PART 1
Prologue:
The landline phone rang out throughout the base
While Sylvia was just relaxing nearby, she heard the phone
The others were off to do their own thing
Garcia and Preston, in particular, training in the front yard
“You gonna pick up the phone?”
Haru questioned while having his arms crossed
“Of course, give me a moment”
Sylvia said as she was letting her hair down from the tie
On the other end of the phone, a distressed voice could be heard
“Sylvia! Oh, thank god we reached you. You have to round the 9, check church, it's an urgent situation”
“What is happening exactly? And why the hell are you stressed”
“We are being attacked! The first of the demons have infiltrated our bases in Greece!”
“...”
Upon hearing that, Sylvia had to blink twice
The demons were already knocking on the earth's doorstep?
That was unprecedented
They all knew that an invasion was coming, but now one could predict it would come this quickly
Only two weeks had passed since the events that rattled the whole of Europe
“And the situation? How bad is it?”
“It's very urgent! There have already been confirmed kills from the eastern Orthodox church”
“Shit! OK, I understand the situation”
She let out a sigh before continuing
“We are sending immediate help, for now you should hold your posts”
“Urgh-”
A strangled noise escaped the landline phone's end
It sounded like a gut-wrenching killing scream
Sylvia then slammed the landline phone on the table
Her steps echoed through the room as she paced back and forth frantically
Haru raised an eyebrow
“What exactly happened?”
“Well, war has started. Why do you think I'm this panicked?”
“This early? Seems like even the elves are wrong”
It was hardly the time for Sylvia to have been angry
After all, it seemed like they didn't have much of a choice
“Shut up. That doesn't matter now. What matters now is that we get all hands on board”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Haru watched as she walked past him. He couldn't get a read on her expression
“Right. It isn't like we haven't trained for this or anything”
He pushed himself off the couch and stretched his arms behind his back
“What's our next move?”
“We head for lebanon”...
Chapter 1:
As the others were training, Sylvia opened the balcony door
“Training is over!”
The sunlight settled, and the birds flapped their wings away
In the front yard, Garcia and Preston were sparring
The floor was destroyed, and so were the surroundings
Each one of them was glistening with sweat and emanating heat, their breaths rugged
Seeing this, Sylvia let out a sigh
“We have to get a new sparring field..."
She stood over the metal railings as she awaited for them
A whipping noise rang out as Sylvia tossed two towels their way
“Ouch!”
“Hey, can't you be a little more gentle?”
“Shut it, you two, we have a real emergency on our hands”
As they were drying themselves off with the towels and changing their clothes, they listened
“From what has been gathered, the first demons have managed to infiltrate the world, although we don't know their methods, we are sure that they are switching”
“Huh? What do you mean by switching?”
“Think of it like a rotation, since they can't bring in their full army their swapping out soldiers who might fall, or are close to falling”
Matthew let out a hiss during the end of the conversation, casually tossing the towel on the table outside
“And where are the others?“
He said, as if angrily
“Haru had them gathered at the church we are heading to actually”
While in front of the couch inside the living room, Sylvia momentarily stopped to bent over, grabbing some energy drinks
Without looking back tossing the bottles in their general directions
The both of them fumbled around with the bottles mid-air
“Jesus! I almost got wet all over”
“Yeah, and I am actually soaking”
“Ugh, grow up, you two”...
Inside the rectangle shaped church laid the others
Lana was silently judging the stuff members there
No one could tell if it was disdain or a murderous expression on her face
Mostly due to her past with the church
The twins were casually poking around stuff and almost making them fall
“Gahhh!!!”
The assistant nearby the podium area let out a guttural scream
His heart almost dropped as he saw the paintings of the saints almost fell
“Sorry!”
“Yeah, what she said”
Preston, on the other hand, was sitting down near the stools
Silently cleaning the staff of Moses and removing the splinters
For once Zoe remained perfectly still around Sasha, there was no confusion
It was like there was a deal made between them
Near the door, Annabelle and Haru were having a conversation
“Do you think this situation was meant to be, or?”
“No, I personally contrasted that…not a while back ago, the same exact question was asked to me”
“So you hate the concept of fate?”
“More or less. I wouldn't argue with someone if they believed in it either”
“That's interesting, I don't think I've heard that view from someone before… Is it personal? Or do you just hate fate for the sake of it?”
“It's neither of those. It just comes directly against me views as a person”
“I guess that's who you are. It can't be changed”
An awkward silence fell between them…
Because of teleporting being silent, no one heard Sylvia and the two accompanying her, teleporting inside the church
“Sorry that I'm late, we ran into some idiocy along the way?”
She glared back at them with the corner of her eye as she spoke
Gulp!
Matthew moved to rub the back of his hair, and Garcia moved to his hand to cover his mouth
“Coughing” up
“I admit, there were, some, complications”
Everyone else stopped what they were doing, now listening in with mild interest
“Well anyways, that's all”
At the same time, everyone's face dropped, which could have been interesting melodrama
Then, the front door that was behind the podium opened
Out of it stepped the Archbishop of the eastern Orthodox church
Alexander Petrov himself
“It is a pleasure to meet all of you today. What an occurrence to be in the presence of the 9 children of god”
Haru was the first to step up forward
“Archbishop? What are you doing in Lebanon”
In response, the Archbishop simply smiled
“You see, I have access to every single church in the eastern orthodox branch, due to my rank”
“But anyways, that does not concern you for the time being. Let's get to the matter at hand”
He walked amongst them, now standing in the middle
“Petrov. First, you should start with where the attacks have come from”
“But of course. In islands like Rhodos, Paros, Crete, Santorini, and Naxos, cases of demon attacks in the last 24 hours have been reported”
Sylvia crossed her arms in front of her chest and puffed
“And how can we be sure that they aren't fake reports?”
“I don't know about you, but I personally wouldn't want to fake out an entire church for the hell of it”
Hearing that, Sylvia almost threw her hands up in response
“That's besides the point, ok though, let's assume that it was true for a second that it was true, how do these people know what a devil even looks like?”
“They probably confused it with something else”
Suddenly, the Archbishop's face turned serious
“They may have been wrong about what they are, but there's no way that those injuries were fake”
A sweat ran down the side of Sylvia's face
(So he really isn't bluffing…I guess the war has really started)
Scylla gazed at the Archbishop, casually leaning over her sister
“So what's the plan?”
Alexander took a moment to turn around, his lips curling upwards
“To the point I see? Very well, as for the plan, we are going to be disposing you all to different areas that need urgent help”
Collective confusion spread throughout out the group
“Different areas? Just how much area do we need to cover?”
Haru inquired first
“You see…Greece isn't the only country that has been infiltrated by hell”
“What?! Archbishop, you can not be serious”
Sylvia's glasses almost fell from their place when she yelled
“I'm not jetting. Places such as a turkey and Tunisia have been attacked too”
A sigh escaped from Lana's lips
“That changes a lot of things”
“Luckily for me, we have sent our own troops throughout most of greece to kill the demons, and they have been doing an excellent job”
“As for the other countries, there haven't been attacks yet, just demon sightings”
Garcia's grip on his sword loosened as he contemplated
(This is a messy situation)
“With all due respect, Archbishop, what are we going to do now?”
“For now, all there needs to be done is-”
His words were abruptly cut by an audio message that rang out in the entire church interior
“Warning, warning: wildfires and demons sightings have been just sighted near Thesaly”
“Thessaly? Shit, that area was clear. What gives?”
“?!”
Sylvia immediately understood what he meant
“Are you suggesting that there are traitors amongst the church?”
“It seems so, and I don't take kindly to moles”
With an angry expression, the Archbishop moved past the group
Now, standing near the gate
He tapped 3 times on its wooden frame, and the interior of the church inexplicably expanded
Surely, it had been spacial magic
“...”
“We have a cleaning errand to do”
Haru and Annabelle exchanged a silent gaze
(You owe me if we go together in another country...)
(Is he thinking what I'm thinking?)
But it was quickly interrupted by Sylvia's clapping her hand together and stretching
"Alright, you all. Any questions before we start?"
No one dared to speak up or to even make a sound
"Alright, let's go"...
