, Blue, Red.
Still nothing.
All week, there'd been nothing to do but wait and plan, be prepared for anything. Would the next battle be in the next hour or the next month? Though Satan specifically sent Reyes to investigate more, they haven't been able to find much.
The stress only grew and grew each passing minute. Right now, if he had to assign it a size, it'd probably be as big as the entire Red Kingdom.
So much that the urge to bleed out consumed Satan.
'You need to stop, Araya's already disappointed in you. There's no way she hasn't put two and two together with the sudden increase in chains you carry. You can barely call yourself a man with all the crying you've been doing lately.' Satan thought.
A ding from his cellphone grabbed Satan's attention, he turned it on immediately. It was from the news app.
Just a few lines that said how Takahiro's troops have spread out between Purple, Rainbow and Cyan was all he needed.
The next battle has come.
Satan teleported to Rainbow, close by the palace. The other buildings and houses surrounding the palace were knocked down by parts of Takahiro's army. Citizens pleaded and fought against the army, but whatever powers or abilities the citizens had seemed to have no effect. They still hadn't even touched the palace yet, thank Diablo.
Satan inspected the colorful palace, looking for an entrance. He happened to be right near a window, and he peered inside, seeing Auriana talking to what he could only assume to be other family members. They had royal jewelry and fancy clothing, plus some even looked like Auriana, how could they not be? Auriana happened to turn and almost jumped at seeing Satan.
"Get in here!" Auriana hiked up her rainbow dress and pulled Satan through the window, opening it to yank him inside.
The inside of the palace was just as he remembered, white everything with the rainbow colored accents and all. He felt almost intimidated at the clean and pristine feel of the palace and the royal family. He hunched over, trying to make himself smaller, as if that was a possibility for a seven feet tall man in platform boots.
"Oh, you're the one that mom and Eris was talking about. You look like if Eris and Takahiro knew a guy eviler than the both of them." A woman commented. She had color changing hair, as evidenced by how it changed to white after she saw Satan.
"Great-Grandma, this is really not the time!" Auriana talked rapidly while flailing her hands around.
"I just got the news alert, what happened?" Satan asked.
"I wasn't really paying attention! I was having lunch with a bunch of my friends, and as soon as I got home, Takahiro's army comes out of nowhere! And Great-Grandma Iris is helping Eris recruit gods so she can't help..."
"I don't think mom's gonna help you much, she's a goddess of rainbows. Neither can I, what can a goddess of color do?" The same woman said.
'Wait, so that must be Iris's daughter, Vivienne!' Satan realized. "You're Vivienne, correct?"
"Yes!"
"Perfect, I've prepared a plan that uses you. Uh, Auriana, how many of your ancestors can we work with here?"
"Basically everyone, actually. Not including Iris. Plus my great-grandpas, grandpas, my dad and my other friends that have been living here could chip in as well." Auriana said.
"Perfect."
Satan raced out of the front door of the palace, teleporting and zipping across the paths. He'd capture parts of Takahiro's army with some of his blood chains, and intimidate others by pulling out his pitchfork. Thanks to the larger collection of blood he'd amassed, his pitchfork was much larger, with chains and jewels galore.
Thanks to Auriana's other family members and her friends, they'd managed to make a good team together, able to capture quite a large amount of Takahiro's army.
At least, for a little while.
As the large group approached another of Takahiro's army, they were interrupted by a woman with skin like snow and light hair. She stepped in front of Takahiro's army and blasted the group down the path with snow.
"Svetlana!" Auriana cried out.
Satan's eyes widened.
He transformed his scythe into chains as he began standing up. He used his magic to throw them at Svetlana. She dodged, and hurled more snow at them. Satan tried to capture her again, but Svetlana grabbed the chains. She teleported behind Satan, managing to wrap the chains around him
'This is humiliating...' Satan thought as he struggled to untangle himself. He turned the chains back to his scythe. He swung at Svetlana, who teleported away again. He felt hands on his shoulders, and he jolted and turned around. Svetlana pushed him over and he fell on the ground. He could've sworn he felt some kind of needle in his back as well. He tried to get back to his feet but felt weak.
He collapsed and blacked out, the last thing he saw was being Svetlana fighting against Auriana and her other family members.
***
Lucifer, June 23rd
Lucifer marveled at the various ships in the waters, both modern and more classic pirate looking. The ports with various people in pirate get ups were even more intriguing.
"Maybe Nico and Arsene should've sent you to Purple, you would've hated their calm, vanilla magic vibes." Araya growled as she shook Lucifer by the shoulder.
The two stood in a small wooded area, right in front of the docks' entrance.
"But the pirates are so cool!" Lucifer protested.
"You can fawn over them after we deal with Takahiro's army. They should be here any minute..." Araya glanced around.
A large pirate ship with grey sails slowly docked. Lucifer and Araya looked between that boat and others, trying to keep an eye on multiple ships at once. A group of people all disembarked while they watched. They happened to look away, and when they looked back yet again, the group had weapons in hand and casted spells. Citizens nearby noticed them, and carried on like normal, until they noticed a figure of Takahiro's army that had been in the news a lot, face, name and everything. Unlike many other kingdoms, the citizens of Cyan were ready for a fight, using the daggers and ships at their disposal against them. For being the only kingdom with a majority population of humans in Ayuzuma, they sure seemed braver than the other kingdoms.
"That's them, let's go!" Araya jumped from her spot in the woods, dragging Lucifer by the arm.
"The citizens seem to have it under control though, why do we need to step in?" Lucifer yelled over the fighting.
"There's still more!" Araya pointed at the western end of the docks where another group of Takahiro's managed to race upwards uninterrupted.
The duo teleported over, Lucifer with his blood magic and Araya with her yellow and grey flower particle magic.
They landed behind Takahiro's army on cobblestone streets, in a housing district in the capital city. When they landed, they darted after Takahiro's army, keeping on their tail the entire time. Araya waved her pole, trying to use a spell to trip them over, but it didn't work.
Instead, it seemed to catch the attention of Takahiro's army who only just realized they were there. One member of Takahiro's army looked behind and almost jumped at the sight.
'How the fuck did they not notice us until now?' Araya thought as she teleported in front of the army.
As she readied her magic for another spell, they ran past her at a faster pace. She growled as she ran after them again.
"I can't do much with my vanilla magic, can you use your blood magic for... I don't know, something?" Araya asked.
"Sure." Lucifer said. He opened a bottle of blood he had in his pocket, and directed the blood around the group. The blood swirled and transformed into chains, wrapping them up like a weird present. Unfortunately it didn't prevent them all from being stopped but some were rendered immovable.
"Ugh, and that's all the blood I have on me right now, fuck..." Lucifer sighed into his hand.
"We'll worry about that later, you still have your scythe, right?" Araya asked, grabbing Lucifer by the arm and beginning to run again.
"Yeah, let me just..." Lucifer fished around in his pockets and pulled out a folded up piece of metal. He pressed a button and it unfolded into a scythe twice his size. It had a black pole with a gray grip and a red blade. The end of the pole even had a decorative pair of horns that looked just like Lucifer's.
"I can not get used to that thing, I swear." Araya said.
They ceased their chatter and focused on running forwards. The various houses and buildings all started blending together, little details indistinguishable at that point. After what was a full ten minutes of running, they finally made their way to the palace of Cyan.
The Cyan palace was unique in that it was technically a houseboat. The palace was a mix between a classic pirate boat, a circular house structure, and a hut made of various fabrics and woods. The entrance had a small bridge that led up onto the boat.
Of course, the palace was surrounded by Takahiro's army.
A man with dark umber skin rapidly untied a rope from a wooden pole, Araya recognized him as Mukami Mwangi, the heir of Cyan. A similar looking girl with lighter umber skin fought off parts of Takahiro's army with only a dagger. Otherwise known as Marina Mwangi, a princess of Cyan. A third girl used magic to teleport Takahiro's army away. Araya realized it had to be Izumi Mwangi, by her blue hair bow. The girl with the dagger happened to look at the panting Araya and Lucifer.
"Hi Mrs. Mendoza. And... Satan's brother? Hop on!" Marina yelled as she slashed into a soldier from Takahiro's army.
Araya and Lucifer speed ran onto the boat, both kicking back a few of Takahiro's army as they tried to make their way on. They ran inside the circular hut at the farthest end of the ship. The inside of that particular hut wasn't anything special, cyan walls, of course, and a steering wheel. Araya and Lucifer collapsed on the floor as they listened to the yelling between the Mwangi siblings outside. They heard more footsteps, and the duo braced themselves. They saw Marina running over to them, and immediately relaxed again. Marina grabbed the wheel and Araya felt the movement of the boat.
"What the hell kind of house boat is this? I feel like it's from a bunch of different eras." Lucifer slowly stood up on the floor.
"That's because everything is! The other hut was my ancestors' first home. When my ancestors became royalty they built this. Once our kingdom started getting into sailing the seas, we built our first boat that became our pirate ship. Once shipbuilding and sailing became more standardized we moved our homes on here, and within the last few hundred years we've added more modern tech, like the propellers." Marina explained.
"Oh. Nice. Oh shit, we should probably be on the lookout for the army..." Lucifer looked both ways cautiously.
"Nah, we're probably fine. For a little bit at least."
Araya felt the vibrations and sounds of more running that approached the group in the hut. She looked outside and saw Mukami and Izumi again.
"Araya. Guy that looks like Mr. Satanel. Good afternoon." Mukami panted as he greeted them.
"I'm Lucifer. Satan's my brother. You already could tell, obviously." Lucifer shook hands with Mukami. "How do you know these people?" Lucifer mumbled to Araya.
"When I visited Ayuzuma, Crow was doing a group school thing with other young royals. Marina and Izumi were two of the kids he was basically doing school with, and I'd bring Crow back to Satan's when he was on the younger side. I'd see Mr. and Mrs. Mwangi occasionally." Araya said.
"Oh!" Lucifer said.
Izumi crossed her arms, scowling. "Mom, Dad and Desta are not gonna be thrilled when they see the house out in the waters, again."
"They probably won't enjoy seeing Takahiro's army either. Zooms, you go call them and let them know what's going on. I don't mean to trouble you, Mrs. Mendoza and Mr. Satanel, but would you mind keeping a lookout for Takahiro's army on the waters?" Marina turned to Araya and Lucifer as she continued steering the ship, eyes flitting back and forth between them and the waters that lie ahead.
"Of course. That's what we're here for." Lucifer said.
The four all exited and left Marina to pilot. Izumi walked down a hidden set of stairs and went under the ship, leaving Araya and Lucifer with Mukami. Wordlessly, Mukami went to the left side of the ship, looking out. Araya took that as a sign to go to the right, yet again dragging Lucifer with her. She leaned over the side of the ship while Lucifer stood in the shade under a pole.
"Of all things I did not expect to be on a pirate ship." Lucifer mumbled.
"Yeah. I wonder how things are going in the other kingdoms..." Araya said.
"Me too."
Silence washed over the two as they kept an eye on the waters. For quite a while, there were only the sights of the ocean making waves. The sound of creaking and seagulls flying above. The smell of salt. The touch of the wooden ship against Araya's arms. Just a few more moments of peace, for once.
And for once, the peace crumbled as Lucifer asked one simple question.
"Do you know what's going on with Satan?" Lucifer asked in a barely audible voice.
"What?"
"He looks awful."
Araya raised an eyebrow at Lucifer.
"Not because of the way he's dressing. Well, kind of the way he's dressing. Wait, no, I mean- ugh. Do you see how tired he looks? How his hair is a lot more messy than normal? All the chains he has? I mean, with the chain thing, unless he bought non-blood chains, there's not great implications there."
"I do. It's gotta be the war stuff! I just don't know what to do. You saw that last meeting, I think he was pushing us away."
"You gotta think of something though," Lucifer turned to face her, "You should say something to him. I don't know if he'd listen to me right now, and... I can't blame him. I know he'd listen to you though. Or Nico. Or Arsene. Or Eris. Maybe even the lime guy and that one descendant of Takahiro? Hell, anyone that isn't me would probably be fine."
Araya thought for a minute. "...I'd need to think of something, but I will."
"Thank you." Lucifer smiled.
Silence was back.
But only for a moment.
In the distance, Araya saw a tiny black dot. At first, it seemed like nothing to worry about. But as it rapidly approached, she couldn't ignore the flag of the Black Kingdom that flew over the ship. The flag was a black background with two circles, representing Shadow Elemental eyes. Araya felt the adrenaline start pumping.
"Ah shit, and of course this is after I'm out of blood to use. Curse you, blood magic." Lucifer complained.
Araya happened to look down from the edge of the ship, and saw cannons.
Bingo.
"Lucifer! Go below deck! There's canons you can use."
"Oh, perfect! Can't wait to blow up shit!" Lucifer yelled as he ran off to the stairs.
Araya ran over to where Marina steered the ship. She wasn't the only one though, as Izumi was running in with her at the same time. "Marina! Takahiro's ships are over on the right."
Marina looked out an open hole in the hut. "Yeesh. Zooms, help Mrs. Mendoza fight them off. One of you should let Mukami know about this, but tell him to keep watch over the left side."
"Aye aye captain!" Araya said with a salute. "That's pirate lingo, right?" Araya mumbled slightly to herself as she went back to the right side of the ship while Izumi went to Mukami.
When she went back to the same side of the ship, Takahiro's ship had gotten much, much closer. So close, in fact, that she could see the faces of Takahiro's army on the ship. At least Lucifer was using those cannons, but the ship still remained mostly intact.
Araya began to hold out her pole, using it like a large wand. She began to use the canon spell. She fired off many canons, much more magical then the ones Lucifer was shooting off. She aimed at the lower parts of the ship, creating many holes. The ship slowly began to tip over. At the last second, Izumi ran in and fired off a huge magical cannon with her hands. Izumi's magic had a purple tinge to it, with generic white and purple particles coming off her glowing hands. Finally, the ship sunk entirely, leaving Takahiro's army swimming in the waters. Araya and Izumi cheered.
But it didn't last long.
Almost as if they waited for this to happen, another of Takahiro's naval ships pulled up. Then another. And another. Until Takahiro's ships had them trapped in the middle of a sea of enemy ships.
"ARGH! Maybe I should call my parents and siblings to help..." Izumi began tapping on her phone screen.
"Izumi, I don't think we have the time for that." Araya said as her eyes darted around the ship. People from Takahiro's army began teleporting on the ship, surrounding the duo.
Izumi looked around and jumped at the sight.
"Help me, Ximena." Izumi groaned.
"I don't think you want her help." Araya mumbled as she began using her magic again. She threw whatever random spells she could think of at Takahiro's army. Teleportation, the canon spell from earlier, summoning random weapons.
"Oh, right." Izumi said, joining in with the random spell usage.
Fighting off Takahiro's army became a blur. Araya knew she was moving and fighting them, she even punched one in the stomach. But it didn't feel real. Her mind was elsewhere. Thinking about Satan, the war. Only the sounds of cannons firing off kept her somewhat involved in the fight. At one point, one cannon seemed to sound a little too close than normal. Instead of starting off loud and fading out, the sound got louder and louder.
Until she heard the sound of breaking wood and metals close by .
"What the hell was that?" Izumi yelled.
Araya felt the vibrations and sounds of feet making their way up the steps. Lucifer swung his scythe at one of Takahiro's men, but missed.
"They shot at the under deck, the boat's going under! We need to get off!" Lucifer began fighting his way through Takahiro's army over to Marina.
"What? But this has been our home for thousands of years, we can't just leave it to them!" Izumi protested.
"I know, I'm sorry. There's no way we can fight off everyone with such a small crew." Lucifer said.
Lucifer joined the girls on the side of the ship they were still on. On the other end of the ship, Araya saw Mukami trying and failing to fight off Takahiro's army. While Mukami was technically half-witch, half-human, he had none of the magical powers of a witch. Araya used one hand to teleport him over while still using the other to fight off Takahiro's army.
Mukami appeared surrounded by the gray and yellow flower particles of Araya's magic. He waved a hand to shake them away.
"Ugh, why are your particles like that?" Mukami said.
"No idea. This ship is starting to sink though, we're gonna need to get out of here." Araya said.
"Oh god, the rest of my family is not gonna be happy about that... let's just tell Marina." Mukami said.
Araya nodded and quickly teleported them to the wheelhouse.
Marina was also struggling to fight off Takahiro's army. Araya immediately used her magic to seal off the entrance and windows.
"Did you guys realize they hit the bottom of the ship?" Marina panted.
"Yup." Everyone said.
"Guess we gotta say goodbye to the ship. It's been a good couple thousand years old friend. I'll see you again soon... somehow." Marina patted the wood that held up the ship.
Mukami said goodbye to the ship as if it were an old friend as well. Izumi could only say goodbye, and thank the ship.
"Ready?" Araya said.
The three siblings nodded.
Once again, Araya teleported. Since they had to teleport back to land, it took slightly longer than usual.
The group landed back at the dock Araya and Lucifer were watching last time. The numbers of Takahiro's army unfortunately increased while the number of citizens that fought back seemed to decrease. In the middle of the chaotic crowds were a few familiar faces, the queen and king. They were surrounded by eight kids and teenagers that looked similar to them, probably their kids.
"Mr. Mwangi! The house ship has been taken!" Araya shouted over the commotion as she used her magic to move Takahiro's army aside and clear a path to the rulers of Cyan.
"What?" Said Tendaji, the king of Cyan.
"They bombed the ship and it started sinking, so we had to leave." Izumi yelled as she used her magic on some of Takahiro's army.
"Of course they did... I'm glad you're alright, at least. We may have to evacuate unfortunately. We can't hold them off forever- hey, watch it!" Explained Suzu, the queen of Cyan. She was tackled by one of Takahiro's men. Tendaji kicked them away as he helped her up.
"Hold on, if we're gonna evacuate, let's think where to go." Araya said.
Yet again, she teleported.
When their vision cleared, they were in an area of grass and animals. Birds chirped and cicadas made their cicada noise. They could still see Takahiro's army in the distance.
"Can you take us to Rainbow?" Tendaji asked.
"Takahiro's army is trying to take Rainbow too." Araya said.
"Purple?"
"Same for Purple."
"That's unfortunate..."
"I think Satan would approve your entry into the Hell Sector in Red, same for any Cyan citizens too. You'd have to wait for Satan to finish trying to prevent Rainbow from being taken over."
"Where would that be?" Tendaji cocked his head to the side.
"They supposedly have secret offices in every kingdom. I don't think it's a good idea to look for the one in Cyan right now. Probably best we went to the one in... Black maybe? There's probably lower security there since they're focused on taking the three kingdoms."
"Good idea. Can you teleport us there?"
"Sure."
Araya began using her magic and they teleported off once more.
***
Arsene, June 23rd
Arsene shook as she stepped on the stairs. Nico gently wrapped a hand around hers.
"Careful." Nico mumbled.
"I know." Arsene said as she slowly made her way up the staircase. She looked behind her anxiously. All she could see was seemingly endless green grasses as far as the eye could see. She turned back to stare at Nico. His hair had been growing since the reunion, now it reached past his shoulders. He'd slowly stopped wearing his contacts too, donning his glasses. The rising temperatures, especially near the equator, also meant he'd need to dress warmer, and Arsene couldn't help but stare at his arms.
"What are you staring at?" Nico turned to Arsene, breaking her out of her trance.
"Nothing." Arsene quickly faced the palace in front of her. It was much closer now than it was before.
The palace was more akin to a church than a palace she'd seen before. It had purple and white walls with many rounded parts that jut out the top. By the entrance three women waited, one of them being the Queen of Purple herself. She was short, with spiral curls and medium brown sepia skin. The Queen wore a white and purple off the shoulder dress with three tiers.
"Hello! I'm queen Ixchel, if you didn't already know." The Queen greeted, extending a hand to Arsene and Nico.
"Hello, I'm Arsene and this is Nico. We were sent to protect Purple from, well, you know..."
"Have you seen them at all? I sent my armies out past the palace awhile ago, but I haven't seen or heard from them at all. Oh, by the way, these are my daughters, Violet," she gestured to her daughter on the left. She had looser curly hair with the same skin tone as Ixchel. "and Lavender." She gestured to her other daughter on the right, who had straight hair cut into a wolf cut and more lighter brown sepia skin.
"I see the resemblance they both have to you. We teleported relatively close to your palace, so we weren't able to see anything too far from here. They're still not here though, I kept looking back." Arsene said as she looked back yet again, and still nothing new.
"That gives us time to prepare a bit. Come inside." Queen Ixchel motioned for them all to come inside.
The inside of the palace was much more ornate, with lots of little arches and tiny windows from high above. The entrance was very long but thin. At the end of the hall was the throne, while on either side were two doors. Very symmetrical.
"So, what's the plan?" Nico said.
"Like I said, I sent out the army to find Takahiro's army. They're supposed to let me know when and how far away Takahiro's army is, so that I can prepare the soldiers I have here and in the city farther north. Because the palace is in front of the city, we're screwed if they decide to conquer the Cyan-Purple border. Violet is technically old enough to help, but I decided that her and Lavender are just better off hiding away so that they can be brought to safety elsewhere." Ixchel walked down the hall to her throne and pointed out the window that was behind the thrones.
The group heard a static voice out of nowhere, all jumping at the suddenness.
"Your majesty! They're on their way!" The voice huffed into whatever device they spoke into.
"Where are you?" Queen Ixchel spoke into her walkie-talkie she pulled from her pocket.
"Behind them! You can probably start to see them in the distance from the castle!"
The group all went to the windows facing the staircase, and sure enough, there they were. Takahiro's army was racing forward, with weapons in hand and magic being casted.
Queen Ixchel turned to a nearby guard. "Evacuate the kids. Take them to the secret office of Red Kingdom entries."
The guard nodded. The Queen and her daughters shared their goodbyes, then they were teleported away with a striking cream colored magic from the guard.
"Alright, now that that's dealt with, what powers do you have?" Queen Ixchel spoke fast, her eyes darting from the window to Arsene and Nico.
"I have vanilla magic and creation powers." Arsene held her scepter slightly in the air to demonstrate. With her blue and white colored magic, she lifted Nico's glasses off his face and created a butterfly.
"I have blood magic." Nico uncapped a bottle of blood he had on a necklace around his neck.
"I see... Could one of you deal with Takahiro's army while I evacuate the army?" said Queen Ixchel.
"I could. I know what I could do. Nico, you coming?" Arsene said.
"I'll help the Queen, you go do your thing." Nico said.
"Alright." Arsene smiled.
The Queen tossed her a walkie-talkie right before she teleported outside the palace. Arsene chose to land on the lower areas of the plateau. Takahiro's army were closer now, a few steps forward and Arsene could touch one of the soldier's. Arsene pointed her scepter at the ground, her blue and white magic particles, now joined with her signature wing symbol that all flashed on like a lightbulb. She raised the scepter up, and a stone wall shot up high in the air. Arsene teleported again, landing on top of the wall.
The wall was just thick enough to stand comfortably, though the threat of moving wrong and accidentally falling was imminent. She looked down, and Takahiro's army was so far below her.
Arsene readied her creation powers again, ready to send lions and bears. But she heard a punch and the falling of stones. She didn't even realize she was falling, and so was the wall. It all happened so quickly she couldn't make out how they even managed such a move. She quickly teleported back onto the ground. She turned back and saw them advancing farther, close enough to get onto the stairs. Arsene quickly activated her powers and sprouted a wall in front of the stairs. She made the wall sprout horizontally instead of vertically this time. Still, there was one soldier from Takahiro's army that was jumping up and smashing through the wall with their bare fists. Arsene quickly made a jail to capture, but it was too late.
The wall was broken up enough for Takahiro's army to make it through.
Arsene panicked and used her magic to grab hold of everyone part of Takahiro's army and push them back. She rapidly made each a little jail, causing some to be dented or imperfect, but at least the job was done. Arsene used her magic to jiggle the doors of all the cells at once, and at least it seemed like there'd be no escaping.
Arsene suddenly became aware of the heat that beat down on her. Even in a light and airy dress with short sleeves, she was sweating.
"I'm gonna move you to a shadier place. I may be your enemy, but I'm not a monster." Arsene wiped sweat off her forehead.
She looked around the plateau, and noticed shade underneath the castle. With her vanilla magic, she moved the cells and the remnants of the walls into the shade temporarily.
'I wish Arista was here to help me destroy the wall. I should go see her after this battle's over.' Arsene thought as she began to teleport to the city.
Arsene decided to land next to Queen and Nico as they ran in the midst of chaos yet again. Takahiro's army also ended up in the city too. Some citizens used their magic against the soldiers, while others just ran.
"What happened?" Arsene asked.
"I sent another portion of my army the opposite direction but they were defeated and had their walkie-talkies confiscated. There's just too many of them." Queen Ixchel sighed as she ran.
"I might be able to do something about it..." Arsene teleported away.
After a few minutes of searching, she spotted the Purple army in chains. They were forced to march in the sweltering sun in the direction of the capital city.
Arsene chose a plateau to land and hide behind. She spied from behind the plateau. While the Purple army sweated, and some even collapsed, Takahiro's army drank water and had fans.
'That's sick!' Arsene thought as her blood boiled, an unfamiliar sensation to Arsene.
She slinked more behind the plateau. She hid her glowing scepter and right hand behind the plateau while she freed all of the Purple army soldiers. She heard the chains all slowly unlock, and each member of the Purple army immediately charged after Takahiro's army again. Arsene slightly smiled in satisfaction.
'I think they got this. My work here is done.' Arsene was almost about to teleport away.
Just as she was about to teleport away, she saw a tiny flame in the middle of the air. Then it grew bigger, and bigger. Slowly, the fire began moving like hair, revealing a floating woman with warm brown skin. She frowned at the Purple army and began shooting fire out of her hands. The Purple army scrambled to run away, some even getting caught on fire and screaming. Arsene's hands shook as she took all of the Purple army soldiers and teleported away.
She landed in an area of the capital city away from the chaos and quickly got healers before she went off to search for Nico and Queen Ixchel.
She landed next to them as they were running still.
"So did you help them?" Queen Ixchel asked.
"Yes... But then some fire lady swooped in so I had to take them back here, some of them were getting hurt and I'm not a healer, so-"
"Fire lady? Could that be... 'Esato?"
"Shoot, maybe. I've never seen her. How are things here?"
"A disaster. They want to blow up the entire city just so they can take it over. And they have another force field too so I can't even stop the bombs." They slowed down as Nico kicked at a force field that kept them out of where a pile of bombs where.
"We need to get ready to evacuate. But where to?" Queen Ixchel asked.
"Hell Sector of Red, I know Satan will be fine with it." Arsene said.
"We need to get on that, right now. I think they're gonna set them off soon." Nico said.
"Alright," Arsene said.
The three all round up as many citizens within the capital and took them to wait for a pass into the Hell Sector.