"Not sleeping?" Lute's voice, quiet and a little tired, pulled me from my pensive contemplation of the night sky of Heaven outside the window. She had flown silently into the room through the balcony, her silhouette momentarily blocking the light, plunging the room into darkness.
Right now, she's fully engaged in the "Castle" project—one of my new, and perhaps most ambitious, developments, which Sarakiel, Abel, and I have been painstakingly working on for quite some time. The "Castle" is not just a pocket dimension, like the ones I, Lucifer, or Stolas have. No, it's something much more complex and monumental.
Project "Castle" is the perfect prison, a space separated from the rest of the universe, created with the sole purpose of permanently capturing and sealing an entity of incredible, almost divine power. And we're talking primarily about that creature named Ruu, who, I think, will definitely come out into the light of day if we put enough pressure on Eve and her other pawns. Defeating Eve herself, albeit with great difficulty, I think will be possible. But defeating an entity of primordial Darkness, a threat that, in essence, opposes God himself... No. We are not capable of that. That is beyond not only the power of all the Seraphim combined, but also their understanding. So Abel proposed this idea, which I, after supplementing and slightly correcting it, presented to Sarakiel.
"Nah, just thinking..." I smiled and lazily waved to my incomparable valkyrie, who, with a heavy sigh, began to undress, pulling off her armor. "How are things with the 'Castle'? Making progress?"
Lute consults Sarakiel on which of his brilliant (and sometimes completely insane) ideas can be implemented in terms of real field use, and which cannot. For example, our "first-class engineer" creates a huge, shining ball into which the enemy must somehow be placed for subsequent sealing. And then what? What kind of power would be needed to shove Ruu in there? In short, while this old genius is looking for options that can be implemented, my Lute rudely but clearly shoots them down and explains on her fingers why this particular option is complete shit and won't work (and Sarakiel gets upset that his latest "brilliant" idea won't come to life). A very important, but, in my opinion, mind-numbingly tedious job.
"We've finished the first stage," Lute said, gracefully bending down and pulling off her skirt. My beauty didn't wear underwear, claiming it "restricts movement." By the way, many exorcists did this, and I was only glad for it, because even during work or training, you could admire them freely, and when my sweet girl comes home after a hard day and has to take off all her "armor" to change into home clothes... In short, I'm damn lucky, yes.
"It's just awful," she put her hand to her face, having finished changing into her favorite home T-shirt (stolen from me, of course) and short shorts. "That old man was seriously suggesting today to make a giant soccer ball that, upon a direct hit on the enemy, would seal them... I almost hit him over the head with that ball."
"Haha, yeah, he loves that kind of thing," I laughed and, opening my arms, lay down on the bed. Lute immediately, with a contented purr, jumped onto me, settling down by my side. I hugged her, inhaling the familiar, native scent of her hair, and once again remembered all the strange ideas of this extremely unusual Seraph.
Yes, Sarakiel turned out to be a very... peculiar personality. Hence the unusual, futuristic form of both the weapons and the armor of the exorcists, for all of which he, by the way, was responsible for all these millennia. I was especially confused by our masks. After all, everyone except the exorcists uses ordinary touchscreen mobile phones, not this strange something that you have to put on your face for normal use. But I'm not criticizing, no. He created many truly brilliant things. It's just that sometimes, like any genius, he gets a little too carried away... Now he's a "brilliant inventor with breakthrough ideas for the entire universe," not a lover of rubber ducks. Even though Luci and I have made peace, he hasn't become any less of a fool because of it, alas. Maybe just a little bit...
"And how are you doing?" Lute hugged me back. "Wasting time in that Hell of yours again?"
We had talked about this many times. Lute strongly disliked Hell in general, and my presence in it in particular. But the thing was, I was still trying to be bait for Eve, to lure her out of the shadows. And I also continued to study the effect of Darkness on me and on the souls of sinners. Because even if I solve the problem of redemption, even if I carry out a proper, large-scale propaganda campaign on Earth, it still won't solve our main, global problem. The Darkness.
"Mhm," I kissed the top of her head. "Today I tried to 'redeem' another batch of sinners, but it's a real pain in the ass, I feel like I've hit a wall." I sighed, remembering my recent, not-so-successful experiments and how I tried to "cleanse" Angel. Either he's not ready for it yet, or I don't understand this mechanic at all. And yes, I've returned to this idea. I really didn't want to exterminate several billion of my "lost children." Among them, as I've already seen, there are sometimes quite worthy, decent people, but I can't seem to complete their "cleansing" yet. At a certain point, their bodies and souls simply begin to disintegrate, and there's no stopping it unless I start pouring Darkness back into them, removing the Light... It seems I really will have to find someone who won't be missed too much. As cynical as that sounds. And I think I even have a very suitable candidate for this role…
"Well, if that's the case..." Lute smiled slyly and, wriggling out of my arms, nimbly jumped on top of me, pinning my hands to the pillow. "Adam, we'll talk about business later, but for now..." She licked her lips seductively, making me swallow, feeling everything inside me ignite. "Let's do something more pleasant..."
Morning greeted me with the aroma of freshly brewed coffee and the smell of bacon that someone was already frying in the kitchen. Lute. She loved to please me with little things. I'm not sure what exactly it was connected with, but I accepted all these signs of her attention with great gratitude and, in turn, tried to please her as well. By the way, I've finally figured myself out! After I opened up to Lute, I thought for a long time, did I lie to her then? What if that past Adam was really dead? What if I, without knowing it, personally destroyed his personality and his soul? Then I decided to play detective: in my laboratory, not far from the "sunshine," I created a huge wooden board, a bunch of thumbtacks, spools of red thread, and for several hours in a row, like a complete maniac, I assembled this damn puzzle called "How the fuck did this happen?".
Namely: how the hell did I even get into Adam's body and for what reason? No, it's clear that it's somehow connected to the fact that I died in my past world, and my soul, apparently, went on a free journey through the multiverse after that, but why Adam specifically? He ate the Fruit of Knowledge, yes, but this fruit, as they explained to me, doesn't put another personality into your body, but only endows you with a full understanding of Light and Darkness. At least, that's how Lucifer explained it to me, and then Sera confirmed it, whose ears I talked off, asking about the Fruits and about God's own attitude to these very fruits.
The result of several hours of my persistent questioning was this interesting information: God did NOT create these Fruits, but he did not destroy them either. Moreover, there was a strict prohibition not just on eating these fruits, no, it was much worse—they couldn't even be touched! God himself never said anything specific about them. Sera quoted his words to me, and it was some mumbo-jumbo in the style of "Feel the Force, Luke!", really some philosophical, metaphysical nonsense, which, nevertheless, apparently, was the truth!
"The Fruit of Knowledge is a door that can let Darkness into this world. I have already shown it to you. Its black rot, its terrible stench. And I do not want my world to be subjected to its influence... Again..."
That's the full quote, the last word of which, as it turned out, only Sera herself heard, because God whispered it then... In short, it's a complete mess, which, as usual, does what? That's right! It adds another 100,500 new questions, without giving even one clear answer! Oh, how tired I am of all this…
In general, having built a chronology of that evening in my head and gathered all the facts known to me, laying them out on the shelves, I got something like this picture: when Adam ate that Fruit of Knowledge of Good and Evil, his soul was in some kind of "suspended state," it seemed to temporarily separate from his body. I'm not sure if I understood all this correctly, and for what exact reason it happened, but it was at that very moment that the soul of the God-slayer, damaged by something, somehow poured into the body of the First Man, into which the soul of Adam himself immediately, with a slight delay, began to return. It was at that very moment that "I" appeared—the very being that at first considered itself a simple human transmigrator. But in my past, I was a monster capable of devouring other people's souls, and it would be logical to assume that I would then devour Adam's soul as well, but either he, as a copy of God, turned out to be too strong for me, or the damaged soul of the God-slayer was too weakened after death, but he couldn't devour the Archangel's soul. That's when this agonizing "tug of war" between us began, which I didn't even suspect, blaming all my mood swings and perception problems on the influence of Darkness, Hell, and a bunch of other things. However, the fact remains—there were two souls in me all this time, two personalities, who were desperately trying to destroy or devour each other, and I, an idiot, knew nothing about it. And only when the personality of the God-slayer was fully restored, I was finally able to understand that something had been happening inside me all this time.
By killing him, I consciously renounced his personality, his ideals, but at the same time, I acknowledged and accepted the burden of guilt for all his actions. And then Adam's personality was also fully restored, returning to me the last, most important piece of his memories. From all this follows one simple and logical conclusion: I am not the God-slayer who possessed Adam's body, and not Adam who received the memory of the God-slayer. No, I am their symbiosis. A being that is simultaneously the Killer of Gods, the Executioner of Humanity, and the First Man and Commander-in-Chief of the Heavenly Armies. Yes, I came to the final conclusion that I am indeed Adam, but also the God-slayer at the same time, because both of these personalities were in me, or rather, they were... me. How confusing all this is…
In general, yes. I am Adam. Just... not that one.
And Lute, of course, still managed to get me to tell her a detailed story about my past and about the world in which I once lived. For some reason, she was extremely interested in what it was like to live in a world without Light and Darkness. But as my story progressed, she seemed to become disappointed, because she realized what I meant by the words "no Light and Darkness." Yes…
After breakfast, which, as usual, was scrambled eggs and bacon (yes, Lute didn't change her habits, and I didn't mind), we went to a very important meeting…
Arriving at the main square and greeting the two exorcists standing at the entrance to the headquarters building, we went inside. After passing through a couple of long corridors, we finally entered the hall where all those who were needed for the normal functioning of the army had already gathered. Only Sarakiel was missing, who was up to his ears in the development of the "Castle." Georgiy, Jeanne, Dimitriy, Jacob, and, of course, Abel, who, noticing us, immediately waved to us in a friendly manner. Yes, our military council today, which was convened in connection with the information received about the army of cherubim converted by Darkness, will begin right now.
"Fuck, finally!" Georgiy's booming bass, as always imbued with rudeness, echoed throughout the Council Hall, causing even the holographic map on the ceiling to tremble slightly. This old warrior, as always, was in his element. His wife, Jeanne, sitting next to him, immediately shot him a withering glare that did not bode well for him, but in no way prevented this man from behaving as he wished. Dimitriy, as always, just silently and briefly nodded to us in greeting, his face remaining impassive. By the way, Georgiy says something in this style every time I arrive. And neither I nor the past Adam, judging by the memories, ever understood what exactly was the reason for such behavior. But, apparently, there was one… "Adam, you can fucking teleport, why the hell do we always have to wait for you?"
"Greetings…" Jacob, sitting on a bench by the wall, away from the main table, smiled good-naturedly and said hello, as if he hadn't noticed Georgiy's rudeness. If only everyone had such composure and calmness!
"Hera, when the ordinary inhabitants of Heaven see a golden-winged, incredibly handsome man, their mood, as a rule, lifts," I said with a brazen smirk, surveying everyone present, deliberately pausing. "Who am I to deny them such a small thing as the sight of my beautiful face?" I spread my arms, barely holding back my laughter, because I could already perfectly imagine the reaction of our warrior to the core.
"What the fuck?" the veteran made such a surprised and uncomprehending grimace, as if I had just started speaking to him in some unknown language. "Who did you pick this crap up from? Stop it, I don't understand a damn thing!"
Hahaha!
The hall erupted in laughter. Even the usually restrained Jeanne couldn't hold back and snorted into her fist, shaking her head reproachfully. Abel laughed the loudest, and Lute, standing next to me, just theatrically rolled her eyes, but a warm smile played on her lips. She had long since gotten used to my stupid jokes.
Well, we've lightened the atmosphere a bit, lifted everyone's spirits, now we can get down to business.
I looked at them all with a heavy gaze, and my own, previously relaxed, smile slowly faded, replaced by seriousness. The laughter and jokes were over. It was time to get down to business. To very, very bad business.
"Alright, we've had our laugh, that's enough," my voice sounded even and quiet, but in the ensuing silence, it cut like a knife. Everyone immediately fell silent, their faces becoming focused. "Now to business. We have very little time, and a lot of problems."
I walked over to the central table and, with a single mental effort, activated the holographic projector. A three-dimensional map of Heaven flashed above the dark polished surface, and next to it—a blurry, distorted image of Cherub Town.
"Everyone here knows about the incident in Cherub Town," I began, without raising my voice. "But it's unlikely you know what the captured traitors told us…" I paused, giving them time to digest the first piece of news. "According to our estimates, at least ten thousand cherubim have disappeared without a trace from Heaven in the last hundred years."
A oppressive, heavy silence hung in the hall. Jacob's face turned pale, Jeanne gasped, covering her mouth with her hand, and Georgiy clenched his fist with such force that the metal on his armored gauntlet creaked.
"Ten… thousand?" Dimitriy asked hoarsely, who until that moment had been standing motionless, like a statue. For the first time in a long time, shock flickered in his usually calm gray eyes. "But how? How is that even possible?"
"Eve," I answered curtly. "She found a way not only to infiltrate Heaven, but also to 'convert' our own. One of the cherubim was expelling cherubim from Heaven for trumped-up reasons. After the initial shock, Eve comes to them and offers them a deal, fills them with Darkness, and turns them into her soldiers. Now she has a whole, fucking, army of brainwashed fanatics under her control. An army of cherubim converted to Darkness."
"Fucking hell," Georgiy growled hoarsely. "This… this changes everything. It's one thing to cut down fucking demons. And a completely different thing…"
"...To fight our own brothers," Dimitriy finished for him. His voice was quiet, but there was such hatred and pain in it that I myself felt uneasy. "To fight those you once knew. With friends… This won't be a battle. It will be a slaughter."
Yes, he was right. My exorcists are ruthless killing machines. But they were trained to kill demons, monsters, various spawn of Darkness. But how will they fight those who were their allies just yesterday? With cute, fluffy cherubim, even if they are defiled by Darkness? It will be psychologically difficult. Very.
"Not necessarily," I looked up at them, and in my eyes, they saw not anger, but determination. "They can be brought back."
"Brought back?" Abel asked in surprise. "But how? You yourself said that Eve's Darkness…"
"I found a way," I interrupted him. "I can cleanse their souls of Darkness. I can fill them with Light again. I've already tested it on one of the fallen, and it worked, but… for that, I need time. And absolute concentration."
I looked at the faces of my commanders. They looked at me with disbelief, with hope, with fear.
"During the battle, I won't be able to do any 'cleansing.' I need you to cover my ass, to buy me time. And we're not talking about holding back a crowd of these little lambs; we're talking about holding back Eve herself."
Silence again. Even heavier and more oppressive than before. I was asking them for the impossible. I was asking them to become a living shield between me and a being who, in terms of power, possibly surpassed all the Seraphim.
"Ha! So we can save these lost souls?" The silence was broken by Georgiy's loud, cheerful laughter. He slammed his fist on the table with a crash. "We just need to hold the line? Against some broad, even if she's as old as mammoth shit?! With our new equipment and your support," he winked at me, "we'll take down a Seraph if we have to!"
He jumped up from his seat, his eyes burning with battle lust. There was not a drop of fear in him. Only fury and faith in his commander.
"So, give you a couple of minutes while we entertain your ex? No problem, Commander! We'll entertain her so much that she'll forget how to sneak into Heaven for a thousand years!"
His words, his reckless courage, acted on the others like a breath of fresh air. The tension in the hall subsided. Jeanne looked at her husband with a tender smile, Abel looked at the old warrior with admiration, and Lute… Lute looked at me with such pride and love that my own heart ached.
Yes. This is my family, and Heaven is my home. And as long as they are with me, we can handle anything. Even Eve herself.