The Church had finally played its last card. Tears in the heavens split open, unleashing sanctified dread. Six Archangel Units descended like judgment given form—towers of steel and divine mana, each forged from condensed scripture and crystallized souls. Wings of hard light unfurled. Holy spears shimmered in their hands. Glyphs burned across their bodies, reciting prayers louder than thunder.
Each of them once required an entire army to take down. And yet, the Fullbringers stood their ground.
Northern Temple Grounds
The first Archangel landed like a comet, shaking the stone plaza. It raised a two-ton sword of radiant crystal and pointed it at Gerald.
"By order of the Holy Seal, your soul is condemned."
Gerald cracked his knuckles, unfazed. "By order of Nidhogg," he said with a smirk, "I don't give a damn."
Montgomery tapped his cane once. The Archangel stepped forward, then hesitated. Its ears registered a soundless frequency, a pulse impossible to ignore. Its head twitched toward Montgomery.
"That's right," the old man whispered, eyes narrowing. "Come to me."
It turned. Its protocols flared, as it's alarms rang, but it was useless. It could not disobey. Gerald, smiling now, stepped in as it exposed its flank behind it.
And with a single phrase...
"Through him all things are capable." With that, he crushed the Archangel's core with a punch that shattered air itself.
Western Approach
The second unit targeted Achlys mid-step, scanning her poison-coated knives and labeling her a "Category Black Threat."
"Execution authorized."
A beam of purging light fire tore through the air—only to halt mid-flight. Tempo stood before Achlys, his pocket watch leaving a a flow of mana that wrapped around his arms like chains. His eyes glowed purple as the air sounded like a ticking clock.
"Not this second," he said.
The beam reversed in midair, redirected into the Archangel's own armor. Achlys used the opening, vanishing in a flicker.
She appeared behind the Archangel's back, slashing three times into it's exposed joints.
"That's three." She muttered and her mana flared.
Poison flooded the construct. Holy wards screamed in pain. The Archangel shuddered, but it rose back to it's original stance, ignoring the pain as it tried to advance towards them.
Achlys clicked her teeth, "That's the best poison I know, and it's still not enough huh."
Tempo flicked his watch once more, speeding the breakdown. Within seconds, the Archangel spasmed violently and collapsed in rust and steam.
Achlys exhaled. "That one tasted like guilt."
Central Plaza
Two Archangels landed here. One charged forward. Lenatti reappeared, reconstructing her bear using a large portion of her mana.
Her bear crashed into the battlefield with a roar of fear magic that sent dozens of Church soldiers into paralysis. But it wasn't the soldiers the bear was after. It slammed into one of the Archangels and held it in place.
That was all Odin needed. He poured all of his mana into this spell that would normally be difficult to pull off, given his opponent was smart enough to dodge it or wasn't held in place.
With a motion of his hand, runes activated in layered formation across the battlefield. The second Archangel halted in midair, trapped in a network of inscribed space seals.
"I see you for what you are." Odin said.
He extended his hand and collapsed the runes inward like a vice.
The construct screeched, its wings folding into itself under pressure no mortal eye could track. Then Lenatti's bear delivered the final blow, ripping through its core in one swing. The other Archangel tried to recalibrate, only to look directly at the bear's eyes.
And froze in fear.
Lenatti giggled. "You're supposed to be angels, but you're not brave at all." The bear crushed its chest cavity.
Inner Spire Steps
Light met darkness.
Virell's robes trailed divine sigils, her staff brimming with holy judgment. A floating ring of scripture rotated behind her like a divine halo. Her power burned the air.
"You're filth," she spat. "A mockery of creation. I will see you obliterated, even if it tears this planet apart."
Nidhogg tilted his head. "I can help with that. "
He didn't move like a warrior, he moved like a predator, hunting prey.
Bugs surged toward her in waves, but she spun her staff, releasing pulses of sacred mana that incinerated them by the hundreds. She floated above the earth, radiating so much light that shadows struggled to exist around her.
He stepped forward, watching her closely. There was no denying that she was the strongest opponent he'd faced so far.
Thousands of his bugs were already sacrificed, but he came prepared for this fight. He summoned thousands more, all seeking cracks in her defense.
Virell shouted a divine command, "Light Bind!"
Pillars of light crashed from the sky, caging Nidhogg in burning chains of judgment. The earth cracked beneath his feet. The bugs screamed as they perished, but those that didn't return to him.
Nidhogg smiled. Her mana was more refined than anything he'd ever "ingested". The mana that she was producing gave him more fuel than what he was consuming to use to produce his own ability. It was invigorating, intoxicating even. The urge to consume her soul was almost too much for him. Although it was difficult, he maintained his composure and didn't get lost in the feeling of ecstasy her mana brought him.
Knowing that touching the holy flames of the cage was definitely not a good idea, there was only one real option that he had for escape.
A Kumon opened, right next to her, and she jumped back in astonishment as Nidhogg came through, attempting to attack her to no avail.
"How are you capable of this?!" She asked Nidhogg like he was going to explain it to her.
"Magic." He said shrugging his shoulder.
"I've eaten souls brighter than you."
He lunged. The two clashed midair. Blades of holy light pierced through clouds of bugs that blackened the sky. From the mana that was released, the planet itself began to respond. Thunder and lightning struck the area as Virell's sigils rained down bullets of lightning that pelted his bugs.
Virell was panting now.
Nidhogg wasn't. He was careful to always have some bugs return to him, enabling him to replenish from their fight.
"You burn hot," he said, "but flames die out."
He snapped his fingers. And the battlefield answered. All the bugs across the temple grounds surged simultaneously, carrying mana from the fallen, from the dead, from the Church's own wounded soldiers. The air bent around Nidhogg. And then he released it.
While his bugs were capable of releasing their own miniature Ceros. But if he wanted to do a Cero himself, all his bugs had to be recalled. And when he did....
A beam, black and orange in nature shot towards Virell. All she could do to react was surround herself in a dome of light magic as his Cero connected with her. Her magic all but drained in an instant as the dome shattered, leaving her to face the brunt of his attack. Never before had she felt a pain as she did there. It was though her soul was being assaulted. Although his Cero was a mere five seconds, it felt like a lifetime for her.
With the last remnants of his Cero passed, Virell's body remained in the sky, her halo cracked. With her strength gone, she fell from the sky. She didn't care about how or where she landed, as her eyes were locked on Nidhogg. And for the first time… she looked afraid.
Aurion
"Three Archangels down, no, four and Virell is…"
The operator swallowed. "Archbishop Virell is… losing."
The overseeing ArchBishop turned from the window, looking at the scrying orb in front of him.
"…What is he?"
No one answered.
Back at the Temple Center
Virell fell to her knees, coughing blood. Her staff was gone. Her spells unraveled. She was out of options and at his mercy. Nidhogg loomed above her, bugs dancing at his feet.
"Nidhogg."
She slowly looked up at him. "Wha..."
"That's my name. Don't know why I'm bothered to tell that to you, even though you're about to die. Don't know what came over me."
"Say it," he said.
"…Say what?"
He leaned in. "Say my name."
She looked up. "…Demon."
Nidhogg exhaled. "Close enough."