Advancing forth, now all by her lonesome without a helping hand in sight, Vastoria finds herself in a rather difficult predicament. To begin with, her sense of direction has been completely scrambled, leaving her lost as she wanders aimlessly through the slumbering Heaven 2.0. To add to this, her friend Throne is nowhere to be seen, presumably already having been eaten by the horde of White Monster Apostles.
"Throne..." She muttered as quietly as she could, "Tch! Not again...!"
Though she was keeping her Eyes firmly shut still, her ears were more than capable of honing in on any of the surrounding Monsters. For all intents and purposes, we could very easily equate her current situation to that of a zombie apocalypse. If even one of them take notice of her, she will immediately become overwhelmed by their incessant attack. Thus, she must tread lightly through this no-walls maze, keeping a low profile as she tries to find a safe spot to open her Eyes.
"Phew." She sighed in relief after the Apostles that caught wind of her left the premises, "This is pure horror. I need to find a vacant building or spot where I can safely scan my surroundings, but without Throne and my wings, I'm..."
-Useless, is the word she wanted to use, but something strange kept her from fully saying it out loud. As if rejecting the mere notion of giving up, realizing it was now or never, she decidedly covered her Eyes to safely open them. Once she did this, she barely inched her palm away from her face, thus creating a sort of vizor blocking any and all direct line of sight with the Apostles.
"No one's around, thankfully." She trudged along carefully, "I can only look with my peripheral vision, but even just seeing a picometer of a goat skull there should give me plenty of time to quickly shut my Eyes again and course-correct to another direction."
It was through this very method that she had successfully climbed atop one of the buildings that had an accessible exterior staircase. But it didn't take long, however, for her to realize just what kind of mistake this plan was. Of course, attaining high ground gives you a natural viewpoint to reorientate yourself, but it also makes you an easy target to spot. Vastoria only remembered the issue with this after she had climbed up, though.
"Ah, even with this, I can't open my Eyes." She let out a self-deprecating chuckle, "If I do, I'll definitely see a goat skull. Actually, what the hell—Now I can only see more of them if I uncover my Eyes from here!"
As she turned around to head back down, something very unfortunate had occurred. Two White Monster Apostles, having seen her climb up and deciding to follow her up there, could be seen blocking her only point of exit. Not only that, but below her was a large crowd of them forming, making it impossible for her to even jump down as an escape route. In every sense of the word, she had found herself cornered, and it seemed like there was truly no way out of this anymore.
"End of the line already, eh~?" She let out a long, tired sigh, "But what do I do now? Just giving in to their demands and uncovering my Eyes feels lame, but trying my best to hold out for as long as possible feels like it'd be a waste of energy just the same."
It was at that moment when an epiphany struck her. It was possible that the voice was just in her head, but given her circumstances, it could have very well also been an Apostle mimicking her voice. It was Migu, calling out to her to give her advice from the grave. Well, bed.
"Vastoria~!" The spooky voice of the female angel advised her, "File their sandals flat~"
"Mn?" She raised a questioning Eyebrow at that one.
"Yeah, spill iced tea over 'em~" Another voice, this time of Throne himself, had uttered, "Let the dogs lick their remains~"
"Somehow you're actively demotivating me with those ideas..." Vastoria couldn't help but admit, "What the hell, is this some kind of inside joke I'm not familiar with?"
"...No, ooOooh~" The two voices quivered through the air, "We're ghoOosts~"
"Great." She thought, "Even more googlies to be wary of..."
Understanding that by this point her fatigue was causing her to hear voices, she had reasoned there wasn't much time left for her regardless of if she survived this encounter or not. Thus, she had concocted a plan in the nick of time, choosing to rip off a nearby water pipe and use it as a melee weapon. Shooing away the two Apostles was made a hundred times easier, but running down was still out of the question. Right now, she had the tactical advantage on this rooftop, since it had created a natural funneling system.
"Alright, batter up!" She wiggled the pipe like a baseball bat, "I'll knock all your blocks off, one by one, so form an orderly line!"
The Apostles, not really having too developed of a cognitive sense, merely began climbing up the stairs anyways. Not because they understood her assignment, but because they wanted her asleep as fast as possible. She would position herself at the very top of the staircase, holding the bat high above her head with one hand and creating coverage for her Eyes with the other. Once she saw even the tiniest glimpse of their bodies (not their skulls), she would close her Eyes and swing.
"Homerun! Homerun! Homerun!" She kept shouting, "Wait, is that really all the baseball terminology I know of? Uhh... Touchdown, I think!"
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Slowly but surely, she was piling up bodies left and right. The unconscious ones were down for good, at least until the reset happened. But even still, catching a glimpse of their skulls would be her end. In order to clear the path for herself, she needed to just keep going like this without fault. Tired, but not yet fully dissuaded from seeing the journey through to the end. Vastoria was determined to make it to the Shrine. It was her promise to Throne, after all.
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"Haiyah!" She bashed the nth hundredth goat skull in, "Next one, come on!"
"....."
"No use keeping quiet! I know you're eager to get to me!" She kept calling out for the next one.
".........."
"Geez, I wasn't promoted to seraphim yesterday!" She parroted Throne's words, "The reset won't come for another couple of hours at best! It's 24 hours of straight nightmare fuel, after all!"
"........"
"I... got them all?" She lowered her guard for that split second, only to have her impromptu metal bat taken from her grasp in the very next moment, "Crap-!"
Though curiosity was causing quite the stir in her mind, she had persevered so as to keep her Eyes tightly shut. Though she didn't know this directly, she could still roughly guess what had happened.
"You bastards... You realized climbing the stairs was useless, so you decided to flank me from the back!" She hissed, "Cluttering up in front of the building, you scaled the wall to get behind me."
" "
"Not gonna say anything back?" She joked, "So what now? Gonna force my Eyes open or wh-"
Boof! A strong, dull metal pipe sound could be heard as it knocked her to the ground. As one could imagine, getting struck in the head by such a thing would have caused serious brain damage, if not immediate death if hit at the wrong spot. That is, if she were human, but since Heavenly Beings cannot die, get injured nor feel any pain for that matter, she was merely shaken up from it.
"W-Whoa, hey now!" She still kept herself from opening her Eyes, "I thought the White Monster only stalked its prey and tricked them into opening their Eyes willfully!"
" "
"Oof-!" She was once again smacked.
At this point, she was beginning to suspect that whatever was clobbering her relentlessly wasn't even a White Monster Apostle. Possibly, it could be another survivor or something to that degree. If this was the case, however, then her position could only be considered worse off. If she didn't find a way to escape soon, she might accidentally take a peek at the pile of Apostle corpses splayed around her, causing a game over. Perhaps, she assumed, talking it over would be worth a shot.
"S-Stop!" She begged, "I'm not one of them, I'm-Ack!"
" "
"Look inside your heart and realize this isn't yo-Ough!" She kept trying, "Tch, let me g-Ow!"
The mysterious being kept beating her senseless, and she had occasionally even felt her Eyes twitching open a tad bit, though her Eyelashes kept her from succumbing to the White Monster's Curse. There was no punchline, she would have her journey ended here, by this unknown assailant. Just once, she figured, why not take a single peek at who it is. Maybe, she thought, maybe it is an Apostle after all? It could be good to know that they can adapt to your fighting style, but if it's an actual angel or seraphim, she'd like to at least know who it is from the golden parts. As her Eyes slowly began to crane open, a powerful gust of wind sent the attacker flying off the rooftop.
"Huh?" She stood up, only to get whisked away in the very next moment, "Wait, let me go! Who is-!?"
"Ta-dah." His voice sounded as smug as ever, "Made you worried, did I? I hope so, maybe it'll teach you to not screw up the journey from now on."
"T-Throne!" She smiled, "But how!? Your wings, they got torn off!"
"Unlike you, I don't do rash things without having a way to undo them." He explained, "I got 'em back. Hopefully I didn't make you wait too long, it's surprisingly not that easy to find someone in a crowd with your Eyes closed."
"...Wait, how can you be sure I'm not a White Monster's Apostle trying to trick you?" She inquired, at this point so fatigued that she's not even sure herself anymore.
"I've already proven that." He revealed, "I've licked your hands twice by now, and you still haven't said anything to protest against it. Unless of course, you did notice and you just like it."
"E-Eh!?" She jolted, "Gross, pervert!"
"Want me to drop you?"
"N..." She weighed her options, "N-No, please fly us up."
"Eager to finally see the world again?" He chuckled, "That's okay, I am too."
Flapping his mighty wings with all the reinvigorated strength he could muster, he had sent them both sky high. By now, they were far enough that not a single goat skull could be made out even if they looked directly below them. They were, after this long and scary battle, finally safe again.
"Gods, I seriously hope this isn't a trick..." She slowly, carefully craned her Eyes open to see the endless expanse in front of her, "Phew."
"Hey, White Monsters don't have wings, so you can be sure that I'm not one." He joked, "Me, on the other hand? I'll make it a personal goal to kill that sunovabitch if it turns out you're a White Monster Apostle after this... Ah."
The two looked at each other's faces with a calm and warm smile. For the first time in what felt like hours, they could properly open their Eyes again, and the first safe face to freely ogle was there, merely an arm's length away. It was almost serene, the silence of their flight toward the Shrine. For an entire minute, they had stared deeply into each other's Eyes, making sure not to look away or even blink for a second. This was a precious moment, one they wanted to be cherished above all else.
"A-Ah!" She snapped out of it first, recalling their original purpose here, "Are you sure you're flying in the right direction, Throne!?"
"Heh, take a look for yourself if you don't believe me." He pointed to yonder with his chin.
"What's that...? T-!?" She squinted her Eyes before they lit up, "The Shrine!"
It was far into the distance, an entire hour's worth of flying, even at their top speed. Still, it could be seen from this high up, meaning they had done it. They had successfully all but made it to their promised destination. The secrets hidden within await them, just as eagerly as the seraphim are rushing to get them uncovered. Soon, very soon, their sacred mission just might come to an end...!