4 Messy World

(A/N: I posted an auxiliary chapter for power scaling between angels and demons as well as for keeping track of worlds visited.)

Falling through the portal was an uncomfortable experience. Sanguinius felt like he was falling upward. Everything about the mode of travel felt wrong. It was also extremely cold inside the portal, like having your entire being submerged in freezing water. Fortunately, the venture wasn't a long one, there was a reason portals are the preferred method of travel after all.

Rex and Sanguinius gently landed on the floor of a church in the human world. The first thing he noticed was how the world rejected him. It felt as if a strong wind was constantly attempting to push him back and out of this world. Of course, the push wasn't too bad due to his being a newborn angel after all. He didn't have enough power for the world to deem him a true threat yet. Beside him, Rex grunted and seemed to brace himself more firmly against the repulsion of the world.

Finally, Sanguinius's attention was drawn to the priest who had been praying beneath the dais they had been summoned on. The priest's white clothes were completely stained red by blood, as he looked up reverently his body started to tilt and collapse. Beneath the man, a growing pool of blood spread and flowed down a few steps and into the central hall of the church. Before the man could perish an angelic hand reached down and gasped the man's side where all the blood was pouring from.

Sanguinius immediately activated touch of healing, watching as color returned to the man. As the man started to regain consciousness the two angels looked around the church, finding it desolate and the stained glass windows shattered. The scent of smoke and blood was thick in the air. Every few seconds a scream echoed through the open windows from the streets surrounding the church. The two angels shot each other a look and Rex strode forward and slapped the man lightly awakening him.

Once again the priest looked up at them in shock as he regained his kneeling position. Once his brain seemed to function again he prostrated himself and began to cry.

"Thank God, I am saved. I AM SAVED."

Rex bent down and lifted the man, his role as only an observer abandoned due to the situation they found themselves in. Despite the seemingly dire state the man and this city found themselves in the two angels remained relatively unperturbed. They had caught the scent of demons, but it was weak, even weaker than the lowest low-class demon. This had to mean this attack was initiated by vampires or the like. The problem on both angels' minds was how did things get this bad without heaven being alerted.

"What happened here? Why weren't we alerted to the situation earlier?"

At Rex's insistent questioning the man finally stopped crying and rubbed his bloody hands across his face, leaving long crimson streaks. The man had to take a few deep breaths before he was stable enough to speak.

"It all started one year ago when a witch was burned at the stake, but this was no ordinary witch. Apparently, this woman was Dracula's wife, and from the flames of her stake, he appeared and issued a decree that we only had one year left before he would come back to wipe us out. Nobody believed what happened, we all thought it was false, until a few days ago. The archbishop and the cathedral at Targovista were burned and killed. Many lost faith in God and his angels, but I held firm. I HELD FIRM AND NOW I HAVE SUMMONED THE SERVANTS OF GOD TO SAVE US!"

"What happened to the Belmonts? There were supposed to be the protectors of this world so we would not need to intervene directly."

Sanguinius was shocked to hear Rex mention the Belmonts. During the priest's speech, he had thought that this world was similar to that of the t.v series Castlevania in his previous life, but he thought was just a coincidence. His train of thought was cut off by the priest speaking again.

"The church officials have lost their faith and grown fat off of the people's wealth. They blamed the appearances of the creatures of the night and Dracula on the Belmonts. They were excommunicated and their manor burned by an angry mob. I've heard that only one or two are still alive after the purge, but those are just rumors."

Sanguinius suddenly spoke up for the first time in the conversation.

"Where are we currently?"

"We are a three days ride away from where Dracula first unleased his hordes in Targoviste."

Once the man was done speaking Sanguinius moved faster than the priest could ever hope to see and crushed the man's skull with his bear hand. Rex shot him a look but did nothing more. They could both smell the blood the man had on his hands, he had already fallen into depravity long ago. It was probably one last desperate attempt to connect to god that the man was even in the church. As the man's head impacted the floor a screen popped to life.

[+1 XP]

'So humans would have only counted for 0.5 XP before, I guess that makes sense' Sanguinius thought to himself as he strode forward. His arm was caught by Rex just as he was about to exit the church and start farming some XP.

"Sanguinius, it may not matter too much for you yet, but I'll need to get some sort of anchor to hold me in this world if we want to stay here for more than a month."

Sanguinius thought seriously for a moment before nodding and responding.

"I don't think we'll need that long to deal with this. Normally I would suggest we head straight to the head of this snake and chop it off, but since I am here partly to gain experience we should head to each major city and clear it out before heading for Dracula."

"Normally I would disagree, but this is your mission and it seems like the church needs a wake-up call."

The two angels spread their wings and flew up and out of the shattered windows. The scene they found outside was hellish. Sanguinius could feel himself starting to break down and he felt the urge to vomit. As soon as the feeling appeared it disappeared due to the presence of his metal immunity perk. He grinned as he felt his emotions stabilize, this was the exact reason he had chosen the perk in the first place.

Down on the streets below blood flowed like rivers, and mangled bodies were present everywhere. Almost every home in the medieval village was on fire and the people who weren't dead were trying to escape, but the narrow streets made perfect killing zones for the monsters to slaughter the humans. Sanguinius watched one in fascination as it opened its mouth and spit a fireball out that exploded in contact with the street.

The monsters were squat, looking like a hybrid between dog and bat. They ran on four legs and had fangs like a dog, but they had far too many eyes and bat wings protruding from their backs. Their claws were sharp and durable from the look of them and this theory was proved a moment later when the two angels saw a man in full plate get ripped apart. Sanguinius gave Rex a look, but the other man made a 'not my problem' gesture and waved him away.

Sanguinius chuckled slightly as he rose into the air on his two powerful wings. His first target was a beast that clung to the top of a tower and rained fireballs down into the street. At the last instant, it turned as he approached. As it laid eyes upon him the flames died in its throat, and for a brief moment and he could swear that a look of awe and fear came over the beast. It was impossible to tell however due to its head being sheared off by his blade a split second later.

[+2 XP]

Sanguinius barely paid the system any attention as he took up the position of the dead beast and conjured a spear of brilliant light. Immediately every living being within sight froze. Humans froze due to awe at seeing a physical manifestation of their faith among them, the beast froze from instinctual terror. It didn't matter that they were created by forgemasters they all had at least a sliver of demonic blood. Even that small, heavily diluted fragment of their being sealed their fate to be weak against holy light.

Sanguinius aimed toward the most crowded section of the street, near the gates to exit the town, and threw his spear. The beasts were fast and on top of that they could fly, but at that moment none of that mattered. Upon impact the spear exploded into a flash of light, searing the unholy flesh right off the bones of the nearest monsters.

[+10 XP]

Sanguinius released his grip on the tower and allowed himself to fall and glide into the street, well above the heads of humans and beasts alike. He did away with creating weapons out of holy light, instead preferring to create bullets or lasers of light which ripped the monsters apart. Eventually, the monsters regained their bearing and focused their fire on the angel. The fireballs exploded on contact with the holy shield that had appeared at the last moment to protect him.

Sanguinius strained slightly as he held out an arm to maintain the barrier. Technically there was no need for the gesture, but it aided him in focusing his energy into the shield. As soon as the smoke cleared the beasts saw the angel emerge unscathed and with a bestial roar flew forward to engage in close-quarters combat. As the first group approached the holy shield suddenly expanded and burned the beasts out of the air. As they fell a series of quick flashes of light finished them off.

Soon the rest of the monsters invading the town approached after hearing the screams of their kin. Sanguinius smiled happily as he weaved among them, his white blade carving a bloody path through their ranks. Soon there was a lake of blood beneath the angel's feet as he grabbed the nearest beast and bashed it against the wall, then drowned it in its kin's blood. All the while a manic grin was spread wide across his face.

His entire life Sanguinius had considered himself to be relatively normal, but now he felt like a wolf in sheep's clothing. He had no idea where all this bloodlust was coming from, but he didn't mind it one bit. The feeling of power he now wielded was intoxicating and only grew as he rained biblical amounts of ruination on the beasts of this town. That was at least until one slid through his guard and managed to pierce through a gap in his armor.

Sanguinius roared as he turned and shattered the beast's body with a mighty swing of his fist, but the monster had given the others an opening. The angel felt dozen of fangs pierce his wings and body. He struggled with all his might and released as much holy light as he could from his body, but everything went dark as one beast, now engulfed in an inferno managed to clamp its fangs down on his neck and shoot a fireball at point-blank range.

Pain like he had never known before flared briefly before his body went numb and everything faded to black. Sanguinius's lifeless body fell limp from the skies as the last of the beasts surrounding him turned to ash. Soon the last few surviving monsters left in the city came forth the defile the corpse of the foe that had slain so many of them, but as they approached the angel's body their bodies simply drifted away, already ash.

Rex stood above Sanguinius's body and watched impassively as his bright golden-white soul emerged. As soon as the soul left his body Rex reached out and used holy light to force it back in before casting resurrection on his fallen brother.

Sanguinius snapped his eyes open panicking despite mental immunity working to calm him. A smooth, slightly amused voice reached his ears as soon as he regained consciousness, cutting through his internal panic.

"Welcome back. How was your first death?"