Chapter 154 - Water's End

The sound of a boulder absolutely crushing the Water Seraphim underneath its massive weight was heard. Yin was even dodging the chunks of the rocks which were flying out from the impact. His Nix eyes were deactivated in order for him to conserve energy for later battles. "D-Did we get him?!" Yin asked himself. 

From the corner of his eye, Fen Kaori saw a small puddle of water mixed with some sort of red mixture, that was when he knew that it was blood from the Water Seraphim, Hai. But it was very suspicious, as the blood was not flowing naturally, it seemed as if it was alive. With some quick thinking, he drew bursts of lightning in his canvas and aimed it directly at the sentient puddle of blood and water.

As it had turned out, it was Hai himself, trying to let go of his old body because of the damage it had sustained from that massive burning boulder. Hai had the ability to basically 'fit' in his soul or essence and condense it into mere water. This made him incredibly hard to kill since he could grow out a new body after a few weeks, but the Slayers did not know of this, he thought that he was safe from death because of this ability of his.

But the Allcaster had a tingling sense of clarity, it was as if his instincts were telling him to electrify the puddle just in case. The area had tuned fiery red from the smoldering ashes and smoke from the burning gargantuan rock so visibility was going to be poor from here on out. 

Fen Kaori's lightning bolts flew out from his canvas and was now trailing the water puddle. This was going to be the last sight that Hai would see before his inevitable death. "T-These damn Slayers do not know who they are dealing with…once I grow out a new body for me, I will take back my honor and personally hunt Thanatos and all these other Slayers down to the ends of the Earth!" As he turned back because of a seemingly bright light approaching him from behind. It was Fen Kaori, the Allcaster's lightning bolts trailing his puddle of a body.

Finally, it reached its mark and shocked him into oblivion, a wail caught everyone's attention as the Water Seraphim, Hai, had been exterminated by Yin, the Allcaster, and another recruited Slayer.

Yin did not realize why the Allcaster just hurled a few bolts of electricity somewhere near the boulder, but after seeing the Water Seraphim's soul leave its body in a disintegrated manner, the same thing happened when he exterminated his first Angel back at the farm. Adam noticed that Hai was no longer with them and stammered for a bit. "Hm. So, they have dealt with the Water Seraphim already…" He thought to himself as he continued fencing against his student and his best friend. They were the ones he left behind, the ones he betrayed, the ones whom his dream stepped on. And he would do it all over again if he was given the chance, all for the continuation of his dream, all in order to see his mother again and see that smile of hers that he longed for. Time went by and Adam Rosa could not even remember what she sounded like, her voice, her face, everything about her was getting vanished and forgotten as the sands of time continued to fall down. But the appearance of the white silhouette in his dreams complete changed all that. Her promises propelled him to do the unthinkable, the most gruesome things he never thought he would be capable of. 

There were some nights that Adam thought about what would have happened to him if the white silhouette did not show herself to him in that dream. If she had not been able to prove that she was able to revive the Vanta child which made him believe in her powers. Although Adam did not regret following through with his actions, the thought still remained for him. "Where would I be now if I stayed back home with everyone…" But it was too late for regrets, not that he had any in the first place. They were merely thoughts, scenarios of what could might have been. Nothing more, and nothing less. Sounds and clangs of their swords and rapiers dragged him back to reality.

"You do not seem to be taking this battle seriously, Adam?" The Basilisk Slayer asked in a smug manner as he continued to advance in and slice through the Reaper's thin rapier. He knew that Adam Rosa could not afford to block his great sword's attacks because of the sheer size difference between their weapons, if Adam did it so frequently, his rapier would shatter under the mass of his blade. Together with Luken supporting his wide slashes and attacks, they both had the Reaper on the backfoot now. 

Ares looked back to where Hai was fighting Yin and the others and had already realized it. She could no longer sense Hai's Anima cells so there would be the only logical explanation for it – her dear brother's death. "You will pay for that you insolent fucking buffoons!" She exclaimed as she kicked Hector Incendium right in the gut.

This made the prodigal Fire Slayer get back and control his breath. "Seraphims really are in a league of their own, it is difficult to find an opening even when we are trying to choke her out. How annoying…" He thought to himself before picking up his war axe again and charging into the fray. "Both of you, try to sync up with my attacks, let us cover each other's weakness during each swing of our blades." He said. This was the first time that Hector was actually trying to assert himself and what he wanted to be done in a mission. This had surprised both Suna Izanami and Faust Keisuke, thinking that he was only going to fight and say nothing about teamwork.

With the aid of Faust's Earth spells casted with the aid of his grimoire, Suna and Hector kept her in check so that she would not be able to close the gap between her and Faust. Although the spells were not enough in of itself to take the Seraphim of War down, they were still proving to be a nuisance in her battle. She had to dedicate a couple of her senses towards trying to dodge the hail of rocks and pillars coming straight from the ground below.

The three of them were now working together as though they actually had been for months now, Hector had finally landed a clean hit, taking her left feet with his axe enchanted with his flame affinity. 

"We are both at war for how long now? Not once have I ever questioned if we could ever talk to you guys, as Angels only ever had a world of their own, unrelenting and unwilling to communicate with us humans, but you Seraphims, you guys are different, you can talk and show emotions. Both of our races share Anima cells, that is a given, so how many more similarities do we have? There might be more, but since you are uncooperative, trying to take our heads every single time we step outside the gates wanting to explore the outside world, then I shall not forget the bodies of comrades that I currently stand on to make it this far…" Ignis Silva monologued at the Shadow Seraphim while trying to hit him with his throwing cards enchanted with fire. Kai Xin and Reno exchanged stances, from weapon based and melee combat to who's turn it would be to cast the spells. 

Umbra did not respond to Ignis Silva's words and was instead getting more and more ferocious. Much like a hungry animal that could do nothing but devour, the Shadow Seraphim's mouth was full of pointy teeth which he could stretch out in order to swallow things whole. It was fast but there was one thing that Ignis realized now. He looked back to Gavin and scoffed for a few seconds and grinned. "You bastard, I wonder if you had figured this out all along as well. Tch." He said. "You two, stand down, we are going to end this thing's tedious life with our own affinities – Fire attacks." Ignis Silva uttered out with a creepy grin.

It was the first time that Umbra felt something, sure, he was not easily caught by their attacks, he was maintaining a safe distance. But he felt like he was playing into the hand of Ignis even more. He never really tried to fight with logic in mind, he only ever relied on his sheer physical prowess and speed advantage when it came to fighting these Slayers, but he wanted to use his brains now, for some reason.. He locked eyes with Ignis and knew that the Inferno Garden's leader was plotting something.