“No. He has nothing to do with me. Neither do I want a piece of whatever he’s getting. I just want my own things. It’s far more convenient for me to work with the Broken Thorn.”

“Bzzt. All Children of Adams will return to the Broken Thorn in one way or another. Bzzt. Including your sisters. Bzzt.”

“I had hoped they’d come along. That way, they’d be left immune to the coming storm.” Raoul left before Beethoven could say another word.

He returned into the tunnels again, with the Masque struggling to keep up.

“Mr. Wise Black Wolf! If they won’t join us… agh… then what should we do about them!?”

“I’ll take care of them.”

“Wouldn’t it be easier… ack… if we helped accelerate it?”

Raoul suddenly took the Masque by the throat and slammed them against the wall.

“Are you insisting that you confront them?” The shadows behind him took the form of three wolf heads. Each took a limb into their maws, ready to tear the Masque apart.

The Masque was by no means a pushover. They were quite powerful on their own. But Raoul was on an entirely different level. He was a Star; a feared Star with a reputation akin to the Iron Stars who were infamous for exiling entire civilizations.

Raoul only had the Solemn Paw and the City of Spades Massacre behind his back, and yet he was feared like those monsters.

“… we would never.” The Masque uttered. “We’d never… even think about it. Your sisters… are immune, as part of our agreement… after all, right… right~?”

Raoul growled. His shadows disappeared as he fixed his tie, annoyed that Ara wasn’t present to do it for him.

“… close…” The Masque whispered, terrified by their brush with death. Even though they could just respawn, a death through Raoul was unpleasant to the say the least.

Suddenly, an Etched Coin fell from the Masque’s pockets. They wanted to teleport out of here since they had no reason to stick around, especially not when Raoul’s fuse was lit. However, something was wrong with their Etched Coin.

“It’s not glowing…?” They whispered, causing a walking Raoul to immediately stop in his tracks. “Why isn’t it… Wait – the Heart – THE HEART!? IT’S DESTROYED –!?”

*Crunch*

Before the Masque could warn the others of the disappearance of the Heart of the City, Raoul’s shadows stretched beneath them. Then, like the jaws of a giant flytrap, they snapped them up.

*Crunch* *Murmurs* *Groans* *Crunch*

The Masque died immediately.

Without a Heart, it could not respawn.

“… Cer. How much longer are you going to keep this up? Tch… I can only do so much to protect you. But if this your resolve… then come. We’ll settle this in the only way we can.”

With that said, Raoul pushed forward into the foreboding darkness.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Your delusions… I’ll destroy them once and for all.”

* * *

Moments after Raoul’s departure, another figure appeared from precisely where he had left. Beethoven turned away from Ara. Immediately, he threw himself to the ground to grovel at the face of an eternal being.

“Bzzt. Most grand of them all… Bzzt.” He announced with reverence like his life depended on it. “Angel Uriel… The Red Wing.”

A four-winged Angel, whose wings were dyed blood-red, appeared before him holding an unlit sword over her shoulders like a stick. She held it haphazardly and allowed her head to rest on it, yet despite this, she evoked an unprecedented sense of majesty.

Her hair was pale white, long and perfectly straight. Her golden eyes cut through the dimly lit chamber, and seemed to radiate a heat that caused the ice to slowly melt. Three tails glorious, fluffy emerged from behind her and were tipped with a shade of scarlet.

The Instruments that managed to catch a glimpse of her had their blood boil.

The many hands that held Ara quivered like they were standing on hot coals. She wore a pale-red military uniform that proudly displayed the insignia of a rose surrounded by broken thorns, both on her back and across her chest.

Her uniform could only be described as divine, and fixed against her breast pocket was a chained pocket watch.

“It smells like a Child of Adam was here. Was that one the child of Typhon?” She did not want an answer, for she already knew precisely who Raoul was.

The Red Wing elongated her words to an agonizing degree, yet it was also succinct like how one would expect a disciplined soldier to speak.

“Quite the blood they had. Remnants of purity that forms in all the Children of Adam are…”

She deeply inhaled the air.

immediately, every living being began to bleed from all orifices. Droplets of blood steadily streamed towards her before coagulating into a viscous clump. Whimpers came from the Instruments, who could not handle the misery of their frostbitten limbs and their burst blood vessels.

She took a sip from the giant ball before popping it into a red mist.

“… exquisite. But these tastes of infidelity. How fitting. Instruments are not people to begin with. They’ll live as long as you’ll allow them to.”

“Bzzt. What… brings you here, most benevolent Red Wing? Bzzt.

“I wanted to say hello to the child of Typhon, but it seems that he has already left.” She shrugged. “The Children of Adams are quite the thing. Makes you want to eat them. But they’re inherently part divine. Only part disgusting compared to humanity and your kind.”

She openly ridiculed him, planting a boot onto his head.

“Even if you existed on a two-dimensional plane, you would not be able to grovel low enough before me. Blood hierarchies don’t favor lesser beings.” She scoffed at him before moving towards Ara, her boot crushing the ice with each step. “Ahhh. Is this one of those who had their wishes granted by the Wishcatcher? How humorous. Her face alone would be enough for that bitch… Ahem, that Angel of Lust to fawn over her. Not a bad specimen. She does have a sweet scent…”

She took a single strand from her hair and inhaled its scent.

Then, she placed the hair on the edge of her blade. It was instantly vaporized upon contact.

“… Oh, has this one interacted with the Captured Star?”

She hummed with amusement.

“Bzzt… I do not understand. Forgive me. Bzzt.”

“It’s nothing for you to know. Interesting. I wonder if the Captured Star cares enough to rescue her. I’d prefer it if she couldn’t, like how she was supposed to be. But – you can’t always win. Not when you don’t involve yourself.”

She heaved her blade over a single shoulder.

“Maybe I should’ve killed Iscario for failing. Oh well.”

“Bzzt…?”

“Oh, I’m just talking to myself. Keep at it, insect man.”

It was the first time Beethoven had ever heard someone talk ill of the Brightest Star, even if it was a joke.

Not to mention that it came from someone so close to him.

Uriel whistled as she headed out, but not without trailing a finger across the walls. She left splotches of blood where she stepped, and they flowed up into the services where her fingers ran.

They spelt the passage of a language that Beethoven did not understand but recognized to be: “Abandon all hope ye who enter.”

“Goodbye. May GEN-04 grant your wish.”

She clicked on her pocket watch and instantly teleported away, leaving a still groveling Beethoven to ruminate on what had just occurred. He felt like if he stood in the next hour then he’d be executed on the spot.

An Angel was not a being that they could reason with.

He knew this much.

“Bzzt… I must return to converting my grandniece into a Maestro. Bzzt. There must not be any more distractions. Bzzt.”