When Michael opened the casket, he saw a demon skeleton lying on a black cloth. Suddenly, something lit up within the demon's empty eye sockets. It lunged at Michael at lightning speed. Thanks to his cat-like reflex, he raised his hand, bringing out the black shield to block the demon's fist. The demon's hand cracked upon hitting the black shield. Without giving any time for the demon to retaliate, Michael grabbed the demon by its neck and forced it down instead of attacking it. He then quickly shut the casket on the demon. The demon banged and growled from within. Several seconds passed as Michael noticed some runes started to radiate a pale blue light in the casket. Following the runes, the demon inside calmed down. It finally stopped banging against the casket and returned to its eternal slumber.
"So all those caskets have demons inside?" asked Ayag from within Michael's robes. Michael did not answer. Instead, he turned his gaze toward the unconscious angel. A pale light shot out from Michael and scanned the angel on the ground. Just after the light faded away, Michael approached the angel. He picked him up by his neck and slammed him against a tree nearby. The force substituted the need for water to wake up the angel.
Michael grabbed the angel's helmet and pulled it upwards, revealing the face of a golden-haired elf. The elf stared back at Michael with no emotions. One would expect the angel to be scared shitless, yet Michael saw no signs of fear in the angel's eyes. He doubted the angel was oblivious to the fact he was the Dark Lord. The entire world knew his face. Either the angel was really courageous, or he didn't know Michael's identity. There were other explanations.
"You shouldn't be here," said the angel.
"Hmm. If I were you, I would worry about yourself," Ayag said as they leaped on top of Michael's shoulder.
"A three-headed hydra," Finally, Vedora brought a sliver of a surprise to the elf's expressionless face.
"Here's the deal. I am going to ask you some questions. Satisfy me with your answers, and I will let you live. Does that sound good to you?" asked Michael, only to see the elf snicker.
"Humph. You are going to kill me either way. It's in your eyes. But I will answer your questions,"
Both Michael and Vedora were surprised by the angel's answer.
"That makes my life much easier. Let's begin with who you are and whom you serve?"
"It doesn't matter who I am when I serve the all-mighty," said the angel. His voice oozed pride and arrogance.
"And who is that?" asked Michael.
"Skyhall,"
Michael clenched his fist as a sudden urge to snap the angel's neck emerged in his heart. But he controlled himself. Michael used to think the Guardians were the big bad guy in his life until he met Elidyr. Only then did he realize the real puppeteer was none other than the SKyhall, the most powerful clan in the entire world. Even before he was born, they slaughtered millions and eradicated the order of death with the help of Andreas.
"Soon, my fellow angels will bring you the wrath of Holy Skyhall and smite you to oblivion," the angel threatened Michael.
Vedora saw Michael bruising into laughter.
"Angels, wrath, smiting me to oblivion. Jeez, you guys really think you're from the god's land, don't you?" Michael's devilish laughter echoed through the forest.
"Lucky for you, angel. You are staring right at a god in the flesh," said Sarba.
"I know who you are the moment I laid my eyes on you," said the angel. Now Michael really felt bad about his reputation. He was the Dark Lord. Low-level soldiers like this angel should be afraid of him. Yet somehow, this angel showed no signs of fear. Of course, Michael could bring a whole new world of fear within the angel if he used the Fear Toxin.
"The world has changed, Dark Lord. You are not the highest priority of Skyhall. How do I put this nicely? You are a cog in the machine, just a big one but not the biggest,"
"I am offended," Michael shook his head disappointedly.
"I thought you idiots were hunting him, the Dark Lord. Instead, you're grave robbing. Why?" asked Ayag, turning the angel's gaze away from Michael.
"An angel's duty is to get the order done, not to question it,"
"In other words, you don't know. That's a shame," Sarba sighed.
"They are building an army. Why else do they need the undead and now the demons? The question is are they planning to wage war against us or someone else," said Cain.
When Michael looked at the elf, he didn't seem to know the answer. As he said, the angel was just a soldier. Michael doubted that even if he interrogated the entire angel unit, they would know something about the harvesting of demons and the undead.
"Who's giving you these orders?" asked Michael.
"It would be better if I showed you," the angel smiled. Soon, Vedora heard the trees rustle around them. The dried leaves and twigs broke under heavy footsteps. Michael let go of the angel as a strange light fought off the darkness around them. As Michael expected, five angels came out of the dark woods and stepped into the light. A hovering ball of light lit the place, revealing the glistening runes in their armor. They all spread their metal angels wings and took out their golden spears to end Michael's life. Even the angel Michael interrogated, quickly dashed away and joined his fellow angels.
Pulch!'
To Mcihael's shock, an angel stabbed the elf right through his chest with the golden spear. The elf coughed up blood as the angel lifted his body into the air.
"You are tainted by evil. Begone and find the pure light in the next life," the angel talked in a strange otherworldly voice that was capable of tearing a man's eardrum. The high-pitched voice even hurt Sabra's ears. Soon, the elf's body turned into nothing but millions of specks of light. These golden lights shone in the air like fireflies. Gradually, they faded out of existence.
Michael was stunned by this act of the angel.
"I thought the angels were merciful," said Michael. He slowly walked to the center of the light while the angels surrounded him. Despite their weak Soul Refining stage cultivation, they dared to raise their spears against Michael.
[These angels certainly have a death wish]
Even the system ridiculed the angels. Michael cracked his neck. The angels thought they caught him off guard. However, Michael knew the elf had a rune engraved on him, which emitted some kind of signal to the other angels. Simply put, Michael wanted these angels to find him. Not that Michael wanted to capture these angels and interrogate but to kill them. In his eyes, they looked like sacks of experience points. But what surprised him was how courageous these angels were. Any other Soul refiner would have trembled to the core in front of an Immortal. Yet these angels were fearless.
"Five angels," Michael slowly looked around. The angels were poised to attack him any second. Suddenly, the orb of light hovering above the angels exploded into bits. Darkness returned to the place. The anges' eyes glimmered like diamonds in the darkness. They all dashed to the center where Michael was standing.
Ding!
The sound of metal clashing reverberated through the forest. Unlike the angels were expecting, they hit nothing.
"Argh!" An angel growled. Michael grabbed an angel by his wings and ripped them off with his bare hand. His dark beams shot out of his eyes, ending the struggling angel;s life altogether. He dropped the dead angel.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for killing a Soul Refining stage level 6 angel. The reward is 300,000 Experience points and 6000 Badass points]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 7000 Badass points]
Before even the other angels could hear the sound of his body hitting the ground, lightning flashed across the dark forest. In the light that lasted for a moment, the angels saw the bloodied metal wings on the ground. Then, another angel groaned.
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for killing a Soul Refining stage level 5 angel. The reward is 300,000 Experience points and 6000 Badass points]
[Ding! Congratulations to the host for successfully being a badass. The reward is 8000 Badass points]
In a blink of an eye, Michael ended the life of two angels. They weren't even a challenge to Michael. When the remaining three tried to cast a spell, their golden spears radiated eyes blinding golden light. However, their casting was abruptly stopped by a wave of dark flames that shot out of Michael's body. The ring of dark flames reduced the angels to ashes. Even their rune engraved armors were melted like candles. The all mighty angels were turned to a hot pile of ashes. The system continuously rang in his mind, awarding him with experience and badass points.
At that moment, a person with cat face and black fur was watching Michael from far away from Michael's environmental scanning range. This Cat was the same person who was tasked to protect Tanulia Valren and the brother of Jacobe who tracked down and almost killed Gaya. he was stalking the Dark Lord for years and finally came to the demons grave to seek revenge for his brother's death.
"Dark Lord," The Cat clenched his fist. His black fur made him blend with the night perfectly. It took everything he learned to find that his brother Jacobe was killed by Ghost and Gaya. Even to this moment, there was no solid evidence to prove his theory. But his gut instincts told it was Ghost and that was all he needed. No matter what, he would either kill the Dark Lord or die trying. That was certain.
From afar, he saw the Dark Lord teleport the casket to somewhere else. Afterward, the Dark Lord dashed into the forest, disappearing from his sight. The at leaped to another branch and started to follow the Dark Lord.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢