Every demon in the battle zone stopped attacking and just stared blankly.
The demons had fear in their eyes. They backed away slowly. I sat up and stared chaotically at what was happening. The demon that was attacking the Lieutenant bellowed loudly for all the other demons to hear. They started retreating.
Everyone stopped attacking each other and listened. There was silence in the middle of the city. Then the ground started shaking under our feet. Nearby buildings began to collapse and the bright full moon turned red.
Something macabre was about to happen.
I was quivering and I didn’t know why. I was scared for what would be the outcome of this. I’d never dealt with something of this magnitude before. I feared for my people and my life. What in Christ name did I let loose? I just released something from the darkest recesses of Hell. I wasn’t even sure if what I did was the right thing to do. There was only one way to find out.
Then it happened.
“You hear that?” Justin asked.
Everyone was standing still. No one moved a muscle. There was a hissing sound and it was getting closer and louder. The demons started freaking out and ran away, but it was too late for them. Something dark and mystical appeared before them and it was cryptic and satanic. Something I can’t explain because I’d never seen anything like it before.
We could all hear it.
It was Death in a form of a whisper. It was deadly, and it was killing them all. One by one, they started dying right before our eyes. It was like their souls were taken by something supernatural. Thousands of dead demons unexplainably collapsed to the ground dead. It was like a wave of bodies landing at our feet.
A few minutes later, my whole army of Detarrunians started cheering and shouting as a form of victory. I kinda did myself for a second too. I was relieved I was able to save some lives and I was able to help my people fight this war, but it was still far from over yet. I got on my feet slowly. I still had to lead my people through this war.
The Satunians, realizing they didn’t have their demons anymore, started attacking us again. The war carried on where it left off. Even without their demons, the Satunians still had the upper hand and were not stopping.
We did lose a lot of my men and women on that first attack, and this was just the beginning. I picked up a gun from a dead Satunian and with the little energy I had left, I started fighting side by side with my army.
Downtown Manhattan
“We need to stop,” Rebecca commanded.
“We can’t stop now,” Lola said, still holding both of them, while she swooped them over the city away from danger.
“We need to reverse the curse. If we don’t do it now, it will be too late,” she urged.
Lola slowly descended close to the battlefield.
When they touched ground, Nathan and Rebecca were both disturbed at such a scene. They saw dead bodies everywhere. They weren’t expecting this war to turn out so violent. Nathan felt so appalled, and at one point, he just couldn’t breathe.
“What happened here?” Rebecca said almost in a whisper.
“It is already too late,” Lola said.
“Why would you say that?” Nathan asked, upset.
“Look! Do you see that?” Lola replied, pointing at the moon. “It’s red!”
“What does it mean?” Rebecca asked.
“It means Ethasus has sacrificed himself already.”
“I’m still not understanding?” Nathan uttered.
“Satu was going to get to The Others no matter what. Instead of wasting time trying to get them back, I thought of a better idea. I offered Ethasus a different alternative.”
“What did you do?” Rebecca asked, not trusting her.
“He asked a devil called Orcoptu to join him,” Lola continued.
“And what will he get in return?” She clinched her teeth, not wanting to know.
“If Orcoptu helps him in battle, Ethasus has to sell his soul.”
“Oh no, tell me he didn’t?” Nathan asked, dazed.
“He did,” was Lola’s cold answer.
“Why would you take him there? I thought you were helping him?” he asked furiously.
“I am. I will help him through this till the end. It is why it was necessary. It had to be done,” she said.
“What more would you expect from a demon?” Rebecca said angrily.
“Let’s not forget who started this, and for what reasons,” Lola challenged.
Rebecca didn’t have a comeback for that one. Lola was right.
“Let’s reverse the curse and end this war, once and for all,” Nathan implored.
They all agreed.
Rebecca opened the book. She skipped through the black pages but she wasn’t finding the page she was looking for. She was getting desperate.
“We overheard a conversation at the museum. It was a conversation between you and Satu. Please tell us it isn’t true?” Nathan asked as his voice saddened.
Lola took a moment to answer.
“It’s true,” she replied. “The more people he kills, the more powerful he’ll become. By the look of things, your whole army has been completely wiped out in just hours. Imagine how much power he will gain from another attack like this.”
“Are The Others able to defeat him?”
“There is no doubt about that, but as I said before, Ethasus already sold his soul to Orcoptu. He belongs in the underworld now.”
Such information had both of them worried.
“We’ll get him back. For sure, The Others will too!”
“It’ll be futile. Once a soul belongs to a devil, no one is able to get it back, not even archangels.”
“I’m sure The Creator will not allow this,” Nathan insisted.
“You are right, but remember, The Chosen One made his own choice.”
Nathan stood there silent and wondering how devastated his parents would be once they heard about this.
“So this is it? It’s over?” he said, feeling defeated.
“No, it’s far from over, but this is where it gets complicated,” Lola added. They both looked up, wanting to know more.
“What’s the plan?”
“If Ethasus’ soul is worth a lot in the underworld, imagine how much Satu’s soul is worth now.”
“So you’re thinking a trade for a trade?” Rebecca asked.
“Exactly! But Satu will have to—” Lola didn’t finish.
“Traitor!” came a roaring voice from the top of a five-story building.
“Run, get out of here. Reverse the curse and save your world!” Lola bellowed.
Nathan and Rebecca ran as far away from there as possible. Rukus jumped at Lola and attacked her and Lola counter attacked. Two powerful demons were about to clash. They were going to fight each other till the end.
Nathan and Rebecca wanted to help, but they had a mission to complete and they were going to do everything they could to make it happen.
“I found the page!” Rebecca said relieved, as they were still running.
The Battle
It was almost dawn.
I had pretty courageous men and women fighting by my side and they fought bravely. The Satunians were falling back little by little, and their numbers were decreasing. That was a good sign.
Throughout the whole night, I felt an evil presence close by. Something dark. I kept seeing it out of the corner of my eye, but when I looked, there was nothing there. Its power was immense and I felt it inside of me, like a sixth sense. It wasn’t human either.
I thought maybe it was Orcoptu, taking over my body and soul, but it wasn’t a possession. It was a weird phenomenon, which kept watching my every move.
I felt a cold breeze in the back of my neck.
“Booo,” came a male voice from behind.
Before I even had a chance to turn or look back, it was over. He got close to me and stabbed me right in my stomach with his sword. The unexpected blow had me feeling disoriented for a minute. I couldn’t move or blink.
“I told you I wouldn’t let you win,” he said in my ear. He held me tightly with his other arm, pushing me towards the end of the sword, and used the other to push it deeper inside. He pulled the sword out, with an unmerciful force, just to rip through other tissues in my body. Blood came out of my mouth.
The pain was excruciating. I fell to the ground on my knees and took a quick look at my wound. There was a lot of blood. I was bleeding to death and I felt nauseous, cold and dizzy. I looked up at my opponent but I wish I hadn’t.
I saw him licking my blood off the sword. He smiled at me, enjoying that. “You should’ve minded your own business, Ethasus. You of all people should have known better. Pains me really, that it ended this way. You and I could’ve ruled the world together. I might be an ambitious man, but I respect those who are loyal to me.”
“You are nothing but a coward, you demented freak,” I said, coughing out blood. I knew deep inside I was dying and there was nothing I could do. Still, I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
“Oh? You don’t say,” he mocked.
“That was a foul move, gotta give it to ya. You got me alright. It’s a shame though, that a kid my age will make you go to these extremes. I bet you were desperate?” I teased back. His smirk disappeared.
He frowned at me with intensity. I think he was offended. He leaned closer to my face, stared me down for a few seconds, making me wait for his response.
“At least I didn’t sell my soul to a devil,” he answered with a smirk.
My whole world collapsed. Even the hair on the back of my neck stood up. How in the world could he have possibly have known that?
“Do you think I’m stupid? I knew all about you and Lola. It was just too obvious. As soon as Lola showed some type of interest in you, I had her own demons spy on her. That’s when I heard she took you to see Orcoptu. It’s a shame you would do something like that, Ethasus. Your grandfather will be so disappointed,” he teased again.
I got so angry at him. I got on my feet fast, forgot about the pain and the blood I was losing quickly. I swung at him but missed. I kept swinging as he kept dodging all my punches. I started getting dizzy again and I fell to the ground. As I lay on my back, my whole body felt completely numbed. I couldn’t move anymore.
I could even hear my own heartbeat.
I saw Satu hovering over me. He was standing there, gazing down at me. Watching my agonizing death.
“Farewell, my dear friend,” he finally said. “Once I become a devil, I promise I’ll pay you a visit in Hell, and maybe torture you some more.” He laughed at me, then started walking away.
I picked up the sword he used against me with the little energy I still had left, stood up, and quickly ran to him. He never saw it coming.
I stabbed him in the back.
His head turned slowly. Even on that side angle, I could still feel his cold stare. He was furious. While he still glared at me, he slowly removed the sword from his back. It didn’t even hurt him. He didn’t even bleed.
“It seems I made a mistake.” He said, "I should've put you out of your misery.”
I backed away slowly. I knew what was coming, and it was going to hurt.
I ran.
Dying or not, I wasn’t going to let him kill me. I kept stumbling over dead bodies, but I kept moving. I kept looking back to see if he was gaining on me.
I didn’t see him anymore.
He had disappeared. I looked everywhere, prepared for whatever. I scanned through the crowd of Satunians and Detarrunians, who were still fighting each other. He was gone.
I kept running and tried to find my guardians. I got two blocks away when he reappeared right in front of me.
He grabbed me by the throat and punched me right on my wound. I cried in pain. He pummeled me over and over.
If he wanted to punish me, he sure was doing a heck of a job.
“I’m going to beat you so hard, you’re going to beg me to kill you,” he hissed. He let go of my neck and kneed me right in my chin. My head was spinning after that. He pushed me to the ground with a front kick and I accidently hurt my wound again.
Dang it.
He kept kicking me in the stomach while I was down. I couldn’t breathe. I tried to get up on my feet every time, but I couldn’t take the beating any longer. I couldn’t even see straight. I didn’t feel anything anymore. I was too dizzy and instead of fighting it, I just stayed on the ground.
I felt a strong arm wrap around my neck from behind. Satu had me in a headlock and he was choking me.
“Give up,” he said.
“No.”
He squeezed tighter. “I said, give up.”
I felt these powerful beings. It was an amazing energy that surrounded me. I slowly turned my head to see where that energy was coming from. I looked straight ahead. Still trying to breathe and almost passing out, I tried my best to focus on the figures in front of me.
I recognized them.
They were my archangels. They were different now and they looked stronger. They were back!
Next to them were my guardians, all seven of them, and they were ready. Clara, Jack, Craig, Christine, Nathan, and Rebecca and most importantly, my grandfather Harris. He was still alive. Kate, Sarah and Matheus were amongst them too.
My soul wasn’t hurting any longer and I was filled with joy.
My grandfather nodded. It was a sign, and somehow I understood what it meant. It was time to end this.
“I was chosen by The Creator,” I spoke, gasping for air. “I was chosen to save the world, and to protect The Order.” I got on one knee. “That’s what I was born to do, and that’s exactly what I will do. I won’t let you win, and I’m definitely not giving up.” I don’t know how this incredible energy came over me. It was enough to lift him off the ground and throw him over my shoulder. He landed on his back, right in front of me. He backed away from me with his eyes widened. He watched me, mystified. He couldn’t comprehend how I did that.
I couldn’t either.
This was new to me. I didn’t feel pain anymore. I felt new and stronger.
Chapter 20
The Final Battle
I was standing tall after that beat down and the sword wound Satu had given me.
Satu got on his feet still puzzled.
My archangels joined me and surrounded him. He was so fixated in torturing me that he never realized my allies were there all along. He still thought he had them under control.
“Kill him,” he commanded.
They all had mean expressions on their faces. I could only imagine what they were thinking. “I suggest you come forth before The Creator, and face the consequences of your actions,” Larry declared.
He did not take that very lightly. He erupted with anger, and started pulling the skin off his head. His madness turned him into a malignant and ferocious goblin who would destroy anything in its path. He came at us fast.
Luis grabbed me quickly and moved me away from him, but he was determined to stop me from defeating him. He turned to my guardians.
Oh no.
The Others noted his intentions and ran quickly towards him. Jimmy punched him on the head while Patrick held the beast by its neckline. Satu countered the attack with his powerful fist, and almost got Larry, but Larry was way faster than him. These guys kept hitting him harder and harder but nothing seemed to stop him.
He was absorbing every hit like a cushion.
He was so fast he left a trail of particles behind. Together the boys attacked full force. At one point, Jimmy and Bruce both struck at their target, making him fly up a few feet in the air like a missile. Then Luis
prodded him down to the floor.
There was a big bang heard all across the city. There was a huge crater left from the attack. It was so powerful Satu’s body was twisted in an impossible position, the Exorcism way.
He was on the ground, his face facing up and his torso was backwards. It was an atrocious sight. His body was twitching from that blow. I thought for sure it was over, but this beast was just getting warmed up. His face turned and faced me with a bloody smirk. I watched in horror as his eyes were now fixed on mine. I didn't want to be anywhere near that thing.
With his head still looking at me, he got up and started stalking me. The image was disturbing. He forced his body back to its correct position and I only heard his bones crack during the process.
I wanted to puke.
It was as if nothing had happened. Even the guys couldn’t believe he was still moving. Luis jolted Satu hard again and he landed on top of a building somewhere.
He came back for more. The boys attacked together, one at a time. It was something out of this world. It was one of the coolest things I’d ever witnessed in my life.
Satu looked hurt but the beating was not enough to take him down for good.
He stopped attacking and started laughing out loud. The guys stared back in confusion.
Then his skin tone started changing and his body shape as well. He was transforming into something horrendous and hideous. Long horns came out of his forehead, his back, chin, and shoulder blades. His teeth sharpened as well as his nails. His clothes ripped apart when muscles like the Incredible Hulk appeared. He mutated into something hellish and satanic. He roared loudly. His voice was different and distorted too.
We all stared awkwardly, as this creature changed before our eyes. All this time we had been killing demons, but nothing like this one.
Still, every demon had a weakness.
Bruce and Patrick attacked the new Satu. If he wasn’t going down in his regular form, he sure wasn’t going down now. Every attack from the boys was useless. The rest of them joined too, but they were no match.
They retreated fast. They realized that none of their close range attacks were working with his new transformation.
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