Ismael talked some more with Geulsang Zhao and parted away without causing any issues. Rivaled the more dangerous places in high attitudes to stumble upon a group of people training to kill with swords only, so he circled the area and left in a more secluded space.
There he took an audible sigh and sat backed to a rock wall and contemplated his own life, his mistakes, his situation.
A blade pierces his skull from behind and slowly follows lower through the cervicals and the spine, the angel drags the body away in a hurry. An old man comes out of the rock wall with latent controlled anger on his face, murmuring to himself:南無阿弥陀仏. 南無阿弥陀仏. 南無阿弥陀仏.
"Old man...John..."
"You've caused too many problems, Ismael. I told you not to kill overseas, but you children press buttons and violate sanctity."
"Sir, you've violently harmed my master. I'll have to take your head."
"Sebastian, it's useless", Ismael muttered reflexively.
"Rest assured, Ismael. Humans cannot hurt angels."
"This one can."
"I don't see anything special."
"Heal me as you can, I'll try my best."
"It seems even after you've lost your life, you still fear me. I am honored."
"Shut up old man John. I'm not stupid, that's it."
"Ambroise Ler has your blood in check, kiddo. He said you're not special at all."
"You're with him too?"
"You try to avoid him as much as you can and you still end up in contact with him. Imagine if you teamed up with this beast. Information tends to flow fast."
"The great old man John, in need of a teenager to do anything. Sad to see you grow so old."
"Falter, young one."
Ismael's legs broke from the bone itself, losing blood internally. As he grinded teeth and closed his fists on the ground, he grabbed the anti-tank rifle on his back like a giant sword and shot him, as he thought so hard, right in his forehead, but the impact was served on the rocks nearby, the canon dropping in a violent shock on the ground.
Ismael shot an another bullet regardless and damaged the sword.
"I know I can't kill him, but if I can severely hurt him and leave, it would be amazing."
"Ismael. 南無阿弥陀仏. Ismael. 南無阿弥陀仏."
"He's so creepy I can't process anything."
The old man breaks the top of his sword by striking the angel as hard as possible.
"That's what you're made of, creature?"
"Sir, I did not see him approaching."
"Nothing can. Just take me away."
The angel flew Ismael far away, engaging in a desperate attempt to stay awake and fight nausea. They landed on a beach few hundred miles nearby, the sound of waves crashing into themselve broke his resolve and sent him into a dream.
Seeing Genova playing cards with Alice, he was dealing the cards and the two girls kept losing and complaining.
"Did you at least become wiser, Ismael?"
"Alice...no, I'm afraid not. I fell harder than expected, like I'm hardwired to fail. I cling on to whatever I have, I fall anyway."
"Which friend did you kill, recently?"
"None. I made new friends."
"Hand over an ace."
"I don't choose the cards, Alice."
He woke up at night time throwing up, discarding everything that happened as the angel interrupted his suffering.
"Sir, was that...human?"
"John, that's his name, no family, just connections. We know not to try anything and to just obey. He usually sits on a wheelchair despite being able to walk just fine. But during funerals, seeing him on a wheelchair is a strong reminder that he could break us worse than death ever could."
"It seems you've met your match in this exile."
"I keep meeting my match. All the time. Not a single victory. I'd have to kill my friends to earn a win."
"Then befriend him. Learn about his weakneses and behead him."
"There's no blind spot for this entity, he's just himself. No flaws no regret. His blade always hits. It's honestly raging. But angel, you can't keep flying me from land to land. I appreciate trying to keep me from pain but pain is part of the game, and failing upwards is not an option. The only thing I could think of, is that John is really afraid of death. And I can use that against him, I can take him out of his perfect mentality and get him to retreat. It won't be easy but it's possible."
"Then shall we go back?"
"Yes, please."
The angel flew Ismael back to the place where he got stabbed, the exact amount of blood surpassing his memories. John was still there.
"You came back like a dog?"
"Hey, John, catch."
Ismael throws a grenade at him, shooting it when it gets close to his face and then screams "angel! Take this life!"
"John doesn't know the slightest thing about angels and death, he can't even properly register his presence. Which makes up for one thing he cannot understand, and he's human after all, any human filled with the unknown is bound to feel fear. And through fear I can destabalize him greatly."
John, covered in smoke, uses his sword but is blocked by the angel holding his arms apart with brutal force. Ismael gets something out of his coat and pierces through the damaged sword with a syringe, injecting its' content in John's throat.
"The mind of the dead shall not be broken, old man."
"You think poison will instill fear in me?"
"Mixed up cyanide with nitrate, one of my favorite compound. You got one hour at best before going to hell, you mongrel."
"Yet I will live. You had that thing on you the whole time?"
"I hesitated using it on my friends, glad I could take you down instead."
"You don't know what you started, kid. There's people that will come for you, people from my organization."
"Your? As if. You don't own anything. You didn't own us, back then at Cressenie. We respected you so we didn't say anything. But you're a monster, and you'll die as a slave, crawling to me."
"Kenza. Kenza is the name of the organization. From which I did my time. For which I served."
"You did. You lied to me, Mateni, Basil Morgan, Raven and Genova. You lied to Gloria, you demented old fart."
John took his phone and called, abandonning any will to fight and live.
"Yes, it's me. John. Ismael, the Cressenie Weapon Trafficker, poisoned me, I don't have long. Yes. Yes...I'm sorry I'm a failure."
"They're going hard on him? Weird. I expected them to send more to take me down. I have a bad feeling about this. If that's the type of org I've got coming my way so be it. They can't truly reach me. And I'll use that. I'll humiliate them knowing they cannot kill me."
"Angel! Cut his arms off!"
The angel cut his right arm then his left and knelt him down.
"You won't let me kill myself?"
"Tell me about Kenza. What I have to know."
"Everything you need to know about Kenza is all the reasons you should be afraid. You think being dead will save you, but you are doomed. Death would be an escape, an escape you don't have at your disposal."
"Where can I find them?"
"Go east until you find a flag with a circle filled with thorns."
"Why not mentionning Kenza when we were veterans executing random targets?"
"Because the targets were not randoms, they were liabilities, just like you, just not that big."
"Hold on. This whole time I was just killing people who tried to take down Kenza?"
"That's right, son. You did their bidding. A good worker. Paid to do his job and not complain. Trained to only follow orders. A loyal dog. And it took for you to transcend death to only kill one."
"The more time passes the better I'll get. I'll end up killing every single member of the organization. Just watch from below."
"If you say so."
Ismael stood in front of him and watched him die. Took his body to a cross and sat him against the wooden structure on top of which he attached a flag. On the white flag was written in large black letters "death to Kenza."