"Oh, Evernight, you truly are quite the unlucky man."
The familiar voice caused me to open my eyes. Despite my earlier grievous injury, I felt no pain, only a serene happiness at the smiling face looking down at me.
Seraphina, the injury on my chest was shrouded in a divine light, a calm warmth spreading across my whole body. Seraphina's gleeful smile was slightly pained; her left arm was still chained in Eldros's midnight bindings.
"Seraphina? Why are you here?"
"To save you, of course, I didn't expect you to encounter one of Kathoros's most formidable warriors on your first day. I don't have much time, but I'll try to tell you everything about that woman, and what is happening."
I was slightly confused by her behaviour. I didn't know what was going on. A moment ago, I was bleeding out, sure that I would die; my mind was set on my journey being over. But I was still alive, my mind was rattled, and I didn't know what to think.
"How am I alive?"
"Nevermind that. I saved you; that's the end of it. I don't have time to explain everything. I'm going to take over your body for a couple of minutes. I'll save you from Artoria. I doubt I'll be able to kill her with the portion of divinity in your body. But I'll be able to access the power slumbering within you. So I should be able to fight her off."
"Take over my body? But…"
"It's the only way to save you from the lion's blade. She won't let you live when she's under Ickni's thumb; it doesn't matter if Ickni wants you to live, she'll still kill you to save you from his control. Artoria isn't just some random powerful angel. I've been watching her for centuries. She was the former Dominion of Conquest until Ickni's savage plots caused her ruin, and he reshaped her once beautiful Dominion into a controlled hellhole for all who live there."
"I… I could sense the immense misery hiding within her eyes; she seems to be defeated already, as if she's given up on living. Like her will has been shattered long ago."
Seraphina's face turned down into sadness, retelling the story of Artoria's downfall in her mind. The story brought her great sorrow; her aversion towards Ickni was blatant every time she spoke her name. Her face twisted with disgust at the thought of the Dominion's visage.
"Yes. I believe her spirit has long since crumbled after being under Ickni's direct control for centuries, every day seeing the state of her once beautiful Dominion. I do not wish for her death, the exact opposite, I wish to see the Dominion thrive once again under her leadership, but I severely doubt that would happen. Ickni's control is just too strong."
"Why don't you help her?"
"I cannot. It is forbidden for any deity to interfere with their own or any other realm personally. It is one of the Cardinal Laws; although I broke one for you, I cannot do it again. I know better than antagonise Eldros; any further doing that would mean my undoing. No matter how much I want to help, I still want to live, so I cannot. I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I'll just have to be the one to save her instead of you."
I could still feel a trace of fight within Artoria; she wanted to act against her order to slay me, but the sacred band forced her to fight. Why Ickni changed his mind on me, I don't know, but that doesn't matter at the moment. I need to unshackle Artoria and the people of the Order Dominion.
"I'm sure you will. I chose you for that kind heart of ours after all. I'm running out of time. I can't evade Eldros for much longer. I'm taking control now."
While Seraphina's smile was bright and gleeful when looking at me, the same happiness didn't quite reach her eyes. Her eyes were hollow, a tinge of hostility running through them. I couldn't figure out what exactly caused the hostility, which was quickly masked, the happiness spreading back up to her eyes, but it still felt hollow to me.
"I'll save you, my beloved."
My vision soon faded back to black, and the warm embrace of Seraphina overcame my mind, returning me to a calm stillness. Within the arms of Seraphina, I felt perfect tranquility as if I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
The familiar sight of the gate soon returned. I was in my body, but it wasn't under my control. Artoria's armour twinkled in the sunlight as she walked away from my supposed corpse, leaving Lilia intact, not even acknowledging her presence as she walked away. My body stood up on its own, immediately gathering the eye of Artoria, swiftly turning around, and drawing her sword.
It was as if I were watching my own body in the third person. I wasn't in control of anything. Every movement I tried didn't reach my brain. Seraphina was in complete control of everything in my body. I couldn't even speak; no command worked anymore.
While my body wasn't under my control, I could feel anything around me, the hard gravel on my bare feet and the soft wind blowing in between the two of us. The air filled with tension as Artoria stared at me, my fatal injury completely healed, standing in defiance of her verdict.
A warm, powerful feeling began to flood my veins, and my mind overcame me with a sense of euphoria. Seraphina's mastery over her own power was blatant as she easily willed the divinity slumbering within me to awake.
"How are you still alive? No angel should be able to survive that blow."
"I'm no angel."
Seraphina's words were harsh, laced with poison at being compared to an angel. Her voice was different from mine when using my body; a harsh tone riddled with aversion came out of my mouth. Her tone was a direct contradiction to her words of remorse and sorrow earlier, confusing me more about her true feelings towards Artoria, whether she truly felt bad or was just putting on a sympathetic act. I truly couldn't make up my mind on which was the correct answer.
"Are you truly the same Evernight from before or something else?" asked Artoria, readying herself for anything to come, surveying Seraphina's every move, awaiting some sort of opening, but nothing came. Seraphina wouldn't let any more harm come to me. That's something I knew for sure: my belief in Seraphina's love for me wouldn't break.
"I am Evernight. I won't state my name again."
"You are not, but it matters not what exactly you are. You are a direct threat to the continued safety of Grandheart, so I don't think I will slay you again."
"Silence, pawn. Someone who has lost the will to fight back against a mere child doesn't have the right to talk down to me, Dominion of Conquest, or should I say former?"
This wasn't right, but I couldn't stop Seraphina's harsh words. Nothing I tried would halt her verbal assault on Artoria; I didn't wish to degrade her. But to save her from Ickni, Seraphina was directly going against my wishes, and I couldn't do a thing to stop her. Why?
"You! How dare you speak to me in such a way. How do you even know about my past? Not a soul is left that knows I was once the Dominion of this land. Who are you!"
"Pathetic. You are like some wounded puppy barking for its newfound master's attention. No, nevermind, you are lower than a dog, nothing but a spineless coward. If you cannot oppose Ickni, then you aren't worthy of ruling this land. Angels these days are a disgrace."
"I won't let you survive after speaking such poison, no matter how true those words are! I know I'm nothing but a vermin. I don't need someone else telling me. I don't want to hear it from the mouth of another!"
"Then I'll kill you here and rid you of your misery. Fall, Helios."
A sudden surge of power coursed throughout my body; it was intoxicating. I had never felt such superiority. A mass of light collected in front of my body. Seraphina grasped hold of the top of the beam of light, slashing downwards, revealing an intricate white and crimson scythe, a cloud of light surrounding its blade, masking its true size.
Artoria went pale at the scythe, not expecting such power to emanate from my form. The scythe twirled within my hands. Seraphina most likely hadn't fought in centuries, so she was getting used to the weight of her weapon again.
"I've made a grave mistake not finishing you off. But it matters not, you will still fall here today. I won't tolerate your continued existence."
"I won't allow you to harm him ever again, Dominion of Conquest."
Artoria's face twisted with confusion picking up on Seraphina's words but her expression was swiftly replaced with hatred. Steading herself for battle against a formidable opponent despite her resolute actions, hesitation was still hiding within her eyes, switching her gaze from Grandheart to me multiple times.
"Can we take this somewhere else? I'd like to avoid casualties."
"No."
Seraphina commanded my body to close in on Artoria, slashing outwards while moving, creating multiple pendulums of pure light to come crashing down on Artoria and the walls behind her. The surrounding walls' edges crumbled slightly, activating the air anti-defenses on top of the walls, aiming their sight on me, letting fly thousands of rope arrows.
In one fluid motion, Seraphina cleaved through the army of arrows, severing their rope and pushing Artoria back directly above the city. Artoria had no way of slowing Seraphina's relentless assault; she fought like a serene dancer, twirling throughout the air, every move carrying the weight of ten men.
While Artoria had no way of counterattacking, no opportunities were in Seraphia's movements. She certainly wasn't outclassed, able to keep up with every single attack, blocking and parrying without much issue.
Each strike of either weapon created a howling storm to blow over the city, the clouds above darkening under the immense aura emanating from both of us.
Many people below had finally begun to show themselves curious about the raging battle above, crowds gathering all over Grandheart. Artoria noticed this but still continued fighting, there being no other way to redirect Seraphina's movements without applying equal power, which would most definitely mean the destruction of half the city.
Something she wouldn't allow to happen from my eyes, it looked as if Artoria was prioritizing protecting the city and taking Seraphina's blow, shielding them from the thunderous impact that would come if she blocked or parried.
Seraphina must have known this if I could notice, but she didn't seem to care, only increasing the power of each strike, discarding public safety, trying to push Artoria into unleashing her power so she could end the fight in a single strike once she created an opening.
Slashing upwards with Helios, impacting with Artoria's blade, Seraphina used the momentum to launch backwards, putting distance between the two, judging the clash of blades to be useless in achieving victory swiftly.
"How can you fly without wings? And how do you possess such strength now? I didn't sense an inkling of real power within you before I severed your lungs."
I hadn't noticed since now, but I was currently hovering in the air. I was forced by the raging battle between Seraphina and Artoria. Only Seraphina knew the answer to her question, but I severely doubt she would actually answer it.
"I have no need for wings; they are useless, only an inconvenience; they are just symbols of borrowed divinity. Not something I would ever need. Artoria, your strength isn't something I can match at this moment in hand-to-hand combat, so I'll try something else."
I could feel my lips upturning into a twisted grin. Seraphina's plan would be anything but good, most likely leading to the devastation of Grandheart. But I had hoped that Artoria would be able to stop whatever she was about to do; the last thing I wanted was to become a mass murderer just because Seraphina lost sight of her surroundings.
Although I didn't have much faith that Seraphina would care, even if she noticed the thousands of people watching below. Her opinion on angels stuck with my mind; she hated their weakness and incompetence. I doubt she would show mercy to them.
"Dominion of Conquest, I don't doubt you'll be able to stop this, but can you prevent the ruin of Grandheart, I wonder? Converging Ray of Annihilation, Helios, Shatter and Explode."
Seraphina aimed her scythe's blade directly at Artoria. The scythe began to separate into thousands of small slivers of light, spreading throughout their surroundings until my hands were empty.
The thousands of pieces of light twinkled in the air, activating their destruction. Thousands of beams of light closed in on Artoria, converging into one point before exploding, creating a blinding collection of light rapidly expanding, aiming to swallow the whole city, annihilating everything in its path.
But its path was impeded by Artoria, a forcefield of dark matter enclosing the blast in its confines, not allowing it to escape, and containing the blast, ensuring the people's safety.
"Edict of Space, Nyx's Embrace!"
The force field of dark matter gradually shrank until it disappeared completely, leaving the city below unscathed, swallowing the blast whole. I once again felt Seraphina smile through my body, a feeling of pride overcoming my mind.
"Very good…"
Seraphina's control soon left my body, causing me to fall to the ground, the power within me returning to its slumber, waiting until I could call upon it without using Seraphina. I swiftly fell to the ground, impacting with the road below, landing near a crowd of onlookers who cautiously approached my collapsed form.
Watching Seraphina use my body to fight against Artoria only heightened my ambition to grow and develop my skills with the divinity inside of me, but also so I would never have to resort to Seraphina's aid. While she spoke of empathy towards Artoria, she didn't enact those same feelings. She was too detached from angels and life other than herself; her aid would only lead to ruin, and that was something I couldn't allow. Never again would I allow her to use my body again, no matter if I'm dying. I won't.
"The Primordial String really showed this wingless vermin."
"How could a wingless have so much power? He was keeping up with the Primordial String for a moment. Is he truly wingless?"
"Wait, be careful. He might still be awake; don't approach him and wait for the Primordial String's arrival. Don't be foolish, you'll be executed if you go against the Custodian."
"Stop worrying, boy. We are doing the Custodian a favour by ridding him of such a dangerous vermin."
"I'm not so sure about that."
"I say we just finish him off for the Primordial String. This pest also destroyed our great city; he's too dangerous to be allowed to live. A completely unknown entity shouldn't be permitted to breathe."
"Yeah, I agree. Let's kill him; he's too weak to fight back. Let's do it now. For the custodian!"
""For the Custodian!""
I was completely defenseless against the approaching angry mob armed with a variety of household items. I couldn't move a muscle, all my strength being exhausted by Seraphina with that final attack. The last thing I wished for was to be beaten to death by an angry mob. I'd rather have my lungs severed again than go through such humiliation and pain. A slow death was the last thing I wished for.
"Let's kill him before the Primordial String arrives! If we say that he was threatening the peace of Grandheart, then they have to accept it! Come on!"
"Yeah! We are just upholding order. He's just some wingless vermin; even if he has power, he's currently just another weak pest. Let's stomp out his fight before he can threaten us again!"
"Don't tell you lot feel bad for a wingless mutt? He's nothing compared to us!"
"Yeah, you're right! Everyone grab something, let's stone the little fucker!"
"This isn't right, come on, stop. If the Primordial String finds out, she'll execute us all. Stop, please."
While I couldn't see past the first line of the crowd, I heard a loud thudding sound, and a panicked cry escaped the crowd.
"Shut up, kid! Stay on the ground if you don't want to."
"No! You'll all get executed if you lay a finger on him; he's obviously something that defines this world's logic. If you touch him, the custodian will execute you! Please!"
"What did I say!? Shut up, you filthy sympathiser!"
More cries escaped the crowd with each blow; the sound of skin colliding with skin echoed throughout the streets, but no one offered any aid to the poor boy. Passing them with indifference, focusing their attention on me.
"Stop, leave him alone," I muttered, reaching my hand out towards the boy's cries, only to be struck by a large stone, knocking my hand down.
"Silence, vermin!"
A sea of stones soon appeared, pelting me all over. I was too weak to guard against such a primal attack. My only defense was to curl into a ball and protect my head, but the pain didn't diminish from my earlier battle. No one dared to take a step closer than a few paces away, choosing the coward's way of fighting.
"Step back! Any attempt to harm him would lead to imminent execution, disperse immediately!" ordered Artoria, her six gray and emerald wings casted a shadow across the road.
All of the civilians soon retreated cautiously, returning to their homes, not wanting to accidentally incite Artoria's ire.
"Thank you. I'm sorry for all the trouble I've caused."
Unable to move much, I merely stared at Artoria's beauty, the same traces of sorrow hiding within her eyes. She clasped my hands together, putting on some sort of binding on my arms, doing the same for my feet. Silently, she picked me up, flying towards the grand palace, hovering above Grandheart, looking down on every inch of the city.
I gave no resistance to her actions, allowing myself to be captured. Preparing myself for whatever was to come. I doubt Ickni would let my attempt to annihilate the city go unpunished.
In Artoria's grasp, I thought of only one question that had been on my mind ever since Serpahina's control left my body. Was Seraphina's sympathy sincere or just a lie?