5-Nua, 1st, 1523

The mission that needed the attention of two of the nine Seraphims of the Church was quite important, as three days after Aeron's rescue, Mikael had gotten an urgent summons to the Church.

He could teleport there using one of the crystals he was carrying, but he could only go alone, so he left the task of getting the rescued populace away from the town towards the main city and told his own Cherubims to stay and oversee the journey.

As he teleported into the meeting room, he was surprised to find one of, if not the most reclusive Seraphim out of the Nine, out of her laboratory and sitting at her chair, almost falling asleep in her wait.

The double-doors opened and the Archpriest stepped in.

He was an old man, fought and personally led the 1st Battlegroup during the war against Q'urleth and its demonic horde, dubbed the Annihilation of The Scourge

Even at the age of 93, Archpriest Nuv-al Jielo still exuded an awe-inspiring aura, his magic still as pure and strength as potent as it was in his peak.

He and Gwynne took a knee, paying their highest respects to the Archpriest wordlessly.

Not wasting time, he motioned for them to stand and sit down, and spoke.

"The Kyrios have found traces of the Scourge's taint." He grimly stated.

Gwynne's eyes widened by a large margin, a crease in her forehead appearing.

An aide placed a map on the table and opened it as Nuv-al spoke once more.

"They are confident that this area," Nuv-al activated a sliver of his magic as he drew a circle around a lone village, too far away even by the most lenient standards, "has already been settled in by the taint. Your mission for this, Seraphim Gwynne and Mikael, is to survey the area, and if the evidence suggests that the village is long gone, you know what to do, otherwise, prioritize rescuing the commoners and cleansing them of the taint." He finished as he glanced at the two of them.

"Are we clear?" He asked.

"Yes, Archpriest." "Crystal." The two of them replied at the same time. Mikael's casual response gained a mild glare from Gwynne, missing the small smile the Archpriest cracked.

"Then go." He nodded.

""By your will, Archpriest."" They bowed, before standing up and leaving to prepare for the mission.

5-Nua, 3rd, 1523

A large ice spike sailed through the air, impaling a demon square in the chest, it slumped down but before it could regenerate and stand up, its head was turned into red mist by a mace, as a man's dark gauntleted hand reached into the throat through the wound, before pulling out a red crystal.

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As the man crushed it, someone spoke behind the man.

"Hey, that fucker was s'posed to be mine!" Turning around, the man saw her fellow ally, Seraphim Gwynne, angrily stomping towards him.

"Listen here, Mikael," Gwynne stepped close to him, staring up into his eyes as she icily stated, "you better let me test my new spells against these vermin, or I'll test it on you." She growled before stomping away.

The amalgamation of pupils in his right eye shifted as Mikael squinted.

"Um," another voice spoke up.

Turning to look at who it was, Mikael was not surprised when he saw that it was one of Gwynne's Cherubims, specifically the kinder one, named Katya.

"Please don't take it too seriously, My Seraphim has been... irate, to say the least, these past few weeks. She hit another dead end in her researches, see." Katya bowed lightly towards him.

"Do not worry, I am not that easily angered, unlike some people." He joked, although he was weirded out and sometimes annoyed with Gwynne's attitude, he could sort of understand.

"Ah, thank you then, Seraphim Mikael, May you have a good hunt." She bowed again, and chased after Gwynne.

It had been a hectic week, but he had finally rescued Aeron, and now the boy was being taken care of by the Church. All he needs to do now was to finish this and return, so he could start mentoring the boy.

A bellowing roar alerted him to a strong demon appearing, or a corrupted that let itself be fed upon by the taint.

It did not matter though, as when he arrived at where he thought the sound was coming from, Gwynne had already dealt with it, the demon/taint-corrupted amalgamation lay dead, different sized ice spikes imbedded all over the thing's body, as Gwynne stood on its neck, a crystal blue sword made out of ice slicing through the taint-strengthened flesh, muscle, and bone.

Gwynne found the red crystal moments later, ripping it out of the creature as it finally died, and ate it.

Mikael approached her and clicked his tongue audibly, "You need to be careful eating those, Gwynne."

"I know, I know, don't get on my case about it, I've heard enough from Katya and Vejei." She grumbled.

"Then listen to them, do not let your ego and curiosity overpower your caution." He warned, before turning back and walking to the town circle where the untainted citizens were kept and guarded.

Gwynne squinted her eyes, deciding to not say anything, and followed him.

As the two arrived at the circle, they separated from each other, Gwynne went to the mages that accompanied them, while Mikael went through his rounds, checking if there were any wounded amongst the troops that took part in the attack.

Minutes later, as they fully pacified the town and had gotten rid of the Scourge's Taint, they were now transporting the citizens towards the nearest town, which was unfortunately quite a long way.

5-Nua, 5th, 1523

Mikael was woken up by the alarm bell being struck multiple times.

Making his way towards the central tent in the camp, he saw that Gwynne was already there, her face scrunched in obvious contempt, as she was looking down on the area's map.

A Kyrios was patiently waiting, also staring at the map.

"I knew that damned pacification was too smooth," She began, "now we have a goddess-damned demon horde that's making its way towards us." She growled.

"How many?" Mikael went straight to the point, he also felt that the pacification was way too smooth, especially considering the fact that they were against the Scourge's chaotic remains, but Gwynne already said it, no use repeating.

"According to our scouts, the horde numbers between seven to eight thousand." The Kyrios stated.

"Is it organized, or a rag-tag horde?" Gwynne looked at the Kyrios.

"Organized, my powers indicate a Lesser Apostle has taken full control of them."

Gwynne clicked her tongue as she made her decision, "You shall coordinate the defense of the camp, I will grant you the authorization to command the Cherubims under our commands, aswell as the rest of the troops," She turned her head towards Mikael and asked, "Do you agree?"

"Indeed, let the Kyrios do what they do best," Mikael nodded, "I shall give you full reign, use them as you see fit, coordinate attacks however you like. We will take out the Lesser Apostle." He glanced at Gwynne, who nodded at him.

"By your will, My Seraphims." the Kyrios bowed, as he beckoned aides to start preparations for the battle.