1.10. Angel-Demon War

{YOU HAVE STEPPED ON A MINE}

{WARNING: YOU HAVE STEPPED ON A MINE}

Time stopped, and everything went silent.

In the monochromatic world which appeared before me, I could only hear the sounds of my heart thumping.

What's a MINE?

I turned around to see my body frozen in place. Everyone else was also frozen.

Is this an astral body? I feel both light and heavy, and I look like I'm glowing.

Weird. Should I be calling for someone?

{SEARCHING_FOR_CONTACT}

{You have no contact}

{CONTACT FAILURE}

"Who do we have here?"

I turned to the source of the voice. It was a senior teacher. Like me, his body was also shining.

I recognize this person.

Cain.

The teacher in-charge of the baking club. And in <Cookie Cult>, he's the one who supported the NtBM victims and kept the club situation a secret from the rest of the school. He had always been a capable, but enigmatic character in the story.

"Servant of Satan, why are you here?"

"What?"

I'm hearing some eight grade syndrome.

He moved.

By some miracle, I shifted my body in time and missed his punch.

His hands turned into a mechanized plasma blaster kind of thing. It's got rotating engines and pulsing blue rings along with wires and such. I would've liked to admire it if not for my dire situation.

What in hell.

"Not bad."

He tried to smash me with that gigantic thing.

I ducked and rolled.

His legs blurred. He tried to kick me, I cushioned the impact with my hands crossed.

A pain different from reality, but pain nonetheless.

KAshIk. GIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

He pointed the glowing muzzle at me from a distance at less than five meter. Orange and blue particles condensed themselves into a dangerous violet point at the..

I used my legs to push my entire body forward. An electrical sensation passed above my spine. I dodged the first shot, how many more to go?

Btzz. Btzz.

Lasers were fired in succession. It was clear as day that he wasn't taking me seriously. And I'm glad he didn't because I'm barely coping.

The lasers disintegrate the moment they come into contact with any surrounding objects. And to repeat, everything was monochromatic. Objects are immovable due to some mysterious force.

I couldn't even take the macarons off the plates and use them as rock. So I did the next best thing.

Find cover.

"What tenacity."

"Can you stop.."

No one to contact. No help.

Yet, I'm calm. This is unreal. What's wrong with me?

It was a battle between an advanced angel versus a demon who has not a clue to what in the world is going on.

Another laser fire, I ducked under a counter.

Think Shin. What is the next course of action now?

Escape.

Then I'll have to push past him and run to the exit.

It'll be a tight squeeze with Ares and Brunette in the middle of the doorway. I don't have much of an option. I can't die yet.

I don't know when he'll stop firing.

Whatever the case, I'll run the opposite direction and fle..

"Have you given up?" He asked.

"Yes I have. Can you stop now? I'm going to die at this rate." I raised both my hands to the air. Don't shoot them please. I still need them to draw.

"There's no ping even at this time.. Could you perhaps be a fledgling?"

"What's a fledgling?"

"You.." Cain replied in a flabbergasted tone.

I'm not joking. I haven't a clue what is going on. There's no mention of this phenomenon anywhere in the story, nor have I ever heard Novelle tell me about this.

"You're.. what's your name young demon."

"Avner."

"Avner Franc?"

"Avner Cross."

"Really?"

I peeked out from the corner, ready to dash the other way. Somehow, his mechanical hands had returned to normal.

I don't understand why but he's looking at me with amazement.

"Your memories have been erased. Of course you wouldn't remember," he muttered, the wrinkles on his face seem to increase.

"I think I saw that somewhere on screen.."

"What class operative are you this lifetime?"

"Class operative.. frigate. What's this about anyways? What do you mean this lifetime?"

"Frigate. How unfortunate. It would've been too coincidental if you ended up with the same class as your previous reincarnation," he laughed.

"Um.. sorry. But can you explain what's going on? I'm supposed to be a demon right?"

Now that everything has calmed down, it hit me that I'm part of this angel-demon war. I think I walked into a trap set up by an angel. TBH, I never thought Cain was an angel. That would make a lot of sense in terms of plot. No sane teacher would hide the fact that his students are vampires.

Since he's an angel and I'm a demon, aren't I dead? Not sure how I should define 'dead' because I'm outside my body right now.

"Pardon my rude actions earlier. You may not remember, nor would you recognize me. But I've always been a fan of yours," he showed a wrinkled smile. "As a demon, to earn the respect of this angel is no simple matter."

A demon working alongside an angel? What did Avner of the 233rd reincationation do? If I run under the assumption that Avner had been through 234 lives; The 234th being the current one I'm in, what have I been doing over the past 233 lives? This was beyond the scope of the story I know.

I'm starting to feel like a frog.

Maybe I am a frog.

"What will happen to me now?"

I could still die. This sudden shift from imminent death to holding friendly conversation isn't something that should happen in reality.

"I concede."

I don't believe you.

"I would've contacted the other angels by this point. But, you see, I have already retired from service, now awaiting for my next life. My parts have been damaged and I can longer operate in the war," he grabbed his right arm with his left arm and twisted his wrist a few times.

That did seem to be the case as I saw some broken parts and loose wires dangling before this.

"As a fledgling, you must be confused. No matter, I'll tell Your Holiness what should be known."

The angel-demon war is divided into two fronts. The mortal sea, otherwise known as the mortal realm, and the spirit realm. I'm a demon operator in the mortal realm.

Each time a demon or angel dies, either by natural or supernatural deaths, their souls will be recycled and be placed into another body. Reincarnation, in short.

Angels and demons are divided into classes, and in the mortal realm, classes are based on warships it seems. Couldn't Novelle's imagination be any weirder I wonder?

Cain's class is a submarine.

Mine's a frigate.