Thanatos System

The Basilisk Slayer let out a sigh of relief.

"Quick thinking right there, brother."

He said to Gavin.

"Thanks."

The Serpent Summoner responded with the most casual reply ever.

Hundreds of Angels were attempting to fly upwards and attack them right about now.

"What the hell do we do?!"

Gavin shouted.

"This is not a fight we can afford to partake in, I believe. We do not know if they have already called in reinforcements as well, a hundred Angels would have been the perfect warm up for me…"

It seemed as though Art was lamenting the fact that he was not going to be able to be given the chance to plow down these one hundred Angels.

Amara was already flying upwards, ready to swoop in and rescue the Khalil brothers.

The Basilisk Slayer opened his grimoire and began electrocuting every single Angel below, making them fall to their knees.

"Now is our chance, Gav, jump!"

He told his brother as Amara was already flying overhead them, if they were to waste this opportunity, there would be no way of knowing if the emerald dragon could ever come this near once again, incapacitating a hundred Angels is a feat only the strongest Slayer could ever accomplish.

They landed on Amara's back as she swiftly burst through the air as she flapped her wings rapidly.

Some Angels had recovered much quicker than the others though, and were on hot pursuit.

With their mouths opened, they were attempting to fire off bright beams of energy at Amara, wanting to bring her down and force the Serpent Summoner and the Basilisk Slayer to fight on the ground on their own terms.

"As much as I want to finish your flimsy lives in one stroke of my great sword, it would be troublesome if your numbers somehow multiplied while we were engaged in combat, that is just dishonorable, don't you think?!"

Artorias shouted back at the Angels behind them while focusing his power on something else.

Amara gracefully dodged each beam, but it was getting harder and harder to do so because the Angels were steadily growing in numbers in the sky, just as the Basilisk Slayer said.

Amara groaned.

"Are you alright?!"

Gavin asked the emerald dragon.

To which the latter simply nodded.

The Serpent Summoner knew what his brother was attempting to do, though.

"I see what he is doing." Gavin said as he observed his brother. "This was always one of his favorite tactics, to bait them into thinking we were the prey because of our mortality and being human, only to turn the tables on them in a split second and have them regret ever underestimating us."

Artorias was grinning.

"Just hang on for a bit longer, Amara!"

He said to the emerald dragon.

Gavin let go of his headless swordsmen down below, letting them escape to whatever realm they came from, as their jobs were finished.

He picked up his summoning book and was thinking whether it would be the right moment to summon someone that Amara knew fully well – the Elder Wyrm, Ryoko.

"I am going to summon Ryoko, is that alright, Art?!"

Gavin asked his brother before making his decisions.

"Stop asking me, Gav, make your own decisions, I will adapt to them, if you think that summoning Ryoko would make our victory more palpable, then feel free to do so!"

Artorias Khalil responded with a thumbs up and a grin.

"Very well, then."

Ryoko was summoned out of the Serpent Summoner's book.

"Ryoko is the perfect beast to summon in this situation, she can fight up above the sky and provide cover for us while brother finalizes his plan…"

Gavin thought to himself.

Ryoko appeared right above Amara, the both shared a look of mutual respect and nodded, acknowledging each other's existence.

Only the Khalil family could ever summon such great beasts and make them their confidants and allies in combat.

"What is thy bidding, Master Gavin?"

"Ryoko! I apologize for summoning you once again in such a short notice! We are currently in a bind, as you can see." The Serpent Summoner said as he pointed at the Angels still following their tail and charging attacks pointed right at Amara. "Do you think you could buy enough time for us? Just until Art finishes luring them wherever he was planning to!"

"I shall gladly do thy bidding, Master Gavin. Hello there, Amara."

"Well met, Ryoko."

With that, the Elder Wyrm flew right into the ranks of the Angels as she was firing flames out from its very mouth.

The barrage of their attacks directed at Amara were now drastically lesser, making the dodging much easier.

"Once again, Gavin, great thinking!"

Art shouted out, it was difficult to even have a conversation with normal tones when the emerald dragon is flying at this speed.

"You know you could have just told me that it was the right thing to do instead of saying that long sermon!?"

Gavin replied back.

"But where is the fun in that?!"

The Basilisk Slayer retorted.

After ten minutes of Ryoko stalling the Angels, she managed to burn and kill five of them all by herself.

But she was slowly getting overrun by them, Gavin saw this and asked his brother, "Are you still not ready?!"

"On my command, tell Ryoko to fly upwards so she will not get hit by my attack!"

The Serpent Summoner nodded his head.

"Three. Two. One. Now!"

He exclaimed.

Gavin called for Ryoko's attention and told her that she should fly up and that Art was ready to unleash his bait.

Ryoko knew of her Master's brother, the generational Slayer. She knew it would mean death if she ever were caught up in the crossfire.

"Nevermind! Just go back home, Ryoko! Thank you for your help!"

Gavin changed his mind, deep inside, he was still worried for his summoned beast's well-being, specially with an attack as unpredictable and strong as the Basilisk Slayer's.

Ever since they started going up above the air and were being chased, Artorias was setting up a thunderstorm in the location they were headed in, he had to focus up all his Anime cells to remotely even manifest it, hence why he was not able to cover them.

He kept both of his hands together after a clapping motion.

The Angels were still following their scent, refusing to let go of the two of them.

Gavin looked onwards and there it was…

A green thundercloud violently exuding similarly colored thunderbolts.

"You already know what to do, Amara!"

Art had complete trust in his summoned beast.

"You do not need to tell me."

Amara replied in a snarky manner.

The Basilisk Slayer was leading a hundred of Angels into their deaths, a thunderous one at that.

Amara swiftly traversed underneath the thundercloud and dodged every bolt of stray thunder coming down her way, to the relief of Gavin and Art.

The Basilisk Slayer then proceeded to unleash it all just as the Angels were directly beneath it.

What happened next was an extermination like no other.

All in a snap, a hundred Angels were now toasted and charred by the violent green thunderstorms of the Basilisk Slayer.

"End scene."

He said under his breath. 

Gavin nodded his head, surprised by how his brother is still this efficient and effortless in combat as ever.

"Good to see you are having fun."

Gavin said.

"You can never not have fun in this line of work, Gav, trust me. It works to disassociate and just do things with a pinch of humor every now and then, keeps things light hearted despite of how many deaths there are all the time."

A melancholic smile was etched on Artorias Khalil's face as the charred Angels were falling onto the ground below.

"I see." The Serpent Summoner cleared his throat. "The only thing we got out of almost dying and risking our lives is this slab of the hive, it is still a bit icky."

He said while pointing to his backpack.

"Then the old coots at the High Council must learn to be content with it, even though they are decrepit and 'wise' as they call themselves, I am sure they still understand just how low the chances of surviving missions actually are."

Art replied back.

"You did good, Amara, just like always."

Artorias said as he pat his dragon on the head. 

Gavin laid down as they were headed straight into Niflheim.

A total of seven whole hours have passed ever since they departed from there.

"But now we know that newly hatched Angels are going to dig deep down and emerge from there, just as we experienced earlier."

The Serpent Summoner said.

"Heh. Yeah. I mean what the fuck was that? It really caught me off guard, you know?"

Art retorted back with a light chuckle.

"Do you ever question why the Angels do what they do, Art?"

Gavin asked.

"Not a day goes by where I don't, Gavin.. That much is certain."