Ash only spent a few minutes looking through the city on her way to the portal. The bodies of demons and humans alike, some of them reduced to ashes thanks to Vermia's mass resurrection, littered the stone and snow. The smell was the worst part. The scent of death was so intense Ash swore it would be here long after they cleaned everything up.
There was too much going through her mind. Satsuhiro's injury, the look on Kaori's face when Ash had re-entered the room and found her with Ren's dead body, Vermia's unconscious body on the bed next to it. Ash shook her head, trying her hardest to focus.
Technically, until this portal closed, the battle was still ongoing. She flew through the air, over the burnt bridge, and towards the giant diamond-like rift. Outside of it, Ash saw a few lone demons staggering through the area, aimless and wounded. She flew towards them and with a few quick slashes from her claws, the three demons were dead.
Let's just get it over with, Ash said, walking into the portal.
She ended up in a flooded wilderness. Grey water reached her ankles while strange thin trees grew out of it, their overgrown roots rising out of the water as well. She looked around. No demons in sight... But when I went with Kasumi to the other one, a few were hiding in the water, so...
She kept her eyes low, just in case. Ahead, three violet beams shot up to the sky and Ash nodded to herself. There they are. The half-demon began making her way through this strange area, but just a few steps into it, she heard something.
"Hm? And why should we do that?"
Huh? Ash thought, searching for the voice. That sounds like...
She turned her head to the left and her guess was confirmed. It was Magia, speaking to a little boy that she remembered to be a form of Niven.
"Duties. The youngest of us wants to speak about responsibilities?"
Ash raised a brow, but looked away and continued forwards.
Just a few minutes later, she heard another voice. Lumina's.
"Y-Yes, I see," Lumina said as Ash looked to her right. Again, she was speaking to Niven. "However... I love them. If I can prevent any harm from coming to these people I would. I apologize."
Again, Ash walked past the vision. The last one came when Ash was, she guessed, halfway to the beams.
"They have not broken the laws of the Higher Powers directly. I will not aid you until they do."
Alkoth said this to Niven as Ash sighed.
I really don't care. She thought as the vision faded away.
No demons intercepted her on the way to the beams. Ash, of course, thought this to be strange, but no matter where she looked there were simply no signs of life. She reached the pyramids sometime later. This shallow river Ash had been walking on extended all the way to them, and in the water, Ash could see three pyramids poking out.
However, there was something else there.
Not a demon, not a Nightmare, not a human. Instead, it was Niven, standing there with his arms behind his back. His childlike form turned around as Ash approached, and the half-demon scowled when she saw his eyeless face pointed at her.
The god smiled.
"I will be honest..." Ash heard his voice in her thoughts. "I did not think you would win. I suppose overconfidence is just part of being a god."
Ash waited, trying to see if Niven would somehow look to fight her. However, he simply stood there, an eerie smile aimed at her. Eventually, Ash looked away, towards one of the pyramids.
She walked towards it and, after looking back at Niven briefly, she punched straight through it. One of the beams was gone and she looked at the god again, but he did not move. Niven simply kept his head and his smile aimed at her as she walked to the next one.
"Using the bodies of the humans I killed was a fairly clever move. That necromancer should be proud of herself. I would be honored to have her in my ranks."
Ash didn't respond to Niven's statement. Instead, she reared her fist back and smashed through the second.
"... Not many people would walk past a god willing to speak to them with such nonchalance," Niven said as Ash walked to the third.
Ash glared at him but didn't say anything. Instead, she walked up to the third.
"... Especially someone who knows the other gods they've spoken to haven't been entirely honest."
Just as Ash was about to break through the last pyramid, he said this. Ash stopped.
She held her fist in the air, his words circling in her thoughts.
Then, she sighed, dropping her hand.
"What are you talking about?"
"... If I'm being honest, I'm only guessing, but it seems my guess was at least a little accurate. The others haven't told you the full story, right?" Niven asked.
Ash scowled.
"All I need to know is that dealing with you and your demons will get me paid... That's all."
"And yet, if that were true, you would have already broken that structure, right? So... Clearly, you must be at least somewhat curious." Then, he raised his hands. "Do not misunderstand, I do not believe for a second that you will side with me after this conversation... But I would seek to enlighten you a little if you would allow it."
Ash turned away.
"I don't need..."
"You will never hear this information from the others," Niven interrupted her. "This is your only chance to know what's really going on. Are you so certain you are okay with not knowing?"
Ash closed her eyes. Her conversations with Magia were mostly still fresh in her thoughts, and, especially after what happened with her Lust form, Ash couldn't say she trusted her completely.
So, she opened her eyes and looked over at Niven.
"I swear, if this is just some dumb pitch to switch sides..."
"Hehe... No," Niven shook his head. "I simply wish for you to understand me. See, at first, I had thought of you as an abomination. Those words I told you before, I meant them... But... Now, I see that I was wrong."
"Oh, yeah?" Ash raised a skeptic brow.
"You are not an abomination," Niven continued, "you are the attempt of the gods to do away with their mistakes. You, half-demon, are playing that role all on your own. And, if you're going to right wrongs, you should at least know what those wrongs are."
He stopped for a little and then his smile faded.
"Has Magia told you how the gods function?"
"... The Sites of Power," Ash replied. "That's what gives you all your strength."
"Hm. Not quite," Niven replied. "Sites of Power are... Manifestations of our strength, not the creators of it. No, our power comes from you. Humanity."
Ash crossed her arms.
"Your expressions, to be more specific. Not your belief, no, you could all cease to think us real and we would be unaffected. No, it's your emotions, your decisions, and your actions that fuel us. You do know our domains, right?"
"Magia, lust, Lumina, love, Alkoth, justice or order or whatever, and you..."
"Death," Niven said. "Yes, these are some of our domains. Every time a human acts on their lust, a person falls in love, a government executes a criminal, every time one of you dies, we receive power. See," Niven explained, "these things mean that we are carrying out our purpose. We were placed here by the Higher Powers, entities you could never even comprehend, to make sure that humanity functions as a society."
He turned around and waved a hand. Suddenly, images flickered in front of him. People dancing, dying, fucking. Niven watched it all apathetically.
"We influence your thoughts so that these things happen. And that is how we stay alive."
Ash pulled back upon hearing that, but Niven was quick to correct himself.
"Well, we're immortal, by alive I mean... Living. You know this better than anyone, right?" Niven asked with a kind smile. "Given what has happened to you. I can see some of your memories every time you walk into one of these portals."
Niven waved a hand and then, Ash saw herself sitting alone, on a scalding street in Jade, her knees huddled up to her chest.
"Just because you're alive doesn't mean you're... you know, alive," Niven told her.
As much as she hated to admit it, she knew what he was talking about.
"When our domains aren't produced by you, that," he pointed back at Ash's image in the vision, "is what happens to us. Lumina needs human beings to love each other. Magia needs the consummation of that love, Alkoth needs the order that humans naturally produce in society, and... Well," Niven said, "I need you to die. Old, young, it does not matter. I simply need human lives to perish."
He put his hands behind his back again.
"However... Almost... what is it... Two thousand years ago?" Niven tapped his chin. "I do not know the exact time, but the other gods, well, they had an idea. See, they thought that, naturally, as it was beneficial to them, they needed humanity to produce as much as possible. So, what did they do, Ash?"
"Fuck if I know," Ash muttered.
"It's simple," he smiled. "They started keeping humans alive."
He walked up to her.
"See, long ago, when all of the Sites of Power were active, our role in society was far more... involved. We could grant blessings and curses directly. I believe it was Magia who had the idea, before anyone else. She started preventing humans from dying."
Niven shrugged as Ash gave a disbelieving look.
"No, it is that simple. She prevented humans from killing each other, contracting diseases, even aging, just so that they could feed her for longer. When Lumina saw this and saw Magia's power overflowing thanks to it, she started doing the same. With humans loving and fucking each other for centuries and centuries, their powers were overcharged. However, as I said, I need humans to die." Niven said. "I gain no pleasure from it. I simply need this the same way you need to breathe. So, what happened when hundreds of years went by and human beings never saw an end to their days? I turned into this."
He gestured at his own body.
"It's not exactly noticeable, but, Ash, I was already the weakest of all gods, but when they came up with that little scheme, I was reduced to nothing. I asked, I begged them to allow you to die so that I could continue existing, but... Well, you heard her," Niven said. "Magia is a hard-headed person. She rejected my request and for so long, all I could do was starve..."
He took a deep breath and waved a hand. Then, Ash saw the face of a demon.
"Until this," Niven said, looking back at it. "Given your newfound strength, I assume the gods have begun to sacrifice parts of themselves to aid you, right?" He asked. Ash nodded.
"Hmph. They don't know what sacrifice is," Niven hissed. "When I was at my lowest point, I did this. I poured all of myself into a random human being and this was the result. The first demon. With its help, I tore down their Sites of Power, created more demons, and finally, finally, Ash," he grinned, "people were dying. It can be compared to spending years without eating and then tasting bread for the briefest of moments."
"And they didn't stop you?" Ash asked. "Sounds... unlikely."
"... Ash, understand something," Niven said. "I am the weakest of us. If all of the gods united and tried to fight me, truly, this would not be a war. I would simply lose. But, that would require them to do something that none of the three were willing to do, until now. Can you guess what that is?"
Given how Ash got her buff, she knew what he meant.
"Sacrifice," he voiced her thoughts. "They can beat me easily, but in order to do so, they need to give. You think Magia, that proud woman, would harm herself just to prevent me from killing a few humans?" Niven asked. "You think Lumina, who loves herself as much as she loves every other living being would sacrifice as much as I did?"
"And Alkoth?" Ash asked.
"... Sadly, when it comes to him, I do not have an answer for you. Many times, he and I clashed, but that god is the most isolated and mysterious of us all. I doubt any entity outside of the Higher Powers knows what is going through his mind. All I know is, he didn't either. None of them were willing to sacrifice as much as it would take to defeat me in this war. To truly end it in their favor."
"Until now," Ash said.
"Yes. Until now," Niven replied.
"So, what are you going to do?" Ash crossed her arms. "Are you giving up?"
"Oh, of course not," Niven chuckled. "I understand that, if they truly have learned some semblance of humility, I am now most likely going to lose. However... Once they win," he said, and Ash noticed he said once and not if. "I will be punished. Once they win, human beings will likely go back to living for centuries and centuries as the gods protect them."
"How?"
"Well, that's what you're trying to accomplish, no?" Niven asked. "You will activate their Sites of Power, granting them the strength they once had over this world. But..."
Niven shook his head.
"I refuse to allow myself to starve again without putting up a fight. So, Ash, I look forwards to our next battle," Niven stated. "Before this is over, I will kill as many humans as I can. Once they are in power again... I will live in our realm, knowing I did my duty."
With those words, Niven's form disintegrated and Ash took a deep breath. She turned towards the third pyramid and destroyed it.
The portal disappeared and Ash was now outside of Sapphire, her feet planted in snow instead of water.
Niven's words rang in her skull, but she shook them away.
"Don't want to go back to Sapphire like this..." Ash sighed. "I need to get rid of this form first."
So, she went to find a quiet enough spot to do so.
---
Keiko
Outside of the palace, the Zayama watched as wounded men and women were cared for. Ahead of her, Ioko was speaking to his group of Zayama warriors. He noticed Keiko watching and went up to her.
"It appears we won," Ioko laughed, some joy in his tone. "This is my first victory fighting along your side. I owe you a drink. It's tradition."
"Really?"
"Yes, though I don't believe you need tradition to justify wanting to drink after something like this," he said, looking at the others. "What of your friends?"
"Hm?"
"Are they alright? Did they make it?"
"Uh... yeah," Keiko answered.
"Then the victory is that much sweeter. You did not get to do much in the form of leading," Ioko acknowledged, "but hopefully we can work on that down the line. If you wish it, of course."
"... I don't think I do."
"If that changes, let me know, siya~" he made a show out of using that last word and Keiko blushed. "Hahaha! Ah, it was good seeing you again, Keiko. Me and my squad will be moving on soon though. More places need help, the battle is won here, but there are more to fight. I wish you luck, and I hope we see each other again."
"... Thanks, uh, seiyo."
With that, Ioko turned back towards his soldiers.
Keiko sighed. Then, she heard the door to the palace open. Walking out was Kaori, with Satsuhiro at her side. The man was walking using a crutch. Keiko could see anger in his eyes, aimed at his own body.
She walked up to them.
"So... Now what?" Keiko asked.
It took Satsuhiro a moment to respond.
"... Same as ever. Just get ready for the next fight."
However, his voice was low and dreary. It hurt to hear. His usual determination was nowhere to be found.
His eyes went up though, past Keiko. Keiko turned around and saw Ash walking up to them.
The half-demon was in her normal form though, naked from the waist up and covered in both demon and human blood. Her white hair was drenched as well, a few drops slid down from her horns.
Keiko didn't feel the same pull from before, which she took to mean that it was a result of her other form.
"We're going?" Ash asked curtly.
"Yeah," Satsuhiro replied. "We'll head back to Jade on a caravan."
"Uh, can you tell them to bring my horse?" Keiko asked. "Her name's Ilyrum. She should be in the stables nearby."
"Sure," Satsuhiro said. "Kaori, wanna help me out?"
"Of course," Kaori said with a smile.
"... Thank you. Just keep an eye out in case I fall down."
Together, the two of them walked away, leaving Ash and Keiko standing there. Keiko looked over at the half-demon with some concern. She didn't look happy.
"So... we won," Keiko said, but Ash didn't respond.
At first, Keiko was afraid that she was angry at her for some reason, but then she understood that Ash was so distracted, she hadn't actually heard her.
"Um, Ash?" Keiko leaned in closer and now, Ash looked at her.
"Hm?"
"I, uh, nothing..."
They remained in silence until the door to the palace opened again. This time, Vermia came out.
The necromancer walked out with grace, taking light steps towards Ash.
"You're okay?" Ash asked.
"No," Vermia smiled, "but for now, I am alive, to the chagrin of some, I did in fact. Of course, that little stunt has just about doomed me. I believe I have, well," she coughed and blocked her mouth with her hand. When she lowered it, Keiko saw blood. "Maybe I have a week at the most left."
"Can't you pick up the souls of the dead army or something? I mean... There are probably a lot."
"Diminishing returns," Vermia said. "That method, though useful, becomes less viable the more you do it. Even if I did go through the effort of gathering them all, I'd likely just get another two weeks out of it. I'd rather not delay the inevitable any longer."
"... Sorry," Ash said and Vermia waved her off.
"I am a Savior. At some point, it was going to be time for me to take responsibility. But, this does mean that, unfortunately, I do not believe I will live to the next large battle. It will be up to you to win it. I do wish I could have shown you a little more in the way of Dark magic, but it seems our lessons will be cut short. My final gift to you is this," Vermia gave Ash a black key.
"What is it?"
"I used to own a home in Jade. Ask the Royal Council, they will let you know where it is. In there, I'm sure I have a few spellbooks. Make use of them."
"... And where will you go?" Ash asked.
"Amber. It was my home for a long time and I believe it is the best place for a murderer such as myself to wait to die. Maybe if they give me a grave, you can visit it someday."
Ash and Keiko were stunned to hear the murderer part, but Vermia shrugged their surprise away.
"I did what I had to, to survive. I hope you will do the same for the sake of humanity, Savior."
With those words, the necromancer walked past them, and again, they were alone.
They didn't really talk at all for quite a while. Eventually, Ash turned towards her.
"By the way... I'm sorry."
"Hm?" Keiko asked.
"When I was in my... form and all that... I don't know if I took things too far or if I did anything you didn't want... Did I?"
Asking that, Ash looked as vulnerable as Keiko had ever seen her.
"No. No," Keiko quickly replied. "If you're talking about our, ehm, night together... I liked it."
"... Okay," Ash took a deep breath. "Well, I dunno, I wanna apologize anyway."
After a few minutes, Satsuhiro and Kaori returned.
"Alright," Satsuhiro said, "your horse is being added to the caravan. Now," Satsuhiro sighed, "let's get Metsumi, Opah, and get the hell out of Sapphire."
"Agreed," Ash said. "This place is way too fucking cold."
"I'd say the fact that you're naked doesn't help, Ash," Keiko said with a smile.
"I don't know, it's definitely making me a little warmer," Kaori shyly stated.
"Save this flirting for when you're alone, seriously," Satsuhiro said and the girls laughed. With that, they went to go get Metsumi and Opah.
And, once that was done, they'd soon depart the snow-capped city of Sapphire.
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