Chapter Seven: All Downhill From Here

Yuri Mariya, just had every one of her expectations shattered in two sentences by the Campione right in front of her. Any speech she had prepared to deviate his terrible wrath, so that only she may suffer -and not the innocent citizens of the country- died in her mouth.

She expected many things after gaining knowledge of his great and terrible reputation. The city burning to the ground, rivers of blood running down the streets, and many, many different acts of pain and suffering inflicted on the people of Japan.

Being greeted in a silly manner with homemade cookies and Coca-Cola were not on that list.

So there she was, too stunned to say anything to Jack Gehrman, the most terrifying Campione in recorded history. A teenager in her school year, who slew a god beyond anything any Campione had ever encountered. A child, in the eyes of the world, with infamy that surpassed the Devil known as Sasha Dejanstahl Voban.

Flash!

"A-Ah…?" Yuri made a startled sound as she blinked the spots out of her eyes.

As she regained her vision, she heard snickering.

"Hahaha...Shizuka's going to kick my ass when she sees this." He grinned as he messed with his phone. "Worth it."

"Y-Your Lordship I-"

He cut Yuri off. "Ah, I'm so sorry, that was incredibly rude of me Mariya-san. You have my sincerest apologies, but the face of sheer bewilderment you made was so amusing I had to take a picture of it."

Without time to even say a word, Jack's eyes flashed red a blue, and in a beautiful flurry of divine particles of energy, a set of chairs and a fancy glass table appeared.

He pulled out one of the chairs and motioned for her to sit, in a gentlemanly fashion.

"Please, sit. I'm sure that standing the whole time during a conversation of such obvious importance would be rather tiring."

Though his words came out kind and in a professional manner, but Yuri took them as an absolute order.

The small amount of bloodlust that he seemingly didn't notice that he was leaking out was like a dagger gently pressed against her throat.

Do as he says or die!

Her survival instinct screamed at her.

Yuri had to actively stop herself from trembling as she sat in the chair presented to her.

Jack took the items out of the bags he carried and set them down on the table. A sizable bento box, presumably where he said the before mentioned cookies, and a two-liter bottle of Coca-Cola.

In another flash of red and blue, two wine glasses materialized on the table, a few ice cubes in each.

I-Is this some kind of test…? Yuri questioned the situation. I-If I mess up here, then...everyone will die. But...I can't read him.

"Mariya-san, you alright?" Jack asked.

It was only by pure force of will that Yuri didn't let out a squeak of surprise.

It seemed that during her panicked thoughts, Jack had already filled both wine glasses with soda and opened to bento of cookies.

On one hand, this situation was absolutely horrifying to her.

On the other...those cookies looked great.

"So… Want some cookies?" Jack asked, pushing the bento box towards her.

Yuri froze in abject horror. This had to be some kind of test.

"I-I couldn't possibly take any, your Lordship." Oh goodness, her voice shook, she'd shown weakness.

Jack frowned and sighed. "Okay, this is pathetic, even by my standards? Am I really that horrifying?"

Yuri blinked, she expected many responses, but him sort of looking like a kicked puppy wasn't one of them.

"Listen, I'm setting the record straight right now. I'm not a psychopathic, bloodlust fueled, madman. Do you really think Japan would even be standing right now if I was anything like the reports the History Committee gave you, Mariya-san?"

Yuri paused. Well, he...does have a point.

Perhaps the reports that Amakasu gave her were greatly exaggerated, but she would hold any sort of judgment until she was certain of his personality.

"Mariya-san, I promise you, I'm not going to go all Jason Voorhees on the populace anytime soon." Jack said reassuringly.

Yuri blinked. "Jason Voorhees?"

This time Jack blinked. "You've never seen Friday The 13th?"

"N-No…?"

"Nightmare on Elm Street?"

She shook her head.

"Alien? The Thing? IT? Halloween?"

Jack continued listing off movies Yuri had never heard of. Though that was mostly because of her sheltered upbringing as a Hime-Miko.

The Campione slumped in his seat with an almost defeated look on his face.

"You poor girl, I need to set up a movie night for you." He said resolutely.

Yuri was glad at the very least that she hadn't been violently smited off the face of the Earth yet. Though the conversation was getting more than a little off course. If the artifact he brought with him was indeed what she thought it was, all of Japan was in great danger.

"Y-Your Lordship-"

"You don't need to call me 'You Lordship', you know?" He cut her off once again. "I know you've met my brother Vabon, but trust me, he's the worst out of all of us. An asshole on his best of days."

"Y-You know of my meeting with Balkan's King…?" Yuri asked wide-eyed.

"Of course I did." Jack said as if it were obvious. "I get a call from someone in my high school that I never interact with regularly asking me to bring the highly dangerous artifact I have in my possession with me, and you think I wouldn't do a background check or something?"

"Ah..."

Now that Yuri thought about it, the way she tried to contact Jack for this meeting was rather suspicious. He'd probably knew almost everything about her using his connections to the Copper Black Cross.

"But seriously, you don't need to be so formal. Just call me, 'Jack' or 'Gehrman-san' or whatever." His smile grew mischievous. "Or if you're feeling particularly comfortable with me, maybe 'Honey' or 'Darling' would work."

Hearing such a shameless thing, the blood rushed to Yuri's face as she realized the implications of what he was saying.

He truly is a lust-filled beast!

"Gehrman-san! This is a hallowed sanctuary for one to propitiate the gods. May I ask of you to respect the sanctity of this shrine!"

Jack raised his hands in surrender. "Alright, alright, I may have taken that joke a bit too far. I'll tone it down a bit, Sweetheart."

"S-Sweetheart!?"

Yuri's blush came back at full force.

No, he's even more shameless than I previously thought!

"Okay, with that matter put behind us..." Jack took an object out of his pocket and set it on the table. "I believe this is why you called me here?"

"Yes..." Yuri gulped as she felt the dark power radiate off the small stone medallion carved to look like a gorgon of Greek Mythology. "D-Do realize the importance and danger of the object you have brought to this country?"

"Of course I do." He admitted as if talking about the weather.

"If so, do you want to invite some apocalyptic god into Tokyo!? What do you take the safety of this country's citizens for?!" Her voice rang out in a sudden shout of panic.

"Mariya-san, I wouldn't have brought it here with such confidence if I didn't." He explained. "Yes, the goddess after this will come here, but I have a sure-fire plan. No loss of life, no collateral damage, simple, easy, done. And if she's is on schedule like I believe she is, this'll be done this afternoon."

No loss of life!? No collateral damage!? Yuri screamed in her head incredulously.

She'd seen the various pictures of his clashes with Inferno and Paradiso. And none of them contained any of what would be considered either of those!

In her mind, all she could see was the city in flames due to the resulting clash between the Campione sitting across her and the goddess that was inevitably arriving.

"And yet you still led her to Japan!?"

Jack seemed taken back a bit. "Geez, have some faith in me. Listen, my [Authorities] are-"

"The most destructive in recorded history. Their potential for absolute mayhem and bloodshed have broken all recorded records." Yuri's voice was almost robotic now.

She had almost completely shut down now. There was nothing she could do at this point. Everything pointed towards one conclusion: Tokyo in flames.

They were all doomed long before she had even made contact with him.

Jack sighed. "Just eat one of the cookies already."

"Now is not the time for-!"

Before Yuri could even finish her sentence, Jack had shoved one of the cookies in her mouth.

She glared defiantly at him...even though the cookie was absolutely delicious.

...She'd like some more.

"You can glare at me all you want Mariya-san, but I know you like them. They were made by yours truly after all. Now, are you going to eat on your own, or do I have to feed you myself." Jack winked. "Not that'd I would mind."

...And her blush came back with full force.

Wisely, she didn't say anything this time. Didn't trust her voice to not stutter.

This irresponsible, reckless, Campione would only just get a kick out of it.

"Ufufufu..." The unfamiliar sound of giggling came from the stairs leading up to the shrine. "Show the poor girl a little mercy, Jack. She looks just about ready to explode into flames."

While Jack nonchalantly sipped his wine glass filled with soda, Yuri's head turned to the voice in surprise.

She immediately recognized who it was. How could she not?

The blonde haired beauty, she saw on the file given to her by Amakasu, stood before her as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Erica Blandelli, Great Knight of the Copper-Black Cross, the Diavolo Rosso, stood before her.

With her golden hair flowing with the gentle breeze, she gave an impression of opulent royalty.

"Well, aren't you dressed to impress?" Jack checked his phone. "And about a minute early too. You're getting better."

"Really, Jack, you're going to go the whole, mysterious route, and when we have company too?" Erica crossed her arms, giving a challenging smirk. "And speaking of dressing to impress...Your wardrobe has definitely improved. A far cry from the hoodie and baggy jeans combo you always seem to wear."

Jack gave an exasperated sigh. "You're going to start giving me shit for my wardrobe? Now? And in public? Ugh, I can never win with you!"

Yuri gawked at the complete disregard for any status either of them held.

Erica had no problem mocking the highly dangerous [King] in front of her, and said [King] just took it in stride. Like they were just close friends having another chat, having fun messing with each other for laughs.

"Anyway, we need to organize a movie night for this one here." Jack declared.

"Movie night?" Erica questioned as she took one of the cookies. "She must have really caught your eye if you already want to set up a date with her."

"D-D-D-D-D-D-Date!?" Yuri shouted, her blush glowing at this point.

"While I wouldn't mind it, it's just that she hasn't seen any horror movies." Jack explained. "I've listed all the famous classics. I doubt she's seen any of the Bruce Lee movies either."

Erica gasped in mock dismay. "Heresy!"

"Now, now, love, I don't need you going all Deus Vult on her." Jack spread out his arms as if asking for a hug. "Now, get over here, it's been too damn long."

Erica smirked. "It's been four days at most."

"Too long!"

The beautiful blonde approached Jack and gave him a loving hug, then sat in his lap as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Oh, are those cookies?" Erica asked, a hungry glint in her eyes.

"Double chocolate chip, and homemade by yours trully." Jack said smugly.

And just like that, not only had the situation become even more shameless, they had gotten off topic once again.

Yuri's eye began to twitch. "What...What are you doing? Suddenly appearing like this, and even doing something so shameless…"

"So what? You know very well what's going on between Jack and I, right? Disturbing a lover's reunion is something that only an insensitive girl would do." Erica shot back flippantly.

"This is a hallowed sanctuary for one to propitiate the gods. May I ask both of you to respect the sanctity of this shrine, and to refrain from such disgraceful and shameless acts - Erica-san and Gehrman-san! Are you listening to me!?"

"Alright, alright, calm down, both of you." Jack said as he attempted to soothe the two bickering ladies. "Yuri, I'm honestly really sorry about all the disrespect we've shown you thus far. It's just that I'm originally American, and Erica over here is Italian, we're a lot more shameless than your typical Japanese citizen...Erica more so than me."

Erica shot me an unamused look. "This coming from the American that makes enough artillery and firearms to make the Marines blush."

"Ack!" Jack exclaimed in mock pain. "Right in my Second Amendment."

Yuri slammed her hands on the table. "Can we please get back on track here!?"

"I'm sorry, I did it again." Jack apologized with an easy-going smile.

"Now, if you're done being distracted." She glared at Erica who smiled back challengingly. "Then let's go over the situation once again. You, for whatever reason, thought that leading a [Heretic God] to Japan was a good idea."

Jack nodded as if nothing was wrong. "That was my train of thought, yes."

If Yuri had any less self-control, she would have slammed her head into the table due to the sheer stupidity of Jack's words. At this point, words could not describe the utter fury and outrage she felt in that moment.

"For God's sake, Mariya-san, calm down. It's not like I haven't brought the [Heretic Goddess] here without a solid plan to beat it."

"That's not what it sounded like this whole conversation!" Yuri snapped.

Jack rolled his eyes. "I can assure you, Mariya-san, there will be no casualties. There will be no collateral damage. There will be no detours! No distractions! No temporary loss in forward momentum! No deviations from my intended pa-" He raised his head slightly, looking at the sky. "Huh? That cloud looks kind of like a bunny."

We're doomed! Yuri despaired.

"Well, Mariya-san, I hate to say goodbye, but I've got a [Heretic Goddess] to take care of." Jack got out of his chair as Erica left her seat from his lap. "She asked me for a fight back when we met in Rome, and as the responsible [King] that I am, I need to show my guest some hospitality."

Yuri panicked as she realized that Jack was about to leave, with the one thing the [Heretic Goddess] wanted. If the goddess got her hands on it, who knows what kind of destruction it would cause!

"How can you bring the one thing that the [Heretic Goddess] is looking for straight to her!? What is going through that skull of yours!? Please leave it with me for the moment. Geez… I just don't know what to do with you!"

Yuri sighed in exasperation as tried to snatch the Gorgoneion from him, but Jack was faster and held it out of reach.

He gave an amused smile. "Up-up-up, I need this for my plan. Besides, any barriers you could make would be torn to shreds in seconds by this goddess."

"Jack!" Yuri shouted, her panic at an all-time high, the worst-case scenario was becoming a reality. "You must absolutely not let her get her hands on the Gorgoneion!"

Jack had put the Grimoire in his pocket and began walking off. "You worry too much, Athena won't be able to enjoy her power for a full minute before I take her down."

Yuri froze.

He was going to fight Athena. Athena of all [Heretic Gods].

Nonononononononono! She cried in her head as she watched Jack and Erica climb down the stairs of the shrine.

The situation had gone from bad, to worse, to Hiroshima, and it was still going strong.

Yuri slumped down in her chair. The comical aura of despair she was radiating would have been complete if there was a miniature rain cloud over her head.

Just as what she considered the worst day of her life was about to reach an all-time high she heard a clink on the glass table. Yuri raised her head to see that the Gorgoneion on the table.

She blinked. "W-What...?"

"Oh my, I knew it was a good idea to stick around and see what would happen." A familiar voice said, she looked to her left to see Amakasu Touma. "It was a bit of a risk, but the reports were spot on."

"Touma-san, how did you…?"

"Ah, Mariya-san, do you remember the reports on his abilities?" Amakasu asked.

Yuri shuddered, all of those destructive abilities about to be unleashed on the innocent people of Japan. "...Yes."

"Well, apparently, Gehrman-san was very forthcoming about his particular skill set," Amakasu's ever-present smile widened. "As well as some of his shortcomings."

"And those are?"

"In the report, he explained that thanks to having the energies of various different realities flowing inside of his body, his ability to sense magical artifacts or just magic in general has been completely shot and utterly unreliable." His smile turned into a full-on grin. "As he was walking up the stairs I passed by him and pickpocketed it off of him, replacing it with a replica."

Yuri blinked. "I-It couldn't have been that easy."

Amakasu smirked. "But it was. Now, we're running out of time, the faster well seal this thing away, the better."

Yuri nodded, the situation looked a less hopeless now. They had a chance of getting out of this alive.

Jack POV

"I had way too much fun messing with Yuri." I admitted shamelessly.

Erica rolled her eyes, she hugged my arm close to her chest as we walked down the shrine stairs. "I noticed, you're pure evil, you know that?"

I laughed. "Hello, Pot, I'm Kettle!"

"Hmm, so, what is your plan to deal with Athena anyway?" Erica asked.

Oh yeah, I never explained it to her.

"Well, you know me, I like to keep things simple, stupid, and effective." I pointed out. "When we meet her, I open a portal into Inferno, throw it in there. She goes after it, I go in with her, and while she will have her full power, I will too since I don't need to worry about collateral damage."

Erica's eyes lit in approval. "Oh my, that's pretty clever, and rather devious."

"I know right. I just can't wait to see the look on Yuri's face when everything turns out A-okay." I grinned.

For the rest of my life, I'd look back on this moment every once in a while and feel the ungodly urge to scream out into the heavens due to the following events.

Shit did not go as planned.

Chapter End

Review Responses.

PassiveNox: Godou's suffering is always funny.

DrackNath: Nah, this ain't going to be like canon where he gets every girl.

desdelor97: Here's more, it's a bit .

BlackTheta: NEVAH!

Saberfang Oralodon: You're right, we need te wine too.

MasterOfDragonsGod: Glad to be back!

Lifelessman: Thanks!

Guest: Ha!

Guest: As you've already seen, it's not, but I still can't wait to tear through MGQ, if you want to know more about that story, I have the general plot of it posted on the Rabbit Hole.

Lord Blackwing 17: I play a little, but I'm more of a Yu-Gi-Oh guy. Most of Jack's magic is to augment is fighting style.

Lotisman: No prob.

RoyalTwinFangs: Now he's about to get trolled.

Akuma-Heika: No, one is serious, the other is a total meme.

Thedarr24 and Draconis23: Thanks bruh!

carwash36: Thanks!

Dark Lord0: Thanks!

The Draconic Ancient of Chaos: I feel like I'm saying 'Thanks!' a lot.

fanreader18: Than- ...God dammit.

DareusX: You're god damn right it is.

stalkerdarkshadow: Thanks!- Shit, I did it again!

YeTianshi: Dated meme is dated...but we accepted all memes here.

Guest: Bitch, I might.