Chapter 48: Ajal; Shauran 48th, 344SR; 20:10

"Alright, one more time," Ajal cleared his throat. "Leo, Sarah, and George are going to place the endpoints of my portals around the bridge to Hiria. Kiril, Reinhardt, Zeus, and Ando need to find where the parties of angels are while avoiding conflict. Nova, Lawrence, and Angela, you three will focus on keeping those stronger druids at bay, I saw a few on the gondola with Jack, but they seem like the ones with gifts, keep them off Zeus and Ando at all costs. After that... The angels and the druids just have to remain separated," Ajal concluded his plan.

The group made their way through the caverns beneath Hiria and Kamino. It was dark, the vast caves were lit by an ambient green glow coming from deeper below, as well as the usual shard of logorite embedded into the earth. Ajal clasped his hands together, pulling them apart and creating twelve black rods. 'Dark Passage...' A white flame lit on the tip of each. He passed four each to Leo, George, and Sarah. The members of House Rover looked at each other and then back toward Ajal. Nova looked surprised as well, Lawrence tilted his head and squinted while he silently pondered. Kiril and Leo looked up at Ajal with bewilderment.

"That's... That's the plan?" Kiril asked.

"Sounds like a boring plan..." Zeus critiqued with a thumb to his chin.

"That's cause you don't like your role... Moron... If we do this... We'd be giving up Helios, not defending it..." Lawrence argued.

"I don't think I ever said my goal was to save Helios, don't get it confused, I only want to stop the bloodshed, and I'm going to do that by getting as many angels out of Helios as I can... The battle has been going on for over a day, and the angels are heavily outnumbered, we're missing a lot of other variables, we can't just walk into a battlefield with no plan and expect it to go our way," Ajal explained. "This will be the main goal moving forward."

The caverns were massive, large walls of dirt and rock compacted upon each other supported the wide open formation. George walked in front of Ajal, approached the side of the path, and peered over. John rested on his back, he was still unconscious from the amount of blood he lost. 'Ben, Franklin, and John will stay behind in the hideout...' George nudged a nearby bone off the edge. After several seconds, a faint splash echoed back. Sarah balanced herself on some green-colored rubble, a crumbled section from a wall that stood long ago.

"Jack said that there were massive caves he could see from the hidden path to Ulkay... This must have been it..." Reinhardt pointed up to the wall of the cave.

Carved into the wall were pillars that supported a structure built into the wall, the hideout to Ulkay could be reached from there. 'Huh...' Ajal noticed something on the path ahead, there had been a strangely curving staircase leading up to one of the caves in the wall.

"That's..." Angela squinted at the staircase, "That looks like Bruno's work... Alexander's lieutenant... So he came through here?"

"Well, thankfully he made a path to the surface we can use..." Ajal breathed a sigh of relief.

The narrow stairs curved upwards toward the paths carved into the walls. A column with a rounded top was about three feet high on either side of the structure, acting as makeshift railings up the steps. Angela and Lawrence walked behind Ajal, their light armor rattled as their hefty steps echoed through the chasm. The two strongest angels in the group held big swords, Lawrence's mirror blade was much larger and heavier than Angela's claymore.

"Wait- Okay... I get that part... We can't assume it'll go our way, but we're going to give up Helios by teleporting the angels defending it away, then what about us? We're just gonna get swarmed by an army of thousands of druids?" said Lawrence.

"I said I'm trying to stop the bloodshed..." Ajal repeated with an annoyed tone. "I'm teleporting all of you out of the city with the angels after... Back to Ulkay, you can get off Kamino from there... Hopefully, Vala and the other Lithonians aren't too pissed off about your king trying to use the Lightbringer on them... You should be able to get to safety..."

"They most likely are..."

"I wanted to ask you about that..." said Ajal. "The Lightbringers knew about the abyssal being under Andurill, didn't they?"

Ajal glanced over his shoulder at Lawrence, he looked back with an equally intense gaze. Reinhardt walked forward to the front of the party. There was still a long way to go until they reached the surface.

"If we both survive this battle, come ask me afterward..." said Lawrence.

"Ajal," Reinhardt called as he climbed the steps. "What about Jack? He's probably somewhere in Helios too..."

"Forget him... Why does he even matter..." Lawrence grumbled.

"Screw you!" Sarah raised her voice from down the steps.

"Oh shut up, the kid is completely irrelevant... Both you people and Alexander Rael gave too much of a shit about him..."

Ajal looked down, and Sarah's shoulders sank, part of him agreed with Lawrence.

"If we find Jack... Then we send him out of the city as well... But... We can't focus on finding him... Our priority is the angels," Ajal said, he gulped as he looked up the stairs.

***

Ajal climbed up the ladder, as he got closer to the sealed latch at the top, he could hear distant rumbling. He hurried up the ladder, pressing his hand against the latch to open it. Ajal crawled from the hole and climbed into a narrow room he was too tall for. Wind slipped through the cracks in a nearby door, upon opening it he found himself in a graveyard, surrounded by buildings just about two stories tall. The sky was dark grey, and smoke rose in the distance above the risen hills. After an hour, they finally reached the surface and were met with a black sky peeking behind the thick grey clouds. The dead trees smoldered, and the bright green glow of flames lit up the area beyond the hills. 'Oaraun...'

Ajal turned around and looked up at the withered tree, it was old and frail. Angela climbed out of the hole while dusting off her dress shirt.

"I could kill for a shower right now..." Angela sighed.

"Same... I kind of regret not eating a lot at the festival..." Ajal mentioned.

"Really? The food was... Good... What the hell... Is that..." Angela froze with wide eyes as she looked up.

Zeus jumped out of the hole and ran in front, he looked at the mountain. Ajal glanced up at the sky, and he was equally dumbfounded by the sight. 'Huh... Wait- Hold on a second...' Kiril's hair flapped in the strong winds, she squinted and looked around the surface.

"Hey... Kiril... Do you see that?" Zeus pointed to the sky above Helios.

"See what-" Kiril moved her brown hair behind her ear but paused as she noticed it too.

"Tsk..." Lawrence kissed his teeth as he let out a quiet sigh.

It floated in front of the Celestial, Ajal squinted at it for a moment as he tried to process whether it was real. It stayed still in plain sight, a massive aircraft above Helios. 'What the fuck...' It looked circular in shape, but the front was indented, the six wings on the ship all surrounded it like a cage and conjoined around the front.

Green fireballs flew to and from the forest. The front of the ship flashed, and several strands of purple light fired from the center. The strand split and spread to four evenly spaced spots, creating an opaque purple barrier in the air. The fireballs collided with the energy shield that the aircraft projected, leaving a cloud of dense smoke in the air behind as the shield quickly vanished.

"I thought you people didn't have ships! What the fuck?! You have shield technology!" Ajal shouted in disbelief.

"Shield tech? Ships? What is that?" Angela replied in confusion.

"Kiril, you haven't even heard or seen this thing?" Ando asked.

"No... This is a first for me," Kiril replied, she sounded breathless.

The cannons roared like thunder, raining orange blasts of energy upon the forest, the snaps of wood were dwarfed by the sound of explosions. Smog bellowed out from the primary battlefield. A strange figure rose from the forest and stopped the blast, it was a blue barrier that resembled a bubbling liquid. The smoke spread out in all directions, as it approached the party the sound of leaves rustling between themselves in the updraft approached rapidly. Angela and Ajal both shielded their eyes as the strong draft pushed by, and Sarah and Leo both fell off their feet. Kiril's eyes lit up blue.

"I can see the gate to the inner city, the druids have breached it but... Both forces are in a deadlock in front of the city..." Kiril analyzed.

"Shit... Getting into Helios is going to be tough..." Angela murmured.

"I'll draw the druids to me! You all make your way for Helios's outer wall!" Ajal ran for the buildings, jumping up to the top of one with a spirit ignition. "Everyone! Move out!"

"Wait! That wasn't part of the plan!" Angela shouted.

"The plan's started! You have your roles! I'll join back up with you to get you close to the city!" Ajal yelled back.

"What about the ship!" said Lawrence.

"I'll figure something out!"

Ajal jumped up to a wall then kicked off of it and grasped the ledge of a two-story building's roof. 'One drawback of this plan, I can't use Dark Passage or the shadows for transport until after all the angels have been evacuated...' Ajal glanced down and saw streets full of dimly lit shadows, he felt a tightness in his core and chest as he pulled himself onto the roof. 'I could really use some more rest... But there is no time... We need to use the night to our advantage!' Ajal climbed onto the roof and ran across, vaulting over the ledge and rolling onto the surface of another. At the top of the large hill, Ajal could see the path he walked on with Jack while they tried to find the Imperial Dragoon. 'Spirit Ignition!' Ajal jumped off the roof and toward the grassy slope, he landed perpendicular to its surface, sliding down slightly as he kicked his speed back up.

Ajal focused his spirit into his heart, 'Spirit Manipulation!' He kicked off the ground faster, practically skipping up the hill and clearing several hundred meters in just a few seconds. Ajal noticed several trees that still had leaves around the edge of the forest. As he looked down the hill, he could see Zeus and Reinhardt on the back of Yycan, as well as Kiril and Ando on the back of the black cheetah. The others followed a good distance behind through the edges of Ulkay.

It felt warmer the closer Ajal got to the battlefield smothered in green fire. 'They really haven't pushed through the forest...' Ajal commented as he witnessed the state of the druids. Many of them were injured or dead, their skeletal bodies broken to pieces, some even rising back up to fight once more. The sight on that side made him drag his feet to a stop. One of the giant's corpses had fallen into the mountain, its body now lying upon the base of it. The gondola was placed down at the bottom of the hill between the mountain and Helios. One of the golden armored giants remained on defense, while the last two were behind the outer wall and already in the city.

Ajal ran for the Gondola, two large figures were near it. They both had strange tendrils rather than legs and floated in mid-air, both had loose grey hair. The one with a large torso was in front of the Gondola casting the bright blue barriers that resembled liquid. The other was directly above the Gondola, it had a thin torso and long waving arms and seemed to be wearing a dress. The moment Ajal got close, the creature on the Gondola whipped its head around. 'Spirit Sense?! Shit!' Ajal stopped as the giant turned its head, and started to rise.

"Huh- Enemies back here?" the giant spoke in a slow tone.

The giant reached down to grab Ajal, its massive wrinkly hand looming over him. 'Triple Ignition!" Ajal kicked off the dirt and jumped between the giant's fingers as it closed them, kicking off its golden bracelet, and landing on its shoulder before jumping again. The creature on the gondola extended its paper-thin arms toward Ajal.

'Can't dodge-' Ajal spun his scythe and blocked the tendril. 'Huh?!' A spirit ignition knocked him back toward the giant. He flew backward straight into the golden gauntlet's grasp. The giant fingers enclosed around Ajal and started to squeeze.

"Stay away!" the giant roared as it tightened its colossal grip.

Ajal clenched his teeth as he felt his shoulders squish together. He turned to the giant and looked at it with an intense gaze. Its massive eyes widened with fear.

"Let go..." Ajal said once.

The giant's expression was dumbfounded as the much smaller man pushed his grip apart. Ajal crushed the golden gauntlet with his bare hands, the giant wailed in pain as its finger was broken. It dropped to its knees and lowered Ajal while it writhed. As the Ajal's feet reached the floor he focused his spirit on his back and pulled.

"Rgh!" Ajal grumbled as he lifted the giant off its feet. "Hah!"

Ajal spun and threw the helpless creature through the air toward the aircraft. Another purple barrier was deployed and blocked the giant's massive body. It paused in the air for a moment before dropping silently, colliding with the ground and sending a massive quake in all directions. Smoke launched everywhere. Ajal walked through it and up the steps of the gondola.

As he reached the top and left the smoke, a woman with a white faceless mask and a gold crown, embedded with a single green gem awaited him. Her silver breastplate had the image of a tree on it. Ajal squinted at the roots poking out from beneath her armor.

"Well, that was a surprise," Xenia raised her palm and leaned forward, anticipating a fight. "Evangeline..."

The giant that floated next to the throne extended its arms, Ajal quickly ducked and dodged the paper-thin tendrils. Viceroy Evangeline's body resembled a skinny old woman, the three root-like legs floated in the air, and her thin upper body had a large black hole where the abdomen should've been. The being wore a white dress with triangular decals, the bottom half of the dress had been torn, stained red at its edges. The creature wore a red blindfold and her hair floated seamlessly. Its long arms were sashes of fabric that were almost like tentacles. They flowed like robes in the air, then springing forth with a life of their own and slithering toward Ajal. What caught his attention was the creature's skin and its spirit. The surface of her body looked wrinkly, but also akin to that of tree bark. However, its spirit was extremely vast. 'Her skin is a lot like the abyssal beings...'

"You-"

Ajal moved his head to the side and dodged a sash that came for his face, the thin edge scraped his cheek and drew blood. 'Dark Abyss!' Ajal released the black and white wave from his third eye, the waves passed over Evangeline's robe-like arms, but they didn't disappear. As the wave passed over Evangeline, the black hole on her abdomen disappeared, revealing a wooden torso. 'The arms aren't her gift?!' Evangeline's arms continued forward while Ajal was lost for thought. Before they reached him, Ajal grasped the tendrils before they could bend around him, he breathed in and spun himself as he descended to the ground.

Viceroy Evangeline was caught off guard as her arms were spun together easily due to their flexibility. Ajal landed and dragged her down to the ground. The creature fell in front of him. At Evangeline's rib cage, attached to her sternum was the figure of a woman, bonded to the wood.

"Your body and spirit... You're trapped in the Spirit Bloom..." Ajal muttered in shock as he looked at her face. "You're from a race that existed before the Celestial's arrival..."

"You know a lot!" Ajal heard a voice coming closer from behind him. 'The other-' "Don't you divine being!"

Ajal quickly conjured a scythe and looked up to see the other being trapped within its spirit bloom. This one wore large armor and had a single eye revealed by its cracked mask. Its skin was similar to the other, but this one was definitely physically stronger. It swung its halberd horizontally and Ajal blocked. A spirit ignition at the edge of the strike launched him off his feet, the force sent Ajal tumbling over the steps on the side of the gondola. 'Damn! They all know about Spirit Arts, probably because of Oaraun!' Ajal flipped in mid-air and landed on a charred tree, he kicked off it. splitting it into several pieces.

"I saw Oaraun enter the city earlier, to think he failed to kill you..." The Viceroy with a halberd spoke, he spun the weapon as he got ready to fight.

Ajal landed on the gondola. The two viceroys stood between Ajal and the queen of the Ammonians.

"Why do you assist the angels..." the queen spoke.

"Assist is... Probably the wrong word..." said Ajal.

The gondola's pillars cast black shadows over the platform, it split the green light from the burning forests. Gungnir raised his guard as Evangeline readied her tendrils. Ajal looked to the left and noticed the other druids turn to the Gondola. There were skeletons in dark green cloaks holding a silver or wooden catalyst, giant skeletons with long tails, and black skeletons that held wooden staffs with crystal skulls dangling off the edge.

"Those are familiar..." Ajal remembered his battle to get into Hiria.

"If you aren't here to help them, I suggest you stay out of our way," Xenia said with a cold tone.

"I want to stop this cycle of violence... I know the angels wronged you and your people, but not all of them deserve to-"

"An entire generation passed..." Xenia said with a dismissive tone.

Ajal paused.

"An entire generation of angels watched the Ammonians who were turned slaves work to death, with such a short life expectancy, how many generations of Ammonians were lost in that single generation of angels who got the right to live till their own end," Xenia asked calmly as she tilted her head. "Our people were forced to consume the blood of their hero to survive. You're a divine being so perhaps you understand, just how many suffered from that process."

Ajal gulped. "Vengeance will just-"

"Bring about more envy."

"And you want that?"

"This is simply the way of our world, we didn't recognize it in the past, and we won't repeat that mistake. All who rise before the Ammonians will be crushed, including you."

Ajal looked down, he let out a sigh. 'There is no convincing them...'

"The sins of the angels' ancestors are carried on by their descendants. It is their weight to bear in this world now," Xenia stated.

Ajal let out a sigh. "Damnit..." His third eye split open. "The cycle driven by sin is cruel... You can stop it just as much as I can, please don't take this too personally... Dark Blast..." The purple light on his third eye fluxed.

Ajal fired the purple beam at Xenia, Evangeline's arms quickly coiled around Queen Xenia and pulled her out of the way. Ajal's blast blew through the golden mural, vaporizing several pillars. Gungnir spun the halberd and rushed forward. Ajal stood still as he watched the blade approach, raising his scythe before it hit. 'Double Ignition!' Gungnir was knocked back by Ajal's parry.

"Huh?!" Gungnir looked surprised. "You will die for trying to harm our queen!"

Gungnir swung the halberd down. Ajal evaded it as he ran underneath the viceroy, sliding, grasping two of the three thin tendrils, and pulling Gungnir down. The viceroy was taken aback as Ajal spun, Gungnir gritted his teeth and looked back as Ajal threw him away. 'That pissed them off, the druids will fall back now to defend Xenia. This will buy time for the others to get into Helios, I'll have to distract more than just these two though...' The skeletons climbed the steps of the Gondola, and Gungnir stopped himself in the air above them. Ajal stopped and took a stance as Gungnir soared towards him once more, he breathed in.

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"Die!" Gungnir roared.

Ajal quickly stepped to the side and evaded, the halberd cut through the pillar. Ajal jumped and kicked off the halberd's steel handle, then reached for a strand of Gungnir's white hair. He reflexively pulled back, believing Ajal would aim for his face. However, he was caught off guard as Ajal grabbed a strand of hair and swung around his head, letting go and spinning to the ground behind Gungnir.

"Don't toy with me!" Gungnir spat.

Evangeline rushed forward and attempted to grasp Ajal, the moment his feet hit the ground he jumped up once more to dodge her attack. She stopped just short of him and launched a flurry of whiplashes at once. 'Shit-' Ajal blocked two of the slashes but felt a sharp pain in his foot. Ajal was surprised to look down and see a black portal on the ground where a golden needle had sprung forth from. It held Ajal in place. 'What the-'

"Finish him, Evangeline!" Gungnir roared.

The tendrils grasped his torso and held him tightly, 'Shit- So her gift has something to do with those black portals-' Golden needles appeared from her abdomen and pierced Ajal's body, impaling his arms and legs. 'Rgh!' He couldn't pull back, each of the black portals pulled everything into them with an unreal force. 'Ah-' Ajal was pulled into the portal, he immediately hit the ground and rolled onto his front. The moment he opened his eyes, he was met with a black void with absolutely nothing in it.

"Shit... Where... Is this a subspace domain..." Ajal quickly stood up, he stumbled as he did. "But- this isn't the same..."

Ajal held his wound, the needles that stabbed him were rather thin, and the wounds had practically healed already. He quickly turned his head and was shocked to see a statue of a woman with a faceless mask, it shone with a lustrous gold hue despite there being no light. All of a sudden, hundreds of golden weapons flew out from behind her. Swords, spears, hammers, and arrows all flew toward him. Ajal couldn't see a single place to dodge. 'Screw this! Dark Abyss!' Ajal released the black and white wave, he immediately found himself being shot out of the portal hovering in front of the viceroy's abdomen.

"He broke out?! Impossible!" Xenia uttered in shock.

"Avoiding that for sure from now on!" Ajal muttered to himself as he flipped onto his feet.

"Avoid this!" Gungnir roared.

Ajal turned to see the Halberd coming his way, he raised a black scythe from the shadow as he breathed out and braced himself. 'Spirit Ignition!' Ajal attempted to parry, but Gungnir feinted by swinging his halberd around him quickly then brought it upwards at Ajal, cleaving through the ground the moment before the strike connected. Ajal jumped to Gungnir's surprise, absorbing the impact of the spirit ignition and allowing himself to be sent soaring over the barren land that was once a forest.

"Tsk! Crafty bugger!" Gungnir complained.

"Urgh-" Ajal spun through the air uncontrollably, "Spirit... Ignition!" Ajal kicked off the air and corrected his course toward Helios. "That guy is not bad... He anticipated that I'd parry again..."

Ajal looked forward, and the angel's ship loomed over Helios. 'If they actually have battleships, the angels will annihilate the Ammonians... If I take out the battleship... The angels will be annihilated...' Ajal continued to soar through the air, Gungnir chased after him far behind, but couldn't match the speed of his flight. 'What am I supposed to do here to stop bo-'

"Agh!" Ajal slammed face-first into an intangible wall.

Ajal's body bounced off of it, he lost his momentum and reached for the air as he started to fall. 'What the fuck!' Ajal opened one eye weakly to see what he had collided with. A purple rectangle of light faded out of sight. Behind it was the front of the ship, almost shaped like an eyeball staring directly at him. Ajal fell towards the middle of the battlefield where the giant stammered to its feet. As Ajal fell past it, it looked at him, before a volley of cannons fired upon its back. The giant cried out in pain, Ajal crashed into the barren and desolate dirt, rolling into a divot created by an explosion. The giant wailed as it fell over the trench.

"Ah... Fuck..." Ajal groaned as rolled onto his front.

As Ajal got to his feet, one side of the divot glowed green. He heard the sharp whistles of logorite cannons going off, and the approaching crackle of flame. He looked up to see a cascade of fireballs rain down from the sky toward him. 'Shit-' Ajal ran through the trench, barely avoiding the explosion as the fire struck the battlefield. A sudden wave of smoke smothered him as the giant crashed into the trench, Ajal jumped up, coughing raggedly all the while.

The moment he looked around, he made eye contact with hundreds of skeletons in tattered green robes. Parts of their skin were burned off and replaced with chunks of logorite. 'Ah, this place sucks!'

"Reygar! Assist me!" Gungnir commanded, his voice coming closer quickly.

Ajal turned to see the massive druid above him with his halberd raised, he swung down as Ajal quickly conjured a scythe into his hand. Ajal blocked the swing from above, and the wild winds suddenly shifted, causing Ajal and Gungnir's hair to fly in multiple directions.

"You're pretty strong!" Ajal grinned as he pushed the small scythe against the halberd with both hands.

"I sacrificed my physical body in order to save my people, and now I will sacrifice this body in order to avenge our fallen!" Gungnir and Ajal both jumped back from the clash, and he spun his halberd around. "You will not stop justice! Divine being!"

Ajal spun the scythe quickly, dragging shadows with him as the scythe grew in size. 'Triple Ignition!' The giant Gungnir rushed forward and swung his halberd again, Ajal swung as well at the same moment. Their first ignition canceled the other out, however, Gungnir was shocked as the other two knocked the halberd right out of his hand. The massive weapon rolled through the sky before it embedded deep into the mountain.

"Three ignitions?! At once?" Gungnir said with a shocked tone.

Ajal jumped forward and planted his fist into Gungnir's breastplate, he ignited his spirit several times and launched the giant. 'In order to match Oaraun's strength... I had to make Spirit Ignitions with every hit... It almost feels natural now...' The sound of crackling flames approached once more, Ajal turned to see the druids holding silver scepters, they flung fireballs similar to the ones the angels were firing. 'Are they both using weapons fueled by Oaraun's blood?!' Ajal quickly dashed out of the way and made his way to the trees which continued to burn.

The moment before Ajal could reach the trees, a blue barrier bubbled in front of him. 'Huh?!' He collided with it, his knee pushed through slightly before he was repelled back. The plasma was similar to the one that formed Gungnir's body.

A spirit approached quickly, it was strong, a spirit vaster than both of the viceroys. Their armor shook as their metal boots stepped deep into the mud. Ajal turned to the city to see a headless knight dash forward down the hill with their sword ready. On its breastplate, a single carving of a branch with nine leaves on it, surrounded by five circles. The left and right sides of the carving had leaves stretched horizontally, with one pointing straight upwards at the top, making the symbol symmetrical. Their dull gold armor reflected green light, and the set of armor was Ajal's height despite having no head. Ajal's first thought was to jump back. However, to his surprise, the knight stopped its swing midway. Rather than swing, they hopped forward off the ground to stay in range. 'Huh-' Ajal raised his scythe and blocked the knight's sword.

"I take it you're Reygar..." Ajal grinned.

The knight's collar shook up and down as if it was nodding.

"Huh- Did you just-" Ajal stuttered.

The ship cannons fired again, Reygar quickly separated and dodged just a few steps away and stood still. Ajal jumped backward but was launched by the force of the explosion. His back hit a tree, he kept one eye open, and to even more surprise noticed Reygar unscathed. 'That can't be possible... What is the gift of that thing... Is it conscious or is it possessed? It nodded earlier...' Ajal glanced up the hill to his left.

'I can feel their spirits... They've almost reached the city... I should make my way over as well, that ship only seems to be defending the front-' Reygar suddenly took off toward the spirit of Lawrence and Angela. 'Huh-' The knight turned and pointed toward the west side of the outer wall.

"No way-" Ajal ignited his spirit and took off after Reygar. " You can read minds!"

Ajal jumped forward with his scythe raised, without turning, Reygar simply changed course. 'Huh!' Ajal's scythe hit the ground. He dashed forward and pursued Reygar through the woods. 'I'm going to trip you!' Ajal thought to himself, but instead, he dashed forward with a spirit ignition and raised his leg high.

Reygar didn't stop, instead, the headless knight crouched. Ajal's leg flew right over the knight, 'The fuck?! He knew I was faking the thought? Is he not a mind reader?!'

"Damn!" Ajal slid against the ground after he missed. He rolled and continued his pursuit, "Agh, what the fuck! I can't hit him!"

"The Knight captain is taking command! Follow his lead!" Xenia roared the command across the battlefield.

'My third eye allows me to use Spirit Sense automatically, I never miss... He can't be a mind reader... He perfectly dodged the fire from the ship, unless his range is that far, but-' A thought popped into Ajal's head. 'Dark Abyss!' The black and white wave released from his head, Reygar turned and froze.

As the black and white wave passed over the moving suit of armor, it frantically looked around, as if scared and unsure of where to go. Ajal dashed forward and swung his foot at the breastplate, smashing the suit of armor through a tree. 'He didn't dodge... Or react to my approach...' Ajal formed several theories in his mind towards the nature of Reygar's gift. 'The only thing that makes sense... Is that he fights completely perfectly despite having several senses cut off... He knew the Dark Abyss was coming, but it was unavoidable... His gift makes him perform the best strategy at any given moment...' Ajal thought about that for a moment. 'There's no fucking way a gift like that exists... That's unreal... That's unstoppable... Then... When I looked at their spirits... He might have realized the plan!'

Reygar stood up and looked to Ajal, it watched him carefully. 'Yeah... I figured you out...' Ajal dashed at the knight with his scythe raised, and the two clashed. Ajal spun his scythe around quickly, Reygar barely reacted, and as Ajal swung he moved his blade reflexively to the exact spot. Ajal was caught off guard as the knight parried him instead, then raised its armored leg high. Ajal quickly blocked, the metal greave pressed into his wrist as he was knocked away.

Reygar took that moment to run into the forest. 'Smart little shit!' Ajal quickly followed after the headless knight. However, the moment he walked into the forest he was ensnared in chains. Ajal glanced past the trees, several black skeletons held their wooden scepters high. He looked back up and noticed Reygar get further and further away. 'If someone with power like that gets to the others- Dark Abyss!' The chains vanished, and Ajal kicked off with a spirit ignition after Reygar. He jumped between the trees, dashing over the skeletons that tried to slow him down. 'Triple Ignition!' Ajal kicked off a tree and knocked it down. The drying branches and chips of wood cut his skin as he smashed straight through them. Ajal flew through the forest with a scythe above his head. Below him was a field of angels and druids locked in combat by Helios's outermost wall. Reygar didn't focus on the angels, he continued toward a breach in the wall. Ajal and Reygar both looked up at the gap.

"Shit!" Ajal panicked as he saw Angela and Lawrence entering the city.

Reygar flipped his sword in hand, switching to an underhand grip and raising it up. 'He really does know! Triple Ignition-' Ajal kicked off the air and rushed at Reygar.

"Raah!" Ajal roared, Reygar turned and clashed with him.

The force of their exchange launched the druids and angels off their feet. Ajal shifted his grip and spun the scythe, Reygar stepped back as Ajal spun and got back into range. The two continued to clash, and Reygar constantly jumped in varying directions. He ducked underneath a blade and then leaped to the side and dodged a fireball from the sky. The ground exploded next to Ajal, he shielded himself from the hot flames. 'I think I was right... He just makes the best decision at any given moment...' Each time Reygar made a move, he was in the perfect spot to counter Ajal or anything happening around him, even the things he wasn't looking at. The knight crouched and focused his spirit on his feet.

"No way-"

With a triple ignition, Reygar launched off the ground toward the wall. 'He figured it out from seeing me!?!' Ajal focused his spirit and kicked off the ground, then again off the air. Reygar turned in mid-air, and his spirit spiked slightly. 'Are you frustrated that you can't lose me? You've been a pain in the ass yourself! Dark Abyss!' Ajal released the black and white wave from his third eye, Reygar was helpless as the wave passed over him. 'I'll strike his blind spot!'

"Imperial Battlearts!" Ajal ignited his spirit and kicked off the air.

Reygar raised his palms to block but didn't notice Ajal's feint. Ajal ignited his spirit three times at his foot and jumped in mid-air above Reygar. 'I'd prefer someone as strong as you out of the picture!' Ajal soared over Reygar, he descended behind the knight while upside down. The purple light flowed out of his third eye, as Reygar's gift came back he tried to ignite his spirit and dodge.

"Dark Blast!" Ajal roared.

The purple beam fired from his forehead, smashing Reygar through the outer wall and back into the forest outside Helios. Ajal's voice bellowed out as he focused more energy through his third eye. The beam faded, and Ajal flipped in the air and landed on a flat-roofed building in Helios's outer city. He panted as he held his chest. 'I'm out of breath... Fuck... That guy is a problem...'

A turquoise mist floated around the city streets filled with rubble, Ajal focused on steadying his breathing. He looked around, but he hadn't noticed the sound of explosions, clashes of steel, or the giant rumbles suddenly disappear.

"Ajal help!" A familiar voice with a hefty accent came from his right.

"Huh!" Ajal's head whipped to the left as he heard Reinhardt's voice.

Down in the street, a skeleton Ajal hadn't noticed held Reinhardt down on the ground. Their figures were slightly obscured by the bluish-green mist. Ajal saw a hand raise, holding a dagger above Reinhardt.

"Oh no, you don't!" Ajal quickly jumped off the roof and held his scythe above his head.

Ajal felt like time had slowed down, the skeleton's hand moved down in an instant and stabbed Reinhardt in the heart. The skeleton chuckled horrifically. 'I don't sense anyone?'

"No!" Ajal cried, he brought his scythe down and slashed the druid in two, and her blood splattered over the trees and the forest. Ajal was caught off guard by the amount of blood that sprayed out of the skeleton. A feeling of guilt overwhelmed him as he looked at the blood on his hands. 'Wait... I- I didn't-' The body continued to laugh despite being severed in two, Ajal's eyebrow twitched at the sight, and his heart skipped a beat. The red blood on the ground started to spread

'Huh... What the hell...'

"Ajal!", "Help!", "They're killing us!" Distorted versions of voices Ajal remembered echoed around him as the red hue of blood spread over the ground and even blanketed the sky.

'What the hell is happening... This has to be an illusion... It's a powerful one...' All the sounds, thunderous explosions, the footsteps of druids, the clashes of steel from outside the wall, all of it had been dwarfed by a white noise Ajal could only notice the more he focused on it. A slow and drawn-out melody started to play in the distance but with a somber quietness under the red sky. Lights suddenly lit up all around him, and he started watching shadows around him rise behind the rubble and tower over him. The screams of the voices from before echoed all around him.

"Help!" Sarah cried.

"Ajal save us!" John howled with manic insanity.

"Save us!" The voices repeated all around him.

'If they have a strong illusionist... They're unlucky to have run into me... Dark Abyss!' Ajal released the black and white wave, as it spread over the forest it eventually hit the caster of the illusion and dispelled the turquoise mist. 'The mist was the cause?' Ajal focused his spirit on his forehead, and started to ignite, 'Spirit Sense!' He looked around, crouching as he tried to pinpoint which spirit had been casting the illusion. Ajal heard the crackling green flames, he quickly jumped out of the way and avoided another blast. Ajal continued to turn to the right as he sensed the spirits across Helios, a spirit approached from behind.

Metal rattled with each hefty step, and another headless knight approached with its sword drawn. 'Is this an illusion? I just launched him away... Wait- This one is different...' Wisps of dust flowed through its dull silver armor had a tree carved into the breastplate, and a burning green cape flowed behind it. The carving on its breastplate had the same design as Reygar's. The armor then crouched and focused its spirit, 'No, this thing feels real!'

The six-foot-tall set of silver lunged forward and swung its straight sword down. Ajal dodged to the left and avoided the vertical swing. The knight spun from their position and brought the blade around for a heavy slam. Ajal jumped above the blade and kicked its shoulder twice. To Ajal's surprise, the knight was knocked away rather easily. Its leggings broke off, however, Ajal looked up to see a knight with a greatsword approaching. He breathed in and out 'Another silver one, the gold one must be special...'

The other knight took a stance with its blade raised. Ajal spun his scythe around and lunged forward for a slash, to his surprise it dodged and brought its leg around. 'Huh-' The knight's knee struck Ajal's shoulder, the dense metal delivering a powerful impact. Ajal tumbled against the ground, as he tried to stand the knight jumped forward with his blade high. Ajal quickly guarded but was launched by the spirit ignition.

"Agh!" Ajal tumbled against the ground as it charged in once more.

The moment he opened his eyes, he was met with the same red sky as the headless knight lifted their sword above him. Ajal quickly sprang to his feet and barely dodged the sword swing. However, the moment Ajal dodged, it followed up its swing with a stab. 'This thing-' Ajal quickly redirected the stab and jumped up, locking his legs around its arm and spinning. The armor was pulled off his feet, and Ajal let go and flung him into the other. The two smashed into each other and their armor separated. There was nobody underneath.

"Die!" A low-pitched voice shouted from Ajal's left.

He turned to see a figure approaching out of the blue and green smoke, they raised a sword and swung down. Ajal jumped out of range, but the moment he did he was struck by a massive green fireball. 'Agh!' Ajal gritted his teeth as the flames burned his back. He fell to one knee, his gut felt awful, and it was hard to keep his eyes open. Ajal looked forward, but the figure with a sword was gone. 'More illusions!' The broken armor of the headless knights started to float, coming back together and taking form once more. Ajal tried to sniffle but his nose was blocked, he squinted at the ground for a moment before quickly raising his palm to cover his nose.

"The smoke?! Shit! The others are in this as well! Focus!" Ajal focused his spirit on his forehead as he continued to sense the various spirits. Ajal dashed through the streets full of small houses to the other spirit he felt, he jumped and swung off a street pole.

"There!" Ajal yelled.

Ajal clenched his fist and swung forward into the building. His fist broke through and grasped someone's clothing. Ajal pulled a man in white robes through the wall.

"Agh!" the illusionist grunted, he hadn't expected the sudden attack.

Ajal dragged him through the air and threw him into the street. The illusionist bounced against the ground and landed on the dirt. The golden scepter landed a short distance away, and the man in robes quickly crawled to it and grasped it.

"Ah-" he cried out in pain. "You dare lay a hand upon me, a royal of Pathos... I am Henry Gordon, you wretch!"

"You deserved that after those fucked up things you showed me..." Ajal huffed.

"I showed you your fears!" Henry grunted.

"Those illusions were pretty strong... But illusions won't work on someone like me," Ajal stated as he pointed to his third eye. "And they especially don't work against people who have strong minds..."

"You... Your ability to sense spirit is that powerful?!"

Henry struggled to his feet but wobbled as he was still staggered. The mage had just fallen from at least three stories. His robes were slightly tattered, however, he could barely stand. He had a strange headpiece underneath his mask, 'His head looks like a hammer... Odd...' This druid was different from the others, the patterns on his robe were similar, but they wore a white robe rather than a dark green one. They looked similar to the angels. Henry quickly raised his scepter.

"Stay down..." Ajal said.

"Stay down?" Henry stuttered, "You want me to stay down?!" Henry shouted.

"Yeah..."

"A Gordon would never cower from the battlefield... Less they sully their honor for generations!" the illusionist focused his spirit on the golden scepter.

Ajal ducked as the druid aimed the scepter up and launched a green fireball. It struck the building behind Ajal, dust filled the street. He quickly closed the distance and struck Henry in the chest with his palm.

"Agh- You-" Henry staggered.

"Spellcasters are usually pretty bad in close quarters... That's why you hid initially..." Ajal slammed his foot down next to Henry's and grasped the wrist which held the gold scepter.

"Let go of-"

Ajal elbowed him in the face, grabbed his large head, and pulled it down to his knee. Henry gasped as he tried to pull away, but Ajal simply twisted his grip and brought him to one knee. Ajal raised his palm, aiming to slam it into the side of his neck to knock him out. However, the green gem on his scepter glowed, 'Shit- This guy didn't let go of the sce-' A green blast knocked Ajal back into the smoke, and he quickly flipped onto his feet and dragged himself to a stop.

"Agh! Dammit!" Henry cursed. "Nature Magic! Disparity Addition! Floral Fill-In!"

'Spirit Ignition!' Ajal dashed forward at the mage, bluish-green smoke shrouded Henry. Ajal flew through it and swung his leg, striking the illusionist and launching him toward the wall. 'What the... That felt strange...' Henry hit the wall and burst into hundreds of white flowers, each with five petals. 'Spirit Sense!' Ajal scanned the area, Henry's spirit was across the city now.

"Heh... That was a high-level spell... How the hell did he do that?" Ajal laughed as he looked at the white flowers whimsically fall to the floor.

A bright flash of white light shot out from a street at least three blocks away. Ajal turned to it, the light was obscured by the body of a giant moaning in pain as it fell. The creature's body smashed into the street, filling it with even more dust. Ajal quickly climbed to the rooftops at least two stories high for better visibility. Atop the giant, a knight with a white cape and mask pulled her claymore from its chest.

"Angela!" Ajal called.

"Huh? Oh! Ajal get over here! We have injured soldiers! This way!" Angela called as she ran off the giant's corpse.

"Good work finding them!" Ajal dashed off the roof, across the street, and then off the next roof.

The divine being landed on the main road in the center of Helios, they were directly underneath the aircraft. He tumbled against the ground and rolled to a stop in front of Angela.

"You breathe any of that turquoise mist in? It's bad, it's like a drug almost... Makes you see some weird shit!" said Angela, her voice was muffled slightly behind the mask, and her yellow eye peaked out from behind the slashes on one side.

"That was the druid's illusionist, I dealt with him! But he teleported across the city before I could finish him! He might come back, my bad!" Ajal replied.

"Ah, well whatever, we've gotten pretty far already with your plan! It's a blessing we haven't run into Oaraun yet!"

"He's in the center of the city! I used Spirit Sense earlier... There are a few powerful spirits gathered there! I don't want to leave them to it, but... We have time to get the angels out!"

Ajal and Angela reached a run-down shelter. The corpses of angels and druids were littered about the area, with stains of blood painting the walls, and chunks of rubble as far as the eye could see. Several green flames lit up the dark streets with ghoulish tones of green, the shadows loomed over the buildings ominously. Reinhardt struggled into a building with an angel on his shoulder.

"Ajal! Over here!" Reinhardt called.

Angela and Ajal hurried into the building behind Reinhardt, they ducked under a fallen archway and entered a lobby that had been half caved in. The weak angels were covered in blood, burns, and missing limbs, only about three of the twenty-two angels in the room were okay. Ajal thought back to the number of bodies he saw outside, there were at least triple the bodies outside of this shelter. 'Don't think about the casualties... This is just the first group...' The angels looked up at Ajal and Angela.

"Is that... Angela?", "A noble came for us...", "We weren't abandoned..." The angels weakly felt a sliver of hope.

Ajal noticed Angela's spirit spike, her eye was wide behind the mask and her fist was clenched tightly. She knelt down next to the injured man and observed his wounds. Ajal knelt down and manipulated the shadows around the whole group huddled in the building.

"Ajal, Zeus went on to find the next angels, Ando and Kiril are outside," said Reinhardt.

"Weren't you supposed to go with Zeus?" Ajal asked.

"Yeah but, he insisted I..." Reinhardt paused. "Screw off. In all honesty, I think I have more chances of dying here when I'm riding with him... He's a crazy one..."

"What's going to happen to us, Angela?", "Where did this army come from?", "The Damned are upon us!" The angels hollered at the noble.

Angela stood up. "There is no time to explain, we will evacuate the angels from the city. The enemy is strong... Too strong to be stopped..."

"We're-", "We're giving up Helios?!" the injured angels all froze, their expressions shocked.

"No... We can't give up the Celestial! We can't give up Helios! What will we have!"

Ajal shook his head.

"Your lives are more important than this city, or the Celestial! Survive, if you die there won't be a tomorrow, or a second chance to make things better! We don't need Helios, we don't need the Celestial, what we need is each other! If the rest of you fall, there won't be enough to protect the civilians who flee to the south!" Angela shouted. "Even if you hold the shame of fleeing from the battlefield, let it give you the willpower to rise tomorrow and fight!"

The angels looked up at the noble with wide eyes, many of them watery and filled with sorrow. 'It's probably better if she said it and not me...' The shadows bent around the angels. Reinhardt and Angela stepped out of the abilities range. 'Alright...' Ajal closed his eyes, he could feel one of the white flames far away. 'Dark Passage...' The shroud of darkness vanished, and all of the angels within it disappeared as well.

"That's one group..." Ajal stood up. "I've got about eleven more uses of Dark Passage to go..."

Angela stood still for a moment, before letting out a sigh.

"This must be tough for you..." said Reinhardt.

"Yeah, well, the longer we wait, the tougher it's going to get... Let's go," Angela turned to them with conviction in her eyes.