Chapter 137: Sacrifice
Chapter 137: Sacrifice
With the Parasite Tadpole inside their brains, the captive Angels and Archons were no different than puppets under Dante’s control, with everything that they see and hear being transmitted to him.
Previously he could only use Telekinesis to read their minds and erase some memories due to him being only a Rank 1 Animus and his proficiency in that discipline not being high enough.
But now by using the Parasite Tadpole as an intermediary, he could alter their memories and even implant totally new fake ones, and if he wanted, he could take control over their body and energy. If their souls were stronger, they could have resisted and tried to fight back, but with their current power, there was nothing they could do.
Dante did not waste time and once the Parasite Tadpole had taken control over their brains, he started to manipulate their memories, erasing everything that happened from the moment they were attacked by the forces under his command.
He used the help of the Brain Golems, or else it would have taken too much time and he could not have erased everyone’s memory at the same time.
“Stand up,” Dante was tired due to manipulating the memory of more than one hundred people at the same time, and his voice was soft, but the moment the captives heard him, they immediately obeyed.
Seeing the control that those tadpoles gave to Dante over those Angels and Archons, Zatiel was satisfied and sent a whip of dark golden flames to destroy their bindings.
“Father, I have taken total control over these Angels and Archons, and since they are still alive, they can act like their normal self when I am not controlling them, making them perfect spies. I can control their memories and actions but although they can do nothing to resist, those that knew them could find out their changes and become suspicious.”
Dante closed his eyes and once he detected that the tadpole had fused completely with the brains, he spoke again.
“Anyone beneath Rank 4 can not detect the tadpoles since even if they use their consciousness, they will only see the tadpoles as part of their brains and nothing more.”
Zatiel had used his consciousness to explore inside their bodies, and indeed he found nothing, not even his Animus abilities detected anything weird.
Seeing that their spy force was already created, Zatiel went to the next point and made his flames form a topographic map of the continent, using the information that Dante had provided him.
“Send every Archon and all, except five, of the Angels back to the place where they were abducted. Then leave them to act as they usually do and make sure that the Archon follows the order of the Dukedom about exploring the territories. Make the Angels send the information that the territory where we are and all the surrounding areas have all been cleared”
After the misinformation strategy had been made, Zatiel pointed at a mountain range near the periphery of the continent that connected with the ocean.
“There is where we will make the magic tower. The altitude will make any incursion of weak Rank 1 life forms impossible and also give us a clear view of any approaching enemy. In case of danger, we can also hide inside the ocean and use the magical creatures inhabiting it to conceal us and use them as food.”
Zatiel was looking at the map again, and focused on a city with the name of Berrak that was dozens of thousands of kilometers away, very deep inside the continent, and marked a place not far away from there, where a settlement of Angels was located.
“When I give you the signal, you will send all the Archons under your control to that area, all of them equipped with explosive devices. They cannot directly attack members of the Heavenly race, but they can kill them that way. I need to draw attention to that area, in order to make an army come there,” Zatiel made hundreds of white orbs appear and sent one to every captive Archon.
Zatiel did not feel anything when he planned for those Archons to explode themselves, after all, why would he need to feel bad for killing an enemy force, even if it was one that had been enslaved, but he knew that his son was not as cold as him.
Dante did not show anything in his face when he heard that command, but he could not trick Zatiel.
“Do not feel bad for them, they have been submitted to unimaginable torture all their lives and due to the alteration in their souls, I have no way to save them. Killing them is a way to set them free, besides, I bet all of them would be willing to die if they could kill a member of the Heavenly race.”
Zatiel’s knowledge was unimaginably deep, but trying to return a soul to its original form was something even he could not do, just with knowledge and without enough power.
Dante knew that he could not hide things from his father and could only sigh as he saw the pitiful fate of the natives of this world.
“Eat it,” As he gave the order and saw the Archons swallow those white orbs, the boy’s eyes were burning with determination as he promised himself to become stronger.
‘No matter what, I will make sure that our race never has to suffer a fate like this.’
“We will split now. I will take Sophia, Ezequiel, Rax, Kilo, the five remaining Angels and the drones. You will take the rest of the army to the mountain range and start to create the magic tower. Be ready to act when I give you the signal and also hand over the control of the five Parasite Tadpoles in those Angels to me.”
Dante followed the instruction and very soon Zatiel could feel the five tadpoles under his control.
Now that everything was ready, he waved his hand, making the dark golden fire disappear.
“The location for the tower has been decided. Follow me,” Dante did not wait for the rest of the army to speak and just fly away with the three Brain Golems behind him.
The Neo-Demons and Sun Champions followed immediately and although the Magi were doubtful, when they saw that they were leaving the white warriors, Archons, and Angels, they eventually flew as well.
The moment the army was away, the Archons and Angel also started to move, only leaving five Angels behind.
Once everyone had left, Zatiel activated his Sun Domain and made the Undying Leviathan appear.
“Lets go!”
Sophia, Ezequiel, Rax, Kilo, the three hundred white warriors and five Angels, jump on the massive back of the creature and then start to advance.
In order to not attract attention, Zatiel moved through the dangerous zones known by the Angels and was always using Clairsentience to detect any type of danger or life form close to them.
During their trip, they kill a great number of magic creatures, including some at Rank 3, for which they were forced to use their runic sets, since even with their advantage as Neo-Demons and powerful bloodlines, the time since their advance has been too short and all of them could be considered at Novice Rank 2 Neo-Demons.
Even though the time they could maintain their runic sets active was extremely small, by working together, they were able to kill Rank 3 Magic Creatures very fast.
There were times that they detected members of the Heavenly race, and if Zatiel thought they could kill them without leaving anyone alive, they attacked.
Three weeks were spent like that, and once they were close to the city of Berrak, he made his domain disappear and sent a message to Dante, before advancing along with the rest by foot.
Berrak city was a very beautiful place, like most constructions of the Heavenly race, it had a very impressive aesthetic; the buildings were not too big, and the walls were white with all sorts of delicate paintings surrounding them.
There was no trash in the street and the members of the Heavenly race were flying in the sky and all had a smile on their faces.
In the center of the city was a great tower, with all sorts of patterns, from which an immense power could be felt.
Of course, this was just the visible face of the city. The things that happen in the dark, where the natives and Archons are tortured for their enjoyment was not shown.
A Rank 2 Angel was flying over the northern gate of the city in his guard duty and he saw a big group approach his way. Although his expression was solemn at the beginning, when he saw the five Angels at the led he relaxed and a smile appeared on his face as he waited until they were in front of him.
“Brothers, I am Hikor. What brings you to the city of Barrak, and what are those things?”
Hikor tone was very friendly and he would have invited the Angels to enter the city immediately if it was not for the three hundred warriors in white armors behind them.
Although some of them resembled Archons, there were a lot that had different forms and he also found it weird for them to use armor since in his mind those beasts should only use clothes to cover their disgusting bodies and there was no sense in offering them protection.
“Brother Hikor, I am Jason. My brothers and me were sent here by Lord Kasius, to bring these modified Archons to help in the finding of the invaders. We hope that the Lord of the city could inspect them.
“They were altered by blending the armor into their skin, the process was extremely painful but now they will be able to improve their exploration abilities and there is also the benefit that they are more pleasing to the eye,” Jason was giving a very cordial smile as he spoke, as did the other four Angels.
The Lord Kasius he was talking to was the leader of another city not very far from this one, of course, Jason had no relation with that person, and if Hikor were to ask some questions, he could have found the truth immediately.
But due to the confident nature and trust that members of the Heavenly race have between each other, he was satisfied with the explanation of Jason.
Of course, Hiker found something weird, but in his mind, there is no way a member of the Heavenly race would hurt another, besides all those people were at Rank 1 so they were no threat at all.
“So that is why you came. We have sent our Archons to explore, but those useless beasts have found nothing. I hope that these are better. Follow me, I will take you to the Lord.”
Hikor sent a signal and made the invisible force field around the city open up in front of him and once the five Angels and the three hundred white warriors passed, he closed it again.
Hikor and the rest were approaching the tower in the center of the city and although he found it odd how fast the Angels and white warriors were flying, he just followed their pace.
One minute after entering the city, from the tower an immensely powerful consciousness appeared, and like a wave, it encompassed the white warriors, and it seemed like it was about to crush them.
But unfortunately, it was too late, since all types of runes appeared on the armor and in the next second, all three hundred of them blew up at the same instant, combining their power, creating an explosion of black flames that covered a fourth of the city, including the tower from where the consciousness appeared.