Nemesis of Hell and Evil

Chapter 5: Bright Minds Unite

Light pierces the curtains of the room, forcing my body awake. I get up and sit on the edge of my bed, instantly noticing how better my arm feels since yesterday. I remove the quote-on-quote cast and find my hand nearly recovered but exerting it too much again would suffice to say have much bigger consequences the next time I do.

I stand up and walk out of the room, headed for Grant's meeting room. I'm not about to miss out on this meeting which is supposed to start shortly.

There are a few people there already, my Captain included. I don't know many of these people, but they all know me, be that a bad thing or not.

"Ah, you came after all," my Captain says once I walk up to him. "How's your arm?" he asks.

"Much better. It was worth the wing," I respond and cross my arms. "Did you give a briefing about our mission already?"

"The important information, yes. We didn't have time for a more in-depth report, though."

"Speaking of that, I had a question for you."

Something that lingers in my mind ever since it happened...

He looks at me with a confused expression.

"What is it?"

"When I was fighting with Abaddon, you told me not to pierce him with my blade. Why did you tell me to stop then? After what he did?"

He shifts in place uncomfortably.

"I—"

"It was on my order," says the voice of a man behind me.

I turn around and see Grant standing by the door. The main host has arrived at last, but I'm currently wondering why he would order my Captain to do what he did.

"Enlighten me, what was your reasoning behind sparing that creature my blade?" I ask.

Grant notions to everyone as we gather around the main table of tactical operations.

"After yesterday, we now know demons are not simply invading us. Thanks to the mission that was undergone by t captain of our task force and Nemesis, we now know they too have generals and leaders. So far, we've learnt of Astaroth and Abaddon, the latter resembling more of an angel that's fallen from grace."

I still await an answer to my question which he notices.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I fear you know what this means. If demons have generals who command them, everything becomes a lot more complicated. If they can strategize just as well or even better than us, the danger multiplier exponentially increases. The only advantage we stand to gain from his development is that if we manage to defeat the commanders of demons, perhaps the lower ranks will fall apart, to which I propose we shift our focus to them."

"To which I propose a counterproposal. Just how do we defeat them if we don't even know the extent of their powers? After yesterday, it should be clear a small squad of us can't simply overpower them," I weigh in.

"Right. I thought we could—and take this with a grain of salt—make some strong allies of our own. For a moment I considered we could attempt at initiating dialogue with Abaddon—"

"That was your first thought after discovering Abaddon's existence?" I ask sternly.

"Not just mine. The foes we face are as you said too powerful for us to take head-on ourselves, and every hand on our side would be of great help," Grant responds and sighs promptly. "Although, I now know that thought was foolish after what Abaddon's done."

"Even so, I doubt he'd give us anything less than his contempt by now anyway. What's the status on Earth?" my Captain asks.

Grant nods and brings up a holographic image of Earth on the high-tech table with a mere few clicks and swipes.