—†— CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR —⸸—
The Reckoning
My hand found the handle of one of my Colts before the angel could drop me.
I gripped it tight and pulled it free from the holster, then shoved the barrel up under his chin. I pulled the trigger three times. The gunshots echoed through the cathedral in quick succession, sharp and loud and final.
The Archangel’s grip on my neck loosened, and I dropped to the ground like a sack of meat, gasping for air. Blood poured from his mouth along with something else—light, burning white and pure, bleeding out through the wounds where the bullets had torn through flesh and bone. Light poured from under his chin where the rounds had entered, and more light blazed from the top of his skull where they’d exited. He was still standing. He was still moving. The rage that erupted from him shook the very stones beneath my feet.
He roared.
The double-sided axe that had been dragging across the cathedral floor swung upward in a vicious arc aimed at my head. I was still on my back, still struggling to get air into my lungs, and there was no way I could move fast enough.
The crack of a gunshot rang out through the cathedral.
Father Marcus stood twenty feet away with the .38 revolver steady in his hands. One of the warded rounds caught the Archangel in the back of the shoulder, spinning him slightly. It wasn’t enough to stop him, but it was enough to throw off his aim by inches.
The axe came down where I’d been a fraction of a second before, burying itself deep into the stone floor with enough force to crack it.
I rolled to the side and pushed myself up with my hands. My vision swam. Everything hurt. Everything was screaming at me to stop, to give up, to just lie there and wait for the end.
The Archangel pulled the axe free and turned his attention to Marcus and Sarah.
He went completely still.
“You’re alive,” he breathed. “That’s not possible. You should be dead.”
Sarah stepped forward.
There was no hesitation in her movements. No fear. Just cold, measured purpose. She began walking down the center aisle of the cathedral, moving between the broken pews and shattered stone and splintered wood scattered across the floor. As she walked, the debris parted around her like water, sliding away from her path. Dust kicked up in her wake, hanging in the air, catching the light that was still bleeding out of the Archangel’s wounds.
The air tasted like copper and burnt wood. Her hair lifted away from her scalp, floating around her head. Power was radiating off her in waves, visible and real, making the dust move, making the air itself seem to bend around her.
The Archangel lifted his hand, palm open, to throw her back like he’d done before.
But Sarah lifted her hand first.
Her fingers spread, and I felt the fury ripping free from her reserve. The Archangel’s body lifted off the ground. His eyes went wide as he realized what was happening.
She squeezed her fist and the angel screamed. There was a sound like bones breaking. His arms flailed and his legs kicked, but there was nowhere for him to go. He was suspended in mid-air, held by nothing but Sarah’s will and the fury that was burning through her like hellfire.
And then she threw him.
He flew backward through the cathedral, his body crashing through the wooden altar rail before slamming into the sanctuary at the very back of the building. His body hit the stone steps leading up to the altar itself. The impact was catastrophic. Granite cracked. The candle stands scattered. The crucifix that hung behind the altar swung wildly. The Archangel’s body left a crater in the ancient steps.
“Marcus!” Sarah screamed.
Marcus didn’t hesitate. He pulled his celestial blade and hurled it toward her with all his strength. Sarah caught it in mid-air, as she toss her own blade up as well.
Both blades sat there suspended in the air for a moment before they flew like arrows, moving with supernatural speed and precision. The first blade pierced through the Archangel’s left shoulder, punching through meat and bone and continuing until the hilt hit flesh. The second blade followed a heartbeat later, mirroring the first through his right shoulder.
Both blades drove deep into the stone of the sanctuary behind him, pinning him there against the altar steps.
The Archangel’s body convulsed. His back arched. He pulled against the blades, trying to free himself, but they held. The celestial metal was unyielding. He was trapped.
And then he began to laugh.
It was a terrible sound, fractured and wrong, like glass breaking in reverse. His glowing eyes fixed on all of us, moving from Sarah to Marcus to me as I struggled to my feet.
“You think this matters?” His voice was thundered. “You think pinning me here changes anything? I am Uriel. I am the flame of wrath. I walked the Celestial Realm before your kind ever drew breath!”
He pulled harder against the blades, and they held. Blood and light poured from his shoulders, and where the light touched the stone, it sizzled and burned.
I understood what was happening now. The angel was burning through his host, pushing power through flesh and bone that was never meant to contain it. He was running himself hot, supercharging everything, and it was killing him from the inside out. He looked like a lightbulb burning too bright, pushing energy through a filament that couldn’t hold it. It was only a matter of time before he burned out completely.
“You won’t find peace,” he spat, his voice dripping venom. “Not in this world. Not in any world. Heaven and Hell will tear creation apart looking for you. Every demon, every angel, every power that walks between the stars will hunt you until the end of days.”
He looked directly at Sarah, and I saw the disdain in his expression, the pure undiluted hatred.
“You, Bitch,” he hissed. “I may fall here, but I’m merely a servant. My masters are beyond your comprehension. You haven’t got any idea what hunts you now.
No idea what watches from the void!”
Marcus helped me up, his hands steady. I was bleeding from my mouth, my nose, I could taste it.
I picked up my Colt from the floor where it had fallen.
I didn’t say anything. I just started walking toward the Archangel, slow and measured. With every few steps, I raised the gun and fired. Clap. The warded rounds punched into his chest, and I preached.
“You’re right,” I said, my voice cold and hard as stone. “We won’t find peace. Not for a long time. But you’re wrong about one thing.”
Clap! Another round into his chest.
“We’re not going to be the hunted.”
Clap.
“We’re going to be the hunters.”
Clap.
I was close now, close enough to see the rage building in his glowing eyes, close enough to hear the sound of his flesh tear with every shot.
“Every demon that wears a stolen skin, every angel that I find here on earth hurting, or killing my kind, every rogue celestial that’s been part of this, I’m going to find them. I’m going to hunt them down like the rabid dogs they are.”
Clap. Clap.
“And if it takes me to the Powers themselves, if it takes me to the very threshold of Death’s door, then so be it. I don’t care anymore. I’m done running.
I pulled my Colts into my inventorynot bothering with the holsters. I held out my hand and the Trinity blade formed the familiar feel of it’s grip in my fingers. The sword hummed with power.
The Archangel’s lips pulled back in a snarl.
“You think your blood will save you, Nephilim? You think that demon bitch standing behind you will make a difference?”
He spat blood onto the cathedral floor.
“I know what she is. I can feel the blood of the fallen in her veins. That corrupt whore we’ll beg for death before I’m done. I’m going to gut her the way I tore apart that thing Mabel in the diner. I’m going to tear her to pieces, and I’m going to make sure she feels every moment of it. The corruption in her blood will burn like—”
He never finished the sentence. As Marcus fired the last round from the revolver into his forehead. Light now poured from the hole. And the angel grinned back at us from ear to ear. Remiel appeared next to me and on my shoulder.
He’s trying to get you to kill the host. Ramiel said.
Sarah stepped in front of me. And I could almost feel Az’s huge impish grin.
“Smite this motherfucker.”
She lifted her hand, and she was steady, her expression ice cold.
I heard her speak a single word with the kind of finality that made the cathedral itself seem to hold it’s breath.
“Incinerate.”
The ward began to appear on the Archangel’s chest, carved in light, burning itself into the flesh line by line. The symbol burned itself deeper as it formed, character by character, each line of the ward searing through skin and into the muscle beneath. He screamed. Light spread from the center of the ward, following the inscription, and where the light went, the fire began to catch. Slowly at first, then faster.
The Archangel screamed in pure, animal agony as the light carved deeper into his chest. He thrashed against the celestial blades pinning him, trying to pull free, trying to escape the burning, but the hellfire was consuming him.
The flames spread. They caught the wooden altar rail in seconds. They blackened the stone of the sanctuary steps, and climbed the walls ripping across the ceiling. The fire consumed everything in their path. The heat was immense, pressing against my face even from a distance away. The smell was acrid—burning wood, stone, and flesh.
The Archangel’s screams continued for several more seconds before his voice gave out. His body convulsed, thrashing like something possessed, and then he went still. The flames continued to burn, consuming his corpse.
Sarah walked forward, unharmed by the hellfire, and pulled the two celestial blades free from the altar. The Archangel’s body fell to the floor, a smoking, charred husk that was barely recognizable as anything that’d ever been alive.
She turned back to us, and for just a moment, I saw it. The toll this had taken on her. The exhaustion in her eyes. The way her hands were shaking.
“We’ve got to go,” she said.
Marcus was already at my side, pulling my arm over his shoulders. I could barely walk. My legs felt like they were made of water, but somehow we moved toward the side door of the cathedral, Sarah waved her hand and the stacked pews and furniture that we had pushed against it was brushed aside.
Behind us, the hellfire was spreading. It was consuming everything, the pews and the altar and the wooden supports holding up the ancient stone. The cathedral was burning.
We burst out into the night air.
And we came face to face with the end of the world.
Every person in St. Cloud. The entire town was surrounding the cathedral, watching the flames. Every man, woman, and child possessed, surrounding the barrier. Hundreds of them. They formed a perfect circle around the cathedral, all of them facing inward, all of them with those same empty, glowing eyes. The barrier was holding them back, but only just. They pressed against it from all sides.
Sarah lifted her other hand.
Ethryel appeared, materializing out of smoke and shadow. The spirit turned and looked at the burning cathedral and back at the demons who were all now glaring, waiting for us to step out of the barrier.
The spirit erupted into laughter. On either side of him, two more figures took shape. They looked almost like Remiel, but not quite. They were made of the same smoke and shadow, and they both held massive great swords that they now held above their heads.
All three spirits moved with a burst of speed into the demons. Cutting through them.
The Guardians moved with terrible purpose, and where they touched the possessed townspeople, the demons burned away like ash. Some of the townspeople collapsed, gasping, freed from the possession. Others didn’t move at all they simply fell to the ground.
We ran.
Marcus was half-dragging me forward, and Sarah was moving beside us, her fury and stamina nearly depleted as her Spirit pool was being drained. The aperture was somewhere ahead of us, that tear in reality that would take us to Purgatory, that would take us away from St. Cloud and the burning cathedral and the demons that wanted us dead.
I activated Lumen site and found the portal at the top of the steps in front of the cathedral. I stuck my hand through the portal and motioned for Marcus and Sarah to step through. Marcus went first followed by Sarah, disappearing into that space between worlds.
I paused at the threshold, just for a moment, and looked back at St. Cloud one last time.
The cathedral was fully engulfed now, flames reaching toward the sky, consuming the ancient stone and wood. The townspeople were stumbling away, confused and traumatized.
The demons had scattered, abandoning their hunt, fleeing back to whatever hellhole they’d crawled out of.
I’d come here to save this place.
Instead, I was leaving it in flames.
There was a weight to that, a burden that I knew would sit heavy on my shoulders for a long time to come. But there wasn’t any time to dwell on it. There wasn’t any time to mourn what’d been lost. There were cosmic forces pulling strings and angel and demons alike were dancing like puppets. The two remaining world stones are somewhere here on earth. We’re going to have to find them first.
I took one last breath and stepped through the aperture.
Reality folded in on itself, and I was standing in a place that was and wasn’t. The cathedral was still there, but it was fading. The colors were draining away, the edges becoming transparent, the whole structure beginning to dissolve like a dream as you start to wake.
I watched as it disappeared entirely, the last echo of what had been, the final remnant of that terrible night.
A window appeared.
☿ ARCANE SYSTEM: QUEST UPDATE:
The Mystery Of St. Marys Cathedral.
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota Year: 1920.
Before the fire that condemned it to Purgatory, St. Marys Cathedral harbored a secret powerful enough to draw both Heaven and Hell to it’s doors. The clergy protected something within these walls—something that would ultimately seal their fate.
The true nature of their secret and the forces that destroyed the church are shrouded in mystery. You must navigate this dangerous moment in time to uncover the truth before history repeats itself.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES
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The Devil’s Due — Steal $20,000 from Azazel’s room without being detected.
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Sanctuary’s Secret — Discover what the clergy hid within St. Marys Cathedral.
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Heaven’s Interest — Uncover the real reason why angels were drawn to this place.
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The Fire’s Origin — Determine the real cause of the cathedral’s destruction.
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES
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Establish Cover — Secure resources and blend into 1920s St. Cloud.
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Trust of the Cloth — Gain the confidence of St. Marys clergy.
HIDDEN OBJECTIVES
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Save the Nephilim. Sister Sarah has survived the angelic assassination attempt. The Nephilim hunted by Heaven’s forces remains alive due to your intervention.
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The Missing Father. You have uncovered the fate of Frank Weber and survived the confrontation with Astaroth, the demon who was possessing him.
QUEST REWARDS
Upon Completion: 5,000 Experience Points, plus one Arcane Rune containing a sealed ability. You will receive an Unidentified Arcane Artifact from this timeline. The title Witness to the Fall will be permanently granted.
Objective Rewards: Each completed primary objective grants 1,000 experience points. Secondary objectives award 500 experience points each. Hidden objectives provide variable rewards.
WARNING: Actions in this timeline may have unforeseen consequences.
Quest Status: ALL OBJECTIVES COMPLETE.
THE END, For now.
