Chapter 135: Plot in the Shadows

–

*BAM*

"Gah!"

A huge noise was made when Kokabiel's body hit the solid-looking ward, making the Fallen-Angel let out a yell of pain together with a mouthful of blood. Looking like he was almost unconscious already, Kokabiel slowly fell to the ground, making a big 'thud' sound when he hit it and raised a small could of dust.

Two seconds later, a black shape flew out of the cloud of dust in high velocity and stopped at the same high that Erik was. It was Kokabiel, of course. The vampire ripoff had a hand on his side, in the exact spot where Erik's kick had hit him.

"You!"

Kokabiel exclaimed to Erik while the hate in his eyes intensified.

"Yes?"

Erik replied innocently. He then raised his hand and pointed at kokabiel.

"You have something in the corner of your mouth… On the right side."

Erik said in a mock-serious tone. Kokabiel, who was going to say something to Erik, stopped at that comment and wiped his hand at the corner of his mouth. He then raised said hand and looked at it when he felt that he had indeed wiped something from there. It was blood. His blood. The vision of his blood being shed by the 'worm' in front of him made the rage inside him reach new heights. It was so tremendous that if his eyes were not already red-colored, they would have become after that. At that, Kokabiel looked at Erik and started to freely release his aura without the minimum care if his fight would be detected by other factions or pantheons. The only thing in his head at this exact moment was to kill Erik Ravenclaw.

Erik looked at the Fallen-Angel's try at intimidation and thought that it was… cute. It would have maybe worked if Erik was on a level of power under Kokabiel's, which was Ultimate class, but for Kokabiel's luck, Erik was way beyond it.

"He He He He. Now you see who you have offended. You are so shocked that you can't even say anything. Don't worry, I, the great Kokabiel, will erase you from this world."

Kokabiel said in a cocky manner. And Erik was indeed shocked, but not for the reason that Kokabiel pointed. He was shocked by the level of intelligence being demonstrated by a being that was supposedly thousands of years old. In another sudden burst of speed, Kokabiel launched himself at Erik again while creating another light sword in his hands. Erik just sighed at that.

*sigh*

Erik, again, effortlessly grabbed Kokabiel's sword, stopping the Fallen-Angel's attack completely.

"You certainly are not the sharpest tool on the shed, are you? I already told you, that I am the one who is going to do the trashing here. But don't worry, I said to Azazel that I would not kill you."

Erik said to the shocked Kokabiel, who was looking directly at the point where his sword of light, the same skill that had granted him so many kills at so many battles, was being held by a 'barehanded' human. Kokabiel then looked at Erik when he mentioned Azazel's name and made mention to say something but was rudely interrupted by another roundhouse kick hitting the other side of his body. And, again, Kokabiel's body was launched like a cannonball, hitting the solid-looking ward of the house again. Finally, the second hit seemed to shake something inside Kokabiel's brain because the Fallen-Angel saw that he had no chance of going against Erik and decided on the better strategy that would lead him to the less painful way. Kokabiel decided to flee the battlefield. Still inside the cloud of dust created by the second impact of his body to the ground, Kokabiel started to cast his transportation spell, lighting the ground around him with a dirt yellow magic circle. But before the circle could even be half charged, he heard the voice of the human that would haunt his dreams for some time.

"Oh no, you won't. I said that I would trash you, and trash I will."

Erik said and snapped his fingers.

*SNAP*

That snap sound echoed loudly in Kokabiel's ears and, to his horror, the magic circle of his transportation spell started to flicker and crumble, canceling the casting. At the same time, the dust started to settle again and Kokabiel saw Erik's figure floating some centimeters of the ground just some meters away from him. The smile on Erik's face was sending shivers down the spine of the seasoned Fallen-Angel.

"Don't worry, I already told you that I will send your body back to Grigori with life. You will be broken, but alive. Of that, I can assure you. Punny Fallen~"

Erik said to Kokabiel, making the Fallen-Angel start to scream like a scared little girl.

–

Three hours later, a team of scouts was checking the coordinates sent to them by Azazel again. Their boss had asked them to keep an eye and rescue the Fallen-Angel that would arrive very hurt at that location. But what they encountered was not anything that could ever resemble a Fallen-Angel. What they encountered was a mass of purple meat that vaguely had a humanoid shape to it if one took into consideration that a humanoid could have four elbows in each arm, three knees in each leg, and could bend them in some angles that looked very painful. Zealous as the group of scouts were to accomplish their orders, two of the five members of the group cast their identification spells. The spell was something invented by Azazel to identify people who belonged to Grigori without a shadow of a doubt. It was very useful in situations where sabotage could be done by people disguised as Grigori members. The results of the spell shocked both Fallen-Angels. They were so shocked about it that they had re-cast the spell another two times each. One of them gulped loudly.

"Are you getting the same result as I?"

One asked the other, getting the attention of the rest of the group too.

"If you are getting the result saying that this mass of purple skin is Lord Kokabiel, then I am."

The other said, shocking the other three members of the group who had not cast the spells.

"Is he even alive?"

One of the three asked, making one of the two who had cast the spell nod his head in confirmation.

"Incredible enough, yes. Whoever did this was careful enough to not rupture major organs while at the same time breaking almost every bone in his body."

The Fallen-Angel replied, making all the others 'gulp' at the thought of someone being capable of doing something like that to a Fallen-Angel as powerful as Kokabiel. Whoever did that, would sure be a monster on his own. After that, the group cautiously lifted Kokabiel's body to a special gurney and teleported him to the medical facilities of their Headquarters.

–

Back at his home, Erik had a satisfied smile on his face and had just sent Kokabiel's broken body to the agreed location. He had not let go like that in a long time. But, as he walked back inside his house, Erik started to think about Kokabiel's initial words. Someone had pointed the Fallen-Angel to him. Someone had pointed Kokabiel to his house. Erik had no doubts that whoever did that already knew that Kokabiel would not be enough to face Erik. The Fallen-Angel was just bait for him. But for what reason, he didn't know, yet. Maybe someone wanted to verify Erik's strength, or even verify Erik's house's protections strength. Erik didn't know which one was the true objective of this 'experiment', but he would certainly discover the perpetrator. The 'spies' that Erik had planted in Kokabiel's body would make sure of that.

For now, Erik had to warn his wives to take care when they were not at home because whoever did this, would try again since they didn't manage to get any data due to the sneaky wards that Erik raised before the trashing of Kokabiel began.

Maybe it was time for Erik to start his next great project, the creation of his own dimension.

–

In a dim-lit room in an unknown location, two figures could be seen kneeling on the ground in front of four throne-like chairs, which had three of the four occupied by three figures that were hidden in the shadows of the room.

"Are you saying to us that you got no information whatsoever?"

A male voice asked the two who were kneeling.

"Yes, my Satan. Someone raised some kind of powerful barrier that blocked our vision and monitoring spells on the place, blocking any information that we could possibly gather."

The man replied, earning some kind of growl coming from one of the three hidden figures.

"But we did just get some intriguing news from our spies on Grigori."

The other kneeling figure said in a hurried and fearful tone.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Spit it out."

Another male voice coming from the thrones said after a time of silence in the room.

"Yes, my Satan. Our spy reported that Kokabiel was admitted with a hurry to the medical facilities of Grigori's Headquarters. Apparently, they had some initial difficulty in identifying the crow due to the extensive bruises that he had all over his body. The healers there estimate that it will take him months to fully recover physically from the beating that he had taken."

The man said. Taking into consideration the timing, they could be a hundred percent sure that the one responsible for the beating was Erik Ravenclaw. There was no way that it could have been another person.

"Leave us."

A female voice said while coming from the thrones, making the two kneeling figures hurriedly retreat from the room, leaving the three figures alone to discuss their next steps and plot their 'revenge'.

–

China's Sea

July 1820

–

Erik had put Helena's Revenge to sail. This time, he was accompanying Serafall in an expedition to find another possible candidate for her peerage. Another pirate to boot. And one that was terrorizing the merchants who sailed through the Chinese Sea. That is the merchants who were not part of Ravens' Mercantile Group, of course. Together with them was Serafall other peerage members, together with Joan and Calypso. Mary and Anne, the two seasoned sailors of the team were marveled at the speed at which Helena's Revenge sailed and by the construction of the yacht itself. They had never imagined that a boat made entirely out of metal could stay afloat and move so fast. For Musashi, sailing was a new and exciting experience that she was eager to soak in.

As they followed some clues about the area that this pirate Queen and her crew used to do her attacks, the more seasoned people on board started to notice the presence of various shadows hidden by the mist of the morning.

"They are boats. Dozens of boats. They are using the Sea's mist to move around inconspicuously. Let me take care of this mist."

Erik said to the ones who didn't have noticed it yet. He then raised his hand quickly while doing a fan motion. Soon enough, a medium breeze started to blow and two minutes later the mist had been almost completely dissipated. And now, Erik and the other could see more clearly the dozens of boats that were not hidden anymore by the dense mist. Everyone on Helena's Revenge was shocked not to say another word. But not by the number of boats, but by the condition that they were together with the people manning them. Calling most of them 'boats' would be some kind of praise to them. They were more like pieces of wood put together with the objective to stay afloat. And the people manning them would vary greatly. Men, women, old, new. The diversity of people making the sailor of the ships was enormous.

But one thing that all boats had in common was the flag that they all sported. The flag which symbolized their part in the Pirate Queen's fleet. Their part as Ching Shih's fleet.

-------------