Chapter 419: The Fallen Angel (2nd Bonus)
"Mr. Olaf..." She started, choosing her words carefully. "I’m afraid that isn’t going to work."
Olaf’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"Fighting them alone is exactly what Dark Nova did." Beatrice continued "And look where that got him."
Olaf’s expression hardened. "I intend to draw them out individually and deal with them one by one."
Beatrice let out a quiet sigh. "What I’m trying to explain is this.. There is something much larger happening here, Mr. Olaf. The people you’re looking for are already being drawn into a situation that has been carefully arranged."
A smug smile appeared on her lips. "And I happen to be the one arranging it."
Her tone became more confident. "I have been entrusted with this matter by the goddess who guided Norman. My task is to see these people brought down once and for all."
"And as we speak, that plan is already in motion."
Olaf’s expression changed slightly, suddenly seeming thoughtful.
"So, you see..." She smiled sweetly. "We really are after the same people. All I need from you is to work with us."
Her smile widened. "Do that, and you can have everything you came here looking for. Information, assistance, and an opportunity to enact your revenge."
"But if you insist on running off on your own, not only would you be interfering with something that’s already been set in motion, you could end up dead in the crossfire..."
Olaf raised his head towards her with a serious expression. The way that sounded.. it felt like both genuine warning and a threat.
Beatrice stared right back at him with a smile on his face.
——
Later that night...
Miss Bernadette had just returned home after leaving her guild, Black Hearts. She parked her car and made her way inside, finally closing the door behind her after what seemed to have been a long day.
Then, her Arcphone suddenly buzzed.
Bernadette pulled it out and glanced at the screen to see a call coming from {Madam Seraph}
"That’s strange..." she said. Madam Seraph had never called her before. In fact, it was only Bernadette who always did whenever she or Ivan, the guild master, needed some sort of assistance.
So receiving a call directly from her was unusual enough to immediately make Bernadette curious., but she answered. "Madam Seraph?"
"Bernadette, you have to heed my warning." Madam Seraph began abruptly.
The sudden seriousness in Seraph’s voice made Bernadette go mute for a second.
"Listen to me carefully...The gods who have granted us our power have given every one of their Blessed an order. We are to gather in Gritnia and lend our full support to a certain woman named Beatrice, the matriarch of the Morgenstein Family."
Bernadette’s expression gradually changed. "Beatrice?"
"Yes." Seraph’s voice remained firm. "The Blessed have been instructed to rally behind the Morgenstein family. They intend to bring their full strength against the Stark family and everyone associated with them."
"I am telling you this because I know how close you are to the people they intend to oppose... You need to distance yourself from them, Bernadette."
"Why?" Bernadette asked, her brows furrowing. "Why are they after them?"
"Because within the Stark family, there is a great evil being harboured." Madam Seraph replied. "An evil that should not exist in this world."
"I don’t understand." Bernadette looked flustered.
"I cannot explain any further." Madam Seraph said. "You simply need to heed my warning, Bernadette."
Bernadette hesitated before asking the question that had suddenly occurred to her. "Are you part of them too? Are you one of the people coming after the Stark family?"
There was a brief silence on the other end, then Madam Seraph replied, "What do you think?"
Right then, the call ended.
Bernadette stared at the Arcphone in her hand, looked upwards and whispered. "Shit."
——
Meanwhile, later that same night...
A steam-powered train slowly arrived into the train station of Grayforte City; its metal wheels grinding against the tracks as clouds of steam billowed from its engine.
The passengers gradually began filing out.
Among them was a tall, muscular man who appeared to be in his thirties. He had a thick brown beard and carried a small box on his left hand while holding his top hat firmly on his head with the right.
He walked through the station and eventually made his way outside and towards a vintage sedan already waiting by a corner.
The man opened the back door and climbed inside.
The driver, who had the red eyes of a vampire, glanced at him through the rear-view mirror.
"Take me to Lady Morgenstein."
The driver nodded and said, "Of course." Then, he sedan pulled away from the station.
The man sitting in the back was one of the Blessed who had been summoned to Gritnia.
And the driver waiting for him was a vampire and one of the Morgenstein family’s own chauffeurs, who had been specifically assigned to collect him the moment his train arrived.
-
The vehicle continued through the roads of Grayforte until it reached a long stretch where there were hardly any other vehicles in sight. For several moments, the only sounds came from the engine and the tires of that car.
Then suddenly, darkness erupted from underneath the vehicle.
Several enormous spikes of blackness suddenly rushed upward from the ground, impaling the vehicle from below. More followed in rapid succession, surrounding the sedan until the entire vehicle was practically engulfed within a mass of jagged darkness.
The impact sent the sedan violently upward before it crashed back down as an explosion followed.
Smoke and debris had scattered across the deserted, with the vehicle looking twisted and heavily damaged.
For several seconds, nothing moved. Then a figure slowly walked forward. Through the blood-streaked cracks in the glass, his silhouette could be seen as one who wore a three-piece suit with a striking red vest under his jacket.
The driver was already dead, slumped over the steering wheel.
The figure walked around to the back of the vehicle and pulled the door open to meet the the brown-bearded man who was barely alive.
His body had been badly injured by the attack, leaving him bleeding heavily as he struggled to breathe. He coughed roughly, blood staining his lips as he tried to move.
The figure reached inside, seized him by the neck and dragged him from the wreckage as he lifted the wounded man before holding him firmly in place.
The attacker was extraordinarily tall, with black hair and piercing bluish-red eyes. Behind him were a pair of enormous black wings, marking him as part of the Angel Race.
"How many more of you are there?" He asked.
The wounded man stared at him, and instead of giving an answer, he gave a mocking smile.
The angel’s eyes narrowed, and right then his black wing suddenly swept forward. A sharp slash crossed the man’s neck, and his body went limp as his head separated from his body.
The suited man let the corpse to fall to the ground. His dark feathers fluttered, scattering the blood that had stained them.
Then the enormous black wings extended fully, and with a powerful beat, the figure rose into the night sky and disappeared into the darkness.
This was the Fallen Angel, and one of the Dark Ones..
Abaddon.