A Wolf's Howl, A Fairy's Wing-Chapter 797 - Intervention

Time ticked on slowly after Zahra activated the communication sigil. She looked at the incoming midnight disks and gently closed her eyes, ready for the end she knew was coming as she had no way left to defend herself with.

"In the end..." she muttered softly. "I suppose I faile—"

"Hahaha!"

Suddenly, thunderous laughter rumbled through this starry midnight dome. Then, a loud crack followed. Everyone looked up. Even the confessor was startled, causing his midnight plates to falter for a moment.

A giant crack now ran through the full moon in the sky, allowing some sunlight filtered through.

"You sure like to wait until the last moment, huh?!"

A jovial voice thundered immediately after. The confessor didn’t recognise it, but the trio certainly did. Reluctant relief flooded their systems, but they didn’t stop moving. Despite faltering for a moment, the midnight plates quickly picked up the pace again. Yet, whatever was happening had disrupted the icy starlight beams from raining down.

"Who are you?!" the confessor roared furiously, but with a hint of trepidation. Someone who could crack his midnight domain like this most definitely spelled trouble for him.

Boom

His answer came in the form of a second booming crack, immediately followed by the sound of shattering glass. Instantly, the midnight domain exploded into a million different pieces that slowly dissolved in the air.

The blue sky made a comeback, and with it came a bright golden disk floating in the air, with three people standing on top of it. One, a pale woman with fiery hair, a smirk, and two swords. Another, a fair woman wearing a bright white, fantastical maid outfit, with long white hair, heterochromatic eyes, and a serene smile, unbothered by her surroundings.

Finally, a large, heavily armoured werewolf wielding a massive warhammer, crackling with icy-white lightning. He was still mid-swing, and grinning excitedly.

All three of them were third-rankers.

"Thank you, beautiful!" Erik’s voice echoed from the wisps of lightning he left behind, as he almost immediately disappeared in a flash of lightning after breaking the dome.

Having used his movement ability, he landed in front of Zahra with a heavy boom. Shockwaves passed through the surrounding sandstone, and dust flew in the air. It’d taken no more than a few seconds between Zahra calling for help, and Erik landing in front of her. Combined with the confessor’s momentary faltering, he’d come just in time to save her life.

Roaring, he swung his hammer in a horizontal arc and smashed it against the right-most midnight plate. He intended to simply swing all the through and hit the left-most as well, but underestimate the momentum and weight behind them. His hammer blew the one plate away, but he could not hit the other as well.

’Guess that’s my bad for wanting to look cool and underestimating a confessor in the process,’ Erik sighed casually to himself, without losing focus.

Using the momentum of his swing, he let his hammer swing wide, released one hand of its handle, and charged the spatial spell repulse on his armoured fist. With intense force, he smashed second plate away as well. It worked, but Erik immediately grew more cautious, as it felt kind of like smashing a mortal fist against a thrown rock.

Shaking his painful hand and repositioning his hammer onto his shoulder, he ignored the surrounding people to look up at Emma and Astrid with a smile. "You girls know what to do, right?"

"Yes, Master," Emma smiled gently, nodding with her hands behind her back.

Next to her, Astrid sighed while rolling her eyes. "Yes, yes... I get the boring job..."

Seeing Erik narrow his eyes at her casual attitude, she immediately threw up her hands in surrender. "But not unimportant!" she immediately added, a sheepish smile on her bright red lips.

Satisfied, Erik nodded and finally turned his attention to the confessor, cocking his head. The man had used this time to quickly recall his midnight plates, which now circled around him as he looked at Erik sombrely. He and Erik now only had eyes for each other, with the trio having disappeared in the background.

"I know who you are..." the confessor stated in a low voice, his body restless. Erik could see a combination of excitement and worry that he’d seen so many times before.

"Then you have me at a disadvantage," Erik chuckled, shrugging. Despite his casual stance, his eyes carefully followed each of this man’s movements. Not only was this man the same rank as Edda, who he’d only barely managed to defeat with the help of others, but he’d just personally felt his power.

"The Eternal Midnight affinity," Elora’s voice echoed in his mind, her tone curious. "It’s a fourth rank fusion of ice and shadow... I really wonder where this bitch gets these confessors of hers..."

Erik naturally understood she was talking about the fairy leader of the Humanitas Sang. Knowing the fusion parts of this affinity also told him enough to get an idea of what he could expect.

"You can call me Gabriel," the confessor answered, his sharp eyes never leaving Erik’s body as he leaned on his walking stick. Gabriel then cocked an eyebrow. "Is it a good idea to be so far away from your newly founded little fiefdom? You should know you won’t get to enjoy it for long..."

Erik chuckled, smirking. He immediately understood this man had no idea about Erik’s newfound teleportation capabilities, and had no intention of explaining, either. ’Although I do wonder if it’s just this guy, or if that fairy, Imogene, doesn’t know, either.’

"I’d like to tell you the same thing, actually," Erik answered, his eyes twinkling playfully. "You guys should have really focused on me and delayed your invasion of Europe for a while," he continued. "Now, you may already be too late."

"Hmpf," Gabriel snorted, tapping his walking stick against the floor. "Delay two years of planning and one year of preparation just for one upstart, suffering from delusions of power? Not likely. The Council is a much bigger threat than you will ever be."

"In fact," he continued, a grin slowly spreading on his lips as he appeared to have made a choice of some kind, "I think I will cut your tale short right here and now..."