Chapter 57

**Merianna**

As we dived into the battle, my eyes scanned the area and the enemies. I was surprised by the number of Hunters that were present, seeing as how many we had to deal with in the ruins. It seemed like the amount of Hunters that we dealt with first, were less than half of the hooded man’s total force. Now the rest of them were crawling all over the village.

The situation wasn’t sitting well with me, we were missing something very important. I couldn’t think of it right then though, I needed to fight and help the coven.

I swung the Rune Reaper to my side and thrilled at the feeling of the runes under my fingertips. I still marveled at how easily the energies and intents of each rune on the staff sprang out at me. This was something that I most definitely wanted my own weapon to be able to do. I would have to speak to Noch about that after all this was over.

Wrapping the air around my legs once again felt fantastic, and I dived for every Hunter I saw within my sights. Nimbly I moved over and around them as I dealt crippling and fatal blows. Just like with the first battle I was immersed in, I had no fear of what was happening around me or the situation I was in. All I wanted was to get rid of the Hunters and help the Coven.

Within the chaos around me, I saw a flash of dark hair that shone red and glimpsed Junnie also fighting in the maelstrom. I almost froze in my tracks in amazement at the way she fought. She had gloves on that seemed to have metal studs on the knuckles, and that also had a ring of runes that glowed around the cuffs. I stared in amazement as she landed a hit on a Hunter that sent him flying through the wall of a nearby home. Cringing, I doubted he survived the hit. It was no wonder that I could never get out of Junnie’s grasp. She seemed to have enhanced her body’s capabilities with her own energy much like I used the wind to make myself faster. I made a mental note to never try and make her angry.

As Junnie fought through the throngs, she didn’t seem to be enjoying it as much as I thought she would, considering her personality. I could hear Nana Ara cackling away as her explosions rocked the ground with every bag she threw, but Junnie seemed to be knocking out the Hunters just because they were in front of her. 

Suddenly I caught a glimpse of a dark cloak within the chaos and my breath froze in my throat. Thoughts of calling for Noch or Fog flitted through my mind as my body moved on its own and propelled me in the direction I saw the figure disappear in. When I reached the area, I couldn’t see a trace of where he could have gone to. Ducking under the blade of a Hunter I jumped over his stumbling form and jumped off from another Hunter’s head to the roof of the nearest building.

Once I was high enough I scanned the surrounding chaos again and marveled at the amount of Hunters that were crawling around, but it wasn’t the Hunters that I was after this time. This time I was after a far bigger fish.

My eyes caught another glimpse of a dark cloak just as it disappeared within one of the buildings. I quickly jumped down and gave chase again before I lost him.

As I dived into the building I had seen him disappear into, I was struck by the emptiness of it. The furniture was still neatly positioned all over the modest home, but that was what made it eerie. Many of the buildings were almost torn to shreds or wrecked on the inside by this stage of the battle, yet nothing in here seemed to have been touched.

I spotted a door to the far right slightly swinging on its hinges and knew where I needed to go next. I rushed to the door and was greeted by stairs that lead downward into a dimly lit basement. 

Why oh why do the bad people always have something to do with basements?! I thought bitterly to myself as I jumped down the stairs without hesitation.

Once I reached the bottom I saw his full figure looming over a pregnant woman. “Halt where you stand! I won’t hesitate to run you through!” I yelled as I simultaneously reached out to the shadows to try and bind him.

The cloaked figure turned slightly in my direction and tilted his head. “My my, what is a child doing here on a battlefield?” He asked in amusement as he turned fully to me. Finally I saw his face. I could finally put a face to the cloaked figure that has caused us so much grief. He appeared to be around thirty to forty years of age with strong facial features and dark brown hair. In the dim torchlight I couldn’t make out if his eye colour was black or merely dark brown

“I might be a young, but I am no child.” I declared and snapped at the shadows to bind him.

The shadows started slithering up his boots, and I felt a glimmer of victory. Only to have it snuffed out as he raised his hand and merely waved the shadows away. I stared in shock as the shadows I had manipulated turned into fragile wisps of air and dissipated. Raska had taught me how to use this skill and always needed to break my bindings to get out of them during training. She had never been able to make them disappear as this man had done.

“That was an adorable trick little one. You seem to have potential, but unfortunately I do not have time to play with you. I shall take what I came here for and be on my way.” He said cooly and turned back to the woman who was cowering in a corner, holding tight to her swollen belly.

I lunged at the man and brought the Rune Reaper down towards his head. In a flash he moved and caught the Reaper by the hilt as the blade missed his head by a hair. “Unfortunately for you, I wasn’t asking. You’re going to play with me, so I can take your head as a trophy.”

The man squinted his dark eyes at me and angled his head. “This is a battle that you will surely lose child. Not even Fog or Nochtandiel can defeat me as I am now. I have seen them in the fray, and know they are here. Full of potential as you are, you are probably a student of one of them.” He mused.

“That has nothing to do with me stopping you right now.” I gritted and twirled the Reaper back for a few more blows. I struck in quick succession but he still managed to catch my blows at the hilt with every time he dodged the blade. When he caught the hilt firmly in his grasp I couldn’t pull it back. It felt like I might as well have been trying to get out of Junnie’s grasp.

“Quite a spirited little thing.” He said with amusement as he let go of the hilt which made me stumble back. “Strangely enough I am finding this quite amusing.”

Hezerial! I need you to get the woman out of here and to safety, quickly! I yelled out to the bond I shared with Hezerial.

But My Lady, you are - I cut him off before he could say anything further.

You getting that woman out of here will be helping me. I need to distract him as much as possible. Make sure you are not noticed.

I do not like this My Lady, but I shall do as you request. With that, I felt Hezerial spring into action, and I made sure to keep this cloaked man distracted.

“I’m glad you’re having fun, because I’m only getting started.” I dove towards him again and switched my grip around the runes. This time when I brought the blade down on him, he couldn’t fully stop the momentum or weight of the Reaper. This weapon was heavy to begin with, but by changing the intent of the weightless rune upon impact, I could make it as heavy as I wanted it to be.

The cloaked man’s eyes widened slightly as he felt the new impact of the Reaper against his hand, and instead dodged out of the way before the blade could take his arm than try to hold on to it.

He looked curiously down at his arm and noticed a small cut. I grinned at the sight of his blood. If I was able to mark him, I might be able to win. I would just have to pull all the dirty tricks I use against Noch out to use against this man as well.

“You seem more and more interesting by the minute little one. I would actually like to have a chat with you, and maybe keep you.” He grinned back at me.

When I chanced a glance, I was glad to see that the woman was gone without a trace. “Fighting leaves no time for chatting, and sadly for you, I have no intention of going anywhere with the likes of you.” I snarled and dove back with the Reaper singing in my hands.

Now that he had seen the new strategy I was implementing, he was frustratingly dodging every blow at the last minute as he observed me. I knew that I couldn’t just keep swinging the blade around. Thinking quickly I pretended to swing my blade towards him again, and just as he was dodging it again, I let go of the weapon and charged my element through to my hands. I caught him by surprise and clamped a hand down on his shoulder.

A blast of lightning left me and instantly coursed through his body. His surprised expression locked on his face as his body seized up and twitched with the jolt. Within the next moment though he broke free of my hold and jumped back to the opposite side of the basement.

“How interesting. A lightning element. Now there is something I had never thought I would see.” He mused like I hadn’t just sent enough lightning through his system to turn him into ash.

Grabbing the Reaper again, I took a stance. I didn’t like the fact that he knew about the Lightning element. It meant that he was either well versed, or as old as Noch. “There is a lot about me you don’t know.” Instead of wrapping air around my body this time, I let my element run through my every muscle and through the Reaper.

Faster than any time before, I dove to him again and saw his eyes widen. When I brought the blade down on him again, he didn’t have time to move or blink. I cut cleanly through him from head to groin and watched as he crumpled to the floor.

I quickly pulled the lightning back to my source and away from my body. It was a technique Noch had just recently taught me, and I still had to master it fully, but it was well worth it. I huffed and puffed as my heart raced with the lingering energy and my muscles started to tremble. Did I really just kill him? Elation ran through me as I looked down at his blood seeping into the dirt floor, and for a minute marveled that it was over that quickly. Especially after all the stress and fretting this man had caused us all.

“Gods you were an ass.” I huffed as I straightened.

“Now that is not nice, don’t you think?” A deep voice uttered next to my ear. The hairs raised on the back of my neck and I gasped as I saw the corpse dissipate into shadows. I whirled around to see his face inches from my own, grinning evilly down at me.

The impact came out of nowhere and sent me flying backwards into the opposite wall so hard that my ears started ringing, and what little air I had got knocked out of me. Gasping and fumbling on the ground I squinted through my blurred vision at his looming figure. It sounded like he was saying something, but the ringing in my ears prevented me from making out what it was.

I knew then that I was in deep trouble. This man was much more dangerous than anything else I had come across, and that included the questionable members in the Order. Hezerial, I need your help! I called out on our bond.

Within the next second I was nearly blinded by Hezerial’s entrance. He had arrived with his full glory radiating off from him, making me feel warm in the cold and damp basement. His presence also seemed to pour over me in healing waves that took away my discomforts. With wings outstretched and blade pointed at the enemy, he stood protectively in front of me.

“You shall not take another step closer.” He commanded.

The man tilted his head curiously and glanced towards me again. “How incredibly fascinating this is. I never thought that you would have an angel for a guardian either. I expected an elemental or ascended spirit for a guardian at the most.”

Hezerial didn’t like the fact that this man was speaking to me while he was so plainly there. “For the sin of harming the one I guard. I shall have your head.” Without warning or waiting for a reply, Hezerial sprang towards him and brought his blade down with enough force to change the pressure in the air around us.

My eyes caught shadows coalescing behind the man as Hezerial moved. His blade clashed against another weapon that resulted in the sound bouncing around the enclosed space. When I finally managed to stand up, I saw that a Demon had manifested behind the man. Hezerial’s blade was being blocked by a black mace big enough to squish me in one blow.

Hezerial quickly jumped back to stay close to my side again at the sight of the new threat. I couldn’t seem to take my eyes off the Demon. He was much more defined than he was when I saw him in the forest, and the sight made my skin crawl. His skin was dark and seemed to suck in all the light around it, there wasn’t an inch of him or his armor that seemed reflective. His misshapen face sneered down at us with razor-like tusks poking out haphazardly. The smell that accompanied him made my stomach roil.Unbridled fear shot through my body and I reflexively grabbed a hold of Hezerial’s robe for comfort.

I knew the fear was well deserved. I still didn’t know exactly how or why, but somewhere at some point in time, I must have come across his kind. Knowledge about this Demon, or his rank rather, popped into my head unbidden, and I instinctively knew what it was. 

Demonic Generals were never a good thing to come across. Regular demons that appear out of demon gates were bad enough, but a Demon General was the equivalent of a thousand or more regular demons, packed into one body.

“I find it absolutely fascinating that you have an angel for a guardian.” The man said almost in amusement, as if he was finding the situation funny.

“And apparently yours, is a Demon General.” I breathed past my fear.

I saw the demon look down at me with intrigue and turn towards the man. He spoke in a grumbled rush of sounds that were clearly his language and that made my skin crawl even more.

“Oh!” The man said in surprise. “Apologies for only calling you a mere Angel.” He said towards Hezerial. “My guardian explains that you are in fact a fallen Archangel. Well, well, this makes me think that we are surprisingly evenly matched actually, and the situation a lot more intriguing.” He said while clasping his hands behind his back.

“Whatever the circumstance, I will protect My Lady by any means necessary.” Hezerial said coldly and summoned forth a shield as well. My mind whirled at the sight. It made me truly see him as an Archangel of Heaven rather than an atrocious guardian that irritated me on a daily basis. Gulping down a breath, I let go of Hezerial’s robe and took up the Reaper again. This was not the time to cower in fear, we were waging a battle, and mine was right here.