> The EL Project is a disaster for humanity. Ask yourself this question: Do you want to be ruled over by a race of superhumans?

>

> ―Author unknown, anti-Kraej pamphlet

Israfel

Oren raised his left hand and gestured for us to fall back, but it was too late. Sariel’s dead black eyes made a chill run down my spine. He raised his wand, and we immediately scattered in all directions.

Fireballs rained down on the area where we’d been standing.

“Dodge!” said Oren as Sariel continued to cast fireballs and walls of flame.

Thanks to the goddess’ blessing, we’d become much stronger and faster than we had been just a few short weeks ago. Our old selves wouldn’t have been fast enough to avoid all of Sariel’s spells.

Or rather, black-eyed Sariel’s spells. The regular Sariel’s spells were a lot faster and stronger than this.

“Hey, guys, what’s going on?” Asteria’s shout sounded like she was still in the place where I’d put her down.

At the sound of Asteria’s voice, Sariel put his wand down and stopped casting spells.

Seraph slowly turned towards the sound of Asteria’s voice. His eyes were golden, not black like Sariel’s, but they were vacant and lifeless. I realized that he wasn’t blinking, and not even a strand of his hair was moving despite the ocean breeze.

We all instinctively recoiled from Seraph when he took a single step forward.

“Don’t talk, you’re agitating Seraph!” I yelled in Asteria’s direction. “Sariel attacked us!”

Sariel was bad enough, but if Seraph also started attacking us…

I shuddered at the thought.

“Sariel! Stop attacking them! Ely! Stay calm, don’t move!” Asteria shouted from where we’d left her. She had a good set of lungs on her.

Seraph stopped walking, but his steady gaze never wavered.

Sariel, on the other hand, seemed jumpier than before. His face twitched, and he lifted his wand again. Once again, we scattered. This time, he was casting his spells slower than before and he was mumbling nonsense like “It should be me” and “I’ll show you who’s the hero.”

Sofia came running towards us. Good. She must have finished treating Asteria. The priestess was too slow to dodge Sariel’s spells so Katja told her to stay back.

Oren signaled me to move to the right. He didn’t need to give me instructions because I knew what to do. Sariel had slowed down somewhat, but he was still too fast for the others to land a hit on him. Oren and I were the only ones fast enough. We’d look for an opening and strike from both sides. Killing Field was too slow to use on Sariel, so I’d have to rely on strength and speed alone.

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Oren moved a split second before I did. I followed suit and leaped towards Sariel, the blunt edge of my sword falling down for a non-lethal blow on his side. Sariel’s defense proved to be better than I’d hoped. The Commander stepped back and kicked me away with tremendous force.

Ouch. I must have broken some ribs. Ravn caught me and helped me retreat to where Sofia was, but the priestess was busy healing Oren.

Oren hadn’t been as lucky as me. He’d rushed to Sariel from the left, but Seraph was on that side. Seraph had been as still as a statue since Asteria spoke so we hadn’t expected him to move. Faster than even my enhanced senses could see, Seraph’s hand had lashed out and struck Oren square on the center of his chest. The unlucky Oren went flying and struck a palm tree, which shattered from the force of the crash.

That would have killed a lesser man, but the spiky-haired little guy was a lot tougher than he looked. Sofia ran over to heal him.

With Oren and me injured, Katja and Ravn had to attract Sariel’s attention. Otherwise, he might aim for Sofia who was healing the two of us.

“Don’t get close to Seraph!” said Oren.

“Thanks, Mister Obvious,” said Katja.

The martial artist wasn’t faring well. She was highly skilled in close-ranged combat, but it was too dangerous for her to grapple with the two S-class ELs. Katja did her best to help by picking up large rocks and throwing them at Sariel.

Ravn did much better. An expert marksman, he used his guns to good effect though they couldn’t penetrate Sariel’s defenses. Since we were in a pinch, he used his special skills, Rapid Fire and Splatter Shot, to quickly fire a hail of bullets. Rapid Fire increased his speed, allowing him to reload faster while Splatter Shot made his bullets’ trajectory unpredictable.

All of that would have been enough to kill most men, but neither Sariel nor Seraph were normal. Whatever afflicted Sariel might have made him slower and less deadly than before, but black-eyed Sariel was still more than equal to the task of casting walls of fire strong enough to melt Ravn’s bullets.

Sofia finished healing Oren. She cast a quick healing spell on me then ran off in Asteria’s direction.

Oren and I rejoined the fight after Sofia’s quick patch-up job, but we weren’t at our best. I tried to use Killing Field, but Sariel was familiar with my special skill and sent fireballs to interrupt me every time. I had a bad feeling we were all going to die here.

Sofia reappeared and motioned for us to move to the side, away from Seraph.

“She’s coming,” said Sofia.

“Crap,” said Katja. She glanced at Seraph anxiously then scanned the other side of the beach for Asteria.

All throughout the fight, Seraph’s golden eyes had remained fixed in Asteria’s direction.

“Ely! Sariel! Stay there, I’m coming.” Asteria’s voice was weaker this time. When she walked into view, Katja gasped. Asteria’s fair skin had a greyish-green undertone, and she looked like she was on the verge of collapse. In fact, she hadn’t taken more than a few steps before she bent down and dry heaved.

What was the matter with her?

Seraph, gaze glued to Asteria’s form, shifted his weight from one foot to another repeatedly like an anxious child. He was clearly fighting the instinct to run to her.

Sariel stopped attacking us but had no other reaction.

“Ely, I need to put some distance between me and them. I’m going to walk away. Walk towards me slowly,” said Asteria. “Guys, keep away. Whatever happens, don’t interfere.”

Asteria beckoned to Seraph who started walking towards her as she backed away.

Sofia grabbed Oren by the arm and put her other hand on her mouth. Her eyes were as big as saucers as she watched Seraph and Asteria apprehensively.

Katja made a move as though to follow after them, but Ravn stepped in front of her to block her. She hugged him, burying her face on his chest. “Oh, Asteria.”

“She’ll be alright. Seraph wouldn’t hurt her,” I said. Or he wouldn’t if he was in his right mind.

I moved as soundlessly as I could to keep them within view. Oren moved to join me, but Sofia held him back. Smart woman. To be honest, if Seraph turned violent, I doubted I’d be able to do anything, but I still didn’t want to let him hurt Asteria without a fight.

Behind me, I could hear Sariel attacking the others again once Asteria was out of sight.