Chapter 24
The next day as it was raining heavily, Father Remington received a call from Minister Deckard in New York City. The new headmaster told him about the Magdalene Orders' decision to have Chrono executed as they have now viewed him as a potential threat due to the recent San Francisco attack. The headmaster also told him that it was he who shall carry out the execution. "So, is that an order?" Father Remington asked. "It's the council of Bishops official decision. Of course, the vote for the senior stationed with you was omitted. But above all, efficiency is the highest priority. I'll entrust you to deal with this." The new headmaster said as he commanded the minister to carry out his assigned duty. "Roger!" The minister accepted and put down the phone. He then wiped the fog of the window and looked outside with a deadly serious look on his face. In the meantime, Rosette was in Chrono's hospital room where he was staying in for the time being. The two looked through the window with a disappointed expression as the weather wasn't really helping their mood. "My, this weather sure is depressing, isn't it Chrono?" Rosette sighed. "Yeah, it's almost as if the heavens are crying with how much rain is falling." Chrono remarked. "If only we could get a move on from here. I am really getting worried about Maria." Rosette said in a worried tone. "We can't be too impatient Rosette. You know we can't make our next move until the Order has decided on it." Chrono reminded her. "I know, but Maria is now with Aion again and we all know how vital she is to the Sinners goals. If we don't make our next move soon, then not only would we not be able to see Maria and Azmaria again but humanity itself will be doomed." Rosette said in an urgent tone and stood up from the chair she was sitting on. "After all, I've lost too many people in my life, my parents, my brother Joshua, and now Azmaria and Maria. If I don't keep on pushing myself forward, then I will never be able to accomplish my goals." Rosette said in a deeply emotional tone. She turned around and walked towards the window. "Rosette." Chrono said sympathetically. "I can't give up just yet. I just can't. That's why I'll keep pushing myself till the very end, so there won't be any regrets! But I can't do this alone. I need you with me Chrono, to help make my goals a reality!" Rosette said to him in a soft, gentle voice. Chrono got up from the bed and looked at her. Just then, the rain stopped and the sun came out in full brightness which caused Rosette and Chrono to look towards the window. "It looks like it stopped raining!" Chrono observed. "Yeah, perhaps there is some hope out of this situation after all, isn't there?" Rosette asked in a hopeful tone. "Well, I can see that the two of you are alright!" Father Remington commented as he entered the room. "Hello Father Remington, what a pleasant surprise!" Rosette shyly greeted him. "So, is there something you want to tell us Minister?" Chrono curiously asked. "Yes there is. Since the rain has now stopped, it is time for me to bring you two to the Sinners former hideout place again!" The minister announced. "What? Why do you need to take us there again? Especially considering that the Sinners no longer reside there?" Rosette asked as she made her point. "I'll explain everything to you once we get there, for now, follow me to my car." The minister commanded. They both followed Father Remington to his car even though Rosette was still confused on what the minister's intentions were. "So Father Remington, is this excursion a sign that we are making our next move by any chance?" Rosette asked curiously while the minister was driving his car somewhat fast. "That's partially the case. The other thing is that I have been given permission by the Order to take you two there again." Father Remington explained while he continued driving. "For what reason exactly?" Chrono asked. "Like I said, I'll tell you two once we've reached the house." Father Remington said as he dodged the question. Several minutes later, they had finally reached the Sinners former hideout once again. Father Remington made a short cut which allowed him to drive towards the beach area. Once Father Remington had stopped his car on the edge of the beach, Rosette and Chrono promptly got out of the car and looked towards the house. "Well, here we are again Chrono. The house we have found not so long ago." Rosette commented astoundingly. "Yeah, I can't believe that we are actually here again, especially considering that no one is currently living there." Chrono pointed out. "Now that we are here, can you tell us the reason Minister?!" Rosette asked. "The reason why I brought you two here is because I have been told by Maria after the investigation that there was an underground chamber in that house that leads the Sinners to a floating fortress called Eden. As you should know, that is where they are located at." Father Remington explained to Rosette as he was standing behind her. "However, I cannot take you there." The minister revealed as Rosette turned around and looked at him. "What do you mean you can't take us there?" Rosette asked confused and the minister all of a sudden flicked Rosette's nose which caused her to fall onto the sandy ground. "I am sorry Rosette." Father Remington said monotonously. "Rosette!" Chrono shouted out as he was shocked by what he was seeing. Father Remington swiftly pulled out his laser sword and looked at Chrono with a dead serious, intimidating look. "Fight me! As the one responsible for Magdalene's death!" The minister challenged Chrono in a serious tone. "What do you think you are doing?" Chrono asked demandingly as he didn't know why the minister was acting so hostile all of a sudden. "Chrono, the Council of Bishops has officially ordered for your execution. Also, the Magdalene Order is to consider Chrono the Sinner and all other demons as enemies and therefore must be executed." Father Remington explained to Chrono. "The executioner is me!" The minister revealed to Chrono while looking at him seriously. Chrono gulped as he became somewhat worried about the situation at hand. Rosette overheard the conversation and became terrified as she couldn't believe that the minister was ordered to kill Chrono. "So let's settle this dispute, from fifty four years ago!" Father Remington said while he then threw a sword to Chrono and pointed out his laser sword towards him.
The two started combating each other with the minister striking first towards Chrono. However, Chrono managed to shield himself from the minister's sword by moving his sword against the laser one and striking Father Remington's sword away from himself. The minister would charge at him again while Chrono kept defending himself. "This can't be happening. To see those two fighting." Rosette said to herself in shock as she could not imagine that they were fighting each other. She slowly got herself up from the sandy ground since her legs hurt a little from the abrupt fall. Once she got up, Rosette ran between the two as fast as she could in order to stop the fighting. "Please, stop!" Rosette yelled out. Chrono and Father Remington stopped fighting and casted their swords aside so as not to accidentally smite Rosette. The minister was deeply surprised that Rosette would dare to intervene in their fight. "Rosette?" Chrono said her name out of surprise as he too didn't expect her to intervene. "What happened to your reason for not killing Chrono? There is no meaning in this!" Rosette shouted out emotionally as she was guarding Chrono who had a small bloody cut on his face that was caused by their combat. "To erase the things that are dangerous. That is the true motive of the higher ranks." The minister explained and walked towards Rosette. "In that, there is meaning. From that, you can shape meaning." Father Remington told her seriously and he then abruptly slapped her in the face violently which then caused Rosette to fall onto the ground once again. "Behave, that is an order. Remember who brought you this far. If I told you to stop searching for your brother, would you simply give up?" Father Remington angrily demanded while looking at her crossly as she was rubbing her slapped cheek. "When there is faith in an action, it cannot be easily stopped." The minister pointed out and resumed his fight with Chrono while he ran towards the demon with his sword. "Father Remington!" Rosette shouted out, but the minister did not pay attention to her. Chrono then swiftly charged his sword towards Father Remington. "You dare strike Rosette like that, even though she trusted you?" Chrono said to the minister angrily. "Why don't you worry about yourself? Aion's swordsmanship is better after all, isn't it?" Father Remington asked Chrono in an aggravated tone. He then pushed Chrono away with his sword which then caused him to fall into the water. A huge splash was made as the minister walked towards Chrono. "Demons have great confidence in their own power. They can heal their wounds in an instant. With one sweep of their arm they can turn a human into a pool of blood." Father Remington explained to Chrono while he was still sitting in the water. "But those rough movements. Demons are all instinct, like a charging bull in a bull fight. But if you fight with a tranquil heart, there is no opponent you cannot defeat." Father Remington continued explaining to him. Chrono started to get himself up from the water and looked at the minister with a mildly angry look as he was panting. "What if I released the seal on that pocket watch? Perhaps that would even out our fight. Someone would probably die, but at least there will be some results." The minister mockingly asked as he looked at Chrono with a sly and somewhat deranged expression on his face. Chrono started to become somewhat scared as he had a feeling that the minister had lost his mind. "Don't mock me!" Chrono said in a cross voice and began to charge towards the minister with his sword. However, the minister managed to block his attack with his laser sword every time Chrono charged at him. Just then, Father Remington all of a sudden positioned his sword from behind his back and attacked Chrono at once. Chrono however was able to dodge his attack by jumping away from the minister's laser sword. Once Chrono had successfully landed on the ground, the two then continued on with their combat while Rosette was watching the two fighting each other intensely. Rosette had a somewhat sad and shocked look on her face as she could not believe that she would see the two of them fighting as if they were bitter enemies. As much as Rosette tried to make sense out of this whole situation, she just simply couldn't. She always looked up to the minister as a kind mentor and a father like figure to her. Rosette began to think back at the times when she remembered the minister as she truly thought of him to be. "Nice to meet you! You must be Joshua's older sister?" The minister said to her at the time when he first met Rosette while he was having a conversation with Ms. Jean. "Will you come with me? I'll teach you how to fight!" Father Remington promised her on the night when he came to the orphanage after Rosette formed a contract with Chrono. "Minister Remington, you've always supported us. For you to become an enemy is just unimaginable!" Rosette thought to herself while she was thinking of all the times when the minister was dotting her by patting her on the head or by training her to become an exorcist. "What should I do?" Rosette asked herself as she began to feel lost with the situation at hand. Just then, Rosette looked at her pocket watch and started thinking about her brother Joshua, Azmaria, Satella and Maria. "You are saying 'let's stop giving up,' aren't you?" Those are the words that Rosette imagined Azmaria asking her. "An action compelled by faith cannot easily be stopped." Rosette remembered Minister Remington saying those words to her. By remembering those words, Rosette then stood herself up from the ground and looked at the combat with slight irritation. "That's right, I am, no, we are not giving up!" Rosette said with determination and she walked to the car, grabbed the minister's gun and ran back. Rosette positioned the gun carefully with the intention of missing her aim. In the meantime, the two got out of the water and continued their fight on the shore. "It's useless, you can't win. Don't you understand that you will die every time?" Father Remington asked while Chrono looked at him with an angry look as he was kneeling down on the ground on one foot and panting. The minister then lifted his laser sword high up and charged it towards Chrono. However, just as he was about to strike him, Father Remington quickly noticed a Gospel bullet aiming towards them which allowed him to get away from the shot without being hit. Such a bullet took both the minister and Chrono by surprise since none of them were expecting someone to pull the trigger while they were fighting. Father Remington turned his head around and saw that it was Rosette who fired a bullet towards them. "Who are you aiming at?" The minister asked in a harsh tone while looking at Rosette with a seriously intimidating look on his face. Rosette was still holding the gun and aiming it forward while looking at the minister with a defiant, determined expression. "I missed on purpose. The next time, I will hit." Rosette slowly said while both Father Remington and Chrono looked at her with a surprised expression on their faces as they didn't expect her to intervene in their fight by pulling the trigger. "I'm serious. You told me this when I was your apprentice. 'If you just pull the trigger whenever there is trouble, you can't solve anything. However, there are also times where if you don't fight, you cannot take another step forward. When that time comes, we won't lose our way.' For example, even if it is you." Rosette told the minister as she reminded him on what he told her while she was his apprentice. Before she could continue explaining, Chrono interrupted Rosette by saying "Rosette, put the gun down!" Rosette lowered the gun and looked at Chrono with deep surprise as she was amazed that he was so extremely calm in such a situation. "It looks like I've lost sight of it all, again." Chrono thought to himself while thinking of the time when he went berserk to the point that he forcefully unleashed Rosette's seal watch and transformed into his demon form at the carnival. Chrono then positioned his sword as he was preparing himself to continue battling with Father Remington. "It's alright already, so let's go!" Chrono said as he was challenging the minister to continue their duel. Father Remington looked at Chrono and just as he began to grin, he then thought to himself "That's right. That verdict, you must overcome it." Father Remington then positioned his sword towards his shoulder and began to run towards Chrono. Chrono also began to run towards the minister as it was a sign that their fight had continued. Once the minster had ran beside Chrono, he then aimed his sword towards his braided hair before the demon could have a chance to strike him. Just then, Chrono's braid fell off, much to his surprise. He didn't anticipate that the minister would actually aim for his braid instead of just outright smiting him with his laser sword. Father Remington's body all of a sudden became intensely sore from the fighting and he kneeled down onto the ground and grunted heavily as the pain was overwhelming him. "Father Remington!" Rosette shouted out towards the minister as she noticed that he was dealing with intense pain.
Once the minister's pain had passed, he lifted himself up from the ground and began to think heavily to himself while Chrono looked at him from behind with a relieved look. "That was wonderful, because I've received an important clue in controlling your own violent emotions. That is the very thing I must overcome." Father Remington said to himself while Chrono walked towards Rosette as she looked at his injuries. Father Remington turned around and walked towards Chrono's cut off braid and picked it up. "I delivered the verdict. 'Mission completed! Chrono the Sinner fought Minister Ewan Remington and thereafter died.' There is nothing that binds you anymore. You are free!" Father Remington announced as he was holding the cut off braid. Rosette stood behind him as she listened to what he just said which took her by surprise. "Go! Somebody with no ties to anything should go settle things." The minister told Rosette and Chrono as they looked at him both surprised and confused with what he told them. "Minister, you don't mean…" Rosette said just when the minister interrupted her. "In order to carry out the verdict against us, in order for Chrono to escape the Magdalene Order's attention, he has to part ways!" The minister revealed which deeply shocked Rosette. "There is a new model weapon in the trunk. It should definitely do the job!" Father Remington informed Rosette. "Minister!" Rosette shouted out as she could not believe what she heard and tears began to flow down from her eyes. "We both have different fights waiting for us. If possible, I hope that will become your support." The minister told her while the two were still standing behind him. "Go now, don't look back. Look ahead!" Father Remington told Rosette as he noticed that the two were still behind him. Just hearing the minister saying those words made Rosette's tears intensify even more. She never would have thought that she and Chrono would have to part ways from the Order and away from Father Remington. Chrono and Rosette walked towards the car where Chrono picked up the weapon backpack and put it on his shoulders while Rosette grabbed a Militia jacket and put it on. They then walked their way from the car and towards the house as there was no turning back now from their future battle at hand. "Yes Father Remington, understood!" Rosette responded quietly in a sad tone as she was wiping her tears with her hand. Once Rosette and Chrono had left the beach area to the house, Father Remington sat down onto the ground beside his car to relax for a bit. Just then, Elder Hamilton showed up and walked towards the minister. "So, they've already left, haven't they?" The Elder asked as he didn't see the two with the minister. "Yes, that is correct." The minister confirmed. "Are you content with that?" The Elder asked. "I don't know. Perhaps Magdalene was hoping for this." Father Remington said to the Elder and looked up towards the sky. "Please protect those two, Azmaria and Maria as well, Magdalene!" Father Remington desperately pleaded to her spirit as he was looking towards the house. Meanwhile, Rosette and Chrono climbed their way up the stairs that led them to the house from the back side. Just before they walked into the house, Rosette spotted a corked gun on the floor deck and picked it up. Rosette gently lifted the trigger pull so as to prevent the gun from firing accidentally. She then followed Chrono into the house, to the living room and saw that the house was all empty, just like it was last time. "So, not only are the Sinners no longer here, even the house is unfurnished." Rosette commented. "Yeah, there really is nothing here." Chrono stated as they saw thin wooden planks covering all of the room openings and the windows. "That's strange, there should be something left around here." Rosette said out of confusion. "If there isn't anything to be found here, then we might as well end up on the streets." Chrono stated in a humorously hopeless tone. Just then, Chrono found a jewel on the floor and picked it up. "Chrono, did you find something?" Rosette asked while she saw Chrono picking up the jewel from the ground. "Well, well, it looks like someone had beaten us to this house already I can see!" Chrono said astounded as he could tell just from the jewel that somebody had already been in the house just before them. Rosette walked towards Chrono to get a closer look at the jewel. "Oh my God, it's one of Satella's jewels!" Rosette exclaimed as there was only one person that she knew who had possessed those things. Suddenly, the jewel began to shine immensely across the room which took both of them by surprise as they didn't expect it. The jewel shined so brightly that both Rosette and Chrono felt compelled to close their eyes as for their eyes to not get damaged. A few moments after the bright shine on the jewel had completely wavered down a voice was then speaking to them from it. "You two are so slow! You just came, didn't you?" Satella asked as she was surprised that it took them so long to arrive back at the house. "Satella?!" Rosette said her name out of deep surprise. "No, this is just an image recorded in this gemstone!" Chrono informed her as they were both seeing Satella's image on the jewel. "I thought you would find it, so I left this juwel right here!" Satella revealed. "I see, she sure is unpredictable, but in a good kind of way!" Rosette said in relief. "Yeah, she has a good heart, doesn't she?" Chrono fondly remarked. "Alright, go ahead! To the transportation gate located underground! Go, the Magdalene Order's investigation is no good." Satella informed the two as they then walked their way towards the open underground room and pulled out the wooden planks strapped on the opening. Once they did that, Rosette and Chrono began to walk down the stairs that will lead them to the transportation gate. "When you reach the transportation gate, you will find that it is disguised with demon cells. This means that you cannot see it." Satella further explained to them as they were walking down the stairs towards the underground gate. By the time they reached to what appears to be the gate, Chrono touched one of the demon cells and once he did that, he stretched out his hand and touched a huge amount of disguised demon cells which then caused the gate door to be cleared. Once all the demon cells disappeared, Chrono opened the gate. "I'm waiting one step ahead of you. See you later!" Satella said as she wished them both, good luck on the mission ahead. Chrono and Rosette looked towards the transportation gate which was in the shape of a round circle. "Well, I guess once we go forward, there is no turning back! Is there Chrono?" Rosette said to Chrono with great certainty. "No, I guess not!" Chrono answered. "Alright now, let's go! To Eden!" Rosette announced with great determination as she took Chrono's hand. The two then ran towards the transportation gate and once they had reached it, both of their bodies were then teleported straight to Eden.