A calamity approached fast. Cygnus had to act just as fast.
The Westland kingdom had legions of soldiers trained for war and many talented mages at its disposal, yet Arthur had an intuition that the threat was beyond the strength of even his mighty military. The splotch of anomalous black magic that had appeared on their radars had an output greater than they had ever seen before, far surpassing any individual person or even an army. Cygnus, perhaps the strongest mage in the kingdom among the likes of Arthur, Lancelot, the princess, and a few others, was never someone who fought on behalf of the kingdom. While he certainly had no qualms if it were ordered by Arthur, the king would never ask someone as valuable as him to fight unless the circumstances were at their direst.
As he bit his lip and ran through the streets, he remained hopeful that there might be another even stronger than him to aid them. A new player in the game who had just arrived and could shake up the world with their unique power.
Xinyu Ma, the eastern girl who had held the strangest, but mightiest powers he had ever witnessed. If he and she combined their efforts with a strike force composed of the strongest Arthurian guards and Agents of Darkness, then they could surely take down any dark beast under the gods that lay in their path.
Cygnus arrived at Avalon's guild hall, where Lancelot had made his presence scarce. He peered around and then ran up to the receptionist, Sheila.
"Ah, Cygnus," she said, startled by his rushed demeanor. "It's been a few days since you've been around. Is everything alright?"
"But of course, dear," Cygnus assured. "Can you tell me the quarter number where the foreign girl is staying?"
"Of course," Sheila said. "One moment."
Cygnus sprinted up the stairs and barged into the room where Xinyu was supposed to be. When the door slammed open, hard enough to leave a slight indent on the wall, she was nowhere to be seen. The older Western man who accompanied her, Brax, was the only one in the room lying in the bed. He sat up, startled from a nap.
"Where is the girl?" Cygnus asked, trying not to stumble over in panic.
"Huh? Xinyu? Hell if I know," Brax said. "She took off almost a day ago, saying that something was coming and she was the only one who could stop it. Haven't heard nothin' since."
"She said that a day ago?" Cygnus said as his hair stiffened up on his skin. He began mumbling under his breath. "I suppose that's what the disturbance was in orb. If she couldn't stop it, then what hope have I? No, no, no! Argh! I can't falter! The country my father and Arthur strove to protect is at stake. I cannot let them down. I will not!"
"Uh, are you talking to yourself?" Brax asked. He was mildly concerned by the scholar's unusual ramblings, but even more so by his blatant fear.
"Sorry for the intrusion," Cygnus said. "I'll take my leave now."
"Wait," Brax said.
"There's no time to wait, friend," Cygnus said. "I've got to–"
"You're going to the thing Xinyu went to take care of, right?" Brax asked. " I'd like to go with you."
"That's not a good idea," Cygnus said. "I recommend you run far away from the city. You have a family, correct? Go to them and then away with haste."
"Run away… that's what Xinyu said to do if she didn't return either," Brax said. "But that's what I'd done all my life. And I'm sick of it. I suppose this means something happened to Xinyu, huh?"
"If she isn't here, then I suspect that's the case," Cygnus admitted.
"Then I'm comin' with you," Brax said. He knew if he didn't, Aziel would be right back at his window, haunting his every move. "Plus, if it's somethin' that even you're worried about, then my family's bound to be endangered by it sooner or later."
"If you're worried about them, then take them and run, anywhere but here," Cygnus said. "I'll ensure you have a home to come back to."
"My daughter's too frail to travel in her state, so I won't run," Brax said. "Listen, I ain't strong, but if I can increase the odds of beatin' whatever's coming by even a tiny bit, then I'll gladly give my life."
"Braver than you look, aren't you?" Cygnus said.
Brax and Cygnus ran through the city as weighty shouts began to fill the streets and reverberating bells rang from watch towers in the distance. They ran alongside guards who hastily pushed through the crowds with distraught looks on their faces, their weapons drawn and armor loosely thrown on. The armored men and women looked haphazardly ready to fight, but also like they had no idea what they were supposed to do or where they should be. The citizens of Wunderdum went about their business as usual, but grew increasingly anxious as the panicked soldiers scattered in confusion throughout, jumbling the pathways much more than usual.
Brax and Cygnus kept running towards the entrance, but the frenzied guards and surging citizens created an impossible maze of moving flesh, halting them to a worm's pace. At the rate they were traversing, it'd be hours until they reached the entrance.
Hours they did not have.
When the crowds grew too overwhelming, and it seemed like they would never exit the city, a woman appeared out of a thin veil of shadows before Brax and Cygnus, causing Brax to jump back.
"Ah, Leila!" Cygnus said. "What perfect timing! …is what I would say if this were a true coincidence. I assume the reason an Agent of Darkness is showing herself is to lead me to my death or some other horrid fate."
"Precisely," said the woman with cold blue eyes. Those eyes stared into the soul, not unlike the black witch from before, though they weren't quite as harsh. She was dressed head to toe in dark brown garments with a sheathing mask, and the only part of her that could be seen was a sliver of tanned skin where her eyes lie.
"Frank, as always. Well, lead the way," Cygnus said, sighing.
Brax had trouble keeping up with the other two since he hadn't a clue how to use physical enhancement magic, and his own physical prowess was less than ideal. He was pretty out of shape as a result of years of lethargy, and he lagged far behind, dreading each strained breath. Still, he always kept them in sight and never let up. His legs burned, and bones rattled, but his mind was able to hold him together despite it all.
Just before Brax thought his legs might buckle, they arrived at an inconspicuous spot somewhere at the city's outer wall. It was nowhere near an entrance and far from any major traffic points– the perfect spot for those who did not want to be seen. Brax was drenched in sweat and huffing loudly as he watched Leila remove a single loose brick, causing a secret pathway to spread apart in cobbled bricks.
The inside of the wall was hollow and dark, and held an unseen path of shadows known only to Wunderdum's Agents of Darkness. The path led outside the walls, as well as to the hidden catacombs beneath the city, which was a network of transit only for those who served in the darkness. It was a secret someone as lowly as he would never have been allowed to glimpse, but given the circumstances, it seemed he was given a pass. Leila motioned them, and they followed her through the pitch-black crevice.
In the wall, Brax had trouble seeing as his vision wasn't as good as it used to be, and he made sure to keep uncomfortably close to Cygnus as they walked forward. He was thankful that the walls weren't overtly thick, and it didn't take long to reach the other side; otherwise, he might have gotten lost in those walls, forever cursed to wander in the darkness of Wunderdum's hidden labyrinth.
Pushing down some loose bricks on the outer wall, another entrance was made into the fields of the Westlands. Those stretching plains were green as they always were at the forefront, but the three of them saw something horrid looming beyond. Swarms of black smog swelled like a storm of strange black dust, casting a nightly shadow upon the midday sky while ominous winds brought a staunch chill to the skin. Bumps and bristles encompassed their bodies, and they became frozen by the howls of a distant, screeching beast. It was a warning not to take a single step further. Something was there at the eye of the gathering storm, echoing a perishing lullaby.
"W-what is this terrible sense of dread I'm gettin'?" Brax asked, shuddering with each word.
"We must reconvene with your team, Cygnus," Leila said.
"They were deployed? Without my say?" Cygnus asked.
"There was no other choice," Leila said. "Your team is the most capable in the kingdom. They were sent along with a squad of elite soldiers and a few Agents of Darkness to keep the anomaly at bay."
"We should have gone all at once," Cygnus said.
"Why, so you could protect them?" Leila asked. "The more time that passes, the more innocents that die, and the closer that storm gets to the city. They were ordered to defend their kingdom, and now it's our turn. If they're still alive, we will fight alongside them. If not, then we will fight alone until we defeat the darkness, or lie dead."
"And the princess?" Cygnus asked. "Was she informed?"
"She was sent to protect the borders far away; there's no way we could get her here in time," Leila said. "But I'm not sure if she would make much of a difference in this fight. Given how massive those energy readings were, our odds aren't looking good either way."
"Don't talk like that," Cygnus said. "It's not like we're fighting against some impossible odds. Whatever this entity is, we shall conquer it."
"Yeah, sure," Leila said under her breath. She motioned her hand, and several more Agents of Darkness appeared all around them. They said nothing and were covered head to toe, similarly to Leila. By appearance, they were a mysterious bunch for sure, and a group of individuals Brax had never even heard of until the great scholar called them out by name. As Cygnus nodded to them, they all raised their arms to the sky and cast a stream of rippling summoning magic to bring the three a vehicle that would take them fast to the danger. From the welling energy they expelled, a beautiful and majestic pegasus-shaped spirit was levied from the spirit realm, and alongside it, a glorious chariot designed for riding gallantly into battle. This type of spirit summoning magic was versatile in that it could be used for both utility and fighting, but few could bring forward such a majestic and legendary creature as a pegasus. In this instance, it took the combined efforts of six incredibly skilled agents of the great kingdom.
Cygnus, Leila, and Brax were rushed onto it as one of the other agents slammed the carriage door shut and mushed the winged white horse without haste. As it began to trot forward with its steelish hooves, Brax began to grow uneasy. He'd gone with them on impulse, like he hadn't actually cared about his life and held the fool's courage, but that wasn't true in the slightest. He remembered he could die in an instant, especially if someone as strong as Xinyu couldn't stop whatever force was coming their way. He didn't want it to be over, yet that eternal darkness could overcome his flickering eyes in less than a second. It made his skin crawl. Someone so strong and determined falling without so much as a whimper - that was the reality of their world. But there was no backing out now.
The winged horse's slow skipping turned into a blitzing sprint. It ran so fast that the summer air turned to winter howls and the defined greenery swooned until blurred. Faster and faster, the majestic spirit lifted off the ground. Flapping its great wings, the pegasus glided through the air as gilded, gleaming trails of gold glitter followed behind its glorious white body. Beautifully, it swam through the sky at incredible speeds like a graceful soaring oarfish. The mythical creature was so fast that only minutes passed before it was zipping through the black amalgamation gathering darkly all around.
The surrounding white clouds faded into a dark fog of swarming locusts, and what remained was a lonely nothingness encapsulated in black. Brax and Cygnus peered over the edge and watched as the green earth below wilted brown from the wretched energy's decay, and the animals ran far away. It seemed that the fabrics of the sky's panes were disintegrating from corruption, and for Brax and the others, the sensation of dread overthrew all other emotion.
"So, what exactly are we going to fight?" Brax asked.
"No idea," Leila said. "It's an anomalous black magic with overwhelming power. Something the kingdom isn't equipped to handle in the slightest. We are marching to our deaths, no doubt. Hope you've made peace with yourself, old man."
"I'd rather not," Brax muttered. His leg was trembling rapidly, and he couldn't stop sweating. His beating heart, full of fear and anxiety, was on the verge of going into cardiac arrest simply from the anticipation of what they were soon to see.
"Arthur seems to think Cygnus and his team are enough to handle it, but that's not true," Leila said curtly. "You can sense it, can't you, Cygnus? This immense amount of dark energy is beyond anything you can do."
"But surely we've got a chance if we all fight together," Brax said, trying to calm himself.
"You… you were at the bar with the girl," Leila said as she stared at Brax. "I didn't think you went along with her."
"So you were the ones watchin' us, huh?" Brax asked. "I'm guessing you were after Xinyu."
"Well, we certainly weren't after you, old man," Leila said. "Unfortunately, she was too keen on her surroundings, and we had to stop following her until she got to the city. I suppose it doesn't matter in the end."
"Why's that?" Brax asked.
"Xinyu was quite strong," Cygnus said. "That girl was the only human who could so easily best constellation magic, and if what you told me is true, it appears not even she could defeat whatever lay ahead. The odds of winning are less than zero."
"Oh, so you do get it?" Leila asked smugly.
"That said," Cygnus continued. "That does not mean we will roll over and take it. I am the man most true to science, and even I know that sometimes, we must throw logic out the window to succeed. When the odds are stacked against you, you fight with all you've got because probability fails to factor in willpower. If we band together with my trusted friends who were sent ahead, I know there's nothing we can't accomplish."
"Well said," Leila said, clapping almost sarcastically. "Just don't expect to live long enough to prove those words right."
The pegasus landed and vanished into gold dust, leaving the three firmly on the ground. As they surveyed the area directly at the center of everything, they were met with a sanguinary scene; a chilling still frame in a black and white washed world lost in a nightmare.
Brax looked around, and all he saw was a sea of blood staining the darkened ground with the open graves of several dozen dismembered men and women. Arms torn from their torsos, bones smashed to bits, bodies in all directions; not one had been spared, nor was close to alive. The lush grounds where garfung grazed, and flowers bloomed hours prior, became a grim garden of dismembered parts and faces stricken with their final screams etched into their pale lips. Their voices had been hushed, all life had been crushed, and what was left was the sickening silence of indifferent carnage gushing out the stench of death.
Standing there, not Brax, nor Cygnus, nor Leila had the courage to move anything but their eyes, which all fell to the same point ahead.
Hovering above a mountain of cold corpses was something that descended from heaven, but rebirthed itself in the depths of hell. It dripped with gore and filth, its pulpy flesh falling off the bone, and where each wound should've been, it regenerated new skin more rotten than before. Their final foe was beyond a creature of the mortal realm, and beyond anything they could fight.
Twas the image of an angel, winged, overbearing, and divine, but one that had been twisted and dressed in oozing corruption.
The stricken souls whose shoes were now soaked with blood knew it was an angel in an instant, but it was not the noble servant of the gods from books and tales of old. It was something that had died, decayed, and resurrected with a hunger for flesh.
A corrupted angel had appeared.