"That's the thing with death… no one ever see's it coming… it's like a predator, waiting for the perfect moment to strike at the heart of it's prey"-Malum
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**Southern Tribe, South Section, Masayoshi Family Shrine**
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It had been a few hours since Jason and Aria had been defeated and taken to the hell universe…
The supreme war generals along with Benjiro and Arai left out of the Masayoshi family shrine, though Kaida stayed behind still preparing for the upcoming battle in hell.
She sat in front of the darkened space, on her knees in front of a painted image of her mother Kimiko and her older sister Chikai…
Her hands were clasped together while the lit candles held blue small flames, her eyes were closed momentarily.
After a few moments had passed Kaida stood up, she then took a few moments looking at the long black katana which belonged to her sister. She thought to herself, ("Jason's blade broke in the fight against that demon marked wrath earlier")…
She then picked up her sister's katana and sheathed it at her side, ("big sister… please, share your strength with Jason, I trust him with your blade").
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**southern tribe, center section**
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The moon hung over the night sky. A cool breeze blew past the destroyed center section of the southern tribe following the earlier battle…
Kaida approached the other three generals who were accompanied by Asami's special black lotus division, and Arai who stood next to Benjiro…
"So good of you to join us". General Yaku said with his hands in his pockets and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. Benjiro clapped his hands and walked in the middle of the circle formed by everyone…
"Alright, alright… everyone please gather around. My daughter is about to open a temporary entrance into the hell universe"-Benjiro
The five generals all look at Arai with puzzled expressions. Asami spoke out, "this child?… is going to open a new way into hell?".
"That's correct general Asami", Benjiro nodded as he gestured for Arai to take center stand. Kaida asked, "wait… Mr Benjiro, there's another way into hell?"…
Benjiro nodded, "well yes and no… you see, you're all aware that sorcerers awaken their spiritual energy through meditation. This process is similar to that, only that arai's consciousness leaves her body and tethers to the "veins" that hold each of the four universes in place."
Lieutenant raiser of Asami's special division made a quiet remark, ("how the hell do these children always get world destroying, godlike abilities?!"). Benjiro turned to raider and smiled while he closed his eyes and clasped his hands…
"Well Lieutenant, when you devote yourself to the queen of creation, blessings know no bounds… you should come to our services In Shizuka village, and you'll be right with the queen."
Raiser grunted, but stayed silent.
Yaku put his hands on his head and asked Benjiro, "but that doesn't explain your daughter's ability… there's more to it isn't there?"
Benjiro glanced over to General Yaku, his eyes half lidded when he responded. "Perceptive as always general. You see, Arai is in a dreamlike state, one where she can merge her soul's essence to the veins that hold the universe in place…"
Arai sat on the ground, her legs crossed when her eyes lit up a bright white-blue color while Benjiro continued. "You all know as good as me, that the spirit king Kesean is the creator of the soul space technique… in an attempt to mimic the Queen's omnipotent power used to create the four universes, he created the soul space technique which acts as a space that overlaps a point in space-time and paints out whatever correlates to the user's innate abilities, or rather their soul's true essence".
Benjiro glanced at Arai before he continued, "but Arai is going beyond that… she's tampering with the very concept of creation itself…"
"Her sorcery not only allows her to tether to the veins that hold the four universes together… but also allows her to erase and create new concepts within already existing concepts, her soul space isn't one used for combat but rather as a mimicry of the primordial world which is said to be where Malum had sealed the Queen in their battle during the blood war."-Benjiro
"though that will cause a disturbance that'll reach the spirit universe."-Benjiro
The black lotus division's cadet sidra's eyes were half-lidded, she looked up over to Benjiro and asked. "But, won't the spirit king who operates within the spirit universe feel Arai tampering with the Queen's creation?… if so, then wouldn't that cause conflict between the spirit universe and our universe?"
Benjiro glanced over to Sidra, "maybe you're correct Miss Nohara… however what we're dealing with in the hell universe, there are bigger things at stake… such as the near end of the world, and I would like to think the spirit king would want us to go save his daughter from hell".
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**Hell universe, Jaws of hell**
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The jaws to hell had opened. Tengu and Ikari had arrived, Tengu held the unconscious Jason to his side.
"Devoro should be here by now, with Aria… Avarus and Eris arrived earlier with Asura and Athena."-Tengu
Ikari walked with his hands in his pockets, he pouted like a child while he glared at Ikari. "So now we got all of our targets here, so how're we gonna extract their chaos energy to open the heart of hell?"
Tengu stopped in his tracks, he looked up at a beam of red chaos energy shooting up into the sky of Hell's universe. "How long has that been happening?".
Ikari looked up as well, he squinted his eyes and replied. "I sensed that earlier when I left"
…
Tengu tossed the unconscious Jason on the ground and levitated. "Take Jason to the prison and wait with our siblings for me… I'll be back"
Ikari scoffed and rolled his eyes as he took his hands out of his pockets to drag Jason across the jagged rocky ground by his cape. "Patch faced piece of shit"
Ikari chuckled at his own joke, as he dragged Jason across the ground toward Hell's prison.
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**Hell Universe, Purgatory prison**
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Selene and Kairei dashed through the maze-like halls of Hell's prison. Selene held the unconscious, pale skinned, white haired Sachiko while the two dashed.
Kai's breathing was uneven, fixating on the relationship between Selene and Sachiko, he asked…
"Why are you bringing that woman?… she'll just slow us down".
Selene discarded the question. Memories of her childhood seven years ago when she was just fourteen years old had played vividly in her mind.
A time when she sat alongside her aunt Sachiko on a rooftop just after being scolded by her grandmother Amaya, she remembered the words her aunt Sachiko shared with her that night when the moon rose. ("There Are An Infinite Number Of Stars In The Sky… And Out Of All Of Them. You Are The Biggest And Brightest One, The Moon").
Selene held back the unshed tears in her eyes, and dashed through hell's maze-like prison for what felt like forever.
Selene and Kai looked up ahead, and saw a crimson portal opening in the middle of the hall. Eris(envy) and Avarus(greed) stepped through, Eris had a snake tail extended from her back which wrapped around Athena's unconscious and bruised body…
While Avarus held Asura's unconscious body. Selene and Kairei came to a hard stop, both glaring at the two ahead of them while Kairei cursed under his breath. "God damnit!"
An exasperated sigh left Selene's mouth, right as she stared down two of Hell's seven sins who stood in front of them.
"Where do you two think you're going?". Eris's snake slitted eyes pierced right through Kai's… a gaze which had sent a chill up his spine.
"Stop asking questions and just subdue them, then we can begin the extraction of chaos energy, to free mother from her seal."
Kai looked over his shoulder. The rusty voice came from Devoro whose mark of gluttony was glowing as he stepped through a crimson portal, holding the scarred and unconscious Aria over his shoulder.
"How the hell did these sacks of shit beat aria?!", Kai asked exasperatedly.
Selene stood her ground, she glanced down at Sachiko's unconscious face, marked with dark circles around her closed eyes while she thought to herself…
("No way in hell can we beat three of them at once… if aria couldn't even beat them, we don't stand a chance").
("They said their plan is to extract both mine, ma's, Jason's, and Kai's chaos energy so they could release the seal on the heart of Hell… so that means they can't kill us").
"Hey kid… take her and go find Jason. I can feel his presence in this universe, so go find him". Selene handed Sachiko over to Kai, who furrowed his brows and asked, "have you lost your mind?!… what can you do by yourse-"
Selene stepped forward and interrupted him, her voice grew a little louder. "Stop saying stupid shit and just go kid. I don't have access to my divine energy anymore, so I can only use half of my power, but I stand more of a chance against them than you do, don't take offense by it, or do I don't really care much."
Kai looked between Selene and the two opponent's in front of them and considered selene's earlier thought of their opponents not being able to kill them, and he gritted his teeth at his own uselessness and incompetence before he carried Sachiko and ran the opposite way.
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After a few more moments of dashing through the hallway, the bitter thought of his own weakness flooded Kai's mind…
How he wasn't able to do anything against Jason upon his return from death just five months ago, how the grand elder whom he felt indebted to for taking him in after his entire clan was experimented on, tortured and slaughtered even saw no reliability in him.
And now being able to do nothing but follow Selene's instructions and run away while she fights the two threats alone both made his blood boil from embarrassment, and stomach turn.
"This is bullshit."-Kai
He stopped abruptly as he thought, "I'm not too far away… this is the least I can do, before I find the way out of this place".
Kairei gently put the still unconscious Sachiko against the wall, and backed away a few steps. He knelt down on one knee and made a hand seal for his sorcery…
black smoke on the black on his open robe spread across the halls, filling up at least 300 meters of the maze-like halls of Hell in just a few seconds.
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The black smoke had blanketed the parts of the hall Selene stood in with Avarus and Eris.
Selene immediately picked up on the fact that this was the doing of kai. ("That kid… this must be his soul space, he's pouring his space into the physical world without pulling us into his soul").
The smoke left the hall pitch black, Selene felt a strain in her eyes trying to see through the dark so she had closed them. ("Damn, having my eyes open in dark areas like this makes my eyes hurt… I'll just have to focus on those two's chaos energy").
Selene stuck out her two fingers with her left hand, and with her other hand she reached out toward Eris and Avarus.
And Simultaneously, the shadows of the darkness within the hallway conjured up three shadow serpents with red glowing eyes which two of them had pulled the unconscious Athena and Asura away from Avarus and Eris.
("This is the doing of that child from earlier")-Eris
The third serpent had charged up a purple spirit energy condensed beam and fired point blank at both Eris and Avarus, and blew them closer to Selene.
The clan exclusive techniques used by Kai had reminded Selene of when she was fourteen years old, and was friends with two girls from the Kuronami clan… Kai's now extinct clan. ("It's just like that time")
Remembering the deaths of her first two friends, Selene in that moment let the feeling of those moments seven years ago seep into her mind, her fingers twitched as her technique activated.
Having used a sacrifice ritual earlier to escape hell's prison with Aaliyah, Kai and Sachiko, sacrificing her divine energy had left her power halved. ("T-this is all I can manage for now!")
Five black miniature moons had manifested around Eris and Avarus, the center of each moon had a condensed point where Selene had focused all of her spiritual energy.
And in an instant, the moons had all exploded. Blowing a big hole in the halls of Hell, which Kai had teleported out of, using the darkness surrounding him as he escaped with Sachiko in his arms, Athena and Asura.
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**Hell Universe, Land Of The Damned**
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The land of the damned had an open field in its center. The ground was brown and jagged, with lava filled craters in the ground and the surrounding area had desolated old buildings.
There was even a giant rune covered pillar which stuck out of the ground, underneath the red sky which above the land of the damned had hundreds of ghostly faces, all with widened dark mouths and wide black eyes.
There were mindless demons which walked around, even crawled around.
Tengu had descended down from the sky, and walked through the area until he finally found the signature of the red chaos energy that shot up into Hell's crimson Sky.
Once he approached the crimson pool of cursed blood, his eyebrows rose a little.
The other mindless demons had ceased all movement and looked at the sight of the source of the constantly growing chaos energy from the unusual demon that had emerged from the 'bath of blood'.
Tengu kept his hands in the pockets of his tattered pants which were ripped up from the knees down, and glanced at the fear filled faces of the mindless demons and then back at the unusual demon who's chaos energy was still growing and shooting up into the sky.
This demon had black skin, with dark red rune symbols on his body. His ribcage was outside his body, wrapped around his sides while his eyes were black and red.
He had hooves, and his hands had mid sized claws. He had on a black loincloth around his waist held in place by a red wool sash.
As he pulled himself out of 'the bath' Tengu walked closer to him, and knelt down a little to get a closer look at him.
Tengu put a hand up to his ears, as he heard the demon mumble something repeatedly in a hoarse voice. "A-Aaliyah…Aaliyah…I'll kill you"
Tengu had stood up after he realized who it was. "I'll bet that you'll be real happy to see her again won't you Cain?"
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**Continued in chapter 92**
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