The chimes on Midnight's Garden of Souls rang, indicating another soul is due to be collected, so he stood and walked to the door. He came to the location of the deceased individuals, but what laid in front of him were not the souls of the dead but a couple of empty husks. It was a massacre, a scene so rare even he cannot fathom the cause. Midnight knelt beside one of the dead bodies and realized their eyes were all open and in a state of suspended animation.
"Hallowed eyes, warm bodies and the stench of sulfur.. he's now here." He confirmed to himself
"Is he?" Asked an Archangel
"Or was it you disguising as something else?" Added a Principality
"What's a Principality doing down here?" Midnight answered back
"I should be the one asking you questions reaper, but just so you know, i came to record this uncanny deaths." The Principality replied
"Hmm well this is not my style, and their deaths are unripe. What's worse is that i have no souls to harvest from these bodies. That means someone stole from me!" Midnight stated
The Principality Angel took a good look at the eyes of each corpse and wrote down the details on his book. While he does that the Archangel is watching over Midnight with a sword pointed at him.
"Be careful with that birdie, you might cut yourself." Midnight stated
"The blade only becomes deadly when you're pointing it against another threat." The Archangel replied
"Lower your weapon War Saint. He's telling the truth, someone or something else killed these people." The Principality uttered
"See?" Midnight humored
"Don't be so confident Reaper, you're still an enemy of ours." The Principality exclaimed
"And so are you." Midnight answered as he turned his back on them
"Well i'll be off now. I've got a lot of chasing to do." He added
A door appeared in front of Midnight and he left the two angels at the scene. When he got home, he immediately grabbed a bottle of wine and poured the liquor into his glass. He sat on a couch and contemplated the things that could've possibly happened. After a sip, he was called by a voice that came out of nowhere.
"Reaper..are you searching for the souls you lost?" Says the voice
"I know you." He answered
"I'll give them back if you want." The voice continued
"How kind of you. What's the catch?" Midnight replied
"Catch? Hahaha! Come on old friend, i just wanna talk. Let's grab lunch together." The voice offered
"Okay then, i'm on my way." Midnight answered
Midnight walked in front of a big mirror, paused for a while and punched the mirror breaking it. When he saw his reflections on the scattered fragments on the floor he calmed himself and took his coat from the rack.
On a certain restaurant, Midnight arrived. He entered the restaurant and immediately saw a man sitting in a corner, so walked and approached the man.
"You never come late, old friend." The man greeted
"Arthos." Midnight replied
"It's been a long time, old friend." The man answered with a smile.
"How did you escape?" Midnight asked
"Woah! Why are you so hasty? Come on, first things first." Arthos answered
He called the waiter so the both of them could order their food. The waiter gave them the menu and they did went over each of the pages.
"Man this new era has a lot of wonderful things! I mean look at this one, and this and this and this." A lot had changed from 8,000 years ago." Arthos exclaimed with excitement
"I'm done with mine. Are you?" Midnight asked
"Oh wait..i'll add this one. There you go, thanks!" Arthos handed the menu to the waiter
"How have you been old friend?" Asked Arthos
"Let's not fool each other now shall we? Why have you come?" Midnight asked
"What? I just wanna talk to you, that's all. 8,000 years inside that cube is not a joke you know. It's super lonely there. And besides i missed my old friend." Arthos explained
"Spare me the courtesy Arthos!! I know you deep inside!" Midnight exclaimed in irritation
There was a moment of silence between them which was only broken when their food came. The food were all set on their table but Midnight was so eager to know the truth that he was about to open his mouth again to ask.
"Eat first." Says Arthos
"It's bad manners to talk while eating." He added.
Midnight couldn't make him talk so he did follow what he said and ate. The next minutes was silent but sophisticated as they had their fill of the food.
"Now, are settled?" Asked Midnight
"Yes, what were you asking about again?" Says Arthos
"How did you escape from your prison?"
"When you sealed me on that little box 8,000 years ago, my power and strength had been cut in half and was stored inside a soul stone. Escape for me was a mere impossible until 14 years ago when a group of excavators discovered the ruins of an old temple underground where you hid the soulstone. That soulstone was auctioned and was bought by a wealthy-greedy human who had a taste for treasures. That son-of-a-bitch had a little maggot of a child who accidentally toppled over the soulstone and released the other half of my power. Ofcourse i still cannot escape from your puny little toy, or so you thought. The good thing is, you had cut my power in half which means you had also cut my essence in two, i swapped my physical body with my ethereal body which was roaming around freely. Fast forward, voila! I am in front of you now! Isn't that wonderful?"
"This is unaaceptable!" Midnight uttered in anger
"Oh but don't worry, i am not as strong as i used to since the other half of my power is still missing. That is why for now to satiate my hunger i feed on the souls of these lowly creatures." You see, we are not that different after all. You reap their souls when it's due, and i devour them when i'm hungry. We're the same good old pals! Hahaha!" Arthos stated
"Don't you ever compare me to you, you vile beast! I shepherd the souls of the dead so they can go to the afterlife! You..you are nothing but an atrocity of this world!" Midnight exclaimed
"Slow down with your words Mr. Midnight. I know your true name. Don't you forget that it's not just the soul that i devour but also their names. A being with no name does not exist." Arthos grinned
"Don't push your luck Arthos! Have you forgotten who i am? I am death itself, and death no longer holds a name. Not even you can escape me, I can reap you anytime i want demon!" Midnight threatened him with his scythe on Arthos' neck.
"Hehe i was just kidding old friend. Phew! you're still good with manipulating time that these mortals didn't notice your huge graincutter." Arthos joked around while
slowly tilting his neck away from the scythe.
"Very well, i just wanna say it's great seeing you again after all those years. I'll go first then." Arthos stood up and walked to the door.
"I think you forgot something." Midnight said
"Hmm? Oh those petty souls?" Arthos grinned menacingly and disappeared
"That blasphemous worm! Ugh!" Midnight berrated in his mind
"Great! And now i have to pay for all these! (Sigh)" he added in irritation
Midnight called for the waiter and paid for their food then left feeling dismayed.
Meanwhile, back at the hospital, Cody was showing signs of recovery. Serena got a call from a hospital staff so she drove off to see him. Tyriel on the other hand was resting inside the church's maze, he was sitting on the side of the fountain as he was pouring water on his wings.
"Hmm she's not here, where could she be? Oh wait, who's that over there? Oh poor little lamb, does it hurt? Does it burn? I can help soothe the pain." Arthos came out of nowhere.
"A human? But how can he see me? I didn't sense him coming." Tyriel asks himself in disbelief
"Oh yes i am very human you see!" Replies Arthos who slowly walks to him.
"No, you're no human! Reveal your true self fiend!!" Tyriel draw his sword
"Wait..you're an Archangel?..but you appear not. Hmm i don't get it!" Arthos said in mockery
"Come and see for yourself! Taunts Tyriel
"I thought i'd have a worthy fight. Too bad you're not a good match for me. Well i guess i'll leave him to you guys." Arthos said as he summoned three lesser demons
"Kill him, eat him, do whatever you like." He added then disappeared
The moment Arthos left, it was but a single swing of Tyriel's sword and all the three demons were felled.
The corpse of the demons evaporated into thin air. Tyriel looked into the distance with a puzzling thought on his mind, but eventually he brushed it off and went on his way to catch up with Serena knowing her life is now in even greater danger.