The Demon Lord Is An Angel
Chapter 460: Interlude - The Ties That Bind

Chapter 460: Interlude - The Ties That Bind

Far across Ayther, many powers began to move.

Some turned old plans into new...

*

Pieces on a board.

That’s what Vinam Victoriam saw on the table-sized tablet before him.

The appearance of the Metatron and Auric’s disappearance had at first seemed a devastating loss. For the second time in his life, he’d watched the lights of Araqlun go dark, only for the tower, which had pierced his city and wrapped itself around the central spire, to suddenly begin providing all the mana he needed and more.

It was like Araqlun and the mysterious crystal tower were made for each other. Functions of the city that had not worked since before memory came to life. Water condensed and flowed more readily. The air became purified, even of the sands that rose from beneath them.

There had been complaints, at first, but the pitiful mortals below had realized that the waters of Heaven were a boon to them...

No matter how laden with waste they were.

Gravity had been his people’s enemy at first. Ayther made angels weigh more, and the rise in energy needs to resist it had all but demanded angels eat food not merely for pleasure or power but to work...

And work they did, for Vinam had ensured every angel would have their task to help preserve what was left of Heaven. Many kept order in the city below. Some were sent far afield to discover the fates of Heaven’s outposts and embassies. And others...

Others accompanied Heaven’s new armies.

With every new report of eliminated scouts, Vinam’s confidence grew.

The Syndicate had wanted to destroy Freeport for decades? Let them. It gave him an excuse to empty Aaru of its fighters and all-too troublesome adventurers. Gold barely mattered to angels, they had vaults within vaults of it.

Vinam traded gold for power, and soon he would show his power to Ayther as it had never been seen before...

"The calculations are finished. We are ready to fire on your command," one of Vinam’s Executioners reported.

The plan was simple. The Syndicate would get its property back, but Heaven would grant mercy to those it claimed... Either way, Vinam’s armies would swell enough that no city could withstand him.

"Make us a path," Vinam ordered.

And from the darkest tower came a lance of merciless light.

*

Some took advantage of the chaos...

*

Maledict already knew Rainier had gone up the tower, but the fate of his agent wasn’t his concern at the moment. Filling the embassy with demons, preparing the ritual circle right beneath the feet of Beastport’s unwitting citizens, and coordinating the army by scrypen were his chief concerns as he worked to create the empire, and the destiny, that would be his.

Thera teemed with life. The continent and its jungles had been the ideal point for him to consolidate a new demonic empire. And it was by sacrificing the lives outside of the city - every plant, every tree, and fish and bird, and indeed, every person, for three great measures outside the spell circle, that he would impose a new reality upon Beastport’s citizens.

Just as he’d done with Dorred, his army was preparing to do to every minor city they encountered.

As he finished yet another set of orders to his western army, Maledict stopped as he felt a sudden... absence.

He opened a portal to his vault in Hell, where every contract he kept was on display, and stepped through, only to find everything in its place. A few minor contracts lay burned on their tables, but none of them would have generated the sudden sense of lack he felt. Like a friend had died.

And so he strode to the back of the vault, where stood a mirror that reflected manalight.

Reaching up, he began to undress himself, until he stood bare-chested before the mirror.

He beheld his body, marked with dozens of oathmarks. Precious things. Each one a general. A valued thrall. And even friends.

Only before the mirror did he see what he had lost. Two of the oldest marks from his earlier centuries.

"Lucifer... Janice..." The star-crossed lovers who defied their nobility and their species to be together. Two of Maledict’s last friends.

But a moment later, yet another mark disappeared. The two newest ones. "Rainier..." and the healer he’d sent with the group.

"So you’ve failed..." he sighed.

His anger at that moment was difficult to express. Whatever lay in the towers had to be quite valuable to kill two of his most loyal agents and a powerful half-angel. The former tigerkin he cared nothing about, but he’d seen potential in Rainier to be his voice at the side of his son. And he’d sorely miss Lucifer and Janice.

Clenching his fist, Maledict wondered if it had been citizens of the city that killed them. Their entry into the tower had been reported, but he was unable to risk sending more demons in and potentially alerting others to his plans. There would be time to mourn his friends after his victory.

If so, then he would burn the city to the ground before forcing its citizens to rebuild it. He would kill everyone who so much as touched to doors of that tower... Another worry furrowed his brow as he noticed the mark he’d gained from dealing with his son. It felt... strained, somehow, when he looked at its magic. And trying to cast his consciousness across the line came back with nothing.

As he dressed himself, he began to walk back to the portal he’d created. Three steps before leaving, he saw it. A contract he did not expect to see. One he’d granted on a whim, over three years ago...

"You’re alive..." Maledict ran a finger along the contract, narrowing his eyes. He picked up the contract and brought it with him outside his vault, before sitting at his desk. Frowning as he tried to ponder the how of it.

He hoped he would know when he scryed her location.

"Now, where are you... Anko."

*

And others took only what was given.

*

Rainier felt the burning on his face subside as Aelias removed her hand from it. The Oath mark with its mana twisted in her palm, disappearing into nothing as she returned to rest upon her throne.

The moment he was free, Rainier felt as if something else had replaced the Oath. A heaviness he could not place, and yet one that was familiar.

"What happens now?" he asked.

"Now, I send you where you need to be," she gestured to her left, and a gap appeared in the sky.

"And them?" Rainier asked.

Aelias pointed at Myrti. "That one wishes to stay with you and become stronger." Her finger slid over to Sahaja. "That one realizes that to save the people she cares about, she cannot return home."

"Don’t I get a say in the matter?" Sahaja frowned.

"If you can break oaths, can you not return her to normal?" Rain asked.

"I cannot. But I can send her somewhere she will be safe... for a time." She gestured to her right, and another door appeared. "Your say is this, Sahaja, Healer of the Nine Circles School. You may follow Rainier or leave this adventure behind. I know which door you’ll choose, but perhaps you’ll surprise me..."

Rain turned, giving Sahaja an encouraging nod before he stepped into the first door, gently guiding Myrti ahead of himself with a hand on her back. A part of Rain wished Sahaja would follow them. She had been useful, and Myrti had liked her. But Rain knew the horror written on her face. He would not begrudge her the choice of leaving.

They arrived in another starry room. And across from where they entered the sky was... broken. As if someone had shattered a crack through it without leaving any debris. He was walking towards it when a sound came from behind.

"Wait!" Sahaja shouted, appearing where he had.

"I thought you would leave," Rain said flatly.

"If I did, that would mean leaving Myrti alone with you," she said. "The girl needs more than fighting in her life. She’s an empath. She can find people’s pain, help me heal them. Not just exploit their weaknesses as you would have her do."

Rain looked at Myrti. Throughout their struggles in the dungeon, she’d proven reliable in identifying where the monsters knew their weaknesses to be, and had taught them more about what they faced than the adults’ experiences combined. But if she wanted to learn from Sahaja as well, it was her choice.

Myrti was smiling, and Rain knew what she’d decided.

"Do what you want," he said to her, before approaching to inspect the portal, which showed a view of an unfamiliar street, where time seemed to move far faster as the night beyond became day.

He stared, trying to make sense of it as Myrti and Sahaja exchanged a few words, before a sudden shout drew his attention.

"Rain! I found something!"

Behind him, a bright flash of light came, but he assumed it was probably just the sun. But the sword... Myrti was holding a long sword of blue-gray alloy, with an almost equally long haft compared to the blade.

It was a sword for someone who wanted versatility and a quick, nonlethal option. A sword for someone who knew that it was not the blade alone that decided a battle.

It was...

"Kangetsu?" Myrti said. "That’s a cool name."

"Myrti," Sahaja said. "Is, um, the sword talking to you?"

"Mhm!" The girl said. "He says he wants to go back to his partner. Uh... maker?"

"Who is his partner?" Rainier asked. His voice softening as something about that shade of blue tugged at his memories before Heaven.

Myrti held the sword and closed her eyes. "A tall, um, demon... with fiery hair and black clothes. Kangetsu says he’s here, um, nearby... His name is Kir-

"Kir..." Rain whispered. He turned, seizing the sword from Myrti before he ran through the crack in the sky, only to stop as he entered a city in chaos.

A city under siege.

*

And one prepared to emerg from the shadows...

*

Tears fell from Aelias’ eyes.

"Good hunting, Rainier. I may never greet you as a mother, but I know a piece of my son goes with you."

Wiping her tears, she cast a spell and readied herself to become the enemy of the worlds. All around her, the stars began to connect, forming and joining through lines of light, a constellation of infinite variety until it was not a spell circle she stood within, but a spell sphere. One that would reveal her to the world, in all her terrible beauty.

"Children of the Triune Worlds... Of what was Heaven. Of what shall be born of Hell. Of what has always been Ayther... I am Aelias. Angel. Mother of the Apocalypse..."