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Chapter 5

"Why won't this damn blood come off?"
Under a small cascade, Axel was trying to wash off the blood from his body and wings. Teeth clenching, he was brushing his skin harder and harder. After a while, his body was clean, but his wings would forever remain stained with the blood of his comrades.
Resigned, he fell on his knees, head into his hands.Why did this happen? This was supposed to be the most glorious day for him, he trained all his life for this moment when he will serve the Heaven Empire.
He wanted to protect the innocent, to demolish the evil kingdoms and he believed in the fair judgment of his guardian, Azeria, yet today, everything turned upside down for him.
Sobbing uncontrollably, he smashed the rocks in front of him. What was he supposed to do now? Every empire will desire his death presumably, especially the guardian.
Azeria ... His breath intensified at the thought of her, sitting all mighty in her throne room, issuing orders and controlling everyone as a puppet as she desires. It wasn't fair and somehow it didn't feel too different than the way the Hell Empire conducted their business.
"My, my... how the mighty have fallen." a mocking rang through the woods.
It was a voice Axel could recognize in an instant, but he couldn't pinpoint its location.
"What do you want now demoness?" shouted Axel enraged and scouting carefully the trees and hills.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to harm you, I'm just an observer from here on." chuckled Eryna.
"Why don' you come to discuss face to face, observer?" responded the young angel.
"I could think of so many more fun things we could do, face to face." purred the succubus.
Disgust and fury made Axel's skin crawl as he spread his wings, preparing to fly.
"I wouldn't do such a careless thing, the skies are crowded with Azeria's soldiers looking for you." remarked Eryna.
He knew she was right, they would all be alerted by his location and at this point he didn't knew the limit of his powers.
"Are you here just to mock me, or you actually have something to say?" asked Axel, as he sat on a rock.
"It just so happens that both of us share the same interest now, the see that damn seraphim dead, so I thought that an alliance would be in order." said Eryna, as if nothing happened before.
"An alliance? With you? I would rather bathe in a lava river, considering you are the reason why Azeria desires my death now." growled angry the angel.
The demoness sighed, as if her point was so obvious and couldn't understand why he was so stubborn now "My dear angel, my plan was for you to die from that bite, however you took the place of the hybrid now. From there on, I didn't interfere with anything. If the crazy guardian wants to kill you, that's her decision alone."
Somehow it made sense everything she said, but Axel still couldn't bring himself to trust her completely.
"And what will your master say about an alliance with a creature such as myself?"
The question remained without an answer for a couple of moments.
"Let's just say that while he doesn't necessary agree with my methods, the result of it will benefit all of us." terminated the conversation Eryna as she disappeared in a smoke cloud visible above the cascade.
Axel looked up for a couple of seconds, then down at the earth beneath him. He didn't want to participate in a plan with the empire he despised the most, however he wished to see those who betrayed him, fall.

Chapter 4

"Eryna, I heard you caused quite the commotion in the Heaven Empire..."
"I know, it was a brilliant idea." Eryna couldn't help but take pride in her role that led to the recent events. She was sitting cross-legged on a stone, playing with a small ball of fire.
"Please refresh my memory, when did I ever gave you permission to do that?" Malphas' threatening voice filled the cave they were in. The guardian of the Hell Empire sat on a fiery throne, source of the lava pouring out through the empire. He looked almost like an obsidian statue, standing still, with red eyes and charcoal wings beneath him. Even though he wasn't moving, the succubus could feel his malevolence and rage pouring out.
For one split second, Eryna felt chills down her spine, "I thought this would please you, seeing as this conflict will only grow inside the Heaven Empire."
"You went all by yourself and scouted the location of the hybrid's grave. After that, you asked for the help of the Death Empire and resurrected the hybrid, and attacked one of the angels' town. Do I need to remind you what are the consequences of insubordination, demoness?" The voice resounding from the statue was growing more and more menacing and Eryna was struggling to keep her calm in front of him.
"All I did was to end this eternal war and bring glory to our empire, while you're just sitting on your mighty throne, inspiring fear in each and everyone that steps outside your rule!" shouted the succubus, barely controlling her frustration.
"Careful, Eryna, we don't want to say something that we might regret later, do we?" the growl in Malphas' voice caused the demoness to clench her fists even more. "Now tell me, was this planned all along, to corrupt that young angel?"
That was a good question, as the plan derailed from its original route.
"No..." admitted Eryna. "The plan was for the hybrid to feed on one of the angels and grow even stronger. Then we would've subsided and have him do our work. But something inside that damn angel killed it and he took all its powers. Even so, the angels declared war on him and he swore to kill their guardian."
"You are so blinded by your self-confidence and your boredom that can't see flaws in your little plan. What if that corrupted angel decides one day to attack us? Or to cross blades with you? You think you can defeat him now?" asked Malphas.
"That really doesn't matter now. The way I see it, as long as we don't interfere, he will do our job." responded careless the succubus.
"Be careful Eryna, you don't want anyone thinking you're planning something against your own empire." warned Malphas.
"Now, why would you think that my lord?" asked coy the demoness.
"We both know this wouldn't be the first time that you switch sides." Malphas' voice groaned.
"It wasn't by choice that I fell the first time," responded Eryna getting up to leave, "besides, there can't be a place deeper than Hell that you can go in."
"That you know off, succubus."
That last line from Malphas rang in Eryna's ears as she vanished in a smoke cloud. She reappeared on a cliff near the border of the Heaven Empire.
There, underneath a cascade, sat Axel with his head down, trying to wash away the blood from his body.
For one split second, Eryna couldn't help but feel his pain as she once fell from grace too.

Chapter 3

"Why commander..." groaned Axel, teeth clenching in pain, "why have you forsaken me?"
The other angels turned towards him, surprised to see that he's still alive, but Thaedian kept still and drew the sword from his victim, causing him even more pain and blood to spill out.
"You are a defiled creature now Axel, you betrayed every moral principle of this empire the minute you let that creature lay its hands on you and you have no one to blame for this but yourself for being weak." responded stone cold the paladin.
"You were supposed to help me, to protect me and everyone else!" cried out the young angel. "and now you have the nerve to say that I am to blame?"
"Thaedian, this was clearly an ambush cleverly planned, you cannot blame it on him, this was our first mission." Evonia's voice was a surprise for Axel.
"Silence! This is not your place to speak, nor to judge!" shouted the commander. His golden wings spread at once and holy light engulfed him. Axel was staring at his eyes in the color of fire, becoming more and more enraged by this change of roles.
Looking around, he couldn't help but notice that Evonia and Lyzor were surrounded by the same light and that their eyes were in the same color as Thaedian's.
"Azeria ... Is this your doing?" whispered Axel in disbelief.
"You are not worthy of saying my name, abomination. Be silent and your purge will be a swift one!" The guardian's voice made the skies tremble, prompting Axel to reach the peak of his rage and madness.
With one quick move, he shattered the chains around him, grabbed Thaedian's wings and ripped them off. The paladin screamed in agony and knelt before him as blood splattered Axel's body and his wings and with a swift move, the young angel beheaded the commander. Nothing made sense anymore for him, he was born to protect his kin, to rid this world of evil and yet today he killed one of his own. His senses were numb, he didn't feel anything seeing the decapitated body of his commander at his feet.
Axel looked at Evonia and Lyzor, his face expressionless.
Without any warning, Evonia launched a barrage of frost bolts at her enemy, while Lyzor set up a trap in front of them. The corrupted angel launched at them, ignoring the spells coming his way as they disappeared in contact with his body and before the trap could be triggered, he teleported right in front of Lyzor. It wasn't fair that he was forced to fight his former friends, seeing as they were controlled by Azeria now and acting as mere puppets.
Axel thrust his hand inside Lyzor's chest and pulled out his heart. The skies turned red in that moment, as the angel rushed towards Evonia and snaped her neck with one quick move.
"Heretic! Do you realize the gravity of your crimes?" Azeria's face materialized on the sky above Axel. Her voice sounded maddening, roaring across all the kingdom.
"You betrayed me and then forced my friends to fight me to death! How can you talk so mighty from your throne room?" shouted Axel, enraged by her accusation.
"You will pay for this, miserable creature. I will make sure that there is not one hole you can hide in this kingdom!" menaced the guardian.
Axel grinned like a mad man hearing this threat. "Don't worry my dear guardian, there will be no need to search for me. I will come to burn your puny little kingdom to ashes and deal with you myself."
"You know very well that nothing can defeat me, especially a weakling as yourself." responded in a cold voice Azeria.
"Then I will certainly enjoy trying to kill you, my dear  guardian. I am coming for you Azeria, I will bring death and fire into your perfect kingdom and shatter the perfect image you've created!" screamed Axel at the top of his lungs.
As Azeria's face disappeared from the sky and she regained consciousness into the throne room, she couldn't help but feel a chill down her spine, as she knew that Axel would be true to this word.

Chapter 2

"Demon, what is the meaning of this?" demanded Axel.
"Oh, this? I got bored while waiting for you to arrive." remarked Eryna unbothered.
"For us? You massacred these people just to lure us in?" Evonia couldn't believe the sight in front of her.
"Well, the goblins did their job to ruffle some feathers around here, but I had to maintain the entertainment, wouldn't you say so?" asked Eryna while playing with the decapitated head of one of the dead villagers.
"You call this entertainment? I will destroy you, monster!" raged Axel, preparing himself to charge towards her.
The demoness couldn't help but roll her eyes, "I'm sure you will."
Before Axel could charge, Thaedian stopped him. "Remain here angel if you wish to live, this is no ordinary demon."
"Hm, we've got a smart one here," smirked Eryna, "too bad it won't help you too much. Puppies, come out to play!"
A pack of red hounds surrounded the angels, with red, demonic eyes and large fangs. They looked tortured, with patches of skin missing and maggots swirling around in their flesh.
Lyzor almost threw up at their sight. "What the heck are these things?"
"Buckle up archer boy, this is what you signed up for," Thaedian stood still for a couple of seconds with his eyes closed, then a dazzling light started to surround them. He then smacked his shield with his sword, shouting: "Glory beyond death!"
The light covered the angels, then went up in the sky as a big pillar.
"My strength feels so overwhelming now." remarked Axel.
"This should keep on our feet for now, until the others respond to our calling." responded Thaedian, clearly concerned by the gravity of the situation.
"Are you done now? Charge my lovely dogs, feast to your content!" shrieked the succubus.
The hounds jumped at the party of of angels, enraged and possessed. Even though they were inexperienced in a real battle, the divine beings retaliated strongly. Axel was slashing them with his great sword, Thaedian was bashing them with his shield while Lyzor was finishing them off with a barrage of arrows.
Evonia finished channeling her spell before unleashing a nova of ice that froze all the hounds in place, providing her allies the perfect chance to shatter all of them.
Axel was about to execute the last hound with his sword, but he was blasted off against a wall by a green force wave. When he looked up, he saw the mighty undead knight, Arum.
"Axel! Hurry back here in formation, you cannot win against that foe!" called Thaedian.
The young angel reconsidered for a second, as he wanted to fight against the giant skeleton, however he started to rush towards his allies. Before he could reach them, the earth beneath him split off and chains surrounded him, disabling him.
"Thaedian, help me!" screamed the paralyzed angel. His allies were surrounded by demon spawns and skeletons in the split of a second.
"What is happening? Is this the end of us?" cried out Axel.
"Oh no, my dear angel. This is just the beginning of our fun." purred Eryna, caressing his cheek
Axel was struggling to escape the chains, when he felt a sharp pain in his neck. Something bit him.
In that moment the swarm of demons and undead retreated, making way for Thaedian and his party to see Axel restrained and a creature behind him, biting his neck.
"You should feel honored angel, this wonderful hybrid was resurrected just for you." said Eryna.
The hybrid was a vampire, with scorched skin and decayed flesh. He was feasting on Axel's neck with a possessed look on his face.
Axel started to rage in pain, feeling fire and poison spreading through his body. His eyes became bloodshot, his veins started to pop out and his cry could be heard in all of the realm.
His mind was numb from the pain and torture, as his very essence of purity was defiled by decay and rage. Even so, he wanted to live, to destroy each and every demon alive, to massacre the insufferable demoness.
The hybrid opened his eyes wide, as he was struck by Axel's wish to live and his pure essence, and so he was petrified.
"Oh? Now this is an interesting turn of events," remarked the succubus. "Arum, we've done our part, let's leave before he turns on us."
And so, the succubus and the death knight vanished in a swarm of smoke and locusts.
Axel was still immobilized, breathing heavily, still feeling the pain of what happened.
Thaedian and rest stood for a second, staring at him and then around them to make sure no one's around anymore. Then Thaedian heard a voice in his head he recognized instantly, giving him a command he could not ignore.
The paladin walked towards Axel, weapons down. He looked at the now corrupted angel with mercy in his eyes and compassion. He lifted his ching, staring in his blood shot eyes, filled with tears and despair.
"Commander, please help me..." pleaded Axel, his voice barely audible.
"I will, my young recruit... I shall give you the help you need." responded Thaedian, with a nod in this throat.
A sharp stab was heard, prompting gasps from Lyzor and Evonia, as they couldn't shake off the horrors of that day.
Thaedian was stroking Axel's hair, after stabbing him.
"May the Holy Light guide your soul, young angel."

Chapter One

“It is with pride that I give you my blessing today! All of you trained vigorously to fight in this war and defend your empire. To arms my guardians, and may the Holy Light shine over you!”

Azeria’s voice resounded all over the Heaven’s Empire, inspiring the army of angels gathered in front of her. They were newcomers, impatient to take part in the war and make a name for themselves, but the most eager of them was Axel.

He was staring at Azeria with big blue eyes, excited to finally finish the training he undertook his whole life. His specialization was in great swords as he never understood the need of a shield or magic, he just wanted to fight with brutal strength.

A great light was radiating from the place where Azeria stood. She was the guardian of the empire and could never leave the throne room as that was the place where the first angel was created and given the task to guard the city. All the guardians were invincible, therefore the name of the eternal war that could never be won by anyone.

Floating above a sharp pyramid, the seraphim Azeria was inspiring everyone to fight and to protect the city and their principles, to never let yourself be corrupted and to defend the innocent.

Gracious as always, the guardian was dressed in a white dress and her blonde hair was covering her shoulders. She was gazing over her territory with her yellow eyes, maintaining an unyielding figure.

“We are the peacekeepers of this land, we shall not rest until all evil has been purged! Praise the Holy Light and you won’t be forsaken!” cried out Azeria.

“Praise the Holy Light!” shouted the army in response.

The Heaven Empire’s capital was a city floating above a village in the north-eastern part of the land of Zerallya. The city was filled with buildings made from crystal, always radiating lights in its surroundings.

This was a war that started since the creation of the land and it was still a mystery why the guardians were created, by who, and what was the point of fighting in a conflict that would never end. Even so, this didn’t diminish the will of the existing empires to conquer more and more cities, to corrupt or defend the existing humans.

“Axel, it’s time to go, hurry up!” shouted an angel towards the day-dreaming fighter.

“Oh, yeah, sorry, I was too caught in the moment.”

He was rushing towards the girl that called for him. She had black hair that contrasted with her white skin and her blue eyes looked like they could easily pierce you.

“I’m here Evonia, no need to get mad”, laughed Axel while shrugging off the tension accumulated.

“Finally! Let’s go meet the others and then get our tasks from the commanding officer.”

Reaching the recruits barracks, they met with the other two members of their party. One of them was Lyzor, a red headed rogue, specialized on archery. He had a kind face, smiling as he saw his friends nearing his position.

“Hello friends. Excited about our first assignment?”

“You bet we are! We shall purge all the evil and destroy the Hell and Undead capitals!” shouted Axel, obviously over excited.

“Calm down mongrel, or I’ll have to chill you out myself”, responded Evonia, unimpressed by his monumental goals, and threating him with a frostbolt pulsating in her hand.

“I’m not afraid of your puny magic, I’ll fight you here and now!”

“Anyway Lyzor, where is Thaedian?” asked the frost mage, ignoring Axel’s tantrum.

A heavy figure landed near them, closing his majestic golden wings. Thaedian was a warrior, specialized in fighting with a sword and protecting the others with a shield.

“I’m here, you impatient lot.” laughed the paladin.

“Thaedian! We’re ready for the first assignment, let’s kick some demonic butt!” responded Axel.

“Easy there youngster, we’re not to fight demonic or undead forces for some time. Our first job for now is to investigate a village near the border of our empire, apparently it was attacked by some goblins.”

“Goblins? We trained this much for some dwarf, green creatures?” the disappointment was clear in Axel’s voice.

“Don’t look so deflated young man, let’s repel those goblins for now, it won’t be as easy as you make it look like.”

The group quickly stocked on supplies, readied their weapons and armors and they were on their way to the village, flying in the blue, clear sky.

Everything was peaceful around the capital, the angels were strolling the streets or flying around the village underneath them, however at the borders the battles were raging on, whether they were fighting demons or undeads to protect the realm.

Tall towers were erected around the city, serving as observatories and the beacon of light that was Azeria could be seen from anywhere in the land.

It didn’t take much for them to arrive at their destination. The flight tired them a little, however they were on guard for the dangerous goblins that were threatening the peace of the people living there.

“Come out goblins, let’s get this over with!” shouted Axel, impaling his sword in the ground.

“Shut up idiot! We were supposed to do this as silent as possible!” snapped Evonia, annoyed by Axel’s arrogance.

“This is odd though, were are the goblins? Or the humans at that matter?” asked Thaedian, glancing around the buildings.

“I guess they got scared when they saw us flying in the sky” chuckled Axel.

“Aren’t you the wiseman of the realm … and the people living in this village? They ran in the demon’s realm, asking for protection from us?” remarked Evonia, rolling her eyes.

“Help! Please, someone help me!”. A voice pierced the silence, prompting the party to run towards the center of the village, where the voice was coming from.

Arriving at the scene, they gasped at the sight that was in from of them. A mountain of humans bodies was formed near the church of the village, and streams of blood were pouring out of them. On top of the bodies, Eryna was sitting proudly, sipping a cup filled with the blood of her victims.

“My, my… isn’t this my lucky day…” purred the succubus, glancing at the shocked angels sitting on front of her.

Prologue

                                             

“It took you long enough to notice my presence, Arum.”

“Quit the talking snake, give me one good reason why I shouldn’t behead you right here.”

“My dear undead knight, since when did you become so unreasonable…” whispered the demoness, unbothered by the threat made to her.

It was in the middle of a graveyard that the succubus and the undead knight met, the land was barren, plagued by insects and full of skulls and bodies decaying. Eryna, the demoness, was sitting on top of a gravestone, legs crossed, smirking at Arum. Her blood red eyes were fixed on the undead standing in front of her.

“Something tells me you’re not here to discuss the ever eternal war, succubus,” Arum’s voice hissed through his hollow helmet that showed only two green lights shining. He was a huge skeleton, dressed in rusty, old armor, carrying an axe that looked like it was used in countless battles.

“You never cease to disappoint, my dear knight,” purred Eryna, clearly enjoying this moment. She got down the gravestone, crushing every skull and bones with her high heels boots. She wasn’t an ordinary succubus that fed on humans’ sexual desires, she was an arch demoness, the very right hand of Malphas, the Lord of Hell.

Her body was covered by red scales and she was spinning her black whip playful.

“What if I told you that there might a way to end this eternal war, Arum?” she asked, gazing into his empty helmet. “A way to destroy and corrupt those insufferable angels and to bring all this land to our knees?”

“Don’t be coy vixen, you and me both know that this is not possible, not as long as our Lords are invincible.” breathed Arum in her face.

“Hm… my knight in rusty armor, it’s not like you to not trust me”, hissed Eryna, caressing his breastplate with a light touch. “Even if this idea won’t work, it should provide for some much needed entertainment in this dull war, don’t you think?”

“What is it you have in mind?” responded the knight, clearly intrigued.

“It so happens that in this graveyard lays the body of a hybrid from ancient times. An experiment deemed pretty dangerous, so he was drained from all his life energy and buried here. Now, my Lord Malphas, suggested we revive this creature so it can wreak havoc in this world.”

“Why would we agree with this revival, if this creature was deemed so dangerous? What makes you think we can control it?” asked the undead, skeptical.

“It is said that he will obey the masters whose essence will be used to revive him. And considering we will both participate in his revival, his only target will be the Heaven Empire. Plus, this will be only the start of a much bigger plan.” hissed Eryna, clearly pleased with this plan.

For a moment Arum did not respond. A green gas was coming out of his helmet, as he was considering the risks of this plan and whether he should believe the snake of Hell.

“I’m guessing you already know how to awake this creature…” he responded eventually.

“I knew it won’t take long to convince you.” In that moment, she leaned on a stone in the middle of the graveyard. She grabbed the edges of the stone and with great strength, she cracked it in half, revealing a round razor blade, with a pipe inserted in the middle of it that went deep into the ground.

“This is where the hybrid rests. All we need at this point is to use this blade to feed it our essences and the creature will take care of the rest of the plan.”

Eryna slit her hand on the razor blade, liquid flame dripped from her wound and slithered down the pipe into the ground. At that moment, Arum removed the glove from his left hand, revealing dark, decayed flesh. He repeated Eryna’s gesture and this time a black and rotten essence went into the ground.

A storm of fire and plague surrounded the gravestone, prompting the demoness and undead knight to back down. The sky turned green and fire cracked from time to time, lighting the skies.

“The plan was set in motion, this ought to provide some interesting events.” said the succubus, clearly pleased with herself.

Arum did not respond however. He stood for a second, staring at the storm, then vanished in a swirl of locusts.

“My dear knight… you have no idea what you just got yourself into.” smirked Eryna, looking at the ground beneath her that just began to tremble. “Soon my child, soon you will be free to do as your heart pleases. But most of important of all, you will help us to incinerate the Empire of Heaven that those angels hold so dear.”