Ethereal Ascendance: A Journey of Transformation

Cyrae is pretty strong on her own. Since there's not much hope of going back, and she might have to stay on this Earth forever, she doesn't want vampires taking over. So she wants to help out extra in this mission, even hiding who she really is. All that makes sense to me.

But asking to join the rescue team seems like a waste. She could handle a whole base by herself! Why tag along with Cyra?

"We can't guess how strong Raydwin is after getting infected. They say bad guys get ten times stronger. Even normal people can jump to level 4 or 5 after becoming a vampire. I'm just being careful," Cyrae told me when I asked, after thinking for a few seconds.

"Is that really the only reason?" I felt like she had something else in mind. She looked like she wanted to say more, but just added:

"Cyra is another me, so of course I don't want her in danger! She's way weaker than you and me, right?"

"Alright then..." I nodded, believing her. Cyra's team was kinda weak, so having Cyrae there made me feel better about the rescue mission.

"Cyra chose to go back with you, but she's still not sure. Maybe Cyrae is going to make sure about that," Adrian said thoughtfully.

"Huh? You mean Cyra might decide to stay?" That was surprising. Everyone knew Cyrae was homesick. The portal problem made things uncertain again. I realized it could the the case.

But what did Cyra leaving have to do with Cyrae? I couldn't figure it out, but it wasn't a big deal.

"Here's a new vampire radar we just made - only one! We have lots of angels on our side, so you guys can use it to deal with the ancestor," Reed said, handing me the radar. All the Reeds from different worlds were split up into different teams.

When Adrian and I came out of the teleport scroll's portal, we were in an alley corner in M-country's capital. An H-country soldier named Luke Channing was with us.

Luke was from the military, assigned to help our team with logistics. Angels would do most of the work in M-country, but these military guys could help coordinate between teams. They also had military communication gear so we could stay in touch with other teams and headquarters.

Reed picked a bad spot to teleport us. It was supposed to be an empty factory according to satellite maps. But some local gang had taken it over as their base. They were so rude!

"Who are you? Where are you from?" As soon as we appeared, a bunch of thugs with guns spotted us. They barely finished asking before they got scared and started shooting at us.

"Damn! They've got machine guns - split up and take cover!" Luke Channing yelled. We had some weapons too, but not enough for all these bullets coming at us!

"Don't worry..." I quickly spread my eight wings and used magic to block the bullets. I was about to fight back when Adrian stopped me.

"This is enemy territory. There might be vampires hiding nearby. You'll attract their attention. Let me handle it," he said.

He was right - angels with wings out are easy for vampires to spot. I almost forgot in the rush. I hid my wings again.

I could still use low-level magic like "Light Shield" without my wings, but it wouldn't last long against lots of bullets.

I ran through the gunfire to protect Luke Channing. Soon I felt the pressure easing up.

Adrian was like an invincible warrior from a movie! He moved through the gang's base like nobody was there. The gunmen barely made a sound before they fell. In less than a minute, he cleared the whole area.

"These guys seem to be the bosses," Adrian said. He didn't go easy on these humans who attacked us, leaving only a couple of leaders who were hiding in the back.

"Don't be afraid, we are from H-country, we are saving the world!" Adrian brought the two guys to us, one in each hand. They kept yelling "fuck! fuck!" I tried to calm them down.

"What the mother fuck! Oh no! Why do angels come from H-country?" The two bosses must have seen me turn into an angel earlier. Even though I was trying to be nice, they still looked terrified. With Adrian's amazing skills too, they started thinking of movies.

"Are you the Avengers or the Justice League?"

"But I've never heard of an angel joining in!"

"Maybe that's a fucking hidden new character, and that grim reaper too!"

...

"Forget it. We wanted to ask about vampires nearby. Infected vampires change a lot. But seems we can't get anything useful." Luke Channing said.

"Okay, I checked all the bodies. No signs of dark element infection around. Should be fine," I said. This base could be our temporary hideout, and the two silly gang bosses were too noisy. I waved for Adrian to take them away.

But Adrian had his own idea. He asked them:

"Have you ever noticed anything abnormal among the people around this community?"

The grim reaper scared them more than the angel. The two gang bosses stopped babbling and shook their heads. But then one remembered something and said:

"Oh yeah! A gang called 'Blood' that used to be our enemy is suddenly close to the government. It makes no sense! They shouldn't be favored by the government. But I've seen their boss hanging out with government officials many times and getting lots of good weapons!"

"So this 'Blood' gang sounds suspicious? Maybe one of their leaders got infected?" I looked at Adrian. It's rare for gangs and the government to work together openly in M-country.

But Luke Channing asked more and found out the "Blood" gang usually operates far from here. If they really got infected, they wouldn't care about normal gang territory fights anymore. So as long as we don't alert them, it shouldn't affect our mission much.