With a sprint, Manya approached the two lackeys, who were struggling, and delivered a powerful kick to punish them for ruining her clothes. Founding the hole in the lobby, she jumped, but got pulled back by another group of angels. "Argh!" The gun that Darsh used against Ira was next to her. With a swift movement, she pulled the trigger. Like Ira, they skilfully avoided it.
Winged creatures filled the entire lobby, their heads adorned with faint halos and their wings sharp, but shorter than Ira's. Few of them carrying swords, chains and spears. The burst of energy that had released her from slow-motion had faded away. Her heart pounded, hands trembled, sweat dripped down her brows. Sight of angel wings shivered down her spine, making her body quiver.
"Manya!!" Ira's scream jolted her heart. Providing a temporary relief to her panic.
A few of them rushed to her, while others were optimistic. They didn't want to deal with a weak human who could barely evade their quick strikes. Her combat training for a year was effective in reducing critical attacks, but she couldn't completely avoid being hit. Surprisingly, her skin remained undamaged even after enduring many blows from angelic weapons. However, it didn't help her avoiding pain. While dodging the attacks, she tripped over a hole. Hole to Ira. Seizing the chance, she leaped into the hole.
***
"Aaaah!" Checking her limbs, she found them only bruised and covered in dirt and debris from the shattered floor. The gap between the hole and the surface measured about ten times her height.
Once she regained her composure, the dim-lighted space brightened up. Trying to understand her surroundings, her eyes met Ira's for a split second before Ira slammed into the wall. "Ira!" Manya hurried over to her friend's side, discovering her exhausted and wounded.
"I didn't want you to see me like this," Ira said.
"Like this?" she pulled her trembling hands forward. "And you know how s-stunning you look right now… with all those wounds. S-sexy natural torn clothes… and don't even get me-e started on your-r alluring sweat and these surreal… wings."
Ira giggled. "I am impressed. You didn't faint."
"I haven't had breakfast!" The angels Manya tried to escape from—chased her into the hole.
"The very reason I am getting beaten up." Ira struck the ground with her palm, causing all the angels present to become trapped in an endless cycle of electric charges. Seeing Manya on the verge of drooling over her skill, she lifted her finger and pushed Manya's chin up.
"How?" Manya said.
"Not magic."
"Teach me! Please."
Ira swallowed a black sphere, about the size of a marble—sooner all her critical wounds diminished into bruises and widened Manya's gaze. Ira smiled. "It's a kind of healing medicine. With a slower rate of healing."
"I-If this was slow… what's fast?"
Darsh released his followers from Ira's trap. "I don't know his true motive, but now I'm sure that ending you isn't at the top of his list," Ira said.
"Or h-he could have killed me b-back at Ms. Pizza."
Ira's eyes grew wide—she carried Manya across the room, revealing a car smashing into the wall. They were in an enormous garage filled with unfamiliar and expensive vehicles and technology.
"Did I ruin your brief reunion?" Darsh said. His hands had turned black, resembled a tight black leather glove, and a few drops of black liquid spilled from his mouth.
Manya examined Darsh's hands. "Will his hands also become poisonous?" The clarity of her words surprised her.
"Also? Have you seen something like this before?" Ira said.
Manya nodded.
The sight of Darsh's wings behaving strangely awoke a sense of déjà vu. Before Manya could convey her thoughts to Ira, she pushed away Ira right before a feather from Darsh's wings brushed past her shoulder. Leaving profound pain and a light scratch behind.
"You are, ok?" Ira's eyes expanded over Manya's unharmed body, despite the powerful attack. "I'll ask you now. What are you?" Ira said. Manya's lips curved into a smile. "And you couldn't defeat them after having such a figure?" Before Manya could clarify anything, she witnessed Ira's wing impale, one of Darsh's henchmen, who approached them from behind.
"Care to explain?"
"It's enough now! I command you! Come," Darsh said. Ira obeyed his orders without hesitation, moving in a trance-like state.
"Ira?" Despite Manya's efforts, Ira couldn't take her eyes off Darsh. She pushed Manya aside and continued her walk. Once again, Manya rushed to intercept her, but Ira evaded her, causing Manya to stumble. "Hey!!" All her further attempts turned to be futile. The surrounding angels savoured the moment.
"Kill her," Darsh ordered Ira.
Why did he call her to give an order? Couldn't he yell from there? Angels.
Manya flinched as Ira glanced at her. Ira's eyes were a bottomless pit of pure hatred. A portion of the ceiling fell on Darsh, transforming Ira's eyes back to the person who cares for her. Ira smiled. "And why would I do that?"
In an instant, Darsh appeared beside them, his black poisonous hand reached out and grabbed Manya's arm—resulted in intense burning pain.
Darsh grabbed Ira's neck. "You are fortunate, mortal. Receiving love from the beings who symbolises it. A blessing your kind could never attain in a lifetime, yet you demolished it."
A silence enveloped her ears. "See, No Dirty." The mysterious man's voice said.
"You are right, I received love." Manya glanced at the poison spreading on her arm. "An emotion rare among your kind." A surge of energy again rushed through her veins, again bringing back an intense rush of power and meditative sound, prompting her heart to race and reminding her to maintain her pace. The agony she was experiencing diminished, so did the poison.
The next second, Darsh trapped both Ira and Manya in slow-motion. And was shocked to see Manya's swift release. The moment she held Ira's arm—the slow-motion effect surrounding Ira burst into a powerful gust of wind, pushing away everyone.
"And you were curious about my wings?" Ira said. They smiled. "I want those glittery eyes of yours."
"Glittery eyes?"
Ira grabbed a rearview mirror of a black semi-truck beside and opened it. Manya's eyes held a mesmerising sight—a golden pattern encircling her pupil, with vines spreading through it like a calculated design, holding the secrets of stars, or perhaps even the universe within, and had a faint glow. "My eyes change colour? My eyes change colour!" Manya said. The impatient angels interrupted her self-staring moment. "Let me." She adjusted the irritating strand of hair behind her ear and lunged to angels.
In a matter of few moments, the floor got covered with feathers and unconscious angels. Forcing them into the state of agony—Manya faced a charging voice, an angel with a white spear approaching her, but before she could defend herself, another spear pierced his neck.
"You need me." Ira said. While her eyes depict the pain of killing her own kind.
"You, ok?"
Ira nodded with a subtle smile. "Let's end this and get out of here."
***
What's wrong with him? Darsh engaged in a fight with Ira, matching the strength of his lackeys. The only difference was the poison that covered his body, devouring anything it touched. Manya took pride in her body, which remained unaffected by such a harmful substance.
Her plan to defeat Darsh by joining Ira was interrupted—white hair with beautiful grey wings burst through the ceiling, partially burned. "I'll end you!" she charged at Manya.
"Like I don't know that!" Seeing white hair carrying a sword, Manya rushed to a half-conscious angel and steal his spear—which turned out to be useful against sword and wings attack, even glowed from time to time. Every time it emitted a glow, it weighed less, and its strength increased. She smirked. Timing the glow with full strength—she pushed the stubborn white hair back. But she withstood it by driving her sword into the ground, wrecking it. Regaining her posture, white hair lunged at Manya with a sword, now emitting white energy, similar to her spear, but permanent.
Manya felt uncertain over the way white hair was moving, as her confidence didn't feel genuine. White hair jumped. Reflexively, Manya spun around and pushed the spear forward. White hair, who was still mid-air, had her abdomen pierced and leaking black blood.
If Manya's spear hadn't been taller, her blood would have stained the sword that stopped inches from her chest. "Size does matter," Manya said. Even if she was an enemy, she regretted causing her so much pain. First, she accidentally burned her, and now she had punctured her.
A scream echoed through the garage. She whipped her head and witnessed Darsh tearing Ira's wings apart. "You aren't worthy of a divine trial," he said. "All you deserve is a death on a planet built to serve us."
"Darsh!" Manya rushed to him, and he started flying towards her. A sudden smirk on Darsh's face made her brows furrowed. A faint, strange sound was approaching her from behind. Slow-motion orb! A grin played on her lips.
Manya closed the gap between her and Darsh, laughing proudly, and used all her strength to jump, avoiding his sharp feathers—and slammed his face into the slow-motion orb beside her, cautiously. Somehow, only his face was affected because of the orb—his body arched while his head remained stuck in the air. White hair screamed in desperation.
"Ouch." Manya seized white hair by the neck. "Gaze of an angel, worst of all! Wait—why didn't you transform like him? Who cares, right?" She held on tight and hurled white hair towards Darsh, who had just escaped the slow-motion. The lightweight of white hair amazed her, wondered about how nutritious their diet would be. Yet, both Darsh and the white hair survived the crash. The impact of her mysterious power was diminishing.
A gentle touch on Manya's shoulder put her in a reflexive state. Her hand grabbed a neck, but stopped a second before throwing Ira towards the ceiling.
"Sorry, sorry!" Manya said.
Ira shook her head. "How are you this strong?"
"How are you, an angel?"
A smile appeared on their faces.
Manya touched her wings. "Teared many, but never felt them." The base of her wings was brushed with shades of blue, while the edges were pristine white, almost glowing in the light. "How did you guys make these?"
"That's a production secret," Ira said.
As the light fell on Ira's wings, a dark blue shade appeared at the edge of each feather. "What's with this dark shade?" Manya said.
"Restraints—"
Manya felt the approach of a presence, who refused to accept defeat. She used all her remaining strength to kick Darsh up to the ceiling. Ira used her wings to shield them from the powerful impact.
Manya looked up at the massive hole in the ceiling, revealing the breathtaking sky. "What's the chance of him coming back?"
"100%," Ira said.
"Wasn't this mansion supposed to be strong?" Manya inspected the destruction. "I've, like, destroyed 3 floors."
A brilliant white aura encircled Ira, and the same phenomenon occurred around all of Darsh's injured minions. "What's this? Are you'll getting an upgrade or something?"
Ira giggled. "It's a signal." She glanced above. "Indicates the arrival of our superiors."
"Who?"
"It could be anyone. We should hurry."
The lackeys, who were just lying on the ground, were now standing in a line, but they weren't attacking them. "Angels aren't as stupid as I thought them to be. Look at them, accepting their weaknesses."
Ira smiled. "I ordered them to stop."
"And they listened?"
"We angels work on hierarchy, and I still got the status far above them."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's run!"
"Meet me outside," Ira said.
Manya's shoulder slumped. "You are not coming?"
Ira hugged her. "I am making sure that we will have an escape plan."
Manya gazed at the futuristic vehicles around and gave a nod.
"Protect her!" Ira ordered the angels.
Here goes another chance to get near MS. At least Ira's safe.