The nightmare and the angel stared at each other
Above, the angel floated in perfect stillness
Its white dress drifted like flowing clouds, untouched by wind
On the other hand, the nightmare was looking up at the angel, such abomination, crazy creature, crawled with grotesque body
Its wings moved with slow, graceful rhythm, each flap scattering feathers of light across the battlefield
Below, the nightmare crawled against the dirt
Its grotesque body dragged itself forward through the mud, countless arms scraping and twisting beneath it
The kept their gaze on each other while Auel and Rikka just froze looking at them
Suddenly a scream tore through the battlefield
Auel snapped toward Erin
She collapsed onto her knees, her entire body convulsing violently
Her scream was raw, animalistic
Not the cry of someone wounded, but of someone being torn apart from inside
Her back arched unnaturally
Her fingers clawed into her own flesh hard enough to draw blood
Auel slowly crawled closer to her while his hand covered his own wound
"Erin…"
"Aghhh—AAAHHHHH!"
She slammed against the ground, writhing
Every muscle in her body spasmed uncontrollably
It looked as if invisible hands were pulling her apart from every direction
Auel stumbled toward her, clutching his own wounds
Her body shook so violently her teeth rattled
Her breathing came in broken, desperate gasps
Auel grabbed her shoulders, horrified
Her body was being scorched by divinity itself
Suddenly
The angel moved, it plucked a falling feather, closing both hands around it and brought them before its chest in silent prayer
Light gathered around her fingers, slowly glowed brighter and brighter
Across from the angel, the nightmare tore its own arm to create multiple blade
The nightmare started the attack first, it lunged forward
Its grotesque body surged across the ground with violent speed
The angel remained still, calm
The light around her hands intensified
Until it slowly opened its hands, the feather hovered in the air
The light slowly formed something, a weapon
The feather cracked and the light manifested into a hammer
Its body was forged from radiant platinum, lined with flowing veins of gold that pulsed like living scripture
The angel held the hammer with its right hand and smashed the nightmare directly on the face
BAM!
The impact shattered the earth beneath them
The creature's entire body was launched backward, but it regained its stance and strike back
BAM!
Before it could strike another swing came right on its face once again
The nightmare was thrown far away
With a single flap of the wing, the angel rushed forward, an insane speed
Hammer strike once more, an upward swung
The creature twisted and countered with a flurry of bone blades
The angel tilted slightly, elegant, effortless
BAM!
Another hammer descended again
The nightmare's body folded under the blow
Rikka kept looking at the angel beating the nightmare, until he snapped back to reality
He looked at Erin screaming in agony on the ground
Her voice was weaker now, but somehow more horrifying
Like her throat was being shredded from the inside
Auel desperately tried to steady her
"Hey Erin, stop the magic, quick"
No response, only trembling
Rikka retrieved his blade on the ground and limped closer
"Hey, Auel, what the hell is that thing, is that also a nightmare, and what the hell happen with Erin" Rikka said
"I don't know, but one thing for sure, that angel must be called by Erin and made her like this"
The nightmare pushed its body from the ground
It circled the angel, low to the ground like a predator
The angel launched another swing
But the nightmare dodged it and kept on circling the angel
Then suddenly it lunged upward
Its arms caught the angel's dress, climbed its body in frantic, unnatural motions
Bone blades descended again and again
Stabbing, ripping, piercing
Yet the angel didn't react, not a single blood dropped, not a single expression changed
Then the angel looked up and hummed a melody
A soft, almost mournful
Then the heavens answered, a shrill cry descended from the sky, a high-pitch cry
A pillar of radiant light crashed down from the sky, strike both the angel and the nightmare
The angel was fine, but not with the nightmare
The nightmare shrieked, its body ignited
White flames devoured its flesh
The nightmare fell on the ground while the angel slowly drifted backward
The angel released its hammer and slowly its floating beside the angel
Then it picked up another feather and clasped its hands in front of the chest
The nightmare's body convulsed, then its head dropped on the ground
Slowly crack created on the nightmare flesh, longer and longer
Then it ripped in half, showing a new body inside, slowly emerged, crawled from within
But this time, it was not the same pale
The new body fully covered in red veins, pulsed beneath its skin
Jagged bones protruded across its body like malformed armor
The front most body ripped in half grew a new body
Then it picked the head on the ground and reattached it with the body
Its head slowly changed, the skin was wrinkled
Its eyes bulged as if they wanted to pop out
Its grin widened impossibly far, but this time its mouth covered with sharp teeth even growing outside the mouth
Then the nightmare looked up and opened its mouth
Its hand reached into its mouth
Slowly the nightmare pulled its spine out, vertebra by vertebra, a grotesque whip of sharpened bone
On the other hand, light grew brighter around the angel arms and the angel slowly opened its hands
The feather cracked and the light manifested into a spear
A spear of platinum and gold
A crimson ribbon flowed from its shaft like liquid dusk
The angel gently took the spear with its left hand, and then took the floating hammer with its right hand
They rushed at the same time
The hammer crashed upward toward the nightmare's jaw
The nightmare twisted and lashed its spine-whip
Gabriel raised her spear to block, but the whip coiled the spear
The nightmare yanked hard and strike with the other hand
From its hand a sharp bone grew and pierced the angel right on the chest
Yet her expression never changed
She raised the hammer and brought it down
But the nightmare tore its hand used to stab the angel and dodged the attack
On the other side of the battlefield, Erin's screams became worse
Her body thrashed so violently Auel and Rikka could barely hold her down
Her eyes had rolled completely white
Foam gathered at the corners of her mouth
Her jaw trembled as if every bone in her body was trying to break itself apart
"Hey, are there anything that could stop her from shaking?" Rikka shouted
"I don't know"
Then Auel looked at the nightmare and the angel fight on the other side of the battle field
"Let's get her inside the forest first" Auel said
"Inside the forest, but we are trapped here, right?"
"Yeah, I know about that. But we don't know who will win between those creatures, even if the angel could win, we don't know if it is on our side"
"We could hide inside while thinking the way out"
Rikka nodded and they both carried Erin's body inside the forest, deeper into the trees
Those creatures kept fighting, the battle intensified
A whip strike right on the chest, but the angel immediately cut the hand before the attack could hit
The nightmare hand severed, but then a new hand burst forth, grabbed the severed limb in the air and strike with the whip
The whip wrapped around the angel's spear
It pulled the angel and opened its jaw
Rows of jagged teeth split wider and wider
BAM!
The hammer shattered its face
The spear rose, stabbed the nightmare body, and then cut it in half
But then from the cut, multiple hands grew
Hands over hands, again and again, dozens, then hundreds
They searched each other body and then grabbed each other, linking
They pulled the body closer and trying to closed the gap
The angel then thrust its spear right in the face before it could regenerate its body
But the nightmare raised its head and opened its mouth
A mass of hands grew from the mouth, blocking the strike
The nightmare body now fully healed and the hands inside the mouth gripped the spear, pulled, trying to drag it into its mouth
Then the angel flapped its own wings, feathers rained down
Slowly light gathered around these feathers
The feathers cracked and they created little light swords around the angel
These light swords then descended all at once
The nightmare grew a big bone on the other arm and strike the angel right on the face
But then
Stab! Stab! Stab
The light swords stabbed the nightmare hands on the ground, making it unable to move
The angel rose its hammer
BAM! BAM! BAM!
The earth ruptured beneath the impacts
The angel kept hitting it with its hammer, then slowly it raised the spear
Light shined around the spear, then instantly drove it right on the nightmare face
The nightmare screamed and grew multiple hands from its mouth again, trying to blocked the spear
But it's no use the spear cut those hands and stabbed the nightmare right on the face
The nightmare stopped moving, its body turned grey and cracked all over its body
Then it crumbled into ash
Then the wind gust gently and bring the nightmare body with it
The nightmare was defeated
She hovered silently above the ruined battlefield, slowly released its weapon
They cracked and dissolved back into light
Then the angel clasped its hand in front of its chest
Its body slowly rose higher and turned back into light, straight back to heaven
The angel vanished
Deep in the forest, Erin suddenly stopped screaming
Rikka froze
"H-hey, she stopped screaming" Rikka said
They gently lowered her to the ground
Her body still trembled, her lips quivered, her eyes were pale and unfocused
The they noticed the shadows were moving again
Auel and Rikka looked up at the sky, the sky was moving again
Night to daylight, daylight into night, again and again
"Oh, come on, what again?" Rikka said
But this time the sky moved not as long as what happened last time, it stopped at the afternoon, almost dusk
"W-wait, did, we back in time, did the angel beat that creature?" Rikka whispered
"I don't know"
Then Auel checked on Erin, he checked her pulse
She still alive
"What is this strange mark?" Rikka said while looking at Erin body covered with it
Auel's expression darkened
"I don't really know, but if I could guess, it's a god magic?"
"G-God magic? What? So, Erin is a god?"
"No… or I don't know, but basically that angel is summoned trough this magic, and from what I know God magic is really dangerous because it could kill the caster"
"What!"
"Calm down, let's search for help, we can still help her"
"There is no need for help, she is fine"
Auel and Rikka instantly froze
The air became cold in instant
They couldn't hear a single step at all, their danger sense couldn't sense anything
There was someone right behind them with a familiar voice, yet they could sense him at all
Auel's instinct screamed
What? … how? I didn't sense anything at all. Even Rikka didn't sense anything?
"I thought the only person knew about god magic was that girl, but I think I was wrong, you know quite a lot about this magic too"
The slowly turned their head
Right behind them Sihr stood still and wore a wide grin