Chapter Text
“Damnit, Moxxie! Stop hiding and face them!” Blitzo shouted at Moxxie, reloading his trustworthy pair of pistols while hiding behind the ruined brick wall. “We won’t make it out alive without someone getting rid of those goons!” The hail of gunshots was getting more intense. The gang did not see themselves being ambushed after killing a target in a Greed ring without asking for any payment. It seemed they wanted them dead (or one of them at least.)
Moxxie rolled his eyes, sighing with a palm over his face “Sir, I have done this five times in a row this week!.” He groaned frustratedly, yet, dashing toward the fires of lead with a pair of daggers readied. With swift slashes over them, the henchfolks were one after the body collapsed steadily. “Give me a break! Damnit!” He groaned, rolling his eyes as bullets hit him and ruined his suit, yet, his body was left unharmed.
“You are fat! Those won’t kill ya!” Loona shouted from a distance with a teasing tone, fighting the gangsters with her claws and fangs. Her brute strength, combined with agility made her opponents no match to her killing blows. She landed off the broken ceiling with an Oni brute faced on the ground.
“You got this! Mox!” Millie cheered him up while throwing a hostile sniper off the tree, breaking their neck with a sudden momentum. “Think about the rais-“
Bang!
A loud shot broke all the chaotic noise, with a single echo and a radiant trace of a holy bullet. Striker smirked from a distance with a celestial shotgun in his hands, walking from his hideout. All eyes focus on a figure that was hit by the relic bullet; Moxxie.
“Moxxie! Are you okay?!” Millie rushed toward her collapsing husband, lifting his weakening body close to her chest. “Answer me!” She whined, shaking him hard.
Moxxie’s eyes were barely focused on Millie, or even anything happening around him. They weakly tried to focus on something, or someone, who was not even there. “Mom, where are you?” He weakly asked, reaching his cold hand on Millie’s face barely. A few seconds later, it fell without any living resistance, his body turned…lifeless.
“Good jobs, Striker” Crimson walked from a wall behind Blitzo, Loona, and Millie, clapping lightly “Our mission has been completed”. He snapped his fingers before the hooligans walked to Striker’s side. Crimson smirked widely in a sense of victory.
Blitzo and Loona looked around in confusion, especially Blitzo as he lowered his dual pistols. Loona, who held one of the remaining hooligans, dropped him on the grass out of surprise.
Millie held the corpse of her husband tight, curling herself over it in despair. “Please! Stay with us!” Millie screamed and cried with plain sorrow, ignoring blood tainted upon her clothes. Moxxie’s eyes were wide open, yet empty and deep. Like a well without a pit.
Loona walked toward Millie softly, reaching her paws toward Millie’s shoulder. But Crimson’s palm reached it first “He is yours now…” he taunted Millie, indulging his son’s death in a cold tone. “..or should I say, his dead?”
Striker crossed his arms proudly, staring at Millie and the rest of I.M.P. “Well, not so great at murdering anymore?” He chuckled, spinning his gun in a taunting manner “Well, that was fun…but, one dead is enough today” he smirked, as the hooligans started to return to their hideout.
“…This is not over…” Millie groaned quietly, putting her dead husband on the grass gently. Her voice was no longer shaking or sad, but determined, yet boiling. She didn’t even touch any weapons around her, clenching her fists tightly and getting up firmly.
Crimson raised his eyebrows in surprise while trying to keep his dominant stance as a winner. “Yes, our job is done…humiliate you all, and watch y-!”
Millie punched Crimson flying to the wall heavily and swiftly with a single jab. Her horns grew longer and sharper, her eyes burnt in raging red, and her claws and tail sharpened like the lethal fangs of Cerberus. She stared at Striker and the hooligans, exhaling burning air heavily.
“Not until I f*cking kill you all!” She roared, dashing toward the direction of Striker rapidly.
Striker managed to roll away from the offensive move, just to see one of the henchwomen get her throat cut by Millie’s deadly slash. He tried to reach for his shotgun quickly, as the hooligans hailed their shots upon Millie.
The leads hitting her skin merely bruised her, as she dashed toward the assaulters like she felt no pain at all. Tail swiftly rotated and cut into their flesh like a hot knife on sticks of butter, before she bit one of their eyes off and sunk her claws into the other two. She didn’t care about the blood in her mouth or physical pain anymore, Moxxie’s death made them insignificant feelings, as if she even felt it at the slightest amount.
The rest of the hooligans ran for their lives, yet Millie used her tail and agile leap to claim any nearest victims after seconds of previous kills. Striker, somehow, had escaped from the scene already, leaving a hat and broken shotgun. Their begging for mercy was deafened by Millie’s rageful bloodshed. They must pay for his death, their blood will clean her pain, and their broken souls will make up for her dear husband’s fall.
Loona hugged Millie from behind tightly, preventing her from killing the teenager imp with a broken leg. His eyes were shaken in terror, blood upon his clothes and body. “…My mom needs money. Please, I have no choices…” he stuttered, backing away while trying to bargain with Millie “If you want to kill me. Please, my mother needs help…” he looked at enraged Millie into her burning eyes, begging for mercy or anybody’s help.
“Snap it off! Millie!” Loona groaned, struggling with Millie’s newly increased strength. Her restraining arms were barely able to hold her away from a soon-to-be victim, with her tail whipping and bruising Loona like a razor wire. She tried not to hurt Millie, while also not letting her murder an imp with no choice for his crime.
Millie struggled to break herself from Loona’s grasp, as she screamed and cried loudly “You will pay! My husba-!” As Loona pushed her finger upon Millie’s spine, she steadily calmed down and fell unconscious in almost a minute. Eventually, she passed out, while her form reverted to its default.
“Loona. Where did you learn that?” Blitzo asked as he looked at fainted Millie and the mess she left after her onslaught. “…and, maybe we can save Moxxie?” he asked quietly, sighing loudly after all the quick mess and chaos.
The smell of herbal creamy tomato soup gently shook Millie from her half-conscious slumber, along with the voice of an acoustic ukulele playing Moxxie’s weekly muse! ‘Oh Millie’. Millie slowly opened her eyelids, finding herself on the bed. Her sight was blurring and her body felt exhausted, like she faced the worst nightmare in the last few decades.
“Moxxie…I had a nightmare” she mumbled, reaching her hand toward another side of the bed, chuckling lightly “Wanna play BDS-“.
“Blitzo! Loona! Why are you here?!” She gasped with a hint of surprise, seeing Loona holding a bowl of soup and Blitzo playing Moxxie’s music with a phone. The room looked tidy, yet empty and cold, like something was missing.
After seconds of silence, Millie interrupted the void “Where is Mo-“ she asked in a worried tone while looking at her cream of tomato with 13 different dried herbs and spices.
“Well, he is…” Loona sighed and paused from just telling her horrible news to exhausted Millie. “…Have some soup first, Mille” She put a bowl of creamed tomato in the drawer near Millie, forcing herself not to express her worries.
Millie was taking a spoonful of warm soup slowly before her confused expression had been replaced by a bitter realization. She looked down, putting a bowl over a nearby cupboard.
“Millie, am I missing some spices?” Blitzo played dumb, yet remained caring for Millie “Or…we suppose to use hellfire-dried empress tomato?” He attempts to keep the topics around the soup.
“Blitzo” she sighed heavily, looking at the bowl that had barely eaten, leaving alone being enjoyed. “It was not just a nightmare, was it?” she asked in a shaken voice, breaking from her grogginess. Tears ran down her face, as she hugged her blanket tight.
“…He is at a hospital” Blitzo sighed, avoiding looking at Millie in her watering eyes. “I am telling you the truth.” He confirmed the situation, inhaling deeply. “Please-”
Loona sighed deeply, walking toward Millie “Blitzo, she supposed to know the detailed truth” she insisted in a serious tone, yet, not even frustrated but making up her mind to tell Millie what they knew. “He…his body is in the morgue” she confessed, turning away from Millie’s face out of shame and anxiety “It is technically in hospital…”
Sobbing even louder, Millie put her face upon the blanket to cover her face and wash her face from streams of tears. “Stolas can do something about this! Right?!” She begged Blitzo, grabbing his coat tightly, shaking him as she cried in a broken heart.
Blitzo took a deep breath, hugged Millie, and let her cry on his shoulder. “I already asked him…” he shook his head with disappointment and sorrow “…Celestial weapon destroys the demonic soul. It is beyond his power to bring an eliminated soul back to an original state,” he explained with a sincere tone.
Ring!
Sallie was the person on a call, Millie took a few deep breaths and intense sobs before pretending her voice sounded as ‘okay’ as possible.
“Yes? Sallie” she greeted her younger sister, toughing up her tone while some whines sounded. Millie held her tears and attempted to smile it along.
“I am worried about you…” Sallie started the conversation with a concerned tone before pausing for a while “…I told you loving him won’t…” she inhaled, trying to sound reasonable.
“SHUT UP!” Millie screamed in rage, as her body started to form slight ‘transformation hints’, as she exploded her sorrow “You guys f*ckING overlook his values!” She put her clawed hands, wiping away her tears while trying not to shatter her phone “Even in his..his d-demise!” She screamed in a blazing loath, grinding her fangs.
Sallie paused for seconds before a whisper of their father intervened “Tell her to find a fresh new love. There are many larger and even better fish in the Styx”, just before Sallie took a deep breath to encourage “Milli-”
“Why do you sound so apathetic about my soulmate’s death?!?” She hissed, grabbing one of her horns tightly “I can’t start it all over with just any demo-!”
Shatter
Millie’s phone shattered in her hand, bleeding her palms while she was shaking in furious anger and aching grief. Loona offered her a loose grasp of cuddle, holding her as she sighed heavily to comfort her coworker, even at the slightest. Blitzo joined the hug, hoping he could do more to fix the irreversible damage.
Millie whimpered as she reached for Blitzo’s shoulder “You said it is beyond Stolas’ power?” she asked, sniffing as she looked into his eyes “I want to get access to his library…” she begged with a hint of hope, or wish for healing.
A week after Moxxie’s funeral, the attendants were Millie as a chief mourner, Blitzo, Loona, Fizzaroli(even he did not stay until the burial due to his work schedule), Stolas, and a couple of volunteers. The Mays were generous enough to share free pies for lunch (Apple Cinnamon and Shepherd’s pie, Millie’s favorite) and name cards of some matchmaking businesses. Blitzo let Millie take a few months off her job to heal her mentality and as a little gift after loss.
---
“So, you’re half-incubus and expert in makeup disguise…” Blitzo looked at the effeminate male imp on the opposite seat, reading through the job application. “But you had never killed any human before…so…” he raised his voice in a doubtful tone.
The femboy Imp with a casual hood and long hair shrugged “We all have the first time” he answered idly, handing him his disguise portfolio from a skinhead boxer to a prostitute with large breasts “And I can be a great intel, also, help your kill being easier” he offered, snapped his fingers a few times.
“So, Karlzen. You will be on the considering list” Blitzo summarized after turning pages on his portfolio “Do you have…OnlyFails account?” he whispered with a blink, pausing at a page labeled ‘NSFW-ish(?)’.
Karlzen nodded lightly, blushing red as he left “Sure! I will send you a DM if you hire me!” he offered while Blitzo stuck his eyes on his photo, bending chest down briefly over a boner and plump ass.
Loona got inside the room, taking applications from the considered candidates to skim each of them. “Esmush sounds like a good choice” she pointed while pointing at the talents and work experiences list, nodding in approval. “If they have graduated from Envy Ring College then, they gotta be one of the new members” Loona noted, handing Blitzo their application.
Blitzo nodded, scanning through the document “Okay, I will ask for her finished project samples in a week” he noted as he looked at the others “There are other two, but we want only one more-”
Ring!
Millie entered the room with a light smile over her exhausted expression “Blitz, Loona, I am back…” she sighed with a vacuum bottle in her hand and a dagger in another “Those are our work documents while I am not around?” she chuckled awkwardly, leaving both Loona and Blitzo concerned.
Loona paused for seconds, inhaling deeply “Listen, we have not continued our business-” she looked at Millie taking a gulp from her bottle “…yet” Loona’s nose felt a spiking smell from her drink, which she was pretty sure it’s not camomile tea or any ‘safe relaxing drink’ she knew.
“So, what can I help you with?” Millie offered with a blushing face after a few more gulps and chuckled forcefully. “Why are there like, a dozen of imps here? Our customers?” she shrugged, moving toward piles of documents, job applications to be exact.
Blitzo sweated a bucket while trying to come up with excuses “Sure! May you buy us a treat? Like…” he looked at Loona, making a lip signal of ‘Any time-consuming treat in this area?’ .
Millie paused as she read one of them slowly, her smile shrunk and turned a grimace of clenching teeth. “Blitzo, Loona…” she turned toward them with a furious glare “What do you mean by job application ?” She highlighted, holding a document tight.
Loona sweated before sighing “Well, it doesn’t like what you’re thinki-”
“Sir! Am I qualified?!” Shouted a voice from the hallway, interrupting the situation.
A moment of silence formed, as the only things that moved were Millie’s tears on her cheeks and the document in her hand being crushed. Her expression was equal intense mixture of shock and anger, like a sense of being betrayed by those she trusted the most.
Millie slammed a document on the floor “You two want to replace him that much?!” she pointed at Blitzo before flipping the table out of a sudden. “Then, you gonna get another space for trainees, 'cause I am f*ckING QUIT!” She yelled in a tear-soaked face before stomping out of the office. “Don’t you dare call me again!”
As Millie left the hall by the stairs, silence filled the room as Blitzo took the three documents off the ‘considering’ pile and shook his head briefly. “So, tell these three they got a job. Business is gonna start tomorrow morning” he handed the rest of the documents to Loona, sighing “I gonna learn how to use Excel” he walked away with a deadpan expression.
Fizzaroli sat on a guest seat in Stolas’ office, crossing his arms while staring at Stolas with an angry glance. “I know you’re capable of bringing him back.” he highlighted, handing him a shard of Asmodean Crystal “Please…I want to help my friend’s business” he eased his grimace to a sad frown, yet firmly demanding.
Stolas sighed, and pushed a shard back to Fizz “It’s not my power to grant Millie that, Fizzaroli” he explained as he looked down, searching for a small notebook among the pile of records. His face was stressed as he took a few longer breathes, trying to summarize the rest of the explanation in his mind,
“That entity is Hel, daughter of Angboda and Loki.” He put a small notebook with a brief symbol of Yggdrasil on the cover “There are other realms in heaven and hell beyond most’s awareness” He turned the pages to find a rune that he wanted to show Fizz. With each rune briefly revealed one before another, a brief sound echoed for a second, from the horse’ neighing to storm and thunder. The page stopped at an upturned ‘Y’ with a middle line, resembling bird’s feet.
Fizzaroli paused as the rune glowed in sickly bright lime and dark purple, turning the room cold and dark as the aura it made as an only source. “What is this supposed to be?!” Fizz asked Stolas as he stared into it with a pale scared face. Stolas, however, looked at it stoically, yet disgusted.
Slam!
Stolas shut the book, reversing the room to be lit by the ceiling of constellations and candles reignited themselves. “And even if I can make a deal with her, I won’t” he highlighted, putting a book back among a pile of records it belongs to.
“She declared war against Valhalla for Odin’s seeing her creation of necromancy as a threat” he continued explaining while hanging Fizz a mug of warm cocoa, putting a few mini-marshmallows into it with a silvery tong. “Sorry for exposing you to her essence. I must be sure you understand it” he relaxed his tone to a more casual one as he poured a cup of jasmine tea for himself. “Jasmine dragon, my favorite green tea from my favorite mortal, '' he took a slow sipping of jasmine-scented brew.
“But seriously, no one returns from spiritual annihilation. Erased beings only lived as echoes”
