Part 3
Raziel stood in front of a large blood-stained puddle on the ground as his wings stabbed the puddle and the ground where Nereus body once was.
Nereus body was gone, leaving only the puddle of blood on the ground.
Raziel watched as the puddle was absorbed into the wings.
"And once again, as I stated before, a pitiful end" With that statement, his six wings began to stretch outward behind him.
Suddenly, the wings began to illuminate.
Small particles of light flaked off the wings into the air around him as the wings began to disappear.
He turned his head at the sound of soft footsteps approaching.
"If you are here before me, then I assume that you completed our task.
"Of course, but if I didn't complete it, you probably had another plan ready to go just in case," said Alistair as he appeared to be walking between the trees.
Smirking, Raziel turned his head.
"It is not wrong to have plans should everything go wrong"
Alistair placed his hands in his pockets.
"Speaking of plans, did you calculate all this too regarding Haruko?"
Raziel looked up at the sky to see the multiple lightning strikes move very slowly across the night sky.
"While the Crystal Guardian powers are no doubt impressive in their own right, it is not the ability I was hoping to awaken at this time. Generally, among the general plans that I have calculated, I allow them to occur naturally, but in rare cases, I can also force those very same plans to reach my desired results. The biggest obstacle among the plans I hypothesized is that everyone reacts differently; therefore, no one individual is the same"
Raziel turned his head back to look at Alistair.
"I believe the humans call it fight or flight. The best I can do is work off a plan based on the subject pattern behavior, throw the outside variables at them, and see what happens. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that the girl came into the city, nor is it a coincidence that the individual known as Haruko Matsumoto has been within this city"
Raziel turned his head and began walking away down a path.
There was silence between the two.
"You know, with all these plans, backup plans, variations, and failsafes you conjure up, I have been meaning to ask you: what is the end goal, the end of all of this?" Alistair asked, causing Raziel to stop walking.
A slight breeze began to pick up.
"What is one plus two?" Raziel asked nonchalantly.
"You're joking, right?" Alistair replied.
"It is a simple question; therefore, it has a simple answer. What is one plus two?"Raziel as he turned to face
Alistair sighed, "Three"
"That is correct, but think of it this way: say that we remove the answer from that equation and just focus on the one and two. Let's say that the one in the equation is life in its most basic form, just a normal man, and then let's say that the number two is the information that we have gathered throughout, whether it is through the use of experiments or by supernatural abilities. If those two make up the equation, then what would be the answer?"
Alistair stared at the man, not understanding Raziel's question.
"Reality" Raziel replied.
"Reality" Alistair repeated.
"It is defined as the world or state in which things exist as opposed to an idealistic idea of them. The number one is not important to the equation, but rather the number two is. The more information we gather and understand, the more our grasps on reality will increase, thus changing that number two into another number. Just like the first human to understand fire, to the first human that understood magic, humanity will have no choice but to evolve with the information that is gained"
Raziel looked up at the night sky.
"My end goal is to see it"
"It?" Alistair questioned "What is supposed to be it?"
"What lies beyond this current reality? I want to see everything beyond. Is there anything beyond, or perhaps there is nothing? I want to see it with my own eyes. That beyond is, despite my best efforts, not something I can reach with my own methods; that's why this city exists. Whether it is through both their arrogance or ignorance, if they don't find an answer, they will create a situation where that answer can be found in time"
Raziel started to walk away.
"I will leave Haruko Matsumoto in your hands for the time being; if you could please have him checked out, I would hate to have him perish before I have calculated anything regarding him"
Alistair turned in the other direction.
"And the girl?"
"I'll figure out what to do with her later. Right now, I have some matters to attend to" Raziel said as he began walking down the path between the trees.
And with that, both men went their separate ways into the night.
As Raziel was walking down the path, a thought came to him.
(Haruko Matsumoto is an odd one, truly)
Each step moving one foot in front of the other.
(The Crystal Guardian)
Raziel grinned.
(Who would have thought that in my plan regarding him, another anomaly would emerge? One that even I could not foreseen)
Raziel walks into an open field to a loud silence in the area.
(A new Crystal Guardian over an element no one has ever seen before. It is rumored that when all six Crystal Guardians are brought into existence, the world will suffer a paradigm shift unlike any other)
As Raziel kept walking, he stopped in front of a larger crater in the ground
(And now two currently exist within this city.)
His eyes drifted down into the crater, and there he saw it.
Half covered in dirt and blood was the shriveled-up right arm of Haruko Matsumoto that was cut off earlier by Nereus. Its appearance was as if all the moisture was completely sucked out of it.
"It seems that tonight is full of surprises for the twilight of the new world. Four Crystal Guardians down, two to go"
Chapter 6: END