The so-called champion of the archangels had fallen from their good graces. Antithesis, also known as “Anti” was the most average man one could ever meet. His quiet nature brought about the attention of the leader of the archangels: Apothael. In the main Virtuous Universe, Michael commands them, but Anti was from an alternate one. Apothael, as leader of the angels in this universe, killed Anti’s family, then him, in hopes of having a soldier for his army, born of vengeance. Unfortunately for Apothael, the specter found out the truth after believing that demons killed him and his family. These complications lead Anti on a vengeful adventure, slaying demons and archdemons from the Hell Dimension and angels and archangels from the Heaven Dimension until he killed his creator. 

After receiving Axel’s Dimension Belt, Anti was pulled into the main universe where he immediately joined the Limbo War and succeeded in killing Apothael once more. After the angels learned of Anti’s “adventure”, they told him they were willing to accept him again and be a part of them rather than a soldier, but he had to complete tasks in order to do so. 

 

Anti steps through a blue portal. The archangels watch as the portal slowly closes behind the heavenborne. Zadkiel, the archangel of freedom, mercy, benevolence, and forgiveness, steps and looks at Gabriel, the messenger archangel. Gabriel nods and places a hand on Zadkiel’s shoulder and they walk off, leaving the spirit to his mission. They’ve been put in charge by Michael to make sure Anti completes his tasks. 

They sent Anti to the Hell Dimension because he has dealt with the demons before. In addition, angels become corrupted when they stay too long in the Hell Dimension. The same happens with demons in the Heaven Dimension. Anti has also been tasked with not killing anything this time around. 

Anti looks around at the familiar red, dusted land and turns to see the gated entrance to Hell. There’s a rumbling beneath his feet and the Hell Dragon, Alvah, bursts from the ground before the gates. The dragon slithers along the ground and comes face to face with the phantom. Anti stares it down as it exhales black smoke from its nostrils.

“We meet again, dragon,” Antithesis says, drawing his sword, Dimension Splitter. The dragon extends its body further from the ground and opens its mouth wide. Anti begins running at it, seeing a black glow emitting from its mouth. 

Anti leaps onto the dragon’s lengthy, vertical body and withdraws a Dagger of Deception, plunging it through the dragon’s red and black scales. As a result, Alvah writhes and shrivels back beneath the red, sandy surface of Hell. The heavenborne keeps both sword and dagger in-hand, wary the next attack. He listens for tunneling noises and jumps forward and turns as the Hell Dragon appears from behind him. Without further warning, it releases its black hellfire at Anti. The spirit acts quickly though and uses the same hand wielding a Dagger of Deception to fire back his own flames: plasmic holyflames. 

Plasimic holyflames is the hottest fire to ever burn in the Virtuous Universe. It burns hotter than blue stars. However, because Anti is essentially made of fire and the demons of the Hell Dimension and the Hell Dimension itself are fire resistant, it does not burn as hot as a blue star. In addition, Anti can regulate the temperature. 

Alvah rears back in pain from the fire and Anti takes advantage of it being stunned. He teleports right before its blinded eyes and uses all of his might to punch the dragon in the jaw, rattling its brain and knocking it unconscious. The body of the dragon booms against the ground and Anti leaves it as he turns and walks to the gates.

Without him needing to reach out, the Hell gates open and welcome him inside. The specter steps through and enters the first circle of the Hell Dimension: Nightmares. This first circle can be compared to Limbo, except here, there are spirits and dead that actually roam, when in Limbo there is nothing. 

Sensing an intruder, the archdemon of nightmares, Nokturn appears from a black cloud of fog. He has glowing gray cartilage as he is nothing but bone. He has nothing showing below his ribs and a cloak to cover the rest of his body. One of his eyes is completely gone while the other has a red, constricted iris. The top of his head resembles crooked, gray tree branches. 

“Your presence is not welcome. Unless you wish to become corrupted, I suggest you return your dimension, heavenborne,” the archdemon says, his voice echoing throughout the circle. 

“I come not to fight, demon. But for the girl you are keeping guard over,” Anti says, keeping a stone face. Nokturn briefly pauses. 

“I know not of whom you speak,” Nokturn says.

“Then I will draw the information out of you, demon,” Anti says, letting the Chains of Sacrifice loose from his wrists. 

“You cannot harm me, specter. Not in my own domain,” Nokturn challenges. Anti lowers his body, getting into an aggressive stance.

“I accept your challenge.”

Anti teleports in and Nokturn slashes at him with his extended claws. Anti sidesteps and throws a chain out. It wraps around the archdemon’s nonexistent neck. He heats up the chain and the fire reaches Nokturn’s cartilage. The demon yanks the chain away from his body before the fire connects and he disappears back into his black fog. Anti readies himself again as he calls the chains back to his body. Nokturn reappears from the black fog from below and snatches Anti’s ankle into an abyss.

Anti looks around at the pitch blackness. It feels as if he’s floating. The taunting voice of Nokturn echoes in his head.

“Let’s see what made you what you are, specter.”

The darkness around Antithesis disappears and morphs into his home in Haven City. He’s near the door and smells the same metallic smell as he did the fateful night he and his family were killed. He steps through the living room and into his bedroom where their bodies are lying on the ground in a fetal position. He slowly and cautiously approaches his family-- Apothael nowhere in sight-- and he turns his daughter over to see her pale face devoid of eyes. A hissing sound comes her and black hellfire release from her eye sockets and mouth. 

Anti steps back and back pedals towards the door. His daughter’s corpse along with his son and wife, rise and stagger toward him. He turns around and opens the front door hurriedly, only to step out back into Nokturn’s Nightmare Abyss. 

The skeletal face of Nokturn appears from the darkness surrounding Anti, only it is blown up to enormous proportions. Anti frowns at it, like he does everything else. 

“Your family suffered because you could not protect them. You could not even protect yourself. And now, here you are re-living the moment,” the archdemon bellows. “I will force you to keep re-living the moment, holding you here until you become corrupted by my dimension. You have the potential to be a valued soldier of ours.”

“I will be a soldier to no one. I know my family rests in Heaven. And I will return to the good graces of the angels so I can see them,” Anti proclaims. “However, in order for that to happen, I must break free of your grasp.”

Antithesis’s eyes flash reddish-gray with his plasmic holyfire and a wave of it explodes from his body, hitting the face of the cocky Nokturn and temporarily blinding him. The archdemon, in turn, drops the illusion. Anti looks around and the first circle of Nightmares has returned around him. Along with the appearance of his target, the newest child of the Devil, Lucine. She has red skin, blue hair and demon wings, black sclera and yellow irises, along with two tails: one fire-tipped, one poison-tipped. Because the demons don’t see a huge need for clothes, she is dressed similarly to her sister in black rags. Her horns are not fully developed yet, but they are coming in like her powers. 

Nokturn-- still blinded-- calls out to her.

“Lady Lucine, please stay close,” he cries. Lucine tries to dash over to her guardian, but Anti teleports to her, grabs her, and teleports to the Heaven Dimension. 

 

Anti reappears, with Lucine in his arms, before Zakiel and Gabriel. Anti lets go of her and she makes a break for it, though there’s nowhere she can run. Gabriel points a finger at her legs and a block of ice forms around her ankles, stopping her. The three of them saunter over to the immobile demon child and discuss what to do with her.

“What do we do with her?” Anti asks.

“Well, first, we need to stop her from being able to attack,” Gabriel says, pointing another finger and freezing her wrists together. “Both will hold on the journey you’re about to embark on.”
“We need you to bring her to Haven City,” Zadkiel informs. “Someone in Haven has a use for her. In turn, you will receive an artifact that we require.”

“Who must I bring her to?” Anti questions. 

“‘Bring the child to those who spill blood’,” Zadkiel quotes. Gabriel gives the archangel a puzzled look. 

“The hell was that?”

“What Michael told me to tell him,” Zadkiel defends. Gabriel rolls his eyes. Then opens his palm, creating a blue portal that leads directly to Haven City. 

“You’ll figure it out,” Gabriel tells the heavenborne. Anti nods and steps through the portal into Haven City.

 

They appear in an alley. Anti looks around at the surrounding, dark area. Lucine turns to him and growls. The specter ignores her and wraps a Chain of Sacrifice, around her wrists, above the ice Gabriel formed. He yanks her to one side of the alley and leans against the brick wall as he thinks about what the riddle the archangels gave him could mean. 

“Vampires comes to mind,” Lucine speaks. Anti looks at her. Without needing him to question why she’d give an answer, let alone speak, she answers for him. “I’d rather get this over with. Are there any vampires you know of in this city?”

Anti thinks back to his time in Haven in his universe, where some of the first things he fought were vampires. He thinks hard to remember the location he found them at and grabs a tight hold of Lucine’s chain and teleports them both.

The two of them appear in front of the Delacroix’s hideout. 

“How’d you find this place?” Lucine questions. Anti ignores her and steps through the door, pulling her along behind him. Anti remembers from his last time at this hideout in his universe that the halls were flooded with guards. This time, he and Lucine casually stroll into Tristan’s throne room. The vampire leader sits on his throne with his fist against his head and his mother standing in front of him. They were discussing something unimportant before both noticed the presence of the trespassers. Selene, Tristan’s mother, turns her body completely to face the heavenborne. 

“Can we help you?” she asks politely.

“Wow, I expected some sort of hostile reaction,” Lucine mutters.

“We are here to speak of the agreement you have with the angels,” Anti says forwardly. Tristan and Selene exchange puzzled looks. 

“Why would we need to speak with them, spirit?” Tristan asks. Anti stays silent, realizing they are not the answer.

“Apologies to have wasted your time, vampire,” Anti says. He turns to leave, dragging Lucine along. 

“Wait.”

Anti turns back around and sees Tristan rise from his throne and approach him. Lucine stays back. 

“You cannot saunter in here, question my mother and I, and walk out without giving me any information of your own,” Tristan declares. Anti exhales.

“If you are not who I need to speak with, then I will give you no information,” Anti says.

“You have one of my cousins on a leash, and you don’t expect me to question what the hell it is you’re doing and who you are?” Tristan questions. Anti tightens his grip on Lucine’s chain and begins to heat up his free hand. Selene steps between them.

“We are not going to escalate further,” Selene tells her son. “What he does is his business. You gave the information willingly.”

Tristan pauses and backs down. Anti loosens his grip on Lucine chain and calms down as well. Selene looks back at Anti and eyes the door, signaling for them to leave, but he does not.

“Where are your soldiers, vampire?” the wraith asks. Tristan furrows his brow.

“How would you know about them?”

“I have battled you and your mother before in my own timeline--”

Tristan is about to attack with his mother attempting to him back, but Anti’s next words stop him.

“But, I spared both of your lives.”
“You don’t seem like the sparing type, spirit,” Tristan challenges. Anti shakes his head. 

“I had taken out your soldiers before and thought you had lost enough. I wanted information and you were not my target, but you wouldn’t give anything willingly,” Anti explains. “Similar to now.”

Tristan now completely relaxes and his mother releases her hold of him. 

“Why are you telling us this?” Selene asks. Anti briefly pauses before revealing his intentions.

“I believe you can assist me in finding who I am searching for.”

“And in exchange?” Tristan asks.

“I owe you a favor.”

“I can’t trust that.”

“A heavenborne’s word is sacred,” Anti informs. “If I were to betray that, it is likely I would lose a part of myself.”

Tristan looks to his mother for approval. She nods ever so slightly and as a result nods and accepts Anti’s favor. 

“What knowledge do you seek?” Tristan asks.

“I was given a riddle by the archangels. ‘Bring the child--’”

“I’m the child,” Lucine cuts in.

“‘--to those who spill blood.”

“I see why you came to us,” Selene says. “But, we don’t spill blood. That would be a waste.”

“If you’re looking for people that spilled blood, look for the ones that killed most of my family,” Tristan tells the specter. “Three of them were clad in ninja armor, one of them was killed. The other two survived.”

“Do you have a name?” Anti asks.

“Erza. She can find out information on them if doesn’t have any already,” Tristan says. Anti nods and heads for the door. But, he’s stopped by Tristan one last time. “I hope you honor our agreement, spirit.”

Anti says nothing to this and walks out. Once the two are outside, Anti concentrates on the place he met Erza before and teleports both he and Lucine to it.

Anti looks at the familiar sign [Erza’s bar sign] and enters. The sound of loud music could be heard from the outside along with clattering glass and unfocused chatter. Anti’s heart rate increases, as his only “weakness” is being surrounded by women that aren’t his wife. 

The inside of the bar is tinted red with nothing but women inside, patrons, employees, everyone. They all turn and stifle their speech as Anti and Lucine come into view. Every one of them reaches below their own belts as if ready to draw a weapon. However, before anything can happen, Erza steps out of the back to see why her patrons and employees quieted down. After looking around at their reactions, she follows their gazes to the elephants in the room. 

Anti begins to visibly sweat while Lucine can’t help smiling and almost laughing aloud at Anti’s reaction to the stares.

“Don’t tell you’re scared,” Lucine taunts. Anti tightens his grip on the chains around her wrists and sends a heatwave through it, singing her wrists lightly. “Ow. You ass.”

“How can we help you two?” Erza Bathory asks. Two guards of hers follow close behind as she approaches the guests to get a better look. Anti notices a necklace hanging close to her chest. It swings like a pendulum, nearly hypnotizing him. He snaps out of it and tries to state his business. 

“I am looking for the Ninja Mercenaries,” the heavenborne tells her. Erza scoffs then full-on laughs at Anti’s request. He furrows his brow, confused as to what he said that was funny. He eyes the patrons and employees again, as they’re still ready to attack should they need to.

“Would you like to give me your name first, handsome?” Erza asks. Anti’s heart skips a beat as the compliment rolls off her tongue. He says nothing, keeping his integrity. Erza realizes that he will not give an answer. “Well, if you’re not going to tell me your name, can you at least me where you’re from?”

“The vampires sent me,” Anti says.

“Ah, the Delacroixs. To what do I owe the pleasure?” Erza asks, turning away from the two and copping a squat on a nearby table, crossing her legs. 

“I just need the location to find the Ninja Mercenaries,” Anti says, sounding increasingly desperate. “An address. A picture. Something.”

“They don’t really have a hideout, hun,” Erza tells him. “They constantly move around as to not be caught.”

“Teleportation, then?” Anti asks.

“No. The leader has the money and means to get them where they move. All over the globe,” Erza informs him. “But, you might be in luck. The last place they were scene was the abandoned grocery store near Haven City High School. That’s your best shot.”

“Thank you for the information, Ms. Bathory,” Anti says, slightly bowing his head and trying his hardest to walk out in a calm manner. As Anti and Lucine exit, one of Erza’s guards looks at her, confused.

“You didn’t tell him your name. First or last. How did he know?” she questions. Erza smiles.

“He’s not from here.”

 

Anti teleports before the high school and looks around for the grocer. He’s unable to spot anything in view that would resemble it, so he picks a direction and he and Lucine start walking the empty streets. 

Lucine gets a chill down her spine and they walk. She tries to ignore it at first, but it happens three more times back-to-back. She feels the need to alert her captor.

“Something’s after us,” she tells him. Anti ignores her and just yanks the chain forward so she can keep up. “Don’t ignore me. This isn’t a trick. I haven’t even tried to trick you. Yet.”

“You’re not helping yourself build trust with me,” the wraith calls back to her. But, his mind is changed when he hears a wispy hissing sound echo around them. 

“Oh, you believe me now?” Lucine asks.

“Why were you more alert to this danger than I was?” Anti questions.

“I don’t know.”

The wispy hissing grows in volume as it sounds like something has them surrounded. Anti readies himself by removing Dimension Splitter from its sheath and getting into a battle stance with a hand still on the Chain of Sacrifice holding Lucine.

They are shrouded in black mist as the Archdemon of Secrets reveals herself to them. Lucine cocks her head to the side, realizing the hunch she made was correct: that it was a fellow demon. 

“James Lee. Release the child at once,” Sygril commands.

“Look, I wanna go home and everything, but lemme ask you, has that-- in the history of ever-- worked when demanded?” Lucine asks. Anti tightens his grip around her chain, then slams the end of it into the concrete, letting his plasmic holyfire spew as he does this. This causes the chain to fuse with the ground and keep Lucine in place. “You’re just leaving me here? You know I can probably escape from this, right?”

“You won’t,” Anti says confidently. Sygril opens her hands and has her weapons of choice, enormous that fit her hands, appear from the black mist she is controlling around them. They rush at each other simultaneously and clash metal to metal. Anti struggles to hold the archdemon back and sees Sygril withdraw a blade from the clash and attempt to stab Anti with an overhead. 

Anti teleports away and above her head, lifting his sword over his head to attempt to swing down on her. However, Sygirl is quick enough to bring a knife up and protect herself. As Anti stays suspended in the air with their blades clashing once more, Sygril takes the opportunity to reach into his mind.

“You’re not not from here,” she reads. “You’re from a completely separate reality.”

Anti teleports again, this time back on the ground and he tries to slice at the giant archdemon’s ankles. However, again, she’s able to deflect the heavenborne’s attack with her other knife. And as the struggle in the clash, she continues to read Anti’s mind.

“You lead a simple life, but everything was changed when an archangel killed you and your family,” she continues. “And now you’re this… thing.”

Anti backs away from the clash, grunting as he does. His hands heat up and begin to heat his blade. Lucine, while still chained to the ground, takes note of this.

“Aw… did that piss you off?” she taunts. Anti does what he does best and ignores his captive while he focuses on the battle in front of him. Dimension Splitter is completely heated up up now and as Anti and Sygril run at each other to clash swords again. This time instead of the metal clashing, the plasmic holyfired-up Dimension Splitter cleanly slices through the archdemon’s sin-crafted knives and continues into part of her the bottom of her ribcage. She shouts in pain and disappears back into the black mist she created. Anti stays alert, eyeing every inch around him, waiting for her inevitable reappearance.

“You could have just cut her in half,” Lucine points out. Anti actually answers the captive this time.

“No killing. I swore to the angels.”

The archdemon of secrets reveals herself again to the heavenborne, this time only her head is visible. Anti is still ready for an attack.

“The girl… the girl is… to be a foil to The Creator’s Children. You must return her,” Sygril reveals. Anti furrows his brow deeper. 

“You lie, demon!” Anti shouts. Sygril retreats at the sight of something behind the specter and disappears from Haven completely, taking the black mist with her. Anti turns in time to see Lucine’s eyes glowing completely yellow. They swiftly dim. “Is what the demon says true?”

“No, I mean. Can you really trust a demon?” she asks, trying to trip her captor up. “But, with me saying that and me being a demon, can you trust what I just said?”

“Answer me truthfully, girl.”

Anti’s eyes flash whitish-red with fire and Lucine tries to back away from, but the chains in the concrete hold her. 

“I am not allowed to say,” Lucine tells him. Anti goes to open his mouth, but Lucine cuts him off. “My father won’t allow me to admit the reason I’ve been created. So I’m not allowed to even say much on what Sygril just told you.”

Anti says nothing and begins to internalize and question the reason the archdemon under the devil himself would tell him something like this. He removes the chain from the concrete and continues to drag her along towards their destination. Anti spots the abandoned store and they easily walk through the front door.

It’s dark inside. They are just barely able to see from the moonlight from outside. The shelves are disheveled and the building is cold. The two of them hear rustling towards the back of the store. They walk through the plastic curtains that separate the actual store from the back and they travel through the pitch black into an even colder room. Lucine points at a sliver of light that’s coming from the freezer. Anti holds out a hand, signaling for her to be cautious. 

He peeks in the room and a voice calls out to them.

“How can we help you?” the voice questions. Anti pushes the door open completely now and examines the freezer. There are three of the so-called “Ninja Mercenaries” standing over a table of hi-tech-looking weapons. One of the ninjas, the one that spoke, has red hair, two long black markings under his eyes, a gray, armored shirt, along with a black and white utility belt and black cargo pants. He’s also sporting black fingerless gloves and a black and white sword on his back. The most discernible thing Anti sees is his Yin-Yang eyes that spin as the heavenborne enters, like the ninja is reading him. This is the leader of the group, Shackle.

Another ninja, the one to Shackle’s left is Hydrox. He has gray hair that matches his pants, blue eyes that match his undershirt and knives. He’s wearing a navy blue headband and half-mask that match the shirt over his undershirt. Then there’s a blue hoodie that matches the wristbands he’s wearing.

The third guy, Tai Jin, looks nothing like the other two as he is shirtless. He also has black hair that matches the baggy pants he’s sporting and an eye-scar. His skin is also notably darker than the other two, but they are all Japanese. 

“Are you lot the Ninja Mercenaries?” Anti asks, keeping Lucine in the dark, but a tight grip on the chain.

“In the immortal flesh,” Shackle tells him.

“I bring the girl,” Anti states bluntly. Hydrox and Tai Jin exchange confused looks. Hydrox looks back at the spirit.

“We didn’t order any girls,” he says.

“I’m guessing you’re not the answer to the riddle, then?” Anti asks.

“Riddle?” Tai echoes.

“If we have no reason to be here, then we will take our leave,” Anti says, turning to walk out. Shackle grabs the heavenborne’s shoulder, stopping him. 

“So, you think you’re gonna walk in here, talking about delivering a girl, find out it’s not us, and walk out?” the leader asks. Anti looks down at Shackle’s hand.

“Let go.”
“You could be some kind of perv into human trafficking,” Shackle adds. “We may not be the greatest people, but that’s something that doesn’t fly in my book.”

Anti turns and kicks Shackle and the force from the kick sends him flying into the back wall of the freezer. Hydrox gets into a fighting stance with his blades and Tai Jin holds out his palms towards the ground as pure plasma forms in orb-shapes at the base. 

“Help! Help me! He’s crazy. He took me from my home,” she shouts at the ninjas. Shackle gets up from the ground and stares through the darkness at Lucine.

“Don’t worry, little girl. We’ll--”

He stops speaking as he sees her for what she is. His eyes widen.

“She’s-- she’s a demon?” Shackle asks. Hydrox looks at his leader.

“Then what does that make him?” he asks. Shackle waves his hand and his two mercenaries lower their guard. 

“You. Mask. What are you? If you’re trying to deliver this demon girl. Who would you be delivering her to? And why would you be doing this?” Shackle questions, hoping to get at least one answer to any of the questions he has.

“If you are not who she needs to be brought to, then it is none of your concern,” Anti says. 

“But, you still don’t have an answer,” Tai Jin points out. “You said something about a riddle and you thought we were the answer, but we’re not, leaving you lost.”

“Who sent you?” Hydrox asks.

“Man, you guys have a lot of questions,” Lucine says. “You’ve never seen a demon before?”

“Not in a while,” Shackle says. Anti quietly contemplates whether he should tell them who sent him.

“Give us an answer to any of the questions we asked, and we’ll try and help you find who you need to find,” Shackle bargains. Anti takes this opportunity to do so. 

“A woman by the name of ‘Erza Bathory’ gave me the location. The vampires are the ones that sent me,” Anti answers truthfully. “Now, aid me in solving the riddle: ‘Bring the child to those who spill blood.’”

“And you thought-- they thought we’d be the answer to that?” Tai Jin asks.

“The vampires said you’ve spilled blood of their kind in an underground battle,” Anti tells them. “They thought you might the answer.”

“And you said Erza gave you our location?” Shackle asks. Anti nods. “Well, then it’s time to pack it up.”

The mercenaries all get to work loading the hi-tech weapons in cases as Anti stands still with Lucine, waiting for an answer or any sort of help for the riddle. 

“Mercenary, your end of the bargain.”

“Oh. Yeah. About that. We lied. Not helping you,” Shackle tells him. Anti’s eyes immediately flash whitish-red with rage and he’s ready to battle. He tightens his grip around Lucine’s chain, but Shackle stares at him and his yin-yang eyes spin, hypnotizing the heavenborne into standing completely still. Lucine tries to the opportunity to break free from her captor, but the tightened grip around her chain stays the same, even in Anti’s hypnotized state. 

As the Ninja Mercenaries finish packing up their products, they walk out past a ravenous Lucine who is unable to break from the chains.

Minutes later as Anti comes to, the trace of the ninjas is completely gone. He looks around him and sees a pouting Lucine, sitting on the freezing ground with her arms crossed. 

 

Anti walks into Haven City Park and plops down on a bench, rubbing his tired face. Lucine stands next to him, watching park-goers of the night completely ignore the two.

“Can you figure this riddle out any faster so we can be done this?” Lucine asks. Anti answers, keeping his head down.

“You are not helping,” he says. A couple walks by and briefly glances at the two strange-looking beings. Anti notices this. “Perhaps we need to recuperate in a more secluded area of the park.”

He stands and drags Lucine along into a heavily-bushed area. This is the same area that the heroes of Haven have done secluded meetups.

Anti now plops down on the grass as Lucine stays standing. She has her arms crossed and looks around at the trees. She shivers.

“I’m cold. We need to make a fire,” she demands.

“Sit down, girl,” Anti commands. Lucine does so, as she realizes this is the first time he has not referred to her as “demon”. Anti stands and buries the chain in the dirt so Lucine cannot run. He then walks over to a tree, reaches up, and tears a few branches from it. He walks back over to Lucine who is trying to pry the chain from the ground and escape. Anti ignores her and piles the branches on the ground. He holds his hand out to the pile and sets it ablaze. Then, he walks over, opposite Lucine, and calmly takes a seat by the warm, whitish-red fire.

“Shouldn’t that be burning the entire park to the ground?” the demon girl asks, ceasing her chain-yanking. 

“I can regulate the temperature at which the fire burns,” Anti shares. “I’ve never needed to have it burn at its full potential.”

“What could it do at full potential?”

“Destroy this world and any ones nearby,” Anti spills. “The fire is capable of reaching the temperature of a blue star.”
“I don’t think any of the demons can reach that level,” Lucine tells him. “Why would an angel be granted that ability?”

“Ask them. I am not one of them,” Anti says.

“You’re affiliated,” Lucine counters. “You were created by them.”

“I do not have wings, child,” Anti says.

“That doesn’t mean you’re not one of them. I mean, the symbol on your chest says a lot,” Lucine says, referring to the golden, broken-winged symbol on the heavenborne’s chest. 

“They are broken.”

“Are you?”

Anti pauses. Then inhales and exhales slowly. 

“Not anymore. The angels made me whole again,” the wraith answers. “I was and am forever grateful to be given a chance to exact revenge on my family’s killer.”

“And where has accomplishing that revenge left you?” Lucine asks. Anti look up at the blackened night sky.

“Seeking more retribution.”

He stops and looks at her through the crackling flames. She stares back, softly but appearing as if she’s staring intensely because of her odd eyes.

“What have you done to deserve what’s coming to you, child?” the spirit asks. Lucine scoffs.

“Be the daughter of the Devil. No more,” she says. She then rests her head on her knees in a sitting fetal position, staring and the dancing fire. Anti continues to stare at her, nothing more than completing his mission running through his head. 

“Erza.”

“What?” Lucine asks, refocusing.

“Erza might be the answer to the riddle,” Anti says.

“What makes you think that? She turned us away to the mercenaries,” Lucine points out. Anti stands and absorbs the fire in his palms. Lucine stands as well.

“She seems to know the city. The guards, employees, and patrons all had weapons. It’s possible they all work for her. If that’s the case, then she is not an innocent woman. She has killed and has had people killed,” Anti surmises.

“Then why would she turn us away?”

“She does not strike me as the type to not toy with others,” Anti says. “I have dealt with her in the past.”

 

Erza sits in her VIP lounge within the common area of her bar as Anti and Lucine storm in. 

“You dare toy with me?!” Anti demands to know. The lady patrons reach for their varying weapons, but Erza holds a hand out for them to cease. 

“What’s with the tone?” the owner asks.

“You knew you were the one that the child needed to be brought to. This is why you had no reaction to her entering the bar with me. You had no reaction to me, either,” Anti accuses. 

“Mmm. Strong accusations,” Erza says. She takes a sip from her drink and smiles at him, knowing she’s protected. “What makes you think I’d have any use for her?”

“You have what I need to return to the angels, bar owner,” Anti says. “Hand it over and I will be on my way.”

Erza stands now-- her bar guardians still hover their hands over their weapons-- and walks up to Anti, close to his face. He doesn’t back down, but he’s nervous. He always when entering her bar, but now she was close to his face.

“What’s the riddle, hun?” she says, still smiling in his face. Anti’s face changes from one of anger to realization then embarrassment.

“You… you don’t know it.”

“Can’t say that I do.”

“Forgive me,” Anti says, backing away from the face-to-face confrontation and heading for the door.

“Hun, there’s a lot more people that you might be looking for in this city,” Erza tells him. He stops, Lucine stopping in response as well. “Plenty of crime bosses and dirty people like the mercenaries around. But, there’s too many to choose from the common ones. You might be looking for some folk, a little more… different.”

Anti says nothing. Lucine speaks up.

“Different how?”

“There’s a… religious leader that goes by the name of ‘Phenom’ in Haven. He has a little sidekick that he raised. Carries around a sword,” Erza informs him. “Without a doubt, those two have done some shady things. If not in this life, then one of the others.”

She hands him a small scrap of paper with an address on it. Along with ten digits. Her number. Anti nods, giving his of saying “thank you” silently, and walks out with Lucine trailing behind. As they step outside and before Anti can teleport, Lucine rattles the chain, throwing her arms up and then down in a huff.

“I’m hungry,” the brat says.

“I know you do not need to eat, brat,” Anti says.

“But, I might as well before you give me to my killer,” she says.

“You assume the person will kill you?” Anti asks her.

“I mean, it doesn’t hurt to think the worst in certain situations,” Lucine says, showing her thinking. “Most people call it pessimism, but I call it prepared.”

Anti thinks about her request, then grabs her chain and teleports away with her.

 

They appear in front of a 24-hour diner. Lucine looks up at the glowing, but busted neon sign.

“Sal’s?”

“I… used to come here with my family after late nights of going to the movies,” Anti says. She smiles at the sign.

“Then we have to go inside!” she says, ecstatic. Anti watches her as she leads the way in, pulling him with the chain now. 

They step inside. A man is behind the counter of this small, hole-in-the-wall diner. His mouth moves and forms a smile, but his eyes say different. 

“Are you ‘Sal’?” Anti asks. The man named “Sal” nods.

“Have a seat wherever you like,” Sal says. Anti and Lucine walk sit and the second closest table to the exit, Anti hiding the chain under the table. Sal puts out a flipbook and a pen ready to take their order. 

“I’ll have a bacon cheeseburger with fries and a lemon-lime soda,” Lucine says while looking at the menu.

“How do you want it cooked?” Sal asks.

“Bloody.”

Sal jots her order down and looks to Anti. “And you, bud?”

“Eggs: scrambled. Bacon: crispy. Toast: buttered,” Anti tells him. Sal nods. “And can you brew a cup of coffee for me as well? Black.”

“Indubitably,” Sal says. “You know, you remind me of one of my regulars. He would bring his family every Sunday after church. Order the exact same order.”

“Must’ve been a pretty average guy. Lots of people order this kind of meal, don’t they?” Anti asks.

“Hm. I guess,” Sal says. “Also, if ya don’t mind me askin’. What’s with the costumes?”
Anti gives him a blank stare. Lucine smirks.

“You assume these are costumes?” she asks.

“I mean, they hafta be right?”

“You don’t think angels and demons exist?”

“I do, just not flyin’ around startin’ wars n’ shit,” Sal says.

“Then what do you think those are? The things flying around?”

“I don’t know. But, they’re not angels or demons,” he says, raising his hands. “But, that’s just me. I’ll have your food out in a sec.”

Sal walks behind the counter and gets to work. Lucine begins playing with the salt and pepper shakers with Anti staring at her intensely. She doesn’t realize at first, but locks eyes with him and stops.

“What?” she asks.

“Why are we really here?” Anti questions. “It can’t be because you wanted food before you were handed off. You would have chosen somewhere better than this.”

“Well, you recommended it, didn’t you? I didn’t teleport us here,” Lucine tells him. “I feel like you wanted to come here.”

“It’s been a while,” Anti sighs, going into thought about his family. But, Lucine’s actions pull him out of it as she plays with a plastic ketchup bottle. “What are you doing?”

“What’s it look like? Giving the table a little pizzazz,” Lucine responds, squirting the ketchup out of the bottle onto the table. Sal is too busy cooking to notice. Lucine moves her arms around in an odd pattern. A few minutes go by as Anti stares at what she’s creating. She finishes with the bottle as Sal comes around with their food.

“Whoa,” Sal says, seeing the ketchup drawing of Anti with horns on the table. “I almost don’t wanna mess it up.”

Lucine raises an eyebrow.

“You’re… not upset?”

“No, of course not,” Sal says. “Art is art.”

Anti and Lucine get up and move to the table closest to the door. Sal places their plates and drinks on the table, gives a smile, and walks back behind the counter.

“Where’d you learn to do that?” Anti asks. 

“Draw? Well, with my father keeping me in Hell, I got easily bored--”

“Not that,” Anti says, cutting her off. “Control emotions.”

Lucine’s jaw drops.

“You… noticed that?”

“Hard not to. No self-respecting business owner would let a child cause damage to their property without evoking some sort of emotion,” Anti observes.

“Guess I just knew how,” Lucine says, taking a bite of her burger, red juices flowing from it. 

“And back with the archdemon, you forced her to retreat,” Anti further observes. “Have you been developing these abilities as we continue to attempt to solve the riddle? Or have you been holding back?”

“You think I’d be holding back if I had any sort of power that could stop you from taking me to the answer?” Lucine asks.

“I don’t know what your true intentions are,” Anti says.

“To go home.”
“You want to return home? After you just said your father kept you there?” Anti questions. 

“I’d rather be home than carted off to some stranger,” Lucine says.

“Am I not a stranger?” Anti questions. Lucine chuckles.

“You don’t think we’ve gotten to know each other over the past day?” Lucine asks, scoffing with a smile.

“No. And I do not plan to.”

Lucine sits back and takes a sip of her lemon-lime soda. Anti lowers his mask and Lucine widens her eyes almost choking on her drink. Anti furrows his brow at her.

“What?”

“You don’t have any sort of disfigurement under there or anything?” the demon child asks.

“No.”

“Then why wear it?”

“It’s… it… I do not know. It came with my outfit when I was reborn,” Anti says, realizing it as he says it aloud.

“And you haven’t questioned why? Did they just think it was cool?” Lucine says.

“... It’s possible,” Anti says. “Like the cape-wearing heroes. It serves no purpose,” Anti states. 

“Neither does your hood if you think about it.”

“Are you deconstructing my attire?”

“What else is there to talk about? Situation’s pretty fucked,” Lucine says, chomping down on her burger.

“For you.”

“Do you have, like, no emotion besides anger?”

“Yes.”
Lucine laughs. Her open laughter causes the slightest curve in the corner of Anti’s mouth. Lucine, luckily for him, doesn’t catch it. He would not hear the end of it if she did. 

The two finish their meal. Anti pays Sal in gold coins given to him by the angels (with an extra gold coin tip) and he and Lucine walk out of the diner leaving Sal speechless. 

 

Anti teleports in before the address that Erza handed him. He and Lucine look the building up and down, realizing that Erza has sent them to a church.

“Well, she said they were religious,” Lucine comments. Anti leads them inside. There are only two souls inside other than the two that just entered. One of them is Isabella, the protigé to the religious leader of this specific church. She has black hair done in a ponytail with a blue hair band, rectangular glasses, blue earrings, a long navy blue trench coat over a stylized violet shirt, dark blue pants that match the ropes around her waist, and blue shingles under the rope. She also happens to be carrying a sword. 

Next to her, directly speaking to her, is her “father”, Phenom. He is bald on his head with light facial hair, an aged face including crow’s feet, and brown eyes. As for attire, he is clothed in nothing but a white robe and brown monk beads. He locks eyes with Anti, then immediately shifts to the one he’s bringing in. The religious leader cannot help himself as a wide smile spreads across his face.

“Welcome! Welcome! Brother and daughter,” Phenom greets, his arms spread towards them as if ready to hug. Anti stops walking towards them and yanks Lucine forward with the chain. She gives Anti a look before eyeing Phenom. 

“Prove to me you are the answer to the riddle,” Anti says. Phenom snaps Isabella brings out a weird, cactus-looking plant from behind the speaking podium. Isabella approaches Anti and hands the plant to him and Phenom speaks.

“Unfortunately, we do spill blood but, I assure you, brother, it’s all for the greater good.”

Anti hears a portal open up outside, one he presumes is back to the Heaven Dimension and hands Isabella Lucine’s chain before turning and walking out without saying another word. Lucine watches him leave and her face says everything she’s feeling.

Anti opens the church doors and sees the portal straight to Heaven, but as Zadkiel and Gabriel see him on the other side, they shake their heads.

“Wrong plant, dude,” Gabriel says. “That’s a cactus.”

“You never told me what item to look for. Since he knew the riddle, I assumed--”

“All is forgiven, Antithesis,” Zadkiel says. “But, we need the proper item from him.”

“Beat it out of him, if you have to, even though we gave him the girl,” Gabriel says. “He tried to do us dirty.”

Anti crushes the cactus in his hand and turns with his right eye flashing white-red with flames as the portal closes behind him. He kicks down the church doors as Phenom goes to bring down a sacrificial knife on Lucine’s chest. Anti teleports behind the religious leader and cracks him in the rib with a single blow, knocking him off the altar. Isabella rushes at him as her wings sprout from his back. Anti withdraws his sword and her teeth bite down on the Angelium metal. She carries both her herself and Anti through the front doors and out onto the slanted roof. 

Lucine pulls on the chains struggling to break free but, she lacks the super strength to break out of the Angelium. Most demons lack the strength. Phenom, to her dismay, rises to his feet and attempts to stab her again with his sacrificial knife. She grits her teeth as Phenom raises the knife once again, but Anti and Isabella come crashing through the roof, startling the leader and causing him to drop his knife. 

Isabella rushes to attack a rising Anti with her sword, but the heavenborne recalls his Chain of Sacrifice from Lucine’s wrists and with them wrapping around his forearms, he absorbs the sword blow. 

Lucine rubs her wrists, sliding off the sacrificial table. Phenom looks up at the demon child while cowering in fear and attempting to crawl away. Lucine bends down, picks up Phenom’s sacrificial knife and raises it over her own head, ready to bring it down on Phenom. 

Anti, in the background of this battle, has Isabella in a choke hold and watches Lucine make her decision. 

“Where’s the plant?” Lucine questions. Phenom points behind her as the plant sits behind the sacrificial table. Lucine lowers the knife and walks over to it. She picks it up, tosses it to Anti, who has finished choking out Isabella and drops her. He catches the plant and as he does, Lucine’s siblings appear from a red and black portal: Lilith, Athan, Damian. She approaches them, looks back at Anti, who stares back at her, nods, and she walks off with her siblings, disappearing into the ninth circle of Hell.

Anti leaves Isabella and Phenom in their fetal positions and exits the church to find the portal to Heaven reopened once again. Zadkiel and Gabriel are waiting for him on the other side. As the heavenborne takes a step into the portal, he gives one last look to the church. Finally, he steps through.