"It's a Hollow Angel," Cole said, his voice low but steady. "They live inside the Watchers of the Depths—those things that stand above the walls. When a Watcher's gaze senses a threat to the kingdom, the Hollow Angel awakens. It hunts to claim a soul… one that'll feed it until the day it becomes a Sworn Angel."
Cole raised his hand, the faint shimmer of his shadow rapier forming as he leveled it toward the descending creature.
Lix spoke up and added, "The Watchers are like natural disasters. The Angels are more like parasites living inside them. Though, I'm pretty sure most Watchers outside of Layer One don't have them. When you go deeper, the Watchers themselves start to fight you… so, if I'm being honest, we're lucky."
"Lucky to fight a parasite? Yeah, no!" Nakate snapped. He was still badly injured, his chest aching with every breath. When he glanced at Cole, he expected to see the same exhaustion but instead, Cole stood perfectly fine. His skin showed no trace of burns, no wounds, nothing at all. It was as if, during that short time in the cathedral, he had completely healed.
Nakate drew his Storm Dagger, gripping it tight as he stepped beside Cole, ready to help however he could. Lix began preparing a mantra, her breath steady as faint wind gathered around her hands.
As the angel descended, the golden mist surrounding it began to scatter, flowing down like falling dust. It pooled at its feet, spreading outward until two perfect circles of shimmering gold mist formed on the ground beneath it.
The angel's feet touched the ground, and the golden mist stirred violently, swirling around its form. From that light, a body began to take shape that was pale, bone-white and unnaturally smooth. Two light yellow wings unfolded from its back, their movement slow and deliberate, scattering golden feathers that drifted down like falling scales. They covered its face piece by piece, hiding the distorted, spiraling features beneath a mask of divine decay.
The newly formed angel raised its right hand toward the second circle. From the swirling mist, a smaller, black spear emerged, simple in shape but heavy. The creature gripped it tightly, its hollow gaze locking onto Lix and Nakate.
"That's a Lesser Angel," Lix said, directing her palms toward it. "They're made from the spirits that Hollow Angels steal—then used as their support."
***
Cole lunged at the Hollow Angel, thrusting his rapier straight for its head. But the angel twisted unnaturally, its neck snapping sideways with a sharp crack as it dodged. In the same motion, it spun, swinging its spear in a wide arc. The blow caught Cole off guard and sent him crashing into the wall of a nearby building with a heavy thud.
Cole quickly recovered, pushing himself off the wall and charging forward again. His rapier struck the angel's mask with a sharp clang, but it didn't pierce through. The Hollow Angel countered in an instant, driving its spear into Cole's side—piercing his left lung, narrowly missing his heart.
Cole let out a cry of pain but refused to fall. Using his rapier's tip for balance, he pushed himself upward and shouted, "Shadow Chains!"
Dark chains burst from the shadows beneath them, wrapping tightly around the angel's limbs and pulling it still.
The air around Cole began to distort as shadows gathered around his rapier and left arm, condensing into two massive greatswords made of dark ether. Their surfaces rippled like liquid night.
"Shade Bringer," he said calmly, dropping one of the blades. He stepped on its flat edge, using it as a foothold to propel himself high into the air.
He swung the greatsword down with all his strength—but the angel twisted its spear, redirecting the blow into the ground. The impact cracked the stone beneath them, sending shards flying.
Without missing a beat, Cole dissolved the greatsword back into shadow, reforming his rapier and engaging the angel again—his blade flashing in rapid thrusts and precise parries against the angel's spear.
Flashes of light and shadow collided, bursting into a sharp explosion that shook the ground. Cole was thrown back through the dust, his form barely visible in the haze.
"Shadow Gun!" he shouted, raising his hand. A concentrated beam of shadow burst forward, striking the angel square in the chest. The blast pierced through the golden mist, hitting its heart and forcing the creature down to its knees.
***
"Gale Lunge!" The air around Lix's arms compressed into sharp, spiraling needles of wind. She shot forward, the air whistling as she lunged at the lesser angel. The creature barely twisted out of the way and swung in for a counterattack—only for Nakate to step in, blade flashing as he parried the strike.
Lix gathered wind again, her feet lifting from the ground. "Updraft!" she called, rising into the air as her form blurred. The wind around her condensed once more, the needle reforming with a shriek.
"Windpassage!"In an instant, she vanished—reappearing behind the lesser angel. The space between shimmered with slicing currents of wind, each one leaving a faint cut across the angel's armor-like skin.
"Get out of the way, Nakate!" she shouted. He leapt back just as Lix raised one leg high, the air spiraling around her like a coiling storm.
"Pillars of Erisia!"Her heel slammed into the ground with explosive force, cracking the stone beneath her. Columns of wind surged upward, forming a whirling tornado that caught the lesser angel and hurled it violently into a nearby building.
Nakate lunged toward the lesser angel, his dagger piercing deep into its chest. A flash of purple lightning erupted from the strike, crackling through the air. 'I guess my luck isn't all gone yet!' he thought, gritting his teeth as he seized the angel's spear. With a sharp twist, he snapped its arm, breaking its grip on the weapon.
Before the creature could even recoil, Nakate drove the spear straight through its head. The angel's body shuddered once, then fell still, its form flickering out into sparks of fading golden mist.
'Golden mist?' 'Right… I guess Cole has to deal with the Hollow Angel first,' Nakate thought, turning his head. The angel knelt on the ground ahead, its once-radiant form dimming under the weight of battle.
"Encircle." Dark shadows rippled outward, spiraling around the angel like living smoke. In the blink of an eye, Cole vanished into them, only to reappear behind his target.
"Umbral Slash," Cole said calmly, standing behind the angel. His shadow rapier cut cleanly in a diagonal arc, slicing the angel in half. Its body convulsed once before dissolving, fragments of pale light drifting upward, the same white glow that claimed all fallen monsters.
Cole ran toward Nakate in a hurry. Nakate was still gripping the spear he'd taken from the lesser angel but now, its surface had turned silver, faintly reflecting the dim light around them.
It felt heavier than before, yet still manageable, almost balanced by the strange, weightless air of the Depths.
"What is it?" Nakate asked, turning toward where Cole was pointing.
Then his expression froze, his face turning pale as a chill ran down his spine.
***
Before him stood a Watcher, it was a tall, frail, and unnaturally thin black figure. Its hands and feet were bone-white, tipped with long, curved claws meant for hunting.
Where its head should have been bloomed something like a flower, its petals glowing with a pale, radiant light. From its center, a single beam shone outward, sweeping slowly across the floor.
The light wavered… then narrowed—fixing directly on Nakate.
It stood there—completely still.
No sound. No movement. The Watcher's glowing, flower-shaped head remained fixed on Nakate, its beam unblinking.
Nakate couldn't move. The air felt heavy, his muscles locking in place as fear crawled up his spine. The thing wasn't attacking… it was simply watching him.
'Should I do something? Maybe fight it?'
'No… I'm already too tired for that. And this thing… it looks like it could kill me in an instant.'
The Watcher tilted its flower-shaped head closer, so close Nakate could feel a strange breath of air drifting from it, cold and uneven, as if the creature were breathing.
Then, its light shifted—turning a deep, searing red.
A wave of nausea hit him instantly, his vision spinning, his legs threatening to give out.
And just as suddenly, the light faded.
To Nakate's luck, the Watcher backed away. It lingered for a heartbeat longer—then turned, crouched low, and leapt upward with impossible strength, vanishing back into the mist above.