The withered fox leaped and darted, following the scent of humans as it ventured deeper into the fire. However, the faint scent had already faded amidst the smoke and flames.
"Is she going to die?"
"No..."
"That's why she had the audacity to confront me."
Samael grinned, his nostrils flaring as he realized the human scent was almost entirely gone from the air.
But another nauseating, terrifying, savage scent, one that resonated with Samael himself, grew thicker.
Suddenly, an overwhelming number of tentacles burst out from the burning logs behind Samael, weaving into a nightmarish web in an attempt to crush the trapped fox along with the wood.
Yet, Samael transformed once again, imitating his previous transformations, turning into a dry yellow canary and swiftly slipping through the cracks of the tentacles.
With a loud snap, the gigantic log behind Samael twisted into a spiral. One can only imagine what would have happened if Samael had not evaded this surprise attack.
"That's why I say humans are amateurs."
"Everything they do is half-hearted."
As Samael, now a bird, pecked absentmindedly at his own feathers, he spoke towards the direction of the tentacles amidst the blazing branches.
"You are the survivor from that laboratory, aren't you?"
"Those foreigners not only carried out the grand plan of turning angels into humans but also the cuckoo plan of turning humans like you into angels."
"How pitiful... After having angelic organs implanted, you not only lost your own angel but also suffer from the constant agony of being on the brink of madness."
In response to Samael, the tentacles fluttered fiercely like ship sails. The shattered wood transformed into arrows, crackling and bursting into sparks, shooting towards Samael.
"You see... In a sense, we are the same. Why do we torture each other like this?"
Samael transformed into a cluster of withered leaf butterflies, casually flapping their wings as they crossed through the dense rain of arrows.
But it seemed that Samael had a limit to how small he could become, as these leaf butterflies were much larger than normal ones.
"We are both products of human greed."
"They don't care about our feelings at all."
"All their seemingly kind and gentle actions..."
"They are all a performance, all an act."
"Why do you have to fight so desperately for Oedipus?"
"She is nothing but a charlatan... Why should she decide your honor and disgrace?"
"Don't you understand..."
As Samael took on various forms to evade the huge wooden stones thrown by Manchester, she tried to dispel Manchester's fighting spirit with words.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through Samael's head. Instantly, Samael, in the form of a lizard, released the transformation and returned to her human form.
Black blood gushed from Samael's seven orifices.
"What? Is Oedipus in danger from something of this level?"
"Cough... I see, how could I have forgotten? Tempting her confidants would undoubtedly violate Oedipus's prohibition. I was too overconfident."
Samael, who was momentarily distracted, forcefully glanced towards Manchester's location and finally saw her complete form revealed.
She was bare-chested, with a disheveled ponytail, and had almost completely lost her feminine and even human characteristics.
Her left half had completely transformed into a cluster of tentacles, with her breasts covered by a gelatinous skin beneath which a black breastplate had been completely shattered by flames and swollen tentacles.
The gray-red irises seemed to hide endless determination for death. Manchester didn't miss this opportunity as Samael was stunned. She went mad and swung her scythe with her tentacles raised, charging towards Samael, intending to cut her into two.
Samael covered her nose which was continuously bleeding and raised her hand, instantly shooting out a sturdy tentacle that severed several interlocking giant cedar logs, blocking Manchester's path forward.
Manchester seemed to have anticipated this, and immediately cut off a large chunk of her own flesh and threw it towards the obstructing wooden logs. The intense explosion instantly spread outwards from the center of the chunk, reducing the massive wooden blocks to dust.
Samael was also thrown into a state of chaos by the sudden explosion. The outrageous shockwave carried her into the sky, causing her to lose her sense of direction for a while.
"Damn it..."
In midair, Samael's mind was somewhat muddled from the shock.
"I should have known, this kind of half-human, half-angel can't split themselves."
"Although the fragments of their bodies cannot split, they can become dangerous materials for magic. I should have been cautious."
Manchester roared furiously as she rushed out from the majestic smoke. With her exaggerated scythe being remotely controlled by her tentacles, she swiftly hooked the caught-off-guard Samael from a distance.
An angry roar filled Samael's inner ear. Manchester gripped Samael's neck with one hand and used her other hand, filled with tentacles, to hold the scythe tightly, hooking it around Samael's waist.
"You can't kill me at all..."
"And you are not capable of killing me with your magic."
Samael was starting to struggle to breathe under the grip, and as she looked at the hysterical Manchester in front of her, she felt angry but also a bit pitiful.
"...You weren't here to kill me...you should think about why Oedipus sent you..."
Samael sadly looked into Manchester's eyes, which were a gray-red color with pupils long gone, and sighed.
Feeling the increasing cutting force from the scythe and the increasingly distorted pressure on her neck, Samael made a decision before being split in half.
"Then, go die. I'll help you find release."
In an instant, two desolately beautiful and agile, wilted yellow butterfly wings spread open behind Samael. The butterfly wings fluttered twice, and Samael pressed Manchester beneath her, fiercely placing her hand on the latter's face.
With a cruel crackling sound, a strong burnt flesh smell immediately filled the two of their nostrils. Accompanied by unimaginable high temperatures and Manchester's heart-wrenching screams, the scythe she held gradually lost its strength.
