"So, Cards are basically like if you were a Magic: The Gathering card?” Mattie asked. “Interesting. But, how were you able to change it. Probably more impressive is getting into heaven to do it.”
“No, not really.” Jonathan interjected. “Many Noctervi do it. It’s not hard. It’s mainly a trick that uses interdimensional travel magic but instead of going to a different dimension, you just enter the pocket dimension that is heaven. The impressive part is that Rose lasted more than a few seconds. The angels usually kill whoever goes up there. And even more impressive than that is being able to find the Cards. It is said, however I’m not sure if this is true or not, that it is impossible to find your own Card. So everything other than getting into heaven was impressive.”
Interesting, I thought to myself. So we could just launch an offensive on Heaven itself and kill all the angels that block our path. But what about a god. Are there multiple, or one. Do they have temples already worshiping them, or are they completely unknown.
I hate it when questions lead to more questions.
“S-so, what, what about jus-just attacking the god, directly. Could we do it. I mean, is there any r-reason not to?” I said shyly.
“Because no one knows if this god actually exists.” Rose said, and than quickly added, “Not even me.”
I thought that getting the answers might actually be helpful, but I only have more questions. But still, wouldn’t that just make attacking Heaven easier. Or at least have more of a reason to do it. Well, Rose is the boss, I can’t do something they don’t want me to.
“I want to know what the hell happened to Amber.” Sophie said, “fuck this god, what about her. Is she like a half demon or something? Or maybe a full demon.” At this, Amber shyed back, but didn’t take her eyes off of Johnathan.
“Careful Sophie, I d-don’t think she knows herself, so, I don’t know, m-maybe, like, don’t attack Amber.” I said, trying to defend Amber really wasn’t my goal, I just wanted to get back on topic, and I also think that Amber needs to catch a break.
“Well, given that I had a spy there, who has an ability that lets someone else see through his eyes,” Jonathan said, “I can confidently say that she is a half-demon.” At this the whole room burst into motion. Johnathans men either moved towards him or towards Amber. Rose had a gun in hand, pointed at Johnathan, and their other hand was aflame. Sophie also had guns pointed at Johnathan, and I had one pointed at him too. Alric was on his feet, but hadn’t moved much. Mattie was still just making bullets. Johnathans subordinates had guns pointed on all of us but Mattie, which was probably their biggest mistake, but I don’t think Johnathan or Rose would actually start a fight.
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Johnathan looked unnervingly calm for a man with about 5 guns pointed at him. He said “Oh calm down. Stop getting worked up over nothing. Lower your damn guns, they’re annoying to look at.” He paused, and waited until everyone had gone back to their original positions. “Alright, good. Now get ready for half an essay.”
“Now it is true that Amber is a half-demon. She can’t be a full demon though, because they can’t take a human shape. You might be wondering how I know she’s a demon. Well, that’s simple. She can manipulate souls.
“This is an inherent ability of all demons, regardless of how much of a demon they are, assuming at least one parent was a demon. Souls can be taken out of dead bodies. Souls don’t naturally leave their bodies. Angels employ special demons to lead them to hell, because heaven doesn’t exist for people to go to. They go to hell to be treated like cattle. But if they aren’t collected within 24 hours, which is very, very common, they become spirits. That’s why there are so many spirits around.
“Demons can take the souls out of a body, but only the demons. They can also revive a person, if they sacrifice souls equal to their IP, or Intrinsic Power level. Well, let me rephrase that. If someone has an IP of 5, and they were to be revived, souls would have to be sacrificed, but the total IP of those souls has to be 5 or higher. So an IP of 5 would work, as well as a soul with an IP of 10, or two souls with IP’s of 2 and 3.
“The average person has an IP of 1,000. Anyone with an ability has at least 100,000. There are people without abilities with up to 100,000, like Sophie. These people are very, very talented. But with an ability, you technically don’t have an IP limit. You can technically raise your IP, but it’s not something you have control of, most times it just happens as you grow. It can also be increased via extra exposure to radiation.
“IP is measured by the amount of radiation in the body. While most people think radiation is scientific, it’s actually supernatural. That’s why it is so dangerous to regular humans.
“Radiation is the driving force of all life. It controls how one's life will play out, what they're good at, and their personality. Everything in one's life is controlled by radiation. Or as it’s called in the Underworld, Vitalis Magica. Or, Vita. It roughly translates to life magic. Because, that’s truly what it is.”
“Wow,” Amber said,” That’s a lot of stuff. A lot to think about, a lot to take in. Everything seems to make sense to some degree at least.” She seemed to be deep in thought, and worried about something. Sophie, across the room, seemed to be lost in thought as well.
“So, my shooting abilities. They came from my IP levels, right?” Sophie asked, seeming disturbed by something.
“Yes.” Rose said, and Sophie's expression darkened. When Rose noticed this, she quickly added, “But you're better than anyone else in the world. You can’t do that with IP alone. It might have been a factor, but it was only because you worked hard that you can shoot better than anyone else. IP only gives you talent, not skill. Skill makes you the best. Talent gives you potential. Talent is given, skill is earned. Never forget that.”
With this, Sophie’s face softened, but it was still stressed. She seemed really defeated. I didn’t know why, but it was probably something personal.
“Well, Rose.” Jonathan started. “Why the hell didn’t you tell at the very least your commanders about the Underworld? Seems pretty important to miss, dontcha think?”