The Red Hand

Chapter 484 – An Alliance of Convenience.

"Fell? Lord Labrys-" Tanya tried to reply, but was interrupted by Halifax.

"Listen, I've been around for a long time, kid." Halifax sighed, not wanting to get into a back and forth with someone denying their feelings. "And while my experience in romance is limited to a single fling with a married Empress, I'm not dense enough to miss it in others." She continued. "It's plain as day in your eyes that you love him, as strange a thought as it may be for a mortal to love a weapon created to, ya know, destroy this world." She gave a self-deprecating laugh since that applied to her as well. "Though you wouldn't be the only one tempted into such sin, I suppose."

{Sherry...} (Halifax)

"I don't see what my feelings have to do with anything." Tanya hissed, a reaction which told Halifax everything she needed to know. "And besides, my admiration for Lord Labyrs is because he's the one who will grant me freedom from the suffering this world has forced upon me! Do not mistake my feelings!"

"Suffering that you found relief from when you met my Brother." Halifax retorted, while thinking of Sherry as she'd similarly found relief in the, then Princess', arms. "Or are you going to say that you only see him as a tool for your-"

"LORD LABRYS IS NOT A TOOL!" Tanya screamed at the top of her lungs which caught Akagi and Halifax by surprise. "Don't you dare say such a thing! I would never think of him that way! He is the most important, wonderful-" She paused, her cheeks turning slightly red since she'd basically just confirmed what Halifax said. "He's been nothing but kind to me ever since I first met him, and he helped me understand that my power is a blessing rather than a curse! I'd never view him as nothing more than a means to an end!"

"Yep, she's fallen hard." Halifax chuckled as she looked to Akagi, who rolled her eyes in disinterest.

"Does your little discussion about love have a point?" Akagi had little interest in the beastkin's love life with what was technically her Nephew and wanted Halifax to get to the point. "Because I feel like all we're doing is wasting time."

{Yeah! Only you are allowed to waste people's time with nonsense!} (Yumi)

{…} (Akagi)

"Calm your horses, we're getting there. So hush. I'll pet you later." Halifax chuckled before turning back to Tanya. "Now, let me ask this. Tanya, are you not worried about Labrys? He's vanished without a trace, and I get the sense from your words earlier that you were expecting him to vanish like that."

"I... Of course I'm worried about him." Tanya replied, still a bit flustered. "But I'm sure he'll be fine. He's Lord Labrys, after all. There's no way some mortal could defeat him. I'm sure he's just lying low until things blow over."

"Fair, but recall that I gave him quite the thrashing, and the Gods were certainly watching that battle." Halifax reminded her that Labrys had more to fear than some random robber. "Gods who very much want him destroyed."

{Ah, I see.} (Akagi)

"H-He'll be fine. L-Like I said, Lord Labrys is probably just lying low to recover, and once he does, he'll beat you this time for sure!" Tanya said, a bit of fear creeping into her voice as she tried to feign strength.

"Maybe, maybe not." Halifax shrugged, not bothering to get into that argument. "But I can assure you that if the Gods get their hands on him, it's not going to be pretty. They won't just make his destruction quick, either." She continued. "Hells, they might even do to him what they did to me." She said, getting a bit closer to a wide-eyed Tanya. "Can you imagine it? The Labrys you love, gone? He'll be wiped out of existence, replaced with an impostor that wears his skin."

{The mental self-damage Halifax is dealing to herself has got to be painful.} (Akagi)

{Give her extra kitty time for her trouble.} (Yumi)

{My God, Yumi is WILLINGLY giving up kitty time?!? Who are you and what have you done with my beloved squishy?!?} (Akagi)

{Shut up...} (Yumi)

"I... That won't..." Tanya paused, unsure how to respond. The Divine Blade in front of her was irrefutable proof that the Gods could transform a Demon Lord's weapon into something else, and the thought of that happening to Labrys terrified her.

"It will." Halifax said with absolute certainty. "They will take him and turn him into a weapon to kill this one here." She said, lazily pointing to the Demon Lord.

"That would be a genuine threat too." Akagi noted that a Demon Lord's weapon would be an effective method of killing her. "So you see why I've got an interest in finding him. Well, that and I need his assistance in killing those meddlesome Gods."

"How do I know you won't just destroy Lord Labrys after you've handled the Gods?" Tanya said as she glared at Akagi. She knew that the Demon Lord was no friend of the Divine but had no reason to trust her. "What's to stop you from betraying him once his usefulness has passed?"

"Nothing." Akagi answered bluntly, which made Halifax sigh since this was classic Akagi. "He is a variable, which is something that I am not fond of. As the child of my Brother, he seems dedicated to carrying out his will, and while I care not for the fate of Enoris, what troubles me is that he may seek confrontation. A being born from a Demon Lord's power is dangerous, far more dangerous than just about anything else in existence, and I don't like dangerous and unpredictable entities running around my world." She had no problem with Labrys' crusade but given that she wanted some of Enoris' population to live and he did not, it was a given that conflict would occur. "If he decides to be done with things after the Gods and this world are vanquished, then we won't have a problem. However, if he dares to bare his fangs against me, then I will crush him without hesitation."

"So you view him as a tool." Tanya hissed.

"A means to an end is how I'd rather put it." Akagi shrugged. "A tool implies it exists for a singular purpose and does nothing beyond that reason for which it was created. He and Halifax are thus not tools in my mind, nor is my current partner." She continued. "But to swing back around, think of it this way. If Labrys is found by the Gods, he will either be destroyed or transformed in such a manner that the one you find comfort in no longer exists. However, if I get to him first, then he has a chance of survival. So which is best? A certain doom or a slim chance at salvation?" She grinned.

"Akagi is right." Halifax nodded. "If the Gods get their hands on him, it's over. Wouldn't you rather take a chance on Akagi and him coming to an understanding rather than risk his certain destruction at the hands of the Gods?"

"Do not forget that he and I share a similar goal. Both of us wish to see the Gods of this world destroyed." Akagi said. "From what I've seen, he's rational enough to understand that a mutual understanding is in his best interest. Or at least I'd like to think he understand that."

"Why do you even care about all this anyway?" Tanya asked Halifax, deciding that talking to Akagi would do nothing but boil her blood further. "You fought against the Cult for millennia and were a large part of the reason we had to go deep into hiding. You didn't even remember your past as Lord Labrys' Sister, and yet here you are cozied up to another Demon Lord. None of your actions make sense."

{Good thing she doesn't know about the kitty, that would probably make her even more confused.} (Yumi)

{Do I have to push the mute button on you?} (Akagi)

{Go ahead, but then I'll just ban you from snuggles for a week!} (Yumi)

"I've gone through a lot during my life, so yeah it doesn't really. It's a complicated story of how I went from hunting the Cult to being friends with a Demon Lord." Halifax's own mind didn't even seem to fully understand it so she'd decided to just stop questioning things a long time ago. "When Labrys told me of our shared past, I lashed out as my mind instinctively rejected such a connection." She said with a bitter smile. "I was the Divine Blade, a title around which my entire identity was based. I'd already disavowed the Gods, but I was still proud of what I'd done for this world... I just..." She paused. "I want to speak with him again. I need... I need to figure things out between us. Labrys... Labrys isn't the kind of person I can see myself just getting along with. At the end of the day, he's true to his nature as Vikes' creation while I'm..." She gestured to herself. "I may have no memory of my life as Enūma, but that past is something I need to understand. And Labrys... Looking back on our conversation before and during the battle, I can tell he was in pain too. He genuinely mourned the loss of his Sister, and... I don't know... I feel that I need to at least try to sort things out between the two of us, even if our differences are ultimately irreconcilable."

{I think irreconcilable is quite a weak way of putting it honestly.} (Akagi)

"Lady Akagi, please forgive my interruption." Nima bowed politely as she appeared next to the Demon Lord. "We've captured everyone in this location and locked it down. I have teams combing through any documents for duplication so that we may analyze them back at base."

"Good work, Nima." Akagi nodded before turning back to Tanya. "So, what will your answer be?" The Demon asked as she out her hand and pointed toward the tied-up Cultists. "Will you cooperate? Or am I going to have to start acting like a proper Demon Lord?" She smiled, revealing her razor-sharp teeth. "Because I assure you that I've got no qualms with letting the mask slip." She said as she fired a small blast of energy that flew by one of the restrained Cultists' heads and singed the wall behind them.

{Slip and reveal that you are, in fact, kitty?} (Yumi)

{...} (Akagi)

Tanya thought for a moment, understanding full well that Akagi would go through with her threat to either kill the Cultists or turn them all into willing puppets if she did not agree to her demands. A demand that Halifax, while not being a fan of, seemed uninterested in intervening to stop. It wasn't a choice she wanted to make since it would basically place the Cult in a subserviant position to Akagi, though she also knew that many would probably be okay with that given that Akagi was a True Demon Lord.

"I..." Tanya took a deep breath to calm herself. "I suppose we have no choice. But understand that we are doing this to protect Lord Labrys; we do not serve you. Demon Lord Akagi."

"An excellent choice." Akagi said as she slowly set her down and released her. “Now, let us discuss where we go from here.”