World Without Song

Chapter 1: Overwhelming Hostility

"Arioch! You're coming with me!" The White Saint, Ara, spoke to the woman who looked just like the goddess they all worshiped.

Arioch was still new and as such required someone reliable to get used to her work as a soldier of the Union.

"Yes Sir!" She replied with a salute.

Ara had looked no different from twenty years ago, though she was now in her late fifties, she was still considered to be one of the most effective Saint Class knights.

There were now over thirty Saints, but one of them still stands at the top with the most military achievements... Yhidawach, the Black Saint.

Ara's and consequently Arioch's mission was to make contact with him northwest of Silad, by Alice's crater, where a new town had sprung up.

Apparently there was a fiend there, and Yhidawach was spotted close to the area.

Since Yhidawach hadn't been reporting and taking missions for the last twenty years, a chance like this was hard to pass up.

"I'll teach you everything, so don't worry. Just stick close to me."

Her white armor shined so brightly that Arioch thought Ara was an angel, like herself.

They departed for the town of Alaire.

...

While on the road to their destination, Arioch had begun her interrogation. She was looking for the reason behind the slowed flow of souls to her Mother.

"Uhm... Could you explain the ranks to me ma'am?"

"Sure. At the top is the Holy King Willard, under him are the four kings of the Union, and beneath them are the Saint Class knights... Under the Saints are the regular knights and under them are soldiers like you. There's an offshoot intelligence branch with their own rankings though."

"Then... The person we're looking for is?"

"A big pain in the ass."

"I'm sorry?"

"No, I'm sorry. We're looking for the Black Saint. You could say that he's the pinnacle of Saints."

Arioch could only slightly read minds and emotions, she could sense anger and frustration from the memories Ara has of the man.

"So why exactly are we looking for him?"

"I'm sure you've heard he's been going solo for the last twenty years, acting on his own accord... That's pretty dangerous considering the kind of guy he is. We're mostly confirming his sanity and possibly apprehending him. Though I'm not quite sure I can beat him in a fight."

There was a hint of fear in Ara's heart as she pondered the thought of fighting Yhidawach.

"Well he's an interesting guy; ask me some questions again after you meet him."

"Still, to think he would be fighting a fiend on his own..."

"Don't be so worried... that man has killed fifty of them by now. He even killed an Archfiend once."

"That's amazing."

"Yeah, it is." Ara agreed with her new companion.

"So how much do we know about the fiends and Archfiends?"

"The Archfiends are fiends but much stronger, it's a new rank we devised when more of their soldiers started distinguishing themselves. Used to just be soldiers and fiends.... Well I know of two fiends were promoted to Archfiend. Megaron and Tigerion. Brahmastra would count as well, but he doesn't fight. The rest of the thirteen Archfiends are all new and we don't even know all of their names. And there are too many fiends to name right now. There's at least seventy that we don't know and twenty that we do know. Really, things have gone to hell these last twenty years."