Sitting on a throne in a large hall is a pink haired woman, to her right is a masked figure in a large black jacket, to her left is a white haired Feline also in a black jacket. In front of her are multiple men and women whose features are slightly indistinguishable and dressed in various tactical gear wearing vests, goggles, backpacks, and headsets. Each of them stand straight and stare at the closed door, waiting for it to open.
"Your Majesty, The Fallen has arrived." Knocking on one of the large double doors a Sarkaz speaks, the man's disdain could be felt bleeding through the door.
"I see, bring him in please." The woman sitting on the throne spoke with a neutral voice, but everyone in the room could see the sadness behind her eyes.
When the double doors opened a group of six walked in, five were Sarkaz who were surrounding a tied up Sankta with a sack over his head who had a blackened halo and wings. His white jacket was dirty and ripped with the sleeves folded just before the elbow, and his black combat pants had stains of dried blood on them. They led him to the center of the room where they took off his bindings and the sack before exiting the room, but not before giving the man a sneer and a glare. With his face now in view, they could see that he had endured quite a beating. He had blue hair that was dirty and unkempt that went down to his shoulders. His eyes were a light green color but it was hard to see due to them squinting along with the multiple bruises on his face.
The Sankta didn't bother giving the Sarkaz a reaction, instead focusing his gaze on the woman sitting on the throne. Giving her a warm yet empty smile and kneeled, lowering his head. "Your Majesty, Israfiel awaits your judgment."
Raising his head, Israfiel turns to the door of his room where a Sarkaz wearing a boonie hat with sunglasses and a handkerchief over his mouth peeks in.
"Israfiel, the Doctor is requesting your appearance in the war room."
The Sankta smiles at the Sarkaz before walking over with a smile. "Thank you for coming to get me, Scout. Let's not keep them waiting." Leaving the room Israfiel can tell Scout has a slight smile on him despite not being able to see his mouth. Together the two walk through the hallways, passing other Sarkaz men and women who give a friendly wave their way.
When they arrive Scout knocks on the door and a voice calls them in. Walking inside Israfiel sees five people in the room, an androgynous figure in all black with a brown haired woman behind him at the front of the table with a large map and multiple pins and notes on the wall behind them, a brown haired Pythian man who stood on opposite side of the table, and a white haired Feline woman stood behind a pink haired Sarkaz woman at the end of the table.
"Good morning everyone!" Israfiel enthusiastically greets.
"Good morning Israfiel." The masked figure greets him as the others give their hellos as well. "I hope you're ready for today, because we're gonna be attacking another outpost."
"Another attack? Maaaaaaan… didn't we just do an attack, like the other day?" Giving off a soft whine the Sankta manages to get a few small smiles from the people in the room.
"Well little angel, if you kept up with the time, you would know that attack was last week." The brown haired lady teases.
Israfiel's eyes widened, "What?! That was last week?! No way!" Frantically he pulls out his phone and taps on the screen repeatedly, seeing that the brown haired lady was in fact correct. It had been eight days since the attack on the previous bandit camp.
Slumping his shoulders he sighs and comically deflates. "And I thought I was getting good at keeping track of time…"
Only the brown haired lady and pink haired woman giggle at his antics, the rest are giving him a faint smirk.
"Now, now, Priestess, let's get back to the topic at hand." The masked figure states, getting everyone's attention and a pout from the brown haired Priestess.
"Now then, with Theresa giving us the okay, we are going to be assaulting another bandit camp that's been causing some trouble with the rebuilding of Kazdel. They're located here." The figure points to a location on a map behind him. The location they're pointing to is surrounded by hills on all sides in the middle of a desert.
"Hmm, you sure this isn't a trap, Doctor? Their camp seems too open and conspicuous not to be." The tall brown haired man asks the now named Doctor.
"I had a similar thought, Ace. But after sending Scout to investigate, it turned out it's because of a lack of leadership that they've come out this far. Theresis is currently too busy to send the military out and is currently off in the far north." The Doctor removes his hand from the map and turns to face everyone in the room.
"Did my brother give a reason as to why he's in the north?" Theresa, the pink haired Sarkaz asks.
"Nope!" Priestess cheerfully exclaims, "Your brother is being moody as always and isn't giving us any information other than what he deems is currently important."
The Doctor coughs, "What she means is that Theresis is currently too busy with whatever's holding him up to inform us of anything."
The room collectively nods their heads as the meeting continues for another hour with Israfiel zoning out for the entirety of it.
"So… what you're saying is… all we just need to destroy the bandit's camp?" Israfiel ponders, tilting his head with a hand on his chin in a thinking pose.
Everyone in the room collectively sighs and shakes their heads, ranging from amusement to slight disappointment.
"That's the short of it, yes." The Doctor answers.
"Great! When do we leave?" The Angel's eyes shine as he begins rocking back and forth in excitement.
"Well, we still need to get logistics ready for the attack, so sometime tomorrow at noon."
"Aww… come on… why couldn't it have been today?" The Angel's shoulders slump and his face becomes gloomy.
"If you're that disappointed by it then I'm sure either Ace or Scout would be more than willing to spar with you for the time being." The Doctor's words manage to get the sullen man's face to brighten once more as he immediately drags both Ace and Scout out of the room. They smile at the Angel's antics as Priestess and Theresa are signaled by the Doctor to leave him and the Feline alone. They both nod and exit the room together, beginning small talk as the door shuts behind them.
Now alone, the two stare at each other for a few seconds before the Feline speaks, "Since you called the three of them here, I assume that there is something more to this seemingly random outpost placed in the middle of a boxed canyon?" The Feline pondered with a neutral face, getting a nod from the Doctor who brought a piece of paper out from their coat and handed it over to her. Taking it, she reads the contents written down and frowns. "You're certain we should be sending him into the field? His skillset isn't exactly built for this type of operation."
"Kal'tsit, I have every bit of faith that Israfiel will be able to accomplish this." The Doctor responds with assurance.
Dragging the two men behind him, Israfiel opens the door leading to a large training room and lets them go as he rushes to the center of the room and strikes a haughty pose exclaiming "Haha! Today's the day when I get the chance to defeat two of the best in Theresa's army! Now come, Ace, Scout, let us see how far I can push my boundaries!" The two men chuckle before heading over to a weapon shelf and taking their favored weapons. For Ace, a sledgehammer and shield, and for Scout, a slim crossbow with bolts.
As the two walk closer to the Sankta they each smirk, "Hope you're ready, kid. This battle's gonna be fierce." Ace informs. As they ready their weapons an invisible countdown begins in their heads.
3
Falling out from his pose Israfiel stands still, his eyes closed facing the ground and with his arms to his sides. Ace puts the shield in front of his body with the sledgehammer behind him facing the ground. Scout knocks a bolt quickly scanning the room before locking eyes with Ace, they both nod to each other.
2
Israfiel knows that this is nothing more than a spar between friends and that he needs to hold back, but the eagerness inside him to defeat two of the strongest people in Theresa's forces makes him grin in excitement with his halo and wings glowing slightly brighter. His stance lowers to a crouch with his left leg extended slightly behind him and his two arms by his left hip, grasping at an invisible sword.
1
The battle begins as Ace rushes forward shield first and Scout activates his Arts to conceal his presence while Israfiel meets Ace's charge, the invisible sword now manifesting as a physical object made out of light. Their weapons clash and the two smirk before Ace pushes Israfiel back with a swing of his hammer. Israfiel retaliates by matching each of Ace's blows with his own, hammer meets sword in a flurry of strikes before a surprise shove catches Israfiel off guard. As he's forced back he hears the thwack of Scout's crossbow from behind Ace and instinctively side steps out of the bolt's path as it wizzes past his head. But this allows the Pythian to shove him further back and the Sarkaz to fire another bolt once again forcing him to move out of the way.
It was an impressive tactic, he was being zoned from close range, something to be expected from the best. Too bad it only fueled his desire to win against this overwhelming foe. With a grin the sword dissipated into motes of light and in its place were two gauntlets that covered his forearms. Rushing back towards Ace with surprising speed he began pummeling the shield with repeated punches, forcing the man to focus on defending lest he lose his balance against the surprising force of the Angel's punches.
Scout was having a hard time getting a shot in against Israfiel, he could feel the force of the punches from behind Ace and knew any shot taken would only be sent off course. Instantly making his decision he rushed off to the left he began firing shot after shot at Israfiel who immediately ceased his assault against Ace and turned to punched every single bolt head on causing them to break. If it weren't for the fact he was actively participating in this fight Scout would've whistled at the Sankta's actions. His arrows weren't normal, having infused his Arts into them to make them faster and stronger. So someone being able to intercept them and break them mid flight was impressive, especially with how close range they were.
The gauntlets on Israfiel's arms vanished and were replaced by two chakrams. He threw them both at Scout who was forced to roll out of the way of the incoming projectiles and once the chakrams passed him they vanished and reappeared in Israfiel's hands as a two meter long spear.
Ace, having caught his breath, charged at Israfiel who retaliated by thrusting the spear at his chest. Ace glided the spear across the shield as it came in to strike at his chest. Doing a quick back spin, Ace let out a roar as he swung the hammer towards the Sankta, hitting him and sending him flying across the room. Israfiel threw the spear backwards, impaling it into the padded flooring as he oriented himself to land on the spear's length. But before he could land another thwack came from Scout's crossbow as bolts began flying towards him. Dissolving the spear Israfiel pulled his arms in front of him and created a rectangular shield, taking the Arts empowered arrows which sent him further back.
Once he landed, Israfiel dissolved the shield to create a crossbow of his own. But when the shield disappeared from his hands he could see Ace was already on him, his hammer angled down at him. "Looks like it's your loss, kid." He grinned.
A sigh escaped Israfiel's mouth as his shoulders slouched and he began sulking, "Awww man… I thought I had it this time…"
The man laughed before placing his hammer in the same hand as his shield and lending Israfiel a hand, "Haha! Don't worry kid. You're not that far off from being an elite like me and Scout, give it a few more months or a year and you'll be the same as us. Though this is the first time I'm seeing you use your Arts before, you normally use your gun for fights. This that hidden ace you've been talking about recently?"
The Sankta's eyes widen before he shakes his head and takes Ace's hand and is lifted onto his feet. "Agh dang it… I was too excited to keep my mouth shut." Ace laughs just as Scout walks close.
"I have to hand it to you though, those weapons sure kept me on alert. If any one of those hit me I'd be down for the count, but what I'm more impressed by is how you managed to strike down some of my shots." Scout recalls, slinging the crossbow behind his back.
"Aha, that was just a spur of the moment thing. It was more something that I thought would make me look cool, I don't think I could ever do it if you had your actual equipment with you." Israfiel rubs the back of his head with a slight smile. He knew it too, the equipment in the training room were very bare bones and only had the essential quality to withstand multiple uses. If these two had their actual weapons on them this fight would have ended after Scout first shot at him.
"Even still, I had to focus quite a lot when you came at me with those punches of yours. They had quite the punch to them, if I lost concentration at all I would've been sent flying." Patting Israfiel on the back the three of them returned their borrowed equipment and headed to the lounge.
It would be a busy day tomorrow, and no one would be expecting what events would eventually lead up to the fall of the King of Sarkaz.
Whew, I'm back, hopefully... school got real crazy this last month and I had to cram a lot of stuff in, not to mention I might be heading to Washington for school later this year.
Anyways, I had this new story idea of taking place before Babel during the rebuilding of Kazdel and chapter 12 of Red Winter half completed. Though I've only had enough time to finish this one.
If you would be so kind as to give any sort of feedback or criticism that would be greatly appreciated for future reference. Thank you for reading.