As a celestial, his vision was much more in tune to life and this thing was made of pure death. Slime seemed to just roll off it in waves and black scales that shimmered a sickening green actually seemed to soak in the rays of sunlight that came down, rather than harming it as he would have suspected. More and more tentacles pushed up from the ground as he floated in the air, and gritted his teeth at its cowardly actions of hiding main, probably most vulnerable, part of itself still underground.
It did not feel like a demon and certainly demons did not have the regenerative ability that this creature did. It was more than just a spirit, but less substantial than a human, demon, or angel. Had a demon created it perhaps? Nothing and no one in heaven would ever create such a thing and it was not done by Nature, or God. So what was it?
Frustrating was a mild word he felt when no matter how many times and how many pieces he would cut the tentacles, they would only grow back within seconds. It would have become simple and quick had he been able to reach the main body, but he had no idea how far it might go beneath the earth, or even if it was in this particular realm to begin with.
He had acted before he thought when he saw Watanuki slammed into the bench. Why had he decided to attack, rather than take the boy himself to where he'd be safe? Because running was not his first instinct and now Watanuki was paying for that. The pain he felt as tentacles slimed over him, sending small but multitudes of electricity through his body, was a small price to pay for his mistake.
When he saw, and felt, the gathering of magic, waves of disgust rolled off him. It felt like a perversion, the kind that only an archangel would ever feel. This had nothing to do with demons, this was worse. Demons, for better or worse, were the foil to angels. He had realized over the years that for such beings as him to exist, there had to be a counterpart. There never could be demons without angels or angels without demons. This, on the other hand, reeked of an evilness that he'd never known. It had nothing to do with demons, of that he was sure. What it actually was, though, remained unclear to him.
Torin had braced himself for the shattering impact of the orbs of magic, but they never hit him. Instead, they splashed harmlessly off a shield that was not of his making. For a second, he didn't even look to see who'd erected it, but took the opportunity that had been given him to beg the sky for lightning. He'd avoided using his magic, his God-given gifts, for so long that he feared there would be no response.
Yet, there was immediate action, as if it had been waiting desperately for his call for ages. It felt familiar and warm and even though he became the center of the short, quick lightning storm, he felt no pain. Only a welcoming-home sort of feeling.
"Honestly, you're helpless. Despite your lightshow just then, you wouldn't have even had the chance to cast it without help!"
The derisive voice he knew even before turning around. Orphée's red eyes glinted at him and he looked entirely calm amid the tentacles that had taken to surrounding him, as if he didn't care. He shrugged his black jacket higher in what seemed to be a habitual gesture and gave the creature his own assessing glance. "Seriously, celestials! Completely overconfident!"
"Confidence had nothing to do with it," he replied coolly, in his business-like tone that clearly stated that this was not the time for this conversation. "Kimihiro needed protection."
"That doesn't seem to be necessary anymore."
He glanced over his shoulder at Orphée's gesture and noticed that at some point in the last few seconds, Kimihiro's significant other had arrived and was carrying as gently as he could, the boy away from the fight. The distraction gone, Torin hefted his longsword in his hand more securely and launched into flight again. Now he could move much more freely to at least for the creature away from the city and perhaps back where it came from.
"You don't think you'll win, do you?"
Torin didn't answer, only beginning his attack again. Instinct kicked back in and within seconds, lightning coated the edge of his blade as if it were a poison. He didn't hear it screech in pain when he connected, but he did see it recoil in extreme dislike. Before, with just his cutting, it hadn't paid it any attention.
"You are so bloody stubborn and fool-hardy. You're not even wearing your stupid armor! Here, if you must…!"
Like a black storm, Orphée was in action that he couldn't help but watch in fascination. He hadn't even shifted out of his less powerful, human-like form back to his full demon aspect and yet he was so fast, not a single tentacle even got close. It was almost like he was dancing in the air, defying gravity even as he did not his wings, which Torin now vividly remembered he had.
The last thing he wanted to do was let Orphée know he was the angel that had spared his life, given what he'd heard when he'd met the demon.
Like a pulsation in the very fabric of the air, something left Orphée's hands as he twisted in the air and brought his wrists together. It focused and flew to the ground, like invisible ripples, and all of the tentacles, which had come to be numbered in the twenties, were slammed against the ground with such force the earth trembled.
Orphée grabbed a lamppost before he hit the ground and smirked in satisfaction. "If it can't see with its fingers, make the head come up, fool."
Only then did Torin realize that had he been on the ground, he would have been blinded. It shouldn't have been surprising, given Orphée's chosen name. Status effects, especially blindness, he seemed to have excelled at.
"I didn't see any eyes."
"Every single scale it had was its eyes."
He frowned, not liking how Orphée seemed to know so much about the creature. He didn't think the demon had created it, but he couldn't be sure. Even if he didn't hate demons, he didn't trust them, not after what Lucifer had done. "How did you know?"
Orphée, who had not looked up at him once from his staring at the still, for the moment, limbs, didn't answer. Torin would have pressed more, except that he could hear the rumbling of the earth. He even felt the very air around him shiver, as if in repulsion, and suddenly eyes had appeared amid the now destroyed road. Glowing, sickly green, like the faint light that the scales gave off.
Torin shivered before he could help it and Orphée shifted to sit on the lamppost more comfortably. "Well, what are you waiting for? There it is, so be all, archangel away!" There was a pause. "And really, seriously, where's the armor? All the archangels I've ever seen wear even the damn helmet! I'd be surprised if they took it off to sleep!"
He didn't want to tell Orphée, and so didn't, that his armor had been part of his price to pay for his wish. To give himself a reason not to answer, he merely rushed down to that small opening in the earth where the eyes glared and sliced with his sword. It didn't take much to dodge the tentacles as they seemed strangely lethargic now.
It was the first time he'd ever seen something bleed blackish green. Even demons bled as red as angels and humans did. He barely managed not to get his robes stained, as he had no idea what it would do to them or him. It could be poisonous for all he knew.
Silence remained as the creature died and before his eyes began to dissolve into the slime that coated it. He frowned, glad no other humans had thought to come this way in the short, quick battle. But without a doubt, though, that had alerted both Heaven and Hell where he and Orphée were hiding. Soon enough, they would be coming to find him and demand why he'd suddenly disappeared.
Soon, but not now. He didn't want it here, in front of Orphée.
"Why did you help me when you seem to have such contempt for my very existence?" he asked, landing and reassuming his human disguise with difficulty. It was just so natural to be in his angelic form that it almost hurt to go back to the confining body and spell he had to wear. Even after so many years, it was still difficult…
Orphée leapt down on the ground with the quickness and grace of a panther and shrugged again. "Wouldn't have if Yuuko, stupid brat that she is, hadn't ordered me too. Told me to 'look out for Torin', along with her little kids there. Probably did it just to annoy me because she knows I don't want to."
His stupefied stare at the demon's back as he went away refused to be pulled away. So Yuuko told him to look after me? Just like…she told me to look after him?
---
What is that woman think she's playing at?! Telling me to watch over that stupid, idiotic angel! Contrary to the cool expression on Orphée's face as he walked away, he was seething inside. He had a deadline for his publishing firm due in three days and he had to get out the remaining 150 pages of his 300-page book before then. Just calling me out of the blue and demanding I run my ass off to save those two! Lucky for me I'm fast enough to make a side trip.
He'd been on his way, detouring, to get Doumeki Shizuka, but had been met halfway. Apparently he'd seen some of what was happening through the eye he shared with his boyfriend, but had no idea where to go. Simple enough to guide him, then, as he had known instantly where they needed to go. He could feel it in the very air, as it was tainted by something even demons found disgusting.
Whether angels and God wanted to admit it, demons were natural beings, born completely normally by the supernatural. To maintain a balance, when angels were created, there had to be something to oppose it and thus, so were demons created. At the time when the world was so new, when angels were new, the supernatural was still in its infancy and had been only able to create the most minimal of intelligent ones. It was only later that more advanced ones came about, with more thought capacity.
He had been one of the greatest successes, or so many had told him at the time, as there hadn't even been a handful like him with reasoning, mental powers.
But this creature wasn't like that. Something or someone had artificially created it. Whether that someone was human, demon, or even fallen angel, he didn't know. What bothered, and slightly scared him though he'd never admit it, was that the person who had had enough power to do such a thing had to be on that brat Yuuko's level.
His bad mood had developed into an introspective one and he didn't even slam the door behind him as he entered his house. He didn't really have neighbors anymore, except the most patient and introverted kind that didn't care if he was in a bad mood and was noisy, slamming his things around, or played loud music when the mood hit him.
This was definitely a not good twist in the situation. And to make matters worse, he'd used his magic. He'd avoided doing so for years upon years, because the moment he did, they'd find him. This time he was less worried about the angels of Heaven finding him than he was about the demons of Hell. Lucifer might understand his reasons for becoming a recluse in the human world, but he doubted many others would. They'd hound his doorstep for years to get him to come back. They wouldn't have the power to force him to return, only Lucifer and now Yuuko could, but they'd make themselves a complete nuisance.
He wished he could change, get rid of the constant reminder and gaping hole in his heart that was left after the war so he could return to Hell, but the very idea caused him to balk every time. Something about Hell now disturbed and upset him and he had a good suspicion of what it was.
Demons had changed. There were very little demons left that were of the OLD kind, that weren't more than beasts. Now, the young demons were so proud of themselves for their little victories over the angels that they could get, pestering and annoying them just for the sake of it because they 'hated' them. What they did was hardly little more than tricks. They complained of the hard times, but they didn't know hard times. They hadn't seen the devastation of the War, known the fact that the demons had been nearly wiped out by the archangels.
They didn't know true pain. Their punishments for the humans that called them were hardly inventive and not exactly what he would call 'eternal torment'. True, there were not many mortals that had enough magic to call such a powerful demon like a war veteran, but all the same…things were different.
"I'm all maudlin now," he muttered in annoyance and went to his computer to finish his book before his editor came to harass him, a demon of a woman if he ever saw one. She was human, true, but she would hardly be out of place in Hell, he often thought, somewhat fondly. "Slave driver."
Much like someone else he knew, he thought a lot less fondly and across town, Yuuko sneezed.
