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A RIOT'S BROKEN OUT on the streets of New York City, and I'm one of four Archangels sent to quell it. Dark entities are drawn to rage and unrest. The riot will surely become a beacon for demons, and we must purge them before more chaos is seeded.
The Archangels are surprisingly cliquish. Michael rarely goes anywhere without Uriel, Raphael and Gabriel, while Raguel and Ariel are practically inseparable. My usual “crew,” for lack of a better term, consists of Jophiel, Haniel, and Sandalphon. Jophiel and Haniel are more than capable of holding their own, in fact, the three of us are some of the highest ranking Archangels in terms of skill. However, I do worry about Sandalphon in situations like these. He's a decent fighter, but he has such an innocent face. I hate to see it seared by a shadowling's claws.
Cops in riot gear are staring down a horde of unruly civilians. So far, I don't see any sign of demonic activity, but that should change soon enough. As we wait for the enemy to appear, the others chat amongst themselves. I'm not much for small talk, so I'm rarely one to start a conversation.
Haniel's brought two of her most promising recruits to today's battle: Taishi Nakamura and Kaylene Bertonneau. Kaylene is Amber's daughter, and I believe she's only a few dozen missions away from attaining Archangel status. I don't know much about Taishi, but I know there was once some tension between Jophiel and him. Fortunately, they seem to be getting along.
Jophiel asks Taishi, “So, how are you and Leigh? Is your relationship still going strong? Is she still madly in love with you?”
Taishi, not unlike me, seems to be a quiet, private person. He answers with a sigh, “I don't know if I want to discuss that with you.”
“Uh oh! Does that mean there's trouble in paradise?” Jophiel asks.
“No,” Taishi says. “It means I don't want to discuss my relationship with Leigh's ex-boyfriend.”
“Fair enough. I'll just assume everything is hunky-dory between you. If it wasn't, you'd be sulking more than usual.” Thrusting a thumb at me, Jophiel adds, “If Leigh ever left you, you'd look even moodier than Azrael.”
I respond to Jophiel's insult with a cold, hard stare.
“See? Doesn't he look sulky?” Turning to Haniel, Jophiel asks, “And how are you and Chris Pho? I miss him, you know.”
“Everything's perfect.” Haniel lowers her voice, but I can still hear every word she says. “But... the other day, he told me he loved me. Don't you think it's too soon for that?”
Jophiel says, “Not at all! I tell Anna I love her all the time, and we've been together as long as you and Chris.”
My head shakes as I listen to their asinine chatter. It seems a bit silly to discuss one's love life in the middle of a riot. Jophiel tends to annoy me—probably because we're so different. Looking at Taishi's sour expression, I would guess he feels the same way.
“You guys are making me sad,” Sandalphon whimpers.
Simultaneously, Jophiel and Haniel ask, “Why?”
“Because I don't have a girlfriend,” Sandalphon whines. “Nobody likes Archangel Sandalphon. I don't even have proper fans like you do. I'm the least liked Archangel of all, I swear.”
“Well, I can't really argue with that.” Jophiel's remark earns him a punch on the arm from Haniel. “What? I'm just being honest with the boy.”
“No. You're being rude,” Haniel insists. “Sandalphon... why don't you ask out Kaylene? I think you'd be a good match.”
Sandalphon studies Kaylene, and after a few seconds, he shakes his head. “No. I don't think she'd like me.”
I make an obvious grunting noise. I hoped they would realize I'm tired of their chitchat, but the nonsense continues. In fact, it gets worse.
Jophiel asks, “What happened to your pretty Helper girl, Azrael? Have you made a move on her yet?”
“No. Nor do I intend to.” I hope that answer satisfies him, because I've been trying to get Lucy off my mind.
“Well, you should. She was stunning, as I recall.”
The conversation tapers off as the riot turns a lot more violent. Men in black hoodies uproot a road sign and hurl it at the cops. A flying bottle shatters on an officer's shield. Some arrests are made, and the cops start fighting back with their batons. Crowbars crash into a cop car's windshield, and sure enough, we see our first demons rising from the ground.
Jophiel rips his flaming sword from its sheath and says, too arrogantly for my taste, “I'll handle the first ones, if you don't mind.” I guess his recent trial didn't teach him any humility.
As Jophiel banishes the first two demons, hundreds more start to rise and descend on the humans. A long-legged spider entity attaches itself to one of the cops. With a flick of my hand, I extract it, then drive my sword through its body.
We're quickly overrun, but it's nothing we can't handle. More than once, I've taken on entire hordes without any partner at my side. I charge into a throng of hissing shadows, swinging my sword as I run. These entities can't withstand even a single touch from my blade. The slightest brush turns their smoky bodies to dust.
I occasionally check on Sandalphon, because he always ends up with an injury or two. He seems to have teamed up with Taishi, oddly enough. Sandalphon paralyzes the demons, and Taishi runs them through. Jophiel and Kaylene seem to be working together too. They're standing back-to-back, making it impossible for any entities to approach from behind. For Archangel recruits, Kaylene and Taishi can unleash some impressive shock waves from their blades.
I whirl my sword, decimating several demons approaching my flank. Behind me, I hear a scream from Archangel Haniel. While she was attempting to extract a demon from one of the humans, a scorpion shadowling fired toxic black barbs into her back. I can smell her flesh burning as I race over to her and skewer the demon that attacked her.
“I'm alright,” croaks a grimacing Haniel. “At least... I will be soon enough.”
There's chaos in every direction, from both the rioters and the entities. It's been less than three minutes since the demons arrived, and I've already lost count of how many I've vanquished. When I glance at Sandalphon again, I'm surprised to discover it's actually Taishi who suffered an injury. His arm and shoulder have been blackened by a shadowling's bite. He's not quite an Archangel yet, so it will take him a bit longer to heal. I can only imagine how much pain he's in—but his face doesn't show it. I've got to admire him for that.
In the middle of the fight, I catch myself thinking about Lucy Alvarez. I wonder where she is, what she's doing, who she's with. This is the most inconvenient time to succumb to my even-more-inconvenient infatuation with her. I can't let her walk out of my life, can I? Am I really going to be that stupid?
I slay about a hundred demons on my own, and when the battle's over, Haniel's healed but Taishi hasn't. The rioters seem to have calmed down a bit as well, so we declare the mission a success.
As soon as we warp back Home, a squealing girl rushes over to Taishi and cries, “Oh my god! Are you okay?”
“I'm fine, Leigh-chan, it's... it's not as bad as it looks.”
He's lying. Smoke is still seeping from his charred arm. It will probably take him an hour or two to heal a wound like that, and he'll be in excruciating pain the entire time.
The girl named Leigh asks, “Is this what every day will be like when you're an Archangel? Am I going to be worried about you all the time?”
“Not every day,” Taishi corrects her. “Just... sometimes.”
He should be honest with the girl. Daily encounters with demons are part of the job.
Jophiel claps a hand on my back and asks, “How many did you get? Did I outperform the Angel of Death today?”
Coolly, I reply, “If you had time to count them, you didn't outperform me.”
“Cocky as ever,” Jophiel says. “But... I suppose you've earned the right to be a bit cocky, eh? The same could be said about me. We're both incurably overconfident.”
Jophiel says he needs to get back to Anna and dismisses himself. Sandalphon, whose nose got burnt during the fight, saunters away with slumping shoulders. I'm sure he won't be disfigured for too long, but it does look terrible. Only Jophiel, Kaylene and I made it through the battle without a scratch or burn. I'm not very familiar with the young lady, but she seems impressive.
Inevitably, Lucy is back on my mind. Like Sandalphon, I have no significant other to greet me after the fight.
I almost wish I did.