"Then what are we building now?"
"The Demon Hunter Guild's Africa headquarters." Kofi looked eager. "Those knights and demon hunters will live here from now on. I wish I were a demon hunter too. At least I wouldn't be afraid of the heat."
"Hahaha, you're right," the other man said with a laugh.
Musa stared at the fortress taking shape in the distance and fell silent for a few seconds.
"Those knights..." he said. "Were they really transformed from humans?"
Kofi nodded. "I saw them once, back at the refugee camp. They came to deliver supplies. One by one... they didn't look human, but they really were."
Musa said nothing more. He lowered his head and continued welding.
The firelight reflected on his face, illuminating the wrinkles and tear stains at the corners of his eyes. All three of his sons had died in the attack on the day the angels fell.
On the twelfth day after Bartholomew's death, the main building of the Africa headquarters was topped out.
The final steel beam was hoisted into place. The workers stood atop the building, looking out at the scorched earth in the distance, burned by holy light.
Three months ago, that place had still been an angelic altar, piled with bones and corpses. Now, it had become a construction site—a human stronghold.
Raymond stood atop the newly built tower, overlooking the entire site. Behind him, Ella was inspecting the installation of the rune cannons.
"The runes on Turret Three were carved wrong," Ella's voice came through the communicator. "Two lines are off. It has to be redone."
Raymond did not turn around. "Who did it?"
"That old man with glasses. He said he'd carved these before, but only the simplified version."
"Make him redo it. Tell him that if he gets