An angel panted as he removed his hands from the back of a cuirass of a sitting soldier. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his brow. The sitting soldier stood up and nodded at the medic before walking towards the circle of soldiers surrounding them in the distance. Another soldier stumbled into the seat that was just occupied. The medic sighed as his hands glowed, and he pressed them into the soldier’s back.

Around him, there were roughly sixty other medics, some were busy healing while others were taking breaks. After he finished healing the soldier in front of him, the medic leaned back and sighed. Someone tapped his shoulder. “Swap with me,” a voice said. The voice was raspy and low, as if its owner hadn’t spoken in a long time.

“Alright,” the medic said and nodded as he staggered to his feet. He turned around and a cloaked figure walked past him, brushing a hand against the medic’s chest. “Is it that cold? Why are you wearing your cloak?” The medic tilted his head as he watched the figure approach a sitting soldier. Blood dripped from the figure’s hand. The medic’s eyes widened, and he tried to speak. Instead, a fountain of blood poured from his mouth.

He let out gurgling noises as he fell to his knees. He looked down and saw blood streaming from an open hole in his chest, coloring his armor and the ground red. His vision began to fade as he fell forward, his face landing on the side, pointing at the cloaked figure. He thought he saw a heart fall onto the ground from the figure’s side before his vision faded to black. The cloaked figure took no notice of the fallen medic and stabbed its hand towards the sitting soldier in front of it. Its hand easily pierced through the man like a needle through cloth. The man let out a groan and collapsed forward as the cloaked figure retracted its hand.

“Ambush!” a soldier shouted. She stood up, knocking the medic that was healing her onto the ground as she picked up her lance. Her body trembled slightly as she pointed her lance at the cloaked figure. “Who are you!?” Blue lightning danced along her lance as she took a step forward. She paused as the figure unclasped its cloak, seemingly oblivious to the angels that were starting to approach it from behind.

It tossed the cloak towards the female soldier and dove to the side as a bolt of lightning flashed towards it. The angel snorted as she deflected the cloak with her lance. She frowned when she saw the figure retreat behind a startled medic. “Demon?” she asked. The air around her crackled and the lightning surrounding her lance turned purple. “Then I don’t have to hold back.”

The demons hands raised into the air and smashed downwards, tearing the medic’s arms off, causing the angel to scream. The demon sank his hand into the flesh of the medic’s back and lifted him up, using him as a makeshift shield. The lance wielding angel clicked her tongue and redirected the lightning bolt that she had just launched towards the ground.

A blade of wind rushed at the demon from behind, but he turned around and blocked it with the medic. “Let him go!” an angel shouted as four glowing chains of light flew towards the demon. He threw the medic at the chains, but they twisted in the air and avoided the man’s armless body. The demon leapt backwards and deflected the chains with the palms of his hands.

“It’s a greed demon!”

“Try blocking this,” the lance wielding angel said. A purple thunderbolt crashed down from the clear night sky and struck the demon head on. His body stiffened and another three lightning bolts rained down on him, causing him to drop to the floor. The angel panted before regaining her composure as she straightened her back and marched towards the twitching demon.

“Nice one, Justitia,” an angel said. Four chains of light extended from his back and wrapped around the demon.

“You too,” Justitia said as she strapped her lance to her back. Her body twitched—still poisoned—but she ignored it and crouched in front of the demon. She grabbed him by his hair and jerked his head upwards to face her. She frowned. “You are the cook’s demon. Are you not afraid of death?” The demon didn’t reply. He was making eye contact with her, but his gaze seemed to be looking through her. Justitia snorted and let go of the demon’s hair. She balled her hand up into a fist and punched the demon in the face. His body twitched uncontrollable as lightning traveled through it, causing blood to pour out of all his orifices.

“Why did you kill him?” a female angel asked. She was the one who threw the wind blade earlier. “You could have let me interrogate him.”

“He was bewitched by chastity,” Justitia said as she wiped her bloody fist on her the ground.

“But he was a greater demon. Are you saying an archangel did this?”

Justitia nodded. “We have to let the general know,” she said as her neck spasmed, causing her to tilt her head.

“I will go. Stay here and get cured,” the female angel said before heading off into the distance. An angel walked up to Justitia and placed his glowing hands on her back. Justitia sighed as she looked at the medic that was used as a shield and shook her head. They were caught unprepared and three angels had died because of it.

“We’re under attack!” a voice shouted from the east. Justitia turned her head and saw the line of soldiers break ranks. Hundreds of spears of earth had emerged from the ground underneath the squad, causing cries of pain to ring through the air.

“How much longer?” she asked the medic behind her.

“Three minutes,” he said as sweat rolled down his face. He gritted his teeth and the intensity of the glow on his hands increased. Justitia clenched her hands and nodded. She turned her heads towards the direction of General Michael’s tent. The female humility angel was still jogging to it. Before she reached it, the tent flap opened and the general walked out followed by Raea and Palan.

Screams rang through the air as a wave of black flames washed over the line of soldiers to the south. Michael frowned and spoke, his voice piercing through the air, “Fallback! Consolidate the formation.” The soldiers retreated and the circle formation shrank as the gaps between the men disappeared. A breeze picked up and whirled around the soldiers, increasing in speed as Michael raised one hand into the air. The wind eventually formed a wall, isolating the army from their surroundings. Michael floated into the air and glanced around, watching shadows disappear into the surrounding forests. He sighed as he thought back to his glory days. He was getting too old to throw lightning bolts while flying at the same time. After confirming the enemies retreat, he drifted back to the ground and dispelled the wall of wind. “Give me a casualty report,” he said. “Has Colonel Simon still not returned?”