- Lucifer's side -
Ash walked off, expressing how excited she was for her upcoming duel with Amaterasu. Lucifer groaned as Amaterasu came up to him.
"What are my chanc-"
"Zero," Lucifer interrupted. "You have as much a chance against her as I do beating Wukong in hand-to-hand. We'll talk more later, I have to go call Death and scream."
Lucifer walked away from Amaterasu despite Amaterasu trying to ask him questions.
- Lucifer and Warden -
Lucifer told the rest of the group he wanted to be alone for a little while so he could shout at Death. Lucifer climbed into one of the group's carts and did just that. After venting his frustrations, Lucifer decided to speak with Warden again. Warden appeared across from Lucifer.
'Thought we might never speak again,' Warden said as he looked around the cart.
'Sorry,' Lucifer said. 'The last one of you didn't leave a great impression.'
Warden placed his hands on his knees and bowed his head. 'I apologize for the trouble. I can understand the frustrations of dealing with a copy of oneself.'
'You can?' Lucifer was curious. 'What copies did you experience?'
Warden raised his head. 'One of the trials in my layer involves fighting a copy of oneself. Most of the people trapped in the Hell layer lose their minds in the process. I know I almost did...'
Lucifer was filled with curiosity about Warden's reality. Warden's muscular, demon-like body, was in such stark contrast to his own, that it made him ask a question he normally wouldn't.
'Why do you look the way you do? Or more specifically, less offensively, have you always looked that way?'
Warden exhaled through his nose, 'No, I did not always look this way. I looked closer to your frail, slim frame.'
'I was just curious given what body transformations mean in this world,' Lucifer said. 'Beings in this world don't unwilfully become demons, one is either born a demon or not. The only exceptions are shapeshifters and illusion magic.'
Warden scratched his chin. 'Interesting. How are demons viewed in this world?'
Lucifer went over the long history of demons in the Otherworld. He explained that demons are mostly respected and that the very term "demon" was rarely used pejoratively. Warden's eyes seemed to light up at the idea. Warden explained that demons were viewed as disgusting creatures where he's from.
'What of your Father?' Warden asked.
'Dead,' Lucifer answered. 'Yours?'
'Can't say,' Warden shook his head. 'We rarely spoke, and even when we did it was just him denying me my freedom from the Hell layer.'
Warden started tracing horizontal lines in the air and explained that the "Hell layer" as he kept calling it was a punishment for humans. Each "trial" of the layer was meant to challenge a human's resolve, and his trial was the last one humans had to face. Lucifer asked Warden how he felt about humans.
'I used to be disgusted by them,' Warden said. 'I was banished from Heaven because I believed humans did not deserve to be in the divine layer. I won't lie to you, I took great pleasure in stopping the climb, as we called it, of certain humans. That was until...' he sighed, 'maybe you'll understand this, but not all humans that go to Hell truly deserve to be there.'
Lucifer nodded. 'Our world calls it "The Scales of Morality", the magic that sorts humans into either Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. There's a severe amount of debate about the magic's accuracy...'
Warden grinned briefly before returning to a grimace. 'This one human I fought, I could tell that he was different. Every loss against me was as if I was witnessing a man climb a million flights of stairs one step at a time. The more we fought, the more I asked about what he did to be sent to Hell. His story...shifted how I viewed humans.'
As Lucifer watched the melancholy in Warden's eyes grow, he could tell that Warden was not the same as Devil. That this alternate version would be more agreeable to speak with.
'What abilities did you have?' Lucifer asked. 'I was able to facsimile an ability the last version had.'
Warden hummed. 'If you're talking about abilities that I have specifically, then there's only one," he shrugged, "if it could even be called an ability.'
Warden clapped his hands together. For a moment, Lucifer wasn't sure what had happened. He realized he was where Warden had been sitting in the cart and that across from him was his body, now being moved by Warden. As Warden tried to get a feel for Lucifer's body, Lucifer shouted and the two swapped back.
"DON'T!" Lucifer shouted out loud.
'I wasn't trying to-' Warden disappeared before he could finish.
Lucifer looked at his body and felt his skin. The brief loss of control weighed heavy on his mind. The approaching footsteps caused him to flinch.
"Luce, Ash requested you be one of the referees for the match," Peter said.
- Lucifer's side -
Elijah was speaking with Yvere when he heard Lucifer shouting. "He sounds furious."
Yvere exhaled, "That's close to the anger he displayed when we were fighting Izanami."
Fensyr was speaking with Tsukuyomi, "I don't understand why this match needs the four of us?"
- Ash and Amaterasu -
Kahvis had cleared a massive area for Ash's and Amaterasu's match. Lucifer, Fensyr, Tsukuyomi, and Kahvis each stood at a different point in the rectangular arena. As Amaterasu looked around at the sheer amount of space that had been made, she questioned Ash."
"You must have some potent flames for that unknown to clear so much ground."
Ash chuckled as she stretched. Ash contorted her body as she continued stretching. Amaterasu was impressed by Ash's flexibility. As Ash cracked her neck, she warned Amaterasu.
"Spawn your rings now. I'll consider it a fair handicap."
Amaterasu clicked her tongue. "I don't need a handicap."
"How do you match against Lucifer?" Ash smirked.
Amaterasu frowned deeply as she conjured her five rings. A bolt of lightning from Kahvis signaled the two to get more distance from each other. After the two separated, Ash started bouncing with excitement. Amaterasu was in her head, thinking more about Ash. Once again, the more Amaterasu tried to think about Ash, the more her mind started to wander. A second bolt of lightning from Kahvis signaled the start of the match.
Ash flew into the sky with a blast of fire beneath the soles of her feet. Amaterasu didn't move for a moment as she watched Ash maintain flight using quick blasts of fire.
"Fire Dancer..." Amaterasu mumbled to herself.
Amaterasu hopped onto one of her rings. As Amaterasu moved two of her rings to chase down Ash, Ash blasted herself toward Amaterasu. What Amaterasu thought had just been Ash showing off temporary flight was now turning into a horrifying realization. Different quick blasts of flames would shoot off of Ash's body, turning Ash into an unpredictable missile of fire.
Before Amaterasu could gather her thoughts, Ash was in blasting range. Ash smiled wide as she placed her hand out toward Amaterasu. The bright orange flames engulfed Amaterasu. Amaterasu weaved the flames around her as she fell to the ground.
'I can't fight that in the sky,' Amaterasu shifted into a wolf as she rolled onto the ground. 'Might as well get a proper grasp of her true strength.'
Amaterasu dematerialized her rings and conjured them back in front of her. The rings formed a coil in front of her. Amaterasu turned back into a woman as she pointed the coil at Ash. Amaterasu shot an explosive orb through the center of the coil. Ash stopped the orb with a single finger.
"Disappointing!" Ash shouted down.
Ash shot the orb into the air and hit it with an orb of her own. The air shook from the strength of the explosion. Ash flew back to the ground and scowled. Amaterasu's face twisted with rage as she placed both of her palms in front of her ring's coil. Ash shot out to the side of the wave of fire that came out of Amaterasu's coil. As Amaterasu tried to follow Ash's movement, she felt her hands start to burn.
Ash, with a look of boredom on her face, effortlessly dodged Amaterasu's attack. The ground around the two became a massive scorch mark as Ash continued to evade Amaterasu's attack. Amaterasu screamed in pain as her palms burned down to the bone. Amaterasu's fire stopped.
"Is that really all you have?" Ash mocked as she stood across from Amaterasu. "I suppose you might impress those who have never wielded flame before," she shook her head, "what a waste of my time."
Amaterasu breathed heavily. The agony of her palms didn't stop her from screaming loud enough for her voice to go hoarse.
"WHO ARE YOU! HOW DOES A BEING THAT CAN DANCE WITH FIRE THE SAME WAY AGNI DOES STAY UNKNOWN!" Tears streamed down Amaterasu's face. "WHY! WHY DOES THE PEAK KEEP GETTING FURTHER!"
Amaterasu's pain and disappointment reached a level she never knew possible. Unlike her battle against Death, this wasn't fear, it was pure humiliation twisting into anger. Her breathing grew heavier as her anger boiled over. Black marks formed on her arms as she glared at Ash.
"I'M NOT DONE!"
A ring conjured behind Amaterasu's back. The ring started to shine with rotating flames as it floated so that half of it was above Amaterasu's head. Amaterasu looked back at the conjured ring as she felt the warmth of it against her back.
"I didn't conjure that..." Amaterasu mumbled to herself.
As Amaterasu stared into the ring, her eyes reflecting the rotating flames, she felt words come to her mind that she spoke aloud. The translation of the Japanese words was:
"I am the sun, its light, its warmth, and I will not be opposed."
More black marks started to form on Amaterasu's body. Amaterasu turned to face Ash. The rotating flames on the ring behind Amaterasu turned into beams of light. Amaterasu lifted her hands, conjuring four new rings. One of the rings shot a beam of light at Ash. Ash purposefully dodged the beam as narrowly as she could. Ash placed her hand close to the beam and weaved the light slightly.
'It's different from Ra's ability,' Ash thought. 'Despite being light, it can still be weaved by fire mana,' She smiled. 'It's difficult to grab given the speed and shape but it's still possible. The beams of light behind her aren't damaging the ground but those marks on her body seem to be burning her?'
"SCARED?!" Amaterasu shouted.
"Far from it," Ash responded. "Thank you for the proper challenge, Amaterasu Ōmikami," she bowed.