The appearance of the newcommmer cause quite a stir and several people began to whisper among themselves. The crowded streets were filled with speculations over who the person was and what was happening. Morrigan paid them no mind.

Seeing the figure, Morrigan 's eyes went dark and cold.

"Grace, dear, head back to the ship. We wont be staying the night afterall." She grabbed her daughter's hand and pulled her along.

"But mommy--"

"Do as i say and keep quiet." Morrigan's voice was chilling. Grace whimpered slightly. Her mother, when was the last time she used that voice on her?

"Mommy, do. . . do you know that woman?" With her unnnatually keen eyesight, she easily spotted the stunningly beautiful woman even from such a long distance.

Morrigan stiffened slightly. "Of course not." She said nothing more, but looked back with an anxious expression. This made Grace more worried. Her heart started beating erratically now upon seeing the face of her usually calm and cool mother so disturbed.

Morrigan for her part felt guilty. What she said was a lie, for she knew the woman very well. . . And their history was both long and dark.

Morrigan wasted no time in getting away. She maneuvered her daughter and the white fox quickly through the crowds of people and winding streets, hoping that things would not come to a fight. If Gehenna spotted her, then. . .

----------------------------

Prior to her arrival, Gehenna was hurtling through space and time, her body immaterial as she sped towards her destination.

However, as she neared the planet she felt a certain power come over her that messed with her trajectory and threw her off slightly. It seemed to smash into her and her mind recieved a heavy blow. As she had no physical body at that moment, she was extraordinarily vulnerable.

After regaining her senses, she found herself in the sky above a medium-sized city. She took a moment to get her bearings and held a hand to her head in pain.

A stern voice called out. "Attention, you are currently trespassing the borders of Wake City, state your name and purpose or you will be taken into custody. You have 10 seconds to comply." A man, clad in silvery armor and wearing a red robe upon his back, spoke out loudly. His salt-and-pepper hair swayed in the wind as he hovered several feet away from her, giving him a slightly heroic look about him.

Gehenna was still in a bit of a daze, the emergency landing doing damage to her head more than she thought. She heard the words, but they annoyed her as they they sounded much louder than they should have. In her current state her head was ringing and she was in no mood to be shouted at.

The seconds ticked by until finally the man called out once again. He seemed reluctant to speak and his words were ground out through clenched teeth. The reason for this was something Gehenna was oblivious to and she didnt care to know in the first place.

"Your time limit is up, you will now be forcefully siezed and taken to an interrogation room where you will answer questions regarding your appearance here. Do not attempt to resist," With that, several figures surrounded her, each one clad in the same armor as the man before her and all wearing a black cape on their backs. Their faces looked menacing and cold.

Gehenna touched her head, her vision blurry. Her head hurt, hurt more than when it was attacked by Asmodeus' mental strikes. Why did it hurt so much, why was her head feeling as if it was about to split open?

However, the strange sensation suddenly stopped.

In its place she felt a certain sense of clearity.

Gehenna breathed out slowly. Only after several seconds did she truly recover.

How odd. What was that? That sharp, unbearable pain?

She shook her head. No, right now that wasnt important.

She looked around at the men, one of them reaching out to grab her.

She reacted on instinct.

Raising a hand, she flicked her arm out.

The motion was smooth and graceful.

An instant later the man's head dropped from his shoulders.

His body fell, making a slow descent to the ground in the eyes of his comrades.

The heroic-looking man from before seemed almost sad but it had nothing to do with the fallen man. He shook his head, and gave out a order that made him clench his fist.

" All soldiers, attack. Take her down."

-------------------------

Morrigan watched as Gehenna took on the Immortals. It was one-sided in every way.

Though Immortals were not all that common in this planet, cities like this had many protecting it. But these ones were a bit above the rest, seeming to be half-a-step into the Celestial stage. All they needed was to refine four elemental orbs and a core made from universal energies.

After the harmonization process that would produce divine energy, that would be considered true Celestials.

Morrigan, at her stage of power, was easily able to tell what they needed to do do advance to the next level.

But unfortunately even peak-stage Immortals would not be Gehenna's match. Most gods and demons feared her, how could they ever hope to scratch her?

But they didnt know her, they couldnt feel her power. Such was the disparity between them.

Gehenna. from what Morrigan could see, created a literal rain of blood. everytime the giant blade ripped through an enemy, crimson liquid flowed down below.

Now reinforcements were called and the bloodbath truly began. That only caused more deaths, the stink of sweat and metallic scent of blood clearly picked up with Morrigan's superior sense of smell. She didnt collect the souls of the fallen.

It was too risky.

High above the city countless men and woman gathered to attack the intruder.

" Grace, come on. Lets leave." They reached the ship after several long minutes. By now every citizen was in a state of panic. The battle between Gehenna and the city guards escalated at a unbelievable pace, causing the downfall of buildings. Oddly the people began to siappeare by the hundreds of thousands. She sensed them disappearing rapidly.

Just what was going on?

There were many stragglers though and It was utter chaos everywhere she looked. The previous full streets were nearly empty now. How could so many people disappear so fast?

She didnt waste much time thinking about this and looked at the sky.

It wasntt getting any darker somehow and stayed an ash-grey color.

Bodies dropped every second as that monster continued her rampage.

Thye didnt even put up a fight. They must know that. It was almost as if they were simply trying to buy time. . .

The way they threw themselves at Gehenna's figure, the way the disregarded their own safety. . .

Morrigan felt disgust. She was not concerned over their deaths. But Gehenna made everything more dark and gruesome somehow. Simply by seeing her hear caused Morrigan to feel a certain revulsion.

Gehenna, that monster, . . . that thing. . . shouldnt even exist. It didnt deserve to live.

This was Morrigan's sincere thoughts

"Mommy, w-what's happening?" The little girl was wide-eyed as she looked at the carnage above. Never before had she seen such a display of brutality.

She looked fearfully at the woman causing all this and felt her knees go a bit weak. She felt terrified, an instinctive part of her being telling her to run and hide.

Her hands trembled slightly as she held onto the fox.

From somewhere deep down she felt a sense of absolute dread, a feeling of utter helplessness as she looked at the woman from afar. The woman's figure was so animalistic that she could almost see an aura of crimson come out from her body.

She's scary, that woman's scary and dangerous, the little girl thought.

Grace watched with unblinking eyes as the woman flew into a mindless rage and killed everything in sight. Faintly, Grace heared a strange sound. It was beast-like and feral, sending chills down her spine. Did it come from the woman?

Grace considered herself fairly strong, but the very thought of even standing in front of that woman made her throat tighten.

"Dont worry dear. Dont look, okay? Just concentrate on my voice and get on the ship." Morrigan came behind her daughter and placed a hand over her eyes, speaking softly, guiding her onto the ship. Grace was staring at the scene for longer than she should and Morrigan felt her daughter's fright.

Her wide eyes, the quickening of her breath, the way she stood still as a statue, all those were signs of how disturbed she was by the sight.

Not that Morrigan didnt understand. Gehenna had a way of making every move, every action, seem utterly terrifying.

Her mere presence caused one to feel as if they were slowly going insane. It was something subtle and hard to pick up on.

It waited at the back of the mind, a certain coldness, a feeling of despair that made you nervous and jittery like thousands of spiders crawling inside your skin.

It was sinister, unnatural in every sense of the word.

But too few ever noticed this. They wouldnt notice, because most of the time they either ran in the opposite direction of Gehenna or attacked her directly. They didnt take time to understand.

No one liked Gehenna. No one loved her, no one cared for her. She was simply a being that would forever remain shunned by others simply because she existed.

Being near her invoked a sense of wrongness in others, causing them to want to avoid her at all costs.

And yet nearly none could identify this aversion to her. Most didnt question it. This is why they felt a deep sense of fear and hate for the woman. They knew instinctively that she was not right.

That she didnt belong.

But even if they couldnt put that to words, they felt it clear as day. How could Grace not feel it as well? No, it could even be said she felt it even more strongly than others?

"There, that's good." Morrigan whispered into her daughter's ear gently, stroking her hair to calm her. " Now, lets go."

Suddenly a cold feminine voice was heard behind them. " Morrigan, leaving so soon? What, you dont even take the time to greet an old friend?"

-----------------------------

Several moments before.

What's going on. . .? I'm so close. I can feel him nearby. Where is he? Why isnt he here?

She cursed inwardly as she severed the arm of an attacker.

Loki, you bastard, what happened during my coming here? That strange power that changed the place of my arrival, what was that? Was it your doing? I knew . . . that I shouldnt have trusted you. No matter which version you are, I was a fool to listen to you. . .

It was only a few minutes since the battle had started but it was already almost over. It was almost boring, that way they had charged at her.

She held a bloody object in her hand. It was the severed head of the red-cloaked man from before. His eyes were wide and lifeless.

Right about now loud voices were heard, shouts of terror and and screams of despair. Gehenna found it almost amusing. But their fears upon seeing the pile of bodies falling to the ground were needless. Unless they atacked her, why would she bother with them?

Suddenly she spotted two figures below. Both of them had snow white hair, and one had red eyes like blood.

Gehenna stared, shocked, at woman. A chilling light entered her eyes. Slowly, she descended upon their location, her entire being filled with killing intent.

The large blade hovering at her side produced a strange vibration as they neared, but she didnt notice it over the haze of red that entered her vision.

------------------------

At the same time.

In a tall building that overlooked the short-lived battle a large, imposing man looked on with a slight frown upon his face. His eyes were a deep green that glowed ominously. He was wearing dark gold armor and four wings sprouted from his back. His golden hair was long, tied into a tail that reached his back.

"It appears Captain Mavers has taken his last breath . A pity. He performed his duty well even though he knew the outcome would result in his death. A fine man. His family, perhaps I should pay them a visit personally. . . " He whispered to himself.

A voice came from behind him, pulling him from his thoughts.

"My lord, we have already begun to evacuate the citizens. The short-range Teleportaion Arrays you had constucted are serving us well. A fair majority have already departed. They will soon be relocated and brought to safety." From the shadows stepped out a muscular man wearing a blue cloak, looking quite similar to the other man. The two could almost be considered brothers.

The man nodded. "Very good. I thought she would arrive later, though this is fine as well. Have you notified the old crone of Gehenna's appearance?"

"No need, my lord. She had already been aware of her the moment she stepped outside the portal. Also, I have been told that the crone has already given the little girl the ring."

"Excellent. With that in her possession everything will progress much smoother."

"Indeed, it wont be long till it appears in his hands."

"Well, let's depart. Though I would like to see his arrival, we have things to take care of. "

"You mean. . .?"

"Yes. It's about time we pay a visit to the others after such a long time apart. Hermes has already completed his part and the crone has done hers. Now we need to do ours."

"And what about Gehenna? Are we certain she would do what they want? She seems a bit too much of a wildcard, that one."

"As long as she gets what she wants we will have no problems from her. Though her involvement was not originally included in their plans it makes little difference. She desires only one thing. So long as she acquires it, we have nothing to worry about. Besides, our goals are not too different anyway. What she wants and what the rest of us want are in some ways quite similar." He said.

The other man frowned. " Pardon my rudeness, but I dont like the idea of trusting her with that responsibility."

" Irrelevent. There is truly no one better at this point. If we waited any longer, the old crone would have long since enacted her own plans."

" . . .Im not too sure if she hasnt already." The other man said quietly, thinking of the four infants from long ago that the crone had once shown him. Even now, that dry cackle and milky white eyes of hers sent shivers down his spine.

The winged man shrugged. " Perhaps she has. In any case we can cross that bridge when we get to it, as the saying goes." He waved a hand in dismissal. "Enough of this. We are on a tight schedule. Come."

"Yes, my lord."

With a bright flash of light, the two were gone.

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Author's notes.: So my Econ grade is probably a D or C now. Meaning im in the clear. I have the rest of the week off and am likely going to get another chapter or two out during this time.