Chapter 16: The Goddess Of Thunder

As night falls in the city, Grabiel’s words are soon proved to be true. Bea, after a long sleep on the hospital bed, finally comes to.

“… Where am I?” She asks in a pained voice, seemingly still suffering from a terrible headache.

“The hospital,” breathing out a sigh of relief, I answer. “Thank goodness you’re awake again.”

“The hospital? Where exactly?” The princess, however, seems to be more concerned of our current whereabouts than her health.

“Some city in Africa, it seems,” I answer, filling her in with what I know from my conversation with Gabriel. “When you collapsed, I met another Archangel. Thankfully, he doesn’t seem to be wary of us, so he lent a hand and helped bring you to this hospital.”

“Gabriel of the South, right?” It doesn’t take long for Bea to identify her helper. “Since we’re somehow in Africa.”

“Yeah. To be honest, I’m still at a loss for how we ended up here,” I shake my head in confusion. “But it does explain the desert land.”

“If we’re in Africa, though, then consider ourselves lucky. Although Gabriel is known to be having some loose screws in his head, he’s generally friendly and hospitable. If we don’t bother him too much, we can consider ourselves safe and well-treated.” Bea lets out a sigh of relief.

“… I’ll take your word for it, Bea, but it’s still better to be careful,” I respond. “Oh, and by the way…”

“Artie, dude! Sorry I had to leave for a moment. There are some… troublesome things I needed to do,” A voice interrupts our conversation, as its source kicks the door open like a stampeding elephant. “How’s the lady doing?”

“Ar-” I lightly hit my elbow on Bea as a signal before she could finish her question and whisper:

“Just go with it. I’m using a fake name.”

“She’s mostly fine now, thanks to the kind treatment,” I let out a smile as I turn to the anticipating angel, “but may I ask what sort of problems are you dealing with?”

“Just some stray rebels,” the angel doesn’t hesitate for a second when giving his answer, “they’ve been appearing lately, just stealing some valuables and then escaping to who knows where. We’ve been dealing with them, but can never get to the ringleader.”

“But enough about that,” with a wave of his hand, Gabriel quickly changes the subject in his attempt to lighten up the mood, “now that the lady has recovered, how about I finally show you guys around the city?”

“I’ll be glad to take on the offer.” Bea answers before I could, which is reassuring for me. She seems to be going along just fine from the little information she was given.

The view in the day was already too dazzling for its own good, but nighttime is when this city truly shows its glamor. With every house and towering skyscraper lit up the giant river flowing through the middle like a silver stream in the gleaming night, and people still going about indulging in all sorts of different activities, one might have to ask if night had truly fallen in this rich, bustling land. Waving around in an attempt to show us every attraction he could think of, Gabriel introduces with a smile on his face:

“Welcome to my prosperous capital, Cairo of Egypt, or as I like to call it, Gabriland. Situated just below the Sahara Desert, this place was down in the dumps ever since… well, ever. So, when I took over, I made some improvements, and look at it now! Bet you can’t find any place better than this, Artie.”

“I must say, you’ve really outdone yourself, Gabriel.” I can’t help but let out a smile before this beautiful scenery in return. “This city is brimming with life. Of all the places I’ve traveled to with my Lady, I can’t think of any other place as stunning as this.”

“See? Told you…”

“Look over there!” Bea’s sudden gesture towards a dark alley interrupts our conversation. Too used to the dazzling light, it takes a few more seconds than normal for me to realize the man in the direction of Bea’s finger as she makes her way towards him. He’s rather well-dressed with a black suit and a matching top hat, but without any other flamboyant jewelry or fancy accessories, he’s certainly not standing out in this kingdom of light, although his drooping face and dragging steps would say otherwise.

“Sir, are you okay?” Bea asks as she approaches the man. However, before he can give an answer, Gabriel has already appeared before him with a heavy pouch – its rattling sounds tells me that there’s no less than an abundance of gold coins in that thing.

“There’s no reason for you to dress so poorly. Here, take this and get something nice to wear.” The Archangel gives the bag to the man and says.

With an indescribable sense of happiness in his face, the man quickly bursts into tears and bows down:

“Thank you, Lord Gabriel! I can finally feed my family now! I’m forever grateful for your generosity!”

And just as quickly as he appeared, the man leaves the scene with his feet off the ground. Gabriel walks back towards me and, seeing the confusion on my face, explains:

“Poor guy. He’s a local beggar. He always loses money somehow, so I end up giving him most of the time.”

“Local beggar?” His claim sends me, as well as Bea, into utter shock. “That man wears better than most of us in England!”

“Of course,” with a smile on his face, Gabriel answers. “Because this land is a perfect place for pleasure and entertainment. For everyone to lose their worries for the rest of their days. The paradise for all humans on earth.”

“Isn’t that right, everyone?” With a sudden shout, Gabriel flies off towards the sky, and, like a perfectly scripted signal, every light in the city is aimed at him at the same time, making a flashy show in the middle of the streets. With the spotlight on him, the angel then grabs onto his bag and throws all of its content to the ground, revealing all of them to be even more gold coins of immense value, making it raining money onto the screams of joy from the people below.

“All hail Lord Gabriel! All hail Lord Gabriel!” The people chant in unison before their benevolent lord. Everyone, from young to old, all having ecstasy on their faces as they pick up the scattered gold on the road. However, amidst the crowd of overjoyed citizens, a sudden chill goes down my spine, causing me to instinctively turn around. Is someone watching us? I can’t tell with all this crowd going on. Enemies? Allies? And this weird odor I’m detecting…

“Hey, Gabriel, do you smell that?” I ask with the loudest voice that I can.

“What? I can’t hear you!” Right beside me, the angel shouts out as well.

“The smell, Gabriel! It smells like metal!”

“What? Smell? I only smell people here, dude!”

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“Pay attention! It’s…” I don’t get to finish my answer, as a booming sound of crackling thunder interrupts my words. In this sort of desert city, there’s never any rain here, so there’s only one reason for something like thunder to appear so suddenly like this.

“Balam!” I quickly sound a warning in my mind.

“I can sense them as well, my King!” Within my head, my partner sounds just as urgent as me. “Bael is here! And close!”

Before I could ask anything else, a giant lightning bolt strikes down right in the middle of the crowd of people, terrifying everyone in the scene. People soon turn into a disarray, switching from gleeful singing to panicked screaming in just a second, and immediately afterwards, the air falls into a deafening silence. The crowd has panned out just enough for me to see, and in the middle of them all stand a group of individuals in hoods that I’ve definitely seen before.

The ones to the side draw out their weapons – mostly swords with a mix of other tools that shouldn’t be in a fight, like rakes or shovels – while their leader, the one standing in the center of the formation, has a large book nearly half the size of their body open and floating slightly above their hand.

From within the hood, the individual sounds, and this time I can tell for sure I’ve listened to their voice before. “Come out, Angel! Or I’ll destroy everything here!”

“You again?” While the sudden attack sends both Bea and I to disarray, Gabriel, meanwhile, can still look at the assailant with relative indifference, and then slowly shakes his head, lets out a sigh and gestures towards the hooded figure to signal them to go away. “Dude, look, I know it’s been a while since our last scuffle, and I haven’t gotten the chance to give you a proper beating, but do you really have to do it in front of the guests?”

“Ho? And you think I would stop just because you asked nicely? I told you, as long as you’re still around, we’re going to keep fighting.” The individual speaks. From their voice, I could vaguely make out a strong female underneath the mysterious garb. However, what interests me more is Gabriel’s words. Give a proper beating… sparks on her tome… I unconsciously let out a nervous smile as I figure out the one in front of us, speaking up in my head to confirm one more time:

“She’s our target, isn’t she?”

“In the flesh.” Balam agrees with my guess. “However, this situation is, shall we say, less than ideal for us to meet.”

“Tell me about it.” I let out a sigh in response. “The important thing now is to show her that we’re not her enemies. But how do we do it without making Gabriel turn on us, though…”

Contrary to my pondering, the individual outside has already made her first move.

“You die today, Angel! Dystre TordenDire Thunder!”

As the words leave her mouth, the book on her hand then glows a light blue color, revealing a lightning bolt inscription on the cover, and before we know it, a circle with a strange pattern appears from beneath us, with the same lightning bolt shape in the center, and from above, a puff of black cloud appeared, followed by a flash of blue lightning, striking where we stood. While its incredible speed renders me powerless, Gabriel, on the other hand, with a snap of his finger, quickly conjures what looks like a fusion between a harp and a bow and gives it a strum. With one stroke, a large bass sound could be heard from miles away, and to our surprise, a barrier made out of different lines and notes-like objects circles and surrounds, protecting us from the fast-approaching lightning. As the lightning strikes the barrier, the residual electricity from the impact is then carried around by the notes and lines before being quickly led into the ground, completely neutralized to such a state that it didn’t even leave a scratch or sear on the ground itself. However, we don’t have so much of a moment to relax, as, almost in an instance, the blue circle lights up once more, and another lightning bolt of the same manner strikes down yet again. This time, the notes and lines appear to be weakened as they shrivel under the electrifying force, but nonetheless, the barrier remains in one piece after the split-second assault.

“A lightning spell that strikes twice in the same spot?” I exclaim, still feeling my heart pounding in my ribcage after the experience.

“Interesting maneuver,” Balam adds. “Normally, after blocking an attack, there would be a slight delay in a normal person’s reaction. However, by splitting the spell into halves of different intervals, fit into that one small crack, she’s able to create an attack that normally would break any defense. But what surprises me more, though, is the force of her hit.”

“Yeah, I can feel it even when standing inside this cage-like barrier.” I nod in return, only for Balam to partially disagree:

“You might think that an attack like that, albeit powerful, is normal for someone with a cross in their possession, my King. While I can assure you that is true, her attack just now wasn’t her using Bael at all; it was her pure skill and talent.”

The news sends a chill down my spine, but I’m not even sure if it’s fear or excitement that I’m feeling. To channel something that powerful without the need of her Demon at all, exactly how much talent does she possess?

Contrary to my expression, however, the angel still standing next to me lets out a loud yawn and asks in a bored, tired voice:

“Is that all you got? It’s the same stuff every week, dude.”

“Tch! Shut up! Now eat this!” The girl in the hood shouts in anger before unleashing another barrage of thundering strikes. Through the repeated rummaging and flashing from outside the barrier, I can tell that each of her hits is stronger than the one before, and the intervals between her attacks are getting shorter and shorter by the second. Although this means she’s putting more and more power into her assault, this also shows that her patience is slowly reaching its limits. And in a battle of attrition, inexperienced in a battle I might be, I can still tell that she’s not going to emerge victorious. It seems like she also realizes this, as soon enough, her attacks stop completely, while the barrier erected by Gabriel is still standing, unscathed from her countless strikes. However, contrary to our expectations, she’s not giving up just yet.

With her hand held high onto the sky, revealing on her palm is a cross sparking with a light blue energy orb around it, she shouts her final trump card:

“Ultimative Magi: Ragnarok TordenUltimate Magic: Ragnarok Thunder!”

Lightning surges from both the cross on her left hand and the book on her right, before both sources merge together, creating a swirling image like a mini whirlpool. The lightning then morphs itself, taking the shape of a massive raging bull which lets out a roared exactly like a real, living beast, and charges at us at full speed. As its rampage breaks even the ground we’re standing, I can tell it’s not something that this barrier can take. Gabriel might act tough, but the repeated hits from before surely have done a number to his defense. This attack will most likely break the barrier… Then why is he still not showing any signs of worry? Does he have some sort of plan going on? Or does he plan to take advantage of the situation and make us kill each other?

The angel lets out a mysterious smile, and, to our shock, dismantles his protective barrier. However, before we could even react to his seemingly foolish act, he has already taken his step forward, standing between us and the deathly thunder beast. Raising his hand forward, he braces himself from the impact before finally colliding with the massive energy. An explosive sound bursts through the point of impact, ripping apart the surroundings and filling the air with the distinct metallic smell of lightning. The two of us behind Gabriel, despite his attempt to block the attempt, are still blasted away by the residual force, sending us flying onto the other witnesses in the back.

As the smoke clears, however, the result of the attack completely boggles the mind. Gabriel is still standing firm with a smile on his face, completely unharmed by the spell, without so much as a speck of dust on his clothes. Opening and closing his palm, as if to check for any numbness, he lets out a smile:

“Good… but not good enough. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll…”

Before he could finish his words, more hooded figures suddenly emerge from the crowd, each with a shining knife in their hand. Each of them then grabs a person from behind, and, with the knife closing to their victim’s neck, shouts:

“Nobody moves! Or else!”

“Well, well. Looks like the tables have turned.” The girl with the cross sounds, surely smiling underneath her hood.

Gabriel hesitates for a brief moment, before finally raising his hands up in an attempt to surrender. “… What do you want?”

“The two kids behind you. Hand them to me and I’ll let the rest go.”

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