Lies in Deceptive Shadows

[Amara<3]

"Good," Keera-in-black whispered. "I don't like fighting if there's no need. Can you all handle things from here? I'll come back if things get any more out of hand, but I have other things I need to attend to." Before waiting for a response, or waiting around for anyone to object, she jumped over them all and out the other side.

"But- Keera- wait!" Kaminari yelled, but it was too late. She was already gone. Michi turned to the bounty hunter after hearing what she said. "Who is stronger than a god?" She hated to think it was Keera, who just left, but if it had been, then there wouldn't have been hesitation in putting Inazami back. But still, Keera spoke it like it had been an option, and the god had submitted to only her words. The Keera she knew wasn't the same one tht just left. Besides, Keera had absolutely nothing better to do than fix the problem at hand. It made her angry. Keera would be asking what the hell-

"What the hell is going on in here?" Keera, dressed in her blue police uniform, asked as she landed in the middle of all of them. "Looks like there was a huge lightning storm. Kaminari, I didn't know you could burn spots in the cement. What?" she asked while Kaminari and Michi stared at her in disbelief.

[skyacezero]

"Only one thing could trump a god, a superdimenional being," the bounty hunter calmly answered Michi's question. "There haven't been many over the course of time, but they're very reclusive," she explained. She turned her head in the direction of Keera's voice as she landed and shared the same look of disbelief as Kaminari and Michi.

"Uh, Kaminari didn't do that.....you did," Necrolon said, puzzled. "How did you change so quickly?" he almost immediately added. "Indeed I am intruiged as well," Izanami said. "You're appearance is different, but your aura is the same," she said. Shortly after her question, a black light slashed Izanami across her back. She screamed in pain and fell forward, but Izanagi dove forward and caught her.

"You useless little bitch..." came Lilith's all-too-familiar voice. "You could have killed them at any time, but it turns out you still had a soft spot for your ex after all, didn't you?" she chastised Izanami.

[Amara<3]

"A superdimentional being? Like someone who is from another dimention and very powerful?" Michi asked with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Keera raised an eyebrow. "No I didn't. I just got here, and I certainly didn't from the outside." As Lilith spoke, Keera looked around to lock on to the voice. "Lilith! Leave her alone!"

"How is Lilith assuming control of Inazmi? Lilith isn't a superdimentional being. She's certainly from this one," Michi growled. "Keera, you are so much stronger than these creeps, why are you letting them control you?"

"Because... Lilith is like Lamia. Lamia is going to try to possess my body fully, like Lilith has done to her host. I know the only way to kill Lilith is to kill the host's body. I personally don't find that fair, so I'd prefer to not have to do it that way. Until Kaori comes up with the way to use the charm, I'm playing pawn."

"You just used lightning a million times stronger than mine! How can you not rule them?!" Kaminari yelled, angry. "This could be over in a matter of seconds!"

"Kami, I seriously don't know what you're talking about. I haven't used lightning, ever. I don't even know how." Keera looked extremely confused, and like there was something going on that definitely wasn't right. They said she'd just been there, used lightning and was some sort of formidable force. Except she hadn't been. "And what's all this about a superdimentional being?"

[skyacezero]

"A superdimensional being is an entity that can simultaniously exist on all three placements in the timeline. Past, present, and future. They also have the ability to warp, merge or distort other planes of existance that would ordinarily be outside a god's domain," Lilith said, much to everyone's surprise. "So I see you've done you've done your homework," the bounty hunter growled. "Well, I was sealed away along with my cohorts for the better bart of a millenium, what else is there to do?" Lilith asked sarcastically. Izanami turned over in Izanagi's arms "What.....why did you...?" she said weakly.

"Oh right, we never had any intention of actually allying with you, in fact we only let you out because we needed something that could only be found in Yomi, a map, that would show us the location of every demonic of celestial structure buried by time," Lilith explained. "We have it and it confirmed our suspicions, the exact location of the Gates of Oblivion," she finished with a smile. "Oh and just as well, I left a little parting gift in that chasm. You all may not know it, but Necrolon, you're already aquainted with this one," she added and gave a simple snap of her fingers.

Right on cue, a massive, decaying claw grabbed the skeletal monster Izanami was on and crushed it. A second claw grabbed the side of the pit it was in and a figure started to emerge. "Oh, no way...." Necrolon said, full of duress. "Hmhmhmhmhm, have fun..." Lilith blew them a kiss and exited through a dark gateway behind her. The figure in the pit reared up and bellowed loudly. It was as tall as a skyscraper and covered in a hooded robe that looked like it was made of flesh. "Oh that's it.....we're screwed...." Necrolon said darkly.

[Amara<3]

"What do you mean we're screwed? What the HELL is going on?!?!?!" Keera yelled in frustration and threw her hands up in the air. "And what is that? Lilith! Get back here!" Kaminari and Michi sighed at Keera, but they were confused. Keera was really here twice, and didn't know it. How could that be?

Keera watched from the shadows of two buildings, higher up from the grounds. She knew she just confused the hell out of the people down there, but she didn't want Keera to see her future self, because she might screw things up. Watching herself down below in that mess, she realized how weak and stupid she'd been at that critical time. Never accepting the offer would have been the best choice, but if she hadn't, she would have never made it this far.

Hearing the Gates of Oblivion were found made her mood sink even more. The time was coming close. Soon the critical time would come where she needed to make her former self realize that killing whatever her and Necrolon had isn't the answer, and she could save her friends and not kill them either. Or at least more than she had the first time. She just hoped that things she changed weren't going to be huge changes to her actual self in the future. The Gates still needed to be opened, and Keera still needed to be purged of Lamia. It was her friends she was worried about.

As the creature came up from the depths, Keera couldn't place what it was called again - it had been so long. However it would take all of them a long time to beat it if she didn't help. She was tempted to transform and come to their aid as her new form, but thought she would wait until they needed her first.

[skyacezero]

"That....is a reaper, that's the strongest Dark Hunter that Lilith has. I fought one before, and I needed to set off a nuke to kill it," Necrolon said. The reaper turned to face the group, it's face hidden by the hood of it's cloak and it bellowed again. "But this time...." Necrolon was envoloped in a black cocoon for a moment and the coccon unraveled into a pair of large, black wings. Necrolon was covered in spiked armor, his feet had become talons, and his claws were sharper and more hooked, and his eyes had become red. "I have more room to work with," Necrolon finshed and took off. "Wait! You're not actually going to fight that thing on you're own?!" the bounty hunter said as Necrolon's wings flapped and he lifter off the ground at the reaper.

[Amara<3]

Kaminari's face dropped when she saw Necrolon transform and take off. She was worried that he was diving in to his own death pot, but then she saw Keera's eyes burning with rage. Suddenly she lifted off the ground with an invisible force, the dust around her becoming unsettled. Then she took off with immense force, catching up to Necrolon. Time to start getting in to his mind. She didn't want to, but she had to, and the best way she knew how was to fight alongside them first. "I figured you'd appreciate the help." She smiled and disappeared around the other side of the reaper. "Let's see what I can do."

Michi started shooting psychic energy at the creature from the word go, and Kaminari sent lightning at it from her hands. She was still stunned that Keera had managed to it better than her, but then didn't realize she had. None of it made sense.

[skyacezero]

"Against something like this? Always," Necrolon said and he charged at the reaper. His claws glowed slightly and he slashed the upper part of the reaper's shoulder and quickly moved away when Michi and Kaminari started attacking. The reaper bellowed and turned in Michi and Kaminari's direction. It reached out to grab them, but Necrolon flew by it's wrist, cutting it's hand off.

A man watched the tornado that everyone was fighting in from the window of his office, miles away. "Quite a commotion you've been causing," the man, Jason Watanabe, said calmly and turned around to Lilith, sitting on the edge of his desk. "All this over something that's been under your noses the whole time," he added. Lilith gave a smile. "Indeed," she simply said. "I trust you've pulled through on your end as well?" Lilith said, getting off the desk. "Truth told, with all the ruckus that's been going on, the airspace around Japan has been closed for the time being, and all the docks are locked down airtight," Jason said. "So until your little haunted house blows over, nothing gets in or out," he explained. Lilith walked over to the window. "I wouldn't worry, that problem will eventually take care of itself..."

[Amara<3]

As she decided what she should to, she began coating the reaper's back with ice. She could freeze him and smash him to tiny bits, but that would take a while. They didn't have that kind of time. If Necrolon kept chopping limbs though, maybe she could stop the regeneration process, if the thing had one. If it were that hard to beat before, according to him, then it probably did.

"Thank you!" Kaminari yelled up to Necrolon, but she wasn't sure he heard, he was moving so fast. Michi rolled her eyes and they kept firing. If it kept the attention of the creature, they would do it all day to help Keera and Necrolon find a way to kill it.

[skyacezero]

The reaper bellowed and brought it's severed limb up in front of itself. The wound started bubbling and a new hand immediately burst out of the wound. The ice on it's back started splitting it's robe open. the split went right up the middle and the robe fell off with a loud, sickening splattering noise, revealing what the reaper really looked like.

"Oh, yeah, that's the face I remember," Necrolon commented. The reaper let out a horrid screech, rearing up to full height. It was almost completely skeletal, minus a few chucks of meat still clinging to the bone, and it's most disgusting feature was it's head, a hideously malformed, upside-down goat skull. "Not much to look at, are they?" Necrolon said.

[Amara<3]

"No, but it sure is amazingly built," Keera replied. "Would severing the head do anything? Most creatures go down when the head is seperated from the body." She looked it over. There wasn't really a whole lot to the reaper. Certainly ugly, but it seemed there might be a way to get rid of it somehow.

Still, the nagging reminder of the Demon Lords presented itself everytime Necrolon came in to her view. How could she really trick him in to loving her, just to kill him? She doubted she'd actually be able to do it.

She took a deep breath. Looked away from Necrolon and began blasting ice on to the creature's bones and whatever flesh was left on them. It would be a start, however effective it may or may not be.

[skyacezero]

"It's worth a try," Necrolon said and swooped in with his claws extended. The reaper took what sounded like a deep breath and screeched, as it did so, a stream of pitch-black smoke spewed from it's mouth. Necrolon stopped in mid-swoop to warn everyone. "Don't let that smoke touch you! That stuff corrodes anything it contacts!" he shouted and looked forward to see the reaper's hand coming towards him. Necrolon easily avoided it as the ice Keera was covering it with was slowing it down. "Keera! Try and cover as much of it as you can with ice, it should give me a shot at it's head!" Necrolon said.

[Amara<3]

"On it!" Keera replied. She spread her arms and hovered around the reaper, careful of the deadly smoke. The last thing she wanted was to be dissolved. "Stupid thing," she growled, and got a new idea of her own. If she could plug the creature's mouth, the smoke would have to stay there, so logically it would have to corrode the creature from the inside. She flew to it's front and shot an ice ball into it's mouth, and smiled. The ice made it in without being destroyed right away, so there's no reason she couldn't cover it up.

She sent the icy air forward, layering it on the mouth of the creature, while at the same time she was icing it's right arm to lock it in place. They needed to get rid of this thing, and fast. They were already creating too much attention outside. As the mouth of reaper was sealed, a great roar sounded behind them.

A great red fox, easily as large as the reaper, came in to the vast tornado. It looked fierce and aggressive, but none of the three girl stopped their assault on the reaper. Michi and Kaminari assumed Keera had transformed in to the fox - not that she had before, but generations outside of this reality in her family had. Keera hadn't because she knew by nature the fox wasn't an evil creature, and it was part of her core. It could only be coming to help.

However this fox was different. It was majestic, graceful, and terrifying. It also had seven tails. That surprised her, because this fox was almost celestrial, and yet it was being to aggressive. She watched as it reared up and attacked the reaper, smashing a strong, black paw on to it's arm where Keera had frozen it. Then she noticed it - the foxes eyes were blue.

[skyacezero]

"Nice thinking," Necrolon said at the ice ball covering the reaper's mouth and Keera started layering the ice on it's mouth. Necrolon turned at the roaring sound to see the fox emerge from the wall of the tornado and shatter the reaper's frozen arm. Trying to figure out where it had come from, Necrolon almost immediately assumed just as soon not question it if it was trying to help. Taking advantage of the reaper's recoil from having it's arm broken off, Necrolon's claws started emitting a dark violet light and swooped in to swipe at the reaper's neck, slicing through more than two-thirds of it, but the way that the reaper was leaning ensured what was left would simply break under the strain of holding it's head up. It did just that.

With a series of loud, and rather disturbing splintering and cracking sounds, what was left of the reaper's neck broke and it's head fell off behind it. The reaper outstreached it's left arm and started falling forward over Michi and Kaminari, who were warped out of the way by Necrolon. Necrolon reverted back to his previous form and looked over the fox. "Where did that fox come from?" he asked.

[Amara<3]

"What do you mean? It's Keera," Kaminari said as she looked up, and whispered, "or not."

"No, Keera is definitely there, and so is the fox. They're two different beings," Michi said as the reaper crashed to the ground, definitely not getting back up. "But they feel like the same person."

"Maybe Keera summoned it?" Kaminari suggested. Michi shook her head no. Keera couldn't produce something that amazing and huge. She could only copy herself.


Keera stayed in the air as the fox turned to her. They were now close enough that Keera could see lines and shades of colour in the fox's eyes. "Where did you come from?" keera asked. Suddenly the fox began to glow and shrink, and Keera followed the shrinking form back to the ground. When her feet touched the ground, she looked to the dark, mirror image of herself, with a few altered bits. For one, there no Lamia. Second, the eyes stayed blue with dark lines leading to the pupils, her mirrored self had longer, whiter hair, and was dressed in all black attire. "Now I'm really curious as to where you came from."

"I am you, from the future. I came here to tell you something, and to help you with what you need to do," Keera's mirror said. "Your task, specifically. You know what I'm talking about." Keera remembered her talk with Lucifer, and nodded to the other Keera. "You don't have to do it like he said you must. I do suggest you follow with the first part, but at the very last second, remember to deviate from your orders. I didn't, and I've payed dearly for it. I don't want my former self to make the same mistake." She came closer to the present Keera, and whispered in her ear. "Fall in love. It may be the best thing that ever happens to you."