Thanatos System

Both Yin and Suna had landed on their feet.

The pair met the Angel's gaze.

It was roughly the same humanoid size as the one in the farm.

It had skin as blindingly light as snow.

Elegant, plum, red hair atop of its head.

What was different, however, was its weapon of choice.

It wielded dual katanas with both hands.

The Angel seemingly humming a lullaby as an offering to the New Gods up above.

Every single Slayer was far too cautious, they did not want to preemptively strike without a plan.

Then, something happened.

Its eyes then locked onto Yin's.

Hollowed out eyes as they were, everyone could tell it was looking at him.

The expressionless Angel had now contorted its face into sadness.

Tears rolled down its cheek.

Why was it crying?

But Yin knew it was not the time to occupy his mind with trivial questions.

Him and Suna assumed fighting stances.

All the other Slayers did the same.

It was now a fight of forty-five slayers versus this monstrous Angel.

Suna drew her sword.

It was black and short.

The blade seemingly sucked every speck of light it encountered in an instant.

"Why are you using a blade, Suna?"

Yin was perplexed and wanted to know.

"I know I can fight with my fists. But you know what separates a good Slayer from an excellent one?"

Yin shook his head as he did not know the answer.

"Versatility."

Her smirk was then accentuated by her tremendous focus.

"Summoners, make sure your beasts are ready."

They did not hesitate to follow her instructions.

Grimoires were pulled out in an instant. Although they already summoned their beasts earlier, it was not the end of it.

With careful Anima manipulation, the remaining Summoners infused their beasts with their own life force to create stronger summons.

The lowly and meek wolf Yin saw earlier has now transformed into something reminiscent of Gavin's wolf.

Black fur and fangs that were focusing on the prey up ahead.

Nearly every summon once they were inside has now powered up.

But this was not without a cost.

These Summoners were expending their life energy just to raise their beast's attack power for a little bit.

Yin slowly realized it.

"Y-you guys are sacrificing yourselves. You don't believe you'll survive."

A Summoner smiled.

"That's right."

"If our life force ends up entirely drained, we will simply die. We would rather die fighting than to ever cower in front of an enemy."

Everyone on the battlefield had affirmed their resolve.

A worrying fact that they all seemed to fixate around earlier was no longer bothering them.

The fear of something looming, inches away.

The fear of dying.

Every single Slayer here knew that chances of surviving are slim.

Yet they persevered.

Yin looked at Suna and nodded.

"Close range fighters, follow me and Suna. Spellcasters and Summoners, stand back and focus on your incantations. Make sure to know friend from foe. Know when to cancel your spells once a fellow Slayer is in range of it. I know these might be the basics, the least we can do is have a refresher lesson in times like these."

"And remember. Aim for the heart."

As he addressed the ragtag group of lowly Slayers.

A war-cry was heard in the middle of the group.

It was a blind Water Slayer.

Her fear kept her from standing still, but this time, it was different.

She wasn't on the ground petrified.

This prompted the other Slayers to shout chants of glory as well.

"For Niflheim!"

"Die, you wretched destroyers!"

The Angel now scanned every single Slayer, it was looking at their hands, what weapon they had, what grimoire they were carrying, and what affinity they possessed.

That's why it took a long time for it to move.

Luken, Gavin, and the Emissary made their way around the rubbles of what used to be a city.

Atop of a damaged watch tower, the three of them looked closely.

"Tell me, emissary, are you prepared to have forty dead kids and their blood in your hands?"

Gavin asked the woman in a guilt-inducing manner.

"Quiet, Summoner."

"You're telling me to shut my mouth and my eyes? To avert my stare from such an obvious outcome? It'll be a bloodshed and you know it."

Gavin pressed on, seemingly annoying the blonde emissary.

"Stop it, Gavin."

Luken stopped Gavin's confrontational behavior.

"I know her. We were the same low-ranked recruits. How long has it been, Isabelle? Five years? Six?"

Though Luken seemingly recognized the emissary sent by the High Council to prevent the two S and SS-ranked Slayers from helping, his tone was dry and obviously in anger.

"I specifically wore this hooded robe so you wouldn't, but you did, you remembered me, Luken."

"Tell me, Isabelle, your brother, Vinny, isn't he down there?"

"Yes, yes he is. He's that scared Lightning Slayer right in the middle."

She raised and pointed a finger as to identify him.

"Are you prepared to let him die? When we were in the same Water Slayer squadron back then, you told me you had a brother you loved so much. You loved him so much that you wished for him to not awaken his Anima cells. That way, saving him from this war. But he's down there. And he's about to die."

"If he's weak, then yes, we will die."

Though her words seemed cold and distant, she was biting her lips infuriatedly.

Back to the battlefield down below, Vinny suggested a plan to everyone.

He approached Yin.

Vinny's calm demeanor changed.

He was now their tactician.

After a few seconds of sharing his plan, everyone present agreed and nodded in unison.

Yin nodded in approval as well.

"Lightning Slayers, electrocute!"

As Vinny's words left his mouth, they all moved in sync to cast lightning shocks on the ground where the Angel stood.

What happened next was a familiar sight for Yin.

Suna looked at him.

"Y-Yin. Fulgurite."

"Yeah. I know."

But these Fulgurites were different, their shapes were focused to form spikes which elevated upwards.

"Now, Earth Slayers!"

Earth Slayers focused all their Anima on the ground as well.

Their joints began to show as testament to the intense tolls it took on their bodies.

The fulgurite spikes were now being targeted towards the Angel.

The tactic was to seemingly force it to have no choice but to fly upwards.

After all, not even an A-rank monster can survive an Earthquake Spike, right?

It tried to flap its wings and fly upwards, just as they discussed.

This was when the cue for the close quarter combatants came.

Led by Yin and Suna, they jumped and met the horrific monster airborne.

It swung its double katana downwards, it wanted to free itself from the Slayers which it saw as mere pests.

Suna blocked the right slice.

Yin, on the other hand, was lucky.

Its left hand had aimed for a swing at his face.

He quickly moved his head in the opposite direction and dodged the swift slice, only mere centimeters.

Evident of the fact that his cheek was still cut.

"Yin!"

Suna shouted in worry.

"Don't underestimate us, you darn Angel!!"

An Earth Slayer wielding a giant hammer announced his arrival.

Several more were jumping downwards behind him.

They did not care whether the Angel were to cut them in half, as long as it prevented it from flying off, they did their jobs already.

The hammer wielder landed a direct hit.

Or so he thought.

The Angel quickly crossed his arms and protected its chest.

But this was enough. Enough to send it flying back down to the ground.

The Wolves, Frogs, and other summoned creatures bit its legs to keep it in place.

Even the Earth Slayers had no down-time, they quickly bind the Angel's foot even more to the ground itself!

As it swung its blade downwards in an attempt to execute the creatures and free itself, this attempt at being unrooted was quickly interrupted by the flame projectile appearing closer and closer.

All the Angel could see was the red hellfire it was about to be hit with.

"Now!"

The Flame Slayer's leader signaled everyone else to disperse.

"Pull back! You're going to get caught in it!"

To which every melee fighter jumped backwards after landing, careful of the spikes below.

"Pyrodragon Dance!"

Flame Slayers shouted in unison as they casted the spell and combined their energy outputs.

In an instant, a dragon molded from flames covered the Angel as it was being immolated.

Sounds of its cracking exterior was heard.

It was obviously damaged by the heat.

Water Slayers were charging up a waterfall-like formation in the backlines.

"Hydro Tsunami!"

A Tsunami came crashing down on the burnt Angel.

The Angel then casted a spell. It was going to do it again.

It opened its mouth and let out an energy beam blindly targeting anyone in the vicinity.

These Water Slayers intended to merge the water with the flames in order to create mist.

It was used as a smokescreen to blind the Angel's sense of sight for quite some time. Its wings were too burnt to fly away now. Even with their immense efforts to regroup, losses were still seen.

Slayers who were hit by the energy blast were gone.

They were missing.

Just like that, they were eviscerated into nothingness.

Panic was slowly getting into them. Their brains wrestled with the fact that it was still living despite what they did.

Suna was now pulling Yin away from the battlefield.

"A-are you okay, Yin?"

"I'm fine, Suna. Did they get that thing?"

She shot a glance at the place where it should have been.

It was now gone.

Everyone looked around, on guard to see where it was.

They did not hear wings flapping so it could not have gone up above.

So, where was it?

The trio at the watchtower knew all too well.

They were mistaken.

Mist did not cover their retreat, no.

It only allowed the Angel to adapt to the situation and pick them off one by one, silently.

Screams of pain were cut short by the sound of its katana piercing their throats.