Seventh Heaven Gates, the Realm of Heavens.
At the gates that lead to the Seventh Heaven, a place that was once home to the God of the Bible and the place where the central core of the Sacred Gear System and Heaven's System resides, a beautiful angel paced with worry.
Her beautiful blond hair fell like a waterfall behind her as her blue eyes kept going towards the gates, waiting for her brother, who had gone in to confirm what they were worried about.
Soon, the gates started to open, making her perk up and head towards the entrance, her twelve wings fluttering as she shot forward with immense speed and came to a stop in front of her brother.
"Michael? What did you see?"
Michael, one of the first Angels created by God and the current Supervisor of Heaven's System, shook his head at his sister's question.
"I did not find the source of the anomaly, Gabriel. I think whoever had initiated the salvation system has hidden themselves again. Worse yet, the system is refusing to track them even at my request. It says that my authority is not high enough for that."
Gabriel could not help but feel confused at those words.
"But why would any Angel hide themselves like that? Given the power we felt, they have to be someone on par with the Seraphim, so it should be an occasion of celebration for us to have gained another Angel of that caliber."
Michael could not help but smile wryly at his sister's words.
"Gabriel, have you forgotten that we, the Angels, created by Father, are incapable of growing in strength, unlike true living beings?"
Gabriel simply nodded her head with a pout.
"Why are you asking me such a basic question? Of course, I remember that fact."
"Then, can you tell me how an Angel of such power suddenly appeared out of nowhere?"
Only with this question did Gabriel see what the problem was.
God had originally created the Angels as his helpers in shaping the world into what he wanted. To protect the original natives of this world, the Humans, whom he had grown fond of shortly after he arrived here and saw them.
Back then, his creation method was not as refined as it would be later on, so the first generation of Angels had more in common with automatons than actual living beings.
The first-generation Angels were incapable of growth. Incapable of change unless their very nature was twisted, like in the case of the Morningstar and the Fallen. Incapable of growing outside the set parameters that they were born with.
Eternal, unchanging, incapable of growth and change. Such is the fate of the first-generation Angels, including the Seraphim.
That is why, in this day and age, where the Devils replenished their numbers and strength through the Evil Pieces and legitimate children born of their flesh, just like with the Fallen who gained the ability to grow stronger after they were banished from Heaven, the Angels were left in a precarious situation where their numbers could not be replenished in any way.
This meant that the death of every angel, even the weakest of them, was felt dearly.
Worse still, unlike the Devils and the Fallen that could reproduce with each other or with other races, the Angels could not do something like that unless they used a very ardeous ritual that lasted an entire day and would not be allowed to have possessive or lustful intentions when procreating, something that is borderline impossible with how attractive the angels generally are, which meant that any such union would lead to the angels falling from grace, so nobody even tried that anymore.
It was because of all these reasons that the Angels had no choice but to shut themselves in Heaven and ignore everything that was going on in the mortal world, abandoning the very duty for which they were originally created, all in the name of self-preservation and the preservation of their species.
Watching his sister's contemplative face, Michael placed his palm on her head and spoke softly.
"We will have our answers after we find our missing brethren. Whoever they are, they are obviously hiding themselves from harm. So it is imperative that we don't accidentally expose them to their enemies because we are in a rush. We will need to carefully investigate and find them as covertly as possible and then welcome them back into the fold."
"We cannot afford our kin to be divided in these trying times, even if the holy energy that the system felt from them was the strongest it had ever felt from an Angel."
Gabriel nodded her head to those words before an idea flashed in her mind.
"How about I go down there and try to search for them myself?"
Michael shot that idea down with a shake of his head.
"No. That is far too risky. Not to mention where that energy signature was detected, we do not know what will happen if our enemies learn that you are down there all by yourself."
"Then, how about I take brother Uriel and brother Raphael with me?"
"Again. No. They have their own duties that they need to attend to, so you can't disturb them."
Gabriel once again pouted at her brother's words as he chuckled at her expression.
"I'll send a message to Vasco Strada to start investigating. Given that the Church has a presence in Kuoh, it only makes sense to use that to our advantage and try to be subtle about our intentions."
"Fine! But I want to go with you when we find our kin so that I can greet them with you."
"Very well. Now, let's get going."
The two angels soon left the Seventh Heaven and headed back to their abodes in the Sixth Heaven, where Michael sent a message to Vasco Strada, who, in turn, sent the message to Masaomi Yaegaki, not knowing that something truly explosive was about to happen in a few days' time.
Something that would shake up the Abrahamic Faction's future for good.
As for the focal point of all this mess, he was right now buried deep in countless online articles that he got from the newly created phone that allowed him to access the supernatural internet.
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Ruijard1