The Red Hand

Chapter 37 – The Only Acceptable Position.

"Compatible?" Akagi asked. "What does that even mean? And why would I even be compatible with a Demon?" Akagi's mind raced as she tried to understand what the girl just said.

"L-like I said, I don't really know myself." Mizumi continued. "Something about your soul was similar enough to that demon that it allowed me to merge them and create a cross-over point between our worlds." The girl was still terrified of Akagi but seemed to regain some of her composure. "As far as I know, Demons or even magic don't exist in your world, so I have no idea why you would share any similarities. Your soul was damaged, so perhaps that had something to do with it?" She seemed to be telling the truth, but that last part caught everyone's attention.

"What do you mean my soul was damaged?" Akagi exclaimed. "Did you do that?" Akagi was about at the end of her rope with this girl.

"NO! Souls are sacred things; spirits would never damage them!" she cried out. "Even merging yours as I did is considered taboo, but I did it because we had no choice." A dark shadow fell over her face. "I don't know why it was damaged; the only way that should be possible is if it was subjected to some extreme form of trauma."

{Trauma? I.... could it be possible that....} Akagi had an idea about what may have caused it, but pushed it aside for now.

"So you merged me with that Demon so that you could connect our two worlds and allow you and all your spirit friends to jump to safety. Do I have that right." Akagi didn't understand any of the mechanics behind what she was saying, but she could tell this girl wasn't lying.

"Yes, that's correct." she nodded. "It was a long shot, and I didn't have room to be picky in my methods, but that is exactly what happened." she continued. "But rest assured that you were not harmed by the merger! That Demon's personality was long gone by the time you fused with it. If anything, you may have received a few scattered memories, and that's it." Mizumi tried to reassure Akagi that she was still herself and that she needn't worry about the Demon she fused with.

"So then why did some players retain their abilities after logout?" Hishya asked another crucial question. "Unless you mean to tell me you merged 100 players with the souls of other creatures?" Hishya was still quite angry with this little girl.

"No, No, No," she shook her head. "Akagi was the only person whose soul was merged; she was the only person I could do that to." Hishya didn't exactly like the idea of her soul being merged with some dragon, so hearing this was a slight relief. "As for why you kept those powers, it was most likely a side effect of the dimensions briefly intertwining and merging. It just so happened to affect 100 of you, so I made an announcement to make it seem planned." She gave a wry laugh. Even the person who caused this whole mess didn't understand everything that happened, and the transfer of powers was something out of her hands.

"Can you take away our powers?" Akagi barked.

"No, I can't do something like that." she denied having that ability. "I don't even fully understand how those powers transferred to begin with. Taking them away would be far beyond what I or any spirit is capable of." Mizumi shook her head.

"Good, just know if I find out you're lying. You're Dead. "Akagi's voice distorted again. "I have no intention of going back to the way I was."

"Yes, mam." the girl squeaked in fear.

"So, we got our answers." Akagi looked at Hishya, who she could tell was holding back a lot of anger. "Now the question is, what do we do with her?"

"Honestly, I have half a mind to run my blade through her heart." Hishya's line was uncharacteristically dark. "After everything she's done, taking her life would be fair. No?" she tilted her head.

"NO! Please don't kill me!" the girl frantically begged for her life. "If I die, the pocket dimension with everyone in it will collapse, and over thirty thousand other spirits will perish!" Their threat sent her into a panic as she pleaded for mercy.

"Not making a great case here kid," Akagi said. "If we kill you, we get revenge for all those people that died, and we guarantee that you don't cause trouble. I don't really give a damn about those spirits, so if they die well, that's not my problem now, is it?" Akagi gave a sadistic laugh as she mocked Mizumi.

"Please!" she begged. "I'll do anything; just let me and my people live in peace. I promise you we will never bother you again!"

"What's your offer little spirit?" Akagi chuckled. "The way I see it, we hold you and your friend's life in our hands, and you've got nothing to trade." If it wasn't already known that Akagi was a Demon, this would have been a good indication.

"I... I.... I'll serve you!" Mizumi offered herself as the trade. "I'm a high-ranked water spirit; if you promise to spare my life and the lives of my fellow spirits, then I will serve you." It was clear that she didn't really want to do this, but she felt she had no choice.

"And what does your service get me?" Akagi scoffed. "I already have considerable combat power, and you're clearly weaker than me, so tell me what you can do for me, and I might consider it." she gave the girl a chance to sway her.

"I can fight, and I'm probably more powerful than most servants you already have. As for other things..." the girl thought for a moment. "I can guarantee that my magical knowledge is far beyond what you have, so I can help you to further strengthen your abilities; the same goes for your magically inclined servants. On top of that, I can offer you the resources of the pocket dimension." she continued. "It's basically an entire world in there, so if you want natural resources, I can get them." (Mizumi)

"Huh, I honestly thought you were going to offer to form some kind of spirit contract with me." Akagi's stare caused the girl to flinch.

"I... I could, but being made part of your soul is an unpleasant prospect." Merging with Akagi in such a fashion was something that she really didn't want to do; since she might be irreparably changed by Akagi's Demonic soul.

"Yeah, and I don't trust that whole contract thing, so no thank you." Akagi withdrew her blade, causing Hishya to do the same. "So here's how this is going to work." Akagi walked up to the anchor, as the girl called it. "If this is destroyed all of your spirit friends die, right?"

Mizumi nodded. "Yes, the pocket dimension would collapse."

"Good, Good," Akagi's shadow erupted from behind her and engulfed the anchor, causing Mizumi to panic. "Relax, your little box is perfectly fine. I simply placed it within my shadow body at the bottom of a deep dark void." Akagi gave an evil laugh. "As long as you play ball and I don't die, your friends will be fine." She walked back over to Mizumi. "And if you think you can just retrieve the cube by taking away my powers, I'll let you know that in such a scenario, everything in my shadow will be obliterated." Akagi's threat was no bluff. While she couldn't test the effects of losing her powers, her knowledge from merging with the Shadow Lord told her that the cube wouldn't survive such an event.

"I understand," Mizumi nodded. "As long as you uphold your end of the deal, I'll uphold mine. It's not like I have a choice." Her people would have been exterminated by the other races in her home world. Living under Akagi's thumb was a small price to pay for their lives.

"You ok with this Hishya?" Akagi asked the dragon girl. "I can tell you want to rip her to shreds." Hishya's emotions were running rampant, and she struggled to control her draconic blood.

"It's fine," She calmly replied. "I'll need some time to cool off, but I can live with this. While I can't forgive this girl for killing all those people, I can't exactly say killing thirty thousand in return is appropriate." She took a deep breath and retracted her draconic features.

"Just know this." she looked at Mizumi. "You took a lot of innocent lives to save your people, so I expect you to spend however long it takes to atone for those deaths. And. If you ever try anything, know that not only Akagi but I will be gunning for you."

“Well you heard her.” Akagi laughed. “Hishya doesn't normally get like this, but when she does, you better watch out.

Akagi turned around. “Alright everyone, shows over! Thanks for the backup!” Akagi dismissed her followers and asked them to return to their duties. “Yumi, Chloe, stick around for a bit, I've got some work for each of you.” The two were still quite wary of Mizumi and kept their eyes trained on her.

"Mi" she called out to the girl. "You're going to be working directly under Yumi; we don't have a dedicated maid in our ranks, so you'll be taking that role when you're not on assignments." Akagi gave a grin; she was going to enjoy messing with this girl.

"Mi?" the shortening of her name made her unhappy, but that wasn't the most important thing Akagi said. "And a maid? You're going to make me work as a maid!?! Me a high-ranking water spirit!" She couldn't believe what she was hearing; such a position would be an insult to someone of her stature.

"Yep!" Akagi gave a happy nod. "I could never get a hold of an acceptable one in FWO, but I think you'll work out perfectly." Akagi had a terrible look in her eyes, one that Kana had seen one too many times.

{Ohhhhh boy, I don't know what Onee-chan has in store for this girl, but I can't imagine it's gonna be fun.} Kana said a prayer in her head. {Is it bad that I kinda want to see this? Is Onee-chan rubbing off on me? I hope not.} Kana might not share her sister's sadistic tendencies, but even she agreed that this girl deserved punishment for her actions.

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