- Satan and Elijah -
Satan and Elijah were training in an open area surrounded by spectating demons. Satan was eating a burrito while controlling an illusory copy of himself and Elijah.
"Copy the illusion's form as closely as you can," Satan's clone told Elijah.
An illusory clone of Elijah was using various lightning spells before resetting to a neutral position.
"It's a little more difficult than that!" Elijah shouted.
Elijah was shaking his smoking arms. There were long burns running from his wrists to his shoulders. He had been holding in his swears, not wanting to make a show in front of the demons that were watching him.
"Eri!" Satan's clone called.
A demon wearing a black top and black shorts ran over to Elijah. Her eyes were covered by a wrapping, with strands of her long white hair hanging over it.
She placed her hands on Elijah's arms. "Are you ready?"
Elijah just nodded before holding in grunts of pain. He closed his eyes in agony, biting down on his teeth so hard he was sure they would crack.
"You don't have to pretend to be strong in front of them," Eri's voice said.
"I kno-" Elijah stopped, realizing it was an illusory clone of Eri that Satan had made.
'Fucking asshole,' Elijah thought.
Satan was smiling as he took more bites of his burrito. He created an illusory clone of Cytus.
Satan's clone appeared next to the Cytus clone. "The main two reasons this parasite was so threatening to you and the others were his archangel durability and his lightning affinity. Obviously you can't match the former but you're closing in on the latter."
Eri walked through the clones as she returned to the spectating crowd, fading them.
"Rdd," Satan said with a full mouth.
The Satan clone reappeared with three clones of Elijah. The clones put their left hands up to the sky.
"Speed," Satan's clone said as one of Elijah's clones shot a bolt. "Power," They continued as the next Elijah clone shot a bolt that was more visually impressive.
An illusory bird appeared over the third Elijah clone.
"Finally, accuracy," Satan's clone said as the third Elijah shot the bird out of the sky.
"I know!" Elijah shouted. "I knew this when we started this training years ago, I know it now!"
The illusory Satan turned into Cytus. "You ever heard of the Dunning Kruger effect?"
Elijah showed clear disgust at the use of Cytus's form. "I did, the last time you told me about it."
The Cytus clone sighed. "Well, since you clearly didn't listen that time let me refresh you. It's the idea that someone who knows a little is worse than someone who knows nothing because the one who knows a little no longer tries to learn more."
Elijah stared at the real Satan as he spoke. "I Kn-"
The real Satan waved his free hand and created a crowd of Cytus clones around Elijah. They all spoke at the same time. "You say 'I know' one more time and I'm doubling your redirection training."
Elijah flinched. As damaging as his current training was, redirection training left him more scorch marks than flesh.
Satan waved his hand again, fading all the Cytus clones. The Satan clone reappeared with a new Elijah clone.
"Lts go agn!" The real Satan shouted.
- Lucifer, Satan, Elijah, Peter, Sabu -
(About a year or so after the team returned to Hell)
Satan returned to Hell after the team. He asked for an audience with Lucifer, Elijah, and Sabu. Peter joined the three, curious as to what the meeting would be about.
The four met Satan in an open area of Hell that Satan turned into a lush field with large multi-colored flowers.
"Do you have to do that?" Lucifer asked.
"I hate just talking, so yes," Satan answered.
Lucifer looked around at the scenery. "What's this meeting about?"
Satan smiled. "I think it's time for young Sabu here to get a contract. It won't be for free, obviously."
Lucifer and Peter looked at each other and sighed. Whatever Satan was going to ask for was guaranteed to be a pain.
Lucifer spoke, "What do you want?"
Satan looked at Elijah. "I want to train him."
"Why?" Lucifer asked, giving an "I don't know" look to Elijah immediately after.
Suddenly, Cytus and Mira clones appeared in the field with a clone army of curled-horn and four-horned demons.
Satan pointed at the clones. "He survived that, albeit with help, but he did survive nevertheless. I haven't trained a reborn in the better part of a millennium, so I felt like giving it a shot again. Those two things combined with the fact that he was supposed to join your now irrelevant investigation team make it seem like a good idea to me."
Sabu looked at Elijah. "You don't have to say yes for me. I can go without a contract."
"He's just as frustrating to train with," Peter added.
Elijah thought back to a conversation he had in Hydern after the battle with Cytus. He was given the full story by Yvere who told him that Sabu had saved him from Cytus. He hadn't felt like he owed Sabu but over the course of his journey with the team, he did consistently feel near-useless.
Elijah sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'll do it."
Lucifer kept his eyes on the smiling Satan. "You really don't have to. I owe you, remember?"
Elijah frowned. "I know...but this isn't for you."
Lucifer gave a surprised expression at the comment before closing his eyes and shifting to an annoyed look. "Alright. Just know how serious this deal is. Sabu can't 'return' his contract so you can't quit your training with Satan early."
Elijah gave a hard stare to Satan. "I know. I want you to be honest with me; is he a good teacher?"
Lucifer sighed. "One of the best in the world, annoyingly enough."
- Death -
(Present)
Death was saying goodbyes to a large group of sullen-faced Grim that had Zach at the front.
He was moving Hrom out of the stable. "I'm not leaving forever and Mary will probably do a better job than me anyway. All of you have had years to prepare for today, so please don't make those faces."
Zach took a step forward. "I don't think having centuries to prepare would be enough time for some of us. I respect your decision, we all do, but please...don't forget to check in."
Death faked a smile. He knew the deeper implication of what Zach was saying to him. Instead of correcting Zach, he decided to just play along with the image of what was happening.
He blinked onto Hrom. "I'll make sure to. Don't worry, I don't plan on starting any trouble while I'm out there."
Zach gave a quick glare at the statement. "We know. We're not worried for YOUR safety."
The Grim gave an awkward laugh at hearing Zach say that. Zach and Death were both fake chuckling, looking at each other with worry in their eyes.
Zach got closer to Death and whispered, "Please, not for me, not for them, but for yourself, come back 'safe.' "
Death whispered back with a fake smile. "I'll...I'll try, but I'm too 'old' to promise anything."
Zach sighed and walked back to the group. He waved with the others as Death rode off.
Zach contemplated as he waved. 'Did I do the right thing that day? I know it worked out but that feeling I had hasn't gone away. If anything, it feels stronger. Was I worried about the world...or you?'
- Kahvis and Yamato -
Kahvis and Yamato were walking around one of the resistance's barracks.
"Any movement from Huitzil?" Yamato asked.
"None, yet," Kahvis answered. "We can't move until they do. We just have to deal with them having the momentum once the fighting starts."
Yamato groaned. He had heard these exact words from Kahvis multiple times over the years. He understood the situation but he also understood that the rest of the resistance wasn't as patient as him and Kahvis.
A four-horned demon ran up to the two. "Lord Kahvis, you have a visitor. She says she wants to join us."
Kahvis sighed. They had received numerous requests for an alliance. Almost all of the requests came from gods that were trying to claim a new god as an ally before the others, with none of them actually wanting to assist the resistance in their future battles.
Kahvis went to meet the woman, fully expecting to just say no and move on. As they looked at the woman they were immediately struck by the fact that they didn't recognize who she was.
"Who are you?" Kahvis asked.
The woman stood a head taller than Kahvis. She had dark brown skin. Her black hair was shaved on the left while being straight on the right. She was wearing a worn-down blue parka. Her bright orange eyes seemed to glow as she smiled.
"Current name's Ash, pleased to meet you," She said.
Kahvis ran through every living god they could think of in their head. None of them matched the woman's look. They scanned their eyes along the woman's body, trying to discern what race she might be, but nothing other than human seemed to match, which with her eye color voided that possibility.
Kahvis tilted their head. "If you don't mind me asking, what are you?"
The woman smiled. "No one special. I hope we can work well together."
Kahvis knew this woman wasn't one of their kind. She wasn't hiding behind illusion magic and the possibility of her being a shapeshifter was zero.
"So you're an unknown?" Kahvis asked.
The woman looked around at the growing crowd and then back to Kahvis. "I think the term 'forgotten' would be more accurate."