Chapter 32: No Safe Heaven

Gagaran swung her war pick at Scarlet, smashing the side of her head with it sending her flying. Her skull cracked as her neck went limp, but this was just a normal walk in the park for her. Scarlet smirked as her injuries healed up, she glared at Gagaran and rushed towards her. She swung Black Rose at her while Gagaran swung her war pick at her again, but weapons collided together.

"You're not bad... you're pretty strong." Scarlet said with a smirk on her face. "Tell me... why work on the side of good? When you can work for me as my bodyguard."

Gagaran laughed as she kicked Scarlet in the gut. "Thanks but no thanks, your offer is declined. I'm not the type to be evil. Let alone work for someone who tortures people."

"Me? Torture? Please. I have never...Well, maybe once or twice. But it was just for the fun of it." Scarlet spoke as she held her stomach, the kick was hard. Hard enough to damage her intestines, which caused internal bleeding. "I must admit, that kick was a strong one, one to damage my intestines..." She laughed a little bit.

"My thoughts exactly." Gagaran said as she had stayed behind while the rest of her team went on ahead. "Just what are your connections to that creature over there? You seem to know what it is."

Scarlet raised an eyebrow up, she looked over her shoulder and at Destoroyah. "You mean that thing? I don't know what you mean. I don't have any connections to Destoroyah, let alone know much about it." The Grimm girl turned her gaze back towards Gagaran. "Besides, isn't it a bit rude to assume I have connections to every monster known to man? Just because you and your silly little team of lesbians watched me devour Shalltear whole like it was no problem."

"Lesbians? Now listen here!" Gagaran barked loudly. "I don't know what you're going on about, but my team isn't what you say they are." She clinched her fist tightly and glared at Scarlet.

The Grimm girl snickered as she shrugged. "Oh come now, no need to be in denial..." Scarlet rolled her eyes as she smirked. "Besides, there's nothing wrong with falling in love with the same gender."

Gagaran scowled. "You wouldn't even know the first thing about love." She clinched her war pick tightly. "What could someone like you know anything about love?" She kept her gaze on Scarlet for a moment as she watched her slowly walk around her. "Well? Answer!"

"Ara Ara, someone's snappy." Scarlet chuckled under her breath. "Someone's taking offense to what I said." She smirked again as she walked towards Gagaran. "But I must tell you. I'm an expert when it comes to love, I have a wife and a daughter." She then stopped as she looked at Gagaran before using the butt of Black Rose to shatter her chest plate armor. "You don't have no right to tell me that I don't know what love is!"

Gagaran was stunned, she backed up a bit as she looked at her cracked armor. "How did you? No one should be able to easily do that."

Scarlet laughed as she stepped closer to her, her crimson red eyes glowing with a sinister glare in them. "My scythe is made out of the strongest metal known to man. Vibranium." She swung Black Rose at Gagarna who only blocked the attack with her war pick.

Gagaran was struggling to keep her defense up, she gritted her teeth as she felt Scarlet put pressure down onto her war pick. "You.... You can't beat me."

"Oh?" Scarlet asked snickering a little, she cocked her knee up and rammed her knee into her gut. "Let's see what happens when I do this over and over shall we?"

~~~

Gagaran skidded back on her feet as her war pick had a crack in it, she panted as she held up her war pick and looked towards Scarlet as she approached her. Her eyes widened as she saw Scarlet's nevermore wings, she clinched her fists around her war pick before tossing it at her.

Scarlet saw it coming as she used her semblance to stop time, she moved out of the way of the war pick and blinked allowing time to resume. The war pix landed in the ground as its sharp nose was stuck in the ground, the Grimm girl looked back towards Gagaran and dashed towards her. She flew into the air for a short moment, but she felt her let get grabbed as Gagaran slammed her down onto her back. Scarlet's spine snapping as she coughed up blood, she dropped Black Rose to grab onto Gagaran's head the next time she was tossed up. Once she had grabbed her head, she smashed her forehead against hers knocking both of them back.

"Your body is broken, your spine shattered." Gagaran said as she wiped away some blood from her face. "Stay down, I'll finish you off myself."

Scarlet looked up at her as she watched as Gagaran raised her metal boot up over her head, Scarlet smirked as vines wrapped around her and pulled her away before she could get her head smashed in. Gagaran was puzzled by what happened, but when she looked to she where Scarlet was dragged too, those same vines wrapped around Gagaran. The thorns scratched at what exposed skin she had, the thorns poked and stabbed at her skin, she struggled to tear them away but she noticed a white rose in the middle before it opened up with a glowing red orb.

Scarlet got up as she dusted herself off before looking over to the paralyzed Gagaran who was standing there. "Perfect, that's two down with the Nightmare Grimm. Sweet dreams..." She walked over as she pushed Gagaran over, she fell backwards as she crashed onto the ground making a loud thud. The Grimm girl knelt down as she looked into her eyes, she could see how easy it was for her to infect Gagaran with the Nightmare Grimm. The Grimm's vines still wrapped around her, Scarlet raised her foot up and stomped onto Gagaran's face, breaking her nose in the process.

"Now then." Scarlet mumbled as she flew into the air. "Where are the o----" She got struck down by lightning as she fell towards the ground.

"I must say.... you've started to become a real pain." Ainz said as he floated in the air. "And here, I was hoping we could work together but I was wrong." His eyes glowed as he held the same holographic heart of Scarlet's. "Grasp heart!" He started to squeeze the heart tighter and tighter. "So tell me, why are you doing this?"

Scarlet gritted her teeth as she slowly got up. "You're finally catching on huh?" She started to laugh. "I don't know if you've noticed, but Shalltear's gone. Albedo is in a dreamland and the same can be said for Gagaran, so if you don't want to be the next one who never wakes up... I suggest you surrender your kingdom to me."

Ainz started to laugh as he glared at Scarlet. "Avoiding the question are we? I wouldn't be laughing for much longer if I were you." He continued to squeeze the holographic heart in his hand, the tighter he squeezed the more Scarlet clinched her chest.

Destoroyah was starting to slowly approach each time the Grimm took shook the ground. Ainz glanced up seeing it get closer. He had crushed the holographic heart in his hand as Scarlet collapsed onto the ground, the more Destoroyah got closer, the more Ainz backed away. He was planning on drawing it somewhere.

"Demiurge." Ainz spoke as he continued to back up. "I want you to gather everyone, I'm going to put a stop to this nightmare once and for all." He stopped before using his magic to fly into the air, he held his arm out in front of him. "Fireball!" A big ball of fire shot from his hand towards Destoroyah as the Grimm was set on fire, Ainz flew off away from the scene. "I need to find a better area to deal with this creature."

Destoroyah's form changed as it soon took off through the air, it roared loudly as Ainz looked back seeing it chasing him. "So... it can fly too." Both Ainz and Destoroyah flew through the air over kingdoms and villages, which were sparking and blowing up whenever Destoroyah flew over head, the villagers and the people of each kingdom were fleeing. Buildings crumbled and fell over collapsing onto people, castles blew up and were smoking.

"This damned monster is destroying everything it flies over." Ainz said under his breath, he turned around as he fired more fireballs at Destoroyah. This only angered the Grimm as it fired its own attack at Ainz, Ainz moved out of the way as he took off flying again. "Come on you monster, keep following me."

~~~

Hero licked Scarlet's face as he nudged her with his cold nose. The Grimm girl slowly opened her eyes as she looked at her furry feline companion, she sat up slowly. Her crushed heart had regenerated itself, once she had sat up she noticed that Ainz was gone.

"The world is in ruins, apparently Ainz lured Destoroyah far away from this area and out of your reach." Hero spoke as he sat down. "Each village and kingdom is destroyed or left in ruins."

Scarlet didn't say anything, she did smirk however as she stood up. She popped her neck and bones as she then looked down at Hero. "So what you're saying is, I can let the Nightmare Grimm spread its thorny vines over what people are still alive? Interesting, Ainz seems to think I'm dead." When she looked down at Hero, she noticed her hand was changing colors.

Hero tilts his head to the side before standing up and stretching. "Your body was dead for a good.... hour or so, it may take time for your body to return to its normal color."

Scarlet shook her head. "No, that's not what I'm looking at. Hero can you summon a mirror?"

"I can." Hero said as he jumped into the air as a full body mirror appeared in front of Scarlet. "Why do you need a mirror by the way?"

Scarlet stayed silent, she looked at herself in the mirror for a brief moment. Flashes of Salem flashed through her head and in the mirror, Scarlet clinched her fist as she punched the mirror, the glass breaking as her hand was cut. "My skin is turning into my mothers skin tone." Her crimson red eyes glowed as she looked at a good chunk of the mirror that was still intact, she saw Salem in her place instead of her own reflection. "I'm turning into my mother."

"By turning into, do you mean you won't be yourself anymore?" Hero asked curiously.

"I don't know. I've never seen my skin change into the same color as Salem's." Scarlet spoke as she grabbed the mirror and tossed it aside. "No matter what I do, Salem appears." She cursed under her breath as she looked back down at Hero.

"What does that mean then? For all of this, tracking down Queen I mean." Hero asked once again with a curious tone.

Scarlet shakes her head again she wasn't going to give up chasing Queen down for what she did, she felt her heart beating. Allowing the blood to flow through her body again, she stayed silent once more as she started walking. "I'm going to rid this world of humanity and its hope, this world will become a graveyard... and it will burn."