Aɳɠҽʅιƈ Hυɳƚɾҽʂʂ σϝ Bʅσσԃ αɳԃ Sƚҽҽʅ

Chapter 19: Another Nightfall

(This took a while...)

Maria is forced to make a decision now...

To choose her loyalty... To choose between her father or her friend...

Michael or Lute.

It was foolish to think she could have it both ways. Now Maria is paying the price, wanting to continue having Lute in her life.

All because of their promise to stay together...

Maria blames her heart on that one, going against the merciless logic she prides herself on as Heaven's infamous Huntress.

She supposes her father is right in that aspect, that Maria is starting to waver. A sign of weakness in Michael's eyes.

Well, weakness or not, Maria is still the strongest in all of Heaven. And the strongest do not heed to those beneath them. Especially if they're mere threats, even if those threats are from the Lord Ruler himself.

From this point onward, for the first time since her reincarnation. Maria loses loyalty towards her father...

...

[Maria's Innate Domain | The Huntress's Dream] 

To be quite honest, Maria isn't sure about this at all. Her friend isn't used to the Hunt, unfamiliar with the grave threat these beasts pose. They aren't like the hellspawn Lute slaughters on Extermination Day.

Hellspawn don't have supernatural strength behind their fangs and claws, able to slice through steel like paper...

Hellspawn don't fight back during a fight. Devoting even their own life in exchange for the pursuit of the kill...

And Hellspawn don't have a way of harming Angels, at least not naturally. Compared to Maria's prey, those bloodthirsty monsters will rip Lute to shreds...

That thought... It's what the Huntress fears the most.

Their enemies will be different tonight. Her friend certainly knows this, of the danger that is all but guaranteed. But knowing and actually experiencing are two separate things.

Leaving Maria with only one solution. To train Lute herself...

Gunshots echo across the dreamscape, bullets piercing through the eternal night with a booming roar as Lute tries and fails to learn basic firearms. The Exorcist has been at this since morning, firing against the many gravestones found throughout the Dream.

Painted red in blood to mark her target, Lute takes aim once again. Bringing up the gun with shaky hands, the Exorcist shuts one eye while looking through the plain iron sights with the other.

But her breath is quick, her heartbeat even quicker in these slow-feeling seconds. Maria can tell, from her place off to the side, that Lute is still learning. So it doesn't surprise the Huntress at all when her friend misses once again, her shot ricocheting off the headstone and off into the fog-like horizon. 

"This isn't working!" Lute huffs in frustration, seemingly fed up with this training. "It's been basically the whole day and I haven't gotten anywhere."

In her fit of rage, the Exorcist throws the firearm back to its owner. Easily catching it, Maria shakes her head in disappointment. Accepting her friend's anger, the Archangel stands up. Abandoning her original task of hand washing her Huntress attire to help Lute.

Thankfully, her messengers are quick to pick up the workload for their mother.

"I'm not expecting you to become a marksman," Maria approaches Lute, holding the gun out for her to take. "That would be unrealistic. What I'm having you learn is the fundamentals, nothing more."