WebNovels

Denying Extinction

Tamsir_Diouf
7
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The average realized release rate over the past 30 days is 7 chs / week.
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Synopsis
The Apocalypse is here. Following the prophecized rapture from Christian theology, the end of the world has begun, and humanity is doomed. Well at least that would be the case if past divinities from ancient, forgotten pantheons didn't decide to rebel against the decision of God and descend from their retirement homes in Heaven onto Earth, to save the human civilization that they had grown so fond of in their lifetime. How did all that happen ? The story begins in London, during the year 2030.
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Chapter 1 - Chapter 1: Day 0 of the Apocalypse

Inside a closed building, the crowd around a boxing ring cheers as two combatants give their all to claim victory after a short but intense match. The one on the left was a man with short, black hair, gray eyes and a nervous smile on his face as he seemed to be at a disadvantage. He was shirtless with black gloves, and a black tree shaped tattoo was visible on his left arm. His supporters on his side of the ring were chanting his name in encouragement: "Arsen ! Arsen ! Arsen !" 

His opponent, on the right, was a taller man, with long brown hair and green eyes, wearing a very confident smile on his face. He had way fewer people rooting for him on his end, but they were shouting louder than all of Arsen's supporters combined: "MAXWELL ! MAXWELL !"

They are both holding their guard, and Arsen quickly drops him to perform a left jab, followed by a right punch. Maxwell ducks under to avoid them, and seeing the opening left in Arsen's guard, he instantly jolts up to deliver a finishing uppercut. However, the only thing he hits is Arsen's leg, as the latter intercepts him with a devastating knee to the chest. Maxwell falls to the floor, the air having been forced out of his lungs, and the crowd cheers to Arsen's victory. Arsen extends a hand to Maxwell who was writhing in pain on the ground to help him get up, but Maxwell slaps it away and gets up on his own, frowning.

- "You got overconfident there Max !" Arsen lightly laughs.

- "Oh shut it, you got lucky." Maxwell grumbles. "I had you, if it wasn't for… for…" He pauses, trying to find something to say.

- "For what ?" Arsen presses with an amused smile.

- "...Just shut up dude."

Arsen waves at the crowd as they both step down from the ring, and they return to the changing rooms of the mixed martial arts club they had been practicing in for a month now. They change into casual clothes then get out into the streets of London, the afternoon light tainting everything in gold.

- "Where are you headed ?" Arsen asks. 

- "I got something to take care of at the department of engineering." Maxwell replies. 

- "Oh sweet, I'm going back to campus too, cause I need to talk to a teacher at the natural sciences department. Wanna come with ? The bus passing by King's should be there pretty soon."

- "You really should quit biology, man. You're just wasting your time."

- "Can't help it if I like nature !"

- "Nature isn't what's gonna make you move up in the world."

- "Eh, who cares ! I'm loving the way things are !"

Maxwell's nose wrinkles and he frowns, almost looking disgusted. Arsen was familiar with this expression, as they had been friends for the better part of their life. From their childhood in the small town of Bakewell, they used to play pranks on their neighbors and hang out whenever the opportunity arose. They naturally fell out of touch during their last years of high school, but they reconnected during their freshman year of college, right after Arsen had been accepted to King's College at the faculty of natural, mathematical and engineering sciences. They were sitting next to each other in their chemistry class, and by Arsen talking to him, Maxwell learned that Arsen became a martial arts amateur in his final year of high school. Maxwell almost immediately asked him to teach him how to fight, and during their second year Arsen took him to the Colosseum every week, the club he was a regular at. 

- "There you go again." Arsen observes.

- "What ?" Maxwell replies in an irritated tone.

- "You get mad about the most random stuff. Sometimes I feel like you just hate seeing me being happy."

- "Oh." Maxwell's expression returns to a neutral state, but not before he squints his eyes at Arsen for a split second. "It's nothing really, I'm just salty about losing like usual. No big deal."

- "If you say so !" Arsen throws his arms in the air. "It's not like you ever want to talk about what gets you worked up like that. I've learned to just go with the flow !"

- "I just told you what the problem was. I don't know what you want me to tell you."

- "And you really should come up with better excuses !" Arsen laughs. "But I don't feel like digging into it if you don't wanna talk about it, I'm not gonna start acting like my sister."

Maxwell seems like he's about to reply, but Arsen suddenly starts running with all his might. 

- "The bus' here !" Arsen yells as he turns to Maxwell while he's still running forward, pointing to the bus stop. An empty bus was indeed stationed there, most likely leaving soon.

Maxwell immediately starts running after Arsen, and they make it in time to the bus. They both sit next to each other, and place their bags containing their gear in front of them, exhausted. The bus starts driving, and they can finally catch their breath. 

- "Phew, we barely made it !" Arsen chuckles.

- "We could've just waited for the next one…" Maxwell whispers.

- "Why would we wait while we can just take that one ?"

- "Tch. Why do you have to be like this…"

- "What was that ?"

- "Nothin'. You're a pain to deal with is all."

They banter and chat for a few minutes about different martial arts techniques before they are interrupted by a sound of trumpets playing outside. Surprised, Arsen and Maxwell look outside, but see nobody in the vicinity playing the instrument. Plus, the sound was constant, which didn't make sense since the bus was moving. It almost seemed like it came from everywhere around them, and the bus driver slowed down to turn towards them, as if to confirm what was happening. Then, the sun seems to be pushed out of the sky by an invisible force, and it is suddenly night time. Since no lights were turned on outside, they could see a pitch black London, and the thousands of stars shining in the sky above it. Something that couldn't be ignored was the hundreds of white shooting stars visible above them, flying in various directions. The confused bus driver turns on the ceiling lamps, and Arsen and Maxwell look at each other. While the first looked confused, the second looked weirdly excited. A sort of intense fervor was lighting up his eyes.

- "What the hell's going on ?..." Arsen asks.

- "I have no clue, but this looks really fun. I really wish I was outside right now." Maxwell replies with a wide grin. "Do you think this is some one in a million years type of phenomenon where the earth rotated faster than it normally does or something ?"

- "I… I don't know. I'm not an astrophysicist."

- "You don't even have a theory ?" 

- "You'd have better luck asking the bus driver."

- "Boooring." Maxwell turns to the driver, a burly redhead man with a thick beard who looked very concerned about the sudden nightfall. "Hey, you got any idea what's going on ?"

- "I…" The driver hesitates, looking at the shooting stars. Most of them were looking like they were headed towards the surface of the planet. "I've never seen anything like this. That's a sight to behold, I'll tell you."

- "Right ?!" Maxwell has an uncomfortably long laugh. "I wonder what kind of chaos this is gonna cause in London… No, in the world !"

- "How are you so casual about this ? This is really damn weird." Arsen asks, squinting at Maxwell. He's never seen him act like this before.

- "Maybe something's gonna shake up our lives ! Getting a degree and finding a job to have a stable life is boring. Imagine if this is the end of the world, like in the Bible ! We wouldn't have to do these things anymore ! We'd be free !"

- "Free ?... We'd just be dead if that was the case !"

- "Tch. You always have to be like this, don't you ? No wonder I'm the only friend you had in two years of college."

- "Hey, that's uncalled fo-"

Arsen is interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat in front of him. When he turns to see the source of the noise, he sees a red skinned man sitting in the seat in front of them, wearing a clean black suit complete with a white shirt. He had black hair neatly styled in a slick back, and was wearing round reflective sunglasses, concealing his eyes. Sharp, black horns were protruding from his forehead, and large feathered wings made of flames were emerging from his back. His sunglasses, instead of reflecting them, were filled with flames as if the man was constantly staring at a fire.

 

- "What the fuck ?! This guy's on fire !" Arsen jumps back, getting off of his seat to avoid the sudden heat. He almost instinctively assumes his combat stance, but the man simply smiles at him. Arsen notices that his teeth weren't human, instead they looked more akin to the fangs of a wolf. Maxwell doesn't move an inch despite the proximity of the flames, almost hypnotized. 

- "What in tarnation ?!" The bus driver yells, panicked. He stops the bus and gets up to grab a fire extinguisher. "Get ba-"

- "Come on my friend, you don't need to do that." The man cuts. His voice was powerful and full of charisma, like that of a TV host or a renowned actor. The bus driver freezes for a second, taken aback by how calm the man was. "This job is hard enough as it is, isn't it ? You should take a break, grab a drink and go home for the day to kick back and relax. Why would you endanger your life for a company that pays you peanuts anyways ?"

The bus driver's eyes glaze over and he slowly nods before exiting through the bus' door. He then starts running in a random direction while screaming "Where's the bar dammit ?! I'm thirsty !". The lights of the city were starting to turn on in the background. The burning man turns his attention back to Arsen and Maxwell.

- "Who are you ?..." Arsen asks, a slight panic causing his fists to shake.

- "How did you do that ?!" Maxwell exclaims, stars in his eyes. "This guy just listened to you without even asking questions !"

- "Let's just say I have a… certain talent to bring out the worst in people." The man replies, smiling before turning to Arsen. He opens his arms, and the wings of flame on his back flare up. "People call me the Devil. Satan too, depending on the time period. My friends call me Lucifer."

- "The Devil ?... I didn't think all that stuff was real…" Arsen whispers.

- "Lucifer, the fallen angel huh ?" Maxwell asks, with fascination in his voice. "So, what does the king of Hell want with us ?"

- "The end of the world is upon us all, and I'm certainly not about to let my favorite species be eradicated." The Devil replies. "Therefore, I need a vessel, and I chose you, Maxwell Laurent. Do you accept my offer ? You will gain things beyond your wildest dreams, power to surpass-"

- "Sign me up !!" Maxwell cuts. 

- "Max ?!" Arsen exclaims, shocked.

- "As I thought, you will be a fantastic avatar." The Devil has a wide, toothy smile before he snaps his fingers.

A pair of flaming wings similar to the Devil's appears on his back, and the temperature inside the bus starts rising to tremendously dangerous levels. Arsen runs outside to avoid being burned as he hears Maxwell laughing like he's never heard him before. It was a sincere laugh, as if Maxwell had been waiting for this moment for his entire existence. The bus melts from the inside out, to the point where it quickly turns into nothing but a puddle of molten metal and plastic on the floor. The smoke was rising high in the sky, and the smell was absolutely atrocious. In the middle of this scene, Maxwell was standing still and laughing, unharmed. The wings had disappeared from his back, but the heat was still visibly emanating from his body. Small flames were dancing around his hands, and the Devil was silently standing next to him. They quickly hear the wailing of sirens as a firefighter's truck stops nearby, and Maxwell slowly turns towards them as they exit their vehicle to assess the situation. They mostly looked shocked by the violence of the flames consuming what was left of the bus, and the fact that he was standing there unharmed. He stops laughing, and his smile disappears.

- "You've always hated firefighters, haven't you ?" The Devil finally says.

- "Yeah." Maxwell replies, closing his right hand into a fist. This causes a cascade of sparks to erupt from it, and bystanders gasp as some of them start recording with their phones while others run away. "They all act like they're so much better than me."

- "Right ? Their courage is all faked anyways. In truth, they just want to show off to the world for recognition. If they were so selfless, why would they ask to be paid for their work ?" 

- "Right, they could really use being brought down a peg."

- "Why don't you try ? Direct the flames at them, I know you're already capable of using some of my powers. You're a genius after all, aren't you ?"

- "Damn right I am." Maxwell replies as he waves his hand in the direction of the firefighters. A giant burst of flames emanates from it, dozens of meters in length and height. When the flames die down, the truck is melted into a state similar to the bus', and the firefighters are reduced to charred skeletons on the ground. The road and sidewalk in the area is partially melted into magma, and the remaining bystanders finally decide to run away screaming. Arsen was about to do the same, but Maxwell turns towards him and calls out, smiling. "Hey Arsen ! Don't even think about getting out of here, I've got a few things to settle with you."

- "Max… What are you doing ? This isn't you !" Arsen replies.

- "Oh this IS me." He raises his hand in Arsen's direction, and a wall of giant flames appears behind him, dwarfing the nearby buildings.

The Devil whistles with his eyebrows raised above his glasses and lightly claps, seemingly impressed. 

- "You're a natural !" He says, widely grinning at Maxwell. "I knew I was right to choose you, we're going to do some great things together."

- "Why thanks." Maxwell replies as he slowly walks towards Arsen, who attempts to take a step back but the wall of flames prevents him from going any further.

- "Back off." Arsen firmly says as he raises his fists. "I don't know what happened to you, or what's happening altogether, but I'm not going down without a fight."

Maxwell stops, his eyes widening in shock before he starts smiling. Then, he starts laughing uncontrollably, to the point of tears.

- "What's so funny now ?" Arsen asks, still holding his guard.

- "Haha, sorry I can't help it ! You just saw me destroy a bus, melt a road and disintegrate a dozen people with a flick of my hand, using some kind of weird power that none of us even understands, and you actually want to fight me ?!" Maxwell laughs again, before abruptly stopping. "Then again, you've always been just like that, haven't you." His smile had completely disappeared, and was now simply staring at Arsen.

- "I'll take my chances if it means not dying like a damn coward."

- "Tch. You tick me off. Don't you see that courage or any kind of fucking bravado you're trying to put up right now is pointless ? Just give up already !"

Arsen doesn't answer and simply stares back at Maxwell, ready for him to attack. The latter grits his teeth in frustration.

- "You know, the only reason I picked up MMA was to beat you down." He finally says. "I always hated that optimism you fling around like nothing can ever touch you."

- "How does that even make sense ?..." Arsen asks.

- "I thought that if you suffered enough humiliating losses, you'd just give up on the sport and live a boring life, like everyone else. Clearly I was wrong, cause every time I won you'd just get up with a smile !"

- "That's called sportsmanship."

- "Well you looked like you were having a fun time. You know, keeping up that damn façade of being a good sport and all that."

- "It's not a façade, you just win some and lose some. I thought you also understood that !"

- "That's a good mindset ! I'm sure you enjoyed preaching it to me from your high horse."

- "You're delusional ! This is just basic etiquette !"

- "To you, maybe. Anyways, I always lead a boring life. If anyone-"

- "Boring ?!" Arsen cuts. "You always received top grades in school, were popular in all our friend circles, were a regional athlete, had a great relationship with your family and got accepted into a great college ! You call that boring ?!"

- "...Don't interrupt me. Did you forget who was in control here ?" Maxwell raises his hand above his head and a nearby residential building is incinerated, melting into a puddle of magma on the ground. Arsen flinches as he sees the carbonized skeletons of some of the people that were in the building floating atop the magma. "Yeah those are cool things and all, but nothing interesting ever happened in my life. Everything always went my way. That's just boring as hell. The only times things didn't go my way were when I was trying to beat you down. Reduce your self esteem to dust, make you give up on something you set your sights on. I'd always fail, and it was fun at first. Then it started to make me mad, to the point where some days I would only be thinking about how to ruin yours. I think it's because you don't look like you're bored of your life. Now don't get me wrong, there are other people who aren't as bored as I am, but I can just make them be bored. They always waver eventually. But you ? You never did."

- "THAT made you mad ? I always knew there was something weird about you since we were kids, but that's downright pathetic."

- "Look at that. You're not even afraid to speak your mind even with all the threats I'm throwing at you. It really pisses me off, you know ?" Maxwell takes a step forward. "Do you know why I joined King's in particular, even though I could've aimed higher ? Because I couldn't let you get away with it. With this victory you have on me. I figured I'd somehow find a way to score a win against you, if that's the last damn thing I do with my life."

- "Then do it. Try to kill me, see what happens." Arsen defiantly replies.

- "Hm ? Nah."

- "...What ?"

- "You deaf or something ? I'm not gonna kill you. That wouldn't be a win, you're just asking to die at this point. You can't even see how fucking outmatched you are. This isn't a sparring session." Maxwell's flames extend from his fingers and light all of the buildings around them on fire, melting them like they melted the first one. The screams from their occupants fill the air for a few seconds before silence returns. Maxwell hums along, smiling from ear to ear.

Arsen looks around, the horror of the situation getting to him with each passing second. He was doing a good job managing his urge to vomit at the sight of the remains of the victims, but it was getting harder and harder to ignore them to focus on his own survival. He knew he couldn't do anything for them, no matter how much he wanted to do so. They were now standing in the middle of the small area of the street that was spared, surrounded by a sea of molten rock. All bystanders had left, the only being besides them being the Devil, silently watching.

- "What would be the worst for you, hmmm ?" Maxwell says, looking around at the devastation. "Killing more people ? Nah. I don't think you would care anyways." He looks up for a second before suddenly pointing his finger towards the sky. "Eureka ! Your mother !" Arsen's eyes widen in terror, and Maxwell cackles. "Bingo ! I'm lucky you told me your family's address ever since you all moved to London !"

- "Don't you fucking dare !" Arsen lunges forward, but Maxwell effortlessly dodges his right hook with an unnatural speed.

- "Woah there !" Maxwell raises an eyebrow, surprised. "I've never felt that quick. You look like you're moving in slow motion, it's hilarious !"

- "Little courtesy of mine." The Devil comments. "Vessels tend to be stronger and faster than the average human."

- "That's great !" Maxwell enthusiastically replies.

- "Hah !" Arsen shouts as he follows up with a kick to the stomach, taking Maxwell by surprise. The kick barely connects as Maxwell tries to dodge, but he isn't pushed back. Arsen felt like he was hitting a living sandbag filled with rocks.

- "Alright, I'm not gonna kill you but you'll sure wish you were dead." Maxwell threatens as he cracks his knuckles.

What follows is an entirely one sided beatdown conducted by Maxwell, at the end of which Arsen is left unconscious on the asphalt. Each and every one of his punches had the weight of a boulder, and some bones were definitely fractured in the process. Arsen wakes up an unknown amount of time later, since when he opens his eyes he sees the night sky above him, the moon nowhere to be seen. For a few seconds, he wonders if it was all a dream, until he feels the overwhelming pain in his chest and arms. He slowly gets up, and notices that all the melted buildings around the area they were in had cooled, and were now nothing but massive hills of concrete and glass mixed with various materials. He then remembers Maxwell's threat and drags himself in the direction he remembered his address to be, trudging through the streets crowded with people filming the sky. 

- "God, if you're real, please let me make it there in time !..." He whispers through his teeth.

They had moved into this neighborhood right after Arsen's father died, when he was deployed in the war in Afghanistan as part of the British forces. He was seventeen years old at the time, and his sister Phoebe was eight. His mother was never the same after that, and while she kept loving the both of them she fell into a severe depression. She couldn't stand Arsen moving away from home to go to college when he turned eighteen, so she decided she'd move to London with him along with Phoebe, so that they could keep living together. Arsen wasn't exactly pleased since he wanted to experience student life by himself, but he knew his mother's mental stability was on the line and agreed without pushback. He was heavily regretting that decision right now, given Maxwell's threats. He had read enough science fiction books in his childhood to know, or at least assume that Maxwell was possessed by the Devil or some supernatural entity calling itself that. Arsen refused to think he was acting like this on his own, even if he had always been acting a bit strange ever since they were children. 

Eventually, he reaches his destination, a medium house in West Brompton. In front of it, he sees a familiar girl, with short black hair and green eyes, frowning at the sky with her hands on her hips. She was wearing a black jacket over her gray shirt, with blue jeans.

 

- "Phoebe…" Arsen breathes a sigh of relief at the sight of his sister.

- "Arsen !" She exclaims as she turns towards him. "Do you know what's happening ? I can't study in these conditions !"

- "You need to get out of here." Arsen replies. "Where's mom ?"

- "Huh ? Why ? Also you're really bruised, did you get in a street fight ? Weren't you the one saying those were dumb and pointless the other day ? And what's that on your arm, a second-degree burn mark ? Did they attack you with a lighter or something ? Did you lose to them ? Did you win ?" 

- "Don't just answer my question with seven more ! Where's mom ?" 

- "Hmm that sounds serious." She points her thumb towards the entrance. "Mom's in the living room, good luck explaining to her that you got attacked in the street for the eleventh ti- aaand he's gone."

Arsen had indeed ran past her before she could finish her sentence, and bolted through the house to reach the living room despite his internal injuries. When he enters it, he sees his mother, sitting on the couch as usual. Her long, blonde hair was spread across the backrest and her green eyes were as devoid of light they had been ever since his father died. She was wearing her old white dress. Arsen's heart sinks a little at the sight of her staring into the void in front of her. He knew his mother's condition got worse when he spent a long time outside of the house, for classes or for MMA practice. She still always insisted that he lived his life the way he wanted, without letting her hold him back. She'd even get genuinely angry when he would miss practice to stay home with her. However, that didn't change the effect his absence had on her.

- "Hey, mom. We really need to leave the house with Phoebe." He says.

- "?..." She slowly turns towards him before her eyes light up. "Hello Arsen ! How was your day ?"

- "...Great. Now please get up, he's coming."

- "What's the rush ? Who's coming ?"

- "Maxwell !"

- "Oh in that case I should prepare snacks for you ! He's such a nice young man, I'm happy you managed to find a friend like tha-"

- "Listen mom !" Arsen cuts. "You're in dang-"

- "I wouldn't mind some snacks." They both hear in front of them. They turn, and Arsen is faced with the Devil, nonchalantly sitting in his living room in the seat across the table. His wings of flame were nowhere to be seen. 

- "I won't let you touch her." Arsen says as he raises his fists.

- "Arsen." His mother sternly replies. "What are you talking about right now ? And when did this man get here ?"

- "He's-"

- "Lucifer, pleased to make your acquaintance." The Devil politely replies.

- "Lucifer ? That's a beautiful name." She comments, and the Devil raises an eyebrow, surprised. "Why is your skin so red ? Are you okay ?"

- "I will be fine, thank you. It's a skin condition I contracted after spending copious amounts of time in a very warm country."

- "Oh. Okay. Are you a friend of my son ?"

- "As of now, I could be called a friend of humanity, in a sense. Therefore, I am indeed a friend of Arsen."

- "Perfect, it's good that he's becoming more social. Him and his sister have always been a lot smarter than kids their age, so he's never really got to make friends. Thank you for being here." She replies as she gets up from her couch to walk towards the kitchen.

- "How are you staying calm ?! He has horns, he's the Devil !" Arsen exclaims.

- "Horns ?" Arsen's mother takes a look at the Devil's forehead. "I don't see any. If you're trying to record one of these prank video things, at least make sure you have all your props ready."

- "What ?..."

- "I can change the way humans perceive me individually." The Devil comments as Arsen sees him change into a regular looking woman, then into a child and finally into a humanoïd with a goat head before returning to his original shape. The only recurring details were his sunglasses. "I only kept my skin red to her because I wanted to see what kind of reaction she would give."

- "Where is Maxwell ?"

- "I'm still impressed how unfazed you are by all this, Arsen Redfield. You could at least react to my answer before asking another question."

- "Where. is. Maxwell."

- "Approximately one hundred meters from our location. I just happen to be slightly faster than him. Just so you know, he actually had no idea where you lived. He simply waited for you to wake up and followed you, assuming you would head there after what he told you. He's smart, but gets easily sidetracked. I'm fairly certain he's burning down the nearby police station." As if to punctuate this, they hear the sound of an explosion in the distance. "Well, he should be done by now."

- "What do you want ?"

- "Me ? I just want the human race to survive what's coming. If I can have fun while doing so, it's even better. Granted, I don't know if you'll need me, I'm not the only one who has descended."

- "What are you talking about ?... Is it really the Rapture, like the christians talk about ?"

- "Precisely !" The Devil claps once. "Well, it seems our little discussion is over." He says as footsteps are heard on the floorboards of the living room.

Arsen turns, and he sees Maxwell standing in the doorframe, with his sister standing behind him with her phone in her hand, furiously scrolling.

- "Maxwell ! Get away from-" Arsen shouts.

- "Shhh" Maxwell shushes as a small flame appears in his palm, only in Arsen's field of vision. "You wouldn't want your mom to end up like them too, right ? How about you sit down and we talk a bit."

- "What are you talking about Max ?" Phoebe innocently asks after she stopped looking at her phone.

- "Nothing, Phoebe. You can stay behind me though, this won't take long. I just got in a small fight with Arsen like we do all the time, and I want to clear things up with him." Maxwell replies.

- "So it's business as usual ! Who's the red man over there ?"

- "A friend of mine I met recently. His name's Lucifer."

- "Like the guy in the Bible ?"

- "Yeah. People really can give their kids unusual names right ?"

- "True that !"

- "Is that Maxwell I hear ?" They hear Arsen's mother say from the kitchen.

- "Yes ma'am !" Maxwell replies. "I'm just chatting with Arsen."

- "Great ! I'm just going to make more snacks for all of you then."

- "Thank you very much."

- "No worries, you're pretty much family by now, haha !"

Arsen slowly sits down, and Maxwell's fire disappears from his hand. He then starts going into a rant about the numerous times Arsen powered through his efforts to ruin his life. While this is going on, Arsen notices Phoebe trying to get his attention without alerting Maxwell, who was turning his back to her. She was waving her phone, and he could see a video on Entstagram of the bus they were in earlier, melted on the floor with a figure standing in the center, their face hidden by the fact they weren't facing the camera. The Devil was standing next to him, easily recognizable. She panickedly points to the latter then to her phone, before she points to the devil silently sitting on the couch. When Arsen instinctively turns to look at him, he sees with horror that the Devil had noticed them. However, he simply smiles at Arsen with a dismissive gesture. He then hears the Devil's voice in his head.

- "Go on, it's going to make this even more entertaining."

- "Did you just talk to me telepathically ?!" Arsen exclaims.

- "...Yes, I did." The Devil replies out loud, sounding irritated.

- "Hmm ?" Maxwell turns to him. "Lucifer, what did you tell him ?"

- "Nothing important." He replies. "I was simply testing the limitations of my powers on Earth, and taking the opportunity to torment him."

- "Oh, good then. Anyways, there was that time when I…" Maxwell continues his deranged rant.

Arsen freezes and turns back to Maxwell, trying to discretely look at his sister. She was now pointing to the figure next to the Devil in the video, and pointing to Maxwell with an eyebrow raised, as if asking a question. Arsen slowly nods so that Maxwell doesn't notice, and she silently spells "He's EVIL. Needs to die". Arsen doesn't know how to answer that, and Phoebe silently sneaks to the kitchen and comes back with a large knife. He vigorously shakes his head, and Maxwell stops his rant.

- "What are you looking at ?" He follows Arsen's gaze, prompting him to turn to face Phoebe, and is met with the knife stabbing his throat.

Well, at least the knife was attempting to stab through his throat. His skin was like iron though, even emitting small sparks as it clashed with the blade. He rolls his eyes, annoyed.

- "So you had me figured out huh ? I don't even know how you did that."

- "Tough skin." Phoebe tries pushing the knife deeper, but Maxwell doesn't even move from his initial position. 

- "Yeah, apparently it's part of the package when you become an avatar of Lucifer."

- "An avatar ?"

- "Yeah. It-"

- "Father, Son and Holy Spirit, drive out from me all influence of evil spirits." Phoebe cuts.

Suddenly, the Devil's grin turns into a rictus, and Maxwell's eyes widen in surprise as the knife pierces his skin and a trickle of blood falls from his throat. He extends his arms towards Phoebe, but someone grabs them before he can reach her. It was Arsen, having leaped from his seat to restrain him. Arsen could feel Maxwell didn't feel as superhuman as he did back in the street when he fought him.

- "Whatever you're doing, keep doing it !" He shouts as he struggles to slow down Maxwell, who was still significantly stronger than him.

- "Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, I plead you to break any chain that the Devil has on me." Phoebe continues.

Maxwell seems to lose a great deal of strength, and when he tries to manifest flames into existence they flicker weakly, not hot enough to burn anyone. The knife pierces through his jugular, and he has a panicked gargle as blood fills his throat and he falls to the floor.

- "How did you do that ?!" Arsen exclaims. "He was tougher than a brick wall !"

- "I just tried something I thought had a around five percent chance to work, since he's saying he's Satan or something like that. Better than ending up like those poor firefighters on the video !"

- "Also, did you just stab someone in cold blood ?"

- "Don't act surprised. You always said I was a psychopath, I'm just proving you right."

- "Well, that's quite enough of that." The Devil says as he gets up and snaps his fingers. Phoebe's knife melts, and Maxwell falls on the ground, coughing as his wound slowly closes. 

- "Dammit !" Arsen shouts as he attempts to strike Maxwell's head. His kick connects, but he screams in pain as he feels like he's hitting a brick wall again, his fractured leg fully breaking.

Phoebe opens her mouth to speak again, but no sound comes from it. She grabs at her throat as if she was suffocating, and falls to her knees. Maxwell gets up with a hateful look in his eyes.

- "Alright, change of plans Lucifer. We're taking the sister."

- "As you wish." The Devil replies as he grins to Arsen. 

- "What's going on ?!" Arsen's mother worriedly shouts as she runs out of the kitchen with oven mitts on her hands

- "Ah, miss Redfield." Maxwell replies. "You're just in time."

He extends his arm towards her, and a ray of dark orange light diffuses from it. Everything touched by the light catches on fire, including her. She screams incoherently as her flesh burns while she rolls on the floor. 

- "Arsen… Phoebe…" She manages to say before she is reduced to nothing more than a charred skeleton on the ground, much like the firefighters from before. 

Silence fills the house, only broken by the sound of the flames rapidly spreading through the house.

- "NO !" Arsen screams as he tries to crawl to his mother's remains.

- "Well, that's taken care of." Maxwell comments as he leans down to pick up Phoebe, who was unconscious on the floor.

He then starts making his way towards the exit followed by the Devil, and takes a second to look back at Arsen.

- "Hey Arsen ! How are you feeling right now ?"

- "I'LL KILL YOU IF THAT'S THE LAST DAMN THING I DO !" Arsen yells from the burning living room, trying to crawl towards him this time.

- "Great, I like that energy ! Come on, try to save your sister then ! I'll be keeping her alive just for you, so you can watch me end her right in front of your eyes after you've tried everything to prevent it."

- "BURN IN HELL !"

- "I'll probably do that eventually, what do you think Lucifer ?"

- "Absolutely." The Devil replies. "But isn't that a trivial matter ?"

- "Right you are." Maxwell concludes. "Alright Arsen, see you around ! I might visit you at the hospital to bring some flowers or something."

Maxwell exits the house, and Arsen keeps trying to drag himself through it to reach the exit and chase after him despite his broken leg. However, when he reaches the exit in the midst of the flames, a figure appears in front of him. It was a short woman with long, black hair covering her eyes and wearing a pure, white dress that looked like the ones worn by women in ancient Greece. The flames were dancing around her as if they couldn't approach her.

 

- "Hello." She says, her gloomy voice resonating around him.

- "Help… whoever you are…" Arsen coughs, suffocated by the smoke.

- "I am Nemesis, goddess of Vengeance, and I have a proposal for you."