Demon's Virtue

692  The Angel

Eiro and the others continued waiting for a while. It took a whole ten minutes for something to happen, though. The time-freeze field in front of them had suddenly deactivated, and Eiro could sense a change in the flow of magic around the hallway.

"Alright, there we go," the Demon pointed out, looking at his party members, "Let's keep going, but don't-" Eiro started, but was soon interrupted by a sudden event. He had been able to see it happening, even if it occured at a speed that he couldn't physically react to. Space was cut apart and shifted aside.

Eiro found himself in a different space. A large, empty hall. There was just a single door on the other side of the room. The Demon let out an annoyed groan, "Fuck... well, at least I warned them. They should be able to take care of themselves."

What had happened just now was something that Eiro expected to be a possibility. The 'Dungeon Map' was an artifact that gave the user near-limitless dominion over a certain space. Eiro expected for the Devil to have done something to weaponize this, and that is exactly what had just happened. Using that ability, the space that each individual party member had taken up was moved away from where it was originally. Basically, they were all teleported far away from each other, most likely so that they could all be taken out individually. But Eiro knew they were all going to be fine, so he didn't worry too much. For now, he had to concentrate on what was happening around him. The room was empty, and Eiro couldn't sense anyone or anything around him. Figuring that he shouldn't waste any time, Eiro spread out his wings. Since he was alone now, he could move freely without having to wait for the others. With a flap of his wings, a massive gust of wind appeared below him. Before the dust below him had the opportunity to be moved aside, Eiro shot through the room toward the door. It wasn't able to withstand Eiro and simply shattered open, leading the Demon into a hallway. This space was long, looping and twisting around itself, distorting the Demon's senses together with it. From his perspective, all he could see right now was a deep, straight hallway. Eiro flew for a few seconds before something appeared in front of him. Splinters of wood were scattered around the floor, not even having fully settled yet. Beyond those splinters, a large open room was revealed. The dust that had gathered here over time was pushed against the walls away from the center of the room. Eiro came to a halt and looked around. He had returned back to where he started. --- "Let's keep going, but don't-" Eiro's voice cut out. The space around Ariella had changed. It was too dark for her to see, but she knew that she was alone. As she held her hand forward, rings of light appeared around her arm, illuminating the room around her. To her surprise, she found herself in a church. Wooden benches stretched out into the darkness, and intricate gold decorations led along the carpet beneath her feet toward an altar.

Knowing that right now, she was just revealing herself to any potential enemies, Ariella waved her hand in front of her body. Wisps of light started floating around her, before quickly spreading throughout the corners of this church. There were no doors or windows anywhere, just large paintings on the walls like ones that you could see in any church. Or at least, that's what it seemed like to Ariella initially, before one of the paintings caught her eye.

It depicted a gorgeous, practically ethereal young man holding a child in his arms. Six large wings spread out behind his back. They were originally white, but a black substance seemed to be growing and sticking to them. A halo, the representation of absolute holiness, floated behind his head, with its golden light also becoming corrupted by darkness.

"...Father?" Ariella muttered quietly, looking at the face of the man she was trying to avenge. By now, he had become nothing but a walking corpse, taken over by the wickedness of the Monster King through the Devil's vile ploy. Ariella gathered some more wisps of light along the walls, letting her see the paintings better. They were all depicting a different point in her father's story.

An angel, born from the gods' will. Working tirelessly to serve them without a moment's rest, as he had been born to do. But then one day, he had been chosen for a special task; he became a bard of the gods, being sent down to the world below to hear the mortals' stories, so that he could one day return to the gods' side and sing of the woes of the people. After mingling amongst the mortals and entertaining the gods for centuries, the angel came across a mortal woman. Young and filled with a love for life despite the horrors of the world unfolding around her, the angel fell for her. Despite being forbidden so, the angel married the woman, hiding who he truly was, and the two birthed a child. Furious at the existence of this forbidden love, the gods cursed the angel and his lover, killing her and stripping him of his holiness. The angel, now fallen from grace, took his child, the only memory he had of his love, and raiser her on his own, until she became a beautiful young woman that her mother would be proud of.

However, as the years went on, the darkness in the angel's heart grew. His hatred for the gods that had used him as nothing but a tool, before punishing him and his love for the sole crime of being happy, grew by the day. The more his daughter grew to resemble the woman he had loved, both in appearance and in heart, the more he had submitted to the darkness within him.

Ariella looked at the paintings, bracing herself for the next part of the story. A figure appeared beside the angel, reaching out a hand toward him. It promised to protect his daughter and bring the angel happiness once more, but the figure took the trust the angel had given it and ripped it apart within its grasp. It was the Devil, who started to twist the angel's nature more, day by day. It didn't take long until the angel had truly fallen into the Devil's hands, losing his own will. The Devil presented the angel to the Monster King as a present, and the King turned the angel into a pawn. The angel had been turned into a royal; the Hierophant. Under the Monster King's rule, the angel had become a bringer of ruin and death.

Looking at the story of her father, Ariella, the nephilim, stayed calm. There wasn't a single day where she didn't think of this in the first place, so something like this would never be enough to shake her up. Ariella closed her eyes for a moment. She let out a deep sigh. Pushing her hand toward one of her wings, Ariella plucked out one of her own feathers. The feather began to glow and changed its shape, turning into a luminescent arrow. She had pushed her other hand forward, and then nocked the arrow onto an arrow of light that formed around her grasp. Aiming upward, Ariella pulled at the string, and shot the arrow up into the darkness above her. While she was surrounded by nothing but walls, the ceiling had been unendingly tall, with clear dangers lurking in the the shadows. A high-pitched screech echoed through the church as something fell from above, soon landing on the altar with a loud slam. The glowing arrow that Ariella had shot, sticking out from the chest of an angel. Or at least, something that appeared like an angel.

It was a beautiful figure, tall and genderless, something untouchable by the dirty hands of mortals. Large wings were spread out from its back. However, dark blood poured from the wound over its heart, dyeing its pale, naked body black. In its last effort, the angel let out a cry.

Disgusting and corrupted caws, more animalistic than a harpy's, but more melodic than a bird's, came from the angel's mouth. As if responding to the death of their fellow, more caws sounded out from above Ariella, as a flock of furious, false angels shot down at her.