The month passed swiftly as Angel worked tirelessly on training the Exorcist army. Every morning, he would arrive at the Colosseum, conduct a quick review of the previous day's work, and then lead the troops through rigorous drills, one after another. At every turn, he shouted at, scolded, and chastised them, intent on instilling a sense of futility, only to conclude the day with a compliment on their improvements.
All day, the troops would work harder and harder, trying to earn some respect from their commanding officer. They exhausted themselves in the process, which he hoped would fester a bit of dissent come the day of the battle. The praise at the end of the day would give them a false sense that things would improve the next day. They never did.
However, on the last day of training and two days before the battle, he looked them over and saw the sweat, bruises, weary stances, and obvious anger among many faces. It bothered him because he knew his tactics would turn them into easy targets and likely result in a few of them being killed. Another reason he'd remained harsh was for a selfish reason. He did not want to get to know them. If he had, his guilt might have overwhelmed him, but in the end, he realized that these Exorcist soldiers were not the same as other Heavenly winners. No, they were unique, hand-made creations of Heaven. It didn't soothe him much, but it was enough. Charlie was all that mattered.
Then, the day arrived—the day he both awaited and dreaded. Adam and Lute had instructed him to bring the troops to the gates outside of Heaven, and once there, Adam delivered a lackluster speech, promised rewards of imaginary wealth, and commanded the attack.
As the Exorcists took to the air, Angel launched himself and merged into the masses. "Remember, troops, form small cells of three and spread outwards once you pass through the portal. Target any and all defenders on the perimeter first. Trim the verge!"
"Trim the verge!" the Exorcists yelled in reply, acknowledging his command.
He smiled behind his mask. It was fortunate that they didn't understand the meaning of his order. Sending them off to fight the cannibal sinners was indeed targeting the most insignificant threats compared to where Adam and Lute would focus. He'd made it seem like an excellent strategy by convincing the First Man to take out the reinforcements first, as the hotel itself would likely be the most fortified and where Adam's power would be most effective.
Passing through the portal, he stopped mid-flight. It was the first time he had been to Hell, and the sight before him was not at all what he expected. In all his time in Heaven, he had imagined Hell as a burning wasteland of death and despair—a vast world of fire and brimstone.
But what he saw was a vast city, a metropolis of technology and lights. He could tell that much of it appeared decrepit, yet it also had its share of towering skyscrapers, adorned with flashing lights and neon signs advertising various forms of decadence and debauchery. It resembled New York City more than Dante's Inferno.
"What's the fucking holdup?" Adam growled as he flew to join him in the air.
"Sorry," Angel muttered. "I had a different impression of Hell. Threw me off for a moment."
"Yeah," the First Man laughed. "I admit my first time here was not what I expected either. It's so much fucking worse! Look at this shithole! Can't wait to level the whole place!"
Gritting his teeth, Angel fought to control himself. "Keep focused, Adam. The hotel is the target, nowhere else."
"This time, maybe, but there will be more." Adam scowled, then glared at him. "Since you're gonna pussyfoot back here, keep the troops moving fast and hard, just as I like 'em. I got business to take care of!"
Adam dashed off before Angel could remark, to which he was grateful. Scanning the battlefield, he saw a black magic shield rise to encase the hotel. Alastor's magic, he surmised. Based on the information he'd learned about the Radio Demon's powers, they rivaled most of the great overlords in Hell and might even be on par with Charlie's.
Darting his eyes over the scene, he saw that most of the skirmishes outside the bubble were between Exorcist groups and, surprisingly, well-armed cannibals. It meant Charlie was inside the shield, dealing with those who'd gotten through before the protective spell activated. It took every bit of self-control to stay the course, play his part, and wait.
He would not have to wait long.
In Hell, the month leading up to the assault took on a different tone. Charlie had returned from Heaven broken and lost. She failed to convince Heaven to stop the executions and, thanks to Adam, had discovered that her girlfriend, Vaggie, was a former Exorcist herself.
The shock had created a rift between them, preventing Vaggie from being in a position to stop her from making a deal with the Radio Demon, Alastor. As a part of that pact, he revealed what could potentially kill an Exorcist. Armed with this new information, and seemingly testing Vaggie's loyalty, she instructed her girlfriend to meet with Carmilla Carmine to discover what the overlord knew.
Meanwhile, Alastor took Charlie to meet Rosie, the overlord of Cannibal Town, and successfully convinced the citizens there to help defend the hotel. Rosie helped her come to terms with her true feelings for Vaggie, guiding Charlie to realize that her love for Vaggie was what truly mattered. So, when the couple reunited that night, they did much more than kiss and make up.
Now, as the battle commenced, Charlie's cannibal army quickly proved its worth by repelling the attacks outside the magical wall that Alastor had conjured. She observed that the Exorcist army was attacking in small groups of three, while her army gathered in much larger masses, swiftly driving back or dispatching the invaders. Though she hated witnessing any death, even that of the Exorcists, who she knew were merely following orders, she felt she had no choice. Not if she was to protect her friends, her family, and her lover, Vaggie.
However, a blast from Adam shattered the shield, leaving the hotel vulnerable to a full-scale assault, and his army swarmed the hotel in droves. Steeling herself for the invasion, Charlie lifted her shield up. Yet, when she was attacked, she still grimaced as she fended off each Exorcist, instinctively shouting, "Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!"
Vaggie, driving back a few attacks of her own, shouted an admonishment. "Now's not the time for that, babe!"
Embarrassed, Charlie responded, "Oh, right!" and unleashed Hellfire from her fingers. "Die, motherfuckers!" She shouted, but her blast just drove them away, and Vaggie gave her an exasperated look.
With a sheepish grin, Charlie ran past her to take on an oncoming group of three, and that's when it hit her. It was strange to her how they had been coming in on patterns that were so easy to defend. Vaggie explained what Carmilla Carmine taught her about the Angelic Exorcists: they did not fear death and were therefore not overly concerned with armor or tactics.
Still, Charlie felt that they were unnecessarily opening themselves up with each attack, allowing her and her friends to deflect their assault easily. In fact, the Exorcists were falling faster and far more quickly than she had anticipated.
In that instant, she saw something she had overlooked previously: an Exorcist hovering above, coordinating the attacks of the other Exorcists and sending them down in small, manageable patterns that felt strangely familiar, allowing her and her friends to counter each assault effectively.
Charlie barely had a moment to process the significance of this revelation before she shifted her focus to protecting her lover. A blast sent both her and Vaggie crashing to the ground. Charlie was taken aback to discover that it had originated from Adam.
"But," Charlie turned to Vaggie, worried, "Alastor was supposed to handle him!"
In the sky above, Angel hovered apart from Adam and Lute, directing the Exorcists' attacks. His eyes shifted quickly and nervously as he observed the soldiers following his strategy. He mourned the lives lost—demons and celestial beings alike—the latter largely due to his subterfuge. He understood that this was what happened in war and had never desired it, but he accepted his role for Charlie's sake.
At one point in the battle, he noticed her looking in his direction, and his heart skipped a beat. Oh, how he wanted to dive in and fight by her side, not hover hundreds of feet above, a witness only to her plight.
Screams, explosions, and blood washed over the land around and in the air above the hotel in a seemingly unending cacophony of violence. As Angel ordered a group of Exorcists to the back of the hotel, he saw Adam destroy Sir Pentious's warship. One of Charlie's closest allies had just fallen. He knew what that meant: Charlie Morningstar would be enraged, and he was well aware of what was about to happen.
Go get him, girl! He felt a sudden tug of memory as he observed her changing into her demon form—for he knew that form intimately—and clutched his amulet to steady himself. With Vaggie by her side and riding on the backs of their dragons, Razzle and Dazzle, Charlie flew up to meet Adam and Lute head-on.
Immediately, he knew his next action had to be to thin out the attacks and leave Adam alone, hopefully making him vulnerable. "Exorcists! Flank the cannibals on the outskirts; do not let them escape!"
Most responded affirmatively. "Yes, sir!"
One, however, questioned the order. "But, sir? Adam!"
"He has the Morningstar's attention! This is what he wants; leave it to him!"
Snapping a salute, the one fell in with the rest. "Yes, sir!"
Swiftly, they flew down to join their sisters on the outskirts of the battlefield, leaving him alone to consider his own choices. He knew Lute would go after Vaggie, having endured her for days on end as she cursed the fallen one. Now he just had to figure out how to save Charlie.
Angel had two options to consider. He could directly attack Adam himself, which was the most direct option, but extremely risky. Adam was vastly superior in strength and magic, and even if the distraction worked, Lute would turn the entire Exorcist army on him. He also could not count on Charlie or her army to come to his aid without revealing himself to her. Doing so in the heat of battle would be problematic at best and disastrous at worst for all of them.
The other option was less reliable but would reap a greater reward if successful. If he failed with the second option, he'd lose the fraction of the advantage he'd gained by attacking Adam head-on. Angrily, he scolded himself for his hesitation, acutely aware that his emotions were negatively affecting his strategic thinking. Come on! Come on! Make a fucking choice, Kevin!
While he grappled with the decision, he observed that Adam had knocked the princess off her dragon, sending her crashing onto the hotel's roof. Accounting for Adam's superior power, he knew now that he needed to choose the second option. Focusing, Angel unleashed a blast of magic toward the one he desperately hoped would quickly answer his call. Then, slowly and cautiously, he floated downward towards the fight, ready to intervene if necessary.
On the roof, Charlie stabbed Adam, forcing him to retreat, which only served to enrage him further. Lashing out, Adam seized Charlie by the throat, lifted her up, and appeared ready to deliver the killing blow.
Believing option two had failed, Angel thrust his wings back and prepared to dive down to spear Adam when Charlie's father, Lucifer Morningstar, finally appeared!
He'd heard the call! He breathed thankfully. Perhaps he would not have to do anything but wait for the battle to come to an end.
A single punch from Lucifer sent Adam crashing into the back of the hotel's sign, who bounced comically, crashing through the skylight on the roof.
"Dad?" Charlie gasped in surprise.
"Sorry, I couldn't be here sooner, sweetie." Lucifer smiled back, lovingly, as he helped her back to her feet. "That pesky contract, you know."
"Then how?"
"Well—" Lucifer started, but was interrupted by Adam.
"Okay, seriously!" Climbing up through the broken skylight, Adam growled. "How many of you freaks do I have to fight!?"
Stepping forward, Lucifer pulled up his sleeves. "Oh, I'm the only one that matters." He put his face right up to Adam's. "See, you messed with my daughter, and now I am going to fuck you!"
Time froze. Along with Adam, literally every Exorcist, sinner, cannibal, and even Lute and Vaggie, who were locked in a death struggle, stopped and stared.
Charlie, looking embarrassed, leaned in to her father's ear and whispered, "It's 'fuck you up,' Dad."
He gave his daughter a perplexed look. "Wait, what did I say?"
Distracted, Lucifer didn't see Adam rush in, spearing him into the edge of the roof. Momentarily caught off guard, Lucifer barely avoided Adam's fists, just managing to dodge them by changing into a snake and flying into the air.
Lucifer taunted and trounced Adam with a mix of insults, magic, and pure physical dominance. Finally fed up with being humiliated, Adam unleashed all his rage and shot a blast of powerful magic—the same that had killed Sir Pentious—straight at Lucifer. He easily ducked, and the glowing bolt of violent magic ripped through the hotel, splitting it in half down the middle, sending Charlie falling through the shattering debris.
Lucifer's back was to the hotel when he heard her screams. He spun in fear to see Charlie tumbling among the falling debris. Before he could move or even shout, another voice rose through the noise. "Charlie!"
A blur dove through the mess of metal, wood, and shards of glass, diving under Charlie and catching her before she hit the ground. Only when they stopped, some fifty feet above the jagged debris below, did Lucifer notice it was one of the Exorcist soldiers. Lucifer's lips curled upwards. He recognized this one.
Charlie screamed in fear. Unlike her father, she had no wings and knew he was too far away to save her. Tumbling through the rain of debris, her voice ringing out among the crashing sounds, Charlie Morningstar bade goodbye to her lover and friends, tensing for the inevitable fate that awaited her below.
It was a fate that never came to pass. Just as quickly as she had squeezed her eyes shut to brace for impact, they snapped open again when she realized her fall had suddenly stopped. The soft, whooshing sound of flapping wings drew her gaze upward to discover that the Exorcist she had seen earlier now held her safely in his arms.
The fear of falling was replaced by a growing anger at being trapped in an Exorcist's grip, and she growled a demand. "Let go of me!"
"Of course." A warm voice spoke from behind the mask. "Would you prefer I drop you? Or shall I set you down gently?"
Charlie blinked. His voice didn't sound condescending at all. Instead, it was laced with teasing humor. She could also swear she knew that voice somehow. The softness in his tone and his delicate, protective embrace confused her, yet she felt oddly comforted and calm. She scrutinized him for a moment, then licked her lips. "Gently," she answered, then added with a whisper, "Please."
With a silent nod, the Exorcist lowered them slowly to the ground and opened his arms for her to stand. Charlie set her cloven hooves down among the scattered debris, careful to find solid purchase, then stepped back to appraise him. Not only did he sound familiar, but his size and shape also triggered a faint memory.
Bewildered, she reached out her hand to touch his mask. "Who are you?"
"YOU!"
Adam's venomous shout came from above and behind Charlie. She spun to see the First Man, his guitar sword drawn, charging toward them. Before she could brace herself, the Exorcist stepped in front, taking the lead.
He's protecting me now?
Already shocked by his move to defend her, her eyes widened further as he reached up, grabbed his halo, and pulled it off his head. The ring shimmered, shrank, and changed shape as the two spikes stretched out to form a blade and hilt. The saber-like sword pulsed with glowing, golden energy. Shifting his stance defensively, the Exorcist tensed, waiting.
As Adam launched his attack, fiercely swinging his guitar sword, her defender intercepted. Their weapons collided, releasing a surge of energy that knocked Charlie off her feet with tremendous force, propelling her backwards in the air.
Lucifer swooped in and caught her. "I got ya, kiddo!"
"Dad!" Charlie hugged him tightly, then turned her attention to the battle. She watched the Exorcist parry Adam's swings, fighting diligently. She peered up at her father, eyes wide in wonder. "Who is he, Dad?"
Charlie swore she saw a smile on her dad's face as he answered, "Someone keeping a promise."
Charlie blinked and turned her full attention to the new battle unfolding.
Angel grimaced as Adam's swings came down with such force that they rattled his bones with each deflection, and pain he'd forgotten in Heaven returned to him in spades.
"You fucking traitor," Adam screamed. "I knew there was something off about you!"
"You're such a moron, Adam." He ducked a swing and countered with his own, which Adam easily swiped away. "Manipulating you and Lute was far too easy," he mocked.
"Ass-wipe! I'm going to split you in half and finish off those losers once and for all."
"Try it, asshole!" Angel knew he was in over his head. Adam was much more powerful than he was, but the need to protect Charlie pushed self-preservation aside. He would die for her, as many times as necessary.
Adam came down with a fierce swing, determined to fulfill his promise. Angel twisted the hilt of his sword, expanding it into a massive shield, nearly spanning his 6'4" frame, absorbing the impact. The kinetic force of the collision sent Adam stumbling backward in surprise, while the wave knocked Angel off his feet, the shield dropping over him and covering him from toes to nose. His eyes looked up as Adam balanced himself far above.
Swiftly, he imagined the Frisbee blade, and the shield shrank down to fit into his grip. Rolling to his feet, Angel twisted his body around a full 360° and thrust his hand up and out, releasing the blade.
Shouting, the First Man tried to duck, but the blade sliced through his robes, clipping his thigh. He grabbed at the wound, watching as the blade returned to Angel.
He winced, searing pain shooting up his leg. "The fuck! That hurt!"
As intended, shithead. Angel mocked.
Adam began to descend, albeit more slowly than before, as it seemed he was now sizing Angel up as a legitimate threat. "Okay. This fight was cute and all, but it's time you die with the rest of them!"
With a quick glance at his surroundings, Angel identified a possible attack strategy. As the First Man advanced, he dashed beneath him, visualizing the weapon he needed. He sensed the Frisbee blade begin to morph, and a robust handle extended into a crescent blade on top, transforming into an axe. With all his strength, Angel swung the axe's sharp edge into a hotel column rising about forty feet high behind Adam. The impact was powerful, and he successfully cut through it at the desired angle. The column broke loose and crashed down right above Adam.
"Oh, hell no," the First Man shouted. Swooping left, he tried to avoid the column, but the edge of it clipped his guitar sword, knocking it out of his hand. "FUCK!"
The momentary distraction gave Angel the advantage he needed. Using all the strength he could muster, he whipped the axe toward Adam. As it flew, it transformed once again into the Frisbee blade and sliced through Adam's wing.
Enraged, Adam twisted and grasped the blade as it whizzed by, screaming as it cut through his palm and hurled it violently away. Adam's masked face glitched as he turned his ire entirely on him and dove for him.
Shit! Angel tensed and took on a defensive stance.
Despite possessing angelic magic, his power was significantly less than Adam's, and he found himself at a severe disadvantage with his halo out of reach. There were only seconds left to calculate Adam's speed and vector.
Unfortunately, there was only one likely outcome to this. I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise, my Princess of Hell. At least your father can protect you now.
Gritting his teeth, Angel shifted his feet, lifted his hands in a classic boxer's pose, and prepared for the end. He wasn't going to give the First Man the satisfaction of seeing him close his eyes or retreat in fear.
"NO!" Charlie screamed from behind him.
For that last final second of existence, Angel embraced the sound of her voice, grateful it was the last thing he'd ever hear.