The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 121: The Executioners

Chapter 121: The Executioners

Learning Sam was pregnant made the Black Sheep very, very nervous about what was coming.

And it meant that their planning session, gathered around the kitchen island, wasn’t going so well.

"You waste time thinking of ways to protect them," Amarena snarled for what felt like the fifth time. "Better to send them off, or better, let them fight to protect their brood!"

"Can’t fight..." Sam muttered, touching the wound in their shoulder.

"The basement is safe," Kir asserted. "Bridged warded it against herself, and I doubt any mage coming against us can produce a tornado or a hurricane."

"What’s a hurricane?" Stella asked.

"It’s like a tornado the size of a nation," Noir supplied. "They come in from the south now and then."

Kir had had enough. "Can we just focus!" he said, slamming his fist on the table. "If I can’t lure them into a duel, then we’ve got to be ready for anything. Putting up traps will buy us time-"

"I did not agree to fight by sneaking about and counting on my enemies to stab themselves in the foot," Amarena crossed her arms.

"I’m not saying we’ll have to," Kir argued back. "I’m saying that if we fortify, we’ll make dueling us more appealing because then they’ll have to risk ’stabbing themselves in the foot’ along with getting through wards."

Noir cleared his throat. "Not to, um, dampen your plans, but are you sure you’ll be in any position to fight if you ward the whole house? You’ve already exhausted yourself..."

Kir bit back against popping off a response. It was true, he had exhausted himself. Not by carrying back Stella and Sam, but by felling and carrying over what must have been a half-ton of wood for the fortifications half the room was now resistant to putting up. It was the only way he could come out of his war form enough to sit here and plan...

Though in retrospect he could have just had everyone meet outside. Indoors was where the magical lighting was though, so ultimately this was the more efficient method that also allowed him to eat... But Noir was right, Kir had precious little in the way of reserves left for putting up the house’s external wards.

At least in the kitchen he was able to use odds and ends to make a model of the house and his plans for the defenses.

A thin line of broken-up pasta noodle represented the range of the wards, about twenty meters in diameter centered on the house. Looking at it only made his mind spiral about the fact of their present mana shortage. Whatever he’d gained from eating the heart of that monster didn’t seem nearly as ’filling’ as his first time eating the manastone heart of a crystalhorn stag...

"Wait..." Kir suddenly realized they did have the mana to put up the wards. "What if we used this?" he reached into his dimensional storage and produced the crystallized skull.

"That... that would actually work," Noir said. "We’d still need someone to handle the ward circle, and drawing on that much mana might cause a bit of mana poisoning but... It would work. I think I can work with it... even overcharge the wards, but doing that might damage the crystals."

"Do it. Overcharge the wards. We can take any damages out of my share," Kir said. "I know my mom’s wards, if we can get them up, then we don’t have to worry too much about anyone hostile reaching the house." And anyone who cast a standard spell at them would be in for a nasty surprise.

"Does that mean we can avoid reducing our hands to digging holes and putting up sticks?" Amarena asked.

"Amarena, you’re pissing me off," Kir snapped. "How can you be a heretic for using a sword yet not realize that the battlefield itself is a weapon? That anything can be a weapon?" Kir glared at her.

Though initially angered, as Kir finished his statement, he saw a strange new look dawn on Amarena’s face. It was the look of someone finally realizing the sky was blue.

"Haha!" she burst out laughing. "You’re right! Leave it to Heresy’s son to teach a warrior of heresy! I will make this battlefield my weapon... a true reflection of myself... Yesss..."

The grin on her face and the light in her eyes left Kir feeling a bit worried, but he’d take it if it meant she was finally on board with whatever it was the plan had become at this point...

"I think that’s as good as we’re going to get, at this point," Noir said. "Kir, after you show me the warding circle, go rest. Stella, I’d appreciate a bit of help with this," Noir held up the soulstone skull.

"What can I do?" Sam asked.

Noir faltered, so Kir suggested "Why don’t you make everyone food? If we don’t have to worry as much about breakfast, then we’ll be that much more ready."

Kir suspected Sam wasn’t going to get a lot of rest.

Noir flinched, and Kir knew it was because Sam wasn’t exactly the best when it came to cooking food. Kir gave Sam more credit, since they didn’t exactly have a lot of good ingredients out in the wild and boiling was an efficient way to cook...

Sam made an affirming noise and nodded.

With that decided, everyone went their separate ways. Amarena went to the pile of logs, speaking in a language that sounded harsh and grating.

"Ah, demonic poetry... It’s been a while," Stella said as Kir led her and Noir over to the edge of the ward.

Buried deep in the gravel beneath the house was a circle of concrete infused with the dust of ground-up mana crystals. After sketching out the activation sigil for Noir, Kir stepped back.

"This is going to take more work than thought," Noir said flatly. "I might be up all night."

"My mother was nothing if not thorough," Kir said, having contributed several magical mishaps to the testing of the wards in the past. "Just don’t go beyond that line. Once you step outside of the wards, nothing magical will get in without turning it off."

"Thank you, Kir, I’ll keep that in mind," Noir said, his tone suggesting he didn’t need the reminder on basic enchanting. "I recognize one of the starter sigils. Can you please call back Amarena? The wards won’t activate on anyone inside while they’re being brought up."

In truth, Kir had no idea what overcharging the wards would do. There were many layers to them. Had he not undone the entrance sigil, he would have faced a strong antipathy towards approaching the house, followed by burning sensations on his skin, and a number of other very distracting effects - worse if he’d approached the house with hostile intent. Aside from the protections against external magics, his moms never had any reason to put up all the wards until they’d left.

But if there was one thing Kir could count on, it was that Bridget was not a merciful woman to anyone she considered an enemy.

After fetching Amarena, who shifted into her war form to bring some logs to work on while she waited, Kir went upstairs and finally let himself collapse into his bed.

-

He awoke abruptly, his cheek stinging from a slap that broke him out of nightmare dreams.

"Wha- Stella?!?" Kir shot up to a seat. "What time is it? Are they here?"

"It’s still morning. You need to hurry and get dressed," she said.

Kir didn’t need to be told twice. He pulled on his pants and a shirt that didn’t seem to fit him quite so well before realizing it was only going to wind up destroyed if he needed his wings or war form.

"I take it we have guests?" he tried again as he pulled Kangetsu out of storage and briefly inspected her edge before sheathing her again.

"Worse," Stella said. "Amarena’s staying hidden for now, but Kir... Oh gods... I don’t know how to say this, but I think we pissed off the wrong people this time."

Kir arrived at the bottom of the stairs to find Sam resting on the couch, his elbow crooked over his eyes and the soulstone skull still clenched in his hands. He looked sick, very sick, and Kir started to take a step toward him when he suddenly dropped his arm.

"It’s just mana poisoning. Go. I’ll be fine," Noir said with a grimace. His horns were cracked, and opalescent, white growths of crystal seemed to be filling the cracks. "Just gotta... put it away or something," he said, sounding a little delirious. "Gods... why did you have to swear to oppose Araqlun? It’s just... so funny..."

"Kir, come on," Stella said.

"Wait," Kir looked from her to Noir. "What’s Araqlun? I know it’s someone or something that protects the Syndicate. With a treaty."

"You mean you didn’t know when you... Gods..." Noir facepalmed. "Araqlun is the capital of Heaven. You’ve declared war on the angels themselves, Kir... but I suppose if you’re willing to fight gods you’d fight them too." He laughed, sounding a little manic.

Stepping away, Kir followed Stella to the door. She shut it behind him, sliding the bolt home.

Deploying his wings, Kir flew the short distance to the figures waiting at the very edge of the barrier.

Their hateful glares turned to him as he arrived, sneers of pure disgust marring the perfect faces of the beings waiting for him.

"So it’s true," the first angel spoke as Kir landed. "There really is an abomination here..."

The second acknowledged him with a grunt. "At least we won’t have come here for nothing then."

"Wait," Kir said, "If you aren’t here with the slavers, there’s no reason for us to fight."

"Your existence is reason enough, creature," the first angel said. "The Syndicate fools are taking their compensation from the town; you are Heaven’s enemy, and we are Heaven’s Executioners."

Suddenly, wings of pure white flowed into existence along their backs, released from magic circles much like Kir’s own. They glowed, radiating with power in the late morning sun.

The first angel stepped into the wards, and for a long moment, Kir could feel as the magics his mothers had wrought gathered and assailed him, fighting to carve their way past the bubble of protective magic that surrounded him.

The flesh on his face and arms - on every exposed patch of skin - started to burn away, pink and raw, yet he still stood.

Kir felt the wards strain, and then the second angel stepped in.

Both drew their swords.

Both stepped closer. Then the first angel fell to one knee, driving his sword deep. Kir realized too late what he had done.

A moment later, there was a sudden sensation like breaking glass and a vacuum.

The wards were down. His friends were no longer protected...

Kir drew Kangetsu, clutching the sheath as he readied himself.

"Heaven above all!" the angels shouted.

Flapping their wings, they charged.