by Ryan Attard
No. Focus. Find him, said my inner voice.
I took a deep breath and just stopped thinking. It's amazing how much stuff you can tune out by shutting the hell up and just listening. That's exactly what I did. Instead of doing all the thinking I just absorbed all the information my brain and body were giving me.
"I shall destroy the things most precious to it." That's what Raphael had said before pulling his Houdini act.
So what was most precious to Envy? Locklania? The angel had already gotten to her.
Think, Erik. Why is Leviathan acting this way? Why did he build the island?
Envy: the envy of people's ability to live together, to a certain extent. Society.
Oh, crap.
Raphael was going after the Vensir, the only civilization on the island. I focused on Leviathan's parting gift—a connection to the land and all its inhabitants—and opened my mind to it.
A million cries of horror and agony infiltrated my mind. The cries of terrified Vensir, of burnt Jurai, and of Wild torn apart. I saw Raphael appear in the middle of the Citadel and unleash his wrath upon the inhabitants within. I felt his power in its purest form, a maelstrom of rage and power, all condensed into a single-minded mission: destroy the Sin and all it had ever created.
I shook the voices off, concentrating once again on reality. The shadows raged, but unlike Raphael's power, I contained them within reason. This is how I would win this battle. Not with a bigger punch, but with a better-timed one. And if I needed a reason to fight for, I had just heard a million of them screaming in my head.
This is who I am: the guy who fights off the big, bad wolf and disappears into the night. I'm not saying I'm a superhero. I'm just the guy who tries to do good in this world. That's what my mentor taught me and that's how I get to honor his memory.
All I needed now was a way to cross all that distance in a few seconds before Raphael brought an end to the Vensir species.
"Well, if he can do it, why can't I?"
Shadows extended from my sides, focusing most of their mass into a pair of giant obsidian wings. I knew I couldn't fly—the wings were just for control. More than that, they were the physical manifestation of my will, and my magic.
I could not fly.
But I could bend gravity, thanks to my powers and connection to the land. My wings flared and I felt the atmosphere pop around me as the gravitational pull around me slackened. Before I could start floating, I kicked off and pulled my wings down, launching myself into the air at a million miles per hour, and rocketed straight towards the Citadel.
***
Raphael threw a beam of light into a cottage, blowing it up from within.
"Where are you hiding, demon?" he yelled. "Show yourself if you wish to save these pathetic creatures."
A few warrior Vensir lunged at him, wielding those silver spears. It was like an ant biting at a crocodile. Raphael flicked one hand and the Vensir exploded into a puddle of blue goo. Sentinels disintegrated into a pile of scrap metal.
"Nothing can stop me, you disgusting abominations," he declared.
True, nothing could even stand up to his immense powers. Except…
“Kawabunga!"
Both of my feet smacked into his head as I descended from the skies with enough speed to break both the sound barrier and a good portion of the ground when I hit it.
I felt the angel's neck crack and Raphael was thrown across the Citadel.
I scraped onto my feet and focused on my connection with the island. Shadows dug into the land and snaked up to the Vensir, intermingling with their own natural shadows. I found the guy I was looking for.
Yo Legolas, you online?
I could feel his confusion at the sudden telepathy. The poor guy had probably never even heard of the word telepathy, let alone practiced it.
What is this? I heard him ask. How are you in my head?
Never mind that, I said. I got something I need you guys to do.
How can I trust you after your betrayal?
Because I'm communicating with you using the power of Levi—I mean, the God King.
To prove my point I sent him a burst of images, detailing my meeting with Leviathan. Legolas was getting a trimmed-down powerpoint presentation of that whole thing.
His attitude changed immediately and he suddenly became very cooperative. What do you require?
I used his loyalty as an anchor when I connected with others. Sort of like saying, 'this important dude here trusts me and so should you.' A dirty trick, I know, but hey, this was an emergency and we were running out of time.
I sent them a bunch of images from my own memories, sigils for a specific spell.
Paint those around the remains of Central. Get the details right. Oh, and guys—don’t fuck this up unless you wanna die.
"Human!" Wings blew away debris and fire danced around the returning Raphael, giving him an appearance that was more commonly associated with demons.
"Hey, look who's up," I called out. "You ready for a second beat down?"
A bright beam of orange light emitted a screeching noise as he charged it in his hands.
"By the sacred power invested in me, I shall smite thee into oblivion."
I dodged what felt like a ballistic missile and scrambled to the side. "And by the power invested in me by my own awesomeness, I declare you asshole extraordinaire."
"You dare mock me?" Raphael took to the air, hovering a good twenty feet above ground. He sent a rain of fire bolts, which fell down like mortars.
"Come on dude, you're mocking yourself," I shot back, easily dodging his spells. "Fire, bad attitude, and dark wings—cut one of them off and you might as well call yourself Sephiroth."
"Enough of your confusing nonsense."
"Oh yeah I forgot, you gotta be direct with you guys to get a point." I spread my hands in challenge. "I am calling you a demon, dickhead. But I won't tell you to go to Hell. You'll get there by yourself, and when you do, those guys are gonna prison-rape you with a pitchfork."
If you ever want to send an angel over the edge, call them the worst possible insult they know—a demon.
Raphael encased himself in fire and light, and exploded into a literal ball of torrential fury, incinerating everything around him.
“Fuck you! I will kill you!” he screamed. The skies darkened and the land started shaking. “I will kill you, I will fucking kill you!”
There was no more pretense of control. This angel had lost his shit, along with all sense of reason. You’ve got to understand that unlike us humans, angels cannot change. The way they walk, talk and act is built into them and nothing can ever change that.
That is, unless they Fall. Then those blueprints get all messed up, generally unleashing all the held-back power within the angel. Luckily, Raphael was still new to this gig. He was not accustomed to other planes, and although this was not technically Earth, Leviathan had made it close enough to pass for an imitation of the real thing.
And he was not accustomed to his powers. Jehudiel had said Raphael had been recently given the powers of a Virtue and was still learning. So even though the guy had a lot more juice than I had, I knew exactly how to beat him.
He stopped moving in mid-air and power—more power than I've ever seen in one single spot—just went into him. It was like he was a black hole for energy, sucking away all the vitality around him. His physical body became a humanoid figure made out of pure light, with grey wings intact and spread open.
He was charging up the mother of all big bangs.
And that was the critical moment.
"It's done!" Legolas's voice cut through the background noise, a mixture of fearful screaming and the panicked scramble for safety.
There was a reason I had only been dodging and running until now, never once leaving the ground. My shadow power was focused into the ground, snaking out and attaching itself onto the working Vensir, guiding them with my thoughts and correcting some minor mistakes to the sigils. My mind could not deal
with so many minds and tasks all at once, and fight back.
Except, maybe to trade insults. I always find the brain capacity for that.
I ran towards a building, taking two steps up the wall and vaulting, all the while swinging the charged Djinn. The giant azure blade met Raphael and exploded, using his released energy as an added force.
The angel went into the ground in a belly flop and actually bounced right back up, ten feet into the air.
"This way, Sparky." I grabbed his floating body by the head and threw him like a dart inside the circle of sigils, which I had the Vensir paint around the remains of Central. He crashed into the ground, leaving a sizable crater. I jumped into the air and landed right on top of him, swinging a claymore-sized Djinn.
The angel rolled to one side, avoiding my blade—and going right where I wanted him to be. Still kneeling, I let go of Djinn and dug my hands into the land. Shadows spread like a spider's web, each tendril merging with a single sigil. As I channeled power into them, the symbols glowed and the spell came to life.
"What is this?" demanded Raphael.
I grabbed my short sword and spun it playfully. "An Abjuration Cage," I replied with a grin.
The look of confusion on his face was priceless.
"You know," I said, "for a guy who is made out of magic, you're surprisingly dim when it comes to applying it. Well, I guess when you got a nuclear missile you don't bother with a knife fight." I sighed. "Welcome to the cage match of the century, Raphael. You can't get out of here, because this thing repels magic. Better yet, it's specifically designed to repel magic from outside sources."
His fiery eyes widened and he flew with panic to the edge of the Cage, blasting it with orange light. The spell dissipated into nothing.
"Having trouble there, Sparky?" I sneered.
"How do you know?" he screamed.
"I researched your kind after what happened with Lilith," I replied. "And I felt Heaven's magic, remember? As for your little secret—yeah, I'm fully aware that an angel's life force and powers come from his connection to Heaven. Even on other planes, you guys all carry a receiver back to the mother ship. And this thing," I said, spreading my arms and grinning like an evil genius whose plan had just succeeded, “this baby is designed to cut such a connection." I grinned at him and raised my sword.
"So tell me, Feather Face, how does it feel to slowly wither away?"
Chapter 34
For the next five minutes Raphael just raged against the Abjuration Cage.
"It's useless, dude," I taunted, in between laughs. "That Cage is specifically designed to lock us in place, negating all magic from coming inside its borders. If you had half a brain, you would have taken precautions against your weakness first instead of fighting a Sin on his own home turf."
I playfully spun Djinn around my finger through the hole in the crossguard. "And now you're cut off. My powers come from within me and thanks to my man Levi, I got a boost from the land itself."
Raphael stopped his raging. "Then I shall destroy that very source," he growled.
His feral gaze turned towards the giant stone stub that used to be Central and incinerated it, scorching the stone black. Most of the remains crumbled into nothing.
I let out a laugh. "Did you inhale too much of your own smoke or something? That power is within me. If you wanna stop the spell, you gotta kill me. That is, if you can," I challenged.
"My powers may be dwindling but I have more than enough to destroy the likes of you, human," Raphael snarled.
"Bring it on, bitch."
Before I could get the last syllable out he smashed into me, flaming sword in one hand, and clashed with my own weapon. He retreated and came back with a thrust. I parried and swung to the side, catching his flank. I ducked as he swung a flame-coated fist. He blocked my swing and raised his free hand. Fire elongated and formed into a second sword.
"Neat trick. Let's see if I can do it," I said, raising my left hand. Shadows coalesced there and from my hand they elongated, forming an obsidian blade.
I blocked his second sword with my new weapon, all the while smiling gleefully at his frustrated expression.
But then he smiled as well. Fire sliced through the shadows as if they weren't there and bit into my arm. The flames seared flesh and cut off the entire limb. I screamed in sheer horror—there's nothing like watching one of your body parts flopping on the ground and withering into a mass of shadows to freak you out. I expected pain and agony but felt none. Looking at my wound I noticed blood merging with the shadows, into a wet mass of inky black that oozed from my stump.
Raphael pressed on with his relentless assault and I was forced to block with my one remaining hand. But while he had his two swords and a lot more power than me, I felt him weaken with every strike. He was getting desperate and that was my ticket to staying alive.
He swung with his right, committing too much weight and momentum on his leading leg. I sidestepped out of range of his second weapon. I half-spun and kicked his knee joint, breaking his balance, then pushed with every ounce of strength I had and he ended up in the air before landing painfully on his back. Keeping my momentum, I lengthened Djinn to the size of a broadsword. With the tip of the sword pointing downwards, I swung it down on Raphael's face.
The angel flared his wings, catching me behind the ankles and sending me crashing down. He turned and climbed on top of me, pinning my sword arm to one side. He settled on his mount and raised both hands, forming a single flaming sword.
"In the name of Heaven, you shall die," he said as he prepared to impale my head with his weapon, just as I had been about to do to him a few seconds earlier.
I smiled. "Bad move, dude."
A gunshot exploded and a fist-sized hole appeared inside the angel's stomach. The blast sent him off of me and about ten feet away.
I stood up, holding my customized flintlock with my newly regenerated left hand, and fired again. This time I took my time, channeling more precise magic into the shot. A thick red bullet rocketed towards Raphael, trailing a crimson arc like a tracer round. The angel raised his sword and swung down, deflecting the bullet and cutting it neatly in half. Two red balls of magic flew to either side of his head, harmlessly away from their target…
Until I activated the spell.
The two halves altered their angle and shot into either side of Raphael's head, before exiting from the opposite direction.
The angel stumbled onto the ground, his head now a gory mess. I followed my attack with my short sword, aiming to behead this guy once and for all.
He managed to catch my sword, clasping his hands on either side of the blade as if in a prayer, and yelled in effort as he struggled to stand up. Swirls of light formed around his head as his injuries were healed. Fire exploded from his hands all the way down the length of Djinn. The flames incinerated my right hand, reducing it to a pile of ash and leaving a blackened stump. Djinn fell along my body, all magic gone from it.
But there was no time to freak out. I shoved my gun into his gut and pulled the trigger several times. Raphael bent over in agony. Meanwhile the shadows on my body caught Djinn and secured it along my foot so that the blade pointed the same direction as my toes. I twisted my body, unleashed a roundhouse kick that would have made Chuck Norris proud and impaled the angel with my sword. The blade buried itself inside him and I saw the tip poke out from his collarbone.
I pulled my leg back, drawing the sword attached to it. The shadows rolled it back up to my regenerated right hand. Raphael gave me a look of pure hatred and fell on his knees, vomiting blood. I wiped ichor away from my blade and sheathed both of my weapons.
"I'm not going to kill you," I said calmly, taking a few steps back.
"Offering pity?" he spat. "How pious of you."
"It's not pity, jackass," I replied. "I just wanna watch you die, like you deserve. And what you deserve is a slow death in this place; a place made by your enemy. A place where you killed an innocent woman who just wanted to
live in peace. So think about that as you slowly rot away."
Raphael vomited more blood and tried getting up. Ash-colored feathers dropped from his wings and he looked more like a zombie than an angel. He snarled and widened his mouth into a grin.
But I wasn't worried about any more surprises. Sure, I was still picking a small amount of magic from him but it was about the same amount I would sense from a regular human wizard. His wings were in tatters, almost burnt to stumps. Wings generally indicated how much power an angel carried, and there was no hiding that.
Raphael was done for, so he did the only thing he could do—talk.
"Yes, human. It truly is over."
At first I assumed it was more bad guy bullshit, the same crap he kept spouting on ever since I met him.
And then I felt that spike of magic. That one final burst, all directed within him. I knew immediately what he was going to do: use his life force to blow himself up. And while he didn't have enough magic to harm me, he was still an angel. No, he was a Virtue. That kind of power was on the nuclear scale in terms of magic slinging. Raphael had enough life force to potentially blow up an entire city.
Or an island with an unstable Core.
It took less than half a second for me to spring in to action.
I dashed forwards with superhuman speed and grabbed his face, pulling him close. At the same time I concentrated all my power into the patch of land within the Abjuration Cage and performed an Amaymon-style bit of Geomancy. The round patch of land flipped over, like a spinning coin, and catapulted both of us into the air.
Shadow wings flared on my back again and I used every iota of power I had to race towards the ocean. We tore through like a bullet of fire and shadow, slicing through trees, Wurms and air alike, until we reached the open water. I directed us towards a specific spot: the exact same spot I tried to open with my magic when I first came to this island and failed.
But now that I had Leviathan's power backing me up, the portal opened once more.