The forests withered all around them. The pungent stink of charcoal lingered on the back of the nose, and the chill of every breath seeped down to the bone. The shrivelled leaves turned grey; some even turned to dust when Ainchase stepped on them. The trees were not doing much better; some were crooked, and some fell with only a gust of wind.
"I hope we're not too late," Luciela mumbled as she crossed her arms.
Ainchase glanced at her, noting that she still kept her adult appearance. A quick look at her slave was enough for him to tell that the Steel Cross was less than pleased. However, it was hard to tell whether it was out of worry for the catastrophe unfolding before them or something else.
"If it was too late now," the Celestial said as he looked back to the road in front. "They would've sent us out earlier despite your injuries."
The white-haired demoness furrowed her brow, glancing at his arm, but refrained from saying anything. Her uncharacteristic display of tact surprised him. It was as strange as how the simple elven dress she was given looked on her. Pastel green clashed harshly against her black and blue gloves and boots.
"We have about two weeks to save the villagers," Ciel informed them. "The guys in the base have a little longer with the El stones they can get from the equipment they don't use."
"How curious," the grey-haired Celestial huffed. "I didn't think you'd be an expert on the matter."
Though he could not see it, Ainchase could feel the half-demon's glare burning through the back of his head.
"I had to learn it due to the war," the Steel Cross spat out. "I would've expected the Venerable One to know the Church's been hunting down some nasty war criminals."
Ainchase furrowed his brow. The goddess had not given him any knowledge of the conflict the blue-haired man was referring to.
"Hunting down the wicked is only a fraction of your mandate," the Celestial replied before looking over his shoulder to see the half-demon who looked far calmer than he had expected. "Why should I or the goddess supervise you while you fulfil the most mundane tasks?"
Ciel sneered. "Well, if you had, maybe you would've stopped the crazies before they blew up Feita's shard."
The Celestial frowned at that information. Though he understood human greed and its disastrous consequences, he wondered why the goddess had not shown him the extent of the war. A destroyed El Shard could open a portal to Henir's domain or even to other realms, including the demon realm.
"What?" The half-demon chuckled. "Glaring at me won't glue it back together, y'know?"
"Who destroyed it?" Ainchase asked, speaking with a low yet even tone.
Ciel shrugged. "If ya really feel like chasing the culprits down..." He paused and took a deep breath, sweeping their surroundings with a glance. "I could give you the leads I found, assuming we bring this place back to what it used to be before it's too late."
Ainchase nodded and turned his head to the right, then to the front, looking for potential threats, though he assumed there would be none other than the absence of El itself.
'The more time I spend here, the more blindspots I discover…' Ainchase bitterly thought, 'And I still cannot find a reason why.'
"Hey, Ainchase," the demoness called him. When he turned his eyes towards her, she pointed to their left, towards a couple of Phorus. "We got company."
"Strange," the Celestial said, forming twin swords in his hands. "I had hoped those beasts would shrivel up and die."
Luciela summoned her gauntlets, and Ciel unclicked the safety of his gunblades. The rat-like creatures seemed in a daze, staring at something ahead of them.
"Flick Shot." Ciel cast a brief summoning circle on the barrel of his weapons and fired thrice, alternating between left and right. The bullets, covered in mana, hovered and tracked down their targets, piercing their skulls. The mana enchantment made the bullet explode on impact, taking most of the creature's heads.
And yet, they did not bleed. Their corpses vanished, and a thick wall of fog replaced them.
The fog started spreading. With the swiftness of an avalanche, it barrelled down on the demons and the Celestial. Ainchase used the mana he had crystalised to form his weapons and slowly weaved it into a barrier.
"Get closer," he ordered Ciel as the impact with the mysterious fog seemed imminent. The half-demon did so. Ancient runes spiralled around the barrier as it took a spherical shape that encased them all into safety.
"Exitus," Ainchase whispered as he extended his arms to stabilise the barrier. Circles of runes orbited around them. Astonishingly, the barrelling fog began to shatter the stabilising runes. The Celestial put more of his mana into it, but it only seemed to slow the rate at which his spell would dissolve.
"Ainchase," Luciela called him again. Her demonic energy oozed out of her fingers, and the smoke that usually covered her crown of horns became a blue blaze of flames. "I need you to shrink your barrier."
Though the Celestial raised an eyebrow, the demoness seemed determined. Her power was burning so bright that the flames almost threatened to consume her whole. His barrier would not hold with her growing power and the threat from the outside.
"Lu," Ciel immediately protested. "What are you thinking?! This amount of power—!"
The woman looked back at her servant, frowning at his words. "You still have enough potions to deal with it," she told him before turning her attention back to the front.
An imposing, hexagonal summoning circle appeared behind Luciela, and just as his barrier closed back on Ciel, the man slammed his fists on it. Blue embers gathered around her, forming a semblance of armour to protect her, and the demoness even began to levitate as her summoning circle divided itself into six smaller ones.
"Abyssal Gate," she chanted as a volley of gigantic spheres of demonic energy burst through each circle, consuming the fog. Ainchase had to look away so as not to be dazed by the blinding blue light, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared, and Luciela had reduced the fog to smithereens.
But the corroding force around them crept again on the horizon.
Ainchase and Ciel watched her as the overwhelming power she had summoned did not dissipate as it would with most spells. No, she absorbed most of it. From where her wings should have been, the mana ashes gathered and crystallised, forming two semi-circles that hovered over her back with spikes so long it was as if they tried to emulate the skeleton of her lost wings.
Luciela stood firmly and confidently as she summoned more of her raw power to push back a new wave of fog before it drew close. For every wave, her spells grew in strength. Her mana was mutating into raw demonic energy—a feat only the most powerful demons could hope to achieve.
Ainchase saw pain briefly twist her calm expression.
He dispelled his barrier and grabbed her left arm at the wrist before she fired yet another burst of demonic energy. She looked at him, and though she frowned, something told him that she was not displeased, or at least not towards him.
"That's enough," he told her. "We can't afford to get injured now."
Luciela's wings crumbled, and she cast her gaze down before breaking free from his grasp.
"Fine," she said as she slowly walked towards her servant. "Ciel, how are you feeling?"
Her tone carried her smile, though it was not as bright as usual. She had something in her mind. Ainchase looked down, remembering that Luciela had changed ever since the night he had treated her wounds. Not only had she refused to return to her childish form, but sometimes, he could swear that she wished to tell him something. The more he pried, the less she opened up about it.
Truthfully, he was not much better. Yet, he did not let his doubts cloud his judgement for the mission. The demoness was not as level-headed.
"Surprisingly fine," Ciel answered, "but what was that about?"
"I'm just itching for a fight," the demoness playfully answered before giving her servant a shrug. "That's all."
From the look the Steel Cross gave her, Ainchase knew he was not convinced by her lies either.
The eerie calm of the forests was far too reminiscent of the storms Bifron's machines powered all across the Land of Steel. The maddened King poisoned every drop of water and every fruit on the earth. The only antidote was Serpentium—the blue mineral encrusted into her gauntlets. Lucilla watched as her gauntlets became the only thing that weakly cut through the darkness of the cloudy night. Ciel had fallen asleep a while back, leaving only Ainchase to stand guard.
"Are you sure you don't need sleep?" the Celestial asked her, though he did not look at her. She lifted her gaze from her arms to look at him. He was spinning a mana dagger in mid-air, walking to and fro around their camp. "Your senses could grow dull if you don't rest well."
"I'm not tired," she answered, combing through a lock of her hair with two fingers. "Sleeping for two weeks straight is more than enough for the month."
Luciela stole a glance at him as he removed his hood, revealing a weary expression that was rather odd on him. "You look like the one who needs rest."
He chuckled, but it was a dry, almost self-deprecating laugh. "If only sleep were the solution…"
She looked away from him, focusing on the supplies the elves had given them. Luciela got up and opened one of the bags, searching for one of those strange, crystal-like seedlings Isilad had created for them. The Druid had called them Eldrassil seedlings.
"The covers are on the other bag, Luciela," Ainchase reminded her. "The one to your left."
"I'm not…" she began as she scrambled through the bag's contents. "Looking for one." The demoness eventually felt the tiny sting of the El on her fingers and grabbed onto the small Eldrassil seedling.
With the Eldrassil sprout, she walked towards the Celestial and offered it to him. "This is what you need to recharge, right?"
His emerald gaze briefly widened, but he took the crystallised seedling with a small nod.
Somehow, she had expected it to work instantly, just like she had so easily regained control of her true power in the absence of the El. Yet, Ainchase looked no different; the gentle light only highlighted the eyebags under his eyes and how the cold reddened his cheeks and his nose.
Luciela sighed. "I'll keep watch until dawn. Go sleep."
"Celestials don't sleep," he told her as he began to walk around camp, continuing his watch. She followed suit. "They don't need to."
Luciela blinked at his words. "What do you mean, they?"
Her question was only a whisper, but he frowned at her questioning, and his jaw clenched.
"It's nothing," the Celestial assured her, shaking his head. "I misspoke, that's all." He denied it as he yawned. "I misspoke because I'm tired."
"But you won't sleep because you're not supposed to," She noted, rolling her eyes. Ainchase was surprisingly stubborn to his own detriment. "An idiotic dilemma of your own making…"
Ainchase sighed. "Sleep won't fix anything," he stopped walking and looked at her; it was almost a blank stare if not for the hurt she briefly saw in his gaze and how his lips thinned before he turned his attention back to the front. "Not until I figure out why I dream so vividly about…"
The Celestial paused, but he did not need to say anything else. He sighed and told her again that he did not need to sleep.
"You keep saying that," Luciela noted, "but willpower alone won't move your body when it's overwhelmed by fatigue."
"You speak as if I had a mortal body," he mused. "How curious."
"Would you have so many scars if it wasn't acting like one?"
"They've been appearing the more I dream," he shrugged before continuing to walk.
Luciela blinked. "What?"
"It was quite the sudden phenomenon," the Celestial added, "but my true form has not been affected, so do not worry. I am fine."
Luciela's gaze met his; although his even, almost monotonous voice suggested one thing, his eyes showed her another. On that night they had treated each other's wounds, she had come to fully acknowledge that she had an almost instinctive drive to aid him, just like he lacked the will to hurt her from the very start.
"Ainchase," she called him. The demoness' gaze followed the Celestial as he sat by the dying campfire, with his back leaning on the only tree that had not been affected too much by the lack of El. "You can't keep going like that."
"Perhaps," he softly said as his eyelids finally hid his gaze. "But I need to try. My brothers and the goddess would expect that of me."
Luciela circled the camp to keep watch, releasing a long, heavy sigh. After a few steps, she stopped and looked at the sky above. The chilly winds pushed the clouds away, and the moonlight drizzled on them through the naked branches of the greying trees.
She took in the sight of the night sky; it was as breathtaking as the first time she had seen it. The stars seemed to spread around the moon from a long splash of silver peppered with blues and greens. The deathly silence only made her want to fly up into that heavenly sea and feel both the frost and the warmth of the stars. However, the very same silence that had made her mind wander forced her to crash back into reality.
Though she wondered who Ainchase reminded her of, the Steel Queen now knew that it was best for him to be more like the man he had been when they met instead of the man who had come to treat her injuries. Things would be simpler that way for both of them.
"As long as you fulfil your mandate, Ainchase," she finally said, looking at the quiet forests. "I don't think that stupid goddess should care about the rest. So, focus on what you came here for."
Ainchase did not answer, but the soft 'thump' coming from the camp immediately turned her attention back to where the Celestial was. He had fallen asleep with his head resting on a rolled-up sleeping mat. Luciela approached, somewhat bemused to see how deep his slumber was.
For the first time since she had met him, he looked serene. She went to search for a cover for him. He perhaps did not need it, but it would hopefully make his rest more comfortable. When she returned with the thick bear fur, Luciela saw that his bangs covered his eyes; they had grown long, much like hers.
Luciela reached to comb his hair back, but she paused when she grazed his cheeks, soft and reddened by the cold. She wondered why Ishmael would make this soldier so different from the rest. His warmth, as fleeting as it was, was unlike the stone-like coldness Celestials were known for. His emotions, too, were no mere simulation. There was no way Ainchase could have talked the way he did when he came to bandage her wounds if he was merely imitating emotions.
Ainchase perhaps had not misspoken when he excluded himself from his fellow Celestials. He was right, in a way, though what made him different was more akin to a sickness, one she wished he could keep forever.
Luciela pulled her hand back, feeling that pit in her stomach at where her thoughts had so easily led her. It was an unconscionable, extremely dangerous impulse to wish for such things. Not to mention that it was pointless to hope for his sickness to persist.
She knew that everything he had lived through in this world, everything she had come to see in him – his weaknesses, his scars, and his heart – would be swept away with a snap of his goddess' fingers.
His mouth briefly twitched, and his expression soured. It was too early for him to wake, even from a nightmare. The demoness finally decided to comb his bangs back, and the smoothness of his fluffy hair was curiously pleasant. It was satiny, almost enviably so. The thought of playing with his hair briefly crossed Luciela's mind, but she pulled her hand away. Luciela sat beside him on her right hip, curving her legs to the other side.
"Slumber is your only friend," she softly murmured, knowing he would not understand her. The demoness pulled the bear fur slightly above his shoulders, and her thoughts wandered back to all the scars he had. The corners of her mouth turned slightly downward, and she closed her eyes, letting out a short exhale before continuing, forcing herself to at least harbour a serene smile. "You must remember that from the depths we are born and…"
She forgot how the rest of the lullaby went, though she hummed the notes to him, her eyes half open but entirely lost in the beautiful contradiction that his presence alone triggered within her.
Ainchase stirred in his sleep, but besides an almost inaudible 'hm', he did not show any signs of waking, although the frown on his face was evidently the fruit of a less-than-pleasant dream.
His hand emerged from under the cover, clenched tightly in a fist. Luciela put her hand gently on it and repeated the part of the lullaby she remembered a couple of times; with each repetition, she saw that the Celestial relaxed more and more until the palm of his hand touched hers, and his fingers almost interlocked perfectly with hers. The demoness pulled her hand back, reminding herself not to let her heart guide her too much.
'Hopefully, those dreams he's so afraid of will be more pleasant this time around', she thought, repeating the lullaby one last time as she got back on her feet.
"...to Mother Darkness," Ainchase weakly mumbled, making her snap her head back at him. "...our souls return…"
The demoness froze, her eyes wide at the words he had uttered.
"Hey, Ainchase," She called him, but he did not answer. His breathing was slow and even, far from consciousness. That alone made the situation even more bizarre. What kind of dream could have made him speak that dialect? Was it even possible that Ishmael made a pawn that could speak it?
Luciela hastened back to her post to keep watch. Though she focused as much as she could on her surroundings, there was no easy way to keep her thoughts from what she had just heard.
Earlier today, she had wished to get her frustratingly unanswerable questions around Ainchase's true nature out of the way by fighting to the death against the fog; now, she almost wished Berthe returned with a thousand more soldiers for her to burn to a crisp. Luciela donned her gauntlets, and her flames immediately roared awake, bathing her weapons in their glow.
"Someone sure is crabby tonight," Ciel yawned.
The Steel Queen stopped and looked at her servant. He was still lying on his sleeping mat but had turned away from the fire to face her instead.
"What's gotten into you?" her servant asked her. His sapphire gaze briefly turned towards the sleeping Celestial. "Did that guy spit on your mother's grave or something?"
Her flames grew even brighter, almost bursting from her horns, but instead of exploding, she reigned in her fiery rage.
"Don't you dare mention my family again, Caelum," She hissed. Ciel frowned at the sound of his real name. "I don't cross that boundary with you, so you better not start crossing it with me."
"Shit." He sighed as he finally sat down, scratching the left side of his head, a little further back from his temples. "Alright, my bad. I thought you'd never get this mad at him."
Luciela scoffed, rolling her eyes at her servant before crossing her arms. "That man's entire species kill demons with a smile on their faces. I have every right to despise him."
Ciel lowered his gaze for a moment. "I might be way outta line here." He searched his coat's pockets, got his hip flask, full of Spirit Water, and opened it. "But from what I've seen…" He took a sip and shrugged before offering her the drink. His mana flow had remained still, which reassured her. "Demons are their own worst enemy most of the time."
What her servant was referring to was an entirely different matter, but, as much as she would like to intimidate him into silence, if she continued using her powers without relying on his mana, she would undoubtedly get a headache. Luciela clicked her tongue and walked towards him to snatch the flask off his hands. She drank almost all of it in long gulps, relishing in the burning feeling it left down her throat and how it heated her face before handing it back.
"And you know why that is?" she asked him, watching him check that she had not drunk what remained in his flask before storing it in his coat. He was listening, but, as usual, he was detached from everything. Every friendly gesture or look he showed was simply emulated to perfection. It revolted her.
"It's because of that crystal goddess of yours. What you call Elrios was our land," Luciela growled, tapping her chest with her palm twice to emphasise her words. "We shared it with you humans and the elves until she came around and gave us two choices," the demoness accentuated her words with big gestures that carried her increasingly venomous tone. "We could either be exterminated at the hands of her soldiers or go to a cursed realm where almost nothing grows!"
Her servant kept quiet, tilting his head slightly to the side to rest it on the back of his knuckles, looking away from her. She glared at him. He was surely bored with what she had said. Not that it was unexpected, of course.
"I'm not bored," Ciel clarified as he looked back at her, "I'm just thinking."
The Steel Queen huffed. "What's there for you to think about? You'd never help me conquer Elrios even if I beat you half to death for disobeying me."
"Eh, it's not what you want anyway," Ciel said with a dismissive shrug. "I'm thinking that you actually love that bastard. I've known you for longer than he has, so it kinda sucks to see."
Luciela laughed, turning away from her servant. "Even if I was in love, didn't you tell me you wouldn't judge?"
"I never said that. So, are you in love? Is that why you decided to keep looking so…"
"So what?" the demoness challenged him, meeting his sapphire gaze with a cold look. "So different from the Terre in your mind?" She grimaced in disgust when he nodded. "Just so we're clear, human, you don't get to dictate how I use my power or what I'm supposed to feel about others. You are just a knife."
Her servant said nothing in return, so she turned back and continued her rounds.
"I'm your lifeline," Caelum coldly corrected her when she had barely taken a step in the opposite direction. "If that man is making you forget that, I will gut him."
The demoness turned towards him and saw her servant lying on his back before letting out a long, tired sigh. "Well, it's whatever," Ciel began, with his usual, easy-going voice. "You know, it really sucks to see you drunk. It's not cute at all."
"You should watch your impudent mouth, human," she coldly replied, speaking slowly to control whatever slurring she might not have noticed before. Alas, it was in vain. It was faint, but she was indeed slurring her words. "Ainchase is, whether you like it or not, our best way to shorten the list of people who want us dead."
"It was just a joke, Lu." Ciel yawned. "By the El, there's no need for you to get so worked up about it."
Luciela expected that answer; it perfectly reflected his rotten soul. Dawn was still far away, but she decided to keep her eyes on her servant, keeping her gauntlets on just in case Ciel reconsidered what was the best course of action for him to take. Though she could have directly peered into his mind, she would rather keep away from even grazing disgusting things as much as possible.
She heard the click of a pistol and immediately approached her servant, but he quickly hid his weapon, pretending to sleep.
'And then you wonder why I don't even really like you…'
The Steel Queen sat next to the Celestial again, knowing it was enough to deter Ciel from transforming his words into actions. Even if many demons were just like him, Luciela could feel that there was something even darker within his heart. Something that went far beyond what even most demons would think of.
She hoped to never find out the full extent of it.