Marvel Magic Case Files.

Chapter 68 Fortitudo Angel

Salomon doesn't know where to find Bayonetta yet, but he has a plan.

The witch Bayonetta certainly didn't come to Vigrid to coexist peacefully with Lumen Sage Baldr. Moreover, this is the heartland of the Ragnar Order, teeming with beings from the higher planes. The witch is definitely in the Infernal Realm, perhaps on a mission to hunt down angels.

However, inanimate objects in the Purgatory Realm and the real world can also interfere with each other. He has never been an ordinary person who would not run away after something strange happened around him. Seeking advantage and avoiding harm is a biological instinct.

Therefore, Salomon only needed to see where the commotion was greatest, where pedestrians were fleeing in panic, to know Bayonetta's location. The lipstick was still in his dimensional bag; he had to deliver it to the witch—only in this way could the future seen by the Venerable be realized.

After taking Luca out of the Mirror Dimension, he gave Luca a task: to call him immediately if he encountered anything unusual. The old city of Vigrid contains numerous ancient buildings and covers a vast area, so he needed to split up with Luca to find the witch as quickly as possible. At the very least, they needed to find traces of the witch's destruction.

Luca was very good at this kind of work. Aside from tracking Bayonetta, his main job was as a "freelance journalist," or paparazzi. His biggest source of income was selling celebrity privacy to entertainment magazines for money. If he hadn't developed this skill, he wouldn't have been able to keep up with the witch.

"Ha, the truth." Salomon rolled his eyes at Luca and then they went their separate ways.

Salomon was well aware that his attire was conspicuous in Vigrid, a city teeming with Ragnarokians. Therefore, the arcane mage didn't stroll openly through the streets, and to ensure he could answer Luca's call promptly, he couldn't escape scrutiny by entering the Infernal Realm or the Mirror Dimension. He could only leap across the rooftops of ancient brick buildings and climb along rough walls. Of course, it couldn't be denied that Salomon indulged in a touch of childish eccentricity, as he had now pulled up the hood of his robes.

Rodin would probably make a hidden blade, right?

The buildings weren't significantly different in height, posing little obstacle to Salomon's climb. He circled the buildings near the central fountain several times, carefully examining the usually deserted alleyways, eavesdropping on the Ragnar cultists' conversations, hoping to hear if they were discussing anything strange. But he found neither trace of the witch nor received a call from Luca.

As noon approached, Salomon had no choice but to return to Bayonetta's house, prepare lunch for the incessantly crying Ceresa, and promise to bring her home. However, this didn't work; Ceresa still believed her mother hadn't returned because she was a crybaby. Salomon took a deep breath. What could he do? He hadn't refused when he took Ceresa in, and now he could only smile and face it.

After finally calming the little guy down, he immediately returned to Vigrid and appeared on the rooftop he had left on. He then searched in one direction for a while, still finding nothing as Salomon approached the outskirts of the city.

Just as he was feeling quite distressed, his toes throbbing, a loud bang caught his attention. He turned around and saw an explosion in another direction, near a small church not far from the fountain in the center of the old town. Huge boulders shot into the sky and then crashed to the ground. Even the dust that rose up couldn't stop the blinding golden light from piercing through the shadows—a light invisible to ordinary people, but which Salomon could see clearly.

With his exceptional eyesight, he even saw a gigantic, two-headed creature carrying the relatively intact chapel, soaring into the clouds. Bayonetta was there! No one else could possibly have gotten into such trouble with an angel.

Salomon hurriedly ran in that direction, his path lined with panicked and frantic Ragnar cultists. When he arrived, he saw huge boulders smashing the once-beautiful fountain, with pebbles of varying sizes continuing to fall from the sky.

The sorcerer cast a spell and entered the Infernal Realm. There, he saw flames erupt once more in the distant sky. The once-intact chapel suddenly shattered, sending up a cloud of dust. The shattered stones, propelled by the powerful force, flew in another direction. The initially tiny stones rapidly approached, enlarged, and finally crashed heavily to the ground. Accompanying the falling debris was a black figure—a gigantic monster with two dragon heads. It flapped its wings, pierced through the dust, and swooped down from the sky.

That's Bayonetta! Salomon ran over quickly, but before he could take a few steps, the two-headed angel vanished. Then, the entire Vigrid suddenly shook, and thick smoke and orange-red flames shot straight into the sky from Bayonetta's location.

Salomon quickened his pace, and when he arrived, he saw the rubble scattered across a small square. From beneath the stone pavement, bursts of scorching orange-red lava erupted intermittently, the lava cooling as it splashed out, leaving behind reddish-black scars that clung to the once beautiful architecture. Benches, flowerpots, and everything else flammable had been set ablaze. Flames, carried by the clothes and furniture left behind by the residents, rose and seeped into the houses, while thick black smoke billowed out. Toxic gases, mingled with the acrid smell of burning things, filled the entire square and spread with the expanding hot air.

He covered his mouth and nose, bypassed the area, and continued searching for the person he was looking for amidst the sea of ​​fire.

But the tremors in Vigrid grew more frequent, and the gushing lava became increasingly turbulent. Salomon felt the building beneath his feet shake, and suddenly, the brick and stone ground collapsed. The distant clock tower was propelled into the air by a jet of lava, like a fountain, along with trams and other vehicles. The lava flowed through the streets like a raging river, with the houses forming its banks.

This place didn't feel like a city of angels, but rather hell. Even Salomon, perched on the rooftop, felt the scorching heat in the air. He walked and looked around, occasionally spotting traces of battle. Salomon followed these traces, and at the end of the trail, a huge crater of lava appeared before him.

The crater bears traces of human construction; the bridge spanning the lava lake alone could not have formed naturally. It seems to hint at an astonishing secret, piquing the curiosity of explorers. Fortunately, the builders' efforts were not in vain, as there happened to be an explorer there.

Salomon took a deep breath of the relatively clean air, found a spot, and jumped down. After he landed slowly (using Featherfall spell), he saw that the stone bridge had broken into three pieces, and a black figure had just stepped into the cavern opposite the lava lake. The arcane mage quickly cast a spell, opening a portal into the cavern. The air here was much cleaner than in the lava lake, and a much cooler breeze blew from the depths of the cavern.

He was finally able to breathe freely again.

The light and heat from the lava lake had almost blinded him, and by the time he arrived, he was drenched in sweat, the sticky feeling making him itch all over. Salomon dodged small falling rocks as he walked along the long cavern. After a while, he saw sunlight—it was a vertical shaft, and the clear sunlight cast his shadow into its opening. The azure sky remained untouched by the turmoil, as if the space beyond the shaft was some peaceful, undisturbed place.

Salomon, suppressing his nausea, held a small amount of tar in his palm and swallowed the spider that had been kept in the small glass bottle. After reciting the incantation, the tar disappeared. Salomon stuck out his tongue, feeling the spider still jumping around in his stomach. He spat a few times, trying to expel the strange sensation.

"It's disgusting." He muttered as he walked up the well wall. "I should have chosen Levitation. I was careless, so careless..." Fortunately, Spider Walk could last for an hour, which was a rare consolation. At least Salomon didn't have to cast Spider Walk every now and then, which would require swallowing a spider.

As soon as Salomon stepped out of the well, he felt a refreshing breeze that carried away all the heat. There was no more bubbling lava or foul smells; clean air returned to his lungs.

He came to a steep cliff where he could see the old town of Vigrid in the valley below, but it was engulfed in flames, with lava flowing down the valley like a waterfall and piling up.

"F*ck!" Salomon couldn't handle this situation. He could only spit out his anger and continue walking up a broken stone staircase crushed by a pillar.

The area was overgrown with weeds until they reached a dilapidated circular arena. A gigantic two-headed angel appeared above the arena, while Bayonetta stood within it. Salomon only recognized the angel upon closer inspection.

This angel has two enormous dragon heads, one red and one blue, inlaid with jewels and armor. Its body is a huge, upside-down marble face with a golden crown on its forehead and a golden sun symbol between its brows. Its two huge claws are exactly the same as those of dragons, with golden ornaments on its knees and claw tips. Its long tail has many thorny penance bands tightly embedded in its body, and at the end is a golden, open wing decoration, which carries it in the air.

This is the Fortitudo angel among the four cardinal virtues, embodying the divine will of the divine realm, the embodiment of courage and fortitude, and representing the element of fire, possessing the ability to summon magma. It can be said that all the magma in Vigrid's Old City is summoned from the earth by it.

"I have heard of someone who escaped the witch's hunt and is rebelling against our rule." The massive, inverted human face opened and closed its mouth, its deep voice echoing throughout the arena. "Her connection to the lower planes has corrupted her soul. If you are this poor soul, I am willing to free you from your torment."

The witch ate her candy listlessly, paying no heed to the angel's words.

"Holy Son, wise one," the angel of Fortitudo interrupted its conversation with the witch, saying, "Please use your miracles to save the poor souls before you..."

Suddenly, a gunshot rang out, and a bullet ricocheted off the marble man's face. The angel of Fortitudo was also startled and stopped what he was about to say, for he simply could not understand why anyone would willingly refuse such a gift.

The witch winked at Salomon, then said to the angel of perseverance, "I'm sorry, I forgot to mention why I hunted you. You're just too ugly; I couldn't bear to see you suffer any longer."

"My Holy Son..." The Angel of Perseverance wanted to continue speaking, but was interrupted by Salomon raising his middle finger.

"Are you also going to rebel against the heavens?" the angel of perseverance asked in surprise.

"I have never submitted to the higher planes, let alone you, you little bouncy puppy," Salomon said. "Beings of the higher planes would be better off leaving the Material Plane; this is the territory of the Sorcerer Supreme."

"Humans cannot stand against us! Even with the witches by your side, it's still no use. Don't delude yourself into thinking you can fight us with the power of darkness. No matter the era, witches never learn their lesson..." said the Angel of Perseverance. "We will reshape a new world! And you, you are one of us. You can attain a status far higher than that of a sage..."

"Shut up, Featherface!" Bayonetta fired a few shots impatiently, then drew her longsword. "You're unbearably stupid."

Can you guess what I'm going to give the protagonist? This is very important; it's related to a cheat system and represents a significant boost.

(End of this chapter)