"The vessel perfectly crafted by the Most High, tainted with a demonic heart. You are beyond redemption, Human."
The angel’s voice was unnaturally deep and seed to co from several directions at once, echoing with every word it spoke.
Hearing it, Damian’s face twisted in disgust as he turned to et the creature’s gaze. Sothing about the angel’s voice irritated him, but it was nothing compared to the pungent odor that emanated from it. The stench clung to the air like rot, making his nose wrinkle in annoyance. More than anything, he simply wanted this angel gone from his vicinity as soon as possible.
"A re angel dares pass judgnt on a prince of Hell? Fucking blasphemy!" Damian snarled.
Pa!
Clasping his hands together, Damian slowly pulled them apart. As his palms separated, azure flas roared into existence between them, rolling and twisting like living serpents. The flas expanded rapidly, swelling into a blazing sphere as his hands continued to spread apart.
"Hmph!"
The angel snorted in disdain. It stretched out a palm toward Damian, pointing at him with a single finger as it began to speak.
"By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way..."
In an instant, dark clouds began gathering overhead. The air grew heavy as a powerful wind swept across the street, carrying with it the strong, salty stench of the open ocean, the kind one would only sll in the middle of endless waters.
The clouds spiraled violently above them while bolts of lightning surged through the swirling mass, flashing like veins of white fire within a black whirlpool of death.
’Powerful!’
Damian acknowledged the threat looming above him, yet he showed no sign of panic. In truth, he had no reason to panic.
"You know what? I’m feeling generous today," Damian sneered while the azure sphere in his hands continued to expand. "I’ll give you the chance to take the first shot. I assure you, it will be your last!"
As he spoke, Damian stomped the ground with a heavy thud. His demonic aura erupted outward like a tidal wave, swallowing the space around him and the woman lying on the floor. The dark energy then began shrinking rapidly, compressing tighter and tighter until it condensed into a thin layer of dense demonic energy that clung to his body like invisible armor.
The angel frowned but did not respond. Instead, it continued its chant.
"...And by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people!"
Divine Art: Pillar Of Deliverance!
Buzz!
A colossal pillar of divine fire erupted from the black whirlpool above. It tore through the swirling storm like a heavenly spear and crashed into the street with a deafening explosion. The attack covered a thirty-ter radius, swallowing Damian and the woman entirely within its blazing wrath.
"Foolish mortal. Where light is called upon, darkness cannot exist. Angels defeating demons a rank above them is not uncommon. Your situation will be no different!"
There was a tone of finality in the angel’s voice, as though its words were absolute truth. Though it stood among the lowest ranks of the divine hierarchy, it had still slain its share of veteran lesser demons.
How could it possibly lose to a re mortal?
"That’s funny, because Bathin thought he was invincible too... until I ca through cracking!"
Damian’s voice thundered from within the pillar of fla.
Boom!
Before the angel could react, the blazing pillar suddenly swelled unnaturally. The divine fire surged outward, expanding rapidly until it burst apart with violent force. From within the collapsing flas erged Damian’s figure, levitating calmly in the air.
The human woman was held securely in his embrace while his left hand stretched high above his head. Suspended above them was a breathtaking sphere of azure flas, massive and radiant like a miniature moon. Its cold blue glow cast a looming shadow over the angel below.
The angel’s eyes widened in shock and disbelief as its calm confidence shattered instantly, replaced by naked panic.
"Impossible!" it gasped.
"Bathin said that too before I took his life."
"Fall!"
Buzz!
The enormous sphere of azure flas began descending slowly, like the hand of God reaching down to crush an unbeliever.
The angel’s figure was quickly swallowed by the descending fire as the blazing sphere crashed upon it.
For a brief mont the sphere expanded violently, as if it were about to detonate. However, Damian clenched his hand around empty air and twisted his wrist anticlockwise. Instantly the raging flas obeyed his will.
The sphere shrank inward while stretching upward, its width collapsing as its height surged. Within seconds it had transford into a towering pillar of azure fire that stretched high into the very clouds the angel had summoned earlier.
Had he allowed the explosion to occur unchecked, everyone lying unconscious in the surrounding buildings would have had their souls scorched into ashes.
Although he was the Prince of Hell and had gradually begun to look down on humans, he was not a monster who would allow innocent people to die for no reason.
At the very least, their deaths should serve his purpose.
They should never be aningless.
anwhile, the woman clinging tightly to Damian stared in stunned disbelief at the three-ter crater below, the place where her guardian angel had once hovered.
"Ïsö..." she gasped its na in shock.
The Order of Moses was a special force created by the Vatican to combat dark spiritual threats across the world. Their weapons were the Divine Arts of God, channeled through the guardian angels assigned to them.
With that power they had slain countless demons, and not rely naless creatures. So of those demons possessed titles and ranks within Hell itself.
She knew exactly how powerful a single angel could be compared to an ordinary demon. The difference between them was overwhelming, which was precisely why those demons had never dared attack her guardian directly.
The only reason they had chased her down tonight was because she had been separated from her team during the battle. Fear had crept into her heart, and doubt had followed soon after. When that doubt took root, the angel of God had turned its back on her.
If that had not happened, defeating those two demons would have been effortless.
Yet even that knowledge paled in comparison to the terrifying power Damian had just displayed.
It was like bringing a handgun to fight an enemy ard with a nuclear weapon.
It simply felt unfair.
Like bullying.
And yet that realization only made her more curious about the man holding her.
Who was he?
How had he obtained such monstrous power?
And more importantly... was he good or evil?
He seed strangely human, and he had even killed demons.
Her lips parted as she prepared to ask, but suddenly Damian’s eyes flared with fierce intensity, as though sothing had triggered his instincts.
She followed his gaze toward the center of the crater.
There, within the shattered ground, Ïsö knelt on one knee with its wings wrapped tightly around its body like a protective shell.
Those once pristine white wings were now burnt beyond recognition, charred black like coal. Its skin was covered in severe burn wounds that twisted across its body in ugly patterns. The flawless grace that had once defined its appearance had vanished completely, replaced by sothing far more unsettling.
Sothing disturbingly human.
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