Luka looked around him. He had to admit that his friends hadn't lost time to establish a defensive area. Several buildings had been reinforced with earth spells to welcome makina users, spell casters and rangers. Around thirty monsters wielding melee weapons were in the streets, concealing themselves behind corners and spells, and if he looked up he could see thin webs between the buildings. Most of the people he came across were carrying either lightning or holy resistance items, and sometimes even both.
The skies were still clear of angels, or from anybody for that matter. He made his way to the building that Tamamo had indicated him after she told him that she still had to finish reinforcing several structures. When he entered, he saw Mephisto, Micaela, the Grand Noah Queen, and a few other queen class monsters around a map of the place. There even was a friendly mostly mechanical apoptosis, Valto, who acted as a representative of the residents of the same race in the Pocket Castle.
"We have to focus our targets one by one, a lot of angels have at least basic healing abilities, which means that if one of them flees even in a critical state, she'll come back only slightly later with a vengeance."
"Agreed." Mephisto pointed at the huge black stain that made for Tartarus. "We have to keep an eye on enemies coming from this at all time." She pointed at the other side of the stain. "Don't we need to keep an eye on the other side?"
"No. I can confirm that when you exit a Tartarus, you always come out by the same spot. We'll keep a few fliers around to get sure that they don't try to flank us. We also have positioned several ranged teams to defend against that too. Our main goal is to keep them under fire while they move forward."
"We don't know what forces they will have in reserve, and how hard the pressure from apoptosis will be in Tartarus. We can't rely on it should it become a battle of attrition."
"On the matter of apoptosis, chaos imbued spells will completely tear apart their defenses…"
Luka was only absent mindedly following what was happening around him. Once again, it was on a whole new level than what he did by the past. He felt like the situation was completely out of his control. What was happening was the resort of kings and generals, not of the adventurer he was. His apparent mental fugue didn't escape Micaela.
"Are you sure you're fine? I don't detect a residual presence from that angel or that damn whore, but you still look like you're under an outside influence."
"I'm fine, it's just… I'm getting overwhelmed by what's happening."
She felt a sudden rush of sympathy for her nephew. The boy had been on the road again and again, dealing with troubles that could be solved with his sword and only a little support, and now… He was having to deal with a war with another world. The perspective had always been there, looming, threatening, but it was something he always had wanted to avoid.
She sighed. "I know what you mean. Unfortunately we both knew that as soon as you stepped up to rescue me, it would lead to this moment. Even at her best, Ilias isn't exactly a merciful goddess, and I don't think that one, who was undisputed for millennia, is going to act any better."
"Still… I wish we got their help rather than that."
"Luka… I'm sorry, but you have to accept it. Ilias always hated monsters. The population used to follow commandments that forbade relationships with monsters. She's petty as hell, and will not stop her path of destruction until she eliminated everyone that could threaten her power. By the end of the day, she repaid slights with divine bolts of retribution. We can't just lay down weapons like that now, her forces would kill every monsters and the rest of our forces would be brainwashed to worship her. If we let them run amok, we'll just have a huge army chasing us, and even if they don't manage to hurt us, their presence will destabilize the world, and whatever they say they simply. Won't. Care. If everyone had to die to kill monsters, save for one of her follower, she'd see that as a good deal."
A light of determination suddenly filled Luka's eyes as he remembered what happened during his mental trip to the Angel World. "You are right. I'll go take care of them."
"Be careful. Wait for them to get close. And when they are at sword's length, strike hard."
Luka left the commanding room, his sword drawn and ready to be used.
"Incoming!" Luka couldn't even find out who shouted the first warning. The only thing he could see from his hiding spot was the Tartarus and a few allies.
A small group of sword wielding angels spawned in front of Tartarus. They instantly started flying toward the town under an intense rain of physical and magical projectiles. They were surrounded by a magical barrier that protected them against most attacks, but occasionally a projectile passed and slowed down one of them, forcing them to wait the victim to keep their formation. They had barely crossed a tenth of the distance above water when an explosion of chaos pierced their shield and broke their party apart. Each time they tried to regroup, a magical or a physical projectile spread them apart.
Another small group appeared at the same place and came under fire once again. They were soon joined by the members of the first group who used the opportunity to heal themselves. Once again, they came under heavy fire, and a chain of chaotic explosion scattered the larger group.
A third group made of archers and supported by a few cupids arrived behind. They managed to shot a few arrows and other beams of light at the buildings below them, but once again, their shield collapsed in a minute and they were forced to scatter. While their increased mobility as individuals allowed them to avoid most of the projectiles, they no longer could focus their attacks.
Once it was clear their initial strategy didn't work, angels started spreading out left and right to flank the city before rushing it. Even then, most of them only managed to cross so much distance before being forced back by the combined fire from mages and makinas. A huge column of fire engulfed two of them while a psychotic laugh echoed across the place, and another one got caught by a pair of succubi as she looked around her in fear and confusion. The archers were forced to stay on the move while shooting, and while several of their shots landed on their targets, the attacks from the building didn't weaken at all.
Some battle hardened veterans managed to slip through and rushed in the streets, but their charges were interrupted by the webbing placed by members of the arachne tribe. While none of the angel got trapped for more than half a second, it was more than enough for the defenders on the ground who ambushed them and forced the aggressors to fight isolated from one another.
Just as one of his opponent started flying away, Luka turned toward Tartarus to see yet another group of angels spawn in the same way at the same place to suffer the same assault.
What's happening? Why didn't they send everyone at the same time?
His train of thoughts was interrupted by a scream on the right. Regina, a yoma swordsman, was getting overwhelmed by an opponent. The hero jumped to the rescue of the grateful yoma, and soon, the angel was the one forced on the defensive. He didn't have the time to think of the issue, and besides, it was the job of the strategists.
The issue hadn't escaped Micaela either. "Wait... Is this for real?" She scratched her head in confusion before sighing. "I deserve to be beheaded for makings such a huge blunder."
Mephisto instantly stepped near the seraph. "What? Should we call for a retreat?"
Micaela ground her teeth in frustration and made a dismissive gesture. "No need. I only forgot to take into account two additional constraints for the angels. The first is that if you remember, we transfer from Tartarus to the other worlds through a magic circle which can't be widened because it's basically a tunnel between dimensions formed by chaos energy… This means they can only teleport so many troops at the same time."
"I see." Mephisto was looking at the fight from the window. Indeed, all angels were coming from the same point, which made them an easy target. "And the second one?"
"We only took into account the apoptosis presence they'd suffer by crossing through Tartarus. Not the one that will result from this fight."
The yoma sighed in relief. "So this gives us an even better advantage then."
"I'm not sure the second issue will be one if we end up having to face Sonya Chaos or Adramelech by ourselves. And besides, those blunders are unbecoming of the first seraph."
"If you say so." An exceptionally strong thunderbolt exploded near the entrance of Tartarus. "I think here's your cue."
Micaela groaned. Whether it was because they wised up or because it was their time, it looked like the seraphim and their commander were coming.
"Before you go out…" Mephisto started casting reinforcement enchantments and wards on Micaela. "I wanted to say good fight, but I think that will be more useful."
Once the yoma was done, Micaela nodded as thanks and stepped out.
As soon as the seraphim arrived, a huge thunderbolt fell into the lake, electrifying it. Zion, Gnosis and Eden were surrounding Uriela. Surprisingly, the Archangel didn't even take a minute to lose herself in a speech about destroying those who sinned, and directly threw herself at a defended building which collapsed under the shock.
Uriela then launched several blades at Izuna, but most of her blows were deflected by a shield or her own attacks. One passed and wounded the kitsune, but before the archangel could finish her, an elemental storm slowed her down. Soon enough, the seraphim joined her and cleared a zone around her.
Blows were exchanged between both sides at lightning speed. While the angels were veterans of thousand years old wars, they were only a handful against a small army worth of heavily trained monsters. Furthermore, the presence of mages and other rangers behind the ones attacking in melee forced them to turn a part of their attention toward keeping up protections. Their opponents were tough enough to not die on the first blow, and the healers were quick to react to the plight of their partners.
Each time one of Eden's blow connected against a monster, said opponent curiously disappeared while she herself was forced to focus on another threat. Her spear clashed against a dark elf's blade, and before she could push her assault to exterminate her opponent, she was forced to raise a shield against a rain of arrows. They had made a mistake by rushing in, but they would be fine as long they kept together.
Uriela started grinning maniacally. She had never felt so alive since the Great Monster War. Those monsters were sometimes as powerful or even slightly more than the ones she faced in her competition's finals, and their teamwork was extremely impressive. Every time she thought she could take one out forever, several jumped between her and her target so that the wounded could be evacuated and healed, coming back later with a vengeance.
Eventually, in a silent agreement with the three seraphim, the group lifted itself in perfect synchronization, and combined their energy to cast a beam of pure light toward the place that had been transformed into the hero's army headquarters. The building was simply disintegrated down to the last stone, leaving behind an uncannily perfect circle of bare dirt on the ground.
The next instant, they rushed toward another structure, knocking it down and silencing the rangers present there. Before they could finish killing anyone, however, several monsters were already on them, casting spells to slow them down or engaging them in melee once again.
The Archangel was pushing away simultaneously several opponents with her blades when she saw a shockwave of darkness knock away several of her weapons. Right afterwards, she saw that a human was coming to help the monsters, his blue eyes shining in determination.
The hero was finally here to face her.
She used her wings to knock away her current opponents and rushed him, her blade ready to strike. However, he managed to dodge her first assault, and when she exploited her inertia to attack the hero from his side, the hero managed to parry him. She barked, furious.
"Fool! Why do you support these monsters? They will only suck you dry for their enjoyment!"
Luka parried another strike thanks to the opportune support from a lamia nun before parroting back.
"Why do you support Ilias? She only uses you to flaunt her ego."
Uriela's expression turned into a mask of rage. "Because Ilias is everything you heathen!"
"And so are my friends!"
Uriela groaned and resumed attacking the hero. It looked like the three seraphim were holding their own for now, so she could focus on him. She was slowly pushing back the hero, who, even with the support of the spirits, was still less powerful than the Archangel. She casted a beam of light that only made Luka slightly recoil, but it opened an opportunity for a decisive strike…
…Which got blocked by a lizardkin. She prepared a powerful attack to get rid of the impudent annoyance before resuming her assault on the hero, but suddenly found herself surrounded by flowers that sprayed their pollen on them. Her body shivered at the contact of the toxin, and when she managed to clear her sights, she noticed she was surrounded.
A blink of an eye later, she was fighting defensively against several opponents.
Micaela was now walking around the battlefield, giving minor heals to wounded monsters or sometimes just a few nice words. She was still wearing her concealing ring, just like Lucifina who was currently flanking her. They still seemed to hold the advantage in this battle so far, even if some enemy angels left through Tartarus to come back later.
"No more reinforcement is coming from Tartarus!"
Micaela shouted as loudly as she could. "EVERYONE! NOW!"
Barely a second later, several harpies and succubi took to the sky to fight the angels present there. Sea monsters that were concealed in the deeper parts of the lake also surfaced and started methodically blasting angel after angel from the sky.
She looked at Lucifina-chan and removed her ring, move which got copied by the small seraph. She cleared her throat as several monsters hid themselves around her. She then nodded at Lucifina-chan who proceeded to scream at the top of her lungs.
"ONCE A THIRD, ALWAYS A THIRD!"
Based on all logic, and against a rational enemy, that plan would never have worked. No opponent would break of their formation and isolate themselves just in an attempt to engage in a duel against someone for the sake of its honor being insulted, particularly when taking them down with a rain of projectiles at range was an option.
However, Micaela steadied herself as she could feel a holy signature coming at her at an impressive speed. Her plan had worked just fine. She could recognize Eden coming from above, foaming at the mouth and screaming inarticulately.
Her single mistake was underestimating the sheer strength and speed of her target's charge, and she found herself projected on several meters by the enraged seraph. Luckily, Lucifina-chan managed to hold her own and prevent the seraph from pushing further toward her. Micaela recovered and came to her support as the small seraph was losing ground.
"IwillkillyouIwillkillyouIWILLKILLYOU!"
A pillar of fire suddenly swallowed Eden, slowing her assault against her two "sisters". At that precise moment, a rain of talismans fell and she found herself pierced by burning spear, before another pillar of fire erupted from the ground and propelled Eden sky high.
Micaela looked at the rising seraph and chuckled darkly, flanked by Alicetromeria and Lucifina-chan.
"That's the third time we beat a seraph! But still, that was a nice burn there!"
The trio could hear Tamamo's laughter from here.
Micaela shook her head disapprovingly and started walking back toward the thick of battle, soon followed by Lucifina-chan. The day was not won yet.
"Keep fighting, we're surrounded!"
Zion and Gnosis were having difficulties against the increasing number of enemies. The seraphim were forced to acknowledge that their opponent had an effective strategy: Gang up on an angel, move on to support the other, and repeat.
As a result, the three seraphim were finding themselves surrounded. At first they managed to deal with the situation nicely, their combined attacks flowing into one another to hold back and defeat opponents, even as new enemies arrived, it looked like they could still come on top.
Then a child screamed what sounded like a challenge. Zion ignored it, but Eden had slowed down, and the second generation seraph could tell that something had simply tilted in her leader's head. In barely a second, Eden had gone from determined warrior to a rage-filled lunatic that had lifted to the sky and dived toward the source of the voice, leaving her and Zion alone.
"What is she doing?" Zion was snarling. "The fool! She's going to get trapped by the enemy!"
"Indeed." Gnosis pushed a water bolt back with a shockwave. "Her decision was not tactically sound. Isolating ourselves could risk letting us get surrounded."
"You get it! We must stay togethaAARGH!"
Zion's body was shaken by a spasm of pleasure. While still defending herself, she tracked the source of the spell and could see Morrigan standing on top of a building, making obscene gestures.
"That BITCH!"
"Wait."
It was already too late. Zion was rushing at great speed toward the blue haired succubus who was slowly drifting backward. The seraph rose her fist as she rushed toward the succubus…
… and found herself caught surprised by a dark punch straight in the stomach. She tumbled a bit and saw Alma Elma standing in front of her, smiling.
"Welcooome to our little party. We hope you will enjoy yourself!"
Zion grinned madly. "Oh, you really have no ideaAAAH!"
She charged once again at the succubus responsible for pleasuring her. Her opponent nonchalantly dodged the attack, and as if on cue, several small giggles could be heard in the seraph's back. She turned to see several succubi who were preparing various unpleasant spells. Just as she tried rushing toward the first, Morrigan and Alma Elma had jumped on top of her and started punching and slashing their way through her defenses.
This was definitively a day she was going to wish to forget.
Luka and several of his allies were fighting against the Archangel when frustration started growing inside the hero's mind. Her skills were completely holding him back, and the only reason he even was managing to go toe to toe with her was thanks to the several allies that were supporting directly against her or from afar with spells. Any other opponent he faced would have been smashed by their numbers alone.
Uriela's expression suddenly started turning down into a frown. She grimaced for a second as she tried to keep her focus against the swordsmen that were attacking while the succubi kept slowly breaking down her defenses. She rose in the air after emitting a powerful gust of wind to keep her opponents down.
"Retreat! now!"
As she finished healing herself, Eden turned toward the archangel. "What? But they've insulted us and we're only…"
"Don't ask questions! It's an order! We cannot push the assault further!"
Eden nodded as she raised a shield to block a tripled elemental attack. "Zion! Gnosis! Return to Tartarus!"
She looked around to check where the two other seraphim were, and snarled when she saw how badly they were suffering. Zion was getting toyed with by several of those damn succubi, while Gnosis was now getting pummeled by Micaela, Lucifina-chan, and severall enthusiastic monsters. Fortunately for them, they both managed to escape their tormentors and reached Tartarus without further issues.
Uriela jumped at the rescue of a few angels and pushed their assailants back. Once it was clear that nobody else could join them, she herself jumped back into the Tartarus.
The defenders remained immobile, ready to defend themselves once again should the angels come back with a vengeance.
Instead, the Tartarus somehow started pulsing and growing. It only calmed down for a moment to unleash a small army worth of flying apoptosis.
"Fire!"
Instantly, monsters and humans started shooting at the apoptosis while the flying monsters supported by Micaela and Lucifina-chan started attacking this new threat. Several of the apoptosis ignored them and directly left to attack the defenders on the ground.
Luka himself soon found himself engaged by a large apoptosis made of several magnetic spheres who was as tough as any of his allies. He struck any strange appendages that threatened to seize him, but with the exhaustion of his fight against Uriela kicking in, he was barely holding her back.
His opponent suddenly found itself blasted away by a large projectile. The hero turned to see Nuruko wielding a huge energy cannon that she proceeded to drop on the ground.
"Kyu! Kyu!"
She was pointing at the rift with several tentacles and was trying to climb on Luka at the same time. Getting what she wanted to do, the hero grabbed her.
"Gnome!"
Luka started spinning in place, taking momentum, and then threw Nuruko at an impressive speed toward the rift. The Chaos Spirit somehow managed to reach it, and in an instant, both the rift stopped growing and the enemy apoptosis disappeared, leaving a lot of confusion behind them. It looked like Nuruko had indeed succeeded in whatever she did.
Luka staggered slightly forward, looking at the aftermath of the fight. The town had been thoroughly razed. Most buildings weren't standing anymore, and one of them had even been completely disintegrated into the process. Everyone was moving around, helping those that were wounded and checking on their partners. He wandered closer to the water, and saw Laura carrying a clingy Nuruko. Once on dry land, the tentacle monster shook itself like a dog before looking at Luka with curiosity.
"Kyu?"
The hero distractedly patted the head of the Chaos Spirit, and finally allowed himself to pass out.
Uriela cleaved in half the apoptosis that tried to unsuccessfully attack her. Right by her side, one of the angel that had accompanied her succumbed to Adramelech's assault. She proceeded to behead the XX class apoptosis, and once it was clear that no other angels were behind her, she started following the group, closing the column as everybody was making an efficiently organized retreat.
It was no wonder why Raphaela had asked her to abandon the battle. If her fight with those that stood up against Ilias was slowly but surely turning to a defeat, the angels that were keeping the road through Tartarus secured were barely holding against apoptosis when she entered back. At first, the support group had taken no loss thanks to their incredible holy skills, but the arrival of several higher class apoptosis had increased the threat to an intolerable level. Several angels had paid the price of their arrival.
Uriela cleaved several apoptosis in a single strike as she continued moving backward. Right now, she was torn between her wrath against those that had harmed the angels of her goddess and herself, and the satisfaction to have finally fought against challenging enemies for the first time since forever. In the end, she was all simply frustrated to have been forced to flee the battlefield so early.
After a while, the small army finally managed to escape Tartarus. While the two Archangels and the three second generation seraphim were still looking relatively fresh, if somewhat bloodied, an alarming minority of lower ranked angels were looking battered, pitiful, or were desperately checking around for a partner that had failed to escape both the fallen hero's forces and the apoptosis.
Barely a few minutes later, the leaders of the hunting party were making their report to a clearly displeased duo. As they were kneeling in front of the throne of the goddess who was flanked by Micaela, they could feel her rage increased as they reported their failure to do serious lasting damages against the hero's army, even if she was smiling. Luckily, it looked like the Tartarus stabilized during their conversation, meaning that her Great Salvation Plan wouldn't suffer from a new threat yet.
After saying her part and when Ilias started going on a sermon against the seraph and the hero that had betrayed her to join those abominable monsters, the Archangel's mind started wandering. Finally doing something else than squashing a few monsters like insects because they had badmouthed the goddess was a change of pace she appreciated. No, the term was weak: She had felt exhilarated to finally face an actual challenge, and wanted nothing more than to get back to face the hero's army.
Right now, the Goddess would certainly keep her eyes close on those that had come back with their failure, but maybe she would have an opportunity later…
Micaela was using her sheathed sword as a crutch to move through the hallways of the Pocket Castle. This battle hadn't been as exhausting as her fight against Adramelech, but it had still been a challenge, and she definitively welcomed any rest that she could get her hands on.
Thanks to the sheer effort produced by the castle's members, loss of life was only minimal on their side. But even then… Those four deaths were four too many.
Kureha, the oni, was one of the monster who found herself isolated when a building collapsed and got ran through by an angel's sword. They had found her body too late to bring her back.
The second was Knoot, a polar bear girl. She died around the same time, and had been distracted by the explosion. She had been cut in half by a strike from a valkyrie. In her rage, she managed to kill the angel that had attacked her, but healers were once more too late to do anything for her.
Then was Nabisu. The succubus nurse had been caught by Zion and grisly torn apart in a display of sadism that wouldn't have been surprising from a fully feral monster.
And the last was, to the shock of everyone, Mephisto herself. The yoma's body simply couldn't be found, and only the sensation of death confirmed that she was indeed dead and not just disappeared. She had been the victim of the seraphim's conjugated attack, and might have even been their core target. Did they hope their army would fall apart if they killed her? It was the most likely explanation.
In any case, Luka and his allies had come out as the winners against the Angel World. It was a limited victory, as they barely killed a few angels themselves and only faced a small part of the otherworldly forces (Barely fifty angels were less than what remained in Heaven just after Heinrich's rampage, she doubted that it was all there was in a world where Ilias reigned unopposed for millenia) . Besides, their commander wasn't on the same level as her. They would probably not be so lucky should the other Micaela be the one to lead the assault. Last, the limits imposed on the angels by Tartarus proved decisive in Luka's victory, but it was something to be proud of none the less.
The First Seraph lied carefully on her bed. Most of her body was in pain, and she grimaced as her battered body switched from a posture to another.
Now, they had the full attention of Ilias… Maybe she would finally forego her Great Salvation Plan and come down to destroy them once and for all. The world was at a greater risk now than before…
And that wasn't considering the increase of chaosization, result of the destruction of a city by a force from another world. Nuruko had apparently stopped the expansion of Tartarus, but who knows what other consequences their fight would have?
Last, there were still several armies out there that hadn't moved a single pawn. How would the monsters react to what just happened? And Black Alice? Would they exploit the opening to push their own nefarious plans?
She decided to leave these questions for later. She remembered telling Luka that nothing was won by overthinking what happened. It was time for her to follow her own lessons. She wanted to discuss what to do next to adapt their strategy, but right now, everybody needed a little time to recover what happened.
The seraph didn't get much sleep, her mind tormented by the fight against Ilias's angels and its aftermath.