by Leo Ndelle
“Who cares?” scoffed The Darkness. “I will be wiping them out very soon.”
The Darkness blasted Lunok with a pulse of energy, sending Lunok crashing to his knees and cracking the energy shield. But Lunok quickly neutralized the energy pulse and sealed the energy shield.
“I know you’ll try, but we won’t make it easy for you,” Lunok rebutted.
“Who is ‘we’?” the dark, viscous form of energy did something that looked like a smirk and its eyes glowed with a purple hue.
“We who stand here and we who are in Asah,” Lunok replied.
“How noble of you,” The Darkness said as its form hovered erratically within the energy barrier. “You will need more than a bunch of weaklings to stop me.”
“You are correct,” Lunok said and brought his hands closer together.
The Darkness started screaming in pain as it felt its form getting compressed and trapped in a much smaller shield. This enraged it even more and it riled against the smaller sphere Lunok was trying to trap it within. It fought back so hard that Lunok gave up and let it hover freely within the shield.
“I tried to save you, Emok,” Lunok said.
“Stop calling me Emok!” The Darkness screamed.
“But you never played your part,” Lunok continued. “You never tried. You simply forgot who you are and you let the darkness take over you. Still, I tried to save you.”
“And failed!” The Darkness said and erupted in diabolical laughter.
“If you say so,” Lunok said.
Team Shi’mon could feel the presence of The Darkness and Lunok, who was also their master, Yeshua. They could not see them, however and they understood why. As such, they waited patiently, unsure of how they could be of any help against this creature who was the very epitome of darkness and chaos.
“Let’s finish this, old friend,” Lunok said finally.
“YOUR FRIEND IS NO LONGER HERE!” The Darkness yelled.
“Then why are you angry?” Lunok asked.
The Darkness was silent.
“You know, I can do this forever,” Lunok added. “You, on the other hand, have a schedule to keep. All I need to do is hold you within this barrier for as long as I exist, which I will gladly do. I have nothing to lose, personally, but I will keep you away from Creation.”
The Darkness writhed and its purple eyes flashed several times as it realized the truth in Lunok’s words.
“I will make you an offer,” Lunok said after letting The Darkness chew on his words for a moment. “You will return to my friend’s former form and essence, and I will give you and I a chance to end it all. What do you say?”
The Darkness hovered for a moment before slowly gliding towards Lunok.
“What are you trying to do?” it asked.
“Do we have accord or not?” Lunok asked.
The Darkness hovered in front of Lunok before slowly, its viscous form began to coalesce and take upon the form of a Shemsu.
“Thank you, old friend,” Lunok said sadly. “It is really good to see you again.”
“You have seen your friend,” Emok said as his eyes flashed purple. “I have kept my end of our agreement. Now, you keep yours. Let’s end this!”
“Indeed,” Lunok said and stepped closer towards The Darkness.
For a moment, he thought he caught a glimpse of Emok’s essence but it was gone as soon as it appeared. That was more than what he had expected.
“Goodbye, old friend,” Lunok said sadly.
Emok snarled.
“What are you waiting for?” The Darkness demanded. “Let’s finish this!”
“As you wish,” Lunok replied and then, telepathically, he screamed one word.
NOW!
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
DEATH
LUCEEFA SMILED AS Gabriel zipped towards her. She spared herself a moment to watch everyone either zipping or flying around her. The war was a beautiful chaotic spectacle. She returned her attention towards the zipping Gabriel. His armor had a nice, golden shine to it. She remembered how she used to practice in those colors. Even during the first war, her armor was golden, the color of Celestia. That was then. Now, hers had a purple shine to it, the new color of her new essence, the essence of the darkness she was becoming. She trotted towards the slow, zipping Gabriel. This was going to be too easy and not-so-fun for her, unfortunately.
Luceefa planted an uppercut into Gabriel’s gut, shattering his armor and sending him flying several yards away. She smile again as she leaped faster than Gabriel was sailing through the air, caught his ankle and flung him back towards the ground. The crash was unspectacular, but the several cracks that radiated from his body on the ground were artful. She accelerated towards Gabriel and crash-landed on his chest, breaking many things on and inside of Gabriel, and causing angel light to ooze from Gabriel’s mouth. She knew Gabriel must be wondering how she was moving so much quicker than he was. Oh well, Gabriel would not last much longer to find out.
Instinctively, Luceefa ducked as Palubiel’s sword sailed over her head. That bitch is really annoying, Luceefa thought as she clenched a fist and turned around to smite Palubiel. Instead, her head rocked violently backward as Palubiel chased her sword attack with a brutal, left, roundhouse kick to Luceefa’s jaw. Luceefa rolled with the kick to absorb the impact and immediately regained fighting stance. She heaved her shoulders as Palubiel attacked once more with her sword. This time, Luceefa caught Palubiel’s right wrist and twisted sharply. The sharp pain that flared in Palubiel’s wrist forced Palubiel to drop her sword and scream. Luceefa caught Palubiel by the throat and brought Palubiel’s face close to hers.
“I won’t end you with my sword,” Luceefa hissed. “That would be too quick and honorable for you. But I have something special for you, Palubiel.”
And then, Luceefa’s eyes burned with a purple flame.
Palubiel was screaming, but it was only in her head. She knew, as sure as the fact that she was burning up from the inside out, that she was screaming. It was pain that was exponentially worse than the pain she felt when she was almost cut in twain during the first war. Her body erupted with her archangel battle flame, though she never summoned it. Her own archangel battle flame had turned against her and she was being burned alive, from inside-out. How was Luceefa doing it? Palubiel wondered for only a split moment. The pain was beyond words. The pain was alive. She thought she was screaming, but all she heard was the sound of flames as she was being burned away. They said death was peaceful, no matter how it came. That was a lie! There was nothing peaceful about her impending death. Suddenly, the burning stop and her body crashed to the ground.
***
Raphael shattered a hellspawn’s head with his spiked hammer before another tackled him to the ground. But Raphael executed a backward roll as he pushed the hellspawn away with is right leg.
“Leave the rest to me!” Raphael commanded.
“But General, there are four of them left!” an archangel protested.
“I said leave them to me!” Raphael reiterated as he zipped towards a hellspawn and severed its head. “Find someone that could use some help and help them!”
“Aye, General!” the remainder of his squad chorused and teleported away.
Three hellspawns charged him on. Raphael leaped in the air as he summoned a second hammer. A hellspawn took his bait and leaped after him. Raphael threw a hammer at the hellspawn while the hellspawn was in midflight, causing the creature to change its course. Then, Raphael flamed up his second hammer and zipped towards the hellspawn in the air. A headless hellspawn crashed to the ground as Raphael landed next to another hellspawn.
The hellspawn summoned a sword and swung at Raphael’s head while the last of the hellspawns threw its spear at Raphael. Raphael evaded the sword attack as he zipped forward and parried the spear aimed at him. The spear went through the chest of the sword-bearing hellspawn while Raphael beheaded the other hellspawn as it was summoning another spear. The last hellspawn heale
d itself and summoned a sword. Archangel light washed over Raphael’s body, ridding him of the bodily fluids of dead hellspawns. The last of the hellspawns let out a horrific war cry and charged towards Raphael.
Raphael waited until the creature was close before he faked an attack on the left. The hellspawn took the bait and realized its mistake too late. Raphael crashed the hammer in his right hand into the left shoulder of the hellspawn before shattering the right knee of the creature with the hammer in his left hand. The creature let out a cry of pain and dropped on its right knee as Raphael shattered its left shoulder and hip in two swift attacks. He ignored the clanging of the hellspawn’s weapons as they hit the ground. Raphael met the defiant stare of the hellspawn as it healed itself and held the creatures stare for the blink of an eye. Then, he zipped and the headless body of the last hellspawn fell to the floor and erupted in yellow flames.
“Raphael! Help me! Please!” Palubiel called out to Raphael via telepathy.
Raphael immediately followed Palubiel’s telepathic trail and found Luceefa doing something to Palubiel that made him do a double take before crashing his spiked hammer into Luceefa’s left temple. He had never been this happy and enraged at the same time before. He was happy because he was finally going to do what he was prevented from doing during the first war: end Luceefa. He was enraged because of whatever Luceefa was doing to his protégé. He delivered another devastating blow to Luceefa’s head as she was still trying to come to her senses from his surprise attack. As Luceefa reeled to her left and crashed on the ground, Raphael summoned a dagger on both sides of his hammer and zipped towards Luceefa for one final blow. He dedicated all his might and emotion into the blow and swung at her neck.
But, to his utter surprise, Luceefa caught the hammer with her left hand and yanked him forward, using the force of his momentum. How could she be so strong? And how did she heal so fast? Raphael wondered, eyes widening in shock. He was still in midair when he witnessed Luceefa charge towards him with his own hammer and drive the dagger on the hammer through his armor and into his chest. Raphael yelled in pain as the sheer force of her attack changed the course of his flight in the opposite direction with so much force that his body crashed into the ground, digging a hole a foot deep. He blinked and when his eyes opened, he caught the reflection of the purple flames in Luceefa’s eyes reflecting on her sword as she swung for his neck.
Raphael was disappointed with himself! He had waited so many cycles for the chance to finally end Luceefa. The moment had come and it was about to leave him with nothing but humiliation, sorrow and regret for so many things. Regardless of how different Luceefa was, how much she had changed, he still believed he could finish her once and for all. Anyway, he had done his best. Michael was now their last hope, wherever Michael was. Raphael closed his eyes and waited for his end.
Raphael heard a thud, but his eyes remained closed. Why was it taking so long? He opened his eyes and Luceefa was no longer on top of him. He pulled out the hammer from his chest and turned around as he healed his body. He was glad and concerned to see Uriel rolling on the ground with Luceefa; glad because he was still alive and could fight, concerned because he knew Uriel was no match for this new version of Luceefa. Uriel had basically sacrificed herself to safe him. She was a true sister and friend and he would never forget that. He dismissed his hammer and searched for Palubiel. She was still healing. Whatever Luceefa had done to her must have been so terrible for her to still be healing after all these moments. Raphael spared a glance in Uriel’s direction in time to see Uriel straddle Luceefa. He was going to return to help Uriel later. But first, he had to get Palubiel to safety. Raphael zipped towards Palubiel, picked up her burned, slowly healing body off the ground, ignoring her cries of excruciating pain and teleported both of them away to safety.
***
They appeared in Raphael’s domain and Raphael summoned a bed and gently placed her on it. Palubiel was squirming and wincing the whole time.
“I’d stay with you,” he said. “But I must get back out there. Stay here and heal up. I assure you, I’ll come back for you.”
Raphael made to teleport away but Palubiel caught his wrist with whatever amount of strength she could summon. Her gesture elicited a renewed amount of pain and her cry of pain touched him deeply within his core. Raphael faced her and saw something burn in her eyes beyond the pain she felt throughout her body. He could hold back no more. He thought about his rage when he witnessed what Luceefa was doing to his protégé. He remembered the first emotion he felt when he heard her call out to him for help. He was afraid; afraid that his… his… first love was going to die.
Raphael had never shared his feelings for her with anyone including Palubiel, and now, Palubiel had just told him in her own painful way what she felt for him. If he teleported away from his domain, he may never return and that meant he may never get another chance to tell Palubiel how he truly felt for her. Raphael eased himself next to Palubiel and Palubiel relaxed her grip on his wrist. Her eyes said it all, even before she closed them and parted her lips slightly in invitation. Raphael was careful not to touch her body as she was still healing and in so much pain as he, too, closed his eyes and parted his lips. Their kiss was a covenant of love unending, written from their cores and sealed in their essences.
Raphael slowly retreated and smiled. Palubiel tried to smile as well but winced in pain. Raphael chuckled kindly.
“Heal fast, my love,” Raphael said lovingly. “And then, come fight beside me.”
“I will see you soon, my love,” Palubiel replied via telepathy.
Raphael nodded and returned to the war.
***
“And as for you, bitch!” Luceefa snarled as she walked towards Uriel’s limp body on the ground.
She loved using that term she had learned during her stay in Earth Realm.
“I have something special for you, Michael’s favorite pet!”
“I have… something,” Uriel scoffed weakly. “To tell… you.”
Uriel tried to stand but crashed on the ground. Luceefa laughed out loud and reached from Uriel’s throat.
“What do you want to tell me?” Luceefa smirked in impending triumph.
“The prophecies are… fake,” Uriel replied, wiping off Luceefa’s smirk.
Uriel grinned weakly.
“Lunok and I… made them up to… flush out the… bad seed,” Uriel added as Luceefa tightened her grip around Uriel’s neck. “Looks like… our experiment was… a resounding… success!”
Luceefa let her anger and fury get the better of her as she gave Uriel an even more deadly dose of what she gave Palubiel. But this time, she allowed herself the pleasure of letting Uriel scream out loud. Luceefa wanted that scream to send chills into the cores of everyone fighting for Celestia. She wanted Uriel’s scream to be a herald for Hell’s victory; HER victory. She wanted to see the fear and defeat in the eyes of every angel and archangel who fought for Celestia. There was a sharp pain in her side and instead of Uriel’s screaming, Luceefa let out a core-wrenching scream. She turned and met Eliel’s eyes burning with deep, yellow flames staring into her purple, blazing eyes and his sword, blazing with deep yellow flames, buried into her side. She let Uriel drop to the ground as Eliel retrieved his sword and swung for her neck. Luceefa ducked but was a little slower than usual. Eliel’s sword scraped off a part of her right temple. Purple light oozed from the open wound as Luceefa zipped away from Eliel. She covered her wounded temple with her right hand and beams of purple light streaked from in between her fingers as she healed herself instantly.
Luceefa saw Eliel zip towards her and was taken aback. By Hell! He was almost as fast, but not as furious, as she was. She immediately summoned her sword and met Eliel in a death match. Luceefa summoned deep purple archangel battle flame and Eliel’s was deep golden-yellow. To those who could watch, the two moved in streaks of purple and golden yellow blurs. Both archangels had something to fight for, something to live for, and both archangels dr
ew from their newly discovered inner potential. Their swords clashed, their feet lashed out and their hands punched. Light spewed where the swords sliced, body parts were broken where the legs made contact and pain erupted where the punches landed. Both enemies healed quickly and both enemies continued their dance of death.
A second, purple blur suddenly appeared and immediately attacked Luceefa.
“You took my partner away from me!” Lithilia hissed and punched Luceefa in the left jaw with her right hand.
“Your beast took my son!” she punched Luceefa’s right jaw with her left hand.
“Your general died by my hands and now’s your turn!”
Lithilia’s attacks came in so fast that Luceefa had little time to react. Suddenly, Luceefa was at a huge tactical disadvantage. She could handle Lithilia and Eliel separately but she absolutely could not handle both of them at the same time. Lithilia burned with the same purple color flames as she did. This meant Lithilia shared the same tainted essence from Emok. But how? No moments to worry about that now. She had to regain the advantage somehow or face her end.
Luceefa teleported away as Lithilia and Eliel zipped towards her. Gabriel and Drusiliel were now fully healed. Palubiel was nowhere in sight. Uriel was still on the ground, trying to heal and, Luceefa let out and expletive, Raphael had just returned. Michael was nowhere in sight but that did not matter. Luceefa knew her end was nigh unless she could do something about it. But what could she do? She zipped away again as Lithilia and Eliel attacked once more. I can’t keep zipping away forever! She thought. But what can I do?
Luceefa felt despair and frustration begin to well up inside of her. She cried out in anger as she zipped away again. The war continued to rage on but Celestia was almost victorious. There was nothing left for her and soon, there would be nothing left of her. Anger, desperation and frustration all morphed into a primal emotion: fear. And out of that fear, Luceefa found a renewed instinct for survival. Or rather, the darkness in Emok’s tainted essence found a renewed desire to live and manifest to the fullest.