Chapter 3: The best training comes from a Real Experience

“Whelp I’m dead”
Seeing that the dragon only watched me still, not moving an inch, I scanned the area. I was in an enormous hollow dome of sorts that seemed to only have two openings, one where I just came from, and the other a huge hole at the top, which was likely enough for the dragons to fly in and out of.
Wait, can’t I just abandon this body and move out.
Having decided my move, I was about to execute it but stopped after hearing a sentence from the beasts.
“It has been a while since someone came here”
“And it’s an Angel no less”
I knew that I could avoid death, and I couldn’t hope to escape in this body so I decided to strike up a conversation.
“Umm, where is this?”
“This is our lair; it is at the center of the High Mountains at the edge of the Kingdom Galasi”
The shorter of the dragons spoke, it’s voice much more gentle than the other’s. From its tone, it was curious about me, not a single bit of killing intent could be felt from it. White scales complemented its blue eyes the same way the other’s black scales to its red counterpart.
Then it struck me. I didn’t know anything about this world, except that it’s likely a fantasy one since there are dragons here.
“Mind giving us your name?”
“Oh yeah. My name is Mal…I mean Alithius, I am a Principality”
Somehow, it felt wrong to call myself as Malek, so I introduced myself with my Angelic Name instead. While it may be dangerous to introduce yourself as a Principality considering their meagre strength, I felt it was best to come out honestly.
“Hmm… I didn’t expect a Principality to be sent this time”
This time the black dragon answered, before introducing itself.
“I am Akaroth, and this is my wife, Aerva”
“And the other one?”
“That is our son, Zeddrarth. I apologize if he scared you”
“It’s okay, Miss Aerva”
“So how many are there this time?”
“Eh?”
I raised an eyebrow at his question. What does he mean by how many?
“What do you mean by how many? And what?”
“I am asking about the okubis. So how many are there?”
“What’s an Okubi?”
…
Both of them just stared at me for a while, then turned to each other. They stayed like this for a while before turning to me again.
Did they use telepathy or what?
As their eyes landed on me again, they started to glow and within a few seconds, their huge draconic forms disappeared into thin air and were replaced by a pair of humans.
Akaroth took the form of a tall man reaching almost 2 meters with short black hair and red eyes and on the other hand, Aerva was slightly shorter than me with long white hair and blue eyes, looking like a more mature version of Amira.
“I think it will be better to communicate this way”
I followed the pair who had signaled me to do so, ending up near a lake with a miniature waterfall that supplied it with water. Sitting on a rock along with the two who were on one opposite to me, Akaroth spoke--
“When Lord Zotius shaped our worlds, he didn’t just create a few, but possibly an endless of those. It was not easy to watch over them all even with the assistance of Angels, so he created a mechanism. If a world reaches a certain threshold of corruption as a whole, it will get totally erased in a 100 years consequentially”
Now I understood what the job of the Angels was, it was to keep the world from crossing the threshold or the entire worlds would crumble if a great evil rises.
“An Okubi is the counterpart to the ordered worlds that exists at the center of a world, just like light and darkness. From it, a destructive essence leaks out that raises disorder and corruption to the threshold by affecting the minds of the people of the world”
“I see”
I guess this is the ‘test’ Amira’s father has for me. Bring it on.
I didn’t even notice I was smiling until Miss Aerva pointed it out. I told them that this was my first task as an angel and also that I was turned into one not even an hour ago. To be honest, I didn’t expect them to want to train me.
According to them, I was far too weak to be in this world. As a principality, my prowess was not too far above that of a human and even an experienced B-rank adventurer would be able to defeat me.
And as they said “It is a duty of a Dragon Sovereign to guide an ally”—it was a shocker that Akaroth and his wife both were Dragon Sovereigns, just below the Dragon King. Since Dragons are highly resistant to the influence of Okubis, they often worked to suppress it and many times were accompanied by Angels.
“Hey there”
A voice sounded behind me snapping me out of my thoughts, which I found out to be that of a human with long black hair and dark crystal blue eyes. Sensing his Aura, I could easily tell who it was.
“You gave me quite a scare back then Zeddrarth”
“What can I say, I really enjoyed you running around. Usually Principalities are just like machines with little emotions so it was fun seeing one running away in fear”
My eyes twitched. If he wasn’t stronger than me, I would have beat his ass up for sure.
I sighed. From what I could gather from his parents talk and our first encounter, he wasn’t the type you want to reason with unless you are close to him, which I certainly am not.
“So you’re a reincarnation huh?”
“How did you know?”
“I’m a spirit Dragon, of course I would sense something like that”
“Sprit Dragon?”
He told me that Spirit Dragons, unlike regular ones, are Dragons who can exist as masses of Spiritual Energy. Basically they were like the Angels but took the form of a dragon and had different innate attributes like how Angels had light. In addition, they can peer in the souls of anyone weaker than them, which was likely what gave me away.
So it was a good idea that I didn’t run away, since I couldn’t as they could also interact with my soul and essence.
“So Zed, why were you in that cave?”
“I was grounded. Also what’s with that name, are you mocking me?”
He said with a low growl. A smirk formed on my face, as Zed’s eye twitched in response.
“Maybe”
“You damn—”
“Zeddrarth, take him”
Despite Akaroth cutting him off, he seemed quite happy for some reason. But what did he mean by taking me away?
Suddenly, Zed grew 2 draconic wings on his back and picked me up.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
I flailed about, trying to break free but his grip was too strong. In one swift action, he jumped off the ground and up out of the ceiling.
“Hey what are you doing?”
“Taking you for training obviously”
He said as if it was the first thing that should have come to mind.
“And aren’t you supposed to warn me first?”
“You wouldn’t agree if we told you first”
“Oh really, why’s that?”
“You’ll see”
All I could do was wait in the air as he took me to whatever place he was going to.
“We’re here”
Looking down, I found a huge fiery hole that seemed to have a layer of translucent orange glass that I deduced was a barrier.
“I’ll come after a month”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“The best training comes from a real first-hand experience”
“Eh...AAAAAHHHHHHH”
I screamed as he dropped me. Seeing him flying away without a care reduced my expectations of being saved to zero. Now facing the earth below, I tried to figure out what do before I hit the ground.
My mind was unusually calm, being that of an angel, so I didn’t panic to the point where it hindered my calculations. Seeing that I would reach the ground in several seconds, I focused on flying the same way I did near the Genesis Crystal.
I tried, but failed spectacularly. Flying a material body was incomparable to doing that with only your soul or as a mass of Energy. However, I couldn’t just give up, I can’t survive in this world for long without a body as of yet, and seeing this barren wasteland I found myself in, it would be nigh-impossible to find another one here.
I tried again, and again, and again, but to no avail as I could not do anything. Then it crossed my mind, what if I used the energy around me to generate thrust, if I push enough energy downwards, I could at least slow down.
With this new plan in mind, I tried to push as much energy around me downwards as I could. It wasn’t much, but I could feel myself slowing down. I could only control pure mana and that with a ‘light’ based attribute so I couldn’t control much of the mana around me.
As the ground strived closer and closer, I tried to use all focus into materializing a physical object in my hands. It had just popped up in my head just like other information that did before but this time, it was just when it was necessary. Using my newfound ability to create matter, I created a huge umbrella that slowed me to down by a hefty margin.
Now descending at safe speeds, I let out a sigh, seeing as I was out of danger. However, I still cursed at the dragon for just leaving me without an explanation.
I narrowed my eyes, as I was undisturbed by the crimson barrier and had just passed right through. Inside, I landed on a rocky platform that seemed to be an entrance to a cave of sorts with torches on the sides which lit up as I walked past them. Naturally, I wanted to avoid any confrontation between a monster since I wasn’t exactly strong, so I tried to leave but the barrier did not let up.
Trying again repeatedly for a while in a number of ways, I came to the conclusion that I was trapped inside. Being that, I could only venture into the cave. Walking into the cave, I created a sword in my hand, and proceeded cautiously. I could feel malicious intent ahead so I was totally on guard, while also creating a weightless yet strong shield.
ARGH…
Hearing a grunt, I quickly got my shield up. However, that did little as I was thrown away by a heavy blow even with the shield’s protection.
Ugh… I quickly jumped to the side, barely missing the axe that would’ve otherwise cut my head in two. Seeing the grey skinned Ogre, which was twice my height rushing at me, I threw my shield away and gripped my blade with both of my arms.
Just as his arm was about to hit me, I swiftly jump over it his arm and slash his eyes. He roars in pain, and flails around, prompting me just off him. However, I noticed that his skin was stronger than what I could cut, for even slashing his eyes took much effort.
I could understand my position and the battle as if I was a veteran that had been on multiple battlefields, which was a given due to an innate understanding of an Angel about weapons and battles. And since I was a warrior Angel, it could only be heightened.
Seeing the Ogre, I rushed at him, avoiding his arms in ways I could imagine doing so before. Then jumping off its shoulders and onto the wall besides us, I jumped at the ogre again with my sword transformed into a spear. Using all the force I had, I thrust the weapon inside his head, killing it instantly.
[Warning. Multiple Threats detected, Retreat advised]
Is this what Athena meant by a gift? —I thought about the robotic voice that echoed in my head. However, I couldn’t focus on it any further as I found myself surrounded by a horde of Ogres, who were clearly angry. Seeing this, I couldn’t stop a wry smile from being plastered on my lips as I joked.
“Heh. That doesn’t seem to be an option now”
It was not a good situation; However, I had concluded that it wasn’t a bad one either. I was fairly confident that I could take them on with my current circumstance. Forming 2 spears in each of my hands, I leaped at them first since I knew they didn’t have good coordination.
Throwing my spear at the first Ogre’s head, I could feel the otaku side of me thrilled by the experience. My smile now changed to a fearless one, I voiced my thoughts.
“This is going to be fun!”

Chapter end