Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation(Vol 5)

Vol 5/ Chapter 64: Turning Against Each Other

"So you heard everything I talked about with Reider?"

The last part of our call was about sensitive stuff, like us coming from Earth. And Wayne Peng could understand our language! I was super nervous about how he'd react after knowing this, so I tried to ask: "Do you believe what he said?"

"...Oh! I didn't watch all of the video 'cause I rushed here, but I know the main points!"

Surprisingly, he looked confused for a while before answering, but he got it wrong. "We still need to think more about whether that Reider guy really wants to talk peace. But I think he's right that you know our language. After all, you guys helped me learn this world's language. Maybe you have some way to learn languages fast. That makes sense!"

I see. Wayne Peng was the only military person in the base who knew our world's language. But he didn't know what we talked about at the end! If I count the time from when we told Egil to leave until Wayne Peng got here, it was just a few minutes. He probably didn't have time to watch the whole video because he was busy dealing with Mia and the others.

I felt so relieved. This means I don't have to explain where I'm from yet. That would be so awkward! I'm not sure if what Reider said in the magic call is all true. But my old high school classmate is right here. If he found out now, I'd be so embarrassed...

Thinking about this made me feel better for now. The only thing left to worry about is what Adrian thinks.

"If Reider wasn't lying and he really wants peace, will you agree?" Adrian wasn't thinking about the same things as me. When he heard about peace talks, he quickly asked.

"That's not something I can decide," Wayne Peng shrugged and looked at Egil's dead body on the ground. He said firmly, "The guy they sent to talk to us is dead now. Even if we agree to talk, we'd have to wait for a new person to come. But I don't think the empire's army will wait. To protect our country, we H-country aren't afraid of any war they start!"

Actually, we could still contact Reider. That magic ball should still be on Egil's body, and I kinda know how to use it. But I'm not sure if it needs light or water magic to work. And if we talk to Reider again, he might tell everyone who I really am. That would be so embarrassing. So I didn't want to mention it at all.

"We don't know why you helped us before. But from what we know now, since the empire wants to talk to you in secret, we can't be sure you're not spies! So we need to take you somewhere else and ask you questions separately," Wayne Peng said.

Even though they know we can speak their language, they still don't trust us. The Earth army's attitude was clear. Wayne Peng told us what they were going to do.

"How can you do this? We're not spies! Don't forget, you invited us to visit!" This might be what they call being put in a 'dark room'! Facing possible questioning, me and Adrian knew what that meant. We could only say again that we weren't spies.

"Sorry, these are the rules! I personally feel bad about it, but rules are rules. I hope you'll keep cooperating." Even though we were wrongly accused, Wayne Peng couldn't let us go. He said it again firmly, then waved his hand. The soldiers around us came closer, ready to force us to go with them.

"Get your hands off Lady Reed! How dare you treat her like this!" Before me and Adrian could do anything, Mia shouted angrily. She couldn't take it anymore.

Then there was a bright flash of white light. I knew Mia was finally going to fight back! I could only say sorry to the two Earth soldiers holding my shoulders:

"Sorry, we can't let you take us away. So we have to do this!"

"Huh? Ugh..." Before they knew what was happening, the two soldiers went soft and fell to the ground. But it wasn't me - Adrian did it!

"Be gentle, they're all common human. We don't need to kill them!" Adrian is way above level 6. I quickly reminded him to be careful, or he might use too much force by accident.

"Can't help it. We didn't mean any harm at first, but now we have to hurt them a bit to protect ourselves," Adrian said with a bitter smile. The soldiers who tried to control him were already knocked down.

"What new kind of creature is this? Is it the legendary bird person?" When Mia showed her wings, all the Earth people were shocked! Everyone started making noise.

But whoever said that bird person thing, I don't like it! When did you ever see a bird person with four pairs of wings? She's clearly an angel! They know nothing!

"Everyone be careful! Fight back!" Someone in the crowd shouted. All the soldiers finally reacted. They pointed their guns at us without mercy, ready to shoot any second.

With them shooting so close, I didn't dare take chances. I quickly opened my wings and pulled Adrian up into the air with me.

Right away, lots of fast air whooshed past below us. Those bullets faster than sound are really scary! Even with my eight wings, I could barely see where they were going. No wonder those empire soldiers at level 3 or 4 got crushed so easily.

"So this is the truth about other world humans' weapons? It doesn't look like magic. It's more like crossbows. How do they do it? It's so powerful!" Adrian had seen guns twice now. As an archer, he finally understood how they work. He couldn't help frowning.

"Damn it! How dare you humans bully us noble angels! And you even say we're working with those empire people!" Mia also flew into the sky. But Reed only has two wings, so it was much harder for her. Mia had to protect her alone. They kept flying around crazy to dodge bullets. It looked tough.

"These weapons aren't too scary for us one by one. But when there's lots of them shooting together, it's really hard to deal with!" Mia is an experienced eight-winged angel. Her reactions and speed are way better than a newbie like me. To be safe, I had to use a "Light Shelter" just in case.

Humans think this is god-level magic. It's mainly for defending against magic and energy attacks. But it also slows down fast flying weapons pretty well.

We were still in a bad situation, just getting shot at. And Mia doesn't know how to use "Light Shelter" magic. She could only keep moving around to dodge. What's worse, the guards in the towers started shooting too. Their big machine guns blocked the way to fly higher. It was getting really hard!

"Should I go down and take care of them? We can't keep this up forever," Adrian suggested. I was holding him. Even though the H-country soldiers were shocked that their bullets didn't work, they didn't stop. They kept shooting at the sky.

"But..." I hesitated when I heard this. I really didn't want to kill these people who used to be my countrymen. But Adrian was right. If we don't fight back now, we might have no way out.

"You two, don't look over here!" Suddenly, we heard Reed's voice from far away.

When I heard this, I knew what she was going to do. I quickly turned my head away! Looks like Mia was almost at her limit too. Flying so fast to dodge all those bullets while carrying someone was really tiring. If they didn't do something, they'd get shot down soon.

"What's happening?"
"What's going on? My eyes!"
"Ahhhhh!"
"Ugh—"
...

Reed used "Five Light Ten Color" magic. Right away, we heard lots of painful screams from the ground. Many people covered their eyes in pain. Everything became chaos.