Chapter 9: The Storm part 3
With Hanibal
As the constant fire of demonic bullets rang out in his direction Hanibal had managed to keep up with them enough to deflect nearly eighty percent of them by swinging his swords of light fast enough. The remaining twenty percent were too weak to penetrate his armor, they were dispersed easily thanks to the new designs that Azazel had given them.
Even with his superior defense this still wasn't going to be enough to prevent the devils from surrounding him slowly. His storm techniques could prove effective against large armies of weaker enemies, but those required more power than he could let himself use at that point in time.
"Tch." Hanibal deflected more of the demonic bullets that were shot at him, sending them flying off around him with ease.
'I can keep this up for around fifteen minutes before they managed to surround me completely. Each swing requires me to push my body faster and faster since they keep closing the distance, that wouldn't be a problem if I had back up.' Hanibal even caught up in his mind was still focusing his body to push it harder and harder.
He increased his defense speed even faster; his target wasn't to deflect the demonic bullets anymore but to send them back even faster. Hanibal was a warrior, his fighting abilities coursed through his blood. He was able to adapt and overcome an opponent or technique quickly, his battle-hardened mind benefited him by allowing him the path of superiority against others. That's why his power was able to grow at a much faster rate than Issei's. Hanibal was born weak and became strong, Issei was born strong and grew stronger as well.
Their mentalities were different as well. Issei wanted to be a leader, Hanibal wanted to be the perfect warrior. With different views both managed to complement each other, they were a duo that could rival the power of a Satan or Cadre.
As time went on Hanibal's movements were becoming more reliant on his desperate defenses, above him a storm cloud was brewing intensely. Explosions were being let off with each concentrated swing that send a barrage of demonic bullets flying back towards the devil soldiers that were moments away from encircling him completely.
As he let out a war cry in his only attempt to escape a barrage of light spears flew past him, he was caught off guard by this but noticed one detail about them. Their color and power were identical to a light spear formed by Malpas.
Hanibal turned his head around to see Malpas charging in with an angered look on his face.
Hanibal smirked before turning back, behind him Malpas put his back to Hanibal's.
"Where's Issei?" asked Hanibal as he put a wall of light in front of himself. Behind him Malpas sighed.
"His injuries put him out of action for now, I sent that soldier to carry him away. I couldn't get him to wake up, but I managed to heal him a bit. I saw the storm clouds above you and knew things were getting worse, I chose to help you over Issei." Malpas summoned his own swords of light, the pair stood formidable as the devils surrounded them.
"There's about two hundred devils around us and three hundred on the way, I don't have enough energy to unleash anything capable of destroying them on my own." Hanibal tossed his swords toward a group of devils that were charging him.
"You and Issei have combined attacks, we don't however." Malpas then cut down a soldier that approached him.
"Summon your holy aura, I'll combine it with a lightning storm and wipe the ones around us out quickly." Hanibal released his wings and jumped into the air, he then threw a barrage of light spears in multiple directions. Each impaling a devil and detonating in massive explosions that took out any nearby soldiers.
Malpas put both his palms together in front of him and slowly pulled them apart, in the space between them was a glowing white orb that radiated power that was unsettling for each being around him. Malpas was more than just special for the healing ability he has, his ability to retain the holy power from Heaven was unheard of.
Even with his power being special, he was still looked down upon by other high-ranking fallen angels aside from the Cadres and his two best friends. Issei convinced him to continue the use of his power after he planned on giving up with it.
Malpas summoned a powerful concentration of his holy power and shot it towards Hanibal, who had already summoned his storm, and caught it in with his attack.
With a flash of bright light, a combination of lightning and holy power merged, the attack shot outwards in every direction from the epicenter where Hanibal was under. Both fallen saw the combined power of the attack which decimated a large portion of the soldiers that had surrounded them.
"Dear God." Muttered Malpas as the image of the lightning flashed threw his mind, nearby Hanibal recognized the similarity the attack had to the Cadre Baraqiel's 'Holy Lightning', even the power used was similar.
Hanibal then looked towards the devil lines, they were in retreat. It was more than a simple retreat however, they appeared to be abandoning the attack in full.
"Malpas, let's go before they escape." Shouted Hanibal as he summoned another light spear only for it to dissipate a moment later.
Both looked at Hanibal's palm where the light spear failed to manifest fully. Malpas looked on worriedly whilst Hanibal only seemed to be frustrated by this.
"Come on, I can still fight." Hanibal tried once again to summon a light spear only for it to fail once more.
"Damnit, why now." Hanibal looked over toward the devil lines again, they were closer to escaping the battle.
"You've tired your stamina from the constant fighting, we should take this opportunity to recover our strength before attempting anymore assaults against the devil forces. I know you don't want to, but the risks are far too dangerous if you charge in exhausted." Malpas looked up at Hanibal from the ground, both had a serious look in their eyes.
"Share some of your power with me, I know you still have plenty of magic left in you." Spoke Hanibal as he watched the devils flee from the wrath of his storm. Malpas took on a look of concern whilst staring at Hanibal.
"That is not possible, my power is incapable of recovering lost stamina. That's why you had to be evacuated after suffering that wound during the opening stages of this battle." Malpas pointed towards the location of Hanibal's wound.
Hanibal smacked Malpas's hand away from him with an angered look on his face.
"Seriously, if you can only heal wounds then you need to work on that power of yours. Look at the Cadres, they have the ability to heal from range and multiple people at time. You need to keep evolving yourself or we will all end up dead." Hanibal then turned away from Malpas and began walking back towards friendly lines. Malpas watched as Hanibal walked past him, he would have been upset if not for it being true.
Malpas knew that his healing was limited, many fallen had died due to him not being able to heal everyone in a much more efficient manner. He had tried to evolve his power, but he lacked the abilities to do so.
"Yeah, I guess we will."
With Azazel
Azazel summoned numerous magic circles in front of himself as Leviathan fired a volley of demonic bullets from her mouth. As they made contact with the magic circles, they each began to crack at a rapid pace.
Azazel then threw a light spear in her direction, he then tried to close the gap between him and her but was stopped by a wall of water that Leviathan summoned.
"You don't want me to get close now do you?" asked Azazel as he summoned a sword of light and cut the water.
Leviathan then let out a ferocious roar, Azazel was forced to shield his ears as the sound waves were strong enough to slowly force him away.
He looked over to see Leviathan move back in order to keep her distance, he wanted to give chase, but he knew he couldn't leave Kokabiel alone with the other devils.
"Get back here," shouted Azazel as he threw five more volleys of light spears towards the retreating Levithan.
As he charged in Leviathan summoned two massive spheres of water, Azazel stopped and shot upwards into the air. He watched as the spheres were launched off one after another, both coming directly towards him.
'Those aren't going to stop until they either hit something or are destroyed, risky but it will leave a distraction.' Azazel continued to flap his wings, swirling in the air in order to get the spheres to collide wasn't working.
After he was a great deal above the city Azazel looked down at the form of Levithan that sat beyond the incoming attacks. He then lifted one of his arms into the air, in its epicenter a mass of tainted light began to gather in power at a rapid pace.
The sky began to darken as the power concentrated began to spiral, burst of lightning shooting out in multiple directions, but all that was miniscule to the expression of struggle that Azazel was giving off.
As the spheres of water were close to hitting him Azazel's empowered spear of light formed, with one swift and powerful throw the spear was sent flying towards the spheres. It quickly penetrated through both spheres causing them to detonate, but the spear kept going.
On the ground Leviathan shifted back to her human form to avoid the spear that would have pierced her abdomen.
As the spear made contact with the ground it detonated with tremendous force, the explosion of light quickly swallowed everything around it at a blinding speed. The barren field that it landed in was now nothing more than a scorched crater.
Leviathan dropped her magic shield and returned her venomous gaze back to a heavily breathing Azazel who was still above the city.
'He was holding back, typical. My warriors seem to be failing as well, Kokabiel is holding them off well. Damnit why is this happening, those filthy crows should be weakened by now.' As Leviathan was having trouble computing the information that she enveloped form her fight a lingering thought continued to mess around with her decision making.
Her army was only sent in to catch the fallen off guard to the point they could overwhelm them at a point of weakness, however she only managed to meet a stone wall.
'If he can use power of that caliber from far away, I have no choice but to meet him close up, I hate that bastard.' Levithan released her twelve devil wings and took to the sky towards Azazel.
As Leviathan headed towards him Azazel summoned a sword of light, he gritted his teeth and focused his energy into his arms and wings, he aimed himself towards Leviathan and shot towards her.
As the met Azazel tried to land a killing blow but failed as Leviathan had met his attack with a blast of demonic power. The attack caused an explosion that sent both flying off in different directions.
As they recovered Leviathan opened her palms and summoned a staff from a different space. Azazel who was far off could sense the change in power that leviathan had given off, he summoned another sword of light and darted towards her.
As Azazel drew closer Leviathan waved her staff around which caused four massive demonic circles to form in front of her. Azazel quickly altered his direction as the circles let out massive streams of demonic power, however he was too slow to change course.
Instead, he put up a defensive circle and held it in front of him, as the demonic attack hit him he was being driven back rather quickly. Yet he did not falter, he planned his next attack in quick succession.
He shifted his body to face upward and used his legs to kick the attack off in a different direction. Swiftly he used the momentum to charge towards Leviathan.
Leviathan attempted to put up multiple magic circles in his path, but Azazel summoned the force within himself and cut through each one after the other.
Leviathan could be seen in slight panic at the Governor Generals advance, she quickly waved her staff again and an enormous magic circle the size of a city block formed in between her and Azazel.
Leviathan then let out a maniacal laugh.
"You won't survive this Ash Crow," she then fired off the incomprehensible attack at near point black range. Azazel fueled with adrenaline and power knew he would not be able to take the attack head on without causing the near full obliteration of the nearby soldiers. He was quickly running out of time at his was face to face with a massive beam of demonic power forming.
As he tucked himself away in his wings, he could hear the slight scream of a female's voice away from in front of him.
(POV Change)
17 years ago
"The last assault failed; our numbers keep dwindling." I Azazel, leader of the Fallen Angels, was resting outside of the Grigori. We had just returned from a battle with the Angels 200km east of the Grigori's location.
I was resting up after receiving a wound from Michael that cut through my shoulder, luckily, he wasn't able to cut enough through it to knock me out of commission.
We had been hoping to cut the Angels off from their resupply spot, but God and Michael had already known that we were arriving. Our forces were ambushed, and my entire battalion was wiped out, I was unable to save anyone.
I know that this war would be the end of all of us, I have a feeling that losing myself wouldn't be the end of the Fallen. We are sturdy and strong; I owe it to my allies and friends to keep fighting until we reach an end in which we can rest peacefully.
It was when I was resting there in that spot that I heard the scream of a woman in the distance, it was blood curdling. I quickly took off to investigate the source, I had a bad feeling about it.
As I arrived, I seen a woman with a pair of black angel wings, she had cuts across her back and legs, she was holding something in her arms. I looked behind her to find a pair of devil soldiers smirking and laughing.
They must have been hunting her for some time, she seemed very exhausted.
"Heh, that fallen bitch finally stopped running, her legs have finally given out." Spoke one of the devils that held a bloodied spear in his hand.
"I think we should have fun with her before cutting off her head and leaving the brat for the monsters, Hehehe." The other devil laughed.
I looked back at the object in her arms, they said brat, she must have a child.
As the devils approached closer, I started making my move, before they could notice I had already decapitated both. Their bodies went limp and fell to the ground, slowly disintegrating from the light.
I could hear the silent crying of the woman; her voice was full of pain. I turned around to see that she was still crouched over, cradling her child from danger.
I knelt down and placed one of my hands on her back.
"It's ok now, they can't hurt you anymore." I gently rubbed her back, I made sure to avoid the gashes that continued to bleed out.
"Why would he do this?" asked the woman, her voice carried sorrow and pain. I didn't quite understand why but she was hurt.
"Who is he?" I had a guess being the father, or maybe it was God? I could tell she was casted out no longer than a few days ago.
"He said he loved me, he promised to protect us from anything." The woman started pouring tears from her eyes, I could tell by the way they fell onto the ground, each one felt as if they hit with a thunderous clap.
"Whoever he may be, he cannot hurt you now. I need to you to speak to me." After I said that she turned her head slowly towards me. I was immediately caught off guard by her beauty, I would have never thought that I would find someone who could rival Gabriel in terms of looks.
After regaining myself I noticed the child in her arms, it was still a newborn. I noticed the mostly black hair aside from the bangs which where a fierce red color.
"Who are you?" asked the woman, tears still streaming down her face.
"I am Azazel, the Leader of the Fallen Angels."
"I am Azza, and this is Issei, my son." I took another look at the baby in her arms, he was giving off a fiery aura, one this potent must have been the result of a powerful being.
"You fell from Heaven recently; I can tell because any fallen angel will arrive at the Grigori soon after falling." I looked at Azza, her holy aura was almost completely gone, only a small amount of it was still there fighting desperately trying to cling on.
"He said that we wouldn't fall, he said we were protected." She started to cry even more.
"Who is he?" she looked me in the eyes with a fierce expression.
"Michael, the father of my son." At that moment a burst of hatred erupted in a place that I had sealed away for hundreds of years, even before I had fallen from grace.
"The Archangel Michael, he's the father. I see, he must have preformed that ritual in order to keep his place in heaven, not to mention God liked Michael." My mind was racing with the previous thoughts that I had about what happened in Heaven between Michael and I, that asshole going around telling people about my sacred gear research.
I flushed those thoughts away and focused back on the situation at hand.
"He abandoned us, and we were casted out of Heaven, he didn't even bat an eye when it happened." Azza punched the ground out of anger.
"Look, you may not be able to go back to Heaven, but we in the Grigori will proudly accept you among our ranks. Not to mention we should get these wounds patched up before you succumb to them." I had helped her all the way back to the Grigori.
I tended to her myself so that I could get more information from her, apparently the Angels had been in a state of exile to any that would be a threat to the system, that's why she was casted out. Michael had an exception due to his position.
I did a little too much, that child of hers was something else entirely. I could tell that he inherited a fierce and lethal power from Heaven, it could be seen flushing through his iris's.
After a few years I had married Azza, and we agreed that we wouldn't tell Issei who his father was. I never liked that I had to lie to the kid, but after seeing him grow up I had come to love him as if he were my own, even forgetting at some points that he wasn't.
I made a promise that I would make sure that he would grow into a fine man and vicious warrior. And I made a promise that I would do everything in my power to protect the two of them for as long as I lived.
As those memories coursed through me, I felt a sense of nostalgia. I regained my focus and summoned an immense amount of power into my palms, if I couldn't escape the attack, I was going to challenge it with every last ounce of power I had in me.
As the attack was launched, I put up a magic circle and shot everything I had into it, my light power violently collided with the demonic power which sent out a massive shockwave of power outward which kicked up a blinding amount of dirt, even still I needed to push it back.
I let out a war cry and gave it everything I had, slowly the demonic power was being driven back, but I still didn't know what the cause of that scream was.
Beyond the light I could see the outline of a red aura behind Leviathan, that power, it was Issei!
He should have been with his friends, what was he doing here?
"Do it dad," I could hear him shout out as he fell from the sky. I gave it one last push, to my surprise it was quickly overpowering Leviathan.
A few moments later it had completely engulfed her attack and detonated in front of her.
With a massive explosion I knew that it was the end of this battle, it was our victory.
As the dust settled, I could see a very injured and bloodied Leviathan laying in a crater, she still wasn't dead after all of that.
I could feel my bones give out though, I had used all my power on that attack, I was exhausted beyond belief.
As I fell out of the sky, I could see a devil picking up Leviathan and teleporting away, we won, but Leviathan got away. Damnit, I wish I could have killed her.
Four Hours Later
After the failed devil assault against the fortified Fallen lines both sides were left in a point of exhaustion. Numerous high-ranking devils and fallen had already been killed whilst fighting for every house within the city in order to gain such little territory.
Others suffered much lighter fates as being wounded during the fighting, for Issei and Hanibal there wounds were not fatal due to Malpas being available before severe blood loss set in. For some they had to been evacuated back to the Grigori so that they wouldn't die.
Azazel managed to defeat Leviathan with the aid of Issei who caused Leviathan to lose power.
Leviathans' army was now in retreat, this small battle for the city would only be the steppingstone for the next point of interest within the push to Lucifaad, the Valefor territory.
You might have questions but let it be known that everything after the Hanibal and Malpas part was written in one take. I'm happy with it, I think giving some history and Azazel a moment was justice for old Ash Crow. Yes, his father isn't Azazel, I gave subtle hints about it, if you noticed then you are great. His father being Michael made sense to me as it gave Azazel a reason to keep fighting and kept Issei away from the angels. Not to mention there is tension between Azazel and Michael already which I hoped to improve upon by doing this.
If you don't like what was revealed in this chapter, just know that it won't have much effect in the near future but will later on. When, just wait and see. I'm finally getting my shit together for once. Oh and thank you for being patient with me and this story, I appreciate it.