Hare of Misfortune

Nia squirmed inside as the woman’s gnarled, wood-like wings curled around them, and she let her die slide off to tumble a few times until it came to a stop beside hers.

”One... I am to go last. Fortune, or misfortune? Heheh. I suppose we will see,” she breathed, lingering and eyeing her at the border of what was uncomfortable before breaking away.

Dionysus’ vicious grin returned to Rachel. ”What twist will you introduce this time, Rachel... 5?”

”5...” Conner repeated with a short chuckle.

Everyone’s gaze darted to Rachel as she showed an innocent smile.

”Am I to blame for everything?” she asked with a teasing laugh that brought a chortle from the fallen Nephilim. ”Roll again?”

Dionysus’ smirk held a suspicious edge. ”Again.”

Conner: 13

Rachel: 5

Dionysus: 13

Mouth tightening, he held up his hand. ”Again!”

Dionysus: 13

Conner: 13

Rachel’s ears fell forward, showing the pair a grin and a shrug.

”Again!!”

Conner: 1

Dionysus: 3

”Agh!”

Yseress giggled and tossed her die again with the dull-eyed legend.

Conner: 1

Yseress: 2

”Excellent!” the woman chirped, lightly clapping her hands. ”Now I’m third.”

”Mmmgm-hmm-hmm... One, two, three... Start the clock,” he growled, agitation back in his voice while glaring at her. ”One. Minute.”

Rachel didn’t need much, though; her time in the Blood Moon had given her a good grasp of how fun it could be to wield a weapon, but there had to be some attributes gained.

”Item Selection: War hammer. Slightly larger, not too bulky, though. Weight negation for the user. Absorbs kinetic energy when desired and can be used to project it in a blast or propel its motion, including its user’s momentum.”

”Make it cool looking!” Nia hastily prompted. ”And absorb moonlight, too!”

Smiling, Rachel repeated the first part. I don’t need to talk about the moonlight part because you’re going to eat it, and we don’t want to dampen the other effects by adding too much.

”My first meal is an awesome hammer? Nice.”

Holding out her hand, she summoned the smooth metal weapon, its glass-like parts glowing a light greenish blue. It held a thin pyramid spike on the back, while the front had multiple points to rip into whatever she bashed.

Rachel smashed it against the ground, making parts of the glass portions brighten, showing it had a kinetic charge. ”This will do.”

Dionysus’ grin widened as he pointed at Nia across the broken amphitheater, trying to peer around one of the giant deep-sea fish that had gotten between them.

”I think I am done with this little power-twin duo of hare and bunny. If I can’t do anything to Nike due to the last restriction, I’ll do this... Downgrade: Soul Item’s age. Revert to five.”

”Rachel, if I’m a liability, then don’t—what... No! Why am I so little now?”

A shiver ran down Rachel’s spine, ears rising as Nia jumped up in a panic, but a vortex of wine encircled Rachel, blocking her image of the 19-year-old bunny. When it lifted, Nia was a small child.

Yseress held up her hand and snapped her fingers, making Nia appear in front of her in a flash of Hellfire; the little girl began to tremble, her ears falling back under the woman’s devilish stare. ”How cute—oh?!”

There was a splash of light, and Nia returned to the outfit to hide.

”I’m sorry, Major; she’s too scary!”

Rachel breathed out a frustrated growl while turning her tight, eclipsed eyes to the lesser god.

Dionysus roared with laughter. ”If only I could have made her younger! It would have been wonderful to see you carrying around a baby in the fight—and what is that look for?”

”This?” Rachel asked. ”I think it’s her turn. Dionysus...meet your misfortune.”

A sardonic gleam came on as Yseress’ lips peeled back into a thrilled smile.

The handsome god’s brow furrowed as he looked at the snickering fallen Nephilim, holding a hand to her left breast and trying to hold in her excitement. A devilish spark glittered in her ruby eyes, with the crimson lightning dancing around her black-flame-ignited figure.

”What are you plotting, Yseress?” he slowly asked.

”Oh! Hah. Hah-hah. Umm. Give me a moment, please... I am just—oh, the time has already started. Excuse me! Ahem. It’s just that you were boasting so well about the extent of your power here.”

She looked up at the sky with anticipation, hands clasped tightly around her purse straps as she spoke in almost a reverent whisper. ”Location: The 7th Circle. Under the Hell Moon. In the sight of my mistress. Let me hear the Great Queen of Yomi again. Let She Who Invites welcome us to her home!”

Dionysus’ face went whiter than when Rachel had stolen Nike, silence filling the stadium as the world melded away to a hellish plane.

Boiling gore, screams, and an acid-filled sky of blood rain quelled the boisterous atmosphere. World-devouring demons and cackling devils of titanic proportion filled the endless torment. And far overhead, a wicked celestial sphere loomed, wreathed in flames and marred by a hellish symbol across its face.

A rippling, twisting barrier writhed at the edges of the veil protecting them as they entered what Rachel had to assume was a higher-dimensional sphere.

Yseress floated in the air as a blurry figure appeared between the Hell Moon and them, sitting on a cracked, stone throne. Rachel couldn’t make it out through all the distortions between dimensional zones, but her own face turned ashen as Yseress’ elated words told her exactly who she was supposed to entertain.

”Welcome, Lady Izanami.”

Rachel fell to the ground as the platform began to quake, fissures breaking the stone beneath her while terror filled Dionysus’ face. This was a name her mother had mentioned many times when growing up, often scaring her and giving her a dislike for Japanese culture due to the stories.

”No! NO! I will not allow it! It’s impossible! We can’t be beyond the dimensional wall!” The trembling lesser god vanished to appear in front of Yseress, her throat held in his grip as she giggled at something that probably didn’t even register as foreplay. ”Change the location before the time stops!”

Rachel looked up at the Hell Moon, energy not reaching her yet, the flickering Japanese goddess of the underworld overhead, leaning against her throne. She could practically feel the welcoming and entertained pulse she radiated, making Nia tremble and hide under Nike’s spiritual bed like the little girl she now was.

The fallen Nephilim didn’t so much as wince, hands still holding her purse as she looked straight into Dionysus’ cracking facade. ”No.”

With that statement, the world froze, and Dionysus began to choke, golden blood leaking out of his eyes and mouth, refusing to let it lock in.

”You...will not make a bridge to—the higher dimensions!”

Panic flooded the stadium as the other lower deities ran, vanishing in lights or slipping through portals to escape what Yseress had set in motion.

All sound died, and a soft, feminine whisper seemed to enter every mind, pulling their gaze up to the obscure figure, now on their side of the twisting barrier.

”Dionysus. How long has it been? Athena sends her regards.”