Black blood and shattered crystal fragments littered the ground. The battlefield was a nightmare—screams echoing, steel clashing, bodies falling. Yet the demons weren't stopping. They surged forward relentlessly, wave after wave, their numbers growing by the second.
The angels, bloodied but defiant, stood their ground. Their eyes occasionally flicked to the top of the Black Mountain, where two silent figures—Orange and Green—watched the carnage unfold like spectators at a show.
Aanya gritted her teeth, breathing heavily, her wings soaked in demon blood. "Their numbers… they're increasing," she said, voice sharp with urgency. "We can't hold them off much longer."
Ronan, hidden behind a barrier of rock, was trembling. Sweat poured down his face as his hands moved in frantic gestures. His thousand crystal clones flickered and cracked under the strain.
"I… I can't control this many much longer," he whispered, almost to himself.
But still—they fought. Every angel on the field stood tall, refusing to break. Not yet.
On the mountain, Orange let out a bored yawn. "Tch… this is getting dull," he muttered, eyes narrowing. "Why don't we… raise the difficulty a little?"
Green turned slightly toward him, amused. "Oh? What are you planning?"
Orange's voice dropped into a rough growl, full of twisted joy.
"Why not make it rain orange?"
He raised his hand high above his head. His fingers stretched wide as his aura expanded into the sky.
"Orange Rain."
The clouds above darkened in an instant. The sky turned pitch black, swallowing the last rays of light. The battlefield fell into an eerie silence.
The angels looked up, confused and tense. Then… they saw it.
Thousands—no, tens of thousands—of stones began to fall from the sky like a meteor storm. Halfway down, as friction took over, they caught fire.
The night sky exploded into a blazing orange inferno.
Flames reflected in the wide, terrified eyes of the warriors below. The ground shook as the first stones struck—fire and force ripping the battlefield apart.
The sky itself seemed to burn.
Haruki raced through the forest like a golden blur. Trees bent under the force of the wind he left behind, birds scattered, and even the forest itself couldn't witness who had just passed. All that remained was a golden streak of light.
As he dashed forward, he murmured to himself, "Please… just hold on a little longer, girls."
With those words, his speed surged even more.
---
Meanwhile, deeper within the forest, Eran and a squad of soldiers moved cautiously toward the location Haruki had pointed out earlier. The air was thick with tension.
Suddenly, Eran spotted a guava tree. He halted and smiled with childlike joy.
"I'm starving," he said. "One of you, go pluck some fruit from that tree."
One of the soldiers, clearly annoyed, replied bluntly, "Why should we follow your orders? We're only here because Haruki told us to come."
Eran's smile froze. Slowly, his face shifted into disbelief.
"What… what did you just say?" he asked, his voice shaking.
The soldier repeated firmly, "We don't follow anyone's command except the angels and Yakushi. And the angel ordered us to follow Haruki. Not you."
Eran's expression twisted into fury.
"Do you all want to die!?" he shouted.
Then he stopped, took a deep breath, and forced a smile.
"Fine… I'll do it myself."
He walked calmly toward the guava tree. But as soon as his foot brushed the ground near the roots, a faint snap echoed. Thin, nearly invisible strings broke beneath his step.
Eran froze. A shiver crawled up his spine.
Then—whish! whish! whish!—arrows whistled through the air from all directions, descending upon him in a deadly swarm.
He grinned. "Oh, just a little trap."
Drawing his sword, he prepared to block the arrows with ease. But before he could even raise it fully, the ground beneath him rumbled.
A black, hollow cylindrical pillar shot up from the earth, trapping him inside like a cage.
"What the—?!" Eran's eyes widened. "No… this isn't a little trap!"
The pillar was filled with tiny holes, just large enough for arrows to pierce through. Inside, Eran couldn't move. He was pinned, helpless. His sword clattered to the floor.
And then the arrows came.
On the side of the black mountain, chaos unfolded below like a storm of hellfire.
Orange squinted at the sky, unimpressed.
"Huh. I guess I haven't used my power in a while… it's gotten weaker. I was expecting house-sized stones—not pebbles."
Green smirked, his voice laced with mockery.
"Don't flex too hard. You already know who's stronger between us."
Orange chuckled, but nodded seriously.
"Of course… him."
Suddenly, the crystal on Green's forehead began to glow. The burning stones in the sky swelled to ten times their size. The sky darkened completely—no light, no stars—only massive, blazing meteors rushing toward the earth.
Orange's smile vanished.
"Hey, what are you doing? We're not supposed to kill them all. Our mission is just to distract them."
Sora's voice cut through the air, filled with urgency.
"We don't have time for mercy. If we want to survive—we do anything."
---
In the Sky:
Aanya raised her hands, summoning a transparent dome of energy around herself. Her eyes scanned the sky, and she whispered,
"Where are you, Haruki...?"
Ronan clenched her fists and encased Aanya in a protective crystal shell.
On the ground, Torvin and Isara combined their strength to form a glowing green shield around themselves, vines and light pulsing in sync.
Sora gripped her sword tighter. Her speed spiked—blinding. The blade ignited with piercing silver energy.
She let out a shout,
"Let's see what happens next!"
Then vanished into a flurry of motion, slicing through demons like silver lightning.
---
The burning meteors began crashing down.
One struck Aanya's shield—but instead of bouncing, the shield shimmered, and Aanya's body turned semi-transparent. The stones phased through her, slamming into the ground below.
Where they landed, the explosions were devastating. Crystal clones were crushed instantly. From inside the meteors, more demons emerged, crawling and leaping onto the battlefield as the ground itself caught fire.
Sora weaved between them, her speed keeping her alive—but only just. Ronan's crystal shield intercepted some falling stones, but she was already exhausted. Cracks began forming in the crystal barrier.
Torvin and Isara's green shield glowed intensely, absorbing and breaking apart some of the stones mid-air, but even their combined energy was fading.
Each of their shields was reaching the end of its limit. Time was running out.