Chapter 28 – The Celestial Banquet, Part Two

“Again,” Diana barked out.

Grace was drenched in sweat, her muscles screaming. They’d been at this for hours in one of the smaller training arenas, a circular platform floating away from the arena.

“Block! Dodge! Redirect!” Diana shouted as she launched a series of slow but powerful strikes at Grace.

Grace managed to block two, dodge one, but the fourth caught her in the shoulder, sending her stumbling.

“You’d be dead if I was a Primal,” Diana said flatly.

“Thanks for the encouragement,” Grace muttered, rubbing her shoulder.

Diana circled her, eyes narrowed. After a moment of awkward silence, she asked:

“So. You actually killed a demon. Permanently.”

The question caught Grace off guard. Diana had been drilling her relentlessly for an hour without a hint of conversation.

“Um, yeah. Two now, actually.”

“What was it like?” Diana’s voice sounded casual, but her eyes were intense. “When you stabbed it.”

Grace recalled the moment, that strange golden light spreading through the demon’s body before it dissolved into nothing.

“It was… weird. Like the demon wasn’t just dying, but being erased. Unmade.”

Diana nodded slowly.

“Were you scared?”

“Well, yeah. Obviously,” Grace admitted. “My legs were shaking so bad I thought I’d fall over. Seraph literally had to throw me at it. Literally!”

“Sounds like her.”

“Anyway, why all these questions?” Grace asked, wiping sweat from her forehead. “And why am I training this hard just for a fancy dinner party? Venus didn’t mention combat training as part of banquet prep.”

Diana’s expression darkened a little.

“Because not everyone can be trusted to just leave you alone with your unique abilities. The Ascended Choir, The Veil…” She trailed off, her jaw tightening. “Well they have their own ways of viewing things. Their own plans.”

“What kind of plans?”

“The kind that would get them exiled if they actually acted on them,” Diana said grimly. “If you believe the rumors. Seraph thinks there might be tension at the banquet. Nothing open—no one would dare actually try to fight Celestia. But you should be prepared to dodge a punch or a slap here and there.”

[Great. So I have to remember forty different greetings AND avoid getting murdered or whatever.]

“Fun times,” Grace sighed. “Uwaaaah… I can’t feel my arms.”

“Demons don’t care what you can feel,” Diana replied flatly. “Again.”

Grace staggered to her feet and assumed the defensive stance Diana had taught her. Feet shoulder-width apart. Knees bent. Arms up to protect her face and chest.

“Remember,” Diana circled her like a predator, “you won’t have your new weapon at the banquet. This little rapier of yours,” she said, looking down at it. “If some lunatic actually attacks you, as in a serious attack – not a slap – then just call for help.”

“Why would someone attack me at a banquet?”

“Like I said, it’s just rumors,” she said slowly, as if explaining to a child. “But, regardless, the fact that you can kill demons makes you either the most valuable or the most dangerous angel in the Dominion, depending on who you ask.”

“Why?”

“Because…” Diana squinted a little. “If you can kill demons… Who’s to say you can’t also permanently kill other angels too?”

Grace pulled back.

[Is that what they think?]

Without warning, Diana lunged forward. Grace reacted instinctively, using the move they’d practiced. A quick sidestep followed by a firm push to redirect Diana’s momentum past her.

The larger angel stumbled forward, clearly not expecting Grace to execute the move correctly. She caught herself quickly and turned, her face showing a flicker of… something. Not quite approval, but close.

“Better,” she admitted grudgingly.

Coming from Diana, that was practically a standing ovation.

“Can we take a break now?” Grace pleaded. “I think I’m going to pass out.”

Diana stared at her for a long moment, then sighed.

“Fine. Five minutes.”

Grace collapsed onto the ground, spreading her wings out beneath her like a cushion. The sky above was a beautiful golden-pink. A sort of sunset.

“Why did Seraph send you?” Grace asked after catching her breath.

“I already told you.”

“No, I mean why did she send you, specifically.”

“What, you don’t like me?” Diana smirked.

“I don’t. You’re annoying!”

Diana just scoffed.

“Feelings mutual. But, for better or worse, your existence changes everything we know about our war with the demons. And our dear Seraph wants to make sure our newest weapon doesn’t end up crumpling against some random grunt. So, here I am.”

Diana nodded at the center of the arena.

“Anyway, break’s over. Get up.”

Grace sighed and climbed back to her feet. Some things never changed.

—

Soon, Grace stood alone on her small balcony. The eternal sunset had dimmed now to a soft twilight sort of setting.

She practiced the greetings Venus had taught her, trying to get the wing positions just right. It was harder without someone correcting her, but she wanted to get it down before the Banquet arrived. Plus, she was kind of bored.

[Wing position for Bravery Sisters: half-raised. For Compassion: lowered. For Love: one up, one down. For Archangels: fully extended on the ground…]

Her fingers found the medallion around her neck, tracing its now-familiar shape. The metal was warm against her skin, almost like it had a pulse of its own.

As she touched it, another flash—like the vision she’d had during the ceremony.

Steel-gray hair. Piercing blue eyes. A face filled with anger and betrayal.

The medal pulsed beneath her fingers, growing hotter. Suddenly, the balcony vanished.

Grace saw a vast hall filled with angels of all types.

She was moving through the crowd, but not in control of her body. Looking through someone else’s eyes again.

Eternia’s eyes.

Most angels glowed with a soft white light, but some… some had a dark blue, almost purple aura around them. Ominous. Threatening. They were scattered throughout the crowd, watching her with cold calculation in their eyes.

Eternia didn’t like it. But, at the same time, she was conflicted. Like she didn’t know what to do about this. 

Then the vision shifted.

She saw all those figures leaving. All those figures following that woman with the blue eyes, all of them covered in that blue-purple aura, all aiming a deep, burning resentment in their glares back at her. At Eternia. 

[… Am I making a mistake?] It wasn’t Grace thinking that, it was Eternia. [No, no. I’ve made my choice.] 

—

Grace gasped, the vision shattering.

She was back on her balcony, clutching the railing so hard her knuckles were white.

[What was THAT?]

Her heart pounded in her chest. The medallion had cooled, but she could still feel a faint thrum of energy from it.

Grace took a deep breath, steadying herself.

“I need to talk to Celestia about these visions,” she decided aloud. “First thing tomorrow.”

She looked out at the darkening sky, the first stars appearing above the Dominion.

Whatever was coming at that banquet, she wouldn’t face it unprepared.

「New Skill Unlocked: Aura Sight (Level 1)」

Ability to see corrupted auras. Cannot see corrupted auras around subjects with too high a level. 

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