Cracks in the shell

No matter where Lilim looked, she saw flames. Cerulean and crimson ones seemed to fight over dominance, creating thick veils that consumed whatever remained. Gone were the old wooden buildings that she so often passed by. Gone was the only small church in the village, and gone were all of the shops whose shopkeepers she knew so well. Everything in the marketplace was being consumed by them. And she stood alone right in front of the flaming pillar that burned the stake placed in the very center. The succubus found herself unable to move, only able to stare as the flames grew taller and taller, their smoke reaching up to the high heavens. It wasn’t until she felt someone's hand on her shoulder, which was accompanied by awful phantom pain, that the demon started to tremble. Lilim knew she shouldn’t turn around. That no matter what, she shouldn’t look at the burning stake. Yet her blue eyes drifted towards the hand. Charred, without skin, without muscles, just pure bone rested on her shoulder. The bony fingers squeezed harder on her shoulder, the pain becoming unbearable, as if taunting her to look back.

Before she could do so, Lilim had woken up with a scream. Sitting on the bed, her eyes darted around the room, slowly getting accustomed to the darkness. She was taking short and rapid breaths in order to try and calm herself down, yet she could feel that she was still trembling. Succubus felt something wet go down her face but was unable to tell if it were tears or sweat. A groan coming from her left side allowed her mind to focus on anything other than the nightmare. Looking left, she saw Alice shift from one side to another, probably disturbed by her scream. At first, her brain couldn’t register how in the world she and Alice ended up in one bed. Then her eyes focused on the two cups of tea on the desk.

Right, she must have fallen asleep in Alice’s room. Why couldn’t she remember that? Was she so exhausted from their arsonist hunt? Was it from trying to tell Alice about Alicia? Lilim knew the answer all too well. Even despite the fact that she told herself over and over that she finally got over it, she never did. Lilim fell back onto the bed, wary not to wake up the ginger-haired girl. She didn’t need to be part of her mess.

That dream was your fault, wasn’t it?

I did no such thing. It was your own conscience that brought the memories back. Don’t accuse me of everything that happens to you. Though I could say that the dream was a good reminder of what will happen in the near future,

I won’t let you.

Of course you won't, as I won’t do anything. It will be your doing, just like it was last time.

Lilim bit her lip. She didn’t need to be reminded of that. The dreams were more than enough, let alone the memories that still lingered in her mind. She lost count of how many times she almost called Alice Alicia. It was absolutely the worst at the beginning. The succubus wondered if her stay was actually a good idea.

I think you know the answer to that, Lilim. You know that sooner or later you will get hurt, just like the last time. Especially if you will still reject my aid.

Shut up. Just shut up. I’m too tired to argue with you right now.

As you wish, just heed my warning.

Lilim could feel the scorn coming from her voice. She was deserving of that; she knew that much, but it seriously wasn’t the time for it. Succubus heard a movement, and sure enough, the still-half-asleep half-angel was right next to her.

"So what’s bothering you?" Alice mumbled it out, trying her hardest not to fall asleep again. It might have been the middle of the night, but something was wrong with Lilim, and she won’t be able to sleep soundly until she is able to calm the demon.

"Nothing, really. Sorry for waking you up." The blue-eyed girl replied in a hushed voice. Honestly, it was a miracle if none of their neighbors woke up from her scream.

"Lilim, didn’t you tell me not to hide anything that bothers me? The same applies to you." Right, she did say that. And now that was coming back to bite her in the ass. Sometimes she wishes she could keep her mouth shut.

"Nightmare, but it’s nothing serious, really." Succubus tried to sound as convincing as she could muster, but it seemed like the half-angel had her figured out.

"Nightmare huh? Is it because I brought up Alicia?" Alice took a sigh and said, "Sorry, I knew I shouldn’t bring that up, but curiosity got the better of me. I hope you aren’t mad at me." Goddammit, why did she have to apologize? She always had to take the blame on herself, even if it didn’t relate to her in any shape or form. Couldn’t she understand that trying to take someone’s burden upon herself wouldn’t do anything good? And as if she could get mad at her. Lilim could only be furious at herself and no one else.

"Al, don’t apologize; it isn’t your fault. Just the last encounter unlocked some bad memories. That’s all there is to it." Alice still wasn’t buying that. She had a hard time believing that someone as tough as Lilim would be screaming and trembling because of a nightmare. There had to be more to it, but it didn’t look like the succubus wanted to admit that. Half-angel noticed that the demon sat up and seemed to think about whether she should return to the couch in the living room. As she stood up, Alice reached for her hand.

"It’s okay; you can stay. Besides, it will make battling the nightmares easier, right? When I had them, I always ran to Beatrice, and it seemed to help." Lilim thought about it for a while. She fell back onto the bed, facing the half-angel. Succubus embraced the younger girl, which shocked her, though it wasn’t unwelcome.

"Al, you won’t leave me alone, will you?" In response, she received a barely audible giggle.

"Of course not, you dummy; why even ask that?"

"I just needed to hear that." Alice mumbled something as she snuggled closer to the demon, who couldn’t make out what she said. Ginger quickly fell back asleep while the demon stayed wide awake. She might as well not get back to sleep for the rest of the night. There was no need to risk another nightmare. And one sleepless night from time to time didn’t hurt anyone.

Waking up first in the morning, Alice felt the lack of a certain succubus by her side. She rubbed her eyes, thinking that it might have just been a dream, but the tea cups confirmed the events of last night. Lilim could have at least waited until she woke up. Well, maybe she didn’t want to make it weird or use another excuse like that. Alice suspected that the demon was bothered by something and simply couldn’t sleep. While searching through her drawer for something nice to wear, she heard an ongoing conversation between Beatrice and Lilim.

"And what about the other one?"

"Our radars had not caught onto his aura, which either meant that he stayed put for the night or was using concealing magic."

"Mornin’. " Alice entered the living room wearing her casual clothes, that is, a slightly oversized teal shirt and white pants. Succubus sent a weak, reassuring smile, almost as if to convince her that everything was fine. Even if she knew that wasn’t really the case.

"Good morning, Al; the breakfast will soon be ready." Beatrice replied, shuffling around the stove. Lilim currently sat by the dining table and, with a still slightly trembling hand, was holding her cup of coffee. The half-angel sat next to the demon.

Lilim, are you feeling fine?" In response, she got a reassuring nod. While the green-eyed girl still wasn’t exactly buying that, at the very least succubus seemed in a much better state compared to last night.

"So it was you who screamed bloody murder last night. The whole Znena must have heard you." Beatrice chipped in as she set plates on the table. "The better question is, what were you doing in Alice’s room, hmm?" To see the succubus flustered was a rare sight. A slight blush appeared on her pale face as she thought of a good excuse. Of all people, Beatrice wasn’t the one to whom she wanted to admit that she had night terrors.

"She slept with me, that’s all." Alice responded as if that were a well-known fact, not really thinking about how her words could be received by the blonde angel. Lilim felt that she was going to choke on her coffee, and Beatrice froze, sending the girl a rather shocked look.

"Not like that! Geez, sometimes you are just as bad as Lilim." Alice pouted as she went to turn off the kettle that started whistling. Everything seemed peaceful this morning until the computer in Beatrice’s room started beeping. Succubus quickly went to check. A demon appeared. Though it seemed to be underground. They didn't have a metro, did they? So what was it doing there?

"It’s in the sewers." Alice quickly filled the demon in. Sewers, right. Of all places, the demon had to choose them. She could already tell that she would need a long shower after this. "We will be back for breakfast!" The half-angel took the succubus and, together with her, stormed out of the apartment, leaving Beatrice all to herself. On the one hand, she was glad that Alice didn’t go out by herself, but on the other hand, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something awful was about to happen.

Both girls, under the guidance of Alice, rather swiftly made their way towards an empty sewer’s entrance. One quite rusty and enormous pipe leading into impenetrable darkness didn’t fill Lilim with optimism. The green-eyed girl was quick to summon her armor and venture inside, where footsteps echoed against the pipe and boots splashed against the still water. Succubus followed her in, Prince ready to be covered in blue flame. In fact, she needed to do so in order to give any sort of visibility as they went further down. The glow of the blue fire gently illuminated the rusted walls and reflected off the water. Now if only she could get rid of that stench.

For now, they haven’t spotted the demon, but given how big Znena's sewers might have been, it wasn’t all that surprising. It did present a problem, though. None of them really knew their way around the sewers, and given that they were built like some sort of maze, that didn’t help either. The demon might have jumped on them from any of the other pipes that connected to the main one. That was why both girls were back-to-back, with Lilim keeping their backs safe. Both girls stopped once they heard a movement coming from the deeper parts. They stood still for a while, and whatever made the sound also seemed to be still. It wasn’t until Lilim looked down to see the water underneath them gain a reddish tint that she pushed the half-angel out of harm's way.

From underneath them, the red water arose into the air, taking shape. A long and skeletal body formed at first, quickly followed by four tentacles made purely out of muscle tissue and covered from the outside by what seemed to be armor made of bones. Along with them appeared dozens upon dozens of much thinner tentacles, reminiscent of those of jellyfish. The demon was out; now it was only a matter of disposing of it.

Before any of the girls could do anything, the demon swung one of his legs at Alice with lightning speed. It crashed the younger girl against the pipe, cracking her armor at the chestplate. The tentacle didn’t seem to let the half-angel go, further crushing her against the wall. Succubus acted swiftly and cut the leg with one precise swing of Prince, releasing Alice from his hold. The demon released a loud humming sound as it swayed to the left. Lilim was about to strike again, but the smaller tentacles wrapped themselves around her arm and sent an electric impulse, shocking the demon.

The half-angel responded with a wave of red energy that cut off all of the smaller tentacles and weakened its legs. It was a short-lived success, as the smaller ones quickly started to regrow. Lilim, with her hand burned, had a hard time holding her katana, and now Alice had to take the initiative. At first, she summoned two ghostly copies of the Rosary that quickly pinned the demon's body to the upper part of the pipe. Then she aimed a bunch of ice arrows at its legs, keeping it further immobilized. The Rosary turned red. Alice brought the spear over her head and, with one swift swing, brought it down. The red wave split the skeletal body in half. But the demon had not set itself ablaze. Instead, its body slowly started merging, and many smaller tentacles came from the wound and wrapped themselves around Alice.

They raised the ginger-haired girl into the air and swung her with all of their might. She was flung nearly all the way, right at the entrance of the pipe. Even more cracks spread throughout her armor, now staining every part to a higher or lower degree. Alice could see a blue flash emanate from the deeper parts and could only hope that Lilim took care of the demon. Seeing the crimson-red fluid scurry out of the pipe in a hurry made her doubt. Soon after, she saw the black-haired succubus run right at the newly formed demon.

"Bastard rebuilds himself faster than my flames can burn him." Lilim breathed out while holding Prince with her left hand. The burn just couldn’t heal slower, could it? "Are you fine, by the way? It threw you pretty damn hard."

"I’ve been through worse. The better question is, how do we take care of him?" The half-angel asked while sending another red wave at it. It was quickly followed by a bunch of elemental arrows. And while the wave once again split the demon in half and arrows weakened the bone armor on its legs, the fiend simply regenerated all the damage done to it.

An arrow struck the ground right behind the demon. Though it was more like a proper spear than an arrow. Its white glow seemed to make the fiend wary. Looking up, the girls saw Beatrice, who was preparing another shot. This time it struck the demon right in the middle, but just like before, it swiftly closed the wound, snapping the arrow in half.

"If you want to take care of a regenerator, you will have to destroy the core part!" A blonde-haired angel shouted as yet another arrow was released from her bow. This one, instead of the casual white ones, was like a shining silver rod, zigzagging in the sky at a blinding speed. The silver arrow, rather than simply impaling the skeletal body, tore right through it as if it were paper mache, leaving wobbly legs and tentacles to fall freely onto the ground.

Lilim, burn it now!" The succubus didn’t need to be ordered twice. One swift swing with her black blade, and whatever remained of the demon was quickly dispatched by the blue before it could regenerate.

"Thanks; he was a major pain in the ass. But what are you doing here?"

"You two were taking quite some time, so I decided to check what was going on. Come on, the breakfast will turn cold soon. And maybe you should take a shower; sewers aren’t places for ladies." Lilim, at this point, was more than eager for a good, long shower. She might have been a demon, but even she had standards. And being in a place full of reeking wastewater, was surely nowhere near them.

Alice cast away her armor, which caused Lilim to give her a curious look. The succubus wiped her own forehead, something that the half-angel soon mimicked as she felt something wet trickle down. Here it was: blood on her palm. The wound must have been made when the demon flung her across the sewers. She could only hope that it wouldn't leave a scar.

Stolen story; please report.

"Alice, are you fine?" Beatrice asked as she went closer to inspect the wound. Alice sighed. While she appreciated that the blonde angel was so worried about her, sometimes he was being too much of a mom. It was just a flesh wound. She has had many and will continue to have many more.

"Yeah, Beatrice, it’s just a simple wound. I’ll wash the blood away, and it won’t even look like it was there to begin with. Can we go now? I’m starving" The ginger-haired girl replied with a slight smile as her stomach growled. Beatrice couldn’t help but lighten up gently as she scooped up the half-angel. The entire Purgatorio made its way back home rather swiftly, and as both the succubus and angel went to finish preparing the breakfast and re-warm the already-cold sausages, Alice took the opportunity to clean herself from the stench and wash away the blood from the wound.

Allowing the shower head to gently cover her skin in rather lukewarm water, Alice felt a stinging sensation above her right breast. Placing her hand on it, she once again saw blood. Looking down, the half-angel spotted yet another wound. But it wasn’t there before; she would have seen it when she was undressing. Perhaps she must have omitted it. No, it couldn’t have been the case. It didn’t look like a normal wound. It wasn’t a stab or a cut. In fact, it was weirdly similar to how her armor’s chest plate has been damaged. Could it be that a piece of metal got to scar her skin? If so, then it would be the first time it had happened. While her armor wasn’t a stranger to getting damaged, it never really affected her. Once her entire left shoulder guard broke off and she was fine.

She really could hope that they would heal without leaving a scar; she had already had enough of them. She could barely look at her bare body without wincing. She was glad that Lilim wasn’t there to see them. Her cheeks gained a little pinkish tint. Taking a bath with Lilim…Though perhaps she should leave the thought of taking a bath with the succubus for later. The wounds didn’t seem too deep however, by just letting the water trickle down her skin, most of the blood was washed away. Although one look down at the shower base would bring to mind a scene out of a horror movie. Shit, were the wounds really bleeding that much? They should have some bandages in the house, though Beatrice usually kept them in the kitchen’s medicine cabinet for easier access. Now, how should she ask her to give them to her without worrying the blonde angel too much? Knocking on the doors brought her back to reality.

"Al, come on, how long do you plan to stay there?" Lilim’s voice came from behind closed doors. She didn’t take that long in the shower, did she? Alice made sure to wash away all of the blood that remained on the shower’s base, wrapped a towel around her body and a second one around her hair, and took a hair dryer, as there was no way that she was going to dry her hair without it.

"Finally, geez, if I knew you would take so long, I would go in first. Any-" The blue-eyed demon could feel her cheeks heat up as the half-angel left the bathroom in nothing but a towel. Lilim turned her head away. "Anyway, breakfast is ready. Oh, and Beatrice had to go. Something about paperwork." Alice took a relieved breath.

"Could you go and grab me a gauze or bandage?" Seeing how alarmed succubus looked, she was quick to explain. Lilim went and gave her a clean gauze, asking if she should help. Alice shook her head and went to her room, while Lilim went to finally take her shower. For talking about the half-angel taking a long time, the succubus also took her sweet time with a shower. Alice got to dry her hair, cover up her wounds, and finish her breakfast when the blue-eyed demon finally got out. With a blissful smile on her face, she laid down on the couch, observing as the green-eyed girl shuffled around the kitchen and took care of plates.

"You want help with that?"

"No, thanks." Alice replied, putting the last plate in the sink. "Though we really should get a dishwasher. It would make cleaning much less tedious." Ginger took a deep sigh. She really didn’t feel like washing them down; that could wait for now.

"You think Beatrice would know how to use it?"

"Come on, she is not that old."

Yeah, it's just been around since people still lived in castles." A muffled giggle coming from the ginger brought a smile to succubus’s face. "Hey, I can’t say I’m wrong."

"I can’t, but you are lucky that she isn’t here to hear you."

"I’m quite a lucky girl." Lilim went closer and embraced the younger girl. "Especially for having a girl like you." Succubus purred into her ear, which was quickly met with what Lilim could only describe as an excited squeal. Even though she couldn’t see Alice’s face, she didn’t need to guess that her face was probably as red as beetroot. Though when she heard the half-angel take a sharp breath, she immediately backed away.

"Al, is everything fine?"

"Yeah, yeah. It just stings and probably will continue to do so for the entire day." The younger girl massaged the area above her right breast. The gauze helped a little, but it didn’t completely mitigate the pain. Alice felt Lilim drag her back onto the couch, with her lying on top of the succubus.

"If that’s the case, then how about we take a break for the rest of the day? I think after the sewers, we deserve a little something."

"You won’t let the sewers go, will you?"

"Nope, though if it means I’ll get to see you in a towel more often, who knows? Maybe I won’t mind them as much."

"L-Lilim!" Alice was met with the succubus’s laughter. Before succubus could go any further, buzzing coming from the half-angel pocket broke the spell. Ginger quickly checked to see who was calling her. Chairman Tvardovsky. It was rather unusual. He barely contacted her at all, which meant that it was probably an emergency situation.

"Ah, Alice, I hope I’m not interrupting anything important, but-"

Yes, you are!" Lilim cut in.

"Is Lilim with you? That’s great. I would require your assistance. You see, the unit under my command has been attacked by a demon. They were just a reconnaissance unit tasked with collecting data on the unusual aura that appeared around the mountains; hence, they are not suited for combat. I hope that you will be able to get them back to safety."

"On it, chairman." The call ended, and Alice was checking the current position of the unit that Tvardovsky sent her via mail. "Come, Lilim, we have to go." While still mad that she couldn’t enjoy her time alone with the half-angel, the blue-eyed demon quickly scooped up the smaller girl and spread her black wings, taking off into the sky, listening to the directions that Alice was giving her. It would take them a good quarter to reach their destination. They hoped that the demon wouldn’t be able to kill them in the meantime.

Znena’s Red Mountains quickly arose on the horizon, and soon enough, both girls heard gunshots that echoed from the mountains and nearby forest that encircled them. Lilim was quick to spot a bunch of white vehicles that stood out like sore thumbs in all of the greenery. The succubus landed before a bunch of cars, shocking the reconnaissance unit with her sudden arrival. She drew her sword at the attacker while Alice summoned her armor.

Before them stood a demon, also in white. He was rather tall, perhaps even reaching up to three meters, even if the lengthy helmet added a bunch of inches. His plate armor, while at first glance light, didn’t even look to be scratched by the bullets that were sent his way. Though it might have been thanks to his four arms, each wielding a scimitar, which were fast to act when a bullet was about to reach its body,

"Al, leave him to me. Your armor is still cracked." Succubus said as she eyed the white knight. Even despite the lack of eyes, she could feel the stare of the demon on her. Though she had her doubts about whether he was even a demon in the first place. With the unnatural way that his arms bent while flashing his swords at her, he seemed more like a moving armor than a living being. This and the fact that he made no sound. Though she was more worried that Alice seemed shaken by the mention of cracks in her armor. Now that she thought about it, the armor always repaired itself after being summoned.

"I’ll be fine. It’ll be faster if we do it together. And as for you." She turned to face the remaining crew that didn’t hide in the cars. "Take cover; we don’t want any casualties." The rest of the unit didn’t need to be told that twice, as they quickly scurried away to the inside. The white demon surprisingly waited patiently for them to finish before taunting the girls to come at him with his swords.

Lilim was the first to clash with the demon, with Prince being blocked by two of the left swords. Alice quickly joined her, Rosary striking against the two remaining swords. The armored demon parried each strike that was coming his way and was quick to retaliate with his own weapons. Despite his lack of precision, his swings were more than enough to keep the girls at bay. The half-angel tried her luck with stabs as succubus was keeping him occupied by striking wildly with her black blade, but the tip of the spear barely scratched his armor. It was tougher than it looked at first glance.

Covering Rosary in a red aura, she was preparing to tear through his defenses, as there was no way that his blades could stop Wrathful Strike at such close proximity. Lilim, seeing the spear about to hit the demon, backed off, not wanting to get hit by it. Before the strike could connect, Alice froze, hearing cracks coming from her armor. The red wave that was unleashed from the weapon missed the white demon by a hair. He quickly answered with a kick to the stomach, sending the half-angel toward the nearest vehicle and further cracking her armor. Succubus was quick to act and slashed at the demon, scoring a hit on his upper right arm, which soon was covered up to the palm in golden blood, but another incoming strike was blocked by four blades.

Dazed and now slightly starting to panic, the green-eyed girl slowly stood. She took a good look at her armor. The crack on the chest piece was now nearly reaching the new one on the stomach. Even looking at her arms and hands, she could see a bunch of small cracks forming. Something very wrong was going on with her armor. Her wounds started to itch. No, they weren’t itching; they were straight-up burning. She felt as if someone had put red-hot coals on her chest. Alice tried to cast away her armor, but she couldn’t. With each panicked twist and turn, the armor seemed to grow tighter and hotter, and Alice could swear that it was going to break her ribs at any second now. The half-angel tried to scream but found herself unable to do so as she couldn’t catch air. With rapid and desperate gasps, she had fallen to the ground.

The only things she could see were the cracks that spread throughout her entire armor, which were now emitting a strange, almost blinding glow. This caused Lilim to panic, as she stopped paying attention to the white-armored demon. In a last-ditch attempt to try and stand up, Alice struck the Rosary right into the ground and tried to use it to support herself, but as she grabbed her weapon, darkness covered the world. Before she lost her consciousness completely, she heard a painful scream coming from somewhere and someone rushing to her side.

When the half-angel finally came to her senses, the first thing she felt were someone’s strong arms wrapped around her in quite an uncomfortable embrace. The very next thing were golden locks, which she knew all too well. Though at the moment Beatrice wasn’t looking at the angel, she was rather gazing where Lilim stood previously. Alice followed her gaze, and she couldn’t believe what her eyes were showing her.

Brightly shining spears had erupted from the ground everywhere. The tallest one that towered even over the trees had a pool of golden blood spilled around it, and the white demon was nowhere to be seen. Even if the blood was hard to see through all of the smaller spears that created a circle around the tall one. They spread as far as the forest, varying in size and the angle at which they came from the ground. Even one car was damaged, having its windshield completely smashed to pieces. Surprisingly, she didn’t see the rest. At least the crew was safe and sound.

"Beatrice?" Her voice came out meager, and Alice hated it. Unconsciously, she tugged harder on the older woman’s dress. Why did it have to be so weak? Why did she have to be?

"Oh, thank goodness, you are finally awake." The half-angel could feel the weight off the blonde angel’s shoulders. "Now, now, take it easy. It might have been just a few minutes, but you should rest easy just a little longer." Beatrice added as she saw that Alice had already tried to stand up despite still clearly being dazed by the entire situation.

Looking down, Alice saw still-smoking pieces of something, accompanied by quite an amount of ash. They had different shapes and a metallic gleam to them, even if most of them were charred until they turned white. Though she spotted some golden and dark blue chunks that avoided getting burned to ashes, if that was the armor, then where was the Rosary? Frantically, she searched the entire area with her eyes. It was then that she finally spotted the ghostly, pale succubus that looked like she was about to faint at any given moment. Seeing Alice move, Lilim wasted no time and, in a moment's notice, found herself before the younger girl.

"You bloody idiot, why did you scare me like that?" Succubus sounded like she was doing her best to hold back tears. Was she really in that bad of a state? Honestly, she still didn’t understand what exactly happened to her. "I thought you were dead! You weren’t moving, you weren’t responding to anything, and I couldn’t get that stupid armor off you."

"Hey, I promised that I wouldn’t die, didn’t I? Come on, Lilim, calm down; I don’t want to see you cry."

"Easy to say when you haven’t seen yourself completely stiff."

"Girls, save it for when Alice has more strength." Beatrice chipped in. "Though I would still like to know what causes the sudden spike in your aura."

"What?" What spike? She didn’t do anything. At least not while conscious. But she couldn’t cast Land of Golden Spears properly to begin with, let alone on that level. Unless that armor had something to do with

"That was what alarmed me in the first place. In fact, it almost rivaled Lilim’s aura back in the forest. It’s no wonder why you blacked out. Your body simply couldn’t take it."

"If that’s the case, then the ar-"

"The cracks? Apparently, as you cast Land of Golden Spears, they were shining brightly. Or so Lilim told me". The succubus in question nodded. "We can only assume that its state might have been related to it."

"And Rosary?"

"Don’t worry, the recovery unit took it back to the HQ. Its blade was damaged, but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed." Alice breathed a sigh of relief. She wouldn’t forgive herself if it was destroyed. "How about we take you for a checkup, hmm?" The half-angel nodded. Maybe they will be able to tell her what was going on and what was wrong with those wounds. Beatrice took off, with Lilim following right after them.

After dropping Alice off in the medical ward and leaving her with the succubus, the blonde archeress went to Tvardovsky’s room. If anyone knew what the half-angel condition was, then it had to be him. His room, or ‘chamber’ as he called it, was a rather spacious room. Too bad all of the empty space was occupied by something. Many running computers covered the walls of both sides; the center was taken by one massive circular table, which was completely littered by bluemarks, documents, manila folders, and a bunch of classified documents. And that's not even counting all of what was lying on the floor and the crates filled to the brim with even more documents.

"Beatrice, what brings you there?" Tvardovsky asked, not even bothering to look over the pile of documents that was currently creating a mountain on the table. Perhaps he should have kept things organized better, but he knew his mess rather well. Or at least until he needed something, and then, no matter what, he couldn’t find it.

"It’s about Alice." She sounded rather serious. There was no use in teasing her like that. He still liked the fingers on his hand.

"The sudden spike in aura, yes?"

"Yes, something like that has never occurred before, and I would like to ask if you know what could have caused it."

"Well, it was quite an increase, and I could rule out a bunch of things by now, though there is one thing that lingers in my mind. Of course, without a proper checkup, I can’t say for sure."

"Any guess is fine. As long as it doesn’t affect her health,"

"About that… Miss Alice is a quarter-angel, right?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Now, it's just a theory with no proper basis, but I reckon she might be going through a similar process to other half-angels the Holy See has registered in the past."

"Do you imply that-?"

"Of course. Our little Alice might be awakening her angelic form. That is, of course, speculation." Heavy silence filled the room. Tvardovsky said nothing more, allowing Beatrice to calm herself down. Even if she wasn’t showing it, her face was trembling at the mention of this.

"Let say...let say that this indeed is happening. What are the chances that it won’t hurt her in any way?"

"Sadly, I cannot answer that question. Should she be a proper half-angel, I would say that it would be a rather quick and relatively painless process. Yes, two deaths and ten instances of the angelic form taking over have been documented, but in the hundred records that I managed to find, it really is an exception confirming the rule. Now that she is a quarter-"

"Will she be fine?" Beatrice's voice was stern and sent chills down his spine. It probably wasn’t the answer she was looking for, but he was a man of science, and lying was not in his nature. Sometimes brutal honesty was all he could give. Now, he probably shouldn’t have mentioned the two death cases, but Beatrice needed to know what might happen.

"If she will survive-" In an instant, he felt her steel grip right on his collar, lifting him a good foot into the air. Right, perhaps he should have chosen his words better. He could see livid hatred right in her golden eyes. "C-chances of something going wrong are relatively low and could be rounded up into a margin of error." This seemed to work as the blonde-haired angel put him down. Though she looked ashamed about her behavior.

"Forgive me, it’s just that... When I saw her on the ground, I didn’t know what to think."

"No hard feelings; I know just how much a mother can worry about her daughter. That's, of course, the worst-case scenario. It might have been a fluke, her overworking herself, or other factors. Like I said, for now, nothing is sure."

"Thank you, and once again, I’m sorry." Beatrice bowed and left Tvardovsky to himself. Well, now he could return to his previous task. He could swear that somewhere he had a file with an aura identical to the one in the Red Mountains. He really should keep his stuff organized.