As Sucy turned back around to face Akko, she approached the brunette, wings still outstretched. The brunette could only marvel at the horrifying beauty before her as the half-lilim slowly but steadily approached her.
"Sucy… You…" – Akko couldn't even manage a single coherent word at the moment. As the other girl looked over at Sucy, she could swear that her usually simply pale skin had… Something like an ash-gray tone to it? Even her horns now seemed to be at least a tiny bit longer, too…
"Never seen me with my wings out before, huh? I guess… You could call this a partial glimpse of the real me." – As the partially transformed demoness said that, she couldn't help but chuckle and remark: "Close your mouth. There are no flies, but getting a throat ache because of too much cold air is the last thing you'd want to remember this moment by. Do you know why did I allow myself to give you a tiny glimpse of my real self?"
Since the brunette was still left in stunned awe, Sucy took a deep breath and went on to explain: "This is only a halfway point of my transformation, Akko. And trust me, it took me all my willpower to halt it right there. Consider this… A warning, if you will. That if you persist on following me… You might just end up on the receiving end of razor-sharp claws, and equally sharp fangs, to say nothing of the abyssal magic I have at my disposal." – Sucy replied in a somber tone, looking down upon the ground she stood on. – "It's dangerous for you to be anywhere near me… After all, I killed at least one human being in my life, even if it was out of self-defense. My father, to be specific. "
Akko couldn't help but back off a bit as soon as she heard that. Sure, Sucy never really specified what happened to her family, but that…
"Worst thing is, I remembered it just this night. I… Had a particularly odd nightmare. Although… It was more of a repressed memory. Something that I just didn't want to remember… Yet my mind allowed it to resurface still. My mad father tried to do something particularly horrible to me, and… He went too far is all I can say. Yet so did I, exceeding the acceptable norms of self-defense, and ending his life, no matter how much I restrained myself. "
Soon enough, an awkward silence started yet again, persisting through the air until Sucy looked back at Akko again, and lifted her normally eye-obscuring bangs aside. What Akko saw underneath them was equal parts fascinating and disturbing – Sucy's other, normally obscured eye, was but a pitch-black void, with a single red ember burning in the depths of whatever darkness that was. Moreover, some odd smoke seemed to emanate from the semi-empty eye socket, as Sucy kept her stare focused on Akko. The brunette could swear that the tiny little blazing ember was focused on her no matter where she looked.
"You know, I'm very surprised that you've let yourself become so attached to someone who could become a mindless killing machine after one bad tick-off. So naturally, I have just one question that plagues me still to this day." – As Sucy said that, she straightened herself back up, assuming a posture different from her usual slouch. When the mauve-haired half-lilim wasn't slouching, she was at least a head taller than Akko, not to mention that her wings certainly added quite a bit of extra height on her, so it appeared as if she loomed over the other girl. Looking her in the eyes, she asked a simple question that held many, many other ones behind it:
"Why?"
Akko didn't seem to quite understand the real intent behind the question, however, judging by the awkward silence starting up yet again, so Sucy reiterated: "Why are you always so irrationally helpful to me? Why did you bother saving my life, even though you've got nothing out of it? Why are you so attached to a down on her luck demon like me? Why do you still insist on me staying within the city despite knowing full well that it will just endanger you more than needed to?"
As Akko took a deep breath, she regained her composure and replied: "Sucy, I know that may sound naïve, but I honestly believe that there is good in every person – angel, human, or even demon. And however childish that may sound, I honestly think that helping a person down on their luck is just the right thing to do. Somehow, I just… Sensed that you wouldn't hurt me if I did so. I knew that, demon or not, you're still a good person at heart, even though this was literally the first time we met. And after I got to know you better, I still think the same, and I know that I wasn't wrong in my judgement. I mean, I'm fairly certain we would be surprisingly good friends, even despite our, heh, differing natures. "
Sucy didn't know what to say on the matter, so she loomed over Akko for a few more moments like this before going back into her usual posture, retracting her wings and covering her eye back up as she turned to face away from Akko, letting her body readjust to her usual, less battle-capable form. Chuckling to herself, the half-demoness remarked: "Your world view never ceases to amaze me. You're a grown-up lady, and yet you still see the world in blacks and whites. Except you're very clearly colorblind to boot. I guess ignorance really is a bliss. Although I can safely say, you're probably the single most lovable idiot I've had for a friend. Especially considering I didn't really meet any lovable idiots in my life all that much. "
"And you are an incredibly grumpy cynic. And I've met thousands of those types, but I know for sure there's one thing that differs you from them all – beneath all that sarcasm and cynicism of yours, you're just a big ol' softie! " – Akko replied, grinning and giving Sucy a light shoulder nudge, prompting a chuckle from the half-lilim. – "Now come on, let's get back into the headquarters. You're probably freezing here, standing in nothing but your undies."
"Says the person who wears only that and a light shirt. I guess idiots just don't feel any cold. " – Sucy playfully retorted as they went over to take the elevator back to where the Order's headquarters were.
That night sure was quite a doozy.
"So, you're saying that the recent breach was caused by the escaped offspring of the demoness summoned back then, years ago?"
The afternoon was as quiet as ever. Most of the Sentinels were off elsewhere in the city, and a select few of them were just preparing for their morning patrol, standing outside the Sentinels' Headquarters. Right now, the only ones currently there were Croix and Trisagion, with the former relaying all the information she had to the latter.
"Exactly. And I firmly believe that she returned for a reason. After all, it is very unlikely that our unlucky lilim might've escaped the city at any point, let alone at the time of the childe's conception. I'm assuming that the half-lilim is on a search for her long lost mother. Perhaps she might be able to bring us to her whereabouts?" – Croix suggested, all the while showing off the research results she had.
"You have a rather…Odd theory, lady Meridies…" – Trisagion remarked as she looked over the results shown on the screen of Croix's tablet. After a few moments of analyzing the information she was given, she reluctantly agreed: "That being said, if we chase her down, we might just be able to get two demons out of the city safely in one go. Tell the Sentinels to scour through the city for any half-demons. Interrogate them quietly, otherwise we might just make even more troubling for us all. We do not need any attention to be drawn to our operation. Dismissed."
As Croix left the building, she couldn't help but chuckle to herself as she accessed the communicator function on her tech. Before connecting, however, she hastily shut the tablet off for now and remarked: "Oh, what am I doing. My overconfidence is gonna be the death of me someday, I swear. Better relay the orders from a more secure location."
And it wasn't until after she was at her apartments that she instead opted to access the Sentinels' city-wide communication channel via her PC, and went from there.
"Mistress Meridies! We've heard everything about the incident and are awaiting Mistress' Trisagion's orders!" – One of the Sentinel squad leaders, an ordinary blonde angel, remarked as he answered the call.
"To all Angel Sentinels within the city. Find and interrogate all half-breeds within the city, and try to find out the whereabouts of the half-demon that breached the barrier a few days prior through them. Should they refuse to cooperate, you are free to detain them and force the interrogation from there!" – The lavender-haired Sentinel didn't have a single shred of doubt as she spoke these words out. She knew that the lesser Sentinels trusted her too much – she was the right-hand woman of Trisagion after all! – and with their endless animosity towards any half-angels that didn't work amongst the Sentinels' ranks, there was no questioning sent her way, only the occasional cheers. And to top it all off, Trisagion herself hardly had the time to personally see to it that the lesser Sentinels followed her orders strictly, so Croix really was going to get away with all this.
"How hilarious, Trisagion…" – Croix remarked to herself as soon as she closed off the communication app on her PC and went back to scrounging through the files containing all the information she gathered so far. – "Your subordinates' bigotry against half-angels and your unwillingness to participate in your own affairs shall be your own undoing. It won't be long before the near-endless human-angel dissent overtakes the city. And in Chaos, an opportunity shall rise for me… An opportunity for me to set things right."
The plan was set into motion. And there was no stopping it.
