The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 445: Justice, Reversed

Chapter 445: Justice, Reversed

Rain was not brought to a cell. Instead, he waited in the office of a very nervous guard captain, with Myrti in the corner. When it was clear he wasn’t in trouble, he’d been able to demand her presence for... whatever was to come next.

Whatever it was, he knew the guard captain didn’t know, but she’d sent a messenger to the family that ran the city.

It was thus a surprise when a trio of Executioners, two Elevated and one angelic, entered the room with a richly dressed elf with an appeasing grin.

"We’ll take him from here," the angel said, after casting a single glance at Rainier. He was a thin male with orange eyes and wings of a similar light blue to Rainier’s hair, only dappled with black and brown.

There was no protest from the guard Captain, but Rainier raised his voice. "This girl works for me," he said, gesturing at Myrti.

The angel sniffed. "I won’t sully our Embassy with the steps of a demon. Even a demonkin."

Rain stepped up to the angel, looming over him. "I don’t think you’re in a position to make that decision, are you, Executioner?" Rain sensed he could take these three alone if he had to. He’d also inferred that they couldn’t have been in contact with Araqlun, either because of Heaven’s destruction or for some other reason. Otherwise, they would have tried to kill him the moment they stepped into the room. Hell, without even doing so.

"On what authority do you dare speak back to your better, Elevated?" the angel snarled.

Rain held still for a moment. The wrong name here could start a fight he wanted to avoid... at least until he could ensure there were only "Heavenly" casualties. A sudden epiphany struck him. He needed the name of someone unaccountable to the angel before him as that same angel was to the people of Ayther.

"On the authority of High Executioner Vinam Victoriam," he said.

The angel’s lip quivered for just a moment as his head moved with the swallowing of his pride. Rain had guessed correctly because the next moment, the angel turned. "Follow me."

Rain and Myrti were led out of the office, the angel up front and the Elevated following behind. He sensed their stares at him. His black and gold godflesh with its chaotic, cracking lines a start opposite to their white and gold limbs with consistent, arcing patterns.

They looked at him, unknowing that his dark flesh was the color of a freedom they would never be granted. The angel was likely ignorant as well. Rainier knew how the Executioners operated, and, outside of generalities, even his team leader Cassiel had known only what she had to about the different missions.

Because of Myrti, Heaven’s agents were forced to walk, and while the Elevated at the back said nothing, the angel leading them did nothing but grumble about it the whole way as Rain refused his attempts at questioning him. It was all part of the act. To keep them under the lie that he was far higher in the food chain than they were.

Their apex predator laired in the Ambassador’s office Rainier and Myrti were led into.

As soon as the door clicked closed behind him, the angel woman, a lesser seraph to judge by her four wings, gestured for the other Elevated to leave as her pet angel came to heel at her side, whispering in her ear with a sound-blocking spell to keep Rain from hearing.

The Ambassador for Beastport was a white-winged woman with tawny hair, shaded with just a hint of grey. Her aura was a strong green, but it was nothing Rain couldn’t handle if he took the initiative. A few moments later, the angel narrowed her eyes, which were ringed from lack of sleep, at him, before dispelling the spell of her subordinate and letting him assume his place behind her.

"I am Regiel Eros. I understand you gave your name as ’Kir Gale’ to the guards and Adventurer’s Guild."

"I see word travels fast," Rain replied.

"Is there a reason you gave the name of a fugitive abomination as your own?" she webbed her fingers together at the tips, holding her hands at her waist.

"Because I’m looking for him," Rainier said, relaxing his posture.

"You’re looking for a dead man then. The last word I received from Araqlun, that beast was destroyed in battle... unless you have news that changes that?" She raised an eyebrow, clearly fishing for information, her eyes flickering to Myrti.

"How long has it been since you’ve contacted Heaven?" Rain asked.

The Ambassador’s pet practically snarled as he stepped forward. "Show some respect, you worthless cur! Bow!"

The compulsion washed over Rain and did exactly nothing, surprising even the Ambassador. Rain scoffed. "I take it you two are the most powerful here? The man I work for would have you tortured, stripped of your power, and only then executed... if he didn’t have other experiments in mind."

"High Seraph Victoriam would never dare," the Ambassador hissed. "Now tell me who the fuck you are or I will have every guard in this compound take turns beating the answer out of you for your insolence!"

"You must know very little about godflesh if you think a mere beating will work," Rain snarled. "And it’s clear you know nothing that will help me with what I want first, so I’ll just take what I want second..." He ripped off the remains of his cloak, letting them see his rippling muscles.

"How dare y-" the Ambassador barely had time to choke as Rain forced magic into his body, manifesting a sword so fast he had her head rolling on the ground even as he took a second step forward into a cut that split her pet Executioner in half from throat to navel.

Hearing the commotion, the Executioners left outside called out an alarm as one of them burst through the doors, only for Rain to pull him forward with a simple air compression spell before running him through the forehead.

Against enemies with godflesh, his only options were to wear out their mana or kill them instantly, and he fully intended to do the latter as he marched out of the office and hacked the remaining Executioner to death through the spear he tried to bring up.

In the seconds before he knew more would come, he turned to Myrti. "Find a weapon and stay here."

The girl was frozen, shock in her eyes and blood on her cheek.

"MOVE!" Rain shouted, and the girl snapped out of her daze and looked around, more lost than anything until she saw the sword of the nearest Executioner corpse and took it.

Rain pulled the corpse by the leg and threw it over the stairwell balcony before shutting the door and using the head of the dead Elevated’s spear to jam it shut.

He paused for one last breath, eyes closed, as he cast his senses outward. Fifteen mana signatures were moving his way, and eight more besides. There was no way they would evacuate, not against a single Elevated. The lie went that ’Heaven does not flee its enemies,’ after all...

It would make what came next all the easier.

*

Myrti cowered in the office as the sounds of killing started. The gurgling screams. The strange screeches of magic and the thump of bodies as people died.

She’d seen death before, when she hunted, but she never saw people die until today. Until the guard whose throat had been ripped out by a hunk of metal. Back then, she’d been shocked but had taken Rain’s order to run in order to get help. And now...

Now she waited as Rain did all the killing. Killed the angels, who had treated him like he was one of their soldiers... or worse, one of their slaves. Myrti had seen plenty of that before, with both her mother and the servants of those in her home city.

As she tried not to look at the corpses behind the desk, she clutched her sword and fought her own sense of rising panic. Had she made a mistake, attaching herself to Rainier? He’d saved her life, but was this all she could look forward to as his... what even was she? His apprentice? His follower? His pet?

She felt she needed to know. To understand why he was killing angels. Why he’d offered to let her go.

She almost didn’t hear when the sounds of fighting stopped. Not until the slow steps of someone approaching the office echoed up the stairs.

Myrti heard a clatter from the other side of the door and readied her sword, holding it in both hands with terror in her eyes as the doors swung open to reveal Rain, a mask on his face and blood dripping from his body in splashes of gold and red. Gold for godflesh, red for angels...

Behind him, the entry hall filled with wonders she’d gotten to admire for mere seconds was now painted in blood.

He stared at her, and a moment later, the mask snaked away from his face in parts, reabsorbing into the collar of his godflesh body.

"Do you fear me?" he asked, coldly, without any emotion on his face.

"Yes," Myrti admitted. "I’m terrified..."

"Do you wish to leave?" he asked.

Was it a test? Could she even get away from him if he had a mind to kill her?

She paused too long, and Rain spoke. "Tell me what you want, Myrti."

Myrti’s voice caught in her throat as she lowered the sword, letting it fall to the ground.

"I want to be as strong as you," she answered.

*

Rain nodded, acknowledging the girl’s- no, the warrior’s desire he now saw in Myrti.

"Find a place to rest while I get rid of these and report in," he gestured at the corpses. "Once that is done, we can start your training in earnest."

The moment Myrti left, Rain started to decompose the corpses, using magic to gather oxygen around them before letting a little spark of true lightning out of his fingers to light it. One flash, and each disappeared, leaving nothing but a black scorchmark and blood.

Then he sat at the desk, opening drawers until he found paper.

His report was short.

I have destroyed Heaven’s embassy.

Tell Maledict I want to speak with him.