Chapter 9: 9. Another Kind of Monster – Heresy City Arc.

9. 9. Another Kind of Monster – Heresy City Arc.

 

 

Serafim stood in the middle of the ritual fighting circles etched on the floor of the training grounds, endless swirling glyphs embedded within the circles and sigils, a familiar wave of trauma overwhelmed him just from standing there.

      The cheers of the now free men and women filled the surrounding area like hordes of zealous fans of two famous fighters engaged in a competition to see who was out scream the other.

  Men dressed in hand-down clothing, stained and reeking of alcohol began yelling something between incoherent chants and asking whether the fight began. Teenage girls and boys alike were chatting about how they thought would win, equally matched in the excitement by their parents.

        Multiple overlapping sounds could be heard as Serafim tried to focus on the man across from him, that confident smile ever present on his face. Leaifa gave him a once over and stretched his arms, the intricate ink work on his hands spelled out multiple strange, incomprehensible glyphs that Serafim couldn’t bother trying to understand.

     “I hear the Red-Eyed Reaper can kill a hundred men with a single swing.”

“Leaifa beat two Kraslucists at once, he’s definitely beating that exorcist.”

       “My money’s on the exorcist boy.”

“Hey, that exorcist is kinda cute dontcha think?”
    “Be quiet Lottie. Even if that’s the case Leaifa is muscular and has more money.”

     A tall, lanky man adorned in plain brown priestly robes stood in-between the two combatants, his thick beard was held in a cross shape by a ribbon and long puffy hair blew in the wind’s direction. “Silence! Silence! We’ve come here today in the name of our blessed God-Queen Odelia to witness a friendly duel between her apostles of justice. A duel between the exorcist of the Old Order. The Red-Eyed Reaper and the Last Ba’alei Shem, Leaifa.”

        A series of cheers erupted from the audience, each chanting for the respective party they wanted to win.

      Serafim narrowed his gaze on the crowd, zeroing in on Hermés and Saewynn’s direction, they were standing next to Leaifa’s lieutenants right atop a few seats over the crowd.

     “You are free to utilize whatever god-given gifts you have at your disposal,” The priest explained, raising his arms to the sides to illustrate his point. His eyes shifted from Leaifa to Serafim behind those moon-shaped glasses, a large silver Hamsa Hand necklace dangled from his neck. “The only way to defeat your opponent is by incapacitation and escape. Anything to say before we begin?”

     “None,” Serafim replied, gaze assessing Leaifa’s movements, only catching sight of that cocky grin with his hands touching the back of his neck.

        “Nope,” Leaifa responded, striding closer to Serafim with an interested gaze, drawing one of his blades from the leather sheath on his back. “Consider this your training boy. I’ve fought countless exorcists and none of them have impressed me, that peacock boy was considered the fastest of his generation? Quite the low standards if you ask me.”

    Serafim didn’t respond, not taking the bait, hand on the handle of his scythe. From his demeanor, he’ll wait for me to strike first. I’ll have to strike first and leave a devastating blow. I still can’t feel any of his spiritual presence, could he have none at all? Is he just an ordinary soul?

“Kill him!”

    “You can do it, kid!”

“They say this is Leaifa testing the strength of the exorcists, but aren’t they supposed to be working together?”

   “And now, we begin this duel of apostles!” The priest announced. An increase in his tone of voice, the crowd exploding in a frenzy at the sign of the duel beginning.

     Serafim drew his scythe and dropped into a fighting stance. His narrowed eyes had only one target, filled with killer intent, the same unparalleled focus a hunter had as it slowly zeroed in on its prey before launching an attack.

       “So you’re one of his aren’t you?” Leaifa said, catching Serafim off guard even if for just a moment. “He told me about you. Cursed. With a single eye that has unrivaled spiritual presence, detection isn’t that right?”

    “How the hell do you….”

An ear-splitting clang of metal erupted in front of Serafim, sparks flew off the collision of their blades.

    “I’d focus on the task at hand if I were you, Michiel’s pupil,” Leaifa said in the middle of an attack, forcing a surprised Serafim back with each swing of his blade. “He was a great man, shame he had to go out the way he did.”
     Leaifa dominated Serafim at close quarters, swinging his blade like a butcher on methamphetamines yet Serafim knew there was a strange method to his madness.

   Serafim gritted his teeth against the onslaught of strikes coming from every direction, each strike slicing him in the stomach, chest, and shoulder in blinding blurs, streams of blood flying in the air. How does he know this? How the hell did he kno-

    Serafim continued matching blows with Leaifa, nicking him in the chest, thighs, and ribcage, one of Leaifa’s strikes ripped off the sleeve of his coat as Serafim leaped back to avoid the attacks.

    “What’s wrong exorcist? Don’t want a chat with your mentor’s old friend?” Leaifa said, tone filled with sarcasm even while quickly evading Serafim’s blinding arcs and parrying most of it. He managed to get some distance between the two of them before wiping the sweat on his forehead. “Phew! I’ll give it to you kid, even though you’re not half as fast as peacock boy, you’re more durable I’ll give you that. Michiel Augustus Demiurgos. One of the greatest Keters of his generation, you sure you’re his disciple? Are you sure all that wasn’t just a fantasy of yours? Cause you sure as hell don’t look good enough to b-“

    “Shut up you bastard!” Serafim snapped, the veins on the back of his arm popped to the surface, and the grip on his scythe increased. “Don’t disrespect my father like that! I won’t stand to see his name tarnished by the likes of a nobody like you. Claiming to be his friend, like I’d believe that, just who the hell are you?”

     “I’m a man who believes he was a fool for offering his life to save someone like you.”

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    Serafim swooped forward to attack again, leaping out with the yell of a thousand armies.

       There was a gleam of shimmering steel in the fading sunlight, followed by the sound of bone snapping once Serafim found himself airborne, a strong grip on his arm latched on to him even as he hit the ground with an audible thud.

        “Wh-What! The exorcist lost?”

“How did Leaifa do it?”
    “Incredible.”

      Leaifa looked down at him, the faint smirk etched on his face made Serafim scowl at the sight of him. An unrecognizable spiritual presence emerged from the crowd. Serafim raised his head, two figures dressed in black cloaks blended in with the shadows, turned around, and made their way out of the scene.

     Serafim tried to escape Leaifa’s grip the moment he noticed their katanas. a dull pain coursed through his shoulder almost as if someone reshuffled the positions of the bones in his body. Shi-Shinigami? What the hell is a Shinigami doing in Veelon?

  “The battlefield isn’t the most ideal place to get emotional kid, didn’t he tell you this? You haven’t learned anything haven’t you?” Leaifa asked.

       “Shut the hell up! You don’t know anything about me or what I’ve been through!” Serafim said with a scowl, nothing but utter disdain in his voice. “I don’t care how you knew my father or whether or not you’re friends. You nobles think you can last a day in my shoes like you’ve struggled the way I have. Do you have any idea what it feels like to lose everything and feel like the world went to shit because of you?”

      “I know everything about you, Serafim Graetz Demiurgos,” Leaifa said in a lower tone that only Serafim could hear, releasing his grip on Serafim’s wrist. “I know how you summoned the Beast of Ill-Omen. How you were plunged into the depths of the Abyss and your meeting with the Root of All Evil. I’m also aware of what happened to Michiel. I can’t say I understand your struggle or even relate to it but the least I can do is understand. You’re a strong kid Serafim, Michiel would’ve been proud of what you’ve achieved.”

    Serafim’s expression softened a bit, hearing about what he’s been through just to get to where he gave him the illusion of progress yet it felt he was no closer to even reaching the Beast of Ill-Omen’s strength. I can’t even beat a mere soul with no trace of qlifot, how the hell am I going to beat the monster that killed hundreds of thousands of souls? Am I suicidal? Is it because I have nothing left to live for that I hunt down this impossible ambition?

     Leaifa offered him a hand, a warm smile that even though Serafim hated to admit it, enthralled him. He could understand why other people risked their lives to follow him. “Now your actual training can begin.”

 

  ***

 

    “Think that that exorcist saw us?” The Ronin of the West, Keishiro Renma asked. His messy strands of raven black hair that framed the sides of his unkempt man bun, blew in the same direction as the wind. “He’s a rather perceptive one. Most likely an expert at detecting spiritual presence.”

     “That’s an unexpected development. He had above-average spiritual energy, the other one had rather impeccable spiritual energy but I didn’t detect the Abyssal Avatar.” His subordinate, Arize Kohasu said. Her tone was calm and well collected, a perfect way to sum her up completely.  Her attention was still focused on the Holy City even as she stood in the forest of the hills with a clear overview of the sprawling metropolis. She wore the loose black kimono robe and loose white hakama pants of the Shinigami with such charisma, Keishiro could almost believe she was born in it. “Well? What do you sense, Keishiro-sensei?”

      Even though there were grey bandages that resembled talismans crisscrossed over both his eyes, etched in a seemingly infinite number of ancient Japanese kanji of old magic, Keishiro smirked. We’re oddly similar, Serafim of the Old Order. I’m curious at how someone can be thrown into the Abyss and come out alive, just what are you exactly?

    “Any closer and that one-eyed exorcist will detect my spiritual presence. I haven’t noticed any difference from what you’ve felt, Arize-san.” Keishiro responded with the casualness of a used car salesman, the katana at his hip swelled in seishinryoku, the Shinigami equivalent of qlifot. “However, the boy is of great concern to the balance of souls and the fate of our homeland. If the ones behind the Old Order use him as a weapon, they could force the world into one collective afterlife, breaking the millennia-long pact of their God-Queen.”

      “Damn exorcists, can’t trust them to keep their words can we?” Arize said, voice filled with a thin veneer of contempt she didn’t even try to hide her fury. She unsheathed her katana and aimed it in the direction of Edenia. “In that case, I’ll master his seishinryoku. And when the day comes, I’ll cross blades with the Red-Eyed Reaper myself.”

   Keishiro felt a disturbance in the air, sheathing his katana on the gut feeling alone, the winds around began to pick up and swirl around him. A smile formed on his face after the realization dawned on him.

   “Is there anything wrong, Keishiro-sensei?”

Keishiro let out a chuckle and unsheathed his sword, the veins on his arm reduced as the seishinryoku in his body seeped out, the winds around died down in an instant. Impressive. Even this far you could trace even a foreign spiritual presence, from the looks of it there is still doubt swirling within your mind, young exorcist.

   “Forgive me, Arize. I believe I was simply mistaken, old age tends to do that to even the strongest of warriors.” Keishiro said, turning around and patting her like she was his favorite pet. She swatted his hand away almost immediately, even though he couldn’t quite see it he could tell from her seishinryoku alone that she was furious. “Like I said. I haven’t noticed any difference from what you’ve felt, Arize-san, regardless of whether the Kohasu clan would vow to have my head if something unfortunate happened to their little girl hmm?”

    “Tch! Let’s go Keishiro-sensei. I’m getting sick of Veelon already.”

  “Patience, pupil. We’re not done with the Red-Eyed Reaper yet.” Keishiro said, turning and making his way deeper into the forest. Arize’s footsteps came within earshot. “We have to see how this red-spider lily blooms and don’t forget there’s a beast we need to hunt.”

    “We’ll cross blades one day, exorcists. Should either of you live after your encounter with that wretched priest. It’ll be a road filled with red-spider lilies, I wish you the best of luck.”

 

   

  

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