- Elijah and Lucifer -
Elijah stomped his way into an open area that was serving food. Lucifer was holding a large plate that had been stacked with Burritos, sandwiches, and potatoes.
Lucifer peeked his head around his plate. "How's it going?"
Elijah got a smaller plate and started piling food onto it. "Thought it would be easy because I've dealt with drill sergeants but I guess I didn't account for the illusion magic. It's like a drill sergeant, mixed with a movie projector, except a thousand times worse."
Lucifer motioned to one of the available tables.
Elijah shook his head. "Can't, this is only a short break."
Lucifer put his plate down and looked at Elijah. "You've made a lot of progress. The invitation to join our trip is still available if you want?"
Elijah shoveled food into his mouth and quickly swallowed. He returned his plate and thanked the human woman who was serving the food. He turned to Lucifer.
"I might say yes just for the sake of getting some distance from him."
Lucifer picked a burrito off his plate and took a bite. "I know Olympus can be dangerous but it is an amazing place."
Elijah sighed. "I'll keep it in mind."
- Kahvis and Ash -
Kahvis had sectioned off an area to speak with Ash. Ash had told Kahvis that she wanted an open area to show what she was capable of while also revealing why she wanted to join. Kahvis told their commanders not to let anyone else close.
Kahvis gave a hard stare to Ash as they spoke. "Your reason for wanting to join is more important to me than your strength."
Ash started doing stretches. "I like what you're doing here. The whole lesser resistance to dethrone the evils of this world thing, it sounds like fun."
Kahvis raised an eyebrow. "Fun? You think the idea of war...is fun? Are you an illegitimate child of Ares?"
Ash stopped stretching and laughed. "No no, come on, we both know that line is long dead," her grin went away. "I hate immortality, genuinely. I think mortal lifespans are more natural than simply living forever. I'm tired of waiting for this world to just collapse in on itself and instead of starting my own war, why not join yours? I'm not so malicious as to join your enemies, besides...that would be too easy."
Hearing 'too easy' made Kahvis' eyes go wide. "I'm sorry to say this but I have to refuse your help."
Ash looked at Kahvis with a big smile. "At least let me show you what I'm capable of."
Kahvis felt there was no harm in letting Ash use her magic. No matter how strong she may be they weren't letting her join.
Ash took off her Parka to reveal a tight black shirt. "I call this one 'Grand finale.' "
Before Kahvis could ask her about the name she was already creating the spell. She was surrounded by clouds of explosive orbs in an instant. In no time, the clouds gathered into a familiar-looking shell.
Ash turned her head to Kahvis and smiled. "Don't worry, this spell is meant for the sky."
Ash shot the two cartoon-bomb-shaped shells high into the sky. After a short delay, they exploded in a way that filled Kahvis' mind with memories of their and Lucifer's raid on the former Underground.
'She loved naming her creations,' Lucifer's voice played in Kahvis' mind.
Ash looked up at the explosion-filled sky. "It's a shame they don't look like the real thing."
Kahvis shifted their eyes from the sky back to Ash. "I'll let you join for now. I have more questions to ask though."
Ash picked her parka off the ground. "I'll answer to the best of my ability."
- Death -
(Days later)
Death arrived in Hell. He went straight to Hell's main library. As he walked in he was greeted by Miliketh.
"Satan know you're here?" she asked in a worried tone.
"He will now," Death responded before continuing deeper into the library.
Death examined the shelves, clearly looking for something. As he searched around he could tell the library was slowly emptying out. He assumed he would be receiving a very annoying visit from Satan, so he started moving quicker.
"Ice trolls, iron lords, Inazuma, ah! There it is," He mumbled to himself before pulling a book off the shelf.
Death opened the book titled "Izanagi and Izanami" and started flicking through the pages. He turned to a page in the middle of the book and read the first letter of each sentence.
"Fifth regime of soul tribe three."
Death put the book back onto the shelf and started searching in a new row. He grabbed the book titled "Frost 3" and opened it.
"I really should have written this down," Death mumbled to himself.
The process of grabbing a book, turning to a specific page, and returning the book to the shelf went on for a few hours. Death had occasionally checked the front of the library expecting Satan or Lucifer to ask him what he was doing.
"Must be busy," he would whisper after every check.
Death exhaled. "One more left."
As he walked to grab the last book he noticed it was missing.
"Looking for the final step?" Satan asked.
- Death and Satan -
"Where is it?" Death asked Satan in an annoyed tone.
Satan shrugged. "Maybe Lucifer's office? You know he finds human science fascinating."
Death went to walk past Satan who blocked his path. He looked up at Satan briefly before just blinking past him.
"I didn't hide it, in case that's what you're thinking?" Satan's clone said as it walked with Death.
Death struck his hand through the clone, fading it. "Alright, then what does the final code say? I'll believe you didn't hide it but there's no chance you of all beings would forget the code."
The real Satan sighed. "Thousands of years are no excuse for poor memory. It's currently in Olympus, maybe. There's always the chance someone found it."
Death exhaled from his nose. "Did you move it?"
Satan created a clone of Death and spoke his voice through it. "I would never need such a thing. If I wanted to spite you there are better ways to do such. Why do you want that thing anyways?"
Death went to strike the illusion but it faded before he could. He closed his eyes and whispered to himself before turning around to look at Satan.
"I want to give Kahvis some indirect help."
Satan made a quick laugh. "'Indirect?' You call THAT 'indirect?' I know you've had a passive streak but the term 'indirect' hasn't changed over the centuries."
A demon and a human were talking to each other as they walked into the library. The moment they noticed Death and Satan they quickly turned around and left.
Death explained his reasoning, "Maybe it's not indirect but it's not as serious as you're making it out to be. Kahvis won't stand a chance against the anti-human gods if they don't have more help, so I figured this was my way of helping."
Satan started picking his teeth. "Kahvis's odds haven't changed, which means something on your end has."
"Nothing's changed..." Death responded. "I should have done this years ago."
Satan stopped picking his teeth. "Finally recognizing our own faults are we?"
Death rolled his eyes. "Not that I need to tell you but Lucifer's trip to Olympus did help the decision."
"You don't say?" Satan grinned. "I guess there are worse motivators than loneliness."
Death turned around and opened the door to the library. "Fuck you," He said in a defeated tone.
- Lucifer and Peter -
Lucifer was on the ground while Peter was tossing a sword between his hands.
"Twenty-three to four," Peter said.
"I can count," Lucifer grunted.
Peter stuck his sword into the ground. "Just makin' sure ya math skills haven't degraded as much as your swordplay."
Lucifer stood up with a huff. "Wait until we're doing fire training again. See how well you count fireballs."
Peter grinned. "Ya got your fire, I got my swords. Ya can talk all the shit ya want when we're ACTUALLY trainin' with fire. Until then, get up so I can smack ya around some more."
Lucifer pointed his sword at Peter. "I think I've almost convinced Elijah to join."
Peter picked his sword up from the ground. "I think Satan's the one doin' the convincin'."
After a brief exchange of blows, Lucifer's sword was knocked out of his hand. Lucifer kicked the sword into his hand and grunted.
"Fuck!" Lucifer yelled in an annoyed tone.
Peter chuckled. "Twenty-f-"
"Swear to Chaos Peter, I will hit you," Lucifer interrupted.
"Not with a sword ya won't," Peter mumbled.
Lucifer sighed. "Have you spoken with Lao at all?"
Peter dropped his grin. "Yeah...I don't think there's any more I can do. Dimitri comes along, or Lao loses him. I've tried every angle I can."
Lucifer pointed his sword at Peter once more. "Dimitri's smart, unfortunately. He waited until our trip was confirmed before asking Lao if he could join."
Peter put his sword over his shoulder. "In better news, Sabu and Heinrich's trainin' is comin' along nicely. They actually have mana reserves now."
Lucifer inched closer. "That's good. I can't wait to see Hades again, it's been too long."
Peter pointed his sword at Lucifer. "Personally, I can't wait to see Zeus's face after yer rank increase. That gray fuck is so rank-obsessed, he might actually treat ya with respect now."
Lucifer and Peter exchanged hits. Lucifer made more progress this time, almost pushing Peter back, but was eventually tripped again.
Lucifer let go of his sword and pointed his finger at Peter. "I will feed your sword to Jorm if you give me the count again."
Peter tucked his training sword between his arm and offered a hand to Lucifer. "I wasn't sayin' anythin' ya big baby. If only ya could take insults as well as ya take fire."
Lucifer grabbed Peter's hand and pulled himself up. He kicked his training sword into his hand and went to his side of the arena. He pointed his sword's point at Peter.
"I think the best-case scenario with Zeus is him not speaking to me out of respect for my new rank."
Peter put both hands on his sword. "That's still somethin'," He grinned and spoke his next words rapidly. "Twenty-five to four by the way."