"The movement of the soul along the path of duty,
under the influence of holy love to god,
constitutes what we like to call good works" -Thomas Erskine
-XxXxXxX-
-with Isaac and co. On route to st. Paul's cathedral via private Vatican jet/ time: 4:00 am-
-Isaac's POV-
I knew this operation Arndell had given me was high up on the quick response list; the sudden letter from the st. Paul cathedral had me fully understand that. But what had truly brought my attention forward was the Archbishop's unprofessional stature when he assigned me to it which showed me just how serious this matter was
However;
All that aside, my true surprise was his quick action on re-tasking both of mine and Griselda's apprentices, that being Xenovia quarto and Irina shidou both exceptional exorcists in their own right
But even I knew that for a task like this, one that even had Arndell acting weird, had me thinking his decision was an adlib choice on his part as they didn't qualify for this devision... but orders were orders
I had taken the liberty of searching the where-about's of my fellow exorcists before we departed and it was indeed true that they were all far to spread out to even be remotely useful, this confirmed Arndell had chosen the closest people to relate to the skill requirements needed for this operation
Send your best
For the most part we where, I was a humble individual but even I prided myself as a skilled exorcists and swordsmen, on multiple occasions I had been asked to train and tutor many exorcists in my sword arts and on some cases I had over heard my superiors or colleges agree that I was their best un-expendable asset in the Vatican
To put it simply good, I didn't know if I was just as good as him but I felt like I could relate to him
But that didn't mean my apprentices weren't skilled either, both Irina and Xenovia carried S rankings among their age group as they were considered the next best exorcists of the next coming generation
So to say we were sending our best would be considered an understatement.
As I sat in the passenger seat in our Vatican jet I had come to realize that at some point Irina had grow increasingly joyful of our situation
At least she's still herself
Her past was far different then her partners as she grew up in a family of mixed culture, I didn't fully know what culture she was related to but Japanese was an easy answer to that one side of her
At a young age she had been raised by her mother and father, both healthy in their daily lives as a Christian and as it turned out her father had been a member of the Vatican but had to retire some time in his forties
All this had weighed down positively on her because some time down the road she had long since been dreaming of becoming a fully fledged exorcists like her father was, she even wanted to surpass him and become a holy sword wielder
Guess she was gaining on her dream
"~I still can't believe it~" she sang out in happiness "to be given such and honor from the archbishop- it has to be the workings of the lord"
"Calm down Irina" came Xenovia's ever serious voice "an honor or not, we must approach this mission seriously"
As instead of being detoured by Xenovia's serious tone Irina quickly sported a joyful and an oddly adorable expression of determination "Yes, an honor such as this must be taken seriously!"
As Irina and Xenovia converse I remained silent, this was normal for me, silence helped me cope with the 'butterfly' effect one feels before an event such as a sport or competition that held any form of weight on them
The feeling was normally for me but that was barely even noticed because I felt a greater emotion
Confusion
This was the emotion passing me through as of this moment of calmness; I was confused for one reason. The simple fact that the heretic's had not only attack a church but one that was located in the city; this was bad, terrorist attacks on churches usually ended with a public out cry
No, no, no, public interference when it came to situations involving exorcists usually meant a very dangerous chance of letting the pubic see the true world, attacks on churches that involved the supernatural were... messy
i was just wonder why they would do it?
I just hoped those at st. Paul knew crowd control or this was gonna suck
"Senpai?" came Irina's questioning voice, blinking once in confusion for being called out suddenly and second for the "senpai" title that which I quickly dismissed and Instead looked to her apologetically
"Hm?" I hummed in question; my thoughts had clouded my awareness of my surroundings
"I was just wonder what you think would be our first step, seeing as though you have more experience we have decided to follow your lead"
Nodding my head in acknowledgement I quickly skimmed over my options, this wasn't anything I couldn't handle, and leadership responsibilities came naturally for me so with the wide experience reservoir I had I skimmed over the most common scenario
"This isn't a QRF operation as the target that which had attacked has most likely moved on, our primary objective is recconisance so we can learn what were up against, the letter mentioned "heretic" so I'm guessing either fallen or rouge priests" the two listened intently as I instructed our first objective
[QRF- Quick reaction force]
"Once we land I want that cathedral locked down but that's if they haven't done that yet, if they have then move on to finding key witnesses, we are from the Vatican, our authority takes precedence meaning you can approach anyone be it a bishop of an archbishop. They asked for help, so we will" once I was done my little briefing both Xenovia and Irina looked both awe struck and determined to full fill my orders
They put me in charge so I gotta acted like it
"What will you do in the mean time?" asked Xenovia, seriousness fully locked and loaded "while we lock down and secure information what will you do?"
"I'll search the attack sight; see if I can dig up something they've missed, their a Cathedral so their bound to have had something to piqué the attackers interests"
"Right" and with that Xenovia tightened the strap holding her massive clothed weapon behind her and quieted down
"I'll do my best senpai!" chirped Irina joyfully all the while securing her Vatican issued katana behind her large white cloak and soon she quieted down as well
Seeing as though we still had time to spare, I took inventory of my gear, holy water and light grenades and a few other utilities I saw fit to take on with this operation, I didn't need much as I was proficient in other degrees of combat so seeing the need of too much gear kinda made me feel like a catholic badass far to a equipped to practice the "peace be with you" shtick
After taking my inventory I leaned back and watched over my two new partners, I didn't take much time for me to realize they looked nervous, the "butterfly" effect can make you feel that way after all, Xenovia looked far too serious to be considered human and looked more like a robot and Irina wasn't talking like she normally was, I didn't know her preparation routine very well but I knew for a fact she was a "talker" so to see her silent confirmed my suspicion
"You two nervous?" I asked suddenly, I got two reactions, Xenovia flinched slightly; it was hard to notice but I did and Irina became flustered but she didn't say much as instead her intertwined hands that encompassed her crucifix became the most interesting thing to her
I knew I was right...
Without a word I left my chair and walked over to kneel before the two female exorcists, for a moment they looked confused but that quickly changed when I placed my hand on Irina's hands and my other over Xenovia's
The two held mild blushes at my physical contact but I ignored it
"This is the first time you guys have been tasked with something bigger then you isn't it?" I asked calmly, a second later and they nodded. Completely silent
"Take it from me, Nervousness isn't easy especially when it's about something you know is gonna be a challenge" I started while gently rubbing their hands "just know that you've got me watching your back... alright?" I said reassuringly
For a moment Xenovia and Irina processed my words before smiling warmly to me, well Irina did Xenovia simply cocked a small smile of gratitude, one that seemed to be rather rare on her features, once I felt like I made my point I gave them a comforting squeeze before I stood up
We had an hour before we would arrive so with that thought I returned to my seat before allowing myself to relax, the flight wouldn't be long enough to induce jet lag so that was comforting but I knew a good nap would do me wonders. All this hype had my nerves tense
-XxXxXxX-
We arrived at the airport in record time, after my previous operation from Italy to Japan this flight felt like a car ride in comparison, that and the jet, damn I love flying in that thing, made me feel like I was whisked away on a fluffy cloud
Aside from my petty love for private jets I dropped all unnecessary shenanigans and proceeded to our private car ride to st. Paul's cathedral, the ride was lengthy but nothing to painful and as we drove to our destination our driver and temporary informant, father James, explained the situation to us thus far
He explained that the main damage done was internal as instead of external damage meaning the attack had commenced from within, I had asked if they knew who had attacked but father James said that was still the big question they had as well, this had brought a few theory's in mind, Irina worded her thought's along the idea of a small rouge priest incursion had taken place, father James, seemed to agree but I still felt I needed to address the scene personally to decipher if that was the case
Xenovia, however, believed fallen angels were the culprats because normally every church and cathedral always had a handful of exorcists to help deal with possible attacks and the fact they requested assistance not alone brought that idea more credit but it also caused Irina to question if these exorcist were getting the proper training needed to protect these locations
Soon we arrived at the cathedrals back entrance in due time, father James escorted us to the main entrance hall where we could see the damage done, after that he wished us luck and proceeded to his duties somewhere else
"I think fallen angels is our best answer here" muttered Irina as she stared wide eyed at the damage done
Various degrees of destruction was strewn about all over, craters of various sizes were located all throughout the main hall as well as the many pews were tossed and dishevelled, some were even split in haft, what also caught my eye, or anyone else's for that matter, was the level of blood all over the place, it was in drag marks and splatters all over, their shapes differing to small splatters to human size empathizing a battle had rage in this room, but by the number or body bags I guessed this was instead a massacre
"I'm starting to agree with Xenovia" muttered Irina whom seemed disturbed, placing my hand on her shoulder "don't look Irina" I advised making her turn away from the scene "Xenovia take Irina and ask around for witnesses, survivors, anything that can shed some light on our mystery target" with my orders the two walked off to search for anything that could help me decipher this scene
As the two walked off I turned around to begin my investigation, walking past most of the destruction I approached the main door to the cathedral, once I stood there I looked over the doors frame for any sign of decay due to malicious intent exposure but I found none, the reason I came her first was obvious for investigating attack scenes of the supernatural degree
If this was an operation carried out by a group of rouge priest's like Irina believed then their unskilled ability at decreasing the output of their malicious intent then the doors frame would show signs of decay, but they weren't so that had left them ruled out from my culprit list, for now anyway
Before I could continue my investigation I was approach by an average sized man about 35 to maybe early forties, he had a cleanly shaved beard with short dark brown hair, his eyes carried many emotions the biggest being tired, saddened, and angered, each of them completely understandable
"Are you father Blackburn of the Vatican?" he asked politely I could sense a feeling of doubt in his voice and who could really blame him, remember, I look no older then maybe eighteen, seventeen so seeing me here was really hard to believe
"Yes I am, are you the bishop?" I replied, he straightened up quickly when he seemed to realize his blunder, thankfully he didn't make a scene and instead quickly composed himself
"U-uh, R-right... anyway, yes! I am the bishop of this cathedral the names Joshua Oliver, but please call me bishop I wouldn't want to release my name out loud, with this attack I've grown on edge" he said sounding nervous
"Of course" I replied simply dropping the desire to say "you just did"
"Is there anything I can do to assist you father Blackburn?" he asked, this makes things easier; thankfully, the bishop knew who was in charge. For a second I thought of what I could ask for but I shook my head after a while
"Not at the moment, right now I'm looking for anything I can use to figure out who or what did this" then I realized I did have a request "I may actually have something I may need" I said causing him to turn back to me
"What is it?" he asked
"Is there any critical spots of interest within this cathedral? sacred paintings of historical purpose? Holy alters? Anything that could pique the heretic's interest?" after my slew of questions the bishop stopped to think
For a bishop he was hardly even informed of his own building, then again this man was probably a duplicate or fake for the real bishop's safety, that would explain his lack of relative information
Shaking his head wordlessly the bishop worded 'no' leaving me to grumble silently, I had haft expected this to be the case. As I said a while back, most of the churches upper brass were civilian while only a handful were actually former exorcists so whenever something like this occurred you can be sure upper management's gonna take precautions, neither me nor my fellow colleges liked this cause whenever we respond to smaller terrorist strikes on churches most of the upper echelon are all ready hiding a continent away leaving the un-informed as our guides
It's annoying on several levels.
Anyways, with the "bishops" answer wafting in the air like a horrible odder I quickly jumped to the next sight on my list, walking a few feet I found myself in the middle of the cathedrals main hall, its massive dome-like roof hovered over my head showing me its grand architecture, however, the various religious depictions were completely ruined with spider web cracks all over the roofs foundation, many candles were strewn about all over as the table's they were previously on were destroyed
This was far to destructive for a group of rouge exorcists, even if they did manage this I would have been informed that the heretic's had at least suffered a loss but considering I haven't been told that meant if this was rouge exorcists then they were good but I had all ready ruled that out as the lack of malicious decay proved they hadn't been the ones to attack, the next one was fallen angels
They were the one race that was hard to track, it was normal for them to leave various feathers in their wake but the feathers decayed at an accelerated rate once they landed so all I could wish for was a holy light detector but I didn't gear myself with one
Before I could grunt my disappointment at my lack of prep I noticed Irina approaching me without Xenovia. Good timing
"Find anything?"
"Xenovia's following a lead right now so I came to assist you until then" she replied causing me to nod
"Quick question, do you happen to have an energy detector on you?" I asked, my answer was the aforementioned device being place in my view
"Looks like you guys prepared better than I did; I didn't even think of bringing one of these" Irina giggled lightly at my laid back tone. Taking the device from my assistant I examined it before proceeding
Its shape was like a speed gun but extremely downsized to looked like a heat gun used to measure boiling water, however, its heat gun appearance became far more unique with the small screen that pops out from its left side
"Let's see here..." I muttered before I pressed the ED's trigger, this caused the screen to blink on allowing me to see into the ethereal plane, since the ED was small its level of perception into the ethereal world was limited to only energy signatures, "sigs" for short and each one was color coded
White or yellow was holy light of any degree, if it wasn't blinding then it was a fallen angels light, red was obviously for the devils and Youkai as they used devil energy and blue was spirits
"What do you see?" asked Irina who was inspecting the debris around me
I was silent for a second while I skimmed over the various paintings on the roof, so far I wasn't seeing any energy signatures at all, and the only thing visible was the paintings. nothing of any relative importance
"I don't see anything. There isn't any light residue" I answered after double checking the ED's screen
"Maybe there's something else we can scan... try the candle tables, maybe whatever attacked made contact with them" at Irina's subjection I quickly pointed the ED gun at the destroyed tables. My doubts were confirmed when the tables were completely untouched by any form of energy but my eyes widened when the small screen picked up a black energy signature
"Got something" I called out, Irina's eyes shined at my words before she walked over to see what I had found
"Mean anything to you?" I asked, technology wasn't my forte so I barely delved in its uses on the field, I knew stuff about the archives but that's different
"Black? I've never heard of an energy signature that's black in color... have you?" her confusion only seemed to increase my own as I shook my head while I observed the melted candle that was radiating a black smoke-like energy signature
I felt a peculiar need to experiment my findings, it's common for the color black to represent high amounts of malicious intent, pure evil, if that made it sound easier. This meant that whatever had gone through here had a black heart
"And the light shines in darkness; the darkness comprehend it not" I remembered the first time I had used this enchantment, its secondary purpose helped locate heavy amounts of evil, even in residue form
"E-Eh?" Irina blinked a few times when she noticed my eyes glowing white
"I'll teach you this later but for right now follow me" I fought the urge to slap myself right now, Irina and Xenovia didn't have clearance to know what this was and I had just whipped it out like it was normal
Smooth Isaac, real smooth
Seeing as though my self-loathing wasn't important I dropped it and gazed over to the candle, sure enough the black residue was noticeable and to add to my discovery a trail of it was also seen
Gesturing for Irina to follow I began to walk after the trial.
As I was following the trail I began to notice more black smoke all over the cathedral, its residual effects were much more faded and spotty then my path, it was seen all over the pews, the alters and even the main pedestal that which I was walking towards the only reason I knew this trail was a path was due its constant stream
The path ended when I stepped towards a wall directly to the left of the alter, for a moment I thought that was it but seeing as though the black smoke went into the cracks of the wall had me guess he or she had actually learned of a passage way here
"Hold it! You can't go in there!" yelled a male voice, turning to its source I say a young man about twenty with black hair come running up to both me and Irina
"That room is off limits" he said again
"On whose order?" came my returning question, I had long since dismissed my enchantment in favor of not increasing my blunder
"By order of the bishop" he said seriously, of course it is, but which one? The duplicate or the real one? Judging by this man's seriousness I guessed it was probably the latter. Figures
"Sorry father, but we have orders from the Vatican to investigate this tragedy, our authority takes precedence" the words of Irina seemed to do the trick
Took the words right outta my mouth Irina
"Y-your f-from... The V-Vatican!?" like I said, mine and Irina's age seemed to make people think we were plain ol exorcists straight from scholar school. Guess I should get a name tag... or a business card, I'm starting to sound like a broken record
"M-my apologies... I didn't realize you were father Blackburn" he said with a stutter, he was probably thinking along the lines "why did they send kids?"
Sometimes I hate my ageing process...
"There isn't a need to apologise, I can understand our... appearances, may bring confusion - so your previous actions are justified"
"You are to kind father Blackburn" he said while bowing to me thankfully
.
.
.
"So are you gonna let us through?" I asked after a minute of awkward silence.
"O-oh! My apologies" with a nervous smile the priest quickly walk/jogged towards the alter before muttering a chant, once the chant was completed the "secret" door opened which revealed a set of spiralling stairs
"As I stated before this room is off limits so I'll haft to remain, my status isn't high enough to grant me access, but you two however can enter" said the priest
"Thank you"
"~thank you father~" I noted Irina's childish tone had returned
"Guess well check this out then" commented Irina as I simply reactivated my enchantment
"We are defiantly following the right path, that black energy's practically flooded the entire stair way" i said while walking down the stair case
"I feel dirty"
"You make it sound like you've been in something similar" I commented humorously
"Sewers infested with wraiths' have the same feeling you know!" she said defending herself
"Touché"
It took us only a few minutes before we finally reached a door with various designs all around its frame however they seemed to be painfully faded and looked extremely old
'Runes are faded, heavy amounts of black energy, seems these were forcefully negated'
Running my hands along the runes I felt the familiar cold sensation one would feel when touching something heavily affected by evil energy
"I'm not waiting for those snobs from the Vatican to get here! They'll figure this out before we can finish out job so I'll finish this myself!" yelled a male voice, what was that about?
"Senpai" called out Irina as she gesture for me to regroup on her. Seems she heard it to
I took one last glance to the runes before I jogged over to Irina where I noticed two priests's arguing in front of a cube shaped structure that was covered in a large tarp, after a few seconds I quickly processed the words I had previously over heard
"Let's go" I said to Irina before walking into the room, my appearance quickly caught the attention of the two, one turned to me calmly while the other stopped before he could reach the cube, my guess was that the cube must've been a sectioned off room, the large tarp covering it must mean it's another attack sight
"You must be the members of the Vatican" began the calm looking priest; I noted a rather strange edge in his tone "we were informed you would be arriving here soon"
"Yes, we moved as soon as we received the letter" from the corner of my eye the second priest simply rolled his eyes and then I knew for a fact he was gonna bother me
"Can you give us a rundown of what happened?" asked Irina while appearing from behind me, the first priest seemed mildly surprised while the more unstable priest looked even more pissed then before
"A massacre happened; thought that would be obvious" snapped the second priest
"Silence fool!" retorted the first priest while he glared at the second priest
The man clicked his tongue before falling silent, sighing to himself the first priest turned back to me with an apologetic expression
"Please forgive my college, all this commotion has gritted on all of our nerves" he said, I simply nodded while Irina did the same
"As to answer your question ma'am... we don't really have any solid leads, almost everyone had perished in the ba-massacre the night before, we don't have any eye witnesses or survivor's to help shed light on who did this" he informed
"All we do know is that it was one person, if it was a large scale attack then the damage would've been far more... extensive" added the second priest, his tone carried heavy amounts of anger
Before I continued my investigation I noted the second priests stature, he was moderately toned, for a priest he must've prided himself in exorcise, his age opened a possible window that he may be a retire exorcists, early retired is more like it. He didn't look no older than thirty or maybe late twenties
Most likely the temper is what got him a short career
This was dually noted; the man's attitude so far brimmed unstable, and his last comment or snap to Irina showed he didn't exactly like and or respect his superiors or he was just an ass in general...
Not that I didn't totally respect my superiors but I still kept face, if he was my superior I would have already asked him to restrain any more comments lest he be emotionally compromised, almost like Arndell
Actually, he's far more compromised then the archbishop
"How did you guys learn it was only one person, I thought you said there were no survivor's?" my comment must've sprung something as the minute those words left my mouth the first priest tensed while the second narrowed his eyes ever so slightly
"W-when the attack occurred word reached a church somewhere outside the city, they learned a few things during the attack, including the number of attackers that being just one, before we could learn anything more our contact was lost with the cathedral" explained the first priest, I noted a slight stutter in his words making me raise an eye brow but I kept my tongue
This seemed plausible. In an event where a church is attacked the contingency is to relay a message to a neighboring church and inform them the identity of the attackers, their numbers and most of all, their fraction
"I take it the only thing you could learn was the number of attackers?" I said while asking for confirmation, nodding the second priest agreed "so both the identity and fraction relations are still unknown"
My comment was mostly directed to myself in a thought like context, this situation was growing in seriousness, first the black energy sig and now we knew it was only one person, a part of me thought that their words was far to "deep" for them to figure that out on their own, before we left I had extensively questioned Arndell so to get all possible levels of knowledge before leaving
One of the question's I had asked was if there was any chance the cathedral got word out but Arndell said that no one received any transmission of an attack, he even confirmed it through his connections and learned the attack had only been live for a solid 4-5 minutes, far too quick for word to break loose
Something's up
Everything these priests had said contradicted the information I had received from the archbishop, the only thing keeping me from whipping out accusations was the fact they were in the loop, they knew we were coming, so I felt they at least knew most of what was going on, but that obvious lie and reaction had me hold doubts
"Irina, take a look around and see if there's anything they've missed, imma contact Xenovia and see if she's found anything with her lead" turning to the two priests I nodded "if you would excuse me"
After that the two priests fell in silence while Irina went off to examine the room's interior while I left the threes presents entirely
Once I was alone in the hallway I whipped out my cell phone and dialed a number, the line rung for a moment before a familiar female voice was heard
[Hello?]
"Xenovia" I said simply, my voice alone would answer who was calling her
[Isaac?... Never mind, I'm glad you called. I've followed a lead on what may have happened here, turns out the cathedral had security cameras all around the complex as well as the interior, I'm reviewing the findings now] she informed with that usual tone of seriousness
I nodded "good call, me and Irina followed an energy signature we found in the cathedrals main hall" there was a pause on the other side of the line before she replied
[What color was it?] she asked, huh, for a moment there I thought I detected a hint of childish curiosity
"It was black; I don't normally use ED guns so I didn't know what that color code meant. I asked Irina but she didn't know what it was either... have any idea?"
[Hmm... I haven't used an ED gun as much either, I still remember the training but I never heard them say what black signified, though I do remember one thing, how did the energy sig move? Was it sparking? Did it flow like a fire? Or was it an orb?] she said while relaying a large sum of questions
"it didn't move like any of those description's" I said with a shake of my head "It moved like a cloud of smoke, it was in patches all around the cathedral, the only thing we found that was even the slightest of leads was a consistent trail that led us into a dungeon just to the left of the main alter"
[Are there any cameras down their? I may be able to find you] looking round I spotted only one camera in the corner of the main room where the two priests were standing
"Yes, can you see me?" I asked while I waved my hand at the camera, since I was behind a wall the two priests didn't see me waving
[Now I do, there are so many screens here it was hard for me to notice you]
"Anyways, what have you found on your end?"
[I found a security tape of last night but the priests here say they've already skimmed over it, all they got was extreme electrical interference and a lot of screaming] a little to informative Xenovia
"So there is no evidence on your end?" I asked to confirm
[That remains to be. I'm still scavenging around for other tapes from yesterday from other camera sights all around the cathedral, all that tape got was the main hall] good if that's the case then there's still a possible lead on Xenovia's end
"Alright, Irina and I will continue searching for physical evidence while you continue with the camera feeds" before I could hang up Xenovia caught my attention [wait!]
"What is it?"
[Who are those two priests you are with?] With a blessing of curiosity I peered out to see the two conversing, and by the looks of things they looked like they were arguing but it didn't seem like they were mad at each other though
"They're our informants.. Why do you-"
[Isaac, I'm with our informants right now, they brought me to the security room so to go over the cameras footage] what she said confirmed my previous suspicion, the words the priests had said before were truly lies, and that priests anger must've been a slip of malicious dislike towards both me and Irina
So the Heretics are here, guess that brings the possibility of them being the culprits even closer to the spotlight, but that black smoke still kept me skeptical, but for now dealing with these heathens is my top priority
"Can you cut the camera feed for this room Xenovia?" I asked seriously, if she had been watching me (she most likely was at this point) then she would have seen my sheathed Zetsurin sword materialize in my left had
[I-I can do that... but we need one of them alive, it would be best to learn what we can from those heretics] advised Xenovia
"All right, cut the feed" not a second latter and the flashing red light on the camera ceased
[Done]
Now that the camera feed was out I could act without worry. Last thing I wanted was to be seen slaying an "exorcist" in front of other exorcists as the more zealous ones would only hear what they'd want to hear
With my nerves steeled I ended the call and stepped out from the hall way I was in. The two "priests" quickly noticed my return with shocked expressions at the sight of the obvious weapon at my side even Irina seemed surprised for a moment
"Senpai... why do you have your weapon at hand?" she asked
I didn't answer her; instead I reactivated my enchantment causing my eyes to glow a fierce white before subsiding to a less blinding pitch
Looks like Xenovia was correct, the two radiated a small amount of malicious intent but I was surprised by the amount of black smoke in the room but most of all the cubed structure radiated an extremely large amount of dark energy
Forgetting the cubed structure for the time being I then focused on the surprised and frozen priests. The first, calm priest looked like he'd run while the second was sweating bullets through gritted teeth
"So... guess what I learned?" I asked rhetorically, while the first priest said nothing the second priest glared at me while clicking his tongue "looks like you two already know the answer, what I would like to know is... what your business here is?"
My tone was cold and my eyes, I knew, were much worse. If these two were involved in this then god have mercy on these heretics
Without a second to think the rude heretic whipped out an exorcists manufactured hand gun and pointed it at me, judging by his expression he was scared as well, guess that explained the lack of words
Normally a person who points a gun at you can be terrifying but I had this happen so many times it was just a thing now
"Hey Senpai? This seems troublesome" Irina worded her thoughts as she slipped to my side, she had been silent for a while but now she seemed aware of the situation. I felt bad I hadn't brought her into the loop before but I had to move quickly
"Tell me about it" I grumbled, I had made quite a few mistakes today and this was the icing to the cake
Guess it was time to make up for them
From the bottom of the sheath a white light began to run along the scabbard before it reached the handle of my blade and faded
"Leave the other one alive Irina, we need answers" I whispered
"Right"
With our priorities sharpened I pointed my sheathed sword at the gun wielding heretic
BOOOM!
With a thunderous thoom my blade shot out of the sheath like a bullet in a gun
"Wha?-"
CRAAACK!
the pummel of my fired sword rammed directly into the nose of the heretic silencing him and letting out a sickening crunching sound, the force of the blow had caused the man to reel back in pain while my sword remained suspended in mid air, once the damage had been done time slowed down to a crawl
Wasting no time I lurched forward at inhuman speeds and grabbed my suspended blade in a reverse grip and delivered a diagonal slash to the man's exposed torso from his left shoulder to his right hip, following through with my momentum I sped past the heretic and delivered a second diagonal slash to his back with a similar fashion as the first
CLICK
Locking my blade within the scabbard the man fell to the ground; haft the man he once was
Once the heretic with the gun was dealt with I turned back to where Irina was, unfortunately for the first "priest" Irina was skilled in agile sword play so his attempt at fleeing was literally cut shot
SLING!
With a quick swipe Irina left a painful gash on the fleeing exorcist's thigh rendering him immobile and causing him to collapse to the floor painfully
"You're not leaving, your heresy still needs to be answered" said Irina as she cleaned her blade before sheathing it
I had intended on doing the questioning but before I could I felt a strange energy within the cubicle to my right, it felt disturbing at first as my enchantment was still activated yet for a moment I felt a light sensation within the trapped cube, it felt like it was in pain and terrified
"Irina, can you do the questioning?" I asked suddenly
"E-eh?... I-I don't think I'm well versed in that kind of field to be of use" she said sounding nervous
"I have faith in you" I said simply, for a split second Irina's cheeks tinged pink
"W-well I-If you say it like that then..." she replied with great amounts of effort, I simply tilted my head at her childishness and smirked, her reactions to complements always were just adorable
"Well I'll hold you to it then" I said before I walked over to the glass cubicle, it was huge, its structure covered almost the entire room, I guessed the basement we were in was possibly 3000 square feet and the cubicle took up almost haft of it, bright light shined out from the seams of the tarp
I stepped towards the cubicle with anticipation written on my expression, this room had radiated an extremely huge amount of malicious energy but I felt a sliver of positive energy within, with my curiosity at its max I tore away the trap to reveal a gruesome sight
Blood... Blood was everywhere
The walls were caked in it as well as the floor, various desks were scattered all around in violent fashion, each piece of furniture had at least a gallon covering it as well as a few bits of what I had guessed was some ones brain matter, the shiny pink hunk of meat confirmed that, it seemed my spotting of brain matter had me finally notice the other human parts scattered all over the room, limbs were everywhere
The sight was so gruesome I had actually stepped back in disgust, this was the handy work of a fallen angel. It had to be. There were no other beings like them who actually completely destroyed their targets
"H...Hell...He...lp?" called out a voice, the tone was dry and I could sense the pain laced within it, I couldn't tell if it was a girl or man. As stated, the voice was painfully dry, add the glass muffled the voice
The source came from under a set of downed lockers to the right of the cubicle where I spotted an exposed leg, I knew who ever it was was alive because of the movements it had. I took a moment to find a door and sure enough the door I was looking for was a couple feet to my left and a control panel was to its right
Tapping the "open" button the doors gave off a soft whoosh noise before I was greeted by the scent of decay, all the blood had been clotted and the stench of death loomed in the air. For the most part I swatted the need to release my breakfast and pushed towards the downed lockers to my right
"I hear you! stay calm I'll get these off of you!" taking ease as to not step in something I would regret latter I made my way towards the lockers
"Th...than...k...y-you" wheezed the voice, at this time I knew it was female, but dreadfully hollow, with minor effort I lifted the downed lockers to reveal an injured sister or maiden, she was drenched in blood and so her attire was indistinguishable, her light brown hair was matted with both sweat and blood and a few stains of human bits, her green eyes looked empty with exhaustion. Poor thing probably kept herself up all night calling for help
"Don't move, let me check you for any injuries first" I instructed, the girl nodded weakly as I examined her form
She was lying face down so her back was the first thing I examined
"Ok, can you feel your legs?" I asked calmly, getting a soft nod I went for the next question
"Now, can you wiggle your toes?" I was answered by her black dress shoes moving slightly before she nodded, ok so she didn't have any back injuries so that was good. This meant I didn't need to bring any attention to us via an ambulance, she was the only survivor of the attack and being the center of attention was the last thing this girl needed. she looked terrified
I then went and slowly bent both her knee's so to have her leg's face upward, getting no whimpers of pain I classified her back as healthy. Next I examined her sides, this one would cause minor discomfort as in order to check for rib damage without being able to see the area meant I needed to assess them physically, I couldn't risk moving her or else I'd probably find an injury somewhere else I also wouldn't start tearing clothing off or that would frighten her even more then she was
Running both my hands down her sides with slight pressure I felt no disfigures nor did the girl whimper in protest. No ribs were broken, good
"Ok, I'm gonna lift you up, can you assist me?" she nodded weakly, slowly I turned her to her side before assisting her into a sitting position, I noted a gash was above her left eye and quickly pushed her matted bangs to the side to see it was clotted with no signs of infection, I still needed to clean it later but for now I needed to make sure of any other injuries
When she finally got into a sitting position I listed her physical condition, other than being completely caked in blood she looked fine but that was dashed when I noticed her hands which were severally burnt, they looked like the kind when you put your hand on a stove burner
This was second degree, I needed cold water
"Ok, can you make sure your hands don't touch anything?" I asked the answer though was strange, the girl looked to her hands in confusion before her eyes started to tear up
"I-t hu..rts, I-t hur...ts" she said hoarsely
"Irina! Get over here!" at my beckon and call Irina came racing around the corner
"what is it?!" she asked frantically before she noticed the contents of the room and cover her mouth, her eyes widened further when she noticed the girl
"I need cold water, not ice water just cold water and lots" I said while both ignoring Irina's obvious disgust with the room and holding the girls wrists, she was tearing up at the pain that she seemed to finally notice but I needed to make sure she didn't touch anything
Shaking out of her stupor Irina ran back to where she came, a few moments later and she came back with a medium sized bucket and dropped it in front of the girl, I wasted no time in dumping the hands into the cool water, I noted an audible sigh of relief on Irina's face before she looked to me, a confused expression adoring her face
"I found her under those lockers over there" I said while pointing to the lockers "I guess the lockers did actually land on her because the only serious injury is that burn and a gash, nothing I can't fix"
"alright, that means there was a survivor, but why are there stray exorcists here?" she asked while trying very hard to keep her eyes on me and not the room
"I don't know... speaking of which, did you learn anything from the stray?" Irina's expression became slightly brighter at my words; I guessed she did learn something
"Yes, turns out they had an objective here, he said they were the cleanup crew"
"Cleanup crew? But why would—oh now that makes sense" I said while I stood up from where I had been kneeling, I didn't want the girl to hear what I had to say so I gestured Irina to follow me out of the glass room
Glancing around to find the stray priest I noticed him lying against the wall, unconscious
"You knocked him out?" I asked causing Irina to shuffle nervously at my "fake" accusing tone
"U-um... when you s-suddenly called out for me I had no choice but to" she said like I was the parent while she was the naughty child
I patted her head "no worries, it's what I would've done" her expression morph to adorable confusion before it succumb to a joyful expression
"Ya" was her audible acknowledgment to the complement... rather morbid if you think about it
Kneeling to his level I snapped my fingers in his face causing him to nearly jump at the sudden irregular level of noise it generated
"wow... light sleeper" commented Irina as she looked on in surprise
let's go with that
"ah! Huh! What do you want, I don't know anything!" he yelled while using the oldest line in the book
"if you don't know anything then your life is of no use to me" I said dangerously causing the stray to shudder at the coldness of my tone "you should at least know what you objective was right? If not then I could-"
He interrupted me "all right, all right... we were sent here to clean up"
"Details, I need more detail" I urged while flicking out a portion of my sword threateningly, he shuddered once more before answering
"The girl!... W-we were told there w-was a girl left alive" he said, reluctant but relenting either way
Guess that confirmed it, whoever attacked had accidently forgotten he/she had left a survivor and only remembered after the fact, this was a cleanup crew that had orders to "silence" the girl
Unfortunately for them they failed
"You going to tell who ordered you to do this? Answer quickly least my patience ways thin!" I ordered causing him to reel back against the wall
"I don't no-"
Instead of threatening I moved on to physical threats, with one swift motion I grabbed him by his coat collar had hoisted him to his feet before slamming him against the wall with unnatural force
"GAK!"
"I'm gonna ask again, if you can't answer then you're done"
I noticed Irina had been standing back from me with a troubled look on her face, she may not have been this forceful and I doubt she'd ever will so seeing this was probably tough for her. Still need the information though
"Ok!" he yelled
Pushing him from my grasp I stepped back so to give him space, the man took a minute to catch his breath, before he said anything I took notice of a sigil on the left side of his neck
The base of the design was a simple circle but within the circle was a Satan star with various symbols within the stars design
The reason I hadn't noticed it before was the fact it wasn't there before now. I grew confused by its appearance but my interest in the sigil was answered before I could run a few skeptic questions through my head, unbeknownst to the rouge priest the tattooed sigil on his neck began to glow a powerful red while red veins began to run along his neck originating from the sigil
That's when I realized what was gonna happen
Without even so much as batting an eye I dived onto Irina who gave a sudden "yelp" at my actions. Right as soon as Irina and I hit the deck did the rogue priests head explode into red mist leaving both a headless body and red lightning like energy arcing around the neck
The body fell lifeless to the floor a second later leaving me in anticlimactic suspense and Irina in extreme shock and disgust
"What... what just happened" she questioned with a stutter
"I had a feeling that was what that sigil would do" I said more to myself
"What do you mean? I didn't see a sigil"
I didn't answer, and instead examined the downed body. The evidence of the sigil had vanished along with the head as even the nape of the neck was missing from the detonation. I grumbled, he may have had the answer I needed but now we were still in the dark on who attacker was. All that remained was the only survivor but I doubt she'd want to talk about last night anytime soon
'Still... that sigil's sudden appearance was far too convenient' it almost felt like it was timed or even activated just when the rogue decided to relent the information. Almost like he was silenced before speaking...
A small chill ran down my spine as the thought of us being observed passed through my mind, whom ever activated that sigil must've been aware of the situation his suburbanite was in and decided to silence him before spewing the beans
It was fleeting but I had my options, it wasn't impossible for curtain symbols of runic aspect to carry a level of connection with the wearer and it was highly possible that the sigil I saw was one of them
"Guess who ever put that sigil on didn't want any loose ends" I said while glaring at the spot on the wall wear the man's head used to be
"I still don't see that- whatever you said- to be anything related" she worded
"I take it the prophets never taught you what sigils were capable of" she shook her head softly
"Take if from this experience... if you see a sigil on anyone take a few steps back, they have a possibility of detonating at any given time" I had experienced one of these before, they usual work best on henchman as they are more inclined to speak. Dark moves usual correlate with dark intentions
"Yeah... I'll take that into consideration when I'm taking to people with tattoos" she replied sarcastically causing me to chuckle
Boy I hope Xenovia had better luck on her end, things just keep "popping" up on ours... that was bad
"Alright... so I take it the best move right now is to secure the girl?"
I nodded my head "yes, but I want to make sure the other's don't learn of this, frantic priests usually force things and I'd rather not force anything on the girl just yet" after we acknowledged our new motive we returned to where the girl was still seated, nothing much had changed other than her pained expression had morphed to a zoned out gaze
It didn't take a shrink to know she was looking past the blood and just off to space, though I still felt bad leaving her in this room of all places but... never mind
I kneeled in front of the girl while Irina took to just remaining outside of the cubicle. the girls eyes were still hollow I guess she had passed out while siting but waving my hand pasted her face forced her back down to earth, she looked like she wanted to speak but her throat was still dry so I handed her my holy water canteen, I doubt she would've drank from the bucket, she may have been thirsty but never to the point of drinking that water
She took a moment to realize what I handed her but before I felt the feeling of her grab my canteen she instead froze and began to cry softly again
"What's the matter? It's just water" I said while shaking the canteen to emphasis my words but she just kept sobbing
"I-I...Di-didn't...do...it" uh? What does she mean she didn't do it? Wait- does she think we're suspecting her of this? I highly doubt she'd be capable, she barely looked like she'd hurt a fly so why would she say that?
"just drink, you need water in order to speak properly" I advised softly, she hesitated but relented her strange fear and took a small sip, relief passed over her before she began to hastily slug back the water and in a matter of seconds did the canteen became completely empty
She breathed for a second before looking to me, she just stared at me for a moment before tears of apparent joy passed over her but she said nothing
"Can I see those hands of yours?" I asked while reaching out with mine, the girl looked surprised but she did so none the less, once her hands were outstretched I placed them within mine and a soft white light enveloped them
The girl stared in awe, I knew she was probably feeling relief from the pain in her hands cause that was what I was doing, and I wouldn't have her sit there in pain when I had something that could remedy it
After a moment of waiting and the light died down which I released to reveal that they were completely healed. The girl just stared at them before looking to me. A look of complete admiration adoring her features
"A-Are you... an angel?" she asked hoarsely, my eyes widened slightly at her words
"N-no" she didn't look convinced "but thanks for the complement anyway" I finished making her expression brighten albeit lamely, the effect of the past event was still looming in her mind and the "I didn't do it" was still looming over mine like a feeling of temptation...
That came out wrong didn't it?
"Anyways we need to-" I began but I was silenced when the girl grabbed me in a forced hug causing me to stop
"Please forgive me... oh angel... I have sinned" she said in between sobs.
There it was again, the guilty emotion she had shown before had returned and now she was holding onto me like I would vanish. I sighed softly, she had been through hell and survived, I had haft a guess she was feeling survivor's guilt.
Following gut instinct I accepted her hug and pulled her closer, experiencing something like this was a fate no one should ever experience and it showed, the sign of my acceptance to her hug had probably given her a feeling akin to forgiveness and now the tears flowed freely.
It felt like a whole hour had passed before she finally cried herself to sleep and now her ragged breathing became smooth signifying she was in fact out cold. She needed it
"Isaac... I found something" called out Irina, her tone carried both urgency as well as a hint of confusion
"Alright... gimme a second" I replied while looking for a spot to place the sleeping?... sister, yeah let's go with that. I found a small bench just outside of the cubic and placed her on it gently so to not wake her before I ran to where Irina was standing
When I arrived Irina simply gestured towards a golden cylinder that looked broken at the end, by the looks of it I guessed it was a container for something but I didn't know what it was exactly it was containing
"What about it?" I asked, there must've been something important about this thing
"Look what's leaking from it" she said, at her words I noticed a pale golden dust or sand leaking from the broken end. That's when I froze, I knew immediately what this was, running my finger through it and then bringing it to my nose I flinched away when I smelt the familiar sent of rotten eggs.
Sulfur no doubt about it
"Do you know what it means?" asked Irina who seemed a little bit confused about my sudden change in expression
"Sulfur" I said simply, expression darkening
"I-I don't-"
"It means demons... a demon has been through here" I said breaking the thick ice, I turned to Irina to see her expression change to complete shock
"A devil did this?!" she said with what I sensed to be anger but I shook my head at her words
"No, a demon is completely different" I replied while rubbing my temple "take a devil and times its sin by twenty and you got a demon and add the fact their malicious intent is so powerful that they leave sulfur in their wake"
"Then if a demon did this then..." she said sadly all the while leaving the line to hang
I ignored everything and dialed up Xenovia immediately, it took a second but Xenovia answered quickly
[Isaac?]
"Yes... it's me" I replied simply, the discovery had left me reeling and my tone sounded distant
[I-is something wrong Isaac?] She asked hesitantly
"Yes, something is very wrong" I replied cryptically
[What is it? What did you find]
"I'll save that when we leave but I have better news" I felt it would be best if we discussed that back on the jet
[A-alright... what's the good news]
"We have a single survivor... by the looks of things those rogue priests were here to kill her apparently, I have my guesses that she may know quite a lot about the attacker, when I questioned who it was that sent them a self detonating sigil appeared and killed the only remaining priest before he could tell us"
[Damn heretics... using dirty tricks like that, "heretic" suits them just perfectly] growled Xenovia, I knew she'd be angry about that
"I can agree to that... anyways, gather all information you can, and... if it's at all possible, could you find me a set of clean sister robes?"
[Yeah, I'll get-]
"I don't want anyone aware of the survivor Xenovia, she's far too terrified to answer to a bunch of selfish fanatical priests who are out for vengeance" I said with a slight edge of force
[Ok, I'll get it done] after that reply she hung up
A few minutes later and we heard Xenovia come down the steps before she rounded the corner and stepped into the light shining from the cubicle, I noticed she had a set of robes in her hands
"Alright, here are the robes you asked for" she said while handing me the aforementioned robes and then she peered over my shoulder to see the sleeping girl "where did you find her?"
I simply pointed at the cubicle, she looked like she wanted to inspect it but I stopped her "I wouldn't if I were you" She looked confused but Irina shook her head to help alleviate Xenovia's curiosity
"Did you two find out who attacked?" Xenovia asked while I awoke the sister from her sleep
"I take it you didn't find anything?" countered Irina, Xenovia shook her head before replying
"I inspected all of the other video tapes but I only got the same result as the first one, nothing but extreme electrical interference"
The two continued conversing their finds while I escorted the tired sister to a back room so she could change... I didn't follower into the room if you're wondering.
It took her some time but she manage to clean up, the fabric her robe had been made of had been extremely well tailored as only a small amount of blood had actually gotten on her, that being her hair and her shoes, everything else was "spotless"
It have to make due, with all three of us Vatican agents down in this basement you can be sure the suspicion was probably raging above
The only way out was with a teleportation spell but that would bring more confusion then any good, the only other way was through the front door, that was our best bet but with this girl it'd be harder than normal
We'd have to smuggle our way out
"By the way I never did ask you what your name was" I said while I looked to her
"Amelia... Call me Amelia" she said meekly, she didn't mention a last name so I guessed she must be an orphan
"Alright Amelia me and my friends are gonna escort you out but I want to make sure it's discrete, alright?" I explained while I placed a veil onto her head, it covered most of her brown hair but with the blood it looked darker than normal so it could pass as "normal"
"O-ok" was her simple reply, she still looked off into space now and then but it looked like she was coming through
"Ok then, stick with me" before I knew it and the girl already had a firm grasp on my coat sleeve, nodding softly I led her back to the other two, Xenovia looked extremely troubled and went to ask me something but the sight of the girl as well as my frown of disagreement had stopped whatever she was about to say in its tracks
"We're leaving" I said seriously, the two stopped and looked to each other before nodding in a similar fashion
"You two go out first and make sure no one is around, if there is then explain to them that we have found nothing and instead we are reporting back to the Vatican, after that, meet me at the car in the back entrance" the two quickly nodded before leaving. While Amelia and I waited I noticed the golden cylinder still lying on the floor, by its design it looked important... almost like it could entice demon into stealing it
I left the idea of it being mundane aside and instead grabbed it and placed it in my coat pocket, it looked no larger than four inches so it fit in my coat pocket perfectly, I would ask about what this was later
When I felt we could go Amelia and I began our ascent back in to the cathedral.
I had been cautious before but with the seriousness of the situation I couldn't take any chances, if these priests did manage to take the girl then they'd only further damage her psychologically, asking her questions of the previous night would only hurt her more then she was now, this event had angered quite a few individuals and I knew they'd care more about learning the identity of the attacker then the psychological condition of one girl
Christian fanatics are like that
So with the girl's condition in mind I took extreme precautions
"The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil; he shall preserve thy soul" [Psalm 121:7]
The effects of the enchantment immediately took hold, normally my enchantments effected only me but with slight modifications I made it effect her instead causing Amelia to vanish in a flurry of white particles. Invisibility
You cannot harm what you cannot see; as they say
"Loosen your grip on my sleeve but kept in contact, I won't be able to hear you if you let me go" I instructed soon after and the firm grip loosened, she may be invisible but the sight of my sleeve being pulled back without someone there would look suspicious and I didn't want attention
"Alright, stay close and don't bump into anyone" when I felt it was go time I began my walk up the stairs and out into the damaged cathedral
"N-no...n-no..." mumbled Amelia through my mind link with her but I ignored it
The back door wasn't too far away from where I was heading, just down the alters ally and to the left of the main hall. I didn't see Irina when I exited the basement door but I did see Xenovia explaining a few things to the "bishop" before nodded politely and parted with him and rounded to my side
"We clear?" I asked
"Yes, he was disappointed at first but I assured him we'd find whoever did this... by the way, where is the girl?"
I simply gestured behind me "She's right here" Xenovia looked confused but I simply winked to her making her relent the obvious pending question
It took us no time before we opened the door to the outside, after breathing in clean air and not the air of death the three of us rounded the corner to the back parking lot and spotted the same black car we arrived with Irina standing right beside it I even noticed our temporary informant waiting in the driver seat
"Alright, to the airport" she said to the driver before jumping into the back seat. The three of us followed soon after
-XxXxXxX-
The car ride back to the airport was filled with silence, Xenovia kept glancing from the floor and back to me then back to the floor a few times before she simply sighed and looked out the window, Irina had taken to her crucifix while I took to simply listening to the soft roar of the luxurious car we were driving in, I knew Amelia was still here due to her clinging to me the whole drive to the airport
I had expected her to be hesitant in leaving her "Home" but she didn't seem to complain, it was odd, usually those who grew up at churches never enjoyed leaving them but she didn't seem to care in the slightest
I-I...Di-didn't...do...it
Whatever her reasons I would leave them for a later date
It took us about 45 minutes to reach the airport, it was a fairly tense ride because I could practically feel Xenovia's anticipation when we reached the landing strip and boarded the private Vatican jet still park on the run way and once when were inside I finally switched off the enchantment revealing Amelia to the two other agents
"Whoa!... how did she do that" asked Irina in surprise
"She didn't do it, I did" I replied, Amelia looked like she wanted to sleep again instead of talking so I simply sat down in one of the many seats, Amelia obviously following due to her still clinging to my sleeve
The other two simply sat adjacent to my spot and looked to me with what I guessed was patience, Irina probably told Xenovia who attacked and now she wanted me to confirm her words, however that could wait until Amelia was asleep
The beginning of the flight started smoothly and when we reached the designated altitude the familiar smoothness over take the turbulence, a few minutes after and Amelia fell back to sleep which allowed me to slither out of her grasp
I had noticed when we left that I was covered in crusty blood so I took the time to find myself a clean set of church robes before returning to the ever patient duo waiting by Amelia
"So... a demon attacked the cathedral?" Xenovia all but growled out
"Yup" I replied simply, no need in sugar coating it
"I'm starting to despise the audacity of those devils, attacking a cathedral of all places..." Xenovia's apparent anger grew larger as she continued to spew angry comments about the devil race but I stopped her before she boiled over
"A devil and a demon are two different beings" I started causing the bluenette to look to me questioningly.
*sigh*
"A devil and a demon are two far different beings, the only things relatable between the two are their names and their spawn place meaning the underworld" I explained
"What's so important about the name?" asked Irina, she looked confused as well as I only gave her a small explanation before we left the cathedral
"The reason their names are important is because most of them are the progenitors of the devil's 72 pillars" at my words Irina looked terrified while Xenovia looked confused
"I thought most of the 72 pillars were destroyed during the Great War as well as the devil civil war so why would their still be a demon running around like you say it is?" she asked still in shock
"It is true that most of the pillars were destroyed as well as the demon ancestor's who created them but not all of them perished as scripted in the bible, some were captured and remain in heavens prison even today" both of the two then looked to me wide eyed leaving me confused. Did-did I say too much?
"What?" I asked confusedly
"How do you know about that?" the two asked in sync
"Know what?"
"About heaven keeping demons captive... that seems like a delicate subject, even for us" exclaimed Irina
"Oh... that's right, you two are still not used to this sort of operating" I said with a wave of my hand "the division I work under and the one you guys work under now, with the archbishop handles operations in close relation to heavens system, everything they hold that can threaten our world we carry a contingency just in case they 'slip up' so knowledge from upstairs is common for our bureau"
For a moment the two remained silent before Irina's eyes began to sparkle brightly, even Xenovia showed a gushing expression
"~oh thank you dear LORD for this great honor~" prayed Irina as Xenovia tried her hardest to hide her expression of enthusiasm
Tried... But failed
"Anyways, we learned that long ago when the Great War was taking full swing a handful of demons were captured and were locked in heavens prison, as a form of torture"
"Wait... torture? You don't mean..." Irina's doubt was evident
"Heaven has had its fair share of violent events Irina and heavens prison is no exception" I guess finding out your friendly angels were actually quiet "bleak" did have a negative effect but she had to learn this anyway
"That makes sense... heaven is a natural enemy to devils and... demons, the holy energy in their would be so pure it be hard for them to even think straight" explained Xenovia, looks like she's understanding heavens prison just fine
"Exactly, we learned that after the war both the angels and devils agreed to keep the demons captive"
"Why though?" asked Irina "why would the devils agree to that?"
"For peace related reasons" I answered "the demons never liked peace to begin with, only four wanted peace and they were the original four Satan's that being Lucifer, leviathan, Beelzebub, and Asmodeus. almost Every other demon wished for war and thankfully most of the demons died so the imprisonment of the last remaining demons that disagreed with the four's decision were kept in confinement in heaven"
"So that left the underworld with only a handful of other devil houses and the four great Satan's as well?" questioned Xenovia, it sounded like she wanted confirmation by her tone
"Yes, during the civil war the four great Satan's perished but they left capable successors who held the power and ideals of the originals" I explained
"So this adds up to the few questions we have, how was this demon still roaming? If it was a demon from heavens prison then how did he escape?" listed Irina while lifting two fingers
"To answer your second question Irina; it's who let 'em out? Not how, escaping from heavens prison is almost impossible, add the almost constant pain the demon would be feeling just by being in heaven as well as knowing that the only way out was through heavens honor guard, that... would be extremely difficult" I explained causing Irina to nod solemnly
"So, let's say he was let out, what would be his motive?... vengeance?" continued Irina
I nodded while Xenovia also agreed
"It would make sense, being betrayed by your own kind can have that effect on just about anyone, add the fact it's a demon we're talking about leaves that to common sense" replied Xenovia
"Right, but why would he attack a cathedral? I would've expected it to attack the underworld directly" replied Irina
"Good point, demons are beings based off of negative emotions, vengeance being a more common one then others and the fact this demon hasn't attacked the underworld leaves us with more questions than answers" I said while nodding to Irina
"Then how do we find that answer?" asked Xenovia
I simply smiled at her with a crooked grin
"Simple... we ask it nicely"
At the sight of my confidence the two "rookie" exorcists smiled, Xenovia matched my grin while Irina smiled her usually flamboyant way
Whatever this demon had planned be it vengeance or any other crooked scheme you could bet you ass the three of us will be there
Now we just had to find some leads
"So how will we find it?" questioned Xenovia
I simply reached into my other coats pocket and revealed to the two the golden cylinder container from the cathedrals basement
"Whatever the goal is it must have something to do with this" I said while holding out the golden object "whatever it is, it must've held an important item the demon was looking for but I still have no idea what it could be"
"I bet the Archive would have an answer" Irina recommended "I haven't actually been there in person but I have contacted one of the scholars working there, he helped immensely"
"Good idea, I'll give Claire a shout" after that I stood up from the seat I was in and walked over to a wide open wall to my right near the rear of the jets cabin
Placing my hand on the wall a light blue scan traced over my hand before it blinked green in confirmation
"Voice confirmation: For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding" [proverbs 2:6] once the prayer was uttered the screen replayed my voice over before blink green in confirmation a second time
After the screen confirmed my voice it reached a pending call before a familiar light browned haired women came onto the screen
"Hello father Blackburn what can I do for you?" she asked while I gave a friendly wave
"I like you to run me a diagnostic on this..." I said while lifting up the golden cylinder for her to see
"sure thing please let the computer camera scan it" I did as she said and placed it in front of the terminals camera to the walls right, once it was in place a visible stream of blue light shot out and skimmed over the golden cylinder a few times before reseeding
"Please give me a moment to run diagnostic" she said while looking off screen, most likely to the screen scanning the cylinder "alright I have something" she said while turning back to me
"Turns out what you holding is a protective container for a blueprint... can you guess what for?" she said while hinting a question towards me
"Moses' DVD collection? I have no idea" I haft joked causing a snicker from Claire
"Good one.. But no, what your holding is the blueprint to recreating the legendary sword Excalibur" she informed causing everyone in the jets cabin to freeze
"It's a prototype but some scholars as well as some prophets have actually confirmed its process plausible, but its effects are extremely devastating" continued Claire not at all realizing the bomb she had just dropped
"How devastating?" I asked with a wavering tone
"well, if one were to collect all of the Excalibur fragments and then use a high end alchemy spell to mold the holy energies together perfectly... you'd be looking at a full on continental decimation" Jesus Claire, read the mood
"Why do ask?" she asked suddenly
How do I put this? "Um... we happen to have learned that a... loose demon may or may not have stolen the Excalibur reconstruction blueprint" I informed causing Claire face to change from clueless to clear evident shock
"WHAT?!" she all but yelled
The three of us who didn't expect that kind of a response jumped at her loud tone, thankfully she hadn't woken Amelia but it still surprised all of us
"That's not good... that's not good at all" Claire leaned back in her chair, a clear expression of disbelief written on her features, after a second she leaned back towards the screen "I-I I'm bring this to Arndell's attention immediately, I'll patch you to him right now" in a second the screen blinked, replacing Claries face with that of Arndell's
"Hello father Blackburn, what news do you bring me?" he asked, this was gonna leave the old man reeling
"We have learned the attack on st. Paul's cathedral was the tip of the iceberg, during our investigation me and Irina found a single survivor" I informed causing Arndell to nod calmly
"Did you ask her of the previous nights events?" I knew that would be his next question
"No, the previous night had left its toll on her psychologically; she's barely spoken a few words since we left"
"What else have you learned?"
"When we found the girl we first encountered a rogue priest duo before even finding her, we learned that their job was to silence her"
"So the heretic's were the ones to attack?"
I shook my head
"No... After we dealt with the heretic's and helped the girl, Irina found... evidence suggesting something else entirely"
"And what would that be, exactly?"
"Sulfur" when I said that one word Arndell immediately responded with a look of complete shock and reeled back from his chair
"A demon... Isaac, do you know what that means?" he asked, exasperated
I simply nodded "I am aware of the lash back but I have reason to believe this demon is not connected with the demon council in the underworld" I said making Arndell raise a beady brow
"Explain"
"When I was about to question the last rogue on who had sent them, a sigil appeared on the nape of his neck" before Arndell could reply Claire piped in with her two scents
"Wait... do you remember what it looked like?" she asked, her face appearing on the left side of the screen while Arndell's was on the right
"I do"
"Describe it"
"Alright... its base design was a circle, then it had a Satan star in side and to finish it had various symbols within the stars design" I explained while running through my memory
"What color was it?" asked Claire
"Red"
After that she pulled up a visual screen which carried various demonic symbols within, I even recognized the Gremory family circle within the scrolling tab
"alright, I've brought a few symbols relatable to your description just press on the one that looks like a match and I'll be able to find out what the demons name is" she informed, I nodded before I started my search
A good minute passed before I finally spotted a familiar sigil, pressing it the screen dropped from view so to send Claire my choice, Arndell was looking pale from the anticipation but I had seen Claire expression already. It wasn't good
"Malthus, earl of the underworld" she said simply
"Dear god..." muttered Arndell, Xenovia and Irina exchanged glances at his dropped down tone, I knew they didn't know who exactly he was, I mean they did just get transferred to my division so the demon studying we had gone through was still on the "to do" list if they wished to stay in the division
"Claire, could you give my two apprentices a rundown of Malthus'?" I asked, Claire looked confused before she spotted the two's confusion and answered
"Malthus is an earl of hell; he controlled 26 legions back in the Great War, but near the end he was imprisoned in heaven while his 26 legions were distributed among the remaining houses who agreed to follow the original four's ideals, until today he's been in heavens prison" she explained, Xenovia nodded seriously while Irina dropped her gaze
"Guess that confirms he isn't connected to the demon council" she muttered
"Claire, do you have any idea's what his intentions are?" I asked
"Other than wanting to use Excalibur's blueprint to level a whole continent... destruction I guess" she said simply causing Arndell immediately gasped in complete shock
"What! That thing has the Excalibur blueprint!?" he yelled, he took it much better than I expected, I was guessing a mild stroke would be his response but his tone remained under cringe worthy levels
I nodded while pulling out the golden cylinder container for the swords blueprint
"Yes, when we were investigating I found this along with the sulfur" when he spotted the golden container he reeled back a second time
While Arndell did his "You've-got-to-be-kidding-me" lap I remembered something about Malthus
"Wait, isn't Malthus a demon who incites war?" I asked, Claire's eyes quickly shot up to me
"Now that you mention it, he is. He erects towers and fills then with weapons and ammunition" agreed Claire
"Then that answers his intentions, attacking a cathedral within city limits can anger just about anyone if this became public then add the fact he's taken a valuable item of interest has his war inciting actions quiet close" I listed, I then looked to Arndell seriously "this needs to remain in the shadows, not a single word of this is to release out into the open, if the other fractions hear about this then the hornets' nest is gonna start to rumble"
Arndell nodded, his serious expression returning "consider your operation of the grid father Blackburn, I won't risk bringing any more operatives into the loop in case it catches the other fractions eyes but if you require assistance then I'll reroute a few of the closest agents to your operation"
"Alright, then... Malthus' intentions is the Excalibur fragments meaning the closest one is our next stop" I said, this information was classified even for me so with a simple glance to Arndell and he knew what I was asking for
"The closest Excalibur Fragment is located at the eastern orthodox church" he said causing me to nod
Alright, that'll be our next stop" I said, after seeing both Claire and Arndell nod to me I switched of the communication and proceeded to the cock pit to inform our next destination to the pilot
Hopefully we'll be able to stop this before it grows outta proportion
A/N:
Alright I'm back baby, moved in and ready to write, as well as hit the beach but you know...
Anyways I have a few things I wanna get out so as to not confuse my audience
The path I'm taking for this arc is the holy sword arc prologue which is the events directly before Xenovia and Irina's debut in second season, I explained that I'd be taking this path last A/N but I'd like to explain a few system changes I have made to the DxD universe namely... the Demons
With the anime just focusing on the next style of breast animation I had decided to look past the pornography that is DXD and went and created a more thoroughly explained political system then the vaguely explained one in the anime
Alright so to start off with the explanation
At some point in time in the past Lucifer was cast out along with a few angels by god, Lucifer would start the demon race while the angels Azazel, Kokabiel, and shema-what's-his name starts the fallen angel race and then the great war would commence later on but let's focus more on the demon's for now
Anyways, at the beginning of Lucifer's rebirth into demon hood had caused him to became a... demon, and the next three would follow his birthing that being leviathan, Beelzebub, and Asmodeus then the rest of the 72 pillars would become created as well with each pillar being represented by a demon, for example Malthus, is a demon progenitor of the devil family house of Malthus but due to his imprisonment in heaven his family house was destroyed in the great war while his 26 legions were distributed among the many other devil pillars
now i did say there were a few demons still running around that being the demon council and i'll say it now, they are the "good" guys the quotations are a more sarcastic tone then a foreshadow and the imprisoned demons are bad pussy-tats
also, after the years, the pure blood demons started to degrade down to a lower form of demon that being classified as "devil" leaving the progenitor of the 72 pillars unique in their own family right.
Demons are close to maou in strength key word "close" as in they are no push over, I hope you guys like my new Villain OC, he did take me five seconds to make and if you guys are wondering if the name Malthus is real then check out Wikipedia 72 demons, I know its Wikipedia but-meh, at least I researched myself a name
On a side note I'd like to know if you guys want me to do Issei's story, since Isaac isn't there for the main focus I was still wondering if you guys want me to show the rating game, I feel it would be a good idea since I did alter his power and sacred gear as well as modify his idea's... just a little bit ;)
Speaking of which, I want you guys to know that I have two protagonist's, that being Issei and Isaac I've noticed on many fanfiction stories that a lot of people who create an OC usually neglect the other characters development
I have read a few and I find myself bored when no matter how inspirational the OC may be Issei still happens to be perversion personified, I mean seriously, get Kamina up in here- oh wait he's perverted too... damn, thought I had something there
Whatever, I pride myself in cause and effect, OC's should create reasonable ripples be it physical or non-physical, I did say the Issei's change will happen of the course of events but Isaac will have a form of "inspiration" to help mold issei into a badass
(Small rant)
Normally my hatreds are along the lines of psychotic hatreds but this one is toned down some (no promises there)
When it comes to writing a fanfiction that still revolves around the original canon I tend to re-watch the seasons just so I can refresh my brain on what the part I'm on should go, and I tell ya it's painful
I see you guys enjoy my rants to an extent but after my last rant about high school DxD born I thought to myself "maybe the other seasons have something that distances itself from the third seasons fuck up" turns out my optimistic thought was just a desperate side of myself that wanted to believe DxD wasn't going down the black abyss
After I picked apart third season for all of its ugliness I started to notice the ugly parts with the other seasons as well, they weren't as bad as the third season and at times I even chucked (something's wrong with me) but I still felt a lack of character dynamic's
Forget about the harem bus occupants (Issei's harem) cause they are simply flat as a pancake run over by an ice-cream truck on steroids
I don't even need to point out their stereo types for you guys as they are already blatantly obvious for all to see, notice how in every harem anime there's always that one chick that cock blocks the main protagonists progress? *glances to Asia*
Anyways, before I lose myself and the voices take over again leading to an even bigger rant I just want to mention about Issei's lack of charter progression
Dies- get's up and goes back to school
Finds out he's a devil- ignores it in favor of playing the "uh?" shtick
Innocent girl killed- still remains innocent with no amount of psychological change, no drive to get stronger so it won't happen again and has absolutely no drive to expand his dragon powers so he doesn't get his ass handed to him every time he fights
The only reason issei is still alive in all of the events in the anime is because he has the plot armor every character has, some of mine have it but they still have an emotional altercation at some point if shit goes down but mean while issei still wants to see breast's... lots of breast's and completely ignores the danger he's truly in
What I'm trying to say through all that convoluted ranting is this universe WILL have realism, no innocents here, maybe some so as to keep from going down the serious path but I will continue to make issei change through the events he's going to experience
So heads up issei, shits gonna suck a little
as for the few people making harem requests i have taken a good time to consider, i was thinking about Irina and i actually have added her into the harem as well as Serafall but i want to say this before i start to get flooded with harem members like a open flood gate
i will not just add a girl because it feels like it could work, I've seen in harem anime's that some universes take short cuts in sweeping explanations under the reason rug, irina makes sense causes she an exorcist and will then become an angel, i have considered Serafall because it would not only make for some good comedy but a reasonable plot device for i specified purposes of course
harem list: Rosswiesse, Gabriel, Irina, Serafall
i may except a few more harem members, maybe one more? but anyways, i not gonna add girls in just for the fun of it, i want it to make sense
Anyways R&R
Mean while I'm going to watch shinmai maou no testament... at least Basara can get laid, and the chicks are useful... Peace ;)