"A Malakh?"
Dismounting from my mechanima, I stared at Alisax.
"The Incarnus of Ignis is a malakh?"
"She is a successor," Kay replied.
My gaze shifted to him. "Right. Phoebe is the only Incarnus from the first generation."
"I am," Phoebe said quietly.
Her head was turned toward the direction she was staring at earlier, her gaze fixed somewhere far beyond the forest.
"My brothers and sisters were killed eons ago."
As she spoke, the air grew warmer.
"And then their successors were killed and reborn," she continued in the same emotionless tone. "Only to be killed again."
A faint wave of heat brushed across my face.
"However, there were quite outstanding successors," she added.
"Aedonis of the Wisdom, a young dragon chosen by Ignis."
Her voice remained distant.
"He became my brother a thousand years before…" Her eyes darkened, and her body shuddered.
"… before my fall."
She closed her eyes, calming herself.
A moment passed before she opened them and drifted her gaze to the distance.
She let out a small, lifeless sigh.
"So he perished after all."
The heat intensified slightly, causing the snow around our boots to soften.
"He will be missed."
I blinked. I was completely lost.
"A malakh became the successor of a dragon?"
"Mordred," Kay said.
I turned toward him.
"When an Incarnus dies, their power doesn't simply disappear," he explained.
"Their authority over their strand collapses into something called the Origin."
Steam began to rise faintly from the snow around us.
"The Origin then seeks a new vessel," Kay continued. "A suitable being."
"Most of the time, the selection is random."
I frowned. "Wait. So you're saying anyone can become an Incarnus?"
"In a manner of speaking," Kay nodded.
His gaze flickered toward Phoebe.
"The Origin gradually unravels depending on how much power the vessel can withstand."
The snow around us began to melt more rapidly now, forming thin streams of water that trickled through the ground.
"When the body is finally ready," Kay continued, "the Origin fully awakens."
"And that being receives absolute power and fully becomes the physical incarnation of the strand itself."
"An Incarnus."
The mechanima horses shifted uneasily behind us, metal creaking as heat built in the air.
"When an individual becomes an Incarnus," Kay went on, "they are to choose a concept to embody."
He nodded toward Phoebe. "She governs the concept of restoration."
Kay wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead.
"In most cases, it takes years for the Origin to fully awaken."
"Sometimes decades. Sometimes centuries."
The snow was now steaming.
Small puddles formed at our feet before evaporating into thin wisps of vapor.
"Malakhs and dragons are different, however," Kay said.
"They're beings on par with the Incarni. Their physical forms are robust enough to handle the Origin much faster."
"But even for them, the process usually takes months or even a year or two, should a dragon or a Malakh be implanted by the Origin by random selection."
The heat intensified again.
The air shimmered faintly, like the haze above a desert road.
Kay inhaled slowly, his breath uneven.
"I mentioned that selection is mostly random, right?"
I nodded slowly.
"Yes. You did."
He exhaled.
"There are extremely rare exceptions."
He wiped sweat from his brow again.
"Once in a very great while, an individual appears whose very existence is perfectly suited to receive a specific Incarnus."
"And in the even rarer case where the random selection chooses them…"
His eyes went over to the sky.
"They awaken as an Incarnus instantly."
The air around us suddenly shifted.
Kay's voice lowered. "The current Ignis Incarnus is that rare exception."
"A powerful malakh whose very existence was likely meant to receive the Origin of Ignis."
A wave of heat swept over us, hitting my face. The snow around us hissed violently as it melted.
And then…
"You have become quite the flatterer, Sir Kay."
The divine voice echoed from above, playful yet immense.
The power behind it made the air ripple like a mirage.
I looked up.
For a moment, I thought the sun itself had begun to speak.
Squinting against the light, I noticed a shape suspended before the fiery ball in the sky.
A constant pressure descended with her.
It pressed down on my shoulders and lungs as the figure slowly lowered herself toward us.
As she drew closer and the sunlight moved away, her form became visible, and my breath left my body.
What caught my eye first were the wings.
Massive wings of fire spread wide behind her, shaped like those of an eagle. Each feather was made of golden and crimson flame, shifting and flowing like liquid.
They burned without smoke and without consuming anything for fuel.
Her hair was a vivid orange that faded to white at the tips, cascading down to her waist like lava cooling to white pumice.
She wore a simple red shirt that loosely hugged her tall, slim frame, paired with white pants and red high-heeled shoes.
Yet despite the simplicity of her clothing, there was something unmistakably divine about her presence.
The air rippled and trembled as she descended.
Heat poured out of her like a hot oven that was opened in the middle of operation.
Before the tips of her heels even touched the ground, the snow beneath her evaporated instantly.
Steam rose in violent spirals as a wave of heat rolled across the clearing.
The mechanima horses behind us shifted nervously, their metal frames creaking under the sudden spike in temperature.
When she landed, the ground hissed beneath her feet.
She was utterly beautiful.
Her skin was flawless, pale, and smooth like porcelain shaped by the most skilled sculptor imaginable.
I feel like I've been saying that for every beautiful woman I meet.
At this point, I was beginning to suspect beauty came as a default setting in this world.
Her bright orange eyes swept over our odd group of two humans, a daemon, and an Incarnus.
Within her irises burned distinct rings of living fire.
So this was an angel of this world.
This was the first time in my existence that I saw a living, breathing angel before me.
I didn't know how different the angels of this world were from those in the stories and art of my old one.
The divine, radiant, sometimes terrifying beings depicted in paintings and scripture.
However, I believe the humanoid angels would've looked like the one standing before us now.
A being of flame and divinity, observing us with a curious, almost playful gaze.
Kay bowed his head in respect.
"I greet and give my reverence to the Archmalakh of Flames, the Incarnus of Ignis."
He raised his head again, meeting the gaze of the goddess before us with a calm composure.
"Uriel of the Purification."
The goddess of purification didn't immediately respond.
Her fiery gaze again moved slowly across our group. For a brief moment, it lingered on me before shifting.
And finally, her glowing eyes settled on Phoebe.
Phoebe stared back with her empty, crystalline gaze.
The Incarni of Lux and Ignis met in silence.
The air between and around them flickered and shimmered.
When I blinked, Uriel vanished.
A ripple of heat passed through the air where she had been standing.
"So it is true."
Her voice came from behind us.
It no longer carried the divine resonance.
Her voice was clear and calm.
Uriel stood directly before Phoebe.
The two Incarni faced each other.
Uriel, with her fiery eyes and calm smile.
Phoebe, with her vacant expression and silent, glass-like gaze.
For a brief moment, neither of them moved.
"You have been freed," Uriel said at last
Her eyes carefully examined Phoebe, who was slightly shorter than the malakh.
"So it seems," Phoebe replied impassively.
For a heartbeat, it looked as if the Archmalakh might say something in response.
Instead, she stepped forward.
Before any of us could react, Uriel wrapped her arms around Phoebe's slender figure in a sudden embrace.
She had a warm smile on her face.
What she said next left me speechless.
"Welcome back, teacher."
*******
I felt exposed.
Uriel studied my face with the intense curiosity of someone examining a rare artifact.
Under that fiery gaze, I couldn't help but feel like I was standing naked before her.
"Pendragons are quite the exotic lot," the Incarnus remarked, her fiery eyes lingering on my face.
Fortunately, she had dematerialized her flaming wings; otherwise, my face would've been seared off at this close distance.
So now she looked like a gorgeous young woman in her mid-twenties with orange-white hair and eyes that held rings of living fire.
Then she leaned closer.
Before I could react, she extended a slender finger and tapped me lightly on the nose, as if I were an interesting cat.
She smiled.
"You're a cutie. I never knew Teacher preferred beautiful young men."
"She doesn't have any preference like that!" Alisax exclaimed immediately, her cheeks flushing silver again.
But then she glanced at Phoebe with a curious uncertainty.
"That's… not the case, right?"
Phoebe blinked when Alisax called her.
She had once again been staring into the distance.
"What?" she asked, tilting her head.
Alisax sighed.
"Never mind."
Uriel laughed. It was a bright, warm sound that was almost human.
"You've always been defensive over her, Alisax."
The daemon huffed but said nothing. After a moment, she crossed her arms and regarded the Archmalakh.
"Still. I am surprised you became Lord Aedonis's successor."
"I know, right?" Uriel replied, looking rather smug. "Even Gabriel didn't see it coming."
I stared at her, speechless.
Did she just say Gabriel?
Archangel Gabriel?
My mind spun.
Does this mean the archangels mentioned in the scriptures of my previous life actually exist in this world?
Oh my god.
I forced myself to calm down.
The angels in this world aren't even called angels.
In fact, the term 'angel' doesn't exist in this world.
They are called Malakhs.
Still…
It was astonishing.
"Gabriel?" I asked slowly. "You mean the Archmalakh?"
Uriel nodded.
"Yep! He has this weird hobby of predicting the future. Frustratingly, he's right most of the time. But even he failed to predict my selection as an Incarnus."
"Lady Uriel is right," Kay said.
He had seated himself on a nearby boulder, looking exhausted after spending the last half hour explaining to the Incarnus of Ignis why her teacher, the Incarnus of Lux, had become the familiar of a brat like me.
The poor man looked like he needed a drink, rightfully so, considering everything that was happening over the course of two days.
He looked at me, his blue eyes remaining sharp as he continued.
"Lady Uriel was the perfect candidate to become the Ignis Incarnus," he said. "But because of the Origin's random selection, no one expected her to become the successor."
"Ah," I said, understanding what he meant. "So her becoming the Ignis Incarnus was even more surprising than anyone else becoming the Incarnus."
"Yep!" Uriel grinned, wearing that smug expression again. "Among my current Incarni siblings, I am the one closest to a perfect Incarnus."
She glanced toward Phoebe.
"Well. Except for my teacher."
Phoebe met her gaze.
"Uriel," she said calmly in that flat voice. "What did I tell you about self-praise?"
Uriel winced.
"Yeah, sorry, teacher."
Phoebe stared at her for an uncomfortable minute before turning around.
"Just call me by my name."
"Okay."
Watching the two Incarni interact, I couldn't help myself.
"So… you were Phoebe's disciple?"
"She was," Alisax answered
The daemon leaned against a tree, crossing her arms.
"The Malakhs held Her Majesty in great respect, so she often visited their realm."
Her silver eyes softened as she reminisced.
"It was during one of those visits when we noticed a small malakh with tiny wings of fire following us everywhere."
"Alisax!" Uriel's face flushed gold.
The temperature around us rose noticeably.
The daemon ignored her and continued, clearly enjoying herself.
"She was persistent. Stubborn, too. She followed us around relentlessly until Her Majesty eventually accepted her as a student."
Alisax smirked.
"It was adorably amusing watching tiny Uriel try to ambush Her Majesty throughout the day, only to receive a smack on the head from Michael by evening."
"Archmalakh Michael?" I asked in disbelief.
"He's our leader," Uriel replied. "One of the first malakhs to exist. And the most powerful."
"Stronger than you?" I asked. "Even as an Incarnus?"
She nodded. "Far stronger than I. He's on the same level as Phoebe."
A heavy lump lodged in my throat.
I had only experienced a fraction of Phoebe's full power, and even that had been terrifying.
And she was telling me there was a malakh, a literal Archangel just like her?
Eravon…
Just where the hell did you reincarnate me in?
Phoebe's emotionless voice snapped me out of my thoughts.
"I am surprised that Michael allowed you to descend into Asteris at such short notice."
"That's true," Alisax added, looking mildly surprised. "I can't believe Michael gave permission this quickly to a troublemaker like you."
Uriel didn't answer.
She simply stood there, wearing a sweet, nervous smile.
Alisax narrowed her eyes.
"Uriel… you did take permission, right?"
Kay looked up at the Incarnus.
"Lady Uriel," he asked calmly. "Did you request permission from Lord Michael before descending?"
Uriel looked visibly nervous.
"Yeah… about that…"
The implications of her response hung in the air like the steam rising from the heat surrounding her.
Kay sighed, and his face relaxed into an expression of utter resignation.
"The High King will have a word with you, Lady Uriel."
Uriel looked at him.
Then at Alisax.
Then, at Phoebe,
Finally, her fiery eyes landed on me.
The goddess of purification gave me a pleading, desperate smile.
"Mordred Pendragon… a little help?"