19: Aftermath

The Demon Lord has this ability called Shared Vision. Hence, they became extremely cautious by the emergence of this new Exorcist who was able to subjugate a demon lord so easily.

"James Charter and Jolly Lancer," said Father Rick. "Welcome back."

"Glad to be back Father," bowed Jolly and James followed.

"So how was the quest?" asked Father Rick.

"Lord Bael has been slain."

Father Rick's eyes widened. "What?! Who and how?"

Jolly looked at James.

"James killed him."

Father Rick looked at James.

James looked back at Father Rick.

"Who is this Lord Bael?" asked James.

"Lord Bael is one of the 5 demon lords."

"Oh, I wasn't aware of that. I only one Demon Lord's name which Master Lee ask me to stay away from him."

"Lord Bael was known as the Lord of Greed. He is the greediest monster of them all."

"Father Rick," interrupted Jolly.

"Yes, what is it?"

"The death of Lord Bael may be great news but we are being fooled by him and it resulted in the total annihilation of the entire city."

"Oh my Lord. I never expected such a tragedy to happen again."

"Father Rick, I got this after I killed one of the demons." James passed him the medallion he found.

Father Rick took it from his hand, inspected it and sighed.

"So that's where you have been, Eduardo…" said Father Rick.

"10 years ago, the Holy Church dispatched a group of Exorcists to confront Lord Bael. But we failed miserably and lost many members as a result. One of them is Eduardo which we now know he is dead. And another one is Lorenz which his whereabouts remain unknown to us. But we got to know through the remaining survivors that Lord Bael has more than one form. He shed away each form as his health depletes and we never get to know what his true form looks like."

"Lorenz? Isn't that Master Elion's husband?"

"What?" James turned to look at Jolly.

"Yes, he was. Lorenz left the Holy Church unannounced one day after the incident and we never heard of him ever since. Anyway, now with one of the demon lord dead, the other demon lords will surely start to make a move. James.."

"Yes, Father,"

"I believe you will be their main target. Stay in the Church to hone your skills before we send you out for other missions. You are now considered a valuable asset to the Church. Never have we have a member that could confront a demon lord face to face and came out alive from it. Let alone, you even came out victorious in your battle. The death of Lord Bael will serve as a catalyst to spur the Demon Lords into action. Prepare yourself well for future battles. We don't want to lose you."

"Sure, I will train hard to hone my skills."

"Good to hear. And the same goes for you as well, Jolly. Now, I have to deliver this news to the other masters and ask them to prepare themselves. The Demon Lords will definitely be eager to hunt us down to even out the balances. Its either they kill us first or we kill them. The death of all Demon Lords will mark the end of the existence of demons in the world. May the Lord guide us. You all are dismissed. Great work."

Father Rick left.

Jolly looked at James. He opened his mouth but words didn't come out. He wanted to say something to James but he did not how to put it in words.

"I'm sorry that things turned out this way," said Jolly.

"That's really nothing we can do to change the outcome. We are not Gods. We are humans. We made mistakes. We get fooled. Our eyes only see part of things. It won't be surprising to realized that you are just being played along like puppets on strings. To be honest, I did not know if I can consider this mission as a success."

"Why?" asked Jolly.

"A life of a demon lord in exchange to the life of the entire city. Its an unfair deal. The Demon lord life isn't worth trading with another life at all. But I guess that's how it is."

"Hey, you have been looking pretty down. Want to know one way to look at this outcome differently?" said Jolly.

"How?"

"Do you believe in reincarnation, that our Soul is eternal but our body isn't. So when we died, our physical body might perish but our Soul lived on and will be arranged by God to reborn in this world as deemed fit by Him."

"Yea…heard of it before but never really care about it," said James.

"We sure lived in a hellish world compared to them. We knew the existence of demons and experienced it ourselves but they were ignorant of it. I bet when the whole incident unfolded, they were still celebrating and rejoicing during the festival, completely ignorant of the fate that was installed by them."

"That's one way to look at it."

"But there's another thing. We are Exorcists. Our duty is to purge away those demons from this world so that the world will be cleansed of evil. Hence, we must be focused on purging away the world from this evil so that their Soul can be reborn in a reality that they can celebrate their festivals all day long without needing to worry about their lives. That's' how I look at my role in this world. Which is why all the death I have witnessed thus far will not put me down. Because I know I have to fulfill my duty to create a better world so that their reincarnation will not suffer the same fate as their previous reincarnation. Why not you look at it this way as well James?"

James looked at Jolly. He was wearing the wide smile he always wears. He was smiling. Was he happy or was it just a lie he tells himself. But his face shines a vibrant color as he smiles that could warm a person's soul. James felt a small warmth inside him as he looked at his smile.

"Come on, you should smile too." Jolly approached him and push the corner of his mouth upward to form a smile.

"You look better when you smile, James. Stop being so sulky. Look at the bright future we are creating for them. Who wouldn't be happy at the vision of a peaceful world."

"Stop it," said James as he slapped away Jolly intrusive finger. "You never know when to stop joking."

"There you go, you are finally smiling."

Yes, James is finally smiling. The smile came naturally to him when the thought suddenly clicked in his mind.

"Nothing makes me happier than to see those demons burn away from this world. Yes, the demons do not belong to this world. That is my role in this