Chapter 118: Bang
Morning came quickly.
Azrael stepped out of his room, looking as pristine as ever.
"Why am I feeling pumped for the fight with the swarm?" he muttered with a smile.
Just then, he saw one of the doors lining the wall open.
’Is that Zephyr’s room?’ he mused with raised brows.
But his thoughts were cut off as fast as they came.
The person who walked out was the same receptionist who had attended to Zephyr the night before.
She was looking disheveled, as if she had been engaged in a brawl.
Azrael furrowed his brows but did not think too much about it.
She saw him too, but said nothing, only running towards the stairs before she was carried down automatically.
[I don’t even know what to say. This boy is younger than you if both of your lives are combined, but he was able to feel something you have never felt,] Aria said with a sigh.
’I am not interested in things like this... At least, not yet,’ Azrael replied.
Aria snickered in response.
Azrael faced forward, but before he could take another step, the door opened again.
It was none other than Zephyr.
He walked out of the room, adjusting the sleeves of his white shirt.
"Hey, Azrael, what’s up?" he asked with a wave once he saw Azrael.
Azrael nodded slowly with squinted eyes.
"What is it?" Zephyr asked with raised brows.
"Nothing," Azrael said, shaking his head.
They walked together, reaching the stairs quickly.
"Why is it so loud downstairs?" Zephyr muttered beneath his breath.
"I was just about to ask that," Azrael replied.
As they stepped onto the stairs, they began to roll down.
As they reached the ground floor, the source of the noise revealed itself.
Outside the glass doors of the hotel, the villagers were cheering, each of them waving tree leaves as if to welcome an influential figure.
"Don’t tell me this is Noir’s doing," Azrael said with a sigh.
"Good morning, sirs," the receptionist said as they reached the ground.
They were not the ones who had attended to them the night before.
Azrael nodded and walked to the lady, handing her the card to his room.
Zephyr did the same.
Then their gazes turned to the window.
"I am not entering that crowd," they said at the same time.
They looked into each other’s eyes with a sigh.
"Well, bye-bye," Azrael said.
He activated his Astral Form ability.
In the next instant, his flesh seemed to dissolve, replaced by pure essence.
He could control every bit of his body, whether forming it into a blade or increasing his height.
But Azrael was not doing any of these.
His body shifted as he converted its essence into pure wind.
This was one of the things he learnt, converting his body into any of his elements.
Zephyr smiled.
"I can do that easily even without going through your initial stress."
His body erupted into a mass of air.
The two receptionists only watched with a sigh.
Although what Azrael and Zephyr had done was extraordinary, such sights were not too rare.
The villagers outside could not see inside, but they felt the sudden increase in the wind.
"Why am I suddenly getting the chills?" Noir could not help but blurt out as he felt the wind pressing against him longer than normal.
But it disappeared in the next instant.
...
"This place is okay," Azrael said as he reformed.
Zephyr also reformed beside him calmly.
"Danger averted," he said as he looked around.
"Just be serious," Azrael said with a facepalm.
"But seriously, I can’t believe we are starting our vacation this way."
"I know, right?" Zephyr said, spreading his hands in frustration.
"Let’s just get this over with and head to the main city of Nigura."
Zephyr nodded.
"Sense Domain," he said in the next instant.
A dome spread out from him.
Everything within the dome became as clear as day to Zephyr.
It covered over a thousand kilometers in sheer size.
And within it, Zephyr could see the gathering of the monsters.
"They are not that far," he said after a while.
But before he could complete his sentence, he noticed something. Azrael was not even beside him.
"Huh?" Zephyr muttered, squinting his gaze.
That was when his Sense Domain caught something in the sky.
Azrael stared down at the thousands of monsters that walked beneath him.
They were crimson-skinned monsters with large horns.
Their frames were not much taller than those of goblins.
"Imps," Azrael said calmly.
Imps were the monsters of the demon race, demons that were unable to gain sentience.
"Livia," he called calmly.
The essence in the air stirred wildly at the name.
"I thought you forgot about me," Livia’s soft voice sounded.
She appeared in front of Azrael with a slightly teary face.
"No," Azrael said with a smile as he patted her head.
Her eyes went down to the imps beneath.
She understood her task immediately.
She flapped her wings as she shot towards Azrael’s glabella.
Boom.
The air shivered as both parties merged.
Azrael felt the sudden influx of power surge through his body.
A green mark appeared on his forehead.
It was like a leaf, but slightly different.
Azrael smiled.
"It’s been so long since I used this domain," he muttered.
At his words, the essence in the air moved.
A web was formed within the blink of an eye.
The imps seemed to notice this change, but it was too late.
"Bang," Azrael said calmly.
The entire space exploded.
It was as though a nuke had been dropped above them.
Their cave was reduced to rubble within the first few breaths.
The earth around them cratered as flames sprouted from its surface.
Tremors travelled far, reaching even the village.
Noir turned towards the stage direction with wide eyes.
"When did they slip past us?" he wondered.
Azrael stared down at the destruction he had caused.
He had tried his best to minimize the damage.
"Even with 50% power, I am still this strong," Azrael said, flexing his muscles.
A sharp whistle came from behind him.
His body took control of itself, and Zerathen appeared in Azrael’s hand in the next instant. Azrael swung back without a bit of hesitation.
Sparks flew as steel met steel, and for a moment, time seemed to pause.