Chapter 28
The Kingdom of Avalon, Noah City Castle.
Minutes before the battles of the land and sea forces of the Kingdom of Avalon against the invaders began, Tuatha, the right-hand woman of the Demon King Rogan, was in her office reviewing some documents. With her were Willow, Councilor for Agriculture, and Yoshi, Councilor for Science and Development. They were discussing the creation of a new magical fertilizer devised by Yoshi, which, coupled with Willow's Unique Skill, would allow them to grow several high-quality crops a year, without damaging the farmland. They were finalizing the details when a flushed Dark Elf soldier burst into the office.
"My lady, we are under attack!" – reported the soldier.
"Under attack?" – exclaimed Tuatha, surprised. "Where?!"
"In the south, a powerful army of marine humanoids is engaging our fleet, and to the north, our ground forces are engaging a human army. They seem to belong to the Kingdom of Sybilla, my lady." – the soldier explained.
"A pincer attack? And from the Kingdom of Sybilla, you say? " – murmured Tuatha . "That means our king is in danger! We must contact him immediately!"
"We have tried, my lady. But it seems that something is blocking our messages, or maybe... our king's already..." - the soldier finished, sadly.
"Silence! Our king will not die so easily! I'm sure right now he's fighting to get back with us." - Tuatha exclaimed. "If the land and sea troops are in battle, where are the air troops?"
"I saw the air force a little while ago, at the castle training ground." - Yoshi offered.
"Let's go there immediately! " – Tuatha ordered, and the four set off.
But when they left the castle, they were met with a terrible sight. The Noah City Air Force was already in the air, with Commander Ventis in the lead. Opposing them and surrounding the castle was a huge army of angels.
Tuatha had never seen the dreaded creatures that attacked every five hundred years before, but their distinctive features—large, feathered wings and an intimidating light aura—were well known.
These angels however, were a bit different. Their wings, although feathered, did not possess the characteristic white of the angelic races. Instead, the wings of these angels were so deep black that they seemed to absorb the light around them and purple veins ran through their bodies. The typical Holy Magic aura had completely disappeared, and in its place, a dark aura covered their bodies. If they had once been angels, the correct term to identify them would now be Corrupted Angels.
The army of Corrupted Angels filled the sky above Noah City's castle, numbering more than a million, and leading this army, were four Corrupted Angels. Three of them possessed a power comparable to that of the Demon King Rogan, while the fourth, the one who seemed to be the leader of the army, possessed such enormous power that Tuatha could feel it from the several kilometers that separated them.
Without exchanging any words or explanations, the leader of the Corrupted Angels raised his hand and then dropped it, a clear signal for his army to attack.
The dark angels began to fall from the sky like rain, and the battle, if it could be called that, began.
An army of a million Corrupted Angels, which could be Calamity Class creatures, against Noah City's Air force of only three hundred soldiers.
The enemy had planned their attack very well. If the whole army of Noah City were together, maybe they could have resisted until Rogan came back, but with the army as divided as it was, it was impossible.
One by one, the soldiers of Noah City fell. There were casualties in the enemy army, but given its magnitude, the difference was enormous.
Amidst the chaos, the four leaders of the enemy army set off. But they were interrupted by Commander Ventis.
"I will not allow you to come any closer!" – Ventis said. She was furious, after seeing her subordinates massacred by the enemy army.
Her intervention earned her just a look from the enemy leader. "Rahmiel, take care of this." – Said the enemy leader, and continued his descent, without paying more attention to the commander.
Rahmiel, like the rest of the enemy army, wore full body black armor, only his handsome, but corrupted face was visible. In his hands, he carried a great spear as black as the armor, but it was adorned with purple runes.
"As you command, Lord Israfil." - Rahmiel said, staying behind to fight Ventis.
Ventis went to stop the advance of the other three, but Rahmiel stepped in her way.
"I will be your opponent." – He said, and launched a sphere of corrupted energy towards the commander.
Ventis managed to dodge the attack, and proceeded to attack Rahmiel with her daggers infused with wind magic. Every time Ventis slashed with them, large gusts of slashing wind attacked the corrupted angel.
But Rahmiel destroyed these blasts easily with a single twist of his spear!
Wanting to quickly finish off Rahmiel and chase down the other enemies, Ventis decided to use her most powerful move.
"Oh lady of the wind, lend me your power! Bring the wind of calamity that will blow my enemies to certain death! Spirit Magic: Maelstrom"
Ventis's spell finished, an immense amount of magicules filled the air, forcing it to spin at high speed, creating a tornado so large that it seemed to join heaven and earth.
The force of the tornado was such that it dragged dozens of enemy soldiers into its center in a matter of seconds. Once the enemies were blown away, slicing winds in the center of the tornado cut them into pieces.
Hundreds of enemies perished in an instant. Ventis was certain that her spell had got rid of Rahmiel, for she could no longer see him, and began to follow the other enemy commanders, when suddenly, a terrible pain shot through her chest.
"I didn't think you would force me to use this power." – Said a voice from behind her.
It was Rahmiel, who had miraculously survived Ventis' spell and used his spear to attack her from behind, burying his weapon in the air force commander's heart.
"How… is this… possible…?" - asked the dying Ventis softly.
"Well, since you're going to die anyway, I'll tell you. This is the power that was bestowed upon me by our lord Veldark. The "Corrupted Ultimate Skill: Corrupted King Raguel". Contrary to its pure version, this one allows me to slow down time within a specific area." - Rahmiel explained .
"Corrupted… Skill…?"
"That's right. Like Ultimate Skills, Corrupted Ultimate Skills can only be countered by an Ultimate Skill. You were destined to lose from the moment the battle began."
Those words were the last thing Ventis heard before her consciousness faded.
Meanwhile, the enemy Commanders finally reached Tuatha and the others.
"Unique Skill: Gardener!" – Faced with the approaching enemies, Willow tried to buy some time using his unique skill.
Large thorny roots tore through the ground and shot straight at the corrupted angels.
"Corrupted Ultimate Skill: Corrupted King Gabriel" – said one of the enemy commanders, and the roots that were approaching them began to age rapidly, turning to dust soon after. It was as if thousands of years had passed for the roots instead of a few seconds.
"What just happened?" - Willow asked.
"It seems to be a type of attack that speeds up time. It's similar to how my Unique Skill works." – Yoshi explained, as they prepared to face their enemies.
"Wow, you are indeed observant. That's right, the power of my "Corrupted Ultimate Skill: Corrupted King Gabriel" is to speed up time within a certain area." – Said one of the enemy commanders, just a few meters from Tuatha, Willow and Yoshi.
"What do you want? Why are they attacking us? - Tuatha asked.
"Our target is the stone tablet kept within the walls of this castle. Surrender it, and we will let you live out the little time this world has left in peace." – said the leader of the Corrupted Angels, Israfil.
"Even if we were willing to hand over an item that belongs to our king, and we are not, it would be impossible. King Rogan protected the stone tablet with a barrier before leaving. None of us is powerful enough to break through the barrier. I'm afraid we have to refuse." - Tuatha explained.
"Very well. I respect your decision. Now is my turn." - Israel said. "Zuriel, go and get the Tablet. Cassiel, take care of them."
"Yes, Lord Israel." – Said one of the corrupted angels, who had the appearance of a child of about eight years old, and so fast that it was impossible to stop him, he flew into the castle.
"Quick, we must stop him! " – Tuatha said, and tried to chase Zuriel, but was immediately stopped by Cassiel.
"Ha, ha, ha! If you want to go after him, you will have to defeat me first." - Cassiel said.
"Don't underestimate us! Our skills may not be the best for fighting, but it doesn't mean we're defenseless!" – Tuatha shouted and took out an object from a small bag that was tied to her waist. "Prisoner Dice!" - Tuatha threw at Cassiel the object, which turned out to be four dice.
"Huh? What is this? Is this a joke? - Cassiel asked, as the dice fell around him harmlessly.
"Nope. Now, activate!" – shouted Tuatha, and the dice began to emit a purple light. This light expanded until it completely surrounded Cassiel, forming a barrier.
"Wow! That's a great trick, but…" Cassiel exclaimed, touching the barrier, which crumbled on contact. "...everything that exists ages, even magic."
Just as Tuatha was about to attack once more, Zuriel appeared at the castle gate, holding the stone tablet in his hands.
"Impossible! Only Lord Rogan was supposed to be able to break through the barrier that protected the tablet!" - Yoshi exclaimed.
"Oh, you mean that barrier? My "Corrupted Ultimate Skill: Corrupted King Uriel" allows me to break through any barrier, regardless of its strength or power." – said the little corrupted angel, handing the tablet to Israfil.
"With this, we are very close to freeing our lord." – Israfil said, taking flight.
"Take good care of that! Our lord will go to get it back soon enough!" – Willow shouted, helpless as Israfil walked away after all the destruction he had caused.
This caused Israfil to stop his retreat, and look back at them.
"Only if he manages to survive his encounter with that useless, Roland. And even so, will he have enough will to follow us, when he's done crying for you? – Israfil said, his toothy, maniacal grin showing his first hint of emotion so far.
The corrupted angel stretched out his hand and in it gathered an immense amount of energy, concentrating it into a sphere, and once his allies were at his side, he dropped the sphere on the castle.
When the sphere made contact with the castle, a gigantic explosion wiped the castle, and everyone nearby, including Yoshi, Tuatha, and Willow, off the face of the earth.
Note: I am very sorry for the delay! My city was greatly affected by Hurricane Ian and we only got electricity a few days ago. I hope you enjoy this new chapter!