Rescue (Pt 1)

"No!" John said firmly with an serious expression.

Ethan had already explained everything that had happened to John and proposed to go to the church. Obviously, his goal was to save Wendy.

But, John on the other hand said the best course of action to this situation was to call rest of the group for backup since the enemy numbers were unknown. Of course, Ethan didn't agree with his methods so he was trying to convince him.

"Let me just go by myself, I'm worried by what that woman said about a ritual. They are definitely doing something from behind the scenes. There's no guarantee of Wendy's safety."

"Are you really that stupid? You are planning to invade an enemy territory where you are at an disadvantage and their numbers are unknown. You will definitely be killed if you go." John tried to talk calmly, but Ethan could tell that John was warning him.

"You say that but who knows when backup will arrive and since their location is known, they will obviously want to finish their objective as fast as possible." Ethan spoke out his thoughts to John.

How could he back down now? When someone had promised to protect was in danger.

"Listen... " John was about to say something, but he was rudely interrupted by the sudden ring of the office cell phone on his desk.

He picked up the cell and asked, "Hello John of Snow Fall, here." Then his expression softened a little.

"Is that so? Then I will be on my way." He cut the call and dropped the cell.

"I've got an urgent thing to do now. I will go out for a bit." John said as he headed towards the magic circle.

"Wait! I haven't finished talking—" Before Ethan could finish, John cut him off.

"Ethan, there is something I need to tell you. It's about that 'Thing' you asked about." John said as he stood on top of the magic circle.

Yes, some time ago, Ethan privately had asked John about how to use his Demonic powers. But John wasn't able to answer him since he was busy.

"Demonic power is just like magic power. To use it your demonic power, just remember this.

'Desire'. Any form of power is driven with the power of desire. The stronger your desire, the stronger your power will respond to you." After leaving those words, John teleported to some other place through the magic-circle.

"—Desire

The power of desire will activate my power if I strongly wish for it" Ethan thought as he let those words sink in.

The only ones left in the office was Ethan, Rose and Kaguya. After taking a deep breath, Ethan decided to leave as well.

"Ethan!" Rose called out. "Are you going?"

"Of course, I am. Wendy is a friend of mine after all."

"You're going to get killed. Even if you have strong demonic power, taking on a group of hunters with the power of light is nothing but suicidal."

A Logical Answer

But Ethan already knew that and was well aware of it. Therefore,

"Even so, I'm have to go." Ethan said as he had already made up his mind.

"You have good spirit. That's what I'll like to say, but you're just being too reckless." Rose held her head and sighed.

"Then what am I supposed to do!" Ethan's words almost came out as a shout, but Rose just replied.

"Well it can't be helped. I'm going too."

"Huh?" That word couldn't help but escape from Ethan's mouth. He was expecting to go alone in the first place so he didn't expect this development.

"Although I don't this Wendy girl, but you are my companion. Even though John said that, there's a part of me that respects your decision. Also, I personally don't like priests. I detest them." Rose said with a slight frown as if she remembered something unpleasant.

"Also I'm sure John has some kind of plan. If he truly didn't want you to go, then he would have stopped you by locking you up somewhere. You may not know, but that man is a big softie." Rose said with a small chuckle.

"I see." Ethan could only that before he saw Kaguya carelessly approaching them with her jacket in her hands.

"I'm coming as well." Kaguya said suddenly

"Huh? You too?"

"Don't misunderstand, I'm only doing this because I don't have anything better to do." Kaguya said so nonchalantly.

Although Ethan did not show it on his face, he was thankful that they offered their help.

Just like that, the three of them left Snow Fall with a clear destination in mind.

****

The darkness of night was illustrated by the light of the beautiful moon and the lamps of the streets.

Ethan, Rose and Kaguya were examining the 'The enemy base' from a safe distance where they couldn't be spotted.

The Church

"Hey, you guys look at this." Ethan spread out a map on the building on the road.

The map of the Church.

"Ethan, where did you get this from?" Rose asked, a little surprised.

"I did some research on my own before reporting to John. it's basic when you are going into the enemy's territory." Ethan said with a smile.

Although he wanted to save Wendy as soon as possible, that doesn't mean he would rush into enemy's base like a dumbass.

"Besides the sanctuary, there is also a dormitory. The sanctuary looks suspicious." Ethan said as he pointed to the sanctuary.

"So we can ignore the dormitory then?" Kaguya asked.

"Most Likely. Most rogue priests usually make some alteration to the sanctuary. They usually perform suspicious rituals under the sanctuary." Rose said

"Why?" Ethan asked in doubt and Rose then made a bitter smile.

"It's the place they used to respect as a holy place, and by doing something that rejects God there, it makes them satisfied because it's an insult to God. Because they loved God, because they were rejected by God, they purposely cast evil spells under the sanctuary as a representation for their hatred." Rose answered.

Ethan didn't want to think that crazy stuff and continued explaining.

"The sanctuary is located right behind the entrance. I think we can go straight in. The problem is to find the door to the basement once we get in the sanctuary, and also if we can defeat the priest's waiting for us."

They looked at each other and nodded. With a plan set, the only thing left to do was to enter.

They passed through the entrance and went straight for the sanctuary. It's likely the enemy was already aware of their presence but there was no going back. With that, they opened the door and stepped inside the sanctuary.

It looked like what you would expect of a ordinary sanctuary. There is an altar and long chairs, the candle lights and the interior lamps lit the sanctuary. The only thing that stood out was the statue of the person on the cross. It has its head destroyed.

What a bunch of crazy bastards indeed.

CLAP! CLAP! CLAP! CLAP!

Then several claps echoed throughout the sanctuary. A person with medium length blonde hair and red eyes dressed in priest attire suddenly appeared from behind the pillar.

Seeing this person, Ethan distorted in disgust.

"Lucius!" Ethan called out the priest's name in disdain.

"Well, well! Isn't this a wonderful reunion? I'm so emotional!" Lucius said with his usual crazy smile.

"Well, I never met the same Devil twice before! You know, since I'm super strong, I cut Devils into pieces when I first meet them! Once I see them, I cut them up on the spot! Haha! That's how I used to live! But since you guys ruined my style, I'm so lost! That's no good~. It's not good to interfere with my lifestyle~! That's why~ I'm going to kill you devil."

After expressing his sadness and joy, Lucius's expression quickly distorted into rage. Therefore,

He brought the western sword and gun from before.

"That sword and gun is troublesome but this time is different. It's 3 against 1, the advantage is in our favour." Ethan thought.

"You came to rescue Wendy, no? And you even brought this lovely ladies with you. Hahaha!"

"Where is she?" Ethan wasn't asking, but demanding and his face wasn't pretty right now.

"there is a hidden stair under that altar. From there you can go to the place where they are performing the ritual." Lucius spilled out the location of the hidden basement by pointing at the altar.

"Huh? Why would he carelessly expose the location?" Ethan could think of three reasons for Lucius's actions.

(1) He was a complete moron

(2) He was confident enough to take us on

(3) The rogue priests wasn't united as a whole and only allied due to common interest.

It's likely the first or the last option.

Then Ethan immediately took action, he lifted up the pews and threw the pews at the Priest! The priest laughed before slicing the pews with his sword.

SWIFT!

Just like that, Kaguya used the speed of an [Assassin] and appeared before the priest in an instant.

GIIN!

There were sparks as Kaguya's daggers clashed with the priest's sword.

BANG! BANG!

Kaguya continued to dodge several bullets of light with incredible speed while continuing to attack his enemy.

"Impressive, you're quite strong for a scumbag."

"Haha! You too! An [Assassin], huh!? What a troublesome opponent." Lucius said with a smile that showed all his teeth.

Then he swung his sword towards Kaguya with a vertical sweep. In the next moment, something unexpected happened.

Kaguya swung her daggers and the priest's sword was completely cut in half.

"Huh?"

The priest was completely bewildered by this development.

Before he could recover, Rose shot out a massive fireball at once.

"Tsk!" Lucius clicked his tongue and jumped out of the way. Lucius was relieved, but Ethan was already waiting for him in his landing spot.

POW!

Before Lucius could react, a fierce fist made contact with his stomach. He was sent flying in the air and landed on a wooden chair.

The priest groaned in pain as he slowly got up and spits a handful of blood onto the ground.

Ethan was surprised the priest was still able to stand up after that attack. Was his attack power lacking? No, that's not it. When he looked closely, he saw the handle of the priest's sword was smashed up.

Did he use it as a shield just before getting punched by me? Ethan thought, a little surprised. He must give it to him, he had fast reaction speed.

"Shit! I'm going to feel that tomorrow. Well, my role in this is over." Lucius mumbled to himself. Since his role was over, it was time for him to run. After all, he still had plans so he couldn't be caught here. Therefore,

"Well, Is this what you call a crisis? Hmm, for me, getting killed here is a no-no so I feel like retreating. it's a shame I can't kill you guys but I also can't die here, so I have to go and FUCK YOU!!" The priest flashed his middle finger and threw something on the floor.

Instantly, their eyes are blinded with a shining light. After the light cleared, the priest was already gone. The priest has vanished without leaving a trace.

"…He escaped." Ethan said with a slight frown

Without any time to waste, Ethan, Rose and Kaguya nodded at each other and went towards the altar's hidden stairs.