New Enemy

Yumi encountered her guild captain in front of the palace who came to bring her some important news.

In Exorcism Regiment, exorcists were grouped in a three-member Guild with a captain supervising them. Yumi and two other members were part of the Guild Khulan, named after their captain.

“There has been a report of the reappearance of the Fiend King, Behemoth.”

The Archimage joined in on their conversation. She just stepped out of the Royal Palace and saw two exorcists working under her talking to each other.

“Archimage!”

Khulan and Yumi exclaimed in unison. They immediately saluted her, showing respect to the leader of the Exorcism Regiment.

“As expected, the news have reached your ears as well,” Khulan commented.

Khulan tried to tell Yumi the same information and wasn’t surprised to know that the Archimage heard the news already.

“Pardon me, but wasn’t Behemoth exorcised sometime ago by the exorcists abroad?” Yumi asked.

“That’s what we thought too. We recently found out that the one that was exorcised several years ago was just a fragment of the the Fiend King. It seems like another fragment just appeared recently at the Temple. A potentially stronger one, too,” Khulan explained.

"A stronger one, huh......" Yumi thought to herself.

Yumi was shuddered to hear that another monster stronger than the one defeated several years ago just appeared. She couldn't imagine just how strong that monster would be, since the last one took down nearly all exorcists of the queendom.

“The Temple? When did it appear?” Yumi asked further.

“Just a few hours ago. The remaining members of Garuda Squad staying at the Temple tried to fight the monster, but the monster escaped right after reinforcements from the Exorcism Regiment arrived. We didn’t catch a glimpse of them,” the Archimage answered.

“That means.....”

Yumi was thinking of the timeline of events. If it happened a few hours ago, that meant it happened right while she was fighting the Stainless Syndicate.

“Is it possible that the Stainless Syndicate was the one who sent them? A member of Garuda Squad did tell me that she tried to ask for some backup from the Temple, but the person she was connected to told her that a monster also appeared there,” Yumi told them. She was referring to Meixia who called Yara during their fight against the Stainless Syndicate members.

“No, I don’t think so. According to the report made by the Garuda Squad, they told us that at first, a gargantuan appeared. However, another monster appeared and dispelled the gargantuan on their own. According to their description, we assume that the second monster is a fragment of the Fiend King, Behemoth,” the Archimage replied.

The three of them had a moment of silence. They were lost in their thoughts to process the information.

“Is this the same monster that was dispelled several years ago?” Yumi asked.

“According to the description, we don’t think so. The one that just appeared call themself Fallacio. They only thing they know about their power is that they took down a 120 gargantuan in one punch,” Khulan answered.

Yumi was shocked to hear that. She couldn't imagine just how powerful that monster would be. Just when Yumi thought that the Fiend King was no more, turned out she was wrong. There were actually more of them, but they appeared at different points in time.

“Do the other members know about this?” Yumi asked Khulan.

“Jae was there when they called for backup, but he didn’t see the monster. I’m planning to notify Chen after this, as soon as he finished his mission.”

“I see.”

Yumi didn’t expect that her day could get any worse, and it did. With the reappearance of the Behemoth the Fiend King, it meant that everyone from the Exorcism Regiment would get very busy very soon, including her. This led to her having less time to mourn for her brother.

After dinner, Akihiko came to Haru to have a chat with him.

“Haru! Look at ya! I can’t believe you’re finally a Sacred Guard!”

Akihiko immediately hugged Haru the moment he saw him in Garuda Squad uniform. He looked so proud of him, like a big brother praising his younger brother.

“Thanks! You’re not bad yourself, huh, Policeman Tsuchiya?”

“Hahahah! Don’t call me that!”

The two had a good laugh. It’d been so long since the two of them saw each other.

“How come you know exactly when to come?” Haru asked, intrigued by his perfect timing when he joined to fight against the Stainless Syndicate.

“Well, a hero needs to make an entrance, after all,” Akihiko answered.

Haru was cringed by his answer. Haru looked like he was about to smack him.

“Hahahah! Well, Yumi called me, knowing that I was stationed here. Since it sounded serious, I decided to come, bringing other Police officers with me,” Akihiko said.

“Thank God you came. If it weren’t for you, I don’t know....”

Haru suddenly remembered the fight they just had a few hours ago. It was so intense that it gave him trauma. Two people died and one person fell into a coma. It was really gore and traumatizing.

“Well, let’s just be glad that it’s all over, now. Just think of it as a lesson and be ready for the next one,” Akhiko replied.

Suddenly, Haneul appeared from afar. He was trying to approach Haru who was talking with Akihiko.

Haru made an eye contact with Haneul. Akihiko knew what was going on and excused himself to let two of them have a private talk.

“Go on, go meet your brother,” Akihiko told Haru.

Haru nodded and walked towards Haneul to hear what he had to say.

Unlike other members of the quartet, Akihiko was the only one who knew Haru’s true goal of becoming a Sacred Guard. He didn’t tell Meixia nor Yumi about any of it, not even the fact that Haru and Haneul were twins.

“Brother?” Haru asked.

“We need to talk, Haru.”

Haneul and Haru finally confronted their fate.

An hour before Haneul met up with Haru, the Holy Monastic invited Haneul to have dinner with him, just the two of them. The Holy Monastic wanted to tell him about an important secret that he deserved to know.

“Haneul, I have something important to tell you.”

The Holy Monastic sounded more serious than ever. So serious that the two of them paused the dinner they were currently having.

Haneul was surprised that the Holy Monastic called him by his name, and not by his title as the Premier. Yet, he didn't mind it.

“What is it, Your Holiness?”

“You......

are not the Premier.”

Haneul dropped the knife he was holding in his right hand. He was so shocked that he didn’t know what to say. He felt like he just misheard what the Holy Monastic said.

“What are you––”

“I’m sorry that you had to go through all of this, Haneul,” the Holy Monastic apologized.

At first, Haneul thought the Holy Monastic was just joking or something. However, from the tone he spoke, the Holy Monastic didn’t sound like he was trying to make a joke at all. This meant that he did indeed mean what he just said.

“Is this because of my Divine State training? If you give me some more time, I will––”

Haneul entered the first stage of grief–– denial.

“That’s exactly the reason why you can’t enter the Divine State. You are not a Premier to begin with.”

After all this time, the mystery behind Haneul’s inability to enter the Divine State was explained. This also explained why Haneul was not connected to his spiritual self.

“But.....how?” If it’s not me, then....who is it?” Haneul asked in confusion.

“It’s your twin brother, Haru.”

“!?”