Chapter 157: Nothing Left

Mikowai Lazar, [Egzekutor]

“Kasia! Kasia!” Aurelia screamed. It looked as if she wanted to put her hands on the girl’s stomach to stop the bleeding, but she couldn’t. The hole was too big and there was nothing she could do to save her. Mikowai knew she would be dead in seconds.

The same realization seemed to set in for Aurelia as well. She stood up and turned to Hanka, her expression filled with such pure fury, that it made all the hair on Mikowai’s body stand up straight. He suddenly felt hot and cold and sweaty at the same time. Had they made a mistake?

“There’s your lesson, mayor,” Hanka said smugly. “Next month, the price is double, for the inconvenience of—”

Aurelia crossed her arms, palms to her shoulders. What followed was two loud cracks and flashes of light, as if thunder had struck, or a gun had been fired. Crack! Crack! Two more rang out and Aurelia’s left shoulder erupted in flame.

Mikowai had never seen anything like it, and he had no idea what was going on. What type of skill could this be?

Crack! Crack! 

Something appeared to pierce Aurelia’s right shoulder, and flesh and blood sprayed out of her back. If it hurt her, she did not show it, her expression still set in a vision of malice.

The flame on her shoulder crawled up the side of her face and set her hair ablaze. Her face distorted and she somehow looked even more furious than before. Her eyes were on fire now, embers drifting into the air, and Mikowai felt fear like he’d never felt it before. Was this woman killing herself in front of them out of pure rage? Why?

Crack!

Another blast rang out sending another spray of blood from her right shoulder, and at the same time a bright green nova of magic erupted from her body.

The girl named Kasia gasped and sat up straight, clutching her stomach, which had been completely healed.

Impossible! No potion can cure a wound of that size. And a healing spell would have to be of an extremely high tier for it to… Oh no…

Aurelia was fully covered in flames now, but they somehow did not seem to harm her. It was if she was made of fire. Mikowai felt the intense heat radiating off her and instinctively took a step back, but he couldn’t look away.

She calmly grabbed what appeared to be a mana potion from her satchel and shoved the whole vial in her mouth. She bit down on it, shattering the glass.

She didn’t even drink it! She just crushed the vial with her teeth? What kind of monster is she?

She lowered her head, the flames that had replaced her eyes burned so bright it was hard to look at her. Mikowai raised his arm in front of his face to shield himself from her gaze. Still, he couldn’t look away.

She spread her arms and enormous flaming wings sprouted from her back with a deafening roar of flame. The incredible heat slammed into Mikowai and he was forced to take another step back. Everyone gasped. Everything was so bright now, it might as well have been day.

With one flap of her wings she took to the sky. One flick of her wrist sent a beam of pure white light into Franek. The moment it touched him the world exploded. Everything exploded and a wall of superheated air crashed into Mikowai. The blastwave sent everyone tumbling into the air. Even Hanka could not resist the force and slammed into him as they rolled across the packed dirt.

When Mikowai looked up through his blurred, watering eyes to where Franek had been standing there was nothing left but a smoking crater. Emil was gone as well. Well, mostly gone. He spotted one of Emil’s boots and half of his arm. The rest was just gone.

Hanka pulled him to his feet. “Get up, Miko! Help me kill that thing!”

An [Icelance] drilled into Aurelia. Maybe there was hope, Olgierd must have survived the blast. A second one bore into her as well. Or it should have. Apparently neither of them had left a mark. She just took them as she stared down on them with unbridled rage.

And then she was gone.

A terrible scream had Mikowai jerking his head to the right. The burning angel had Olgierd’s head clutched in her terrible claws and breathed a cone of fire straight into his face. His skin blackened and bubbled and his eyes melted as the last of his scream left his burnt throat, no longer able to make a sound. The sight was so horrific Mikowai almost threw up. He swallowed it down. Despite the overwhelming heat, cold sweat ran down his back.

I can still run. I haven’t done anything to her yet. Maybe she’ll focus on Ofka or Hanka first. Maybe I can escape.

Aurelia took the the sky again, burning eyes full of hatred locked on Hanka. This was his chance!

Mikowai tried to run, but Hanka grabbed his arm and pulled him in front of her. “Stay here you fucking coward!”

“I—” Mikowai started, but the words died in his mouth as another terrible blast lifted him off his feet and sent him hurtling through the air. He crashed into the ground and into a building. He gasped, the air pushed from his lungs. His vision was blurry, so he shook his head in an attempt to see straight again.

He slowly pushed himself to his feet. He was alive. He felt for any injuries, but found none.

He looked up to see Aurelia still in the sky, the fire seemingly burning even hotter than before, distorting the world around her. Hanka was alive too, defiantly shouting something at Aurelia, but Mikowai couldn’t hear what she was saying. He couldn’t hear anything at all, except for an agonizing, high-pitched ring vibrating right through his skull. Running clearly wasn’t an option, he couldn’t outrun an angel. Desperate, he looked around.

Where is my axe?

He looked up again, just in time to see silver chains wrap around Aurelia’s limbs. A surge of crackling silver and blue magic ran through the chains and Aurelia was violently sent crashing down into the ground.

Could they have a chance against this monster? He stepped forward, but stumbled, frantically looking for his axe. If he had Zabójca, he might have a chance. Ofka had caught their enemy by surprise and created an opening. It might be the only one they would get.

There!

He spotted the axe embedded in the wall of one of the stone buildings and ran towards it. There were still three of them, and if Ofka and Hanka managed to keep the angel down, he should be able to finish her off. Even an angel shouldn’t be able to survive a clean [Executioner’s Toll] to the neck.

He set his foot against the wall and pulled his axe out of the stone.

We have a chance. We just have to—

He felt another wave of heat wash over him. When he turned around he saw Ofka’s blackened and blistered face stare into the sky, expression locked in a silent scream. As her body fell to the ground, her head crumbled.

Now it was just him and Hanka, and the last sliver of confidence Mikowai had left evaporated. He knew he was going to die, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He watched as Hanka charged Aurelia, flaming mace held high.

The angel did not even bother to block. She just stood there as Hanka hacked away at her. It was useless. Hanka’s entire build revolved around fire empowering her mace, and this creature clearly was immune to it.

She took to the sky again, out of range of Hanka’s useless attacks. He noticed there were more people around now, all watching the battle unfold with wide eyes and open mouths.

Where did they come from?

Aurelia lazily lifted a hand and what appeared to be some kind of pistol formed inside of it. She fired a shot into Hanka, which pushed her into the ground and sent another shockwave washing over Mikowai.

When the smoke cleared, Hanka was standing in a crater, forearms covering her head. She spat to the side and showed the angel her middle finger. The angel smiled and calmly pointed her pistols at Hanka. One in each hand now.

White light gathered inside of them, growing brighter and brighter until Mikowai could no longer see. A deafening crack followed an even more intense flash. When he could see again he found Hanka’s head at his feet, and he knew that was all that was left of her.

Such terrible power.

Aurelia turned her attention to him. Defeated, he dropped to his knees and held his axe against his chest.

She slowly walked up to him as he sat there, axe clutched in his shaking hands, staring at the most terrifying and beautiful being he had ever seen. She raised one of her hands and said something he couldn’t hear through the ringing in his ears. The last thing Mikowai ever saw was the burning, perfect face of an angel and a bright white light.