My Soul card is a Reaper

"Captain…" Azzy approached him to check his condition, "No external injuries or internal injuries… Hmm?" He closed his eyes to increase his concentration, exploring the insides of the captain's chest, and studying the condition of the soul orb.

There was a chain over the soul orb, which is created by the world laws, but it remained undamaged. "I can't find any problems. His heartbeat and breathing remained stable. No loss of life force. So, he just fainted?"

"No, look carefully in the head section, Azrael," The Reaper's voice echoed in his head.

Azzy shifted his attention to the angel's head. He observed the condition of the brain. The Angel's brain is different from a human's. It was smooth and uniform— a pale, lump without partitions, ridges, or any sign of complexity. Perhaps, that's why the angels can only see the world in absolutes: good or evil, light or dark.

Or atleast that's what Azzy's thought when he took a good look at Captain Astro's brain.

As his vision pierced into his brain, Azzy then found some kind of black energy tied itself to the glowing vessels running like threads of energy to the rest of the body. The black mass of energy felt ominous at first glance. "What is it? It looked different from mere dark matter," He wondered.

The Reaper replied, "It's called the seed of the fallen."

"The seed of the fallen? What is it?" He asked the Reaper.

The Reaper replied, "It is a power unique to the fallen angels. Long ago, Lucifer used this very thing to turn many angels into his followers, the fallen angels, to rebel against Heaven. However, it depends on the one who conjured it. The stronger the fallen angel, the stronger the seed of the fallen would be."

Azzy: "Ok, but what it does?"

"Well, when the seed of the fallen is implanted into one's brain, it will slowly take over one's heart, turning them into a fallen angel. Their world of light turns to darkness. The things they love earlier will become the object of their hatred. They would go against everything they believe. There are a few ways to remove it. One, the user would have to remove it by themselves through their strong willpower. Two, destroy his soul orb, which would turn him into a mortal and have a high chance of becoming a cripple too. And three, use divinity to expel it from his brain. But, one has to be careful. A slight misjudgment turns him into brain-dead.

Now, you have a choice, Azrael.

If you leave him to fight his own fate, you could still do your mission and meet Claire as you planned. But, if you interfere in his fate and use your divinity, you will surely bring the watchers hunting you down. So far, the reason you are not being threatened is that the matter is related to Thanatos only, and he likely had decided to handle the matter himself, fearing the loss of his reputation among the Olympian gods."

Azzy silently stared at the man for a while. He doesn't know Astro much. They didn't even talk together once. He doesn't have any reason to help him.

Moreover, his logic tells him that Astro separated himself from them to deal with the enemy all alone and he was merely facing the consequences of his actions.

But, his heart doesn't want him to abandon a victim, not when he had the power to protect him. It is against the principles he grew up with.

After much contemplation, Azzy kneeled once again and put his hand on Astro's head, mumbling, "I'm destined to fight against Olympians sooner or later. I offended them already. One more offense wouldn't mount much. I can afford to wait for an opportunity to meet with Claire. I'm at her academy either way."

"Think once again, Azrael. The situation is a lot more troublesome than you could imagine," The Reaper warns.

Azzy replied firmly, "I have selfish desires, Chronos. I can lie to protect those desires. But, my values are more important to me."

"Divine Healing."

Divinity gushed out of his palms, entering the Angel's head and penetrating his brain. His concentration was at its peak as he slowly removed the black mass of energy without destroying the vessels around it.

Meanwhile, in the mindscape, The Reaper, watching the scene from standing at the edge of the cliff, mumbled to himself, "Good. Azrael still had the light in his heart, even after the darkness was growing rapidly. But will this be light enough when he faces his ultimate enemy, his true identity?"

Back to reality, Azzy returned to the apartment carrying an unconscious Captain Astro on his back and lay him on the bed before returning to the living room and meditating.

He waited until dawn when the angels returned to the residence, informing them about their captain's state.

After a while, they gathered in the living room. And the atmosphere was quite tense, as none talked. Or atleast for Azzy, feeling gazes from all around.

They didn't say anything for a while but Azzy could feel what was on their mind.

In the end, Azzy spoke, "All right, it's my fault. I didn't anticipate the fallen angel would strike elsewhere from a high probable region."

Ramiel responded with a comment, "That's alright, Brother Rael. It's not like we are never supposed to face an entity like a fallen angel."

Aranis added, "And it is not like we expected great things from our investigations either."

Azzy frowned at his comment, "What do you mean?"

Seraphina replied with a question, "Why do you think Captain Astro separated from us?"

Caelith sighed and let out a comment, "I don't want to bring this up."

Aranis also voiced his opinion, "I think Rael should also find out the truth why he was appointed as a leader and why others had no problem following his lead too."

"Hmm? What do you mean? Be specific, Aranis," Azzy looked at him. A theory instantly appeared in his head and he wished to confirm it.

"I will explain." Ramiel patted Azzy's shoulder, gaining his attention. He explained, "In this mission, we had no true role, Rael. This is a tactic of understanding between us and the captain. Whenever he separates himself from us and tells us to investigate, it merely means that we enjoy what this world offers, and he doesn't expect anything from us. If we gather some information, we will just include it in the reports. We had no idea about this world, and you seemed to be more familiar than us."

Before Azzy digests it properly, Aranis added, "Since Captain failed and our presence is known, this mission is as good as dead. We won't be staying here for much longer. We will soon return."

"No, we can't, sweetie," Caelith replied.

"Why?"

Seraphina answered his doubt, "On behalf of our team, he promised a human. Regardless of our mission, we have to live here for three months. Breaking a promise is a grave sin."

"Not really, Sister Seraphina," Azzy replied. "Hmm?" As they looked at Azzy, the latter explained, "I made a deal, not a promise. It is an exchange where I work for her and she provides us with the money. In human terms, a deal doesn't materialize into a promise unless they write a contract."

Ramiel shook his head, "But that human has already provided us the house to live in, Brother Rael. Even if it is a few lumens of time, the connection of Karma formed. We can't leave, atleast not without doing a favor to the human. Moreover, even if we have yet to make the promise "

Aranis scoffed, crossed his arms, and rested against the wall. "Great. We should have stayed back at Josh's house. We moved into this house unnecessarily."

Azzy replied, "We don't have to. I can change the terms in the contract in a way that only I can be employed. The four of you don't have to stay. However, in a way, I promised her safety until her 18th birthday. Whether this involved a deal of exchange or not, it doesn't matter. She cannot die before her 18th birthday under any unnatural causes."

"No, that cannot be possible," Caelith firmly rejects his reply. "We can't leave you here, lad. The fallen angel has already found our presence. It won't be long before he finds us. We have to stick together at all costs."

She then looked at others and added, "Rael cannot abandon his promise to that human and we cannot abandon our teammate. It looks like we have no choice."

Caelith, Ramiel, and Seraphina: "Agreed."

Aranis: "…"

After a while, leaving others at the house, Azzy took a cab to Denver Estate.

With a gate pass he received from Leiza beforehand, he entered the Estate and walked to the main residence after asking around.

All the way, he found at atleast a hundred security personnel who all carried energy cannons or some weapon at their backs.

Azzy ignored them and entered the residence, patiently waiting alone in the Foyer. He closed his eyes.

Roughly two minutes after his entry, a familiar-looking guard came to him and informed him to follow him.

Azzy expected to go to Leiza, but instead, he was taken to an office-type room where a middle-aged man with an eyepatch was sitting there with his leg resting on the other knee, a tablet in his left hand that looked human and the right free hand that looked robotic had a dagger.

As soon as he stepped into the room, the dagger was suddenly shot toward Azzy.

Azzy was only a few meters away but swiftly caught it in time. "Woah…" He let out a yelp of surprise.