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Chapter 10

“Well, Rosemary is on board,” Baltoh said.
He and Selene were lying in the bed of their new favorite hotel room (after Baltoh repaired it with a quick spell), both naked after having made love just a short while ago. Just minutes before, Selene had returned to the room, having left New York to go up to Earth in order to bathe, as was customary after sex or battle.

“Oh, really? I’m going to need details,” she purred, kissing his chest.

“It turns out she is a seriously kinky slut and a completely submissive masochist. She was literally begging to be fucked and calling me her master. Plus she is really into you and Molly. Not to mention she is a serious squirter, she sprays like a water fountain.”

Selene perked up with amazement and amusement. “Really? Well after my first little taste of domination with Molly, I have to admit that I am more excited than before.”

“I figured as much. I told her I would let you and Molly have a turn with her after I gave her time to heal. I really think that—” Baltoh was suddenly cut off as a massive pulse of energy rocked the city to its core, shaking every building and bringing everyone to their knees.

The air was thick and heavy with ominous power and it felt like gravity itself was being magnified. Baltoh’s eyes widened and he bolted to his feet, rushing over to the balcony. This power was equal to his own, possibly even greater. There were only a handful of sources for such an oppressive aura, and none of them were good.

“Angel Art: Hope Beacon Summoning! Angel Art: Rose Window Shield Summoning!” he called, clapping his hands together.

Four Hope Beacons began to rise from the ground, each at the very edge of the city. It was the maximum number of the crosses that could be summoned in any given place and time. Up above the very center of the city, a pond-sized rose window of yellow and violet glass appeared, casting an image of itself down upon the city with the light passing through it. With the help of the four crosses, its diameter was expanded to cover all of New York and its power was great enough so that not even an army of Gargoyles could break through, but it would only buy them time.

“Baltoh, what’s going on?” Selene asked desperately as she rushed over to him.

“Our proximity to Hell, we’ve finally gotten so close that the most powerful Demons can slip through. These are the true monsters of the shadowy depths, the foes that have brought me nearly to the brink of death,” he cursed as the potency of the suffocating curtain of energy increased in weight.

“Wait, you mean they’re all coming here?! All at once?!”

“No, only two of them: the rider and his mount. Their power levels are equal, but you are only sensing one of them because it is completely eclipsing the other. We need to get dressed, we only have minutes before they arrive and we need to get organized.”

“What the Hell is going on?!” Raphael shouted as Baltoh met up with the other Archangels on the roof of a building. There were twenty other Archangels in total, as well as a few Angels, including Selene.

“One of the Masters of Torture has arrived and he’s not alone. There is also a Titan with him.” Everyone paled and cursed at the severity of the situation.

“What are Masters of Torture and Titans?” Selene asked, gripping his arm.

“They are the next level of Demons, well beyond Archangels,” Michael admitted, being forced to swallow his pride.

“How is that possible? I’ve never heard of these things!” one of the other Angels asked.

Baltoh took a deep breath. “As you know Demons have been summoned to Earth in the past—as it is the only way for them to cross between dimensions and can only be done by humans—and while they are normally defeated before they become too much of a threat, they have been known to reach full strength and cause natural disasters like volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and plagues. Masters of Torture and Titans are far too powerful to be summoned, the mass of their energy is too great and heavy to be actually lifted and pulled through the inter-dimensional barrier.

Essentially, the difference between Masters of Torture and Titans and Demons is how they are born. Titans are born through large numbers of Demons managing to fuse together into one massive beast, just like Sinners join together to transform into Bleaks. Depending on how well the process goes, they can retain their intelligence and continue to use Demon Art, or lose their minds and become raging beasts, often used as steeds for the Masters of Torture. Masters of Torture are born more similarly to regular Demons; however, instead of being born from the hatred of Hell residents that have crumbled into ash, they are instead born from the remains of slain Demons.

Just like with the prisoners that eventually crumble away to ash, the remains of killed Demons stay and fester, becoming more and more concentrated and focused. After a while, all the hatred and evil that made up the Demon’s existence is compacted and processed to its purest form, like the coal remains of ancient decayed organisms. This dark poison eventually joins up with others and forms a Master of Torture. Even I have to fight for my life when I encounter them.”

The description of two foes that they about to fought reinforced the severity of the situation, with dread crushing everyone with the same weight as the dark energy that filled the air. Before the conversation could continue, there was a deafening crash and the whole city shook violently, causing several buildings to crumble and fall apart like houses of cards. Red cracks flitted through the rose window hologram cast upon the city as the forces of darkness below crashed against it like a wild bull against the gate of its pen.

“We don’t have long, have all the people been evacuated to the outskirts?”

“Yes, we got them all out of the city. Most likely, our enemy will come up through the center of New York, so we hopefully won’t lose any people,” Raphael answered, just before another crash that sent more cracks through the barrier.

“Ok, I’ll face the Master of Torture, and the rest of you fight the Titan. Selene, I want you and all the other Angels to stay out of this fight and guard the humans in case any Gargoyles or Demons attempt something.”

Everyone nodded and the third crash rang out as the shield broke. In the center of the city, twelve city blocks suddenly sank into the ground and the four Hope Beacons in the corners shattered like vases. A deluge of Hellfire roared up through the massive fissure with a colossal beast hidden within, visible only from its shadow. Hovering above the city, the beast released a deafening roar and the geyser of Hellfire died down, allowing everyone to look upon the creature.

The beast was a winged two-headed dog with a ten tails, larger than its body when joined to together and each one far longer, and an iron collar on each neck. Its black scraggly hair was matted with blood, its red eyes glowed like hazard lights, both heads had rhino-like horns on the bridges of their noses, two pairs of bull-like horns protruded from behind its ears, its long jagged fangs poked out past its jowls and glistened with acidic saliva, its claws looked more like talons and appeared almost too large for its paws, and its dark-grey wings were webbed with spindly bones and were missing most of the surface membrane, but the creature was still able to fly. If it curled up its body, it would still dwarf the world’s largest sports stadium.

Standing on the Titan’s back, holding a chain that led to its iron collars, was a Demon. The entity was garbed in black armor with a pair of large batwings that almost looked like they were carved from onyx, a pair of gazelle-like horns made entirely of shadow fire, a tail lined with spikes, a pair of large gauntlets on his arms instead of shackles, and a helm that looked like the face of a goblin.

The Master Of Torture held out his hand and a guard-less broadsword appeared in his hand, made of Hellsteel instead of the traditional Demon bone, just like Baltoh’s. Giving a low sigh, the Demon pointed the sword straight at Baltoh, challenging him.

“All of you go, this is my fight,” Baltoh said as he stretched his arm in preparation and summoned his sword.

As the Archangels departed to face the Titan once the battle started, Selene gave him a kiss laced with worry but also filled with tender love. “Don’t let him get to you, he’s nothing. Besides, you aren’t distracted anymore, remember?” She whispered, gaining a small smile.

Baltoh mirrored the expression and kissed her back. “I remember.”

“Good, now go show him how dangerous you are in your prime,” she said once last time before leaving.

Baltoh turned to the Master of Torture as he spread his wings, preparing to pounce. With a wide smile on his face, Baltoh widened his stance and got into a fighter’s position, brimming with confidence and excitement for the battle. Moving faster than a speeding bullet, the Demon leapt from his mount and zipped over to Baltoh, bringing down his sword with devastating power. Baltoh blocked the strike and the building under him instantly shattered from the power transference. It took all of Baltoh’s power to push back against the Demon’s sword, but his grin did not diminish.

“Well, well, well, it seems that we finally get to meet. I am Amon, leader of forty infernal legions under Prince Baal.”

“Baltoh, leader of the forces of Heaven under nobody,” the hybrid countered, pushing the Demon back with the ear-stinging scrape of the broadsword blade grinding against the serrations of Baltoh’s edge.

“Then I guess it is time to see which is greater; darkness or light!” Amon gleefully roared before spinning around and delivering a powerful kick to Baltoh’s gut.

Baltoh staggered back through the air but regained his balance, brandishing his sword as Amon charged towards him. “I already wield the power of both worlds. This is not a question of light vs. dark; it is a question of whether your hatred is greater than mine! Now we fight with our lives on the line to prove who has the greater resolve!” Baltoh thundered, blocking Amon’s slash.

Upon the collision of their swords, every window within a square mile shattered from the invisible shockwave released upon impact. Before Amon could deliver another spinning kick, Baltoh reached behind him and grabbed the Demon by the throat with his tail. With a powerful whiplash, he threw the demon straight down into the ground with enough strength to create a pool-sized crater in the wreckage of the building that had been destroyed.

Sword in hand, Baltoh swooped down while casting the Divine Smite spell. Amon rolled to the side, barely dodging Baltoh as he plunged his sword into the ground with enough power to reduce nine square blocks of the city into a colossal crater filled with the rubble of the buildings that had originally stood in its space.

“Demon Art: Dark Pulse!” Amon thundered, pointing his clawed finger at the hybrid and launching a condensed jet of shadow energy, as large as a bus.

Baltoh was thrown into the air by the attack, wrapped in smoke with half of his vest and shirt burned away. “Angel Art: Feather Arrows!” he called, pointing his wings at Amon and launching a volley of feathers, burning with white fire.

Wrapping himself in his wings, Amon tried to roll away but the bolts made their mark, puncturing his wings over and over again. He gritted through the stinging pain and got to his feet, ripping the feathers out of his wings and then taking to the air. Flying towards Baltoh so fast that mortal eyes could not catch him, Amon swung his sword in a diagonal uppercut slash, but the hybrid blocked the attack, beginning a lightning flurry of exchanging attacks and blocks. The air around them was practically set ablaze from all the sparks being released by the colliding swords.

Spotting and opening, Amon lunged forward and pierced Baltoh through the heart with his sword. Baltoh coughed up a mouthful of blood but managed to retaliate by sharpening his two Demon wings into nail-sharp spikes and plunging them into Amon’s chest, piercing his armor and skewering his lungs. With blood dripping from Amon’s helm, the two foes separated before instantly attacking each other once again, ignoring their injuries and instead just swinging their swords wildly at lightning speed, attacking and blocking each other a hundred times every second.

“Demon Art: Debt Retrieval!” Amon called, swerving back to cast the spell.

Surging up from the ground, a dozen huge skeletal hands reached out of portals to Hell towards Baltoh, almost like a crowd of miniature Bleaks all clambering for the same target.

“Angel Art: Final Penitence!” Baltoh countered.

Falling like mortar shells, huge wooden crossed appeared out of the sky and landed on all of the hands like the nails of a crucifixion, shattering the bones and pinning them to the ground.

“Angel Art: Enlightenment Flash!”

A blinding ray of light shined from Baltoh’s feathers, temporarily crippling Amon’s ability to see. With the Demon distracted, Baltoh shot forward and slashed him from shoulder to hip, tearing away his armor and shredding his flesh with the gut hook near the end of the blade and the serrations that lined the edge.

With blood spraying from the fissure carved across his chest, Amon snarled and clapped his hands together with his sword between his palms. “Demon Art: Incinerating Inferno!”

Baltoh was thrown back, nearly howling in pain as a sudden bonfire of Hell flames engulfed him. The black pyre burned away what was left of his shirt and left his skin badly charred, but he was alive.

“Demon Art: Undead Rejuvenation!” they both called, flying towards each other.

The two fighters were both wrapped in black auras as their numerous wounds were healed, repairing their bodies in time to lock swards. The second their blades collided, Baltoh spun around and kicked Amon in the side, sending the Demon plummeting out of the sky like a meteor and crashing through almost a kilometer of buildings as if they were made of stacks of tin cans.

“Demon Art: Monster Slash!” Amon thundered, getting to his feet and carving an X through the air with both hands.

Baltoh instinctively raised his sword, blocking an invisible cross of ten razor-thin energy blades. Baltoh was pushed back through the air by the joined blasts breaking over his sword, and before he could mentally recover, his eyes were pulled up by the sudden appearance of a shadow. Amon had appeared above him with an entire building in his grip. With a roar, Amon swung the building down onto Baltoh like a sledgehammer, with the hybrid having less than a second to become intangible and pass through it unscathed.

As Baltoh came up through the building, Amon slammed into him with shadow energy streaming from his arm, allowing him to interact with the untouchable Baltoh. Amon shot straight down, slamming Baltoh into the ground as the thrown building shattered. Upon impact, all the rubble of the building was thrown upwards into a vast mushroom cloud of dust from the two fighters hitting the ground.

In the bottom of a smoky crater, Amon had Baltoh pinned to the ground and was punching him in the face over and over again with his arms moving as blurs. With his face bloody and his desperation mounting, Baltoh stabbed Amon through the shoulder with his tail and flung him horizontally, sending him crashing through another line of buildings like an indestructible missile.

“Angel Art: Spear of Destiny!” Baltoh roared, jumping to his feet and clapping his hands together.

From between his hands, a paper-thin beam of golden light shot forth, taking the shape of a huge blade that sliced through everything in its path. Slamming his sword into the ground, Amon brought himself to a stop as the blade approached, slicing straight through the buildings that he had just smashed through.

“Demon Art: Tombstone Shield!” he bellowed, slamming both hands onto the pommel of his sword.

A car-sized tombstone burst from the ground in front of him, acting as a barrier against the blade. The massive voulge of light smashed into the tombstone, one of the few forces it could not break. Flying out from behind the shield, Baltoh burst out and swung his sword towards Amon’s neck, hoping to decapitate him. The Demon managed to lean back enough to avoid a fatal strike, but Baltoh still managed to slash his throat, causing a fountain of inky blood to spray forth.

Baltoh quickly spun around and kicked Amon in the gut, once again sending him shooting like a bullet through building after building. Not wanting to lose the opportunity, Baltoh chased after Amon, reaching him in less than a second. Flying over a blood-splattered parking lot, the two foes pointed their clawed index fingers at each other, the sharp talons just inches apart.

“Demon Art: Dark Pulse!” they both shouted.

“Angel Art: Crusading Canter!” Gabriel called, using his sudden speed boost to avoid the colossal black fireballs being launched from the twin heads of the Titan.

“Angel Art: Halo Discuss!” Rosemary shouted, attacking the creature from behind while its attention was focused on Gabriel.

Pulling at her halo, she drew a long chain of identical rings of golden light and threw them at the beast. The rings struck the Titan like hailstones, doing little more than bouncing off its powerful hide. With an annoyed snarl, the Titan turned to her and swatted her out of the sky with one of his tails, sending her crashing into a city bus with enough strength to cleave it in half. Lying at the end of a long crater in the street, Rosemary cursed and slowly got to her feet, just as she was encompassed by a massive shadow. Flapping her wings desperately, she took flight and fled as the Titan tried to stomp on her with one of its colossal paws.

“Angel Art: Final Penitence!” Raphael called from behind the beast.

At his command, half a dozen large wooden crosses fell out of the sky like missiles and slammed into the creature’s back and momentarily threatened to throw it off balance. Furious, the goliath turned to him with one of its head and launched a house-sized black fireball. The blast struck Raphael head on, sending him plummeting out of the sky while wreathed in flames.

“Angel Art: Divine Smite!” an Archangel with short blond hair called, rocketing down towards the Titan with her sword raised.

Sensing her approach, the Titan raised its two heads and opened one of its jaws, unleashing a massive Dark Pulse. The Archangel blocked the attack with her sword, cutting through the beam of energy and struggling to keep moving forward, even with her strength increased. The blast finally ended and the woman’s sword was knocked to the side by the final bead of energy, but just as she was about to reattempt her attack, the Titan reached up with its other head with lightning speed and stabbed her right in the gut with the horn on the bridge of its nose. The force of the impact and the size of the horn ripped her to pieces and ended her life.

“Amelia, no!” another Archangel by the name of Remiel yelled through his long braided beard, mourning the loss of his comrade. The Archangel turned to the Titan and clapped his hands together, spreading his wings to their maximum length. “Angel Art: Incense Suffocation Seal!”

On his command, four pillars of stacked incense lanterns burst from the ground, forming a fence of white lightning around he Titan. Once completed, the four pillars each began spewing thick clouds of incense smoke, filling the space within the prison but going no further. In seconds, the Titan was invisible, hidden within a cloud of smoke. Over the sound of the dense vapor spraying out like water jets, everyone would hear the beast coughing and hacking on the fumes as it burned its flesh like gaseous acid and pressed on its body from all sides as if it were at the bottom of the ocean.

“Angel Art: Divinity Ray!” all the Archangels called, pointing their fingers at the Titan and firing beams of golden light as large as Hummers. The beams struck the Titan, causing it to snarl in pain and illuminating the smoke cloud.

“Keep shooting! We have to kill this thing!” Michael ordered, pumping all of his energy into his blast.

All of the Archangels were thrown back as the Titan released an earthshaking roar and was wrapped in shadow fire. The black explosions shattered the four pillars and pushed aside the Divinity Rays as if they were mere beams of light. Furious at the harm they had caused it, the creature reached out with its two heads and snapped up a pair of Archangels, than knocked the rest back like a group of flies with its tails.

“Damn it, how is it possible that this thing is so powerful?!” Raphael cursed as he pushed aside the wall of a broken building that had fallen on top of him.

“Michael, we need Baltoh, he’s the only one who can face something like this!” Rosemary barked.

“No! We don’t need him every time something goes wrong! We are Archangels of Heaven, we do not need help destroying this rabid mutt!” Michael yelled angrily, trying to nurse his bruised ego and his bleeding scalp.

“Besides, Baltoh is held up fighting that Master of Torture. He can’t help us,” Gabriel said as he popped his dislocated shoulder back into position.

“So then we need a plan.”

“I think we should try and get this creature back together with is rider,” Rosemary insisted, “then have Baltoh use one of his hyper blasts on them both. I believe I heard that Demon Abaddon remark that it was the spell he would use to destroy them when he encountered them in Hell. Instead of separating them and beating them individually, we should get them together and take them both out with one big attack. Michael, we can’t do this without Baltoh.”

“Damn it, have we really fallen this far?!” H

“Wake up Michael, we haven’t fallen. Everything else just rose above us,” Gabriel said.

Michael closed his eyes and mulled over the decision, muttering curses to himself from his bruised ego. “Very well. You lead the way Rosemary.”

The beautiful redhead stood up. “We need to hit this thing with every sealing spell we have. Hopefully we can stop it or slow it down enough for Baltoh to lure that Master of Torture over here.”

“Ok, I’ll get us started. Angel Art: Hope Beacon Summoning!” Raphael shouted.

Four buildings around the Titan shattered as a group of Hope Beacons appeared in their place, giving all the Archangels four power boosts.

“Angel Art: Final Crucifixion!” Rosemary called, feeling her strength return.

Shaking the entire city, a massive cross burst from the ground, towering above the skyscrapers and casting a shadow over the Titan. Dozens of whips, adorned with thorns and bits of twisted metal, reached out and wrapped around the Titan, pulling it up and slamming it against the cross while tearing at its flesh. The beast howled in pain as its canine bones snapped and its muscles tore so that its limbs could be secured to the cross by the three train-sized nails. Wrapping around the necks of the Titan, a crown of thorns formed and acted as another bind to the cross. Finally, a building-sized spear blade appeared in the air and plunged itself into the monster’s chest.

“Angel Art: Rosary Restraints!” all the Archangels called as the Titan roared in pain and frustration.

From their beaded bracelets, countless red chains shot forth and wrapped around the beast, further securing it to the cross while burning its flesh like hot wire. Pulling on the chains with all their strength, the Archangels pulled the cross out of the ground and sent it falling back like a chopped tree before shaking New York with its landing.

“Angel Art: Final Penitence!” Gabriel shouted.

Half a dozen towering crosses began to fall from the sky like bombs, slamming down into the Titan each with the weight of a mountain. Throughout New York, buildings were thrown from their foundations by each devastating impact and clouds of dust completely filled the air. The massive crosses had skewered the beast like harpoons, weighing it down and keeping it pinned.

“Angel Art: Incense Suffocation Seal!” Michael announced, slamming his hands on the ground.

As per the spell, four familiar towers of stacked incense lanterns burst from the ground around the beast and began spewing forth their smoke, which crushed the Titan like the weight of the ocean and literally burned its lungs. As everyone stopped to catch their breath, the massive creature unleashed a roar as low and deep as the beating of war drums and its body began to burn with black fire, slowly eating away at all of the seals. Even with their power enhanced with four Hope Beacons, the Archangels still could not keep the beast or its gargantuan energy restrained.

“Quick! Start hitting it with everything you’ve got before it overpowers the spells! Rosemary, go get Baltoh!” Gabriel shouted as he began launching bolts of Blessed Lightning at the awakening beast.

Baltoh and Amon stood in the middle of a barren wasteland, their feet buried under the powdered rubble of the buildings that had originally stood. Almost a third of New York had been reduced to dust and ash from their dynamic battle, much of the destruction being the result of them both smashing each other over the head with entire buildings like a pair of cartoon characters. Both fighters were caked with blood and panting heavily, having each received countless injuries that would have meant the death of any regular Demon or Archangel. It was not the fighting that had drained them both of their energy, but the injuries, both fighting through and healing them. In the battle, Amon had lost his helm and Baltoh his hood.

His lungs aching and begging for air, Baltoh lunged forward and punched Amon in the face, sending the Master of Torture staggering back. Baltoh didn’t let up, he chased after the Demon and continued punching him with all of his strength. Struggling to stay on his feet, Amon could do nothing as his face was pummeled again and again by Baltoh’s callused fists, bloodying his nose and cracking different areas of his skull.

As Baltoh took one step forward, the ground beneath him crumbled and he lost his footing, forcing him to shift his attention away from Amon and to instead fix his balance. This gave Amon the opportunity of a lifetime, and he took it by stabbing Baltoh through the gut with his tail and then spinning around, delivering a powerful kick to the center of his chest. Baltoh was thrown off the Demon’s tail with all of his ribs broken and blood streaming from his mouth and gut. Barely landing on his feet, Baltoh materialized his sword and tried to ignore the severity of injuries while they mended themselves.

‘Damn it, this is why I make sure never to fight these guys for extended close-range combat. We’re too evenly matched and we’re just wearing each other down. At this rate, we’ll just kill each other or reach a stalemate in which neither of us can move and the fate of the battle and perhaps the world will lie on whether or not Michael and the others can slay that Titan,’ he thought to himself, blinking hard to straighten his blurred vision.

Forming his sword from black flames, albeit at a much slower pace than before, Amon charged towards Baltoh with the last of his strength.

“Ok, this is the deciding clash, I know it. Whoever outlives and outlasts the other in this final battle will be the victor,” Baltoh said under his breath as he widened his stance and leveled his sword.

Amon raised his sword above his head and brought it down towards Baltoh’s right side, aiming for the veins between his shoulder and neck. Baltoh blocked the attack with an uppercut swing, and while Amon tried to pull his blade back for another attempt, Baltoh delivered a devastating cut from shoulder to hip, sending the blood spraying across the ground with a deep satisfying splat. Fueled by adrenalin and rage pumping through his veins like his inky blood, Amon pulled his sword back and countered with a stab to the left side of Baltoh’s chest, puncturing his lung and sabotaging his breathing.

Both struggling to stay awake and on their feet, the two fighters locked swords once, twice, three times, with each collision sending showers of sparks as if the blades were red-hot. On the fourth clash, Baltoh was able to maneuver his sword past Amon’s and deliver a deep cut across the shoulder, then twist the blade and send it sheering across his throat. Gurgling on his own blood, Amon roared and swung his sword wildly, slashing Baltoh diagonally across the face.

With his streaming blood blinding his left eye, Baltoh staggered back and snarled in pain. Amon lunged at the opportunity, swinging his sword from the side and cutting Baltoh’s stomach open and leaving his entrails dangling. With a demonic roar of anger, Baltoh raised his sword high above his head and struck Amon’s left shoulder with a cleaving angle. Pulling down on the sword, Baltoh carved through the Demon’s flesh with the serrations and gut hook, ripping him open like a chainsaw. Amon’s shoulder and ribs were shattered by the brutal strike, the muscles were all severed, the nerves cut, and the veins spraying blood like fountains. Amon stepped back with his whole left side from the waist up barely clinging to the rest of his body. It was almost as if someone had tried to cut him in half with a saw but started at the wrong spot and were stopped at the waist.

The two rivals stepped back, each physically trying to hold their bodies together and keep from falling apart.

“Master!” Rosemary shouted, flying towards them at top speed.

‘Rosemary?! What is she doing here? The Titan is still alive!’

Baltoh switched his attention back to Amon as the Master of Torture pointed his clawed finger at the oncoming Archangel and launched a Dark Pulse that was ten times larger and more powerful than a regular Demon or Bleak’s. Even in the condition he was in, Amon was easily able to bring forth the energy required to kill Rosemary like she was a fly. With the speed and diameter of the blast, it was obvious that Rosemary would not be able to dodge.

“Angel Art: Gates of Heaven! Demon Art: Tombstone Shield!” Baltoh called, clapping his hands together.

The gargantuan Dark Pulse was suddenly stopped as a gate of solid gold appeared before Rosemary with a pair of car-sized tombstones behind it, reinforcing the bars. The blast struck the barrier like an enraged moose against a tree, stopping in its tracks but making the barrier crack and warp under the pressure. Rosemary was pushed back by the collision of the unstoppable force and the unmovable object, while down below, Baltoh struggled to keep the spell strong so that she would not be killed. With Baltoh distracted, Amon ended the blast and pounced on him like a mountain lion, digging his claws into Baltoh’s body and biting him wildly.

“Angel Art: Final Crucifixion!” Rosemary desperately shouted, aiming her hand at Amon.

The marble-white cross burst from the ground behind Baltoh and the rabid Demon was yanked off his back and slammed against it by grabbing serrated whips. While the crucifixion ritual took place, Rosemary kept the spells going, desperate to restrain the wounded but deadly Master of Torture.

“Angel Art: Rosary Restraints! Angel Art: Feather Arrow! Angel Art: Halo Shackles! Angel Art: Incense Suffocation Seal!” she bellowed, landing on the ground beside Baltoh with her hands aimed at Amon.

In tandem, red beaded chains launched from her rosary wristbands and tied Amon to the cross like a straightjacket, eight-inch long feathers shot from her wings and lodged themselves in Amon’s flesh, further nailing him, and rings of golden light appeared around his ankles, wrists, and head, acting as one last bond to the wooden structure. Last but not least, four pillars of incense lanterns rose up around the cross and filled the space between them with dense smoke, crushing Amon like water and burning his lungs with blessed energy. In his vapor coffin, Amon could not be seen, heard, or smelled, and neither could he discern what was going on outside.

“Master, are you ok?” Rosemary asked worriedly, helping Baltoh sit up. The hybrid cracked a smile at the given honorific. Even while out of the bedroom, it appeared that she was still subservient and loyal to him.

“I’ll live, but there isn’t much I can do. I don’t have the strength to kill him or that Titan and time is running out. Even in his current state, Amon won’t be held back every long by those spells. We only have five or ten minutes before he breaks free and comes back, probably stronger than when he was sealed.”

“So you don’t have the strength to use any of your rage blasts?” Rosemary asked desperately.

“If I heal my wounds and rest for a few minutes, I might have enough power for at least one shot, but it would take too long to charge and fire. Unless I can fully rejuvenate, this battle is not going to end well,” he said, trying to get to his feet but falling back down.

Rosemary hesitated before speaking. “Master, I’ll take care of you. Just lie back and I’ll heal your wounds and rejuvenate you,” she said, whispering the last part with a seductive purr.

Baltoh smiled as he understood and lied back. “That will definitely help. And don’t worry, I doubt I’ll last long.”

“Angel Art: Laying On of Hands,” Rosemary whispered, holding one delicate hand over Baltoh’s bare chest with green healing energy streaming from her palm. With her other hand, she unfastened his sash and pulled down his pants, revealing his half-erect cock, quickly growing in size and strength at the attention.

With a coy look on her face, Rosemary took Baltoh’s cock in her mouth, sucking off the sweat from battle while she healed his wounds with both hands. Their time was running out and Amon would soon break free of his prison, so Baltoh just relaxed and allowed himself to be rejuvenated. On the other end, Rosemary was working Baltoh’s cock lovingly with every soft wet corner of her mouth, trying to coax a climax as fast as possible. She squeezed the shaft with her tongue and cheeks, worked the head with her lips, and completely slathered it with every drop of saliva she could muster. While her head bobbed up and down, her mouth made the sound of gum being chewed as the large member was massaged with great sexual dedication. As she pleasured Baltoh, Rosemary flooded his body with healing energy from her hands, mending his injuries and restoring his strength.

Finally, Baltoh groaned as he had his fastest orgasm, spraying almost a pint of semen into Rosemary’s mouth and throat, every drop of which she hungrily swallowed before licking his deflating cock clean and sucking out every last glob of his seed. His strength restored and his body as limber and relaxed as a line of surgical tubing, Baltoh pulled his pants back up and secured his sash before jumping to his feet with a happy yawn.

“Alright, I’m ready. Thank you, Rosemary,” he said as he aimed his hand at Amon.

The Demon had made a lot of progress in his escape, as already the rosary restraints were snapping like thread, the crucifix was fractured in multiple places, the feather arrows had already been incinerated, the Halo bonds had shattered, and the incense smoke in the prison was thinning, allowing for his silhouette to be visible. The seals would only hold for another minute at most.

“Angel Art: Rosary Restraints! Demon Art: Dark Shackles!” he shouted with a confident smile.

Launching from the metal bands and beaded cords around his wrist, two dozen black bladed chains and rosary binds shot forth and wrapped around Amon’s prison in entirety before tightening on the four incense pillars and crushing Amon’s prison like a house of cards. The chains and rosary bonds continued to wrap around Amon and the seals that restrained him, each glowing with Baltoh’s energy and forming a nearly impenetrable SUV-sized cocoon around him.

With Rosemary following, Baltoh took to the air while pulling the trapped Amon with him and raced over to where the rest of the Archangels were still fighting the Titan. The original sealing spells had long since been destroyed, so now the forces of Heaven were desperately recasting them and attacking the beast with everything they had, tried to keep it subdued. The creature was basically sitting in the middle of a gold and black bonfire, caused by their energy striking against its own and unraveling into raw flames.

With a roar of courage, Baltoh swung the lariat of Hell chains and rosary bonds with Amon at the end like the head of a battle flail, bringing it down onto the Titan with enough strength to shake all of New York wildly and temporarily incapacitate the creature from the shear pain of the impact. Snapping the cords with his tail, Baltoh clapped his hands together to name the next spell. “Demon Art: Mausoleum Prison!” he cast, harnessing the power of the nearby Hope Beacons to increase the size of the spell.

Covered in symbols of Hellscript and adorned with carvings of human skulls, a mausoleum of such size that it could be seen from space rose up around the Titan and the Master of Torture, locking them away like money in a bank vault.

“Demon Art: Debt Retrieval!” Baltoh then called with his smile growing.

At his command, almost a hundred massive skeletal hands burst up from the ground and grabbed onto the mausoleum. With one great heave, they all combined their strength and threw the mausoleum, sending it flying straight upwards. Flying directly under it, Baltoh held his body level and his wings out in front of him with his burning halo between the tips. He had to measure this carefully, as he did not want any more lives to be lost. His halo began to spin, increasing in speed every second up to the point where it looked like a sphere of light.

High up above New York, the mausoleum shattered, revealing the Titan with Amon on its back, holding its reins with his sword in hand. Both Demons released roars of frustration and bloodlust, ready to return to battle.

“You shall all suffer!” Amon howled.

“Well it won’t be by your hand!” Baltoh shouted, finally releasing his blast at full strength.

Everyone watching the scene turned away, shielding his or her eyes from the nuclear-level brightness of the beam fired. Upon its launched, the blast instantly began to expand at terrifying magnitudes, but with Baltoh’s calculations and placement, it would not touch either sides of the pit around New York. By the time it reached Amon and his steed, the blast was already a third as large as the city and far too powerful to stop or dodge.

They were splattered against the blast like mosquitoes against the windshield of a freeway semi and did not slow it down in the least as the blast continued to rise upwards. Up on the surface of Earth, where the American government had set up a command center around New York, sensors and instruments of all kinds were shattering as an earthquake well above 10.0 on the Richter Scale rocked the area. Finally, with a diameter as large as New York itself, the blast shot upwards from the shaft and passed right through the dome of black smoke due to the Angel energy within it. All the scientists watched in awe as the beam of light shot into the sky with as much energy as a solar flare. Many even found themselves falling to their knees and bowing down. As the beam shot up into space, the atmosphere was temporarily illuminated, casting aside the hellish red hue that had plagued the sky since the doorway ritual was initiated.

The blast faded into the last few beads of energy and Baltoh began to fall, drained of energy and with a smile of victory on his face. Swerving down like an eagle, Selene zoomed over and caught him in midair, lowering him down to the ground with her face glowing with tender love and pride.

Baltoh and Selene were in a vacant hotel room up on Earth, as after a fight with a Master of Torture, Baltoh refused to do anything or talk to anyone until he had taken a shower and Selene wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass her by. As he checked the locks on the door to make sure that they wouldn’t be disturbed, she stood naked in the shower, waiting for the water to warm up.

“Are you sure it’s ok for us to both be away from the city?” Selene hollered over the hum of the shower.

“Don’t worry, after that fight with the Master of Torture, the forces of Hell will probably wait and bide their time before they attack again, if they attack at all,” Baltoh replied as he walked back into the bathroom.

Standing in the doorway, he came to a dead stop and smiled. His eyes were fixed on Selene glistening with a sexy shine as the water ran down her naked body. Each drop on her delectable chocolate-shade skin glistened like a jewel, illuminating every sensual curve of her body. He could see her muscles relaxing under the heat of the water, her chest expanding with each deep breath, and the shivers of relief that passed through her flawless figure as the hot waves washed her body.

Noticing Baltoh watching her, she smiled and opened up the sliding door. “Come on in,” she purred.

“Actually, I think I might like to watch for a little while.”

“Alright, then enjoy the show.”

Selene looked up into the spray with her mouth open, as if the showerhead were his cock and he was ejaculating onto her face. The water streamed across her face and through her long silky hair, and as she rolled her head from side to side as if receiving a massage, her breathing became heavy. As he undressed, Baltoh tried to keep his eyes fixed on Selene as she ran her hands across her body, touching herself gently. With each pass of her hands across her beautiful figure, Baltoh’s cock began to inflate and he licked his lips in desire, wishing that he could be the water itself.

Opening up a box of hotel soap, Selene dropped the small block into her hands and lathered her palms with it, leaving a sudsy layer. Purring at her own touch, she began squeezing and rubbing her large breasts, making them slippery with a coating of foam running across the soft skin. As she massaged her breasts and traced the bar of soap around her nipples, Baltoh began stroking his fully erect cock with a wide grin on his face.

Selene then stepped behind the glass screen and pressed her tits against the glass. Baltoh’s breathing became heavy as he watched her rub her breasts against the glass like she was cleaning it, her nipples leaving marks through the sheen of soap. While she teased Baltoh squeegeed the glass with her bountiful titties, she soaped her hands back up and began washing her body. Stepping out from behind the glass, she ran the soap across her curved body, lathering her ebony skin with a layer of thin white foam. As her hands moved down her flat belly, she shifted her hips from side to side, almost dancing for Baltoh while he watched her.

Looking back over her shoulder, Selene turned around so her back was to Baltoh, slowly shaking her ass. The two of them smiling and Baltoh licking his lips, Selene spread her legs and bent over, exposing her pussy and asshole while she soaped up her long smooth legs. Baltoh had his eyes fixated on her firm curvaceous ass, shaking in excitement as he stroked his cock. Moving her soapy hands up her legs, Selene began lathering her ass cheeks, spreading them and squeezing them, proud of their sexual power and wishing to feel Baltoh’s cock between them.

Selene then turned back into the shower, letting the layer of soap wash away. While the sudsy water streamed off, Selene sensually rubbed her body with her hands moving closer and closer to her pussy. At first she only ran her palms across her inner thighs, then she pulled her middle finger between the soft plump lips, tickling the bright pink interior. After that first touch, she began working her fingers against the entrance, using the soapy water as lubricant. As her petting became faster and more aggressive, she leaned back against the wall and began giving a soft whine.

Baltoh stepped forward, leaning against the bathroom sink with his cock standing at full attention as Selene inserted her fingers into her pussy, stirring them while moaning from the feeling of the gentle penetration. With the skill that only someone could have after years of pleasuring her own body, Selene got herself riled up faster than even Baltoh could. With her fingers working frantically between her legs, Selene grasped one of her breasts, squeezing it while she looked up and switched from whining to moaning. This continued on for several minutes, with Selene desperately trying to bring herself to climax, but unable to cross that final threshold.

Her whole body shaking in the desire to have an orgasm, Selene lowered her head and wrapped her lips around the nipple of her left tit, instantly making Baltoh jerk from a mini-ejaculation as he watched her suck on her own breast as if it were Molly’s. Swirling her tongue around her erect nipple with the hot water running down her hourglass body, Selene finally achieved her first orgasm and signaled it with a loud moan of jubilation.

As Selene caught her breath, Baltoh grinned and stepped into the shower, letting the grime from battle run off his body. With a tired smile on her face, Selene removed her glistening fingers from her slit and held them up. Baltoh reached out with his long tongue and wrapped it around her fingers like a snake, licking up her delicious essence. The two points of the forked tendril pointed out to Selene and she lovingly wrapped her lips around it, letting his tongue dance with her own.

Baltoh unraveled his tongue from around her fingers will slipping it deeper into Selene’s mouth, relishing the delicious taste. As their lips touched, Selene wrapped her arms around Baltoh’s neck and Baltoh began running his palms across her body, wishing that he could use his fingers and better feel her. For ten minutes they continued to kiss, wordlessly speaking their love while the shower sprayed their entwined bodies with hot water.

Baltoh finally broke their embrace and began moving down, kissing her neck and collarbone while she purred at the touch of his lips against her exposed body. Continuing down, he spent a handful of minutes just massaging, licking, and sucking on her firm breasts, unable to ever be satisfied. When his desires changed, he once again began to move, running his lips and tongue across her belly before reaching the smooth lips of her slit, already open and awaiting further pleasure.

Raising her leg and squeezing her breasts, Selene looked up and began moaning as Baltoh entered her with his tongue, stimulating her clit with a master’s skill. Baltoh had his eyes looking upward, staring at her breasts that jiggled with each gasping breath Selene took and the water that poured off her pointing nipples and ran down her smooth stomach. Shifting his arms, he moved Selene’s legs up onto his shoulders so that he could get full access to her addictively delectable pussy. Holding onto his horns for dear life, Selene continued to moan at the top of her lungs while Baltoh’s forked tongue prodded and rubbed against every sweet spot in her pussy, driving her crazy with pre-orgasmic bliss.

Deciding to help her once again cross that threshold, Baltoh bent his tail back over itself and began twisting it, basically turning it into a giant double-helix dildo. Reaching up, he inserted the top of his bend tail into her asshole, needing a lot of force to work the wide head of the biological sex toy into the tight ring. Selene released a shriek of pure sexual euphoria as the twisted section of its tail worked itself into her anus, stuffing her to the point that she thought while she was going to burst, only to retract and then force itself back in. With Baltoh playing her cunt like a musical instrument and fucking her asshole wildly with his tail, Selene was brought to her second orgasm in record time.

As he lowered her down, Baltoh pulled his tail from his asshole and let Selene lick it like a spoon covered in cake batter.

“That was a neat trick,” she purred.
“Yeah, but it always clamps down on the blood vessels and leaves my tail really sore,” he remarked while he spun the tendril around the shower, wearing out the aches.

“Well, you’ve warmed up, so how about we get down to business,” she said in between kisses while she wrapped her legs around his waist.

“I thought you would never ask.”

He held her hands up against the wall above their heads with their palms touching and his fingers dug into the tiles, providing him a good hold like when he fucked Molly on the hospital roof. Without using his hands (but needing a little help from his tail), he pressed the head of his manhood against her wet pussy and forced it in, making Selene scream in happiness from the huge mass driving up into her gates of paradise and stuffing her slender body. Bucking his hips, Baltoh began swinging up into her like a trebuchet, fucking her like a madman and making Selene moan from his cock slamming the farthest corners of her cunt. With her wet tits jiggling against his bare chest, the two lovers made out under the hot spray of the shower. As the minutes went by, Baltoh’s speed only increased, with his ball sack throwing water with each thrust like a sling.

“Honey, my hands are falling asleep,” Selene said after twenty minutes.

“Yeah, my arms are completely numb,” Baltoh replied with a small smile, making her laugh.

Holding onto her with his tail so that she wouldn’t be dropped, Baltoh pulled his claws out of the walls and released their hands. Once their hands regained feeling aside from a cold prickling sensation, Baltoh lowered Selene back onto her feet and she turned into the flow of hot water, looking over her shoulder at him with a coy look and shaking her ass. Smiling, Baltoh lifted her leg with his tail and worked his cock back into her slit. With her leg raised and his hands on her hips, he began pumping her cunt with fast, deep strokes, bringing Selene back to her original level of ecstasy.

With her mouth open and her eyes closed, Selene turned into the shower spray and let the hot water run down her face while Baltoh fucked her like a machine, ran kisses across her neck and shoulders, and fondled her breasts.

“Oh god, that feels so good!” she whined as his cock finally reached that perfect spot in the depths of her slit, that place that his tongue just couldn’t work up another raw force to properly stimulate.

“You’re telling me, I just can’t get enough of this sweet body of yours. Your pussy feels absolutely amazing. I would fuck you for all eternity if I could, just to always feel it. I got to say, anal is good, but you really can’t beat the good old fashioned way,” Baltoh growled in her ear.

“Who says you can’t fuck me for all eternity? After all, I’ll never stop loving you.”
“I could say the same to you,” he said, leaning forward to kiss her.

Just as their lips touched, their shifting weight caused them both to slip on the wet shower floor, the two of them falling forward and unable to regain their footing. Selene gave a loud yelp of fear just before Baltoh wrapped his arm around her chest to catch her and grabbed onto the wall below the shower head, tearing through the tiles with ease and stopping them, and all without pulling out of her.

“Are you ok?” he asked as he lowered the two of them down onto the floor and swept aside the pieces of tile.

“Well my heart feels like it’s going to break my ribs and I have some plaster and ceramics in my hair, but other than that, I’m fine.”

“Good, because I don’t think we should stand anymore.”

“Well I’m still in the mood and you’re still inside me, can you work without standing?” she purred while on her hands and knees.

Baltoh smiled and leaned forward, flicking his tongue against the back of her ear. “I’m sure I’ll find a way.”

Leaning back and fixing his position, Baltoh moved his hands to her hips and slowly pulled out of Selene leaving only the head in her. In a single shove, he forced his cock back into her with so much power that Selene gave a silent scream. Keeping his hold on her, Baltoh began moving back and forth like the head of a woodpecker, fucking Selene with all his strength and reaching the farthest points of her body with his manhood. With Selene feeling too good to even make a sound, the noise calling out over the hiss of the shower was her ass clapping against Baltoh’s lap every time he shoved, making her round rear end jiggle and shake. Baltoh had a grin on his face and was licking his lips as he watched the ripples travel through Selene’s chocolate-shade ass cheeks and her breasts swing every time he forced his cock into her.

“OH GOD, I’M CUMMING!” Selene shrieked after fifteen minutes of the inhuman pounding. In the aftermath of her orgasm, Selene barely felt Baltoh pull his cock out of her gaping pussy.

Panting heavily, he sat back against the wall of the shower. “Wow, I am completely drained. I don’t know which requires more energy, fighting Masters of Torture or trying to satisfy your nymphomaniac appetite.”

Selene turned around and smiled as she moved over to him, wrapping her hand around his manhood, which refused to go limp. “Well it’s not fair that you didn’t get to cum. See, your dick still has plenty of strength left. Don’t worry, baby; I’ll take care of you. You said anal can’t beat the good old fashioned sex? Let’s see if we can change your mind…”

She raised her hips and guided his cock to her anus. Baltoh grunted as he entered the tight ring and Selene whimpered in delight at the feeling of the penetration. She slowly lowered herself down, working his entire cock in between her firm ass cheeks. Gripping his shoulders, she began raising her lower body and then slamming herself back down, bouncing on his manhood while moaning as she tried to handle the huge mass. Baltoh put his hands on her shapely rear end, helping her ride him like a pogo stick. With his hands on her ass, he was able to feel every glorious ripple and jiggle of her sultry rear when she drove his manhood back into her body, and he relished the feeling, just as he did the feeling of the soft wet interior of her asshole around his cock.

Selene tirelessly rode Baltoh for more than ten minutes before Baltoh began to grunt as he approached the bursting point. At that, she stopped bouncing on his cock and instead straddled it, gyrating her hips and swirling it around in her body so that it felt every corner. Finally, Baltoh gave a Demonic growl as a geyser of hot cum was released, flooding Selene’s insides to the point where she felt like she was going to start coughing it up. The pressure was so impressive that Selene’s body began to shake as it tried to handle it all.

Dismounting him, Selene turned around and began lovingly licking Baltoh’s deflating cock, sucking up the semen and delectable taste of her ass while his seed poured out of her back door. Baltoh was struggling to keep his eyes open, he was so tired and the hot water and the feeling of Selene hungrily siphoning every drop of sperm from his cock wasn’t exactly helping him stay awake. He finally was brought back to full alertness as he felt a sudden flare of energy nearby; an Archangel had just entered the bedroom.

“Master?” he heard Rosemary call.

“In here,” he said as he struggled to get back on his feet and Selene turned off the water.

Rosemary entered the bathroom just as Baltoh and Selene stepped out of the shower, and a hungry expression immediately filled her eyes and lined her pretty face. Shaking her head from side to side, she got down on one knee and bowed.

“I… hope I’m not interrupting.”

“No, we had just finished. What’s going on?” Baltoh casually asked as he grabbed a nearby towel and began drying himself off.

Rosemary’s eyes met Selene’s, who was leaning against the door of the shower with a very coy smile on her face, one that instantly made Rosemary wet.

“Rosemary,” Baltoh said, snapping her back to attention.

“Something is happening down in New York, it’s not a battle, it’s something else. You really need to come see.”

“Damn it, there is no way the city could have reached Hell already!” Baltoh fearfully cursed as he rushed past her into the bedroom to retrieve his clothes. Rosemary turned and watched him, but nearly jumped when Selene walked up to her, still with a coy smile. They were silent for a couple seconds, just staring at each other with Rosemary unable to keep her eyes from wandering up Selene’s naked body.

“Like what you see?” Selene asked with a teasing grin.

Rosemary jerked at the question and was unable to respond. Selene leaned forward, her lips just an inch from Rosemary’s. “I’ll take that as a yes. Don’t worry baby, you’ll get a much more… intimate… look later,” she whispered seductively while running her hand across Rosemary’s cheek and walking past her, leaving the Archangel sputtering from her rush of arousal.

As Selene walked into the bedroom to get dressed, Rosemary watched her closely, specifically her perfect ass, which was swinging from side to side with each step like a clock pendulum.

Baltoh, Selene, and Rosemary materialized in the center of New York, where all of the Archangels were gathered and combining their powers to cast a repairing barrier around the city. New York itself was shaking wildly and a blackish-blue light was passing between the buildings like a flood. The island of stone was rumbling so violently that streets and buildings and crumbling as fast as the barrier repaired them with huge fissures shooting through the city and opening up great fissures that swallowed everything nearby.

“What the Hell is going on?” Selene shouted over the roar of the shattering city as cracks ran between her feet.

Baltoh looked around at the dark-blue light replacing the blood-red hue on the sides of the buildings. His eyes came to a stop when he saw the lowest building between him and the horizon, seeing that the stone shaft that the city had carved into the planet had reached its end, but the city was still sinking. The churning sea of magma around the city was being replaced by empty space with swirling dark-blue lights like the Aurora Borealis. As the end of the tunnel rose up over the fence of Hellfire and continued to elevate above the city, everyone realized what had happened.

New York had reached the core of the planet, but instead of sitting in a molten moon of iron, it had finally punched through the dimensional barrier and entered the Null Void between universes. They had reached the halfway point between Earth and Hell, having finally left the realm of Cinereo. The fence of Hellfire continued to burn around the city, signaling that it was still being pulled down towards Hell, boring through reality itself like burning thermite.

As the bottom of the shaft finally rose up over the tallest skyscrapers, a cloud of dim blue lights swirled over the city and then disappeared, replacing the shaft with a clear dark sky, fully severing New York from Earth like water flooding an undersea fissure. Drifting down past the city like flecks of ash, human souls could be seen, wearing their clothes from their death and wrapped in a pale aura, all of them being pulled down with the inhabitants of New York towards the Inferno.

“Alright everyone, we’ve reached the halfway point. Next stop: Hell.”

“We are in serious, serious trouble,” Baltoh said with a sigh. As usual after a battle, he was gathered with the Archangels, the chief of police, the mayor, and several other human and Angel representatives in City Hall. “I don’t know if it was Tenebrous himself that sent that Master of Torture and Titan or if he was merely acting on his own and decided to bring his steed with him. Whatever the reason, we were nearly defeated and that was with just a pair of them. We have just about reached the midpoint between the world of the living and Hell, any day now the shaft of stone around the city from the Earth’s mantle will disappear and this city will hover in the null void between dimensions. Until the opening of the gateway finally annihilates this city, there is nothing to stop Tenebrous from sending every Master of Torture and Titan at us. He doesn’t even have to give the order; they may just attack on their own.”

“I’m not sure we have to worry about Tenebrous,” Gabriel said. “He’ll throw every Demon, Gargoyle, and Sinner at us, but after what happened to the last Master of Torture and Titan, I doubt he will be willing to send anymore of his most valuable forces. Baltoh, you’re the key to stopping them, that blast of yours is the one thing we have that can stop them. Unless they can somehow create some indestructible barrier that not even you can break, he won’t risk throwing his most powerful followers against that beam.”

“It’s strange though, that an entity such as yourself, who has equal stamina and power as a Master of Torture, is able to summon a blast so mighty that not even they can block it. How is it that you fight at their level and nearly die when facing them in hand-to-hand combat, but you can suddenly wipe them out with energy to spare? Baltoh, we need to know more about this technique of yours,” Michael said, leaning against the wall.

Baltoh gave another sigh. “The blast has no name because it uses neither Archangel nor Demon energy. It is powered solely by the rage and anger within my heart, and I unleash that anger in a raw burst of power. Its power is dictated by the intensity of my emotions, not by the actual energy within my body, which is why the power of the blast and my own power are so far apart. I use my wings to channel my rage to my halo, which I use as a release point. Other than that, there is nothing else to it.”

“Drawing energy from nonexistence…” Michael whispered under his breath.

“But enough about that, tell me about the progress being made in Heaven. What information has been found about the Throne of Cinereo?”

“Nothing, not a single mentioning of it has been found. As I told you before, it is nothing but a blasphemous urban legend dreamt by heretics.” Michael scoffed.

“You mean a single mentioning hasn’t been found YET. I know that all the information in Heaven hasn’t been searched, keep looking,” Baltoh ordered, drawing a growl of frustration from Michael.

“You’re not the boss of me Baltoh, no matter how much you think you are,” he muttered before storming out of the room.

As he walked off, Baltoh locked eyes with Rosemary and shifted his gaze to the door, giving her a nonverbal command. Rosemary gave a small nod of obedience and followed Michael, leaving everyone else to continue discussing the logistics and obstacles in their path. In the dark hallway on the powerless City Hall, Rosemary confronted Michael.

“Why did you ask him about his technique?” she inquired, causing Michael to stop in his tracks.

“What is it to you?”

“You’ve seen that blast fired five times over the last two weeks, and yet only now do you decide to ask him about it. What changed?”

Michael hesitated and did not turn to her. “I lied to him back there, when I said that nothing had been found about the Throne of Cinereo. We found a mention of it in a book from before the death of Christ.”

“What did you find?”

“It talked about how the energy of this universe split into two different frequencies and forms after its birth: the light of Heaven and the darkness of Hell. It said that the only way to recreate the energy of Cinereo is to combine the forces of shadow and light, just as it created them by splitting apart.”

“So why did you lie to him?” Rosemary asked, causing Michael to finally turn to her.

“I lied because of who and what he is. He’s a hybrid, Rosemary, the first in existence. I know this Throne of Cinereo doesn’t exist and that it is all just a load of bullshit, but if there is the tiniest chance that it Is real, then Baltoh has the greatest chance of achieving it. I know we’re working with him, but he is one of the absolute last people I would want to have the powers of a god. He said that the blast he uses is neither darkness nor light and instead is powered solely by his hatred, but I think he’s wrong. I think his emotions allow him to bond light and darkness together to create that neon eruption. That’s why its power is separate from his; its not fueled by either halves of his energy, but of those two halves fusing together into a whole new form of raw power!

He’s already on his way to achieving the Throne of Cinereo if it exists and I cannot allow someone like him to get power like that.”

“So you’re afraid of him?” Rosemary hissed. Michael was silent.

“I’m more afraid of him than anything else in the universe, solely because of what he is and what he might become,” he said before walking away.

Standing alone in the hallway, Rosemary nearly jumped when Baltoh’s tail wrapped around her like a snake and he began kissing her neck.

“That’s my girl, my perfect little spy,” he whispered in her ear, making her purr in arousal.

“You heard it all, Master?” she asked, grinding against him.

“Of course. And let’s just say that Michael has a right to be afraid of me. You did well in getting him to tell the truth. As a reward, come up to the bedroom tomorrow night, you’ll know when.”

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