Chapter 87: Led by Humanity

On the day when the angels were judged, most people recalled that at one point, everything became black and cold. A voice that came from every direction at once told them that humanity had been found lacking and would perish. Alone in the dark, it seemed like that would happen. Despite any fears, many hoped that their heroes would pull through for them. It was all they could do.

Their prayers were answered; they were released from being frozen in darkness. On being returned to the world, they saw an immense pillar of light piercing through the sky from Ginza. It lasted nearly a minute before fading away. Those who were in that neighborhood went to the obelisk and found Flynn, Issachar, and Nanashi there. The obelisk itself had shattered into a pile of glossy black stones. Before long, word had spread that they were now free.

It proved that humans did not need to be bound by the actions of demons or angels.

Lucifer felt insulted even though no insult had been spoken. He'd been told he could 'stay free' for now and was promptly dismissed before Metatron passed on God's words to the humans. If he had been insulted and tossed away as the prince of lies, that would have been acceptable. It would have been normal. Instead, God had said that the reason he was being left alone was because he liked humans. Really? He was the most powerful demon around! He corrupted humans to disobey God. While he might tell humans he liked and supported them, that was so they trusted him.

Now, the three heroes could tell others that that information came from God. It could make humans more willing to work with him. However, the demons under Lucifer might think less of him. He'd been telling them for eons that humans were foolish weaklings that didn't deserve to be ruling the world. They had no innate powers, they were bound by a body of flesh, and they only lived for a few decades. In ancient days, demons had been able to squash human resistance with little effort. But more than all that, they had the favor of God despite being nothing special. The best thing humans were for was getting vengeance on God by turning those 'beloved children' against their Father.

Although, humans had now bested both sides to take charge of their world. And despite himself, Lucifer felt impressed. Humans were willing to use whatever they had not just to survive, but to thrive. They were born with no power or knowledge, but could gain incredible power and knowledge over their brief lifespan. For all their weaknesses, he realized that it was actually interesting to watch them overcome obstacles. It might be nice to help them in ways that didn't lead to their ruin.

"Do we have to be helping the humans now?" Beezlebub asked, annoyed more at that idea than in being defeated.

They'd already dealt with an impostor, Lucifer thought. If he changed his leadership too much, they might suspect he was also a fake. "It's only temporary," Lucifer said. "Give it a few generations; we can wear them down slowly, especially if they think we're allies."

Now how did he give his followers whatever change had come over him?

As soon as he got into the halls of Kinshicho, Asahi called out, "Hey, Nanashi! Welcome home!"

"It's nice to be back," he said, smiling at her. Toki and Hallelujah came over on noticing. "Sorry about being gone so long."

"You could have at least brought us with you," Toki said.

He shook his head. "No, I was possessed and the god controlling me wanted to keep me away from others. Well, that and I was actually dead. I'm fine now."

"You were dead?" Asahi asked in shock. "That's not possible."

"There was something strange about you lately," Hallelujah said, scratching his head. "I guess that makes sense? But how did you come back to life?"

"Because I helped to kill a false god," he said. "But I want Boss to hear of this too." Although really, he might end up telling this story several times over as many would be interested to know.

Toma was in the bar as usual, going over shelter records. This time, he stopped on seeing him and smiled. "Welcome back, Nanashi. Glad to see you back whole."

"Sorry for being gone so long," Nanashi said, bowing to him.

"And apparently dead," Asahi said.

"Not anymore," Nanashi said.

Toma chuckled at that. "Good. By the way, there's been a few times when folks have come in here looking for you. Apparently they think you're a king because of your demonica."

Shrugging, he said, "I was, but I'm not now. I get to decide my fate now, not anybody else."

"It sounds like you have a lot to explain," Toki said.

"All that and more," he said.

Nanashi continued to deny that he was a king, instead helping out Fujiwara as the Hunter Association was the strongest organization of Tokyo remaining. Over the years, he gained more authority until he took over as the Association leader. Eventually, he came to lead both Tokyo and Mikado as a greatly respected man.

Hallelujah joined up with some other former Ashura-kai members to retake the name for humans. Inspired by Nanashi, he took a stance of protecting others and argued with even senior members about moving away from a thuggish reputation. He succeeded and helped reform the organization to enforce fairer laws.

Toki became an elite demon hunter for both the Hunter Association and the Ring of Gaea, tracking down troublesome demons who did not want to ally with humans. She often worked with Lilith to ensure society was kept fair for all. As an adult, she took in teen girls in trouble and taught them her skills and self-control.

Asahi studied medical science and healing magic in order to become the first doctor with magic expertise. Her guides on how to mix both traditions were studied for many generations.

Although the war was over, many fairies were still uncertain about leaving their protected forest. Nozomi took trips with those who were willing, in order to help out people and get both sides used to each other. Of course, the fairies would much rather play than do work. She'd brought a group out to help with some farm work, but half of them had gone off with some children to play tag. Most of those working were fairies who loved plants; they happily set about to plucking weeds and insects under Danu's loving watch.

It was the rest that were the most trouble. "Freezing the plants isn't going to help," Nozomi scolded the jack frosts that were there.

"We were freezing the weeds," one said.

"And all the plants around the weeds," she said.

"We just wanted to help too," another jack said. "But the farmers don't want us to make it snow either."

"You could make cool drinks for those working," Nozomi suggested.

That led to an enthusiastic production of ice, iced water, iced lemonade, iced tea, and ice cream. It was so much that she could send the jacks and a few others fairies off to gift those around the village with cold drinks and treats. When she got a moment, Nozomi noticed Dagda outside the fields on his own. He phased out of visibility when she came near, but Nozomi could still sense him.

"I know you're here, Dagda," she said, facing him. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing you should hear about," Dagda said, staying invisible. "It would be best if you forgot I was here."

"That makes me more suspicious of what you're doing," she said.

Grumbling, he said, "I've been given an annoying task. I want to return all gods to nature from the foolish beings we've become. While I'd accept just myself, I've been told to do good deeds to get it. But if I become known for those deeds, I'll remain in this form. They're also not afraid to just throw me into the Abyss if I become a problem to them. Hmph."

"Well I'll tell Danu that, but then I'll ignore you if that's what you really want," Nozomi said.

Dagda grumbled again and disappeared.

Nozomi's efforts led to the fairies being the first clan of demons that humans fully trusted. Some fairies still remained trouble, but many humans learned to identify which fairies were the troublesome ones.

None are sure what happened to Dagda.

It took a great deal of planning, preparing, coordination, restoring, trading, designing, decorating, and more, but Naverre finally accomplished his goal: he got the Autumn Ball set up so that it was held in Mikado and then held again two weeks later in Tokyo. It was the biggest one yet as he lifted the class restrictions and made sure that anybody who wanted to attend could make it to both events. With the help of some benevolent demons and hard-working humans, he even made sure that those without much money could afford something nice to wear. Demons, technology, and magic made it possible to make the setting much different from before. Everything could be brightly lit, rainbow lit, or even dimly lit with soft orbs of light drifting along a low cosmetic fog to make it seem like guests were dancing among the clouds.

"I didn't know it was possible to do all this," Gaston said to him quietly, tapping one of the glowing orbs with his spear to bring it up. He was helping with security today although he was about the right age to be attending himself. "And you've done it all so magnificently. Father's going to be proud of you."

Naverre smiled at that. "Well with the right knowledge, imagination, and eye for beauty, anything seems possible. And it's all for the sake of love, for individuals here and for a grander scheme. People from all over are coming together and sharing an experience that will build unity between us all. So while Father might admire the effort, I think this is better than taking care of daily decor and decorum for a few people."

"And you only have to do this once a year, so it won't get boring," Gaston agreed.

"Right," Naverre said. "The daily things often go unnoticed, but this should be remembered forever. I've seen lots of things already tonight that should be remembered forever, like have you seen Flynn and Issachar yet? Flynn's understated as usual, but he still stands out because Issachar is surprisingly gorgeous dressed as a woman."

"Why do you still call Issachar a man when she's a woman now?" Gaston asked. "I mean, I know she was a man a long time ago, but she's fit in very well as a woman lately while still being a great hero to everyone."

"Ah, sorry, I'm just used to calling him that," Naverre said, giving a shrug. "When you talk to him often enough, you realize that he acts as himself while no longer heeding what people expect of a man or woman."

"Well who's going to disrespect her?"

"True. Also, you were a child still, but I hear Flynn went out of his way to make Jonathan's wife Marie stand out at an Autumn Ball before they got married, back when she shouldn't have gotten in because she was Casualry born. He seems to have done the same for Issachar this year; they usually don't spend much on themselves."

"They didn't make a big deal of their wedding either, so maybe it's to make up for all of that," Gaston said.

"Possibly," Naverre said. "You know, I'm glad for all this discussion lately about the differences between what we of Mikado expect out of marriage preparations and what those in Tokyo expect, since they don't ask for classes and consultations for couples that want to marry. I think the classes help, but then I'm also glad for how they've changed to become more practical and less repetitive."

Gaston raised an eyebrow at this. "But you aren't even courting anyone. Why are you concerned about that?"

"Oh hush," he said, making his brother laugh.

Gaston learned a number of skills and became a wandering samurai with no allegiance to anyone, only to helping those in need.

Naverre continued to act as an ambassador between the peoples of Mikado and Tokyo, also becoming known as the host of many amazing parties.

They got through the forest to the site where the angels' cocoon ended up. A few scorched remains were scattered around the open field. But as it had been a year since the cocoon had burned, most of it was now overgrown with grass, vines, and saplings. The forest itself had been full of animals as well as plants, making it more like Mikado's wild areas.

"Doesn't seem like anything been unusually disturbed recently," Walter said, looking over the grassy ground. "Plenty of signs of animals roaming around, though."

"The ruins aren't unnaturally preserved either," Jonathan said, checking the area with his gauntlet. "One would expect that the malicious angels might have tried to do so, or replace the structure entirely."

Those angels should be gone. But just in case, they'd been dispatched to search this area. There was some danger in this. Yet with how peaceful things had been this year, they felt safe enough to bring along a couple of others. Adam had one of his wooden practice swords at his side, as well as a child-sized imitation of a blue samurai coat. "The cocoon was really enormous, wasn't it?" he asked. "But there's not much left now."

"It was twice the height of these trees," Jonathan said, gesturing back to the forest they'd come out of.

"We could set up camp over there after clearing a few plants," Isabeau said, gesturing ahead to a relatively flat area that had no vines. She carried her baby daughter in a backpack that had a seat and suncover to let her watch or sleep as she wanted. "Julie's probably going to wake up in a little while, so I'd rather have a spot to sit with her."

"Sure, that should be a decent distance from the forest cover," Jonathan said, looking over himself. "Adam, would you go look around for some good rocks for a firepit?"

"Sure!" The boy helped them clear out some rocks from the camping area to make sure they had some good spots for tents, then went around the area looking for the rocks and some wood.

Between various demons they had and their own work, they had the start of a good camping site by the time Julie woke up and Isabeau had to take a break to nurse her. There had been some concern from those outside their circle about her taking her baby out on a trek like this. They were planning to be out here a few days to search the site carefully to make sure nothing was going on, as well as possibly fighting any demons that were out here. However, they had previously sent some of their demons here to do a couple days scouting of their own. They'd sensed nothing too dangerous about this place, but some human observation was needed as well.

There was a lot more caution they needed to take with a baby and child along, including how Isabeau had to forgo her usual armor and act purely as a summoner. If they encountered tough demons, it'd be up to Jonathan and Walter to take care of them. Adam had been training with a sword, but he was still a boy and didn't have actual combat training. She'd have to rely on her demons to protect her and the two children.

However, she was prepared for that. The demons on her team now were those who protected children and mothers. They knew how to fight defensively and buy enough time for the others to help out. As it was most likely that this area was safe, Isabeau was glad to be out here. The forest was a wild beauty that she hadn't seen the like of before, even as she'd grown to like walking through Mikado's forests. It was a lot better than being cloistered in the monastery or at home. Even this place with the burnt ruins was interesting.

Adam helped with putting together the campfire too. "You can't just cram all the sticks in any old pile," he said, setting them around a triangle of logs. "The fire needs some air to burn too."

"I see," Jonathan said, watching the other two as he didn't know how to start a fire. "You learned a lot from your class trips."

Nodding, Adam said, "The teacher trusts me, so I get to make the campfire most of the time now."

Once they had a good campfire going, Walter came over to her side. "How're you two holding up?"

"We're fine," Isabeau said with a smile. "She was enjoying the backpack ride with you."

"We really should take more hikes and camping trips since we have these things," he said, pleased with the idea. "Jonathan and I are going to search around this site until it gets dark; call me if you need anything."

"Sure, we'll finish up the campsite," she said, giving him a kiss before letting him go off.

"I can start dinner," Adam said, already taking out a camp cooking set.

"Could you help me set up the bed for Julie first?" Isabeau asked. The backpack she carried Julie around in could be converted to a crib by taking the cover off. "Then we can work on that together."

"Sure," Adam said, opening the bag up further to take out the things they'd packed.

They ended up having a peaceful trip, exactly as they'd hoped for.

Jonathan grew to be one of the most skilled samurai in Mikado, frequently winning tournaments and defeating powerful demons in friendly or dangerous combat. As he grew older, he became a teacher to samurai and other demon hunters.

Walter served as a samurai for several years before his studies led him to becoming a priest of the Mikado monastery. He was well loved for being positive and active in helping others.

Isabeau balanced her life around being a samurai and a mother, something that was easier as demons became more cooperative with humans. After a few yeas, she became a leader within the samurai for other women, helping to organize child care and training sessions for just the women.

While many buildings in Tokyo could be repaired and salvaged, there were others that were too damaged. Some manuals in the Ashura-kai's possession allowed for work crews to bring the dangerous buildings down without damaging the intact ones. This led to Masakado's shrine becoming off by itself near the river between Mikado and Tokyo. For Flynn, that was just fine. He decided to stay near the shrine to take care of it as Masakado's summoner. Issachar was still serving as a samurai, but he could use the terminal system to get anywhere he needed.

Most days were quiet, allowing for peaceful reflections and simple days. A few people would come out to visit at times, along with some Japanese gods and spirits. There usually wasn't trouble. Today, though, the oni gang that was gathering concerned him. They were talking and laughing over something, occasionally looking at him doing some work in the garden. They would be strong but nothing too difficult. Keeping a shovel nearby, Flynn kept trimming some herbs to dry later on.

There were twelve of the oni by the time they decided to come over. "Hey, tough guy!"

"You mean me?" Flynn asked, still kneeling down with the garden scissors.

"Of course you," he said, pointing with his club before shouldering it. "You're the guy that kills gods, yeah? Join our gang!"

"No," he said.

"Why not? We're bringing together strong guys to rule the streets!"

Flynn shook his head. "That's foolish. No."

"What, are you some coward now?" one oni asked, getting the others to scoff at him. "We won't stand for that!"

"What's it matter to you?" Flynn asked, not afraid of them.

"We don't take no for an answer," the oni said, moving to clobber Flynn over the head with his club.

It was no good. Flynn grabbed his shovel and rolled aside, then slammed it into the oni's knee while crouched down. Expecting the onis to start clubbing anywhere, he got to his feet and moved away from the oni gang. And once he started using magic, the onis were easily dispatched.

As it got to be evening, Issachar came back home. "How was your day?" he asked after hugging him.

"Fine, but some onis were trying to start a street gang," Flynn said. "You might want to watch out for them. How was yours?"

"I have some potentially great news," he said, looking serious. "But I wanted to start a family too, which could make things difficult on both ends. I held off on agreeing until I could talk with you."

"I wouldn't mind taking care of our children while you're working," he said. "What's your news?"

After a few years of working as Hope's second-in-command, Issachar took over as leader of the samurai. The gauntlet rite was no longer required for all eighteen-year-olds and there were fewer samurai needed as time went on. But he made sure that knowledge like the skills to fight demons did not get lost again.

Flynn retired as a samurai, yet legends say that he remained undefeated in battle throughout his life. He took care of Masakado's shrine and occasionally took in students if they proved their determination to him. But much of his life after accomplishing his goal was peaceful and quiet, just as he wanted it.