Chapter 2

Through the eyes of the Holy Empire’s monster, I felt her rage.

The soft, rhythmic chime… chime… of a music box filled my mind. Four horses pulled a reinforced wooden carriage, its wheels rumbling over rocky sands.

Atop the carriage hung a giant church bell, muffled by wool and held fast by heavy latches. It remained silent despite the jostling.

A platoon of Holy Empire soldiers marched in front of and behind it.

Inside of the cramped carriage sat a girl.

She was not me.

We were at war. This girl was the enemy. Chained and bound with artifacts from the witch hunting days of old.

Across from her sat a holy father, winding the music box mechanically and humming prayers under his breath. He wore a heavy black robe signifying a royal cleric. He looked young, perhaps twenty-four, but his eyes were ancient wells of weariness and pain.

The girl sat in a daze. Her hair streamed long and pale as white gold, shimmering unnaturally under the cleric’s prayer-light. She looked frighteningly young, eleven at most.

She wore a battle gown of white silk, intricate patterns woven with threads of mithril for strength. Her feet were bare against the rough planks.

『Oh, Lord, bless this angel. That she may win us glorious victory in the battle we approach.』

His words were foreign, yet in the dream’s logic, I understood.

Rhythmic gunfire thudded in the distance, a grim counterpoint to the music box.

It was the 10th year of the Holy War.

When it began, nobles fought with spears, bows, pyromancy, and horses, dreaming of swift victory and homecoming.

Seeing opportunity in the prolonged bloodshed, nobles from neighboring nations joined the fray, greedy to capture villages, capitals, fertile lands, or ancient holy sites promising power.

But the war dragged on. An arms race erupted. The invention of the rifle. Crude but devastating. The rifle brought a new hell.

Now, endless trenches scarred every front, studded with underground tunnels, designed to grind all military movement to a halt.

The advent of the angels were meant to end the war once and for all in favor of the Holy Empire. A creature from the heroic times at the genesis of creation.

Thought to be lost, a fiction of ancient history, now made real again within the crucible of war.

It was the Holy Empire that solely awakened an angel again.

Air superiority. Ultimate escalation.

This, the high priests declared, would end the war.

Evelyn. Eve. She was the first of these horrors. She was the girl whose eyes were now mine.

But… the Angels unleashed catastrophe. Their apocalyptic power shattered ancient seals, summoning the grey fog.

The fog was a deathly thing that defied reason. It gnawed, killed, encroached.

With every angelic victory, more territory was surrendered to the fog. A waxing and waning sea of hell.

Was the fog God’s punishment for our sins? Or something else?

There was another problem with the angels.

Controlling the Angels demanded monstrous cruelty: brutal brainwashing, dominance, and careful drugging to maintain a sliver of compliant mind.

Even then, they were unstable. Prone to frenzies destroying friend and foe alike.

If they strayed too far from their handler, control shattered.

This limit on range as so far prevented the angels from simply destroying the major cities held by the enemies of the Holy Empire.

If they were severely wounded, they would go berserk.

A berserk angel was more like a demon, mind-broken with glee for destruction.

Thus, the Holy Empire used their angels strategically. Deliberately manifesting the fog for area denial, or for the annihilation of enemy heroes.

The other nations adapted. The war became an endless, vast meat grinder.

A miasma of death was taking its toll on the world…

The carriage stopped near a command post, some distance from the shrieking chaos of the front lines.

The holy father unchained the girl with practiced efficiency and led her out of the carriage.

A military officer staggered toward him, eyes raw and bloodshot with exhaustion.

『Holy Father!』

『We need her NOW!』 the officer barked, voice frayed. 『An enemy hero is breaking through! He wields an unknown relic spear! He, and that weapon, MUST be destroyed!』

『…』

『Oh… my…』

The officer’s bravado faltered as he truly saw the girl.

『This is the first time I’ve seen an angel up close. She’s so young… and cute! But… dear God, those eyes…』

The girl stood unnaturally still, silent. Her expressionless face and milky white eyes were haunting.

『Make no mistake…』 the Holy Father’s voice was gravel. 『She… is a weapon older than this war. Her vessel is a child’s, nothing more.』

『Ah…』

The officer swallowed hard.

『Is she… ready? 』

The Holy Father met his gaze, his own devoid of warmth.

『I will prepare her.』

Without hesitation, he struck the girl brutally across the face with an iron rod.

Crack.

『…』

She absorbed the blow like stone. No flinch. No sound.

『You hurt her!』

The officer gasped, recoiling.

『Why?』

『It is necessary.』

A bloody wound flowed near Eve’s cheekbone, and then healed with effervescent light.

The cleric removed the final, grotesquely ancient bindings.

He placed into her hands a fully silver rifle, elegant engravings swirling down its barrel, humming with holy might.

He fixed a golden circlet around her head, embedding a rare magical communication device within her ear.

Her halo.

Finally, he pressed a small crimson pill between her lips.

A war drug.

『Awaken, my child. Spread your wings…』

As the pill dissolved, Eve’s eyes snapped wide, pupils dilating. The corners of her mouth curled into a smile.

Wings of searing light erupted from her back.

She crouched, bare feet clawing the soil, hands clutching her gleaming rifle, her knuckles white with her firm grip.

『… and fly.』

The angel Eve flew straight up at a frightening speed, arcing in flight toward the battle field, leaving behind a trail of fading light.

From above it all, she could see everything with perfect vision. The endless trenches. Tens of thousands of seemingly tiny soldiers engaged in defense and attack. Smiling with a manic glee she flew through the sky at tremendous speed.

I could feel her heart pounding with anticipation.

The commander’s voice crackled in her ear:

『20 degrees north-west. Second trench line. Target: enemy hero. Golden hair. Unknown artifact spear.』

Eve’s eyes glowed, locking onto the emanations of the hero’s blazing aura.

『Confirmed. Sighted enemy. Engaging.』

『May the Almighty guide you.』

『Aahahahaha!』

Eve laughed manically. She aimed, holy energy coalescing at the rifle’s tip, then screamed towards the golden-haired figure.

Was I about to watch our hero die?

Panic seized me.

No!!!

I screamed into the dream and through Eve’s mind.

Just before impact, the hero jerked. His head snapping up, eyes locking onto Eve’s position. He snapped his fingers. My warning had reached him.

『Direct hit! Hold for confirmation of target elimination.』

Eve hovered, trembling with bloodlust. Slaying was her only joy.

『…!』

The dust faded.

The hero stood unharmed within a dome of crackling light energy. The ground around him was vaporized, littered with dozens of his men. Now charred remains. He glared up at Eve, a deranged smile twisting his features, killing intent radiating like heat.

『Target NOT eliminated! Repeat! Target NOT eliminated!』

The commander’s voice cracked.

The surprise attack had failed.

I had stolen her victory.

… wait! What’s that?

A tiny beam of light lanced through the air and clipped Eve at her legs, chewing through her flesh down to her bones.

Then, a fraction of a moment later, a second beam hit Eve acrost her face.

The magic communication device exploded.

Eve’s halo shattered and fell.

『AUGGHHH!!!』

Eve screamed.

Agony, pure and white-hot, ripped through her and echoed into my own nerves.

She writhed violently in the air, disoriented, deafened.

The commander’s frantic call to disengage was unheard.

I saw the hero, holding a spear of malevolent power. Made from a shard of the Spear of Longinus and preparing to strike Eve again.

The Spear of Longinus was shattered long ago in the age of genesis. A precious God killing weapon so powerful even its lost shards could threaten an angel.

MOVE! NOW! I screamed at Eve from within the dream.

Eve twisted violently upward just as another beam, aimed at her heart, scorched her legs again.

Eve clenched her teeth and flew as fast as she could.

AGAIN! I commanded. MOVE!

Eve again strafed to avoid the beams of scorching sunlight.

『GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!』

She heard me.

『YOU RUINED IT!!!』

She blamed me for her failure and wounds.

『HERETIC!!!』

I could feel her pure hatred.

『I’LL KILL YOU!!!』

Through her pain-maddened eyes, I saw her vision sweep the horizon… lock onto distant, familiar twin peaks… the valley nestled between them…

My home.

Eve’s wounded face contorted into a grin of pure, frenzied malice. She pivoted in the air, wings flaring with agonized light.

『FOUND YOU.』