Chapter 33

Xain and the group had been walking for about 15 minutes. Xain still felt self-conscious about his attire, and Grace and Zee exchanging glares every now and then. The angel, on the other hand, was doing fine.

"Goddess, I hope we don't run into any mercenaries," Xain expressed his concern aloud. They were still a factor after all.

"Don't sweat it. If the demon can take 'em, then so can I," said the angel confidently. Grace chimed in, "And when he gets his ass kicked, I'm here, so there's no worries." Zee added, "I'm sure if I show them my ears, they'll run away. And if not, I can definitely still fight them."

Xain sighed, "Even if we can beat them, I'd rather not fight them." The angel, however, realized something, "Did you just insinuate I'd lose?" he asked Grace, who nonchalantly replied, "Yes." The angel's eyes twitched behind his glasses, "Why do you have such a problem with me?" he asked through gritted teeth. Grace shrugged, saying, "I just don't like birds."

"For the last time, I'M NOT A BIRD!" the angel yelled, his glasses nearly falling off his face. Xain pleaded, "Could you please not yell right now? There are mercenaries around here!" Grace, who had covered her ears knowing that the angel was going to yell, added, "Wow, talk about having no grace despite being an angel." The angel clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Tsk, who the hell cares about all that grace stuff," and resumed moving.

"Why are you provoking him right now?" Zee whispered in Grace's ear, sounding annoyed. "I'm trying to help him," Grace whispered back before moving away from Zee and continuing to walk. Zee was left feeling confused by her words.

"Uh, cool glasses?" Xain attempted to shift the conversation.

"I know, right? It's good to see that you don't need to know what something to know its coolness," the angel replied proudly, looking smug as he adjusted his sunglasses.

*Wow, he moved on quick. Also, holy crap, he's vain,* Xain thought to himself before asking, "What are those called exactly?" as he pointed at the glasses.

"These are sunglasses or shades. They shield your eyes from the sun, but most people wear 'em because they just look cool," the angel explained, removing the sunglasses to demonstrate.

Xain nodded along, but internally, he couldn't help but think, *Those look like something someone trying to look cool would wear, despite not being cool.* Grace, picking up on Xain's thoughts, agreed, *He somehow looks more like a punk with those on.*

"Where did you get that, or this armor now that I think about it?" Xain asked. The angel looked momentarily confused before realizing, "Oh yeah, you weren't there. I keep all my stuff in these," he said as he brought out the two black bracelets with intricate designs that Xain couldn't quite comprehend. 

"You keep all your stuff in these? How?" Xain questioned, eyeing the bracelets. 

"I'll show ya," the angel replied as he put on the bracelets. Zee interjected, "Are you sure now is the right time to do this?" The angel, who had initially urged them to move quickly, responded, "We're still movin', aren't we? Anyways, these babies are called Heaven's Inventory. They store things like an inventory in a video game," he explained, while literally none of them understood what that meant.

"What's a vedio gam?" Xain asked, just slightly butchering the pronunciation. The angel facepalmed, "Just think of it as a storage system in a pocket dimension, assumin' any of you know what a dimension is, of course." Grace and Zee still found the explanation confusing, while Xain, surprisingly, asked, "Dimension? Like 1st, 2nd, and 3rd dimension?" attempting to understand. The angel, somewhat surprised, responded, "You know what those are?" Grace and Zee were equally taken aback. "Are you asking if I'm aware of physics? Because yeah, I am," Xain deadpanned.

"Well, color me surprised. Anyway, think of a pocket dimension like a space that's created and only accessible through one item, in this case, these bracelets," the angel explained before clicking the bracelets together. There was a sound of electricity, followed by the appearance of black lightning, which quickly dissipated, leaving the angel holding some sort of coin in his hand. Meanwhile, Xain nearly suffered a heart attack as the black lightning was very close to his face.

"Nice going, genius. Now the whole forest knows exactly where we are because of your shitty bracelets," Grace scolded, her tone sharp. The angel rolled his eyes. "I can handle whoever comes our way, despite what you think," he countered, clicking the bracelets together once more. The sound of electricity followed by black lightning occurred once more, and the coin disappeared from the angel's hand as they continued on their way.

"Are you okay, Xain?" asked Zee, concerned. Xain gave a thumbs-up and said, "Don't worry, it was just a mild heart attack," with a smile.

Zee looked perplexed but then shrugged her shoulders as they continued walking. After another minute or so, they all heard sounds—sounds of people walking, no, running. The sounds were getting closer by the second, putting everyone on alert.

"That took less time than expected," Grace remarked, her tone and expression serious. Xain furrowed his brow. "They weren't that close to the village before, right?" he asked, seeking confirmation from Grace. She shook her head. "No, they weren't."

The angel let out a snort. "Let them come. They would have been a problem later on anyway." Zee unsheathed her dagger, Grace buffed herself, the angel adjusted his sunglasses, and Xain let out a resigned sigh before assuming his fighting stance and soon, they all saw...