White Angel

Upon waking up, I see in my blurred vision a scene of utter chaos. Black flames raged on from as far as my eyes could see. White sparks of lights flashes everywhere. The sounds I heard of something metallic clashing against each other was loud enough to erupt my eardrums if I had to listen to it any longer.

I couldn't move. My whole body feels like a heavy weight was placed on it and I was having an intense headache.

"Ange...? Are you awake?"

I heard a familiar voice calling out to me from behind my ear.

"Kael? Is that you? What... happened...?" I asked towards the voice. My vision gradually cleared up as I made out my surroundings. I was in a sitting position, leaning on something warm on my back. I was inside what appears to be a warehouse.

'Was I taken inside after I lost consciousness?'

"After you blacked out, we were forcefully dragged inside by the Naves," Kael replied with a tired voice. "Remind me to never do something this crazy again."

"Sure, if we made it out alive..." I said as I had a proper look at him.

Kael was holding onto my shoulders with his back against the wall. He had now turned back into his usual, adult form. He looked exhausted as he held onto me, "You okay? Sorry but it's best if you stay with me for now. You don't wanna get caught up in that battle."

I had only noticed it when he mentioned it. I turned to the front and saw that the glaring noises that I had been hearing was coming from a battle between a group of people wearing white armour and a humanoid black creature.

"The White Angels?" I asked subconsciously.

"Yeah" Kael replied simply, "Thankfully, they arrived in time."

I observed the people in white closely, noticing that their armour was made to focus on ease of movement as they fight. They held onto what seem like a sword made of white fire. They all wore the same expression as they battled with the creature; calm, like what they're doing is not fighting but leisurely reading a book under a tree. I couldn't discern any other emotions from their faces.

Turning towards the black humanoid creature they're fighting against, my instinct immediately tells me that the creature is a Devil. It was big, about six metres tall. It's skin was black and seems to be made of stone with cracks covering all of its body. A thick bright red colour outlined itself along those cracks. With every movement the devil made, those cracks glowed brighter.

It's head had dark red horns and was also covered with the blackish stone-like skin, it's eyes a black flame with flashes of red, glaring as it howled into the sky. It's howl was many times even more horrifying then the Naves, striking the deepest part of my soul. I immediately felt even more pressure pushing down on me, making it even harder for me to move.

The White Angels doesn't seemed to be affected by the howl. The expressions on their faces unchanged from their composed, calm ones earlier. Instead, their movement became more swift as they swung down their white, flame like swords. Pushing back the Devil as it frantically counterattacked.

"How come the Devil is here...? I thought you said it would run away once it sensed something was amiss..." I said as I gritted my teeth in pain.

"It would. In normal circumstances that is..." I heard Kael's strained reply from behind me. "I suspect that it didn't because it misunderstood things differently."

"It's possible that it thought that you're a newly born or a weakened Guardian Angel and I was the child you were protecting," he continued, "To a Devil, an angel is more nutritious than a Trist. So, having both of them show themselves, with the angel in a weakened state, is like offering themselves to be eaten. This Devil looked like it's in a weak state so it's probably desperate to nourish itself. Still, even in it's weakened state, it's still strong enough to kill you."

"I can hardly even move and you say that this Devil is already weak?!" I questioned helplessly, watching the intense ongoing battle in front of me. The Devil does indeed seemed weak as it's movement gradually slowed down in the White Angels' onslaught.

"It is weak. Otherwise, the White Angels won't be able to kill it this fast." As Kael's words reached me, I saw the Devil gave out one last howl in grief as the cracks on it's body glowed brighter and brighter until it crumbled and fell into pieces.

"Is it over...? Just like that?" I asked uncertainly.

"Yeah. Should be alright now," Kael replied after watching the White Angels cleaning up the remains of the Devils for awhile. "You can let go of the barrier now. There's no need to keep it up anymore." he continued.

"Barrier?" I asked in confusion.

Kael didn't say anything, he just gestured silently with his eyes at my left hand.

Following his gaze, I looked at my left hand. At the centre of my palm, where the mark is, was glowing white faintly. It continues to shine until it eventually dimmed and vanished.

"It means 'Protect' and the one on your right palm is 'Purify'. It's your weapon as a Guardian Angel." A voice unknown to me rang out, explaining the meaning behind the marks.

I raised my head and saw a blonde man in white armour looking down at me. He was one of the White Angels fighting earlier and had an eyepatch covering his right eye. He gazed fiercely at me for a few moments before his expression eased up, returning to his original calm, composed one.

"You're the new Impure that was born? I'm amazed you managed to encounter a Devil a few days after you started your duty. You may call me Meril," He said with a gentle tone.

"Ah, yes! I'm Ange! Pleased to me... woah!" I hastily tried to get up as to properly greet him, forgetting my condition, I fell backwards.

Easily catching me, Kael said as he laid me down on the ground, "Easy there. I told you you're weak. The effects of the howl earlier should still be affecting you. Obediently rest down here for a bit more."

Meril laughed as he looked at me. Bending down, he stared at me, his eyes flashing a gold colour, "Hmm.. That's odd..." he muttered.

"What was that...?" I asked, unable to hear what he had said clearly.

"You shouldn't overexert yourself. If you properly rest, you should be fine by tomorrow," he said, smiling gently. "Next time, try not to do this again. It's fine if the Devil gets away but it won't do if you get hurt. Your job is to protect. Leave the fighting to those who are supposed to fight."

"As for you, Kael," He turned, looking at Kael like a father scolding a child. "I've always knew you were a troublemaker. I honestly wonder what made the higher up designate you as her supervisor."

"But I made sure the plan wouldn't give the Devil any suspicion. The only way for it to suspect anything was if it had been in the area..." Kael grumbled.

"Don't underestimate a Devil. You're already about to be eaten when we arrived. What would you have done if it had been later?" Meril refuted him. "But, indeed, it was weird how the Devil managed to find your plan out. It was a simple one but it's indeed hard to detect unless the Devil was there itself. But if that was the case, it wouldn't have mistaken you for a Trist. You could fool a Naves with that guise of yours but not a Devil. It must have found out another way..."

"I'll investigate this matter. You two. Don't be reckless after this," He said before flying away towards the other White Angels.

"Uh... Kael...?" I called out to the Kael who was just scolded.

"Yeah. Let's not mess with Devils anymore." He nodded with a resigned face.

"Would the situation had been different if the Devil knew that you're a Death Angel instead of a Trist?" I asked curiously.

Kael, turned to sit next to me and answered, "Well yeah. It'd run away obviously. Because if there's any other Angels then the possibility of them calling the White Angels are higher."

"The Devil was probably under the impression that you're a newly born Pure Guardian Angel. Newly born Pures don't need someone to supervise them as they've never been human, thus not having the possibility of causing trouble but as they lack experience, for Devils, it's much easier to kill them. That's why they're more likely to take the risk to attack."

"It's all due to the fact that Impures are rare to begin with that the Devil would hardly consider the possibility that you're an Impure that was just born and had another angel supervising her. I think the Devil realised it's miscalculation when it arrived here and saw me, immediately noticing the truth. Then, realising it's too late to run, it proceeded to try and eat us to gain nourishment"

"That should basically sums up what happened." He sighed.

I nodded my head, feeling drowsy for the first time since becoming a Guardian Angel.

"You should sleep. I'll carry you back to the house," Kael said in a gentle tone.

"Mmm... Kay..." I muttered softly as I slowly fell asleep.