The brothers sat with two different stares as they processed the new information. Gabe had wide eyes filled with curiosity and a smirk that showed he had accepted the decision. While Tristen sat with his brows furrowed, causing wrinkles on his forehead and a slight frown. However, his face relaxed as he thought for a moment and then spoke,
"I'll trust him if he shows us Uriel's mana."
Mary made it clear to Asura that he was never to reveal his mana to another human. That those who knew were to remain the only people who knew. However, after his fight with Sandman and Titus, he could not help but display his blessing from Uriel to defend himself. He dreaded the conversation that would commence once it reached Mary's ears.
If his ears could vomit, they might've from the long lectures she often gave. To prevent this, Asura decided he'd deny any accusations of ever revealing his mana. But, once he met Aliza, who declared his relationship with the angel to the world, his story crumbled, and dread consumed his heart. She announced as she raced up to him in the hallway,
"Oh, you poor child of Uriel. How can you suffer so?"
He sat stunned momentarily and followed her and Mary to Aliza's office. There, he tried to craft another story but was stumped as the woman easily accepted the fact. Asura asked Aliza another question before he proceeded,
"How come you knew I had Uriel's blessing? Also, why don't you care I am a monster with it?"
Aliza's light-blue eyes glimmered as she looked at Asura,
"Azrealia reveals how a person is suffering. The compassion they've shown to others. And lastly, their sins to help them heal. What you did for others in that city was beautiful. You are a selfless ogre who will do anything for those you care for."
Mel snorted at the comment and laughed as she replied,
"I don't know about selfless, but sure."
Aliza turned to look down at the child with displeased eyes,
"That comment is unnecessary, and to speak about him when he fought for you and others. Who held the metal that melted to their skin as they protected their comrades?"
Mel looked up, and her eyes shifted as the memory was pulled to the forefront of her mind. Every detail was burnt into his memory as branding as its smell of burning flesh, buildings, and the screams of people emerged. She looked down with ashamed eyes as she muttered,
"Sorry."
Asura would have laughed if anyone other than Aliza had corrected Mel, but her motherly tone and composure left him with his mouth sealed. Asura asked another question in response to her statement, confused further by the answer to the last.
"You saw the moment he chose me?"
"Yes. Those memories are revealed to me."
Asura's eyes widened as he realized the implications,
"Then can you see all of them?"
Aliza chuckled, and her face crinkled in amusement. She believed his question came from embarrassment as she answered,
"No, I can't see them all. Just the recent ones... Actually, most of your memories are hidden behind a black veil... I have never seen it before."
Asura looked up at the ceiling with disappointment.
"But they are there?"
Aliza continued,
"Yes, but what happened for them to be hidden away?"
Asura sighed as he answered,
"I guess I forgot... I don't remember a lot."
Aliza grabbed hold of Asura's shoulder and smiled to comfort the ogre.
"They will return. I know it."
Asura lifted his arms up above his head, spreading his lats as he stretched his four arms.
"Yeah, I hope so. Alrighty, I guess I'll show ya my cool moves."
Asura smiled smugly as he stuck his four arms out, drawing attention to the white runes burned onto his skin. The runes glowed brightly, even in the daylight, as if luminescent. As Gabe and Tristen studied the markings, it became clear that they were all ancient words lost to The Temple after Uriel's reclusion.
Although they had images of these markings, none could decipher them. It was as if Uriel erased the knowledge of the runes' meaning from the entire human race's mind. However, it was generally theorized by the scholars who taught trainees that they were scriptures of war or enchantments that could only be used by a wielder of Uriel's mana.
The sight of them being on the monster's skin was already proof of Uriel's blessing being present. However, the two were left in awe as they watched each one ignite with white fire. Tristen and Gabe leaned forward in their chair, trying to get as close as possible to the famous Uriel's flame.
Tristen muttered under his breath,
"To think a monster wields Uriel's fire... Holy shit."
Aliza snapped and pointed with disapproval at Tristen,
"Do not curse!"
The calm and welcoming atmosphere quickly shifted into an unsettling cold feeling. Asura couldn't help but find it resembled the feeling of a vast, empty concrete basement. The isolated void was unnerving. Although there were others around him, they felt too far to reach or speak it. Asura's fire was extinguished by a pressure grabbing hold of his forearms.
The five stared with scared eyes as they looked at Aliza's darkened face. Her motherly features that were filled with love were now plagued by disapproval. Then, just as the feeling came, it disappeared, and the warmth returned. "I ain't cursing around her... She's scarier than the old man." Asura thought to himself as he watched her face lighten.
It was clear to everyone that the atmosphere was due to Aliza expelling Azrealia's mana, but when she was displeased, it quickly became cold daggers that bore into the skin. The lack of warmth was unnerving after becoming consumed by it in her presence. Tristen held up his hands apologetically as he spoke up,
"Y-yes, ma'am. I'm sorry."
Rose's quiet, monotone voice startled Asura as she asked Tristen,
"So you accept him then? There won't be any issues with him on the team after this?"
Tristen looked across the room at Rose, who remained still like a statue.
"Yeah. No problems. I'll trust him if Uriel does."
Asura lifted a brow at Tristens acceptance,
"Really? Just like that?"
The two exchanged looks as Gabe responded happily,
"Uriel is the guardian angel of my-our family. Our mother used to read us the scripture of the Archangel every night when we were younger. Tristen and I used to dream-"
Tristen smacked the side of Gabe's head as he grumbled out,
"We trust Uriel's decision. That's why."
Asura prodded the topic more, curious about their view on monsters.
"Ya called me a demon earlier... and you're still fine with me being Uriel's chosen?"
Tristen looked back at Asura, lifting his wooden baseball bat into his lap as he responded.
"Demon or not, you got chosen, and we didn't. You can walk into the cathedral because of it, which usually kills your kind. Aliza accepts you... Well, she accepts everyone, but I have seen her kill the vile evil scum that is your kind. I'd be stupid to reject you if you're here to kill the thing hunting us."
"Maybe it takes one to kill one, ya know?"
Asura chuckled at Tristens's last comment, finding the thought amusing and similar to his sense of humor. Before he could open his mouth to respond, Mel corrected Tristen,
"He actually entered the cathedral before he got the blessings."
The man furrowed his brow at Mel's declaration,
"He entered before?"
"Yup. Apparently, he had no mana before he got Uriel's. That might be why he can have mana. What'd you call monster mana?"
Asura answered without thinking,
"Quotidian."
"Quotidian?"
"Yes."
Mel pursed the right side of her mouth and rolled her eyes as she continued her conversation with Tristen,
"Yeah, so he was a loser that had nothing, unlike the other guys, and I guess since he was empty, he could have holy mana."
Gabe's eyes lit up, and his fists clenched on his lap,
"That's so cool!"
Tristen raised one eyebrow as he rested his head on one arm,
"I guess that explains a lot. He's already an anomaly so its believable."
The ogre snapped at Mel, jabbing a finger in her direction,
"I ain't a loser! I'm super dope. A cool guy, many would say... Honestly, the weirdest and most unbelievable thing is how easily you accepted that whole thing."
Tristen shrugged at Asura,
"Well, you can't lie to Aliza. Otherwise, she would beat the truth out of ya, and we'd know anyway."
"Hm. Noted."
The ogre turned to the older woman, who walked around the desk they stood before and sat in the wooden cushioned chair on the other side. She looked pleased by Tristen's statement and was utterly content to accept it as the truth. Her lack of denial scared the ogre as she smiled up at him. Wanting to change the topic, Asura returned to what Tristen said earlier,
"You said the thing was hunting you?"
The man's face darkened underneath the hat as he relived a painful memory,
"Yeah... It's killed two teams already, alongside a lot of civilians."
Rose asked coldly as her red eyes never blinked as she stared at Tristen.
"So priests have died, people have died, and two Paladins left. They are two of the best Paladins, may I say. What aren't you telling us?"
Her monotone voice with a lack of compassion caused Mel to whip her head towards Rose,
"Hey!"
Aliza sighed as she responded,
"No, it's alright. There is a reason why we only requested a few Paladins."
"Firstly, Sandman and Titus were visiting for other reasons. They were already given a difficult and timely task before coming. However, the two stayed longer than they should've to provide help."
Aliza rubbed her forehead as she continued,
"When they were here, the creature killed near the borders of the quarantine, far away from the two, and hid its presence completely. We can't track it no matter how hard we try. No observation table can show its location, no incantations can follow it..."
"Before they arrived and when we first found out about its existence, it killed every priest sent to its whereabouts. We've honestly only heard about it from civilians and the dead corpses left behind. We haven't seen it in person."
Mel deeply furrowed her brows, causing deep wrinkles,
"You haven't seen it?"
Aliza sadly shook her head slowly as she continued,
"No... All we know is that it looks like a person, and it's tall and lanky. It looks skinny, as if it's starved all its life, and wears a large black trench coat over its body."
Mel looked up at Asura with a questioning look as she asked,
"Sound like one of your friends?"
Asura scoffed at her dumb question,
"No, it's not a friend of mine."
Rose interrupted the two, trying to continue the conversation,
"If you know it's untrackable and hiding from high-ranked Paladins, why did you request more lower-ranked Paladins? This request should be sent to an Archknight to dispose of the creature."
Aliza looked down at a paper placed in the center of her desk. Her face softened, and the edges of her lips curved downward into a frown as she answered,
"We tried to. The Temple hasn't responded since the quarantine. Every message I've sent has been ignored..."
"So I sent a distress call for help to nearby cities without The Temple's knowledge. I figured the holy mana presence between lower-ranked Paladins would be less detectable than Titus or Sandman and draw the creature out."
Rose responded with a serious tone, which felt abnormal to Mel and Asura,
"What were the ranks of the priests it killed?"
"Three high priests and four priests."
"A Paladin hasn't died?"
Aliza shook her head,
"We only have three—me, Tristen, and Gabe. However, Gabe is a trainee with zero experience. He was supposed to be trained at Asherscast."
Gabe held his hands up in defense and rambled, trying to prove his usefulness,
"But I can help. I have a blessing and know how to use it. I can be of help."
Ignoring Gabe's enthusiasm, Rose looked to Tristen, who returned the gaze,
"So you have one offensive Paladin that can be used."
Aliza looked to Tristen as well and responded,
"Yes. My blessing revolves around healing and protecting. I've used most of my mana to create a barrier outside the cathedral to protect the nearby citizens taking refuge in the buildings."
The ogre studied the older woman's disappointment and unhappiness on her face as she looked at the two men as if she were their mother. She seemed unhappy with the thought of sending the two to search for the creature while she remained safe.
"Although the circumstances are grim, we have heard that the creature bleeds and is wounded. We assume it's hiding because it's badly hurt. The civilian reports tell the same story of black ooze leaking from holes in its body. Which explains why it's hiding from Titus and Sandman."
Before another could chime in, Asura spoke up to try and cheer up the group as the mood darkened throughout the conversation.
"Well, now you have three bada-... Really cool Paladins here to help and kill the thing. We're kinda renowned, ya know. Slayers of Jormungandr. A big deal in the business."
The ogre's quirky movements and gestures left Aliza giggling as she watched him open his hands and try to display his greatness,
"It means a lot to me. So much more than you could imagine that you're here to help."
Her smile returned as she looked at the ogre. However, one important point from earlier in the conversation returned to Asura's mind. He asked,
"You said Titus and Sandman were here for other reasons? What were they?"
Aliza raised a brow at Asura's curiosity as if surprised by the question.
"He was here to be healed."
This astounded Asura even more as his jaw dropped open,
"Someone hurt Titus? Who the heck did that?"
"No. Sandman was healed."
Mel shook her head, and her eyes flew wide open as she reeled back in her chair, flabbergasted by the statement being uttered,
"That's horrifying. You're not saying this thing hurt Sandman, are you?"
Aliza shook her head and denied the question, hoping to reassure the group.
"No, no, no. Let me finish."
"Sandman wasn't healed because of an injury. He was healed because of lack of sleep."
Asura frowned and raised a brow, even more curious about his ailment.
"Lack of sleep? The guy who has the name Sandman can't sleep at night? He gets grumpy if he doesn't have his beauty sleep?"
The woman's light blue eyes darkened, and the ends of her brows drooped as a sad look spread across her face as Asura mocked the Paladin. He stopped as she continued,
"That boy hasn't slept in seven years. His blessing prevents him from sleeping. If he doesn't get healed regularly, his body will shut down..."
"However, his mind is enduring the toll as each day passes. It is a shame that he must endure such a thing... A curse I wouldn't wish on any soul."