Divine Contract

Chapter 2 - Questions Answered

“How would you like to form a contract with me?”

…

“A contract?” I asked.

“Yes.” Highlander replied.

I was unable to understand what she meant.

“What do you mean by a contract?”

“I guess it would be too much to expect you to accept without hearing an explanation.” Highlander muttered to herself. “Very well. I shall explain everything… But it would be better to do it in a more suitable location.”

“She has a point. This isn’t exactly the best place to have a private conversation. Even if this is an out-of-the-way street, the Demons are still looking for me, and there is no telling who could come through here. The Demons would be quite happy to kill both of us.”

Highlander thought for a moment. “Do you know of any nearby locations that would be unlikely to be discovered by the Demons, where we’ll be able to talk in private?”

I knew of one, but I was hesitant to bring a stranger there. However, I realised that this would probably be the only way to get some answers.

“We can head to my hideout,” I said reluctantly, not wanting to let anyone into my hideout, but also knowing that I owe this girl for saving my life. “I’ve been living there for years without the Demons finding me, so we should be safe there.”

“That’s perfect. Let’s go!”

Saying that, Highlander summoned her wings and tried to take off, but I grabbed her hand and pulled her back down before she could.

“Are you an i***t?! This is Demon Territory! You can’t just go flying around! You would be spotted instantly!”

“Oh… I forgot about that. Sorry.” With that said, she put away her wings and I breathed a sigh of relief.

“She forgot? How careless does someone have to be to forget something so important when they are in the middle of enemy territory?”

“Ok then, Mr. Knight. Could you please lead the way to your hideout?” Sylvia asked with a carefree smile on her face.

“Follow me, I’ll take us there using the safest route,” I said as I returned my knife to its sheathe.

“Ok. Also, would it be alright for me to call you Ross? You can call me Sylvie. All of my friends do.”

“I don’t care what you refer to me as, but I don’t exactly think we’ve known each other long enough to be friends, Highlander. There are very few people that I refer to by their first names.”

“Really? Boo.” Highlander said, dejectedly. “And what are the conditions for you to refer to someone by their first name.”

“Either, I must feel like I have an exceptionally close relationship with them, or if they have the same last name as someone else that I know. It would be confusing to refer to them all by last name. No one would be able to tell which one I was referring to.”

***

It took about 20 minutes to reach the hideout.

Normally, it wouldn’t have taken anywhere near that long, but I decided that it would be best for neither of us to be seen by any Demons. There’s no telling what would happen if we were discovered, after all.

“Here we are. ‘The Clocktower’.” I told Highlander, as I entered my hideout through the hidden entrance.

“I would never have expected someone to be living at the top of the clocktower.” Highlander remarked.

“That’s the point,” I stated. “We should be able to lay low here for a while. It also serves as a suitable place for us to converse in private.”

Highlander blushed after hearing me say that.

“W-w-what reason would you have for wanting to talk to me in private?!”

I looked at her, completely bewildered. “You were going to tell me about this ‘contract’. Isn’t that the entire reason I brought you here?”

Highlander looked at me and blinked a few times, and then she started scratching the back of her head and laughing awkwardly. “Oh yeah. That was the case, wasn’t it? Ha ha ha…”

“Is this girl a complete moron?” I swallowed what I wanted to say to her and walked over to my living area. “How could this airheaded girl have killed three Demons with such ease, saving me in the process?”

I took a seat at my desk and invited Highlander to sit on the sofa. Highlander closed her eyes. She looked like she was concentrating on something, or possibly arranging her thoughts so that she could tell me what she meant before. This continued for nearly five minutes

“This can’t continue. I need to ask her about why the Demons attacked me, and about this contract she mentioned.”

“So…” I started. “Now can you tell me about what’s going on?”

“Just a second. I need to finish erecting the barrier,” Highlander responded.

“Barrier?” I asked, confused as to what she was talking about.

“Yes. A barrier to prevent anyone from being able to eavesdrop on us.” Highlander proceeded to sit motionless for a further thirty seconds.

“Ok. Barrier complete. Now we can talk,” Highlander announced with a smile reappearing on her face.

“Great. So, can you tell me what on earth is going on?” I enquired.

“Yup. I guess it would be better to start from the beginning. You know about the thousand-year long war and how the Angels are losing, right?” A serious expression appeared on Highlander’s face.

I nodded.

“Do you also know about the rumoured drug that the Demons developed to increase their own strength?”

“Yes. The Angels refuse to use such a method to strengthen themselves, and that has put them at a disadvantage, right?”

“That is what we have told the world, but that’s not the entire truth. While we do believe that to be unnatural, and we do not wish to follow the example of the Demons, we actually have no idea how they made such a drug.”

“Could you not simply steal some and analyse it? Then figure out a way to tune it to work on Angels?”

“We have never been successful with that. No captured Demons have any on them, and any place that we raid after getting a tip that there might be some there, turns out to be empty… And now, we are reaching the point where we need to do something, if we are to have any hope of turning the situation around. So, we are turning to the humans for help.”

“Humans?” Highlander nodded in response to my question. “But what can humans do to help? We don’t typically possess powers to rival the Demons. Unless they are able to use magic, most humans wouldn’t be able to help much, or do you just intend to use them as meat shields?”

“We do not have any intention of needlessly sacrificing the lives of any humans. That would be even worse than using a drug to enhance our abilities.”

“Then how…”

“We offer the humans contracts,” Highlander interrupted.

I paused for a moment after hearing that. “You mentioned that before, but what exactly does this contract entail?”

“We grant humans the power to fight the Demons, and, in turn, you help us by doing just that.”

“The power to fight Demons?” A feeling of excitement started to rise within me.

“Yes. A contract is forged between a pair including one Angel and one human. This provides a link between the two, allowing the human to use holy power and wield a Relic, as many Angels do.”

“A ‘Relic’? What is that?”

“A Relic is a powerful ancient weapon. Every weapon, or artefact, that you have heard of in every mythology, is a Relic. For example, Odin’s spear, Gungnir. There are also many that are not shown in any myths or legends.”

I sat quietly as I listened to every word that Highlander was saying.

“Another example of a Relic is the sword that I wield.” I remember the silver sword she had when she saved me from the Demons.

“What is your Relic, Highlander?”

“My Relic is the Sword of Light, Claiomh Solais. It has the ability to cut through almost anything.”

“That sounds pretty cool, actually. I like the sound of tha-”

“However, that is not all that a contract entails.” Highlander interrupted again. “Our very lives will be linked together as one. Meaning that if one of us dies, so does the other.”

I was taken aback by that sudden revelation.

“Of course, that also means that you will be granted the longevity of the Angels. So, you can potentially live forever.”

“That sounds a bit better, and it’s not like I have to worry about watching my family grow old without me, since they are already gone.”

Highlander stood up and approached me.

“I know that this is asking a lot of you, and that I should probably give you more time to think this through, but… I don’t think we have that kind of time. So, please…” Highlander closed her eyes tight, bowed deeply and stretched her left hand forward. “Form a contract with me.”

I stared at Highlander, with only one more question that I needed an answer to.

“That doesn’t explain why you are partially responsible for those Demons coming after me. You said that before. Is that because of you offering this contract to me? Couldn’t you have done this with anyone? So, why did they show up before I had even spoken to you about this?”

Highlander remained in the same posture as she gave her answer. “A contract can only be made between a pair that is compatible. The threshold that has to be passed before the higher-ups will grant permission to offer a contract is 70% compatible.”

“What do you mean by ‘compatible’? And what does that percentage mean?”

“I have not been told exactly what makes two people compatible for a contract, but I have heard that the higher the compatibility percentage, the stronger the contract, which powers up both the Contractor and Angel more than usual, and the pair will work better as partners in combat.”

“I’m guessing by ‘Contractor’, you mean the humans who have accepted this contract?”

“Yes, and to answer your previous question, we believe that there is a traitor who is leaking the information regarding the compatible pairs to the Demons, so that they can target the humans before we offer them contracts.”

“… Ok. After listening to everything that you have just said, I have one final question for you… What is our compatibility percentage?”

Highlander raised her head and looked me in the eyes as she answered. “97%”

My eyes widened as I heard that, but I quickly cracked a smile. “Well, after hearing all of that. I don’t think I have much of a choice.”

“Eh?”

“I hate the Demons more than anything else, so if you can give me the power to fight them head on... I can’t think of anything I would like more.”

“You mean…”

“That’s right, Sylvia Highlander. I accept your contract.”

Hearing this, Highlander smiled and then said, “Ok. Then let’s make this official.”

“How do we do that?” I asked.

“Give me your left hand.” Highlander said, holding out her own.

I did as she said, placing my left hand on top of hers, and then she started to chant.

“By the power granted to me, Sylvia Highlander, I offer you, Ross Knight, this contract. With this power, you will no longer live as a human, yet you will not live as an Angel either. You shall become a being which can surpass the potential of both, a Contractor. Do you accept the contract I offer?”

“I do.” I answered without hesitation.

Suddenly, the hands we placed together started to glow brightly and I felt a strong pain in my ring finger. However, I resisted the urge to pull my hand away, and soon, the light vanished.

“It is done.” Highlander informed me.

I looked at my hand and noticed that a marking had been branded on the base of my ring finger, exactly where a wedding ring would go.

“This insignia signifies the bond that has been formed between us. We now share one life, a bond stronger than that of marriage.”

“That’s quite a responsibility, but I accepted this knowing about the details,” I smiled and then said. “I look forward to working with you, Highlander.”

“I look forward to working with you too, Ross.” Highlander smiled back.