Dancing In The Void

Katherine stared at the stars above, and a bitter smile creeped upon her face.

She turned around, her coat and scarf fluttering behind her. Her white hair glistened in the night like a pearly flame. Nikolai heard her, and looked back at her with dismay, tears still lingering in her right eye, and embers flickering from the left.

“What now?” She asked quietly, the angel she once called a friend whimpering behind her, pleading for help. Uriel’s sudden screams and shrieks shattered the silence of the somber woods. Nikolai looked back in terror, a painful memory flashing in her mind. She shuddered and gazed at her bloodied hands.

“Now, we wait.” Katherine said solemnly. Her mismatched eyes leered into the depths of the forest that surrounded the cold stone plaza. “Nikolai.”

“Yes, Katherine?”

“They’ll all be here soon. I need you to do something for me. Set this forest on fire.” She ordered calmly.

Nikolai was suddenly distressed.

“Who is coming?”

Katherine was silent. Nikolai decided not to press further, obliging by her sister’s will. She stepped forward until she reached the edge of the stairs. She then rubbed her fingers on the palm of her left hand. Her outstretched arm pointed at the trees before her, and the flames that flickered upon her skin all of a sudden exploded outward aimlessly. Katherine jumped back, avoiding the fire that jumped towards her and landed before her feet, dissipating quickly afterwards. Most of them landed among the trees and the leaves, quickly turning from mere embers into a bright veil of light that consumed the forest.

“S-sorry. I’m still getting used to this.” Nikolai quickly apologized.

“It’s alright.” Katherine replied coldly, watching as the trees one by one fell into the fires, and the heat began intensifying around them. “You got the job done.”

The huntress turned back to Uriel, who was now hanging numbly on the cross. Her head rested limply to the side, her blue hair covering her tearing face. Katherine walked towards the angel and placed her finger on the center of her chest.

“Are you... going to kill me now?” Uriel asked, her voice thin and afraid.

“No, if I just needed you dead in order for me to finish this task, you’d long be dead.” She traced a triangle on the angel’s bare chest. “Uriel, are you or are you not aware of the power that comes with being an angel? The power that you have within you?”

Uriel looked at Katherine with her depressed white eyes, as the corner of her mouth curved into a grin. Immediately after, the angel spat directly in Katherine’s eyes. “Fuck. You.”

“Hehe, ha.” Katherine giggled, wiping her face. “I see you’ve picked up some quirks from Evan and Constantine… It matters not to me, I will break it out of you.” Her black eye became a violent shade of crimson. Her left hand curled into a fist. “Sooner than later.”

Uriel choked. Her heartbeat slowed to a crawl. Her mouth was wide open as she tried desperately to breathe. Her white eyes began emitting a bright glow. A silver haze was flowing from her mouth and eyes. It flashed once and shot into the sky, as a pillar of light linked the heavens to the crucified angel. And their tears watered the earth beneath. Nikolai stared upwards through the rain in awe as she heard gunshots ring out far behind her.

The convoy parked all around the blazing woods. It was made up of four police jeeps, and three other vans, all placed in a semi-circle close to the forest. About sixty people came out of them and gathered near the vehicles. Most of them were soldiers, all covered in police armor, carrying assault rifles and other weapons. All of their heads were covered by a khaki colored cloth on the back and their faces were adorned by unusual silver masks with jagged lines and prickles protruding out of them. All except the two of them that stood close to the fiery trees, one holding his arm on the revolver strapped to his belt and the other holding an M-One carbine in his hands.

Baal smacked his lips uneasily.

“We’re going to have to go around.” He said, turning back to the soldiers.

“Oh fuck that can’t we just go through?” Jesse objected, following him out of the intense heat that was emanating from the smoke and flames.

“Too risky. The huntress is somewhere in there with the angel. I wouldn’t bring so many men if I was not worried about her.” He pointed at two idle guards and signaled them to walk across to the left. “See how far the fire spread. If it’s less than two kilometers out let us know and we’ll come around. You two, go right, same deal. MOVE!”

The sentries obeyed without a glimpse of doubt.

Jesse nodded intensely a few seconds before wiping the dirt off a large nearby rock and resting against it. He looked at his partner as he talked on the phone to someone else, he believed it to be Baphomet at first but it was another person he did not recognize. A cold wind blew down his neck briefly then passed through him. He turned back to the forest. The flames consumed everything, but something else rose taller than the red tongues of fire.

“BAAL!” He shouted, sliding off of the rock and falling down, before quickly getting back up. His eyes fixed on the light that was piercing the blackness of the sky.

The demon turned to where Jesse was pointing. He swore and immediately ordered the soldiers to charge into the forest. Once again they obeyed without a shadow of a doubt. First a group of ten spread out in pairs of two over a larger area where the fire was lighter, followed by another group of twenty spread out over a similar area and then the remaining thirty, followed finally by Baal and Jesse. Six remained behind to guard the cars. Thunder roared above them as dark clouds gathered.

A gunshot rang out, narrowly missing the head of one of the guards to the side of Baal’s van. All of them swung towards the origin of the bullet and unleashed their cartridges without pause, moving forward as they did so. Then the bullets stopped and the six of them reloaded in almost perfect synchrony, still moving forward. The sound of their footsteps on dry grass was being drowned out by the torrent of rain. Behind a set of small bushes in the distance they saw an abandoned car. They signaled to each other, and four of them advanced as the other two remained behind to cover the area.

Their silver masks were shining with a black lining in the similarly colored light of the moon. One of the backup soldiers stopped and looked behind him, a slight rustling of leaves and the cold wind all he could hear. Everything was still. The lilac blade danced in the shadows of his eyes before the starlight flared upon its edge and his head flew high into the air. The closest soldier to him tumbled out of the way, and bullets began shooting through the air. But to her, they were moving as if through water. She dove towards the man under the cover of her black limbs as her second violet sword aimed at his heart. But he was quick, and dodged to the right, getting impaled in the shoulder instead. The soldier was now laying on the ground, the woman was on him, her foot on his gut and her right hand pushing and twisting the blade. He groaned grotesquely as he pulled out a knife from his side with his free hand. The woman paid no mind, for when he tried to stab her open side his arm dropped the weapon and fell limply to the side.

The soldier coughed blood, and looked up in fear. The icy gold of her eyes was all he could see, the rest of her figure was clouded in blackness. Gunfire rang out from his allies, but the woman lifted him with her shadow tendrils and used him as a shield. He felt drops of fire rain fiercely on his back. When the bullets stopped, the tentacle quickly lifted him high into the night and smashed him against one of his own, killing them both.

“Fiends.” Wrath spat out, her right eye twitching violently.

“Beggars.” She started walking towards the soldiers, her hands and shoulders spasming ,with an unnatural darkness surrounding and shielding her from their bullets.

“Demons. Your filthy existence is no longer yours.” ‘Demons’ echoed in the men’s ears as Wrath vanished from their sight and they vainly attempted to shoot her.

“I will settle…” Her hand plunged into the back of one of the soldiers. Black blood surged into the air before falling among the raindrops like foul dew on the grass. “...Your lives and deaths.”

“I thought you were gonna let them find us for a moment there.” Evan whispered, coming out from behind the small trees in the area. He walked towards Wrath, stepping over a disembodied arm on his way.

Jesus...

“Haah.” Wrath heaved, wincing at a sharp pain in her chest.

“Wrath, how many?” Mephistopheles inquired. Constantine walked closely behind him.

“About… fifty left.” She said slowly.

“Azazel among them?” Constantine asked.

“I couldn’t see him. Either he’s… hiding somewhere, or he’s not here.”

Mephistopheles nodded. He checked the amount of bullets in his cartridge before snapping it back into his weapon. Then he pointed ahead towards the pulsating light in the sky.

“We should get going before it’s too late.”

“I need… a moment.” Wrath implored.

“Go on without me, I’ll catch up.”

“We’ll wait.” Evan suggested.

“No!” She shouted. “I mean…” Wrath wobbled close to the soldier’s corpses. “It’s… not pretty. I’d rather you don't see this.”

All three stared at her for a moment. Only Constantine lingered more than that. He saw her broad black wings, the dark horns that protruded from her head and the shadows that clung to her body like abnormal spiderwebs, but in his mind he still saw that girl he met earlier that day. He was right to be afraid of her however. Her merciless display proved it to him, Wrath truly lived up to her name.

When he ran back to his friends, Wrath’s caliginous appendages coiled around the still bodies of her fallen enemies and pulled them towards her. She fell on her knees and breathed heavily, before stabbing one with her blade, now a narrow edge of lavender. She stuck her hand inside the wound and pulled out a gob of sticky black blood. Like a starving beast she poured it down her throat, over and over again, until there was nothing left. She leaned back, staring up into the illuminated night. Wrath moaned in pain as the water washed her sins away, and continued her feast on the second body.

“What the hell is up with her?” Evan asked Mephisto as the two walked towards the convoy.

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard very much about Wrath when I worked for Azazel. I don’t think anyone really knows what she actually is and why she can do… the things she does.”

“Do you think Azazel knows?”

“Probably, they apparently knew each other in the past.” The demon said. Constantine joined them, still limping slightly from his bullet wound. The three walked past the cars and stood in front of the blazing forest.

“Now what?” Constantine asked.

“Who the hell torched this forest? Was it those soldiers?” Evan continued.

“I don’t think it was them, the air doesn’t smell like gasoline. And the fires seem much thinner on this side of the woods. If it wasn’t for the rain though I’m sure it would be just as bad.” Mephisto looked around and then back into the forest.

“Do you think it was Katherine?” Evan asked gravely. The silence was his answer.

Constantine coughed.

“We should get moving, when you’re ready.” He pulled out his handgun, courtesy of Mephisto, and his dagger. Evan followed suit as did Mephistopheles, although he lacked a dagger to complete the image. Constantine went inside first, jumping over a small bush drenched in embers. The smoke hit him like a wall. Ghastly sickening smog that clogged his lungs. He and Evan both winced and coughed, moving forward in a line. Mephisto only grit his teeth and covered his mouth with his forearm, somehow able to endure it all.

Nikolai peered fearfully into the woods behind them. The shots were close, but they weren’t aimed towards them. Orders, shouts, and screams were ringing out in tandem amongst the chaos that was taking place behind the shroud of trees.

“Katherine?” She called out. “I think they’re here.”

Her sister did not hear her, her calls being drowned out by Uriel’s screams, the chorus of light and the blinding rain. Nikolai saw her still silhouette in the brightness before turning back to the woods. The water washed over her, dousing the flames on her hand ever so slightly, but seemingly not even touching the ones around her left eye. A thought crossed her mind. An intense desire built up within her. She grinned.

Unclean, all of them. I must burn them. Burn them all.

She slowly walked down the steps of the plaza and placed her feet on the cold wet ground around them. She grimaced but bore through it. Her lust, her desire was more powerful than her fear and disgust. As she walked into the forest, the flames that still lingered through the rain moved around and with her. She put her hand around a branch, the fire that was on it coiling around her hand like a serpent. At a thought, it moved between her fingers and stopped in her palm. Nikolai closed her hand into a fist, looking away behind two farther-away trees at a soldier that was firing into the dark. She moved behind him, her footsteps silent as the dead. Her eye stared at him with fierce hatred and disgust, as if his mere presence insulted her. The scars on her left leg flared, and a gale fire coursed down from them into the ground, charging like a wild beast and engulfing the man. He squealed and tried desperately to put out the flames, but they clung to his body despite his constant thrashing.

Nikolai watched it all unfold with almost childlike wonder. Her eye stared onward as the fires consumed him, the sentry now nothing more than a mere husk of burning flesh. She let out a minor gasp of surprise. She walked up to the charred corpse and put her hand on his chest, leaning down to look at his face. As soon as her fingers touched him, the yellow tongues rushed towards her and coiled within her scarred skin. She slowly removed his black mask. His dead eyes stared back at her and his soulless gaze filled her with a sense of glee. Nikolai smiled and laughed quietly.

“Your sins have been purified!” She exclaimed.“Your body has been cleansed, are you not glad? You should be happy too… why, why are you so sad...?”

A single bullet flew past her body. With almost feral instinct her hands lashed out and a torrent of fire erupted and flew into the forest, igniting the few trees and bushes that were unscathed.

“...Why do you all reject the gift I offer?”

She raised her left arm towards her assailants, and mindlessly, her powers burst out. Aimlessly they sought out bodies to engulf and dozens of nearby soldiers that heard their comrade’s screams rushed in, only to become a feast for the inferno.

“In the end, you all are nothing more than kindling…” She whispered apathetically.

Nikolai walked forward, she could hear men shout orders and scream in the distance. A pitch black enveloped the area she heard the sounds from. But she saw them. Gleaming like a vivid painful memory in the night. Twin blades dancing like lavender wolves among black sheep.

Fear gripped her once again. She could not remember why, but the sight of them terrified her. When their carnage stopped, she saw the myriad of lifeless bodies that surrounded the veil of blackness. And in the center of them all, she saw Wrath’s fearsome yellow eyes, crimson blood flowing around them. The demon was as still as a statue, and Nikolai stepped back, afraid she had been spotted. But when she collapsed on her knees, Nikolai knew she was safe. She hid behind a young oak and carefully observed her. The shadows faded back, and the light of the fires relit the woods. Nikolai lifted her index finger, pointing it towards the vulnerable enemy. Heat began gathering around it, pulling the blaze of the forest slowly into it. Her finger became redder and brighter with each passing moment. A man rushed over to the demon, and pulled her up, holding her on his shoulder. Nikolai pulled back her hand making a fist, her finger rapidly beginning to cool. She grit her teeth and grunted. More bullets began whizzing through the air towards them, so Nikolai leaned back behind the tree, careful not to get caught by a stray one.

“Come on Wrath, get up, we have to get out of here.” She heard the man say. Her body trembled, she knew that voice, it was a song that filled her with happiness whenever she heard it. A sweet tenderness that was meant just for her.

Why are you here?

Nikolai looked back at him, he was draped in a long white overcoat, but his unmistakable gray hair awoke inside her a memory filled with despair.

No, no, no, no.

“No, no, no, you should not be here.” She started mumbling to herself. “Why are you here? Who are you, why are you here? Go away, just go away, and let me be.” Her voice was louder and louder. Nikolai looked down at her hands, her head throbbing in pain. She clawed at her forehead, her long nails digging into her skin.

“Come on now, Evan and Mephy are behind those trees, come on.” His voice continued. The demon cried out and coughed viciously, falling back down onto the blood-soaked ground.

Nikolai looked back at them. Two other men rushed out from somewhere she could not see, in their hands were guns that fired back in the direction they were running from. One of them was wounded, she could see the left side of his stomach bleeding. He fell next to the demon, lying against the slick trunk of a small pine. Nikolai cowered back behind the tree, watching them through the tears that welled up in her eye. A miasma of spite and dread churned within her.

“We can’t just leave the two of you here!” The second newcomer shouted, taking cover from the rain of metal that flew towards them.

“Just go you idiots! Stop her before it’s too late. These foul demons will not get past me, I promise you that. I will bask in their blood if it’s the last thing I do.” The demon woman screamed back, her voice brimming with bloodlust. At her command the two fell silent, and after a brief moment of thought they nodded.

“Before you go, there’s something I have to tell you. Please.” The wounded man asked of the man with gray hair. He kneeled before him. Nikolai listened closely, but the sounds of burning wood and blaring gunfire drowned out any other noise. When they were done, he got up, and following his friend, ran out into the forest. Nikolai hid further into the shrubbery, watching as the two of them ran right past her and out of the blazing forest. Nikolai stepped forward from her hiding. She turned back to the demon and wounded man behind her, wondering if she should take the chance and finish them off.

No.

No, not you. She decided. Turning her back on them and looking forward.

I remember now.

A decrepit smile crawled on her face like a red centipede. Her teeth were black with blood, and the fires around her charred black eye fluttered over her head like the petals of a rose.

Constantine coughed loudly upon finally getting out of the forest and breathing fresh air again. The rain battered him and Evan, who was more eager and seemingly less tired than him. The two of them pulled out their daggers, both draped in blood, and continued forward. Before them lay the pale full moon surrounded by somber gray clouds. It was as if the now-absent tower of light from earlier had summoned it in the sky.

“You seem awfully excited for someone who just got shot at a bunch of times.” Constantine could not help but mention.

“Frankly, I was scared shitless back there. We got lucky we pulled through relatively unscathed. I hope Wrath and Mephi can handle the rest.” Evan retorted, taking deep breaths in between sentences.

“Then what is it?” The two of them stepped forward onto the stone plaza. Evan turned to him and smiled.

“I’m finally gonna kick Katherine’s ass. That’s enough to get my blood boiling.” He flicked his arm and his dagger extended back into its lance form.

Constantine chuckled and drew out his weapon as well. They turned back and whatever smile and the morale they fabricated seemed to fade when they saw the silhouette before them. The outline of the cross and their friend sprawled across it made their stomachs churn. Katherine sat on the stairs underneath the cross, her halberd resting across her lap. They stopped. Katherine rose, impaling her weapon into the ground and placing her hands on its pommel. She whipped her hair back, revealing her saddened but determined face. Her black eye was now a glowing scarlet, the veins surrounding it visibly pulsating and stretching across her face and neck.

“Jesus… Katherine…” Evan started, eyes still staring at Uriel.

“I had hoped we would not have to meet ever again. Especially not here.” She interrupted apathetically.

“Why?” Constantine demanded, his face rack with disgust.

“It does not matter why. I won’t be able to convince you that what I am doing is necessary whatever the reasoning.”

“You did not even attempt. You knocked me out and ran away with Uriel to do what? Nail her to a fucking cross? Like a goddamn psychopath from the stone age?” Evan lashed out, pointing his spear threateningly towards her.

“I do not want to fight you Evan, do not make me.” She replied calmly. Evan pulled back his spear and his grip tightened around it.

“Alright then tell me Katherine, why?” Constantine pried further.

Katherine sighed. “The angel is the key. Lady Death told me that when I first died. And I received reaffirmation after we got attacked by the wendigos, after Azazel killed Alila. Her sacrifice would forever seal the gates of hell. All the torment I went through, the beasts and demons that me and my bloodline slaughtered over centuries, it would all finally come to an end, they would never set foot here again. All of them locked away in the abyss of the afterlife as they should be. Our world would forever be free from such scum.” She said, her voice trembling with anticipation. “From the moment you told me you found an angel, I knew, it was finally over. It has always been my duty to liberate this world from evil. The nightmare that haunted my life ever since my death, I vowed to do whatever it takes to prevent it from being unleashed.” She paused, looking back at Uriel before turning back and smiling. “She was the solution that finally came to me. Now tell me, if I told you this, would you have put aside your love for Uriel and allow me to take her life, Constantine?” Her words boomed like thunder in his ears. Constantine stared at her blankly, his mouth agape.

“Katherine…” He said, but didn’t get a chance to continue.

“I wanted to tell you, both of you. Believe me I did. We were friends, I am not cruel. But when Nikolai was captured I knew… I knew Uriel would try to rescue her. Her power is great, I know that, I’m sure she does too. But I could not risk her dying and let all of it go to waste.”

“You’re insane!” Evan blurted. “You’re absolutely insane. How can you possibly sacrifice someone like some lunatic because some idiots told you some idiotic prophecy?”

“Even after all that you’ve seen Evan, you’re still skeptical of all of this? I died, Evan. My body turned to ash and my bones were dust. Yet I am still here, because my blood is the blood of Samson, and Lady Death brought me back to fulfill my purpose.” She spoke with a fervor and drive, unusual of her calm nature.

“No.” Constantine said coldly. “You really are crazy.” He grabbed his spear with his other hand and placed his left foot forward, just like she had taught him to.

“You would dare? Alright. I could not convince you, maybe my sister will. I’m sure you’ve met, after all you were lovers once.”

Constantine’s blood ran cold.

“What did you just say?” Evan asked, confused.

“Did you not hear her Evan?” A familiar voice taunted. Constantine turned around slowly, Evan kept staring at Katherine and the sly grin that she flaunted.

“N-Nikolai?” He asked softly, his weapon nearly falling out of his hand.

The spectre before him stared back with her glacial unwavering eye. Constantine recognized the scars on her face and hand, scars that never stopped him from loving her. Her identity was unmistakable, but the fires that whipped violently off of her skin and eye, the pallid hair color together with her thin, almost starving appearance, this was not her. Whatever this was, it was not the Nikolai he remembered.

“But, you died.” Constantine said, shaking his head in disbelief. “You bled to death in my arms. I… I… no...”

“It feels like so long ago… Constantine…” She began talking, her voice strangely distant. Nikolai felt the memories flood back within her mind, the happiness of the past she had forgotten came back. It haunted and plagued her. “Please…” She begged him, crimson tears flowing down her famished cheeks. “Leave, now. Forsake the angel, and let Katherine cleanse this world. Or... I... I will kill you.” She lifted her arm towards him, red flames billowing furiously around her body.

“Nikolai... This is not you. Uriel was your friend, she cared for you more than any of us.. how could you?” Evan stammered.

“It is her duty Evan, just as it is mine. Cleansing this world, purifying it by any means necessary.” Katherine’s voice rang out.

“I refuse Nikolai! I will not leave and let you murder someone like some beast. What the hell happened to you, I can’t possibly know, but it can’t justify this… not this.” Constantine shouted with determination.

“You don’t know what I’ve been through, the hell I endured in Azazel’s dungeon. Every single waking moment was torture. Being beaten, tormented, used like a slave by demons wanting to abuse and play with me as they saw fit. The beginning of my hell. And after that, when I finally believed I was free to die, shot in the back like some mangy dog, what do I find in the afterlife? The same hell I lived through in life over, and over and over AGAIN!” Nikolai screamed back at him through her bloody tears.

“I do know what you’ve been through, remember? That shame, that feeling of helplessness, the guilt. You’re the only one I ever told, remember? You’re the one that helped me through those times, let me help you please.” Constantine said calmly, as tears ran down his face.

“I remember… Your father…” She slowly recalled. “But I-I can’t. I swore I will burn every single demon, monstrosity or human that I see as unclean. This includes you Constantine, so please, I beg you, just go. Let me be. I don’t want this. I can’t...”

“So, just kill me then.”

“I can’t.” Nikolai said quietly. A sudden realization washed over her, her flames dying down to the mere embers around her eye.

“I will not move.” Constantine said, standing his ground.

“I CAN’T DO IT!” She cried out. Her fingers suddenly shook frantically, before the shivers spread throughout her body. The entirety of her skin lit the night with fire. “I hope we never see each other again, Constantine. I fear I won’t be able to stop myself next time.” A cocoon of fire embraced her, shattering outward into a blazing fury. The heat and force overwhelmed him and Evan, sending them on their back. And then silence. Only ashes remained where Nikolai stood.

Evan quickly rushed to Constantine and pulled him up, wiping away the embers that clung to his clothes.

“Come on Constantine.” He said, trying to sound encouraging.

“How disappointing.” Katherine said nonchalantly. “I had hoped she’d kill whatever emotions she had when she nailed Uriel. I guess her love for you really was that strong?” She chuckled, spinning her halberd in her hands and placing its blade between her shoulder and neck. She let her left hand hang low to the ground as she stared at the pitiful duo before her. Her eyes were like hounds, and they looked back at her with reluctant but accepting eyes. Their hands trembled with fear and hate as they gripped their spears and readied themselves. The wind was howling.

Mephistopheles raised his hand over the fallen log, shooting into the darkness of the forest. Wrath materialized before him, drenched from head to toes in the blood of the assailants, and hers. She knelt down beside him.

“How many more of these fucking soldiers are there?” Mephisto exasperatedly asked.

“I don’t… I don’t know, I’ve lost count of how many I killed toni-” Wrath gagged and turned her head, spewing blood and vomit on the side of the tree trunk.

“God…” She moaned. “GOD FUCKING DAMN IT ALL!” She lashed out, punching the mud with her blood-soaked hands. “FUCK ALL OF YOU.”

“Ah… fuck… Mephisto.” Wrath whispered, taking deep breaths every few words. “Azazel is not here. There’s another one. I don’t know his name, blonde. Build like a fucking ward-hurk-robe. I tried getting to him but they’re really adamant about keeping me away.”

“Baal. Why would he be here? Who gives, Wrath, this is beyond mad. We have to get out of here, we’re both going to die like idiots if we keep this up.”

“No. Not until every single one of these fucks are dead. I try to keep my promises, you know. “

“You promise won’t mean shit if you’re dead.” He shouted back at her, before wincing back at the pain in his side.

Wrath looked at him as if a ghost from her past just appeared before her. Mephisto watched her face, as if he had broken her stone heart with what he just said.

“W-Wrath?”

She gulped and came back to the present. “Y-yes. You’re right. Getting out of here. But not me. I’ll make you an opening, you rush for the boys, you hear me?”

Mephistopheles opened his mouth to object, but at a glance Wrath silenced him.

“When you’re ready.” He said meekly.

Wrath pulled her shoulders back and rotated her neck. Her bones cracked loudly. She looked at him and smiled the kindest smile Mephisto had seen. It vanished as Wrath’s golden eyes turned to jewels of pure black. Her lips spelled out the command ‘run’ and that he did. Wrath’s wings unfolded, larger and more terrifying than ever before. She could see them, with her open eyes, the dark souls of the damned among the backdrop of the night. One of them walked close, thinking he had an easy shot. He felt his soul being torn from his body as Wrath flew through him, the essence of his being evaporating into the air.

Mephistopheles limped forward as fast as he could. The earth seemed to quake beneath him as he ran. He couldn’t tell if this was Wrath’s doing or someone else’s but it did not matter, he had to find shelter. He looked at his gun. He had eighteen bullets when he got here. Now he had three left. Mephistopheles jumped down, as gunfire brushed over his head. He crawled next to a stump, shooting once, twice. A groan rang out followed by a thump. But the bullets came again. Mephistopheles got up and dashed towards the soldier. This one was different, he was wearing nothing but a bullet vest, his head was uncovered. Besides him was an old carbine, which Mephisto promptly kicked away.

“I know you, I remember those scars.” Mephisto said, sliding up against the tree he leaned on. His voice was shrill and croaky with blood. “You lived, Egg Man?”

“Last time, you killed all my men, blew up my Boss’ precious restaurant, and somehow got away with it!” The demon spat, wiping away his lips. “This time, I’ll make sure you’ll die choking on your own blood!” He shouted, pulling out a combat knife.

Mephisto fixed his aim on the demon’s temple, ignoring him. His gun clicked. Both their eyes went wide, as the realization washed over them. Mephisto forgot the bullet he shot to lure out the guards. The demon lunged at him, swiping with his massive blade. Mephisto pushed his arm away, smashing his nose with a right hook. His opponent smacked back against the tree, and pushed himself back into Mephisto. He grappled him with his arm, and held the tip of his knife dangerously close to his face. Mephisto groaned as he tried to keep the blade away with his hands. He tilted his head as far left as he could, and for a moment, pulled his arm instead of pushing. The sudden change surprised his foe, who kept pushing his knife straight into the base of his own neck. He stared down in shock, blood squirting from his mouth and wound. Mephisto grabbed the knife, and pushed it slowly from left to right, all the while looking away from the spurting blood. He finally pulled it out and Jesse’s body fell stiff as a log on the wet muddy ground.

The halberd swung before them like a red whirlwind. The metal bashed against the rocks and their lances without relent. Katherine used the force of the swing and jumped, bringing her weapon down onto the stone platform. She formed a crevice as rocks and chunks of stone flew out into the air. Constantine dashed towards her, but his spear rebound aimlessly off of the halberd, leaving him wide open. Evan thrust forward his lance, not giving Katherine a chance to strike. His friend continued their combined onslaught, but Katherine laughed mockingly at them as she blocked every single one of their swings. Evan pulled back and stepped aside, moving around to find an opening as she fended off Constantine. She smiled, blocking the oncoming spear with the twin spikes on top of her halberd, and throwing it out of his arms. She then stabbed the ground with her blade, twirling around it and kicking both of them in the head. Katherine pulled it out and ran towards Evan, slamming her blade down upon him. Evan rolled to the side, and kicked his foot upwards, hitting her gut and sending her back. They all stopped briefly, getting back to their feet.

“You guys are just how I left you.” She said, breathing in wearily.

“We actually managed to hit you this time.” Constantine replied.

“I guess it’s the fear of dying by my blade that’s pushing you further than usual, but that’s all the difference. You two are still beneath me.” She taunted.

“Katherine…” Evan chuckled, panting heavily. ”I liked you a lot more before, you talk too much now.”

She couldn't help but smile sadly, as she then charged towards him. Evan barely jumped underneath her slash, tumbling behind her as Constantine struck her side, but only shallowly. She groaned and turned towards him, swinging her blade wildly as he tried to block and parry. Evan saw his chance, and rushed up the steps towards Uriel. Katherine turned towards him, her eyes flickering wildly, her left eye flaring with a bright red glow. She bashed Constantine’s spear away with her weapon and slammed her metal gauntlet into his face, causing him to fall back. He moaned in pain and quickly got up. He shook his head dizzily grasping his spear once again, but Katherine was gone.

“EVAN!” He screamed.

Evan jumped up the stairs, calling out to Uriel. The angel woke up at the sound of his voice, and hope relit in her eyes when she saw her friend through the haze. He reached up with his left hand and grabbed Uriel’s shoulder. And that’s where it remained, when Katherine’s halberd descended between their eyes like a guillotine. He kept staring at Uriel in awe with a dumb grin on his face, all the while she screamed in terror. He did not hear her. Katherine backhanded Evan with her metal fist, making him tumble down the stairs. A bloody stain was left where his stump touched the stone.

“EVAN!” Constantine screamed his lungs out.

He ran towards his friend, at the same time Katherine slowly stepped down the stairs, wiping the blood off her halberd with her scarf. She mercilessly stepped over her former friend, his groans and quiet shrieks of pain falling on deaf ears. Constantine lunged headfirst, slicing the air towards Katherine, but she deflected it. He was open, but Katherine only struck his lance again, knocking it out of his hands. She then stepped forward and sliced him upwards from his right hip to his left shoulder. Constantine dropped to his knees. The cut was shallower than he would have expected, but deep enough to crush whatever hope he had of defeating her. She tossed aside her halberd, a loud deaf clunk was heard when it hit the ground. She then leaned down and grabbed his chin. Only a quick glance was given before she smashed his face with her fist. He sprawled down on the ground helplessly, with Katherine climbing on top of him and punching him again, and again, and again. She stopped. Constantine coughed and winced at the pain. Her face was being partially covered by her long white hair, but he could see tears welling up in her scarlet eye.

“It shouldn’t have gone down like this.” She whimpered. “I only wanted to save everyone. Even you four… but I couldn’t. I tried to take it all alone. I believed if I killed any emotions I had left I would be able to kill you all without remorse, should need be.”

“K-Katherine.” He mumbled.

“My cursed bloodline is everything. I could not go against the will of death itself. The will of a Goddess. I’m sorry Constantine, I truly am. I hope… you can all find it in yourselves to forgive me for all of this, someday.”

Constantine’s eyes looked at hers in awe, realization finally grasped his feeble mind. “Oh god… K-Katherine. You must stop! Mephistopheles, h-he’s an inanimaliat. A demon.”

“What? S-so what?”

“He’s... He’s Uriel’s father! Doesn’t that make her half-demon too?” He said, voice nothing but a tremble.

Katherine stared dumbfounded at him. The red haze in her eye melted away leaving only the reality of her world collapsing around her. She stumbled back on her feet, staring down into empty space before turning around all but too late. The cross upon which Uriel was crucified had crumbled down to mere dust. The angel’s body laid across the pedestal, covered by her massive wings, now black as the night that crawled across the moon. The eclipse drew further across the edges of the celestial body, until it was covered completely as it had been prior to the ritual. The yawning chasm stretched on before her, and within it she could see, through the tears in her miscolored eyes, the twisting black hands of her living nightmare.