Chasing You (Arcs 1-7)

Bearer of Thy Oath (IX)

A/N: Another two chapters for my lovelies~ I'll see you guys tomorrow!!!

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"Where is Lucifer? Does he still foolishly still believe that he will achieve his ludicrous dream?"

There were burn marks on Paimon's body, where the chain touched his body. Paimon's eyes narrow in anger, "Do not speak ill of our Sovereign."

"Our Sovereign only wishes to show your Father that his ideology and philosophy are flawed. Mankind has served as an example of the hypocritical dogma of your Father's preaching."

Uriel brought Katharsi to Paimon's neck, the flames from his blade scorched that once flawless neck skin. Those golden eyes seemed to glow with indignation, "Father had chosen to protect them. As his son, instead of upholding and obeying his words. Lucifer chose to forgo everything he's been taught for his selfish abhorrence of the lesser beings. He was only condemned from Heaven for defying Father."

Paimon gave a stark laugh, "Condemned for only defying your Father? Are you all so blind that you cannot see?"

"Since their creation, they are nothing but impuissant creatures. The weak are prey to the strong. Our Sovereign, had already foreseen their disastrous fate. Why must they be helped, when they cannot help themselves and drown themselves instead?"

"Weak to temptations. Has history not shown you enough? Had Eve and Adam not taken a bite out of the forbidden fruit, they would still be in Eden. Pandora couldn't withhold her curiosity and opened the forbidden jar, letting out all the sicknesses in the world. If not for greed for power, land, and wealth, wars would not happen! With or without us whispering in their ears, they will seek to drop the stone on their own feet."

"What you are protecting is seeking destruction on its own will! Our Sovereign refused to bow down to those puny and spineless varmints. He's right that they will never learn, it will always be their Achilles' heel!"

Katharsi dug further into Paimon's neck, "Do not test my patience, Paimon. Where is Lucifer?"

Paimon sneered, "For what you claim to be the doing of my kind and our Sovereign, have you ever thought that if our Sovereign truly wanted the Armageddon to happen.... Do you think that he would've waited this long?"

"This world you seek so hard to protect would've been in flames already, if he so wished for."

Uriel's eyes constricted, "...Your trickery will not work. Where is Lucifer?"

Paimon scoffed, "No matter what I say, you will never understand nor can you. Your minds are poisoned by the thoughts of your so called 'righteousness'."

He sarcastically spoke, "You repudiate the suspicions you have in your heart, Oh Pure One."

"It truly makes me sick, just watching and hearing you angels. Do you truly think that you're all so pure? Clean? Do you think you're all free of sinning? Do not delude yourselves that you're all Saints, my dear angel. We all eventually fall, you yourselves are no exception, Sons of God."

"Do what you must, we're wasting time here. I will not be intimidated by you, Uriel. Our Sovereign doesn't bend for you, and never will I."

Uriel's voice was so cold and sharp that it could cut cleanly through the air, "If you do not wish to speak, then I will gladly send you back."

Uriel gripped his hilt of his blade and swung it across Paimon's neck.

Paimon's head was cleanly lopped off his shoulders and tumbled to the ground. The flames from sword covered his entire body, and the fire soared high into the setting sky. The sounds of Paimon's maniacal laughter reverberated throughout the ruins.

As the flames finally settled, the yellow embers from the burnt leftovers of the 'body' fluttered in the air. Creating a mystifying and enchanting firefly like effect around Uriel.

Clang!

The chains that wrapped around the pillar fell onto the floor. The only thing that remained were the ashes of what was once Paimon's body. But he wasn't really dead. After all, demons they don't have a physical body. He was just sent back to hell.

Seven rays of scarlet lights swarmed to his location. They all fall down to one knee, ""My Liege.""

Uriel tilted his head as his body remained facing the pillar where Paimon had been chained to, "Speak."

Pan Duan saluted, "My Liege, from our investigation we have concluded that the 'seals' were specifically targeted. The surrounding and nearby areas all have small traces of a greater demon presence."

Lian Min nodded, "At the rate that the seals are dying, it would only be expected that they would all be annihilated in half a year.... My Liege."

Uriel looked at the ground, "En."

He turned to face the disappearing sun overhead, "Find the other seals and guard them. I will send for reinforcements."

Acting upon his words the seven apostles all left.

Uriel frowned. There were in total seven hundred and seventy seven seals. To be more exact, the seals were the souls of those who have been considered to have done miraculous deeds for their Father and have been blessed with the Seal of Yahweh in their souls. Saints and martyrs. It allowed them to reincarnate again and again, without stepping into the murky waters of he reincarnation circle. As long as they continued to reincarnate, the seals would still be active.

The Seals of Yahweh were what separated Tartarus from the mortal realm. If the partition is removed, all the demons from hell would rise out of their pits and roam the mortal realm. This would disrupt the cosmic balance that their Father worked so hard to keep in check.

Not too long after the apostles left, Bao Bao had just return from examining one of the seal's corpses, but found nothing strange besides that their heart was missing and that there were no wounds on the body. Hearing Bao Bao's report, from his knowledge, Uriel knew that only greater demons or archangels were able to remove the seals placed in their souls. As it required tremendous energy to obliterate all traces of the Seal.

Originally, Gabriel had sent him on a partial mission to examine the deceased seals as they were disappearing one after another. After finding traces of demonic presence nearby, he sought out Paimon. He was the most loyal and obedient lieutenant to Lucifer and was considered his right hand man.

There had been many incidents where Lucifer had tried to get the seal to be undone, and this was executed in a similar fashion to those incidents. The only difference was the speed in which this was being accomplished at.

After having the seals removed, the connection to their spirit, the heart would perish as their souls would cease to exist in the world. They wouldn't be able to reincarnate anymore.

This situation has become more precarious. Even though there had only been 1/3 of the seals' bodies that had been found, from his estimations a little more than 2/3 of the seal's had already been eliminated. Lian Min's assumption wasn't wrong, but rather it was going to happen sooner then expected. By the end of the year. Two months of time, that was all the time that Uriel had to stop his brethren. Whoever his brethren was that was doing the deed was smart enough not to leave any signs of themselves being there.

Uriel sent a message back to Gabriel informing him of his findings and the imminent need of sheltering the seals. He also contacted his six apostles at the school to be more hypervigilant. Solomon's soul was amongst one of the Seal of Yahweh, he is a target.

Uriel made his way back to a secret dwelling, there a slender and attractive young man was sitting on the bed. His delicate eyes were full of fear as he looked at Uriel.

He murmured, "He found me."