"Hey, Axel... Axel." Eryx's soft voice guided the hangel back to the realm of consciousness. Opening his eyes, Axel found himself back on his daybed in the experience room with Eryx leaning over him with a concerned expression on his face. "How you feeling?" The angel asked when he saw Axel's eyes flutter open.

"Fine," Axel returned as he sat up. Other than a dull throb in his head, Axel felt perfectly fine. "What happened?"

Eryx released a sigh and turned to sit beside the hangel on the daybed before explaining, "Detrius tried to enter your unconsciousness, but he was blocked by something, so he withdrew prematurely. He should have guided you back to your consciousness, but he chickened out." Eryx shook his head in disbelief as he mumbled, "I can't believe he left you like that."

Realizing now that Eryx had spent what felt like hours trying to rescue Axel from being stuck in his unconsciousness, Axel placed a hand on the angel's shoulder and said, "Thanks for getting me out."

Eryx made a soft scoff as he returned, "It wasn't as easy as you'd think it'd be. You fought me the whole way back. It took hours to get you out."

"What?" Axel crinkled his brows. "I did? Why?"

"Who knows?" Eryx shrugged his shoulders before adding, "You kept wanting to stay with whatever was blocking Detrius from entering your unconsciousness. Apparently, there was something you wanted to ask it."

Axel became intrigued when he heard Eryx's words. He did not recall anything that had happened during the delve session, and he certainly did not remember whatever it was that kept Detrius from diving deeper into his mind. "This thing that blocked Detrius, did he describe it?"

Eryx fell silent for a moment as he thought back. "All he said was that a voice spoke to him telling him to turn back. I don't think he actually saw what, or who, it was. He seemed pretty terrified. Needless to say, I don't think he'll be entering your mind again."

"How long was I out?" Axel asked once Eryx had finished explaining Detrius' description.

"All day," Eryx replied. "The sun's about to set."

Axel raised his brows in reaction. All day?! Eryx spent the entire day trying to get me out... It was then that Axel saw the dark bags resting under the angel's eyes. Looking closer at the ambassador-class angel, Axel quickly realized how exhausted Eryx was. "You should go rest," Axel suggested to the tired angel kindly.

"Mm, I will," Eryx smiled up at the hangel before standing from the daybed. "Your head may feel a bit sore for a few hours. But you should heal pretty quickly," Eryx said as he began walking toward the experience room's door.

"Thank you, Eryx," Axel bid as the angel exited the room. Axel released a long breath as he continued to sit on the daybed and thought back to Eryx's description of the being that had blocked Detrius. What could it be? 

Axel was not able to ponder the topic for long as the door to the experience room opened suddenly as Major Eyrik entered. Seeing Axel sitting up, the major gave a nod while saying, "Good, you're awake. Let's go, then."

Aware that he was scheduled to accompany Team K-5 on one of their operations during the night, Axel assumed he was being collected to get ready for the mission. Following the major into the wide hallway, the two soon met up with the rest of the team and joined them in gearing up for the dangerous night ahead.

"What's the mission tonight, V-Cap?" One of the team members asked as he strapped on his impact-proof vest.

"We've spotted a band of demons northwest of here. We're ordered to eliminate them," Joi, vice-captain of the team, responded as Eyrik provided Axel with a bundle of equipment. Accepting the equipment from the major, Axel quickly began outfitting himself with shin and forearm guards, an impact-proof vest, two pistols and daggers, a few explosives in the form of small disks, and a mask.

It was customary for soldiers on the battlefield to wear a mask. The city was continuously crumbling due to the numerous battles; thus, the air was filled with dust and harmful particles released from hospitals and laboratories that had been bombed. The masks were equipped with a sheet-like filter that lined the interior and filtered out the dust and aerated chemicals.

Looping the mask over his ears, Axel checked his equipment once more before giving a thumbs-up in a signal that he was ready. Once all the team members had given their major a thumbs-up, Eyrik signaled for the team to move out. Usually, at least one other team would have joined the mission, but several groups of demons had been spotted during the time Axel was unconscious, so most other teams had already been deployed.

The sun had completely set when Team K-5 exited the theater. The team moved slowly and as silently as possible while trying to intercept their target. The throbbing in Axel's mind had lessened somewhat, but it was still a small nuisance. Since he was the vernal of K-5, the more experienced members had circled around him. Thus, even though Axel had received three months of intensive training, he could still learn how to react to different situations from his higher-ranked teammates.

As the team ventured further away from the base and neared the trajected path of their target, Eyrik sent a few members to scout out the areas ahead of them. Axel could sense that the team was having an in-mind conversation while they continued to approach the enemy, and this caused Axel to realize how grateful he was to the members of Unit R for making an effort to keep him looped into the discussions.

Unit K was by no means awful. They were very professional and excellent at what they did. But Axel could not help but miss his home unit. Being with Unit K helped Axel realize just how much Unit R valued him. They always made an effort to make Axel feel included even though he was basically dropped into their unit with a second's notice.

When the team had been traversing through the crumbling city for just under two hours, the entire team suddenly stopped. Axel got the cue a few seconds after the soldiers around him came to an abrupt halt. A few of his teammates shot him a side glance when he had taken an extra step before stopping, but they quickly remembered that Axel could not yet hold a telepathic link and returned their gaze to the major.

Eyrik, you may want to use hand signals, too. Joi, who had noticed the hangel's late stop, mentally suggested for the team's captain to also include signals that their vernal could see, so he could keep up with the rest of the team.

Eyrik did not give his vice-captain a response, but when he was ready to give another command, he made a note to visibly portray it using hand signals in addition to sending out a telepathic notice. Seeing the major's signal to move forward slowly, Axel was prepared to move with the team, and he started forward just as his teammates did.

A few minutes of silence passed as the team continued to advance through the city, but the silence was abruptly broken as gunfire sounded just ahead of the team. The members of K-5 raised their alert level to the highest setting as they hurried toward the sound of gunfire. Their scouts had been found by the target.

Eyrik gave the command for the team to disseminate and surround the area where the gunfire was centralized, and the team quickly dissolved into the city. Axel had been assigned to follow one of the team's lieutenants, so when he broke off from the team, he was quick to run after Lieutenant Linean. Lieutenant Linean was the team's sniper, so he led Axel into a building that appeared to be one of the more structurally sound ones.

The two soldiers quickly ascended four flights of stairs before Linean rushed to the outer wall and stuck the nose of his sniping rifle through a broken window. Placing his eye against the scope of his gun, Linean began firing at the demons who were attacking the scouts. As a warrior class, Linean was able to use his telekinesis to guide his bullets to their targets. This allowed him to have extremely high accuracy while sniping.

While Linean focused on sniping from above, Axel observed the battle from the fourth floor. Aware that his range with telekinesis was limited to a radius of about a hundred feet, he knew he would not be able to guide a bullet from his gun all the way to his target. He did not want to waste any ammo since they would not be receiving another load of supplies for a few weeks, so he resigned to watching over his teammates as they fought.

However, he did not allow himself to stand idle for long. At the ground level just below where he and Linean were stationed, was a demon soldier dragging away one of the team's younger members who appeared to have been knocked unconscious. Quickly realizing that the rest of the team was caught up fighting their own battles, Axel immediately raced toward the stairs. Leaving Linean to focus on sniping, Axel whizzed down the four flights and hurried out onto the street upon reaching the ground floor.

Spotting the demon dragging away one of his teammates by her wrists that had been tied together, Axel raced toward them and tackled the demon soldier. The demon was quick to recover from the tackle and was on his feet in the next second. In the moment the demon was recovering from the fall, Axel hurried over to his teammate and began dragging her out of the middle of the street.

Axel was not able to get far before the demon threw a dagger at him. Seeing the dagger flying toward him, Axel leaned to the left to dodge the sharp blade, but he was short a centimeter, and it ended up slicing through the left side of the mask that covered the hangel's lower half of his face. Axel's cheek stung with pain as the mask fell from his face, and a line of blood oozed from the shallow slash in his skin.

The demon haltered for a moment when he saw Axel's face, but he quickly recovered and charged for the hangel. A black hoodie was pulled down over the demon's eyes, and he also had a black mask covering his nose and mouth, preventing Axel from seeing his face. 

In a fluid motion, Axel drew the pistol from his hip and fired at the demon charging him. The demon rolled away from the bullets which prevented him from reaching Axel. Axel kept his pistol aimed at the demon as he stood in front of his unconscious teammate. Realizing that his teammate could potentially get hurt during his fight with the demon, Axel reasoned it would be best to draw the demon away from the unconscious angel.

The demon was fast and strong, and Axel wanted to get him as far away from his incapacitated teammate as possible. So, he turned around and started running. Axel's actions confused the demon, and he stood still and just watched the hangel run from him. But his confusion did not last long. In the next second, he chased after the fleeing hangel.

Axel ran as fast as he could. He wanted to draw the demon as far as he could, but he was only able to run a block's length before he was tackled. Pain shot up Axel's wrists as he braced his fall. I guess that makes us even.

Scrambling to his feet, Axel was barely fast enough to cross his arms over his face as he blocked the demon's incoming kick. The force of the kick sent Axel flying into the wall of the skyreacher behind him. The impact of hitting his back against the rough wall knocked the wind out of Axel, and he gasped for air as he fell to his knees.

Hearing the sound of the demon unsheathing another blade, Axel immediately lunged forward and grabbed the demon around his knees, bringing both of them to the ground. Landing on top of the demon, Axel grabbed his pistol holstered to his thigh and pressed the barrel against the demon's forehead. 

What...?!!

The moment Axel's finger touched his pistol's trigger, he found himself staring into the eyes of the demon lying beneath him. The demon's hoodie had flown off his head as he had fallen backward onto the pavement, revealing his deep, green eyes. At first glance, one would think they were black. They were such a dark green that one would only be able to tell their true color if they were up close.

Locking gaze with the demon's eyes stayed Axel's hand. He could not pull the trigger; he recognized those eyes.

"...Callon..."