My first reaction as I suddenly found myself in a battle, especially when I was supposed to be doing an infiltration mission and nothing else, was to curse.
Only in my mind, of course. Because, as the new recruits, we were supposed to have fallen unconscious. I used the opportunity to observe and decide on an action.
The first thing I realized was that the city was not ready for a battle, their citizens attacking slowly but steadily … but neither were the elementals. Their numbers looked impressive, but they came across as a disorganized wave.
A surprising battle for both sides.
Admittedly, it was a good opportunity for me to follow the suggestion that came from the voice. As the chaos raged, I could sneak toward the center of the city and do what the voice asked me to. There was only one problem.
I didn’t trust it.
I was reasonably sure that the voice was the thing that was responsible for my unique brand of the System, but I had long concluded that that didn’t mean I would trust them. Triggering a battle without even asking my opinion to force my hand didn’t make things any better.
What really annoyed me was that it didn’t really matter whether I trusted the voice or not. I needed to act.
Even before seeing the city, I was aware that the Eternals were a dangerous enemy, one that could turn my life into hell if they were aware of my existence. Anonymity had been my greatest weapon. That feeling only intensified when I saw the true base of the Eternals. They had been more passive than even I expected, lost in their own world, happy with all the Divine Spark they collected through the System, and by exchanging with the gods.
If they won the battle, it was inevitable that they would turn more active. If they did, it was very likely that they would discover my presence sooner or later, forcing us to retreat and abandon everything, which would likely include the two planes that were under our control.
One way or another, I had to act.
The guards who were responsible for the recruitment effort were distracted by the battle, making it easy for me to slip out and move deeper into the city. I ignored the tall crystal towers and the beautiful gardens while I searched for a place to hide.
And, focused on my connection with Helga. It was an invasive spell, one that inevitably left a mark on the protective barrier, but the Eternals had bigger things to worry about.
“What’s going on?” Helga asked.
“I need you to test whether the System currently having any problems?” I asked. “Any drop in power, or slowing communication,” I asked?
“No, why?” she answered after a moment.
I gave her a quick summary of the battle. “I wanted to validate what the System had been telling me about it being trapped at the Eternal City,” I said. “But, it’s clearly a lie. The planar border of the material plane is strong enough to interfere with the communication.”
“It’s probably what’s shacking them,” Helga guessed. “They will be free if you destroy them.”
“And, there’s a chance they’ll get free even if the battle goes on long enough. With the planar border in between, there had to be some limitations.”
“True,” Helga answered. “I might discover the real location if that’s true. There has to be some signs.”
“Excellent, you focus on that, and alert me if there’s anything wrong,” I said, giving her the task.
Then, I interrupted the connection. Just in time, a being I didn’t recognize rushed toward me, carrying a sword that was glowing with a dangerous amount of pure air mana. An eternal guard, I recognized even as I faded into the background, gathering enough life energy to counteract the assault.
I paid attention to his armor, which was a work of art, with many different decorations covering its surface. Their operations were a mystery to me, but I could still see that he was a high-ranking one.
However, I was surprised by their daring to use elemental mana even when they were being attacked by the elementals.
Then again, maybe that was why he was assigned to guard duty rather than the front lines.
As he was rushed forward, I waited for an opportunity to ambush him. Which didn’t work, as the moment he arrived, a gentle wind covered every inch of the alley, and he turned toward me. A dangerously competent mage.
And, also a demigod that was stronger than an ordinary avatar, I realized even as he swung his sword, and the whole alley filled with sharp mana blades. If it wasn’t for the corrupted angel’s nice gift, it would have been a fight that would make me struggle.
Instead, I scooped a huge amount of primordial aether — one that was available to be reached in a sub-dimension of the city — turned it into mana, and teleported right behind him.
Punching through the wards was supposed to prevent that.
He was surprised by my achievement, but he reacted quickly, his blades reversing direction. Too bad he wasn’t fast enough to match with my new stats. I punched through his chest, the armor crumbling under my mana-reinforced punch, and used the closeness to invade his body with Tantric mana.
The first thing I noticed was the Divine Spark, an amount that was considerably less than I had expected. From his display that was strong enough to match an Avatar, I expected him to have around a million Divine Sparks, not just barely thirty-thousand.
But, it was arranged in a mysterious pattern, as if it was designed to be channeled only in specific ways. It restricted the flexibility greatly, but there was no doubt about the impact.
[+32,193 Divine Air Spark]
I didn’t purify the result. Even if it was Divine Spark and not actually an elemental spark, it might help me find a way to cure Titania’s ailment.
The moment I killed him, I triggered an explosion by flooding his body with the twilight spark, though I made sure to lean in the darkness aspect to make it look like the unique mixture of the angel I had killed. Then, I went a step further and wore his visage as an illusion.
There was no harm in creating a fake culprit.
I flew away for a while, watching as several Eternals approached from a distance before I dove down to another alley. I had to admit, the acquisition of the Air Spark had been timely, as it allowed me to create several fake elementals around me, which then attacked the ones that chased me.
“Alarm the defensive lines, some elementals have slipped through the defenses,” one of the leaders shouted even as he chopped the fake elementals down without even realizing they were fake ones.
My subterfuge habit once again proved to be useful.
Once I avoided the chase, I moved around until I found a spot that could help me observe the battle and allow me to take the next step.
First, I examined the border of the city. A huge mana shield, one that could rival a planar border, was around the city, keeping the Primordial Aether out, showing that the city could easily function as an artificial plane.
However, just like a plane, it was unable to resist a more focused assault. At several points, the elementals breached the defenses, forcing a melee. A wind of Primordial Aether accompanied their breach, but some kind of defensive spell interfered immediately and shuffled the Primordial Aether into some kind of sub-dimension to slowly break into Aether, then to mana.
They probably had no idea that they gave me near-infinite mana through that method.
A good advantage, one that I could use to my benefit as I slowly moved deeper into the city. With people searching for a rebel angel, I actually had a good chance to escape. A good thing, as, at the edge, I could see several undead avatars appear and attack the elementals. Their presence didn’t surprise me, as, at this point, the alliance between the Eternals and the undead was not a mystery but a fact.
With their presence, I expected the battle to end with the Eternal victory, but there were too many elementals gathering, signaling the battle would still take a while. With the teleportation feature of the city being interfered with the System, I had the ability to walk around without a problem, maybe even raid their Divine Spark warehouses.
Turning the trap into a treasure.
Then, just like that, I had managed to curse myself. Someone appeared in the primordial Aether, attacking the undead from behind.
Someone that I was familiar with. Intensely.
Marianne.
{Strength: 160 Charisma: 160
Precision: 160 Perception: 172
Agility: 160 Manipulation: 170
Speed: 160 Intelligence: 220
Endurance: 231 Wisdom: 192}
{Purified Divine Spark: 725,291}
{Divine Air Spark: 32,193}
{ADDITIONAL SPARKS
Twilight - Chosen 30
Nature - Chosen 10
Knowledge - Chosen 10}
{GODDESSES
Elven Goddess
Goddess of Knowledge
Twilight Archangel
Goddess of the Forge}
