The room was empty.
All that sat was a large, rusted throne covered in deep and corroded blood. Stains and broken swords lined the floor, Angels don't leave corpses usually… which makes this quite odd, the Angels that have bled here clearly must still be alive.
Demons don't bleed… Humans do, but those swords are of Angelic and Demonic origin…
Dust blurred my vision a bit as my entrance stirred it up, the shifting of the breeze entered my ears as the faint sounds of birds chirping illuminated my ears.
"Hello?" I called out to the empty room, not particularly expecting an answer.
The room slowly faded into a grayish light, and a being stood before me… it was small, no larger than an average human. It had large, beautiful wings that stretched out open with the light illuminating against the shimmering marble feathers.
Soft white hair balanced its head, and bandagings covered its right eye. Soft white robes mixed with gold half-plate armor protected its body, while a shimmering silver Halo protected its head from above… Saying "I must kill...."
"Well, hello!"
"Kill… Kill… Kill..." It replied, drawing a short sword.
Looking at the blade… man, what the hell has happened in the last so-and-so years? Its blade was more like a rusted spoon than a weapon, almost wider than long.
It was literally like a cartoon, its functionality being weaker than anything I've seen in an Angel weapon so far. Sensing the Angel's power...it is only a lesser Angel at most.
It tried to rush at me and cut me in half, but the blade stopped as it reached my body. The scales came outwards and protected my flesh against the weird weapon, a scratch wasn't laid on me.
"I'm not here to fight," I replied uselessly.
"Fight…. Fight… Fight… Fight…" It replied, almost mechanically.
Right. Lesser Angels don't have thoughts or feelings… they only act solely on their instinct, that being to kill monsters. I grabbed onto the blade, crushing its dull edge against the palm of my hand.
"And I wanted to make peace with you all," I murmured, hitting the Angel directly in the gut with a burst of stone and knocking it away from me. The thing hit the wall and cracked open the marble casing, revealing shoddy brickwork underneath.
"Are you truly incapable of free will?" I asked the creature.
"Heaven… Heaven… G…" It shuttered as it fell to the floor… "God… God… God… GO-d-d…"
"Forgive me, your god is not here," I said, finishing it off with a blast of Void energy.
The concussive blast of black ink overtook the Angel, covering it in the veil of dusk… its body collapsed and melted into the blackness, consumed in one certain attack. The black goo retreated back to my fingertip from which it came, slithering up and back into my bloodstream.
"...damn," I muttered to myself.
If only they were capable of intelligent thought, it would be easier to make peace with the Angels… unfortunately, only the higher ranked ones have anything resembling that.
I suppose I'll have to look for a higher up Angel then. Let's start some Chaos, and we'll see if it draws them out.
First, let's see if there are any nearby…
I let out a bit of my monstrous presence, not enough to be even remotely visible to any amount of sensory skills used by a human or demon… luckily, that's all it takes for an Angel to know my exact location even if I were hundreds of miles away.
'Come at me. All of you.' I radiated with my presence.
It took no longer than a minute for Angels to begin bursting down the inside of the building, pouring in through the entryways and carving tunnels through the floor and ceiling. Lesser Angels, all of them.
How disappointing.
"If any of you have free will, speak now or perish."
"Monster! Monster!" One screamed in terror as it rushed towards me, wielding its blade in objective apathy in its expression. Mere mimicry.
Another yelled "Kill! Kill!" Rushing alongside it, wielding a large spear which it intended to run through me.
My scales had another opinion on this matter. The hard, black armor coated my body and protected me from the flurry of blows they unleashed. I stood unphased as their pitiful attacks caused their weapons to break against my skin.
Blasts of Radiant energy hit my side, channeled from what seemed to be caster variants of Angels. Odd, but not far fetched from their mimicries.
I swiped my finger in the air towards them, pushing the dust into solid rock with Alchemical force. In a moment, a set of throwing knives carved from black rocks formed in my hands. Launching them out towards the casters with minimal effort, they pierced through their dull armor and shattered their bones on impact while cutting through the rest of their skin.
I truly appreciate the work that went into this body, I feel so much more powerful. But, I suspect a vast majority of this difference in power stems from the Angel's wielding broken and non-functional equipment.
Well. I'll finish them up sooner or later, but first I want to see if their fighting styles have improved. More continue to pour in, and so I consistently kill enough to the point where only 6 or so remain active at once.
3 Melee, 3 Casters.
Let's log their data the best I can for now.
First, they clearly have no idea how to work together. They run, bump into each other, trip each other, hit each other with attacks… the works.
It's honestly… embarrassing. Even their casters are fucking up tremendously, I sensed one of them tried to HEAL me. I'm just… at a loss for words. In the past even lesser Angels were all premier soldiers, working together with grace and efficiency to match the most well-trained armies.
Just what is going on? Is something wrong with their connection to the Hyper Angel or something?
I don't even need to dodge, not even because their attacks don't hurt me.
What's the point of all this power if it's all so… useless. A normal human could annihilate these fools with a normal sword!
As I mentally note that down, one of them simply walked up to me, and stood there motionless- looking up at me with a simple expression.
I was confused for a moment, then I noticed what layed beyond its eyes… the burning of color that radiated from a soul, I recognized it instantly.
"...hel..help…" It spoke to me.
My heart was instantly captured, I blanketed it with immense shielding from the outside utilizing as much Magic I could, producing a golden barrier that surrounded us.
"...Child, speak now… please… are you aware?" I softly whispered, removing its weapon slowly as I knelt down to be just a smidge taller than it.
"A...Avery…-" It softly whispered back, softly gripping against my clothing- holding onto it with just three fingers. I was shocked as it seemed to almost recognize me.
I scanned it over, its body was practically collapsing- all vital signs were terrible in the outcome. This creature was only kept alive by the power of its SOUL.
"Help…" It whispered.
I noticed the flame slowly dying out from within it, the breath of life that kept it going was now soon about to fall short- I panicked-
Shit- this one may be the solution to this issue, we can truly solve this war with- AH-! First, the Angels…
I scanned all the other Angels within a 50 mile radius in a fraction of a second, no signs of soul detection- shit, I should have done that earlier-
I let out my magic- bringing forth an inferno of white flame that devoured the Angels nearby as I hurriedly activated my teleportation ability to allow us to return home safely in the blink of an eye.
Instantly- I arrived at The Vault, and I stormed off to bring this child, which I carried in my arms, to get medical attention-
I never expected to feel this… TERRIFIED of an Angel dying before, but- if I can save this one… this world… oh, it can be saved alright.