The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 192: ROC vs Roc

Chapter 192: ROC vs Roc

Rainier patted Cassie’s back as she furiously threw up into a sink.

They were in something called a "locker room" underneath the ground floor of the Flight Wing.

"Ugh... I’m so glad I made it here - hrk! - before doing that," Cassie groaned before another round of vomit worked its way out of her.

"Did you know we might wind up in a fight?" Rain asked. What he really wanted to ask was ’Why did you drink so much when you knew we could wind up in a fight?!’ but that would have been impolite and Cassie was already suffering enough.

"Don’t blame her," Ozzy interjected before Cassie could answer, his Rethan accent more obvious - indicating his nervousness. "First kills always went to more senior candidates in the past. This is a high honor."

"Assuming we survive," Rain said. He had only an academic knowledge of monsters, aside from what he’d fought in a dungeon, but this tempest roc was like a dragon compared to a raptor. Exponentially more dangerous...

"Weak..." Cassie groaned. "They’re weeding us out because we’re weak..."

"Hey, hey!" Rain patted her again. Fortunately, she seemed steadier now that the worst was out. "We’re one of the best squads in our year. What happened to you wanting to beat that thing?"

A stern, familiar voice answered. "It is one thing to desire a victory, and quite another to seize it." Iriel stepped into the room.

Ozzy bowed. Rain, already on one knee to help Cassie, stayed where he was, patting her back until she straightened to address her aunt.

"Why are you here?" she asked, her voice slightly accusatory.

"You have half an hour left to prepare. I wanted to see your state... And if you wished to withdraw-"

"No!" Cassie raised her voice. "Not gonna withdraw... Just need to sober up."

Iriel tsked. "If you will not think of your team’s well-being, maybe you should not be leading it."

"Why did you pick us?" Rainier asked.

"Because the first initials of your names spell ’Roc,’ and I thought it fitting," she said flatly, then added, "What does it matter? You would not get to pick your fights as true Executioners for a long, long time, and if Cassiel truly wishes to be an Executioner, she should have been as ready as needed instead of doing what she wants."

"What made you hate fun?" Cassie turned to spit, before activating the sink and dipping a hand in to rub her face.

"There is enjoyment and then there is excess. Stop filling the void and start bridging it." Iriel’s face grew even harder, "I am not your mother."

Rain sensed a deeper meaning but remained silent. Cassiel was in charge, and if they couldn’t get out of the fight, then he had to figure out how to do his best in the situation.

The whole room was silent except for the flowing of water, staunched by the vomit blocking the drain.

"I came to deliver information," Iriel began when no one else spoke. "A hint. One that will be shared with whoever faces the beast, if you will not. It is thus: Know lightning and you will know the tempest roc."

"At least let Rainier go grab his wings," Cassie said.

"He doesn’t need them," Iriel said.

She looked hard at Rainier, then turned and left.

Know lightning... What did he know about lightning?

Half an hour later, as he stood behind Cassie, separated from the tempest roc by a single shield, while the rest of the Flight Wing had been shielded all the way to the gap, Rain was still trying to remember.

There were some polite cheers, but for the most part, the rest of the Executioner candidates waited with quiet murmurs.

Rubiel started to speak, but Rain was still furiously searching his memory. There was something... something about metal that Kir had said...

Does metal attract lightning? No. Rain remembered saying that and Kir said he was wrong... what does metal do with lightning then?

The roc tried slashing at the shield to get to the team, making them all jump, but the shield was still up.

Then, all at once, the entire stadium erupted in a countdown...

"TEN!" "NINE!"...

"Shit..." Rainier gripped his sword hard as he began to focus his mana, deciding to go all-out with Manifest Arms. Normally for practice, Cassie was responsible for calling how they would engage the practice constructs, but she was just staring at the Roc... "Cassie! What’s the play?" Rain shouted.

Cassie swallowed. "I don’t... I don’t know..." She gripped her spell focus, a rod capped with mana crystals on both ends, tighter.

The roc, realizing that something was changing, had started looking all around, and with his manasight Rain could tell that it also was looking into the ambient mana, watching for some change...

"ONE!"

The shield came down.

It took only a moment for the roc to notice its prey was now vulnerable.

All the mana in the stadium seemed to pull towards the Roc as it raised its wings...

Rain’s eyes widened.

Lightning began to spark along its wings, and Rain watched as its mana split, half going to its beak and the other half going to its talons, flowing into one raised talon, which it brought down on the ground with a heavy CRACK...

"MOVE!" Rain shouted as he saw the wave of leading mana spreading out from the point of impact. At the same time, the roc lifted its head and began to spew lightning magic into the air.

Bolts began to appear everywhere, the magical charge above connecting to the magical charge below, and where they met, lightning burst up from the ground and crashed down from the sky.

When Rain shouted, Cassie hadn’t moved, she’d shielded herself. Ozzie was faster, and he was in the air, dodging between bolts as he kept his distance from the bird, awaiting orders.

Between Ozzie and Rainier, the roc briefly needed to orient itself on its available prey. They’d split off, leaving Cassie in the middle.

As its eyes focused on her, Rain realized what was about to happen.

Mana gathered in its beak, and a bolt of lightning went straight for her. Rain was barely in time to slide two of his Manifest blades in front of her, deflecting the brunt of the blitz until they both shattered.

"Cassie! Cassie! Give us a wall, now!" Rain shouted as soon as he came to a skidding halt next to her.

"R-Right!" Cassie lifted her rod and suddenly a half-dome of stone, pulled from the very arena, erupted in front of them.

Half-shrouded in darkness, Rain guided his Manifest Arms to scatter into the air, holding as he addressed his team leader, planting his free hand on her shoulder as the roc hit the dome with a massive bolt of lightning, following on the first.

"Cassie, we need you to give us orders," Rain said.

"But... I’ve never heard of these things before. I didn’t have time to study... I don’t know what to do!" Her voice quivered.

"I think I have an idea, but I need to remember something. Something about metal... like... metal attracting lightning..."

"M-metal doesn’t attract lightning it conducts it," Cassie said.

How did-? But no, it made sense that angels would know more about metal given how much of it was in their technology...

Rain put aside his thoughts in favor of the epiphany he just had. The realization that lightning traveled through the air like a medium, and that without something else in the way, their bodies were places where lightning could connect to from its source. "That’s it!" He held up his claymore. "I’ll go in the middle and try to plant my sword so its lightning attacks can’t reach us!"

Hearing Rain come up with something finally seemed to snap her out of her state. "And... and then we can just engage it at range!"

As soon as she said it, Ozzy landed, his right wing slightly singed. "Can I get some healing here? Please."

"R-right!" Cassie raised her hands and a white glow quickly restored his lightly-green feathers to their original state. "We’ve got a plan."

"Better late than never," Ozzy smiled. "What do you need me to do?"

"Distract it while I deal with its lightning," Rainier said, holding up his claymore.

"And I’ll... make a hole or... something..." Cassie said.

"You could just soften the ground up," Ozzy suggested. "Don’t want our lightning rod coming loose."

Lightning rods! That’s what those things on rooftops were called. Rain mostly just remembered the weathervanes pointing out the winds...

"I’ll go first," Rain said. "I just need you to pull its attention away from me for ten seconds once I get near the middle."

They both paused, looking at Cassie. She was the leader. Success or failure was hers.

She wiped her eyes and coughed. "Let’s do this!" she said, her face finally firming with resolve.

They had a plan... now they just needed to make it work...

After a quick couple of breaths, Rain ducked out past the now-molten dome and charged.

He was just in time to watch as it lifted off the ground.

"Crap."

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