REQUIEM 🔞 (Angel Devourers #5)

9

"Hmm…"

Dottore scanned Morrigan's body for the third time, and yet he did not find anything wrong with it – except one.

"How is it, Dottore? Is something wrong with my sister's body?"

Kai was so anxious when he waited for Dottore to finish his extraordinarily long examination on Morrigan's body.

From the first glance and the initial check on the body, Kai could not find anything wrong.

Nothing.

But because of the kekkai that protected Morrigan's body, he was not able to do anything else other than scanning the body for any anomaly.

He already took measurements of the body's age, and it showed that it was at least a millenium in age – which confirmed the time difference between this world and the strange world beyond the cracks.

Other than that, nothing was wrong.

And from the look of it, even Dottore could not find anything wrong with Morrigan's body.

"There's actually nothing wrong with the body, except that it's protected by a very strong barrier that puts her in a very deep sleep." Dottore tapped his chin and his forehead creased in deep thought. His handsome face showed nothing though, but Kai could see that there was something in his mind.

"What is it, Dottore? Is there something that happened to my sister that I should know about?" Kai needed to know. He was so worried about Morrigan that he rarely slept for the whole year. Thank god Akito helped him and eased up his pain although for a little bit.

"Well, actually this body is like a bear in hibernation and ceasing all function. Doesn't matter since the Devourers' body don't need anything, they could even survive in space without a suit – or anywhere else if it matters. But what concerns me is that this body is just an empty shell, Kai. There's no source of power inside. In short, her soul is not there, that's why she doesn't wake up."

Kai went silent from the affirmation that he himself had suspected the first time he conducted the full body check up on his sister. Apparently, the body was just an empty shell without a soul.

Just like something that he was quite familiar with.

"So, does this mean that her soul is somewhere out there and all we need to do is to find her and put her back into her body – just like my mom and Momo?" Kai clenched his hands in frustration.

"Yes, just like them. We only have to find the soul and put it back into her body and she will be good as new." Dottore looked at the body. "Although it's easier said than done, because there's a very strong protection spell on the body which prevents us from doing anything to it. We're able to scan the body because of our ability as Devourer, no one else would be able to do that."

"So, how could we put the soul back into the body once we find it?"

Dottore took his time to answer the same question that he had been asking himself.

This was the first time he had ever seen this kind of complicated and ancient barrier that not even he could solve. It was like a mix of many advanced level kekkai that only the ancient mythical beings were using. He was not familiar with some of them and he was an expert on kekkai.

Sure, given enough time he surely could deactivate them, but it would take a lot of time and he wondered who could make this very strong kekkai. They did it to ensure the absolute protection of the body, so they must be the allies of Morrigan. And what strong allies she had made in this short time.

In a way, Dottore was more fascinated with the kekkai itself, and he was itching to study them before he could break them open.

But another more immediate problem was how to find Morrigan's soul?

Was she even in this realm, or was she still in the strange realm beyond the crack?

"The first thing we have to do now is find the soul. Then we will think of how to put it back into the body." Dottore touched his bracelet and typed a few sentences on it. "I think it's time for the whole gang to go back and we will discuss how to proceed with the search. Your parents should know about this too."

"Yes, I have sent news to them, and they should be back soon. The others also have responded and they will arrive in the next few hours at most."

"Good. You should inform Duncan to prepare the place for them."

"Should I call… Noah?" Kai suddenly asked Dottore – who was on his way back to his own lab to research the kekkai, but stopped on his tracks when he heard Noah's name.

He met Noah a few times now, and he liked the young man. He was also itching to get his hands on him to do some research with his extraordinary bloodline. A half Archangel, half human and blessed with the Devourer's dragon, and he wanted to test the maximum capability of the man.

From the others' story, it seemed like Noah had limitless potential – even close to an original Devourer like Freyr and Freyja.

"It's actually not a bad idea. I want to draw some of his blood for… research purposes." Dottore smiled. He almost couldn't hold back his excitement and Kai smiled – knowing Dottore's thoughts.

Kai himself was a subject of Dottore's curiosity, and by letting him draw his blood now and then, he was happy to indulge the man's thirst for knowledge.

For him – who never knew the warmth of the family before he met his parents and this… merry band of Devourers – he was very grateful that they all came at once, once they heard about what happened to his parents and his sister.

The apex predators – as crazy as they acted – were very warm and loving family toward their own. And the enemies that you wished you never knew.

Sure, they were petty and childish – except for Dottore – but he loved all of them equally and would do anything for them.

And that included his human's family side – their loyal aides.

"I will contact Noah and talk to him about giving some blood for research." Kai nodded and Dottore beamed happily.

"Good. I really appreciate that. I will try to make something to track Morrigan's soul, if you want to join me later."

"Sure, I will be happy to."