The Divine Legend

The sudden appearance of the Rhea had taken Molly by surprise. She hadn't expected her to be here so soon... but then, there was little doubt she was among the most keen to learn the truth from Demmy.

"I'm well aware I'm not quite in fighting shape." Demmy lowly stated. " Perhaps in my prime, I could have effortlessly handled this invasion by myself... but I'm just a relic of my former self, a demon who's content living this lowly stagnant life as a human. In fact, I would have loved to just keep living as a maid in the cafe, or as an ordinary worker here, but that's just not how it works..."

"Demmy." Molly brought the demon's attention to her. She took a deep breath, then asked, " you said earlier that this city was under your jurisdiction. What exactly was all that?"

Demmy sighed. "Just a lie to try and get them to leave this place. I thought if they knew this city was under my protective wing, they would leave... but they didn't fall for the ruse. In truth, I have no desire to rule. That's long in the past, buried and shattered with everything else. All I have to go off of is my life debt to you, which I won't consider repaid until I get you back home safe and sound." Then she glared at Mussurana. " And before you ask, yes, I am getting to the point of fully explaining myself. I just need to make sure everyone who would be interested is here."

It was impossible for Demmy to not crack a smile at Wisma's injection. "Yes, ma'am. This is your bar, your premises, and your rules. I have no power here. I see you had your fun of the action as well."

Molly was about to ask if Wisma was alright, when her eyes noticed that quite the crowd had started to gather around. The black haired woman with the dragon dress was standing in the corner, and beside her was a strange cloaked figure with a pterosaur head. The woman with the large sleeves and the older man had also come down to see, and out of the corner of her eye Molly noticed that Xero was also present, and a strange woman with a scythe that seemed to be glaring at Mussu with an annoyed grimace. To her greatest surprise, Sulis had also come in through the front door, and Molly's heart leaped into her throat. She was safe as well! But... why was she here?

"And perhaps where you come from, Mussurana, but that's not how things really are." Demmy plainly stated. The smile had faded, and there was no hint of teasing or amusement in her voice. " As most everyone here is probably aware, this world is a dumping ground from many realms and worlds. Where I come from, there is no Rhea, no Fallajax, no Lloxt... Just a deceased Supreme Being, and an Underworld thrown into turmoil by what happened in Heaven."

She cleared her throat, then she looked at the crowd. Her one eye darted from Mussurana to Wisma to Molly as she made sure she had their full attention. "You know me as Demmy, and that is the name I prefer to go by. However, my birth name is Demogorgon, and as you already know, I am no human, but a demon, a demon born from a place known as the Abyss. It's a dark world, filled with a corruptive substance called Nether. It's nowhere as nice a place as Lemuria, at least aesthetically, and it's far too hostile for a human to live there. The creatures that live down there are alien and bizzare by your standards. What you see is a form I adopted to better communicate with Aetheral beings like you humans. My true form... Well, it won't fit in here, let's just say."

Demmy's one eye dimmed, and it remained transfixed on Mussurana. Sure enough, there were those in the crowd who seemed to be going along with her, nodding their heads and murmuring agreements with the Rhea's words.

"Because, what use do I have to lie in regards to this?" She plainly stated. "The only reason I lied in regards to who I was originally was for Molly's sake. If I had told her, or any of you right from the start that I was a demon from the Abyss, and a former Lord of Sheol, or what you might call Hell, at that, what would your reactions have been? Would you have believed me? That I, a cafe worker here, was the Tyrant of the Abyss?"

Molly had to shake her head immediately. "No. I wouldn't. I would think you were out of your mind... and if you did prove that... I probably would have died of fright. I barely held it together just arriving here. But... what is this about Sheol and ruling..."

" I will get to that. But Mussurana, I can prove everything I say is the truth, and nothing but the truth, once I finish. But, I lied for Molly's sake, and to ensure a safe and stale life, after my own ambitions have been turned to dust a long time ago."

"And what ambitions were those?" the dragon dressed girl asked. "Be despot for life in Hell? Make everyone suffer?"

"No." Demmy hissed at her. "My highest ambitions were only revenge... Because, my parents, and my siblings, were murdered by a fallen angel."

She held out her hand, and the dark began to take shape in her palm. It formed into a woman, one with short pink hair, but covered in spiky armor and jagged clawed gauntlets on her hands. Six wings, two of them pure white and feathery, and the other four black and like a bat's, graced her back, and a sadistic, maniacal cackle spread from her mouth. The figure twirled, with a blazing disc of white light forming in her hands before she hurled it in Mussurana's direction. The disc tore through the air, before it dissipated into thin air.

"There was a civil war in Heaven after they murdered their own Creator. Several of them were banished for breaking their own laws, and were cast down into the Abyss. The air down there was too toxic for them, too polluted to maintain their aetheral forms for long, so they challenged the progenitor of the Abyss, the ancient dragon Zuldes, to rob him of some of his land. My parents, both loyal followers of Zuldes, tried to stop them.. but they were murdered by this angel... Minerva." Demmy's teeth gnashed together, and her free hand clenched tight. "Tell me this, Mussurana. Is your beloved god and her followers a sadistic warmonger who takes pleasure in murdering innocents who just want to protect their home? Is she someone who would cut a mother's children in half before her eyes, before then gouging them out and murdering her as well, all while claiming it's to create the perfect world for their beloved "Lucifer-sama" or whoever they respect? Is she, or her followers someone who would run a child's father through the heart with a spear, and destroy that child's eye when their father was just trying to protect them? Because if so... I want no part of that. They came asking for peace, but wanted only to wipe us out, so they could make their own home over our graves, and with the god's blessing as well."

Molly was at a loss for words. She had no way of knowing, factually, if Demmy was telling the truth, but her heart told her every word from her mouth was indeed just that, and it bled for her. The red tainted tears that had started to flow from Demmy's one good eye... It hurt her just to see, and she felt sick to her stomach. How... How could any divine being be so cruel, so destructive in its ways? What kind of angel would take that kind of sick pleasure in mass murder?

"Mussurana, please..." Molly began, but Demmy silenced her with a side glance, before looking back at her.

"As I already told you, that proclamation was only to try and deter the demons away from here. All I want now is to ensure Molly's safety. That is what I want, Mussurana. Not to lord over anyone, not anyone's pity or forgiveness, but just to ensure her safety, and I will keep doing that until she is back home. What I have done is help keep this city safe for her sake, and those she calls her friends. I have done everything to keep her, and those closest to her safe. I don't need anyone's favor to do that. If you don't believe me, then fine. But, even in my weakened state, if I really did want something from this bar, from this city, from this continent... I could very realistically get it without needing to do any of this. It would be far faster, and far easier for me to just brute force whatever I would want, than to try and lie and deceive and gain favor."

"Both of you, please stop it, just stop!" Molly had had enough, and she stepped in between the two. " The last thing we need is more fighting and arguing. It was already enough between you and Heather, and now this!" She then turned to Mussurana. "Demmy lying about who she is does sting. It hurts me that she would pretend to be someone she really isn't, but I know her well enough that I can tell when she's telling the truth and when she is lying. She's speaking the truth. I don't know what kind of world the Abyss is, and maybe it is just a den of liars and deception, but if all of this really is just for my sake... If it all is... I sort of understand. I don't like being lied to, I hate it, but... I can understand, and I do believe her, even with that."

"Except why?!" the dragon dressed woman injected. "Like the Lebran said, all she's done is lie up until now. Why trust a chronic lying bitch?"

Now Demmy shifted her attention over to her, and the woman seemed to stiffen in response. That brought a small smirk to Demmy's face. "Because, there is someone here who knows that what I've said with my history is indeed fact. Isn't that right, you decrepit old bat?"

The response was immediate, and explosive. "Who the hell do you think you're calling decrepit, Demogorgon?!" The pterosaur faced being snapped. He slunk over toward Demmy, and Molly realized he was as tall as she was. " I am far from decrepit, and I know full well you know that!"

Now Demmy let her smile spread into a full on grin. " Karzahni, it's been a very, very long time. I wasn't expecting to see you here, but you made my job so much easier."

Karzahni snorted. "I was going to stay silent and let the lizard woman rake you over the coals, but you know me too well. Fuck you, Demogorgon..." With that, he turned over to Mussurana. "What this woman has said in regards to her backstory is fact. I am Karzahni, the eldest son of Zuldes, and the chief adviser to every ruler of Sheol up until now. Regrettably, and as much as I'd love to say otherwise, I can vouch for her."

"Wait... She... She really was a ruler of Sheol? SHE?!" the dragon dressed woman glared at Demmy, who looked back with a shrug, and the woman's face suddenly turned pale. "Oh... shit."

Molly breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Her heart had been stuck in her throat, afraid of physical violence, but... it seemed the worst had passed. "Thank goodness..."

Demmy, on the other hand, simply smiled. " I hold no intention of ever going to Matta under normal circumstances. However, if by some strange chance the angel Minerva is in hiding there..."

"You'd go there and get yourself killed." Karzahni sneered. " You only held your own against a lesser angel in your prime. Against the Archangel of War, you'd die just as easily as your parents."

The glare that Demmy cast at Karzahni could melt steel, yet was met by the ancient demon's own glare. " ...You're right, and I hate you for that. In that case, I will never enter Matta... I have no business with the lebran people anyway."

"Actually, before you go.." the scythe wielding woman decided to step in. " The head of this city would like to meet with you, and congratulate you personally for your services, all of you who partook in the defense of Mival. The demon can stay to finish her story for now, but miss Rhea, he is VERY interested in meeting with you right away."

Demmy's eyebrows furrowed. The head of the city? That could either go very well... or very, very bad.

"Wait." Molly's voice brought Demmy's attention back to her. "I'm a little confused. You say you were a ruler of Hell, and you tried to fight an angel..."

Demmy nodded. "Yes. After my parents were murdered, the only goal I had was to get revenge, but I needed to be strong enough for that. When I thought I was ready, I went to Sheol, the part of the underworld the angels had taken as part of their kingdom, and managed to usurp the old ruler, a big lizard named Tyralus. Once I was ruler, I was desperate to get Minerva's attention, and force her to fight me... so I intentionally became the worst tyrant the Underworld had ever seen."

"You WHAT?!" Molly gasped. "W-what exactly... does that entail? Slavery, genocide..."

Demmy shook her head. "Food shortages, lashings for those who dared question my orders, a burned wing in Karzahni's case..."

"Please don't remind me." Karzahni grumbled. "And I quickly realized what your real intentions were. Only a complete egotistical fool would try to do what you did and be straight about it. A month long ruse I had to put up with, but I had hoped the end result would be worth it."

"After that month, it became clear to me no one was going to come down... so I rushed up to the pocket dimension of Makai, where the fallen angels had really established as their home. Sheol had been their original intent, but apparently complications arose with that plan. After fighting my way through there to the palace of Pandemonium, I learned... my revenge was impossible. The one responsible had fled long prior and had lashed out at her own allies for what she assumed had been the death of her beloved "LUCIFER-SAMA!" gods, just saying that pisses me off..."

"And with your one remaining goal robbed of you, the Ruler of Makai sealed you in stone. That was the last anyone heard of you."

"Yes. I was sealed away in stone for many thousands of years, fully aware of the world around me. I had time to think and realize what I had done wrong, my own short-sightedness and bloodthirst for revenge, and to rethink everything I thought I knew. I would probably still be stuck there if some freak of nature hadn't freed me, then immediately tried to attack me for my power."

Once more, her hand was held out, and a new figure emerged. This one seemed human enough from the waist up, except their hands were enormous serrated claws, and a row of thorns and spikes covered their mouth. The long white hair was intermingled with serpents that seemed to sprout from the neck of the fiend, and their lower half was a writhing mass of tentacles. Twin massive leathery wings beat from the back of the entity, and two burning red eyes that glared out against the white as snow skin, and the twin horns just above them.

Molly felt her heart freeze at that moment. Those... those eyes.... She recognized those exact eyes. "It's.... It's her." She quietly stammered. She nearly fell onto her back, but she eyes never left those of the image. "The... that woman from when we met, the one who attacked you..."

Demmy nodded. "The one and the same. Even now, I don't know who or what that thing was, but it was hellbent on killing me. That... that THING would have killed me if you hadn't shown up at that moment."

Off to the side, the dragon dressed woman had been making snide side comments and silently mocking every bit of Demmy's story, but when the image of the woman had shown up, she as well had stopped, and on her face was cold terror. Karzahni as well, despite doing his best to remain composed, likewise had a brief moment of chills running down his spine, a moment both Demmy and Molly noticed...

The hateful glares weren't lost to the demon, but she decided to ignore them for the moment. There was a time and place for everything, and picking another fight with Mussurana could wait.

"Wow... I... I had no idea it was that dire." Molly said. "Why would that thing want your powers?"

"Someone held a grudge against me, I guess..." Demmy shrugged. "Or they heard so much about the power of the Tyrant of the Abyss, they wanted it for themselves. Either way, that freak is in the past, and I'd rather it be kept that way."

"So, Demmy..." Molly began, "To think I had a demon lord working under my wing this entire time. Could you-"

"No." Demmy cut her off. "Even if I wasn't in this state, I'd have no way of returning you back to your world. There's only one demon I know of who can cross dimensions, and he's... an oddity, and I doubt he's still around. If I had that kind of power, we wouldn't have stayed in this world for longer than an hour."

"ohhh..." Molly looked down. "I... I guess that makes sense. And Demmy."

"Yes?"

"Please, no more lies. I mean it. I understand why you hid your identity, I really do, but I can't stomach being lied to. I need the truth, about everything, of your intentions and what you are doing, no matter what."

Demmy closed her eyes, and let out a low sigh. "Okay then. I promise I won't leave you in the dark on anything, and I'll be honest. An Abyssian demon's promise is one they intend to keep, right Karzahni?"

The only response she got from the dragon was a very human gesture, which made her eye roll. " That's a new one from you. I thought you hated people and anything to do with them?"

"I still do, but I had to adapt to the changing world, and that was before I ended up here." Karzahni turned, and headed back up to his guest room. " Oh, and you've been usurped as the most despised ruler of Sheol, by an actual insane sociopath."

Demmy chuckled. "That sounds interesting. Maybe if I can get out of here, I'll go see just how bad that person is."

"Don't bother. She's dead, and for the better. You haven't known true tyranny, what a true enemy of the gods is like until you've served but a day in her court. And I would much rather deal with you for a thousand years than be with her another day." With that, Karzahni ascended up the stairs, and the dragon dressed woman followed him up, but not before giving her own hand gesture to the demon.

"Yes ma'am! Right away!" Demmy grabbed the broom and began to sweep up the glass from the ruined windows. "Molly, the dust pan?"

"O-oh, right!" Molly ran over to try and grab the nearest dust pan to help out Demmy, as she had already swept some of the glass into a pile. "Um, Mussurana, you can go on ahead without us. We'll be there to see the head of the city when we're done with what Wisma needs."

With that, most of the crowd began to disperse, heading back up into their guest rooms or out the door. Yet, as Molly crouched with the dust pan so Demmy could scoop the glass in, she noticed that Sulis was nowhere to be seen. Had she... already left?

Arnett rolled her shoulders. "Well, guess that's that. I'll show you to where you need to go. Xero, stay here until they're done. You can lead them over, then explain why you chickened out on us."

Arnett's right eye twitched, but the smile on her face remained, at least on the surface, genuine. She backed out the door of the Violet Bar, and began to lead the Rhea toward the capital building...

The wake of the invasion had left much of the infrastructure of Mival in shambles, but the city as a whole was still in working order. Several guards were out in patrol, searching for possible survivors in the wreckage. A large humanoid bat was clicking his teeth together, and his ears were twitching as he swerved them around to try and hear possible heartbeats and faint voices. He landed on a pile of rubble that had once been a bank and began to use his winged arms to move the debris away, before an outstretched hand emerged and grabbed at him. He grabbed it, and helped a young boy no older than thirteen out of the ground. His dull rusty fur shone in the faded moonlight against the white and blue uniform he wore. Another guardsman, a humanoid shark, used his mouth to help excavate out more rubble and throw it away like a miniature excavator. Families that had lost their homes or were searching for lost family were being shepherded by a Gyu Oni guardsman as his partners rushed to put out still brewing fires and removing the bodies of the deceased. As Arnett passed each of them, she felt hateful glares cast her way, but that only made her smirk.

Past them, all the way down the street, was the capital building. It was pure white and seven stories high, made of marble and reinforced steel. The image of a large lizard adorned the front of the building, similar to the logo of the Violet Bar, but more feral in a way. Dozens of flags also fluttered at the top of the building, each symbolizing a different world or faction the previous leaders of Mival had all came from.