The Red Hand

After finishing the discussion, Akagi left Kaori in Mimi's care. Hoshino would be dealt with once Libra was defeated since Akagi didn't want to derail their chances at wining. Once she was adequately treated and rested, she would begin working under the Yuki-Onna. Hopefully, she could still use her potion-making knowledge even without the game's abilities. Though, even if she couldn't Akagi had a few ideas about what to do with her.

Yumi took Mika and Naomi back home, and Akagi sat with her sister on a bench in the garden. She regretted yelling at Kana. Even if she takes her job seriously, she could have handled that a little bit better, so she wanted to apologize to Kana.

"I... uh..." Akagi scratched her cheek. "Sorry that I raised my voice earlier Kana. That wasn't necessary." She politely bowed.

"It's alright. I'm not mad or anything." Kana replied. "I'm more surprised to see you acting like this though." Seeing her tough older sister acting meek towards her was amusing. "I did overstep my bounds, even if Kaori was my friend. Even if I don't exactly condone what you do, I did agree not to interfere, and I violated that promise." Kana bowed her head too.

Seeing that Kana wasn't mad made Akagi feel better. "Yeah, it's alright. I guess we've both got things to learn about one another still." Akagi gave a dry laugh. "I keep forgetting that you aren't completely used to how I act, and I forget that you're normal compared to me."

Akagi held her head in her hands. "I can imagine I've caused you a lot of headaches with my actions and words, so I'm sorry for that."

"You don't need to apologize for anything." Kana shook her head. "Sure things have been different, but I would much rather see you like this if it makes you happy." Akagi hadn't had much to live for in the past, so Kana was glad to see her doing something that brought her joy. Even though that meant Kana had to accept some changes in her sister.

"You were never that great at dealing with others before, me included, so I can take you being a little bit prickly. Your nowhere near as bad as you used to be. Mika and Naomi don't really mind it either, though granted when you exploded on Mika, they did get a bit scared." Kana laughed.

{Yeah, but Kana, not only do I not regret those acts, but seeing you all afraid like that... it brought me great joy.} Akagi thought to herself as she listened to Kana speak. She could never tell her sister this, but deep down she kind of wanted to see the look on Kana's terrified face. The thought of someone so close to her being made to fear her tickled a part of her that she didn't want to admit existed. {What the hell is wrong with me?} (Akagi)

"Onee-chan..... Onee-chan!" Kana called out to Akagi causing her to snap out of her thoughts. "Are you alright?" Kana had a worried look. "Your face looked miserable."

Regaining her senses Akagi answerd. "Yeah, I'm fine........... Just a lot on my mind is all." she patted Kana on the head. "I'm going out for a bit. I need to blow off some steam and attend to some stuff." She stood up.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Kana looked at her, worried.

"I'm not going to lie and say there's nothing wrong, Kana." Akagi shrugged. "But right now, there's not much I can do." Akagi jumped into the sky and took off toward Kyoto. She was hoping that a little movement would clear her mind and perhaps calm her heart. Akagi could tell with each passing day that she was slipping deeper and deeper into the darkness that resided in her heart, but she didn't have it in her to admit that to Kana.

{I have to find out what I am and how to deal with these inner thoughts once and for all. Each time I go in, there's no guarantee I come out. The last two times I've been lucky, but there's no guarantee that I'll come back a third time. Ever since I came back from FWO I can feel it seeping into my mind each day, the darkness, the calls for violence. It's as if whatever is within me is sick of being caged and is banging against the walls trying its hardest to escape. I can't hold it back forever, and honestly... I don't think I want to. But I know that if I give in...... I won't be me anymore, and that's not acceptable. No matter how happy it might make me, I refuse to let anyone or anything control me! I guess we'll just have to see what the future has in store.} Akagi thought to herself as she bounced from tree to tree in the direction of Kyoto. What she couldn't know was just how close the time was when she would need to confront her inner darkness and make an important choice about the future.

Would the world burn as in Kana's vision?

_____________________________________________________________________________

Tokyo Police Department, Rapid Response Team Medical Ward.

"Hmm-hmm." Imp was reading over some medical data of Superbia's. After her battle with Armalthy, and the use of her ability Princess of Blood, she'd spent several days unconscious, and her body was wracked with injuries and issues. Excelsior's healing magic had helped considerably. However, the backlash from her ability still left her unable to fight. She was currently conscious and could move around, but was anything but 100%.

"Why are you acting like a doctor?" Superbia asked from her bed. "You were an engineer! So why are you treating me?" Imp, along with an actual doctor, had been treating Superbia's injuries. Excelsior wasn't a doctor, and his knowledge of medicine beyond cast healing magic was effectively zero, so proper physicians were required. However, Imp was not a doctor or even a nurse in her time before FWO, so seeing them act like one was strange.

"Don't go trying anything funny with me, I might be injured, but I can still clobber you." She threatened Imp, who ignored her. Superbia had only just woken up a day or so prior, and this was the first time she'd seen Imp in the medical wing.

"Ms. Imp." Dr. Amherst was still not used to calling her that. "Has actually been a great help in treating your injuries." Dr. Amherst had been retained by the Japanese government with the blessing of the United States to act as an advisor and chief Physician for the Rapid Response Team.

"How?" Superbia tilted her head. "Imp's great with tools and crafting, but she couldn't know anything about medicine."

"Imp knows medicine!" Imp looked up from the paperwork and protested.

"While she is by no means an expert or something one could consider a doctor, her knowledge of biology as well as medicinal properties of items formerly from the game have been a great help." Dr. Amherst clarified.

"What? Biology?" Superbia was still confused. She knew she wasn't human anymore, but she didn't get how Imp could know more about something like that than an actual doctor.

"Yes." he nodded. "She explained to me that since she dealt with a great deal of equipment and gear from all across the game, she'd spent a lot of time digging into each player race's biological attributes and quirks." Amherst continued. "Part of her knowledge came from game lore written in books, but others came from examining cadavers and other specimens.

"Is that why you were grave robbing!" Superbia looked at Imp who just shrugged.

"Information-knowledge needed to defeat enemies and make better gear-equipment." Imp figured that knowing how each race worked on a fundamental level might make things easier for her to make equipment. The players were rarely the only member of their species, so finding a body or two to examine wasn't that hard. Luckily, FWO actually allowed such detailed dissection.

"Not exactly sure how to take it that you tore open the bodies of other Oni just to learn about me." She shivered at the thought.

{Please don't tell me she did that with Moonie...} (Superbia)

"Superbia nice. Will use as a stuffed dummy if die-expire, don't worry," Imp said with a devilish grin.

"Great, now I definitely can't die with you around." She sighed. "You would be the nutcase to turn me into some kind of freaky ornament."

"Maybe mount over fireplace-hearth?" Imp stuck her tongue out, which got bit when Superbia bonked her on the head.

"Owie!" Imp cried in pain. "WHY?!?"

"That's for being an idiot." Superbia looked at Dr. Amherst. "So how much longer will it be until I'm recovered?" She wanted to get back in action as soon as possible.

"A few more days, at least." Dr. Amherst answered. "And personally, I would want a full week. Your abilities and the effect they have on your bodies are still not understood, so taking chances is not something I can encourage."

Superbia didn't want to hear that, but she understood what he meant. Even she never thought that her Princess of Blood ability would have that level of backlash. She felt fine now, but there was no telling if unseen damage had accumulated.

{I guess Akagi was right, our abilities do work differently now. We need to be more careful in the future.} (Superbia)

"I guess that's fine." Superbia sighed. "We just got two new members right? Hoshino and Wexel were their names if I recall. So I guess things will be fine."

{I still need to find those two bastards. They haven't shown themselves just yet, but I will find them. Just wait Mooni, I'll make those goblin bastards pay for killing you. Even if it's the last thing I do.} Superbia thought to herself. She had a history with two members of Libra, and she intended to settle the score with their blood.

 

As for the new team members.

Hoshino was a dual-blade mixed caster whose fighting style was similar to Hishya, though her level of power was quite a bit lower.

Wexel was a summoner, and while she could cast magic, most of her kit was centered around buffing her monsters and others.

 

Summoners were quite rare in FWO, mostly because of the low power ceiling for the creatures they could use. Against monsters, they were effective enough. However, players would have an easier time against them since their summons were only marginally tougher than most mid-bosses. They were also useless against World Bosses as their summons were too weak to do anything and they would eat up a raid slot. Libra had one of their own, Alice the Puppeteer. She was actually a young girl, only around fourteen, but her skill at commanding her army of puppets and golems was top-tier. Compared to her, Wexel might as well be little more than a child walking her dog.

Alice's presence as a part of Libra was especially worrying since she had a literal army at her command. If she wanted, she could eradicate an entire town just by unleashing her puppets on it. She had mostly been quiet since the start of hostilities, and she'd not once used her abilities as part of Libra's campaign, as of yet, which caused unease among the Rapid Response Team. Once the Americans got involved, they labeled her a priority target, and they were making plans to find and defeat her before she could take action. It didn't help that the little girl also had a history with the Assault Team and the infamous assassin herself.