"I'm gonna die." Those were the first words Magnus Rose said as the first rays of sunlight lit up his office. He was a CIA agent, specifically one in the field of the supernatural. Maybe due to his high position or perhaps because of his efficiency, he was overworked.
His wife had been complaining, not about how dangerous his job was but just how rarely he was home. He would die of overworking before he could even consider dying to some stray. It was worse than hell and he knew quite a bit about hell.
But then, by no coincidence, his eyes landed on a letter fluttering onto his desk. Golden sparkles rained down onto his desk like fairy dust as the letter magically floated into his waiting hands. He wasn't quick enough to see the sigil but it wasn't strictly necessary.
"Who the hell…?" Murmuring softly to himself Magnus quickly scanned the letter but he found nothing. It was like it was a normal letter without any traces of magic even being remotely near it. It made no sense.
But neither did the magic circle that appeared without a single trace. Teleportation circles were notoriously difficult not only to make but also to hide. Things regarding space tended to be hard to hide let alone one with so much energy pumped into it. Yet he didn't notice a thing.
"What a monster." Instinctively shivering at the act of what he could only assume to have been done by a god of magic Magnus opened a letter. If the mage in question could do something like teleportation without a trace he could have died six times over.
Detailed within the letter was something Magnus didn't even want to consider let alone imagine to be the reality he lived in. Hades, the Greek God of Death who held the position of ninth strongest being in the world was on the hunt for Longinus user.
"Signed Damian Thaumiel… the hell has this world come to?" Groaning in irritation Magnus held the second paper in the envelope. A pink magic circle was printed on the small square, the unmistakable sigil of the Thaumiel clan in the center.
Damian Thaumiel, a devil thought to be a fallen star revealed to be a monster hiding in broad daylight. He rose like a rocket eight years ago before complete radio silence concealed him for nearly eight years.
In that timeframe, there were rumors of various dealings with the Church, the Shinto Faction, the Four Satans, and even a war with the Vampires but nothing was confirmed. For a while, his sky high reputation fell into that of a local myth of sorts.
And then the Infinite Dragon began spreading rumors. Reincarnating both Dragon Emperors, birthing an Emperor of his own, hoarding four Longinus, his status as the protector of the Shinto, and so much more it was impossible to list it all.
By itself, that would be enough to boost him at least into the top 50 and that was a conservative estimate. But then the Jade Emperor personally confirmed the most ridiculous rumor of them all and Damian Thaumiel rose from not even on the list to third place.
"Can't exactly refuse can I?" Sighing in resignation Magnus injected his energy into the mini circle, his vision momentarily warping before he found himself somewhere he had never even seen before.
Space was clearly odd, purposefully in all likelihood, and seemed to stretch on infinitely all around them. The ground was a crimson dirt that was almost sand like but far too solid, a mysterious material that Magnus had never seen before.
Colors of all kinds rotated throughout the sky revealing just where they were. The Dimensional Gap, a land of damnation where not even gods could last more than a few hours. Of course, to a monster like Damian Thaumiel that was probably nothing.
Around Magnus were fourteen people, most of whom he had heard of at least once. Sairaorg Bael, Ingvild Leviathan, Meredith Ordinton, and plenty more familiar faces. Over half had a Longinus but if Magnus were to guess he'd say all of them did but didn't announce it.
"Only one absence. That isn't horrible." Closing the book in his hand shut loudly Damian Thaumeil was the first to speak. Unlike what Magnus had heard though, his face wasn't stoic and his attire was far from formal.
Rather than a uniform, suit, or any other formal attire he wore what appeared to be standard teacher attire and large rimmed glasses. In his hand was a large ruler and by his side was what seemed to be an elementary student sitting atop a desk.
"Let's skip all the unnecessary chatter, we aren't exactly rich on time. You've all read the letter so let's just talk about countermeasures. As it stands now, most of you aren't going to be helpful." Damian began, a friendly smile on his face.
"How blunt." Murmuring softly in annoyance the only human royalty in the room, Meredith Ordinton, had an amused smile on her face. She was far from wrong either, Damian wasn't exactly sugarcoating his words.
"Like I said, we don't have much time." Damian refuted casually. "Three high tier Longius are on Hades' side of the board alongside the dozens of Gods and numerous Grim Reapers under his employ. To put it bluntly, we're fucked."
"Yes, it does seem that way. We can't even get the larger factions publicly involved as we have no plausible evidence." Dulio Gesualdo, the Ace of Michael spoke with a frown. As it stood now, Hades was actually on the good side.
"Yup, that's why we're here. In real time, I'd say we have about a week until Hades declares war. Over there though, we have about six months. It might not be plenty but I'll make do. Other people will be joining in but for now, you guys will be my cute little students." Damian revealed.
Confusion washed over them all for less than a second before their minds went blank, their bodies slumping forward before their bodies were suspended up by pink chains. For the next week, they'd be going through hell.
And Damian would watch the 'wall' in the meantime.
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