Peter and the Rising Angels (War of Contractia Book 6)

by Tj Dixon

  “Now.” Sor tells me through our mental link and as soon as she says it I sense Azrael shift into the cavern. Just like I thought, he entered Portalis unshielded to avoid detection. If Dairon hadn’t warned us Portalis would surely have fallen. If the Fallen Angels had gained the loyalty of the elves and not just their obedience, Contractia would have been doomed and my plans would have failed.

  Azrael appears as a black leathery giant, with huge muscles, white bone horns, razor sharp long white teeth and vast black leathery wings. He fills almost the entire cavern. The red fire of his eyes burns brightly, but my fiery blue eyes burn even brighter. Together the fire of our eyes cast a red and blue tint on everything in sight.

  Azrael senses me and tries to shift away, but fails. Thanks to the curse Sor placed on him when she sent him to me he can’t shift or port at all. He can remove the curse of course, but not whilst he’s busy fighting me. Even though I haven’t attacked yet, he knows I won’t just wait around doing nothing whilst he removes the curse. Since stealth is useless against me he turns his body back to its natural red, though his wings are naturally black and so remain unchanged.

  Against Azrael soul thief is weak and any lesser soul stealer magic is useless. It would be like Azrael using fire magic against me. That’s why he’s the only Fallen Angel that can fight me one on one. Azrael is also very strong against fire magic too, so I don’t plan to use that either.

  I release a chain of wind slices in the cavern. I’d been preparing them since I first got here so I’m not sure how many there are, but certainly at least tens of thousands. Azrael’s body is instantly ripped to shreds, so I follow up with lightning to slow down his regeneration. When we first fought, it would have taken at least a few minutes for him to fully regenerate under these circumstances, but as I watch his flesh regenerates and his body reforms completely in just a few seconds.

  Azrael forms a black boulder sized ball of death magic and throws it down the tunnel at me. With no room to dodge I form a white soul shield around myself and block his attack. The shield shakes but holds.

  I blast Azrael with lightning again, but it doesn’t even scorch him. Azrael throws another ball of death magic at me and it’s all I can do just to keep my shield up. He’s clearly much more powerful than when we last fought. I was sure I could keep him on the defensive but instead I find myself barely able to defend myself.

  I retreat down the tunnel and around the corner into a small room with a hole in the roof. The hole is the start of a lift shaft, though the lift itself has long since rotted to nothing. As expected Azrael shrinks his form and pursues me.

  If Azrael had tried to undo the curse I would have had to return to fight him, but once he thinks he has the advantage over me he has only one priority. Vengeance. I had planned to trick him into thinking he had the advantage if I couldn’t kill him, but it seems that there’s no need for trickery there. He really does have the advantage.

  Azrael flies into the room at twice the speed of sound so I fly straight at him just as fast. In the void we could fly much faster but here this is close to our limit and any faster would simply be too inefficient. Even before we hit each other our supersonic speed creates a deafening boom inside this small room, but as his red fists punch right through my chest and my razor sharp white claws tear off his arms and legs there is a hellish cacophony of thuds, screeches and clatters.

  I bear with the pain and reform my chest with my soul flames as Azrael forms new limbs. Then we tear into each other again with the same supersonic speed and ferocity. Azrael’s limbs come off again and my chest explodes again. Again we repair the damage and again we tear into each other. This time I get his head as well as his limbs, but decapitation is no more fatal for Azrael than having my chest annihilated is for me.

  I lose track of time as we repeat the cycle of destruction and regeneration. Even though the damage can’t kill either one of us, the pain is still real for both of us. This endless and horrific cycle brings back memories of my time in the arena. Back then I was forced to fight, suffer and die repeatedly, and this isn’t much different, but at least now I know what I’m fighting for and if I win I’ll be freed from the cycle.

  Eventually there is a lull in the cycle as we both stare warily at each other, ready to attack but not ready for the pain to continue. I make the first move, by darting up the lift shaft at twice the speed of sound, but Azrael is right behind me. I fire lightning at the walls of the lift shaft, collapsing it onto Azrael. Naturally he just charges through the rubble ignoring it completely.

  I raise a shield and strengthen it as much as possible as I enter the tunnel above and then fire a lightning bolt straight up. Azrael ignores it assuming that I am just planning to collapse the roof on him, but I wouldn’t need a shield for that. As my lightning hits the roof Grunti’s little invention activates, porting us both.

  From the dark tunnel lit only by our eyes, the glittering cavern we find ourselves in is a stark contrast. Gold and treasure are strewn about all over the cavern and under our feet. Many of the treasures are probably priceless, but that’s not what gets Azrael’s attention.

  Azrael looks up in horror at the sparkling green scales of the beast filling this entire mountainous cavern. In fact most of this cavern is under the mountain because even a single of the beast’s two wings is larger than the mountain above us.

  Ish might not appreciate me calling him a beast, but it is hard to find another word that can describe him, other than dragon. There is one other word though, and that word is friend. He is the dragon I rode down from heaven on when I was banished by father and like Hades he did not abandon me. Even when he thought me dead he stayed down here in protest rather than returning to heaven. It is Ish that I named the kingdom of Ishki after.

  Ish is just as shocked as Azrael and hesitates. I charge Azrael at twice the speed of sound and tear off his limbs before he can recover, but they regenerate just as quickly as before. Azrael recovers before Ish can attack and Azrael forms a shield of his own. A moment later Ish spurts flames that cover both Azrael and I. A moment earlier and Azrael would have been killed, but Ish’s flames in his current state cannot overcome Azrael’s shield. I wish I could have warned Ish in advance, but had Ish awakened, Azrael would have been far more cautious.

  Azrael returns his body to its true size a couple of hundred feet tall. At that size he is a little slower than me, but Ish’s flames can no longer kill him with a single attack. That is why I went to the trouble of getting him to shrink his form in the Aurian Mines. Even slowed down by his size Azrael is still much faster and smaller than Ish. If they fought one on one Azrael would certainly win, but with me here too Azrael is in a difficult position.

  Increasing my speed to the maximum I tear into Azrael’s flesh, especially where his wings join his body, to prevent him escaping. Ish strikes at Azrael with his claws and tail, but Ish is far too slow. Azrael easily evades Ish’s attacks, but with me attacking his wings Azrael is unable to get off the ground. Ish smothers us in flames again, but they are too weak to do any good. It seems that Lucy and her comrades did too good a job when they fought Ish, even if they did pay a heavy price for their efforts.

  As Azrael gains confidence in his ability to either dodge or endure the attacks he begins to form a black sphere of death magic in the palm of his right hand. For now it is small and weak but it will quickly grow much larger and far more powerful. Unfortunately there’s nothing I can do to disrupt it now Azrael has returned to his true size. I hastily establish a mental link with Ish to warn him.

  “Long time no see, my not dead friend.” Ish says cheerfully to me as soon as the link is established.

  “I’m sure you’re surprised to see me alive, but…” I start to say.

  “No, I’m not surprised that you’re alive. I read the mind of that little faery sized human who came in here to save you. I was going to eat her, but when I realised you were alive and she was your friend I pretended that I was still asleep. I am surprised
to see that pesky death angel though. Could you do something about that death sphere of his?” Ish asks.

  “I’m afraid he’s too powerful now for me to disrupt it. You should avoid getting hit.” I warn Ish.

  “There’s no room to dodge in here, so I’d better enter your domain.” Ish says and with his breath he burns a hole through the top of the mountain. Ish then throws himself through the mountain into the sky, shattering the entire mountain and throwing rubble for miles as he does so.

  With Ish up in the sky and Azrael unable to fly, there is no chance of Azrael hitting Ish. Unfortunately though, we are no closer to killing Azrael. I knew he would be more powerful after so much time had passed, but I never imagined just how much more powerful he would be. I suppose this is the result of having an empire or whatever he calls it. I cannot imagine how many mortal souls he has eaten to get this powerful.

  “Why not join me up here? It’s not like the Sky Lord to remain so close to the ground.” Ish says.

  “If I do that he’ll take to the sky too. Down here he can’t do much harm.” I tell Ish.

  To prove me wrong, Azrael throws his house sized death sphere not up at Ish but backwards at me. I manage to avoid getting hit too badly, but the death sphere still grazes my left wing. Unlike the earlier one it overwhelms my soul shield and reduces my body to ash. I reform my body with my soul flames, but Azrael has already leapt into the sky and has the death sphere back in his right hand. I dart up at Azrael but before I can reach him he has punched Ish with the death sphere.

  Ish howls with an agony and rage that reaches the heavens. In a moment of arrogance Azrael is distracted but the gloating grin on his face turns to a grimace as Ish bites Azrael’s right arm off at the elbow. Ish releases his soul flames into the wound. The opposite of my soul flames which focus on regeneration, Ish’s soul flames burn Azrael’s soul and prevent him regenerating his arm.

  Azrael backs off from Ish, with a burning stub for a right arm. It is the most he can do to simply hold the soul flames back. Taking advantage of Azrael’s weakness I tear into his wings where they meet his body. Azrael falls to the ground with a huge thud. Ish dives down at Azrael and blasts him with soul flames, but Azrael gets back up and out of the way a moment before the soul flames would have reached him. Unwilling to spare the effort required to regenerate his wings, Azrael is unable to take to the sky again.

  I strike Azrael’s right knee next, trying to tear it apart enough to rob him of even more mobility. Azrael shields his knee, which doesn’t stop me striking it, but it is a lot tougher than his wing joints so with my blows softened by his shield I am unable to do more than scratch it. I change targets and tear into his leg just above the knee but it is still too tough to inflict much damage.

  “He’s a lot tougher than I remember.” Ish tells me, clearly in a lot of pain.

  “How much damage did that death sphere do?” I ask.

  “A lot.” Ish admits.

  “Keep to the sky then. Just keep the pressure up on him.” I tell Ish.

  “That’s probably best.” Ish says sounding relieved. This just doesn’t sound like the fearless dragon I used to ride back in the days of Ishki. Just as the time spent with humans changed me, the time Ish spent alone must have changed him. Hopefully it means he’ll be ok with not devouring any more cities though!

  “How about we make a deal?” Azrael asks me with a pained glare.

  “What sort of deal?” I ask to buy time to come up with a new plan.

  “I’ll let you have everything this side of Portalis, but I keep Portalis and everything on the other side.” Azrael says.

  “And let you consolidate your power at Portalis before using it to invade the rest of Contractia? Just how naive do you think I am?” I ask.

  “Fine! You can keep Portalis, but everything on the other side is mine.” Azrael says.

  There was a time I would have accepted the deal, built my power even more and then betrayed him. Doing so though would mean abandoning the elves and all the people on the other side. Plus Contractia isn’t actually mine to rule. Even if I was willing to abandon the people he rules, it is Azrael not me that would become stronger in the time between our fights.

  “No deal.” I tell Azrael.

  “Then burn in heaven!” Azrael yells and tries to catch me with both hands.

  I evade Azrael easily enough but he continues to grasp at me. For me to end up in his hands all it would take is a moment’s lost focus just like he lost focus when he was distracted by his hit on Ish. With our supersonic speed of movement and thought, even a single moment thinking and moving at a mere human’s speed would prove fatal.

  As I evade Azrael’s attacks I try to come up with a plan. If I can pin Azrael down for a few moments Ish can finish him off, but a few moments is no small task. Unable to even reduce his mobility any further I just can’t imagine being able to stop him completely for such a long time.

  Thinking back to the battle against Maou Ferdinand there is also the option of anticipating where he will be ahead of time. Communicating the location with Ish would be difficult and getting Azrael into that location would be tricky too. I doubt I’ll think of any other possibilities whilst I’m evading Azrael’s attacks though, so it seems worth a shot.

  “Ish when I tell you to, attack me with your strongest soul flames. Then pursue them and finish Azrael off.” I tell Ish.

  “You can’t eat them.” Ish warns me.

  “I know. Just do it when I say.” I tell him.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing, but I’ll trust you.” Ish says.

  “Thank you Ish. If this goes wrong it’s my fault, so don’t blame yourself.” I tell him.

  “If this goes wrong I doubt I’ll be around much longer to blame myself.” Ish warns me.

  “Oh well, we’ve both been around a while. If it comes down to it, we’ll just have to accept that it was our time.” I tell Ish. I cut my soul links with my miko and angels so that they’re not corrupted or killed.

  “Now.” I tell Ish and dig ferociously into Azrael’s right hand with all four claws. Azrael unable to believe his luck brings his left hand down on me and forms a death sphere between his hands. I am completely immersed in the death sphere and my body is instantly reduced to ash but Azrael keeps his hands and the death sphere in place to destroy my soul as well. As he does so though, he cannot move and his attention is solely on me.

  In agony from the death sphere’s assault on my soul I have a hard time focusing but if I lose focus now it will be for nothing. The agony lasts an eternity as my thoughts continue to race at supersonic speed, but my sole concern right now is sensing for Ish’s soul flames.

  As I sense Ish’s soul flames about to hit us I use almost every last ounce of my mana to create a wind slice. It cuts cleanly through Azrael’s hands, then his arms and finally his shoulders and neck. He begins to regenerate immediately and his shield is only broken for a moment, but Ish’s soul flames hit him before his shield can be fully restored.

  Ironically the death sphere acts as a shield and protects me from the soul flames, but Azrael’s hands, arms, shoulder, neck and head are all instantly destroyed by the soul flames. His chest is badly damaged too, but his size and natural resistance to fire saves him from complete destruction. Even headless, Azrael is still able to control his body with his soul, but unlike a fire angel without his head he is no longer capable of supersonic speed of thought or as a result, supersonic movement.

  Ish tears into Azrael’s body with claws, fangs and tail, ripping through Azrael’s new and hastily erected shield. As he tears into Azrael Ish releases more soul flames, utterly destroying Azrael’s chest. Azrael forms a huge death sphere around himself as a desperate attempt to shield his lower body from Ish, but to my horror Ish buries his head in the death sphere. A moment later the death sphere is gone and so is Azrael’s lower body. All that is left of him is ash.

  Ish coughs and splutters, then convulses and a moment later his head turns t
o ash. His body continues to convulse a few moments more and then falls lifelessly to the ground, shaking the ground for miles around as it does so. Unlike me Azrael can only regenerate and transform his body, not reform it once it is entirely gone. I sense the remnants of his soul escape to hell, but as weak as he is now my friends can certainly defeat him. Even if he attempts to hide, Kuro will hunt him down and kill him.

  Unlike Azrael Ish only has a very slow power of regeneration, which doesn’t extend to his head. His soul will drift to heaven where father will decide his fate. Even in the best case he will be reincarnated as a new dragon with none of his memories, and the best case seems unlikely. My own soul flames cannot restore Ish’s body or create one capable of housing his draconic soul. His soul would burn whatever body I might create for him. His fate now is beyond my control.

  “I’m sorry Ish.” I say aloud. “You followed me here from heaven and lived a life of suffering amongst mortals. To the mortals, dragons will always be monsters, but in my memory you are a friend and a comrade who shared in my sins. I pray that you are born again.”

  “Who do you pray to?” Hades asks, appearing in front of me in her physical body that is the same as mine, except fifty times larger.

  “I would pray to father if I thought he would listen.” I say.

  “He says he will.” Hades says.

  “He will?” I ask in shock.

  “He will, if you appear before him.” Hades tells me.

  “Has he forgiven me?” I ask in shock, but Hades shakes her head gently. “I see. I will appear before him.”

  “Are you sure? Why not flee and save yourself?” Hades asks with sorrowful tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

  “Please keep an eye out for my friends, and for Juliet.” I say and lower my head.

  “Are you sure?” Hades asks again.

  “I suppose the true god of fire, Ikarus, cannot turn a blind eye when one of his fallen angels becomes a god. If I don’t go now it won’t just be Ish who pays for my crimes.” I tell Hades.