The Red Hand

Chapter 317 –  Salvation.

"My plan won't work?" Akagi's eyes instantly went from playful to serious. Hearing the Goddess tell her that her methods were incorrect was not something she was going to ignore. "And why, pray tell, will that be?" She didn't want to outright deny the Goddess' assertion, since there was always a chance that something may have gotten past her, but the Demon thought that it was unlikely.

"Because after speaking with Halifax and a few other people at this base of yours, I believe that you are mistaken in your belief that undermining the people's faith in us will do anything to harm us." Elariel answered.

"Ok, so why won't it do anything?" Akagi asked, tapping her finger on the table. Simply being told she was wrong without an explanation was only going to ignore her. "I hope you've got more than just your word to back a claim that I'm wrong up. Lest you forget that I've got far more processing power than every one of you Gods combined. So unless you've got some kind of groundbreaking information, I'm not inclined to believe you."

{I'm not opposed to listening to somebody who tells me that I'm wrong, but I need more than just speculation and conjecture. So let's see what the Goddess has.} (Akagi)

"It's simple, your plan is flawed at its very core." Elariel's words caused Akagi's finger-tapping to stop. "Even if you take away every single one of our worshipers, it won't weaken us one bit." She continued. "I've been told that in your world it was common to believe that Gods derive their power from the mortals that worship them, and that if faith in them declined so too did that God's power."

"Well, Earth has no Gods, but yes." Akagi nodded.

"That was the idea in my world, too. There were records of Gods that once existed but faded away due to people forgetting about them." Yumi commented.

"And it's that flawed understanding that I believe completely undercuts your plans." Elariel shook her head. "Even if you were to slaughter the entire mortal population of this world, we'd still exist, and we wouldn't lose any power." She explained that they derived no power from mortal worship and they could exist independent of them and their faith. “So your plan to undermine us by turning our worshipers away is both pointless and misguided. Even if you burned this world to the ground we would still be here.”

{Though I'd prefer that she didn't...} (Halifax)

"But are the Gods of this world not born of the mortal's thoughts, prayer, and ideas? Silfana interjected. "Would that not mean that you need them in some manner?" She figured that the Gods needed them in some way, otherwise what would be the point of Gods.

"Gods can be born in a variety of ways, and while the method you describe is one way we are created, it has no bearing on our continued existence." Elariel shot her down. "Me, Gale, and Reflia have existed since around about the time this world was created, and the other Gods were made either by mortals forming thoughts into Divine beings or by procreation. However, even in the event of a God's cult dying out, that God will still exist. Zenthala is a prime example of that."

"Who's that?" Akagi looked over at Halifax.

"She/He is the God/Goddess of the 'Sun'" Halifax gave a wry smile. "They tend to take the form of both sexes, and they were created loooooooong before I was born due to a relatively large human cult that believed that they were the one and only 'true' God of this world."

{I guess a Sun Cult makes sense when you think about it...} (Halifax)

"Indeed, they were eradicated around ten thousand years ago during a war between different tribes. Something about worshiping the Sun being seen as worshiping Demons or something stupid." Elariel continued. "But Zenthala still exists mind you, it's just that they don't really have anything to do with the world anymore. As far as I'm aware their power has not changed, despite no longer having many dedicated worshipers."

“I see.” Akagi nodded.

"I think there are a few people that worship them, but now that I think about it, I've only seen Zenthala once in my entire life." Halifax closed her eyes and thought back to that encounter. "That was around... No wait, that was actually back when I was gifted to Helia.... Yeah... Damn, it really has been four thousand years since then..."

{Helia...} (Halifax)

"Did they even take part in declaring the Spirits' lives to be forfeit?" Yumi asked.

"No, they never showed up to the meeting." Elariel thought for a moment. "In fact, I have no idea where Zenthala even is at the moment. The last time I saw them was shortly before Helia went into the frozen wastes on the other continent."

{We lost contact with them and we've never sensed their presence all this time. It makes me wonder where they are.} (Elariel)

"Who is this Helia that you've mentioned twice now? That's a name that I don't know." Akagi asked as she poured more tea.

"Helia... Helia was my first wielder, and she's Zenthala's one and only child." Halifax answered, her lips curling into a warm smile. "She was a good friend to me and was perhaps the biggest reason why we ended up beating Vikes in the first place. She was the only person to ever bring out my full power during a fight, and as a Demi-God she was already incredibly powerful even before taking me into her hands."

{At peak Sunlight hours, she was almost unstoppable. If you were to force me to make a bet on who would be the most likely person to defeat Akagi, then Helia might just be near the top of that list.} (Halifax)

"Sounds like an interesting person." Akagi quipped. “I'd love to meet here.”

"She was, and I actually think you might get along, but sadly she went missing." Halifax said with a wry smile. "Helia came to me just before she got on a boat and sailed to Escaleon, which is a massive continent on the other side of the Ocean, and I never saw her again."

"If memory serves, that was around two thousand years ago." Elariel nodded. "It's strange. Even when we tried to Divine her location, we were never able to find her."

{Its not like either of those two to just disappear like that I wonder, are the two plotting something?} (Elariel)

"I'm going to put a Long Lost God and Demi-God Show Up Right At the Last Minute entry on my bingo card." Akagi laughed. "I've seen enough anime to know foreshadowing when I see it!"

"I'd like to say that you're wrong, but yeah..." Yumi sighed, knowing how these things tended to go.

{This last year has been nothing but crazy things happening one after the other, so why shouldn't a convenient arrival at the last minute happen?} (Yumi)

"But getting back to our original topic, I'm certain that your plan to weaken us won't work." Elariel said. "There isn't much merit beyond annoying the Gods to undermining our influence with the mortals. I can guarantee you that Gale has no need for or interest in such a trifling thing."

{I know for a fact that his mass sacrifice plan doesn't care one bit whether you are a true believer or a crazy weirdo who thinks we're just peoples' imaginations.} (Elariel)

"Well, fortunately for me you are 100% wrong about my plans." Akagi chuckled.

"What?" Elariel was puzzled. She'd been under the impression that Akagi's goal was to weaken the Gods so as to make beating them easier. "Isn't your goal to weaken us by taking away our worshipers? I know that part of the idea is to also force Gale's hand and make Gods come down here to kill them, but I thought you were doing this to weaken us?"

{Isn't that why you assume that we'd respond?!?} (Elariel)

"Nope." Akagi shook her head. "Why would I even bother trying to do something like that? I've already determined that you aren't a threat to me. Even if Gale is an order of magnitude stronger than you, I won't have much trouble putting him down, so there's no reason to weaken you all."

{That does not mean I'm going to drop my guard for a moment, as I'm not stupid enough to do that.} (Akagi)

"T-Then what's the point of any of this then?!?" Elariel was still confused. "Or are you trying to tell me that the only reason you want to skulk around like this is because you find it amusing?!?" She figured that Akagi's actions were the result of some kind of grand plan and that her methodical destruction and undermining were part of said plan.

{I mean, wouldn't be surprised if that was at least partially true...} (Halifax)

"My plan's been the same since before the Heroes even arrived on Earth." Akagi glanced over at Halifax. "I thought I told you what I was going to do?" She could tell that Halifax was equally confused.

{No, actually, I explicitly remember TELLING this idiot my plans!} (Akagi)

"I mean you might've, but I probably zoned out." Halifax shrugged. "I was probably too busy petting the kitty." She snickered.

{MY KITTY!} (Yumi)

"You're lucky that I like you." Akagi reached over and pinched the sword's cheeks and stretched her face comically. "So allow me to explain my plans again. This will be on the test, so I'd advise taking notes."

"I suck at tests, so please don't!" Halifax pleaded playfully. "I'll give extra pets as compensation, so spare me!"

"Approved." Akagi nodded. "Okay, so here it is. My end game is to completely undermine the Gods' influence." She locked eyes with Elariel. "Not because I need to make you weaker to win, rather I want to show you just how weak you truly are, and part of that involves taking away the very thing that you've come to take for granted."

"The people's love and respect." Elariel nodded as it finally clicked.

"Indeed. Now, I have no real interest in shifting worship to me per se, since I'm not the kind of being that likes being worshiped." Akagi said.

{Does wanting pets count?} (Halifax)

"We just do it anyway, though." Yumi giggled as she was given a head chop.

"These morons aside, I don't want to see temples in my honor." Akagi sighed. "But what I do intend to do is show Enoris' population that you lot are unable to help them. Once I do that, it won't be long until they come begging to me for protection, and that's when I win."

"Okay, so this is just you stroking your ego then?" Elariel rolled her eyes.

{Of course it would be... Demon Lord or not, you're still a Demon.} (Elariel)

"Partially, yes." Akagi laughed, acknowledging her statement. "That's just how I roll. If you fuck with me, then I'll take everything you ever knew and loved!" She gave a happy smile that clashed heavily with her prior words. "But don't worry, you see, I have a part two to this grand plan!" She snickered.

"And what's this amazing 'part two' that you have? I hope it's good enough to convince the population to turn on us, since, as I said before, that's unlikely at best." Elariel shook her head.

"Ah! But you see, its simple!" Akagi's happy smile curved into a wicked grin. "I'll offer them the one thing that few mortals will turn down. The one thing that you idiots can never give them." She started cackling like a madwoman. "'Salvation' from this doomed world."