Chapter 24
She was no longer in Annabelle's body, but in her body, a fierce-looking teenage girl, her long blonde wavy hair tied up in a braided bun. She wore a mid-thigh length dress and armor consisting of a breastplate, pauldrons, leg armor, and gauntlets.
She waited under the heat of the scorching sun and saw Hansel simply appear before her; no dramatic aura burst; he just looked calm.
"Where is Jamie?" he asked. He may look calm, but he is hardly that; it is just a matter of time before he snaps.
"I want a rematch," she said.
~~~~
"Oh my God! We've been kidnapped!" Neil exclaimed.
He had just woken up a few moments ago, tied up next to Jamie and Annabelle, who were awake and tied up as well.
Annabelle hissed in pain; her head hurt from a headache. "Shut up," she said angrily.
Neil blinks in surprise. "You changed your look back?" he asked in confusion. Her hair was back to the way it was.
She glared at him angrily. 'I shouldn't have asked,' Neil thought nervously.
"Is everything alright?" Jamie asked her.
"I'm just having a headache," she said, now sounding calm.
The door burst open, lighting up the dark room, and Felix stepped in. "Felix," Annabelle growled hatefully.
"Hey Felix," Jamie said in a friendly tone.
Neil figured that this was the guy who had kidnapped them. "Sup Jamie," Felix said, smiling at him in a friendly way. "Sorry for the kidnapping; Astrea wanted our little deal out of the way," he said.
"You made a deal for me to be kidnapped?" Jamie said, raising an eyebrow.
"No, no," Felix said, chuckling. "Dying again isn't on my to-do list," he said, then snapped his fingers, and the ropes were untied.
Despite Jamie and Annabelle's protests, Neil doesn't hesitate to rush at Felix to attack him. A magic circle appeared above Neil, but it broke in place, and he punched Felix's face, but it didn't affect him.
Felix held Neil's hand tightly and removed it from his face. "Fascinating," he said in amazement, then knocked him out. The rope floated and tied him up.
"Now behave," Felix said. He looked up, and a magic circle appeared above Annabelle's head, making her fall unconscious.
Jamie caught her before she fell. "What are you doing?" he asked, frowning.
Annabelle disappeared from his arms as well as Neil. "Don't worry, they are both in their homes," Felix said. He noticed Jamie was looking stiff and chuckled. "I'm not going to harm you," he said. "You are far too useful."
~~~~
'Turn left to go to--'
The demons were following the GPS directions. "This technology is fascinating," Beel said as they ran across the roofs of buildings.
Varrine is connected to Hansel telepathically, and he gives them orders to find Jamie after teaching them how to use a phone and GPS.
And they were nearing the location of the cult.
~~~~
Hansel didn't unsheath his sword when fighting Astrea and was mostly on defense, dodging and blocking her attacks. She was far stronger than she was before; it was obvious with the ferocity of her attacks. When her attacks hit, the force carried the sand.
Her attacks were getting more fierce, and she became angrier. "Why. Don't. You. Take. This. Seriously?" She snarled as she swung her sword.
"Do you have a death wish or something?" he said in annoyance, dodging her blade and pushing her back forcefully with his magic, breaking the barrier around her breastplate.
A golden halo floated above her head, and three pairs of wings sprouted from her back. 'She's the high-ranking angel I sensed,' Hansel thought.
Her aura increased drastically. It was almost overwhelming for Hansel in his current state. She is strong.
She began attacking again; she was faster than before, and he could barely catch up to her and was tossed around.
He was wounded by her blade and the light constructs she made with her magic. His blood flowed from his wounds.
He was about to move, but her blade was at the tip of his neck. 'I'll kill him, and mom will look at me differently,' she thought, imagining how her mother would feel. Would she be happy like Felix had told her?
She wanted to kill him, but couldn't bring herself to do so. He doesn't even try to fight back.
"Fight back, please," she begged; she wanted to justify killing him.
Hansel looked at her coldly. "Where is Jamie?" he asked her calmly.
"We're in the middle of a death battle, and you're worried about him?" She asked angrily. "You are bleeding profusely and on the verge of death; how can you still think about someone else in your state?" she said.
Hansel laughed slowly. Astrea felt herself getting pushed back, and she smiled, knowing that he wouldn't hold back against her.
She was going to attack but fell to her knees in pain. Her armor was destroyed, and there was a deep gash across her chest.
Her white dress was dyed red, and her blood dripped to the ground. Hansel felt his heart pang. He didn't want this to happen. He had unsheathed his sword for a millionth of a second and struck her with the tip of his blade.
She tried to heal herself but discovered she couldn't; she finally fell when she had lost enough blood.
The sword is infused with pure dark magic, like poison to an angel or those who use light magic, completely canceling their magic.
Hansel felt conflicted; he thought of leaving her here to die and going to help the demons find Jamie.
Astrea had already accepted her fate, preparing to take her final breath. 'Will mom be happy?' she thought. 'It doesn't matter; I would never be able to see it.'
~~~~
The demons didn't find anyone at the location Null had given them. Varrine was going to contact Hansel but was stopped by Layla. "We can't bring ourselves to report our failure," she said. "Track him down," she commanded her.
"But he's an ordinary human," Varrine replied. "It is difficult to do."
"Has that ever been a problem for you?" Beel said threateningly.
"The Lord has instructed us not to force her to strain her magic," Minos said, standing in front of Varrine and blocking her from the others.
The three demons' auras began to flare up threateningly.
"You're a strong bunch, aren't you?"
They were all startled and turned around to see Felix standing in the shadows; floating next to him were Jamie and Neil. All four of them rushed at him almost immediately, but they froze in place.
They were a few inches from him.
"Woah, that was close," he said, acting relieved. "I'm just dropping them off," he said and gently dropped Jamie and Neil off.
He walked over to Varrine and studied her. "Today's the best day since I came to this world," he said, laughing. Not only did he discover Neil, he got to do what he wanted with Jamie, and he was meeting someone else with the Demon King's DNA.