The punch was incredibly satisfying, perfectly planted on that stupid smug smile. The demon reeled back a step, mouth curling downwards and a hiss escaping its lips.
'You dare,' Leo said breathlessly. 'You have no right.'
'Oh, but I do.' The demon seemed to adjust its face with a hand, bones clicking like breaking pottery. 'All sinners ended up here, and it's my job to see that the kindest of them are tortured aptly. All deserve to suffer with us.'
Leo glanced at Raphael who looked pale and frozen with shock. 'What does that mean?'
'Hell wasn't meant for humans,' Raphael said blatantly. 'Demons were angry about their punishment, and so spend the entire existence of Earth taking humans with them.'
The information wasn't completely new to Leo, he knew the story of how Lucifer fell and became Satan. How the jealousy of one being caused the fall of legions of angels. How the hierarchy of Heaven and Hell was brought about.
His thinking was disrupted by distant cackles and screeches. Again, red eyes dotted the distant mists and smoke. Demons were approaching. Leo didn't have much time to think things over. Was he going to keep fighting this demon? The creature hadn't reacted aside from speaking, was it not allowed to hurt a human from Heaven?
The monstrosity's smile returned, and it wound a gangly arm back for a strike, shouting, 'I could care less about the consequences. Suffer, little chosen one!' Its hand sprouted black spines along each finger, and the attack came screaming for Leo.
Leo had never really fought outside of his weekly karate class on Earth, so he couldn't do much aside from throw his hands in front of his face to block. He braced for the blow, but it never came. The hair on his arms rose as the sound of crackling blitzed in front of him.
'Touch him, and you suffer a thousand Hells.' Raphael had reached over Leo and was holding a bright polearm made of lightning that impaled the stoned ground. His wings spread ten feet in each direction and struck the air with violent flashes. Leo let the awe of this being take hold, and in that moment was reminded that he was with one of the most powerful beings in existence. The cowl of friendly Raphael dropped in favour of the mighty warrior that he always was.
'Oh please, archangel.' The demon's smile widened to each side of its face. 'You put on a show, but just you wait until one of our lords arrive. You have no power here.'
Distant cackles grew louder and closer. Finally, those eyes showed their full forms. Demons walked, crawled and flew out of the abyss. They made for this strange scene of a human and angel fighting a demon with eyes like famished animals. They charged like a swarm of insects, which forced Raphael to do something unexpected.
'Leo.' Raphael gripped his shoulder and spun him around. 'We need to escape, but I can't access my full power here. We'll suffer here for eternity if they get hold of us, so I need to ask a favour of you.'
Leo nodded quietly, mind partly on the swarms of demons and the one still behind him, the other part focused on the grate that still held his wife's silent body. 'Hazel,' he muttered.
'We can't get her out, this way.' Raphael knelt so they were eye-to-eye. 'But there's something else that we can do. Before that, I need you to vow to me that you're ready to fight every battle that comes our way. Heaven is no longer a place we can freely walk, and Hell is even worse. The perfect balance of the afterlife is ruined thanks to me, but maybe it's for the better.'
'Hey.' Leo put a hand on his friend's shoulder. He smiled at those panicked eyes, hoping it was enough to give the archangel confidence. 'We'll shoulder this together. I'll do whatever it takes, if it means getting my whole world back.' He opened a palm to the chamber below them. He knew it sucked, but the afterlife had complicated rules that couldn't be broken without finding a technicality. So if Raphael had a plan, Leo would follow it to the very letter.
Suddenly, he was feeling trust like never before with this being. He could almost envision multiple threads tying the two of them together like a rope. Then, his body jostled for a moment with electricity, hands sparking like perfect conductors. The blue energy coursed across him and then seemed to be drawn into his chest.
Raphael had a smile that belonged to a proud father, his eyes looking Leo up and down as if to assess him. 'Leo, you now have my gifts. You are an heir to the power of an archangel.'
Raphael shot off towards the demon swarm with wings thrashing like blades of light from his back. He carved through them with ease. Leo tried to will some power to come back out, and the lightning briefly sparked from his body. He realised he was smiling. As the lightning danced from fingertip to fingertip, he realised something–the lightning polearm was still stabbed into the ground.
'What are you doing?' The tall demon drew back with its face fading to pure black. It hesitated, then swung a spined fist.
Leo caught it with an open palm, electricity sparking and pushing back against the force of the attack. With his free hand, he clutched the lightning weapon and turned its twin pronged blade to the throat of the demon.
'What's your name?' he asked. The weapon fizzled with blue strikes of energy, arcing around the demon's body.
'Faletzzar.'
'Goodbye, Faletzzar, and don't ever go near my wife again.' Leo ran the weapon through the demon, and it severed the monstrosity with ease.
When the shadows of Faletzzar's body faded, other demons came running, and Leo realised that this battle was far from done.