Allies

*Deep in the depths of the underworld*

A figure sat upon their throne of rough stone and skulls, their features hidden in the shadow. The throne room was enormous and dim red lights lit the empty halls. But the the hall had movement, for the first time in many years, there was a visitor.

A tall, burly being in thick, heavyset armor that was covered head to toe in chains entered the room. The figure stood at over ten feet tall and had a large body. It looked almost obese with the armor. It wore a helmet with four large curling, intertwined horns and chains dangled down from the helm to his collar bone, where they were nailed into the bone. Small holes in the mask served as the visor.

The large demon knelt before the throne, head bowed.

"My liege." Came a gruff voice from the brute.

"What is it that you want, Edo?" The demon upon the throne spoke, his voice cold and calm.

"Gallatine was killed."

Two red flashes of angry light opened from the darkness where the demon sat in his throne, his eyes full of only hatred and contempt. "How is this? How has my own general fallen? We are not even at war, our battle with the gods ended many, many years ago, so tell me, how could he have died?"

"He went to the surface world after sensing an aura much like... his. According to Zealous he was killed by two Deities." Edo, the large demon, spoke.

"Deities, you say?" The demon said, now in a low tone. "So the gods wish to meddle with the world once more, do they?" A hand pounded the armrest of his throne. "Lilith!"

A pale woman with silver hair appeared from the shadows beside the demon's throne. She had silver, luminescent eyes and two long, thin horns protruded from her head. Angelic, white feathered wings were folded against her back and as she knelt she held her hand to her chest. Her figure was filled and that of a fully matured woman, and she wore a cold, dead smile.

"Yes, Lord Lucifer?" She asked, her voice silky and sweet.

"I want you to test these... Deities. You are in charge of killing them, you may do it however you see fit, feel free to use any of my puppets." The figure in the throne, Lucifer, spoke, waving at Edo. "What's mine is yours. Now go, I want them dead."

Lilith got to her feet and bowed. "Yes, your majesty, as you wish." Then she turned and walked down the hall, Edo at her side as they exited the throne room. When they were gone the shadows grew even darker in the chamber, the lights now barely even visible in the dense shadow as the room was filled with Lucifer's pressure. His red eyes glared at something only he could see.

He raised his hand, then clenched it into a tight fist, causing all the lights in the chamber to go out. "Soon. This world... will crumble."

•

•

•

"I'm standing right here, asshole." Darius spoke irritably.

"Yeah, your point?" Akuro replied.

Inari shook her head and massaged her temple as if she had a headache. "Alright, all I want is to know why that demon appeared in the first place."

"Why?" Akuro asked.

"What do you mean why? It was a demon!"

"Yeah but why do you wanna know so bad? If you ask me it seems like you're hiding something."

"You are calling me the suspicious one? That's rich." Inari said.

"You all bicker a lot, don't you?" Came a voice from above. Akuro looked up and who he saw made him groan in irritation. Darius and Inari followed his gaze with the same response. Sitting atop one of the buildings that didn't go down was a girl smiling confidently down at them with contempt in her eyes.

"Ah it's the psycho." Darius said.

Adeline scowled, "Do not speak of me in such a manner, you lowly weakling." She spoke. "You should be bowing to me, I came to bless you with my aid, but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine you'd defeat the demon on your own."

"Then why are you here still? Go away already." Darius responded.

Adeline shook her head and made a *tsk tsk* sound. "You really should treat your superiors with more respect, you know." And then she went crazy, her eyes wide, "I am better than all of you! I was hand picked to be God's hand of destruction to purify this world! You are meant to be my servants in this cause! You are no more than my lowly tools, weaklings for me to use as I see fit!"

Akuro grinned his teeth and clenched his fists. "You are really annoying." He said.

"Excuse me?" Adeline hissed.

Akuro materialized his scythe and swung it through the air, sending a wave of aura whistling towards Adeline, but then Onoma appeared at her side, freezing the attack in its tracks before it eventually faded.

"The hell is he doing here?" Darius asked.

"It would seem you two aren't the only ones to join together." Inari pointed out.

Adeline grinned maliciously. "You foolish boy. You would really dare to attack me?" She laughed hysterically. "If you struggled against that demon then you have no hope of ever bringing me down!"

Onoma had his eyes locked on Akuro, who scowled back at him. Adeline stood then, holding out her hand to the three Deities below her.

"There are sure to be more demons to come. Join me, and serve as my tools of destruction! With you all serving under me mankind can be purged of their sins, and nothing, not even the demons nor the gods could stand in our way!" Adeline said.

"I won't be someone's tool. I'm doing my own thing, so you can screw off you pretentious bitch." Akuro growled in reply.

Adeline frowned, looking from Akuro to Inari, and then Darius. She shrugged. "Fine then. That's too bad, I see you all have made up your minds. You must've been corrupted by that demon, you poor souls." She turned away from them. "So be it. When next we meet I will personally purify your souls! You may be lowly weaklings, but it's the least I can do, even ants deserve to have their souls saved. Goodbye then. Onoma, let's be off."

With that Adeline disappeared. Onoma gave one last spiteful look at Akuro before following after her.

"Well, this does not bode well." Inari said.

"No, but it's fine, we'll kick her ass." Darius said confidently.

"You mean Akuro will kick her ass while you watch?"

"No, actually, I'm not a coward. Akuro will be fighting Onoma, they've kinda gotta rivalry thing going on."

"Who said?" Akuro jumped in, "I don't care for him one bit, he's the one who keeps attacking me."

"Yeah well I don't think he's gonna stop anytime soon." Darius said.

"Especially now that he is aligned with Adeline." Inari added.