"Pride is the deadliest of the seven sins, though he'd better watch out. Because that very Pride may be his downfall"
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Once Sidra left Hinari's side, Hinari remained seated next to the headless form of her former lieutenant raiser.
And the few short moments were all but silent for the once timid young woman. No matter how she tried to elude the constant shadow which clung to the back of her mind and reminded her of the exact moment her blade cleaved through the butter like neck of raiser.
Why does the world have to be so cruel to the point where humans slaughtered each other like heartless savages?, why did her own so-called friend curse her for not forcing herself to taint her clean hands?
The girl could not understand anything in that moment, aside from the undeniable fact that the world condemns weakness, and those like herself were often the quickest to be devoured by Hell's hunger.
'I hate this'
A part of her wanted to give her once father figure a proper burial, but wouldn't it be cruel to bury him in the soil of hell's grounds?, besides just as sidra had mentioned earlier, there was no time to waste on the departed soul.
After recollecting herself, Hinari slowly rose to her feet and balanced herself with trembled legs.
She walked over to the blood stained staff and picked it up. Seeing the fresh blood still stained at the bladed end of the staff, Hinari wiped the blade on her cheek and then walked out of Hell's halls to regroup with the others.
***
While Hinari had stayed with the lifeless body of her former senior lieutenant, Sidra had quickly caught up with General Asami and the priest's group.
The priest was the first to notice Sidra once he looked over his shoulder and said:
"Lieutenant Sidra, I was starting to get worried…"
Sidra didn't spare him a passing glance and simply nodded. General Asami on the other hand had notices the wound right at sidra's solar plexus which was still slowly healing.
She let out a deep sigh and raised her black blade to sidra's chest. Once she did, blood from her blade had entered the girl's wound and immediately sealed and healed it.
In a raspy voice, General Asami had asked curiously:
"Raiser… did you two finish the job?"
A deep sense of regret filled her chest once Sidra replied with a nod. Then shortly after, she spoke in a low tone.
"Yes… Hinari, killed him."
Hearing that made everyone's eyelids twitch. There was no way that such a timid girl could kill anyone, though Asami immediately responded.
"It's good to hear that the girl is finally doing what I'd recruited her for in the first place… good work getting her to stop acting so damn soft."
Sidra knew that no time could be spared to show grievance for raiser, but it still infuriated her to see that General Asami had remained as indifferent as always.
A few short minutes later, the group came to a stop once they heard footsteps approach them from behind.
They all turned their heads to see Hinari slowly walk up to them. Her hair was unusually unkept, her face still marked with the blood of her fallen father while she gripped the long staff in one of her hands.
But what made her appearance even more unsettling was her lightless eyes.
Seeing everyone's eyes fixed on her made the corner of hinari's dry lips twitch and her grip on her staff firmer.
With hollow footsteps, she approached her general and glared into her eyes. Suddenly it seemed as though Hinari had grown a few inches in the few hours she had been separate from her general.
After she gave a silent glare into the dark eyes of General Asami, Hinari's voice was chilling and deep when she spoke.
"Fuck you asami."
As soon as the sudden remark left Hinari's mouth, everyone's lips formed a perfect o shape.
General Asami on the other hand, kept her indifferent expression. Though her dark eyes didn't hide her growing anger.
"Excuse me?"
Hinari's hold on her staff tightened. In that moment, she looked like a feral beast ready to pounce on its prey.
Sidra immediately stepped toward the girl and placed a firm grip on her shoulder.
"Hey Hinari! Now's not the time to be-"
Hinari turned her glare toward the purple eyed woman and slapped her hand away. Seeing this side of Hinari brought an uneasy feeling in sidra's chest.
Hinari took position at the front of the group, and stopped in her tracks. Without looking back, she said in a low tone:
"Since you all seem to be so obsessed with making me into a ruthless killer like you all… how would you feel if I were to slaughter you all right here and now? Since that's what you all seem to want from me."
Everyone's bodies tensed up. For a moment, it seemed as though the once timid girl could revoke their lives if she so desired, but it was clear to both sidra and General Asami that the girl had no intention on killing them.
But there was no doubt that a small part of her at least wanted to punish her ruthless General with the embrace of a slow and painful death.
Hinari turned to glare at both General Asami and Lieutenant Sidra, and said with a voice full of contempt:
"It would be easy for me to kill the both of you right now… don't forget that."
With that, Hinari walked on ahead without waiting for anyone to follow behind. Just a few short seconds later, the rest of the group followed behind.
The rest of the way, General Asami kept a gaze full of contempt latched onto Hinari's back.
Though soon, that gaze would be focused on the unsettling sight before everyone's eyes.
***
Once the group had reached the land of the damned, at first they noticed the red sky which above the land of the damned had hundreds of ghostly faces, all with widened dark mouths and wide black eyes.
Beneath that sky, just short out from the sky piercing run covered pillar, the group was altered by two bloodied and mauled bodies.
After squinting his eyes, the priest was able to make out the fact that they were the dubious supreme general Yaku, and the graceful general Kojiro.
Without waiting for the command of her general, Sidra had rushed over to the two unconscious generals and began to heal their wounded bodies.
The priest and general Asami both darted their eyes around the unsettling place. Weren't the two generals just fighting an evolved demon?
Suddenly, a loud scream reverberated through the silent area. Hinari shot a lifeless gaze up toward the sky above.
The sudden scream came from one of the ghostly faces. Then it was followed by a few more. Then another.
The young woman clutched the center of her long staff. But before she could make a move, she felt a thick skinned forearm resting over her shoulder.
She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw a dark crimson colored demon with his ribcage exposed. However his eyes weren't fixed on the girl herself, but Aaliyah.
Once everyone turned to face the demon, he spoke in a deep voice:
"It's been a while, Aaliyah…"
Once Aaliyah heard the voice, her face paled. It took neither her nor Selene long to realize that it was Cain.
'Oh brother…'
Cain for a moment had glanced over to the pale scar-faced Selene. In a mocking tone he remarked:
"Hey there, Scarface… didn't think I'd see you here."
Selene simply rolled her eyes. Her only concern was that now that almost all of her and Aaliyah's power had been sapped from the crimson pods of hells prison.
Fortunately they could still use basic magic for defense and paralysis, but against gods and monsters in the world of Hell itself, basic defense and paralysis spells wouldn't get them very far.
While everyone stood and waited for anyone to make the first move, Hinari greatly obliged.
The end of the long staff she held had suddenly bent behind Cain's back.
The blade at the end of the staff had merely put a small scratch on the demon's neck. Immediately, Cain had twisted his deformed figure and caught Hinari in a firm grip by her slender throat.
Sidra cursed beneath her breath. But before she made her move, there were three serpents which silently slithered their way over Cain.
The three shadow serpents glared down at the deformed demon with crimson eyes. Without a doubt, this was Kai's move.
Ever since his earlier fight against the wrathful Ikari, he felt as though his skill with his shadow technique's had greatly improved.
His body flowed naturally like the ocean. Neither did simply using his magic feel as taxing on his body.
The three serpents had sunk their fangs deep into Cain's thick skin. After a short struggle, Kai had successfully managed to pull the demon away from Hinari.
Once his grip loosened, Hinari wasted no more time.
Once she grasped her long staff again, Hinari began to move wildly with the weapon. Her body was in perfect sync with the staff and yet it was almost as if she was in a wild formless dance with herself.
Suddenly, she squeezed her bare hand onto the sharp side of the blades end of the staff and used it to pierce right through Cain's flesh.
The cut was smooth like butter, but the blade still drew blood from Hinari's own hand. Everyone couldn't help but furrow their eyebrows at the reckless dance Hinari had been exhibiting.
Though everyone knew she had been trained from a young age in assassination, this type of fighting style she had exhibited wasn't something anyone would assume hinari of all people would use. It was a surprise to see such a timid girl exhibit the type of combat style you'd see of a typical bandit or bloodthirsty savage.
As her body flowed naturally with the blade as if the two were one being entirely, Hinari had taken the advantage in the battle as she rained down relentlessly on the deformed demon.
However at one point when she had swung the staff at Cain, the weapon had broken in two halves as it clashed against his exposed ribcage.
Fortunately before Cain could land a fatal blow on the girl, a projectile blood slash had been sent toward Cain from Asami who swiped her sword downward through the air.
The blood slash had managed to cut cain's arm clean off, though his focus did not falter for even the slightest second. Naturally in combat, it should be common knowledge that if your senses are delayed by even the slightest bit of time, that precious second could cost your life.
As the second born scion of his prestigious lineage, Cain understood that and did not allow the pain of losing a limb to make his focus waver. Also, his Distain for Aaliyah was also what did not allow him to die here.
'I'm not interested in any of you'
Once his arm grew back in the blink of an eye, Cain had disappeared from sight. And in an instant, his deformed figure had manifested through small black particles right behind Aaliyah.
"We've got some catching up to do, my dearly beloved."
With that, Cain gripped Aaliyah by the throat and leaped off into the distance with her.
Sachiko and Selene were the first ones to make the move to rush after the two, but before they took even three steps into the direction Cain took Aaliyah in, a sudden human sized figure had came crashing down before them.
Once the small dust disappeared, everyone saw Jason's battered and bloodied body groveled in the dirt.
Selene fell to her knee and grasped the boy in her arms.
"Jason! What the hell happened to you?!"
Jason gritted his teeth as he looked past Selene. Seeing his straight gaze shoot past herself, Selene also looked into the same direction.
She felt a sudden chill spider its way up her spine once she saw Kahal standing in a small dusty cloud.
"Fuck!"
Athena who was standing next to Sachiko had suddenly remembered that Jason and Kaida had earlier split from the group in search of Aria. And now, her face paled once the dust that surrounded Kahal swept away with the heated breeze.
In one of his hands, he was grasping what was clearly a human girl's hand which was covered in blood and mangled.
'No…'
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Continued in chapter 104: Delusions Of Grandeur
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