Chapter 16a: New Power
Outskirts of Aerokon
Kovalt looked at the group, analyzing his opponents. Two incubi, a dhampir, a wyvern, a dark elf, a kunoichi, and a dullahan. This would be a challenge for any other hero, but he wasn't a normal hero anymore. Not with the power that had been bestowed upon him.
Let's see what they've got.
Adrian stared back at Kovalt, then at the others. All seven of them nodded their heads. Kovalt beckoned tauntingly for them to attack him. The peacekeepers charged, spreading out to surround the hero from four sides. Despite his disadvantageous position, Kovalt looked unconcerned.
As soon as the monsters were about to reach him, Kovalt thrusted his hands out to the side, a shimmering white shield appeared around him, suddenly stopping all of their weapons. Naira and Jordan blasted the hero from above with a wave of dragonfire. It flowed off of the shield, leaving Kovalt completely unharmed.
"As I expected, your little group is made for stealth and espionage, not direct battles." Kovalt's shield suddenly shot outwards, launching everyone in opposite directions. Naira and Jordan swooped down with claws outstretched, only for Kovalt to move away faster than their eyes could perceive, leaving a colorless mist behind. The enhanced hero grabbed the wyvern by the tail, and threw them across the field they were in. The two collided into a tree, hard.
Saralyn fired several shots that were headed straight to Kovalt's head, only for him to raise his hands up without even looking in her direction. The same shimmering white shield appeared in the shape of his hand in front of him, the bullets bouncing harmlessly into the shield. Saralyn's eyes widened in shock. She fired several more bullets, only for Kovalt's hand to block all of them flawlessly. Kovalt smirked, and in the blink of an eye he was right in front of Saralyn. He slammed his fist into her stomach, knocking her to the ground. The dhampir peered up at the hero, his sword raised above Saralyn's head.
"Wait a minute… you're…" Saralyn choked out.
A dagger shot out of the grass towards Kovalt's chest. Ignoring Saralyn, The hero moved back several feet, and turned towards where the dagger was thrown. Sinclair laid prone in a large patch of tall grass, cursing at her missed throw. Kovalt charged towards the dark elf's hiding spot, only for another knife to nearly clip him in the arm. Ava leapt down from a tree, eyes narrowed, a small growl coming from behind her mask. She drew a realm silver katana; a new weapon Meryl had given her after their success at Monoghon. The two of them dashed forward, blades clashing.
Meryl observed from a few feet away as she charged forth to help her subordinate. Ava was one of the most skilled kunoichis she had ever seen in her lifetime. And yet, she was at the disadvantage, and the hero didn't even look like he was breaking a sweat. As Ava was about to back up into a tree, Meryl slashed the hero in the back with her realm silver sword. Kovalt shouted in shock and surprise, turning away from Ava and throwing a fist in her direction. It landed square on her chest, launching her back a few yards. She landed in a puddle, spraying mud everywhere. The dullahan checked to see if her head was still on. Confirming that it was still on her shoulders, she stood up.
Meryl's eyes widened in surprise as she saw the hero staring at her. That hit would've completely disabled any normal order soldier, leaving them at the mercy of whatever monster beat them. Yet, Kovalt was still standing looking more or less fine.
"You're clearly not like any other hero I've faced. Even with the Chief God's blessing, the hit I just gave you would completely cripple them." Meryl grunted, wiping dirt off of her face.
"That's right. I-" Kovalt's response was interrupted as he ducked down to dodge a flying blade coming towards him. Adrian stood a fair distance away from him, hilt outstretched. He held the hilt out as the sword's blade came flying backwards. It reattached itself to the hilt with a quiet click.
Kovalt ran forward, sword in hand preparing to kill Adrian. Adrian held up his sword at the last second, the two blades clashing together in a flash of sparks. The two of them glared at each other.
"I despise you and your wife, you know that? Heroes that turn away from the Chief God and work for the beings they swore to destroy are the worst people this world has to offer." Kovalt said through gritted teeth, pushing his sword as hard as he could.
"Well… Let's just say neither of us like murdering monsters who just want a husband." Adrian responded snarkily.
Kovalt roared in fury and kicked Adrian in the stomach, sending him backwards a few feet. Adrian parried Kovalt's incoming blade, the two of them exchanging blows.
Saralyn recovered. Squinting her eyes, she saw Adrian and Kovalt fighting each other. Adrian blocked attack after attack, but he was being pushed back. Ava, Sinclair, and Meryl all attempted to help him, but Kovalt seemed hellbent on killing Adrian. Saralyn felt rage bubbling up inside of her. I can't let this happen!
The dhampir reached into her pocket, loading several special bullets into her gun. Her guns had been upgraded to run on her internal energy after one too many close calls after running out of ammunition, but her guns could still fire normal bullets. She observed one of the cylindrical objects. As opposed to the purple her bullets usually were, this one was yellow, with a gray tip. The color was how she differentiated her nonlethal bullets from her lethal ones. She had carried a clip of lethal bullets on her at all times, in case of emergencies.
Saralyn took aim at Kovalt, being careful not to hit Adrian. Aiming for the center mass, she fired all six of her bullets. Several deafeningly loud bangs filled the air as the bullets whizzed towards Kovalt, Adrian and the others all jumping in shock. Three of the six bullets found their target, embedding themselves into Kovalt's stomach.
The hero screamed in pain and rage as he looked in Saralyn's direction. Despite his injuries, Kovalt still found the energy to charge towards her, one arm covering his wounds and another holding his sword. Saralyn rolled out of the way just in time.
"Monsters… Using lethal weaponry?" Kovalt seethed angrily, gritting his teeth.
"Specifically for people who try to hurt my husband." Saralyn glared fearlessly at the hero.
Kovalt looked at Saralyn, then back at the Peacekeepers. All of them had their weapons drawn, preparing to defend their comrade. The hero weighed his options; he risked being captured and taken to Lescatie if he stayed. So he chose to run. Kovalt casted the strongest speed spell he could manage on himself, and sprinted off into the forest.
Adrian ran to Saralyn's side and helped her get to her feet, while the other Peacekeepers gave chase. Naira and Jordan, having recovered, flew overhead to capture Kovalt. Only to see that he had disappeared from view. The rest of the team spread and began searching. Meryl observed the path of footprints Kovalt had left. They simply cut off at a point.
"He must've used a teleportation spell. How else would he have disappeared into thin air?" Sinclair reasoned, looking at the place where his footprints abruptly stopped.
"Yeah. We'd best be careful of him from now on." Meryl muttered.
The five of them went back to the road. Adrian and Saralyn were leaning against the side of their carriage, Adrian treating Saralyn's wounds. Miraculously, all of them had made it through the battle without severe injury. Saralyn and Meryl had a couple nasty bruises, and Ava had suffered some minor lacerations on her arms, but the group was for the most part fine.
"Come on. Let's get going. The dark angel's waiting for us."
Aerokon
At last, they had arrived at Aerokon. The city had incredibly high walls, something the group had realized when surveilling cities under Ophelia's rule. Aperia and its territories were borderline obsessed with security. The group had to go through five security checks before they could get inside. Anyone less skilled than them at stealth and lying would've gotten caught right at the gate.
Adrian had trouble focusing. Immediately, he had gotten some strange sense of nostalgia when he had entered the city. It felt like he had been here before. His mind felt like it was trying and failing to recall any memory of this place.
Did I live here before? Was this my hometown before I lost my memory?
"I'm glad that's over. Sheesh, these Aperians have some screws loose." Sinclair shook her head, glaring back at a guard that had held them up for almost thirty minutes.
"Yeah. Everyone, stay sharp. Aperians aren't like the Order." Meryl reminded the group, looking around, and then down at her map. "Anyways, the church that Cassiel should be in should be near the center of the city. Keep walking and try not to look suspicious. Who knows what insane detection tech these guys have."
The seven of them headed down the street, taking in the scenery of the city. To the group, the city looked rather generic. None of the fancy architecture with lewd undertones of mamono realms or the chalky and sterile white of Order territories. Adrian couldn't focus on his surroundings, however. The strange feeling of nostalgia was growing stronger by the minute for Adrian, and it was beginning to bother him.
"Meryl?" Adrian whispered to his leader.
"Yeah?"
"When you recruited me… Did you do any background checks on me? Where I lived, who my parents were… Anything?"
"It's a bit hard to do background checks on an amnesiac who just randomly appeared in the middle of a forest. We've got ratatoskrs that have been documenting unmarried heroes all over the world, and we've shown your face to them. Yet not a single one of them recognizes you. You might've been a stealth-based hero before you lost your memory. Who knows…" Meryl hypothesized.
"Did they find anything on Saralyn?" Adrian asked, hoping to find any sort of clue about his past.
"One small bit. We found a vampire and an incubus who supposedly had a child named Sara a few decades back, who matched Saralyn's appearance. They got incredibly upset when we mentioned her, and refused to elaborate." Meryl shook her head.
"Sara, huh?" Adrian thought back to his conversation with Saralyn in the armory. "I called her that on accident before our first big mission. She seemed particularly… affected when she heard me."
"Seems we found Saralyn's parents. Too bad they want absolutely nothing to do with her. What could she have done to them?"
"Anything, really. Dhampirs and vampires have been rivals ever since vampires became able to give birth to them."
Adrian's thoughts were interrupted by a large commotion in the street. A scarlet haired baphomet with dark brown horns was strutting down the street with her husband, a group of witches following behind her. The bystanders on the street began cheering and shouting praise for her.
"Hmph… Aperians never seemed like the type of people to have a sabbath." Sinclair remarked, gawking at the baphomet. The goat monster was comically short compared to her husband, him being two feet taller than her. Even some of the witches were taller.
"You learn something new everyday." Naira responded.
Meryl stopped, looking around her. "We've reached the center of the city." The heart of the city was surprisingly empty, considering the time of day. A large fountain in what Adrian assumed to be the center of the city.
Suddenly, Adrian started feeling very lightheaded and dizzy. A ringing noise inside his head began to drown every other noise around him. He collapsed to the ground, putting his hands on his ears as if that would stop the ringing. Looking up, he began seeing fuzzy images. The group had vanished, instead being replaced by a group of what he assumed were Aperian soldiers. A bright white figure pushed through the soldiers, staring down at him.
The figure from my dream in the cabin and from my dream in Monoghon?
The images slowly subsided along with the ringing and the lightheadedness. Saralyn was shaking him violently, the others standing by with concerned looks on their faces.
"Adrian! Adrian, can you hear me?! Are you alright?!" Saralyn yelled into his face, tears running down her cheeks.
"I-I-I'm okay… I don't know what came over me." Adrian wheezed out. He shakily got to his feet with Saralyn's help.
"The church is right there. Let's get him inside before we attract too much attention." Meryl pointed towards an inconspicuous looking church. A symbol of a six winged angel was carved into the door, as opposed to the symbol of the Order. Meryl opened the door, and the rest of the group followed her inside.
The church had somehow changed its appearance completely. From the outside it looked like a generic church befitting of Aerokon, but inside it looked like a church belonging to that of the Fallen God. Several dark priests and monsters dressed as acolytes of the Fallen God milled about, with a few dark valkyries and dark angels sitting on the balcony overlooking the first floor of the building. Adrian recalled how monsters would set up hidden pocket dimensions inside of churches of the Order that only they could access. At the front of the church, a dark angel suddenly stopped what they were doing and briskly walked over to them.
"You made it. I was beginning to worry. You're a few days late, you know that right? I was beginning to think you got caught." The dark angel held her hand out for Meryl to shake. "My name is-"
"Cassiel. Druella told us. You say you can help us stop Aperia's violent tendencies once and for all?" Meryl asked.
"Y-yes… I've been a part of her military before. I objected to their actions, and they responded by kicking me out. The Fallen God came to my side when I was completely alone and had no idea what to do, and now I'm here." Cassiel explained.
"Right… Did you work out a plan on how we're going to deal with Aperia?" Sinclair asked while tapping her feet seemingly unimpressed with the dark angel's redemption story.
"Remember what I said, Sinclair." Meryl reminded the dark elf sternly.
"Alright. Follow me." Cassiel pointed towards a side room in the church. The group entered the room and were greeted by the eerie sight of several crude portraits on the walls of Aperian officials, some with red crosses painted over their heads. Two in the middle of the room were clean, having the names "Zeraphine" and "Hazel".
"Hey. It's that baphomet we saw in the streets on our way here." Adrian pointed to Zeraphine.
"Yeah. Zeraphine is an incredibly high-ranking magician, and leader of the Aperian Magical Defense Sabbath. She's responsible for overseeing the magical defenses of all Aperian territories. She's also responsible for identifying and uprooting any mamono extremist activities, or any attempts to spread the Fallen God's faith. In other words, us."
"Who's the other girl?" Meryl inquired.
"Hazel? She's a gremlin who's the lead designer for a majority of the technological defenses for Aperia. She constructed these," Cassiel pointed to what looked to be a small tower with runes inscribed all over the walls. "And these," She pointed to a strange looking machine.
"What's that supposed to be?" Saralyn asked, tilting her head to the side.
"De-anthropomorphizer. What a mouthful of a name." Cassiel chuckled. "Anyways, as you could probably guess it's supposed to forcefully revert any sort of anthropomorphism spell that you could have on you." Cassiel pinned the two portraits on a clean space on the wall. "She's designed a lot of other mechanisms for Aperia and they all make invading the country nearly impossible to invade."
"I'm guessing we have to capture them?" Adrian asked.
"That's right. Druella's orders to you were to capture these two people and bring them to a space safe where we can interrogate them. Hopefully, we can find out some of the inner workings of Aperia's defenses, so we can finally invade them and put an end to this war they insist is necessary."
"You want us to capture a baphomet? You know how difficult that's going to be?" Naira asked with a hint of fear in her voice.
"You get the element of surprise, and it's over for her. Fortunately for you, she's going to be spending a couple days in Aerokon before she goes back to Aperia."
"And what about her husband?"
"Unfortunately, you're going to have to capture him too. Forcefully separating a husband from his wife is a huge no-no."
"Right…Good god. It feels strange to be working against other mamono. Usually for us it's either the Order, or occasionally the Aperians." Meryl sighed. "Why can't they see we're trying to help them? They can't be happy with the Aperians waging war against the Order, right?"
"Well. Both human and mamono children are raised with the notion that mamono extremists are uninhibited, hyper-hedonistic, corruptive individuals who only know how to spread their influence. When they took over Lescatie, that established their reputation. They're now known as the people who turn human cities into mamono realms." Cassiel also sighed, annoyed. "Same case for the Fallen God's followers. And when someone is told something is true enough times, they tend to believe it."
Meryl nodded her head. "Right then, we'd better get planning. We only have a few days before Zeraphine leaves for Aperia." Meryl ushered the group out of Cassiel's room, and into another one of the side rooms. They sat down, and began plotting their next moves.
Meanwhile, in another part of the church, a kikimora sat intently watching them talking to each other. A pen in one hand and a piece of paper in the other, she eavesdropped on their conversation and began taking notes. Once she had filled up the entire paper, she got up and left the church, waving to the dark priest at the door. The bird-monster took one final look at her notes.
"How interesting." The kikimora walked down the street of the city, and sat down on a bench, waiting for two specific valkyries to show up. Thirty minutes later, she saw them.
"Ophaniel. Nuriel. The situation with your former ally has been escalating." The kikimora tossed her notes to Ophaniel. "Read it."
Ophaniel stared at the notes, an expression of rage slowly forming on her face as she got farther down the page. Nuriel read along with her, her face a mixture of sadness, disappointment, and fear. The younger valkyrie shook her head. Finally, Ophaniel finished reading. She tossed the notes back to the kikimora.
"This is absolutely unacceptable. Not only has she betrayed us by becoming a dark angel, now she's collaborating with extremists!" Ophaniel screamed loudly, some of the other monsters and humans walking past them shuddering in fear. The fur on the kikimora's arms began standing up slightly.
"Nuriel. Go back to Aperia and get Raniel, and a group of our best valkyries. We're going to kill this bitch and her new friends."
Chapter 16b: Interception
Outskirts of Aerokon
This won't hurt, I presume?
Not at all. Just relax and the procedure will go by without any problems.
You're going to be stronger than ever before.
Kovalt awakened, rubbing his eyes. He tried to sit up, only for pain to flare up in his stomach. He felt the three bandages covering the entry wounds where the traitor Saralyn shot him. He had been toying with them to get a good idea of how much power he had gained through his transformation into a gray incubi, and he had paid the price for it. He had never expected one of them to shoot him with real bullets.
The hero managed to stand up. Kovalt surveyed his surroundings. He had taken shelter in a small cave hidden by some tall grass and bushes, and bandaged up his wounds with whatever medical supplies he had brought with him from Venshir. The wounds still stung every time he moved.
Luckily for him, he had gathered enough energy. Closing his eyes and focusing, Kovalt tore off the bandages and held his hands over the open wound. He began praying to Chief God. As he spoke, his wounds began to heal themselves, his skin knitting itself back together and nerves reconnecting. Soon enough, all that remained of the pain was a dull ache in his stomach. He took a deep breath.
Kovalt's stomach rumbled. He tried to recall the last time he had eaten. It had been almost twelve hours, and all he had eaten was some dried meat and vegetables before he had gone to confront his enemies. The hero stood up and grabbed his sword, deciding it was time to hunt for some food. He walked out of the cave, scanning the surroundings for any animals. Seeing nothing, he began to expand his search.
He came across a rabbit hiding near a small bush. Crouching down, Kovalt uttered a spell of fleet-footedness, and began sneaking towards the small animal. The rabbit kept munching on a small patch of grass, unaware of the threat. Kovalt reached the rabbit, and quicker than the eye could see, sliced it clean in half. Taking out his knife, Kovalt began to skin the rabbit, tossing its fur to the side.
He then gathered a bit of firewood and rocks, and created a campfire. Whispering a spell of ignition, the firewood burst into flames. Kovalt impaled the rabbit meat on a stick and held it over the fire, cooking it the best he could. After some time had passed, he took it off the stick. He blew a little on it, and bit down.
"Dry. But not bad." As Kovalt ate, he began to reflect.
Maybe I could've won if Serrano was with me.
The priest had wanted to come with Kovalt, seeing that he was troubled and needed someone to accompany him on his revenge quest. The hero had denied, saying that he wanted to be the one to kill the monsters who had single handedly caused the corruption of what had been his home for almost fifteen years. Serrano argued back, saying that Kovalt would be better off with someone supporting him.
"Maybe you were right." Kovalt said to no one in particular.
Following a marker he had put on Adrian when they had first met, he had traveled for several weeks to catch up with them. They were traveling into Aperian territory, something that put Kovalt in a sour mood. He had always hated the Aperians for spreading hate of the Chief God and the Order. The Order and the Faithful were full of good people; Serrano was an example of that. The fact that they allowed monsters to roam freely in their cities didn't help either.
Kovalt had come across a small caravan of Aperian soldiers on his way to confront Adrian and his friends. They were escorting Order prisoners of war to Aperia. Using his new powers, he had slaughtered every single Aperian and freed the Order soldiers, pointing them to the nearest Order territory.
Kovalt finished his dinner, wiping his hands and mouth off on a large leaf. Suddenly, he heard a branch creaking. Kovalt immediately looked upwards at the trees, eyes narrowed. His new senses were telling him it was a monster. Kovalt saw a pink light for a split second in his peripheral vision. He swerved his head to the left, looking for the source of the mysterious light.
A black arrow suddenly shot out of the darkness. Kovalt stepped to the side just before it could hit him, the arrow slamming into the ground instead. Looking in the direction of the arrow, he saw his attempted assassin. A slightly tan, humanoid woman with pink wings, hair and clothing. In her hands, was a pink bow. Kovalt recognized the "monster' as a servant of Eros, a cupid.
"So, you must be that poor werewolf's husband. You know she misses you dearly, right?" The cupid spoke.
"I do, too. I miss when she was human. We had everything. We were happy, for fuck's sake!" Kovalt shouted back, waving his sword around.
"You'd be happier if you simply put aside your silly defiance and just reunited with her. Right now, you're going down a path of self-hatred and destruction."
"Let me ask you something. Where was your goddess of love when werewolves tore our family in half?! Shouldn't she try to prevent this sort of thing from happening?" Kovalt snapped back as he pointed his sword at the cupid's head.
"What you didn't know is that she tried to reconnect with you, but the Order stopped her at every turn. Catalina told me everything. Tell me, did you not even try to find her after she had been turned into a werewolf?"
"I thought she was dead."
"If you think one punch can put down a werewolf, you severely underestimate how powerful monsters can be." The cupid aimed another black arrow at Kovalt's heart. "But no more. You're going to experience all of the love she has saved for you, very soon."
Kovalt jumped backwards, the black arrow thudding into the ground where he was standing a moment ago. The cupid leapt from her tree branch out of sight. Kovalt grunted. He had no ranged weapons. He could throw his sword but that would leave him defenseless until he could recover it.
An arrow whizzed towards his head. Kovalt whipped around and deflected the arrow at the last second with his heightened senses. The cupid raised an eyebrow at his display of superhuman reflexes.
"Peculiar…" The cupid pulled another black arrow out of her quiver. Kovalt preemptively ducked behind a tree, only for the arrow to curve around the tree. Kovalt just barely twisted his body to the side, part of the arrow tearing his clothing.
Kovalt snatched a medium-sized rock off of the ground and hurled it as hard as he could towards the cupid. The pink angel flew off at the last second, the rock sailing past her harmlessly. She landed on the ground, and put away her bow, replacing it with a pink longsword. Kovalt couldn't help but snicker at the cupid's gaudy-looking weaponry.
"Say… Does your goddess not provide you with any better looking weapons? Is she so devoid of creativity that she must make every single weapon pink?" Kovalt smirked.
The cupid growled, choosing to charge forward instead of responding to Kovalt's taunting. Kovalt drew his blade and prepared to parry the cupid's attack, only for the cupid to fly upwards at the last moment. Looking up, he was staring directly into the cupid's blade. He rolled out of the way just in time to avoid a powerful downward strike by the cupid.
The cupid shouted in frustration, pulling her sword out and charging forward at the hero. Kovalt blocked the blade effortlessly, pushing the cupid away. He began to notice several faults in the cupid's fighting stance.
Clearly she's more suited for archery instead of sword combat.
The cupid let out a shout of defiance, raising her sword above her head for another downwards slash. Kovalt simply leapt to the side, planting his boot directly into the cupid's back. The angel stumbled. Kovalt kicked the angel again in the back of the leg, causing her to trip. The cupid rolled onto her back, only for a sword to fill her entire field of vision. Kovalt kicked the cupid's sword to the side.
"Please don't…" The cupid whined.
"Why not, huh?"
"Eros does not take kindly to her angels being harmed. You'll be cursed to live a loveless life until you find a monster that's willing to take you!"
"Is that so?" Kovalt's mouth twisted into a slight smile.
"Yes! Now let me go!"
"Not yet." Kovalt picked up the cupid's longsword. "This is realm silver, right?"
"Y-yes?"
"Good. Then this won't hurt, at least not physically." Kovalt jabbed the cupid in the legs with her own sword. The cupid let out a cry of shock. Moving to her arms, Kovalt slashed them both several times. When he was sure that the cupid wouldn't try and retaliate, he grabbed the sword by the blade and bent it in half. Reaching under the cupid's back, he pulled out her bow and broke it in two.
"Tell Eros I'm not interested in Catalina anymore." Kovalt walked off into the night.
Aerokon
Raniel stood at the armory, waiting for her companions to finish their preparations for the raid on Cassiel's hideout. She didn't even need anything from the armory, she was just there because Nuriel and Ophaniel insisted that they stop by.
"Are you absolutely sure you don't need anything?"
Raniel turned to see an ochimusha leaning by the doorway, the blue-skinned undead sporting two katanas in each hand. By her side was a dullahan holding a greataxe alongside a succubus in lightweight stealth-based armor.
"Positive." Raniel responded with a slight hint of shock. "I wasn't told we were having mamono auxiliaries with us for this mission?"
"Your allies insisted we accompany you. The extremists were fools to try and set up a foothold in our city." the dullahan remarked.
"Alright. You can come with us. I'll put in a good word about you two if we succeed at this."
"Does that mean we could get husbands?" The succubus asked.
Raniel sighed. No matter how loyal mamono were to Aperia and its territories, they would always be more loyal to their mission to find a husband. It was a double-edged sword; mamono would do valuable work for the country, but then retire immediately when they found a husband. Thankfully, their children would always be willing to do work to find a husband for themselves as well.
It balances itself out, I guess.
"Sure." Raniel gave the succubus a turned off response. She knew that if she said no, the succubus wouldn't be performing as well during combat. The winged monster squealed loudly in excitement, the comparatively more disciplined ochimusha and dullahan getting slightly scared.
"We head out in fifteen minutes." Raniel pointed towards the succubus. "You. What's your name?"
"I'm Marie!"
"Marie. Make sure to stay focused. Do you understand?" The valkyrie put extra emphasis on the end of her sentence. The succubus calmed down and nodded her head.
"Good."
Fifteen minutes later, everyone was prepared. As they were getting ready to leave, Raniel laid out the plan.
"So, the plan is simple. You," Raniel said pointing to her ochimusha companion whom she had not bothered learning her name, "Will knock on the door of the church. Their spell will recognize her as a mamono and open the way for us. We will act as newcomers to their church to catch them by surprise. When I give the signal, Ophaniel will cast a light spell to further disorient our enemies. She and Nuriel will be responsible for finishing off the rest of them. I will be hunting down Cassiel. Do all of you understand?" The group nodded their heads.
Raniel, Ophaniel, Nuriel and their mamono companions marched out of the armory, prepared for the raid. The group of six walked up to a bench, where a familiar kikimora sat. Raniel nodded to the feathered monster. The kikimora got up, and began walking towards a familiar looking church.
"One more thing I think you should know. The extremists appear to have already left, but they'll be back after they complete whatever their objective is." The kikimora explained.
"Give us a rundown of what they're like." Raniel requested from her spy.
"Aside from Cassiel's followers, on the extremist side you've got a dullahan, a dhampir and her husband, a wyvern and her rider, a dark elf, and a kunoichi."
"So, seven extremists." Raniel remarked. "Whoever these monsters are, they must be highly trained for Druella to send them in alone. I believe setting up a trap for them to catch them off guard would be the best course of action."
The raiders reached the church. As planned, the ochimusha knocked on the door of the church. The door opened, a dark priest in revealing clothing quickly ushering them to come in.
"Oh my! Three valkyries joining our cause of their own will? Cassiel will be pleased!" The dark priest chirped happily, oblivious of what was about to happen.
"Yes. I have grown tired of Aperia's tyrannical policies." The lie felt thick on Raniel's tongue.
"Haven't we all, my child." Raniel cringed at the dark priest's usage of child. She looked up. Ophaniel was walking to the center of the church, the optimal location to blind their enemies.
Suddenly, a door on the side of the church opened, revealing a familiar looking dark angel. The blue-skinned harlot's eyes widened at the sight of Raniel. The valkyrie gave Cassiel a toothy grin.
"Greetings, old friend."
A blinding white light suddenly filled the entire church, screams of shock and fear filling the building. Raniel and her allies didn't even bother covering their eyes, for they had enchanted themselves with a spell that protected them from the harsh light. Behind the valkyrie, the ochimusha slammed her bony fist into a dark priest's head, knocking them unconscious almost immediately. The dullahan slashed one of the few dark valkyries in the church with a realm silver sword, crippling the fallen being. Near the entrance, a succubus put the dark priest greeter into a headlock.
Cassiel had managed to cover her eyes just before the flash, and had chosen to run away instead of fighting. The dark angel half sprinted half flew into a side room and down a set of stairs leading to the church's basement. Raniel gave chase, her celestial sword drawn.
"Come back here, Cassiel! You are only delaying the inevitable!" Raniel shouted to her former friend and ally. Deep down, she felt a tiny sting of guilt, as she thought of everything that they had gone through together. She buried her feelings, and pushed forward.
She found herself in a basement. Several dusty boxes, crates and barrels littered the room, alongside worn out curtains and blankets. Raniel's eyes narrowed, looking for Cassiel.
A creaking noise came from Raniel's left. The valkyrie preemptively sliced apart the general area where it came from, only to reveal a dead mouse. Footsteps came from behind her. Cassiel leapt out of the shadows, a rapier drawn and heading straight for Raniel's heart. The valkyrie whipped around and blocked the hit. Cassiel jumped back, circling around a pillar to backstab Raniel again. Raniel swung where she believed Cassiel was about to be, jabbing the dark angel in the sword arm. Cassiel hissed in pain, switching from her right arm to her left.
"Your dominant sword arm is useless now. Cassiel, just g-"
Cassiel interrupted Raniel's deal for her surrender by dashing forward with her rapier. Raniel stepped to the side, the pointy blade cutting into Raniel's thigh. She felt a tingly feeling coming from her thigh as her holy energy worked to stop the mamono mana from corrupting her. Raniel held out her arm and began firing blasts of holy energy in Cassiel's direction, sending debris and dust flying everywhere.
Raniel cursed. She squinted, trying to spot Cassiel in the cloud of dust. Footsteps came from behind her.
"Predictable."
Raniel immediately swerved around and slashed through the dust, her blade making contact with flesh as it cut through the air, followed by a cry of pain. Raniel grinned and charged towards the source of the sound, arm outstretched. Her fist made contact with Cassiel's upper torso, staggering her. Cassiel, dazed, tried to run for the stairs again, only for Raniel to stab her in the leg. Cassiel dropped to the ground, groaning.
"Fallen God…" Raniel could hear the defeated angel mutter. She slammed her boot down on the dark angel's neck, interrupting her cry for help.
"Your god can't help you now."
Raniel picked up Cassiel by her good leg, the dark angel giving no resistance whatsoever as her former boss began dragging her up the stairs. Raniel uttered a spell of paralysis on the dark angel, disabling her even further.
"Cassiel. You know, I wish I didn't have to do this. It pains me to see the path that you've gone down. But you've left me no choice. Aperian law states that all followers of the Fallen God are to be punished. With extreme prejudice." Raniel sighed.
The dark angel didn't respond. She was defeated, both mentally and physically. Raniel reached the ground floor of the church. Ophaniel and Nuriel were relaxing on the pews, with the mamono companions talking amongst themselves. The acolytes of the Fallen God were nowhere to be seen.
"I assume you've taken care of everything?" Raniel asked.
"Yes, we have." Nuriel looked over Raniel's shoulder. "Say. Is that Cassiel?"
"In the flesh." Raniel threw Cassiel onto the floor for everyone to look at her.
"Hey, Cassy." Nuriel greeted her old friend, equal parts bitterness and snarkiness in her voice. "How have you been doing?"
"She can't speak. I've paralyzed her." Raniel reminded her subordinate.
"Let's kill her and be done with it." Ophaniel drew her sword, glaring down at her former ally.
"No." Raniel held a hand in front of Ophaniel's blade, gently pushing it to the side. "I've changed my mind. We need to interrogate her. She could have more hideouts like this. Plus, we need to figure out the extent of her connections with Lescatie."
Ophaniel sheathed her sword. Kneeling over Cassiel, the valkyrie spat on her former ally's face.
"Traitor."
"Ophaniel, Nuriel. Have you set up a trap for the extremists when they return?" Raniel asked.
"Affirmative." Nuriel pointed to a set of runes inscribed around the doorway.
"They won't know what hit them."