I went back a few seconds in time.

To when the three submarines had just stepped on the mine.

Trisha, Areais and a few other angels were present in this astral bubble.

“Hoho, good job.”

The 3 submarines were stuck inside a squared off cube made of pellucid film walls. They looked similar to the ones I got trapped in last time.

The difference here compared to then was that Trisha, Areais and another 2 angels were sitting around the cube as if the 3 submarines were some bonfire.

Not that they were cooking marshmallows. Though that would be a funny sight to witness.

“Come sit here.”

Trisha beckoned.

I shook my head and leaned against a pillar instead. I glanced at Lucifer and myself who were frozen in time.

As I joined via an invitation, I wouldn’t be able to contact Lucifer until some time had elapsed.

I needed to be careful.

“He’s wary.”

“Are you sure this person is that strong?”

“I can attest to that.”

“An anomaly!”

“Calm down everyone. He’s going to get scared off if we try anything on him.”

“If you don’t know, we’re currently just waiting for the rest of their gang to arrive. After that we’ll squash them flat.”

“Okay?” I nodded to their explanation.

“Aren’t you going to take a seat? It’s not like we’re going to kill you though?”

“I’m taking precaution alright,” I said.

“That guy Eugine went too far, probably.”

“It’s not ‘probably’. It’s ‘literally’. Well, I played a part in it too so I’m just as guilty.”

“Can I spar with him?”

“Didn’t he just say he wasn’t interested?”

I didn’t think this ambush would lead to such a peaceful conversation.

The angel who asked permission for a duel lowered her head in defeat.

“It’s alright. You’ll get the chance next time.”

“Is he joining our fleet? No?”

“The decision is ultimately up to him.”

They’re so lax. I get the feeling that they could’ve conducted this whole operation without me.

“They sure are taking their time,” one of the angels checked hirs pedicure.

“What if they’re planning to wait out the contact time limit? There’s a chance they hadn’t even contacted their fleet. Or maybe they just declined.”

“Then we’ve no choice but to go for plan B.”

Then angels nodded and all turned to me at once.

“What?”

“You and that Miss Supervisor are the only two demons here. So you two are the only ones capable of throwing the angels into the fallout.”

“Which means?”

“If they don’t come you’ll have to chase them.”

Hah?

“Yup. But let’s just hope they’ll come alright? It’ll be nigh impossible to search for the rest of the fleet individually. It’s best to just conclude everything in one go. Isn’t that right?”

Trisha looked at the three perpetrators inside the box with a wide smile. They nodded like obedient pets.

We waited for quite some time. So much so I began to fidget around with the black crystal, Craim Stygian.

This weapon is immensely powerful, however, the side effects of it..

Hold on. There’s something I can do while waiting.

Echoing Into the Abyss.

I don’t foresee anything happening in the next few minutes, and it’s not like I’ll get the chance to use this skill often.

One short trip–

One very short one.

I closed my eyes.

And felt the ground part.

I began to fall.

I tried to scream, there was no sound.

I tried to breathe, there was no air.

I closed my eyes, resigning to the darkness.

I found comfort in it.

I didn’t need to remember who I was nor what I needed to do.

My existence will cease here.

…

..

.

I can’t.

I can’t go yet.

She..

My consciousness surfaced as soon as some pain assailed me.

{WARNING: EROSION VALUE: MODERATE}

I took in a sharp breath and calmed my wildly breathing heart.

I received another slap to my face.

“Are you alright?” Trisha asked.

Then slapping my cheeks for the third time I realized that I had passed out?

I raised my body.

And we bumped heads.

“Ouch..”

“Damn it.”

“What? You want me to slap you harder?!”

“That’s not..”

“Wowowowow. Demons are baddies.”

“You should be grateful that the admiral is so fond of you.”

“I can’t believe you tried to sleep standing up.”

“You literally toppled over.”

My existence? She?

I held my head.

Just as I was about to try the skill one more time, a chill swept over me.

I drew Arondight and threw a moon arc.

A large explosion occurred.

“You dimwit angels dare to kill my mates?!” Shouted the guy appealing with a husky voice.

Nearby were four other angels that held various weapons.

“Oh look who’s here.” Trisha quickly got up and pointed her gun at him.

“Don’t kill him?”

“Keep everyone alive.”

Trisha began firing at random, the enemy angels panicked and tried to run. Unfortunately for them, Trisha wasn’t aiming at their body, she was blocking their escape routes.

“You traitor!” the culprit roared in scorn.

“I’m only repaying your debt,” Trisha smiled. The two fleets began their assault.

Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t anything interesting to see in the fight. LIGHTSHADOW got taken down pretty easily by ALPINE. The only real danger was that initial grenade they threw when we were caught off guard.

“Looks like we didn’t need to use plan B. Wheewh.”

“What the hell!”

“Rieen, can you paralyze them?” Trisha requested.

“Roger that.”

The loli elf impaled the one xe was riding before going around impaling the others. Each member of ALPINE was riding a guy on their back so their hands were full trying to incapacitate them.

It was only when xe finished the stabby-stabby that the members of ALPINE got up and congratulated each other.

And here I am, just standing here watching everything unfold without any need to even move a muscle. I question my reason for existence.

“I know you’ve been doing shady business around here. So I thought to ask. Who sent you the order to kill him?” Trisha stood in front of LIGHTSHADOW’s admiral.

“Him?”

“You know..” she stepped on the angel’s head and twisted his face on the ground a couple times.

“S-twop I’w tell yoww… stoww..”

“You remember?!”

Trisha squealed like a child, quickly removed her feet.

He took some time to regain his breath and..

“I have so many orders, how the hell would I know who ‘him’ is?!”

Bang.

Smoke rose from the muzzle.

“No. I didn’t need an answer to that. Even if I knew who it was, it’s pointless. It’s been years anyways.” her thrilled expression was nowhere to be found, replaced by a chilly frown.

She turned to the next angel.

“Tell me where you sent the pureborn’s cargo.”

“W-What cargo?”

“The one these guys caught,” Trisha pointed at three prisoners.

“We didn’t catch any pureborn!”

“D-Don’t lie! You were the one who broke the rule!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

“First about ‘him’, now a pureborn? If all you’re here for is to kill our fleet then do it already damn it!”

Bang.

“This is more difficult than I thought,” Trisha mumbled. “The pureborn’s name is Carlos of Hades, a red haired man. Where did you send his items?”

She pointed her gun at the third angel.

“There’s no point telling you. We’re all dead anyways!”

Bang.

“You know, I really wanted to spare you. It’s cruel to kill those of the same kind. But, the bounty on your head is just too great.”

Bang.

“Most of all. Do you know all the trouble you’ve caused?”

“Fuck you!!”

Bang.

“You’re an enemy whichever side you stand.”

Bang.

Bang.

“AHhhH!!!”

Bang.

The last shot signaled the end. Silence ruled the field.

The many bodies began scattering into particles of light.

Trisha’s shoulders trembled.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have.. shown you guys that..” she said with a forlorn in her voice.

“It’s alright admiral.”

“If that happened to me, I’d be mad too.”

“It’s not very angel-like to do that, did you lose some of your karma?”

Trisha's gaze followed the remaining particles of the dead angel as it ascended upwards.

Head still raised, she said. “I don’t feel refreshed at all. Carlos, you owe me one.”

Then, a red light sparked.

“I wasn’t able to retrieve my items anyways. We’ll just say it’s equal.”

From within the scintillate appeared a pureborn demon.

Wait. That is..

“Yeah. Whoops, quite a shock there huh Avner?”

“You’re Carlos?”

Fiery red hair matching Lucia’s, curled black horns that looped around the head, like those you could find in a goat’s.

“Yes, and you are my irul’s benefactor I suppose?”

This is Carlos? He had been with Trisha this entire time?

Then all this time Trisha, she..

Carlos chuckled.

“Now is the time when you let my irul know that I’m safe isn’t it?”

“What?”

“Xe’s in your custody no?”

“No. Xe’s not with me.”

Trisha then tilted her head.

“I thought you kept hir with you? I wanted to make it a big surprise because Carlos said today’s hirs birthday.”

Lucia’s birthday? Today?

“Then my irul, is xe safe?” Carlos asked.

I nodded.

“Nevermind your cargo, your irul’s safety is most important right?”

“Hahaha. You’re right about that.”

“Though, unfortunately. Our extra commission is gone now,” Trisha huffed.

So Carlos was the mastermind pulling the strings behind all of this all along? What in the world is going on? Can someone explain before I slam my head into the wall?

===

dotturndot: Confused? It’s like I just blurred the line between an angel and demon. Hahaha–

I think if you’ve read till this point, you’ll notice that I’m actually not that good at writing things related to the ‘grand scale of things’. So I kinda just fake it with a lot of useless details.

In some stories they give backstories or dope into the lives of influential people (like royalty), and then the protag then nudges in between and somehow earns himself some really good ass connections. I don’t know how to do that without blowing my story to kingdom come.