Becoming The Strongest Angel With A Saintess System-Chapter 162: When Heaven Breaks

"So, are you perhaps eager to get back to basic training?" Venus asked Grace as they flew through the air.

"A little," Grace replied, smiling back. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

With the Pillars finally having been dealt with, Grace felt strangely energetic. Not just that, but all her flying practice finally showed in the way she managed to maintain a steady, easy trajectory back to the Dominion.

Now, there was just the Veil to deal with. Once they were out of the way, Grace would truly get back to regular angel business. Or, whatever counted for regular among angels.

Little did she know she’d be facing the Veil sooner than expected.

The first sign that something was wrong came when they broke through the cloud layer.

Grace saw smoke rising from various points in the Dominion. Angels were flying back and forth chaotically, like they didn’t know where to be or they had too many places to be at once.

"What the hell?" Venus’s playful demeanor vanished.

Grace squinted. Those weren’t training exercises. Angels were fighting each other.

[Oh no.]

"Is that—" Petriel gasped.

"The Veil." Mara’s voice went cold. "They’re attacking again."

They dove toward the nearest conflict. A group of Seraphim Guards had cornered three Veil angels against a building.

Grace watched as a Seraphim Guard ducked under a swing, only for another Veil angel to come in and sever her arm. The limb fell to the floor, and the Dominion angel clutched her stump, screaming.

"Grace!" Seraph’s voice boomed across the plaza. "About fucking time!"

The commander of the Bravery Sisters stood in the middle of twenty Veil angels. Her armor was cracked. Blood streamed from multiple wounds. Her left leg dragged behind her, clearly wounded.

You wouldn’t know it from looking at her face, though. She grinned like she was having the time of her life.

"Little help here?"

Grace didn’t hesitate. She drew her rapier and dove into the fray.

A Veil angel turned toward her, corruption crackling around her fists. Grace ducked under her swing and drove her knee into her stomach.

"URK!"

She doubled over. Grace brought her elbow down on her neck. He collapsed, unconscious but alive.

Although the situation was dire, Grace had no desire to kill anyone she didn’t absolutely have to.

Another Veil angel charged with twin daggers. Grace caught them with her gauntlets and headbutted her. The angel stumbled back, nose broken.

"Behind you!" Seraph called.

Grace spun and deflected a sword strike with her rapier. The Veil angel pressed forward, corruption enhancing her strength.

"You’re the demon killer." Her eyes blazed. "I will bring Azrael your head!"

Grace channeled energy into her new gauntlets and grabbed her sword. The blade shattered. She palm-struck her chest, sending her flying into a wall.

[I’ll go see Azrael myself, thank you very much.]

Three more Veil angels surrounded her. Grace activated her Blade of Eternia, golden light humming along her rapier.

She moved like water between their attacks. A pommel strike to one’s temple. A sweep kick to another’s legs. An armored knee to the third’s solar plexus.

They all went down groaning.

"Damn, shortstack!" Seraph laughed. "You’ve gotten good!"

Grace noticed a severed hand on the ground, still wearing a Seraphim Guard’s glove. Its owner sat against a wall, wincing as another Guard picked the hand up and tried to reattach it.

"Where’s everyone else?" Grace helped the wounded Guard hold the hand in place while divine healing attempted to fuse it back.

"Scattered across the city." Seraph spat out some blood. "The Veil hit us everywhere at once. They’re targeting civilians, trying to cause maximum chaos."

"Why?"

"Same plan as last time, maybe? I don’t know. But we need to—"

An explosion rocked the eastern district. Screams followed.

"Go!" Seraph pointed with her good arm. "I’ll handle things here!"

Grace took off running. Behind her, Seraph engaged five more Veil angels with a war cry, despite her wounded leg.

The streets were chaos. Angels fought in the air and on the ground. Grace saw Sisters of Compassion trying to heal wounded angels while defending themselves. Love Sisters evacuated civilian angels while dodging corruption blasts.

A Veil angel’s head rolled past Grace’s feet. The body it belonged to crawled after it blindly.

[This is insane. Why now? Why like this? Are they literally just trying to kidnap more angels? No, this is happening on a way larger scale.]

She rounded a corner and found Diana surrounded by eight Veil angels. The warrior had lost her sword and was fighting bare-handed. Her right arm hung limp at her side, clearly dislocated.

"Took you long enough!" Diana grabbed a Veil angel by the throat and slammed her into the ground. "Where the fuck were you?"

"Dealing with Pillars!" Grace parried a strike meant for Diana’s back. "When did this start?"

"An hour ago!" Diana caught a fist with her good hand and twisted, breaking the attacker’s fingers. "No warning! They just appeared everywhere! I fucking told you we should have gone after them!"

Grace and Diana fought back-to-back. Their opponents were skilled, but Grace’s new strength from absorbing Sin energy gave her an edge. She moved faster, hit harder, reacted quicker.

She kicked a Veil angel’s knee sideways. It bent the wrong way with a wet crack. She went down screaming.

Diana grabbed another by the wings and pulled. The wings tore free with a sickening rip.

"These assholes are tougher than usual." Diana wiped blood from her face with her good arm.

"Sin energy." Grace could see it swirling around them. "They’re all juiced up."

"Great. Just fucking great." Diana picked up a fallen sword. "Celestia went to confront Azrael directly. Eastern tower."

Grace’s blood ran cold.

"Alone?"

"You know how she is." Diana popped her dislocated shoulder back into place with a grunt. "Go! I’ve got this!"

Grace spread her wings and launched into the air. The eastern tower loomed ahead, its peak wreathed in storm clouds that hadn’t been there before.

[Please don’t do anything stupid, Celestia.]

She flew past a mid-air battle where a Seraphim Guard had bitten off a Veil angel’s ear. Both were covered in golden blood, still grappling.

A Veil angel tried to intercept Grace. She grabbed the angel’s face and slammed her into a building wall. Her teeth scattered like pearls.

The air grew colder as she climbed. Pressure built in her chest. Something massive was happening above.

Then she felt it. Power. Raw, overwhelming power that made her teeth ache.

[Azrael.]

Grace burst through the cloud layer and stopped dead.

Azrael floated above the Dominion like a dark goddess. Her silver hair whipped in an unfelt wind. Her wings, each the size of buildings, cast shadows over everything. Blue-purple corruption radiated from her in waves.

"Azrael." A voice, calm but cold.

Celestia rose to meet her. Grace’s heart sank.

The Archangel’s rainbow wings had faded to dull grey. Her rainbow hair turned mostly white. Dark circles ringed her eyes.

[Oh no. She actually did it. She used Sin energy.]

"Celestia." Azrael’s voice carried across the sky. "You look tired."

"You look corrupted." Celestia’s tone could freeze fire.

"I look free." Azrael spread her arms wide. "Free from Eternia’s lies. Free from the Dominion’s chains. Free to remake this broken world."

"By attacking innocent angels?"

"By showing them the truth." Azrael’s eyes found Grace. "Ah. The new toy Eternia made. How quaint."

Grace flew closer, stopping between them.

"Whatever you’re planning—"

"Grace, leave." Celestia didn’t look at her. "This isn’t your fight."

"Like hell it isn’t!"

"Grace." Celestia’s voice carried command. "Go. Now."

"She should stay." Azrael smiled. It wasn’t kind. "She should see what happens to those who cling to Eternia’s failures."

"Eternia’s failures?" Celestia’s wings spread wider. "You mean the world she created? The angels she blessed? The love she shared?"

"The emotions she couldn’t handle." Azrael’s corruption flared. "The Pillars she abandoned. The lover she cast aside when I became inconvenient."

Celestia’s expression softened slightly.

"Azrael—"

"Don’t." Ice formed around Azrael’s hands. "You took my place. Became her new favorite. Did she discard you too when you started asking questions?"

Celestia flinched.

"She did, didn’t she?" Azrael laughed. "The great Eternia. Running from every real relationship she’s ever built."

"You’re wrong." But Celestia’s voice lacked conviction.

"Am I?" Azrael gestured at Grace. "She made a replacement. Programmed to be everything she wanted. No free will. No difficult questions. Just blind obedience."

"Hey!" Grace bristled. "I have free will!"

"Do you?" Azrael’s gaze pierced her. "Or do you just think you do because she programmed you to think that?"

"Enough games." Celestia raised her hand. Light gathered around it - not golden anymore, but grey-white. "Call off your angels. Leave. Don’t come back."

"Or what?" Azrael’s smile was all teeth. "You’ll fight me? With that corrupted mockery of power?"

"If I have to."

"You can’t win." Azrael’s wings spread to their full span. "I’ve had centuries to master this power. You’ve had, what, weeks?"

"I said leave."

"Make me."

The air between them crackled. Grace felt the pressure building, reality itself straining.

[They’re really going to fight.]

She looked between them. Celestia, exhausted and corrupted but determined. Azrael, powerful and bitter but not entirely wrong.

[This is going to be bad.]

"Last chance." Celestia’s voice was barely a whisper.

"I could say the same to you." Azrael raised her own hand. Corruption swirled around it like a miniature storm.

Grace’s instincts screamed at her to run. To get as far away as possible.

But she couldn’t leave Celestia. Not like this.

[Fuck. Here we go.]