Chapter 1.

"And we pray that you Lord may be our guidance, that you should forgive us of our sins and that of our enemies, and show forth your mercy unto those who believe in thine manifestation. Amen."

And it happened that after these precedings, the large door of the church slowly came to an opening, revealing a sinner pitching afar off at the entrance. He wore a pair of denim pants and an overcoat, and in his hand was a black book.

The sinner took stealthy steps into the large synagogue, gnashing his teeth at everything his eyes set upon beneath his wire-rimmed glasses. There was the carved image of Mary, Mother of Christ, sculptured misjudged on a fully fledged tower of righteousness, her resonance portraying the beautiful complexity of motherhood.

He hated the sight of it all. . .

"Aren't you done yet?" The sinner asked, glaring at the priest.

"Lying to this world seems to much of a work."

"I am only but a servant of the Lord, and neither would I blaspheme against his truth." The priest replied defensively, his whole could've been likened to the morning, calm and joyful.

"Oh but you do-" said the sinner,

"You speak of testimonies that weren't written, their faiths are compromised, and they worship you as their own god."

"You bear such false witnesses!"

A smirk left the sinner's lips, and so he moved towards the altar where the priest had been praying. There, he could clearly see the priest's appalled expression. It was no doubt that the priest had once refused to realize this truth.

"Isn't it ironic," he started,

"That you have so much faith in their beliefs, and are yet so much blinded away from their perspectives?"

However, the priest was quick to rebuke him.

"You would seperate yourself from thence at this moment, for thou shall not tempt the Lord your God."

The sinner grinned widely at the priest's last statement, and it only made him look like a crazy psychopath.

"The Lord tempted me to what I am today," he spoke,

"How is it that He does to us, things we must not do to Him?"

"You blaspheme and speak such heavy allegations against the Lord," the priest noticed his unwavering countenance,

"Tell me, who are you?"

Just after that, the sinner grimaced and his eyes glowed in an ethereal light.

"I thought you'd never ask."

♠‡‡♠

THERE COULDN'T HAVE BEEN A BETTER DAY TO RETIRE. Emily Harper took another look at the comatose body and then sighed. This wasn't the first time this was happening. Just this month, about six other cases of people being killed and their bodies left brutally maimed were reported concurrently.

However still, the probability that this man was murdered wasn't obvious on his culture. She had questioned every of his relations present, and none of them had mentioned that he had disputes with anyone. Even she knew Abraham Joey so well, that he was a just priest who would never pay any needless attention to conflicts.

And it didn't seem to be a suicide as well, because his right arm was chopped off, and there was a big, deep hole in his left chest, where his heart used to be. The way his body was left mangled even refueled the mystery.

What could've caused his death? That question played in her head like a soundtrack.

"Isn't it obvious?" Her colleague interrupted her thoughts,

"The demoniacs did this."

"It's too early to start talking about that David."

The both of them were senior officers in the Police Force, but Emily still found it hard to believe that David bought cheap conspiracies like demoniacs. Ever since these horrific cases came to the surface, he wouldn't stop talking about how the demoniacs have ceased from their hiding and are beginning to reveal their selves to humanity.

Emily however would always criticize him for having intuition as that of a child's, but all that didn't stop him from believing the myths, unlike Emily, he was free and open to every idea.

"At least put the thoughts into consideration Em," David insisted, pointing at the body,

"Why else would his right arm and hand be missing? Nothing could potray this much brutality than a hungry demoniac."

Silence. . . . Emily ignored him, and at that moment it would only take another word from him before she fledged up in anger.

"And all the other cases too-" David was about to make another point when she instantly flared up.

"Ugh for once David, just this once can we go through a case without having to talk about some child's myth, do I have to knock into your senses before you realize that these things that you talk about aren't even real?"

". . ." David acknowledged her anger, so he didn't say a word.

"I'm sorry," Emily apologized, palming her forehead.

"It's just that, I've had a long day."

"It's fine, I understand," he said, rising up from where he knelt beside the body. His tone was now less enthusiastic.

"I'll go finish things up outside."

Emily watched as her colleague eventually left the synagogue, shutting the door behind him. She felt bad for letting out at him, but however this was a second degree crime case, one that required normal presumptions, as far as she knew it, David was only distracting her.

Now she had time to think, she closed her eyes in meditation and embraced the silence around her. But despite the fact that she related all these cases to one another, she still couldn't answer the current question. These periods citizens were now being disturbed by the situation, and as much as the government tried to conceal the crisis from them, they still heard about.

The police faced the deeper cut of these wounds, as they were occurently criticized for their lack of efficiency to secure the nation. And with all these happening, the person who kept killing and disfiguring other citizens, stealing their body parts seemed to have gotten away without leaving any traces.

There was no lead to this investigation.

As Emily thought, lost in her own illusions, there was a sudden strange sound of movement that interrupted her, which was eery enough, as she was the only one in the large synagogue.

At least her and the dead body. . .

The air felt cold as she slowly approached the body, her hands firmly wrapped around her gun, a single revolver with a stinging trigger. When she reached, she didn't notice anything unusual, just a dead body that was exactly how it had it had been hours since the incident.

Or so she thought. . .

Just as she was about to discard the issue and call it a mistake, she saw the priest's eyes fly open.

"The hell?" She gasped as the shock pulled her aback. No, she was probably imagining things, she definitely didn't just see a dead person open his eyes.

But there wasn't much time to question her sanity, because the body began to rise from where it was laid, shaking and twisting its parts repulsively. Somehow, it seemed to have received life again.

Panic rattled clear to Emily's toes, her hands shook as she stretched her revolver determinedly at it.

"What the f– is that?"

"A demoniac," An unfamiliar masculine voice spoke behind her.

"An awakened one."

The man behind her sounded too cool about the situation, he was dressed on a dark overcoat and had a black umbrella in his right hand. Even his face seemed less concerned, his dark hair made a wave over his expressionless set of eyes. Emily had never seen someone like that around before now.

"And who the hell are you?" She tried to resolve to a serious note, but the creature before her had already had her half scared to death.

"You might want to put down the weapon, it doesn't work on them." the man said.

"Wait, did David put you up to this? Because he's always been trying to convince me that demoniacs exist."

"I don't know who David is, but he sure sounds right."

The creature snarled ferociously, and it appeared that its right arm began growing back abruptly. For once in her lifetime, Emily couldn't believe what she saw.

"What's happening?!" She almost yelled, her voice echoing through the hall.

"Oh, this is where it starts to regenerate itself until it feels he is strong enough to take human life," As he spoke, the demoniac let out a loud shrill, its echoes were loud enough to break a delicate glass.

"Let's talk later miss, he's starting to get grumpy."

The man walked towards the creature, staring closely at without saying a word. There was a moment of pause and tension as the demoniac breathed heavily, it's eyes shot bloodred at his opponent, but still the man didn't flinch.

And even when the demoniac charged, he only blocked his attack with the umbrella, making all of his attacking efforts seem fruitless. Eventually, it realized that it wasn't making any progress attacking so it resolved to its another strategy.

The man noticed the demoniac's movement, and so he quickly moved back to avoid being shot. Out of the creature's mouth, a green acid-like substance purged out, and they melted the floors and soon as they made contact with it.

"Be careful-.." The man said, turning to look at Emily.

"This one shoots poison."

Emily had a lot of questions, and at the same time she only just wanted to replay these things and assume none of these had happened, but there was currently a poison spitting creature on the loose, and the best thing she could do at that point was to protect herself.

The duo fought sparingly for a few minutes, and the struggle was obvious- at least on the demoniac's mannerism. The man didn't seem like he was putting any efforts into the battle, it even appeared that he was only toying with the creature, trying to push it to its limit.

Emily watched in despair as the demoniac breathed heavily after repeatedly failing to catch his opponent.

"Hey buddy," the man waved at it, trying to grasp its attention.

"Tired already?"

The creature furiously charged at him, but Emily could relate, he was simply annoying. The fight continued for another short while until the creature finally gave up. . .

And then turned to face Emily.

It shot a dart of poison at her, daring to melt her face off as soon it touched. However, even before the the acid could reach her, there was the man, parrying the poison with his umbrella.

Emily was for a second, shocked by how fast it all had happened, and so she lost her balance, giving in to falling. However, the man's arm curled up over her waist, holding her in one place.

"You aren't the one to be careful, are you now miss?"

For a while, they looked each other in the eyes, an outstanding gaze of curiosity. Emily was lost at the sight of his radiant pair of eyes, with deep red color of the otherworldly. She even almost forgot that there was a demoniac currently seeking attention and her life.

The man helped her stand up and then faced the creature again,

"Alright, you've done it." He said and grimaced at it.

Emily was expecting another wave of combat, but the man only trotted towards the demoniac and placed the tip of his umbrella on its chest, as easy as someone would touch his own skin.

"Absorb."

Immediately he spoke, the demoniac seemed to have dissolved and somehow gotten vacuumed into the umbrella. Emily couldn't even find the strength to be surprised anymore. At this point she had planned to go on another mental expedition after this was over.

Silence. . . That was all there was after the man absorbed the demoniac. However, Emily knew better than to just watch and let him go afterwards, she raised her her revolver again at him,

"Freeze!" She ordered.

The man raised his hands up in surrender.

"Turn around slowly and drop your weapon!" She continued, gesturing at the black umbrella.

However, as he turned around, Emily was only met by the ethereal glow in his eyes.

"You will forget all that just happened." The man said.

Just then, the doors of the church flung open, and in came David, running towards Emily with worry on his expression.

"Lieutenant are you alright-" He immediately noticed how she was palming her gun.

"Was anyone here?"

Emily looked before her again, but the man with the umbrella wasn't there anymore. He had vanished in just a second. David observed the confusion in her eyes, making him look around to notice that the body wasn't where it was any longer.

"Where… where is the body?"