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***
Carrying Ichika in his arms, Emeric met his entourage outside.
Not far from him, the fallen were bound in a single pile. Akeno had bound the four invaders with magical bonds that periodically discharged lightning bolts. She herself watched with sadistic pleasure.
His bishop did have an occasional ill temper, which was multiplied when encountering her sworn enemies. Despite being half-fallen herself, Akeno had no patience for other members of her people. Emeric was even a little surprised that she didn't just kill them right away.
Valerie sat on one of the stumps and looked at the whole scene with a truly bored expression on her face. Behind her back, semi-mechanical white wings that had feathers of blue light were developing. As soon as Emeric appeared with Ichika in his arms, Valerie immediately stood up and crossed her arms over her chest. Her raised eyebrow as if asking him, "So what's going on here?"
«Are you serious about wanting a Red bearer in your entourage? - She asked him when she realized Emeric wasn't going to explain anything to her. - King, have you forgotten who I am?
«Is this going to be a problem? - He asked before placing Ichika on the spread jacket of his uniform. Emeric began to run a magical diagnostic on the girl. Everything was horrible. Multiple fractures, blood loss, and most importantly, a huge loss of life force. Unless there was a focused recovery, the girl wouldn't last a couple years. We'll have to go into debt to Sairaorg....
«Of course it's going to be a problem! Albion and Dryg! - She exploded at his indifference. - Sworn enemies who had stretched their deadly enmity through millennia! Napoleon Bonaparte and Duke Wellington! Ivan the Terrible and Andrei Kurbsky! Yes, even Mozart and Salieri, though their battle was of a different sort! - she took a breath and began to cut circles around Emeric. - For the last thousand years, almost every historical deadly confrontation between two people has involved bearers of White and Red, who ended up killing each other!
«So you'll be the obvious exception to the story... - Emeric shrugged indifferently, reaching into his spatial pocket and trying to find something there. - We'll all have a different ending. An incredibly boring happy ending, where in the epilogue we'll decide whether we'll walk down the aisle together or take turns.
«Ooh-foo-foo-foo-foo," Akeno began to giggle into her palm as Valerie gulped for air in shock. - Emeric-sama, are you going to use Phoenix Tears? But wouldn't it be better to use Figures right away?
«Mmm... - he chewed his lip. - I don't want to confront her with the fact. Everyone should have a choice, and reincarnating into a demon would completely change the trajectory of Ichika's life. Don't worry, something tells me she'll be our new addition anyway.
Emeric carefully opened a small ornate glass vial and poured it into the girl's mouth. The wounds began to heal and Ichika was finally able to breathe.
Phoenix Tears. A famous and incredibly rare commodity that only one family from the demonic Pillars can produce. The eponymous Phoenix family. Fabulously expensive, so much so that some dynasties of mages have to serve the Phoenix family for generations to obtain a single vial. This healing potion can pull almost anyone from the other side of the world while they're still breathing. One of the most incredible healing remedies the entire supernatural world knows.
«P-fff... - Valerie snorted angrily before flying away.
Staring into the horizon behind the receding figure, Emeric realized that he would need to address this issue soon. He didn't need emotional time bombs in his entourage. And Valerie was the oldest member of his entourage and he knew about the many cockroaches in her head. Valerie was an incredibly strong and prickly person on the outside, but on the inside she was a notorious coward. Plus the dragon factor in her soul made her a jealous woman.
«Emeric-sama... - Akeno whispered languidly in his ear. The bishop practically clung to him and pressed her voluminous breasts against him while keeping her languorous gaze on him. - I did a good job, didn't I? Doesn't your favorite servant deserve a reward? - she practically sang to him.
Gremory placed one hand on the girl's back and the other on her lower nineties, lightly squeezing her buttock and eliciting a moan from her. The girl practically lay on top of him and completely surrendered herself to his power. Emeric nestled against Akeno's neck and began nibbling aggressively on it, eliciting even louder and huskier moans.
Abruptly stopping his attacks on Akeno, Emeric sighed in frustration. Trying to control his own arousal, Emeric stroked the girl's rounded parts one last time and let her go.
«E-me-erik-sama?...? - Akeno, who was as red as a cancer, called out perplexedly, trying to catch her breath.
In response, Gremory simply shook his head in the direction of the onlookers, who were trying their best not to give away their location. The Fallen hoped that the couple would play along and perhaps even forget about them.
Akeno tsked and looked at the fallen with more irritation than before. She followed Emeric, standing behind his left shoulder, trying to get her clothes in order.
«Ahem... - Gremory stretched and crunched his stiff shoulders. Perhaps the last six months of peace had taken its toll on him. Still, it felt good to be back in the thick of things! - All right, gentlemen of the fallen, let's get things straight," Emeric signaled to Akeno to tighten the magical bonds, causing them to groan. - What were you doing in my city?
«We were just passing by...A-A-A....
Just the lie that had begun, Akeno chopped down with a good lightning charge on Emeric's orders.
«Let me help you," Emeric waited for them to get their brains back in order after the "fun" discharge. And Akeno was just incredibly enjoying what was happening. - Kokabiel and the task he has assigned you. What does he want?
«We ain't gonna tell you shit.
He sighed tiredly. Would he really have to call in the experts from the clan nest? Given the intensity of Akeno's charges, they might not be able to bear such interrogations.
«Stop! Stop!" the panting blue-haired Fallen began to beg him to stop. - Contact Azazel! If he guarantees our safety, we'll tell him everything!
Azazel? Leader of the Grigori and the highest-ranking fallen angel among their people. The leader of the Grigori and the highest-ranking fallen angel among their people.
So what do you get...
Cockabiel is most likely conducting some kind of covert business without informing his faction leader. And they want Azazel to cover themselves from the imminent retribution that Cockabiel will want to inflict on the fallen who betrayed him. It's actually not a bad idea. I just need to contact my sister, and she'll make all the arrangements...
The Fallen, as one, began to shriek sharply and agonizingly, though Akeno was doing nothing at this moment in time.
Emeric and Akeno had to jump away from the convulsing bunch of fallen angels. They began to sputter. The entire surface of their clothes, along with their skin, began to be covered with terrible blue veins. Wing feathers and hair began to dissolve into small particles and immediately dissipate. Some very unpleasant self-dissolving mechanism. And, trying to feel the whole process, Emeric came to the conclusion that most likely the "button" had been pressed far away from here.
«Akeno? - He asked his bishop in an extremely calm manner.
«Я... - anxiously, she stared anxiously at the place where the fallen were whole and healthy a few seconds ago. - I don't know...
Emeric mumbled thoughtfully a couple times, looking at the mound of ashes. Apparently Cockabiel really doesn't want his secrets to be revealed. But in any case, today's incident is something he is obligated to tell his family. If one of Grigori's leaders wants to do something in his town, they need to know.
But there's no way to find out?
Completely immersed in his feelings, he began to compare facts and tried to hook his mind into that ephemeral sense of conjecture. He didn't always need proof to be sure of something. Premonition, intuition, you could call it many different things, but often Emeric relied on just such a sense of "knowing". Perhaps it was also a gift of sorts.
He could not explain the feeling in words, but it was as if Fate itself was giving him clues. In his meditation thousands of pictures from the past and the future opened before him. Absolutely everything was immediately forgotten, but he could keep some intangible feeling of "knowledge".
Often he felt like he'd made it all up for himself. And really, he was just lucky.
«Found it... - In a half trance, Emeric turned around to the ruined church and headed there. - Akeno, guard Ichika.
«Got it.
Akeno didn't ask questions, as she knew her king well. Some questions were not meant to be answered. Especially if even Emeric himself could not fully explain his feelings.
Gremory looked around the abandoned church once more, trying to listen to his senses. He couldn't rely on his magical senses, because it was a church, and he was a demon. Something could easily be missed.
He walked along the benches and came to a large old wooden cross at the end of the hall.
"There it is! The Inrean tablet!" - Emeric put his hand to the small plaque.
Usually there is always a wooden plaque hanging above Jesus, called the Inrei plaque. It usually bears the inscription "INRI" or "Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum", which means Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. It thus serves as a symbolic element to complement the image of the cross and emphasize the tragic events of the execution of the cross.
And this old sign wasn't covered in dust, unlike everything else in the place. Suspiciously clean for a place like this.
Taking off, Emeric lightly circled the sign and, when he realized it was a moving element, flipped it over.
Holding back his elation, the demon flew into the basement that opened up, but only devastation met him there.
A small room with broken exorcist equipment was present, but that was all. From the traces left behind, Emeric determined that the fallen had taken everything of value from this place.
So that's what this is about!
Cockabiel had ordered them to take something from this place and then give it to him. And, remembering how the fallen spoke of the task accomplished, he had achieved his goal. That is, they had accomplished the main task of handing things over, and afterward, they decided to just steal a random Sacred Mechanism. As they say, for the change...
Well, basically, nothing changed for him. He still doesn't know what's going on!
Emeric, overwhelmed with frustration, was about to leave, but his attention was drawn to a perfectly ordinary pile of boulders. Not believing his senses, he dug through the pile by hand and found a dusty silver medallion.
And it was made of demonic sterling silver! How did an accessory created in Hell end up in the center of the church?
With the trepidation of a little explorer, Emeric opened it, but the photograph inside had long since rotted away.
Just the lettering on the inside of the lid:
To my favorite sister, Claria.
Your brother.
***
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