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Fantasy [Private] El Stories

Xavier
​
Xavier's eyes slightly widen at Ishmael response, and he let out a sigh of relief. This was likely the first and last time for him to sway Ishmael like this. Especially if Pryor was joining in the fight. Xavier said his thanks to her and asked for his weapons as he needs them to fight. With them now joining the fight, they will really turn around the war. It is unfortunate on how many were lost though...

"Hm...I'm not sure if anyone told you but your gauntlets has been modified by the demons during the time they were experimenting on you. We are trying to figure out on what they have done but so far, we found nothing out of ordinary beside it being sturdier. Maybe you'll figure it out on your own in the battle. And Xavier...please don't make rash decisions. There are some souls you may be unable to save in this battle..."

After listening to Ishmael, Xavier finally got back his gauntlets. He was relieved to have something around his hands, at last. He flexed out the claws with his fingers and noticed it wasn't just sturdier from the outside but he finds himself being to stretch out his hands a bit more than before. Xavier wasn't sure what it meant but as long it fits on right, he couldn't complain. Thus they left to Elrios, Pryor coming along with them and overly excited.

The electric dragon couldn't stop looking around the area that they have landed, being in a new territory he never stepped on before. Smelling different scents, seeing a different scenery, it just begs for him to explore around. Though Xavier reminded him that they weren't here to explore. Pryor immediately snapped his attention back to his trainer as Xavier shook one of his hand for attention.

"This is his first time being out like this, I am actually afraid he might get ahead of himself," Xavier said to Darhan as Pryor tilted his head at him. "This is just different when comparing to practice dummies he plays around with. Do you know how often he would force them to explode and I have to be the one to clean up the mess?"

Electricity wasn't an element to mess with at all. It is just as dangerous as anything else, yet it's more instant. It takes time to burn alive, and time to freeze to death, but a bolt of lightning is just enough to end a life within seconds. Xavier is afraid Pryor wouldn't know how to limit his own electricity as the dragon enjoys to rebel around for fun. You could say, Pryor was a teen in his dragon age.

"Hey!" Xavier yelled, snapping his fingers. Pryor was already looking away as he stared curiously at the hole in the cloudy sky and snapped back to Xavier again.

"This is embarrassing to watch," Perkisas grumbled in his head.

"If you follow every command I give, you'll get double amount of food when it's dinner time," Xavier said, ignoring Perkisas' comment. Pryor looks interested as it let out a hum which sounds like static buzzing off. Xavier sighs and he went ahead to climb on Pryor, being the one who can't actually fly compare to the other angels. "Alright, ready when you guys are."

MementoDei MementoDei

Eosforos
​
Eosforos felt thankful that he manages to be around where Elesis was. It put him at ease to know that she is doing fine and being very well capable on her own. He started to smile slightly and took the potion from her hands, drinking it shortly to get rid of the pain. It wasn't enough but it will do for now.

When they reached a different area, the healers helped him to get off the horse. He was able to handle on standing on his single leg but they let him sit down so they can try to heal his leg. Eosforos found himself daydreaming for a bit, just to ignore the stinging pain until someone new showed up. He looked over at the female healer, raising an eyebrow at a new face.

"Well...you're...new..." He wasn't able to speak right as it was hurting him when she was adjusting his leg around. Eosforos bit his tongue, now keeping quiet until she was done. After that, he took a deep breath in and out. If he was human, this leg is not likely to be able to be fixed. The other healers eventually tried to tend his other injuries, knowing that his leg will take much longer to heal. "Thank you," he said to them, glancing at the new healer. "You seem experienced than the rest, but you are a new face to me. I guess you joined in at last minute?" Eosforos questioned, his eyes wandering off to take a look around. There was a lot of dead bodies. He wonders if it was even possible to shift the war now.

Phant0m Phant0m

Aisha
​
As the demons rallied up after the news of a commander joining in battle, they pushed harder against their division. Yet, everyone did their best to avoid the big fight in the middle, Tony and Mcgard. They were fighting head on and each side was doing their best to support them. Aisha did her best to keep the demons back with her ranged magic but it was getting tougher as they keep trying to break through. Lizardmen were starting to fall as the demons are crashing into them with much more force to break through their armor and tough scales. The armor's fire repellant eventually faded away and the mages have to work hard to protect the knights from getting burned by the Kenaz. They were so close to pushing through and now it looks like they are getting pushed right back.

"RAAAAAH!"

The soldiers snap their attention up to see that Tony smashed the rider's bird head wide open with a solid hit of the hammer. They didn't notice that Tony suddenly had the upper hand but the next attack from Mcgard quickly shut their hopes down. Mcgard shoved his lance right through Tony's chest and flung him away from them. Tony flew off and smashed into the broken buildings. Mcgard let out a sudden wail as his ride was completely dead and now he has to walk by feet. If Tony wasn't able to fend of Mcgard, then how is the army able too? The large demon looked towards the human soldiers with sudden angry and pointed his bloody lance at them. He yelled in demon tongue and his demon forces rallied up even more now that Tony was out of the game. The human army immediately started to step back with shields up, everyone going defensive as the shamans did their best to heal those they can reach. This was starting to go grim and Aisha wasn't sure if she even has enough energy to keep it up.

Aragorn and Cornelius
​
The two dragons did their best against the corpse. Since Eosforos distracted Joaquin for a good time, they were able to rip down at least two of its wings. The materials were incredibly tough to cut through so they struggled a lot and did their best to avoid getting hit. Yet after Aragorn noticed how the clock tower was suddenly damaged, the corpse dragon was starting to pick up its ordinary pace and began to fight back with returned power. Cornelius was knocked back by a powerful slash on his neck and found himself bleeding once again. He was too tired to do anything up to this point yet he didn't want Aragorn to fall at all. As Cornelius was knocked back, Aragorn let out a roar and breathed fire on the corpse, forcing it back and up against the buildings. He proceeds to smash the dragon against the buildings, breaking them down and the falling debris land onto the corpse dragon but the dragon wasn't fazed at all to feel the pain and shot back up immediately to headbutt Aragorn hard.

The fire dragon backed up in reaction and was tackled down by the beast, being held down as the corpse snapped its jaws for his throat. Aragorn tried to push back, his wings flapping behind him in hopes they would be strong enough to blow away the corpse but nothing was working. He can feel it's claws slowly digging into his scales and Aragorn shut his eyes tightly, gritting his teeth as he held up his arms to push the corpse away from him.
 
Lento​

He turned towards Phantom and accepted his help. The blacksmith sat down as the priest focused on closing his wounds. Pain was really the least of his worries, until he heard a voice through the party Link. It was de Couvertin.

"Does anyone hear me? West Wing, Vanessa, Leon, anyone copy?"

"Yes. Commander. I receive you, loud and clear."

A few seconds of silence followed and Lento prepared for the worst outcome, but he heard once more the 5th division commander. "You must be Lento. How is the situation over there? Is Vanessa and her men still recovering?"

The blacksmith closed his eyes and punched the ground, feeling bitter to be a bearer of bad news. He couldn't lie anymore. "Negative. There has been a hundred and eighteen casualties. I..."

His mind went blank and he looked again at Vanessa's corpse. He had her power, he was exactly like her. There was no need to inform anyone of her death. He could do nothing for Frederik, Ronald nor Phillip. Their bodies had been blown to atoms, but Vanessa's body was still intact. Lento could save her, she could go back and never fear death again. The blacksmith got up, ignoring Phantom's warnings and ran towards Vanessa. Elesis was still kneeling in front of her, crying silently.

"Lento! Commander Lento Asini! Do you copy?" de Couvertin's voice insisted, but Lento was not paying attention to it. He was focused on Vanessa's mana circuits. They still held some of their vital mana. It was possible, there was still time to save her forever. She would never had to fear death while protecting anyone, she would be stronger.

"Lento? Your eyes..." Elesis muttered, staring at him with a worried gaze. The blacksmith got closer to Vanessa and gently lifted her torso, allowing her neck to be directly underneath his mouth. Under Elesis' shocked gaze, he opened his mouth, revealing his fangs.

Yet, he froze there. He couldn't bring himself to bring her back to life. Someone took his shoulders and began to shake them, but he didn't move. If he decided to revive Vanessa, she would have to go through everything he had suffered before. She would wake up with no memories of herself, weak, hunting for mana every time she could. He was not as strong as Lara, and even then, she had sometimes been forced to give him part of her vital mana so he could quench his thirst.

Besides, nothing guaranteed that Vanessa would ever regain back her memories. Lara had often told him that not every soul could maintain their past soul once it came back to life. In fact, she was part of that kind of souls. If it wasn't for Henir, she would've never remembered anything.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Elesis screeched, scorching Lento's flesh with small sparks of her power. Lento closed his mouth and passed a hand over Vanessa's face, closing her eyes for good.

"I'm sorry, commander Elesis." he muttered. Lento was not brave enough to look at her, but he could see from the corner of his eye that she stopped burning him and just continued to cry. The Blazing Heart poked his arm, asking him to look at her. He simply glanced at her to see her speak.

"Lento...are the legends true? Can she really come back and be the person she used to?" Her sentence was lost between what looked to be sobs, her crimson eyes filled with sadness looked at him, waiting for the perfect lie.

The Lost Soul turned once more towards the body in his arms and he put it back where she rested. He couldn't lie to Elesis, nor to himself. It made him remember the "seventh sense" Lara had explained to him. When a Lost Soul decided to revive someone, they would have a gut feeling if their victim would recover their humanity or not. It was an instinct, and his instinct told him that Vanessa wouldn't be able to do so. He took his amulet off, so Elesis wouldn't have to hear his self-pity and shook his head in denial.

The leader of the Red Knights wiped her tears from her face and walked away. Phantom came by his side and Lento put back the only thing that allowed him to speak.

"I can't do it, Phantom. I'd like to make up for this mistake by erasing its consequences, but I can't. I can't take away everything she was and stood for my own selfishness." he silently confessed.

Phant0m Phant0m

****
Darhan, Ain and Ren​

The elf smirked at the gigantic dragon. He would've never guessed that such a menacing presence would act almost like a little cub. That was of course only because of Xavier, but it was still amusing.

"Alright, then." he announced, turning towards Ain, who had regained an adult form and looked more powerful than before. "We're ready to deal with demons and undead dragons."

Ain nodded. "I'll support you the best I can, my cycle magic is quite powerful with the Eid."

"Ain, just don't go and do anything reckless." Ren and Darhan said in unison. The prince was about to reply, but Ren cut short his words before they left his lips.

"It's going to be a difficult fight, so that same advice goes to all of you. Demons are not something to mess with in combat. Darhan will keep communications between all of us, Ain will be our support and Xavier, you and Pryor are going to be very close to the front line, but everyone will watch your back."

The elf nodded and created a few small devices which allowed them to communicate no matter the distance. The angels spread their wings along the dragon and they flew away towards the battlefield.

Late Late

****
Yullr and Alec​

The situation was worse than what he had imagined. Not only were the demons in an alliance with some lesser elven nobility, but those nobles were strong enough to summon the Nephilim. It was not a single spirit, but it applied a spiritual fusion technique he had made a theory of a few decades ago. If the demons were able to revive such a beast now, it meant that they had used one of the relics they stole.

The relic he was supposed to protect.

"Shit!" the elf cursed as he got up and walked as fast as he could towards the tent Darhan was, but found no one. He looked at the crowd who had gathered to cheer on a giant pillar of fire and stood there for a couple of seconds before rushing back to his own quarters. Alec followed him, walking at a steady pace.

"Elf Commander. What is the matter? I sense a powerful magic fifty kilometres ahead. That pillar of fire looks dangerous. Should we leave to battle?"

The Unforgiven turned back at the Nasod and spoke in a harsh voice. "You mean that bloodbath? It'd be perfect for me to show off and get a pat on the back, but we have other things to focus on. I won't let the demons commit a greater sacrilege than mine."

The Nasod tilted his head and, when he analysed Yullr's vital signs, not only he found enough signs of anger, but also something else. Something way more grim. The Nasod followed the elf until they reached his quiet room. "Elf Commander. My systems must be failing. I am detecting anomalies where there are none."

Yullr looked around and took out some flasks and another book before putting all those items into a bag he hung over his bag. "What kind of anomalies, Nasod? I have a name by the way, Yullr Mirwynn. It's Commander Mirwynn, for you."

Yullr continued to walk at the same pace, as if he could never tire from running.

"Understood. Commander Mirwynn. My system must not be used to analyse many of your kind. I have no data of Dark Elves, so perhaps it's a natural characteristic. I sense a-"

Yullr summoned a few wind spirits that formed a bubble around Alec's head and silenced the next fifteen syllables of his sentence. The Nasod, who could not see them, was confused about what had happened.

"I never knew Adrian had made so many mistakes with his own creations. Listen Tin toy, make your system ignore that. I'm sure you can. It seems to be affecting you greatly, you seem lost and I still need that artificial brain of yours to display maps for me."

Alec frowned at the elf's suggestion. "I was built to repair any critical errors, but my system can't seem to purge this. It classifies it as a normal analysis. As for my vocal circuits, no errors have been encountered, nor in my hearing sensors. All systems are fully functional."

"Run a virus check, you never know..." The elf sighed.

"My back-up processes have checked for any critical failures, Commander Yullr. No corrupted files nor rogue processes have been found." The Nasod continued, hoping that perhaps the most knowledgeable elf knew something more about him. Yet Yullr remained silent as they made their way to the first camp, ten kilometres to the south of Velder.
 
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The humans that had such a push after that pillar of fire, were now being slowly pushed back by the demonic forces. This battle had such an impact on both sides, drawing their morale and limits beyond of what they thought, and making their true colors shown throughout the battlefield. Some became obsessed with the killing of demons, deeming it the will of god, masking their true intent of a murderer.

Some were scared out of their minds and the demons only gave them a single push for them to leave, however, this was just an act to lower the enemies guard, yes some were grateful despite feeling humiliated at the fact that they offered mercy on them, the rest of the humans however too this opportunity and ended a few of the demons lives. A lesson that they will remember in the future.

As the push became more apparent, so too did the blood of the humans become more stained on the dirt. Bodies started to become amassed at the dozens and weapons became either embedded on the earth or left to be forgotten. Fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, it mattered none as they knew what they'd be up to when they entered this war of reclaiming and conquering.

However, the demons could only follow the example of their field commander ahead. He that held no fear or empathy to the enemy, he that was okay with what he was and accepted the fact that he no longer associated with the norm.

In his path, only destruction and death were issued. Blood, muscle and bones were ripped, teared and broken and mangled and cut to pieces. There was a certainty of the fact that a way was carved away from the death of his enemies as dozens were put aside and killed like nothing.

"Kill the commander! Don't let their deaths be in vain, he has to be tired!" A soldier yelled as he ran with courage on his side towards Dust. But just as he was doing his swing, his head was detached from his shoulders with an uppercut. His body still moved a bit before blood spurt out of the new entry wound before falling down. This unnerved the rest of the soldiers, but once one yelled a battle cry, the rest followed suit to try and kill him.

He grabbed his new sword slowly and let his chains connect at the pommel. As he looked forward, he grabbed his chain and swiped it against the coming soldiers, he then continued his attack with three more long swipes before rushing forward at high speed and then putting himself to the right of all soldiers, with a powerful straight punch they were sent flying with now visible limbs being separated apart from them.

A soldier rushed behind him to attack as well, but he was grabbed by the throat and then thrown against a nearby destroyed house. He gasped for air as he looked forward to see a fist come in contact with his face and then nothing more.

Dust left the corpse to slump down to the floor, the humans head exploded with the impact leaving behind a red splattered imprint on the wall.

"Fools, all of you..." He thought as he continued his track, until he jumped on top of a building and found what he was looking for.

"Found you, 'angel'." His voice sounded distorted on purpose. He noticed that Phantom, Xio and Lento were there, but disregarded them before jumping down and stabbing both fists on the ground, creating spikes in random directions, sealed a few escape routes from him and killing a few people on the process, piercing their flesh and hanging with their limp bodies on the air. The redhead from before was in front of him with her sword out. "Step aside human, he needs to be judged."

Phant0m Phant0m MementoDei MementoDei Late Late
 
Eosforos
​
Eosforos watched how the dark elf came flying in and glanced over the pierce bodies that were unable to escape. It took him awhile to register what was happening, his head felt like mush after doing such a large, unstable attack before. Even though the healers did their best to heal his injuries, they couldn't fix everything that was hurting. He saw how Elesis stood in front of him and the angel's heart started to race in panic. He grabbed his sword next to him and hoist himself up to stand. At least he was able to stand right, his injured leg stings but the bandages were being helpful. The angel looked over at Dust and let out a sigh.

"You are not worthy to be a judge, not even a little bit," he said to him, shuffling right over. Eosforos frowned as he remembers a promise he made, putting a hand on Elesis' shoulders. "A judge is in a neutral party, someone who knows how to play fair. You, a sprite, just keep hunting after me, knowing I am completely," Eosforos tapped his leg, "handicapped. Not only you kill for survival, but you kill for sport." The angel can tell he was pushing his buttons, sighing again. "Elesis...please stay back and please, retreat back. No doubt, the war is lost from here. Sorry, I did my best." The angel squeezed her shoulder and shuffle to stand in front, pushing back Elesis to get further away. "Just know that if I survive, which would rather be very incredible on my part, you'll start having big troubles coming at your way."

Before Eosforos could raise his sword in an attempt to defend himself, or at least give Elesis time to retreat, he froze when he heard a very familiar roar. It pretty much caught everyone's attention who wasn't in any danger and most of them looked towards where the dragons were fighting around. But that wasn't where the source is. Eosforos glanced up in the skies and to his surprise, he saw his own dragon flying down and gathering up electricity that was hidden in the clouds from the recent rain.

"Who...is riding him...?" Eosforos questioned to himself, utterly confused on why Pryor was out in the open like that. The dragon let out another thundering roar, heading straight to the dragons' location. He saw someone jumping off once they got closer to the ground and watched Pryor nearly picking up the corpse and dragged it across the buildings before tumbling down to wrestle with it. The angel was lost for words as he closed his mouth and immediately focused on Dust. He felt a cold wind blowing by and Eosforos found himself laughing. "So he is alive after all."

Fume Fume MementoDei MementoDei

Xavier
​
Xavier had told Pryor's his main objective, which was killing the corpse dragon. Pryor was happy to such mission as he knows he can't hold back but he was reminded to keep his own electric currents under control. The dragon only huffed in response and Xavier eventually climbed down to Pryor's hands so he can jump down once the dragon dives closer to the earth. After Pryor dives down and going after the corpse what was about to snap its jaws around Aragorn's, Xavier was already off and created an ice slide for himself to slide down to the ground and landed in between the army. Both sides were caught off guard by the dragon's appearance and Xavier jumping down in between but the demons didn't bother to wait it out and took their opportunity to charge in as the humans were fearing about the newcomer.

Yet Xavier shifted over their doubts as he rubbed his hands together and smashed down his gauntlets as the demons inched closer. The ground freeze over into solid ice, force the charging demons to slip and slide. Before they could try to get their footing right, they were immediately pierced as icicles shot out under them, forcing the rest of the charging demons to go back. Some demons who were pierced survived as Xavier noticed them trying to move. They were as well too frozen in place to do anything. Seconds later, the icicles shattered and the pierces demons were either died by the shattered ice or the frozen temperature that quickly followed. Xavier took a nice breath in as he was surrounded by fresh, frozen air and his tail automatically blocked out the incoming arrows.

Xavier watches how the Kenaz was trying to burn away or warm up the area but it was lacking oxygen so the fire ends up dying out rather quickly. The demons were too afraid to step through after they saw what happened to their comrades and the earth shook from the dragon fighting was unnerving them too, especially knowing Pryor was on the battlefield. Eventually, the frozen air effect will wear off so Xavier really gave time for the human soldiers to regroup. He looked over to the surviving humans and was glad to know that there was still a handful left over.

"My name is Xavier Necro, I'll do my best to aid you through battle," Xavier said to the soldiers, walking towards them. "More help is on their way. I slowed them down but it won't be long the effects in the area will wear off," Xavier said to them, specifically looking at the one who seems to be in charge.

Cornelius and Aragorn
​
The two tired dragons weren't sure what was more surprising: seeing another dragon they never met or how large it was. Aragorn was glad that Pryor came in on time and practically lifted the corpse dragon up before it tumbled down with it to wrestle. He can feel the air was thick with static when he got up and after seeing that Pryor got the corpse under him and forcing it to go down with multiple pushes which rumbles the ground, Aragorn immediately ran over to Cornelius as the black dragon has troubles to move around.

"Cornelius!" Aragorn said with fright, noticing how badly he was bleeding. "Take some of my health! You need it more than me!"

"No....I....don't want to do that....to you. You need your strength to survive through the rest," Cornelius coughed, slowly shifting his body. "I never thought I would see...another dragon in my remaining lifetime...and you saw who jumped off."

"Yes....yes I did," Aragorn murmured, glancing back for a second. "Xavier really...did come to save us. He never really...forgot about us."

"He just needed his head to be shaken......that's just it, boy," Cornelius huffed, but his voice was pleased. "I knew he wouldn't...just let us die here." Aragorn panicked as Cornelius' voice was getting weaker. He immediately tried to stop the bleeding but Cornelius was refusing. "This...is where we part ways, Aragorn."

"No no, hang in there. You still have to talk to Xavier, remember? You have a lot of things to say!" Aragorn whimpered, nudging him. "At least wait until you can say goodbye to him!"

"You can...do that for me," Cornelius murmured, giving a weak smile. "Just be sure to tell him that...he was always the son I wanted."

"Hey no! You can tell him that yourself!" Aragorn growled in sudden anger, feeling himself tearing up.

"Don't forget to tell Ivy how much I appreciated flying with her...and Octavia, on how much her kindness meant to me. And you Aragorn, showing me that a cup is always half full," Cornelius sighed, closing his eye.

"D-Damn it! Not now! Please, just wait! I'll get him!!" Aragorn roared, turning around to let out a roar. "He'll come, Cornelius! Keep your eye open just to see him for one last time! Just one last time!"
 
Phantom put a hand on Lento's shoulder. "Grief is hard, but you did right Lento. It's better off this way for you and her," He said in a gentle tone. He gave a gentle squeeze to try and reassure the man and then let go.

Xiopetec only tightened the splint in response, not reacting to the angel's flinch before she stood and wiped her hands on her thighs. "There. You can limp at least," she answered before she got out the way of Dust. The goddess moved next to Phantom, grabbing his hand to get his attention. She noticed her priest smile for a moment before quickly composing his expression and looking to her.

"What?" He whispered.

Xiopetec gave a gentle shove away from where the angel and demon commander were confronting each other. "Go, child. Those dragons need your help and...you don't need to see this."

"But-" The dragon roar cut him off and both the priest and goddess looked up to sky to see the thunder dragon taking the skies. Phantom's face lit up and he started in the direction. "I'll go help-"

Xiopetec gripped his upper arm and pulled him back, shoving her other hand into her priest's pocket. After ruffling around for a minute, she pulled out a pouch and grabbed a couple of beads before placing the pouch back in the pocket. "I need these, selfish child."

"Oh...I completely forgot about those," He said sheepishly.

Xiopetec rolled her eyes as she sucked on a mana bead and pushed Phantom again. "Make sure to take one too. Be careful."

"I'll be fine!" He looked down to Komodo. "Come on Komodo, let's go help Xavier." Phantom popped a mana bead in his mouth and started to sprint where the thunder dragon was.

Xiopetec stood to the side, watching her priest go before watching the scene unfold in front of her. She sighed at Elesis and shook her head. "Stupid girl... he's not worth dying for," she muttered under her breath.

Late Late MementoDei MementoDei
 
Elesis
​
Her grief for Vanessa still tore her apart, but as soon as she heard pillars of magic circle them everywhere, her blade filled with new flames of determination. She looked up to see the Chained man talk about an angel and she immediately ran in front of Eosforos to protect him with her sword.

"Step aside, human. He needs to be judged."

Elesis frowned and her blade began to get caught up in flames. No demon, who had caused so much pain to her and her troops, had the right to be the judge of anyone. The sound of steel digging the ground caught her attention and she turned around to see her loved one get up despite his wounds.

She listened what he had to say about Dust, but the moment the angel put a hand over her shoulders, she suddenly feared for the worst. He couldn't fight like that, he would get killed. Yet, he pushed her back and told her to retreat. She knew that the angel was stronger than her, but he was injured.

The Blazing Heart couldn't leave him like that. If he got injured because of that elf, then she had to at least try to even out the fight. The priest that had healed Lento went away through a small opening between the magical pillars that surrounded the area. Lento looked briefly at her and back at the dragon that was flying over the sky. After some minutes of hesitation, he went away and followed the priest.

Through the party link, the Lost Soul still informed her of the reasons behind his decision. "Commander. I'd help you if I was strong enough, but I fear that when that demon commander fights, nothing can stop him. He was the one behind the Feita disaster. You still have a chance to live on. I don't want to see another person taking a reckless decision anymore."

Elesis took a few steps back and began to walk towards the exit, but a group of Kenaz appeared and their bodies dissolved within the creation magic and closed it completely. She turned around to see that all the small openings were getting closed like that.

"Damn those demons!" she hissed before launching a few attacks towards the wall, but her flames did not even scratched it.

She was trapped and she wouldn't stay put while Eosforos was fighting against the demon commander.

Late Late Fume Fume Phant0m Phant0m

****
Darhan, Ren and Ain
​
Thankfully a good amount of his Kenaz had survived and the demons were so busy taking human lives that they didn't notice that one of them was following him. This obviously didn't surprise most of those around him, as they knew he could control them. Yet, he was there to listen to the information his fire elemental had gathered. It was the perfect occasion to gather more knowledge.

"How's the situation around us, Darhan?" Ren asked him.

"The human side is losing, it's quite a bloodbath everywhere. Although some survivors are gathering the wounded and retreating."

The Warrior nodded and Darhan took that opportunity to send the Kenaz away with a very special message. He didn't have to move his lips, only a quick movement of his fingers made his creation understand exactly what he wanted.

The fire fairy flew towards a group of glitter troops and spoke through telepathy, as they had been taught to do. The elemental pointed towards the circle of pillars that appeared to their right.

"Commander Dust is finally cornering the commanders? That's great! Wait, what's that? Those humans are escaping? No, no! Close those walls, let the Commander have the best of this battle. We'll take care of the rest."

As they approached the battlefield, Darhan smirked as he flew towards a group of glitters not to far away from Pryor and other dragons who fought. 'Those glitters...Thank the heavens they respect their commander so much to give him kills. Now, Dust, show me a bit of that power of yours.' The elf thought.

As he landed, he summoned six spears of light to take care of his enemies.

"Gnadenloser Richter" he calmly said as the spears flew away and danced from one target to the other, injuring them without killing them.

Ain was as close to everyone as he could. He saw a wave of enemies come behind Xavier and he immediately reacted.

"Lind Scheinen!"

He conjured a magical circle where a multiple El spheres exploded underneath the glitter's feet, killing them within minutes. The demonic blood in their veins was poisoned through the energy of the Goddess.

Ren charged a volley of purified arrows towards the undead dragon. "Reinigen"

A magic circle formed in front of her crossbow and the small mana arrows she launched successively were covered by the El and grew large enough to be considered harpoons. The projectiles pierced the undead dragon's wings, allowing Pryor to continue his relentless attack. The dragon glanced at her before releasing a strong lightening current, which burnt one his opponent's wings.

"No problem, buddy." she murmured before focusing on the wyverns that flew towards her. It was like a hunting game, but this time the ducks were flying toward her. One by one, the wyverns fell with an arrow through their head.
 
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"Strange... The kenaz blocked the exists that I made. I didn't ordered them to do that, did one of the soldiers asked for it?" He thought before looking at what was left, a few soldiers, few priests, the angel, the redhead and Xio. "Well, it matters not. I'll simply bare his crimes forward."

"Angel Lucius. I may not look like it, but I am neutral in my judging. I make sure to know what I can with what I have at my disposal. Through my research and bear witness to what you've done, I'll judge you with the utmost neutrality, however, my anger to what you've done is another question." He started to march forward with his mana coating his arm in a wild manner. The redhead put herself in front of him with flames surging on her blade.

"I've warned you before, commander. This is a matter between... demons." He accentuated on that fact, but she didn't listened and ran forward while sliding. He simply dodged her initial strike, but he was surprised when she did so two more times, yet those flame cuts were nullified with his mana taking on the element of fire. But this element wasn't the one that he had taught Phantom, no this one was much more different, a variant.

This was the element of the dark flame. Spending years in the demon realm, he had noticed that the elements there would become a variable of their counterparts. After years of exposure of the infected area, the elements would change into a sinister tone, and combine with the demonic energy that lingered, transforming into a mix between dark and fire type el.

It was a rare element to have, but Dust was able to shift his dark type into this new variant after exposing himself to the element of fire for his training years with Scar's army. They saw potential in this and started to research this strange phenomenon, creating as such the dark variables of the el crystals as a sub project.

"..." He sped his body, seeing her movements as in slow motion, he slapped her sword away and then punched her face in three intervals, before kicking her to the side hard. She gasped for air as she stood up with her sword acting as support.

Lucius tried to attack him, but his speed diminished thanks to the wound in his leg, his footwork was horrible, but his swings still had strength to it. He dodged it and countered with an uppercut under his chin, dazing him.

"Lucius Hellfire, the following crimes are as follow." His tone held a seriousness to it as he gave another mana coated punch on his chest. "The murder of humans. The murder of demons. The murder of angels, your kin." He gave three punches to his stomach, making his face revolt to the pain. "Putting everyone that trusts you to become pieces of a board game, to control them as you wish." He kicked him to his side, hearing a few bones crack under the pressure.

He tried to stab him with the opportunity granted, but Dust surprised him with a wave of energy that made his sword fall to the ground.

"Casting your seal of royalty, yet in these times, royalty means nothing. With no one to guide the demons, us commanders need to put the best of our abilities on the line to shepherd them. Having the gall to command the young recruits to do your bidding when they are afraid." Another uppercut, with two jabs and a heavy punch on his stomach, rising up in the air before a straight punch sending him flying to a pillar.

"But the worst part isn't that." He said before a sword came crashing down on his chained arm, the redhead from before tried to end him with a slash, before she then screamed from the top of her lungs.

"Eternal Fire!" Enveloping the two of them in an explosion of fire that seemed only half of what the pillar of fire did. She kept her sword stead as he was engulfed in flames.

"Is that all?" He asked, only singed in a few parts of his clothes. Her eyes widen to see that she only did minimum damage. He looked at her still determined expression while sometimes peaking at Lucius condition. "So, you have fallen for his tricks as well. Allow me to elaborate!" He punched her sword out of her grip and slammed her right on a pillar that he had created before, encasing her in chains as he made her face Lucius.

"Commander Elesis is trapped! Save the commander!" The few soldiers that were still around, charged forward.

"Useless slaughter once again..." He replied with disappointment as he grabbed the blade on his back and threw it up on the air, before making it crash down on the soldier in the middle. "Perish." With a small flick of his chain, a powerful black fire erupted from the blade, consuming the soldier as they screamed in torment.

"You bastard!!" Elesis screamed as she tried to release herself from her binds. She was silenced with a punch to her face.

"Quiet and listen closely." He hushed her as he bind Lucius too to the wall, spreading his arms and securing all of his limbs. "Do you know who you are trying to help? Do you care about him enough to know exactly what's he's hiding about himself? Look closely at his arm." He said as he ripped his right arms cloth.

"That symbol is that of royalty, from the previous lord of the demons. That's right, commander Elesis, you are fighting alongside what you've hate. Perhaps, you've grew to accept this before, but did you know that he has an interesting ability to make people that trust him become his pawns? Who's to say that he has not used this ability on you? He's done it to a few of the demons, not to harm humans, but a dragon that was your ally, which by consequence has killed a few of your members. He has not only done just that mind you, for he has become the accomplice on finishing a god.

What you are protecting, is a murderer. But who am I to judge, when you've killed quite a few demons as well, in your mindset that they are evil. Are we truly evil, when most of the demons on the field are mere recruits that are afraid? Thanks to this battlefield, they've know got the experience to grow and fight for another day to the survivors, the ones that are dead, will need to be informed to their families afterwards." As he said that, she tried again to cast flames on him, but he got angry at her not listening to him. "DON'T YOU DARE!!"

A massive amount of energy spurt up towards the sky as ominous shadows seemed to dance around it with glee, then came crashing down on him as he radiated with a dark fiery aura around him. She was scared of him, her expression said it all as the demons roared to see their commander finally showing off his power. It was felt all the way back to the tower that he came, surprising and scaring anyone that had a taste at it.

"It is fine if you don't wish to listen to reason. My judging has been finished anyways." He turned around to Lucius that was grunting in pain to his wounds. "You will not die, however, you will not leave unscathed. Lucius Hellfire, I condemn you with all of these charges. The price? Your right arm." He proclaimed as he grabbed Lucius sword and hoisted it in the air. "This is my mercy to you. What others do, it is not of my business anymore." With those words, the blade came crashing down as the angel screamed in pain, both his arm and blood crashing down on the floor.

"I'm done here. We'll be leaving this area and this field of blood and corpses." He announced as he started leaving the encased prison that he had created for the angel.

Late Late MementoDei MementoDei
 
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Eosfóros ​

He never expected to lose an arm like this but it happened. Eosfóros couldn’t say much as he felt his vision going blurry as the pain completely numbed out his thinking. It’s possible he would die of blood loss.

Yet he didn’t think he would be exposed like that. Right now, he just hopes death will come soon. Up to this point, Ishmael is getting the better part of their deal from long ago. Eosfóros failed his life mission, its best to just die and everyone would just be happy from there, right? Of course they would be.

Yet, a distant roar of a dragon caught his attention. A cry for help...a mournful sound. That’s when he felt a second feeling creeping up on his soul. He can feel his dragon was dying away now. Eosfóros can feel their old connection finally breaking away.

The angel tried to get up, using his wings which showed off his black feathers that grown darker than before. He was so much in pain that it was hard for him to move his wings. Eosfóros slowly searched for his sword, patting around on the ground and eventually found the hilt. He used his wings to lift him up, yet fell back down. Though he kept trying and for every passing second, he began to feel desperate. He wanted to talk to Cornelius for one last time.

Xavier​

Xavier paused his attacks as he heard Aragorn’s roar. His heart gave a drop as the roar was very chilling to him and started to run towards the dragons’ location. He immediately took care of a group of demons that were in his way and practically left a few alive as he rushed by. Something was wrong and he could tell.

He reached to the location and Aragorn immediately saw him.

“Xavier! It’s Cornelius!” The fire dragon said to him quickly.

Xavier slowly looked over to the dark dragon and his heart dropped even more. Cornelius was a complete wreak, bleeding all over the place. The man immediately ran over to the dragon, skidding over a few steps before reaching to his snout which let out slow and steady breathes. The dragon had his eyes closed, ready to pass away. Xavier’s emotions swelled in him as he carefully place his hands on his snout. Cornelius gave out a sharp breath in reaction but he calmed right afterward as he took in Xavier’s scent.

“Xavier...” Cornelius began.

“Please don’t talk. I’m...sorry that this happened to you...I was the one who dragged you into this mess...” Xavier mumbled, gently rubbing the dragon’s snout.

“Xavier....Im....glad that I raised you,” Cornelius huffed out. Xavier slightly smiled and let out a shaky laugh. “But please do me...one last favor...” Cornelius inched a little closer, forcing Xavier to sit back down and having Cornelius rest his snout on his lap as the man didn’t dare to stop petting him. “Please make sure...Eosfóros ends up being happy in the end.”

“But he...” Xavier stopped before he could finish his sentence.

“...his family dumped him in an unforgiving time. He was exposed how cruel the world can be at such a young age...happiness is viewed to be impossible to gain for him. That is why he wishes to change the world, shape it so no one else....will suffer. Please...he was once my rider...I wish that I-“

“Shhh...its okay. I understand, Cornelius,” Xavier cut him off. Cornelius only sighed and let Xavier kept petting him as Aragorn made sure no enemies were coming in.

Xavier slowly found himself humming a lullaby he remembered that Cornelius sang when he had troubles sleeping. Cornelius was stiff for a second as Xavier failed a few notes with a shaky breath but he picked up the rhythm better. Xavier watched as Cornelius slowly die away and he doesn’t stop his humming.

Eventually he stopped his humming when he heard Darhan communating with him. “Xavier. I know you lost someone close to you but save your mourning at the end of the battle. Eosfóros is in danger of dying out. I’ll tell you his location.”

Xavier blinked away his tears as he listened to the man. He can even hear Perkisas agreeing along with him and eventually Xavier slowly start to put Cornelius head down as he got up. Aragorn looked over and didn’t say anything as he saw the dragon dead. The two exchange sad glances and eventually Xavier ran off to find Eosfóros.

Along the way, he ran by Phantom and Lento, confused slightly on where they were going as the area was clean of demons thanks to the dragons fight. Though he saw Komodo and gave a sharp whistle at the dragon. Komodo immediately perked up in sudden excitement, obviously happy that Xavier wanted him.

Komodo swiftly turn tail and followed right after him as they ran over to Eosfóros location. They saw how battered up the man was and he was missing an arm. Xavier frowned as he reached to him and smacked away his wings.

“Stop that, I got you now,” Xavier said to the beatened angel. He watched how Eosfóros’ wing shifted colors for a moment before they went away, allowing Xavier to flip him over and check his bleeding arm.

He can tell it was starting to heal up now that they were back together but it still isn’t so good. Xavier went ahead to use a bit of ice magic to freeze over a few areas to stop the bleeding. Its the least he can do for now. Komodo simply stayed close by, sniffing through Xavier’s hair as if they weren’t separated away in the first place.

After that was done, he went to check Elesis as she also got hurt. Though it wasn’t so serious like Eosfóros. A healer can do this. That’s when he noticed the healer nearby and pointed at her.

“Help me out here and get them back on their feet,” he said to her.

Phant0m Phant0m MementoDei MementoDei
 
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Xiopetec looked to Xavier and raised an eyebrow. "A please would be nice," She retorted, "You all demand so much of healers in war and without any manners, for shame." She looked to the two priests. "You two, take care of the Commander."

The priests nodded and immediately went to Elesis's side, muttering as their mana started to travel through her wounds. Xiopetec moved over to Eosforos and she gave a pointed look to Xavier. "He may be more than human and ice doesn't bother you, but the cold kills tissue. You stopped the bleeding sure, but you'll make the recovery worse for him in the long run," She pointed at the arm, "So I suggest getting the ice out of the way so I can properly treat his wound." Then she looked to the splinted leg and gave it a good kick. "Still pretty broken. Sorry, I had to assess it to see if anything happened since we tried to heal it," She bullshitted in a convincingly sympathetic tone, "You'll need a team to take care of that. In a proper infirmary tent with a doctor rather than a few nurses and priests in the middle of a battlefield."

Xiopetec glanced around, ignoring the corpses as her priest didn't come into view and she frowned. He'll make his way back probably, so she shrugged and she tore some fabric off of the angel's outfit and started to redo the splint. She took a moment to stare at Eosforos out of the corner of her eye. She'd miss her chance, but it was better off this way she surmised. Dust had done half of the work, and Xiopetec wanted all of the effort involved to be hers...and maybe Phantom could help but she wouldn't endanger more of her children. Especially since Phantom would be stupid enough to dig himself a deeper hole, he'd already gotten himself arrested and she-

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and focused on the splint before finally making her way over to Elesis to help finish off some of the healing the priests were doing.

Phantom slowed a bit as he saw Xavier pass by and call for Komodo, but he continued. He turned to Lento. "I'm gonna go see if any of the dragons need to be healed. If you want, you can help me out with the physical stuff or you can see what happened over where that angel is. Do you know if Elesis is still ok?"

He turned again and he stopped right in his tracks when he saw Cornelius's body. The priest felt his skin get clammy for a moment before he sprinted over to Aragorn. "Aragorn, are..." He paused to think about what to say before he looked the dragon in the eyes, "What can I do? Heal you? Are there any...final rites I can give? A funeral of sorts? Something?" Phantom almost begged and he wiped at his eyes to get rid of the tears pooling there. "Another..." He wanted to scream and punch something, but he settled for stomping on the ground and he looked at Cornelius's corpse. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it. "There has to be something I can do."

Late Late MementoDei MementoDei
 
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Elesis​

Hit after hit, she got up to fight, but she was only pushed further down. Her bones, her organs, she felt that all her body was collapsing. She had to get up, she had to stop the demon commander. Her body was becoming numb, and although she wanted to yell another spell, her throat only coughed a mouthful of blood. She had barely the strength to look up and see the Chained man slash Eosfororos' arm off. Blood tainted the grass, the sky, it even blurred her sight. Someone was speaking, but those cold words couldn't reach her ears like the warmth of a puddle of blood reached her fingers.

Blood. Black blood, like the colour of death, grief.

Black blood tainted the angel's wings black; it was the black blood that took away Vanessa.

Black.

Slowly but surely, everything was turning black.

Her thoughts, her love, her friends, they were all being engulfed by that black liquid. No, that couldn't be right. Eosforos was still alive. He was flying away, towards the light. Something stung her eye and some silent tears plunged into the moist ground she was lying on.

The light.

That pure white light, where all angels went. She had to go too, but chains of black were tying her down. It was a force she had tired to fight against, but as long as Eosforos could reach the skies, she would be content to be left with only a trail of black liquid that Eosforos left in his way to heaven.

'Ishmael, I beg you, allow him to live.' She prayed to the goddess, vainly hoping to be heard amidst the thousand prayers the goddess got everyday.

A blue light was warming her. Two shadows were maintaining it and the numbness she was feeling was going away. Her fingers could finally move without much effort, and moving her head didn't cause her to feel dizzy. She was still wounded, but her mind was recovering.

She blinked a couple of times and saw a nurse talk to a blue-haired man. She glanced to her right and saw Eosforos, weakened but alive. The demon commander had gone away, at last.

It was a crushing defeat, but Elesis just felt happy to see that not everything was lost yet. She would need become stronger from now on.

One arm, then another. Her fingers spread over the bloodied grass, looking for a solid grip.

Her toes dug the ground, slowly, steady. Her torso began to rise and a fit of coughing stopped her rise.

"Commander! No, you can't get up, now! Your ribs will perforate your lungs if you continue!" a priest yelled.

Elesis wheezed after spitting some blood and was forced back down.

"...glad...foros...live." she managed to say, as a small smile ran away from her face. The priests held her down while they continued to heal her. This time, they put her to sleep while they closed her wounds.

The barrier around them collapsed and its fragments dispersed themselves into the air.
Late Late Phantom Phantom
****
Darhan​

'Quite the power he got there. Kenaz, you can go. Deactivate those walls and bring me that elf's mana. I need to study it.' he thought as he evaded one of the glitter's attacks and answered with a mana enhanced fist to its chest, subtly weakening the demon's skeletal structure. All the bones inside his opponent's body would become eight times weaker once the mana that covered his arm touched the glitter's armour.


The glitter felt only a small tap over his armour and laughed at it for a second as he prepared for another attack. A horrible pain followed and made him collapse instantly. The demon felt as if he had been hit by a cannonball; his ribs fractured into six fragments and had punctured his lungs. The last thing he saw was the triumphant grin of the winged elf, who did not look that all that different from Commander Dust.

As he thought of this, the glitter was lifted into the air by a surge of energy. He looked one last time at the cruel smirk of the angel as he created small rays of light from his hands that burnt the demons around him.

There was a difference between those two elves, a very important one.

That green-eyed elf was only looking to put to the test the limits of his capacities.


Darhan, however, was thinking at the moment about something else. Now that Xavier was away, the threat the dragons posed was growing. A priest and a Lost Soul he had never seen before had gotten closer to them.

He felt that the Lost Soul was staring at him and Darhan felt that the newcomer's aura had something familiar to it. Something that kept part of his mind distracted from the battle, resulting in a broken arm. Yet, once he figured it out, he let out a dry chuckle, one that was full of sadness.

'You inherited a part of her. Thank you for making your way to me.' he thought as his arm healed itself by the power of the El.

A single arrow fell from the sky as its shooter roared the name of her attack. "Aufblitzen!"

The arrow vanished into green flames that consumed the demons in front of him. Darhan looked up and did a thumbs up to Ren. "Thank you, Ren!"

"Do not thank me, Darhan! Focus or you're dead meat!"

"Both of us know that I'm already dead to begin with, Ren. Just like you."

Through the com link, he heard her sigh in annoyance. "If you are injured enough to not move without help, I'll leave you here. Ishmael doesn't need any burdensome soldiers."


Darhan punched the ground, rooting the remaining enemies in place before shooting a series of rays of light to finish them off. "That's the condition to return? Then poor Eosforos will be left here...Yikes."

"How do you-" Ren began, already annoyed before correcting herself. "Never mind that. The real question is, is that demon still breathing?"

Darhan saw a flash of light with the corner of his eye and had barely the time to evade a deadly lightening bolt. "I'd tell you once we get Xavier back here. Xavier! Pryor is going a bit berserk here. If you don't hurry, we might as well be a pile of ashes. You don't want to see us regenerate from that state. It would be disgusting. Also, there's a priest and a Lost Soul near...what's his name..."

"Cornelius and Aragorn." Ren added.

"Right. Cornelius and Aragorn. You might want to come, or else that priest might also get turned into ashes. Permanently."

Late Late


****
Lento
​
Lento nodded at Phantom and followed him towards a pit where an electric dragon and an undead one were fighting. The black dragon that had been in Feita lied down, but his vital mana was vanishing. He was already dead, but, unlike Phantom, Lento could offer little to no comfort. The blacksmith put a hand over Phantom's shoulder, but something caught his attention. He turned around to see a silver-haired angel summon a spear of light from above, which stunned the first enemy in front of him.

Lara had seen him. He had used the same spear in Altera to injure her, but there was something more. She let herself be hurt, Lara would've never hurt that angel. Not even when her life depended on it.

The angel turned briefly towards him, and when Lento saw his elven traits and his emerald eyes, the man's name became as clear as day.

'I couldn't stop Ishmael from taking the last thing I wanted to protect. He is the sole person I loved, from one dimension to another. His name is...'

"Darhan." Lento said before turning around to see a lightening bolt charge itself near them. Without a second of hesitation, he took Phantom in his arms and carried him away to safety as the ground near Cornelius' corpse was turned to black.

Once he was certain that the other lightening rays weren't appearing near them, Lento put the priest back on the ground.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

Phant0m Phant0m
 
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As he was now a fair distance away from where he had judged that angel, he raised his hand in the air and let loose an orb of energy. As it gained height, so too in power it gathered before exploding with demonic words written to it. They spelled "Retreat".

The demons recognized this as their commanders sign and went into the defensive as they slowly backed away from the humans, while inflicting damage out of self defense.

While making his escape, he grabbed another weapon that caught his eye from a dead soldier. It looked like it was more of an accessory than anything, however with a little recreation magic, he could make it a good weapon out of it, especially with the two gems embedded into it.

He grabbed the blade on his back and let his mana pass through the blades as the dark steel in his bag got pulled and intergrated itself on the blades, reforming them. He separated the two gems so that the other one could have one, just to be balanced out. The form shifted and twisted, before both blades now resembled large weapons, however, they carry the same weight as before. Light and sharp, durable and could be magically imbued.

He was thinking on what he could imbue them with, until he notice that the black dragon from Feita had collapsed and saw Phantom desperately trying to find a way to do something. He looked between the army and the kid. Maybe he had enough time, just enough for one last smudge of words with him. Lento was there too and a red dragon. He would be endangering himself, but it was okay.

He wasn't afraid to fight a little more than he had to. If those angels try anything against him, then he'd just had to let loose some more.

"Time is a cruel thing, kid." His voice was distorted as he approached them, they turned around quickly with their weapons at hand, but he didn't mind that, it was a natural reaction. He took his mask off as their guard was lowered a bit, more towards Phantom. Lento however kept his up.

"It doesn't matter how far you run or how powerful you get, time will always take it's toll at you. The body gets weaker, the mind becomes senile, the will in you transforms and your spirit becomes more and more aware of the end. This isn't a bad thing mind you, this just means that he has lived a long, long life.

He has learned much, accepted much, denied much, changed much, suffered much and even went beyond that. A dragons lifespan can go for hundreds of years more than a human, so he had more than enough of his share of stories in him.

Even if he was in pain before, look at his expression now? He's content because he knows, he lived well enough to smile at the end. At the end, we wish to do so many more things, but we have to let the young take your place one day, so that when you see them next time, the both of you can share your tales with each other. Until then-" He rose both of his weapons and let the residual energy from the elder dragon pass through his new blades, transforming them only slightly, giving vein like paths along the weapon. When mana courses through it, an ominous purple energy is seen emanating from it.

He uses the remaining energy to make a small bracelet with dark steel, with a purple jewel on all four corners, giving a faint warmth.

"There is something that you can do. That is remembering him. Out of all the things, this one is the most important one. Forget him and it'll be like he never exist, but remembering him and he'll always be in your heart and memories. Focus on the good memories, it's what he would of wanted it." He then handed it over to Phantom, noticing that the kid was trying to nod his head, but his emotions were mixed.

"Cry all you want. Grieve all you want. Lament all you want. You have friends around you kid, lean on to them, they'll do the same when they need you. For now, just be there for the people that cared for him. That's all you have to do." He put his mask once more and holstered his new weapons on his back.

"Goodbye, kid. And good luck. You'll need it more than I'll ever need." He said his farewell, walking away with the demons retreating away from the battlefield.

*****
​
"Oh wow, this looks beautiful!" Rena gleamed as she looked at the accessories, before a lot of energies were coming from the battlefield. "Wow, that's a lot of firepower going off over there. I wonder if they can win? I've been hearing a lot of sounds and-" Suddenly a huge pillar of fire erupted into the skies. "That's new to see." She commented as she kept talking with her team mates.

Then a second pillar came, however smaller in comparison than the other. It sounded like their side were having more troubles than anything else.

"I don't like how they're just pulling all of those abilities. Are they really that desperate?" She thought to herself before a second pillar came, however this one was not of flames, but covered in shadows that danced in the wind. A wave of energy reached all the way to them with wind pressure passing by. She protected herself before slowly looking back, all sound stopped for a brief moment before another blast came, an energy she was very familiar with.

"D-Dust?" She mumbled as the sounds started to go away slowly. She started to sprint out of curiosity, but was stopped by the paladins guarding the way. "Move out of the way! I need to go over there!"

"Miss, we can't let any civilian pass! Those were our orders!" One of them informed as he didn't move his halberd out of the way.

"You don't understand! I think I felt my lost brother over there! No, I definitely felt it! You need to let me through!" She sounded desperate to confirm her guess.

"I'm sorry, ma'am! But we cannot! Please comply or we will have to use force." He threatened to her as she grit her teeth in frustration.

Phant0m Phant0m
 
Xavier​

Xavier frowned slightly at the nurse’s words. There was something about her that he couldn’t figure it out on what it was. It was best to let it slide for now, starting to defrost off the ice. The bleeding stopped at the very least and finally Xavier noticed the strange look the angel was giving.

He was sad. It may be because that his connection with Cornelius’ was now gone. It probably served him right after what Eosfóros did but Xavier couldn’t help but to pity him. At least he still had Pryor around.

Speaking of which, Xavier heard what Darhan said and he let out a sigh. He slowly, yet quickly, helped Eosfóros to sit up right. The man looked defeated and noticed that Xavier has to leave. Eosfóros only let out a short sigh, finding it difficult to talk. They’ll have time to talk after the fight is over. He noticed the angel started to look over at Elesis with sudden panic and tried to shuffle to get close to her.

“Make sure he and the commander are moved far from this field,” Xavier said to the healers. “Grab some soldiers who are still around to help too.”

Phant0m Phant0m

After saying that, Xavier finally ran off with Komodo running right behind him. “Hey buddy, still looking good yeah? Time to stop being lazy now,” Xavier said to his dragon as he gave a playful tug on Komodo’s horns as they ran together.

Komodo only chirped in response and was too happy to be annoyed that his horn was pulled like that. Xavier remembered what to give to the dragon and he picked out an el shard from his pocket. It was slightly different compared to the ones he usually give to Komodo but should work the same. Komodo was given the shard and chewed it down.

Xavier arrived back to the scene and saw how Pryor was actually getting annoyed with the corpse. Even after tearing off its wings, giving off heavy damage, it was still moving around. Weak, but moving. Pryor was getting frustrated by this and his frustration cause his electricity go out of control.

“Pryor!” Xavier shouted at the dragon with an upset tone. He ran over to the fight after dodging a few bolts. It took awhile for the beast to perk up with an upset look. Pryor had a hand pinning down the head of the corpse and there was a large missing piece from the skull. “Tone! It! Down!” Xavier yelled, gesturing with his hands. “You’re up here, now you need to be down here!”

Pryor huffed loudly and noticed what was happening. He glanced around in slight embarrassment and yet let out an annoyed growl as he pushed more weight down on the skull.

“I know! It’s not dying, I get that...” Xavier huffed, looking around quickly. The corpse was practically weakened now but he doesn’t want to let it go like that. It has to die. No one should be treating the dead like this. No one.

Komodo grabbed Xavier’s attention by nudging him. He changed to his attribute form, having soft blue scales and his body becoming thin and sleek. Xavier lit up from the change and patted his snout.

“Go and help the others. I think there is demons nearby who still need to be pushed back. Don’t get hit, alright?” Xavier said. Komodo chirped and immediately flew off to seek out those who needed help. Xavier watched him leave and he turn to Pryor. He just needed a little more help.

Xavier head towards the dragons and started to use his ice attributes to keep the corpse down. It was too weak to break through the ice and Pryor wasn’t letting it up at all. The coldness of the ice was starting to wear down the corpse, making the rest of its limbs numb and unable to move at all. Eventually, Xavier gestured Pryor to finish the job now that the dragon was secured to the ground.

The dragon huffed and snapped its jaws around the neck, the corpse roaring in reaction as Pryor continued to force the rest of the body down as he start tugging hard. With a snap, Pryor finally broke through the tough skeleton of the dragon and ripped off its head.

At least that was done and over with. Pryor slowly started to calm down, his electricity thinning out and eventually followed after Xavier who ran off to see if Aragorn was alright.

Aisha​

“Everyone retreat! We can’t afford to lose more soldiers!”

The soldiers tried their best to retreat as the demons pursuit. Aisha was doing her best to keep them at bay, now since she was mostly the last mage standing. Mcgard noticed how much she was allowing the soldiers to escape and started to yell at the demons to go after her.

She feared for the worse now, her dying here. Aisha used her last mana beads and cast a spell to light herself on fire. The demons backed up in surprise but noticed she wasn’t killing herself. The fire was burning hot and overwhelmed the Kenaz to even control it right. Mcgard scoffed at this and start charging in with a spear pointed at her.

The soldiers doubled back to stop him but were knocked away by how fast he was going. Aisha didn’t have the energy to dodge away and the lance found its mark deep to her shoulder. She yelled in pain and Mcgard didn’t stop until it was all the way through. Yet before he could finish the job, he yelled in surprise as a dragon jumped right at his face out of nowhere.

Mcgard pulled back and tried to take it off, knocking back his men by accident. Aisha realized that this dragon was probably Komodo but it was different from before.

“Aisha! Get out of there!” One of the soldiers yelled for her to start retreating. She listened but the pain was bothering a lot for her to run fast enough.

“I WILL NOT FALL LIKE THIS!”

Aisha snapped back her attention to where she heard that booming voice. It was Tony, still alive and holding his bleeding injury. He held his hammer tightly in his hand and gave Mcgard an angry look.

“DIE YOU PRIDEFUL PIG!”

“H-he is still alive?” Aisha gasped in surprise and Mcgard noticed this.

He worked faster to get rid of Komodo but the dragon was slipping right out of his hands and scratched over his eye which the demon yelled in anger. Tony was fast approaching and Komodo saw the dwarf running at them, who was as well slamming the demons away that tried to stop him. Even multiple of arrows hit him but anger alone kept the man going. At the right time, Komodo jumped off the larger demon and Tony swung his hammer in an uppercut motion. It was a solid hit as Mcgard’s jaw broke from the force and shortly the hammer swung across the demon’s face, instantly killing the demon as it fell over.

Aisha watched in amazement, knowing that Tony was a dwarf to not mess with. Tony yelled in victory for killing Mcgard and face the demons who were starting to get after him. Yet they paused after glancing up in the skies and started to retreat back.

“Wait come back! Im not done with you!!” Tony yelled in anger, taking a few steps forward yet fell over as his injuries were now taking a toll on him. Komodo was there to support him up and helped Tony to roll on his back. “Ugh...I guess that’s it for me...”

With the demons retreating, the soldiers eventually turn back and were swift to check on their commander. He did his duty. A few others helped Aisha to stop her bleeding injury and Komodo already recognize the mage, walking up to her to give her a good sniff and a short nuzzle against her open hand.

Komodo eventually left to fly around as he search for anyone who needed help.
 
Phantom
​
Phantom cleared his throat ignoring how choked up it felt and he pat Lento's shoulder. "Yeah...I'm fine. Thanks, Lento," He thanked and he rubbed his eyes again before glancing about once more. "I gotta seriously work on my perception skills." He looked at Cornelius's corpse once more, his frown deepening before he blinked and looked at Aragorn. The poor dragon...and Phantom can't do anything to help him. Grief is a fickle emotion and even after spending years comforting families who were caught in its grasp, Phantom still doesn't know how it can affect people. He was lashed at, blamed, thanked, and in quite a few uncomfortable situations he was stuck in a group hug as his robes were used a communal tissue as he was being cried on.

Hell, he was even yelled at for keeping his composure when he helped someone pass on. That was the first time he was ever called heartless.

Other times, there was just silence and the priest would just give a pat on the shoulder, give his condolences, and be on his way after he sent a different priest to deal with the family from that point on.

A distorted voice startled Phantom out of his musings and he turned around with Nox at the ready, only to relax when he recognized Dust. His throat felt even more constricted as listened to his words, and he accepted the bracelet wordlessly. Then he watched him leave and stared down at the bracelet for a moment before slipping it on his left wrist. He gave a bitter laugh, that ended with a sniffle.

"I don't have any good memories in mind with Cornelius...I haven't been with him for long and the last thing he said to me was that I didn't belong. It's not my place to remember him...that's more for Xavier to do. I was just an annoyance to him," The priest argued in a croaky voice, his accent making some of the words a little difficult to understand. He took a breath and he looked at Lento. "Emotions are a curse...sometimes I really hate that I'm in touch with them."

He coughed to clear his throat and he carefully walked over to Aragorn, his weapon still ready and mana coating his feet so that the priest could move quickly at a moment's notice. "Hey big guy, you don't need to talk. You can nod...are you hurt anywhere?" He asked the dragon.

Xiopetec
​
She bit her tongue and nodded as she quickly pickpocketed a priest for a roll of bandages and she wrapped the angel's arm up to keep the area clean at least. She put a hand on Eosforos's chest to keep him still and gave him a pointed look. "Don't move," She ordered in a stern voice, "If you move you're going to move that splint and make your leg worse." The goddess glanced him up and down, keeping her hand on his chest to prevent him from moving before looking over to Elesis. "Is she good to move?"

"She's stable for now," One priest answered, "If we have a few more hands to help to lift her she should be fine. I wouldn't want to disturb her body too much."

"Find some really long sticks...maybe branches, and get the biggest piece of cloth you can find. Preferably a cape. We'll make something to lay her on so it will be easier to carry her and move her around without jostling her so much."

"What about the dead?" The second priest asked, "We have to count them to figure out the casualties, find their families...bury them."

Xiopetec sighed. "There is nothing we can do for the dead. Focus on who is still with us. Get the materials I requested, I'm sure you'll know how to get that setup. While you're on that, have the other healers start collecting the wounded. Move who can be moved, and for those who are beyond saving just have them take the pain away at least."

The priest that first spoke nodded and sprinted off while the other was monitoring Elesis, keeping a glowing hand on her as his mana was reading her vital signs.

She moved over to the side where Eosforos's wounded leg is and she wrapped an arm around his torso and pulled him up. "Let's go. I'll help keep your weight off of your leg."

Late Late

Raven
​
"Rena!" He yelled after the sprinting elf before he sighed and ran after her. He mentally cursed her curiosity as he managed to catch up to her, and he resisted the urge to facepalm as she argued with the paladins. He walked over and put a hand on her shoulder, and gently nudged her away from the paladins.

"I apologize," Raven told the paladins, "Force won't be necessary." He gave Rena a look that pleaded for her to follow his lead and the pair walked away. He sighed and stared into the elf's eyes. "Rena, you'll find him again. It's just not the time right now. A battlefield isn't the time nor the place for a reunion."

Fume Fume
 
Yullr and Alec​

Thankfully, the guards let them go easily because of Yullr's position among the military. Some of his men also greeted him and asked him if he needed any help. The elf commander, however, refused it under the pretext that they had to help the paladins guard the town.

However, nothing could be further away from the truth. Most of the elves under his command had no idea who he had been before, nor what he exactly planned to go with the Nasod. The few who were on the same page were aware that some things were better to stay in secret.

Once the elf and the Nasod were at one of the locations, Yullr got closer to a group of washed away runes over the ground. They had been put there at least a week ago, and the magic that formed the seal was so closely knit together with the ancient grave that it'd take him days to unseal it.

Unless, he used that to make things easier. Yullr glanced at Alec, who was blankly staring at him. The faint glimmering light over the Nasod's eyes were the only sign the Nasod gave of being very attentive to he was about to do.

If that Nasod ever spoke about this, he'd be forced to abandon the human side and live a life of hiding once more. If that was even possible to begin with. His best chance was to ask Lento to hide him inside that white desert again, but Lento would never agree to that if he knew why. Yet, there was nothing else that could stop the demons to summon the Great Nephilim. By this point, Yullr was sure that he could not stop them from summoning a lesser version of it, but even that would be a great progress.

He began to focus all his mana to unseal the power he had given himself half a century ago and he looked at Alec and put his left index over his mouth.

"Silence, Nasod. Not even machines like you can describe what lays beyond. In fact, no one can take a good look at it. Not even me." He began.

Alec was detecting many alerts of an unknown energy overflowing from Yullr's body, the elf's voice was getting oddly distorted into a frequency he did not believe possible for a living being. After a better analysis, he detected a mix of El, mana and some other energy that was spreading around them, covering them entirely. In a matter of milliseconds, the energy condensed into a thick layer of darkness and forced the robot to adapt his view to see in the dark.

Strangely, his system began to report critical errors. His vision settings were shutting down and so did his movement circuits. Completely blinded and unable to move, the Nasod tried to find the cause that overwhelmed his basic sensory functions. The sound of something crawling underneath him triggered an alert of an immediate danger.

He heard the vague sound of a whistle, silent enough to be considered as a whisper, but cold enough to turn on an alert of a dangerous change in temperature. He heard a part of him being shredded, but his touch sensors and data analysis of his own body were no longer responding.

Another cold breeze surrounded him and the crawling sound made itself louder. Alec's emotional codes were now being afflicted by the unknown threat. The Nasod chuckled, then whimpered before falling silent.

"What a shame. Scream, little Nasod, scream everything that is wrong with your artificial vocal chords...Till death tears them apart."

Alec's remaining processes were focused on what the voice had ordered him to do. It was a need that took over every other function, it was a parasite that erased everything from his processes but that single order.

"Alert code: 53 65 6E 73 6F 72 79 20 61 6C 65 72 74 20 65 72 72 6F 72. Warning, El energy has reached critically low levels. Chances of survivability without immediate shutdown: 60%. 55%. 45%."

The Nasod's body twitched slightly before he continued to enumerate the errors encountered, this time louder.

"Alert code: 43 72 69 74 69 63 61 6C 20 6D 65 6D 6F 72 79 20 65 72 72 6F 72. Warning, Code ID: Alec has encountered a fatal error. Erasing corrupted system files. List of authorized programs to purge corrupted data: Code_Recovery. Executing Code_Recovery. Warning, the program Code_Recovery, executed by the user Core_Code:Alec, can not proceed due to insufficient user permissions. Requesting assistance from User ID: Adrian..."

Alec's head tilted in an impossible angle, shredding the structure that supported his head. "Request timed out. Request timed out. Request timed out. Searching for alternatives. Requesting assistance from Code ID: Adam. Unauthorized connection. Alert, System security has been breached by a foreign user."


The Nasod's face froze in his last syllable, as if time itself had stopped. Finally, Alec continued to talk, or rather yell, what his system had found.

"Foreign user ID found in the System database. Unauthorized user has been identified as Core_Code:Alec. The processes run by this user will now be quarantined."

The last cables that held Alec's head in place finally gave out and the Nasod's head fell over its knees. In a distorted whisper, Alec completed his order.

"New alert code found. Code ID: 01010100 01101001 01101100 01101100 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100001 01110100 01101000 00100000 01110100 01100101 01100001 01110010 01110011 00100000 01101101 01100101 00100000 01100001 01110000 01100001 01110010 01110100...Emergency shutdown activated."

****
Lento​

He knew that Dust would become an inevitable enemy, but seeing it so soon left a bitter taste in his mouth. The Phantom Knight knew that he could nothing to stop him, but the demons were retreating. He looked at what Phantom said and shook his head.

"Emotions are what keeps us moving forwards. If one had lived without living them, he'd have nothing to look forward to, nor nothing to connect him to others. It'd be an empty life not worth living."

He hoped that his words had calmed Phantom, but the priest went away and walked towards Aragorn to heal him. Lento sighed and looked down, but suddenly lifted his head when Darhan's aura got closer to him.

The elf waved at him, as if they were friends that had not seen each other in years. "Well, it's quite a surprise to see another Lost Soul wondering around this world."

The blacksmith nodded, unsure of the angel's intentions. His overall attitude was way different from Altera, but he was still unsure if he could trust him. Who knew how much Ishmael's world had changed him.

"That being said, it's quite a blessing one of your kind is watching over humanity. The demons...are way stronger than what they used to be."

Lento squinted his eyes briefly, feeling like the angel had something else to say. "...Indeed. May I know your name, angel?" he inquired.

The silver-haired angel smirked. "I like that people try to guess my name. It's a pretty common one, to be honest. I'm sure you can guess it."

Lento frowned. "That's an odd request."

"But not an impossible one. It's just for fun." the angel added as he took off a strange device from his ear. "Honestly, it's quite a coincidence to see her successor so soon. I never even thought she would do something like that...well, I guess she knew that she didn't have a lot of time left. I'm oddly lucky today. I might go gamble some money later on, what about that?"

The Lost Soul felt that Darhan was getting slowly to his main point, but he cut around the brush to perhaps distract the two others who were observing him. It seemed like he was talking in an odd code to tell him what he wanted. Sooner or later, he would find out. It was probably his last chance to get a better understanding of what Darhan was looking for.

"Sounds like a good plan. I've also been quite lucky to see four angels gathered around a single place. Mind if I joined you?"

Darhan smirked again. "Not in the slightest, soldier...Asini or Zinali? I'm sorry if I don't guess correctly."

"Asini. Lento Asini. Reijak Zinali was my half brother."

****
Eve​

The Nasod had followed Rena as soon as the elf had run towards the giant pillar of fire. Moby had detected a familiar presence nearby and Eve sent Oberon to find the source as she continued to follow the elf. However, a flood of people separated her from the elf, but among the many human signatures, her code sensed that Raven was closer to Rena.

She waited for the two to return, and after she saw the two walk back towards her, Eve noticed that Rena's life signals were being altered by an anomaly.

No. It was not an anomaly, it was an emotion. It was sadness.

"Raven, Rena. Is everything ok?" the Nasod asked.
 
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Xavier and Aragorn​

The fire dragon was still lost for words, yet he felt a strange anger building up inside of him when the dark elf was talking as well taking Cornelius remaining powers. He could only huffed at Phantom, squinting at him as he held the bracelet. It was too casual, for an enemy to talk to Phantom and giving something he doesn’t deserve.

“I am hurt...but it’s not possible to fix right away,” Aragorn grumbled, letting out a large sigh.

The red dragon looked around and saw Xavier making his way back. He saw the man’s confusion of where Cornelius body went off to and Aragorn stand up when Pryor showed up. The electric dragon stared at Aragorn with a squint and glanced at Xavier who told him the fight was over. Eventually, Pryor let out a yawn and kept staring at Aragorn. Aragorn noticed there wasn’t any injuries on this dragon. He really handled it well.

“Aragorn....are you okay?” Xavier asked, walking up to the red dragon. Aragorn knows Xavier wanted to ask what happened to Cornelius, he can tell the man wanted to know something but if he told him, Xavier will likely run off after the retreating demons.

“Im fine, Xavier. Im glad to know you came back to help us,” Aragorn murmured, leaning down as Xavier hugged him around his snout. “Im sorry but...I did my best to protect him.”

Xavier didn’t say anything and only hugged Aragorn tighter. His family was getting smaller now, all thanks to this war. It angers him to the very core, yet he knows he needs to be patient for him to avenge them.

“...I won’t leave your side anymore. I promise that,” Xavier mumbled, running his hand over Aragorn’s scales as they stand there in silence.

Pryor leaned over to take a curious sniff from Aragorn in which the red dragon jumped in surprise and backed up to get a better look at the larger male. Pryor rumbled in greeting, tilting his head as small electricity shoots out from his scales.

“Can he talk?” Aragorn questioned Xavier.

“Um...We’re going to work on that, eventually,” Xavier answered as he patted Pryor’s leg.

Pryor gave a slight confused stare what they meant and only hummed in response. Komodo then came flying back, chirping his arrival as he nearly tackled Xavier.

“Hey there, you finished?” Xavier said, ruffling around with Komodo’s tuffs of fur. Komodo chirped in response and nodded his head. “Nice buddy, sorry for coming back to you so late,” Xavier apologized with a slight smile, scratching under his best friend’s chin. Komodo didn’t shout any complaints and purred under his touch.

It was a strange reunion for them but Xavier just wants to shake off the feeling of loss. Cornelius was gone, nothing he could do about it. It made him more depressed but he did his best to hide it up by remaining calm and collecting, praising the dragons for doing a good job. He glanced over at Phantom who was standing there.

“Phantom,” Xavier greeted. “...I believe there’s some soldiers who need some healing,” he said to him, kept scratching around Komodo’s head.

Phant0m Phant0m

Eosfóros
​
The angel huffed loudly at the nurse’s words but he listened, grabbing for his sword with his only arm. Eosfóros slowly got back on his feet with the nurse’s help and muttered a small thanks to her.

He took another stare at Elesis, wanting to say something. It was probably going to be awhile for him to see her again. He have to talk to Ishmael once Xavier comes back for him. Eosfóros needs to get this over and done with the Goddess.

“What a mess,” Eosfóros grumbled to himself.

He limped along with the nurse so he can get out to safety.

Lu and Ciel
​
“...So it has stopped.”

Both Lu and Ciel were observing the skies after a pillar of fire pierced through the skies. They as well noticed dark energy surging through the air and lastly the retreat signal. Lu sighed as she held a cup of tea in her hands, Ciel standing besides her.

“So it seems...it lasted for quite some time,” Ciel said.

“Hmp, I wished we could’ve helped...even a little bit,” Lu sighed, sipping her tea.

The humans here didn’t trust them so much, not just because they were demons. They once were allied with Ash but after he caused Feita to disappear off the face of the map, no one trusted them to do anything at all. It was frustrating for the both of them.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll have our chance to help out...” Ciel assured her but he wasn’t so sure himself.

“Hmm...well, I guess it won’t be long that the human soldiers will be returning back,” Lu sighed, picking up a cookie from the table.
 
The retreat was a success, with only losing 34% of the forces that were lent to Joaquin. It wasn't the most favorable number, but they took just as much or more of the humans that day. A week has passed since then, having them walk all the way back to where the safe house where the commander that supervises Velder in their invasion. Some of the Glitters weren't doing so well with their wounds and there was so much that the blood beads could do.

They would need to be treated by the alchemists and medics that were in standby. Some of the wounds weren't pretty to watch at and their chances to live were slim, but not without hope.

"Well, it's been a while there, COM-MAN-DER DUST." Chloe said as he came back with the forces from before. She sounded angry with him, from both her words, tone and twitching left eye.

"Oh boy, the commander is going to get it."

"We pay our respects to you, my liege."

"I'll pour a glass of Daemon Licorice at your grave, sir!" The troops jokingly said as they tried to slip away from her angry gaze. He dismissed them as he faced her with straight face.

"Good to see you're good, commander Chloe. Good to see that you're still holding up wel-!" He was shut up with a powerful kick to his stomach, he grunted as he looked at her. "Okay, I deserved that... Sorry..."

"You better be, you jerk! Do you know how a nerve wreak I was if I had to tell the superiors that I somehow lost you? I kept telling myself that you're just doing stuff on your own, but to not tell me beforehand was a real blow, we have shadow demons to inform us, you dolt!" She angrily said towards him while tapping her foot.

"In my defense, I just saw something interesting. Plus, I was able to help Joaquin back home and took care of an angle's arm and got a new pair of weapons." He said while pointing towards his new weapons that were resting on his back attached on his chains.

"Oh really? Good for you, you stupid elf." She said with a huff. It looked like he had to diffuse the situation or else she'll be angry at him for a month at least, while holding a grudge.

"Fine, fine. Here." He took out of his pouch a bracelet that he had 'bought' back at Velder. "I found this accessory at that camp. It kinda reminded me of you, here." He gave it to her, to which made her anger subside a consider amount. She put it on her left hand and seemed to look at it.

"This doesn't change anything. you hear me." She said even though she seemed calmer than before.

"Women are such an enigma sometimes..." Dust thought to himself as he let go a sigh of relief. As he went under the roof, Chloe spoke again.

"Oh yeah, you have a visitor from back at home." She said in a monotone voice.

"Who?" He asked curiously, sensing that someone was on the roof, however there was no malice, if anything...

"Duuuuuuuuuust!" A demon fell down towards him, grabbing him from the back and hugging him.

"Hello, Damien." He responded while the orange Ikus joyfully hugged his friend, almost rubbing on him.

"Did you missed me? Did ya? I sure did! Why didn't you visit me when you came back home? You meanie!" He said while laughing wholeheartedly to this situation. Dust grabbed him and put his head under his arm.

"Duty calls, you bundle of joy! Sometimes I don't have time for myself, you know this." He replied with a smirk as he rubbed his head.

"I know, I know. But you know what this means? A dance for a reunion! Arriba~!" He brought out his maracas and started to do a silly dance in rhythm. The soldiers laughed at him, enjoying this sudden change in atmosphere.

"Come on guys! We can't feel down! We gotta feel up for this great, great day! Our brothers wouldn't want us to be sad, because our love will live forever!" He said with a bright smile as he made a few female dark elves start to dance with him, even though they felt awkward, they still were starting to have fun.

"He's been here for a few days and I have to say, he's one bright kid. Even after the invasion started, he just kept singing songs, dancing and playing either the piano over there or his maracas. All in all, he's making everyone feeling good about themselves." Chloe said, giving a smirk at scenery of seeing even glitter soldiers joining in the fun.

"Well, that's Damien alright. He likes to see the good in things, even when things are low. Make every situation as good as it gets with a bright smile." Dust responded back as he took out a small pouch with blood beads. "Hey medics, use my share for the wounded they need it more."

"Thank you, commander! This'll save quite a few of them!" They responded as they quickly got the pouch and started to heal them.

"I wonder who got that Ikus to be so cheerful in the first place?" He chuckled at that, making Chloe smile as well.

"Who indeed?"
*****​

After a week has passed, Rena and her friends decided to help out the people of Velder. They joined a few missions, since they were fairly good at fighting and were able to take back a small part of the residential area 3 thanks to their efforts with other people. After they saw a behemoth of muscle patrolling the place, they left the area as quickly as they could and reported to the commander.

Right now they were resting up together, talking with one another about the enemy at hand.

"So, what are we going to do against him? I don't think that hand to hand combat is gonna be so effective. Those muscles could dampen the damage, slashing and magic might work well. What do you two think?" Rena asked as she wasn't so sure about this.
 
Ain, Darhan and Ren.​

Once the undead dragon was taken care of, the angels stayed around to take care of the corpses left on the battlefield. The prince healed the wounded priests and other healers, mostly because he felt very uncomfortable around so many corpses. The young prince was still shaken from the massacre he witnessed with his father. If he was to inherit his mother's title, he'd rather learn how to take care of his worshipers and battle the least possible.

There should be other ways to solve the conflict that tore Elrios and the Demon Realm alike. Although Henir, on the other hand, seemed like a God who acted only if he was bothered. It might make him look peaceful at first, but his acts always involved countless lives lost. Henir took two eyes for an eye, regardless of who it was. While Ren burned down the demon corpses, Darhan took care of a ceremony to all lives lost along a Lost Soul, who was the only commander who was not unconscious nor dead.

Meanwhile, Eosforos recovered and Xavier helped the remaining soldiers with what he could. Pryor was left outside the town, but under Xavier's constant surveillance.

It seemed that Darhan was getting close to the Lost Soul, but Yullr was nowhere to be seen. Ren found this suspicious, but when she was about to look for him, the elf returned, covered by small cuts on his hands, his clothes were dirtied by mud. To his right, a Nasod walked silently, it almost seemed like it was in a sort of trance. However, that empty look was very common among human creations, so Ren was left with nothing more than a bad feeling without any evidence.

When Ren questioned Darhan about Yullr, he took back his normal stern behaviour and explained that he had simply not seen his friend in centuries. Later, when Ren asked him about Lento, his answer was as vague as her own gut feeling. Darhan only approached him because his energy seemed similar to Lara's.

"Is he her successor?"

"Not at all. He simply got the chance to absorb part of her mana, back when she was still carrying out Henir's cruel orders."

Ren widened her eyes. "Then he must be quite powerful."

Darhan shook his head. "Not in the slightest. He simply took advantage of Lara's weakness to the pure El. If anything, he made things easier for me to kill her."

Ren nodded. Even if that Lost Soul called Lento stole an infinitely small part of Lara's vital mana, it would weaken her as if he had taken part of her life.

After the end of the first week, Ishmael contacted them all again and ordered them to come back to her realm. As they all left towards her world, Xavier insisted on following them, pretexting that he still had to look over Pryor, but Darhan had a feeling the boy was looking out of Eosforos. They let him come along and, once the Dragon tamer took Pryor back to his cage, he walked back to the group of angels and followed them to the audience room. Before Ren opened the door, she glanced at him.

"Are you certain you wish to follow us, Xavier?"

Her voice was calm, but her words were closer to sound like an order for Xavier to go away than a question. Darhan sighed.

"Ren, if anything, he has the right to know what will happen next and what I've got to report to Ishmael anyway. Remember that their mission failed."

He noticed that his cold voice had startled Xavier and he sighed. "I usually talk like this, Xavier. I got too much into my role back in the human world. That's all there is to it. We all got questions." he continued, looking straight into Eosforos' eyes.

Ain looked down at Darhan's old attitude coming back and felt a bit nostalgic when he had been carried over his back. Darhan would probably go back to his lab and only leave it to go to the training arena. Maybe he could spar with him, although he had a feeling the elf wouldn't let him do so.

After some seconds of hesitation, Ren pushed the door and a room big enough to be a ball room welcomed them. Candelabrums made of El shards hung from the ceiling, some other angels stood in rows to the left and to the right, leaving the newcomers a clear passage through the centre of the room. At the end of their path, a set of four stairs held the throne of El Ishmael sat on. The throne was gorgeously decorated by runes and the symbol of her warriors: two diamonds aligned together like a dagger.

The white-haired goddess tied her long hair in a complex braid and wore a crown made of her mana; the sign of her authority was made of two wings that were connected to a diamond. Her blue gown was decorated by small turquoise diamonds around her shoulders, putting forth the unnatural whiteness of her skin. Her severe turquoise look moved around to see who had returned to her.

"Xavier. I didn't expect you here." the goddess began, her voice echoed throughout the ample room. "I assume you know that you are only a witness here. You will not be given the right to speak. Ren, Darhan, Ain, Eosforos."

The four angels bowed and proceeded to walk towards the goddess. Once at they reached the beginning of the stairs, they knelt and so did Xavier.

"Darhan. Tell me everything from the beginning."

"Yes, goddess Ishmael. I was sent to a surveillance mission in the human realm. More specifically, a surveillance mission to oversee Eosforos' and Xavier's mission to retrieve the Earth El. I took some liberties from the original plan and I made a temporary alliance with the demons to get the full picture of the situation in Velder. My fire fairies, the Kenaz, were perfect informants to accomplish this. With them and some human allies on our side, I was able to rescue Xavier from the demons' claws and I discovered something rather suspicious. Eosforos has been making pacts with the demons, but not as a tool to help with his mission, but rather to accomplish things that, although did not directly go against his orders, put many lives unnecessarily in danger. Xavier only being an example of it. The undead dragon was killed off by demons Eosforos let through Velder's walls. It's a miracle they didn't leak Velder's blindspots to their superiors, or else that town would've been destroyed."

Darhan continued to tell his findings, and concluded that the information he had gathered from the demon side was pessimistic. Not only they had a new commander who possessed a great power, but they also got the Earth El in their possession.

"You mean they stole it during the battle?" Ishmael asked.

"I'm afraid not, my goddess. The Earth El has been taken before that, three weeks before the battle. It's now in the Demon Realm. As for the commander, he goes by the name of Dust. I've collected some of his mana and I'll study it to find a weakness in his magic, if you'll allow it."

Some angels began to murmur among themselves, but Ishmael shut them up with her glance.

"Is that commander Dust so powerful?" the goddess continued.

"He's the one who almost killed Eosforos. If I hadn't sent Xavier to help him, he would've died."

"Why did you send Xavier when there were two priests and a nurse around him?" Ishmael's voice was growing colder.

"I'm sure that nurse's voice sounds familiar to you. I thought she might not act if she wasn't left alone. She might be the kind to carry old grudges, who knows? It was better to be safe than sorry."

Ren glanced at Darhan in surprise. She knew that Darhan had been informing himself on the past history of the God Wars, but for him to know how Xiopetec's voice sounded like, he'd have to access old forbidden records from the Projection temple. She wasn't the one in charge of their access, but when she was informed that someone had been granted access to those records, the last person she would've thought of was Darhan. Although, to be fair, his mission was still held as a secret between Ishmael and him in those days.

"Very well. Is that all, Darhan?" the goddess said.

"Yes, goddess." Darhan replied.

"Ain. Are Darhan's words truthful?"

The young prince looked at his mother and her severe gaze forced his back to the ground. "Mother, for the time I have followed Darhan into the human realm, I've been certain of one thing: he always respects your will."

"I see. Then, tell me, why did he speak with the dangerous individual known as Yullr Mirwynn? He's an elf from an extinct elf noble lineage. And now, he bears a strong power we have identified to be tied to demonic powers. Tobias, you may talk."

A blond angel made his way through the left row of angels and bowed before speaking.

"Goddess Ishmael, I have researched through our library and...the other one and what I've found is astonishing. Yullr Mirwynn was the elf that first introduced necromancy to the demons. He has had a bloody carrier as a researcher for them, even setting the basics for Dark El enhancement. It's a technique the demons use on dead, and theoretically the living, to make them stronger. That being said, he was last working on another enhancement project, but he ran out of test subjects and ended up using his own body to experiment on. He was successful, considering the change of colour on the El that is used to observe him. However, the details on how he achieved something so heinous is lost forever. He killed every demon who knew of his research, not to mention that he burnt his lab along all the documents."

"What was the experiment, Tobias?"

"It...Yullr Mirwynn seemed to have an obsession with how Lost Souls gathered their power, and how they stored it. As a necromancer, he has his grimoire to store the spirits he gathers, but Yullr seemed to find it inconvenient to rely on a single object. The experiment, named Magnus Opus, consisted on finding a way to become a living Lost Soul. He...became something else. His aura is much more sinister than that of a Lost Soul. I'm still analyzing it."

"Very well. You may take back your place, Tobias. Now, Ainchase, tell me in full detail the conversation between Darhan and Yullr Mirwynn."

Ain glanced at Darhan, who looked shocked, but his surprise soon transformed into frustration, as the knuckles of his fists were growing whiter.

"Mother, the only conversation those two had going was about old memories. Mostly about regret. Darhan...felt like he abandoned Yullr into a fate that made him into a monster. He tried to offer his help, but his old friend is no more. Yullr Mirwynn acted like a man who had lost his way, even threatening Darhan with absurd words from Henir."

The murmurs grew louder. "Hold on, Ain. What did Yullr had to say about Henir?" Ishmael inquired, raising her voice to silence the audience again.

Darhan clenched his teeth as Ain told the uncovered truth. "He mentioned that he had seen Lara, and that he collected a memory from a fragment of her soul. It supposedly held a memory Lara had concerning Henir. Apparently, Yullr wants to make Darhan believe that all his actions, from the moment he ended Lara's life, has gone according to his plan. Lara's death would transform all her ties into the hatred that would end everything from within."

The room fell silent and drown in worry. Henir's words were always taken very seriously, and Ain quickly added. "But that is mere speculation. We all know that Lara's body is trapped in Henir's world. There's no way a necromancer, no matter how powerful, would've gone into the Void just to retrieve the fragment of a soul."

"Darhan."

The goddess' voice was a silent thunder, a blade getting closer to the elf's neck. "Darhan. How does Lara's death make you feel?"

Ishmael gathered her powers to force the truth out of Darhan. After a short silence, the elf answered.

"It fills me with sadness." his voice was less composed than before.

"Are you certain you saw her body vanish in Henir's Void?"

"Yes, my goddess." his first word was filled with regret and the rest of his sentence died in a whisper.

"What did you think about Yullr's words during that day?"

"I was shocked, goddess Ishmael. I don't think Yullr was bluffing. It's not like him. He might've changed his ways during his life, but not his way to lie. I've known him since he was born. But, who knows if Henir said that to Lara to torment her. It would make her afraid of death and...make her think that...the only option she had was suffering again and again for the sake of this world. I...if only I had been there before, I'd-!" his voice died down before increasing its volume out of anger.

"Enough." the goddess casted away her spell and Darhan blinked his eyes a couple of times, returning to his usual calm demeanour. "Ain. You may go."

The prince nodded and obeyed his mother's order. He looked back at Darhan and somehow felt relieved to know that Darhan's coldness was only superficial.

Ishmael sighed. "Very well, I understand. Darhan, you got my authorization to go forth with your investigation. But before you go, there's one more person we need to hear out."

She took a pause. "Eosforos Goldwing. Explain yourself."

Late Late
 
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Xavier and Eosfóros
​
“Well...where should I really start?” Eosfóros questioned the goddess with a slight smile. The goddess only offer a frown in which the hybrid laughed at. “Well I had a lot of things going on in mind during that time. To start it off, my friends, this was practically my last mission to be served under the goddess herself.” The angels gave each other questioning stares at this. “A bit unnecessary since my previous one supposed to be the last but, the goddess here doesn’t want to end the deal so quickly.”

The angels started to whisper each other, confused on what he meant about “deal”. Ishmael started to look annoyed at this as Eosfóros sighed.

“We kept every quiet about it honestly, so I don’t expect anyone else to know,” he said with a small shrug of his shoulder.

“Though the deal did not include of Xavier to be taken away by the demons like that,” Ishmael spoke harshly.

“You’re right. That’s...a bit of my mistake,” Eosfóros agreed with a smile. Xavier on the other hand was a bit furious with this, now knowing that the demons capturing him was done on purpose. “But I know very well how you wanted this boy alive, so I was slightly hoping someone would rescue him before I did. It was dangerous, I know, but it worked since you sent someone over to watch us.”

“But what was the reason for the demons to capture him, Eosfóros?”

“Xavier himself is a strong lad, we all know that and he is capable to be much bigger than he already is. Though...it cannot be helped since I was the one who brought him here in the first place that I have a sense that I am a bit in control of where he should place his steps. If I assume correctly, the demons has done some experiments on him. Not only trying to have him succumb to the dark el, but altering his weapons as well his own hands to basically reach certain areas that training alone can’t help him reach. Also, Xavier did got a nice cut of me. I won’t be surprised either if they made something lethal towards to all angels and implanted that power onto Xavier’s hands. A weapon against the angels.”

There was a sudden outburst of surprise and anger from the angels, in which Ishmael had to order them to silence. Xavier had to force himself to bite his tongue, not wanting to go against the goddess for speaking.

“You must be a mad man for pulling an absurd trick like that,” Ishmael hissed, obviously angered.

“Im a tired one but sure, I guess mad as well,” Eosfóros said. “The healers who healed Xavier here is aware of his stitches around his hands, yes? It’s likely the demons pulled it off. Xavier probably doesn’t feel much of a difference but he is known to adapt very quickly to changes. He probably noticed the difference during the time he suffered under the dark el poisoning. I know it was a dangerous card to play since he was part of our deal after all but hey, still alive and breathing. Just a bit more emotional now. My reason for it though it’s just for the future, in case any angels decided to harm him or even me. Im just keeping up his safety after all, you can’t trust anyone here even,” Eosfóros explained as he glance over at Darhan.

“What is this deal he keeps talking about, Ishmael?” One of the angels questioned out loud. Everyone else followed as well and Ishmael had to silence them again.

“What about the dragon you had the demons poisoned?” Ishmael asked, ignoring the questions about the deal.

“Maybe another mistake but not entirely. You see, I was curious of Joaquin’s capabilities. How much he can really do and how much he can be an issue for me, personally. I gave him a dead dragon’s body, and he actually revived it to do his biddings. I’m a bit surprised too but there are some flaws, as the dragon cannot act very well without a source of mana to give strength. Almost like a puppet. Though for the demons knowing about how to revive the dead is scary enough. We can thank Yullr for that too. Joaquin probably learned it from him and tried to expand it out by using a large body to revive. With that knowledge, who knows what the demons would try to do now. Though I feel the need to apologize...mostly to Xavier,” Eosfóros sighed, scratching the back of his neck as he glanced over to the angry man. “I do love dragons, trust me when I say that. But the past is sometimes too painful to look at...I was afraid those dragons might be in the way.”

Xavier clutched his fists tightly, trying to restrain himself from jumping on the angel every so slightly.

“Goddess Ishmael, if you allow me to speak?” One angel spoke. Eosfóros recognizes Kili, Xavier’s staff instructor. He still had the same mask on to hide away his face. Ishmael quietly gave Kili permission to speak. “Eosfóros...I had some strange suspicion about you ever since you joined in. So I’m just going to say this plainly, you already know who I was once before.”

Eosfóros smiled at Kili and only nodded his head.

“If that is true, then you must have known I was once a dragon rider, my dragon known to be Ivy,” Kili continued. Eosfóros nodded again. “I suppose that explains how you knew about my technique and skills, the reason why you want Xavier to be taught under me . As for your reason for wanting certain dragons to be dead...is because they know what you did in the past.”

“Kili...” Ishmael slightly warned him but the angels couldn’t help to be curious and were hungry for answers.

“Ishmael...I really want to know what that deal is about. This man, his real name is Lucius, and he is the man who caused the El to explode.”

Another outrage broke out, Eosfóros took a step back to dodge a glass cup that was thrown at him. It took Ishmael longer to silence the angels and she was probably out of words to say to avoid about this “deal”.

“Truly during that time...I was clouded by grief and anger. I was hoping destroying the El would force the world to destroy itself but that wasn’t entirely the case in the end. Of course, things changed. It is not the same as before...but the things I wanted to change are still the same,” Eosfóros muttered as he stared at Ishmael. “That was really a regret I made, and I wish I could just go back and fix my mistake. But what’s done is done, my anger and sadness got the better hold of me.” Eosfóros rubbed his chin as he thinks about it. “Now...about that deal.”
“Is it necessary to discuss it now? You failed your mission,” Ishmael said to him.

“A mission you added in because you did not want to give up what is supposed to belong to me,” Eosfóros said a bit more forceful. “And look at me now. I lost my sword arm and my leg is still in process of healing.”

“You in deserving more of a death sentence!” An angel yelled and everyone followed along.

Eosfóros sighed at the angry crowd with a roll of his eyes and having to take another step to dodge away a glass cup. “I’ll just explain it to everyone then since Ishmael wants to keep a tight lip about it. Years ago, I did Ishmael a favor. By butchering those followers of a minor god in which I heard that they have been causing issues and going against Ishmael herself. Because of that, I was able to speak with Ishmael herself. Times were different back then, when most people didn’t have their guard up against strangers who did nice things for them without a price. She asked what I wanted after doing the dirty work for her, I said how I want to join with her and the angels. Ishmael, being a god she is, already knows who I am. She knows about the demon blood that runs through me. The only reason she took me in is because she believes I want to make up for the sin I have caused. The exploding of the El. That’s somewhat the truth, I was aiming for something more special. Throughout the years, I have done her work and gained her trust. In the end, I was able to manipulate her to make a deal with me. A fair deal that is. This was around the time when the demons started invading Elrios, the war between mankind and demons. Someone significant fell in battle against the demons, someone who supposedly is the one who is going to restore the El. I saw this opportunity to manipulate Ishmael into a deal. Its rather a fair deal in honesty.”

Eosfóros looked at Xavier and he hesitated for a moment. “Xavier here is... not part of this world. He is from a different dimension, an offspring of the said fallen warrior that died here in this dimension. I made a deal with Ishmael that I will find someone who can do the same purpose as the knight, and as well training him to be ready for what’s about to come to him. I as well helped her to find a way to keep her legacy going, but not telling her how to do it. In return, I want the demon king’s seal.”

Eosfóros expected another outrage but all he got was silence. He wasn’t sure which parts everyone was shocked to hear but mostly everyone has trouble speaking out their mind. Ishmael stayed quiet as well, yet her stare was full of anger.

“My mother...was once an angel. A beautiful woman she was and she was much close to Ishmael. Her name was Lilith Goldwing, known to be the demon slayer. This, here, was once her sword,” Eosfóros said as he held up his claymore. “...a pair of demons gave it to me. So, if you figure it out quickly enough, my father is a demon, the demon king of the demon realm. I do not know much about him...but let’s just say I don’t like the things I heard about him. It’s a wonder of how my mother and father met, a story long forgotten and only kept between the two of them, but I was the end result of their strange love. And from what I discovered here, my birth was the reason why you banished my mother out of your kingdom. I hate you for that, and I still very much do. All because I ended up being welcomed to the world.”

“Eosfóros...” Ishmael mumbled his name.

“If you are going to apologize, don’t bother. I never asked to be born in the first place but here I am, causing all sorts of troubles. ...That’s all in the past. As if now, I think you owe me something I been working so hard to get, Ishmael,” Eosfóros hissed, suddenly in anger. The mention of the past was bringing some sort of hidden anger he kept inside. The man took a step forward towards Ishmael. “I got you the boy, who is already walking on the road to restore the El. I gave you a solution in case you were ever to die, Ain being the one to take your place. I have done so many other countless things under you just for one seal. I think I am really deserving of it too after losing a fucking arm. So please Ishmael, follow the deal and give me what I worked for.”

Everyone was still quiet, unsure how to react to Eosfóros words. Xavier had a trouble time to even think. So he was really from a different dimension after all. Yet, that means he wasn’t meant to meet the dragons here in the first place. Eosfóros changed his fate somehow and gave him someone’s else to walk on. Xavier stared at Ishmael, wondering what she will do.

“...in the end...a failed mission is a failed mission.....Eosfóros, I think it is fair if I only ask you this, as my last request. Please continue to help the humans if you can...and to look after Xavier,” Ishmael said to him quietly.

“I don’t have any plans to put him in danger, he will be safe. As for the humans...” Eosfóros glanced at his missing arm. “...I’ll see what I can do for them. You have my word.”

“Eosfóros...my main reason why I took you in was because I was hoping to heal your heart. I knew you were damaged when we first met and I was sincerely hoping to help you,” Ishmael sighed, raising up a hand. With a flick of a wrist, a talisman appeared in front of Eosfóros, an old amulet with black and red colors. Eosfóros relaxed after seeing the amulet and he took it carefully. “Eosfóros...I will be the one giving you the final judgment. I hereby banish you from my kingdom. Your immortality will be stripped away, but that shouldn’t be so much of an issue thanks to your bloodline. Same goes for your wings, you won’t be able to fly as often now but they’ll still be there,” Ishmael said, getting up from her throne and stretching out a hand towards Eosfóros.

Eosfóros slightly fell over when he felt the powers of the El leaving his body, his eyes going to a duller shade as his clothes shifted to a different style. He noticed it was the same clothes he wore when he first met Ishmael. After she was done, he slowly got back up on his feet and put on the talisman. There wasn’t much of a change from him besides the clothes, rather a black leather jacket with a loose gray shirt along with black pants and leather combat boots. He took a moment to slowly pick up his sword that was left behind and held it up for Ishmael to take back.

“...no...that isn’t mine to take back. It was your mother’s and now it is yours. Believe me when I say this Eosfóros but...I did not enjoy banishing your mother. She was indeed, a great and beautiful woman. Im sorry that this is what it turned out in the end,” Ishmael said to him. Eosfóros blinked a couple of times and slowly nodded his head. He sheathed away his sword.

“I pray that the angels won’t bother me now?” Eosfóros questioned, gesturing everyone in the room.

“That...was also part of the deal. As long you won’t warm the children of the El...they won’t bother you,” Ishmael sighed.

“What about Pryor? He is my dragon after all,” Eosfóros asked, though he was ready to leave.

“For now, Pryor will stay here with me but I’ll give Xavier access to him. That’s the least I can do for now.”

“...very well,” Eosfóros said, somewhat okay with the answer. He got what he wanted anyways, Pryor will come in later.

“You will be escorted out and back to Elrios. I wish you luck and happiness in the end, Eosfóros,” Ishmael said as she wave her hand for the guards to show him out.

Eosfóros wanted to say something at those last words but he bit his tongue and only nodded his head. The guards, with small hesitation, reached down to Eosfóros and escort him out of the room. Xavier watched him leave and he realized he have many questions for himself to ask to the man. Ishmael did say that he will continue to look after Xavier, but without the use of a sword? Either way...he still can talk to him in the end.

After that, Ishmael dismisses the angels for the day.


MementoDei MementoDei
 
Phantom and Xiopetec
​
It was one week of damage control for the two healers. Phantom and Xiopetec pulled every which way as the injured were finally accounted for and able to be treated. Xiopetec noticed that it was wearing Phantom down as she made note of him socializing less with the patients. HIs bedside manners remained the same, but once he was done treating the patient he would say his goodbyes and move on to do something on his own whether it be to take stock of the medical supplies or feed Komodo, or other times the priest would just silently move on to the next patient.

When the pair finally called it a day when it came to working with patients, Xiopetec walked with Phantom before she grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to her taller frame as she forced them both to stop.

"What?" Phantom asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked up at his goddess.

She gave a sinister grin, her gold eye glimmering with mischief. A perk of being a healer for the army? Getting paid for the services (even though it wasn't much but between her and Phantom they made enough). Xiopetec pointed to the door of a storefront. "A new outfit is overdue for you, child," She answered before tugging her priest along.

"Seriously? Now?"

"Yes, now." She looked over her shoulder to give a pointed look before she opened the door and pushed Phantom inside.

The priest looked at the home little shop. The walls covered in rolls of fabric and a counter with scattered pin cushions all over its surface along with some rouge needles and spools of thread. A man with wild gray hair poked his head from behind the counter, almost making Phantom jump in surprise.

"Oh! Hello!" The man cheered in greeting as he stood up straight and grabbed a couple of pin cushions, "Who's the lucky one itching for some tailoring?"

"That'd be this one here," Xiopetec answered as she put a hand on her priest's shoulder and gave a purposeful squeeze.

The man nodded. "Just a moment then? I'll have to find my wife to help me get you all set. Please, have a seat! Or wander about and get the colors you want in order." He motioned to the four chairs lined up against the far back wall of the shop, the only wall that was bare and held a mirror to look upon a small circular stage of sorts.

The pair nodded as the man left and Xiopetec made her way to the wall on the left to browse the fabric while Phantom was standing nearby, not quite in the mood to sit.

"What's the motive for this?" The priest asked.

"No motive. I just want you to get some handsome clothes while we still the moment to breathe," Xiopetec answered with a flippant wave of her hand.

"Xiopetec."

"Why aren't you in jail?" Her gold eyes went from the fabric to her priest's face in a quick movement, "You were arrested weren't you?"

"The ones who arrested me died. And I'm not gonna tell anyone about it."

Xiopetec hummed as she moved to the right wall. "How did they die?"

"Archers. I was bound and couldn't heal them..not like I wanted to anyway. They were despicable men. Deserved what they got."

"So you do have a mean side, child." The goddess finally turned to face Phantom. "But there's more than what you're telling me."

Phantom made a confused face. "What do you mean?"

"Alright! What can we do for you?" A woman asked, her graying brown hair coming undone from its messy bun as she bustled into the shop from what the pair assumed to be a backroom with her husband in tow.

"I'm getting new robes apparently," Phantom answered.

"That's very doable sir," The woman assured as her silver-blue eyes gave the priest a critical eye, "So you need to strip down to your underclothes so my husband and I can do your measurements properly."

"Right here?"

"No-no, we have a room in the back that you can change in," The man answered as he motioned to where he and his wife entered the shop.

"Can you keep the old robes?" Xiopetec asked.

The woman made a small, disgusted face. "With all due respect, we can't. If you don't wish to keep the original robes then we'll burn them."

"Perfect. Now off you go, child."

The man took a double-take. "Wait... you're his mother?"

Phantom started laughing as he walked into the back room.

Xiopetec snickered. "Of sorts. I've been taking care of him on our travels so you can say I've become something like a mother."

"A full grown man still needing to be taken care of. I assumed you two were in a relationship."

"Harold!" The woman snapped.

Harold's face grew red and he bowed his head in shame. "Sorry Petunia," He muttered.

Phantom walked on to the stage, placing his worn boots beside Xiopetec on the way as he stood adorned in only his boxers.

"Now," Petunia announced with a clap as she grabbed a roll of white cloth, "Let's get your measurements in order. Harold, get the colors ready."

"Oh I have quite a few picked out already."

Phantom heaved a sighed as he dealt with the obnoxious amount of time it took for him to be poked with needles as fabric was wrapped around him and holding his breath as Harold would cut the fabric to fit the priest properly while Petunia would use the pins to hold the fabric in place and mark where to sew. He mostly ignored Xiopetec's orders about how she wanted the robes to look like, only chiming in when she asked for his opinion on something. Then he hand to change back into his old robes while he and Xiopetec waited for the couple to sew the new robes together in the back room.

"What did you mean earlier?" Phantom asked, twirling the bracelet on his wrist.

"Just because I'm not in your head anymore doesn't mean that I can't read you like an open book," Xiopetec pointed out as she tapped his temple, "Even though it is significantly different-more frustrating really-and I can't sift through your thoughts anymore, I know that you're not telling me the full story, child."

"And if I don't want to tell you?"

"I can't force you, but I do want to know why you're acting weird so I can help you, child."

Phantom stared at his goddess for a moment before staring intently at the roll of an ugly yellow fabric on the wall across from him. "I was already arrested once. I don't want to deal with it again....on top of feeling like I wasted the training because I'm being forced to heal people and a lot of those people think that I'm just around to use at their expense. I mean, I love healing people and making others feel better but...I'm more than that."

"Well, you are able to say no. There are other healers around that can definitely pull some more weight. You're not obligated to help everyone when you're at your limit, child."

The priest nodded and he rested his head on her shoulder. "And...I am confused too...not all demons are bad. I healed a couple of them and they were really grateful, then there's-you know."

"Empathy is your strength and your weakness. Child, I understand your struggle but believe me when I say that you're better off thinking that they're all bad. You have a deal to fulfill, you have a duty to this army. If you want to abandon that duty, I'm here for you. And I'll be beside you to help you with your end of the deal with him."

"But...won't that make me a bad person if I hurt those who are innocent?"

Xiopetec sighed and wrapped an arm around her priest and pulled him close as she kissed the top of his head. "You're not a bad person, child," She chuckled, "But I'm extremely biased with my answer. You do have other friends to talk to. Maybe Lento can offer some perspective."

"Alright! Sorry for the wait but here we are!" Harold announced, holding a folded pile of robes in his arms.

"I'll help settle the payment for the robes," Petunia chimed in on her way to the counter.

Xiopetec nudged Phantom off of her pointed to the backroom. "I'll take care of the payment with our salary. Go change out of those awful robes."

Phantom rolled his eyes but obeyed his goddess anyway. It only took a minute or two before he stepped out in his new robes. The base color was black and Xiopetec decided to have the robes be high-collared this time so his neck wasn't in view, and the collar was trimmed in fuschia, and the fuschia trim followed the sleeve covering his right arm and decorated the sleeveless left side of the robe. The priest opted for robes that were shorter and didn't have a lot of fabric moving about, so there wasn't that piece of fabric that usually decorated his waist and hung between his legs. Instead, it was a top that flared out a bit, the fabric ending mid-thigh, with a fuschia fabric sewn underneath to give the impression that the robes are reversible. The pants were a dark color, not quite black but when Phantom moved in the light, the pants would almost shimmer with green, Xiopetec paying a little homage to Phantom learning the nature element with a color that didn't take away from the dark color scheme she was aiming for. The priest also threw up the dark grey hood, feeling the smooth fabric before letting it down and smiled at his reflection, giving a nod.

Xiopetec grinned and with a very flamboyant farewell, she and Phantom left the shop and strolled to the outskirts of Velder where they usually camped out.

"You're not going to search for Lento child?" The goddess asked, tilting her head.

"No...I'm actually gonna pray for a bit. If he or anyone else needs me they know where to find me," He answered and he sat on the ground, crossing his legs and looking up at his goddess, "What are you gonna do?"

Xiopetec sat down beside her priest. "I'll sit with you....it has been awhile since you prayed to me and it has been forever since I sat with a follower of mine while they prayed." She ran a hand through his hair, giving a small hum as the white dye was slowly fading back to the original black color. She didn't say anything as Phantom closed his eyes and started to mutter under his breath.
 
Lento​

His conversation with Darhan had left him thinking a great deal. The angel's end goal was fair, but some of his ideas seemed a bit too extreme, even o However, Lento had to deal with other things during the week the angel had stayed with them. One of them was reestablishing a defence line, or rather retreat the guards to give up the third residential district to the demons. Thankfully, a group of adventurers was slowly taking it back.

With Rain, Yullr and Alec gone, Elesis injured, Lento was not sure anymore if he could manage to keep his promise to Lara. By a windy friday evening, Yullr came back with Alec, mildly injured.

"Yullr, what happened? Where were you?" He asked to his friend as he walked towards him.

Yullr sat down near the infirmary and took some bandages to cover the wounds over his hands. "I took care of the demon's plans. Part of them, at least. This Nasod here helped me a lot."

Alec nodded, and the El core inside him changed from a light blue to purple in the blink of an eye before returning to its normal colour.

"Did it get damaged?" Lento asked, frowning at the change he saw seconds ago.

"Demonic energy seems to be bad for his circuits, but he had the maps. I had to bring him along."

"What kind of demonic energy?"

Yullr looked at his bandages and tied them closer to his skin. "Didn't commander Elesis inform you? I accompanied this Nasod to spiritual graves the demons will use to revive a Nephilim. They won't be able to revive the Great Nephilim, but some weaker version of it."

"Commander Elesis is still recovering from her wounds. What exactly is a Nephilim, Yullr?"

The elf sighed. "Long story short, dark elves were driven to war multiple times and our gods are to the image of those old times of struggle. The Great Nephilim is our patron, the god that will destroy all our enemies with its power. I can't say I've witnessed one of his manifestations on this realm, but some that prayed to him ended up dead, sacrificing their lives for power. It's a spirit we shouldn't even let be revived."

Lento lowered his head, closed his eyes and crossed his arms. The battle would only get even fiercer from now on. He continued to ask Yullr about the powers of the Nephilim, but as they walked away to the headquarters, Alec went away on his own towards a signal he had never detected before.

****
Eve
​
The moment Moby detected another Nasod nearby, Eve had hoped to find it soon, but the battle in the 3rd residential area had left her with no choice but to take all her companions to battle. Once they made it back, she had lost trace of the Nasod Moby detected. It was as if it had vanished into thin air.

This left her feeling what Rena had helped her identify as "sadness". It was not a great amount of "sadness" to interrupt her normal functions, but it was present in 5 percent of her background processes. Rena was discussing for a new strategy to use against the demons in the 3rd residential district.

"The data I collected from combat suggests that the biggest demon present in Residential Area 3 is weak to projectiles and magical attacks. I noticed that Raven's Revolver Cannon did more damage than your kicks, Rena. However, I suggest further research to truly identify which kind of magical attacks it is more vulnerable to. My Electrical attacks seemed to have a 10 percent less impact on it, but Oberon's rapid cuts had only a 5 percent less efficiency than my own attacks."

As the Nasod Queen was about to show a map of the area, when Moby informed her that the same Nasod had returned. Eve looked up and saw a humanoid combat Nasod standing a few steps away from her group.

"Identify your code, please." she asked.

The Nasod's eyes changed briefly colour to a dark blue shade, which made Remy a bit more hostile towards him. Eve stopped her black drone from attacking the newcomer.

"M-My name is Alec. I-it's rare to see so many other Na-Nasods around. I t-thought I was the only one."

His voice was glitching out, and his left leg was barely anything more than an skeletal structure of metal. Eve searched her database and found, to her surprise, Alec's origins.

"You...are part of the Nasod Guardians. Code: Alec. Moby, Remy, please analyze his systems and proceed to repair him urgently."

Alec was surprised to see the small drones hover around him and slowly restructure his leg and scan his body.
Phant0m Phant0m Fume Fume
 
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Xavier​

“Well, here’s the key to him.”

Xavier was given a key to Pryor’s cage. Apparently it works anywhere he goes but there was a certain schedule he needs to follow if he wants Pryor out.

“Besides that, just try your best to support the humans against the demons and don’t get too much a deep of trouble,” the angel explained to him with a small shrug. “Your wounds are practically healed too so best of luck to you.”

“Thanks...” Xavier said as he put away the key.

They already kicked Eosfóros right on out of here. Xavier was somewhat glad to get a hold of his book before all this happened. They opened up a portal for him to leave as he was a set to go and Xavier went ahead to go through it. He was right back in Elrios, a bit away from Velder but just in the safe zone.

He waved his final goodbye behind him before the portal closed and took a look around, wondering where Eosfóros is. He figured the man returned back to Velder as he started to walk towards the city yet Xavier saw him sitting on a tree stump. It looks like he was thinking, his eyes being closed and a hand tapping on his knee rapidly.

“Hey,” Xavier greeted, trying to get his attention.

Eosfóros opened his eye and looked up to see Xavier. He lightened up and stand up from his seat.

“Ah you fina-“

Xavier didn’t bother to let him talk anymore than two words as he landed a roundhouse kick on his chest. Eosfóros fell back from the attack, grunting in surprise and in pain.

“...okay, I know a deserved that,” Eosfóros grumbled as he tried to get up. Yet Xavier stomped on his chest to force him back down. “...that too,” the man coughed. He had to wait for a moment as he expected another hit but Xavier stared down at him with a plain look in his eyes. Eosfóros started to sit up now but at the right second, he received a knee to the face and his nose started to bleed. “DAMN IT, XAVIER!”

“Sorry, I just had to,” Xavier huffed as he was now done and went ahead to sit on the tree stump. “There are many more I want to do to you, but, I can let it slide if you give me answers.”

“If it’s related to your original dimension, then that is something that you need to keep to yourself. I’ll be happy to give answers anyways, you are deserving of them,” Eosfóros sighed as he finally got back on his feet, holding his stomach and spit to the side. “Well...ask away...”

“I think I already figured out who you talked with to get me here...I rather not ask how you did it. Probably another deal you struck with Glave,” Xavier sighed as he remembered how Perkisas wanted to find the man so they can return back home. “I guess...I’m just curious about...I’m just curious about the other dimension.”

“Is this about trying to figure out who your parents are?” Eosfóros questioned him. Xavier didn’t say anything to that but he shrugged his shoulders. “Well, different dimension but still got the same people. I’ll just go straight forward about this. Your father was Elsword Sieghart, a knight of Elrios. He is able to use the power of the El, just like you. It’s an ability that has been passed down for years from the very beginning. Its rare as if now, too rare. In this dimension however, Elsword hasn’t gotten much far enough as he met his end in...here actually. Velder. This happened a good while ago though.”

“So this is a long struggle in Velder between the humans and demons...” Xavier mumbled, scratching the back of his head.

“Now for your mother, she is very much alive here and funny enough, you enjoy hanging around her,” Eosfóros said with a light chuckle.

“Who...oh.”

“Aisha Landar. That’s where your magnificent elemental magic comes into play. I guess putting the two together makes a rather explosive child. Though, I don’t mean that figuratively.”

“What you mean by that...?” Xavier questioned, feeling a bit embarrassed after knowing who his mother is now.

“Well, before I even snatched you, I was able to see what kind of child you are. And, my El, you really do enjoy getting into trouble,” Eosfóros chuckled. “Every so often, there is a mess to clean up after you and honestly I feel like I did your parents a favor after taking you away. You just have a different aura compare to everyone else, you see things differently that no one else would understand. Also, your curiosity is no laughing matter.”

“I see...so I was really a burden.”

“Well, you may have a lot of struggle on trying to control your magic. You’re balancing between fire, ice, and electric. Electricity isn’t even easy to begin with. Though...your compassion for animals is interesting,” Eosfóros said. “You kept trying to befriend a lot of strange creatures, some known to be dangerous. You even persuaded your friends. It didn’t turn out to be the bad choice as a few actually earn some animals respect in the end.”

“So...what was the last thing that happened?” Xavier asked.

“A dragon issue. Your parents went off to take care of it but you kept insisting them to not hurt the dragon. Of course, you didn’t know much about Perkisas back before. You ended up following after them, and managed to avoid a lot of things. I think there was actually something going on with Perkisas at the time but I can’t remember to much. In the end, your parent’s lives were in endangered and you step right in to distract Perkisas. A stupid and bold move. That’s when I had to grab you out of there and Perkisas ended up going along with you, only because how close you two were.”

“Huh...” Xavier mumbled and he stayed quiet. He can feel Perkisas tuning in the conversation and yet haven’t said a word yet. Though he did felt the dragon’s amusement for hitting Eosfóros around. The greed dragon was just strangely quiet.

“...so yeah, that’s how you end up here. As a baby really, I guess grabbing you like that force you to go back a couple of years but that’s all in the pass. Since you loved mythical creatures, I put you to be raised by dragons. Not bad on my part,” Eosfóros said with a sigh. “...oh yeah...you have an aunt too. Elsword’s sister, Elesis. You already know she is alive here too, yet you spoke few words with her. Let’s just say that Elesis is...a magnificent beauty, a hero to all knights. In this dimension, she is different but still the same Elesis. I think if you talk with her often, you’ll probably feel something out of if like how you feel around Aisha. Which is love. So...just don’t tell anyone about this. It’s not their concern of how things might turn out if Elsword was alive here. Or...whatever the case is from where you came from,” Eosfóros mumbled.

“Okay...okay, I guess that fills my...curiosity,” Xavier said, starting to stand back up. He looked over to Velder and let out a sigh. “Alright, lets get back in there.”

“Um...you want to go back there?” Eosfóros questioned as he looked over at the town.

“Yeah? What’s wrong?”

“...before that damn sprite cut off my arm, he spout out some truths about me. Elesis was there and...I don’t know, I just don’t feel comfortable going back so quickly,” the hybrid grumbled.

“Come on, I know most of the truth about you. It’s not going to be that bad,” Xavier said as he pushed Eosfóros to get moving.

“Maybe a slap in the face or a sword in my gut? I’m sorry but...I feel like this could be worse. Those who I love ended up being dead.”

“Wait...you love my aunt? When the fuck this happened???”

“I, well, um...I just got attached.”

“You knew who my aunt is and now you’re already kissing up to her?!”

“I only kissed her hand! Nothing more than that!!”

“God damn it, Eosfóros!”

“WHY ARE YOU GETTING MAD OVER THIS?! SHE IS NOT YOUR AUNT IN THIS DIMENSION!”

After a good yelling or two, and lots of hits as well convincing from Xavier to Eosfóros, he gave a reason for him to go to Velder. Mostly because Xavier has been beating him up and Eosfóros nose kept on bleeding, so he needs some healing. Together they walked to Velder, and even passed by Phantom and the nurse in which Eosfóros mouthed a few words in silence when they walk past by them.

At the very least he was being respectful by being quiet, but the way Eosfóros was pointing at the nurse as if there was something wrong. After they were out of the range, Eosfóros look again at Xavier.

“Do you know that nurse? I been getting bad feelings out of her ever since she touched my leg,” Eosfóros hissed.

“What...oh...! Wait, how is your leg?” Xavier asked as he looked at Eosfóros.

“Fine. Im lucky enough it healed fine before Ishmael stripped my angelic powers away. I can still heal but...I’m up to human speed.” Eosfóros was cracking more humor than Xavier would thought. Or maybe he was just nervous.

They made it back in town and Komodo ran up to Xavier right when he stepped a foot in. Xavier smiled at the happy dragon and ruffled with his head around. Eosfóros only look around nervously and he turn to Xavier.

“Is...my nose still bleeding..?”

“No but you need to wash up. You look like a bloody mess.”

“I don’t understand why you didn’t try to help me to stop it...”

“You deserve it, or you need another one just to let it sink in?”

“Fine fine, I’ll go and wash up. Just don’t do anything stupid while Im gone,” Eosfóros huffed as he start to walk away, fumbling around with one of his sleeves of his coat as it got no arm to fill in. He went off to look for a place to wash up as Xavier continued to play around with Komodo for a bit longer.

Xavier eventually wanted to check how the injured were doing. Last he heard, Aisha did almost got impaled all the way through from the shoulder. It was something that the healers had a trouble to get around with but he heard they were making progress. Xavier head on over to the infirmary tents to check it out with Komodo chasing after his tail.
 
Xiopetec and Phantom
​
Xiopetec watched out of the corner of her eye Xavier and Eosforos pass by on their way into Velder before elbowing her priest. Phantom cracked open his snake eye.

"What?" He asked in a tone that is on the edge of being snappy before he sighed and opened his other eye.

"Oh don't be pissy about the interruption," Xiopetec clicked her tongue, "You were dragging that prayer long enough. Xavier and that angel just passed by."

"And?"

"Well, child. Go talk to Xavier. Didn't you miss him?"

"I mean...yeah but-"

"But nothing. Talk to him. Say hi. Ask him how he's doing."

The priest facepalmed and groaned. "Please don't tell me you're doing what I think you're doing, Xiopetec."

"For the love of me, go talk to the damn boy!" Xiopetec stood and pulled Phantom up by his arm and gave a go hard shove in Xavier's direction.

The priest managed to not trip, threw a glare over his shoulder at his goddess before following after the pair. Once they reached the infirmary tent, Phantom had to pick up the pace catching up to Xavier and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Xavier, how's it going?" He asked with a nervous chuckle.

Late Late
 
Xavier
​
Xavier was about to walk inside the tent where Aisha was until he was stopped by Phantom. Komodo perked up when the priest approaches and glanced back and forth between the two men. Xavier realized who it was and only let out a short sigh.

“Phantom. Nice to know that you’re fine,” he mumbled. “I never got the chance to thank you for looking after the dragons, specifically Komodo. So, thank you.” Xavier paused for a moment. “You don’t have to take care of them now, I’ll be here from now on,” he huffed.

Xavier continued inside the tent though Komodo looked up at Phantom as if expecting the priest to follow after him. He even chirped at the priest and took a few steps forward after Xavier before looking back.

Meanwhile Xavier reached over to Aisha’s bed and noticed her reading a book with a box of apple juice in her hand. She looked up when she noticed him and gave him a small smile.

“Hello Xavier...oh, hello Phantom,” Aisha greeted them, causing Xavier to look to see that Phantom followed him in. He only gave a slight annoyed look before looking back at Aisha.

“How you feeling?” Xavier asked.

“Well...better but I still feel some pain coming back at my shoulder,” the mage replied and smiled when Komodo rested his head on her lap to be petted on. She didn’t ignore his wishes and gently started to pet the dragon’s head.

“Ah. Phantom, think you can make that pain go away?”

“Ah, I don’t think it would bother me too much. Healers do need their rest after all-“

“Well, you have been moving around often. I’m sure you’ll feel happy when the pain is gone,” Xavier replied. “So Phantom, if you may.”

“Oookay,” Aisha said, unsure if she should bother arguing back as she closed her book and put it to the side. She winced in pain. “I s-swear its nothing! I am probably just using this arm too much.”

Phant0m Phant0m
 
Darhan​

After Eosfóros' trial, things seemed different. Of course, he was allowed to go pretty much anywhere, but something about the other angels around him seemed off. He walked down the underground gardens and caught a glimpse of Ren. Instead of her combat armour, she wore a vividly blue dress where arabesques and golden roses crawled from her waist up.

Over her right shoulder, a long forest green scarf hung a black and gold dragon towards her uniform blue skirt. Ren's hair fell like a curtain over the dragon's lower body. The exotically dressed angel was cutting up some crystal-like roses.

"There are more than last year." Darhan said.

Ren glanced at him and nodded. "Yes. It's as if they're relieved. But what for? I wonder."

The female angel got up with a basket full of roses and she walked towards the South gate, the same gate that lead to all labs. Darhan followed her and she continued to speak.

"It's hard every time to see people go. With his mother too, it was hard."

Darhan nodded. "Decisions like that must be always hard for Ishmael."

"I wonder why she only left one out. Maybe out of mercy. But it might be your last streak of luck."

The elf frowned as he pushed the door open for Ren to pass.

"I am not a traitor, Ren."

The warrior nodded to thank him. "Your rationale behind your allegiance is admirably clear."

She took a few roses and put them in vases; the plants' glow replaced the crystal torches. "But I'm afraid that it might be otherwise for your emotions."

Darhan sighed and made his way towards his lab. Ren grabbed his sleeve and his large steps came to a halt before they picked up their angry pace.

The elf turned around and Ren offered him a crystal rose. "For your lab. It must be hard to work without seeing nature for a long time."

Something about her smile made him slightly uncomfortable. Or maybe it was the gift itself. He took the flower and looked at it.

"...usually, it should be the reverse. No, it wouldn't be ok. This-" Darhan mumbled.

"What do you mean, the reverse?" Ren tilted her head, visibly curious and confused.

"What do roses represent, Ren?"

"Hmm...Nature, life, the Divine. It can be all of that, Darhan."

The elf raised an eyebrow. "Interesting. Anyway, thank you for the gift."

Ren nodded with a smile and walked down the rest of the aisle, leaving a trail of divine beauty at each door.


He took his leave soon after seeing her go; he disappeared behind a heavy metal door. Darhan put the rose to the right edge of his desk and began to work.

****
Ain​

He had finished his training lessons more than an hour ago. Quite frankly, he was growing tired of the somptuous solitude that the walls around him offered.

The only thing left to quench his thirst for freedom was the underground garden. Specially the South Garden, where El Roses bloomed.

The prince dashed down the stairs, but his rush was toned down by other angels and his growing fatigue. There were still a hundred stairs that separated him from the gardens. Ain was growing impatient, so he decided to fly down to the ground floor by jumping out of an open window.

Because this was one of his habits, nobody batted an eye. The young prince touched then one of the teleporting stones that led to the South Garden. The beauty of the place always astounded him.

Plants hung from chains of mana, their leaves overflowed from their vases into a graceful green cascade. Small white lilies bloomed to his right and daisies to his left. Everything was placed to give an atmosphere of peace many had come to appreciate. Some played checkers under gazebos while others roamed around the stone paths that divided nature herself. As he walked by, he saw Ren drinking a glass of iced tea by herself on a wooden bench.

"Ah, you're Ren, right?"

The green-haired woman turned towards him and got up before bowing. "My prince. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Ain chuckled, feeling a bit awkward to be treated so formally. Maybe he'd get used to it later.

"No, no. I only came here to relax, really. It feels a bit odd to be called prince sometimes."

Ren blinked, as if he had said something in old pthumarian, but she quickly replied an "ok".

"May I sit here?" Ain asked, pointing to the bench. The Warrior smiled for a second before getting a bit further to the left so Ain could sit.

He let out a long sigh and stretched his arms.

"Are you tired, Ainchase Ishmael?"

Ain glanced at her with a smile that was closer to a grimace. "Ain is fine."

Ren was again taken a little by surprise by this, but she nodded. Ain closed his eyes for a second before looking at the artificial evening sky over their heads.

"It's odd. I mean, for most people it must be odd to just call me by my nickname instead of Prince or fancy stuff. I don't like it."

"I can not imagine that anyone here would do that at first, my -I mean- Ain."

The prince chuckled. "Two people here do. The first is of course my mother, and the second is Darhan. It's really odd. Him, the most stern-ooking guy around here calls me Ainchase or Ain all the time."

Ren was only midly surprised by this. Darhan did seem to have gotten close to Ain during his mission.

"Which reminds me," Ain continued, "Why is everyone whispering insults at him? Aren't they all also people that can feel? I've never loved anyone in a romantic way, but if I ever had to kill someone I know, of course I'd be sad! And if a friend came to taunt me, I'd also be mad! Are people all...hmm, what's that word of people that say something and act in another way..."

"Hypocrite." Ren calmly said.

Ren thanked her and he repeated the word, trying to memorize it better. The warrior remained silent before offering Ain a glass of tea.

"I think people here understand that...Ain." She said as he took his glass. "The problem is that Darhan is hiding all of that, perhaps even from himself. And that can be bad for any angel."

Ain took a gulp and squinted his eyes, looking for an answer. Ren took a deep breath and began to explain.

"Fallen angels exist, as you know. That's common knowledge. But what puts a normal angel into the risk of becoming a fallen angel are what we call mortal regrets. If we begin to resent our past lives and we bottle that up, our frustration taints the El that keeps us alive."

Ain widened his eyes as he swallowed the tea. "That's horrible!" he exclaimed. "Is there any way to stop it or reverse it?"

Ren had a small smirk that vanished in a second. "For Darhan, it is urgent that he talks to someone fast. He has passed already half of the day in that lab of his. Ain, maybe you can talk to him. I tried, but I failed."

Ain got up in one jump and flew towards the labs. Another angel passed by and looked at Ain, then back at Ren.

"What's our prince's hurry?"

"He'll bring Darhan a break. Staying inside for so long is no good."
****​

He was calmly waiting for the Blessed Ore analysis to finish, when a loud bang announced the entrance of a foot.

"WHO THE FU-" The elf cursed in elven as he turned around to see Ain peeking from the entrance.

He put his palm over his eyes and sighed. "I locked that door for a reason, Ain. Double locks. And a chain."

The prince continued to stare at him for long seconds. "Are you feeling funny, Darhan? Are you ok?"

Darhan looked back at the prince. "Yes, I am. You can go now, I have work to do."

The elf turned back to the flasks, which had just tested positive for the presence of Dark El. Instead of the sound of doors closing, Darhan heard the sound of steps getting closer.

Without turning back, he began to dictate his rules for ovservers. "Do not. Touch. A single thing. Those are my things, Ain. To see and to not touch is called respect."

"...That flower is from the garden, though."

Darhan took a deep breath. "Yes. Yes it is."

"....so it's not yours."

The sound of boiling purified water filled the silence as Darhan took a few dried Ruben herbs and mixed it with a few drops of the unaltered mana he had collected from Dust.

He reversed the sand clock again to wait for the right time to add moonstone into the mix. That would test the quantity of Dark El present in Dust's mana.

Darhan yawned and looked for his report book. Meanwhile, Ain got to his side and told him he looked tired.

"Do I? The dead shouldn't have the need to rest, though."

"But it was your first fight back there. Don't push it. If you need something, I can help."

"Last time you did that, a lot of valuable flasks ended up on the floor. Broken."

Ishmael's son chuckled. "Well, I was not exactly referring to alchemy. I know that I'm not good for that and I'm still terribly sorry for what happened that day."

The sand clock was halfway empty and Ain took the chance to speak up. "Hm....so there was this joke I heard the other day. There was this man who..."

If he had been Ishmael, he would have stopped Ain right there. However, Darhan didn't know how long Ain's jokes could be.

The clock turned around the hours, giving Darha enough time to not only test the quantity of Dark El, but to clean up his entire lab for the day and write up half of his report.

Darhan was still waiting for the punchline. He was sure that it was impossible to have missed it. Ain was still describing events with the accuracy of a novel.

Finally, as he finished up his report, the joke ended; not with a bang, but with the lamest number pun he had heard. "So when twenty and nineteen were done fighting. Twenty one. Get it, Darhan?"

The elf stared at him, feeling horribly cheated. All that description of the characters, their appearances, their travels so they could find to some mathematician who kept numbers in a cage to fight one another. All of that was filler. It had nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the final joke.

"Get it? Because twenty won, twenty one...see?"

Darhan chuckled, not at the joke, but at his expectations of an overprotected child. Ain laughed with him and they got out of his lab. It was already past midnight and Darhan left the prince with a bizarre goodnight.

"See you later, Ain. You would've been the perfect student for Homer."
 
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Phantom smiled down at Komodo, following after Xavier into the tent. When Aisha greeted him, he gave a small wave at the mage. He looked over her condition and when she mentioned her arm hurting the priest had considered helping with that.

Until Xavier asked him to do it.

The priest's smile dropped as his snake eye twitched a bit. His hand dropped to his side before he folded his arms across his chest and adjusting the high collar of his new robes.

"I'd like to say that I can help a lot of people, but I don't appreciate that my kindness is being taken advantage of," He said before looking to Aisha, "Aisha if it's just that arm that's bothering you I'd suggest resting it for a bit. The next healer on duty will take care of it later." He looked at Xavier with a frown, his tone getting sharper as the words started to fill with venom. HIs eyebrows scrunched as his frown turned into a sneer. "Or if you're so intent on taking the pain away for her then, by all means, go ahead. Maybe you picked something up while you were away," Phantom waved towards Aisha in an 'after you' gesture before he shrugged a shoulder, "I mean, why should anyone go through any physical pain if there are healers around!" His sneer turned into a smile that gave more of an impression of the priest baring his teeth at Xavier, "Do you want to sprain your tail while you're at it so that you don't need to worry about pain too? Hell, why don't you just go and fuck up your body because that doesn't matter anymore! Nobody needs to be careful because there's always going to be a healer conveniently around to say some pretty words, work some magic, and kiss it all better. Right?"

Late Late
 
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