Standing outside the dungeon, it seed as though nothing changed in the world. The soft rain falling on the faces of the hunters outside didn’t feel any different to regular water as it carried no flux signature whatsoever, even though they knew it was Uriel the one who triggered the skies to rain endlessly upon the planet. It was a strange phenonon, but one the Dungeon Raiders had seen before.
Nika especially had dedicated quite so ti studying weather patterns since their encounter with a horror level devil in Spain since Luna ntioned that according to lore they were able to ss with the weather and it was a sign of demonic presence. That said, in spites of its power which was nothing to scoff at, the devil had only managed to create a storm that could have wiped an entire city. It was bad, but it couldn’t possibly compare to the magnitude of Uriel’s skill which was on a planet scale.
"This is actually refreshing." dusa ntioned feeling the rain kissing her cheeks.
"You’re just trying to convince yourself it’s not as bad as it is. We’re on an island, rember? The continent must be already destroyed by now." Nika scoffed to which dusa replied in all seriousness.
"Not necessarily, I an, sure, New Texas started flooding right away, but that’s not unusual. It’s happened even before the gacity even existed. Due to the scarcity of rain, cities rarely had the infrastructure to deal with floods."
"She’s correct." Luna agreed and that was enough to settle Nika, but Sam still worried about the shadows coming their way.
"Shouldn’t we get back inside?"
"No, we’re floating above water level. It doesn’t matter how much it rains, we’ll be safe anyway."
"Yes, Luna, your friend is aweso. But the shadows..." Sam attempted to hide his fear, not that it worked with the people who knew him from before he ascended into the holy rank level.
"There are things we need to figure out before." Nika said biting her thumb. In Uriel’s absence she was the one in charge, but making decisions was never her strong suit. She was used to managing personnel and finances, that she could handle. She could even lead others to follow a planned strategy or a directive, but being the one responsible for the decision making was the kind of responsibility she hated the most which was a lot saying from soone who hated all forms of responsibility whatsoever.
The trees rocked to the wind caused by the island of Atlantis swimming across the sea and the wind added a soothing note to the whistling lody of nature. It was pleasant indeed and contrary to the inside of the dungeon did not feel claustrophobic. It wasn’t that the inside of the dungeon was small, it was quite the contrary as it extended far beyond the physical limits of what could be expected to be inside such a small island.
The problem was that only a small portion of the dungeon had been explored and deed safe. Wherever a hunter went inside the dungeon they would be t with the flux signature of another hunter, making the already limited space feel even more crowded. In order to fix the situation, they needed to send hunting parties to explore the dungeon and clear the threats which were usually traps and cryptids, but could also include dangerous flora or even sickness.
It was ti pressing, but not so much as deciding whether to rescue Uriel or let him do whatever it is he intended to do by himself.
"Uriel has always been there for us..." Nika said.
"Through thick and thin." dusa added.
"But this is strange, why do I feel there’s sothing he’s not telling us? I an, he’s not suicidal, is he?"
"No," dusa shook her head and continued speaking at the sa ti Luna’s hand grabbed Nika’s to comfort her. "he always seems angry when fighting, but he’s actually cold headed and calculative. He seems arrogant, but he’s the most concerned about manners and politeness of all of us. You may see him as suicidal, but there’s no way to know what’s going in his head."
"I beg to differ." A voice ca from the sky, the only place where no one even bothered to look.
"You’re gonna keep begging... for your life." Nika said as she used her shadows to capture Saint Germain. He didn’t resist and allowed himself to be taken, even though she used far too much force and the others piled up on him baring naked weapons on him.
"I ca here in peace and to offer my services." Saint Germain spoke calmly despite his dire circumstance.
"Yeah right, didn’t you... you... who’s this guy again?" Nika asked.
"He’s Saint Germain or Ponce de Leon if you will. He’s the one who betrayed humanity."
"On the contrary, I’m the one who saved humanity. It is my duty as an angel to do so, I only did what was needed." Saint Germain explained, but no one was having it.
"Nice work siding with those bastards." Nika clicked her mouth.
"Didn’t I help Uriel on multiple occasions? Didn’t I help you, Samael?" Saint Germain directed a glare towards the blond hunter. The rest of the hunters turned to look at Sam who awkwardly answered the unspoken question.
"It’s true, he kind of did. If it wasn’t for him I think I would have never made it alive to this point, but I also would have never thought of mass murder as a way to beco stronger."
"So protector you are." Nika glared at Saint Germain so more.
"We all make mistakes, I’m only human. Oh, Wait! I’m not, I’m an angel and I did everything perfectly. I’m the one who tried to release Water warlock before Uriel did, I am also the one who gifted him with the only object in all of creation capable of killing anything. Shouldn’t this at least buy a few minutes of your ti?"
"He’s not lying, but I don’t trust him." Luna said after slling him.
"Your mother would vouch for , she too is among the council of hybrids, guardians of humanity or whatever na they go by these days. Just let speak, I won’t fight or run away, just... hear out."
The Dungeon Raiders let him go, though Nika kept him restrained with shadow tendrils so he couldn’t attempt to escape, but the so called angel was true to his word and the only thing he did was let out information that up until that mont had been kept a secret. He ntioned Atsa and several other angels who he had t, telling more or less their stories and what they were known for.
Luna was particularly interested in Atsa’s forr glory as the strongest angel who managed to seal the monstrosity in the Alamo along with several other incredible feats more fit for a fantasy novel than a completely scientific work such as cryptozoology. Saint Germain spoke clearly it seed to be a rehearsed speech, but the passion in his voice said otherwise.
"It’s just as you thought, gods are a necessary evil. They are the ones who shape the world and make it livable for people, they’re also the ones tasked with sealing rogue titans in their dungeons and they’re also the ones who ignore people when they pray. But angels, we’re different. Mythology has us beneath gods, but that’s not the case."
"Are you implying that you just evolved differently?" Luna tilted her head as the man spoke too much sense while sounding like a complete liar to her.
"Precisely! That’s exactly the case. Gods surrendered to the fate of their species and decided to hide in a dungeon to wait out the end of the world while we angels fight for the survival of our species. Contrary to gods, when a world cycle ends, all angels die because they’d rather die than see their species beco extinct."
"Didn’t Uriel grow a fancy pair of wings a while back?" Nika pondered as she made sense of the new information.
"He did, uhm... but this ans he’s going to fight for humanity to keep living. This is bad."
"It doesn’t sound so bad, it sounds like the kind of thing a hero would do. Saving the world and all that." dusa could barely speak those words without blushing, but then Luna explained her reasoning.
"It doesn’t sound so bad and it plays right into his hero fetish, but if what he’s telling us is true then we have to assu Uriel will fail. This is because the cycle is still going and that ans all the other angels from species that ca before us failed. It is an impossible task."
"Yeah, I don’t know. Saying Uriel wants to save the world sounds silly, especially since he basically sentenced this world to die. That would an either the shadow titan swallows the world and we all die or the entire planet is covered in water and we all die nonetheless. That ans staying inside the dungeon is the only way for everyone to survive, but then he would die... so... Alright, I made up my mind!"
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