Rewinding time back during when Ange was still eavesdropping on the conversation between Karin and Arthur.
In a nice old house in an old neighbourhood, a wrinkled old man was lying down in his bed. His breath was raspy and short. Surrounding him was his family members, all looking at him with sadness. Some cried, some was holding onto the bedsheets with trembling hands and others just stood still, holding back their intense emotion.
Among them, a man dressed in all black stood out. He was calmly looking at the old man on the bed with his dead eyes, his emotions a mystery.
"It's time to return," Kael said gently to the old man.
Nobody in the room reacted to his words, as if he had never said them. No, as if he was never there. However, the old man on the bed moved his eyes to look at Kael, as if he had heard him.
Kael walked closer to the old man, raising his right hand to cover the old man's eyes. Slowly, he moved his hand to over his chest as a mixed coloured mist flowed out of the old man, gradually gathering in Kael's hand in a misty ball.
Throughout the whole process, various images flashes through Kael's eyes, like a tiny movie theatre. His eyes shook as he watched in silence.
As the misty ball finished gathering, the old man's breath finally stopped. He had breathed his last. Noticing the change, the family members surrounding him cried out in sorrow.
Ignoring the clamour in his surroundings, Kael retracted his hand. He gazed at the colourful mist, the old man's soul, as he whispered gently, "You have done well to live. It's time to return to the Garden."
Raising his left hand, he made a cut in the air with his fingers, causing a small crack to appear. Faint light emitted from the crack as the old man's soul gently flowed through it.
When all of the old man's soul had gone inside, the crack closed up by itself and disappeared. Gazing at his empty hands, Kael sighed and flew upwards, leaving the house.
Once outside, he suddenly sensed something. He whipped his head in a direction and stared intensely, trying hard to focus on the presence he had felt.
"No way... Why would he leave that place...?" He muttered in shock before a feeling of dread kicks in.
Hurriedly, he raised his hand and drew a word, one that doesn't belong to any of the human's languages, in the air. The word shone in white before immediately disappearing. Afterwards, he stood still and kept staring at the direction he had felt the presence from with a frown.
A few moments later, a huge crack appeared next to Kael. From it, a one eyed blond man emerged with a calm and gentle expression.
"What's the emergency? It's rare for you to suddenly call for me like this," Meril asked as he looked at Kael with a gentle smile.
Kael had a grim face as he turned to look at Meril, "I sensed Hewin's soul..."
"Are you sure it's him?" Meril gazed at Kael calmly.
Kael nodded his head, "It's impossible to mistake it. I had his soul marked. But why would he leave the Void? It's the only place where he's safe."
Without a change in his expression, Meril calmly nodded his head, "I think I can guess why. But if it's as I had thought, then we better hurry and find him before he gets to 'her'."
"What do you mean by 'her'?" Kael asked with a confused tone.
"'Her' as in Ange," Meril replied simply. Then, he raised his hand and gave a light whistle.
"What would Ange have anything to do with Hewin? What does he want with her?" Kael asked.
"It wouldn't be anything good. Especially since Ange doesn't know anything," Meril replied ambiguously.
Just then, another crack appeared next to them as a figure emerged from it. Looking neither like a man nor woman, the person shifted their gaze to Meril.
"Meril, we have searched the perimeters and found several 4th class demons lurking around Guardian Angel Ange's house. We have effectively subdued them," The person reported in a calm manner.
"Kriu, get the others inside to guard Ange. She cannot be left alone. The same goes for the girl she's guarding," Meril gave out an order calmly. Then, he turned to Kael and asked, "Where do you sense Hewin is now? From which direction is he?"
Kael closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again, pointing towards a direction, "That way. But he's not moving anymore."
"That's the direction where Ange is..." He added.
"Then we better get there now," Meril replied calmly.
With his words, the three of them flew away rapidly in Ange's direction.
As the two had been talking, a few words in white suddenly appeared in front of Kriu. As they read the words, Kriu's brows creased slightly.
"Meril, the others reported that they couldn't reach Ange. There's a barrier erected in the attic. It's likely she's trapped in there. Additionally, a 3rd class demon appeared in an attempt to take the Trist. Due to only having half of our team in location, thus limiting our fighting power by half, they're all fully occupied with terminating the demon," Kriu said, looking at Meril.
"So there's no one to break down the barrier... How much longer until the rest of the team can get there?" Meril asked.
"In 30 minutes. I'm afraid that it's unlikely they can get there in time," Kriu replied calmly.
"Then we should immediately attempt to break the barrier when we arrive..." Meril trailed off, noticing that the house Ange's guarding was within view.
He turned to Kael and heard him spoke grimly, "Hewin is inside."
When they arrived, they saw some spiritual wreckage left behind from a battle. Several demon corpses was spewed on the ground in a mess. The air was full of negative aura the corpses was emitting, tainting the surroundings.
Such a scene, with so much spiritual damage yet little actual damage, could have only been the work of White Angels. As most demons could cause actual damage to the surroundings, the White Angels always attacks in a fierce manner that makes it hard for the opposing party to cause any actual damage. The White Angels has the ability to nullify and limiting their own attacks. Specifically, attacking and harming only what they want to be harmed. Thus, they had a tendency to ignore their surroundings and just let themselves loose.
Thanks to the White Angels' abilities, any demon with a brain wouldn't use external forces to attack them with, as they would just pass through them without harming the angels. The only thing they can use that can harm a White Angel is by using their own spiritual power.
With most of the demons' attack being at spiritual level and the White Angels' abilities, the wreckage surrounding the house was mostly at the spiritual level, with the actual physical damage dealt being minimal.
Looking around, the three sensed a presence approaching. They turned, noticing a figure in white battle gear coming up. The figure looked like a woman in her 30s. She came up to Meril, reporting, "Meril, the others had taken the battle elsewhere. I stayed behind to guard the Trist. I already dealt with any harmful spiritual remnants of the battle here. All that's left is the demon corpses."
In truth, a spiritual attack is more harmful than a physical one. To a normal person, that is. However, a White Angel is not a normal person. These battle angels are adept at causing spiritual damage and cleaning them up. Whenever a battle takes place, they had to clean up the aftermath thoroughly. Thus, this is just a matter of preference for them.
While the White Angel was reporting, Kael had already flown up to the attic, confirming the existence of the barrier. The barrier was a solid, one which is even more powerful than the ones Kael had used before.
As an Angel of Death, Kael was powerless to deal any actual damage to the barrier. His powers lies in the domain of souls. Unless the barrier was made using a soul, he really couldn't do any substantial damage to it. It's not like the barrier could be broken by beating it up using martial arts. If that was possible, he would have done it already.
Just as he stood there with a frown, feeling miserable by his powerlessness in such matters, he tried to think up ways to break through. Then, he heard Meril's voice next to him, "3rd class barrier... made with specifically dense negative energy. I haven't seen one like this used in years..."
"Can you break it?" Kael asked as he glanced at Meril.
"I can, but it will take time," Meril replied after he thought for a moment. He took out a baton-like thing hanging from his belt as he turned to Kriu and said, "We will bombard the barrier with specialized weapon no.34."
Kriu nodded to his words and took out the same item from their belt. Together, they took some distance from the barrier, about a hundred metres away.
At the same time, they held the baton to their front with both of their hands. White fire flares up from the baton, forming a white fiery cylinder about 1.5 metre long. At the formation of it's muzzle, they shifted it by it's handle to their shoulders, aiming at the barrier.
"Wait, is that... a bazooka?" Kael asked as he looked at the weapon in astonishment.
Meril smiled as he answered, "Yes. The outer appearance is, at least. I find it interesting to make them look like human weapons. We're going to fire now so mind stepping away from there?"
Not wanting to get caught up in the blast, Kael moved away to stand further behind the two.
With nothing blocking the way, Meril fired the first shot, followed by Kriu. The missile shot from the 'bazooka' was a thin fiery white lance. The moment it hit the barrier, it created a shockwave that reverberates throughout the entire house.
Hence, the bombardment of missles ensured. A few seconds in, the other White Angels that was entangled in a battle returned. And they, too, joined in the bombardment.
Under the intense bombardment, cracks gradually started showing up on the barrier. The cracks grew in size until the barrier eventually broke apart, dispersing into fragments as it disappeared.
Following after Meril and Kriu, Kael rushed inside in a hurry. However, what await for them inside wasn't what he had expected. Ange was already gone. All that was left behind was an old broken radio and the traces of a struggle that had ensued there.
Kael fell to the floor as he pounded it fiercely in agitation, "We're too late! Damnit!"
Meril, who was standing next to him, has the same calm expression. However, he too was feeling distraught. "She must have been taken there already. They need her alive to complete their objective. But we need to hurry and get there before they can achieve it."
Kael flinched at his words, "By there, you mean... that place? She won't be able to withstand it's atmosphere! She will 'die' if she stayed for a long period of time!"
Meril nodded at his words, agreeing, "That's why if push comes to shove, we will leave her." He said without much change to his expression, staring straight at Kael in the eyes.
"But that's too..." Kael opened his mouth, wanting to object, but knowing full well the conditions of the Void, he knew that what Meril had said is only reasonable. Thus, he fell silent.
The Void is a place where all the negative energy in the world gathers. In essence, negative energy can be purified but if the rate which it was produced is much faster than it takes to purify it, it will never end. However, it cannot be allowed to stay scattered on earth. Thus, it needed a place to gather. That is the Void, a place in another dimension.
Due to that, the condensed amount of negative energy there became poisonous for all beings except for demons, who was born from it. Any being that entered there will eventually have their souls consumed by the dense negativity, turning them into demons.
In the end, the Void became the home ground for the demons to hide. Riddled with demons and temptations on the souls, the only ones capable of surviving the harsh conditions on the Void is the Pure White Angels.
Meril gazed at Kael silently, his golden eye showed sadness for a split second before returning to normal. He turned to the other figures in the room, instructing, "Search the room. Determine the coordinate where she was sent to. We will depart immediately after."
Then, he walked next to Kael, petting his shoulder, "You know you can't come along right? Why don't you stay here and watch the gate instead?"
"...Alright," Kael replied simply. He knew that if he went, his soul would definitely be overwhelmed by the negativity.
Out of all the different types of angels, the Death Angels has the highest risk of being consumed. Not to mention someone like him, who is an Impure. Impures, in general, all have a high risk as they had once been human. With such horrible combination, a place like the Void is naturally taboo to him.
"Meril, we've determined the coordinate. We will open the gate now. Also, we found traces that a Shrill Awakening was used here," Kriu came over and reported with a still face.
Meril nodded, watching in silence as the others made a fiery white gate in the middle of the room. Before long, a pitch black gate with white fiery rims was created.
"When the other half of my team gets here, tell them to split in half, one to stay here with you and the other half to follow in," Meril said. Before going in, he added with a smile, "Don't worry, I'll do my best to bring her back. I, too, prefer seeing her this way."
Kael stared at his back as he disappeared inside the gate, followed by the other White Angels.
When he was left alone, Kael muttered to himself, asking, "Meril, why does it seems like you've known her before...?"
Of course, his question was meet with silence as he was the only one left.