Ethereal Paradigm: Arcadia of Darkness 73 Rebirth of the Bloody Butterfly

-Haines Howett

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Synthesized Angels. The collective emblazonment, given to the 12 powerful higher spirits that are extant in the Third Realm, and are powerful beings of high renown blessed by the Primordials themselves of unique abilities to make the entire realm a better place for its denizens. Yes, there are 12:

I. Calypso (Harvest) - blessed with the power to aggrandize agriculture.

II. Hitchcock (Glamour) - blessed with her power to turn rubbles to jewels but with the correct materials.

III. Vale (Valor) - blessed with impeccable knowledge of the seas and its depths.

IV. Beowulf (Order) - blessed to maintain the beasts of the land.

V. D' Artagnan (Fortitude) - blessed with the power to inspire.

VI. Daedalus (Amends) - blessed with the talent to forge weaponry and equipment.

VII. Longinus (Temperament) - blessed with the power to create material things, (e.g. Technology)

VIII. Sartre (Wisdom) - blessed with high strategic intellect.

IX. D' Nostradamus (Insight) - blessed with unrivaled hindsight and precognition.

X. Tsukuyomi (Remark) - blessed with the answers to each of the questions of the universe.

XI. Kurenai (Heal) - blessed with the power to reinvigorate physical wounds.

XII. Bismark (Benediction) - blessed with the power to turn commoners to heroes.

But the 12 of them, they were the kind of spirits that are exploited from time to time. Not your stereotypical 'Angels'.

Their endowed unique abilities which had been the cause for their rise was also the primal cause for their pitiable downfall. Not yonder, without or with so limited power for self-aegis, they were suddenly considered as a Kingdom's personal belonging, working 24/7 for a certain Kingdom's gain, and it was then that their divine task failed.

They were considered as material treasures that can be sought and it was not far when the third realm's 27 Kingdoms resorted to violence and malicious acts of war all of the name of obtaining one for themselves for the achievement of their exploits and visions.

But, one of the Synthesized Angel, Kurenai... was not willing to submit.

She was one of the synthesized angels, always with a very sober look, had flawless skin, crimson hair, ruby-colored eyes and scarlet blood-stained wings alike to that of a butterfly which signified her ability to provide lost blood, heal deceases and recover the wounded.

She ran and ran from the Naethervelian's sight often causing Kingdoms war and great sacrifices of the people to obtain her, one Kingdom specifically who had never for once had a Synthesized Angel for themselves was her arch-nemesis. The Kingdom of Aurelius...

Yet, outnumbered and having very finite capabilities for any offense and defense she was captured and felt betrayed by the other Synthesized Angels who suddenly submitted their wills to the kingdom's respective kings instead of being loyal with the primordials and above all, she also felt alone and abandoned by the same Primordials who sent them there, who never for once had looked back to at least see their current grotesque stature.

She was then exploited under the command of King Aurelius, but unlike any other synthesized angels, her powers spell great advantage in the battlefield. For years she would join the Kingdom's warriors to wage war with its neighboring territories healing the wounds of the plunderers without fail and it was only a matter of time that the Kingdom gained exponential wealth and fame as the King, its Hero, and its Archpriest continues to claim the credits.

Not until one day, she saw her only opportunity, a weird stroke of luck and felicity... While on the battlefield, with the army and its king and governing commanders distracted, suddenly a rift beside her opened up. She did not know where it leads to, nor did she know what will happen to her if she were to go inside... but she knows more than anyone else that it was her only chance of escape.

Hurriedly, not minding the risks, she endeavored to go through the rift, and the King seeing her slowly go inside, ordered his army to fall back from the battlefield to reclaim the escaping Synthesized Angel, but Kurenai was not willing to go back in there. She then summoned a flesh-hungry Gorgon, 'Euryale' with all of her strength, and blessed the monstrosity with an impeccable ability to heal, even going past the limits of her powers to hinder the vast armies approaching.

The unkillable Gorgon, killed countless of armies that day and while the Kingdom did not know where it came from, they know that its ability to heal was from the now-escaped synthesized angel, the very reason why many lives were lost that day... and hence the birth of the 'Bloody Butterfly', her debut to becoming a killer from a harmless healer.

The King, bitterly indignant as his secret weapon got away, swore with his life that he will get his hands on her again, no matter the cost and the time that he must pay...

Kurenai achieved her sudden and risky escape and fell into this rift of rather a bottomless pit and heavy sleep came to her...

The moment she woke up, she found herself in a place that she knows nothing of and that, she was inside a little girl's body.

In this new world, she could not use her powers, all she knows was that she is seeing through the girl's eyes and is always with her. The question as to why a rift suddenly appeared that day which leads to her being inside the girl never departed her, but the answer was simple and such that she understood the moment she knew.

Turns out, the foster parents of the child was the one who summoned her through their earnest prayers to save her from near-death as her original mom died as she was still delivering her and having the Kurenai to take part in her body was one ultimate healing-key for anyone.

The girl grew up and the two of them would converse inside the little girl's head and have become friends very quickly, no, family... It was the Synthesized Angel's first time to know what the feeling of safety is and complete freedom from those who sought her life. Little did she care about her new environment at all... all she cared was that she's safe and that, she has a new family she could care about, but the boggling thoughts of her allies left to suffer back in the third realm never departed from her and fate was not that static to let her live the life she thinks she deserves.

The moment the giant summon, Atlas, came in that peaceful day to pick up the city to transport it to a realm for warfare decree, she knew that she is now back in the embrace of those monsters and in the presence of her allies that are now caged in their respective kingdoms. Exploited, abandoned, and above all, hopeless.

The little girl also lost her foster parents that day, but it was also the same moment when the two of them met their new brother, Jaiden.

Now, facing against her, was the Kingdom of Aurelius's party of elite assassins, the Hero who has always been the right hand of the king, the same Archpriest, and as well as the immortal Gorgon which she herself, made immortal, and is now the Paradigm Shift of the hero as he was the first to tame it.

And inside an iron-maiden, a meter or two away was the brother they just met but had grown attached to who has also fallen prey to the Kingdom's conceited stratagem, all to reclaim the Bloody Butterfly for themselves.

Kurenai, under Shiro's body, is not that weak as she was before, now that she is inside a human who recently jus got the benison from the Ethereal Paradigm. She can now have a proper offensive stance with a little limit and not to mention her impeccable ability to heal almost a hundred times better than the Gorgon, Euryale.

Chapter end