by Devin Cain
Gabriel shrugged and touched his armor with all five fingers. It disappeared momentarily, leaving him in what looked like a silken shirt and black pants.
"I was against my brother’s banishment, you know? They made me prove my loyalty to father by chaining Suzumiya and his Nephilim children to the soil and causing the great flood. I didn’t want to do it, but it was either that or be cast down after Lucifer."
"Then you’re in this for revenge?" I asked, interrupting him. He nodded slowly and looked away into the endless abyss that was space. It sure felt unreal, sitting here with only a piece of glass between death and life.
"Yes. I can’t gain my brother’s forgiveness since I failed him, but at least I can protect his only offspring. You see, I’m willing to throw down with Mikhail, even though I know he’ll beat me, but if it helps you even a little bit, so be it."
"And you’re serious about this?"
"Yes, I am. Another thing we can do is for me to give you my Armament power. You should jump to tier three, but that would kill me. In any case, if that’s what you wish, so be it. Just say so, and my power is yours."
"No. I don’t believe in useless sacrifices. Anyway, how big is the difference in power between the two of you?"
"Hmm," he murmured and looked up as if calculating. "We’re roughly the same, but he’s The Host’s leader and enjoys many a boon from father. It’s those boons that give him superiority over me. Like his sword, Eternal Flame, which was created from father’s pure radiance. You felt it back there, didn’t you?"
I looked away but nodded. That was some serious power Mikhail possessed.
"Yeah. To be honest, I froze for a second back there. It felt like that thing was feeding on life itself and could destroy an entire planet. Wicked stuff."
"There are ways to counter it, but more to that another time. How about you get yourself familiarized with being a Nephilim first? Check your skills and try to fight me. We’ll need a large space to unleash your true power. At least the beginning stage."
"Sure, I’d like that," I replied honestly. If I already got a cheat card shoved in my lap, I was damn well going to use it.
"Where do you propose we spar?" Gabriel asked as he got up.
"Wow, wait up big guy. Once we’re down on Gebradim Beta, we’ll load up on whatever the queen has produced for us. While they do so, you and I can fight to our heart’s content."
He nodded his head slowly and sat back down again.
"Very well. There’s one more thing I need to tell you, Admiral. Our word binds us Angels. The very reason why Mikhail let you go was because of that. If we break it, our powers drop significantly. And yes, it’s permanent."
"So, what you’re saying is, if you lie to me, you’ll become so weak I can kill you easily?"
"If you wish to do so, I can break my word a couple of times so you become stronger than me."
"Hell no! I’m not the best suited when it comes down figuring out people, but you seem honest and without ulterior motive. I sure wish for you to see your brother again one day. I’ll make sure of it if you keep my back."
His eyebrows rose, and eyes lit up with anticipation. He tried to speak but couldn’t. I held my hand up and nodded.
"You mean it, Admiral Cain?" he finally asked. I had no idea it meant such a big deal to him.
"I promise. Even if I have to sign another contract with him."
"Then you have my word that I’ll never hurt you or anyone of your friends or subordinates without being attacked first. This is my oath."
"Good, good. Here’s to a new life and a new world. And I’ve found just the place where to do it."
"Is it in Human space? Or beyond?"
"On the very border, but a few light-years beyond."
"Wait! Tell me exactly where!" he snapped, then caught himself and looked away. The furrowed brow told me he was sorry in more ways than one.
"Entraxila. The northernmost part of known space.
Chapter Forty-One
"What? Entraxila? You don’t wish to go there, Admiral!"
"Wait, why?" I interrupted him and sat upright, leaning my elbows on my knees. He leaned in closer and clenched his teeth.
"It is known to me purely by accident. You see, all of us who were at the top in The Host’s Legion, we used to rule a part of space. The Northern part of space was my domain, and Entraxila was a hotspot for trouble. Every single month there was an invasion. Countless alien races, many awakened Armaments."
"But how do you know this if it’s outside your domain?" I asked curiously.
"I loved to roam around, observing the beauty that was life even where it wasn’t my domain, and that’s when I accidentally found that war-like planet. I’ve been watching over it ever since, but trust me that it isn’t worth it."
I shrugged and leaned back into the sofa.
"I’ll know once I’m there. Anyway, I need to take care of some other things for now. We’ll speak in a day or two once we’re over Beta and have our match. Deal?" I said, offering my hand to him. He shook it and nodded, then got up and walked up to the window.
"Such beauty. Such darkness, yet light. Why wasn’t I born as a star?" he murmured and sighed. Deciding not to comment on it, I walked out on him and sighed once in the corridor. Should I have told him that it was his brother Lucifer who told me about the planet? Maybe, but he was still a wildcard in my book, at least until he’s proven himself.
With nothing else to do, I made my way to our apartment as I liked to call it. After all, it had a kitchen, a bar, a bedroom, a living room, and a shower. I had some time for myself, so I’d relax and check out my Nephilim powers if no one bothered me.
I found Brown waiting for me outside the place and at attention. He saluted me as I walked up on him, clearly wanting to say something, but he wasn’t doing a very good job at hiding it.
"What is it? Speak man, you’re making me nervous."
"Sorry, Admiral. It’s just-- can I be assigned Raid Leader for ship two?"
"I don’t see why not. Gene is getting ship three’s Raid Leader position, and Aiden will be it’s new captain, while Khavvrin will stay in charge of the complete body of mutated troops."
"Thank you, Admiral," he mouthed and saluted me again.
"No problem. Go talk to Khavv about it, and see that you’re injected as well. Can’t have you die on your first op, no?"
He smiled and nodded, then rushed off. Good man, good fighter and strategist. If only we had more of them. Though why he’d come to see me privately at my quarters to ask about it was beyond me.
The door hissed open, revealing the queen standing inside in all her naked glory. She curtsied slightly and offered me in. I couldn’t help but feel it was some kind of ruse, but whatever, it wasn’t like she could do anything to me.
"Queen," I said and walked past her, brushing my right arm against her rough skin. She pulled away, as if frightened, but closed the door behind her quickly. "So, what can I do for you?"
"You can mate with me, great Conqueror. I wish to give you offspring that will populate our new homeworld and live in peace, bridging the gap between our people."
"I see, but what about Gremory? I will not lay with you unless she gives me approval."
She produced a tapper and pressed a couple of buttons before a recorded message started playing.
I will be busy with meetings all day. If you think it’s a good idea to create a third species, be my guest. Just make sure you can go again when I’m hungry.
With that, the message ended, and the queen leaned into me, pressing her pink lips against mine. Sure, she wasn’t quite Human, but it didn’t matter. From what I could see, all the things that mattered were Human-like, but would it be a good idea? Suddenly, drowsiness washed over me. I dropped on the bed, having lost control over my body.
"You see, Admiral, this has been—foretold. The sole purpose for my existence was to mate with the Nephilim god, and now that I’ve got the chance to do so, nothing will stand in m
y way."
"What did you—"
"Nothing really. You won’t even remember anything, so relax and enjoy the ride, as you Humans like to say."
I found myself waking in a puddle of blood, all groggy and sore. Trying to remember what happened, I sat up and inspected my body, but there were no wounds to be found anywhere. I frowned and walked into the shower, rinsing my body off.
"Devil?" I asked, but he didn’t reply. "Khepri?" Again no response.
"Devil is asleep, Admiral," an even worse sounding voice spoke over the apartment's speakers. "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Cerberus?"
"Yes, Admiral. It’s me."
"Oh, you gave me a scare just now. I thought you couldn’t speak or something."
"Devil and I have come to an agreement where I do not speak unless he’s indisposed. It suits me just fine, as I’m not much of a talker."
"I can see that. Say, can you tell me what happened in my room?"
"No, Admiral. There are no devices installed in there that could be used to record sound or imagery. What’s more, the transition between us didn’t go so well, so I was out of it for a little over twenty minutes."
"I see. Whatever, it’s not like I killed someone, right?"
"I have no idea, Admiral. If there’s nothing else, I have other things to take care off."
"I won’t be a smartass and say told you so," Khepri started, "But you need to start thinking about what you do from now on. First, you’re the Admiral, the sole person holding all this together. Secondly, you have women that love and cherish you. Don’t throw that away for some random flicks.
"Huh? What are you talking about? And why didn’t you answer me earlier?"
"Because I was forcefully put to sleep if you will."
"Shit. Someone can do that?"
"It seems so. And let me add this as well: Gremory worships you, the same is with Kris. Ashiala is infatuated by you, though you haven’t mated with her yet. Do you really need any more women than those three?"
"And he has you, the nagging mother," Devil joked, laughing like a hyena.
"What the hell are you talking about? Who did I sleep with?"
"You don’t remember?" Devil sneered. "Son, the Queen ravaged you like a little boy after she drugged all of us."
"You don’t say," I laughed. "How the hell could she drug the two of you?"
"We don’t know. But he speaks the truth," Khepri replied. "You two did have sex. In any case, if I were you, I’d keep it to myself. Do you want anyone hearing about your little stunt and how you aren’t capable of holding yourself together?"
"Hey that’s not how it—"
"We know, but the others won’t think the same," Khepri snapped. "You need to listen to us, Admiral, we have the best at heart for you, please understand that."
"So do I let her live, or do I kill her? You two don’t seem too very helpful in this regard."
"Let her be. She got what she wanted, your seed. What’s the worst that can happen?" Devil snorted.
"You’re the worst!" Khepri snapped at him. "But he’s right to a degree. What can happen? She gives birth to a super-species that has all the strong sides of both Gebradim, Human and Nephilim, without any of the bad ones, and to top it all off, they’re loyal to her, and not you."
"Shit, that isn’t good," I murmured. "What’s the chance of something like that happening?"
"From my calculations, some 6.9 percent," Khepri replied.
I sighed again and dropped with my back against the marble tiles. I thought long and hard about what to do, and in the end, decided on checking out my new tier two skills before doing anything stupid.
Armament: Nephilim
Skill tier: 2
Skill Name: Unholy Judgement
Description: Attack target enemy with a beam of dark light. Double as effective against holy race or sub-race targets
Type: Active
Cooldown: 10 minutes
Skill Name: Unholy Divination
Description: Turns any holy race or sub-race into Nephilim with 20% certainty during battle. Does not work if the target is higher tier than the caster
Type: Passive
Cooldown: 2 minutes
The first skill was an incredible addition to my meager arsenal of hard-hitting skills, especially when it came to Angels and The Host. The second skill almost sounded too good to be true as well once I re-read it a couple of times. Being able to turn my enemies into followers just by fighting them, I would have to be careful of how hard I went at it as not to damage them too badly.
Again, though, both skills were lit up, which was the best thing of it all. I quickly switched to Khepri and Devil’s skill trees, but they remained unchanged and at one skill per level. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to be able to rely on my new Nephilim powers instead of purely on the two of them, especially with all the things I kept forgetting.
The next thing I had to check on was my power level, as I thought of it. Once I brought it up, I couldn’t help but smirk as the difference was quite radical.
Armament: Lucifer, Khepri, Nephilim
Tier: 2, 2, 2
Resistance 1: Physical damage 40 %
Resistance 2: Status change 50 %
Resistance 3: Magical damage 20%
Non-transformed stats: Head - 700 %, Chest - 1400 %, Arms - 800 %, Legs - 900 %
Transformed stats: Head - 1900 %, Chest - 4300 %, Arms - 2100 %, Legs - 2400 %
The last thing I brought up was the white power pool, where a number floated over the white blob. It said 101%. I didn’t quite understand what it meant, but I had a hunch. But to see a real difference, I’d need to change many more people into Nephilim followers, and the best way to do that was by turning more of my officers into Priests and Priestesses so they could help with turning as well. As it stood now, I had an hour of cooldown between turns, and if I used the next ten to fifteen hours on turning the right people, tomorrow there could easily be over two hundred new Nephilim. But that was only if those people wanted to become my followers.
"We’ve become quite a lot stronger if these numbers are anything to go by," I commented to no one in particular.
"You don’t even know the half of it," Devil replied. "Just imagine once you have your own following, that number could become similar to Lucifer’s, where your head wouldn’t be at 1,900 but 19,000, or even 190,000. But that’s all up to you and how far you’re willing to go."
"I’m not sacrificing people."
"I didn’t say you should; I just said that it was up to you how you did it."
"How strong is he?"
"I’m not saying, it’s against my orders. If I do say anything of the sort, I’ll die or something like that. He made sure of it that whoever got a part of his powers, no one would know about him. But suffice it to say, he’s at least two to three times stronger then Mikhail, Ariel and Azrael combined. See, he’s in another league entirely."
"All of the leagues, and tiers and everything is becoming rather annoying, but whatever," I muttered and decided to ask one more question before I went on with my duties. "Do the girls know?"
"No," Khepri replied first. "And let’s keep it that way."
Chapter Forty-Two
I stood by the bar, pouring myself a drink. The light was dimmed to a little more than pitch black. The door slowly opened, spilling in the extremely bright light from the corridor. I flinched and looked away, knocking my glass almost over.
"Close the damned door, will you?" I snapped and turned my back to whoever just entered. I felt for them, trying to use my connection with Devil to see if I knew who it was. "Are you done with the meetings, Gremory?"
"Yeah. What’s wrong? Why are you brooding around in the dark?"
I remained silent and instead gulped down what remained in my glass.
"I was raped by the Queen, more or less."
"Good," she snapped, walking past me to the fridge.
"Good? How the hell can that
be a good thing?" I exclaimed and turned to her.
"That means you’re still Human and have real emotions. The moment you stop caring is the moment you won’t need me around anymore. You won’t want us around."
I sighed as I sat on the barstool.
"I think she needs to die," I whispered and poured myself another glassful of something Dima sent up for us.
"Me too, but I’m still undecided. Maybe she’ll be good for something, and maybe she won’t. Just make sure you don’t regret it, no matter what you choose."
"Yeah, but enough about her. How did the meetings go?"
"As expected, all three ships are practically full to the brim with people and supplies. The freighters Dimitriy promised were sent ahead to Gebradim Beta and will sometimes arrive after we do, even with this delay to see the new ship. We move much faster than we used to."
She sat beside me and drank her glass empty in one chug, then dropped it against the metallic bar top.
"That’s it?"
"Not really, but I don’t feel like talking right now. Besides, what did you expect me to get out of them?"
"Nothing much really," I replied and stared back down at the countertop. "Devil, how long until we arrive at our new destination?"
"Seven hours. You still have time to get a short beauty sleep, you sure look like you need one."
I couldn’t help but chuckle and shake my head. Then, an urge came over me, forcing my hand to take hold of Gremory’s.
"Oh no, you won’t, not now, not after what you just told me," she hissed, pulling her hand from mind.
"It’s not like I wanted it," I growled. "Come on, I need you. I need to feel Human!"
"But not like this, Cain, and not now!"
"If you say so," I replied and got off the barstool. "Close the door on your way out," I said as I dropped on the bed, too tired to even think straight.