FORBIDDEN - Tears Of Fire

 FORBIDDEN - Tears Of Fire

Story By Onyxe Blade

10:15 AM inside the castle of Mayland's current ruler, King Onyx Carnival. Inside of the King's office sits his personal assistant and, more importantly, his Leading Lady, Yura Mikan. In front of her stood two sages native to the Royal Lands: a young platinum blonde-haired female wearing a yellow short-sleeved jacket with matching color shades and a white shirt beneath her jacket that stops right at the top of her midriff. The two shooting star tattoos on the side of her belly button are visible, and she's wearing brown and dark brown striped pants and boots. Next to the woman was a man with short blonde hair dressed in a revealing shinobi-like outfit. These two individuals were Helinda Carmichael, AKA Helly, and Bevan Flores. Seeing Helly wearing her shades gifted by Onyx a few years ago on her face while indoors once again irritated Yura. Especially since this wasn't the first time Yura had addressed this matter with the young female sage.

Yura: Helinda, how many times must I tell you to remove your shades when you're indoors?

Helly: Do I need to take my shades off every time you address me? Onyx, James, Anna, and the others don't give a shit if I wear my shades in the castle or anywhere for that matter.

Yura: Do I look like Onyx or the others to you? When I address you, you take your shades off! Do I make myself clear?

Helly gives Yura a nasty look before removing her shades off her eyes onto her forehead. Satisfied with Helly having followed her order, Yura proceeds to explain the reason for summoning both Helly and Bevan to the castle today. While it was obvious it was for an assignment, the two sages did not know as of yet of the task Yura had assigned for them.

Bevan: BTW, before you inform us of our mission, where are Onyx, James, and Anna?

Yura: Onyx is meeting with the Empress of China, the King of Thailand, Russia's President, and the King of Radium concerning a current issue that ties in with your assignment today. James is, of course, accompanying Onyx on the trip for protection and simple camaraderie. As for Anna, she is with August and Vritra, dealing with a situation in North Snowlia. Now, for your assignment, we have located a secret stronghold of Cthulhu's cult members. The location is, oddly enough, in Imbessia within Rogue City. The two of you will go there and scour out any useful intel to aid us in our ongoing battle to keep Cthulhu from gaining too much influence within our world.

Helly: Goddamit! I wish that fucking alien never ended up coming to our world. That fucker has been a pest long before I was even born. I would have thought Kthanid would have already found a solution to remove his brother from our world.

Yura: That's easier said than done considering Cthulhu had embedded himself deeply into our world. We weren't aware of Cthulhu's presence until long after the death of Akodomal and his cohorts. The only reason our world hasn't fallen victim to Cthulhu is due to us being stronger than the beings from the previous worlds he has vanquished. In a way it's fortunate that while we may not be Eldritch Gods, we are powerful beings ourselves. Otherwise, we may have fallen prey to him already, which is why he's been trying to influence the beings of our world in order to weaken us.

Bevan: Well, we need to get this fucker out of our world and real soon. We cannot afford another situation like the Five Year War or any type of war for that matter.

Helly: You weren't even alive during the Five Year War…

Bevan: History books exist for a reason, Helly. Besides, we're literally proteges of the man and woman who fought during said war: Hellin and Onyx, respectively.

Helly: Onyx and Helly are both MY senseis and even raised me like a surrogate child during my teens. You were solely trained by Onyx.

Bevan: Tomato, tomahto!

Yura: Anyways, if you two are done with your senseless prattle, it's time for you two to get ready for your mission. You're going to meet a teleporter named Marabelle Wolf, a blue and black-haired woman who will await you two at the Cinnamon Wine Tavern only an hour away from the castle. Once you meet up with Marabelle, she'll teleport you both just outside of Rogue Town. From that point onward, the rest is on you two. Now get a move on. Time is of the essence.

Helly puts her shades back on her face as both she and Bevan dismiss themselves from Yura in order to begin their mission. Shortly after meeting up with Ms. Wolf, she teleports the duo just outside of Rogue Town as requested before taking her leave. Helly and Bevan begin making their way towards Imbessia. Bevan uses his Shinobi skills, and Helly uses her empathic abilities in order to reach their destination with as little attention as possible, if any at all. The duo having reached Imbessia, Bevan uses his ninja abilities to seek out the potential stronghold, knowing for certain it will be hidden from plain view. Bevan then summons his green-colored cat familiar, Todoh, to aid him in exposing the location of the stronghold. Todoh greets both his summoner and Helly before leading them towards the stronghold. Minutes later, the three of them are faced with a giant tree. However, it appears to be merely a very tall and wide tree. Helly senses human emotions within the tree. That's when Todoh reveals to them that the tree is nothing more than a physical illusion. Todoh then orders Bevan to perform an illusion break technique as the scantily clad shinobi begins performing swift hand signs. Seconds after performing the hand signs, the illusion breaks before them as the tall tree fades from existence, and now before them is a black, dark green fort with alien-like symbols. Bevan then kneels on the ground and pets Todoh, thanking his familiar for the assist before making his cat companion disappear. Bevan and Helly take a moment to prepare themselves before entering inside of the fort. Cautiously making their way through the fort, Helly senses the emotions of several individuals, confirming what she sensed earlier when she and Bevan faced the illusion. Bevan calmly tells Helly to follow his lead since he too was able to sense the life energy from the individuals inside of the stronghold. The pair continued sneaking inside the stronghold in order to find anything useful within. Suddenly the two sages find themselves surrounded by several cloaked figures. Shocked by the fact that neither of them sensed the enemies until they appeared before them, both Bevan and Helly prepare themselves for battle.

Bevan: How in the hell didn't we detect their presence?

Cult Member: This building enhances the abilities of all those who serve under Lord Cthulhu. We sensed your arrival the moment you shattered our illusion. My fellow members and I allowed you two to roam around in here until we were ready to strike. We are able to mask our presence as we please, so you two only sensed us because we allowed it! Now it's time to obliterate you two from existence!

Helly: Fat fucking chance of that happening! It may be nine against two, but we'll be the ones coming out victorious... right, Bevan?!

Bevan: Yeah, but I guess this would be a great time to summon Todoh to help us take these losers down!

Bevan summons Todoh once again, and the three of them take on the cult members. While the chaotic magic wielded by the disciples of Cthulhu proved to be quite powerful, both Helly and Bevan outmaneuvered the cult members, combined their own magical talents, and defeated them. Celebrating their victory over the cult members and unaware that the real battle was about to begin, Helly suddenly sensed unimaginable malice heading towards her and Bevan. Charging towards the intruders was a very tall and imposing purple-skinned male demon wearing black shorts to cover his otherwise exposed body. Moving at a high-paced speed, the demon prepared to deliver a devastating punch towards Bevan, who had frozen in place due to shock. Quickly, Helly knocks Bevan out of harm's way but at the cost of being struck by the demon instead, causing her to be sent flying before crashing to the ground, the sounds of several bones breaking in the process.

Bevan: HELLYYYYY!!!!

Purple Skinned Demon: FOOLISH! Brave but foolish girl, but at least she died a swift death! However, as for you, Twink! I'm going to make your death slow and painful as I sacrifice your life force to Lord Cthullu.

Bevan: Asshole! I'll make you fucking pay for what you did to my friend! Time for you to die at the hands of the Male Kunoichi!

Alongside his green-colored cat familiar, Todoh, Bevan uses his array of ninja techniques to battle against the Purple Skinned Demon. The demon revealed his name to be Agunos, the Raging Purple Acolyte of The All Mighty Cthulhu. Agunos countered Bevan's attack by using his own demonic powers enhanced by Cthulhu's otherworldly abilities. Bevan, along with Todoh's assistance, tries their earnest to take down Agunos, but the demon proves too much for them as he strikes Todoh with a tentacle that sprouted out from his hand. This forced Todoh to unsummon himself, leaving Bevan to fight the demon alone. Bevan uses a technique to increase his movement speed, which takes a toll on his chakra. Bevan dashes in the air like a wild bee before landing down on Agunos's face with his ass. He drove the demon down with the momentum of his body, with his ass planted on the demon. Able to feel the saliva of the demon on his anus, Bevan immediately jumps off of Agunos and leaps high into the air once more as he prepares a powerful ninja-based attack. However, before he can complete the proper hand signs to perform said attack, Agunos once again sprouts out a tentacle from out of his hand and strikes Bevan out mercilessly from the air. Bevan, unable to stop himself from falling, crashed onto the ground hard. Exhausted from using so much chakra to attempt to defeat Agunos, the male Kunoichi is unable to continue fighting and fears the worst was about to fall upon him. However, as Agunos attempts to walk over and finish off Bevan, the demon is surprised upon seeing Helly rise up from the ground. Shockingly, her body is back to normal, minus the tears in her clothing. Enraged, Helly sets herself ablaze and charges towards Agunos. The demon sprouts out tentacles from both of his hands, but Helly's flames protect her as she moves closer to her target. Unable to defend himself in time, Agunos stares down in horror as he sees Helly's fiery hand driven right into his chest as she grabs a hold of his heart. Helly then mercilessly burns the demon from inside of his body. Agunos tries to muster the strength to fight Helly off of him, but the enraged sage increases her flames as the demon begins crying out in agony. The tears from his sobbing caused a stream to take form while he was being burned alive.

Helly: Tears of Fire!

Helly finished burning Agunos alive, and by burning his heart, she had ensured he would not be able to regenerate and thus die from the burning. Afterwards, Helly runs over to the injured Bevan, who thanks her while just remembering his partner's self-regenerative abilities. Helly also thanks Bevan for keeping Agunos busy while she repaired her bones and the rest of her body uninterrupted. The two make their way out of the stronghold and are shocked when they see a butterscotch-skinned woman with long light lavender and silver hair wearing a revealing white outfit. Helly and Bevan quickly realize that it's Nikiema, the Foul-Mouthed Angel.

Helly: What in the fuck are you doing here?

Nikiema: I can ask you the same fucking question, bargain bin Hellin!

Helly: Girl, fuck you! Anyways, can you please heal Bevan? He got injured during our battle by one of Cthulhu's acolytes, who was also a demon.

Nikiema: Well, I guess you two fuckers are in luck that I happened to be doing some surveillance in this area this evening. Just doing my part to combat evil wherever its ugly ass lurks. Anyways, lay the twink down so I can use my holy powers to heal him.

Bevan: Thank you so much, Niki.

Nikiema: You're welcome, and that's Nikiema to you, lemon head!

Helly: Less yapping, more healing.

Nikiema: Just as insufferable as the bitch who you take after.

After Nikiema heals Bevan, the three discuss what has transpired moments before her arrival. Nikiema then takes off as she returns to Heaven. Bevan and Helly return to The Royal Lands. The next day, Helly is enjoying breakfast at Toot Toot Affogato, the famous coffee shop owned by Utakata Affogato. Enjoying a grape latte alongside her mandarin cream cheese bagel, Helly reflects on her mission yesterday with Bevan and remembers how shit would have hit the fan had she not had her healing abilities. Remembering that once upon a time, she despised having copied Hellin Strongs’s powers the day she was rescued by her a few years prior. Now it was because of that very power that ensured both Bevan's and her survival. They returned back to Yura Mikan with their findings in the stronghold hidden in Rogue Town. Helly then pulls out her phone and surfs the net as Mingxia, a worker at Toot Toot Affogato and a practitioner of dessert-themed magic, comes over to Helly and places a plate of raspberry cream-filled sugar cookie pie in front of her.

Mingxia: It's on the house, so it's not added onto your tab. It's a new treat that Utakata Senpai made, and he wants customers to try it before putting it on the menu. Today is your lucky day, Helly.

Helly thanks Mingxia before the Chinese woman returns to the kitchen. Helly then returns to her phone and continues to enjoy her breakfast.

THE END