<Lucifer Saunders>

Ding.

The sounds of the silver bell echoes. Lucifer felt an uncomfortable wave of nausea sweep over her. She endured.

The Seraph.

A killing machine from the angels domain. An unknown entity whose sole purpose is to bring genocide to the demon population.

It definitely wasn’t the first time Lucifer had encountered something like this.

There were various kinds of Seraphs. Fortunately, this one was of a weaker origin. Something she could handle with her fleet.

A change in its movement caught her eye.

The Seraph’s wings fluttered, it rose to a higher floor.

Someone must have gotten its attention.

[“5th floor, someone go check.”]

[“Demon found, will attempt rescue.”]

Lucifer was about to push through the floor above with the rest of the fleet when a blue beam tore through the air. It struck The Seraph right at the back.

A futile effort. It didn’t even cause a scratch.

Lucifer turned to the origin.

A high school boy.

“He’s insane.”

Yet another victim.

Lucifer rushed over. The Seraph switched targets. Feathers danced in the air.

Ding.

The high school kid staggered as he held onto himself desperately.

The Seraph, along with its hundreds of eyes, were looking directly at him. Lucifer placed her hands on the grip of her sword–

She drew an arc.

A single strike.

A fluid-like motion.

She activated her hex.

A giant shockwave laced with mana flew forward and crashed into The Seraph.

BAAAMM!!!

“Get yourself together!”

Lucifer grabbed him by the arm and tugged at him.

This high schooler was a fledgling judging from the size of his crown.

That said, Lucifer found it odd how this fledgeling had an angel’s coronet. A gold tint just above his crown.

Brr.

The sounds of the trumpets made the inside of Lucifer's stomach go sour.

“Fuck this!”

Lucifer took out a consumable and threw it.

It was something she had a pureborn weaponsmith develop.

Charged with the power of her integration, the grenade-like object broke out into a dragon. It roared, and threw itself against The Seraph.

“I’ll get you to the entrance, after that you have to run far enough to escape from the Boundary.”

“Y-Yes.”

It was not normal for a demon fledgling to be accepted by angels.

So who was this guy?

“How about that other demon up there?!”

“My fleet is already on it. Don’t worry about it and just run.. jump!”

Lucifer hopped over the glass fence. The two fell at least 4 stories before landing on the soft ground. Feathers exploded into the sky. And like snow, eventually came pouring down.

An enrapturing scene which the two hadn’t the luxury to enjoy.

“Run to the exit and don’t turn back! I’ll hold it down here for you!”

He wanted to fight. Lucifer could tell from that look in his eyes.

Nevertheless, he was wise enough to repress that urge and run.

Lucifer turned away from him and faced The Seraph.

Ding.

A creature with eerie, bloodshot eye on each face of the pyramid. Golden rings spinning around the peripheral, blood dripped from the hundreds of eyes which grew from the metallic surface.

[“Victim saved, will come to support you.”]

The power in her arm swelled, she pulled her sword.

BOOOM!! BOOOM!! BOOOM!!

Supporting fire came to throw The Seraph into disarray.

Lucifer’s amethyst coloured eyes glinted, red lightning flashed.

A crimson spirit dragon broke out.

Tokuina na Orochi. It was a sword forged from materials found on one of the eight heads which grew from an Orochi. A prized weapon which Lucifer had won during the tournament last year.

It didn’t take her another 6 months before she decided on integrating this weapon into her.

ROOAAARRR!!

The dragon bit into the rings.

Ding.

There was no shrill, no scream.

Ding.

Just the sounds of the bell which conveyed the pain it was experiencing.

“ORA!!”

A burly guy jumped down from the upper floors. Holding the black luster bastard sword above his head–

The Seraph raised its eyeballs, blue pupils sparkled.

Itto struck down.

A space was torn in the air.

A white beam shot out from The Seraph’s eyes.

But it was sucked in by the dimensional rift.

Landing on the ground, he propelled himself forward. Invoking a hex, he warped underneath The Seraph.

He swung his sword upwards.

Creating another rift which..

Ate into the rings that floated around The Seraph.

Ding.

Invoking his hex again, he escaped from underneath.

Ding.

From within the cross section of the rings, ichor poured out. A gory scene where immeasurable amounts of blood poured over the ground, painting the floor bright red.

“Agro done!”

Itto and Lucifer made a run for it.

[“I’m doing my best to hold down the angels here. How long more?”]

[“Hold it a little more, Ain.”]

Brr.

“Incoming.”

Blue light flashed.

The two of them jumped away. Where they once stood, decimated by a ray of white.

[“Raon, tell the other fleet to get ready. Inbound in 10 seconds.”]

Another blue light flashed.

Lucifer turned into a corner.

The impact shook her eardrums, a buzzing sound echoed in her ears.

A shadow loomed over.

The Seraph.

She wanted to run the other way, only to realize that it was a dead end. The emergency exit was shut.

Plump eyelashes soaked in the blood, its eyes watching her every movement.

Reflecting nothing resembling emotions.

Just cold indifference.

Follow orders.

Kill.

Ding.

The Seraph’s eyes lit up.

Lucifer sat down on the ground and wiped the imaginary sweat from her forehead.

“GG.”

2.44.

A giant beastial creature lunged at The Seraph, before the condensation of energy could be completed.

KRRAAUUUIIIIII!!

[“The gate has been opened.”]

[“Tell them good job.”]

Lucifer laid on the soft feathery ground and looked towards the ceiling.

“That could’ve been bad.”

One second later and her life would’ve ended.

Why did she even decide to take this dead end anyways?

Ding.

KKKRRRAAAUUUIIII!!

“The battle isn’t over yet.”

Lucifer got back up and stepped out into the blood covered ground.

The Seraph and Rakshasa. Their confrontation continued to echo throughout the mall.

The feathers on the ground faded into ash, returning the domain into the standard monochromatic world.

“Are you alright?” Itto walked over.

“I had the shock of my life but I’m alright. .”

He saw what happened so he understood what Lucifer meant. He exhaled in relief.

“That’ll be for later. Next priority, the angels. They’ve probably noticed the change. We need to do everything we can to defend The Rakshasa.”

[“Ain, Levi, regroup.”]

“Don’t push yourself too hard.”

“Same to you too.”

[“Alright.”]

===

“How many casualties?”

“Recorded, about 2 demons died.”

“Damn it.”

“Hey, calm down. It’s not like we didn’t do anything. Along with fleet TT32, we managed to save around 10 demons at least.”

“They managed to rescue 8.”

“Wait, the numbers don’t add up. Doesn’t that make 11?”

“One of them died because he encountered the angels outside. A lot of those bastards were concentrated at exit B.”

Lucifer suddenly felt a pang of guilt in her heart.

Exit B was.. where she directed that high school boy to..

No, wait. He had the angel’s cornet on him.

“Who were the victims?”

“Dunno. The only information we have is that one died by the angels, the other died because of The Seraph.”

The Seraph managed to escape by falling to the backlines of the angels.

The Rakshasa was sent back to the demon realm, Tartarus, after it had done its job.

The perfect outcome would’ve been The Seraph’s death. Nonetheless, injuring The Seraph to the point where it would need at least an entire year to recover was enough of a good outcome.

Not to mention, The Rakshasa suffered little damage. It only needed to lick its wounds and it would be fine.

“A question to everyone. Has there ever been a case where angels accepted demon fledglings into their ranks? I thought they were strict about their selection processes?”

“Fledgling?”

“You saved a fledgling? You serious?”

“He had a coronet, so I’m wondering if the angels are planning something.”

“Normally, don’t they only pick the good ones? I heard you have to go through this strict test before you can join.”

“I don’t understand the demons who would do that. Not that I want to judge them. Sometimes I think they have a screw loose.”

“Maybe they took pity on the fledgling. They’re angels, you know their habits.”

With so many varying opinions, Lucifer wasn’t able to come up with any deductions.

Nevertheless, the fledgling she met– she felt that he was just a little special somehow.

And so the next day, she received a personal request from Randingo.

By some stroke of luck, she got to meet him again. Then and there, Lucifer pushed for his application into 7SEAS. Which turned out to be one of the best decisions she’s ever made. Her gut didn’t disappoint her.

===

dotturndot: Fighto! Seraph and Rakshasa. I came up with the term Rakshasa by a quick Google search of ‘synonym of demons’. And yes, a lot of the naming is because of Google. When I write, I quite literally have it open to search for similar words so that I don’t repeat words too many times.

Also, a lesson here for everyone. Trust your guts.