Kapitel 18: Purification

"I have to get myself under control..." Nao tried to say to herself, but it came out like some sort of strangled banshee cry. She had to rein it in, she had to or she would tear herself apart... Emily's voice was reaching her, but she was no longer in control of her own body. She'd sprouted more legs, more talons, more mouths... truly, she didn't want to see her reflection right about now. Her's was the Hero Skill of death and of endings, just as Hina sported the skills of subterfuge and stealth. She had to reign herself in, but she was fading from the world as her body tore through the streets of the Capitol, toward the castle, slaughtering the soldiers who cut at her body with their flimsy weapons...

Then, something pricked her back, and Nao screamed. Even in this form, it hurt so badly, so very hellishly that she thought she might die. A warm, pleasant light spread outward from that prick, but with it came a burning agony like a thousand snakes worming through her veins... Nao cried out, she roared, and she screamed and she sobbed, but it didn't let up...

Finally, the pain faded, and Nao tried to stand... she was back to herself, her clothes having long since ripped apart... the girl felt hot and weak, strong and cold... her back felt strange, painful, itchy...

"Relax, Nao," a familiar male's voice spoke to her. "We didn't count on this, you've just done a very big favor for us.. now we need to get your friends." When Nao tried to answer, she blacked out, the last thing she was aware of being arms hooking under her nude legs and back.

~~~

Aurelia gasped. She'd almost reached the castle when a strange, white arrow pierced her thigh, making for the second time her right leg was struck by an arrow lately. Immediately, a strange, ripping sensation filled her, and Aurelia fell to the rooftop she was passing over, falling unconscious as the pain grew and then vanished from her awareness.

~~~

Hina strolled out the front gates of the castle, sighing softly. This was alright, really. It was a bit strange, the black goo being excreted from her arms and legs, the nauseating smell that came from her... but this, this was good. That Phylactery Witch, wherever she was, she would suffer, but it wasn't as bad as it could be. After all, Hina wasn't possessed, she was added to, enhanced. Finally, she wasn't growing or changing... she was only herself, and it was a sweet bliss.

Suddenly, the ground around her flared to life, intricate runes glowing within them. Hina didn't know the purpose, but she knew it couldn't be good, and went to teleport in the space of a tenth of a second... but she wasn't fast enough to escape the golden runes, and found that not only was she unable to teleport, she was unable to move.

"Hey, sweetheart!" Aerendyl called from her peripheral, dropping something; Emily's body. Hina could move again suddenly, but naturally, she didn't just now. It was twitching and throbbing awfully... and Hina felt a hot, irony taste fill her mouth, her heart beginning to rage. Before she could speak or raise a finger toward Aerendyl, he spoke.

"Listen up, Hina. You are still Hina, right? Emily isn't dead... she's transcending. We've given her a gift, because she was dying. Just stay calm, and let me explain... even if you could kill me with a breath, just hear me out, alright?" Hina didn't take her eyes off of Emily... the Devil seemed to be in pain, but completely unconscious. Her entire body looked like her veins were snakes, writhing and moving around inside her.

"Explain," Hina agreed, resisting the urge to bite through her own tongue in anger.

"Well, put simply, you've been fucking the girls, haven't you? Doing that while infected as you are, you've been killing them! So we did to them, as we're going to do to you, and purified them... it's symbolic, really, that we need to do it to you, but we figure you'll hate us if we don't do something about them. We saved Nao's spidery form, we purified Aurelia, and lastly Emily... but I'm certain that all of them will survive, worry not. Even Emily, a Devil, isn't a bad enough person to be completely burned through." Aerendyl was shifting, changing... he was losing the appearance of a handsome young man. Slowly, the angel lost any sort of human shape, his body becoming a swirling helix of heads and arms and flames and halos. In the blink of an eye, this biblical monstrosity charged her, Hell burning in his eyes... Hina parried a blow and another, then sent this writhing mass of goodness back. He was strong, and so was she... her tentacles shattered the cobblestones, spearing Aerendyl, but everywhere they touched, the tentacles burned, withered, crumbled to ash. Aerendyl only pressed forward as Hina beat him back; and then suddenly, he was gone- but not for long.

Aerendyl speared her in the stomach with something like a glowing white claw. So it was that she too slowly faded from the world, feeling both pain and pleasure as Aerendyl whispered into her ears with his many mouths; "Don't think for a second that a mere demon could stand up to an angel. No matter how much hate was poured into you, you lack practice..."

~~~

So, that was a story to tell, I'd say. The story of a girl who lived, died, lived again, died again... and lived again, though not just yet.

The citizens of Starria would forever know this day as the Capitol's Slaughter, in which a large portion of Starria's proud army was slaughtered. The day that the angels appeared worked with a Devil, a demon and a half demon to kill off more than half of a city's able-bodied men. The day that new angels were born, a new species was created by the hands of an angel... and most importantly, the day that Starria came under new leadership.

~~~

"Hina... Hina, wake up. You've slept long enough, I think..." There was a soft voice, a wind stirring against the fluff of her badger ear, and Hina slowly opened her eyes. She was sitting in a white room, on a white couch, with Aerendyl beside her in a form fully human, without wings or his halo.

"Ah, so, I'm dead then?" Hina asked tiredly. She really didn't feel well at all, but she wasn't in pain; she was just so terribly drained, her body wanted her to close her eyes and go straight to sleep without wasting any time. Of course, she couldn't do that just yet... she had to talk with this angel.

"You are, but not for long, if that makes sense?" Aerendyl tilted his head, his little blonde ringlets shifting in a wave. "Anyway, Hina... you were pretty far gone, after all that time. I kind of feel bad... we were on Mir's side, but that doesn't mean that nobody from the good side was going to die. We wanted you to snap, we just... wanted you to do it in the right place, you know? After all, above all else, humans are fantastic tools, as bad as that sounds to say. Sure, you aren't a human, but you're a summoned hero, so it's all the same."

"I guess..." Hina exhaled slowly. "All I know is that I'm damn tired of not knowing what's going on... are there going to be any more surprises after this?"

"Not for a while, Hina. You've got a nice little break ahead of you... but you've also gone through some very fast changes, and you may not really love all of them." He smiled, stretching, and Hina realized that something was strange about him; Aerendyl was wearing a shirt, for what must have been the first time since she'd met him.

"Changes?" She asked softly, confusion furrowing her brow somewhat.

"Exactly," Aerendyl affirmed softly. "Hina... you were purified, and so were your friends. None of you are quite what you remember being, anymore... you're many things. Part Beast Man, part angel... and part demon, because there was a small part of you that I couldn't fully cure. You won't be corrupted any further though; really, you'll probably be much more resistant to changes like that in the future."

"Part angel, part demon... what, am I going to have wings and a halo?"

"If you want to... you'll learn, in time, how to draw out your wings. Right now, it's just about time for you to wake up. You're probably getting really fucking tired of passing out when you don't want to by now, huh?" The bastard angel added with a chuckle, then flicked Hina's forehead. When the fingers made contact, Hina's vision went fully white... and she woke up in a warm, soft bed, unclothed and feeling very, very well rested.

"Hina..." It was Nao there, murmuring softly, hugging Hina's figure. The other two weren't there yet... but Nao was just slightly different. In none of the wrong ways; she was just a slightly more healthy weight, her skin a little clearer, her body more toned.

"Are we safe, Nao...? Or, are we dead..." Hina sighed, and then a soft laugh escaped her. In truth, part of her didn't really care either which way, right about now.

"Mmf..." Emily's voice, under a mound of blankets to Hina's left. Badger Girl looked that way, surprised and having thought that she and Nao were alone in bed as Emily and Aurelia poked their heads out from under the blankets. Aurelia looked almost the same as before, but where she'd had four, bug-like wings before, now she only had two, and they were longer, bigger, seemingly made of refracted light and every color imaginable.

Emily, though, was an entirely different case. Truly, she looked like the perfect cross between an Angel and Devil. While her features remained the same, her skin was a delicate shade like lilac, and the hair that was a gray white before was now long and snowy as a nearly-empty cloud. Her wings were still black and feathered, but now they were bigger, possibly capable of flight, like a polar opposite of Aurelia's.

"We did it, Hina," Emily said softly, leaning over to softly kiss the Summoned Hero- who felt, as she returned the kiss, that she was forgetting something important.

"We did what, exactly...?" Hina laughed. These last few weeks had been such a wild, strange ride for her, ever since her neck was bitten by an unseen force in Lop, that she didn't really know what to make of things anymore.

"Well, how about we say that we averted a war and came out of things alive," Emily answered as a small, sad some played across her lips. "I have to say, though... this whole thing seems kind of downtrodden. The angels just..."

"Saw a chance and exploited it," Hina finished her sentence, shifting on the mattress, slowly sitting up. For a half second, she had to wonder why she wasn't clothed, but she'd probably ripped them all to shreds when she'd mutated into... whatever it was. Everything seemed fairly hazy from that day. "They're on Mir's side, so it's not like it's surprising that they'd take advantage like that... though my mind is screaming "Fuck Argent" on a loop, I'll admit."

"I'm not surprised." It was Aurelia who said it, now sitting up on her knees and inching closer to Hina. "When you went in to talk to the queens, they told us their plan... we protested of course, but you were already gone, and then they told us to make sure you didn't get killed before you could finish your transformation."

"Why...?"

"Something about... it would have been too dangerous to conduct the purification when you were only halfway transformed? So we had to hold the soldiers off. Emily and Nao did most of the work there, though." At these words, Nao's mouth twisted as if at an unpleasant memory. Hina was about to ask her what the matter was, but found herself cut off as Emily pulled Hina into a soft, slow kiss, deeper this time than the last. Just before Badger Girl's eyes fluttered closed, she noted that Aurelia looked somewhat jealous.

A moment passed, and Emily drew back. "Two of us doomed to die... but, all of us died, in a way. Luckily, our idea about what that way would be was spot on..."

"If it hadn't been, can you imagine what might have happened to us?" Nao shook her head, and Hina noticed by its swaying that her chocolaty hair had grown several centimetres in the last few weeks.

"Well, I don't really want to, to be quite honest." Hina turned her head, resting her cheek on the pillow and letting her arms fall to either side of her head. "Do any of us know where we are, by the way?"

"I haven't wanted to give myself a headache wondering, and I haven't wanted to get out of bed," Emily answered. "By the way, you realize I'm purple, right? You haven't said anything about that, it's almost offensive in a way~"

"Yes, of course I noticed, but you still look like yourself. I assume this is something about what Aerendyl said; that the angels went ahead and purified all of us."

"Why would they need to do that?" Nao raised her eyebrows. "I mean, I can understand you, and maybe me, but..."

"The sex," Hina answered unabashedly but embarrassedly at the same time, closing her eyes. "None of us thought of it, but it wasn't a good idea to have our hands all over one another while I was turning..." What the hell was she forgetting...?

"My, my, my. Here I was, worried sick... and you don't even pause to ask where I am." Charlotte sounded wounded, appearing and hovering near the ceiling over Hina's figure.

"I'm sorry, Charlotte, I've been so distracted... come here," Hina spoke, raising her arms up for a hug. Of course, that was it; where was Lottie all this time?

Offering a cute pout, Charlotte- who was wearing a tight black tank and leggings to match- lowered herself and settled down on top of Hina, meeting the Badger Girl's eyes.

"To me, you're a mistress and owner... but as I said, you're all worth protecting. However... the angels didn't trust me, in spite of all the use I could have been, and they temporarily sealed me in the Hall of Exits, unable to get into Wonderland or anywhere else. I could have been a lot of use in that fight, but the bastards... well, anyway, I'm glad that you're alright, I just wish I could have been by your side." Lottie leaned down and softly kissed Hina's cheek. "Seriously though, for you to just forget about me..."

"Hold on, Charlotte," Nao spoke softly, voice puzzled. "I actually forgot too, it was like you didn't even exist."

"Me too," Aurelia piped up. "Do you think the angels did something to our heads, magically? Maybe their seal also sealed our memories of her, in case they decided not to let her out of the hall?"

"Do you have any ideas?" Hina asked Charlotte directly.

"If I had to make a guess, I'd take Aurelia's," Chessie answered, though she seemed a bit put out as her blue and purple cat's tail danced along Hina's bare thigh. "Now, I've been doing some work while you all were passed out from your ordeal... I'm the only one who wasn't forced to mutate, for obvious reasons."

"Yeah... these wings are definitely going to take some getting used to..." Aurelia flexed her much-larger wings for punctuation.

"Agreed..." Emily muttered.

"I want to find out why the hell we didn't remember you for a while, but right now I need to get up and figure a few things out," Hina spoke, slowly rolling Charlotte off of her and climbing up from the bed.

"You'll be happy to know, then, Hina, that your clothes are in the closet. Everything from your bags, which Aerendyl brought here a few hours ago. All of you, really."

"You know what I've been wondering?" Hina suddenly asked, looking down at herself and then headed to the closet, choosing to entirely ignore the statement about Aerendyl. "How is it that I haven't needed to shave my legs, or arm pits, or anything else even once since I was reincarnated?"

"Perks of being a non-human; none of us do. Humans are just kind of... grossly hairy," Emily answered her, beginning to stand up as well as Hina rooted through the closet of this medium-sized bedroom, plain except for its massive bed. Before she could decide on an outfit, Emily hugged Hina from behind, smiling and murmuring into her ear; "Wear something cute, will you~?" As she said this, she walked backward, taking Hina with her and then taking the taller girl's place. In a moment, she was handing an outfit over to the Summoned Hero, grinning; lacy underwear that were innocent in a kinky sort of way, warm, white, thigh-high socks, a white skirt and a very light pink backless sweater.

"What...? Emily, come on..."

"No, just do it~!" Emily giggled and, without warning, tackled her lover.

Just about when the lot of them were completely dressed, there came a soft knock at the door. Feeling slightly self conscious about her girlish state of dress, Hina crossed the room and opened the door, faltering when she saw a shirtless Aerendyl there; wings, halo and all.

"Hey, Hina, how have you been feeling?"

"I'm feeling better... not really any different than I did before the bite, which is a good thing, right?"

"Indeed it is. I've got a few things I need to show you; all of you, but first, Hina, Aurum and Argent would like a word with you. If you haven't figured it out, you're in Mir's royal palace. They want you too, Charlotte," he added, beckoning the cat girl to come closer. She did, watching Aerendyl cautiously... but the angel only turned, strolling down the hallway.

"I'll be back as soon as I can!" Hina called to the others, who looked after her and Charlotte curiously. Passing through the door, she noticed her weapons lying behind it, but didn't move for them.

"So, I won't mince any words, Aerendyl;" Hina spoke calmly, lethally after they'd rounded a few corners. "Depending on your answer, I might really have to hurt you," she added. Charlotte seemed surprised, and even Aerendyl stopped walking, turning to face her.

"Why is it that Charlotte completely slipped our minds, when she probably could have been just as useful as you in that fight?"

"It's simple, really... but as a prior Human, you probably don't know this. Wonderland, or rather Underland, is one of many... well, you would call it a Hell, although it isn't anything like most of your fire and brimstone stories. There are nine Hells, each of them somehow different. Given that you were to become an angel, we had to conduct a sort of background check on your dear Charlotte before we released her. Of course, she wasn't the least bit harmed."

"And if you didn't like what you'd found, then what? You'd have killed her?" Hina kept her voice steady, but her anger was giving way to a slow, steady burn in her torso. There was silence for a moment, and then Aerendyl slowly nodded.

"I won't lie, Hina, we would have. Angels and demons aren't exactly the best of fri-" Before he'd finished speaking, well, Hina didn't even know what she was doing until she'd done it. Grabbing Aerendyl by the head, she slammed his head into the nearest marble wall, snarling, yet with her voice eerily calm. "This is for your bullshit lies, okay?" She gripped him harder and pulled back, ramming his head into the floor next, not noticing how the marble cracked. "For using me," she continued, and then hoisted him up. She wanted him to fight back, but really, Badger Girl had no problem if he didn't... this time, she kicked him in the abdomen, sending his body skidding and rolling away from her.

"That one... for almost killing your friend?" Aerendyl sighed, smiling weakly.

"No, that one was because I felt like it. This is because you almost killed my friend," Hina spoke, and she walked toward him as he stood, ramming her fist into him... Mana exploded outward from her arm, and she heard bones crunch... something golden dripped onto her arm, hot and slightly sticky. Within a moment, she realized it was blood from Aerendyl's mouth, the golden Ichor of an angel.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, I'll h-heal up in n-n-no time," Aerendyl spoke as if he were about to vomit, swaying and leaning on the nearest wall. "If you need to use me as a punching bag for a while, if it'll make you feel a little better... nothing's t-too much for the girl I love," he spoke breathlessly, nursing his stomach. Hina, meanwhile, was confused; wasn't her Mana golden? It was a white light, though, like snow, heaven's light and wisps of cloud all storming furiously around the arm she'd used to punch him. In every way, it looked nothing like her mana before. With a twitch, Hina stopped the flow, figuring she should check her status band, choker, whatever, soon.

"Aerendyl, I can't love you, I never can. You know that, don't you?" Hina turned to him, frowning slightly. "I used to be a man, and even if I'm a woman now, my sexuality hasn't changed."

"I respect th-that," Aerendyl spoke, already sounding halfway recovered. "Friends is better than nothing, though, and I can't seem to walk away just yet, no matter how hard I try. My sister is madly in love with you anyway, don't tell her I told you... I wouldn't want to step on her toes. One day, I'll get over this... but you can't always help you fall in love with, whether you have a chance or not. Besides, you're right... I deserved that beating, and I sure as hell don't deserve your hand," he spoke warmly, smiling, teeth stained golden like a pirate's fake teeth.

"I love you, Hina, so please, just keep letting me support you from the side lines. I swear, that's good enough for me."

"Why love somebody you can never have?" Hina's frown deepened.

"Because you're a reminder of how much room I have to improve, and of everything that angels have lost their way from." Aerendyl seemed to be fully recovered now, and turned, walking off. "Don't worry, Hina. I respect you, and everything you wish for; as far as my orders from above allow, I'll stick to the sidelines just like I said." Hina couldn't think of an answer, and so she asked a question; "Why does my mana look so different?"

"Angel magic is different than what humans can use; it's a more pure, undiluted form of magic. Needless to say, it's a lot more powerful... if you want the catchy name we use, we call that magic 'Grace'."

"I see," Hina replied softly as Aerendyl stopped, having led them to an arch... Hina could see that garden from before, again.

"Through here please, Hina, Charlotte- and I want to say; truly, I'm sorry for everything." In the blink of an eye, Aerendyl vanished. Slowly, Hina walked into the garden, Chessie on her heels...

Aurum and Argent sat on that bench again, and they looked sadly on Hina as she entered. It was Argent who spoke first.

"Hina. I won't ask you to forgive me, not in this life or the next. I only ask that you understan-"

"I do, in fact, understand," Hina spoke neutrally, a cold looking settling in her eyes. "There was going to be a war. You used me, and now there almost certainly won't be. All's fair in love and war, in every sense of the words. What I can't forgive you for, is Charlotte."

"That was nothing to do with us!" Aurum cut in, suddenly and oddly impassioned. "The angels decided that!" She stood, and began to walk closer, stopping a metre from Hina and Charlotte. "The angels are on our side, but they feel like they're so high above us, they can leave us ignorant of entire parts of the plan. I have nothing against demons, my sisters and I ARE half demon, and Charlotte, I don't give a damn if you're from Hell, I wouldn't care if you were the god damned king of the worst Hell!" She bowed deeply as a man might, sounding as if she might burst into tears. "We knew that Hina's life wasn't truly in danger, but I am so, so sorry for what nearly happened to yours!"

Silence, for a moment.

"Well, I understand. Humans might usually only think of themselves, but demons aren't all bad in the least. I forgive you," Charlotte spoke softly, and though Argent didn't seem particularly affected, Aurum looked like she'd just shrugged off a two ton backpack as she rushed forward and hugged Charlotte... who shoved her back.

"I draw the line at hugs, your majesty," Lottie spoke casually, flicking her tail and smirking. "I'm afraid only my mistress has permission to touch my body~" At these words, three of the assembled four broke out laughing.

"Hina," Argent spoke, softly but insistently. "I know that we have no right to ask this of you, but Aurum and I... we want you to live in Mir, as an esteemed member of our court and an agent for us, whatever missions that may entail."

"First, though," Aurum broke in excitedly. "You and your friends have all become part angel, right? We want you to take a break! There's a certain pair of angel siblings who have offered to show you all around Heaven, given that you'll be able to travel there now. They'll show you how to use your new abilities, how to fly and control your ridiculous new magic... and Charlotte?"

"As stated before, Hina," Chessie said, turning to the badger girl. "Underland isn't fire and brimstone, it's a thriving land; simply the people there can be dangerous, but not all of them are. After we head to Heaven for a bit- I've been promised permission to come along- I want to take you to see my home. Think of it as a 'meet the parents' sort of thing, since this is going to be a long standing relationship," she added, winking playfully.

Slowly, Hina laughed, and turned to Aurum, preferring to converse with the honey haired wolf woman.

"Your agent... me and all my friends, of course." Not asking. "What would that entail?"

"It could be peace missions, it could be combat, it could be rescue rushes... but you'd do it with the full support of a nation at your back."

"I'll need some time to think on this, of course."

"Of course. I won't ask for an answer until after your break, naturally," Aurum promised with an earnest smile- a smile that Hina returned, realizing that both of them knew she was going to accept as long as her friends did.

"Then," Honey Hair spoke, producing a bottle and some glasses from somewhere. The glasses floated outward to hover before her, and she filled them with what looked like pink wine. Another moment, and she nudged a glass into Hina, Charlotte and Argent's hands.

"If not to a healthy partnership, just yet... to a victory. A victory in which each and every one of you came home safely." As one, they touched glasses and took a swallow... and then Aurum blinked, laughed as Hina's wine-filled spit hit her chest.

"Oh god, that's awful!"