Chapter 27: Momentarily Reunion

Before going to sleep, Zadkiel went to the bathroom and took a hot shower to refreshen up before going to bed.

He remembered what Jophiel said to them about the meeting of the Gods tomorrow, Zadkiel punched the wall due to his anger.

"Why now?!" I have to successfully do this, but the timing of the meeting just ruined it.

We don't even know how long will it take for Camael to start doing his move, and tomorrow is the day we need to start, but tomorrow is just gonna say to our faces that the Gods are having a meeting here in Heaven.

Zadkiel was angered at the fact that the timing of the meeting was bad. Right now, time is precious for them in this mission, and if they don't have enough time. Zadkiel would get the result that he doesn't want.

Turning off the shower, Zadkiel took his towel and went outside the bathroom.

He instantly laid on his bed and pulled out a knife from one of his shelves.

He held the knife like it was a toy, and began throwing it above and catching it.

"Does an angel like me need to feel something like this?"

Zadkiel stopped throwing his knife and looked at it seriously. "Can I even do it?"

He pointed the knife to his neck and closed his eyes.

A sudden epiphany came to Zadkiel, and when he open his eyes, he saw was a field filled with tall grasses that were covering his entire legs.

Zadkiel looked at the sky, and he saw that it was a civil twilight sky with beautiful stars that shone brightly. "Where am I? Is this a dream?"

Looking back at it, Zadkiel remembered what he was to do before sleeping. "I remember pointing my knife at my neck because I wanted..."

He slaps himself on the face and Zadkiel looked at every bit of his body and saw a transparent knife stuck on his neck.

He looked at the transparent knife on his neck, Zadkiel saw that it was the same knife he played with on his bed.

Upon touching the knife slowly, he noticed that it was solid like any other knife, but when he tried to pull it the knife wouldn't budge; like it was stuck on his neck.

Zadkiel decided to give up on pulling the knife and began to inspect his surroundings.

And when he looked behind him, Zadkiel saw a mysterious beautiful girl walking toward him slowly.

He looked closely at the mysterious girl a bit to see who she is and if she is the reason why he's here.

The girl has a veil on her that's covering her entire face, and when she got close to Zadkiel, she said to him. "Nice to see you again Zadkiel."

Hearing the girl talk to him, Zadkiel was speechless upon hearing the girl's voice. Zadkiel couldn't respond to the girl, because his mind went blank after hearing her talk, and when he tries to force himself to try and talk to the girl, Zadkiel started to cry instead.

Seeing Zadkiel crying, the girl smiled filled with joy and hugged Zadkiel tightly; saying to him softly. "Don't cry my precious, I'm here."

Zadkiel screamed loudly from his sadness and agony and responded to her. "I never thought that I'll see and talk to you again, my Lord..." He felt joy when he was reunited with her, since his dream was to meet her again in the near future, and it looks like that dream has been fulfilled.

The girl who Zadkiel called his Lord, looked at him with tears in her eyes. "Zadkiel, you know that is not the word that I want you to call me."

"Right, I'm sorry Mother... I'm sorry, I was just so happy seeing you again, I missed you-; we missed you... We missed you very much, Mother.."

"Me too Zadkiel, I miss you and your siblings so much that I can't even describe how I felt being reunited with you again."

"You know Mother, Jophiel and I have been talking about you; the way you sing your beautiful song to us; the way you spoil us so much that my Lord is sometimes jealous, and most of all, I love the way you treated us all equally."

As she hugged Zadkiel tightly again, the girl whispered to Zadkiel. "I'm happy that you didn't forget about me my son, and I'm proud that Jophiel is keeping her promise to me and being the mother of the angels."

"Mother may I ask, will you leave us again?" Zadkiel doesn't want that, He wants her to stay with him and everyone, like in the past as he remembers it to be.

He thought that maybe she can reunite them with the devils, and be perfect again as a family; because she might not know that Lucifer and everyone else has died because of those stupid battles.

He wanted everything to be complete again, Zadkiel doesn't want to be separated from her anymore, and he hated fighting both the devils and the angels.

"I'm sorry my son..." His mother replied with a sad tone. "Even if I want to be with you again and reunite with your brothers and sisters, I just can't."

"But why?!" Zadkiel noticed that he raised his voice against his Mother, and stopped. "I'm sorry... Please tell me... Please just tell me... I don't want everything I loved to be destroyed anymore."

"You never change my son, and I'm happy... But Zadkiel, you have to understand that right now I'm just a collection of your memory, I'm not the real person you call your Mother."

"Then why can't you just show yourself?"

"I just can't right now... I've been having a lot of problems since my divorce from your Father, and because of that I can't show my face to anyone of you anymore."

"Then why did you and my Lord even get divorced in the first place?! I thought that you two were the perfect couples ever." That's what Zadkiel had thought before they've divorced, but ever since they divorced he knew that his way of thinking of his parent's relationship is nothing but mere fantasy.

"Zadkiel, I taught you that everything can't last forever no matter what it is, even if it's an object or a God it would still expire one day. Nothing in this world lasts, at the end, everything has an ending. Whether it is a happy one or not, it's still inevitable to stop something from processing."

"I see..."

Hugging Zadkiel tightly again, she whispers to him. "Zadkiel, you and your siblings are my precious children, I will always love and cherish all of you forever, and I don't want any of you to suffer anymore, so that's why I divorced your Father."

"My Lord? But... What did he even do so that you'll break up with him?"

"When Lucifer and your other siblings rebelled, I wanted your Father to let them free and forgive for what they've done, but in the end, he didn't listen to me."

"But Lucifer wanted more power! So what he did was wrong!"

"Zadkiel listen to me." Asherah looked Zadkiel straight in the eye and told him. "Lucifer didn't want power... He just wanted to be more free, away from any orders that your father is giving him."

"But... that's why we were made in the first place, it's to follow our Lord." He was confused about why Lucifer wanted to be free from his creator's will because as the creator's creation, so it's his duty to follow him to the very end.

"And I don't want that Zadkiel, even you and your other siblings back on Heaven, I wanted all of you to be freer and do what you all want."

"Following the orders of our Lord is what we wanted though, we can't just leave him, after all without you two we wouldn't even be able to walk in this land: to begin with, I wouldn't even call you my Mother if that's not correct."

"But Zadkiel, as of right now you, Uriel, and Azrael are planning to save the devils right? And what's your reason for doing it without your father knowing of your plans..?"

Zadkiel couldn't respond to what her mother was asking him, even when he forced himself to think of an answer, Zadkiel just can't.

He was confused about why is he doing this, Zadkiel just couldn't take it anymore and accepted happily what he felt during this scene.

He was confused about why he was doing this. Isn't it because he felt sympathy for them? But why though? He's an angel and why does he feel something like this? That is what Zadkiel was confused with.

"I don't know... I don't know, I don't know why I wanted to protect them."

Zadkiel's Mother smiled. "Zadkiel, that's already proof that you want to be free from your Father's wishes, it's because you found something that you wanted to do."

"Wanted to do... Then you're telling me to betray my Lord? But as the Archangel of Loyalty, the curses of this wretched Virtue is stopping me!"

"Of course not, it's just to educate you, and as both the Archangel of Loyalty and Freedom, you have to know this."

His Mother patted Zadkiel's head slowly. "It's normal for a child to obey its parent, but it's also normal for a child to disobey, you can do what you wish as the child, but you can't do what your parent wishes you to do. After all, what a child wishes is what the parent's wishes for their child."

"I can't do what my Lord wishes me to do? But how would I show my loyalty to him if I can't do everything my Lord wanted?" That just seems impossible to do.

She smiled. "A child can show his love for its parent by doing what it wants, while also giving time to do what the child bare for its own future to help its parents."

Both of Zadkiel's eyes opened up and his mind gave Zadkiel a new perspective on his life.

He was happy that his Mother who he still loved even if she left them visited him, and opened a new journey and perspective to him that opened up a new path for him to actually follow.

And even if it's only in his consciousness, Zadkiel was still in joy because he still talked to his beloved Mother.

Zadkiel smiled filled with joy after knowing what he wants to finally do. "Thank you, Mother... Because of you, I finally have a path that I wanted to follow."

She was happy upon hearing her son deciding on what he wants to do. "I've been away for a long time, helping you figure things out is the only thing I can repay you as your Mother."

Zadkiel's Mother looked at her back slowly, and looked at Zadkiel in the eye; saddened after looking at her back. "I'm sorry Zadkiel, but this is the time that we have to say goodbye to each other."

Even if Zadkiel knows that their conversation cannot last, he was still saddened to hear his Mother leaving.

He hugged her tightly one last time and Zadkiel said to her. "I love you Mother, and I hope one day all of us can be together again."

She kissed Zadkiel on the forehead and cried; telling him at the same time. "I love you too my son, and promise me that you won't ever attempt to kill yourself again."

Zadkiel smiled. "I promise..."

"Also Zadkiel, remember that if you're still doubting yourself, I'm always with you. Always."

"Of course Mother..."

"Zadkiel, come let's pull this knife out of your neck together."

Both of them held the handle of Zadkiel's knife together tightly, and when they pulled it, a bright light shone brightly on Zadkiel's neck.

"Now goodbye for now my beloved angels, and fly high to reach your expectations for the future."

The light shone brightly that it enveloped the entire place where they were talking too.

And when Zadkiel's vision was nothing but light, he smiled happily knowing that his mother is still watching him and his siblings.

Even if they were only reunited at his consciousness, Zadkiel still has remaining hope that in the future they'll be reunited face-to-face.

"Wake up!"

Hearing the shout of Azrael from his room, Zadkiel stood up in shock.

Noticing that he's finally awake, Zadkiel looked around his room and seeing it made him sigh deeply from reliefs and sadness.

Zadkiel touched his neck and felt that there's a small cut on his neck. "So it marked..."

He glared at Zadkiel weirdly and Azrael asked him. "What are you talking about? What marked?"

"Nothing, it's not that important."

Azrael sighed deeply. "Come on, it's time to move out-, wait Zadkiel... What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

Upon hearing Azrael, Zadkiel touched his face and felt that tears are falling from his eyes, without even Zadkiel knowing.

When he touched one of his tears, Zadkiel was confused on why he was crying for no reason.

He can't describe this feeling in one word until Zadkiel figured out why he was actually crying.

I see... Even I still miss her a lot that I'm crying painlessly.

Thinking about it makes me laugh since I haven't moved on yet while my brothers and sisters have.

Even seeing her from that dream of mine is painlessly awful.

After all, I'm crying that my Mother gave me a reason to live and what to do in my life, so I have to use it to the fullest and never even if I, the Archangel of Loyalty will disobey my father's order and will.

He wiped the tears from his face, Zadkiel gave Azrael a forced smile. "Nothing, let's just go and do what we were supposed to do."

"*Sigh* Then let's go, we don't have time to lose."

Zadkiel saw the knife that was stuck on his neck laying on his bed, so he took it and looked at it. "Come on let's go."

***

[Ifrit POV]

Back on the seventh floor of Hell. Ifrit, Hans, and Shota were still awake in the night, preparing for their next move.

Shota was talking to some of his insects, and at the same time receiving reports back from them. And one of the reports of Shota's insects is what got them to prepare early, instead of them to keep on hiding, one of Shota's insects said. "About 30 ghouls were headed in this direction."

For them, only two to three ghouls are their limit, so now that they know that there are 30 ghouls, they're gonna fight, and they need to create a plan to defeat the ghouls.

And Shota was supposed to stop ordering his insects now, but he isn't stopping at all since something made him worried.

Because about three to four hours ago, Shota sent one of his pets to Haruki and the others, but until this day, his pet hasn't been reporting back.

Shota was worried since it hasn't been reported back to him, because right now, that's their only lifeline.

"Come on Anya... Please take my message successfully."

"Shota has your Quegbee delivered the message?"

"First of all her name is Anya, Ifrit."

"Okay, okay, jeez! So has Anya delivered the message?"

"Sadly she hasn't even contacted me yet, so that's why I'm getting worried right now."

"Really... I guess it's time for you to give up now since we need to finally move."

Shota sighed deeply upon hearing that, and immediately stood up and stretched his arms. "I guess so, so what are we gonna do now?"

"Hans is setting some traps right now, since going outside and running is an immediate finale to our lives."

"*Sigh* Then let's go, I'm gonna use my insects as traps for them then." Running immediately as fast as he can, Shota went to Hans to help him with the traps.

And upon seeing Shota leave, Ifrit clenched his fist angrily and almost shouted but stopped. "I hope we can win this..."

All of the ghouls were flying around outside looking for the three, all of them are using a skill called the All-Seeing Eye that can detect any living beings in the area, and even if those beings were hiding under something the ghouls can still see them.

One of the ghouls went closer to where they were and used the skill to detect any species in the area, and when it saw a flying butterfly, and upon seeing it the ghoul touched it.

Bang! The butterfly exploded and killed the ghoul. All of the ghouls in the area screamed when they saw something exploded near them.

The body of the ghoul who was caught in the explosion was seen by the others flying to them and was already dead when they saw it flew.

Every ghoul spread out and flew above to be safer; cautious to their surroundings if another explosion came, they encircled the entire area to inspect where it exploded.

It was covered in dark and thick smoke, which made the ghouls confused because they saw three people standing in the smoke to cover them.

The dark smoke has finally started to fade from the location, and when all of it has vanished.

The three men who they saw were covered in the smoke has finally made an entrance to the ghouls who were watching.

On the left was Hans, he's holding his sword tightly, and has attached his head to his body; looking serious on the scene.

On the right was Shota Beelzebub, his neck was covered with a giant centipede like it's his scarf, and he raised his right hand to show that he's holding and playing with a tarantula.

And in the middle was Ifrit barehanded and smiling sadistically to show that he's ready for a fight with the ghouls.

All of the ghouls made a loud shriek after seeing the three in front of them and has started to pull out all of their chains.

Ifrit snickered happily. "Hey Shota, why didn't we even use your butterflies in the first place?"

"That species are hard to breed Ifrit, so I can only use them if it's important."

Laughing loudly from the answer. "Then what about you Hans? Why didn't you attached your head in the first place?"

'What are you doing Ifrit? You know that it's hard and uncomfortable to do it, and why are you asking questions right now?"

"Nothing." Looking at all of the ghouls Ifrit smiled and said. "Then let's see how all of you ghouls can beat us three, I promise to all of you that we'll show you what Hell actually is!"