New Neighbors

It was less than a few days later when Ilias found herself roped into helping out outside with the rest of the girls. In a rather rather surprising move, she willingly agreed to join the rest to help clean up the latent storm damage on the house itself, and when the neighborhood all pitched together the project expanded to an entire community thing overnight. Teams were established, funds gathered, even outside help from contractors was enlisted. That storm had seriously fucked up large portions of the city, there were downed branches, broken fragments of window glass, flood ruined debris, and even more than a few displaced animals. In the face of so much broken junk everywhere people were naturally banding together to try and get it all cleaned up and return to their lives as quick as possible.

Normally the slothful Ilias would of just prefered to tell them to go fuck themselves before sleeping in till noon but she found herself overcome by a strange energy as of late. She wasn't just content to do as little as possible and found herself frustrated if she went too long without doing something, almost anything really! Sure she was progressing rather quickly in learning more about this world day by day but that was mostly just idle work in front of those computer things. Ilias was just feeling the urge to get up and move.

It might of been a side effect of her pills or due to these new soda drinks the slime had introduced her to which Ilias had found herself quite smitten by. Either way sitting on her shapely ass all day just wasn't cutting it so she willingly ventured out to help the girls clean up the block.

'Look at me, I really am a good person already. Helping others selflessly? Oh what would my enemies think?' the goddess thought with a grim amusement at this sudden turn of events.

Ilias Village probably wasn't even done being fixed by this point and here she was joining in a community effort to repair her own adopted home. Fate and irony are two strange mistresses it seemed.

Still, at the very least it gave her an excuse to finally step out and stretch her wings again. Unfortunately her left wing hadn't worked right ever since she died so she was limited to short flights at low speeds until she could get the knot, or whatever, out of it. This still left her airborne but at nowhere near the flight powers a goddess would normally have, leaving her flapping around awkwardly with Papi above the neighborhood.

Each girl had dispersed in multiple directions to help with Rachnera providing tethers with her threads, Centorea acting as heavy lift and carry support, Mero was stuck splashing through the godawful flood waters looking for any sentimental objects that had washed away, Luka 2 was doing general grunt work, Suu was finding and marking any toxic spots, last she had seen of Lala that poor sap was failing to corral the stray pets which lead to her being chased through the streets below by a horde of angry cats and dogs, and no one even knew where Miia had fucked off to after they all split up.

Ilias and Papi were acting as aerial scouts and rapid response, calling out issues and helping where they could. Even with 99% of her power stripped off Ilias was still the strongest thing with wings they had on hand so she could easily assist plus Papi was no weakling either. The Harpy couldn't use her arm/wings to lift but her legs were no joke and those talons had already proven useful in ripping through some debris.

"Thank you dear! You are truly an angel!"

"Thank you!"

"Yeah, um, sure...whatever…"

"Nice work! You're strong!"

"We couldn't do it without you! Thanks!"

"Right...It's no problem…"

"Do you want any snacks or a drink?"

"We have cake in the kitchen. Why don't you have some dear? Our power went out so we had to cook up too much food before it went bad. Why don't you take some home?"

"I guess…"

Ok this was really starting to weird Ilias out. People were being nice to her!

People were NEVER nice to her!

All she had done was use her strength to toss a few branches over a wall plus move a few ruined pieces of outdoor furniture and already the neighbors were treating her like one of their own. What was this? How could people really be so easy to please? As she took the small bag of food from the elderly lady and flew off Ilias was just left feeling confused and told Papi she was going to head back to the yard and take a quick lunch. She figured it would just be for the best to relax with some food and try to figure out what hell she was feeling right now.

Ilias knew she promised to give living like this a try but things were just still so fucking weird! It didn't feel bad per say but... nothing just felt normal!

She was the goddess! She was used to commanding unspeakable powers and relaxing with fine wines and foods served by her adoring angels! Now look at her! Eating a lunch of leftovers on the grass like she a common field hand!

Ilias looked at her meat and rice bowl like it was an alien lifeform. 'Ok this should be making me feel like worthless trash before going to set that old woman on fire for serving me such paltry cuisine. Why the hell am I fine with this? No indignant rage...just-just...totally fine...'

It was a heck of thing to know your brain was fucked but have no idea how to feel about it or respond to it. Rather than keep wondering why her insanity was actually staying away for now Ilias decided to just eat her damn food and not let it keep bothering her.

"Hmmmm, not bad… Don't recognize the marinade and the rice has some tough bits as if it didn't cook properly but at least it isn't a total wash" muttered Ilias judgingly

"Did darling make you that…?"

"Sweet fucking Micaela! What the hell!?" Ilias screamed at the Red-tailed Lamia, who had appeared from nowhere behind her. If she still had even one quarter of her powers half the neighborhood would be a smouldering crater after being ambushed like that!

The look on Miia's face was bizarre. Her features were unmoving and her yellow eyes remained locked steady on Ilias. She showed no anger, no fear, no joy; she was just like an emotionless ghost out to haunt her. Even the way she was she was sneaking around seemed highly unnatural with her movements stiff and nearly robotic. Something was obviously wrong with this crazy snake.

"That meal… Did you get it from darling…? (Blink) (Blink)" she asked with no emotion while still seeming poised to strike if a trigger set her off

"Oh my name, not this shit again…"

Miia was rapidly beginning to be Ilias's most hated Lamila with a red tail that she knew. A prize that would seem amazing considering her competition had literally stabbed her through the fucking chest. While most of the household believed Ilias had no desire for Kimihito, Miia had reacted to the news by going clean off the deep-end with paranoia.

"I keep telling you. I. DON'T. LIKE. HIM!"

That got Miia's poker face to crumble and the Lamia glared at her bitterly. "That can't be true! Everyone who comes here wants darling! Since the beginning, anytime he brought someone home they've tried to come between MYdarling and ME! I know your game! You pretend to not like him so you can act in secret! You work to sabotage us or play hard to get and he comes running into your open wings!" she hissed

"Listen, there's a much better chance of me stabbing him than me fucking him! There's only so much borderline obnoxious good cheer I can take before I snap and he straddles that line too well!"

"My, my. An angel saying such naughty things so easily? I won't fall for those tricks and find you and darling kissing behind my back!"

"I'd rather kiss a dead skunk's bleeding asshole!" swore Ilias

Miia didn't relent. "I'll show you! When everything is done today I'll make darling the best meal of his life!"

"Odd are, his last as well!" Ilias mocked openly

Insulted by the talk of her cooking Miia replied "I've been practicing! Everyone will love it! Even you!"

"No thanks, I'd rather just eat a bullet. If I'm going to eat 800X my daily recommended dosage of lead I'd rather have it be blasting through my skull at 500 meters a second then pooled in your broth. At least that way it'd still be palatable"

"Are you saying I would be so stupid as to poison darling?!"

"Considering the fact that you probably think extra virgin oil is oil poured by a virgin? Yes!"

Miia froze "Wait… It's not?"

For the first time Ilias noticed that Miia seemed to have a bag stashed off in the corner of the yard; it was the same reusable, cloth bag she used for shopping. Out of the top a red container could be seen poking out.

"Ok...Shot in the dark here...Were you planning on cooking dinner with an oil marked 15W/40 tonight?" the Goddess questioned with an eye on the container

"I made his lunch with 5W/30. It was a great deal at the local minimart!" Miia's face turned sour and slightly worried "Is that bad?" she asked, trying to not let Ilias catch on to her nervousness.

"Huh?" muttered Kimihito several streets away after hearing his phone go off.

He took off his work gloves he was using to safely move some splintered wooden beams and took out his cellphone. The unique tone told him he had a new text message and when he opened it up he saw it was Ilias who had sent it.

'I guess she finally figured out how the phones work and text messaging worked and wanted to give it a try herself. She really catches onto things so quickly! I'm impressed! Wonder what is says…?'

He opened his texting app to read it in full.

You gonna' die, bitch.

End of message.

What on earth!? Why would Ilias send him something lik-

*Thud!*

Kimihito never got to finish that thought before he suddenly found himself too unconscious to care. He flopped over in the street where he remained, foaming at the mouth, until both the paramedics and poison control could aid him. Despite having his heart stop for a solid two minutes he was miraculously up and working again within the hour; grumbling the whole time he worked about seeing Ilias mocking him beyond the grave in something called an "Evaluation"

It was roughly ten minutes past two when Ilias was interrupted yet again. Both the goddess and Papi had been working all that time spotting missing objects from the air, handing out water bottles, tossing debris off roofs, and carrying loads for the construction teams hired by a few of the locals to help rebuild. She and the Harpy were just finishing up moving some windows that needed to be replaced that were a touch too big to fit up the stairwell without possibly breaking. It was a rather bizarre sight to see the angel in her flowing, white gown and golden adornments among the sea of burly and unclean construction workers. However, she was fast proving to be highly capable and had easily fitted in with the group.

"Hey! These for the kid's room on the right or the master on the left?" she called down below

"Hurry! Papi can't hold on!"

The foreman could be heard shouting "Kid's room! Right! Rightside!"

It was after the plate was slotted into place and installed that the gate to the yard opened up to reveal a raven-haired beauty in a suit. Ilias held onto the glass until the workers inside gave her a thumbs up to show she was in the clear before heading down to meet the coordinator in the yard. She was excited as the woman had shown up with something she had neglected to bring with her the past few times they had met.

"My damn wine! Finally!"

"Sorry Ilias, dearest, I was waiting on a sale before I picked it up. You said no bottled rat pee so I decided the wait was worth it for a quality bottle" Smith explained as she handed over the white shopping bag with the red bottle poking out the top

"It's ok. I've used some of the money I was allowed to pick up a bottle or two as I needed it" said Ilias before giving the spirit a good looking over. "A Pinot Noir, at least five years old… color looks good… no one has tampered with the cork… *Shake*Shake* Yeah… This will work"

"Impressive. You seem to know your wine" Smith complimented the angel

"Let's just say there was millennium or two I wasn't sober for..."

Again, there was a good reason some of the angels looked the way they did that went beyond Ilias's lacking skills in lifeform design...

Smith looked at her and tipped up her glasses. It was a subtle gesture before she got down to business. "Listen dearest, I didn't come down here just to deliver this. I happen to need you for something more... official. Would you care to join me on a small errand?"

Seeing no problem with the request as they were done here anyway Ilias told the foreman she'd meet up with them as soon as possible at the next site and sent Papi on her way. The harpy had forgotten her lunch with her "Husband" thanks to being as scatterbrained as she was and was eager for food.

With that out of the way the two women made their way through the streets of the neighborhood walking side by side. All around them could be seen latent storm damage and the sounds of steady work echoed from each damaged house, there was still so much left to do.

Smith had a pen and clipboard in her hand while Ilias mostly seemed interesting in continually inspecting her precious bottle of booze. "So has your progress been dearest? As your coordinator it's my job to make sure everything is going smoothly" she questioned

"Besides being hounded by that damn paranoid snake-girl, it's been mostly agreeable-"

"Subject has issue with Lamia household member..."

"-I can surprisingly stomach the rest of the house. Everyone has been fair to me so far and I suppose you could even say I enjoy their company, somewhat-"

"Subject shows hesitation in forming relationships with extra-species individuals but is progressing…"

"-The biggest issue has been than I can't seem to relax. It's not quite panic or fear, I just feel… strangely restless, like I should be out doing something. It even got so bad I actually agreed to come out here and work today, for free no less! The old me would never do something like this normally, let alone somehow enjoy it! It's very odd..."

"Subject feels the need to compare herself to previous actions and is overcome by a desire to work…"

Ilias noticed Smith scribbling away at her clipboard as she spoke and questioned "...are you writing this all down?"

"I'm updating your file. I thought we could do a light evaluation as we walked" Smith explained

Ilias smirked "An evaluation? But I'm not dead yet..."

"Subject still possesses signs of suicidal thoughts and a fatalist attitude…"

Ilias could of gone over all the ways her joke was utterly fucking hilarious before realizing no joke is funny if you have to explain why it's funny.

Rather than be that pathetic she responded "So do you have any idea what I should do about all this energy? Could this be a side effect of those weird pills you keep having me take?"

"Yes… Those pills…"

Ms. Smith sounded a bit nervous. She knew Ilias had a very rough idea of what her medication was doing to her but the two never discussed it at length. For the moment the angel seemed content to take her "Recovery Pills" but it wouldn't be long before she figured out the truth. It was true she had mellowed out as of late thanks to the prescriptions, but Ilias was still no fool, she would definitely catch on soon enough. All Smith wanted was to be sure Ilias would respond favorably to the idea of taking antipsychotics before she explained in detail what they were.

"I don't think it's a side effect per say, it's possible that as you're becoming more stable older parts of your personality are starting to resurface" Smith argued while dancing around the issue of the medicine "Did you ever feel this way before? I know your memories are… special in nature; but do you remember this feeling in them?"

"I do suppose this reminds me of that little period of time before the First came crashing down on that nice little hunk of rock I called home. Back then I was so full of hope, life, and leading my angels in unspeakable holy orgies when I wasn't tinkering with a biome or two. When the Queen fuck of the Galaxy dropped out of nowhere and started outperforming me I just got so frustrated with the constant failure I packed it in and never bothered trying with anything again" Ilias explained with a scowl

There was nothing like knowing you were ALWAYS going to get shown up to kill whatever motivation you had to do anything. Even with the first sealed after the monster wars Ilias never really bothered to do much since her creations infested the damn world and they were just as bad in her eyes.

'In retrospect I could've made unspeakable headway with my Angels if I put in as much effort in developing them as I did with wiping humanity and the monsters out...'

Oh well, hindsight was 20-20 as they said.

"It sounds like you're a hard worker at heart as long as you don't have anyone to compare yourself to" said Smith

The old Ilias would of killed her for that comment but the new one just asked "So what should I do? Normally I'd burn off the extra energy through sex or even (Depressingly so) self pleasure but I can't seem to find the drive lately"

Ilias mentioned that last part with a hint of worry. It wasn't as if she hadn't tried; but nothing had really gotten her juices flowing since she had arrived. Ilias wasn't sure if that was just another effect of the pills or just the result of her recovering body but it was becoming a problem

Smith looked at the angel and suggested "Perhaps you could find work of some kind?"

"Like a job, job? Those things that kept driving my worshipers to endless misery and an early grave?"

"I'm not asking you to work retail, but yes, the program encourages exchange races to find ways to fit into human society, including employment. You could deal with your restlessness, earn some cash on top of your spending allowances, gain greater freedoms-" Smith had a mischievous grin on her face "-and it would look great on me as your coordinator as well..."

Ilias sounded unconvinced "I'm not sure how well that idea sits with me" she said. "I know I said I'd give living a life as someone other than the Goddess a try but I'm not about to demean myself in some dead end position working as a general laborer. I'd still rather be dead than degrade myself. Although... I must admit a nice uniform might increase my sexiness even further, that seems to be a big thing if this world's porn is to be believed"

Opening up another file Smith was confident that wouldn't be the case. She told the angel "With your brains that would be a drastic waste of your skills. According to your test results from before you have (As well as Sociopathic tendencies) an IQ of 216"

"I have no idea what that is. Is 216 good?" questioned the Goddess

Smith turned up her glasses and made another little gesture "It's very good. IQ aside you possess rather incredible learning and critical thinking skills for an angel. It would not be a stretch to say you might actually be the most intelligent, albeit unclassified, example of your race on the planet"

"Well sexy, smart, and crazy are the three words I'd use to describe myself" Ilias admitted with the biggest grin. To the goddess it was actually fun to revel in her true nature for once, rather than spend all her time pretending to be little miss perfect with her overly sweet voice and faux compassion.

"About that…" Smith tried to word this delicately but knew Ilias might not like what she was about to hear with her prideful personality "-I'm going to need you to tone down your "true" self a touch when we get to the shrine. It might make this much more uncomfortable than is has to be"

"The shrine? Why are we heading there? Is this some sort of "face your fears" and "confront your past" nonsense about my little suicide attempt?" Ilias accused when she saw few other reasons to be heading there

"Trust me, that'd be much more enjoyable than what's actually going on" Smith replied with sarcasm and disdain

"You sound like someone who's off to meet their judging in-laws after losing your job, dare I ask what IS going on?"

"Someone asked for you, Ilias. A Seraphim class…"

During the remainder of the journey Ilias was treated to a brief and very uplifting primer on the current state of this world's angel race. Despite initial impressions, they were in fact not the good intentioned little fools Ilias first made them out to be, at least not completely.

Conservative and prudish to a T, the angels spread across the world doing their best to spread deep faith and (In their view) good morals. They operated in local cells like the group who tended to the shrine Ilias had been found at, but also answered to a hierarchy when called upon by those of a higher sphere. Usually the smaller groups held free reign until something important happened and the chain of command was enforced, as it had been here. Being good little low-tier angels, the locals were more than happy to help when one as holy as a Seraphim asked for their help and had swiftly moved under her banner; even if they possibly had differing religious beliefs. To foster faith was what was important to the angels, as long as it wasn't harmful to the community they didn't care which it was.

It was an functional system headed by what was called The Council of Ten Seraphim. As the name implied it was comprised of the most elevated of the rare Seraphim class of angel, the most pious and refined of their race. When these Seraphim found a situation they viewed as opposed to good morals or strong faith they would act and send higher tier angels and resources to an area to achieve their goals, as had happened here.

Smith explained that the Seraphim council suddenly found offense with Japan's lack of morals or some other such nonsense and decided to send some of their heavy hitters to help push back the degradation. The coordinator didn't sound as if she believed the stated reason she had been given but supposed they could have finally got tired of watching their anime industry get more and more perverse as of late and decided to act.

"I have to deal with this because they can't stand a few lolis performing pantsu shots...great…" she had moaned

Regardless of the real reason, a Seraphim and her entourage had arrived that morning and were rapidly setting up shop in the local shrine. She hadn't even been there more than five minutes before she asked to see Ilias and requested the mysterious angel be brought to her for a meeting. Seeing as the Angel Council had significant political sway as a foreign race's central government Smith had complied with the request and went to go fetch her.

By the time they arrived the normally docile shrine was a damn zoo. In an almost outrageous display of bombast the Seraphim had arrived with a full choir of singing angels in tow who were now filling the courtyard with song as the local shrine maidens, both human and angel, looked on in bewilderment. It was clear they hadn't been expecting such a show or that their home would be turned upside down so quickly. The poor things looked like they agreed to host a friend at their place for the weekend and woke up with an orchestra in their living room instead.

Aside from that, for whatever reason, strange tags of ink and paper now sporadically dotted almost every corner of the shrine. Walls, doors, statues, lanterns; all had the little tags affixed to their outsides. To someone less magically inclined the pattern would of seen broken and random; but Ilias could see differently. She could tell this was clearly some kind of half-assed grid unfortunately being put up by someone without the proper knowledge to establish such a thing. It was too thorough in some spaces and hopelessly thin in others. Just from the placement she could tell this was meant to be some kind of magical array, for what she didn't know, but she could tell whoever was putting it up was determined but unskilled.

'Has to be an angel behind this. My daughters did this alot. They always went overboard due to devotion but never actually knew what the hell they were doing'

Taking her eyes off the subtle display and turning back to the more noticeable one, Ilias briefly inspected those gathered in the Temple. Besides the Angel choir she could see a few staring locals; but behind them, sitting forlorn on a bench taking a break, were a vaguely familiar team of monsters in suits. Before Ilias or Smith could move over to them, the duo's presence was detected by the angels and one agged member was sent out to greet them. She wore a white nun's outfit and hunched over with her large wings almost dragging the ground. Based on the number of wrinkles on her face and how she looked ready to keel over at any second Ilias thought the old battleaxe looked to be somewhere in her thousands.

Remembering her deal with Smith Ilias told herself 'Ok, you are brainless angel number 42726, act the part! Watching over Luka voice, go!'

"Oh! Hello! My name is Ilias, The Mother of Dawn. It's a blessing to meet all of you today." she said with bubbling sweetness that was met by the singing choir pausing for a second to greet her

"Hello!"

"Hi!"

"Such divine wings and beauty!"

"The Dea has clearly blessed you…"

"Hi Ilias!"

"Such a sweet name…"

"Hiiiiiiii!"

"Hello!"

"Greetings!"

"Hello Ilias!"

Finally the wizened one spoke "Greetings young one. We too are blessed to be meeting you this fine day" she said with a bow that took so much effort Ilias and Smith thought it might cause her to fall over

Ilias briefly wondered if this was the Seraphim but quickly decided it couldn't be 'Old as hell, semi-senile, seems wise at first glance but really isn't; this is clearly a number two peon meant to act as an adviser to some raving lunatic'

The ancient angel spoke "Our most pious leader will be grateful to know you are here-"

'Called it…''

"-She is just finishing up inside the shrine and will be but a moment"

"I understand. I will wait out here with my coordinator" Ilias replied with a bow

"Thank you for understanding. This Holy mission cannot be rushed"

With that taken care of the two brushed past the living relic and made contact with the M.O.N squad, one of which was knocking back a few beers to the disapproving/semi-understanding looks of her co-workers. Ilias instantly recognized the look on the zombie with red hair, it was the look of someone so fed up with their job they didn't care if their boss was walking up on them looking unhappy, a supreme level of I don't give a fuck.

Aside from that she also noticed a few other things about the Zombie, Ogre, and Cyclops.

'Interesting difference in breast sizes. Sheet of glass, hooker with a high hourly rate, and a-HOLY HELL LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THOSE THINGS! I can't believe I found someone under 50 meters tall with bigger knockers than that Succubus Queen. As someone who firmly believes in giant jugs I can't help but admire the sheer dedication to them displayed by whoever created this world and it's beings. Bravo!'

"So how did things go with the arrival and escort?" Smith asked the zombie while, gently, removing the half-full beer can from her hands and tossing it in the trash nearby

"Kill me...again…"

"That bad?"

"I'd rather have a mission where you sent us into the GAPING MAW OF DEATH ITSELF. *Chuckle* At least then I could have some fun..." her zombie underling replied with extreme levels of sass

Smith attempted to downplay the issue. "Listen, I know she's reported to have an abrasive personality to those outside her stature, but-"

"Quiet, I'm imagining being violently torn to shreds instead of being here" interrupted the red-head in a dreamy tone. She then sighed while her eyes glazed over and thoughts of gore danced in her mind. "Ahhhh...Violence…" she sighed

The pregnant silence that followed was cut short by the Cyclops trying to be friendly "Oh! Hello Ilias! Nice to meet you! I'm-"

"Horribly outgunned in the breast department it would seem"

"-Agh!? Even an Angel sees how ugly I am!" cried the girl in response to Ilias's comments

"Calm down Manako-chan! You're pretty on the inside!" cheered the Ogre who honestly had no right to speak on the blight of those with small tits

"That doesn't matter when all people can see is the outside!" Manako lamented

Ilias chipped in again "Yeah, you're about a three...at best"

"Aghh!"

"What? It could be worse. I could of said one, you know, like your eye!" the Goddess added with a sadistic grin

"Like my eye! Whhaaaaa!"

Upon realizing that letting the highly intelligent and manipulative sociopath with sadistic tendencies talk openly to the sensitive girl, Smith broke up the brewing meltdown. She gestured to each member and introduced them even as Ilias mentally sized them up "You might not remember these girls since you were drugged up at the time but they are Zombina-"

"Are you gonna try an put me to rest too? That Seraph keeps thinking I'm some kind of horrible abomination she needs to put back in the ground. Hell, she looks at me like she expects me to have maggots in my teeth! I'm not some fresh corpse dammit!" cursed the undead while openly pointing at her pearly white fangs

'Zombie, not my favorite race. I still find necromancy a horrific art even in the face of my standards. Still...nice cans…'

"-Over here we have Manako-"

Large tears fell from an equally large eye "I'm so ugly… Why couldn't I be a race with beautiful wings coming out of her back instead of this hideous eye!?"

'95% human, 3% missing parts, 2% self esteem issues, 0% tits. I just don't see the point of these Monoeye monsters. Usually a monster will have better speed, strength, or an obscene amount of tentacles to give them a boost above mankind; this race just got a crippling weakness to allergy season'

"-This one is Tionishia, I believe you threw her across a room before-"

The Ogre with the huge horn (among many other huge things about her) clapped her hands together happily and replied in a bubbly tone reminiscent of a valley girl "I'm soooo happy to meet you! Don't worry about that little accident! I throw people around all the time too!"

'Sometimes a man just wants to be held...isn't that the saying? By my name...those tits!'

"-And…? Wait... Where is Doppel?" questioned the team's leader when she noticed a certain young, abomination of madness was missing

"She said something about making a supply run and left us to deal with that unholy angel! It pisses me off!" Zombina shouted before reaching into her briefcase for another beer

"I'm sure she had a good reason Zombina-chan" Tio said hopefully

"Great, we're here on VIP escort and our main body double just took off. Dammit, I know she's no fan of the angels but Doppel just can't disappear like that!" Smith groaned as she grabbed Zombina's new beer right of her hands tossed it away without a look

Letting the beer go rather than fight, Zombina asked "So what now, boss? We free to leave that nightmare and return to the office now that our special guest is here?"

In spite of her team looking ready to hightail it out of there Smith was forced to remind them of their duties."I told you before. For the first week she's here we have to handle guard duty until her personal security can get up to speed"

Zombina looked ready to snap "Grrr! I thought looking after Loverboy was boring! At least he had the decency to get in some actual trouble and not be a (literally) holier-than-thou asshole!"

"I get the feeling I'm going to really enjoy meeting this Seraphim" Ilias sarcastically quipped. How could she not like someone with so many glowing reviews?!

"She's… Well… Her wings are very pretty! She also only called me a demon by accident four times!" spoke Tio cheerfully, in an attempt to sound nice

"Stunning…" In her head Ilias could only imagine what she was getting herself into here.

It was then that Smith dragged the angel aside and lectured her "Ok Ilias. We just need to go over few things before she comes out-"

"I'm starting to think I deserve another bottle of wine for this…"

"-First: Don't mention the name Oribel. Don't ask why, just know it's bad. Second: Keep up the act, it's great-"

With a hand held to her head as if an actor trying to convey they were feeling faint on stage, Ilias melodramatically cried "I am just a poor angel stuck in strange land! Woe is me…"

"-Perfect. Third: Try to not stare at the little one in her escort. She's an uncomfortable topic"

"Some sort of bastard child?" guessed Ilias.

Smith's eyes could be seen shifting even under her glasses "Let's just leave it alone…" she said in a hushed voice.

Apparently she was walking into a situation with quite the elephant in the room if this level of hush,hush was required. Normally the one to push such buttons, Ilias nonetheless relented, and agreed to the condition.

"Don't stare at the small one. Got it"

"Our lady approaches!" came the shout of a random angel

As everyone turned around both Ilias and Smith could see the wooden shrine door open just a crack and held that way for a few moments before being forcefully thrown open with a boom for dramatic effect.

'We're dealing with someone who realllyyyyyyy likes their fanfare, aren't we?' observed Ilias with amusement as three winged figures descended from the shrine steps. One tall, one child-like, and one full grown but still short.

From the lead of the trio came the booming voice of an blue and gold armored Valkyrie at least six feet tall wielding both sword and shield. With both the shield up and her slim wings outstretched she presented herself as a large target and blocked full view of the two trailing behind her in a defensive manner. Truly a vanguard if Ilias ever saw one.

"MAKE WAY! Stella Seraph: Seventh of the great Seraphim Council, approaches!"

Author Note: Been working with a new method of writing these as of late so please leave a review and tell me how I did. I start by writing all the dialog out first to make sure it's logical and flowing before adding in everything else, I'm quite happy with the results so far. BTW I'm looking into getting a cover image done at some point but totally lack the art skills to make one myself. I've been trying to talk to a artist to get one done but feel free to contact me if any of you have the skills to put something together. As always, enjoy!