Darius watched as the last flickers of Hecate's soul faded and died out.
"It seems you took care of that quite easily." Came Inari's voice.
Darius turned to see Inari walking towards him, her aura shrinking down and returning to her body.
"It wasn't that hard really." Darius responded, "this new power is honestly insane. And, not gonna lie, I look pretty hot as a demon."
Inari rolled her eyes. "You'll always be the same old Darius, won't you?"
"Yeah, some things just don't change."
"I guess..in a way that's a good thing." Inari said quietly. "If only Akuro had stayed true to himself."
"That thing isn't even Akuro anymore, Inari. He isn't even in control anymore. We are the ones who have to wake his dumb ass up." Darius said.
"Yeah.."
Darius then realized that there was someone else there when he heard the faint sound of someone crying. He turned and his eyes widened as he saw Sallius laying over her sister's corpse.
"Sallius!" Came a roar. Darius looked the other way to see Onoma and Sedori runnng over to them. Onoma ran straight past Inari and Darius, kneeling beside Sallius and holding her.
"How.. how the fuck did this happen..?" He asked, his voice trembling with rage.
Darius walked forward and knelt beside them.
"What are you doing?" Sallius asked as Darius lowered his hand to Razzaiel's body.
"Her soul energy still resides in this corpse. So.. if I.."
A mirror appeared above Razzaiel. The wound in Razzaiel's head healed over while wisps of aura were drawn into the mirror.
"If I heal the body using soul energy, remover her aura, then replace it.. in theory.. that should.."
Shards of aura filled glass flew into Razzaiel's body, sinking into her skin. A long moment later her eyes flew open and she gasped for air.
"Oh thank god!" Sallius threw her arms about her sister, crying.
"How did you..?" Onoma started, but shook his head. "No.. why do you look the way you do?"
"That's rude." Darius remarked.
"Don't be a sarcastic asshole, Darius." Inari said. "We are demons. It's simple as that."
"Simple? How is that simple? How the fuck did you become demons?" Onoma asked.
"Sedori. He shattered our souls-"
"WHAT?!"
"Relax. He did it for a good purpose, it was the only possible way we could get our powers back, in the end it actually made us stronger." Inari explained.
"That is the answer to how we are so strong as well as the answer to our appearance. Happy now?" Darius asked.
"Becoming a demon made you stronger..?"
"Yes." Sedori spoke. "I also became a demon, unless you forgot. Demons inherently have more power than mortals and Deities, it's just how it is."
Darius turned to Sedori and stared blankly at him for a moment.
"Are you still mad at me?" Sedori asked. "Look, I'm-"
Darius held out his hand.
"What..?"
"Take it dumbass. Shake my mother fucking hand." Darius said.
Sedori took Darius's hand and shook it. Darius tightened his grip.
"Thank you. You did the right thing." He spoke.
Sedori's jaw clenched. "I'm happy it went the way it did.. I was worried there at first. I'm sorry I didn't warn you before hand, I figured that-"
"Chill. I know. It's fine." Darius interrupted. "We are cool." He turned to Inari. "You think we should return to Gatekeeper?"
"This soon after the battle..?" She asked.
"He did say soon as it was over. It seemed important."
"Gatekeeper?" Sedori asked, "you mean the keeper of Xinoll's Gates?"
"Yeah. We met him, that is how we got back. He told us to return to him when the battle was finished, and to bring you two with us. He said to come to him if we want to get stronger."
"I'd say I need to get stronger, same with Sedori, but you guys?" Onoma spoke.
"To be honest.." Darius sighed, "even with this new power.. I'm nowhere near Akuro's level. Not yet."
"Seriously..?" Onoma asked, "is he really that strong?"
"He is." Inari agreed, surprising Darius with the following words. "He is way too strong for us.. we wouldn't start a chance if we faced him, it would be stupidity. We need to get stronger and grow first. We have to focus on ourselves before we can even hope to focus on him."
An expression of drowning sorrow crossed Inari's face, but she quickly swept the shadows away, putting over a smile. "We can do it. We will become the best version of ourselves."
Everyone was silent for a moment, in awe of Inari's strength. In reality, up till now she had been doubted by everyone, but now she had grown. She was no longer a weak girl who would watch from the sidelines, she was strong, strong enough to stand on her own. Strong enough to push past her losses and weaknesses and to come out on top, to finish being stronger than she had begun.
Darius remembered when it all began.. when he and Akuro had been on, at least he thought, the same level. When they all first met one another. Before they could even make solid Aura Cloaks, when they thought this was all a fun little game. Before they realized the corruption of the gods.. before the pain.. before the suffering..
He frowned. He tried to think back and recall when this all truly began. Was it when Raijin wished him to kill Akuro? Was that when the pain began..? Or was it when they had fought Gallatine together?
He bowed his head and laughed to himself.
"What's so funny?" Inari asked, getting flustered, "look, I'm being serious-"
"I know." Darius said, smiling up at her. "I was just recalling the day Akuro and I had fought Gallatine, our first fight with a demon. Man.. we were so weak back then. Thinking back it makes me laugh, I mean, if Gallatine had managed to use his Hell Spires we would've died. With how weak we were, I honestly can't believe we were able to defeat him."
"Ah.." Onoma sighed, "and when I think back I can only scold myself for being an idiot. I wanted to be the strongest, so I challenged Akuro repeatedly, I sided with... what was her name..?"
"Adeline?" Inari asked.
"Yeah, that crazy bitch. God I can't believe I actually sided with her.. I disappointed in myself."
"You.. you are the one who killed her.. and you can't even remember her name?" Inari said.
"Look.." Onoma growled, "I don't remember bitches."
Darius chuckled. He wished things could be like this all the time.. just standing around and talking... just remembering the past. He missed being able to speak of the future knowing it would be there, being able to predict what would happen next.
"One wish.." Darius said softly, his smile fading. "It all used to be so simple."
The group went quiet then, all of them sinking into their own minds, thinking n the past. Thinking on how it began, what it should've been.. what it could've been. He glanced at Inari... what it could've been...
"Darius," Inari spoke, "you obviously didn't wish to be 'Loki' or whatever. What was your wish anyway?"
"Aha..." Darius tilted and scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Ya know, you really don't wanna know. It's not that special.."
"What is it? I'm also curious." Onoma asked.
Sedori seemed to have no opinion, standing off to the side.
"Oi.. I-" Darius stopped, his throat seeming to constrict go dry. Oi was something Akuro used to say. All the time.
"What?" Onoma asked, not catching on, though Inari had understood right away.
"Nothing.."
"Can you just say your wish? We basically all know each other's wishes other than yours." Onoma spoke.
"Fine. It's really basic though." Darius said "I couldn't think of what I would want, so, I thought, why wish for something that may not be that strong when I could wish to be the most powerful possible version of myself?"
"Seriously? That's it?" Inari asked. "You weren't lying. That is super basic."
"But it's actually stronger than you would think." Sedori jumped in, "wishing to become ultimate version of yourself. You may not know what you'll get, but it will be as powerful as you can possibly be."
"I guess. I mean, imagine if Akuro had wished that." Onoma said.
"You know.." Darius spoke, "I'd rather not imagine Akuro stronger than he already is."
"He's got a point." Sedori agreed.
"Oh!" Darius gasped suddenly, "I need to tell you all something. Something important."
Darius recapped over what Gatekeeper had told him. About the Genesis Gods and about Akuro being chosen, about Kasziel and his end goal, about the realities, about how everything could quite possibly come to an end. As he spoke he watched the color drain from Inari's face.
"So.. that is what you two were talking about." Inari said softly.
"Okay.. wait.." Onoma asked, placing a hand to his head, "so there are the gods, which made the stars, and the titans, which made the planets... and then there are the Genesis gods, which made not just the titans and gods but also reality itself.. and one of them, Kasziel, is paranoid and sick and scared to die so he is going to use Akuro to reset all realities just to create a singular 'corpse reality' as you put it?"
"That.. about sums it up, yeah." Darius nodded.
"What the hell are we waiting for then?" Sedori asked, "we are running out of time. There is a lot more at stake here than we first thought, we should head for Gatekeeper immediately, we can't waste anymore time than we already have just standing around in reverie."
"I agree," Inari said, her voice still weak, "we should go."
As they all turned to head for Fort Arashi, Darius lingered behind and stared about at the destruction the battle had wrought over the landscape. He tilted back his head, looking up at the stars, then he mumbled softly,
"Oh, sweet reverie.. why must I dream of what could've been..?"