The city of Crumm was buzzing since the crack of dawn in preparation for the celebration of their patron saint, St. Ulyssen. Colorful banners hung up across every street and houses smelled of fresh-baked pastries and delicious food.
"Whoa! Excuse me, coming through!"
Elan swiftly ran in-between the busy people and carriages, jumping up carts and stacked sacks as she hurried her way through the traffic, her white robes with two white sash tied from her waist to her feet with an inverted cross embroidered on their ends billowing at her speed. She eyed the old large clock at the tall tower right in the middle of town and cursed as she noticed that she's only had five minutes before she's going to be late.
Throwing any concern about using her tools outside the church grounds, she shot her grappling wires from the mechanics under her fingerless gloves and hooked it in a nearby chimney. She twisted her wrist to let the wheel turn in reverse, the thin but strong wire easily pulling her whole body from the ground. She twisted her body in the air, maneuvering her hips and legs down as she shot another word from her other glove, swinging her body forward.
She managed to land in front of the gates of Holy Archdiocese, the only church in the world that trained young girls and boys into holy priests. It was also the largest headquarter of the High Church in all the realm.
With the grace of the angels granted by God himself, the priests had the important duty to protect humanity from the threats of demons, the once holy angels that had turned their backs from God and preying into people's darkness to create havoc. Elan had just been ordinated into priesthood two days ago and are about to be given her first assignment.
Which was why she was hurrying to run inside the closing gates of the church. Of all the days to sleep in, it just had to be on the day she had to go to the Holy Archdiocese in the early morning.
"Whoa, that was close, Elan. Glad you could make it!"
Elan looked at the direction of the voice and noticed Kyrie and Arthur. The three of them met during their trainee days and had been very close friends since.
"You know we're not supposed to use any tools given to us by the church for any personal reason! What if someone caught you twisting in the air earlier?!" Arthur whispered harshly as the two of them reached Elan.
"I overslept. I won't be able to arrive on time if I run, the streets are quite busy since dawn."
Arthur sighed. "You're lucky no officer or priests were here or you'll be suspended even before you have your first assignment."
"And miss my first time on the field? Never!" Elan exclaimed in a dramatic voice, making Kyrie laugh and Arthur to shake his head with a small smile.
The three of them head inside the Holy Archdiocese of St. Lourne, named after the province where it was located, marveling at the gold, bronze and white designs of its interior. Their shoes tap-tapped on the grey and black marble floor, making the golden pillars lining towards the grand-looking pulpet made of light wood. The altar, the most eye-catching part of the church with the beautifully-carved cross with colorful stain glass in the image of singing angels as its background, made even more stunning with the way the sun's rays hit the glass. An elaborate glass chandelier hung above it, many of its candles still tall.
"It's beautiful," Kyrie murmured in awe as they stopped to look at the altar. The other two nodded in agreement.
"A work by one of the most talented artist from two centuries ago. It's a beauty that stood through time," said a man wearing a pure white robe lined with red threads, a wide sash falling from his shoulder also lined with the same red threads with two crosses on each ends, one upright and one inverted making a pair. The man had shoulder-length dark brown hair with some wisps of grey strands, but his face still looked as youthful as a man in his 40s.
"Bishop Caesar," the three of them bowed in greeting and respect.
He waved away they're greetings in a wave, "Such formalities. We're technically working in the same place now, no need to treat me like your teacher anymore."
"Well, you are our best teacher," Elan said teasingly. "The others were too strict and serious."
"That's because you always get into too much trouble, my dear," Caesar replied with a chuckle. "The three of you did."
"From my memories, Elan held the high record of troubles during our academy years. I'm merely a side character swept up to the commotion," Arthur huffed with an annoyed look as he pushed his glasses up his nose. Elan exclaimed an indignant 'hey!' that caused the other three people to laugh.
"Are you here for your first assignments then?"
"We are! Well, as soon as we find where we should go, that is." Elan said as she looked at the huge building.
"I think the new ordinates should be by the east courtyard. Great timing, I was going to the same direction myself." He led the three young kids to the meeting place, taking great amusement to the way they awed at the design and decorations.
They soon arrived at the east courtyard. It looked like the one at the front of the church, though a bit smaller in size: a spacious place filled with trimmed grass and shrubs, white roses planted in rectangular boxes and neatly sheared, a pathway made with grey stones led to a small fountain in the middle. A group of people in white robes like the one Elan and the others gathered to the other side of the yard, all of them looking excited.
"Oh, there were the others," Kyrie said as the three of them started to run.
"Elan, can you stay for a bit? I had a word for you," Caesar called. Elan told the other two to go on ahead before walking back to the older man. "Is there something wrong, sir?"
"I merely just want to wish my ward good luck, nothing to worry about," the man chuckled as he patted the girl's head, which she quickly swatted away with a little pout. " It seems only yesterday when we took you in here, in the Holy Archdiocese, when you're still an infant. But now you're old enough to have your first field assignment."
"Ugh, please stop talking like I'm still nine, Caesar. You made it sound like I'm not coming back anymore."
When she looked up at the man, he was already wearing a serious expression. "It's not an easy job, Elan. What you're about to fight outside this walls are real demons, much stronger and powerful than any man. Make sure to always be on guard, the fights outside is much difficult than any trainings, and many of newly-ordinated priests had perished on their first mission. Keep that in mind."
Elan nodded in a solemn expression. "I understand, Father Caesar." She then smiled, "I'll make sure to keep myself safe out there and come back. Promise."
Caesar smiled and patted her in the head one last time. "Then you should go to the others. Your orders should be given soon." He watched as she ran towards the group before going his own way.
The group soon fell into silence as three people arrived, all of them wearing royal blue, pointed-collar jackets lined with silver and gold threads on the ends. On the tip of their colors were a silver embroidered vertical cross, the symbol of the Holy Priests, protectors of mankind and fighters of the dark.
One of them, a woman with a slightly smaller stature, her light blond hair tied in a high ponytail, moved up front of the group and look at the young ordinates with a welcoming smile.
"Oh wow, that's the High Priest Isabel, the first woman ever that became the leader of the entire priesthood sect," Elan whispered excitedly as she shook Arthur's arm. Kyrie was also nodding along enthusiastically, her eyes glued to the woman at front.
"Greetings! I want to congratulate you all for completing your training and being ordinated into priesthood. We took and uphold this role with utmost pride, being the protectors of humanity, and pursue justice and peace without fail."
Everyone seemed to straightened their backs at that, and in their faces showed the look of pride that the high priest had talked about.
"A word or warning, the fights you'll experience outside of this church will be much different than the trainings you've done when you're still in the academy," Isabel said as she slowly walked to the left and then right. "Demons, despite falling into damnation and darkness, are still once holy beings created by God himself. They had more strength than ten men combined, unmatchable speed and agility, and fighting skills. Those who had belonged to a high hierarchy before possess supernatural powers like the ability to control shadows or teleport. They had also killed many high-ranking priests before.
"Compare to them, us humans are inferior in many ways. But we have learned how to fight." She nodded at the priest to her right and the person handed her a silver rifle. Elan and the others gasped and awed as they took in the details of the weapon. Isabel smiled as she watched them. "This weapon had been modified by my request to fit my skills better. Unlike the standard rifles given by the church, this one is slimmer and smaller in size, with also lesser firepower, but the loading time of each bullet has lessen so I could load another round much quicker. The weight also allows me to move much better, switching to a much better vantage point even at a more closer range."
She handed the weapon back to the person. "The metals used in crafting these weapons and bullets we're blessed by the angels themselves, and are the only things that could kill the demons by completely destroying their spiritual essence, their souls, so to speak."
"Do demons even have souls?"
Arthur pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Technically speaking yes, but being divine beings, their souls, or cores as they sometimes called, were protected from complete destruction and cannot be harmed by simple or normal weapons. But the weapons used by the priests were crafted by the angels themselves, and imbued with special power that would directly target the souls of the demons."
"Wow Arthur, you really do know everything, don't you?"
"That's because I listen more attentively to classes than you two."
"A demon's weak spot is at the center of their chest, where their cores are located. You can think of it as their heart, if you will. Lock on it, and they will be killed by a single shot," Isabel continued. "Now, follow me."
The High Priest then lead them all to the other side of the church. The Holy Archdiocese of St. Lourne was built against a high cliff, an elevator built on its surface to let people up the different floors of the church. Isabel motioned them on this elevator and asked the operator to take them to the top. When they all stepped out, all of the young priests had their mouths dropped open when their gaze landed on what might be the largest training mound they've ever seen.
The mountain was carved into a huge bowl-like surface that could probably fit a small city. From their places up the top, they could see many target dummies stationed in many parts of the ground and a few posts for snipers, as well as a small maze with wooden target dummies for practicing shooting while on the move. On the right side, they could see a few people training in hand-to-hand combat in a small ring.
"You'll be training here in between missions or your free time. We'll give you all passes to use so you can enter. The weapons area are on the right side close to the Physicals ground. You may all use anything to your liking, as long as you won't bring them outside the training area, is that clear?."
Everyone broke into whispers. They're all excited to try the weapons.
The High Priest led the group to where the hand-to-hand combat training was and tapped the shoulder of the man standing and watching the trainees with his hands on his hips.
"Oh Isabel! So nice of you to come here! Did you finally change your mind and came here to took up my offer for that lunch?" the man asked with a waggle of his eyebrows. He had a square-shaped face with dark brown eyes filled with mischief as the High Priest rolled her eyes. His shoulder-length chocolate brown hair was tied in a haphazard low ponytail, making him look handsomely roughish. He's wearing a white button-up shirt with the topmost button open and the sleeves rolled up the elbow, black training pants and boots.
"Peter, can you at least wear something more presentable?"
"What? It's boiling hot out here, sweetheart," he laughed when Isabel's brows twitched in irritation. She huffed a breath and look at the group.
"This here is Peter, one of the high-ranking priests and instructor of the physical training regimen. As you're still new, you will have a scheduled training here with your hand-to-hand combat and target practice in between your missions. There's still a wide gap between humans and demons, so we all must work hard to make sure we've done our duties well, understood?"
"Yes, ma'am!" they all chorused. They all quickly migrated to the small open tent with long open boxes. They were all buzzing with energy as their eyes looked at the various rifles, handguns, and magazines laid on the table.
"Sweet! Guys, check these out!" Kyrie called her friends. She held to them a pistol, smaller in size than regular handguns and lighter in weight.
"Many priests are adept with dual weapon and usually prefer smaller ones like this, for easier movement," Isabel said, surprising the three. "I think the one on your left is it's pair."
"Dual weapons, huh?" Kyrie murmured as she tested her grip on the guns. Elan thought it's perfect for her, especially since Kyrie's ambidextrous.
"You should try them outside, there's some dummies already set for practice." The High Priest looked at the other two. "I suggest choosing weapons that will compliment your skills, and also choose some smaller secondary weapons. You can never know what would happen in a fight."
They all nodded and watched as Isabel walked to another group. Arthur then walked to another table. The guns here looked more modern than some. He picked up an automatic rifle and tested its length.
"It's much lighter than the standard designs, but the coil of the bullet also looked like it has lesser power," he murmured.
"It also look a little trouble to use, what with this bullet belt," Kyrie said as she eyed the bandolier filled with silver bullets.
"It's a new model. This allows the fighters a continuous shot without reloading the bullets. The weight also allows them to shoot mid-range or close range without much difficulty," Arthur said as he put back the weapon. After another fifteen minutes he picked up a newer model of shot gun with more firepower than the first one and announced that he'll be testing it out on the maze. Kyrie ran after him with her weapons.
Elan walked and surveyed the rest of the weapons when her eyes landed on the one hanged on the propped-up wooden wall. It was a sniper rifle made with silver and obsidian-colored metals, with a narrower and longer barrel. She took it from its hook and tested the scope. The weight was also perfect. She eyed the odd-shaped bullets: longer in measurement and the width the exact size of the gun's barrel.
"So you're a sniper then?" Isabel asked behind her, making Elan squeaked in surprise. The Hight Priest gave her an apologizing smile. "What's your name?"
"Elan, ma'am."
"Elan," Isabel smiled. She'd heard of her. She was taken by the church as a ward when she was still an infant and had the highest score in terms of field accuracy and response time. She was one of the top of the class, her record of being late being her only problem. "This rifle had a strong recoil and is hard to use, but its accuracy and power is quite impressive."
Elan oohed as she looked at the weapon and smiled. She grabbed five bullets and quickly ran to the closest sniper post.
After making a comfortable position, she then looked at the scope for a target and put her finger on the trigger.
The target circle on the scope started to pulse and move, making Elan gasped. She could see how Isabel said that it's difficult to handle. She took a deep breath and calm her breathing. Her heartbeat slowed to normal, and the pulsing circle on the scope started to shrink and slowed. The gun reacts to its holder's state, and the more calm you are the more accurate your shot will be.
It was like the world seemed to move closer through the scope, and soon she could clearly see the other side of the training ground clearly. She locked on a dummy placed on the farthest end on the ground and make a shot.
The gun recoiled hard and knock Elan to her back, hacking at the force. She wasn't expecting it to be that strong of a recoil! She shook her head, her ear ringing slightly, and got back to position. She calmed her breath again and watched as the target became clearer. The bullet shot too far low, only grazing the thigh. This time she adjusted her grip tighter and placed her foot against the floor. She took another deep breath and locked on. This time her shot went directly at the center of the dummy's chest.
Elan smirked as she quickly loaded two more bullets and shoot, all right on the center mark. As she loaded the last one, she noticed a flying tin can (wait, how did that got sent flying? Elan thought) and in a quick response changed her target and hit it spot on, sending the can, now with a hole in the center, sending it flying to the other side of the training ground.
"Great marksmanship," Peter commented as he stood beside Isabel, who was also watching the practice.
"Indeed," the High Priest replied.
One of the helpers of the church came running towards the pair and quickly gave a report. "The pope have sent an order. They want to have the investigation's report within the end of the week."
"What? But that's like three days away!" Peter exclaimed.
"There should be no worries if we work sooner than planned," Isabel tried to comfort her companion. Then her eyes went back to the sniper that was just coming down the post. "I think we'll have everything we need."