Capítulo 7: Doing what needs to be done
The trio of Ezekiel, Jeanne and their current leader Dulio followed a series of kidnappings and several cases of murder which led them to a quiet town in Greece. As mad as their targets were, they were cautious nonetheless. Either they were paranoid or still smart enough to know the repercussions of their recent actions coupled with their status as stray devils.
They seemed to give it their all to kidnap as many children as possible while they disregarded the parents. Unsurprisingly the parents wouldn't just watch their children taken away and tried to save them. These parents didn't end up good in any way. Most of them were injured badly and few even murdered.
"I am sure we caught up to them by now. We will search for their hideout and strike tonight. They obviously have a planned something heinous with all the children they kidnapped. It doesn't matter if it is for some kind of ritual or just to satiate their sick minds. We need some intel before we do that however since there is still a chance to rescue the children." Dulio said quietly, but his rage was easily noticeable if you knew him good enough.
"Alright I agree with you. Even if I would like to just blast their whole base into oblivion." Ezekiel mumbled something dangerous in response to Dulio. Everybody close to him already got used to his unique behaviour. Due to him being born as a descendant of a seraph who you could call a child of the Christian god he was normally bound to be benevolent and forced to follow certain rules not to fall and become their black feathered counterpart. Since his father was another god not inferior however, he didn't have the same restrictions as normal angels while at the same time having some more "destructive" or radical tendencies, which only grew as he got older. His personality was subjected to the same change and he was a rather unique angel because of it. Those traits though weren't as obvious if he was in control of his emotions. Now however his anger began to grow through the last days and some of his rage threatened to leak out.
"Let's just find them as soon as possible and we can think of a plan if we have more information." Jeanne reasoned. She seems calm but was just as influenced by the happenings just as much. She thought she wouldn't be much of a help if she were to lose her focus now and didn't want to disappoint Ezekiel and Dulio, so she forced herself to stay as calm as possible.
Dulio nodded at her: "You are right Jeanne, but we should plan ahead as much as possible. For when we find them and hopefully save the children, we cannot stay exceedingly long to take care of them. Its best to leave it to people with more experience in the non-supernatural world. That's why I want you to go to the local church and tell the priests and nuns what to expect. Meanwhile Ezekiel and me will split up to search the surroundings for our targets."
Jeanne expressed her consent and took off towards the church. Ezekiel turned towards Dulio and asked: "How to you want to search for them? Do we split up or go together?"
"We will stay together. Both of us can fly and I can mask our presence with my Sacred Gear. Its more than likely that they took residence somewhere in the outskirts in an abandoned building."
"You are right, lets got then." He replied, eager to go and find the children and make their offenders pay.
Dulio just powered his Sacred Gear and they took off to the sky, flying into the direction of a nearby forested region at the border of the town.
-o-
Meanwhile in an abandoned factory to the north of the town Ezekiel is currently searching, a bunch of children is currently huddled together. All of them seemed weakened, as they were subjected to the poison of one of the people that took them from their parents.
All the children were frightened by the situation and what they must have seen before they were brought here. All but one that is. One girl with unique white hair didn't seem as much frightened as she seemed frustrated. Where that frustration stemmed from was something only she knew. As the shouting of her kidnappers rang out again, she acted just like the other children, not to raise any suspicion.
-o-
After a while they met up again. Dulio and Ezekiel found their hideout and it seems they didn't prepare properly because they were rushing to get more children and to run further from potential pursuers.
"They are currently in an abandoned factory and it seems they didn't bolster their numbers with other stray devils, which is a plus. Furthermore, it seems they keep the children together in one place and one of them is guarding them most of the time. I didn't overhear anything of interest, but it is clear, that we don't have too much time until they either commit something unforgivable again or run away to hide somewhere else. How did it go on your end Jeanne?" Dulio told them of his findings before asking Jeanne if she could explain everything to the local priests and nuns.
"Everybody is ready. The moment I told them of the stray devils, they were frightened but determined to help. When I mentioned that we would deal with the devils and only want them to take care of the aftermath, they began to prepare immediately." Jeanne replied, while keeping it short.
"Any suggestions how we will deal with them?" Dulio asked.
"You said they were keeping children together in one place and only one person, maybe two should be guarding them at the same time?" Ezekiel asked.
Upon receiving a nod in confirmation, he continued: "Then how about this. I will confront the other stray devils alon-"
"Zeke you are reckless!" Jeanne couldn't help but voice out. She knew he was strong, but she didn't think he would have to take unnecessary risks.
"Calm down Jeanne, let me finish first please." Ezekiel replied a little helpless but stern nonetheless.
Jeanne looked a bit embarrassed in her worry and as if she wanted to retort but didn't say anything in the end.
"As I said, I would like to confront them alone at first. That would give both of you the opportunity to save the children without too much risk involved. Once you secured their safety Jeanne will help back me up if necessary. But there is another reason I wanted to deal with them without your help Dulio. We often spar in the Vatican, but we certainly lack a proper comparison of our strength regarding outside forces. The last decision lies with you however, since you are our leader this time." Ezekiel explained.
Dulio pondered if it was right to let them deal with most of the enemies alone. But after thinking back of their last sparring session he just thought its not his responsibility to care about stray devils and as for something happening to Ezekiel? Even when Jeanne and Ezekiel couldn't really place their strength in the bigger picture, that didn't mean Dulio wasn't able to. Even Jeanne could probably take on 2-3 of their average members.
"I approve of you plan, but if it looks like you can't handle it, I will still intervene. If that is acceptable for you, we have an agreement." He answered, already knowing Ezekiel's answer.
"Okay then, we will lie in wait close to the factory until it gets dark and nobody in the town will be close. Jeanne, I need you to convey it to the church before joining us again please." Dulio gave his last orders before they began to observe their enemy further and wait until it was time to strike.
-o-
The stray devils were lounging around a bonfire at the moment. All of them seemed rather pale but didn't lose all semblance of a humanoid appearance as of yet.
Their leader and former queen of the peerage was called Drake. He had a Sacred Gear, that could strengthen his magic to an extent. Some years ago, he was a humble man striving in his magical studies as he wanted to make good with it and help people. Due to their master's crazy games, he slowly lost his mind, as did his six companions. At some point he began calling himself Drake because his ambition was to become strong like a dragon in the future. His delusions led him to the believe, that he was the chosen one who was granted a weapon of greatness. Nobody wanted to get on his wrong side though, since he was still the strongest of all seven.
He valued their second Sacred Gear user for his ability and saw him fit to serve himself. The other 5 however were reduced to mob characters he would order around. It seemed that even in their madness they accepted a simple hierarchy based on their power. Since then he only addressed their second Sacred Gear user as 'sensor' and the other five as 'you'.
"One of you go back to guard the children, I don't want them to break free while we are sitting here." He glared at the 5 mob characters, until one of them left and continued: "Tomorrow I will extract their vitality to strengthen myself. I don't want to see anyon-" he talked until he was interrupted by 'sensor'. Didn't he learn his lesson the last time he did the same? He thought about teaching him a lesson, but still listened to what he had to say.
"Drake, there is someone coming close to us. From his stature it should be a child." Sensor reported carefully, not to rub their leader the wrong way.
"Are you playing with me? Why should a child come here alone and when the sun is already setting? Are you sure it is a child?" Drake was clearly annoyed, but still cautious. With long lived races roaming the world one could never be too sure. A small child might as well be a monstrous entity.
"I am sure of it. He doesn't seem to have a strong aura. It's impossible, that I can't sense his strength. Nobody escaped my Sacred Gears ability since It awakened." He replied while looking in a certain direction.
True to his words, after a while a child of about 12 years appeared before them. He had long golden hair with eyes of the same colour. His clothes were obviously not cheap, but nothing special either. Seeing no danger approaching, the devils naturally become more brazen in their behaviour.
"Drake, how about you leave him for me? Didn't you already collect enough of them? Your subordinates should surely not be too weak, or they might embarrass you." One of the goons voiced his opinion, clearly having some unsavoury ideas.
"Keep your ideas to yourself. I want you to put him to the other children." He ordered, having none of the nonsense his subordinate spouted. Weren't it for his shortage of human resources he would have disposed of him on the spot.
The goon was not happy with the decision but complied. As he was walking toward the child, the boy opened his mouth for the first time. Earlier he was just looking at his enemies, but it seemed he didn't have to be as cautious. They obviously lost their mind and their brains seem to run low on energy.
"I don't think you understand the situation you are in. I wouldn't get involved if you just kept to yourself. But it seems you made it your goal to attract as much attention as possible." Ezekiel said while continuing to walk toward them.
"Brat, don't thin-" the goon who wanted to grab him was interrupted by a fist to his chest. It was far too late, but he still tried to defend himself reflexively. His opponent was only a child and he was sure he wouldn't hear the end of it later. That was until the fist reached his body, as it was the last thing he thought.
The other had their mouth wide open because of the scene in front of them. The boy had punched completely through they comrades body and his rather small hand was sticking out at the other side. They instantly became wary.
"Ah gross, and here I thought you devils were durable." Ezekiel said. His current appearance not matching his young voice.
"Who are you brat?" Drake asked, clearly on guard. Even if he was stronger than the rest, it didn't mean he would want to stand on the receiving end of that punch.
"Who I am is of no concern to you. The only thing you should bother with is if you want to flee or attack me." Ezekiel said, not believing they really stood a chance. And he was right if 'sensor' sneaking away in the background was any indication.
After he finished his sentence, he began to release his power and the surroundings suddenly felt suffocating to all the devils. The weaker devils weren't even able to move properly and only Drake managed to do so with difficulty. Honestly, it would be a lie if Ezekiel said he wasn't disappointed. It seems after becoming stray devils their strength went into the gutter.
Seeing no reason to delay any further he pointed his hand at the weaker members one after the other before disintegrating them with holy light attacks. They didn't even get to scream before they were done for. Ezekiel knew they were bad people but even he was surprised that he didn't feel more after taking lives for the first time. He put it to the back of his mind and kept his full focus on the people in front of him.
Drake was now really scared but how could he back away with his ambitions? A dragon wouldn't just bow down to a strong opponent, so he did what he thought would be the best course of action, considering the situation.
"Stop, if you kill me, you won't see any of the other children live!" he cried out, while pointing at the factory a bit away.
Ezekiel only raised an eyebrow, knowing it wouldn't take much longer.
Only a few seconds later they heard another scream followed by a huge wall of wind rising in the shape of a dome. Shortly afterwards a small wave of swords shot outwards at the edge of the wind-dome, quickly silencing the devil.
"Now, what did you say?" Ezekiel questioned while pointing his hand again.
Drake might have been mad, but he wasn't dumb. He quickly conjured a lance of demonic energy while he started to run away. It was all for naught though, since only a second later a literal wall of destructive light smashed into him and not even dust remained.
Since he dealt with five of them and Jeanne with the one guarding the children, they hopefully managed to save, only 'sensor' remained. Since no one was close to witness him, he unfurled his wings to give chase. With his speed, it wouldn't take too long to catch up.
-o-
While Ezekiel tracked down the last of the stray devils, Jeanne and Dulio were looking after the children and waited before the people from the church would come and take over.
He definitely expected more, when Uriel sent them on this mission, and it wasn't difficult to deal with for either of them. Honestly, they could have sent only one of them alone and they would have been able to complete it without problem.
But after thinking for a while he was sure of the real reason they were sent together. Ezekiel and Jeanne could learn things like how to track someone down and deal with the local people or how to act that they didn't alert they common populace by mistake. The biggest reason was another one however. Ezekiel hadn't taken a life before and Jeanne did so in the spur of a moment without any intent involved. In the future, it was a given they would fight their own battles and a possible hesitation in life-threatening moments could spell your doom. One could argument, that it was far too early for a 12-year-old, but that was just the world they lived in. A rough god wouldn't wait for you to grow up to use you for a dark ritual, if taken to the extreme.
Jeanne was clearly thinking about her earlier actions and seemingly wanted to distract herself with the understandably distraught children.
It wasn't long until Ezekiel came back, far calmer than before they started their attack. One of his arms was bloodied, but otherwise he was spotlessly clean. The blood on his arm wasn't even his own and it didn't seem to bother him too much if his current expression was any indication.
"Is it done Zeke?" Dulio asked, his message clear.
Ezekiel only nodded, looking at Jeanne helping the young boys and girls to calm down. Her obviously forced cheerfulness helped them a good deal, but they were still in an uncomfortable situation and wanted nothing more than to go back to their families, something which wasn't an option for every one of them anymore.
"Hey Dulio." He called out.
"What is it Zeke?" Dulio answered in a soft voice, already having a hunch what Ezekiel wanted to say.
"How was it for you the first time you.." Ezekiel paused, looking on his bloodied arm. He himself knew, it wasn't normal to be that calm after punching through another humanoid being.
"After I killed? Say Zeke, from your reaction it seems you don't have any negative feelings toward it. Is that what you are worried about?" he answered, his gaze never leaving the boy he considers his younger brother since the first time they met.
Ezekiel only nodded before looking up at Dulio. His gaze was calm, but he seemed unsure if it was alright to feel the way he did.
"If you ask me, Zeke, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I know you for some years now and you aren't a person to wantonly kill people. Even if you are unbothered after the act, it doesn't matter as long, as you are sure that it was necessary. Now tell me, did you have thoughts to randomly kill people if they annoy you or just for the act itself?"
Ezekiel heavily shook his head: "Of course not!"
"Then don't worry. Sometimes it is necessary, and a permanent solution prevents more innocent victims. On the other hand, it could even be said it is some kind of mercy you grant your enemies. There are a lot of people not just outright killing their enemies but letting them suffer until they die of their wounds. But really, don't tell others I said that. A lot of the people in the church and some of the younger angels have rather extreme views." Dulio explained.
Ezekiel of course understood where he was coming from and sank into his own thoughts again. This time with a far less troubled look on his face.
After around 15 more minutes the staff of the local church arrived and took over. With their higher numbers and far more experience they expertly handled the children. For Ezekiel, Jeanne and Dulio this was the last time they would see them. It was the best for them if they didn't step into the supernatural world, as long as they still had the chance.
While they were talking and Jeanne busying herself with calming them down, no one noticed a girl with white hair suddenly disappearing between the chatter.
-o-
Far above the factory were two people, seemingly standing on air. One of them was an older woman that looked to be in her mid-thirties. Next to her stood a girl around Ezekiel's age with long white hair flowing down her back. She looked sad but somehow relieved at the same time.
"Do you finally see reason Abelia? I don't mind you playing around and enjoying your life, but there are forces and individuals out there, that won't care what you desire and would want to use what you have for their own motives." The woman asked while keeping her gaze fixed to the ground.
When she came to search for her daughter that disappeared again earlier today, she came upon the scene of three people fighting stray devils and rescuing a bunch of children, her daughter among them. She watched everything without interfering, as long as nothing would happen to her daughter. Normally Abelia would just run off to play in the forest together with the animals that lived there. That's why she didn't expect her to end up in a situation such as the one from earlier.
"I will oversee your training personally and will make sure you don't slack off. I hope you are prepared to commit yourself and step up to learn of your inheritance."
Abelia looked a little gloomy in response, but she looked determined just the same. She didn't want to be as helpless ever again. Sometimes important lessons are only understood when felt directly.
"After you finish your training, you will go out into the world to see it for yourself and to meet people your own age." She stated, her eyes never leaving the young golden-haired boy on the ground.
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