Gabriel quickly loaded the crossbow with arrows and took aim. He stood above a block of stone to take a higher vantage point. His hair being blown back by the harsh warm desert winds. "You have any idea, whose approaching?" He says, not breaking eye contact with the approaching cloud of darkness.
"Don't think so. Whatever this is-" Sitri shook her head, and stood guard below him, facing the same direction with an iron trident gripped tight in her fists. "This is way too ancient."
"Way to remind me." Gabriel rolled his eyes, and muttered under his breath.
"Touchy, I tend to forget. You are also kind of-"
"Don't." He warned.
Sitri cleared her throat and rolled her amethyst eyes. "What the hell is that thing anyway?" She says, looking at the crossbow.
"Irisfiel made it." Gabriel says, raising the crossbow like a trophy. "Handy and automatic, a bit heavy but shoots as fast as a blink of an eye."
"Ugh." Sitri made a noise. Probably disgusted by modernization. "What happened to your sword?"
Long story. He wanted to say.
"Welcome to the twentieth century." He says instead.
Gabriel tensed as the familiar atmosphere of Limbo settled in, along with the breaking sound that always follows. It was like riding a bus on full speed, then suddenly gunning on the brakes. His wings struggled to break free from within his back, and he can barely contain it.
The surroundings went inverted like it always does, as the buildings that were made of sand bricks turned into blue. Even the dunes and the grains of sand had become a shade of a light sapphire. If only he had seen Atlantis as his friend had told him. It would have probably look like this.
The only ones that were somewhat flashy in this entire area are him, her and their new visitors.
"I told you, I wasn't followed. They were always here." Sitri says.
As if on cue, the visitors lined up in front of them. They were like a rowdy rotten crowd. Only if they were naked to the bone, except for the tattered rags that served as an underwear. Add a little bit of malnourishment, courtesy of the leathery skin which was pulled tight to the bones, the color of dried blood. And a face that was like a mask of horrors. A set of deep hollow sockets as eyes and a mouth wide enough to reach the backs of their ears. Their teeth were chipped, like a broken metal the same as the swords and spears that they held in their hands.
"Gabriel." They spoke in unison, that it sent chills to Gabriel. It was like hearing a horrific orchestra.
Two of them stepped forward. They looked the same as the others except for the broken rusty crown at the top of their bent and broken heads, and a somewhat larger stature.
Gabriel was about to spit an awful remark when he realized where he'd seen those crowns. He clenched his jaw.
The ruler of Sodom, King Bera, and King Birsha of Gomorrah. He was again rewarded with the flashbacks of the burning cities. The very cities that he had razed to the ground.
"Not even at a chance at redemption?" Michael's words had echoed inside his head.
Was this what Michael meant by redemption? This is a nightmare. Gabriel thought, as he steadied his shaking grip.
"You don't say?" Sitri narrowed her eyes at him, she probably knew who these two were. "I don't mean to interfere, but nobody told me this was a fucking reunion."
"So do I." Gabriel gritted his teeth. He didn't notice earlier but they grew in numbers. Earlier there were only a dozen, now there were twice as that. Including those who were swaying back in forth in the roofs, and those hidden in the narrow spaces between the buildings.
The intruders instantly jerked into a standstill, and Gabe knew what was coming next. There was a shout and the demons charged at the both of them.
He leaped, followed by a bone-shattering sound, as he released his wings that was struggling to break free, and sent violent gust of winds towards the attackers, which blown them off their feet. He then took aim and commenced firing, piercing the bodies of anyone who dared approach in his direction.
They didn't seemed to feel any pain, as they continued charging towards him, howling in the process.
There was a guttural cry behind him, and he swung his wing, sending the intruder to the ground, head first with a sickening crunch. The others looked at their accomplice and seemed to have got the idea, and began hurling themselves from the top of the buildings toward him.
Sitri below him on the other hand, expertly swung her trident in circles, both offensive and defensively, deflecting all the approaching attackers. and wherever the tip of her spear faced, a trail of water followed that knocked all the enemies away from her.
"This is way too easy." She hissed, and chuckled.
She was laughing like the maniac that she is now, and had seemed to be enjoying the slaughter. As she swept the trident below, knocking everyone around her from their feet. She flicked her finger, and a column of water bursted forth from the well that the pressure ripped whoever that got caught up with it into shreds.
So that's why she stood before the well? How resourceful.
He thought, as he fended of the enemies one by one, either with the arrows or with a slam of his wing. Gabriel didn't notice earlier, but King Bera, and Bersha just stood at the back, as their forces got either wiped out, ripped to shreds or impaled by his arrows. And that's when the thought struck him. It wasn't that they were scared. They were waiting, waiting for something.
Strange.
Gabriel cleared his throat and looked at the bodies around them. There should've been any left. They should have been dusted. Like any other demon when slain.
They were letting him and her, kill everyone. This is no massacre, No. This is a feast. They were feasting on their dead allies, to add up to their own. The heat that coursed through his body, caused by the battle was quickly replaced by a cold feeling, as the puzzle fitted together. He quickly shouted a warning towards Sitri. "Stop. Don't kill them!"
"Now you have a change of heart?" Sitri says, as she bashed the skull of the last of the enemies around her, knocking it flat on the ground.
"Don't!" He warned. But it was too late. She rolled her eyes at him, before proceeding to slam the heels of her sandals to where it's eyes had been. Damn this demon, and her senseless taste for slaughter. He wanted to say.
His thoughts were interrupted when the two stepped in front of them, and laughed. Sitri backed away, probably confused.
"We are legion, for we are many." Bera, and Bersha says in unison, there were only two of them but the voice sounded as if they numbered hundreds, as their bodies spasmed along with every other bodies that laid and sprawled everywhere around them, laughing in a chorus.
Gabriel barely had the time to dive down and pull Sitri along with him, encircling them both with his wings before the bodies exploded into guts, and flesh and blood.
--
Rachel rolled to the side, and swung her blade to where Phanuel stood by seconds ago. She raised her head, and deflected his swing with the flat of her blade.
She gritted her teeth, as she barely managed to keep herself from being knocked away by the impact, as she impaled the ground with her sword as a support, her boots slid back on the tiled floor.
Damn that mace of him.
She thought, as she drew her gun and emptied the entire clip on him, as he quickly dodged and deflected the bullets, before hiding behind a marble pillar. She wasn't firing bullets at random, she was actually providing a cover fire for Jake who was fending off three of the fallen angels at once, in the far corner of the area. His slashes were like quick swipes of gold.
Wait. Three?
Rachel thought as she whirled and took a step back to evade the spear of one of the fallen angel. It missed her head by an inch.
"That was close!" She quickly grabbed the spear and yanked it backwards dragging the fallen near her, then just as quickly, impaled her sword through the fallen's chest.
She pulled the sword out, kicking the body off her. And it laid sprawled on the ground, where it commenced to spasm before it broke into a coppery sort of dust, as opposed to demon's silver, and angel gold.
Phanuel chose this as the moment to attack.
Rachel whirled when he heard him approach, and hastily took a step forward to shorten the distance between them, and brought her sword forward, with hopes to skewer him.
Phanuel seemed to have caught into this, and flapped his wings in a quick ditch effort to slow down his approach. But not before, the tip of Rachel's blade brushed his cheek. His eyes went wide as the brief contact sent him backing away from her, the scar made a hissing noise in his face, as if the blade had burned him.
"Perceptive bastard." Rachel cursed.
"Heads up!" She heard Jake shout, as one of the fallen hit the wall with a sickening thud behind Phanuel, and laid there on the floor unmoving, before it exploded into a pile of dust. She spared Jake a glance. There was a pile of coppery dust at his feet, and he was rather occupied by the broad-sword wielding fallen. "You seemed busy?" She yelled at him, and he winked as he struggled to avoid the fallen's violent attacks.
"You bitch!" Phanuel spat. There was cry, and the sound of dusts. Jake quickly dashed beside her, with sword at the ready.
"She's my bitch though." Jake blurted out, not breaking eye contact with Phanuel.
"I am not anyone's bitch, darling." Rachel corrected, as she tightened her grip on her blade, and pointed it at Phanuel's direction.
"You will pay for this." Phanuel warned, though there was something fishy about how his mouth curled upwards.
It's as if he was expecting this.
"I don't know about that." Jake started. "If you do your math correctly, there are two of us and one of you. I don't think you are in any position to be making threats or whatsoever right now."
Phanuel seemed amused by this and chuckled. "Who told you I'm the only one left." And with that the door on the other side of the room shattered. And a dozen of hooded fallen went through, and stood just behind him. "You were saying?" He asked with an arrogant smirk.
Rachel noticed Jake tense beside her. She didn't know what got into him, when he stepped forward with his eyes closed, and his open palm raised at the direction where Phanuel and his cohorts stood. He was whispering something under his breath, too low to be heard.
"At least one of you, knows how to surrender."
Rachel impaled her sword to the ground, and held it tight as she planted her foot hard on the floor, putting her whole back into it. Phanuel seemed to have noticed this, and set his sights on her before he spoke.
"And what do you think you're doing, princess?" Phanuel asked, with a raised brow. Entirely clueless about what's about to happen next.
Oh, you'll see.
Rachel wanted to say as she braced herself, just as Jake opened his eyes, and spoke. "You didn't hear me?" He asked. "I said, dodge this! You bastards."
Phanuel's eyes went wide.
And at the instant, the room shook and all the fallen got blown away of their feet by an invisible ten-wheeler truck. Even she was surprised, though she knew what was gonna happen. But, it wasn't exactly what she had expected. Not like what she witnessed Jake had done with Gabe.
"You like that?" She heard Jake ask, as she turned to look at him and he fell flat on the floor.
This time everything in front of Jake, including half of the entire structure, and everything inside of it.
It got blown away.
--