Chapter 13: Leviathan

The townspeople gasped, whispers exchanged among the crowds, they could not believe the sight they were seeing. I returned to my senses, trying to remember what happened. Immediately, I deflected the archbishop's arm that came at my face, it made a metallic sound, sending him crashing into the cathedral supporting pillar.

As I lifted my hand to my face, an unfamiliar sensation touched my skin. I refocused my eyes on my hand, it was covered by dark leather with scales like that of a reptile, with talons at the finger tip like that of a falcon. My entire right arm was jotting out spines and scales, completely ripped through the ceremonial robe Uriel had given me. My left hand was half covered, still retaining the hand I always knew but it was beginning to form the scales in the same way. In my arms was Lilia, she still had the gaping hole on her chest, her breathing stopped. I immediately placed my scale hand where the hole was, within an instant, the scales migrated to her chest. It made a crunching sound, I winced at the pain, it felt like the rough skin was tearing off forcefully as it moved onto Lilia’s chest. After a few moments, color came back to Lilia’s face, her breathing steady.

Uriel immediately flew down and landed a few feet from me. Her face in horror as she walked slowly towards Lilia.

“Uriel please, please save Lilia,” I cried. Uriel hesitated for a moment before she placed her palm where the hole had been patched by my scales. She recited a spell, a golden light washed over Lilia.

“Hainé, your appearance, you look like…” Uriel’s voice trembled.

“Like a filthy demon.”

Arthur staggered, he walked towards us. I stood up, I noticed my own feet had transformed too, to the townspeople, I probably look like a monster.

The archbishop's mouth curved into a smile, then conjured a spell, mirage mist filled the hall, then eventually refocused onto me.

I looked at myself in the vision, my robe had mostly been torn. All my limbs were partially covered in dragon scales. I had small scales below my eyes, it resembled the serpent tears. On top of my head were a pair of horns, in the center lighting up was a shape that looked like a crown. I remember that shape, it was similar to the Demon Lord’s.

“Behold! People of Albus, I have exposed the true identity of the Armiger, it seemed she had fallen into fiend’s hand and had transformed into a demon.”

The archbishop was making a speech as he pointed towards me, even now he was trying to make use of the situation and painted himself to be the victim. Any sane person would have seen what he did to Lilia. He was truly corrupted to the core. I recalled Kain’s words in the dream, the archbishop had been corrupted inside out.

“Haine, no, Haine the Scornful! I, Archbishop Arthur Holds, shall liberate you of demonic blight, and send you to Eris's side!”

Arthur declared, he recited several incantations, and the red magic matrix appeared before him. I recognized them, it was the same back in the tower. There was no doubt in my mind, Falcie had fused with Arthur himself. He fired several volleys at me, I just stood my ground as they came. A honeycomb shaped barrier appeared before me, deflecting the beams off its course, several ricochets into the wall and windows, smashing everything in its path. The onlookers screamed below, they all started evacuating from the church. The knight abandoned their posts and began guiding the people to safety.

Arthur’s face was red with anger and frustration, he fired more volleys, this time he aimed at Lilia and Uriel. I dashed in front of them, the beams tore through my arms, blood spilling on the tiled flooring. I dropped to my knee as the pain rang through my body.

“How you like that you demon, that’s what you deserved,” Arthur mocked. As he limped towards me, he spotted Durandal on the floor nearby.

“You’re a filthy demon, now so you’re no longer worthy of this,” the archbishop laughed as he reached for the sword. Upon a single touch, it deflected his hand and his body burst into silver flames.

“But why! You cannot tell me this demon is still considered as its bearer!”

Arthur yelled as his screams doused in holy flames.

“Arthur, you’ve been taken as a demon too?” Uriel exclaimed.

“Yes, Miss Uriel, he has been corrupted, that silver flame is the proof of that,” I said under my breath, grabbing onto my bleeding arm.

The corrupted archbishop fought off the flame then kicked the ground and lunged at me, his arm winding up the thrust motion for the third time. I stood up unsteadily and readied my right dragon arm. I mirrored his motion of arm thrust and mimicked his body movement. As he came into view, I deflected his blows with my right arm, before summoning Durandal in my left hand and jammed it straight into his shoulder.

Arthur croaked from the pain with the silver brand, before engulfed in silver flames again.

“Impossible! Why has the Gods forsaken me, I am worthy! I am worthy!”

His voice drowned out by the crackling of the flame, eventually he lay motionless on the elevated podium.

“It’s finally over, Lilia.”

I collapsed to my knees, coughing up blood, the red droplets made my head dizzy.

Uriel stared in shock as she held Lilia, it looked like she had treated the little girl of the fatal wound. I mustered all my strength, and staggered over to her side. She was noticeably breathing, I let out a sigh of relief at the sight.

Suddenly a clap resounded above me, I scanned the ceiling of the noise, eventually I spotted a handful of angels descending through the broken stained glass window.

“Well done Lady Armiger, you outdone yourself,” a man’s voice called out, he continued clapping as he landed on the vacant elevated seats where the important people had sat.

“Your Grace! What are you doing here?” Uriel yelled, seemingly knowing the man. Compared to Uriel wings, the man had eight wings behind him. I wondered what the significance could be. He looked incredibly beautiful, his face was as though he was carved from marbles.

“I had notified him of the ceremony last night, and we flew all the way from Selestia since dawn,” Gabriel spoke up, standing next to the eight winged angel.

“He notified me something… fascinating, and to think I get to witness it first hand, literally.”

The man laughed, pointing at me, or rather at Durandal.

“To think, a demon like you can hold a holy brand forged by the Gods. It is both blasphemous and treasonous.”

I held the sword in my hand, it was singeing my hands in places where the scales had formed. Almost as if it was trying to cleanse off the demon transformation. It felt like hot needles prickling at my skin.

“Gabriel, dismissed her,” the man commanded.

Both Gabriel and Uriel's faces went white at the order.

“Your Grace!”

“We cannot!”

The angels said simultaneously, Uriel gently let Lilia head laid on the floor as she stood up to make her stance.

“She’s just a young girl! She didn’t ask for this!” Uriel protested, her arm extended right in front of me.

“That’s right, Your Grace, there has to be an explanation as to why she looked like that,” Gabriel paused, turned to look at Uriel and they both nodded to each other.

“Also, it would be another decade if not more for the next generation of Armiger, we are losing against the fiends, we can’t afford to wait that long.”

The eight winged angel thought to himself for a moment before speaking up again.

“Then dismissal is the right thing to do, what’s a decade or two matter, we are eternal beings, we can afford that time,” the man said cynically.

“Ask yourself this, can you accept that this demon will be welcomed at the frontline, it won’t be long if she annihilates our own troops at the border if she loses control to the demon side.”

Both angel mentors were shocked at the man’s cold response.

“Look, your fellow clergyman was brought down by her, you think she’s trustworthy after she raised her hand against the church, what if it was either of you,” the man asked solemnly, pointing at the fallen archbishop laying still nearby. It was only logical, I had no way to control this form. I only accepted it to save Lilia, going forward I didn’t know what was going to happen to me.

Both angels bit their lips, unable to fight the rhetoric which the eight wings man had declared. I tugged on Uriel's dress, and shook my head. It was enough, Lilia was safe now, I had done what I needed to do, and to receive punishment for taking on this form. I didn’t mind.

“Uriel, dismiss her, that’s an order.”

The tanned angel turned to face me, she raised her hand with a magic matrix at the palm. A golden light illuminated my scaly face. She bit down her teeth hard, bloods can be seen dripping from her mouth. I smiled at her, hopefully my expression doesn’t make it any harder for her. I convinced myself this was fine. Maybe Lilia can go on her adventure without me.

“To hell with that!”

A voice yell, I turned to look at the entrance, there stood a young man I do not recognize. He wore black heavy armor, his dark hair contrasting well with his young face. He approached us from below the podium. The eight-winged angel immediately looked displeased as he approached.

“What is the infamous vagrant hero doing here, this is holy matters and church affairs, outsiders like you should stay out.”

The man spoke sternly, he was raising his voice. It seemed like this wasn’t their first meeting judging the way the high angel was addressing him.

“Telling an innocent girl to off herself, and asking your lackeys to do it for you, you’re way more egoistic since I last saw you,” the black-haired young man said sarcastically.

“Impudence, watch your tongue, boy!”

The angels behind the high angel spoke up. I hadn’t realized there were two other angels presents as well.

“He got a point, say, where is the old man, is he so busy that he sent a seraph like you here?”

Another voice spoke up, I recognized him. I had accidentally bumped into him that one evening when I snuck out. His handsome looking face doesn’t lose to the high angel at all. Seraph, I had read that in one of Uriel's books, it was the highest seat in the angel hierarchy.

“You…” the seraph growled, instantly a magic matrix appeared and shot at the red headed man a golden light. It was so fast, there wasn’t even an incantation, even both Gabriel and Uriel required an incantation to cast magic. The red-haired man countered by casting a fire spell in the same fashion. He launched a fire ball at the golden beam, both clashed and exploded in midair.

“I know you and I never get along, Michael, but is that how you treat your brother,” the haired man provoked.

“You are no brother of mine, not when you go by Luke these days,” the seraph named Michael fired back.

The air felt tense, almost as if a storm was going to break out between these newly contenders. Moments passed by without a word, after some time, the seraph spoke of.

“Why are you here, fable derelict hero,” Michael demanded.

“I’m here for her,” the adventurer answered sharply, ignoring the fact the seraph called him a failure.

“What? To make amends? You’re fooling no one, you are the reason why the realms are the way they are today!”

The young man said nothing, he continued to walk forward deeper into the cathedral. Seraph Michael was making accusations towards him as if he was a criminal.

The seraph grew restless, he aimed his matrix at the young man, and fired a light ray at the armored adventurer. He made no intention to dodge, it hit him head on. An explosion filled the church, lifting the dirt into the air. As the dust dissipated, he jumped out of the smoke and landed next to me. I gave him a look of astonishment, his face looked like he wasn’t from this realm. On his cheeks was a streak of blood, it looked like that ray had grazed him mere moments ago. He had black hair, his eyes were blue with pupils like that of a cat.

“Are you all right?”

The adventurer extended his hand to me with a soft smile. I hesitated for a moment but something about him made him strangely trustworthy. As I reached to accept his hand, a sound of something inhuman groaned nearby. Arthur’s body contorted in a way that wasn’t human. Bone was cracking, his limbs twisted in weird directions, eventually the face I remembered all too well gazed at us with its death chilling eye.

“So much for a host, he was incompetent as I expected,” the one-eyed demon groaned, its bass filled voice resounded around the hall. It was a voice I thought I never would hear again.

“You damned thing, what have you with Arthur!”

Uriel conjured multiple light spears, all aimed at the demon Falcie. Her eyes were filled with intense sorrow, she must’ve cared a lot about the old archbishop.

“Didn’t you see? Your dear Armiger there dealt the finishing blow, I had to detach from his essence so fast so I wouldn’t have died with him.”

The demon laughed, with lightning speed, Uriel’s spears punctured its shoulder and pinned it against the wall.

“He may not be the man I once knew, but he was someone I was entrusted by someone dear to me,” Uriel paused, she summoned more spears around her.

“Hainé isn’t at fault, you were the one who tricked him, and killed him!”

The angel fired her spears at the demon, with its body pinned by the earlier javelin, it shouldn’t be able to move. However, I was dead wrong. It turned itself in a shadow and slithered towards Uriel like a snake. A tendril emerged from its back, and came at Uriel's chest at high speed. I recognized that attack from my dreams.

I summoned strength to my legs, grab a hold of Durandal, it stung me with its flame, but I held on and deflected the tendril off of its trajectory. I let go of the brand due to immense burning pain, it floated in the air for a moment. However, the adventurer grabbed it out of mid air and readied a slashing motion. As the scene unfolding before my eyes, I recalled back to the fairytale book I read to Charles. There a hero slayed a dragon with a sword above his head, in one well swoop, he sliced it in half instantly killing the dragon. Here I witnessed the same adventurer as though he was a hero.

“Ars Arcanum: Mirrored Divide!”

He shouted as he tore the demon cleanly in half with the silver sword, it made a reflection of the demon before splitting it, then the silver flame lit it on fire.

It screamed in pain as its body slowly burned to cinder.

“Always know how to show off,” the red-haired man whistled. He stood next to me, I hadn’t noticed him at all. My mind questioned how he got to the elevated platform so fast.

“Someone almost died, and that’s your concern?”

The adventurer walked over and raised his hand. I thought he was going to slap the red haired man, but they both greeted each other with a high five.

“Luce, won’t you come back to Selestia with us?” Uriel raised her voice.

“I cannot, your master was the one who banished me, remember?”

Uriel looked dejected, she knew already why he was an adventurer. But to her, it was something that she wanted to confirm.

“That man is no longer welcome in our home, Uriel, you’re wasting your breath,” Gabriel said as he adjusted his glasses.

“Don’t call him by that name, he has long abandoned it,” Michael commanded, then he stared at the hero. Durandal was still in his hand.

“How are you able to hold that,” Michael interrogated, pointing at the silver sword.

“This? It’s a long story, one of which you probably are not interested in hearing, because of my failures two years ago,” the hero said sarcastically.

“Gabriel, we’re leaving,” the seraph turned his back, signaling to the other angel escort to follow him.

“But Your Grace, what of the Armiger,” one of the angels asked.

“We’ll collect her in due time, we have been here too long,” Michael declared, conjuring a spell. A door appeared in midair, the angels followed Michael slowly behind.

“Luce. If I see you again, I’ll kill you on the spot, remember that.” Michael shot a hostile look towards Luke, then turned towards me, his eyes were scary. He beckoned at Gabriel with his hand, looking to be a code only he would understand, before disappearing into the door as it closed.

“Scary, and he said not to call me by that name, family really is a mystery,” he paused, then looked towards the two angels who were left behind.

“You’re not following him? Uriel, Gabriel.”

Luke crossed his arms, pointing towards the fading white door in the sky.

“We have our duties, and we have to clean all this up,” Gabriel shook his head.

“I want to give him a proper burial, Gabriel will you help me,” Uriel asked earnestly, Gabriel nodded at the request.

“Are you all right, nice job with that maneuver,” the black haired adventurer offered his hand again. This time I took his offer and helped myself up with his help. Then I noticed my hand was still looking like that of a dragon, I immediately flustered and retracted it from his hand.

“I’m fine, thank you for saving us,” I lowered my head in gratitude.

Suddenly I staggered, clasping onto my chest, feeling a burning sensation spreading through my upper body. I remember this pain, it was the same when the little serpent had entered me earlier. But now it was as if my body was being burned alive from the insides.

“This is bad, Luke give me a hand!”

The hero yelled, Luke read his thoughts and unsheathed a ruby looking sword and stabbed into the ground where I stand. The black haired hero took out a circle looking blade and placed it in one corner, then grabbed Durandal in another corner, forming a triangle around me.

Luke started an incantation, he drew the letters alongside the triangle matrix beneath my feet.

“What are you two doing, what is happening to her?” Uriel yelled at both adventurers.

“It’s demonization, she’s relapsing, the demon in her is taking over, we need to separate them!”

The black-haired hero replied, he was conjuring a different type of spell in tandem with Luke.

“Such magic exists? Impossible,” Gabriel exclaimed.

“It used to not exist, I spent the last two years wandering and researching for it, now it’s the fruit of my labor.”

As the matrix writing finished, the spell formed numerous ethereal blocks in the air and formed a shell around me. At the same time, another shell formed on the hero’s side.

I felt the pain subsided for a second then a different feeling washed over me, it felt like I was being ripped in half. I screamed at the pain. Then from the shell emerged a serpent, the same one that was with the demon lord earlier.

“As I thought it was you,” the hero sighed, recognizing the small flying lizard.

I rubbed my eyes, and suddenly I realized my hand had gone back to normal. The dragon scales were nowhere in sight. The horns above my head had disappeared too. The only thing that remained unchanged was that my rope had been torn.

I stood up, walking over to the shell that trapped the serpent. It was crazy to believe it was inside me giving me all that form and power.

Both Uriel and Gabriel looked at me shocked, as if they had seen a miracle.

“What is it anyway, you looked like you seemed to have an idea,” Luke asked.

“It’s a Leviathan, a baby one at that,” the hero answered.

On its head was a blue jewel, suddenly the gem lit up, an ethereal tether traced to my neck. I brushed my silver hair aside, revealing a blue gem of the same color. I panicked and tried peeling it off with my nails, but it felt like it had become part of my skin.

“Nine hells, it linked its life with her, the spell couldn’t completely separate them,” the hero cursed.

“So what happens now,” I asked.

“We managed to separate it from you for the time being, but your life essence is directly connected to it, in short, if it dies, you will too,” Luke explained.

My heart skipped a beat after the revelation, then I realized something. I ran over to Lilia who was lying unconscious nearby. The scale on her chest that I had used to heal her had completely faded. In its place now was a blue gem stone similar to the one on my neck.

Uriel’s face went pale, then looked at the small serpent.

“Both girls' lives… are connected to this Leviathan?”