Chapter 186: Zariel Vs Aldrich I
Puzzlement fixed itself within Zariels mind, but his blade did not drop as he gazed dead ahead at Aurelia. He was quite surprised, but the more he stared, the more the edges of his lips began to curl downwards.
'She attacked me. Not Aldrich, who was closer, but me.' he thought, his heart serene as a silver lake.' and since Anima didn't have any information on what happened, it's safe to say someone or something interfered." he concluded, narrowing his eyes.
"Mephisto."
"In my defense. I felt a little bored, so I decided to spice things up. What do you think? I awakened her angelic ability of Mastery. In a single glance, she can master just about anything. Although I don't think her body and mind are ready for such a thing." Said the elusive Fallen.
"What did she give up." Zariel inquired coldly.
"You," Mephisto whispered. "I asked her to try to kill you for real, and she agreed without hesitation."
Zariels eyes dipped a little as he nodded. " I see.' He whispered, staring at Aurelia with a blank expression.
Looking on from a higher dimension, Mephisto frowned. Seeing no reaction. "Did I not push hard enough? He's not even sad… how?" the Fallen muttered inwardly, "Zariels profile suggests anger of some sort. I'm missing something. Something obvious or perhaps… someone is blocking my perception?"
He smiled and looked down as Aurelia's knees slowly bent, cracking the stone beneath her feet; a tremendous pressure rattled the ground. And she shot toward Zariel and whipped her sword in a vicious horizontal arc toward his neck.
The Silver Devil reacted immediately and tilted his neck back in a gentle motion. Aurelia's blade missed, but her cold dead eyes only seemed to narrow as two sigils appeared, but with a flick of his blade, Zariel cut through them as his free arm shot forth.
'Piercing," he whispered as his middle and index finger suddenly brew bright as the sun, caring a cold sword intent. A beam of silvery light flew out from Zariels fingertips, cutting through the air. Unable to pivot out of the way, Aurelia flicked her wrist that held Morningstar, managing to block the attack that was sure to kill her but at a great cost.
Almost as if struck by a battering ram, blood gushed from Aurelia's lips as Morningstar was torn out of her palm, and her body was blasted away like a rag doll. She skipped over the ground, scraping her face, arms, and legs before crashing into stone.
Zariel could hear bones crack but showed no concern or care as he stared dead at her without expression. He glanced at Morningstar and opened his palm as the blade became lifted by an invisible force and flew into his palm.
Bleeding a grave light of Seraphic Qi the moment the blade touched his palm, Zariel sneered, " Calm yourself or be destroyed."
Morningstar stilled, sensing the weave tremble. The sword withdrew its Qi, and Zariel picked his eyes back to Aurelia, who slowly rose to her feet. His gaze was still empty as he walked forward.
"Don't," Said Aldrich standing with a simple sword out and a tight frown."I'll not allow you to kill her."
"Step aside."
"No."
Zariels dead eyes grew distant, and a hollow laugh sounded from his lips. " Aldrich… I will not ask again."
"And I will not repeat myself. I will stop you if your goal is to claim this Nephilim life," Came his response, as a gruesome intent pooled over the skies. The air grew stagnant, and the world began to tremble, quivering with fear as Aldrich's profound gaze narrowed into slits.
Zariel did not flinch.
As if Aldrich's aura didn't exist. A screech from that of a devil or demon bellowed through the stagnant air in such a longly deprave manner. The sound stretched far and wide over the realm that those locked in meditation rose to their feet as goosebumps prickled their skin.
The Silver Devil, for the first time, smiled as the ground beneath his feet lost color as if withered of life. "I've heard you were quite an accomplish fighter when you were alive."
"I was," Aldrich acknowledged. He lifted his chin as a regal aura began to billow. An aura that not even Zariel suspected one could hold. "And I still am."
"Then I'll not hold back,' Zariel stated calmly, tightening his hold around his blade.
"Easy, you two!" The Red priest joined. "Duke Blackwater, I'm sure you weren't planning on killing her, right?"
Zariel sneered. He didn't need to explain himself. He had no intention of killing Aurelia; their souls were, after all, linked, but… what right did Aldrich have to question him?
The air was quivering, and suddenly, a golden embers flashed, and Zariel whipped through the air, appearing before Aurelia, who had just cast a few spells, and stomped her head into the earth as Morningstar and Severance crossed, suddenly clashing against Aldrich single blade.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!!
A grunt escaped Zariel's lips as the earth shattered into fragments burying him and Aurelia in a crater. Aldrich shot forward to follow as he watched Zariel and Aurela fall downwards. However, just as he did, a devilish glint of sword intent whipped through the skies.
Swatting the intent away with ease, Aldrich frowned as two sigils appeared beneath his feet, and without missing a beat, he kicked off the air, pivoting like a bird without wings landing just where Zariel's third sigil materialized.
"An Arc Mage!" Aldrich muttered in surprise as time and space twisted, ripping open as the domain of subspace revealed itself.
Fear seized the King's heart, but without hesitation, a silent cast sounded as a large sigil appeared beneath his feet as he spoke in the ancient tongue of Elysium, sealing the gap in space.
A cold frown marred Aldrich's face as he stared gruesomely at the ashen face of Zariel, stepping out of the rubble with his hands around the neck of an unconscious Aurelia.
"You lived? Now that's unusual. You might be the first to escape my spell that sends people directly into subspace. No one survives that place," The Silver devil remarked, with a scary half smile, as his grip tightened around the young Nephilim neck.
Aldrich's expression was icy as he nodded. " I agree. But you're way too young to be an Arc mage," he said, looking at the long katana in his hand. " I thought you were a pure swordsman."
"By the time I learned to hold a sword, I'd read through hundreds of texts. I'm a mage first. Although my main focus is swordsmanship, I can't deny I'm quite the Arcanist."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone