"So, Verg," Azazel entered, or rather, flew into the room, "today we have a topic that will interest you greatly!
"Are you going to talk about the Divine System?" I raised my eyebrows in surprise.
"Uh, no. But!" He raised his finger. "We found several artifact carriers. So today you'll get some practice!" He grabbed me under the armpits like a sack of potatoes and carried me to the laboratory. "I've been looking for these mechanisms for a long time, not all of them, of course, but some. I'll show you how to remove them correctly, and then you can try it yourself. Maybe you'll figure out how to keep the donor alive."
"Is that necessary? Well, so that he stays alive?
"It will be your final exam. If you prove that you can do this without relying on luck, I will consider you my equal in intelligence... In this area, at least.
"You're joking," I groaned.
"A little, but you got the gist. Now watch how to use this artefact to manipulate souls.
Azazel approached the test subject, who had been put into a coma so that his screams wouldn't interfere, and, summoning several runic circles, began to immerse his hands in the patient's soul. The spectacle was not full of special effects and was painfully unpresentable. If it weren't for the magic circles, one would think that he was just digging around in his chest.
This continued for about a minute, after which the fallen man pulled a glowing sphere out of the chest of the man lying on the ground, who, strangely enough, was still breathing.
"This is a Double Crit," the uncle pointed to the ball with his finger, "It's made from the soul of a weak dragon and simply doubles the attack. Nothing special. I can make one like that, unlike the Biblical one, who stamped out hundreds of them at a time.
"And this one?" I nodded at the guy lying on the table, snoring peacefully.
"A fluke. He was lucky to survive," the fallen man shrugged and shouted into the depths of the room, "John. John! Grab the guy and take him home. Erase his memory, let him think he got drunk."
"How... humane," I grunted with a crooked smile.
"Why kill him? Let him live, he won't remember a thing. Why do we need extra victims if we can avoid them?
"Yeah, right..." I say, watching as the man named John teleports away with the guy's body. "I get the principle, show me a couple more times and I'll try it. I have to show in practice what I've learned in five years.
"Watch," the fallen man put another guy on the table and began to repeat his previous actions.
I watched his manipulations even more closely.
"Holy shit! I get it!" My cry made the fallen man flinch and almost lose his concentration.
"Damn it! Verg, don't yell, you almost ruined my work. And I'm not deaf in one ear," Az muttered, taking out another Double Crit. "Now tell me what you understand."
"You don't just sever the connection between the soul and the mechanism, after which the artefact goes to its new owner, you intercept it, creating a pseudo-connection. It prevents the artefact from realising that the carrier is dead, and while the spell is active, you simply connect this 'thread' to a new carrier. The artefact adapts to it without understanding the changes taking place. Did you figure this out yourself? Or did someone tell you?
"On my own," Azazel grins smugly, "Through trial and error, but I found a way. And then the demons figured it out too. Ajuka has always been a smart guy. Want to try?
"Go ahead, but on something you don't mind."
"Here," he put the girl on the table, "Double crit. We have loads of these, so don't worry if it doesn't work." He walked around me and stood opposite, watching me create the rune circles.
"By the way," I decided to continue the conversation without distracting myself from my work, "Have you thought about copying the demons' Evil Particles system? To create loyal people, and not just fallen ones.
"I have," the fallen one looked at me strangely, "and I'm working on it, and it's no secret that we're interested in something like that." He glanced in my direction.
"Don't look at me like that, I'm just curious, maybe there's a prototype?
"What do you want it for?" — and how much suspicion and undisguised desire to know the truth.
"I want to use them to remove the mechanisms without any major tools," he glanced at the table. "And since they affect the soul, you can change the parameters and use them as disposable 'godless inventions of the fallen'.
Azazel looked at me for a long time, thinking, thinking very hard. So long that I managed to screw up almost a third of all the test subjects available to me.
"You know," he began thoughtfully, "I like your ideas, even if they sometimes go beyond the bounds of 'morality', but who am I to judge?" He chuckled at the end. "I'll give you a couple of prototypes, but remember that the soul is too delicate a matter, and even I don't mess with it seriously. You remember how renegades appear, don't you?
"Yes, without a connection to the master, the figures in the soul are torn apart, generating more demonic energy than the soul can handle, and deformation occurs. Both the body and the spirit. Hence the deformities. The king controls this process, albeit subconsciously. But the stronger the soul and body, the better the figure copes with the loss of its master. That's why Abigor hasn't become a monster yet.
"I could just say yes," sighed Az, "Yes, you're right. Because your experiments could create a monster that you won't be able to control.
"I'll only show you my work when you're here. Deal?"
The fallen one thought for a moment and then nodded.
"All right, but first you need to work thoroughly on the design. The medium is not important. Demons play chess only because Ajuke likes the game. You could even take an old shoe and enchant it. The main thing is that it works; the form is not important.
"All right, then I'll go figure out how these beautiful things work." I shook the pair of cards in my hand, which would one day be turned into Fallen Ones. I'll need to study the transformation process itself, too.
"This kid..." Azazel shook his head with a smile, placing another carrier on the artefact table. He had a lot of work ahead of him.
*****
"Mwahahaha," my sleep-deprived and slightly inadequate laughter, as the "Second Azazel" as they called me in Grigory, echoed through the corridors of the institute, causing the fallen who knew about my experiments to start looking around. "YES! Finally, yes!"
"Verg..." Akeno entered my room carrying a couple of cups, a teapot and a bowl of cookies. "You should get some sleep," she said, placing the tray on the table and cupping my face in her hands. "Just look at those bags under your eyes."
"Sorry, sis," I yawned contagiously, and she couldn't help but yawn too, "it was important. I spent a year deciphering the runes and writings on these artefacts. And another three months preparing a working prototype. And now, my masterpiece is ready.
"You haven't forgotten that you've been spending less time with me, have you?" Her eyes moistened. "Or have you decided to distance yourself altogether?"
"No, no, what are you talking about?" I take her in my arms and carry us both to the sofa, where I sit down. "You know I'll always have time for you." I bury my nose in her hair, inhaling the scent of lilacs. "You smell so nice."
"Then you have to make up for lost time," — if she even noticed what I said, it was only betrayed by her blushing ears.
"Okay," I nod, "Then after I hand in Az's work, we'll go relax. How about the islands? I'll bring food, drinks, and lots of it. For a week or two, or better yet, three."
"With your parents?" she asked with a strange tone in her voice.
"If you don't want to, we'll go without them. We're over sixteen now, which means we're practically adults. They'll let us go, where else would they go, especially when I'm done with work.
"What kind of work?" asked my sister.
"Oh, you'll like it, but I'll show you later. It's a surprise.
"Okay," nodded the satisfied girl, settling down more comfortably in my arms and relaxing.
I fell onto my side, pulled her closer to me, and fell asleep. My schedule was too busy, and my free time was filled with training with Valya and rare conversations with Akeno and my mum.
"Good night..." I muttered, sinking into the realm of dreams.
"Mm-hmm," my sister replied against my neck.*****
"Azazel!" I burst into his office, having first made sure he wasn't busy.
"Kha," the fallen angel choked on another glass of whisky, "you should have knocked for decency's sake.
"I know you're not doing anything right now...
"And what did you want?" he interrupted me.
"I'm done," I laid out a dozen enchanted stones, "what I was talking about is finally ready — a portable artefact extractor. It should work according to my calculations.
"Well, let's go, show me your improvements. I'll just change my suit. I remember how the last one ended.
"Who would have thought that the body would turn into a bloody mist?" I kicked the floor with my foot.
"You ruined my lab and my clothes! I don't care that magic will clean everything up, the suit I was wearing doesn't handle magic very well. I had to throw it away. And it was expensive." I grumbled like a grumpy old man.
"Don't be a pain, let's go.
"I'm coming, I'm coming.
We went into the lab, and the fallen one placed the double-crit carrier on the table. Where did he get so many of them? I took the enchanted stone and placed it on the patient's chest, activating the magic. One second, two seconds. Done! The artefact flew up from the man's chest, and we could take it.
"Oh, wow. He's still alive! Holy shit," Az said, "I was just kidding when I told you to try to keep the carrier alive.
"Can I hit you? If it weren't for that, I would have finished him long ago! You feathered bastard," I threw a lightning bolt at the fallen man, "I wasted seven months trying to calculate the chances of saving his life! You-u-u-u..." I sent lightning bolts at Azazel again and again.
"Calm down! Stop, stop! Who knew you didn't understand jokes!" He could have stopped me, but he didn't want to. Feathered bastard.
"Grr, fine. I'm calm. But you're coming with me for this.
"Where?" he asked, wary.
"To Kuo, Japan. That's where the owner of the longina is. I want to take him back.
"Does the owner know about his status? And are you aware that this city is under the watchful eye of the Sisters of Hell?
"No and yes, we'll hide, steal the carrier and that's it. We'll carry out the operation here.
"Okay." The fallen angel shrugged and took us to the city. "Where to now?"
"I'll check the phone book," I fly up to a phone booth and start looking for the letter X. Hyu, Hil, Hro, what the hell is wrong with their surnames? Here, I found Hyodo, there are seven families with that name. We'll check in half an hour. And where is Az... bang.
"Let's go, I found what we need." I grab the fallen man by his shirt and take off. Because he's in no condition to stand.
The search for my drunk uncle continued for an hour, but I finally found the guy. He was walking with his friend, a blond guy.
"Hedo Issei?" I ask the teenager, scanning his soul for the presence of a login... yes, it's him.
"Yes?" the fifteen-year-old boy answers me.
"You're the one I need," I lull him, casting a diversion over the area.
"Hey, let him go!" the blond guy shouted at me, standing in a fighting stance.
"Who are you?
"Saji Genjiro! I'm his friend!" he tries to hit me.
"You're a good friend, helping out in a tough spot. — I nod, "You're a good lad. But," — the guy senses danger with his sixth sense, "I don't really need you," — I create a lightning spear.
"Stop," Az, now sober, flew over, "He also has a mechanism, and it's not weak."
"Okay," I knock out the second guy and throw him over my shoulder. "Let's go."
"You're so quick to kill," the fallen guy grunts and transports us back to the institute, to the lab.
I put the blond guy on the table, since I didn't feel sorry for him and could always try again if necessary.
I placed the stone on the blond guy's chest, activated it, and watched. Everything went according to plan. A black clot began to fly above him.
"This is part of Vritra, the dragon jailer," Azazel explained, "a fragment of a single whole. By the way, I have the remaining parts. We can combine them and get a whole dragon!
"Easy peasy," I sighed. "Can you strengthen Akeno with it?"
"If she doesn't mind, then yes. I'm happy to help my tribe," he smiled.
"Wonderful. Now Longinus." I placed Hyodo on the table and activated the artefact.
Nothing happened for a minute, but after two minutes, a red ball came out of his chest.
"There you go, Ddraig. The fallen began to study the sphere. "Well, go ahead and put it in yourself. You shouldn't die.
Grumbling, I grabbed the sphere and pressed it against my chest. In an instant, a wave of heat swept through my soul, binding the artefact to me. But my spear had other ideas and sent me flying. It engulfed Longinus and severed his connection to the divine system.
"Oops," I said, looking at the fallen one, who was stunned by what had happened and watched with huge eyes as his connection to the system dissolved.
"That's not the word for it," beads of sweat began to run down his face, "Just imagine the commotion in paradise right now, what's happening to Michael. Oh, mother," he wiped his forehead with his hand, "You're going to have problems when they find out what happened.
"Then I'll become stronger," I shrugged, "Now I'll rest with Akeno, and then, when I have some free time, I'll work on developing my own artifact. So I'll keep going.
"Fuck," sighed the fallen one as soon as I left, "Barki (Barachiel), who did Shuri give birth to? Is he really an angel?
***
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