Chapter 87- The Devil’s Playground
"No matter what corner of the earth, the Devil's always lurking around every corner… I see them, but they don't see me"- Malum
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**Two Years Ago, Underground Prison In The City Of Sorcerers**
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The what felt like an endless underground hallway with torches lit on each side of the black yet shiny walls, had many holding cells on each side…
Kairei sat inside the fourth holding cell, left to the stairs. His head rose when he heard low footsteps from someone coming down the stairs…
The boy came to a pause when he reached Kairei's cell, he spoke out loud enough for Kai to hear him but quiet enough to not cause an echo in the almost empty prison…
"Hey… you good now?" Jason asked in a kind of sarcastic yet joking tone. Kairei replied, "The hell do you want?"
Jason gripped the bar of the cell door and forced it open, upon entering the cell he closed the door behind him and leaned up against the wall in front of the bed Kai was sitting on…
He put his foot up and crossed his arms, Kairei's eyebrows raised when he asked. "You're goddamned weird, has anyone told you that?"…
"Weren't you just hopping around like a monkey?". Jason snickered as he saw Kai's disgruntled face… "I'm joking… but I did want to come down here to see how you were doing now that you calmed down."
Kairei sighed, disregarding Jason's attempt at a joke, he said "that white haired girl, I think she said her name was Aria. She told me about how you're the one that old dude sealed Malum inside of."
Jason's eyes locked onto Kairei's curious face… confused and a little disgusted at Jason's staring, Kairei moved his head a little to the side and said, "it's weird for a dude to stare at another dude… could you stop."
Jason scoffed, and sat down with his back against the wall with his arms crossed. "Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't swing that way… but seriously, I was just surprised. Usually people just refer to me as Malum's "vessel", but you seem different."
"Though i guess we're kinda in the same boat… you have a demon inside you too right?"
"…"-Kai
"…I didn't ask for it." Kai finally muttered. "I didn't ask to have something inside of me, that invites psychotic people like that cult that kidnapped me and my family, and experimented on us like animals… the difference between me and you, is that for me I don't care if someone else had to take on this burden…"
Jason glanced over to Kai, noticing his gaze focused at the ground while a shadow blanketed a side of his face.
Kai continued, "that girl Aria told me, about how you once said it's not in you to let someone else carry a burden like yours even if it meant making your life easier… but can I ask you a question?"
"Sure"-Jason
"Why do you feel the need to hold on to a curse forced upon you by the ones you want to protect from this?", Kairei's gaze stayed on the ground…
Jason had a long sigh, he then replied. "Because if I don't, then what would that mean for all that my sister and mother went through?… even though it might be selfish of me, my main concern is protecting my mother and sister, and Aria… and while I still care about other people and want to protect everyone else as well. My main priority above all else is protecting my family, even if that meant I had to suffer a little…"
Kai's eyes widened when he looked up at Jason, the corners of his mouth went down a little but not out of disappointment.
Jason continued, "And If I think of everything my sister and mother might've went through before I was born… you could say I have it pretty easy"
It was surprising, how Jason could so easily talk about how easy he has it compared to his mother and sister's years of suffering, considering how oblivious he was to their lives before learning of the abuse they've endured…
Kai thought, ("this dude's weird… I can understand wanting to protect his family, but…"). ("I hate people like this dude… acting strong by protecting people they care about, but being able to smile through the suffering they're enduring.")
Kai was quick to fix his gaze back at the ground, the bitterness in his voice replayed in his mind as he fixated on the foolishness behind Jason's words, but his true feelings behind Jason's will might not have been repulsion…
But the thought of someone being able to do what he desired to do, but his own power betrayed his desire… Jason disrupted the deafening silence, "you know what i find cool about you?".
"It's cool how different you are from other people… you don't take other people's words about other people and take them as fact, and instead form believe in your own opinion on them."
Kai's eyes squinted, his face turned a little sour… Jason stood up, and walked out the cell door, yet leaving it unlocked…
But before walking up the stairs, he said "I respect that."
Kairei then laid down on his back, looking up at the grey stone ceiling, still thinking of Jason's earlier words as his eyelids fell.
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**Present Day, Hell Universe, Purgatory Prison Pods**
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The round red pods pulsed, as Kairei awoke from his deep slumber following his earlier fight with the leader of the seven sins, Tengu.
His breathing was quick, with sweat dripping down his face… his voice was rough ("What the hell?! Where am I") he thought to himself, unbeknownst of Aaliyah and Selene in the wide pod in front of his…
"Hey… you're one of Jason and Aria's friends right? Kairei?" Aaliyah shouted out. Kai put his hand on his head at the sound of Aaliyah's loud voice echoing across the prison…
Kairei turned around to see Aaliyah and Selene, his eyes widened… his expression was sour yet confused at the same time.
"Miss Aaliyah, And Selene… what the hell's going on?!"
Selene spoke out, her eyes were sharp as she glanced at Kai, "dunno about you, but two demons from hell invaded our universe and brought me and my mom here… I assume the same happened to you?"
Kai replied, "don't see how else I could've got here". His face jolted up, pressing his hands against the pod as he looked around and asked; "where's Jason… that bastard!"
"Wha?"- Aaliyah
Selene's voice was soft, yet grim when she said. "Not here yet… and I understand you two aren't on the best terms right now, and that he still views you as a close friend. but don't think for a second that I'll sit back and let you try to kill him, but I'd rather it not come to conflict, so let's work on finding a way out of here."
Kai's brows furrowed as he shouted, "you expect me to work with terrorists like you both, and Jason?! That guy killed thousands of people and children, and you still support someone like that?! I don't care what you do, but I'll get out of here on my own!"…
Selene's voice remained calm, she responded "first things first, take that base out of your voice when you talk to use. Second thing, if you want to get out of here, you don't seem to have any other choice than to rely on us… not to be rude, but you don't seem smart enough to figure out how to get out of here on your own."
Aaliyah also spoke out, her voice a little louder than Selene's. "You two need to shut up and stop arguing, it's pissing me off… goddamn, just think of some ways to get out of here first."
Aaliyah put her hand on the pod, which pulsated on contact as if reacting to the energy flow from her body. She exclaimed "these pods are imbued with chaos energy, and i think it's layered with a type of sealing magic to block out foreign chaos energy sources."
Kairei responded, his voice sounding grumpy. "So if it's suppressing our powers, then we don't have a way out of here… even if we used our spiritual energy, it won't matter since spirit energy and chaos energy are basically equal in terms of outputting magic."
Selene's eye lids lowered, she also frowned as she put her hand on the pod. The pod reacted, the wavy red circles of chaos energy moved away from her hand… she then said, "yeah… that could work. Divine energy is a direct counter to chaos energy, and has an energy type advantage against it… it's a good thing you and aunt sachiko did that prayer ritual on me when I was born."
"…"-Aaliyah
Selene continued, "since Hell is a separate universe from ours… the space here has different laws, but that doesn't apply to our soul spaces… I'm gonna do a sacrifice ritual Ma, if we wanna get out of here, I need to focus my 50% divine energy into using my soul space to change the add a new function of my soul space which we can use to teleport out of here."
Kai's head jerked up. "Is that even possible?"… Aaliyah looked at Selene wondering the same thing. Selene replied, "wouldn't be suggesting it if it wasn't."
Selene crossed her legs, and closed her eyes… her divine energy spiked, the pod in front of her and Aaliyah shifted to a white color.
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**Main Universe, Southern Tribe Center**
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The battle between Jason and Ikari continued, Asami and Kaida fought in the distance… blood slashes from Asami's black blade flew at Kaida who deflected them with her graceful flame dancing, blue flames sparked underneath her feet.
Ikari's laughter sounded around the area, a red blur clashed with grey and black blurs…
Asami's personal special division team watched in awe, a battle between four monsters wasn't an everyday sight for them. The senior lieutenant miller looked down at the kneeling short black haired cadet Sidra Nohara and asked, "how's that spell coming along Nohara?"
Her gaze was still fixed on the blurring figures of the moving monsters Jason and Ikari, when she replied. "It's almost done, Jason's chaos energy is weakening… soon the spell along with his fight against that demon will deplete his soul's little amount of spirit energy holding Malum back, and Malum will come out… until then please do not distract me elder."
"Tch… punkass"-Miller
Jason's face tensed up as he threw a punch at Ikari. Ikari caught his hand and pulled him in to knee him in the stomach. "Ack"…
He then pounded his back and stomped him into the ground, Jason's eyes began rolling to the back of his head while blood splattered on the ground.
("Dammit… those dumbasses over there, if they keep doing that spell over there, Malum'll come out")-Jason
Suddenly, Ikari came to a pause… his movements, the space around them, and all actions around them froze… Jason grunted, already knowing what's happening.
A voice sounded in his head, the voice was grim. "Boy… you must know that it's only a matter minutes til I take over, just give me the body now… that general over there, Asami. She's waiting for the moment I take over and planning on killing us, and I'd rather not die, you sure as hell don't stand a chance against her…
"And my other son is on his way now, him, Devoro, and Tengu together… you nor that Kaida girl or Aria will be able to beat them all at once, think about it."
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**Southern Tribe, nearing sector c**
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Kaida stumbled on the concrete ground, sliding her feet across the ground with blue flames sparking underneath them…
She swiped both of her arms up with a trail of blue fire behind them… summoning a blue flaming dragon above her and directed it toward Asami.
Asami planted the sharp end of her black blood coated blade in the ground… her long black hair spun around her and cut up the flaming dragon.
Her hair retracted, she emerged with spirit grenades manifested through her hair… she threw them at Kaida who swiftly dodged them as they exploded.
("These grenades, though manifested from her spirit energy still take on properties similar to actual grenades…")-Kaida
Kaida stoped, and raised her hands manipulating the smoke spreading from the grenades, pouring her own spirit energy into them…
Asami's expression remained calm, though she looked into the smoke which spread throughout the area… and noticed small orange sparks in them. ("This child… she's using the smoke to hide her presence from me")
Asami swiped her blade, sheathed her blade but left the tip peeking out. And summoned a circle of blood surrounding her, and sent it flying as it cut through the dispersing smoke.
She looked around, and then noticed ashes behind her… the Kaida rose through the Ashe's like a dragon, and made a fist shooting a thick blast of fire right through Asami's stomach.
Kaida's eyes went wide. She thought to herself, ("I didn't put enough spirit energy into my attack just now to blow a hole through her body… so why?!")…
Asami's body turned to a white mist. then the space around her deforming body cracked like glass…
A mirror then manifested behind Kaida, with Asami tilting her body out of it enough to get close to Kaida's ear, and she whispered. "You're a millennium too early to beat me in battle… you have the will of a dragon, yet you're still too little to defeat me."
Kaida's pupils dilated… the space around her began to warp, a black veil formed around the area… with an endless puddle of blood rising on the ground, Kaida looked up to see a towering pale phantom.
Asami Appeared As A Towering Ghost-Like Figure With Her Long Black Hair Extending And Acting As The Barrier Encasing Them Inside Of The space…
A wide Grin formed On Her Face, Her Eyes Turn white As She extended Her Hands With Her Blood threads extending from her fingers attached to Kaida's limbs…
Blood from the puddle rose up forming two women, the taller one had long black hair and crimson eyes, and the other had short black hair with crimson eyes…
Kimiko and Chikai, Kaida's mother and older sister… kaida squinted at the sight of her mother and sister.
A voice coming from nowhere sounded, and echoed… "no one is exempt from feeling fear, something which has been around since the beginning of time, girl."
Kaida suddenly screamed in pain, her skin began peeling off and her red painted nails ripped off… the mirages of her deceased mother and sister grabbed onto her face, and gazed into her eyes.
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**Southern Tribe, Above The Wall**
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Aria reached her hands out, and from her back sprouted four celestial chains which wrapped around Devoro's arms and legs…
She flew right at Devoro and punched right through Devoro, knocking him back into the wall.
Devoro grunted, as he tried to get up… not quick enough to evade the kick Aria landed on his chest…
Devoro grabbed a hold of Aria's leg, pulling it in toward the stomach on his chest. Aria instinctively blowed divine energy into his mouth, repulsed by it Devoro let go of her leg…
Kaida flipped back into the air and yanked Devoro up using her telekinetic magic, she flew in front of him and in the blink of an eye slammed him through a planet, blowing a hole in it…
"GAH!"-Devoro
Aria then threw Devoro back down toward earth, right outside and below the wall surrounding the southern tribe, and kicked him into the ground as he spat up blood…
Her eyes glowed white as she said, "you demons call humans weak, yet you all bleed just the same as us humans."
Aria cocked her fist back, readying another punch to finish the job… but came to a pause.
She dropped to her knees at the compressing space around her, looking over her shoulder enough to see a gateway opening up with a demon coming through…
He wore tattered black robes and tattered black pants, stitches all over his face, arms, legs, and torso. A silver mark on his forehead reading "Pride" glowed a little…
The look in his eyes were of disapproval and disdain as he looked at his brother on the ground, his voice was deep as he said. "I'd say it's pitiful losing to a child, especially one that I gave the order of staying clear of… I specifically told you all not to provoke her into battle, that your chances of winning were minuscule."
He took his hands out of his pockets, and continued. "Though i suppose you've done a decent enough job at surviving this long against her… and forcing her to draining most of her energy, I commend you."
Aria grunted as she got up and threw a fist at Tengu, one which he caught… and said while looking into her eyes, "while I respect your intellect and power… don't mistake me for my foolish brother, I know not to let my guard drop against you. Though I don't intend to kill you or your loved ones just yet, so just go to sleep for now."
Tengu touched Aria's chest, as she suddenly fell unconscious… Devoro got up and asked, "what did you do?"
"I simply put her soul asleep, hurry and take her back to our universe… I'm going to help Ikari subdue our father's vessel."
Tengu opened up a gateway to the hell universe, and Devoro carried Aria through it as it closed behind him.
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**Southern Tribe, Center**
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Jason dropped to one knee, and Ikari stood laughing… he said aloud, "you're pathetic ya know that?! Scared to go all out and use your power because of the people around you will die."
Jason gasped for air, disregarding Ikari's taunts…
He looked at his broken hand, and grunted in pain. And as he looked up, Ikari looked behind Jason with wide eyes, his body tensed up, yet annoyance masked his obvious fear.
Jason felt a chill going up his spine, feeling the malevolent energy behind him as he looked over his shoulder and saw Tengu standing with his hands in his pockets, glaring down at him.
Continued in chapter 88…