Novels2Search

~6~

New Scotland Yard was at the shopping mall when they received an anonymous tip. It was a dreadful sight; with more than a few dozen Third Rev militia soldiers being beaten half to death or poisoned.

Constable Ross, who was called in to investigate, was floored by the carnage left behind. Then, a younger male police officer with dark hair and blue eyes approached him bewilderedly.

"62 men, Constable. Fifty are bloodied, cleaved with arrows sticking out of them. Twelve are drugged and delighted with one being killed by his men," the reports.

"So, someone ambushed the militia as they tried to take over a high-end shopping mall? Why not hit jewelry stores on Bond Street, Foley?" Constable Ross scrutinized.

The young police officer named Foley shrugged, "Who knows? These rat bastards would take anything."

Ross tiptoes around the scene while leaving the mall with Foley following him, "I heard the Third Rev cash reserves are running low. Funding an independent war is not easy. Especially when the UN recognizes you as a terrorist group and both them with the Vatican denounce you as a bunch of heretics.”

While reaching outside, a black van pulled off at breakneck speed in front of everyone. Immediately, three girls got out of the van. They had to look like teenagers to the two officers. The one who stood out prominently was a busty blonde-haired, blued girl who wore a gothic Lolita-inspired detective outfit. She was flanked by two wearing weird frilly outfits; one on the left had dark skin and long black hair with brown eyes, while the other on the right had tanned skin, shoulder-length auburn red hair with matching eyes, but she was a tanuki kemonomimi.

The gothic Lolita girl greeted the Constable with a smile, "Good evening, Omar."

Ross recognized the three as he knew this was trouble, “for fuck’s sake...”

The gothic Lolita girl sees the blushing young police offer. Feeling he is smitten already with her, she teases him, "I guess the old man didn't tell us who we are. I'm Lycka Benibara, The Aethereal Queen of the Crux. On my left is Alpha Crucis, and on the right is Beta Crucis."

“Hi, Constable!” the smiling Beta Crucis waved while Alpha Crucis tried to keep a stoic, professional demeanor by clearing her throat.

Alpha Crucis approached Ross, "We had been called in to see this scene by Her Majesty directly, Constable. We want to see what is inside, or you will be that copper who gives us nonsense?" Alpha Crucis challenged.

“I'm just doing my job. You give me any of that ‘Juris-my dick-tion’ rubbish, little lady, and you can cram it up your ass.” Ross defended.

“The Matrix reference...” Lycka is self-aware.

Alpha Crucis passes them with a scowl as she enters the shopping mall. The Crux around this period was battling some scrutiny as they were falsely connected to The Third Revelation as a supportive party. Of course, the Crux immediately and vehemently denied such rumors.

Then Lycka sees some men the paramedics are working on, “Are they talking?”

"Yes. In French, German, Russian..." Ross lazily answered.

Lycka was slightly annoyed by Ross's aloofness, "this is serious! People are dead because of these men!"

“I know a little French...” Foley stammered.

Already annoyed by Ross, Lycka almost snapped at Foley, “And what did they say in French.”

“Some of them said it was a winged demon. démon ailé.” Foley said.

“Asmodeus incarnate. If it was true," Beta Crucis said as she headed to the mall with everyone else following her. "a prince of demons, or in Judeo-Islamic lore the king of the earthly spirits, mostly known from the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit, in which he is the primary antagonist. In Peter Binsfeld's classification of demons, Asmodeus represents lust. The demon is also mentioned in some Talmudic legends, for instance, in the story of the construction of the Temple of Solomon."

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“Aren’t you supposed to be a magical girl next door or something?” Ross throws shade.

Beta Crucis ignores him as she continues, "Asmodeus has many depictions throughout the years. Some are the same; most are different... In the Book of Tobit, he is hostile to Sarah, Raguel's daughter, and slays seven successive husbands on their wedding nights, impeding the sexual consummation of the marriages."

Beta Crucis finally makes it inside and surveys the crime scene. The pools of blood, shell casings everywhere, the broken soldiers being carted out either stretchers or body bags. The lights were on as the crew found a way to fix the circuit breaker.

Strolling around the area, Beta Crucis continued her lecture, “In the New Jerusalem Bible translation, he is described as ‘the worst of demons.’ When the young Tobias is about to marry her, Asmodeus proposes the same fate for him. Still, Tobias is enabled, through the counsels of his attendant angel Raphael, to render him innocuous," The Beta Crucis went over to the fountain and seen bloodied water. It appeared most of it was evaporated, "By placing a fish's heart and liver on red-hot cinders, Tobias produces a smoky vapor that causes the demon to flee to Egypt, where Raphael binds him. According to some translations, Asmodeus is strangled."

"He was an influential character. In the Talmud, he is less malign in character than the Asmodeus of Tobit. In the former, he repeatedly appears in the light of a good-natured and humorous fellow." Lycka added.

Then, Alpha Crucis rejoined the two, “In the Testament of Solomon, he appears and predicts Solomon's kingdom will one day be divided. When Solomon interrogates Asmodeus further, the king learns that Asmodeus is thwarted by the angel Raphael and by sheatfish found in the rivers of Assyria. He also admits to hating water and birds because both remind him of God. Asmodeus claims he was born of a human mother and an angel father.”

“So, which one is he?” Ross is impatient.

Seeing something sticking out of the fountain, Beta Crucis manipulated her water to spread the remaining bloody water like the Red Sea. She then hopped into the fountain and easily walked to the foreign object. Pulling out of the floor took some strength, but it was worth the struggle.

Examining the object, it appeared to be a burnt arrow. There was white residue on the stick and the arrow. Getting what she'd wanted, Beta Crucis stepped out of the fountain, returning the water to normal.

“He is making his own story,” Beta Crucis concluded while passing the burnt arrow to Alpha Crucis.

“Wait, one person did all of this?” Ross questioned.

“Our winged demon,” Foley put together.

"Not quite. Follow me," Alpha Crucis said as they followed her upstairs to the upper level. There, they arrived at a sporting goods store.

"This was one of the two stores that were broken into," Alpha Crucis said. "They didn't take any guns or ammunition."

"Clothing." Beta Crucis said while heading to the archery section. "Maybe some bowhunting gear. A visor is missing. So is a pair of gloves." Beta Crucis knelt to see a torn open package. "Medium, children's size."

Alpha Crucis nods, “Constable, we need to do an inventory check of this store and cross-check it with the loss prevention logs.”

Ross gave Alpha Crucis a blank expression.

"Judging by what happened here, this person is more dangerous than any trained military personnel. So, I advise you to keep an open mind." Alpha Crucis argued as she left the store, Beta Crucis and the Aethereal Queen following her.

"Winged demon. More like a winged vigilante if you ask me." Lycka brainstormed.

“Isn’t Lady Memento still across the pond in prison?” Beta Crucis wondered.

“She is, and we may have a copycat on our hands,” Alpha Crucis responded.

"Lady Memento was more of an up-close and personal brawler but was incredibly smart. This is just downright savagery. This person made former army veterans shit their pants," Lycka analyzed.

Then they walked into a computer store nearby. Naturally, the crew was away.

“Our ‘winged demon’ was here last...” Beta Crucis analyzed.

“Are you sure?” Lycka wondered.

"Positive," Beta Crucis said while walking to a laptop. It was moved with a USB cable sticking out of it and connected to a walkie-talkie. "This kid is a genius."

“What makes you say that?” Alpha Crucis asked.

She turned on the laptop to see a command log. The walkie-talkie was still accessible as she read the log. What she read made her smile, "Jehoshaphat. Their enrollment by families was as follows: From Judah, commanders of units of 1,000: Adnah, the commander, with 300,000 fighting men; next, Jehohanan, the commander, with 280,000; next, Amasiah, son of Zikri, who volunteered himself for the service of the Lord, with 200,000. From Benjamin: Eliada, a brave soldier, with 200,000 men armed with bows and shields; next, Jehozabad, with 180,000 men armed for battle."

"2 Chronicles 17:14-18," Alpha Crucis depicted. "This talkie-talkie is military-grade and had to be heavily encrypted. Yet he was agile enough to crack it and give abort codes before they executed a missile air strike."

"So, he is more than a copycat, more like a successor. We need a debriefing," Beta Crucis concluded.