Space Angels: find the Gift (complete)

֎ The O-zone ֎ ~ Chapter Forty-Two

42 – Only death is the answer to everything (1959)

Borak watched the Incubus leap towards Cylvah's back but she was across the field before it was halfway airborne, clawing at empty air. Though the jumping ability of the little black being was impressive, he knew it could not match a Cherub's speed. It hit the ground with a yelp after Cylvah had whizzed away.

Borak's words cut through the air.

"Cuckoo devil! It is time for your judgement. No more will Edon youth perish at your hand, vile creature, and your service for Lord Stygien is at an end..."

The Incubus spun round, growling its disgust before sprinting towards him and springing into the air. Borak released a spinning crown of blue from his fingers, which connected with the creature's raging head. The razor-mouth features turned to sparks and continued down its body as it flew. Only black dust fell to the ground, carried away on the wind.

Despite having an Edon body with only two eyes, a ring of lights flickered around Borak's head – his omni-directional sight, with its zooming capabilities, could still track Cylvah's flight path. Even as he dispatched the Incubus he detected Picky's loud bravado.

"See, I told you – she's a coward!" Picky had said, but his mouth fell open when Cylvah hurtled towards him, her sword held aloft. After she brought it down, severing Picky's arm at the elbow and violet blood gushed forth, Borak realised she'd seen something he had missed: a thin flaming thread snaked from Picky's fingers and was slowly choking Ecad to death. The fiery strand extinguished when Picky's arm landed in the grass. Ecad gasped for breath while Picky shrieked in pain staring at his bloody stump. Picky was another of Stygien's soldiers, and violet was the colour of the Iblis clan – their watchword, pride. Cylvah's vigilance had proved her value as a cadre member once more.

"You're no Edon," Jango said, as if waking from a trance, and flung a gust of wind that lifted Picky into the air. He landed in a crumpled heap at Borak's feet.

"You are judged, Imp," Borak said, as Picky's face began to shed, revealing a violet skin. A Torrent of blue spewed from Borak's mouth and the Imp's body erupted into flame until only a small mound of dust remained.

Borak hurried to Ecad's side. Jango and Cylvah, were helping him into a recovery position to aid his breathing while he coughed and spluttered from the effects of his near strangulation. Borak's healing bots were dead roasted lumps in the grass and there were tiny burns about Ecad's body and his neck was red; Picky's fiery powers had made short work of the skipsacalion Jango had put there to identify the Imps' poison.

"I reckon they've killed me, Jango," Ecad said grabbing Jango's hand tightly and coughing up more golden blood. "I was so looking forward to going home."

"Ecad I'm sorry... I was tricked!"

"What happened to Benji," Ecad murmured.

"He's okay, he's passed out but he's alive, I've got a Scintilla on him," Cylvah said.

"Thanks, the cadre must care for him. He's witnessed too much and the Imps will seek him out."

"The Seraphim can correct his mind, Ecad, don't worry, but we must care for you too," Borak said, waving the Cherubs back and checking Ecad's newest injuries. "This Imp was an initiate, Ecad, but it still had the skill to use its burning thread ability."

The Iblis clan used smokeless fire as their weapon, and could even become that element if they reached the fourth class. Borak slashed the smouldering garments of Ecad's Edon host, as he talked, exposing a network of tiny burns on the man's skin.

"Both Picky and the other must have used O-zones before. They are an Imp's favourite playground..." Borak set a healing bot over each injury and used his own healing power on swollen throat muscles, opening the Edon's airways. "...they're the ultimate killing field where prey can be humiliated before its inevitable slaughter. No one would know what happened to their victims in these secret places and not even their commander could check what went on in here. Whatever happens in an O-Zone, stays there. This could work to our advantage."