The Angelo Cecilian floated above an opening in the grounds. He wore a pinstripe black and grey suit, held a tommy gun at his side and had smouldering wings so unlike the typical pure white that Angelos bore.
Those same Angelos ignored the caves and the people living within, sentimental fools that they were. It was their home from the beginning, but it only reminded Cecilian of the ones he’d lost. And of the potential enemies that could rise from within it. He took another drag of his cigar and breathed out smoke.
Ash fell on the day Cecilian waited. Not from the skies, no, but from his own wings. A by product of his abilities, and one that made the other Vices uneasy. There were a couple hundred of them there, surrounding the entrance they’d been tipped off about.
His Metamorphs and Pantheon members were well-paid. And he’d picked up a few Vintaric Adults for a steep cost. It didn’t matter really, as soon as he got his business back under control. That started today, with the death of a newly arisen Angelo that Cecilian wanted to make quick work of.
While he waited, one of the Thinkers probed his mind with a question.
“Are you sure the other Stars won’t move against us?” the Thinker asked.
“Don’t remember paying you to ask questions,” Cecilian replied as he took another drag.
When he breathed out again, there was way too much smoke than he should’ve gotten from the cigar.
“If we’re wrong, and they do attack, none of us here will survive,” the Thinker told him.
“Only the caves are holy to them. When they come out, they’re easy pickings. And if not, well, we were never here, were we?” Cecilian replied.
What he was doing was entirely against the rules the Angelos had set. But that was the funny thing about rules. You could break them all you wanted and no one would bat an eye if you’d already carved all theirs out.
And he’d made sure to get every scrape of eyeball from anyone who’d tell on him tonight.
Cecilian breathed out another puff of smoke just as he got the signal. His agents inside had done their job, and Cecilian could see the humans the Tetni Altesians had partnered up with. Cecilian lowered himself to the ground and waited for them all to come out.
After the humans came the Tetni themselves, and finally, the Angelo who was behind them all. He was certainly large for someone only days old, but Cecilian could take him. He had features like Asians from earth, and large white wings that marked him as a typical Angelo.
There was nothing apart from that to differentiate him, nor any way for Cecilian to judge his powers. He wouldn’t need to, anyways, since they’d fallen right into his trap.
****
Victor came out with a few of the Wielders in tow. The cave entrance was empty, showing less resistance than he had hoped. But he’d thought that a moment too late as a large figure landed in front of him.
He was a parody of every mafia movie stereotype Victor had seen in his life. large, professional looking, with a grey fedora and pinstripe suit. He smoked a stogie that never seemed to diminish, and glared at their group like they were ants.
Now, the acting. Leo had given him a few pointers, but the rest was up to Victor himself.
“You! You’re not supposed to be here!” Victor shouted, pointing his ignistone pistol at the Angelo.
His smouldering wings tucked in behind him in an act of disarmament.
“You’re the pipsqueak who’s been ruining my business?” The Angelo asked.
A complete stereotype, Victor thought, though he didn’t voice the thoughts. Ashley, Leo and Loki were tense enough as it was, and they’d need to pull this off perfectly to get Cecilian.
“So? You were hoarding that iron from the Tetni!” Victor shouted back.
“No one wrote a name on the ore, so how do you figure that?” Cecilian replied. “Now look at you. Hope you enjoy your Angelo before I bury you alongside it.”
“That won’t be happening. Step aside,” Yukir replied. A determined look was set upon his face, that made him look much older than he was. More solid and worldly in a way.
“Shut it, kid,” Cecilian snapped.
Victor chuckled. It was something so unlike him, yet it grabbed Cecilian’s interest.
“Something funny you want to let me in on?” The Mob boss asked.
“You’re small time, Cecilian,” Victor bellowed. “Why else do you boss around Metamorphs and Pantheon members? Because you can’t get another Angelo under your bootheel.”
“Those idiots aren’t worth my time,” Cecilian.
“Or because you know; that you’re not strong enough to control all of them. that they could gang up on you and depose you. You’re just a coward wearing the mask of a stoic.”
Cecilian bit down so hard his teeth started showing. Smoke escaped his lips and nostrils, and it seemed clear that he didn’t want to talk. That was fine.
Victor was done too.
Magic exploded around the perimeter of the cave entrance. Metamorphs and Demigods went flying and bolts of energy cut through Cecilian’s army.
“What-” The mob boss tried to talk before being cut short.
That Angelo, Yukir, jumped into the air and drove a fist straight into Cecilian’s stomach. The older Angelo choked, but gripped Yukir’s hands with his own.
Smoke billowed out from his mouth mixed with embers. The blast made Yukir cough, and he punched Cecilian across the face to disengage.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
Down on the ground, Victor was blasting Metamorphs and Demigods with his guns. Infused shots carved through their bodies, dismembering limbs as Victor jumped over swings and ducked beneath lightning blasts.
He stepped away from a group of Thinkers after filling them with lead, until he was back to back with Ashley again.
“You think the gamble worked? There’s a ton of them,” she asked.
“They’ll be disoriented. Just take out the Thinkers before they can group up!” Victor told her.
She blasted a row of Lesser Demigods with her flames as Vintarics lunged down towards them. Victor slapped both her and himself with Speedup and took out the Adolescents with a few carefully placed shots.
He stowed the pistols and brought out his rifle instead. The battlefield passed Victor by in slow motion. Leo was on one side building foritfications while a Vintaric Adult blasted them with its mouth cannon. Loki was cutting apart a horde, surrounded on all sides.
Victor bit his lip, considering which of them to go towards. Leo’s got the defense advantage. A good hit will put Loki down in an instant, he reasoned before running towards the latter.
He fired into the crowd, careful not to hit Loki himself. When a Vintaric grabbed onto his gun, Victor fried his brains with a lightning bolt. He held off from using his Weaponsmith Heart too much, if only because the cracks would take time to heal.
Victor fired more shots and blasted them with even more lightning. In that moment, he admired the quickness of it. Unlike fire or other types of blasts, lightning was quick and got the job done. There wasn’t a need to stick around to see the results.
Loki took out the remaining Vintarics around him. Then an Stolkatan Adult jumped in between the both of them and hissed. Victor and Loki exchanged a look and Loki fired a slash at its carapace.
The Vintaric turned to Loki and readied its cannons. Grey lightning hit it from behind and slowed it down, while Loki got underneath. He stabbed his blade into the monster’s soft abdomen while Victor jumped onto its back and fired. The twin assault shredded through the Vintaric and left it standing dead.
Victor then hopped off and Loki nodded a thanks to him. But then both of them turned towards the battlefield and balked.
In the time they’d been fighting, a kind of fog had descended. Victor took a single whiff of it and then changed his mind.
“Smoke…” Victor voiced.
“The Angelo is that powerful?” Loki asked.
Then he’s almost as strong as Altar.
“Loki! Search for Thinkers and dispatch them! We don’t have people to coordinate us through the haze, but they do!” Victor shouted.
Cecilian was giving them time to breathe, and that would be dangerous for Victor’s side. Maybe he could’ve used his Electroreception to sense out the enemies, but that was a futile effort. There were too many Wielders and Vices on the battlefield, his powers weren’t that advanced, and he didn’t think Vices worked like that. There was something else, something more magical controlling their bodies instead.
Victor and Loki tried their best to traverse the fog. Their eyes watered, they choked on the smell and the temperature in the area was rising. All this was the work of Cecilian, who they could see the shadow of high above. It was entangled with another and they both slashed and clawed at each other fiercely. Parts of Yukir’s armour fell through the smoke to the ground, which gave Victor pause.
Can Yukir really beat him?
Victor tried to guide himself by the sounds of battle, but they only led him to small skirmishes. He’d take out a few Vices and run away from the fight and then find another. In each encounter, he saw nothing of the Thinkers, and he thought that on purpose. They were messing with his mind, and he couldn’t figure out how to beat that.
He needed another plan. Victor ran past more and more fights, towards the sounds of Vintarics in the hopes of finding a certain Wielder. His hunch proved correct, and he found Leo weathering still weathering the assault from the Stolakatan Adults.
Grey lightning slowed down the Vice and left him open to an assault from the other Wielders. He perished soon after and Victor hiked up to Leo’s makeshift stronghold.
“Victor?” Leo asked.
He winced internally when he saw Leo’s state. His left eye was shut closed and one of his arms was bloodied and broken.
“Leo. I need you to take me high up. Right next to the Angelos,” Victor asked him.
“That’s suicide! A single hit from that Vice and you’ll be dead before you know it!”
“That’s if he catches me,” Victor replied. “Now come on, there’s no time!”
Leo struggled but raised their stone platform with his good hand. They went past the constricting smoke and into the air. Victor took a breath of fresh clean air and felt bad for all the times he’d taken it for granted.
A breath was all he could spare though, because Yukir looked like he needed his help. His armour was all broken off, there were cuts and his wings had blood marring their white colour.
His exposed back was covered in a tattoo of a dragon. But not an eastern dragon, like something out of a yakuza film that Victor expected, but more of a lord of the rings type of dragon. It was surreal to see the neck of the dragon coiling around Yukir’s chest and shoulders, like a parody of what it was based off. It glowed brighter as the Angelo fought, but it wasn’t enough.
“Higher, Leo!” Victor shouted. They were brought even closer to the fighting then as Leo struggled to push his powers.
Finally, they reached so high that Victor could take aim. He brought out his rifle and aimed it at Cecilian. But he and Yukir both moved so quickly Victor couldn’t take a clean shot. He applied Speedup on himself but still they proved too fast.
Victor braced himself and looked inside. His Crystallized Lightning was being stretched thin as well. But he needed the Seed if he was going to win.
Voltaic Form Level 1.
Lightning exploded from Victor. Leo raised a hand against Victor’s glowing form to shield himself. Finally, the Timewalker could perceive Cecilian.
He took aim as blue flames spread across his rifle. His Weaponsmith Heart strained even further, cracks spreading across the Seed as Victor stretched it. But he couldn’t stop. And after all, he could always try again in another loop. Lightning then encompassed the rifle, and finally, Victor turned his next shot into a Time Bullet. Then he pressed the trigger.
The bullet fired like a painful arcane bell. His Weaponsmith Heart broke in his soul and Victor grabbed his heart.
[Seed Lost: Weaponsmith Heart]
[Ability Unlocked: Sense of Time Boost]
[Ability Unlocked: Sense of Time Boost]
Victor fell onto his knees as the pain overtook him. it was more than he’d ever experienced, and it burned through him like an Infused Attack. And when it finally passed, he felt weaker. Lesser than he had been a moment ago.
A quick glance at his stats showed him the results of his stupid gamble.
[
NAME: Victor Amadi
AGE: 26
SEEDS: [[Timewalker’s Origin]]
[[ ]]
[[Crystallized Lightning]]
[[ ]]
[[ ]]
STATS:
STRENGTH: 60
SPEED: 40
SENSES: 17
RECOVERY: 25
SENSE OF TIME: 61
ELECTRORECEPTION: 80
ABILITIES:
(Timewalker’s Origin): [Unlock Sense of Time] [Anchor Placement] [Carryover Bestiary] [Carryover Item Compendium] [Sense of Time Boost x 9] [Strength Boost x 4] [Speed Boost] [Recovery Boost] [Senses Boost] [Slowdown] [Speedup] [Carryover Seed Information]
(Crystallized Lightning): [Unlock Electroreception] [Charge] [Lightning Bolt] [Paralyzing Lightning] [Electroreception Boost x 13] [Strength Boost x 4] [Speed Boost x 4] [Voltaic Form Level 1]
]
The only thing. The only thing he gained from it was a boost or two. But what it meant unnerved Victor. He was growing more used to gambles and sacrifice plays, throwing his best assets at the wall. All because he knew he’d get them back in the next loop.
At least the bullet had done its job. Victor looked back at Cecilian and saw a bleeding hole in his back, and how slow he was finally moving. He’d fallen to the ground, and around him the smoke had cleared enough for both him and Yukir to see. Despite the wound, Cecilian wouldn’t go down without a fight.
Victor stood up, because there was work still for him to do.