Jade to Scarlet, Rubies to Amethyst

Mirrors

Mirrors

Akari looked at the mirrors in the hell and laughed. Kian had filled her in on what they were before the two got to the hell. Apparently this was the hell of the Mirrors of Retribution - where those who have escaped punishment get shown their true horrific selves.

Akari had committed this sin. In fact, she had committed it more than once. Yet when the mirrors showed her herself, she was unfazed, not even bothering to acknowledge the images shown. It was honestly pathetic, that a few mirrors could torment anybody, much less her.

This is definitely the least threatening layer, she thought. Kian quickly shielded a hand over her as she was about to continue walking. "What?!" Akari questioned.

"You just made him hear us, idiot! Look straight!" Kian replied while pointing. With just a glance she knew exactly who it was - a face she never wanted to see again appeared in front of her line of sight. Sun Wukong. Sun freaking Wukong himself.

"Glad you ended up here, traitor," Akari spat once she saw him, "you deserve far worse than some reflections and glass." Wukong blinked, "Of course you still harbour hatred against me... let me guess, you want information?"

Akari drew yàn, "Of course I do. The real question is - will I have to take it, or can I simply receive it?" Wukong sighed, "I'm afraid it'll have to be the first, fox girl. I'm not allowing you to obtain such valuable things without a fight." He pulled his Jingu Bang out of his ear and made it grow. "Expected," Akari's expression morphed to one of mischief, "so, care to spar?" She asked as she got into a fighting stance. "It'd be my pleasure, bitch." Wukong smiled.

Without another word, Akari summoned a dagger of flame and threw it directly at Wukong, attempting to pierce his heart. Wukong dodged and retaliated by making his weapon grow longer and using his Jingu Bang as sort of a fencing blade.

Akari jumped back. She knew that she was usually slightly more skilled than the monkey king, however she was in hell right now, and hell wasn't on her side.

She wheezed in pain as the monkey king managed to land a hit on her on the side. "Yield your weapon and tell me the truth," Akari said weakly, attempting to charm him. It didn't work.

Wukong smiled innocently as he continued to attack, shaking the ground as he did so. "Your cheap tricks aren't going to work here," he informed, "hell is on my side. Our side."

Akari smirked through the pain. She knew she couldn't keep fighting fire with fire, so she switched to defense. Lowering yàn a little, she kept fighting, dodging most of the attacks that were thrown at her and recovering from the rest.

When she saw that she had worn Wukong down, that's when she decided to strike. She jumped up and propelled herself into the air, throwing yàn on the ground as she did so.

All that was heard from her was a quick command of jià, mount, and off she went. She concentrated on her mind, ignoring all of her surroundings completely and going into a state of trance.

Wukong's eyes widened as he anticipated what she was about to do. With an ear-shattering sound and a boom of thunder in the distance, all the mirrors in the layer of hell were exploded into nothing but a few shards of glass, reduced to their true selves as well.

In place of them? Naught but a few wisps left in the air, slowly reducing themselves to nothing as well. Wukong stepped back a bit, ready to defend himself from all directions, yet Akari was too quick.

With a few hacks here and a few stabs there, Akari had brought the monkey king to his knees. "Wukong, Deceased Immortal of The Fourth Layer, do you yield to the Scarlet Emperor?"

Wukong's eyes glinted with mischief as Akari said those exact words, "No. I do not. And I will never." Akari sighed, "I would tell you to never say never, but it appears you're going to be right this time," she said as she raised her sword.

Wukong grunted, "No, I'd be wrong." Akari raised an eyebrow and lowered the sword to finish the job, leaving a trail of flame as she did, yet when her blade was brought down, the only thing that remained were embers, remnants of an immortal using their power.

"Of course the coward ran away..." She muttered as Kian patted her on the back. "It's fine," he reassured, "we'll get the information we want eventually. Let's just head on for now." Akari nodded and grabbed Kian's hand, "Let's."

Just as the word was spoken however, all the demons stopped in their tracks. "Ox-head!" Kian summoned. "You stupid little-" Akari stopped herself as she realized her partner was talking about the god.

Sure enough, the ox-headed god appeared out of the ground. "Why didn't you summon both of them this time?" Akari whispered to Kian. Kian gave her a face that said it all. "Guarding doors, remember?! You can't have both of them gone and have some spirit get sorted into the wrong hell and evade punishment..."

Akari sighed, "'K, whatever." Kian gave her a small and unappreciative nod before turning to Ox-head again. "We need your help," he stated. "Not really, I could've figured it out myself..." Akari muttered from aside.

Kian slapped her. "You still don't even know Ox-head and Horse-face's names properly and they're guardians of hell, how do you expect anybody to believe that you of all people could figure out why the demons are all suddenly acting weird?!"

Akari shrugged. "Valid," she admitted, "although you never asked me first either." Kian facepalmed physically and mentally, "Whatever, just let Ox-head answer the question already so we can stop disturbing his job. I can NOT afford to pay him extra salary for this, I already tipped him five souls earlier!"

Akari blinked. "You pay in- nevermind I'll ask later..." Kian gave her a look of approval before turning back to Ox-head. "So?" Ox-head was still contemplating before he settled on a somewhat likely answer: "Well, my lord... I believe the demons have been... freed from something." He paused in the middle of his sentence at times, looking for the right words.

Kian raised his eyebrow in intrigue. "Care to tell us more?" Ox-head shook his head, "Not much more to go off of, I apologize. While I'm here, may Horse-face and I get that raise we've been talking about soon? After my lord succeeds in his quest, of course."

Kian sighed, "I'll think about it. Depends on my mood after I succeed." Ox-head nodded in appreciation and vanished into the shadows of the underworld. "So," Akari said, breaking the silence, "what was that about paying in souls?"

Kian blinked, "Ah," he said awkwardly, not sure how to respond, "that. You see the term soul being used was for your sake, so that you would better understand. I'm not actually paying my underlings with the spirits that get punished here, obvious. It's more so soul essences, as in, the lightweight parts of souls that get shed here. Currency is used for buying many useful things. Get out of hell free tickets, man eating ghosts that have been starved for a thousand years, and..."

"Shut," Akari stated, "I don't wanna know anymore. Let's just get on with it so we can finally get out of this stupid place." Kian sighed, "It's not a stupid place, Akari. It's just another part of the realm. Your realm, might I add. Respect it like you would anywhere else. This stupid place has been my home once. And it still is sometimes." Akari looked down at the rocky floors of the underworld. "Sorry," she murmured quickly. "What was that?" Kian asked. "Sorry..."

"Didn't hear you!" Kian teased. "I SAID SORRY YOU... YOU... Whatever." Akari huffed. She was just about ready to leave the wretched place behind and flash straight back to her palace, but she knew she couldn't do that anymore. She was in too deep, she had lost her power to do that already. More importantly, she was doing it for Kian's sake.