The thing stopped marching, instead it craned its body over to face Sab, now splayed out on the ground like a weeping angel. Hats caught wind of this and acted accordingly before his progress was erased.

"Oh no you don't!" He let out a shrill battlecry, "Sab's mine!"

That being said, Sab was a whole house, or at least as heavy as one. Lifting him up and carrying him away proved to be way more difficult than Hats had originally assumed, so before he could do anything, the thing was already standing before him.

"Tch, no way...!" Hats gasped, "Sab, you're already a statue!?"

Now things were starting to unravel slowly for the poor boy. His friend hadn't been kidnapped by this mysterious winged thing, rather he was already petrified to begin with. Too heavy to lift, Hats understood that simply transporting him away from the scene would be far too impossible.

The thing loomed over the boy and his friend, its grotesque appearance seemingly peering into his soul.

"..."

"Y-You...!" Hats' voice cracked.

A symbol of death, towering over the already pretty sizeable Hats—its body made of wings with Eyes riddled all over them, the foreign thing couldn't even be described properly. It bore plenty of similarities to both the archangel Sheep and the cherubim, however its most notable differences were the tiny hints of an inner body peeking through.

Feeling cornered, Hats began to grill it for answers.

"What do you want with my friend!?" His voice came out weak.

"..."

"Grr... I'm not giving him away!" He once again raised his tone, "If you wanna take him somewhere, then take him away from that area!"

Figuring appealing to the thing would give him the highest chance of success, Hats began to beg. A middle ground of sorts, if you will. So long as Sab wasn't being taken toward the petrification zone, Hats would even consider letting him get taken away.

"Over there is dangerous, you know!?" He continued, "The same thing that happened to Sab will happen to you as well if you go there! Listen, if you come with me, then maybe we can find a way to save Sab together!"

Extending his hand to the winged monster, Hats presented a rather unexpected truce. The thing kept standing there, as if petrified already; in fact Hats had even assumed as much, but its body disproved the theory by moving soon after. The thing ducked down, carefully picking Sab up with the same wing it had previously delegated to carrying him before he was dropped. Then, it turned back around to face the zone.

"Are you stupid!?" Hats once again tried to tackle it, however this time he didn't even manage to stagger the thing, "Tch, I'm not letting him go with you!"

A fight ensued. Hats' attacks were furious and wild as he leaned his entire body into his one arm. The thing, not intending to be a pushover, reciprocated these strikes with powerful swings of its own. The difference between them, however, would quickly be made apparent as the thing raised its wings threateningly.

"Y-!"

Before he could even say anything, Hats was slammed from both sides by the Eyeful wings. A single slap from even one wing would send anyone flying for at least a 100 kilometers, so experiencing two equilateral forces from opposite sides surely dealt incredible damage. Once scraped off of the wings' surface, he fell to the ground, a large majority of his body missing chunks of it.

But Hats was an angel, one without any gold on him. These missing chunks regenerated within seconds, allowing him to catch the thing off guard as he ran in for a dropkick. Striking dead on, it was as if all the force he had endured from the attack he took on was flowing through the length of his body. Hats' kick actually toppled the winged giant, with it even dropping Sab a second time.

Before, Hats was willing to negotiate an answer that would make both parties happy, but not this time. Now, all bets were off the table.

"It's... It's not fair!" Hats, surprisingly, latched onto the thing instead of running to get Sab, "How come you can carry him like he's a twig, but when I do it, it's like lifting up the entire world on my back!"

The silence of the thing only infuriated him more. Just like last time, the thing remained motionless after getting knocked down, probably surprised by the drastic turn of events. Hats capitalized on this weakness by attempting to rip off the wings clean off of it.

"I remember now, the others had wings of their own too!" His breath grew rigid, "It's because of them, isn't it? The reason why you can carry him without breaking a sweat!"

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"..."

"Heh, well, no need to answer anyway." Hats grinned, finally ripping the wing clean off, "I'll figure it out sooner or later by myself!"

Just then, the thing woke up to knock him away, but Hats didn't at all mind. Even if he couldn't fly, just having the means to lift Sab off the ground would have been incredible progress. That being the case, he reached around to equip the wing on his right side.

"Hm?" Hats furrowed his Eyebrows, "No! No way, how!?"

The wing just wouldn't attach. Despite his best efforts, Hats was betrayed by his own seemingly flawless plan. Like water and oil, or two magnets facing the same direction, his body simply rejected the wing. He could have sworn that this was the exact same method the others used to attach their stolen wings, but for some reason Hats' case was different. Just then, the wing zipped back to reattach to the thing.

"This can't be real..." Hats muttered, raising his voice to deliver a declaration filled with anger, "You cheat! I'll find a way to take Sab away even without those stupid wings of yours!"

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***

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Whittling its health away wing by wing had turned out to be a fruitless endeavor, merely wasted effort and stamina. Hats was out of breath, definitely in no state to take on such an invincible opponent, but he was determined to save Sab despite this fact.

"You're really bad at listening, huh?" He groaned at the thing, "So long as I'm standing on my two legs, you can't touch Sab!"

The reason he was saying this was because the thing obviously had no interest in Hats himself. Instead, it was once again trudging slowly toward its main objective—the living statue of Sab. Its gait wasn't particularly fast nor determined, in fact this ambivalent attitude only made Hats question its mission even more. If Sab was so important to it, then why not put in more effort to hold onto him?

"I can't keep knocking you down over and over again..." Hats admitted, "I still need to save my strength to run away after this."

Only now did he remember that he was also on a rather strict timer. The zone was expanding, petrifying everyone in its wake. Before, he calculated that he had roughly three trumpet cycles' worth of time, but echoes of the terrifying sound were already closing in on them. If he didn't figure out a solution soon, Hats would find himself soon to be entrapped just like the others around him.

"Wait..." He jolted, his gaze darting from side to side, "Everyone's already turned into statues!"

In other words, the zone had already reached the street where Hats and the thing were fighting. So then how did only the two of them survive the petrification this time if they were outside?

"Ah." Hats stood there baffled, "You can't turn."

Chaining revelations one after another as if they were puzzle pieces, Hats progressively got to understand more of the full picture. For one reason or another, this thing sensed that Sab was important, so its goal is to move in close to the Gods and put a stop to them. This was the conclusion Hats came up with, but even then he wasn't so sure.

"Is that right? You can't become like the rest of them?" He tilted his head, standing by as the thing carefully picked Sab back up off the ground, "Sab... He's already a statue, so it's not like he's gonna get more harmed than he already is. I think... I think it's okay for me to hand him over to you."

"..."

The thing didn't even acknowledge Hats' words. Rather, it simply turned its back to him and walked away, steadfastly dragging itself along the ground toward where Migu and Nerys were with the Gods. Hats wasn't quite certain this was the best play to make, but one action it did during their fight was enough to make him trust it, at least.

"Right, that must also be why I didn't get turned into a statue while the others did." Hats smiled warmly, "It was back when you hit me with the wings. Because you covered me up with them completely and refused to let go, the trumpets had passed by already by the time I freed myself. What I heard back then wasn't the trumpets incoming, but rather them leaving!"

Whether the thing did this for Hats on purpose or not remained uncertain, as once more—it never once uttered a single word. Still, Hats understood the concept of actions being louder than words, and right now this thing's actions were crystal clear. A sense of relief overwhelmed him in knowing that he wasn't the only one tasked with setting everything straight.

"Oop, gotta hide again." He looked away, "The trumpets are starting again."

He didn't quite get to say goodbye nor wish the thing good luck, but Hats carried in his heart a strong sense of respect and gratitude nonetheless. Despite everything, he still had to find a way to make sure everyone could be properly de-petrified, even if the trumpets got stopped by the thing without his help.

"Ack-!?" He fell to the ground suddenly, "Oh no... No no no!"

After everything was said and done, Hats assumed the rest of his mission would continue smoothly from now on, but this was far from the case. He looked down in horror to feel a severe lack of movement from his ankles down. Indeed, whilst the majority of his body was being protected by the thing's wings, only his feet remained exposed. Hats was now part statue as well.

"I-I need to make it to a building!" He crawled on the ground, refusing to give up just yet, "Migu believes in me! I can't betray her trust!"

Slower than a snail's pace, but still exuding an immeasurable sense of self-preservation, Hats continued to slowly creep his way off of the main street. The trumpets began to roar louder, yet he was only a few steps away from where he fell.

"Ngggggahhhhhhhh!!!"

A lone cry in the sea of statues, Hats kept pushing despite the ear-piercing trumpets making his mind foggy. His feet began to sink deeper and deeper into the cloudy terrain, only making his battle with gravity tougher. Nonetheless, he kept pushing through until he had reached the nearest door.

Too weak to even stand up, he just headbutted a hole to squeeze through. Tired and scratched up all over, he used his petrified boots to block the hole in the door, just barely managing to keep the rest of his body from turning.

"...Dammit..." He felt his consciousness start to slip from the heavy strain of this event, "Just five minutes, then I'll continue..."

His head lowered without his permission. Or rather, his body allowed it to before the brain could say no. Hats was lying flat on the ground near the doorway, using his boots both as a doorstopper and a way to block the petrification from leaking through the hole he had created. He was safe; isolated and alone, but safe nonetheless. His feet were practically immovable after this, but at least the rest of him was fine. A long and difficult journey awaited him.