Alluring Secret : Black Vow

Chapter 1 : Part 3 : Meeting

Chapter 1, Part 3 – Meeting

How much time had passed?

The day had completely darkened, and the town in Alphine was dyed in the beautiful colors of the sunset. For a while, she merely sat fascinated by the beauty around her, but soon forced herself to stand up.

"I have to get back ...."

Protecting her left wing that had been injured in the fight with the demon, Rin staggered through the twilight town. Injuring her wing had been a grave mistake. Although she was somehow able to withstand the pain, she was unable to fly with nearly half of her wing gone. Not to mention, most of her holy power had been used up.

Because Heaven resided in a different special plane that the human world, it couldn't be reached without holy power. Even if one were to fly blindly, without holy power, you would only continue to fly through the endless sky. Either way, until both her wings and holy power were restored, she would have to remain in this world.

Baffled, she walked though the town alone. Humans were not able to see angels, so no one would be able to notice her injured form. Swaying unsteadily, she blended in with the crowds of humans and passed through the bustle of activity. Perhaps because they were making preparations for dinner, a pleasant smell drifted in the air. Reaching the low hill at the end of the main road, she saw the country's largest cathedral.

"If it's there, then there should be enough holy power, so I'll stay there for the time being."

Because it had once fallen from Heaven, it was therefore the town that had fallen from the sky.

In the center of the town was the remarkably gorgeous Claude Cathedral. For the devout people of this town, the cathedral was enshrined as the place closest to Heaven. Furthermore, the faith of the people that visited this cathedral gave off the highest quality of holy energy. For this reason, it was often been used as a resting place.

She slowly ascended the spiral staircase going around the hill.

For angels that usually flew with their wings to get around and seldom walked on two legs, this staircase was a slight challenge. In Heaven, after becoming a fully-fledged angel, there are various tests and obligatory training, but the most important for when staying in the human world was using their legs in "bipedal training."

Particularly for angels that were assigned to the Alphine region, and would need to stay in the human for extensive periods of time, the training of going up and down the spiral stairs at this Claude Cathedral was made mandatory. When Rin had been doing long-term training to be promoted to a junior angel, she had repeated the training of going up and down these stairs with Gumi.

That was the first time that she thought humans were amazing.

Ever since the Great War, there was a long period of time where there was a school of thought known as Neo-Angels, that believed strongly in only training the power of their wings. The majority of angels sided with this faction. Walking on two legs was seen as inferior, savage and uncivilized behavior, and became banned. However, times changed. In recent years, it was proved that training the whole body gave an advantage in combat against demons, and walking and running power became factors in the evaluation of a strong angel. There was even a suggestion that "walking" be included as one of the official competitive events in the "St. Sports Festival" held every four years.

However, regardless of how skilled angels were recently at walking, climbing stairs while injured was an enormous strain on the body. As soon as Rin reached the top, she collapsed, her body falling forward.

"Haa ..... haa ..... My wings ... hurt ....."

Lying on her side, she looked down at the scenery. A small whirlwind was blowing. About two to three parts of her wing was missing. The town that had dyed in red until just a while ago had dimmed, and the sun seemed just about to set.