The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 448: The Magician

Chapter 448: The Magician

Bridget Gale was in the middle of class when the door burst open and Chancellor Lumin strode inside.

"Mrs. Gale, with me, we have a situation. Dismiss your class."

It took Bridget a moment to process, but she nodded before informing the class they were dismissed and to remember their assignments. She left her notes and their graded tests on her desk before speeding up the stairs as her students gathered their things.

"What kind of situation?" she asked as soon as she finished her ascent, only to have to follow Lumin as she left the room immediately.

"The kind that would have me swearing in front of students when I got the news," she answered crankily. "There will be time to talk in the air carriage."

Outside, she found Darlae and an unfamiliar woman waiting for them both. Darlae was presently disguised using Kir’s wolfkin illusion, which made her tower over the petite woman, who was blonde and pretty enough it made Bridget feel a little jealous, even with the rather militant black uniform the woman was wearing. It took a moment for Brigit to realize the woman was dressed up as an Executioner ready for combat.

"Everyone in, we’ll do introductions on the way," Lumin shooed everyone inside.

As soon as they were seated, she knocked for the driver and said "Dock Eight," before composing herself and gesturing at Bridget and her wife. The air carriage took off with a shudder.

"Cassiel, these are Bridget and Darlae Gale."

"Wait a moment," Darlae scowled. "You’re giving away my identity to an angel?"

Bridget’s eyes widened. An angel? What the Hell is going on to make Lumin bring one of them along? It would have to be a huge threat for both sides to cooperate. Perhaps this has something to do with the crystal tower overgrowing the dungeon. Or the increase in monster attacks outside the city...

"Miss Cassiel is on our side. I’ll go into details later. For now, you can remove the ring," Lumin replied coldly. As Darlae went from illusionary wolfkin to flesh and blood elf, the Chancellor continued, "This is Miss Cassiel Eros. As you’ve no doubt inferred from her name, she is, in fact, an angel. But one who came to me with a rather unique set of circumstances, after surviving an attack from those she had been loyal to. I’ll let her explain."

"H-hi," Cassiel said. "I’m sure you’ll have questions, but please let me start by saying that I’m sorry for trying to kill your son. He... saved my life, even after that... which is why I’ve rethought my allegiances."

"He does seem to have that effect on people," Darlae crossed her arms. Bridget slapped her wife on the bicep with the back of her hand.

"You met Kir? Where is he? How is he doing?"

"That’s where things get complicated," Cassiel took a deep breath. "I haven’t actually met your son, at least not unless he was lying to me. When I met him, it was while he was supposedly possessed by someone calling himself Shin’Gir..."

Bridget and Darlae leaned forward.

"That’s extremely hard to believe," Bridget started. Darlae finished, "So this had better be a really good story."

Cassiel looked at Lumin, who nodded and produced a truth-reading cube before passing it to the angel. It pulsed to show it was working, and then she began. "It all started when..."

*

By the time they landed at the docks, Darlae was absolutely flummoxed.

Our son took on hundreds of mages and mavens and Heaven’s executioners without so much as a scratch? Does she really think Kir is possessed by the Endbringer himself? Maybe someone modified her memory... if that’s the case, this whole situation could be a trap...

Those were Darlae’s thoughts as she kept pace with her wife, before subtly touching her elbow and pausing a step. Bridgit paused as Darlae whispered in her ear, "I don’t like this. It feels like a setup."

"Lumin trusts her, so I have to trust that she knows what she’s doing," Bridgit replied. "We should be ready though. Remember the last Heavenswar? Brellor’s Field?"

"You want me to strip naked and dance as a distraction? We still haven’t replaced my old feather fans."

"That was Bronsfeld. I was talking about when we got to that Perdition portal before any demons came through."

"You want me to get ready for tandem casting? We haven’t practiced that in decades."

Tandem or group casting was a means of multiplying the power of coordinated mages. It only worked in specific numbers - two, eight, twenty, and twenty-eight according to modern knowledge - but the results scaled exponentially, usually in terms of magical power or complexity, and it could enhance both to a lesser degree.

"I trust you completely," Bridgit said in a reassuring tone.

"And I you. We’ll keep it simple to start. Do you want to take the lead on which spells we use?"

"Yes, just be ready for my callouts."

The situation at the docks, however, looked quite different from anything Darlae expected. Two parties were shouting at each other, while nervous faces watched from the windows. One was a trio made up of one angel and two Elevated, and the other looked like a bunch of scholars and mercenaries surrounding a large crate on a floating pallet.

The absence of a crowd in a city known for people getting to enjoy mage duels on the regular spoke to how dangerous the citizenry thought the situation was.

"Is that Imogen?" Bridget’s eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Professor Imogen? From Demonology class?" Darlae’s jaw dropped. She hadn’t recognized the old elf now that her hair was all gray. "I don’t see Fendior anywhere."

"Her husband died. You would know that if you actually read the letters she sent us."

"Oh... When did...?"

"Five years ago. A heart attack. At least try to act like you know when we get to talk to her."

*

Cassiel pretended not to hear the two wives whispering to each other as she stayed alongside Lumin. She felt completely superfluous, and also like her presence would be a danger to everyone if this embassy was somehow in contact with Araqlun. Lumin had assured her that by all appearances Heaven’s embassy in Norneau was cut off from contact with Araqlun and direct contact with the other embassies.

There might have been some communication between Norneau’s embassy and the ones in Gra’ Rhuel, Amrita, and Mesa Zai, but that would mean physical travel, since angels didn’t use something as primitive as scrypens - most of which needed to be re-synchronized as a result of the giant Perdition that had only disappeared completely a week or so ago.

She tried to pay attention as the argument played out between the outnumbered angels and Imogen, reinforced mostly by Chancellor Lumin who waded into the verbal battle with snappy, vicious tones.

Having been told nothing about the conflict in advance, she surmised that the Executioner squad meant to inspect the crate, while Imogen insisted that the beast inside was too dangerous to be let loose.

In manasight, Cassiel could tell that the crate was warded against scrying and attack spells. It made sense that they wouldn’t want anyone to be able to destroy it with magic. What her other senses told her, however, was that it wasn’t one creature inside, but multiple. And they were whispering to each other nervously...

Monsters don’t talk... the ones that aren’t corrupted people, at any rate. There are definitely people in that crate. But why would Lumin support someone trafficking in people?

That was when Cassiel noticed the guards. There was something... off about them. They were all too pretty. None of their hands looked callused and three of them were even wearing makeup. Only angels tended to be that fussy about their appearance even in combat gear. But for a half-dozen myriadfolk to be the same? It felt... incongruous.

She reached out with her mana at the lead guard, a redheaded woman with curvaceous features, and felt a sudden wave of overbearing lust that made her thighs clench together.

Is she some kind of freak who gets off on watching people fight?

But no, it was more than that, because the moment Cassiel started the connection, the woman looked right at her.

Her mind was racing with possibilities, but that was when Lumin decided to snap at her with her name.

"I-I’m listening."

"Good, then would you like to lend some authority to your position as Araqlun’s direct liaison to me?"

"W-What? Oh." Cassiel produced her wings from storage and let them flare out, noticing her white feathers were far glossier than the Executioner in front of her. "I am Cassiel Eros. Araqlun’s, um, liaison to the Chancellor."

The female angel scowled. "I thought you were one of those in the Expedition force. What are you doing on this side of the planet?"

"We were rotated out," Cassiel said, adopting a ruder tone in response to the Executioner’s tone. "Right before Heaven... fell."

"Have you any word on the cause?" the angel asked.

"By all appearances, it was the work of Maledict, who has probably left for somewhere to begin rallying demonic factions into taking over the mortal realm."

The Executioner narrowed her eyes. "If you really are a liaison, why haven’t you reported to the Embassy?"

"My orders are to... liaise with the Chancellor. I was given no orders with regards to the Embassy."

"I don’t believe Araqlun would give orders like that. Where’s the rest of your team? Or did the High Executioner not see fit to assign you servants?"

Cassiel’s face hardened with anger.

"Are you saying you don’t believe me?" She extracted her staff from storage and slammed it on the ground, simultaneously flowing her mana into assuming her magiform. Immediately she concentrated her mana into an oppressive field that bore down on the three Executioners. The two Elevated dropped to one knee, but their leader merely shuddered in place. "I am a lesser seraph, whereas you barely have enough mana to remain standing. So unless you want me to prove why I can operate alone, you will let these people go about their business."

The angel worked her jaw, gnashing her teeth for a moment before finally relenting. "As you wish, seraph."

Cassiel released the pressure. "Good. Now leave us."

"The Ambassador will want to meet with you," the Executioner warned.

Lumin cleared her throat. "Miss Cassiel will be busy for the next month, but I will send word when she’s ready."

The angel looked between Cassiel and Lumin, an incredulous look on her face. Cassiel tilted her head to imply she agreed with Lumin.

"Very well," the angel replied, before turning to her teammates. "Let’s go."

The next thing Cassiel heard outside the pounding in her ears was Darlae, who clicked her tongue before addressing her wife.

"Remind me to be nicer to her from now on," the elf laughed.

The guards laughed, Lumin chuckled, and Bridget slapped her wife on the bicep again.