Ultimatum

In a discreet low-light office, a formally suited man was packing his things. His orange tie dangled over a box he'd bent over to pick up. But before he could, he was interrupted by the sound of a notification that came from his computer. He went over to check it out.

"Peter...?" The man was confused. It was a message from Peter Stephens, the individual who would have been CEO of Initiate Co. had he not been blinded by the Pactolus Airlines incident. The man found himself slightly tense seeing this. He was after all the next in line as CEO for Initiate Co.

"This better not involve revoking my position or anything…"

The man clicked on the notification which led him to a group chat filled with others. Among the individuals were countless names of ministers in the Cardinal Nexus such as Harrison, and himself, Uriel.

Peter had sent a simple text message greeting; "A tune I worked on for the Halloween season while in rehabilitation. You could call it braille music, lol." And with it included an MP3. file, of what seemed to be a minute of audio.

"Aren't you blind Peter? How did you text this…?" Curious, Uriel opened the file and listened to the tune. It was a simple melody that played one note in a consecutive rhythm. The way it was played almost sounded like the song was making a beat off its melody.

"What is this?" Uriel continued to listen. As he did, other ministers in the group chat replied with confusion to the sudden text message.

"Why are you contacting us Peter?"

"Why are all the ministers in here? How did you get all our numbers Peter?"

They continued to question, but Peter didn't reply. He'd said his first and last message along with the tune sent. Seemingly annoyed, the ministers in the group chat began leaving one after the other.

"Why…?" Uriel was brought back to think. As the tune played in the background, he couldn't help but imagine the possible resentment Peter held towards him. If only Peter weren't blind, maybe Uriel wouldn't be moving out of the Cardinal Nexus that very day to take ownership of Initiate Co. It'd been two weeks since he gave his resignation notice, and he therefore officially quit the government just the day before. He was now packing the things in his office to transport over to his new position at Initiate Co.—a place where he could reach new standards and claim new possibilities with his top position and distanced power.

"Finally…" Uriel clenched his palm. "We can finally start making moves. It's been nearly a century…" But as his mind settled with satisfaction, tension struck once again. He realized something was completely off about the tune that continuously played. So he listened again.

There was a single note that played in a sequence, repeating constantly until the one minute was up. Once the tune was done, Uriel finally registered what had gone over the rest of the minister's heads.

"Is this morse code…?"

With panicking curiosity, Uriel sat at his computer and began typing out the sequence of notes that played in the tune. It came out to:

...-- / .- -. --. . .-.. ... --..-- / ..--- / ... . .-. .- .--. .... .. -- --..-- / .---- / -.-. .... . .-. ..- -... .. -- .-.-.-

"What does this mean?" Uriel organized the code and began applying letters. He translated the code on his computer to proper words, and it now read:

[ 3 ANGELS, 2 SERAPHIM, 1 CHERUBIM. ]

"What the—?!" Uriel gasped. "That's the lineup Michael had just sent to Pactolus District the other day… Why would Peter know this?!"

Noticing that he was the only minister that remained in the group chat, Uriel began typing. "Peter," he texted.

There was no reply.

"Peter, hello?"

Still, no reply.

"How the fuck does he know about the Angels? There's no way it's a coincidence, right?" Uriel scratched his neck with frustration. That's when it hit him. Peter was blind. How could he know how many there were of each infantry unit, and which ones they were, if he couldn't even see? Uriel knew what was going on.

"Who is this?" He texted the chat. "I know you aren't Peter Stephens."

No reply.

Frustrated to a point of no return, Uriel exposed the message.

"3 ANGELS, 2 SERAPHIM, 1 CHERUBIM." He texted.

"Found you." Peter finally texted back. Though it was clear this was not in fact Peter.

"What do you mean 'found you'?" Uriel began texting. "Who is this? You are clearly not Peter."

"And you are clearly not just a minister in the government, are you?" The unknown messenger texted back.

"Not anymore. I will be CEO of Initiate Co. starting tomorrow, and you should know that if you knew Peter Stephens."

"I did know that, and I do know Peter Stephens. In fact, you should be thanking me for providing you the opportunity at your position as CEO of Initiate Co."

This struck Uriel with oddity. "Providing me with the position? I applied for it myself and achieved it myself. No one aided in helping me attain that goal."

"Sure, no one did. But you were only able to retrieve that position because someone else's placement dropped."

Uriel scrunched his eyebrows. "Are you saying that you had something to do with Peter's downfall?"

"I wonder."

The vagueness annoyed Uriel. "I'm going to ask again. Who is this?"

"Someone who has been looking for you, for a very long time, Minister Uriel."

"State your identity this instant!"

"You seem to be quite panicked, Uriel. As a minister in the Cardinal Nexus, you aren't following proper protocol of ignoring anonymous messengers such as myself. There must be something keeping you here. What is that?"

Uriel felt his neck itch once more. "Who the hell are you? What do you want?"

"I want to understand the realm of white you reside in."

Uriel scratched his neck.

"You know what I'm talking about."

"Tsk!" Uriel was beginning to lose hold of his composure.

"I know what bigger image you are part of, Uriel. I can probably even assume you are one of 'them'."

"Them?"

"Raphael, Chamuel, Jophiel… Any of those names ring a bell?"

"—?!" Uriel was struck with panic. "Who are you and how do you know about A.X.A.? Who the hell are you?!"

"You could say I was brought up in A.X.A."

Uriel's eyes grew wide.

"I am the Sin of Greed."

This caught him by surprise. "A Sin?!" Uriel began typing erratically. "How do I know you're a Sin? Why would a Sin be contacting the Cardinal Nexus if we're the ones searching for you?"

"You know I'm a Sin because no one else would be able to identify the infantry units you'd sent to Pactolus District the other day."

Uriel was brought to think about the morse code once again.

[ 3 ANGELS, 2 SERAPHIM, 1 CHERUBIM ]

"And I correct you on the second statement. I am not contacting the Cardinal Nexus. I am contacting you specifically."

"Why me?"

"Because I know you're from A.X.A., Uriel. Chamuel made the mistake of providing me the hints. And you were the one that provided Chamuel his teaching permit for Education in Pactolus District. I know more than you think."

Uriel slowly felt himself descending in sanity. In his near 100 years of concealing his identity, no one had ever come this far in exposing his position. Seeing how an unknown identity behind text messages was already unfolding his secrets, he was provoked to panic. But before he could strike back with messages of his own, the Sin of Greed continued to speak.

"Before you think about, don't even try backtracking these messages to expose my position or identity. You will only be led to the IP address of Peter Stephens' rehabilitation facility. This is being done from his phone without his knowledge. He can't see after all."

"How are you doing this? You have access to technology this advanced?"

"I didn't, but I took that absence into my own hands."

Uriel was dumbfounded by the constant revelations by this enemy.

"And if you try to pull anything against me off of this cyber approach, let me remind you that I have full knowledge of A.X.A.'s technology, military power, and whereabouts. I can easily bring light to your organization's doings, and bring about its utter destruction and downfall. Do not test me, for I have more knowledge on everything A.X.A. is associated with than you may think."

"Then what do you want? What was your purpose of contacting me specifically?"

The presence on the other side of the text messages grinned.

"I want you to provide me the knowledge on A.X.A.'s origins. What is the purpose behind all your kidnappings, memory wipings, and power inducements? What is your mission statement? Where did all your highly advanced technology come from? And tell me Uriel, what is the 'Moon'?"

"The Moon?"

"Yes. Blood Moon. The history of a bright sphere that once roamed the sky, yet its existence has been completely wiped out of history itself. Why is that? What is it? I assume A.X.A. is somehow associated with it, because why else would the mysterious Overseer Chamuel have known about it?"

"Shit… What the fuck did you do Chamuel?" Uriel heaved under his breath. There was too much coming to light that he'd kept in dark for so many years.

"If you can't tell by now, I am one of Chamuel's experimentees. But I'll also inform you that he has already died by my and my comrade's hands. We are a bigger threat than you think."

"No." Uriel finally texted back with confidence. "That's not true. You didn't kill him. Chamuel is alive."

"I did kill him. Me and Pride did. We watched his brain splatter before our very own eyes, therefore he must have been revived with... a Trinity Gem, right? What a nuisance of a product, yet ultimately fascinating. Materials like that don't exist up here on the surface, yet they do in A.X.A.'s facility... Do you understand me now? You are all hiding something, and this is exactly what I seek. The answers to your mysteries."

Uriel was losing it. He didn't know what to do. He'd always been in a position of power, but for the first time in a long time, he was at a disadvantage. He knew the risk in allowing this individual to expose him. If Uriel's position was exposed, then the power he'd built in the last century while remaining unidentified would be all for naught. If A.X.A. was exposed, then their century-long mission of revenge would fall apart in an instant.

"Fine." Uriel gritted his teeth. He texted back. "I'll satisfy your needs."

"Good."

But Uriel wasn't finished. "Only if you satisfy mine as well."

The other user didn't reply.

"I'm forming an ultimatum. Keep up your end of the deal, and I'll give you what you want, Sin of Greed."

"What do you want then, Uriel?"

He thought about it, taking everything into consideration. What did he want? What did A.X.A. want? Or rather, what did A.X.A. need? A.X.A. was not a democracy anymore. It now consisted of one main imposed power: Overseer Michael. Therefore, what did Michael want? In Uriel's many years of knowing him, he's seen the man grow power-hungry. Hence, why he gave up his wings in exchange for Uriel's Blade of Retribution.

"What could I gain from a Sin that would satisfy Michael and his lead with A.X.A…?" Uriel thought about it himself. He was then brought to think about Azrael, the strongest Overseer among them. He was an Angel of Death that always followed through with Michael's instructions.

"A super soldier…" Uriel was brought the realization. "Michael would want another super soldier, wouldn't he? Another individual with great power to bring to his side, along with us four remaining Overseers at A.X.A…"

Knowing he was talking to a Sin, Uriel was now reminded of the Forbidden Document—a document highlighting all the capabilities of each of the Seven Sins. But there was one section of abilities that stood out to him the most.

"The Sin of Wrath…"

Uriel now understood what A.X.A. needed in order to continue pushing forward with its ideals. "A hierarchy of power… must always start with power…"

He began typing once more to the group chat. "Bring me the individual embodied as the Sin of Wrath."

"The Sin of Wrath?"

"Yes. Give up the Sin of Wrath to A.X.A. and I will provide you the knowledge on everything you desire. Only once he is within our control, I will inform you on everything A.X.A. and Moon related."

"Alright, deal."

Uriel was shocked at the willingness. "You're that willing to give up one of your own?"

"Wrath isn't one of my own. He's a rogue Sin from the rest of us. He does not work nor travel alongside us. In fact, his whereabouts to us are unknown."

Uriel suddenly grew doubt.

"Do not underestimate me though. I'll remind you again that you're now CEO of Initiate Co. because of me and my involvement with Peter Stephens. I can do things you wouldn't expect, therefore, I will bring you the Sin of Wrath in given time."

Uriel gulped. He wondered if he was making the right decision, but he finally accepted that he was. What A.X.A. needed was power, and what this greedy individual needed was knowledge. The Sin of Greed needed to fulfill his end otherwise he wouldn't receive his knowledge, and Uriel needed to fulfill his end otherwise he and A.X.A. would most likely be exposed. He was subsequently reminded of this.

"If I provide you the Sin of Wrath and you stand me up, failing to provide me the knowledge I seek, just know that I will have many precautions set in place to expose you and A.X.A. entirely. You are walking on a thin rope here."

Uriel understood that. He was at the disadvantage, because even if the Sin of Greed didn't keep up his end, he'd only be losing his chance at knowledge. If Uriel didn't keep up his end, he'd be losing everything.

"I know. I will fulfill my end, only if you fulfill yours."

"I will."

"I have a question though, Sin of Greed."

"What is it?"

"Why do you want this knowledge on our past so badly?"

"Because I hunger for knowledge involving power. A.X.A. seems to have great power, so I want to understand the knowledge behind it."

"How will knowing these facts benefit you or the rest of the Sins?"

"Exclusive knowledge is the most dangerous weapon known to mankind. I can change the tide on any future enemy with the knowledge you provide me, including A.X.A. itself."

Uriel's suspicion grew. "So you're admitting to me that you may use this information against us in the near future?"

"I may."

"How bold of you to admit. So this is all for the flourishment of the Sins after all."

"Wrong. This is for my own flourishment."

"Your own? What about the rest of the Sins you stand by?"

"I don't stand by them, they stand by me. And as for them, this knowledge isn't even for them to know. It is for me and me only."

This took Uriel by surprise. "Are you saying the rest of your comrades don't even know your true motives?"

"They know them, to an underlying extent. Though they do not know of this relation I've searched to form with A.X.A. and the Cardinal Nexus. They only think that everything I claim is for our assembled fortune. But really, the knowledge you will provide is for me selfishly."

For some reason, this brought Uriel to smirk. He found the motive to be sinister yet reasonable. "What a complicated individual…" He thought to himself.

"I will begin my search for Wrath's whereabouts, and once I've confirmed his position, we can devise a plan to capture him."

"Okay," Uriel replied.

"I'll contact you then, Uriel."

In a blink, the entire chat suddenly disappeared.

"What?!" Uriel was shocked. All that remained in the group chat was the first message sent with the tune attached.

[ Acksa.mp3 ]

Uriel scoffed at the name.