In a flash of lightning, Delia was in the four-foot-deep depression in the earth, lifting Caius into her arms trying to convince herself that the injury was not so bad despite the state of his body staring otherwise.

The worst of the injuries was his chest of course. It looked caved in and even his ribs had been splintered. There was now a great deal of pressure on his heart causing the beating to be irregular and at times stalling. Besides the chest and the ribs, the bones in Caius's arms and legs were also broken.

By Caius's side was his sword. Or at least, what was left of it. Delia raised it and it had been snapped in two. The 'half' she was holding had the handle and about five inches left of a shattered blade.

"Caius," Delia said in a gasp as she tossed the broken sword aside and tried to jolt him back to consciousness. She hadn't come with any Healing Potions or even Mana Recovery Potions because she hadn't thought there'd be a need.

Especially once she had advanced to the Fourth Circle. She had thought, what threat could her majorly Third Circle classmates pose to her that'd require such urgent care?

How was she to know they'd face a creature from Hell? Literally!

But Caius had known.

Delia's eyes, already getting misty, went wide then as she realized what she had long surmised; Caius knew this would happen. And if he did, he had to have prepared to face it. He had to have prepared to need healing.

"His ring…" she said and reached for Caius's left hand where he wore his rings. Rings—plural.

Delia realized now as she cradled his hand—trying not to aggravate his injuries—that she had never questioned why Caius always had at least two rings.

Besides the need to have a dash of fashion, one only needed a single Storage Ring. For the first time, she found herself observing the ring on his index finger—A silver ring with a delicate blue stone.

Had the ring always had that stone?

Delia heard a gargling sound then and raised her head to stare at Belron who had one hand clasped over its throat even though that didn't stop the blood loss.

Belron's eyes were full of hate but also curiosity. Nothing Caius could do in the way of a physical attack—without Divine energy—should have been capable of causing Belron harm. And yet, those claws…

'Oh, Anyxyl, what is this thing you've made…' Belron thought.

The Fiend's hands glowed then. As though it were burning its own skin. Steam rose to further that visage and soon, the blood loss stilled. Belron raised its other hand then, conjuring a Demonic circle to unleash a spell meant to strike Caius down and put an end to the possibility of suffering from that inexplicable claw attack. And if the other godling died in the process, all the better.

The Demonic circle took shape.

Delia clenched her fist and strong wings began to circulate around her. But despite the power that could so clearly be felt, they didn't 'appear'. They were as invisible as a passing breeze.

Droplets of water formed in the air, each tiny but fueled with chaotic, destructive might.

There were tiny sounds of tiny streaks of lightning too.

And with her face darkened with an expression of pain and anger, Delia combined these three phenomena, creating a compressed storm. Similar to what she had done with only lightning earlier but of course now on a grander, larger scale.

Still, she had never done this before.

This was something she had begun to conceive as a way to break through the limits of the Fourth Circle, which was itself a very ambitious thought considering she had barely been at the Fourth Circle for a week.

Still, in this moment, faced with the Demonic might she knew for sure would kill her and Caius if she did nothing, Delia knew she could do it.

At least she hoped she could.

The energy of the compressed storm threatened to go awry and even though it caused her physical pain, Delia commanded it to comply.

But before she could unleash it— Before Belron's Demonic took complete shape and unleashed its attack, a radiant golden light split the air, cutting the circle in two and dispersing its energy in an instant.

Belron's eyes went wide and it raised its face, the scarred skin of its neck stretching as it found Aurelius standing in mid-air. No longer supported by footholds of Light. It was as though, he was Light itself.

There was a halo around Aurelius's head. And in his hand, there was a spear. Its pole had the metallic sheen of titanium, marked with symbols that were undoubtedly Divine scripts. The Spearhead was like molten metal, glowing bright with a golden glow.

The Spear looked tangible but nothing about it seemed of this world. It was as though Aurelius had simply made it appear out of nothing. Or maybe, he had summoned it from the heavens.

"And there he is," Belron said, shaking off the worry that had gripped him since Caius's successful claw-strike. Faced with the radiant sanctity Aurelius was giving off, the Fiend was all the more relaxed.

"The Apostle of Aether," Belron said and rose in the air calmly, its arms behind its back. As though its demonic spell hadn't just been destroyed.

"Now that you've finally graced me with your resplendent glow, I'd assume you now know why I'm here, little godling, hmm?" Belron said and let out a short laugh,

"Ha! Well then, let's get this show on the road. Shall we…"

Aurelius threw his hand forward then and his spear went sailing, cutting Belron off as it pierced right through the Fiend.

Belron's eyes went wide and then it turned into nothing, appearing right behind Aurelius the very next second.

"Straight to business?" the Fiend said, "I couldn't agree more."

Belron tossed its hand forward and summoned a Demonic circle that primed and unleashed an attack. Aurelius still had his hand out as it had been after his Spear throw. The spear returned to his hand and he spun around just in time to cast ~Mandala~.

But this wasn't the usual ~Mandala~ spell composed of just empty squares within a circle made of light. Instead, the circles were inlaid with Divine Symbols. Now the spell looked a lot closer to what it used to look like when Aurelius used to cast it in his past life as a Goddess's right hand.

~Mandala~ didn't just block the blast, it deflected it at an angle where it struck one of the spinning discs in the air and destroyed it at once. Shutting down one of the instruments that allowed those outside the Forest to keep up with what was happening within.

Aurelius hadn't meant for that. But if he could even afford to pay it attention at the moment—faced with a Demonic threat as he was—he likely wouldn't have cared. He was sorely lacking in the patience required to care about anyone outside getting to watch him fight.

All that was in his mind was how, while locked in trying to harness his Divine Energy, he had seen all that happened. He had seen Caius get hit. And had seen him fall into the state he was in right now.

All that had been for him(Aurelius) to attain the power he now had. And he needed to ensure he didn't waste the grace he had been afforded.

Belron floated backward, spread its arms, and both its hands together in a clap whose sound was far too crispy and ominous. In a second, multiple Demonic circles appeared, striking out attacks that seemed like a mix of Fire and Lightning. Only, the elements of nature, often seen as mortal forces, appeared warped. They appeared beholding of a Hellish reality removed from that of the mortal realm.

Aurelius spun his spear, striking aside the attacks aimed at him, deflecting enough that he brought down another two Spinning Discs. And then he realized that not all the attacks were aimed at him.

There were those aimed down at Caius and Delia on the ground.

Delia had just raised her head to see this threat when Aurelius was suddenly there, throwing up a blanket of light to protect them.

And then Belron sailed over and slammed Aurelius with a *BANG!* into the wall.

Aurelius let out a yell and a spell circle interlaid with Divine scripts appeared to slam an attack into Belron. But the Fiend didn't let the Divine Energy touch it and blocked the attack with a gory shield that seemed to drip nightmarishly with the blood of the damned.

Once the attack was deflected though, Aurelius used his Spear to slam Belron in the side of the head with so much force that it went flying up at the ceiling which it struck with a *BANG!*…

… And crushed one of the Spinning Discs still flying about.

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