- “I am ready.” Ethel was the first to speak.
- “Same here.” Lazarus agreed.
- “It sounds hard, but if this is our only choice, I am up for it.” Adelais finally spoke too.
- “Good, in that case we’re ready.” Azrael turned back towards the leaders.
The doors to Hades’ chamber opened at that stage and two dark angels walked in. One of them was Balder, and another Catalina, both of whom were among Helheim’s leading angels. Adelais didn’t know Catalina too well, but he remembered seeing her before. Catalina had long citrine yellow-coloured hair, which were put together in one long braid, and jade green eyes. She was almost as tall as Balder and was a fierce combatant.
- “We came as soon as you contacted us.” Balder said to his mistress.
- “Excellent!” Hel exclaimed, “And now to decide who goes where.”
Chapter 21
Antipathy
In a meantime Malakai was training Aurora in a small open yard of one of the auxiliary barracks in Pandemonium. Aurora noticed that he was particularly harsh during that training session. He always had been a stern mentor, but this time it went to a whole new level.
- “Aurora, this is pathetic.” He insulted after managing to knock her onto the ground.
- “I don’t understand what you want me to do.” She said back, starting to get back up on her feet and grasping her pike with both hands tightly.
- “I want you to hit me so hard that I will fall down and regret it. So far you haven’t even come close.” He clarified to her.
Aurora made a deep sigh and concentrated once more. Malakai patiently waited and stood still with his great sword in his right hand. Then, in a swift motion, Aurora began attacking him once again. Just as before, Malakai was blocking and parrying all her strikes with great ease, barely even putting effort into it. Aurora could very well see that he wasn’t satisfied with her performance. She, however, couldn’t attack any faster. After a chain of attacks she eased back a bit and started to rationalise on further attack strategy. She began considering using her emotion.
Malakai at this instant retaliated and began swinging his blade at her. Aurora dodged the first two swings and then blocked the next three with her weapon. Immediately after, Malakai attempted to make an overhead slash, but Aurora reacted quickly and thrust her pike in his direction. This got Malakai to quickly cancel his attack and to start defending again.
Aurora began putting a lot of passion into her hits. She started remembering all the pain Malakai put her through, all the suffering she had to endure because of his selfish plans. And most of all, she hated how through manipulation he got her to attack the one individual she had strong feelings for. A lot of anger started taking her over, causing her to attack with great power and at the same time great speed. Malakai’s blocks could no longer stop her strikes completely, so he had to concentrate to actually avoid getting hit.
Finally, at the end of a long combination of attacks, Aurora gave a loud war cry and swung her pike with incredible speed, managing to strike Malakai on the side of the head. Immediately she followed it up with another swing. Malakai blocked that one, but just in time and even ended up stumbling back a bit.
- “Excellent!” he complimented, “That was more like it.”
- “Must I always get so angry in every battle?” Aurora wondered.
- “In time it will come naturally to you and you won’t even be aware of it.” Malakai reassured her, looking satisfied with the progress.
At that instant he swung at her sharply without any warnings. Aurora reacted at the last second and evaded the hit narrowly, making sure to take a few steps back in a process.
- “Don’t ever let your guard down.” Malakai warned just as Aurora came back to her senses, “This was only half as slow as I can attack. If I would’ve attacked at full speed, you would’ve gotten decapitated.”
- “I got it.” Aurora showed her understanding, once again feeling irritated with Malakai, but realising that this was necessary for her training.
- “Let’s continue then.” He finally said after a brief pause, “See if you can hit me again.”
Aurora agreed to it and they continued the intense training. Aurora tried once again to use her rage and aversion to Malakai to deliver powerful and unexpected strikes. She made a lot of progress over last few interims and was learning fast.
Their training session was going for a while now and they did not notice how fast the time went by. Aurora began practicing telepathy there. Malakai wanted her to get better not only at fighting, but in her special ability too. This time they were practicing more on keeping the mental link for as long as possible. So far she hadn’t managed to keep the telepathic connection for a long time, and so Malakai was eager for her to improve.
- “You have to keep pushing yourself to the limits, Aurora. It’s the only way your special ability will improve.” Malakai enlightened her.
- “I am trying, but I am exhausted now. Whenever I try, I get very dizzy.” Aurora admitted.
Malakai was about to tell her to try a little harder, but a messenger came up to him, interrupting him completely.
- “What?” he turned sharply towards the messenger in his usual annoyed manner.
- “Master Lucifer requires someone to go to the Abyss sector and to oversee the creation of more demons for further attacks.”
- “Do I look like someone who undertakes such a task?” Malakai asked irritably.
- “Generals Alastor and Eligos are currently waiting for a meeting with Lucifer, so they asked you to do this.” The messenger explained further.
- “Fine then. I guess I’ll go and bore myself to death. Aurora, come with me.” Malakai decided to obey for now.
Aurora and he re-entered the barracks from the yard and began making their way out through its front entrance. Malakai was hoping that he’d get some free time since the assault on the Den, but it seemed that the demons needed him to do the low level jobs for now. It was insulting and time-consuming, but he was in no position to complain yet. For a brief moment he wondered what Adelais was doing and whether he was fine after the fighting at the Utopian gates. Malakai was well aware of the battle that was happening there and hence was hoping that his friend pulled through it. He began to wonder again of ways he could try and convince Adelais to see what he saw and to join his cause, but knowing Adelais, it was difficult to convince him to betray his morality.
Chapter 22
Two Teams
- “This is it then.” Ethel spoke to her teammates, “I pray that our Creator will guide us all during this mission.”
- “Please do be careful out there. We’re going to be deep in the enemy territory by ourselves.” Azrael advised everyone.
The dark angels of Erebus and Helheim were fully briefed and prepared for their tough mission. Their primary objective was to locate the Tenebrae Vim caves and if possible to seal those for good. Those caves looked exactly the same as any other cave, but the vibe inside of them was something no-one could miss out upon, because it always brought out the worst in everyone, filling them with anger and hatred. Adelais, Azrael, and Balder were sent to Gehenna sector, whilst Ethel, Lazarus, and Catalina headed towards the Abyss. Since Abyss was much further away than Gehenna, they used a boat to travel there. Both teams were advised to be as stealthy as possible. If they were detected, it was likely that they would be overwhelmed by enemy troops in no time, and on top of that their plan would be exposed. Therefore they had to find the least guarded way into each sector and to sneak in without alerting the guards.
Adelais, Azrael, and Balder were going to Gehenna by flight. They only needed to cross the river Styx to get to Gehenna, but they couldn’t simply fly straight in to the sector ground as they were unwelcome there. They had to fly around and to find the most suitable way in. Balder often used to fly next to the Gehenna border, and so he was very familiar with the place the three of them were passing by.
- “I think I know of a good
way in. It’s very close by.” He told the other two.
Adelais and Azrael decided to follow him as he led them to a location he thought was a good starting point. They soon arrived to an opening in a cliff surrounding the sector grounds. It was not a cave or a tunnel. It was merely a crevice within the cliff. The three angels instantly went through it and carried on further along it, what brought them to a small open space between the cliff and the outer wall of the sector. The wall wasn’t high, but it contained a big number of goblin archers all over it.
- “We will need to get over the wall now.” Balder said as soon as the three of them hid from view.
- “That would be quite a task, considering there are plenty of guards all along it.” Azrael responded after scanning the entire section of the wall that he could see.
- “I am sure there is a gap somewhere we can use to slip inside. The wall is quite irregular.” Balder pointed out.
Adelais was listening to them both and was trying to find a way in too. Azrael was right, there were guards everywhere. However, so far this was a much better choice than any of the official entrances into the sector.
- “I think I’ve got it.” Azrael suddenly alerted his teammates.
He pointed at a small section on the wall that was slightly dipped and had only two guards on it.
- “What have you got in mind, Azrael?” Balder asked after carefully looking at the place.
- “Well, we can’t just sneak in, because we will be seen. Neither can we kill the guards, because if the others notice that these have gone missing, they would get suspicious.” Azrael was explaining his rationalisation, “However, I can weaken and paralyze them temporarily, what would allow us to slip past them and to gain entry. Since that part of the wall is not visible to other guards, we won’t have a problem.”
- “But when you paralyze those guards, wouldn’t they get suspicious themselves?” Adelais argued.
- “Those guards are standard goblins. They aren’t very intelligent and hence they would not draw a link between the strange feeling of paralysis and someone invading their sector.” Azrael replied logically.
- “So long as we do so quietly that is.” Balder added.
Adelais understood everything there and decided that it was an idea worthy of a try. If it came to the worst and they were spotted, they could still turn back and escape. However, Azrael’s plan sounded rather promising, so he had very little doubt about it succeeding.
The three of them quietly made their way towards the wall whilst using huge rocks and various rocky protrusions from the ground as cover so not to get seen. Once right up against the section of the wall the two target guards were at, they got ready.
- “Let’s just clarify once again.” Azrael turned to the others, “As soon as the two of them collapse, we climb up and over the wall. Don’t make noise and don’t get seen. All right?”
Adelais and Balder gave him a reassuring nod, and Azrael began collecting some energy. Within a handful of seconds he directed the scope of his special skill at the guards, and both of those immediately collapsed. They only fell on the walkway they were on, and not off the wall, what was exactly what the three angels wanted. As soon as that happened, Azrael began climbing. The others followed right after him.
Ethel, Lazarus, and Catalina were still on a boat, but were now approaching the Abyss sector. They decided that once they’d get there, they would take it slow and to carefully explore its outer parts. Most of the sector was still very unfamiliar to them, even the outskirts.
- “So, do we have a course of action?” Catalina asked the two Erebus angels whilst they were silent.
- “We don’t know the layout of the Abyss too well. That would make it very difficult to come up with a plan of how to act.” Ethel pointed out.
- “I’ve been at the outer parts of Abyss a few times before, but never inside the sector itself.” Catalina admitted, “It appears it only has one entrance, and it’s well guarded, but I suspect there might be another.”
- “There should be.” Lazarus spoke here, “Azrael always told me that every sector has more than one way in.”
Both Ethel and Catalina began thinking after he said that. Lazarus trusted his superiors. He knew that Azrael was unlikely to be wrong about this, even though he himself had no knowledge of whether there truly was another entrance or not.
- “In that case we would need to scan for an alternative entrance once we get there.” Catalina suggested.
- “We know that Abyss is full of dark, narrow tunnels.” Ethel then said, “This could be beneficial for us whilst sneaking in. However, it is also an easy way to get lost in there.”
- “Yes, the entire sector is riddled with hidden and secret pathways. But even then, all of the main locations are guarded well, what means that we would still be coming across the guards. There are also void varmints lurking in the darkness itself, so most times we might not even see the danger before it’s too late.” Catalina confirmed, but also pointed out the disadvantages.
- “Not to mention that we don’t even know exactly where the Tenebrae Vim is located.” Lazarus reminded.
The mission was hard, and the three dark angels knew that their lack of information about the enemy sector was the greatest problem. This meant that they would not be able to come up with a detailed strategy and instead had to rely on quick improvisation whilst there. Despite that, they were prepared for the worst. They were fit to perform this task, and their sectors were highly dependent on its outcome.
Azrael, Balder, and Adelais were past the outer wall already and were now continuing further into the sector. This first area was relatively spacious and for the most part empty. There were only a few structures scattered about in an otherwise large, hilly wasteland. The fact that the place was mostly empty was beneficial for their sneaking in, but due to the lack of features on the surface, they had nowhere to cover behind. For that reason, they decided it was best to cross the area quickly, and so turned to flight. Whilst flying they had to keep their altitude very low, almost at the ground level.
Very soon they spotted the second wall layer. This wall was higher than the previous one, and it too had guards all over it. There was a large gate just up ahead. Other than that there were a few cliffs to hide behind, but the wall itself looked impossible to cross without drawing attention. Before even reaching it, Azrael began inspecting the entire wall and trying to find loopholes in the defence.
Eventually the three of them got fairly close to the wall and decided to take cover before going any further. It was very likely they would get seen by guards if they continued openly. They hid behind a large rock formation and after a while glanced out, making sure no-one was after them.
- “So, what’s the plan now? That wall looks a lot better guarded than the last one.” Adelais called to attention.
- “It is, but I am sure we can still find a way in.” Azrael tried to be optimistic.
The three of them continued looking out of cover and scanning the area for anything that could help them come up with a suitable strategy. Azrael finally turned to his teammates.
- “I think our only choice is to slip in through the gates, once those open of course.”
- “I was about to say the same.” Balder agreed with him, “Every other part of the wall is filled with guards. Although we can easily get inside, I don’t think we can do so without alerting anyone.”
- “But how long do we have to wait till those gates open?” Adelais wasn’t too fond of the idea.
- “I imagine it should happen eventually.” Azrael was content with having to wait. It was a better choice than to act hastily.
- “There are only two gate guards as well.” Balder pointed out, “Whilst they’ll be busy opening and closing the gate, we’ll get inside.”
- “Would we have to go through the same ordeal on the way back, or would our sector’s troops be here when we escape?” Adelais posed a question to his team.
- “Well, we mig
ht end up using a different exit.” Azrael answered his question straight after, “You never know how the situation will turn out, Adelais.”
- “I suppose you are right.” Adelais finally accepted the proposed course of action.
They waited for a long while. Azrael was patiently gazing at the gates, waiting for someone to finally use them. For a few moments he began doubting the idea and wondering if there was another way. Adelais was right. It would take a long time. Even though they were prepared to wait, Azrael was also considering the alternatives.
His thought process was finally interrupted when he heard a rumbling sound and saw the gates starting to open slowly.
- “This is it – our chance.” He told the others so that they’d be ready.
- “Just say when to go.” Adelais seemed to trust his commander entirely, despite the plan being incredibly risky.
They waited with great patience as the gates swung open to a full extent. They were feeling tense and anxious. There was a lot of uncertainty in what they were about to do. If it proved to be too risky, they had to know when to abandon the idea. That, however, could mean they would lose a precious chance to get inside.
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