“And how will you be able to help me?” Palan asked, raising an eyebrow. “And why?”

“If I’m being honest, I despise the council,” Pyre said. “They tarnished my family name, and forced my mother to her death. I want to see everything they care for be destroyed. I want their hard work, the angels’ nation, to be torn down. I want their descendants to feel the despair of being hunted and enslaved. Is that reason enough?”

“You’re an angel of wrath?” Palan asked and furrowed his brow. “What happened to knowledge?”

“Me? Wrathful? No,” Pyre said and chuckled. “I just want them to die miserable deaths. There’s nothing wrathful about that.” He inhaled on his pipe while closing his eyes. Purple smoke leaked out of his nose before he expelled a cloud into the air. “So,” he said and opened his eyes, meeting Palan’s gaze, “what do you say? I can tell you everything about the council members who are here. I had to leave behind most of my fun creations when I … came here, but I can still provide help in the form of knowledge and healing.”

“You’d betray Michael?” Palan asked. His eyes narrowed. Danger Noodle lifted itself off the ground but burped and fell back onto its stomach.

“I mean, technically, I was never his ally,” Pyre said. “He just asked me to come along to the borderlands, so I did.”

“I have a feeling you’d betray me in a heartbeat as well,” Palan said and sat down in front of Pyre.

The old angel grunted. “So you don’t want my help?” he asked.

“Submit to me,” Palan said. “Let’s form a contract. I’ll kill Sariel. You’ll help me and never betray me, harm me, or go against my best interests.” He reached into his bag and pulled out a yellow crystal. His fingers wrapped around it, crushing it into powder. The powder flew into the air between the two people and turned into a yellow piece of paper with writing on it.

Pyre read the contract once before stabbing his thumb with a sharp object he pulled out from his bag. Then he pressed his bloody digit against the piece of paper. Palan licked his lips before biting his own thumb and pressing it against the contract as well. The paper flashed with a yellow light before vanishing. “Excellent,” Palan said and smiled.

“Raea’s not going to be mad at you for killing Sariel?” Pyre asked as he pulled out a white orb and healed his and Palan’s thumbs.

Palan shrugged. “I have ways to calm her down,” he said. His tail rolled its eyes. “Now then, tell me everything you know about the archangels in that city.”

Pyre nodded and tapped the ashes out of his pipe, letting them spill onto the ground. “The council sent over four archangels: Percy, Andrew, Dinah, and Melissa. There were already two archangels stationed in Marossa: Michael and Jones. Michael you should already know about. Jones is an angel of chastity and temperance. If you’ve already forgotten, chastity is the power of suggestion. Uzziel’s used it on you before.

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“As for the council members,” Pyre said and brought the pipe to his lips after refilling it, “Percy’s the oldest—ripe old age of a hundred and fifty. He’s an angel of diligence. Those walls should’ve been created by him. He’s extremely proficient at constructing buildings that are near impossible to bring down, but he’s not so great at manipulating golems like Elrith. As for Andrew—“

“Just diligence?” Palan asked. “Nothing else?”

Pyre nodded. “Sariel gives him work, and he gets it done. Doesn’t matter what kind of work it is. Could be saving an orphanage or grinding demon babies into powder; he’ll do it in the most efficient way possible,” Pyre said and cleared his throat. “Now, Andrew … Andrew … ah, he’s an angel of patience and altruism or self-sacrifice. Altruism amplifies other’s powers, or if you’re like me, it amplifies your own too. His chains of patience last even when they break contact with his body.” Pyre waited for Palan to interrupt again, but the demon stayed silent. “Melissa’s an angel of temperance and kindness. She can heal from a distance, but her favorite thing to do is summon an avatar of lightning—“

“That’s the one,” Palan said. “I ate her.”

Pyre raised an eyebrow. “Did she use her lightning avatar on you?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Palan said with a nod. “She immobilized herself while using it, so I brained her with the rock.”

Pyre snorted. “I knew she didn’t have much combat experience, but I didn’t expect her to make such a rookie mistake,” he said. “I guess she forgot Percy wasn’t there to create a shield for her.” He shrugged. “People get forgetful when they age. And lastly, there’s Dinah: kindness, charity, and wisdom. If she works together with Andrew, she can revive the recently deceased in a region as big as a city.”

Palan frowned.

“What?” Pyre asked.

“When I become an archdemon,” Palan said as his expression darkened, “what will I be able to do with my pride?”

“I’ll be honest,” Pyre said. “I’ve never seen pride at the archangel level, but I can still make a few conjectures. Want to hear them?”

Palan nodded.

“Generally, powers have three stages. They start at the hands, then spread throughout the body, and the final stage is projecting them from a distance,” Pyre said. “I suspect that right now you can use your powers on your body or anything you touch, am I right?”

“Yes.”

“So when you become an archdemon, you should be able to project your powers at a distance. You won’t have to come into contact with something to use your powers on it,” Pyre said. “If you see a bird flying by, you could make it crash into the ground. Of course, that’s the most primitive method of applying your powers. Really, you’ll just have to experiment with it to see what you can truly do. I don’t think you’ll be able to create an avatar or a fortress, but a citywide increase in gravity is possible. Perhaps it may also be possible for you to focus and condense your power. Maybe make the pull of gravity twenty times stronger in a small region—like someone’s head. The possibilities are endless, and the result certainly won’t be weaker than what everyone else can do.”

“So I’ll have to experiment when I become an archdemon then,” Palan said. His eyes narrowed. “What do you think is the best approach to let me kill and eat another archangel?”