Clunking noises coming from the house caused Cleo, Sally, and Palan to look up at the house while Raea continued to remain motionless on her knees. The upper shutters of the window flew open, and a wrinkled face peered outside. The person squinted and shielded her eyes from the rain, trying to see the figures on the ground floor. Her lips curled in on her teeth when she saw Palan while her eyes narrowed. She snorted and disappeared from view.
“Are we just going to stand here?” Cleo asked. Her tail thumped against the ground, splashing mud around her. “What if she’s a super strong archangel? Old people are the scariest. They survived that long for a reason.”
Sally tilted her head. “I guess that makes sense,” she said and used her wings to adjust her wet hair. She glanced at Raea. Her voice lowered to a whisper. “But I don’t think we can just leave her here. She doesn’t look like she wants to move.”
The front door of the house burst open, and the wrinkled angel walked onto the porch wearing a pink bathrobe with fluffy slippers. A belt made out of multi-colored orbs hung from around her waist while bright white orbs were clasped in her hands. “Who are you?” the angel asked and pointed the orbs at the group. “Did that old man Wilkes send you to spy on me? Tell him I won’t give him my secret cookie recipe even if it kills me.”
Cleo raised an eyebrow while Sally blinked. The harpy leaned over and whispered into Cleo’s ear, “What’s a cookie?”
Cleo whispered back, “It must be a potion of liveliness. Just look at her.”
Palan narrowed his eyes at the old lady, and Danger Noodle raised its body to face the house. The old lady shouted, “I’m not afraid to use these!” She brandished her orbs. “Don’t even think about doing anything violent. Where’s your angel?” Her gaze shifted onto Raea. “Is that her?” She pursed her lips and listened to Raea’s sobs. “What’re you doing crying on my lawn, lass? Did someone break your heart?”
Raea didn’t respond; instead, her body shook harder as she clutched her shoulders, planting her forehead against the ground. Palan frowned as his body spasmed. He was on the verge of collapsing after chasing Raea for an hour while overdrafted. If the old angel harbored any hostile thoughts against them, he didn’t know if he’d be able to resist. Raea clearly couldn’t do anything, and it was practically suicidal to rely on Cleo and Sally to fight. A sigh escaped from his lips. It seemed like even his powers followed one of his rules for survival—everything has a price. The price of killing an archdemon as a greater demon was being unable to defend himself against an old lady.
The boy who first opened the door appeared on the porch. He hid behind his grandma’s legs and leaned over to get a better view at the four strange guests. “Go back inside, Theo,” his grandma said. “Let Grandma take care of this. If something happens to me, don’t open the door until your father comes home, understand?” Theo nodded and scrambled back inside the house, closing the door on his way in.
“You two aren’t my son’s halflings, are you?” the grandma said towards Cleo and Sally.
They glanced at each other. Cleo cleared her throat and looked at Palan. “Is that your mama?” she asked. Her body stiffened when Palan glared at her. “Just joking! Joking!” She sidled away from him and said to the old lady, “Nope. Ack!” Her tail was swallowed by Danger Noodle.
“And you’re not my farm’s demon, right? I don’t think we took in someone new for a long time,” the old lady said. She frowned and switched out of her slippers, stepping into a pair of boots that were placed beside the door. She shambled down the steps of the porch, still holding onto her orbs. Cleo extricated herself from Palan’s tail and ran over to the old lady.
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“Let me help you,” Cleo said with gleaming eyes. She did her best to smile and turn her head to the side, making herself look as cute and harmless as possible. Her eyes widened, and she blinked a few times.
The old lady narrowed her eyes. “Well, alright,” she said. “I guess your owner taught you some manners.” She let Cleo approach her and held onto the orange lizardman’s hand. The poor angel didn’t notice Cleo’s tail fiddling with the belt of orbs hanging over the bathrobe. The duo walked over to Raea. Sally bit her lower lip and looked towards Palan who tripped while running towards them and lay on the ground, twitching. Her brow furrowed before she flew in front of Raea.
Sally spread her wings open. “You can’t hurt her,” she said towards the approaching angel. A tremor ran through her legs as she gulped. As someone who used an orb to assault the angels’ fort previously, she knew how destructive those orbs could be.
“If I wanted to hurt her, I wouldn’t have left my porch,” the old angel said. She hung her orbs on her belt and muttered, “That’s odd. Did I forget some?” She glanced at her belt before looking at Cleo who was the picture of innocence. The grandma’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t say anything. She crouched down beside Raea and placed her wrinkled hand on the young angel’s shoulder. Raea was wearing a black robe for mourning instead of her armor set.
“Hey,” the old lady said. “What’s the matter?”
Raea’s body stiffened, and she used her hand to slowly push the older angel’s hand off of her. “Please,” she said without raising her head. Her voice was choked. “Just leave me alone for a bit. I’ll be gone soon. I won’t bother you.”
“Nonsense,” the older angel said. “How can I leave a crying young lady alone on my lawn? What will my neighbors think of me? C’mon. Raise your head. You’ll catch a cold if you stay out in the rain like this. And your mourning clothes are getting dirty.” The old angel’s bones creaked as she squat next to Raea and grabbed her hand.
Raea raised her head and looked at the old angel. The angel’s eyes widened as she gasped and fell over backwards despite Cleo’s best efforts to hold her up. She kicked at the floor to distance herself from Raea while fumbling for an orb hanging on her belt. “Half-angel!” the old lady shouted and pointed a red orb at Raea. “I won’t let you kill me!” She knocked Cleo’s arm away and squeezed the orb, channeling her mana into it. A roaring red flame shot out of the orb and engulfed the stunned Raea.
The word half-angel rang through her head as the flames burned around her. She didn’t seem to notice or care about the flames. The droplets of water on her body began to evaporate, scalding her skin. Before her robe could catch on fire, there was a squelching sound, and the flames abruptly stopped. Raea regained her clarity as line of blood spattered on her face. Palan stood above the old angel, blood dripping from his hands. Raea took one look at the angel who assaulted her and proceeded to vomit. Cleo’s eyes widened as she quickly wiped away some brain matter off of her arm. She made a face but took the orbs from around the now-dead angel’s waist and stored it in her space. Sally reaffirmed her decision to not piss Palan off and hid behind Raea. Her eyes widened when she saw an angel with a pitchfork charging at Palan. “Behind you!” Sally shouted and pointed with her wing. Palan didn’t seem to hear her. He stood over his kill while panting heavily. His eyes were glazed over, and his arms hung limp at his sides. Even Danger Noodle seemed listless, laying its head by Palan’s feet.
“Mom!” the pitchfork-wielding angel shouted as he thrust the pitchfork at Palan’s back. The pitchfork pierced Palan’s torso in a diagonal fashion, all three prongs going through his back and coming out of his front.
He coughed out a mouthful of blood and was about to turn around, but the angel placed his leg against Palan’s back and kicked him off of his pitchfork. Palan fell on top of the dead grandma with a thud. Raea’s eyes widened as she finished puking and raised her head. The man lifted the pitchfork like a churn dash over Palan’s body and stabbed downwards like he was churning butter. The prongs stabbed into Palan’s body again, but before the man could lift his pitchfork a second time, a wave of black fire washed over him, blasting him backwards and setting him ablaze in the rain. He screamed and tumbled for a while, trying to put out the flames but only succeeded in setting the mud on fire as well.
Raea stood up and ran over to the man, her eyes wide. “I’m so sorry,” she said and glanced around, looking for something to put out the fire with. She scooped mud off the ground and threw it on top of the man, but it didn’t help. Before she could try anything else, the man stopped moving. Raea bit her lower lip and watched the body burn. Her shoulders were hunched over while her arms hung by her side. Rain rolled down the sides of her face.