Alain and his group finished arming up, and Father Alex led them back out to the church. A few priests and nuns rushed past them as they stepped into the room, no doubt heading for the armory. A fair number of the other people eyed Az with no small amount of suspicion as he stepped into their church lugging the Gatling gun over his shoulder, but nobody even thought of protesting Alex's decision to let him have it.

As they moved into the church, Alain was confused to find the priests laying out bread and wine for communion. He stared at them for a moment, then turned to Father Alex.

"What is this?"

"It's exactly what it looks like," he said. "We must fortify our souls as well if we are to prevail over the forces of evil."

Before Alain could do anything, Father Alex reached out and put a hand on his head, then said a quick blessing in Latin before making the sign of the cross. Alain blinked in confusion.

"Thanks, I think," he offered as Father Alex pulled away.

The older priest simply nodded, then moved on to Danielle and did the same to her. The other priests and nuns, meanwhile, partook of the bread and wine, downing each before reaching for their respective weapons.

A few seconds later, the others returned from the armory, carrying boxes of ammunition with them, which they began to hand out to everyone who still needed it. By the end, every box was empty, and all the people there had been absolutely loaded for bear with bandoleers and belts of ammo.

Once they were all properly armed, Alain stepped back over to the stained glass window, peering out at the spire looming over the city. Even now, he could see demons pouring out of it and taking to the skies, while yet more appeared whenever lightning struck the ground. And through it all, the sky continued to weep blood. At the sight of it, he let out a low grunt, then shook his head.

"Father Alex, what do we need to do?" he asked.

"Aside from get to the spire and stop whatever Gibson's group are trying to accomplish?" Father Alex replied. "I don't know. That needs to be our priority right now, above all else."

"And the civilians?" Sable asked, her eyes narrowing. "What about them?"

"I hate to say it, but if we don't stop whatever they're planning, I doubt there'll be any civilians left to try and save," Father Alex pointed out. "Now, we need you four backing us up. We'll go in together. Make sense?"

The four of them nodded. Father Alex sucked in a breath, then turned towards the nearest priest.

"Get those doors open," he commanded. "It's time we take the fight directly to them."

XXX

The doors to the cathedral came flying open, and when they did, they were followed immediately after by a hail of gunfire. The crowd of demons that had been congregating outside were cut to ribbons, many of them outright bursting into flames as the consecrated bullets tore into them. Blue fire enveloped all those demons who weren't killed outright, and they fell to the ground, writhing and screaming in agony as they desperately tried to put themselves out, but to no avail. Alain stepped forwards, working the lever on his shotgun, and took aim at one of the demons who was still crawling across the ground in pain, only for Father Alex to walk by him.

"Don't shoot," he warned. "Let them burn. They wouldn't show you mercy in their domain; you have no reason to show them mercy in ours."

Alain considered his words for just a second, then nodded, pulling the barrel of his gun away from the burning demon and leaving it to steadily be incinerated. At that moment, the remaining members of their force – around thirty members of the clergy in total, plus his three friends – came filing out of the church. They moved as one, marching across the city blocks, aiming for the spire.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

As they moved, demons would try to swoop down at them or fire an arrow at them from a distance, but each time, they were swiftly put down with ease by a single well-placed shot. After one such incident, Alain looked around as he began to thumb loose shells into his weapon's open action.

"They're pulling back," he noted.

Father Alex nodded. "No doubt they can sense the ammunition we're using – this kind of thing is anathema to them. They know exactly who we are and where we are, but they simply have no way of dealing with it yet."

"Yet?"

"Oh, yes. These are merely lesser demons – the kind that any two-bit cultist could summon after a séance. Their strength is in numbers and how quickly and easily they can appear. But make no mistake – this is merely the tip of the iceberg of what the Underworld has to offer. No doubt they're planning to summon something bigger in due time."

The thought gave Alain pause. He looked around the city as they moved. Dead civilians still littered the streets; if this was what the lesser demons alone were capable of, then he shuddered to imagine that there might be something greater lurking in the darkness, merely waiting to be unleashed.

"How long do you think we have until they start throwing the really dangerous demons at us?" Alain asked.

Father Alex shrugged. "It's tough to say. It all depends on how far into the ritual they are… and unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that."

"The spire is up," Az pointed out. "The greater demons are still sealed away, but not for long. We need to end this before they're able to escape."

Alain turned towards him, surprise creeping across his face. "How can you be so sure?"

Az's face darkened. "Believe me, I'm sure."

That was apparently all he was willing to say, as he didn't provide any kind of elaboration beyond it. Alain scowled, but said nothing, instead continuing on with the rest of the group. Off in the distance, the spire steadily grew closer as they moved. It wouldn't be much longer until they reached it.

Alain just hoped they'd get there in time.

XXX

Their group faced little resistance as they continued to move towards the spire. The occasional group of demons would try to attack, but they were always easily put down. Still, it didn't take long for a major issue to make itself known.

"They're bleeding us dry," Alain noted as he reached to his belt for more ammunition, only to find it empty. Instead, he resorted to one of the bandoleers he'd thrown across his chest, and used that to top off his weapon. "They must know we only have a limited amount of this ammunition."

"It's the same principle as dealing with a group of entrenched archers," Az growled. "Sooner or later, they're going to run out of arrows."

"Great…" Alain sucked in a breath. Together, their group had already collectively killed several dozen demons who'd tried to swarm them, but they just kept coming. Even off in the distance, he could see more demons spawning from the lightning strikes, crawling up from the gouge in the ground, or flying out of the spire's upper levels. There seemed to be no end to them; for every demon they put down, another rose to take its place, joining the ranks of its brethren as they all ran off to continue assaulting the city.

The thought of it made Alain sick. New Orleans had been bad enough; was this truly the world they were going to be stuck in now, one where power-mad cultists constantly tried to open a door to the Underworld for their own evil plans? He hoped he was wrong, but it certainly seemed to be heading that way, despite his misgivings.

Eventually, his musing was interrupted as they drew to within a few blocks of the spire. At that point, another chorus of screeches tore through the air, courtesy of a large number of demons up ahead. The bloody rain had picked up, making visibility beyond a few meters all but impossible; Alain had to squint to make out the source of the noise through the fall of blood.

In the moonlight, he was just barely able to see the outlines of a multitude of demons, all clustered together, their weapons raised high. One of them, apparently dressed in a set of regal-looking, obsidian-black armor – the only one adorned as such – raised a jagged sword high in the air, then pointed it forward, a deep rumble escaping its throat.

And then thunder filled the night as the demons all rushed together as one giant onslaught. Alain and his group stopped, their weapons at the ready, and they all opened fire in one giant volley, which cut down several dozen demons in one fell swoop. It wasn't enough to end the immediate assault, but that was where Az came in.

"Az!" Sable called out. "Use it!"

"With pleasure, my lady," Az said. He hefted his Gatling gun, stepping past Alain as he did so; through the rain of blood, Alain could have sworn he saw a grin plastered across Az's face. As he watched, the big man cradled the front of the giant gun in the crook of his arm, then began to work the crank with his free hand.

Large-caliber .45-70 rounds came spewing out of the gun's rotating barrels as fast as Az could work the crank. Bullets fired and casings ejected faster than Alain could count them; all he saw were puffs of dark red mist as .45-70 bullet after .45-70 bullet found its home in a demon's flesh, followed by blue fire as whatever servant of the Underworld had been unfortunate enough to take a direct hit was incinerated by cleansing flames. In some cases, the heavy bullets tore directly through one demon and impacted another, multiplying the effect of the fire. It was the awesome and destructive display of firepower Alain had ever seen, he could only watch with sheer awe as Az single-handily stopped an entire offensive all on his own.

By the time the Gatling gun ran dry and Sable rushed over with additional ammo to reload it, the fight was over. Dozens upon dozens of demons littered the ground, including the one with obsidian armor, who was now missing a head and whose skin had been charred as midnight-black as its armor by holy fire. Alain stared at the display in sheer shock before turning back towards Az.

"Oh, I've gotta get myself one of those," Alain said.

"It is rather nice, isn't it?" Az mused. "My lady, how much ammunition do you have left for it?"

"Two reloads," she answered.

"Then we shall make the most of it. Come, the path ahead is now clear; let us make haste into the spire."

Alain didn't even think of arguing as Az again hefted his Gatling gun, then strode through the sea of burned and mutilated corpses he'd created to get to the spire's front gates. They all fell in behind him, and together, they stepped up to the gates and pushed their way inside.