“Can I eat this too?” Andrea asked and pointed at Sariel’s head. The angel’s head still had an expression of bewilderment on it. Andrea batted it around, rolling it along the floor back and forth, waiting for Palan’s reply.

“Don’t do that to food,” Palan said. “You’ll make the surface dirty. You can eat it now. I don’t need it anymore.”

“I-Is that Sariel?” Meffi asked in a whisper. He spoke through gritted teeth as Pyre held two buckets near the stumps where his arms used to be, collecting blood from the angel as if he were a water fountain. “Just who are you people?”

“Who are we?” Cleo asked and tilted her head. “Who are you? You came in and threw lava at us for no reason! Do you know how hard it was to store it all away? Now I have enough molten rock to create a volcano in my dimension.”

“You stored all of it away?” Meffi asked, the expression on his face turning blank. “Via kleptomania?”

Cleo glared at him and put her hands on her hips. The lava not only heated up her dimension, but it also made her uncomfortably warm. At least it was perfect for nighttime weather in Eljiam. “Is that a problem? I’m asking the questions here. Who are you?”

Meffi gritted his teeth as his face paled. The blood flowing out of his arms was slowing down to a trickle. “I’m going to die if you don’t heal me soon.”

“Right,” Pyre said and pulled out a white orb. He pressed it against Meffi’s back, causing the severed stumps on the fallen angel’s shoulders to wriggle. “That should do it.”

Meffi exhaled. At least they wanted him alive, even if it were for his blood. He was about to speak, but a sharp pain coming from his elbow caused him to scream. His newly formed arm fell to the ground as more blood flowed out of his body, filling the bucket. He resisted the urge to use his powers, knowing Raea and Palan could easily subdue him. He still wasn’t sure how Raea had caught up so quickly and cut off his arms. His vision blurred and drifted to the side as tears formed in his eyes. His eyes widened at the sight of Andrea devouring the rest of Sariel’s remains, not even leaving behind any bones. He swallowed before asking, “Was that Sariel? The Watcher?”

“Yes. Yes it was,” Pyre said. “If I’m not mistaken, you must be Meffi of the four sinners.” Pyre pointed at Raea. “She has a grudge against you.”

“Against me?” Meffi asked. His shoulders shrank as he peered up at Raea like a guilty dog. Black flames surrounded her body as her eyes turned purple. “D-Did I do something to offend you, O great one?”

“Madison,” Raea said, practically spitting the word out. “Do you recognize that name?”

Meffi’s eyes drifted to the wings on Raea’s back. No wonder why he thought she was familiar. Her wings were like Madison’s. “No?” he asked. “I can’t say I do.”

Black flames erupted from Raea’s foot as she took a step forward, singing the eyebrows off Meffi’s face. “Don’t lie to me!” she roared. “Solra sold you out. You were Madison’s contractor!”

“I’m not!” Meffi said and lowered his head, knocking his forehead against the floor. He hadn’t formally bound Madison with a contract. He only helped her grow to the level of an archdemon before sending her to aid Solra. “I swear to you, I am not Madison’s contractor. Solra must’ve wanted to redirect your wrath to me to save his own skin.”

“Lots of good that did him,” Cory said and flapped her wings. “Solra’s dead.”

“He’s what?” Meffi asked, his expression frozen. A trickle of blood ran down his face from his forehead where the floor had broken his skin. “Then how did Sariel die? We won, didn’t we?”

“We?” Pyre asked. “You’re the only one left of the four sinners. And your plan would’ve failed miserably if it weren’t for me. I destroyed the capital and brought your plans into fruition.”

“Impossible,” Meffi said and hung his head. “How?”

Raea stepped forward and kicked Meffi in the chest, causing him to topple over and fall onto his back. Pyre frowned as he readjusted Meffi’s arm to continue extracting blood from the angel. “Regardless of who actually owned Madison, it’s the four sinners’ fault for raising her.”

“Then … you’re going to kill me?” Meffi asked, still lying on his back with his gaze focused on the ceiling.

“That’s right,” Pyre said. “Obediently give me your blood and wait for death, and, maybe, I’ll answer some questions for you. You must have a lot of those, eh?”

Meffi sighed. It was pointless to fight back now. Anything he did to inhibit this group would just be pettiness. His three lifelong friends were waiting for him—it wouldn’t be bad to see them again. “Then tell me,” he said as his body relaxed. “Are the angels no longer the ruling race?”

“Correct,” Pyre said. “The halflings are competing for the top spot, but I suspect a coalition between the different races will be the end result.” He glanced at Raea. “I believe angels will still be around, just not as tyrants.”

“The other members of the council, what happened to them?”

“Most of them are dead,” Pyre said. “I think I have four of them imprisoned, but they’ll die of old age soon enough. Their mana is being extracted to create orbs for the halflings. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were demoted to greater angels before they die.”

“That can happen?” Raea asked and raised an eyebrow.

Pyre shrugged. “In extreme cases.”

Raea thought back to Pyre’s torture chambers. She had to admit those qualified as extreme cases. “I see. How long do I have to wait before I can kill him?” Her tail swished back and forth, cutting the air.

“After I form the portal.”

Meffi glanced at Palan who was wiping Andrea’s face. “Is there … something stronger than archdemons and archangels?” he asked. Abaddon had been an archangel of pride, but Palan had easily crushed that pride with his own. That shouldn’t have happened unless Palan was an archdemon and Abaddon was a greater angel.

“Yes,” Pyre said and staunched the blood flowing out of Meffi’s arm. He had extracted enough blood. Now he just had to draw the portal.

“The capital. They had some of those, didn’t they?” Meffi asked while sitting up.

“Mhm.”

Meffi sighed. “Then … by our original plan, we would’ve lost, right?”

“Solra died before I could find out his plans,” Pyre said. “But from what I could see, yes, you would’ve.”

“I see,” Meffi said. He glanced at Raea. The black flames around her were crackling and hissing. As a fallen angel of wrath, he could tell she was about to be consumed by anger. It had happened to him on multiple occasions. “I have one last question. My family…?”

“Publically executed as per custom,” Pyre said. “They lasted two years after you escaped.” Meffi hung his head. Pyre dusted off his hands and stood up. “The portal is done.”

Raea approached Meffi and raised her tail above his neck like an executioner’s blade. Meffi smiled. “You’re killing me out of revenge for someone, right? I’ve been down that road before. You think your anger is fueled by revenge. You probably see my face on fire in your heart, don’t you? I’m not a good elder, but I still have words I can pass on to you. The anger isn’t fueled by outside sources. It burns because of you. You are its fuel. Be careful not to let it consume you when I’m gone. As for managing the fire raging in your chest? You’ll have to look deep within yourself.”

Raea listened to Meffi with an expressionless face. “Are those your last words?”

Meffi nodded.

The bladed tail descended.