The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 283: Choir Boy

Chapter 283: Choir Boy

Approaching Vinam Victoriam was like approaching a dragon. As they did so, the rest of the formation was dismissed to their duties.

The analogy whispered in Rainier’s mind as he quickly remembered much of what he’d found out about the Son of Heaven. After all, to be a master of both war form and magiform meant more power than Rainier could even detect, even at this stage of his development as a mage.

The room seemed to grow darker, even though Vinam remained completely normal in terms of lighting. As if everything was condensing around the man who was as close as one came to finding a King in Heaven...

"Cassiel you honor me, Miss Eros," Vinam greeted as soon as she arrived first. Had he intentionally landed so that would happen? "Ozimaleus, good to meet you at last," he continued.

"You know my name?"

"I like to know everybody who works for me. After all, I can’t show loyalty to my people if I don’t know who they are, haha." He gave Ozzy a patronizing pat on the shoulder before turning to Rainier. "And you, my good boy, look how you’ve grown! I was right to suggest you would be a welcome addition to the Executioners!"

More like ordered it... "It’s good to see you again too, sir." Rain smiled.

"I’m glad to see you’ve taken a liking to Heaven. In fact, I am of the mind that you, if not your family, could be raised from the ranks, with all the merits they’ve accomplished. Full members of House Eros, Elevated to Heaven, what do you think of that?"

Rainier blinked. "Wouldn’t that cause problems with, um, Amrita?"

"Obviously we would leave your brother where he is until they have an heir or two, after which he would have the option to join. All this is just planning for the future, of course. You still have to perform well," Vinam chuckled. "But look at you! You haven’t disappointed me yet!" He clapped both hands on Rainier’s shoulders, eyes travelling along Rain’s godflesh arms and chest. "I shall follow your career with great interest. Now, please excuse me, there are many to meet."

The jovial man who greeted Rain in front of everyone was a far cry from the commanding figure who had demanded Rain’s respect in the Hospital. He maintained that jovial attitude as he greeted each squad member by name.

Cassiel, meanwhile, grew excited. "Did you hear that, Rain? Making you a full member of House Eros?!"

"I... I heard."

"Think of all the things we could do together if you become one! And that speech Vinam gave, maybe he wants to change things for the better, too."

"Yeah, but... we’re helping him build a weapon that we just saw slaughter hundreds of thousands of people."

Cassiel waved a hand dismissively, "Those were invading demons. If there are good ones like you say, then they won’t have to worry as long as they behave. Besides, I think anyone would change their mind about misbehaving if they saw a demonstration. Maybe even without anyone dying!"

"I just..." Rain glanced over at Ozzy who had just started paying attention to their conversation. "We should talk about it later, I guess."

It wasn’t like the Heavenswar stopped even after the slaughter at the Mouth of Hell.

With some reluctance, Rain silently joined the crowd of Executioners.

"When will we be leaving?" a sandy-haired angel with wings the same color asked.

"Well, unless things change, you should all be heading to Ayther with the next perdition. Which is forecasted for -" He looked at the angel who was his assistant. The woman had just arrived, and she was black-haired and winged. She looked like she could be related to Malz... She held up three fingers. "- three days from now," Vinam concluded.

"Three days?!" "Wow." "Oh stars, we need to pack..."

The responses were mixed but universally excited.

Except for Rain’s... because he’d made plans for after those three days.

*

"We should move it up," Malz proposed.

"Why? We can just do it when we come back," Cassie countered.

They were laying in bed together after a shared afternoon of passion - Ozzy having been sent to requisitions to retrieve their basic supplies.

"I don’t have the luxury of convincing anyone else to try out a crazy expedition under the world trees."

"What do you think, Rain?"

Rain pursed his lips and thought. Today the lovemaking had seemed a bit more tense than normal. There were times when he felt that Cassiel wanted to take command while Malz wanted Rain to do the same. As a result, it had become a bit of a contest, the equilibrium of which was hard to maintain. And the results bore out in the slightly dissatisfied look on Malz and Cassiel’s faces... but he couldn’t think about that at present because he needed an answer.

"It was a bit of a long shot, trying to find time for the three of us to go down there... much less search for that demoness," Rain began.

"So you’re giving up?" Malz asked.

"I’m not... seeing any way that we could get away with it. And if something were to happen right before the journey down to Ayther..." Rain let out a small sigh. "What about convincing your teammates?"

"Oh I know they’ll follow me, but those two have histories with demons. Almost all the Elevated do. The last thing I want is for one of my boys to get triggered and start a fight when all we want is information. And we know that demoness has a gun now."

"Even more reason why we need to be prepared before we try something like this," Cassie said. "And besides... what if there’s more than one demon?"

They’d discussed the possibility, but the available evidence didn’t imply either way.

"You think she might have been a scout?" Rain asked.

"At the very least she had a place to go to for safety. I checked the recent archives, and the only demon on record to get to Heaven in the last few centuries was Leviathan. And that was months ago," Malz said. "I don’t like leaving this uninvestigated though."

"Neither do I, Malz, but it could be months or years before we see each other again," Cassie gently rubbed her shoulder.

Malz sighed. "Fine, I guess the three of us checking things out is off. I’ll come up with something before I get my shot at heading to the surface."

It was with great disappointment that Malz learned she was being assigned to Intelligence instead of Operations, where Cassie and Rain were. Unless things really accelerated for her, Malz would be stuck there for at least three years.

"It’s not so bad. We’ll still get to talk, and you can visit us sometimes, right?" Rainier scratched Malz’s back between the wing buds, where she liked it most.

"Yeah but it’s not the same... I-"

"Just got a message Ozzy’s on the way back," Cassie said. "We should get dressed."

With silent agreement, the three of them quickly cleaned themselves with magic before pulling their clothes on.

Rain knew Malz wasn’t a fan of the Executioner’s dress uniform, but at least it was black - her favorite color. Meanwhile, Cassie’s uniform struggled to hold in her bounteous breasts, and Rain swore he heard the last button creak as it was slotted.

For his part, the dress uniform for Elevated was much more combat-ready... on account of being vests instead of the full blouses that angels wore.

When Ozzy returned, it was with three small backpacks, perfectly sized to fit between wings.

"I’ll see you around," Malz said, exiting as he entered.

Ozzy regarded her with a small bow as she passed, before presenting the bags to Cassiel. "We were issued a set of tents, fire-starting equipment, communication badges, halos, and rope."

"Fire starting equipment? Why would we need that? We have magic," Cassiel’s eyebrow rose.

"Monsters," Rain replied before Ozzy could. "Some monsters hunt by mana, so an active source - like someone casting - would draw them to us. The continent is supposed to be uninhabited, right?"

"Except for angelic outposts and the sole colony allowed to the Four Lands, yes," Cassie replied.

"And demons, now that the Perditions linger," Ozzy added.

Demons needing mana at a certain level to live, it was unlikely that any small group would survive long on a continent that was essentially crowded with spirits, monsters, and beings large enough to be called Titans...

"Do you really think there are demons surviving down there?" Cassie asked Ozzy.

"I have seen records of small groups being exterminated when we worked the archives. They are likely to be in high places - mountains and such - but they are there. I am glad we may still play a part in the Heavenswar, even though we are assigned to hunt."

Rain didn’t share Ozzy’s sentiment. He’d long since discarded the notion of glory on Heaven-chosen battlefields. He didn’t know what he would do if he spotted a group of demons, but knowing where Ozzy stood... not knowing where Cassiel really stood...

All he could do was silently pray that he wouldn’t encounter such a dire situation.