Hellraider and I were in the middle of the front yard of my house. Hellraider immediately crossed both of his arms over his chest while staring at me with a slightly glaring look. My heart was beating faster about what he would ask this time.
If he was the one asking directly, I thought this was a very important question for him. I was afraid this would be heavier than asking how his journey would end later.
Hellraider then took a very long deep breath and exhaled it.
"Explain, what do you know about me before? Why did I become like this?!" asked Hellraider in stern tone.
My eyes widened and my mouth slightly opened when I heard his question.
As I expected, he became very curious about his true identity before all the tragedy that happened to him. Maybe because previously he could not know his final fate based on The Mayhem game, he was trying to find out who he really was.
I knew exactly Hellraider's background based on the side story of the early version of the game series. But the problem now was whether he could hear what I would tell later.
I was also worried if Mendicore could eavesdrop on our conversation where this was a big secret that only the two of us knew.
"I-I actually know w-who you really are, Sir Hellraider, and what your condition was before this. B-But what I am worried about is when I start telling it, y-you will suffer a severe headache..." I said as a warning.
Hellraider then swung his head left and right once while taking a deep sigh.
"Tell it! If it happens like before, I will immediately leave!" Hellraider said firmly.
I also took a deep breath and began to tell the story.
"So, the beginning of your story is..."
Hellraider when still lived in his earth was originally a highly decorated soldier at the most elite special forces with the rank of Major. However, one day, Hellraider was involved in a feud with an Army Colonel where he insisted on carrying out an operation to eliminate infamous terrorists who were hiding among civilians in one of the armed conflict areas.
The peak was when Hellraider punched the Colonel until he was almost unconscious. As a result of that action, Hellraider was expelled from the special forces and transferred to a space force unit.
I paused for a moment and looked at Hellraider's reaction. His eyes were glaring when he heard the beginning of his background.
"Continue!" said Hellraider in a slightly raised tone.
I assumed telling his background was still safe for him.
Despite his physical appearance and personality, Hellraider already had a family with one daughter. Hellraider was also known to love one of his pet cat named Doly.
While in the space force, Hellraider was assigned to guard a famous space company that was collaborating with the most influential energy company in his world. They were researching a stone obtained from high altitude mining of Planet Venus.
The Venusian stone had the greatest radioactive power ever found among any radioactive element on Earth, making it highly potential as a long-term energy source. The company began massive mining of that Venus stone and brought it to Earth.
However, they observed a strange phenomenon where at each deposit location of that stone, a kind of portal was formed that was initially very small but gradually became larger.
The most horrifying thing happened to humanity where monsters from the realm of hell emerged and invaded Earth, killing many innocent people.
Hellraider was someone who fought fiercely and bravely exterminated those monsters. He also destroyed many Venusian stone deposits with the intention of closing those portals and stopping the invasion on Earth.
But the most tragic event happened to Hellraider when his beloved wife, daughter, and cat were killed and devoured by those demon monsters. That became the turning point of his character, where he swore to destroy all demons and hell itself. Hellraider became very famous among fans for his rage and brutality in killing hell demons even with only firearms and his bare hands.
Hellraider then hunted the remaining monsters on Earth until he chased them into the one portal left.
He ended up at the mining site on Planet Venus' atmosphere along with other surviving space soldiers. At first, Hellraider led them to eliminate all the monsters, until one day another bloody incident happened.
The space soldiers under his command died not because of the monsters, but were killed directly by Hellraider himself by shooting them recklessly. According to the lore, the reason was that Hellraider believed they were all possessed by demons who would attack him. Many interpreted that he was experiencing hallucinations due to getting closer to the realm of hell.
Hellraider became the only remaining soldier and continued fighting the monsters. Until reaching the main portal, he finally chose to sacrifice himself to enter the real realm of hell to close the portal and fight in hell forever.
"T-That is the background of Sir Hellraider that I can tell. After that, you were found by The Graendall and stranded on Planet Grivendal just like what happened to us. Maybe you stopped briefly in my world which was also invaded by demons, and I was brought along with you, sir." I said ending my story.
I saw Hellraider looked shocked and his whole body was trembling.
"Y-You... You must be making that up, right?!?!?! Answer... ANSWEEERRR!!!" shouted Hellraider, pointing his finger at me.
"Please calm down, sir...! All of this is what I know from the entire storyline of The Mayhem game where you are the main character! I only read it! The game developers created this story!!!" I said firmly, trying to convince him.
Hellraider took several deep breaths until his body visibly rose and fell. Then he grabbed his head with both hands, pulling his hair while shaking his head rapidly. His eyes were still wide open.
"AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH....!!!!" roared Hellraider while swinging both his hands toward the ground.
Hellraider immediately turned and walked away toward his house. I saw him glance once at me with a look of great disbelief.
I stood still for a moment after telling everything and seeing his reaction. I never set an expectation that Hellraider would respond positively whenever he asked something. I knew he carried an unimaginable burden. I hoped he would gradually realize everything and desire a better ending for his journey.
I went back into the house. Mendicore and Sherubiel looked at me.
"It seems Sir Hellraider was angry when talking to you earlier, is there a serious problem?" asked Mendicore.
Ah... as expected It observed us. Luckily Mendicore didn't eavesdrop.
"No, Mendicore. He just wanted to know what I'd do next after Grivendal was completely safe from the hellish monster invasion. I only said that whether Sir Hellraider wanted to stay on this planet, and I wanted to live with him too. But he still doesn't understand what a peaceful life is, it seems..." I said, trying to make up the conversation.
"Actually, I don't understand why you want to live with someone like that. He's not someone who can interact with others properly. You also said he's not from your world and met firstly in realm of terror, where he's already harmed you several times. I don't want to judge you if you have an interest in something unusual..." Mendicore commented.
I laughed softly at Mendicore's curiosity.
"Well... This does sound quite strange. But if you know, boys naturally like challenging things. Especially if there's a strong figure who can inspire them..." I said, as if trying to argue back.
Mendicore fell silent again, hearing my alibi.
That afternoon, as we were resting and gathering in the living room, I recalled a detail from yesterday's High Heaven welcome. Mendicore was out strengthening its signal network in the sky.
"I wanted to ask you a question, Sherubiel. When I saw Geriel and the angels following him, I became curious. Why does Geriel have a face that resembles ours, humans, while the other angels look significantly different?".
"Oh... Johann is curious about my race, aren't you? Lord Geriel and the other archangels do indeed have a similar physique to yours. The angels below him were created by Lord Geriel himself from his own rib. They then gave 'birth' to other angels using their own ribs. There's a special place in High Heaven for the creation of their kind. They also go through growth phases, just like humans. Lord Geriel created angels to care for and run High Heaven. Lord Marsiel created angels to serve as High Heaven's defense force and to attack the realm of terror before he was permanently laid to rest...".
"Ehh... Uhh... You must be wondering why Lord Marsiel is in a permanent rest, huh???" asked Sherubiel, seemingly aware that she was explaining something I didn't seem to understand.
"I already knew that when Mendicore and I researched it yesterday, Sherubiel. No need for you to explain it again." I smiled.
"Alright, Johann..." Sherubiel smiled back.
"Have you ever seen Lord Marsiel's real face, Sherubiel? What does he look like?"
"Well, Lord Marsiel is the tallest and largest of the three Archangels. He wears golden armor and a red loincloth. His arsenals are large sword or sometimes spear that both could emitted searing yet destructive light. I've seen his face a few times when he removes his helmet. He's somewhat similar to Sir Hellraider, with green eyes but short black hair. In his normal state, he has a personality similar to Sir Gruzhnil, but when he's angry, he's exactly like Sir Hellraider,"
I imagined Archangel Marsiel looked like Hellraider, but with a hint of Gruzhnil to balance it out.
"Can Archangels adapt to human size?" I asked again.
I wondered how Marsiel and his human wife would fare if their actual size comparison was too large.
"Yes, Archangels have the ability to adapt to human size too, Johann," Sherubiel replied.
I nodded at her explanation. I also wondered in my mind if there was a possibility of a connection between Archangel Marsiel and Hellraider at some point since I don't know well of his figure in The Mayhem game lore.