The knights froze for a moment, then began laughing as Astra realized that the staff had been forcibly changed into a different weapon entirely.

  Please refrain from unnecessary actions.

  The staff had been swapped out for Astra's Summoned Sword, which Astra knew put him at an immediate disadvantage. "You realize they're on horseback, right?"

  There was no answer.

  "Damn it all..."

  On Astra's command, a pair of black shadows erupted from his back like a set of wings, and he flashed forward in a blur. His attack landed, yet was not fatal, as if another force was keeping him from killing.

  Athena was beginning to piss him off already.

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  As the first knight fell from his horse, Astra whirled in midair, casting a fast-moving spell that punched through the second knight. Again, it wasn't fatal, though Astra's mind was distracted for a moment.

  "Was Water Bolt always so fast...? I feel like it was less deadly in Mystic Reverie..." Astra's thoughts were interrupted by an incoming warning from Athena, and he was able to move out of the way in time to avoid being hit.

  It had ricochetted, like it had in Mystic Reverie, though it was smaller, faster, like a needle hurtling through the air.

  The remaining knight, the leader of the group, had taken Maria as a hostage, a blade to her throat. Astra recognized the blade as a gladius, a short sword found on gladiators and one of the most basic weapons that the fighter class starts with.

  With a sigh, Astra raised the summoned sword and wrapped his hand around the base of the blade and drew it along the length of the blade, as if extending it somehow.

  Maria watched in wonder, curiosity, having never quite witnessed anything like it before. The knight, though similarly curious, felt more abject horror than wonder.

  "What are you, really?" The knight demanded. "A demon?!"

  With the whip of light he created from the sword now hanging beside him, Astra hummed. His black wings turned stark white as he gave them a show. Fragments of light in the shape of feathers fell from those wings.

  "An angel...?" Maria whispered, further deepening the knight's horror. Astra, of course, maintaining the act, simply smiled.

  "No," the knight howled, "no, no, no, the angels are supposed to be extinct! You're not supposed to exi-!"

  The loud crack of the whip silenced the knight, his hand stinging from the sudden and terrible strike that left a sizzling hole, forcing him to drop his weapon.

  He screamed and fell on his back, crawling backwards.

  "My name is Astra Caelum," Astra declared in a sonorous voice, "and you will heed my words."