Chapter 38 "Raven"
Chapter 38
Raven
PLANET HELL
Ever since the day she started existing out of nothingness, thanks to Death King, she has never left her home planet, not even once. Consuming evilness is all she has ever known about how to live.
Souls from different people, different worlds, different galaxies. They are so delicious. Every time. She cannot help but get greedy. Because that’s all what she ever existed for.
That’s why she is alone in one of the caverns with a struggling soul in her hands. She licks her lips hungrily.
She is clearly bearing a wide set of shark-like teeth as she watches a translucent figure squirming, trying to get out of her hard grip. She is not finished with it yet. There is still some purplish blackness left in the white soul.
She quickly shifts her snake-like orange eyes as soon as she senses a few powerful presences appearing out of blue. “Hmm?”
She gets up from squatting and then steps out of the cavern without letting the soul go. She pushes back one of her thin black pigtails as her sharp grin widens. One, two, three, four, five… Six people. One of them…
Sweet! It’s Universe Warrior. I wonder how he will taste--
Logy quickly turns his head towards the cavern, but she is already hiding in the shadows. Raven thinks to herself, Shit, shit, shit… How the hell did he find me?
“Is someone there?” Knapp asks.
“Yeah. I heard someone’s thoughts.” Logy says as he points at the specific cavern. “Did someone already bust us?”
“Already? It’s Tenshu’s fault for sending us through the portal to this place,” Jade complains.
Johnny scratches the back of his head as he says tiredly, “Weren’t we supposed to sneak in without Death King finding out?”
What the hell are they doing with their hands? The female demon sneaks a peek at the humans once again. Big mistake.
She can feel something very cold against her neck. She slowly looks up at Knapp right in front of herself. He is twice as tall as she is. She realizes that it’s the black sword pressing against her neck. A grin is slowly being formed on her red-skinned face. It’s the Universe Warrior.
“Who are you? Why are you spying on us?” Knapp asks.
Huh? The little demon raises an eyebrow as she tilts her head a little to the side in confusion. She points at herself. “Are you talking to me?”
“Answer my questions!”
She bursts out into loud sudden laughter as she grabs Knapp’s sword, licking not only her lips but also her shark teeth. “You ain’t my King! And, what is this sword? Why does it smell so delicious?”
The soul has been squirming and trying to get out of the demon’s strong hands for the whole time. She suddenly chows on it and then makes a loud sound that resembles both crunching and gulping. Soon, it’s completely gone.
“Ugh, gross,” Clear almost gags.
“Well?” Knapp demands as he digs the side of his blade into the demon’s neck.
“Ok, ok! Chill!” The demon quickly raises her hands. She begins to lick her tongue across the black sword. “Mind if I get a small payment from you? Then, I’ll answer all of your questions.”
Knapp briefly glances at Logy, who simply nods his head. “Fine. What is the payment?”
“A little bit… of evilness from your sword, please?” The demon widely grins again as she runs her forefinger across the black blade.
The Divine Sword starts trembling a little bit in Knapp’s hand. It’s the first time it’s done that ever since he first found it in the black block before becoming the Universe Warrior.
“What is she doing?” Gules asks. He already has a large fireball hovering above his open palm. “Is she trying to take the souls from your sword?”
“Stand down,” Knapp says. He turns to the shorter demon. “Get ready. Muryo, Rocio.”
“Whoa, what is this?” The demon drops her jaw open as she watches a soul in water form coming out of the Divine Sword.
“A soul from the Fourth Universe.”
It’s my first time trying a soul from a different universe…! She is about to snatch Rocio’s soul but Knapp quickly blocks her with his sword. “Hey!”
“You said a little bit, right? Don’t get too greedy.” Knapp smirks, a little bit playfully. Rocio nervously turns his head to him with teary eyes.
“Whatever.” The demon scoffs. She rubs her hands excitedly and then opens her mouth. Pure dark purple energy is being extracted from Rocio’s soul.
“Okay, that’s pretty cool, actually,” Jade says to Logy.
“That’s enough. Eirian, Rocio,” Knapp calls him the soul back into his sword. “Satisified?”
The girl demon is now pouting. She starts playing with the hem of her black skirt along with a wrinkled white sleeved and buttoned shirt with black tie. “I guess so. My name is Raven.” She looks around at the Dark Team. “Look, I wasn’t spying on you. I swear! I have zero idea who you all are… except you, the Universe Warrior. All of us the demons heard so much about you.”
Knapp introduces the whole Dark Team to Raven, who either doesn’t seem to be listening at all or doesn’t care.
“So, what are you doing out here on this wasteland?” Gules asks. He turns to point at a large gate wall in a very far distance. “Isn’t that where the kingdom is?”
“Oh, I was exiled." Raven shrugs her shoulders carelessly. “If you’re seeing demons out here… They’re exiled as well. Oh wait, are you looking to get into the kingdom? I can help you out! Then can I eat more evil, please?”
“No. We’re good,” Knapp places his sword back into his scabbard. “We’re not going to the kingdom.”
“Oh. Don’t you want to meet Death King?”
Knapp ignores her as he turns to the Dark Team. “Clear, you got the location?”
“Yes, sir!” Clear says cheerfully. “C’mon, follow me!”
Raven crosses her arms with a scowl on her face as she watches them walking away. Fuck it. I’m going to find out what they are doing here in Hell.
~*~
“You realize she’s still following us?” Gules whispers to Knapp.
“I know.” Knapp takes a quick look at Raven who is doing a very poor job trying to hide behind every large rock and boulder she can find.
“Do you want me to take care of her?” Jade asks as he cracks his knuckles.
“No, it’s fine. She said she was exiled, right? It’s not like she’s going to run to Death King and tell him about us,” Knapp says.
“Logy, where are you going?” Johnny asks sleepily when he notices that Logy is falling behind a little bit. He shrugs when he doesn’t get an answer but then he realizes that Logy wasn’t looking at him.
“Hi,” Logy says to Raven. “We don’t have any business with you. Why are you following us?”
“Once I get a taste of a soul from a different universe, I want more!” Raven exclaims. “Can’t I stay with you? I want to know where you’re going!” MoresoulsmoresoulswhyareyouherebutIstillwanttoeatthesouls.
Her thoughts are really going too fast. Logy sweatdrops. “So, don’t all demons have their own scythes? Why don’t you have one?”
“Like I said I was exiled. So they took it away. I know I’m a sucker for evilness-- it’s so damn delicious! But I always stopped every time Death King commanded me to. He didn’t mind… or so I thought so. But then one day, I was kicked out. I still don’t know why.”
We probably judged her too hastily. I would’ve thought she was lying but so far her thoughts have shown me that she’s being honest. Logy thinks.
“So, why are you using your hands so weird like…” She starts throwing out her hands, trying to mimic what she saw back then.
“That’s sign language.” Logy gives a lighthearted chuckle. “I am deaf.”
Hold on. How the hell did he discover me before the others back in the cavern?
“And I’m a mind reader.”
“Oh!” Raven stares at him in awe. Whoa, that’s really cool. What a useful ability!
“I know, right?” Logy returns to speaking. “Just out of curiosity… Have you seen or felt that something isn’t right around here?”
“Is that why you’re here today?” Raven counters with a question of her own. She is so proud of herself. Although the way I got thrown out of the kingdom without any reason is still odd… That and also the atmosphere of this planet feels a little heavier than usual-- Hey wait a minute, are you reading my mind?!
Logy snickers. He quickly checks on Knapp but he seems to be too occupied with walking and talking with Clear. “So, Raven, do you know where the core is?”
“Core what?”
“The life of your planet. We’re looking for it. It seems like we’re lost after all,” Logy whispers to her.
“What are you doing?”
Raven jumps startled while Logy turns around with a smile.
“The way you are smiling tells me that you’re talking to Raven about what we’re not supposed to discuss…” Knapp frowns.
“I am trying to win her trust. She knows where the core is. I was just about to get it from her thoughts but then you scared her.” Logy crosses his arms.
“You’re lucky you’re so hot right now.” Knapp turns to the demon. “Raven, spill it. Where is the core?”
“Even if I tell you where it is, you won’t be able to get there,” Raven shrugs her shoulders. She grins widely. “Unless… Do I get another payment?”
After the Universe Warrior gives some of evilness to her from the soul of King Jasper from Clear’s home planet, Raven pats her stomach. “Ah, I’m so full!”
Johnny is snoring softly as he is sleeping on his side. Clear is working on her tablet to check on the spaceship from another planet. Jade and Gules are simply talking to each other (or rather, flirting).
“Alright so! The core is…” Raven excitedly points her finger at one of the mountains. One of the largest on this planet. “It’s on the top of the mountain over there. But like I said, you won’t be able to reach there.”
“How come?” Knapp asks.
“Because there’s the river of the dead all the way around the mountain. They are full of the souls whose cleansing failed. We just toss them into the river. But if you step into it… say bye bye to your life!” Raven is already lying down on the floor with flowers on her chest. “You can’t even fly over it at all. They will jump out of the river and catch you in the air.”
”But the Universe Warrior can,” Kawaii says suddenly.
”Yiiikes!!” Raven cries as she leaps away from a child literally materializing out of the air. “Who are you?!”
Kawaii is staring at her with his dull heteromica eyes. “…Wow, you can see me now.”
”Why do you sound surprised?!” Raven exclaims.
“You’re seeing him just now? He has been with us for the entire time.” Gules messes up Kawaii’s hair with his hand. “I suppose you earned his trust and are eligible to join us!”
”Absolutely no.” Knapp gives a light sigh. “Kawaii is right. My soul is basically connected to the entire universe. Nothing, not even the dead, can stop me.”
”Kawaii, eh? Hmmm. Are you…” Raven leaps around Kawaii, checking every inch of him. “A soul?”
The child form of the Fifth Universe pauses for a brief time as he thinks a little bit before he says, “I suppose so.”
”Can I eat you?” Raven begins to drool, her eye pupils already shrinking at the thought of how tasty the soul of the Fifth Universe will be.
”Hey, hey!” Clear yells as she and Jade quickly jump in front of Kawaii. “You’re not eating him!”
“It’s fine. She won’t eat me. I don’t have a drop of evilness,” Kawaii says emotionlessly.
“Boooo!” Raven pouts angrily before she smirks widely. “Are the other souls of the universes like you out there… with evil?”
”I’m not sure. The Second Universe, maybe.”
“Can we go there?”
”Enough with the questions,” Knapp says. “Raven, can you please lead us to the river of the dead?”