Author: I promise another chapter tomorrow. And faster updates. Finally, i got us out of that damn starter village.

I'll find a cover for this volume sometime later. Any suggestions? 

********

“FATHER WILL NOT LEAVE US!” 

Bridget’s bones rattled with the force of the woman’s rage. Deep, primal fear froze her stiff. She was sorely regretting her choice to come here. 

Why did I agree to this? Oh gods….this isn’t worth it! No matter how good a lay he is, it’s definitely not worth dying! I must’ve been out of my mind!

She thought about Avery and her son. Her brave daughter who couldn’t be swayed from going to help her friend. Her vulnerable son who was waiting for her to come home after witnessing the Angels' slaughter. She left him with trusted friends, but if she died now what would happen to him? And Avery, she’d die here with her. He’d be all alone. 

Ah, what horrid regret she felt! Although her sense of gratitude towards Damien is the main reason she agreed to come, apart from not wanting Avery to go alone, it was unavoidable that she hated her choice back then after seeing all she had. 

First those weird magic traps, then wraiths, now these...these so-called Angels! When will it end?

She shook in Damien’s arm and looked to the side where her daughter froze in fear over his other shoulder.

“I DON’T HAVE  DAUGHTERS LIKE YA’LL, BITCH!” Damien roared back as he continued to run.

Philip wanted to kick him. “Can you please not provoke them?!” But he knew it was no use. Talking sense to the Young Master was futile at the best of times.

 “No. Fuck you and them.” The young man snapped. 

“Oh gods...he’s going to get us killed.” Will moaned. 

Baz muttered,“This is why I said we should gag him, but no...no one listened to me.”

Alex growled, “Shut up and keep running!”

“Watch out!” Jacob called out, his intuition picking up on an oncoming danger none else noticed. As soon as his warning came the leading angel raised her hand. A streak of light pierced the sky and in the next moment, a sword glowing black and blue came to her hand. She slashed down and a beam of white and red energy fell towards them. 

Rhea acted swiftly. Turning back, she released her own attack to counter. Prismatic light burst from her hand and met the danger head-on. The two waves of energy struck one another and caused a great boom as they canceled each other out. 

The woman’s face flashed with pain for a moment. “Matchstick!” 

“I’m on it!” Sera replied. Her flames were born anew and she flung them at the oncoming Angels. The holy beings crossed their arms together in defense. Barriers appeared before them just as the flames hit. The fire was so intense and hot that it was almost blinding and turned even this dark realm into day.

Some of the weaker Angels fell and were burnt, their wings catching fire. Scores of them had succumbed to the attack unleashed by the enraged Dragoness. 

Sera had come to view the Angels with a bone-deep hatred. She thought of her lover, Damien. The man she’d chosen, her mate whom she both barely knew and had known for eons. They hurt him. They used him. 

And she was forced to watch. Could only hide and witness the things they did to him. She should have tried to help. Even if she had died, that would’ve been preferable to bearing witness the mind-breaking pain they had subjected him to. 

After so many days of watching them torment him after each attempted escape Sera had gone nearly insane with hate and anger. But fear kept her in place, and the shame now was unbearable. Maybe he didn’t blame her, but she did  

And so her flames grew hotter and hotter. Fueled by her rage they swallowed everything and reduced all to ash. Sera made sure of it.

In response to the dangerous flames, Grey and her sisters fell back. She snarled, “Father is ours! No one will take him from us ever again!” 

Sera heard this and felt something in her snap. “Father? What nonsense! There are no daughters who’d do to their father what you did to him!” She roared. Unknown to even herself, her arms became ridden with ruby-like scales. Her pupils became slits and shone with an intense, almost obsessive hatred. 

Not only was he her mate, he was also an Okeanos! To think that such a revered family’s son, the prince of their people, had been subjected to such humiliation, such inhumane tortures…

Never in history had an Okeanos been treated as Damien had. The memories made Sera’s entire being scream, commanding her to commit a slaughter. And even if she had to burn her very life essence, she would!

“I won’t let even a single one of you touch him ever again.” She promised. And readied herself. Her face grim, she continued.“ No matter what I have to do--” And was then hit by a..a shoe?

She looked back at a pissed off Damien. “You best not be thinking of sacrificing yourself, you damned salamander!”

Sera grit her teeth. “Don’t try to stop me! Think about what they did to you! I don’t care if I die, I won’t let them get away with it!”

“Ah, shut up! Where the hell do you come off, saying shit like that? I never asked you to get revenge for me, dammit, so cool down! Otherwise I’ll kill myself right here just to spite you!” 

He would, too. Who does she think she is, getting angry for him and thinking she’d get revenge on his behalf by going all Suicide Squad? He doesn’t need that shit on his conscience. 

“You…!” Sera sputtered. She wanted to argue, to say they deserved this. That she deserved this. For not helping him, for hiding away while he suffered. But the look in his eyes stopped her. She knew, then, that he was serious. If she went through with her idea of taking the enemy down with her, he wouldn't hesitate at all to keep his word. 

No one saw her tears. The flames surrounding her turned them to steam instantly. But it was hard. It was frustrating. 

Why did he have to be this way? He should hate her for her cowardice. For leaving him alone when he needed her.  So why didn’t he? How could he be so...reasonable about it all? The fact that he didn’t resent her hurt worse than if he did.  Far from that, now here he is holding her hostage with his own life to keep her safe. It’d have been easier if he wanted her dead. 

“Now come on, those flames won’t hold them off forever and I hate when characters waste time talking in situations where they should be running like hell. So let’s go!” He gestured her over impatiently with a jerk of his chin. 

Sera said nothing. Her wall of fire really wouldn’t buy them much time. Shaking her head, she continued to follow along. The others were silent during their exchange. 

They didn’t all know what was going on, not fully. They were didn’t all understand the relationships between some of the people here and Damien, but they did understand the youth had went through something unimaginable. And to be honest, none of them were sure what to do or think about it, how they should act around him. 

To Will and the others who’d known him since years back Damien had always been one crazy son of a bitch. And if it ever seemed he wasn’t, it was only a front he put up for his family’s sake. But otherwise, if he was alone or someone actually annoyed him? He did things that were almost perversely evil and cruel in a very unusual sense. In short, he’d always been touched in the head.

But this was a bit different. They felt a subtle...change. It was to put into words, but it was like there now a real malice in his gaze now. Normally you couldn’t categorize him as either good or bad, just maybe whimsical or arbitrary. He took things in stride and few things would actually matter overmuch to him. Yet now they couldn’t help feeling like right now all he wanted was to spill blood. And honestly? It scared the ever-loving fuck out of them.

They didn’t fully understand what those things up there had done to him. They did, however, believe they would come to regret it. It was a strange belief seeing as how terrifyingly powerful these winged beings seemed, but it was a belief that had settled deep in their bones. 

It’s just that they didn’t know how far Damien was willing to go in pursuit of his revenge, and that, too, scared them. The boy was damn near entirely unscrupulous at the best of times. But now he had a goal in mind, and unlike previous times people pissed him off, he was entirely serious about it. Who knew what this insane bastard would do? 

Only Jacob had an inkling about the destruction that was to come, and even he didn’t know exactly what it’d be. He only knew that nowhere felt safe. It was as if not just the people, but the entire planet itself was in danger. The earth, the sky, everything. 

He really hoped he hadn’t made a mistake saving him. But maybe there were no good futures. Perhaps this is simply the least bad out of even worse possibilities. 

“We’re coming upon the exit. Agnes should be waiting for us on the other side.”

My pack mule, Damien thought with pleasant surprise. “How’d you know?”

“She had an exclamation mark on her head.” Jacob frowned. “It was quite odd.”

“Of course,” Damien rolled his eyes. “Eh, whatever.”

It didn’t take long for them to come upon a crack in the void. A literal crack in space, similar to what happened earlier when they all first showed up at the manor. 

“They’ve gotten through!” Sera’s voice warned. “Hey, lightbulb, it’s your turn! Take out something better this time, alright?”

“Don’t presume to command this Queen, lizard. I won’t let those disgusting creatures touch my husband, don’t you worry about that.”  Rhea replied as streaks of golden light, a telltale sign of the Angels’ coming, lit up the sky. Goddamn, but they’re fast.

“Husband, take your friends and go. I’ll hold these birds here and be right behind you.”

“No need to tell me twice.” Damien nodded. Then considered. “Wait, you’re my Mira’s mother. I shouldn’t just leave you.”

“If I don’t hold them up they’ll catch up again.”

“Fair point, carry on.” Again, no time for arguing. 

The woman’s eyebrows twitched. “You didn’t have to give in so easily, you know.”

Damien didn’t bother to reply, he simply shrugged and ran off. 

Rhea watched him leave and offered a fierce smile. Decisive, exactly as her husband should be. Turning away from the retreating figures, Rhea looked at the oncoming Angels and her eyes glowed with a malevolent light. 

These were but ordinary Angels. And she’d gone toe to toe with Arcadia, one of their strongest. 

“I may not be able to defeat such a great number of your bird-brains...but I can certainly let you taste a bit of pain.” 

And with that, she sang. But it was not a soothing lullaby. Instead, it was a dark and terrible melody that caused the heart to stop and freeze. As soon as the first syllable hit their ears all movement once again ceased. 

Grey felt as if her mind was being driven insane. She screamed. 

They all screamed. 

Rhea threw her whole self into this song. Every bit of magical energy she could spare empowered her voice and made sure it wormed its way into the minds of every single Angel present. It exhausted her. 

Though it seemed a simple move to make and was not at all as flashy as Sera’s attack, one had to understand just how powerful Faery Queen Rhiannon is to fully appreciate her current actions.

This was a woman who was capable of moving continents with her sheer magical power alone. This was a being whose mere will held together the realm where her people lived. She was among the most powerful of powerhouses in all the starry sky. Back during the last great war between the realms she once used a single move to split apart an entire section of space.

If she did not seem as epically powerful as you would think, it was only because she had not yet shown the full extent of her powers. Otherwise this world would not be able to withstand it. Were she at her full power? She would not have trouble fighting even this number of Angels. 

But ever since the last war, all the strongest beings of the innerverse agreed to over 80% of their power being sealed. That’s how bad the war got by its end. So terrible that the only option was to disarm each other. And if any of them were to unlock their seals? It’d spark another war, because there was simply no trust between any of them and instead much enmity.  

To be perfectly honest, though? Rhea almost didn’t care about the consequences at this point. These things had stolen away her husband and done unthinkable things to him. It was knowledge that very nearly made her delirious with anger. In fact she only barely stopped herself from unleashing her power now and using it to decimate these bitches. 

But if she did that then there was no turning back and things would become troublesome again. All she could do, therefore, was bring them some pain. It’d take no less than an explosion of the entire planet or something equally destructive if she wanted to actually kill them. Sadly, however, she did not quite have that power at present. It was simply a matter of scale. While her attacks had the same raw power, they were forcibly scaled down. 

Even if you had a sword that could cut through all things in existence, you couldn’t use it to cut apart the whole world, could you? It just wasn’t large enough. And that was her problem. 

Rhea could easily kill any of these Angels individually, but there were so many of them that they’d eventually overcome her. Rhea regretted not learning more battle techniques like those who cultivated. She’d never needed to as her level of power was just that broken, but now? If she’d learned a top-tier movement technique perhaps she’d be able to outspeed these things and kill them quickly before they could overwhelm her with their numbers. 

But how was she to know she’d ever face alone a horde of Angels? And if it were almost any other race, this wouldn’t even be a problem! But it had to be one of the top races, didn’t it? Ah, the things she did for her husband…

Shaking her head once again, she finished her song and felt her strength flee. An attack like what she’d just done wasn’t flashy, but it was extremely difficult and draining and she’d used it on a race that was much stronger than others. She had to push herself to bring the move onto a level that it affected them as much as it had but she still didn’t expect herself to be so tired. 

Her face turned grim as she realized she wouldn’t be able to keep her word after all. 

It appears you’ll have to wait a while before we see each other again, my love.

Thinking as much, Rhea felt her world sway. 

I suppose this time it’s my turn to go. It’s a shame...I finally found you again, and yet…

But consciousness left before she could even finish the thought.

Luckily for her, Damien’s left nut prompted him to send a certain chair to her aid. That’s right! Dr. Schitt to the rescue!

Quickly using it’s telekinetic powers, Dr. Schitt, the world’s most uncomfortable sentient golden chair(throne) placed the unconscious Fae onto its seat and took off back to his master at breakneck speed. 

Normally he took on a smaller form and stayed atop his master’s head or pocket. But if he hadn’t done that, and if Rhea had been awake, perhaps she’d recognize the ancient artifact.

***

A few minutes later, as Dr. Schitt regrouped with Damien.

“Your Holiness!” 

The world had returned to normal as the exited the crack in space. They now stood outside the gates to the city lord’s manor and the sky was now bright and sunny, only a few wraiths in sight. The ground was littered with holes, a result of set-off traps, but other than those two things everything was fine. 

“Lydia!”

“Huh?” 

“Shut and carry fatty. Dude is heavy.” He then casually tossed a panicked Avery to Sister Agnes, who caught sight of the large...woman?...and backed away in fright. The big-boned fatty was then saved from a painful crash by Dr. Schitt’s telekinesis, much to her surprise and gratitude.

“Fucking useless. As expected of Lydia 2.0. Ah well.”

While Damien went on with his nonsense as per usual, the others had a more serious discussion. 

“Uh, Jake….now what?” Will asked.

“Just wait.”

Alex narrowed his eyes at him. “Wait? What do you mean, wait? We’re sitting ducks here. Or did you forget we have murderous Angels behind us?” 

“Trust me.”

“That’s how I got into this mess in the first place, so no. Either assure me you have an escape plan in mind, or before the Angels come to kill us I’m going to send you to hell first. And I promise you, it won’t be--”

Suddenly a giant, ornate glowing magic circle appeared at their feet. 

“Ah, there we go.” Jacob murmured.

Damien’s eyes shrank. “Oh fuck no.” He hissed. “Nope, I am not being isekai’d to some random planet to kill demon kings, goddammit!” The youth then hurriedly moved to step out of it’s range.

But before he could completely move outside the circle, Jacob shouted, “STOP HIM!”

As one, every single person present jumped and brought Damien to the ground.They all grabbed hold of some part of Damien and started pulling him back in.

“Eh? What the fuck, guys. Let me go!” 

Damien struggled against their grips, but after months of nonstop fucking and then pushing himself to run all that way, well, he wasn’t as strong as he usually is. 

Even so, he didn’t make it easy. Damien was very keen on not being teleported to random worlds, so despite his friends pulling at him he still stretched his hand out and used it to help him crawl. For a while he was able to bring his entire torso out of the circle, but they were as stubborn as he was and dragged him back. 

Now only half of his arm was sticking out. 

“Ah, you bastards, I said no! Let me out, let me oooout!” 

Then, with a flash of light and they were gone. Along with his arm. 

Even worse than the pain? That was his fap hand.