Karasu no shugo tenshi - The Prophecy of Light - Part 1: Heaven and Hell

Chapter 4 - The croak of hope

Several weeks had passed since the first dark magician was created. In the meantime, Satan had sent the demons to bring more mortals to hell for this purpose. Several hundred had gathered, who were instructed by the demons in the art of dark magic. The wishes of the mortals had been quite different: From wealth, health, immortality to the desire for revenge, women and lands. „Fresh air at last", Perniger said to himself and knocked dust and ashes from his fur and clothes. He only ever had a few hours to rest and recharge outside of hell, then he would go back to continue his training. Teleporting was one of the things he enjoyed the most, along with banking and spending money. He had never been able to see so much of the world before, but now everything was open to him. As he didn't know his way around that well, it had also happened to him a few times that he appeared in the middle of a lake, on a high mountain or even in the house of a stranger. In the meantime, he had bought a small pouch, which he wore on his pants, there he stored his gold coins between. Painfully, Perniger stretched, squinting his eyes a little: „They are slave drivers, but first let's eat something." In this area he already knew his way around and ran directly into the city, which lay before him. The houses had some damage, which probably still came from the fights with the demons. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant place where many people lived and there was also a great inn. In which he ate almost every day, drank wine and filled his stomach with the most expensive food. Whistling happily, he walked along the streets, passing stalls here and there. Although he could buy anything he wanted, he grabbed an apple and bit into it a bit further with relish: „That's how I like it. Beautiful sunshine, I can have everything I want and no one can stop me anymore."

Perniger deftly turned the dagger in his hand and ignored the annoyed look of Falx, who was facing him: „You're not about to play around with it, but hit the stone there." Actually, Perniger had no intention of doing this at all, because he had already known how to handle daggers and knives before. Just because the dagger had now also been created dark magic, that did not mean that it used completely different. A dagger was a dagger. Amused, Perniger threw at the stone shown: „Satisfied?" „You need to throw with more power", Falx reminded him again, „If you let the dagger penetrate far into the flesh, your enemy will be badly affected or, in the best case, dead." „It's time to conquer the world of the living", Satan's dark voice sounded from the roof of his castle. Like many others, Falx had not even noticed that he had appeared up there. „Go and conquer the cities and villages!", he commands them, „And destroy the light magicians!" The demons disappeared one by one together with the new dark magicians in black fire to carry out the prince's command. Perniger looked around as soon as they appeared in front of the city. It was quite a respectable army, so it should be easy to conquer the city. „Give up now or we will destroy your home, take all your treasures and your blood will belong to the demons.", he announced immediately, sure of his superiority. Irritated, Falx looked at him: „We need to refresh your basic knowledge about demons. Not all demons drink blood." Many of the townspeople hid in their houses, locking doors and windows. Instead of giving up, a larger group of men and women confronted them: „Get out of here! We will not leave our homeland to you." Grumbling, Metos looked to her enemies and then to Verentia: „Let's let the dark magicians fight first. Then we'll see directly whether the effort was worth it at all." As Verentia never fought herself anyway unless it was worth the trouble, she had no argument against Metos' suggestion: „Come on! Servants of Satan, show how powerful you are!" Some of the dark magicians ran straight away, making swords, daggers or knives of dark magic appear. Surprised, the light magicians could watch weapons forming from black smoke, sharp and dangerous. „Shield!", someone from the lines of the light magicians shouted over the group. Almost at the same time, they stretched out their hands as if they wanted to defend themselves against the attackers with their bare hands. Instead, however, the attackers ran into an invisible wall, struck it with their weapons, and were supported by the magicians behind them, who shot dark magic balls at the invisible wall. Perniger even kicked the mysterious wall in front of him a few times: „Cowards! Fight like real men!" In fact, there were few women among the light magicians. It was simply not suitable for a woman to go into battle. The man was responsible for the protection of the family, but not every woman could fall back on a man at her side. Thus they preferred to fight themselves. Gabriel had honored this courage with the light magic. „We use our head", one of the women replied to Perniger's challenge, but didn't move an inch. „Sure... the head...", Perniger muttered to himself as he thundered his fist against the shield, „Why not, actually?" He took a few steps back and looked around. Not that he could see the shield, but the magicians behind it, and that gave him an idea. Grinning, he walked past one light magician after another until he finally reached the last one. He stood to the left of one of the houses and eyed Perniger skeptically. „Don't look like that, I'm just taking a walk here", Perniger joked and followed the wall of houses to the next street. There was no more light magician standing there to block his way. Testily he stretched out his hand and felt no resistance. Laughing loudly, he called out to the other dark magicians: „Just walk around them! They can't put up their walls everywhere!" „Seems like our little thief is fighting not only with magic", Falx said to the other two. Like all the other demons, the three have so far stayed out of the fight. „He has quite a big mouth", Verentia replied as the dark magicians split up and started moving out in all directions. „Face them", a voice sounded again from the ranks of the light magicians. The defense was dropped, the shield disappeared, while the light magicians tried to intercept their enemies. They had no weapons themselves and, to their knowledge, could not create any from their magic. Instead, they attacked with balls of light magic, blinded their enemies with pure light, or even fought with their fists. „Work as a team", sounded again from the ranks of the light magicians, „focus more on long distance combat." Perniger waited in a side street, pressed tightly against the wall, for his next enemy. He liked the excitement, the thrill, it had something, like stealing. Quickly he jumped out of his hiding place, used the moment of surprise and pushed the dagger deep between the ribs of the light magician. Wincing in pain, he collapsed, but he was not alone. His teammate shot light magic balls directly at Perniger, who, somewhat caught off guard, was hit several times. Staggering, he tried to jump at the other light magician. In all the excitement, he had forgotten that his dagger was still stuck in the other's ribs and had to spontaneously use his fists for the attack. More hits rained down on his body before Perniger fell to the ground, contracting painfully and finally disappearing in black smoke before the light magician's eyes. He now bent down to his comrade: „Breathe calmly. I will heal you."