In Heaven*
It was the first time that the exorcists returned to heaven like this, defeated, wounded, humiliated and with a void that was replaced by emotions that varied according to the exorcist in question. And to top it off, their captain and second in command had gone somewhere else immediately instead of reviving their spirits.
Some cried, others screamed, others simply seemed to walk aimlessly as if their life had lost all meaning. It could not be said who felt worse. On the one hand, you had those born from heaven and homunculi that Adam himself had created from his ribs. They had been born to protect heaven and their father, and yet they had not been able to save him. They had only two purposes and they had failed miserably in them.
And on the other hand you had the recruits from Earth, all of them victims of the worst atrocities that a human being could commit, victims of murderers, rapists, pedophiles and abusers who had been regularly treated by Adam personally to give them the strength to strike back at every wretch below, as a form of justice. Now they felt that just like in their earthly life they had failed, failed to protect themselves from evil, failed to protect others.
They felt that they had seen evil and fought evil and evil had won, literally Lucifer had defeated their commander.
One of them could not stand being silent and shouted "It's over, everything is over, our father is dead" she cried, apparently she was born from heaven.
Another heaven-born, apparently of higher rank and age, hugged her sister quite tightly. "Come on Miriam, calm down, this isn't over yet," she comforted her sister as best she could.
"
And where the hell is Lute supposed to be? She was with him! She has his halo!! I have to see her!".
"Here I am, and she did have Adam's halo, but she's not ready now," Lute said. She looked tired and her eyes were red from both crying and anger.
"What do you mean?" The exorcist asked back angrily, approaching her superior in a threatening manner.
None of them seemed to want to hesitate before the other until another exorcist, this time with Asian features, got in the way.
"Calm down for God's sake, Father hasn't been dead for a day without you dishonoring his memory by fighting like that" the exorcist sounded almost disappointed in the two of them and in response to those forceful words they just looked away from each other.
"First, we have to stick together. Second, help our sisters on Earth," she said, pointing at each of the Earthborn who had undoubtedly taken the brunt of the experience. Each one seemed to have a different kind of shock.
That was the first thing they had to do among a number of difficult tasks they had to do. The second was to break the news to their boss, Sera.
Honestly, Lute and her fellow exorcists (among them the Asian one and the one who had challenged her) had hope that it would be relatively easy.
Although Adam was a faithful follower of Sera, she still hated that he was impulsive, she was not entirely happy with the extermination and she seemed like a distant and powerful woman.
Although someone outside might think that the fact that they saw their lord as a replaceable chess piece would be something that would make them angry, in reality it was the opposite.
Less emotions to deal with and less explanations they would have to give. They would already mourn him enough. If someone else mourned him, it was not a real difference.
"Your Highness Sera" replied Lute in front of his office when the door opened by itself and quickly as if it had been kicked, there Sera rebelled who had an intermediate form with eyes coming out of her hair and dress, clearly agitated.
"Why did it take so long!? Why hasn't Adam reported!? And for the love of god could you explain to me what a sinner is supposed to do in heaven!?" It was strange to see Sera so agitated, she always tried to maintain an image of composure, even in the most tense and critical situations like when the extermination was revealed, changing the panorama of heaven for many.
"Ma'am, there was a problem" said Lute putting Adam's halo on the desk, she had recovered it to show it to Sera.
Honestly, Lute and her fellow exorcists (among them the Asian one and the one who had challenged her) had hoped that it would be relatively easy, although Adam was a faithful follower of Sera, she still hated that he was impulsive, she was not entirely happy with the extermination and she seemed like a distant and powerful woman.
Although an outsider might think that the fact that they saw their lord as a replaceable chess piece would be something that would make them angry, in reality it was the opposite, fewer emotions to deal with and less explanations they would have to give, they would already mourn him enough, the fact that someone else mourned him was not a real difference.
"Your highness Sera" replied Lute in front of his office when the door opened by itself and quickly as if it had been kicked, there Sera rebelled, having an intermediate form with eyes coming out of her hair and dress, clearly agitated.
"Why did you take so long!? Why hasn't Adam reported!?" And for the love of god could you explain to me what a sinner is supposed to do in heaven!?" It was strange to see Sera so agitated, she always tried to maintain an image of composure, even in the most tense and critical situations like when the extermination was revealed, changing the outlook of heaven for many.
"Ma'am, there was a problem" said Lute putting Adam's halo on the desk, she had retrieved it to show it to Sera.
The exorcists told her everything that happened without hiding anything and they only saw Sera's reaction getting more twisted the more they told her.
"Adam is dead? And they left his corpse there?" Sera replied loudly.
"That brat of-" Sera almost insulted as she touched Adam's halo for the first time and stopped.
The exorcists noticed the brutal change in the superior's attitude and asked if she doubted what was happening. She would normally keep the information to herself and she deigned to tell what was happening.
"I feel Adam's energy" her voice dragged like a sigh in the wind.
"What!?" the three said in unison, clearly surprised.
"It's normal that you can't feel it, it's a small and distant trace that could be easily hidden if your individual wanted it, but it's not like that and it's clearly Adam's divine energy."
"And where is it?" they asked eagerly.
Sera's face turned into a bitter and confused explanation.
"It's in hell" she said dryly and firmly.
The exorcists didn't know what to think, she was in shock again.
"Watch your words while I resolve this with the heavenly council, especially with…" she paused before continuing.
"They" her voice was so serious that a chill ran down their spines.
They knew who Sera was referring to and they were people that even the most capable of exorcists like Lute and her sisters did not want to deal with.
They spread the word that their father could still be alive among their own and with only that blackened ray of hope, they continued with their normal routines in heaven.
Many of them performed very diverse tasks: baking, fashion, art.
And many simply continued.
As the extermination had been revealed, many looked at any exorcist at least with caution. Luckily, the black halos of those born on earth disappeared after taking off their helmet and uniform, unlike Adam's daughters, who having been literally born for it, their halo was naturally black, unmistakably authenticating their function as a soldier and consequently an exorcist as well.
"So how has your life continued after the defeat, melody?" Said Hulusi, the exorcist, one of the best in her group, who was sitting in a rather elegant restaurant but at the same time trying in vain to appear tough like some kind of survival cabin.
"Bad, I'm taking some time with my boyfriend until he stops asking stupid things, I'm sick of "Do you know if you killed any of my relatives?" And "Sorry for my sins" puff how exaggerated" she said letting out a tired sigh.
"And you?" Melody asked her
Hulusi simply shrugged her shoulders, "I've been attending these group therapies for those from heaven who want to leave their earthly problems, the frequency with which our recruits from earth go has increased and also their intensity since our lord, well that" she said the latter lowering her voice.
"So bad?" asked melody.
"I will only tell you that when our African albino recruit spoke of how her hands were cut off by witchcraft practitioners in tears, they asked us to move to another room because we were bothering the others" said Hulusi dejectedly.
"Poor Imani, at least she didn't tell what Adam does to the African overlords"
"Fuck them, they channel demonic magic through the body parts of albino people and enslave the child soldiers they themselves corrupted, and they always see themselves as large and ferocious animals. They always reincarnate as hyenas, lions, elephants and crocodiles, when they are no better than a leech drinking the blood of the innocent" Hulusi who was a veteran could not remember the many African Demon Lords she saw this last thing she had said with a voice so loud that those who were next to her had heard it fully a small sample of what hell was like.
Several were stunned, almost forgetting what earthly disbelief felt like at such a display of evil, though the normally calm Hulusi didn't even apologize for leaving several heaven-winners with something new to think about when they went to sleep.
There was a silence that felt eternal in the restaurant until miraculously, as was typical of heaven, a new customer was cut off, another daughter of Adam with a black halo and pale skin but dark yellow eyes and strangely she seemed to have sharp teeth like a shark's and no wings.
"Hello Mr. Cook, I wanted to order something" she said awkwardly approaching the reception.ucifer thought it would be easy to spend time with his daughter after saving her in the last extermination, but apparently since that day strange things had happened in hell apparently old lords including the stoic and ancient behemoth had begun to move, the kings were supposedly behaving in an unworthy manner and to top it off heaven wanted to talk to him urgently after the incident again Lucifer had to leave his daughter alone.
Now he was in the embassy waiting patiently for his companions to arrive it didn't take long before a portal appeared where 3 figures came out, the first was the unmistakable Sera her former nanny and next to her her brothers.
One was a tall, pale man, with roses in his hair and shades of pink in the background of his outfit and halo. The other was also short but his tones were green.
"Zadkiel!!, Raphael!! It's always a pleasure to see you, give your little brother a hug" both archangels looked serious but relaxed a little when they saw their brother and didn't have the heart to deny him a hug.
They were the princes of peace and kindness respectively so naturally they felt sorry for their brother since he had been abandoned by Lilith they noticed that their hugs were now uncomfortably longer.
"We are also glad to see you Lucifer, but this matter has to do with work so we better take it seriously" said Zadkiel quite firmly and seriously this made Lucifer's expression become more melancholic than happy, as if he was deeply saddened by the professional treatment their meeting would have.
"We will get to the point, your daughter's project apparently worked and brought a redeemed demon, the council of our brothers wants to debate its effectiveness and function, we even got the approval of a primal to do so" Raphael commented.
Lucifer was surprised to hear the name of a primal, that title brought many feelings to his skin but he kept his composure.
"But other than that, you and your daughter caused another problem," Sera replied.
"I'll guess, it's about Adam."
The guests from heaven nodded in unison, and Lucifer clicked his teeth before making a face of displeasure.
"He broke the contract first, the ata-"Lucifer's complaints were cut off by Zadkiel.
"Because you failed to control the scum of the pit, because hell killed a denizen of heaven and you did nothing, you only interposed the whims of my niece before looking for a real damn solution." His gaze turned dark, it was difficult to hear Zadkiel blaspheme but it was the archangel of peace that his brother did not strive to maintain the balanced peace between hell and heaven really bothered him.
Lucifer lowered his gaze. "I couldn't bear the idea of that happening. Not again." Zadkiel's gaze relaxed.
Raphael put one of his 4 hands on Lucifer's shoulder. "We know that was difficult, much more than that it was an atrocious moment for everyone and we all lost that day brother, but that doesn't take away that in part you allowed this to happen."
"Did you even punish the one who disobeyed your orders to let Adam go?" Sera asked calmly, which made him feel almost desperate when he looked down again and answered.
"That Charlie, I wouldn't have accepted it," almost resigned.
Zadkiel, who at that moment had regained his stern look, let out a sigh.
"How long are you going to be like this Lucifer? How long are you going to let her be a spoiled child who fixes everything with idealistic dreams and childish outbursts of anger? If she doesn't know when to shut up, it's normal that she almost died against Adam."
"Be careful what you say, she is my daughter!!" Lucifer raised his voice for the first time challenging his brother, but he did not flinch for a millisecond.
"And she is my niece, and I remind you that if it were not for us she would not even be here".
Sera interrupted them.
"Enough with your fraternal problems."
"The problem is that the exorcists will sooner or later notice Adam's absence and if they know what happened one of the most important figures in heaven is in hell it could cause a commotion, paranoia-" said Sera.
"Yeah, sure, but what am I supposed to do? If she is in hell there is no way to do anything, not even I know how to stop being a fallen one" replied Lucifer.
"Then it's not a problem because in fact our dear commander is not fallen" Raphael said throwing his halo towards Lucifer by touching it he could locate Adam's signature in hell he had demonic energy inside him without a doubt but his angelic aura was still there.
"Wow that's new" Lucifer admitted
"Yes it is" the three nodded
"Anyway, tell Charlotte about 3 weeks to prepare her procedure and I suppose you know what we have to tell her for it to work, I'm sorry in advance for that" Zadkiel
"No honestly I still don't want that day to come, even though I knew it was inevitable" Lucifer said holding a face of total frustration.
"I say the same, I think Emily should be there too" Sera admitted
The 3 archangels looked at her truly surprised by Sera's words, Lucifer especially agitated he asked her out loud.
"Are you sure?"
Sera nodded and shrugged. "Yes, Emily won't stop asking questions and is becoming more and more invasive in her techniques. If she has to be shown the horrible truth to prevent her downfall, then so be it. In any case, we will be coming to pick up Adam shortly. Make sure to keep him under surveillance and under control".
Lucifer scoffed, "Come on, he's a newcomer who's spent his whole life in heaven. How much could he corrupt or do in 3 weeks?"
Again, the 3 guests looked at him with a "Are you really asking?" question.
"You're right, it's probably for the best. Anyway, why don't you take him away immediately?"
"His condition is strange, we want to know what it is before we present him back to heaven. Besides, we have many other tasks. Anyway, I'll come to visit him soon to guide his steps again," Sera argued.
With all the urgent things said, they made a few jokes for the first time to ease the tension in the atmosphere and said goodbye.
Meanwhile, Adam finished giving Carina instructions to go to heaven, ask for food of angelic origin and return in a few hours.
While his daughter went to heaven, Adam took the opportunity to take a walk in another of the places he had pending accounts with, the industrial district, owned by Carmilla Carmine.Adam flew most of the way, Pentagram City was a size that easily eclipsed any modern metropolis so only the industrial section was a monstrous size although when he was relatively close to reaching the building of the powerful owner of the territory he began to walk, he walked through the factories as if they were his and to his surprise no sinful demon or native attacked him, perhaps his fame had already spread? Whatever it was he thought it was boring not to make an entrance full of corpses, but he didn't want to waste time either.
Soon he arrived without problems at the large armored door that prevented the passage to the large Carmine factory/mansion, Adam put his left hand on it with black claws that pierced the metal.
"Pig, piggy, open the door for me" he said in front of the armored door.
"Or I'll blow and blow" tightening his grip denting the colossal door without problems.
"And your house?" Adam jerked his arm back, ripping the massive door from its place and throwing it away.
"I'll tear it down," he said as he watched back as the massive door fell into one of the industrial processes causing the chemicals to react badly causing a large explosion.
He enjoyed the sweet melody of the demons, both sinners and natives, screaming for help in a large expanse of greenish fire, but when he looked forward at the mansion he only found Carmilla herself in the center staring at him unimpressed.
"Don't you think it's an overly dramatic entrance?" she replied with her eyes rolling back as if she had just witnessed an act of a ridiculous man trying to be impressive.
"Bitch, you are the queen of drama and falsehoods, you have no right to comment on my damn entrances."
Upon hearing about the falsehood, Carmilla showed some annoyance, but not a slight one, a deep one and she was full of resentment.
"Anyway, follow me, we will talk about the deal in a more suitable place" she advanced with her typical elegance towards one of the sides of her mansion, Adam followed her and continued through several hallways until they reached a door that led downstairs to a kind of basement.
What was downstairs was so strange that for the first time Adam was legitimately surprised, it looked like a hospital room but with things of increased size, the stretcher was enormous and seemed almost made to be more resistant than comfortable, there were 2 chairs that faced each other, something that looked like a kind of cement well that was padded, it took him a while to realize that it was a kind of crib. On a table there were hellish medicines and something that almost disgusted him because of how unnatural it was to see something like that, the fucking hell, a baby bottle.
Carmilla sat calmly in one of the chairs.
"A few minor modifications to the contract and I will sign it without a doubt".
"Wow, the cannibal whore spread the word," Adam said in a lively voice, the situation impressed him and was completely in his favor. For the first time, he felt intrigued by the actions of a sinner.
"Rosie is my friend, and she was the other accomplice to our plan, so naturally she knew I would be next," he explained calmly.
"And yet you think you are in a position to reform the deal? After knowing that you are the first culprit of the murder of my daughters." More than angry, he said it with grace as if the position of the proud Lady of Hell was nothing more than a joke.
"I think you will find my counter-offers reasonable." If she was intimidated, she did not show it.
The first man made a face of slight displeasure but waved his hand before saying, "Say them and let's get this over with."
"Excellent," Carmilla nodded.
"First of all, protection for my loved ones, my daughters, the supreme lords Zestial and Zeezi as well as Princess Vaggie's girlfriend."
"Your daughters are just them, your friends if they weren't especially scandalous maybe I can do something for survival, but that Vaggie is doomed I myself will tear off her wings, drag her on a cross until the next extermination comes and I will see how her sisters tear her apart" Anger and contempt overflowed in her voice and each statement of the horrible fate was fixed and inflexible.
For the first time Carmilla's face showed a change in her expression, it was a mix between indignation and resignation.
"I suppose she is also your daughter, right?" the indignant woman asked
"The life of a traitor son is worth the same as trash, may both burn and turn to ash together" she said shrugging her shoulders speaking as if she were telling an obvious truth.
"Enough talk, tell me your other condition," she grumbled.
"I want to see her and talk to her, she has the right to know that she is a Carmine," her voice was firm as always, even after seeing a grimace of dissatisfaction forming on her attacker's face.
"What are you trying to do, demon? Do you want to turn her against me? Do you want to mold her to your will so that your influence reaches the heavenly realms?" Her voice increased in
volume with each question she asked the demonic lady, who shook her head in response.
"I simply want her to meet her family, to know that she has a mother and two sisters. Is it wrong to preserve a girl's right to have a family?" She paused as Adam stared at her.
"And why lie, if my offspring grows up to preserve my life and that of her sisters, all the better," she nodded sincerely.
"Honestly, I hope she disowns you," Adam said, taking off his mask revealing a grimace of disgust as he pulled out the piece of angelic flesh from his sack and extended his hand that burned in golden fire as an equally golden demonic contract manifested. Carmilla, to his surprise, first took off her clothes before shaking his hand and said.
"If she disowns me, I hope it's her decision and not yours."
Her gestation was similar to Rosie's, except she didn't kick, fight or scream, she simply turned into her demonic form.
She was at least two or even three times taller than her base form. Her skin hardened and seemed to become steel, with joints that looked like those of a machine gun instead of joints. A kind of dress seemed to want to form around her, it seemed to be made of what looked like knives, blades and daggers tied together; and her nails lengthened and became similar to scythes. Her hair completely melted and seemed to become a whip.
Her revenge was not as pleasant as the first time, there were no screams or surprise, but it did not prevent her from seeing her new daughter with joy.
Her skin was more grayish than pale, on her face she seemed to wear a kind of mask and her long hair varied from dark and light shades of silver, as always her eyes were golden and for some reason her halo had an x marked on it.
When he was with his daughter in his arms something distracted him, he felt it clearly as the day in the direction of the celestial embassy, a part of him, his halo.
Adam connected the dots in his mind perhaps that was why his celestial power took so long to regenerate, perhaps that was also why that disgusting demonic energy that flooded his being was so unstable, he considered running away without paying attention to anything else until the young angel began to babble.
His gaze darkened and Carmilla could notice the change in his emotions. Had she done something wrong? For a moment she contemplated in horror the idea of Adam breaking her daughter in his powerful arms due to his resentment against her, but the first man relaxed, let out a sigh and said.
"There will always be time for that, but time with you is scarcer than most think" he gave her one of his strange fatherly smiles and lifted the angel with his 2 arms.
"My little Retrivia" he said with genuine affection.
"Well Mrs. Carmine I would say it was a pleasure to meet you, but that would be a lie, your part of the deal is done anyway, have a nice day" the first man turned around.
"Wait, do your part, let me hold her" for the first time desperation was noticed but he ignored it.
"Please, at least let me hug her" she almost screamed but fell into deaf hatred.
"Soon, but not now" she answered Adam sharply, theoretically nothing prevented her from not fulfilling her request, she simply enjoyed in a sincere and pleasant way the genuine maternal desperation that she could feel through her demonic halo, it did not suit her to stir up the hornet's nest in her current condition so it was not very profitable to kill or hurt the demonic lady, but playing with torturing and hurting her feelings and emotions was something sweet and practically harmless.
He ended up leaving the place ignoring the woman's requests when he returned to the living room of the mansion where he found the 3 Carmine offspring, he was going to continue ignoring her until he noticed that Retrivia had her gaze fixed on the 3 demonic girls.
Adam was interested in how they reacted, he was disappointed when Retrivia's gaze softened when one of Carmilla's daughters called her cautiously "Sister?".
They seemed to have an instinctive connection because Retriva dragged out her words and seemed to want to whisper "Sister-".
When Adam flew out through the entrance that he destroyed himself, his daughter just looked at him with bewilderment in her eyes and he clicked his tongue, maybe his new life as a sinner is more complicated than it seemed.