A Demon Dealing Blow
A techno-mage did the ritual. He set up the room where the ritual happened, in the same way as how the footage made them to be. The Redmond Mage drew the recreated ritual and placed the imitations made by the Bureau to fool the ritual system, exploiting the ritual.
Kei observed the ritual with a drone, with the remote viewer of the drone not that far from the chamber where the ritual was happening. A priest had made this room an observation room and everyone was smoking cigarettes rolled with holy orations to keep the demons away.
The ritual needed four people to perform. The techno-mage, however, was confident he could perform it through the use of the puppets he was using who were made with synthetic parts. Autonomous magical puppets gave sentience by conjuring the user’s thoughts into the beings.
The ritual needed four compositions to work. Somatic gestures, verbal incantations, and the materials. The Church was particular in their hate towards the use of sacrifice, and settled with imitations.
The four puppets followed the somatic gestures while the Redmond Mage chanted the words of power without actually knowing the purpose of it. There were hints of what the words were, but the Church had made the Mage swear he’ll record what he felt while activating the ritual.
Words of power rang through the air. Like hearing five voices at once speak in sync with the chanting of the mage. Every word seems to poke at our skin and the ethereal voice and before long there was a great festival happening in the chamber. A profane one that garnered the seething and rage of the priests who were holding their tempers.
“Rise! Rise! Rise!”
The Mage shouted the words and then the lights were out. A blasphemous glow crept over the mine, occupying the flesh-pit mines with the otherworldly taint of a demon filling the space with this irreverent miasma.
“You humans.”
The voice was cold and toneless. It contained this malevolent hum to it as it echoed in every corner of the room. A priest, who was chanting the hymns of the lord bled on every orifice of his face. A mage held his protection from evil while keeping his eyes on the ritual.
“Are as much as deceitful as we are.”
Dispassionate and calculative. It clicked to everyone how this demon had seen through our schemes. It was to be expected, but the Mage doing the ritual retained a calm confidence.
The demon leaned forward and took a sniff of the mage. Amuse with the confidence of the mage in front of it. Regal and unkind. The demon in front of them seems to be the kind that grants contracts and wishes.
“But it doesn't matter. I see that you have brought your forces to fix the mess. This is the wrong ritual, but it is close enough to garner my interest. You people, however, have summoned me without cause.”
“Incorrect!” The Mage protested. “We have a wish we want granted.”
It turned its impassive face to the drone floating. The demon seems to recognize human technology and pinches it between his fingers.
“Then do not waste my time, human. Tell me, what do you desire?”
I saw the eyes of the Mage. Three whites were visible, as if willing to gain power. We thought the Mage would fall for the seduction of power but thankfully he remained steadfast. He blinked and told the demon of what he required.
It listened. Then it demanded another payment through the use of a contract. The Church had bought a diabolist from the Union and it approached the chamber and kneeled on the ground.
“Truly deceitful, you humans.”
The demon was not malignant. Its cold and calculating tone was more like a businessman than what one would imagine a demon would be. Which leaves us wondering if this was the same demon. No, I think the demon sees more potential in this transaction compared to the amateurs who tried to do ritual. Demons are calculating and they weigh what they can to gain more followers and contracts they could use to gain something.
It grabbed on to something and pulled the rotten flesh golem as if it was just a doll it can handle without care.
“I shall reap the souls of those who have called me.”
I turned to Agent Hayes. He knew what was going to happen. What the Bureau wants to do to the cultists who have made this mess. What better way to care about the problem than this?
“The Bureau sure is efficient.”
Kei commented as she watched the demon reap the souls of the cultists who summoned him. The Demon has weighed which transaction would benefit the most. It chooses the side of the mage. Why would it pick a group of cultists, when it can gain more by cooperating with the Bureau?
The miasma of death was terrifying. The amount of souls reaped by this demon seems to choke the room with it. Everyone held on to their protection while trying not to make a sound.
But it seems those who have been hiding still had cards to play. Before the demon continued its reaping, the rotten golem exploded into a viscera and melted into the ground by separating its flesh to a thousand pieces. The demon gathered power and dragged the flesh out and yet clearly some of it had escaped the wrath of the demon.
“It seems a diabolist of quite a power stole from me.”
“Have you failed, demon?”
“No. But the entities you wanted to reap are bound to a phylactery. A soul battery in which these fools have offered their souls. If I destroy this soul battery, then I would clash with a fellow demon.”
“Are you afraid?”
“Our King does not allow us to fight without due cause. Even I can’t defy my Lord, human.”
“Then this contract is not done.”
“It is. The creature may have escaped, but its soul will wither within hours and will not recover. Be grateful, human. For I have only reaped half of what I demand.”
The demon then raised a limb and pointed at the chamber.
Opening the heart of the anomaly before vanishing.
“Did it fail?” Emily asked, sagging her shoulders.
Kei hastily lit the oration cigarette full of prayers and took a long drag.
“No, the Mage got the favorable outcome. It was impressive how conniving the Bureau is, as always.”
“They got most of the cultists and now we have a way in.”
I arranged my face as calmly as I could. The Redmond mage was a true professional who got the best results. Not to mention the diabolist who had gotten the contract was now being escorted out of the mines by the Church, probably to onboard him on what he needs to do next.
“S what now? Contract be damn, but I am not entering the anomaly space.”
“Doubt they’d let us is.”
Kei peered at the entrance. One look at the entrance and you could feel it was a different space altogether. It was a demiplane of considerable size.
The Agents and the Priests were preparing to enter. The first one to do so was the Power-armor wearing priests, followed by the Agents of the Otherside Bureau.
The OB and the TCU do not lack flaws, but you can count on their proactivity on finishing the job. Of course, without their permission, we can’t just jump inside the space and get away with it.
This situation was far from over. The cultists are still holding this district despite half of them being reaped. We can find more of them by figuring out which people they have spoken to. Check who their friends, acquaintances, and co-workers are until we find them.
“So, are we going to help do their job?”
Kei shrugged.
“Why should we? The job description was about the anomaly. They did not hire us to find the cultists. Besides, we will get what we want. They promised the data, and we deserved to know. They were not the only ones who worked hard to make sure we got results.”
Kei wouldn’t let it go. I was sure she’d hound them until they gave us the data we needed. We spent enough time here, and Kei wasn’t the kind who’d let others use her without getting something from it.
It took four hours for them to take out the anomaly in that demiplane space. The mass tower of flesh standing over the district had melted like butter. The clerics and agents who went inside seemed to have been in a tough battle.
Vicar Liebert led the assault while Agent Hayes, who supported them, seems to have aged a year from the assault. Vicar Liebert looked the worst. He was barely standing up, and he had many wounds on his body. It seems the space where the heart of the anomaly was full of flesh golems. He and his men battled constantly while inside the space. Even though the demon had done significant damage to the anomaly. It was still strong enough to defend the space and the inhabitants of it.
As for the district, most of the people reaped by the demon lay on the floor, soulless. Those who didn’t get reaped, in their confusion, ran straight to the mines to investigate what we did, only to find Agent Hayes and his men waiting for them with guns at the ready.
The first group died easily, but the rest of the cultists, who believed the OB had cornered them, started acting smarter in desperation. The smarter ones kept a low presence while the others tried to leave. It didn’t work out since the Bureau followed the scent of the demon’s magic on them, eliminating them as quietly as they could without letting the others know of their demise.
The deadly efficiency of the Otherside Bureau made it clear why they were the sword and shield of humanity. Their zero tolerance for those who have broken the law was decisive and cruel. It didn’t help that the priests with the help of the diabolist, followed the demon’s magic, made sure the Bureau would eliminate every single one of them.
By the time, they rooted the last ten cultists out. Alonzo became a quiet district, full of people who were worried about the Bureau and the Church taking them out.
We watched the towering flesh get burned. The places where the cultists hid marked for purification as the Church left no trace of their taint on the district. Even the warehouses used by them, full of products, got burnt without a trace.
With martial law, they forced the citizens to speak out. With a head interrogator ruthlessly on the lead, it was easy to find the cowards who were afraid of the Bureau and the Church. Judged and sentenced to their deaths for their treacherous actions against humanity. It was quite a sight to see. Family condemning their relatives. Friends and lovers shunning their loved ones for what they tried to believe. Some of them were just fools who got tricked into the cult, but there was no one who would speak out for them and found themselves on the square of Alonzo to be displayed for five days to remind the people what their sins were.
After the five days, the Church burned them and buried their ashes on the ground.
As for us, Kei convinced Agent Hayes and Vicar Liebert to hand over the data. She spent the days here in Alonzo analyzing the data and noting down her observations.
The district of Alonzo became quiet, and those who were on the road were looking down. Those who have lost their jobs were in clear despair as they simply didn’t know what to do after what the Bureau and the Church had done to this district.
“Boss, do you think they needed us here in the first place?”
“Who knows? Maybe? Even if they were not doing it on purpose. They have shown us what they can do. We contributed, I am sure of it, but it felt like they were showing us we aren’t the only ones who can solve this problem.”
Kei sagged her shoulders.
“And honestly, if that’s what their intention was? Then I’m surprised it took them this long to show us what they can do."
Kei hovered her fingers on the keyboard.
“But as long as we contribute, they’re willing to let us operate. Besides, I doubt this is over. I just hope they don’t call us often.”
They took out the low level members, but it was clear the ringleader of the cultists who rotted the mine had escaped.
But our role here was done.
A Demon Dealing Blow
A techno-mage did the ritual. He set up the room where the ritual happened, in the same way as how the footage made them to be. The Redmond Mage drew the recreated ritual and placed the imitations made by the Bureau to fool the ritual system, exploiting the ritual.
Kei observed the ritual with a drone, with the remote viewer of the drone not that far from the chamber where the ritual was happening. A priest had made this room an observation room and everyone was smoking cigarettes rolled with holy orations to keep the demons away.
The ritual needed four people to perform. The techno-mage, however, was confident he could perform it through the use of the puppets he was using who were made with synthetic parts. Autonomous magical puppets gave sentience by conjuring the user’s thoughts into the beings.
The ritual needed four compositions to work. Somatic gestures, verbal incantations, and the materials. The Church was particular in their hate towards the use of sacrifice, and settled with imitations.
The four puppets followed the somatic gestures while the Redmond Mage chanted the words of power without actually knowing the purpose of it. There were hints of what the words were, but the Church had made the Mage swear he’ll record what he felt while activating the ritual.
Words of power rang through the air. Like hearing five voices at once speak in sync with the chanting of the mage. Every word seems to poke at our skin and the ethereal voice and before long there was a great festival happening in the chamber. A profane one that garnered the seething and rage of the priests who were holding their tempers.
“Rise! Rise! Rise!”
The Mage shouted the words and then the lights were out. A blasphemous glow crept over the mine, occupying the flesh-pit mines with the otherworldly taint of a demon filling the space with this irreverent miasma.
“You humans.”
The voice was cold and toneless. It contained this malevolent hum to it as it echoed in every corner of the room. A priest, who was chanting the hymns of the lord bled on every orifice of his face. A mage held his protection from evil while keeping his eyes on the ritual.
“Are as much as deceitful as we are.”
Dispassionate and calculative. It clicked to everyone how this demon had seen through our schemes. It was to be expected, but the Mage doing the ritual retained a calm confidence.
The demon leaned forward and took a sniff of the mage. Amuse with the confidence of the mage in front of it. Regal and unkind. The demon in front of them seems to be the kind that grants contracts and wishes.
“But it doesn't matter. I see that you have brought your forces to fix the mess. This is the wrong ritual, but it is close enough to garner my interest. You people, however, have summoned me without cause.”
“Incorrect!” The Mage protested. “We have a wish we want granted.”
It turned its impassive face to the drone floating. The demon seems to recognize human technology and pinches it between his fingers.
“Then do not waste my time, human. Tell me, what do you desire?”
I saw the eyes of the Mage. Three whites were visible, as if willing to gain power. We thought the Mage would fall for the seduction of power but thankfully he remained steadfast. He blinked and told the demon of what he required.
It listened. Then it demanded another payment through the use of a contract. The Church had bought a diabolist from the Union and it approached the chamber and kneeled on the ground.
“Truly deceitful, you humans.”
The demon was not malignant. Its cold and calculating tone was more like a businessman than what one would imagine a demon would be. Which leaves us wondering if this was the same demon. No, I think the demon sees more potential in this transaction compared to the amateurs who tried to do ritual. Demons are calculating and they weigh what they can to gain more followers and contracts they could use to gain something.
It grabbed on to something and pulled the rotten flesh golem as if it was just a doll it can handle without care.
“I shall reap the souls of those who have called me.”
I turned to Agent Hayes. He knew what was going to happen. What the Bureau wants to do to the cultists who have made this mess. What better way to care about the problem than this?
“The Bureau sure is efficient.”
Kei commented as she watched the demon reap the souls of the cultists who summoned him. The Demon has weighed which transaction would benefit the most. It chooses the side of the mage. Why would it pick a group of cultists, when it can gain more by cooperating with the Bureau?
The miasma of death was terrifying. The amount of souls reaped by this demon seems to choke the room with it. Everyone held on to their protection while trying not to make a sound.
But it seems those who have been hiding still had cards to play. Before the demon continued its reaping, the rotten golem exploded into a viscera and melted into the ground by separating its flesh to a thousand pieces. The demon gathered power and dragged the flesh out and yet clearly some of it had escaped the wrath of the demon.
“It seems a diabolist of quite a power stole from me.”
“Have you failed, demon?”
“No. But the entities you wanted to reap are bound to a phylactery. A soul battery in which these fools have offered their souls. If I destroy this soul battery, then I would clash with a fellow demon.”
“Are you afraid?”
“Our King does not allow us to fight without due cause. Even I can’t defy my Lord, human.”
“Then this contract is not done.”
“It is. The creature may have escaped, but its soul will wither within hours and will not recover. Be grateful, human. For I have only reaped half of what I demand.”
The demon then raised a limb and pointed at the chamber.
Opening the heart of the anomaly before vanishing.
“Did it fail?” Emily asked, sagging her shoulders.
Kei hastily lit the oration cigarette full of prayers and took a long drag.
“No, the Mage got the favorable outcome. It was impressive how conniving the Bureau is, as always.”
“They got most of the cultists and now we have a way in.”
I arranged my face as calmly as I could. The Redmond mage was a true professional who got the best results. Not to mention the diabolist who had gotten the contract was now being escorted out of the mines by the Church, probably to onboard him on what he needs to do next.
“S what now? Contract be damn, but I am not entering the anomaly space.”
“Doubt they’d let us is.”
Kei peered at the entrance. One look at the entrance and you could feel it was a different space altogether. It was a demiplane of considerable size.
The Agents and the Priests were preparing to enter. The first one to do so was the Power-armor wearing priests, followed by the Agents of the Otherside Bureau.
The OB and the TCU do not lack flaws, but you can count on their proactivity on finishing the job. Of course, without their permission, we can’t just jump inside the space and get away with it.
This situation was far from over. The cultists are still holding this district despite half of them being reaped. We can find more of them by figuring out which people they have spoken to. Check who their friends, acquaintances, and co-workers are until we find them.
“So, are we going to help do their job?”
Kei shrugged.
“Why should we? The job description was about the anomaly. They did not hire us to find the cultists. Besides, we will get what we want. They promised the data, and we deserved to know. They were not the only ones who worked hard to make sure we got results.”
Kei wouldn’t let it go. I was sure she’d hound them until they gave us the data we needed. We spent enough time here, and Kei wasn’t the kind who’d let others use her without getting something from it.
It took four hours for them to take out the anomaly in that demiplane space. The mass tower of flesh standing over the district had melted like butter. The clerics and agents who went inside seemed to have been in a tough battle.
Vicar Liebert led the assault while Agent Hayes, who supported them, seems to have aged a year from the assault. Vicar Liebert looked the worst. He was barely standing up, and he had many wounds on his body. It seems the space where the heart of the anomaly was full of flesh golems. He and his men battled constantly while inside the space. Even though the demon had done significant damage to the anomaly. It was still strong enough to defend the space and the inhabitants of it.
As for the district, most of the people reaped by the demon lay on the floor, soulless. Those who didn’t get reaped, in their confusion, ran straight to the mines to investigate what we did, only to find Agent Hayes and his men waiting for them with guns at the ready.
The first group died easily, but the rest of the cultists, who believed the OB had cornered them, started acting smarter in desperation. The smarter ones kept a low presence while the others tried to leave. It didn’t work out since the Bureau followed the scent of the demon’s magic on them, eliminating them as quietly as they could without letting the others know of their demise.
The deadly efficiency of the Otherside Bureau made it clear why they were the sword and shield of humanity. Their zero tolerance for those who have broken the law was decisive and cruel. It didn’t help that the priests with the help of the diabolist, followed the demon’s magic, made sure the Bureau would eliminate every single one of them.
By the time, they rooted the last ten cultists out. Alonzo became a quiet district, full of people who were worried about the Bureau and the Church taking them out.
We watched the towering flesh get burned. The places where the cultists hid marked for purification as the Church left no trace of their taint on the district. Even the warehouses used by them, full of products, got burnt without a trace.
With martial law, they forced the citizens to speak out. With a head interrogator ruthlessly on the lead, it was easy to find the cowards who were afraid of the Bureau and the Church. Judged and sentenced to their deaths for their treacherous actions against humanity. It was quite a sight to see. Family condemning their relatives. Friends and lovers shunning their loved ones for what they tried to believe. Some of them were just fools who got tricked into the cult, but there was no one who would speak out for them and found themselves on the square of Alonzo to be displayed for five days to remind the people what their sins were.
After the five days, the Church burned them and buried their ashes on the ground.
As for us, Kei convinced Agent Hayes and Vicar Liebert to hand over the data. She spent the days here in Alonzo analyzing the data and noting down her observations.
The district of Alonzo became quiet, and those who were on the road were looking down. Those who have lost their jobs were in clear despair as they simply didn’t know what to do after what the Bureau and the Church had done to this district.
“Boss, do you think they needed us here in the first place?”
“Who knows? Maybe? Even if they were not doing it on purpose. They have shown us what they can do. We contributed, I am sure of it, but it felt like they were showing us we aren’t the only ones who can solve this problem.”
Kei sagged her shoulders.
“And honestly, if that’s what their intention was? Then I’m surprised it took them this long to show us what they can do."
Kei hovered her fingers on the keyboard.
“But as long as we contribute, they’re willing to let us operate. Besides, I doubt this is over. I just hope they don’t call us often.”
They took out the low level members, but it was clear the ringleader of the cultists who rotted the mine had escaped.
But our role here was done.
