The midday sun shone brightly in the cloudy sky. It was relatively quiet except for the screams of fear and roars of an angry beast that disturbed the dense forest below.
Running through a valley was a lone Seraphim. He was 11 meters tall, had a sturdy physique and square face with strong features. His hair was coal black and his eyes glowed a dull green. He wore a set of metal armor that protected his chest and shorts made from sturdy beast leather
The Seraphim was running as fast a his legs could carry him, the tall 300 meter trees passed by as a blur in his vision.
"Roar!!!" Behind the fleeing Seraphim was a loud cry of some unknown beast that rattled the trees, in the distance, the tremendous thumping of footsteps could be heard that shook the earth.
Looking back with a glint of fear in his eyes, the Seraphim flapped his wings to give himself a brief speed boost.
"Be the bait they said.. It'll be fine they said.. " Horace scoffed angrily under a hurried breath.
"Why the hell am I always the damn bait?!" He cried inwardly.
The thundering steps behind him were getting closer by the second, the trees behind Horace were being uprooted and pushed aside by something massive.
"I.. I don't wanna do this! I wanna go home where it's safe and warm!" Tears began to leave his eyes as he questioned his choices in life.
Up ahead, he spotted a cliff. Relief washed over him as he had finally reached his goal.
"Praise the king! I'm here guys! Come out quickly, the beast is almost here!" Reaching the cliff, Horace jumped around excitedly as he waved his arms around.
"Uhh... guys?" Horace looked around with worry, a bead of sweat dripped down his cheek.
At the edge of the cliff was a steep drop, below was canyon that had a massive river 100 meters wide and a flat rocky clearing with several hundred stalagmites pointing upwards to the sky. They were over a 200 meters long had been crudely sharpened giving them sharp, jagged points.
Looking back with worry, Horace could hear the beast getting closer.
"This isn't funny guys! It's getting closer!" His shouts were turned into scared whimpers as the trees in the distance rustled.
From the treeline a giant creature came forth. It was half a kilometer in height. Standing on four legs, it's body rippled with powerful muscles and it's skin was covered in thick pitch black scales that seemed to absorb the sunlight. The beast's head resembled a nose-less wolf with a wide maw full of countless sharp teeth. It's eyes were bloodshot red and they gleamed with an intense hunger.
*Gulp*
Horace stared up at the beast with terror. It's eyes locked onto him as it slowly approached, getting closer it licked it's thin lips with a long barbed tongue.
"I-I-I'm n-not doing t-this a-anymore guys! I-I'm outta here!" Horace flapped his wings in an attempt to fly away with great speed but before he could lift off the ground, an immense pressure fell upon him.
"Agh!!" The ground beneath his feet cracked as he suddenly felt a 1000 times heavier. Horace felt his muscles tearing under the pressure, even his bones were creaking.
"I knew I should have taken Bael's training course!" Horace lamented inwardly as he struggled desperately to break free from the beast's suppression.
Within seconds, the great beast was already standing before him eyeing him up greedily.
"P-p-please s-s-someone h-help.. " Horace whimpered as he trembled in fear.
The beast opened it's large maw towards the restrained Seraphim below, ready to devour him in one gulp.
Stinky saliva drenched Horace as the mouth full of razor sharp teeth edged closer.
"Now!" A cold feminine shout resounded behind the unaware beast.
Before the beast could even think about being startled, 3 tremendous forces had kicked it's rear end.
"Aroooo!" The beast screamed in anger and fright as it tumbled off the cliff and down into the abyss of spikes below. A loud crash that shook the cliff happened seconds later.
Horace barely managed to dodge to the side as he rolled in the dirt, a second longer and he too would have joined the beast in the death pit below.
Standing up he looked at the 3 before him with an aggrieved expression, his eyes watery and leaking.
There was a quiet young man who was 9 meters tall, he had a thin body with pale skin, handsome childlike features, clay brown hair and sea blue eyes. His clothes were similar to Horace's with a set of leather pants and a crude metal vest.
The next one was a young woman who had a bubbly aura with a height of 10 meters. She had a fair and rosy complexion, budding curves, sunset red hair and stunning ivory eyes. Her face resembled the mischievous girl next door with soft features and cherry red lips. She wore a battle dress made from beast leather that was suited for movement with metal armor protecting her most vital areas, a long cloak made from beasts leather flutter behind her in the breeze.
Standing in front of the two was a familiar woman. She stood the tallest among the group at 12 meters and her face was beautiful beyond compare. With limpid grey eyes that gleamed with a cold light and a stern but heavenly expression, she gave off the aura of an aloof goddess, her long raven hair was tied up in a long ponytail. Donning a set of heavy bronze metal armor that covered her body like a suit which barely managed to hide her voluptuous curves and a furry scarf that hung around her neck.
"Where were you guys?! I-I almost died!" Horace sniffled as he patted away the dust and beast saliva from his clothes.
The young girl playfully slapped Horace's armored vest and smiled. "Don't worry about it, you're still in one piece right?"
"But I almost had a heart attack.. " Horace looked towards the young man in hope of some support.
The young man shook his head with a sigh. "Just bear with it okay? You have the most stamina."
"But I'm not even the fastest.. " Horace complained.
The young man rubbed his head with embarrassment, a sliver of guilt flashed in his eyes. "I.. uhh.. "
His face flushed red as he struggled to think. There was a brief moment of silence before he replied half-heartedly. "If the runner was too fast, the beast wouldn't be able to catch up!"
Horace twiddled his thumbs and muttered dispiritedly. "You could just slow down.. "
The young girl covered her mouth and giggled.
The tall woman snorted. "Emil, Lilium, go check on that beast."
Emil and Lilium nodded before jumping off the cliff with a flap of their wings.
The woman gazed at Horace with her cold eyes which made him shrink back fearfully.
She shook her head in disappointment. "This is your problem Horace, you're too cowardly.. "
Horace looked at the ground as he was too afraid to look up.
"I keep using you as the bait in the hopes that one of these days you'll man up a little." She sighed a defeated breath.
"But General Lilith-"
"No buts! I'm gonna mold you into a fine heavenly guard and you have no choice in the matter!" Lilith cut him off as she crossed her arms.
Horace nodded glumly.
"Mistress!" Lilium's panicked shout could be heard from below.
Lilith frowned, she looked towards Horace and said. "Let's go"
Jumping off the cliff, Horace followed her down.
...
At the bottom of the cliff was a flat rocky clearing, a giant dead beast could be seen impaled by several stalagmites that emerged from it's bloody corpse in a brutal fashion.
In front of the corpse, Lilium and Emil were standing with a guarded posture. They cautiously looked at the uninvited guests standing 20 meters away from them.
The foreigners in front consisted of two women.
One who was 14 meters tall and wore a thick, multi layered metal armor suit. It was simple, colored bronze and protected her head via neck guard but that also hindered her visibility. Her brows were bushy and her nose curved upwards, eyes as brown as the earth and red hair, wavy and short.
The other woman stood at 11 meters, she wore a revealing robe which accentuated her prominent curves. Her eyes were glacier blue, hair long and dark like the night. A cold expression adorned her beautiful face giving one the feeling of a winter frost.
The key difference between them and Emil and Lilium was that they didn't have wings. Instead, they had long scaly tails with a pointy tip at the end. It was unknown whether or not it was bone as it easily bent with it's swaying movements. Throughout the tail were thick, powerful muscles that retained flexibility and a thin scale skin that shone with a metallic light. The only other difference was that the two women's horns were a shade darker.
Emil steadied himself, he was prepared for battle at any point.
The two women with formidable auras who stood afar from him were from a new race the Seraphim had recently discovered, they called themselves the Hezurians. It was quite a shock as over the past few years they had thought themselves alone in this vast land.
Although relations were a little tense, both races decided to keep out of each others way. Such an outcome is quite uncommon for sure, but it was expected as they had nothing to fight over. The lands were endless as were resources, there was no end to the large mountains where spiritual Qi gathered and most importantly, the strengths of their races were roughly equal according to the several friendly skirmishes that had happened.
*Whoosh* From above came the urgent flapping of wings, Lilith and Horace landed on the ground with a thud causing the rocks beneath their feet to shatter. Horace quickly retreated behind Emil and Lilium as he sensed danger coming from the two women.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
Lilith looked at the two with her grey eyes, the powerful aura hidden within her body ready to explode forth at any moment.
"What do you two want?" She asked in a somewhat domineering tone.
The tall armored woman smiled a wide grin. "You know stranger, me and my sister were out hunting for some food and came to this specific spot down here. We often come to this place you see, as there's some mighty fine fish in the river."
She opened her arms wide. "You can imagine our surprise then when suddenly, out from nowhere, this big tasty.. scrumptious.. delectable.. " Her eyes seemed to glaze over as she looked at the dead beast, drool dripping from her thick lips.
"Humph!" The beautiful woman beside her elbowed the drooling woman in the side which rattled her armor.
"Ah!" The armored woman snapped out of her stupor, she smiled wryly. "Uh.. yes this beast fell from the sky and died, clearly the heavens are being generous by providing us with some tasty meat. Me and sister rushed over immediately to claim it."
"To be honest, I was absolutely overjoyed. I haven't had such high quality beast meat in ages, but before I could get to the beast and claim my tasty steaks.. these little thieves appeared!!!" The armored woman's eyes went bloodshot as she glared at Emil and Lilium fiercely, the very thought of some thief coming along and taking her food away angered her to no end.
"Hahaha." A peal of mellow laughter left Lilith's succulent lips.
The armored woman raised an eyebrow as she asked. "What's so funny?"
"You actually think this is your beast?" Lilith asked as her laugh receded.
The armored woman nodded and replied. "Of course, I saw it so It's ours."
Lilith snorted as she flicked a loose hair to the side. "We were the ones who killed this beast, it.. is.. ours!" She made sure to accentuate those last words just to make sure they penetrated the brute woman's thick skull.
The armored woman's eye twitched, she looked at Lilith and growled. "Where? Where's your proof?"
"Proof? Why else would the beast fall from the cliff? It's because we kicked it off!" Lilith replied matter of factly.
"I don't believe it! Maybe the beast was chasing a butterfly or something." The armored woman shook her head in disbelief.
"Butterfly?! You're making things up!" Lilith scoffed.
"Since you didn't provide any proper proof, that dead beast is fair game." The armored woman smiled, she could almost taste the cooked beast meat dripping with juices.
A vein popped on Lilith's shiny forehead, a mighty power began to leak from her body. Emil, Lilium and Horace began to release their powers too as the got ready for a fight.
The smaller more perceptive tailed woman noticed this and quickly said. "No need to get so angry now, how about we settle this with a duel?" Although she was eager to continue watching her sister annoy this stranger, she didn't want to be pulled into a fight where they were outnumbered because of it.
"A duel?" Lilith stroked her chin in thought.
As soon as the armored woman heard this her ears perked up, she cracked her knuckles and smiled brightly. "A duel? I love those! haha!"
Lilith crossed her arms and smirked, immense confidence glowed in her eyes. "Alright, but if it's just one of you.. You'll have no chance."
The armored woman snorted. "Don't get too confident now, I'll be enough."
"You sure? I don't mind if both of you fight." Lilith tilted her head to the side.
The armored woman nodded. "Since we're about to battle, I think we should at least get acquainted. I'm Helga." She then pointed to the smaller woman. "She's my sister, Astrid."
Astrid did a small bow.
Lilith replied. "You can call me Lilith." Turning her head around, she whispered sternly. "Introduce yourselves."
Emil puffed out his chest. "I'm Emil, heavenly guard in training!"
Lilium's cherry lips rose into a cute smile. "I am Lilium, mistress Lilith's faithful subordinate!"
"I-I-I'm Horace." Horace stuttered, he was quite intimidated by the woman called Helga. The glare she gave to Emil and Lilium nearly made him shit bricks.
Lilith sighed in embarrassment. "I'm going to increase Horace's training 3 fold" She thought.
Helga chuckled. "Now that introductions are over, it's time for battle!"
Lilith narrowed her eyes, she whispered to those behind her. "Leave, you'll get in the way."
Emil, Lilium and Horace nodded before flying into the sky with a flap of their wings. Astrid also retreated a fair distance from Helga's side.
Helga and Lilith stared at each other intently while they gathered their strengths, as soon as one moved battle would ensue.
Horace gulped as she observed the two women's stare off, the atmosphere thick with tension. Apart from the burble of the river, there was nothing else but silence.
"Hah!" Suddenly Helga threw her arms forward as she roared. Blazing hot flames erupted from her palms like two volcanoes.
Before the the flames could even reach Lilith, she had already disappeared. Only dust and broken rocks were left.
Helga frowned as her flames struck the steep rocky wall harmlessly turning it into molten rock. "Where did she go? I couldn't see her." She wondered as she turned from side to side, because of her armor she needed to turn a lot more in order to look around.
"Watch out!" Helga heard Astrid's urgent shout, looking down, her eyes opened wide in surprise.
A metal foot was rising towards her chin at speeds she couldn't dodge.
Helga gritted her teeth, following her instincts she headbutted the foot with her forehead.
*Dong!*
"Agh!" Helga rendered dizzy from the impact, her vision blurry. Raising her fist, she punched downwards towards the ground with tremendous force. The resulting shockwave shattered the rocks into dust and cleared the immediate area surrounding her.
Her strike had missed the target but she couldn't worry about that now as her situation was dire.
With her impaired vision, it would be difficult to locate her opponent who was so fast she couldn't even catch up.
Closing her eyes, she focused on her ears as she listened intently for any movements.
*Clack!*
She heard a rock moving to the side, with an angry shout her powerful tail whipped in that direction. Unlike the rest of her slow body, her tail is unfathomably fast as it managed to hit something.
*Bang!*
"Gah!" A surprised cry was heard and then a thundering crash.
Something had slammed into the nearby canyon wall causing rocks to detach from it's walls.
"Mistress!" Lilium gasped with worry, although she could not keep up with Lilith's fast movements she could tell it was her that just got hit.
Helga shook her head, the dizziness fading away and her vision returning. With a mad smile, fire left her hands and struck the spot where the stone wall had been damaged.
As the fire continued to strike the rocky wall, it turned into a red flowing lava.
Helga stopped her barrage of fire and vigilantly inspected the canyon wall. There was now a deep cave-like hole which molten rock flowed out from.
"Heh, I think she's a goner." Helga laughed as she clapped her hands.
It was at the moment that the earth began to rumble and shake. Large cracks spread from the edges of the hole and a flickering blue light radiated from deep within.
"Surrender Helga, you have no chance." Lilith's voice resounded throughout the canyon.
Helga trembled as she felt an immense power coming from the hole, it made her feel small and weak.
Her eyes glowed red with a fiery anger as she did not like this feeling, in fact she hated it!
"I'm not just gonna roll over Lilith, you hear me!" Veins on Helga's body pulsed with a dull red glow as ever spec of power within her body was gathered to her hand. Her red hair flailed wildly in the air.
"Oh no.. " Astrid whispered before escaping further away.
Her hand balled into a fist as it began to glow with a blinding light.
"THAT BEAST'S STEAK IS MINE!!!" Helga screamed as she punch forward with all her might.
A crimson light exploded from her punch that was so bright that the surroundings went dark. Even Helga herself could not see properly as her eyes had squinted into two lines.
*BOOM!*
Helga's powerful attack hit the hole and it's impact was deafening, the rocky ground beneath her feet had been turned into a lake of lava just from the heat of her attack, the nearby river had evaporated into a foggy mist.
All her power continued to flow out towards the hole which had now grown several times larger and was still increasing in size.
Even with all her efforts, she still felt that terrible power from within the cavernous hole and it was coming right towards her!
"Impossible.. " Helga muttered hoarsely, an expression of disbelief clear on her tired face.
*Whack*
A slender fist surrounded by lightning had struck Helga's belly causing her thick armor to shatter into dust.
*Cough!*
Helga vomited out blood before collapsing weakly to her knees, the molten rock below not effecting her at all.
Lilith hovered above the ground, a thick lightning aura covered her body like a thin net. The armor covering her body had many cracks and missing parts but overall, she was completely fine.
Helga looked up at Lilith with dim eyes and asked. "You've passed the tribulation? I really had no chance.. heh, a fool I was."
"You were strong, far stronger than many others. I look forward to fighting you again." Lilith replied with a soft tone.
Helga nodded weakly before her head drooped downwards unconscious.
Astrid landed beside Helga, she looked at Lilith with a hint of fear and an uneasy expression. "Thank you for sparing my sister."
Lilith laughed as she put her hands on her hips. "This was only a duel, not a life or death battle. Think nothing of it."
Astrid nodded her head, she supported Helga with her shoulder and began to hover in the air.
"Wait, before you go I have a gift for you two." Lilith pointed her hand at the massive dead beast causing it to float in the air separating itself from the stalagmites impaling it. Her finger glowed with the faint light of tribulation lightning and with a flick of her wrist, a leg separated from from the beast.
The beast's leg floated towards Astrid.
"Take it." Lilith smiled radiantly.
"Thank you, my silly sister will cry tears of joy once she sees it." Astrid looked thankfully at Lilith with her blue eyes as her lips raised into a faint smile.
Astrid waved her hand taking control of the beasts leg which hovered beside her and Helga. As they rose into the air, she gave a brief glance towards Lilith and flew away with Helga and the newly acquired beast meat.
"Wow mistress, you're so strong!" Lilium flew down and landed beside Lilith, her ivory eyes were sparkling with wonder.
As Lilium gazed at Lilith's dishevelled appearance, she noticed the beautiful jade skin showing through the missing parts of her armor. The more she looked, the more she discovered.
"Ah!" Lilium's eyes managed to faintly see a pink nipple through the cracks in Lilith's armor. He face immediately blushed bright crimson.
Lilith looked at Lilium curiously. "Why's this little girl blushing all of a sudden?" She thought.
Looking down at her appearance, Lilith gasped in embarrassment as faint blush covered her cheeks. She quickly snatched Lilium's cloak and covered her revealing spots with it.
After making sure that her body was thoroughly covered, she looked at Lilium with narrowed eyes. "Forget what you saw."
Lilium nodded absentmindedly, inwardly she was replaying those moments of Lilith's revealed body in her mind over and over again so she won't ever forget.
"Sorry mistress but I'm going to remember your beautiful body, that delicate pink nipple.. " Her ears blushed red as she delved into her fantasies.
Lilith snorted as she noticed that the little girl was ignoring her request.
...
Beside the nearby river which had begun flowing normally again stood Emil.
Emil had found something which had sparked his interest, at the bank of the river there lay a flower. A dense spiritual Qi stuck to the flower like hazy mist, it's stem was long and thick and it's petals were bright violet.
"How you survived that fierce battle is quite the mystery." Emil mumbled.
It was a truly beautiful flower that had him thoroughly mesmerized. He turned his head and glanced at Lilium who was chatting to Lilith with longing eyes, looking at the flower again he reached down.
His hand stopped short of touching the flower, indecision could be seen in his expression.
"Why so hesitant?" Horace asked, he walked and stood beside Emil.
Emil replied with a sad tone. "Lilium only has eyes for General Lilith, I.. " He shook his head and muttered dispiritedly as he withdrew his hand. "I don't have any chance at entering her heart at all."
"And I thought I was the coward." Horace laughed.
"What do you know?" Emil glared at Horace.
Horace put his hands behind his head and replied in an easy going manner. "Hey, I may be scared of many things but one thing I'm not afraid of is romance." He laughed. "I'm a real ladies man!"
Emil snorted in disbelief.
Horace continued. "Look, if there's one thing I've learned through pursuing the ladies is that if you don't even try, how would you know if she's interested or not?"
Emil frowned, his eyes glazed as if in deep thought. "Maybe he's right?"
Seeing that Emil was still hesitant, Horace waved his hand towards a nearby boulder. It lifted off the ground and condensed into a rather intricate looking pot.
Horace pointed his finger at the beautiful flower which rose out of the ground along with the clay it was burrowed in. With a final wave of his hand, the flower planted itself in the stone pot which then flew into Emil's hands.
"Go on then, confess your feelings to Lilium! I'm sure she'll love the flower." Horace grinned as he winked his eye.
Emil looked at Horace with a stunned expression. "But.. "
Horace pushed him towards Lilium who was now washing her wings in the river alone.
Emil took a deep breath, his eyes firm and resolute. He walked towards Lilium with as much confidence he could muster.
Horace crossed his arms with expectation in his eyes. "Heh, if he manages to woo her he'll definitely be thankful for my timely advice! Then when he's most grateful, I'll ask him to persuade General Lilith into going easy on me.. Maybe even letting me stay on the mountain."
Horace nodded to himself. The more he thought about it, the more he thought it was a genius idea. If it wasn't for the extreme observation skills he'd gained from the dangerous situations Lilith kept putting him through, he would have never noticed Emil's affection towards Lilium.
As he was fantasizing about staying on the mountain and chatting up some young Seraphim girls, Emil came back with a gloomy, defeated expression.
When Horace saw that Emil was no longer carrying the flower, his eyes brightened.
He swaggered over to Emil's side and put his elbow on his shoulder. "So how'd it go? By the look of things, it went great right?" Horace eyed Lilium in the distance who was excitedly showing her flower to Lilith.
Black lines appeared on Emil's forehead.
"What would you do without me?" Horace sighed as he looked into the distance.
Emil scoffed loudly as he pushed Horace away in anger. "You've got it all wrong! She said that she had no interest at all in me...But she was grateful for the flower." Emil whimpered sadly.
"Uh.. umm.. Well at least she liked the flower right?" Horace smiled wryly as he attempted to console Emil.
"Humph! I'm not listening to your advice anymore." Emil crossed his arms as he turned his back towards Horace.
"Don't be like that.. There's plenty of fish in the sea." Horace laughed dryly.
Emil ignored him.
As Horace was desperately thinking of ways to apologize to Emil, he heard a shout from Lilith.
"Horace, Emil! get over here and help carry this beast, we're returning to Elysia!"
Emil snorted before walking towards the beast.
Horace could only smile weakly and follow.