“What’s… going… on?” Remy tried to open his heavy eyelids. He lay down on the ground, looking up at the sky above him. It was no longer clear blue skies, instead, it had a light green color over it. The sound of battle roared through his still-ringing ears.

Something’s wrong.

Something’s really wrong.

He looked up at the skies, trying to make sense of what had just happened.

Green sky. Green sky.

He thought about it over and over. Something happened, then blank, and now he was down on the ground. He remembered being in the carriage just a while before.

A shield dome?

He guessed as he tried to move his limbs. They felt heavy, like a rock, as if his nerves had all been snapped and his brain's command didn’t reach any of them. His body hurt all over, with wounds and bruises all over him. Blood flowed through the cuts on his skin.

“REMY! REMY! STAY WITH ME!” He heard Atilia’s scream piercing through the loud explosions. He opened and closed his eyelids, forcing his eyes to focus. He saw her kneeling in front of him, taking two white pills from a little bottle. She forced his mouth open and threw the two pills inside.

The orange-tasting pills…

He quickly remembered what they were. Healing pills. Almost instantly, his strength returned to him. The pain dissipated, the visible wounds on his body disappearing.

“REMY!” Atilia called out and hugged him.

“Atilia…”

“YOU TWO, THIS ISN’T THE TIME TO BE MAKING OUT!” Mimiyat’s scream roared through the air. Atilia didn’t retort and let Remy go, running toward Barett who lay motionless not far from him. Physically, Barett seemed to be in a slightly better condition, although not by much. She fed him a pill of medicine, and within a few seconds, he opened his eyes. He began moving, shaking his hands and then his legs.

Did she give me two pills by accident?

Remy didn’t really know the condition of himself. It felt like a thousand knives cut through him, but only for a split second. After she gave him the pills, all the pain disappeared. So he couldn’t tell whether it was an accident or intentional. Regardless, that wasn’t important. He took a quick look at his surroundings.

They were on the side of the road. The carriage had been flipped over, with a massive hole in the ground next to it. It was in terrible shape, three of its wheels bent with one wheel on the ground lying next to a tree at the edge of the dome. The carriage’s window had been shattered, its sail ripped apart. Louisa kneeled in front of it, her shield stabbed on the ground. A green line in a shape similar to burning flames soared upward from its top tip. Those flames maintained the large green dome that shielded the group from the magic attacks.

Mimiyat stood next to her, firing whatever magic she could into the forest, toward where the magic attacks came from. It looked as if the trees themselves were shooting, not a single demon visible, yet their attacks smashed onto the shield nonetheless. Mimiyat’s double-edged spear shone, sending a variety of magic spells all over the place. Atilia, meanwhile, assisted Barett in getting back to his feet. The magic attacks themselves were in a form Remy had seen before. Pitch-black projectiles with a dark red afterglow sliced through the skies, crashing into Louisa’s shield. The same projectiles as the demon attacks in Kilotakia.

Louisa winced. She shook every time a magic attack struck her shield.

“REMY, DON’T JUST STAND THERE!” Mimiyat’s yell forced him onto his feet. He searched for his sniper, finding its case lying on the dirt, next to the wheel that rested near the tree. He made his way toward it, making sure to not cross the edges of the green dome. He dragged it all the way back to the carriage, before setting it down and opening it. He brought the sniper into his arms and flung the case over his back.

He checked the purple bars underneath the scope. All five were lit. He aimed, locking his eyes on one of the incoming projectiles. He made a quick calculation, guessing where it came from based on how the projectile flew, and opened fire. He couldn’t verify whether his shot actually killed a demon or not, or if he had hit anything in the first place. He had no time to think. He cocked the weapon and looked for his next target.

Pull, push, fire. Pull, push, fire. He repeated the motion, firing a bolt toward wherever the demons fired from. The constant barrage made it hard to concentrate. He could only pray that his attacks hit. The attack continued, refusing to stop. They came from everywhere, hitting left, right, and center.

“What should we do!?” He asked after exhausting all of his ammo. Atilia immediately came to his side and smacked the underside of the magazine.

“Generate, lightning!” Her hands glowed purple. One by one, the purple bars lit back up. While she rearmed him, Remy pulled out the handgun that dangled from his hips. The weapon was useless in this situation, yet he fired anyway, draining the weapon of all its ammo.

“I sent a request for help through the magic paper!” Mimiyat answered in the middle of her attacks. Atilia tapped on Remy’s back. Remy put the handgun down on the ground, and swiftly aimed his sniper toward the demons. He tracked one of the attacks, predicted where it came from, and fired. Atilia recharged his handgun before setting it down next to him. She resumed attacking, hurling her spells toward the forest.

“And their reply!?” Atilia asked in the midst of her attack. She yelled her spells, strikes of red, white, blue, even green went out from her hands. The green forest began changing in color as the intensity of the attacks increased. Every time a demon attack streaked by, it sucked the life out of the trees, turning the leaves from green to brown. If another demon’s attack passed, the leaves would turn to ash. It began sucking the life out of their own cover, one by one, destroying the environment. It worked in Remy’s favor, but not by much. The intensity of the attacks meant a lot of demons gathered around them. Even if they destroyed the demons’ cover, that didn’t necessarily mean they could escape. Demons didn't fear death like them.

“I… won’t… urghhh…” Louisa pushed the shield deeper into the ground, the green flames glowing brighter. Remy exhausted all of his ammo. Atilia came to him and slapped the underside, reloading it again. He took his handgun and fired again. Again, and again, his finger pulled the trigger, yet the attacks showed no signs of relenting.

“Reinforcements… coming…”

“This is too much!” Atilia yelled. Barett, meanwhile, ran around the dome. He picked up whatever pieces of the carriage he could find. He brought them back to the carriage and pulled out his golden hammer. Beginning with the detached wheel, he started his work. With loud, rough, crisp ringing sounds, he smacked his hammer toward the wheel. A white glow engulfed the wheel, returning it to its original shape. He held it up and attached it to the carriage’s bent axle, before smacking it into place. He spun the wheel, the wheel spinning like new.

He then made his way toward the front of the carriage, smacking the wheel on that side, repairing it. Remy didn’t have the chance to watch him work, as the second Atilia finished reloading, he began firing. Only the sound of the clanging metal filled his ears, mixed with the sounds of so many attacks smashing into the shield above him. He searched for the demons, using whatever clue or sign he could find to determine their position. He fired. He fired like a madman. The five bars under the scope disappeared one by one.

Pull, push, fire. Pull, push, fire. Yet the intensity of the attacks didn’t seem to die down.

“My… strength… breaking… apart…” Drops of sweat rolled down Louisa’s cheeks. The green flames began shaking wildly, dancing side to side.

“URGH!” she grunted. She pushed the shield even deeper, and the flames straightened up.

“Atilia!” Mimiyat called. “You’re an angel, right!? Call your friends, please!” Mimiyat begged. It was a desperate situation, but Remy didn’t expect he would ever hear Mimiyat begging for something. He wondered how Mimiyat knew that Atilia was an angel. It may have something to do with what the three of them did earlier, but Remy was in no position to ask.

“They can’t! If they meddle too much, they’ll destroy the world!”

“What should we do, then!? Just stand here and get destroyed!?”

Atilia recharged Remy’s weapons, over and over. Remy regretted the fact that he couldn’t use magic, but it was too late now. So instead, he focused on picking up his sniper rifle, one filled with magic ammo, and continued firing, making sure to the best of his abilities that every shot Atilia gave him counted.

Once Atilia finished, she stood up and continued firing magic, using all kinds of spells.

A projectile slammed into the shield wall Louisa provided, and cracks began appearing on the green surface.

“It’s over…” Barett murmured.

“Sir… Barett… Don’t give… up! ARGHHH!” With a loud cry, Louisa pushed her shield deeper. The green flames began to stabilize once more, the cracks in the dome sealing itself, but it didn’t last for long. Barett himself couldn’t do anything. He did all he could do, repair most of the carriage, but it was still lying on its side. He tried to push it back upright, but he wasn’t strong enough.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

They couldn’t hope to escape, either. The intensity of the magic attacks wouldn’t let them. Remy tried thinking of a way out, yet his mind came out empty.

Is this… really the end?

* •• (Atilia Artinia)

Atilia paused. Another projectile slammed into the shield dome, the visible cracks spreading. Louisa’s shield weakened, the flames dancing left and right.

“I… can try something,” Mimiyat murmured, barely loud enough to be heard in all the noise. “But I need some time.”

“...”

Atilia took a breather. She couldn’t provide that time. As a guide angel, she was created to help guide humans to the afterlife. Nothing more, nothing less, and her abilities reflected that. She wasn’t given much more compared to a normal human in this world.

Her ability to learn magic quickly, a feat she had put some pride in, ultimately wasn’t that special. For Remy and Barett, outworlders who received cheats without magic-boosting properties, their magic abilities were lower in exchange. But that didn’t mean they couldn’t learn magic. They just took longer.

Once they could, she would no longer be needed. She didn’t have something to show for herself. She would be useless, unable to do anything, just like in this moment.

“You… mean that?” Barett asked. Mimiyat responded with a nod. She set her hands down and began chanting words of an unknown language. With the stop in her attacks, the demons’ attacks intensified. They smashed into the shield, letting out sounds akin to multiple explosions all around them.

They burst in the air, creating dark black clouds that filled the skies, blocking their view. The once lush green forest that surrounded them had turned into an ash wasteland. A true wasteland, the demons sucking the life out of them. She couldn’t even imagine what would happen if Louisa’s shield shattered.

Yet she couldn’t do anything. She could do nothing. She didn’t know how to fix the shield, she didn’t even know if she could support Louisa in the first place. She never saw people combining magic before, nor had she ever read about it. She doubted that her magic attacks did anything. She doubted that she had even killed a demon so far. The only way to know was by checking her card, but it was impossible. Not here, not now.

It was utter chaos out there. The previously coordinated attacks, the previous tactics of tracking where the attacks came from, all of that went out of the window. Atilia returned fire as best as she could. But in the end, it wasn’t enough.

An enemy projectile smashed through the shield, shattering a part of the green dome. It disappeared after the crash, leaving a gaping hole on the shield’s surface right behind Remy.

“Remy!” Atilia yelled. Louisa tried to repair the hole, but there was no time. A second projectile followed after it, heading straight for him. Atilia ran. She ran as fast as she could. The projectile zipped closer. Even until now, Atilia didn’t know what that thing was. Was it a ball? A bullet? A bolt of magic? What kind of projectile was it?

“ATILIA!” Remy screamed at the top of his lungs. He tried getting out of the way, but with his sniper, it was impossible. Yes, he wouldn’t be able to get out of the way in time. There was only one way to protect him.

She readied herself. She knew where she would return to. She just didn’t expect it to be this quick.

I guess… it’s over.

She closed her eyes.

Yet, she felt nothing.

Instead, her body floated through the air. She felt light, as light as a feather. She thought she was thrown by the attack, flying through the air as she fell to her death. She didn’t feel any pain. She didn’t hear any yells. Was she already dead? She opened her eyes, finding herself floating through an empty, white room, akin to the one that she used to be in. Where she used to receive lost human souls.

“Welcome back, Atilia.” She heard a familiar voice.

“I’m dead, huh?” She turned around. The Figure shook Her head.

“I can’t be here for long. Things are already at the breaking point just from this much.” She let out a chuckle. “But hey… I don’t think it’s fair if you don’t get anything.”

“... I see.” She was speechless. She couldn’t answer. A sword appeared in front of her. It had a normal-looking black hilt, with a shining silver blade.

“Isn’t this…?”

“You’ve seen it before, haven’t you?”

Atilia nodded. Barett’s magic stick turned into a sword, the very same sword she was holding now, when it was in her hands.

“Now go and save your friends. Your journey won’t end here. Oh, Kathy said hi.”

“... Tell her that I won’t need help. Not as much as before, at least.”

“She’s the one that told me about this, though.”

“... Give her my thanks.”

“Will do. Stay safe, Atilia.”

“Thank you, my Lord.”

Atilia closed her eyes.

* ••

“Atilia!?” A blinding white light engulfed her body, forcing him to turn away. For a moment, the attacks stopped.

“ATILIA!” Remy yelled, but he couldn’t do anything. The light froze him in place. Eventually, it faded away. He looked back at her. Atilia’s body glowed white, floating up in the air. In her hands was a silver blade shining underneath the clear skies.

“Atilia?” Louisa and Barett looked toward her, while Mimiyat stood in her place. Atilia opened her eyes, her dark golden eyes sparkling. She lifted her sword straight toward the sky.

A light pillar descended from the sky, crashing onto the ground, sending a shockwave all around them, shaking the trees and leaves. The trees that had lost their color regained their life, their branches turning fresh and their leaves turning green. Atilia slowly descended back to the world, her feet touching the ground.

She pointed the sword forward, its blade shining a bright white. Immediately, red lines begin appearing around them. A lot of them. All in the shape of the rocky demons, some other shapes mixed in. Remy rested his sniper on the ground and opened fire with his handgun. Lightning streaked across the sky, heading straight for the forest.

It hit, knocking the demon down to the ground. He crouched down, stabilized himself, and continued firing. One by one, the outlines disappeared.

“Looks not like I’m not going to my parents today,” Mimiyat muttered, opening her eyes. Her eyes glowed a bright red, her body glowing with a red magical aura.

“Even as an ex-angel I couldn’t recommend wanting to die like that.”

“Heh, maybe do your super cool transformation earlier, and we wouldn’t have to face near-death.”

“Sheesh, I thought knowing my status would scare you. I’m dead wrong.”

“I thought you emphasize being a human now?”

“I guess… Wait, it’s not like you did your transformation any earlier!”

“I take time.”

Mimiyat stepped forward, brandishing her double-edged spear. She flew across the battlefield, straight for the demons inside the forest. It took less than a second for the first red outline to disappear, then followed by another, and another. Remy couldn’t see her movements, as trees hid her body and she didn’t have an outline on her, yet he could tell just how fast she was going. Remy turned around and fired at the group away from Mimiyat.

“Remy, your sniper’s ready!”

“Ah, thank you.” He exhausted the rest of his handgun ammo and switched weapons.

All five bars were now back on. He took aim and fired at the red outlines. One shot. That was all he needed. His target disappeared behind the trees. The enemy strikes returned, black projectiles flying all over the place. Atilia aimed her sword downward and stabbed it into the ground, creating a second dome, this one colored white, over Louisa’s green dome.

“Let’s get this done with, I’m starving,” Atilia said casually.

“Mimiyat’s probably sleepy,” Barett replied.

“She certainly did not look like that to me,” Louisa pulled her shield up, switching to her sword.

“That’s because she activated her magic. That spell boosts all of her abilities. It’s like when you drink too much coffee and just can’t sleep.”

Remy and Atilia exchanged quick glances at the comparison, before returning to their respective targets. Remy used his sniper to take down his enemies, while Atilia sent magic attacks against them, keeping her sword down on the ground, its shield standing strong.

“... Umm…Miss Louisa, do you have any meat on the ship? It’s been a while since I last ate something delicious,” Barett said, unable to help beyond repairing the carriage. All he could do now was wait for someone to flip the thing over.

“We have. We will be glad to treat you to some.”

“Thanks.”

With the casual atmosphere back, they began wiping out the demons. One by one the red outlines disappear. Soon, they cease to exist.

* ••

The Juskon soldiers managed to arrive not long after the battle ended. By that time, the carriage had been fixed, and they all needed to hold Mimiyat back from throwing curses at the ‘late’ rescuers. They understood that they were the ones who chose to head into demon-occupied territory. But even then, Mimiyat’s bad history with Juskon certainly didn’t help.

“Had Atilia not done that transformation thingy, we would be dead.”

“So now you’re showing that you’re gratitude toward me?”

“Madam Mimiyat, I hope you understand that we are not gods. We cannot please your every request.”

“Mimi, just let it go, alright?”

Mimiyat snorted. “Fine.”

Deciding to take the carriage back with them instead of riding on the carriages sent to rescue them was the right choice. Remy could only smile wryly, not knowing what to say.

“How did the demons spot us, though? And why did they choose to ambush us on the way back?” Atilia asked, Remy grateful for the change of subject.

“The second question is fairly easy to answer, actually. If they saw us on our way to Lorto, then they may have prepared for an ambush and waited for us on our way back.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

“As for the first one… I have no idea. I did not notice any demons before we were attacked.”

“We really need to be careful, huh?” Remy murmured, looking out of the window. Green trees filled the ‘wasteland, prospering on the land.

“Yes.”

“... About that, do you mind if I take a nap?” Atilia asked, stretching her hands.

“Me too,” Mimiyat said, closing her eyes.

“It should be alright.”

The other three kept their eyes peeled for demons as they made their way back. Atilia’s head began shaking left and right on the rough road. Remy extended his hand and pulled her head to his shoulders, letting it rest on him. He smiled as he watched his sleeping wife, glad he could do this for her.

Luckily for them, they faced no more demon attacks and arrived safely back on the docks. The five of them, Louisa included, boarded the Urkon Maria. Once they completed their final checks, the two ships lifted their anchors and set sail for home.