The kalzraak army stopped their advance, looking at the blast breaking through the sky.
A war horn blew three times, signaling their retreat back into the forest. The kalzraaks' senses and mana detection was much stronger and more refined than that of other races, and they could tell that whatever was happening inside the city wasn't worth the risk...
Ili got back up on the rooftops, looking at Zephyr. He was covering his ears, shaking and screaming on the ground.
Ili's eyes widened, running to him and taking his hand.
"Zephyr, we need to go!"
"What's happening... Why won't the music stop?!" Zephyr remained on his knees, shaking in terror.
Ili wrapped her arms around him tightly, looking at him.
"Zephyr, please... Let's go... We must go..."
The kalzraak calmed down a little, looking up at Ililith.
Ili turned her head back, looking at the location of the blast, where her master and the Demon of Hatred were. Sounds were starting to fill her ears as well. Thousands of voices singing in unison...
"The Divine Choir..." Ili started to hear it too, louder and louder each second. She turned her head back to Zephyr, putting her hands on his shoulders.
"Zephyr, this is a Divine Choir. My master told me about it in the past... I don't know the exact details, but it usually happens when you're in the presence of one incomprehensibly stronger than you... I've never seen my master let out so much of his power before... Or it might be the Demon of Hatred... Or both... But we need to leave. Now."
Zephyr looked up at her. His body was constantly shaking. The choir was deafening his ears, no matter how much he tried to cover them. It was as if the sound was being played directly in his brain.
He finally clenched his hands, getting up from the ground. He stood silent, but nodded, determined.
Ili finally let go of him, getting on his feet along with him. She turned to the east. "There are people there... A lot of people. They will die."
Zephyr turned his gaze towards the gate, looking at the groups of people locked inside. He knew what Ili wanted to do. "Let's go."
Ili and Zephyr started running on the rooftops, towards the eastern gate. The further away that they got from the blast, the quieter the Divine Choir got.
The people from the center looked up as they saw the white haired girl jumping off the building, sanding in front of the gate.
"What is happening?" a woman asked, panicked, along with the worried cries of many others.
There were lots of groups of people all around, standing with their families, gathered in the general area behind the closed eastern gate.
"Get your families, and stay together with everyone!" Ili shouted. Zephyr soon landed next to her. "We will evacuate the city, so keep close to us!"
"But how? The gates are closed! We tried everything, but they wouldn't even budge!"
Ili turned towards the gate, placing her hand on her sword. "Get back."
The people in front of the gate got away, getting behind her. She closed her eyes, holding the handle of her sword, infusing it with mana. From the sheath, a white glow started emanating, getting stronger and stronger. She took a deep breath, and...
In an instant, her sword was drawn, her hand open wide with the sword in it. The glow from the blade started to fade, and the three rows of gates were cut through by a clean slice, falling to the ground.
The people stood in silence and awe at the scene, but it wasn't long before they started to move towards the opening. Ili looked at them, ready to lead them outside and bring them as far away as possible. But then, he saw Zephyr's petrified expression.
"Zephyr, what's wrong?" Ili asked, concerned.
"Vella..."
Ili's eyes widened. "You mean she's..."
"I'll go find her! You lead these people outside!"
Ili's heart started beating faster in her chest, panic taking over her as well. "Alright! Please, be safe! I'll come over to you as soon as I take them to safety!"
Ili looked frozen at Zephyr as he ran back into the city. She could feel her body start to shake more than before. Her eyes turned back towards the people of the city.
"Alright, follow me and stay togeth..."
Her voice was cut off by the sound of a massive explosion, as the blast shooting towards the sky got twice as large, filled by the dark, deafening growl of a demon. A dark aura started to be felt in the air...
"Why am I hearing music?"
"What's going on?!"
Before Ili could say anything, she felt a hand pushing her shoulder. She was pushed to the ground, falling in the dirt. Everyone was running desperately outside the city, pushing and pulling each other, running over each other. Everything turned into chaos...
"Damn you! This should teach you about pricing your food so high! We're dying of hunger and you raise the price, huh?! You damned greedy bastard!" a man said, punching another.
More people started to jump at each other's throats. People were being trampled on by the others as they were running towards the outside of the city, others were crawling onto the ground, screaming in horror. Even at this distance, Ili started to hear the Divine Choir again, getting louder and louder in her head.
"No... No no no..."
She got up, looking around her, but she was soon pushed to the ground again by another person, this time voluntarily.
"You think you can come here and mock us with your strength?! You're nothing compared to me! I'll show you! I'll kill you!"
He attacked her, his sword drawn. Ili quickly jumped on her feet, blocking his sword with hers, cutting through his blade with ease.
"What are you... Why..." Ili looked at the man, but saw no reason within him.
"Die!" the man screamed in anger, attacking her with his broken sword.
"You're a big one, aren't you!" the Dark Angel laughed, looking excitedly at the transforming demon from inside the blast.
The transformation was finally complete, as the blast started to die down. In front of him was now standing a demon, large as a two story building.
The creature's face is skeletal and grotesque, with jagged, decayed features. Instead of eyes, two large curved horns grow out of its eye sockets, burning. A long, dagger-like horn protrudes from the center of its forehead, where his nose should have been.
Its mouth had multiple rows of teeth, from rows of sharp fangs to rows of teeth flat like domino pieces. From deep inside his mouth, strong flames were starting to get out, covering his teeth.
The demon's whole body was covered in flames, the heat emanating from its figure being enough to burn a human to ash in an instant just by standing in its presence.
The demon had four massive, clawed arms, covered by dark red fur. In each of the demon's upper arms, he held two ritualistic objects, such as the ones depicted in paintings of ancient gods. A large staff with a golden crescent moon at the top, and a golden scroll with large spheres on each side.
The Dark Angel smiled.
In an instant, the demon appeared behind him, with its arm raised into the air, ready to crush him with a blow from above. The Dark Angel made a casual flick of his left arm upwards, and the demon's raised arm was reduced to particles.
In an instant, the demon's arm regenerated, finishing its blow. The Dark Angel disappeared from beneath the demon's arm, appearing to the side in the air.
"Ictus" The Dark Angel made another wave of his arm, and the demon's upper half disappeared in a diagonal.
The Demon's body regenerated in an instant once again, launching itself at the Dark Angel, ready to punch him from below, but he simply placed his hand on his fist, kicking the demon in the head with a spinning kick, breaking it from its neck.
The demon caught its broken head with his arm, using two hands to pummel it into the ground, trying to crush the human again, a new head already regenerated on top of his neck.
"Hello," the Dark Angel said mockingly, appearing behind the demon, gently touching it with his finger, dissecting its whole body instantly.
The remaining traces of blood in the air flew to the side, recombining in a small sphere of blood, before the Demon of Hatred regenerated once again, fully healed.
Just as it regenerated, the demon barely dodged as the Dark Angel jumped at it with a punch, shattering the building it hit. At that moment, the Demon of Hatred launched himself at the human, trying to catch him in his arms.
The Dark Angel jumped backwards through a few buildings, the walls dissecting before he even touched them, giving him passage. The demon launched after him, breaking through all the buildings he touched...
Buildings were flying in the air all around, stones were crumbling, and trees were exploding as soon as they came close to the Demon of Hatred, turning into black dust in an instant. The Dark Angel and the demon's fight was reaching the whole city, their speeds only allowing the aftermath to be seen as they were fighting.
The Demon of Hatred closed his fists around the human's body, trying to crush him once again. His hands instantly vanished, and the demon was kicked in the chest, sending him flying hundreds of meters, crashing extremely high up into the massive tower from the center of the city.
Inside was a massive room with decorations and weapons. The demon pushed himself off the ground, but was immediately met by the Dark Angel's figure. The man took a large spear weapon from the ground, smiling, as he threw himself at the demon. The demon tried to attack him, but the Dark Angel was too fast, cutting all his limbs with ease using the weapon.
The demon managed to intercept the Dark Angel, throwing a fist. The human raised the weapon to block the attack, but the fist went through the spear's side with no problem.
Smiling, Ili's master stuck the two broken pieces of the spear in the sides of the demon's arm, using it as a handle to jump above him, kicking him towards the ground.
The demon blocked the kick with his upper arms, but the kick was so strong that it broke them both and sent him down through the stone floor.
Landing on the floor beneath, he was instantly met by another hit from above, sending him through the ground of this floor as well, making him fall down a massive drop with stone stairs from the inside of the tower, hundreds of meters high until the floor below.
The Dark Angel launched on the demon's body, before pushing him with his feet downwards, increasing his falling speed substantially, making the demon fall through all the levels below the drop.
The demon fell through all the levels feet first, stopping deep below the last level from the force of the impact. As the Dark Angel fell above him, the demon threw another punch, managing to hit him and throw him tens of levels above, breaking through the side of the tower. The Demon of Hatred launched after him, kicking him back down into the city from hundreds of meters above ground. The force of the kick sent the demon backwards, landing back inside the tower, in the same room he got into at first.
The Dark Angel landed in the city, breaking through the ground as he casually landed on his feet, without a scratch on his body. Looking up, massive blocks of stone were heading towards his direction. He smiled.
The Demon of Hatred was breaking the tower apart, throwing its pieces towards his opponent. The Dark Angel jumped towards the blocks, which were crumbling into tens of pieces as they were getting closer to him, using the crumbles to run towards the sky.
With enough of the tower's upper structure gone, the demon picked up the whole massive rest of the tower from above him, slamming it down on the Dark Angel. The massive structure was instantly cut to pieces of all sizes, falling over the city like flameless meteors, destroying everything down below.
The Dark Angel got right in front of the demon, but was caught by the foot and thrown downwards once again, right next to the side of the tower. The demon launched himself downwards towards him, mouth flaming, ready to blast him into nothingness.
But before he could shoot the blast, the demon found itself hit back into the air, above the top of the remaining tower. The Dark Angel appeared in the air right next to him, kicking it in the stomach and sending the demon flying through the sky, far outside the walls of the city…
Zephyr ran through the chaos, looking around. His head felt like it was going to explode from the loudness of the Divine Choir as he was approaching the center of the city. Buildings were falling all around him, flames were out everywhere, boulders were falling from the sky... It was just like Feinhdall, only worse... Much worse...
He tried to use perception magic to find Vella's position, but all of his senses were running wild, disturbed, unable to concentrate enough for it.
"Vella!" he screamed, looking around, through the destruction and flames.
After looking for some more, he finally heard a shout not too far away.
"Zephyr!"
Vella ran towards him, coughing from all the smoke and dust around them. She was holding her shoulder, as blood was pouring from it.
"Vella!" Zephyr ran towards her, stopping underneath a building. "Vella, your arm..."
"I will be alright." she dismissed it, looking around at the chaos, terrified. "What is going on? Why am I hearing music? What is happening to the city?!"
"All hell's breaking loose..." Zephyr responded, barely creating a crystal barrier above as a boulder almost crushed them. "Two beings above our comprehension are fighting against each other. We must get as far away from this place as possible, or we're dead…"
Vella froze hearing it, but she wasn't entirely surprised by his words...
She followed him, as they started to run away through the chaos, back to the eastern gate.