Ramenos Block

Ramenos Block was close to the city center saturated with nice apartments and high-end condos. It wasn't quite Goldhart road but still a respectable place to live and a favored spot among merchants and businessmen and women. Usually, it was alive and thriving during all hours of the day with bustling streets, malls, arcades, movie theaters, bars and more. But on this particular evening when twilight had already swept across the sky, a section of the city was sectioned off and evacuated. Any hopes of quietly dealing with the situation were tossed out the window when, not one, but two demons broke out from what appeared to a cozy, ideal, Adrosian home.

Now, the entire street was sectioned off with yellow tape and with vigilant knights and priests standing guard. Citizens and reporters swarmed around the parameters of the warded area, curious and excited by all the buzz. On the other side of the tape, black vehicles lined the street with the Knight's insignia in glistening silver on their shiny metal bodies.

In one of those large black, Knight's vans, a small group of knights including the High Paladin himself watched the surveillance screens of camera footage of magicite powered drones they sent inside the once-home of a wealthy merchant. Two out of the five drones were already commissioned, the last three crawled painfully slow around the edifice to get as much visual intel on their foe as possible.

"Is there anywhere to get a better view of the hallway behind the kitchen? According to the blueprint of this place, there should be two other small rooms behind there, and a bathroom." Gabriel leaned over the cramped space, where the operator sat behind the controls and screen.

Svorn gave him an awkward smile with narrowed eyes, "That one isn't budging from the kitchen corner, I doubt I can sneak past it. Please understand sir, this equipment is quite expensive."

While annoyed, he wasn't in the mood to engage Svorn in yet another argument so he backed away, instead he turned his attention to a figure slumped in the corner of the van. He waited for Kline to stir. Slowly, his head rolled around his shoulders snaking upwards, blinking away heavy lids.

"Did you get anything Kline?" Gabriel inquired.

The brunette clicked his tongue, looking away as though annoyed. "It's fucking hard, tracking demons you know. Hard to get a feel for earth magic through my shadows. But yeah I got something."

Gabriel nodded, encouraging him to continue.

"There's at least two lurking around upstairs, that desire demon we saw in the surveillance and something else, it was kind of murky so I'd wager it's a sorrow-class. Or maybe just a spirit. There were also those other two desire demons we saw downstairs, the one chilling in the living room and the other stalking the hallway to the kitchen. I think that one felt me, I felt fucking sick and tired when my shadow was near that thing. It's pretty fucking strong.

"Anyways, out back there was something else, it felt big but I couldn't really put my finger on it. Too big to be a desire demon but too calm to be a wrath one. It was damn weird."

"I see." Gabriel cataloged the valuable information in his mind. The cameras hadn't picked up the extra entity looming upstairs nor given them information about the area behind the kitchen. He mentally reorganized their attack strategy with that in mind.

Two figures stepped into the van. A young priest followed by a Knight's Captain whose name Gabriel could never place. "Reporting." The priest said tersely, giving a knight's salute that made Gabriel raise his brow. "The stragglers have been reined in are purified. We can begin the attack on the main nest."

"The Knights will begin the attack on the main nest," Gabriel corrected as he began to walk out of the van. Kline got up and Svorn followed reluctantly.

"Sir. I assure you we are more than capable of assisting the assault." The priest chased after the High Paladin. There was a circle of priests standing around the offending building, heads bowed and hands clasped together in prayer. The Earth mana mixed together with corrupted mana almost made it nauseating to breathe, still, they had no choice but to endure it.

Clovis was loitering about, looking very busy with a mindless phone game in hand. Gabriel reprimanded him with a kick in behind the shin that earned him a yelp and a sheepish grin. Gabriel ignored him. "This is not a question of competence," Gabriel explained to the priest, "Rather, your energy and resources have been exhausted chasing those stragglers. And I doubt the men and women holding the barrier are at their full capabilities. My team and I are at the ready."

He furrowed his brows but reluctantly conceded, "I see."

If Gabriel were to admit, there was something about the priest's enthusiasm that he enjoyed, "Remain at the ready. Should anything go wrong on the inside, I need you guys to deal with it." He turned to the knight Captain that was still following the priest around. Just what in the world was her name again? "And you too. Have your team on standby."

"Yessir!" They chorused before running off to their stations.

"Uhh, was that really a good idea?" Clovis sighed from the side, toying with the hilt of his sword resting on his hip, "Why do I feel like we're going to need all the help we can get?"

"Don't be a wuss and stop your whining," Kline hissed, which earned him a sheepish chuckle from his friend.

One by one, the priests surrounding the edifice relinquished their power. The thick scent of earthen magic seeped through, something akin to a mixture of honey and compost. Aside from Svorn, Kline and of course Clovis there were three other capable knights that Gabriel had selected for incidents like this. From Norc, the battle-tested veteran, to the overly straight and narrow Pierre who was as hardworking as he was self-righteous. They gathered and busted in through the front door, Gabriel leading in his team.

The entry instantly startled the beast that was loitering in the living room. Desire demons donned appearances much more human-like than their other counterparts. Though much taller than a regular man with twisted horns atop his head and long clawed fingers and a lizard tail, he had a beautiful face and an ever gleeful smile plastered upon its lips. It stood unmoving, blocking their way farther into the house. Roots and flowers began to grow at its feet.

Sparks danced to intercept the barbed branches that reached out towards the knights like daggers. "I'll take care of this one," Svorn smirked as he leaped towards the demon with his rapier. "Please consider me for a promotion, ok? Oh, and do retrieve my drones."

"Norc, Pierre and Jessa go assist him," Gabriel commanded, not allowing one of his own to face these demons on their own. Ignoring Svorn's sharp glare he added, "Make sure you clean up whatever is upstairs after too. Don't let anything slip."

"Yessir," they chorused, some more reluctant than others.

"Guess we're stuck with the Lord High Paladin," Clovis chuckled to a humorless Kline as they followed their leader.