Satan, March 10th

There we go, casts off,” the doctor placed the remaining cast into the garbage with the cast from Satan’s other leg. Seated on an examination table, Satan kicked his legs around to ensure nothing felt off, but they felt perfectly fine.

“Do I need to avoid activities still or can I start using them like normal?” He asked.

“Walking is fine, but don’t do anything too crazy for six weeks. After that come back and I’ll assess if you can do things as you normally would.”

“Alright, hank you so much Dr. Arias.” Satan shook his hand. For the first time in six weeks, he slipped on his demonias and didn’t have to hobble around on crutches again.

Satan exited the room and walked outside, teleporting back to the living room at the palace and kicking open a door for dramatic effect.

“Crutches are gone!” Satan yelled out. Arsene and Nico were seated at the dining room table and jolted at the noise. He threw his crutches at the large fireplace, perfectly landing on the burning wood. The flames ate at the aluminum as it melted.

“That was pretty Lucifercore of you, to be honest.” Eris chuckled.

“Ugh, ew. Anyway, I’ve been drafting some ideas on what we can do next against Takahiro and Katherina, and now that my legs are healed, I think it’s the perfect time to start putting my plans into action. ” Satan flopped onto the couch. He looked up at Eris.

“What were you thinking?” Eris said.

“Well, I want to talk to the rest of your descendants about this one plan I have in mind. Could you call them?”

“I could certainly try, some of my descendants I’ve never met, and some I haven’t seen in a while. I may not be Takahiro, but I’m not super well liked either.”

“Do you think if I called some of them, they’d come?”

“Maybe. I need to get some of their numbers first.”

“Alright, let me know when you’ve got their numbers and I’ll call.”

***

Eris

Calling Eris’ descendants plus their spouses was quite a challenge. Somehow, they managed to convince them all to come. Some fought to not go, while some needed no convincing at all. And all that, just in a day!

Now, the day after, Eris was opening the door and greeting her fellow Koizumis and Satan was shaking hands with everyone that entered. Since the Black Kingdom was taken by Takahiro and the Red Kingdom Palace’s dining room was tiny, Satan decided to hold the meeting in an actual meeting room, a remaining feature from when the palace used to be where the old Red Kingdom government met.

The meeting room walls were black, lined with paintings of politicians from over a thousand years ago. The silver table was long but dented, the chairs a mix of wooden, poorly crafted chairs and spinning chairs on wheels. Whatever renovations and updates were planned to happen to that room never happened. Satan barely talks to the other rulers of other kingdoms anyways, so there was no need.

Eris stood in the corner of the room as her descendants talked to each other as if nothing had ever happened. She wrapped her shawl around her freezing shoulders.

“Why did I wear a crop top today?” Eris wondered to herself.

As the last Koizumi walked into the meeting room, Satan shut the door and looked to his side, where Eris stood. “You nervous?”

“Cold. But also a fight could break out if I’m not careful. There’s also the fact that Youko’s was the last of my descendants’ I saw regularly. I’ve talked about her before, right? She’s my great-granddaughter.” Eris said.

“You have. Surprised Hikari let you see her with everything with Saori..” Was all Satan could say.

“You don’t need to remind me about that,” Eris growled before taking a deep breath. She whispered: “Okay, I’m ready. Grab the seat closest to me, I’m taking the head of the table.”

Satan walked to the end of the table by the whiteboard and sat down. Eris followed him, shaking as she felt the eyes of her descendants glued to her.

“Um, hello everyone. We haven’t seen each other in a long time. Are we missing anyone?” Eris asked, glancing down at the table.

“Besides great grandma Saori and great grandpa Yamato, yup! Unless you also wanted to see great grandpa Takahiro.” Kuroyami, Eris’ seventh great-grandson said. Eris felt her stomach drop at the mention of those three.

From an empty seat appeared a patch of darkness, alarming all of the Koizumis. Everyone either pulled out a weapon or got into a fighting stance, but when the darkness cleared, everyone immediately recognized her.

The woman appeared to be in her mid-twenties, with a slim face and wide nose. Her eyes were gold with an x for a pupil. Her black hair flowed down her shoulders in waves. It was obvious that the woman was Saori, Eris’s daughter.

“Mom! I thought you wouldn’t be coming!” Hikari, Saori’s daughter, gasped.

Saori growled as her eyes scanned the people in the room. Her face contorted more at the sight of Eris. “I’m still a Koizumi, I need to know if there’s something I can do to be helping others.”

Saori pulled out the chair she was already standing near and sat down.

Eris cleared her throat and started.“Well, I suppose now we have everyone. You’re probably wondering why I’ve gathered you all here today. This is due to the situation we have in the Black Kingdom and all of Tempest which is also starting to be a problem everywhere else unless something is done about it. How many of you know about the war?”

As expected, the youngest descendants all raised their hands, while the older descendants kept their hands down with puzzled expressions across their faces.

“Alright, to keep a long and detailed story as short as possible, Takahiro and his accomplice, Katherina have taken over the Black, Fuschia, White, Light Grey, Lime, and Brown Kingdoms, and they plan to take over more.

I called you today because a friend of mine, Satan,” Eris gestured to Satan, who gave a small wave. “...And I believe that if we can attack the Black Kingdom and take it back, the war can end soon. If all goes well, jailing Takahiro and Katherina should be a breeze, and Ayuzuma can return to normal. Does that sound reasonable?”

The Koizumis had puzzled looks on their faces. They were silent for a few seconds, then burst into conversation, talking over each other, forcing some to yell to be heard.

“Why should we trust her and some demon? You’ve been part of the problem for so long.” Tooru, Eris’ great-great-granddaughter, pointed out.

“I know. That’s why I’d like to fight back against Takahiro.”

“Great grandma, we’ve never even met in person before. Since Great-grandma Tooru and every descendant after her, we’ve never met you. Now, all of a sudden you want our help when a good majority of the people in this room have never met you?” Kuroyami, Eris’ youngest descendant, said. He watched his hair move around, almost like eight snakes.

“Is this not a start, at the very least?” Yami, the king of the Black Kingdom before Takahiro, said.

“Exactly. Can we not start to fix the problems that’s plagued our family rather then be angry at great-grandma and never making a change?” Kaito, Yami’s father, yelled over everyone.

At his words, the Koizumis quieted down. They all started whispering to each other,

“Uh, what’s going on?” Satan asked.

“Sorry, we’re just trying to come to a consensus.” Yami apologized.

“Let’s try a vote, how many people would like to help?” Eris asked.

Surprisingly, all other Koizumi’s hands were raised, even Saori’s.

“That’s perfect. Here’s what we need to do,” Satan rose from his chair and took a marker to the board, explaining his plans and assigning roles to everyone.

By the next hour, Satan had already finished discussing his plans. Everyone was assigned something to do or somewhere to be. Eris assumed everyone would be leaving as soon as everything ended, the senior members of the Koizumis had things to do, but almost everyone had stayed in the meeting room.

The only one to leave was Saori.

‘Shoot, I wanted to talk with her. Let me go out there and see if she teleported away yet.’ Eris panicked in her head.

She shot up, causing everyone left in the room to glance over at her as they watched her race out the door. Satan called after her, but something made him stay in the meeting room.

Eris was thankful to see Saori only a few steps down the hallway.

“Saori!” Eris called out, racing towards her. Saori furrowed her eyebrows and glared at Eris.

“I don’t want to talk to you.” Saori said as she crossed her arms and turned around.

“Saori, please. I haven’t seen you in so long.” Eris said.

Saori sighed and turned back around, rising to look Eris in the eyes. “What do you want?”

“To apologize.”

“Oh yeah, because ‘I’m sorry’ will fix the damage you and father have done.”

“I know, your father said the same thing to me recently.”

Saori opened her mouth like she wanted to say something, but nothing came from her mouth. Eris could see the uncertainty on her face.

“Did you finally get divorced?” Saori mumbled.

“Yes.”

“Thank Miyako, that fucker needs to die.”

“I wish he could, but he got his hands on an immortality elixir. I tried to stop him from drinking it, I was there when that happened but it didn’t work.”

“Oh come on!” Saori screamed. Eris giggled a little at her outburst, but Saori flared her nostrils at her. Silence washed over them.

“Okay, bye.” Saori started using her shadow magic.

“Wait, wait! Before you go, do you want to talk about… Well, about everything? On a day where we don’t have the weight of all of Ayuzuma weighing over our heads?” Eris begged.

Saori paused in her tracks, slowly closing her hand, her shadow magic fading away.

“Sure. What’s your phone number?” Saori quietly asked. Eris gave her her phone number, which Saori entered into her phone. Saori turned away, glancing at Eris before using her shadow magic to teleport away properly this time. Eris waved with a hopeful smile curling on her lips.

As the shadow figure faded away, Eris’s heart began to ache. So much she wanted to tell Saori, but she couldn’t.

The war better be over soon.

***

Lucifer

Lucifer laid in bed, staring up at the grey ceiling. Since he arrived in Ayuzuma, he’d made it a point to explore everything from top to bottom, but he got bored of it very quickly and had to take a break. He tried setting some things on fire to relieve his boredom, didn’t have any other ideas, but that got him in trouble. At least it was the first offense, so no jail time in Ayuzuma, thank Diablo.

He tried riding his motorcycle, but those were illegal in Ayuzuma.. Ayuzumians just don’t know how to party, it seemed to Lucifer. Then, he tried doing some wheatpasting, but it was also illegal to post in random places.

The nail in the coffin for him was when he went to a restaurant late at night to try to do something entertaining, and he asked for alcohol. Guess what was also illegal.

Alcohol.

Pissed about everything illegal, he stormed back home and didn’t do much, at least, when Arista and Arete weren’t around. He tried picking up some video games, but it was only a matter of time until they got boring. Lucifer was in bed, bored out of his mind with nothing to do, while Arista was out and about.

‘Holy shit, it’s almost the end of February, and March is just around the corner. My son is gonna be born in seven weeks. Shit, I’ve never raised a baby from birth. I mean, I helped with Arete, but it’s different. I’m not her biological father, but she sees me as her second dad. I should talk to Artemios…” Lucifer thought to himself.

His thoughts were interrupted by Satan opening his door. He wasn’t wearing his ridiculously long hair in his side ponytail, but instead a high ponytail at the back of his head, with shorter black robes and no batwing sleeves, and to top it off, he was missing his demonias but instead had combat boots.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Lucifer interrupted. Satan rolled his eyes.

“You don’t have a job or do much in Ayuzuma, do you?”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

“I will get to it, let me explain. I’ve just spoken to Eris’s descendants and they’re going to help us stage an attack on the Black Kingdom in hopes we can take it back for the current king. I need to raise an army of course but I also need help. I figured since all of your hobbies are illegal and you have nothing else to maybe you’d like to join us?”

Lucifer bolted up in his bed and grabbed his scythe off his floor. He hadn’t used it since that fight with Satan.

He proudly posed with his scythe, leaning on the end of its long hand as the blade rested on the floor.

“So, what do you need me to do?”

***

Satan

Satan fidgeted in the alleyways of the Black Kingdom’s capital, the tight sqeezes making him claustrophobic. He took in a deep breath, trying to calm his mind down as it raced, thinking of every way it could all go wrong, from some huge mistake to the tiniest detail.

A week had passed and today was finally the day Satan and everyone else he rounded up would attack Takahiro and Katherina. He had spent that week gathering people to join. He tried his best to keep it as secretive as possible, but word spread, and he had people from other kingdoms wanting to join. At that point, he could only hope Takahiro and everyone working for him hadn’t heard about it.

Now, Satan, his friends, and his makeshift army were hidden between buildings at the Black Kingdom capital, the palace just in sight. He felt claustrophobic with being stuck in tight spaces, too close for comfort, but comfort was the last thing he should’ve worried about.

Satan watched the guards talk and walk up and down the castle walls from afar. Their outfits were all completely different. Some wore casual clothes, while others wore suits. In past times Satan visited there, and the guards all wore armor. Must’ve been new guards placed by Takahiro.

Satan pulled a walkie-talkie from his pants pocket and spoke into it, “Is everyone ready?”

Hushed voices all whispered back yeses.

“Whenever the distracters are ready, leave the corridors and go distract all the guards.” Satan whispered.

From behind Satan, some of the distractors made their way out of the alley, and footsteps were heard from nearby alleys as the distractors all found ways to occupy the guards. Some stole something right in front of them, some hitting on them, and others straight up just fighting them. From Satan’s walkie-talkie, the voices of others all reported all guards guarding the palace being distracted, the area surrounding the palace becoming barren.

All of the magic users or those born with powers stepped out and used their various powers to tear down the barrier. Satan chipped in from the shadows as well, using his blood magic to form tiny weapons that tried to pierce through the shield. Finally the shield came down, Arista went out from the dark corridor and swung her scythe at the shield, in her disguise of course. T citizens all watched the shield come down. Some cheered, some could only stand still and watch, and some screamed.

“Why didn’t we think of that before?” Satan whisper-groaned to himself.

“Who would predict you could destroy a half physical half shadow shield with a destructions goddess scythe that also destroys pretty much anything it touches?” Kuroyami commented.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

“Alright, go, go! Remember where I told you to go. Koizumis we’re all heading inside.” Satan spoke into the walkie-talkie for the last time, readying his blood scythe and motioning his hands to the palace in front of them.

Kuroyami used his hair to open the large doors as the rest of his family barrelled inside. The rest of the members of the Koizumi family started fighting off other guards while Satan, Kuroyami, Yami, and Eris all walked down the carpet leading to the throne. Unexpectedly though sitting in that throne was no Takahiro. In fact, the one sitting in the throne disappeared as soon as the palace door opened to them.

“Uh, what do we do now?” Kuroyami asked.

“Someone should stay here in case Takahiro shows up, and someone else should check out the castle, maybe Takahiro or Katherina are just roaming. Maybe check out the dungeon too, I suspect there might be some people down there as well.” Satan said. Kuroyami, Yami and Eris all made sure they had their walkie-talkies on them, and each headed in different directions. Eris went downstairs into the dungeon, and Yami headed upstairs while Kuroyami kept going up the stairs, likely on the roof to check the towers.

“You keep looking out for Takahiro or someone else to arrive in here, I’m gonna help my other family members fight. Oh wait, before I do that, thank you for helping us get our kingdom back.” Yami smiled a little, an unusual sight for him.

“Of course, anything to repent for befriending Takahiro and Katherina. Once you get your kingdom back, we should officially ally our kingdoms together.”

“Good idea.”

Yami rushed towards his other family members, spear in hand, to fight other guards. Satan he paced up and down the throne room, checking behind random areas for Takahiro or other hidden people, occasionally kicking and slashing away any of Takahiro’s agents that went up to him as he tried to keep himself busy while waiting for Takahiro.

Satan heard the sound of shoes coming up stairs in a fast pace, and he gripped his blood scythe, pointing it in the direction of the dungeon staircase.

Thankfully, it was only Eris.

“There’s people in the dungeon but I don’t recognize them. Can you see if they’re royalty or something? I don’t want to open the cells in case they turn out to be bad or workers for Takahiro or something…” Eris heaved.

Satan nodded, and ran to the corner left of the throne, down the staircase. Eris stayed in Satan’s place to watch for Takahiro.

The dungeon was a decently long hallway with bars all the way down. To either side of the door entrance were bars attached to the walls, separating to make twelve separate cells. Looking over his shoulder, Satan saw an unlit torch above the door, and a shelf with a box of matches and a set of keys just underneath. He grabbed a match from the box and lit the torch, grabbing it so he could see.

In six of the cells closest to the entrance, laid six unconscious people, but not just any random person.

It was the now former rulers of the Lime, Brown, White and Light Gray Kingdoms. They were all declared missing as soon as they were taken over by Katherina and Takahiro. Satan grabbed the keys and unlocked all the doors, checking each of their pulses.

‘Hm, at least they’re still alive. I should call Araya though, I don’t know what’s happened to them…’ Satan thought.

He spoke gently into the walkie-talkie, “Hey Araya, if you can, can you come take a look at these unconscious people real quick? They’re unconscious, but their hearts’ are all still beating.”

“Just finished healing some of the others. It’s turned into a real riot out here. Where do you want me to teleport to?” Araya mumbled on the other line. She sounded tired. Satan was for sure going to make sure she gets some rest after the events of today.

“Just teleport into the palace throne room, then go to the left of the throne, and there should be an open area. Go down those steps and open the door and I’ll see you there.”

“Alright, I hope this is quick. Be right there!”

As the line cut off Satan anxciously opened the door and peaked up at the throne room. Thankfully it had calmed down since before, all the guards from before were unconscious at that point, but not hurt. At least, not from that angle they appeared to be. Magic flower particles started to fade in of grey and yellow, the colors and symbol of Araya. Araya finally appeared inside the palace and raced over to Satan, who stepped out of the downstairs dungeon and waved.

“What the hell are you about to show me?” Araya said as they descended downwards.

“It’s not that bad. At least, I don’t think. I’m not a healer or a doctor, so I wouldn’t really know.” Satan said. He grabbed the torch from above the door once again and pointed at the unconscious bodies of the missing rulers of the kingdoms in Tempest. Araya stiffened at the sight.

Leaning down, Araya inspected everyone, analyzing their faces and the way they laid on the floor. After a good few minutes of Araya inspecting and hm’ing, she finally stood up.

“Their bodies seem to be in good shape, no unnatural paleness, no bruises or scars or anything. Most likely, they had a potion of unconsciousness placed on them. They tend to use those in hospitals to put someone under nowadays along with painkillers, but sometimes they can wind up in the wrong hands who use it to kidnap someone, get away with whatever the hell they want, and either keep them as long as the capturer is alive, or free them like nothing happened. This stuff also freezes their body in a way. In this state they don’t get hungry, but they don’t wake up unless someone wakes them up for them. Thankfully, my healing magic can wake someone up from this kind of thing.” Araya explained.

She went back into each cell and performed her healing magic. Her hands became covered in glowing, transparent, tiny yellow and grey flowers. She used her healing magic to restore their consciousness, covering their entire bodies in the tiny flowers. Slowly the six royals in the cells are started to wake up, the first being the king of the lime kingdom.

He was a olived skinned man in about his 40s with lime tinted white hair. He wore a black mask concealing his eyes and a black cloak, wearing a muted lime chiton to top it all off. Satan’s eyes couldn’t stop staring at his blackened hands and arms, the black extending all the way to halfway up his upper arm.

“Ugh… Why am I in jail?”

“Something to do with Katherina and Takahiro, most likely. Oh, uh, I’m Satan Satanel. Are you the king of the Lime Kingdom, by chance?” Satan knelt down to extend a hand.

Zeta took it as he came up to his feet. “Yes. You know, your an urban legend in most Ayuzumian kingdoms. Except for Fuschia, they hate demons. I’m Zeta Prasinos.”

“Why are you and your son named after greek letters? It’s driving me a little crazy that your son is literally named Alpha.”

“Fuck, Alpha! Is he okay? I feel like I was out for a ridiculously long time, how long has it been?” Zeta panicked, completely ignoring his question.

“It’s been six weeks. Don’t worry Mr. Prasinos, Bree has been watching over him and the rest of your other children are also safe. Bree and Frost have been checking in on them. Alpha and the other two younger ones are in the Green Kingdom.”

“Oh thank the time gods. Six weeks though? How the fuck have I been out for six weeks and not feel hungry or anything?”

Araya explained the unconscious potion as she finished up waking the rest of the royals.

“Being in my palace, pinned to a wall by Takahiro’s shadow magic and then having a potion thrown at me.” Zeta sighed.

“Yup, sounds exactly like that potion.”

Araya talked to the other royals, who all shared similar experiences of having a potion being thrown at them by Katherina and Takahiro being their last memory. As the now-conscious royals gathered together to talk, Satan went outside of the dungeon and waved over at Eris, who stood around, looking until her eyes fell on Satan. When they locked eyes she raced up to him.

“Still no sign of Takahiro or anyone else. We took out the rest of the guards. What’s up?”

“We woke up the royals that were in the dungeon. Long story but they had some potion that made them unconscious for six weeks. We woke them up thankfully so it’s not as bad as it could’ve been. They’re all perfectly fine it seems. I know I want Araya outside making sure the rest of the volunteers have their injuries taken care of, would any of your family members want to escort them out of here?”

“I’ll ask, do you know where to?”

“Not sure, I’ll ask them.”

Satan went back into the dungeon, feeling his heart warm a little at the reunion between the royals. Araya smirked at Satan as she watched from the other end of the hallway.

“I hate to break up this reunion, but unfortunately, all of your kingdoms have fallen under the control of Takahiro and Katherina since you were all put to sleep. To keep you all safe I think the best course of action is for you to be escorted to another kingdom for the time being. Is there anywhere you’d like to go to?”

The royals all gasped.

“Great.” Zeta groaned. “Well, I’d like to go to Green since Alpha’s already there.”

“Same for me.” Said the King of The Light Grey Kingdom. The Queen of The White Kingdom nodded in agreement.

“And me.” Said the King of The Brown Kingdom.

“Where’s Frost?” Asked the King of The White Kingdom.

“Bree said he’s been in Rainbow.”

“Then we’ll go there.”

Satan motioned for the royals to come up the stairs slowly. Satan still saw no sign of Takahiro. Some of the other Koizumis were waiting at the staircase entrance. The royals greeted the Koizumis and to Satan surprised, were very friendly with one another. The Koizumis started teleporting away the royals, but someone finally showed up when Zeta and another Koizumi were about to teleport away.

Takahiro.

He teleported in the middle of the room, adjusting his fingerless gloves.

“Let’s make this quick, shall we?” Takahiro said. He turned his body to face Satan, Eris, Araya, Zeta, and another Koizumi. Balls of shadow emitted from his hands, and he raced up to them. They all moved out of the way except for Zeta.

“Run!” Araya tried to convince him to move.

But Zeta stayed still, removing the mask over his eyes as he stared directly into Takahiro’s eyes. Takahiro stopped in his tracks, still like a statue. The Koizumis that remained at the palace entrance all ran behind Takahiro. Some knew to avert their eyes while others couldn’t help but stare into Zeta’s eyes.

“Oh, so that’s why he wears the mask. But wouldn’t looking into his eyes with the mask freeze you anyway?” Satan asked.

“The lime royal family’s power only work with direct eye to eye contact. If the one being frozen can see his eyes it doesn’t work.” said the Koizumi.

“Oh. I guess that makes sense.” Satan said.

Kuroyami hair’s moved to wrap around Takahiro to restrain him. His hair moved like tentacles, or more sets of arms. Either way, his hair was very helpful. But Kuroyami started to rise Takahiro up in the air too quickly.

“No! Leave him! If you move him around too much then we can’t maintain eye contact and then he’ll be able to move again!” Zeta growled. Kuroyami apologized and slowly lowered him to the ground again.

The Koizumi all remained just behind Takahiro, Yami, the now former king of the Black Kingdom stepped forward.

“Listen, Takahiro. You can either peacefully renounce the Black Kingdom back to me and stop conquering other kingdoms, and you won’t have as harsh a charge. If you keep putting up a fight, trying to keep conquering more and more then not only will your charges be harsh but I can almost guarantee Queen Auriana will want you off the planet. Mr. Prasinos, can you stop looking at him for a second? I want to talk to him.”

Zeta nodded and put his eye mask back on, but still had a hand gripping, ready to take it off again at any moment. Kuroyami’s hair tightened around Takahiro more as he tried to wriggle himself out of Kuroyami’s grasp.

“Why should I renounce it? Besides, you don’t even have an heir anymore, do you?” Takahiro glared at Yami, turning to face him. Kuroyami bit his lip and looked at the floor, hugging himself as if he were trying to make himself small.

“That’s none of your business, I have that situation covered. This is your last chance to give me back my kingdom. What is your decision?”

Silence washed over the room, Yami glared down at Takahiro.

“I choose… to keep fighting you.” Takahiro announced. Kuroyami tried to tighten his hair around Takahiro harder, and Yami’s eyebrows furrowed as he revealed a golden knife and tried to plunge it into his head. But Takahiro managed to cut himself free from Kuroyami’s hair with a knife he apparently had and dodged.

“My hair!” Kuroyami yelled as his hair retracted back to him, now only moving as any other person’s hair would.

Takahiro got up and began flinging balls of shadow magic at everyone in the room, in some sort of attempt to get them out of the palace. Just as it took Takahiro quite awhile to get to the Black Kingdom palace, it seemed the same was true for his associates, who only then burst open the door and began fighting the other Koizumis. There was one that completely ignored them, however.

Saori.

She forcibly moved Yami out of the way and tried to tackle Takahiro to the floor.

“Saori? What are you doing here?” Takahiro asked, dodging her but his tone and fierceness noticeably softened. Satan readied his scythe and tried to race up to Takahiro, but Eris pulled him back.

“I know you want to help but Saori hasn’t seen Takahiro in years. Let her handle this for now.” Eris said. Satan nodded but kept a very close eye as they kept watching.

“Don’t pretend like you did nothing wrong.” Saori growled, kicking Takahiro in the stomach as he fell to the floor.

“Riri-chan, please calm down.” Takahiro said, sitting up and trying to rise up on his feet.

“And don’t ever call me Riri-chan again!” Saori yelled. She pulled out yet another golden knife, and plunged it into his stomache. Takahiro groaned, as blood began to flow from his stomach. Saori rose up to stare him down, while Takahiro looked at her pitifully.

Satan chuckled a bit at the look but Eris punched his shoulder to get him to shut up.

“Ever since grandma and grandpa died you stopped caring about us. Nowadays all you care about is to sit on the throne again, taking over Ayuzuma and Katherina. And even before they passed I could tell you cared more about me having an immortal deity child. What the fuck happened to you?” Saori asked.

“I didn’t want you to have to experience loosing your family like I did. I know now it was wrong, but please, do you need to bring up grandma and grandpa?” Takahiro’s voice wavered until he finally began sobbing on the floor.

“Oh, so me getting fucking raped by Yamato doesn’t matter as much as making sure nobody dies?” Saori asked.

Takahiro froze up, and the remaining Koizumis all had to cover their mouths to quiet their gasps. Satan, Eris, Araya, Zeta, and another Koizumi were distracted by the scene unfolding in front of them to the point where they didn’t notice Takahiro’s agents sneaking up behind them. Satan felt one attempt to handcuff him, but he managed to kick them away before they could.

“I don’t understand you. Me telling you that Yamato is abusive makes you dismiss it but when I tell you about him raping me that’s what finally makes you care? Are you kidding me? I’m ashamed to have you as a father. I hope I never see you again. Actually, I hope someone kills you in this war.” Saori threatened.

Takahiro, eyes still red and tear streaks still down his face somehow found the strength to get up. Saori glared at him in disgust.

“I know you hate me, but I love you so much. You’ve grown so much and I’m proud of you. You can come to the Black Kingdom palace anytime and we can talk about this another time, but for now, you can’t stay hear. Stay safe. I love you.” Takahiro smiled. He used his shadow magic to gently lift her up in the air and float her away in a semi-transparent shadow bubble. Saori aggressively shook in the bubble but nothing seemed to free her from it. The bubble suddenly floated away much faster out the entrance which Takahiro also made slam shut. Satan felt some kind of stunt happen and with Eris they readied their weapons and raced up to him.

Takahiro pulled the knife out of his stomache, groaning, then flung it in Satan and Eris’s direction. They thankfully dodged it fast enough but Zeta wasn’t as fast enough and the knife landed in his hip. He collapsed on the floor as Araya fell to her knees to heal him.

Takahiro transformed into his more shadow elemental form, his pale skin transforming into darkness and his lips and mouth becoming gold. His gold irises spread to his sclera, all parts of his eyes now a matching gold. Something was different about his transformed form this time around. He also grew taller, and became more of a blob of shadows rather then a silhouetted shadow of himself. He growled, shaking the entire palace, and began scooping up anyone nearby, including people that worked for him and throwing them outside a window, even if that window was glass.

“What the fuck? Eris have you ever seen anything like this?” Satan asked.

“No! Maybe this is the shadow elementals’ version of a demon’s skin color changing to a quote unquote unnatural skin color when feeling a strong emotion?” Eris suggested. As they looked in front of them Takahiro was headed straight for them, his hands outstretched, ready to fling them out the window. They began to collectively panic, and they all tried to help Zeta to his feet, but it was too late, Takahiro already had them in his giant hands, and they were already headed for a window, that thankfully already had it’s glass cracked. Satan used his blood magic to safely teleport them on the ground.

Outside the palace guards were now fighting anyone in sight, Satan’s volunteer army struggling but doing it’s best. Lucifer, Nico and Arsene raced up to Satan. Nico noticed Zeta and hugged him, smiling and happily chatting as if they weren’t in a battle and Zeta did not take a blade to the hip.

“Satan, it’s a disaster. Takahiro brought in a shit ton of guards that are taking no-nonsense. They’ll attack anyone on the outside palace’s path. Our healers can’t keep up anymore with all the volunteers getting terrible injuries. We need to fall back.” Lucifer panted.

‘Crap. Alright,” Satan began to speak into his walkie-talkie, “everyone we need to fall back. If you can teleport others take as many people with you. I’ll be making sure we left nobody behind.”

Satan asked Araya and Nico to take Zeta back and with Arsene and Lucifer, they went further from the palace, watching from the alleys they watched everything unfold in front of them earlier. As they walked in the parts of the alleys further away, they saw none of the other volunteers, at least, the ones they recognized.

“Anyone left out there?” Satan whispered into his walkie-talkie while lowering the volume. They waited a few minutes, but there were no responses. Satan turned around to look at Lucifer and Arsene. Up close Lucifer looked quite beat up. His hair was a mess and he had gained some new holes in some leggings he had on. Arsene’s ponytail she had just for this battle was loose and the normal headband around her eyes was holding it up.

“I’ll teleport us home.” Arsene softly spoke. Blue and white wing particles surrounded them until they were back at home.

They appeared on the Red Kingdom bridge to the palace, slowly trudging along. Right before the entrance was a set of steps that lead down to where the former government building was, beneath where Satan and his family lived. Satan opened the door to see volunteers chatting while Araya and other healings were frantically moving around to heal everyone. Nico and Zeta sat next to each other chatting away, Zeta now wearing bandages around his hips. Kuroyami and Yami were all the way down the hallway, and sat up against the floor. Once Yami looked at the opening door he stood up and made his way over to Satan.

“Mr. Satanel, I know today wasn’t successful, but I want to thank you for your help. Unfortunately, this war will last longer than we all thought but I think we’re in good hands.” Yami shook Satan’s hand.

“I’m glad to have helped. I think I might need to fuse armies with another kingdom next time.”

Though the attack wasn’t successful, everyone still remained underneath the palace living space in the old government building, chatting away. Satanels, Koizumis and volunteers all delightfully chatted like old friends, despite some people never having a face to face conversation. Unfortunately, the good times had to come to an end at somepoint.

Suddenly, Kuroyami shot up from the floor and beckoned everyone over. “Everyone! The news is on and there’s something about the Black Kingdom, come look!”

Everyone flooded into a room at the end of the hallway and around the tv. Satan bit his finger in anticipation, either it would be about the events of earlier or some other terrible thing happening in the Black Kingdom, either way it was likely not anything good.

“ …After the storming King Takahiro and Queen Katherina have issued a joint statement, saying quote ‘The Black, Fuschia, White, Light Gray, Brown, and Lime’s borders are now closed. Those living within these kingdoms are to not leave. If you have a reason to leave please contact the respective websites of these kingdoms. Each palace will be heavily guarded and any unauthorized attempt to enter any palace will be met with heavy punishment. We are not taking questions at this time but in a few days we will hold a forum. We thank you for your cooperance with these new changes.’”

As the news anchor spoke there were sounds of angry screaming and crying that were heard. It was unlikely that the Koizumis could reasonably sneak back into the Black Kingdom.

***

Takahiro

Takahiro was so embarrassed about the events that happened. Not only did he cry in front of the people he worked with, not only did he accidentally throw the people that worked with him out the windows, but he was inconsolable. His coworkers knew Takahiro for being charming, always happy, with an edge of unpredictability, and sometimes even making his coworkers fearful.

Because of the events of today, that facade has crumbled.

Takahiro finally managed to get away from his coworkers. While they went and did his work he was going to sulk and be generally useless. What a great boss.

Takahiro trudged up the stairs and opened the door to his room. As he walked past the mirror he couldn’t help but look at himself.

He could see the dried tear stains, how messy his hair became. He couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t stand looking at himself. He punched the mirror, immediately regretting it as shards of glass fell and his hand started bleeding.

Takahiro flopped on his bed, staring at the ceiling as his thoughts started to swirl.

“You made such a fool of yourself today. Katherina must be getting tired of this.

Wait.

Katherina.

I should call her!”

Takahiro felt his mood brighten at the thought of her. He hadn’t seen her all day, and hanging out with coworkers is only fun when it’s your favorites, not the randoms that somehow end up in your castle.

He opened his phone and pressed the call button on Katherina’s contact. His leg bounced in anticipation.

“Hey Hiro, what’s up?” Katherina greeted.

“So there was a situation today at the palace and I think we should close the borders, don’t let anyone leave or enter without permission and we should put way more guards at each palace.” Takahiro explained.

“What happened at the palace?”

“Oh, you know, just a little fight, no big deal, guards took care of it..” Takahiro awkwardly laughed, hoping she wouldn’t ask.

“Good to hear. You know, I haven’t seen you in awhile. I know you’re busy handling your stuff in your kingdom, but I miss you. Can I come over?” Katherina asked. Takahiro could feel her almost tugging on his heartstrings when she said she missed him.

“I’d like that, but we’re ordering in, I’m tired and I don’t want to leave the palace today.

“Alright, sounds good. Give me a minute, need someone to teleport me other. See you!”

Katherina hung up, and Takahiro put his phone on the bed, closing his eyes and sighing deeply. The sound of magical moving vines was heard in front of the bed. Takahiro opened his eyes to see vines move backward to reveal Katherina standing right in front of him, jumping forwards on the bed and greeting him. He expected her to be wearing one of her normal dresses with a high slit, but this time, she was wearing just a simple sweater with grey sweatpants.

“What do you wanna eat?” Katherina asked, hugging Takahiro and her head resting on his shoulder.

“Let’s get ramen, I know a good place.” Takahiro said.

“Can we just chill here for like, twenty minutes before we do that?”

“Sure, why not.” Takahiro closed his eyes and rested his head on Katherina’s.

Probably should’ve changed out his suit, but whatever.