034.005

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Breath of Air

Distractions

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The demon swung her scythe directly toward Alyssa.

Alyssa jumped. She flung herself through the air, slamming into a shocked Fela with all her weight. They hit the ground hard. Fela had it worse with Alyssa landing on top of her, but the fluffy hellhound was strong. She wouldn’t be hurt by a little tackle.

That scythe would have hurt a whole lot more.

Rolling off Fela away from the demon, Alyssa sprang to her feet with a Spectral Chains already forming at her fingertips.

But the spell died off as she took in the situation.

The true demon wasn’t even looking in her direction. Not anymore. Her scythe was down at her opposite side, posed as if she had just finished her swing.

In front of the true demon, right behind where Alyssa had been standing before tackling Fela, the silver-filigree form of a Patience stood with its spear poised to strike. Only it wasn’t striking. It wasn’t moving at all. Its white wings slowly drooped downward, losing any tension in them.

The demon lifted her scythe once again. Not the quick flash of movement that she had made earlier. She simply nudged it toward the Patience, poking it lightly in the chest of its doll-like form.

Its body rocked backward, but its head came off its shoulders at the neck, rolling forward to the demon’s feet. As the body hit the ground with a thud at Alyssa’s side, the demon brought her heel down on its porcelain mask, shattering it into pieces.

Alyssa backed up, throwing a quick glance around to make sure there wasn’t a second member of the Astral Authority around. There wasn’t, not as far as she could tell. Just the decapitated Patience, the deceased infected, the true demon, and Fela—who was back on her feet and backing away from the Patience along with Alyssa.

“It’s that thing again, isn’t it?” Fela said. “The one that collects their souls? I can smell it.”

“Can’t see it?”

“There was a brief haze right when it attacked, but… you got in the way.”

“Sorry. But yeah. The true demon is here, standing in the larger pentagram.” As Alyssa spoke, the demon swung her scythe once again. Although she was well out of reach, Alyssa still jumped a few steps back. But the demon still wasn’t aiming at her. Rather, the chipped blade crossed right through the corpse of the infected. It slid through with far less effort than when Alyssa used her spectral scythe to remove souls. Rather than cling to the tip of the chipped scythe, the pentagram opened up underneath the body, drawing the soul directly through.

Only when the new pentagram faded from the burning embers to a regular etching in the dirt did the demon finally look directly at Alyssa. She raised her hand in a jovial wave, but unlike every other time the demon had appeared and waved, there was a certain amount of exhaustion to her movements. It was a subtle thing. If asked, Alyssa wouldn’t be able to pinpoint exactly what about the wave made it look tired. Maybe it was the slight sigh as the demon lifted her arm or maybe it was the angle of the wave.

The wave got cut off early as a golden portal opened up just behind the demon. A kick of the demon’s boot got the heavy scythe moving even with the demon’s other hand in the air. It tore through the golden border of the portal, rending space itself. Whatever was coming through didn’t make it before the starry field behind the golden border collapsed into a tiny point.

Alyssa had to shield her eyes from the momentary flash of light.

This time, the demon let out an actual sigh before shooting a mild glare at Alyssa.

It was enough to make her almost feel sorry for the demon. Maybe she would even consider apologizing if the demon wasn’t literally an enemy of all living humans. Instead, Alyssa shot the glare right back. “You should leave before you draw more here.” Draw more to me, more like. Just because the Astral Authority was focused on the demon at the moment didn’t mean that they wouldn’t take a swipe at her if the opportunity presented itself.

In fact, if a Kindness spotted her, they might just remember their original purpose in coming to this world. Just the lower level Patiences and grunts were annoying and dangerous, but there were still three other Cardinal Virtues. Assuming they hadn’t joined with the Justice in attacking the pit. Even if they had, Iosefael hadn’t actually said that there was only one of each type of the Virtues. There could be a dozen Justices out there for all Alyssa knew.

The thought had her shuddering. But her thoughts weren’t so distracting that she missed the casual shrug of the demon’s shoulders, followed by some one-handed gesticulating. There were no words accompanying the gesticulation.

“Oh, so we’re back to charades again,” Alyssa said, irritated. It couldn’t be coincidence that the demon had popped up just as Alyssa arrived at the body. It had to have been waiting just for her. That meant that she had something to say. But if that something involved sitting around playing twenty questions while the Astral Authority harassed them, the demon could go screw herself. “I know you can speak. So either speak or leave. Or rather, just leave. Unless you’re here to tell me that you are nearing victory over the Astral Authority and Tenebrael doesn’t have to worry anymore.” Judging by the Astral Authority popping up here, that was probably not what was happening.

Sure enough, the demon shook her head. The little scraps of hair poking out at all angles made her look rather like a sea urchin as the motion made it stand on end.

“I thought not,” Alyssa said, backing away. “Then we’ve nothing to talk about. You can go back to your fight. Fela, we should get out of here.”

“But…” The hellhound’s eyes drifted toward the circles on the ground. Leaving without destroying them went against practically everything she had learned since starting her job as a professional demon hunter in Lyria.

Two circles shouldn’t be a big issue. Not for a few minutes, at least. If they walked away until the demon disappeared, returning and quickly upheaving the land enough to destroy the pentagrams would be a simple matter. So long as the demon was around, Alyssa wasn’t willing to get closer. From the brief fight in Lyria between the demon and a Patience, Alyssa knew that she could leave that pentagram. But that was the only time that she had actually seen it happen. Every other time the demon appeared, she preferred to stay well within its boundaries with only the scythe leaving.

So Alyssa grabbed hold of Fela’s arm and started pulling.

They made it three steps before the golden light of a portal bathed the small grove.

A massive portal opened to the true demon’s side. One of the largest Alyssa had seen. A lion-like forearm, as big as a small car, slammed into the ground. A second paw quickly followed.

Unlike the previous times, the demon did not attack. She didn’t swipe at the portal to collapse it. Neither did she strike the approaching Equanimity. Instead, she winked at Alyssa—or blinked, it was always hard to tell with only one eye visible—and waved. Flames in the pentagram flared, obscuring Alyssa’s vision of the demon.

The Equanimity’s claws cut straight through the pillar of fire without resistance.

The demon was gone. Vanished back to the pit or wherever it came from.

But the Equanimity was still emerging from the portal. The majority of its body matched with its lion-like paws. A pair of wings sprouted off mid-back, while the rest of it was a giant chimera with a scorpion’s tail, but no head. Its snake-like neck ended abruptly with yet another of those porcelain masks sitting on the stump. That neck whipped around, staring at the embers still burning in the pentagram where the demon had stood only moments ago. It snapped to the corpse of the infected.

While it moved and inspected, it was silent. Utterly silent. A creature like that, if it weren’t some fake-angel, would likely be making some noise. Maybe even a roar of frustration or repeated sniffs as it tried to locate its missing prey. But it just swooped around, observing.

Alyssa tried to remain as still as possible, as silent as possible. She didn’t even cast a spell for fear that the shimmering field of fractal glass might alert it to her presence. Aside from the occasional swipes while fleeing from the Astral Authority, she had never actually seen an Equanimity in action before. She didn’t know how fast they could move or how far the reach on that long scorpion’s tail was. But she had a sinking feeling that she was well within range.

At her side, Fela was being just as wary. Since the Astral Authority could be seen by mortals, Fela had to be well aware of the threat they were standing in front of.

Please just go chase after the demon, Alyssa thought, watching its head as it moved back to inspect the pentagram where the demon vanished.

But the moment the thought crossed her mind, the Equanimity reared on its hind legs.

Alyssa, still grabbing hold of Fela’s arm, cast a quick Shorten Distance. She practically shoved Fela thirty feet away, clearing the area just as the Equanimity crashed back down. One of its paws landed on the corpse. Blood and bone splattered across the grove.

Alyssa didn’t stop to watch what happened next. She gave Fela a shove.

“Run!” Alyssa shouted.

“I’m not leaving you!”

“I’ll be fine. I can use Tenebrael’s magic, but you…”

“If you do, won’t more come?”

A risk, but…

After casting another Shorten Distance to get a lead, Alyssa took off in her own sprint. Fela kept up at her side, but the hellhound could definitely go much faster than she could. The stupid mutt was keeping pace just to stick with Alyssa.

It had definitely taken notice of their presence. Trees were falling left and right, sending sharp cracks through the forest as the trunks broke with more lighter cracks from branches breaking. Leaves cushioned their falling, making the inevitable landing far less noisy, but no less terrifying to look at.

All the while, the actual Equanimity remained silent as it chased them.

The scorpion tail lanced between trees, slamming into the earth near Alyssa. One step slower would have seen her skewered.

“Just go!” Alyssa shouted, breaking off from Fela in the hopes that it was chasing her.

Though a few steps delayed, Fela turned, angling herself to keep in line with Alyssa. Though she did accelerate until she was a few steps ahead.

“Pathetic wretches dare to abandon their allies, leaving them to fight the demons while they chase after unrelated prey? Tenebrael! Let us show this deserter what happens to those who dare to face us.” Alyssa pulled her pistol out of its holster, stopped running, turned, and fired.

A black beam of blinding light lanced between the felled trees, dodging one falling, and slammed straight into the chest of the Equanimity. Alyssa pulled the trigger three more times. Three more black beams fired out.

Alyssa didn’t stop there. The Equanimity was larger than anything she had fired at before. And it wasn’t stopping even with four gaping holes in its chest. She pulled the trigger again and again and again. Its scorpion tail was reared back for another stab. Alyssa didn’t flinch. She lifted her aim…

And got yanked to the side as Fela grabbed her around the waist.

“What are you doing?” Alyssa shouted as Fela picked her right up and started carrying her off.

“What am I doing? What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“I’m trying to win!”

“Win? Did you even look up?”

Up? Fela had shifted her into something resembling a fireman’s carry, so it took a bit of craning of her neck to look to the sky.

A draconic Diligence had its mask split vertically in two, gathering golden light behind that mask in preparation to fire. Two Patiences flanked it on either side.

“Teleporting!” Alyssa shouted an instant before she Shortened Distance.

Even with the warning, Fela still stumbled, almost sending them both to the ground.

But they were clear from the beam of light that slammed into the forest behind them.

That bitch, Alyssa thought to herself. The demon clearly used them to get a bit of a reprieve. Even if it wasn’t enough to draw the attention of a Justice, it was enough to get some of the lower level things off her back for a short time.

As Fela carried her away, Alyssa cast an Empty Vessel spell. However, even as the shards of glass formed up around the two of them, the Astral Authority didn’t stop chasing. It wasn’t the same way that they had followed the same direction Alyssa was heading in a vague sense like they had done for a time in Lyria and while leaving Illuna. Even after Fela changed directions, the nearest Kindness followed her with its porcelain mask.

Kasita had noted that the Astral Authority was getting better at locating uses of Tenebrael’s magic before arriving at Owlcroft. But now, it seemed that the Astral Authority had locked onto her even despite using the cloaking magic.

“Alright. That’s bad,” Alyssa muttered, giving herself a sardonic chuckle. “Put me down. Then run away. They’ll chase me. I… I’ll get away somehow.”

“Is this about Izsha?” Fela managed to shout even as she bolted over a large boulder. The ride on her back wasn’t nearly as smooth as the ride on a draken’s back.

The landing briefly knocked the air out of Alyssa’s lungs, keeping her from responding.

It did nothing to stop Fela from talking. “I’m not going to leave you just because you’re scared I might get hurt. I like you. You saved me, you’ve been a good friend. I’m not going to abandon you because Izsha got hurt.”

“That— Telep—” was as far as Alyssa got before she had to Shorten Distance again, keeping them out of range from another Diligence blast. “You stupid mutt. We… We need intervention. Our enemies cannot be outrun. Though they aren’t angels, their stamina is surely endless. Even if it isn’t, there are uncountable reserves just waiting for the signal to enter into the fray. Throne only knows why they haven’t fallen upon us like an ocean wave.” Fela was quick, but with her being weighed down with a person over her shoulders, she wasn’t anywhere near the speed of Izsha. The Astral Authority was closing in and only repeated Shorten Distances were keeping them at bay.

And Alyssa’s supply of that particular spell was going to run out sooner rather than later.

The rest of her spells weren’t going to do much good. The Astral Authority lacked souls. Using a scythe designed to remove the soul probably wouldn’t have much of an effect. A fireball might—those people in Illuna had managed to kill an Astral Authority thing using mundane magic and even mundaner weapons—but those were limited as well. She had an Annihilator. Several, in fact. But using them without knowing what was behind her target was just asking to wipe out small towns. Besides that, there were Astral Authority fake-angels flying about everywhere now, including in front of them.

Alyssa, pistol still in hand, fired ahead of them. A black beam struck a Patience even without her saying anything.

Fela ran right over its falling body without the slightest hesitation.

“Intervention can take many forms,” Alyssa continued. “From felling our foes to immobilizing them long enough to escape their sight. Even a quick escape might work. Whatever form intervention takes, Tenebrael! Get us the hell out of here!”

When nothing immediately happened as Alyssa shouted, a thought crossed her mind. Have I been relying on her too much? There was a time when Alyssa had wanted to avoid relying on Tenebrael for anything at all. That had lasted right up until Tenebrael disappeared. And then… after getting the connection between them active at all times, she had been using and abusing it for every situation. She had come to expect miracles to manifest whenever she wanted. Whenever she was in trouble. To gain deliverance from any situation that troubled her.

Statistically speaking, even assuming that every word of every religious text on Earth was true, she had likely run through more miracles in the last month than any miracle-worker had in their entire lifetimes. If she continued at this pace, by six more months, she might beat out every miracle-worker put together.

Granted, most of them probably didn’t have regular conversations with angels, but the point still stood.

Even as a shimmering blue portal opened in front of Fela—and as Fela charged in less because she wanted to and more because she couldn’t stop in time—Alyssa had to wonder if she shouldn’t find alternate ways of solving her own problems.

The other side of the portal collapsed with a rush, barely not shearing off the ends of Alyssa’s hair with how quickly it closed.

“Where are we?” Fela said. Now that she wasn’t rushing through the forest, Alyssa could feel her breathing. Her chest heaved and shrank every second as she sucked in fresh air. Both her arms trembled slightly and her stance wasn’t all that steady. “Your house?” she continued between breaths. “But the walls are all wrong.”

Alyssa, deciding to get off the hellhound before the poor girl collapsed in exhaustion, landed on smooth black tile. There wasn’t much to look around at. The chamber was small. Ten feet high, ten feet wide, ten feet long. The entirety of the interior was lined with that same black tile material. The same stuff that Tenebrael’s statue and temple were made from. It was a familiar location.

“Tenebrael’s isolation box. She sticks angels here for a time when she doesn’t want them doing anything because… it cuts off their connection to the Throne. Which is probably why we are here. The Astral Authority must not be able to detect us while we’re inside.”

“Won’t they notice as soon as we leave? If they’re sensing the portals and other things you do…”

“Maybe. Tenebrael might have a plan for that,” Alyssa said, walking forward. Unlike last time, when the room had been a featureless empty cube, it was now lightly furnished. And the furnishings were modern. There was a long couch, a queen-sized bed, a shelf full of books, even some drapes over a cartoonish drawing of a window on one of the walls. A small area had been partitioned off by a counter. Behind it was a stove, a microwave, and a fridge.

“For now,” Alyssa said, “I think we’re meant to stay here. Even if we weren’t, I don’t think it would be a wise idea to return before the Astral Authority has had a chance to calm down some.”

Fela stayed silent for a long moment, staring at Alyssa all the while. Eventually, she started to get a better look around the room. Her eyes stopped at the miniature kitchen. “Hey, if this is like your house, is it going to have some of that food I ate that one time?”

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