Chapter 36: First Sight of Tokyo

If he wanted to, Flynn could tell the others exactly what they were going to find. He could warn them of a lot of dangers that lay ahead, from demons that were much higher level than they'd seen to humans who were more than they seemed. But it was important for them to experience things for themselves. That was a better teacher than simply telling them what was to come.

And seeing their blind wonder at things he'd long ago grown used to was almost as good as feeling that wonder at a strange new world himself. Especially now that he'd let himself care more about what was around him rather than keeping himself detached in playing the games of gods. "Whoa, how did the stars get below us?" Walter asked in shock as they all got draw to the large windows around the observational platform. "Or wait, are those stars?"

"We couldn't have gone clear through the Earth since we didn't go as far down as the cliffs around Mikado," Jonathan said. "They do seem like stars."

"No, I think they look like buildings down there, all lit up in this darkness," Naverre said, still impressed at it.

"Well the ones who live down there are said to be sorcerers and such," Issachar said, leaning on the railing to be close to the window. "And science and machinery are considered sorcery, so lights wouldn't be a big deal to them."

"It's a beautiful sight, whatever it is," Isabeau said.

While they were all interested in what was below, Flynn looked at the Firmament sitting just above them. Flickers of something tried to be found in his mind: this place all lit up looking over the bustling city below, people chatting with family or a date as they visited without knowing the crisis to come… they had protected Tokyo from total obliteration like the rest of the world but had no idea what that protection would lead to. Could he have done that life any better? But that time was beyond his reach now, set in stone as history.

He needed to make this life go much better…

A tug at his sleeve drew his attention out of the past. Issachar was there, bright and eager like he was a kid again. "I'm glad I got to see this," he said quietly. "But there's better things to come."

The others were over at the elevator now, figuring that mundane device out. Since they weren't paying attention to the two of them, Flynn smiled at him. "Of course. But do you think you could fuse a demon with a garu spell and good magic?"

"Sure, I'm sure I could do that real quick," Issachar said, activating his gauntlet and opening the fusion app.

"Hang onto it for the rest of this place, as it'll come in handy," Flynn advised him. He could defeat the two guardians of Sky Tower easily, but wanted the others to do so. Letting Issachar know he might want wind magic available was good insurance should the other one catch him unaware.

"Hoy, we found some kind of lift that heads down," Walter called to them. "Burroughs calls it an elevator; want to take it down?"

"Might as well," Flynn said, knowing that there were no stairs down from this level. The Observational Platform had gotten stuck in the Firmament when the earthen shield appeared, but the rest of its tower had to be rebuilt for Akira and his companions to dig upwards to what would become Mikado.

But more important to their mission… he could easily lead the others in a manner to let them build power and skills rapidly once they were down in Tokyo. Flynn just had to figure a way to handle their shock at realizing the time differences, especially with Jonathan. Issachar should be able to help with that since he was good friends with him too. As their leader, however, it was Flynn's responsibility to see to their well-being.

A demon that knew garu and was good with magic… the elevator gave a shifting feeling like the lifts in South Ooida did, but more gently. Issachar was able to focus on this fusion while the others talked about this place. After some searches, he figured out that he could actually fuse one that knew garula instead: Tobyou, some kind of vase with a number of snakes hiding in it. It was strange, but it fit what Flynn suggested.

Fusion made him think, didn't he have some request about fusion? He checked his quest log, but didn't see any that mentioned fusion. But, there was that strange message from David still recorded as a request. 'Struck by an electric quill, the serpentine warrior falls for a dancing maiden of starry waters.' It was some kind of riddle. Maybe about fusion? Because he could figure out that 'electric quill' meant a chagrin and 'serpentine warrior' was probably naga. But 'dancing maiden of starry waters', what demon was that?

The elevator made a bing noise as it stopped. It let them out into another strange and incredible place: a cave shaft (maybe?) like a tower, with vine-covered even walls heading a long ways down. In the center, there was a pillar that seemed like many trees twisted together into one structure. Around the edges where they came out, there was a wide metal pathway that coiled all the way down the four walls of the shaft.

"This is a very strange place," Naverre said. "It made some sense up above when it was all caves, but this looks like it's half a demon domain."

"We don't seem to be in a domain," Jonathan said, checking something on his gauntlet. "Right, the map would inform us of that."

"The vines might have grown out of a domain since it was like that when we went in one before," Isabeau said, starting to head down. Walter was quick to go with her.

While the others descended, Issachar held back a moment to consider the riddle. Dancing maiden… only a few demons he'd seen could specifically be called a maiden, so all he had to do was check his compendium to figure out who. Unless it was one that he hadn't seen before. Flynn probably had and might even be able to identify it. Issachar wanted to try himself first.

It wasn't long before he found a likely answer: Apsaras, a demon he'd fused back in fall just because she had been a new demon to fuse from who he had at the time. So chagrin, naga, and apsaras. But normal fusion only worked with two demons. Fusing three demons required special fusion, a function he'd checked into but had been unable to make use of so far. The AI of the fusion app, Mido, would only accept specific combinations for special fusions. He suggested a few but kept them in shadows since they were either too powerful or were missing component demons.

There was a query button in the special fusion menu. "Mido, can I fuse chagrin, naga, and apsaras together?"

"Calculating formula," Mido said, his odd spherical image moving so that his beard shifted. "Wooooow, you can fuse Fiend David from this combination!"

"Uh, really?" Issachar said, startled at that. "I heard that fiends were really independent, so I didn't think a person could summon them."

"This is something I don't see every day," Mido agreed. "But you have his permission to call upon him, and your experience as a summoner means he shouldn't be completely out of your control. Perhaps not entirely in your control, but he will serve you and won't seek to harm you while you have a contract. Do you want to go ahead with this fusion? There will be a cost to resummon the necessary demons."

This could be interesting. Or very dangerous since there was a higher chance that David could ignore his commands. After a moment's hesitation, he felt like he was more curious to know than not. "Sure, go ahead," Issachar said.

After the usual animations, the screen showed that he had successfully called on David. A shade like Walter's Wu Kong or the real fiend? "I was wondering if you'd do this," David's text read on the screen. "Hmm hmm, let us play the sweet strains of death together."

That was not his intention, but every demon summoning was like this. "It's surprising that I could," Issachar said.

Unusually, David responded to that from within the gauntlet. "You shouldn't be surprised. I'd like to keep an eye on you, see if you are worthy of cheating death as you have. And while this manifestation isn't my full power, I certainly won't be a dead weight to you."

"I don't doubt that," Issachar said. "But I didn't cheat death knowingly."

"Whether you knew or not doesn't matter; I'm still keeping an eye on you. And it benefits you to keep me around in many ways. After all, you will draw the attention of the other Fiends just the same as you drew mine. Should one of them assault you on the same grounds I did, call on me and I'll dissuade them from challenging you unless you feel ready. I don't believe the others are fooling around with restrictions on like I was."

He had to admit that it was a very sound reason to keep David around. "Um, that's good. I appreciate that."

The text box showed that David chuckled before letting his portrait disappear. Issachar hurried down to catch up to the others, accidentally letting a group of demons give him a surprise attack in doing so. Thankfully, Tobyou proved its worth right away in defeating them easily.

In looking over the signs posted along the way, Issachar wondered more about what had gone on here. There were warnings to be careful when working at great heights, to take care of the tools, and to remember the sun. Had they been trying to find a way to live above the mountain around them? He couldn't blame them, since it would always be dark down here. How did they get food without the sun?

They made good progress down the platforms. One or two of them would handle the demons that tried to get in their way. If they could slip past, the others would to secure the way ahead. These demons were stronger than those higher in Naraku, but because they all fused demons often, the ones here were similar to what they were using. Issachar even saw a couple of tobyous on the way down.

There was another elevator at the bottom, along with a passage covered up by a concrete slab. At the bottom of that elevator, the tower was looking even more like a demon domain. The red woody vines were everywhere, completely covering any available surface. The Mapper app still didn't detect an active domain. But for being a fairly small circular hall, there were a lot of demons around. There were also a number of weird statues, humans poised like they were afraid of something.

"These statues are unsettling," Isabeau said when they got a break in fighting.

"Right, that's just what I was thinking," Issachar said, looking around. They'd gotten separated from the others. There was a stairway heading down in a hall nearby. "That should be the way on."

"Hold on, when did you folks come in?" a woman asked. She came through one of the inner walls despite it looking solid. The lighting wasn't great here, so the best he could see was a woman who was a giant snake at her waist, and with something that looked like swaying chains attached to her head. Wasn't that like what Marie had turned into? A demon called a gorgon; he recalled the compendium saying that they could turn people to stone.

"A few minutes ago," Issachar said. "You're a gorgon, right?"

She hissed and slammed her tail on the ground. "Don't you dare call me by such an ugly name! I am the beautiful Medusa, and don't forget it. Although whatever nonsense you say won't matter much in the end. You're a beautiful pair and will be better off as part of my collection." She reared back up and quickly fired shots at both of them.

Issachar fired back, but it didn't seem to do much. But tobyou's garula knocked her back. As Isabeau had garu herself and on one of her demons, Issachar moved ahead to attack with his sword. Medusa may have claimed to be beautiful, but she looked atrocious up close. The chains were actually skeletal snakes and her skin and scales were all kinds of unnatural colors. Since he was close, the snakes tried to snap at him too.

As he had to focus on fighting her up close like this, he missed one of the others coming around the other side until another garu caught Medusa from behind. She snarled, then fired out a number of needles. The sharp pricks made parts of Issachar's body feel numb. But Isabeau was with him; she could do something about it. Issachar tightened his grip on the sword and took a more defensive stance.

"Hey, do we really need to be fighting?" Medusa asked, drawing back nervously. "I don't want to hurt you, honest. Come on, look into my eyes and you'll see that it is the truth."

No, the compendium had mentioned that gorgons turned people to stone through eye contact. Issachar kept his gaze low. "I don't believe you," he said.

Medusa growled in frustration and swiped at him, knocking him to the ground since his numbness kept him from defending properly. "You arrogant little brat! I'm a seeker of beauty; I can make you in an eternal work of art. Show me your agony and humiliation, show me a burst of emotion worthy of my collection."

He was in a bad position, but Issachar didn't want to give in. "No, that sounds terrible."

"What?! How could you not want my gifts?" Medusa was shaking with rage, but Issachar still didn't look up at her while he tried to get back to his feet. "Are you one of Tayama's dogs sent to betray me? Then I should turn you and smash your body to pieces!"

"Not a chance, snake," Walter said, rushing up from behind her and slaying her immediately with his axe. He then offered a hand to him. "You alright?"

Issachar took the help. "I got paralyzed, but I'll be fine. Thanks."

They checked over the level in case there was another strong demon around, but it was just the normal demons they'd been seeing. There were only two halls off the ring, the one heading up and the one heading down. In the latter, there was yet another elevator that took them on a much shorter ride. That led them to a room in much better shape than the ones above. The floor tiles were clean and whole, as were the panels of the almost fully glass wall looking onto what must be the entrance. There were even bright lights illuminating this room.

Two men were sitting on a couch in the room, staring at them as they came out of the elevator. "Hey, when the hell did you kids get up there?" one of them asked. Issachar was used to the city people speaking differently then villagers, and this man spoke different in yet another way. "We've been on watch here six hours and nobody can get past Medusa."

"We just beat her, actually," Walter said.

"We've always been up there," Jonathan said. "This is the first time in over a thousand years any of our people have been down this far."

"Quit joking, how did you get in and what are you doing here?" he demanded, getting to his feet. Meanwhile, his partner pulled out some strange small device to check. "Sky Tower is off limits to those outside the Ashura-kai."

"We came from much higher up, just like he said," Issachar said. "What's the Ashura-kai?"

"Come on, you can't be that ignorant," the man said.

Then his partner got up. "Hang on, there's something you wouldn't know…"

"What?" he snapped, glaring at him. The one who'd been talking to them was a strong-looking man, much like Walter. The other was noticeably older than him.

"They could be from above," the other man said. "Are you guys angels?"

"Not all of us, just him," Walter said, pointing to Issachar. He hoped he wasn't going to be asked to prove that.

"Hell, the angels are invading!" the larger man said. "I'm outta here!" He then bolted out of one of the doors in the wall of glass.

"He-hey, hang on!" the older man said, although he ran out just as fast.

"Uh, what was their deal?" Walter asked.

"Maybe they're intimidated because we beat Minotaur and Medusa?" Isabeau asked. "I found them a little hard to understand."

"Well people speak differently between the villages and the city," Issachar said. "So it makes sense that they'd speak differently down here too. I don't know why'd they'd be scared of angels, though."

"Some angels are powerful warriors, though I don't understand it beyond that either," Jonathan said.

"Those are the Unclean Ones?" Naverre asked, surprised. "I heard they were monstrous sorcerers. The one did have a strange thing, but they seemed like normal people to me."

"They might be more like us than we thought," Flynn said; he had flinched again at these people being called Unclean Ones. "Aquilla did ask us to be fair to these people."

"That would be good," Jonathan said. "If they were posted as guards, they should live nearby. We could try explaining things to them there."

"If they let us in where they live," Flynn said. "It'd be good if they did, but we might need to find other people. We'll see what comes."

There were push bars on the doors, possibly to keep people from touching the glass and messing it up. These led out into a plaza lit by tall lights, with stairs that led down into a dark city. Back in the capitol of Mikado, the towers, especially around the castle and monastery, were the tallest structures around, far higher than Issachar had thought things could be built. The buildings that lay in neat rows in front to them were as tall as those towers, or even taller. The tower they'd just stepped out of was the tallest of all, stretching dizzily up into the darkness overhead. Only a few buildings seemed to be of a size he was used to.

"Did people build all these?" Issachar asked after they'd all been quiet for a minute looking over this strange land. "That's incredible. How could they?"

"It's knowledge lost to us," Jonathan said. "There's so many buildings, so many places that those two could be hiding."

Isabeau nodded. "We can only see a small part of Tokyo from here too. I had thought it was beautiful up above, but it's different down here. Foreboding, I guess."

"Yeah, like these are rows of monumental tombstones," Walter said, disturbed at the thought of it. "It's a mystery how they were built, and why, but all those doors and windows make it seem like people once used these places. They're dark and dead now."

"Huh, I wonder where all those people went," Naverre said. "For them to use all these buildings, for residences, shops, or churches, there had to be so many of them. But I don't see anybody by the lights scattered all round, not even those two goofs just now."

"At least we have the lights to show where people most likely travel," Flynn said. "Let's start searching."

Even though there would be a lot to get done now, Issachar hoped that he could find someone down here who could answer all the questions he had.

The television in the bar shifted from pre-war shows to a live announcement. "The lockdown for northeastern Tokyo has been lifted. Residents are still advised to remain cautious while the current situation is reviewed; any available hunters in the area are requested to scout out the streets around residences and be alert to any changes that may have occurred. Once enough reports have been reviewed, advisories and travel permissions may return to normal."

Hearing that, Toma sighed. "Of course, that announcement comes after most everyone here decided to rest," he said. Still, he was the local leader for the Hunter's Association here. He started writing up requests for the local scouting.

The bar was quiet. At the other end of the bar, the old man who had been running this place since well before the war was instructing the new bartender about his duties. The only other hunter in here was Nikkari. "Sorry, I should be heading off to sleep myself," he said. "Have to go lead a small group of students now across the river."

Toma nodded, knowing that it would be a potentially rough trek. If he could be with them, he'd go in a heartbeat. But would he end up more or less concerned about Asahi and Nanashi in doing so? It didn't matter, though, since he was no longer capable of going out into the streets to battle demons. He could still fight if he needed to, but a leg injury kept him from running.

"Then what do you think of stopping by Akihabara to check on their smartphone availability?" Nikkari asked.

No, he wanted to say no. Sure, Asahi was fifteen and Nanashi was presumably of similar age, and they were desperate enough for able-bodied persons to recruit new Hunters as low as fifteen. There were a few that Toma had seen or heard of who might be younger than that even. But, it was a dangerous career. Toma wasn't that old himself, forced to retire to an administrative position already. He didn't like sending his children out against the legions of demons in the streets of Tokyo. Nanashi would probably be okay; he had realistic expectations of what was out there, more than a kid like himself should know. But Asahi treated it all like some harmless club that she could always come back home from to be out of.

But all it took was a small bit of negligence for demons to break into one of these makeshift shelters and slaughter everyone there if that was what they wanted. On top of that, many Hunters never got to return home. Asahi's mother had been one of those. And then the Ashura-kai got very pushy about sending children to their school at Roppongi; Toma and a number of other parents would rather keep their children here in Kinshicho, especially since the children who went to that school weren't heard from again. Would they forcefully recruit teenagers out trying to be Hunters?

But Nikkari made some good points. There wasn't a lot more she could do in Hunter training without a smartphone with the demon summoning program. And a Hunter without demon allies needed a lot of personal fighting ability to survive. On top of that, if Toma kept forbidding her to have a phone, she might find a way to get one on her own. She wanted to prove herself without realizing the dangers, so it arguably was safer to let her have a phone while Nikkari was watching over her.

"I don't like it, but I suppose it is for the best," Toma said. "Just be careful about potential mark-ups in price."

"They could go high or low, but I'm sure I can barter if it's the former," Nikkari said. "Asahi does need to learn some caution, but it'll be easier to help her with that once she has a couple good demons as backup. I'll make sure she's capable."

"That's good," he said. "What do you think of the two newcomers, though? You've mostly been trying to convince me of this."

Nikkari smiled at that. "You're a tough one to convince."

"Kids seem to grow up so fast, especially in these days," Toma said.

He nodded. "They don't have a choice. But about Toki and Hallelujah, I don't think they'll hold us back. Asahi and Nanashi are happy to have other friends their age, and the other two seem to feel the same way. Toki was definitely trained by the Ring of Gaea."

"Is she going to be trouble?" he asked. The Ring was raising a lot of ruckus lately, trying to win over communities to overthrow the Ashura-kai. However, the Ring didn't have a good record of taking care of communities they allied with. They'd recently claimed Ikebukuro as theirs and now it was listed as a dangerous locale.

"It depends, but some good influences now should help," Nikkari said. "She hasn't said much so I'm not sure what help. Still, this is a good time that she's come to us. It could be the same with Hallelujah. He looks healthier than the other teens. From that and his clothes, I believe his family is a part of the Ashura-kai. He's friendly but doesn't seem too confidant. Given how competitive the Ashura-kai can be, some time away from them with good support is good for him."

"I see." This was reminding him of when Nikkari had first shown up here, giving his assessment of the teenagers living here as potential Hunters. "You're good with these teenagers, taking them in like one of your own immediately."

"My kids grew up some time ago, so I know how to deal with them and their parents." He chuckled.

"Oh, are we worse than the kids?" Toma asked, smiling at that.

"Sometimes," Nikkari said. "You should get to bed soon too; I know you've been working here since we left."

"Probably not working as hard as you," Toma said.

"I don't know, wrangling a bunch of hot-headed Hunters can be more of a headache than hunting food demons," he said.

"Of course there's that," he said. "I don't want to hold you up from wrangling teenagers tomorrow, so you'd better head on back."

"All right, I'll take good care of those kids."

Even with Nikkari's assurance and experience, even with it being easier than a trek down south, Toma knew that he'd still worry about how they would do on a trip to Kasumagaseki.

The streets were quiet, which Isabeau was learning was a reason to be wary. There were demons everywhere here: hiding in buildings, jumping out of the nooks and crannies, even descending from the darkness overhead. And like with the lower part of Naraku, there were even more demons they had never encountered before. They ran into no people, though. The streets went on and on, side streets leading to dark places, lit places, gates to demon domains. Wherever the people were, they were hiding for good reason. Would they let strangers in?

Various members of their group knew healing magic of some kind by now, but some things she knew better how to heal. Walter had gotten a deep cut on his upper arm that was closed up by such magic. But it could still get infected, leave a scar, or both if further measures weren't taken. Of course, the infection treatment she knew wasn't guaranteed to stop one. But the salve would shrink the potential scarring and ease any pain.

Then a bandage wrapping to make sure nothing got stuck in the salve or scar… "There, that should do for now," she said. "Let me know if it swells or you start feeling ill."

"Sure thing," he said, careful in putting his coat back on. He tugged at the edge of the cut in the sleeve. "I'll have to patch that later."

"You can patch that yourself?" Isabeau asked, smiling. That was a handy thing that most men (and a number of noblewomen) declined to learn.

"Sure, it's usually quicker to make small patch-ups myself," Walter said. "You doing all right?"

"Yes, although I hope we can find somewhere safe to take a break soon," she said. "Or anybody else down here, as we won't know where to go until we find that Ueno place. It's inevitable that we'd end up lost in a place like this; there's so many potential paths even if we only stick to those that are lit. What about you?"

Walter smiled at that. "Well I find the challenge of encountering new demons refreshing. I suspect that once we make our first reports, the old masters will have another reason to be glad this was a limited mission."

"I just hope they're keeping things safe," Isabeau said. A few like Mark and Hope definitely would be, but there were so many of the old masters that she ended up disappointed in, like the other women chosen to be a samurai.

"And I'm not worried about being lost, since they wouldn't light streets they don't use," Walter said. "I've been looking at signs if they would tell us, but they talk about all kinds of things. Stores, workshops, but mostly things I can't make sense of. Like the food and drinks in those tall boxes. Wouldn't they go bad just being in boxes?"

"It might be sorcery, but I don't think we can check them since they ask for some kind of coin," she said. Maybe Issachar or Jonathan could figure them out.

After looking up at one of the buildings, Walter said, "This city is oddly familiar to me. I think I've seen it in my dreams, except it's on fire there."

These stony massive buildings on fire? "That would be frightening. Are you having premonitions in your dreams?"

"Might be," he said. "I'm not sure what it all means, other than I need to be helping Flynn and Jonathan with something. Big things will happen down here, maybe even more than we came for."

"Well the six of us will stick together, right?" Isabeau asked. "I'm sure we'll be fine."

"Right, we've all got something to help each other with," Walter said.

Minotaur had returned to Akira's demonica, deceased. A lot of demons wouldn't have noticed this, but Mastema was different. For one thing, noticing such things required tuning one's senses into an electronic device and keeping oneself from dreaming when within the program. It was good to have a summoner as one would always have energy. A good summoner would even take care of their demons, recovering their injuries and reviving them quickly. But being within the program relaxed a demon to the point where it was easy to lower one's guard.

At least that wasn't as bad as the red pills…

A peculiar sensation got Mastema's notice. It was a fragrance of despair in white, a pallor of hopelessness and desperation. Them. The White had been a group that he'd been keeping a wary eye on. They were pure nihilists who were willing to destroy all of creation for their selfish sorrow. What were they doing in Kinshicho?

Were they a threat to Nanashi?

Nanashi hadn't really proven himself as a summoner; he was as new as new could be. True, Mastema had a good feeling about him. A rare few humans showed signs of real potential; Nanashi could be a hero, someone more interesting to follow than Tayama. If the White got a hold of someone like him, they might succeed and Mastema knew of no one who wanted them to succeed.

Since Nanashi hadn't proven himself, Mastema had no hesitation in leaving the demonica in spirit form to track down the White spirit. He found them in a security office, looking over a video. However, the White noticed him then and vanished. "Cowardly," Mastema muttered. But what had they been trying to watch?

He rewound the video a few minutes, finding that it was one of the park cameras. There were a number of unique demons gathering, unfortunately out of hearing: Samyaza (what was he doing outside of Kagome?), Lilith, Krishna, some demon in human guise. After a brief time, a fifth demon descended on them and attacked savagely. Demons fighting demons wasn't something to be concerned about… no, wait, that fifth one wasn't a demon.

"Gabriel?" Mastema wondered aloud. "Hmph, have you finally gone completely mad? This is a graceless start for you."

She did end up winning even against all the gathered demons. The disguised one gave an incredible effort on her part; she was probably someone high ranked in the hellish hierarchy. However, Gabriel fled before she could be defeated, heading south. That was curious, much like her coming down. Was she still here in Tokyo?

As a seraph, her presence would leave signs obvious to those who knew what to look for. Mastema logged onto an Ashura-kai account to get some information from around the city. Very few of the city's electronic systems were capable of directly detecting an angel. But a number were keyed towards demons and things could be interpreted…

Or he could spot a barrier around the Tennozu shelter with distinct heavenly influence. "There you are," Mastema said. "You must be quite desperate to pen yourself in like that. This might be my chance to finally capture you, if I can keep you from escaping to the outer world. Still, this summoner of mine won't be capable of helping with that."

That was an easy decision. Gabriel and her fellows believed they followed God's will. But in truth, they were incredibly far from what He wanted and hadn't heard from Him in a very long time. It was better for them, for the world, and also for himself for the four of them to be taken out of consideration. While they couldn't be permanently killed off due to how well-known they were among humanity, there was a way to hold them captive, unable to cause more trouble.

As Nanashi was asleep, Mastema had to manipulate the demonica in order to get himself released from the program's contract. There were failsafes to keep this from happening; there was nothing he could do to stop a scar from appearing on himself for doing this, but he considered it a minor drawback. Now that he was released from this burden, he logged out and escaped Kinshicho before he was noticed.

Trapping an highly-ranked angel took good planning, which Mastema began thinking over. He listened for the whispers of God as he considered what he could do. After all, God would not lead him astray.