Deep within the sprawling bowls of the Theocracy, Jack narrowed his eyes as the putrid scent of decay assaulted his nose with every step he took into the abyss.

It was a foul odor, a sickly sweet texture that clung to Jack as he moved his way down.

Then, he felt it, a presence that irked the raven spirit within.

Lilith stirred, Jack's murderous ideation rising as every iota of his being screamed to rip and tear.

“Lieutenant,” Jack said to Jessica, the woman nearly hugging him with her rifle raised. “Take your team surface-side and rejoin with Yukino to lock down the passageways, I'll go it alone from here.”

Jessica gave Jack a sideways glance, apprehension readily on display behind her white visor.

Despite the advanced armor they wore and gadgets, the imperial commandos were ill-equipped if fighting occurred in such a narrow corridor.

This they knew, but duty compelled them to protest.

Jack shook his head as Jessica began to open her mouth.

“Back to the surface, what happens next is only something I can deal with, you'll only slow me down.”

Reluctantly, Jessica pursed her lips but ordered the commandos back, allowing Jack to be alone.

Yet, he wasn’t truly alone. With him was Sahaqiel, Lilith, and Ruby. Three souls whose existences were tied to his.

Assured by their presence, Jack stepped into the darkness.

As he went, the ominous energy seemed to increase the deeper he traversed until finally, Jack came to a large metal bulkhead surrounded by various security systems.

Jack turned his head upwards, focusing on the camera with its red light aimed at him.

Sara, can you see inside? What am I dealing with?

The angel took a moment before responding.

“I’m… unsure. Whatever is inside, I can’t see. It’s like there's a barrier of energy creating a void to my senses,” Sahaqiel replied.

Loud it is then. Jack said, gathering mana to himself.

Suddenly the intercom beside the bulkhead crackled to life, a high-pitched, almost maniac voice that exiting from the machine.

Jack could already envision the man's smile.

“Mr. Knight. Or… shall I say your majesty? King Knight? Or doust thou prefer King Bell? Heh. My apologies, ehem. Welcome to my abode my child, if you would give me but a moment, I shall unloc-”

Jack placed his palm to the bulkhead, the mana around him swirling until it became visible as he inhaled…

Then exhaled.

What happened next was a massive detonation, a blast of concussive force generated from wind propelled by Jack’s mana that blew open the metal gate.

Almost immediately Jack was greeted by a hail of gunfire and vicious snarls.

Jack’s eyes lit up, his golden pupils flaring with crimson marks as he activated numerous buffs and walked into the stainless white-coated hallway.

More chimeras… Jack said to himself, his hand decapitating a hybrid beast of man and monster, a nightmare creature fused by mana and animated by science as the trademark of the Green Bishop.

Two, three, maybe four dozen? Jack counted, standing in the center of the hall as his eyes darted left and right amidst the bullets and claws bouncing off his mana barrier.

“I will give everyone three seconds to surrender before I kill you all,” Jack said loudly, less of a threat and a guaranteed fact, his voice filled with conviction that his winds carried through every crevice of the facility.

Still, despite his offer, the monsters and papal guards kept attacking, his words falling upon empty ears to the defenders who fired from behind makeshift barricades of desks and lockers.

Stolen story; please report.

Well… I tried.

His silver wings flapped once before breaking apart, the Daedalus armory rising above Jack to create a hundred daggers that floated and spun above him.

Then, on Jack’s command, the silver knives in the shape of feathers flew, exploding in every direction to paint the white room red with gore and ichor.

Corpses of both human and monster fell, the noise that once clouded the white hallway now silent with Jack alone left standing.

Did he enjoy the work? No. Did he feel guilty? No. All Jack felt was a numbness as he walked and slaughtered his way through the minions of his hated foe.

“Marvelous… Absolutely marvelous!” A voice from an intercom within the facility cried, swooning over Jack who left bloody footprints in his wake. “I had heard of your exploits, but to see my child so grown! So strong! My Angel, my bird! KRIEG! KRIEG!”

Sara, where is he? Jack sent, ignoring the ravings of the mad scientist.

“I… I can’t tell,” Sahaqiel sent back, the archangel feeling an ominous energy that seemed to stain their surroundings.

“If I had to guess. He’s in the Observation deck.” Lilith answered, the raven-haired woman directing Jack to a hallway on his left.

Jack turned, walking through the facility guided by Lilith until he stood upon a room of green vats filled with viscous gore and cages lined with tattered flesh.

Flashbacks took hold of Jack, memories not his own but Lilith’s, shadowed glimpses of a life forsaken.

“Let's move on. Please.” Lilith hissed, perhaps the only time Jack had heard the fallen spirit say please.

“The intake…” Jack whispered, his jaw clenching as he eyed a large cage nearby that at one point or another, had been filled by children.

Guilt and anger took hold in Jack’s heart, fuel that tightened his fists until his palms bled despite his mind not feeling such emotions.

“Jack, we need to move on,” Sahaqiel said, refocusing Jack amidst the anger clouding his vision.

Jack pressed on, continuing past numerous numbered chambers that were empty or opened, rooms that once held the captives and experiments of the Green Bishop’s project. Captives like Lilith.

This will not be Celeste’s future… Jack vowed.

“Take a right here,” Lilith instructed, a cold calm pressing at the back of Jack’s mind as more memories took him. Memories of being blind-folded, memories of being marched up and down these pristine white-halls for days, months, and years on end.

In a way, Jack felt at home.

More home here within this artificial land than nearly any other place. But he knew it wasn’t his emotions but rather Lilith’s. The original host of his power brought back to the origin of her creation.

“Yes! YES MY CHILD! Come to me, come back to papa! You are more than I had-” The maniacal voice cackled through an intercom that was soon silenced by a silver feather.

Jack brushed it off and kept moving, focusing on the mission as his nails dug into his flesh and his jaw clenched, the taste of hatred like a venom upon his tongue.

Every step Jack took he saw and experienced the emotions and memories of Lilith. Every turn, every pivot, every inch he moved closer to the ominous presence seemed to bleed Lilith’s memories onto Jack until his surrounds were filled by a hallway of ghosts.

In a way, it was almost akin to phantom pain that took root in Jack, something he knew wasn’t there but, in a way, was. A trick to his senses that demanded recognition of the suffering they’d endured.

Imaginary screams filled Jack’s ears, sickening laughter plagued his mind, sorrowful tears, and images of broken children flooded Jack’s eyes.

Jack’s pace soon began to falter, his movements slowed by the echoes of shattered lives clawing at him and demanding he look at them.

Still, Jack’s heart remained iron-clast, his emotions dulled as he listened to their suffering.

Finally, Jack came to another bulkhead, this one different than the others. It was opened, two nest agents flanking the door like an honorguard awaiting Jack’s presence.

“Be careful Jack. This will be unlike anything we’ve ever been up against,” Sahaqiel warned.

I know. Jack replied, narrowing his eyes at the vile energy that poured forth from the darkness that seemed darker than black.

Jack entered the massive room as the nest agents hit the floor, both bird-beasts executed by his silver wings spreading out.

In front of Jack, he could make out a mass of… something within the darkness, something even his angel vision couldn’t discern.

“H-how… why?!” Sahaqiel yelped in horror, the angel taking aback as Jack’s eyes adjusted to focus on the hundreds of children joined together by metal cranium devices linked to a glob of pulsating raw flesh.

Before Jack could fully process the horror of what he was witnessing, a light from above shone, revealing a bulky man in the garments of a priest upon a balcony smiling down at Jack.

“Welcome home my angel,” The Green Bishop grinned, his eyes in the shape of crescents behind round-rim glasses that were ill fitting for a man of his burley stature.

Bloodlust took hold, Jack’s hand going up and unleashing a lighting bolt that arcing through the air only to strike futility against a golden barrier that shimmered to life to protect the mad scientist.

“BASTARD! BASTARD! BASTARD!!!!!” Lilith screamed, the mere sight of The Green Bishop sending a shockwave of liquid rage through Jack's body.

Following Jack’s failed attack, every light within the room turned on, illuminating every crevice of the training hall as the bulkhead behind Jack closed.

“Rude, is that how you greet your creator? Nay! Your father,” The Green Bishop said, his voice warped with the disappointment of a parent reprimanding a child. “At least say hello to your other siblings!”

At the Bishop’s words, the crowd of immobile humans shuddered, their heads rising, both short and tall, all eyes flaring red as they fixed their fish-like eyes on Jack.

“Shit,” Jack said to the chorus of a thousand wails letting out their banshee cry.