Chapter: 3. Angel Remains
The sound of gunfire gradually faded, and with the last bullet expelled from the chamber, the heavy machine gun emitted a dull “click.” The barrel, steaming with heat, slowly drooped as the ammunition belt lay empty, brass casings scattered all over the ground, rolling about and making a faint clinking sound.
The air still carried the acrid stench of gunpowder, and the smoke hadn’t dissipated, shrouding the night like a thin fog.
“Did we succeed?” A bald head emerged from the smoke, belonging to the man who had just escaped from the bar. He was now standing at the rear of a modified off-road vehicle, gripping tightly onto the mounted heavy machine gun.
“Although many angels can disregard bullets, this one is not among them,” said a tall man beside the bald one in a low voice, his tone rough and lazy, yet sending a bone-chilling chill through the air.
He was the leader of the armed forces to which the bald man belonged, and the ruler of the area.
“If it were the usual Cain, he might not have been so careless; indeed, men struggle against beautiful faces.” The leader smiled coldly: “Two corpses of angels—this is quite a lucrative deal.”
“So, boss, about the reward for the angels…” The bald man seemed overly concerned about the compensation he was to receive for turning in the angels.
Although “angels” often held deadly powers, they were not invincible; with the right preparations, most angels could be killed by bullets just like ordinary people.
And the bodies of angels were hot commodities on the black market, fetching a high price.
“First, dig the bodies out from that pile of rubble, then we can discuss the reward,” the leader said, glaring unpleasantly at the bald man before gesturing to his subordinates behind him.
The sound of boots crunching on gravel grew closer, wave after wave, like wild dogs approaching in the night.
Illuminated by the flames, a group of armed militants slowly entered, clad in tattered tactical vests, their faces mostly covered by cloth, revealing only pairs of cold eyes.
The bald man trailed behind the squad, muttering to himself, “What a pity, that woman was truly a rare gem, and now all that’s left is a pile of flesh—”
Before he could finish his sentence.
The sound of gunfire suddenly sliced through the night sky.
“Bang!”
The forehead of a militant at the front jolted violently as if pulled by an invisible string, his body leaning back and collapsing, the helmet rolling on the ground, blood blooming into a black-red flower in the dust.
The bald man was terrified, instantly wanting to turn and run, but the next moment a bloody rose bloomed on his chest.
“Bang—!” The second and third shots followed closely.
Another fell to the ground, a charred hole blown through his chest, the rifle dropped, unable to even make a sound.
“Ugh! Still alive?” The leader’s expression darkened, waving his hand back, “Fall back to cover!”
The fourth shot, the fifth… each one was like the finger of death, accurately claiming a life.
The soldiers at the front fell one after another, blood seeping quietly into the ground under the night sky.
Inside the bar.
The place was in shambles; the walls, riddled with bullet holes, were unrecognizable, collapsed door panels hanging askew, ready to fall with the slightest touch, while the bar itself was riddled with holes, shards of glass covering the floor.
“What a pity, such good liquor,” Cain sighed, as he expertly took aimed shots at the approaching enemies.
His eyes radiated a blue magical glow, evidently having activated his powers, allowing him to accurately shoot every enemy in this pitch-black environment.
“And thank you, miss, for your timely rescue—” Cain remembered to express his gratitude to Nagi, standing nearby.
At the moment of the attack, massive tentacles that emerged from Nagi’s shadow enveloped the two of them, blocking the torrent of bullets with their scaled, flesh-covered surfaces, leaving them unharmed.
“Are you that popular here?” Nagi asked coldly from the darkness.
She recognized the fallen bald man as the one who had just hit on her. Based on his fleeing reaction, she thought he wouldn’t pose a threat. She hadn’t expected him to return with men to ambush them.
“Maybe I was a bit too naïve just now, revealing the identity of the ‘angel,’ thinking it would scare off the unrelated parties,” Cain shrugged, continuing to fire.
“Angel?”
“That’s what locals call ability users. In these constantly war-torn areas, ability users seem like angels descending from the heavens in fury, hence the name — I guess that’s how the name came about; the people here fear angels.” Cain maintained his usual tone in explaining.
“Are you sure they’re scared of you, the ‘angel of divine wrath’? I think you look more like a ‘Victoria’s Secret model with an angelic face’; they’re coming with a whole gang to take you down.” Influenced by Cain’s nonchalant tone, Nagi couldn’t help but tease.
“I think they’re more interested in my corpse than me; I’m not saying they’re all necrophiles, but for some time now, someone has been collecting the bodies of ability users in the local black market. I guess that’s what they’re after.”
“Bodies of ability users?” Nagi’s surprise was evident.
But before she could inquire further, the heavy machine gun outside started spewing bullets again.
Clearly, the people outside preferred to pulverize the bar and everyone inside with heavy firepower before storming in.
“Miss Honor Student! Can we discuss these academic issues after we’re safe? Can we first think of a way to deal with these necrophile thugs outside?” Cain shouted loudly, retreating beneath the cover of the tentacles to avoid his voice being drowned out by gunfire.
“…I don’t attack ordinary people,” Nagi replied softly after a moment’s hesitation.
Amidst the sound of “rat-a-tat-tat,” her voice seemed to resonate directly within Cain’s mind.
What she was controlling wasn’t a contracted beast, but purely phantasmagorical creatures. If she sent them to attack ordinary individuals, she wouldn’t know what position she would be standing in anymore.
Cain paused momentarily at Nagi’s response.
His eyes seemed to question: Miss, you control these “big guys” but you’re a pacifist? I’d rather believe that the invention of nuclear bombs is solely for frying eggs!
“May I ask, are you referring to those ‘ordinary people’ armed with 12.7mm heavy machine guns, who are turning the whole building into a honeycomb? WTF! RPG!!!”
A rocket propelled grenade sailed through the air, trailing fire towards the devastated bar, exploding with a thunderous roar. Flame tongues shot out from the shattered doors and windows, engulfing half the room.
Amidst the explosion, glass and wooden fragments scattered, dust billowing up.
Under the night sky, the bar was finally blown to pieces, a sea of flames, and the figure hiding within—
“Alright, it seems I can only show off a little in front of the beauty.”
Amidst the thick smoke, Cain’s figure leapt out like a leopard, a torrent of blue electricity coursing through his eyes.
For Cain, the ashes in the air seemed frozen, the night before him slowly unraveling, layers peeling away to reveal outlines of light—blue backgrounds, white lines, as if an architectural blueprint unfolded within his vision, covering the entire street and the surrounding ruins.
Walls, stairways, rebar, trajectories, enemies… even their paths of action, the direction of bullets, and angles of reflection, were all outlined in white dashed lines.
He activated “Holographic Composition”—his ability.
“Bang!”
The first bullet from his pistol pierced through the steel beam behind the enemy’s shoulder at a perfect angle, ricocheting to hit the wrist of the enemy that was about to reload.
“Bang bang bang—!”
He alternated shooting with both hands, maneuvering to dodge as bullets ricocheted along the blueprint in his mind—bouncing off walls, columns, reflecting off a shattered rearview mirror, shooting through the back of the enemy hiding behind cover.
A bullet nearly grazed his cheek, yet it felt as though he had calculated it long ago.
He merely tilted his head an inch to the side to evade, stepping onto a stone to gain leverage and performing an aerial flip, delivering two rounds into the enemy’s chest in quick succession.
An enemy attempting to sneak up on him from behind raised his gun.
Cain seemed to have eyes in the back of his head; without looking back, he flicked his right hand, the dagger striking the steel plate at a minuscule angle and then ricocheting toward a side window—
“Clang!”
The enemy’s throat was slit by the blade, bleeding out and collapsing.
To him, the entire battlefield was but a still canvas, and he was the hand holding the brush.
Former A-Class Ability User of Star Academy—Cain Aldridge.
The leader, the farthest from the bar, could deduce from the commotion ahead what was happening among the smoke.
He instantly turned and ran towards the olive-green Jeep.
Stumbling, he nearly rolled headlong into the driver’s seat, raising his hand to pull out a small silver box from the hidden compartment under the passenger seat, trembling as he opened it.
Inside lay a transparent syringe, half filled with a translucent liquid wrapped around a black thread, looking like a small flicker of flame.
He knew what it was.
A stimulant? A strengthening agent? No.
It was a gift from the angel remains.
Veins bulged on the back of his hand as he gripped the syringe, just about to stab it into his neck—
“Click.”
A boot came crashing down, embedding itself into the joint of his arm.
Severe pain radiated throughout his body, and he screamed, the syringe clattering to the Jeep seat with a crisp “clink.”
“It seems you don’t know me well enough; I prefer men over women,” Cain said mockingly in his usual relaxed tone.
He bent down to pick up the syringe.
Footsteps echoed behind him—light, subtle, yet extraordinarily clear.
Cain hurriedly shoved the syringe into his pocket and smiled as he turned back.
“Oh, of course, I’m not saying you, Miss Honor Student, lack charm, but I think everyone in the world has their own preferences and—”
“—I have nothing to say about your sexuality; I don’t understand it, but I respect it.” Nagi felt slightly speechless at Cain’s loquacious nature.
At that moment, the leader, under Cain’s control, had already forgotten his pain, even his breathing hitching suddenly.
Flames burned behind her, the fierce fire swirling upwards, fragments of ash flying, like countless points of light dancing in the air, and the girl simply walked through the remnants of the battlefield, slowly emerging from the ruins and smoke.
Her features were shrouded in a mixed glow of dark red and deep blue; her outline was beautifully almost unreal, cold and flawless, as if she belonged to a different realm—more like—
“…..an angel,” the leader couldn’t help but murmur.
It seemed he had surrendered all resistance in front of Nagi, his other hand naturally drooping.
At that moment, a small stack of photographs tumbled out of his coat pocket.
Cain, who had just been wearing a smile, immediately retracted it upon catching sight of the photos.
“Why do you have these pictures?” Cain picked up one, featuring a dark-skinned little boy.
“……” The leader didn’t answer, his gaze fixed on Nagi.
“Answer him,” Nagi noted that Cain’s current impatience was not his usual facade.
Something significant was indeed happening.
“……Someone has gathered all the armed forces from nearby combat zones to capture these people. I was originally on my way there when I was stopped, told that there were two angels out here alone…” The leader seemed to feel compelled to comply with Nagi’s request.
Hearing this, Cain immediately pulled out his phone from his pocket, but it seemed there was no connection on the other end.
“Are you protecting the ability users?” Nagi also approached the Jeep, picking up several of the photographs.
At that moment, the voice of the Armageddon Nagi echoed through her earpiece—
[Through satellite scanning, there’s a stronghold dozens of kilometers from you that’s currently engaged in a fierce battle; it appears that the necrophiles are not just these ones in front of us.]
“Lead the way,” Nagi instructed the leader.
However, for the first time, Cain seriously interrupted her.
“No need; I know where it is.” Cain aimed his gun at the leader’s head.
After the gunshot, Cain turned to look at Nagi.
“You said you intended to hire us, so can we discuss paying a portion of the fee now?”
And behind her, a giant bird made of thunder leapt out from the shadows.
