'No... Not now. I can't faint here...'
"We get Snow and head for Bobb Port. I left a boat there.' Dolffie mumbled as he staggered toward the exit.
"Snow? Who's that?" Bellium asked as he followed, gently massaging his bruised wrist. There was a slight limp to his steps, but overall, he was in far better condition than Dolffie, who, continued to teeter when they began ascending the massive steel hallway.
"A helper," Dolffie briefly looked back at him over his shoulder and smiled, "An unexpected, yet lovely development too useful to leave behind."
"Unexpected?" Bellium arched a brow as he quickly caught up and strode beside him.
"Hmm," He exclaimed, "We found each other- well, more like he found me- back in the village and offered to help break you out in exchange for a simple favour."
Bellium narrowed his gaze, "What favour?"
"Don't know." Dolffie shrugged as they turned a corner, "Said he'll tell me when the time was right."
"Do you... trust him?" Bellium looked him straight in the face, to which Dolffie stared back and smiled, "No, but like I said, he's useful, powerful. He has a precious little gift that allows him to manipulate curses and cursed beings."
"That is useful indeed," Bellium peered ahead before asking, "Still, do you at least have a vague idea or understanding of what he may be after? What he wants from you?"
Dolffie laughed as they turned another corner, "I know only that it's something he can't do on his own. And another thing that took a while, but I eventually confirmed."
"Another thing? You mean his intentions?"
Dolffie chuckled once more before he raised his arm and waved it near Bellium's face, and answered, "Sin Marker. His eyes, they have been marked by sin."
"I did not know Sin Markers could brand eyes," Bellium said in a surprised tone as Dolffie dropped his arm to his side.
"Me too, which is why I was highly doubtful of the theory at first. But, after seeing him in action and observing how his eyes responded to my power, it became indisputably evident that I had in fact been correct."
"Branded eyes, huh..." Bellium whispered, "That must be painful."
"Yes." Dolffie murmured as he gazed down at his own marks, "Yes, it is."
***
-AFTERMATH-
Rust.
Blood.
And bodies.
An entire mountain of them.
That was the fate of the Bobby Stone Heaven.
Every component of the construction that had utilized any materials with a specific concentration of metallic properties had been disintegrated to nothing more than a pile of blood-soaked rust. That had left only the stone-hewn exterior standing, leaving the Prison as just another giant and fancy coffin.
Quietly observing the sorrowful yet hectic scene from the shadows of a towering crooked tree was a lean-built, tan-skinned young man adorned in tight black, baseline, low-rise, rib shorts sinched at the waist by a mini grey utility belt and coupled with a giant pair of knee-length boots. For his upper body, his chest was cleanly wrapped in tight layers of white bandage and was topped off with a silver-white, oversized jacket that featured the Angels Denied Heaven symbol pasted in various pastel colours on the back: a pure white dove ascending to the cloudy, multi-coloured, shining heavens.
His shoulder-length, jet-black hair flowed like a curling river of dark, shimmering ink and partially obscured the bird's destination. His eyes, coloured a mixture of beautiful browns that resembled sun-dried quasi sunflowers, narrowed with contempt as he watched his comrades.
From afar, his comrades' gleaming uniforms, coloured the signature radiant and striking silver of their organisation, filled the entire quarter of the forest with chaotic flashes and blurs of bright colour as both Visionaries and Angels scrambled to retrieve bodies from the mountain of damp rust.
The young man watched silently as they all worked diligently and quietly, their faces marred with disdain and sorrow. He observed his subordinates manoeuvring with gritted teeth and others with scornful bearings.
But he saw, in all of them, nothing but understandable anger and hatred for the monsters who had done this.
And he knew it would be a sinful lie if he claimed these crimes were misdeeds he was willing to forgive or forget.
____
[Vice-Captain]
[Name: Willodia Dolsineya Galahan]
[Affiliation: Maverick, Kinsmen descendant]
[Merit: Justice]
[Rank: Impartial High Angel]
[Blessing: Judgement]
_____
Willodia bit his lip in frustration.
"Why's everyone so moody?" A deep voice suddenly sounded beside him.
"Well, what should they be? Happy?" He turned and offered a light nod in greeting to his Captain. The towering beast of a man said nothing as he stood beside his Vice-Captain and beheld what had become of his meticulous planning and hard work.
Willodia tensed at the prolonged silence as he snuck a glance at his superior. Despite the man's beastly size, his Captain was still somehow quieter than a mouse. Towering at an astonishing height of 7ft and packing a surprisingly lean yet well-toned and sightly bulky physique, the Arch Angel was a force to be reckoned with, the Great Denzo Falcon, widely and more famously known as the Spear of God and infamous King Justice.
Willodia, despite being his Vice-Captain and a High Angel, always felt small compared to the Captain, always felt so very insignificant... and insufficient. Unworthy of his high honour and position.
He subtly glanced at the man once more; Falcon wore his usual: a professionally tailored white shirt that no doubt costed more than the annual salary of an ordinary Visionary, underneath a tight damask-patterned black button-tailored suit vest carefully sinched at the waist and heedfully tucked into silky white trousers with single golden strips going down the forefront of each, and all topped off with a thick, silver custom-made Angel-branded coat draped over his massive shoulders.
The ascending dove pasted on the back of the coat was completely obscured by the man's knee-length, burnt-brown dreadlocks embellished with sparkling golden beads on the ends, and was carefully styled in a half up-half down style that complemented his dark-skinned, rounded face and deep, ocean-blue eyes.
The man always had a taste for fortune-filled class and nothing less.
____
[Captain]
[Name: Denzo Moore Nolahan Falcon]
[Affiliation: Maverick]
[Merit: Justice]
[Rank: Impartial Arch Angel]
[Blessing: Lady Justice]
____
"Alright, what's the report?" Falcon asked as he lit a joint.
Willodia faced the sky and grimly answered:
"5 000 dead. Both criminals and comrades alike. Two missing.
The first:
Atom T. Bellium
Aliases: Warrior of Nothing, Hero of No one, Angel Killer, and The Devil's Left Hand.
The second:
Bao D. Lee
Aliases: Baby Lee, Duke of Madness, Leech of the Dolly Clan, and The Devil's Right Hand.
And no evidence. Absolutely nothing hinting at the identities of the culprits except... one word."
"Like an artist signing their masterpiece," Falcon mused as they both looked at the Heaven.
Graffitied all over the broken entrance and castle-façade was a pure-white, crimson-spotted Moth. It was painted in such a way it almost looked like the actual insect had perched on the building, with its wings folded in such an interesting manner, that, combined with its straightened body, appeared to shape a giant 'K'.
The 'K'... in...
"Kingless?" Willodia furrowed his brows.
"It seems a new contender for the Crown has emerged." Falcon mused.
"You don't look the least bit bothered by the state of your master prison and foiled plans. And by contender, you mean Bao Lee?" Willodia questioned.
"Of course I'm bothered, but there's not much to be done in that regard just yet. And anyways, we both knew this was temporary; sooner or later, the Walkers were bound to get bored of the bargain and storm this place. And no, by new participant I'm not referring to Lee," Falcon calmly answered, exhaling a puff of smoke.
Willodia remained silent for a moment as he gritted his teeth and fisted his hands before yelling, "So they all died for nothing! Our comrades... and even those prisoners. We let them die needlessly cruel deaths, and for what? Shit!"
Falcon's expression remained unperturbed as he exhaled another puff of smoke and quietly watched it disappear before calmly saying, not bothering to face Willodia, "The contender's not Bao Lee because no matter what, that a$$ will never settle for being second... or being rescued. And it's not Bellium either; that one's too much of a self-righteous cuck. There's someone else. Another bastard trying to succeed D Godfather." He spat out the last sentence like it was a searing curse.
"Another person? But what did the prison have to do with this? Was it to send a message?" Willodia pondered as he tapped his foot on the damp grass.
"Rescue." Falcon looked at him, "Two missing. We've already ruled out Lee, which leaves us only one."
"Bellium..." Willodia's eyes widen, "They were here for the Angel Killer."
"Hmm. We're standing on monumental grounds and are witnessing the first masterpiece of a high-class court in the making." Falcon scoffed as he stared at the graffiti, "Kingless."
"What shall we do now? We know only their name and nothing of their numbers, Virtues or gifts."
There was brief silence as Falcon inhaled and exhaled a large puff of smoke before extinguishing the cigar on his tongue and stuffing the bud in his pocket as he said, "They've left us plenty of info to go off of."
"Huh?" Willodia exclaimed as he looked at his Captain with a confused expression.
"There were two rescuers, three at best. One with the ability to communicate with or control cursed beings, seeing as they managed to not only pull off an entire break-out operation in the presence of the Death Walkers, but also successfully escaped uncursed. The second or third is behind the rust. A corrosion-type ability maybe." Falcon turned to face him and asked, "What was recovered from the data and security footage?"
Willodia awkwardly averted his gaze, "About that. Well, we just found out... it was all wiped. Even the back up and back up-back up are all gone."
"Nothing?!! Not even a clip or frame?"
"Maybe we're not dealing with novices," Willodia scratched the back of his head.
"No, we are. Maybe even children." Falcon calmed himself.
"Children? Aren't they all? These Crown-obsessed, power-hungry a$$holes." Willodia said in a scornful tone.
"Ha! That's putting it lightly. Anyways, what happened to the Persona meant to guard Lee and Bellium? Is it gone too?"
"No. Its ashes were retrieved this morning."
"Sinker," Falcon grinned at Willodia, who merely arched a brow in confusion.
"Get Galy on the line," He simply ordered before turning and walking away.
"What for?!" Willodia followed.
"She created the Persona, meaning she should be able to tap into its memories and see who destroyed it." They made their way through the forest and headed for the large ships waiting on the eastern coast.
"Is such a being even capable of possessing a memory? After all, aren't Personas just the fundamental concept and idea of a certain object given form? As far as I'm aware, objects don't really have brains to hold memories." Willodia questioned as he struggled to keep up. His Captain really was excited.
"Yes, a Persona is the embodiment of a certain object and in this case, the shackles of the prisoners. They do not live in the normal sense, but they still exist." His plump lips curled into a wide, mischievous grin as he looked back at Willodia over his shoulder, "If they can witness and retaliate, then they can remember."
"But how will Captain Galina extract its memories? It's a pile of ashes now."
"Don't worry about it." Falcon slowed his steps, allowing Willodia to catch up.
Willodia looked at him, still somewhat sceptical, and argued, "I will, because what if she can't? That would mean all those people die-"
"Vice-Captain," Falcon interrupted, his tone stern and dark, "She can... and will do it. Leave the past behind, for you are justice, and justice is the future..."
Willodia halted his steps and bowed, "Yes, Captain," as the Arch Angel stomped off without even deigning him a single glance.
'Damn it.' He clenched his fist.