Akari's horror increased when those black winged men started walking towards her. She took a step back. 

"Who are you?" She asked, her voice trembled.

"We are the servants of the lord of hell. We are here to take you to our lord, little beloved soul missy," one of them said.

"What...!?" Akari gasped. 'Beloved soul of the king of heaven', that's what I was called in that illusion.

"Wh-what do you want?!" 

"We want you," the other male replied.

"Unfortunately, I'm not interested in you," Akari said firmly.

"Oh really?" In the blink of an eye, the first man zoomed beside her, shocking her in the process.

"Wha-"

"You HAVE to come with us,whether you like it or not." He grabbed her arm.

"Make me!"In a swift movement, Akari acted on her impulse and punched the man in the stomach. He let her go and clutched his stomach.

"You-" He couldn't finish cursing her because she slapped him with her bag harshly.

"Oof!" The first man fell on the ground.

"How dare you?!" The second minion charged to hit her. However, she ducked and avoided his attack in time. As a counter attack, Akari headbutted him, making him stumble backwards. When he looked back at her, he got punched straight in the face.

Out of the corner of her eyes, she noticed the first one getting up.

"Not so fast!" She hurriedly landed an axe kick on him. Then looking at both the men on the ground, she caught her breath. They aren't any different from humans....

As if hearing her thoughts, black flames covered those two minions. 

"Wh-what's happening?" She took a step backward.

Those two stood up but they no longer looked like a human. They were just black shadows with bloody red eyes. The sight made Akari freeze in fear.

I-Is this their true form...? He's legs began shaking. No....I-I can't be scared!

Akari glared at the shadows, hoping to intimidate them. But it was of no avail. One of the shadows started approaching her. The brunette tried to hit it with her bag again, however, it didn't have any effect as it went through the shadow. She narrowly missed falling under the clutches of the shadow.

I-I have to run! Understanding her inability to fight these, Akari sprinted off. Running as far as Akari could, she ran for her life. Looks like last night wasn't a dream!

Akari didnt look behind as she kept running. But she could feel the shadows coming after her. She wasn't scared when those angels first appeared in front of her. They didn't give any harmful aura. On the other hand, these shadows creeped her to the core. 

It had been a new day. It was supposed to end like any other normal day. Yet, she was having to run for her life. Akari started panting. Her body was becoming tired because not too long ago, she fought those shadows disguised as men.

Still running, Akari came to a conclusion that the shadows can't zoom in like how the first minion had done. She could use this as an advantage. While thinking this, she took a turn. The female had no idea where she was running off to. The location was the last thing on her mind. All she could think about was running.

But that was what she regretted moments later. Akari stopped in her tracks when she saw the sign in front of her. The narrow road was under construction and even if she wanted to run through there, she couldn't because the path was in no state to be used for running.

Quickly, the female turned around and found the shadows also stopped in their tracks. One of them raised their hand. A dark mass was gathering there.

Akari had no way to escape. She could only look at the ball of shadow that was being formed. . . . . Is this the end?Is the dark king going to destroy this world? I don't want that!

The shadow threw the mass of negative energy at her. Akari tightly shut her eyes and positioned her arms in front of her to shield her. NO!!!!!

She braced herself for the impact. Few seconds passed but she didn't feel any pain. Rather, she felt light. It felt like she was flying as the wind grazed her face.She felt warm and secured.

H-Huh?

Slowly, she opened her eyes because of the warmth that had surrounded her. Her golden orbs didn't see any dark shadows or shadow balls. Instead, she saw a man dressed in majestic white clothes and a lavender vest.

Akari gasped when her golden orbs met a pair of lavender orbs. "Y-you!" She exclaimed once she recognized him to be the same man from last night.

Lucifer glared at her. "How reckless can you be?"

"Wha..?" She then realized that her feet were no longer touching the ground. The man was carrying her and floating high up in the sky. Her immediate reaction was clutching him tightly.

The male continued, without being bothered by her tight grip,"You should know that your life is endangered. It's not just your life. The whole world is in a peril. Yet you decided to roam around freely. Do you fail to realize what would have happened had they offered your soul to the dark king?"

"I...." Akari remained silent. "...I thought it was all a dream."

"That again? How many times must we remind you that it's not a dream? Are humans really this foolish?"

"Well..." I can't argue since this is technically my fault.

She felt the wind hit her face. He was moving to the tallest nearby building's roof to talk properly. However, she looked behind.

"Hey... what about those shadows?" She asked him.

"The rest will take care of them," he answered, keeping his gaze straight at their destination.

". . . . . Did you save me?" The woman asked.

"Who knows."

"....Lucifer,was it?" He's a bit sharp but… "thank you for saving me."

"Mhmm…"

She looked back and saw the other six angels, who she had met last night, with those shadows. The shadows were hurling balls of dark mass at them. Akari looked back at the bespectacled man, "Will they be alright?"

He glanced at her briefly. "Lowly dark creatures like those can't even harm a hair of us, the group of most powerful angels." He stopped flying and turned around so that she could look at the scene clearly.

And he was right. Akari found the man named Uriel  holding out his palm above his head and a white light engulfed those creatures before they vanished into nothing.

"What....just happened?" She whispered.

"Dark creatures cannot stand divine light," saying that, the brunette started descending again.

In other words,...... just as those underworldly creatures have 'dark' powers, the angels have powers of 'light'.

While deep in her thoughts, her gaze moved to his wings. They were of a pure white colour. The moonlight falling on it made it look beautiful beyond words. Were the wings of all angels this beautiful?

But I think they said that people can't see their wings. It's a shame for such beautiful wings to go unnoticed-

"Oh! What happened to the local people? There's not a single person here," stated the female.

The man answered while he was landing on the empty roof, "The minions used their dark magic to create a barrier here in order to prevent people from taking this route."

His feet touched the ground. He slowly brought Akari to her feet. While getting down, she spoke, "Was I the only one not being affe-Ah!"

Akari's legs turned to jelly and gave out the moment she tried to stand on her feet properly. Her fall was caught by Lucifer, who wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. He ended up acting as her support for standing.

"T-thank you..."

"It isn't unusual to feel drained out after the shadows attack you. Unfortunately, you can do nothing but brace yourself for it."

"Oh..." So I'll keep feeling tired like this? Good grief.

At that time, the other angels landed on the roof. They kept staring at the brunettes before the pinkette spoke.

"Eiichi, why are you holding her like that?" The woman became confused. Eh? . . . Who's Eiichi?

"She was scared and the aftereffects kicked in. As a result, her legs gave out,"replied Lucifer.

"Miss,everything is fine now. The evil shadows have been taken care of," Michael softly smiled.

"Thank you for your help."

"But why in the world would you decide to go out without anyone protecting you?" asked Azazel.

"I,uh..." 

"She thought everything we told her was a dream," Eiichi answered. "Ridiculous..."

Akari wanted to protest but didn't. He doesn't have to say it in a mean way.

"Nii-san, you can't blame her. She must've got a shock from what happened last night," Michael told Lucifer.

'Nii-san'? Are they brothers?

"Now that you have witnessed this incident, I suggest we explain everything in more details," 

Michael proceeded with a smile.

The smile eased the female's nerves. "Thank you,um..."

"Oh,dear. We forgot to introduce ourselves yesterday, sorry. Let's introduce ourselves first." Michael's smile was really kind; befitting of an angel. "My name is Eiji."

After him, Uriel simply introduced, "Kira."

"I'm Nagi! The cutest angel in heaven," Gabriel exclaimed.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Van," Belial winked.

"The name's Yamato," said Azazel.

"Shion is my name," Raphael proclaimed.

Lucifer was the final one to open his mouth, "Eiichi."

Despite being puzzled, the female introduced herself with a small smile."Nice to meet you. I'm Tenshouin Akari."

Then she decided to voice her confusion. "Um… if I remember correctly, you were calling each other by different names yesterday…"

"That's what we are called in heaven," Belial- Van explained. 

"We were bestowed those names by the king himself. Other angels call us by those names," Nagi described further.

"I see…Then, what should I call you?"

"Just stick with our actual names," answered Yamato.

"Okay."

"Let's talk about the situation at a proper place," Kira proposed.

"Right. Let's return to the manor," told Van. 

"Manor?" Akari looked at them quizzically.

"It's the place where we, angels,reside when we have to work on the earth for days. It's easier for us," explained Nagi.

"Oh." Akari gave a small nod of understanding.

"Let's go," ordered Eiichi.

At his command, the other six angels flapped their wings and took flight. Wait, how am I supposed to go with them? Just then, she felt the ground being removed from under her.

"W-Wah!" She found herself being carried bridal-style by Eiichi. I must've been really scared if I didn't even notice when he picked me up earlier.

"Hold on tight," Eiichi told her. She did so by wrapping her arms around his neck. Then, with a flap of his wings, Eiichi flew high in the sky with Akari in his arms.

To Be Continued.

As much as I would've liked to complete this book by this year, I'm afraid I can't. So, the update will continue slowly. And if I do end up picking speed in writing, then the updates will be faster.