Commander Emilia has called for a meeting the first one in a very long time. The hunters reunited on the top of the tower of the labyrinth. They were on a long metal table all of the captains present, Abram, Collins, Aurora, and Cao with the commander at the end of the table, their meeting was in the throne room now although she never sat on it, the throne was always vacant. Aurora stood up and went to the side of the table where a chalkboard was placed with multiple pictures and articles.
''Congratulations on a well-done job, things didn't go perfectly but this incident was placed on an assassin in the city rather than us, and for the time being, no one suspects our involvement, good job to you Mr. Abrahm. Mr.Collins.'' Emilia told them, Abram nodded with his cap, and Rush just ignored her being thanked by the commander didn't make him happy. Aurora waited for things to calm down at the side of the chalkboard.
''Alright listen up, things are going smoothly but we still have a lot of work ahead, Mr. Cao has come up with some possible targets and we will be requesting the aid of the information agency before making a move for now, you two will stay put as well, is risky to send the same agents too often it may lead to patterns appearing to the authorities.'' Aurora pointed at some of the pictures on the chalkboard, one of them was of a young-looking man with a brown fedora. ''You sure those Louise people aren't just going to sell us out, that still feels like the biggest risk in all this?'' Rush asked her. And she just shrugged.
''Hehe they sure could, but that will make them our first targets and with them being such a small group in the city I'll be a big risk for them, Im sure they can guess that far. They are not known for making enemies if they can help it, except for Amara that lady just really likes to fight it out with Aurora for every nonsense, but that is also Aurora's fault, they must like each other..'' Aurora slapped herself. It was clearly Amii in control and she spoke something that annoyed her.
''Don't interrupt the meeting Amii.'' She said to demon inside her and then moved to the side of the board pointing at a photo of the very Mr.Louise it seemed to be a photo of a portrait rather than the same one on the newspaper agency. ''Beelzebub is a demon famous for being a farm of thralls with that, he has no need to leave his hideout to be dangerous. Then there is Directo Vic he has the demon Baphomet a flying monstrosity that can control fire and of course, there is Amara.'' She finally pointed at the chief of security of the newspaper agency.
''This annoying woman has the demon Pazuzu, a demon that calls forth a powerful sandstorm a real force of nature. These are the only three demons they have, a small number all things considered, even though we have more than them, these are still very powerful demons if we get into a fight with any of them the casualties will be devastating and the rest of our operations on this city will become extremely hard with no good source of information to rely on, so my recommendation is to trust them because we have to, not because we want to.''
''Well said Ms.Aurora, we have the intention to continue our recruiting, but training people takes time, a lot of it, we can't afford a massive confrontation, all in due time. For now, we are only going to go after individual demons that are under no one's protection and keep our profile small. Anyone else has something to add or can I go and take a nap?''Emilia spoke more than ready to close up the meeting.
''If I may,'' Cao asked her and she nodded letting him stand up.
''Now then I need to remind you all that our tactics must change from this point onwards, we are in the city, therefore, going with a full army can bring the attention of the police as well, as the attention of the families, we have to be a lot more conscious of being watched than we have been thus far, we must also account for civilians it is likely a lot of our assassinations will take place in a public setting, we need to decide what course of action we will do in such situations.''
''Even the families know that the more blood the more trouble spills, so evade any civilian fire that said I leave this to the judgment of each captain, if it was necessary I will not do any sort of punishment for the death of civilians, we are here to hunt not to protect people, the same goes for any surrendering enemy we can't take any prisoners so either leave them or finishing them off.'' The commander spoke and everyone remained silent except to her words except for Rush who visibly groaned in disapproval.
''If that is all this meeting is completed, you all may leave now.''
***
''Álright I don't like her tone, but I guess I get it, basically, as long as the job gets done she won't annoy us, well I for my part won't be hurting anyone if I can help it, screw this, bottoms-up.'' Rush Collins took a long drink of his beer, and the four captains were reunited again but this time in the mess hall due to Aurora's insistence that they needed to relax on their day off. Abram was playing with his knife as he took a slice of bread, he was a bit fiddle in a social situation like this.
''I rather just kill the target, nothing good comes from hurting innocent people, none of you are paying me for that,'' Abram spoke and he was given another friendly pat on the back that was way too strong from his friend Rush.
''You said it and what about you two? I hope you guys won't just take advantage, you two are pros right?''Rush had waited way too long to speak out honestlyynow that the commander wasn't there anymore.
''Correct, we are professionals Mr.Rush pulling complicated operations is something Mr. Cao and I are more than used to, but I'm not going to go out of my way to protect civilians,'' Aurora replied barely recovering control of her body before Amii started to stuff herself with the potato salad.
''Indeed, we intend to carry our jobs in the most efficient manner whatever that may be, but of course, going in gun blazing on the middle of the street will be terrible and moronic, corpses bring forth attention and that is something we need to evade, but situations are not always ideal, and plans are never infatable,''Cao spoke with tranquility as he slowly cut the meat on his plate
''You two are so damn cold about everything Is not killing people because it's terrible just enough for you guys seriously?''Rush was raising his voice and Abram poked him on the arm. ''Rush you know they are assassins that kind of went out the window when we started working here.''Abram interrupted him and filled his glass again before Rush continued.
''Hey we are only going after demons, at least we have to try to be humane when we can is not that hard.''He sulked as he took more of his beer.
''Well, the truth is that I trained for years to be this kind of person, as a member of the anti-devil corps I was expected to carry out my duties with military efficiency when on a mission the objective comes first, we are not heroes or anything like that, but our job is still important and we are the only ones that can see it thought. Still, the corps prefer a clean job and so do I.'' Aurora spoke calmly before starting to giggle.
''Humans care so much for people that have not even names to them, I wonder how genuine it is almost as if caring was just about looking good.'' Amii finished her lines talking over before reaching to take some meat from Cao's plate with hers being empty. With a fast and precise movement, Cao moved his fork and deflected hers throwing it off her hand, he never bothered to even look at her once.
''I have been an assassin since birth in a sense, my family reached me from a very young age to take a life, they wanted me to exist for that reason alone, sadly I was not the right fit, for my desires have always been in learning other things even if father considered my interest to be mere distractions, that said he did teach me that true assassin already fails if they kill a target for free and I do intend to follow such words even if at this point I'm already a disappointment to my parents.''
''Geez, you guys had it tough too, guess city folks have their problems, but still, I don't think Im wrong in thinking this way, some stuff is just right or is not.''
''I think, even if what we are doing is wrong we still have to do it anyway.'' Abrams's cold word seemed to calm down Rush who looked at his half-empty glass.
''...I guess so...I'm not going to pretend Im a great person or anything, I sure have left my rage to get the best of me plenty, but we still have to try damn it.''Rush crashed his beer on the table.
''I think even if we have to be murderers to do it, this world is better off without any demons, I never wanted to kill Nikolas, I don't think it was the right thing to do, and I never will but what else I could even do. Could any of you have done something better? Maybe I'm just not smart enough.'' Collins stopped drinking looking concerned at his friend, his expression tired and pale as always.
''You did what was necessary, No one who summoned Seir would have lived long, truth be told he was a dead man since the moment he made that pact, at least this way you protected others from harm,'' Cao told him while pointing his fork at the possessed Aurora to keep her at a distance. Aurora's smile disappeared as she looked back at Abram with a serious expression as he continued. ''If demons exist he would never have been tempted, that is why I'm sure if they cease to exist tragedies like that one will not be repeated.''
''Naive.'' Aurora stopped Abrams with a cutting remark staring him down with her eye glowing red eye, he looked back at her quiterly.
''Even without demons, he may have sold his soul for power, all the same, I think you are trying to put all the blame on a demon that wasn't even born on this world, yet you are also putting too much of a blame on yourself. Mr.Nicholas was his own man, he made his own choices.'' Aurora's tone was quite cold, there was no trace of Amii in her voice.
''Really, you think the demons make no difference why are you even hunting them then Aurora? Honestly, I've been wondering about that it looks to me that the two of you are here by choice, but why is that?'' Abram looked back straight at her eyes something he rarely did. Aurora laughed. ''I want to kill the people who believe themselves above any justice, the fact that they have demons doesn't matter to me, listen the people I hate are those who summon demons not the demons themselves, Im quite sure humans will always be crueler than any demons and the only way I can carry out the assassinations I want to commit is here as a demon hunter.'' As she finished she suddenly smiled.
''Aw Aurora I knew you loved me, not all of us demons are mean you know?''Amii possessed her again, as she hugged herself, no one in the mess hall pay her any mind they were more than used to her usual quirks.
''So basically you just have a hit list and all this is just a means to an end, geez you people sure are scary,''Rush spoke still quite sober even if all that he had drunk, demon summoners rarely go drunk so Abram had no idea why he always kept drinking. ''Hehe, I don't know I think is the same for you, Mr.Collins, you just don't know who you want to kill yet.''
''I suppose so, all that matters to me is my town, so I will stick you guys till I know who has been feeding on our lives for so long, I don't care about the city at all or even demons, but I know we are enemies of the city of Argia so I must go there if I want to change anything at all.'' Rush took another gulp of his drink, he was looking quite unsure at that moment.
''Such complicated beliefs, I became a demon hunter because I thought it was the only way to know the truth about demons, rather than wonder how to survive I want to know why such things came to exist on Argia, why this city exists at all? that is my concern and I intend to follow this path till I find an answer, someone on the city knows and my hunt will continue till I find this person, the ethics murder don't concern me at all, you can blame that on my upbringing if you wish.'' Cao spoke gently as he continued cutting his food clearly in no rush at all
''Now that sounds more than impossible than anything else, good luck with that.''Collins couldn't help but laugh, he didn't seem that impressed with his grand answer. ''I suppose, for now, I only wish to eradicate as many demons as I can if it is my lot in life I will do it properly, I have already decided so...even if is naive I don't want any more lives to be ruined by demons. That is all.'' Abram spoke as he stared at his reflection on his knife.
''It seems we all have little common ground, nonetheless, we are companions so as long as we can trust each other and fight for our common goals, im sure we all may just get what we are wishing for, someday.''Aurora raised her glass.
''Fine, I can make a toast for that as long you guys protect the center you will all be my comrades.''Rush raised his beer as well.
''Comrades, I suppose is not a bad feeling to have them.'' Abram raised his glass of water as well.
''Oh dear, well I understand perfectly how important a good relationship between coworkers is, fine I will toast but for what? If I may ask Aurora?'' Aurora smiled back at Cao as he raised his cup of coffee. ''What else? For a great hunt ahead and that we all make it back home at the end.'' It was sudden but the four of them made a toast for their uncertain future and for that which all of them wished to achieve, for all of them to reunite again.