He could feel death's hand creeping into the depths of his soul.
His hand extended as the haze spread to their surroundings, causing the streets to be covered in it. Amelia's smirk remained and she took a step forward. It covered up his tracks as he moved to attempt another attack.
He ran through it without much trouble as he reached his intended spot.
The haze caused him to look like someone else, making good use of this opportunity to strike Amelia from behind. His dagger slicing through it with such force that dragged the wind with it. She did not turn around to meet him which made him believe that his sneak attack was going to hurt her.
However, his strike was met with a gun to the head.
'Tch' she clicked her tongue when she noticed who the person he is disguising, Aeon. 'I swear to heaven that fucking hair of his stands out too much.' she thought as she coldly stared at him. Both heard the trigger being pulled. He widened his eyes in fear while Amelia maintained her demeanour.
'BANG!' The gunshot was heard by many outside of that area.
He jumped away from the shot, dodging it with a panicked expression. His breathing staggered as the bullet missed him and hit something else instead. It had helped him conceal his presence enough that he was standing in a different spot than the one she saw. The adrenaline started to die down as the immediate fear set in.
"What makes you think that this shit excuse of a fog can hide you from me?" Her tone blended in with the malice atmosphere.
He formed some concentrated magic around him and fired it at her. He could hear it hit the ground, one by one. He took another step back and started to barrage her with wave after wave of haze bullets.
But, none of them hit her once.
He was starting to feel the pressure being placed on his shoulders. She pointed her sniper rifle at the attacker, having to close her eyes to feel where he is. He took the chance and rushed ahead, planning to make a curved line towards her if she fired a shot.
He knew that it was a desperate move, moving directly at her was a huge risk. He was willing to take it no matter how heavily the odds were stacked against his favour. If he had to do something heroic in the name of his cult, then let it be damaging the Guardian Goddess. He was mentally prepared to do so once it was heard.
But that chance did not come.
The absence of it fueled that overgrowing fear into depths that he could no longer control. His body trembled as his legs were inching closer to where she was standing. He looked around trying to figure out where she went as his hand clutched on his dagger. That unease and anxiety started to make him hear thoughts in his head.
That silence was interrupted when he heard metal dropping to the ground.
He had a hunch that Amelia was waiting to attack him when he was being distracted. He did not know how long he stood there with his thoughts filling the space, he should have known. His eyes glanced down to his right shoulder.
"It does seem like you're just like everyone else. Only big talk and nothing else."
His arm was on the ground with a pool of blood. To him, it symbolised that he was going to die to her blade. The blade reflected that dread in his gaze with his eyes forming up tears.
For reasons, he could not take his eyes off of it.
"I didn't expect much from you. And I was correct. You do completely crumble under pressure."
Amelia's scabbard was on her side with her sword still sheathed. She could kill him right then and there yet she chose not to. Her hand extended to point in a general direction in front of him, he understood what she meant but it had something more to it.
Her sword was replaced with her rifle, "If you made it out of the haze area, I'll let you go alive. That is of course if you manage to outrun me."
She reloaded her gun as he contemplated his options, Amelia spoke again, "If you don't want to, then you can take a gunshot to the head and die right now."
The abysmal chance of living, or giving up and dying to it.
Both options were equally shit yet he could not make up his mind about it. His shoulder continued to bother his thoughts as his body started to deteriorate the more he bled out. She pointed it to the back of his head, her finger ready to pull the trigger.
"Decide now, or I'll decide for you."
His legs carried themselves as he ran as fast as he could. She stood there, placing it behind her back. She started to count from one to sixty as a handicap, letting him run as far as he could in that limited amount of time.
The haze area started to shrink the more he ran. His legs could not take him as far as he wished, only being able to run so far before they gave up. He could not concentrate on its active ability to hide him away from her with his mana dwindling with his energy.
He heard footsteps inching closer before suddenly going quiet again.
He noticed where she was once he looked up, seeing her on the top of a building. He wondered how she got up there so fast as his legs finally gave up. His vision was going blurry once the blood loss got to him, he stood still and closed his eyes.
"Too bad you had no chance in outrunning me at all." She said while pulling the trigger.
A bullet hit the ground in front of him. He thought he was safe and decided to run over it, which happened to be a bad idea. The shell exploded; a burst of magic came out of it, covering the area around them in a block of ice, one that stood out to the authorities at the scene.
She sighed as the ice started crumbling down, "Having another game of chess with your leader is much more fun than having this chase."
The rifle disappeared from her hand as she jumped off the roof to grab what remained. His body was gone along with the ice, leaving the dagger behind. She went to pick it up, the sound of hurrying footsteps behind her.
"I guess I could use this as an indicator, or just a memorabilia when I see him again."
Her head turned to see the authorities running past with their protective gear fully on. They ran past her like how he walked through the crowd earlier. The dagger disappeared as she turned around to face the people passing by.
"What…" Their stunned tone tells it all.
Her head tilted up slightly when she spoke, "Besides that, I removed the body with the ice, nothing much happened to the area. I made sure to not cause too much destruction just for that money shot."
"THAT FUCK." Someone yelled in frustration.
"Now there's the money shot~" She chuckled yet no one could hear her.
She walked away from the scene, leaving everyone was stunned. They were not sure what had happened as nothing was left behind, even the buildings remained untouched. Only one person knew what happened and fuming at the thought that they could not do anything yet again.
"The living and the dead are on different playing fields after all. We can clean up everything much easier than you guys ever will." She laughed at them.
The police crew had to calm down the crowd and their men as they could not believe their eyes. They thought that there was someone dead with that large ice that covered all of the haze, except it looked like nothing happened at all.
They could only remain perplexed at the sight of it.
Concern ran through his mind when he saw what was on the news in the afternoon. Andrata had pulled him awake in such an urgent matter, which was bashing his head with a pillow or two, that he thought something horrible happened.
He was correct, to a certain degree.
The headline was, 'Mysterious incident gains notoriety on the web.' The reporter read out the script in their hand, "The incident alarmed many of the bystanders. Although none was injured during the entire ordeal, there was nothing to show for the incident. There are only some videos on the web showing a standoff against a woman and a man…"
Aeon could barely mutter out her name, "Amelia…"
A loud knock on the door interrupted his line of thought. He deeply groaned and changed out of his sleepwear, donned his usual attire. There was another knock on the door as them growing even more impatient.
"Are… you going to be alright…?" Andrata's gold eyes could not hide her worried tone.
He smiled and rubbed her head, "I'm going to be fine."
Her eyes lingered on him as he opened the door, greeting the annoyed policemen with a smile.
"How may I help you?"
"You're under suspicion of conducting one count of manslaughter, please cooperate with us." They brought out the handcuffs.
He extended his arm, letting them place the cuff on him and took him to the station. She stood still before he left, giving her a reassuring smile. She could only stare at his figure disappearing from the door frame.
"Sometimes I wonder…"
Try as she might still she just could not finish her sentence, choosing to remain silent.
The entire drive to the police station was still, so much so that Aeon had to start humming to make the trip feel less suffocating. Something in their gaze informed him that they were terrified, with them glimpsing back and forth while the other kept their eyes on the road.
'Another mess she left behind. Nevertheless… it probably has something to do with them. I still don't understand her decision to let him go. Although she had been letting the rest of them get away with things here and there. The thing is… why? I know that she's been trying to piss The Council off but there are surely other ways than this one… right?' Those feelings pass through him as his eyes stared at the moving streets.
'I… just want to wish them safe. At this point, it might be hard to even keep them guarded.' He sighed deeply as the car parked into its assigned slot.
His gaze saddened as he murmured, "Why don't you ever tell me anything."
They seemed confused at his expression but they insisted on doing their job. One opened the car door while the other kept an eye on him. He slowly got back to his more stern expression as they guided him through the halls.
He did not need any as he walked faster than both of them.
The interior of it looked like any other, with a reception at the front. It was two-storey tall with beige and black painted on the walls. Aeon walked down the stairs which lead to the basement area where some people were being kept in small jail cells.
They stopped in front of a steel door. He stood still waiting for them to open the door though they never got to. A man with a tied up blonde ponytail and wearing typical detective clothing shoved the door outwards in their direction, luckily he did not hit anyone.
He and Aeon's eyes faced each other as a frustrated feeling set in stone.
"Both of you are dismissed. Also, don't worry about him. I can handle him by myself." His tone was frustrated despite oozing with confidence.
They left quickly as he stepped into the room and sat down on the chair. The room looked like any other interrogation room. He felt too at home in a place like this. He laid his hand on the table as he noticed the documents on the men's side.
"Back here again aren't we, Aeon?" His shift in tone caused Aeon to tense up.
Aeon shrugged, "We are, Eldel. You seem to be… agitated today."
They suddenly went silent, causing the room to tense up significantly. Eldel grunted and shook his head, his gaze turning into a glare as he placed one of his hands on the table while the other on his forehead.
"Do you know how much I hate dealing with you two?"
"I do, yes. You get angered so much quicker than you generally would."
He let out another grunt, "Good then. Don't waste my time and tell me what happened."
Aeon shook his head, "I wish. But even I don't know what happened."
"What." He felt his glare burning itself in him.
Eldel slowly goes from being agitated to being completely frustrated. He harshly slammed his hands on the table, causing some papers to fly up into the air. He leaned forward, closing the distance between them.
"YOU DARE TELL ME YOU KNOW NOTHING?!" He yelled.
Aeon calmly nodded, "I know nothing. She didn't involve me."
His face burned red as his fingers curled and eyes lowered. He stayed silent for a minute before a bitter chuckle came out of him. Aeon could not discern his laughter, whether he was feeling defeated or betrayed.
"Please… calm down." His voice came out pleading.
The room went silent again. Eldel had not raised although his demeanour did lessen up considerably. Their eyes met again with Eldel's still disappointed gaze and his apologetic one. He raised his head and let out a loud sigh, calming himself down before talking again.
"Can we have a recap of how you all work so I at least have something to give them?" His tone softened.
Aeon nodded, "Of course."
"We are, by layman's terms, ghosts. We have a physical body but it isn't a necessity for us to live. The living, meaning you guys, can't see us without a physical body. That's the reason why no one noticed it initially."
Eldel raised a brow, "Then how did he got recorded?"
"It's because of Amelia's status. I assumed you remember what she is."
"I do, but it doesn't make sense per se. Didn't you mention before that ours works differently than yours?" He scratched his head.
Aeon stayed quiet for a minute before talking, "She can force certain things onto people. That is one of them."
"And explain those certain things." His tone was demanding.
Aeon opened his mouth but could only let it gape as he ran over the options in his head. By the end, no words came out of it and he closed it.
"Explain why you couldn't tell me."
"It's confidential."
Eldel's eyes glared at him, "That's the best you can say?"
"Yes, that's the best I can say." Aeon closed his eyes.
'It's for the best that he doesn't know that much.' His thoughts when he said it.
Eldel looked like he gave up on asking anything else, he picked up the papers on the ground and neatly stacked them back. His lips remained the same as they had been throughout, incredibly bitter.
"I wonder on what day can you live up to that promise," he mumbled.
Aeon opened his eyes with a light sigh with Eldel purposely dodging his sight. They exchange no more words as he unlocked his handcuff with a key. He simply pointed at the door and let Aeon walkout by himself.
"I assume I'll see you soon from the progression of these events." He muttered.
Aeon's gaze lingered for moments longer before he left the basement.
"I'm sure she's holding up fine without me. But… there is this lingering feeling of unrest in this place. I don't think I'm wrong about how things will go… It's just… for whose sake are we doing it for?"
He walked out of the station and looked upwards. A sad yet comforting smile appeared on his face, letting another sigh out of his chest.
"If it were Amelia. I think I would've been hit on the head by this point.'
The sun had gone absent and replaced by the moon. The skies coloured in black as the clouds being barely visible. The streets quiet down as more people return to the comfort of their homes.
Even so, the podium was being illuminated by the moonlight peeking through the window.
"I didn't think you'd give me a visit." A pastor said with a welcoming smile.
The empty church would give Aeon some bad memories, with the benches carefully lined and kept pristine. The gap from the door gave more light creeping in though it still would not make it go away.
"Hmm… you think so?"
Amelia walked in with her usual bored expression. She sat on the front row and leaned on it, looking at the ceiling and letting her arm spread across it.
"I thought it was unwise to be in enemy territory?" He chuckled.
A teasing laugh came from her, "I almost killed him. What made you think I should be afraid?"
He walked down to Amelia, "Correct. But you aren't talking to 'him' right now."
She stared directly at him, "What makes you think that I don't know that?"
"You're right. You would know. We are the same after all." He laughed.
She shook her head, "Now now, don't lump us together. I don't have malicious intentions to do it to someone else."
Amelia sat upright when he was close to her. He stood still with the same smile, his body tilted slightly. His eyes glow red which is emphasized by the light coming through the window.
"Are you not afraid that I'll kill you right here, right now?"
She shrugged, "Nope. I can't die that easily."
"I'd assume that you're the one with the pastor idea, correct?" She asked.
He nodded, "Yes. I did. I can easily gain it after all so there wasn't a need to let others do it."
"You have a name?"
"Noir. And why do you ask?"
A smile crept onto her lips, "Curiosity. Also just so I can confirm that is your name."
He took a step closer to her yet she was sitting there with a smile. He placed his hands behind his back. His eyes wandered around her body before staring back into her eyes.
"You don't look physically strong, Amelia. Though I do wonder why you have such strength." That look in his eyes told that the question was rhetorical.
She saw right through it, "Enough padding time. Guess as to why I'm here."
He closed his eyes, "There are a lot of reasons why you would be here. Is it because of that incident or something else entirely? Even I wouldn't even be able to guess."
He continued, "If I were to guess… some challenge I suppose? It seems like something you are interested in."
"You're about there. Though I'm now more interested in what you think."
"Oh?"
She stood up with a grin, extended her hand to show a chess piece materialized from ice. The chess piece was a black horse, with its head facing Noir. He did not open his eyes yet he noticed the surge of mana.
"How interesting. You can do things like that?"
"I always could. However, I only use them for fanciful things."
He finally opened his eyes, his smile never faded as he noted the piece on her palm, "A knight? Unconventional choice if it's referring to who I think it is."
"Don't worry, I'm not referring to chess. Just the title."
She continued, "It's about you. After all, you do all you can to protect him from dying. Is that not what a knight does?"
"I only did so to preserve myself. Nothing more, nothing less." He adamantly replied.
"Some parts of it might be true, but there are elements that contradict what you say. Make it how you like but you also believe in him and his ideals, so you're not an observer. You're also an active participant." She stopped with a smirk.
She continued with a slight chuckle, "I'm not wrong, am I now?"
He tilted his head more, "I'm not going to deny nor agree to your assumptions."
Amelia crushed the knight piece in her palm and let it disappear. She walked around him and he stood still with no intention of moving. He set his head upright as his eyes followed her around as she continued to circle him.
"Fractured rib cage here, broken ankle here, major blood loss there, presence of spell protection here, a broken arm there and some nerve damage." She muttered while looking.
His expression turned into confusion, "Why are you suddenly interested in where all the wounds and injuries are?"
"Bragging rights I suppose," Oriax knew that she was lying.
She stood still and shrugged, "Well, I'm done with all that I wanted. You're free to ask me anything."
"Of course, I won't tell you everything but I'll say as much as I'd like." She leaned forward with her arms crossed.
"Then it will be the most curious of them all. Why did you let us live?"
They stared at each other for a moment before she said anything. She was grinning with a feeling that he couldn't understand. Was it amusement or was it something more nefarious? He wanted to think about it once this was over.
"Indeed. Why did I let you live? There are a couple of reasons, but it's just too shit on The Council. Besides that childish one, there is an actual reason. Though the most I'll give you is this,"
She paused and leaned back, "You're deciding moment was not there. Oh no, it's far from it. We both still have a long way to go before our final destination. But by that time, whether you'll be dead or alive, it's once again on my hands."
He raised a brow, "Again?"
"Yep, it's again on my hands."
She tilted her head with a stern expression, "After all, he could've died all that years ago. Then again, if it weren't for me he wouldn't have gone down this route. I guess it does come full circle after all those years."
He looked more confused, "So you both have met before."
"I used to consider him as my older brother figure that I can look up to. Of course, after that entire thing, he just disappeared and I thought he died but it was after I became Guardian Goddess that I knew he was alive."
Noir replied with a nod, "Then why did you have him as well?"
"That, I can't answer you. You should know the answer to that question." She said with a smile.
He grinned, "The same thing with a different narrative I see."
"Is that all you have to ask?" She continued to smile.
"Just one more…" He said, raising one of his hands.
"What are you actually after, with all the in-depth investigation on all the… cults, as you all liked to call them."
She placed her chin on her palm, "That's classified information. The most I can tell you is that we are adjusting things accordingly."
"After all, you all are interrupting the balance and our role as a whole. So, we do need to adjust it accordingly, we aren't unfair all things considered." She waved her free hand.
"Your role is to maintain the balance between good and bad?"
Her expression turned surprised, "Oh? I thought you both know."
"No, we don't. We try as best as we can to figure out all about you guys but the information is scarce."
She laughed, "Of course, we are incredibly secretive about what we are truly up to."
"That's about it. Thank you for your time~" He was intentionally sarcastic and raising his voice a pitch.
She placed her hands in the pockets, "So you did inherit some traits from him."
"It's impossible not to. After all, we do share almost everything."
She walked past him and gave him a lazy wave, "We'll meet again soon. Although next time you'll be at the mercy of someone else's blade."
"And I'm looking forward to it." His eyes glowing again.
The door closed behind her with a slight 'thud'. His eyes stared at the door with a slight grin lingering on his lips.
"I'm glad that I met her face to face. She's surely an interesting person." He mumbled.
Amelia walked with a slight smile on her face, it then faded. She took a glance back at the church before it was out of her sight.
"He got a good idea going about it, but how much of that can work and can't, only time will tell as it seems."
She continued walking without looking back. The street lights were the only other thing lighting up the night, with the lights in people's houses closing one by one. It was going nearly silent aside from the blasting of music or cars passing by. Residents were deep in sleep without knowing what might be lurking near them.
Someone walked through the streets with a mask. They kept their face hidden away from anyone that might see or encounter them. They certainly looked suspicious though nobody was around to witness their suspicions for themselves. They began humming in the streets, their feet stopped in front of a door.
The door swung open by itself, a small gust of wind blowing out of it. They walked past the door and it closed by itself. The empty interior turned into a room and they took their mask off.
"Look at him, being so late to the party." William's lime coloured eyes stared at the mask.
Salem brushed her long silver hair with a brush, "I thought Charlie was always late hmm~?"
Vander leaned back on his chair, "Late every day. What are you, a sloth?"
Charlie smiled and placed the mask on a rack, "If I were, that would have been incredibly insulting."
"Well then, let the leader's 'cult' meeting commence." William got up from his seat.
The room was messy, to say the least. A few lights were hanging off the ceiling, lighting the room in a warm shade of yellow. It had some chairs and a round table in the middle. The corner had some miscellaneous things lying around. Some were papers, articles of clothes and empty boxes. There was a counter with a coffee maker and a couch beside it.
"We are currently being tracked down by them, correct?" Will said while placing his arms on Vander's chair.
"Yep, they are giving me a lot of trouble. It's getting on my nerves." Vander's head tilted to the side with his brown eyes rolled back.
"What I've heard from what little Cyliam decided to tell us, one of their bases was ambushed by the upper-rank army and mostly wiped out.
Only some members remained from that incident." Will waved his hand back and forth.
Charlie sat down and leaned on the table, "That means we could be next as well."
Salem laughed, "Good for me. There are people I need to get rid of."
He placed his head on his arms and tilted to the left, "Is there anything we should do to avoid it, or should we engage it?"
"I'd engage it, after all, there are people unworthy that I need to take care of." She said with a large grin.
Vander shook his head, "I won't. I have too much at stake to lose. We need as many hands-on the Worship organisation as possible."
"I won't either, it's too much trouble for the Peace organisation." Charlie shrugged.
"I won't too, having them die is too bad. The risk doesn't outweigh the benefit." Will sat back down on his seat.
Salem swung her brush in her fingers, her grin continued to linger on her face as she mumbled something. The rest could not hear what she was saying but assumed that she was planning on how to work on her plans.
Charlie decided to talk about something else in the meantime, "Is your progress going well?"
"I guess. We are working hard on the cleanse but nothing much of interest is coming up." Will replied.
Vander placed his cheeks in his palm, "We are currently just missing something since it's very hard to obtain so we might need a substitute."
"Nothing you can ask Liam for?" He asked.
Vander sighed loudly, "Nope. Who the hell here can get God's blood?"
Charlie noticed a glint in Salem's eyes when he said so, her lips curled up into an excited grin. She stood up and slammed her hands on the table, gaining the attention of the other two who were thinking about their plans.
"I CAN!" She exclaimed.
He raised a brow, "How exactly?"
"I could just get into a fight with one of the Goddesses! Didn't rumours say that Aeon adopted a Goddess and a rabbit into his family?!" She spoke a mile an hour while staring at Vander.
Will's expression turned to question, "Aeon? Wouldn't that be too hard of a thing to accomplish?"
She giggled, "Don't worry, I have a major plan in my hands. Of course, that includes some manipulation here~"
Vander let out a defeated sigh, "Get me a syringe of it if you can. Get more if you can but that is the minimum amount."
"Of course! But I need some backup from you three." She nodded with the same grin.
Charlie placed his fingers on his chin, "You mean you're going to target the Andrata girl and Aeon as well?"
"Yep. That's why I need backup!"
Will smiled and leaned back, "I'll give you a bit of hand then."
"I asked so I can't say no now can I?" He sat upright.
Charlie shook his head, "I won't. Though if you want you could ask for Liam's help."
"Hmm… would be too much trouble as he's recovering," Salem said with her eyes closed.
"Well, that settles that for now. So when are we attacking?"
Aeon did not know any of it as he slept soundly that night. Andrata's sword beside the door had begun blinking red like it was listening in to their conversation.
If they had known what was going to happen, will they still be able to sleep soundly?