(TPD) Chapter 9: Wartime Preparations (Interlude)

Chapter 9: Wartime Preparations (Interlude)

(Third Person)

Avalon and Adaloth were just arriving back at the main camp, the former currently on his phone tapping away with a perturbed look on his face.

“Who is it?” Adaloth asked, leaning towards his side to take a glance.

“It’s Ruval, I’m just checking in on him.”

“He fought the eight-winged Fallen Angel didn’t he?” The appearance of a Fallen Angel only slightly weaker than a Cadre wasn’t something that would be ignored, especially since they had attacked the Marquis.

“He did, his mother’s taking charge while his father’s recovering. However, even with the Phoenix Tears the Marquis’s healing process is taking longer than expected.”

“Then we better watch out, their first official defeat happened on our territory. So it’s probable that they’ve got something planned here as retribution,” since Captain Nox was in charge during the evacuation. He was the most likely target.

“Yeah, I still find it strange though. Should a Fallen Angel that isn’t a Cadre even be capable of hampering the healing properties of Phoenix Tears to such an extent?” Since the Phoenix Tears were impossible to create without the Phenex Clan, the Marquis had consumed multiple to aid him.

Yet, his recuperation was still being hindered nonetheless.

“If they were attacking the Marquis with the intent to take the production of Phoenix Tears out of the equation, then maybe they also found some way to make the effects of its regeneration weaker.”

Avalon hummed, not fully agreeing with the theory. “That’s possible, or perhaps we’ve just underestimated how powerful Fallen Angels can be. It’s also possible that the eight-winged Fallen Angel has a mutation as well.”

“A Super-Fallen Angel?” Adaloth questioned.

“Mhm.”

“If that’s the case, then we better kill them before they get the rest of their wings.”

Avalon held his hand out, feeling something strange about the air around him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Is it just me, or does it suddenly feel a lot colder?”

“YOU GOT GUTS SHOWING YOURSELF HERE!”

Avalon grabbed Adaloth’s head and ducked, pushing her down alongside him as a metal object came speeding above their heads.

“I had a feeling this would happen,” he groaned, steeling himself for what was to come.

He stood upright, looking at the armament that had embedded itself into a nearby wall.

It was a rapier.

“It’s uh, good to see you again Esdeath.” He nervously greeted the approaching girl, her pent-up frustration leaking out of her pores as she smiled at him in a menacing fashion.

The kind of smile that told you that your days were numbered.

“Save the greetings for Hades!” Ice started to form around her hands. Avalon immediately running behind Adaloth’s back for cover.

“Lars! Protect your King!”

“I agreed to fight Fallen Angels! Not monsters!” Once he looked over, he was met with the sight of Lars hiding behind Echidna.

Like master, like servant.

Esdeath grit her teeth, wanting to tell Adaloth to move aside, but unable to bring herself to do so.

“What’s all this commotion about?” A much taller figure with the same colored hair as Esdeath approached.

“Your daughter’s trying to kill me!” Esdeath shot another chilling glare at him, causing Avalon to retreat into the back of Adaloth’s neck.

“Esdeath, I’m pretty sure my one condition for letting you come and observe was not to start any trouble.” Her father and Adaloth were probably the only people capable of keeping her temper down.

“But he tried to leave me behind!”

“I don’t want to hear any excuses, either behave yourself or you’re going back home.”

“But-”

“Have I made myself clear?” He pressed further.

Esdeath’s shoulders slumped. “Yes,” she relented. Avalon sticking his tongue at her like the manchild he was.

“Good, both Great King Bael and Duke Gremory are present. Your actions reflect our family in their eyes, don’t forget that.” Klauth departed to go handle his business, satisfied with his defusing of the situation.

“Is it true?” Esdeath asked while staring at Avalon.

“What is?”

“That you went on a mission.”

“That may or may not have happened,” still sensing the burning anger within Esdeath. He chose to remain behind Adaloth. “What about it?”

“I was just curious, are you going on another one soon?”

“Perchance.”

“I’m going with you.”

“You’ll have to ask Lord Bael about that, he decides who goes where now.” Avalon had decided to change the subject of the conversation to someone else.

“Young Lord Avalon, Young Lady Adaloth.” A soldier from the Bael Clan approached them. “Lord Bael requests your presence.”

“Welp, looks like we gotta go.” He hurriedly followed them with Adaloth in tow, entering what was now more akin to a well-guarded office rather than a tent.

“Welcome back,” Sylas motioned for them to take a seat. “I trust everything went well?”

They both nodded affirmatively.

“Splendid, now as you’ve probably noticed a certain something has been prepared for you to your right.” He pointed to the side of the room, Avalon marveling at the sets of armor that had been propped up on stands.

One of them was significantly bulkier than the other, with gold-plated pauldrons, heavy metal lining, and a long crimson robe spanning down its back.

The other appeared to be a lot more minimalistic, and seemed like it would be much easier to move in.

It consisted of a silver chest plate and much smaller pauldrons, there was some sort of pouch around its hip-section and unlike the other set there wasn’t a cape to go along with it.

And unsurprisingly, the Bael Clan’s emblem was inscribed into the sides of both armor sets.

“I’m sure you’ve both already figured out which one belongs to who, but before I let you try them on there’s something we need to talk about first.” Sylas’s tone of voice grew somber. “There’s been a, disagreement, between me and your brother regarding deploying either of you on the field.”

In truth, the ‘disagreement’ was between Zekram and Sirzechs, but Sylas had been instructed not to drop his name in front of the twins until he wished for him to do so.

“Oh,” Avalon replied, both him and Adaloth being very familiar with their older brother’s overprotective habits.

“He believes in spite of Avalon’s accomplishment during the evacuation, that his age makes him unsuitable for active combat. The same argument was applied for your case, Adaloth.” Sylas’s expression then showed a tinge of relief. “However, we were able to come to a compromise.”

“A compromise?”

“Three years, that’s the amount of time both of you will spend staying here and training. Learning everything you can from your teachers before you’re officially deployed.” If it weren’t for Zekram, that time period would probably be in the double digits. Moreover, if Sylas’s predictions were correct, three years was already almost half the entire war’s duration.

“Wait, what about my mission to deal with the unmanned-”

“It’s on hold until further notice, I’m sorry Avalon. My hands are tied in this situation, if either of you are reported to have left the fortress before the time period’s over. Then you’ll never see active combat all together, so I suggest you take this seriously.”

Avalon seemed to be genuinely distraught by the notion of not being able to continue participating in the war, three years was a long time for someone like him.

Adaloth on the other hand was probably more interested in what she was going to eat today. Having lived for as long as she did as the Control Devil, three years was about the same as three weeks for her.

“There’s been a report about large-scale movement around the border, so I’ll be heading out for a while to go tend to that. I’ll leave you two be so you can try out your armor, if there’s any problems or suggestions you have for them feel free to tell me once I’m back.”

Sylas got up and left the room, Avalon still somewhat disappointed, but also ecstatic at the same time to be trying out his new armor.

“This might be a good thing, with that eight-winged Fallen Angel roaming about you’ll have time to better prepare during the next three years.” Adaloth brought up.

“And what if they’re a ten or twelve-winged Fallen Angel by then?” He retorted.

“You’ll be better prepared for that as well, you should also take this time to make sure Lars is properly trained. Not to mention that you have another possible peerage member to consider.”

It was safe to assume that she wasn’t talking about Esdeath.

“Relax, I’m not going to choose anyone before you have an answer.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Compared to Adaloth, it didn’t take very long for Avalon to put his armor on.

He hummed contently, finding it easy to move around as he stretched his arms and legs. But he noticed something strange about the pouch that had been attached to it.

There was Demonic Power flowing through it that reminded him of Lars’s Spatial Manipulation to an extent.

He opened the pouch, met with the sight of what could only be described as a vortex of some sort.

“He gave you a spatial storage pouch, he’s really not holding back on buttering you up.”

“The worst part of it is that I think it might be working a little,” he sighed as he closed the pouch. “There’s a plethora of things I suppose I ought to get done during these three years, so I’m going to start training with Echidna right away. What about you?”

“I’ll be doing about the same,” she answered without elaborating.

---

(First Person - Avalon)

I was sitting at a large desk with Echidna right beside me, multiple inkwells and sheets of odd looking paper laid in front of us.

“Let’s see here, where would be a good place to start?” She thought aloud while tapping her lower lip. “Since you’re a complete beginner, I suppose I’ll start by having you tell me what sealing magic actually is,” she looked at me expectantly.

“It’s where you use Demonic Power to seal objects within other objects isn’t it?”

She shook her head. “While you aren’t wrong, sealing magic can also be used to seal things into living beings. Let’s take that girl who tried to behead you earlier, the mark on her chest is an example of such a seal.”

“That was a seal? She told me that she didn’t know anything about it,” if that’s the case. Then what exactly is it keeping sealed?

“Then either she was lying, or her father hasn’t told her the truth.”

“But you know what’s sealed inside her don’t you?”

The corners of her mouth curled upwards into a faint smile, reminding me of Adaloth to an annoying degree.

“I might, but I’m not the type of teacher who just gives out the answers. Instead, why don’t we make that one of your goals? If you become proficient enough in sealing magic, then maybe you’ll also be able to figure it out on your own.”

“Maybe,” I tried looking further with my eyes once, but all I got in return was a sharp headache.

She took one of the rectangular sheets of paper and placed it in front of me. “There are many levels to sealing magic, the lowest level is where you use a special type of ink to inscribe characters imbued with different meanings onto sealing paper. That’s where we’ll have you begin and slowly work your way up from to maximize your understanding on sealing magic.”

“And what about the highest level?”

“That blindfold you’re wearing is a prime example of it, but you’re nowhere near your father’s level so I suggest you stay focused on the present.”

Seriously though, he isn’t my father.

We don’t even look alike!

She took a brush and dipped it into the inkwell, writing a singular character on the sheet of paper and then sliding it towards me.

“It has my Demonic Power inside it, so you should be able to see it even with your blindfold on.”

“I think it says ‘less’?” I said with mild uncertainty.

“Correct,” she grabbed the sheet of paper and stuck it to my arm without hesitation. “Now what do you observe?”

“It’s strange, I feel like both my physical strength and Demonic Power just got a bit weaker, but the change was so minimal I can hardly even notice it.”

I think if it weren’t for my mutation, I wouldn’t have detected anything at all.

“That’s because the seal I just made lacked specification, the less specific a seal is, the weaker it will be. The amount of Demonic Power, and the strength of the one creating the seal also determines how effective it is.”

This time she created a different seal, one with a much longer string of characters than the last.

And once again, she stuck it onto me without warning.

“My Demonic Power was weakened by 30%.”

“Good, the art of sealing is all about finding your limits. There are many things you’ll find yourself both able and unable to do, the better you are at exploring those possibilities the more versatility your craft will develop. I suggest you think about how you can make sealing magic useful specifically to you. It’ll give you more direction in figuring out what kind of seals you want to develop.”

In other words, a specialty.

“So how do I start?”

“You’ll start by learning proper calligraphy, if your characters are drawn poorly. Then not only will they cease to function, but it might also result in your seals backfiring on you. There are also designs that extend beyond just using characters, for example the rapier-girl’s mark on her chest, but we’ll save that for another time.”

One by one, Echidna started writing characters for me to copy. Insisting on perfection for each and every one, it’d probably be a lot easier for me to do this with my blindfold off, but that’s a luxury I’m not going to be able to afford as time goes on.

No matter, blindfold or not, I still fully intend on mastering this. I have three years to become as good as I possibly can before I’ll need to start applying what I’ve learned to the field.

Once those three years are over, I’ll ensure that I’m capable of delivering a performance that makes up for all that lost time.

---

(Third Person)

Supremacy War - Year Two.

“Here we go again,” Nox groaned while sitting atop one of the towers that made up his fortress. One that he had been guarding for a year now since the beginning of the Supremacy War.

His scouts had picked up that the Fallen Angels were planning another attack on his position, one that had prevented them from advancing into Sylas’s area twice already.

And now he would need to defend it for the third time.

He stretched his head from side to side, popping a few of his strained joints.

“It’s about time, I was starting to consider marching into their territory myself.” A figure appeared beside him, having jumped from the roof of the central tower to reach Nox. His hair was pure white, and his eyes a striking bright vermillion. His face was dirtied with all sorts of filth and grime that he didn’t care to wash, and the same went for the black jagged armor he wore.

Nox’s efficient commanding prowess had definitely been a key player in protecting their position, but it wasn’t the deciding factor.

Rather, the man stood beside him was.

The Umbral Knight, and Border Commander, Lith.

“They’ve brought a lot more of those strange golems this time, just how are they able to keep up this level of production with all the losses they’ve endured?” Nox wondered.

“They have a lot more to offer, trust me.” Lith said.

“What makes you say that?”

“No Cadres have appeared yet, which means they still haven’t gotten serious about advancing into this region. I bet they’re using our defenses to accumulate more data on those freaks,” he pointed towards a group of strange figures approaching the front gate.

Their skin was pale, and they were completely hairless. Not an ounce of life was seen in their hollowed eye sockets, their eerie nature furthered by the presence of metal cylinders jammed into their skin.

Golems, or as the Fallen Angels called them, Scourges.

“Each of them are about as strong as a four-winged Fallen Angel, I’m worried what’ll happen if they’re able to send them in the thousands.” As of now, the amount of Scourges the Fallen Angels usually sent during their attacks numbered between 100-300.

“Bold of you to assume they don’t already have thousands of them,” Lith chuckled. “They’ve been developing golems since the Great War, I doubt this is all they have to show for it.”

“You seem rather elated about the prospect,” Nox observed.

“These overwhelming victories are starting to get boring, I could use some excitement right about now.” Lith paused, as if he had just remembered something. “Oh right, what about that Blindfold kid you were talking about? When am I going to get to see him?”

Nox shrugged. “No clue, I haven’t seen him since he first appeared back during the evacuation.”

“Bummer,” Lith sighed. “Anyhow, I better go deal with them,” he pointed down at the battle occurring between him and Nox’s men, against the Fallen Angels and Scourges below.

“You don’t have to fight them yourself every time Lith, our men are more than capable of repelling them.”

“It’s either I fight them to keep myself entertained, or I start sparring you lot.”

Nox felt a sharp chill run down his back as he recalled what it felt like to be the opposite side of Lith’s sword.

“Have at it,” he gestured towards the battlefield.

Lith had two scabbards tied to either side of his waist, one of them a fairly ordinary looking silver attached to his right. And the other an ominous dark-purple with what looked to be a chain wrapped around it.

“Sorry, these opponents are still far beneath you.” He put his hand on the purple scabbard, as if to soothe whatever was held inside it.

From the silver scabbard he unsheathed a well-crafted longsword, admiring his own reflection in it before performing a few practice swings.

“See ya in a few,” he said to Nox before jumping off the tower they were standing on.

“He does know that we have wings, right?” Nox questioned as he watched Lith run head-first into the chaos.

The second that Lith’s feet landed on the ground, all the Scourges close enough to him immediately turned their heads. Ignoring the rest of the soldiers guarding the fortress and diverting their attention to him.

“Grown a little more aware have we?” He smirked. “Good, it’d be even more boring if you remained stagnant.”

Their mouths opened up, their heads rattling as Light Magic gathered around their orifices at an alarming rate.

Like loose arrows, numerous beams came shooting at Lith, attempting to hit from both his front and side.

“How unfortunate, my teacher already prepared me for something like this,” instead of attempting to make use of his sword or preparing to flee, he held out his left hand. Barriers of Demonic Power forming around him like a protective cocoon.

Each of the dozen or so beams of Light Magic ended up being reflected, hitting the Scourges square in the face as their circuits were blown to smithereens.

“They only gained a little intelligence, their strength still isn’t anything special.” The average Devil wouldn’t want to face something as strong as a four-winged Fallen Angel, but Lith’s men weren’t average Devils. Moreover, Nox’s men had also grown throughout the course of the war.

As much as he didn’t take kindly to the fact that Sylas had basically usurped control of the border from Zeoticus, the resources that the Bael had given them were nothing to scoff at.

“Commander!” A blonde-haired woman ran up to him, her name was Iris, Lith’s second-in-command.

“What is it?”

“Something’s approaching our location! And it’s terribly fast!” She was the most talented Mage amongst Lith’s men, her spellcraft superior to even him.

Lith put his hand over his forehead, looking up at the sky as he noticed that something was indeed shooting towards from above.

He looked at his purple scabbard, the fact that it wasn’t violently shaking telling him that whatever was approaching wasn’t a Cadre or something on that level.

“Continue directing everyone, I’ll handle that thing.”

BOOM!

An enormous crater appeared in front of him, the sound of a heavy object crashing into the ground alerting both friend and foe alike.

“Ah, you’re not a person either. What a shame.”

Another Scourge had appeared, but this one was fully-armored, and had a much more oppressive presence to it than the others they were currently fighting.

Its attention was honed onto nothing but Lith, slowly approaching him as a battle-mask appeared out of the sides of its helmet.

“You plan on taking me up close? That’s certainly different from what your siblings are doing,” Scourges usually insisted on keeping a distance and charging up as much Light Magic as possible before they discharged it in the form of a beam.

Miniature thrusters ignited from the Scourge’s back, propulsing it towards Lith as the Commander held up his sword, meeting the Scourge’s fist head on as his feet were dragged through the soil.

Lith infused his feet with Demonic Power, stepping on the Scourge’s left foot and keeping him in place before delivering a solid to its neck.

CLANG!

“You’re durable as well, not bad.” His attack only seemed to pierce through a few millimeters of the plating that made up its armor, the Scourge attempted to counterattack but Lith was able to dodge it as easily as he did his paperwork.

The Scourge’s armor started to ignite with Light Magic, its power continuing to rise as Lith simply continued to observe the machine with piqued intrigue.

“I see, so their ability is to use those beams, and yours is to reinforce yourself with Light Magic like we do with Demonic Power.” A red glow began to emanate from Lith’s blade, his expression hardening as he inhaled sharply. “It really is a shame that they only deployed one of you.”

The Scourge dug its hands into the ground, pulling up a large piece of earth with nothing but its brute strength and hurling it towards Lith.

“Such a childish technique,” Lith already knew that the Scourge was planning to go for a follow-up attack once Lith cut the chunk of earth in half.

So instead, he chose to evade.

“I take it back, you haven’t grown smarter after all.” Instead of going for a swing, Lith used a thrusting attack to pierce directly through the Scourge’s head. Using the Light Magic it charged itself with as a guide to find its weak spot.

But that wasn’t the end.

Lith looked up, this time not needing Iris to warn him about the presence shooting towards him from up above.

“Oh, they had more than just one of you after all.” He blew an impressed whistle as he saw what had to be at least 50 Armored-Scourges encroaching upon his position.

The corners of his mouth started to stretch, revealing a manic grin that had become infamous amongst his soldiers.

“IRIS! BRING THE ELITES TO THE FRONT!” He roared, his aide not hesitating to follow his orders as the formation of his men began to shift.

Each of his elites were about as strong as a four-winged Fallen Angel, but his regular soldiers had already been taught how to properly take advantage of their numbers to combat the Scourges.

“Go have yourselves some fun, you’ve earned it.” Lith sheathed his sword, his elites all grining to themselves just like he was as they rushed forwards without hesitation. “If only they would hurry up and send a Cadre, the whole reason I remained Border Commander was so I could be at the forefront when another war like this broke out. I’m not sure what I’m going to do if it ends up being a slog.”

Lith had been offered promotions to many different positions thanks to his achievements in battle, but he insisted on staying at the Border where all the heat was. And as fate would have it, his stubbornness had paid off.

“Commander,” Iris ran up to him. “We just had a report from one of our scouts further up the border.”

“And?”

“The Fallen Angels are starting to pile up their numbers, closing in on a thousand of them, and even more Scourges. Although there still hasn’t been any Cadre sightings.”

“Our scouts are good, but I doubt they’re good enough to spot a Cadre that wants to keep themselves hidden. Has the Bael dude asked us to do anything?” Like Nox, Lith didn’t seem to have a whole lot of respect for Sylas.

“No.”

“Great, I didn’t plan on waiting for his orders regardless. Once we’ve finished up here, we’ll take our personal army and start moving up as well. Nox is more than capable of handling himself here,” he stretched his arms and walked back towards the fortress as the battle neared its conclusion. “What about the eight-winged Fallen Angel? Any reports on them?”

“I’m afraid not, they haven’t made an appearance since their attack on the Marquis.”

“They got forced to retreat by a brat, maybe that just damaged their ego beyond repair.” He chuckled to himself. “But I’m surprised, I didn’t expect them to give up on attacking the Phenex Clan so easily. Assuming their aim was to get rid of the Phoenix Tears, that is.”

The Marquis had required an entire month of recovery even with the help of his Phoenix Tears, a feat that spoke volumes to the danger the eight-winged Fallen Angel posed.

---

(Third Person)

“What?” A figure said aloud, revealed to be a middle-aged, gruff looking man with black hair, a matching beard, and an alarmingly tall and built physique.

“You heard me Baraqiel, leave the Underworld.” And the man he was speaking to was of a much leaner physique, sporting black and blonde hair alongside a goatee. His expression was firm as he looked Baraqiel in the eyes.

“You can’t possibly ask me to do that at a time like this-”

“It’s precisely because it’s a time like this that I’m asking you to leave, let’s be honest with ourselves here. With or without this war, our race was destined to perish eventually. All this is doing is speeding up that process.”

“Even so, that doesn’t justify me abandoning you at a time like this! Azazel!” He roared in return.

“And what about who you’ll be abandoning if you stay here?” That sentence alone was more than enough to render Baraqiel utterly speechless. “You have a daughter now as well, and we both know what the Principle Clans plan to do to her because of her lineage.”

Baraqiel clenched his fist, gritting his teeth together in frustration. “If it’s already a lost cause, then why don’t you come to the Human World as well? We already have a few stations set up there, we can-”

“Baraqiel,” Azazel admonished him. “That’s enough, it was because of my negligence that this war began in the first place. They look up to me, the least I can do is help them die with some semblance of dignity before the end.”

Azazel reached into his coat, pulling out what looked to be a gilded dagger with a purple jewel attached to its hilt. “Take Fafnir with you,” he held it towards Baraqiel. “I’m not sure how much effort they’re going to put into hunting the rest of us once this is over, but should the worst come to pass it’s better if your family has him on their side.”

“Azazel…” Baraqiel’s voice was pained. “This is too much.”

“I’ve never once given any thought to the future of our race, however, the future of my friends is a different story.” He placed the dagger in Baraqiel’s hands, making it clear that he wouldn’t accept a refusal. “Thank you for your service until now Baraqiel, I mean it. But now that service is better placed in protecting your wife and daughter, they need you more than I do.”

“Aw, what a touching moment between close friends. I’m almost about to tear up,” they both turned to their side. Looking up at the figure of a woman they were both all too familiar with.

“Eurus, what are you doing here?” Baraqiel spoke, looking at her with evident disdain.

“I see, since I’m technically a part of the enemy camp I guess you guys aren’t too fond of me.” She pointed at Azazel. “Can you blame me though? It was his responsibility to watch my father, not mine.”

“Just say whatever it is you want to say and get lost,” Baraqiel insisted.

“So harsh, Shuri must be one hell of a masochist to endure being with you.” She plastered on a devious smile. “But I digress, I was just here to tell you that I plan on going to the Human World as well soon. So I hope we’ll get along.”

Both the Cadre and Governor-General were shocked.

“You’re turning on your father?”

“Of course not, turning on him would suggest that I was on his side to begin with. I knew that our defeat was a foregone conclusion from the start, I’m just playing around a little while I still can.” Eurus hummed cheerily, looking at the dagger in Baraqiel’s hands. “So that’s Fafnir, what an interesting contraption that is. I never understood why father showed such little intrigue in Sacred Gears, personally I think they’re immensely fascinating.”

“You love hearing yourself talk don’t you?” Azazel said followed by a dry chuckle.

“Yeah, I think I got it from my father. Speaking of fatherhood,” she turned to Baraqiel. “I had no idea you had a daughter, congratulations!” She patted him on the back, earning only an unimpressed look in return. “Maybe I should find someone to make a child with as well, I wonder what kind of offspring I’d end up creating?”

“You’d be lucky to find anyone capable of being paired up with someone as insufferable as you,” Azazel said plainly.

“Hey, my father managed to find someone. If he can do it then so can I,” her wings sprouted from her back. “Anyhow, I’ll be staying in the Underworld for a few more years. I hope you have fun dying for a meaningless cause, Governor.” She flew off into the distance.

“Even if her ideals differ from her father, her personality is pretty much the same.” Baraqiel remarked.

“The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree,” Azazel agreed.