"Sitri! SITRI! What, the hell are you doing?!" Truth continued on stomping at the black ground, his eyes staring at his other self's vision. "Wake up, you pathetic shit!"
The black-eyed demon would have pounded Sitri if he could. Being trapped within the fifth dimension, the normally jolly guy was left screaming at the top of his lungs. If he could just have his own physical body, he would be able to get out, but sadly, it wasn't as easy as it sounds.
"Truth, you need to calm down." Purred Eliya to his side, her hands hugging her lover affectionately. The pink-haired princess knew an angry Truth is the farthest thing from safe, but she doesn't care. "Sitri's better than this. He'll wake up soon. I hope..."
Fortunately, the rational side of Truth listened to the girl, now regulating his breathe by slowly exhaling and inhaling. "Thank you, Eli. I needed that."
"Someone needs to keep their cool when Mabelle's not here. I'll panic later." Eliya smiled at him.
"Sorry. It's just that Sitri kinda looked like crap back there." Truth rubbed his temples.
"I guess even Demon Lords break when you push the right buttons." The princess looked down to her feet, frowning. "He needs help right now. Someone needs to give him the wake up call..."
She turned her gaze to Lesha who was staring at Sitri. "before that girl gives him the wrong one."
"It's no use. I can't make him go here. He isn't answering me." Clenching his fist, Truth once again gritted his teeth. "And that fox just also exploded. What a timing. Who will help him now?"
"... Who would even help a downed villain?"
=≠=≠=≠=≠=
"A-Ani, Tamamo, Everyone..." Muttered the lifeless demon, his voice trembling. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"Sitri, it's too late." Lesha clasped his right cheek with her hand, averting his gaze towards her. "They won't be coming back. They've left you."
"That's,-- No, that isn't true." Sitri's knees buckled down, with him falling down into a kneel. "They-- they love me. They would never..."
"Love, you?" The blue-haired goddess chuckled. "Do you even know what that mean?"
Before he could even utter a single word, Lesha proceeded to bury him in his doubts even more. "They loved you because you were strong, influential, rich. But now? They've got nothing to earn from you anymore."
Sitri widened his eyes.
"You've set the title of being the Demon Lord to Celleya when you die. Thalia and the vampire faction had already grown strong because of your connections. Hexhine should be disgusted at you when she learns what you did to Ani, and Tamamo already finished her report about you to the other Goddesses." A flash of predatory sneer appeared on the goddess' face.
"Oh, and last but definitely not the least, Ani's probably scared at you by now." And that was the final nail for his coffin.
"Then, they've really left me?" Mysteriously, the demonic entity froze his movements, darkness foreshadowing his eyes.
"Mhmm. You have nothing now, Sitri. But here I am, offering my kindness to you." She wrapped her arms to one of his, rubbing it with the side of her cheek affectionately. "Come with me."
"Come with you...?" His infamous menacing smile reappeared, eyes glowing white. His usually normal-sized sclera is now as small as a pinprick dot. "No, you will come with me."
=≠(Fifth Dimension)≠=
"Sitri's thoughts are all jumbled up. Damn that woman!" Cursed Truth, veins visible throughout his face. "She's breaking his mind. Unfortunately for her, even when our mind is broken, we will never submit to anyone."
"But a broken Sitri still doesn't sound good." He grimly concluded.
"How so...?" Asked Eliya, though she honestly didn't want to hear his answer.
"He'll release all his pent up anger to anyone near him. This is the time where should I say that 'That Goddess deserves what's coming next', but I'm honestly feeling more sorry for her."
"Especially since anger isn't the only thing that is pent up within him..." He whistled to the side.
"How can you joke like that at a time like--" Eliya stopped herself mid-sentence. Truth did not look at her, opting to just scratch his head. "... You're not joking?"
=≠=≠=≠=≠=≠=
"Lesha. Hmm. Your name has a nice ring to it." Tapping his chin, he looked at the petrified goddess from head to toe, grinning.
'This demon...' Lesha narrowed her eyes, her former smile replaced with a stern glare. 'Had I pushed him too far? Nevertheless, I will subdue him myself if necessary. His mind should still be disoriented from before.'
"Have you finally gone insane, Demon Lord?" She kept up a bravado, chuckling while smirking at him. "Then that's great. Brainwashing you would be much easier!"
She blinked, then he was gone. Before she could even react, a devastating kick to the back sent the girl soaring to a nearby stone pillar, crushing it, then imprinting herself to the following wall behind it. As she cough out a small amount of blood, a hand gripped the back of her neck, preventing her from falling down.
"That's cute of you to say, weakling. For someone who hides behind others to accomplish her goals, you're quite overconfident about yourself." He leaned in closer to her, literally breathing behind her neck. "It's people like that that I enjoy taking down a peg."
"Don't, touch me!" Will a shout, a vibrant light of white burst forth within her body, prompting Sitri to teleport some meters away from the girl. She coughed, carefully caressing her throbbing neck. "How dare you hurt me like that..."
"After everything you did? I very dare, Goddess of Light." Stomping at the ground below him, a dark magic circle appeared in it. "Though I have to say, if it isn't for your pathetic personality, you would make a great slave."
At the mention of that dreaded word, his expression was replace with solemnity, remembering his most loyal 'slave'. This moment of distraction was enough for Lesha to bail out with a technique of hers, allowing her to escape.
Well, that's what would have happened if a hand did not appear and grabbed her shoulder. "Where do you think you're going, Light?"
There she stood, Tamamo in her literally glowing glory. Her familiar golden aura covered her whole body, the intense look present on her face enough to make the blue-haired girl jump in surprise.
"T-Tamamo?! But the book said--"
For the very first time, a fox-like smirk graced the Fate Goddess' face. "The Book of Fate? I knew it'll say I won't be here ever again. But you missed a very obvious fact, Lesha," Her already intense aura flared up even more, now even snapping Sitri out of his daze.
"that book follows Fate, but Fate follows me." And with that, nine golden fireballs surrounded the fox-girl, her similarly colored eyes flashing for a second. She sent two of the fist-sized fireballs to the Lesha, to which the girl hastily tried to negate.
The ball shrunk for ever feet it passed towards the Light Goddess, its shine turning grey just a centimeter away from Lesha's face. The girl had effectively sucked the 'light' out of the fireball. "F-Foxfires... You really weren't planning on using a Foxfire, wouldn't you, Tamamo?"
"Nobody here will die even if one explodes. Sitri will survive, and me too. I'd like for you to die though." She summons another one above her palm, the harmless looking tiny ball glowing in ethereal orange.
"You must be really angry then," a sweat appeared behind her head, the blue-haired girl smiling to herself. "to use Foxfire, the Kitsune's strongest move. That could blow Japan in smithereens with just a single one, you know?"
Before Tamamo could reply, a white blue smashed into her side, sending her and the figure slamming into a nearby wall. Tamamo gasped more in shock than pain on who assaulted her. "Sitri?"
"You, don't play with my toy." Strangely, his left eye has a single tear pouring down to his cheek. Still, the man kept his smile. "Unless you want to be one, too?"
"Sitri, snapped out of it!" No matter how hard she struggled, the hand pinning hers above her head stayed firm. "It's me, Tamamo!"
"Tamamo?..." He actually looked like thinking for a second, but then his grin came back once again. "Ah, that pet fox I had before? Yes, yes. I remember you."
'Sitri...' Tamamo began to regret leaving the demon at the hands of Lesha before. But then, what she had done had already been done.
"I... loved that fox. She was gullible, intelligent, and most of all, she kept that light burning within my life." A small smile adorned his lips, but it was quickly extinguished as fast as it appeared. "I tried to act as normal as I can around her. I'm afraid she'll be scared on what I really am."
"I'm the villain here, after all."
Tamamo noticed how his grip on her hands loosen, but she stayed still, wanting to here more from her lover's fears. 'That's... so stupid, Sitri. I would never be scared at you...'
"W-When I first saw her cry, I felt some kind of pain within me. I've felt the worst kind of pain before, but that one... It was excruciating. I never want to see her cry like that again." He looked down, his long bangs hiding his eyes from view.
"Sitri. You've been keeping these thoughts inside you...? You-, you could have talked to me. Or anyone!" Slightly raising her voice, she managed to get the attention of the demon. "You're doing it again! You think you're so strong, that you'll just start to shoulder everything for us! Damn it, Sitri!"
She leaned her face closer to him, a fresh set of tear flowing down from her eyes. "Let us help each other together, you demon..." The feeling of her soft lips invaded his mind. Like a dam that broke, his tears began to well. The former glassy look of his eyes had retained its shade of life, as he tenderly kissed back his lover.
To an outsider's eyes, the defenseless pose which Tamamo is currently doing makes it looks like she's being violated, with Sitri virtually pinning her hands behind the wall above her. It might not actually be that far from the truth, but no one can truly know.
=≠=≠=≠=≠=
With the two seemingly forgetting about the other existence of the quiet goddess, Lesha frantically snuck away from the couple. She planned on escaping first then regrouping with whoever is still alive from her two subordinates. She did succeed on getting inside her bedroom, it was just a few walks away from the main hall she came from, after all.
"My plan had failed, and it was just perfect too! I'll--, I'll be sure to have more powerful allies next time. Even if I have to do it myself, I will capture that Demon Lord!" The girl began to ramble as she tried to get all of her things, especially the Book of Fate. Sadly, the tome of incredible knowledge was nowhere to be found.
"Tch, where's that defective book?! I know I hid it here somewhere!" The girl rummaged through the number of drawers and closets, not noticing a glaring figure behind her.
"Do you mean this, Lesha-chan?"
Upon hearing that voice, her breathing hitched, as her eyes suddenly widened. Before she could move a single muscle, she felt a sharp object poking her exposed neck.
"One wrong move, and you'll bath with your own blood." Ani whispered behind her, her aqua blue eyes glinting for some reason. "When faced against me, everything becomes normal, even Goddesses like you. You yourself knows this very well, right?"
"Y-You're back too? This... this wasn't in the book at all." Panic and fear could be felt through her every words, as Lesha's heart beat louder. "You were supposed to be left by Sitri, a-and killed."
"I'm pretty sure I'll still be punished later..." The little girl's tone wavered for a second, momentarily losing her focus at everything around her. "But if I'm going to die, I'll at least do a single thing that's right."
Realization slowly dawned at the blue-haired girl, as her eyes widened in fear. "Y-You can't! I can't die here! After everything... I mustn't die here!"
"Who said you're gonna die, hm?" Ani tilted her head, humming. "I know master the most out of anyone... He wouldn't kill you."
She patted Lesha's shoulder while smiling. "That would be too merciful."
=≠=≠=≠=≠=
"You're finally out of that funk, Sitri." Tamamo smiled to his side, her hands tightly holding his. "I knew a kiss would wake the sleeping prince--"
"Don't finish that sentence." Sitri deadpanned.
"See? You're back and grumpy like an old man again!" The demon couldn't help but to let out a sigh. Still, he was secretly glad that Tamamo had fixed the screw ups he did.
'I guess I can't really do everything by myself.' He pondered as he stared at his fox-woman lover. 'I'd have to thank her later for this,' he reminded himself.
'I wonder what kind of reward I'll give her.' Speaking of giving somebody something, he remembered his slightly-too-obedient servant. He himself didn't know what to do with her... for now.
Not long after, the pair heard some quiet grunting to their rear, and turned to look behind. They weren't surprised to see their Ani struggling to drag an unconscious Lesha by the girl's dress, with an unusually large book at her other hand. "Uop, who knew Lesha-chan would be heavy... and you call yourself 'Light'!" The blonde yelled.
The atmosphere around Sitri tensed as soon as she came, with a worried Tamamo hugging him from his side. A gentle squeeze to his arm made the demon lord calm, or at least as calm as he can be.
"Ani, come here." There was no malice in his voice this time, though it felt painfully empty.
Hearing the sound of his voice, the little girl flinched a little, then hastened her dragging as fast as she could. After a few seconds the two are just a step away from each other. Sitri's gaze bore into her very soul, while Ani's was glued to the floor.
Tamamo hoped to break the ice more, and so she spoke first. "Ani insisted on coming back here with me, since she wanted to at least help one more time. Looks like she was successful." Tamamo eyed the downed form of Lesha.
"S-She was no big deal..." The child spoke quietly.
He heaved a sigh, turning to the side to see Tamamo. "I appreciate your help, Tamamo. But this time, let me do this alone. I can handle this myself, I need to."
The fox girl looked conflicted for a second, and the smile Ani gave her just made her want to protect the little even more. Alas, she knew Sitri and the girl needed to be alone. She carried her former colleague along with her book, going outside to the main corridors.
An awkward silence befell the two, but Sitri gathered up his wits to speak first. "Ani, explain yourself."
"..." She kept looking at the ground, her hands tightly clutching the front of her dress.
"Talk, Ani." He hardened his voice a bit, glaring.
"... There's nothing to talk about." Her whole body quivered, eyes shadowed as an unlit room. "What I did was plain simple..."
A mysterious liquid fell down from her eyes. "I tried to kill everyone. I tried to have you all for myself."
Sitri did not talk for another minute, his eyes closed as thought hard. Finally, the verdict has been reached. "It makes things easier that you understand it yourself, Ani."
"Your punishment, will be..." As he said those words, his outstretched hand glowed a dark hue, with a similar aura enveloping his servant. Ani immediately kneeled, thousand volts of pain coursing through her body. And yet, the reaction she only showed was the gritting of her teeth.
She looked up, her face straining to maintain her composed look. "I u-understand. But, before the... end, can I say o-one last thing... master?" Her eyes were closed as she talked, tears continuously streaming down her face.
"Hm. I shall indulge you for the last time, Ani." Sitri's voice was firm, but, as every other wall, cracks could be felt all over it.
Ani tilted her head, giving her final smile to him. "I'm... happy to die for you, master." She hiccupped, but her face stayed firm.
"Forever, and ever... I love you." The life within her eyes vanished in a second, as her body fell to the ground with a soft, empty thud.