“Jesus fucking Christ,” John managed to exclaim and immediately drew the ire of the angel through his words. Hesitant or not, Lucifrena was going to follow the orders of Gaia and the Gamer completely understood why. Regardless, seeing the metallic, golden wings of hers spread out was intimidating.

Each of them stretched out about two metres. Although impressive, they were smaller than the single pair she had manifested with last time he had seen her. Not a thought that lingered too long in John’s head. His previous suspicion about them being hollow was confirmed when the feathers of one pair of wings shifted positions like window shutters, all of the quill tips pointing outwards. His previous suspicion was almost confirmed, as the resulting gaps revealed radiant bones. Thin constructs of energy under the uppermost row of feathers, leaving everything else on the inside empty.

John immediately jumped to the side, and to his surprise, actually succeeded in dodging the storm of light coming his way. Each of the hundreds of feathers turned their own thin, broad streak of golden energy. They all crossed through the point where he had stood, miraculously not colliding with each other, and then spread out into a cone.

Rolling off and immediately getting on his feet, the Gamer looked around. The rest of the group had also moved away from the centre of the room as quickly as possible, and nobody seemed to have gotten hurt. Aclysia, Rave and Wendy were by his side; Beatrice, Vita and Moira found themselves on the other. The Warden hastily put on her battle regalia.

John cast Possession on a nearby pillar to keep eyes on the target, while checking the damage to the room at large with his own eyes. All of the launched feathers were stuck in whatever part of the church they had hit. The bare part of the quill was completely sunk in, no matter the material, with the rest of the golden feathers sticking out.

‘That doesn’t look too bad,’ John thought, being cautiously optimistic. Then there was a sudden glimmer from every single feather and a sound like a large number of glasses shattering at the same time. The feathers extended and changed into luminescent crystal crosses, cracking open the walls, splintering wood and extending their sharp points half a metre into the air and into the sides. The entirety of the church was ripped apart by the very same symbol it worshipped, minus the body of Christ. ‘Nevermind.’ “How are your eyes?” John asked his girlfriend.

“Uh, fine, why?” she asked.

“Because last time someone looked at her with normal eyes, it had some adverse effects, to put it mildly,” he told her.

“Luci,” Gaia complained from above the proper cross, “you’re supposed to test them, not give them a warning shot. Get to it properly.”

The angel hung her head, and John had the feeling that if there had been a mouth to vocalize with, she would have sighed. The second row of wings was dissolved, the feathers forming a flat circle around her. All of the quills were pointing outwards, the angle slightly different between feathers.

“COVER!” John shouted the obvious, before hurriedly getting behind one of the many pillars. It wasn’t broad enough to even give cover just to him. Aclysia and the quickly manifesting Gnome and Undine put their own bodies between the enemy and the less sturdy members of the group.

In an explosion of strands, the golden cascade of energy spread throughout the entire room. Gnome was forced two steps backwards, Aclysia three, and Undine’s spread out body looked like water that was frozen solid in the middle of boiling. Regardless, all three managed to take the hits meant for Rave, John, and the rest of the elementals now manifesting in his proximity.

‘Attack!’ he commanded mentally, and Siena, Sylph and Salamander were on their way, with Rave close on their heels, cat ears sprouting from her head. As intense as her Spellpower was, Lucifrena had poor physical Stats. If they could rush her, there was a chance for a deciding blow before this could continue.

As they charged, the fired salvo of feathers exploded into crosses. As if the initial impact hadn’t been bad enough, the growing crystals took further chunks of HP out of them, putting all three of them to below half. While they simply blew holes into Undine’s mass and then fell to the floor, the multitude of crosses were stuck in the two solid girls and prevented immediate regeneration. Over half a dozen were stuck in each. John got to quick work to help remove them. The quicker Undine could heal herself and them, the better. His mana flowed in aid of the same goal.

“I’m a cooking goddess, why did I get tangled up in this?!” Wendy wanted to know, likely from Gaia, while she grabbed one of the crystal crosses and yanked it out of Gnome. The autumn elemental didn’t complain, only feeling relief when there was no longer a foreign object lodged into her shoulder. If there was a silver lining to any of this, it was that there were no hooks or edges to those crosses.

Through the eyes of Beatrice, John followed the engagement of the angel. The passive maid was charging much like Rave and the remaining elemental girls were. At her side were Moira and Vita. None of them had been hurt in any fashion, although the pariah looked a bit more translucent than was pleasant. Wielding her large, jet black knife, the dark-haired woman seemed more concentrated than John had ever seen her before.

Unknowing of her exact abilities, the group of assailants avoided the two pairs of energy constructs that remained of the otherwise depleted wings and attacked from the left front. A barrage of lightning and fire preceded a series of attacks by the rest of the group. A stab from Beatrice, an aggressive lunge from Rave, an overhead hammerstrike from Moira, all went down and clashed against the last pair of wings. Having suddenly switched into the uppermost position on her back, the feathers overlapped into a protective cocoon. No matter how much they leaned against it, none of them were able to get through.

John barely noticed that Vita vanished, and a moment later, the protective layer of feathers melted together into a solid wall of energy that then ripped outwards at a massive pace. Combatants were forced back and blinded, John was thrown back against the wall just as he pulled the last cross out of Aclysia, and ultimately, the wall itself gave in. The church collapsed all around him. Whatever combat awareness John had was buried under the omnipresent dust and rubble all around him.

It didn’t take too long for some of his shared senses to allow him to get a hold of the situation again. At the speed of thought, he communicated orders to his familiars, just as most of them burst out of the stone of the now ruined church.

Mostly ruined church. Perhaps as a miracle, or, more likely, by design of the angel, the altar had remained untouched. Even the collapsed ceiling had avoided it, although that was more likely thanks to the supreme deity, who hovered above the cross and continued to watch over the combat. Neither she nor Lucifrena had moved one step since the start of combat.

Vita suddenly appeared a metre in front of the golden humanoid, standing in the rubble without a speck of dust or a single cut on her. In return, the angel had a stab wound in her stomach that perfectly fit the shape of the pariah’s knife. Likely, she had teleported underneath the defences and just stabbed, which caused Lucifrena to lash out. To no surprise, the blank was remarkably effective against an enemy entirely made from and reliant on magic.

“I told you to take this seriously!” Gaia chimed in again.

“I don’t want to know what serious looks like,” John mumbled and turned to run. Not because he was afraid, but because he wanted to stand somewhere where he could delegate his mana to more productive tasks than serving as his protection. He would have hidden inside a building, but Gaia had replaced everything but the church with a simple grassy plain.

Vita, on the other hand, was eager to press her advantage. Charging in a straight line, the dark-haired pariah was willing to exploit her vastly superior speed to decide things as quickly as possible. A first stab at Lucifrena’s shoulder was successful, the angel simply standing there uncaringly. When Vita smiled and moved to drag the weapon through the reincarnated human’s torso, her arm was grabbed and unable to move.

A pair of Lucifrena’s energy bones had separated from her back and fused into a halo that was now hovering behind her head. The flickering of her hair trailed through the centre of the circle as it faded into the air.

Vita tried to pull back, but suddenly found herself physically inferior and at the mercy of the slightly smaller woman. “[Eradication]” The word the pariah uttered sounded like it did not properly belong in the category of sonic phenomena. It was the absence of power, like someone eradicated parts of John’s hearing to formulate that word in their stead.

A thin, white wave of energy ripped outwards and separated the angels left arm from her body. It fell like a rock in the ocean, only slowly sinking as the energy drifted apart. “WATCH OUT!” Moira shouted at the pariah, who wore a triumphant smile on her face for just long enough for Lucifrena to stab her through the stomach with a spear of light. The tip of it was made by a closely intertwined double helix, completely fused at the end. The weapon, like the halo, had formed by two of the bones fusing together.

Vita disappeared again, swallowed by simple nothing, and reappeared close to John. Blood spurted from the hole in her abdomen, an oddly light red fluid, with swirls of black and white flowing within it. They took shapes more commonly associated with kaleidoscopes or LSD trips than running blood. “How interesting,” the dark-haired pariah just said. John wasn’t even sure if she meant her own blood or the enemy, who he Observed once more.

“Well, this is going to be an issue,” John mumbled as he inspected the buffed Stats and delegated Undine to heal the blank. They would need whatever help they could get. ‘I’m mostly certain that we won’t die here. It’s not Gaia’s style and that Lucifrena angel, reincarnated person, woman, whatever, has been holding back so far. If I’m supposed to last five minutes here, I don’t like my chances.’

Moira did not seem to share his pessimism. Taking a stance in the rubble of the church and beating her hammer against her shield. “I will face whatever test you see fit to place in my way, my Lady.”

“Good, I have expectations of you and the Order – high ones,” Gaia commented, “even if you serve less of a purpose in this reality than in others.”

‘How far are we along with preparations?’ John asked into the mental network. Although the violent humbling of Vita was unfortunate, the current situation was developing along what he would expect. Gaia would have never thrown an enemy at them that the pariah on her own could defeat. That she wasn’t exactly a team player meant that she had been the most likely contender for first person smacked down to the floor, with Moira and her straightforward approach to things being a close second.

For as long as things continued to fall within his expectations, he could continue to execute a rough scheme. Detailed plans were bound to fail; predicting general behaviour and tweaking responses to end up in a desired position was the way to go. If rushing the enemy didn’t work, then there were only two options: a single burst attack or fighting to delay the inevitable. As someone who liked to win, the former sounded a whole lot more enticing to the Gamer.

‘I’ll need more mana,’ Sylph answered. ‘Whole lot more.’

‘I’m in position,’ Salamander joined up.

‘Resources prepared,’ Aclysia joined in, with Beatrice simply sending supporting intent.

‘We’re healed up,’ Gnome added.

“Jane,” he shouted over to his girlfriend, who was now in her bodysuit and kneeling in some rubble. One of her cat ears turned his way, indicating that he had her attention, even if she continued to watch the Warden and Lucifrena. “We will support Moira. Try to get as close as you can!”

“Got it!” the Lightbearer answered and her Aura ignited, just as the redheaded Warden fuelled up her own and suddenly accelerated.

Thrusting her remaining arm forwards, the angel met Moira’s charge with her spear. To the surprise of almost everyone, the energy weapon clashed against the shield without dealing any damage to it. John had expected at least a scratch, but the carriable wall of metal appeared to be indestructible in the truest sense of the word.

It did slow Moira’s advance completely, however. The Warden wasn’t in any position to counterattack, but Rave was able to take advantage of the situation. With the silent grace of a cat, she leapt at the angel. Lucifrena moved in a frantic whirl, her heel slamming into Rave’s side. Before she was catapulted away, Siena burst out of the Lightbearer’s shadow, attempting to slice at the opponent while she was off-balance.

As much of a surprise as that may have been, against such a vastly more powerful and unknown opponent, it didn’t lead to the desired result. The last two wings of the angel were suddenly filled with a number of feathers again, a series of which aimed and then descended on Siena. Not only was the distance much shorter than John had been in the luxury of earlier, it seemed Lucifrena was a bit more cautious now. At a speed that Siena just couldn’t react to in time, her body was riddled with feathers and, subsequently, nailed to the floor by crosses growing inside her body.

He felt Siena’s pain and hurt pride, and both reverberated inside him. Both her and John’s plan were effortlessly discarded, without any harm to Lucifrena herself. If there was any good to this, it was that the moonshade elemental didn’t get finished off.

The wings continued to produce new feathers at a rapid pace. Most of which immediately turned into sparks flying towards the stump of her left shoulder. Segment for tiny segment, it regenerated, while she raised the spear and swung at Moira, who jumped back to not get hit needlessly.

Lucifrena had just finished the motion when the maids were back in action. Her much superior speed allowed her to react regardless, and the white wave of Master’s Shield forced her to immediately focus on Aclysia. A stab with the back end of the weapon was enroute to slam against the head of the weaponized maid, only to go straight through it – without causing any damage.

Having turned translucent, Aclysia sliced through her enemy in return. An attack that also did exactly nothing, courtesy of Reality Fracture. Master’s Shield lasted just half a second longer than the three second reality shift did. A perfect synergy in this case, protecting the weaponized maid from damage while the angel was compelled to focus on her.

Noticing that something must have been up, Lucifrena moved from her spot for the first time since combat began. She backed off right into Beatrice, but dodged even the attack accelerated by Unsteady Limb by simply twisting out of the way. Aclysia’s attack rung uselessly in the air, the Delayed Cut hadn’t hit, but plans rarely survived contact with the enemy.

Lucifrena had vastly superior speed on her side, but surrounded on four sides, even she couldn’t make full use of that. Especially since her Strength wasn’t that much better than the rest of them. At about 500, it was actually inferior to Aclysia’s. Not that it mattered much, the swipes were still strong enough to be threatening, especially once the angel’s second arm was fully recovered.

‘Gnome?’ John asked, keeping an eye on everything. He was close enough to add his own body to the melee, if necessary, but felt generally content just overlooking the situation and strategizing.

‘Ready when Sylph is.’

‘Salamander?’

‘What the leader rock said!’

‘Sylph?’ John didn’t get an answer, only determined silence. The thunderstorm elemental was trying to tap into her Unleash to get the full potential of the attack. ‘I’ll take that as a go-ahead,’ he said and gave one second to allow for denial. ‘GO!’

Aclysia and Beatrice disengaged by suddenly jumping back. Rave reacted in the same breath. Moira didn’t, not until her eyes fell on a leaf-winged butterfly that was between herself and Lucifrena. A butterfly that suddenly transformed into a thin pillar of stone, with numerous others around doing the same thing.

Together they formed a semi-circle around Lucifrena. It wasn’t a fully-fledged barrier and wouldn’t become one quickly enough to box her in, but it did somewhat distract the angel and limit her movement options.

She must have been a seasoned fighter, not looking at the sudden change on the battlefield for longer than a moment. Instead, she whirled to look in the opposite direction, where Sylph and Salamander were hovering a few metres above the ground. The endflame elemental’s Unleash flickered over to the air spirit, a blessing that would increase the next attack’s potency immensely.

With a straight and serious look on her face and no words, Sylph simply pointed her left palm at the target and let flow free all the mana she had in her and all that John had sent her. A blueish white torrent of electricity ravaged through the air, crackling and buzzing, surrounded by gold and grey fire.

Lucifrena raised both of her hands in defence. Halo and spear both separated and reattached themselves to her back. A steady storm of new feathers was produced by the energy bones, flew in front of her hands and formed a shield that Sylph’s attack clashed against. Ever more of the metallic fragments of golden magic fed into the defensive measure. The lightning screamed, as if to protest the fact that it was being denied access to its true target. A scream that slowly began to fade and then completely ebbed away.

Lowering her hands, the six-winged angel stood tall, her wings bare once more but otherwise as unharmed.