Smiling God

"It's late now," Luka stood up and patted on Ana's shoulder. "We should go."

"Yeah, we should," Ana and Liz stood up and looked at Tero and Rina, "Let's meet again sometime."

Tero and Rina dropped them till the cemetery gate and bid them the final farewell.

Luka glanced around and looked up and the sky. "It's too late,"

Luka turned to ANa, then looked at Liz and said, "Liz, you should stay at Ana's house tonight. It's too dangerous for you to go alone at night."

"Are you sure?" Liz glanced at Ana, and Ana nodded in agreement.

"Yes, there is no school tomorrow anyway," Ana stated.

The Day 6th of July was the day when the demon apocalypse happened. On that day, there was a public holiday in the name of those who sacrificed themselves to protect the country. And Luka was born on that day.

Luka walked with Ana on his right and Liz on his left. He grabbed Ana's hand and then held Liz's hand.

"And I can talk to your parents if you want me to," It was natural for any parents to get worried for their child if they weren't home until late at night.

Luka and Ana had already informed their parents, but Liz didn't.

Liz shook her head and denied, "There is no need to."

One a far away building, someone wearing a mask was standing there and looking at Luka.

"So he is the one, huh?" it was a male's voice.

"Yeah," said the female voice.

"That's him." sounded the male voice.

Two more figures wearing masks appeared out of nowhere and stood beside the man.

"Don't just pop out of nowhere," the man commented.

"You should be able to sense us anyway." Two more figures wearing masks appeared out of nowhere.

The man looked at the two figures and said, "Did you find anything?"

"Nope," the girl's voice replied.

"Not a thing." answered another girl.

"We are here." three more figures jumped and stood beside them.

There were a total of eight of them, and all of them were wearing masks. Out of the eight, five were girls, and three were males— and all of them were looking at Luka, who was walking with Ana and Liz.

"I can't believe that's 'him'," said one of the men.

"None of us can. I never knew 'he' could laugh like that." said the girl.

"He is not 'him'! So stop referring to that kid as 'him'!" one of the men yelled.

The man standing in the middle tapped on the man— who just said that, and spoke, "Keep your voice down, Mike. We are already aware of that. We know that kid is not 'him'."

"I hate him! I really really hate him! Why did he have to die for us? Why did he sacrifice himself to protect us?!" Mike yelled.

"We all want to know the same thing, Mike," one of the girls said.

"Anyway," The man sighed and raised his sword— and all the other did the same.

They all had the same sword with a white sheath and three stripes on it.

"Did you find 'his' sword?" the man asked.

Two girls shook their heads and said, "We couldn't find it."

"What about the princess? Did you find her whereabouts? We sensed her powers from this town, so she should be here."

Mike shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, "I couldn't. She has been on the run ever since 'he' died. I have no idea why she disappeared like that."

"Maybe to find 'his' reincarnation? Just like we are looking for both of them?" said the girl who had been quiet all the time.

"It's been hundreds of years since he died, and we didn't even know he was reincarnated until a month ago."

"Stop!" Mike shouted. "Stop calling that kid 'his' reincarnation. You already know that something like reincarnation is impossible!"

"That is certainly true. That kid is not 'his' reincarnation, but he smells like 'him', and I sense 'him' from that kid. Even if that kid is not 'his' reincarnation, he has 'his' powers."

All of them sighed and shook their heads. "I can't believe that kid is our master now."

They all then looked at Luka again and saw Ana and Liz clinging to him.

"And he got new lovers too." another girl commented.

"Princess would be mad if she gets to know this."

"He was merciless and ruthless. He showed no emotions or feelings. He was feared everywhere and brought calamity wherever he set his foot. He was the definition of destruction itself."

"And here he is smiling," the girl added.

"Whatever it is, one day, his powers will awaken, and so will his true self." the man said as he turned around.

"Our god must return." the girl turned around.

"This world needs cleansing," another girl uttered as she turned around.

"Humans are fools, and exorcists are foolish,"

"Why worry when it all will end soon?"

One by one, everyone was turning around.

"I wonder what will happen when he awakens. Would he leave his present behind and become what he was once in the past?"

"Or would he just destroy everything— once for all."

"Whatever it is, he is our god, and we are his true exorcists."

All of them disappeared into thin air as their voice faded away.

When Luka reached home, the first thing he did was to check up on Lily.

Luka stood in front of her door and knocked, but she didn't reply. "It's late now, so she must be sleeping."

Luka turned the handle and opened the door, only to see an empty room.

"Where did she go?"

Luka checked his room, but she wasn't there. He went downstairs to check the living room and the kitchen, but she wasn't there either.

"Maybe she is in the bathroom?" he wondered.

Luka walked towards the bathroom and saw the lights were off. 'She isn't here either.'

Luka was freaking out as he couldn't find Lily anywhere.

Luka was about to inform his parents— but, suddenly, he heard a splashing sound coming from the bathroom.

Without knocking, Luka opened the door to see Lily was bathing. And as soon as he opened the door, Lily covered herself with the towel.

"Luka, you were awake?" Lily asked.

Lily didn't know Luka wasn't home, and she thought everyone else was asleep.

"What is going on?" Luk asked with a serious look on his face.

"What are you talking about?"

Luka snatched the towel from her, and Lily tried to cover her body with her hands.

"What is going on?" Luka yelled.

Luka wasn't looking at Lily's naked body— not in the slightest, but he was looking at the strange marks all over her body.

"This is..." Lily gulped down.

"Since when?"

"..." LIly was afraid to speak anything.

"Since when?" He yelled

"From a week," she answered meekly.

There were strange black marks all over her body. Those marks were the side effect of overusing the powers.

Magic is the key to defeating monsters and impurities, but if used too much— their body would be damaged, resulting in permanent paralysis.

"Didn't I tell you not to force yourself?" Luka confronted.

"I… I… I want to help you," Lily stuttered.

"Help me? By killing yourself?" Lily had never seen Luka this angry before.

"I want to be like you. I want to stand equal to you" Lily was so sacred that she was about to burst into tears.

"Who said you need to be equal to me?"

"I want to become a great exorcist like you" Even though he was magicless, Lily had always admired Luka.

"Who said I am great?"

Lily rushed to Luka and hugged him. "I love you!"

Luka gritted his teeth and pushed Lily on the side." I am done with this!"

Luka threw the towel at Lily and went out of the bathroom.

"Luka, wait!" Lily followed him as she covered herself with the towel.

Luka dashed into Lily's room and searched her tag, then took out her exorcist badge.

Lily entered the room and saw Luka holding her exorcist badge. "What are you going to do with this?"

Luka glared at Lily and took out his sword from his sheath.

"No, please don't do that," Lily begged Luka as she tried to stop him.

Luka pushed her on the bed, then tossed her exorcist badge in the air and cut it down in pieces.

If the badge of any exorcist is lost or damaged, they need to wait for three years to get a new one.

"No!" Lily sniffed as tears rolled down her cheeks. Why did you do that?"

Luka put his sword back in his sheath and turned around, "I will not allow you to become an exorcist anymore," then left the room.