The angel, the ghost and the nightmare pt.3

"I doubt it," Marina noted, thinking of Shirei.

The skeletons charged into battle like furies, but Marina feared they would be no match for the creature. Her best friend could summon as many skeletons as she wanted, but they weren't even close to the winged soldier. Demonstrating that thought, Venorias quickly spun around and sliced cleanly through one of the skeletons beneath the ribcage.

"If you let me get close enough, I can shock him with the multi-everything taser," said Lorenzo, "It wouldn't stop him forever, but it could make him vulnerable for a few seconds."

Marina grimaced. She had serious doubts that the idea would work, but they had no better alternatives.

"Okay, I'll help you get closer."

The angel soared into the sky. Dalia looked around to get an idea as a second wave of skeletons poured out of the cracks in the floor. Francesca tried to concentrate all her strength to create a fireball large enough to destroy the creature's wings. Venorias dived towards them with the blade aimed at Lorenzo's chest. The son of Ien rolled in time with a somersault and rose up behind the creature's point of impact. Slowly, he changed the form of his multi-all into the battle hammer and decided to close behind the enemy. Francesca saw Venorias get up and launched her fiery sphere, but the creature simply canceled it with a strong gust of its angelic wings. Before Lorenzo could attack, the ghostly shadow stretched out its open hand towards him. The blond backed away, fearing a sudden attack, but the tip of his hammer began to glow.

"What's happening?!" He shouted, scared.

The metal sparked and began to corrode rapidly, before melting like honey. The boy's eyes widened as he saw his creation being reduced to that state. Marina had to think quickly, the person who had summoned the creature had been Shirei, a son of Cragar, so undoing the summoning might be possible for another son of the God of the Dead. The key to stopping the angel was Dalia, but the girl was completely pale and struggled to stand. Summoning the skeletons had exhausted her completely. From the entrance to the arena, a rather large group of boys dressed in armor approached, attracted by the obvious commotion that had been created. Marina thanked the Gods silently and rushed to support her best friend.

"Keep him busy!" The daughter of Ien ordered the demigods who had just come to help.

Venorias attacked the newcomers like lightning when, at a certain point, Francesca managed to hit him with a fireball that exploded on one of his wings. The being gasped and fell to the ground. It was their opening, they could defeat him.

A white-furred creature quickly charged and leaped before their eyes. Marina managed to recognize him in passing: it was Mr. D'Agostini. The man, transformed by his curse into an Erchitu*, landed hard on Venorias with a thud and caused the ground to collapse. The demigods present moved away as the man gored the soldier, burying his head in the body of the ghostly creature. After a few minutes, Mr. D'Agostini got up again. Every breath he took corresponded to a small cloud of water vapor escaping from his mouth.

All the demigods began to applaud, but kept their distance. Marina grimaced slightly and observed the man with her eyes. His aura clearly showed a huge amount of anger that made him hostile, but there also seemed to be some sort of control on his part.

"Wait-" Dalia said quickly, before the inevitable happened.

Venorias swung the Blade of Discord, which struck Lyceum metal horns and threw him a few meters away. The angel got up, perfectly intact, every wound he had suffered had healed. Cragar's daughter tried to move forward to face him, but fell to her knees.

"Dalia!" The girl shouted, holding up her best friend.

"I'm fine, just... a little tired."

Lyceum returned to the attack with a long howl as the demigods tried to keep the creature at bay. Marina didn't know what to do, if Venorias was capable of healing himself infinitely then they had no hope of getting rid of him. Salix and 'Shirei' would continue to fight until Aena arrived, then she would act accordingly. They had to do something, find a way to nullify the angelic creature's summoning.

"What do you think?" Dalia asked.

"The angel," Marina murmured, "If Shirei summoned it, you should be able to make it disappear."

Cragar's daughter leaned against her friend and began humming a happy tune.

"What are you-" Ien's daughter stopped alone as she saw a small greenish cloud escape from her friend's lips and then be inhaled again through her nostrils.

"Maybe I can do it," Dalia said with difficulty, "But I'll have to get closer."

"Okay," the demigoddess nodded, "I'll help you."

After a few seconds, Cragar's daughter stood up with renewed strength. Marina looked at her in amazement, but was too focused on defeating the creature at that moment to ask what she had done. Dalia pushed through the demigods and ran towards Venorias. Marina followed behind her and reached Lyceum with her dagger drawn. The angel seemed to notice the two, but the fireballs, thrown by the sons of Corgi, distracted him. Marina advanced and placed herself at Mr. D'Agostini's side while Dalia was a stone's throw from the shadow soldier, having successfully circumvented him.

Venorias advanced with his blade raised. Marina took a breath and threw herself into the fray together with Mr. D'Agostini. She didn't have time to land a blow and was immediately out of action.

It all happened too fast. Marina's vision became blurry, a sign of fatigue, and her powers deactivated on their own. The demigoddess slowed down and was overtaken by Lyceum who, regardless of the danger, charged towards Artorias with his head down. The angel somersaulted in the air and prepared to bring the Blade of Discord down on the Erchitu's exposed back. At that moment, Marina's body moved on its own and the girl pushed herself in between. Venorias responded by slowing her movement with a thrust of his wings, but it still ended up hurting her entire forearm. Ien's daughter did everything she could to ignore the pain, but a sudden pang forced her to kneel. He gritted his teeth, that suffering wasn't natural, the blade must have been imbued with divine power.

The battle against the angel continued, the sons of Corgi hurled fireballs, the sons of Sidal attacked together with Lyceum.

Venorias was able to defend himself very well from attacks and those that hit him did not have a lasting effect, given his instant regeneration. Marina wanted to try to get up, but the pain gradually increased more and more. That's when Dalia sprung into action, leaping and clinging to the winged creature's neck.

Cragar's daughter clung to the soldier, but before she could even try to send him back to where he came from, he dissolved into thin air.

Everyone present stopped, taken aback, then warned him.

A power so great that, for a brief moment, it erased the pain Marina was feeling. Ien's daughter trembled with fear and turned to look in the direction of her house.

Aena was furious.