Divine System: Land of the Abominations-Chapter 292: The Labors of a Fettered Angel (1).

Nero’s jaw clenched. He wanted to demand answers, but something else had caught his attention.

He couldn’t sense any corruption from this thing. This thing that called itself Rummel Abellion.

None at all.

His Heretic Eyes had always allowed him to perceive Ein Sof, to see the flows and patterns of corrupted energy that saturated Abominations. It was how he gauged danger too, as every creature he’d encountered, from the weakest Grade F to the strongest, had radiated a distinctive taint.

But when he looked at this creature, he saw nothing.

It made no sense.

Nero’s eyes narrowed as he studied the creature more carefully.

Everything about it was very off-putting and irregular.

And yet his senses told him nothing.

’What in the seven Hells is this bloody thing?!’ he asked the Oracle.

There was a pause,

{I cannot determine its nature. The being that calls itself Rummel Abellion, is actively obscuring itself}.

Nero’s blood ran cold...

The Oracle rarely failed to identify something. Even when it couldn’t provide complete information, it had always been able to give him something.

But this?

This was a first.

The creature tilted its head, that unsettling gesture. Behind its mask, Nero could swear he saw something in that darkness.

Nero took a step back.

"Now, now," Rummel Abellion said, its tone almost chiding. "I told you, I mean no harm. If I wanted to hurt you, you’d already be hurt."

"That’s not very reassuring, is it?" Nero said through gritted teeth.

The creature’s mask seemed to smile wider, though the carved features hadn’t changed.

"Of course it isn’t. Reassurance is quite the flimsy thing, is it not? One can never truly be sure of another’s intent regardless of the words they speak, or the visage they appear in. So why don’t we stop this tedious dance and have a conversation?"

"Fine. Let’s start with this; What are you?" Nero asked again, his voice harder this time.

The creature straightened. All four of its arms clasped together in front of its chest in a gesture that seemed almost pious.

"I," it said with a theatrical flourish, "am an angel."

Nero blinked.

Several seconds passed in silence.

"An angel," he repeated flatly.

"Indeed!" The creature’s voice took on an enthusiastic quality, as if it were delighted to finally share this information,

"A good angel, in fact. Not one of those corrupted scum you might have heard about on the stories. No, I served faithfully during the Demon Wars, fighting against the forces of darkness that sought to consume this world."

Nero stared at it, his expression carefully blank.

The creature continued, apparently undeterred by his skepticism. "Alas, I was defeated, as unlikely as it sounds, yes I was. Betrayed by those I fought alongside and sealed in this wretched place. I’ve been trapped here ever since, slowly recovering my strength, trying to break free from this prison."

"You expect me to believe that," Nero said with narrowed eyes.

The creature spread its four arms wide, the gesture somehow managing to convey wounded innocence despite its grotesque appearance.

"I know what you are thinking. How could such a magnificent being such as myself be trapped in such a humble form? The answer, my young friend, is that this is not my true body. It is merely a manifestation; a shell created to interact with the physical world while my true essence remains bound."

"You’re lying," Nero said.

"Am I?" The creature tilted its head again, that darkness behind the mask’s eyeholes seeming to deepen. "Tell me something, young man. Do I look corrupted to you? Do you sense any taint of darkness about me?"

Nero said nothing.

Because the creature had a point.

He’d encountered countless Abominations since leaving Gor. He’d faced evil spirits, possessed humans and even things that defied categorization. And every single one of them had radiated corruption like heat from a fire.

But this thing?

Nothing.

There was nothing.

Just an empty void.

’Is this thing truly an angel?’ He thought to himself with a grimace.

He knew from experience that appearance meant nothing when it came to determining a being’s nature. Sariel had appeared as many things; a golden doe, a fair man, a voluptuous woman... But all those were not what it truly was.

Some of the most beautiful entities in this world were utterly evil.

Some of the most monstrous were relatively benign.

Still, everything about this situation screamed danger. Every instinct Nero had developed through survival in the wilderness, through the countless battles with creatures that had drank his blood and should have killed him...

All of it was telling him to run.

But there was nowhere to run to.

Rummel Abellion seemed to sense his internal conflict. Its four arms lowered to its sides.

"I understand your hesitation," it said, its voice taking on a more gentle quality. "Trust is a difficult thing to give, especially in circumstances like these. But I advice you to consider your situation rationally... You are trapped down here with two unconscious companions. The way you came is blocked by rubble. There are truly only two ways out of here, and you need my help if you want to use them."

It wasn’t a threat, but a statement of fact, delivered matter-of-factly.

Nero looked back toward where Arthur and Jacob lay in the blue-lit darkness. They were still breathing, he could see their chests rising and falling. They were still alive, thankfully.

But for how long?

Without treatment, without food or water, their chances of survival grew slimmer by the hour. Arthur’s leg was broken badly enough that infection could set in. Jacob’s head wound could lead to complications Nero had no way of addressing at the moment. They were not like him with Vineheart, and while their physiques were sturdy, they were still human.

He could wait a day until he got access to the Oracle’s inventory of boons. However, until then, they would be in danger.

There truly was no way out.

The rubble pile blocking their original entrance was also massive. Even if he were healthy, even if he had all his strength, moving those stones would be very difficult. The structural instability alone would also bring down more of the ceiling.

He could try exploring the chamber, looking for another exit...

But the creature had said it controlled the only two ways out.

And Nero believed it.