Red Light

The goat demon looked at Azrael, a mix of fury and fear in his eyes. Azrael's firm ruby-red eyes seemed to stare directly into his soul. As the demon studied him more closely, he realized that Azrael had crystal wings. "An Archangel?" he whispered to himself.

Ason, who was badly wounded, struggled to lift his head and look at his savior, his eyes barely open. When he saw the crystal wings on Azrael's back, his eyebrows furrowed. "An... Archangel?" he murmured, his voice trembling.

All the Power order angels on the battlefield had the same reaction, including Vice-Captain Rythom. "Why is an Archangel here?" they all wondered. Meanwhile, Elara patted her forehead and let out a sigh.

"Why did he jump into the battlefield?" Samael asked, addressing everyone, though the question seemed directed more at himself.

"I think it's because he's a new angel and doesn’t know the rules yet," Elara guessed, looking at Azrael with a confused expression.

"That's not what I meant..." Samael turned fully to Elara and added, "How can an angel move without an order?"

Elara's face paled at the realization. Samael was right. Angels have many characteristics, but one thing that defines them is that they can't act without orders. They also can't disobey orders, so why did Azrael just move on his own? "Yeah... how..." Elara trailed off, her gaze fixed on Azrael.

The goat demon was still puzzled. He knew about the angel orders and understood that he was only supposed to fight the Power order here. Why did an Archangel suddenly appear? He finally asked, "What is an Archangel doing here?"

Azrael, still confused, answered with the first thing that came to his mind. "I said before that I'm going to slaughter you. Are your goat ears that bad?"

The goat demon was even more confused. "I mean, how can an Archangel come to fight me?"

Azrael was equally baffled. "A fight is a fight." His response left all the nearby angels so confused that their eyes widened in disbelief.

"What a fool in disguise," Vice-Captain Rythom muttered, shaking his head.

The goat demon, knowing the Archangel's place in the angelic hierarchy, began to assume and then laugh. "Oh, I see. God must think I'm a big threat, so that's why they sent an Archangel here." The goat demon looked quite proud.

"Huh? How can satay like you be a big threat? Oh, is it because of cholesterol?" Azrael asked, still confused.

"SHUT UP! If they really think I'm so dangerous, then I'll show them!" The goat demon roared, starting to swing his other arm that wasn't destroyed.

He punched toward Azrael, catching him slightly off guard. But Azrael quickly regained his composure, grabbed his sickle, and held it tightly. He began spinning while flying straight ahead. His fast rotation made him barely visible, appearing only as a red blur with a faint glow.

“For the Almighty who protects me from the truth, even when I turn away, TANAWAB!” Azrael shouted as he cut through the giant stone arm like it was a roll cake.

The giant hand sliced cleanly like a piece of cake, causing the goat demon to panic. “I’ve heard of the power of Archangels, but I didn’t know it was this strong…”

As the battle between Azrael and the demon intensified, Liora turned to Elara. “Um… about what the goat said earlier, the big threat? What does that mean?”

Elara looked back at him immediately. “Oh, he was referring to the duty of an Archangel.”

“What is the actual job of an Archangel?” Liora asked again, still puzzled.

“An Archangel’s basic job is to serve humans and carry out special orders from God. They’re responsible for handling big threats,” Elara explained, moving her hands to help with the visualization.

“Well, maybe Archangels have a special order from birth that they must fight against big threats like this one. That’s why Azrael can act on his own without an order,” Liora suggested, trying to piece it together.

Elara’s eyes lit up. “Well, you might be right. You sure are smart, aren’t you?” Elara smiled at Liora.

“Well, you don’t need to compliment me like that. Hehehe,” Liora said shyly, smiling and scratching the back of his head.

Back at the battle between Azrael and the goat demon, the demon was impressed by Azrael’s skill but refused to back down. With his giant stone body now missing a hand, he tried to find another way. “Well, take this. STONE METEOR!”

The stones that were part of his body began to shoot at Azrael like a meteor shower. “Well, this goat can throw stones too. If humans had to eat a goat like this, they’d starve.”

Azrael flew closer to the rock meteors and placed his sickle on his back. “With the name of the all-seeing, grant a clear vision of your miracle, LIZAR!” Azrael opened his ruby eyes wide, and from them, a straight beam of light shone towards the meteors.

The light burned and blew up the meteor stones. The goat demon grew more panicked but still did not back down, hurling every remaining stone from his giant body at Azrael. Azrael handled each one, but he couldn’t manage the biggest meteor with just his eyes.

The massive meteor came hurtling toward him. Then, the ruby on his forehead and necklace began to shine as well. “For all living beings. Who creates life, and the one who can take it. SALIBI!”

With his two eyes, the ruby on his forehead, and the one on his necklace, Azrael created a cross-shaped light. The light concentrated at the center, then unleashed a massive beam. The powerful beam destroyed the large meteor in one shot, reducing it to dust.

The goat demon landed on the cloud island, now without a weapon. He needed to think of a trick to defeat Azrael. Looking below, he noticed the ground beneath the island. There were many young angels at the Shahaq level down there, running away in fear because their wings hadn’t developed yet—they couldn’t fly. The goat demon smirked.

Azrael sensed his scheme and flew quickly towards him, but it was too late. The goat demon punched the cloud island’s ground, causing it to crumble and fall. The island began to descend toward the Shahaq angels, threatening to crush them.

“Oh no…” Elara gasped, covering her mouth. She was worried about the Shahaq below. Azrael immediately changed direction, flying fast to catch up to the falling debris.

Panicked, Azrael flew closer to the crumbling island, gritting his teeth as he pulled out his sickle. “To the owner of time, grant me enough to solve this, ALFIS QUDYUS SAMA!”

Azrael began slicing the falling island at an insane speed, cutting it thousands of times until it turned to dust. The dust rained down gently on the Shahaq below, and Azrael let out a sigh of relief, having saved them in time. But the Shahaq's faces were filled with panic. “Mr. Archangel, watch out…”

Hearing the warning, Azrael turned slightly and saw a giant rock hurtling towards him. “I knew you’d let your guard down,” the goat demon sneered, dropping the stone on Azrael.

The impact buried Azrael beneath the rock, shocking all the angels nearby. “AZRAEL!” Elara screamed, unable to believe what had happened.

“Hahaha! Even the Archangel couldn’t take me down!” The goat demon laughed triumphantly. “Now I will destroy the celestial realm,” he declared.

“Why would you want to do such a thing? Isn’t building something better than destroying it?” Azrael’s voice suddenly interrupted.

“Who cares about that? Destruction is destruction!” the goat demon shouted back.

“Ahh, with your stone ability, you could be a construction goat,” Azrael quipped.

“Who the hell cares…” The goat demon finally realized—who was he talking to? He turned his head back down and saw Azrael smiling up at him.

“You… how… how are you still alive?” The goat demon panicked at the sight of Azrael.

“That’s your trick, isn’t it? Set the bait and hope we bite. But we’re not fish, you know?” Azrael said, pouting and shaking his head. “You really have a terrible fighting style—I don’t like it.”

“But… how did you survive that attack…” The goat demon was still confused, certain he had struck him.

Azrael smiled. “Like this.” Suddenly, a few clones that looked just like him appeared behind the goat demon, whose jaw dropped in shock. “Bait for the bait, right?”

“You know my power is based on light, right? And reflections—they're created from light,” Azrael explained with a grin. He then pulled out his sickle, ready to attack. “But the reflection clones can't attack you; they're just shadows.”

“Then, let me do it myself,” he said firmly, with a mix of fury and cunning. The goat demon suddenly panicked and began to back away. He knew that he no longer had a chance to win. His only option now was to protect himself and escape.

“STONE FORTRESS!” he yelled, as his last resort. He conjured a massive stone fortress to protect himself.

Azrael stopped and stared at the fortress. “This livestock is really annoying. He’s hiding in his shed.”

Azrael closed his eyes and focused completely. He held his sickle in front of him, and the jewel in the sickle began to glow. Then, the light around him started to draw in like a black hole. “For the one who owns everything—Earth and Sky—grant me the power to destroy and rebuild it. ZAHAL!”

Azrael was suddenly surrounded by a massive ring of light. He hurled the ring toward the goat demon’s fortress. The ring flew fast, distorting all the light around it. When it reached the fortress, it sliced through it like a piece of cake.

As the fortress was cut, the surrounding space was disturbed by a powerful shockwave, and the light temporarily blinded everyone’s vision. Not only space, but even time seemed to slow down. Samael, who was watching, felt himself moving slower as the attack occurred. The attack successfully sliced the fortress into two oblique parts.

From within the wreckage, the goat demon emerged. “You really are strong,” he said, just before his head fell to the ground.

Azrael watched without smiling. “I hope your sacrifice is worth it for my belly,” he muttered. The other angels, witnessing the scene, sighed in relief.

“That big boy always gets me worried,” Elara said, letting out a deep sigh as she crossed her arms over her belly.

Azrael smiled, ready to return to his friends. But before he could, Rythom shoved him against the nearest building, sending everyone back into a panic.

“Who gave you the order?” Rythom demanded, gripping Azrael’s neck.

Azrael was confused and didn’t know what to do. If it had been a demon attacking him, he would have fought back. But now, it was an angel—the vice-captain of the Power Order—confronting him. What would happen to him now?