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Creed and Uriel were atop the capital’s wall. From their vantage point, the mountain that had crushed the first sector’s wall merely looked like a hill. It was barely half as tall as the wall they were sitting on, and it was still a great distance away. The halflings and angels scrambling about were like ants defending and attacking an anthill. The wind whipped Uriel’s hair around, and she brushed strands away from her face. The first thing they had done after leaving the room was buy new clothes. Well, Uriel had; Creed had climbed into a tree and taken a nap.
“That’s the army we’re supposed to crush,” Uriel said, sitting such that her feet dangled off the edge of the wall, swaying in the wind.
“We still have six days,” Creed said and yawned. He was lying along the edge, bathing in the sun with his eyes closed. His arms were resting behind his head. A breeze rushed past him, rustling his plain white robe. Surprisingly, unlike the walls of the different sectors, the top of the capital’s wall was empty. There were no siege weapons or armed troops, and the top was made out of concrete instead of red metal, allowing anyone to use their powers.
“It’s not still have six days, it’s only have six days,” Uriel said as her forehead wrinkled.
“Don’t you want to spend as much time outside as possible?” Creed asked, raising an eyebrow while keeping his eyes shut. “I know I do. I almost forgot how nice the wind feels against my skin.”
“You can kick up a breeze any day with your humility, but you’re too lazy to,” Uriel said and snorted.
“It’s not the same…,” Creed said. His belly rose up and down in time with his breathing. A soft snore escaped from his nostrils before Uriel could even reply.
Uriel pursed her lips and crossed her arms over her chest. Fine, she’d listen to him for now. It really had been a long time since she felt so at ease. Living with five other people in a small room for centuries took a toll on one’s sanity. She crossed her legs and placed her elbow on her knee while propping her chin up with her palm, squinting at the mountain in the distance. It continued forward at a snail’s pace—to her at least—running over buildings and roads, leaving behind a trail of brown. “So crude,” Uriel muttered. Her fingers twitched, and she sighed while standing. Maybe she’d play with them.
Uriel smiled and licked her lips before pointing in front of the mountain. A wall of earth shot out of the ground, towering over the mountain in an instant. A cloud of dust rose into the air as the two collided. She was sure some people screamed, but she couldn’t hear anything from where she was. The mountain shifted towards the left, peeking out of the wall. The base was flattened, but it seemed like the people manipulating the mountain had stopped in time to prevent an even larger collision. Uriel placed her hands on her hips and waited. When the mountain circled around the massive wall, it sank back into the earth as if it never existed. The buildings on top of it were perfectly preserved.
The mountain continued forward, but at a slower rate than before. Uriel pointed again, causing another wall of earth to rise out of the ground. This time, there was no dust cloud. The mountain inched to the left again, and Uriel allowed it to pass. She repeated this action dozens of times until the first sun had begun to set. The mountain that could’ve made it to the capital’s wall by now had only traversed a quarter of the distance. When it had reached the halfway point earlier, Uriel had created a wall and curved it ever so slightly, extending it along with the movements of the mountain. The mountain always tried to move left to go around the walls, but the curved wall made them travel backwards without them even noticing.
“What are you doing?” Creed asked as he sat up and wiped at his bleary eyes with his fingers.
“I’m playing a game,” Uriel said. She was getting a bit sleepy from the expenditure of her mana, so she had begun construction of a massive maze. Of course, the maze had no exits and never allowed the mountain to travel past the halfway point, but she figured the harpies in the air wouldn’t figure that out. If harpies were anything like they were in the past, then their problem-solving skills were worse than a brick’s.
“What kind of game?”
“God,” Uriel said. She nodded at the maze that was beginning to take shape. The mountain remained motionless.
“What if they break through the walls instead of playing your game?” Creed asked and picked at his ear with his pinky. He inspected the glob of earwax before flicking it off the wall.
“You know the earth I manipulate is harder than the red metal,” Uriel said and snorted. She sat beside Creed and yawned before lying on her back. “I think that’s enough work done for today, don’t you think?”
“You’re getting lazier,” Creed said. A figure flew into the air above the mountain, and the mountain began to move in the maze. Unfortunately for the rebels, it was a futile effort. Creed shook his head and lay beside Uriel, closing his eyes. The evening breeze felt nice.
“I don’t want to hear that from you,” Uriel said. “Tomorrow, we’re seriously going to deal with them. But for now, we sleep.”
While the angel and demon slept, the mountain continued to move, getting closer and closer to the halfway point. Uriel was right about the harpies’ problem solving skills; unfortunately for her, she didn’t expect someone extremely good at solving puzzles to take to the air. When the mountain reached the furthest it could go, a strange white glow engulfed the peak, spreading down to the base as if water were poured on top of it. The light swirled and concentrated on a single point, glowing as bright as the sun. Thousands of blue strands of light connected the light with the inhabitants of the mountain.
Uriel stirred and shielded her eyes with her arm. “Morning already?” she asked and furrowed her brow. Her eyes widened when she realized the suns weren’t out. She smacked Creed, causing the demon to twitch. “What is this?”
“The moon?” Creed asked, his eyes opening a tiny crack. “It’s not even dawn. Let me—”
“Get up!” Uriel shouted. “Get up right now!” His arm was nearly yanked out of his socket as Uriel ripped him off the ground. Wind swirled beneath them and violently launched them into the air, sucking their breaths away.
Creed cursed as his eyes fully opened. “What the hell are you doing?” he asked. His eyes widened as he looked down just in time to see a massive white ball of light smash against the capital’s wall, causing it to fracture and crack. It took a second for the sound to reach them, but when it did, they were launched even further into the air, vomiting blood with their ears bleeding. Creed’s vision blurred while his ears rang. Through the dim illumination from the moon, he could make out a path of destruction starting from the mountain and ending at the capital’s wall which was shedding metal like a glacier shedding ice. There was a semi-circle of brown extending from the wall, nearly reaching the mountain. Everything in the blast zone had been reduced to dust.
Uriel let out a groan as the wind holding her and Creed up vanished, causing them to plummet towards the ground. Using her last vestiges of consciousness, Uriel summoned a cushion of wind beneath them to catch their bodies before they hit the ground. The caress of the evening breeze was the last thing she remembered before fainting.