Ch. 19: Silverblade Struggles

An Akuma meets some allies that will help it return to Earth.

John groggily woke up from his sleep. He got up and walked up to the mirror to get ready for school, or so he thought. He looked up in the mirror.
"Augh!" John shouted.
He had forgotten about his transition. He was an Akuma, and one of the rarest kinds at that.
"This must be a dream," John thought to himself.
How could he not be worried and confused? He DIED. When he looked in the mirror, he didn't see himself. He saw a literal demon.
"I can do this." John put his hands on his face, trying not to slash anything with his forearm blades as he did. "I can get out of here and turn back to normal. I have to."
John turned around and looked at the bunkbed.
"My roommate still hasn't showed up," John thought to himself.
Just then, an unfamiliar-looking Akuma opened the door and walked into the room. The Akuma was short, about 4-5 feet tall, with yellow-orange skin. It had long swirly horns and bug-like wings. Other than that, from what John could see, the Akuma had mostly human traits: two green eyes, two arms with no claws, two legs, and a head of long brown hair.
"Hm." It looked up at John, who was maybe a foot or two shorter than double its height. "Wasn't expecting another roomy anytime soon."
John was surprised at the fact that it had a female voice, mostly because there was no way of telling that it was a girl apart from the long hair.
"You must be my roommate." John put his hand out. "I'm John."
The Akuma chuckled and grabbed John's hand, shaking it.
"Audrey," She chuckled. "Why did you go for the handshake, again?"
John took his hand back.
"I just like being formal, I suppose." John quickly put his hand back to his side, accidentally cutting his leg with his arm-blade in the process.
"Y'know you can retract those things, right?" Audrey said to John, who was trying to cover the wound.
"I can? How?"
"I don't know, I've just seen other Silverblades with their blades not out."
"I haven't been here for long, so I haven't even seen any other of myself. Speaking of which, what kind of Akuma are you? I've never seen your kind before."
"A Hammertail," Audrey turned around. Surely enough, and the end of her rather long tail was a large hammer shaped growth with holes in it. "I can do this, too."
Audrey made spikes protract from the holes of her hammer tail, then retracted them. John patched up his wound with nearby bandage, then looked at his blades and focused on retracting them. Unfortunately, nothing happened.
"Hey, it'll happen eventually," Audrey turned back around. "Might not wanna try hanging out somewhere with them out, though."
"I'm not going to have any time to 'hang out,'" John said. "Dak-, er, the Dark One, wants me to lead the attack on Earth."
Audrey scoffed.
"Hm? What's wrong?" John asked.
"I hate that guy," Audrey responded. "I don't even understand why he's drafting Akuma to do this for him."
"Drafting?" John asked. "Like the army?"
"Pretty much, yeah," Audrey explained. "He basically just selects random Akuma and forces them to train in gruesome conditions, basically turning them into monsters. At that point, they hardly know how to do anything except kill. It's hard to believe that the drafted Akuma used to be normal humans. That's actually what happened to my last roommate."
"Hm, yeah. The Akuma I've fought were so beast-like that I didn't even know that they were once humans," John said. "Well, actually, they were just fake Akuma that the Dark One made."
"Wait, you fought them?" Audrey asked. "How? I thought you've only been an Akuma for less than a day."
"No, it was before I died," John explained. "Me and my friends were gathering pieces of something known as the Sun Relic, that would let us get to the Underworld so we could kill Daku."
Audrey froze.
"You're... John?" Audrey asked. "JOHN John?"
"You know about me and my friends?" John asked.
"... I need to take you somewhere," Audrey grabbed John's hand. "You'll understand everything when we get there."
Audrey and John left the room and started walking to the castle gates.
"There's a little town not to far from the castle walls," Audrey said.
"Yeah, I've been there," John responded. "That's where I woke up, actually."
A while later and they made it to the gate. At the gate was a Titan guarding it. Audrey walked up to it.
"Hey, we need to leave," Audrey stated.
The Titan nodded and opened the gate for them. Before John walked through the gate, the Titan grabbed his arm.
"Are you the Silverblade that was asked to lead the army?" It asked.
John nodded.
"The Dark One needs you back here in a while," The Titan instructed. "Don't take too long with whatever you're doing."
"Yeah, yeah," John yanked his arm back. "I got it."
The two began to walk to the town. John looked at Audrey's back.
"Nice wings," John pointed out. "Do they work?"
"Why would they be there if they didn't work?" Audrey chuckled. She flew up onto John's back.
"H-hey!" John reached behind him and picked Audrey off of him. "Quit messing around."
"Hey, lookit that," Audrey flew back down. "Your blades aren't out."
John didn't realize it, but his blades retracted when he reached for Audrey.
"Hm." John protracted, then retracted his blades. "Interesting."
A bit of walking later and they made it to the town. It looked rather pleasant compared to the castle: a lot less bloody and devilish architecture.
Audrey grabbed John's arm again and took him into a small orange building. Inside was large pieces of meat hanging on the walls. At the back of the shop was an Akuma. It was a Standard, but this one was purple rather than maroon like usual.
"Well, look who it is," The Standard said. "Have a new friend, I see?"
Audrey walked up to the Standard.
"Taylor, this is John," Audrey said to the Akuma. "Y'know, from NEITH?"
Taylor's eyes widened.
"You're serious?" He asked. He looked at John, then back at Audrey, who nodded.
Taylor ran up to John.
"Nice to meet you, John! I'm Taylor, leader of the NEITH Underworld Support Group. Lemme close up shop," Taylor closed and locked the door of the shop, and turned off the lights. "Come with me."
He then opened a door in the back of the shop. In the door was stairs that led down to a large square room. Inside the room was more Akuma, and the walls were covered with newspapers, elemental symbols, drawings, etc..
"Everyone!" Taylor announced. "This is John, from NEITH."
All the other Akuma gasped.
"Audrey, what is this place?" John asked. "It seems like a... worshipping area for us."
"Lemme explain," Taylor started. "Basically, most people hate Daku, aka the Dark One, but nobody has the guts or strength to go against him. Then, some Akuma heard about your group, which we called NEITH, collecting the Sun Relic pieces in the news and on TV. Ever since then, Akuma like us have been rooting for you guys to beat Daku, along with his Three Henchmen."
"Speaking of which..." One of the Akuma started. "Take a look at this."
The Akuma handed Taylor a newspaper. Taylor examined it for a bit, then had an excited grin on his face.
"They killed Kobun?" Taylor asked. "That's amazing!"
The other Akuma all cheered.
"Hey, that's probably how you went out, huh?" Audrey asked John.
"No, it wasn't that," John explained. "I had to... off myself... to save Brenden and Tara's lives."
"Wow, that's a bummer," Audrey looked down. "Very like you to do something so noble, though."
John gave a sad smile.
"Yeah! You were always my favorite NEITH member!" Taylor put his hand on John's shoulder. "You should see the stuff people have written about you!"
"Oh, another thing: what is NEITH?" John asked. "Are you referring to the Egyptian deity?"
"Not that Neith," Audrey chuckled. "NEITH is an abbreviation: Nine Elemental and Interdimensional Team-working Heroes. It's what us Akuma call your group of friends. We called it NEITH because in Egyptian mythology, Neith is the weaver of fate, just like how you and your friends weave and alter this fate of Daku ruling Earth by ending this crisis."
"My friends..." John thought aloud.
John walked up to one of the walls. On it were drawings of each elemental symbol. He put his hand on the red-orange fire symbol.
"I need to get back..." John clenched his fists.
John turned around.
"Do any of you know of any way for me to revert back to a human?" John asked.
Unfortunately, all the other Akuma shook their heads.
"Wait...." Taylor said. "There is technically one way..."
"How?" John ran up to Taylor. "You've got to tell me!"
"Well, the way any Akuma transforms back to a human is if an alive human recognizes you," Taylor explained. "Unfortunately, since the only way you can get back to Earth is if you get drafted, there's no easy way of someone recognizing you when you're basically a monster. Plus, most Akuma don't even remember who they were as humans."
John thought for a bit.
"I can definitely transform back then!" John cheered, mostly to himself. "Daku wants me to lead the army! He's not going to draft me for that! He needs me to be sane and rational!"
John turned back to Taylor.
"Thank you," John nodded. "I now know what my objective is."
John started for the door, when Audrey grabbed his arm.
"Hold on," she said.
"Hm?" John looked down at her. "What is it?"
"I just... I wanna come with you!" Audrey flew up to eye level with John. "Seeing how passionate you are about getting back to your friends makes me want to go back to Earth, too!"
"Audrey, that's not going to work," Taylor shook his head. "What if you get caught?"
"I don't care!" Audrey shouted. "It'd be worth it just to see Earth again."
"Audrey, please. Even if you aren't caught, there's no way you'd be able to transform back," Taylor walked up to them. "Everyone died in that plane crash, there's no way anyone alive could recognize you!"
"Shut up!" Audrey shouted. "I just wanna be back home!"
Audrey turned back to John.
"Please, won't you take me with you!?" She asked. "I haven't seen my home in over seventeen years!"
John thought for a bit.
"Alright, sure," John nodded. "You can come with me."
"What!?" Taylor shouted.
"Thank you!" Audrey cheered and flew into John, hugging him.
"How will you do it, though?" John asked. "I doubt you want to be drafted."
"Don't worry, I've been thinking up a plan to escape this hell for a long time," Audrey said. "First, let's get back to our room, I'll explain everything there."
John nodded, and Taylor led him and Audrey back up the stairs and out of his shop.
"I'm against this, you know," Taylor said to Audrey. "But I know how persistent you can be. There's no way I'm talking you out of this one, huh?"
Audrey chuckled and shook her head.
"Figured as much," Taylor chuckled. "Alright, be careful."
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for this by the way," Audrey responded. "You've finally given me a ticket out of here."
Taylor nodded and shut the door of the shop. Audrey and John leisurely made their way back to the castle, and to their room. Once they were inside the room, Audrey sat on her bed and John sat in a nearby chair.
"Alright, so what's this plan?" John asked.
"Basically, my plan is to get into the area where they train the drafted Akuma, and switch places with another Hammertail right at the end of its training. That way it can seem like I just finished my training, and they'll send me right through a portal to Earth," Audrey explained.
"Alright, I understand," John nodded. "Is there anyway I fit into this plan?"
"Yeah, actually, or else I would've done it by now," Audrey chuckled. "The only way an Akuma can get into that training facility is if they're a higher-up, or if they've been drafted. Luckily, since you've been asked a favor by Daku himself, the guards will probably let you into wherever you want. If you ask to get into the training facility, you can help me sneak into it."
"Alright, sounds good," John nodded.
Just then, a loud knock came from the door of the room.
"I'll get it," Audrey got up and opened the door. At the doorway was a Titan guard.
"Uh... what do you want?" Audrey asked.
"The Dark One needs to see John," The Titan stated. "Meet him at his throne room immediately."
The Titan walked off and Audrey closed the door. John sighed and got up.
"I guess I'll be leaving now," John said.
"Alright," Audrey nodded, getting up from her bed. "Don't say anything that'll get you killed, okay?"
Audrey chuckled.
"Audrey, I'm glad I got a really nice roommate like you and not someone rude or anything," John smiled.
"Yeah, I feel the same way," Audrey smiled. "Alright, good luck."
John nodded, opened the door, left their room, and closed the door behind him. He then walked up to the throne room of the castle as instructed. He opened the large doors to the throne room and was greeted by an unfamiliar face. It was a tall maroon-ish Akuma with four eyes that wore a grey robe.
"We've been waiting," The Akuma smiled. "Now, let us begin our planning!"
"Who are you?" John asked.
"Why, I'm one of the Dark One's Three Henchmen: the great wizard Joshu!" Joshu laughed. "Or rather, TWO Henchmen now, heeheehee!"
"That's right, Brenden and Tara and them killed Kobun," John thought to himself. "I hope they will do the same to this creep."
"It's uhh... nice to meet you?" He said aloud, putting out his hand. "I'm Jo-"
"I know who you are, dimwit! Everyone does!" Joshu slapped John's hand. "Now, come with me so we can start the planning!"
Joshu grabbed John's arm and pulled him into the throne room. At the throne, Daku was sitting in it, and an unfamiliar Akuma with four feathered wings, indigo skin, and two tails, was standing to the right of the throne.
Joshu ran up to the left of the throne and John stood in front of it, facing Daku.
"Hello again, John," Daku said. "Ready to plan out your attack?"
"I'm not sure I understand what I'm even supposed to do," John confessed. "If these Akuma I'm supposed to lead act like animals, how would I guide them? They probably wouldn't even listen to me."
"They will listen," Daku insisted. "You will just have to use force. Try killing one or two of them to show the others who's boss."
"But wouldn't they just team up and try to attack me?" John asked.
"No, they were trained to target humans, or else it'd be a slaughterhouse inside the training facilities," Daku explained.
"Speaking of which... is there any way I could look inside of one of those facilities?" John asked. "You know, so I can see what I'll be working with?"
"I suppose you may do that after we prepare you to lead the Akuma," Daku said. "Since Kobun would've led them, I will go ahead and name you my temporary third Henchman. If you end up doing a good job taking over Earth, that title may become permanent.
"B-but my lord!" Joshu exclaimed. "There's no way this PUNY little Silverblade could be on the same level as me and Kohoto-"
"That's enough, Joshu," Daku stated. "By the way, shouldn't you be at the end of the dungeon you prepared for the eight living ones?"
"M-my lord, you mustn't worry," Joshu bowed. "Those humans won't be finished for a long time!"
"That's exactly what Kobun said, and look what happened to him," The winged Akuma, presumably Kohoto, said.
"W-wh-" Joshu was flustered. "I'll b-be going now!"
Joshu teleported away.
"Now that that annoyance is out of the way, let us begin your preparations," Daku said.

After many hours of training, memorizing, and practicing, John left the throne room and returned to his and Audrey's room, exhausted. He opened the door to see Audrey asleep in her bed. John opening the door woke her up. She sat up.
"What took ya so long?" Audrey asked, rubbing her eyes.
"They had to prepare me for leading the Akuma," John responded. "Speaking of which, Daku said that I can look into one of the facilities now."
"Cool, let's go do that now, then! Are you ready to leave?"
"I don't think we should do it now, because the drafted Akuma are being piled up in a large room and then are going to be all teleported at once. You'd probably not want to be stuck in there."
"When are they teleporting them?"
"They've been teleporting a few Akuma randomly for a while now, but tomorrow afternoon I believe is when they will teleport them in mass amounts. However, there are two problems that came up that may interfere with our plan."
"What are they?"
"Well, first, when the drafted Akuma are teleported, their locations are all randomized. Also, they're going to teleport me to somewhere in Europe. They didn't say why, but I believe it's so I don't get recognized by any of my friends."
"That would make sense. After all, Daku has never once told anyone about the transformation method."
"Are you not worried about the problems?"
"Not really, 'cause they're easily dealt with, and if we deal with one, the other one will go away, too."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've HEARD from other Akuma that they teleport drafted Akuma with these... teleport... pad... thingies. The thing about them though, is that you can set the location of teleportation, so when Daku said 'randomized', he most likely meant 'scattered by using multiple teleport pads'."
"So, why don't we just force ourselves through to the teleport pads and set the location ourselves?"
Audrey thought for a bit.
"Actually, that'd probably be a bit easier. The place is only guarded by Titan's, so you and me could take them out pretty easily I bet. ESPECIALLY you, considering Silverblades are one of the strongest base types of Akuma."
"Base types? What do you mean?"
"I mean like the normal kinds that you can find more than one of. Examples of not that would be like... Daku or Kohoto."
"Ah, I see."
"Well, we should probably head to bed. Tomorrow afternoon isn't gonna come any quicker if we don't!"
"Yeah, that's true."
John and Audrey got into their beds.
"Good night, Audrey," John said.
Audrey chuckled.
"Yeah, good night," She smiled.
Audrey whispered something to herself.
"What was that?" John asked.
"Oh, don't worry about it," Audrey chuckled, turning off the room's lamp.
John and Audrey went to sleep, preparing themselves for one of the biggest days of their lives.