RU-RU-RUNEAS GREMORY! HEROINE OF THE UNDERWORLD! - Chapter 3

Date: 7900~ B.C.

Cain was dealt a critical piercing burning hit.

The Mark of Cain shined, as it's dreadful light covered his body.

Asmodeus screamed in his whole body burned with bits of bones showing. Seven parts of his body were torn off as if blown by bombs inside him.

Seven beams blasted out of Cain's shining body, hiting everything in the vicinity.

I quickly dodged the lone one headed for me.

Hyperion who was closest to Cain however didn't have time to do so.

And got the brunt of the retaliatory blast.

Hyperion screamed in pain, as the empowered plasma of the Flames of Passion. The flames shouldn't have had much of an effect against the Titan of Heavenly Light, but given their seven times strengthening, as well as the Mark of Cain being a divine curse, the attacks nature of being a 'retaliation' makes them bypass nearly all defenses.

Thus the titan did feel the attacks. Cracks formed on his armor, as body felt conceptual damage slam into it.

The flames also had another effect. Asmodeus' fires can affect emotions, amplifying sadness to depression, and irritation to rage.

So what would it do to someone who's existence had been nothing but wrath for over a hundred years?

"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Cain's roar shook very ground of the titan's palace.

Hyperion emblazed with rage from the effects of the flames as well, was about to show his displeasure to those of the insulting Eloah Factions. He had enough mental acuity to still think and plan.  

Sadly it meant nothing before Cain's anger, as before Hyperion could plan or react, Cain was upon him as the closest enemy.

The First Murderer was upon the titan, clawing, punching and kicking like an enraged monkey.

The Titan, a being of near primordial might, was bashed and beaten like a child, swung around from his ankles and slammed on every surface of the throne room.

Cain's aura of death and bloodshed had enlarged and surging larger and more intense. The very aura of Cain and his curse were burning Hyperion's divine body from its heat and corrosiveness.

I kept out of the way, running around trying to stay away from this fight. Hyperion looked like he was getting the Loki treatment by Hulk in the Avengers. Except it didn't stop after a few seconds, and progressively became more bloody.

Literally, Hyperion was getting beaten into a pulp. His divine blood was spilled all around the room, some of it even getting on my clothes. Eww.

"ENOUGH!" Hyperion bellowed, sending a shockwave of energy, like a dome of divine plasma in all direction.

I hid behind a pillar while shielding myself with magic barriers of all kinds. They shattered, I felt the shockwave hit me from the back, launching me out of the room.

I should have something broken, but thank god for devil physiology. Being an Ultimate Class Devil meant I was damn sturdy. Also, yes, I knew what I just said. Yes, I get headaches for thinking of Big G, which really shouldn't work, since the 'G' word isn't his name, it's a title or a descriptor.

Back to the present, I heard of screams of rage, as something slammed and thudded into a stone.

I looked back into the room to see that Asmodeus had managed to shield himself, but still look heavily burned. Heh, get wrecked, asshole!

More importantly, I saw Cain trapped glowing chains and net of light, that wrapped around his body, holding him to a pillar.

"I've had it! This ends now!" Hyperion cried out, as he shot upward to the sky, his throne room having an open roof. "I have entertained this foolish invasion long enough. It's time you all worthless celestial Angels and damned Devils alike know who the true rulers of the world are!" He shouted, his voice echoing and heard by everyone in Hyperionis by his will.

Hyperion began making a sphere of light, so strong, I felt it from where I was standing.

I noticed light gathering to the sphere, being shot from somewhere. I followed the light beam, to see that all the towers left in the city, the dozens and dozens of them began to activate. They lit up at the top, shining with collected sunlight, before being shot, delivered to the Titan of Heavenly Light.

"Sonuvabitch is making a Spirit Bomb." I said to myself.

Shit, shit, shit, shit!

Does he not care about his own city? His own people?

Maybe there's some special effect where it only hits his enemies like Fairy Law from Fairy Tail or something.

Or he doesn't care about his people, because they can survive or something, but the buildings will survive.

Regardless, I need to escape.

I cast a teleportation spell, because fuck this I'm outta here.

The spell fizzled out and didn't form.

"Hahahahahaa!" Hyperion laughed all the way from where he was in the sky like a second sun. He was busy making his ultimate boss attack, yet took the time to address me. "There is no escape from a Titan's judgement, worm!"

I saw a cube of sunlight be visible as it covered the whole of Hyperionis.

"Gremory, How dare you try to run like a coward! Where's your pride as a Devil?" Asmodeus said as he stood up.

"Shut it!" I shouted back reflexively.

Asmodeus froze. Not because my words affected him, but because of the sheer audacity of someone lower ranked, weaker than him speaking to him like that.

I didn't have time to plan anything, so I just went with my gut instinct.

I wrapped myself with demonic power, reinforcing and strengthening not just myself by my clothes and armor, everything.

I ran at Cain.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Asmodeus cried out, as he saw where I was heading. "Have you lost your mind?!"

I fired multiple blasts of concentrated demonic energy around Cain, at the pillar he was chained to. Cracks began to form, then I kept doing it to the top and bottom of the pillar Cain was on.

I ran at the pillar and broke it from behind.

"You!? Are you insane? No." Asmodeus voice lowered. "You're trying to attain glory, even now?!" He said, incredulous.

"I'm trying to stay alive!" I shouted as I grabbed the pillar with the screaming Cain, and flew up at the titan.

"No!" Asmodeus shouted as he flew after me. Thankfully he was still injured enough to not catch up right away. "I will not let you take the rewards of all my hard work!"

"Pitiful till the end." Hyperion said as he finished charging up his attack. "Hopelessly squirming against your death without any dignity. You are no different to mortals, Devil."

"Fuck you!" I didn't have a witty comeback.

"No, I shall not grant you the privilege." Hyperion laughed. "This is the end to all you who dare think you are divine, that you can stand up to true divinity, the true rulers of the world." He held the concentrated glowing Divine Sun above himself. And no, it wasn't a hyperpole. I didn't know how, but I somehow knew, that was an actual sun with fission and all, made of divine light. "Empyrean Authority."

Hyperion declared and waved down his arm. The Divine Sun followed.

It flew toward us, toward me.

Not that fast. I idly thought. Then again when you drop an unstoppable nuke, do you need to worry about speed, or won't you make it slow enough to watch your enemies' despair. If you're sadistic enough like a titan.

I threw the pillar with the chain Cain at the light bomb.

I flew, launching myself back at Asmodeus.

The Satan's eyes widened, as he barely had time to react before he crashed into him, grabbing him by the horns, and spun to have him between me and the bomb.

"You! What are you—dare you—!?"

I ignored the Satan's confused shouts as I was flying horizontally away from the sun, while expecting the blast at any moment.

Cain hit the Divine Sun.

The Divine Sun exploded. Once.

Then it exploded seven times, with Hyperion screaming and detonating just as well.

The shockwave that hit was too fast to comprehend.

I barely felt something crash against my back, as my whole being pushed away.

Asmodeus was screaming in my face in pain and horror. I felt the heat persist even as a strong force was blasting me away from the battlefield.

My hands burned as I couldn't shield them completely the divine heated shockwave, as I held Asmodeus' horns.

For miles and upon miles we flew away. Momentum slowed down. The moment we dipped toward the earth, I made another shield spell at my back. I never dispelled any of the shield spells, barriers or auras I had on.

This shield spell on my back, is meant to replicate the effects of a rubber ball. Bouncing to take away momentum.

I crash landed on the sandy ground and lifted into the sky again. I felt with Asmodeus pointed at the ground. I didn't give him the shield benefit, having him take the full brunt of the momentum.

Petty? Maybe, but fucker deserved it.

This happened a few more times, till finally I came to a stop.

I let go of Asmodeus' horns, or tried to. One hand let go. The other the skin was burnt stuck to the horn. I gritted my teeth and tried to pull away again and my hand came away with the horn stuck to it.

...Ooops.

I sighed and looked back to where we flew from.

Damn that's hell of a distance. There only smoke where there as once a city. I could see fire on the ground. Far too big to just call a fire. It was like a flaming ball engulfed everything where Hyperionis once was. I could see the remnants of the cube barrier breaking down.

I noticed a trail of smoke flying away from the giant smoke city-sized pillar. Like a meteorite offshoot.

And it was heading this way...

Oh! My brain finally caught on.

"Oh shit!"

The object pierced through sound as it crashed near where I was, the wind screaming from it's passing and impact.

Smoke and dust kick up in the air. I could feel the heat of where the object landed from where I was.

I wanted to crouch down and hide. To just bolt and run.

I tested my magic. I had enough to cast only a few spells. Enough to teleport back to the Underworld.

I'll just tell the King and Queen of Hell what happened and hope it works out. I'm too tired to plan shit right now.

I look back to where the crater was. Maybe it's nothing? Maybe it's just some item or artifact that survived the titan city's explosion?

Curiosity burned at me. I held the teleportation spell ready.

I climbed up the dune to look at where the object fell...

Oh.

It was Cain.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" He cried out in pain. "Grrrr—aaaah. Uuuurgh." He growled and grunted.

Well, more like the top half of Cain.

Everything from his lower torso was gone.

Well, "gone" but given the steam going off of him, I'd say he'd regenerating everything right now.

His skin was red and parts of it was because it was showing the muscles underneath. The skin was slowly remaking and sewing itself back together.

His regeneration seemed way much slower than when we were fighting back in the titan city.  

"HA! Of all the places I could have ended up, it had to be you Devil Whore." Cain laughed as he saw me. "So, your Luck truly was formidable in the end." He grunted and scowled like a wild animal. "So be it. Go ahead, demon. Take your prize."

"...What?" I asked confused. Bro, you don't have a lower half and just because I'm a devil doesn't mean I'm gonna rape you. That's racist.

Well, technically. Although I can see why he'd think that. Devils really need to stop doing that shit when we win.

We need a better PR team.

"What, do you need to gloat first? You only have so long to take my head, before you'd lose your chance. But then again, given the Lord sent me in this direction, he'd probably decided it's finally time for me to die." He was speaking more to himself now than to me. Cain started coughing up blood.

Damn, he definitely has some internal bleeding.

My eyes went to his still regenerating lower torso.

Oh. Right.

"I think you're already dying." I finally said.

"No." He coughed some blood again. Less this time. "I can only die when I'm killed. Or when the Lord deems it time for me to suffer in hell."

"...You are way too self-flagellating, you know that?" I could help but say, running his dialogue since I met him back in my head.

Cain laughed. It sounded like a hoarse lifeless thing.

"What is this? Is a Demon Whore now giving me lesson on virtue? Will you next tell me that I should forgive myself? HA—Gah," Cain tried to laugh only to cough some more.

"I'm a virgin, you asshole." I bite back. Which was a mistake, but honestly his attitude was annoying me for some reason.

"A Virgin Demon!? HAHAHA—GAAH!" Cain laughed some more and coughed blood some more. "Ooh, god. Is this how I die? From a tiny cur of a Devil, making me laugh to death? Is this a pleasant way to die, or a humiliating one, for I do not know?" He said laughing to himself.

...He's kinda pitiful, isn't he? I can't help but feel sorry the more I look at him.

 "What's with that look?" Cain smiled with contempt and surrender. "Have I truly fallen so low that even a demon would feel pity for me." Cain looked up to the sky in despair. "Lord, how much more suffering is enough?"

I looked back to the top of the dune. On the other side should be Asmodeus' unconscious body.

I don't have a reason to stay here now. I should just head on back to the Underworld and report everything before the Satans make up a story of my desertion or some shit. Or worse, Asmodeus wakes up.

I can probably take him out as he was now, given how critically injured he was, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea to actually have the Satan's blood on my hands.

"Well!" Cain's cry brought my attention back to him. "Get on with it already!" He glared back in defiance, yet didn't seem to move to protect himself, or put up a fight.

I looked at him and frown, my mind speeding around through thoughts and choices.

I sighed as what I felt I should do kept turning up in my mind.

"What the fuck am I doing?" I muttered to himself.

I looked back up to Cain, my eyes narrowed in resolve, and walk forward.

"Wha—!?" Cain shouted in surprise as I kneeled down next to him.

And pulled him into a hug against my chest.

"Let me guess, after the deed happened, they forgave you, didn't they?" I said.

"What?" Cain cried out, and pulled away. I let him. His teeth were clenched, his expression of an angry animal about to lunge and bite my throat out.

I grabbed his shoulder firmly and looked him in the eyes.

"I'm going to tell you something your parents should have said to you." I said. Confusion and dread filled his eyes. Yet also... hope?

"What are you—" He said slowly.

"Yes." I said firmly. "It is your fault."

Cain's eyes widened. All the fight seemed to have left him.

"What you did was wrong. The First Murder was wrong. Killing Abel intentionally was wrong. It was horrible. It was evil." I said so my wrong left no ambiguity. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

Cain was quiet for a long while. His eyes falling down, as if he couldn't face anything.

"...There is nothing I can do." He finally said, no fight in his voice. "I am damned for all eternity. I will never die. I will walk this earth tormented by my deed and hated by all till the end of time."

"Stop fighting whining!" I said back, making him snap his head back up with a glare.

"What do you know?" He shouted.

"I know that when you make a mistake, you either let yourself fall further into debauchery. Or you fix it." I said back.

"I can't undo what been done." Cain replied.

"And you rightfully shouldn't."

"What?" He growled.

"Even if you could somehow reverse the event, it still will not change that you still committed that crime, you still took that action. If you did so, it wouldn't change that your Sin will still continue to haunt you." I explained.

"What should I do then?!" He cried out. "What wisdom of the damned depth will you bestow upon me?" Cain said through teeth gritted smile.

"By living your life in atonement."

Odds are, he probably heard all this before. Yet for some reason, coming from me, a devil seemed to hit harder for him.

"...How?" He sounded so vulnerable. I put my hand over his head, patting him.

His hair was so rough against my hand, even thought it was long.

"Build. Create. Find a woman who would accept you. Make a family. Be a better father than you were as a son. Teach them right from wrong. Teach them not to do the mistakes you made. Teach them to ask for forgiveness if they do make a mistake, then follow it by action to show that they have changed for the better, and make amends." I removed my hand from his head, leaning into his face, with a serious expression and told him. "Live a life where you put out more good into the world than evil. You have forever. Keep doing it over and over until it's enough."

I said my part. I pulled away and stood up.

I began walking away. I have to carry Asmodeus' back, and come up with a good sounding story to give Lucifer and Lilith.

"Hey!" Cain called back. I stopped and half turned to look at him. "When will I know it's enough?"

How the fuck should I know? Bro, I have a limit to shounen speeches, I can't do this crap on repeat.

I went to shrug, but inspiration seemed to hit me this time.

"When you can look yourself in the mirror and not hate what you see." There. That sounded insightful and wisdom-y and all that.

I continued walking, now climbing up the dune.

Wait, why am I climbing? I can fly. I'm an idiot.

I jumped up—

"Wait."

And felt back down on the sand, as I lost my focus.

"What, dammit!" I said as I got up on my hands and knees, growling at this whiny boy.

I saw that Cain regenerated all his skin now, with only his legs left.

"Why did you help me?" He asked. "Why didn't you seek to kill me?" He glared at me with suspicion. "You know that doesn't mean I will be cordial with your kind, right?"

Bitch, I just gave you Talk no Jutsu! The least you can do is be nice back!

This is what I get for helping people. Argh!

"Ha." I let out a laugh. "I guess I just like helping pathetic people."

"Huh?" Cain grunted.

"It's cute." I chuckled, acting confident like I knew what I was doing. I stood up and brushed myself from the sand. "It would be boring if my enemies are too easy to beat up. So consider this to be your lucky day to have seen my grace, Pungo." I said, giving him a cheeky nickname.

"What did you call me?" He asked in confusion.

"It's Latin." I deadpanned. I called you 'Stab'. Or 'Prick'. Sounded funny enough.

"The fuck is Latin?" He grunted.

"...Oh right, that's not a thing yet. Don't worry, you'll figure it out." I waved him off.

"..." Cain look at me with a raised eyebrow.

"What?" I grunt back. I didn't like the look he was giving me.

Like he was starting to see me as kind or something. If word got out that Gremory was a kind devil even to her enemies, who knows what will happen.

Sure, later on, the Gremory Family being known as being kind to their servants is A-Okay, but not now when the Great War is still raging on.

"Are you sure you're a Devil?" Cain said with curiosity.

"HUH!?" I howled back like a gangster. "Shut up, Pungo and put some clothes on. You look like an unwashed monkey!" I flew up to go pick up the stupid Satan and go to the Underworld.

"Wow, those insults are weak. I've heard better my little sisters when they were less than a decade." Cain laughed to himself a little. "Huh, I think I'm beginning to understand seeing pathetic things as cute. A devil who's natural instinct is to aid a wailing human is kinda pathetic. So, cute."

I flipped him the middle finger.

I flew over the dune.

"What does that gesture mean?" Cain's voice echoed from behind me.

"It means 'Go Fuck Yourself'!" I shouted back.

I reach Asmodeus, grabbed him, unceremonously threw him over my shoulder and teleported back to Hell, Lilith City.

===x===

Present Time - 2000 A.D. 

"And that's how your Grandma Runeas met Cain." Zeoticus finished that story.

"Cain... Is my Uncle Pungo!?" Rias shouted.

"Well... yeah." Zeoticus said sheepishly.

"MY FAVORITE UNCLE IS THE FIRST MURDERER?! WHAT OTHER LIES HAVE I BEEN FED MY WHOLE LIFE?"

===x===

Omake: New Beginning for the First Son

Date: 7900~ B.C.

Cain had been walking for a long time across landmass the would one day be known as Georgia.

He didn't return back to the angels to join them on a new battlefield, where he would be hated and looked down upon, while he fought the enemies of God.

Simply subjecting himself to derision and jeering with eyes full of distrust and disgust wasn't atoning.

He wasn't sure on where he was going. Was he going back to where he and his parents once lived?

The land of Jerusalem and it's surroundings are in a constant war with the Forces of Hell.  

Should he leave everything behind and go even further east? Far away from the battles of God and Lucifer and swept up his family since time immemorial?

He didn't know.

It's been years since a devil of all things gave him wisdom on how to make amends. Sometimes he wondered if it was an angel disguised by the Lord, because any advice from an actual angel he'd feel the need to instinctively resist.

Runeas Gremory. That was the being's name.

She told him what he needed to hear, and regardless of there being machination or not, he was grateful.

Yet he wasn't sure how to begin to atone.

No people would accept him, even if they didn't know him. The Mark made sure they instinctively recognize him and his deed, even if they don't know his name or origin.

Cain, dressed as a traveler and covering his head went to a small town. The fields were covered by grass and sheep eating them. There were cows, bulls and other animals.

There were little people in this town. It was a place away from any big city.

It was calm and quiet here.

Maybe he can live here for a while. Just rest for a few years and plan on where to—

"Cain?"

Cain stilled.

Not because someone recognized him, but because he knew that voice.  

He turned to see the last person he expected to see.

She was a woman in shepherds' clothing.

She was young with eyes filled with age, wisdom and intimate recognition.

"Avan?"

It was his sister. Not another random human made by other gods.

But one of the blood of Adam and Eve.

A human that knew him. Grew up with him, and was personally affected by his Sin.

Cain wanted to move. To run and leave for another land—

"How have you been?" Avan asked. Her voice was... calm. Her smile polite.

There was no repulsion or disguise.

She simply greeted her brother that she hadn't seen for so long.

Cain tempered his impulses for now.

"Alive." He said with a chuckle.

He would meet with Avan for now. Talk with her, sit with her, eat with her.

Then he would leave.

He still didn't know what he needed to do to atone, or if he could even find a woman not repulsed by his Mark.

"How... have you been?" Cain gentle asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Living." Avan said back sarcastically, mirror his first response.

Cain chuckled. A sound that actually felt genuine to his ears.

For now it was... nice... to see family again.

Maybe... he could stay awhile, with those around him not being repulsed by him.