The Red Hand

Chapter 357.5 –  The Hunter was Actually the Hunted.

"Hmmm, such destruction..." Said a towering man with tanned skin stood atop one of the large walls around the Holy City and took in the sight of the massive crater Akagi's attack had left in the nearby mountain range. His thick and wild black hair blew gently in the breeze as it flicked in front of his golden eyes. It was heavy, unkempt and wild, much like the look in his eyes. "At the end of the day I suppose that she's a beast just like Vikes." He scowled as his eyes scanned over the destruction caused by her battle with the twins. "Just one more in a line of such creatures that's plagued our world over the millennia." His deep voice seemed to vibrate and shake the wall beneath him. "But just like so many others that came before you, I shall hunt you to extinction, Demon Lord." He said, his voice like a deep low growl.

"Lord Keldore!" A female Angel yelled as she flew over to him. She was incredibly beautiful and her long flowing white dress complimented her brunette hair and blue eyes.

"I thought I told you not to come down here, Enra." Keldore spoke to her without looking at the Angel. "This place isn't safe for one as soft and weak as you." He snorted. “Return home at once.”

"The fact that its so dangerous down here is the whole reason I followed you!" Enra pouted as she floated next to him, hair flowing in the wind just like her creator's. "You know that this Demon Lord can kill Gods and is searching for you! So why did you come down here without any escort?!?" She thought it was crazy for the God of the Hunt to use his Avatar on Enoris when there was so much risk. Akagi had already killed Tehena and was likely able to kill others if she caught them. "You should return to the Heavens immediately! It's not safe down here! Lord Gale even said so himself!" He'd cautioned but not outright banned coming down to the material world, largely because doing so would be an admission of defeat in his and the population's eyes.

"I will not cower from this monster." Keldore retorted with a gutteral growl that seemed to shake the very wall he stood atop. "I fought Primordials in the Ancient War, hunted Demons in the Hells, and even battled that monster Vikes. I will not shy away from a challenge. Nor will I decline a hunt!"

"A hunt?!? What?!? How are you going to hunt a Demon Lord?!?" Enra squeaked, her voice showing complete bewilderment at his words. "Lord Keldore, surely you understand that no matter how primal they may be they're not beasts! You can't hunt something like that!"

{You muscle-bound hunt-addicted idiot! If it were that easy, we wouldn't be in this situation! Besides this one is far more intelligent than Vikes and even HE wasn't easy to take down!} (Enra)

"Everything can be hunted, Enra." Keldore said as he turned and leaped down the wall and fell to the street below, followed swiftly by Enra. "And just like with any good hunt it starts by understanding your prey, their habits, quirks, motives, and much more." He said as the two walked down the narrow street. Most people kept away from them, lagely because they knew staying too close to a God/Angel was never a good idea. "Take this Demon Lord for example. At the end of the day, she comes across as a predator of opportunity and a coward. Her strikes have always been at relatively undefended or easily isolated targets." He continued as they two walked down the street, turning a corner onto a more populated road. "Tahena's death was the result of a surprise attack. Riftwood was similarly so and every other assassination of political and religious figures was the work of a creature that strikes from the dark before recoiling into the shadows. At no point did she ever directly engage a foe in open combat if she could catch them off guard." His words were harsh but showed a begrudging respect for the Demon Lord.

"That may be true, but it's not like she's afraid of a straight-up fight either." Erna pointed out that she'd just dueled and beaten two Primordials in a head-on match. “This Demon Lord is far too powerful to assume she's nothing more than the craven creatures you've dealt with before!”

"That is true, but I'll counter that her targets here were brash children who have no real skill or combat experience." Keldore replied. "Those two are little more than beasts themselves anyway. Beasts driven by passion and emotion. It doesn't take much to defeat such creatures. Not to mention that Elariel handled them on her own when she sealed them, so I wouldn't hype up their defeat as anything more than it really was." He said as he moved out of the way of a foreign-looking girl with black hair and eyes to match. She was wearing a strange outfit that had a red tie, and Keldore could've sworn he'd heard about such clothing from a Hero at one point but quickly pushed the thought out of his mind as unimportant. "I don't fully understand what brought her into conflict with the Twins, but I would bet that it was out of a desire to eliminate what she saw as a threat."

{Either that or she saw them as a way to get into the Heavens, but those two wouldn't have the ability to do that.} (Keldore)

"A threat?" Enra asked, eyebrow raised. "Why would she see them as a threat when she so easily beat them?"

"Most likely she feared what would happen if they joined forces with us." Keldore said as the two continued down the street before entering a large open area with a fountain. "Those two would've been adequate fodder to send at her during the inevitable final clash. So I suspect she moved to eliminate any potential allies that we could muster. Predators like her are not fond of fighting large 'packs.' I see her action as one taken out of concern and fear rather than that of confidence and strength. At the end of the day, creatures like her are cowards. They abhor fair fights and will flee the moment a battle starts turning against them” He laughed.

"Yeah... I guess I can see that." Enra internally shrugged, figuring that the literal God of the Hunt probably knew these things best. "I'm still worried about your safety though! What if she attacks you right now?!? We really should get out of here before something bad happens!"

"You need not worry about that. I would know about her approach long before she even thought of making it!" Keldore brushed off her concerns. "Creatures like that ooze blood lust and fail to even partially mask their intentions. I'd know if she was within this city, let alone right next to me. So there is no reason to fear her catching us off guard. I've had my hackles up from the moment I activated my Avatar."

{Isn't it still bad if she's WITHIN the city and you're still here?!?} (Enra)

"Besides, unlike Tahena I'm more than capable of handling myself in combat." Keldore said as he cracked his knuckles. "If that Demon Lord showed herself to me, I'd skin her hide and mount it in my trophy room!" He laughed as Erna sighed, wondering where his confidence came from. "Though I don't think Demon Lords have hide, so I'd probably mount her head above my fireplace!"

"Yes, yes." Erna shook her head in exasperation, not wanting to debate things with him any further. "But still, perhaps it would be best to head back home and get some-" Her sudden pause caused Keldore to stop laughing and instead watch in horror as Enra's body was split in two from head to toe by the swift stroke of a blade.

*SLICE*

"Enra?!?" Keldore called out to her, but just as he was about to reach out to touch her the Angel's body exploded into light shards revealing the foreign-looking girl standing across from him, dark black blade in hand and a nasty smirk on her lips.

"You?!?" Keldore yelled as he summoned a large hunting knife and took a stance. "How dare you!" He was more angry that she'd dared to attack an Angel rather than killing one since technically she wasn't dead as they derived their power from the Gods and had no soul. Angels whose bodies were destroyed would simply reappear within their Gods' realm after recovering strength, though that didn't make it any more pleasant for the 'dead' Angel. "How dare you attack one of my servants?!? I'll skin you alive for such a transgression!"

{How did I not detect her strike?!? I sensed nothing! That shouldn't be possible!} (Keldore)

"I'm sorry but you both just made things so easy. It was as if you were practically begging me to kill you." Akagi chuckled as she slung the Black Sunrise over her shoulder while nearby onlookers screamed in horror before fleeing, fearful of being caught up in the ensuing chaos. "Now, what was that about me again? I'm a predator of opportunity, am I?" She continued, her words slowly transitioning from jovial to sharp. "You see, while I don't disagree with that label, your belief that I'm somehow a coward, well..." Her eyes flashed a look that could kill as her blade zipped forward slicing Keldore's blade in half while also leaving a gash across his chest. "I take a bit of exception to that notion." She snarled.

"Ack!" Keldore yelled in pain as blood dripped from his wounds.

{Pain?!? But how?!? This body shouldn't feel such things!} (Keldore)

"I don't know how you managed to avoid my detection..." Keldore said as he leaped up to back away. "But know that there is no greater hunter in this world than I, Demon Lord." He said as he landed on the roof of a nearby building. "You may have gotten the drop on me once, but you wouldn't be the first prey to have given me injuries."

"I may not be the first but I assure you that I'll be the last." Akagi said as she sliced him horizontally in two, appearing on the rooftop just behind where he'd landed.

"H-How?!?" Keldore's body slowly fell, turning just enough to allow him to see the partially enshadowed girl that had just done him in.

"Because, God of the Hunt..." Akagi smirked as she walked over, grabbed his hair and picked him up. "I, not you, am the greatest hunter in this world." She said as she drove the Black Sunrise through what remained of his torso, using her power to kill his real body before tossing the corpse of his Avatar to the street below, the sight of which caused screams and panic. "Though rather than hunter I tend to use the term Assassin to describe myself." She said as she flicked her blade to allow what little blood was on it to dissipate. "I think it has a much more refined connotation." She smirked.

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<Elariel POV>

"A... Another..." Elariel's entire body seemed to shake as she felt the death of her brother. “He's...”

"Oh? Did Akagi bump off another God?" Halifax asked as the two sat while having tea/coffee and snacks in the canteen. "Why one was it? Please tell me it was Korex."

{When he dies I'm throwing a party!} (Halifax)

"It... It was Keldore..." Elariel responded quietly. "He's gone."

{Even from this far... I felt it all... The screams... The cold... He's gone...} (Elariel)

"Oh, that muscle headed wacko? Meh, I suppose that works too." Halifax shrugged as she took a sip of her coffee. "Not the one I'd've picked off, but I'll take it."

{Soon, Korex. Soon!} (Halifax)

"How can you be so callous?" Elariel glared at her, her words a bit more harsh than she'd intended. "You may have your issues with us, but to so easily disregard the deaths of those who..." She paused, not wanting to finish her sentence.

"Go ahead, fucking say that they 'cared for me.'" Halifax gave a derisive laugh as she leaned on the table. "I fucking dare you to say it."

"They all did... We all did, Halifax..." Elariel said as her knuckles went white as she clenched her fists in frustration. "Mistakes were made, and we did things we shouldn't have... But that doesn't take away the fact that the other Gods... They cared for you, Halifax. I know you have plenty of good memories with them. So how can you just toss that aside so easily? I understand hating me... But the rest..."

"Elariel, I gave up on you all a long time ago." Halifax said as she sipped her drink. "Any good part of my relationship with the Gods died when you forced me to take part in that massacre. I only maintained civility from that point forward because I had no choice since you could just order me to commit further heinous acts." Elariel wanted to retort that she'd never have done something like that, but couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Halifax, even if you hate us don't you at least feel something about all the Angels that are going to be destroyed?" Elariel asked, noting that they'd done nothing wrong. "Enra was just wiped out along with all the others created by Keldore, and I know that you got along with her and so many others! At least think about them!"

"Understand that its not that I feel nothing. You are correct that I got along with many, and I'll be sad to see some go. However, they did nothing to oppose you, so as far as I'm concerned they share in your sins." Halifax dismissed the Angels' fate, casually. "I strongly dislike the sins of the father fallacy, but I think it's warranted here. You created them and they went along with your disgusting acts. Even if it was out of a sense of self preservation that does not excuse their inaction or cooperation. Its the same reason why I find the mortals of Enoris to be equally as guilty, at least the one's who didn't at least try and stand in your way."Those who did do something were perfectly fine in her eyes, though such individuals were few and far between.

{This was what I feared for all these years. Halifax... She's pulled away from us completely... It's why I warned her never to use that form, but it would appear that all my hard work to keep her stable has been undone by that dammed Demon Lord! I won't let her take my daughter away! I won't let her!} (Elariel)