D&Devils 3: Celestial Artistry Chapter 6

"Luce! we have a mission!" Xenovia exclaims. 

"Oh?" I echo.

I tap into my mythic power.

'what sort of mission are we taking-'

I don't know.

Fuck.

'Is this mission a set-up of some sort to get me outside?'

I... also don't know.

Fucking shitty all-knowing powers! Spent ages fucking around with them and they don't work the moment I want to know something vaguely important!

Is Gabriel watching over me and will come to my defense if something goes wrong?

Yes.

Yes, she will. Alright good. That's relieving, at least.

Will she make it in time?

Also yes.

Very good. That's a weight off my shoulders.

"So what are we doing?" I ask slowly, as I follow after the blue haired girl.

"We're going to America!" She grins as we continue to walk.

"..."

"A-Annnnd?" I prod gently.

She doesn't say anything.

"You didn't ask Griselda what our mission was, did you?"

"N-No." She replies, causing me to let out a small sigh.

"Xenovia, you need to more closely observe the missions we are taking." I gently chastise, causing her to look a little bashful.

We eventually arrive towards the main hall of the church sanctuary, where Griselda is waiting for us along with the other members of the team.

"Ah, Luce. Good. We are just about to go and retrieve our gear."

[Split]

The plane rattles and shakes minutely as we hit a bit of turbulence. I cross my arms over my chest, eyes drifting shut for a moment as I am gently jostled up and down.

This... is the first time I've been on a plane before.

In either life.

While a small part of me is afraid, another part is just... realistic, I suppose.

I can fly.

Why should I be afraid of the giant flying coffin?

A white cloak wraps around my shoulders. I've been given a fairly tight silk-Kevlar weave shirt, long durable pants and a light sword.

Do people not know I'm an angel?

I'd imagine the higher ups know, but I don't really go around proclaiming that I am one at the top of my lungs.

Or maybe this is to not advertise that I am actually an angel. Who knows.

I'm not complaining. It's probably good optics to have a weapon that doesn't use my magical power if push comes to shove.

I gaze down at the weapon I had been given.

Church Light Sword:
A church-issued light sword to help you in slaying any creatures of darkness.
Hardness: 6
Health: 10
Weight: .5 Lbs
Damage: 1d8
Crit Range: 19-20 (x2)
Masterwork: Grants the wielder a +1 bonus to hit
Blessed: Deals an additional 1d6 points of holy damage to undead, devils, and youkai
Light blade: The Church Light Sword deals exclusively holy damage, however as a result of the weight you are unable to put your strength into your attacks.

It's... not bad... devils and I assume vampires will also take an additional fifty percent damage due to being vulnerable to holy light so it's quite a good weapon for fighting devils.

"Are you nervous, Luce?" Irina speaks up, trying to make conversation. "This is your first time flying in a plane before, right?"

"It is... but... I'm not that worried." I reply, eyes slowly straying to Griselda. "So... what's our mission?"

"People in a small town have been going missing over the past few months. At first, it was quite slow, something that wouldn't necessarily tip us off to any form of supernatural involvement, but recently these disappearances have been growing... increasingly common."

"Ooh! Where are we going?" Lint questions.

"To a small town south of Akron Ohio." She answers. "As for what we would be potentially looking at... this is church territory, although not directly managed by a sanctuary and bishop. We are aware of some native tribes in the area, but we mostly just leave each other be. There was a vampire's territory towards the west, but after it was killed, the area has remained unclaimed."

"So could we be dealing with a spawn or something that managed to escape?" Xenovia frowns, eyes narrowing slightly.

"Perhaps. We will just have to see when we get on the ground." Her parental figure replies.

Trouble in Akron:
For the past few months, people have been going missing from a small town just south of Akron, what could be the cause? It doesn't matter. It's your job to find out and put a stop to it.

Objective:
Put a stop to the disappearances: [ ]

Well. Let's see how this goes!

"Soooo... is this the first time any of you have been outside of Italy?" I ask slowly, eyes straying to the others sat around me.

"Yep!" Lint beams.

"It is." Xenovia confirms.

"Well, I was born in Japan and lived there for a while... it’ll be the first time I’ve been in America though!" Irina supplies.

Sagume simply nods once.

I really need to break that girl out of her shell.

[Split]

A black haired woman sits in front of a computer screen, fingers interlocked as her eyes narrow slightly.

This morning she had gotten an email... one that frankly... bothers her.

Numerous things seem to combine and add upon each other in how irritating this email is.

Subject: Hello!

"Greetings, Leviathan. I have come to tell you my thoughts on your series 'Miracle Levia-tan' and its sequel movie 'Super Miracle Girl Levia-Chan the movie'. Overall, you have quite an interesting show. The first season was masterfully done. Succinct. To the point. Compact and well written. I struggle to find many issues with it."

This part seems fine, but when taken into context with the other parts of the email, it's absolutely full of backhanded compliments. Such as calling her show 'interesting' instead of good- which it is- and that they 'struggle to find many issues with it' which implies that they HAVE found issue with it.

"The second season however, is where it starts to seriously go downhill. Some plot threads are never looked into, you re-use the season 1 villain needlessly (Which is an issue over all of the seasons which I will get into later), and there are quite a few not so small plot holes such as Levia-tan's decision to not use her Miracle Levi Beam Explosion to defeat the badoos army in episode 3 and suffered a loss when in the first season episode 14 she did exactly that while facing an force of similar magnitude. There was no mention of her losing power and it seemed as if she lost merely to advance the plot without any real conceivable reason for said loss."

They have a point on this part. Season two was written during a slightly turbulent time after the head of one of the Naberius branch families was killed by one of his peerage members. She wasn't able to give the scripts their needed scrutiny as she was trying to prevent an all out war with the youkai after some allying families for said branch family launched a few attacks on the youkai directly.

A genuinely IDIOTIC decision that the devil-youkai relations still haven't recovered from.

I mean, REALLY, what sort of fool attacks a faction that has... her.

She still shudders when she things about those devils that launched an attack upon the northern youkai faction...

How they ended up in her office in pieces... still alive... screaming...

Not even Ajuka could figure out how to undo what she did.

Regardless. This is a fair point. Which she HATES to admit.

"Then onto season 3, the first season's villain reappears yet again, and we enter what I like to call the 'Upskirt arc' which plagues the series to this day in the coming season 9. I have to seriously ask you this, but isn't this supposed to be a children's show? Why are you flashing your panties practically every episode? I am aware that as devils you have some differences to your society than the humans or the youkai, vampires, or angels. However, I feel as if panty shots should not be the societal norm. Are you into children Serafall Leviathan? Why are you so intent on showing your privates- even as covered as they are- to all of the children of the underworld. And if you ever find a husband or boyfriend, how do you think they'd feel knowing the fact that practically the entire underworld has seen parts that should only be visible to them and them alone?"

SHE'S NOT INTO KIDS, DAMN IT! SHE'S ONLY INTO HER ADORABLE SO-TAN!

Who happens to be a child right now.

Fuck.

But once more, the backhanded comments. IF you EVER find a husband or boyfriend.

The up skirts sell more to the teen and adult demographics. Since she started doing them the overall revenue for the show increased about two-fold.

"Season 4 is... Unique... and I'll just leave it at that. Bold move to have ten fake-out deaths across the season. That's like... one every other episode... and there was only one two-parter so the rest of them got solved kind of anticlimactically."

The less said about season four, the better in Serafall's opinion. It was so bad that it almost killed the franchise. The fake-out death thing is probably one of lighter things they could have commented on.

"Season 5 is serviceable. After the movie saved the franchise, at least. kind of boring. It feels as if you could skip it and would genuinely have lost nothing of value. Nothing that happens this season ever appears again, it's just... empty. It's like you were just checking the boxes of 'magical girl TV show'. It's formulaic and getting a little derivative. The same can be said for seasons 6, 7, and 8."

Rude! Season five is good! Tons of people say so! And sure, maybe they haven't had a season that was as good as season one, but season seven came close! They didn't even mention that in the rest of the email!

"Now, onto the topic of your villains. I probably shouldn't have been the one to tell you this, but it really isn't a good idea to re-use the same villain over and over again. When something loses over and over again, it begins to lose its menace and credibility. The Countess was a good villain. A true opposite of Levia-tan. Cold. Ruthless. Cunning-

Did he just call her stupid?! she missed that the first time around!

-a woman of noble birth, perfectly mirroring Levia-tan's commoner naivety and innocence (and a not so subtle jab at the old satan faction). But more than anything she was menacing. The first season did this well as her 'losses' were attributed to her minions instead of her. She was a plotter and planner. Levia-tan danced to her tune. If not for the incompetence of said minions she would have likely killed Levia-tan several times over. It made such a statement when she herself decided to get her hands dirty. In the most recent seasons, she's been rendered to an incompetent simpleton. A bratty rich girl with a sadistic streak. She's lost all menace and credibility."

He... once more may have points here.

"I mean, really Serafall. I get the one time you tried a new villain the franchise nearly died, but you are just re-treading explored ground. Oh no! The countess is up to her old tricks again! Surely Levia-Tan can win against her ploy of... I don't know... increasing the taxes? Oh look! She won in just 22 short minutes! That. Is how the past couple of seasons have been and it's boring. The fact you haven't changed anything either means your surrounded by sycophants and yes men. Creatively bankrupt. Or genuinely don't care about the artistry of what you are doing anymore. I mean really. Let me take a wild guess at how the next season is going to go based on context clues from merely the first episode that has been released.

Oh no! The evil countess is at it again! She's looking for the World Ruby! And with it she'll gain enough power to defeat Levia-Tan for good! But she has no idea where it is. Oh look! Levia-tan found a map during that last battle! And thus the season's gimmick begins! Upskirt upskirt fanservice. Travel across the world (Not to places that have been mentioned in previous seasons, nor bringing back any old side characters from those locations because THAT'd make too much sense) look at all these cool special effects we created with magic! Pocket dimensions! Oh look! Lava dungeon! Oh no the countess got one singular victory over Levia-tan but she dropped a key part of the map allowing Levia-tan to follow her!

Levia-tan will proceed to stay in front of her for the rest of the season until the final episode where the Countess inexplicably finds the World Ruby first only to get defeated by Levia-tan's power of friendship! Now. I have quite a few issues with this. Firstly. Why is Levia-tan even LOOKING for this thing in the first place? She hasn't shown any hint of knowing ANYTHING about the World Ruby. Second. You're re-using the friendship bit from seasons 2, 5, and 7."

How did he know?

Is- Is her show really that predictable?

But- But- They've already pretty much finished filming! They won't have time to do corrections!

"This could have been solved EASILY if you had the Countess find the World Ruby first and use it to utterly trounce and defeat Levia-tan. At which point the magical girl discovers tales of a weapon of similar strength, the World Sapphire and thus begins the quest to find it. being on the run from the countess' forces that have been supercharged by the Ruby. And if you don't want such powerful artifacts in your series for long, have them both shatter in the final battle, thus a reason they're not used. but it does open up some potential plots in future seasons, like a shard of the World Ruby being used as an arrow to hurt Levia-tan or something of that nature. leave her bedridden or without power for half the season or so before she or a side character manages to find the cure."

"Serafall, frankly I'm a little disappointed. You could have been doing so much more with this show. But you just seem to squander its potential at every step of the way. Take a deep breath before you plan the next season and it might even be good! Have Levia-tan lose some time. Give it some actual stakes.

Now, I have said my piece. I hope you have a blessed day!

P.S.: Its sad that Auntie Gabriel won the last 'most beautiful woman in the underworld' poll. You'll win the next one. Surely."

- Your distant cousin, Luce.

The woman sharply inhales then exhales.

It's 'sad'... 'surely'... once more with the back-handed insults. Not implying that it's incorrect or anything... only depressing that she, the Satan of foreign affairs managed to get out-voted against woman who by all means is the underworld's ENEMY... and yet they even tossed in the 'I'm sure you'll do better next time' pitying! 

This does have the characteristics of an angel all over it. She even gets a little twinge of pain every time she reads the 'blessed day' bit. It's just a little more salt on the wound.

Some angel SOMEHOW managed to watch all of Miracle Levia-tan... then SOMEHOW figured out her personal email... and only used said knowledge to personally insult her and all she stands for in a constructive way so that she can't even really be that mad.

Serafall's hands shake slightly before she takes a deep breath and exhales.

"I shouldn't get so worked up... they are probably quite young. A miracle child or something." She mutters under her breath.

Miracle children... don't exactly have the best life. Cast out from heaven due to the half-human racism, used for their meager healing magics. Much weaker than a pure angel, at least.

"Hmmm." A hum leaves the woman's lips.

A miracle child is, well, a miracle. They are probably lashing out like this, looking for any sort of attention... it would probably irk Gabriel to no end if a dazzling, cute, beautiful, hottest woman in the underworld, Sera-tan enticed this miracle child into her peerage! Besides, being in her peerage is TOOOOTALLY better than anything the church can offer!

And if she can lightly bully the little angel for their insults- maybe make them take part in Miracle Levia-tan and help her bring it up towards the show's season one peaks? Even better!

Ping

Another email flashes on the screen.

"By the way. Incest is wrong."

- Your distant cousin, Luce.

"RRRRRAAAAAAGH!" The woman roars as she lifts her entire desk and hurls it across the room, sparks spray from where the wires tore. "THAT'S SACRELIGE! MY SO-TAN'S SUPPLE BODY IS MINE! ALLLLLLL MIIIIIIIINE! AND NOTHING YOU CAN SAY WILL EVER STOP ME! MUAHAAHAHAHAHAH!"

The secretary outside the door pauses, hand inches from the handle... then turns and walks away, wisely deciding to come back later.

[Split]

I quietly sip on a juice box as I wait for our luggage to arrive at baggage claim. I can see Griselda bickering with some sort of security guard in the background. Something about a metal detector and her cross. I wasn't paying attention.

Lint's blink out of sync slowly, barely awake as I stretch my arms.

It's good to finally be off that plane.

Irina lets out a yawn as Xenovia props her head up on a large leather case.

Inside of that is a folded up greatsword. Something for her to use in the meantime instead of unsealing Durandal for every small conflict.

Sagume seems quite fine, actually.

The main thing is the boredom of our nine-hour flight that's making us quite unobservant and sleepy.

My eyes slowly stray towards Griselda.

'Dear lord in heaven, please give me the patience and restraint to not punch this man in the jaw. Amen.'

"Huh... Griselda's quite irritated with that man." I note.

"Hmmm?" Xenovia hums, eyes coming into focus as she glances over to where I am looking. "him?"

"She's even praying for restraint right now." I admit.

"Oh wow." Xenovia mutters. "I wonder how many times I've annoyed her enough to pray for restraint to not beat me over the head with something."

Surprisingly self-aware for the kool-aid drinking zealot that is Xenovia Quarta.

My mythic power surges.

"One hundred and fifty six times." I supply.

"Huh?" The blue-haired girl blinks.

"One hundred and fifty six." I repeat. "That's how many times she's had to pray to not brain you with the nearest blunt object."

"Ah... I see..." She blinks, seemingly thinking back over every time her adoptive mother was angry with her.

"Wait... Luce, can you hear prayers?" Irina asks slowly.

"I... uh- think that's something only the great seraphs are supposed to be able to do. Soooo uh... maybe keep that on the down-low?"

The four girls give me appraising look.

"If Great Seraphs are the only ones who are able to do that... how can you do it?" Lint blinks twice.

"Oh. Well, I'm kind of a broken mistake." I gesture to my arm which is crisscrossed with lightning-like purple marks. "My mother fell during child birth and children born from fallen angels are always fallen angels soooo..."

I rotate my wrists slightly. "Actually thinking on that... isn't that kind of messed up? That just because they are born to a fallen angel... they don't get to see the light of heaven. That just because they committed the crime of being born... that they must be our enemies and are seen as unclean and things to be destroyed? Doesn't the bible say that the sins of the father should never fall to the child?"

"Is it wrong?" Xenovia asks slowly. "Perhaps."

"Do I wish things were different?" She continues. "Yes. However fallen angels aren't to be trusted. You could never know which among them- if any, due to being taught sin from birth- are the good ones."

"Do you believe that a fallen angel could redeem themselves?" I question.

"That is a tough question." The girl mutters.

"Surely not, right?" Irina asks slowly. "I've heard that when an Angel fall's they're kind of like... stamped by their sin which causes them to be more affected by it... being cast out like that, I doubt they'd try to repent and just relish in their sins to spite or something like that."

"Heeey why are we talkin about all this philosophical junk?" Lint yawns. "What sort of monster do you think's behind the disappearances? You think it's somethin' like a vampire spawn? Like you said on the plane?"

"I'm unfamiliar with American myth." I admit after a brief pause. "I just know about the strange ones like big foot... or moth man. I wonder if those are real... I've heard things but they seem more like conspiracy theories than something that could be real."

"I don't doubt that bigfoot are real." Irina pipes in. "Xenovia and I had a mission once where we had to slay a pack of Yeti who were getting too close to a small ski resort and were killing and eating the people going there. Isn't a Bigfoot just a Yeti's strange cousin?"

"What's a... moth... man?" Sagume questions quietly.

"Oh. I've heard that it's like... this bipedal thing with a moth's head, glowing red eyes, and moth wings."

"Could be a stray devil. Those tend to mutate." Irina adds in.

Xenovia appears to be still thinking deeply on the 'can fallen angels redeem themselves' question.

"Oooh. It looks like Griselda's reached the breaking point." I grin.

Five sets of eyes lock onto her, even Xenovia is briefly brought out of her thoughts as I can see the woman's hands twitch and shake.

That rage reaches a crescendo as...

She just wave her hand, the man's eyes glazing over as the mental manipulation magic takes hold.

"..."

"Well, that was anticlimactic." Lint mutters and I find myself agreeing.

[Split]

A man gazes up at a large throne, eyes wide.

The seat of his father's power before he was lost all those years ago.

It's a wonderful throne, and even with its owner being gone, it has kept its luster and sheer presence.

But now it's doing something... unusual.

Every now and then sparks fly from it.

It took him a while to notice it. Michael doesn't really like being in this room. Too many memories.

As a result, he has no idea of when exactly it started.

Could it be a result of Rubideciel returning to life? Something unintended and the throne of heaven is twisting and writhing against the unnatural resurrection? Or is it more moving in the other direction... is his father's throne telling him that... perhaps now it is time to move on. To take charge.

Is it signaling a new rise for heaven? One brought by the young Luce that his sister has briefly met?

Will the new generation of angels be nothing more than ink and canvas?

He is unsure how to feel about that.

A part of him feels... scared... would those artistic renditions even be angels? Or just fakes who look the part.

It does help put him at ease that their creator is an angel. But... other races have been created by an angel before... and they are quite the persistent thorn in the church's side.

On the topic of Luce... finding out about his exile was disheartening.

He would be the first child born to the angels since father passed.

The first pure angel, that is.

To think some angels brought it upon themselves to cast him out... for what? His mother falling during childbirth?

He wants to know why he heard nothing of an angel's pregnancy and why this poor child was forced to suffer for more than ten long years.

But.

That's easier said than done. It was so long ago... the father wasn't there at the time, in fact he was told that Luce had died in childbirth... telling him otherwise, well... he nearly fell on the spot from sheer wrath. But thankfully as a great seraph he was able to assist the man in regaining his balance.

He is left with no leads. The mother fell and is in no position to answer the questions of the leader of an opposing faction.

So, he is back to square one. Little to no information. But, of course, he could probably just sit back and wait for this to solve itself. Gabriel is on a warpath at the moment. For the first time in who knows how many years, the 'Violence of Heaven' briefly took a step out of retirement even if she is currently playing around with the kid gloves on. Despite her anger, her targets are still family, after all.

If she can't figure things out... nobody can.

[Endsplit]