As the army arrived, Zatiel activated his Sun Domain and started to heal them and analyze the captives.
Although the direct use of his golden flames would have been faster, it would have taken too much energy, and since they will need to wait for Dante to read the mind of every prisoner before deciding their next move, he was not in a hurry.
As the army felt their wounds heal, they all relaxed and dropped those humanoid beasts and members of the heavenly race to the ground.
The humanoid beasts with an appearance similar to hunting dogs and scars all over their bodies were Archons.
They were the cannon fodder in the Heavenly race armies, and like most demons, they were created by subjecting a person's soul, usually the natives of the conquered world, through an extremely painful process.
Through the transformation, the Heavenly race can produce a Rank 1 Archon by using a native at Rank 0, but although they have a very long life span, their fighting power is mediocre, and they lose any type of reproductive ability.
They are pitiful creatures, forced to serve as slaves for hundreds of years, always submitted to all types of torture by their masters for no reason besides existing.
A great part of them would rather die than living hundreds of years like that, but the Heavenly race always keeps their relatives alive, to force them to act as they see fit.
As for the captives belonging to the Heavenly race, you could determine by the single pair of wings in their backs that they were all Angels.
After examining the Angels and Archons, Dante stood up and was going to them in order to read their minds. As a Rank 1 Animus, he could use Telepathy and enter the mind in order to see their memories. If he was stronger and with higher proficiency, he could even control them.
He was going to start with the Angels since they were the ones who have true authority in the world. They should have more valuable information. But before he could reach them, a hand grabbed his shoulder.
Dante turns back and sees Zatiel looking at him with seriousness.
"Start with the Archons and then go with that Angel. Remember, son, the universe is unfair, acts of cruelty and savagery beyond measure are committed every instant, regardless of your personal opinion, you should never let them affect your mind," There was a deep meaning in Zatiel's voice as he guided Dante.
The boy did not understand why Zatiel was telling him that and neither the reason he chose a specific Angel, but he knows that his father will not do things without a purpose, so he nods and proceeds to read the Archons' minds.
An Animus mind reading is not simply extracting some information, but instead going through all their memories, seeing everything that had occurred in their life.
Of course, this search could be directed to certain things to increase the speed, but since Dante needed to have a clear view of this world, he saw everything.
Thanks to the Brain Golems, his processing speed was incredibly fast, and it did not take him long to see the life of this Archon. And when he did, he frowned, but after a moment, he focused and continued with the next one.
The more Archons' minds he read, the more pronounced his frown was, and he was unconsciously starting to look at the Angels, with eyes full of disgust.
Zatiel was not surprised by the boy's expression. He may be very smart, but he was still very young, and when it comes to cruelty toward other races, the Heavenly race was not inferior to devils and demons.
When Dante finished reading the mind of the last Archon, he could not stop the loathing he was feeling, toward those Angels, from showing in his face.
He has never had a problem killing people, but that was when they were enemies of his race and clan, and although he did not like to kill civilians that have done nothing to them besides being part of the opponent's race or faction, he knows that being merciful with the enemy is akin to being cruel to your own people.
Despite being a good commander and skillful in leading armies, he wasn't a cruel person and preferred peaceful places like the kobolds cave or the City of the Sun, and also was someone that hated all type of xenophobia, since he was born as an Elder Brian, and the Neo-Demon race was made by different races.
So the action of every member of the Heavenly race he saw in those memories made him feel revulsion.
He took some time to rest and recover his Mind Force before going to an Angel with wings made of solidified fire, the one that Zatiel has pointed to, to read his mind.
As Zatiel saw the boy approaching the Angel, he was tempted to stop him, but he didn't since he knew that he needed to see it. The reason why he chose that Angel was because of the familiar sensation he felt when he used his Mind Force to detect his emotions, the one he has always felt in individuals with twisted personalities.
Dante put his hand on the Angel's head and proceeded to focus all of his power to read his mind.
He could see years in mere moments, and the more he saw, the worst the expression on his face was, and it reached the point that his hand started to tremble.
When he was finishing, he saw something that shocked him, and immense killing intent was born inside him.
He unconsciously started to put so much strength in his grip that the bones on the Angel's head started to crack.
Due to the pain, the Angel was able to wake up, and when he saw his condition and the people surrounding him, what was shown in his face was not fear but repugnance, especially when he felt Dante's hand on his head.
"Beast, you dare to touch me, release me in this instant!"
When he saw his eyes and heard his voice, the killing intent inside Dante soared.
"Abyss..."
But before he could act, someone grabbed his hand and took it out from the Angel's head before throwing him back.
"Don't let your emotions cloud your judgment." Zatiel's voice was calm, and there was complete indifference in his eyes.
Dante would normally act according to Zatiel's words without hesitation, always obeying, but this time he could not refrain from disobeying.
"Father, that thing should die. He likes to abuse little children, and after that, he eats them! Sometimes he even does that with... youngers," As Dante remembered those images, the desire to kill the Angel increased even more, and his eyes were burning with hate.
When the rest of the army saw how Dante lost his control, a lot of them shook their head at the start, but even they, warriors who have been in all types of wars, were shocked when they heard his words because 'youngsters' could only mean one thing.
"Humph, so what if I eat them? Beasts have only one purpose, and that is to satisfy our desires? They should be honored to become my food," The man had a righteous expression on his face as he spoke.
A great part of the army felt surprised by the level of cruelty that the Angel had shown and how dark his mind was.
The only one that has maintained an expressionless face this entire time has been Zatiel.
"Although he is an extreme display of his race's behavior, there are worlds full of beings like him. Unless you become strong enough to kill all of them, you don't have the right to classify their actions as wrong."
"HAHAHA, finally a beast that understands. We are the mightiest beings of the universe. You all should become our food and toy..." The Angel stops suddenly as he sees two immensely cold eyes looking at him.
Zatiel was looking at the Angel as he spoke, "Dante, did you finish reading his mind?"
The coldness in his voice made Dante calm down, and after a moment, he nodded.
"If that is the case, I am going to start."
After saying those words, Zatiel appeared behind the Angel and kicked his back before pressing his body to the ground with his feet.
Seeing those eyes that make his blood cold, the Angel tried to speak, "But you just said..."
"I am not declaring your action as wrong, nor am I acting due to a sense of justice. The reason why I am going to torture you is that I am disgusted by your behavior, and I am stronger than you, so that gives me the right to do it."
When he finishes speaking, Zatiel grabs both wings.
"NO! Please don't do it. I will give you whatever you want, just don't do it!" The Angel started to scream with all his power as he felt the strength in the grip of Zatiel over his wings and realized what was going to happen.
But the only thing that his words provoked in Zatiel was a smile while he started to pull both wings with all his power.
"AHHHHH!!!"
For the Heavenly race, have their wings torn off is the greatest torture possible, not only because of the unbearable physical pain but also due to the psychological effect that was losing their most precious.
Zatiel could have finished in an instant, but he took his time and slowly ripped both wings out of the Angel's back, maximizing the pain and making jets of blood sprout out of him.
He was in so much pain that he could not even think, and the only things that came out of his mouth were screams.
He only stopped when Zatiel grabbed his neck and raised him into the air, with a smile on his face as he did it.
"You are very lucky. For people that I feel so much disgust, I will usually let them live for a long time, but I need to test something."
Zatiel buries his left hand in the chest of the Angel and pierces his heart, killing him.
The moment the Angel died, a light started to appear from his mouth and eyes as if he was being burned from the inside.
This is what makes obtaining the bloodline of the Heavenly race almost impossible. From the moment they die, any part of them that could be harvested to obtain the bloodline was incinerated during a process known as bloodline combustion, and it did not matter if you extracted the bloodline from the body before killing him since it will be destroyed as well.
This was the moment that Zatiel was waiting since now there was an incredible pure amount of energy being generated inside the Angel body.
On the palm of his left hand, a rune was activated and started to absorb this energy, and without wasting time, Zatiel sent it to his heart to generate the bloodline essence.
The amount was too little to generate effects around the entire body, so he sends all of it to the marrow on the bones of his left hand.
Normally the bloodline combustion will be very fast, but with the rune acting as an intermediary, it was slowed down a lot, and it took an entire minute for Angel to stop generating that light.
'A. I. Chip, show me the result of the Heaven Swallowing rune.'
