Paladin 4: Chapter 26 (Patreon)

One of the things Darren was hoping for during this stay in the heavens was more opportunities to fight seraph. He’d spent so long fighting demons that he was afraid his habits would force him to make a mistake when fighting Kalaziel. Sparring with Callum and Asuriel could only do so much for him. He needed an experienced warrior, and now Captain Gaviel had kindly offered himself up.

Darren’s first attack was a faint. Captain Gaviel saw it coming, as Darren knew he would. The attack was meant to drive him back, and that was exactly what happened. Oracle Sight meant Darren could rely on more than his instincts during battle. He could watch the future unfolding before his eyes.

Darren activated Fists of Peace behind Captain Gaviel, binding the seraph’s legs. The captain’s brows rose in alarm, and his own battle instincts told him what incredible danger he was in. He scrambled to erect his defenses in time to stop the follow-up attack he knew was coming. A bubble of green energy formed overhead as he swept his sword behind him without looking, dispersing Darren’s Fists of Peace one at a time.

The way to end the fight soonest would be to use Skill Shattering to break that shield and then attack with a combination of Divine Energy Projections and the Hell Sundering Sword of Annihilation in his hands. But Darren considered Skill Shattering to be one of his hidden aces, and he had no intention of revealing it for this. Besides, ending this fight too soon would end the sparring session before he saw how tough this seraph really was.

Darren let himself beat on Captain Gaviel’s shield, giving the seraph enough time to free himself from Darren’s Fists of Peace. Once the moment of vulnerability passed, Captain Gaviel wore a look of steely determination. The confident smile he’d worn just moments ago was nowhere to be seen.

Their swords met, clashing three times in quick succession. Darren thrust, Gaviel parried. He tried to follow through with a slash across Darren’s chest, but Darren had already sidestepped the blow long before it happened.

A dozen more exchanges of blows happened in the blink of an eye. Captain Gaviel’s look of concentration grew ever deeper as he entered a state of absolute focus.

As for Darren, he felt a smile tugging at the corners of his lips. He was starting to enjoy himself. There was something exhilarating about fighting a strong opponent and testing his strength against the captain’s power.

But as the clashing wore on, it soon became apparent to Captain Gaviel that Darren was faster than he was. Try as the captain might, he was always a step behind. Darren stopped meeting his blade with a block and instead opted to simply be elsewhere every time Gaviel tried to retaliate. He swung and struck nothing but air again and again.

Meanwhile, he desperately fought off Darren’s incoming attacks, which seemed to come from all directions at once. He was being overwhelmed, and he knew it.

“All right, you know a thing or two about wielding a sword!” Captain Gaviel shouted. “But let’s see about those abilities!”

Gaviel’s wings sprouted from behind his back. They had a crystalline glass-like gleam to them, and Darren knew just by looking at the edges of those feathers that they were as sharp as razors. One brush against those wings would tear flesh to shreds, even flesh as magically enhanced as his.

He took another step back, preparing to attack with the help of Divine Energy Constructs. But this time Darren was the one to be caught by a surprise follow-up ability while in retreat. Captain Gaviel stomped on the ground with one boot, shattering the earth in all directions. The gravel Darren was standing on gave way, completely robbing him of his footing.

Captain Gaviel would have been in the same predicament if he hadn’t manifested his wings a moment earlier. Now he was in the air, and Darren was struggling to recover his footing. But the captain wasn’t the only one with a pair of wings.

The captain tried to press his momentary advantage, but poor footing or not, Darren’s defenses were flawless. There were no gaps or vulnerabilities to exploit, and each attack was perfectly parried.

Then Darren revealed his own shining mirror-like silver wings and took to the air. The next exchange of blows occurred even faster than the first. But this time, Captain Gaviel was the one on the offensive. Darren couldn’t dodge effortlessly anymore, and he was turning aside Captain Gaviel’s blows with a combination of blocks with his sword and temporary shields made with his Divine Energy Construct skill.

“You’re good. Damn good! I thought you’d be a pushover with such sloppy Divine Aura control!” Captain Gaviel grunted as they fought. “These energy constructs are tricky!”

“You are skilled as well,” Darren replied.

Captain Gaviel reached for the belt at his waist. “Now, let’s see how you handle this...”

The belt came loose in Captain Gaviel’s hand, and Darren braced himself for the captain’s secret weapon.

“Darren! Watch out! He’s going to whip out his--“ Asuriel shouted.

But then the belt disassembled itself, falling apart into a dozen knife-shaped blades. The blades spun around one another, orbiting Captain Gaviel with deadly intent. He pointed, and soon they were all flying at Darren one after another.

“--Nevermind!” Asuriel yelled from the ground.

The next time Darren and Captain Gaviel clashed, his spinning flying knives met Darren’s energy constructs, and the two were evenly matched. Their swords clashed again, this time faster and more violently than ever. The pocket world around them strained to contain the might they were exerting, and a few vertical rips appeared in the air. Reality was tearing like a torn cloth from the collateral damage.

Captain Gaviel had clearly trained long and hard to fight in the air. Perhaps this was the fighting style Callum might one day develop if he had his current abilities for a few hundred years, but for now, the practice Darren had gotten fighting Callum was like child’s play compared to this.

The captain’s wings were an integral part of his fighting style. He fought with their sharp feathers so well it was like each pair was a set of extra arms. With two sets of wings at the fifth order, he always had at least one threatening to rake across Darren’s flesh with deadly intent. Darren also suspected that he was controlling his knives through minute gestures done with the tips of his wings.

He orchestrated all this while also fighting Darren with his sword and what abilities he could bring to bear. It was an exhilarating fight, and Darren was certain that the captain was holding back his most powerful abilities, just like Darren himself was. Perhaps if he pushed the captain just a little harder, he’d reveal those too, and Darren would get the full measure of what a fifth-order seraph was capable of.

But he sensed the captain wavering. He was wondering whether to give in and let Darren claim victory. But there was pride behind his eyes that wouldn’t let him yield. Mere moments ago, he’d been speaking of how he was undefeated among his peers at the fifth order. He wouldn’t give that source of pride up easily.

Asuriel must have sensed the look in his eyes, as well as Darren, because she flew upward at high speed. Though she let Darren have his fun for a while, this was her test too. She needed to show the captain that she was no slouch in battle either.

Captain Gaviel was hard-pressed, fighting Darren alone. But now that Asuriel was attacking him as well, he was on the back foot. Between Darren’s endless barrage of attacks and getting bombarded by bursts of light from Darren, he was struggling to keep up.

He erected his shield several times, but each time either Darren or Asuriel broke through. Despite suddenly losing much worse than before, a smile had returned to the captain’s face.

Eventually, he held up a hand.

“Enough! Any more of this, and we’ll bring the pocket world crashing down on us, and the department can’t afford to buy a new one! The two of you are indeed capable fifth-order fighters. Some of the finest I’ve seen, in fact!” The captain chuckled. “I hate to admit it, but between the two of you, you would probably have had me beat unless I pulled some of my fancier tricks on you. Alright, a deal is a deal. I suppose I have to award the two of you officer positions.”

Captain Gaviel let himself drift toward the ground, armor dented and scratched and exhaustion lining his features. Darren gave Asuriel an approving pat on the shoulder, silently thanking her for intervening.

“I think he would have been sad if he lost to you one on one,” Asuriel whispered. “This way, he’s still the strongest in the Protectors.”

Darren nodded in agreement. Perhaps he’d pushed the captain a little harder than he should have in his eagerness. Pulling his punches was a new skill for him. He usually had more of a power gap between him and his sparring partners. This was the first time he had one who could give him a real fight, and he’d been a little too eager for the experience.

***

Captain Gaviel was true to his word and bestowed both Darren and Asuriel with a pair of silver badges. To Darren, it looked surprisingly similar to his own sigil, though this was silver instead of the shiny gold-like substance his sigil was made of.

“Most people start off with the bronze or iron badge. But just as I promised, the two of you get to start off at silver! Most Protector captains are only gold. It’s rare to have a diamond-like me in command,” Captain Gaviel explained, waving a proud hand at his own diamond badge.

Asuriel held her silver badge up to the light. Her grin was so wide it split her face in two, and she rubbed it against her cheek. That little badge would no doubt be one of her most precious possessions.

“These seem familiar,” Darren said. The sunburst pattern that adorned the badge was surprisingly similar to the sigil he wore around his neck.

“They should be. They come out of the same machines that make the sigils for humans! After all, the quest system that we send them to get our dirty work done in the mortal world is basically the same system we use here as part of the Protectors. We just have a little more control over it.” Captain Gaviel chuckled.

“Machines?”

Captain Gaviel nodded. “We’ve got one in the back. No idea how it works or what it does, but if you feed it metal and Divine Aura, it spits out a sigil every month or so. Sometimes we pass them off as-is to the department that manages quests for humans. They’re always losing sigils, so they need a constant supply, or they’ll all be gone. But occasionally, we nab one for new Protectors. Those we have to modify a little to give more access permissions for the user. I can show the machine if you’d like.”

The captain was happy to show off the device, though much like the Captain, Darren couldn’t make heads or tails of it. It had a computer attached, and in a lot of ways, it reminded him of the machines in Laura’s workshop. It was made of a strange material, and it drew in Divine Aura at an alarming rate. Nearby, a hopper filled with precious metals sat full, and as time slowly ticked along, that metal was deposited into the shape of a sigil.

“This machine makes the sunburst-shaped ones, one of the oldest models. Rumor has it that the Lord of Light himself built this very machine in his work before he became a seraph, but that’s just rumor. He’s the only one who would know how they actually work, though building one might be beyond even his abilities. They came to this realm with our ancient ancestors, and unlike the rest of our gadgets from them, they didn’t bring the machine that builds these machines with them. Which means they either assembled this one by hand or that machine is still sitting wherever they came from.” Captain Gaviel shrugged.

Darren gathered what more information he could, but the captain knew little else. These machines were in short supply. They didn’t last forever, so they were a precious resource both to the Protectors and to the Heavens as a whole. Nobody had the understanding needed to build a sigil from scratch besides the Lord of Light. His untimely death seemed to still be a secret in the heavens, since even Captain Gaviel didn’t know about it.

Darren had been tempted to find one of these machines and take it for his forces back home, since having one would guarantee an infinite supply of sigils. But the Divine Aura it drew into function killed that idea. He would have to pile dead demon lords all around the device to keep it working. Otherwise, he’d be lucky to get a single sigil out of it every ten years.

Their on-the-job orientation didn’t last much longer than that. The captain had other matters to attend to, so he soon returned to his office. He did, however, encourage Darren and Asuriel to hang around the headquarters for a bit and get to know their peers.

“Some of the quests we handle around here involve forming parties. You’re going to want some teammates you can rely on. The guys can be tough on rookies, but given those fighting skills you two showed off to me, I’m sure you both can handle yourselves.” And with that, Captain Gaviel waved them goodbye.

Darren and Asuriel returned to the lobby.

“By the heaven above the heavens... you two actually passed?” A tough-looking seraph in shining silver armor snorted as he sat at a table with a few of his fellows.

There were low-gruff chuckles all around, at least until one of them spotted the color of their new badges.

“Wait for a second here! Silver badges?” The tough-looking seraph jumped to his feet. “You’ve got to be kidding me! We’ve been fighting for Calabor for fifty years, and we still wear bronze.”

“They’re fifth order, Kilean,” one of his companions tugged at the tough-looking seraph’s armor, pulling him back to his seat.

“Fifth order, my ass. That big guy looks like he can barely keep a lid on his own soul! I’ve never seen someone with such sloppy aura control...” Kilean grumbled.

“Hey!” Asuriel glared across the room. “Don’t talk to Darren that way.”

Kilean rolled his eyes. “I’m not picking a fight with you and your boyfriend, girly. I know you’re at the fifth order. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be wearing those shiny badges.” He shook his head, barely hiding his disgust. “We had to go through hell for our bronze badges...”

“Just wait, Kilean. Once they take on their first job, they’ll throw in the towel. You’ve seen how many rookies get booted off the force on their first day...” one of Kilean’s companions said.

Asuriel grew red in the face. After all, she was one of the rookies who’d gotten kicked out of the Protectors on her first day, all thanks to losing her armor on her very first mission. Darren rested a hand on her shoulder. Without bothering to lower his voice, he comforted her. “They are idiots. Not worth listening to.”

Kilean soon grew as furious as Asuriel was. If Asuriel had still been at the fourth order, this could have ended badly. Darren could guess her first day as a Protector went much like this one. He planned to make sure this day went better for her.

“Look, there are six quests to complete. Let’s do a few,”

Calabor Protectors Quest Board!

Notice: All Protectors must complete at least three quests this month or forfeit their badges!

Aperture Closure (Difficulty - Easy)

• Objective: Sensors indicate an open portal leading to the mortal world nearby. It is small but too stable to close naturally. Locate and seal it manually before something comes through.

Hide Skillbooks and Items (Difficulty - Easy)

• Objective: Go to the mortal world and hide several skillbooks and magical items to be given out to humans as quest rewards. Record each location carefully for the ophanim managing quests in that area.

Lost Merchant (Difficulty - Easy)

• Objective: A merchant from Calabor failed to show up for court for failure to pay his city taxes. Upon raiding his home, Protectors found him gone. Find clues to his current whereabouts or seize property from him equivalent to his back due taxes.

The Order of Heaven’s Grace (Difficulty - Hard)

• Objective: Enter the mortal world and discover any information you can about the Order of Heaven’s Grace and their mysterious leader, Darren Heavengrace. Do not allow yourself to be spotted or discovered. If you do not have an invisibility item, one will be provided for you in the weapon’s locker.

Slay the Sea-Scouring Kraken! (Difficulty - Very Hard)

• Objectives: Defeat the giant fifth-order Kraken that has been interrupting shipping lanes. Warning, this monster has already devoured two fourth order Protectors. Quest management recommends having at least one fifth order fighter and nine or more fourth orders in your party.

There were hundreds of quests waiting to be completed, but a few in particular stood out. The Kraken sounded like it would be an even better fight than he’d had against the Heavenly Water Dragon. The aperture closure quest probably involved closing the aperture he himself had opened and stabilized. The skillbook quest and the investigation quest both stood out to him because they involved the mortal world and the latter actually mentioned him by name.

The lost merchant quest also seemed like it had an easy solution that didn’t even require hunting down the merchant himself. In short, they were all quests that Darren was pretty sure he and Asuriel were uniquely positioned to complete quickly and easily.

He shared the list with her. She agreed without looking, since she was too busy fondling her new badge.

“By the heaven above the heavens! I’m excited! I honestly never thought I’d be an officer in the Protectors!” Asuriel squealed. “And even better, I get to be one with you! This is so exciting!”

Behind them, Kilean and his crew snorted. “Let’s see if you make it past your first quest.”

Darren ushered Asuriel away before she glared at him in return. “Come along, Asuriel. We have a kraken to slay.”

“Wait, the Kraken quest? They’re crazy!” Kilean shouted. “Those two are dead for sure!”

“Not just that. Says here they just accepted five quests in a row!” one of Kilean’s companions said.

Kilean turned to Darren and Asuriel as if demanding an explanation. But the two of them were already leaving.

The last thing he heard as the two of them left was Darren’s quiet chuckle.

<Note>:

Okay, so some stuff has come up, and to get a narration slot this year for Amazon Apocalypse I kinda have to have it ready for recording by mid April. I may end up having to switch back to Amazon Apocalypse and write the ending, since we're only now reaching the middle point in my outline for this story.

Originally I hoped to finish this book before switching back to AA and eventually Spellheart, but it looks like this one is going to go to 200k words at the very least, since I'm at 120k and not yet halfway through my outline.

I've got about eight chapters for Paladin 4 saved up. I'm going to push to have twelve, then switch over. That'll give me a month to edit the previous draft of Amazon Apocalypse and get a small backlog of chapters going, then we can switch over in March, hopefully finish the book then, and finally squeeze beta reads, copy editing and proofreading, in toward the end of March and early April so Actors Everywhere can record the audiobook and it can go live around then.

Anyway, there should be no changes for you guys for at least three weeks, but that's what I'm thinking right now.