Chapter 26: Identifying the Truth

A full day went by after the note arrived from Hikari, much to Sora's anger she can't do much help, making rash decisions could be the end of her, they have already gone through a small handful of the Lord of Madness' bases, which didn't feel like damaging the main forces at all, each location only had a small handful of monsters which were easily defeated without much of a fight.

Sora was looking out the roughly patched up window of the Command Center, watching as the dark red rocks and sand landscape passed by, while a majority of the Dreadnaught Crusader was lost after the fight with the large dragon and rough landing in the Chaos World, they were at least able to salvage a few major locations of the ship, sadly they couldn't take the nuclear laser that Jan really wanted, but couldn't find a good way to fix it and bring it along.

Nora walked up behind Sora, placing her left hand onto Sora's right shoulder, which Sora turned to look at her and gave a weak smile.

"I know you're nervous, but we will find him before it's too late." Nora said.

"I know, but it's normal to worry about the one you love." Sora said. "Nora, do you and Jan have a child?"

"W-What why would you ask something like that?" Nora asked, a bit nervous.

"Well, the two of you are married, just wanted to know if you have one or wanted to have one." Sora said.

"W-Well, I have been thinking about it of course, but I don't think Jan would be the kind of guy who would be a father figure, or someone who would want to be one." Nora said, while looking away a bit.

"Well there is only one way to find out." Sora said.

Weirdly like some divine chance by fate, Jan walked into the Command Center while eating a sandwich, Sora face grew a smirk and lightly pat Nora on the back walking over to Jan.

"Hey Jan, Nora has something to ask you." Sora said and left the Command Center.

Jan looked over at Nora, with part of his sandwich in his mouth, walking over to her, swallowing his bite.

"Yes Nora, what can I help you with?" Jan asked.

"I-I was wondering, if you had thoughts of wanting a child?" Nora asked.

"Why are you asking this, I thought that's what we were…" Before Jan could finish, Nora covered his mouth, her cheeks right red.

"Can we just not talk about this out loud." Nora said.

Jan simply shrugged his shoulders, then hugged Nora.

"I would love to have a child with you." Jan said.

Nora lightly squeezed him into a hug, as the two of them left the command center, Sora just smiled from where she was standing, but then frowned a bit.

"Upset since they can do something like that?" Malum said, standing next to Sora.

Sora jumped lightly and looked over at him, partially yelling at him.

"Don't sneak up on people like that!"

Malum shrugged, then walked to the middle of the command center, looking at some screens. Sora was still upset, then just took a breath, looking toward Malum.

"It's not like we would ever really be able to have a child, with this body of mine, I am an anomaly, I'm able to blush, cry, but I can't even bleed, or feel any pain. So I will obviously not be able to bear him a child, but I will just be happy to just be able to live happily with him."

Malum looked down at his hands, then closed his eyes, as an old memory resurfaces, he was being held back by some guards, with spears keeping him back, he was yelling at the top of his lungs, hearing the screams of a woman and children. He shook his head, then looked over at Sora, causing Sora to be a little surprised, to see a reaction she had never seen from Malum before, Malum just sighed and left the room.

Sora leaned against the wall, looking down at her hands, then clenched her fists, leaving the room.

Oritsu's Army

Hikari's mouth was starting to dry up, while it was gagged, it didn't help with the dry air and the sandstorms, her bruised eye was starting to feel worse, due to the sand, her limbs were also stiff due to the position her limbs were tied to the pole she was connected to, she knew there would be no way to try and trick Oritsu to let her go, he wasn't that much of an idiot, besides going to war with a Lord Tier Demon.

What she did do was analyze his soldiers to find an faults in their design, they may be perfect, but in the end nothing can be perfect, her working good eye has been weird since her original self had started talking to her, she was able to see magic items and that arrow she shot, while she wasn't sure if it found it's target, she had a feeling that it did.

She looked all over the soldier's bodies, to look for some sort of weak point, until her eye came upon a spot located in their abdomen, now all that she had to do was escape and free Akumu.

Nine Trials: Floor Four Greed

Once Kaiza set foot on the next floor, his body felt insanely heavy, he started making his way through the floor, the further he walked the heavier he felt, he pulled of the torn shirt that was practically scraps by this point, once he did this, he felt lighter but not by much, he would continue walking, removing his shoes, socks and pants.

As he walked, the rougher the terrain got, cutting up his feet, as the landscape started to move upwards, the weight of his body felt like it started to double the more he climbed, he pulled out his Contract Deck, removing one card at a time, while it didn't do much help, it was something.

"If this keeps up, I will be practically naked by the time I make it to the next gate, but this is getting to be insane, now it feels like if removing my prized items will not help, I might have to start removing my limbs." Kaiza said to himself.

He looked up just in time for his eyes to go wide, when he saw boulders rolling down the hill, he tried his best to dodge them, only to be hit by them seriously damaging his body. Kaiza looked down at his remaining Contract Cards, saying he is sorry, throwing the deck, then Hell's Access II, moving out of the when from the boulders, then reached what looked like the top of the mountain, only to find it to be about half way up.

Before he could get a chance to breathe a boulder fell down completely crushing his left arm, causing him to scream out in pain

Dreadnought Crusader

The group was cleaning up after taking out another one of the Lord of Madness' bases, Sora walked through the empty, looking for any remaining troops, the sound of some rustling echoed through the halls, she stayed on guard, making her way into the nearest room. Upon walking into the room, Sora noticed some cells, she saw movement from within the cells, she got a closer look seeing humans, but what shocked her the most is that they had some animal traits.

"Demi humans." Malum said from behind Sora.

"Jesus Christ Malum not again!" Sora yelled.

Jan and Gishiki walked into the room, seeing Malum and Sora removing people from the cells.

"Demi humans were a race of humans, that lived during the Middle Ages, they were treated more like slaves, for nobility or for anyone that could buy them. Demi humans now only live within the Chaos Realm, but they are more of an endangered race by this point so there aren't too many of them left." Malum explained.

"Gratias tibi ago, pro adiuvando nos." (Thank you, for helping us.) A man with cat ears said.

Sora, Jan and Gishiki tilted their heads confused, though Malum replied to the man.

"Gratias agimus, nos te in locum securum accipiemus." (You're welcome, we will take you to a safe place.)

Malum escorted the Demi Humans out of the place, leading them onto the Dreadnaught Crusader.

"Malum what language were you just speaking?" Gishiki asked.

"I was speaking in Latin." Malum said.

"Latin speaking Demi Humans, who were around from when the Middle Ages were around, Malum just what kind of place is the Chaos Realm actually?" Sora asked.

Malum looked at the three of them, thinking for a bit, then sighed.

"I guess I should finally tell you, the Chaos Realm was originally a part of the human world, many years ago in what is known as the Middle Ages, magic used to exist one in the same. Fantasy stories nowadays tell stories about creatures that used to exist, though the fantasy stories are mainly fiction to the unknown world." Malum explained. "Like I mentioned Demi Humans were once a race, demons were also a race, hence yours truly, the lowly monsters you fought back in your world, came from these deep holes in the ground called Spawn Pits, so that's how there are so many of them, the origins of the Spawn Pits are something I don't even know, funny right?"

The three of them just stood there, until walked to the side rubbing his head. "My brain hurts now."

"So you're telling me demons were a normal part of this world?" Gishiki asked.

"Oh don't get your little holy robes tied, angels did appear occasionally." Malum said.

"What exactly happened that caused the world to change so much?" Sora asked.

Malum looked slightly surprised by the question, but knew it was coming, then looked away before replying.

"I'm sorry, for that I do not know, matter of fact a good amount of my memories are gone after a certain point, I don't know if it was repressed memories or something else happened."

Jan walked over about to say something, until he was cut off, as a voice spoke up over their ear pieces.

"We have an unknown movement picked up over 50 miles away, moving further away and it may be an important unit of the Lord of Madness, get ready to move out."

Nine Trials: Floor Four Greed

Kaiza slowly pulled himself the mountain, with only one working arm and leg, as his right leg had been crushed shortly after his left arm was crushed, Kaiza was feeling a bit light headed after all the pain, his grip slipped as he tumbled down the rigid mountain, until he gripped the mountain again, his remaining hand and foot were heavily cut up and bleeding.

"You know you, you could have used your powers to overcome these trials." Kai said in Kaiza's mind.

"Haha, if I had really done that then I would be like any of the other demons that took this trial. I may be born a demon, but I was raised as a human." Kaiza said.

"While you were secretly raised by Wrath, a demon." Kai replied.

"You know you're right, but in a way he cared for me as a human and a demon. But this is my trial, I may use my powers in a fight, this necklace and gem around my neck may continue forcing my body against this mountain and continue destroying me." Kaiza said. "But it resembles the ones who are part of my life and ones who are no longer here for me."

Kaiza finally made it to the top of the mountain after all the problems, he rolled onto his back, panting slowly while looking up at the wide open sky.

"I really wonder if these Trials are not really floors but different pocket dimensions." Kaiza said.

Kaiza's body slowly started healing due to his unnatural healing abilities as a demon, he slowly sat up looking around the area, until Kai spoke up.

"Can you go over there for a second?"

Kaiza slowly pulled himself toward the Kai mentioned, which wasn't too hard to find since the top of the mountain had the gate and a few larger rocks, Kaiza slid his hands along the rocks, looking around the place.

"The large rock in the middle." Kai spoke up.

Kaiza turned over the large rock, finding a box underneath, he knelt down, opening the box.

"This confirms my theory, the Nine Trials were once part of the real world, this box contains some things I had set aside for when I would grow up, I came up here with Vivian one day." Kai said.

Kaiza looked through the box, putting the clothes on, he geared up with some nobility looking clothing, while they also had the appearance of some adventurer, he slipped on some boots, then connecting the long sword and scabbard to his left hip and found some twine tying his hair back the best he could.

"I look like someone going to a renaissance fair." Kaiza said.

"What is that?" Kai asked.

"Just look through my memories." Kaiza said.

Kaiza slowly stretched a bit, getting used to his limbs being fixed, he lightly open and closed his fingers from his left hand, thinking to himself that his healing ability was getting faster, since around the beginning of this whole ordeal with fighting the Sinful Seven, he was bed ridden for at least a couple of days. He closed his eyes, thinking back to his first encounter with Lust and Wrath, while remembering the good times he had with both of them, he then opened his eyes moving his hand out toward the open cliff side.

The Contract Cards and Deck flew back to his hand, kissing the deck before apologizing, then looked toward the Gate for the next Trial with the Latin words for Wrath, Kaiza took a deep breath, then made his way toward the gate, pushing it open, then proceeded his way down the stair, as the gate closed behind him.

Oritsu's Army

Oritsu was lounging in his throne, while drinking some wine, until he was knocked from his seat, getting up roaring at the soldiers.

"You idiots, can you not just walk around a simple rock!"

The post that Hikari was stuck on was toppled to the ground, her head landed near a sharp rock, she moved close to it before the soldiers could react, she started rubbing the gag against the rock, after cutting the gag, she moved her bound hands against the rock, once freed she freed her feet. Grabbing a weapon, she hopped up, then rushed toward Oritsu, he noticed her running toward him, he had ordered the mind controlled Ripa against her.

"Akumu snap out of it, you have your own free will, you don't have to listen to Oritsu anymore!" Hikari shouted.

Ripa stood there for a split second, then charged at her, thrusting the spear toward her stomach, Hikari used her blade, to smack the side of the spear, knocking it to the side, she took a hold of the center of the spear, spinning around and aiming one of her elbows toward his head. Once her elbow connected with his head, he stumbled back, holding his head a bit, then moved the spear to the side, bringing it back hard against Hikari's side, causing her to gasp out for air, while holding her hip.

Moving down, grabbing another sword, she pointed both blades toward the ground, jamming them into the ground, jumping forward, with her right found forward, Ripa blocked the attack with his spear, which Hikari expected to happen. While still in movement, she slid her leg over the side of the spear, locking her popliteal around the spear, gripping it hard and rotated her body, using the kneel of her free foot to smack Ripa on the right side of his head.

Ripa stumbled to the side, as Hikari had wrestled the spear from his hands as he stumbled to the side from the hit, Hikari took the spear, she gripped it in her right hand, pulling her arm back, aiming right at Ripa, then launched her arm forward and released the spear. Ripa dodged the attack right before it hit him, but Hikari simply grinned, as the spear whizzed by Ripa as it was actually aimed right behind him, right at Oritsu, an angered expression appeared across his face, ordering his guards to block the attack, which they did but since it was the weapon of Ripa and not a normal spear, it cutting through them, but each one lowered it's speed and force.

Oritsu let out a sigh as it stopped right before hitting his chest, he opened his eyes, to see Hikari running forward, jumping up and slamming the bottom of her right foot on the bottom of the spear, yelling loud to add to her adrenaline, as the spear pierced through his chest as he fell forward. Hikari ran over to the tip of the spear finding a necklace with a heart shaped locket connected to the tip of the spear, but before she could take it, she felt an uneasy presence behind her, she looked back to see Oritsu standing up behind her panting, her eyes widened as the hole in Oritsu's chest close shut.

He raised his right hand, as a large amount of his soldiers nocked arrows in there bows, right as Oritsu brought his hand to command his soldiers to attack, the sound of something going through the bodies of whatever his soldiers were made of, he looked back at them seeing them all fall to the ground.

"Attack the soldiers and protect Hikari!" The sound of a female rang out over the silence.

Hikari and Oritsu both looked toward the direction of the voiced, another angered expression covered his face, as Hikari's face was shedding tears, as they saw Puppeteer gliding along the rust-colored sand in her Wind Form, as what remained of the Dreadnought Crusader and Arch and Heilige were all following her.