The Red Hand

"Alright! Alright!" Akagi clapped her hands and pushed the arguing family apart. "Old Lady, stop yelling at the kids to get off your lawn, and delinquents, stop getting her blood pressure up. You know that old people can't handle stress well and we don't need her keeling over because you kids stressed her out.."

"Pfff." Halifax, who'd just recovered from her laughing fit, tried very hard to not lose it again.

"But!" (Elariel x Zo x Ro)

"NO BUTS!" Akagi exclaimed, putting a stop to future arguing. "Now listen, I don't care about your family drama, or whatever the hell this is. Right now, my primary concern is figuring out how to get into the Heavens without needing to vaporize this world in the process." She sighed as she looked at the twins. "Now, if you've got any ideas about how to make that possible, I'd like to hear them. Otherwise, my hand may slip, and you might go bye-bye."

{I really don't have the energy to deal with these idiots and their arguing. I take it back. This kind of drama isn't fun... Why can't things be simple...} (Akagi)

{Well, things are NEVER simple around you. I would've figured that you understood that by now.} (Yumi)

{Quiet you...} (Akagi)

"Well, unless we can find a useful Primordial or convince Gale or Reflia to go against their own interest, I don't think it's going to happen." Elariel with a bit of snark.

"Do you really have no idea of how she can get up there? I mean, come on. You're a Goddess. You have to know some secret method or know something useful." Halifax figured that Elariel was acting far to useless.

{Come on, I know you can do all sorts of bullshit, so how can YOU of all people not have a way around this problem?!?} (Halifax)

"If I did, then I would've already revealed it." Elariel shook her head. "These idiots were my best bet for a way in, but sadly they were just as worthless as they are childish."

"Can it, Grandma!" Zo growled. "The only reason we don't know about that kind of stuff is because you assholes drove our kind into hiding!"

“Exactly! Besides had the Gods not been so selfish then this probably wouldn't have happened in the first place!” Ro agreed.

{Oh my fucking God... Please... I hate arguing like this, it reminds me of Momo and Himari...} (Akagi)

"Can't you do something like when you summoned us?" Kanato interjected, hoping to find away to solve the problem. "Surely a ritual of that type would be capable of moving between layers of the world if it can take people between them?" He figured that it would be far simpler to move within Enoris than between worlds. “You sent us to Earth and even summoned us so why can't we do something much simpler?”

"You're correct to assume that it's possible, but again I cannot do that with my own power." Elariel replied. "Teleportation like that or just moving between the different layers of this world uses either Reflia's or Gale's power. None of the other Gods have the ability to move between the Heavens and material world without incarnating so what your asking isn't possible for me to do."

"That sounds so stupid." Amakusa scoffed. "Why would Gods be limited like that? It makes no sense. Surely it would make more sense for all the Gods to be capable of freely transporting people back and forth to their home?"

"No, it makes perfect sense if you take into account that Gods are meant to represent an idea or force, pet." Akagi sighed. "Elariel is a Time Goddess, so why would she need control over spatial forces? That would be like the God of the Underworld having the ability to stop time."

{Though, technically, Space and Time are kind of connected so...} (Akagi)

"Besides that, its normally not an issue for us since if we really needed to go between layers and neither Gale nor Reflia was willing or able to send our Avatars, we could always incarnate." Elariel continued. "That can be done without either of their powers, though it's not generally permitted due to problems it can cause, and our subordinates could always just go through a pre-established portal."

"Not to mention that you've probably never needed to bring an actively hostile force into

the Heavens against the other Gods' will." Akagi laughed. "The way I see it, what we have here is a system working logically and as it should, and by chance, it's the perfect roadblock to my plans."

{Though that still doesn't make it less annoying... Damn me for wanting to do things the not easy way...} (Akagi)

"Hmmm..." Halifax furrowed her brow in thought as she covered her mouth with her hand. "Then what about Vikes?"

"What about him?" Elariel asked.

"Well, he got into the Heavenly Realm, didn't he?" Halifax continued. "We fought him there three times, so doesn't that mean that a Demon Lord has a way of doing it?"

"Yes, but Akagi already said that she can't do that without killing us all." Elariel shook her head. "Vikes brute forced a connection open with his... Axe." She thought for a moment, and Akagi could tell it was about something unpleasant.

"THAT'S IT!" Ro's sudden yelp startled Amakusa and Kanato. "THAT'S HOW YOU GET IN!"

"???" Zo tilted her head in confusion.

"His weapon! Vikes' weapon!" Ro snapped his fingers as he finally figured out something to help. "If you find Labrys, then you should be able to extract that information from him!"

"Labrys?" Akagi raised an eyebrow. “Who is that?”

"That was the name Vikes gave to his weapon, and much like you treat the Black Sunrise as a partner, Vikes did the same to his weapon." Halifax explained. "It never spoke or had a mind of its own to my knowledge, but he would always treat it as if it did, though... How would finding it help?"

"Because it would have the information required for transit between worlds." Elariel shifted her jaw in thought. “Now that I think about it, Labrys would probably be the best bet to get what we need.”

"Wait, really?!?" Halifax was surprised to hear her say that. "How? Didn't he just brute force his way in? Why would the Axe have that kind of information and how would we even use it?!?"

"Because not only was Labrys alive like you are, but Vikes intentionally created it with the ability to open a connection between worlds without using a large amount of power." Elariel explained. “It would be a simple matter for it to open up such a connection or at least force that information out of it.”

"But I never heard it speak!" Halifax exclaimed. "Nor did I ever sense a soul within it! Besides, why would Vikes make his Axe have such an ability?!? What reason could he have for that?!?" She figured the Demon Lord wouldn't need something like that since he'd come to destroy the world and wouldn't care about stability anyway.

"Because the first time he entered the Heavens, he used too much power to force the door open manually and was defeated." Ro explained. "Our Mother told us the stories about that first incursion, and apparently, that mistake that nearly cost him his life. She said that after that near-death encounter with dozens of full-power angry Gods, Vikes crafted a new weapon to replace the one that was lost in that first engagement and made various changes and improvements, one of which was giving it both a mind of its own and the ability to help him minimize power expenditures."

{Smart, that would mean he didn't need to expend a huge amount of reserve power opening a hole between the layers of reality. Based on everything I've been told about him, and back calculating his age and relative power, opening such a connection with sheer brute force would probably drain him of at least half his power. He probably figured out that going back and forth, even with spacial coordinates, would leave him far to drained to properly fight so he likely created that weapon to store enough power to make the jump so that it wouldn't drain his reserves.} (Akagi)

"I'm... I'm shocked that you knew that." Elariel was surprised to hear that they knew so much about the battle with Vikes. "Elmira was never one to talk about that time with anyone, even us. She always tried to put those horrible times out of mind..."

{She'd nearly been killed by Vikes and was always afraid of his return. We tried to convince her that he was gone for good but for some reason she was certain that he still existed out there somewhere, rebuilding his power for revenge.} (Halifax)

"I'm lost..." Kanato sighed deeply.

"I kinda understand what's going on." Amakusa shrugged. "But this is above our pay grade."

"I don't pay you at all, pet." Akagi snickered. "Therefore, everything is above your pay grade. But getting back on topic, this might actually be what we need to bring things to a swift close." She continued. "Though, let me guess... wE DoN't KnOw WhErE iT iS." She spoke in a mocking tone, which made Yumi burst out laughing from within her shadow.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Halifax shrugged. "Last I knew, the Cult had it somewhere, but good luck tracking them down. Those bastards are slippery, and even after centuries of hunting them, the bastards are still out there."

{I've never been able to actually find their leadership, and even after the massive disaster three hundred years ago we only ever blew up a few large bases, not their headquarters.} (Halifax)

"Weren't the Demons going to crush them?" Kanato recalled a conversation that Ariel had with them at the conference. "I think she said something about finding their HQ and preparing a massive force to take them down, so can't we just follow them?"

"I highly doubt that will work." Elariel shook her head. "The Cult has hundreds of bases, and every time we've found their 'headquarters' it's nothing but a decoy. At best, we know their main base of operations is somewhere on the Eastern side of the Continent, but anything more specific than that is speculation."

{I've had people on that for a very long time and most of the time they're just chasing ghosts or getting bumped off when they start getting too close.} (Elariel)

"How hard can it be to find a bunch of crazy people and wipe them out? You've had four thousand years!" Amakusa said, exasperated. “Seriously! You're Gods and they're just normal people for the most part, so why can't you find them?!?” She figured it was probably from a lack of trying hard enough.

"The Axe." Akagi interjected. "I'm going to almost guarantee that it is the root of the problem. If it's a weapon created by a Demon Lord that has true intelligence, then it's going to know damn well that the Gods are going to hunt it down. Most likely it's using the power it has to aid the organization and may even be 'cloaking' it from prying eyes."

{Energy cloaking is possible, and I'd imagine that it figured out how to use its power to misdirect any attempt to find it. That or its got itself hold up in a place that none of them would think to look and is using other agents as distractions.} (Akagi)

"But... No, that can't be right." Halifax shook her head. "How could one weapon do something like that? If it used its powers as you describe, we'd sense Vikes' power since Labrys' energy was the same as his."

"Blah, Blah, Assumptions, Blah Blah, you and me." Akagi made a mocking gesture with her hand. "You should know by now that Demon Lords are not something that can be quantified by normal logic, and that goes the same for a weapon created from us. It would not shock me if it'd found a way to hide itself from detection, even from Gods, and if you're looking for an example of such things." She reached into her shadow and pulled out the Black Sunrise.

"What in the holy hell is that?!?" Elariel's use of very undignified language made everyone giggle. "Its almost like!" She covered her mouth with her hand.

"This here is a very good friend of mine." Akagi smiled. "Now, as one can see it's giving off a ton of Demon Lord energy..." She snapped her fingers, causing the energy coming off it to completely vanish. "And now it's not. Thus, if this Labrys is really as sentient as say Halifax it would quickly figure out how to do something like this, and I would be shocked if it hadn't figured out how to use its power to do much more while hiding during the intervening millennia."

"I... I can't believe I'm going to say this... But Vikes' weapon... It may be the key to saving the world..." Halifax gagged as she said those words. “Damn...”

{To think its going to take a weapon forged by that monster to bring things to a close.} (Halifax)

"Though chances are it won't be compliant." Akagi laughed. "If it's anything like its master, it's going to want this world destroyed. So I have no doubt its going to resist being used by me."

"Then, aren't we back to square one?" Amakusa rolled her eyes. “If you can't get it to cooperate you aren't getting what we need from it.

"Not exactly, for you see..." Akagi smirked. "The weapon of a Demon Lord it may be, but as its master is gone, I will not afford it special treatment. If it obstinately refuses to obey me, then I'll just have to MAKE it do what I want." She let out a slightly Demonic laugh. "And I'm sure it understands all too well that denying a Demon Lord what it wants is NOT a good idea."