NOVEL WEB Cure for breathing
Devils manors and castles were protected by wards, wards made and designed to stand, to endure against any threat, against the brightest lights of the Heavens, the foulest sorceries imaginable.
They shattered like giant tears of crystal as Serafall Leviathan took a step. She was the strongest female devil. It could even be said that she was the strongest devil ever born from devilkind. Ajuka, Rizevim, Sirzechs and their daemons and Archdaemons ancestors didn't count.
“Leviathan! I command you to tell me what is the reason for such foolishness, the reason of how you could dare to intrude on my ancestral manor without permission!” the devil lord of the castle shouted after rushing to confront Serafall outside his castle.
He looked like a humanoid version of an anglerfish. The members of this clan, the Forneus clan thought themselves superior to most.
To express their ‘superiority’, they liked to take a more monstrous form reminiscent of demons of old.
The difference between them and the ancestor they wished to emulate was that unlike them, their ancestor was truly worthy of being feared.
The Daemon may have been a lesser twisted version of Serafall’s ancestor but he had at least been worthy of his title, of his power, unlike his descendants.
The devil didn't seem to have understood yet how precarious his situation was. Oh Sirzechs, Oh beloved Sirzechs, Oh foolish Sirzechs, why did it take so long to see the folly of your actions?
Here before Serafall was a devil, one who never reached the ultimate class yet who dared think he could command her, her, an Archdevil!
They had been too kind, too weak and even though she had hated it, she had respected Sirzechs’ wishes. The result was worms who thought they had so much more importance than they truly did.
The devil had been a thorn since they became Satans. If it wasn't for devils like him stopping Serafall and the other Satans to freely act, Serafall knew devil-kind would have reached unbelievable highs.
“Lord Forneus,” she spoke with all the false politeness she could muster. “I'm here to announce to you that there was a governmental change that was decided, one I'm here to inform you of.”
“A governmental change?” the devil said in disbelief. “It is impossible! Me and The other lords of the Ars Goetia weren't there to accept or refuse this change! Those are the rules so I'm saddened to say Leviathan that there is no point to your visit. You also destroyed my wards and intruded on my domain without permission!”
A younger and shorter version of the Forneus walked to his side “Father, What is happening?”
“Don't worry my son! I was talking with the Leviathan about an error she made, one she would have to pay for.”
Serafall watched his lustful eyes roam her form. The devil didn't even try to hide it. “The wards were expensive ones made with the help of my deceased ancestor. They were more than valuable. I'm not sure even a Satan could pay financially the price but it's alright, there are other methods of payment possible.”
The eyes of the scion Forneus widened in realization and lust.
The Lord came closer grabbing softly some of Serafall’s hair before leaning toward it and sniffing it. The devil looked at her in the eyes with a smirk “There are two choices I see for you. we could either begin to know each other more personally either link our families closer, to suppress any bad blood. You have a pure-blood sister, unmarried. I heard she almost died. It would have been such a waste don't you think? Maybe it is time for her to be married, maybe to a Scion with a good lineage like my son. You have the choice dear Leviathan but I know you know you wouldn't be able to pay back what happened with my wards.”
“We tried to be kind even though it didn't come easy. We tried to be paragons of an ideal most of us didn't believe in. We made so many errors Lord Forneus. I realized that I made one again today.”
Serafall’s right hand moved almost with love, with tenderness to touch the right side of the face of the devil.
The Devil opened his mouth “I knew you were sma-”
Only for his face to be ripped out by Serafall in a shower of blood and gore. Screams of pain, screams of pain that felt like bliss to her ears came out of the devil. The devil lord kneeled at Serafall’s feet, his hands covering his face.
Serafall turned her gaze toward her hand where reposed the face of the devil. It had been so long since she had done this. She had almost been sloppy. She almost went further with her fingers.
“Father! Father!” The young Forneus rushed to the side of his father. Blood was pooling from where there had been a face “Father! Hold on! We're going to fin-”
“You’re going to do nothing,” Serafall said softly.
The devil turned toward her seemingly realizing she was still present. Raw Hatred bloomed on the face of the Forneus hair. How long had it been since Serafall saw such gaze? How long had it been since she felt alive?!
The hand of the boy moved, a demonic circle appearing before his palm, one from which came rushing at Serafall a jet of pressurized water.
The jet of water touched Serafall’s skin and did nothing except wet her clothes. Was this all? Her Sona could have made something stronger at twelve! Was this the future of devil-kind? Maybe they all deserved to wither into nothing.
Serafall’s leg moved the slowest she could possibly make herself do to give more chance to the young Forneus to prove his worth yet it connected against the face of the Forneus heir throwing him against the walls of his castle that he broke through. Well, it couldn't be helped.
Serafall turned her attention back to the whimpering devil at her feet. This was the natural order! This was how it was supposed to be!
How could someone so pathetic, so weak dare to try to command Serafall and the other Satans? how could such a pathetic creature dare to think that his existence was better than the one of others simply because of their origins? How could that fool dare to utter the name of her beloved sister?
“There is a war coming and we don’t want to deal with another great war with leeches like you at our side.”
Serafall’s knees bent “You know something that's funny? No servants, no guards, not even your wife came to help you. In the end, you were too stupid to realize you were a rabid animal shouting at the sun and rabid animals,”
Serafall’s left hand moved under the chin of the lord of the Forneus clan and grabbed it. With one brutal yank toward the sky, the Demon lord removed the head and the spine of the Forneus.
Blood exploded upward from his body like a broken faucet baptizing Serafall and the ground surrounding her in the blood of the Forneus lord.
Serafall closed her eyes to bask in the sensation of blood splashing against her skin. It felt like a renewal, a new beginning. She realized that she had missed it.
At that moment, everything seemed almost perfect. It would have been perfect if Sirzechs, Sona and the child they never had were with her at this moment.
Her good mood evaporated as she reminded herself involuntarily of the fact that her dreams were nothing but dreams at least for now. It took time but Sirzechs finally came back to his senses about the devil nobility. Serafall was sure that with time, she would be able to make Sirzechs come back to her. She just needed to be patient.
She entered the manor, the bloody head and spine of the Once Lord Forneus in her left hand leaving a trail of blood behind her.
The guards and servants didn't try to stop her. They didn't even seem angry. They instead were kneeling. Serafall couldn't smell fear or hatred directed at her from them. Instead, she felt gratitude.
The inside of the manor was fine she guessed. It was expensive like most homes of Pillar devils, composed of materials more expensive than what some rich humans could gain in a thousand years, full of too many rooms but it still felt alright at best in her books, empty.
She would have lost herself in it if it wasn't for one thing, the smell of blood. The boy had survived but he hadn't been left uninjured and unfortunately for him, Serafall got a frankly ridiculous sense of smell. Her sense of smell made her turn to her left.
She was now in a corridor with a dead-end where on the walls four doors were fixed that she knew conducted to different rooms.
The young Forneus had in fear trapped himself. This was always like this. A Scared prey was most of the time the cause of its own demise.
“Where are you hiding little fishy?” the voice of Serafall shouted playfully. No one would have thought it to be the voice of someone who sadistically killed another in cold blood minutes ago.
“Your Daddy and I stopped butting heads. He found that he did not have the spine to face me.”
The smell of fear, it was becoming almost overwhelming. Its increase was followed by the smell of Ammonia.
Serafall was coming closer and closer to the Forneus heir. Serafall opened loudly a door knowing it wasn’t the one where the young devil was hidden.
“Not here! Let's check the next one!” Serafall opened the following door and like expected found it empty.
“Maybe it is one of the doors on the other wall!” She opened the last room before the one she knew he was hiding in.
She finally stopped at the last door “Knock, Knock,” Serafall said slowly. Her right hand moved to the handle and opened the door.
He was there like she expected, his scared form against a wall. The heir Forneus had lost an arm, it looked as if his head had been hit with a hammer “I'm searching for a little fishy. Are you the little fishy?” she asked him.
The eyes of the boy widened even more in fear when he saw the head and spine of his father “Please, please I don't want to die, I don’t want to d-”
“Hush,” Serafall cut him. “You attacked a Satan, one of the rulers of your race you know? I'll be in the right to kill you but you seem like a smart reasonable boy. Are you a smart reasonable boy?”
The boy nodded so fast that for an instant, Serafall thought he would lose his head.
“Good, good. I just want to inform you that things changed. Everything you had ever been taught, everything you had ever believed, let me tell you it changes now. You are nobles, no kings! We are your kings! Understood?”
“Understood Your Majesty Leviathan,” the boy said quickly.
“Good, good. I knew you were smart. Two other things little fishy.” Serafall rose the head of the father of the young devil “Firstly, I'm taking this.”
A teleportation circle began to open under her feet “Secondly, I have been merciful today. We know everything. Before you even do anything, think we Satans know. Don’t make me come back. Don't give me a reason,” and with her words, Serafall disappeared from the Forneus estate to do the same with other pillar clans.
“Hi lord Gamagin.”
“You don’t have the right. This is my esta-” The lord of the Gamagin clan stopped talking as his jaw was lopped off due to the touch of one of Serafall’s fingers.
Another smarter than the other tried to escape the moment Serafall broke through his wards. “No, no, no. It isn't nice to not greet guests,” Serafall said to the last member of the Dantalion clan.
Shadows surged toward her trying to crush her. The Satan sidestepped them and used the spine of the late Lord Forneus to whip the Dantalion in the face.
The Dantalion fell and Serafall chose this moment to pounce on him. She raised her right foot over his head.
Shadows bloomed just over the skin of the devil. It didn't save him. Serafall’s foot crushed through the shadows, through the neck of the last Dantalion sectioning it from his body.
In another layer of hell, in the house of another pillar clan, the head of a clan had his head missing and his body was blood-eagled before his happy half-blood children.
Another pure-blood devil found himself sent to the realm of Death by being beheaded by a kitchen knife after the same knife had stabbed him in the right eye.
All over the underworld, similar scenes of slaughter happened as the Satans proved themselves and reminded the world that they were the worthy successors of Helel.
scene*
Cakes especially vanilla cakes tasted so good. The way they almost melted in the mouth, how they were so perfectly sweet. Truly, cakes were the proof of the existence of God. Dulio still had some money from his last mission, maybe he could buy some to share with the children of the orphanage.
“Dulio! Dulio!” a voice called bringing him back to reality.
He opened his eyes and his gaze met the icy blue eyes of Griselda Quarta. His eyes widened in panic ‘She wasn’t supposed to be there yet!’
“Ah, Griselda, it is a pleasure to see you,” Dulio lied. It was a lie. It wasn't that he hated her. It's just that Griselda was kinda a stuck up to rules and Dulio preferred to do things at his pace, one he knew many considered lazy. He guessed he couldn't blame her strictness when she was the current avatar of Diligence, one of the remaining aspects of God that still walked this reality.
“The meeting is supposed to begin at 6 A.M. It is 5:40 o'clock right now Dulio. I came here to make sure you weren't late”
“Is it sister? I thought I had more time,” he told her truthfully. He had wanted to relax a little after coming back from a mission but it seemed his little relaxation had almost turned into a full-blown sleep.
“Dulio, I understand you're stressed and exhausted due to the things happening right now. I know that you came back just hours ago after dealing with vampires but we have an example to show. They struck in the heart of the church. Thousands died directly or indirectly because of the devils. We can't allow ourselves to look exhausted, less than pristine even if it's the case. We have to be beacons of light! We have to show them that everything will be alright.”
“Griselda, I think he understood,“ the kind voice of Vasco Strada rang. “We weren't the only ones to lose somebody in the attack.”
Dulio’s gaze fell on the right arm of The nun. For most humans, nothing would have seemed to have changed but Dulio wasn't like most. He could see with his gaze how signals were sent from the brain of the nun to her arm to stop her from lashing out. Dulio had lost the children of the orphanage. Griselda had lost her daughter.
“I'll be better Sister Griselda,” he told the nun. “I promise I will be better.”
“Good. We count on you, Charity.” In his soul, the divine light, the divine fragment of God that had been with him since his birth continued to slumber. With her words, the nun left the room.
“Yeah, you can,” Dulio whispered. Charity, he held inside his soul one of the seven virtues, a literal aspect of God yet he wasn't strong enough to protect the children of the Orphanage, children he considered as family. He was the wielder of a longinus. He was twice blessed, a prodigy, one of the aces of the Church yet he hadn’t been able to save those who mattered the most to him. He failed to save the king.
“Dulio, look at me,” the newly chosen Pope of the church told him. Vasco Strada had been before the attack a cardinal priest, the second-highest figure in the church.
Rumours said he hadn't been Pope before because the old man had refused. In the end, due to the current crisis, when the cardinal had been asked to become Pope at least the time of the current crisis, he accepted.
His gaze fell on the man. With how kind and soft his voice was, no one would have expected his voice to be the one of a two-meter tall, white-haired old man, with wrinkles, with an extremely developed muscular build that put bodybuilders to shame.
comforting hands fell on the shoulders of Dulio “Everything will be alright Dulio.”
He wanted to simply agree with the Cardinal but Vasco breathed Kindness and acceptance. There was no one actually more trustworthy to whom he could talk so talk honestly he did “Is that true? How many died? How many more will die simply because of the endless cruelty of devils? I thought that maybe they had changed. I had thought that maybe they were different from their ancestors, that maybe children would be able to grow up in a war-free world.”
The old man sighed. It seemed to age him even making him look almost frail “I feel the same way that you. I hate violence but they took the choice away from us. They proved to us that they couldn't be trusted. Our duty is to make sure they create the least amount of damage possible and it is only possible if we fight. I will bloody my hands even if I hate it so that they won't create more chaos. We gave them peace and they spit on us. Now it is time to pay them back with violence, with justice.”
The voice that had come from the mouth of the Pope hadn't been a mortal one. It had been a divine one, one proclaiming, no, making a decree before the world. For many, this voice was the one of the spectre, of the virtue embodying the wrath of God but Dulio knew better. Wrath wasn't a virtue, it was a sin and God wasn't sinful. It was the voice of justice.
Charity awakened inside him. Dulio felt the presence and the attention of the celestial being. Dulio couldn’t truly communicate with the spirit. Dulio didn't have the best synchronization with the spirit. The only thing, he could understand coming from the spirit was an emotion, one that had been constant since the attack on the Vatican. Sadness.
“I'll help you, Father, for the church, for mankind, for our lost siblings!”
A smile bloomed on the face of the Pope “Good. I knew I could count on you.”
The Pope moved toward the door “There are also five remaining minutes Dulio. I don’t want to imagine what Griselda would do if we were actually late.”
Before the Pope had finished talking, Dulio was already at his side. Dulio really didn't want to know what Griselda would actually do if they were late because of him.
scene*
An Enochian rune unfurled space and time before the eyes of Vasco Strada. He had found one day After the attack a letter in his quarters, one that felt angelic, one that felt like the divinity of Gabriel Hornblower.
The only things that were specified in the letter were the place where they would need to activate the rune, the day of the meeting and the persons he was supposed to bring with him.
This is why Vasco and the two others were standing in the middle of the ruins of Saint Peter's Basilica. It felt strangely fitting, appropriate. This was a reminder that the Heavens were acting because they needed to.
A portal opened over the rune. It was one Vasco could see was leading to a forest, a clearing to be more precise.
Griselda was the first one to cross and reappear on the other side. Vasco gave a nod to Dulio and did the same. It didn't feel particular. It just was as if Vasco had crossed a door. Nothing more, nothing less. He heard Dulio step on the grass behind him.
Vasco could feel numerous presences. Most were faint as if they weren't directly here but one, a familiar one stood unhidden, proud like a fiery star to his senses.
Saying that the presence of Heaven on Earth was limited to Christianity would be an error. The Abrahamic god had hundreds of mini-different cults or religions dedicated to him.
In a world without the obvious presence of the divine, those different dogmas would have entered in endless cycles of conflict but in a world where Heaven answered, it wasn't the case.
Due to the fact that they all knew they had the same goal, the same god, the different cults under the banner of Heaven tried to play nice with each other even if there were a lot of disagreements.
Those disagreements didn't stop Vasco Strada from seeing, waiting at the place of the meeting the Grand Imam Suleiman Ben Yaqub.
The man was as tall as Vasco. He had an impressive beard that had been braided and fell at the level of his stomach. Black Kohl coated his eyelids. At the waist of the Bisht* he wore, a sheathed sword rested, a holy one, one as holy as Durandal, one he recognized as the dhu l-fakar.
“Suleiman,” Vasco greeted the other man presenting one of his hands.
The Grand Imam shook his hand “Vasco, it’s been too long my friend.”
“It had been,” Vasco agreed. “I just wished we would have been able to see each other in other circumstances.”
“I do too.” Vasco watched as the eyes of the man before him changed, illuminated by the inside “Devils having the gal to attack a place of worship of the all-mighty. Such an insult is one that will be paid.”
Christianity, Judaism and Islam weren't the three greatest religions under Heaven’s banner for no reason. The church may have had Justice, Diligence and Charity but Islam had faith.
“Vasco,” a voice said just behind him. Vasco hadn't been able to sense anything before the one behind him spoke.
“It has been a while dipper,” Vasco greeted the Rabbi behind him, the only human who could have done so without a sacred gear. Dipper didn't look like a Rabbi. If Vasco wasn't wrong, the boy probably barely reached 5.9 inches. He looked like a teenager on the verge of adulthood. He had chosen to wear brown shorts, and a back t-shirt that could be seen under a fuchsia pink sweater with a shooting star on it you would have expected a prepubescent girl to wear. No one would have expected him to be the strongest and most powerful mage from the Jewish faction even though it was the case.
Suleiman’s gaze was focused on the Rabbi. Vasco would say that he could almost see in the gaze of the Imam caution.
Dipper stepped at their side “I told you to stop calling me that. I'm The Great Alchemist! I didn't earn the title just to be called Dipper. You know that My first name is Mason.”
A little smile bloomed on the face of the Pope “We are all friends here, aren't we? Calling you by your moniker is only something an enemy would do and we are not enemies, we are allies. Aren't we Dipper?”
“Are we allies though? None of you would have ever reached your current strength if it wasn’t forthe Kabbalah yet you have been shamelessly stealing faithfuls and lands from us so tell me Violence of Heaven, Great Caliph, are we truly allies?”
A mocking laugh escaped from the lips of Suleiman “You speaking about stealing lands? I didn't think someone could be more Hypocritical.”
The gaze of the Imam and the Rabbi locked “Do you want to repeat your words?”
“Mason,” Vasco's voice rumbled. “Stop! Suleiman, He's trying to play you. You know how he is.”
Indeed, the brown-haired teenager had an empty open flask in his right hand. A sigh escaped from the lips of the teenager. “You always stop my fun Vasco. I am almost out of Faith’s essence.”
“I'm sure Suleiman would have helped you if you only had asked politely Dipper. We are allies. We can't afford to look divided even though we all know it's not the case.”
“Yeah, you're right. Suleiman, may I have some of your essence after the meeting?”
“We’ll talk about it later.”
“Why after?” the boy asked.
“It's simple Dipper.” A golden circle made of holy light and Enochian runes appeared in the middle of the clearing.
“Djibril is there,” finished Suleiman before the daughter of the Abrahamic god, one of the two remaining Demiurgic Archangel Rose from the circle.
The Archangel was as beautiful, as radiant as Vasco remembered she was. The last time he had seen the Archangel had been after his fight against Kokabiel more than fifty years ago.
Justice moved in his soul recognizing the presence of its older sibling. The world seemed brighter, more hopeful in her presence. With her arrival, the night was banished. She was the dawn chasing darkness. She was Gabriel Hornblower. The darkness and the negative feelings he had been harbouring disappeared before her light.
“The Heavens saw the future and it was a terrible one” the Archangel spoke softly yet Vasco knew her voice reached clearly every one of them. “We saw devils breaking through Heaven’s doors.”
All the lightness and levity she had brought by her presence disappeared under the weight of her words. Devils, attacking Heaven? It was more than blasphemy. It was an insult!
“Lady Djibril. Our swords and our souls are in service of heaven. Tell us what we need to do. Tell us the orders of the Almighty for us! Suleiman said to the Archangel.
“The devils have grown as strong as they are bold. More than that, Pagan creatures will try to use what they saw as a moment of weakness to pounce on us. This is why according to his will, I present you with something.”
Some of her Golden light changed, shifting to take the shape of golden cards. “The devils have their pawns.”
One of the golden cards flew and sank into the skin of Vasco and the others. Strength, unimaginable strength flooded him. He never had felt as strong as he did now. All the aches of his body disappeared. The light inside him didn't like to be restrained. The light inside him wanted to burst free and it did from his back in the shape of wings. Vasco could see the same happening around him.
“Heaven will have its saints, its executioners against evil.” A blinding smile appeared on the face of the Archangel “I welcome you home children of heaven. Allow me to present you the plan that'll make us crush all of our enemies.”