Arpious of the Planes

She was as sick and as powerful as ever, yet she couldn't feel the eyes that now felt like they were practically glued to the back of my head.

As I swallowed a large drop of saliva, it just barely managed to press down my desert-dry throat, parched by the heart that continued to beat in my head.

I felt the stress and almost fear stack up over my shoulders, pressing me down to create a hardship that I knew I would have to overcome.

"Yes, Mother,"

And just like that, I did what I do best... and ignored the wishes of my peers and didn't let myself be shackled by the words of the ones I loved.

It didn't take long for me to make up my mind and fly into the distance, and even though I heard the demanding screams of my mother, I just rolled my eyes and continued through the sky.

The crisp wintry wind passing by me was almost refreshing as I soaked my mind in the eyes bathing me.

"This way," I muttered, snapping my eyes open and flying straight upwards, Hepha joining after me.

"Geez… you fly slow as fuck," Hepha sighed, and as I tried to keep up with her, I responded back to her banter.

"I thought you were a good girl who listened to the wishes of her mother all the time… what happened to that, or do you want to experience the taste of rebelling against Mother for the first time?" I smirked, still trying my best to keep up with my older sister.

"How about you try to banter back when you don't look like you're struggling to keep up with me with every cell in your body,"

"Sh-Shut the hell up," I muttered, but just as Hepha picked up speed, she smashed into the sky, causing a massive spider web-like crack to appear through the air.

It looked as if the atmosphere itself had shattered, but upon seeing it slowly crumble like a breaking window, we felt the glare of the things staring at us intensify.

FWOOSH

Hepha immediately grabbed me as she recovered from her hit and flew downwards before hovering in mid-air, me still in her grasp.

"Let go," I brushed her hand off and flapped my wings in place, slowly raising my head to see the shattering sky reveal thousands of bright red eyes.

"Stay behind me," Hepha muttered, slowly moving her arm to push me behind her, but I quickly caught her arm and pushed it away.

"I don't need your-"

FWOOSH

All of a sudden, Hepha caught a flaming spear of darkness that had been lit by the friction of traveling through the air so fast.

"Mhm," Hepha sighed, and as I clicked my tongue, I saw the hail of darkness rain down from the sky, blotting out the sun and leaving everybody below shrouded in a cloud of darkness.

We both felt the cold gaze of our mother direct past us and onto the thousands of people with wings coming down from the sky like we were being invaded by angels.

But, instead of a pair of angelic white wings like me and my sisters, they were black as night, and their short, medium and long hair all were dyed in a pure nightly gray.

"Seems mom has put her trust in us to keep these people back… now, let's actually take something serious for once… and don't get your ass whooped because if they capture you, I won't be coming to save your ass,"

"I could say the same for you… wait, aren't those sirens? They're exactly as mother described them… hold on, try your [Siren Control] skill," Hepha ordered.

I didn't really like being ordered around by her, but she had a point, so I instantly activated the skill she told me to activate, and I felt a strange sensation flow through me.

It was a strange warmth that flowed into my fingertips and began to pour out of my nails, eventually making a small pressure appear on the end of each one.

"Huh… this is weird… but, if I had to assume… I guess it's this," I muttered before tugging my hands down and all of a sudden, the sirens in the air froze, quickly dropping like flies.

As they plummeted to the ground, we dodged their already casted magic spells and then locked onto even more sirens.

"Oh shit, this is fun," I lightly smiled before turning to my sister who suddenly dissapeared, but upon raising my eyes, I saw my wild sister flying through the air.

She narrowly dodged each attack coming at her and even opted not to even use the skill that could potentially wipe out this entire army almost instantly.

"Tch… you're not getting all the fun," I clicked my tongue before flying directly at the hundreds of black spears that came hurling towards my face.

It was a bit intimidating at first, but eventually, I managed to get the hang of it and dodged in between each one.

The hardest part was definitely knowing where my wings were since they kept getting clipped and then forcing me to pour most of my concentration into regenerating that piece.

And since I couldn't just tuck them into my body, I had to come up with more creative ways, such as turning mid-air instead of dashing side to side as if I was running.

Flying was probably my weakest attribute, but if I ever needed to put in some work, I could make do with my subpar flying skills.

My sister was a genius like always, while my mother had just been doing it for a long time… oh yeah, and she was an absolute genius.

I felt kind of weak when compared to them, but after seeing how I was wiping more sirens out with my waves of frost, I lightly smiled to myself.

"Alright! Bring it on!"

…

(Arpious POV)

"Sirens? Really? Fufufufu… Okay, that's an interesting turn of events… once I'm done with this war, I'll go wipe those assholes out as well," I smiled, slowly flying over the kingdom, but was soon greeted by a single man dressed in a white suit.

His draconic wings carried him through the air while the small black stubs on his head immediately gave away his drake lineage.

"Mmmmmm… You don't look as powerful as the queen described," The man muttered, stretching his hands before summoning a large icy spear in his right hand.

It crystalized from the bottom up, but as he swung it above his head, I couldn't help but admire the beauty of the weapon.

It was sharp, blue, kind of jagged, but most of all, long as hell and could've even served as a scythe if he bent the tip just a bit.

So, I also summoned my weapon of darkness, and as his widened at the sight of my unique blade, I swung my scythe once.

VWOOM

Seemingly tearing through the atmosphere, my opponent's eyes widened once again, and he attempted to fly out of the way of the gust of wind, only to be hit by an arrow of golden flames that I slung from my own arm.

It whistled through the air for just about half a second before colliding with the man's chest, sending him flying backward through the air.

He quickly regained his aerial position, but I was already above him, cocking my scythe back as I went in for another swing.

Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang

"Geez… you're strong as hell," The man muttered, feeling the vibrations of my heavy swing travel through the handle of his icy weapon.

There weren't any cracks in it, so it must've not been made out of just ice… otherwise, I would've shattered it into pieces already.

Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang Clang

My opponent nor was I getting tired anytime soon, yet we still continued to exchange weapon hits until I eventually managed to slip the blade of my scythe around his neck and pulled him towards me.

I thought I would've been able to cut off his head, but upon seeing scales form around his neck, I slightly frowned with disappointment.

"Are you a dragon as well?" I immediately interrogated the man upon dropping my weapon to dodge his incoming attack.

As I flew backward, the man lightly chuckled to himself before his arm went up in a blaze of blue flaming glory.

"Yeah… and what if I am?"

"Then that means I'll have to make sure you really stay dead… I hope you know your immortality won't be saving you,"

"Like I care,"