The Order of the Mortal Knights
by Elnauhual

Fan fiction, based on the characters and universe of "Oh my goddess" by Kōsuke Fujishima.

Chapter VII Execution

In Hell, the realm of the demons, an alarm howled and the hearts of its inhabitants were squeezed with fear. The alarm was announcing that someone had violated the doublet system. A god had been killed and a demon soon would share the same fate. It sounded like the cry of a wounded beast. In the vast central that housed Nidhogg, the nerve center of this world, several spheres of light began to form. They were the size of a man and had a hideous greenish tone. They began to move furiously and went along the walks, halls and buildings in this world. They were looking for someone! Simultaneously an announcement echoed everywhere, a powerful and impersonal voice spoke:

- Doublet System activated. The death by violence of the first class Goddess Giörel has been reported. Her doublet will be searched now for execution.

The Shaikh Anan-Reng saw the lights and cursed. How could they have agreed on something like that? Then he saw the lights running toward him and cursed again? Would be him the one chosen to die?

But the lights went past him, and then heard another announcement.

- The doublet of the goddess Giörel had been found: Anang-Reh. He will be placed under supervision. The execution code in his body has been activated. Execution time in one hundred standard cycles.

The Shaikh Aman-Reng saw the lights shining where he had just left his son. He witnessed how he was surrounded by them, and then wrapped him to take him prisoner.

The Doublet system had as purpose, preventing the gods and demons to kill each other. It was a hostage system. If a demon or a god was killed, his doublet was executed. Thus was designed to be as dramatic as possible. I had to cause such terror that no one wanted to activate it since nobody knew who would be their victim. The lighting display, the search and exhibition of the victim followed by a waiting time, so everybody would be able to see the execution, all was carefully crafted to that end. All this had been coldly designed.

The young demon was petrified with surprise, He knew what it meant. The Doublet system code had been inserted into his body years ago, when his soul was paired with his doublet and now it had been activated. His death was already scheduled; there was nothing he could do about it. He had a hundred cycles, about half an hour in earth time, to leave his affairs in order.

Aman-Reng saw helpless, as the spheres carried the prisoner. And then he screamed, fell to his knees and began to mourn not caring about his dignity.

In New Delhi Somasindhu was still crying when he felt that something was about to happen. A light went through the roof of his room and the dilapidated building shocked. He felt there was a lot of energy as if it announced something powerful. He was filled with terror until realized they were not Rakshasas. This time they were two beautiful women, but in contrast to the sweetness of Giörel, these had a proud expression and were wearing something like uniforms.

One of them approached him and spoke with great poise and authority. She looked at him. Something in her eyes inspired confidence and he felt reassured.

- Do not be afraid. I am Lind, Valkyrie on a special mission. I was assigned to investigate what happened here. You must be Somasindhu. Can you understand me? We need your cooperation.

Somasindhu looked at the face of that beautiful and proud woman. He tried to speak, but his heart was still full of both rage and terror. His body began to tremble.

Lind saw this, and laid her hand on his shoulder. Somasindhu felt comforted by the contact and slowly began to calm down. He was hard trying to understand what was happening. Who were these new Devi?

- Who are you? What are you?

The younger woman, with exasperated attitude exclaimed:

- Lind, what are you waiting for? Just removed his memories!

Lind looked hard on her, leaved the young to confront her.

- Eira, has you forgotten who is your senior? He is a victim and a witness. He is innocent, and remember we expect someone else before proceeding with the investigation.

Her companion looked at her with surprise, Lind was known as one of the stricter and stronger Valkyries. But after spent some time on earth she had returned with a strange gentleness upon her. Lind returned her attention to Somasindhu.

- We come from Heaven. It was decided to grant you a wish, and the goddess Giörel was assigned to make it true of you. But something happened and we only know she died with violence. We have the telemetry that tells us how, but not why or by whom. We are in charge to find and punish the guilty.

The young Hindu did not understand completely, but it was clear they represented some kind of authority. If they wanted to punish the murderers of the unfortunate Devi, he should help them. Still shaken by the experience he found difficult to stand. But the serene and firm look of Lind reassured him. Speaking was difficult, but finally uttered with a great rage in his voice.

- I have been witness of the murder of a Devi. I have seen her suffering. She gave her life for me! You must find the culprit. I will do everything you tell me to do, if that helps. I want to see the guilty punished!

Somasindhu closed his fists in anger. His face usually gentle was full of tears and had an intense expression. Lind looked at him; she liked the young men resolution, for a moment recalled another young mortal who was willing to do anything to protect his goddess. She put her hands on his shoulders to offer comfort and said:

- I know you will do everything you can to help us. The guilty will be punished. Just wait a little more; we need to wait for someone else.

Then the building shook when they saw a new ray of light, this seemed to come from outside and had crossed the wall. It announced great power, but it was different from that of the Valkyries. The whole room shook for a moment, and the light began to fade. As the light disappeared, he could make out the form of another beautiful woman, but she was very different. Her skin was a little darker with a reddish tint like copper, her eyes seemed to have great anger, and also she had red marks on her face. But seeing her mouth, Somasindhu felt terror. Protruding from her lips there were two small fangs. She was a demon!

The young man was about to scream, but soon saw that the other two women looked at her challenging attitude, but it was clear they expected her.

- Marler, It had to be you?

- Why are you surprised? I am the only first-class daemon currently residing on earth.

-Do you know each other? - Asked Eira.

-May I present you to Marler? We are honored to have the almost principal assistant and accomplice of Hild. We had some not very friendly meetings.

Lind look at Marler with fiery eyes, all her life had trained to fight demons. She did not want to work with one.

Marler felt the same. She knew that the Valkyrie was more powerful than her, but at this time she represented Hild´s authority, and could be as challenging as she wanted. She turned to see the other Valkyrie and decided to establish her authority.

-I am Marler. First class demon, unlimited license. I come on behalf of the Daimakaichō´s authority. I am here to verify a violation of the doublet system. It was not done by Hild´s orders. If a demon was the culprit, we must punish him. - She looked with hatred to the Valkyries and concluded - Soon one of us would die. And I want to know why and who is to blame.

Lind made a simple nod indicating that he accepted her authority and his reasons.

- It is your right, if a demon were killed; we too would have to comply with the treaty.

Lind decided it was enough of confrontations, both had a duty.

- This is what we know. The goddess Giörel was assigned to set up a contract with the man Somasindhu Parthasarathi. She came to earth to fulfill her duty. Soon after, the system reported that she had ceased to exist. We do not know the details, but according to the telemetry about her death, her heart was destroyed, since there is no trace of him. I never thought that a demon would be able to perform this kind of act. Giörel was a goddess first class, assigned to the most peaceful of tasks. Why she has been murdered?

- Hild has nothing to do with this. We also want to know what this has happened.

- We have a witness. This mortal saw everything that happened.

She approached the young man and took him to Marler.

- Somasindhu please let us take your memories.

Somasindhu just nodded. He felt great confidence in this Devi Valkyrie, but did not want to go near this demon.

Marler! The name reminded him of Mara, the demon that had tried to seduce the Buddha. And from what he had heard, these Valkyries thought it was a demon who had murdered the Devi. But the nearness of Lind reassured him.

Lind touched the forehead of the young and intoned a spell, she was from the combat élite and one of her skills was the interrogation.

The thoughts and memories of the young began to take shape and projected outside his own mind into the women. The memories were confusing, the brain is not a recorder, the memories are stored in terms of what each people can understand and there was much the young man could not grasp of this attack. Lind asked some questions to help him focus. Memories gradually became more focused and became clearer. The images they saw were horrid.

Eventually the three women were horrified by the brutality of the attack. Lind had been in real combat and yet had never seen an attack so brutal. But something was clear, the attackers were not demons. They were something much worse.

Marler was the first to speak; she was equally impressed as the Valkyries. Her voice trembled and spoke rapidly, she had to act urgently.

- This was not an attack from my people. The memory of this man is not clear, but I am sure those markings and that race are not demons. We have to report immediately or there will be an unnecessary death. We must act to stop the execution. Lind! I trust your honor that you will do best to avoid it. I must report immediately to Hild.

She disappeared in a flash of light. But she could not travel directly to the underworld, she needed to find a portal and there was so little time. She had not dare to seek other means of communication. While she needed to report directly to the supreme leader, with Hild. Something told her not to talk with anyone else or trough insecure ways.

Lind commented to her companion.

- His heart was torn out. The whole essence of a goddess that there, but her personality has been destroyed. Someone wants to learn about the gods and does not care how he does it. There is a ruthless power that threatens us. And besides, the doublet system has been activated.

Lind felt despair since she was unable to do anything. She had no love for the demons, but did not like the thought of an innocent´s execution. Yet she better than anyone, knew it was inevitable. Nothing could stop the execution of Giörel´s doublet. The destruction code had been activated and nothing could stop it, otherwise it would have been a futile system

She took the old phone with some fatalism. There was no means of direct communication between the Earth and other worlds. But Yggdrasil and Nidhogg had made indirect connections with the communication systems of the earth. She spoke quickly explaining the situation, but by the end she just listened and got a bit pale, then received further instructions. She hung up slowly

- It´s too late, the execution has already been done.

- It´s only a dead demon. Why do you care?

- It was an unnecessary death and it was wrong. Giörel death was not the work of demons, there is another enemy is unknown. Now we must report. I was instructed to keep this secret. We are not sure what will happen, but we have reports that Hild is on the edge of lose her leadership. If she falls, the doublet system may be challenged and there will be war. This incident may be enough for that.

- War? Is not what we've prepared all along?

- You are young and do not know what is war, real war. You only know combat simulations where if you fail, there will be another opportunity. We have prepared, so there is no war. We train to avoid it.

- And this mortal?

The Valkyrie asked, pointing to the young man. He had not understood the later developments. Demons? Doublet system? Execution? War? Lind went with the young, step in front on him and spoke:

-Somasindhu, I solemnly promise to found and punish the guilty. But for the moment I have to block your memory. None of this should be known, please trust me. What you should do is to fulfill the last wish of Giörel, and with that honor her.

The boy clenched his fists in anger, but put his hopes in this Devi. He Nodded

- Do what you have to do, if that helps. I accept your word.

Lind looked at him gratefully and started a spell to set up a block in his mind. When she finished, the boy lost consciousness. Lind took him and easily carried in her arms, gently leave him in the cot. The other Valkyrie looked at her with surprise.

- You did not erase his memory, you just blocked it. Why? He still may remember.

- He the only witness of terrible crime and we will see troublesome times. Demons will accuse us of killing the innocent. If we delete completely his memory, we will look guilty. Now, clean this building, erase the memories you need to erase, but leave him alone. That is your duty, I will leave you now. Lind Salute her, made a bow, and disappeared. The other Valkyrie looked around in disgust, and began her duty as damage control specialist... Now do your job. Restore the area and erase memories that may show our presence. This is why you are here. But leave him alone.

Lind disappeared and Eira looked around in disgust. She was "damage control specialist, she would have to find witnesses, and delete or replace their memories. Also to restore damages and create havoc if necessary as distractions. She looked at the unconscious mortal and leaved him alone under the command of Lind. For the first time, she had made a mistake, just one tiny error: she forgot to check his pockets.

Meanwhile, in Hell, the underworld …

The Shaikh Aman-Reng was receiving the ornaments that served to mark the caste and status of his son. His body had been cleanly disintegrated. This was supposed to be honorable, but for him this was a vacuous ceremony. Once marked for execution, his son had been free to move as he wished until the last minutes when his execution should be public. There was no way to escape his fate.

His son had recorded several crystals with messages. One was for Marler, but was encrypted so he could not read it. Only she could open it. He was reluctant to deliver it. But he had made a contract with his son and must comply.

During his last moments, his son had told him some of his future plans, the entire thing that now he would never do. He had planned to win Hild´s confidence, to be one his bodyguards, his faithful follower, and then get her to listen to other voices. Aman-Reng did not understand, even as his son was going to die for the doublet system, he remained confident on Hild and asked not to act against her. Yet he refused to give all his reasons.

The boy had bravely faced his end; he was convinced it was his duty to accept death to preserve peace. But his father did not think the same. He shuddered with hatred. Hatred for Hild, hatred for the doublet system, and above all, hatred for the gods. There were tears on his face, but they were for pain and that made them much more terrible. He thought to seek the demon who killed the goddess, but was not sure if he wanted to torment and kill him slowly, thank him for giving a reason for his hate, or both.

In New Delhi.

Somasindhu awoke in his cot. He felt as if awakening from a nightmare, but could not remember anything. He got up and felt pain in the body, but had no marks or injuries. He saw his room but there were no signs that anything had happened out of the ordinary. The building had been restored by magic. Lind's companion had done her job well so he knew nothing about it.

At the distance he heard the phone and someone was yelling for him, so he ran to answer.

It was the scholarship committee, apologizing because for a strange error on the system he had not been notified, but suddenly an hour, mysteriously the system had been restored. They have just received a report from the main computer system, and he was marked as the highest priority. Soon he would receive the first check of the scholarship and would be visited by authorities to hasten his registration. Classes were about to begin and it was urgent to fix the problem. He received a lot of apologies as if a higher authority were supervising his case now.

Somasindhu could not believe it. Finally he received his scholarship, yet felt something was wrong.

Back to his room, he felt hungry and automatically looked in his pockets for money, instead he found something that should not be there. It was a card. He did not remember, but when the Valkyries appeared he had put it in his pocket, without thinking.

It was a strange material, soft and pleasant to the touch, but it had something that looked like blood stains and water stains, for some reason, to his mind came the word "tears". He shuddered at the touch of the stains. There are legends about the power of a goddess tears, he was going to found out. He saw the water stains emitted a soft glow, and touched them. He felt a warm and soothing emotion and gradually he felt as if a mist vanished from his mind.

Then he read the card, there was a strange name. "Giörel first class goddess".

The name and power of tears of the goddess make their effect. The block in his mind suddenly disappeared and the flood of memories fell on his conscience. Because the questioning by Lind, now the memories were clear. Painfully clear.

He dropped to the floor in pain. What could he do? He remembered everything, the death of Giörel, the Valkyries, and the demon. The Devi, Lind, had said that this should be kept secret, but the paint burn on him. He wished to scream the truth. It was too much pain to being able to shut up.

As a robot, he went to the street, aimlessly, what to do? Who could he talk? In ancient times he would have sought a priest, and maybe his tale would have started a legend, but in the XXI century, things were different.

He crossed the crowd, he did not know where he was, and then he looked at a familiar place. The owner of the Internet café was an acquaintance, a friendly young who sometimes let him use the computers, in return for some medical advice. Then he remembered his blog. His friend helped him create one to teach him what blogs were, but no one was visiting it. Apparently few people wanted to know the thoughts of a young man of the caste of untouchables, but he could not think of anything else. In a way, he could write whatever he wanted, but nobody would read it.

He entered the café, his friend saw him and asked for some medical advice for his old aunt, but when his saw him so disturbed decided to let him speak first.

Somasindhu tried to tell him what had happened, but his friend found the story incredible, and stopped him. He agreed to help but did not want to know more He took the card to scan it. He found he was shivering in contact with these stains. Without knowing why, suddenly he agreed with all and made every effort to help

A few hours later Somasindhu came out of the café. Writing his story helped him to calm down. He did not care if anyone read it, but his testimony was there.

Finally arrived to his room, he had spent his last rupees on something to eat, and carried some food. Yet suddenly he forgot about it.

He stood in the middle, not knowing what to do. Yet felt there something to be done. Then he remembered something. He looked into the cardboard boxes where his few belongings were. Finally found a package sent to him by his mother, but she had not wanted to unpack.

It was a small shrine with pictures of some of their gods, gods that did not believe in. It was a family treasure, not for its value, it was very humble yet it had been in the family for generations. Then cleaned it, and took away all its content. Ceremoniously he hung it on a wall and placed the goddess card in it. She was his Devi. She had died for him, and now had an opportunity, now he will be a doctor. He lit an incense stick, said a prayer and then exclaimed with his full resolution.

- I'll fulfill your wish, mi Devi!

In Yggdrasil, a distraught Othala was sitting in Giörel´s place. She could not understand what had happened. Murdered! The death of an immortal being is something that hurts very deep.

Suddenly she saw activity on the console. But Giörel was dead! There should be no activity. Then saw it as a mission report.

The reading of these impersonal symbols led her to tears:

- Mission report for Giörel, goddess first class, unlimited:

- Mission: To concede a wish to the mortal being Somasindhu Parthasarathi.

- Mission Status: Completed. Wish granted.

- Long term expectations:

- The forecast predicts a 99.9% certainty in the scope of: Maximum Distribution of Happiness.

- It's been recorded as success.

- Mission completed beyond expectations. A recommendation has been recorded in the file.

The young goddess had fulfilled her last duty.

End of Chapter VII -rev 3