The Kind of Evil

‎The atmosphere became so tense ever since Rasmus revealed his encounters with Kiel. It didn't matter for what reason he met with Kiel, it was enough to make them think that he had ulterior motives from those encounters. He had shown how he ignored what was right or wrong, good or evil, which convinced them that he might have made a deal with Kiel.

‎"Can you explain yourself, Count?" Astrea asked with her eyes narrowed, disturbed by his confession.

‎"I already did, what else needs to be explained, Your Holiness? Am I the problem for meeting him because I want to understand him, or are you the problem for turning a blind eye or covering your ear?" Rasmus asked back as he removed his helmet so he could stare at them directly. "You want a better world, but you can't stop being suspicious of others?" He tucked his helmet on his side.

‎"That's not what we are worried about, Count. What we are worried about is which side are you on?" Xena asked, her gaze was like a piercing dagger to Rasmus's eyes.

‎"Neither," Rasmus answered without hesitation. "From the very beginning, I have told Archduke Thalior and Saint Astrea that I'm not an ally, I don't have any reason to help humanity. I do what I believe is necessary, and I made it clear back then, so why is it that you're surprised, even though you already knew?" Rasmus furrowed his brows at Thalior and glanced at Astrea.

‎Novia remembered the Great Sage's words about Rasmus, her master, Lenin. Lenin had warned Novia about Rasmus, about his status as a wildcard that could either bring glory or the demise of humankind, or even both at the same time. Lenin planned to shackle Rasmus, tying him to humankind, however, the current situation made it impossible since she had to use her focus on the inevitable chaos.

‎"Believe me, or don't, it doesn't matter to me. Whether you follow my lead or not, it doesn't bother me at all. I have said those words many times. Why is it that I'm the problem when you're the ones who keep asking me something that has been so obvious?" Rasmus asked and raised his brows, staring at them coldly.

‎"And what is this necessary that you're talking about, Count?" Uriel asked with a serious expression. "Necessary for what? What is it that you're after?" She added.

‎Rasmus glanced at Uriel, and then the others began to stare at him more judgingly. They were the ones who got pushed back by his words, it was time for them to push him back and corner him.

‎"Give me a valid reason why I should give you the answer, Commander?" Rasmus raised his brows. "What do I owe you or any of you to make me answer your question?"

‎Everyone was either gritting their teeth or clenching their fists, realizing there was no right reason for him to give an answer. He didn't need them, he didn't care about them, and he didn't care about humanity, so he didn't have a reason to give them what they wanted.

‎"That's enough..." Astrea sighed as she closed her eyes. "What matters right now is, do you want to get rid of the demons, Count?" She asked, knowing it was the least and the only thing that mattered.

‎"Yes, without a doubt," Rasmus answered without hesitation, his eyes and expression were determined to get rid of them.

‎Astrea nodded her head at Rasmus with understanding, and then looked at the others with a serious expression. She didn't want them to agree with him, she wanted them to understand that he was on the same page as them. They knew that Rasmus wasn't the type who lied, and it was the only thing they could admire.

"Now what, Your Holiness? Are we done here?" Novia asked.

"No, there's still one place that we need to check," Astrea looked up at the sky and still saw the looming demonic energy above the palace. "There must be something in the palace that we can find as another lead," she said, walking toward the entrance to the palace.

They followed Astrea into the palace, and they could immediately feel the tightness in their chests. What they felt was nothing but demonic energy, and Astrea had to cleanse the palace with her divine energy. They then split the group into three, the first group was Astrea and Uriel, the second group was Thalior, Xena, and Novia, and the third group was Rasmus, Aris, and Javi.

Everyone explored every corner of the palace, but they didn't find a single soul. However, they saw traces of what had happened to everyone in the palace. The blood trails on the floor, on the walls, on the tables, and on the ceiling in every room. They assumed that the demons had brought the bodies into the dungeon so they could experiment on the bodies.

They regrouped and gathered in front of the final room that they hadn't checked, the throne room. Thalior slowly opened the door, and they were welcomed by the pungent smell of dead bodies. They saw the king and the queen, sitting on the thrones with their swollen corpses and maggots eating their skin and flesh. There were five bodies scattered around the chair, and they were the children of the king and the queen.

"Don't move..." Astrea muttered as she stared at the corpses. "I don't know what it is, but I can feel an immense demonic energy from there. That one might be the source of all the demonic energy that has been lignering around the palace," she warned as she narrowed her eyes.

"It's a portal," Aris pointed at the carpet around the thrones.

Everyone turned around to look at Aris, wondering how she was sure about that.

"Is it the same as the one that we saw back then?" Rasmus asked.

"Yes, but this one is a lot bigger. Last time, there was only one that came out of it, but this one, they might be able to bring more than one here from that portal," Aris answered as she kept her eyes on the ground that was covered in red carpet.

"So it's a trap..." Astrea hummed as she nodded with understanding. "I don't know what would happen if I cleanse the demonic energy over there, and I'm worried that I might make a huge mistake," she said quietly as she looked at her surroundings.

"We can't just let it be like this, right?" Uriel glanced at Thalior.

Thalior didn't know what to say since he didn't know anything about demons or about their powers.

Rasmus crossed his arms, deep in thought as he stared at the thrones at the end of the hall. He believed it would be wise to destroy the portal because it removed one of the escape paths that the demons would use. However, he didn't know if that portal acted as an escape route or a trap for them to get rid of.

"Aris, can you get rid of it?" Rasmus turned around to look at Aris.

"It's deeply rooted. The whole palace is like a structure of the portal, and if I didn't destroy it completely and simultaniously, the portal might open up and powerful demons would come in," Aris answered.

Astrea didn't know the demonic energy had rooted deep into the palace even though she had cleansed it earlier. She was glad that she didn't want to cleanse the portal because that would be a big mistake.

"So? Can you?" Rasmus asked.

"I can, it's not a problem, but I have to destroy this whole place to the ground," Aris answered with confidence.

"Then let's leave it to her," Rasmus said as he began to leave the throne room.

The others followed Rasmus and left the palace, all the way out of the palace walls. They all stared at the palace from outside the wall, wondering what Aris would do to destroy the palace in one go. If it was Novia or Rasmus, they could easily create a powerful spell to do it, but their spells couldn't get rid of demonic energy.

Suddenly they saw Aris break the roof of the palace and flew high enough above the palace. They focused only on her and watched every move she made. While she was in mid air, she pulled her black sword back, imbuing it with Aura and something else. The only ones who could see them were Novia and Astrea, the color of Aura was close to silver while the other one was bright blue like a morning sky. The two colors mixed around the blade of her sword as she pointed the tip of the blade downward.

Once Aris gathered enough energy on her sword, everyone got chills in their arms as if they were attracted by the invisible power that she had released. The moment she thrust her sword down, a massive shockwave was released around her, purifying the lingering demonic energy in the sky. Then, the palace that was as big and wide as a football stadium got flattened in the blink of an eye.

The shockwave knocked them down and shattered the glass of nearby buildings, some even collapsed by it.

Uriel sat up and saw the destructive power of an Orthias for the first time, and she was utterly shocked. She watched Aris land gracefully right in front of them as she sheathed her sword.

"It's done, they shouldn't be able to go to this place anymore," Aris said as she offered her hand to Rasmus.

"Thank you," Rasmus grabbed Aris's hand and pushed himself up.

(At the same time in an unknown place)

"The portal is completely destroyed," Kiel stared at his glove. "I don't know how, but they destroyed it without leaving anything behind. I can't use it or detect any string there anymore," he added.

"It doesn't matter. We have prepared everything that we need," Yaza said as he walked past Kiel, going to the front and stared down the cliff at the army of the Corrupted and the possessed combined. "We just need to get rid of them, altogether," he muttered as he stared at the distance where the giant trees shook fiercely and toppled down.

"So you managed to create one, a Nephilim..." Kiel glanced at Yaza.

"Not a perfect one, but I did," Yaza's glowing red eyes beneath the mask grew brighter.