Angelic Nocturne

Under the ethereal glow of the moon, the city lay shrouded in stillness. Not a single wisp of a cloud dared to obscure the celestial orb. As the hour of midnight approached, the only sounds to be heard were the hushed whispers of Ephi's footsteps. With a graceful leap, she alighted from the rooftop onto her bedroom window ledge. "Ah," she whispered with a gentle sigh, closing the pane behind her with a soft clack. "Maybe Albert is sleeping."

A figure cast a gargantuan shadow, looming over the unsuspecting Ephi. A familiar voice spoke, "Yes, I fell asleep, Ephi." At the sound of the voice, a shiver ran down her spine. "W-what are you doing in my room?" she asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

Albert's gaze was like a storm, his fury evident in his every movement. Ephi quailed before the anger in his eyes, knowing that she had left Ennie alone with the dishwashing. Her voice faltered as she meekly averted her gaze, "Ahhhh, I'm sleepy. You want to sleep here too, Albert?" Swiftly, she sought refuge beneath the covers of her bed. "If that's true, you'll probably be sleeping on the floor because this bed doesn't fit your big body. Good night," she added, hoping to avoid further confrontation.

"What are you doing in my room?! This is my house, you dumbass!" Albert bellowed, his anger not yet abated.

With a wrathful tug, Albert yanked the blanket from Ephi's grip, revealing her curled form upon the bed. She shrank back, scurrying to the farthest reaches of the room as Albert advanced upon her.

"Relax, Albert! Ennie is all right, right? I left because something urgent came up," Ephi pleaded, her voice shaking.

But Albert would hear none of it. "I don't care about your excuses because nothing is more important to me than Ennie," he declared, his eyes blazing with fury.

Ephi cowered against the wall, her heart pounding in her chest. "What are you going to do, Albert?" she asked, fear clear in her voice.

With a vice-like grip, Albert snatched Ephi by her collar, hoisting her off the ground. "A person like you, who doesn't keep your own word, cannot be forgiven," he growled. Ephi struggled, clawing at the iron hold with both hands. "Albert!" she cried, her terror palpable.

"Papa?" The gentle voice of a young lass echoed through the room. With tousled locks of medium brown hair styled in two charming pigtails at her back and a trusty teddy bear hugged tightly to her chest, she rubs the sleep from her eyes.

"Ennie?" Albert's grasp slackens and he watches as Ephi tumbles to the ground, a sharp pain shooting up her back.

"Forgive us for waking you, my dear," Albert's large hand comforts his daughter, his deep voice a gentle rumble. "Let's come back to your room, with papa." Ennie's sleepy gaze finally focuses and she inquires, "Sis Ephi?"

From the shadows of the room, Ephi waves a hand, her voice a soft chuckle. "Yo, Ennie. Did you have a sweet dream?" Ennie's eyes light up, her cherubic face alight with cheer. "Of course! But I'm more worried that you just got home this late at night."

Ephi laughs lightly, "I saved this city, Ennie! I fought scary bad guys!"

Ephi's limb was ruthlessly severed by the glowing threads, her reaction slow and unable to evade the vicious strike. Inietta's assault continued with unrelenting brutality, raining blows down upon her hapless foe.

Ephi was constantly forced to retreat, her nimble movements unable to find a gap in her opponent's defense. She could only maintain a distance, for should she draw too near, she would surely be carved into countless pieces.

"I want to hear your story. But I'm already sleepy," Ennie spoke softly as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. With tiny footsteps, she turned away, "Let's come back, papa! I'm sleepy," Ennie hastened back to her bedchamber.

Albert remained at the door, his gaze somber. Before departing, he spoke, "Don't leave Ennie suddenly like that, Ephi. You know what I mean, right?"

Ephi reflects upon the wisdom of his words, understanding the true meaning of love and cherished relationships. The memory of Bell, who had raised her from childhood, was brought to the forefront of her mind.

The morn dawned bright, and as Ennie opened the door to Ephi's bedchamber, she found it barren, all the gear and possessions having vanished into the night. Ephi had decided to make her way back to the grand mansion.

Yet, at the foot of the door, Ennie discovered a missive, its contents causing her to break into a smile. She read its words, her eyes shining with delight.

"Don't tell Albert what this letter says, Ennie! I love you," it read. With a giggle, Ennie scampered to the window, her short stature no impediment as she cast the letter into the winds, ensuring her father would not come across its contents. "I'll be waiting for you. You promised, right?" Ennie stood by the window, her smile filled with hope, eager for Ephi's return.

Ephi had resolved to expend every last ounce of her might in this battle. The winds swirled around her, coalescing into a vortex that she drew within her very breath. With a roar, she expelled it forth, a wave of the tempest that she hoped would prove decisive.

Her injury, a painful wound upon her arm, weakened her strike, robbing it of its full ferocity. Though the blast of wind was not as devastating as she had intended, it still served its purpose, keeping Inietta at bay and allowing her to distance herself from her opponent.

Albert, tending to the stove in the kitchen, caught sight of Ephi's arrival through the backdoor, Tobias in tow, unconscious. "I'll allow you to stay, but under two conditions: pay and you must keep your presence hidden from Ennie," Albert warned his tone stern.

Ephi, with no other recourse, acquiesced to Albert's demands. By happenstance, Ennie was off playing with her companions, unbeknownst to Ephi's presence.

Ever vigilant, Albert strictly forbade Ennie from staying up past her bedtime. Thus, the young girl retired early, blissfully unaware of Ephi's presence or of Tobias' recuperation in the bedroom. Ephi, meanwhile, took her meal at the broad table and even Tobias assisted Albert with the washing of dishes, their quiet work going unnoticed by Ennie. Ennie, an angelic and obedient child, still held out hope for Ephi's return, her heart overflowing with love and longing.

Blasted by the ferocity of the assault, Inietta descended gracefully from the sky, suspended mid-air by her mana threads. As if a spider in its ethereal web, she stood aglow with a sense of mastery, effortlessly floating upon the currents of the sky.

"I'm sorry, Ennie," whispered Ephi, her voice heavy with regret. "I have promised I'll be back for your birthday tomorrow. But, that seems impossible. I'm sorry for not being able to keep my promise to you. If you tell Albert about the letter, he will be very angry with me. But, I believe you didn't tell him. He was a person who could not forgive those who broke their own words."

The winds gathered and coalesced around Ephi's wounded left arm, sealing the wound and stilling the flow of blood.

"Why haven't I done it yet? Do I ... still have any doubts?"

The winds howled fiercely, swirling and gathering around Ephi's form. From the maelstrom, two bracelets took shape, encasing her feet and remaining hand. In a display of her mastery over the winds, Ephi molded the gales into a new left arm, a fluid and ethereal limb that defied the laws of nature. The fingers were elongated, as sharp as a falcon's talons, ready to strike. With a flourish, she cast aside her robes and abandoned her earthly trappings, no longer concerned with concealing her identity.

With swift, gliding strides, Ephi advanced, her form as fluid as the winds she controlled. Inietta reacted quickly, moving her fingers to command her threads, but Ephi was quicker still.

The bracelets on Ephi's hand hummed with energy, spinning faster and faster as they gathered the gales into a tempest. With a powerful strike, Ephi delivered a crushing blow to Inietta's stomach, sending her body spiraling through the air with tremendous force.

The bracelets spun in opposite directions, closing in on one another until they touched. In a burst of raw power, the tempest of windswept Inietta high into the sky, and the threads that had once bound her shattered and disappeared into the void.

Ephi stamped her foot upon the earth with a resounding thud, her form shooting upwards with a swiftness that shook the very ground beneath her. Inietta, who had fallen unconscious moments before, roused herself, weaving threads that took shape in her palms. As Ephi approached, Inietta braced herself for the inevitable impact.

Ephi's leg bracelets spun with frenzied energy, creating a maelstrom of wind that swirled and rotated. The winds compressed, building in intensity, until they exploded in a burst of power, sending droplets of rain scattering in all directions.

Ephi glided closer, fists clenched, ready to deliver a crushing blow from below. Her approach was quicker than Inietta had anticipated, leaving her little time to react. In that split second, Inietta enveloped her face and the front of her body in a multilayer of mana threads, knowing that the force of the impending wind blast would be immense. She crossed her arms, bracing herself for the impact.

But just as the blow was about to land, the winds shifted, sending Ephi's feet off course and allowing her to dodge past Inietta and take a high perch above her. With a thunderous impact, Ephi struck down upon the unprotected upper half of Inietta's body, the sound of bones breaking echoing in the air.

The raindrops fell slowly upon the scene, as Inietta's mouth and nose filled with blood. She fell to the earth, descending faster than the raindrops themselves.

Ephi's bracelets shifted from her wrists to her palms, where they began to spin rapidly and gather the winds into a chaotic sphere. Ephi released her wind-made left arm and sent the gathered winds hurtling toward Inietta. The winds compressed and clung to Inietta's back. Just as she neared the roof, the winds on her back exploded, pushing her off course as she attempted to use her threads to create a landing spot, sending her crashing into the wall of a nearby house and creating a massive hole in its structure.

Ephi descended gracefully to the earth, her breaths coming heavy and labored. Despite her exhaustion, she ventured forward to inspect the remains of Inietta amidst the rubble of the shattered wall. Through her blurred vision, all she could see was the darkness of the hole in the wall.

From the depths of the shadows, Inietta sprang forth with lightning speed, delivering a powerful kick to Ephi and sending her crashing into the wall. A deluge of blood flowed from Inietta's wounds, the bandages soaked through with the crimson fluid, her burnt skin peeking through the ragged cloth, mixing with the raindrops to create a macabre scene.

With a cackle born of both madness and pain, Inietta rose from the ashes of her broken form. The threads of mana that coursed through her veins knit together the shattered fragments of her flesh, bones, and skull. The life energy that suffused the threads revitalized her, but the pain was almost unbearable. Inietta gritted her teeth and forced out a scream, bearing witness to her indomitable will.

The silence was the only witness to the intense exchange of blows between Ephi and Inietta. No words were spoken, as their misjudgment would not be resolved through mere conversation.

Ephi's sudden strike caught Inietta off guard, but with her nimble movements, she managed to avoid the attack. Yet, with a single hand, Ephi pressed on with relentless fervor, her blows raining down upon Inietta. Yet, Inietta's grace and agility allowed her to effortlessly dodge each one. As she did, she noticed that Ephi's wind bracelets had vanished, leaving Ephi unable to harness the power of the wind. This realization brought a wry smile upon her lips, sensing a newfound superiority over her opponent.

Inietta gracefully dodged Ephi's strikes, playing a game of cat and mouse as she allowed her opponent to tire herself out. But as she danced backward, her footing suddenly gave way, and Ephi's fist connected with her cheek.

Inietta was taken aback, her hand instinctively flying to the struck cheek. "What has happened?!" she wondered in bewilderment.

Inietta had not realized that the deadly purple poison had already started to work its way into her system, seeping through the thick bandages and into her skin, the mixture of rainwater unable to wash it away. One drop of the poison could fall a human in a mere two heartbeats, and a mere few arrows could slay a dragon. Inietta hastily retreated, seeking to put some distance between herself and her adversary.

Ephi bellowed a fierce battle cry as her strength began to wane. She staggered, unsteady on her feet as the mental toll of the fight took its toll on her mind. But then, like a gust of renewal, the wind swirled around her, forming eight great bracelets that spun with ferocity. And with a shimmer of wind, Ephi's left hand reappeared, its fingers curled into sharp claws, ready for battle once more.

Ephi gathered her eight bracelets, each spinning in a mesmerizing dance of opposite directions to her wind-forged left wrist. The wind swirled and coalesced around her, gathering and compressing with each twirl of her wrist. With a deft flick of her hand, she unleashed the full force of the wind, striking her foe, Inietta, from afar with a ferocious claw of air.

Meanwhile, Inietta's strength began to wane, her heavy-lidded eyes no longer able to keep their focus. With unsteady steps, she stumbled and fell to the ground, fate granting her a lucky escape as she narrowly dodged the five scythes of wind that were rampaging through the wall behind her.

Ephi stretched forth her hand and summoned a horde of spinning scythes made of wind. These were not mere claws, but swirling maelstroms of destruction, spiraling like a horizontal tornado.

"Too fast," Inietta panted, sweat and tears mixing on her chin. Her hopes were fading, for she could not see a way to dodge the incoming tempest. But, little did she know, fortune was on her side. "Not yet, not yet! I'll use it now!" she cried, drawing upon her last reserves of strength.

As Inietta's delicate fingers brushed against the ethereal strands, they suddenly materialized into view. The shimmering threads, once concealed from mortal eyes, now glimmered in the light. With a steadiness born of purpose and a hint of trepidation, Inietta seizes the silken thread with a firm grip.

Inietta possessed the ability to manipulate her threads, imbuing them with both solidity and invisibility. With a mere thought, the strands would condense into a sharp weapon, ready to strike. And if she so desired, the threads could vanish from sight, eluding the gaze of even the most astute observer. Her control over the threads was absolute, and she could unleash their full potential with ease, whether from close quarters or from afar under the right conditions.

From the shadows of the alleyway, a dazzling blue tapestry of cobwebs materialized at Inietta's command. Towering high, they filled the narrow passage, a mesmerizing display of layer upon layer of shimmering threads. These cobwebs were her doing, born from the invisible strands that she wielded with such mastery. And with a gentle tug of the threads in her grasp, she summoned forth this magnificent creation, a testament to her otherworldly powers.

The cobwebs extended to the ruined walls of the alley, where Inietta had first collided with a house during her battle with the fierce Ephi. They reached the sky, enshrouding the air in a dazzling blue net. Inietta had labored over these threads with care, crafting them in the heat of battle as she deftly dodged Ephi's relentless barrage of bullets.

"Wind or string! Let the true power be shown!" Inietta roared, her hand clenching the trigger threads with fierce determination. The cobwebs shimmered with a brilliant blue light and then hurtled forward, careening towards their target with devastating speed. As they converged upon each other, they intertwined, forming a tight, intricate web with tiny, almost imperceptible gaps. But Inietta, the weaver of these threads, remained unscathed, her technique passing through her form as if she were but a ghost.

The cobwebs stacked upon one another, gathering momentum and speed as they devoured everything in their path - walls, ground, even the swirling winds.

Ephi's gaze was fixed ahead, unseeing, as Inietta watched with a fierce gleam in her eye. She had worked hard to ensure the death of this foe, and now, she was finally seeing her plans come to fruition.

"I did it!" Inietta cried out in triumph, her eyes wide with excitement as the cobwebs accelerate to slice through Ephi's body with devastating precision. The thrill of victory was palpable in the air, and Inietta reveled in her success.

As Inietta gazed upon the fallen Ephi, her expression shifted, a hint of confusion creasing her brow. "Wait ... something is not right," she murmured, her senses picking up an unfamiliar presence. Out of the shadows stepped a figure, shrouded in black, with a suit adorned with golden embellishments. The stranger's hair was as black as night and his piercing eyes glinted behind a pair of pince-nez glasses perched upon his left cheek. With a tender gesture, the silhouette embraced the unconscious Ephi, cradling her in his arms before gently laying her on the ground.

Inietta's towering cobwebs of blue light shattered into a million pieces before they could reach the mysterious figure. The stranger strode forward with effortless grace, setting his gloves and adjusting the collar of his shirt as he walked. The glowing threads of light, now resembling the feathers of an angel, drifted slowly to the ground, untouched by the rain.

As the deadly poison coursing through Inietta's veins took hold, her vision grew hazy. And yet, even in her final moments, she could not help but see the stranger as a celestial being, a harbinger of peace and mercy. The silhouette seemed to shimmer and glow, like a beacon of hope in the dark alley.

With a smile on her face, Inietta closed her eyes, realizing too late the misunderstanding that had led her to this moment. For if there was anyone who could withstand the full force of her cobwebs attack, then that person was the one she had been seeking all along in the Salaria region. And with a final, quiet breath, Inietta closed her eyes, knowing that she had finally found the one she had been searching for.

The alley was bathed in the soft, ethereal light of the fallen cobwebs, and Inietta felt a sense of peace wash over her as she surrendered to the embrace of unconsciousness. The tour de force may have shattered, but the memory of the angelic figure would live on in her mind forever.

"Everything will be fine. Because there is an angel who will pick me up."