US Research Division Omega - Survey File N664

Nexus II
by Black Dragon (black_dragon74@hotmail.com)
https://www.angelfire.com/anime5/fanficlair

Disclaimer: Vote Quimby.

Chapter 9
Enter the Light
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"As you can see Cardinal Risal, everything has been completely prepared for the ceremony, and the reception has already been fully organized. Things should progress with no problems at all. At least, until the main event. At that point, who knows what will happen?"
The tall, blonde elf woman giggled as she led a bearded human through the halls of the grand cathedral, gesturing toward the large, ornate windows toward the construction being finished up outside.
The man, who wore simple yellow robes and carried a thick, ruby-topped staff nodded absently, looking content. "Yes, it would seem you've done your job well. Things should proceed smoothly." He turned away from the windows, glancing at the many doorways on the other side of the hall. "However, I really did want a more complete tour of the cathedral. This may be my only chance to see Taer'Kul, and this cathedral looks so much... DIFFERENT than all the others I've seen. Why, even the lights are different!"
The elven woman nodded somewhat reluctantly, turning away from the work outside. "Yes, well... I find it slightly regrettable myself, but inevitably building a cathedral on Earth realm involved integrated the humans' technology into its design. The lights you see, which would normally be crystals modeled and enchanted to give off light, are glass containers fit over a metal filament. These are plugged into electrical circuits, and give off light." She sighed. "However, they burn out quite often and must be replaced, and the constant drain on electricity is alarming in its inefficiency."
Risal nodded, staring upward. "Perhaps they are inefficient... but effective. It takes five normal crystals to produce that much light, and for a structure of this size, the initial cost would be enormous." He looked back down at a heating vent on the floor. "And I heard that warmth and heat comes out of these slits here, when the temperature is uncomfortable. A far more graceful solution than heating stoves, mana-powered or no."
The woman sighed. "Yes, well, technology has its uses. But the fool architects went too far, trying to replace magical components and affects with technological equivalents. Not to mention that the same machines tend to malfunction whenever we're performing a ceremony of significant power!"
"Now, now, Saima. Control yourself. You must learn to adapt to the cultures you intend to preach to; demeaning their preference for conveniences does nothing but isolate yourself," the cardinal said sagely as he walked down the hall.
The bishop winced and lowered her head. "F-Forgive me, Cardinal. I do not usually make such a fool of myself during lectures; but sometimes I yearn for the purity and sophistication of a proper society."
'Of course, 'proper society' being elf society,' Risal thought to himself. 'Oh well. Can't expect much better from an elf raised in an elven city.'
"But isn't this exciting?" Saima said, deciding to change the subject, "To think, that the fourth avatar should be chosen HERE! Another hero of Malakai, to bless our order with the light!"
"Personally, I don't find it nearly as exciting," the cardinal drawled. "The assignment of a new fourth avatar only follows the death of the old one. I knew Yaaralam personally, and his murder is extremely unfortunate."
Saima sweatdropped, and her eyebrow twitched slightly. 'Geez, I just can't get on this guy's good side...'
"His replacement will likely be young and inexperienced, and it will take time to forge the new avatar into a worthy hero. A process of decades, at very least. And during that time, our order will lose significant ground."
Saima winced, and then sighed. Yaaralam, who had been one of the five avatars that lead the Order of Malakai's crusades across the realms, had been overwhelmed and slain by a Fifth Brotherhood raiding party around a battle front in some far-off realm. Such losses were not irreplaceable, as the Order of Malakai boasted more avatars than any other religious powers (the eight Brotherhoods, for example, only had one each), but it was a severe setback to an organization spread so widely in its efforts.
That the Oracle had predicted the rise of the next avatar here on Earth realm was a surprise to everybody, and the Order of Malakai had significant difficulty preparing. Their foothold on Earth was unusually weak, and as it stood, the Order only had one cathedral built by the time the Oracle's message had reached the proper authorities.
'We would have a stronger presence here on Earth if it weren't for those blasted humans,' Saima thought ruefully, glancing around at the mighty structure around her. By the time that the Order had learned of a mass demonic exodus into a formerly sealed realm and set out to investigate, the Death March was already well under way, and Malakai's paladins and clerics eventually marched out to war only to find human armies stamping out the last shattered remnants of the monster horde. What had been more shocking was the surprisingly cold reception they had gotten from the survivors; rather than employing them and assisting their operations, these humans attempted to control their settlement and restrict access to their cities. It was quite galling for the noble bishops who served the God of Justice, and yet even the Order found itself at the mercy of local weapons.
Risal turned toward a door in the hall and read the sign next to the door. "So this is the library, hm? Do you have a very large collection, yet?"
Once again, an indignant scowl marred Saima's delicate features. "Yes, actually. Unfortunately it's mostly rubbish from this realm. Apparently the humans around here have written a great, great number of books, and some of our priests became too enthralled in acquiring them. While there are some useful tomes on history, and the occasional manual explaining the bizarre gadgets these humans make, a great many are falsified stories about all manners of things intended for the amusement of the reader. A complete waste of time and paper, I assure you, but these fools made it so easy to create a book, it's now impossible to tell a useful tome from a useless one."
"Huh. How odd!" Risal said, honestly intrigued. "For amusement? I'd like to take one or two with me, then. You don't sound like you'd miss them."
The bishop desperately kept from rolling her eyes. 'Geh. Leave it to a human to accept this nonsense.' "You may take as many as you like, of course." She said pleasantly, going ahead and opening the door for the old man. "Though I'm not sure... what... you'd..."
Saima trailed off as she beheld a giant pile of books scattered all over the central tables in the library, which was otherwise empty. Also empty were several shelving units where the books were usually stored, their contents lying haphazardly in the middle of the room.
Risal blinked, and was about to ask about the disarray of the room, when he noticed that Saima's normally pale face had turned an unhealthy shade of red, which complemented her hateful scowl perfectly. 'Hmmm... I'm guessing she already has a culprit in mind...'
"DAMN IT ALL!! KAZE TOREN, WHERE ARE YOU?!?!"
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Elsewhere, seated at a bar located well away from the local cathedrals, a tall man with long, snow white hair suddenly shuddered as he picked up a malevolent psychic shock wave.
"Kaze? You all right, man?"
The white-haired man, who bore several distinct blue marks on his face that resembled slash marks sighed. "I suddenly have the feeling I'm in a lot of trouble."
One of Kaze's two companions, a tough-looking harlock man who bore the leathery blue skin of his species underneath a suit of leather armor chuckled. "Little late for that, aren't you? If a priest of Malakai doesn't want to get in trouble, he shouldn't be ditching his duties so he can gamble in a tavern."
The other man, who was a short wood elf, smirked. "I've said it before, and I'll say it again: You're the worst priest ever."
"Oh, I don't know," Kaze mumbled as he stared at the cards in his hands, "give yourself more credit than that. You're worthy competition, at least. Now are you going to bet, or what?"
The wood elf glared, and dropped several silver pieces on the table. "So what duties did you ditch, exactly, that you suddenly act like Kharak himself is at your back?"
"Just the typical studying and prayer stuff. No big deal. I can pray and study anytime," Kaze mumbled, scratching his chin. "Not that it pleases the bishop. I can't imagine why she'd be very surprised or upset for me ditching prayer, though." He shrugged. "Whatever. There's no pleasing those stupid elves."
The wood elf glared much more hotly this time. "Ahem!"
Kaze blinked. "Oh, right!" Then he slipped a gold coin into the pile. "I raise you."
"That's NOT what I was... oh, forget it," their elven companion mumbled miserably.
The harlock put his money in. "Wasn't there another job you had to do, though?"
"No, not that I recall," Kaze said absently.
The blue-skinned rogue raised an eyebrow. "Oh? So you took care of the mess you caused in the library? Or did you get someone else to do it?"
"........." Kaze turned toward the elf. "Are you going to see my bet, or cop out?"
The elf smirked once again as he put in his money. "You completely forgot, didn't you?"
"Not really. I wasn't listening to a word Saima said when she chewed me out for that. So I plead ignorance."
"Ignorance won't save you this time."

The three men all sweatdropped as a glowing figure stalked up behind Kaze, causing all the other customers and bar maids to scatter out of the way.
"Ah. Bishop Saima. An excellent day, isn't it? Tell me, has the cardinal arrived yet?" Kaze said conversationally while not looking away from his cards. Which wasn't fooling anybody, as sweat had started pouring down his brow.
"Such a... UNIQUE example of our Lord's teachings," the blonde elf said through clenched teeth. "Ransacking the main library searching for books you are not allowed to have. Sneaking off cathedral grounds without permission. Ignoring your duties so that you can gamble in seedy taverns. Now I say to you, in the interest of proper justice, have you anything to say in your defense?"
Kaze nodded somberly. "Yes. Yes, I do." Then he laid down his cards. "I win."
The harlock groaned at the sight of Kaze's full house, and crossed his arms in disgust. The wood elf, however, was still smiling even as Kaze quickly gathered up his money. "Heh. Worst priest EVER."
"And what about YOU?" Saima suddenly said to the other two men, catching them off-guard. "What do you think you're doing? A rogue, I can somewhat understand, but YOU," and this time she pointed directly at the shorter elven man, "what is an elven priest doing gambling with HIM?"
The wood elf raised an eyebrow. "Uh... I'm well aware that the Order of Malakai discourages gambling, but neither my race nor my faith does the same." He tapped the sigil on his cloak that identified him as an acolyte of the Church of Sayg.
"That's not the point!" Saima insisted, "why are you gambling with Toren? Don't you know he's psychic?"
"WELL! It would seem that I have done a great wrong, both to you, good Bishop, and to my honored faith!" Kaze bolted upright and bowed to Saima, sweating much more profusely now. "However, I must take responsibility for my actions immediately! Come on! Hurry! Let's make with the punishing!" Kaze grabbed the high elf's hand and started for the door, but stopped when he felt cold steel across his neck.
"There will be punishment all right, FRIEND," the harlock said dangerously, a vein popping up on his forehead. "I always noticed that you tended to win more than was strictly plausible..."
"You can prove nothing!" Kaze said desperately. "My psychic training was for the purposes of detecting lies and judging character!"
The wood elf growled as he stood up. "So we'll ask you right out, then. Have you ever cheated in our games?"
"In the interests of proper justice," Kaze began, mimicking the bishop's line, "I would like to utilize an ingenious doctrine that the humans drafted to protect the accused. I believe it's called the 'Fifth Amendment'."
"DIE, EVON SCUM!!"

The harlock, while quite upset at the time, wasn't about to go so far as to actually kill a priest from behind, in front of his superior, in a city where his church held significant power, over small-stakes poker. Angling the knife down slightly to minimize the chance of cutting the jugular by mistake, the blue-skinned rogue brought up his elbow to smash Kaze in the back of his skull.
Vwom! The rogue was quite surprised when he was suddenly blown off balance by a wave of kinetic force, foiling his attack and throwing him backward into an occupied table.
Kaze swirled around, ignoring the gasps and sudden yells from the bar's patrons. "Sae! Ywon! Lao! Sleep!" He pointed two fingers at the harlock rogue, and a tiny magic circle formed over his forehead and started rotating as a light mist appeared around the rogue, quickly weakening him into unconsciousness.
"Bastard! Won't even take your punishment like a man, will you?" The elf growled, holding a ball of light in his hand. "Light! Emerge and strike down the unworthy! Sunfire arrow!"
Three arrows of light burst from the elf's hand and rocketed toward Kaze, one aimed for each leg, with the third heading for the evon's chest.
Bwomf! Boomf! Gwom! Each one hammered uselessly into a transparent bubble that surrounded the priest, doing little more than causing light ripples that made Kaze's magic shield temporarily visible to the bar patrons.
Kaze sighed and started digging into his tunic. "Sayg's purpose toward servants of the light does not involve punishment, but rather forgiveness and understanding." Then he pulled out a talisman: a small, rectangular piece of paper with an arcane rune delicately painted on it. "So please understand that I have no choice at this point. And forgive me."
The wood elf flinched and started to back off. 'N-No way! A magical shield? That lazy, good-for-nothing priest can summon a magical shield without a proper incantation? AND he can use talismanic magic? This is ridiculous!' "Don't think it'll be that-" the elven priest began his taunt, only to find Kaze running forward toward him much faster than he had expected. "H-Hey! Wait just a-"
Slap! Kaze pressed the talisman against the short elf's chest, and used his momentum to spin away from the desperate right hook that followed. "Incantis saelinae! Bind!"
"Urk!" The elf tumbled onto the floor as suspiciously solid tendrils of vicious cyclonic wind suddenly burst from the talisman and wrapped around him, completely hindering the movement of his limbs. "You bastard!"

Kaze grinned and dusted his hands off before gesturing to the bar patrons and employees who were watching. "It's all right, no problems here. There won't be any more trouble, I assure you!"
Then his face darkened as he felt someone grab him by the back of his tunic. "Oh, there'll be a little more trouble, yet."
"Ah. Saima," the miscreant priest said miserably. "You were so quiet during the scuffle I had forgotten about you. Is it possible you could do the same for me?"
"Is this the conduct of our clergy nowadays?" The bishop seethed. "You wallow in sin, stab your friends in the back, and then leave them bound or unconscious in a hovel full of shady characters like this?"
Kaze smiled inwardly, having gained slightly more sympathy from the crowd after they had been insulted by his superior. "First of all, incapacitating them in self-defense is far from 'back-stabbing'. And second of all, it's safe to say they're not my friends anymore."
"You got that right, you filthy, good for nothing, sl-"
Kaze made a sharp gesture with his hand, and another magic tendril snaked out of the talisman over the wood elf's mouth.
"But this debate is pointless. Shall we go?" Kaze asked pleasantly, wanting to leave the bar before they decided to ban him permanently.
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Wham!
Kaze yelped and rolled along the marble floors of his home cathedral as he was forcibly thrown through the main doors, attracting the attention of the numerous acolytes, priests, and paladins that had gathered within the reception hall.
All of those present recognized the evon immediately, and came to the same conclusion as to what had happened. The acolytes chuckled, the priests muttered insults under their breaths, and the paladins smirked and shook their heads.
Kaze immediately rose to his feet and started to dust himself off. "You know, as a bishop, you're setting a very poor impression for the-"
"SHUT UP." Saima commanded, trembling as she stalked up to the evon. "Cardinal Risal is here to administer one of our most sacred ceremonies today; a ceremony that could tip the balance of power on this realm and a dozen others. A CARDINAL, Toren. One of only a dozen in ALL the thousands of cathedrals, churches, and temples we have all across the realms. And instead of attending to him, I'm wasting my time hunting you down to ensure that you don't shirk your duties!"
Kaze sighed. "You didn't HAVE to go yourself, you know."
Saima twitched. "Well, every time I send someone ELSE, they inevitably get sidetracked. You know, things like being attacked by elementals out of nowhere, having large objects suddenly fall on them, chasing down illusions; that sort of thing. Now isn't that strange?"
A sweatdrop rolled down Kaze's head. "Why Bishop, that almost sounds like an accusation."
The elf grit her teeth. "Don't you realize that the only thing keeping you from being tossed out onto the streets is the fact that your father is Archbishop? A post that you yourself stand to inherit, IF you can last a mere MONTH without committing a grievance against this church!"
Kaze blinked, then nodded. "Yes, I'm well aware of that. It's quite convenient, too."
"GRAAAUGH!!" Saima grasped her head in frustration as she growled, and several of the other priests warily approached to try and comfort her.
Behind Kaze, a large male angel in heavy, enchanted plate mail approached while chuckling deeply. "Come now, Bishop. Go easy on the kid, eh? What was it this time? Gambling?"
Saima glared at the blonde paladin. "Gambling. And fighting. And deceit. And neglecting his duties."
The angel sweatdropped, and Kaze just shrugged helplessly.
"Again, the fighting was in self-defense, gambling is a very minor grievance, and I still have no memory of being told to clean the library," Kaze explained.
"And do you have an explanation for cheating at cards?" Then she frowned. "Or better yet, if you have no memory of it, explain how you knew what 'duty' you were neglecting when I never told you."
"That's... complicated," Kaze mumbled, not wanting to explain how he had employed a rogue to help him get some spell books he was specifically told he couldn't have, and how that same rogue knew enough about the incident to figure out that cleaning it up had probably been tasked to him.
He turned toward the angel. "So! Chiima! You ready for the big ceremony? You know I'm rooting for you, big guy!" Kaze winked and slapped the angel on the back. "I know you're gonna make avatar! I just know it!"
Thwack! Kaze rubbed his head irritably once Saima dislodged her staff from it.
"Don't ignore me! You'll be punished for this, Toren!"
Kaze wagged a finger at her. "Bishop, please! It won't take more than an hour to put up the books. I'll do it right now. I'll even have time afterward to attend the opening ceremonies for the avatar selection."
Saima was about to tell him to hurry up and get on his way, when something Kaze said registered in her head and gave her an idea.
Kaze raised an eyebrow as the elven bishop grinned. Now what?
"Toren, I'm afraid making you do your work later isn't going to be enough this time. You'll clean the library, and then make copies of Father Glane's notes he's been working on this past week."
The priest winced. That was going to take a much longer time than shelving books; for one thing, it was a task that his telekinetic abilities couldn't help him with. He sighed in resignation.
"And," Saima continued gleefully, "you will do this IMMEDIATELY after cleaning the library, while the avatar's ceremony is being conducted."
"Wh-Wh-WHAT?!?!" Kaze shrieked, causing everyone else in the room to wince (as much from the punishment as from the noise). "That's ridiculous! This is the most important occasion that may ever occur during my life of service to Malakai! An occasion that I've had the incredible luck to stumble upon volunteering to help construct the cathedrals on Earth! And you're going to refuse to let me see it because I was gambling?" Kaze was livid as the elf crossed her arms over her chest.
"Don't pretend like this is coming at you out of the blue; you've been given repeated warnings and suffered the lightest punishments due to your family's status. And again and again you disobey. This is an opportunity to give you a severe reprimand that won't have any lasting consequences, and therefore won't cause me any trouble with the archbishops."
Kaze seethed. "You can't do this! Do you have any idea how much money I have riding on this ceremony? Do you know how many people are expecting a betting pool at the front? And you're going to make me miss it!"
The elf simply stared back at him, unimpressed by the retort.
"I'm not helping my case any, am I?" The evon said miserably, to which the elf shook her head.
Saima smirked and turned around. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must get back to making the Cardinal comfortable. YOU get to work."

"But... money... avatar... ceremony... Cardinal... eggs..." Kaze stuttered incoherently at the elf's back, slowly slumping to his knees.
Chiima sighed and patted the slightly shorter man on the head. "Well, I'm afraid I don't have much comfort to offer you this time. You've had that coming."
Kaze flinched. 'Leave it to a Knight of Judgment to skimp on the sympathy.' "Regardless, it's a disservice to the Order to intentionally exclude a future archbishop from such an important ceremony!" He complained, slowly standing up.
The angel weighed that argument, and then shook his head. "Why is it that when you're facing consequences you're 'a future archbishop,' but during your studies you're a 'victim of expectations'? You always claim that you never wanted to be an archbishop until it becomes convenient."
Kaze flushed slightly. "Well, yes. I never wanted to be archbishop. That role was chosen for me. You know that!" Then he coughed into his fist. "But if I'm to be forced into it anyway, why shouldn't I receive that consideration?"
"'Hypocrisy bears no rewards but a broken faith and a shadowed heart,'" Chiima quoted from the Order's scripture, causing Kaze to wince again.
'Feh. He's acting rather high-and-mighty today.' Kaze sweatdropped. 'But why not? By all accounts, Chiima is the only reasonable candidate for avatar around here.'
The evon sighed. "Well, I've built my gallows, and now I'll hang from them. Fare thee well."
The angel nodded, smiling warmly. "If they do select me, I'll see what I can do about having you accompany me; I know you've always envied adventurers a bit, and you're far more adept in combat magic than any cleric I know."
Kaze blinked, deeply moved. "I... w-would you? Really?"
"Yes, I think I will. Malakai be with you, Priest." Chiima bowed low, showing the most formal gesture of respect for the clergy.
"And may Malakai be with you, Paladin," Kaze said more cheerfully than before. Then he laughed. "Ah, but he WILL be with you very soon, won't he?"
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Ranma massaged his forehead as he kept his other hand clamped tight over Rayden's mouth, trying to gather his thoughts and his nerve as the guards at the gate glared at them.
"Ray, I don't care WHAT your problem is. Just give them your weapons like they asked."
"Mfffg gahm hmrf rhgl," Rayden mumbled angrily, jabbing a thumb at his broadsword.
"What did I just say? I don't CARE. They won't let us in unless we disarm. We have to go in for supplies and stuff. Therefore, we have to disarm."
One of the elven men crossed his arms over his chest. "You're lucky we're letting you in at all. In more dangerous times a... creature such as yourself would have been killed on sight."
K winced as Rayden glared back at them. Although demons and even paladins belonging to the eight Dark Brotherhoods were allowed to enter and roam Taer'Kul, they were far from welcome to do so. The Church of Sayg, the Divine order of Light, had been at war with all of the Brotherhoods ever since the factions had learned of each others' existence, and it was only the far more tolerant Order of Malakai and Sanctuary of Thajal that kept the more powerful Church from keeping a tighter hold on the city.
Ranma gave the guard a dirty look, well aware that the two elves that had greeted them were intentionally provoking them in order to create an excuse to turn them away. "Like you have anything to worry about. Every priest, monk, and guard in the entire city is going to be keeping an eye on us. I just want to buy some stuff and leave, all right?"
"Not until you both surrender your armaments!" The second guard shouted.
Rayden twitched and tried to step forward, but Ranma shoved him back.
"All right, look. See this, Ray? I'll give up my weapons first, okay?" Making a big show of the entire process, Ranma unstrapped his sword and ammo belt and then handed the guard both the katana and his firearm.
The guard nodded. "Okay, now you-" Then he stopped as Ranma dumped three wakazashi short swords on the table at the gate station. "Huh? Oh... you had more?"
"Have more," Ranma corrected, holding his arm out and shaking it.
Clink! Clack! Clink! Tink! The guards' faces darkened as dozens of throwing daggers slid out of Ranma's sleeve and collected on the table.
"Wh... How... But..." The first guard gaped. "How do you move with all those without cutting yourself?"
"Practice," Ranma said blithely, removing the short blades from his boots and placing them too on the table.

As the pigtailed man started to remove the daggers from his OTHER sleeve, the second guard pulled the first back so that they could speak without being overheard.
"I'm not sure this is such a good idea; the big one is suspicious enough, but this one-"
"Don't be a fool!" the other elf hissed. "This entire city is blanketed with holy magic! The Dread Knight should be less than powerless! And that pitiful-looking dragon probably couldn't hurt a halfling!"
"B-But, even so, this one here looks human! What're we to do if-"
"He's just a human, idiot! As long as we disarm him, he's nothing!"

Ranma twitched irritably as the elves came back. "Y'know, just 'cause my ears are smaller than yours doesn't mean they don't work."
"Silence yourself, vagrant," the first guard snapped, "are you QUITE finished disarming?"
Ranma nodded, and then frowned as he felt a slight buzzing sensation in his head. 'Huh. Is he psychic? Must be scanning me for lies.'
Satisfied, the guard turned toward Rayden. "Now you. Give me that sword immediately. And keep in mind that while in our fair city, your life is worth less than the note pad we'll use to describe how it ended, demon filth."
After a moment of fighting the urge to surrender the blade to the elf pointy end first, Rayden smirked and unstrapped it. "Okay, okay. Here." Then he held it by the sheath and offered it to the guard by pointing the handle at him.
Smack! "Bad demon knight!" Ranma said, backhanding Rayden across the face.
Wincing, Rayden sighed and turned the blade around so that the sheath was pointing at the confused guards. "Here. Don't touch the handle, or you'll get shocked." After they carefully took it while scowling at him, he rummaged around in his coat for a few seconds and placed his twin bolter pistols on the table alongside Ranma's weapons. "So how exactly do we go about getting our stuff back when we leave?"
Both elves glared at him, prompting him to continue glaring back.
"They'll know which weapon is YOURS just from meeting with you. As for the rest of them, here's a ticket to get them back." The higher ranking templar scribbled on a small piece of paper and tossed it haphazardly at Ranma, who snatched it out of the air. "Try not to take in too much civilization at once, now; you're not used to it, after all."
"Yeah, yeah," Ranma mumbled, wondering how much of this treatment he would have been spared had he come alone. "C'mon Ray, hurry it up."

The three wanderers entered the city in silence, immediately noting that the numerous templars and monks that were stationed or passing by the main palisade gate all stopped talking and stared at their passing. Some looked upon them in wonder, some in curiosity, and a few in fear, but most simply scowled and then went upon their business.
"This was a bad idea. I could've just had you wait outside the city limits. Or made you take off that damn crest," Ranma mumbled, noting that he was getting even more scowls and frowns than Rayden was. No doubt they expected better from a human than to be accompanying a Dread Knight.
"I woulda preferred that, actually," Rayden mumbled irritably. "I don't like this atmosphere... it's like... it's like the air itself is trying to purify me or somethin'." Then he scowled. "Also, I don't like being without my sword. We shouldn't have left Darkrune with those elven brats."
"Agreed. But Ranma has a point," K noted calmly, taking the stares far better than his humanoid companions, "we just have some shopping to do and then we can leave this rotten place."
Ranma's mood sunk further. Taer'Kul was not supposed to be a rotten place. He had visited the city once before when it was much smaller, and been treated very warmly. He had even gotten special deals on goods by doing small jobs for the local temples, and had built a minor reputation before he had left.
'And now I'm building another minor reputation,' he thought darkly. 'And as much as I'd like to say that it's not Rayden's fault and that he's just as much a victim of these people as I am... he's more prejudiced and hateful than they are.' Sigh.
"So what's the deal, Ray? Do your people actually have something against all these folks, or what?" Ranma asked, trying to strike up a conversation to help take his mind off all the stares.
Rayden shrugged. "I don't think we do, actually. I mean, the only one of the three Divine Circles the Third Brotherhood is at war with is the Church of Sayg, and we haven't actually fought any battles with them for way longer than I've been alive."
"Keeping in mind, of course, that their history is recorded in millenia, while you're like, what, twenty-five?" K noted.
"Er... twenty-two," Rayden mumbled. "But anyway, the Order of Malakai doesn't bug us because most of our cruelty and hateful deeds are done through direct, organized warfare, while we're generally pretty disciplined and law-abiding in-between battles. The Sanctuary of Thajal is pacifistic, so we don't bother them at all. No point in attacking an organization that won't fight back. Worthless cowards."
Ranma frowned. "Wait... so the Divine Circles aren't allies?"
"Well, they're more allied than the Dark Brotherhoods, in that they're never at war with each other, but no, not really. They have their own competing dogmas and ideas about how to make the realms all happy and peaceful and lame, so they spend as much time tripping over each other as they do getting anything done."
"Specifically, the Order pursues specific ethical issues that must be addressed by force of arms, the Church defies all manner of darkness and evil and seeks to purge it all, and the Sanctuary just wants to kick back and heal people," K explained, once again producing much more information than his companions were strictly interested in. "The Order is surprisingly lenient with the Brotherhoods; only the Church of Sayg wants them all destroyed."
"I guess that explains why they'd let one of their warriors into the city," Ranma mumbled, noting that they were being followed by several angry-looking templars who watched them from a set distance away, matching their pace, "though you're still far from welcome."
Rayden shrugged. "Least you can expect from elven slime. And don't get me STARTED on angels-"
"I won't," Ranma said sharply, "so keep that opinion to yourself. NOW WHAT?"

The pigtailed wanderer growled as he turned a street corner, only to see a huge crowd of people filling the streets, all milling about and facing a grand cathedral constructed of gleaming marble. The structure had massive towers on every outside corner of its outer wall, and above the main entryway, which was itself completely obscured by the crowd, there was a large, circular stained glass window that showed a red and yellow image of what looked like a slightly warped, backward "E" with triangles positioned above and below the circle.
Ranma frowned. "That's Malakai's crest, isn't it?"
"Yep. Lawmongers," Rayden mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest. "Tho' I don't know what all these people are doing here. The Priest-judges don't usually draw a big crowd."
"Well, they're not carrying torches and pitchforks. So much for the worst-case scenario," Ranma mumbled. "Actually, it doesn't look like they really notice you at all."
At that moment several large angels and elves in gleaming white and silver armor emerged from the crowd, all of them slowly drawing their weapons as they approached the two men and their draconian companion.
"Oops. Spoke too soon," Ranma murmured, watching as everybody nearby quickly sprinted away to leave them isolated.
One of the angels, a tall, well-muscled blonde man with golden armor sheathes over the top of his wings approached the trio as all the others stopped short. Ranma confirmed that this man, as well as the others, all had the crest of Malakai emblazoned on their armor.
"You there! You carry the mark of Kharak, demon!" The angel said, pointing his broadsword at Rayden. "What business could you possibly have here?"
Before Rayden could say anything to make the situation worse, Ranma shoved him back and answered for him. "We have no business here. We're trying to get to the market and all these people are in our way. Is there a way around?"
The angel frowned. "And who are you, human?"
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "I'm not the one waving a sword around in some unarmed guy's face. Tell me who you are, and what the problem is, and I'll consider answering your question."
One of the elven paladins stepped forward, seething. "Why you insolent little-"
The angel raised an arm up, stopping him. "Halt. The human's words have merit." Then he glared down at Ranma, resting his sword point-down in the ground with his hands resting on top. "My name is Chiima, Captain of the Order Paladin Corp here in Taer'Kul. I find your association with a dark paladin in this place and at this time to be highly suspicious. Now answer MY question."
"This time? Why? What's going on?" K asked curiously.
"It doesn't matter. It doesn't involve us," Ranma said, not wanting to be held up any more. "My name is Ranma Saotome. This is a traveling companion of mine, Rayden Shikodan. I know he's a Dread Knight, but he's good company. We have no interest in hurting, killing, or in any way harming anyone here. I just want to get to the market, find an enchanter's shop, and then leave."
Rayden smirked. "Yeah! And you-" Bwack!
Ranma twitched as he ground his fist further into Rayden's face. "THANK YOU Ray, but I don't need any help with this."
The paladins all sweatdropped heavily, and started to look more unsure about what was going on.
"You... uh... seem to have a rather... tight leash on your demon friend, there," Chiima noted, smirking slightly.
"Yeah, well, isn't that what you want?" Ranma asked irritably.
Chiima snorted, but slowly resheathed his sword. "Very well, you may go. Use the side road back there and to the right." He pointed behind Ranma, who noted the direction and nodded. "I must ask, however, that you remain as far as possible from this cathedral."
"Gladly," Ranma agreed immediately. "Any other places we should avoid?"
"The cathedral of the Church of Sayg also might welcome you a bit harshly," the angel said, pointing across town at a tall golden spire that extended above all the buildings in the way. "And they're not quite as fond of laws that they don't personally agree with as we are. You cross their members at your own peril."
"Got it. See ya around, wings," Ranma murmured, causing the paladins to flinch at his overly casual tone.
After giving the angel paladin a final, nasty glare, Rayden turned away and followed Ranma down the street, wishing harder than ever that he could feel the comforting weight and burning power of his sword.

Chiima frowned at the demon's back. 'He called that thing a Dread Knight... what would a full-fledged Dread Knight be doing in servitude to a human?' The dark paladins of the Third Brotherhood were among the most powerful warriors in all the realms, being the most experienced elite of the strongest demonic breeds. Even the youngest and weakest among them were leagues beyond the capability of a freshly trained paladin from the Order or the Church; only the dark paladins from the Second Brotherhood were more powerful on the whole.
One thing was certain, though: no human that associated with a Dark Cult could be trusted near a Divine cathedral, especially at such a critical time. That he would make himself known by openly approaching was a point against him being an assassin or saboteur (who would have probably had enough information not to have to confirm the location of the cathedral ahead of time), but no chances could be taken.
"Master Chiima, sir?" The angel turned around to see a young neophyte priest bowing to him. "The ceremony is about to begin. Your presence is requested in the main courtyard."
Chiima nodded. The security of the cardinal was in his hands, and he would not fail. 'No matter what is asked of me, I will do my duty. Such is the will of my god.'
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Many had expected the ceremony to select the new avatar to be a solemn, private affair, perhaps done in the ceremonial chambers within the cathedral and attended to by a small company of priests and likely candidates for avatar.
Instead the rite had something of a "school rally" feel to it, and the brilliant ivory fountains and golden arches which decorated the courtyard and held up enchanted amplification crystals for the ceremony was slightly spoiled by the sight of most of the low-ranking membership of the cathedral seated on cheap aluminum bleachers. Those same members watched the priests and bishops gather below in front of the paladins that had assembled in a line in the courtyard. The priests formed a half-circle around the bishops, who kneeled as the Cardinal stepped forward bearing the holy object atop a red velvet pillow: a large yellow sphere roughly the size of a man's head.
Risal sweatdropped slightly as he looked around at the crowd. 'Not quite as... dignified as I expected. Still, there's no use splitting hairs.'
Raising one hand over the translucent yellow orb, Risal chanted a few words under his breath, and then let the arm supporting the pillow drop, causing the pillow and sphere to wobble uncertainly in mid-air.
There was scattered applause, which caused the cardinal to sweatdrop again, and caused Saima to blush slightly from where she still kneeled before Risal.
"SPIRIT THAT LIVES WITHIN THE HOLY JEWEL, EYE OF MALAKAI! SOUL THAT WATCHES OVER THE SERVANTS OF JUSTICE, GUIDES THEM, JUDGES THEM, AND MAKES THEM WHOLE! GRANT US YOUR POWER, YOUR FORESIGHT! TELL US, OH GREAT LORD MALAKAI, WHICH OF YOUR CHILDREN WOULD YOU HAVE AS YOUR VESSEL?"
The cardinal extended his arm toward the gathered paladins. "THOSE WHO STAND BEFORE YOU ARE JUDGED TO BE PURE OF HEART, DEDICATED IN SPIRIT, AND FIERCELY SKILLED! WHO AMONG YOUR CHILDREN WILL BEAR YOUR DIVINATIONS, TO BE WATCHED OVER SO LONG AS THEIR HEART BEATS, TO BE UNTO DEATH UNDER YOUR PROTECTION AND BE THE LIASON OF YOUR WILL?"
The yellow sphere began to glow, and the red pillow slowly fell to the ground as the orb slowly rose higher, only this time without any incantation from the cardinal.
"I, ONE OF THE TWELVE CHOSEN, LORD RISAL OF SEIN, WHO CLEANSED SEVEN WORLDS OF THE CRUEL TAINT OF SLAVERY IN YOUR GREAT NAME, ASK YOU NOW TO SPEAK THROUGH ME! TELL US, YOUR SERVANTS, WHO IS TO GUIDE THE NEXT GREAT AGE OF OUR ORDER!!"
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"Okay, here. You hold onto our stuff," Ranma said, shoving his freshly stuffed pack into Rayden's arms. "I've got something else to do."
The Dread Knight blinked. "Something else? Like what? Are you gonna take long?"
Ranma shrugged apologetically. "I'll try not to, but I don't really know. I've been meaning to get this glove identified for a while." He tapped the gem implanted in his gauntlet. "Black glove, absorbs conducted ki, immune to your sword's powers, apparently indestructible, plus nobody can take it off my hand except me. Something tells me this is more than just a really cool item that happened to be in some slaver's loot. Also, I have to make sure it's not slowly draining away my life force or anything."
"Also check to make sure it isn't slowly making you crazy," Rayden said, causing Ranma to stop short. "You know, it might be one of those deals where it constantly injects murderous, hateful thoughts into your brain, slowly but surely driving you toward the precipice of complete homicidal rage."
Ranma and K both froze and stared at the demon knight. After a moment, K hopped off of Rayden's shoulder and flew over to Ranma's.
"So... is that what happened to you?" Ranma asked uneasily.
"Nah. I just have the standard dark, melodramatic backstory," Rayden said, shrugging. "Though I DO hear voices on occasion..."
K twitched. "Okay. Yeah. I think I'll go with you," he mumbled into Ranma's ear. Then he spoke to Rayden. "We'll be back as soon as we can. Try not to get in any fights while we're gone, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah..."
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The cardinal slowly opened his eyes, finally emerging from his meditation after several minutes of silence.
Though the bishops maintained their composure, several of the priests and paladins gasped; Risal's eyes, which had once been a soft brown, were now a pure white, with light bursting from behind his lens and cloaking the retina and pupil.
"I SEE..." the old human began slowly, looking up into the air, "ONE OF THE DARK GODS' SERVANTS OPENLY WALKS THE STREETS OF OUR HOLY CITY! A PEON OF KHARAK, THE DESTROYER!"
At once, gasps and murmurs rippled through the crowd, and several of the paladins glanced pensively at each other.
Chiima's eyes narrowed.
Risal's eyes slowly dulled back to normal, and he looked over the warriors and clergy before him unsteadily, as if in a drunken haze. "THE ONE TO BRING THIS DEMON KNIGHT TO JUSTICE IS THE CHOSEN AVATAR, TO BEAR THE EYE OF MALAKAI AND SEEK JUSTICE IN HIS NAME! THIS IS THE WORD OF MALAKAI! NO OTHER SHALL POSSESS THAT WHICH WAS ONCE THE FLESH OF OUR GREAT LORD!"
Then, the cardinal convulsed violently, and several of the bishops started to their feet as he fell to his knees.

"Cardinal! Master Risal! Are you all right?" Saima quickly jumped ahead of the others and grabbed the old man's arm, keeping him from sliding to the ground. "Master Risal! Speak to me!"
"I..." Risal took several deep breaths as his senses slowly returned to him fully, and he nodded as he pulled himself to his feet. "I am well. The first half of the ceremony is complete, it would seem."
"The second half begins with a search for the dark paladin, does it not?" Chiima asked, stepping forward with a scowl on his face.
Saima considered berating the paladin for breaking his silence and his place before he was called to do so, but relented when Risal addressed him directly.
"Yes, it would seem so. This is an... unusual manner in which to select an avatar. Not that I've ever attended one of these ceremonies myself before now, but usually they consist of a riddle or elaborate metaphor which refers to the one who would bear the holy object." The old human sighed wearily.

"So... wait... the Eye of Malakai wouldn't work in the hands of any but the avatar, right? Thus ensuring that we don't make a mistake and promote the wrong person..." One of the paladins, encouraged by Chiima's presumptuous actions, stepped forward as well, a curious look on his face.
"Yes, that's correct. The Eye will accept none but Malakai's chosen," Risal agreed, wondering where he was going with this.
The paladin nodded. "Right. So couldn't you just hand the Eye around to everybody here, and wait for it to activate or whatever?" He asked, really not wanting to go rushing all over the city in order to get in a fight with one of the most powerful demonic warriors in all the realms.
Risal considered this for a moment. Then he sweatdropped heavily.
Saima twitched, and the elven woman stalked straight up to the paladin, and then openly smacked him upside the head, eliciting surprise from the crowd and the surrounding clergy.
"You know, we didn't spend a week preparing for this thing just so you could suck all the drama out of it in twenty seconds," the bishop hissed, holding the young man by the ear.

As the paladin apologized profusely and begged for mercy, Chiima rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I and a few of my guard know of this servant of Kharak; he was seen with a human and a dragon child trying to get to the market."
Saima jerked back in surprise, letting go of her recent victim. "What?! What happened? Why didn't you detain him?"
The angel shook his head. "They did nothing wrong at all, and showed no interest in either the Order's cathedral or our sacred rites. In addition, the demon seemed to be subservient to the human, and held tightly in check. To detain someone merely for associating with a dark cult would be a dear injustice, and a heresy against our faith."
Saima nodded reluctantly, accepting the reasoning. Risal rose an eyebrow and looked thoughtful.
"Now, however, the words of our god demand judgment for the Dread Knight. Lord Cardinal, please allow me to bring the blighted soul to justice. I have fought Dread Knights before, and know better than most here the degree of their ferocity and skill."
The cardinal scratched his head. "Well... actually, the prophecy said that the avatar was the 'one to bring this demon knight to justice', so-"
"So obviously, the first to slay the foul being will be the avatar!" One of the bishops concluded, rousing the paladins to activity.
"So, wait, it might not be Chiima?"
"Who knows? It probably is, but whoever gets him is avatar!"
"Might as well try, right? It is all preordained..."
"How tough can a demon knight be?"
Chiima drew his sword and stamped an armored foot onto the marble tile platform, getting the attention of the Paladin Corps and the assembled clergy.
"It matters not to me WHO is selected avatar! That one is selected at all is all that matters! For now, our god Malakai demands that these streets be washed with tainted blood! Now, we hunt!"
With responses that varied from eager cheers to half-hearted mumbling, the Paladin corp, the bishops, and some of the more naive bishops and acolytes all began to file out of the courtyard toward the main gate, intending to see the ceremony through to the end.

Meanwhile, Risal once again took possession of the Eye of Malakai, shaking his head as he witnessed the most sacred rite he'd ever conduct turn into a hunting contest. 'Oh well; no use feeling sorry for the demon, I suppose. Still, I wonder exactly what kind of avatar we'll get out of this?'
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"Let's see, now..." the tiny gnome woman frowned as she looked over the customers gathered in her waiting room, and scratched her head under her pointed cap. "It seems business is booming, today. Who's next?"
An elven man stood up, followed by several others. "I'm sorry that we're rushing you with orders like this, but we'd like to make a proper offering for the new avatar of Malakai before he's called away from the city by his duties."
The enchantress frowned, seeing the eager faces of the Church and Sanctuary priests. Each of the Divine Circles had their own enchanters among their clergy, but no doubt they had their hands full with orders from the bishops and high priests.
"Well, it's good for business, sure, but I'm afraid if you each of you want more than a light spell affixed to an item, it will literally take all day."
They seemed about to accept that proposition, but the only other customer in the shop, a young human carrying a dragon on his shoulder, suddenly sprang to his feet.
"Uh, hey! Can you take care of me, first? I'm kinda in a hurry, and all I want is an identification, if possible." Ranma said, weathering the glares of the assembled holy men and women who were ahead of him.
The gnome rubbed her chin, considering it. Then she nodded. An ID meant quick, easy money, and it didn't seem like the human would be willing to wait until tomorrow.
"Very well. That will be five gold, please," the gnome asked, ignoring the mumbled complaints from the priests.
Ranma rummaged around in his pocket, and dropped the money in her hand. Then he followed her past the curtain that separated her main office from the waiting room.

"Here. This's the item I need identified..." Ranma slipped the guantlet off his hand and placed it on the enchantress's desk.
The gnome picked it up, nodding as she looked it over.
"Hmmm... the material is... strange. It doesn't seem like metal, but its firmness..."
Ranma crossed his arms over his chest. "Far as I can tell, it's indestructible; it's taken hits from enchanted blades, axes, and force-emitting spells. It also seems to absorb ki somewhat."
"Let's not forget the safety features; thing won't come off unless you take it off," K murmured.
"Hm. Yes, yes. Let's begin." Drawing a circle on the table with her finger, the gnome woman created the framework for an identifying enchantment before placing the glove on top of it.
Then she raised her palms to the glove, mumbled a few words that even K couldn't understand, and waited as a number of white lines appeared in mid-air above the item, drawing another spell complex around it.
Ranma waiting patiently as the spell did its work, idly glancing toward the office door and hoping that Rayden had followed his instructions and stayed out of trouble. He didn't have much hope.
"Hmmmm..." The enchantress frowned deeply, and her left eyebrow twitched as her spell patterns suddenly broke apart into small pinnacles of light.
Ranma blinked as the lights slowly sank toward the glove, and then were suddenly sucked into the gem set in the back of the hand. The gem glowed for a moment, then dulled once again.
"Huh? What wazzat?" Ranma said uncomfortably.
"Your gauntlet absorbed my identification spell," the gnome said bitterly, furrowing her brow. "By observing its absorption, I could divine some things about the item, but..." she sighed. "I'm afraid an actual identification is beyond me. What I can tell you is that it can absorb magic as well as... what did you call it? Ki? Also, it is not sentient, or cursed in any way that I'm familiar with."
Ranma groaned. "You can't tell me what it's supposed to do or anything, though?"
The enchantress shook her head. "I'm afraid not. I'd guess that it was made of some sort of magic-nullifying metal, except that none of those are close to 'invincible,' as you claim it is, and I would have gotten a different response from my spell. I don't know where it's from, its full capabilities, its materials, how old it is, or what it was made for." Then she pursed her lips. "Though I'd have to guess that it was developed for combat purposes. Most things of this type are."
"Well, drat. Can I get a refund, then?" Ranma asked, crossing his arms over his chest. Magical services were not known for being particularly customer-oriented, but as he was buying it with Rayden's money, he felt that he at least had to try.
The gnome frowned at him, then shrugged. "Sure, I guess. Unless there's a different item you'd like to have identified..."
Ranma started to shake his head and hold out his hand, when a thought struck him, and he hesitated.
The small woman raised an eyebrow at seeing her customer caught in a moment of indecision. It seemed that this fellow made it a habit to walk about town with magical gear of unknown design and purpose. Not really the brightest thing to do, and besides that, it made the enchantress quite suspicious of where he had produced the mysterious equipment.
Finally, the pigtailed Ninja nodded and reached into his backpack, slowly unsheathed his rusty-looking katana, and then dropped it on the table.
"What the? How'd you get that back?" K asked in surprise.
Ranma smirked. He hadn't been lying when he told the guards that he had given them all his weapons, but it was child's play to snatch back his sword on the way out. Taking things without being noticed wasn't his favorite skill to use, and he did want to adhere to local law, but he wasn't so stupid as to take Rayden into a holy city without being prepared to fight his way out. Besides, it wasn't really stealing, since the weapon was his to begin with.
"Okay, how about this one?"
The gnome nodded slowly, not bothering to ask how a traveler had gotten into the city armed; it was none of her business, so long as he didn't use it in her shop. "I see... this blade has a whopper of enchantment on it."
Ranma blinked. "How can you tell just from looking? Is it the runes in the side?"
"No, it's the way it didn't shatter into a dozen pieces from falling three inches onto the table." She scraped a bit of dirt off the flat of the blade with her fingernail. "This is quite a sword. I imagine simply drawing it would make most opponents withdraw out of pity."
Ranma sweatdropped, remembering Rayden's reaction once he unleashed the blade in combat. "Yeah, well, it does pretty good for itself anyway."
"I see. Very well, now stand back." The enchantress raised her arms, and once again the spell circle appeared, slowly rotating around the tarnished katana in an ever-quickening, ever-brightening dance of light.
Slowly, the katana began to glow.
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Rayden glared across the street at the angelic couple that kept glancing at him, causing the two winged civilians to wince and scurry away, whispering to each other in panicked tones.
He snorted. No doubt they'd inform the nearest templar or city guard. With any luck it would be one of the eight who had already come and questioned him, but he wasn't holding his breath; it was all he could do not to grab one of the fools' heads and crush it within his grip when the cretins began describing how trouble-making demonic filth were treated in holy cities.
However, he had told Ranma he wouldn't start any fights. Meaning that until someone took a swing at him, he wasn't allowed to punch anybody's face in, even if he stopped short of killing them.
'For such a powerful guy, he sure has a weak stomach for killing,' the demon knight mused. 'Then again, I've committed a few acts of mercy myself. And the kid's got it where it counts.'
He glared at an elf who looked to be working up the nerve to approach him, and watched the pointy-eared man flinch and scurry away. Besides the guard, it seemed that everyone in the whole blasted city could sense his demonic nature; in most places, people assumed he was human just from appearance. In this town, however, the holy magic that hung over the many temples and arched between the three great cathedrals made his dark aura stand out like a black bear among sheep.
Their curiosity as to his presence was well-founded, he had to admit; everything about the city repulsed him. Even the air itself seemed to be making him sick and slightly dizzy. He wondered how the demonic harlocks withstood it, and even secured membership in the Divine Circles, with this level of holy magic eating away at demonic auras.
'Then again, a harlock isn't much of a demon,' he admitted. 'They're like the demonic version of evon; you never know where you'll find one.'
"Hey, Mister!"
Rayden blinked, and then looked down at his side to see a small evon child staring up at him curiously.
'Speaking of which...' "What's up?"
The evon child continued staring for a moment, then cocked his head to one side. "Why do you make that angry face at people who look at you?"
The Dread Knight sweatdropped. "Because I'm a demon, and that's the most violent and evil act I'm currently allowed to commit right now. At least while they're that far away."
The child stared for a moment. "What's a 'dee-man'?"
Sighing, Rayden kneeled down and then patted the young evon on the head, causing tense, panicked whispers among all the current observers.
"A demon is like a monster, but slightly smarter. We're big, strong creatures who are only happy when indulging in sin, or witnessing the pain of others. We're what you call 'evil'."
The boy cocked his head to the other side. "Evil? What's that?"
'Boy, did this kid's parents fail him, or what?' "Evil is something that hurts someone else when it's not necessary to do so. For example..."
Rayden turned quickly and stuck his leg out in a powerful sweeping kick, striking an unwary adult evon in the shins and sending him flying into a spectacular faceplant.

Kaze let out a pathetic yelp as someone suddenly swept his feet out from under him, and time seemed to slow down as his legs were forced out of contact with the ground, moving him nearly parallel to the ground as the package he was carrying left his arms.
Of course, for him time WAS slowing down as the enhanced awareness granted by his psychic abilities kicked in and allowed him time to salvage the situation beyond the point at which his reflexes had already failed him.
Deciding, regrettably, that his parcel took priority over the humiliating and inevitably painful impact of his face on the pavement, Kaze used the final moment before touchdown to thrust his hand out toward the falling wooden case and exert enough telekinetic energy to ensure that it settled harmlessly on the ground, rather than than leaving its fragile contents to the tender mercy of gravity.
Tunk Went the case, its contents jingling slightly once the two-inch cushion of supernatural force between it and the ground vanished.
Thud! Went Kaze, his snow-white hair spilling all over in a broad fan as his assailant busted out laughing.

"Ha ha ha! What a sucker!" Rayden said gleefully, feeling some of his queasiness evaporate at the sight of someone else's pain.
The evon boy frowned. "Hey Mister, that wasn't very nice."
Rayden nodded, smiling as he looked down at the child. "Right! That's evil. It's not nice at all. Fun, though."
Then he turned toward the older evon, who was stumbling to his feet. "Hey buddy! Have a nice trip? Ha!"
Kaze turned toward the voice, beholding a large, muscular man in a long coat who was laughing while a perturbed-looking evon child scampered away. He glared.
"And just who do you think you are, tripping random people as they walk by?" The priest growled, stepping up before his assailant.
Rayden raised an eyebrow, then pointed to the crest on his coat.
Kaze glanced at it, then reasserted eye contact. "So you're a member of the Third Brotherhood! That doesn't mean that you can go......"
The evon trailed off suddenly as the full ramifications of the crest struck him like a sledgehammer.
"Wh-Wh-What? How? You mean-" Kaze gaped at the man as he realized, for the first time, that he had a powerful, unmistakably tainted aura about him. In fact, he kicked himself for not noticing him the moment he had turned onto the street; the dark magic was like a crude oil spill in the middle of a crystalline lake.
"Hold on, please! Just a moment!" Kaze asked suddenly, his expression serious. Then he turned and picked up the wooden box he had been carrying, checking it first to ensure that none of its contents had been broken. He had been sent to purchase supplies for the cathedral's master alchemist before the Avatar's ceremony had begun, adding another two hour task to the already formidable workload he had been assigned as punishment. He had been fuming angrily about it ever since he left the cathedral, and twice as much on his way back, which was the only excuse he had for not noticing the demonic being in front of him immediately.
Rayden frowned as the evon, who looked to be a priest from his robes marked with the crest of Malakai, returned to him, his expression neither haughty, angry, or fearful. What did this guy want?
"Sorry about that. I'm on a bit of errand is all," Kaze explained, looking perfectly pleasant.
Rayden blinked. "I tripped you for no reason, and you're apologizing to me?"
"Pff! Oh, forget that! Everyone has a right to certain childish diversions, I won't begrudge you yours! No harm done, you see?"
The Dread Knight twitched, unable to see where this was going.
Kaze scanned Rayden up and down, rubbing his chin with his free hand while he took in every aspect of Rayden's appearance. "Hmmmm... you know, I've never seen a member of the Dark Brotherhoods in person before... most fascinating..." He circled around Rayden, who by now was looking quite nervous about the evon's behavior. "Are you a member of the ecclesiarchy? Or a member of the military branch?"
"Uh... both, technically," Rayden mumbled in confusion.
"Splendid! Are you a full Dread Knight, then? And where are your weapons? Oh, of course! You were disarmed at the gate, weren't you? Hmmm..."
'Is this guy crazy?' Rayden thought to himself. Although it wasn't the first time someone had shown an interest in him as a dark paladin, it was the last thing he expected from a priest of Malakai. Especially one that he had already assaulted.
"By the way, my name is Kaze Toren! Priest of the second rank of the Order of Malakai!" The evon said pleasantly, holding out his hand to shake.
Rayden took his hand and shook it numbly, not knowing what else to do. "Uh... Rayden Shikodan. Dread Knight and... well, for the moment, I'm just a Dread Knight."
Kaze rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and then realized that the pedestrians all had their eyes locked on Rayden, and as consequence, him as well. "Say, would you care for a drink? I find myself wondering what a demon knight is doing in Taer'Kul, and it would be better to hear the story sitting down inside, don't you think?"
Rayden twitched again. "Uh... I'm kinda waiting for my friend here..."
"O-ho! And who would this friend be? Another Dread Knight? Oh! I know, a priest!" Kaze rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Kharak's chosen are said to be among the finest cadres of demonic warriors outside of the Slayer's Guild! You must have been on all sorts of famous campaigns! Is your friend of equal rank?"
Rayden slowly stepped back, feeling a type of nervous uncertainty. "My friend isn't with the Third. He's just some human guy."
Kaze blinked in surprise. "So, wait, you're not here with a convoy?"
"How would a Brotherhood convoy get into Taer'Kul?" Rayden asked incredulously. "You barely have the nerve to let one unarmed dark paladin in here; I'm pretty sure the 'freedom of entry' laws have their limits!"
"Yes, yes, speaking of which, are you just following your friend? How did you come to be here?" Kaze asked curiously, walking over to a crate, sitting on it, and generally giving the impression that he wasn't going to leave the Dread Knight alone for quite some time.
"Whoa, wait, hold it! Why aren't you all suspicious?" Rayden said accusingly, pointing at the evon. "A demon cultist in the middle of your holy city with a story as flimsy as 'I'm following a friend,' and you're not giving me so much as a stuffy lecture? What kind of Divine priest are you?"
Kaze looked surprised by the outburst, but then nodded slowly. "Yes, I suppose it does seem strange. You see, in regards to faith I've simply taken to heart the tenet 'freedom of religion'. Ultimately you have the right to adopt whatever system of faith you wish, and I have no right to either question your membership to that faith, nor judge you as a person based only on your religious preference."
Rayden stared for a moment, then shook his head. "Okay... and the fact that I'm a demon?"
The priest shrugged. "Oh, so what? I can't even tell what kind of demon you are."
"What about how I tripped you?"
"I've no proof that it wasn't an accident."
"It wasn't an accident. I just wanted to see you humiliated."
"Well, that's a perfectly reasonable explanation if you ask me."
Rayden scratched his head. 'There's something really odd about this guy... not really in a bad way, but still... what kind of a holy priest gets all excited at meeting a Dark Paladin?'
He was about to question the evon further, when he noticed a great deal of commotion coming from further down the street, and turned to see what the trouble was.
Rayden frowned at the sight of a virtual wall of gleaming white and silver armor marching forward, some of them with weapons drawn. "Now what?"

Kaze too looked suspiciously at the approaching mob. "I've no idea. That's the Order's paladin corps... and the bishops? They should be at the ceremony!" He stood up, frowning deeply. "Something is very wrong here..."
The mob approached in relative silence; though many paladins were understandably excited about finding their prey so quickly, they all inevitably ended up following Chiima's example as the paladin commander stoically approached with his weapon sheathed and his mouth closed in a determined frown.
As if to underline his importance in the exercise, the angel thrust an arm to the side and halted, causing the rest of the Order's members to stop in their tracks as well.
Rayden simply raised an eyebrow. "What's up, wings? Am I not supposed to be out in public without a leash or something?" The demon knight recognized a lynch mob when he saw one; the fact that the group approached in a disciplined, military fashion only managed to fool the citizens brave enough to stay and watch the encounter.
Shing! Vwoosh! In a lightning-quick motion, Chiima drew his longsword from its sheath in a wide, horizontal arc, launching a yellow energy wave that sliced through the air as quickly as the blade it originated from.
Bwack! Grunting in pain, Rayden failed to make any kind of dodge as the energy wave cut into him, throwing him onto his back and sending a thin trail of blood splattering over the width of the street.
Kaze jumped to his feet, looking alarmed. "Wh-What's going on here? Is this man a criminal?"
Chiima regarded his friend for a moment, and then disregarded him just as quickly as he pointed his enchanted longsword at the struggling demon knight. "Dread Knight! Know that your death has been called for! By our god, Malakai, Ancient of Justice and Lord of Judgment, our holy blades shall taste your tainted blood, and our white fire shall cleanse you from this place! Judgment has been passed! Defend yourself, pawn of Kharak!"
At some unspoken signal, the rest of the paladin corps drew their swords while the priests behind them started to chant while pressing their hands together.
Rayden calmly pushed himself to his feet, lightly brushing off the thin wound across his chest. "All right, then. First blood's yours. That makes this self-defense." He balled his hands into fists. "We gonna do this, chicken-boy? Bring it!"
"Hold it! Hold it!" Kaze suddenly shouted, looking quite upset and moving to stand in front of Rayden. "Paladin Chiima! I demand to know the charges by which you've sentenced this man to execution!"
The angel blinked. "Charges? We don't need charges."
Kaze twitched, and a vein popped up on his head. "'Don't need charges'? That's the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard! You mean to say you've convicted this man and sentenced him to death for no reason at all?!"
Chiima twitched himself. "His destruction was foreseen by the prophecy of Cardinal Risal! Malakai demands that the DEMON be slain!" He shouted back, putting particular emphasis on the word "demon".
"This defies logic AND scripture! It's blasphemy and injustice of the highest degree!" Kaze complained. "Malakai does not simply hand out baseless death warrants through his vessels! This entire fiasco shows a blatant disregard for common law and our church's values!"
"Oh, how would you know?" Saima, who had taken up position along the flank of the mob in front of Risal spoke up angrily. "You only attend a third of your classes anyway!"

Rayden, for his part, twitched angrily as he watched the impending fight disintegrate into a shouting match between the men who had come to kill him and the evon he had just met. This jerk was ruining everything!
Of course, a small part of Rayden's brain helpfully reminded him that he was outnumbered forty-to-one, and that one of the opponents seemed to be a very well-armed angelic paladin of significant experience and skill. A different, even smaller part protested the idea of fighting while suffering from Taer'Kul's magic fields, and yet another piece brought up Ranma's request to stay out of trouble, and how the evon priest was trying to help him do just that.

"Joke all you like, but this is a shameful sight!" Kaze yelled, gesturing to the crowd. "None of you has a single crime to blame this man for, and yet here you are to assault him en masse! An unarmed man, yet, who has obeyed our laws to the letter, and been harassed constantly for his trouble, all because of his demonic nature and choice of religious practice! Qualities which, I remind you, leave him even MORE helpless at the mercy of the holy magic that constantly permeates our city! He probably couldn't summon enough mana to light a candle! And you call on him to defend himself?"
The priests and paladins began to look less determined and less sure of themselves, and started to glance around at their fellow warriors, attempting to judge their reactions to the speech.
"B-But... the prophecy-" Chiima stuttered, feeling quite uncomfortable as Kaze's words rang true.
"Prophecies are flimsy accounts upon which to doom a man; history has shown that time and time again," Kaze said flippantly. "If the prophecy is true, then it will occur no matter what course of action you take. If it doesn't, then it was a dud, or it was misinterpreted. Fate does not need your help."
On the sidelines, Cardinal Risal began to rub his chin thoughtfully as he watched the scene unfold before him.

At last, the parts of Rayden's mind that were opposed to immediate violence were silenced as the demon knight decided on a course of action to get back to the business of busting heads.
It wasn't that he wanted to see anyone here dead, or that he wanted to risk death himself (at the moment, that risk was very significant indeed), or even that he didn't have the common sense to recognize a fight he couldn't win. Fighting a battle that one could otherwise avoid through negotiation and understanding was simply one of the fundamental teachings of his own religion, just as legal conviction and sentencing was a part of Kaze's. That said, he needed a way to rouse the crowd to action against him again, but in such a way that it would still count as self-defense in Ranma's eyes.
Shove!

Nearly the entire Order membership blinked in tandem as they witnessed the Dread Knight walk up behind Kaze and push him forward onto his face, seemingly for no reason at all.
Thud! "Ow! Would you stop knocking me down?" Kaze said irritably, slowly getting up.
The assembled paladins and bishops spent a moment in silence to take stock of the situation.
"Hey! He assaulted Priest Toren!"
"Is he injured? He looks sort of injured!"
"That's a crime, isn't it?"
"Close enough!"
"Toren was trying to help him!"
"Ungrateful bastard!"
"Get the blackheart!"
Kaze blinked as he got up to a crouch, then panicked once he saw the situation spiral out of control. "W-Wait! Don't just-GAH!" he dove out of the way as two paladin acolytes charged forward ahead of Chiima, their spears thrusting forward.

'Amateurs,' Rayden thought smugly as the two young warriors charged him, unleashing their attacks far too early in their attacking run to either catch their target by surprise or maximize the strength of their attack.
Rayden drove forward himself, surprising the two novices, who each failed to correct their accuracy in time. Grabbing hold of one spear with his left hand, he then slugged the other spear's owner with a right hook that sent him sprawling across the street from the force. Then he wrenched the spear out of the first acolyte's hands and kicked the man away, sending him reeling into a few of his allies who had just begun to break from the mob.
"Ha! 'Aint unarmed anymore, chumps! Come get some!" The Dread Knight taunted, grinning as he spun the weapon around a few times for the purposes of showmanship.
"Die, demon spawn!" One of the full paladins shouted, charging forward herself with her greatsword at the ready.

Chiima watched pensively as the men and women under his command began to move forward in a slowly crumbling wave, charging recklessly and trying to face off against their demonic counterpart.
This was bad, and he knew it; not only had Kaze's speech eroded their conviction with doubt, and in fact dispelled his zeal entirely, but the less experienced acolytes were crowding in alongside the fully trained paladins. Although the Knights of Judgment were trained to battle stronger foes in twos and threes, the fledgling warriors provided little help, and in some cases made things more difficult with their presence. To make matters worse, the mob mentality that suddenly dominated the crowd replaced any sense of leadership, and with it, dispelled their tactical advantage. Glancing to the side, Chiima could see the bishops and priests curse and halt their attack spells, suddenly having several friendly targets in the way that should have waited until after the first volley.
'But... should I rally my men, or call off the attack on the Dread Knight?' The angel wondered. The right commands and a few words of encouragement could easily crush the demon, who was taking full advantage of their disarray. On the other hand, Kaze was right; this assault was unfounded and unjust. But trying to withdraw might only cause more confusion, and confusion could mean casualties. Weren't the lives of his paladins more important than the rights of some random demonic warrior?
'Urgh! This is madness! What am I supposed to-huh?'
The angel's eyes widened as an elf barrelled through the crowd that still stood before him and the Dread Knight, and not under his own power. Men and women scattered and fell from the improvised projectile, and Chiima himself barely dodged out of the way in time as the poor man skidded atop the pavement, sparks jumping off of his plate mail.
'Hmmm... maybe I should have caught him instead,' the paladin thought regretfully, berating himself for being caught off-guard.
"Lord Chiima! Above!"
"What? What in-"

Rayden grimaced as the sky before him lit up in a dozen white bursts of flame as several priests that were waiting for an opening released arrows of light right into the path of his jump.
Pushing the pain aside, he landed unsteadily on his feet, growling as he heard several of the priests and a few of the paladins shout incantations around him, now that he was no longer crowded in by several of their own.
"Graaugh!" Electricity and flame curled around him as lances of energy converged from all sides, and then his body seemed to tighten and slow down as a spell circle appeared beneath him and rotated, casting a bright white light upward as it weakened Rayden's aura even further, and wound yellow ribbons of magic around his legs.
"DIE, MONSTER!!" A human acolyte shouted, rushing the stunned demon and stabbing his longsword into Rayden's back. Immediately he winced and tried to get away, realizing that he had only gotten two inches of penetration, and that his "victim" was already reaching for him.
Grabbing the acolyte by the arm, Rayden pulled him in and, having had paramount success in using the holy warriors as makeshift projectiles so far, threw him headlong into the bishops and priests, who were crowded together on the street while they lent battlefield support.
For some reason most of the ecclesiarchy decided to stand their ground instead of dodge out of the way, and Rayden turned away as the hapless trainee impacted painfully upon a magic shield. It didn't matter; all he needed was a moment of distraction from the magic users...

Chiima ground his teeth as a halo of soft, black energy appeared around the Dread Knight, dispelling the bonds of light that held him during the brief respite he had against the priests' magic assault.
Then, to the angel's shock, the demonic warrior pulled out the sword lodged in his back and swung it two-handed as he rushed toward him (the spear had apparently been destroyed or dropped early in the fierce melee).
Clang! After parrying the first attack, Chiima slashed at his opponent's arm, deciding that the best way to resolve this mess was to disable the demon without killing him, and mediate an apology later (assuming they could find no good excuse for attacking him).
To his surprise, the demon knight grabbed his sword and stopped it in mid-swing, unmindful even as blood burst from his hand.
Grinning savagely, Rayden swung his sword around in a neck-level slash.
Chingk! In response, Chiima ducked the slash and pulled his blade from Rayden's grasp, drawing more blood from the demon's hand. Building on that momentum, he twisted into a low slash at his opponent's shins.
Whok! Instead of slicing clean through, as expected, or at least disabling the limb and causing the Dread Knight to surrender, as hoped, the holy longsword lodged itself sidelong in Rayden's calf, being accompanied by another spray of blood, and nothing more than an angry snarl from Rayden himself. Only too late did Chiima realize that he was still striking with the level of force reserved for fighting normal human or humanoid creatures of Rayden's size, and by the time he had collected enough of his wits to regret it, he had received a punishing right hook to his shoulder that crushed his armor pauldron like a soda can.
Finally deciding that he wasn't going to win a battle of skill while surrounded, wounded, and weakened, Rayden reached down for the sword in his leg, but this time grabbed hold of Chiima's arm instead of the weapon.
"DIE, ANGEL SCUM!!" Tossing away the longsword, Rayden tumbled right into the winged paladin, and pressed his palm flat upon the angel's breastplate as both paladins fell onto the ground in a struggling heap.
"SRAASH!!" Shouting a short incantation as his hand suddenly lit ablaze with black flame, Rayden forced as much magical power as he could manage down his arm, intending to annihilate his foe with a single blast.
Bzrt! Chiima winced slightly as a small arc of dark lightning appeared around Rayden's hand, being easily conducted through the enchanted steel of his armor. Then he reared back a fist to retaliate.
Thwock! Rayden's head snapped to the side as he took a surprisingly powerful hammer fist to the jaw, and he bit back a curse, having forgotten that his demonic powers beyond superhuman strength and resilience were useless beneath the mercy of Taer'Kul's holy magic.
"Get your hands off me, shadow-born filth!"
"Not until I squeeze the last drop of life out of your neck, harpy!"

Kaze desperately pushed aside the cheering and shouting acolytes as he shoved his way to the heart of the battle, having heard several attacks and a few explosions from the area where Rayden's jump had landed.
Upon shoving aside the last human paladin that stood between him and the wrestling match on the ground, he was immediately halted by Saima, who was working with the other bishops in attempting to keep the rowdy paladins and trainees from rushing into dogpile that could have caused more damage to their forces.
"Toren! Stay back! Chiima will finish him soon. Your help is not needed," the elven woman said as Kaze tried to protest.
"I'm not trying to-"
"Stay out of this, Toren," the bishop warned, her eyes narrowing. "You had your moment in the spotlight, but your... 'friend' decided to cause trouble. This result was entirely foreseeable; he has no one to blame but himself."
Kaze grit his teeth as the blonde woman held her arms out to bar his passage. "All that may be true, but I refuse to let your actions be swept aside by such a simple excuse! Demon or not-"
"MY actions are to be judged by my superiors, PRIEST," Saima growled, glowing slightly as she summoned her aura. "Now step aside!"
Kaze shut his mouth, and the cheers of the crowd seemed to close in around him, engulfing him; a sadistic tempo punctuated on every beat by the sounds of flesh and steel impacting each other with terrifying consistency.
To his right, bishops chanted spells to weaken the demonic knight further, and lend strength to their champion.
To his left, Cardinal Risal shook his head sadly at the scenario, and gazed down at the crystal sphere in his hands in regret.
"No. I judge you, bishop, and you are wanting," the evon said softly, such that the shocked elf could barely hear him among the din of the mob. "Now YOU step aside."
Pap! Before Saima could mutter a word in return, Kaze had summoned a paper talisman to his hand, and slapped it onto her abdomen.
"This might sting for a moment. You'll be fine." The priest mumbled, snapping his fingers.
Thoom! A punishing wave of force blew the bishop off of her feet, and sent her sprawling into another of her rank as Kaze moved forward, ignoring the stunned expressions of his fellow Order devotees.
"That's quite enough!" Kaze shouted, withdrawing a single vial of clear fluid from beneath his robes and holding it in the air. A bright light engulfed the container, and Kaze mumbled a quick enchantment as he threw it at the wrestling paladins, who had ignored his voice.
Crack! The vial exploded upon touching Rayden's back, and a white ring expanded quickly to a diameter of two meters as the liquid inside splashed over the demon's head and fell onto Chiima's dented chest torso armor.
Both combatants stopped fighting, and blinked in surprise.

Kaze looked pleased at first when the brawl halted, but then raised an eyebrow. "Odd... I thought sleeping catalysts were supposed to turn into a gas upon use..." while he had an effective sleep spell that required no components, using a catalyst allowed the spell to affect and area, and decreased the chances of its effects being nullified (which was a definite concern with paladins). As such he had quickly "borrowed" one of the solutions that he had been sent to purchase and put it to use.
"Uh... well..." one of the other priests scratched the back of his head. "Aren't spell catalysts usually blue?"
"You know, I think you're right..." Kaze mumbled, wondering what he had thrown if he had grabbed the wrong substance.
At that moment, Saima shoved a paladin out of her way as she stomped toward Kaze. "Toren, you bastard! How dare yo-"
"Not now, please. I'm busy," the evon muttered, snapping his fingers to the side.
Undeterred, the elven bishop ran forward to clobber the upstart priest, and in her anger, was quite surprised when she smacked into a magical force wall that she probably would have otherwise noticed.
Nobody was paying attention to her plight, however. Those assembled were far more interested in whatever possible reason the demon knight had for suddenly screaming in complete agony.

"Gbaaaugh! Ghb! Fraah!" Rayden thrashed about painfully as he scampered away from Chiima, clawing at his face pathetically as he kept his eyes squeezed shut.
The winged paladin remained seated in shock, completely confused. One moment he was being nearly pulverized by the Dread Knight, despite the various wounds and magic spells weakening the demon, and the next he was shouting tortured screams as he writhed about by himself, having apparently forgotten about the battle he was in amidst his pain.
"I... I'm somewhat confused as to what I'm seeing," the paladin mumbled, taking a moment to massage his bleeding head even as a nearby bishop came to heal him. 'This creature has dozens of stab wounds, several impact burns, and I must have broken his jaw into pieces... what was that liquid?'
As the bishop laid his hands upon him and chanted the healing spell, Chiima looked down and found a large shard of the vial that had a partially-torn label still attached to it.
"What? Holy water? You threw holy water at us?" The paladin said, causing several in the crowd to sweatdrop.
"Uh... well... not on purpose," Kaze mumbled, rubbing his chin. Then he shrugged. 'A very unusual reaction... I thought holy water only worked on undead. Oh well, have to work with it now.' "Never mind that! Show's over! This mob is officially disbanded!"
"Who died and made you king?!" Saima shouted, rubbing her nose angrily as she debated whether to actually attack the priest in earnest.
"'King' isn't actually a rank in our order, but be that as it may, that would be Yaaralam."

Eyes grew wide as the crowd's attention turned toward Cardinal Risal.
"Tell me your name, priest of Malakai," the cardinal requested, stepping forward while gesturing for Saima to stand back.
Kaze blinked, and pointed to himself questioningly. "Me? My name is Kaze Toren, priest of the second rank." Then his eyes hardened. "If I'm to be punished for obstructing this... questionable act of justice, or for assaulting Bishop Saima, then so be it. But I make no apologies."
The cardinal chuckled. "Relax, Toren. By the power of our god Malakai, Lord of Judgment, you have been called upon to take up the Eye of Malakai, and serve the Order as its new fourth avatar."
Crash! Several people fell flat on their faces at the pronouncement, and Saima gaped as she started to tremble.
"What? Me? Nah, couldn't be." Kaze pointed to Chiima. "Chiima is going to be the next avatar. Guy's tough as nails. You don't think anybody else could have faced off against that Dread Knight, do you?"
"Putting aside the fact that you effectively disabled the Dread Knight yourself," Risal began, looking quite bemused, "I'm afraid Paladin Chiima is not going to be an avatar anytime soon. It is you."
"That's ridiculous." Kaze gestured to the men and women around him. "Look, any one of these people can tell you that I'm just not avatar material. Some would claim I'm not even trainee priest material."
"YES!! YES!! THAT'S COMPLETELY TRUE!!" Saima shouted desperately. "It can't be him! He's a lazy, immoral idiot!"
"And yet, it took a lazy, immoral idiot to bring the demon to justice," Risal said, shrugging.
"That was an accident! I was trying to stop the fight!" Kaze protested, looking around in a panic and hoping others would throw in a few words along with Saima (though hopefully they would be a little more tactful).
"Well, yes. That's precisely it," the cardinal admitted. "While all these others sought to destroy the demon for no cause other than the wording of a prophecy, you alone protested to his rights and demanded that he be charged and tried properly. I obviously don't know you, and I can't say whether you're an idiot or not, but having grasped such a simple and basic concept of our teachings when it eluded so many others deserves proper recognition." The old man smiled. "You brought the Dread Knight to justice, or perhaps brought justice to the Dread Knight. Either way, the prophecy is clear."
"Impossible! Such incompetence-" Saima began, only to be silenced by Risal's interruption.
"Is irrelevant in this matter. For better or for worse, our avatars are selected by prophecy, not merit. We accept that in judging those best fit to carry out his word, no one may supercede our lord Malakai. We accept that this means any member of the Order may become his champion, from the mightiest apostle, to a novice monk. This matter has been decided, and this ceremony requires but one more component." Then he grinned, and tossed the crystal sphere in his hands at the startled evon. "Catch."

Chiima averted his eyes as the holy artifact glowed brightly upon contact with Kaze's hands, and then as he squeezed his eyes shut, he pressed his hands together to pray.
'By my god, the Lord of Judgment, may I be forgiven for my error today. For my sin of prejudice a... possibly innocent man was hurt and nearly killed.' Taking a deep breath, he mumbled a quick litany. 'Thank you for showing me your light through your new vessel. Please, bless Toren and care for him. Show him the way, and protect him. For he is young, and your struggle immense. Ahmen.'
Then the angel turned to the bishop, whose hands were finally dimming as his healing spell exhausted itself. "Bishop, please tend to the demon as well. It's... inadequate apology, but for now it's the least we can do."
"Oh, uh..." the elderly angel looked surprised, but nodded and turned around. "Okay, then... so... where'd he go, anyway?"
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"Fifteen minutes, Ray," Ranma mumbled, dragging the groaning demon knight along the ground as he reached the end of a city alleyway. "Fifteen minutes. That's how long I was in there getting my katana identified. And when I get back, you're lying on the ground, writhing in agony, surrounded by a small army of priests and paladins."
Rayden twitched, still rubbing his eyes fiercely. "Wha'n ma fohl! 'Ey 'tack firs'! Gaah! Eyes burn'g!"
Ranma frowned as K raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, hey. Don't you think we should do something? He looks like he's in really bad shape."
Ranma nodded reluctantly, noting the trail of blood that marked their path into the alley. "Yeah... though if you ask me, Ray's got enough blood in him for four people." Then he leaned down in front of the struggling Dread Knight. "What's wrong? Did someone get a slash in on your eyes? Here, move your hands..."
Despite Rayden's mumbling, Ranma pried his hands away so that he could get a good look at the demon's face.
"Huh... that's no cut..." to be honest, the pigtailed warrior didn't know what to make of it. Rayden's face was a bright red, and looked horribly swollen and disfigured. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and there were tiny spots of darker red all over him.
"Holy... wa'er..." Rayden mumbled, pointing to his eyes. "Wa'er in eyes... hur's! Ah cat see!"
Ranma frowned, then stood up. "Okay, just wait here, all right? I'll see if I can find a healer or something."

Once Ranma had sprinted away, K took a closer look at the pitiful-looking demon knight.
"Man, that's ugly... well... no uglier than that huge cut in your leg, I guess. But still..." Then he cocked his head to the side. "Did you get stung by a bee? No, wait... a bee couldn't pierce your skin, huh?"
"Holy wa'er!" Rayden mumbled more loudly. "'E goh holy wa'er in ma eyes!"
"So? Holy water only works on undead," K said matter-of-factly.
"Nuh uh! Hur's me! I geh all ishy, and puff a' up!" Rayden was putting more effort into talking now, and his eyes flickered slightly as he tried to utilize sight once again.
K sweatdropped. "You're... allergic to holy water?"
"'As da word! A'ergic! Yeah!" Rayden said, scooting himself over so that he could sit back against the wall of the alley.
"So cuts don't bother you, severe burns barely irritate you, being impaled just slows you down, but your allergies totally disable you?" K mumbled in disbelief.
Rayden nodded sadly. "I's ge'n be'er now. I can-"
"Ray! Ray! I've got it!" Ranma shouted, dashing back into the alley.
"Eh? Ya goh wha?" Rayden turned toward the pigtailed wanderer groggily.
Splash!
Ranma grinned as he pointed to now-empty flask of holy water in his hand. "I didn't think I'd be able to find some so quickly, but I found this vendor just down the street, so I... uh..."
"GWAAAAAH!! MRRGH!! GLBPTHD!! I' BURNS!!"
Ranma sweatdropped. "NOW what's his problem?"
"You're the problem!" K shouted. "Why'd you splash holy water in his face?"
"He said he needed holy water to wash out his eyes!"
"No, he said he GOT holy water in his eyes!"
"But... I thought that only hurt the undead..."
"We've already been through this!"
"No we haven't!"
"AAAAAAARGH!! HUR'S SUH MUSH!! GYAAAAAAAAAH!!"
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"Sssso you don't know anything about thissss human? Are you ssssure?" The gigantic serpent's eyes narrowed at the tiny, four-armed man below, his long, forked tongue flicking about his lips.
Doppler sighed and massaged his forehead with one of his hands. All around him, humans and humanoids were screaming and running away from the half-dozen splintered wrecks that used to be houses. 'Who sends a DRAGON on a manhunt? Does Greken really have so many of these overgrown lizards that he can afford to have them marauding across the countryside searching for a single human who's incredibly adept at stealth?'
"Of COURSE I'm sure. I would have noticed the presence of any dragon, whether or not they blew up helpless, unoffending structures to get my attention. Is that all?"
The earth dragon hissed. "Do not trifle with ME, demon. Your piddling sssspells will sssave you from me."
"Yeah, okay. Fine. You DO know you're about five kilometers from Taer'Kul, right? They have light lancers there, too. Why would you tromp all the way out here and make all this fuss just to talk to me?"
The rock-plated dragon stared blankly at the veirheelu for a few moments. "Uh... well... jussst five kilometers? Really?" The beast looked somewhat nervous as he glanced to the west. "Well, there wasss talk of sssome trouble in thisss area..."
"And there's going to be a lot more trouble, if the Church and the Order check up on one of their outlying farming communities and finds an earth dragon chatting it up with a demon lord," Doppler deadpanned. "On top of that, the Israeli Expeditionary Force is patrolling the north, searching for some raiders that attacked a military camp or something. I hear their record for slaying marauding dragons is unmatched."
"I... I sssee..." The earth dragon sunk lower to the ground, and started glancing from side to side. "Maybe I sshould be going..."
"Yes, I believe you should," Doppler mumbled, waving absently as he turned around and started to walk away. "I'll let you know if I hear about the pigtailed fellow."
The dragon, who was turning around to flee, suddenly halted. "Wait... I never sssaid he had a pigtail!"
Doppler turned his head. "So? Neither did I."
"But you jussst sssaid it!" The serpent protested.
"Said what?"
"That the human hasss a pigtail!"
Doppler shook his head. "See? YOU just said that the human has a pigtail."
The dragon opened his mouth to retaliate, but nothing came out except for a rumbling stutter.
"But... I... you jussst... I sssaid..."
The veirheelu sighed and walked up to the dragon, patting it on the torso segment of its long, serpentine body. "There, there. Everything's going to be okay. You might try looking for the human to the north; if the IEF is in the area, he'll probably feel better traveling through that region."
Doppler once again turned away, trying not to smirk as the small spell circle he had pressed onto the dragon slowly faded.
"I sssee. Thank you, demon." The earth dragon turned to leave, but turned his head back at the last moment. "You know, it'sss sssurprisssing; for a demon lord, you're not that bad a guy."
This time, Doppler couldn't hide his smile. "Yeah, I get that a lot. Good luck! I hope that human finds you!"
"You mean you hope I find that human!" The dragon yelled as he sped off, building up speed to dive underground.
"Yes, that too. Farewell!"

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End Chapter 9