A few minutes prior to Noctis awakening….
Death…. Carnage... Desperation...
The speaker continued her work of finishing Noctis ' awakening but was deeply troubled by the foresight the Heavenly Father granted momentarily for her to see the realm of hell and its troubles. She realized with this vision that time was out with Lyoria on the assault and had backed Charlie, her friends, the goetia family, and even the IMP gang into a corner.
With only Angel Dust standing his ground after Beezlebub and Ozzy appeared there was nothing but one thing left to do in order to save everyone.
She sighed under her somber smile while watching Noctis and Moira coerce so happily about Max and his growth, along with the development of his relationship with Charlie and Vaggie as not just his lovers but co-mothers for the pup.
The speaker was benevolent by her own decision but carried a little bit of hatred in the situation that she knew would not end well for Noctis. However, the time of growth was long past and she knew that the man would be made who he was before, starting with breaking the peace in his mind.
The thought was so bitter to her plans that it made her subconsciously bristle her feathers while taking her hands away from Noctis and disconnecting her power from awakening his.
I hope you can forgive me, my child.
The laughter between Noctis and Moira grew as soon as he brought up the one incident Max overfilled his diaper and Husk was stuck cleaning it up rather than drinking his liquor.
"And he even screamed how much shit can this kid push out ?"
Moira giggled into her hand as the tears rolled off her fur, the thought of her own pup causing such trouble echoing in her mind while the speaker was troubled with confliction of ending this togetherness with the truth.
She blinked said tears away and looked up to the angel that smiled still but with a deep sadness in her eyes that signaled exactly what was meant to become of her.
"It is time, my child."
Noctis was still in his own little world of laughter to not even notice how Moira suddenly went from joyous to understanding with a remembering sadness as to why she was here in the first place.
Moira knew exactly what The Speaker was talking about and sighed with a small nod of acceptance. She knew her time was up and that her role with Noctis was about to start a chain reaction of helping him grip his role in the fate of heaven and hell.
But it still hurt and frightened her to think her purpose would be something would most definitely break Noctis' heart. Truth be told she hated it, she hated herself a little for being the one that would have to actually hurt his heart.
But he needed the push.
"Is he ready?" She asked with a certain level of uncertainty.
"No, but that is why you're here." The Speaker answered.
Noctis felt awkward at first after breaking from his amusement of Max but quickly understood that whatever had them so bothered was revolving around him as he realized The Speaker was now rubbing his back tenderly.
He could never figure out in his time with the angel if she was always happy with that snile of hers, having never seen anything but that expression the entire time.
But now tragedy was about to strike when he felt tears strike down his cheek when he looked up to said angel crying down at him, dripping her smile off her beak while Moira tried to put on a brave smile.
"I am sorry, my child." Her voice finally cracked with emotion.
"Speaker?"
"I'm ready." Moira said with a hitch in her voice.
"Ready for what?" He chuckled as if trying to hold onto the warmth of the moment they shared not a couple minutes ago. "What's going on?"
He turned his attention back to Moira and started to worry when she was crying and smiling at the same time.
"Moira what's going on?"
She choked on her own emotions, her breaths shaky while wiping the tears she let out but was impossible to stop when they just kept pouring out in the silence that started to scare Noctis.
"Moira?"
"I'm sorry Noctis." She forced her smile to stay and grabbed his hands tightly. "But we might not talk again."
"What?" He exclaimed before looking between her and The Speaker, laughing worriedly. "What are you talking about?"
"I'll tell him." The Speaker gave word after wiping her own tears away.
"Tell me what?" He asked cautiously.
The Speaker flared up her divine power and waved a present time image to life for all three of them to see. She looked down at Noctis with pity and love, her eyes heavy with guilt that Moira shared whilst he watched the image display a palace that was under attack by hollow monsters and a six winged angel that was slowly approaching a furious Angel Dust unloading gunfire all over.
Without hesitstion Noctis shot out of The Speaker's lap and was horrified by the confrontation before it shifted to show everyone he loved barred inside said palace with other strange demons.
"What the hell is going on!?" He yelled before his fear induced attention turned to the angel. "What's happening!? Where is my family at!?"
"The Goetia Palace." The Speaker answered and waved her hand again to pull back the full view of the angel responsible for the all the carnage and destruction. "This is Lyoria, the first flaw."
"First flaw?" Noctis questioned while eyeing the image of the being that confronted angel.
"Yes…..but there's no time." The Speaker replied, turning the boy by force to face her hard look yet somehow still smiling.
A brief moment passed between them as she gave one last touch of her power to his with a second kiss to his head. For this moment it felt warming and mixed with a strong rise of emotions in Noctis when said kiss seemed to trigger the final part of his awakening.
He shook his head and looked up at her with concern, ignoring how her hands cupped his face.
"What is going on and why are you and Moira upset?"
The Speaker choked back one breath of her turmoil and collected herself again. She knew what this would do and pressed her head to his while Moira collected herself for the inevitable.
"Because to trigger your power and save your loved ones..... I must hurt your heart, my child."
Noctis widened his eyes as the words echoed in his mind. He blinked and shook off this strangely saddening threat while her attention focused on Moira.
"What do you mean hurt my heart!?"
"I trust you to do what is needed." She spoke in a much softer voice for Moira, a tone so sweet and yet very broken with emotions.
Moira only nodded.
The next thing Noctis knew, he was grabbed by his face and held against his will by the speaker. Panic set in as soon as he tried to pull away from The Speaker, but her grip was ironclad and she slowly descended her face to his.
The terrible sensation of danger, the thin line of trust now starting to break, he raised his awareness to the angel coming closer as she maintained that grip without hurting him.
"Let go!" He grabbed her wrists and tried to pry away.
A truly saddening smile overtook The Speaker before his breath was taken by her forehead pressed to his own. Forced recall of so many feelings flooded Noctis as he felt his mind invaded by The Speaker with her overwatch of all the pain and suffering she witnessed for thousands of years.
He froze like a statue with memories from her mind now his own, and each one flashed mostly to the one person this angel had the horror of seeing endure thousands of years of pain.
Sera...
A truly dark sharing of her torment showed the beginning of Adam's evil with extermination day, all the deaths and bloodshed that accelerated to the high seraphim being violated in so many ways during his hold of the council with the truth.
His eyes widened to the painful flashes of Sera being taken for her body by the first man, in her office, her own room, even in hallways, and she couldn't fight back. She endured the violation of this disgusting man satisfying his own needs.
Each flash of The Speaker's memory showed the same result— a broken Angel crying herself to sleep or until she couldn't spare another tear.
And worst of all, she did it in the room that belonged to Romna while her legs trembled with blood.
"Stop!" Noctis begged but was paralyzed by the pain of Sera's past, tears running down as he could hear his own mother sob and scream to Adam's wickedness to her body over and over again.
The pain only got worse though with each press of his mind as the memories burned into him and show blood in a mix of his tears.
"IT HURTS!"
The Speaker was with him through this pain, shedding her own tears with deep regret for having to force this upon him while her fingers deepened in his skin.
She didn't want to do this, she wanted to stop hurting Noctis as he began to sob deeply to the memories of her overwatch that accelerated. Every fiber of her angelic form wanted to hold him and apologize for the torture she was forcing to make a trigger happen.
But to dismay she could not defy an order from god when this was part of the plan
"Forgive me, my child. This pain is necessary to trigger your power." She said with a slight crack on her voice, bracing her emotions even when she looked into his pained eyes.
It wasn't just hell for Noctis, it was torture beyond understanding to see so much of Sera's past and everyone he loved who suffered in more recent events of his unconscious state after Michael stabbed him.
He started sobbing uncontrollably as The Speaker kept her relentless forcing of his power to trigger.
"Focus this horror into pain and turn it into fury. Be furious for Sera. Be furious for all who I am showing you, my child."
"Sorry Noctis!" Moira shouted painfully and restrained his arms.
Quicker than he could process this restraint, the flood of his mind became heavier now with The Speaker sharing her overwatch of what was happening in hell and how everyone he knew and loved was currently suffering from a losing battle with a dangerous angel that was fighting a pair of sins that were damn near beaten to a mess of bruises and blood.
The worst of it all though...
"Angel!" He screamed whilst her vision showed the spider demon bloody and bruised after the hollow creatures attacked him.
He was barely conscious as the two sins were bested by the Angel even at their full power. Both blasted back and crashing against the cracking barrier around the mysterious palace.
"Yes, my child." The Speaker nodded through her tears. "Your friend is in grave danger right now. He needs you!"
"Get angry Noctis." Moira whispered in his ear, breathing hotly to help his sensations sharpen. "They are protecting you right now. Now you have to protect them."
"Angel….." He whimpered before the flashes of everyone he loved showed the inside of this palace holding them safe for the time being.
"Hear them, my child." The Speaker pushed harder after seeing his hands clench into fists.
"Charlie get away from the window!"
"We have to help him, Vaggie!"
"Lucifer, do something!"
"I can't, Carmilla. I can't even summon my glaive anymore!"
"No!" Noctis gasped.
One by one the imagery of her sight became his, along with so many other demons he never met before recovering with the Hazbin Gang or finding a way to barricade the palace doors.
Until finally it showed again the first demon he called a friend...
"Noctis….." Angel wheezed on the floor after taking a brutal beating from the creatures serving this wicked angel.
He was curled up into a ball and trying to shield himself, his body already broken and bruised in many areas before this evil angel walked up the steps and lifted the demon by his hair.
The pain was nothing to the agony of his broken body, but he still yelped in the grasp of this monster that grinned at his half-awake daze.
"NO!" Noctis shouted.
The suffering of Angel Dust began to start with a simple twist of his arm. He screamed and tried to break free as the angel pinned him to the steps, ignoring the two sins that were still down and surrounded by those creatures.
"Stop it! Leave him alone!" Charlie screeched.
Finally a spark ignited, a resonating power deep in his soul that burned hotter and hotter until his eyes turned as white as his hair that began to whip and lash with the aura shimmering his form.
He clenched his teeth through the mental writhing of these images and began to growl in a voice The Speaker remembered when he was Romna.
"There it is!" The Speaker exclaimed before releasing Noctis from her hands. "Moira hold onto him!"
The hellhound didn't need to be told twice as Noctis started shaking from the faded imagery of Angel Dust being tortured by this mysterious angel. She latched onto the man and nodded just as The Speaker prepared a subtle glow to their forms with a snap of her fingers.
"Remember the plan, Moira. Do your part when he intervenes!"
"I know. Now hurry!" Moira said in a hurried tone.
With all the grace of her power, The Speaker snapped her fingers and gave her final words for Noctis while his anger started to boil.
"We will meet again, my child."
The moment the snap reached his ears, Noctis sat up and opened his eyes to Moira holding back the massive hellhound while Pentious was stunned on his lap while Max had been rolled onto the side of the bed screaming and crying.
"It's okay, Typhoon. Mommy is here!" Moira repeated as she and the divine man shared tears.
What Noctis didn't know was that it was for two different reasons.
"Get back!" Moira screamed before the glow on her pulsed.
Noctis was still in a mild daze of fury and awareness when he saw the primordial hellhound react with eyes widening in fear.
The terror of this creature became nothing as soon as Moira commanded her words. A loud boom echoed the entire palace and startled everyone within to break away from Angel Dust's torture to look upstairs.
The primordial's body was impacted and thrown back by the golden blast that tore through this whole body and revealed quite the shocking discovery.
An unjudged that partially moved out of the creature and hissed at Moira dangerously, it's focus still intended for the man as he stood up against the wishes of Sir Pentious even when his arm was grabbed.
"No, Noctis. You must not—" Pentious did not have the chance to finish his disapproval.
In an instant the young man was gone the moment his feet touched the floor, a flash of light that streamed to the primordial and expanded back into the quietly raging man. His movement alone was unfathomable and terrifying to Pentious when the man he thought to still be weak and recovering was across the room faster than he could blink.
The unjudged that was merged to the primordial lacked the sense of danger Noctis radiated, and tried to seep itself back into the pained hellhound.
Noctis' silence continued and the danger was not spoken through words, the idea of talking peacefully like Charlie was very dead to him. Instead, a harsh, muscular grab of the unjudged by its head was used in response, exactly in sync with the same harsh grab Lyoria had on the crying Angel Dust outside.
"Noctis?" Pentious softened his panic into confusion after picking up Max.
"Do it, Noctis." Moira ordered coldly, earning a cocked brow from the snake demon.
No sound, not even a grunt or an intake of breath, Noctis ripped the single unjudged from the primordial and kicked it away. This corrupted and hungry soul thrashed and flailed for freedom but ultimately found it's ending in how Noctis' aura consumed its form in an instant when it touched a few moments ago.
It was not the pain of the hellhound's howl that startled everyone in the room, but the screeching unjudged that was reduced to nothing after it was expelled from his body before he bounced off the wall and fell unconscious with his size shrinking almost instantly.
"Holy shit!" Pentious couldn't believe what the hotel's handyman just did, but one thing was for certain about the creature that almost killed them.
It was possessed.
"Noctis!?" Charlie exclaimed downstairs.
Noctis wasn't even coherent of Moira yelling at him to go after he handled the primordial that continued to lose size. His focus was locked onto the next sound that fueled his anger while Charlie and Vaggie had come running with Carmilla.
By the time they ran inside the primordial hellhound was shockingly reduced from its terrifying form. Charlie was the first to see it unconscious and curled up as nothing but a small and naked pup that couldn't be but a few years old. Of course she gasped and was confused whilst Vaggie and the others were more focused on the man that snapped his gaze to the destroyed balcony window that gave entrance to Angel Dust's cries.
"Pentious, what happened!?" Vaggie barked angrily after she summoned her spear. "And who the fuck is that?"
"I don't know!" Pentious answered in a worried tone while Moira approsched the group. "This hellhound appeared just as Noctis woke up and they removed one of those creatures from the primordial."
"Removed?" Carmilla questioned with some interest in how he tilted his head. "You mean it was possessed?"
Everyone but Moira understood what just happened, but the time of questioning wasn't now when Noctis snapped his head to the balcony window.
"Charlie, what is he doing!?" Vaggie yelled with a pointed finger at Noctis.
All eyes locked onto Noctis and caught him walking toward the window while a pair of sweats formed on his naked body. His expression went from blank to concerned after he heard Angel screaming in pain again.
"Angel….."
"Noctis!" Charlie screamed before bolting to the man that ran out onto the balcony to see what was going on.
Everyone was quick to follow her, but they were stopped by Moira stepping in front of them with her arms and wings extended. Unbeknownst to them was a heartbreaking plan the hellhound had to continue for Noctis to awaken the starting growth of his power. But right now the only thing that mattered was the safety of everyone's beloved handyman that leaned over the balcony.
"I can't let you interfere!" Moira said in a somber tone, smiling weakly through her tears.
"Move!" Carmila was the first to snap at the hellhound, ignoring the angelic features and drawing a gun while Vaggie pointed her spear. "Do not keep me from my child!"
"Bitch we are not in the mood!" The fallen Angel was not having any of it, not with her man in danger.
Charlie on the other hand was not as hostile about Moira's. In fact she stunned and paying attention to those features that separated the hellhound from being a demon.
"Get out of the way!" Carmilla snapped after cocking the hammer of her pistol.
"Please let Noctis fight." Moira didn't back down. "He needs to break."
"That's not helping your case!" Vaggie was on the verge of snapping, her spear shaking heavily in her hands. "Get out of the way!"
"Please listen to me! I need your help!"
"Are you...redeemed?" Charlie finally asked in a curious tone.
The gang focused their attention on the princess and glared at her inability to keep attention on the matter at hand.
Without thinking, Moira nodded and took Charlie's hands desperately. She grasped then tightly whike Pentious joined the group with Max in his arms.
"Yes I am."
Charlie gasped, her heart suddenly racing with excitement and joy. Finally it was proven true and the evidence wasn't just in front of her but also holding her hands. If it wasn't for the fact that so much was going she would be crying right now and shoving the facts in her father's face.
Unfortunately...
"But I need your father's help in order to break Noctis' heart and help him grow."
"What!?" Everyone shouted at Moira while her attention turned to Max, her own heart breaking as she knew what had to be done.
"My sweet pup….." she choked back her own sobs, ignoring the skepticism and defensive posture of Charlie, Vaggie, and Carmilla. "This will be the last time I see you for awhile."
Meanwhile…..
The unjudged have stopped their assault after the barrier had fallen due to Stolas, Andrealphus and Vassago falling exhausted from their magic depletion. The torment remained though with how they surrounded Beezlebub, and Ozzy who could only lay battered and bruised while watching Lyoria take in amusement of studying pain through Angel Dust.
The spider demon felt all his body writhe sharply again when he laid under the foot of the first flaw, his screams echoing into the palace as everyone inside was trapped by the unjudged that blockaded the doors with their bodies.
"Please stop…." He sobbed, his eyes burned with tears from the crack of his collarbone, makeup running down his face.
Lyoria felt nothing, no remorse, no sympathy, not a shred of even dignity for his prey that lost their will to fight after having so few of bones be fractured. To him this was just a challenge of words from earlier and his empty body faked the feeling of relishing what it meant to be superior.
"Stop?" He asked the broke demon. "Why would I stop when you said you would die for Romna?"
He pressed harder on the fractured collarbone for his own understanding, forcing Angel to cry out his answer while Alastor was holding back Husk from going out and getting killed.
"I said I would die for Noctis…."
"Who happens to be Romna." Lyoria maintained the pressure but tilted his head. "Why do you not understand that the two are the same person?"
"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Husk snarled, thrashing against the tendrils of his owner that watched in both amusement and understanding of a much deeper meaning to come.
Like Lucifer he sensed the atmosphere shifting around the hotel while the palace went into chaos wuth the remaining goetia nobles tending to Stolas, Andrealphus and Vassago. Something was coming close to them, something powerful and ready to awaken.
Or someone that just watched too much pain and suffering and was on the verge of snapping.
"LET GO FUCKER!" Husk roared before his mouth was clamped shut by Alastor's tendrils.
Said overlord chuckled darkly while the king of hell squinted his gaze that slowly followed this strange pressure that disappeared from the room upstairs.
"Patience my little pet!" He jerked Husk back from the window and forced him to sit down. "Something monumental is about to happen."
"What are on you about fuckhead?" Cherri questioned harshly.
Slowly Lucifer came into agreement with the radio demon, his smile growing in sync as they both peeked out to the suffering Angel Dust.
"Someone is very angry….."
Angel Dust was victim again to another broken hand caused by Lyoria, but screaming was no longer possible with how hoarse his voice became. The best he could do was curl into a broken ball and whimper while Ozzy and Beezlebub stayed down with their own forma mangled from the quickly one-sided fight.
"Please..." he sobbed, clenching his eyes shut.
Lyoria cracked a smile wider than Alastor's at how defeated he made the pornstar. It was satisfaction to break a soul like this, to invoke pain and show no mercy for their defiance. It was the only thing that took away his boredom and gave him a little bit of a chuckle.
He was ready to finish it all.
"Do you understand now, little whore?" He asked tauntingly and stepped back with his wings flared. "I am the beginning and the end. All you do is delay your life with pain from your inability to understand that I am—"
Suddenly a flash of light had come and gone with the impact of a fist that separated his cracking jaw. The blow was almost instantaneous, followed with a cry of anger that boomed from the attacker.
Lyoria felt his body go limp before the force of this punch sent him flying into a nearby statue.
But he continued to smile and while his attacker did not pause.
"ANGEL!"
Angel's bloodshot eyes snapped wide open to the familiar voice he hadn't heard in days, and the same hand that hit Lyoria had slipped under his hand and lifted him into the most protective hold he could ever feel from someone.
It was in this embrace he was consumed by the shimmering glow of his savior that cocooned him in wings, feeling his heart throb for the person that cried angrily for his well-being.
"Noctis?"
"I have you." Noctis said desperately.
Angel's vision continued to blur out from the tears and pain. But he soon smiled weakly and used his one good arm left to latch on and sob against the man's chest whike Lyoria recovered.
"Interesting." The first flaw commented with a gargle, snapping his jaw back into place with a push of his palm.
"You're awake." Angel choked on his swelling emotions.
Noctis wasn't as relieved as his friend. No, he looked over Angel's battered form and saw what little remained to be untouched with bruising or cuts and attempted to hold him closer.
He flinched though when his care made the spider demon yelp in pain.
"I'm sorry!" He cried even harder, his arms shaking as he tried to steady himself. "I don't know how to fix this."
"It's okay." Angel cracked his voice from forcing the words out through his pain, and smiled weakly. "You can make it up to me with cuddles later."
"Angel…."
Noctis could handle a various number of despairs and agonies, but this was something he couldn't wrap his mind around—a broken Angel Dust.
"Noctis you have to fight back!" Moira yelled from the balcony before she ran back inside to conduct her own plan.
"Can I ask you something?" Angel asked weakly, earning a nod from the man.
"You can ask me anything."
"Romna…." Beezlebub smiled on the ground, watching as Noctis held Angel in the safety of his wings while the unjudged retreated completely from his pulsing aura.
She wanted nothing more than to get up and love on the man of her past, but her body wouldn't move nor respind with how badly she burnt her energy out to fight Lyoria.
"You don't think I'm a slut, right?" Angel asked with a weak and cocky grin.
A pause was brief between the two while Lyoria started walking up the steps to finish his work.
"What?" Noctis batted his gaze in confusion. "Of course I don't!"
What nobody knew was the physical damage Angel endured wasn't the only part of him that suffered. His mind did to, baited with how Lyoria called him a slut and a whore during their confrontation. It poisoned his mind before he was tortured, seeding his heart with doubt of being a someone to the man that dripped his tears onto his fuzzy cheeks.
"What am I then?" He asked, his smile cracking before sobs choked out of his throat and his vision darkened. "What am I to you?"
"MY FAMILY!" Noctis snapped, his emotions rising and fueling his aura to a level that had Lyoria a little more curious the closer he approached. "Perverted or not, you are my family and I won't lose you to—"
Noctis froze before he could finish his answer. It didn't take even a second for the man to feel his fears explode when he watched his closest friend shut his eyes and start breathing weakly. The loss of Angel's arm from sliding off his shoulder was another heartbreaking realization that he finally succumbed to the injuries, falling into a state of unconsciousness.
"Angel?"
He went limp entirely, unmoving and barely showed sign of what looked to be breathing.
"Angel!"
Noctis stood up and carried the spider demon in a bridal style. Once his head fall against his chest, the fear awakened what Moira and The Speaker had planned the entire time.
The result though was about to be magnified by a certain overlord that grinned maliciously from inside the palace after seeing from the side of the man a blank expression of shock. Charlie and the others had come back down, but said demon released the enraged husk and shifted his form to the shadows just as Lyoria made it back to the top steps.
It was the perfect oppurtunity to sink his claws into Noctis. Months of waiting patiently for the boy to be alone and influenced, and now he couldn't bear the idea of wasting this oppurtunity to have a divine beast at his disposal.
"Time to wake the beast..."
"Dad!" Charlie yelled as she and Vaggie rushed down the stairs with Moira and Carmilla.
Lucifer recognized his daughter's voice but amongst the raw intensity of Noctis it was hardly recognized when his desires to see his old friend let loose made the demon inaide himself scream for carnage.
"Dad!" Charlie yelled again after getting in his view.
Finally he snapped out of that feral desire and blinked repeatedly.
"Y—yes?" He answered confusedly, staring into his daughter's eyes after she grabbed his shoulders.
"Dad can you use another grace to open that pit Lyoria was in?"
Lucifer recoiled at that question and glared whilst everyone else was taking in Moira standing between Vaggie and the princess with Max in her arms. What they didn't know is that the hellhound was absorbing all the time she could to have Max before she served her purpose from The Speaker.
"Please," the hellhound stepped forward while the others, even Lucifer, gasped at her halo and wings. "It's important. Can you do it?"
"And who the hell are you?" He asked suspiciously with a critical eye on her.
Time was something they couldn't waste when they were so close to helping Noctis reach what was needed. Moira was alkost out of patience as is during Alastor's little rendezvous outside with the man that was shaking from Angel's state of health.
"Please!" Moira pleaded, adjusting her upset son in her arms. "There's no time to explain. This is all very critical for Noctis' growth!"
Meanwhile during this mysterious conversation that had the king disheveled and comfused, Noctis was blank with thought and feeling at the sight of Angel still unresponsive in his arms. He didn't even register the danger of Lyoria looming closer with his shadow now over them.
But he did register the sinister voice that is Alastor.
"What are you doing?"
Noctis flinched at the static whisper of the radio demon and jerked his head to the left to see the depth of horror that is the radio demon. He gazed right into the full terror of Alastor's true face, the mix of radio and stillness in how his unmoving smile glowed with each word that pierced the boy's mind.
"Why are you still holding back, boy?" He asked with mock in his tone.
Noctis didn't answer, he didn't know how to answer as the fluctuation of his aura increased. All he could do was follow the plotting demon and his rough hand that grabbed his chin roughly.
"Look, you stupid boy!" He commanded Noctis harshly to look at Angel again. "That creature did this to him, tortured him, made him suffer!"
The words were convincing, too convincing to be genuine when the radio demon chortled after making Noctis see the depth of pain Lyoria gave the spider demon.
But it gave result that made him bite his lip and bleed hungrily for control.
Noctis tightenes his arms around Angel Dust and clenched his teeth, his eyes burning their amber color as the aura raged more with the radio demon still whispering in his ear.
"He hurt someone you love. He deliberately made someone you care about beg for mercy and cry."
"What the fuck is he doing?" Husk asked rhetorically from the window.
Cherri wasn't so sure herself as they watched the conflict. " I think he's getting him mad."
"Why?" Husk yelled at her. "What the fuck is the point?"
Noctis began to shake as he Alastor giggled for the final push of his breaking mind, speaking the most heinous thing Noctis could imagine.
"He thinks you're a threat, and that's why he is doing the things you see….."
He paused for Noctis to be baited into turning back to his demonic gaze before giggling the last of his tormenting words.
"He made the spider break."
Suddenly the fluctuations of his aura stopped as that same blank expression twisted in front of the radio demon. He slowly expressed anger, then rage, and finally the one emotion that always had come and gone when he was crossed.
Wrath.
"Hm?" Lyroia felt the difference in the atmosphere shift, like everyone else inside who suddenly had a shiver run down their skin.
Husk was curious though, and maybe a little concerned as Alastor licked the blood from his lower lip.
"Kid?"
The next thing everyone felt was Noctis explode on the palace steps after he growled mildly, and then screamed to the thunderous and raining skies of the goetia lands that became a beacon of power. His aura blew out of proportion and expanded to a blinding silver across the palace and lands, forcing everyone to shield their eyes.
"What's happening!?" Vaggie screamed before the windows shattered and the doors blew open, forcing everyone to take cover.
This was bad beyond measure with no defenses now and the three main goetia members still recovering from magic overuse. The unjudged could walk right in and take them all into a bloody bath of pain and death.
But they didn't, no they stayed seated and were.... Scared.
The aura that consumed all around dissipated to a smaller formation layered with a blue tint from the first time Noctis showed power back at the hotel.
Noctis, Alastor, and Angel were all still cocooned in his wings that grew to their full size suddenly, covered more in the mix of scales and feathers that reflected such purity of light.
"It's happening." Moira answered before Charlie decided to brave the change of battle by running out to face Noctis. "He's awakening."
"What?" Carmila said sharply with a cocked eyebrow while shielding herself.
"Noctis!" Charlie yelled and came to a screeching halt when the six wings snapped wide open.
Divinity...power and divinity surrounded the body of her lover when his transformation was revealed to be very physical. He could barely hold in his aura as Charlie drank in the changes with a bit of a schoolgirl look about her.
"Holy shit!" Blitz yelled before looking back to Carmilla. "Your boy just upgraded big time!"
A twitch of annoyance was the basic response from the weapons overlord as she peeked out with the others to see Charlie lighting up with various emotions at how different he was.
"Noctis….."
"My, my, my….." Alastor purred in relishment of the transformation he brought about. "How chaotic….."
Noctis was barely human appearing at this point, his eyes now a serpentine form that bore into Lyroia who showed disapproval with a bit of a scowl. The bare chest he had was now completely scaled in silver, running from his neck down to his arms and waist. With some unconscious effort he open more than just the eyes in his head but multiple in his wings that moved rapidly.
Even his face was more defined with the coldness his expression gave off while the newly produced silver scales in his hair gave off a sparkling even in the darkness of the storm.
He had finally broken his shell.
"Oh my gosh!" Charlie completely forgot the danger they were in and moved rapidly around the man to observe his transformation, squealing like a girl that just asked out by her crush.
"Perfect." Moira whispered while staying still for Lucifer as he did what she requested
Stillness didn't hide the discomfort his face gave off as he reached inside the hellhound, scowling at the magic he was being forced to use to help Noctis.
"He's gonna hate us….."
"Noctis?" Charlie finally calmed down when his eyes lowered and met hers.
She was scared though….. for him.
"Baby?" She touched his arm and could the warmth of his aura, but not the warmth of his demeanor.
"Take him." Noctis finally responded in a deeply menacing and mature voice with a low growl.
Charlie flinched and took Angel Dust into her arms without argument. Then again she wasn't sure if she could argue with that tone of voice he gave. It was nothing of the softness she always heard, and that made her think uneasy.
"Noctis….." she hitched her breath and gulped while Lyoria started to run out of patience. "Are you okay? You're scaring me."
Was he okay?
That question alone poisoned what sense of reason Noctis had left while Alastor pulled her back from what he sensed to be a newfound fire to his soul.
Curiously Noctis gazed down at his scaly hands and clenched them as soon as Angel's anguished face came back to mind.
"No, Charlie." He admitted to her surprise, sharing what he was feeling for the first time with his lover. "No I'm not okay. Angel got hurt and it's all my fault because he was defending me."
His words reminded the princess just how much Angel Dust mattered, and she understood what this meant.
"Then….. how do you feel?" She asked hesitantly.
"I believe you know already." Alastor joked heartlessly.
Noctis hardened his glare with Lyoria and flexed both his body and aura, stomping his foot so hard it cracked the steps during the flare of his aura.
"I'M ANGRY!"
"Oh this is gonna be good." Blitz drawled excitedly and pulled out a box of popcorn.
"Good." Lyoria cracked a smile. "All the more plentiful for more to earn your death before I kill that spider whore."
Such words didn't have meaningless pain to Noctis—not to his mind , his heart, or even his soul.
They were as stinging as a blade that wedged in flesh and twisted. To hear the disrespect of his best friend, no— his family— it infuriated him to having the serpent eyes in his wings suddenly lock in and hum with energy build up.
"Angel is not a whore!" Charlie snapped as she tightened her hold protectively on the unconscious Angel Dust.
Before another word or even a scold could come from the princess, Alastor pulled her back more in seeing the result of Lyoria's torment of Angel Dust give the response he needed so badly from the shaking Noctis.
They watched as Noctis took on the assault with suddenly thrusting his hands and tilting his wings up to the sky, and lightened the atmosphere with continuous deadly streams of light.
"HAAAAAA!"
"Holy shit!" Everyone inside screamed, even the exhausted Stolas that stumbled to his feet thanks to the help of Blitz.
Both lovers watched in awe of the divine power cascade the sky in light before these streams arched and crashed back down with fiery explosions that targeted Lyoria and the unjudged. Spots of blackened dirt showed in the smoky aftermath where groups of these creatures no longer existed.
While Charlie was both amazed and concerned for her lover and his display, Alastor could almost break his jaw with how wide his smile became.
The sheer thought of breaking Noctis into his own weapon made his blackened heart flutter. But to actually see him snap and show dominance so heavily he was destroying unjudged with his first display of divine power…..
He could barely fathom the idea of making the man his pet as he watched Noctis stop and maintain that cold demeanor.
"Good boy." He praised with dark satisfaction.
"Hot damn!" Blitz cackled madly with excitement after they all saw many unjudged were reduced to nothing. "This boy has some bite!"
"Indeed." Stolas still held a shocked look whilst the others shook off theirs and watched with guarded expressions. "To witness this much power from a divine beast is truly an honor."
"Loona?" Millie broke away from watching the confrontation after Lyoria appeared unscathed in the smoke.
No response came from the hellhound that stood in the doorway eyeing Noctis quietly with a blank view in her wide eyes. She didn't want to admit it but the dominance of this person defending the palace had her instincts and her feelings screaming as she tried to contain herself.
"Is she okay?" Moxxie asked with a puzzled look.
"Sweetie?" Millie looked behind their furry coworker to find her tail was creating a breeze from how fast it was wagging.
She didn't need any formal answer after that to know what was going on in Loona's head.
But it definitely made her grin.
"Loona?" Moxxie spoke hesitantly on the account he didn't want to be hit or thrown.
"Unbelievable." Andrealphus groaned with reluctant acceptance and a sinister smile after being helped to his feet. "Such raw power eminating from his body, it's unheard of."
He licked his beak hungrily whike staring at the muscular back of their protector.
"Having him in our ranks would make the Goetia name godly."
Admiration was definitely all around the group as they watched Noctis take a deep breath and glare at Lyoria while Lucifer continued the unwanted spell he knew was forbidden in both heaven and hell standards.
"Almost there." Moira whispered painfully as the king reached deeper inside her. "I know you hate this, your highness. But it will buy Noctis time when his power is adolescent."
"Doesn't make it right." Lucifer growled.
"Well done," Lyoria clapped his hands slowly in the midst of his remaining unjudged gathering back in the darkness, his gesture and tone mocking. "So unknown to your power and yet you managed to expel an attack of that caliber."
Noctis didn't speak a word but clenched his knuckles, cracking them tightly as the mockery quickly thinned his shred of patience thwt remained.
"Noctis?" Charlie set Angel carefully into Husk's arms, worried for her lover and what this power meant.
Against her better judgment, the hellish princess made the attempt to approach once more but found her effort halted by a single tendril that pulled her back by her wrist.
"Stand back my dear." Alastor giggled with malicious content of the scene in front and hissed in her ear with eagerness. "Your lover is about to fight."
Charlie wasn't sure how Alastor knew that, but she discovered quickly from the monologue they could barely hear coming from Lyroia had been ended when Noctis delivered a swift right hook to the first Angel.
The impact alone had the arrogant angel bounce and flail into a another statue while Noctis watched with opposing emotions of his loved ones. They took solace into the fact that he could actually hurt the monster that started all this bloodshed and destruction.
"Who the hell is this guy!?" Moxxie shouted before his jaw dropped.
Everybody who knew Noctis had that answer not just in their minds but also in their hearts.
It was Carmilla who answered, though it was with a smile so rare only her daughters had seen until tonight.
And it was a declaration without second thought. Adopted or not, Noctis belonged to her.
"He is my son, Noctis Carmine."
Noctis stood tall again and simply glared as Lyoria recovered with nothing but a bloody lip to go with his smile.
Nevertheless, said punch proved the one thing that made Lucifer shiver from his past failures of fighting Lyoria.
That he could bleed.
"Are you done talking?" Noctis asked after cracking his neck. "Because I'm not listening."
"That's my man." Beezlebub praised weakly with a smile as she was dragged inside by Ozzy.
Lyoria chuckled and dusted off the pebbles on his shoulders, yet he still didn't command the unjudged to move or attack.
"Very well—" he paused with making his eyes blacken. "No talking."
Noctis didn't even blink at Lyoria suddenly moving across the courtyard and delivering the same physical contact to his scaled chest.
He barely registered the wind knocked from him and flew back into the palace with Charlie screaming at the shockwave that startled her.
Thankfully his wings responded subconsciously and cocooned like a shell before crashing into a nearby wall.
"NOCTIS!"
"No!" Alastor said sharply and held her back.
Charlie didn't understand why Alastor was doing this and proceeded to thrash for freedom whike Lyoria igjored their presence and walked in ominously with everyone stunned at his raw strength.
"Alastor, let me go!" The princess screamed desperately, reaching to the rubble and crying as Noctis' wings unwrapped in the rubble to reveal not an injured man.
No, just a very pissed off man that brushed off Vaggie after she left Lucifer to handle Moira's spell.
"He needs to learn to defend himself." Alastor pointed out with hidden agenda behind his dark and joyous eyes. "He can't defend the family you want if he can't defend himself."
Charlie stopped, frozen in shock at the violation of her confession to Noxtis back at the hospital. "How did you—"
"I'm always listening." He loosened his grip a little, but not enough to free her. "Now watch."
"Baby?" Vaggie went to touch him for anything remote of a bruise or cut, but stopped her hand midway when he didn't even look at her.
"Stay back baby." Noctis commanded quietly and walked out of the rubble. "His ass is mine."
"But—" Vaggie stopped her protest wheb Noctis used what training he got from Lucifer to snap his fingers and teleport her beside Charlie and Alastor.
"I wasn't asking."
Again the gang was locked in place by the hostility between these two as their auras started to clash, whipping at one another with electricity crackling around the whole room.
"Something's different." Beezlebub winced in pain while Ozzy used what power he could to heal her.
"What are you talking about sweetie?" Ozzy asked the with an open mind this time.
Beezlebub, as painful as it was, forced herself to sit up with knowing that the man she called her husband was different in a way only she could remember.
"Romna was hotheaded. He always took fighting to the max no matter who was around. But right now it's like he's—"
"He's testing himself while trying to keep everyone safe." Ozzy breathed, realization dawning onto him. "This guy doesn't know what he can do and he's scared of hurting someone."
"He cares..." Beezlebub whimpered with a smile.
"Well then," Lyoria gave a mock bow with all eyes on him. "Shall I honor you with saying your goodbyes to your loved ones, especially that broken slut?"
The insult alone made Noxtis explode once more. He thrusted his hands and screamed whilst a stream of golden fire roared out of his palms and blasted Lyoria into a defensive shell of his wings before he was forced out of the palace. The flames stretched for what felt like miles and consumed some of the unjudged before Noxtis exhausted the idea of burning him alive.
"FUCK YEAH!" Blitz was getting too excited for the battle, thrusting his pelvis as they all watched Noctis leap out of the palace. "HE IS GONNA SHOW THAT PRICK WHO IS BIG DICK IN CHARGE!"
The wings on the first flaw unwrapped just in time for him to catch the haymaker Noctis threw before the assault turned into a flurry of wild jabs and kicks.
"YOU WON'T TOUCH ANGEL AGAIN!"
Noctis wildly swung at the angel, desperate and angry and growing frustrated when each blow was dodged without effort.
Lyoria only cackled and shifted to the side for but a second and grabbed Noctis by his face and arm, slamming and pinning him in the crater they made from sheer strength.
"And how do you plan that?" Lyoria mocked and pressed Noctis' face harder into the dirt while restraining his shaking arm, pulling it almost painfully. "You can't even defend yourself Romna. Perhaps I should inflict more pain, maybe on those girls that claimed you like a mate?"
Noctis forced his eye open between Lyoria's fingers, hatred of the deepest need and glowing as a warning while he strained his words out in a growl.
"I'll show you pain!"
Lyoria flinched at the sudden rise of energy and attempted to teleport away before the crater exploded with divine power from Noctis' body. Unfortunately the explosive light that beamed to the sky and pierced the thundering storm had blasted him back and did minor damage before he could shell himself with his wings.
After coming to skidding halt he blinked with the first real surprised look on his face while Noctis rushed out of the crater and sprinted at him again.
Such surprise though only made him more excited and smile evilly.
"Your power is growing."
With that said, a newfound determination for death excited Lyoria while he charged Noctis with a retracted fist.
They screamed at one another and connected fist to fist in a blazing light of power that shook the ground and destroyed much of it around them. It was a deadlock of who could push back and whom while Lucifer began to sweat from weaving strands of light from Moira's soul.
"Almost there." The king growled.
"Hurry." Moira winced as each strand was painful to her body, as if she was being pulled apart. "Noctis can only buy us as much time as possible."
"Noctis be careful!" Charlie screamed from the doorway.
The two combatants were still in a deadlock with their fists shaking as the intensity of their clashing powers expanded and shook many untouched displays into piece from within the courtyard.
They screamed and roared face to face, opposites of purpose and intention as the goetia lands shook under their conflict.
"What are you even doing?" Vaggie asked after she ran back to find the king had drawn out Moira's soul and was weaving symbols with the etheral strands.
Moira endured the growing pain as she looked to Pentious holding Max away from the destruction and keeping the other hellhound coiled for safety.
Heaven's Council
In the same alter room that the council had done their prayer and song hours ago, the council remained with the leader as she thought about her eternity and actions as a leader and a mother who failed.
The recent silence the council shared was eerily more anxiety inducing than the fear they shared for Adam controlling heaven in his own way.
Said silence though was broken by the rush of footsteps.
"Sera!" Jophiel cried which alarmed the high seraphim and the council out of their seats and breaking away from prayer.
"Jophiel?" Sera said and turned to face the angel panting from the sprint she did. "My friend, what troubles you?"
"Noctis…." She paused to catch her breath as just the name alone made everyone share a bated breath.
"What about my son?" Sera asked with hope in her voice, her hands shaking together with anticipation.
Jophiel smiled finally through her fears and concerns. "He's awake and he's fighting Lyoria!"
"What!?" The entire council shouted in unison as Jophiel waved them to follow.
"And he's holding his own!"
The entire council was certain they heard wrong from the angel and turned to Sera for clarity. But even she was uncertain now and responded with the only valid response a regretful candy scared mother could give.
She teleported out of the altar room with Emily still holding onto her, and reappeared in the council room. She was beyond scared and excited at the same time to find the orb currently broadcasting whatwas hapoening in hell. All she wanted was to see that her child was alive and well.
Fate had other plans though, she had to find the bane of her actions sitting at his place in the council room with Lute and sharing popcorn while the orb showed Noctis and Lyoria throwing eachother around.
"This is better than tv!" Adam cackled before he choked on a popcorn kernel.
"You!" Sera growled while the rest of the council teleported behind her. "Why are you here again!?"
Adam would have answered on the spot but was too busy having Lute smack his back. It was the same routine with how assenine the first man could be in usual routine of tormenting the very angels he held hostage with the truth.
Sera was not in the mood though to listen to him. No, she was too fixated on the battle hapoening in front of them like a home movie that projected through the orb with everyone murmuring and watching with such wonder over Noctis' power display.
The council didn't know what to make of Noctis and his changes whilst his efforts doubled on the orb after being slammed into a pillar.
"Sera," Emily looked up to her for answers but saw the same confusion they both shared. "What is this transformation?"
"I…I don't know." Sera admitted with a shake of her and touched the orb. "But I have a theory."
"A theory?" Emily tilted her head as the council gasped at watching Noctis share blow for blow with Lyoria.
Sera was not so sure herself if this was the correct answer to Noctis' changes, but it was the only logical thought she found with thinking back to Romna's past.
She nodded and explained with a pit of regret from her past.
"Romna never had the oppurtunity to explore the depth of his power, so I think Noctis is doing just that and has touched part of The Leviathan." She paused for a breath catch of her breath and touched the orb as the scene showed Noctis and Lyoria throwing eachother into the ground, creating small craters whike everyone but Lucifer and Lyoria were still weaving a spell with her soul.
Wait... a spell with her soul?
Sera was not like the council who noticed this background and stared curiously at the mystery hellhound that had her both concerned and wondering. A sharp gasp of knowing left her body while Adam got a drink from Lute to recover and continue watching the brawl.
"What is he doing!?" She yelled abruptly and watched closer with a worried expression.
"Sera, what's wrong?" Emily asked.
Sera recognized the forbidden spell instantly but amongst the tension both in the room and in her heart it was something she knew would help keep Noctis safe. After feeling Emily clutch her hand tightly she finally snapped out of her own thoughts and told the young seraphim.
"Lucifer is weaving the same spell he used to seal Lyoria the first time, but to use it would mean that creature is using her soul!"
"Who even is she?" Emily wondered before her innocent thinking was broken.
"Who fucking cares?" Adam sneered, earning the same glare he got from the entire council after how he ordered Michael to stab Noctis back in the meeting.
He leaned back in his seat and grinned under that mask of his while the council expressed the same deep disgust for his inability to show anything but that narcissistic nature of his.
"It doesn't matter. That bitch boy is gonna die either way and that mystery angel is gonna kill princess bitch. Makes my job easier during the next extermination."
"How dare you." Emily breathed angrily.
"What?" Adam chuckled at the angered Emily with no regard to how Sera listened with clenched fists.
In a flash of light Emily was on top of the first man and boring her glare into his eyes.
She held the deepest dislike and spoke strongly, amusing Adam with her perspective.
"Noctis is gonna win and get stronger. And when he does he will make you answer for everything you did, especially to my sister!"
The first man laughed at Emily for a few seconds before opening his opinion for everyone to hear while Michael remained as still as a statue under command of the seal on his neck.
It was painfully obvious how the favorite son of god was trapped in his own body as he stood there like a robot waiting to be turned on while the tension of the room grew heavier with the rising sound of drums in the atmosphere.
Nobody heard it yet though, not when their minds were fixated non Adam and his declaration that made Emily shake with sisterly fury.
"Newflash kiddie—" he rose to the air and pushed Emily back, making her stumble in her flight. "Your nephew you didn't know about isn't gonna do shit. Even if he survives fighting that freak he's still gonna die in a few weeks when I go down there."
"You can't win this time!" Emily barked, but what neither of them knew was that Sera started shaking on the floor with maternal fury.
"Wanna bet?" Adam laughed with Lute joining him in the air. "I guess I'll have to prove you wrong when I mantle his head in my room to remind all you fuckers that nobody can beat me!"
That was the final straw for Sera, the starting point of finding the fire within herself to snap and teleport to Adam while the drums grew louder and intense.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?" She screamed furiously and shoved him back.
The whole room suddenly twisted and swirled, melting and changing to match the ongoing battle the orb showed but a moment ago.
Sera didn't wait for the now irritated Adam to recover mid-air and throw back another insult.
She started singing with her tone menacing and low by the hatred she had always worn on her heart.
And now he was gonna hear it.
"~Who do you think you are?~"
"~What, with how you speak each cruel word.~"
"~You may have ruined things so far.~"
"~But now you'll be facing my son, The Seraphim Lord.~"
Adam wasn't convinced as the drumming got seeper and more ominous, his smile still full of arrogance while the atmosphere darkened to her voice.
She gestured to Noctis still fighting.
"~You don't know who you're dealing with, little man!~"
"~You think he will stop now? Give you time to breathe?~"
In an instant she showed her defiance of Adam and how she would not be his plaything anymore. She teleported to him and grabbed his face harshly, forcing his gaze to meet the scene.
"~You see all that rage~?"
"~How my son has finally broken out of his emotional cage!?~"
"~Look at the fury in his eyes!~"
"~See how he answers to the helpless cries!~"
"Bitch get off!" Adam ordered and was about to sick Michael on the high seraphim.
Unfortunately he was thrown down to the floor, like a victim to a bully. Only now Sera landed and circled him closely with Emily following the same motion while the council began to tune in with the drums by acting as a choir.
Both sisters were in sync with their anger, singing so perfectly with ominous for telling of his next step in life.
"~You are going to pay for the pain you cause every day.~"
"You will answer not to us but to the one you tried to kill twice!"
"~Better start something of a prayer to atone for all your tyranny!~"
"~Because Noctis is alive and awake and taking the reigns of his destiny!~"
"~We hope you feel it now, the pressure of his return crushing you like a vice!~"
"Shut the fuck up!" Adam snapped as he watched his control start to slip with how unafraid Sera was.
The seraphim sisters then flew high above, gathering their power together to shrink the image over their heads as it showed Noctis being brutality beaten and yet still fighting.
Together they continued to sing.
~Judgment is coming, we can see your end!~"
"~The time has come for us to stop listening to your will and simply bend!~"
"~Soon your evil is what shall be undone!~"
Sera radiated the room with her light this time and said it alone.
No, she screamed it.
"~It is you, Adam, who will fall to the justice of MY S-O-O-O-O-N!~"
Adam stayed on the floor but was helped up by his Lieutenant as the council joined the song as an echo for Sera while the drums sounded rapid and terrifying.
She declared it with a wave of her hand as the fire she lost so long ago returned in her heart.
"~NO MORE DEVESTATION!~"
(No more!)
"~NO MORE DESECRATION!~"
(No more!)
"~NO MORE OF THIS OPPRESSION!~"
(No more!)
"~NO MORE OF US SUFFERING YOUR UNHOLY INTENSION!~"
She thrusted a finger down at him.
"~You should hear it right now, rebellions bell!~"
(Rebellion!)
"~The rising of my son who is the guardian of HEAVEN AND HELL!~"
(Rise up)
"~The end of your carnage is near!~"
(Your end is near!)
"~I can see it in your eyes, that knowing fear!~"
(Say your prayer)
"Sir?" Lute started to worry when her commander was actually shaking from the defiance of his he council.
Without missing a beat, Sera flew down to Adam and circled him tauntingly with Emily as the climax of the truth burst from the anger in their synchronized voices.
"~Prepare yourself for the one who did take a stand~"
"~Ready your mind for the one that is ruining everything you plan~"
"~Make peace before you are judged by one man~"
"~You, Adam, will be defeated BY NOCTIS: THE LEVIATHAN!~"
The drums had stopped and the council returned to watching the orb with fascination, but Sera wasn't done tormenting Adam with the truth she wanted to say for millenia after millenia.
Vindictively she leaned down and whispered hatefully in his ear.
"May god have mercy of your soul, because my son will not."
With that said, she flew away to her seat with Emily quick to follow after she had spat raspberries at him. The two sisters continued their view of Noctis' bloody brawl with Lyoria and igjored the tension of the first man as he realized just how severe his control was slipping.
And it was only getting worse with how the council maintained their view without so much as a glance at seeing if he was alright.
This is in turn gave epiphany though— they no longer cared.
"I'll make sure to burn his corpse for them to see." He hissed hatefully before leaving the room with Lute and Michael to follow.
Back at the Goetia Palace
"Fucking hell….." Husk groaned during the brawl that turned into something more than just a fight.
Everyone watched, even the aching Moira with Lucifer finishing the spell just as Noctis was knocked by Lyoria with a simple shoulder-check. Of course he was bloody and bruised, but the fiery need to win burned hotter and deeper in his form. Pain was irrelevant at the moment, injury seemed nonexistent even when he bounced across the ground and got right back up to assault the dodging angel.
"He's not staying down." Cherri pointed out with a bit of worry in her tone, watching the man tackles Lyoria to the ground and slam his fists repeatedly.
"This aint normal." Husk was glued to the two beating the hell out of one another. "The kid isn't staying down but he's clearly all fucked up."
Husk had a point as the battle weighed in Lyoria's favor with a quick rollover on the dirt. Noctis was pinned now and straddled with Lyoria actually showing his own savagery by beating the man relentlessly on his face, cackling and smiling jaggedly.
Noctis threw his own punches in return, but being the one on the ground he was at a severe disadvantage. He couldn't hold out much longer and nobody braved to rush over and help him.
"Stop it!" Charlie screamed, struggling to get to Noctis after Alastor ensured she would stay out of the fight by using his tendrils to restrain her wrists. "Leave him alone!"
Although he did take in the enjoyment of watching her cry and despair at her lover getting his face hit again and again.
"Hurry up." Vaggie growled to Lucifer.
Lucifer was a sweating mess now, but a successful mess with the final strand of Moira's soul weaved into the spell. He didn't ask or even talk of what he was about to do, and slammed it back in her body before Vaggie could ask.
"It's done!" Moira gasped with relief from the pain, feeling the heat of the magic rise quickly as she turned to the fight outside.
Though everyone paid attention to the fight, Stolas sensed the sudden rise of energy and directed his widened gaze to the shaking hellhound. His heart sank with knowing when her wings and halo suddenly dissipated into sparks of light and receded into her body.
"Lucifer what have you done….."
"Everyone move!" Moira ordered.
Nobody except the king knew what was happening to her, but none dared oppose when the unjudged started backing away and Lyoria even stopped his assault.
The light from her body flickered for a moment but suddenly ignited during her exit of the palace, engulfing the battlefield in a growing light that erected as a barrier.
"Moira?" Noctis turned his head weakly just as Lyoria hopped off and backed away with his true form flickering.
"YOU DARE USE THAT AGAINST ME!" The first flaw roared, his blackened wings shivering with what appeared to be fear. "THAT WONT HOLD ME FOREVER!"
"No!" Moira didn't lose her pace, her eyes narrowed and fixed on him. "But it will buy Noctis the time to grow and finally defeat you!"
Lyoria knew this was no bluff and started backing away as she looked closer with the unjudged retreating into the darkness. Even Noctis in his bloody state was curious now when all the fighting had come to a halt by a simple glow of her body and a look of regret from Lucifer when he turned away.
But not fast enough from his own daughter that stoppes thrashing for freedom.
"Dad what did you do?"
"YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" Beezlebub suddenly screamed angrily with Ozzy holding her back. "YOU USED THAT SPELL!"
"SHE TOLD ME TO!" Lucifer snapped back.
"What spell?" Charlie questioned as Alastor released her.
Even he was intrigued as to what could have a sin turning against the king of hell so quickly.
"Yes indeed. What spell could have the king of hell looking so guilty?" The radio demon asked tauntingly, tilting his head while the princess turned to her girlfriend.
She began to worry now when the former exorcist looked away with the same guilt.
"Vaggie what did my dad do?" Charlie raised her tone and walked over, only to be met with the former angel's back. "Vaggie tell me what's going on!"
Vaggie remained silent in the matter and hugged herself.
"I won't go back!" Lyoria screamed defiantly and took off in the opposite direction with his unjudged following.
He shot off the ground like a bullet, leaving a shockwave from the first flap of his wings.
This abrupt fear had most of the group confused while the situation changed from dire to final with how Moira took her approach to the newly transformed Noctis.
"Stolas, what's the fucking deal?" Blitz whispered to the owl, watching the horror grow on his face.
"It's a containment spell." Stolas finally answered with everyone hearing. "A forbidden angelic spell used to imprison someone in oblivion, but it's so powerful it needs higher power to work."
Blitz understood part of that explanation and lost his usually cocky attitude with the cold factor that Moira was saving them at a high price.
"She's sacrificing herself." Carmilla said with a more casual thought process, but as a mother she was still feeling why Moira would do this.
Stolas however shook his head while the background of Beezlebub screaming at Lucifer continued.
"No my dear," he corrected the overlord. "She's becoming the lock to buy your son the time he needs to grow."
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!!" Beezlebub continued to struggle against Ozzy's hold and screech at Lucifer. "YOU LET HER USE HER OWN SOUL!"
Noctis had powered down without his knowing and forced himself to stand, ignoring the rising soreness in his body to face the hellhound that made him worry when her wings and halo were gone. There was warmth though, warmth in how her arms grasped tightly around his chest in attempt to hold onto her purpose.
He used all of his remaining strength to hug her back with belief that the battle was over.
Like Charlie on most days he believed tonight would end on a happy note and rested his chin on her shoulder, finding comfort through all the pain he endured.
But happiness was not to come. No...not when he listened to her crying quietly into his chest.
"Promise me something." She whimpered, her claws digging into his torn short jusy as Lyoria hit the barrier of the spell and screamed in defiance.
"What?" He leaned back and felt his breathe pause at was happening in front of him.
The glow around the smiling hellhound became brighter but her body started to fade into a ghostly form. He could see right through her almost as the spell started taking hold of her soul and began humming with build up.
Panic immediately set it, eyes wide and heart racing even as she smiled underneath her tears.
"Moira what's happening!?"
"Promise me something!" She repeated more firmly with a hard press of her hands on his cheeks. "Promise me that no matter what you'll….." She struggled to get the words out but forced them with a broken voice after hearing Max cry back in the palace. "Promise me you will be best dad and the strongest alpha for Max."
"Kill her!" Lyoria roared at the unjudged after giving up on breaking the barrier.
There was no hesitation in the tormented souls of his collection. They turned away from the barrier and rushed back across the field to stop the spell before it could take hold.
Noctis didn't understand why this was happening when he wasn't done fighting. He had so much more to give in protecting everyone. He didn't want anyone else to get hurt or possibly die.
He wanted to save everyone!
"Noctis promise me because you can't win right now!" Moira gave the harsh reality as her thumbed brushed his tears. She hated telling the truth but it was necessary and she was desperate. "This was The Speaker's plan all along. She wanted to break your shell and help you awaken, but you need to grow."
She held his face more tightly when he took this confession as a betrayal of its own caliber and tried to look away.
"Lyoria is too powerful for you right now. This fight, he was just testing you."
"I don't care!" He swatted her hands away just before the unjudged were blocked off by another barrier producing around her.
His breathing became shallow as his hyperventilating turned into sobs of depression.
"This isn't fair. Max needs his mother!"
"Max has two!" She cried back and pointed back to Charlie still trying to get answers from Vaggie. "Max has two that love him dearly. He has them and he has you as a father!"
Noctis clenched his teeth as her body faded a little bit more, his anguish showing in how he held his breaking heart in his expression.
"But it's not fair to you." He growled.
She only smiled and moved around him to face the unjudged that clawed and slashed at her barrier.
"It never is." She looked back and smiled with finality. "But nothing is ever fair."
Noctis was a sobbing mess.
"Promise me you will do it." She repeated again while directing her attention back to the approsching Lyoria. "Promise me."
"I promise." He spoke so brokenly, but earned her little bit of resolve in soft licks when she faced him again.
Moira found some peace in those two words and turned away for the last time with the energy in her soul building to a dangerous level.
She glared to the rapidly approaching Lyoria as he dlapped his wings with damaging gusts that cut through the ground.
"I WILL NOT GO BACK!"
"Will you hold me?" She asked, feeling her time was up.
Noctis didn't hesitate or think to hold the hellhound, he wrapped his arms from behind and felt the warmth radiate again as the light burned out of her body and traveled across the bloody lands.
"This isn't right." Noctis cried onto her shoulder as said light gathered again and collapsed into her chest.
Moira sighed in defeat, both her choice and his saddening acceptance of her fate.
"It never is, but keep your promise." She said in a loving tone.
He only nodded into her back and held on tighter.
"NO!" Lyoria crashed into the barrier and thrashed wildly against with his unjudged.
Moira felt the last spark of the spell reach what it needed and snarles at Lyoria like the proud hellhound she was. She defied everything in her next action as the someone of her own desire.
She was not Valentino's slave anymore, not a slut for the studio, but a hellhound to her core and a mother choosing to take her afterlife and use it to protect not just her pup but the man she was proud to have found him and took him in regardless of everything.
"Mommy loves you!" She screamed back to the palace as everyone watched.
Even Angel Dust who flickered awareness with one eye barely open.
The end had come to this battle and she was determined to make sure. Shakily, Moira scowled at Lyoria and flexed every muscle in her body to compress the energy within her, screaming with maternal fury and determination.
Once she felt the energy erupt within, she screeched at the top of her lungs and unleashed all of it across the goetia lands as a beacon of light that lit up everything and consumed.
This light even blinded the tower of the vees.
Everyone had to shield their eyes from this explosion as it died out both Lyoria's screams and the unjudged.
"Noctis!" Charlie yelled but didn't dare take a step out into the gentle explosion.
Everyone waited for the first bit of night to return before they peeked outside to find the entire battlefield was still in its destructive active aftermath. However, the grounds were clear of any unjudged both alive and dead and all that remained were the dead goetia nobles that did perish throughout the battle.
The battle was over and the storm that raged overnight parted quickly with the first ray of hells daytime beaming down on Noctis, he sat on his knees crying into an object that Moira had somehow left behind for him to keep safe.
"Noctis!" Charlie was done being stricken with fear and restrained from the man she loved.
Like Vaggie, she didn't care about the mystery behind Moira and her purpose. Not right now. She ran with the former exorcist whike leaving Max behind with Pentious, her heart beating heavily and picking up pace with each sob they heard the closer they got.
"Baby!" Vaggie came to a sliding halt on her knees and ignored the burn that came from her skin.
She touched him with Charlie, and for a moment the two girls were not against one another but on the same mental wavelength that mattered to them most.
The man who stole their hearts.
"What hurts baby?" Vaggie asked frantically as he looked up to the sky whimpering with choked breath, tears drenching off his cheeks and onto the object of mystery.
"My chest..." He whimpered, referrring to his throbbing broken heart.
"An album?" Charlie questioned.
It was no ordinary album though. It was a photo album built with magic and Moira's memories, each one a moment of her life with Max, from the day of his birth to the last smile she wore from holding him.
Charlie flipped to first empty page with understanding the one message left on a piece of paper.
"It's your turn."
"Oh baby…." Vaggie cooed and gave no room for loneliness.
Like Charlie, she hugged Noctis' shaking form tightly and pressed her face into his neck with gentle kisses.
She even cried with him, knowing this was not a victory at all for him.
"Let it out baby." Charlie whispered, sharing the same affection as Vaggie by nuzzling his neck. "We're here."
Noctis did just that while everyone walked or limped out lf the palace.
They all listened to how this faux victory did it's toll on the man, and no one dared destroy this sorrow by giving input.
Not even the loudmouth Blitz.
Finally he cried to the sky, wailing his broken voice across the lands and while above in heaven the entire council watched with heavy hearts and the cost of him awakening his power.
He cried with his lovers holding as tightly as possible whilst above Sera cast the orb away and ended the viewing.
"Did we have in?" Emily asked.
Sera didn't answer at first, but then again she was worried that she could hear her own son crying even from Heaven.
Or maybe it was just her mind playing tricks.
Either way, for a mother to see her child in pain was worse than death itself, and it had her sobbing into her hands ever so quietly while the council knew it was best to leave the room.
"Both." She growled theough grit teeth, tears streaming down while Emily tried to comfort her with a hug. "We won and lost."
Again she heart her son cry.