Part Eleven: Visionary or Madman?

"N-Nozomi-san?!" J-chad questioned, clearly astonished to see him, or at least someone that looked like him and shared the same name, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"I'm freeing you from those horrible prisons, you see," the boy smiled, "Thanatos, don't tell me you don't want to rule the world, now."

"I've NEVER wanted that," J-chad shouted, readying her fists, "I can't believe this. The person who told us about this world was our enemy all along."

"Wait, you know this person, J-chad?" Kiara questioned, grabbing her blue sword and shield from her waist.

"I'm sorry, you must have come across our deviant," the boy shook his head, "He goes by a different name now, though. He even dyed his hair white just out of resentment. What a pathetic boy. He can't even see the good we're doing."

"What good will freeing the megalo ones do?!" J-chad shouted angrily.

"It's simple. They'll overthrow the current gods. It's what my father has been trying to do this whole time," the boy explained, walking towards the sunglasses-clad manager, "The gods ruling this world currently are all corrupt. They're horrid creatures drunk with power that let the weak die and let the wicked go unpunished."

"Ito Ikuma was a madman!" J-chad yelled. This got the boy's attention.

"My father is a visionary!" the boy retorted, readying his massive blade, "A visionary that will guide this world to glory! And if you can't see that, then you don't belong in his world!"

He charged at J-chad, swinging his massive sword. Kiara rushed in to save J-chad, using her shield to block the boy's swing.

"Ngh, you too, Amaterasu?" the boy growled, struggling against the phoenix's shield, "How can you all be so blind?!"

"You're the blind one, Nozomi!" J-chad countered, punching him in the gut with his fisticuffs. He recoiled in pain for a moment, before wiping his mouth and glaring at the two.

"I see reasoning won't work…" he pondered, "It would seem I have to use brute force!"

He once again charged at J-chad, swinging his large blade. J-chad struggled to avoid every attack. His swings appeared chaotic and unruly, but in reality they were smooth and calculated, creating minimal room for error in J-chad's dodges. Soon, Kiara charged at him, clearly angry. As Kiara swung her sword, the boy quickly changed sides, blocking the phoenix's attack. He pushed her back with help from the sheer size of the blade and continued his onslaught on J-chad. Soon enough, Kiara began to predict this pattern, and decided to charge at him from his side. As if in response, the boy turned, kicking J-chad with immense force and slicing Kiara's waist. As J-chad flew through the forest and eventually landed on the ground, Kiara blenched in pain and clutched the gash created by the boy's sword.

"You… creep…" Kiara said, grasping her sword again. With the rest of her strength, she managed to rise up to her feet.

"You should really know when to quit, Amaterasu," the boy said, dropping his usual calm expression in favor of an annoyed one, "Just join us."

"I'll never…" the phoenix grumbled.

"You're just like Cthulhu," the boy scoffed, readying his blade and basking in the moonlight, "Father, watch as I bring you one step closer to your wish! The goddess of sun will bring blinding happiness!"

He stormed towards the girl, his malicious grin only widening as the distance between them closed. Holding out his sword, he attempted to swing a final attack to end the phoenix's life.

"Tch!"

Just then, the attack was blocked by a familiar scythe. The wielder was a pink-haired girl with a black dress, a veil, and a small tiara that Kiara knew very well.

"Don't you dare…" Calliope grunted, "Mess with Kusotori!"

"Ngh… Calli…?" Kiara managed to murmur before once again dropping to the ground, unable to retain the strength to stand up.

"Hypnos…?!" the boy yelled, outraged, "005 failed?!"

"Damn right," Calliope said, parrying his attack and pushing him back, "He put up a pretty damn good fight, I'll give him that. Surprisingly though, you're doing a lot worse than he did, considering you both look the same."

"Tch…" the boy grimaced, "Don't mock me, Hypnos!"

Fueled by rage, he began to make his strikes more and more violent, and although Calliope blocked each attack with her scythe, it began very tiring due to the sheer force of each strike. Before long, she was pushed up against the corner of a cliff. With nowhere else to go, she began to look around for alternatives.

'Is there seriously nothing?!' Calliope thought, glancing at each possible place. The place she looked last, though, was up. Aloe was atop the cliff, pointing at her spear and smiling wildly as ever.

"Any last words before I set you free, Hypnos?" the boy eerily grinned, his eyes wide with bloodlust.

"Yeah, actually," Calliope smirked smugly, looking at the boy straight in the face, "Don't mess with the Underworld, bitch."

Just then, Aloe dropped down the cliff with her spear pointed downwards. Before the boy had time to react, the weapon had pierced his head, blood leaking from the wound. The boy wailed in pain, dropping his sword and grasping his forehead in agony.

"GODDAMN IT!" he swore as Aloe reached the ground and ripped the spearhead from his head, "GODDAMN IT, GODDAMN IT, GODDAMN IT! YOU'RE ALL FUCKING IDIOTS! IDIOTS WITHOUT A SHRED OF MORALITY!"

The boy laid down in suffering, struggling to breathe and full of unbridled rage.

"I PITY YOU! I REALLY DO!" he screamed, his eyes wide and red liquid still pouring from his head. He cackled maniacally as he met his final breath, his final expression being that of a crazed psychopath. Calliope and Aloe exchanged determined expressions.

"You check on J-chad, I'll take a look at Kusotori," Calliope commanded. The succubus-in-training nodded, running towards the place the brown-haired liaison landed. Calliope rushed to the place Kiara fainted, brushing white snow off of her bright hair.

"Ngh… Calli…" Kiara managed to smile. Despite her weakened condition, she had no problem blushing when she opened her eyes to see the pink-haired reaper.

"Kusotori…" Calliope sighed, looking down at the phoenix.

"Hehe…" Kiara forced a frail giggle before wincing in pain, "It hurts…"

Tears began to run down Kiara's face as she reached out to touch Calliope's cheek.

"Please…" Kiara pleaded, "Kill me, Calli…"

"N-no, I can't, we don't know how Death or the Underworld works here-" Calliope stammered, before being cut off by Kiara."

"Is that… concern…?" Kiara half-heartedly teased before returning to her pained expression, "Please, Calli, it hurts…"

Calliope grimaced, before sighing, "Fine."

She pulled out her scythe. It sheened red with blood in the moonlight. Looking down, she made a silent prayer before suddenly opening them and striking Kiara. Her scream echoed through the night sky, becoming quieter as time went on. Soon, she went limp, and her body incinerated into ash. Calliope looked down at the pile of ashes.

"You better come back from this, you dumbass bird," Calliope said, her words contradicting her worried expression.

All of a sudden, the ashes reignited into a massive fire engulfing a large area. The bright orange flames danced around Death's apprentice as she grinned. The flames began to consolidate, forming the girl we all know and love.

"Calli!" Kiara laughed, giving Calliope a massive hug.

"Jesus, Kusotori," Calliope said harshly, yet also relieved, "You do realize that was a massive risk, right?"

"Who cares? I came back!" Kiara said.

"No, she's right, Kiara," a familiar voice called out in the distance. It turns out the voice came from J-chad, who had her arm around Aloe's shoulder, "You shouldn't mess with stuff you don't know."

"J-chad! You're safe!" the bird jumped over, happy to see the manager alive.

"Yeah, safe enough," J-chad grimaced, "How'd you find us, Calli?"

"We killed a guy that looked exactly like him, except for a different tattoo and armor," Calliope explained, "He had a tracker on him, so we followed the readings here."

"Hey, I don't mean to ruin this reunion or anything," Aloe interrupted, brushing off her spear, "But do you mind telling me who Thanatos, Hypnos, and Amaterasu are?"

J-chad and Calliope exchanged poker-faced looks. Kiara, however, was quite confused.

"Yeah, I was wondering, too," Kiara said, looking at Calliope, "He seemed like he was calling me Amaterasu. What's up with that?"

"Calli," J-chad addressed, "You got a hideout or something?"

"Yeah, we've got a cabin," Calliope explained, "Rikka, Izuru, Nene, Polka, Lamy, and Botan are all resting there since they're injured."

"All of them?" J-chad asked, somewhat taken aback.

"That 005 kid was powerful," Aloe nodded.

"I see," J-chad nodded in return, "Let's go, then."

The group of four made their way to the cabin in the snow, also bringing the corpse of the boy in white armor, just in case. When they opened the door, they were greeted by two of the girls awake in their beds.

"Oh, hey guys," Botan waved, "Nene and I woke up around the same time, we're mostly recovered."

"Good," Calliope said, "We found J-chad and Kusotori fighting another one of those armored guys, so we helped them take him down."

"Another one?" Nene asked. They nodded, dropping his corpse on the ground next to his red-armored doppelganger.

"So, tell us," Aloe crossed her arms, "Who are these 'Megalo Ones'?"

J-chad sighed, sitting down on a nearby chair.

"Simply put, the Megalo Ones are a group of five gods," J-chad explained, "Five incredibly powerful gods that decided to merge one day and become Elohim, the perfect being."

"Heh… intriguing…" Botan chuckled, leaning forward, "Why'd they decide to do that?"

"Because the gods are creatures lacking human emotion," Calliope explained bitterly, "Imagine you could join with five different people and become the most powerful creature in existence; you could crush anyone you want with that power. If it weren't for your morals, you'd probably pursue that. And since the gods don't have morals, it seems like a perfect deal, doesn't it?"

"That's true," Kiara nodded, "But what does that have to do with us?"

"The gods in control weren't able to defeat Elohim. It was the perfect being, after all," J-chad elaborated, "But they were able to separate Elohim with the combined might of all their forces. And, as punishment, they forced the gods into the souls of the lesser."

"Wait," Nene interrupted, "Does that mean…?"

"Yeah," Calliope nodded, "Thanatos, a god of death, is sealed within J-chad, Cthulhu, a god of fear, is sealed within Ninomae Ina'nis, Hypnos, a god of sleep, is sealed within Mori Calliope, Amaterasu, a goddess of sun, is sealed within Takanashi Kiara, and Tsukuyomi, a god of moon, is sealed within Moona Hoshinova."

"Wow…" Aloe stared, astonished.

"I… have a goddess inside me…?" Kiara asked, clutching her chest completely shocked, "How do you remember this while I don't?"

"You actually didn't want to remember, Kiara," J-chad informed, "So you asked to forget. And we got in contact with someone who could help you forget. And you forgot."

"Haha… that's not like me at all…" Kiara weakly laughed.

The small group of seven that heard this story looked down in silence. Before long, though, Aloe decided to break the silence.

"What does this have to do with those kids, though?" she asked.

"Ito Nozomi is the child of Ito Ikuma," J-chad told, "And Ito Ikuma was a madman who attempted to force the Megalo Gods out of their coils and take down the current gods in control."

"Why would he do that?" Botan asked.

"He believed the gods of this world were corrupt," Calliope explained, "I can't blame him for thinking that, considering everything that happened to him at a young age. But that was a horrible way of thinking. Luckily, he died right before he was able to put his plan into fruition."

"How did he die?" Kiara asked.

"The official reason was just a work-related accident," J-chad said, "But in actuality it was a gunshot to the head. The person who did it covered their tracks very well, and we still haven't found the culprit. But even if we did find them someday, they probably wouldn't be convicted considering the fact they prevented total cataclysm."

"Heheh, that's true," Botan snickered, looking out the window, "I wonder how we're gonna get out of here."

"We've got three out of the five Megalo Gods, I think it'd be safe to return now," J-chad said, pulling out a small device, "I'll send a distress signal to YAGOO now."

"You could do that?!" Kiara gasped, "That would've been useful!"

"Lighten up," J-chad scoffed, "I wanted to make sure at least some of the Megalo Gods were safe before I came back."

"That's fair," Nene agreed, "She also didn't know about these guys, either. If she knew about their injuries, she probably would've tried to come back."

"Yeah," J-chad nodded, clicking away at the small device. It eventually beeped. The seven exchanged determined looks.

'Let's get the hell out of here,' Calliope thought.

...

"You sure you're okay?" Anya asked, changing from her sword form into her standard humanoid form.

"Yeah, thanks," Moona said, wiping her mouth of blood, "Keris is interesting, I can't say I've used a weapon like that."

"It links directly to your determination," Anya explained, "The more determined you are, the greater its glow, and the more powerful it is."

"Interesting…" Moona pondered, looking up at the moon.

'Beautiful night for a battle, huh, Tsukuyomi?' Moona thought, grinning.