Chapter theme: Who will know? Tragedy. https://youtu.be/2nYzbHsuAU8
SDT: SUBTERRANEAN DEMON TRIBE, often used to describe sentient and non-aggressive demons.
USF: UNITED SUBTERRANEAN FRONT, the recognized sovereign citizens of the Ebott. Valley demon association.
NNH: New New Home, the town's name. The only city located in the USF.
Central: Central Government, central city, main human settlement where the Grand Senate is instated.
WG: World Government, The coalition of governments, cities and island states, headed the Grand Senate.
WM: World Military, the standing widespread military for the entire world bar a few states and countries.
OTS: Order Of The Sword, a religious faction mainly situated in the city of fortuna, radical Sparda worshippers.
Disclaimer: Certain aspects of this story are based on a loosely fictional and exaggerated version of reality, of what is possible, of what could be, to understand this is to understand that there is no agenda... Make your own conclusions, what you think is right. This is an Ode to humanity.
I own nothing.
Sin Trigger
Lightning crackled through the sky, it was a terrible storm flushing over the island of Fortuna tonight. The winds blistered throughout the forest and rustled the leaves in just a way to whistle. But on this night, the storm wasn't the only raging force of nature.
A demon was amok.
He tore through tree after tree, violently crashing through the forestry in a mad dash through the ancient woods- repeatedly checking behind him for any pursuers, he pushed himself further and further with his enhanced rage and power. He needed to kill. He needed to MAIM! It was burning beneath his skin like an INFERNO FLAME, a voice no, a call!
His flesh melted away to reveal jagged spikes and burning red eyes, steam coiling around his body like a boiling flame. Burning light etches against the clouds above, lighting the night in flame as he leaps between branches and bursts through stone. Desperately clawing away at anything standing ahead, in the way!
His infernal gaze widens as the trail ends, soles skidding to a stop just before the drop... Coming to stop over an edge seeing the waves crash all around, mist crashing against his burning skin and evaporating on contact.
A bolt crashed through the sky and striked down a tree in a flurry of sparks, beholding the motion of a being far greater.
The infernal being witnessing knew no mirth, he only turns with hatred coiled like a snake, orange pure blazing from his eyes as he witnesses his end, encapsulated by the silhouette before him, light by lightning.
The being ahead of him is low to the ground, shadowed by the night, burning green eyes filled with blood and storming hellfire.
The demon espouts pure hatred. "Rah rah... HRAGGHHH!" His skin boiling and breaking apart as bones and ligaments snap and mutate, extending and thickening into a being not quite human. Steam coalesces into a rune of flame; the demon burns into an infernal inferno, vaporizing the rain before it touches his deformities.
The figure with green eyes decides then to stand to his full height, lightning flashing to reveal the golden feathers of a single wing, draped in snow white scales and wielding a hammer glimmering gold. The angel stands upright as a man, while his opponent is huddled low to the ground as a beast...
The angel knows not to underestimate a demon, yet the demon would not offer him the same courtesy, mindlessly clawing at the ground in an attempt to intimidate, to mark his territory.
"Kill it."
The angel growls softly, staring down the demon with anticipation lacing his every move. Holding tightly onto the larger than life hammer, preparing to strike at any moment.
A buzzing noise growled from a collar around his neck, "B-ANGELO, you have been instructed to use lethal force, do so quickly and return to headquarters." A low demonic rumbling emanated from B-ANGELO, his feathers bristling and green eyes rolling; he shook his head before tightening his stance.
The demon had finally realized that he wasn't going to back off, teetering close to the edge... A cornered animal on the verge of the edge, there was only one option.
"Kill him."
Fight.
B-ANGELO's eyes narrowed as the demon tensed and lurched forward, firing into motion as the ground below fell away at each step, his flames licking the ground as he went, burning the surrounding foliage to cinders while B-ANGELO watched in trepidation. The gold of his hammer's hilt creaking beneath his grip, the angel pressed forward and shut his eyes as the demon homed in, raising his weapon to the sky like the smiting arm of God.
CRASH
The demon's spines shattered as the hammer crushed it to the ground, sending spiderweb cracks snaking through the cliffside and creating a small crater at the center of it all. The infernal's flames flickered and sputtered out as blood ascended through the air, drenching B-ANGELO in red...
"Again, kill it again."
The angel breathed heavily, gripping the hammer tightly before bringing it up to rest on his shoulder. The demon was still moving, trying to regenerate from the blow dealt to it.
"You can't trust him."
"Well done."
"B-ANGELO, exterminate the escapee now." Came the simple request, the monotone voice causing B-ANGELO to growl... Shaking the blood off, the feathered warrior levies a contemplative gaze towards the crumpled demon so weak and down trot.
He released a low demonic rumble, raising his hammer to the sky once again, "Now, do it now dammit!" The voice coming from the collar says.
"You idiot."
He hesitates for a second, staring at the defeated demon with a small itch at his neck. The angel sighs a rumbling sigh, slamming the hammer down in an arcing motion as lightning rumbles through the sky.
...
"Ah dammit , the subject has failed again- Call him back? Alright." The voice sighed.
B-ANGELO dropped the hammer to the ground, sitting back and sighing as the demon continued to groan and convulse in pain. Its human form long since falling away, it bore no humanity any longer.
The voice spoke again, "B-ANGELO, return to base, the target will be apprehended by our Knights. You have failed."
B-ANGELO growls, reaching for the collar only to stop mere inches away, a ghost pain reverberating in memory.
"... That's an order."
His feathers bristled, the rain sliding down his rugged golden scales and into the demon below. Its flame had nearly died, but there was still a spark. From his chin slid a single droplet, descending through the air and reflecting all of the storm in the heavens.
CRACK!
Lightning crashed against the cliffside and deepened the cracks, the angel felt his foothold become looser and looser as the ground quivered and quaked, chunks of the cliffside violently crashing into the sea below.
And then the demon awoke.
Flaming eyes awakened as the ground below began to fall away, the two infernal creatures beginning to ascend from the collapsing cliffside. B-ANGELO returned to safety with a mere flap of his single wing, while the other... The infernal demon was leaping between rocks trying to make it back.
He watched as the infernal creature climbed up and up and tried to fight against the omnipresent pull of gravity, jumping until there was no falling land left to jump off. The demon latched its claws into the side of the cliff, struggling to hold itself up as it tried to reach safety. Ligaments snapping back together, it roared in pain before losing leverage claw by claw.
The beast felt a strong grip wrap around its wrist, preventing it from falling further. The demon looked up in surprise to see his saviour grunting, arm fully outstretched over the edge.
B-ANGELO roared and tossed the demon onto land with a mighty heave, the infernal being weighing nothing to him. It slid to a stop, breathing heavily before keeling over desperately. It's body slowly repairing the damage inflicted before.
Green eyes caught burning orange, and for a moment... Those orange eyes turned dark blue, only to return to their scathing color as the demon clutched its head, sprawling out over the ground in pain as jets of flame sprouted from every crevice of his skin. Demonic growth shrinking and growing sporadically.
B-ANGELO looked on with his lips trembling, reaching out a clawed hand towards the infernal. He was frozen in place when the demon glanced back towards him, with a face more human than evil.... Two blue eyes staring at him with clarity, trembling like the raging waves of the sea below. For the shortest moment, he swears there's no aggression in those eyes.
And then...
The rustling of forestry around them did little to alert the demon to the incoming attackers, "Immobilize it quickly!" The lead knight shouts as a squadron of men burst from the bushes, each one wielding a crackling electrical glove and an OTS sword.
B-ANGELO could only watch as the scene unfolded before him, the demon had lost whatever humanity that was left in retaliation to the knights... Fighting weakly to defend itself. The angel clenched his hand and then, and only then... Did his infernal flesh fall away, revealing a man in its stead.
A man with trembling green eyes.
"He died."
One knight lost his life, B-ANGELO is to blame. And he could not defend himself verbally, so who would know? What he truly felt?
"You had simple orders... Simple! Terminate the escapee, that's all you had to do. And look at what happened!" The green eyed man winced at the voice, glaring back at the voice behind his intercom.
The voice was a man dressed in white garb like a deacon of some sort, a stout fellow with little presence. "Don't even bother and try to stutter out any excuses, I'm not hearing it." He said, circling B-ANGELO with his beady eyes narrowed in frustration.
How could he have known? He thought... He thought the demon wasn't a lost cause... So much for that.
His commanding officer stopped just ahead of him, glaring up. "You are property, property belonging to the order, you follow my commands next time or we'll have to find a replacement for your sorry ass. Capisce?" His light orange eyes flashed in contempt as B-ANGELO opened his mouth to speak gibberish.
"He the guy the guy wasn't ready for he fought-" A glob of spit impacted his forehead suddenly, silencing him and causing the Angelo to shut his eyes.
The stout man rolled his own eyes, "That's what I think of your gibberish, get out of my sight."
The Angelo clenched his eyes shut as he wiped the saliva from his face, shaking his head and blinking a few times. He sighs and takes his leave, he can feel the daggers being glared into his back as he goes. He knows how it is.
"Kill them."
"They hate your smell."
"You smell."
Two escorts meet him as he leaves the room, the door slamming behind him. The knights of the order glare at him with their swords drawn, wordlessly. He doesn't need to hear them say anything, their frustration is written on each sleeve.
"Don't trust him."
"He hates you."
"You need to run, look out!"
"Gentlemen, put your s-swords away." Says a new voice, a calculating inflection. A man larger than any other present strolls into the room, a dark figure with midnight hair and a monocle. Dressed with noble garb, a high class scientist. "We needn't show aggression... To our only successful specimen!" His violet eyes flashed at that, dangerously thrumming with the genius of a determined soul.
B-ANGELO shied away from him, his eyes darting towards the floor as the man steps closer and closer.
"But Sir Agnus! He got Modeus kil-" Agnus raised a single finger to his lips, shushing the knight in question. His yellow eyes staring down as well.
Agnus chortles, placing his hands behind his back. "You may have failed us t-tonight B-ANGELO, but you are our only success as of now... But do not be mistaken, you know the price of failure." With that, he turns to the hallway exit, gesturing for B-ANGELO to come along with a simple command.
Agnus was a scientist, a man who'd go to no end in search of his next experiment. He could feel the curiosity radiating off him in waves.
The trip was hardly silent, Fortuna headquarters never was at this level. But not loud enough to drown out conversation, "H-h-how are your powers, any mishaps? Oh do tell!" B-ANGELO flinched away from his overly energetic voice, blinking a few times before sighing and releasing an affirmative grunt.
Agnus nodded, "Good, good." He says before sighing, "If only we could find someone like you a-again, C-calisto." He tries to ignore that, he really does. His protective instincts demand him to end the man walking just ahead... To kill him.
But he knows better.
As if sensing the sudden hostility, "Oh don't w-worry, she's safe from our prying eyes... Not even the o-order can track down a lone city rat, for now." Not that it would matter anyways, they prefer male specimens.
Agnus chuckled suddenly and adjusted his monocle, "Alright enough time wasting, let's make haste!" He was almost jovial, yet beneath it all... The Angelo shuddered to think about it.
A few knights brushed by him and leveraged their sneers, he sighed.
"Fueh..." It wasn't his fault...
"It's your fault."
They began walking over an overpass, the glass below leading into a dimly lit room with candles peppered throughout. The Angelo glanced towards the commotion below, hearing the chants of a holistic ritual.
"Exorcizo te, creatura aquæ, in nomine Dei Patris omnipotentis, et in nomine, Sparda..."
He glanced towards the flickering of light below again, this time fully concentrating on the faint whispers he could hear... Just barely.
Agnus noticed, stopping and turning around. "Ah, your hearing as well... I-incredible. You can hear the very aspersion, can't you?" He could hear the chants, wait...
'Aspersion?' Callisto's eyes darted towards the dimly lit room, demonic runes channeling around each ocular. The darkness fell away to reveal ritualistic tenor and alto, the chants and hymns matching the hooded figures communing all around a chalice, a chalice engraved with the image of a swordsman.
Agnus leans over his shoulder with a gleeful smirk, "Isn't it wonderful? The science of holiness! W-w-we can create such a magnificent..." The scientist stopped smiling, watching as Callisto crushed the steel bar underneath his grip.
Agnus took a few steps back, fishing through his pockets. "Mm. I see you're getting... Mad?" He says, cautiously placing a hand over the subject. "Callisto, you will obey my command. Calm yourself."
But Callisto was not listening.
Is this what they planned to do? Every single one of them, failures... Just exterminate them? Callisto growled as the steel beneath his fingers bent more and more, steam rising from beneath his skin.
Sitting at the edge of the room below was the demon from before in the forest, chained to the wall, in his eyes was burning orange yet his body was of a man again. Even when he was down and out of it... Why were they still... An aspersion!? His ears began to rattle and rustle, the glass melting away to reveal the demon below.
"He's dead."
"Don't trust him."
"Jump off."
"You'll live if you go."
"Don't be scared."
"He's dead, it's your fault."
"Your fault!"
"Your fault!"
"It's his fault."
...
"He'll die."
"N... NO!"
At the center of the communion was the chalice, and a man. The man takes a single glass, dips it into the water. He holds it between his palms before prayer, holding the glass into the air as the candle light refracts through. The man dressed in a communal robe then opens his eyes, turning to the demon with a look of malign rejection and shakes his head.
The priest kneels, bringing the glass of water into another holder held by an extension of wood. The priest closes his eyes and clasps his hands together.
"Oh infernal beast, you've suffered so long through the sin of your flesh, and so you've been commanded to die by our saviour Sparda, know that your soul will be finally free. Now rest." With the prayer finished, he glanced towards the ceremonial container and ran a finger down its extension.
Grabbing the handle, the priest took the ceremonial container into the air. The hymns of the priestess' chorusing his every step forth, moving closer and closer to the demon. The finalization of the ritual would soon be at hand, and the demon would be dispelled.
Of course...
And then the ceiling erupted into dozens of glass shards, each one refracting a single being as the world slowed and he descended. A being with green eyes and long unruly hair, a being with unfocused eyes and an unfocused tongue. And an unshaven stubble. He bore the resemblance to a man crazed, and yet in eyes a dignified resolve.
This being then touched the ground, screams echoing all around him as the glass shattered against the floor. His green eyes focused waveringly on the single priest, "Don't he has a better chance alive so don't-"
Lightning sprouted from his collar in an instant shutting off his attempts to speak, the lightning coiled around his body like a snake does its prey. Callisto fell to the floor and began to convulse.
"Wake up!"
"You deserved this."
"He hates you."
"Rot."
"You did good."
The pain was unbearable, enough voltage to cook flesh. And yet he was still alive, his body working at a million miles per second to regenerate any lost damage as he convulsed on the floor. His heart skips a beat every sporadic moment.
The voices... They surround him now, more and more figures coming into the room with their voices muddled by pain and echoing rings. Agnus is there, he's watching him with a disgusted face. Callisto wants to ask him why.
But his conscience fades away, his head falling to the ground.
"Weak."
"You had him!"
"Good."
The last thing he sees is the entrance to the communal room opening, an exalted one steps out, dressed in a golden robe, he is shadowed by the light... But his eyes burn red, and those around him descend to one knee. The coming of a God you'd think.
But he was only a man.
"Your holiness? W-what are y-y-you doing here?"
He held a sort of regal stance, his robes dragging by the wayside and over the ground below. Red eyes burn in the darkness, shadowed by the light coming from behind. His steps produced no noise, but they produced others kneeling to his feet as he came by.
"Is a leader not allowed to check on his followers? I see you've some difficulty with our... Specimen." He asks with a small laugh, silencing Agnus.
The figure stopped right above Callisto, wearing a warm smile. He leaned down to shut the Angelo's eyes gently, settling the still steaming creature into a sleep...
"Agnus." He says.
"Y-yes y-y-y-your holiness?"
"Take him to the cell block, we can't have demons running amuck in our sanctuary can we?" There was a dangerous edge to his friendly tone, a smile edged by malice.
"Yes, S-Sanctus." He turns to the incoming knights, "Change of p-plans, take this... Ruffian! To the cellblock!" Angus commanded the guardsmen entering to pick up Callisto and drag him away, all the while evacuating the priestess'. Sanctus hums a gentle tune to himself.
It was only precaution, a demon who would not obey was a liability.
His red eyes suddenly drill into the demon held against the wall, he begins towards it. "People inherently fear, evil. They see it as something to be averse to, to disperse from." He kneels down and takes the extension in his hands, the priest holding it prior had set it down and been evacuated with the others.
His face is shadowed, crimson eyes burning. "But evil is no frightening matter, we must face evil with good, so that we shall always be united, in love, or even in hate." He says with finality, raising the cup of water into the air once more and stepping closer without fear.
His red eyes meet the sedated ones of furious orange, almost in rebellion. "That is why we will defeat the demons, those who can only hate." He says, putting as much force behind each word as possible.
"And so you shall be saved from hatred..." The glass of water is right above the demon now, Sanctus holds it in place for just a moment longer.
"'For he who strikes down the damned and the wicked.'"
"Shall be set free."
"So it is written..."
He turns the cup on its head, releasing the contents inside, the water falling through the air and refracting his red eyes, their crimson glow. The demon recoils at the touch of holiness, his skin burning and smoking as the water eats at his flesh and burns him to the very bone. His screams reverberate throughout all of headquarters, they can't see him, they can't hear him. He is to die just like the others.
Once a man, now a devil. He is condemned without trial.
Blood spurts from the demon's corpse as it burns away, marring Sanctus with a crimson red splatter. He did not flinch. And at last, the demon had melted away into nothing, its dark soul disappearing as well.