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  The island was within sight, and the team was able to get an accurate estimation of how large it was. The island was about a mile in diameter with a singular castle in the center made from ancient stone. There was no vegitation on the island, only a small patch of grass around the perimeter of the castle which already stuggled to survive. There could be seen glints of light as the armor of the many templars shined against the break in the storm. The sky grew foggy with dark clouds looming on the horizon, giving the island a sense of imminent danger.

  On the approach, the twelve members of Eric's negotiation party were all as calm as a still lake. They were liesurely relaxing on the boat, with Elas even building a chair of ice with which to lounge. Draco was lying on a few bags of sand as though he was expecting a platter of delicacies to be brought by one of the templars. Lucia was propped up against the side of the ship with Lilly napping lightly on her thigh. The eight covered clones of Eric were all relaxing in various positions around the ship, completely at ease. 

  Once the ship made it to the port, the templars did all of the work to get the ship onto the pier. The party stepped off the ship, stretching their arms and legs until they were told to stop stalling for time. The group then climbed the short way to the entrance of that castle. It was eerily silent for a fortress, but the group entered without issue.

  "This way," said the priest, gesturing towards a neaerby door that led further into the castle.

  "How did you manage to build this entire castle so far away from the shore?" Lilly asked curiously.

  "We didn't," was the priest's response, "it was already here when we got here. From the tomes that we've been able to decipher, this used to be the home of an ancient hero."

  "An ancient hero?"

  "Yes, one of the oldest summoned heroes from the beginning of recorded history," the priest elaborated. "Back then, the demons were an existence that lived in this world. They were a nation of their own until the heroes were able to push them back into their own world. Those were dark times of which the heroes saved us all."

  The priest led the group through a few halls were templars lined the walls, then into a room with enough chairs to occupy an entire office building. There was a table in the center that already had a lot of the church's upper echelon discussing something. They immediately went silent when Lucia, Elas, Draco, and Lilly stepped into the room.

  "Stay in the halls," Lucia told the eight figures in black. One of them nodded, then closed the door leaving the room silent with tension. Lucia eyed the pope, who returned her ire with a hard glare.

  "Where are the items we discussed?" he demanded, and Lucia turned to Draco. The dragon-man reached into his jacket and pulled out a glowing hourglass about the size of a softball. He handed it to the rabbit demi-human, who handed it to the tiger demi-human, who set it on the table. A lot of the church officials shifted in their seats that the demi-humans had been so provocative in all of them touching their most sacred item.

  "And the Demonic Armor set?" the pope continued.

  "Not until we have Eric," Lucia told them flatly. She put her hand on the Celestial Clock and said, "This is as much goodwill as we're willing to forward you without any results. Take us to Eric right now, or you will never see your Demonic Armor ever again."

  "I'm afraid that's not possible," said the pope with an eery smile. "You see, your owner, Eric Bane, is currently undergoing work to remove his Divine Weapon."

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  "WHAT?!" Lucia shouted, almost roaring outright.

  "It's clear that he doesn't have what it takes to control the power he was bestowed by god," the pope continued, "so we'll be taking that power back. Someone who is more appropriate will be the one wielding the Divine Weapons."

  Lucia grabbed the Celestial Clock, tossing it back to Draco who caught it with a single hand.

  "Don't think you'll get away with this," Lucia told the pope, but the old man just chuckled.

  "And where exactly do you think you will go?" the pope questioned with a crude smile. "The instant you stepped inside of these walls, the ship you came in on left. You have nowhere to go!"

  "Then neither do you," Lilly reminded them.

  "That's what you think," said the deacon to the pope's right. After he said that, the deacon suddenly went entirely limp, dropping to the floor with blank eyes. One by one, every member at the table suddenly went limp and dropped to the floor, giving the impression that there was some gas in the room.

  "What is this?" Elas demanded, covering her mouth in case it was some gas in the air.

  "It's the slave seal," said the pope, opening his robes to reveal the sigil of the slave on his own chest. "If used on a cadaver, it can be turned into a puppet."

  "You bastards!" Lucia shouted angrily. "Don't you realize that we still have your Clock and Armor?" Right after she said that, Draco's hand went to his coat pocket. He reached in, then took off his coat and started to shake it mercilessly.

  "It's gone," Draco said, looking at the coat with wide eyes, "the clock is gone."

  "It's your own fault," said the pope with a grin, "you were the ones who decided to fight against the heavens. Now you shall know your sins."

  With those final words, the pope suddenly went limp, with his head rolling forward with dead eyes. He smacked his head on the table, then rolled onto the floor with the rest of the upper echelon. The seething rage that Eric's team was feeling suddenly subsided, suddenly going from anger to the status quo. Lilly knocked on the door, then one of the covered figures opened the door and peaked in.

  "How did it go?" Eric's clone asked curiously.

  "Perfectly," said Elas with a wicked grin, "they shouldn't suspect a thing."

  "And the Celestial Clock?"

  "They took the bait," Draco said with a smile.

  Sitting in a room almost identical to the one that their puppets had occupied, the old pope looked at the table where a glowing Celestial Clock was sitting. It's shine was enough to illuminate the entire room on it's own, and the clergy which sorrounded the table stared at it in awe.

  "Brother's," the pope declared grandly, "today, we have our victory. With this, the scourge of Eric Bain will finally be silenced."

  "Yes, great father," said the clergy in unison.

  "Activate the portal," said the pope with a victorious feeling in his chest. "Let the heathens drown in their own kin." The clergy left the room, giving their respects to the pope as they all left the room. Once the entire room was empty, the pope relaxed a little while staring at the Celestial Clock. It's brilliant glow seemed to have a calming effect, filling the old man with a sense of justification.

  'For this,' he thought to himself, 'I would give my life.'

  The pope reached out for the old fashioned grain clock, but then he squinted his eyes to see through the light. He grabbed the glass containment, feeling the edge of the wood for the engraving around the side. He turned it over, feeling all around it until he finally felt a very short message that had been carved into the side of the clock.

  'Fooled you.'

  A feeling of indescribable rage filled the pope, and so he threw the fake to the ground hard enough for it to shatter. The old man clenched a wrinkled fist, his blood pressure rising as his anger rose to boiling point.

  Then his face went ghostly white, as he realized the implications of what he had done. The pope sat in a room alone, thinking on the implications that the end of the world was nigh. When the portal was opened, the demons would pour in endlessly, spreading like a plague as the world watched in horror. The silence was as suffocating as any noxious gas, leaving the old man to his misery.

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