Divine Intervention Through The Fires Of Hell

The day grew late and Kyouma dropped the four of us off back home, Mai once again electing to stay with me. This time, however, she didn’t seem to be in the mood for the same “activities” we usually did when she slept at my house. As such, the two of us laid down in bed to sleep early that night.

The situation as it was, however, we both found ourselves too restless to drift off. Mai especially seemed troubled by something that disturbed her attempt to sleep fiercely.

“…hey, Shin?” She said, shifting slightly in my arms. “Do you think Saki was… right? That I put everyone in danger?”

It was a question I hesitated to answer. Mostly because my opinion wasn’t entirely favourable.

“I… would be lying if I said I didn’t think it was an incredibly reckless thing to do. We were all desperately searching for Kei, a false move could have gotten one of us killed without that knowledge.” Though I couldn’t see her face, I knew Mai’s expression was one of dejection and regret. “That being said, I also understand why. I hardly believed it myself at first. You mentioned before about not wanting to speak it into truth… I think I’d have felt the same way in your position.”

Mai sighed lightly at my words. It was difficult to tell if it was relief that I wasn’t angry with her, or lament that I wasn’t scolding her as she’d likely hoped I would.

“Saki… she was really pissed at me. I’ve never had her that mad at me before.”

“Friends fight sometimes. That much is unfortunately unavoidable.”

“This is different. She was seriously angry with me.”

“Well, you’ll just have to make up, right? Talk things through with her alone, apologise properly, y’know?”

“I don’t know if it’ll be that simple. I really screwed up this time.”

“I won’t deny that, but you and Saki’s friendship isn’t that weak, is it? You two can fix this, I’m sure of that much.”

Mai didn’t reply in words, simply groaning, clearly not entirely convinced by my words. But I expected as much. This was the sort of thing that would have to be sorted out in time.

“Thanks for trying to make me feel better. We don’t have a lot of time left to waste, so let’s get to sleep. Goodnight, Shin. I love you.”

“I love you too. Goodnight, Mai.”

***

Thee who fighteth demon and angel alike, doth thou heareth our voice?

I opened my eyes to an indescribable sight. A world of pure white in which I seemed to be falling infinitely. Given that the last thing I could remember was listening to Mai gently snoring, It was obvious as to where I was

“I’m… dreaming, aren’t I?”

Indeed. Thou currently resideth in a realm between dream and reality, mind and matter. We are he who ruleth over this world. Thou have been invited as a guest this night.

“I recognise your voice. You’re the one who spoke to me when I awoke to my power. God, I presume?”

Our right name is י̸̳͉̱̹̱̘͇̲̒̈́̓́͋̍͆̋̃͑͗̓̐͒̎̔̕͝ͅה̸̢̛̲͇̩͓̪̪͖̝̮̼̖̟͙͓̩̪̲͊̉̃͋̓͠͝ו̸̧̳͓̙̠́͆̔̍̓̓̂͐̅̏́̍̃̊͆̔̆̚͠͝͠ה̷̡̛̞̹̝̩̖̼̖̈́̒̆͒͊̇̓͂̈́͆̅̈́͊̈̍̅͂̚͝ͅ, but thou lacketh the knowledge to understand the holy language. ‘God’ is acceptable.

After weeks of radio silence, God was now speaking to me in my dreams again. But not simply as a voice that came and went: he had summoned me as if I was attending in person, though my real body presumably remained in my bed.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure, Your Maj? Come to make me change my mind about fighting back? Accept oneness with God?”

Though thy ‘resistance’ is… regrettable, that is not the reason we have sought thy counsel today. Rather, we and thee share a common enemy, and we thought it right to… provide thee with a touch of assistance

“Help from the tyrant that wants to strip us of free will? I’m shaking with excitement.”

Spare us the sardonicism. Despite thy foolish insistence on causing us trouble, we have determined thee to be a warrior of true fighting spirit. It is out of good graces, not obligation, that we offer our hand in thy affairs.

“And because it benefits you too, right?”

Thou speak some truth. Were thou to defeat ב̵̷̷ַּ̢̢̲̟̟̙͍̥̜̠̬̞̬̖̦̦̫̤͚͉̥̫̥̙̺̭̻̥͉̼̪̀̐̅͂̀̑̂̈́̀̆̔̂̚̚̕͜͜ͅע̵̷ַ̹̜͓͈͎͉̻̥̝̈̌̄̏̓͐͗̀͐̔̓̔̿̓́͒̅͒́̀̇͌̀͛͗͂̓̊͆̓͛͋͋͂͊̕̚͘̚͠ל̸̡̛̱͙̩̥̫̭̟̞̣͉͈͉̙̟̱̀̀̏̏̅̋͆̎͂̌͠־̵̢̺̰̠͙̪̟̬̖͓̘̰͔̫̙̞̀̏̀̅̓̊͜͠ז̵̸ְ̡͈͓͇̹̰̟̹̗̘͓̦͚̞̌̋͆͛̔̀̏̆̿͌͌̍̈́̔͆̋̇̕̚̕͘͜ב̷̡͙̟̝̤̳̾̓̔̿̔͐́͐̃̃͆̿̚͜͝ͅו̴̷ּ̧̨̛͔̪͙̹͙̰̻̠̑̌̍̀̾̀̇̔̊̎̋̓̀̾͆̓̈́̌̏̎̋͘̕͝ב̷̡̡̧̧͍̗̝̗̓͊ͅͅ and his legions of hell, it certainly would be to our benefit. But we need it not. It is a convenience and little more. Thou, however, findeth thyself outmatched at every turn. Thine army may hold strong and thy spirit may burn bright, but thou have not the power to protect thy world permanently. Were thou to fight this war without accepting our help, thee would inviteth thy damnation.

“I don’t trust a word that leaves your mouth, assuming you actually have one. But y’know what? Sure. I’ll hear you out. What is this oh-so grandiose saving grace you’re offering me?”

The power we bequeath upon thee is thus.

A vision was projected into my mind. A vision of a new power, one that I could hardly dream of before. One that could only be unlocked with the divinity of heaven and the power of the human soul. There was just one problem with it.

“This benefits you a damn sight more than it benefits me.”

Thy desire is to prevent the assimilation of thy species into the ranks of hell, is it not? There is no way but this. Wieldeth this power, or succumb to ב̵̷̷ַּ̢̢̲̟̟̙͍̥̜̠̬̞̬̖̦̦̫̤͚͉̥̫̥̙̺̭̻̥͉̼̪̀̐̅͂̀̑̂̈́̀̆̔̂̚̚̕͜͜ͅע̵̷ַ̹̜͓͈͎͉̻̥̝̈̌̄̏̓͐͗̀͐̔̓̔̿̓́͒̅͒́̀̇͌̀͛͗͂̓̊͆̓͛͋͋͂͊̕̚͘̚͠ל̸̡̛̱͙̩̥̫̭̟̞̣͉͈͉̙̟̱̀̀̏̏̅̋͆̎͂̌͠־̵̢̺̰̠͙̪̟̬̖͓̘̰͔̫̙̞̀̏̀̅̓̊͜͠ז̵̸ְ̡͈͓͇̹̰̟̹̗̘͓̦͚̞̌̋͆͛̔̀̏̆̿͌͌̍̈́̔͆̋̇̕̚̕͘͜ב̷̡͙̟̝̤̳̾̓̔̿̔͐́͐̃̃͆̿̚͜͝ͅו̴̷ּ̧̨̛͔̪͙̹͙̰̻̠̑̌̍̀̾̀̇̔̊̎̋̓̀̾͆̓̈́̌̏̎̋͘̕͝ב̷̡̡̧̧͍̗̝̓͊ͅͅ. The choice is thine.

I couldn’t deny that we’d be without a permanent solution if I outright rejected the offer. We could hold off the legions of hell, but we had no idea what to do from there. Even our infiltration mission was a shot in the dark. What God was offering was a surefire way to sever Baal Zebul’s access to Earth. In exchange, however, our ability to fight back against the armies of heaven would be severely hampered, if not outright neutralised.

“Dammit, you’ve left me little choice. I’ll accept your help, but I’ll only use it if I’m left no other option at all. Don’t think I’ll just hand you the keys to Earth over nothing.”

Tis a wise choice thee hath made today. Though thy motivations hath earned our ire, thy resolve commandeth our respect.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. I do have one more question, though. Did you make this offer to all three of my girls, too?”

Just one other hath been offered our intervention. She gave a similar reply to thine own.

“One other? Who? Mai? Saki?”

Nay, among thy team thou art the only one blessed with our aid. As for the identity of the other, I shall not say.

“You’re not the easiest person to work with, y’know that? Whatever. If that’s all you wanted, mind sending my mind back to my body? I could really use a good night’s sleep.”

Chooseth thy path wisely, Warrior Shin. Thou may find mistakes to prove fatal from this point onwards.

The white light permeating the infinite well grew brighter and brighter, until eventually my vision was naught but white. Then, with no fanfare or grandiosity to speak of, I returned to dreamless sleep.