Ignoring what happened and the fact Vaggie slept through it all, Noctis braced with his robe sash tightened a little more by Charlie as the seraphim crashed into him and cried against his chest.
"Noctis you need to come to heaven!" She begged and looked up to the bewildered man.
"Heaven?" Vaggie was the first to question after she stationed her spear. "What happen? Did Adam reveal what really happened with Romna?"
"No." Emily shook her head, showing no end to her tears. "Jophiel and Sera were fighting in the council room over how Adam is controlling Michael and Jophiel pushed her too far."
"Why were they fighting?" Charlie asked in a concerned tone.
Emily turned to her and explained hastily. "Because Jophiel came down here and talked to the sins. It turns out Adam altered that same sigil used to control new exorcist recruits to where he can steal Michael's grace!"
"He what!?" Vaggie shouted, dropping her spear entirely. "That's forbidden!"
All eyes turned to the former angel as she paced with sudden vulnerability in how scared she was acting while the pups cried in the background. Something was definitely amiss with Vaggie because she knew exactly what this meant. It was too obvious to be ignored or questionable.
"Vaggie what does this mean?" Noctis asked and held the crying Emily.
"Bad. Really bad." Vaggie emphasized her fears. "To steal the grace of an angel is the ultimate death. It's basically taking their power and their lifeforce."
"How do you know this?" Charlie asked, narrowing her gaze in suspicion.
Vaggie worried the truth would bring another wedge between them, but secrecy was no longer a thing.
She took a breath and mustered her courage before stating, "Because it's not a new spell. I was a defiant recruit until he used it on me to break me."
Vaggie shivered at the memory of her own torment from the first man and continued to explain.
"When he took mine I basically broke and became one his perfect little dogs. I could feel myself fading away before he finally gave it back." She looked away with bitterness and shame, rubbing her own arm to anchor away from the memories. "On that day I became a dog."
Charlie and Noctis didn't know what to say to a horror so poisoning as that. The depth of Adam and his evil seemed to have no limit and they both started to wonder if this upcoming war wasn't just about saving Heaven and Hell but eliminating a truly evil person.
"Vaggie….." Charlie touched the former angel on her shoulder.
"Wait," Noctis had a thought come to mind. "Vaggie, how are you alive then if Lute slit your throat back then?"
Vaggie had to wipe the tears that escaped her eye before she answered her mate. "Because only my grace was destroyed, but that spell Adam can use takes everything."
"So Michael isn't just being used, he's in danger." Charlie pointed out in an obvious tone."We need to get up there now."
Noctis nodded to Charlie. "We all need to get dressed."
Charlie and Vaggie didn't even acknowledge his words but complied with quick fashion of putting clothes on Max and the primordial first. They cried and yelped for being woke up as is and it got worse when Charlie worked Max
"Come on baby." She cooed and struggled to his little toddler pants on. "I know baby. I know."
"Come on. Hold still." Vaggie grunted while the primordial wasn't sure what she was doing.
He kicked and yelped while trying to get away with no form of understanding why the former angel was trying to get him dressed. He'd felt she was trying to hurt him and tried to bite her hands in order to get away.
Vaggie wasn't having it though, she was going to get this pup dressed and then herself before they go to heaven.
"Emily grab that diaper bag now." Noctis ordered and pointed to the backpack hanging on the bedroom door.
Emily wasn't paying attention though, her mind was elsewhere from the panic of Sera breaking down and now the innocence of two demoness' being so maternal with a pair of hellhounds. She felt her heart flutter and could almost squeal with delight at seeing how domestic demons were acting, as if being a parent to hellhounds was so humane.
Compared to what she was taught in heaven, now she has undeniable proof in front of her that Charlie was right along, and it brought her to tears.
Demons can be more than monsters.
"Hey snap out of it!" Noctis snapped his fingers in front of her.
The young seraphim flinched and shook off her thoughts before she followed with what she was told.
"They ready?" Noctis asked his mates who were getting dressed as quickly as possible.
"For the most part." Vaggie huffed, tying her bow in before she picked up Max.
"Come on sweetie." Charlie said sweetly and picked up the primordial, but she struggled when he was upset from having to wear clothes.
"Baby?" Vaggie said questioningly when she saw how his demeanor shifted as soon as the boys were ready.
Charlie and Emily stopped as well and saw his power rising again when he was fighting back transforming, but the urge of a divine beast clashed with his mind. Instinct and thought went at war within as he showed some progress of his powers with how he didn't transform on the spot.
"Noctis?" Charlie took cautious steps to him, wanting to touch him.
"Yeah?" He glared over his shoulder.
Charlie and Vaggie were completely accustomed to him having mood swings but never did they see the actual glow of his power radiate in his eyes, and it showed in all of them as he glared.
"Are you okay?" Vaggie asked as she was not as hesitant as Charlie about confronting his feelings.
"No….." he answered in that deeper and highly menacing tone he uses when transforming.
Both of his mates flinched at that voice as he added with Emily feeling the pressure of his growing power.
What they didn't know was about how he awakened his powers when he was unconscious in the goetia palace. Now all those memories, all those moments and sufferings The Speaker had forced into his mind were exploding all over again and he was feeling everything that Sera had been put through.
And it hurt beyond measure, but what this pain came the fuel to make himself endure not just for his sake but for Sera'a as well.
He turned away and stared out to the city, brimming with fury that wanted to explode.
"When I was unconscious I met someone in their domain, and she helped me awaken my powers."
Emily tilted her head and asked, "Who?"
"The Speaker of God."
Emily and Vaggie went wide-eyed at his answer while Charlie was mildly confused by what this angel could mean.
"Noctis are you sure?" Vaggie asked.
He nodded with his back still turned and clenched his fists so tightly they crackled with electricity.
"To see her personally….." Emily was still in shock. "Noctis, that is such an honor."
"Yeah well it didn't feel like a fucking honor." He snipped back at the seraphim. "It was a damn training session of figuring myself out and being pushed beyond my own limits."
"What are you talking about?" Charlie asked, feeling a suspicious weight of dread from their bond weigh on her.
He took a long and deep breath before the memories, those dreadful memories that weren't even his, flood his mind and ignite that need to fight again.
"Before I woke up and fought Lyoria she flooded my mind with all of Sera's suffering and torment, everything that involved Adam."
He looked back to the girls, his eyes bright with guilt and regret. "Even all the times he raped her."
Charlie covered her mouth instinctively while Emily lost some bit of composure. Vaggie only looked away knowing the evil Adam could perform because she knew all too well from her own traumas as an exorcist trainee.
"Is that why you've been so…..angry?" Charlie braved asking that question.
He nodded. "Yeah it's part of the reason."
"He raped her?" Emily asked in a shaky voice.
"No he still does." Noctis shook his head. "He uses that same threat of revealing to the public what really happened when I was Romna."
It dawned to Emily, a crushing weight of realization that made her chest tighten so painfully she pressed her hands in. It was so obvious and she instantly felt so stupid for wondering why her own sister would send her away any time Adam wanted to talk in private.
"All those times she would send me away." Emily felt like she going to be sick and collapse to her knees, sobbing into the palms of her hands. "I thought it was about extermination day."
She knew her sister was suffering but she never thought it was something so cruel and inhumane. She felt foolish, maybe even stupid for leaving Sera anytime she was ordered to vacate when lever Adam was around.
"That's why she was holding onto me in your old room." She cried to the point of losing control of her form, flickering with power as Charlie tried to comfort her. "I've been her comfort."
"We can fix this." Charlie said, hoping to anchor the young seraphim. "We can still save her."
"Can?" Noctis spat. "No, I am going to save her."
"How?" Emily whimpered.
All three of them looked to the man as he barely maintained his control, his true form flickering for butt a moment before he took a breath to collect himself.
The look in his eyes though, that same glare he had when Lyoria tortured Angel Dust, this wasn't the same gentle man they knew talking right now.
"Because I have a lot of shit to get through and honestly I may not wait for extermination day."
Charlie and Vaggie failed to understand where this side of him was coming from but felt from the mate bond that his emotions were storming inside.
It was as if his anger was their own.
"Save it for heaven." Emily advised and did her best to wipe her tears, sniffling into her sleeve. "Right now we need to focus on helping Sera. She's going crazy over her own mistakes."
"Why now?" Vaggie asked though the reason was quite clear.
"A mother's grief." Noctis pointed out while they all finished getting ready. "She got to see me once and Adam took that when Michael stabbed me, so she's probably letting out everything she's kept bottled up."
"Do you think she will calm down if she sees you?"
As much as he wanted that to be the answer, Noctis didn't fully believe just being there for Sera would ground her. He looked to Max and the primordial with a thought about how to bring someone like her back to reality.
"Maybe seeing the family we have will help her." He suggested.
Vaggie nodded to him then to the others. "Well let's go."
Noctis couldn't agree more with how fast he took the diaper bag from Emily, snatching it so rudely he made her flinch. They understood now though why there was so much coldness in his behavior.
He had every right to be angry after what he revealed, but his first step to the portal was halted by Loona kicking the door in, dressed in nothing but a shirt that said "No" and her expression bearing not an ounce of toleration.
"Shut the fuck up. I'm trying to sleep!"
Everyone froze at the snarling Hellhound, both that she had been sleeping so close by and had yet to go back home to Blitz still.
Loona's snarling increased though when she saw the angel in the room, and her worst fears ignited those blazing feelings she had for Noctis.
In her own feral manner she did not pause to process what was happening and simply rushed in the room.
"Loona no!" Charlie yelled.
"I come in peace!" Emily panicked and went to fly away from the hellhound.
Loona did pay attention to Emily and she didn't attack by surprise. Instead she rushed past the now confused group and showed her protective nature by wrapping herself around Noctis.
"Loona what are you doing!?" He asked confusedly.
Loona raised her hackles at Emily and tightened her grip on the man. "She's a fucking angel. She's the enemy."
"No I'm not." Emily said defensively.
Both Charlie and Vaggie sighed at how Loona was butting in their business. They didn't try to remove her though, not when she was holding onto Noctis a guard dog with her tail curled possessively around his waist and her arms holding his.
They knew better than to try and pry a pissed off hellhound from who they guard.
"Loona calm down!" Charlie yelled, seeing the hellhound bristle at the nervous angel. "Emily is on our side!"
"And why should I believe that!?" Loona snarled, never taking her eyes off the seraphim. "She's an angel. She could be here to hurt everyone!"
Emily frowned heavily while feeling hurt by the hellhound for her prejudice thinking.
"I'm not here to hurt anyone. I'm needing help because Sera is in trouble."
"Help?" Loona laughed but maintained her defensive stance. "Since when does a fucking angel who approved slaughtering our kind need help!?"
"Since she's a victim!" Noctis snapped at Loona on the spot.
Loona recoiled visibly and folded her ears back. She didn't expect him to actually defend Emily or be so snappy but the look he had made her instincts tell her that she was on the wrong side of the situation.
She started to feel small when he brushed her off and made his way to the portal without an explanation.
Was her protection nothing to him? Did she mean nothing?
Insecurity began to show when her tail tucked between her legs as Charlie approached her.
"There's a lot you don't know." Charlie told the quietly whimpering hellhound and gestured to Emily. "But this is Emily and she is Noctis' aunt."
"Aunt?" Loona scrunched her nose and looked to the sheepish seraphim waving at her. "She looks so puny."
"Hey!" Emily barked.
"Everyone stop!" Noctis looked back at the girls. "We don't have time for this. Loona you can stay or you can come."
Loona almost recoiled at how harsh and direct that was but felt herself pulled instinctively by the authority in his voice.
A few minutes later….. The group was dressed and following Emily through the streets of the heavenly city to reach the council and find Sera. The portal was not as successful to the location when the young seraphim couldn't fight through her own turmoil to focus and now they had to run to the cries that echoed in the sleeping city.
"What the fuck is that?" Loona stayed on Noctis' tail as they ran through the streets.
"That's Sera." Emily answered.
"Okay and why are we rushing through this brightly colored shithole?" Loona asked skeptically with no room for kindness in her words.
"Well explain later. Just keep running." Vaggie ordered, adjusting the primordial in her arms.
Loona hated mysteries and being told what to do by others, but for her own selfishness of impressing Noctis she resisted that natural urge to defy Vaggie by nipping her own tongue to stop her hackles from raising.
Citizens who were still awake or had woken up made sure to gather and share their concerns with the guards that were stationed at the doors.
Nobody had ever heard Sera scream or cry like this before and it created chaos amongst the people that grew in numbers.
"Everyone stay back!" The head guard slammed the bunt of his spear on the marble just as the gang came into view. "This is an urgent matter with the council."
"This isn't good." Emily wasn't sure how she would get the crowd to move. "They're all starting to panic."
That much was quite obvious from the various angels shouting their concerns.
"What's going on with Sera!?"
"Did something happen!?"
"Why is she screaming!?"
"Everyone please move!" Emily shouted ahead but found her voice drowned by the crowd.
She looked back to the three lovers, fear now in her own mind. "Nobody's listening."
"I can move them!" Loona was craving a little action anyway with how grumpy she was from her interrupted sleep.
"Noctis can move them" Vaggie snapped, knowing he needed to step up as they ran closer. "Do it babe!"
Noctis didn't need to be ordered or be given an explanation on what to do.
He took a breath and used what power he had control over to surprise his mates and Emily with a thunderous shout to alarm everyone.
"OUT OF MY WAY!!!"
He startled…..no, he frightened the citizens to quickly look back and split apart with haste when they recognized him even with his features.
Noctis wasted no time run up the steps with the others behind him but the guards still blocking the doors.
"My lord you cannot—"
"I SAID MOVE!" He charged right through the leading guard and smashed through the doors with his body, uncaring of the guards he knocked.
"Sera!" He called out and snapped his attention to the cries in the hall that led to the council room.
"That way!" Loona pointed to the hall, using her ears to pick up the strongest sounds.
He took the first towards the crying but was grabbed by his wrist and stopped by the seraphim.
"Emily?"
"You have to address the people!" She yelled and pointed back to the citizens that were watching.
"Say what!?" He yelled back.
Emily refused to let go and turned Noctis away to drag him back outside to the growing chaos of the citizens rallying in fear.
"Emily stop!" Charlie tried to intervene but the young Seraphim glared at her as warning and took Noctis back outside.
She gave him no room for argument and gestured to the people once they got back outside.
"You have to address the people. You're the seraphim lord so it's your job to help them calm down."
"Me?" He questioned worriedly, his anger faltering.
Emily nodded and pushed him to the edge of the top step, confronted with the citizens that were bombarding with questions he didn't have the answer to.
"Emily he's not a diplomat!" Vaggie shouted while adjusting the primordial in her arm.
Emily glared back knowing that but stood her ground in the matter. "Well he has no choice. This is part of his duties as The Seraphim Lord and as a divine beast."
"But he's never done this before." Charlie tried to step in thinking she could be the one to at least speak for Noctis.
Emily stepped in the way though and blocked her, fanning her wings wide while the pressure of leadership started to fall on Noctis.
"He has to. I don't like it either but it's better now than never."
"We don't have time for this bullshit!" Loona snapped but made no move to stop the man.
Noctis could barely process what was happening now let alone address a rowdy crowd of angels that were panicking at how Sera was screaming.
He wasn't a delegate or anything of a representative, by heart he was still just a handyman that debated with deals on work back on earth when he was still human physically.
"I uh….."
"What's wrong with Sera?" A random swan angel yelled from the back.
He flinched at the directness and tried to explain.
"I don't know but—"
"You don't know?" A cherub angel interrupted. "You're her son are you not!?"
He recoiled on that and watched as the crowd started to rally in the worst way possible. Charlie and Vaggie could only watch as he began to crumble under the pressure of his title.
Emily on the other hand had hope for him, hope that Noctis was more than just his power. Heaven didn't just need someone to protect but to show what it meant to be an angel.
They needed a voice, not another leader.
Charlie was about to intervene when she saw the turmoil in Noctis' shaky hands. She took one step but was blocked by the determined Vaggie that watched the scene unfold, as if she knew something.
"Vaggie?"
"He needs to do this." Vaggie glared up to her.
Charlie wasn't so sure about that but she shared the same determination and faith with a solid nod before watching their mate crumble more.
"You're the seraphim lord. How can you not know!?"
"I just got here!" Noctis raised his voice but the crowd was getting restless now, and the bombardment continued.
"Why are there demons here!?"
"You brought hellhounds to our paradise!"
"I thought you were on our side!"
"Have you betrayed Heaven!?"
"Why should we listen to you!?"
Noctis looked back but it was past his family, hearing the cries grow stronger from Sera when they finally echoed out of the halls.
"I want my son!"
Hearing that ignited something he hadn't felt since the day he punched Vox. His chest became lighter with an explosion of anger that burst forth when he looked back to angry crowd and took in a breath.
"ALL OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!"
Silence rang out across the entire rally of angels. A powerful but lingering calmness of shock crashed over the citizens and the guards as he braced his heart and mind with the only possible truth he could give when backed into a corner like this.
"Damn…." Loona muttered, clearly impressed with how forward he was being, crossing her arms and smirking.
He hated that it had come to this, but it was the only gamble to getting out of this situation.
Tightening himself with all the hope in his heart, Noctis gambled the truth with a deep intake of breath and a clear voice.
"Sera is crying right now because of Adam and what he did!"
Charlie, Vaggie, even Emily, they all understood what he was about to say as the citizens grew confused by that accusation. Together they were scared that Noctis would not be bringing peace to the people but an even stronger rally of hatred and chaos.
"Noctis you can't!" Emily said, but she didn't budge when he glared back at her.
"They need to know and the council needs to be free." He said with the utmost determination and turned his gaze back to the citizens.
"What did Adam do?" One angel asked, fearing the answer.
Noctis did not hold back his words, using that fire in his heart to try and bring them together on his side.
"You all know from my first visit with Princess Charlie and Vaggie that I am Sera's reincarnated son." He reminded the angels.
They all nodded in unison.
"Well the reason behind that is thousands of years ago god implimented a plan called the divine beasts. He wanted to have these creatures guard all aspects of existence and when I was Romna I volunteered to be The Leviathan—the guardian of heaven and hell."
Confusion set out with with crowd, their mind blistering with need for answers behind that explanation when it didn't tell behind Sera's crying.
"What does that have to do with now?" Another angel asked, having little patience as Sera's cries continued.
"Because!" Noctis snapped at that angel but held himself back when he remembered they needed truth, not a man being angry. "Because Adam proposed a cruel tradition called extermination day, where he and the exorcists descend once a year to slaughter demons like cattle."
The entire crowd went into a state shock and disgust, some even gasping and looking to Charlie who nodded behind her tears while Noctis continued.
"That can't be true!" An elderly angel spat out and pointed to a statue of Adam in the distance. "Adam is the first man and he's always been protecting Heaven."
"But it is true!" Charlie intervened in the spot and rushed over.
The scrutiny of these people was almost palpable for the princess but she didn't waver like she always did. Instead she showed herself to be a princess by taking her place with Max in her arm while her free hand interlocked with Noctis'
She yelled firmly to the people. "I have watched since I was a little the slaughter of my people. Men and woman, even children and babies. And when we came here to propose my idea of redeeming sinners we got pushed back because Adam is controlling Michael."
"But the truth runs deeper." Vaggie stepped in next. "This all started before the first extermination." She spoke with bitterness but held firm by hold Noctis' other hand for support. "I was an exorcist and I fell because I refused to kill a demon child, so I had my own throat slit by Lute!"
Charlie and Noctis were shocked by her admittance but glad that she could share such a terrible past.
Vaggie didn't give them the oppurtunity to disbelieve. She released her wings and lowered the collar of her shirt to show the scar on her neck.
"This is what happens when you show mercy in front of Adam." She shouted with burning tears in her eye. "When you defy him, when you do the right thing, you become his next victim."
"And how do we know this isn't some lie?" One angel asked with his disbelief.
"Here!" Loona spoke up all of a sudden and turned her phone to show a video to the crowd. "You think they're lying, well here's your fucking proof!"
Those who were in the front leaned in and saw the horrors of Adam and his exorcists. They watched with twisted sickness the depth of evil in the man they revered as God's perfect being slaughtering sinners that were completely defenseless. He laughed, he cackled, he even giggled when he stomp the skull of a crying succubus baby, silencing it forever.
Some of the angels turned away, retching or releasing the contents of their stomach.
"He's murdering….." an angel held her child tightly to her chest. "But why?"
The girls nodded to Noctis, so he explained.
"Adam didn't want divine beasts keeping everything in check so when Lucifer fell he used that friendship between him and Romna to trick Sera into a war against her own son. He tricked her into killing Romna so that he could have extermination day."
"Why didn't she just judge Adam?" One Angel asked.
Noctis slowly descended the steps with his mates, centering himself to the people.
"Because he has used fear against Sera and the council. He has them terrified that if you all found the truth you would use your united power to cast out her and the council."
He slowly turned to each and everyone angel that showed so many mixes of emotions. "He has used this fear to cause so much pain and suffering for over seven millenia— killing Charlie's people, halting her dream of redeeming sinners..."
He paused with a venomous taste on his tongue, but he held back his tears and forced the words out.
"Even controlling Michael and raping Sera for god knows how long, using fear to take control heaven and hell."
Nobody knew what to say to that, but the horror was clear in their faces. Their pristine leader now revealed to be nothing of the perfection they saw her as, and it shattered their minds and hearts.
Noctis paused for but a moment, choking on his own emotions until he decided enough was enough. He raised his voice and emptied these feelings out.
"And now she is in there losing herself because she can't hold on anymore. She is a grieving mother losing her mind."
He looked up to the steps, shedding his tears with the citizens.
"Just listen. Please."
The citizens stopped and grew quiet once more to hear Sera in all her anguish, her cries reaching and deeply piercing their souls when they felt how much pain one voice could echo.
There was no mistake to what they heard— a mother screaming her heart out and wailing for release from her pain.
"I want my baby!!!!"
One by one the citizens choked out a sob before breaking into cries for their leader, feeling some remnant of that maternal pain.
Charlie, Vaggie, and Emily shared that pain while Max and the Primodial began to howl to the cries. Even Loona, as cold and dismissive she could be, folded her ears back and showed pity for the seraphim as she leaned against a pillars and crossed her arms.
"Adam did all this?" A motherly Angel asked in a shaky voice.
"Yes." Noctis wiped his eyes but it was a futile effort.
The citizens broke down completely, crying so loudly it echoed across the realm and struck the rest of heaven with waking the entire city. Those who were asleep in their homes stirred quickly and followed the cries into the streets to see the crowd, wondering what had all of heaven in a state of grief.
"Please," Noctis turned back to the crowd. "I am begging you all to not let this change how you feel about the council or about Sera."
He stepped to them, seeing the genuine pain they carried.
He paced in front of them and hardened his voice. "Now is not the time to hate. Now is the time to rise together for Sera!"
"He's trying to rally them." Emily gasped, covering her smile with her hands as her heart fluttered.
"Come on baby." Vaggie smirked proudly, ignoring how Charlie was already a blubbering mess.
Loona just watched critically, her smirk forming when Noctis started shouting.
"Sera has been your protector for so long. Well now is the time to protect her. Now is the time to raise ourselves in one voice and speak for her. Together we can speak for her and tell Adam NO WE REFUSE TO LET YOU BEHAVE LIKE AN ANIMAL!!"
He took a breath and screamed at the crowd as one by one they began to murmur and nod.
"Now is the time for all of you to come together and be her shield, to be her voice, to scream for her and say NO ADAM! WE WILL NOT LET YOU HURT HER AGAIN!"
The murmuring of the citizens grew louder until it was a rally of anger and defiance, they're minds set on one goal as their voices came out.
"I won't follow a killer!"
"He's a monster!"
"He's a rapist!"
"HE IS A MAN OF SIN!"
"They're coming together." Charlie pressed her hands in shock and awe as Noctis screamed to them more, to bring out they're fury.
"NOW IS THE TIME TO STAND UP AND TAKE OFF THE BLIND ADAM PUT OVER YOUR EYES!"
The citizens shouted in unison and went into and uproar.
"He's a piece of shit!
"So is his army!"
"I don't know about you all—" one angel thrusted a finger to the statue. "BUT I AM TEARING EVERY THING ABOUT ADAM!!"
"YEAH!!!!" The crowd roared. "DOWN WITH ADAM!!!"
"Holy shit….." Vaggie broke her composure, and for the first time in so long she let some selfishness take over in how she grinned sadistically at the crowd that marched to the statue.
It was truly a momentous sight for Emily and all she could think to do was zoom over with her wings and hug Noctis so tightly.
"You did it! You started the rebellion!" She cried against his back.
Within seconds of her words the statue was brought down in a shattering fashion, but the citizens were not done. They targeted their rage for another statue down the street block and tore through anything that had so much as a picture of Adam.
"Uh oh." Charlie said in a funny manner. "We might have….."
"Pissed them off." Vaggie finished for her.
"I can handle them." Emily released Noctis and flew around to face him. "You handle Sera."
They all nodded and ran back into the spire, hearing the rage of heaven boom behind them while Emily cracked her fingers with a determined look.
"Okay. Time to be a leader." She told herself and took off into the sky
Noctis sprinted with Loona and the others close behind, his mind a storm of trauma from the first time being here when the truth was revealed.
It was almost a phantom pain where Michael had impaled him but his heart…..no, his soul screamed to help the high seraphim and finally get to help her through her pain when they never got the chance to talk.
It was robbed thanks to Adam, but this time he would be there for her and this time he would finally get to know her beyond what he understood completely— that she regretted her actions and missed her child.
"She's getting worse!" Vaggie called out to him.
As conflicted as he was about this, Noctis knew he couldn't play favorites as to who was truly his mother. He couldn't let himself side with either. Of course he loved Carmilla, that was his mother in so many ways.But deep in his soul Sera was his mother as well, and right now she needed to be freed from the chains of her past.
"I'm coming." He whispered before they all burst through the council doors to find the council circling the grieving angel.
Jophiel, Uriel, even a few lesser ranked angels, they tried to console Sera but were making no headway when she was in hysterics so deep they broke her sense of difference between reality and memory.
And worst of all….
"Oh no." Charlie stopped and looked in to the other end of the room to see Adam leaning on the opposite doorway with Lute and Michael behind him.
His smug grin under that mask gave away his enjoyment of the Seraphim drowning in her own pain.
"Sera!" Noctis raised his voice again and started shoving the council members out of his way, ignoring how they bowed the moment they saw him.
Sera visibly winced at the memory of Noctis' blood on the floor when Michael stabbed him and her mind flashed between reality, feeling as if the blood was still on her hands after Adam vanished him back to hell with Charlie and Vaggie.
"It won't come off..."
"Sera it's just a memory!" Jophiel pointed to Noctis coming through the crowd. "Look! He is here!"
"Move!" Noctis shoved Gabriel aside and fell to his knees, confronting the Seraphim while Adam scowled at his presence.
Sera found herself looking up to find Noctis right there in front of her. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy from all her crying but the worst of it was she couldn't speak with how hoarse her throat was from the screaming.
"Noc—Noct…."
"Mom." He breathed heavily and hugged her tightly in his arms and wings. "What's wrong?"
Sera froze at that privilege and prayed deeply that this was not some cruel dream or a mockery from Adam in some way. To feel the warmth of being called mom again by her own child and to see him again, she couldn't bear another moment of stress or torment when her composure was completely broken.
"No." She whimpered and shook her head, confusing everyone in the room.
"Sera what do you mean?" Jophiel asked before she and Noctis had to restrain her from tearing more feathers out of her hair.
"I'm not worthy of being your mother!" She cried hysterically at Noctis, eyes burning and bloodshot with so much regret. "A mother does not kill her own child no matter the circumstances!"
"Who is this demon!?" A few angels suddenly turned hostile to Loona the moment she tried to step into the crowd.
"Wait she's with us!" Charlie stepped between them and Loona, but Raphael did not listen so keenly and summoned his rod.
"Move aside princess." He commanded, fixing his energy into his weapon. "This hellhound doesn't belong in our halls."
"Hey fuck you asshole!" Loona barked.
Raphael narrowed his gaze on Loona and raised his rod against the pleas of Charlie.
Doing so though made her just as aggressive as some of the council members that drew their weapons, creating an environment of nothing but stress that cracked Sera's perception of perfect security.
"Oh this is gonna be good." Adam laughed quietly from his spot and watched Loona bristled with readiness.
Until…..
"Anybody who touches her dies at my fucking hand!" Noctis roared back, his expression almost feral with how quick he showed some of his transformation.
The council in its entirety flinched at the seraphim lord for his quick response and deadly declaration. They dared not take another step toward Loona and Raphael stayed his rod from committing a smite on her.
"But my lord—"
"She is one of the demons that protected me from Lyoria. Anybody who touches her will have their ass handed on a silver platter!" Noctis warned furiously, taking his attention from Sera for but a moment.
Adam scowled at how quickly the council backed off and scoffed to the lack of control he had around the room. All he could do was watch and wait for the right moment while the noise outside became audible in the halls.
All heads turned to the hallway that echoed with sounded like anger and defiance, followed by the crash of what Noctis and the girls knew to be another statue coming down.
"What is that?" Sera asked fearfully before her son cupped her face, making her turn to face that victorious smile of his.
"It's over mom. The public knows and they are pissed at Adam."
"A rebellion?" Gabriel questioned and went to draw to his blade but found himself stopped by Vaggie.
"They're not against you! Noctis told them the truth and now they are angry at Adam!"
The council gasped and murmured as the chaos outside grew louder.
"What?" Gabriel stayed his hand at that moment. "Explain now!"
"Noctis told them everything!" Charlie stepped in, taking Vaggie by her hand while the room grew darker from the skylight being blocked by clouds.
"They are angry?" Sera asked slowly.
Charlie only nodded before she, Vaggie, and Loona joined with Noctis to try and calm her.
"Yeah bitch, everyone knows what that fat fuck did." Loona answered smugly, receiving looks of disapproval from Charlie and Vaggie.
Sera began to fear the worst when Loona said that and started scooting back from the noise, trembling and yelping at her own fears.
"Mom stop!" Noctis moved behind the Seraphim and hugged her tightly in the floor.
Sera didn't listen though and began to panic at the long fear-induced thought of banishment. Her thoughts became a downpour of defiance and pure terror with the imagination of being a fallen like Lucifer.
She couldn't…..No, she wouldn't dare imagine losing her place in heaven.
"They will banish us!" She yelled, hearing only her own heart that throbbed rapidly throughout her body.
"She's panicking again!" Jophiel yelled.
Sera was indeed panicking again, even hyperventilating as her wings tried to cocoon around her with some thought of protection. All she could think now was how the public or even the elder angels would cast her down for being such a miserable failure.
"This is fucking gold." Adam cackled with a mouthful of popcorn spitting out. "I think I finally broke the bitch!"
Those with any weak control would have so much as glared at the first man, but even his feeble boasting did nothing to draw the council away from the broken leader that was far from her grip on reality.
Sera drowned herself in fear and tried to every great effort in her bruised body to disappear completely. She had always known that the truth would find its way back to her, but it didn't make her any less terrified.
And now the same people she worked so hard to protect were outside causing a riot and tearing through the city, taking away what little control she had left.
Or so she thought...
"Mom it's okay!"
Sera felt the familiar tingle inside of her mind when she heard that name and firmly grasped herself to it, gripping to what little fabric of reality remained.
"They're angry for you!" Noctis continued to speak to her.
Sera opened her eyes and realized by a moment of touch that was beyond her son. A figure only she could see for her ethereal interference when she looked back to see this one angel in all her majesty touching her shoulder while Noctis tried to hold her.
"Speaker?"
"Embrace him my child."
The speaker had gone before words could be made, but the touch of her own superior before disappearing gave Sera enough to hold on and collect herself as the riot grew louder.
"Noctis what did you do?" Jophiel asked before she ascended with a gust of her wings to see out of the spotlight.
"He told the truth!" Charlie yelled firmly.
There was no lie behind what Charlie said. All over the heavenly city a riot was growing with more and more angels coming together when the truth had spread from door to door. Anything and everything that was remotely Adam was torn down and either destroyed with brute force or thrown into one of the many piles that smoldered from street to street.
Jophiel couldn't believe it with her own eyes, the fall of Adam starting and growing rapidly with so many furious angels that ranked from civilian all the way up to nobility.
It was the beginning of the end for Adam and his tyranny. It showed with he started to lose his nerves when suddenly the sound of windows shattering at the main entrance could be heard.
"They're rebelling..." she gasped into her hand, tears gushing out.
"What do you see?" Raphael asked, making Adam now uncomfortable in his little spot.
Jophiel immediately descended once more and shouted to her colleagues.
"Charlie is right, the citizens are in a riot. They're destroying anything that is about Adam and many of them are marching in!"
Nobody had a word to pass, not even the arrogant Adam who now showed serious discomfort. He began to sweat underneath his mask while Lute drew her sword and got in front of him.
"I'll protect you sir." She declared, though the look Adam gave made him uncertain.
The rioting was in full chaos across the city, and now they were marching right in without a care of the guards that were trying to push back. They overwhelmed the safety of the heavenly spire with their numbers and combined strength before coming into the council room in one mass with Emily leading.
Sera still assumed the worst to come and immediately stood up to face the crowd with thinking she could calm them at the expense of their rage.
She expected this chaos to be directed towards her, but instead…..
"Monster!" One angel yelled with an accusatory finger at Adam.
Sera flinched at that insult.
Another yelled in the back. "How dare you hurt our High Seraphim!"
Her eyes widened at their words that grew together, insult after insult being thrown at the first man who recoiled while foods started to be thrown at him.
Finally the crowd broke through Sera and her fears, and she realized that the people she always protected were not against her.
They were protecting her.
"Rapist!"
"Murderer!"
"Trash!"
"You don't deserve to be an Archangel!"
"Hey fuck you!" Adam yelled back just before a tomato splattered on his robe.
The crowd forced themselves in further and circled around Sera, creating a barrier and some even putting their hands on her to show she was not alone at all.
She flinched but ultimately fell to her own emotions that poured out, the dam she built over the years crumbling and unleashing all she had left to give for a woman in pain.
Only this time it was happiness and relief.
For the first time in so long her heart didn't feel so heavy.
"Get out of heaven!" One shouted, birthing a chant that had the rally speaking together.
"Get out! Get out! Get out!"
She smiled underneath her tears and leaned on Noctis when he and the girls joined the group.
Lute wasn't so sure of the situation now and looked back at Adam, her hands starting to shake between the overwhelming numbers of citizens and the conflict of actually having to harm them to keep him safe.
She looked back through to see a crippling malice in that smile of his even with how disturbed he was feeling.
"Sir?"
"Stand down Lute." He commanded.
Surprised but obedient, Lute sheathed her blade and stood back to let him step forward to the crowd. He slowly clapped which confused everyone and slowly brought them to a powerful silence, his response taking their full attention.
"What are you clapping for?" Vaggie asked.
Adam snickered and clapped a little harder, mainly at Noctis as if praising.
"Not bad kid. Not bad. But you're forgetting I'm the first man and I always have a backup plan."
"What backup plan?" Charlie asked mockingly and gestured to the people. "Heaven knows now what kind of monster you are."
Adam nodded in agreement and widened his smile, making the room feel even more uneasy.
"True, but I have this."
Noctis wasn't sure what Adam had in mind until a snap of the fingers made the room go cold with hostility with how Michael was forcefully put on his knees. The Archangel himself struggled and resisted for all that he had and it showed beyond that stoic glance a flood of tears.
His resistance crumbled though.
"Michael?" Sera said softly with and edge of worry.
"Do it." Adam commanded.
Without a single movement the archangel was forced to explode his power in but a fraction of pure raw pressure. His presence collapsed the citizens and the council to their knees while Charlie and Vaggie tucked both pups to protect them from being crushed into the floor.
This invisible force had almost everyone down, even Sera on her knees while Emily went face first with a blood nose on the spot. Everyone yelped or screamed in terror of this massive power exuding from Michael.
"Fuck." Loona growled, fighting to stand when she was on all-fours.
The council shook and quaked with those outside now panicking.
"What is this?" Charlie struggled to ask, holding the crying Max to her chest.
Adam only laughed at how easily everyone of them fell, relishing his control he thought he lost until seeing the fear in their eyes.
"It's the weight of his power." Vaggie tried to stand but failed miserably even with the use of her spear. "He's called the right hand of god for a reason."
They both turned looked to see Sera was already back on her feet but struggling to do so when she focused her attention on the sobbing Emily.
"Get it now bitches!?" Adam cackled, patting Michael on his pauldron. "He made Lucifer his bitch, so what makes you think you have a fucking chance!?"
"Damn you." Charlie growled, unable to call up her own power.
Sera scowled at her tormentor and held Emily's head up to stop the blood, but horror was all the same no matter how she looked at it.
She hated herself for not being able to stop this. She was the high seraphim yet a powerless woman afraid to fight back when her people were suffering.
"Sir!" Lute suddenly pointed to someone.
Adam was bewildered for but a second by her concern but when he turned he felt something that never touched his heart.
Challenged.
He turned to see that Noctis was not on the ground like the others but resisting heavily against Michael's pressure. He was still on his feet and radiating his aura while the scales formed on his chest and arms.
"Tell him to stop." Noctis snarled, uncaring that he was allowing his instincts to break free in a feral growl. "Now, Adam."
Adam didn't respond at first, not when the sudden thumping of his heart hit him so quickly he thought all the ribs ate over the years finally caught.
That wasnt the case, he looked down at the same hand he used to activate Michael and watched it shake. This odd feeling he hadn't felt ever crawled through his body as the thumping began to throb in his ears.
"Oh yeah….." he smiled evilly at Noctis. "Maybe this time I'll get to have some fun."
"Sir are you alright?" Lute asked and reached to touch him, thinking he needed to be braced.
Adam smacked his lieutenant's hand away though, making her flinch before he embraced this new excitment.
"Yeah bitch. I'm just having fun." He snickered, watching with glee as the citizens screamed and cried in pain on the floor.
"You monster." Sera seethed.
"Come on." He taunted her son, gesturing for a fight with his hands. "You really think you can fight Michael?"
Noctis felt his toleration go limp against those words and instantly powered up without transforming. Said power up cancelled out the pressure of Michael's power with a radiance of his own, giving everyone the relief to breathe.
And it was in that freedom they could watch Noctis take his title as Seraphim Lord to heart after Michael staggered back.
"No doubt about it!"
Noctis leapt from the crowd and was close to sweating buckets from sheer nervousness. He saw the opening in how Michael lost his balance and took it with a straight jab to the cheek.
Michael of course regained his balance but the sigil glowed strongly and manipulated his movements like a puppet.
The feeling of the blow was there though with how a flicker of life ignited in his hollow eyes. But the control was still impossible to break and he was a prisoner of his own body, watching himself unsheathe his own sword with Noctis' blood still dry on it.
Noctis was ready to block it when his scales thickened on his skin, but to both of their surprise another fist connected the archangel.
A certain someone was done hiding how she felt and allowed her instincts to explode.
"Loona?"
"Keep your fucking hands off my alpha!" Loona snarled, declaring those feelings on the spot as she extended her claws.
This alone roused Adam's excitement as he watched from the corner of his eye Charlie and Vaggie groaning out of irritation of the hellhound. He expected entertainment but he didn't expect some fairytale moment so unconventional.
He laughed heartily, with Lute doing the same.
"Oh that's fucking hilarious. A down-below mutt has feelings for a deadman."
Nobody responded to that but both girls were beyond done with this entire evening. All they could do was put it aside and watch as Michael recovered and swiftly attacked.
The archangel flew at Noctis with his sword raised, twisting his body and attempting to cut down the seraphim lord. To everyone's suprise however Noctis blocked the sword with the scales on his left forearm and delivered a swift three-combo to the stoic face, stumbling the angel before Loona jumped off his shoulders and thrusted her paws into his face.
"Holy shit!" Charlie gawked in awe and jealously at how Loona was fighting so well with Noctis.
Vaggie was just jealous entirely when she would love to train with her man and become a duo, but it looked like that thunder was stolen.
"Duck!" Noctis yelled, dodging with Loona from Michael spinning his body to cut them.
She did the splits at the last second, to Noctis' surprise, and took advantage with a fierce uppercut to the groin while he jumped and rammed his knee to the chin.
"Everyone stop!" Sera shouted frantically and turned to Adam. "Adam call him off now."
"No way bitch. It's gonna get fun." He mocked the seraphim and earned himself a disapproving scowl from everyone before snapping his fingers again.
The sigil glowed brighter for a moment and Michael was rendered completely helpless to the point of being unable to cry anymore. He attempted to unfold his wings and take off into the sky with a quick angelic blast from his sword to make a hole in the ceiling.
Everyone took cover as the debris fell, the archangels being quick to erect a new barrier to protect the people.
"Tear a new one in the city!" Adam ordered.
"No!" Noctis shouted, knowing he couldn't protect the whole city and leave the others to Adam's torment.
Strangely though the first flap of Michael's wings failed though for he had suddenly lost his balance when Loona tackled him into the wall and chomped down on his forearm. She tried to thrash and mangle the angle so he would drop his blade but was slammed into the floor by sheer strength.
She yelped and was forced to let go but her position was compromised by Michael pressing his boot onto her chest before she could recover and escape. Now her gaze was looking up to the sword as it ignited, and that hollow glare was beaming down at her.
"No!" Noctis shouted.
At this he cast aside what remainder of restraint there was inside himself and leapt at Michael, screaming furiously with a fist retracted and glowing while Adam cackled at the show he was getting.
Before Michael could get the chance to release his fire from his blade Noctis had come down with a fierce haymaker that stunned him.
Seeing this, Loona took her chance and scurried onto her feet before climbing onto Noctis' back once more.
"Hope you're ready." She snarled, ignoring with him the disapproving shouts of Sera and the other archangels.
"Yeah, me too." Noctis growled, shaking the sting off his fist while Michael regained his posture. "Loona stay with—"
"Not a chance!" She snapped.
They watched on warily as the archangel powered up with a golden aura and took to the skies through the hole he made in the spire.
"He's still going to attack the city!" Charlie screamed.
Noctis unfold his wings and shot into the air with Loona hot on his back like a koala, soaring out for the citizens outside to see him following Michael closely and catching up fast.
"Michael don't make us fight you!" He shouted.
Such words were foolish to speak when the archangel was against his will and forcefully watched as he raised his own blade against the man that should've been his student.
"Watch out!" Loona shouted.
Noctis stopped and thrusted his palm, firing a small beam at the archangel that brought his sword down and delivered a blade of holy energy.
"Michael stop!"
The two attacks exploded on contact and created a steamy cloudy with them right in the middle, but Noctis launched right out of it and connected an uppercut in Michael's stomach while Loona adjusted on his shoulders to throw a left hook.
Both strikes connected but Michael remained firm in his defense and countered with a twist of his body and slashed his sword.
"Oh shit!" Noctis yelled and threw up his arms, his scales sparking with heat and divine energy.
Both and Loona widened their eyes in shock when they expected to be cut down, but the sword clanged and barely left a scratch on said scales. What's more important to factor for them was how the energy he released gave off a small pulse that pushed the archangel back a bit.
Noctis was still surprised by his own body, but Loona on the other hand grinned sadistically and tightened her grip.
"Dude, you can fight back!" She shouted proudly and thrusted a finger at the unwavering angel. "Kick his ass!"
Noctis took this information to heart and flapped his wings for all they were worth to go on the offensive, creating a shockwave that rattled the buildings.
The crowd was gathering outside from the spire and looking up to see him and Loona now clashing over the heavenly city. They barely had enough light as is from the storm brewing in response to divine power and archangel power exploding in repeated contacts. Every connection of fist and blade sparked more energy that didn't fade away but gathered above.
"This is bad." Sera gasped.
"Heaven can have storms!?" Charlie yelled just before lightning started crackling in the darkening clouds.
She looked up confusedly but snapped back to reality as the colliding energies gathered.
Panic started to rise again when the sky completely darkened and electricity was built up quickly around them. Sera noticed it first when her feathers started to rise on their own with a tingling familiarity.
Her memory snapped her mind completely out of her mental breakdown.
"It's just like when Lucifer fought him."
She whirled around to the archangels and screamed at them. "Gabriel put up a barrier with your brothers now. Cover the citizens!"
The archangels understood on the spot and together they slammed their weapons to the ground, merging the power to shield the citizens at the last second from the fight.
Just as the golden barrier finished growing, lightning struck down and arced off it after Noctis and Michael collided in one another with their energies exploding.
"We have to stop this!" Emily shouted while holding her bleeding nose.
However….
"Unleash…." The archangels chanted, tapping the ground with their weapons.
Another bright flash of colliding energy happened above before Sera looked at Gabriel and his brothers bunting the ground once more, chanting in unison.
"Unleash the beast…."
"What are you doing!?" She yelled at Gabriel, but his focus was on the fight above.
The archangels answered with nothing while Jophiel nudged Metatron and whispered, "Check the book."
The scribe wasn't sure what that had to do with the fight above until his mind replayed the almost forgotten moment of creation of Romna. He pulled his book from his sleeve and unbuckled it when it glowed brightly.
"What the fuck?" Adam muttered from the top of the steps, eyeing the book warily for its power.
He stayed Lute with a wave of his hand before she could act out.
The moment Metatron opened said book he was met with the same lifelike experience from Romna's birth, the pages flipping magically until a blank one appeared with the words of god writing themselves onto the parchment.
"It's happening." Metatron gasped, tracing each forming word with awe and intrigue. "The speaker is giving another revelation from god!"
"What!?" Sera rushed over to see what The Scribe was speaking about.
Vaggie and Charlie were quick to follow and look over the angel's shoulder to see the pages come to life with words.
It took a moment but Sera remembered more from her time before she was made High Seraphim how Noctis was written into history when he was Romna. She didn't expect it to be written out in his new life though.
"Vaggie what is this?" Charlie asked before she flinched at another explosive collision from Noctis and Michael.
Vaggie couldn't believe it herself, she had seen this book only once during her creation and even now it still frightened her to answer Charlie.
"It is the word of god. He gives revelation to every angel that is born."
"But Noctis is a reincarnation." Charlie argued, looking up to the battle.
"Then a new word is given?" Emily questioned.
"No." Sera intervened, her eyes hard with understanding. "When Romna was made into the leviathan there was no word immediately. The divine beasts were still a very fresh decision to balance all of creation."
She glared at the scribe and ordered with a subtly nod. "Read it."
"And so the new shall collide with the old, and birth the threads of a new light." Metatron described each word in detail, his voice shaky and edged with disbelief. "And the symphony of The Leviathan shall ring across heaven to start the broken between."
"The what?" The girls questioned in unison.
"Deliver and shed…." The archangels chanted louder.
Another clash above exploded, causing the storm above to cast lightning all over Heaven. The two beings could be seen exchanging blow for blow with Loona do her best to help out. Though she clung to Noctis she was like a rabid animal with each connection, throwing her own fists into the fight.
It was then the citizens started to match the archangels, stomping the ground to mimic the bunting on their weapons and humming like a choir.
"Deliver!" They screamed together.
"Look, there is more." Metatron traced the next line. "Then the song of his lordship shall be cast in voice, and the beginning shall be delivered."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Vaggie yelled confusedly.
Music, ominous but powerful music of battle began to ring across Heaven as the archangels and the citizens sang and watched Noctis and Michael pick up speed in their fight with Loona barely hanging on.
"~For every evil is a wrath that god commands to make it still.~"
"To cast his hand and barricade with the one who will make a stand~"
"~To send his beast when the corrupt try to feast ~"
"~And cast away the blight through a divine light~"
"He sees the corrupt of man and so he sends the leviathan~"
"~To bring the dark to it's end and show the will you cannot bend~"
Sera's eyes widened in shock as she heard this. She looked back down at the page to see it now drawing a perfect image of Noctis and Michael in battle during extermination day. She quickly realized this was not just another scripture that speaks of every angel that is born but a gaze into the future that would come.
"No, all this time god knew what was to come."
"Noctis!" Charlie screamed after they watched him crash down in front of the rally with a tuck of his wings.
She and Vaggie rushed over with both pups as he quickly stood up and unwrapped his wings to show Loona was safe.
"Okay now I'm pissed!" The hellhound yelled, she was absolutely beside herself with her instincts raging and was no longer in the mood to play.
Michael landed with grace as the winds started to pick up from the storm above, lashing and whipping the entire city with destructive force from his power.
"Baby are you okay?" Vaggie asked and looked above to the depth of the power clash.
She felt her heart almost stop when the wind had a reason for rattling the city to its very core.
"He's so strong." Noctis panted heavily, he was without a doubt out of his league but regardless still smiling from the challenge. "Guess that's why he's call the strongest archangel."
"There's gotta be a way to save him." Charlie said to herself, refusing to believe Michael could not be save.
"Guys…." Vaggie drawled worriedly. "Look up."
Everybody heard that and shared the same gaze to the raging storm above. Their breaths hitched at terror that descended fast and surrounded the archangel as the sigil glowed hotter to manipulate his power.
"Are those tornados?" Charlie gasped.
There was no argument to be had while the city started to tear apart and the citizens began screaming in fear. Three tornados descended quickly and circled Michael like a shield as he stood in the center of the destruction.
"He never released this much against Lucifer." Gabriel said fearfully.
Loona was even concerned now when she looked right into archangels eyes and saw how that forced coldness flowed brightly in his eyes.
"Oh we are fucked."
"Oh fuck yeah!" Adam laughed from his lawn chair, loving every minute of it while Lute visibly shook from the power.
"Noctis…." Charlie looked to him with a mix of hope and fear.
Her eyes focused in on the shakiness in his body and understood from that smile there was no fear to be had from seeing a fraction of godlike power.
It confused her down to see that he was so deep in those instincts of his that he was smiling while starting to sprout his horns and open his center eye.
"Baby?"
"Now I'm motivated." He snarled, grinning from ear to ear.
"Sir we need to end this." Lute whispered to Adam, thrusting a finger at the fight. "If Michael weakens at all you will lose your weapon."
Adam didn't understand what she meant by that, but then again he usually refused to understand the words of a woman when he is the first man. However her logic had sound when the panicking citizens were relying on Noctis who was now walking toward Michael at disregard of the tornadoes surrounding him, as if danger didn't even comprehend in his mind.
"Shit." He muttered and teleported with her to side with the archangel while Charlie and Vaggie yelled at Noctis to stop.
"Joining the fight now fatass?" Noctis yelled, fully transformed to what he can control and ignoring how Loona jumped back onto him for another fight.
"You really think you can handle all this!?" Adam asked with his arms spread wide to the destruction. "These are fucking tornadoes. What can you do against this kind of power!?"
Noctis remained ominously calm and quiet when she stepped into the circling with Loona, his wings fanned back to protect her from the debris as glass shattered and collected from the surrounding buildings.
Every danger, every threat of debris only bounced off his scales though, as if it were nothing but dirt against his skin.
And Adam wasn't paying attention to that. He was too busy making his evil fully known to all of heaven.
But doing so sparked an old flame in the last person expected to fight back.
"You don't fucking get it. Divine Beast or not you can't fathom how strong God made Michael after Lucifer fell. I'm gonna make sure you stay fucking dead this time when I make him cut your bitch-ass into a million pieces. Then nobody will question who fucking owns heaven and hell!"
"No." Sera growled quietly, clenching her fists so hard the knuckles popped.
"Sister?" Emily looked up just in time to see her sister disappear in a flash of light and appear just as quickly behind Noctis.
Her action startled everyone but the cackling Adam who was too deep in his own ambition to notice how enraged she became by his words—so enraged she spread her wings and opened every single one of her eyes with her son before glowing dangerously.
"Sir…" Lute said in a hushed voice, watching the high seraphim start releasing a pressure of her own.
Her concern was left deaf though when Adam was still making foolish declaration in the middle of the destruction he was causing to the city.
"And you know what—" he paused to inhale deeply and then screamed his motive. "I WILL MAKE YOUR BROKEN FAMILY STAYS THAT WAY SO SERA NEVER FUCKS WITH MY FUN AGAIN!"
"Sir." Lute yelled.
Adam finally snapped out it to see the leader of heaven now fully transformed in a brilliant light of her power, her silhouette burning with the holy energy she always held back as a promise to herself after losing her son the first time to her foolishness.
But promises were meant to break.
"YOU WILL NEVER HARM MY FAMILY AGAIN!"
No warning, no sign, just power. Sera had found that motherly rage she once forgot and floated behind Noctis and Loona protectively. By her own command she ignited the tornados without a flick or wave of her many wings, casting them into a swirling holy fire before they closed in and trapped them.
Nobody could see what was happening now but there was one deciding factor that made Charlie mildly jealous.
Adam had finally pissed off the most powerful mother in heaven.
"The marble!" Emily pointed.
Charlie and Vaggie were the first to look and see the ground was not just burning under Sera's power but also melting. The circling path of the blazing tornadoes liquified and bubbled with sputtering chunks that burned anything on contact.
"She's actually angry." Emily whispered, looking up to the barrier steam from the bits that did touch.
"Everybody stay in the barrier!" Raphael ordered the citizens.
"It's hot." Loona curled into herself, feeling the heat pass through her fur and nip her actual skin.
She was pulled to the front by Noctis and engulfed in his wings, shelled completely against his chest.
"IF YOU TOUCH MY CHILD I WILL ENDURE JUDGMENT AND KILL YOU MYSELF!" Sera screeched with her voice almost omnipotent.
Adam was about to mock that at his own leisure when suddenly the tornadoes dissipated in a quick fashion, and he felt tired to the point of wobbling.
He became disoriented.
"Sir?" Lute said worriedly before feeling her own body betray her.
Michael even began to stumble before he collapsed to the ground with Adam and Lute, falling completely unconscious by mysterious forces that dusted overhead.
Everyone stopped their panicking and stared at the three on the ground. They shared the same look of confusion after Noctis powered back down and cautiously freed Loona from his wings.
"What the shit?" Loona tilted her head, maintaining a grip on his arm.
Noctis just stared deeply at the three and wondered deeply what could have overpowered their bodies to suddenly fall.
"That was not supposed to happen."
"What could have—" Sera couldn't even finish her own question, she reverted from her true form and fell to her knees with the same tiredness that numbed her senses.
Noctis cautiously closed the gap between and and checked the archangel for a pulse, feeling there was still life in Michael but he was snoring by snoring.
"Archangels never sleep." He told himself, feeling a dread in his skin.
Together with Loona still protectively holding onto him they checked for anything that would have caused this while Charlie and Vaggie felt something above them, and looked up to whoever made this shift in the situation.
Loona leaned down and carefully snipped Lute, eyeing the angel warily.
"They're not dead."
Noctis picked up something on his finger when he rubbed it across Michael's cheek.
"Pollen?"
"Noctis!" Vaggie yelled.
He whirled back with Loona to see the all the angels now collapsing into unconsciousness and the barrier falling apart while the storm came to a halt.
A golden portal was opened above them and the same golden pollen was powdering the entire area after it fazed through the barrier.
"What the hell?"
One by one the citizens and the council grew drowsy before falling into a deep sleep that was impossible to resist. Sera was not immune to it for it much longer and fell over holding onto Noctis while the portal expanded with four familiar arms coming through and extending their reach.
Without a chance to catch their breaths these four arms grew to colossal size and snatched them all up.
"No…" Sera breathed, her body powerless to this strange force. "Not again…."
These hands forced her to part from Noctis and yanked him away with Loona, pulling them back through with his hand reaching for the angel at the last second before she passed out completely.
"Sera!"
"Pull harder!" A familiar voice screamed on the other side.
"Mom?" Noctis looked back before they were ripped back into the hotel lobby.
It was no mystery now as to whoever caused that commotion outside the heavenly spire. The entire Hazbin gang was circling them after Beezlebub dropped their bodies onto the floor and shrank to look specifically over Noctis.
They were disoriented but it mattered nothing to the gang that surrounded and checked over them like they were patients in a hospital. It was as if Noctis was back on the hospital bed with how Charlie watched Carmilla and her daughters bombard him while she and Vaggie were looked over by the others.
"How did we get back here?" Vaggie asked as she was helped to her feet by Rosie
"Gave us quite the scare." The cannibal commented with an edge of hilarity in her voice.
"What just happened?" Charlie asked while Max and the primordial was taken by Husk.
"What just happened is Beezlebub saved your asses from doing something stupid!" Angel Dust scolded and helped her up.
Both girls froze at this revelation and turned to look at the desperate sin. She was on her knees and completely weakened from all the work it took to get them back, her hair and tail completely lifeless from the overuse of her powers while she dripped with sweat.
"Beezlebub?" Noctis said worriedly.
Beezlebub raised her head weakly and grinned, mindful to not show any more of the exhaustion her body was feeling.
"Don't worry hubby. I've still got plenty of gas in the tank."
"What happened?" Charlie asked Angel Dust quietly.
Angel Dust just shook his head in disappointment of the situation.
"She had to break the barrier between heaven and hell to open a portal and get you guys back."
"She what?" Noctis asked before his arms were grabbed in the only hands that could overpower him—not by power but out of respect and love.
To his surprise he was slammed harshly into the lobby floor and pinned there by the only mother he truly had in his life and forcefully straddled by her. The physical pain in his back was nothing in comparison to the maternal agony of her glaring down so emotionally at him that tears were dripping onto his cheeks.
"Mom?"
"What in the fuck were you doing up there!?" Carmilla screamed in Noctis' face.
Noctis' eyes widened in surprise of his overlord mother holding him down. He gasped at the the stress of her anguish while Loona was ready to pounce and protect him.
That is until she snapped back to reality and shook off her instincts to realize this wasn't an attack on his person but a mother so angry and disheveled that she tossed aside being an overlord to scold her own child.
That, and she was spun away to face the only demon that cared about her the most.
"Blitz?"
"YOU ARE IN SO MUCH FUCKING TROUBLE YOUNG LADY!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, snarling with fatherly rage while Millie and Moxxie shook their heads in disappointment.
She was in deep shit now.
"We have a plan. A fucking plan." Carmilla screamed in Noctis' face. "And I find out from Stolas using his magic to see into heaven that you were fighting Michael already!"
Noctis wanted to say something but silenced himself when Carmilla pressed herself against his chest, sobbing ever-so quietly with her grip stil ironclad in his arms.
"You are so reckless. You're not ready yet."
"Not even close." Stolas added with his own distaste.
Everyone was in trouble at this point, even Charlie and Vaggie who winced at Angel Dust for shouting.
The one who hurt the most though was the sobbing Carmilla.
"You stupid boy….."
Later that night…..
The gang had been led back to the lounge room with quiet resolve, they all sat for minutes with Charlie explaining the entire situation while Noctis was alone in the kitchen with Loona and Beezlebub.
He sat quietly and ate a feast courtesy of the sin whilst listening to her detail the spell she learned from Satan in the meeting earlier and searching through the pages to find what might be the answer to save Michael.
He didn't even care at this point if both the hellhound and the sin were clung to his sides or that Vaggie was expressing disapproval from the other room. He was just glad that for a little of time there just peace, even if Charlie was being extremely dramatic about what happened.
Although he could do without Blitz hovering over him and foaming from the mouth with rage and a gun in hand because of Loona looking so content on his arm.
"Blitz leave her alone." Millie whispered and pulled him away with Moxxie's help.
"Kill….." Blitz drawled quietly, drooling with malice.
Loona could feel the intensity from her father but that same apathetic nature she had for him showed in a playful grin just to rile him up.
She stuck her tongue out at him and hugged Noctis' arm tighter, fueling that fury into a bloodshot glare.
"Sera did all that?" Angel Dust asked with uncertainty if he heard the dramatic princess correctly.
Everyone watched as she interpreted everything from the start of the fight to the angel and her interference that made everyone quake at the power.
She waved her hands frantically to mimic the situation and explained in a dramatic manner.
"It was insane, she was like you will never harm my family again, and then she made the tornadoes catch fire to where we couldn't see anything."
"Stop!" Carmilla ordered firmly, donning her overlord facade. "Did you see any blood?"
That got everyone's attention, even Rosie herself who was putting on a motherly act by laying tea out for Noctis before she returned to the conversation.
"Blood?" Charlie questioned, receiving a nod from the weapon overlord.
Carmilla had other things in mind, more important than the story of their foolishness and she expressed it.
"Yes you naive girl. Blood. Did you see any?"
Charlie flinched at how scolding Carmilla was acting and shook her head.
"No, we were too preoccupied by Metatron and his book and the fight."
Carmilla frowned at that while Alastor stepped into the conversation with his own insight as to why blood would so important, knowing from one overlord to another there was reason behind it.
"She wants to know if Michael can be hurt."
Everyone turned their attention to him, realizing from vast history about the archangel that he was labeled to be invincible when no creature in existence had ever successfully harmed him.
"Yeah he bled." Loona said out of the blue.
Everyone whirled their attention to her, some with curiosity but the three overlord being skeptical.
"And how would you know this, sweetie?" Rosie asked, her tone edged in a slight mock that hummed.
"Because when I bit him I tasted his blood." Loona answered and turned to the crowd gawking at her.
"You made Michael bleed?" Blitz asked in a quiet voice.
She nodded and went back to her own comfort with Noctis, but it didn't last when Blitz dropped his behavior and skittered over to her with a proud and loud slap of her back.
"What the fuck Blitz!?" She yelled after almost having her face mash into a plate of food from the slap.
Blitz only laughed and gave his daughter a hug and a kiss that was most unwelcome. Then again his affection was never welcomed when she always wondered where his hands and mouth have been.
"THATS MY GIRL!" He praised before getting sucker punched into a wall.
"So it's true then…." Stolas paused with critical thinking. "Michael can bleed."
Noctis stopped his reading after hearing that, but his attention focused in on the page he found to be the spell Beezlebub explained earlier.
"I found it."
All eyes turned to their divine friend before a singular rush over happened. They gathered like ants and surrounded the dining table as he read over the details.
"You did?" Beezlebub was quick to take her spot in sitting next to him with her head leaned on his shoulder. "What's it say hubby?"
"Overcharge—" he tested the name of the spell on his tongue and explained. "Granting the user the ability to draw out their fully power should they lack the power to best in multiple situations. This spell reaches the core and erupts it in a magnificent fashion to allow the user the edge of combat."
"So you could tap into your full power." Carmilla didn't sound impressed by the spell.
Beezlebub gave her a disapproving glance but her own tongue to stay what protective words she had to say.
Noctis nodded and continued to read outloud.
"However there is a risk, the untrained beast could ultimately tap into their full power and explode should their body not be fully grown or acclimated, destroying both body and soul completely.
A powerful silence shadowed over the entire room, all eyes resting on Noctis with the same dangerous thought as he sat there contemplating.
He could very well destroy himself trying to save or kill Michael, only this time there would be no way for someone to put him back together.
"If I may speak out of turn," Pentious spoke up, his tone as dry as the annoyed look on his face. "But this is bullshit."