[My lord, the Clocktower has fallen!]
"I can see that! Where are you now?"
[We're just past Sylven Square! We're pushing back the monsters together with other guilds, but it's gotten easier now! Where are you? I'll bring a team and meet up with you!]
"No, don't! You're too far! Just help the others clean up! I'll talk to you when I'm done here!"
Caelum stared at the rubbles of the city. The giant Clocktower lay sprawled over the buildings and the streets. If there were any survivors in the area until now, he hoped they would not have had the misfortune of dying beneath all this.
He gritted his teeth and glared at the direction the attack came from. It was a ruined building that was once a place of worship, but now has ironically become the stage of a certain demon's grand play of destruction. Caelum and Erta rushed toward the church, or what remained of it.
What awaited them was a demon of about the same size as the troll that Caelum once killed. The demon was so fat that it was a wonder how it was even able to stand on its feet. It had long arms that allowed it to grab the imps that gathered to it and devoured them all.
And as it ate, an orange glow slid down its throat and gathered in its belly where there was an even larger mouth ready to regurgitate everything in the form of tremendous heat energy. This was the origin of that explosive attack that toppled the Clocktower.
"That's a Bulimeus, kin of Belphegor! It's incredibly strong! I'll support you!"
"This is nothing like that Sower! Can we even kill this thing?!"
"If we can't then this city will be ruins in just a few days! From what I saw, the other avatars are too weak! You're the only one that can kill this thing!"
"Thanks for the compliment, but don't expect me to fall for you with just that!"
"Shut up and get ready!"
Caelum tried to ease the tension that has been building up, but even as they were talking, he had already coiled his black wing around himself while using the colourless tendrils to kill the imps gathering around the Bulimeus.
He was recovering and stocking up on energy while also reducing the potential firepower of the large demon. Erta supported him by casting magic that bathed him in gold. Her holy mana fueled her enchantments that burned all demons, undead and malevolent creatures.
"Be careful, Caelum! It's going to move soon!"
In time with Erta's warning, the demon finally moved. It was angry that someone was stealing its food so it reached out with its long arm. Caelum, who was afraid of becoming someone else's food, called back his white wings to focus on his black wing. The black wing uncoiled and shot forward to meet with the demon's hand.
"Kraaaaaaaa!!"
The demon screamed as its right hand exploded from the impact. It seemed that despite its huge body, its arms were rather weak. The golden mana around the black wing greatly increased the effect of the attack and even burned the demon's arm.
Caelum dashed away as soon as he confirmed the hit, retracting his black wing and letting his colourless wing loose on the remaining imps. He had expended a lot of energy for that attack so he wouldn't be able to do the same damage again so soon.
The demon must have also realised this as it now focused on killing him with the other arm. Perhaps in its rage, it swung its entire body, using the centrifugal force to slam its left arm into Caelum with incredible speed. There was no time to dodge so he prepared to lessen the blow with his black wing while jumping back.
"Ward!"
With Erta's shout, a golden barrier surrounded Caelum just in time. The demon's arm crashed onto the barrier and shattered it like fragile glass, but it was enough. The speed and power behind the arm had been greatly reduced and allowed Calleum to slam his black bladed wing onto it, nailing the demon's arm to the ground.
Meanwhile, his white wing rushed toward the shoulder and repeatedly stabbed it, draining its energy by portions at a time until the hole was big enough to rip the entire arm off its body. The sound of flesh being torn apart was music to Caelum's ears, but it was soon drowned out.
"KRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"
A scream louder than the first erupted from the mouth on the demon's belly. A violent red light shone all across the demon's body and gathered toward its belly. It was clear what the demon was about to do. Even the few remaining imps tried to run away despite having tossed themselves into its mouth just a while ago.
"Caelum, get ready! There's no avoiding this! Ward!"
Erta, who had been flying around until now, landed and hugged him from behind. The golden barrier from her spell surrounded them both, but more importantly, her golden aura spread out to cover him as well.
She knew that she would not be able to escape the range of the demon's attack, so she instead decided to concentrate her defence in a smaller area. Whether they survived this ordeal or not, however, will be all up to Caelum.
Caelum, on the other hand, had no leisure to even enjoy her touch. He stared at the Bulimeus with wide eyes, a sudden spark of light flickering in his eyes as he finally realised what he was missing.
Up until now, he had thought of Serenity's energy drain as something like refilling a car's fuel in a gas station. That made him feel an incongruence as it already delved into the realm of Chaos. After all, was stealing something that is not of one's innate nature not Chaos?
But the demon before him was showing him a fundamental law that he had forgotten. Energy cannot created nor destroyed. It can only be transformed from one type to another. And what was life if not a vital energy, an ethereal force of nature that is as fundamental as death.
Chaos exists everywhere, but Serenity could only be perceived from the harmony brought about by Chaos. He thought of the Imaginary Space where the Imaginary Tree stood beneath the glittering void. It was beautiful, yet even that was incomplete without the black water reflecting its image.
The Chaos of existence created the scenery and even the phenomenon called reflection. But only Serenity can bring them all together in a picture of harmony and beauty. Should his power not be the same? If he wielded both Serenity and Chaos, then why can he not become an agent of their proliferation?
His newfound realisation brought many possibilities to mind, but he could only attempt one now. Caelum raised his arms forward and his wings followed suit. Then he brought them together by clasping his hands.
The Wings of Serenity and Chaos met at a single point, coiling around each other until they spread outward into an umbrella of black and white energy undulating behind the golden barrier. Erta was shocked at the amount of power they contained, but even then, the power kept growing.
"GRRRUUUUOOOOOOO!!"
With a long guttural howl, the demon spat out bright red flames that consumed even its own lifeforce. The golden barrier shattered as soon as it was hit, unable to withstand the concentrated power of the demon. However, the umbrella of black and white resisted the flames.
The colourless energy of Serenity continued to absorb the flame, but there was a limit to how much it could hold. It flooded the excess toward Chaos which instead triggered the growth of both. The umbrella expanded and folded outward like a cup to contain the flames.
Serenity that was forcefully grown dominated the absorbed energies from the flames and mixed with the mana and lifeforce that Caelum supplied it with. From there, the cup devoured more of the flames, continuing its seemingly ceaseless growth until the demon could no longer spew out even an ember.
"Grrrrruuu..."
"Yeah… fuck you too, you pig bastard."
The demon could only growl as it died. It used all its life force just to burn them, but Caelum and Erta still stood without injuries. Caelum nearly collapsed, having used up all his stamina and mana. Fortunately, Erta was still hugging him from behind and was able to keep him from falling.
"Good work, Caelum."
"Yeah, you too. Just… let me rest here for a bit."
Erta laid him down on the floor after sweeping away the rubble. Caelum's head rested on her lap. He was already asleep so he could not appreciate the softness of her skin. Erta just smiled as she wiped the blood from his lips. And while stroking his hair, she hummed a lullaby.
'So you are indeed the one I was meant to find, the only one who will be able to help me.'
The area around the church was now torched from the flames. Even the surviving imps that ran away were killed by the heat. In other areas, the Chosen were able to kill every last demon and have begun conducting rescue operations.
In the sky, several helicopters flew. Most were for rescue, but some belonged to the media. They were broadcasting the fight between the Chosen and the demons. Aegon became a battlefield of a scale only seen during the initial stages of humanity's adaptation to the changing world, during the first waves of monster invasions.
The fact that it happened in the capital of the country only reinforced the fact that nowhere was safe. Additionally, the voices calling for greater security for regions with unusually high concentrations of mana like the Eventides had grown stronger.
This incident became the centre of attention in just a single day, and that naturally included the final battle in the church. This was the moment when the world first came to know of the pair of angels, one born of light and the other born of slaughter.