The burning sensation spreads quickly through my entire being. I feel as if my soul is actually burning. A brilliant light radiates from my chest as the burning of my soul intensifies and I feel a vast nothingness grip me.
Then suddenly everything goes black as that emptiness devours my soul.
Chapter 25
Standing up, I shake my hand as the ash from Lilith falls from it. I close my eyes.One more.
My ears hone in on Beelzebub and Azrael’s battle. Looking around the battle that’s still raging on, I see the rest of the Division is handling the other Knights with ease, so I take off to assist Azrael as I begin to notice that a shadowy mist lingers through all of Purgatory.
Beelzebub is so focused on Azrael that I catchhim by surprise and slash at his back. As my claws tear through his flesh he notices me, giving Azrael time to get some distance between them.
“You fucking cur,” Beelzebub shouts. Turning all of his attention to me, but unlike the last time that we fought I’m calm and level-headed. With every attack he throws at me I slash his arms, blocking and dealing considerable damage.
As he continues his hits, the blood running down his wrists is thrown all over me.
His attacks are slow and Azrael jumps back in, just as he disappears into a cloud of black mist trying to hide his movements. The only issue with that is that he can’t hide the blood. His steps begin to retreat, based on the dripping blood.
I chase him down, reaching the end of the trail. I begin swiping but don’t hit anything. Azrael takes flight. “MOVE!” he shouts. He throws an arch of fire in the direction of the blood trail, just as I jump out of the way.
As it hits the ground an explosion rings out and reveals Beelzebub, blasting him backwards and to the ground. Running up to him, blood is flowing from his mouth and he begins to laugh. I hear the bellowing roar coming from Hell’s gate.
Looking up, I see dozens of Hell beasts emerging from the gate. Following the beasts is someone I’ve never seen before. A tall muscular creature with long, wide, jagged black horns and fiery red skin with multiple dragon wings steps forward.
Azrael lands next to me. “That’s Satan,” he says with a quiver in his voice. “This is bad.”
“Hahaha you’re fucked now, you have no chance against my Lord,” Beelzebub laughs.
Quickly Azrael swings his sword, decapitating Beelzebub.As his body twitches, I see Satan lock onto a spot in the battlefield. Following his gaze he is focused on the pile of ash that was once Lilith.
Looking back he is gone, a black mist dissipating from where I last saw him, then I see him appear at the ashes. He reaches down and scoops some up. “My child,” he hisses. He vanishes again then suddenly I’m filled with immense dread as the black mist surrounds me and he appears standing before me.
He backhands Azrael, hurling him far off into the distance. Then he grabs me by my throat, lifting me a couple feet off the ground.
“You must be Evander,” he growls. “Your very existence insults me, and your transgressions against my children will not go unpunished,” he snaps.
His strength rivals Michael’s as he continues to squeeze my neck. He takes his long dagger-like claws and slowly digs them into my side. I let out a painful howl that dies out as he squeezes. I can feel pure evil infecting me through his claws.
Just as I’m about to pass out from the pain a brilliant light cuts through the darkness and I’m thrown from his grip. As my sight quickly returns, I see Michael and Gabriel standing between me and Satan.
“Leave him to us, Evander. Azrael, heal Evander’s wound,” Michael commands.
“We will deal with this filth, you two dispatch his pets,” Gabriel sternly says. Before we have time to acknowledge them, they dash at Satan.
Michael swings his sword as Gabriel thrusts his spear with lightning speed. Satan counters them by drawing a huge black sword, a jagged blade with human skulls adorning the hilt.
Each strike is so powerful that thunderbolts strike out and shockwaves emanate from their collisions.
Azrael grabs me, pulling my attention from the colossal battle before me as he places his hand over my wound and pushes his fire into it. The flames instantly destroy the evil within.
“Okay now let’s go, we have a job to do,” he shouts, looking at the Hell beasts rampaging through the angels.
We take flight and separate. He drives his blade into a Leviathan that was stomping angels to death as something new catches my attention. A huge bat-like creature with a wingspan of twenty feet.
As it shoots toward me I roll avoiding its attack. Using my speed I get behind it and slam my claws into its back, shattering its spine right between its wings and sending it hurtling to the ground.
As it hits the dirt I’m immediately upon it and I thrust my claws with such force under its chin it removes the front of its face and skull. As it falls limp I see Achilles fighting a Cerberus, and he is in the process of destroying its last head as a Hydra steps in.
Before I get to them, Lucius slams into the Hydra and begins removing its heads. Seeing how strong they have become is rather impressive. As we fight back the beasts, it dawns on me that not only are they stronger, but they have killed all of the Knights without any assistance. Based on the evidence of their bodies torn to pieces all over the battlefield.
