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POV: Angel Outpost

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Sweat dropped from Laurie's brow as she narrowly avoided the stone fists being hurled in her direction.

Her heels dug into the coarsely sanded ground, and she made sure to fix her attention on the large stone step that served as the perimeter so she wouldn't accidentally back into it again.

She couldn't help but throw a glance at Kharn, resting on that marble step leading to the pit, an ever-so-nonchalant expression on his face as he vaguely glanced over at the fight.

A seething irritation ran through her; the stuffy air wasn't helping her relax at all—when would they ever be fighting inside anyway...

Whenever an opening made itself apparent, another fist of a stone construct would attack her from the side; in the end, she could only weave through the gaps of her three opponents, completely incapable of backing them into a corner.

The only hit she'd managed to land was when their positioning had conflicted with each other, but that happened only out of pure luck.

An idea sprouted in her mind upon seeing the smallest of the three on its own.

She opened her wings wide and thrust down with her full strength, gaining massive height and narrowly avoiding the enormous sweeping leg that cut through the large cloud of dust kicked up by her manoeuvre.

Gravity carried her blade downward, and she flipped in the air, striking directly through the construct's head.

Knowing she wasn't strong enough to pull her sword free, she turned on her heels and dashed through the dust towards the one on its own.

But Kharn would be expecting that, so she formed a mirage of light—a clone casting magic through the cloud towards the other possible target.

When she appeared through the dust, a surprised 'huh!?' met her ears.

A smile graced her lips.

Using her speed, she grabbed the construct's thin wrist and continued past, ripping its arm from its socket.

She spun around and shattered the limb against its face, destroying it.

"HAHAHA, you have to do what I want tonight!"

Through heaving breaths, she proclaimed her victory with a distinct emphasis on the 'I'; Laurie had, in fact, taken down more than half of his constructs—for once.

She looked with expectant glee into the rapidly fading cloud of dust, a stupefied expression revealing itself.

"You know this is- SWORD- practice, right?"

Kharn raised his arms in a confused manner, and an exaggerated expression of accusatory befuddlement crossed his face, pointing in her direction.

Laurie looked away, slightly blushing.

"It's hardly fair... Magic is like 90% of your arsenal. Me using a sword is nothing but a hobby in comparison."

"You still agreed to it."

Kharn quipped in reply, to which she raised an eyebrow.

"I think you just don't want to admit I caught you off guard for once..."

She wasn't looking at him; instead, she was making a show of looking at her nails stretched out in front of her, knowing it would aggravate him.

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Kharn turned around, unwilling to show the slight smile he couldn't push away, but like a snake, she came from behind and wrapped her arms around his back, resting her chin on his shoulder and catching his eye.

"You can't hide from me."

She spoke softly into his ear.

Kharn couldn't help but turn away and laugh; he simply couldn't understand how she was so upbeat all the time.

He didn't see it, but she subtly smiled at his reaction before slowly pulling away in a reluctant manner.

He opened his mouth to speak again, turning around; however, at the other end of the room, a large set of double doors flew open, smashing against the adjacent walls.

Both of their thoughts changed, and Kharn went to yell, but the words died in his throat upon seeing his comrades' faces.

Kesef's face was crimson with rage and... something else; he wasn't looking anywhere in particular. His entire focus was on suppressing his fury, a look Kharn had caught minor glimpses of before—it was nothing like this; it contrasted with Arshe's distant, solemn expression just behind.

His thoughts turned to a proverbial story passed down among the angels; they were only words, but their expressions clicked those words into place in a way he hadn't comprehended before.

One was the wind, and the other was carried by the wind; both lost in their own ways, yet they still arrived here.

A cold fear rinsed his mind; he had never seen them like this.

"FUCKING DEAD! RITA'S FUCKING DEAD! ADRIAN IS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. WHAT IN THE FUCK IS GOING ON."

Kesef's harsh voice bellowed through the air and bludgeoned their hearts.

Kharn raised his hand to his stomach; he was sure he had been bleeding, but why?

"W-what?"

Laurie fell to her knees, her head slack toward the ground and arms limp at her side, drawing his attention.

Her voice had somehow cut far deeper, and an alien sense of clarity came to him.

He rushed over to her, allowing her to lean against him, and she clasped his other arm tightly.

Thoughts apparently formed and then vanished in the same moment, and Laurie's mouth would briefly open as if to speak, only for her to lose strength in her voice.

Kesef jumped down the large step, kicking up more dust as he landed.

"IS THAT IT. 'WHAT?'"

His anger filled the room, and Kharn snapped back.

"Don't take it out on her."

Kesef heaved; he was hyperventilating but couldn't calm himself down, and his fists were clenched so tightly they could almost hear the skin stretching over his brutish knuckles.

"Cease your emotion; tell us what happened."

He had chosen his strange words carefully, knowing they would cut through him, and the heaving suddenly stopped.

All of them heard him; that was unfortunate.

Kesef turned himself away from them and sat heavily on the ground, his anger seemingly vanishing with the dust in the air.

They were all silent, with the only sound coming from Arshe, who was carefully seating himself among them.

Kesef looked at him deeply, but when he realised Arshe was remaining silent, he spoke.

"The library- outer library. Arshe was worried since he hadn't seen Rita for their morning spar; I did the same, but Adrian is usually late, so it took me longer to go looking.

I only heard Ar..."

Arshe let out a painfully loud breath; he had clearly been trying to hold it in.

Kesef continued.

"She'd been split in two. It was obviously an immensely powerful slash that did it."

At his words, Laurie whimpered into her hand.

She squeezed her eyes with a trembling weakness, but the tears pushed through regardless.

There was a cold tension in the air as the details connected the same dots for all of them.

They had all lost comrades; it was a natural part of life... but this?

Kharn looked at Laurie.

Rita was her best friend, and now he found himself unable to help her; he could only think himself useless.

It was at this point that her eyes suddenly shot open, startling him.

Tears still streaked down her face, the sudden juxtoposition scared him.

"The library?"

She spoke with an eerie calm.

"You... found her first?"

Everyone had turned to look at her now; there was something calculative in her gaze.

"Yeah. What are you get..."

"Where is 'she'?"

She cut Kesef off, but he didn't care; instead, a light of recognition lit in his and all their eyes.

It was at this point that Kharn spoke.

"She's a child. What are you trying to get at? I don't want to blame him either, but thinking she could do anything is..."

"Did you see her evolution ceremony?"

Kharn could only shut his mouth at the look she gave him.

"I've never seen anything like it."

She hissed the last words, perhaps more to herself; she felt responsible... Laurie had been one of those who voted in favour of letting her evolve, citing that she had never shown any demonic behaviour.

Kharn still found it unbelievable that, no matter how absurd that ceremony had been, she was still blaming without sufficient reason; yet it remained true, he hadn't seen the ceremony.

That child practically lived in the library; if she didn't report it, it was certainly suspicious, but she could be found dead all the same—it hadn't been very long.

"We should look for the girl; it's strange she wasn't there first, and the main entrance to the outer library was wide open when I got there..."

Arshe finally spoke.

There was nothing accusatory in his tone; he spoke only as someone who wanted answers.

"We already spoke to the elders; regardless of what happens, we're going to get Adrian back."

Kesef spoke again.

There was a silent agreement in the air, they were all on his side here.