The war drums pounded, and the hordes marched to their beat. The weather had turned cold, artic even. Before I knew it, my teeth were chattering. I had thrown on a few extra layers for warmth; yet, that was proving ill effect."You look rather cold, master," Mimiku taunted.
"I hate you," I chattered.
She can change her body temperature to keep her warm, and I am stuck on a frozen throne on bones.
"Turn into a large fox so that I can lay on your back for warm," I pleaded.
"No," Mimiku scoffed.
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Please?"
"Ya, no…"
I jumped off my throne, trying to tackle Mimiku; unfortunately, she was far to quick for me. I walked along with her to try and get warmth in any way that I could.
"I didn"t think that the Winters clan could alter the weather like this." Mimiku waved her hand to the air.
"I didn"t either especially on a scale like this, plus it effective."
I pointed to a weaker demon, turned blue from the cold. Its once red flames all over its body gone, and the little critter began to grasp its neck before falling to the ground, dead.
"See, the weaker the demon, the greater the effect," I pointed out,
"What about the effect on out devil queen?" Mimiku asked, pointing her nose in Jezebel"s direction.
"Seems like there"s little to no effect on her, but Jezebel has put some clothing on, even if its armor," I said, rubbing my arms.
"Why won"t you cast a spell so that you don"t feel the cold?"
I glanced up at Mimiku.
"Because…"
"Because is a conjunction, not, an answer," Mimiku drew out.
"Because I forgot that I could do that," I answered, embarra.s.sed.
The feeling of being cold was gone in seconds. My arms dropped to the side, and I was walking with my head held higher.
"Feel better?"
"Much."
The war drum stopped, and immediately following the halt, the hordes stopped in their tracks. Mimiku and I looked around. We weren"t at our final destination, to early in the day for that.
Mimiku"s ears turning in every direction. She put her nose in the air, sniffing.
"What is it?"
"I can"t quite get a read on it, but something or somethings are around," Mimiku answered, still sniffing.
"Ambush, perhaps?"
I took another look around, realizing a think and heavy fog was surrounding the troops.
Definitely an ambush.
"Be ready," I warned.
"Oh, I"m ready."
A sound, something like shards of gla.s.s sliding on the ground, moved within the fog. Here and there, something unrecognizable would slip out of the mist and back in. Some commanders shouted for the outer ranks to form a defensive perimeter around the rest of the army.
I looked over at Jezebel, whose tail was darting back and forth.
"She"s nervous," I whispered over to Mimiku.
"I would be too," Mimiku added.
The commander barked for a few scouts to enter the fog to see what was stalking the army.
Something hissed in the distance; it was heavy and large. There were screams of terror and doomed silence following after that. None of the scouts returned.
You could hear a needle drop on the ground. Then a monstrous roar pierced the sky, and a ma.s.sive, scaly, five-finger foot smashed into a formation of two hundred demons. Widespread panic hit the horde.
"Fire!"
Red-fiery bullets filled the sky and fog, hitting their mark yet, bouncing off the hard scales of the unknown creature.
"Cannons, fire!"
Thunderous and rhythmic cannons blasted out at the beast. When the shots. .h.i.t their mark, they exploded violently. The creature finally revealed its face when it bashed its snout into the ground.
"Allask, save us," Mimiku called out.
It wasn"t like Mimiku to call out to a deity.
"What is it?" I shouted at her taking refuge behind a small hill,
"It"s a guardian!"
"What?" I didn"t think I heard right.
"It"s a guardian? Who"s the guardian?"
"From the icy appearance, I"m guessing that it"s the Winters" clan guardian," Mimiku concluded.
"I thought Nekko was the guardian?"
"She"s a house guardian."
"What"s the difference?"
"Nekko is a house guardian, specifically, guarding the direct family. This thing is a spiritual guardian, like a deity." Mimiku looked up at the oriental dragon. With red eyes.
"So, like you."
Mimiku looked back at me and nodded slowly. I pulled her close to me.
"For appearance sake, you need to transform into your full deity form and take that thing on and tell it our plan, if you can," I said urgently.
"This wasn"t part of the plan!"
"I know, but right now we need to what is necessary!"
Mimiku raised her hands in the air, black clouds formed, and purple lightening shown down from them. It struck her, and instantly, Mimiku transformed into a three-headed fox, with a pair of horns on each head, six legs for the body, nine-tails, and three purple orbs hovering over the heads.
The kitsune snarled and spat purple lightning from its mouths, striking the serpent guardian and shredding its scale hide. The two giants fought over the horde, and among the chaos that ensued, another sound resided.
I saw demons getting pelted with white bullets and stabbed with ice shards.
Out of the fog, the remnants of the Seventh army rushed out and gained an upper hand of the engagement. The disoriented demons and undead were killed off quickly, but lines were made and solidified.
"This wasn"t part of the plan," I mumbled, avoid direct confrontation.
This was utter chaos. Surprisingly, the Seventh caught the hordes of h.e.l.l flat-footed.
"I never knew that the Winters clan had something that big stored away."
I whirled around. The Director and Fitzy had found me.
"I didn"t know they did either, but maybe it would have been wise to inform me about it?"
"I didn"t know about the dragon until later that morning after you had already left," the Director smiled.
We shook hands.
"But please tell me that you have a way of contacting Death?"
"More or less," I responded.
The ground groaned and shook. All looked up at the t.i.tans fight above. A foot landed squashing a few dozen soldiers from either side.
"If we don"t wrap this up, there won"t be a need to call Death," the Director shouted, "we"re going to be with her shortly with those two fighting!"
"I"ll start dialing Death."
I rushed to find a safe place to begin the preparations. I p.r.i.c.ked my finger and pulled a soul from my reserve. I dripped the blood into the soul, and it changed its color from white to bright red, then I clamped down on the soul itself.
My blood had weakened the integrity of the soul, making it to where I could rip it in two halves. I didn"t want to follow through but had to tear the soul a little.
I could feel the soul beginning to pull apart, suddenly a bright blinding flash shot out of the soul. The world that I was in turned gray and white. Every single being, big and small, was grey with white glowing outlines.
This place had an unusual feeling of dread and peace. This was Purgatory, the realm in which roamed searching and retrieving the dead. She was here.
The soul sent out a cry for help, a beacon for Death to come for her.
"h.e.l.lo?"
I called out, sounding as though I was underwater. Even my movements reflected being submerged. I moved around at a slow pace. Time in this s.p.a.ce appeared to have stopped, but on further examination revealed that thing, moved slowly at a supernatural level.
"There, there, sweetie. Here let me take this disgusting blood off of you." A sweet, caring, and compa.s.sionate voice sounded.
I drew near the conversation. It was as if a mother was comforting a child, and there she was Death and her magnificent yet horrifying splendor. Just looking upon her buckled my knees.
She didn"t move like I did. She was graceful, nimble, and was before me before I could even process the movement. Fear gripped me. I couldn"t control my quivering body.
I was more than positive that if I have anything in my bowels that it would have been on the ground in an instant. I could only stare at her feet. I dared not look into those hollow, sunken eyes.
"You dare come into my realm filth?"
Though her presence terrified the life out of me, her voice was the most luscious sound that I had ever heard.
Please, say anything so that I can listen to you.
"P-p-please," I tried, but my voice was gripped in fear that I couldn"t speak.
How was I going to speak to her? What part of the plan detailed the fact that I couldn"t talk to Death?
"Would you be quiet?"
Death sounded annoyed, aggravated.
"I-I need y-y-your."
This was unbelievably difficult.
"Why did you hurt that soul?"
I didn"t mean too, but it was the only way that I could get pa.s.sage into this place to meet with you.
I couldn"t say anything; I could only think it.
"You, of all the miserable little things the G.o.ds created, came here to chat with me?"
She can hear my thoughts?
"Is it so impossible to believe?" she asked, confirming my theory.
I didn"t waste time.
Please, I am seeking your help.
"I do not deal in the world of man. Through the ages, man has caused more problems than I wanted to deal with," she answered.
"You have wasted your time. I only deal with souls," she said, and with a wave of her legendary blade, I was back on the battlefield.
"No!" I shouted, scrambling to my feet.
We were doomed, and I didn"t have a backup for this plan. Death was supposed to easy, for the most part.
I had failed everyone. The world slowed down. The realization of my failure overtook my thinking. The hordes of the seven h.e.l.l were turning the tide of the battle.
"I"m sorry," I called out to no one.
There had to be another way, something. I thought and squeezing my head for an answer, then it hit me. I yanked my soul gla.s.s from my belt and shattered it.
Thousands of souls shout out, but I kept each one tied to me like a balloon. Each hook began to rip the soul apart; I need to get back into the realm with Death, and I wasn"t leaving there without her help.
A ma.s.sive flash blared, and once again, I was in front of Death.
"You"re a pest that needs to be exterminated," she warned.
Death tried to grab a soul to fix it, but her bony hand phased right through it. She tried again and again but with no avail. She screamed her frustration.
"What is the meaning of this!" she demanded.
These are my souls, not yours. They are bound to me, and you"re not getting a single one until we make a deal.
I knew Death didn"t breathe, but she was breathing down my spine.
"I could kill you now…"
And you would let these souls fall back into the human world to roam in agony until the end of days.
I was trembling without a doubt, but there was more at stake than my fear. I wanted to live, truly, and I made sure that I would, and I was willing to give up everything to make sure that I could.
"Your kind is such a pain," the angle grumbled.
I am willing to turn all of my souls over to you for your help.
A dark, yet amused chuckle erupted from Death. If she had lips, I would have thought I had drawn a smile to her lips.
"Alright, so you have come to make a deal, come and sit with me," she offered.
Death whipped up two chairs and a table. I couldn"t believe that I was about to make a deal with Death.