Chapter 2: The Years That Followed

The car that Chrono was in drove to a private airport. From there Chrono boarded a two-seater plane. Chrono asked the pilot where the place was.

"The hotspot is located in a fairly big forest in Italy. Now please let me concentrate on flying." Chrono could tell that the pilot was still a little nervous about flying with a demon. So he leaned back, closed his eyes, and started drifting into a dream. His whole dream seemed to revolve around Rosette. It was about the first time he met her. Then it suddenly it shifted to a scene were Rosette was braiding Chrono's hair. It continued on like this for a long time, shifting from one happy memory to another, until Chrono was rudely awakened.

"Wa is it?" Asked Chrono, rubbing his eyes.

"I'm sorry to awaken you sir but we have arrived." Chrono looked past the pilot and saw what looked like a giant dome full of slightly blue mist. Chrono's sleepiness was quickly forgotten when he saw the magnificent sight. He couldn't help gawking. He shakily stood up and started to walk. He was about to enter when the pilot stalled him. He threw a cell phone to Chrono and explained what it was for.

"Wait! If you finish, use this to call me so I can pick you up. The number's on speed dial."

Chrono nodded and turned back to the dome.

"Here goes nothing!" And he jumped into it. When he touched the dome it was like jumping into a bathtub full of ice and water. After that shock Chrono felt energized. Like he had his horns back only ten times better. Chrono turned around to tell the pilot that he was fine when he got a shock. The time outside the dome was going extremely fast. Like watching a movie in fast-forward. Chrono calculated that if time in the two places were to continue like this then every minute in here was one day outside.

"Better tell sister Kate about this." He said to himself and walked out the dome. Or at least he tried. It seems that the dome was a one-way entrance. Chrono couldn't seem to get out. He tried pushing it, then he tried cutting with his sword. As a final attempt he tried to head butt it. All his attempts proved to be futile and that last one gave him a bump on the head.

Tired from trying to get out, Chrono slumped against the dome. He raised his eyes towards the roof and saw a beam of light. The light came from somewhere in the forest and it seemed to be what powered the dome. With a sigh Chrono got up and started to walk.

Outside the Dome One Year Later

"Damnit!" Rosette swore as she rolled to avoid a boulder that a giant demon threw at her. She loaded her gun and shot all of its bullets at the demon's chest, but it didn't seem to do anything. She crouched behind a ruined wall as the demon threw another boulder at her. She loaded as much Gospels as her gun could hold and ran from her hiding spot. She tried shooting the demo's head, but most of them missed except for one that hit it in the eye. With a roar of fury the enraged demon threw a car at her. Rosette screamed and covered her face.

"Lookout!" Yelled a voice from behind her and she heard a blade cutting through metal. When she opened her eyes Rosette saw a man holding a shining silver machete and two pieces of the car behind her. The man had short, silky black hair and dark brown eyes. On his left side he carried two more swords. One looked like a katana and the other a rapier. On his left was small pistol and on his back was yet another sword. This one was a giant broadsword.

"Run!" he screamed sheathing his machete and quickly drew his rapier. He jumped right as a tree crashed where he was standing just a second ago. He threw his rapier with great aim into the demon's other eye. It roared in pain and clawed blindly through the air trying to find him.

From her pocket, Rosette took out a platinum bullet laced in gold and diamond-tipped. Elder called it the "Revelation" and loaded it into her gun. This better work Rosette thought and quickly aimed and fired. It hit right between the demon's eyes and drove into its skull. A second later the demon's head exploded in a giant flash of light and demon brain rained everywhere. The now man who had saved her walked up to Rosette and stuck-out a hand, but Rosette didn't take it.

"Who are you and where did you come from?" Rosette asked suspiciously.

"My name is Nion Connor and I work for Solomon Headquarters." Nion answered.

"Solomon Headquarters?" Rosette repeated questioningly.

"Ya, I'm surprised you haven't heard about us yet. It's another demon hunting organization just like the Magdalene Order. Solomon Asakura started it a few months back and it was an immediate success. I'm actually one of Solomon's first hunters. Oh, that reminds me" Nion ran to where the demon's horns had landed when Rosette had blown them off. He quickly placed them through his belt and ran back to Rosette. He saw her curious look and told her why he did that.

"Solomon ordered that if the demon's horns aren't destroyed when we hunt them, then they are to be brought back to headquarters." After his explanation, Nion asked his own questions.

"So, what's your name?"

"Rosette. Rosette Christopher."

Well Rosette Christopher it's nice to meet you." And he held out his hand again, smiling.

"Nice to meet you to." And shook his hand.

Inside the Dome

Chrono had been walking for a long time know and was getting tired. After trudging around in the forest for a long time, Chrono finally found what was making the green mist and powering the dome. It looked kind of like a garbage can. On its top protruded four pipes, spewing green mist and right between them a beam of light was coming out. Also on one side was a glass door and when Chrono looked inside he saw a pair of ivory horns with wires connecting it to the machine.

"Hello there. I see you like my little toy." Chrono spun around, raising his sword but he wasn't fast enough. A clawed hand slapped him across the face with such force that Chrono went flying into a tree. In front of him stood a demon. Quit a handsome demon actually. He had shoulder length shiny black hair and deep black eyes. He was as tall as Chrono's true form; his wings were just like Chrono's only gray and his tail ended in a round ball covered in spikes, just like a medieval mace. He was inspecting his claws and leaning against a tree.

"Oh, how rude of me," he said in a bored voice, "My name is Silva, the proud inventor of this wonderful machine. I am what you call a "demon eater". I kill demons and eat their horns. By doing this I absorb their energy and become stronger. After a while I got tired of chasing demons so I built this ingenious machine to lure them here and once they are inside it is impossible for demons to get back out. It still needs work though. As you can see time here is slower then time outside. Also there is the fact that I cannot get out, but," he shrugged his shoulder, "That's the price you have to pay for power. Now, will you kindly tell me your name? I hate killing strangers."

Chrono stood up and spit blood from his mouth. "My name is none of your concern." Chrono snarled, raising his sword.

Silva shrugged. "Very well then looks like I'll have to kill you nameless."

In a flash Silva suddenly stood in front of Chrono. He slammed a balled fist into Chrono's gut and then kicked him in the head. He then grabbed Chrono's hair and flew up into the air. He than hurled Chrono to the ground with such power that when Chrono hit, a crater formed around his body. Silva slowly flew to the ground.

"This is no fun," Silva yawned, "It probably has to do with the fact that you have no horns. Well let me tell you a little secret. There is so much energy here that a demon can use their true form horns or not. Now transform and entertain me so your death wont be such a waste."

"Don't worry," Chrono said half smiling, "If what your saying is true then its you who is about to die!" Chrono stood up shakily. He then took a deep breath and started to transform. He suddenly grew taller and wings erupted from his back. His fingers turned to claws and a tail came out like an extension of his spine. After finishing he picked up his sword and pointed it at Silva.

"Prepare to die!" He spat and rushed at him. He felt good in his true form, especially the fact that he wasn't shortening Rosette's life. Rosette! He wanted to finish this quickly so he can go back to her.

Chrono slashed at Silva, but he dodged it easily, a smirk on his face. Chrono kept trying to kill Silva with the sword but couldn't land even one slash. Frustrated Chrono threw away his sword and used his claws and tail instead, but still to no avail. Finally after a long time Chrono slash him on the cheek. Silva touched his cheek with a shaking hand. When he looked at it the fingers were covered in blood.

"My…face. My beautiful face! Because of what you've done to my face your death will be slow and painful!" A second later he got behind Chrono and grabbed his tail. He started spinning him above his head then slammed him into the ground. Up, down, up, down, he kept at this for a time until hurling Chrono into a tree. Chrono's momentum snapped the tree in half. Silva flew high above Chrono laughing at him.

"You cannot defeat me! I am too strong! No one can defeat me! Demon, human, or angel! Know one!" he started to laugh again. His cruel, mocking laugh.

He's right; Chrono thought dimly to himself, I can't beat him. Unless…

Chrono got unsteadily to his feet. Silva saw this and laughed some more. "So your not dead yet. You could have saved yourself a lot of pain if you stayed down. Hey! What are you…?" Silva didn't need to finish his sentence. He saw that Chrono was limping towards the machine that generated astral had made.

"Get away from that!" Silva hissed but Chrono ignored him. With his last ounce of strength, he punched through the glass door and grabbed the horns. The beam of light started to flicker then die. Without it the dome disappeared and so did the green mist.

"No!" Silva screamed. "You'll regret doing that!" He raised his hands above his head and started to charge a giant blue ball of energy.

"This ball will cause you more pain then you can ever imagine! Then you will die!" Laughing insanely he threw the ball at Chrono. It hit him just as he plunged the horns into his head. There was a giant plume of smoke making visibility zero, but Silva wasn't worried. That ball was so powerful that nothing could survive it. He started to laugh again but stopped almost imeadiatly. There was Chrono, not only alive with his wounds completely healed but holding Silva's energy ball above his head with one hand.

On his head were two ivory horns that glimmered in the light of the setting sun. That wasn't all that was different about him though. He was about a foot taller then before and on his forehead shinned five diamonds. His wings were no longer leathery like a bats', but feathery like an angels' only black. His eyes turn from gold to a deep scarlet and his hair gets even darker and gets a bit spiky. A ridge of spikes now ran down his back all the way to the tip of his tail that now looked like a spearhead. He gazed up at Silva with those deep scarlet eyes and said, "I think this belongs to you."

With that Chrono threw the energy ball back at Silva. He could hear him scream as the ball hit him. Down fell Silva's burnt body, falling in a heap at Chrono's feet. Chrono walked to sword and put it back through his belt. I must have been gone for at least four years. Chrono thought to himself. I can't wait to see Rosette again, though she'll probably kill me for being away for so long. Chrono chuckled as he spread his new wings and flew into the sunset.

Rosette was extremely grumpy. Sister Kate had screamed at her for destroying thousands of dollars worth of property on her latest mission and she didn't even do it. Well, not all of it. Some of it was caused by the demon she was hunting. Because of this she was now on suspension. Rosette planed to have a nice warm bath when someone knocked on the door of her house.

"What is it!" she snarled. Here angry face suddenly softened when she saw who it was, Nion. Nion and Rosette had been dating since they met each other. Right now he was on one knee holding a small box in his hands. When Rosette saw this her heart almost melted.

Nion took a deep breath and started talking. "Ever since I saw you beautiful face I was in love. And on every date we have been that love for you has only intensified. I know you're a nun and all but still. Rosette Christopher, will you marry me?"

Rosette screamed and fell down to her knees. "Ohmigod! Yes! Yes Nion I will marry you!"

Rosette had tears running down her cheeks now. She leaned forward and hugged her new fiancée. She would have kept hugging him if it weren't for a sudden gust of wind that made her look up. She thought she saw something fly off fast.

"What is it?" asked Nion.

"I thought I saw something but…never mind! Come in." she motioned for Nion to come in. She made them both coffee and they started to talk about wedding plans.

"You think that-" But before Rosette could finish her phone rang. "I'll be right back." She said Nion before answering the phone. "Hello, Rosette Christopher speaking. Ah Father Remington! What's that? Two demons fight? I thought I was on suspension? You talked sister Kate out of it? Thank you! Where are the demons fighting? That's not far from here! I'm on my way!" She hung up the phone and grabbed her two guns and a case of ammo.

"You coming?" She asked Nion, already knowing the answer.

He smiled. "Of course. I wouldn't want anything to happen to my fiancée now would I?"

Rosette laughed. "Come on, I'm driving."

Chrono was about to fly to the Order when he caught Rosette's scent (his senses have greatly improved because of his new horns, they also give him an adult human form that he uses later). He imeadiatly started flying towards its direction. Her scent was the strongest around a small house. She has a house now I see. Chrono was about to land in front of the door, but a man was already standing there so instead he landed on the roof. Who can that be? He thought. Then the man knocked on the door and got on one knee. Chrono's eyes widened and realized what he was doing. Rosette answered the door and they started talking. Every word they said was like a sword thrust into Chrono's heart. After hearing all he could, he jumped into the air tears streaming and flew away so fast that Rosette felt the wind from his wings.

Chrono flew around like a lost child. Inside he was having a fight with himself. I love her and I'll get her back! She's happy now, there's nothing I can do. I need her; I'm nothing without her. She's with someone else now; I can't do anything about it. I can't believe she forgot about me! At least she moved on like I told her to. Rosette!

Chrono snapped out of his thoughts when he heard screaming below him. There was a demon attacking innocent people. Chrono flew down towards it.

"Hey buddy! Over here!" Chrono was going to take out his frustration on it. You had to feel sorry for the demon.