Aleister woke to a dream of burning earth and ash filled skies.

Aleister knew in his bones that he was dreaming as a faint memory told him he had passed out after defeating Ulkry.Yet even as he gazed upon a field of burning earth, the heat and arid air made Aleister feel as if he stood clothed in flesh in this strange land. A strange land which shouldn’t exist anywhere on the continent of Geb, for to the best of Aleister’s knowledge the closest thing that the Empire of Geb had to a desert was the dried up and dead dust filled area around the town of Ulkiss, which was on the south-west perimeter of the circular road that connects Zephyr and Notos. The rest of the empire was covered in lush, green earth that bespoke a healthy and wondrous world.

As Aleister cast about himself, he had to wonder was this what normal humans dreamt like, and was this feeling of reality in dreams always in their minds to the point that they couldn’t make a distinction between either. And if so, how did mankind retain any form of sanity when they could never know where dreams began and reality ended?

Letting himself feel the world around him, Aleister could feel the difference, not only was he nowhere in the Empire of Geb, but he wasn’t even on the same world that he had been born into. The world around Aleister was so different that even without knowing the true intricacies of the elemental energies, Aleister could tell that they were absent from the world. The air no longer was filled with grace, the earth no longer resounded and what water Aleister could see wasn’t anything like the solvent of life that Aleister knew from the World of Geb.

Looking up at the ash filled sky which had formed a blanket of darkness that covered the heavens, Aleister could see that the sky reflected the red glow of the rivers of lava that covered and snaked across the landscape. The same landscape that spread out before him like some painting of what people believed Hell to be like. Looking about himself, Aleister turned around and found himself face to face with the one thing he had been searching for his entire life.

Aleister stood at the edge of a plateau that dipped down to a field of fire and lava with the occasional lake of sulphur and poisoned water. But behind him, at the centre of the plateau were five stalagmites, each almost in the perfectly round shape of a pillar that rose forebodingly out of the ground. The five pillars were in the positioning of a pentagram all fairly close together, and to an untrained eye, the pillars seemed naturally forming.

But Aleister saw the truth of them. Because as one who had lived his life with magic flowing in his veins and mages, paladins, priests and even alchemists and sorcerers living around him, Aleister could recognise the handiwork of magic, alchemy and mortal toil.

Magic had been used to shape those pillars both because each one possessed artificial markings around them, and also out of each of the pillars flowed a chain. A chain made from something that Aleister didn’t even consider corporeal. Instead, it was as if reality had been warped to form the chains that snaked out and bound Aleister’s father to the centre of the pentagram. Each of the chains wrapped around one of the demon’s limbs, with the chain from the fifth pillar stationed behind the demon attaching to his neck, making it all but impossible for the demon to even move a millimetre.

Stumbling towards his father, Aleister realised he was still in his natural, angelic form with his giant, black feathered, crystalline wings flapping behind him. Aleister knew he had been born more angel than demon as such his appearance when he didn’t seal his own powers was more like an angel, one who had been stained with darkness. Something, he had long tried to hide both from himself and most importantly from others. However as he ran towards what he knew to be his father, Aleister marvelled that he no longer cared if others saw his true visage.

Arriving at the edge of the pillars where his father was bound, Aleister knew in his bones that this demon was his father although he had no memories of the man. Reaching out, Aleister felt his hand seem to distort as he tried to pass through and into the area encircled by the pillars. Feeling the distortion and hearing a bell-like ringing echo out across the darkness and fire filled world, Aleister hastily pulled his hand back from the man that stood chained before him. Hearing the ringing bell-like noise, the chains seemed to clink as the demon stirred and looked up to see the son that he had longed to be with for years and years standing before him.

“M-my son,” stuttered the Demon as if he had forgotten how to shape words after being imprisoned in the circle for so long.

“Father,” breathed Aleister in reply, his eyes straining to see the downcast visage of his father’s face.

“Y-you have to leave,” wheezed the Demon, his voice filled with sorrow. “You stand in a world where even your special lineage means nothing. The creator of this world will kill you, I beg you my son run, run and live.”

“Father,” repeated Aleister, a thousand questions forming and disappearing from his mind in a single instant. All the while Aleister tried to peer at his father to learn, to see what he truly was, and whether he was a Demon of Hell or Discord.

“You must go,” said the Demon, even as he glanced up and saw that Aleister was not physically present. “Wake my son and live out your life and don’t try to save me, I have no desire to see you fall and die trying to do the impossible.”

Aleister opened his mouth to reply, but the sound that should have exited it seemed to vanish, like a stone would sink into water. Feeling the world distort again this time on the other side of his father, Aleister felt fear as the power of the being emerging from the warping world leaked power into the atmosphere that made Aleister’s bones scream with fear.

Feeling the same thing his son did, the demon screamed out as he thrashed against his restraints.

“WAAAAAKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE”

Waking with a start, the first thing Aleister saw was the interior of a church, the beautiful mosaic printed across the ceiling showing the beauty of Heaven and the angels that dwelt there. Stirring, Aleister realised that he was still in the same church where he fought against Ulkry. In fact, Aleister realised that he was lying atop the altar where the Tear of Ymir had been resting before he had picked it up to use against the Demon King.

Trying to sit up, Aleister froze as he realised that his crystalline wings had wrapped themselves around him and that they were now impeding his ability to sit up straight. Noticing that Aleister was stirring, the others in the room stopped and turned to look at the black winged angel.

Feeling their gazes upon him, Aleister turned his head and looked out to see that the horrors that Ulkry had inflicted on the town weren’t over yet. Among the pews of the church were dozens of bodies, some wrapped in blankets while others were bound in cocoons woven from a soft, warm fire.

Unfurling his wings, Aleister managed to sit up as he looked around horror struck to see that the people scattered amongst the pews were the same soulless people that Aleister and the rest of the God Squad had been cutting down. Tucking his wings behind his back, Aleister turned to sit on the side of the altar as a voice called out to him, one filled with relief and love.

“Brother,” said Edward as he raced over from his position amongst the people in the pews, his purple eyes filled with delight that his brother had finally woken.

“Edward,” said Aleister as his brother arrived before him in a black blur of motion.

“How are you feeling?” asked Edward, concern filling his face as he had not put either his hood or his balaclava back on leaving everything out in the open for all to see.

“I’m fine. I think I dreamt about something. What is all this?” asked Aleister as he gestured at the mass of unmoving but clearly alive people sprawled throughout the church.

Frowning at what his brother had said, Edward clearly wanted to ask Aleister about his dreams, yet before his curiosity could prevail, another voice cut in.

“These people are one last nightmare crafted by Ulkry,” said Grey as he straightened from where he had been crouching near to one of the unconscious townsmen. “When you used the Tear to purify the town of corruption whatever Ulkry had done to tear their souls out was also undone. These people are the result. It seems that Ymir pulled their souls out of Hell itself.”

Pausing to look at the many many people that scattered throughout the church, Grey’s face twisted and his voice filled with some bitterness as he spoke, his words horrible to hear.

“They were better off dead.”

Instead of reacting like most, Aleister agreed, for he had been taught what happens to human souls when they go to Hell and knew now that these people had returned, they would very likely spend the rest of their normal life spans just like this, comatose and wasting away. And those that did by some miracle wake would be so different from who they had been before that they might as well be completely different beings, if they weren’t filled with nothing but unyielding insanity.

“It’s not your fault brother,” said Edward as he placed his hand on his older brother’s shoulder.

Mystified at why Edward would do this, Aleister realised that his wings had been shaking, the same way a fist might shake if filled with rage or directionless anger. Getting his wings under control, Aleister looked around to see Jane, who had been at the far end of the church, and had started walking towards the rest of her group.

Blinking, Aleister realised that the church room while no longer filled with hellmist was somehow even vaster than what it had been when he had first come in here. Hopping off the altar, Aleister felt himself float as his black wings even while tucked behind his back used their innate properties to defy gravity. Quickly dispelling the effect, Aleister let himself fall victim to gravity so that his feet hit the ground before the others realised that he was floating, only to see Grey raise an eyebrow to show that he had glimpsed the lag where gravity had failed to engage.

“Edward’s right, it’s not your fault,” said Jane as she came to stand next to the group, all the while giving Grey a look. “I saw what happened when the town was purified. Not everyone had their souls returned. Some just keeled over dead. From the number of dead corpses we found, I would say that about a third of those still alive when you purified the town failed to live once their souls returned.”

Pausing, Jane looked at Aleister and when their eyes locked on to each other’s, she gave him a smile of reassurance.

“I suspect that this Ulkry, this demon, was the one that let their souls return to their bodies. In fact, I can imagine he did it to force you to torment yourself with questions about what you should have done differently,” said Jane, her brilliant, green eyes flashing as she spoke of the demon. “The demon wanted you to curse that you had dared to take the lives of the soulless husks that were moving around the town.”

Looking back at Jane as he processed what she had told him, Aleister saw the wisdom in not only what she was saying but that she had similar experience. Feeling gratitude at Jane’s words, Aleister relaxed, releasing himself from the stress and pain that had been building in the back of his mind after hearing and seeing the villagers’ fate. Even though he wanted to somehow convey his gratitude, a life time of concealing his hidden magic made Aleister remain stoic, a trait that extended to keeping the rest of his body under control so as not to reveal his emotions. A trait, Aleister had mastered over nearly every part of his body with the exception of his wings.

Hearing a rustle behind him, Aleister knew that his wings had shifted to show his gratitude, a fact that distracted him from the questions that were still burning through his mind. Glancing back at the crystalline wings hanging from his back, Aleister had to marvel that he was cursing his lack of control over his wings when a few days before the idea of even looking at them again could break him. Aleister still remembered when he was around ten when his wings had first manifested and the panic and fear of what his brethren would do to him for being a black winged demon had made him repress his magic for the next 10 years.

Looking forward, Aleister saw with a surreal incredulousness that Jane was looking with a warm acceptance at his wings and at Aleister himself. Not willing to yet deal with neither this fact nor what his brother must surely think of him, Aleister focused in on the details that Jane had mentioned in her verbal report.

“You searched the town?” asked Aleister, his voice steady yet laced with an undercurrent of uncertainty.

“Yes, I performed the search. My magic when configured correctly can be used to detect the heat of the living,” said Jane as if being able to see heat and feel the warmth of life from a distance wasn’t a big deal.

“After we found all of them, we took them here and have been caring for them since, until you woke up,” said Jane as she continued her report before her eyes flickered over to Edward who was griping his brother’s arm as if to make sure he was still real. “Your brother has been helping and I was even able to teach him the basics of using mana to heal. It’s been going surprisingly well and since Grey used to be a cleric, he’s been able to help heal in ways that I simply don’t know how to use mana for.”

Feeling a swell of pride that his brother was being praised for his true worth, Aleister looked in Edward’s direction to see his brother looking back with searching, questioning eyes, but eyes not filled with betrayal or hate, simply pure curiosity.

“You don’t have to worry, little angel,” said Grey, interrupting both Jane and the Maw Brothers. “We carried the survivors into the church ourselves. The army never set foot inside the church. We’re the only ones that saw your wings.”

Closing his eyes in relief, Aleister breathed deep before looking Grey in the eyes so that the paladin could see the true gratitude that Aleister felt.

“Thank you. Can I hear about what happened outside?” asked Aleister as he allowed his mind to leak out information to his brother. Knowledge that told Edward, Aleister simply needed time to steady himself before he told everyone what happened in the church, rather than the fact that he was unwilling.

Noticing the exchange between the brothers but choosing not to say anything, Grey launched into his story about what had happened while Aleister had disappeared into the church. He described how they had continued to fight the soulless until Edward had noticed that the connection between him and his brother had grown silent before realising that something was wrong. And once they had identified the problem, the three of them had pushed their respective battles towards the church before Edward had reported that his link to his brother’s mind had disappeared altogether. After hearing this and sensing Ulkry using his power to sever the connection between Heaven and Geb, Grey had decided he needed to use Slaphmir’s directed and unfiltered connection to the seraph, Samael to cleave open the church to allow the mental bond between the Maw Brothers to reconnect to see what was happening to Aleister.

When it had become obvious that the battle was over and that the corruption of the town had been undone, the three members had headed up to the church and found a corpse, a corpse melted and covered by black, hellish ooze. Next to the corpse had been Aleister who had passed out and had subconsciously wrapped himself in his wings. Grey and the others had been surprised, but in the end they had placed Aleister on the altar, returned to the train and reported that they would stay behind to tend to the survivors until help arrived.

Hearing the story Grey told and seeing that Edward’s mind was filled with a similar tale, Aleister felt a weight release off of him now that he knew that only the rest of the God Squad knew of his true, internal nature. Feeling relieved at what he had heard, Aleister told of the events that had transpired inside the church. Aleister told them everything, from the battles and what the Demon King had said and offered, to even why he had hidden this magic away for half of his life. Hearing what Aleister had gone through and how and what the Demon King had said, Grey’s face went through a range of emotions from suspicion to contemplation before finally settling back to his traditional madness.

“I have to thank you then,” said Jane as she too processed what Aleister had said and how the Tear of Ymir had been used to purge the corruption from the town of Symir. “If it wasn’t for you, we would probably be dead. I mean I was running low on mana and I know that these two weren’t far behind, so thank you for saving us all,” said Jane casually as if such narrow scrapes and slim chances of survival were something she was used to.

“Aren’t you covered in mana generating devices and don’t you have mana storage crystals?” asked Aleister, a little bewildered at the admission of how close she had come to running out of power.

“Yes, but I tend to use them more as a get out of trouble backup more than a second wind,” said Jane, her voice warm and rich despite the topic at hand.

“Disregarding how close we truly were to death,” said Grey as he eyed Jane as if trying to judge whether she had been telling the truth or trying to hide some of her abilities, before switching to a new topic, “I think based on everything that you said about Ulkry, that the demon was trying to alter the alignment of your soul. And in doing so prevent you from, at the very least, ever being able to enter Heaven, if not drag your soul down to such a negative alignment that you would fall to Hell upon death,” said Grey as he leaned against a pew as he scanned over Aleister as if he could somehow determine the alignment of Aleister’s soul. “I don’t think he succeeded nor do I think that a God of Heroes would help you if you were to be tainted by a demon’s twisted words. But what has me concerned is how did Ulkry know some of the things you described?”

Hearing Grey’s question, Aleister felt as if the air had been pressed out of him as he tried to remember if the demon had uttered things before Aleister himself had revealed them. Eyes widening in shock, Aleister looked at his fellow God Squad, and Aleister’s face and horror were enough to tell them that Ulkry had somehow known about them before Aleister had started to talk.

“Brother,” said Edward as he stood next to Aleister, his head down turned as he mind spun with thoughts and ideas. Of these thoughts the most important was the minute but distinct divergences that had stood out to Edward when he had heard the two different timelines of events. “When did you lose contact with me, because you said you only lost your connection with me when Ulkry severed the connection, but you went silent the moment that the doors to the church sealed shut,” said Edward, puzzlement radiating through him.

“That’s correct, you and I were still able to communicate, it was just muted, right?” asked Aleister as he remembered being inside the church alone with the demon.

“No brother that’s different from what I experienced,” said Edward as his purple eyes filled with worry for his brother.

Searching both his brother’s face for falsehood and his mind to try and see how and where the discrepancies lay, Edward came to the realisation just a moment before the rest of the squad.

“He was inside my mind,” said Aleister as a devastated look spread across his face, both his shoulders and wings dropping behind him as he finally let go of the façade of calm that he had been trying to maintain.

“Most likely,” said Grey as he looked around at the church before chuckling to himself, “but I think it might simply have been a by product of this church being corrupted.”

“You mean the fact that the inside is-“

“Bigger on the inside,” said Grey, finishing Aleister’s sentence.

“I had noticed that,” said Edward, his demon voice reverberating throughout the church, “This is the magic of the gods isn’t it? The so called World Create.”

“I thought it was called World Edit,” said Jane once again, not particularly surprised by the fact she was standing in a god crafted and non-Euclid building.

“Regardless of what you call it, this building has been altered by a god so that space and dimensions don’t flow correctly. A feature of this church, I’m willing to gamble, that Ulkry used to not only sever your mental connections, but damage the connection enough that he was able to use it to invade your mind,” said Grey warily as if afraid that the building would respond to his words.

“It’s also the same feature that is letting us care for all the survivors of Symir inside one building,” said Jane in chastisement, her tone leaving it clear she was unhappy with the Mad Paladin for one reason or another.

“A task we should be getting back to,” said Grey as he glanced around to check to see how the various survivors were doing. “We sent word out to the empire’s forces to tell them what happened here, and since demons are a church problem, they will be sending paladins and clerics here to clean up what’s left and to take care of the survivors.”

“Alright then,” said Jane as she turned around and began to walk off before pausing to say. “Edward if you still want more lessons, then come on.”

Nodding to his brother, Aleister smiled as Edward darted off to stand by Jane as she gave instructions on the runes she was using and how mana interacted with both flesh and runes.

Watching his brother go, Aleister felt a swell of happiness for his brother, one that he allowed pass across their mental bond. Switching his attention from Edward to the Knight of Gray, who was still watching Aleister as if he was having trouble deciding something, Aleister raised an eyebrow only for Grey to straighten up off the pew he had been leaning against before walking over.

“When the paladins and the clerics get here you’re going to have to hide those wings of yours,” said Grey, his voice filled with sympathy.

Yet Aleister knew the truth of his words, because both Duncan MacLean and Thomas Bluebeard would jump at the opportunity to have Edward exiled if not executed for simply being part demon, and if they found out that Aleister wasn’t a pure seraphim then such hatred might spread to Aleister as well. And if Aleister’s worth came under question then the protection Aleister had garnered for Edward would all be for naught.

Nodding his head, Aleister drew in the magic that had created his wings and had altered his eyes, suppressing it back down so that no one could sense it any more. Feeling somewhat less, Aleister sighed before Grey’s hand clapped him on the shoulder in an attempt to make Aleister feel better.

“Come on, I’ll show you how to use that telesma of yours to heal,” said Grey as he marched off towards the closest, supine figure.

“I already know how to heal with telesma,” said Aleister in confusion as he followed after the madman. “All seraphim do.”

“Not like this,” said Grey, with a sly smile as he bent down and started to weave telesma, teaching Aleister an archaic method of healing that the Angelic Gunslinger had never seen before.

All the while the four members of the God Squad waited for the forces of the Arthurian Church to arrive and take over, as a silver raven sat atop the rafters of the church watching and waiting.

~~~

“So that’s your report,” said Colonel Io as she idly looked over the slips of paper that the four members of the God Squad had written out for her.

Reading each of the different reports, Io could see that they were distinct enough for them to have been written individually while at the same time they had enough common points that they were clearly about the same event.

“Yes,” said Jane as she studied the room around her searching for the faint traces of mana that she felt, while she and the rest of the God Squad sat in chairs arrayed before the oak desk of the Colonel.

The office that the God Squad currently occupied and which Jane studied so intensively was the current office of the Colonel Io and the official office room for the General of the Western Army. And because the room truly belonged to Ivan Stein, it was all but identical to the office that he had in Albion. The only difference being that it was larger. The vast window that was behind the main desk overlooked the main market area of Zephyr, where an assortment of different merchants from the cities beyond the borders of the Arthurian Empire gathered to sell and trade goods.

“If you’re done admiring the room can you please pay attention to what I’m asking,” said Io as she noticed that Jane had become distracted by something.

“Of course,” said Edward with a smile, a smile that didn’t make it past his bandana that he had secured across his mouth, his voice once again fashioned from magic.

“So these are your final reports?” asked Io as she held up the slim stacks of paper that were filled with the bare essentials of what had happened at Symir. “No last minute changes, no forgotten little details, no inventory changes that anyone could have missed.”

“As we said in the report, we gave the Tear of Ymir to the church forces that came and took over the care of the survivors of Symir,” said the Knight of Gray with a half hidden snarl. “No matter how many times you ask about the story, the answers won’t change.”

“I never expected them to, but I just want confirmation so when Ivan reads these and figures out what you’re so carefully not saying then I’m not the one who will be caught in his ire,” said Io in a relaxed manner that was intended to show how little she cared for the threats of a heavenly empowered warrior.

“You seem to have a lot of faith that Ivan will be able to deduce something from these reports,” said Aleister, a bit nervously only to be met with an assortment of stares from the other four in the room as if telling him simultaneously to be silent, and that he was terrible at lying.

Shaking her head at hearing Aleister’s statement, Io pulled open a drawer on her desk, allowing Jane to zero in on what she had been sensing. Taking out a Mirror Scroll and a Wizard Glove, Io closed the drawer to the oak desk and suddenly Jane could no longer feel the mana sources she had been detecting beforehand. Switching her attention to the Mirror Scroll, or MS as some mages called it, the mirror, the size of a standard sheet of paper, was engraved with various runes, some decorating the underside of the mirror and some entwined around the border of the mirror. Yet, every rune functioned perfectly together to create an unlimited book that could be filled and sent to others whenever the user required.

Normally Jane would be suspicious that a human without mana could use such a device, as Io was neither a mage nor a wizard, yet the other object Io had retrieved from the drawer made the lack of mana a trivial obstacle to overcome. The Wizard’s Glove was a glove that was tipped with manametal on each finger with several runes inscribed on the metal, while a singular wire of the same metal wove its way back to the centre of the glove. At the centre was a single, salt diamond that had been imbedded onto the back of the glove, a diamond that glowed with the brilliant blue, organic light of mana.

As Io put on the glove, Jane was aware that Edward was leaning forward, everything about him screaming with curiosity at the sight of the two strange tools that Io was using. Turning to regard the glove and the Mirror Scroll, Jane had to admit while Edward might have seen her smaller version of the Mirror Scroll and had known about it before hand, many were unfamiliar with Wizard’s Gloves that allowed their users to shape mana or control and use technology fuelled by mana.

While the item had been created by wizards to draw out their internal mana that they were normally unable to access, there were those that used the gloves despite the fact that they had no mana in order to control technology ruled by mana. This technology was further boosted by the fact that the diamond on the back of the glove not only allowed for the unlimited storage of mana, it could be used as an alternative mana source if the user was either incapable of providing mana on their own or the user was running dry on the magical substance due to whatever reason.

Finishing putting the glove on, Io began to tap on the mirror causing the mirror to glow with light as various images appeared within the mirror. Selecting what she desired, Io placed the mirror atop the reports, allowing the report to be scanned so that copies appeared within the mirror. Once she had finished scanning the documents, Io tapped on the mirror one more time before the mirror went dormant. Having watched with mild interest, Jane had to quickly hide a smile behind her hand as she had been able to determine who Io was sending the reports to and more importantly the address of Ivan’s personal mirror.

“Now that that’s taken care of, we can get on to more serious topics,” said Io as she put the mirror on the table.

As the mirror came to rest on the desk, Jane focused in on how the desk itself and the mirror interfaced with each other and in a flash of intuition realised that despite the initial appearances, the oak desk was actually generating and storing mana. But the desk was doing it so subtlety that Jane and probably any other mage that enter the office would fail to notice that the desk was designed to power and refill mana into any mana based technology that placed inside or on it.

“If you’re finished scrutinizing the desk, I would like to continue,” said Io as she glared at Jane who replied with a helpless shrug.

Eyeing the Fire Mage balefully, Io turned to the rest of the squad and seeing that they were all paying attention, Io continued on with her meeting.

“Because of this little, side mission our schedule for your movements will have to be redone, but the main task and objectives remain,” said Io as she lapsed into a tone suited more for a lecturer. “Aleister, I believe that you have been given information about the mission to come and who you have to recruit, correct?”

“Yes,” replied Aleister promptly and succinctly, as if to prevent himself from repeating his earlier gaffe.

Nodding her head, Io smiled as if saying that Aleister wasn’t fooling anyone, as the Mirror Scroll beside her lit up once more with an audible ding. Picking up the mirror, Io tapped her fingers on the mirror several times before she placed the mirror onto several stacks of unused paper which caused the unused papers to be briefly illuminated as they were changed into maps, data and other information needed by the God Squad. Picking up the newly created reports and maps, Io handed them out to the God Squad before she sat back down to continue the mission briefing.

“Based on what’s already happened with your squad, we’ll be sending you as planned with a few alterations. We’ll send you via train to Xois and from there you can take whatever transport you find to be the most suitable to travel to Lillian’s home in the Wormwood, a map to which I have provided in your paperwork,” said Io as she gestured to the papers she had handed to the God Squad. “The main alteration to the plan is that I will be sending you on the train with no other passengers and only a skeleton crew to make the train work. And that’s simply so that we don’t risk the lives of civilians of both this country and others.”

“Do we leave immediately?” asked Grey as he flicked through the paperwork managing to read most of what was documented there.

“I wanted to give you time to rest here especially after the events with Ulkry, but Ivan and Argon stated that you should get this task done as quickly as possible so you will be leaving as soon as possible,” said Io.

Io was keenly aware that while the Arthurian Church had arrived quickly to clean up the town of Symir, waiting for another train and getting the God Squad to Zephyr had taken up the rest of the day, costing them time. And the fact that in the end they had had to stay the night in the city, delaying both departure and this very meeting to the next day had caused all manner of trouble.

“You have about two hours before the train will depart, and once you cross over the Nile, you will be on your own. The Arthurian Empire has no hold beyond that river, and cities that lie beyond our borders might not take kindly to seeing you. Many will look on it as an eminent sign of the Empire of Geb coming to conquer them. As such, expect to be attacked and if possible try to leave them alive,” said Io with a sly smile as she ran over her concern for the mission.

And as Io talked, she turned to look out at the cityscape as the morning sunlight cast shadows across its length, while early traders spun dawn lit dealings that were just barely legal.

“Are you hoping we get attacked so that you have legitimate reasoning to go to war?” asked Aleister, having recognised something in Io that reminded him of both Argon and Ivan.

Not so much ambition but the ruthlessness to use any and all opportunities to further the wellbeing of the Arthurian Empire.

“While I have no intention of starting the next war, even though the two of you are politically distant, you are still the grandsons of Arthur Exaltia, and if you are attacked then it can be considered an act of war wouldn’t you say,” said Io with a smile that could match Ivan’s for its grim characteristics.

Choosing not to comment on what Io had said, Aleister exchanged a wordless glance with his brother, making Jane wonder if they were speaking to each other or if they really were shocked at the idea.

“Anything else?” asked Jane as she steered the conversation back towards the original topic.

“I have to get back to dealing with the logistics of moving parts of the army to the Eastern Front, so if there’s no more questions then you can leave,” said Io with a dismissive wave, “Oh wait, that reminds me when you get back with Lillian in tow, we’ll all be leaving down to rendezvous with John Smith before heading off, so don’t be late.”

Nodding at the dismissal, Jane and the rest of the God Squad got up and filed out of the office while Io set to work figuring out the remaining paper work on her desk.

“Oh and Aleister, yes I do believe that Ivan or Argon could easily figure out what you left out of that report,” said Io, without looking up from her work as Aleister was just about to leave the room.

Grimacing, Aleister shut the door behind him and came face to face with the rest of his squad.

“We’ll head off, have a look around at the markets, and meet at the train,” said Aleister, speaking both for himself and Edward.

Nodding, the two Maw Brothers moved off down the hall and out of ear shot of the paladin and mage.

“I guess, I’ll be off then,” said Grey with lightness to his voice that would make an optimist say he was getting better.

However before he could take a step, Jane’s right hand reached out and caught him by the right arm. Looking down at the hand, Grey saw that Jane’s hand was now infused with a red glowing heat that could easily melt flesh if she ever willed it. Switching from kindness to madness in a split second, Grey all but snarled at Jane as he pulled free, his face a wicked tapestry of insanity as he looked down at the shorter Jane Burnout.

“You owe me an explanation,” said Jane as she looked up at Grey, unflinching before what she saw glaring back.

“What?” asked Grey as both confusion and madness rippled across his face, before settling back on madness.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“In Symir after the town was purged, I asked you what you had been really planning at,” said Jane, her brilliant green eyes glowing briefly as if reflecting firelight. “You then said that we would talk later and in private, now’s as good a time as any.”

Realising what she was talking about, Grey’s face twisted even further into a picture of savagery until the title of Mad Paladin didn’t seem enough of an epithet.

“Trust me little mage of fire, there are some secrets that will burn you if you play with them,” said the Mad Demonhunter, his voice deeper and more savage, bearing with it a promise of dark things should Jane press the issue.

Instead of being bowed by the malice directed at her, Jane simply extended her hand, placing it against the titanium armour, the heat of her red hot hand causing the metal to start to warm, a fact that startled Grey even if he tried to hide it.

“I have played with fire since the day I was born. I got so good at it I could wear flames and not get burned. I am not scared of your madness, and despite what you might think, wearing that titanium armour, with its immunity to magic will not save you from my flame,” said Jane as she increased the heat just enough that Grey was starting to feel the heat inside his armour. “So feel like talking or do I have to cook you in that armour, like a kettle heating water, until you sing?”

Startled back to sanity, Grey took a step back from the Queen of Burning, who let him, but didn’t lower her now golden, hot hand. Her green eyes fixed on Grey’s blue eyes so that she could catch any sign of dishonesty or trickery.

“We’ll need to find a room,” said Grey sombrely as he looked at Jane like he was just now truly seeing her.

“Alright, but since you broke your promise, you’ll also tell me about why you still have that cross,” said Jane as she began walking past Grey while giving him a wink that caused sparks of flames to dance from her eye.

Staring after the Fire Mage, Grey laughed with not a trace of insanity lacing the sound. Something that would appear really surreal to others, but something that Jane didn’t even bother to register. Quickly following after her, Grey caught up to Jane and began to suggest a location so that the two of them could finally share information. Seeing a true respect in Grey’s manner, one that seemed to be rooted deep, Jane had to smile as she quickly reviewed the information that she needed to confirm with the Gray Knight, while her staff posed for ignition should things escalate.

Two hours later, the Paladin of Gray and the Elemental Guard met up with the Maw Brothers before hopping on the train headed across the plains west of Zephyr, towards and over the Nile River before reaching the town of Xois on the other side of the embankment.

However lurking beneath the train, a small smudge of black sludge slithered around confirming that Edward, Aleister, Jane and Grey were not only on the train but also what carriage and what aisle they were sitting at. Confirming that they were indeed aboard the train, the small sludge of darkness disappeared through a miniscule crack in the wall of the train. Sliding through the train’s internal infrastructure, the sludge’s acidity burnt its way out of the roof of the carriage before emerging behind the coachmen that were looking after and controlling the train. The sludge gathered together and formed into a man of about two metres in height, except this man instead of having skin to cover his extensive muscles had nothing to contain the black sinews that were exposed for the entire world to see in all its hellish glory.

Striding forwards, the Demon King of Faith smiled revealing teeth made from the same black sludge that the rest of its body was made from.

~~~

“So why did you have such an interest in the desk that Io was sitting at?” asked Edward curiously, as the trains bucking and rocking made the trip far from smooth, especially when compared to the last train.

“The desk was something not created by the Elemental Guard,” said Jane in response, grateful for the distraction as she wasn’t enjoying the train’s sloppy locomotion. “In fact, I believe that the desk wasn’t even created in this millennium.”

“What?” asked Aleister puzzled as he leaned forward to join the conversation, trying to figure out what Jane meant.

“You mean that the desk was a piece of technology left over from the Dark Empire of Osiris,” said Grey from across the aisle, his feet atop the chairs across from his own seat, his bulky armour making sitting next to him all but impossible.

Shocked, the two Maw Brothers looked at Jane who nodded her head in agreement.

“While I agree that it was a shocking thing, what really had me interested was that that piece of furniture had more technological finesse built into it than some of our top tier, personal equipment,” said Jane as she remembered the table. “When I get back, I think I might need to mention to Rin that we might need to remind the nobles and other dignitaries that they should report any and all technology from the Dark Empire.”

“Is it really that impressive?” asked Aleister, not really knowing the specifics of the use of mana or the complexity of constructing technology fuelled by mana.

“Oh yes, I didn’t even know that mana could be used in such a stealthy manner,” said Jane, satisfaction brimming in her voice and face. “Not to mention that the fact that the mana generating materials don’t have to be incorporated directly into what you are building would revolutionise the wizard based technology. Hell, I bet that some of the wizards out there would assassinate each other simply to be the first to study that simple piece of furniture.”

Letting Jane’s words sink in, the rest of the group immediately grasped the concept of why this simple piece of furniture was something Jane had been willing to derail the mission briefing for.

“Which is probably why Ivan’s holding onto it,” said Grey with a laugh. “He knows what happens if you mages get a hold of something that potent. It could shift the balance of power in the empire.”

“Do you think Io was intentionally flaunting it?” asked Edward curiously, knowing that he could one day be using the same magic with the same problems. “Io didn’t seem to realise it was that revolutionary, she seemed more annoyed than anything.”

“No, Ivan probably simply treats it as a normal thing and therefore so does Io, but it makes me wonder if Ivan knows what he has in his possession or did he simply collect it as another trophy to put on his walls,” said Jane as she thought back to the various, mystical artefacts that he had in his office in Albion.

Thinking back, the other members remembered what was scattered around the office Ivan had and each of the God Squad started to draw up their own suspicions about the General of the West.

“What concerns me more is how did he get his hands on it?” asked Jane as she wondered for the first time if there was something hidden about Ivan’s nature, something in his past that traced back to the now semi-mythical Dark Empire.

Thinking about the possible mysteries of the western general, Jane looked out the window seeing that the land around the train was flashing past rather quickly, transitioning from a semi-urban area to rolling grass and farm lands. Seeing that Jane had lost her enthusiasm for the conversation, Edward glanced at his brother who was sitting on the seat adjoining the aisle in the middle of the train and was directly across from Jane. Edward knew that Aleister had been feeling off since his battle with Ulkry, but there was something else that troubled his brother and while Edward was curious about what it was, he had respected his brother’s privacy.

Instead, Edward looked out the window and felt wonder flood through him. Edward had always been in a city and had never travelled other than in his books, but now, he could see the vastness of the world and despite the horror such as what Ulkry had created, Edward could see that miracles abounded.

Edward had studied the map that Io had given them, and it was interesting for instead of being a current modern one, it showcased its age and was filled with notes. Notes that depicted how the Nile River flowed from the Sea of Ice down across the continent of Geb and out into the Sea of Shards, a river so wide men were known to die trying to swim across. The map also mentioned how the river had moved slightly over the years as well as how the creation of the Sea of Shards had changed the lower half of the river into a river delta.

Seeing the sheer wonder on Edward’s demonic face as he looked out the window trying to catch a glance at the River Nile, Grey felt himself slowly felt his madness diminish.

“Are you excited to see Xois?” asked Grey, his voice filled with genuine kindness something that Jane saw as she flashed a smirk at the so-called Mad Paladin.

“Yes,” said Edward latching on to the opening for the conversation, finally able to broach the subject matter he wanted to talk about. “They say the city was created by the Dark Empire and that the inhabitants still worship the pagan gods, not to mention apparently cats are still allowed in the city. I’ve also heard that the city once sat in the middle of the Nile River and that as the river shifted it came to rest on the bank of the Nile, not to mention it’s a major trading centre for the area and even has merchants from the Ten Kingdoms.”

Hearing the barrage of facts and statements, Grey smiled softly and sadly as if he knew that whatever levity he was experiencing would soon disappear like morning mist. Seeing the sadness, both Jane and Edward exchanged a look before they started talking to each other, exchanging facts and stories of the city they would soon be arriving at.

“Actually while we’re telling stories can I tell you what happened to me,” said Aleister, after having seen his brother’s excitement and deciding to act on his own initiative.

Shocked at the uncertainty that Aleister’s voice was filled with, Edward allowed his mind to feel the same emotions running through his brother’s head. Seeing the jumble of emotion, Edward could see that the mess was born from a secret, one that Aleister was afraid to spill because of how it related to them both.

“I said back in the church that I dreamed,” said Aleister knowing that the others would understand what he was talking about. “Well in that dream there were strange things, important things.”

Frowning, Edward glanced at an equally bemused Jane, while Grey nodded his head sagely as if understanding what was happening.

“Your first time dreaming huh, or have you simply never slept before?” asked Grey with a knowing smile, one that approached amusement.

“You’ve never slept before?” asked Jane in surprise at seeing Aleister nod his head.

“You didn’t know?” asked Grey, his words directed at Jane. “I thought you mages could use mana to accomplish the same thing.”

“I knew that seraphim never sleep because of the telesma in their bodies, but I thought that you would have at least tried it once,” said Jane as she eyed Aleister as he hung his head. “And yes we can choose not to sleep, however it can have negative consequences if done incorrectly and since we have to learn to use that magic, most human mages are so accustomed to sleep we do it out of sheer habit.”

“Brother if that’s what bothering you, you could have asked for my help, I sleep all the time,” said Edward as he patted his brother on the back, his jagged mouth working around the words creating quite a sight.

“I saw our father in the dream,” said Aleister to the floor, yet the response was instantaneous.

Both Jane and Grey came on the alert while Edward’s mouth simply popped open. Well in truth, it simply fell down so that it was wider than it normally was. Hearing this, both Jane and Grey leaned forwards, their actions all but identical, however their emotions were worlds apart. While Jane projected warmth, concern and true caring, Grey had gone still. The same stillness of an animal caught between fight and flight, waiting for the moment to pass so that he could decide whether to hunt or flee.

“Explain,” said Grey mechanically, waiting to hear what came next to figure out how he should act.

Seeing the support, stunned and still expressions of the rest of the God Squad, Aleister breathed deep to try and overcome his nervousness and began to speak telling about how he had seemingly woke in a land of darkness and what he had found there. Listening, Grey and Jane both seemed to change expressions, while Grey went from a silent executioner to one of a puzzled scholar, Jane did the reverse. Her expression went from comforting support to a still mask hiding secrets that she would not divulge.

Finishing his tale, Aleister spoke of how he had met his father and had been forced to flee back to his body in the church as something of incredible power had appeared one that seemed to be holding his father prisoner. Once he was done talking, Aleister turned to look at his brother whom he expected to return a gaze of betrayal, for keeping something so important secret. Instead, Aleister saw purple eyes filled with a determination and acceptance.

“You were right to keep this to yourself,” said Edward, his mind radiating not even a shred of doubt or hate. “If the seraphim found out we were still in contact with our father, they would probably have us killed even if Arthur told them not to.”

“Agreed,” said Grey from across the aisle, his blue eyes filled with wild thoughts, questions dancing in them as well as a desire that made the Maw Brothers shrink back. “What concerns me, is, this power you felt, the one that is keeping your father bound.”

“It was the strongest thing I have ever felt,” said Aleister as he looked at his hands a faint tremor shaking them, until Edward caught them, his grip reaffirming that Aleister was never alone, that they would take care of each other.

“What do you think?” asked Grey of Jane who had gone quiet as Aleister had described what he had seen.

“Most like it was a god,” said Jane, her eyes distant as she looked out at the passing landscape, the various trees and other landmarks flashing past.

“But all the gods died. Well save for the last seven, but they are in hiding,” said Edward, his demonic voice touched with confusion.

“No, only the gods on Geb died. There are those that are out there hidden on other worlds or even hiding in their own little, hidden worlds who are still alive,” said Jane, her green eyes reflecting memories, ones that were worse than destroying undead children. “I have seen the God Relics that scatter the landscape and their power is great. Sure the pagan gods started off as sorcerers with the power to turn themselves into ethereal, super powered ghosts, but at the end they were true gods, beings that were capable of rewriting, modifying and editing the laws of reality.”

“Not to mention that the gods might be gone, but their creations and magic still functions even without them to control it,” said Aleister as he remembered various stories about how pagan gods had created things that would function even after they had long since disappeared. “But this one wasn’t an apparition, it was real and its power was beyond anything I had ever felt. Even when fighting Mirror of Reality I still felt like I could win. This felt like fighting this being would be a sin, in and of itself, one that would earn me nothing but death.”

“It was probably in its own realm, after all a god is strongest inside a realm they created,” said Grey thoughtfully, before looking at Jane as if she could explain it better.

“It’s just like that time we were in Ymir’s Church, gods can create worlds one of five ways. They can take finite areas and expand them into entire worlds, some gods have even created entire continents inside of wardrobes, and these are called Hidden Worlds. There are also Mirror Worlds, Pocket Dimensions, Parallel Dimensions and Finally True Worlds. Mirror Worlds are created by turning an image, from a reflection to a painting into a door leading to another world. I’m sure you can guess the rest,” said Jane as if recalling the words of someone she hated.

“How do you know this?” asked Aleister as he saw Jane’s pain, a pain that was a roaring fire when compared to his paltry flame.

“The Maze of Mirrors is very similar to what the gods succeeded in creating. In fact, it was built in imitation of their work,” said Jane as she mentioned the true headquarters and the resting place of the Elemental Guards’ library, “and there have been many who wish to make it more or even destroy it, not to mention that the God Runes made by Odin and Loki are capable of helping create such things.”

Staying quiet, the rest of the squad paused to ponder how many times the Elemental Guard had repulsed such endeavours and more importantly how much had Jane been integral to both starting and stopping what had occurred.

“Besides, there are stories of gods capable of reaching across the from the Reaper’s Palace to Geb to continue to control and alter the fate of humans that they catch an interest in. Maybe that is what you saw, a god reaching across worlds to manifest inside one of their constructs,” said Jane thoughtfully, turning her head to look out the window of the train only to see that the speed of the train had increased yet again.

Following Jane’s line of sight as she stood up, Edward and Aleister looked out the window both recognising that something had gone wrong with their train ride again.

“I don’t think we’re meant to go this fast,” said Edward as he looked out the window to see that they were rapidly coming up to the Nile River, the vast stretch of water that had impeded the advance of the Arthurian Empire.

“So he made his move after all,” said Grey with satisfaction, nodding his head at Jane as if saying ‘I told you so’ who simply rolled her eyes at Grey’s antics.

“Who?” asked the Maw Brothers in unison, both of them wondering what the Mad Paladin had dragged them into this time.

“Ulkry,” said Grey as he looked towards the front of the carriage and beyond where the actual train engine was situated.

“Ulkry!” said the brothers in unison again, both of them possessing access to the memories of what Ulkry had done to Aleister the last time that they had crossed paths.

“Oh, don’t worry, he’s not here for you,” said Grey as his entire being seemed to change, the air around him suddenly appearing to be tainted with a madness that ran off of Grey.

“He’s here for this,” said Grey as he reached into a bag that he had placed beside him when he had chosen his seat.

Pulling out the Tear of Ymir, both Aleister and Edward looked with dumbstruck faces as they processed what they were seeing and what it meant.

“You lied to the Arthurian Church, the army and us,” said Aleister, his voice uneven with emotion. Emotions that made Aleister confused about whether to respect or simply bow his head in woe at Grey Silverman’s behaviour.

“Yes,” said the Demon Hunter, his simple reply making quick work of the conversation, “Now here’s what I need the two of you to do,” said Grey as he leaned forward to hand the cross shaped God Relic to the brothers.

Whispering in their ears, the Maw Brothers were shocked, but as Grey elaborated on the plan, they began to grin back at the Mad Paladin. Edward accepted the plan, because he wanted to prove, not to others, but to himself that all that he had learned in life was useful. Aleister on the other hand, now that he knew what he needed to do and not improvise, could fully commit to the plan, not to mention get some retribution for what Ulkry had done to him in that church.

Seeing that the brothers were willing to participate in his plan, Grey moved toward the door to the carriage only for a hand wreathed in flame to grip him by the arm. Looking down at the hand of shimmering flame, Grey gave Jane a look.

“Have you ever considered that you’re part Fire Giant?” asked Grey as a feral grin split his face.

Unbothered by the madness staring her down, Jane simply met Grey’s visage unimpressed.

“You’re taking me with you,” said Jane as she increased the heat coming off of her hand.

“You’ll just get in the way on top of the train,” said Grey, using calm logic to try and dissuade her.

“Who said I would have to fight on top of the train,” said Jane as she started to walk before the Demon Hunter, her red hair seeming to crackle with remnants of flame.

Blinking in surprise, the Gray Knight simply shook his head and continued to walk towards the train exit that Jane had already exited from. Stepping up onto the roof, Grey saw that Ulkry was already waiting for him. Standing on the carriage situated before the actual train engine, it stood there for all the world to see. It was as if a human had been skinned entirely until not a single fibre of skin was left, a process that had left every blackened sinew, every piece of cartilage exposed to the world, and from these exposed pieces of flesh a black ooze wept out.

A black ooze that poured off of the demon and down onto the train it was standing on, an ooze that was so corrosive that the steel beneath the demon’s feet was eroding away and around the demon the air filled with a terrible, absolute foulness. Yet of all that was wrong with Ulkry’s presence in this world, as an actual demon and not just a being possessing something, the fact that the demon had no skin revealed a terrible aspect of the creature from the Fifth Circle of Hell.

For any student of human anatomy would be able to see that the demon lacked sexual characteristics, or possibly possessed characteristics of both male and female, something that could give the appearance of an oversized skinned child that had died before they had managed to live long enough to hit puberty. This fact compounded even further with the skinless form meant that those that beheld demons in their true forms were often corrupted simply by seeing the truth of demon kind.

Striding forth, Grey Silverman took in the Demon King standing before him and didn’t blink or miss a step, for this horribleness that was before the Paladin of Gray was nothing compared to the scars that marred his soul. Stopping at the centre of the carriage before the one the Demon King stood upon, Grey and Ulkry locked sights neither choosing to speak to the other.

As the two mortal enemies took the time to examine each other, a third force arrived in the form of Jane Burnout. Standing atop her staff as it spewed flames to keep the two airborne, Jane raised her hands and created from pure flame a bow and arrow pointed straight at the Demon King’s head. Twisting in a way that made both Jane and Grey twitch in disgust, Ulkry moved as if he was made from nothing but flesh, as if the bones that should have been in his flesh weren’t there allowing Ulkry to bend and stretch however he wanted.

“You know,” said Ulkry in a surprisingly normal voice, “that that flame arrow of yours won’t do a single thing to me.”

“True,” countered Jane with a smile, her eyes reflecting the desire to burn Ulkry until there was nothing left. “But most people can’t seem to visualise how much danger they are in when fighting a mage if we don’t give them something that they can recognise as dangerous. Hence, the arrows made of flame and not me simply pointing my fingers at you.”

“Fair enough,” said Ulkry as he looked up at Jane before returning to his study of Grey and the sword upon his back.

“You know why I’m here don’t you fallen cleric,” said Ulkry as he watched with black orbs that were meant to be analogous to human eyes.

“I never fell to worshiping Hell,” said the Mad Paladin calmly, his tone causing Jane to raise an eyebrow at him, for she knew that if anyone else had said something like that to Grey, they would be bisected.

“No, but you went mad and then chained that madness up with the endless desire for vengeance. This is not something that a cleric does, is it, hence you are a fallen cleric,” said Ulkry just as calmly back to the Mad Paladin standing atop the train.

Seeing that the Paladin wasn’t moving or retorting, Ulkry glanced over at the Fire Mage before looking back at Grey Silverman, while Ulkry’s demonic ooze covered face showed the puzzlement.

“You’re stalling,” said Ulkry with a grin at the idea that by buying time they could derail his plans.

“As are you,” countered Grey, his voice monotone as if he didn’t really care.

Suppressing a laugh, Ulkry took in the flowing scenery before deciding on his next course of action.

“Did he tell you the truth?” asked Ulkry without looking away from the Mad Paladin and the sword encumbered on his back.

“Yes,” replied Jane, not bothered by the lack of attention she drew as she stood atop her staff which kept pace with the train.

“Really?” asked Ulkry as he turned to look at the flying Fire Mage. “He told you why he sent that demonspawn into my church while he remained outside. Why he risked the eternal soul of one of his comrades when he could and should have been the one to fight me.”

“Yes,” said Jane, the flames crackling briefly as if to underscore her ire.

“Tell me, what is your goal,” said Grey, cutting into the conversation. “I can think of a few outcomes to this battle, but what do you desire?”

“Humans,” said Ulkry with amusement, his demonic nature making the word seem more of a curse. “What makes you think that I only need one outcome to something, and what makes you think that I don’t have a thousand possible plans that can all be enacted from what transpires here?”

“What do you mean?” asked Jane, puzzlement sounding in her voice as she narrowed her eyes and sighted Ulkry down the length of her flaming arrows.

“I mean that if I crash this train into Xois then I damage the faith between nations. If I do it with the God Squad onboard then I shake the faith that all of the empire has in you, and if you tell them it was me then you prove that you can’t handle the very thing that you were created to fight. The kings and gods of the supernatural,” said Ulkry as he swung his arms wide.

In the process, he caused black ooze to fly across the train’s roof, corroding it away in various tiny spots. Following each of the spots of corrosion, Grey scrutinised them before refocusing in on Ulkry, once he was sure that Ulkry wasn’t setting something up.

“And this distrust, what will that do?” asked Grey as he looked at Ulkry with unfocused eyes, eyes that saw beyond Ulkry and the great river that the train had yet to reach.

“The Demons of War, Hild in particular, will fan the flames of war until the Arthurian Empire has to fight on both sides of its empire if not more. And from the ashes of war, the horror and tragedy will make the survivors turn to whomever offers them power. The Demons of Sin will have a field day,” said Ulkry with a grin, revealing blackened rotting teeth. “Oh and just to be clear, the sin they will commit will be not of the soul, but of sentience. They will wish for immortality, they will wish to create and augment, to bring the dead back and one day even wish to become gods.”

“You demons always feed off of each other’s work don’t you,” said Grey with disgust and hate. “But what if we win, what then?”

“Well the thing is I always have plans that work out. Even if I lose, I still win,” said Ulkry with a level of seriousness that made Ulkry’s playful behaviour from before all the more jarring. “That is how I work. I create thousands of plans, all mutually exclusive and sometimes even at odds with each other so that I always come out ahead of the pack, no matter how things unfold.”

“Oh, I know,” said Grey with a smile that could have been a mirror for the demon in its raw and pure savagery. “There are entire libraries dedicated to you. They tell of how your actions are too mercurial to understand, but if you take a broad overview you can see that you are one not for consistent schemes like Mephistopheles, but something else. Opportunistic I think I would call it,” said Grey with a savage glee at being able to rend the demon before him with his words.

Looking a little taken aback at what Grey had said, Ulkry shared a quick glance with Jane who nodded her head to confirm Grey was telling the truth.

“You’ve been researching me?” asked Ulkry in a probing manner.

“You and every named demon I could find,” said Grey, his eyes filling with madness while his face remained impassive. “In fact you said that I risked the eternal soul of Aleister in Symir, but I didn’t because in amongst that infinite library dedicated to your deeds, one of your primary characteristics was that you are a good king.”

Blinking at Grey’s words, Ulkry chose to remain quiet as Grey continued his speech, all the while the train crossed over the edge of the Nile River and out and over the massive flowing water. The bridge across the river was suspended about one hundred metres above the water level, where it still remained linear to the top of the cliff that was adjacent to the Nile River.

“I’m a good king?” asked Ulkry as the demon pointed towards itself.

“Yes and that is what I counted on when I sent Aleister to you. Even if you tried to corrupt him and alter the alignment of his soul you would still help him, at least as much as you understand the concept,” said Grey with biting bitterness in his voice, a bitterness either direct at the demon or himself, something none present knew for sure.

“Corrupting their alignment so that they fail to get into Heaven upon death is something worse than death for most seraphim,” said Ulkry as if trying to point out that what could have happened to Aleister was something equivalent to death by the morals of the seraphim race, even if they failed to end up in Hell.

“I know, but I needed to make sure that you didn’t see this sword or what it could do,” said Grey without remorse. “But the texts all say the same thing that you go out of your way to help your fellow demons to make sure their endeavours succeed or if they fail that they aren’t broken by the ordeal.”

“So you’re saying you wagered on the fact that I would recognise that the boys were demonspawn and like a good king try to help them and prevent them from being used by my enemies,” said Ulkry with a hint of wonder in his voice.

“I prefer to think of it as a mad gamble. After all, madness is one of my defining characteristics,” said Grey as he pulled his sword from his sheath and caused it to illuminate with the golden light of telesma. “But you didn’t come here for them or for breaking the faith between countries, you came for this.”

Watching the golden blade with hunger, Ulkry’s smile stretched longer than was physically possible.

“Yes, a blade with a direct connection to Samael, unfiltered by Heaven’s brilliance, something truly worth corrupting,” said Ulkry, a dark and devious light spinning into existence inside the demon’s black orb eyes. “For by corrupting that blade, I can corrupt Samael and set loose a fallen angel upon all the worlds that dwell in the Abyss, if not actually corrupt Heaven itself by letting the fallen angel loose in Heaven. Imagine all the souls that would have to be cast out of Heaven, because they were altered by the Angel of Death, or their alignments shifted so that Heaven would no longer accept them in its walls. Imagine if their souls rained down through the Abyss, their laments drowning out the Howling!”

Readying himself to fight the demon, Grey raised the sword as if he was ready to use it as a spear to pierce through the demon before him.

“Tell me one thing before we fight,” said Grey from his battle ready pose. “What is your true goal?”

Looking both at Grey and Jane as they patiently waited for Ulkry to either talk or fight, Ulkry nodded his head before speaking.

“Do you know of the good intentions that made Hell?” asked the Demon King of the Mad Paladin. Seeing the shock on Silverman’s face, Ulkry let itself smile sadly. “That is my truest goal. That is my reason for doing all of this, from trying to corrupt those brothers to taking that sword.”

Feeling shocked, Grey straightened and once his emotions had settled Grey raised the blade Slaphmir in salute against the demon that stood before him, a sign of respect for the warrior and king that stood before him. Seeing the respect that was given, Ulkry kept his sad smile knowing that he would have to kill the madman before him, at the same time he compressed the hellmist into a fencer’s rapier.

Springing forwards, Ulkry advanced on the paladin knowing that the Fire Mage would have trouble attacking if Grey was also in her crosshairs. Attacking with a lunge, Grey used the flat of the blade to block the attack as an improvised shield only for the rapier to bend on contact so that the tin blade flowed around the Slaphmir, all the while seeking out Grey’s exposed throat.

Swinging the blade to cause the rapier to be sent flying, Grey realised that Ulkry had used momentum to spin in place with the rapier now aimed at his left flank. Catching the end of the blade with his left hand, Grey swung his sword horizontally to take Ulkry’s head clean from his shoulders, only to find that the demon had used his boneless nature to bend his head backward and out of the way of the attack.

Releasing the blade, Grey watched as Ulkry seemed to take a single step backward, but in truth moved to the end of the carriage, his legs extending and contracting beyond human capabilities, before getting into a fencer pose with his left hand behind his back. Smirking, Ulkry beaconed with his sword and Grey responded, leaping forward using both hands to swing the blade down vertically only for the Slaphmir to be stopped by the rapier as the demon held the sword perpendicular to the attacking blade.

The demon used its unnatural strength to fend off the attack effortlessly with a single hand. Yet instead of being repulsed Grey ducked down and using a telesma infused punch hit the demon backwards and onto the roof that Ulkry had been standing on originally. The moment that Ulkry was away from Grey, Jane unleashed an inferno of crimson flame upon Ulkry, the flames burning away the black ooze that was still weeping from his body and any that lingered on the roof that Ulkry had been standing atop. Moving as if the fire wasn’t present, Ulkry jumped forward out of the flame and recommenced its attack on the paladin, who fended off the strange rapier which seemed to attack from odd angles, angles that were hard to block even without the rapier’s ability to bend and flow around any opposition that it should have encountered.

Seeing that the paladin was on the defensive and that at times Grey was willing to block Ulkry’s attacks with his armour or even his own flesh, Jane chose to intervene, her attacks spewing flame down on to the two interlocked fighters. Looking up in shock, Ulkry saw the flame that fell upon him, ignite, causing his demonic body to writhe in pain while Grey, who wasn’t being affected by the flame or the heat of the fire, continued to attack uncaring if he would be burnt or not.

Breaking the flame that clung to him by summoning hellmist to launch back at the Elemental Guard, Ulkry’s attack missed Jane as she dodged out of the way by moving her hovering staff to another position through a quick burst of fire. In the process, Jane became very aware that on a moving train the demon was at a disadvantage.

Grey had said back when she was interrogating him that Demons of Faith, especially those that rely on Marked Earth, were at a disadvantage when it came to mobile combat. Shifting back into attacking range, Jane could see that neither Grey nor Ulkry had the ability to make a decisive win over the other. For Grey was too hesitant about having Ulkry come into contact with the sword Slaphmir, while Ulkry lacked half of his repertoire due to not being able to use Marked Earth to his advantage.

Seeing that the train even with its extreme speed had yet to reach the halfway mark across the Nile River, Jane turned her attention back to the Demon King before her, who had managed to create a lull in the battle as both Grey and Ulkry separated from each other while both watched for the moment of weakness that they needed to end the fight. Summoning forth mana, Jane spun it out as a maelstrom of fire that engulfed the roof of the carriage that Ulkry was standing on. Except that these flames didn’t burn, they instead let loose a wave of heat and nothing more.

Heat, which Jane trapped inside the boundary of the flame, causing an even increasing cycle until the roof of the train carriage, the same one Ulkry had been on when he had first started this fight, was searing to the point that metal would melt simply from being in this inferno of heat. Grimacing at the fact that he was trapped inside the walls of flame and what it was doing to his body, Ulkry cast a glare towards the airborne Jane before he heard a sound that made the demon doubt what his eyes were seeing.

Stepping through the walls of flame, the Mad Paladin stepped into the artificial inferno, every piece of equipment on his body glaring gold as the telesma that flowed through him kept his armour, body and sword from melting away. Yet even as the wide eyed demon watched Grey approach, Ulkry could see that Grey’s face and quite probably his body was already catching fire simply from being inside this maelstrom of fire and heat. The heat itself was so great that it had caused the air itself to ignite and burn, stealing away the breath of all inside, as well as cause anything else inside of it to catch fire, including Grey Silverman’s flesh.

Striding forward unbound by pain, Ulkry watched as the man known as the Mad Paladin ignored the fact that his skin was emulating rivers of magma and lava. Thin stretches of Grey’s face were not only catching fire but appearing as if his skin was infused with rivers of lava.

“You must be mad, to endure this. One has to be,” said Ulkry as he tilted his head to study the Knight of Gray who was using the direct connection to Samael to fuel the healing powers of telesma to the point that even though he should have turned to ash already, he was still standing and living.

“This pain is nothing compared to the pain of having your soul broken,” said Grey, his eyes untouched by the burning pain that raced through his entire being, a pain that was all but a distant echo of something far, far away.

“You know that you’re going to run out of flesh if you aren’t careful,” commented Ulkry as the demon assessed the still living being before it.

“Nice trick, does it work often?” asked Grey as he realised that Ulkry was trying to throw him off balance by asking about if his body could endlessly regenerate the flesh that was turning to ash. “Because anyone stupid enough to fall for it deserves their fate. After all it should be self evident just from watching seraphim grow up that telesma can create all the matter that they need since they don’t need to eat or expel waste.”

Ulkry just shrugged ambiguously at the question before returning to the battle, shooting his hand forward. Ulkry’s arm stretched until it was just shy of Grey and when Grey dodged it at the last moment, Ulkry allowed the arm to miss so that he could grab the edge of the carriage and pull himself toward the paladin.

Flying forward at ridiculous speed, Ulkry advanced on Grey and began to attack, the two fighters slowly realising that inside of Jane’s flames neither could fight at their optimum, as the hellmist Ulkry tried to summon was burnt away by the heat, while Grey was still hesitant to fight using Slaphmir. However that was until something changed, feeling the flames diminish both Grey and Ulkry knew that the end of the battle had begun.

Launching crescent projectiles of telesma from Slaphmir, Grey’s attacks suddenly were filled with the desire to fight, to kill, to attack and destroy as if whatever had been holding him back disappeared. Attacking by sending waves of telesma roaring towards the Demon King, Grey started to pick up steam as he moved fast with more surety and savagery that made the Demon King go on the defensive.

Reaching the Demon King in a blinding streak of golden light, Grey swung his sword that trailed golden light and caught the Demon King in a defend or die situation. Realising it could only defend, Ulkry used his hellmist to cover itself in armour, black and red armour that Ulkry used to block Grey’s massive and instant swinging attack. Stretching its arms so that they were in front of it, Ulkry made sure that the vambraces were not only parallel, but they were touching as if to create a vertical rectangle shield, a shield that blocked Grey’s attack from doing any damage, but not from lifting Ulkry off its feet. Swinging around so that the sword had done an almost complete 360 degree swing, the attack had not only knocked Ulkry off his feet it had caused it to be stuck to the blade, carrying the demon along with the attack.

Reaching about the 270 degree point of the spinning attack, Grey shifted his swing so that for the final piece of the attack Grey transitioned from horizontal to vertical, which sent Ulkry plummeting down onto the roof of the train carriage. The same roof that had been corroded by Ulkry’s own corrupting nature, a fact that made the roof break beneath the demon, sending him plummeting into the floor of the train. Realising that the armour he had summoned had acted against it, Ulkry dispelled his armour before slowly getting to his feet.

Looking up to see both Jane and Grey staring down at him through the hole in the roof, Ulkry shot out both of his hands each one tipped with Hell Ore and each one seeking to take a life.

“Edward if you please,” said Jane as she pulled a card from somewhere on her person.

Realising that something was wrong, Ulkry continued his attack more to see what was being used against him than for any other reason. Striking a shield of purple energy, Ulkry’s hands bounced back before they returned to a more humanoid length.

Glancing around, Ulkry could see that he was trapped inside the carriage as during the fight between Grey and the demon, Edward had created a containment seal around the carriage. Using the cover of Jane’s mana based flames to prevent Ulkry from sensing what he was doing, he created a seal that would prevent Ulkry from escaping at least for the time needed for their plan to come to fruition.

“This won’t contain me,” said Ulkry, looking up at the two humans that had pushed him into the prison the demon currently occupied.

“That was never the plan,” said Jane accordingly, “but one question before you get sent back to Hell. What did you do to the drivers of the train?”

“Oh them, they jumped out of the train the moment they saw me. They weren’t even surprised I appeared,” said Ulkry as he surveyed the seal around him, looking for the one weakness that would allow him to break free and continue his work.

“Thank you,” said Jane choosing to believe that the demon hadn’t lied, “Aleister your turn.”

Looking up quickly at Jane, Ulkry barely had any time to react as a screaming bullet made from telesma shot through all of the walls in-between Ulkry and Aleister, the bullet phasing through the train courtesy of Edward Maw. Striking the demon dead in the chest before Ulkry could manifest armour, the bullet struck the demon’s flesh burning and destroying that which was made of Hell, causing Ulkry to let loose a scream of such pain that it was beyond description. Yet Ulkry persisted, even as the scar upon his chest sizzled and agony passed through the demon, Ulkry didn’t allow itself to be sent back to Hell. Instead, the demon cast its gaze upward to look at Grey and Jane with true menace.

Sighing with regret, Grey nodded at Jane who jumped upon her staff, sending her flying backwards and upwards so that she was floating way above the train with a perfect sight of what lay in the train’s path. Extending her hand, Jane pointed her finger at the part of the bridge that the train would cross, the dead centre of the bridge and with a single flex of her finger, the bridge exploded into fire and flame and waves of heat. But Jane wasn’t finished yet. Casting magic again, Jane created little bursts of flame that used the fire-like jet propulsion to push the bridge or what was left of it into an arc that led the train both down and into the water right off the bridge.

Seeing what was coming, Ulkry let out a small smile and simply chose to wait, all the while knowing that the water while painful would not be able to kill or even send Ulkry back to Hell, even a river the size of the Nile. Following the tracks, the train veered off course and fell crashing down into the water, sinking deeper and deeper until the entire train and all of its carriages were completely submerged.

Feeling the pain of the water course across and through it, the Demon King saw the barrier that contained it break and Ulkry started to swim out of the remains of the train. All the while, the pain of the water caused the demon to writhe and spasm as it swam up knowing that it needed to either get onto the bridge or swim to the shore to escape the pain it was in.

Feeling a distortion of magic, Ulkry looked up to see that Aleister was floating in the water north of where Ulkry was and in the demonspawn’s hand was a golden cross with a tear imbedded in its centre.

Responding to the telesma being funnelled into it, the three powers that were gathered in the water unified to destroy the demon that had fallen into the watery realm. Telesma, celestial power and the elemental energies of water itself all united and within a single moment the entire river was flooded with magic, purging it of corruption, death and any filth until it was so pure that it could be used to heal the sick and lame, as well as cast demons out of Geb.

Seeing the look on Aleister’s face as the golden white magic surged out of the Tear of Ymir, Ulkry knew that he was enjoying this immensely getting his revenge, but at the same time Ulkry hid a smile as he was forced out of the world and back to the Fifth Circle of Hell, a smile of victory. For Ulkry could see that something was different with Aleister, something that none of the God Squad had seen yet, something that could either be a boon or bane to Heaven.

Laughing as he fell across the veil of death and back into the depths of Hell, Ulkry knew that he had succeeded and the erosion of trust that would result between the city of Xois and the Arthurian Empire over the train’s destruction was just an added bonus.

Looking down at the surging, pure water, Grey stood atop the wreckage of the bridge while Jane hovered over the spot where Aleister had jumped down to be the one to finish off the demon.

Seeing Edward scurrying over with their luggage suspended on his flying cards, Grey nodded his head in respect for the man who had succeeded in suppressing the Demon King of Faith. Hearing splashing noises, the God Squad focused in on the floundering figure of Aleister as he tried to stay afloat, a smile upon his face, one that amplified his beauty with joy that he had succeeded and that he had begun the process needed to cast away the trauma that Ulkry had inflicted.

Smiling in relief, Jane sailed down close to the river her hand extended to catch Aleister and pull him out of the water. Carrying him in what some of her fellow mages called a princess carry, Jane took to the sky while Aleister waved with delight at his brother, glad to see that Edward had managed to get off the train intact.

Relishing their success, the God Squad hopped over the hole in the bridge and started to move towards the city of Xois, knowing that compared to what they had just endured that finding Lillian Darkseed was going to be easy.

Circling over the site of Ulkry’s final battle, the silver raven turned and flew upwards to meet with Ymir, who had watched the entirety of the battle, a brilliant light glowing in his eyes as he appreciated the deeds that the God Squad had done. Looking over at the raven who had started flying east, Ymir turned his cloud and accelerated towards the Wolfskard Mountains, the god seeking to find the best place to witness the war to come and the heroes that would arise.

Yet even as Ymir soared across the sky, Ymir had to wonder to himself if he should become even more involved and help these heroes rise even higher than what they normally could become. Well as high as they could go before the other gods that had been playing with the God Squad’s lives interfered or even prevented Ymir’s aid.