Evil

With Ease

She panted heavily, sword in hand as she flashed a weak smile,"Run Artemis. Run like your life depends on it. I'll hold this bastard back!"

I let out a bitter laugh,"If you don't run. I ain't no coward that will."

"GOD DAMMIT DON'T BE STUBBORN!" She was knocked away violently, slamming into the sea as I faced Xavier once more.

Just then—I remembered: 16.8 million souls.

Perhaps I had a chance. My mind whirred,"25,000 to make a purple. Okay, 25,000 each into speed and defence. 16,025,000 into strength."

17 purple triangles, 1 purple square and moon respectively with a remainder of 725,000,"710K into lives." 8 Purple marks appeared. 15,000 stayed for a rainy day.

17 purple triangles—Not sufficient to fight even a rank 9. But Xavier now was barely qualified to hold the title of rank 9. Hyperion hadn't killed him but it sure as hell weakened him.

"Angel form." In an instant, my body shrunk a little as a pair of pure white wings formed on my back, Xavier's eyes widening,"I-Impossible! I was the last angel...You! Are you a survivor of Jalyskgr?"

"Unfortunately, this is merely a form I can take. Shall we duke it out now to decide who's stronger?"

Who would win, I wondered. Him or us?

"You sure you can do this?" Charlie muttered under her breath to me as we floated side by side, staring at Xavier who had a maddened look of disbelief.

"Not at all. But it never hurts to try."

"It's gonna hurt when we die."

"I doubt it. By any chance, do you have any mana stones?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Lend me some, I'll repay you later."

"Catch." She handed me a storage ring as we split apart, I peeled left whilst she turned right, Xavier chasing after her seeing as she was the larger threat.

Logical. But fighting against me—It was a grave mistake.

I summoned several hundred mana stones to my hand as I absorbed madly, my power surging at blinding speeds as I swiftly broke through to rank 8, my speed and defence rising to 56 each, strength at 62,"Not enough! ABSORB MORE! MORE!" My body was smoking as I saw wisps of heated mana rise, the changes to my physique were to sudden and apparent, it caused the water to start boiling around me.

Xavier obviously caught sight of this, screaming out in acute disbelief,"IMPOSSIBLE! TO BREAK THROUGH LIKE THAT GODS, HAVE YOU FORSAKEN THIS LOYAL FOLLOWER?!" His calm demeanour was broken thoroughly as Charlie rammed him into the skies with a sudden column of
water from below, the skies showing signs of forming a cyclone.

"A MERE HUMAN WISHES TO SLAY ME?! AND YOU! HOW DARE A HUMAN TAKE ON THE HOLY AND SACRED MANTLE OF US ANGELS?! I AM INDIGNANT! YOU ARE SINNERS! SINNERS MUST BE PUNISHED!"

I felt my body reaching another threshold as I swiftly evaded Xavier's unpredictably destructive attacks, a bright sigil on his forehead burning up as his wings flared up in brilliant vermillion flames,"I AM THE HARBINGER OF GOD! I AM HOLY! NO EVIL CAN SLAY ME! NO MAN CAN EVER HOPE TO BRING AN ANGEL TO THEIR KNEES!" He roared with a conviction which shook even me to the core. This sort of willpower wasn't something you just gained randomly.

CRAAAAACK!

Several hundred thousand chains weighed down my body appeared, each one cracking and snapping as I absorbed more and more mana from the stones, my supply dropping down to a hundred million.

"RADIANT SACRIFICE!" My lives dropped like flies as Charlie tried desperately to get his attention back on her,"It's no use! Just keep attacking!" I hollered as one purple mark was depleted entirely, leaving me with 7.

I made another gambit, switching back to human forming and taking a nosedive straight into the inky depths of the sea, the weakened but insane Xavier shooting down at a breakneck pace as the chains numbered less than a thousand now, several tens breaking every second—

An arrogant smirk appeared on my face as I let out a cackle, muffled by the waters.

Crack!

BOOOOOOOOM——!

I felt a tremendous weight lift from my body as I shot upwards—Rank 9! I had attained it!

Looking down, I saw 5 pink marks on all my stats, the inquirer's voice sounding—

[Souls have now been converted to make it easier to display! Somas are now worth 10,000 souls each! Each new mark will require 1 soma! Mortals and rank 1-3 magisters will no longer grant souls or soma and a new perk has been unlocked. For centuries, magisters have been focused on magic to use as ranged projectiles, elemental powers or the quick manipulation of objects! But a new path has been designed for you by my creator: Virago!]

I felt my white hair turn to a darker, silvery-argent shade as my muscles seemed to be denser, more compact with more power behind my body. Most unfortunately was, however, this qualitative change in my physique brought about no change whatsoever to this short height of mine.

Stopping my dead in my tracks, I sent a punch towards Xavier, keen to test out these new powers of mine.

"KAAAAARGUUGGH!" His chest caved in slightly as he was sent flying several hundred metres back, skidding on the water as I closed in the distance again, an upward kick sending him barrelling into the skies, a trail of smoke leading into the skies as my improved eyesight allowed me to catch sight of his burning wings.

A solid block of ice formed underneath my feet as I stomped down on them to give a boost as I shot up, his eyes widened at me, body broken and bleeding.

I licked my lips as I looked over to Charlie,"Catch!" My arms blocked his attacks easily as I grabbing ahold of his wings, freezing them at the stems as my two legs pressed firmly onto his back and with a merciless rip—

"EEEARRRRRRUUUGHHHH!" A screech sounded as the wingless angel Xavier crashed down faster than a meteor, a pair half-burnt wings in my hands. I was breathing heavily as I kept my wings, wincing at my hands which were covered in small blisters. The flames had managed to injure me despite my defence.

Charlie, realising the change in me and seeing the severely injured Xavier barrelling towards her, formed a pillar of water, sending him flying back upwards towards me.

I body slammed Xavier downwards with an exhilarated laugh as she formed a solid block of ice which rammed him back upwards like a sick game of tennis.

With a final strike, my hand plunged deep into Xavier's chest and through the other side, snapping his spine as his heart was appeared my bloody hand.
Yet, through all this, he still managed to stay conscious,"Impossible...No man can kill an angel..."

I let out a light laugh, panting breathlessly as I heard this line,"It really is a clichéd inference," Deciding to grant him one last gift, I explained,"No man can kill an angel. That's probably true. Unfortunately, it seems, Xavier my dear..."

"A woman can do so with ease."