Rainer glared venomously at the being blessed and surrounded by intense white light. Just seconds before he learned the identity of the being, Ramiel, it had mercilessly slain Hanazae, whom Rainer had befriended.
Technically befriended was too strong of a term to describe someone anyone had just met. Either way, Rainer rather liked Hanazae's personality that he found quite unique among demons. Yet now that personality no longer existed. The servant demon was charred cleanly by the angel's light.
Rainer was a fairly calm man; he saw no reason to lose himself in emotion like the normal demon population. However, seeing this Ramiel treat her killing of Hanazae and Zamarak as nothing more than a chore infuriated him. Killing them made him angry in the first place, but the angel's attitude was less than desirable.
Rainer, who was the Lord of Lust, was deeply experiencing a Sin other than Lust: Wrath. Not once in his entire life, even as a human, has he ever felt such an intense emotion other than the one that revolved around his core.
It wasn't good. It was not that demons shouldn't immerse themselves in other Sin, but that Rainer knew he would make some bad decisions in his current emotional state.
Slap!
Rainer slapped both of his cheeks with his hand, jolting his mind and brain. The burning sensation from his rage seemed to flow out of his cheeks. Though he was still somewhat angry, Rainer could think with an open and rational mind.
The Inquisitor of Castitas... Rainer had learned that this was a title of one of the seven special Archangels. Similar to the titles Rainer and the other Rulers of Sin used to differentiate each other with their Sin, the Archangels had adopted titles in order to differentiate their Virtue.
The Inquisitor of Castitas, Latin for chastity, was the title for the Archangel, Ramiel. Rainer was surprised to find out that Ramiel was a female angel; he thought that each Archangel was male. She stood tall, around the same height as Rainer. She wore a white-gold vest suit with matching pants, quite a strange outfit, thought Rainer. She was very beautiful, owning a lovely face akin to perfectly cut limestone. Ramiel also had a head of long and smooth white hair that wrapped over her shoulders and down to her waist.
In any case, why exactly was one of the mighty Archangels here in the Circles of Sin?
Before Rainer could ask any questions, the beautiful Archangel opened her plush lips. "I failed my mission... Assassinate the leader of Lust's soul hunters and pull out without being seen. I succeeded in killing the tenth district leader, leader of Lust's soul hunters, but I was seen by the Lord of Lust..."
(Zamarak was the leader of Lust's soul hunters, I'm not surprised. He was very insistent in getting official support from me, probably to make a full scale hunt for souls on Earth. Very crafty.) Rainer curled his lips into an invisible smile.
Rainer glanced over to Ramiel, who was eying suspiciously. Now he made himself take action. "There would be no point in assassinating a single leader to a group of soul hunters. There are similar operation going on in the other Circles of Sin, are there?"
"How do you know this? It is impossible for demons to know our plans." Either Ramiel didn't care now that the cat was out of the bag, or she was extremely bad in keeping secrets.
"Like I said, there would be no point in taking out a single soul hunter, no more how high up their hierarchy you go. Their operations could still go on. The only way to disrupt the hunt for human souls is to completely destroy their leadership."
Rainer had learnt much since becoming the Lord of Lust. He knew that among the rough teamwork of the soul hunters, there were four major leaders. Each of these four had their identities a secret, and had numerous methods in hiding those secret to the point that not even Rainer, who had access to every bit of information he wanted, could find out. Who knew that Zamarak was one of them?
"Other angels, probably Archangels like you, are assassinating the leadership of the loose group of soul hunters in the Gardens Greed, the Empire of Envy, and the Plains of Pride."
Ramiel snapped her tongue and narrowed her eyes. Somehow, this brand new Ruler of Sin had figured out their plans. "As you say... Since I was seen, I must silence those who see me."
Well, there was no point in divining the meaning behind those words. It was fairly obvious she was going to attack Rainer with the intent to kill.
Rainer closed his mouth and readied himself for a tough battle. This would be the first time he would face someone around his level in power. It was a known fact that only Rulers of Sin could fight Archangels. While there were some exceptions to that rule involving certain pagan gods, the four horsemen, and certain rare humans, it was accepted by the majority of all life that if you faced and Archangel or Archdemon, you would matched a hundred times over and then some.
While he expected Ramiel to instantly attack, Rainer saw her take out a glowing orb and held it to eye level. Wary for an attack, Rainer watched Ramiel's actions studiously.
The Archangel focused on her orb and spoke to it. "Karel, set up the anti-demon barrier."
Immediately after she said this, a muffled voice replied. "We already have, shall we activate it?"
"Yes, and be ready for battle. The worst outcome had come to fruition, the Lord of Lust is here and saw me in front of our target."
"I see, it shall be done. The barrier only works against demons, there are at least five powerful non-demon presences here. We will be unable to assist." The voice went away from the orb.
Ramiel returned her gaze back to Rainer and relaxed the fingers curled around the orb. The glowing sphere began rolling in her hand, as if driven by an invisible force like a conveyor belt.
