Elinor

John looked around the lobby at his massacre. Dead bodies laid strewn about with mangled limbs. John started walking forward before stopping when he heard the glass doors open.

John turned and saw a worn-down individual with a scar across their face. They watched each other and the man with the scar, Max, pulled out a knife before pointing it at John.

John, who was still in his lightning demon form didn't move. The room was silent and finally somebody spoke.

"I believe you're Max, if I'm not mistaken."

"And you are?"

"I'm pissed off, nice to meet you."

"…" Max remained silent.

"You'll probably know me by my nickname, the 'Lightning Demon.' But I personally go by John Doe." He paused for a moment and said, "I am also Mathias's guardian, hence why I'm here."

Max watched the animal skull that replaced John's head, or at least covered it. Whether it replaced his head or covered it, Max wasn't sure.

"I see… You're the person he texted mistakenly when he was kidnapping that scientist." Max muttered.

"He told you about that?"

"We hit traffic." Max replied as he put away the knife.

"…So, what are you doing here?" John asked.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I asked first."

"Fair enough. First thing's first, find out where Mathias is, straight from the horse's mouth." He was referring to Roderick, "Then kill Roderick and go find Mathias." Max replied.

John tapped his leg in thought and spoke, "Alright, well, we want to do basically the same thing, but I can get this done a lot sooner. So, just follow loosely behind me and we'll head up to the top floor."

"He has a panic room on the seventh floor, he'll probably head there." Max suddenly said.

"Oh? Interesting…" John mumbled as he started making his way to the elevator.

Max followed him and the two walked in silence. They stepped over a few bodies when Max saw Freddie laying on the floor. As Max walked over him, he scoffed.

The two made it to the elevators and pressed the call button. They waited a moment before they realized the number above the door wasn't changing. John sighed and rubbed the animal skull as if he was rubbing his forehead, causing Max's eyes to squint in confusion.

"We'll have to take the stairs I guess, also, what the fuck are you?" Max abruptly asked.

"Hmm?" John looked over at Max in confusion, "Oh, this." John quickly made his scales and skull disappear, showing his regular self. Then he quickly brought them back.

"What are they though, and what's the skull?"

"Well, the scales are superconductors and to be honest, I have no idea what creature the skull belongs to."

The two made their way to the stairs and started up them.

"So do the superconductors make you faster?"

"I dunno."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I mean I don't think about it. I just do it. It's more of a feeling than anything. You're an angel right?"

"How'd you know that?" Max froze slightly.

"What, you've never heard of a seeker?" John tapped his nose, "I can smell the difference between angels, demons, and humans."

"That's cool."

"Yeah, but you're an angel, right?"

"Yeah, and?"

"Have you accessed your soul and used whatever your power is?"

"Yes, I've done that."

"Well, then you know what I mean right? It's an intuition, you just feel what you're supposed to do and go from there. If you don't mind me asking, what class are you?"

"Ah! About that, I don't really know. I've never been taught the classes of angels or demons. Although I do know a bit about demons because the news never shuts up about them."

John chuckled slightly, "Well, in practice, they're extremely similar to the demons, although there are slight differences. The demons have a dealer, but the angels have a lawbringer. The grim equivalent for angels is the executioner. Finally, instead of soul mages, they have augurs."

"Okay, so since I can use mana, I'd be an augur, right?"

"Correct, what type of magic can you use?"

"Uh, I can heal but it isn't that good."

"Really? You've got a strong scent, that's usually indicative of a large soul realm."

"My mana usually either makes things worse or leaves scarring. An example being my nose here."

John looked at Max and nodded.

"Well, I think you're probably thinking about it too much. You're trying to put the dots together when you should instead focus on just letting your mana flow naturally through your soul. Once you've got that down, then you can start figuring things out."

"I see…" Max rubbed his chin slightly and fell deep in thought.

The two kept walking up the stairs and eventually reached the seventh floor. John stretched slightly and grabbed the door handle. Just before he swung it open, he thought for a moment and turned to Max.

"Hey, I'll get the rest and you can handle Roderick. Just stay back a bit and come over after everyone else is done."

"You don't need help?" Max asked.

"Ha! No, I'm fine." John said with a light laugh as he turned and twisted the handled open. When the doors opened a massive number of men revealed themselves and turned to look at him. They were in heavy shock as they expected him to head to the top floor first, but since the stairway didn't have cameras there was no way they'd know he'd come here first.

"Hello boys…" John said as he walked forward and closed the door behind him.

Elinor arrived at the building and looked up. Her eyes trailed all the way to the top floor and beyond, until her eyes focused completely on the sky. She watched the clouds for a bit despite Roderick's pleas for help.

Her subordinates all stood near her as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. Her eyes eventually turned down towards the lobby doors and she walked forward. None of her subordinates followed her and she had told them not to expect her return.

Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming fight, as she passed by they bowed as a final sign of respect. She entered the building and looked at all the dead men with disinterested eyes. She sighed and kept walking forward. As she got to the receptionist desk, she took off her mask and placed it there.

Her hand stayed on her mask for a moment before she finally turned and walked to the elevator. She pressed the call button and waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally, she lifted her arms in an annoyed manner and turned towards the stairs.

She opened the door nonchalantly and began walking up the stairs. She had been told to come to the seventh floor by Roderick. He had asked her this multiple times despite not caring enough about it. In fact, it seemed quite urgent the last time he asked, but she couldn't even care enough to tell her driver to pick up the pace.

She reached the second floor and leaned her head out the middle of the stairs and looked up. When she saw how much more she had to go, she chuckled slightly to herself, but kept walking.

Eventually she made it to the third floor, then the fourth, then the fifth and the sixth. Upon reaching the seventh, she stretched slightly with a yawn and opened the door. Seeing the absolute carnage past the door she slightly snorted in amusement. The wall had plenty of scorch marks, scratches, and bullet holes.

She walked inside and there were dead bodies everywhere. Guns and knives laid on the floor without care, and there was even the occasional sword. She stepped over everything and kept venturing towards the panic room which took up the vast majority of the floor. From the outside, all seemed normal, but inside there was a massive amount of bullet proofing, even missile proofing. If somebody had managed to get a tank onto this floor, they'd have a lot of trouble getting inside the panic room.

Elinor, however, just kept walking and reached the main entrance. Despite being 'tank-proof,' the thick metal door found itself absolutely destroyed. She entered the panic room and kept walking. Due to the sheer size, she walked for another minute before finally reaching a vault.

Yes, there was a vault in the panic room. You know, just incase you have everybody on the planet out to get you. Or just some pissed off demon of sufficient strength.

Once more, the door had been pried open. Elinor just looked at the warped vault door to the side and rolled her eyes. She entered the relatively large vault and saw three people.

Roderick, Max, and John.

"H-help me! Please! They're goddamn mad! They want to kill me!"

"Mr. Overture, why would I care about that? Your fate is up to them, I personally don't care in the slightest."

Roderick's eyes widened in panic, "But you promised! You promised that if I just captured that little-"

Max punched Roderick in the face, silencing him instantly.

"So, Elinor…" John spoke in a low tone.

"Mr. Doe." Elinor bowed slightly.

"Where's Mathias and the bell?"

"Leonardo is on 23rd Street in an old, but still operating, slaughterhouse. The bell is with him."

"…What?"

"I gave the bell back to the rightful owner. He intrigued me so I let him go."

"But you said… what? You're an apostle, why didn't you…" John mumbled, unable to understand Elinor.

"Mr. Doe, unlike the rest of the apostles, I am not a religious fanatic. I got in on merits alone, and simply acted to be religious. I do not care for it, but my environment encouraged it. In other words, I always intended to see the First Prince for what he was and decide what to do afterwards."

John remained silent.

"As I said, the bell is also with him. But I suspect that by the time you reach Leonardo, he will instead be at the police station being heavily questioned."

John stared at Elinor for a long time, eventually, he finally muttered, "So, I suspect since you took your mask off, you want to resolve things between us?"

"Correct and I am sure you shall surprise me today." Elinor bowed once more and summoned a sword from her soul realm.

John closed his eyes slightly from behind his animal skull. He took a moment to think and spoke, "Lady Elinor Renee Sharpe of the Sharp Royalty. The 10th apostle, of the specialist class, with a lawbringer subclass. Specialist ability: Holy Retribution. Once fighting someone deemed unholy, Lady Elinor gains the unlimited ability of absolute regeneration. Meaning, unless killed by someone deemed holy or of natural causes, you are completely immortal."

"I see someone's done their homework. I find you almost as fascinating as Leonardo. It's only right that you are his guardian and retainer. I hope you both can achieve your goals." Elinor smiled as she brandished her sword.

John looked at her with squinted eyes and got into a crouching position. Lightning began to build at his feet, and he cracked his neck. The entire room felt electric, like you could get energized from just being near John.

John shifted his foot ever so slightly and a loud CRACK resounded in the room, bouncing off the walls. It was like a small bomb had gone off inside the vault.

When he had shifted his foot, he instantly disappeared and reappeared at the end of the hall, near Elinor. The two stood near each other so still, it was as if they both were statues. Then, they both fell slightly to the floor.

Elinor and John both started coughing up blood as they kneeled down. John had a large slash that went from his shoulder to his other shoulder. Elinor's sword had managed to find John's body despite it being blindingly fast, and she cut it.

Elinor on the other hand, had a gaping hole in her chest where her heart was supposed to be. Still, she remained upright and hacking up blood. But not a moment later, she collapsed to the floor.

John took another moment for himself before closing his mouth and standing up. He walked over to Elinor and stood above her lifeless body. He flattened his hand and made his suit's sharp claws extend out.

Elinor slightly moved, despite being dead, and John immediately swung. But remarkably, he missed as her body shifted unnaturally out of the way. Instead, his hand pierced the metal floor and got stuck. He pulled with all of his strength as Elinor started standing up.

Once she stood, John looked at her as she turned to look at him. She raised her sword and pointed it at John. John lifted his other hand and made a finger gun.

He dropped his thumb as she swung her sword and a bolt of lightning flew from his finger, wrapping around her sword. It traveled to her hand and severely burned it; she dropped the sword that now glowed due to the heat. John lifted his finger and Elinor dropped herself to the floor to grab the still scorching sword.

As she grabbed it, John fired his finger gun once more but this time she deflected the bolt of lightning, despite it hitting the sword. The lightning whizzed across the room and hit the metal wall. Sparks flew across the room for a moment and the lights flickered.

John cocked his head in both annoyance and befuddlement and muttered, "Full of surprises aren't cha?"

"I aim to please, Mr. Doe."

John finally managed to pull his other arm out of the floor, and he stood up straight. He looked at Elinor and laughed, "Fair enough. But I like to think I've got surprises too."

The scales and the animal skull faded away, or more accurately, they seemed to hide themselves underneath John's skin. Then John made a strange hand sign and orange chains appeared in his hands.

"Sorcery?!" Elinor said with a gasp. She involuntarily took a step back as her eyes widened.

John stared at her and threw out a chain, whipping it around. The chain passed through her wildly.

"But how? You're a demon!" Elinor asked John as she ignored the strange chains.

"I told you, I've got surprised too." As he said that, Elinor fell apart. Her body fell to the floor in chunks, bleeding all over the metal.

Elinor seemingly got up even faster this time. Her body practically flew back together and rose up, as if she was speeding up the process.

"What's that supposed to mean?! Please, tell me!" Elinor pleaded, genuinely intrigued by the demon who could use human sorcery.

John frowned slightly at Elinor and clapped his hands. As soon as the sound resonated, Elinor felt her femur shatter into oblivion. She fell to the floor, but her leg started quickly regenerating.

She got back up, but John made another strange hand sign and the orange chains disappeared. Instead, when Elinor looked around, she noticed the floor beneath her was slightly shimmering. As it was only on the spot underneath her, she tried retreating but suddenly purple chains shot up from the ground.

They wrapped around Elinor and started pulling her into the ground. As Elinor seemingly started fazing through the ground, she suddenly realized something and stopped struggling.

"Ah… I didn't get to see Luke again." She looked across the floor with a dazed expression at nothing in particular. Her head was too occupied with thoughts of her brother. She felt something wet falling from her eyes, and she was confused by it.

But before she disappeared completely, she looked at John and spoke.

"Please tell Luke I said goodbye, Mr. Doe." And then her head was submerged underneath the glowing light.

John saw her disappear into the floor and collapsed onto the ground, sweat dripping from his forehead.

As he laid there, catching his breath, he looked across the room at Max and muttered with and exacerbated voice, "You didn't see or hear any of that, alright."

"Sure." Max said with a shrug.

"Ugh. My head…" Roderick said leaning up from his slumber.

Max's eyes narrowed and he muttered, "Go back to sleep, I'll deal with you later." Then he knocked him out again.

A moment later, John felt his phone ringing. He pulled it out from his pocket and saw a number he hadn't seen before. Since this was a regular occurrence, given his job, he answered it without any complaints.

As soon as he heard the voice on the other side, his face looked extremely concentrated.

"Alright then."

He hung up the phone and looked towards Max, "Guess who just called me?"

"Who?"

"Mathias."

"Really?! Is he alright?!"

"Yes. He's at the police station."

"We've got to get him right now!"

"I know, but first, he wanted us to get something."

"What?" Max asked.

"He said to bring fire." John said with a devious grin.