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Meeting the gazes of three of Reinette's heads with his own two eyes, Traynor slowly drew a breath, and the ember on his hand-rolled cigarette rapidly receded.
This seems to be an injured-no, a dead Angel, a little like Medici, Traynor thought. Not sure. Let's take another look.
Fortunately, he dealt with Angels often enough that he was not particularly afraid of such beings, and he knew when to keep his mouth shut and when to agree. An ordinary Saint who suddenly ran into an Angel on the street might well have received quite a fright.
The Aurora Order really does things in style. A Saint actually gets to bring an incomplete Angel along as a contracted creature? The Angel of Fate or the War Angel must have helped establish that contract, right? Is this kid their Believer? Or the True Creator's Believer?
Traynor suddenly felt something subtle, as though he had been outclassed in the matter of contracted creatures. As an Angel's descendant who had already had a messenger lined up at Sequence 8, this truly was a new experience. He thought of his cat, the cat that demanded a pearl every time it delivered a letter, and turned Riel over and over in his mind. After going through all its shortcomings, he had to admit that, compared with his cat, this incomplete, four-headed Angel was currently the more impressive-looking one.
Perhaps Riel's Devil form could win back some ground in looks, but it had already lost completely in terms of power.
Staring at an Angel was very rude, even if she was actually the one staring at him. So, after only two seconds, Traynor turned his head aside and looked at the mass of flesh writhing on the ground and letting out faint wails. Traynor then noticed