Ryu rushed into Malum's room, while doctors were doing their best to figure out what was going on.
"Status report!" Ryu yelled.
"We don't know, at first his heart rate was getting better, until everything just skyrocketed, we are trying to stabilize him, but nothing seems to be working." A doctor said.
Malum's body started to violently shake, as his chest started breaking apart.
"Sir Ryu, what is going on?" Another doctor asked.
"I don't know myself but get away from him!" Ryu yelled.
They moved back, as Malum's body continuing shaking violently, as two hands shot out from his chest, flailing around a bit, until they went down grabbing the sides of his bed, pushing out from the chest came a slightly younger looking version of Malum, he following crawled out of his chest, setting his feet on the ground. He looked around while stretching a bit.
"So what are you all looking at?" Malum said calmly.
"Malum, can you explain what just happened?" Ryu asked.
Malum rubbed his chin thinking of what to say, until he thought of something.
"Think of something like a butterfly, or some other insect that can do it, like shedding my skin." Malum said. "That blast from Acedia must have accelerated my genes to perform my shedding."
"If that is how it is, then it's good to see you again." Ryu said. "I have to say, you're completely naked."
"So that's why I was feeling a weird breeze." Malum said.
Dreadnaught Command Center
The others made it into the Command Center, to see the revived Malum albeit a younger version, Malum had on a new crisp and clean suit, his hair was combed back and he was leaning against a desk. He was being told what has been going on since he lost consciousness, the other stood by Malum and Ryu, waiting for their next plan of action.
"The Lord of Madness has several different places that he has as headquarters, we take out these places, one at a time, we can cripple their forces and smoke him." Malum explained.
"So you're saying it is time for us to finally perform a counter attack?" Sora asked.
"It may be very so." Malum said, walking past them. "No more wimping out, from this moment forward, we're at war with the Lord of Madness' forces."
"You hear that people, time to get this hunk of junk moving." Jan yelled.
"Sir, yes sir!" Several workers yelled out.
Malum made his way toward the exit until he got stopped.
"Malum may be too weak for this upcoming fight." Gishiki said.
"What was that punk?" Malum asked, angry.
"Yeah, who knows if he is ready for the upcoming fight." Jan said.
"You're really annoying me!" Malum yelled.
"We may actually have a chance in beating him." Sora said.
"For the last …" Malum was going to say, but stopped and smirked. "If that is so, then let's head for the training room and see if you can actually do it."
"Sir, yes sir!" The three said loudly.
Malum left the room, with a smirk still on his face.
Dreadnought Crusader Training Room
"So you think you three can actually take me on?" Malum said.
"Only one way to find out." Jan said, running toward him, clenching his right hand, pulling it back, launching it toward Malum.
"Foolish." Malum said, knocking the fist to the side, hitting Jan in the stomach with his left knee.
Jan buckled forward, but stood his ground, as Sora pressed her palms into his back, jumping over him, performing a spinning kick over him, aiming for Malum, but once again Malum knocked the kick to the side. But before he could attack her, Gishiki put his arms under Malum's, locking them in a Nelson Hold. Malum slammed the back of his head into Gishiki's face, then turned toward the side, throwing him over his shoulder, throwing him into the other.
"If that is the best you guys got, then you will be no match for the Lord of Madness' forces, I may just have to beat you, until you see you won't be ready for this fight." Malum said.
"Sir, yes sir!" The three yelled.
Nine Trials: Floor Three Gluttony
Kaiza was being dragged through mud and bile, the putrid smell of the bile, was seeping into his nostrils, making him almost want to vomit, the reason was being dragged through the ground, was because shortly after entering the Gate of Gluttony, he saw the large form of a giant dog, he tried to slowly walk by it, until it's head moved up looking toward Kaiza, which was followed by a second head and then a third.
"Easy there, I mean you no harm." Kaiza said, slowly raising his hands.
The three dog's tongues rolled out of their mouths, as their tail started to wag, Kaiza slowly lowered his hands, turned one eighty and started running away. The dog got up and started chasing after him.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck." Kaiza said, running the best he could through mud and vile, while he was focused on the large dog, he didn't fully realize how bad it was raining.
The dog's tail wagged, snagging onto some vines, as they started running faster than Kaiza, as the vines snagged around his feed and he started getting pulled along the ground and through the mud and vile. Kaiza tried his best to stop his movement, but there was nothing hard enough to grab a hold of.
An unknown amount of time later
The dog had tired itself out, they were currently sleeping, Kaiza took a hold of the large dog, pulling himself up onto his, summoning the Arachne Blade to cut the vines that were around his feet, he started making his way through the mud and vile, using his sword to cut through vines, trying to get as far away as he can from the large dog.
Kaiza continued his journey through the trial, as she journey kept going what felt like forever, the longer he trudged through the mud and bile, the less energy it felt like he had, until he was crawling through the mud and vile, gasping for air, but every time he breathed in the gross smell of everything, he wanted to gag. He fell into the muck and mud, shriveling as the ice cold rain hit his curled up body, as he slowly slid into the mid, until he was fully sucked into the mud.
Oritsu's Palace
Oritsu had gathered all of his soldiers, he stood in front of all of his own, with the mind controlled Akumu standing by his side.
"My lowly subjects, the time has finally come upon us, to fight against the hand that fed us, they may have given us the power to create this army with their power, but you all follow me and not him, we will march out tomorrow morning, attack the Lord of Madness and the Master of the demons, until I hold power of all of these lands!" Oritsu yelled.
His soldiers raised their weapons and roared loudly, Oritsu grinned evilly as everything was coming together, he would now have all the power that he deserved, he let out a loud laugh, as his soldiers continued roaring. Hikari was in her room, slamming several pieces of furniture against the closed door, breaking it enough to stick her arm through it to remove whatever was blocking it from the other side, while cutting her arm from the broken pieces of the door.
She pushed the door open, making her way through the hallway, as the roars of the army outside echoed through the halls, she wasn't sneaking like she would usually do, she needed to save Akumu fast, she didn't have much longer to be inside of the palace, Oritsu would be taking her along with the army for the fight, to make sure she would die by accident, she was beyond mad.
She grabbed a sword from one of the stands, she continued her search, hearing footsteps walking toward her, once the guard rounded the corner, she made she surprise attack, ramming the blade through the creature's throat, black ooze like blood started spraying from the wound, she gripped the blade not caring if she would be cut, twisted the blade removing the creature's head.
The creature's body fell forward, Hikari ripped the body of her dress to make movement easier, she wrapped the wound on her hand, until the sound of metal rattling from behind her, she looked back to see the creature's body was moving, black tendrils shot out from its neck, connecting the its neck returning it slowly to its body, Hikari hacked the tendrils to stop it's process, but more shot out, making the best move, she ran down the hall, turning around the corner, finding more of the creatures, panting she raised her blade and yelled.
"Come get me you fuckers, I will stop you all and save the skeleton man thing that I love!"
She ran forward, ramming the tip of the blade through one of their throats, slamming her elbow into one of their hands knocking their weapon out of their hands, grabbing it and used both of the blades, to cut their head off, more guards rushed in, Hikari glared at them, while partially covered in their black blood, rushing at them yelling loudly. She continued attacking the oncoming guards, as she was cut, she tried to make a run, running down a different hallway, finding a small armory, she would notice a glowing light, making her way toward it, finding a bow.
"This must be the third memory item." Hikari said, hearing the door she closed being slammed into.
She looks around the room, finds a piece of paper, ink and quill, groaning not knowing how to write this way. She did her best to make a note to tell her friends about Oritsu's plan, what she has been doing and telling them they need to hurry. She ripped a part of her dress again, tying the note to an arrow, knocking it on the bow and praying that some miracle would make it to her friends.
She took a deep breath, pulled the string back, exhaling and letting go of the string, as the arrow shot out the nearest window, the arrow glowed bright, launching over the far horizon and breaking through the barrier to the palace. She set the bow down, fully ripping up her dress, but bandaged her wounds, tying her hair back, picking up the black blood covered swords, taking another breath, as the doors finally broke down and she yelled charging at the guards.
Dreadnaught Crusader
Jan walked out of the kitchen after making himself a sandwich, he was taking a much needed break from training with Malum, as he made his way toward a table, an arrow flew into the room, knocking the plate out of his hands, pinning the sandwich to a wall, causing Jan to yell.
The others ran into the room, to find Jan on his knees.
"Jan are you okay!" Nore yelled.
"My poor sandwich, they were so young and taken so soon." Jan said, defeated.
The others just sighed, Sora noticed the arrow, pulling it out, as the sandwich landed onto Jan's opened hands, as he praised the gods and started eating his sandwich. Sora rolled her eyes and started reading the note, as her face went dark.
Shortly after, in the Command Center
"So you're telling me, the one who stole Akumu and Hikari, was her father in her past life and the one who killed Akumu and her, while now having a demonic army that can regenerate their bodies, they plan to attack the Lord of Madness and the Sinful Seven's master." Ryu said, while reading the note. "So the final encounter is finally upon us, while our numbers continue to decline, Oritsu has his army of who knows how many and not to mention what the other two could have up their shelves."
Gishiki sat there thinking, knowing that he will have to fight Ochita most likely for the last time, but he wants to find a way to win his heart over to bring him back, so they can be friends again. While Jan was moaning over his sandwich earlier, he mainly did it to get away from the effect of his curse spreading, the grotesque curse, spread up to his elbow, he placed his left hand on his right forearm rubbing it slowly, as a few days have past since he activated it, it scares him on what could happen if he were to use to form again.
Sora clenched her fingers into fists, it had already been 3 days since she last saw Kaiza, he had only 4 days until the creature in his chest would fully absorb his life energy and kill him. She bit her lower lip, angry that she couldn't find Kaiza, but when she asked Malum while he trained her, the Nine Trials never had a set location, it was always changing and he had no way to find it.
Ryu ordered his soldiers to start preparing on the location Malum gave him on the Lord of Madness' bases, their plans to attack had been rushed forward, as they needed to act now, no one could know what will happen with the coming war.
Nine Trials: Floor Three Gluttony
A hand shot out from the mud, trying its best to find something to grab onto something, failing as the hand slowly slid back into the mud, until something grabbed onto the hand, pulling it and the person out of the mud. The person, Kaiza start gaging gobs of mud out of his mouth, gasping for air, using her free hand to remove the mud from his face, her looked to see what had helped him out, to find the Cerberus, the large dog dropped Kaiza onto it's back, then started running, with Kaiza gripping onto the dog's fur.
After another long trip, the Cerberus stopped, dropping Kaiza in front of the Gate of Greed, he looked at the gate then up to the Cerberus.
"Uh thanks for the help." Kaiza said, until he was licked all over the three large dogs' heads.
Kaiza noticed while looking at the large dog's body, seeing different scars, realizing he must have been one of few, if not the only one who tried to hurt the dog, he briefly rubbed the dogs stomach, which it looked to really enjoy it, Kaiza on the other had was still affected by this floor, as he felt really drained, he opened the gates, descending to the next floor.
833 Years Ago
Hikari had overheard that her father had allowed two unknown beings sneak into the palace, she made her way to the cell Akumu was recovering in, since he had failed Oritsu, the king had beaten him and threw him into the cell. Her memories played out similar to what Akumu had first told her, with the two members being part of Akumu's clan but now knowing they were part of the survivors as the clan massacre had changed some of her insight on the events.
The events that had played out next shook her to her core, she was there witnessing the event of Akumu, Oritsu and her deaths, while she couldn't feel it, she was able to have a sixth sense like feeling of how it has to be in her place, until everything went to a black void and the visage of the past Hikari appeared.
"That was only the third item, which led to what Akumu had told me, you said there were four items." Hikari said.
"That is true, but the last memory will reveal what happened next and how it will affect the things to come." The past Hikari said.
"But I have no time to retrieve the last item, I will be removed from the palace tomorrow." Hikari said.
"That is true, but you have already been removed from the palace and the last item is closer than you think." The past Hikari said.
Present Day
Hikari slowly woke up, she was tied to a wooden post, a cloth wrapped around her mouth, she felt a stinging pain all over her body, she was beaten and bruised from her best try at fighting them off, she looked around, seeing she was people carried by two of the guards, as they were making their way through the vast desert.
"So it looks like our little trouble maker has finally woken up, glad for you to be awake, to see my triumph against the ones who gave me the power to kill them." Oritsu said, from a throne that was carrying him. "Don't worry dear Hikari, you will be left like that until we make it to the main base in 4 days."
Hikari glared at him, until her one unswollen eye widened, seeing the glow of the final object of the memories of the past, the location was coming from Oritsu and to make it even worse, inside of his chest, which would basically be impossible to get.
Unknown Location
The Master was sitting on his throne, looking much more lively, he was sipping a glass of wine.
"Humans throughout the ages have always been able to make great tasting wine, their techniques have gotten better than when they were hundreds of years ago." The Master was mainly talking to himself, though Acedia was in the room.
She kept quiet, not wanting another reason to fear the Master that gathered each member of the Sinful Seven personally. The Master set down his glass, letting his eyes drift over her, as he stood up walking over to her, sliding his left hand around her waist, pulling her close, having an evil grin.
"Did you hear what Oritsu is doing!?" The Lord of Madness yelled while walking into the room.
The Master groaned, pushing Acedia onto the ground and looked over to the Lord of Madness.
"What do you want this time, couldn't you see that i was about to have some fun." The Master said.
"I don't give a damn what you were about to do to your minion, but it doesn't matter, Oritsu has started marching his army, our direction to start a war." The Lord of Madness said.
"I'm fully aware of what he is doing and what of it, it's not like he will be able to accomplish anything." The Master said.
"You have been lazing around here doing nothing, but drinking and doing what you want to Acedia!" The Lord of Madness yelled.
The Master shrugged, walking over to his throne, sitting down sipping his wine, this made the Lord of Madness to be even angier, he charged at him, but the Master grabbed his wine bottle, slamming it against his head knocking him to the ground. The Master then stood up, placing the broken bottle against the Lord of Madness' chest, pressing down on it.
"Bother me one more time and I'll kill you, plus I'm ready for Oritsu, my little test subject is coming along nicely, he should be done by the time the fun begins." The Master said, before kicking the Lord of Madness across the room, laughing madly, going back to his wine, but finding his glass empty and remembering he just used the remaining bottle to hit the Lord of Madness.
"I need another bottle, maybe some cheese and fruit also, I wonder what other kinds of cheese there are out there now." The Master mainly spoke to himself once again.