Story: !Blood/death! If instructions end, go to notes. Like a blur of fire, Kanari swipes the other devil by their feet and they fall to the cold grounds of the underworld. “They say woman cannot fight. They say we are weak, thus the 'weak' has defeated the 'strong'" Kanari says, met by a soft laughter. She sighs. "Why is it that I cannot go, brother? I am fit to fight, Hebi.” She droops a little. "You are a formidable one, Nari, but rules are rules, hence we obey them." Hebi says, hand placed on her shoulder. Kanari turns away and with a beat of her wings, disappears. She notices a tear trickling down her cheek, and in utter disgust wipes it away with a finger and lets it fall away. "Father hates it when I cry." She tells herself "Tears are for the weak." She spits the first and last word like poison on her tongue. As she takes a landing she stands in front of a large building, made of white concrete and red roof tiles, with marble pillars on the top of the small staircase leading before a double door, to form a beautiful structure Kanari could heartily call ‘home’. As Kanari approaches the door, she places a hand on the left pillar, and leans her head against the smooth marble. She takes a deep breath in, as if breathing in all her sadness and anger, forming a frown against the pillar, before breathing out again, as if transferring her troubles to the pillar, and relaxing her expression before walking to the door and entering her home. "Hello Nari! Your father is away at the summoning, the Cupiditas wouldn't be the same without our Lord. I made some dumplings, your favourite." Kanari's mother greets Kanari and presents her with a plate with dumplings sitting smartly on the plate. "Thanks mother." Kanari smiles, taking a dumpling and biting into it. As she swallows down the last of the dumpling, she opens a door to a darkly lit room with few candles surrounding a large portrait of Lord Satan, the one who made this possible. The one who fought against evil, the most powerful god. This was the worshipping room. You must worship on every blood-moon, which was tonight. Kanari kneels down and places her finger in a gold basin filled with a red liquid as she chants. “Ad Orcum ambulare, oculum sanguinis Lunae videre, gratus sum, sanguinem tibi do.” She hears a low ringing coming from the basin, and feels a sharp puncture on her finger as she sees the liquid turn a shade redder and slowly blend with the rest of the basin. She slowly emerges from her kneeling form and leaves the room. Kanari slowly walks to her bedroom as she falls onto the mattress with a thump. Its the full moon tonight, the night of the ‘Cupiditas’. All underworld creatures will be present to witness the traditional event, but only males are to participate. As the verges of the moon were to be uncovered by the black veils that chocks its piercing hue, Kanari’s parents give her fancy garments as they dress into their own. As Kanari walks down the small hallway her brother, Hebi greets her. “Dressed to impress I see.” He teases, giving her shoulder a little nudge with his elbow. Slightly irritated, Kanari grabs his wrist and twists his arm, not enough for it to hurt but as a warning. “You know I hate these clothes, Hebi.” She says flatly. “Okay, okay, I was teasing you.” He says, feeling very vulnerable with his arm’s current position. “So was I.” She says, no change in her tone, but true sincerity is showed as Hebi sees the sides of Kanari’s mouth curling the slightest amount to form an amused smile. Hebi begins to walk away until he realised Kanari wasn’t coming. “Hey, are you coming?” “…Yeah, I just…I think I forgot something, tell mother and father I’ll catch up, I know the way.” She smiles, however Hebi sees through her smile that there was something on her mind but says nothing and leaves to approach his parents. Strange, she loves watching the Cupiditas, and arriving on time too. The three fly to a giant stadium and sit on one of the empty seats formed by two huge, upright rib cage with each spearing bone spread out almost like a stair case, joint together to form a somewhat circular shape. Shouting rings around the stadium and constant chanting rises around the crowd. As the last of the black flees from the moon’s red light, a large fire appears in the circle and within the flame, a red creature steps out. The cheering grows and the being accepting the applaud is Lord Satan himself, followed closely by the seven deadly sins. “You all have come to witness the Cupiditas. To witness the confident warriors from these crowds volunteer to fight until enough blood from their opponents is spilled. I send the warriors that die to help the increase of population, to show more of those humans down on earth, the right ways to lead them to their Hell they wish for.” Satan cackles, sitting on a throne of bones high up from the stadium. Devils are immortal, but can die if they get killed, then, they go back to earth.
“Do we have any volunteers?” Satan purrs at the crowd. Many men raise their hands as he chooses 2 to battle, it lingers through time until one is fatally stabbed and falls to the ground, motionless. The cycle repeats for countless times, but before the traditional amount was met, there was only one volunteer, the devil that had been constantly winning the last few rounds. “Looks like we are one volunteer short until the games end, anyone that wins against this devil here will be rewarded with a higher role in the devil hierarchy.” A hand shoots up from the crowd, from a hooded figure. “You, the one in the black hood, fight for your immortal life.” The devil flies down and grabs its weapon, a bow and arrow, whilst their component tightens his grip on a spiked bat. The hooded devil appears to be rather skinny and more agile compared to the other. Rattling of tails echo throughout the stadium with huge thuds from the spiked bat hitting the ground in attempt to destroy the hooded devil and furious swooshing of arrows being shot. Devils tend to have a very high pain tolerance and their immortality makes them stronger. At the speed of jerking back from the swing of the large devil, the hood falls back to reveal an unfamiliar face. All devils playing in the Cupiditas are normally the same devils, who played at the games last blood moon, as they were known to be the best. This time, it was someone new. The bat slices into the other hooded one’s arm, and in an instant is brought up by the neck. The large devil takes off and slams the of back the other devil against the force field surrounding the stadium with such a force the top of the vulnerable being’s horn cracks and falls. The stadium notices the appearance of the injured one begin to change…it was a female. It was Kanari. She had cast a spell on herself to disguise herself as a male, but with the spell and the force field intertwining, it unveiled her disguise. Kanari watches in horror as her horn falls many feet below, and a rage of anger engulfs her as the crowd witness a dangerous glow in her eye, as her good hand grabs the devil before her by the neck and squeezes uncontrollably hard, cause her neck to become free of his grasp. She pushes off from the wall using her feet against the force field and zooms forwards across the arena, downwards and forces the other devil onto the ground with enough force to dig a large pit. Silence slithers around the crowd as the red glow in her eyes fade away, anger becoming regret. Kanari wasn’t sure what emotion played her like a puppet in that game, and she was struck with guilt as she caught her parents staring at her in disappointment. A small clapping from the audience breaks the silence, and a booming applaud rises, Kanari picks up her bow and slowly raises it into the air. Satan slams his fist down against the arm-rest of his throne, silencing the cheers from the crowd. A hissing of conversation is passed between Satan and the seven sins. “You have broken the rules, little one, and you have insulted my game. What do you have to say for yourself?” Satan booms in a low, ominous tone. “I came here to prove that females should be allowed to fight. And if you think not, you are meddling with the truth and an opinion.” Kanari fiercely replies. “Are you trying to tell me,” Satan begins, flying down to face Kanari closely. “That my, Lord Satan’s word is incorrect.” “No. I showed you.” Kanari says, tone matching the Lord’s. “I am god, I am the one and only lord, if you cannot obey my laws, you don’t deserve to be in hell. I banish you from hell, and do not think you have heaven to go to, or earth, you will be alone. Forever. You have 2 minutes to bid your family farewell.” “…Thank you…” Kanari says sadly, she didn’t think it would end up this way, she decided to say nothing else, as there may be further punishment than already given. She leaves meets her parents outside the stadium. “Nari…why…why?” Her mother chokes through her tears, holding her daughters face. “I had to stand up for my rights, and others’.” Kanari notices she is crying too. “We are so, so proud of you, Nari, but you shouldn’t have done this. You should have held back, because this wasn’t worth fighting for.” Kanari’s mother cups Kanari’s hands in hers as she begins to cry harder. “Proud? She has brung shame onto the family!” Her father spat. “She has been brave, father, she has sacrificed herself for the grater good!” Hebi replies, giving Kanari a hug. “All she’s ever tried to do is make you proud, but now, it only matters if she is.” “You’re time is up, a voice rings around the underworld.” Kanari begins to fade away. “Goodbye, mother. Goodbye father. Goodbye Hebi.” She manages to say through a breaking voice before she is completely gone, the last thing she sees is her mother bawling in sorrow, her brother smiling sadly and her father looking somewhat guilty. Everything turns white. Cont. - https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/718151382/
