Rescue Mission

Merlin, King, Gelda, Norberta the phenixgon, and the still unconscious guide are locked down in a mysterious building treating their injuries. For some reason, the limbs aren't reaching them in here, but the eyes and ears of the person identified as Nico Rieka is still stocking them. Norberta had informed them that they were indeed up against one person who created clones of herself. The phenixgon said that she felt a goddess/demon hybrid as well devil fruit powers, which must be how she creates the clone limbs. Merlin has heard of devil fruits, but little attainable knowledge is available on them. Plus, their existence is fairly new, first appearing within the last 200 years of unknown origin, and mostly in far Eastern Southern Islands as well as China and India. Devil fruit users are extremely rare this far west or in the New World across the sea. The building they are in is made of sea prism moon stone, the only known physical material in existence that can block devil fruit powers. Merlin and King both came up with plans to make one last desperate attempt to escape, but both attempts proved nearly fatal as a giant red demon woman appeared and sabotaged both plans. King and Merlin had gotten into an argument, which also contributed to the failed attempts. Merlin especially feels bad as she's not used to having anything but a calm, clear mind during battle (or most anytime). Gelda helped ease the tension, but there's obviously still some bad blood between the two. Non the less, Merlin found her sense of humor and said that she must only be human after all. King didn't really get the joke but calms down anyway. It really frustrates Merlin as she doesn't have nowhere near enough knowledge, or enough magic currently to get out of this situation, one of her biggest fears. She also didn't have any time to assess the other power sources in the area, some of which she can't even read.

They've been in touch with Carmine twice. They've wondered to close the Germanic borders that are currently closed off to the rest of the world instead of cutting through the Adriatic Sea as planned. The guide ended up taking a wrong turn that he should've been aware of but mixed up his calculations in an attempt to get around the volcanic activity. It's unknown if Nico Rieka is protecting the borders or something else, as she's not even from this part of the world. Her estimate strength level is fairly close to that of Barbatos or Caelestis. Carmine told them to sit tight as help was on the way, and not to get involved until a certain signal. Sitting around and waiting, however, will be difficult for them. She had also told them that a trio showed up from Japan. King became very emotionally learning that one of them was Diane and got to talk to her briefly, but still disappointed that his sister's still stuck there.

Nearby, the teams from Amalfi are in position. It's not quite dawn yet, and despite most getting little to no sleep, everybody's fired up none the less. Zeldris and Ban's job is to protect Elizabeth and Apolline as they synchronize their powers to locate the presence of the real Nico Reika. Attacking her real body is the key. This is possible since Nico Reika is half-demon and half-goddess, same as Apolline. Elizabeth's goddess powers will enhance Apolline's tenfold. The only true problem is that it may take some time, and Nico may detect them and what they're up too. The plan is to keep her busy, hoping to keep her focus away from them. Despite having their own protective shields up, they aren't as strong as usual as they need total focus on the task at hand, leaving the two blood cousins still quite vulnerable. Ban was a bit disappointed that Jasmine didn't want them part of the main fight, but protecting the two cousins is key to this operation succeeding.

Stormy and Wild are in position, as are Diane, Kagome, Jasmine, Arwen, and the recently reunited phenixgon siblings Kaida (who arrived in Amalfi just as they were departing) and Goro. The daughters of Artimes have encountered Nico Reika and border portal officers before, as have Jasmine with Iris, so they have some insight as to how this might work. Carmine is hiding nearby to turn Diane back to her full size at the last possible second so that their opponent will not catch on to their plan and catch her off guard. Merlin, King, Gelda, and Norberta know of the plan and are ready to jump into action as soon as there's an opening, whether or not they get the intended signal. Jasmine knows that while harming the clone limbs are irrelevant, hurting any limbs produced directly from Nico Reika will also harm her real body, and Diane's power will be key at exactly the right moment. They wait tentatively for twenty minutes. Ban wants to know when they 're going to attack, but unfortunately, that's impossible. They must wait for their target to attack them. The phenixgon make the first move, hoping to get Nico Reika to take the bait. For several more minutes, nothing happens. Then, a scream is heard. Some hands have grabbed Kagome and are trying to take the half completed Shikon Jewel she's wearing around her neck. Diane immediately strikes. Blood comes from the arms as they disappear, but about a dozen others spring up and grab her, try taking Gideon from her, and try arching her spine. Jasmine quickly steps in to keep them from taking a bad beating but must control her power output or she'll kill everybody. One arm appears giant size and performs its version of the secret art of Fish Man's Karate, gathering up moisture from the air and turning it into a punch, at this size powerful enough to take out a mountain. However, Jasmine blocks much of the force without causing much damage. The clone hand's fingernails grow into claw like nails. Diane stays in front of Kagome to protect her and activates heavy metal to take the scratches. Goro helps to destroy the limbs as Kaida rescues Kagome and takes her out of reach. Giant arms appear, as do giant female shaped legs and feet. Through a charm given to her by Carmine, Diane telepathically contacts the priestess, asking to be returned to her full size. However, that will spoil their secret attack. The claws are so sharp that Diane's taking damage through her metal, as is Goro and even Jasmine, but they are able to push back and temporarily prevent anymore limbs from appearing for a few seconds. Diane launches a lighting signal from Gideon, letting Merlin's group know they can come out. Norberta eagerly embraces her brother, and they fly up to reunite with their sister. King and Diane embrace each other tearfully. It takes a while before King realizes that is wife is dressed extremely differently than usual. Diane's kimono has new sleeves sown on courtesy of Carmine. She's wearing strange wooden sandals with white socks, and her hair is in a ponytail rather than her trademark pigtails. King's perplexed by the look, but Diane's still cute and beautiful whatever she wears. Merlin and Gelda (holding the guide) look on with smiles. Jasmine was about to greet them when the earth starts shaking.

On Kaida, Kagome realizes that the Shikon Jewel is missing. She tries to tell the group when the three phenixgon are surrounded by giant limbs, this time red ones and more powerful than before. The limbs quickly sprout up again and create a net cage with hundreds, maybe thousands of arms and legs, to trap Jasmine's group. It would be easy for Jasmine to melt this down, but then everybody is grabbed and pulled down by sticky webs, quicker than anybody can responded, and starts to drain their energy. Behind the limb cage, a perfect cube appears, then a goddess shield, both much stronger than the ones produced by either Merlin or Elizabeth. An extra shield of electronic darkness appears both inside and outside the shield layers. These layers of darkness are made up of anti-magic and devil demonic supernatural force, which will block and deflect any anti-magic attacks. Jasmine and the daughters of Artemis were aware she might could use perfect cube and goddess shield, but the true demonic and anti-magic is brand new, and they're all being perfectly mixed.

On the other side of the valley. Stormy and Wild have also been busy. Stormy seems to be unable to eat much power from the limbs and has to rely much more on her wolves to fight. She's unable to absorb devil fruit powers, but the demon/goddess powers are still the support system behind the limbs and come out in fragments, if she could just receive more of that power. Stormy isn't exactly week or helpless physically, although her own natural and trained strength can only go so far in this case.

So far, no limbs have reached the exact spot that Elizabeth and Apolline are in. However, Ban and Zeldris are busy with three mysterious things. Ban was growing restless and had wished for some action. He soon got his wish when three weird things show up seemingly of nowhere. It was a miniature sun, a white cloud, and a sword, each with a face and a mind of its own. They can be understood by everybody regardless of language. The sword first attempts to talk the guys into submission, which fails. Then the cloud was trying to annoy them into submission with corny jokes and quotes. The sun recklessly attacks and is struck by Ban's sacred treasure. All three of these things get angry and transform into much, much bigger, stronger, and dangerous foes. Despite initial success, the trio just seem to be getting stronger and stronger the more Ban and Zeldris fight them. Zeldris even uses Ominous Nebula. His power holds down the sword, but the other two can break their molecules apart and regroup. Zeldris eventually realizes that these aren't made of real magic, but artificial, and can sense a presence nearby. Ban strikes while the demon king directs him to and forces a person in a strange type of suit out of hiding. He's the one commanding these creatures, and his odd, advance suit makes him difficult to injure. The three creatures combine with him and turn him into a monster. He creates several dozen copies of himself but Ban easily destroys the copies. He them inflates his suit into a bouncing type of balloon, which proves ineffective against the fox sin and the demon king. It's only then that several dozen red limbs arrive to bail this guy out and add to his power immensely, finally proving more of a challenge for his opponents.

As Ban and Zeldris are busy, Elizabeth and Appoline are hard at work trying to locate the real Nico Rieka. She has hundreds of clones, false leads, and barriers. As they concentrate more, their protective shields start to weaken, and a giant red hand appears and smashes their barriers. Zeldris notices this and fights his way towards the ladies. Apolline doesn't want to break concentration, but Elizabeth moves swiftly, infuses Lostvayne with her power, and slices the clone arm herself. Zeldris makes it a fraction of a second later and dissolves it while two more pop up. The goddess quickly returns to position and immediately resumes concentration. Apolline's astounded that Elizabeth not only could do that but also not break their connection in the process. Non the less, she needs to stay focused. Zeldris and Ban break away from the freakizoids and take positions around the ladies to protect them. Stormy and Wild also arrive to deal with the mysterious sun ball and thunder cloud. Stormy's wolves are able to eat the power from both of them, giving her a humongous power boost, eventually punching all three of those things out until they retreat. Wild's a bit envious that he didn't get to have more fun with those things, but he turns his attention to the guy in the freaky suit. He teams up with Ban, and they both catch him napping, able to damage his suit and send him in retreat. Judging from his suit, Stormy thinks this guy is a border patrolman, and his scientifically advanced suit can draw power from a number of sources, including draining the powers of his foes. The sun, cloud, and sword are artificial life forms. She warns that they better be on the lookout for more people like this.

A few seconds later, a volcanic explosion blasts through the 5-layer barrier. Zeldris and Ban, leaving Stormy and Wild to guard the cousins, quickly jump on a hill and see a huge cloud of volcanic ash. They rush into it to find Jasmine all fired up. They don't see anybody else with her, but then a huge rock rises from underneath the ground, courtesy of Diane combined with Merlin's magic, containing everybody else. Zeldris sees Gelda, and they embrace tightly, Zel's face is buried between his lover's breasts. For once, he doesn't act embarrassed about it in public and receives a few giggles. Ban rushes to King and gives his brother-in-law some playful rubs and a knock on the head, which King doesn't appreciate. Jasmine's so relieved that the others could go underground away from the danger, or she wouldn't have used her eruption power to blasts the barrier. Otherwise, they all would've been killed.

Suddenly, a giant something seems to rise out of the earth. It's the giant human female body glowing white. This body is around 100 ft. tall, compared to Diane's full height of 30 ft. The giant form has an unknown trick for everybody as she creates dozens of arms bigger than anything before. The large, white hands release overpowered spider webs and traps everybody. "Is that her?" Ask Zeldris. It feels so real, yet something's still off. Even Elizabeth and Apolline almost believe the giant body is the real deal. "Wait, that's a clone!" shouts Elizabeth. However, Ban's already attacking it. Stormy and Wild follow in pursuit. Arwen, who's remained mostly hidden this whole time with a couple minor battles of her own, was about to jump in and help. However, she hears her sister's warning, so she pauses. Ban attacks at least a couple dozen times with Courechouse. This body's nearly as tough as that of the Supreme Deity's, but this body's taking a lot of damage and even showing blood. Stormy's giant wolf swallows power directly from the clone and along with Ban, punches it directly the forehead. The giant body falls backward and dissipates as Jasmine burns off all the sticky webs.

Unfortunately, there's no time to for anybody to catch their breath. Another giant body quickly appears, except this time the body's dark red with a very scary face and black devil wings on her back. Nico Reika has gone demon mode. While her most powerful and violent form, she also loses most of her rational sense when in this form and not as aware of her surroundings. Elizabeth and Apolline finally nail down Nico's true body, and it's this one! Jasmine and the daughters of Artimes had been hoping for this and know it's time for the secret plan.

A pair of red demon female legs and feet appear and tries to stomp everybody. Zeldris and Ban jump into front of everybody to take the hits and actually end up with some broken bones. Jasmine also gets squished but releases her power and creates a lava pool right where Nico Rieka is standing. She is difficult to burn, but the vulacish cranks up the temperature to at least distract her. She also creates a lava wall as Carmine turns Diane into her full size and the giant starts her special battle dance out of sight. Nico senses the power and starts to walk through the lava wall. Jasmine's about to unless her power again despite the risk of a higher level, but a perfect cube suddenly appears around Diane. The red giant struggles to break it. It didn't come from Apolline or Stormy, but from Merlin. She's miraculously back to full power. Kagome immediately realizes that something's off about this mage, however. She has the same intense look on her face as somebody who's been possessed by the Shikon Jewel or it's shareds, and Merlin has the jewel in her hand, looking at it as if a hypnotic state. Kagome shouts out a warning in broken Britannian that she's about to turn on her comrades and shots a spirit arrow at her. Merlin swifts out of the way right before getting a direct hit. Elizabeth and Apolline arrive on the scene and Apolline confirms that they need to get that thing away from Merlin as quickly as possible. The plan to defeat Nico is in full swing as the red demon giant grabs the full-size Diane and attempts to break her spine, but Jasmine and the three phenixgon provides enough distracts for Diane to continue her dance. King also arrives to help enhance Diane's powers. Carmine and Arwen, who's elf powers are natural nature bases, also lend the giant their powers as she continues to power up. Most everybody else is now concentrates on Merlin, who hasn't yet stopped staring at the jewel in her hand. Her eyes finally turn dark purple, and she starts to attack everybody. Elizabeth's first attempt of her Light There be Light ability doesn't work, and that rarely fails. Even Stormy and Ban aren't able to eat or snatch any power from it. Although Merlin hits some of her comrades, Elizabeth looks right into her eyes, which causes Merline to regain enough sense to realizes what she's doing and aims an attack at Nico, injuring her arm. Kagome asks Elizabeth to enhance her spirit arrow with her Let There Be Light power and shoots it at Merlin, this time hitting the mage straight through the chest. The arrow itself doesn't harm Merlin physically, but it ejects most, if not all, of the jewel power she had absorbed. Ban quickly uses his magical power Snatch to get the jewel away from Merlin. Kagome quickly picks it up. Simultaneously, Jasmine has created a lava circle wall around herself, Nico, and Diane. Diane has to force King out of the circle's range and the phenixgon fly out of the way. Diane finally finishes her dance and raises Gideon, releasing her forbidden technique, Lighting Rod. While capable of massive destruction on the surface, the lava wall contains the massive lightening, hitting Nico and finally knocking her out.

"NOW ARWEN!" shouts Jasmine as she lowers the lava wall and allows the elf to fly in with her wind powers. Arwen pulls her secret weapon out, a very small bottle that she suddenly enlarges to 30 ft. Stormy jumps up and burst the bottle, which dumps water all over Nico Reika. Apolline and Carmine also add a bunch of shiny dust, weakening her even further. Nico screams out in pain as her power fades and she shrinks in size, finally revealing that her true, normal form. She looks just like an ordinary, somewhat petite size human woman around 30. Several in the group can't believe that this was the person with powers rivaling that of Barbatos and Caelestis. She's covered in blood, sweat, many cuts of various sizes and depth, and many bruises. Her clothes, resembling Indonesian attire, seem intact but are soaked with blood. Stormy quickly goes to her and puts sea prism moon stone cuffs on her, rendering her powerless.

Despite being completely surrounded and vulnerable, Nico Reika continues to look at everybody with fierce determination, telling them that they will never get what they want. Jasmine comes forward, powers down, and identifies herself. Nico Reika's expression, then words in German reveals that she has some respect for the vulacish but still tells her that she won't let her inside their borders. Jasmine tries to assure her they only came for their friends and to get their personal belongings back. Nico Reika obviously doesn't believe her and says they'll never see their weapons again. However, sacred treasures Aldan and Chastiefol are close enough for their owners to sense their presence, so Merlin and King go to a nearby cave and just call their treasures to themselves. The group them try to assure Nico Reika that they are taking their leave and promise not to bother her anymore. She doesn't trust them, but agrees if they let her go, she'll give them ten seconds to flee her territory or she'll attack them again. Elizabeth heals her injuries as the cuffs are removed. Nico puts her arms in positions to start attacking again and everybody quickly takes their leave (despite some like Ban, Stormy, and even Zeldris and King wanting to give her another beating). Diane is quickly shrunk back down, and Merlin and Apolline both create perfect cubes to transport everybody while both Jasmine and Arwen add their power to flash speed them out of there. They just barely make it out of Nico's reach when they the clone limbs return and tries to grab them. Once they are clear, however, Merlin notices that Nico took 20 seconds instead of ten, giving just a tad little benefit of the doubt.

Along for the ride is four-year-old Hana, whom Carmine had kept hidden in her clothes. Happy to be let out of that hot, stuffy space, Hana is eager to get back with Diane as she's comfortable with her. Carmine asks to be let out from the cube so she can take the traumatized guide to a clinic, despite the fact that Elizaeth's already healed his physical wounds. The priestess insists that Oda's granddaughter to go with her, but Hana demands on staying with Diane and tries to throw a tantrum. The serpent sin assures the priestess that she'll keep her safe, and Carmine reluctantly relents and leaves with the guide.

Once the group is sure they're safe, Diane and King embrace and kiss like there's no tomorrow. Zeldris and Gelda embrace each other even tighter, forgetting that they are in public, Zeldris puts if face in his beloved breast and grabs her behind. It takes a minute before the demon king and vampire even realize there's literally a crowd looking at them and he immediately stops, looking embarrassed. Gelda continues to cuddle her lover.

Outside the two perfect cubs, the phenixgon siblings are having their own tearful reunion. Wild is envious of all the reunions and tearfully prays that Hawk and Melidy are safe.

After cracking a couple of embarrassing jokes towards his brother-in-law, Ban asks Diane about Elaine. She assures him that she's with good people, momentary forgetting about the vulacish and volcano causes massive danger and destruction there. All that can be promise about Elaine is that Carmine and Uba, as well as Jasmine could try to open the gate on their ends, but the risks might be too high. The gates are showing strong signs of possible convergence, which should happen any day now. This doesn't sit well with Ban at all, demanding that somebody go there to get her. However, King reminds Ban of his promise to Elaine to never rescue her again at such a cost, once even trying to kill Meliodas, his best friend and bro, just because he put his faith into a goddess blowhorn who promised to bring back Elaine's trapped soul if he killed his captain. Ban isn't even sure he could live with himself anymore if he ever tried to sacrifice others, especially people he loves, just to have Elaine, especially when she herself wouldn't be proud of him for doing so. Elizabeth sits next to Merlin and hugs her. Jasmine also noticed Merlin and welcomed her, as did Stormy, although Arwen and Apolline aren't so quick to trust her. Kagome especially glares at the mage. She's sure that Merlin's the one who took the Shikon Jewel from her. Merlin did, unable to resist the temptation of its power, and is still interested in it. Kagome refuses to answer any questions about it.

Kagome demands any info about Inuyasha. After thinking for a bit, Jasmine recalls Iris's teleported written message that somebody from Japan had arrived in Luxor and was with Meliodas and Willie, as well as a flea demon. Kagome gasp and puts her hand over her racing heart. It has to be Inuyasha (and Myoga, whom nobody even noticed was missing). Jasmine has no description details, but Kagome is certain it's him and demands to be taken to Egypt right away. While inside the perfect cube, Jasmine suddenly passes out. Everyone is worried at first until it's confirmed that she just passed out from exhaustion. Ban and Zeldris really don't blame her and are on the verge of passing out themselves. As everyone takes a sit to rest, Zeldris suddenly ask Arwen and Apolline about that stuff they dumped on Nico Rieka.

"Oh that;" replies Arwen; "That was salt water from the Dead Sea. Salt water weakens devil fruit users, especially Dead Sea water. They also can't swim in any water; they just sink like rocks. Ironic since most users tend to live near the coast, and a good number of them have taken to the seas as pirates."

"The stuff that Apolline dumped on her was sea prism moon stone dust;" adds Stormy; "the only known material that disrupts and blocks devil fruit abilities."

"Hey!" says Apolline; "Don't tell them that stuff. They're trade secrets."

"What trade secrets?" asks Arwen; "None of us have ever eaten a devil fruit. We're not users and we know."

"This is all festinating and all;" King interrupts; "But can we figure out how to get Elaine and the captain back?"

"And Inuyasha!" shouts Kagome.

"And Mild and Melidy!" adds Wild.

The first perfect cube suddenly starts to shake. Apolline is exhausted (and severely malnourish) and is struggling to maintain the cube. Merlin's ok for now as the Shikon Jewel restored much of her energy and magic, plus the perfect tube doesn't take too much energy at one time. "Miss Merlin, let's combine our cubs into one;" suggest Stormy; "Let's let the phenixgon in too, they look exhausted. I can take over for Apolline. I'll also need to borrow energy form everybody to maintain it until we get to the fortress."

"Fortress!" a few said in unison.

"We were supposed to return to Amalfi;" says Zeldris sternly.

"If we go to the fortress;" explains Arwen; "You'll be reunited with your piglet friends. And we should be able to teleport to Luxor from there. Maybe we can teleport to Japan too."

"How?" asks Apolline; "With transport salt? The full moon has already passed. Japan's far from our teleportation reach."

"Quit being so negative all the time Apolline;" says Stormy as the sun peaks over the horizon. "If we hurry, we may even make it in time for church!"

"I think God will forgive us for not attending considering the circumstances;" informs Apolline; "We'll just get our Bibles out and worship in here. Pastor Jaz may wake up in a few hours anyway."

As Stormy borrows energy from everybody, most start to fall asleep one by one. Gelda and Zeldris, as well as King and Diane, snuggle with each as they drift off to sleep. Hana puts her head on Diane's lap. Merlin relaxes a little as she takes her medicine for her sickness and thanks everyone, that is those who are still awake. Elizabeth asks how long it's going to take to reach the fortress. Arwen says around 4 or 5 hours. Elizabeth looks out in the direction they're going. She's interested in meeting her Aunt Artemis, but then a suddenly feeling of dread comes over her. She has a huge feeling that something's not right. She asks her cousins to tell her everything they know. Merlin, who didn't know who these girls were, is astounded that they are Artemis's daughters and Elizabeth's cousins. She asks more questions in detail, but Apolline especially doesn't want to talk to her and puts a dark right around Stormy's mouth to keep her from talking too much. She also asks if anyone has seen Nuri. Elizabeth hasn't seen her, but her cousin's shutter at the mention of her name.

As they talk, Elizabeth glazes at the view ahead. She gets yet another feeling. She feels as if Meliodas is literally waiting for her in that direction. That's odd since he's supposed to be in Egypt, but Elizabeth's feelings have never been wrong before. She then hears Apolline say that she fears she has felt the presence of Caelestis at the fortress. Elizabeth really hopes that's not true, hoping her intuition isn't right this time.