04 - Eyes From Above

Chapter 04 - Eyes From Above

Written By Dr Armstrong

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Pablo Picasso.

Eiichiro Oda.

Adolf Hitler.

What do these three men have in common with each other?

But of course, t'was the fact they were all undoubtedly experts in their craft, that is...the art of painting upon a blank canvas...

Well, it was a comic page for Oda, but that was beside the point.

But why do they paint? It was to express themselves and to tell a vibrant story through their own mediums...

Regardless of the painter, the painting itself wasn't something that could only be enjoyed by the man who made it, others infinitely more ignorant could enjoy it all the same, even if they might not fully understand it. 

This is also the same case for the opposite situation, everyone could collectively be disgusted by a literal pile of shit, not just the one who excreted it.

But what happens when you combine the two concepts? Put a pile of shit on top of a wonderful painting?

Would you get a confused batch of reception? What would the critics think? What would the general audience think? Would the feeling of disgust and wonder mix into a pot of indescribable nonsense?

Of course not.

It doesn't matter what you attach to the pile of shit, cover it in shiny new spray paint, give it a beauty make-over...

Shit will always be shit, and it will always inevitably invite disgust...there would be no confusion, just ew.

One just needed to look at the paintings done by the third example shown above, they're beautiful, but once you're aware of who painted them...

It is the same for a Demon. No matter how cool a Balor or a Pit Fiend might look, it's still a Demon. No matter how cute and sexually appealing a Succubus or an Incubus was, it was still a Demon. No matter how fascinating a Hellhound's reproductive cycle might be, it was still a Demon...

And just like a pile of shit that makes everything around it stink like, well...shit. Demons do the same, their presences corrupting the very fabrics of reality around them, just without the stinky part unless you were a Great Unclean One or something.

Even the most beautiful piece of art that had been imprinted upon the floor with golden dust no longer compelled one to be awed, all because of the disgusting toad creature who was unmistakeably a Demon standing atop it.

Alexander gazed unto the Demon's unblinking eyes. From his experience thus far, he knew for certain that most Demons seem to have unusual eyes...to the shadowy Demon's eyes that were less of a pair of eyeballs and more of just a pair of red lights, the non-existent eyes of the colossal flesh Demon, and then this irritating guy's dead fish eyes...

He looked around frantically, all of his eyes snapping from place to place as he made a terrible realization.

This Demon wasn't alone, far from it.

The pond in which he was born was the furthest one away from the monastery's golden gates, but the gates in question were entirely broken down, shattered on the floor as a flurry of demonic beasts and monstrosities continued to pour in.

This wasn't just a singular Demon somehow appearing in Heaven...it was a full-on invasion from the Abyss!

Alexander instantly remembered how Roy himself was promoted to Demon Lord, he who had been a High-rank Demon at the time had to baptize himself in the pure energies of Heaven for his own Evil Soul to gain Divinity...

Was this the same sort of case? A High-rank Demon seeking promotion and bringing his underlings upon Heaven's very own nursery to divert some of the Angel armies away from him?

Regardless of what might be occurring, the next mission for him was as clear as day; survive!

The Demon toad twitched uncomfortably before swinging its entire body forward with a great yet short leap, from its bear trap-like maws came out a long, sticky appendage; its tongue.

Alexander gritted his silvery teeth to the point of drawing golden ichor out of his skin as he desperately tried to roll his entire spherical body to the side, yet it was to no avail as the Demon's foot stomped on one of his tentacles before he could even blink.

The Beastly Demon was upon him as the infant Angel desperately looked around for help, yet it was to no avail as the Angel warriors were too busy fending off the demonic tides to even notice that he had hatched.

Clearly, unless he could somehow get their attention, Alexander was toast.

The Demon's teeth-filled maw silently silently hung above his face as water drops of acid dribbled down from its chin, boiling the Angel's skin upon contact while also rendering one of his eyes burning and bloodshot as the acid flowed into it.

Alexander panickedly bit onto the toad's right foot, the one that was pressing down onto his tentacle, his silvery teeth trying their damn best to penetrate the Demon's rough skin.

Looking down at this with an amused chuckle, the Demon kicked Alexander to the ground before it started to brutally pummel its feet against the Angel, reducing many of his tentacles into a golden mush.

"R-rah...! S-stop!" Alexander spoke his first words, his voice like a heavily distorted and much younger version of him in his previous life.

It was as if an 8-year-old iteration of himself had just screamed through a supercharged blender, earning another well-placed kick from the amphibious Demon.

The Demon opened its jaws, revealing the pit of daggers that was its maw. Alexander widened all of his eyes as the beast started to prepare a great spit of its acid, a large amount of dark green liquid building up in its tongue.

'Damn it, where's my Mana Blast...!?' Alexander secretly mused as he kept up the appearance of a scared little Angel to the Demon so that it wouldn't suspect that he was actually preparing a superattack.

The Mana Blast. It was why he considered three-rings to be the foundational level of the [Asrahan Core Technique], because, at this level, it was possible to release all of the stored Mana in an extremely explosive burst.

By throwing two of his Mana Comets out of orbit for them to collide outside of his body, whilst the remaining one protects the heart from the release of energy, this was the deadly technique shown by Javier and Lloyd that could even blast open the top of a mountain as if it were a bottle cap!

However, it was way harder to do than it looked. Knocking the two Comets out of orbit was easy, but controlling both of them simultaneously was another matter entirely.

The moment one of them was knocked out of orbit, Alexander had to focus all of his attention on it so that it wouldn't preemptively crash into the others.

Using the gravitational pull of the stray Comet itself, he used it to pull another out of his heart's orbit and began to trap them in each other's orbit.

He then began to hurl the two out in an intertwining spiral-like pattern, like two dancing serpentine Dragons or a DNA double helix.

Every millisecond that passed, the pair of Mana Comets would come close to hitting each other, only for Alexander to redirect them just enough for them to not graze each other but still remain in their orbits.

He kept at it as the Demon was about to spew out its acidic stomach contents only to pause in confusion before looking down, feeling as if something was sucking the very essence out of it.

The beast growled once it realized that the Angel beneath it was somehow siphoning the Mana from its foot, it kicked Alexander again before spitting out a mouthful of acid straight at the Angel's remaining wing, rendering him completely flightless.

"Aargh!" Alexander let out a pain-filled shriek as he gripped the toad's foot tightly with his tentacles and narrowed his eyes.

He was lacking something, something to channel his Mana Blast through. Javier had his sword, whilst Lloyd had his trusty shovel...but Alexander?

There was no other choice but to use his own body.

The Demon showed a befuddled expression as the Angel beneath it suddenly bit on its own tentacles so harshly that it came off in a bloodied burst of ichor.

Alexander gritted his teeth in pure agony as he positioned the severed tentacle on his mouth to face outward and pointed it straight at the toad's well-exposed crotch.

The Demon felt a chill crawl up its spine as it instinctively tried to leap back.

But it was too late, far too late.

"DIE, FUCK, AND DIE!!!" The Angel screamed out as the Mana Comets went through the severed tentacle and finally collided at the tip...

*Boooom*

The very ground shook as the Demon was enveloped in a blast of energy, a trail of ash and smoke left in the blast's wake.

Alexander immediately coughed up a mouthful of dust and ash as the scorched tentacle he used withered to ash.

Regaining his bearings, the Angel glanced toward the burnt floor and the Demon on the floor before widening his eyes.

The Demon was dead, its head a mere mush of flesh and its chest blown open. A bright red light began to emanate out of the corpse before its Soul came floating out.

[You have slain an evil creature, a Low-rank Demon of the Abyss...]

[+7 Karmic Points.]

'Woah...I actually managed to kill him!' A pang of spiritual dopamine rushed through his system as he made this realization.

But then, a cry woke him up from that stupor.

That blast had been very explosive, and what was the one thing that was practically synonymous with explosions? But of course, loud noise.

"Rooaar!" The Soul that came out of the burnt toad was instantly snatched up by another Demon and cannibalized like it was an M&M.

The Cannibal Demon was both insectoid and avian at the same time, with a humanoid stature and a pair of shining red eyes, it looked like a horrific adaptation of Mothman.

And Mothman brought with him a whole menagerie of Demonic Beasts.

Alexander picked himself up and tried to float once more, but his wings were much too wounded for that to even be a possibility to consider...

He couldn't do with another Mana Blast. His reserves had run dry and he needed to make two more Rings before it was possible again...

His only option was escape, but how?

Fortunately, it didn't seem that he needed to think any further as the next moment, he was picked up the feathers and pulled back as Mothman leapt up to catch him, only to get his jaw shattered by an absolutely meteoric punch.

The first that enacted that punch was red, red like the surface of Mars, even redder than red roses. 

Alexander looked up with all of his eyes at the figure that now carried him, a veritable giant of a man that stood at 7 feet with the body and head of a scarlet red hound, wearing a stern gaze and shining silver armour.

One might have mistaken such a bestial figure for a monstrous one, but looking into his eyes, Alexander instinctively knew that this was another Angel, one of a much higher rank than him.

The Hound Angel snatched the floating Soul from Mothman's corpse and threw it to the sky, where another Demon, one that resembled a mutant hybridization between a rat and a dragonfly, instantly tried to consume it.

Yet the moment that Demon neared the Soul's vicinity, it was sliced open in two like a damn watermelon by another Angel, its guts spilling out like jello onto the ground.

The new Angel that appeared on the scene was much more humanoid in appearance. At least, one would assume so as this one was entirely donned in holy silver armour, much like that of a cavalry knight from the Middle Ages.

"Altair." The Hound Angel addressed his more chivalrous-looking counterpart with a stern gaze, his voice sounding like Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in his wrestling days.

"Secure the younglings, I will occupy the tides." He said as he shattered another Demon's skull that got too close before handing Alexander's writing form to the other Angel.

Alexander felt the hold over his body be transferred into the Knight Angel as he nodded and took the infant in his plated hands.

The Hound Angel summoned a short sword to appear in his hand as 2 pairs of scarlet red feathery wings erupted out of his back. He turned back and began hacking and slashing away at the Demonic Tides.

The Knight Angel, Altair, leapt back before he floated in the air with Alexander in his hand. He held out an open hand to Alexander's face as bright green light began to emanate out of it.

'This...this is healing...?' Logically, it should be. Alexander began to use his skill and tried to suck in the Mana from Altair's hand.

The Older Angel looked down in surprise as he realized the infant wasn't just passively absorbing the Holy Mana to regenerate but was manually siphoning the Mana and efficiently absorbing it into its body.

"What's your name, youngling?" He asked, his voice brisk like steel yet smooth as butter.

Alexander looked up with his eyes, blinking for a few seconds before he responded.

"...Amon." He decided to use his first name, it was short, easy to remember, and it reminded him of certain characters.

"Did you see any of your brothers and sisters hatch too...?" Altair immediately went to the important question as he hovered above the eggs, scanning the pond for any of Alexander's would-be siblings.

"...I-I don't know...I don't think so..." Alexander muttered out, quite overwhelmed by the rapidly moving scenes that overtook the first few moments of his second life. This was his opportunity to take a breath, and he didn't waste it.

"This is a rather unfortunate first day for you, brother..." Altair commented as he suddenly tightened his hold over Alexander's form.

"Brace tightly!" Altair briefly said to the younger Angel as he unfurled his wings before launching into Mach speeds.

Alexander released a surprised gasp as his field of vision suddenly began to blur and spin. Taking Altair's advice, he grasped tightly onto the Older Angel's arm using his tentacles.

He felt the air upon his skin, brushing against it as if his skin was a blank canvas. The rush of speed was not like anything Alexander had ever experienced, it was like the first time Hiccup flew atop Toothless's back, the first time a pilot experienced flying atop the clouds, it was...

"Did you see what caused the explosion earlier...?" Altair asked, waking his younger counterpart from his excited stupor.

'Ah, that's right...you probably didn't see that it was me...' He debated whether or not to tell the truth, and...

Wait, could Angel even lie?

"I-it was the Magic, I think...I think something caused it to explode..." 'Probably a Demon' was the natural progression of that sentence, but Alexander purposely left it out.

This way he wasn't technically lying. It was indeed the Mana, and something did cause it to explode, he just wasn't going to share the fact that it was him.

It would be way too troublesome to explain why he could use Mana Blast in the first place.

He was very lucky that Altair seemed to be ignoring his very obvious use of [Siphon Magic]. The ability to manually absorb Mana upon birth was probably a rare talent, but not one that was completely unheard of.

"A Demon that self-detonates? I thought those types died out a while ago..." Altair seemed to have come to his own conclusions as he sported a musing look, though it was very much hidden behind his knightly helm.

Alexander looked up at the Older Angel, particularly at his golden glowing eyes, which could be seen in his helmet's metallic visor.

It was different than the eyes of the Hound Angel, it felt different, yet Alexander could still recognize it as an Angel's eyes.

Perhaps...was Altair an Artificial Angel? And was that Hound Angel a Trueborn then?

Nevertheless, he knew that the Hound Angel was one of high rank, a member of the 2nd Circle of the Angelic Choir. He had four wings, after all! 

The Heavenly Hierarchy of Angels had been one of the essential pieces of knowledge passed down to him when he touched the birthing pond.

From it, he knew that he himself was a Spark, the lowest rank of Angel and that Altair should be in the same 3rd Circle, though of a higher rank, probably a Principality judging by how easily he cut open these Low-rank Demons.

Alexander widened his eyes as the pair of Angels left through a hole in the ceiling, finally giving the chance to enjoy the sights as Altair flew through a cloud and exposed the setting sun.

He gasped as he admired the floating islands of Heaven, each one like their own kingdoms of gold and silver.

Yet this otherworldly sight was muddied by the endless tides of Demons flooding the sky in gore and filth.

"Can you fly now, Amon...?" Altair asked, giving the newborn Angel a glance as held him out to enjoy the sunlight.

Alexander stayed silent, enjoying the feeling of wind brushing against his skin, of the cool light of the setting sun.

And then he opened his eyes.

"Yes, I think so." The tentacles Angel responded shortly before Altair nodded and let go of his hold.

Alexander spread his wings wide as he began to levitate in the sky, the rush of adrenaline and dopamine rushing through his system as he floated upward and flapped his wings to accelerate his speed.

He was flying, he was actually flying!

Damn Clark Kent never showed how amazing of a feeling it was to actually float atop the clouds, enjoying the sunlight on your skin and the cool breeze...it was exhilarating!

It ignited a new type of emotion that Alexander had never felt before, it was an indescribably type of wonder and bliss, the kind that humans were completely unaware of.

Alexander continued to fly against the breeze, looking outward toward the sky but suddenly paused in place as all of his eyes widened in terror.

"What...What is that!?" He asked with a panicked tone as he beheld the utterly terrifying sight in the distance.

"That's his gaze." Altair responded as Alexander turned to the right to find the Older Angel floating beside him.

"The Demon King's gaze." He further explained, earning a chill that ran through Alexander's strands.

Far off in the distant sky, was a pair of colossal etheral eyes, frozen in place, looking down upon the very Heavens.

And under those eyes, was an army of Demons...no—not just an army of Demons...

It was an entire legion of High-rank Demons, all of them...

Alexander finally realized what was exactly going on here...this wasn't just a High-rank looking to promote to the rank of Demon Lord...

This was a Demon King making an army of new Demon lords!

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Thoughts?

For the first world, I'm still debating on it...what do you think?

Please give more reviews and power stones.