—Grandpa Golex POV—
—Well over a century ago—
“Aaaahhhh…!” I expressed my utmost serenity and excitement for the upcoming battle. The smell of salt was a balm to my soul as we rapidly approached our destination. The shore of Hivania had come into view, and with it the inhex that called the continent home. I’d been briefed prior, but it was still so… weird to see sapient people so far from the human form. They looked like very large dark-purple ants with a trio of separate mandibles on their face. Their sizes ranged from tigers to rhinos.
I’d love to trade blows with the more gigantic of them, especially since I'd crossed into the 4 meters of height after my recent evolution. Our fight would be glorious. Legendary even!
And it would be a fight, of that there was no doubt. So many of them were arrayed on the shore, and while I wasn’t fluent in the body language of giant ants, I was pretty sure that they were preparing for war. The siege weapons they were busying around laid bare their intent to resist til the fucking end.
As they should.
Such was the right, and the duty, of all life on Varyala.
~~~
I scowled at the army gathered before me, their screeching and incomprehensible way of communication grating against my ears.
What the angels did was shameful, and the enslavement of the inhex was not right. I was happy enough to fight and conquer them, but this was too fucking far. It was dishonorable, and it was wrong.
“Are you fine with this, Shanayah?” I asked my friend, and now queen. I didn’t know if we were even still friends.
“It is the will of the angels. It is the will of the Angelic God.” Shanayah’s voice was serene, yet laced with intense devotion. I felt a compulsion to agree, but I quickly buried that feeling. I had… stayed away from her ever since she evolved into a shepherd of all things. I felt a little bit bad about that, but I just didn’t appreciate having my head messed with, even by a comrade of a thousand battles. Especially not now, when we couldn't see eye to eye at all. Not after all that she’d done.
What happened to her, and why did she just immediately fall to her knees the moment the angels arrived? Why did she drag the rest of our party to a secretive evolution ritual where only she came back from alive? Why, Shanayah? Why?
I took a deep breath, and then left the empress. I was liable to make a mistake that could not be undone if I stayed near her. I already have, countless times, and the only reason I remained free and alive was because she took pity on me.
It was infuriating. She was infuriating. And I was infuriating for being happy to have survived.
I walked across the staging grounds, watching the crowds of inhex agitatedly crawling around and over each other. They were in despair and in rage, and plenty of them lashed out only to be put down by the angels with ease, or put down by the soldiers stationed around the perimeter. The only reason why the situation hadn’t blown over into all-out war again was because of the downright shameful leverage my faction had gotten over them.
I really wished that they would just fight.
“Stop. Stay still. Form into ranks. March in formation!” Archangel Darshello’s voice thundered from above. Her enormous body consisted of separate layers of flesh and bone shields that shuddered with every word. A thousand eyes glared at all the inhex people below, and every mouth roared in unbearable annoyance.
Archangel Vivilent was doing the same thing, his appearance instead that of a thousand blades condensed into a porcupine-like ball. He spun with every perceived mistake of his unwilling subjects, sometimes right among their ranks.
Archangel Degrace whipped his uncountable number of tendrils around, gesturing wildly to the inhex, and then blaming them when they couldn’t follow the rapid instructions of a being over level 160. A meager few of them were taught how to speak angelic for the purposes of communication, yet he still did not hesitate to kill even those crucial soldiers.
Archangel Koraxis was shouting from higher up, desperately trying to sound calm, but the strumming of her crossbow body and the massive bolts of flesh and bone fired at anyone who tried to disobey revealed her furious discomfort at the disorder of the inhex people.
Except in reality, they were actually the most organized foes I’d ever faced. The chaos that we saw was only our interpretation of it. I’d faced them in battle so I knew that no other army could keep track of each other like the inhex could, no other swarm could ever react with the same swiftness as they.
So how can the angels not see that when it’s so apparent, and they’re allegedly so intelligent!?
In the center of it all was Archangel Angelo, guiding the efforts of his fellow archangels, and of the many regular angels scattered along the space. This was why I really didn’t want angels at the command. It was going to take forever to get anything done. They’d already killed so many of the inhex soldiers… and civilians, before they could even begin their final march.
~~~
—Curse Dragon Cursifix POV—
My eyes snapped open, furious at the wondrous dreams that were broken. My instincts blared out a warning just before disaster struck, but an organic crossbow bolt of golden white flesh and bone still managed to strike my left eye despite my attempt to dodge. The pain and the humiliation of it was unforgivable!!
I roared, fury overtaking my mind as the projectile dug into the protective bone of my brain. White hot rage clouded what remained of my vision, and my curse mana was only all too happy to respond in the same tune, forcing my anger to even greater heights. The roiling hate manifested as a burst of aura, dwarfing the paltry amount that I passively leaked out which had by itself turned this entire mountain into The Cursified Wonderzone. My baleful presence staggered half of the already diminished attacking army, and drove more of them insane even from so far down the mountain.
Because why were they trying to scale my mountain in the first place!?
The evil within me stirred even stronger, the magic flowing through my veins rose to greater heights of power. I poured it all into my lungs, and then unleashed a draconic breath down at the inhexes who had thought they could usurp me!
A foggy blast of pure blackness swallowed half of The Cursified Mountain, leaving none that it directly touched alive. The foolish inhex died in droves, unaware of their own demise as their bodies were disintegrated in an instant.
Those who were much further away survived for one second, screaming in delicious agony as their insides twisted, and the flesh of their bodies died. Further still, and they experienced the mind-bending pain of having one’s flesh both stripped away and transformed.
And then there were the ones who survived, hidden on the literal other side of the mountain. Not just their bodies, but their minds too broke under the pressure, twisted into horrid amalgamations of their former selves. Some just fell, unmoving, unresponsive, like dolls with their strings cut. Others ran away as they should, overtaken by the fear one should have for a superior being. My favorites were those who grew confused, unable to comprehend their surroundings. They started attacking anyone and anything in sight, destroying whatever order remained. Friend backstabbed friend, brother dismembered sister, and sister devoured brother. It was a chaotic sea of betrayal that I reveled in. It was my power that caused that, and the curse mana twisting through every inch of me sang in approval. I wished nothing more than to spread this same fate to all that lived in this world and beyond!
~~~
—Archangel Angelo POV—
My single eye twitched in displeasure as it gazed through my lenses of flesh at the battle happening a horizon away from where I flew above the vast oceans. I was not expecting the dragon to be this strong, and I expected more from the inhex that had dared to kill one of my angels. It was already so difficult to wrangle them together into a proper march–an effort that I admittedly did not truly succeed in, through no fault of my own–but now they couldn’t even serve as a distraction so that their betters may properly take on the hated foe!
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I twitched and twitched and twitched, for why did the people of this world love so much to go against my plans? Angels were supposed to dominate any resistance the locals may have. Even if it were possible for an angel to fall, an archangel was never supposed to be in any danger. And yet why was a mere beast on the same level, if not actual power, as a Serafim!? That was an absurdity that could not be allowed. The anomaly must be purged. But things were just not in proper order, my plans had been put into disarray by the dragon’s first move. It was not right that we angels would have to retreat, but we were not like this beast, we could show wisdo–
The dragon shot forward and snapped two whole angels into its mouth. The beast rumbled and huffed in hateful disrespect as it swallowed, before killing all others in the vicinity without ever giving them the chance to heal.
“VIVILENT, DARSHELLO, DEGRACE!” my holy voice thundered not into my surroundings, but right into the ears of my faraway flockmates. “Kill the blasphemer and protect our young!”
“I’ll not forgive this animal!”
“I will protect.”
“Look upon me and perish.”
Holy magic flowed to my single ear, and through it I heard their replies. Koraxis remained by my side, and I adjusted her aim carefully for the next shot. My halo glowed as I poured holy magic into her, further increasing the power that she could already hardly contain, and healing her from the backlash at the same time. I could feel the sheer agitation emanating from her as she pulled back the string of her body, cranking with force and gathering vast amounts of holy magic. She too was enraged at the deaths of our kin, but soon this hateful abomination shall fall under the might of the Heavenly Hegemony.
But then another cluster of the innocent and holy angels died. This slavering beast dared to kill more of our young. It used that chaotic burst of speed once again to rapidly close the distance before the archangels of our flock could close in. It chose to be cowardly, terrorizing the children instead of facing the true wrath of the flock!
“Koraxis! Fire!”
My stalwart ally did as I commanded, and the bolt flew true, impacting hard against the side of the dragon. It did not fall from that, unwilling still to let go of its blasphemous ways when it should have kowtowed for forgiveness long before we even arrived. But that was only to be expected of heretical swine. They must be put down.
Degrace caught up to the dragon just as it reached the next cluster of angels, and my archangel friend redirected the beast’s head with a snap of his whips before it could snuff out even more of our sprouts. The dragon roared and retaliated, which did manage to take out many of Degrace’s tentacles as he dodged around, but that was a futile effort against an angel. Not that I expected such a mindless creature to understand.
Within moments, Degrace regenerated what he had lost, and with the same holy powers that allowed for such a miracle, he struck back against the dragon again.
The animal roared, and it attacked some more. Degrace was taking more damage–which any damage at all was unacceptable heresy–but it was far from the point where he was in any actual danger. Koraxis even managed to get another shot off, which didn’t hit anything immediately vital, but it still provided crucial damage. Degrace’s attacks too were gradually crushing scales and ripping them away. This was a hunt, and we were those blessed with the wisdom to attain victory. All for the will of the Angelic God.
And then more than half of Degrace’s body disappeared in one go. His flesh and bone rapidly regenerated, but the blasted dragon continued tearing into my flockmate even as he tried to piece himself back together. Even such terrible wounds were something an archangel should’ve been able to shrug off, but to be forced to heal so much and so much would strain even our inexhaustible source of holy power. And what’s more… the foul creature was somehow suppressing our divine right to heal with its own unholy magic!
“NO!” I shouted, seeing the predicament of my good friend. “Don’t let him die!”
Our young, our sprouts, the angels that were close by all dove in at my command and I felt a pang of regret as I saw just what was about to happen. Arrows flew from them once they were in range. Axes impacted the dragon’s scales, followed by other limb weapons such as swords, spears, and more. Even with such a level difference, the holy power that we of the flock wielded was such that they could still chip and crack the scales of this massive beast.
But it wouldn’t be enough, I knew. The dragon turned away from Darshello for a moment, and swiped at our children. It opened its sickening maw and crushed without remorse that which was holy. The animal went on a rampage, even reaching the archers at the back and going after the others that were just coming towards itself. All the while its magic raged like a storm around it, rotting, twisting, enfeebling, and more.
My eye pulsed with anger at the sight as Koraxis rumbled beside me in her own rage. I guided her aim once more, and this time we hit the dragon where a mortal’s lungs would be. Vivilent then arrived, and he immediately tore into the beast even more. He was almost grabbed by the creature, but that’s when Degrace reentered the battle and redirected the claw. The dragon blurred into motion, aiming to crush and rip apart Degrace with its maw, but Darshello arrived just in time to take the blow instead. Her many layers of shields weathered the assault claw and teeth with utmost bravery, and Vivilent dove in and sliced through parts of the monster’s face and throat just before it could crush our archangel friend.
This was the power of the angels. This was a symbol of our authority. I wished such methods were not necessary, but there would always be those opposed to order and were slaves to chaos. It was our calling, our duty, to remove those fools who chose evil over what was evidently good.
~~~
The battle continued in the skies. It raged with unrelenting violence. My eye strained with the fury that I felt at how nothing was going according to plan. We archangels were hard at work just trying to contain the power that the evil dragon could bring to bear, and even our young were forced to continue to be involved as they both dove into battle and acted as healers for the archangels among us. The foul creature used its evil magics to curse and weaken our forces, and even though such maledictions were well within our capabilities to counter… I had to admit that they were still terrifyingly dangerous. So many promising angels had already fallen, all for the selfishness of a useless being that knew only to sleep atop its mountain while poisoning the land.
But the dragon was visibly slowing down now. It was breathing hard, so many of its scales had been flayed apart, and countless bolts were sticking out of the flesh underneath. If there was any blessing to be had to this misfortunate encounter, it was that the dreadful animal could not heal itself at all. Its demise was already predestined, and by the Angelic God we shall deliver.
I prepared for the final push as I contemplated the defiance shown by the monster. It was a prime example of the disobedience and rebellion that the Angelic Scriptures warn heavily about. Even under the assault of so many of the angels that wielded His will, it still would not yield. The dragon continued its resistance, it continued its struggle, and in doing so, it only spread despair. For every angel that it had killed, so many more people would suffer; unguided, ignorant, and without faith.
“Fire!” I growled out, feeling an intense well of hatred for this creature. Koraxis shot an arrow right at the spine of the wicked monster, and the dragon’s flight cut out for a short moment.
That was when everything truly went wrong.
With a burst of power, the accursed dragon surged forward and aimed not for the archangels, but instead chose to slaughter the more defenseless angels. The monster roared and growled, in what I could only interpret as a sneer and a chuckle, as it continued to ignore the archangels in pursuit of easier prey. It was shameless, it was dishonorable, it was vile, but none of my wisdom would ever reach it for such an abomination knew not reason. It cared for neither justice nor righteousness, and it must only be put down.
“Stop the dragon! Kill the heretic! IT’S WEAKENED NOW! IT’S ON ITS LAST LEGS!”
My words stirred my brethren to action. The archangels redoubled their efforts to save those under our care. They put themselves in front of the beast to halt it in its tracks. They formed an impenetrable defense, unwilling to allow this massacre to continue any longer. The dragon then showed far more power than it ever had before and caught Vivilent in its mouth. The archangel did not go down without a fight, but the terrible energies present in the body of the beast killed him as he drowned within the enemy.
The dragon coughed up blood, showing just how much my dear flockmate did to help us even in the end. The foul creature had no mercy and went after Degrace next. Its arm broke from the force of its own swipe, but that mattered little to my friend who was turned into paste.
The Curse Dragon Cursifix was burning the last vestiges of its life all in order to do as much damage as it could before it died.
Just how low can you go?
“Retreat!” I screamed. “RETREAT!”
Our opponent was already dead. There was no need to feed it any more precious lives. Our pride and our conviction would not be tarnished to do what was only wise.
Darshello immediately moved, protecting the remains of Degrace as the severely wounded archangel struggled to pull himself back together. She weathered the assault of the dragon valiantly as the other angels came and contributed their own healing to the resuscitation of a vital flock member. Darshello allowed not a single angel more to fall until Degrace could move once again, after which she guarded the retreat to ensure that the vile and heinous dragon was kept in check. Even as her layers of shield were ripped away, even as her flesh and bone were sundered, and her body lost so much of its overwhelming mass; Archangel Darshello did not let the dragon pass.
And then the Curse Dragon breathed. The skies turned black as a beam of void pierced through the horizon. No other angel was left once the pitch blackness cleared, and only Darshello remained in the realm of existence, spent and a mere husk.
“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!” I screamed. Koraxis shot her next bolt and it sunk deeply into the remaining eye of our hated enemy. It did not stop the vile beast from finding what remained of Darshello, and ripping apart what was left.
Of the forces that I brought here, only I and Koraxis remained. We were the only archangels left.
Tears streamed out of my eyes as I commanded Koraxis to finish off our nemesis. I watched in detached fascination as the dragon just kept on coming no matter how many bolts had been stuffed into its face. Its body would inevitably fall apart by itself, every single movement only tore through its flesh further, yet still the dragon remained completely fixated on killing the two of us who remained. Even without eyes, I could feel its glare, but when I mustered the energy to glower back, it did not even care.
The beast fell, eventually. It almost made it to where we once were, but we had long moved away from that position as our enemy made its slow way forward. The dragon roared for one last defiant time as it fell into the ocean, and somehow, terrifyingly so, I understood exactly what it meant.
And then the very fabric of the universe responded. The seas turned both turbulent and still as a deep blackness blossomed from its fathomless depths. An endless terror was born, from a resentment that did not die even in death.
The nightmare was not over.