Greed God chapter 218

April 11th 2016 Brightedge City, South Side, 11:00 AM EDT

I  glared at the glowing form of Azreal. "Damn it." I was annoyed. Having  Roy and Sindy in place to pick him up should have worked. The fact that  the Suit let him break free of the demiliches meant only one thing. That  fucking armor was almost definitely C rank. Which, on the one  hand...yay, because that was ten million fucking points, but on the  other hand it was going to make taking it much tougher. I appraised both  the suit and wearer.

[Appraisal function  activated. Treasure detected. Jean-Paul Valley- G rank religious zealot.  The descendant of a long line of religious enforcers belonging to the  Order of St. Dumas, Jean-Paul was altered after conception by the  geneticists of the Order, infused with animal DNA to boost his physical  capabilities, and subjected to rigorous conditioning and training in his  youth, though he remained unaware of this fact as the memories were  suppressed until his father passed the mantle to him as he lay bleeding  out.]

[Appraisal function activated.  Treasure detected. Suit of Sorrows- C ranked magic armor. A suit of  magic armor forged by the Order of St. Dumas as a final answer to their  greatest enemy. Constructed from the melted blades of the hundreds of  knights slain by Lilith in their final battle, the Suit represents the  will of the Order members to carry out their holy mission of cleansing  the world of darkness, a mission so ingrained in their members they  abandoned their Templar brothers soon after as the Knights began to  adapt to more peaceful times. The souls of the holy cry out for  retribution.]

Huh. That was...expansive. Most  high ranked items only had vague cliff notes. Did me knowing the history  first shed more light on things somehow? That implied research could  improve the effects of appraisal on more powerful artifacts. I'd have to  look into that later. Barbie stepped up beside me, putting a hand on my  arm. "What is it? Is he too strong for us to handle?"

Sighing,  I nodded. "Yeah, this one will just be Amethyst and I." He wasn't  actually C ranked, so the two of us should be able to handle it,  especially since the armor was a defensive artifact, but I was betting  it augmented his strength a fair bit too, and that would be too much for  my E and F ranked girls. Amy I would handle him like we had Mary,  though hopefully with less trouble.

My wife stepped up  next to me, face serious. "The magic in that armor is...dense. He might  not be up to this fight, but the Suit will make up for that." Using the  Brands I forced my girls back, making them remove themselves from danger  as I let my hybrid form roll across me. I flexed claws and extended my  wings as I prepared to attack. Amy's hands started to spark with magic  as the two us walked toward the crazy psycho.

"Don't  attack yet." I murmured to her. "We need information on the Cathedral,  and I think he might give it to us if we tell him the reason." Of  course, we WOULD attack after. I was going to take that armor. I wanted  the points and leaving a rabid supernatural hating psycho running around  with a set of nuclear grade magic monster hunting gear would be  indescribably stupid, but if he was as zealous as he seemed he might be  the type that might be willing to spill before the fight in case he  died.

"So." I said as I approached. "You must be Azrael. I  have to admit. I thought you would be taller. Not saner. But taller.  Like...at least an inch." The eyes glaring out from behind the mask and  hood fixed unblinkingly on me and I sighed. "No sense of humor. Noted."

The  voice that echoed out from under the hood was unnaturally deep and  resonant. Also not french, which I would have expected from a guy named  Jean-Paul. "Who are you demon? Why do you seek to ensnare me. Your  actions led to the demise of the heretic, but do not think that will  save you. I am an instrument of God's wrath, and I will cleanse the  filth from this world."

"Cool story bro." I said  dismissively. "But we can talk about your car washing business later.  I'm here about a mutual problem. Specifically an ancient ass vampiress  some idiots are trying to wake up under the city named Lilith. I need to  know where the Cathedral she's buried in is located, and last I heard  your little sunday school club were the last ones who had any idea." I  looked around in annoyance, sighing as I admitted. "Though I realize  that an exact address might be tough given the circumstances, an  approximate location would help."

Azrael, rather than  sneer or argue, froze in place. The energy around him flickered and  danced wildly as the pupils in his eyes expanded and he swayed on his  feet. I was pretty sure the souls of the dead Order members in his armor  were REALLY unhappy when I mentioned their vampire murderer. Which was  good, because it meant he might actually tell us.

Sadly,  he wasn't TOTALLY nuts. "Why should I reveal my secrets to you creature?  You could be planning to aid her rise. I shall simply have to end your  pathetic existence and locate the monster myself." He reached behind him  and drew a pair of wicked looking short swords.

I sighed,  holding up a hand. "Whoa there Reverend Stabbington. Hold the single  horse worth of power running that feeble brain of yours. Are you really  willing to doom the whole city and possibly the world on the chance that  you can beat me? Like...confidence is good, but that's gotta be hubris  right? Don't you guys not do that? Because gambling the lives of  millions of innocents on my own combat prowess seems more like a me kind  of move."

The psychotic bible  thumper froze. I had to stifle a grin at his obvious crisis of  conscience. People with strong moral codes were so fucking easy to deal  with. Sure, they were inconveniently stubborn, but all you had to do was  apply leverage in the right spot and they would do whatever the fuck  you wanted. I was so glad I wasn't like that.

He  stood there, staring, until he shoulders slumped in defeat. "Fine.  Should I fall here...the Cathedral was entrusted to our Order by our  predecessors. We have kept watch over it without fail, and I do indeed  know its location. It's beneath what is now the Leblanc Funeral Home."  His head was lowered in contrition. "I can only mourn the fact  that...you won't have a chance to find it!"

The  wings behind him flared as he blurred forward, short swords swinging  like a pair of preying mantis scythes as he swung them at my neck at top  speed. Or rather, where my neck HAD been, until I moved, because...duh?  "Oh no." I drawled caustically. "Curse your sudden but inevitable  betrayal." Even as the twin blades cleaved the space where my head had  been earlier, a wave of purple stone split the ground beneath his feet.

His  wings spread again, trying to escape, but Amy knew we couldn't afford  that. Rather than the magical stone stabbing into him like a weapon, the  rock formed a massive fanged maw, surrounding us in a stone cage that  restrained the bastard before he could fly off. I grinned, flexing my  own wings, and blurred up towards him, wrapping my forearm around his  neck as I came up behind him and falling backwards.

I  shoved Primal Force into the downward pull of my body going limp,  rocketing the two of us toward the ground. Grab her waist, pull her  close, lift her up, primary lotus. I smashed the winged bastard into the  ground at top speed like a damn shotput, letting my wings catch the air  and drag me up as I let go. Azrael smashed into the street, punching a  several feet deep hole in the road. I touched down, walking over to the  hole to peer down into it. "See." I said matter of factly."This is why I  didn't vote for Hamilton Hill. Someone needs to do something about  these potholes."

Looking  closely, I saw the shift of Azrael getting up, but rather than let him I  inhaled and then vomited a massive wave of dragon breath into the hole.  There was an earsplitting scream as the road melted, coating the man in  the armor. While the Suit almost definitely protected him from the  flames, it was a chainmail hauberk. It was NOT air tight, and the melted  fucking tar coating the assassin wasn't doing him any favors.

"Ouch."  I said. "That looks super painful. Maybe you should take the armor off.  Bet that would help." Azrael clawed at the melting street, trying to  drag himself out of the hole. His cloak had covered some of his body,  and he tried to rely on that to move, but it was quickly becoming coated  in tar. I was bored listening to him scream, but I could see Barbie in  the distance and she looked distinctly disquieted watching him drown in  molten rock.

I  rolled my eyes, honestly. Reaching down, I grabbed him by a flailing  arm and yanked him up out of the much. I was a dragon, so, you know, not  affected. He tried to squirm away, but he was too busy being in agony  to try to actually kill me. I reached down and unbuckled the mail coat,  stripping it off him efficiently. Once it was off, I put a hand on him  and channeled some of my draconic power, specifically the vital aspect  of it.

He  burned flesh started to heal. Not to the point where he would be fine  anytime soon, but a bit. I dropped him on the ground. I considered  killing him, but honestly, he was fucking G RANK. Plus I got the weird  impression that he might actually be useful later. If I didn't kill him I  really believed he would go after Lilith. He seemed like that kind of  crazy. Barbie smiled at me in relief and I rolled my eyes, turning to  Amy.

"Let's  get out of here. Even in a place like this, the screams of someone  covered in melted tar will draw attention." We knew where the Cathedral  was, but I wasn't stupid enough to rush down there. We needed backup, a  plan, gear. I wasn't going to get screwed over by impatience again. I'd  made countermeasures to the trap at Mary's and been fine for it, but  this time I didn't just want to survive. I wanted to win, which meant  even more preparation.

I  grinned down at my spoils of war. Fifteen million GP with this thing in  hand. That was enough to rank myself up again, and I would be capable  of holding my own even if they had more nasty surprises. I stored it in  my pouch and turned to round up the others. They all looked like they  wanted to get the fuck out of here as much as I did. No one was mourning  Scratch, but this had still been a dramatic little interlude.

As  we headed back for the car, I considered options for allies in this  next fight. The Order were nuts and weak, the Court couldn't be trusted,  with the sole exception of Silver, which left only one choice. I would  call Nightwing after we got home and arrange for a League team to help  us out with this. No way they would ignore the end of the world anyway,  and they would be too busy dealing with that to fuck with me too much as  long as I didn't start murdering the shit out of everyone. Yeah, the  League would do nicely for backup. We just had to plan out when we would  strike.