"You. What the hell are you doing? I fed you. I offered you a job!" The words were hateful yet clear as they flowed out of Esme's mouth.
She had not moved an inch since Terran plunged his knife into her back, not even turning around as golden blood streamed down from the wound.
Meanwhile, Terran held his breath, waiting for the results of his surprise attack. He would never throw caution to the wind just because his opponent appeared hurt. This was an angel he was fighting, and while he had swallowed his fear, it didn't mean it wasn't still bubbling in the pit of his stomach.
Slowly, dense white steam started rising from her pristine golden blood.
Terran squinted his eyes, trying to see what was happening. When the steam cleared, all he could make out was milky white skin, perfectly undamaged.
While it was nothing compared to his own, it seemed angels also possessed a sort of healing ability.
Slowly turning around, Esme came to stare directly into the depths of the emerald seas that were Terran's eyes. "Why?" She spat coldly.
Terran nodded toward her back in response, where white feathers were sticking out from her now torn cloak. "Do you need to ask?"
"I see. I guess I'll just have to find another human specimen to fill out my collection. You guys are the most difficult to keep alive. Always getting depressed and offing yourselves whenever I leave you alone."
Kicking off the ground, Esme charged at Terran, a blade of light forming in her outstretched hand.
She was fast, but thanks to the distance, Terran was able to raise his bone knife in defense.
Unfortunately for him, Esme's knife cut through his own as if it wasn't even there before penetrating straight through his chest. The flesh around her blade broiled before slowly incinerating, leaving a gaping hole where his heart was supposed to be.
"So much for my new blessing. I had high hopes, but it appears its offensive power is still weak."
Despite the situation, Terran raised his head to stare back into Esme's eyes, a creepy grin spreading across his face.
He remembered very well the power Gabriel's light blades gave off. While undoubtedly dangerous, in comparison, this blade was a joke.
Esme's face, which had previously only held spite, quickly grew serious. "Who are you?" She asked, not daring to blink as she looked into the hateful eyes that clearly did not belong to someone dead.
"Who am I?" Terran repeated the question, tilting his head in confusion. However, instead of answering the question, he did something unexpected. He turned his back to Esme and walked over to one of the enclosures, tapping on the glass like a kid visiting a zoo for the first time.
"Does a little chicken dare to ask?"
Esme's face immediately went red. "You were thrown to the streets like trash, discarded by your own race. The same race that's only good for cattle to feed our dogs! Mere dog food dares to insult me?"
At this point, Terran couldn't help but let out a light chuckle. She was clearly blinded by rage to not see the flaws in his previously sad excuse to survive. But, of course, he did not point this out and instead continued to insult her. "Can those wings even carry you in the air?"
Terran had no way to know, but he had accidentally hit quite the sore spot. Wings were a symbol of power in the angel community, but in terms of flight, they could only naturally glide at best. Instead, the ability to fly was something that had to be earned, and Esme was far from earning her flight. To add insult to injury, he had clearly insinuated that she was overweight.
At this point, Esme's face was the color of a tomato. However, instead of attacking again, she stood still and repeated her previous question, "Who are you?"
Hearing this, the grin that was already on Terran's face continued to grow.
He had taken a small risk to test something, and it seemed his hunch had been correct.
The idea had sprouted when she talked about her human specimens always dying. It was faint, but there was more than spite in her tone when she made that comment. The slight waver in her voice had reminded him: that she referred to the animals aboard the ark as her art collection.
At the time, he had a firm belief that he was in deep shit. Maybe he was just grasping at straws, but that's what one's mind does when they believe they are in deep shit.
In that moment, Terran's brain had grasped onto a hefty handful of straws, concluding that any rational person would not want to destroy the art collection that they had invested heavily in.
Noah's ark was not something Terran was familiar with. Still, because of his mission and the way he had entered, he assumed it was a space related to Esme's blessing. With this assumption, he needed to test how much control she had over the space.
Killing two birds with one stone, Terran tested how much Esme cared for her art pieces and her relationship with the ark. All he needed to do was position himself in front of the giant elephant exhibit. If she attacked him with her blade, the glass would easily break, and her precious art would quickly get caught up in the crossfire.
If she teleported him back to the city or did anything else to manipulate the ark, that would have also been a win. He would at least be getting more of her cards on the table.
Luckily though, it seemed he had won big. As Esme was not attacking him, it meant the demon in front of him at least cared for something and that her control over the space was abysmal at best.
Terran had found something good, and he was not going to let go.
"System, please purchase Torus's Might."
<100 AP has been deducted from the user's balance. 125 AP remaining.>
Without hesitation, Terran activated Bull's Strength, the skill that came with the F rank blessing.
Not even a second later, his strength stat shot up by 20 points, bringing it from 12 to 32, an increase that almost tripled!
Terran was going to smash into the enclosure! He wanted Esme to fight on eggshells, and bringing forth a jailbreak would achieve just that. If these animals were native to Titan, as he assumed, then they were all likely to be the last of their kind. If Esme accidentally killed them, she would never get another copy of her art back.
As for why Terran had spent his ability points on such a terrible blessing: after tapping the glass, he had gauged that it would be impossible to break otherwise.
"Stop!" Esme yelled as she watched Terran winding up a punch.
However, it was too late. Her only offense was her light blade, but she could not use it while Terran was close to the enclosure.
*Thunk*
Terran's hand hit the glass enclosure, yet unlike his calculations, his hand simply bounced off. He was too weak.
"Hahahaha." It was Esme's turn to break out into laughter as she looked at the teenager staring questioningly at his hand. "I have to admit, your healing is quite something. But unfortunately for you, it appears the rest of your strengths do not measure up."
Slowly, Esme began to walk forward.
With her angelic physique, she was faster and stronger than him. Without the fear that Terran could threaten her precious art, she could simply throw him away before using her holey dagger to kill him. Sure, his healing was impressive, but a powerful blessing like that could only last for so long before their users ran out of mana.
With his plan down the drain, Terran turned back around and readied himself to fight. But no matter how much he prepared, he could do nothing when Esme's hands shot out and grabbed him, throwing him to the open floor away from any enclosures.
Terran blinked, and in the next second, Esme's light blade was back in her hand.
Helpless, Terran could only lay there as Esme plunged the blade back into his heart.
"Fuck F ranked blessings." Terran cursed in his mind as he tried to push her off but to no avail.
With nothing to lose, he tried to focus on his healing and consume the angel's hand with his own body as he had done in previous fights. Yet he was only met with another wall.
The blade of light constantly piercing his heart would not allow him to heal.
"Let's see how long you last," Esme commented while returning the sadistic grin that had been on Terran's face a few seconds ago.
*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
It was at this moment that the ark shook as several large bangs resounded.
Both angel and human paused, raising their heads to look around. Understandably so, after the fight broke out, they had forgotten about the elephants' strange behavior upon Terran's arrival.
The giant elephantine creatures that had previously been docile were all propped up against the wall, standing on two feet while using the other two to bang the glass with all their might. Yet that was not all there was to see as every animal insight was actually going ape shit as they beat against their enclosures.