The Red Hand

Chapter 296 – Halifax’s Heart.

With a tense air hanging between Akagi and Elariel, it seemed that the discussion was going nowhere. The Goddess could not bring herself to trust the Demon Lord, and Akagi had no interest in playing nice with somebody who'd harmed her friend. Yumi was fully prepared to watch Akagi tear the Goddess apart, and part of her was hoping that Akagi would drop the routine and start bringing down the proverbial hammer. While Halifax was irate enough with her 'mother' that she might've been fine with Akagi killing her right here and now. However, before things could escalate further, Rebeckah's voice pierced through the heavy air in the room as she tried to bring things back under control.

"Lad- Ms. Hailifax." Rebeckah corrected herself. "Let me ask you a question. Do you trust Lady Akagi?" Her words caught the attention of Elariel, who held herself back from making a premature comment. "When she says that her intentions are not to destroy this world, do you believe her?" As someone who'd been raised to one day take her father's place as Empress, she was quite good at reading people and making quick judgments of character. However, Akagi was an enigma. Try as she might, Rebeckah couldn't get a read on the Demon's true intention, so the Princess figured that asking somebody whom she trusted was her best option.

{This woman... The only thing I can gleam about her is that there's far more to her than meets the eye, and that's not exactly useful...} (Rebeckah)

"Do I trust Akagi?" Halifax thought for a moment before answering. "That's a good question."

{Do I?} (Halifax)

"You even have to think?!?" Akagi's feigned being hurt. "Aren't we besties?!? I even let you run your hands all over my body! Did our time together mean nothing to you?!?"

Her comments made Yumi laugh, which she failed to completely contain. "I... Guess... That's one way...." She was practically choking on her own laughter while Amakusa rolled her eyes.

{Kitty likes pets!} (Yumi)

"Halifax... Please don't tell me that you... With a Demon Lord..." Elariel had completely fallen for Akagi's bait.

{How can Lady Elariel not see that Akagi was deliberately choosing her words to cause a misunderstanding? I suppose even Gods can be dense...} (Rebeckah)

"With comments like that, I'm starting to question our friendship." Halifax groaned as she bonked Akagi on the head. "But as for your question, surprisingly I do trust this idiot. Personality problems aside, in the short time I've known her, she's given me no reason to believe that she's lying. So when she says that her goal doesn't involve destroying this world, I'm inclined to believe her." She and Akagi had become fasts friends and neither girl fully understood the reason for their quick connection, and at this point neither cared.

"Well, to be completely transparent, I might destroy part of this world." Akagi rubbed her head as she held up one finger. "I do intend to inflict some measure of punishment on the population, but I plan to do that in a less End Timesey way." She laughed.

"I see, then Lady Elariel. I think we should afford her some manner of trust as well." Rebeckah's words surprised the Goddess who was visibly displeased with the Princess's suggestion.

"Rebeckah, you have no idea what horrors a Demon Lord is capable of." Elariel shook her head. "I fought Vikes. I watched that monster kill countless innocent people, and I know full well that trusting something like that is out of the question!" The memories of that time still haunted her. Most Gods had managed to put it out of their minds, but Elariel had been shaken to her very foundation by Vike's rampage. "I'm sorry, but I cannot put my faith in this Demon Lord. There's too much at stake for me to take her word at face value."

"Then does that mean that you don't trust me?" Halifax mockingly laughed. "Or have you given up on me entirely?"

"You... Halifax..." Elariel looked like she wanted to say something but swallowed it. "It's not that I've given up on you. It's just that I think your judgment has been... tainted, by your association with her." Akagi could tell that things were about to explode due to the Goddess's word choice.

{No, it's more than that... She probably feels that being at a Demon Lord's side is where she belongs... Even if it's subconscious... She probably feels a sense of belonging...} (Elariel)

"Tainted?" Halifax bit her lip, and her eyes burned with intense anger. "Was I not tainted when you forced me to slaughter the Dark Elves?!?" She growled. Elariel's word choice was the straw that broke the camels back and even Akagi wasn't going to step in to stop things this time. "Was I not 'tainted' when you forced me to be wielded in their destruction?!? Was I not tainted by the disgusting hands of Korex's murder crazed psycho! You know, the one that YOU gave me to!"

{HOW FUCKING DARE YOU?!?} (Halifax)

"Halifax... Just please... Listen..." "Elariel tried to calm her down, but it was far too late.

{Here we go again...} (Akagi)

"NO! I WILL NOT CALM DOWN!" Halifax reached for her blade, drawing it and pointing it at Elariel, which shocked Rebeckah. "You have no right to criticize me, who I associate with, or what I do! NOT AFTER WHAT YOU'VE DONE!" Halifax swung her blade, but it stopped just moments before striking Elariel's head. "You disgusting bitch! You have no right to call yourself a God! YOU GAVE ME TO THAT MONSTER! YOU LET HER USE ME! AND YOU DARE TO FUCKING CALL ME TAINTED!" She put all her power into her strike, but her own innate restrictions wouldn't allow her to harm the Goddess.

{DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT! DAMMIT!} (Halifax)

"It's pointless." Elariel sighed. "You know full well that you can't harm the one who made you. Please, stop this. We don't need to fight."

{Halifax...} (Elariel)

"I know that I can't hurt you, but I wish I could!" Halifax started to tear up as she continued to press her blade toward Elariel. "I wish I could make you pay for what you made me do! I wish I could drive this blade into your head and make you feel even a portion of the pain that I've felt!" Her anger exploded and nearly a millennium of hatred bubbled up to the surface.

{You deserve so much more for what you made me do! For what you did to the Spirits! For what you've done to so many other innocent people! You're no God! You're a damn monster!} (Halifax)

"Then let's do just that." Akagi said as, in a flash, she took Elariel by the neck and held her off the ground.

"Lady Elariel!" Rebeckah said in a panic.

"Let... Go... Of... Me!" Elariel tried to channel some of her Divine power into her hand, but Akagi quickly grabbed it.

*SNAP*

"AH!" Elariel winced in pain as her wrist was snapped, which surprised her. "Pain? What?" Avatars were unable to feel pain unless the God using it allowed it, so feeling it when she otherwise shouldn't was shocking.

{What's with this power?!? Its as if...} (Elariel)

"Do you really not understand the situation you're in?" Akagi laughed as she tightened her hold on the Goddess's neck. “I'm not like Vikes, you dense idiot. I can easily end your miserable existence right now if I wanted!" She tossed Elariel across the room, her back smacking against the wall.

*COUGH* *GAG* *WHEEZE*

"How..." Elariel spoke between coughs. "That's not possible. Vikes... Vikes wasn't..."

"Vikes was a mere infant..." Akagi allowed her voice to distort again, and this time, it seemed to have an irresistible authority to it. "While I am a fully matured Demon Lord! If you compared the two of us, I would be an order of magnitude more powerful than he ever was." She turned back to Halifax. "So you made a wish, and it's one that I don't mind granting for a friend." She chuckled darkly.

"What?" Halifax was slightly taken aback by everything that just happened. "What are you talking about?!?"

"While I'm still not 100% of the way to breaking the Gods' control over you, I'm certain that I can suppress that annoying restraint on you." Akagi's lips curved into a wicked smile. "So, how about it? Killing this idiotic Goddess is off the table I'm afraid, but giving her a bit of damage should help you blow off some steam, if nothing else." She could tell that Halifax had been bottling up much of her anger and emotions relating to Elariel. The two hadn't met in person for a millennia, during which the Sword had never once managed to properly vent her frustrations or get anything resembling closure. Being called tainted was the final domino to fall, and the floodgates on Halifax's heart had opened, revealing just how much she'd been holding back.

"You... You can free me?" Halifax's entire body went numb as she thought what that would mean.

{I... I could be...} (Halifax)

"Not yet, but I'm working on it." Akagi turned back to the staggered Elariel, who was struggling to stand. The Demon had placed a seal on her power, which prevented her from doing much beyond staring angrily at Akagi.

{Not fun being made powerless is it? How does it feel to be at the mercy of someone else?!?} (Akagi)

"You... You're trying to steal my daughter away..." Elariel said angrily. "I... I won't let you take her, monster..."

{I won't let you use her for your own twisted schemes!} (Elariel)

"Steal?" Akagi scoffed at her words. "How can I 'steal' that which never belonged to you?” She rolled her eyes. “Moreover, how can I 'steal' that which you threw away?" Akagi's words hit the Goddess like cold water as she realized that the Demon was right. By forcing Halifax to do something so heinous against her will, Elariel had permanently destroyed the trust between them and irreparably burned away their prior connection. All this time, Elariel had known that what she did to Halifax was wrong, and she was hoping to take this opportunity to try and patch things up. Instead, she made things worse, and now, as Elariel looked Halifax in the eyes, she saw nothing but hatred reflected back at her. The eyes that once showed warmth, trust, love, and affection had turned cold, and Elariel had no one to blame for this change but herself.

{I... No... I...} (Elariel)

Seeing her mistake, the Goddess tried to apologize, but it was too little too late. "Halifax, I'm-" Elariel's words paused as Halifax plunged her azure blade straight into her sternum.

{Eh?} (Elariel)

"I don't want to hear it." Halifax faced away from Elariel as she dove her blade further into the Goddess, pinning her to the wall as the blade went straight through her. "This isn't going to bring back all those people you made me kill, and it changes nothing..." She continued to put pressure on her blade, driving it deeper. "But I need this." Her face was covered in tears. "I need this..."

{I...} (Halifax)

"Ack!" Elariel coughed up blood onto the floor. "It's fine..." Elariel smiled. "I deserve this..." She slowly wrapped her arms around Halifax, bringing her into a hug as she was pinned to the wall. "I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry, Halifax." She began to cry as well. "I'm so sorry." The two stayed like that for some time, with Elariel repeating her apology over and over again as Halifax cried in her arms.

{I hope this will be a good first step for her recovery... I don't think she can ever forgive Elariel, nor do I think that she should, but Halifax and that idiot Goddess needed to have this heart-to-heart. Though I doubt either expected it to happen like this.} (Akagi)