The Red Hand

Chapter 103 – The Feast (Part 1)

The six remaining members of Libra's upper echelon looked on in absolute horror as Akagi consumed Skipper. He was gone before they could even muster the courage to move, and his screams echoed in their ears. Once she was finished with the pirate, Akagi glanced over at them. Her face showed a satisfied smirk, as her eyes glimmered with joy.

“What's that look for? You're acting like I'm some kind of monster.” Akagi let out an eerie laugh.

"Wh-what did you do to him?" Spellhauser asked, her voice filled with fear.

"The same thing I'm going to do to all of you. I ate him." Akagi grinned.

"A-ate? You ate him?" Spellhauser. "What does that even mean?!?"

"It means exactly that." Akagi stretched. "I devoured his soul. I am a Demon after all. It's kind of what I do." Akagi laughed demonically. Her consumption allowed her to consume the soul of a being much weaker than her. It wouldn't always work, but the members of Libra were well within its operational range. Plus, since she was far and away the most powerful being in this world, chances are no one could resist it. “After all, this is my feast. And I am quite hungry” Akagi's eyes lit up as she said that word. While she wasn't beholden to her desires to consume souls, now that she got a taste, she wanted more. And lucky for her, there were six other volunteer snacks right in front of her.

"Just who the hell are you?" Herlex asked. "You aren't Akagi, that much is evident." His angelic senses told him the being in front of him was pure evil. “Did you take her place?”

"I am the Demon Lord," Akagi answered. "A being born for the sole purpose of destroying this world. Though, I should correct your misunderstanding, Herlex. Despite all my changes, I am still Akagi. I might be a bit different than when you last saw me, but I am the same person." She took a step forward. "Though I'd be less concerned with who or what I am, and more worried about what I'm about to do to all of you." Her laughter echoed around them and sent chills down their spines.

"I don't care if you're the Demon Lord or just a crazy woman. We'll take you down right here." Armalthy charged energy throughout his body. Seeing his resolve, the others nodded to one another.

"That's right!" Elna's foot slammed against the ground causing a minor quake. "If we take you down, we'll be the heroes who beat the Demon Lord. I kinda like that."

"Who knows, maybe people will actually like us for killing a monster like you," Spellhauser smirked. "Would be funny if nothing else."

"Yeah, you're just an overgrown World Boss, and we've taken down monsters like you plenty of times. So calling yourself the Demon Lord doesn't scare us!" Zappy took out his extendable polearm and slammed the butt of it into the ground.

"It ain't much, but you have my axe!" Max readied for battle, casting his eyes on his teammates.

"You hear that, Demon Lord." Herlex charged divine power through his body causing a white glow to form around him. "We're going to take you down and become this world's Heroes." He thought this was quite a funny situation and decided to roll with it. Though he was unsure if they could actually win, the power radiating from Akagi wasn't filling him with confidence.

Not being one to shy away from a bit of fun, Akagi joined in deciding to give them the Demon Lord they wanted.

"Then come and strike me down! If you are to save this world from destruction by my hands, then you'd best defeat me now, Heroes!" Akagi threw her arms open wide as she invited them to attack her. "I am Akagi Dumetor, the Demon Lord! And I welcome your challenge!" As she said this, dark power welled from within her and exploded outward, covering her entire body in a veil of black energy.

{I've always wanted to do this.} Akagi laughed internally. She always loved playing the villain, and Herlex was giving the perfect chance to have a bit of fun. Though, she wasn't exactly playing in this instance.

"She's enjoying this way too much." Hishya cringed hard at Akagi's declaration. “I can't believe she gave that little speech. Your sister really is hopeless, Kana.”

"I mean... I actually thought it was kinda cool..." Kana admitted over the call. She'd connected to Hishya so they could talk throughout the battle. The stream had already garnered hundreds of thousands of viewers and the chat was in a frenzy. Normally, this kind of content wouldn't be allowed on streaming sites, but exceptions were made at Hishya's request.

{Are both these sister's actually chuunibyou?} Hishya asked herself. {Well, Akagi is literally the Demon Lord, so maybe chuunibyou isn't the right word. Perhaps CRINGE is the right term?}

The dragon girl thought that, and yet she titled the stream The Demon Lord Saves the World?!? Which makes one question if she's much better than the two sisters in the chuuni department. Not to mention her own chunni proclivities, but that is a topic for another day.

*KABOOM!*

All at once, Herlex, Armalthy, and Spellhauser launched powerful blasts of energy directly at Akagi, who took them head-on. They poured in more and more attacks hoping to overwhelm her with their firepower. Meanwhile, Elna and Max ran around to her sides, intending to flank and defeat her in close combat. Herlex figured a coordinated effort was necessary for victory and planned accordingly.

"You can't defend against all this!" Elna screamed as her fist began to glow with red energy, and she punched down at Akagi. While Max did the same with his axe from the other side.

"Are you sure about that?" Akagi chuckled as she caught Elna's fist and Max's axe in her hands. She was completely unaffected by the long-range blasts and didn't even have a scratch on her. "Did you really think such weak attacks would affect me?" Gripping tightly, Akagi spun in circles at high speed before launching the two across the courtyard in different directions. "Come now, at least try and make this interesting! Otherwise I might get bored and kill you all instantly!" In a flash, she rocketed towards Max, slammed her knee into the dwarfs stomach, causing him to fly upwards slightly, before zipping into the air above and kicking downward bouncing him off the ground like a rubber ball.

“Ack!” Max let out a pained cry as he bounced. Akagi's hit shattered a few ribs and knocked the wind out of him. As he rebound from her kick, she moved again and slammed her foot into his chest, causing him to fly into a nearby building.

{And it's good!} (Akagi)

"Max!" Zappy yelled.

"I'd make a joke about dwarf tossing, but that's beneath me." She gave a cheeky grin as she turned to Elna.

*CLAP* *CLAP* Akagi clapped her hands together in a taunt. "Come on, Elna! I know you can do better than that! Show me everything you've got! Unless you'd rather I just rip your heart out right now?" She beckoned her to get closer.

"You bitch!" Elna fumed at this provocation and jumped forward engaging in hand-to-hand combat with Akagi. Spellhauser and Zappy decided to jump in to help in close combat. While Herlex went to heal Max, and Armalthy hovered in the air, waiting for the chance to strike.

In a 3v1 at close range, they expected Akagi to be at a disadvantage, but she deftly avoided and deflected their strikes. It was if they were swinging at air, and Akagi's bad tendency to dodge the minimal amount only infuriated them as their swings were mere centimeters from connection.

"Your teamwork's not too bad. But you could use a bit more oomph behind your attacks! Akagi chuckled as she easily handled the three of them. “Come on do something fun! Activate ability boost! Or pull some other bullshit out! Give me something to enjoy!”

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *CLANG* *CLANG* *CLANG* *SWIPE**SWIPE**SWIPE*

The three continued their onslaught, coming close but ultimately unable to land any blows as Akagi danced around them. Hishya was impressed with how well they worked together and stood speechless as she watched Akagi effortlessly lead them around by the nose. It was as if Akagi saw this as little more than a game, and was barely taking this serious at all.

{If this is just her goofing around, how strong would she be if she took this seriously? Could she actually kill them all instantly like she said?} (Hishya)

Akagi looked up at the floating Armalthy as she deflected Elna's punch into Zappy's polearm. "Come on Armalthy. Are you just going to float up there all day? I don't mind fighting you too!" Akagi laughed as she mocked him. "Are you too scared? Or are you just worried about hitting your allies? Come on join the party! Not like you doing anything will make a difference, but at least give our audience a bit of entertainment before I get my hands on you!" Akagi spun, dodging out of the way of Spellhauser's blade and deflecting it into Zappy. “So close!”

"You bitch! I'm not afraid of you." Armalthy charged up an energy blast and sent it straight for her. “Eat this!”

"How nice of you!" Akagi smirked as she grabbed Zappy's pole arm. “This will make a great lightning rod!” The sudden stop disoriented him and before he could react, Akagi swung him and his weapon in front of her to take Armalthy's blast.

{Zap goes the Zappy!} (Akagi)

"Oh shit!" Zappy screamed. He tried to disengage but was too slow and took the full blast of Armalthy's electricity. "Awawaaawawwaww." He yelled as he was electrocuted.

“That's gotta hurt...” Hishya put her hand up to block a bit of the light that erupted from Zappy when he was hit.

“That was like a fly when it hits one of those bug zappers.” Kana said. “I could feel that from here.”

"Here, catch!" Still holding onto the polearm, Akagi threw it, and Zappy, towards Armalthy, who caught him. “He's a little tuckered out after that, get the angel over here so he's ready to go for the next round!” She was more than happy to let Herlex heal them over and over again, since it made no difference how many times they attacked.

"Armalthy, you idiot!" Elna yelled. "Watch where you're firing those blasts. If you hit me, I'll rip your head off!" She continued her attack, now with one less teammate, as she grumbled about how stupid Armalthy was for giving in to Akagi's provocations.

"Don't blame him," Akagi commented. "He can't help being so stupid. But then again, you all aren't much different than him!" Akagi deflected one of Elna's punches and smacked her square in the face causing her nose to break and begin to bleed. “Now that's better, you're ugly on the inside and the outside!”

"You bitch!" Elna screamed. That was the same line that Excelsior said at the docks and hearing it from Akagi pissed her off even more. "I'll fucking kill you, you bitch!"

"You'll die trying." Akagi laughed as she deftly moved out of the way of Spellhauser's blade that came from behind her. "Not gonna use Greater Ability Boost? Not that it will help, but it might make things more interesting." Akagi grabbed Spellhauser's extended arm and threw her into Elna causing the two of them to fly several yards across the courtyard. Funny enough, Spellhauser did activate her Ability Boost, but it was such an insignificant change from Akagi's perspective that the Demon didn't even register it.

"Get off me!" Elna yelled as she threw Spellhauser off her. “Don't hold me back with your stupidity!”

"This wouldn't happen if you did your job, you idiot!" Spellhauser exclaimed. The two then started fighting, blaming each other for their mistakes.

"Arguing in the middle of the fight with the Demon Lord." Akagi shook her head. "I don't know whether to be annoyed or insulted." She didn't have much time to dwell on that as a twin blast from Armalthy and Herlex collided with her causing a massive explosion.

"Quick, give me Zappy." Herlex flew over and healed the monk. "Max will be here in a minute, so we should wait for him before lauching another attack.” He looked down at the two arguing Elves. “And you two idiots need to stop fighting! Save your lover's quarrel for after Akagi is dead!"

"Call it that again, and I'm going to rip your wings off, Herlex!" Elna screamed. She hated when people made that stupid joke about her and Spellhauser, the two hated each other. "I'd sooner cut my own ears off than sleep with this bitch!"

"Ha!" Spellhauser scoffed. "Bold of you to think you'd ever get a chance! I know your history, and I don't want any part of that mess!" She seemed ready to drive her blade into Elna.

"ENOUGH!" Herlex yelled. "Kill or fuck each other later! I don't care what you do then! But right now, we need to focus!" He pointed to Akagi, who was looking at them.

"You two are absolute idiots. Who the fuck starts fighting with a teammate mid battle? Hishya, how the hell did the RRT have trouble with this team of stooges? I thought you trained those idiots and somehow they still lost?" She sighed and peered over at the dragon girl, who decided not to answer. “Maybe your lackadaisical attitude is because you think this is a joke? Was killing Skipper not enough to show you all how serious I am? If that's the case..." In an instant Akagi leapt at Spellhauser and grabbed her by the throat as the two of them flew into the side of a nearby building.

*BANG* A loud slam echoed throughout the base as Spellhauser was slammed into the wall, leaving a large indent.

"Ack!" Spellhauser choked as Akagi's grip tightened around her throat. Being slammed into the wall hurt considerably, and Akagi's hand on her throat left her unable to scream or breathe.

"Let her go!" Elna tried to punch Akagi, but to no avail, as she just batted her fist away with her other arm. “What?!?”

"Come on!" Akagi laughed. "I've got your teammate in quite the compromising position here. Come and save her before I get bored and snap her neck!"

{Well, more than likely I'll eat her, but that's besides the point.} (Akagi)

Elna tried to get a hold of Akagi but kept missing as the Demon jumped, maneuvered and dodged out of the way despite holding onto another person. Max and Zappy joined in once again, but found that they were also unable to make any progress in saving Spellhauser. Even holding the struggling Elf didn't slow Akagi down and irritation among the Libra members grew as they failed to do anything to the Demon. If anything, Akagi was finally enjoying herself and perhaps was using a bit more power than she needed, though it really didn't matter anyway.

"Come on, try harder!" Akagi taunted them, swinging Spellhauser just in reach only to pull her back. "Tell you what. You've got to the count of ten. If I reach that, she dies. So you better make something happen quickly!"

{Lets see what they do now.} (Akagi)

Akagi started the countdown.

"1"

Elna charged Ki into her fists, using everything to free Spellhauser. She hated the woman but didn't want her to die, since her aide would be necessary for the battles ahead.

"2"

Max activated his axe's magical properties that made it lighter and gave it an elemental damage effect. He was going to go all out to save his teammate.

"3"

Zappy channeled his own Ki to make himself faster, busting out the monk's signature reflex improvement skill as well. After that last mistake, he wasn't keen on being grabbed again, and wanted to ensure that he was faster than Akagi.

"4"

The three charged in simultaneously from three directions, hoping to box Akagi in.

"5"

The three attacked at blistering speeds, each trying to either land a hit on Akagi or get hold of Spellhauser. But unfortunately, Akagi was still far too maneuverable and easily dodged them. As this dance continued, Spellhauser's face began to turn blue, and her struggling stopped. She'd soon pass out and then after that, perish from asphyxiation if they didn't save her soon.

"6"

Armalthy joined in the fray, and began sending multiple bursts of lighting toward Akagi in an attempt to damage or stun her, but they did nothing.

{Dammit! Let me get in there and go full power you idiots!} He cursed his teammates for staying too close to Akagi.

"7"

Herlex began to panic, understanding that, at this rate, Spellhauser was liable to die. His intuition told him that Akagi would actually kill Spellhauser if her count reached ten and he wasn't going to bank on her letting the Elf go. Deciding that he couldn't risk Spellhauser dying, he summoned his armor and the Sacred Blade "Peacebringer" diving in with the holy blade. He preferred long-range casting but was also quite good up close if it came down to it.

{Damn you Akagi!} (Herlex)

"8"

Diving in, Herlex put everything he had into one single strike. With three other fighters surrounding her, one in her hand and Armalthy providing over watch, he calculated that he couldn't miss.

"9"

"Let her go!" Herlex screamed as he dove in, swinging his radiant blade down at Akagi.

{Let's see how you handle this. It's extra effective against Demons and other monsters! So if you are what you say you are, this will be the perfect weapon to kill you!} (Herlex)

*CLANG*

There was a loud noise as his blade hit home and made contact with the Demon. But this was no moment of joy and excitement at the destruction of the monster.

"Wh-what!" Herlex exclaimed.

Akagi easily blocked his maximum power strike with her open hand, and caught his blade without issue. For while Herlex had the right idea of banishing the darkness with his holy light.

"10"

Akagi was no mere Demon, and it would take much more than his pitiful amount of divine light to even begin to clear away the darkness of a Demon Lord.

“[Consumption.]” Akagi once again spoke in her Demon tongue and Spellhauser screamed as she was consumed. The Elf began to burn away in Akagi's hand, all the while, Akagi let out a truly horrifying laugh as she devoured Spellhauser's soul.

“S-she's...” Elna stumbled back, and Max froze in place.

“She actually did it.” Armalthy began to sweat.

“Fuck!” Herlex screamed in anger.

“T-this is a joke right?” Zappy gave an uncomfortable laugh. “This has to be a joke.”

"A much better taste." Akagi looked in delight at their shocked faces. "What's will all the shock and disbelief? I told you exactly what was going to happen. Or did you expect me to hit ten and just let her go? Sorry, but that's not exactly my style. Muahahahhahhah." Demonic laughter filled the air as the second member of Libra was consumed by the Demon Lord.

The stream lit up with an overwhelming number of comments ranging from fear to excitement as they watched Akagi laugh. Hishya and Kana sat in total silence as they watched the spectacle before them. The two girls weren't afraid or even suprised. If anything, they seemed to be totally engrossed by what was happening, like how one found it hard to look away from the scene of a crash.

{She wasn't kidding, this is truly going to be a feast in every sense of the word.} (Hishya)