Chapter 52 - Information Worth Thousands Of Lives

Vale planted her right foot firmly, both as a means to display courage and as a way to kill her nerves.

"We can fight the winged creatures without casualties! We are able to kill dozens, no – even hundreds of them all at once!"

A commotion erupted in the Grand Castle.

Not a single soul could believe what their ears heard.

The roars of the Slayers grew louder and louder as each minute passed. 

Emperor Nicholas had to step in and calm them all down.

"Silence! Let the Specter finish disclosing this important piece of information!"

The noises had subsided after the Emperor's intervention.

Vale Ashford remembered her fallen comrade, Dunham, and how much he and every other Slayer sacrificed just to get this information back to Niflheim. 

She also heard about the Tragedy of the Outer Gates from another Slayer before the meeting started.

Children.

Mere children were being sent outside to see who was to survive an onslaught against a single Angel.

The thought repulsed her so much.

Veins began to form around her temple as she raised her voice and shouted.

"Me and my late partner, Dunham, have not only found a way to eliminate humanity's foes for eons now, what we discovered is also tied with how the reproduce. Our efforts will allow mankind to deal with these pesky Angels in one fell swoop!"

She exclaimed.

Vale took a deep breath in.

The Specter took some time to follow her words up.

Every single Slayer there now had their attention glued towards her.

Their gazes fixed on her as though she was a performer meant to entertain a crowd.

But this was for good reason.

What she started to declare was something humans had not known before. It was going to be their sword, a weapon, if you will, against the harbingers from above.

That is what these war-hardened Slayers thought.

They were indeed right.

"Continue, Vale."

Emperor Nicholas, who stood in front of the crowd told her.

Vale Ashford nodded.

"The Angels that we know of breed using hives."

She said calmly.

"H-Hives? You mean like bees?"

"Yes. Exactly like bees."

A disgruntled low voice from the crowd asked.

Vale coughed.

She had to clear her throat as she was going to be talking for a long time tonight.

"Dunham and I were on the verge of making the longest expedition outside the Gates ever recorded. We were both committed to our mission, to scout the enemy and gather whatever valuable information there was to be gathered. But little did we know, we were about to stumble into a gold mine."

The Emperor told a servant to get a glass of water for the lady, to which the servant devoutly complied.

"We walked far north, dodging every monster and Angel that came our way, that was when we found it. The hive."

Vale gulped.

"It was truly where one would expect these shiny, white, blinding Angels to come from. The hive was shimmering with light, at first, we did not know what it was, to close the distance, we would have to wait out until the patrolling Angels in the sky would up and vanish, so me and Dunham waited for five whole hours, not moving a muscle, hidden in a well-placed bush."

Vale covered her mouth and coughed once more.

Though both Luken and Gavin knew she was only trying to contain her tears.

No matter how strong someone might be, losing your friend or family in battle is the hardest loss one can ever be subjected towards in Niflheim.

"So, where was I?"

She asked.

"You were hiding in the bushes for five whole hours."

Said a man with a soft voice, yet spoken with such concrete annunciation.

It was Ignis Silva.

"Y-Yes, as I was saying, we waited until the patrolling Angels flew away, it was like a gamble, honestly, we did not know if they would even fly away. Yet our gamble worked in our favor, after a couple of hours, they indeed flew away. We knew it was now or never, either we persevere and push through towards the hive, or we would go back to Niflheim with the same old empty-handed information that our Slayers would not even use."

She said.

The Emperor's servant rushed out and gave the Emperor the glass of water he demanded from earlier.

But the Emperor waved him off with his hands.

"It is not for me, young boy, give it to that lady over there, the one speaking in front of everybody, she must be exhausted, both mentally and physically."

The Emperor said.

After that, the servant handed Vale Ashford the glass of water, just in time as she was catching her breath. 

"Thank you."

She said to the servant.

The latter merely bowed and lowered his head, before running back outside of the room."

"We slowly crawled towards the hive, keep in mind that we did not know what it was as of that moment, but we messed up, our gamble was wrong, just as we were about to stand up, two Angels walked out of the hive, perhaps they were the ones truly guarding this hive. Me and my late partner sprung into action, of course, as someone who is known as the 'Specter' I fight close quarters and I fight quick, with speed to my advantage, the Angels were not able to react in time, we both took each one of them out with a quick slice to the throat. When we finished exterminating them, it was obvious that these bodies should not be laid around here, a patrol might come scouting back, and that would be the end of us, so I dragged the bodies and have Dunham go inside the hive first, I told him I would catch up."

"Well, did you?"

A bright shine reflecting from this man's glasses was seen.

This condescending voice again, it could only belong to one other person, Ignis Silva.

"Ignis."

Luken said his name in a higher intonation, signaling his annoyance at him interrupting Vale.

"Well met, Luken. Oh, my bad, it should be Commander, right?"

The man smiled mockingly.

He had his brunette hair worn down in a sort of messy toupee.

Ignis was a tall, well-kept man with a pale complexion.

The Inferno Garden wore white coats, with the pocket bearing the organization's insignia – a burning eagle spreading its wings as it is engulfed by the flames.

While Luken and Gavin wore their signature Six Blades black coat with the six robed individuals stabbing an Archangel with each sword.

It was now time for the Emperor to butt in again, if he did not, there was no knowing what each of them might do.

"I have called this meeting for a reason, it is so we are able to be briefed about the information that Vale Ashford has gathered that she has deemed necessary in order to win this centuries-old war against the Angels, I do not think I stuttered nor misplaced any indication that we are to gather to fight amongst one another, did I?"

Emperor Nicholas was visibly infuriated.

Gavin had to pull Luken back.

He did not say a word.

"My apologies, sire. I was only really going to say hello to my dear friend, the Commander, over here."

Ignis said while keeping his mocking smile painted over his face.

"I would like to extend my humble apologies, I really do, Vale, please, continue."

He said as he walked back to crowd.

"R-Right. After I hid the Angel's bodies, I caught up to Dunham who was prowling around inside the hive. What we found was truly haunting. It was only a small hive, there had to be around twenty or less Angels slumbering inside the hexagonal layers of the hive. We snooped around and for ways to kill them all at once, while they were still asleep, that way, we can eliminate them without having to fight twenty Angels head-on. Our time was also limited, there was no knowing when the patrol of Angels might come back here, and it would be hard to outrun them in an open field like this."

Each Slayer present in the meeting at the Grand Castle inched closer, eager to hear what happened to Dunham and how the rest of Vale's story might end.

"They were basically asleep. I gambled one last time, I took out my blade and cut a finger off of a sleeping Angel. Blood poured out of it, but it did not react, no, it was still asleep. Dunham then attempted to slit one's neck, it worked, but we both found out that the hive's thick, gooey layer was hard to cut through, so there might be a much more efficient way to do this. As you know, I am a Wind Slayer, whereas Dunham was a Fire Slayer.. Both of us were left to our devices there, if either wind nor fire does not work, we wouldn't be able to kill any of them."