Chapter 1: Battle at Avalor

In an overwhelming battlefield far above the clouds, the thundering roars of soldiers could be heard.

"For Avalor!"

"March!!"

"ROAR!!!"

Somehow, the two armies were standing on the clouds as if It were firm ground and innumerable corpses stained the clouds with golden and black blood which had mixed into an awful grey. There was a merciless storm brewing below as the thick grew hue of the clouds aggregated into piercing rainfall which burned the earth below like sulphur. Intermittent heavy bolts of lightning the size of a man's head, struck both the armies on the firmament and the suffering earth as if the heavens were pouring out its wrath. And once in a while glimpses of white and black armour, the respective colours of each army escaped through spaces in the ever-moving clouds.

Both sides engaged in fierce combat, not bothering to choose opponents, but simply hacking away at the sight of a figure in enemy colours.

"Down with the prissies!"

"The world shall be ours!!"

"BOW!!!"

The battle went on for days and nights, neither side backing down. The golden and black blood of each army continued to mix with the clouds, deepening the grey and thickening the storm.

Moira was seated atop her pegasus overlooking the scene with her usual Stoic expression. Dressed in an immaculate white battle-suit, her ethereal figure would charm any who laid eyes on it. Unfortunately, the current scene was filled with people fighting for their lives and their causes with reckless abandon; nobody paid her any attention other than her two companions who were flying alongside her.

She wasn't the only captain in the air, however, she was the only one yet to enter the battle. So far, the members of her Holy Manic squad had crushed all opposition to a pulp, advancing without a single casualty. The two beside her were her vice-captains and closest friends, Frederick and Mina. This was not the first crusade that their top elite squad would fight for the Royal Army of Avalor, and she didn't believe it would be her last either. However, in her long life, fate had continued to toy with her and today she couldn't help but feel a terrible foreboding.

Moira's instincts, which had been shaped, moulded and sharpened for the now five aeons of her life, had never failed her. This was why she chose to wait it out and see what exactly was coming for her, rather than rushing head-first in her usual manner.

In fact, this action had stunned not only the surrounding captains but Frederick and Mina as well. However, no one asked. First, this was neither the time nor place for a chat and even if one could manage that luxury, no one was in the mood for that today.

Usually, the angelic empires and Kingdoms would rush into the abyss for a crusade as the demons barely had any form of order besides the stronger ones bullying the weak to do their bidding. This was the case with this war as well. However, the demons suddenly opened a portal to the heavenly realm and attacked first!

This was the first time that the inhabitants of the abyss had revealed anything other than their immensely evil existences and bloodlust, but why was the first thing they revealed sinister intelligence instead of some accompanying trait of their usual characteristics?

It has been known for countless millennia that demons have anything but even the smallest sliver of intelligence. It's not as though they are mindless idiots, one can definitely have deep and poetic conversations with a mid-rank or any adult demon as long as they weren't an angel.

Yes, upon the sighting of an angel or even the sensing of the faintest angelic aura, demons would go berserk and whatever sagely wisdom they might've had would forsake them as if they were newborns offered breast milk. The only feelings they would ever possess would be the intense craving for blood and souls as well as a crazed combative spirit. The only exceptions to this were the demons with high-rank bloodlines or actual high-rank demons and those above, however, those sorts of existences were like nobility and wouldn't be used as cannon fodder or the vanguard force. And even if they were, it is still extremely difficult to resist this instinct.

So it is no small matter to see that the demon army took the initiative to open a portal to the heavenly realm and attack one of the lesser prepared border kingdoms: Avalor. More so, that after starting the battle, even the low-rank demons were able to maintain their reason and even form proper military tactics while the high-ranked demons stayed at the back without giving any orders.

It was as if they weren't even there and it was the low-rank demons organizing the battle on their own.

It was curious and it was most certainly threatening.

Thus, no one had any patience for anything besides either vanquishing these spawns of creation or sending them back where they came from. Fortunately, Avalor had one of the best elite squads in their army, the Holy Manics, who even the Realm Lord had declared to be of unmatched excellence in Heaven. So, they were able to persist while waiting for the reinforcements from the Heavenly Empire, the greatest angelic empire in the heavenly realm and the seat of Heaven's Realm Lord.

However, the reinforcements were still a month away when the demons suddenly increased their attacked almost tenfold. It was clear, they had moved to end this battle, but it was unlikely that Avalor would last until the reinforcements arrive, despite them already tripling their travelling speed. So, it was no wonder that the mood was exceedingly tense today and no one cared for why the Holy Manic captain had yet to join the fight, after all, the squad had yet to lose a soul and more importantly, no one was in the mood to care.

Suddenly a blazing figure from the demons' side zoomed into the midst of the two armies at a speed far beyond sound and directly attacked the Holy Manic squad members, a frightening explosion blasted for miles and more than half of the thousand-strong squad had been instantly obliterated.

Boom!

With a slight twitch of her eyebrow, Moira hinted to the two beside her with a low grunt and flew forward in the direction of the blast. The other two acquiesced this and motioned their pegasi to follow. Anyone who knew her — which unfortunately was only these two — would know that she was incensed and dangerous consequences lay ahead for anyone who managed to evict this reaction from her.

Whoosh!

The sword hanging across her waist had been sheathed and had cleared a path between her and her target. Abandoning her mount in the air, two pairs of golden wings unfurled on her back as she sped off towards the centre of the blast.

"Ah, it's you, young Moira," said the man floating above the charred area with a hideous yet strangely warm smile, despite the evil aura he was exuding. There were numerous bodies of figures in white armour piled around like a trophy. He had dark red skin and two long, menacing demon horns with two pairs of red, fleshy demon wings that were completely unlike the feathery wings of angels. However, these wings were the mark of his status as a demon with a very high-ranked bloodline.

"Ski," said Moria with undisguised disgust, almost as if the mention of his name would soil her being.

"Young Moira, it really pains me to see you addressing me this way all the time. And with the close relationship we have." he tutted like a father whose child had estranged him.

"Who has a relationship with you? Vile spawn!" Moira screamed. This bastard was always doing this to provoke her. Claiming they had a close relationship as if he was an elder of her family. She nearly threw up at the thought of having familial relations with a demon. "It's already good enough that you can still be calm talking to me," she continued.

"Ah yes, yes. He-he. Isn't it curious? Aren't you curious? Heh heh heh. We felt that the lower rank demons really needed to get some friends in the heavenly realm, he-he, even if they couldn't be as close as us two whose fate is already predestined. He-heh-he-he," Ski said with the same hideous warm smile, cackling in the usual demonic manner in between.

Moira frowned. How did they even manage that? Countless millennia have passed but there has never been the mention of anything that could possibly achieve this. And Moira knew because she had scoured over practically all the books in the Realm Lord's imperial library.

But before she could reply to him, he spoke again in his sickeningly genial tone "You don't really need to worry your head over that, though, my dear. I have come specifically to reap your little life and if possible, corrupt your angelic soul so that I could at least have you as a war trophy this time."

"You bastard!!!" Moira screamed. If she was irked by his actions before, his words had sufficiently enraged her.

And her fury was evident as she immediately engaged him.

The two fought furiously and at speeds the human eye could never hope to follow, transforming into two blurs of red and gold. There was no clear victor and the surrounding battle ensued. Actually, it never stopped, it was only the few angel captains and similarly ranked demons nearby that paused to listen to their squabble.

Frederick and Mina had also joined the fray with seemingly evenly matched opponents and the carnage that had gone on for nearly five days reached its climax.

"You've improved again, young Moira. Tsk, with this talent, if I really don't kill you off this time I'll probably never have the chance." Ski's voice rang out again to those nearby enough to hear amidst the chaos.

And then he moved.