"So are you going to go in or what? You've been here for a while, no?" asked Artoria, appearing out of the darkness, causing me to jump out of my skin.
"Ahh!" I screamed, taken off guard, unable to hide my surprise, essentially announcing my presence to everyone in the sewers.
"What was that?"
"Oh no. You've announced your presence. Why did you scream? I've been here ever since you got here?" said Artoria, looking unimpressed.
"What? You have?"
"Yep. I've listened to every single one of your whispers."
The footsteps of the Rebels were getting louder with each second. My scream had most likely set off every single alarm in their minds; they were on the edge of destruction after all.
"So you were able to grasp tracking divinity in less than a minute. Impressive, but you are still weak, while this pains me deeply. I have no other choice but to comply with their orders."
"By 'their' you mean Ickni, don't you? What foul scheme have they plotted?"
"Step into the hideout, you either enter on your own volition, or I'll force you through the doors."
Artoria didn't answer my question, averting her eyes from falling on my face while speaking her order. Her fist was clenched tight, and a small sliver of blood dripped onto the sewer floor.
With no other reasonable choice, I swung open the doors to the hideout, incurring the wrathful gazes of the rebels to fall rightly on me. I locked eyes directly with Revel, a raging inferno burning in his eyes. The same dagger he had used to stab the boy beneath his feet, clutched in his hand, was still painted with the boy's blood.
None of the rebels approached me, keeping their distance and surveying, awaiting Revel's orders.
I quickly noticed that Artoria hadn't followed me in but was hanging back in the darkness, her violet eyes peering at me through the shadows.
"You must kill them all if you want to leave. I'll open the seal once I sense no more lifesigns but your own. I'm sorry, it truly pains me, but I can't go against her word."
"Kill? But… I've never done such a thing. I don't think I can."
"You'll have to learn, I'm sorry," said Artoria softly, placing her hand on the doors of the hideout. "Edict of Space, Temporal Space."
Dark matter swiftly launched from Artoria's hands, the substance covering the walls and doors before hardening, eliminating any chance of escape. Separating the outside world from this room, nothing would be able to break through the space, especially not anyone's power in the hideout.
I was trapped in a room with twenty hardened criminals, and the only way to escape was to slaughter them all. I had yet to use my power to injure anyone; I couldn't kill someone, let alone use my power to cause harm as Seraphina did.
"Ha! So all we need to do is kill another boy to escape this space, then?" shouted Revel, hastily approaching me and catching me off guard, landing a left hook straight to my ribs, launching back into the wall.
Revel didn't stop his assault, picking me up from the floor with his right arm and repeatedly hammering blows into my ribs. Blood flew from my mouth as I bit down on my tongue repeatedly.
"Is this supposed to be some Servant of Order enforcer coming here to purge us? I didn't know the Order sent out such weaklings to do their bidding. He doesn't even have wings," said one of Revel's lackeys.
"Ha! Some wingless vermin is nothing to me, I didn't know the Custodian had grown so weak, perhaps our rebellion is headed for some better days!"
Ever since I met with Seraphina and landed in the Order Dominion, I had begun to slowly realise that this world was nothing like home. It mimicked the animal kingdom: kill or be killed. I knew now that if I didn't rise to the challenges of this world, I wouldn't see past eighteen. I'd be dead in some ditch by the end of the day.
As each punch landed against my flesh, I felt my mind becoming more and more disconnected from reality. Each blow knocked a sense of understanding into my mind. I didn't want to die now that I had discovered a new world. I still needed to get back to Seraphina and free her from Eldros's chains. And I had to save this land from Ickni and return Artoria's title of Conquest.
I wouldn't be able to die until I had seen her eyes return to their natural state, and I couldn't just die; that would be the same as abandoning Seraphina. The one who called me her beloved.
But more importantly, dying meant superseding control once again to Seraphina. I vowed to myself to never allow that to happen. Although my power may have been borrowed, it was still mine.
And I wouldn't let it be used by anyone else!
"Never again!" I shouted, snapping my head outwards, catching Revel's incoming fist, putting all my strength into my grip, causing him to wince in pain, and losing his grip on me.
Revel leaped backwards, gathering the attention of his men; they all looked at each other, seeking the answer to their confusion. They most likely hadn't ever seen Revel be injured in a battle. My unsuspected attack sparked the flame of speculation and caution in their hearts.
"I can't allow you to kill me. You are a band of savages, even if I deep down don't want to kill you. I must do it, or else I'll just end up dead. That is just the way of this world, right?"
Throwing his own words back in his face shocked him deeply, his face stiffening. He retrieved the dagger on his hip, grasping its blade, a newfound vigor swirling in his heart.
"I don't allow a filthy wingless to undermine me in front of my men. I don't know who you are, but I'm going to have to cut your aspirations in this world short," declared Revel.
"You don't have any right to call me filthy when you hide in the sewers like some rat. And if you must know, I am Third String, Evernight of the Servants of Order."
"Evernight? Why don't you have a first name? Is it some wingless tradition?"
"I was granted a name by the one who called me beloved. I have no need for anything else."
"I'll apologize to her at your funeral. I won't let her go unsatisfied for long," leered Revel, his face blatantly showing all the nasty ideas swirling around his head.
"Angels are a disgrace. The more time I spend in this world, the more my opinion on angels shifts into darkness."
Because these rebels were growing dead in a couple moments I was taking the chance to spill all my issues with this world to them. Using them as an outlet for my frustration.
"Stop talking nonsense and just lie down to die like a good wingless. If you do that, I'll ensure that all your lady's needs are met while you are in the afterlife."
"You'll meet my lady if you kill me, but I doubt she'll be very receptive to your presence."
"Shut up! Time to die!"
"So I'd take it that talks are over. Ashame I wanted to prolong your deaths."
Revel didn't respond, but from the twitch of his eyebrow, I knew my taunt hit home. We were around six meters away from each other, giving me enough time to try something I had wanted to try since the first day in this world. Revel charged at me wildly, but he was still too slow to prevent me from speaking.
"Fall, Helios."
I expected a pillar of light to appear before me at my words, but there was nothing, just empty air.
"It didn't respond?"
"Ha! Your little trick didn't work? Ah, you looked so confident, too."
Helios's lack of appearing caught me off guard; I temporarily lost all vision on Revel, falling into deep thought. I was curious but also slightly peeved that it didn't respond to my summon.
The most likely answer I came up with on the fly was that it wasn't my weapon, so I wouldn't respond when I called upon it. Helios most likely belonged to Seraphina and was tied to her soul, so when she entered my body, she was able to call upon it even though she wasn't in her body.
Revel's fist closed in on my face while I was thinking, but it was of no real concern now that my mindset had shifted. I wasn't helpless in the face of danger like I was minutes ago. Outstretching my arm, I easily blocked his attack, not moving an inch as his fist impacted my arm. He wasn't a pushover; his attacks did sting, but I had much worse.
"Huh?"
Blocking out all other thoughts occupying my mind, focusing on the enemies in front of me. I had to do this, I knew that better than anyone. As of right now, I am massively outnumbered, 20 to 1. I couldn't win in hand-to-hand combat; I hadn't had much training on Earth, but luckily, that wasn't my only form of attack.
Helios wouldn't respond, so I would have to focus on turning my light into a deadly weapon.
"Revel, I'll remember your name. You are a collective, yes? So you are all Revel, I promise not to forget the lives I take in pursuit of survival." I said.
My voice was soft and serene, while I couldn't see my eyes. I could feel that my eyes were beginning to lose their light. My body was slowly becoming numb to everything around me.
"Stop being so creepy! I don't care what you say, I'll crush you! Just die!" shouted Revel.
Revel raised his leg, launching a high kick directed at my head, aiming to end this in one blow. For a man of his size, he was surprisingly quick. I escaped by hair, dropping my body low and leaping backward to the wall.
"Stop running, bastard!"
I closed my eyes, inducing more rage to spill from Revel's ears. He hadn't ever been shown this level of disrespect in a fight before. Focusing on the slivers of light drifting along my veins idly, I concentrated on igniting the divinity. A familiar feeling of ecstasy began to run through my body; the divinity was responding to my commands, buzzing and twirling, excited to be called upon.
I made a map of the hideout in my mind, placing several balls of light on the outskirts, commanding them to turn into several beams of pure light. I launched the beams of light in my mind, having them converge in the center before splintering outwards, creating tiny dagger-like formations to barrage the rebels, riddling them with holes. To protect myself from the monstrous attack, I formed a barrier around me, covering the exit.
Confirming the spell in my mind, I opened my eyes. A piercing humming sound rippled throughout the hideout as soon as I confirmed the spell. It was hideous. There wasn't anything left resembling a human; the barrier I had erected was painted scarlet. While I was unharmed, I was still covered head to toe in blood dripping off every surface of my clothes. My beautiful cloak was dyed crimson, losing its majestic design, and replacing it as a symbol of terror.
"It…"
Dispelling my protective barrier, I looked at what I had done. Before me lay the bloody form of Revel, his dying expression being one of unbridled terror. The other nineteen rebels had similar expressions, their bodies riddled with small holes.
"I…"
It was much more horrific than I could have ever expected. Looking at my actions only invited horror and an intermountable guilt to flood my mind. The protection that was wrapped around my mind shattered, the same feelings of righteousness and the need for survival that had protected my mind allowing me to commit such a horrible act. No longer offered me any comfort. My mind was flooded by the poisonous effects of guilt and terror.
"No… No!"
My legs collapsed out from under me, no longer willing to offer me support after what I just did. An uncontrollable river of tears spilled from my eyes, but I couldn't move; nothing would respond to me, rooting me down and forcing me to look at what I just did. No matter how much I wanted to run away and avoid the feelings and memories. I just couldn't.
I sat there focused on Revel's dead body as the dark matter receded back into the darkness, revealing the plain walls of the hideout once again. Artoria's heavy footsteps appeared behind me before going silent for a moment.
Her gray and emerald wings wrapped around me; the feathers were surprisingly soft and comforting. I nestled my face into the wings, letting out all my emotions, soaking them.
"It'll be okay, you had no other choice," said Artoria softly.
Her words echoed within my mind. I knew they were true, but no matter how many times I told myself that. The flame of guilt and sorrow never once wavered.
I took solace in her grasp until my tears fell dry. My mind eventually succumbed to exhaustion, putting me into a deep slumber.