"Nothing," he paused and he breathed out. "You are dealing with a devil—not just any demons."
Lyrica confusingly looked at him. She must have shortened hearing but she can tell what Lukas was trying to say. In the tartarus, where beasts and monsters reside, beneath its surface lay the cruelest land amongst Armenia.
This land is known by humans as hell, but this place is known by the Armenians as the purgatory of the underworld, the land of suffering and beings that live there. They are called demons, an infected living being who fell down from earth and became a demon.
The incarnation of a living death. Amongst these cruel creators of destruction, comes the loyal servant of the underworld and the place where Athena was exiled.
"I received reports from the Moirai, they said that one devil escaped the underworld and it's currently plunging fear in the Human Realm—here," said Lukas.
There are ranks in the deepest origin of tartarus—underworld, one of them is the devils. The devils contained 4 types of ranking, 4th to 1st rank devils. While demons are basically monsters are pawns to these devils.
Demons however are different. They lack intelligence, and self awareness. The demons can only do what was said, and what was told. They are pawns on the devil's chessboard, and demons who follow the devils order.
They don't have self control.
Long time ago, the story of the underworld wasn't originally like that. The underworld is a purgatory of pain and suffering, where death meets the eye with another death.
It was a long story about how the underworld was divided. When Athena, the goddess who fell so low from the depths of darkness was just the beautiful warm goddess of war, and military. She was kind, and wise; she was known as 'Pallas' and 'protector of the city'. Athena was a goddess of war as good as Ares.
She pledged her loyalty to her father, Zeus, and led many battles and victories.
However, one day Armenia meets an eye with chaos. The beautiful land of Armenia was shaken by a moaning destruction, and the sound of suffering. Demons from the deepest part of tartarus went rampage, and killed millions of mortals outside its realm.
The gods and goddesses did not foresee this destruction until it fully happened. Because of this, Apollo had taken responsibility for the prophecy that had mistakenly conveyed and he spent his 5 months in prison as his punishment.
During those moments of needs, and pain, also came the moment of fighting and arguing of gods and goddesses in the Armenia. The Great Olympian mountain did soon lose its power, demons reached the top of their temples and doomed that land.
It was an inevitable process, but Zeus had enough. To bring back the peace of Armenia, and bring prosperous peace once again. A plan was arranged to destroy the orb that was made in the tartarus group and send the demons back to the underworld.
Until that very moment. Ares attended the meeting, he was there as Athena's partner. Like Athena, he was a loyal sword of Zeus who swore loyalty to the Godfather.
He witnessed the chaotic meeting between Hades, Poseidon, Demeter and Hera. An argument between three against one, and the perpetrator is Hades. He ruled over tartarus for many centuries, he knew better why he was being blamed.
Because he ruled tartarus and he was responsible for the loss of millions of mortals.
Hera and Demeter want his cooperation in order to see his domain. Poseidon wants him to admit his fault, and so this argument didn't go well. In the end Ares tried to lessen the trouble by volunteering as a person who will go down tartarus and destroy the crystal.
Until Athena declines...
It should have been Ares who went to Tartarus and fought Hades till death, but Athena refuses to let him go. So on the night of that same day, without Zeus' permission, and for the first time in Athena's life, she disobeyed Zeus and left for tartarus.
Lyrica only remembers a few of that story. Since Caleb wasn't telling them anything more than how Athena was sweet and loving before. Now, the biggest secret they want to know is 'how Athena lost herself and became a villain goddess?'
"Major!" Because she was so lost in her own thoughts that she left Valkyries alone, only did she come back once Valerie yelled at her.
She shook her head and looked at the monitor. "I am listening," she said.
"We've got a problem, the demon—are you sure it's a demon? When did the demon start talking!"
She gulped and looked at the monitor, but when she looked, the monitor was blurred. "What happened!?" She asks the crew and they look at her confused.
"Tsh!"
She then pressed keys on the keyboard and coded something. A new window appeared, there she looked at it quietly. The new window covers the entire screen, and then a video appears. It is a camera—a drone who guards the entrance of the building.
She controls the drone and flies towards the ship. However, her eyes widened, and the ship that was located just beside went missing. What happened? She thought and then gulped.
The ship suddenly disappeared!
"Major, are you there? Cassandra and I are holding this demon back, but we can't fight him in our condition, something has happened to the ship, we can't leave and identify it."
Of course, the ship, the destroyer? She looked closely at the place where the ship was supposed to be. If it disappeared, then it must be the work of a devil, the devil Valerie was fighting.
"Listen closely, Valerie and Cass. You are dealing with a lower class devil, the level is too high for you to fight those things off. If you think that your life is in-danger, I recommend you to run! Abort the mission if the case is possible, but if you can hold it—" she stopped and then she looked at Lukas.
He remains seated on the couch, while being calm and quiet. Looks like he did notice and notify them of a bigger problem. She gritted her teeth and she went back typing stuff on the computer.
"How many Valkyries survive the battle?" she asked.
Valerie looked at the surroundings and then breathed out. "We went in as a small group, but now half of us has been defeated, only me and Cass remain."
Although, she wouldn't worry about the Valkyrie who was destroyed. It still bugs her that they've been defeated even though they've trained so hard.
"How much can you hold it?" Valerie's small snore made Lyrica paused.
What if they can't hold it? What will happen? They'll lose even if Valerie was there.
"I couldn't say, but we will try to defeat it."
She might have underestimated Valerie's resolve. True that she's weaker now, but she survived countless impossible battles. Despite that, she won all of them.
She quietly watched the battle and decided to confront Lukas. "Hey, Lukas, what happened to Athena?"
How was the devil born? Who created them? Is it her? Is it Athena? She wanted to know so badly.
He looked at her and he stood up, then he went in front of the computer where the speaker was located. He ignored Lyrica's question and opened the speaker.
"Hey, frozen heart, release your Aria!"
Because of this, Lyrica pulls him off in anger. "What are you doing!?"
It's clear that Lukas knows something but is hiding it.
"I am helping, can't you see?" He sarcastically said and chuckled.
It's as if he's trying to convince her that this is all for the greater good. It's hard trusting Lukas sometimes, and now this!?
"You are well aware that releasing her Aria can lead to destruction! Why did you have to suggest that!?"
He pulled her back and grabbed his vest from her tight fingers. "Because devils can't be defeated by Espers, only the power of Aria can defeat that devil, do you get it?"
What?
She pulled her hand down due to shock. She then slowly moved backwards. If that's the case, why didn't he tell her earlier?
"You could've said that earlier! But—" she paused and shifted her gaze. "We don't have enough drugs to stop her, it's too risky."
He looked at her confused. "What do you mean not enough? How do you make those drugs anyways?"
"Rina was the one who made the drugs but two years ago, she went back to Armenia and since then she's unable to come back. We only have less drugs now, because we used too many of the drugs while trying to fix her declined Aria."
Only when they meet Rina again can they have an infinite supply of that drug. Only Rina can make the drug, and since they've been using it on the force shield, it's not enough to make anymore without Rina's Aria.
If they use another batch, it won't be enough but... Lyrica bites her lips, they'll be back to Armenia anyways, should it be better to use it now?
She looked at Lukas and frowned. "If we use this last batch of drugs, can you protect her until we refill the stocks? Lukas, take responsibility for this action! Will you do this?"
Lukas shifted his gaze and breathed out, then he crossed his arms. "Even if you won't order me, Ares will surely do so, don't worry. I've sworn to protect her, because Armenia—no, because Myrrh Academy will be the place where her destiny might collapse. He is there after all."