Chapter 7: Beast Invasion

"PREPARE YOURSELVES!"

The shout came from Cerebrate, who stood at the forefront of the defending army. He appeared calm as he faced the approaching beastmen. He shield was raised, his sword was steady. Many among the defenders opted to stand as far behind him as they could. Their hands trembled and their teeth were clattered. The sight of the beastly army terrified them. The mass of fur, claws and fangs could strike fear into the hearts experienced soldiers. These men were not soldiers. Many of them had never seen war. The sight of the beastmen more than just terrified them. It completely paralysed them with fear.

Cerebrate let them stand their ground as the archers from the walls notched and launched their arrows. Hundreds of beastmen fell, though not as much as they wanted. If given the chance the archers atop the wall would probably have launched their arrows again, unfortunately the beastmen had gotten within striking distance of their comrades.

"CHARGE!"

Gargaran, who had been thinking about the people around her, let go of her train of thought and charged forward. Such thoughts were a distraction in her current predicament. In fact all thoughts were a distraction. In a fight one had to silence thought and let instinct take over. Failing to do so was a shortcut to the grave.

She rushed forward with her war pick raised. The beastmen were less than a hundred metres from her. The two armies would collide in three... two... one... She swung war pick horizontally. Her first victim was a dog-faced beastman with a wooden spear. She had managed to avoid it and sunk her pick into his skull. Without delay she extracted it and swung to the next one, a monkey faced beastman. The pick dung into his chest. Her next opponent was another canine type beastman, she caught him in the neck. She stepped to the side as another beastman tried to attack her. He stumbled past her and her war pick caught him in the back.

On average beastmen are ten times stronger than humans, meaning under normal circumstances it would take ten humans to match one beastman. However, Gargaran and everyone else in her squad were not normal. They were the pinnacle of humanity. If normal humans had an estimated difficulty level of 3 that would mean the average of beastman had a rating of 30. The difference was quite large and would scare an ordinary human. However, the men and women at the head of the defending army were anything but ordinary. A difficulty of 30 was child's play to all of them. They were all rated above 70.

Gargaran trailed behind Cerebrate, whose sword spilled beast blood with every swing. Cutting through their defence proved easy as none of the beastmen seemed to be wearing anything stronger than leather. Gargaran guessed their reason was because they did not want to lower their agility. The choice to sacrifice defence for agility proved to be a fatal one as blades sunk into them without effort. Gargaran bashed their heads in as she followed Cerebrate. Corpses piled up in their way as they pushed ahead. Ten... twenty... thirty... within minutes they had dropped a hundred bodies in their wake.

This is easier than I thought it would be, she thought as she bludgeoned another beastman. If the situation remained like how it was the battle would be over quickly. They would kill they enemy commander before noon.

But of course battles are not so predictable. The numbers that threw themselves at her drastically increased. Before then not more than three attacked her at once but as she advanced the number of opponents increased. Suddenly she had six or more beastmen attacking her. She dodged the two in front by jumping to the left. Her shoulder collided with the jaw of a feline beastman and a sickening crunch was felt from the impact. As the beastman stumbled backwards she brought her war pick down and tore into his shoulder. The hand that was connected to the shoulder had previously raised a buckler to block the swing but failed. Gargaran grabbed hold of the buckler and kicked him away. Not caring whether he still lived or had died, she turned to the remaining four and blocked them with the stolen buckler. After that her weapon picked them off in an instant.

The sudden sound of a roaring beastman made her turn to face her next opponent. He was a pig faced beastman with an axe in each hand. When Gargaran turned to face him he was already in the middle of swinging the axes at her. She panicked and tried to bring the buckler up to block. But the axes were too close. She would not be able to block in time. Gargaran panicked even more. The reason she panicked was not because she thought she was going to die. No, she was certain she would survive the attack, however she would not come out unscathed.

Adventurers were far superior to normal soldiers and boasted much more experience than them. However, when it came to a crowded battlefield soldiers were clearly more experienced. After all, Adventurers rarely took part in wars. The enemies they fought when they took request from the guild were usually stronger than those that appeared on the battlefield. However, they were also fewer in number. If a member of an Adventurer team got injured while questing for the guild the person would usually withdraw for a while in order to heal themselves whilst their comrades covered them.

Right now Gargaran was stuck in a warzone, a battlefield far more chaotic than any she had ever been in. Here she could not afford to get hurt because the there would be no one to cover her while she drank a healing potion. There would be no time to rest until the battle was concluded. If she got injured now she would have to endure until they drove the beastmen away. Even for someone of her skill level this battlefield was dangerous. With the odds stacked heavily against her side from the beginning if she got injured now her chances of survival would go from uncertain to no chance of surviving. It would be extremely difficult to make it through with such chances.

Luckily she did not have to find out how hard it would be.

A silhouette detached itself from the beastman's shadow. The figure rose and clamped one hand around the beastman's snout. The second hand moved just as fast, carrying a dagger to the creature's throat and slitting it. The beastman was dead before his body hit the ground.

"Don't go running of by yourself like that," Tia scolded her after dispatching the enemy. "One careless move and our oni leader will have to bring you back again."

"Thanks," was the only reply she gave as she ran forward and sunk her pick into another opponent.

She was not alone. Even though they were outnumbered in this chaotic field, even though no one in the elite Assault Squad was working together as they should, her comrade was here to support her. They would make it through.

And so the two of them went forth together. Gargaran tanked the enemies and cut down all those in front of her while Tia defended her back and flanks. Due to many years of working together their teamwork was flawless. All beastmen who entered Gargaran's weapon's range were mowed down and those on her sides and her rear were taken down by shuriken before they could get close enough to pose a threat. Their affectivity had increased multiple fold and their battle became much easier. Ahead of them Cerebrate was still advancing with his team supporting him. Their cleric would from time to time raise his staff to heal one of his teammates.

Time passed by and the battle went on. Cerebrate and the rest of Crystal Tear managed to break through Beastmen Army and arrived at the foot of a small hill. Atop the hill stood the Beastman General. He was a lion beastman with a thick brown mane who wore a distinctive red plate armour. There were hundreds of soldiers surrounding him and all seemed to be wearing proper armour with proper weapons unlike those they had been fighting. From their attire one could tell the classes. Warriors, berserkers, mages, clerics and archers, it was not until they reached the hill that they experienced the first volley of ranged attacks from the beastmen. Suddenly fireballs, lightning bolts and arrows rained down on them. Being Adamantite ranked Adventurers, the members of Crystal Tear reacted quickly. Cerebrate jumped backwards, in front of the cleric, and raised his shield. The shield seemed to have been imbued with elemental protection because the spells had no effect on him or the cleric he was protecting. Three of the members; a mage, a monk and a knight, managed to take cover under the mage's swiftly made barrier. The last member, a rogue, was not so lucky however and was struck down on the spot. Things took a turn for the worse after that.

The mage's shield eventually gave out and everyone under it was bombarded by the spells. None of them survived. All the attacks shifted to Cerebrate. His shield was sturdy and nullified elemental attacks. However there was only so much a man could endure, even someone of his level. In less than a minute the impact from the attacks hitting against his shield knocked it aside. Not a moment later an arrow struck him in the chest, sending him to the ground and leaving the cleric undefended. He didn't survive for very long. With the members of Crystal Tear down the beastmen atop the hill moved on to their next targets, Gargaran and Tia.

The two members of Blue Rose instincts kicked in and managed to mostly dodge the first volley. Unlike Tia the Ninja, Gargaran was not swift and agile enough to dodge the all the projectiles. An arrow struck her in the thigh. Pain shot up her leg but she ignored it and rolled out of the way. A fireball hit the place she had been standing previous and exploded. Gargaran could not escape the fireball's explosive range in time and had to bring her buckler up to defend herself. It did not help much. Half her body was scorched and the buckler was rendered useless by the explosion. Gargaran cried out in pain and tried to move again to escape the next volley. Much to her surprise she found herself unable to move. She looked down and found vines around her ankle. She recognised the spell [Twine Plant]. Gargaran looked to her side and much to her dismay she saw Tia too was bound by plants. Without thinking Gargaran cast her war pick aside jumped towards her. Tia was still in reach so she managed to tackle her to the ground. Spells missed her but three arrows lodged in her back. Gargaran cried out but amidst her cries she was able to scream something coherent.

"REMOVE THE RING! NOW!"

The rings on Tia and Gargaran's fingers could be used to message Evileye, but they didn't have time for it. Taking off the rings would send an emergency signal to their mage, prompting her to appear immediately. However, the hand on which Gargaran had placed her ring was scorched and the other could not move because she had dislocated her shoulder when she tackled Tia to the ground. Taking her ring off would be too hard and too timely, which is why she shouted for Tia to take of hers instead.

But she did not feel Tia moving under her. In her moment of confusion she looked into her teammate's face and her heart sank when she saw why. Tia was unconscious. Gargaran vaguely remembered her shoulder bash against Tia's chin. Unfortunately the force had been enough to knock her out cold. In her desperation Gargaran looked around. Her heart sank even lower at what she saw.

All the time while pushing forward she had thought that the Dragon Kingdom Army was advancing with her and the rest. However, that was not the case. In her battle frenzy she had forgotten that most of these men were not even soldiers and that the beastmen were several times their physical superiors. What she saw as she looked around was a one sided slaughter. Claws, fangs, spears and swords ripped the humans apart as if they were made of paper. The only ones who were still putting up a fight were Nimble and the Slane Theocracy agents. From the Numbers attacking them it looked like they would be overrun soon.

Immediately Gargaran reached for Tia's ring hand with her scorched one. Taking the ring from her knocked out comrade's finger would be easier than trying to remove her own. Evileye needed to know what was happening now. It did not matter if she died while doing so. As long the beastmen don't eat her Laykus could always bring her back to life. If Evileye appeared now the beastmen would never get the chance to eat her.

However, luck was not on her side today.

Out of the corner of her eye she glimpsed a fireball speeding towards her. A single thought entered her mind as she saw this. She could no longer move. She was too injured and her foot was caught in some plants. There was nothing left to do but wait the end.

We should never have come here.


"Chichi-ue, are the humans deliberately trying to lose?"

"That's what I'm wondering too Ramiel."

The two of them were still standing atop the city wall much to the obliviousness of everyone. They watched as the two sides collided and the battle began, It was plainly obvious from the beginning who would win.

Why are they fighting outside with the city when their skill level is so low? Shiva asked herself.

When the battle started only one group of humans was able to stand their ground and even gain some. The rest of were instantly pushed back and massacred. The beastmen were vicious and merciless. They spared no human that crossed their path and the battlefield blossomed red with human blood.

Shiva felt frustrated looking at the battle below her. Did these people of the Dragon Kingdom know anything about war? They had practically jumped into the battle without planning. Any knowledgeable general would have found a way to use their familiarity with the area to their advantage.

"Ramiel," she began turning to him. "What would you have done if it was you commanding the humans?"

Ramiel was quiet for a while. Pondering on his answer before replying. "Sending out the army was a good idea but I would leave the gates open so they can quickly retreat behind the city walls. The only reason I would sent out the army is to provoke the beastmen into charging forward. They will of course be charging into an area that is heavily booby trapped. After culling some of their numbers I would have archers and mages atop the walls cover the rest of the army while they retreat back into the city. Then I would prepare for a siege"

"Wouldn't there be a great risk of the beastmen entering the city if everything does not go according to plan?"

"Baiting the enemy army is important. If not they would be suspicious and alert. Any traps I set would not be as effective. For all I know the Beastman General has a way to neutralise the traps. It would be better if he didn't get the chance to use it."

"I guess you're right," Shiva said, turning back to watch the battle.

The Beastmen General seemed to be the smarter of the two enemy commanders. He stood atop a hill surrounded by what looked like his best soldiers and mages with several Chrystal Monitors showing him the battlefield. With that he was able to accordingly direct the battle. The Beastmen General ordered his troops to concentrate on the sides, leaving the centre with minimal defences for the skilled humans to cut through. Through the Crystal Monitors he was also able to gauge their skills and prepare for them accordingly. When they humans broke through and got within striking business he had his elite soldiers bombard them with projectiles and spells. It worked beautifully. The skilled humans were being taken out without much effort. Shiva would have applauded this tactical genius if she did not know what would happen if the beastmen won.

"It's about time we joined the battle Ramiel."

She walked to the edge of the wall, her eyes set on a particular struggling warrior, and used a racial skill. It was the only skill that could be activated why still under [Lack of Presence].

[Divine Intervention]


"Your Majesty, I think it's time," the Prime Minister whispered in her ear.

It was obvious from the beginning that they were fighting a losing battle, yet Draudiron hesitated to give the required order. Any moment now, she thought. Any moment now, she prayed. Her people were getting slaughtered on the battlefield. Where was the white dove she had seen in her dreams? If there was any moment which it should appear it should be now. Her dreams never lied, but they could be misinterpreted. However, right now Draudiron needed her interpretation to be correct. Right now she needed someone to save have from ordering the slaughter of her own people!

However, time flew and the white dove did not appear. The Beastmen Army smashed through the defending army easily and approached the city walls. The Archers on the walls took up their bows and began to rain arrows down on them. Delay them would not work for long though.

"Okay," she said with trembling lips. Her eyes began to tear at what she was about to say next. "Be-"

However, the sight of something at the far line of the Beastmen Army stopped her from finishing her sentence.


The fireball never hit Gargaran.

Before it got within a metre of her someone appeared out of thin air and, much to Gargaran's surprise, backhanded the fireball, sending it skywards. The entire surroundings seemed to go quiet after witnessing this action. The person who had performed it though did not seem to care about the sudden silence of the battle field. Shielding her eyes from the sun, the person merely looked up in the direction she had sent the fireball and mumbled to herself, though because of their proximity Gargaran heard what she her. "Hm. [Spell Reflect] was more effective than I thought it would be." She next she turned to face Gargaran and the Blue Rose warrior saw the face of the girl she had seen at the Mages Guild the previous day.

"Are you alright?" the girl asked. She continued before Gargaran could respond. "Rhetorical question, of course you're not. Why don't you sit back and relax. We'll handle the rest. [Grand Healing]"

A light bathed Gargaran and dissipated as fast as it had appeared. A moment later Gargaran realised that that her pain had disappeared. The arrows in her thigh and back had popped out and the wounds had been sealed. Her previous scorched half had been healed without leaving any scarring. What's more the fatigue had been building up throughout the battle had vanished. She felt good, even better than she had felt before the battle started.

Gargaran looked up at the girl in astonishment, but the girl's attention had already moved elsewhere. The beastmen had begun firing spells and arrows at her. The girl did not much react as a stone wall rose in front of her and intercepted the projectiles.

"Those spells will probably break through the wall in a minute," the girl mumbled, again turning to face Gargaran. She raised her hand and cast two spells, plainly speaking their names as she did so. "[Magic Shell][Wall of Protection From Arrows]. Stay where you are and you'll be just fine."

Right after she finished speaking the wall of stone reached the end of its durability, causing it to explode. The girl did not move, however none of the debris from the shattered wall touched her because it seems she had put up a barrier to protect herself. The girl than reached behind her back and drew two metal batons Gargaran recognised as sai, ninja weapons. Then she rushed forward.

Her speed was frightening, faster than anyone Gargaran had ever seen. This girl is magic-caster, how can her physical abilities be so high? She was having trouble following her with her eyes and could only make out certain actions. With her incredible speed the girl managed to reach the top of the hill in seconds and engaged the unprepared beastmen elites. She only remained there for a second though, but when she retreated more than a dozen enemies had fallen. Within seconds she was in front of Gargaran again, holding the battered form of Cerebrate over her shoulder.

"This one's still alive," the girl said, dumping him next to her. She took a flask with a red liquid out of seemingly nowhere and tossed it to Gargaran. "Remove his armour and give him this." A moment later another flask landed near Gargaran. "Use that for your friend."

Under normal circumstances Gargaran would have been suspicious of the potion the girl had given her, but the fact that she had just saved her life kept her suspicion at bay. If the girl had bad intentions she would not have saved her. At least that was what Gargaran thought. She could not imagine anyone who would go through the trouble of saving someone just to feed them poison or something worse.

The girl seemed to have gotten rid of her sai and was now holding a golden staff as long as her body. "I guess it's time to wrap this up [Vine Menace]."


"Dammit!" Dong Sho cursed as he watched his men fall.

This was his most important battle ever. If he managed to take control of the Dragon Kingdom capital he would be the most accomplished man in the last century. The children of the Beastmen Kingdom would sing songs of him and he would go down as one of the greatest men in the kingdom's history. All he had to do was win the battle here and not only would he secure a lot of land for his people but they would also gain a vast food source, one that could feed them for centuries. No beastman would ever go hungry ever again. This accomplishment would make him the most powerful man in the Beastman Kingdom after the Beast King.

Only a small group of humans had posed a problem and he had devised a good plan to get rid of them with minimal casualties. In the beginning the plan had worked perfectly. He would have succeeded in completely eliminating the problematic humans had it not been for the dark skinned white haired crimson eyed wench that appeared out of thin air and swatted one of his mages' fireball spell away. He had immediately sensed the danger she posed and had his elites concentrate on her. However, the wench defended against their attacks and managed to retaliate, jumping straight into the foray. When she got close to them he had originally believed his warriors would be able to handle her but he was proven wrong. The wench crossed weapons with them for a second and managed to take down a dozen of his elites in that short time. The realisation of the threat this human girl posed to his campaign became clear with that exchange. Panic immediately gripped his heart.

"THE WHITE HAIRED WOMAN!" he shouted. He wanted all his elite soldiers to hear. "CONCENTRATE ALL YOUR ATTACKS ON HER! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO, JUST MAKE SURE YOU KILL HER!"

They could not react fast enough.

Before they could begin they felt the ground trembling below them. Suddenly what appeared to be numerous vines as thick as a grown man's bicep erupted from the earth. All the beastmen, including Dong Sho, did not move. They stood still, transfixed by the occurring spectacle. It cost them dearly. Without warning the vines swiftly wrapped themselves around them. In the heap of panic the beastmen tried to escape. There were those who tried to loosen the vines' grip with their hands, those who tried to slash them with their swords and those who tried to bite through them. All attempts were fruitless. Though the vines appeared flexible they were harder than anything any of them had come across. Once ensnared none of them could escape. None of them had escaped being ensnared.

The next moment the vines, which had coiled uncontested around their bodies, began to tighten. The sound of metal being crushed and bones breaking filled the area along with screams of agony. The horror stricken beastmen tried harder to escape but their attempts bore the same results. The vines continued to tighten and they found themselves struggling to breathe. Realising that whatever they did had no effect and nothing they did would work, they gave up. Despair filled their hearts shortly afterwards. With this realisation the ensnared beastmen, the strongest and most vicious beastmen in the army, began to cry. They cried out of fear. They cried for help. They cried for their families. They cried for their unfortunate fates. Dong Sho cried with them. He cried for them same things.

Minutes later they all went silent. There was no more struggling among them. No more breath. No more life. Nearly a thousand souls had been snuffed out just like that.


Shiva turned from the sight of the boundless corpses entangled in the vines she had conjured. [Vine Menace] was a 10th Tier spell. It had a weaker hold than [Vine Snare] but had the advantage in that it could be used to ensnare an entire group. A level 100 player could break out within seconds whilst a player below level 70 had no hope of escaping. It seems the spell worked a little different from how she remembered. Back in Yggdrasil no one had ever been crushed to death by the spell, no matter how weak. She had not cast the spell with the intention to kill.

Taking a life is so easy, she thought to herself. In her world killing was among the greatest of taboos. Killing could land you a sizable number of years in confinement or even render your own life forfeit. Taking another's life was discouraged by all levels of society. Yet in this world she had casually snuffed out hundreds of lives in an instant without even meaning to. Shiva should have been scared. Scared for the people of this world, scared of what she could do to them. And yet what she felt instead was disturbed. Disturbed by how she was unaffected by what she had just done, disturbed that she did not view those who had been killed as sentient beings. When she previously left Zion she thought of the trolls she had killed as rabid animals. This time she merely thought of the beastmen as ants she had accidentally stepped on.

It must be because of my race change, she thought. According to Yggdrasil legend if one chose to ignore physiologies they would see that angels and humans weren't that different. Angels, like humans, had all kinds of emotions. They could be happy, they could be sad, they could be good and they could be evil. Angels were basically what humans would be if they were given an immortal body that did not tire or require sustenance. And just like humans would look down on lower life forms angels looked down on mortal races. The deaths of mortals at their hands brought neither joy nor sorrow. No feeling of accomplishment. To them it was basically as triumphant as walking and breathing. I seriously need someone to give me a psychological evaluation.

Shiva turned back to the muscular woman and saw Ramiel approaching them. Following closely behind him were black robed figures and a man wearing expensive silver armour, probably a knight. Wherever they stepped their feet would land on a beastman corpse. Ramiel's black spear was dripping blood, a contrast to the rest of his body which did not have a single speck of dust. The men who followed him were constantly shooting him looks of awe and admiration.

"How many?" Shiva asked as she looked at the litter behind him.

Ramiel shrugged. "Forgive me Chichi-ue. I was not counting. Should I have counted?"

"No," she replied. "Don't worry about that." She had been thinking about the time when she and her companions would compete for the most kills. It was a pretty inappropriate thing to do right now. "This war has gone on long enough."

She raised her staff in the air and cast her next spell.

"[Summon Virtue of Elegance]"

The battle seemed to halt as the sky became cloudy. All eyes shifted upwards just in time to see the heavens part just above Shiva and a golden light shine from the hole in the clouds. Jaws began to drop as a graceful figure descended along with the light. The descending figure was that of a woman in a long white dress. The figure was barefoot, over three metres and had two gigantic white wings on its back. Its tranquil atmosphere put the hearts of many to peace, causing some to drop their weapons. No one could take their eyes from the figure, whose golden hair seemed to blend with the light.

This creature was a member of the angel species known commonly as God's Choir. Virtue of Elegance, an angel of the Second Order, a natural Bard that could wreak havoc with its voice alone. Shiva had summoned it because it was the only one that could end the battle in a single swoop without unintended casualties.

"Now then," Shiva said out loud, diverting some of the attention to her. "Let us begin the end."


"What... is that?" Draudiron heard the Prime Minister ask.

She did not look at him. Her eyes too were on the being that had just descended. From this distance she could not see it clearly but she determined it was Celestial Being. Could this be the white dove she had dreamt about? She hoped so. Her army outside the wall could not be called an army anymore. They were all but defeated, no more than a mere quarter of what they had been when they started. If this creature turned out to be an enemy she wouldn't know what to do.

"Is it on our side?" she heard a nearby archer ask. He sounded hopeful.

"Yes. Definitely!" one of his comrades replied. "Even from this distance I can tell that's an angel. God's Messenger has come to deliver us. WE'RE SAVED!"

A chorus of cheers rose among the soldiers on the walls. However, Draudiron remained quiet. Whether or not the creature was here to deliver them from their fate or confine them to it was undecided. Everyone would know soon enough though. Even from this distance she saw the being raise its hands to the sky. If she had been closer she would have seen than its head too was raised skywards, as if praising a deity up there. A moment later everyone on the battlefield and in the city heard a soft heavenly melody.

Draudiron suddenly felt her worries and fatigue vanish. The heavy burden she had been dragging along for the past couple of months was lifted. She felt free, freer than she had felt in years. Tears leaked out of the corners of her eyes as she continued to listen. The moment the song assaulted her ears she knew. This melody did not herald damnation, but salvation.

"We're saved," she heard the Prime Minister mutter. From the sound of it he too was crying. Draudiron did not look at him. He eyes never left the angel. "The Gods have come to deliver us."

After a couple of minutes the angel lowered its arms and the melody stopped. The queen and her attends atop the wall were too far away to see that the angel had now summoned a lute-like musical instrument along with a thin strip of wood with a very thin string attached to it. From so far away they did not see the angel bring the instruments together and begin to play. They did however hear the music that resulted from the action. It was different from before. The sound coming from the instrument sounded like the prelude to something terrible.

The angel began to sing again, but this time it was different. It was no longer one sweet voice they heard but countless, an entire choir. The voices they heard were both male and female. The earth began to tremble and with it the beastmen suddenly began to drop. This completely shocked everyone. None of them could understand what was happening. It was not the music that was killing them. Their deaths came at the hands of no one but themselves. They were taking their own lives!

This scene became more common as time elapsed. Another change happened in that moment, one that no one but the person affected felt. Draudiron's magic power began to rise. Realisation struck her as she looked upon the beastmen below. The angel is coercing them to sacrifice themselves! The beastmen souls released from the shells were powering her! Although she did not feel her power rise to even come close to the amount she needed to cast her spell if hope was lost her heart filled with joy. At least with this she would not be powerless in the increasingly unlikely event the beastmen managed to climb the wall and enter the city.

The song ended in less than ten minutes and as it faded, so did the last beastman.


"Amen," Ramiel prayed as the song ended.

The Virtue put away its instruments and ascended back into the heavens. The hole in the clouds closed and not a moment later the clouds scattered, leaving the sky as clear as it was before they the summoning. However, the atmosphere was not the same. Cheers from the surviving humans suddenly littered the battlefield. None of them knew what had just happened. None of them cared. All that mattered was that they were saved. A miracle had happened before their very eyes!

The ones who knew what had really occurred could not take their eyes off the perpetrator. None of them said anything. What could they say in such a situation? Thank you was clearly not enough to express their gratitude. They didn't know how to start a conversation with the person who was able to cast such a devastating spell.

"Amen." The spell caster herself did not pay attention to them. "With that it is done."

The two melodies Virtue of Elegance played were Schubert's Ave Maria and Mozart's Requiem. Ave Maria had been targeted at the humans to strengthen their resistance to Requiem. The second melody was one normally used by Summoners to coerce low-level creatures into sacrificing themselves for their benefit. The effects of self-sacrifice were twice great as those from forced sacrifice, which would allow a Summoner to call up a higher levelled creature with less effort. This time she had not sought to take advantage of the sacrifices though. Her only aim had been to kill the beastmen.

"We're withdrawing," she stated.

The declaration surprised Ramiel, but he did his best not to show it.

There would be a huge celebration in the city after this. Shiva was not in a hurry to make demands for saving them. She would let them have their moment before she approached their ruler. There was no need to hurry. Besides, her mana was low. Normally the range of Virtue of Elegance's music would not be as wide as it had been nor would the Virtue have been able to play for as long as it did without running out of MP. To make it possible she'd had to constantly provide it with MP.

She silently cast [Message]. The person at the other end of the spell responded without delay.

"Chichi-ue, is there anything you need?"

"Michael," she began. "I need you to tell Azazel, Shemyaza, Tamiel and Asbeel meet me tonight. Tell Azazel to contact me. I will give him the location then. And tell them to bring mana potions along."

Shiva had made the novice mistake of not bring any mana potions with her. I am definitely not in any condition to meet the Dragon Queen. "Okay Ramiel, let's go."

She grabbed hold of Ramiel's hand and teleported away, leaving Gargaran and the others with many questions.

-END-


I posted a picture of what Shiva should look like so free to check it out. Though I muxt warn you that the colour schemes are wrong and I feel the wings aren't drawn properly. My drawing skills suck but hopefully I'll be able to edit it until I'm satisfied later on.

Since for some reason I can't post the link here just head DeviantArt and search for Total Amateur Drawing. You can't miss it.