107. Flight Maneuvers
The sphere was yanked to the side, the momentum causing the barrier to spiral wildly as the Aberration rushed past them. Isaac grit his teeth, attempting to brace himself on the translucent red walls, but he still ended up crashing into its sides.
Wincing, Isaac looked up, though he was careful to keep his gaze somewhat low in case the Aberration attempted to use its paralysis ability on him. All he could make out through the red tint of the sphere was a thick, shadowy body sliding smoothly through the expanse of the Abyss. Its sheer size suggested it should be slow and heavy, but it moved like a whip, snapping and coiling around them, easily following Casimir’s movements whenever the angel jerked in one direction or attempted to zip past.
Isaac heard the fluttering of wings and shifted his gaze to find Casimir hovering a few feet in front of the barrier. His head turned every which way, following the Aberration’s movements. The few instances his face became visible to Isaac, he had on a manic grin, his eyes gleaming in the glow of his wings.
Fanning out his feathers, the angel shot upwards, and Isaac stumbled as the sphere rocked from the wind pressure. He forced his eyes to stay open, watching as the Aberration shot after Casimir, who was moving so fast he looked like nothing more than a glowing light flitting through the void.
The two kept rising, higher and higher, until all at once Casimir folded his wings together. There was a brief moment where his figure was still, caught between motions, before the angel plummeted downwards, spiraling into the Abyss. Isaac could see the Aberration pause in hesitation, but it soon shot after him.
Casimir laughed as he fell further, and when he was just above the barrier, his wings snapped open, a second blast of wind shaking the sphere as he jerked upwards, rocketing past the Aberration’s guard. Isaac watched, grip tight on the tablet, as the angel flew further away. Before he could celebrate, however, a tail whipped out from the inky darkness, blocking the man’s path before he could proceed further. Isaac heard a hissing sound, so low and deep that he wondered for a second if he’d imagined it. The noise emanated from all around them, echoing as though the entire Abyss itself was rumbling in displeasure.
Isaac exhaled, glancing down at the tablet. They’d been there for a while now, and despite all his attempts so far, Casimir hadn’t been able to get past the Aberration who seemed set on blocking their way. His eyes focused on the dot where Remus was. The display was as vague and blurry as before, but he could tell that Remus had begun moving again while they’d been preoccupied. If they didn’t hurry, the demon might leave the realm entirely.
“Casimir!” Isaac called, straining his voice to be heard. “Is there a way past or not?”
The angel glanced back, an eyebrow raised.
“Well that depends. If you could just get Lilith to pause the System, we’d be out of here real quick.”
Isaac shuddered instinctively at the man’s sharp grin, but he shook it off as quickly as he could.
“You know that’s not an option,” he snapped. “Can you find another way around? You’re three levels higher!”
“Yeah, but this thing’s technically faster than me, so it’s not really my fault this time.”
“The only reason it’s blocking us is because of something you did.”
The Aberration whipped past them again, and Isaac barely managed to catch himself as the sphere once again shook. He wondered how bad the wind pressure must be outside of the barrier, if he could feel this much of the effects from inside.
“I mean, I only took the egg because of that charisma thing or whatever.” From his shit-eating grin and the lack of tension in his posture, it was clear the angel wasn’t the least bit hurried and was probably enjoying wasting his time.
Isaac groaned. “Look, can you get past it or not? Couldn’t you use a barrier to block it off?” He paused, then added, “And don’t you dare say that’s too boring.”
Casimir raised an eyebrow, glancing back at the Aberration still swimming around them.
“You’ve got an awful lot of faith in my self control, there.”
Isaac frowned. “What do you—“ he stopped himself, realization dawning on him. That uncomfortable, cold feeling returned, and he stared at the angel warily, unconsciously shifting so that he was as far away from him as he could be, given that he was still stuck in the barrier.
“You don’t mean—“
“Kidding!” The angel laughed, and Isaac’s bewilderment quickly morphed into irritation. Casimir waved a hand dramatically. “Aw come on, you didn’t seriously think I was that bad, did you?” He chuckled, cracking his knuckles. “Just sit back and watch. This’ll be over quick.”
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He didn’t give Isaac a chance to respond, flying away and rising up so that he was just above the sphere. Isaac squinted, the light from the angel’s wings landing directly on his eyes.
Around them, he could feel the Aberration’s movements still, the shadows falling back into place as it observed the angel. Casimir raised a hand, and his palm glowed a familiar red.
[SKILL BARRIER LVL 97]
The Aberration seemed to realize what was happening, because in the next instance, the shadows around them curled. For the first time, Isaac saw the body of the creature unobscured. His eyes widened as a glass-like body emerged, so smooth it was disconcerting, that perfect surface only interrupted by what must have been hundreds of different closed eyes dotting its body like freckles. From beneath those eyelids, a dark, inky substance dripped down, bleeding into the Abyss around it.
Those shut eyelids flickered, and Isaac realized with a start that it was going to use its paralysis. It had reacted too late, however, because before Isaac could even think to shut his eyes, the glow in Casimir’s palm flared.
Red light shot outwards, morphing together into a stretching wall. That low rumble sounded again as the Aberration whipped away, racing to escape the confines of the barrier. For a moment, the Aberration and the red glow raced against each other, side to side. The creature was still faster in the end, however, and slowly but surely, it began to overtake the wall.
Just as it did so, its head barely surpassing the edge, Casimir snapped his fingers.
The red light trembled, and in a bright flash, its surface broke into hundreds of individual strands that coiled and wove around the body of the Aberration like ribbons, wrapping it entirely until the creature was encased in the same red tinted walls that Isaac was.
The creature hissed, so loud that Isaac winced and gripped his head. He froze as the eyelids shot open, holding his breath, but he found his limbs still fully mobile.
Casimir snorted. “Nope. That barrier doesn’t let anything through.”
The Aberration thrashed, its body slamming into the walls of the barrier so intensely that Isaac feared it would break, but the surface held firm. It was a perfect prison, one that held fast no matter how much the creature writhed and undulated. Its movements were almost hypnotizing.
With a start, Isaac realized the sphere he was in was rising, the angel already beginning to drift away, abandoning the trapped creature behind with a satisfied grin. Isaac swallowed, tearing his eyes away from the sight.
“See you later!” Casimir called as they passed by with a casual salute. “I’ll find you when the System shuts down!”
Isaac tried not to think too hard about what that meant.
—
After they managed to get past the Aberration, they continued to zip through the void of the Abyss uninterrupted. Isaac kept glancing around them, muscles tense, but nothing else appeared from the darkness. Casimir had gone back to humming that strange, discordant melody, and it only made Isaac even more nervous.
During their encounter with the Aberration, Remus had moved deeper into the Abyss, and they were currently speeding in his direction. They would be able to make it, Isaac told himself. At their current pace, they should reach there in no more than ten minutes.
His finger tapped along the tablet’s edge in an attempt to distract himself. The constant red tint to his surroundings made it harder to make out details, and he strained to keep his eyes on the space ahead.
Perhaps it was excessive paranoia, but it turned out to be justified. Before the ten minutes were up, a figure appeared up ahead.
Casimir slowed his pace, and Isaac’s eyes widened at the sight of a familiar demon with six massive wings fanned outwards, her long serpent tail half obscured by the shadows of the Abyss. Isaac felt his heart drop.
Sharil turned to face them, and those solid yellow eyes widened as she suddenly jerked back.
“You?”
She was looking at Casimir, Isaac realized. He glanced between the two, but the angel had no particular reaction to the demon. A flood of different emotions passed across Sharil’s face, from shock to unease to something resembling fear. He frowned, thinking back to what he knew about Sharil’s background, if she’d ever mentioned or interacted with the angel before.
Before he could reach deeper into his memory, however, a loud snap pulled Isaac out of his thoughts.
“Ohhhh, it’s Sharil!” Casimir laughed, the sound doing nothing to ease the tension that had settled into the chilly air. “I almost didn’t recognize you! You were about as weak as Olzu, last I remember.”
The fear shifted into anger at the mention of Olzu’s name. Sharil’s face hardened, but but before she could open her mouth to respond, Isaac hurriedly interrupted.
“Sharil, what’re you doing here?”
The demon’s head snapped in his direction, and she blinked, just now noticing him. She frowned, eyes briefly darting back over at Casimir warily, then back at Isaac.
“Lord Lucius went ahead alone to pursue Remus.” She practically snarled at the old demon king’s name. The words washed over Isaac like cold ice. “I was told to wait here,” she added, not without some bitterness.
The dread settling in Isaac’s stomach grew, and he spun around to look in the direction Lucius would have gone. He swallowed, heart pounding against his ribcage.
“I see. I—we’ll be back.”
Sharil furrowed her brow. “There’s no need. Lord Lucius will take care of things. You can wai—“
Isaac didn’t hear what else she said, because after a single glance at Casimir, the angel had already shot forward, racing through the Abyss towards their destination and yanking the barrier sphere with him. Sharil was soon nothing more than a distant speck behind them, and Isaac couldn’t even find it in himself to feel bad for leaving so abruptly. He was far too focused on what lay ahead.