Angel Descent

The Red Priest card, which recorded every potion name, formula, and ritual of the Hunter pathway, also offered some descriptions of each sequence's general traits. Although Angel could not learn all the abilities of Beyonders on this pathway from it, she could still glimpse its defining characteristics.

At the end of the Iron-Blooded Knight potion formula and ritual, there was only one word:

"Connection."

After seeing Sirio Sauron forcibly conscript the vagrants on the ground floor of 13 Market Avenue and distribute his injuries among them, she had assumed this was what "connection" was for. She had never expected that, after summoning a squad of Tinplate Soldiers approaching high sequence, Sirio could pool their strength and launch a Flame Spear attack far beyond the capabilities of sequence 4.

The Flame Spear crossed the diagonal distance of two floors almost instantly, punching through floors and walls as though they were paper before striking Angel's unprotected chest. The torrent of flame, so hot it glowed azure-blue, immediately pierced the demigod's body, then traced a bizarre arc toward another room downstairs.

At the point toward which the spear's tip aimed, Angel's figure reappeared and took shape. Before she could recover from the brief pause caused by Mirror Substitution, the torrent of flame, unleashed with power approaching sequence 3, pierced her again and burned her into a pinch of black ash in its azure-blue heat.

What it had burned was the Demoness's wand!

During the brief interval in which the Flame Spear attacked her substitute, Angel finally managed to return to the Mirror World using the glass fragments scattered throughout the building. Still shaken, she looked down at the left side of her chest. The cloak and clothing there had already been reduced to ash by the heat, exposing charred flesh beneath. Fortunately, her