A Grim Bond 10 (Patreon)

A Grim Bond 10 - or ‘The Grim Adventures turns into Broken Tales’ (Grim Tales from Below, OC!Brother to Mandy)

Within the Underworld, there are five major domains that are ruled by the ‘top dogs’ and the rule-makers within the hellish realm.

The Grim Castle, which was owned by Grim and Mandy.

The Nightosphere, the realm ruled by Hunson Abadeer and is considered an inward hell for those souls that end up there as departure from it is as rare as the passing of a celestial being.

The Ghost Zone which is seen as the ‘nearest’ layer to the entrance to Hell and the very place a fraction of unlucky but monstrous souls end up dealing with. It was an endless maze of doors and halls, each patrolled by the unforgiving entity known as the Warden. It is said that many tend to give a shot to the chance of wandering endlessly through this manor with the hope of finding a way out because it gives them higher odds of avoiding the vicious guardian checking all over the realm.

The Land of Tainted Souls, it was HIM’s domain and one that was truly ruled by pure hellish anarchy that had been untouched for eons. Despite HIS might, the turf was devoid of any form of administration and was seen as the one place that had changed the least ever since HIM took over.

Finally, our destination, the City of Aku.

Aku himself is an entity that I had only once faced, and not in a ‘face to face situation’. Having as a teacher ‘Jack-sensei’, the man that wielded the blade meant to kill the odd demon, pretty much set the entire classroom to encounter Aku from time to time, so I really wasn’t that unprepared to what may come if the monster tried anything funny.

From my understanding and thanks to Jeff’s full explanation on the matter which he gave me while we were taking the ‘right road to go to hell’, the City of Aku was revered as the ‘safest’ space in Hell. Not because it was without crime or even without some issues common in modern human cities, but rather because the crime rate was just that- it was limited compared to the sheer barbarism most of the domains were known to face from time to time.

It was also the only domain with a ‘modern’ administration with a constitution, rights and entertainment. In that last regard, I saw Mimi look at the girl that was being portrayed on many ads, the so-called Underworld Idol, and she provided quite the comment.

“Chi.”

I blinked, glancing just briefly at her as the car silently shifted through the streets.

“That’s your friend, Mimi?”

“Yes. Cute.”

Nodding at her words, I couldn’t help but paint a pre-first impression of Chi.

While I don’t doubt that this kid is fine, the fact she was an idol, that she was rich, her father was fucking Aku of all people and he was the kind of demon that would become a total softie with some child to call of his own, and the insane amount of messages she would send to Mimi while she was sleeping as I could see in the morning as Mimi glossed through most of those… I could say she was a real piece of work.

Not bad, and she was trying to be nice, but she clearly was spoiled and a bit too ‘passionate’ about her friendship with Mimi. I refrained from going any deeper about it, but I felt like I had to be a bit guarded around this one.

And, to some extent, I was correct.

“Welcome, you grace us, the most abhorrent and cruel ones, with your presence. I, princess Chi, on behalf of my father, would like to welcome-”

The girl didn’t even get the chance to finish that Mimi had rushed around the car and tackled her with a hug. The orangette giggled in delight at the embrace and affection but… I kind of found her outfit a bit problematic.

I know, I shouldn’t be the ‘conservative dad’ and shit like that but… the Princess Leia cosplay she was using as a greeting outfit sure felt like a touch too deep into ‘the FBI is coming for everyone’s asses’ circumstance.

Still, Aku didn’t come to greet us as another individual stood a few feet away from us. A woman with short black hair and jovial black eyes, her skin was actually green- a demon? I never once saw someone like her before, so I ruled her to be a mere servant. Her simple black kimono suggested as much.

“My apologies for Chi’s unruly behavior. I am Ikra and I shall take you to see the owner of this manor,” The woman greeted politely, turning to the two girls. “And you two should probably get in a more private place before playing around.”

Both girls turned back to the woman, with Mimi softly pinching Chi’s cheeks with her claws. A shared nod and the duo bolted inside the manor, with Jeff and the floating dark and blue orb that came with Chi following them through the gates.

Ikra smiled giddily. “So, I believe you wish to speak with Aku-sama. Follow me.”

Nodding, I was soon wandering inside the manor, the guards standing vigilant but showing no hostility as Ikra took me around the place and I used this opportunity to pry a few more details on the situation.

“So, how much do you know about your lord, Ikra?”

“A lot,” She replied with a pleased hum. “He is a rather kind Shogun of Darkness. Ruthless, but very doting on his daughter.”

“If I may ask without sounding disrespectful, how did he come up with the need of having a… child?”

“That’s actually difficult to answer. It’s not offensive, however, I can assure you this much,” The woman started to explain. “Aku-sama was once a very ‘driven’ entity when it came to showing off his abilities. It all changed when his last meaningful rival, the man known as Jack the Samurai, perished more than twenty years ago.”

I slowly nodded. “Megaville- one of the first major losses the heroes had to deal with.”

“Are you aware of things that happened in Megaville, Arthur-san?” The attendant inquired with a hint of surprise. “You don’t sound like a hero. Could it be that you were a villain?”

I sighed, this has been told to me far too many times in the past, but it still got me irked. “I was a bystander. And then I left three years before that happened. And I was… busy when that came up.”

“Hm, I see…” The green-skinned woman remarked. “Still, when Jack perished, Aku-sama found himself stuck in a rather ugly thought, ‘what to do next?’. Sure, building this realm took time, and cleaning it from some of the idiots that dared to usurp the real power was interesting enough but…”

“Something was missing.”

“Yes,” Ikra agreed with my guess. “It was like a hole that felt difficult to fill up. Time passed, boredom started to sink in and… then he learned about Queen Mandy’s firstborn. Your sister decided to have children and Aku decided to give it a try too.”

“And?” Something feels fishy…

“And that’s how Chi came to be. Differently from previous attempts, Chi is Aku’s daughter and she is blessed with the role of, one day, replacing him as the Shogun of Darkness and the true owner of the City of Aku.”

“...How much does Aku love Chi?”

“To his very death,” Ikra confessed honestly and with quite a lot of feeling. “He is devoted to her as her parent. At times, this ended up leaving the girl with some… quirks.”

“Yet you love her a lot despite that. Enough you wouldn’t let anyone hurt her or those she cares for and that is important to her.”

The senseless walking finally stopped. I saw Ikra tense up a bit but then… drop the unease as she turned to fully grace me with a genuine grin.

“You were always one of the smart kids. Not as cruel as your sister, but clever enough to pick up people’s true identity with little.”

I smiled back. An enemy Aku may have been in the past, but I could tell ‘a lot’ has changed after Jack died. With a snap of fingers, Ikra took me to what looked to be a large living room connected to an office, and she took a seat by the nice-looking sofa near to us.

“Come, Arthur. We have a lot to talk about- father to father~,” Ikra said, not changing to her true form for some reason and… giving me some vibes I had long forgotten about.

Vibes I once dreaded and that now were back.

The Ara Ara Energy… back with a vengeance.

—---------d-d-d-d—----------

Chi was… happy- no, scratch that. Chi was overjoyed!

To many, the girl didn’t seem to be that due to how cocky she tended to sound at times, but the love Chi held for Mimi was boundless and now was given more of a grip as some truths came out from this ‘odd’ visit.

“So, the reason you used to not speak with anyone was because… your power was sentient and trying to make you say and do bad things?” She asked as she finished changing in front of Mimi from her ‘drafty’ outfit into something a bit more fitting for a pretty princess, which was her nice pink kimono.

Mimi nodded from her bed. “Yes.”

A shiver went down the Princess of Darkness’ spine upon hearing the quiet but innocent voice of her first friend (and, hopefully, future bride).

This was enough of an explanation that made many of her worries of her silence being something driven by a general lack of interest to talk with her completely vanish from her mind. And the fact that Mimi looked happier and healthier- yes, Chi was quite sure this visit was second only to the first time they met.

Demongo, the silly orb her father had followed her around, was currently staring at this from a ‘webbed distance’ as Jeff kept him from hearing what they were talking about.  It was private and Chi wanted a front-view of Mimi’s cute voice. It was far greater than anything she had envisioned and dreamed about it.

“And that normal-looking mortal man was your new… father?”

“Yes. Arthur is my dad.”

The admission was also added with a sense of pride and overall delight. The combination proved to be enough to melt Chi’s poor heart.

“Y-You really like him, don’t you, Mimi?”

“HIM was my ‘father’, Arthur is my daddy.”

She is beaming!

That was a lot for poor Chi’s soul as she mustered her phone instinctively and took 500 rapid photos of that powerful smile that gave her happiness in her darkest day.

“...Chi, nosebleed.”

Shaking her head and bringing one of her kimono’s big pink sleeves up to her nose, Chi could confirm she had a case of nosebleed induced by a rapid-arousal blood-dispersion on her face. Anime is indeed real.

“So… anything else you want to bring up, Mimi?”

A slow nod, then the girl fished out her phone from her new jacket.

“Game dad showed me.”

“Oh?” Chi inquired, dreading a bit as she thought her dad was silly about ‘games’ and she gave it a rather flat look before… frowning at the title. “Fate… Grand Order?”

“Yes. It’s good.”

“Show me,” Chi pressed her friend and soon they were cuddling in bed, playing the game as Chi’s eyes were hooked at the curious game that was even older than she was and had so much good content for her to try.

Sure, it’s a gacha game, but she had so much of her pocket money stashed that she could easily get all the characters she wanted. The thing was that to ‘level the characters up’ she needed to put real effort into the game and-

She sure liked how it was Mimi’s turn to introduce her to something as cool as a new game, rather than the other way around!

—--------d-d-d-d—--------

AN

The closest comparison to Mimi x Chi is Kanna x Saikawa. The former likes the latter in a somewhat subdued manner, while the latter is… quite smitten and already contemplating marriage with the former.

Also, Chi is not exactly Japanese. So, she is to be seen as a Disney-loving Weeb. (Yes, it’s Canon.)