Instinct of survival

Holding Akiel in her hand, Jophiel stood up.

"I'll take him. He might be in shock because of the fall."

But as she stood, her attention was drawn to the beehive in Akiel's hand as it fell to the ground.

"What's that?" she asked.

Philsa picked up the beehive and observed it.

"It's the taboo object," an answer came from behind her, and looking in that direction, Jophiel saw Keya.

"Respect to the Dominion Angel," Keya said, lowering her head towards Jophiel.

"Is that the reason he's like this?" Jophiel muttered as she looked back towards Akiel.

A Dominion Angel, which far surpasses the rank of regular angels, possesses powers that far surpass the others, and their abilities are unique to the name and title they possess.

As a Dominion Angel, the title Jophiel holds is "Angel of Beauty."

From her birth to ancient times, anyone who sees her praises her beauty, and whenever she appears, there will be countless beings trying to please her.

But Jophiel isn't swayed by these countless affection seekers. With her extraordinary beauty, she also possesses something else: a heart that doesn't easily melt. Even if there are tens of thousands of innocent beings killed in front of her, which would make any angel gray, she has the heart and mind not to feel any emotion about them. From ancient times until now, there has been no being that made her heart beat and feel affection. That was one of the reasons why, from ancient times to now, she remained a virgin.

But once she saw Akiel, the history of eons changed in an instant. Her heart began to beat uncomfortably; it was like she found a lost part of herself. Deep inside her, she got the thought: he has to be mine, no matter what.

"But I didn't feel anything from this," holding the beehive, Philsa muttered.

"Are you sure this is actually a taboo object?" she looked at Keya.

"Not only me, but all of us who found them agreed that these are taboo objects," Keya said as she put down the box in her hand, opened one, and took the seashell-like object from it.

"See, this one has ominous energy," she showed it to Philsa and Jophiel.

"They seem reminiscent of the dark beings," observing the seashell, Jophiel said.

"Dark being," hearing her, the angels in the whole castle fell silent.

If a taboo object belonged to a dark being, the power and destruction it could cause surely would be devastating.

"However, there's no point in guessing now. I'll take him and treat him myself," Jophiel suddenly said, stretching her giant wings that spread all over the castle and swinging them, flying up into the air.

"Is that okay, Philsa?" After Jophiel left, Keya asked Philsa, who was still looking up.

"Whether it's right or not, how could I prevent her from doing whatever she wants? She's the Angel of Beauty. How could anyone be mad at her for anything?" muttered Philsa as she continued to gaze upwards.

"I'll just report this to Lahrak later," she added after a few seconds.

After Jophiel left, the virtual castle returned to normal, and angels resumed their usual tasks. However, in a corner of the castle roof, there was an angelic being observing all that happened.

"Interesting," the angel muttered before stretching his wings. From his back, four pairs of wings that shimmered like light itself emerged, and with a swift movement, he disappeared from the place.

- - - -

Thud!

Thrown back by the speed of the tentacles, Akiel flipped backward and landed on his feet far away from the ominous figure.

What's this overwhelming feeling? This sudden surge of energy that makes me feel like another being... Is this my survival instinct?

As a new energy began to overflow in my body, I began to wonder. The only time I felt like this before was the first time I was with Filora.

"Ooo!" At that moment, the dark figure that I pushed to the ground slowly stood up, and from around it, countless giant worms rose up.

Kraaa!

The worms' screams filled the atmosphere, opening their large mouths as they lunged toward me.

"Whenever it is, I don't care anymore. If it means survival from here," closing my eyes, I let the madness and this new energy take over my body.

And in the next second, Akiel took a step forward and suddenly lunged toward the giant worms coming toward him.

Grahhh!

With a mighty scream, a giant worm surged forth, but Akiel extended his hand and swung it like a sword, slicing the worms apart.

Following the first worm, others swiftly followed, but akin to the initial one, Akiel continued slicing through them, filling the ground with the remnants.

After a few minutes of relentless battle against the creatures, Akiel stood amidst the carnage, his entire body coated in the blood gushing from the worms, rendering him darker in appearance.

Huffing heavily, his breath audible, wisps of air visible as they escaped his nose. Lowering his head, he glanced toward the dark figure below and suddenly leaped down toward it.

As countless tentacles surged from the ground around the dark figure, aiming for Akiel, he deftly avoided them with swift agility, closing in on the dark entity rapidly. With a decisive movement, his hand pierced the body of the dark figure.

"Chis!"

Aughh!

The creature let out a dreadful cry, its dark and eerie voice echoing from its mouth as Akiel's hand struck true.

Akiel pulled back his hand along with the insides of the dark figure's body. Then, he thrust his hand again and again, destroying the dark figure's body piece by piece as it exclaimed an eerie voice from its mouth.

The tentacles rose up from the ground, swiftly moving towards Akiel. However, as Akiel pierced his hand through the dark figure, they suddenly stopped moving and fell to the ground as if losing their energy to move.

Pulling his hand back from the dark figure, Akiel grabbed its head and felt the clutches of worms swirling from its face to his hand. However, akiel face showed no disgust or fear towards them now.

"Chis!"

In the next scene, he crushed the head of the dark figure, and its body fell to the ground like a messy heap of mud.

Huff!

Akil sighed a long breath, gazing at the remnants of the unknown entity.

He looked at his hand and felt the energy of his body slowly draining away.

"I guess that the threat is over; my survival instinct is also calming down."

Aughh!

He felt an extreme pain throughout his body as the energy left, realizing he had pushed the limits of his body far beyond what it was capable of.

Shrush!

At that moment, I heard a sudden sound coming from the ground. Looking down, I saw something like a shadow rising up from the remnants of the dark figure.

It resembled a snake head, dark and shadow-like, slowly rising and swirling around me, whispering something that I couldn't understand.

"Get away from me," feeling annoyed, I tried to shoo it away from my hand, but as soon as I touched it...

Krahh!

With an eerie sound, I jolted upright.

Arghh!

With a scream, akiel opened his eyes and stood up.

"Huh! Where am I? What happened to that thing?"

As I looked around, I realized I was in a clean bed, surrounded by luxurious-looking furniture in a full room.

Clank!

At the moment of opening the door, a figure entered the room. Seeing the face of the person who entered, I almost choked on own saliva.

"You..."

"Ah, you're awake." Seeing me, she said with a pleasant face. Walking toward me, she placed the plate in her hand, which had exotic-looking fruits, on the nearby table and sat closer to me on the bed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I'm feeling better, but where am I? Where's Philsa and Keya?" I asked her.

"Do you mean the two guardian angels that accompanied you before?" she asked, to which I agreed with a nod.

"Those two should be doing what they used to do, but you don't need to ask for them from me now. Didn't you remember? You said yourself that you would be mine," she said as she picked up a fruit from the plate on the table and began to peel it.