Chapter 236: The Brother I Never Knew

 

Narrator: In Hell, an important meeting is taking place.

*The Dark Goddess, Dakame, and the Council of Demons are in a fancy room sitting at a rectangular-shaped table with the Dark Goddess sitting in a throne-like seat at one of the table’s ends. There are nine members of the Council of Demons. There is food, drinks, and lit candles on the table*

Dakame: I thank you all for coming. I’m sure you guessed this meeting is to discuss our invasion of the mortal world. But first, I have something I would like to say. Crimson failed to consume Zeth. Zeth is now whole again and his divinity is restored.

Narrator: Council of Demons member – Korobu.

Korobu: I was foolish to think Crimson would be capable of doing it on his own.

Narrator: Council of Demons member – Gentorious.

Gen: Even worse is that Princess Sasha seems intent to stay with him, even after unlocking her powers. We can’t afford to have our own kind be our enemies.

Narrator: Council of Demons member – Zepto.

Zepto: Then maybe we should just kill her.

*This is Zepto’s debut appearance in the story. He has gray-colored skin. He has short black hair with red tips at the ends of them. He wears a sleeveless red uniform. In addition to his two normal eyes, he has a closed eye on his forehead and a closed eye on the side of each shoulder*

Dakame: Don’t change the focus. We will deal with my daughter in an appropriate fashion eventually but I am concerned about Zeth. I want him dead now. I can’t shake the feeling that he might be the greatest threat to our success.

Korobu: Leave it to me. I will take him out.

Narrator: Council of Demons member – Sherra.

Sherra: With all due respect, my goddess, Sasha is just as big of a problem. Your decision to have a child with a mortal backfired. You wanted a loyal child with the benefits of a divine being that has mortal traits and instead got a child that sympathizes with our enemies. I saw her during the Chaos Tournament. She is developing her dark abilities nicely and she is only going to get stronger.

Narrator: Council of Demons member – Vollmond.

Vollmond: Plus, I have heard from Princess Hamura that Zeth and Sasha are pretty much in love. What if they have a child? A child of both light and dark? I can’t even begin to comprehend it!

*This is Vollmond’s debut. He looks like a tall werewolf capable of walking on two legs. His fur is black and his eyes glow yellow*

Gen: Speaking of Hamura, she isn’t here that much. Why does she spend so much time in the mortal world without doing much in it?

*Dakame bangs her fist on the table*

Dakame: Quiet! I understand your concerns about my daughter but eliminating Zeth and beginning our invasion takes priority!

*Three others of the Council that are making their debut are sitting next to each other. One is a humanoid demon that looks like his head and arms have been cut off. He wears a black vest with a red sleeveless shirt underneath it*

Narrator: Council of Demons member – Kopmon.

*The next council member is a woman that looks human-like but she is a succubus. She has medium-length light brown hair. She has pointy ears and a short black tail with a sharp point on the end of it, She has an evil smile most of the time*

Narrator: Council of Demons member – Misha.

*The last one looks just like an ordinary teenage human boy with short blonde hair. He carries a pen and he has an innocent smile*

Narrator: Council of Demons member – Sane.

Kopmon: I agree. If Princess Sasha is in love with Zeth, killing him will break her spirits anyway.

Misha: And I expect we are about to start our invasion. We won’t have to wait long.

Sane: That would be fun.

Dakame: I want to send two of you council members ahead of our invasion to make sure our landing point is clear. One that is going is Korobu.

Gen: I will be the other. I have some business I want to take care of too.

Dakame: Fine. The rest of us will be lined up in invasion formation. Armageddon will open the portal.

*Everyone but Korobu gasps*

Zepto: Armageddon? You really are serious about this invasion.

Sherra: Surely you can’t be serious? Armageddon would leave the mortal world as a total wasteland!

Misha: Not even you can control Armageddon once it enters the mortal world. You would have to kill it.

Dakame: I’m aware of that. If I have to kill it after our invasion is complete then so be it. We would just have to create a new one. I will hold nothing back for this invasion! Got it?

Everyone: Understood!

*Zepto looks at Korobu*

Zepto: So Korobu, are you in good shape to take out Zeth?

Korobu: Yes.

Zepto: Why not just use your seal thing on him? You rarely use it.

Korobu: Because Seal of 1000 Skulls has serious flaws. First off, the strength of the skull aspect of my Abyss Magic is currently linked to the number of skulls I have. 1000 skulls are a lot. I used it twice on Poleon and now my strength has severely decreased. I have to get new ones or my skull powers from the abyss will be worthless. Second, the seal is only temporary and there is no way to predict when they will be freed. Third, once someone has been sealed once, they can never be sealed by it again. If there is even the slightest possibility of winning a fight another way, I won’t use it.

Zepto: Okay, okay. I get it.

*Zepto looks over to the last member that has not spoken yet*

Zepto: Hey, new guy. You have been pretty quiet. Don’t you have something to say? 

*The new member’s appearance starts to come into view. He has rough dark skin, pointy ears, horns on his forehead, glowing green eyes, and a longish tail. The rest of his aspects look like Kogen*

Narrator: New Council of Demons member – Demon Reincarnation of Kogen.

Kogen: Sorry, I was just taking it all in. I am fully committed to this invasion.

 

***

 

Narrator: Back with the Heroes in Heaven.

*The heroes and Harmona are now in the outdoors of Heaven again*

Emily: I have somewhere I need to go. I’m going to the ruins of New Gringe Town and find out why demons destroyed it. I will take vengeance on the demons for Udana as I promised her.

Joe: Let us go with you.

*Emily smiles (Author's Note: Just a reminder, Emily has three permanent claw scars on the right side of her face from her last battle in the tournament)*

Emily: Thanks.

Harmona: Zeth, you are not going.

Zeth: Say what!? Why!?

Harmona: The Dark Goddess has to be aware that you are whole again. At this point, she will likely put a high priority on killing you. Going to Earth now will put you at high risk of assassination. Your best bet is to stay here and go through divine training.

Emily: It’s okay, Zeth. You just got home. You shouldn’t be in a hurry to leave.

Zeth: Still. What if they target you guys?

Sasha: Don’t worry, Zeth. We will be fine.

Emily: Well, we are off.

*The five heroes go through a light portal and return to Earth*

*Zeth looks depressed and walks to the edge of a walkway and sits, looking down off the edge to the bright clouds below. Harmona does the same thing*

Zeth: Why? I get the feeling that you are just being that overprotective mother.

Harmona: No, I’m just being cautious during the calm before the storm. I don’t want to lose you like I lost your older brother.

Zeth: Wait, my older brother? I had a brother?

Harmona: Yes.

*Harmona looks sad*

Harmona: He died when I was still pregnant with you. While I may be nearing 300,000 years old, your brother, Zenfaro, was over 240,000 years old.

Zeth: That old? He must have been super powerful.

Harmona: He was. And of my three children, he was the only one to have a divine being as a father. Goddesses usually only decide to have one child so that there is no conflict on who the heir is. I went with that for a long time which is why there is such a massive age difference between him and Zaydra and you. Because of his power, I sent him to the country of Vandox to spy on the vampires.

Zeth: Zaydra told me about the vampires that took over that country during the Great Chaos and you made a deal with them.

Harmona: That is correct. However, I never trusted them to hold up their end of the deal and after 95 years I got fed up with it. I sent Zenfaro to spy on them and then come back to give me intel. He was there for a year before I could no longer feel his life force anymore. I don’t know how he died.

Zeth: But even in your recovering state, you still have the ability to watch over your children. How did you not know?

Harmona: That is true but my pregnancy kept me from even being able to do that much. Remember, a goddess’s pregnancy is 10 years. I could still feel his life force so as long as I felt it, I had to trust that he was alright. But then it was gone.

Zeth: He was that powerful and still got taken out?

Harmona: I have become increasingly worried about the vampires since then. Oddly, there was no retaliation from the vampires from me breaking the agreement. That was 23 years ago and they still haven’t attacked. I seriously doubt they would forgive me that easily. More importantly, I never grieved Zenfaro’s death.

Zeth: Why not?

Harmona: Because I was pregnant, I had to keep the stress and negativity down for your sake. I planned to grieve after your birth but I was just too happy about your birth. You brought a smile to me every day. The most I have done is let loose a few tears.

*Harmona now begins to cry*

Harmona: But now I’m grieving! I’m finally crying for my lost son!

*Harmona looks up*

Harmona: I’m sorry, Zenfaro!! I should have never sent you to Vandox!

*Zeth looks at her as she cries*

Zeth: (Thinking) My time up here as shown me that being the leader of Heaven is a lot harder than I thought.

 

***

 

Narrator: Hours went by as Harmona grieved Zenfaro’s death and many angels came to see if she was alright.

*Harmona finally calms down*

Harmona: I’m alright now. But you can see why I’m so concerned.

Zeth: It’s alright, mom. I understand. But, I have made up my mind. I’m going. I promise I won’t do anything reckless.

Harmona: I guess I will have to trust you. Be safe. Please.

Zeth: I will.

Harmona: We are also getting ready to stop the Dark Goddess’s imminent invasion. We have to make sure our trump card is ready. We will be there soon.

Zeth: Got it. First, I’m going to the capital city to tell the governor that we found RAG and he doesn’t need to search anymore.

*Light surrounds Zeth and he goes through a portal*

 

***

 

Narrator: A little bit later in Reign City.

*Zeth is in Reign City and it’s night. He had met with the governor and is now leaving*

*After leaving, Zeth is walking down the sidewalks of the city. There is a silhouette of someone up high aiming a sniper rifle. In first-person view of the sniper, the person is looking through the scope and it is clear that the person is aiming at Zeth, specifically at the back of his head*

Narrator: A glimpse of the Council of Demons was seen! Were all of the Council members at the meeting? Does Kogen have any knowledge of his past self or is his reincarnation a completely new mind? Zeth learned of his brother! How did the vampires kill him? And now, who is taking aim at Zeth?

Chapter 236 END

To be Continued in Chapter 237: Reign City Shootout