Injured

"Beastmen are creatures of darkness, and are mortal enemies of our Astralrealm Kingdom." 

"Then how could there be a city of theirs here? We couldn't have flown that far."

I yelled out. The dragonfly-like monster behind me actually sprayed out an electric beam of light to attack me. Luckily its aim wasn't great and they all just barely grazed past me.

"I don't know either. Even if you flew north from the beginning you shouldn't have crossed the border." 

Selene was about as freaked out as I was now, neither of us had any clue what was going on.

"Could it be that they smuggled this city in illegally?"

I couldn't think of any other way to explain this situation. Anyway, weird stuff had already happened today.

"Are you kidding me right now? Ah!--What are you doing!"

I suddenly made a sharp turn and Selene screamed in fright. My arm that was holding her was gripped tightly in her hands, squeezed painfully. 

"Hold on tight, there are still enemies behind us!"

I yelled loudly. Actually, because of the thick clouds, I couldn't see anything clearly in the sky. I was barely sensing the general location of the few monsters behind us by detecting traces of dark elemental energy.

But not being able to see them was still uncomfortable. In order to dodge attacks I was flying in S-shaped zig zags, but that slowed down our speed. I felt the pursuers getting closer and closer, about to catch us!

"Hurry and think of something! Can you attack them? I'm about to get hit!"

I mustered my energy and dashed through the cloud layer back above the clouds. The monsters chasing us flew up too. With the moonlight I could finally clearly see their locations.

"These magical beasts are called Face Flies. You can't outfly them." 

Selene looked back and immediately recognized what was chasing us. She casually threw a few Holy Light bombs too but of course couldn't hit them.

"Try attacking them with Purification!" 

Seeing that the attacks had no effect, Selene quickly instructed me.

"Huh? What did you say? Isn't Purification used for healing people?"

I thought I had misheard her so I asked again to confirm. 

"Face Flies and Beastmen are creatures of darkness, they greatly fear the light element, so the effects of Purification to them would be like a curse poison."

"Then I'll try it!"

Then I shot out Purification at the Face Fly behind us. 

A ball of light shot out from my hand, looking a lot like Selene's light bullets. But differently, it would actually turn corners, attracted like magnets of opposite polarities. Even if the opponent tried to dodge to the side early it would still accurately hit its target without fail.

It didn't have the gorgeous effects when purifying a human. Like that previous time when my magic power was insufficient causing it to fail, the light sphere directly entered the opponent's body. 

"Screech----"

The struck Face Fly made an extremely painful cry. Its flying speed drastically dropped as it tumbled back down into the cloud layer. 

I felt like I didn't actually deal physical damage to it, but I didn't expect the effect to be so strong. 

"Hit it again!" 

One strike worked. Selene was even more excited than me. It looked like we really could take on ten now. I continuously fired a few more Purifications. 

"Screech screech screech screech..."

This move really worked well, it was just right against these dark creatures. Every shot hit its mark, none of them could escape the chasing light spheres. 

Soon all the pursuers were cleared out and we were temporarily safe.

"There won't be any other monsters chasing us right?"

I was still worried, looking back while not daring to stop flying forward. Actually after that previous chase, I had no idea which direction we were even flying in anymore. 

"What do we do now?"

"Careful! Dodge!"

Selene below me suddenly shouted urgently. I had just let out a sigh of relief when I heard that. I didn't see any enemies?

The next moment I felt a burst of pain in my wings and my whole body started tingling and numb. I instantly lost balance while in midair...

"It's below...Ah!"

Before Selene finished speaking, she was also pulled along with me as we spun downwards from the sky. 

This was still my first time encountering this kind of situation while flying. I had always flown safely without incident previously. The culprit was a Face Fly hiding in the clouds below. It was hard for me to notice since Selene was in front of me when I flew. 

I didn't know if it had hidden there from the beginning, or if it just decided to hide on the spur of the moment when I took out many of its companions with Purification. Anyway, its sneak attack succeeded. It chased along our falling trajectory looking to attack us.

"Ahhhhh!" 

Selene's screams made my ears hurt. What was more urgent was that my left wing already hurt so much it completely lost function. I didn't know how to regain balance while in the air... 

While my whole body feels a bit numb from being shocked together, it seems the thunderbolt attacks from this Face Fly haven't caused much damage to my body.

"Flying up...we're going to die from the fall!"

Seeing the dark ground constantly spinning closer, Selene's voice already had tones of crying in fear. 

"One of my wings got hit, I can't move!" I was also feeling hopeless. My whole head was filled with the piercing wing pain, already severely affecting my ability to think. 

"You have four wings, don't you still have another pair?"

Selene's words instantly reminded me. 

The flapping action of my wings was a lot like normal breathing, able to move automatically but also able to make other actions according to my will. 

So I immediately controlled the injured pair of wings to stop flapping. Soon my remaining wings found their balance on their own, carrying us flying back up into the sky.

That was close! I vaguely saw the rocky ground pass swiftly by right in front of my eyes. Cold sweat covered my back. But that Face Fly chasing us didn't give up and prepared to attack again from behind. 

Again? 

I definitely wouldn't let it spray that electricity again. Furious, I shot another Purification light sphere out behind me without even needing to aim. As expected, it got hit and fell to the ground with no chance to dodge at all. 

"You deserve it for ambushing me!" 

I felt extremely satisfied inside, about to fly away when Selene suddenly warned me, 

"Go finish it off! This is a good chance. Purification will only make it temporarily immobilized. It might still give chase if it recovers."

I have to go finish it off too? My brows frowned tightly. That was a giant dragonfly-like monster, I couldn't be sure I dared to go for the kill.

"Should we leave first? Fly farther away...Ow!" I stopped midair and suggested to Selene. 

Changing orientation while flying seemed to bump my injured wing. A piercing pain instantly travelled through and I couldn't even speak clearly anymore. 

"Fly away...we should lose any pursuers." 

"No use, it's because you're injured." Selene pointed to my wing. 

"These dark creatures are very sensitive to the light element. They would be able to trace the light elemental energy in your blood trail and chase you down."

Blood trail? Hearing her say that, I noticed the wound on my damaged wing was shining. A section was burned and scorched with red blood continuously oozing out. 

So even an angel's blood was red in color. This was my first time getting injured after coming to this other world. But this red blood was very different from human blood, because they emitted flickers of white light outward. But not long later, as if rapidly evaporating into thin air, it disappears without leaving a trace. 

Of course that was just visually. Through my senses I could still detect all the blood having transformed into dense trails of light elemental energy lingering in the air. 

If that was the case I really couldn't leave that monster alive! Hardening my heart, I grasped my sword from my waist with one hand and flew back to where the Face Fly had fallen. 

Under the illumination of Selene's light magic, I saw the magical beast lying on its back facing the sky. Its six limbs flailed in the air looking extremely miserable, exactly like how an insect thrashes when near death. 

To be honest, looking at this waist-high monster lying on the ground, it would absolutely be a lie if I said I wasn't freaked out at all. It seemed to be in considerable pain, continuously screeching. And its pair of thin membrane-like wings was still spasming, stirring up sand storms all around it. It looked very difficult to even approach. 

I directly landed next to its head which was currently the only area I could get near other than its tail which was also out of wing reach. 

Since we still had to leave immediately, I didn't untie the rope binding me to Selene yet. 

"Beheading can kill it right?" I asked Selene for confirmation. That was usually the case, but nothing could be assumed in this world.

"Should be, try it first. Hurry!" Selene also didn't dare confirm so I really wished she could be the one to do it. But looking at the monster's size, I worried her strength as a priest wouldn't be enough. And she might even laugh at me.

"You can't be too scared now right?" Selene seemed a bit suspicious seeing I held up my sword for a long time without striking it down. She was still tied in front of me so she didn't see my eyes were still closed. 

"No...Of course not!" 

Egged on by her, I raised my sword and sliced down, piercing through the Face Fly's head in one strike. 

Huh, still not dead? No blood spurting scene that I imagined. Even its wings were still flapping, just slower and slower seeming to be on its last legs. 

"One more strike!" 

I changed to the tail position and stabbed towards its caterpillar-like abdomen. 

"Hiss---"

This time a spray of green liquid spewed out from the monster's body. I immediately dodged to the side. As a result it all spurted onto Selene tied to my front while only a few specks flecked onto me. 

"Wow Feliciana! You did that on purpose!" 

Selene got a face full of it and raised her hands trying to wipe off her face in a disheveled state. I imagine her facial expression must look very interesting right now.

"No I didn't! I really didn't do it intentionally!" 

I explained innocently. I truly forgot she was tied in front which shielded me. But that tiny bit of pleasure inside I would absolutely never admit! 

"Bleh bleh! There's so much dark elemental smell!" 

It seemed like some fluid had spilled into her mouth too as Selene kept spitting and spitting. As she spat she also fiercely threatened me, 

"Remember this! You despicable angel! When we get back I'm definitely telling the Archbishop to punish you! Exposing your evil deeds. No more money for you! Bleh!" 

"Don't do that! I'll help you wipe clean later." 

I couldn't help shouting injustice. So the gold coins were still possible to obtain. Then I must save my image! 

That Face Fly now seemed thoroughly dead with its wings finally motionless. I had no intention to keep staying here so I immediately flew away carrying Selene again.