Ascension of the Dark Seraph

It was colder tonight.

Night had fallen heavier than usual, cloaking the world in a deeper shade of darkness.

And the wind… it blew harder, howling with sharp teeth, cutting through the trees like a warning hiss of a snake, setting the leaves into a furious rustle that mimicked whispers too frantic to understand. But it wasn't only the chill that unsettled.

Around them, there were no hoots, no chirps, no scuttling of creatures in the underbrush.

Everything was eerily quiet as if the world was too afraid to disturb someone tonight.

Andrea led the group cautiously.

She looked around at the unsettling surroundings as a hollow weight settled over her senses.

Colors were still there, she could see them, but if her focus wavered, they drained into bleak shades of gray. Sounds still reached her ears—she could hear the others behind, their footsteps, their breaths, but without effort, they blurred into a distant, muffled haze.

Even her movements felt wrong—slow, sluggish, as if she were trudging through a dream.

No… not a dream. A nightmare.

It was a silence too complete, too unnatural.

And in that void, her steps began to slow.

"Lead the damn way properly, Andrea. I can't wait to kill that bitch any longer."

Malric hooted in annoyance from behind.

His focus was on that flame saintess.

For him, nothing else matters at the moment other than that woman.

Leo, on the other hand, noticed something far more profound than Malric's surface-level observation.

"What's wrong? Did you feel something?"

"No… I didn't feel anything, and that felt wrong."

Considering that they were going to invade the base of the flame saintess, who was quite strong to be able to fend the three of them for a good moment and even wound Malric—she should've felt uneasy, and worried, but she didn't.

And that somehow felt worse than being really nervous.

Her body wasn't made to be this relaxed, especially when approaching a vicious confrontation.

"Should we go ba-"

"I see something!"

Malric laughed and ran ahead on his own when he saw a few oil lamps shining in the distance.

It must be another city, the base where the flame saintess resides.

Andrea and Leo tried to call him back, but he ignored the two of them without a care in the world.

Given no choice, both of them chased after him.

Soon, the three academy hunters arrived at the edge of a city that was bordered by a short stone wall that barely reached two meters. Like a usurper, Malric cast his ability, the staple ability that all Hell Demon Hybrid has, Infernal Possession.

Part of the skin on his face peeled off, exposing flaming flesh.

Both his horns also heated up, and a tail grew from his behind, turning him more demonic than before.

As soon as he reached the gate, he leaped.

Crash!

Malric threw a punch that exploded upon impact, shattering the gate with ease.

He rolled into the city and looked around, expecting the Blood Priests to be waiting on the other side.

But it was completely empty.

"Huh? Where are all the people? Did they all run away?"

Malric glanced over his shoulder, looking straight at Andrea, who was also looking around in surprise, knowing precisely—that there were a lot of people here when she last checked. It hasn't even been that long, only a few hours, but the city was now empty.

"Oy, Andrea, what the fuck is this? Did you play a prank on me?"

"What? All of them were here earlier…"

She ran past Malric to look around properly, but she couldn't find a single soul.

Not even when she used her vampiric eyes to see signs of heartbeats in the city.

It was almost as if all of them disappeared.

"Did you perhaps get spotted?"

Leo stepped forward, placing the massive battle axe on his shoulder.

"No, it's impossible. I made sure nobody saw me!"

"Tch!" Malric spat to the side and stood up straight. "It's going to be trickier now to find them."

Realizing that the situation had gotten out of hand, Leo placed a hand on Andrea's shoulder.

"Let's go back and inform the academy. We fought Blood Priests, and there are only a few cities that are known to supply Blood Priests," He suggested, sensing the danger lingering in the air. "Be realistic. It doesn't need to be us alone handling this. The Valerius Supreme House doesn't take treason lightly."

"Fuck that, I'm not leaving until I get my hands on that bitch!" Malric argued.

He lost half of his beautiful face because of the flame saintess.

No matter what, he's not leaving until he settles the score.

Knowing how stubborn Malric could be, Leo was about to sneakily knock him out, but stopped.

Growl!

All three of them snapped their heads and saw a creature hovering on the wall.

It looked like a black panther, but its skin was shimmering with a glassy green hue.

Like its body was encased in a gem.

A fluttering sound of wind pulled the trio's attention as another creature appeared, this time an owl with long claws and abnormally big green wings. Even as it landed atop of a nearby house and folded its two wings, it still looked extremely big.

Surely, that owl was as big as an elephant.

"What the fuck? Did a dungeon break occur nearby?"

"Our gear should've picked it up if that was the case. Look, the greenish theme must mean they are pets of that flame saintess. She's still somewhere here."

As if two monsters weren't enough to make a fair fight, another one appeared.

From the end of the street, another creature appeared, but this one didn't look like an oversized animal.

It was a warrior made entirely of stone and green fire, dragging a flaming sword.

Almost instantly, the trio went into their fighting stances and placed their back against each other as if they were a single unit. Leo raised his battle axe, Malric drew his sword, while Andrea pulled out a gun, a revolver to be exact.

"I'll take the panther." Leo said.

Andrea looked up, "I'm taking on the Owl."

Hearing this, Malric smirked as his eyes and sword burned, glaring at the warrior across from him.

"Then you're mine!"

Swoosh!

Not even waiting for the cue from the others, Malric made a dash at the flaming warrior.

"When will he be able to restrain himself?" Andrea shook her head.

Leo chuckled, "When you're angry, you know that. Or maybe when he's sleeping."

Growl!

Baring its fangs, the panther pounced from the wall but was quickly met by a spinning battle axe.

Leo wasted no time turning both arms into rock, enhancing his strength greatly, and hurled the battle axe towards the pouncing panther. Upon impact, a steely sound resounded, causing his brows to dip as that shouldn't be the sound a battle axe made when met against flesh.

Clearly, the panther has extremely hard skin.

On the other hand, Andrea's eyes glowed crimson as she activated her ability.

In her vision, the owl's blood flow became evident.

She could tell what move it was about to make and where its vital points were exactly.

Just as the owl made its move, three bangs resounded as three blood bullets pierced through the air.

Instinctively, the owl curled, taking on the blood bullets head-on and flew skyward.

A three-way battle started inside the desolate city.

From a distance, the outskirts of the city looked like a storm of chaos had been caged and then let loose.

Bursts of ether erupted like flashes of lightning, searing the skies in unnatural hues.

Most mainly took the shape of splashing flames that lit up the edges of the city like fireworks.

Gunfire rattled in staccato bursts, some too fast for the ear to track, others slowed and warped by the dense pressure of clashing energies. All blood bullets were aimed at the flying massive owl, which was circling the city, and taking occasional dives to cause destruction.

On the other side, houses cracked like brittle bones.

One collapsed in on itself, a delayed casualty from a shockwave that had passed moments ago.

None of the combatants could be seen, only their aftershocks, only the scars left in their wake.

Crash!

The panther pounced with its claws flared, but it missed its target.

As it looked up, Leo was already descending with his battle axe lifted overhead, its edge glowing with a brown hue. Exerting as much strength as he could in a second, he swung down hard, landing a perfect slash on the panther's body.

Upon impact, the panther was split into two, spraying blood everywhere as the ground cracked.

Even with its strong skin, it couldn't block this attack.

Leo used the battle axe as a cane, wiping the sweat and blood on his forehead.

It was quite a fierce monster, so Leo's body suffered several wounds from the fight.

On the side, Andrea was standing on the roof.

Her eyes tracked down the owl that moved extremely fast above the city, circling with speed, but with a deep breath, she flicked her hand and fired a single bullet with her revolver. Unlike the previous ones, this bullet was thicker, glowed brighter, and dripped with blood.

Seeing the incoming bullet, the owl banked hard and avoided it perfectly.

But the bullet suddenly banked too and intercepted the owl, piercing its chest squarely.

Andrea spun the revolver and placed it back in the holster before turning around.

Behind her, the owl exploded mid-air, spraying flesh and blood everywhere.

"Good work, Leo!"

She shouted, seeing that Leo had also finished his side.

Leo smiled at her and gave a thumbs-up.

Pivoting to the other side, Andrea squinted her eyes and placed a hand over her brows.

In the distance, she saw that Malric was also finishing up the flaming warrior.

But it was then she noticed a massive cathedral, and standing on the street in front of it was a familiar figure—the flame saintess. She was standing there elegantly, looking at Malric, who wasn't too far away from her.

"Leo! It's her! Follow me!"

"Roger!"

Meanwhile, Malric was mounting the flaming warrior, licking its helmet as he stabbed his sword into its neck, savoring the blood that spurted onto his face. He was in the middle of this when he realized a figure ahead of him.

Raising his gaze, his pupils instantly dilated when he saw Morriva.

Swoosh!

Not even wasting a single second, his body blurred, and he reappeared beside her.

"Found you, bitch!"

Slash!

He swung his fiery sword in a brutal arc, sending Morriva flying away.

She blasted through the cathedral doors with a crash, her body slamming against the polished stone.

Like an animal, Malric wanted to give Morriva no chance to retaliate, but he stopped.

For a moment there, he looked at the cathedral.

And for the first time, there was reason behind his eyes.

"What's with this cathedral…? It's dripping with sin."