Chapter 113: 063. Angel of Death -3 (Part One)
The holy bullets penetrated right through the death knights. At the same time, the protective barrier made out of demonic energy wrapped around envoy Haima failed to withstand the barrage and shattered to bits as well.
His whole body was instantly turned into Swiss cheese, and the bullets going through him collided with the ground behind, kicking up a thick dust cloud in the process.
Nasus the Lich hurriedly waved its staff around to blow away the dust blocking its view. In the meantime, Haima, now resembling a shredded rag, fell face-first on the ground and stopped moving altogether.
-As expected, you’re a bastard who is a symbol of fear for all Necromancers!
Nasus forced its eyes away from the dead envoy and raised its head up.
The ‘archangel’ was pointing with his twelve muskets again, having already finished preparing for the next wave of attacks.
-A seemingly infinite divinity reserve and the ability to even command death itself…
There was also this strange and unique power capable of even shaking up the values of a deeply-devout Necromancer too!
All of these were truly amazing powers.
However, they were nothing more than some simple deception at the end of the day. Even this calamitous legion of holy undead would be nothing more than a simple trial the great kingdom of Aslan had to go through.
As long as the kingdom managed to defeat this angel-like existence, Aslan too would earn the unshakeable unity among its people, just like how the Theocratic Empire did so back when they killed Amon. This event would serve as a springboard for the kingdom to develop even further in the future.
Nasus looked up at the archangel and raised its voice.
-You have the potential to become a monster that shakes the very foundations of both the Theocratic Empire and the kingdom of Aslan. However, you’re fated to be buried alive here before that happens.
The Lich still had one more ability, an ace up its sleeve that could possibly stop the archangel right here, right now.
Before the boy had a chance to mature even further, he must be stopped dead in this place. He must never be left alone until he becomes a monster so strong that no one would be able to do anything about.
-I shall offer up my own soul as the sacrifice.
Seemingly all demonic energy in the surroundings began rushing to gather into Nasus’s staff. Lifeforce from over one thousand slaves was rapidly sucked in towards the Lich.
The imprisoned slaves started screaming as they began dying one by one.
Nasus’s chest puffed up as if it was sucking in a deep breath.
-I shall seal you in here and let his majesty, the king of Aslan, Rahamma, finish you off personally! That is why, oh archangel…!
The glowing eyeballs within Nasus’s skull burned even fiercer.
-Be sealed in this place and slumber away until your death!
With these words, the Lich slammed down with its staff.
The demonic energy quickly coalesced and entered Nasus. Its skeletal body began floating up in the air and a pitch-black shadow suddenly wound tightly around the undead.
The staff in its hand transformed into a lengthy shaft made out of bones, and a sharp curved blade of a scythe emerged on one end. The cape made out of demonic energy now fully enveloped Nasus as its crimson eyes burned fiercely.
Now wielding an incredible amount of demonic energy, Nasus roared out loudly enough to rock the interior of the huge temple.
-What could be a more apt existence to deal with an angel than this?
Indeed, only an existence that controlled death, something that no living creature could avoid meeting in the end, would serve as the perfect foil.
The grim reaper.
Nasus, now in its reaper form, held a massive scythe and pointed its blade at the archangel.
-Angel, you shall slumber in this place. And when the time comes, prepare yourself to receive the judgement of his majesty, the great and noble Rahamma!
The grim reaper pulled the scythe back and got ready.
-I, Nasus, shall be in charge of your death!
…Then, the creature leapt up. In the blink of an eye, the reaper appeared right in front of the archangel.
Nasus’s eyes reddened as the scythe powerfully swung down.
At that exact moment, the reaper’s scythe clashed noisily against a sword permeating with divinity.
One of the archangel’s wings, or more correctly, the hand sprouting out from his back, was now holding a sword instead of a musket.
Indeed, none of the arms wielded muskets anymore, they instead were now wielding various weapons that included the likes of a sword, spear, mace, and even a shovel.
A dozen weapons simultaneously flew in from almost every angle imaginable towards the reaper.
-Fuu-woo…!
Crimson-coloured breaths escaped from the reaper’s mouth. It quickly swung the scythe, deflecting away all the weapons slashing down at it.
Clack.
Around the same time, a musket was pointed at the reaper, and the loaded projectile was fired at the target.
For a moment there, the holy bullet seemed to be on course to strike the reaper’s figure, only for a thick barrier made out of demonic energy to appear and deflect it away.
-This is meaningless resistance, oh archangel! Quietly accept your fate!
When the reaper extended its hand, a large rune letter suddenly manifested on the ground the archangel was standing on. Hands rose up from the black shadow and began confining his whole body.
However, the archangel continued firing his musket.
The reaper rapidly moved its body to evade, wielded its scythe to defend and used its barrier to deflect the incoming attacks.
As Nasus continued dragging things on and bought more time, the hands permeating with demonic energy kept stealing away the angel’s freedom of movement, eventually pulling the latter down to his knees.
‘It’s now!’
As expected, the boy was still too immature.
If it was now, then Nasus might be able to kill him! Even if that proved to be too much, it’d still be able to seal him away or at least inflict a grievous wound on the boy.
All so that Aslan could kill him at a later date!
The reaper rushed in towards the archangel.
It spat out crimson breaths as it raised up the large scythe above its head.
-I shall return to hell with you, angel! Let us tour the underworld, toge…!
It was right then, steel chains suddenly wrapped tightly around the reaper’s body.
-…?!
Nasus quickly looked behind. The holy knights that had finished dealing with all the death knights were standing there, the eerie glow in their eye sockets firmly locked on the reaper.
They used divinity-infused chains to confine Nasus on the spot.
Then, ghostly banshees took aim with their bows from seemingly every direction eyes could see.
Hundreds of arrows clattered against the thick barrier made out of demonic energy before finally shattering it to bits, then proceeded to stab into the reaper’s body.
-Ku-oooooooh!
Nasus the reaper screamed out as its eyes urgently searched around the area.
The Necromancers that had been fighting alongside it were now laying on the floor as rapidly-cooling corpses. Some had managed to survive, but rather shamefully, they had forsaken their own beliefs and were trying to flee from here.
-You truly short-sighted ones!
Just a little bit more, just a little further, and they might have had a chance to win…!
If they found just a little more courage and fought for the glory of Aslan, then their bravery would’ve been recorded in the history books, but now…!
-You can go to hell by yourself, you bastard.
The reaper turned its head towards the voice.
In that brief moment of distraction, twelve muskets had been summoned, locked and loaded, and were taking aim at Nasus. Divinity was angrily swirling within their muzzles.
This was dangerous. The reaper’s demonic energy barrier had been shattered earlier, so if Nasus got struck by those projectiles head-on…!
-N-no, wait!
The reaper struggled mightily. It tried to retreat. It viciously swung its scythe around to cut down on the chains, but more of them showed up instead and wrapped tightly around the undead’s body, continuously restricting its movement.
It was then – all twelve triggers were pulled, and the bombardment of holy bullets rained down on the reaper.
A series of powerful explosions rocked the air.
While screaming out a bizarre-sounding cry, the reaper crashed back to the ground.
The moment it touched the ground, hundreds, nay thousands of holy undead pounced on the creature. They began biting and hacking away with their weapons.
Hundreds of holy undead formed a writhing, pulsating hill. The reaper, now buried at the bottom of this hill, continued to ungainly flail away.
-Uwaaaaaahk! You bastards!
It couldn’t escape from here no matter what it did. The more it cut down and destroyed, the more holy undead would show up to replace the ones already destroyed.
The reaper turned its head.
The archangel had finally shaken off the hands of demonic energy and began advancing forward again. As he approached the hill with the reaper trapped in it, the hordes of holy undead bowed down and created steps for the angel to walk on.
The archangel continued advancing by stepping onto the backs of his undead and reached where the reaper was.
‘No, this can’t be. It can’t be-!’
Nasus the reaper kept flailing away. It knew it had to get out of here. It knew it mustn’t get captured by this boy.
It needed to escape from this place and report this event to Aslan’s leadership, to the great and noble Rahamma!
Failing to do so would result in the noble Aslan’s… in the entire kingdom’s downfall…!
-You’re definitely going to hell, moron.
The reaper flinched and turned its bony head.
The archangel was staring back at the undead, the glow in his eyes seemingly getting brighter.
One of the twelve ‘wings’ delivered the weapon it wielded to the archangel’s hand. It was a shovel. A simple shovel with a dull-looking edge and a flimsy-looking handle.
But then, the skeletons rushed at it and transformed the weapon into something else.
It turned into a sharp spike that eventually began resembling more like a spear. The lengthy, pointed tip on the weapon’s end seemed sharper and deadlier than any sword out there.
And so, a ‘stake’ fashioned out of bones manifested itself to the world, implanting an incredible sense of terror in the heart of Nasus the reaper.
-Fuu-woo…
Divinity-infused breaths leaked out from below the mountain goat’s skull. The archangel readied the stake before addressing the undead.
-Become a part of me, mister reaper.
Then, he thrust the stake forward.
