Disclaimer time:
Rumiko Takahashi, Shogagukan, Kitty and Viz Communications own Ranma
1/2. Kosuke Fujishima, Dark Horse Comics and Studio Proteus own Oh! My
Goddess (Ah! Megami-sama).
My pre-readers, without whose help this chapter would be much worse:
Dave Menard, Gary Kleppe, James Merritt, Jeremy Fogelman, Paul Steele,
Thomas Hackwood
What else? Ah, C&C, public and private, is _always_ welcomed with open
arms.
Corwin (ely7@inter.net.il or corwin@virtuallyjeannie.com)
http://lavender.fortunecity.com/friday/573/anime.html
* Previous chapters can also be found at:
http://members.xoom.com/phu_lam/index.htm
http://home.earthlink.net/~tannim/rfics.html
-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: wog-ch6-draft2.txt
Wrath of Gods
Chapter 6
Ranma and Akane walked over to the shrine, running a little late. Since
one way or the other, they wouldn't be going back to their campsite, all
equipment had to be packed and carried with them, which caused the
delay.
"I hope Bell will wait for us," Ranma said a few meters away from the
shrine's entrance.
"For something like this, I'd say she will," Akane answered, trudging up
behind him.
Nodding silently, Ranma closed the distance to the entrance, and stepped
inside.
"Hey, there's no one here!" he exclaimed in surprise shortly after.
"Maybe she's late too," Akane offered, finally entering the shrine and
dropping the heavy backpack on the ground with a thud.
"Are you tired, Akane?" Ranma asked, concern showing in his eyes.
"No," she lied, averting her gaze. She knew better than to try and hide
something from those blue-grey eyes of his.
"Alright," he conceded, not wanting to start an argument over something
as petty as this. "So let's just make ourselves comfortable, and wait
for..."
"Ranchan!"
"Airen!"
"Saotome, you fiend!"
Before anyone else had a chance to shout, Ranma was already on his feet
and holding a ball of swirling ki the size of a basketball in his cupped
hands. Akane, having abandoned her backpack, stood beside him, lightning
coursing through her form.
"What are you doing here?" Ranma asked in a low voice, that had a
dangerous undertone to it.
"Airen no go with Violent Girl, come stay with Shampoo!"
Ranma's right eyebrow twitched.
'What did I do to deserve this?' he asked himself mournfully.
'Umm... Ragnarok comes to mind,' another part of him answered, pulling
an eyelid as the first part groaned in disgust.
"Oh man, I'm breaking apart," Ranma mumbled, too quiet for anyone except
Akane to hear, before pulling himself together to say, "Go away. Shoo.
None of you belong here."
"But, Ranchan, I'm your cute fiancee. How can you elope with Akane when
you have me?"
Ranma's eyebrow twitched again.
"Look, Ucchan, if I promise that I'm not eloping with Akane, will you go
home?" Ranma said, while hurriedly thinking, 'I don't have time for
this, Bell can get here any moment!'
Before Ukyo could answer, a new voice spoke, "Are you in a hurry,
Ranma?"
"Urd," Ranma stated flatly, his expression darkening. Tilting his head
slightly towards his guardian, he said urgently, "Get behind me, Akane."
She started to protest, when the pigtailed demon hissed, "Move!"
Turning towards the goddess, Ranma sneered at her.
"Where's your pig, or did you leave him at home this time?"
While he was projecting control and power outwards, inside Ranma was
climbing the walls.
'Shit, what else can go wrong?! If I can't scare her, we'll have to
fight and all those people will get in the way!'
"We don't need any humans to stop you, Demon!" Skuld shouted from the
other side of the shrine.
"Oh, Ranma?" Urd said, drawing all attention to her. "Nabiki Tendo says
hi."
Ranma's expression betrayed the shock he felt, and his control over the
ball of ki wavered, the energy dissipating harmlessly. Cursing, he began
conjuring up another one, when a bolt of lightning struck him squarely
in the chest. The demon flew backwards a few meters, taking Akane with
him, until they impacted against a wall heavily. Shaking his head to
clear it of the cobwebs, Ranma glanced down to see Akane slumped on the
floor unconscious, having taken the brunt of the impact.
His eyes flaring, Ranma jumped to his feet, his clothing changing color
to black.
"You shouldn't have done that," he warned in a low voice.
As he was about to advance on Urd, a familiar voice shouted to him,
"Foul demon! Release your hold on the pigtailed goddess at once!"
Before Ranma could do anything about the annoyance, a glowing katana
sliced cleanly through the wood, breaking Kuno's bokken at the hilt.
While the kednoist could only stare at his ruined weapon in shock, a
hooded figure quickly made its way over to Ranma's side.
"Who are you?" Ukyo shouted, the first in her group to recover from
witnessing the goddesses attack Ranma.
Smirking, Ranma put his hand on the woman's shoulder. As Nodoka removed
the hood covering her face, Ranma announced, "Allow me to introduce my
mother, Amaterasu Omikami."
--------------------------------------------------
Somewhere in Akane's mind, she groaned, slowly standing up.
'What hit me?' she wondered, before recent events came rushing in.
They had been ambushed, and the goddesses caught them off guard with a
lucky shot.
'Caught off guard? What could've caused that?'
Suddenly, realization hit her.
"NABIKI!" Akane shouted at the top of her voice, remembering whom Urd
said had sold them out.
'I wonder where I am?'
Akane walked around the clearing, following the edge of a huge crater,
careful not to fall in.
"Craters! Why do they always have to be craters?!" another voice
exclaimed from behind her.
Shrieking, Akane jump and turned around, only to find Ranma standing a
few meters away from her, an annoying smirk on his face.
"Don't sneak up on me like that!" she shouted, trying to hide her
embarrassment.
"Sneak up on you? What do you mean?" Ranma asked her, cocking his head
to the side.
"Oh, forget about it! Do you know where we are?"
"Of course. You're dreaming," Ranma answered, starting to trace weird
circles with his hands.
"Stop it, you idiot!" she growled, narrowing her eyes.
Ranma shrugged and started dissolving.
"Hey! Where are you going?" Akane shouted, running towards him.
"Like I said, Akane, you're dreaming. I can't stay here for long."
Seeing that Akane was still frantic, and afraid to be left alone, he
added, "Look, Akane, I'd like to stay here an' all, but someone's gotta
defend us from those loonies tryin' to kill us."
Smiling genuinely, Ranma said, "Take your time, and don't worry about a
thing. I'll protect you," before dissolving completely.
"Jerk!" Akane yelled to the empty space in front of her. The nerve of
him, leaving her all alone like this. Well, she'd show him. She was a
martial artist too... among other things.
Akane was so immersed in her thought, that she almost missed the
background changing. With a startled yelp, the guardian found herself in
a place she instantly recognized, albeit not remembering being there
before. Before she could contemplate how weird that was, she gasped at
the scene in front of her. There she was, covered in blood, and holding
Ranma! Throwing caution to the wind, Akane raced to help the couple,
only to pass through them.
"What the Hell..." she said, before reaching out with a hand to touch
the other Akane's shoulder. Her hand passed right through, as if she
were looking at an illusion.
'No, not an illusion,' her mind told her at that time. 'A mental
projection.'
"Whatever," Akane replied to herself, shrugging. It seemed that her mind
wanted to show her something, another piece of her past. Who was she to
argue?
Accepting her fate for the time being, Akane watched intently as the
memories played themselves out in front of her eyes...
--------------------------------------------------
"Ranchan! Akane!" Belldandy shouted, running towards the pair. Ranma was
lying unconscious on the floor in her living room, with his guardian
holding his head in her lap, looking extremely exhausted as well.
Belldandy decided that there would be time for questions later. For the
time being, she had to concentrate on healing her uninvited guests.
Producing a purple ball of mana, she released it above Ranma's chest,
the glow spreading all over the demon's body. The cuts and bruises on
Ranma's body flared in defiance, glowing angrily in reaction to the
Norn's efforts.
"It's... it's not working!" Belldandy exclaimed frantically after a few
moments, the mana dissipating. "Akane! What happened? Why is Ranma's
body rejecting the healing?!"
"T-They m-must've poisoned the w-weap..." Akane got out, before slipping
into unconsciousness.
"No! Akane, Ranma, get up!" Belldandy shouted to no avail. Sobbing and
sagging to her knees, she mumbled to herself, "I wish Urd were here..."
Taking a look at Ranma's pale face, Belldandy rose from the floor,
determination burning in her eyes.
"Don't worry, Ranchan, I'll save you!" she declared, before rushing off
to get her medical supplies.
Retrieving her goddess medical kit, Belldandy cleaned Ranma's injuries,
applying antiseptic to them and bandaging the wounds with care. She
decided to break the arrows at the point of entry, and burn the portion
still lodged inside Ranma's body with her mana, sterilizing the wounds
at the same time.
Akane was the next to receive Belldandy's ministrations. In a few
minutes, both the young demon and his guardian were treated, and their
condition stabilized.
"Oh, Ranma, what am I going to do with you now?" the goddess sighed
wearily, plopping down on a couch.
--------------------------------------------------
The sound of Akane stirring woke Belldandy up from her slumber, and she
hurriedly scooted over to the wounded guardian.
"Wha... what happened?" Akane slurred, her unfocused eyes looking in
Belldandy's general direction.
"You just appeared in my house yesterday, Akane. I tried to help you the
best I could, but I'm afraid that my magic didn't work on you,"
Belldandy said apologetically, her eyes downcast.
"You saved our lives! How can you even think of blaming yourself?!"
Akane exclaimed incredulously, before slumping. 'Besides, it was really
_my_ fault that Ranma got hurt,' she thought dejectedly.
"Well, as you can see, I've used standard medicines to try and help
you," Belldandy started explaining, since Akane didn't seem to have
anything to add. "You're already on your way to a fast recovery,
however, Ranma... Ranma was in a far worse situation, and, well..."
"Is he dying?" Akane managed to choke out, mentally berating herself for
being to slow to get him to safety, for failing to follow Ranma's plan,
and for anything else that went wrong during the mission and just had to
be her fault.
"He's not dead yet!" the Norn of the Present declared with power that
surprised even herself. Getting her bearings, she sat up straight, and
continued in a much softer voice, "We'll find a way to save him...
somehow," the last word spoken barely above a whisper.
--------------------------------------------------
During most of that day, Akane lay in a bed in Belldandy's guest room
with her eyes closed, yet sleep avoided her. She kept reviewing their
mission, and everything that had gone wrong on it. If only she could go
back in time with the knowledge she had now... but no, it's not like a
person could take some sort of a 'time key' and return to the past. Even
if said person was a Demonic Guardian Angel.
Ranma's condition remained critical the whole time, and Belldandy kept a
constant watch over him, ready to move Heaven and Earth if it came to
that to save him. The only thing keeping the goddess - and Akane
herself, she realized - sane, was the slim possibility for Ranma's
recovery. After all, he was pretty strong, and his healing abilities
were unrivaled in any pantheon.
'I wish I could be there with Ranma, as well,' Akane thought, with a
healthy dose of longing.
She couldn't explain these new feelings that assaulted her ever since
she saw Ranma take that arrow for her. Hell, she couldn't even
understand most of them! But one thing Akane was sure of, and it was
that her relationship with Ranma would never be the same again.
'Perhaps, this bedtime rest is for the best...' Akane mused to herself.
'If nothing else, I'm bound to sort out all of my emotions in the
meanwhile. And if... No! When Ranma wakes up, I'll talk to him about all
of this. I'm sure he'll know what to do.'
Akane rolled over and lay on her side. Her decision had been well and
good, but no easy solution was magically appearing. Sighing, she hoped
once again that Ranma will be all right, and tried counting sheep to
help her go to sleep.
--------------------------------------------------
Surprisingly enough, Belldandy's thought mirrored Akane's almost
perfectly. The goddess was sitting on a chair, watching Ranma as he lay,
motionless, in her bed. At first, she dared not move him, either
physically or by magic, for fear that it'd be the straw that crushed the
camel's back and cut the young demon's already fragile connection to
this world. Eventually, however, the goddess decided to take the risk,
and levitated the demon's body as gently as she could into her bedroom,
where the only vacant bed in her home remained.
Ranma has always been her friend, ever since they met that faithful day
when she accidentally shot him with a ball of lightning. And,
subsequently, he was a boy. So, technically speaking only, of course, he
was her 'boy' 'friend'.
"Boyfriend," Belldandy repeated the word to herself, quietly, blushing
fiercely.
She had, in fact, been accused several times in the past of being overly
'friendly' with the demon. The goddess never took that too seriously,
however, since all of her girlfriends who'd met Ranma swooned after him,
forgetting their own lectures.
'Now that I think about it, that sort of thing always bothered me for
some reason,' Belldandy mused silently, before adding mentally, 'The way
those vultures always pawed my Ranma!'
The goddess' blush grew to monstrous proportions, and she instinctively
looked around the room to check if anyone was there who could've read
her mind.
'Oh my! Did I just think that?'
Belldandy got up and walked over to Ranma's prone form. Squatting on the
edge of the bed beside him, she brushed a few bangs of his unruly hair
out of his face, silently admiring it.
'Do you see me just as a friend... or as something more?' she wondered,
momentarily tensing up as Ranma shuddered in his sleep.
As the demon's body relaxed, Belldandy thought, 'I wonder what can I do
to make him notice me?' biting her lower lip. She knew what several
girls her age did to get boyfriends, but she wasn't like that; she
couldn't possibly do any of those things!
'Maybe I should ask big sister for help,' Belldandy reflected. 'I'm sure
she could help me out! And she likes Ranma... well, sort of... at least
they don't insult each other every time anymore.'
Frowning, the Norn of the Present decided to try something else before
calling Urd for help. She certainly didn't want this to become one of
her sister's 'pet projects'.
Belldandy shuddered involuntary.
'Maybe if I ask him out, I can find out how he feels...'
Realizing that there was nothing she could do before Ranma woke up, the
goddess sighed and resumed her watch over him. Should he pull through
the rest of the day and the night, Ranma's healing powers would kick in;
all he had to do is just hold on for a little longer. Just a few more
hours...
--------------------------------------------------
Ranma regained consciousness, and immediately wished he hadn't. His
whole body hurt, especially his right shoulder, which felt as if on
fire. Trying to sit up, he felt something in the way. Groggily opening
up his eyes, Ranma saw a blur, with small tentacled demons dancing
happily around it. Blinking a few times helped clear his vision, and as
the demons pouted and disappeared in colorful puffs of smoke, Ranma
found out that the object keeping him in his place was an arm. A slender
and very female arm.
Suddenly, Ranma noticed that he was in a bed. The last time he checked,
he hadn't gone to sleep in one. On the verge of panic, the young demon
examined the arm, and found out that it was attached to an equally
attractive and very familiar body. At that point, he did the only thing
he could. Ranma screamed his lungs out.
Belldandy stirred up and yawned, before realizing that she had fallen
asleep when she should have been watching Ranma. Looking at him and
fearing the worst, the goddess wasn't prepared to find him staring wide-
eyed at her face... No, not her face, she realized suddenly. Remembering
that in all the haste to treat Ranma and Akane the other day, all she
had on was a robe, which had slipped slightly during the night, showing
the young demon a healthy amount of cleavage, Belldandy blushed beet red
and quickly rearranged it.
"Um... did I die and go to Heaven?" Ranma asked hesitantly.
"You got the Heaven part right," Belldandy replied just as nervously,
before she couldn't help herself any longer and jumped into his arms,
crying out, "Ranma! I thought I lost you!"
"Gah! I-I'm h-happy to see you too, B-Bell-chan," Ranma stammered, on
the verge of mental overload.
'He's glad to see me!' Belldandy cheered mentally, melting inwardly at
his words. 'Oh, and he called me Bell-chan again. I just love it when he
does that!'
Filled with determination, Belldandy decided to take action. Even if he
didn't feel the same way, she had to tell him, because she might never
get another chance. Pulling back slightly from Ranma's chest, Belldandy
looked at his face and closed her eyes. Closing the short distance
between them, her lips met with his in a hesitant kiss that turned surer
when Ranma didn't pull back. After what seemed like an eternity later to
her, the goddess was brought back to reality with the beating of her own
heart, and she pulled away gently, opening her eyes to gaze directly
into his.
'I can't back down now,' Belldandy told herself, before opening her
mouth and saying, "Ranma... I love you..."
--------------------------------------------------
Akane seethed in anger, as her memories showed her double from the past
standing at the door, frozen in shock over what she had just witnessed.
She saw Ranma's mind finally go into overload and shut itself down. The
female guardian saw the goddess virtually glow after the kiss...
And all this bothered her more than she'd care to admit.
'Why do I care what that pervert does?' she thought, huffing, as the
scene froze, before leaving her standing inside of the crater where
she'd embarked on her little journey from.
Akane felt herself being pulled into two different directions. One of
them wanted nothing else to do but to go and bash Ranma on the head with
something heavy, while the other was genuinely happy for him.
"What's happening to me?" she asked no one in particular out loud.
Ranma and his stupid quests. Where he went, trouble was sure to follow,
Akane knew that and even managed to accept it to a degree. But this was
ridiculous! Demons, goddesses, ancient enemies and spells... it sounded
like a bad fantasy manga! By this point, she wouldn't be surprised if
some reincarnated high elf suddenly showed up and claimed that she was
Ranma's fiancee. At least there weren't any sailor-suited warriors of
love and justice involved... yet.
Akane gagged, and shuddered in a manner resembling Belldandy's earlier
on.
'I better get out of here before I think of something even worse,' Akane
thought, and immediately became white as a sheet. She had, and the...
the atrocity had a name... Pokemon.
Akane screamed in terror, and blacked out in her dream.
--------------------------------------------------
"I'm gonna ask this only once," Ranma growled. "Where's Belldandy?"
While the crowd from Nerima just blinked owlishly, Skuld stomped her
foot and shouted, "You leave big sister alone!"
"Oh? And did she tell you that she wants to be left alone?" Ranma asked
the young goddess condescendingly.
"Belldandy isn't fit to make that decision," Urd interjected, readying a
lightning bolt in case Ranma tried a sneak attack.
"You're a fine one to talk!" Ranma shot back angrily. "Yep, you're one
prime example of maturity!"
"Shut up!" Urd shouted, before regaining her head.
"I knew you've been lying to Belldandy. You obviously remember more than
you told her you did," Skuld piped in, pointing an accusing finger
towards the demon.
"Actually, I was only makin' an educated guess, based on the time you
shot me an' Akane with that lightning all of a sudden. From your
reaction it seems I was right," Ranma replied smugly, as Urd seethed in
barely controlled anger.
"Enough!" the Norn of the Past declared, gaining everyone's attention.
"You're not getting out of here alive!"
This statement spurred a lot of action, as Cologne got in a fighting
stance, facing off Urd, while dispatching Ukyo, Shampoo and Konatsu to
surround Skuld. Goddesses or not, she wasn't about to let them kill
Ranma. Tatewaki and Kodachi faced each other, each planning what to do
with Ranma after their glorious victory. Soun was in a corner, crying
about the fate of Anything Goes, while Genma had already fled the area
at the first sign of his wife's glowing katana.
This left Mousse alone, and he used the opportunity to try and rid the
world, and Shampoo, of Ranma, once and for all. Dozens of knives and
shurikens were launched at his target, Ranma making no attempt to avoid
them. When the objects were a few meters from him, the demon waved his
hand, and a transparent barrier formed around him, stopping the
projectiles.
"Fool!" Ranma shouted at Mousse. "You dare attack a first class demon
with these toys?!"
Unabated, Mousse launched a volley of chains at Ranma, trying to
penetrate the shield he had erected. Ranma pointed his hand towards
Mousse, the barrier solidifying and flying towards the chains. Instead
of stopping Mousse's barrage, the wave of water continued, until it hit
him and reverted the nearsighted boy to a duck, subsequently driving him
backwards and knocking him out.
As Shampoo and Ukyo's attention was averted to the fight between Mousse
and Ranma, Skuld took one of her bombs out of her shirt pocket, and sent
it towards them. Konatsu barely had time to push Ukyo out of the way,
while he himself wasn't quite so lucky. Shampoo, who had been shielded
from most of the blast by Konatsu, let out a cry and charged the
goddess, Ukyo picking up her spatula from where it had landed and
joining the Chinese girl a moment later.
Cologne hadn't been taken off guard like her great-granddaughter, and
leapt out of the way of Urd's lightning bolt. The goddess decided to
attack a fraction of a second after seeing her sister throw one of her
bombs, as the situation had clearly spun out of control. Witnessing a
gnarled little old woman dodge her blast so skillfully alerted the
eldest Norn to the ancient Amazon's hidden skills, and made her consider
her next move carefully. Cologne was thinking along similar lines. Her
opponent was a goddess, and a powerful one at that, if she wasn't wrong
about her. This meant that holding back was not advisable if she wanted
to survive the battle, let alone win it.
Having dealt with his nuisance, Ranma studied the shrine grounds.
Tatewaki was trying to knock out his sister, but wasn't doing so well
without his bokken. In fact, he was retreating, and using what remained
of his weapon to create air pressure, to keep Kodachi at bay.
Konatsu appeared to be out of it, and would probably need a few days of
rest when all would be over. That, and a new set of clothes. Ukyo and
Shampoo were doing a good job dodging those bombs, but that didn't leave
them much room for counter-attacking. At least Skuld had her hands full
with the girls. Ranma wondered briefly what would run out first - Ukyo
and Shampoo's luck or the young goddess' supply of bombs.
Cologne and Urd's battle was the most interesting of all. The Amazon was
using her splitting cat hairs technique to attack Urd from several
directions at Amaguriken technique speed, the goddess trying to
retaliate with multiple lightning strikes at Cologne's after-images.
Ranma found himself fascinated by the various techniques used in the
fight and their variations, storing the information away for latter use.
Just as it seemed that Cologne had gained the upper hand, Urd called for
her angel, both of them putting the Amazon on the defensive. A few
moments later, Skuld got a lucky shot and nailed Shampoo with one of her
bombs, Ukyo managing to shield herself from the blast with her spatula,
with became useless afterwards. One of Shampoo's bon-bori flew out of
her hand and knocked out Soun, who had been oblivious to the rest of the
world at that point.
The tide in the fight was turning, and Ranma and his mother were bound
to get involved in it soon. Gritting his teeth in frustration, Ranma
began to form a red ball of mana, when a hand landed on his shoulder,
getting his attention.
"You must get out of here, my son," Amaterasu said. As Ranma attempted
to argue, she gestured at Akane's prone form with her hand, silencing
him, and continued, "You have to think of other people as well. Her life
is your responsibility, don't forget that."
"I... I know that, Mom," Ranma replied, bowing his head, his clothing
reverting to his original outfit.
"Go to the Grand Shrine of Ise; you'll be safe while you stay in its
premises. I'll join you and Akane there as soon as I can."
"Yes, Mom. Just... can you tell me what can I do? There has to be a way
to stop this, I know it!"
Amaterasu bowed her head, unable to lie to her son.
"I... we'll try our best, Ranma."
Nodding, Ranma stepped back, conjuring a puddle of water on the floor.
Walking over to Akane and picking her up, he was about to open a gateway
to his mother's shrine, when she gave him her katana.
"Take Kusanagi with you, Ranma," Amaterasu said, smiling. "Use it well."
"But... but what about you, Mom?" he asked, surprised.
Amaterasu laughed, her smile growing.
"Don't worry about me, Son. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve."
Seeing that Ranma was still glancing nervously at the two Norns gaining
more and more ground with every passing second, Amaterasu rushed him
towards the puddle of water, saying, "Go!"
Sighing, Ranma jumped into the puddle of water, teleporting himself and
Akane out of Susano's shrine. The second he was gone, Amaterasu flared
as bright as the sun itself, temporarily blinding everyone.
Turning towards Urd, who was shielding her eyes with the palm of her
hand, the Goddess of the Sun told her, in a voice that brooked no
argument, "Return to your home. There's nothing left for you here to
do."
"And how do you suggest we do that?" Skuld asked of her. "You vaporized
all the water here!"
"Don't be insolent, Young One! You're out of your league here,"
Amaterasu said coldly, emphasizing her point by expanding her aura. "As
for your method of transportation, I'd suggest walking."
Walking towards her younger sister, Urd said, "You can't protect him
forever, you know," getting no response.
Casting a spell, Urd transported herself and Skuld to the Morisato
residence without further discussion. Amaterasu disappeared from the
shrine a split second afterwards, leaving four confused and battered
people in her wake. As Ukyo collapsed near Konatsu from exhaustion, and
Cologne limped towards the prone form of her great-granddaughter,
Kodachi used her brother's distracted state to knock him out with her
ribbon in the most painful way she could think of.
--------------------------------------------------
A twenty-year-old college student was walking past a music store, when
she felt a sudden, unexplained urge to come inside. Walking through the
isles, the girl felt some unseen force pulling her in a specific
direction towards the heavy metal section. Acting on the same impulse,
she picked up and bought a CD that stood out to her among the rest.
On her way back home, the brown-haired girl couldn't help but wonder
what in the world possessed her to do what she'd just done.
Nevertheless, the desire to put said CD in her stereo system was still
present in her heart and just too great to simply ignore.
Upon reaching her apartment, the woman decided to play the CD, and see
what was so special about it, instead of doing her homework. As soon as
she hit play on her CD player, a vortex appeared about it, a woman with
twin slashes on her forehead appeared from hit, stretching out and
exclaiming, "Ah, finally! After all those centuries..." before noticing
the other woman and asking, "Hey, who are you?"
"My name is, um, Megumi. Megumi Morisato," the NIT student timidly
responded.
"I'm Marller, Demoness first class, first category, unlimited. Nice to
meet you."
Hearing this, Megumi's eyes rolled up and she fainted.
A little while later, Megumi stirred, and saw Marller patiently waiting
for her to wake up. Letting out a small 'eep', she scrambled to get as
far away from the demoness as possible.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Marller asked in confusion.
"Well, aren't you after my soul?" Megumi retorted, keeping a couch
between them.
"Um, no. Where did you get that idea from?" Marller wondered, scratching
the back of her head.
"Never mind," Megumi answered, shaking her head. "Just tell me what you
want with me."
"Oh, that. Well, you see, I was sort of imprisoned in that DVD..."
"CD," Megumi corrected her.
"If that's what you want to think, fine. Anyway, you finally released
me, so I'll grant you a wish in return and be on my way."
"Just like that?" Megumi asked, cautious. "You don't want anything in
return?"
"Like your soul?" Marller laughed, while Megumi got paler. "Nah, I'm not
that kinda demoness. As for why I'm giving you a wish... I'm just
feeling grateful, I guess. You did help me out, after all."
"Um, since I let you out and all... does that mean I'm going to Hell?"
Megumi quietly asked.
"Heh, you should be so lucky!" Marller chuckled. "No, I don't think it
changes anything. Go ahead and make your wish."
"Hmm," Megumi said, tapping her chin, "I wish I knew why you were here."
"An easy wish, huh?" the demoness asked, smirking. "Well, it all started
when me and my kid brother were visiting Asgard..."
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End of Chapter 6.