Raziel was surprised that Zachariel had agreed to go with him—considering he had just seen his daughter, who was also in danger from the never-ending hordes of demons, for the first time since his village’s demise.

As he delved into his thoughts, Zachariel turned to him. “What is your plan, Raziel?”

“Simple,” Raziel began. “We enter the fortress, find whatever is allowing the demons to return, destroy it, and kill Aka Manah.”

“Really?” Zachariel asked. “No clever strategy? No elaborate tactic?”

“Not this time, angel. We find him and kill him,” Raziel told him as they landed on the deck. “This is required if we want to stop the demons from regenerating...and if I want the revenge I truly seek.”

“This is about revenge?” Both of them drew their blades, with Raziel leading the way. “What grievance do you carry against Aka Manah?”

“He killed my people because they would not disobey the Creator. I am here simply to return the favor.”

“And what will you do once you kill him?” Zachariel asked.

“Rebuild my race, starting with Ben,” he answered briefly.

“With who else?” Zachariel’s eyes narrowed. “Wouldn't you need a female?”

“I…uh, I'm sure there's a female Soraphim out there somewhere,” Raziel said. “She’ll be found eventually.”

The angel arched an eyebrow as Raziel avoided his questioning look. Before the Sky City had fallen, he had told Ariana that she could marry him and bear his children, the first of the new Soraphim. He never even bothered to consider what the girl’s father would think of it.

Zachariel stared down into the darkness of the hall as they stood at the doorway. “Do you suppose Ben can hold his own against that creature that attacked him?”

“I certainly hope so, for his and Ariana's sake. He could hold his own against me, after all. In a fight, however, anything can change.” Raziel eyed him. “I'm sure you and I are more aware of that than anyone else, considering our little alliance at Riverglade.”

“Touché,” Zachariel confirmed.

They continued to walk down the corridor, minding the shadows, the corners, staying on edge for any sort of ambush. Surprisingly, the fortress was practically empty, save for the occasional shadow that darted across the wall toward the exit.

“You know, Raziel…” Zachariel said. “I find it funny that a few days ago, you were trying to capture Ben and kill me and Ariana. Now you're helping us.”

“Well, nothing's changed. I still want to capture Ben for our kind,” Raziel said, “But in all honesty, I never wanted to kill you, or even Ariana, for that matter. She’s far stronger and braver than I realized. Also…” He dipped his head. “…she is kind. She reminds me of my mother, in a way.”

“Yes.” Zachariel smiled. “She has a habit of doing that, growing on people.”

“Then you’re aware of her feelings for Ben?”

“Painfully.”

“What are your thoughts on it?”

“That boy frightens me in a way even I do not fully understand. He’s a good soul, but his heart is tortured. Beyond that, there is something about him, a darkness, even before the demon infected him.” The angel hesitated. “I should never have allowed him near my daughter.”

“But you didn’t know,” Raziel argued. “Ben protected Ariana, and despite the demonic influence, not once did he use his abilities to harm her. The real problem was the demons constantly pushing him. As he tried to protect her from physical harm, Ariana tried to keep him from losing control.”

“They were trying to protect each other,” Zachariel concluded. “From different things.”

“Exactly.” Raziel cleared a cobweb with his blade. “I would give them a chance.”

“We’ll decide that after we kill Aka Manah,” Zachariel said. “More than likely, you’ll take Ben, I’ll take Ariana, and we will go our separate ways.”

Raziel shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

After walking a little further down the hall, they discovered the room with a pentagram enclosed by a circle in the middle of the room. Little imps chanted and danced around it as dust was drawn in from the stone-rimmed window into the points of the seal, combining in the middle to form the various demons.

“So, this is how they come back,” Zachariel whispered. “No wonder they seemed so fearless. They knew they wouldn’t truly die.”

The angel has a point, Raziel thought. This whole time, they weren’t just spawning. They were re-forming, like clockwork.

He stared down at the glowing seal on the stone floor as the forming demons clawed their way out. If he didn’t put a stop to it, not only would it overwhelm the angels, but New Eden as well.

Raziel’s jaw tightened. How could he ever help raise a new generation of Soraphim with the same demons coming after them, over and over? How long before it overwhelmed them, too?

He motioned for Zachariel to enter the room, where they quickly dispatched all the imps and the demons. They made their way to a desk, where a book written in demonic runes sat, the severed, shriveled hand of an imp laid with it. He brushed it aside and showed the runes to Zachariel.

“They’re using it to recapture their essence as they are vaporized. So really, however they’re doing it, they’re saving them just as they are about to die. I can’t quite read it, but I think they put the incantation on a loop.”

“Indeed,” Zachariel said. “No way I’m just going to leave this here.”

“Then I’ll take the book. You destroy the seal.”

In unison, they nodded and lifted their blades, poised to eradicate their respective targets. As the blows fell, the wall and part of the roof tore away to reveal a Wicked Giant looming over them.

Damn! Raziel thought. Should have known they wouldn’t leave it defenseless!

As it raised its fist, Raziel charged and formed the upper half of his Nephilim Shell, forcing it away from the fortress.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“Angel!” he shouted. “Destroy them! I’ll take care of this giant!”

Raziel formed the rest of the armor and continued to attack the beast. Blow after powerful blow, he forced it further and further away to give the angel time to complete their objective.

The Wicked Giant pummeled him back into the black stone, chunks of debris fell from above and bombarded his ethereal armor with a barrage of falling rock. He managed to block another one of the beast's powerful blows, feeling the strain as his Shell started to fracture.

At this rate, it won’t last long, Raziel thought as he bared his teeth. I need to finish this fight. Now.

Raziel freed one of his hands and tried to climb out, but the giant readjusted his grip and wrapped his large hand around his body, hoisting the Soraphim and his armor into the air, attempting to crush it.

Desperately, he searched the area where Zachariel was supposed to be, but he was nowhere to be found. The demonic seal on the floor was now broken and powerless. A wicked, familiar laughter echoed through the hall as blades clashed within the castle.

Aka Manah, Raziel realized. He must have ambushed him.

He looked back at his adversary as a wicked grin twisted its way onto its shadowy face, its hands tightening even further.

“What the hell are you smiling at?” Raziel hissed.

A large crack ran up the length of the armor as the beast strengthened its grip even further. If he didn’t want to be crushed into blood and guts, then that left him with one option.

Raziel blew open the top of his armor and leapt out just as the Wicked Giant had crumpled up the remaining shards. He landed on the wrist, slashing the fingers of the other hand as it reached for him. As the beast reared its head, he took the opportunity to scamper up the arm and slash the monster across the nape.

With a groan, the Wicked Giant fell onto the side of the castle, collapsing the roof into the main throne room, where Aka Manah dueled Zachariel. The angel was significantly slower than he was, considering the difference in their styles and weapons. The Archdemon himself had a set of twin blades, with jagged and curved edges, each sword about three feet. They were twisted and deadly. Exactly his style.

Both Aka Manah and Zachariel likely heard the crash, but neither of them looked, so as not to lose their advantage in their battle. Raziel couldn't afford to distract Zachariel for fear of costing him his life, so instead, he studied the fight for a way to ambush the Archdemon.

Raziel walked off the giant’s hand and onto the floor of the room. In the split second that followed, he spotted an opening in Aka Manah's defense and penetrated with his black steel blade. The Archdemon saw the attack coming and expertly deflected the blow, twisting and locking both of their blades with his own.

Aka Manah smiled evilly. “Two on one, is it?”

Breaking the blade lock, Raziel's slashing attack was met with a swift block. He snarled as the demon blocked each subsequent strike, denying him the satisfying moment when he would die, when his revenge would finally be done.

“Whatever it takes to kill you.”

Aka Manah scoffed. He held his blades against theirs, his ragged gray face showing little to no effort. “Huh. So that's how it is. Very well.”

He removed his blade from the standoff, flying back and landing on the rim of his makeshift throne, “So, I'm fighting an angel and...” The Archdemon gestured to him with a mocking look on his face, “…who are you?”

“My name is Raziel,” he began, pointing his sword at the demon. “The last name you’ll ever hear.”

Aka Manah spun one of his curved blades in his hand nonchalantly. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

Raziel’s eyes narrowed. “The lone survivor of the Soraphim massacre, during the Fall.”

“Oh, that's right!” The demon grinned heinously. “You’re the Soraphim who fell for Lucifer's ideas, and instead of warning your people of what was coming—like a good leader would do—you tried to persuade them to join him.”

Raziel's eyes widened, hands shaking, grip tightening on his blade.

“They refused and paid the price for your failure. Now tell me…” Aka Manah smirked, “…whose fault is it again?”

Brows furrowing, Raziel bared his teeth, lunging at the throne, and summoning his ethereal armor, smashing it to pieces as the demon zipped to safety. Aka Manah multiplied, his shadows darted around him, the strikes from the false blades as deadly as the real ones. They sped up, slashing, stabbing, until the armor finally shattered.

Raziel didn’t see the attack from behind until it was too late. He spun, seeing the tip of the demon’s blade coming toward him and trying to dissipate in a desperate, pointless bid to avoid it. He was rendered motionless, gripped by anticipation of the unavoidable. The attack finally landed, though covered in blood not his own.

With horror, Raziel realized that Zachariel had leapt in front of him and taken the blow in his stead.

Seeing that was enough to shake him out of it completely. In the split second before he screamed at the top of his lungs, he saw Aka Manah's blade protrude through Zachariel's back. The angel fell to the stone floor on his hands and knees, struggling to stay conscious.

In that terrible moment, every bit of rationality and self-control left Raziel. He had even forgotten his grief. All he wanted to do was tear Aka Manah to shreds and burn him from existence.

He charged, his black blade now ablaze with his Soraphim flame as he attacked the demon more viciously than even Ben would have, tearing through Aka Manah’s shadows with an insane accuracy, reducing them to shreds of their former selves as they dissipated. He continued to bombard them all, hoping to end the demon’s insulting existence.

Finally, after he had erased all the silhouettes with his sword, Raziel found the real Aka Manah. He sprang forward and aimed it at the demon with a war cry.

“Yes!” The demon grinned wickedly. “Do it!”

Raziel screamed as he blew Aka Manah’s twin blades from his hands and knocked him to the ground, impaling him with his sword. He forced the blade further into the stone floor, hoping, even praying that the demon could feel pain. The same pain he caused him.

Then he stopped. Raziel looked down at Aka Manah's limp body, his demonic wings and his limbs spread out, like a banner to a wall. Raziel’s chest heaved as he glared at the demon, his body aflame with his white-hot rage.

“Impressive.” Aka Manah’s mouth twisted into a smile, his eyes hidden in the darkness of his hood. “But I’m not that easy to kill.”

Raziel quickly bent down and attempted to grab the demon by the throat, but only found his torn, empty robes. Another of his shadows.

“No, no, no! Damn it!” Raziel smashed his fists against the ground, the force of his strikes causing the stone floor to crack repeatedly. “All for nothing!”

Aka Manah’s unsettling laughter echoed throughout the fortress as he clenched his fists. Close to him, Zachariel laid on the ground. The demon blade that had run him through disappeared into smoke and shadow.

“Zachariel!” Raziel screamed as he helped the angel to his feet, his chest wound bleeding profusely. They stumbled back into the hallway as cracks formed in the castle walls. Together, he and Zachariel limped back through the hall. “Come on. Stay alive. We’re going to find you a healer and get you back to your daughter.”

“Raziel,” Zachariel rasped. “I don’t think—”

“Don’t start that. You’re going to live. You’ll be with Ariana again. Just move forward.” Raziel said through gritted teeth and strenuous effort. “Don’t give up!”

The building collapsed around them, small chunks of rock breaking and falling from the stone structure of the hallway that he and Zachariel lumbered through. They reached the deck that they had arrived on, looking up and seeing Ben and Ariana circling with the six-winged eagle.

“Girl!” Raziel commanded. “Bring that eagle down here!”

It landed, its claws scratching the stone as they slid to a halt. Ariana teared up as she saw the wound in her father’s chest.

“Birdy!” she screamed. “Get back to the pool! Hurry!”

With that command and the angel safely with them, they bolted into the sky and out of sight. Raziel stared as they faded from view, the guilt he had pushed aside creeping back into him.

Because of him, the angel would likely die. Ariana would lose her father.

Why do I keep failing? Raziel somberly turned to face the dark hallway once more. He failed at everything; it seemed. If I had just pushed a little harder.

Raziel looked at the crumbling fortress. The sunrise glowed brilliantly behind it as the angels continued their assault. He walked back into the hallway as the rocks fell from the ceiling and hit him, but he didn't care. He soon found himself back in the throne room, his sword still sticking out of the ground where the demon had been. Raziel fell to his knees, feeling both the weight of his failure and the collapsing structure on his shoulders. As he looked down at Aka Manah's robes, Raziel's head filled with the eerie, insane laughter.

Aren’t you ever going to learn to stop getting people killed?

In that moment, his grief was replaced with unspeakable anger. A fire had lit within him, the desire to avenge Zachariel and everyone hurt by the demon.

“One day,” Raziel answered. “I will find you and kill you for good. That will be the last death that will ever be on my hands.” He pulled the blade from the ground and sheathed it on his back. “That, I promise you.”

As the sunlight finally pierced the domed roof, Raziel gazed upward. The superstructure crumbled as his brows furrowed.

“I hope you’re ready, you damn demon.”

The rest of the fortress collapsed. Raziel let himself turn to smoke and be whisked away wherever the cruel wind was destined to take him.