The Heart Of Everything: Hell Finds Its New Home [Demonic Incursion Sideline Thread]

[THEFROSTHead Admin]

[PLAY THE FUCKING POSTING MUSIC]

Artist: Within Temptations - Song: Stand My Ground - Word Count: 3761

There was a great disruption in the balance of the Soul Cycle following the wake of Khala Asthavon's god forsaken assault on the Soul Society and Seireitei. Once the impending blow to Hell's Gate was made through her fight against Captain Tsubasa Unabara, Captain Iriko Puzyri-Teimei Crow and Ex-Captain Unohana Retsu; the damage had been done and the birth of Hell Reborn was all but inevitable. Their enemies fell for the trap in the form of still pushing the death toll further in the war. Thus, by their own juvenile actions, they held a hand with the demon's goal of giving birth to a cataclysmic rift within The Heart of The Demon God. By inducing this major shift within the spiritual realm by having such a mass killing occur at the same time, the inner mechanisms of Khala's DE Force came to life and pushed her body to awaken it's powers in the form of Surpassing Law after being in slumber for so many years. Following that trigger, The Demoness used her ancient magic in order to awaken Hell's Key with her summoning power and crave the pathway to destroying the barrier which kept it sealed away from the known realms.

Although it was unforeseen to her enemies, Khala Asthavon may have been feeling rather exhausted due to calling forth such a sinister weapon and then transporting the ENTIRE Hell Verse into Demon World while still fighting off some of the strongest Shinigami that the Gotei 13 had to offer in her un-awakened state; simultaneously laying waste to the entire first district of the Seireitei and Squads one through four while this all occured. Therefore, it was Mana's job to wait underneath Demon World and locate herself within its mantle to forge the dawning of this Hellverse into their dimension. In this way Khala was going to assign her as one of the overseers of Hell and unofficially make her a medium for demons as a whole to become the rulers of Hell and send those whom they kill into its fiery pits.

Therefore, in the underground portion of this planetoid mass is where The Demon Queen had intended to perform one of her biggest task to date for her kingdom and race. It was meant to bring about an evolution within Demonkind, the unveiling of long lost history and the revolution of their new age. Thus, she did not look on at this sight with her usual sinister smirk, witch-like laugh or jovial expression as the ripples within the fabric of reality alerted her to the arrival of Hell mending itself into Demon World. Nay, The Satanic Mistress gazed upon the rocky skies with a somber and more worried expression phasing itself into her face from her previous stoic face. And there was good reason not to be in such a bashful mood.

On the other side of this war is where her sister, Khala Asthavon, was descending further into her own madness. Even all the way in the deepest depths of Demon World could the younger sibling feel this disturbance and it was quite unnerving for even The Danava of Chaos and Discord to feel such wrath, intention and yearning to eradicate everything into one and intermix it all into an eternal afterlife. This caused a sensation of -- worry -- within Mana. This loathsome feeling was due to the fact that she knew that some sort of action on her end were going to be needed before Khala destroyed everything in her wrath and unstable rage. The hinges of her psyche her were broken and it brought about a monster that most the heirs of Demonic Royalty before The Demon Queen had feared.

Khala was always an unsteady individual with great power. Ever since the moment Mana, Nami Asthavon, Rock Asthavon, Strength Asthavon and Kagari Asthavon all took her on there was that very -- fear. The same type of terror that Mana felt against Truth because the embodiment of her Demon God was on the same level as the godling. It is why she comes to regret her own subconscious quest to obtain the secrets of her past life by participating in the battle for Madness City. While it is true that it took her overall collection of strength to an entire new plateau of power, this new found force did not come without a price.

One of many things that have stuck with her mentally was the very fear of God from fighting Truth and damage he managed to inflict on her by awakening Haniel Iahhel within her heart. By doing that, the flow of balance had been broken within Mana's body. Thus, with the consumption of The Stone of Madness to trigger her Danavahood, her body has been on an unsteady streak since. The souls have became more aggressive in power, everyday Mana feels the grasp on her sanity becoming harder to hold on to and from all the fights that occurred after that horrific battle -- The Queen's very life fell in the balance of life and death due to how much she had passed it above and beyond it's abilities time and again.

Most of all, however, she rues the day she managed to awaken Truth. Outside of just the general uneasiness of his power, this adverse reaction caused The Heart of The Demon God to awaken and speak sweet-nothings into Mana's ear as she materialized herself back into existence. While she once thought of it as nothing but a good thing, she soon remembered on this day why Khala was kept under lock and key within her slumber. And that reason is that it is not so easy stop a God's rage. Yet -- that is exactly what she was thinking of doing once her preparations were complete within Demon World. It is unthinkable -- but Mana knew she had to do it to save her sister.

Thus, being that she knew she had the ability to feast off of instabilities within a person like a vampire consumes blood, the plan was beginning to forge within The Royal Asthavon's mind that she needed to move to the warfield. Once within range of Khala? The Danava of Madness knew she needed to do what she could for her sister and once again fight a god -- but this time mentally. By devouring the strains of discordia gripping at the hinges of Khala's mind, Mana hoped to calm her down, ease the blow of her rampage and put an end to the war once their objectives had been met. While Mana believed in invoking chaos within a world, there came a point where even she stopped to let hope and order come into play. What Khala's intentions were planning on doing -- was going to fundamentally destroy the balance of existence and that is something THe Demon Queen could not allow.

So although she was unsure of her ability to quell the whole of her unstable nature, Mana had to at least try to protect her sister, keep her organization from harm and bring the Asthavon family out of this in one piece. Henceforth, her expression grew more grave as she then turned her attention back to the eternal threat that Hell itself posed now that it had become freed from it's shackles. Most of the Shinigami who were involved within Khala's fight were right to be concerned with the fact of Hell being so tossed out of it's prison in such a careless manner.

While Khala managed to avoid outright destroying the entire structure of the spiritual realms by causing such a dramatic shift in the Soul Cycle, there was still the ever posing threat that Hell was going to blow and take everyone and everything with it. It is the same threat that the multiverse faced when the 2nd Hell Guardian of The Hell Verse faced death. During that time? They needed to seek out a new candidate to overwatch that layer. The consequences of them failing in that mission were dire. The essential equilibrium of Hell would implode on itself after an unspecified period of time. If that happened, in this doomsday scenario that occurrence would have caused a cataclysmic event to occur throughout The Living World, Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, Demon World and The Kokuryuteshi's Realm. An event that would have caused a mass-extinction event to end life as we know it. And thus, with the danger Hell was in now? The same catastrophe could repeat itself if Hell were synced together with the Demon Universe in the incorrect fashion.

Thus -- Mana only had one choice to make. The consequences of her failure would be dire if this operation were to fail and turn into an outright extinction event if left unchecked. So, Mana needed to act without fail and with the utmost caution as she vowed herself to remain determined and not to let this day end it all. So along those lines, with a voice that projected itself all throughout Demon World, The Queen spoke in a calm, but powerful tone. In it, she said this incantation:

(PLEASE SWITCH SONGS AT THIS POINT)

"Grievous Cycle of

Peak, Rise!"

In a thunderous boom of power, the unleashing of Mana's most sacred form roared throughout the lands and shook the fiber of Demon World to it's core within the underground nation. The entire country of the Central Capital could undoubtedly sense her power as it was enough to become sensed on a global-sized scale. Granted, Demon World was the size of three Earth. In the end, this is what it felt like to be in control of five sixth of the Demon Queen's power as she entered into the first cycle of the grievous sea. For the time being, The Shadow Ruler only had been one step below reaching her full power with Phase Zero and merging herself with the consciousness of The Demon God. Therefore, with her first feat, she needed to ensure she did not stay in this form for too long as the instabilities and drawbacks of it were far too great to risk. Even as she stood in her prime form, a sensation that her soul was starting to become burned alive roared throughout the essence The Royal Empress.

The first move that the Queen performed was the creation of a colossal space within the subterranean geography of this portion of Demon World. Being that her current position fixated on the Outlands of The Central Capital and in a midway point between this nation and The Sirsa Lands; this space that seemed to often be considered a no-man's land. Ergo, it was the perfect spot for Mana to now decimate a good-sized portion of its underground structure with her energy. So, with her energy unrestrained, it was equal to the destruction of a mass asteroid impact against the Earth itself. All four nations would feel the twists and turns of this power coming to life as Mana hacked away at making space for Hell through a series of overwhelming explosions that disintegrated everything itself, defying bangs that could silence the ears of god itself and firepower that held within it the potential destroy the Gotei 13 if she happened to take an active role in this war as it stood now on the frontlines.

Once nothing but a black void was left within the planet-sized hole within this space, Mana was then able to modify it. This then made possible through usage of her Royal Demon Magic at play. It allowed her to manipulate the existence of Demon World; a strength that shown itself to be true during her colossal battle against Eric in the unforgiving lands of The Chaya Nation. As a result, the spells in which The Empress put forth almost rivaled her idolized Demon Deity in terms of magical power. At this point The Demon Queen was utilizing her "Demi-God Status" to change the course of Demon World. With this Royal Magic she was spreading her influence on a continental range in order to create a safety zone for Hell to merge itself into it.

Acting as a containment field, as the Gates of Hell slammed themselves straight into this colossal range where The Queen's influence acted out. Once this initial impact had occurred in that zone, this area of effect absorbed the cataclysmic and unstable nature of Hell's fluctuations in the Soul Cycle and the disruption it had on the realms that it attached itself to. This was a difficult feat as Mana felt that the collision the energies from Hell was generating seemed to be a catastrophic force to be reckoned with. As she did her best to bind the area, lacerations, burns and strain on The Danava's very mind and body was taking place. Gritting her teeth, and biting off a lower portion of her lip in the process, the grip she had was loosening for a few moments.

There was nothing but complete and total anguish as the energies vested from the Queen's Phase One State and the interdimensional destruction sealed within Hell's chaotic power clashed with one another. Yet, even given her grave injuries that even affected the Queen's ability to regenerate, she'd still carry on. Losing her right arm in a burst of green blood, bones and tissue spewing all about; the struggle was reaching it's lowering point as more power stream-lined itself from Za Koa and directed itself through Mana as a medium. In this way Mana's Za Koa skill was going to work and infusing its energy with her own through usage of an enhancement spell on her end done telepathically.

After this phase had passed, ten minutes began to past before the blast started to subside and the elements that be started to infuse the dimension into Demon World. During this time the likes of demonkind was undergoing a profound change as new abilities started to ignite within them. Performing the role as a vessel in which to invoke this development growth of The Demon Race, Mana's Queenship over the realm and its people took root in the form of The Demon God's will shining down upon her. This is when The Wicked Demoness reached a midway point of being in between her zero and first cycles on the Grievous Seal. In doing this? She became devoured by a reddened light and a further explosion of power consumed Mana's essence as her energy frequency felt more akin to one of Demon God's own vessels.

In this form would she enforce the will of Hell and The Demon God as their messenger. Thus, all throughout Demon World and Earth, a massive shift in spiritual nature could be felt like an unnerving chill down a persons spine. What Mana had just did in performing these acts is that she altered and contorted the Soul Cycle. Shinigami would find themselves lowered in the ability to perform Konsō as Khala and Mana Asthavon managed to deal a heavy blow to the equilibrium of the pathway spirits take into the afterlife. If a spirit were unable to become rescued by a Shinigami in time, chances are they'd be send into one of the layers of hell. Provided a person found themselves killed by a Demon? They'd more than likely find their spirit sent into the 666th layer of Hell and into the embodiment of Death to be sent straight into Nirvana.

Therefore, half of the spirits killed in each realm yielded a strong a feasibility, from this point onward, that they'd wind up in one of the many layers that the Hellverse compromised itself from. And from their plan, Demon's would become the new enforcers and rulers of Hell as they intended to be in the mind of Khala and Mana Asthavon. Falling on one knee to the boiling hot earth beneath her, Mana harnessed the will of The Demon God in order to produce something -- profound. Once the broken gates of hell were finished being interwoven into the fabric of Demon World, Mana directed the energies gathered from it's implosion and her strength in order to produce a mass series of barriers that were two times stronger than the Sekkiseki stones that protect the Seireitei. However, unlike them, this fiery dome applied to all forms of energies and was going to become regulated through The Queen's will, The Demon God's WIll and those whom operate Shadow Fall by binding all their minds into a hive network within the shield. In this Royal Magic, they'd oversee what energy was meant to come in -- and which wasn't.

(PLEASE SWITCH SONGS AT THIS POINT)

However -- this was not the primary objective. Due to the fact that Khala and Tsubasa had managed to kill the Former Gate Guardian of the Entry Layer of Hell, a new guardian for this sector had to be made. And since Deveta yielded as much ownership over Hell as the original Hell Guardian, his influence and will was able to produce a new overseer from the ashes of old hell and the remnants of the former Rakshasa. As a consequence of these actions, a raven appeared girl with black wings soon appeared near the flaming edges of Hell's Gates as she represented the newest Rakshasa of Hell.Thus, with two potential threats for Hell's disruption dealt with, Mana's job had been down and she fell face first hurling her guts out from straining her mind and body out from such a release. It seems there was still complications in her Phase One release, but it was still very much functional despite the injuries inflicted on her soul.

For now, in her beaten and tattered state, Mana arose to her feet and felt the giant surge of tens of millions of souls being the first to enter new Hell. To this sight she could only let a soft and gentle smile come across her face. Why was that, you may ask? Well, from the perspective of Mana, although their bodies may very much be dead -- the eternal rest for their soul would come back. And while Mana may not believe every single force in the universe should die, she still saw this afterlife as relief from this world of agony and their time to rest was going to come soon enough. It also didn't hurt her to have quite a large bounty of nourishment to feed off the residue of Hell's chaotic elements; hurting, yet sustaining Mana's very existence as she felt her insides set ablaze from trying and failing to consume all of Hells glory.

"You're all frightened, aren't you?" Mana spoke in a very low-tone and labored tone as her body and mind were very taxed at the moment. However, despite this frail state, her voice projected itself to all of these spirits via mass telepathic relay. Thus, The quivering howls, screaming roars, crying fits and jovial laughs all rained down on Mana like an unending storm. While the light within the underworld of the demon realm was all but dim -- before this cluster of spirits zoomed past The Demon Queen in the form of numerous streaks of crimson light. "But you needn't worry about a thing. Up ahead, there is something of a sisterly figure awaiting you all."

Turning her emerald gaze back into the abyss of the shattered gateway, Mana had a soft smile emerge as she knew that Khala's intentions were in the right place -- but total annihilation just wasn't going to do. For the meantime, the spirits could at least reap the benefits of her maddening work. At least -- before the battle to regain Khala's sanity would begin. "Ravan can handle the rest...I've done my job. I'll leave the girl to HIM."

Eyes fixated on the nameless Rakshasa, Mana enveloped the bare creature within a shadow of black light and hurled her into the gate with the rows of other spirits in order for the original Hell Demon to sort as he pleased. The Demon Queen didn't care what happened to her at this point as all she was focused on was getting back home to recover within her palace. Albeit the interdimensional threat of Hell's unstable nature was unable to be wholly digested by The Queen -- a sizeable portion of it was still left inside of her spirit and sealed away by her Royal Magic. This type of firepower held within it the very potential to shatter The Living Realm, The Soul Society, Sugiura Dimension, Hueco Mundo and Demon World itself -- so getting even a fraction of its power was more than enough to satisfy the Queen and showcase where her powers had ascended to.

Henceforth, there was nothing left to do but head on back. Within her throne room within Europe would lay an isolated dimension separated from the main layer of Earth's existence. Activating yet another technique from her Royal Magic, despite her being sealed all the way within the deepest pits of Demon World, Mana commanded the massive cores of Demonic Energy stored within her castle to begin a spell. In it, Mana's Sacred Space held the power to exist in a world outside of time and space. Due to the fact that these spheres filled with The Demon Queen's energy were very much apart of her, it was not a far-fetched feat for her to apply her bodies influence on her. As a result, they could indeed exist outside of the concepts of time and space.

Thus, Mana was going to use the wealth of her energy to create a wormhole from The New Hell Gate and thrust herself back into the shadows of her lair to recover, heal and then send herself back into the war after she had healed herself back from the brink of strain that the higher phases in the Grievous Cycle held on her body. So for the time being, she'd leave the war in Khala's hands and allow her to partake in Shadow Fall's goal as she saw fit until she was able to get back on the battlefield and then figure out a way to save her sister from the clutches of a madness that not even she could approve of. The road before her seemed nothing but to be long and hard, yet Mana's path up until now was nothing but difficult. Adding the goal of saving her Demon God from the clutches of madness wasn't out of her sights -- as she fought a god before and lived to tell the tale.