Plans

"The Primordial Source would not allow such a thing to occur. Hiding was a given, and running away too. But blatantly avoiding a fight like this was a no go."

He explained to me and I nodded. The Primordial Source, so that was what the thing that put us here is called? I thought to myself.

He then added casually, "It will lower its height until a level where I would be able to battle it. Or barely reach up to."

"I see." I looked up.

Hm?

I saw that the angel had plucked one feather from its wings. The feather was white and beautiful, but the lower part was pointy and quite sharp.

It could actually be used as a weapon.

The bottom was like a long needle.

"..."

The angel stared down at us once again. It first stared down at big brother Damien, then at me. The distance between us was quite long, at most over a hundred meters.

But the distance between me and it was just around a hundred meters. Yet it knew that big brother would still be able to arrive here faster if they both raced at it.

Hence, it did not charge.

Instead, it threw the needle-like feather towards me. And to be honest, it was fast. But I was able to easily avoid it by push myself backwards.

That way, I was able to avoid the attack, while also being able to better respond to any follow up attacks. Such as switching positions.

After all, I have yet to forget the Ability of this angel. Shifting.

The needle feather struck the cloud and sank deep into it. I gazed up at the angel and smiled defiantly at it. 'Didn't expect that now, did ya?' I thought with a smug expression.

Yet a moment later, I suddenly felt my intuition kick up. And for once, my brain did not match up with my intuition and respond to whatever danger I was feeling.

...!!!

Because... I suddenly felt airy. Like there was nothing holding me up anymore. No solid ground. No balance.

I found myself forty or so meters above ground. The angel was still that high after all. And it chose, to switch positions with not the needle feather.

But, me.

"..."

Realizing that, my brain froze.

My thoughts froze.

My entire being froze.

I could only watch the soft cloud getting closer and closer to my face. While I hugged the two broken spear pieces in my bossom. I could barely even scream.

And by the time I was about to hit the clouds, I hurriedly closed my eyes and braced for impact. There was nothing else I could have done.

But the expected pain did not arrive.

At first, I thought the clouds were not that painful. They were clouds, and also airy when you step upon them.

So maybe falling on them was likewise an airy feeling as well? I thought to myself.

But when I opened my eyes, I was graced with big brother Damien's smile. He smiled even brighter when he saw me open my eyes.

'I think we are bit too close, but I would not mind being even closer than we currently are.' I blinked my eyes in confusion, lost in his as I thought.

"With that gaze, you're definitely alright." He said and gently lay me down. A moment later he stood up and casually walked towards the angel.

"..."

I was still a bit blank minded, and just absently stared at his back. I felt the feelings of loss when he put me down.

Anyway, he was going to finally kill the wretched angel. I thought after a moment.

But...

A moment later, I realized that the same 'wretched' angel, was actually staring down at its chest. Or to be precise, the hole on its chest.

"..."

"..."

Not only it, I was also surprised.

When did that happen?

I thought. My eyes hurriedly shifting towards big brother Damien who was walking casually towards the angel.

Did... did he actually..?

Oh wow. My Damien is actually so heroic. My prince charming slayed a demon, a spirit, and now an angel. All for me.

"..."

Ah, Ahem... I should have some shame.

*** Narrative ***

A few moments back, when the angel plucked out it's feather. Damien already knew what it was planning to do with it.

"..."

He did not comment, nor do anything.

Throughout the battle, the amount of times the angel set its gaze on Juliette was a lot. And from experience, Damien knew that it was trying to verify her threat level.

Juliette might have subconsciously known this, as she did not even try to make herself seem 'useful' at all. This gave out the impression that she was weak.

And the fact that she just stood at the back, and only listened to Damien, further proved that statement correct.

Hence the best choice, was to attack Juliette. Damien knew that was what the angel thought,  when he put himself in its shoes.

Him using his full strength at the beginning, was an act to try and push it to the edge.

And once there, it only had two options left to save its life.

One, it either attacks Juliette when Damien was far away from her. Or two, it finds an opportunity to use its ability to deal great damage to him.

And the latter was impossible.

He made sure to make it seem so. Thus it was forced to attack Juliette. And once again, there were two attacks it could only use.

One, it could use a weapon, like the feather it just plucked out, to throw towards Juliette then switch with it. Next, would be to assassinate her.

But Damien had a plan. If it did that, he would immediately throw the spear head he obtained from the demon at it. He already had it on hand, and ready any time.

Or it could choose option two. The same one that required it to shift positions with Juliette, leaving her stranded mid air.

As for how he would respond? Damien was still going to use the spear head as an attack, but in this case, he would throw it towards Juliette before the shifting took place.

Hence when it does, the spear will instantly piece through the angel, immediately after it replaced Juliette on her position.

While he, would dash towards her rescue.

"..."

The plan was perfect. And the most important question now, was how would he know which plan was it? How would he tell the difference?

Simple, really.

'If it desired to assassinate her directly, the needle would be thrown not too far away from Juliette. And directly not at her.'

'But if it desired to shift positions with her, the needle would be thrown randomly as a form of confusion. And the most plausible one, would be towards her, forcing her to dodge.'

'That way, the moment she dodges, and her posture is unstable, open ups a chance for the angel to shift positions with her. Juliette would not he able to respond, and I would be forced to rush to her rescue.'

'Meanwhile, it will plan to backstab me. This thing is smart after all, and would try to outsmart us. Unfortunately for it, I've been through far too much, and could see through it like a book.'

Damien thought as he walked towards the angel.

It finally looked up at him. Then slowly knelt down in defeat, and fell face flat. Damien had no change of expression whatsoever and just stood before it.

Moments later,

[ TING!!! ]

[ You have killed the Lvl 2 Gray Marked Angel. You have obtained 16,5 units of Life Essece ]

[ Due to being a single level lower, your Life Essence has increased by ten percent ]

[ You have obtained 36,3 (36) units of Life Essence. Your partner has obtained 33 units of Life Essence. The bonus effect has already been applied ]

[ Congratulations. You've obtained the following resources: Tier 1 Angel Halo(Broken), Gray Mask(Superior) ]

[ For defeating a trial opponent, you have obtained the following rewards: Extra Ability(×1), Tier 1 Random Treasure Chest(×1), Angel Fragment(1/7) ]

"..."

Not only after the notifications did Damien sigh in relief. He then crouched down and began plucking out the feathers of the angel one by one.

Out of all wings, less than a hundred managed to be needle-like. This angel was still not a pure bred angel at the Third League, after all.

Hence this was normal. Ordinary legendary creatures have about 50% of their bodies as natural resources. Especially ones like demons and angels and especially half gods.

And he was glad about the level difference. His decision of staying at a lower level helped.

He still remembered that, every level an opponent is higher, the Life Essence obtained would be ten percent higher as well.

But every level lower, the Life Essence was not affected. And mind you, this affected mortals only, and only up to five levels.

For every Rank had five levels, and every rank higher or lower, the Life Essence obtained would either decrease in half, or double respectively, when killing an opponent.

Take the current him for example. He obtained ten percent more Life Essence due to being a level lower than the angel. Yet Juliette did not get any reduction despite being two levels higher.