Chapter 156 - The Serpent

The Inferno Garden leader proceeded to burn the living hell out of Umbra. Kai Xin stopped him from escaping by slicing off all of his limbs, each slice dismembered a limb, but the Shadow Seraphim was expending all of its Anima cells into regeneration. Kai had to do it far quicker than Umbra was re-growing the limbs back.

But this was more than enough for Ignis Silva. The SS Rank Slayer was ready to blow this Seraphim up. "Combust." He was making Umbra's blood literally boil. Heating up his own blood to the point of combusting, this continued on for several minutes before the Shadow Seraphim had completely exhausted his regenerative stamina until he could no longer do it. And that was the only thing keeping him alive. "Death. Succumb. Soul…" Those were the Shadow Seraphim's last words until he finally gave in and embraced his end. His soul had gone up into the skies above. All the other living Seraphims took note of this..

By the time that the Allcaster and Yin arrived to help whoever was still in trouble, the battle of the Inferno Garden trio against the Shadow Seraphim had already ended, all three of them were on the ground, Ignis was slowly getting up by himself when he spotted Yin Sohaya and 

"Kai!" Yin shouted as he ran towards him. "Are you alright?!" the white haired Slayer exclaimed after seeing that his other eye was bleeding through the black cloth he covered it with. "Y-Yeah. I am. You have to calm down a bit, Yin." Despite what had happened, Kai Xin still managed to smile. "How about you guys, did you and Fen defeat the Water Seraphim?" the SS Rank Fire Slayer asked. Yin nodded. Kai turned around to see that Fen Kaori nod as well. Kai Xin fell to his knees, exhaustion had already caught up to him now. Ignis Silva checked up on his friend. "You should rest up for now, Kai. We have already exterminated our target. Who knows, we might be able to do something about that eye of yours." Ignis said to him. "Nah. I know this eye is far too gone, I can handle myself even with one eye, didn't I?" He replied back with a confident smirk. "After all, if I do not fight, then I do not belong in the battlefield, and I am not fit to be called a Slayer. Is that not what you told me and Reno on the first day of our membership in the Inferno Garden?"

Kai retorted as Ignis grabbed his hand to help him up. He obliged and took it. "Well said. I am surprised you still remember those words, considering the fact that you barely ever listen." Ignis chuckled. They all saw from a distance that Ares and the others were still fighting, Kai Xin carried Reno's body on his back as he covered it. "We are not going back to Niflheim without killing every single one of these Seraphims, Ignis." Kai Xin said with pure uncontained rage. "That goes without saying." Ignis responded. 

Meanwhile, the Serpent Summoner, Zachary, Ryoko, and Vale Ashford were already cornering Fulgur. They were bloodied as hell but it was worth it. "Should I slide this down his heart, Gavin?" The Specter asked as she had her blade pointed down Fulgur, the Lightning Seraphim's chest. "Get rid of him, Vale." Gavin responded back as he gave the order to kill. But as the tip of Vale Ashford's blade was a few centimeters away from his face, the Lightning Seraphim pleaded with them. "W-Wait!" Fulgur exclaimed out as he closed his eyes and looked away. The Serpent Summoner walked towards him. "Did you want to say something?" Gavin wanted to make sure. "D-Do not kill me! I can provide you with vital information regarding how we Angels and Seraphims really came to be! I-I am willing to be taken hostage, even!" He stuttered on his words and claimed that he would be useful to the Slayers.

"What do you think, Vale?" the Serpent Summoner turned towards her direction and asked her. "It is your call, you are the one leading this mission, after all." She responded back while trying to catch her breath. Gavin looked him straight in the eye with such intensity that sweat had started to fall from Fulgur's temple. "If you do anything funny, anything at all, I will cut your throat with no hesitation. Are we clear on that?" He intimidated the Lightning Seraphim. "S-Sure! Just let me live!" The Serpent Summoner definitely did not expect that Fulgur would turn out into such a cowardly pansy, even pleading with his enemies just so spare his own life. "How pathetic." Gavin thought to himself as he took a long hard look at him. "I really think we should just exterminate him right here and now, Gavin." Zachary suggested to the Serpent Summoner as he whispered it into his ear.

The Specter was now walking behind the Lightning Seraphim, she was keen on watching his every move. Gavin gave him the permission to end his life if he ever acted strange. The three of them walked around and attempted to regroup with the others. Gavin figured that meeting up with the nearest team would be beneficial and efficient. He followed his senses and walked towards where the highest concentration of Anima cells were. 

"Hm? How odd…" Vale said out loud. "What is it, Vale?" Gavin was perplexed. "The other two Seraphims, Hai and that dark one, I cannot sense them anywhere. Do you think that maybe they have already dealt with the others?" Vale's question worried Gavin for a bit. But he shook of every negative thought and instead continued on believing his teammates. "No way. I am willing to bet that these Seraphims are slowly getting decimated by them, as angry as Ignis Silva might make me, we cannot deny his intellect and combat prowess. I also trust in the Allcaster to deal with Hai, I am sure Fen is not one to let us down." Gavin replied back when suddenly the skies above had turned dark, the clouds were turning a shade of grey almost instantly, far too quick for it to be a normal occurrence. As both Gavin and Vale looked up for a split second, the Lightning Seraphim had already attempted to fly upwards, he used the storm as a distraction for his escape as he knocked out Zachary by elbowing his nape.

"Zach!" Gavin shouted. The Specter immediately touched his pulse to see if he was still alive. "He is fine, Gavin. For now, we have to worry about that coward." She said. "Shit. Very well, then. I should have listened to Zach earlier. Tch. I trust that you have the other wing, Vale?" Gavin wanted both of them to throw their daggers at each wing at the same time to bring Fulgur, the Lightning Seraphim down into the ground once again. "Yeah. I am fine with that, just do not miss on your end, he might be capable of flying with just one of his wings operational." She retorted back. The two threw their signature daggers and knives at the sky where Fulgur was trying to escape. He was far too exhausted to burst through the air and successfully get out of this conundrum he was in, however, and the projectiles successfully pierced his wings, sending him down.

Yin and the others had Fulgur fall back down from a couple of ways away. "Hey, isn't that the other Seraphim?" he asked. "Yes. We have to place our trust in the Serpent Summoner for now, we have something else that needs to be done." Ignis said as he pointed at Ares, she was getting the upper hand against Faust Keisuke, Suna Izanami, and Hector Incendium. "Hurry!" Ignis exclaimed.

"How do you want to go about this, Gavin? This one is far too untrustworthy for us to just leave walking around, if there was an unexperienced Slayer alongside us, he might have taken him or her hostage." The Specter said. "Let me go you filthy humans! Once the Vessel completes her plan, you will have nothing left in this world at all! Niflheim will go down in flames as we finally change this planet for the better!" Gavin smacked his face with a punch. This surprised Vale as she never thought that Gavin would lose his temper like that. "We are just going to ask Adam Rosa by ourselves. Do you know what that means, Fulgur?" He asked the Lightning Seraphim. Fulgur did not respond, however. The Serpent Summoner pulled out his grimoire and made Ryoko vanish after he thanked her for her help. He summoned a huge serpent-like snake from out of nothing. "That means you are no longer needed." Fulgur's vision had turned black after he was slowly getting swallowed by the serpent's massive mouth with hundreds of teeth. His screams turned into muffled noises only as the serpent closed its mouth. "This is actually the first time I have seen it, and I have known Gavin for years now…" She said to herself as she saw the sight of the massive serpent. "That is why he is called the Serpent Summoner, then."