Gabe's eyes were glued to the deactivated teleporter, its shimmering surface now still and lifeless. The news had hit him like a physical blow: they were trapped. Imprisoned by a creature powerful enough to block the passage of holy mana.
A chilling numbness spread through his body as the familiar lecture points echoed in his thoughts. "A demonic beast can generate a mana storm, trapping anything within its radius. This phenomenon has only been observed in Apocalypses and higher-level threats. In worse cases, a King can sever the connection between an angel and a Paladin."
He could only utter a few words as the dread settled in.
"What do we do?"
Asura opened his mouth to speak, but the words were cut short by a violent eruption of bloody bile. He doubled over and gripped his knees for support.
"I-bluagh."
Mel and Rose's eyes widened, startled by the blood pooling onto the ground before the ogre.
"Asura-"
The large doors opened behind the group, casting the candlelight into the room just enough for the group to notice. The group's reaction was immediate: weapons drawn, stances ready. Their instincts screamed that the monster had broken through the barrier.
"Oh my! Asura!"
Aliza's voice called out before rushing through the room past everyone. She grabbed hold of Asura, placing her hand on his back to pour her mana into his body. Asura tried to speak, but another wave of bile spilled out.
"Hey-Blaugh!"
Aliza's eyes widened in fear as her mouth tightened. Her voice was urgent, surprised by what she had found inside,
"Your inside are all bleeding! What-,"
he glanced around at the others, bewildered. They stood there, seemingly untouched, without a single scratch.
"What happened?"
Before any of them could utter a word, she spoke an incantation,
"Judex mends the broken places within. Through Azrealia's grace, we find comfort in our souls."
Asura gasped as the holy mana washed over his body like warm water, soothing tender muscles. His injuries began to mend, but the lightning formed with pure, holy mana had pierced through his body. His insides were a roadmap of destruction, the burning having etched pathways Aliza could effortlessly trace.
Rose spoke as the others watched,
"The teleporter doesn't work. We activated the incantation, but it resulted in a mana storm emerging from the center."
Rose stopped short as Asura coughed, another wave of bile erupting onto the floor.
"He was struck by the mana several times."
Aliza's mouth twitched in disbelief, her brow unable to remain still. The thought of enduring the refined mana piercing through the body made her skin crawl.
"Y-you let him?"
Tristen understood her concern, but he decided they had to take the risk with a few remaining options.
"Lady Aliza, I don't think you heard us. We're trapped, and we have no way to request reinforcements."
Aliza's brow furrowed as she looked at Tristen. The words had finally registered.
"If the teleporter doesn't, we have to contact Mary and Mark. Send an urgent S.O.S call to The Temple-"
"It's blocked as well."
Aliza's jaw tightened, a hard line appearing in her cheek. "An Apocalypse." Her mind could only linger on those words. It was a fear she never wished to face. Without the support of The Temple, their cathedral stood no chance against such a threat.
"If its an Apocalypse-"
Through a large heap of bile pouring from his mouth, Asura uttered four words,
"It's not an Apocalypse."
The five heads swiveled in unison, watching the ogre's clumsy attempts to regain his composure. Mel asked,
"What do you mean it's not an Apocalypse? There's nothing else that can block the path of holy mana."
Asura wiped his mouth, rising slightly to look at her.
"You guys label things too much. There's Nubiliths that can easily block this without being that strong."
"Nubilith?"
"Shadows. Forgive me for calling them by their proper names."
He groaned as his stomach rumbled again, feeling the effect of the mana trying to mend his broken body,
"It's a demon. A bonified demon. In the flesh, nothin' more."
Gabe stared blankly, his confusion evident in his eyes.
"Are not all monsters demons?"
"No, ya dingle-f... It's different."
Tristen lifted a brow, intrigued by such a label from the monster who despised the word,
"Like from hell?"
Asura's white eyes never waivered, maintaining a serious gaze as the shadow cast over his eyes,
"I don't know where it comes from. We monsters just know of them.
He straightened his back as Aliza held her hand against his body. She tried to help, but Asura ignored her aid,
"They are monsters that feed off of a specific sin. They get consumed by it. They lose their sanity as it becomes addictive, like a drug."
"It's strong, but it ain't no Apocalypse."
Rose's monotone expression never shifted as she asked,
"How do you know that?"
"Cause it can't find the witch yet."
As if related, Aliza, Tristen, and Gabe's brows twitched before furrowing in unison. Aliza asked as if oblivious,
"Witch?"
Asura nodded, then raised a finger to motion for them to wait a moment as he doubled over. He prepared to heave but stopped,
"Wait, False Alarm. Yeah, a witch. It's huntin' a witch. Earlier, it asked for a halfbreed, that's how I know."
Asura glared at Rose, expecting another accusation, but found she had reached the same conclusion. Instead, she asked another question as if Asura had the answer,
"So it's a shadow, as you said? One that morphed into a demon because of a sin?"
He wished he could claim the race of the demon, as it would allow them to pinpoint its weakness, but it birthed no quotidian mana. Its most startling quality was the lack of mana, or rather lack of touch on the world the creature had. Shadows had a scent of gunpowder, but Mr. Smiles smelled of nothing.
It also never wielded magic over the elements to create spells like the shadows did. Rather, the demon appeared to wield a force of nature unseen by the eye. The easiest explanation Asura could think of was a kinetic force since it took what you struck it with and returned it threefold.
"No, it's not a shadow. It ain't a vampire, either. I honestly don't know what race it belongs to. But, I believe its sin is gluttony."
Mel's face flushed as the memory of her mother being torn apart and eaten piece by piece plagued her mind. Aliza stared at the ground, asking with hope behind her words,
"Does that help us?"
The ogre let out a sigh, one that left their hearts sinking into their stomach,
"To be specific, it's the demon of agony. It feeds off the pain of others. That's why we can't hurt it through brute force."
Mel gritted her teeth, her eyes filled with anger as she thought of hiding from the demon.
"But it's not an Apocalypse?"
Asura was oblivious at first to her emotion, answering without caution,
"No, it's nowhere near as strong as one. Just has a rule we have to work around."
Tristen crossed his arms as he asked,
"A rule?"
Asura glanced at the man, who appeared like a baseball batter. He could not help but snort in laughter,
"Like a blessing y'all got. Ya know? Mel can swap her gun's forms. You can do the tally thing. This demon stops force from harming it."
Mel pulled her lips in as she nodded,
"So we can exorcise it then. That's our game plan."
Asura stood taken aback as he looked at Mel with concern,
"Game plan? Our game plan is to live."
Mel stood confidently before the others as if trying to take charge of the group,
"We can't just hide from it. You said it yourself that it was weaker than an Apocalypse. There are people in the city we can't abandon. Why are you cowering away all of a sudden? You're the same ogre that insists on fighting everything you see!"
"I'm not cowering away? I'm simply bein' smart, unlike Miss, I'mma keep shooting at the thing that shrugs it off like its raindrops."
Mel's face reddened at Asura's remark,
"We can box it in with Michael's incantation. Use it as a prison to confine it so we can perform an exorcism."
"And how do you suggest we do that? Walk right up to the thing that can see us without eyes?"
Asura threw his hands up in exaggeration as he finished,
"It's got the damn moon watchin' us. So tell me, how well that's going to go."
The ogre, anticipating Aliza's scolding for his error, turned to face her. However, he was cut short as his stomach twisted. A different kind of reprimand from his own body took precedence as he doubled over and vomited. The mixture of holy white flames and bloody bile splashed before them.
To Asura's surprise, it was not Mel who responded but Gabe,
"I'm with Mel. We can't abandon the people in the city..."
"I-I'm not sayin' we gotta abandon them. We just gotta be smart."
Rose's gaze never drifted from Mel, taking notice of Mel's desire to take leadership over the others.
"As the current leader, I agree. We tried an attack, and it failed. Now, it has a spell observing us from the sky. We have to be careful."
Her red eyes locked with Mel's, the amber and red radiating as they challenged one another.
"I know we need to be cautious, but we won't get information on it just by sitting in the cathedral. We have to find the witch before it does. We can use an incantation to track-"
Asura interjected, swiftly trying to shut down Mel's aggressive attack,
"Didn't it fizzle last time? It should've picked up its quotidian mana, but it didn't. Which means the witch is good at hiding. Good enough to hide from the f-... the dude with the moon."
Mel's face twisted into a scowl as she spoke,
"So we have to go look for her first. If it finds her then its obviously bad. We can't just sit here and wait it out. Even if we need reinforcements, we have to make it outside the city. These people-"
Asura growled at Mel's insistence,
"Quit acting like you care more about these people than you do for getting revenge."
The words cut deep against Mel, her fists clenching as she gritted her teeth to hold her words. She would never admit it, but he was right. She desired revenge more than anything.
"These people will suffer the same fate my family did if we let this thing live."
"I'm not sayin' we let it live. We die if we're stupid. It may not be an Apocalypse, but you try fighting something that gets stronger when you hit it. Oh wait, you did. And we got our ass beat."
Mel opened her mouth to speak, but Rose's voice, no longer monotone, now rang with authority,
"Mel, stop. We can't waste time here bickering over this."
Tension filled the room, but Rose's words resonated with everyone present. Now was not the time to be fighting with one another. Though their opinions clashed on what to do next, the urgency of the situation demanded a decision. "Do we go out to hunt or stay in to buy time?" Both solutions left Rose with a bitter taste in her mouth. Before she could conclude their best option, Aliza spoke, and with her words, another possibility presented itself.
"We should check the observation room for any changes. It won't show us the demon's location, but it might display where the witch hides."
The ogre pinched his brow and turned to the older woman who stood at his side,
"How would that work if you didn't see her before on it?"
"The witch has to know the situation became more dire with the spell cast on the moon. We don't know its effects yet, but it can't be good. With that said, the witch might show herself to catch our attention. It would be in their best interest to survive."
Asura stood upright as the cavities left inside his body had finally healed. He stretched out with his arms, finally able to breathe without the urge to expel his stomach's content.
"I like it—Aliza's right. You guys have a deal with the witches, so they might believe you'll come to their aid."
There was no one who could refuse Aliza's proposition. Though Gabe and Mel were eager to hunt the city's demon, they knew knowledge was power. They yielded, joining the others as they walked out of the teleporter room toward the observation room on the other side of the cathedral. The citizens watched diligently as they passed, studying their expressions to the finest detail.
Hundreds of faces turned to watch them pass, their gazes pressing down on them like physical weights. Asura struggled to maintain his composure, understanding the weight of the crowd's gaze and their desperate need for some sign, be it of impending doom or a chance for salvation.
The ogre looked at Gabe, who was trying and failing to hide his frown behind his hand. If people even caught a glimpse of doom, it would result in mass panic. Asura grabbed the man's hand, throwing it away from his mouth.
"Quit. You look stupid, and it's worse than frowning. At least you look like you're thinkin' when you frown."
Gabe's eyes lowered as he let out a sigh. He whispered to Asura,
"How do we fight it?"
"If we find the witch. We can bait it out. We change the odds to our favor at that point. But, we can't just run into it."
"What if we don't find her?"
Asura glanced from Gabe to Mel's back, calculating the impact of his words as if she were listening,
"I have an incantation that can bind evil. It's one of Uriel's. But I don't know if it will work on it. Worst case scenario, we go in blind and try Mel's plan, and I use Uriel's prisoner-of-war incantation."
"Why didn't you use it earlier?"
The ogre spoke with no regret, clearly adamant his choice not to use it was correct,
"Mr. Smiles would've struck me the moment I spoke the first part. There's no way he'd let me finish."
Asura's voice dropped to a lower register as he spoke his final words, clearly indicating his intent.
"We can't strike Mr. Smiles anymore. Exorcism has to be our next move."
After walking across the cathedral, the group arrived at another steel door that resembled the one that fortified the teleporter. Like the other, the large and unwieldy frame required all of Aliza's strength to slide open. There, a large room was revealed, and candles simultaneously sparked to life.
Asura stood in awe as he walked inside with the others,
"Every time I see that, it's like magic."
The room's black steel walls were a canvas for glowing golden runes, a powerful incantation reinforcing their structure. Near the top of each wall, golden candle holders rested, providing the light for the entire room.
However, the center captured Asura's attention. A massive black marble slab stood, edged to hold white sand spread evenly across its base. To the side of the table, two more inscribed pillars stood, reminiscent of the teleporter's power source.
The moment they stepped inside, the aura of holy mana emanating from the pillars was unmistakable. It pressed against Asura's body, assuring the ogre why they contained the room with the same measures as the other.
"How come you put this room so far?"
Rose answered curtly, not bothering to look at the ogre.
"We don't want two bombs next to each other."
The pillars hummed excitedly as the mana coursed through the rock, releasing a subtle vibration.
"Hm. Makes sense."
Without thinking, Asura walked forward and scooped the sand in his hand, watching it fall from his gasp. It was soft and rolled smoothly from his hand. He watched as Aliza walked past and up toward one of the pillars. Her words came swiftly, delivered in a calm, almost gentle, but undeniably corrective tone.
"Don't mess with the sand."
The ogre abruptly dropped the rest, smoothing the mounds he had created with his palm.
"Sorry."
Aliza pressed her hand against the pillar before casting an incantation,
"Judex shall pluck up the weeds that defile his garden. Through Gabriel shall the wickedness hidden in darkness be made known."
The mana flowed from the pillars, pouring into the table, and the sand quaked as it followed its course. The white sand shifted and rose as if alive. If it had not been for Mary's cathedral, Asura would have been dumbfounded as it started to take shape. The remarkable sight of the sand creating detailed buildings, lights, bushes, and trees left Asura giggling internally like a kid with building blocks.
He longed to stomp on the table like a mighty beast laying waste to a city. The shimmering sand, infused with mana, had shaped itself into a finely crafted replica. Everything, from the cathedral to the now-destroyed Casino, was projected onto the sand. Hundreds of buildings were crowded into blocks, with large skyscrapers towering watching from above.
Yet, the sand was still unmoved in an almost perfect circle around the cathedral. It remained flat, unyielding to the mana, as though the buildings had vanished. An eerie stillness settled over the city, making it adrift like an island lost in a vast, silent sea.
They gazed upon the formed portion of the city as the inescapable sense of entrapment returned. Asura stared at the cathedral encircled before him,
"I hate the moon."