“So, they seem to be setting up an ambush. Interesting...I wonder who they’re after. Demons? The Dark Pantheon? Some other faction? If we can take them from behind when they’re occupied with their enemies...ok, can you stand still and listen to me for just two damn seconds?”

As the two of them previously agreed on, Katie and Gadreel started off the day with the intention of hunting down some Angels. Gadreel was especially in a hurry regarding that. He knew that with the current situation of Los Angeles, with external threats encroaching on the city and internal dangers looming, the Angels were exhausting countless units every day. Once he made up his mind, the sooner they moved, the better.

Of course, Katie would need to play a big role in the hunt. For one thing, Gadreel didn't really have good ways to imprison his fellow Angels. And exhausting his own powers just to hopefully extract more powers...that just sounded stupid.

The two of them drove their way to one of the bases of operation by the Angels, courtesy of Gadreel’s intel. Unsurprisingly, it was a church. Just as Katie and Gadreel were debating how many grenades Katie should use to blast the door open, they noticed that the Angels were on the move. Over 50 of them got onto several vans and drove away from the church.

Gadreel believed that was the majority of the garrison in that church. The two decided to go for the bigger fish, so they abandoned the church for the time being and followed the vans.

The Angels were certainly impressive and powerful beings, but most of them didn't have too much experience with being stalked. Without using their powers, they were no different from ordinary humans in terms of anti-surveillance.

The convoy drove all the way out of Los Angeles. The pair followed them closely until the vans finally reached their destination. A section of a distant, abandoned road leading from the deserts into the city of Los Angeles.

The Angels dismounted before moving forward on foot. Through the binoculars, Gadreel could see that the Angels entered a circular ambush position along the road. They quickly concealed themselves with their powers.

The pair parked their cars a distance behind the ambush position. Gadreel, the responsible one that he was, found his way to an elevated position and started observing the Angels in an effort to identify who they might be facing. Unfortunately, Katie didn't share his concerns…

Behind Gadreel, Katie was having quite the fun with her newly-gained blood magic. She was rapidly disappearing and reappearing in puffs of red smoke. This action, which she called dashing, allowed her to traverse a long distance in just moments. Katie could only imagine how powerful it would be when it was combined with her melee prowess.

She enjoyed this a lot more than the other spells. Where was the fun with skewering the enemies from leagues away? She would rather rip their spines out with her bare hands while staring into their eyes from inches away. For better or for worse, that was her thing.

Following the Angel’s outburst, Katie finally recollected herself and dashed into position right next to Gadreel.

“Aren’t you tired?” Gadreel couldn’t help but ask. “We still have a tough fight in front of us.”

Katie shrugged and sliced her Knife across her torso. Well...problem solved!

Gadreel turned his attention back to the ambush. He quickly pointed at a few positions. Katie couldn’t see anyone, but Gadreel knew that was where the Angels were. “There. There, and there. The Angels are in a distinct circle. They’re just waiting for their prey to walk into the trap.”

Katie raised her eyebrows. “That’s disappointing. I expected them to be better at this.”

“What?”

“Well, I just heard that in terms of ambushes, it’s better for the ambushers to form a staggered position. You know...like everyone should be on the same flank. Why are these Angels forming a circle?” Katie said with some uncertainty.

Gadreel raised his eyebrows, mildly surprised that Katie would actually know these things about military positions. “The staggering positions are adopted so there will be minimum crossfire or friendly fire. They are mostly used when ranged weapons or firearms are involved. In this case, the Angels are using melee weapons. They want to pounce on their prey from all sides. Cut off their retreat as quickly as possible. Nice try, though.”

Katie shrugged. Well, at least she tried. You can’t blame a girl for trying!

The sound of engines started appearing from not far away, and Gadreel turned to Katie.

“We should get closer. No sudden moves. I will cloak us with my powers.”

Katie growled impatiently before hesitantly obeying.

Five vehicles made their way across the abandoned road. At the first glance, these vehicles looked not that different from large SUVs, but if anyone paid more attention, they could tell these vehicles were a lot more different. They were painted black from top to bottom, with a silver “U” sigil engraved in front of the windshields. Each vehicle had reinforced bulletproof glass protecting its riders from all sides.

This convoy was joined by a dozen motorcycles. Two of the twelve riders rode ahead, serving as the vanguard while the other ten stayed with the convoy.

For a second, this convoy looked like it came right out of a movie.

Unfortunately, the two vanguard riders didn't notice anything when they rode past the ambush. Their incompetence meant that the rest of the convoy walked right into the trip.

One moment, everything was nice and ordinary. The next second, all hell broke loose.

A burst of light suddenly exploded in front of the convoy, radiating so much brightness that it could temporarily blind a person. The convoy was clearly taken by surprise. Three of the SUVs stopped in their tracks while two of them ran into each other. The bikers had it even worse. One of them was crushed between two SUVs. Another pair collided with each other in another deadly collision.

With the enemies disoriented, the Angels jumped into battle from all sides with astonishing efficiency. Most of them had either blades or bows. Interestingly, none of them had firearms, mainly because it was more difficult to attach their powers to bullets than to arrows or knives.

A few of the archers opened fire on the convoy while the others drew their melee weapons and launched themselves forward.

The two vanguards quickly turned around and headed back, only to meet their end when two arrows struck them in the chest. Their bikes collapsed to the side while what was left of their lifeless and broken bodies hit the ground.

One of the SUVs was hit with several arrows around the same time. All of a sudden, the entire vehicle erupted in white flames. Even so, the doors of the vehicle were still shut. The riders inside were too dead to flee.

After the initial shock, the riders of the convoy did their best to fight back. Men in green camouflage uniforms stepped out of their vehicles. Despite their uniforms heavily resembling what the US Army wore, the blue glasses covering their eyes and the advanced rifles in their grip suggested otherwise. With their vehicles as cover, they returned fire on the Angels that were approaching from all sides, demonstrating a surprising level of stoicity and coordination as they stood up to their celestial foes.

One of the charging Angels was targeted with three blue rays at the same time. The rays melted through his flesh and bone alike, fatally damaging his corporeal form before he could even heal himself. Even worse, when the Angel did try to heal himself, he realized the blasts weren’t a one-time thing. The rays were trained on him, constantly tearing him up and forcibly exhausting his powers. He could try to out-heal the damage, but it would be a huge waste.

Finally, the Angel gave up. As his body perished under the destructive power of the rifles and his sword hit the ground, the Angel mustered what was left of his grace and passed it on to one of the comrades beside him.

With the gift from the fallen, that new Angel leaped through the air. White energy tainted his blade as it carved through one of the men, severing his rifle and neck alike in one swift cut.

The convoy resisted as best as it could, but the Angels outnumbered them over 3 to 1. Once the distance was gone, the ranged soldiers didn't stand a chance against the Angels with their supernatural speed and reflexes. Very soon, the focus-fire tactic started falling apart, and the forces guarding the convoy were rapidly reduced.

Finally, as another man found an arrow through his eye, the ambush was over.

Out of the entire convoy, only one man was spared. An officer that seemed to be the leader of this disastrous operation. Over the span of the battle, two Angels exhausted their powers and met their end.

As most of the Angels made their way across the wreckage and checked the corpses, an Angel walked up to the officer. His host was a tall, bald man with a scar through his left eye. The Angel fixed his blinded eye, but he didn't bother with fixing the rest of the scar. Having one less eye was detrimental to combat. Having a random scar wasn’t.

The Angel went by the name of Sabrial. He was the commander of the Angel garrison at the church. He stood still in front of the captured officer, a mocking grin on his face.

“You Section U operatives are all fools. If you think a few...guns of yours can help you win the war against warriors of the Lord, then you are sorely mistaken. And your little stunt here...” He looked around. “has caused the lives of all your brothers in arms. They were good men, fighting for a pathetic cause.”

The officer was hardly in the best situation. He was missing a hand, a consequence of being disarmed by a blade-wielding Angel by force. Still, even as he was bleeding out, the man didn't seem too bothered.

“Is that pride I’m hearing in your voice? Remind me again, Angel...what are the seven sins? Forgive me Father for I have sinned?” He scanned across Sabrial's expression. “You know...after a decade on Earth, I wonder how much of Angel is left in you, and how much of you have been replaced by humans. Congrats, you have won this battle, but this war...one way or another, we humans will win.”

“You are mistaken.” Sabrial retaliated. “We will win this war. One day, we will reclaim our homeworld. One day, we will free ourselves from the restraints of this pathetic planet, and once we rebuild Heaven, we will convert this entire planet to our worship, the same way it had been for thousands of years. Anyone that refuses to accept their proper faith will be purged.”

The officer smirked again, and Sabrial found himself to be more than irritated. It was a horrifying sign. The fact that he was having a meaningless bicker with a dying man just for the kicks of it truly showed how far his kind had fallen.

Yet Sabrial wasn't satisfied just yet. An invisible power scanned across the injured officer, assuring the Angel that this conversation was truly private. After that was clear, the Angel started once again.

“You snicker, but what you don’t realize is that even now, there are those who have remained loyal to our holy cause. You must have wondered how we knew about your convoy. The answer is simple. Loyal lambs of the Lord inside your precious Section U have fed us that intel. Your own people, your fellow human beings, have betrayed you. You fought for their freedom and independence, yet they stabbed you in the back.”

Sabrial took a step forward.

“That’s the thing with you humans. You are these bitter, conflicting creatures, and you always have so many reasons to sell out your own kind. Humanity...is so pathetic. We Angels, on the other hand, we are loyal until the end. We are superior!”

The officer raised his left hand and tapped on his glasses. After seeing the time and message from the blue glasses, he suddenly grinned.

“On the contrary, Angel, I know a lot about why you’re here. I know a spy in our base sent you the message around 3 hours ago. I know the spy didn't give you detailed information on how many forces we have, so you brought most of your garrison just to be safe. I know you have, what…” He looked around. “50 Angels here? And I know the church your base is located at houses a garrison of around 70 Angels. Finally, I know 70 minus 50 is 20.”

“What...what?”

“Oh dear Angel. You were never a combatant before all this mess, right?” This time, it was the officer who was cocky. “And I’m afraid 10 years isn’t enough to make you any smarter in the mortal way of fighting. This is a war, and wars are all about deceptions. While you and your garrison are busy killing us, a strike team of Section U Agents already inside Los Angeles has been directed to your church. Don’t get me wrong. Angels are powerful, but when outnumbered 10 to 1…”

Sabrial’s eyes immediately lit up as he tried to contact his comrades back at the church, but none of that worked. He finally had some luck when communicating with other Angels in the city, but it turned out it was too late.

One of the Angels left in the church was able to send out a cry for help, but when the Angel reinforcements arrived, it was too late. They found the church burned to the ground. Nearly two dozen Angels that remained in the church were slain in mere minutes. Even when taken by surprise and severely outnumbered, they still took down three times their number of attackers.

They died fighting, but they died nonetheless.

“You fed us false information!” Sabrial’s face turned red as he finally came to the conclusion. “You...you walked this convoy into a trap on purpose? You let your men get slaughtered!”

“Indeed, and even if we trade ten of us for one of you, it will only be a matter of time before we win. Before humanity wins.” The Section U officer let out a final smirk. “This is our Earth! This is our world! Mark my word, Angel. Sooner or later, all of you supernatural freaks will be cleansed off this planet. Angels. Demons. Those Dark Pantheon scum! At the end of the day, mankind will reign supreme! For...”

Sabrial beheaded him in one swift strike before he could finish.