Biblically Accurate Angel - High School DxD

Chapter 24

"I don't know every detail, but at least from what I saw, when that thing rammed into the"

Boom

A massive explosion happens from beside them as buildings and houses fall apart like clay. Causing the orc to yelp in startled surprise as he hid his body even further into the shadow. Bernard stuck under the pillar, turned towards the city's core. Where he heard screams and begging of a few people, which at the next second disappeared. "Dammit, why did it come to this?" he would unconsciously mutter to himself, his eyes brown furrowed and eyes turned into a slit, he tightened his fist and stuck the pillar that was on top of him with such force that he bled. 

Puh

A warm blood trickled down his hand as he gazed upon the chaos.

Chaos that had arrived only an hour ago, yet it swept in like a storm, tearing everything apart. His home. His city. Everything he had ever cherished—gone.

He felt a range of emotions as he gazed upon the burning city and the smaller explosion that was happening. First, it was denial, anger, and fury; then it was wheezing acceptance. Wheezing acceptance that his family, one that has been together with him since his birth, mother and father, his fiancé Berian, and future child that was in her stomach, is probably dead.

He might have denied it or hoped for them to be alive and well, if the explosion wasn't happening just where his house was. Or the fact that his parents are too old to move and his fiancée, Berian, who was nine months pregnant, couldn't get out of bed in recent days.

But still, just the smallest bit of hope lingered in his heart, buried under the intense emotion that was changing by the second. A hope that despite most of his feelings changing every second rapidly, akin to a typhoon, he still clung on to that very corner with desperation.

After a few seconds of a few smaller explosions. It stopped. Not the fight itself, as Bernard continued to hear the war cries of his brother-in-arms and the cries of civilians.

The orc, as the explosion reduced, came out of the shadow of the rubble. "Mm, all right, um, where was I?

The orc scratched the back of his head. "When that thing rammed into the city, the city wall gave in like it was brittle wood. Then, the blocks of the city wall flew and rained down on the city, and one of the blocks hit your watchtower, the consequence of which you can see. And because of the broken wall and the massive impact, a massive amount of smoke rose. And in the smoke," the orc inched closer to him.

"That thing stood"

"Without moving."

Lines etched across his face and cast a shadow down his face as he listened. The orc was explaining too rapidly and quietly. The words in and of themselves were much to be desired, but still, he couldn't hope for more from him, judging by how he acted.

The orc's breath started becoming labored and quick. "At that time, I thought, that thing was dazed because of the impact, as that thing hit the city wall using its eyes."

"Then I saw it. A strange, almost liquid mist drifts toward the creature."

"I initially thought it was just some sort of telekinesis or something, but upon closer inspection."

"I discovered that they were souls, souls of the fallen."

"And that thing was devouring it, consuming it. There was even one soul who was fully conscious and aware." The orc looked down onto the ground as the light of the burning city cast a shadow down his face. "And she was begging me to save her."

"If not, destroy her."

"When I asked her (why ?) she answered that she doesn't want to become one with that thing; she doesn't want to become one with the hundreds of others before her."

"But before I could ask more questions, the pulling force on her became stronger, and she was dragged across, no longer capable of staying in one place."

Orc hid even further from the light of the burning city. "And at the next second, as if to prove what she said, that thing started regenerating rapidly, its injured wing, straightening, and feathers rapidly started growing out of it. And in just a minute, it almost fully recovered."

"The two clan leaders at that time should have attacked. But they did not; they just fucking waited outside the smoke like fools while that thing was preparing himself, healing, and recovering the energy it expended, wasting away Thunder Rabbit's sacrifice like fucking liches. And I saw everything because I was on top of Kefine's tower."

The orc's breath hitched. His single eye widened, pupils dilating as madness flickered across his gaze. He clenched his fists, nails digging into his palm, yet his trembling voice betrayed him. "Every single moment, frame by frame." The orc finally said.

"When the smoke died down, it was already too late. That thing has already mostly recovered, and it even started glowing like the sun, yellowish white."

"But at that time, because two clan leaders and their soldiers were there, I thought it would be fine; nothing would happen, and they would destroy that thing, and peace would return just like it did a decade ago." The orc started explaining faster and faster as his pupils rapidly changed sizes.

"Then the fight started. At first, the two clan leaders and their subordinates had the advantage. Every time the monster attacked, the clan leader and all their subordinates attacked with even more power, sometimes tumbling and sending the beast flying like a ball. Little by little, it looked like we were winning."

Bernard frowned at the word "were.". Any word that was used in past terms in such a desperate situation would never have a good meaning. Never in a million years.

So he, using his limited mobility, moved a bit to the right, letting the light that was previously blocked by his head fall on the orc's face, and noticed the orc's face was ashen white and its pupils extremely large. "At that time, I was too foolish. I should have escaped when I had the chance; instead, I waited."

"I waited."

"In the end, I waited .....too long. Every second, my mind screamed to run—to leave it all behind and save my family. But I hesitated. And that hesitation cost me everything. " Orc said while clenching his fist tightly.

"Every FUCKING THING!" He screamed as he drove his fist towards the ground. Creating a crate the size of his fist on the ground. After which he covered his face with his hands. He took a few deep breaths to calm down and regain his composure.

After what seemed to be a minute or two, the orc finally calmed down enough to continue. "Only twenty minutes later did I start noticing the change. Every time, the monster absorbed the soul on the battlefield."

"Every time, the monster's flame evaporated soldiers. He was growing stronger and stronger. He grew bigger, faster, and more powerful."

"No longer did the Orc leader's mighty hammer send the creature flying; no longer did the lizardman leader's spear pierce that thing's wings."

"And one by one, elite ones fell; now, probably just a few are left."

Then the orc stopped. He stopped muttering his quiet and rapid explanation, cueing Bernard that that was all the orc knew. So he stayed still for a few seconds after that, letting the wind ruffle his clothes and occasional drops to cool his head as he lay there under the pillar. To clear his head and determine what he should do next.

A second

Two seconds 

Five seconds

He stayed quiet as he lay there quietly, just like his dead comrades who lay beside him. Sometimes, his eye under the eyelid would rapidly shift. Sometimes, his breath would turn rapid as if the pillar wasn't only crushing his leg, but also his chest.

.

.

.

About a kilometer or two away from them, on the other side of the city, stood Katu and Kale, along with their bodyguards.

Their body was adorned with only a few cuts and bruises, despite having fought tens of beings in the past twenty or so minutes, a testament to their capabilities, one might say, or the Unveiling of their vulnerability, the rest would say. But in the end, for them to only get this much injured is quite an achievement.

They moved through the shadows, going between the houses, maneuvering between tricky situations as they marched between buildings. Their destination, the mink clan ground, in prospect, their vault.

(POV Katu)

The city reeked of sulfur and burning buildings, causing her and her mother to frown as they marched. Their footsteps were quiet as they moved through the shadows.

"How far are we?" she asked her mother once again.

"We are here," Kale, her mother, answered back.

As soon as she heard those words, she quickly ran towards where Kale was. And around the corner, she saw it—a beautiful, massive medieval castle with an enormous garden filled with flowers of various colors. Despite having smelled sulfur and burning just moments ago, she now smelled a flowery scent.

"Wow." She muttered. her eyes widened, and her legs stopped walking as she stood there stunned. Feeling shocked that the mansion she had heard of in the past, the main base of the Mink clan, was this big. She initially thought it would, at best, be two or three times bigger than their shop and their house, but no, the mansion was almost ten times bigger. With fountains, gardens, and towers of various sizes.

Kale, her mother tugged at her hand, causing Katu to wake up from her shock. "Let's go." She heard her mother mutter as they started circling the mansion.

After circling the mansion a bit, they entered the mansion through the side door. Which, due to the chaos that was spreading in the city, was left unguarded.

The inside of the castle was just as luxurious as the outside, filled with paintings and furniture of immense value. Adorned with plants that were even rarer than those outside. It glistered and caused the hallway to smell like the garden outside while also calming the minds of those who walked through the halls.

But they didn't have the luxury to wonder and admire the beauty as they were on a mission. At least everyone except Katu was.

She was admiring the beauty of the place like a stunned child while half heartedly searching for the vault. As, in her words, Moon is winning. They don't need to worry about anything. Not like the minks would destroy the artifact. The only leverage that they could possibly use.

Kale wanted to scold her, pull her ear, and drag her around, but she refrained from it, thinking it wasn't the time. Though she had written it in her little mental book.

And the fact that she was only fleetingly admiring instead of standing like a fool also helped. So they started searching for the vault, which for some reason was unexpectedly hard to find.

They traveled from room to room, section to section, but to no avail. And the stacks of bodies that they left became almost as big as a mound. Most of them are low class with only a few middle class. Even those in the middle class are at the very bottom of the middle class, making Kale and Katu's work much easier.

But there was also a con to this, as there was no high-ranking clan member present in the mansion. In prospect, it meant that there was not a single being who knew where the main vault was located; they only knew some side vaults. Which don't have what they need.

Just as they were thinking if they should leave and go to the battlefield. Grab an injured high-ranking member and interrogate him/her. Katu, ironically, the least focused member of their party. Stumbled upon the main vault.

"How?" Kale sighed as she massaged her forehead. Getting confused and a bit flustered at the fact that Katu, who in all fairness should have the least amount of possibility of finding the vault, found it.

And Katu, who stood beside her, said. "Because I am the BEST," she said while crossing her arms. A smug expression was adorned on her face. Probably feeling happy and satisfied at the fact that she managed to find it.

Kale just shook her head as she got to work. "Arial," Kale called out, the only female among her bodyguards. A female harpy got out of the line of guards and got to work, together with Kale, to disable the arrays of formations and traps that were hidden from the naked eye around the vault. 

Initially, it would have been extremely difficult, if not outright impossible, to enter the mansion, find the vault, disable the alarms, and turn off all the formations without anyone noticing. Especially with the added fact that they didn't even know where it was located

Heck, Rapim even engraved every formation in the room to sound the alarm and inform him if someone did. But because Rapim died and the alarm, which should have sounded, malfunctioned due to it, they unknowingly crossed the biggest hurdle, with only some basic alarms and formations still working.

And Arial is more than capable of turning off those still working.

Just as they started working, they heard a deafening roar. Shaking the very foundation of the castle they were in. While also causing cracks to form through the castle as it shook.

ROUAAAARRRRR

Katu's leg wobbled as she tried to stand up on her feet "Aaaa" she said as she steadied her leg while grabbing the pillar beside her. "What was that?" She wondered out loud as she looked out the window, her eyes wide with surprise and confusion. There, in the distance, just beyond the mountain, a small speck of shadow was visible. No bigger than a strand of hair.

And it was getting bigger fast.

.

.

.

.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Just created my Patreon account! If you'd like to support me, feel free to check it out:

patreon.com/Eldritch_wonder

Right now, I don't have any extra chapters or exclusive content, so everything is free. But you can still hang out, share your ideas, and chat with me there!

There's also a $1 tier if you want to support me, but since I don't have extra content yet, it might not be worth it—just putting it out there!