"When the sinful flower that was never meant to bloom opens it's tainted petals, even the heavens turn away"
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Legends from the forgotten era still lingered in the ears of earth's inhabitants. The tale of a man who once sold his soul in order to turn the tides in the blood war back during the world's golden age.
When the man set foot onto the battlefield, tainted flowers bloomed from all directions.
As the man ripped through the endless hordes of masquerading spawns from hell, those flowers sprouted from the bodies of his own comrades, And because of this one man, Hell's king was exorcised and the war was won.
Certain sorcerer clans deemed this man too unstable to be allowed to live, out of fear of Hell's curse inhabiting his body he was locked away shortly after the war ended. At least until the remaining five supreme war generals learned of Hell's Queen who ruled Hell's universe next to her husband.
It was then that the grand elder along with the remaining five supreme generals decided to release the man, and use him to put an end to what remained of Malum's curse. It was at the same time of his release that his wife had given birth to their daughter in secrecy.
And on the same day the child had opened taken her first breath, her father vanished without a trace, though the rest of the clan never spoke about the man as they believed his very name brought about an ill omen.
***
Suddenly fluttering her dark grey eyes opened, Aaliyah gasped and looked around as she found herself sitting against the black stone walls of Hell's hall.
The southern tribe's youthful general Kaida gripped onto the edges of the destroyed wall and darted her fear filled scarlet eyes outside as she took in the sight of the countless flowers that had suddenly bloomed from all directions.
Sweat raced down her suddenly pale face. Then as she heard Aaliyah's heavy breaths she turned and knelt down to face her and asked:
"Miss Aaliyah, you're finally awake… are you alright?"
Aaliyah took a moment to collect herself. She clutched her heavy feeling head which she felt as though it had a thick grey fog clouding her mind, and then gave the girl a nod.
"M-my head hurts, but I'll be fine… what about everyone else?"
Kaida glanced over to Selene who had woken up several moments earlier than Aaliyah. Aaliyah looked over to Selene, and suddenly saw her silently sobbing into the embrace of the white haired woman.
'Sachiko… you're, awake. And alive'
In a mere moment, memories from her childhood with Sachiko had replayed vividly in Aaliyah's mind. From the moment they met in the field of blooming flowers, all the way to the moment of Sachiko's farewell.
But in this moment, Sachiko was alive and right next to her. Aaliyah found herself stumbling as she made her way to embrace the two women.
The three of them shared a few moments as they expressed the overwhelming feelings that filled their minds and hearts.
It was then that General Asami, along with her personal black lotus division members Sidra and Hinari had entered the room from one end of the two way dark hall.
The priest stood up and faced the three and said:
"General. It's a miracle to see that you're alright, considering the chaos that's sprouting about outside."
General asami's expression remained cold and indifferent as always, especially as she glanced over to Jason's unconscious form.
As though feeling the woman's silent scorn, Jason's eyes fluttered open. Cold sweats ran down his skin as he reached for the hilt of his blade, only just realizing that it had been destroyed in his battle against Ikari two days ago.
Kaida stood up, and immediately rushed over to his side.
She held onto his shoulder and helped him against the wall. As she heard the boy's groans, she spoke softly:
"Jason, try not to move too much… I've managed to stop your wounds from getting worse. But there's still som internal damage."
With that, Jason glanced over to his broken right hand and grimaced. He took a few breaths before he spoke to Kaida and said:
"Thank you Kaida. Seriously."
The girl smiled and nodded. Suddenly remembering the katana on her back, she reached over her shoulder and clutched the katana in both hands before she handed it to Jason.
He was confused for a moment, and remembered the katana being held at Kaida's family shrine dedicated to her late mother and older sister.
"Kaida, isn't this?…"
Kaida interrupted him.
"Before you try to act all stoic. I've already decided to entrust my older sister's katana to you… I know as good as anyone that she'd want someone like you to have it."
Well, both that and Kaida simply didn't even know how to use a katana herself.
Jason took a breath as he looked down at the katana. And with his good hand, he sheathed the blade at his waist and with Kaida's help he slowly stood up while clutching his broken hand.
"Where's Aria?… is she safe?"
The priest approached the young man, and put his hand on Jason's shoulder and said with a deep voice:
"Miss Aria has been taken by the one who bore the pride insignia on his forehead… Tengu I believe."
A fire lit in Jason's dark grey eyes.
"Then I'll go get her. Kaida, could you come with me?"
Immediately, the black lotus division's Lieutenant Sidra spoke out.
"Hey. You don't genuinely think you can fight off all seven of those monsters with just the two of you. Plus that broken hand and ribs, you must be crazy."
Jason turned to face sidra. There was a hint of resentment on his face when he said:
"Listen. In the most respectful way possible, I don't take orders from any of you. You may be all about leaving your friends behind, but I'm not."
Just as Jason finished speaking, the timid looking cadet officer Hinari looked past Jason. And through the reflection of her glasses, she saw red flowers blooming their way through the hall and toward them.
Once everyone turned around, the only sound that filled the cold hall was the ruffling flower petals.
After a long couple seconds of silence, a half masked man with a slight hunch on his back and a half mask covering his mouth slowly crept from around the corner. He stared down at the floor as if captivated by the blossoming flowers.
It was the black lotus division's secondary lieutenant raiser. The tense feeling in the back of Hinari's mind from her earlier worry for her senior's safety when General Asami left him behind to fight off the horde of demons slowly began to wane.
However it immediately returned once raiser slowly raised his head. Everyone felt a chill crawl up their spines as they shivered, seeing that his scaleras were now black and his irises crimson.
There were also sudden flowers sprouting from the wounds which were inflicted onto his body from his earlier run in with Cain. Hinari brought her hand to cover her mouth as her eyes shook.
General Asami and Jason were quick to clutch their katanas, while Sidra dropped to one knee and prepared a sealing formula.
In a raspy voice, General Asami spoke aloud.
"Lieutenant raiser. I'm going to give you to the count of three, and if you do not stand down I will not hesitate to kill you."
Hinari wanted to argue against killing her senior, but the man didn't wait for his general to count. He reached for his mask and attempted to pull it down.
Though Jason was quicker. In a speed which no one could perceive him moving in, he drew his katana with a reverse grip and immediately cut raiser's arm off.
Blood spurted from his wound. Just as the blood spilled onto the flowers, raiser turned and gripped Jason by his mouth, lifting him up a few feet off the floor.
Selene and Aaliyah cursed beneath their breaths, right as they prepared to attack the both fell to their knees and clutched their heads.
'I feel lightheaded… my power… it's gone'
The priest glanced down at the two women and thought to himself.
'This is what I was worried about. Those pods were sapping chaos energy from both Miss Aaliyah and Selene. They can still use basic sorcery but are going to be out of commission for a while'
As he finished his thought, the silence was broken by Aaliyah who's nose began bleeding while she brought her hand to her mouth and shouted:
"Mister priest! Please, save my son!"
"Yes ma'am."
The priest clasped his hands together. And begun to recite a prayer while speaking backwards. The prayer beads around his neck and clasped hands began to glow a light blue color.
"Anti-heavenly law: one hundred & eight burdens."
Once he finished reciting the backwards prayer, three layers of black prayer beads manifested around both Jason and raiser. The prayer beads rapidly spiraled as black particles trailed behind each one of them.
The gravity around raisers body grew so heavy it forced him down to his knees. Immediately, Jason kicked himself out of raisers grip and jumped out of a hole which was blown through the ceiling of Hell's halls.
"Kaida, please go with him!"
Kaida gave Aaliyah a nod.
"Yes ma'am!"
Without wasting another second, the young general trailed behind Jason and the two headed in the direction of Hell's heart.
***
Right below the cracked heart of Hell, roots to a giant beat up tree connected themselves to it. Beneath the ground, there was a hidden room where Aria's unconscious form slumbered within the tree.
The seven sins had all detached themselves from the tree, and gathered together in a circle. Tengu stood tall in the middle, he was the first one to speak aloud.
"Now mother is freed from her seal, however so is that man from a thousand years ago. The man who made us all look like fools."
Tengu looked outside at the sight of endlessly blooming flowers, and with a look of Distain he continued to speak.
"I won't ask of you all to put aside your personal goals to kill that man. Because that is a task that I myself will fulfill… and once I do, I'm going to kill our father and mother."
The surrounding faces all stared indifferently at him. The hunched over nakame had yawned and said:
"Listen, even if you were to oppose our mother… you can't kill her, it's simply impossible to kill one who's immortal."
Aphira smirked and followed up. The lust insignia burned brighter on her cleavage as she said:
"I'm going to have to agree with naka-dear. Besides if you kill our mother who's far more powerful than father, you do realize that would mean killing all of us as well, right?"
Tengu glared at Aphira with contempt.
"And your point?"
Suddenly, avarus who bore the mark of greed had stomped his foot and stepped forward.
"You prideful bastard. If you think we're going to sit around and die for the sake of your god complex, you've completely lost your mind."
Tengu stared at him for a short few seconds, and simply scoffed. He didn't even bother to respond and simply walked off.
And after a while, the rest of his siblings left as well. It was then that Jason and Kaida had dropped down from the open ceiling and stood in front of the tree that held Aria.
Jason immediately went up to the tree, and used his new katana to cut through the tree's thickness. He cursed under his breath as he felt the hilt of his katana jerk against his palm.
"Dammit."
After a few more attempts, Jason finally cut through the thick tree roots and managed to pull Aria out.
To his surprise, she woke up in an instant. Jason hugged Aria tightly and thanked the heavens that she was alright.
Though Aria and Kaida tensed up suddenly when they both saw red flowers blooming from the ground, walls and the ceiling. Jason had looked around and after a few silent moments, the three felt their hearts drop.
Once they looked over their shoulders, they saw a man clad in tattered black robes. Chains clung to his wrists and ankles.
His face was dirty and his hair hung over his eyes which had black scaleras and crimson irises. It was Kahal.
As Jason slowly reached for the hilt of katana, he suddenly heard an echoing voice in his head. He grimaced as his eyes began to flicker the same color as the man in front of them.
Sweat darted down Jason's face as he clutched his head. The curse marks around his body began to respond to the man in front of him.
And at the same time, a giant crystallized crimson flower bloomed from Kahal's back. He slowly brought his dark eyes up to meet those of Jason's, and was immediately reminded of a sight he witnessed during the blood war one thousand years ago.
In that moment, he sensed "his" presence.
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Continued in chapter 101: Damnation
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