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“We should get in there,” Asmodeus says, glancing at the battle raging on behind me. “Who’s ready to show the archdemons that even with half our usual power, we can make their forces fall to their knees?”
“Do you even have to ask?” Lucifer steps around me, with Satan and Asmodeus flanking him on either side. Power ripples off of their forms in waves, sweeping across the battlefield and drawing every eye it reverberates into.
Murmurs spread across the demons as their attention locks on the figures of three of the demon princes. Recognition sparks in some of their eyes as they back away, suddenly desperate to make their way back to the portal.
“All those who wish to die by the hands of your princes can by all means stay and meet their fate,” Lucifer’s booming voice echoes across the battlefield. “And all those who wish to live another day and exist in the new world we’re about to bring forth can leave.”
He reaches a hand where he placed the stone, drawing upon its power as another rift splits through the courtyard beside us, to open another doorway to the infernal realm. Heat blasts from the opening, the dry cracked earth beckoning the demons home.
A roar breaks through the silence, a temporary pause to the fighting as Romulus rages. The earth shakes beneath us, and I poise my wings, ready to launch in the air at any moment.
“This deal does have an expiry on it,” Lucifer continues, motioning to Satan. “You have a minute to leave, otherwise you’ll have us to answer to, and Satan has been begging me for something to kill for days now.”
Malice ripples off Satan in waves, sending tendrils of fear skittering up my spine. I know I’m not the only one since a group of silver-scaled demons closest to us shudder, practically scattering at the chance to get away from Wrath.
They’re the first ones to make their way through the portal, and once they’re through unharmed, a swarm of other demons move to follow them.
“Olivia,” Romulus bellows, the grating sound of his voice sending the hair at the back of my neck to stand on end. My hand automatically reaches for the dagger at my spine, the rubies pressing against my palm, reassuring me that this is almost over. There’s only one hurdle left to overcome, and there’s no way he’s walking out of this alive.
“We have this, god of redemption,” Lucifer says, drawing my attention back to him. Demons stream through the portal, but some still fight against our forces, apparently unmoved by the princes’ appearance. “Go earn that title of yours.”
I nod in thanks before I take to the skies once more, ready to end this war once and for all. Black smoke spears for me, but my own shadows bat them away like they’re more of an annoyance than an attack. I reinforce my shields as I get closer to them, my boots thudding on the ground as I land and immediately roll to dodge an incoming blast of fire.
“I should’ve known that a spawn from the two of you would be my worst nightmare,” Romulus bellows, sending a cascade of rocks and debris at my parents. Octavia’s shadows send them ricocheting back at him and his own black smoke scarcely reacts in time, barely forming a shield around him to avoid a rock straight to his face.
“Little mate,” Mateo calls to me, drawing my attention to my left as he sends a blast of power at Kallen. “Give him hell.”
I nod, unable to stop a sly grin from curling on my lips.
I intend to do just that.
That smile fades the moment my eyes lock on Kallen’s as he throws a bolt of lightning at Mateo, and my god of war sends it bouncing off his shields. Kallen bares his teeth at me, a look of understanding passing between us. I slice a final cutting glare towards him before focusing on his father, the look a silent promise that I’ll keep my word. When I’m done with Romulus, it’s his turn, and after what he’s done, he doesn’t deserve to be spared.
Romulus sends a strike of lightning at my father, but before it can even get close enough for him to block, I send a strike of my own, letting it grow and absorb his power. The currents shift and I send the bolt careening towards him, but he narrowly jumps out of the way at the last second, leaving the electricity to strike the ground right where his feet were moments before. It singes the ground, the force leaving a small crater, reminding me of exactly what he’d done to our home.
Romulus took so much from so many people, killed thousands in his quest for power, and today he’ll pay for the millennia of pain and suffering that he’s caused.
I raise my sword between us and launch forward, knowing the long-range fighting won’t work if I want to finish this. I need to get close enough to him to stab him. He materializes one of his own as he meets me in a clash of metal, our shadows twinning along the steel to meet in an explosion of smoke. The blast knocks us both back, but I meet him in a flurry of limbs and swords and we collide again.
“How did you do it? How did you take the dagger from me?” he sneers, knocking me back as his sword passes a hairsbreadth too close for my liking. My father intakes a sharp breath, but I drown him out, not able to keep my focus on both him, and returning Romulus’ attacks.
“It’s a secret,” I whisper back to him, my words barely audible through the melee surrounding us.
“I’m going to rip that annoying, sharp tongue out of your mouth before I kill you,” he says as he raises his sword and runs at me. The edge looks like it’s about to spear through me, but I easily side-step his attack, letting him careen past me. He’s allowing his anger to control him right now. I can use that.
“I’d like to see you try, old man,” I retort, not letting go of my advantage as he spins around and I arc my sword at him, coupling the strike with a blast of lightning. “Do you need to take a break? I’m sure we can find you a nice grave to take a little nap in.”
“I’ve lived in hell for hundreds of years, you insolent little brat,” he snaps, shaking off the blast of lightning before it can do too much damage.
It got through his shields though...
“Your little taunts do nothing.” He takes another swing at me and I dodge the blow, my shadows wrapping around his leg to knock him off balance. He falls back and lands on his ass, but he kicks out and launches himself upwards in one swift movement. I’m already in front of him though, sending a blast of destruction power at him.
He screams as the force knocks into him, the energy eating away at his arm before his shadows sweep in to staunch the bleeding. I don’t miss a beat though, and go to unsheathe the dagger from my side, but when my fingers reach for the ruby inlaid hilt I know should be there, they pass through thin air.
“Looking for this,” Romulus says darkly, glowering back at me as he lifts the blade for me to see. The sunlight breaking through the clouds streams down on it, casting its light through the rubies and setting them ablaze.
I take a step back as my parents rush forward, all three of us ready to take him on despite the certain death looming at the end of the steel’s edge if it slices through our flesh.
