Chapter 547: Rise of the Last Angel

Days had passed since Luke watched Layla return to Maine.

[Estimated Time Until Event 51: 4 months : 19 days : 08 hours : 59 minutes : 57 seconds]

He was in Washington now, inside a SIA building. Angie and Charlie had stayed behind in Camlann, living in a house he’d rented for them. Luke studied the invitation Azazel had given him.

[Azazel’s Invitation]: A special letter that will teleport your soul to Azazel’s primary residence. Only your soul will travel between universes, so be mindful of where you leave your unprotected body.

He planned on using it soon. Focusing on his core, he opened the interface for his beast.

Core: Spectral Beast
Rank: F
Rank E Cores: [32/100]
Core Skill: [Form Devourer]
Beast Skills: [Spectral Rend (Rare)]

Form Devourer: [Abyss King (Rank F)]
Form Devourer Skills: [Neurotoxic Venom (Epic)], [Eye of the Abyss King (Legendary)]

He’d gotten better at controlling the creature, and the steady hunt for beast cores was paying off. When he’d fed the beast twenty-five cores, it awakened a new skill.

[Spectral Rend (Rare)]: The Spectral Beast delivers a brutal, precise tear, ripping open deep wounds that bleed instantly. The strike destabilizes the flesh, causing persistent blood loss, and drastically weakens the effectiveness of healing magic, as if the wound refuses to close under arcane influence.

The [Form Devourer Skills] were their own category, tied exclusively to the form currently assimilated. If Luke replaced the Abyss King with another beast, all those skills would vanish with it.

He walked down the hallway alongside an agent, his right eye hidden behind an eyepatch.

The eye drained him mentally, as if he’d spent days reading without rest. Covering it helped with the strain. There was something in the overwhelming flood of information that the brain wasn’t meant to process. He’d figured out one of the eye’s secrets: distance meant almost nothing. He could see with absurd clarity now down to a bird’s feathers, miles above him. And often more detail than he wanted.

“This is Miss Kennedy’s wing. Just continue down the hall,” the agent said.

Luke thanked him and moved on. He was impressed by how easily he’d been allowed into the building. Once he gave Eleanor’s name, the doors practically opened on their own. Sure, they’d confirmed his identity first, but even then… walking into a government blacksite wasn’t something he expected to happen so casually.

Eleanor’s wing felt less like an office and more like a furnished apartment. Gym, kitchen, bedrooms everything designed to keep her comfortable. When he reached the office area, he spotted a small group of people. A few faces he recognized.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” one said.

“It’s really the guy from the tutorial.”

“Hi,” Luke replied.

These were people who had worked with Eleanor in Bastion. She’d brought them here. Luke shook a few hands, doing his best to look like he remembered each of them. He absolutely didn’t.

“I was there when you lost that knife-throwing contest at the tavern with Eleanor.”

“Oh, right. I remember you,” Luke replied, though he absolutely didn’t.

He dropped onto the couch. “Where’s your boss?”

“She’s probably in the training room,” one of them said. “She doesn’t like being interrupted. Might take a while.”

Luke glanced at the wall clock and sighed. “Yeah, sorry, but I can’t wait.” He had already checked the facility map posted nearby.

“Hey, she really doesn’t like being interrupted,” someone warned. One of them even started toward the glass door that led to the academy wing.

“It’s fine,” a voice cut in.

Eleanor’s voice. Coming from a speaker.

“I authorize him,” she said. “Better than letting him commit a federal crime by breaking in.”

The glass door unlocked with a soft click.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author’s consent. Report any sightings.

“Looks like your boss likes me after all,” Luke said as he stepped inside.

“She has literally never let anyone see her while she’s using the academy,” one muttered as the door slid shut behind him.

Luke followed the painted lines on the floor.

The academy doors opened automatically as he approached. The room was enormous, half gym, half combat arena. At the far end, Eleanor pedaled on a stationary bike, focused and expressionless.

“How was your mission in Sirius?” she asked without slowing.

“You should’ve gotten Layla’s report by now.”

“Oh my god, Luke! Eleanor in workout clothes on an exercise bike! I’m drooling! Look at her!” Artemis squealed in his head.

Shut up.

Luke walked closer. Eleanor kept her rhythm steady.

“Layla quit,” Eleanor said.

“I don’t care about Layla. Just look at Eleanor’s boobs bouncing. Gravity really is a blessing.”

Luke forced Artemis back into the mental void.

“I read the report you had her send. You walked into the middle of an attempted coup. You really do have terrible luck.” Eleanor finally glanced at him and narrowed her eyes. “Eyepatch, James?”

James?

Right. She preferred not to remember that version of him.

“I promise this isn’t some weird joke about how we met.”