"FINALLY!" Lucifer unceremoniously flopped atop the roof of some office building as Crestia closed the gate behind her. Various cuts litter the rooftop around them with signs of explosions and a battle, but no traces of bullets or bombs.
"And yet, we've gotten nothing from them… again." Crestia's sigh echoed her motions as her weapon shrunk back to a hair pin and safely put away. They were getting the same bits of information, nothing new and nothing to subtract from what they already know. All they did get was confirmation they were dealing with people who somehow learned of Alas Ramus' existence. Crestia was sure that the secret would be kept as such, but wasn't so sure now.
"Well, on the bright side." Lucifer propped himself to sit up with his arms supporting his leaning back.
"We managed to deal with another group." Crestia couldn't argue with that logic but stared back into the jungle of gray, white and black. Colours that were a far cry from the usual variety back on Ente Isla and yet awfully familiar.
"Yes, but out of how many?" The question made Lucifer drop the smile and darkly wonder about the possibility.
"C'mon, let's talk more back home. Ashiya should be finishing up by now." Crestia didn't fault the fallen angel's logic as he took off high above the sky before diving into a nearby alleyway. Crestia closed her eyes as she let the emotions take their course before focusing herself. Despite doing something similar to all those years ago, this time… this time it was different.
In one step, she flew into the air and disappeared into the concrete jungle that was Tokyo City.
When Suzano arrived back at the Devil's Castle, she witnessed, and participated, in a sight she'd never thought she'd see.
That sight being a defeated Ashiya and an unconcerned Urushihara… doing chores. On his own volition.
What?
"Lucifer, what exactly did you do to good Ashiya? And why exactly are you…" Suzano was at a loss of words as she saw Lucifer cleaning dishes for the first time in her life, literally and metaphorically.
"Oh, Ashiya saw me washing the dishes and-"
"I'M USELESS, USELESS! I'VE BEEN REPLACED BY LUCIFER FOR HOUSLEY DUTIES! MY LIEGE PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"
"-started doing that."
Suzano, being rankly done with the matter, took off her footwear and approached the emotionally damaged Ashiya.
Lucifer only turned around when he heard a distinctive slap followed by the violent shaking of the ground. He turned around to witness the inquisitor violently shaking the demon lord's second-in-command into the group. Each push thumping the ground with a notably rumble with the former demon's limbs flailing around like a lifeless doll.
"WE HAVE BIGGER THINGS TO WORRY ABOUT! ALAS RAMUS MAYBE IN DANGER!"
That 1 name and 3 words made the demon lord of the East pop out of his stupor.
"HUH?!"
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT SPECIFICS! I'M ON YOUR SIDE ABOUT THIS!"
"And so here we are." Suzano calmly explained with a cup of tea in her hand. Across the table, Ashiya looked like he was just shoved into a tumbler made of bamboo but was calm and held his own respective cup of tea.
"I see… Urushihara, as the new caretaker of the Devil's Castle, I will trust your judgement on this as I learn about this new fangled… computer." Ashiya eyed the laptop wearingly and with great suspicion as Urushihara gave the greatest face of anger and confusion. Clearly someone didn't want to give up their position as the NEET of the household.
"Wait a minute, I'd much rather like to be sitting down and…"
Suzano sighed as the argument reignited again.
After much deliberation, things were finally calm enough.
"Now, may we finally begin the original purpose of our congregation here?" Both Urushihara and Ashiya nodded along. After much back and forth, Urushihara, with no hesitancy, relented his position as the 'caretaker' of the devil's castle. Suzano wasn't sure how to describe Ashiya's joy since it was the first time she'd seen the general of the East in such a state but it was pleasant to see.
"Yes, how much has this… reclusive scoundrel…explained to you about the recent incursions from Ente Isla?"
Suzano briefly explained what she knew so far. The people involved, their outspoken purpose and their encounters.
"I see… well, that should bring you in-line with what we already know." Ashiya took a small drink of his tea before settling it down.
"On that note, the options for getting information have been fairly limited due to… notable circumstances…" Ashiya and Urushihara both flinched at the implication and reminder. All of them were comfortable with the idea of torturing the enemy for information but, after much learning about the new world, they realised the technique's flaws and have since grown a notable aversion to the idea. Suzano, having recently moved to Tokyo, was still numb to the idea of tortuous interrogation but she has been growing resentful of it.
"So we'll infer with what we already know."
The rest of them nodded along with Urushihara grabbing out a map of the Tokyo area that are given to tourists visiting Japan. On the map were circles of marker ink, indicating encounters from Ente Isla related to the 'fanatics,' a term that has been growing on them. Beside the map was a list of individual names and some of the associated police reports they managed to get.
"There isn't much to go off of from the map. Most of these locations are the usual hotspots for where the gate can open. They're far too random to be coordinated." Suzano's scan of the map agreed with Urushihara. Simply put, the gate openings were far and wide. They were concentrated around the centre of Tokyo but that was too likely to be coincidence.
There must be something they can glean.
"The interactions have not proven fruitful either. Understandable given the information but that still leaves with the question of how did they know." Ashiya pointed to a list detailing his interactions with the fanatics during the few times he was able to. Suzano looked at the notes closely and could tell Ashiya was detailing as much as he could, down to the letter.
"May I see that list with the names?"
Urushihara handed the former inquisitor the list of names. She grabbed the notebook and looked over the growing list of names.
The list itself is already over 40 names long with a note at the bottom stating these were what could be collected. If Suzano had to guess, it was likely they were dealing with at least a hundred or so people. On the laptop was a news clipping detailing the increasing cases of "mad cultists" in Tokyo and the increasing police response.
Suzano looked over the reports and noticed something… specific.
Grabbing the other police reports, she looked over the interactions and noted the exact same thing. They all came armed but at the bare minimum, a notable minimum.
"Did you notice something?" Urshihara's question made Suzano nod in confirmation.
"Someone has been funding these people in some way. It's minimal, new daggers and other such weapons, but it indicates someone is giving explicit but deniable support." Suzano looked up to see Ashiya deep in thought with Urushihara typing away on the laptop, his eyes scanning the bright screen rapidly from left to right. It seemed the fallen angel had begun another crusade on his laptop as Ashiya pondered the information.
"So you're saying the church may be behind this?" Lucifer turns the laptop around to show what photos he could find of the weapons. Confirming Suzano's observations of the weapons being almost entirely new.
"It's the most obvious possibility, but not the only one." Ashiya's words spoke with experience as he opened his eyes and looked back at the reports.
"But that still leaves the matter regarding how they know about Alas Ramus and why they chose to believe whoever told them." Suzano's point made them think a little harder. It would be easy to blame it on the church, but Suzano knew none of the church's agents could actively spy on them, especially with Emeralda's help.
"My best guess would be some angel we don't know about. Do you all remember Sariel? They probably have someone else doing the same. This time just keeping an eye on us," As much as Suzano didn't like it, Urushihara's words spoke of a dangerous possibility. They were keeping check of the angels they did know such as Sariel and Gabriel. However, the possibility of an angel that they didn't know introduced an unknown that was far harder to predict and therefore, a potential trap waiting to trigger.
"What has been the state of Ente Isla?" Ashiya's question made the inquisitor sit back in recollection.
"Last I heard from Emi and what I could remember, the church has been grasping at straws as of late. People have lost faith after the reveal of Emi's survival." Suzano's explanation lined up with Ashiya's understanding who nodded along.
"Well, they got a big straw this time. Still, outside of the fanatics, not many people would believe them, which explains who's been coming through." Urushihara's observation and logic was sound, Suzano had to agree.
"It would explain why those from the East Continent have yet to appear. The church's influence there was insignificant to begin with." Again, Suzano had to agree with Ashiya's assessment.
"Well, this is the only stuff we can remember. We don't have much up-to-date."
Suzano raised her arm at the mention.
"I believe I may be able to contact Emi's friend, Emeralda, regarding these matters. I'll speak to good-Emi as well about the recent events but I'll avoid worrying about her. She does deserve to know."
"In that case, I'll also do the same with my liege. We'll need to make sure they're taking care of Alas Ramus first and foremost. We don't want them compromising on her care." Suzano and Urushihara nodded in agreement with the fallen angel turning around. Said fallen angel began opening a few programs on the laptop.
"In that case, I'll keep track of things here. I have access to the tech so I'll be more useful here." Suzano watched as Ashiya smiled rather menacingly.
"Oh? Did you forget your other duties for today?" Urushihara turned around with a weak smile back at the darkly smiling general of the East.
"Um, would you actually believe me if I said no?"
Suzano decided this was her moment to leave before the ensemble of yells began. Yells she couldn't really escape.
A/N: Wow, finished the first draft after flunking my driving test? I should do it more often! But in all seriousness, this chapter took a lot longer to write simply because life got in the way along with a bunch of other things. Notably university, finishing my internship ); , writing an original story that most will never find and the aforementioned driving test that I just flunked on due to nervousness.
Anyways, don't expect the next chapter to come any time soon. School year is starting. I'm gonna be busy with a lot of stuff, especially since I need to plan out the future chapters. Yes, there's an outline.
As per usual, feel free to leave a review, it always helps to know where I could improve and I'll see y'all later.
PS: Tried a double-double for the first time, feelings were… mixed, to say the least.