Location: < Ground floor of the 'Temple of Birth' > - One of a few such places scattered through the isolated corners of the lower heavens.

POV.: Nameless silver-haired fledgling angel.

No this couldn't be happening.

"For the coven!"

Even from this distance, the words yelled by the angel mage still reached my ears, albeit a bit more muted than they would have been if I had been closer.

For a moment after the angel's cry, the world fell into silence as if holding its breath, before a blindingly bright flash of light, accompanied by a breathtakingly loud boom, echoed across the settlement. From the mage at the epicenter, expanded the largest explosion I had ever witnessed.

Like an unrelenting solar flare, it engulfed the aberration that had attacked the mage before expanding to encompass the many lesser aberrations that had made their way through the recently created gap in the barrier.

To me time seemed to slow down as, with the fading of the explosion, nothing but the angel's corpse, with a gaping hole in its chest, was left to drift to the ground in slow motion. Not even the ashes of her adversaries could be seen.

This can't be right.

However, I didn't have long to dwell on the angel, as the third of the adult-sized aberrations approached the Temple faster than I thought possible.

For the first time, I felt a sensation that might have been fear. This was despite the fact that I could see, from behind the aberration, the melee angel who the mage had healed in her last act catching up at an even greater speed.

With each mighty flap of its wings, the angel closed in on the aberration at an accelerating pace until it surpassed it. Then, in an instant, it halted mid-air as if effortlessly cancelling its momentum.

Unable to halt in time, the holy aberration collided with the angel's fist. What ensued was a rapid flurry of blows too swift for me to even discern.

Within seconds, the angel emerged victorious as the holy aberration dissolving into aether, was left to plummet towards the ground with multiple fist-sized holes puncturing right through its body.

No, no, no, she must still be alive.

Unconsciously, my gaze shifted to where the angel mage had fallen, waiting for her to rise and resume the fight like nothing happened.

Yet, she never did.

No matter how long I stared, she didn't get up.

My mind flashed to what I had witnessed as she fell. A hole larger than I was, ripped through her chest, nearly severing her body in two.

There was no way anyone could survive that. But adults were strong. She must be alive, right?

I felt a tear roll down my cheek. The gravity of this battle was gradually starting to sink in. They were fighting for their lives, for our lives, and what was I doing? Nothing, staying here in the Temple watching from a safe distance.

My eyes remained fixated on the angel mage, a part of me still refusing to accept what had transpired.

It didn't seem fair, it wasn't just. I wanted to help, but what could I do? I was only a weak fledgling; I would just get in the way. I was nothing more than a burden.

"Waah!"

As my thoughts spiralled downward in an unending loop, the sound of a baby crying cut through the gloom I was feeling. The cry was soon followed by a comforting pat on my back.

Slightly turning my body, I saw Lyra, still cradling the baby fledgling in one hand while comforting me with the other.

Silently thanking them in my heart, I steeled my resolve and redirected my attention to the combat unfolding around the settlement.

The melee angel had swiftly returned to the crack in the barrier, hovering in place to defend the opening.

I observed that all the lesser holy aberrations in his proximity had detected the vulnerability in the barrier's defenses. They charged towards it, attempting to breach the settlement.

In doing so, they hurled themselves head-first into the whirlwind of punches that was the angel. Recognizing the peril he faced while defending the settlement, I attempted to follow his movements across the distance with newfound respect for him and the other coven members mixing with the dread and guilt already filling my heart.

No, no, no. Could this really be happening?

However, no matter where I looked, it appeared that things weren't going well for the coven. Over the prolonged course of the fight, they were gradually being whittled down. As time passed, their stamina, mana, aura, and health were all slowly diminishing.

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Eventually, one of the melee angels, better suited for the job, managed to create a break in the fighting long enough to switch with the one who had been guarding the breach in the barrier.

If only I could help. But I was too weak, so feeble that my eyes could barely keep up with their speed.

It wasn't long until other cracks started to form all over the barrier. Initially, it was just here and there, but before long, the entire energy shield was adorned with a network of spiderweb patterns from intersecting cracks.

If only I weren't so weak-, I thought to myself one last time before all at once, with a final explosion of lesser holy aberrations, the temporary barrier came crumbling down, leaving the settlement exposed.

Now what? Even if the adults were strong enough, there was no way for them to halt all the aberrations from infiltrating the settlement and reaching the Temple. Would the angel mage's death be in vain?

No this couldn't be right! However it was happening, and to make matters worse, as I observed the aberrations surging toward the settlement, I noted with a touch of irony that the coven had almost succeeded. The once endless hordes of aberrations were now almost entirely eradicated.

Then, just when I had begun to despair that the angel mage's death would indeed be in vain, a holy flame as hot as the sun suddenly engulfed all but the foremost of the lesser aberrations. From the blaze, I sensed a familiar aura—it was Lady Berenices' aura. This must have been a spell cast by her.

As the fire faded away, I was surprised to see many of the aberrations fatally wounded but still intact.

However, that was more than enough for the coven, as they swiftly descended upon the holy aberrations with beautifully choreographed ruthlessness, cutting each and every one of them down. Sometimes, they even put themselves at risk to prevent any of them from nearing, let alone reaching, the Temple.

Why did they have to defend me? Why wasn't I strong enough to help them?

"Waah!"

As I pondered these useless thoughts, the sound of the baby's fledgling crying drew me back to reality.

Listening to Lyra once more comfort the baby fledgling, I felt the urge to protect it well up within me. A new realization began to dawn on me—perhaps this is what my coven felt as they defended the temple.

If so, I knew all I needed to do was practice and grow stronger until I could stand beside them, since after all, I could feel in the core of my being that, that was right, as right as anything could ever be.

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Location: < A pit cell within 'Uggrock's Den' > - One of many caverns found throughout the upper stratums of the netherworld.

POV.: Nameless silver-haired demon larva.

As Amethyst began practicing, I recognized it was high time for me to sort through my thoughts. Since my spawning, it had been an endless cycle of ever-increasing tasks.

The truth was, I had never truly had the opportunity to even realy contemplate my surroundings, let alone spend time thinking about frivolous matters. Not that organizing my thoughts could be deemed frivolous, mind you.

First of all, where was I, and what was happening? I asked myself.

The "where" part was relatively straightforward to answer, as the voice had already informed me—I was in Uggrock's Den. However, discerning the "what was happening" part proved to be a bit more challenging.

Let's see here, this had all started because Uggrock had sent out his subordinates to gather demon larvae. Now considering the lack of monsters in the netherworld when I had first spawned and the fact that a hoard of them had attacked the Den I could only assume something big had happened recently in the netherworld.

I assumed then that something had caused Uggrock to decide he needed to build up his forces. But perhaps concerned by the lack of loyalty his current subordinates had towards him, he must have thought it best to raise strong but brainwashed subordinates from demon larva with his various domination skills, the plutonic legacy and the 'Plutonic Id-Vesture Technique' as the practitioners' servitude art was titled.

In the end, I concluded that Uggrock was either trying to nurture brainwashed subordinates or sacrifices for something. Overall the subordinate option seemed most likely to me.

But there was something that was still bothering me, the succubus. She had gone against Uggrock's intentions by giving me the more advanced and complete practitioner's servitude art. Moreover, she had said she would hid the fact I was resisting Uggrock's control from him.

All she had asked in return was that I listen to her and her sister. From that, I could glean that the succubus sister, presumably the other succubus I had seen in Uggrock's throne room was also in on it.

Whatever the case, Uggrock's rule might have been more disputed than I had initially thought. No wonder he wants to raise strong and brainwashed subordinates.

But that didn't mean I forgave him. By no means would I ever forget the incredible pain and suffering he had inflicted on me! I could still feel the pain of my muscles ripping and skin leading from being forced to move despite being pinned to the ground by his aura.

So there at the bottom of the barely lit pit cell with Uggrock's den, I made a silent vow with myself that I would get free, and I would get my revenge, eventually even if it took years, decades or even centuries.

Calming myself I thought, but before that, if Uggrock wants strong subordinates he is going to have to help us grow, so I will grab hold of this opportunity with all four of my claws (both those attached to my arms and those attached to my legs) and would bleed him dry.

As I calmed my emotions Amethyst's whispering voice broke the silence, "Im, mi- master, I need your help ni- now..."

Looking over at Amethyst a hint of surprise probably showing on my face, "You're ready already?"

At that Amethyst simply nodded her head in confirmation, her amethyst-colored hair bouncing up and down to her head motions.

"Okay then," I said, "this will only take a moment but don't move"

Then I brought up the soft fleshy part of my palm to my teeth before ripping a cut into the palm of my hand with my sharp teeth.

Seeing me do this Amethyst inhaled sharply but didn't move or say anything.

Then I dipped one of the claws from my other arm into the blood that had pooled in the palm of my hand right above the already scabbing palm.

My claw now dripping with the crimson liquid reached over to Amethyst's chest before it started to draw.

In less than a minute I had finished the signal, the same one as I had drawn on myself not to long ago was now drawn on Amethyst's chest with my blood.

Excellent, I thought to myself before informing Amethyst, "Okay, I'm done now. you can move."

Then after thinking about it for a second, I picked up the demon core that Amethyst had used with the scrolls. "For doing such a good job," I said to Amethyst, "I'll give you this to help with your cultivating."

Smiling brightly, Amethyst hesitantly grabbed the demon core from my hands. Carefully Amethyst repositioned itself once more, getting ready to resume practicing the 'Plutonic Id-Vesture Technique'.