Azra-El Series Arc 2 Ch. 01

A third of the immovable artillery of the fortress had already been destroyed, and though they had downed many demons, there were still more than thirty thousand fighting demons.

"What is Deity He-Hua's status?" Xuan Er asked her room.

"She is still fighting the Quetzal squadron at Fortalice Xueying. However, it seems they have lost track of Lady Siofra and the First Angelic Quetzal,"

Xuan Er could not hide her dismay. On a day when so many things had gone wrong, she had hoped that Xueying's encounter with the retreating Quetzal Squadron would be their lucky break. She really wanted Siofra to be rescued.

However, the young angel did not have time for sorrow. She had to make decisions.

"Tell her that her first priority should be to capture a Quetzal rider, alive."

"Yes, sera."

"Xuan Er, I think we need her here, especially since we have already lost track of the pixie and the Quetzal," said Jia Ling.

"No, I have already decided on our course of action. Ready the MEW!" Xuan Er ordered.

"Xuan Er! It is not ready. It is sure to be destroyed upon firing, and we do not even know how effective it may be," the strategist exhorted.

"I know. However, as mother said, lives are more important than any object. The weapon can be rebuilt in a few years, but every life we lose is something that cannot be brought back," Xuan Er said with certainty, before picking up the VP that connected to General Wu Mei. "General, just as we practiced."

Wu Mei, who had just received a sneak attack from Molechya, smiled. She was bruised and bloodied, but she was not done. Moreover, the conviction she heard in her daughter's voice renewed her vigor. This tribulation was going to make her daughter stronger.

"Is that the smile of one who is ready to face her doom?" Bargi asked, seeming genuinely surprised. She had heard about angels smiling in the face of death.

"No, it is the smile of an angel who is about to kill a demon," Wu Mei replied, suddenly rushing towards the devil.

Bargi was taken aback, but she always welcomed a head on confrontation. With a grin, she met Wu Mei's butterfly swords with her clawed gauntlets.

The First and Second Gryphon Wings suddenly broke away from their fight with the Quetzal Corps and rushed towards Devil Molechya, while a significant portion of the artillery began focusing on the Quetzals.

Molechya had no choice but to turn her attention to the Gryphons swarming around her. Swarm tactics required incredible trust and coordination between the members of the swarm, and though Gryphons in the wild were solitary hunters, they were quite intelligent. Years of training at Fortress Mirian had made the Gryphons one of the best units at using swarm tactics.

Though they could not defeat Molechya, they could surround her and block her vision. And when she attacked, the swarm fluidly moved away from her blows, while continuously attacking her from her exposed flanks.

Meanwhile, Bargi had to contend with a flurry of blows from Wu Mei. The angel's movements seemed rushed, as if she were putting up a last stand, but every attack managed to accurately target her vital points. Moreover, the way Wu Mei used her butterfly swords was highly unconventional. They were like regular punches and kicks, but the motions of her limbs somehow flowed into the blades.

The demon found herself defending, as the suddenness of everything had made her wary. She threw a glance towards the fortress and spotted a massive energy-cannon revealing itself from within the confines of a building; the roof and the side walls of the building had split apart like two parts of a drawbridge.

The cannon was unlike an incendiary cannon. It had a short but thick rectangular shaft with an oval nozzle whose insides seemed to be covered with a highly reflective coating.

As the cannon made its appearance, there was a change in the energy of the surroundings, which did not go unnoticed by the two devils. Molechya tried to break through the encirclement, while Bargi went berserk.

The only reason the two devils chose to attack Mirian was to destroy this Massive Energy-node Weapon (MEW). MEWs were a recently rumored technology of the angels, which utilized the natural energy-nodes of the planet to charge up and fire energy-cannons. Their beams were said to pose a threat even to the strongest of six-winged sentients. However, according to the information that the devils had received, the MEW at Mirian was still under construction. So, its sudden appearance startled the two devils.

A riled up Bargi was exactly what Wu Mei wanted. The angel did not shy away from the demon's attacks, which could easily cleave through the thickest of walls.

The Hippogryph troops began to make their way towards the MEW as the Pegasi and the angel ivkantry tried to slow them down as much as possible.

A white flare went up in the sky as Wu Mei diverted one of Bargi's swipes to the side. For a fraction of a second, Bargi's eyes shifted to the flare.

Wu Mei let go of her swords and grabbed Bargi's wrist to pull her closer. Bargi swung her other fist at the angel's head. The angel blocked the punch with her arm, and placing her top wings on the demon's shoulders, she pivoted over her head and twisted around as she somersaulted.

The devil tried to get away from the angel, but Wu Mei managed to pull herself with the tips of her hardened wings. She grabbed the devil from under her shoulders and wrapped her legs around her waist, restricting the movement of the devil's wings with her body.

"Help, Molechya!" Bargi cried, but the Gryphons held off the second devil with everything they had.

Bargi struggled to get free, while the nozzle of the MEW began to glow like a star in the night.

The angels and demons began to feel the energy in the environment shift towards the MEW, and the body of the weapon turned red and began to melt.

Another white flare went up in the sky.

Wu Mei released her grip on Bargi, pushed the demon forwards, and dived towards the ground.

Bargi only had a split second to react as the end of the cannon flared up like the sun. She brought her wings forward and cocooned herself with them, while hardening her feathers and reinforcing them with all the energy that she could muster.

A blinding flash of light suddenly filled the fortress and its surroundings.

BOOM! A low rumbling sound wave spread across the lands.

As the light faded, the ones that were not facing the fortress and those that had instinctively closed their eyes were the first ones to notice that there was no sign of Devil Bargi.

A gut-wrenching howl of dismay went through Bargi's followers, but instead of attacking the angels in rage, they abandoned the fighting and began to fly in the direction the weapon had fired, searching for signs of the devil.

Molechya considered ordering them to return to the fight, but she knew it would be fruitless. She glanced at Wu Mei, who despite being injured was still fit to fight, and then looked towards the fortress and the MEW.

The energy-node weapon was destroyed. Its main body seemed to have completely melted while the shaft was bent out of shape. It would be easier to build a new MEW rather than trying to fix it.

"Retreat!" she bellowed to her troops, before turning to Wu Mei. "If you try to build it again, it won't be just two devils attacking, next time," she threatened.

"It won't be just one dead devil, next time," Wu Mei returned the devil's words back to her.

"Hmph," the devil breathed and ordered a retreat.

The demon army picked up their injured and fell back towards the Great Barrier.

A few angels wished to go after them, but Wu Mei raised her hand. The battle was over.

***

Deity He Hua downed three Quetzals before the demons began to flee.

"Surround the Quetzals!" she ordered the angel troops as the rest of the demons raced back to their territory.

The Quetzal squadron quickly found itself surrounded with a deity glaring down at them.

"We willingly surrender ourselves to Princess Yingjie Shangdi, mother of Princess Fenghuang Shangdi," a Quetzal-rider flew forwards and announced.

He Hua let out a bewildered "huh".

oOo

When Blaze muttered those fated words, everything went dark around him. Time seemed jumbled for a moment, or maybe it was a few minutes or even an eternity; he had no way of knowing, as his existence itself felt like a dream. The only thing he could sense was his mind, which was strangely devoid of thoughts. All he knew was that he existed. However, as soon as that thought finished forming, he found his footing and senses returned to his body.

He tried to take in a breath, but something felt off. Air reached his lungs, yet they felt empty. Clutching his chest, he began to heave as he looked around in alarm. He found a dazed looking Nikolett standing beside him and taking in her surroundings.

"I can't breathe!" he muttered, noticing the lethargy that had crept into his muscles.

Nikolett's eyes widened as she turned to him. He saw her taking in a breath as if to confirm his statement.

"I really can't breathe!" he stressed, feeling his body ache for nourishment. It felt like it was on fire, especially his forehead.

Blaze noticed Nikolett's changing expressions as various thoughts flashed through her mind. Then, she placed her hands on his shoulders and spoke softly, "Calm down, Blaze. You can breathe. What you are feeling is your anja. This place has no world energy. Just hold your anja."

Watching Nikolett's relatively relaxed posture calmed him a little before her words finally registered in his mind.

"How do I stop breathing through my anja?" he asked, rubbing his forehead.

His nirn still possessed stored-up energy, but no energy was flowing in. His anja felt like they were breathing inside a vacuum. They sucked but there was nothing to suck.

Nikolett raised a brow at him, "It is just like holding your breath, but with your anja. Try it."

It took him a couple of attempts before he could separate the processes of holding his two breaths. "There is still a burning sensation," he muttered.

"Channel some of your internal energy into your anja, and then seal it off."

Blaze transferred energy from his nirn into his anja, before once again holding his breath. "Thank you, that feels much better!"

His body still felt heavy, but the burning sensation dulled.

Nikolett nodded and glanced around. "How do you not know how to hold your anja?"

It was apparent that the two angels were not inside the cave, anymore. They were surrounded by the walls of a small stone ruin with a starless sky as their roof.

Azra-El's night sky was usually magnificent. On a clear night, one could see millions of glittering stars and trace the shape of the spiral galaxy that housed their planet. However, here, Blaze could not see any stars, just an empty sky. The only reason they could still see was because of a pale silvery glow that the sky exuded.

"I never really had to hold my anja before. I didn't even realize that I could do that."

"What do you mean? Didn't your mother teach you how to hold your anja, when you were learning how to breathe through them?" she asked, heading towards the doorway that was covered in moss and vines. The vines sported tiny purple flowers.

"No one taught me how to breathe through my anja," he answered, following her.

He spotted a line of tiny ant-like creatures scurrying across the floor, towards a tiny hole in the wall.

"What do you mean?"

"I could pretty much breathe through my anja from the day I hatched," he answered, sitting down on his feet to take a closer look at the critters.

They had flat black bodies, six legs, and two antennae coming out of their flat heads. They were unlike any ants he had seen on either Azra-El or on Earth.

Nikolett turned around to see if he was joking, and quickly realized that he was not. "It is no wonder that your wings sprouted at such a young age," she said, amazed and a little envious. "I do not think we are still in Xian," she said, after a moment.

"Probably," he muttered, poking a random ant's behind. The ant dropped the tiny object that it was carrying and scurried away faster.

For some reason, Blaze did not feel as scared as he should have been. A random teleportation should have terrified the feathers off him, but since he had already travelled between universes, this did not feel like much in comparison.

He stood up and followed Nikolett out of the ruins. They were surrounded by thick woods on all sides, and the place was noticeably quiet. He subconsciously reached for his space-ring and found it absent over his finger.

A sudden thought came to his mind; along with the science of VPs, he had also been studying the physics of space-rings.

"Nicks, do you still have your space-ring?" he asked.

Nikolett reached her finger just as Blaze had done and found nothing.

"I think we may be in a large spatial dimension," Blaze said, contemplatively.

"What is your reasoning?"

"2nd law of space-rings: a space-ring cannot be stored in another space-ring."

"Sure, but space-rings cannot support life," Nikolett countered with the 4th law of space-rings.

"Yeah, but what if the space is large enough to be a self-sustaining ecosystem?"

"It would still need a stable energy source..."

"That is true..."

"Either way, we must search for a way to go back. I wonder what Ms. Elyssa and Kaya are doing. Do you think they will choose to enter as well?" Nikolett asked, as they circled around the ruin to see if there were any clues regarding their way out.

"If Elyssa was going to come, I think she would already be here. She must have decided to get help," Blaze surmised.

The stone building was partitioned into two rooms, but they were empty, except for the rubble.

"What do you suggest we do?" Blaze asked, after making a couple of rounds around the building.

Nikolett suddenly manifested her wings and leapt into the sky. She flew up to a hundred feet and looked around, before coming back down and quickly dematerializing her wings.

"See anything?"

"Mostly forest all around."

"Hmm..."

"We should get some sleep. If someone does not come to get us by morning, we can explore beyond the ruins."

"Okay."

The two re-entered the ruin and huddled together in a corner. It wasn't cold, but they decided it was safer to sleep against a wall.

"Blaze, we must conserve our energy in case it takes a while for us to get out. We cannot carelessly manifest our wings. They take up too much energy," she muttered, before closing her eyes.

Blaze suddenly realized the implications of being in a world-energy-void world. There would not be any food that could sustain their bodies, which meant that they could only stay there only for a limited amount of time. It made him wonder how long they could survive without food, but decided it was a question best left for the morning. He fell asleep with his hand firmly holding onto Kaya's whip.

***

Elyssa appeared in the midst of a small clearing. She was disoriented and confused, but she quickly collected herself. It did not take long for her to realize that she was in a place without world-energy, and she promptly adapted to it.

She shouted for Blaze and Nikolett, and upon not receiving a reply, she ventured out into the forest.

However, she only made it a few hundred steps before she heard a tiny rustle from the shrubs behind her. She reacted on instinct and jumped to the side as a war-scythe slashed through the place she had been standing.

The blade embedded itself in the ground and the person tried to retrieve it, but Elyssa was quicker. She placed one foot on the base of the blade and shoved hard against the shaft with her other foot, putting all her weight into it.

The attacker lost her grip and the scythe fell to the ground.

Elyssa ran along the shaft and rushed her attacker who tried to pick up her weapon. However, she severely underestimated Elyssa's speed. The angel reached her in an instant and kicked towards her face from below.

The attacker put up her hands to block the kick, but the force sent her arms flailing. The next moment, Elyssa brought her foot to the ground, pivoted around her sole, and kicked into her attacker's ribs. The ivka was launched off her feet and fell ten feet away from Elyssa.

Elyssa swiftly picked up the war-scythe and placed the blade against the ivka's neck.

"Who are you?" she asked, taking in her appearance.

She was a tough looking ivka, a few inches taller than her. She had short brunette hair that was tied up in a small ponytail. Elyssa could not figure out her age, as there was no world energy to act as a medium.

"Isla from Kandy, Sinna province," the ivka answered, with wary eyes leveled on the scythe.

The next question Elyssa had wanted to ask was why she attacked her, but the name Sinna rang alarm bells in her mind. The only Sinna province that she knew of belonged to the demons. So, she fell silent.

Noticing the contemplative look on Elyssa's face, Isla spoke up, "Please don't kill me. You can have both the badges that I have on me."

"Throw them to me," Elyssa said, without knowing what they were.

The demon tossed a couple of iron coins with the numbers 9 and 57 etched on them. They fell at Elyssa's feet.

Elyssa only threw a cursory glance at them and did not move the scythe from the young demon's neck.

"I swear I don't have anything else. I will strip if you want," she stressed.

"I care little about your possessions," Elyssa muttered. She decided that the less she spoke, the less she would reveal about herself and the more she would learn about what was going on.

Isla tried to think hard about what Elyssa wanted from her. "I am sorry for attacking you from behind. I-I didn't know you were that strong!" she said.

Elyssa sighed and moved the weapon away from her neck.

"Thank you! I swear I won't try to attack you again," Isla said, quickly getting up to her feet and bowing to Elyssa.

Elyssa nodded, but she did not give any indication that she was done with the demon. She simply stared at her in silence.

Isla waited for a few uncomfortable moments before she spoke again, just to break the silence, "Why aren't you carrying a weapon of your own?"

"Do you think I need weapons to defeat someone of your caliber?" Elyssa asked back.

"No, no, you don't," Isla said hastily. "So, can I, maybe, have my weapon back?"

"What do you think?" Elyssa smirked. However, the smirk looked like a sneer to the frightened ivka.

"Sorry," she said, lowering her head.

"Tell me," Elyssa finally decided to ask the question on her mind. "Have you seen anyone else wearing clothes similar to mine?"

"No, I would've remembered if I had," Isla answered, eyeing the adventure clothes that Blaze had made Elyssa wear.

"Well, if you come across someone wearing clothes like these, tell him that Ely is looking for him," said Elyssa.

"I promise I will," Isla nodded earnestly, before hesitatingly adding, "I will try harder if I can have my weapon back. It will also help me survive longer."

Elyssa sighed and tossed the war-scythe back to the demon. She was curious about what the demon wanted to survive from, but decided it was not wise to ask such a question.

The demon seemed amazed that Elyssa actually returned her weapon. It made her even more frightened of the angel.

"Thank you, thank you," she muttered, picking up the weapon, and stepping back like she was facing a dangerous animal.

"Get out of here," Elyssa bellowed, which sent the demon scampering, and out of sight.

Elyssa waited until she could no longer hear the demon's footsteps, before pocketing the coins and heading in the opposite direction. She walked for about half an hour before deciding to climb a tree and sleep for the night.