Chapter 27

Read Author Note at the bottom. Enjoy!

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"...That's all. I remind you one more time, have your eyes wide open. Even a worthless rumor may have some important information in them, so don't ignore them. You may go back to your work." Razjeel dismissed the rest of the council members which were Azazel, Penemue, Tamiel, Baraqiel, and Shemhazai.

It was the same day when Katarea attacked the leaders of the Three Factions. When it was revealed that there was a chance that Ophis may side with one of the factions, Razjeel ordered a meeting to discuss their next course of action.

Now alone, sitting in the same place, Razjeel was waiting for a certain someone. Taking a sip of water he heard someone knocking on the door. "Come in."

The left side of the door opened and closed soon after. A single person clothed in a black uniform walked to the opposite side of the table at which Razjeel was sitting. By the person's body shape and height it was obvious that it was a man. The man kneeled and stood up when Razjeel permitted him.

"We are alone, take off your hood." Said Razjeel with a wave of his hand.

"As you wish, my Lord." In the next moment, the yellow eyes gleamed in the dim room, which combined with his dark clothes, gave Kael a rather mysterious appearance. Looking at Kael's new uniform, Razjeel nodded in approval.

"How is your unit doing? I noticed that you locked up yourself in the 1st training ground for a couple of weeks. Any visible results?" Asked curious Razjeel.

The new unit of Grigori's army, "The Watchers", first special forces division lead by the former commander of the 7th division, Kael. Only the best and the most exceptional were chosen to become the members. But the most crucial trait that one should have to join, was loyalty. You can work on someone else's strength with time, it was something that could be trained, but finding someone who was truly loyal was not so easy as it would seem.

"The unit is doing fairly well, although there is a long way until we can work at our full potential. The most urgent thing that we have to work on is cooperation. Few of the young ones already think of themselves as experts and want to go on a solo mission... *sigh* Hotheaded brats..." A tired sigh escaped Kael's mouth. Although they were talented youngsters, being arrogant or too full of yourself could lead to one's doom. It was a trait that has to be eliminated for the sake of the whole unit.

"Haha, glad to hear. Kids are always like that, but it would be better if you will drive some brains in their heads. And speaking about missions, I must say that I'm impressed with your last one. Swiftly dealt with, no witnesses, no casualties, an operation worthy of the elite." Razjeel expressed his satisfaction.

"Thank you, my Lord. Still, I think it could have been done better, with fewer resources wasted." Although Kael was proud to hear Razjeel's praise, he still thought that they could do better. And they will.

"But enough of the meaningless talk. I have a mission for you, it's the highest priority mission since the creation of your unit." Announced Razjeel while tossing a file with papers to Kael. "I want you to gather intel about the organization called 'Khaos Brigade', gather everything you can. We don't know their area of activity, except the fact that they supported the Rebels during our civil war and they attacked us during the Peace Treaty. Their numbers are unknown, so is their base..." Razjeel continued narrating the content of the file, while Kael read focusing on the details.

As Razjeel said, they didn't know their numbers, where was their base, or even what was their goal. The only clue they had was the name of their organization, the supposed to be leader, and the expected area of their next action. The information was limited, with much more questions than answers. Kael's eyes scanned through the paper, reading and memorizing every single word he read. 'We know the name of their organization, that's something. Also, the characteristic feature is the marking that appeared on their body giving them a power boost...?!' Suddenly Kael's eyes widen in shock.

"Ophis...? My Lord, is this information certain?" Kael looked at Razjeel waiting for the answer.

Razjeel wasn't surprised by his reaction. Everyone would react in the very same way, maybe even worse. In the end, Ophis's name was known throughout the dimensions and not without the reason.

"I'm not sure myself, that's why I want you to confirm at least this. But with that marking appearing on their body I'm 80% sure. I think that not all of their members received Ophis's Snakes but only the leading figures. Don't underestimate them though." Razjeel warned him. No matter how powerful you are, the moment you are careless may be your last moment.

"...Understood. No wonder it has the highest priority..." Mumbled Kael, lost in thought. Just thinking about what they could expect during this mission almost gave him a headache. 'It wasn't even a month since we were formed... No, we can do it.' His yellow eyes regained their previous sharpness. "How much time do we have, My Lord?" Asked Kael with renewed spirit.

Seeing that his attitude changed, the corner of Razjeel's mouth rose slightly, almost imperceptibly, forming a half-smile. "As fast as possible, without it, we can't make our next move and I don't want to lead us on another war...not now..." He stood up and flicked his fingers. There was a flash of green light and in the next moment, a file in Kael's hands burned in green flames, strangely not burning Kael's skin in the process. "And remember, this is an intel-gathering mission, do not risk unnecessarily. Dismissed." After that, Razjeel left the room, leaving Kael alone.

Kael understood the hidden meaning in his Lord's words. He knew that there would be a conflict in coming, and he knew that he has to prepare.

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"Damn it! Why it's not working! It worked last time, for fucks sake!!!" In his laboratory, Azazel was starring at something that was resembling a mass of melted components of different materials. And that was exactly what it was.

"Whoa, whoa, language buddy." Azazel turned to the source of the voice and saw Razjeel walking through the door. "What's the smell? You burned your hair or something?" Went the unpleasant aroma assaulted his nose, he couldn't help but frown.

"Please, I'm not in the mood for jokes. And it's not hair, well at least not mine. It's this useless piece of crap!" He pointed at the melted thing on the table, with a face like he wanted to kill that innocent mass of unknown materials.

Razjeel curiously studied the 'piece of crap' Azazel was talking about and was surprised when he recognized some materials like Star Silver, True Obsidian, or the Soul Shards. "If you are wasting your department funds on such precious materials to create something like that, I will tell Tamiel to reduce your budget."

"What?! You can't do that just because I failed once! Every fail is a step to success!" Azazel defended himself and his budget with an expression of a wise man, but it all crumbled when Razjeel pointed to the corner of the room.

"Just once you said?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. Azazel looked at what he was pointing at, and couldn't help but laugh embarrassingly. In the corner was a pile of similar melted masses, though their sizes were various.

"On my defense, you have to know that later we are using a special procedure on that thing to process and acquire any material that is fit for reuse, so technically the only thing I'm wasting is my time so- Eh, nevermind. Do you need something?" Azazel was going on with his explanation but he surrendered seeing Razjeel's gaze.

"What are those anyway?" Asked Razjeel picking up the strange mass for closed examination. A small amount of magic was leaking out of mass, but there was something else, barely imperceptible. "This... Element of Darkness... and fire? No, it's light. What the hell are you making here, do you want to blow up the whole section?" Asked surprised Razjeel, though he had a guess what was going on.

"Easy, I won't blow anything. The amount of both Darkness and Light is insufficient for that. This, my dear brother, is a prototype. I'm trying to fuse Dark and Light Elements to create different kinds of energy. From my research, if I combine two contradictory energies and manage to stabilize them, I would receive completely new energy with the properties of the previous two but with a higher power. Exciting, right?" Azazel explained enthusiastically with sparks in his eyes, showing some papers and formulas to Razjeel.

But the latter couldn't help but frown. "Don't tell me you're trying to re-create Chaos. Azazel, don't mess with that thing." Razjeel warned sternly his younger brother. Chaos was the primal type of energy, impossible to control, too lethal to even touch. Thankfully, Chaos either doesn't exist naturally anymore or is contained in the Artifacts in some godforsaken places.

"Calm down, I'm not. Even I'm not that crazy. I read my share in The Library about Chaos and I'm not planning to kill myself." Azazel reassured his oldest brother and continued explaining. "It's just Light and Dark, to create Chaos we lack resources, knowledge, and balls. All I'm doing here is just creating a new type of energy."

Razjeel sighed in relief hearing his explanation and once again analyzed the melted mass. 'Ah, so the True Obsidian was used as a container for Darkness and Star Silver for Light, though there are better things to store Light, like Solar Crystals...The rest must be used to stabilize the power created when two contradictory forces were forced to merge.' Razjeel correctly guessed the process but he wasn't really interested in that. During his long life, he met many people doing similar things and usually they come up with something like the water with the properties of fire and other ways around. But why doing that? Why creating water that could burn like fire? Fire is doing a pretty good job itself when it comes to burning, so why wasting your effort? He didn't know, nor he cared. Researchers and experiments weren't his forte.

"Just don't kill somebody else by accident." Razjeel sighed, and then leaned on the wall on the other side of the table, observing Azazel doing his job. "Anyway, I came here because I have something to ask or rather request."

"Oh? And what is it, O'Great King of the Fallens?" Azazel said without looking at him as he examined his failed experiment searching for clues to where he made a mistake.

"Can you replicate Longinus?" Asked Razjeel without beating around the bush.

Azazel looked at him with a surprised expression. "That surprised me. But I must inform you that I already tried, and the results weren't satisfying. On countless tries, I succeed only once." He then proceeded to tell Razjeel about his research on Sacred Gears, showing him his only successful creation, the Dawn Fall Dragon Spear, and explaining the side effects of Artificial Sacred Gears and why it was not economic to mass-produce and use them.

Razjeel had a thoughtful expression after hearing out Azazel. Suddenly an idea struck him. "Okay, so you can't produce Longinus because you don't know how to seal a soul in crystals, and the more common Sacred Gears you created had severe side effects compared to the originals. But I think you approached it from the wrong side."

"What do you mean? I'm telling you that it's not worth copying them." Said Azazel with a raised eyebrow.

"Exactly, as you said. Then how about you stop trying to 'copy' them and try to 'replicate' them?" Suggested Razjeel. Azazel, interested in the topic motioned to continue. "I mean, you don't have to create the exact copy of them, just try to create something of the exact or the most similar effect."

Azazel widens his eyes in realization. "...you are right... I don't have to make 'His' way, I can make them my way!" He smiled broadly. All this time he was fascinated by his Father's creation, admiring his genius. He was too focused on acquiring the same exact results as his Father, that he forgot he can just create his own 'Sacred Gears'.

"Looks like you understand. You seriously didn't think about it, idiot?" He asked laughing at Azazel's joyful expression.

"Shut up! My thoughts are beyond your comprehension!" Azazel snapped and yelled in his defense, but that made Razjeel laugh even more.

"Hahaha, sure, sure. But back to the topic. Would that be possible? I was thinking of replicating that Twilight Healing. Such an artifact would be very useful and helpful in many departments, for wounded soldiers and civilians for example." Explained Razjeel.

"Hmmm... I can't answer you right now. I would need few days at least. Lucky me has my old data files on Sacred Gears so it should be even sooner. But if we are talking about mass productions then be prepared that it would be impossible to equip every single one Fallen with 'Artificial Twilight Healing'. Too many costs and there is a matter of compatibility. We have to consider the possibility that some may be 'rejected' by the replicas." Explained Azazel thoughtfully.

"If you won't come up with anything then it's okay, we can't be too greedy. But can you come up with something that would boost our overall battle power? I mean, something like sacred gears for soldiers, something to help them defend and attack-" His words were suddenly interrupted by a loud and impatient knocking on the door. Both looked at the door and Azazel yelled to come in.

An unknown to Razjeel Fallen hastily walked inside the laboratory. He was catching his breath and tried to say something, but it came out completely incomprehensible. Upon noticing Razjeel, there was a shock on his face, then he fell on his knees and tried to say something, but they still couldn't understand him.

"First, calm down, Jonas. You sound like a broken vacuum." Azazel told to young Fallen. "Oh, this is Jonas, my assistant. He's young but has a bright mind." Explaining Azazel seeing Razjeel's questioning look.

After few moments, Jonas finally catches his breath. "Greetings to General Governor! I'm honored to-." The youth, still on his knees, started greeting Razjeel, but Azazel interrupted him.

"Stop with that and tell what happened. We had an important discussion." Said Azazel impatiently, itching to begin his research.

"Y-yes, Mr. Azazel! It's about your foster son, Vali! I went to fetch him as you told me, but he wasn't in his usual places so I went to his room. This was on the door!" He handed to Azazel a piece of paper using both of his hands like he was handing a treasure.

Azazel frowned but took the paper and read few words written on it. His frown only deepened as he finished reading it, a tired sigh escaped his mouth.

"What is it? Something wrong?" Asked Razjeel, but Azazel only gave him the piece of paper to read for himself. After few seconds Razjeel also sighed just like Azazel. "That snotty brat..."

And the words on Vali's message were: "I'm joining Khaos Brigade. Next time we meet, we will be on the opposing sides.

To General Governor: next time I'll kick your ass so be ready!"

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Author's Note:

I hoped you enjoyed the chapter!

Someone mentioned the Artificial Sacred Gears and I was like, sure, why not? And to clarify some things, I classified Azazel's Dawn Fall Dragon Spear as an Artificial Longinus as it has Fafnir sealed in it. Also, I kinda forgot to include Vali in the previous chapter so I had to make it up to something, sorry. Let's just think that Vali didn't want to fight MC right then, hahaha.

I saw some people were guessing MC's real name and I have one message for them: keep trying, hahaha! I won't tell you a thing! I won't spoiler like last time.

Another thing is about the next FanFic.

I will write a comment and you guys just give a like under the idea you like, similar to the poll when you were voting for the girls. I would drop ideas and you have to JUST LIKE THE COMMENT! Two votes per person, if someone couldn't make up his mind.

Also feel free to drop your ideas for FanFics you would like to read, who knows, there could be a gem among them and I can add it to the poll.

Anyway, thanks for your attention and take care, people!