Chapter 40 "Viola"

Chapter 40
Viola

“We should’ve brought the space jets,” Clear openly complains. Her legs have been jiggly from all walking for a while now.

The Dark Team and two demons have been walking and climbing up the mountain for several hours. Knapp could have easily flown but he did not want Death King to detect his presence at all.

“Perhaps you should’ve trained more--” Jade easily dodges from Clear’s lightning attack.

“Shut up!” Clear yells angrily.

“What will you do if you ‘accidentally’ drop your soccer ball?” Raven asks as she watches Thorn still playing and bouncing the ball. 

Thorn briefly looks over the edge just to see how far it is if the ball somehow falls off. He cannot even see the ground at all. He shrugs his shoulders as he says with so much confidence, “I won’t drop it.”

“Does this planet even have nighttime?” Clear asks as she looks up at the unchanging red sky.

“Let’s see…” Raven says, trying to remember. “666 hours until sunset?”

“Seriously?”

“No, I was joking.” The girl demon snickers loudly.

“Hey! There’s a cave here,” Gules shouts from a little far distance. He is standing next to the entrance to the cave.

“Finally, can we rest?” Clear asks, giving Knapp her best pair of puppy eyes. “Pleeeeease?”

Knapp looks at Kawaii. “How’s the core?”

“It’s ok for now,” Kawaii says.

~*~

They are sitting close to the fire pit, far away from the entrance. They are eating chicken stews that Jade cooked for them from the icy planet and brought them with him. Jade tried to offer them to Raven and Thorn, but it turns out that they don’t eat at all.

Instead, Raven and Thorn consumed some amount of evilness from Nyx from the Second Universe and Eclipse from the Third Universe. Thorn couldn’t believe how delicious it was, along with Raven yelling, “Yes, that!”

Knapp’s Divine Sword has been sucking in the smokes from the firepit, thanks to the power of vacio that Ezekial has. The ceiling of the cavern is as high as a seven-story building, along with thousands of stalactites.

When they finish eating, Clear sets up a large tent that fits everyone. There are six beds, but Logy and Jade decide to give them up for Raven and Thorn so they join Knapp and Gules in their beds instead. 

Several hours later, Thorn wakes up only to get startled by two glowing eyes both in blackness and whiteness. 

“You can see me too.”

“Who are you?” Thorn whispers, trying not to surprise anyone else in the shared tent.

“Kawaii.”

That energy of his… Isn’t it awfully similar to the Universe Warrior? Thorn thinks as he crawls across the bed until he gets close to Kawaii, trying to analyze his face. He licks his lips and then asks without any second thoughts, “Can I eat you?”

“Uhh… no.” Kawaii sweatdrops. He turns to the zipped part of the tent. “Follow me.”

Thorn does so, and they leave the tent and have been walking for a little bit. He asks, “So, where are we going?”

“To Knapp.”

“Why?” Thorn raises an eyebrow. He remembers seeing an empty bed prior to leaving the tent.

“So you can hear me better. And away from others as well. But I don’t want Knapp to know we’re too close to him either.”

Thorn tilts his head to the side in confusion. He gives a light sigh and then leans towards Kawaii a little closer. “Okaaaaay. I hear you loud and clear.”

“You know we’re here for the core, right?” Kawaii says. “You’re one of Death King’s demon guards. A Captain. You’re supposed to protect the life of Hell. Why are you following us?”

“Because I admire Logy, okay?” Thorn places his hands behind his head, looking away from Kawaii to try and hide embarrassment on his face. “Other than Death King, no one has challenged me like Logy did.”

“Heheheh…” Kawaii giggles. “Careful. Knapp can hear you. We don’t want him to find out that you have a crush on his partner.”

“So? Having the hots for him isn’t a crime, you know!”

Suddenly, the air becomes much heavier and thicker, making Thorn gasp lightly. He shivers only to realize that the temperature has dropped dramatically as well.

“Oh whoops, we’re way too close,” Kawaii says amusedly before he disappears into the air. 

Thorn starts to hear light moaning so he follows the sound until he stops as soon as he notices two people who seem to be tangled up with each other. What are they doing?

He finally realizes who exactly they are. Knapp and Logy.

Logy’s back is facing him. One of his legs is wrapped around Knapp’s hip, also hooked by Knapp’s hand. To Thorn, Knapp seems to be sucking and licking Logy’s neck, making the deaf warrior groan in pleasure. The Universe Warrior slips his hand under Logy’s white shirt, gently stroking his bare back. The Fantasian’s black jacket is lying somewhere, already tossed and forgotten.

Thorn holds his breath when he sees Knapp clearly staring back. Those piercing dark eyes of his. Intimidating and possessive. The Universe Warrior licks and nibbles Logy’s neck making him moan without looking away from Thorn. Logy’s shirt being lifted further by his hand, showing more part of his bare back. Touch Logy and meet your consequence. Die.

The growing pressure of the air is now trying to push Thorn to the ground. The poor demon does not dare to move until a small but powerful sudden wave of shock hits him.

He flinches and then runs away.

~*~

After several good hours of sleeping, the Dark Team and demons get up ready to continue hiking and climbing the mountain.

“Okay, what did you do to Thorn?” Logy asks suspiciously.

Thorn is trembling in fear. He does not even play with his soccer ball at all so he is just holding it to his chest for his dear life.

“Oh, nothing,” Knapp says innocently, but Logy doesn’t believe him and is glaring at him.

“Surely you knew that I could read his mind when he was there?”

Knapp cannot help but give him a sly grin. “You didn’t stop me. I didn’t know that you were up for public viewing.” His comment makes Logy turn red.

“Are you sick?” Raven asks worriedly as she places her hand on Thorn’s forehead.

“Leave me alone.” Thorn slaps away Raven’s hand. He looks away with a blush on his face as he mumbles, “I’m fine.”

They eventually come upon another large cavern. Raven says as they begin to step inside, “The core is inside. If it’s too hot, it’s better for you to stay away.”

“Oh yeah I’ve been wondering. Most of the planets have the core right deep inside the center, right? Why is the core out here?” Jade asks curiously.

Raven and Thorn both pause for a brief time as they are thinking either deeply or carefully.

“You don’t know?” Logy gives a light chuckle after reading their disorganized thoughts.

“Yeah, we have no idea. Zero. It’s been that way ever since we were created,” Thorn answers. “We didn’t ask either. Honestly we never really gave it a thought.”

“Okay, Logy and Thorn, you can stay outside. Call us if there’s a demon or Death King is heading this way.” Knapp says. “The rest of you, come with me.”

“Okay,” Thorn says nervously while Logy just nods his head.

Kawaii cannot help but feel his lips twisting into a small smirk. “You all have the universe energy to protect you from the core’s heat. But be careful- often they can absorb the universe energy, and you can get burned from it. I’ll stay here.”

~*~

This cavern is probably the biggest they had ever explored. It’s been nearly an hour, and they still have not seen the core yet. Knapp can sense the core’s pulsing presence but it is not even closer than when they were at the entrance.

The further they go, the darker it becomes. Gules has created a fireball hovering above his palm to bright up the area.

“It’s getting a little hot,” Clear is flapping her hand at her face, trying to cool herself down.

“Eh, it’s perfect,” Johnny shrugs his shoulders.

“Ditto.” Raven and Gules both agree.

“Of course you’re fire and exploding users,” Jade rolls his purple eyes. He wipes his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand. “And Raven… what is your power?”

Raven ponders for a little bit. “I draw out stuff and people.”

“What is that?” Knapp asks only to get giggles from the little girl demon. Is it the power of wrap? No… it can’t be possible. Only angels and gods can use it.

“It doesn’t matter. I can’t even use it at all.” Raven mumbles. “Not if I don’t have my weapon.”

All demons love to make deals, right? Why else wouldn’t they? Knapp half-smirks at his thoughts. “Raven, when this is over, I’d gladly help you to get your weapon back. As a payback for helping us to lead to the core and for not running to Death King.”

Raven smiles at first and then her grin widens as soon as she realizes what exactly Knapp is asking for. She has nothing else to lose especially since she was expelled along with her powers being taken away. And those delicious souls in that black sword… How the hell did it get named as Divine Sword if it’s just black? “That’s not enough. How about letting me join your team? I want to get out of this hellhole.”

She’s good at this. I can’t give in just yet. The Universe Warrior begins to unwrap his scarf, revealing a little bit of the symbol of the universe. He does not want to alert the Death King just yet. “Only if you can handle the pressure of the universe energy. Even if you could see Kawaii but get overwhelmed, it could crush you. It took Logy and others at least a couple of years to accomplish it. However, Gules over there…”

“Yo,” Gules waves his free hand while still holding the bright fireball hovering his other hand. 

Knapp continues, “He ran away from his own duties to join us but it was a hasty mistake because he almost died from being too overwhelmed by the power of the universe.”

Raven begins to feel heaviness on her entire body. And that’s just from a very small fraction of Knapp’s power. Her knees are already bending a little bit.

Soon Knapp covers up the symbol entirely with his scarf. “If you can master it by the time we’re leaving Hell, I’ll be more than happy to let you join us.”

~*~

After one and half hours of walking, they have finally reached a large bright orb, which is more than enough to light up the entire cavern room several miles away. If they were looking at the sun too long, they would get blind.

“Who’s there?!”

“Of course who knew they would not leave the core unguarded.” Clear scoffs.

Five demon guards in full knight steel outfits are pointing their weapons at them. Sword, spear, war hammer, spiky mace, and axe.

“Wait a damn minute!” Raven yells as she steps in front of the Dark Team. “Viola, is that you?”

“That’s Major Viola to you,” a girl demon snaps. She pulls her hair clip off, letting down her long silky black hair which was previously locked up in a bun.

“How the hell are you Major when Thorn is the Captain?”

“Shut up!” Viola swings her sword through the air as she yells, “Charge!”

It only takes Clear, Gules, Jade, and Johnny to use their powers once to knock out all four demon guards without any trouble. Lightning, fire, gravity, and exploding.

“Can’t believe they’re weak…” Viola shakes her head in disappointment, her hand on her forehead. Yellow energy begins to surround her entire body. “Well then… I’m summoning the most powerful being in the universe!”

The power of taming…?! Knapp freezes out of fear. I’ve heard of it fairly often. Even one of the legendary Breakers used it to defeat the Lockers a long time ago. It can be just an animal, dinosaur, or worse, even a mythical creature just like Leviathan…! Did I underestimate her?

The minute something is coming out of the cave floor, Knapp quickly takes off his scarf and then withdraws his sword from the scabbard as he commands, “Tatakai, Nyx!” 

Multiple tentacles begin to come out of the cave floor and then pull its body out completely. It’s a Kraken. An octopus with a huge size where it views the Dark Team as ants to it. It seems to roar loudly, except no sounds reach to their ears.

With the power of Nyx within the Divine Sword, hundreds of rocky cylinders from the power of earth pop out of the floor and are flying straight towards the Kraken.

“Eh?” Knapp blinks in surprise as soon as they go through the Kraken as if it’s a ghost. “Wait…”

He leaps toward the Kraken and swings his sword, aiming for its head. Only to watch it through the monster once again.

“Illusion?” Jade asks.

Of course. Knapp lands his feet on the floor. If that’s the case, then Viola--

He realizes that she is already gone. The moment the so-called Kraken showed up, she ran away. “Damn.” He remembers what Raven said to Viola about the ranks. He says dangerously, “Raven…”

“What? Why are you mad?” Raven exclaims, her hands waving in panic. “I haven’t done anything!”

“That’s right… You did not say anything except that you were surprised that Viola has a rank higher than Thorn. Do you know anything about her? What is this power of hers?”

“Oh… hehehehe!” Raven snickers. “You have a good perception! She used the power of illusion to fool y’all! And then ran away like always!”

“Fuck,” Knapp curses. Clear hands the scarf to him, who proceeds to wrap it around his neck quickly.

“K-Knapp… You realize that Death King may be coming this way right now?” Jade asks nervously as soon as he senses a fast approaching powerful presence.

“Logy and Thorn are still out there. We don’t have time.” Knapp says hurriedly. “You go and find Viola. I’m going to face Death King.”