Chapter 23

Henry

Knight

Strike Team- Alpha

Resonation Tier Potential- SSS

Current Resonation- C+

Max D.E.D. Points- 450

Current D.E.D. Points in Use- 12

“Your Resonation tier goes up in multiple ways.” Jon had come around to Henry’s side, and was pointing down towards the app as he spoke. Henry’s poker face had failed him as he’d opened the app, and he’d given away something had changed. When pressed, he’d admitted that his Max D.E.D. points had gone up, and Jon had figured Henry hadn’t yet gotten an actual lesson on this aspect of being an Exorcist.

“The more battles you experience, the more you will be exposed to the frequency of the D.E.D., as well as their essence. Just as your D.E.D. can passively grow stronger when out and linked to you, you too can grow stronger through interaction with them.” He held his finger to the Max D.E.D. Points portion.

“Your D.E.D. Points, obviously, effect how strong of a D.E.D. you can have linked to you and summoned at any given time. At 450, your are in the very top of C+ resonation, and once your resonation hits B-, your D.E.D. points will be at 500.”

“What about my points in use?” Earlier that had been 10. He figured it had gone up because his Evil Eye had leveled up, but figured a verbal confirmation would be nice.

“That’s based on the D.E.D. you’ve got summoned now. Level and rarity both effect the points needed to have a specific D.E.D. materialized and fighting alongside you. For your Evil Eye, which is a common D.E.D. they start at 10 at level 1, and go up by 2 per level. Your Bladed Drakeling is uncommon, meaning it started at 20 for level 1, and will go up by 3 per level. Rare D.E.D. start at 30, and go up by 5, Ultra-Rare, if you ever find one, will start at 50, and go up by 10, and then there are legendary…which are in a class of their own. But those…those are D.E.D. you should pray you never see in the wild.”

Henry thought back to the D.E.D. he’d seen Loki use. Was that a legendary D.E.D.? Did Jon know Loki? He had to, right?

“Do you know what the D.E.D. Loki uses is?” He knew Loki had mentioned keeping D.E.D. a secret was a big deal, but it was obvious Loki used that D.E.D. for battles against Tiered Demons. And all the masked individuals had seen it as well. Meaning it wasn’t a secret. Who Loki actually was, was no doubt a secret, but Henry figured this was like a codename, superhero type situation. So the actual member of the organization was likely secret, but his alter-ego, as Loki, wasn’t.

“Fenrir.” Jon said simply. “That D.E.D. is in the Legendary class, but the lower end of it. It’s one of the oldest D.E.D. that our organization has, and it’s been passed down through Exorcists for countless ages. Loki did not capture Fenrir, he was gifted him. My entire time in the organization, a Legendary D.E.D. has not come through a rift.”

Henry thought back to that battle, thought back to the massive creature Loki had summoned, as well as the struggle that appeared to have gone on between the two. His Evil Eye mentioned Loki was an Awakened one, such as Henry. Meaning he had a massive resonation potential. But what was Loki’s currently at? How many D.E.D. points did it take to summon Fenrir? Another thought crossed Henry’s mind at that.

“So, his title Loki, is linked to his D.E.D.?” Henry had recognized Loki from Norse mythology, but hadn’t thought much of it. The fact Jon had just stated the massive wolf was Fenrir, which in mythology was linked with Loki, seemed way too convenient to be just a coincidence.

“Correct. As the Director likely mentioned, D.E.D. have been coming into our world for a long, long time. Many of the mythologies of the world, the stories, the tales, are all related to D.E.D. The gods, the mythical beasts, they are all linked in some way, though even our records are vague in how. That being said, those who wield the power of the Legendary Beasts against Tiered Demons, are granted names linking them to those mythos.” Jon smiled wistfully. “Which is a lot cooler than just being known as a joker and such.”

Either Jon was a great actor, or it was pretty certain he was not Loki. Which once again, meant Henry didn’t fully trust him. However, the enigma that was Loki, now completely intrigued Henry. Who was he? Who was the mysterious masked individual wielding an ancient mythological beast? Furthermore, if Fenrir existed, what other creatures from legend were out there?

“You mentioned he’d been gifted Fenrir.” Henry was going to figure this out. “So, does the organization have a collection of D.E.D. to give to its Exorcists?”

“It’s less a collection, and more a spattering here and there.” Jon said simply. “Though not even I know the full details of it. Oddly enough, our secret organization, has secrets within itself.” He chuckled. “Those who are exceedingly gifted, if the higher ups feel they can be fully trusted, occasionally are granted access to ancient D.E.D. How these D.E.D. are kept, where they’re hidden, and such, are all secrets. And those who are gifted them, are sworn to secrecy, meaning they will never reveal who they are. The only time utilizing a Legendary D.E.D. is authorized, is against Tiered Demons inside of a rift.”

“Oh.” Henry’s curiosity wasn’t sated. The more he learned about the D.E.D., the more questions he had.

“Yeah, there’s a ton out there. Lucky for you, the higher ups put as much information as they could into the app. When I was first learning all of this, I had to go to the various libraries, and scour through all the old records. The new gen has it easy. This D.E.D. Exorcists app, makes life so much easier on everyone.”

Jon laughed and walked back to the other side of the desk. “I’m sure you’ve got plenty of questions, and I could answer them. But I’ve got other things to do, and I’m sure you don’t feel like hanging out down here all day.”

“Well-“

“Exactly. So, welcome to the team, and all that.” Jon’s demeanor had changed so suddenly. He’d gone from being helpful, and acting like an instructor, to almost rushing to get Henry gone. What was going on?

“Give the app a look through, and check out all the information there is in there on the different D.E.D., their evolutions, and such. Obviously, the more knowledge you have, the better chances you have out there, and since you’re on my team, I want you to thrive.”

“With that said and done,” Jon had grabbed a few papers from the desk, and was promptly walking towards the door of the room, “you’ll notice in the app you can now access the Strike Team tab. That will give you list of our members, their contact information, and will showcase them on your app now with a different colored marker. Reach out to them if you have any questions, and you’ll be hearing from-“

The door opened before Jon got to it, and the strike team leader froze, cursing under his breath, just loud enough that Henry could hear it.

“Leaving so soon, Jon?” Branch Director Emelia Bowers asked, her eyes looking a lot less kind towards Jon, than they had been the night before. The tension in the room was palpable, and Henry, definitely wanted out.