Chapter 12

Baltoh and the others were hovering in the sky above the coast of the Isle of the Damned, a continent about the size of England and surrounded by a flat sea of Hellfire, burning for eternity and stretching forth without borders. Above them was a sky filled solely with crimson clouds and black lightning, forever stirring in a windless hurricane. Down below on the barren landscape of the Isle of the Damned lay burning fields, lakes of bubbling magma, forests of undead trees, and millions of people getting raped and tortured by the Gargoyles and Sinners of Hell, all in the most brutal and cruel ways possible. But no matter how much the people suffered, they would not die or even lose consciousness. Their bodies would continue to regenerate instantly so that they could continue to suffer.

Among the people being tortured and used like slaves, there were those who were desperately fighting against the Gargoyles and Sinners. With rusty swords and guns cast from Hellsteel, they fought for their freedom against their tormenters, running across the apocalyptic landscape in fear and terror while desperately trying to escape from pain, if only for a short time.

“Oh my God, this is horrible,” Selene gasped, clutching Baltoh’s hand and trying not to vomit or cry.

“These are the Burning Pastures of the Isle of the Damned, the first zone of Hell. This is where new prisoners appear and where escaped prisoners flee to in the hopes of some form of safety. It is a battlefield, with the deceased souls fighting in and endless and hopeless war in order to escape their torment and punishment. Considering how this is always a battlefield, it’s not surprising that it is also part of the Circle of Wrath. It is here that we shall begin.”

“What are we doing?” Raphael asked.

“We are going to free the unjustly punished. There are far too many prisoners here, innocent souls cursed for all eternity for minor infractions and sins. I may have been born from hatred, but I am still far more merciful and driven by justice than your God.

Celestial Art: Crusading Legions Summoning!” he called with his voice carrying across the Isle of the Damned.

Down on the shores of the Isle of the Damned, hundreds of thousands of suits of armor began to materialize, made of glistening blue metal and indestructible silver that glowed like the stars. Protruding from their backs were large wings that seemed to be made out of mercury while in their hands were bladed weapons that were as long as cars and consisted of a long crescent blade—almost like an arch—with a handle stretching between the two points, parallel to the spine of the blade. The weapon was designed to be held with both hands far apart, for a powerful offense and defense.

“What are those? I’ve never seen a spell like that performed,” Rosemary asked in wonder.

“They are my Crusaders, summoned with a spell that I myself invented from the power of the cosmos. Cinereo is the universe from which Heaven and Hell budded off from and its energy was both the architect and materials from which Archangel and Demon spells were formed. Having acquired the Throne of Cinereo, I now have the power to create new celestial spells.”

Without anyone inside of them, the suits of armor marched across the burning fields in formation. Echoing throughout the Isle of the Damned, their synchronized footfalls shook the ground and echoed through Hell. As they came upon the sadistic Gargoyles, they slew them like machines without mercy, swinging their massive blades and carving through bone and flesh with ease. They trekked through the pastures of fire, slashing and cleaving every Gargoyle in their way. Every time they came upon a human soul, they would scan the soul to identify whatever it was that had banished that person to Hell, and if the person received their sentence through a serious crime like rape, theft, adultery, or unjust murder, then they were left behind. But if they were only guilty of small harmless sins, then the suits of armor would open up like blossoming flowers and envelope the prisoner. Fused with the suit of armor, the condemned soul would be given great strength and power, even beyond Archangels. With this new strength, the prisoners became the new Crusaders.

A great shadow filled the crimson sky as an army of Demons appeared, bringing forth Conjuring Necropolises and Graveyards of the Damned to instantly summon thousands of Gargoyles and Sinners to recapture the prisoners of Hell. With this new challenge, the Crusaders began to pick of speed. Half of them took flight while the rest charged towards the Gargoyles.

A loud roar echoed from deep within the Isle of the Damned as well as across the burning sea as Titans and Bleaks began to arise. They were of all types, creeds, and forms, ranging from black dragons, demonic birds, nightmarish insects, colossal Gargoyles, towering four-legged beasts with monstrous physical characteristics, and countless other animals that were large enough to trample a city and were adorned with horrifyingly demonic appearances.

With a snap of his fingers, Baltoh summoned suits of armor for all of the Archangels, as well as Selene and Molly. Without even knowing what was going on, everyone was swallowed by their suit of armor as it wrapped around them like Venus flytraps. Unlike the freed prisoners below, their helms looked like a mix of a welding mask and a futuristic motorcycle helmet, with their halos burning in the center of a large golden fireball that hovered above their heads, something that the others did not have.

Their armor also had a much sleeker and more form-fitting design, with gold lining every plate and an emblazoned cross on the chest plate. On top of liquid metal chassis, each piece and plate fit together like reptilian scales but with full solid protection like regular armor plating. For the men, their armor had a certain bulkiness, while the women’s armor was more slender and flexible, while still consisting of large solid plates. Hanging sheathed from their belts were their swords, each remade with greater durability and cutting power.

For Molly, Rosemary, and Selene, there armor was even more unique. Instead of being consumed by a golden fireball, their halos had been completely replaced with miniature solar systems, quite similar to the entire miniature galaxy above Baltoh’s, and each with a real egg-sized star and ten planets orbiting around it, five going around in one direction and five going in the other. While retaining their gold lining, the plates of their armor had changed in color, switching from pearly white to a very deep and dark blue and decorated with patterns of small diamonds that looked like stars. Instead of a cross like the others, their chest plates had been adorned with Ouroboros symbol. Last but not least, their wings themselves had gained a new form, gaining a mercury membrane in place of their feathers.

Obeying their will, everyone’s helmet opened up and folded back as they looked at their armor in amazement, feeling their power levels skyrocket. Selene, Molly, and Rosemary were the most shocked at their new transformation.

“That armor has just increased your speed, strength, and power up beyond my former level. Consider it a gift, and they appear and disappear whenever you want them to. Selene, Molly, and Rosemary, you three have just been turned over from the realm of Angels to become my Celestial Valkyries. You three now have the ability to harness the powers of the universe and elements as your spells, and knowledge of how to use them will come naturally. With these enhancements, I believe I can leave these Titans to you while I take on the guy approaching our position.”

“Who?” Gabriel asked as he flexed his fingers, more than satisfied with the maneuverability. Before Baltoh answered, a huge flaming mushroom cloud formed deep in land, as if the world’s most powerful atomic bomb had just been detonated. Everyone watched in horror and gagged as they felt a dark and heavy sense of dread as a malicious energy weighed down upon them.

“Satan, the first Hell Prince and caster of judgment upon the new arrivals. Oh look, here he comes now. Don’t worry, I’ll make it quick, just make sure you take care of those Titans,” Baltoh said calmly, as if bored. As he spoke, the crushing presence of the approaching Hell Prince was swept aside, freeing everyone of their dread and returning their excitement and enthusiasm.

Reassured by Baltoh’s words, everyone nodded and split up, giddy and desperate to try their new strength.

As a building-sized Gargoyle began to charge an Abyss Blast, a Crusader charged towards it. She had been locked in hell for three hundred years and was glad to have the power to fight back. The beast released the blast, tearing apart the infertile ground and barely missing the armored fighter. The Crusader jumped into the air and imbedded one of the two ends of her weapon into the top of its skull and making sure not to lose any momentum or to pull the blade out of its cranium, she pole-vaulted over it, using her blade to cut its head in half down the middle. As she ran down its back, her blade cut down its neck, into the chest, and carved right through its black heart. The beast fell over dead with its brains and blood spilling out onto the arid soil.

A Demon flew towards a Crusader like a striking eagle, skimming just over the ground with a spear in her hand. She reached out to stab the Crusader, but he blocked with his weapon, granted more than enough strength by his armor to face the sentient conglomerate. Using his newly-gained power, the Crusader reached out and grabbed the Demon by the throat and slammed her down into the ground with devastating power, making her cough blood from all the shredded channels and veins in his throat. The Crusader stood up and lifted his bow-shaped sword and swung it down onto the Demon, cutting her in half down the middle.

A Crusader flew through the air around a colossal Gargoyle that was sending down waves of shadow fire into Baltoh’s armies. The creature noticed the freed prisoner, but acted like it was a mere fly. Taking the initiative, the Crusader flew by its wing and cut right through the membrane of leathery flesh that allowed it to keep flight. The Gargoyle roared in pain and began to plummet out of the sky with the soldier standing on its back. The Gargoyle reached up with its tail to try and smash the Crusader, but he dodged with ease before he raised his weapon and slashed the beast across the back of the neck.

The Gargoyle roared in pain but still had control of its body. It struggled to flap its wounded wing, but it could not take flight. Just before it crashed into the ground, the Crusader imbedded his weapon in the gash in the back of the Gargoyle’s neck. The dark behemoth landed in a burning field, tossing soil and stone into the air, and the impact drove the soldier’s weapon into its neck, cutting off its head.

All of Hell began to shake as fissures opened up in the ground. Fire poured out of the gaps in the earth and huge skeletal hands reached out. Slowly, thirteen Bleaks crawled out and stood towering over the army of Crusaders. The Bleaks opened their jaws and released several Abyss Blasts into the landscape, destroying the weaker Gargoyles and the Crusaders without any distinction.

“Come on, Molly! Let’s take care of them!” Selene said as she flapped her liquid metal wings and shot towards the giant skeletons.

“Don’t start without me!” Molly laughed as she held out her hand and materialized her own huge cleaver.

With their long hair hanging out of the back of their helmets and whipping around a they flew, the two women zoomed over to the Bleaks, desperate for battle. Molly was the first to reach the group and instinctively attacked the skeleton closest to her. With a roar of determination, she spun around in the air and swung the arch blade with all of her strength, imbedding the edge in the corner of the Bleak’s left eye socket. Instantly, cracks formed across its skull like a spider web and its whole cranium shattered in a bright explosion, as if the blade had been lined with claymore mines.

“You stupid whore!” one of the Bleaks howled as it opened its jaws and began charging a Abyss Blast.

Moving faster than a speeding bullet, Selene shot up along beside the Bleak and delivered a devastating kick right to its spine between its ribcage and its pelvis, crippling it with ease. The gargantuan monster roared in agony as it fell and looked up, inadvertently releasing its Abyss Blast into the sky. But before it could hit the ground, Selene zoomed straight up and shot right through its skull like a living bullet, ending the Bleak’s life.

Hovering in the air, Selene swerved to the side as several Bleaks reached out to grab her, followed by Molly who came along and cut off all their hands with her cleaver. Falling back to plan her next movie, Selene gasped as she felt a ripple of knowledge flow through her mind. Instructions for a spell were entering her subconscious as if it wanted to be cast. Memorizing the instructions, she began to dredge up her energy, feeling it naturally direct and organize itself.

Driven by unstoppable instincts, she pointed her hand and called out, “Celestial Art: Lighting Obliteration!”

Answering her call, a crackling bolt of pure electricity erupted from her palm, as strong if not stronger than a Divinity Ray. Unlike the Blessed Lightning spell used by Archangels, this was true elemental electric power, not an imitation made of holy energy. Moving almost at the speed of light, the massive surge struck a Bleak in the center of its chest, shattering its ribs and severing its spine. As the dying monstrosity began to buckle, she fired again, this time blasting off the top of its skull.

“Celestial Art: Tornado Scythe!” Molly hollered.

Glowing like neon gas, silver wind wrapped around her bow-shaped sword and howled as she raised it above her head. With a roar of confidence, she threw the weapon at cluster of Bleaks and it was instantly wrapped in a flashing tornado. The pillar of glowing wind charged into the trio of skeletons and knocked them back like a charging bull. As they fell to their ground, every bone in their body split into dozens of flawlessly-cut sections, as if they had all been hit with a net of laser beams. The blade returned to Molly like a boomerang and she gained a wide smile underneath the tinted glass visor of her helm. She finally had the true strength to avenge her own death.

Selene smiled as well, sensing Molly beginning to gain a certain competitiveness with her. Not wanting to be outdone, she pointed her palms at two Bleaks that were lumbering towards her. “Celestial Art: Cosmic Crush!”

As the Bleaks opened their jaws to launch a barrage of Abyss Blasts, their bodies began to shake violently. In an ear-splitting crash, they were suddenly yanked down as if by a weighted leash and crashed into the ground, shattering on impact. Selene had increased the force of gravity on their bodies, multiplying their own weight by more than ten-fold and crushing them with it.

“Celestial Art: Star Birth!” she then called, pointing at one of the Bleaks that Molly had dismembered.

Firing from the tip of her finger, a sphere of red light shot across the open space and hit its mark on the Bleak’s forehead, passing harmlessly through the bone and entering its skull. Selene cracked a smile and the Bleak spontaneously erupted into a flaming mushroom cloud, originating from inside its head. The spell she had just used mimicked the fiery fusion process that takes place in stars, causing a small-scale nuclear explosion inside the beast. It was basically a firecracker compared to the nuclear explosions caused by atomic bombs, being only strong enough to annihilate a city block. She pointed at two more Bleaks and killed them in the same way, obliterating them form the inside out with small nuclear explosions.

“Celestial Art: Meteor Obliteration!” Molly cast, holding out her hands.

From the ground, a volcanic boulder was pulled free and flew up to Molly. She pressed her hands against it and the boulder instantly disappeared, moving at almost 70 km/sec, about the same speed as the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. The boulder hit one of the Bleaks in the center of its chest, creating a sonic boom in the air that instantly reduced its entire body to dust. The meteor shot off across the Isle of the Damned, barely being pulled by the planet’s gravitational pull. By the time it left the continent, it had finally fallen enough to touch the planet, and it would only have one chance before shooting off into the completely empty space. For a split second, it skimmed across the burning sea, but that light touch was more than enough to rocket a tidal wave of fire out of orbit. The flaming cloud was almost as large as the planet itself and Hell shook wildly from the light yet sudden impact.

She called forth another boulder and launched it at another Bleak. The giant managed to sidestep to avoid physical contact, but even without touching the flying boulder, the sonic boom of its momentum created a shockwave in the air that shattered the entire right side of its body in a fraction of a second. As the slain beast crumbled like demolished building, Molly looked over to Selene, who had just killed her sixth Bleak with another bolt of lightning.

The two friends looked at each other and then to the final Bleak, too stubborn to run away. Moving at hyper speed, they both charged towards the skeleton, both wanting to beat the other in Demon-killing and have the higher score. The Bleak was just about to launch a Abyss Blast at the two women when they appeared in front of it, pulled back their arms, and simultaneously punched it in the face with enough power to destroy its head.

With the Bleaks taken care of, the women both gave the mental command to retract their helmets and their armor obeyed, opening up the protective gear like the opening of a puzzle box. With warm smiles on their faces, Selene and Molly leaned forward and kissed.

“Angel Art: Divine Smite!” Michael thundered as he flew towards the millipede Titan that Baltoh had encountered earlier.

The gargantuan creature had its body raised out of the burning sea and was launching a stream of acid from its fanged mouth. With a roar, Michael punched the Titan in the middle of its body with all of his strength, sending a catastrophic shockwave through its body. The mass of Demon spirits howled in pain as every blood vessel in its long body ruptured and its eye popped like a paint balloon. Had Michael tried to do that to a Titan before, even while casting the spell, he would have probably just been laughed at and then devoured.

Blind and in agony but still very much alive, the Titan hissed and launched a Abyss Blast powerful enough to obliterate a mountain range. With golden flames automatically burning along the blade, Michael swung his sword and cut through the blast, protecting himself from its destructive power like Moses parting the Red Sea. Once the blast finally trickled to a stop, Michael raised his sword and gripped it with both hands. With blinding intensity, the golden flames around the blade surged upwards, multiplying in size over a hundred times every second.

Even without its eye and swimming in a sea of fire, the Titan was filled with dread as it sensed the colossal energy within the golden flames. At its pique, the sword was the route of a golden burning tornado, larger than any tornado on Earth. Filled with confidence, Michael swung his sword like an executioner, launching it in a crescent blade at the Demon.

“Angel Art: Burning Moon Slice!” he bellowed as the blast slammed into the Titan, ripping its head and the upper half of its body in half.

“Angel Art: Spear of Destiny,” Gabriel said, holding his hand out to the helmeted eagle launching boat-sized steely feathers at him.

Upon his command, over a hundred rays of light began firing from his hand, each bending and straightening out with the golden voulge blade at the ends leading them. The blades of energy and the giant wings collided with each other like bullets in the air. Such a feat was impossible without the armor that Gabriel had been granted.

“Angel Art: Crusading Canter.”

Moving so fast that his speed was second only to teleportation, he appeared behind the Titan without ending his original spell. The eagle looked back and saw Gabriel a nanosecond before hundreds of massive energy blades bombarded it all at once, knocking out of the sky like a Frisbee hit with ten loads of buckshot. It plummeted towards the burning sea with the endless stream of blades striking it with unstoppable power and literally chopping it to pieces. It was dead long before it landed in the flames.

“Angel Art: Enlightenment Flash!” Raphael called, giving off a radiant flare that was brighter than the sun.

The mountain-sized Gargoyle recoiled at the bright light and shielded its eyes, giving Raphael the perfect opportunity to swing his sword and lop off one of its hands in a single slash. The Titan howled in agony and clutched the bleeding stump as the severed hand fell into the burning sea with a massive splash. Spinning around, the Titan swung his tail in an attempt to knock the pesky fly back so that he could recover, but Raphael stopped the massive attack with one hand as he were swatting aside a moth, proceeding then to slice it off with only one movement of his sword.

“Demon Art: Monster Slash!” the Titan roared, raising its one good hand and then bringing it down with all of its strength, launching five invisible edges that were each powerful enough to cut through a tectonic plate.

“Angel Art: Gates of Heaven,” Raphael calmly hummed, holding out his sword.

Before the slashes could reach him, a golden gate, as large as the front of Mt. Rushmore, materialized before him and blocked the attack. With the holy energy that the gate was radiating with, the invisible blades couldn’t even slip between the bars.

“Angel Art: Ultimate Penitence.”

Before the Titan could even realize what has happened to it, a wooden cross that was twice as large as the Empire State Building fell out the sky and struck it in the back, piercing it through with its intense weight and blasting its black heart right through its chest.

“Celestial Art: Crushing Sea!” Rosemary shouted as she dodged the Abyss Blast of a tiger Titan with a mat of quills on its back.

Above her, a building-sized sphere of water appeared in the air and suddenly began to spray out into a thunderous waterfall, as if it were and inter-dimensional drain that lead to the bottom of an ocean. The deluge splashed down onto the Burning Pastures, extinguishing the flames and slamming into the Titan as a powerful tidal wave. Vast clouds of steam rose up into the sky as the water poured across the barren countryside and put out all the flames before reaching the coast of the burning sea. Flapping their wings, the Crusaders all took to the air to dodge the devastating tsunami as it snatched up the Gargoyles and Sinners and pulverized them.

“Demon Art: Debt Retrieval!” the tiger snarled as it tried to hold its footing against the ceaseless flood. The surging surface of the water was further disrupted as dozens of huge skeletal hands reached out like leaping sharks, stretching like rubber to grab Rosemary.

“Celestial Art: Stone Jaws!” she called with her heart burning with confidence and power.

Intercepting the bony hands, great daggers of earth burst from the ground in the midst of the growing arms, crushing them like twigs in the claws of lobsters.

“Celestial Art: Lightning Obliteration!” she called, launching a devastating bolt of electricity down into the water.

The Titan howled and snarled in agony as it was electrocuted with enough energy to power an entire state. Bridges of electricity arched between its quills, its flesh peeled and melted off its body, and smoke wafted from his mouth as its insides burned. It fell to its knees, letting the endless tidal wave wash over it, but Rosemary was not done yet.

“Celestial Art: Crystal Ice Ray!” she shouted, swinging her arm in rotation and drawing a large ring in the air with her own energy.

Once the ring was completed, the air within it glowed brightly with a blue shade and shined like the stars. With a roar, the tiger Titan burst from the surface of her sea, claws barred and black fire burning between its jaws. With a roar of determination, Rosemary slammed her palm against the middle of the ring, launching a blast of sapphire-shaded energy that was six feet in diameter. The blast struck the Titan in the chest, instantly freezing it and the entire forming sea.

With the beast and the flood now a giant ice carving, Rosemary shot towards it with her fist pulled back. Reaching the frozen Titan, she reached out and punched it on the nose with all of her strength. Simultaneously, the entire frozen structure exploded into icy powder, killing all the Demons and Gargoyles trapped inside.

The battle suddenly became silent as a deafening roar shook the Isle of the Damned, forcing everyone but Baltoh to cover their ears to try and block the crippling noise. In the distance, a flaming comet could be seen approaching, flying like a mortar shell before crashing into the ground in front of everyone and burning away all the ice and debris with a wave of fire. Standing in the flames arose a gargantuan creature, large enough to snap up a Titan in its jaws and kick aside a mountain like an exercise ball. It was Satan, the first Hell Prince and the Mascot of Wrath.

The son of Tenebrous had the legs of a goat with huge stomping hooves, red fur that was matted with blood, huge powerful arms lined with blades, serrated claws that were twice as long as his fingers, massive wings that could obscure the sky, curled bull-like horns, and a face that seemed like a mix of a jackal’s and a Gargoyle’s. Everyone stared in horror at the colossal monstrosity, towering over everything they had come to know and fear.

“So, the vigilante returns. Normally you would flee to the world of the living at the smallest sign of my approach. It seems that you have gained some new powers, but it does not matter, you always were and always will be nothing compared to me.” Satan laughed.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I have transcended to the level of the gods and gone far past your puny world. You, the Hell Prince of Wrath, is no more of a threat to me than a dying maggot,” Baltoh calmly taunted, with his coat billowing in the arid breeze.

“We’ll see about that! Demon Art: Apocalypse Eruption!” Satan roared as he opened his jaws and began charging a scarlet blast so powerful that only beings of the position of Hell Prince and higher could use it.

Everyone was brought to their knees by the crushing weight of the energy it was giving off, energy so dark and powerful that it could kill a city of people just through its ambient existence. The blast itself was so powerful that if launched from the sun during a full alignment, it would obliterate every planet in the solar system. Even after everything she had seen, Selene was filled with dread and fear for Baltoh as the radiance of the blast made her feel like she was going to die.

“Baltoh, move!” she shrieked before Satan released the beam.

With its launch initiated by a full-on nuclear explosion going off between his jaws, Satan fired the colossal beam of blood-red energy with almost ten times the strength as Baltoh’s old rage blast. The energy washed over the Celestial Avatar like a flood of magma and surged out over the ocean of fire, sending burning tidal waves in all directions that could consume entire countries. Flying out from the planet due to its curvature, the beam shot deep into the empty space, soaring for several seconds before detonating in an explosion that looked like a supernova.

“Funny that you call me a dying maggot, when you’re the one who is dead!” Satan cackled as the smoke cleared.

“I was wrong,” Baltoh’s voice echoed. Satan’s eyes widened in terror and everyone gasped, unable to believe that someone, even Baltoh, could take a blast like that head-on and survive. The smoke and dust cleared, revealing that he was completely unharmed.

“If that’s the best you can do, then you are even lower than a dying maggot compared to me.”

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!”

“A god,” Baltoh answered as he snapped his fingers.

Satan suddenly released a bone-chilling screech as his body went from fearfully trembling to violently jerking. Baltoh was allowing his energy to finally release itself like body heat and was focusing it all on Satan. Now, his entire body was being crushed from every angle as Baltoh’s energy closed in on him like a deflating balloon. The Hell Prince gave an excruciating howl as every bone in his body simultaneously snapped and his body began to collapse in on itself. He raised his power levels as high as they could go, but he was basically trying to hold back a tsunami with a rotting fence. Every open space in his body began to collapse under the strain, his broken bones being reduced to powder, his veins and muscles tearing themselves to shreds. As the execution continued, his body began to shrink as the weight of Baltoh’s energy began compacting his atoms themselves, pushing them so close together that the electrons were grinding against the nuclei and could not orbit.