Page 61 of Wicked Angel
Without hesitation, I summoned my wings, the familiar weight settling against my back as they unfurled in a flash of white feathers.
Levi was already airborne, his demonic wings propelling him upward in pursuit of Rhodes. I followed, the rush of air against my face as I soared through the broken dome a stark contrast to the chaos we left behind.
Outside, the sky of Elysium stretched above us, eternally bright and beautiful despite the turmoil below. Rhodes was a dark speck against that perfect blue, flying fast toward another section of the Celestial Tower.
“Cut him off!” I called to Levi, banking sharply to the right while he veered left, trying to trap Rhodes between us.
Rhodes saw the maneuver and dove sharply, heading for a large stained-glass window that depicted the creation of Elysium. He crashed through it in an explosion of colored glass, disappearing into the building once more.
Levi and I followed without hesitation, shielding our faces from the razor-sharp shards as we burst through the ruined window. We tumbled into a section of the grand library, shelves stretching from floor to ceiling, filled with ancient scrolls and tomes that documented the history of our realm.
Rhodes stood at the center of the room, his Celestial sword already drawn, his expression a mixture of rage and desperation. “You've ruined everything,” he snarled, pointing the blade at me. “Generations of planning, centuries of preparation—all destroyed because you couldn't mind your own business!”
“Destroying Elysium was never my business,” I replied, my own sword materializing in my hand. “You made it personal when you betrayed us, when you killed Soren and the others, and you blamed me.”
“I did what was necessary!” Rhodes shouted, his composure cracking further. “Elysium was stagnating, growing weak under Adona's leadership. I would have made us strong again, feared throughout all realms!”
“Feared isn't the same as respected,” I said, circling slowly to his right while Levi moved to his left. “And strength without compassion is just tyranny.”
Rhodes laughed, a harsh, bitter sound. “Such naive platitudes. You sound just like Soren before I killed him.”
My grip tightened on my sword. “That's a compliment.”
Rhodes tensed, preparing to attack, when a flash of light announced a new arrival. Haines burst through the library doors, his own sword drawn, moving immediately to Rhodes's side.
“The monster is rampaging through the upper levels,” he reported, his voice tense. “We need to retreat, regroup.”
“I'm not running from them,” Rhodes spat, gesturing toward Levi and me with his sword. “Not when I'm so close to ending this.”
“Two against two,” Levi said, darkfire crackling around his free hand. “I like those odds.”
Without warning, Haines attacked, launching himself at Levi with blinding speed. Their blades met in a shower of sparks, darkfire meeting light magic in explosive bursts that scorched the ancient books nearby.
Rhodes came at me a heartbeat later, his sword a blur of motion as he pressed his attack. I parried desperately, giving ground as I sought to find my rhythm against his centuries of experience. He was good—one of the best swordsmen in Elysium—but I had spent years training under Ylena's exacting standards, and more recently, sparring with Levi.
We were evenly matched, neither able to gain a significant advantage. Rhodes's strikes were precise, powerful, but I was faster, more agile. For every blow he landed, I countered with one of my own.
Across the library, Levi and Haines were engaged in an equally fierce battle. Levi fought with the raw power of his demonic nature, his movements less refined than Haines's but no less deadly. Bookshelves toppled as they crashed into them, ancient texts scattering across the floor like fallen leaves.
I caught glimpses of Levi's face as we fought, saw the strain in his features as he fought to maintain control. His eyes flickered between their normal blue and the burning black of his demon form, his skin occasionally rippling with hints of the transformation we'd witnessed in the forest.
“Levi,” I called, concerned. “Stay with me!”
He nodded tightly, visibly wrestling with the urge to fully transform. Part of me—the desperate, pragmatic part—almost wished he would. His demon form had torn through a dozen angels with terrifying ease. It could give us the edge we needed.
But I remembered his horror afterward, his fear that he was becoming like his father. I couldn't ask that of him, couldn't bear to see him torment himself that way again.
Rhodes seized on my moment of distraction, his sword slicing toward my neck. I barely managed to deflect the blow, the force of it sending me staggering backward into a reading table. My wings instinctively flared to help me keep my balance, knocking over a stack of scrolls that scattered across the marble floor.
“Losing focus, Ariella?” Rhodes taunted, pressing his advantage. “Such a basic mistake. I expected better from Ylena's prized student.”
I gritted my teeth, pushing back against his relentless assault. “Don't you dare speak her name. Not after what you did to her.”
“What I did?” Rhodes laughed. “I simply used her ambition against her. She was always too hungry for power, too eager to climb higher in the ranks. All I had to do was show her a path, and she took it willingly.”
His words hit me like physical blows, reopening wounds I'd thought were beginning to heal. Ylena had been my mentor, my guide—and according to Kadriel, my father's murderer. The complexity of her betrayal still burned.
With a cry of rage, I channeled that pain into my attack, driving Rhodes back with a flurry of strikes that momentarily caught him off guard. My blade nicked his cheek, drawing a thin line of dark blood that glowed against his skin.
