The dusking sunlight glinted off the card that Saffron held high in the sky. She eyed down Serif as the spell in her hand disappeared, materializing a massive crimson sword above her head.

“I suppose you want me to step aside and let you all in or perish?” Serif asked condescendingly.

“No,” Saffron said, words ringing hollowly through the air. “We’re past letting you walk away alive!” Saffron commanded the sword to cleave down, striking Serif through the chest the same way the angel did to Terra. Shiso, Reva, and Violette were too stunned at Saffron’s actions to move for a second; it was like someone flipped a switch in her.

“What’re you three standing around for?” Selicy asked, spears of ice forming around her. Hazel was building something frantically behind her while Gunner took a precise aim. “We’ve got an angel to kill!”

Serif was floating stationarily in the air since Saffron’s spell had pierced her, but Selicy went in for a hit anyway. Two icy blades in hand, she leaped to Serif’s height and made as deep of lacerations as she could on the angel’s stomach before falling back to the ground. At the same time, Gunner blasted a shot from his oversized mana gun right into Serif’s face.

When they looked back up, Serif had no visible injuries from Selicy or Gunner at all. Saffron’s spell dematerialized and there wasn’t a single cut on the archangel’s body.

“Is it settling in? The futile fight you put up only wastes time.”

Serif raised a hand and about a hundred swords made of pure light appeared all around the group, targeting random people. All at once, the swords came down and everyone scattered.

“Kid, what’s the battle plan?” Shiso asked over her earpiece.

“How do you kill an immortal?” she asked.

“Make them mortal!” Reva interjected, with a gasp of insight.

“Try again.” Saffron said. “Because immortality isn’t a concept I’m unraveling in ten minutes or less.”

“Can we just shoot her until she drops?” Gunner asked. “She’s a big bird, right?”

“A big bird that murdered our friend in less than five seconds.” Saffron said grimly. “I’m not letting her just get away with killing Terra!”

A huge ball of fire, shot from Saffron’s hand, white-hot and hurtling towards Serif. The angel made no effort to dodge the attack, letting it meet her head-on. All at once, she exploded into a ball of fire and started burning. Flames licked across her bare skin, and danced along her thin clothing. Even so, her skin did now flay, and her clothing did not burn. The torrent of golden swords did stop though.

“Huh, and I thought that fire would make her an angel fajita.” Gunner said.

“Can someone ground her?” Reva asked.

“I got it.” Shiso responded.

The gunman threw down a trap onto the barren ground and took a spell out from up his sleeve. He shoved it into a slot on the bottom of his revolver and took aim. With a BANG!, he struck right where the heart would be on a normal person. Serif had a moment to recover before her entire body was moved to a new location. Her body glowed a hot green and she disappeared before reappearing on top of Shiso’s trap.

His trap sprung up like a bear trap around Serif’s leg. It kept her tethered very close to the ground. Flying from the sky, Reva came down and gave the angel the full force of her shield, which made a gong-like sound when it made impact with her. Close behind her, Gunner fired a mana charge from his gun so powerful that he was launched backwards. Violette lept into a flurry of trills, slicing and dicing at Serif’s skin with every note.

“Finally done with this baby!” Hazel cheered as she patted a giant turret next to her. “I’ll call this baby… Fenrir!”

The turret charged up for only a moment before blasting a gratuitous, over the top, oversized, and lethal shot at Serif. The ground erupted and everyone shielded their faces. When the dust settled, the angelic figure was nowhere to be seen.

“Did we win?” Selicy asked.

Suddenly, a dozen blades of light materialized above Selicy. She only had time to gasp and watch as each of them thrusted forward and ripped through her body. Her snow-white jacket was stained red, and her crimson scarf fluttered in the wind. Everyone watched their friend, who was making not one sound anymore.

“Selicy!” Violette cried, tears streaming down her face. “Monster! Monster!”

“How do you see me for the monster?” Serif asked. She was flying above a giant cloud of dust. All six of her wings made a small vortex with their rapid flapping. “Did she not attempt to kill you at your first encounter?”

“Maybe she did,” Violette admitted. “But-”

“If she had killed one of you, would she have been the monster? What about you, Violette, the world’s greatest musician? What if you had murdered one of your so-called friends when you met on that day not so long ago? Would you be the monster?”

“I-” Violette’s voice faltered. “That doesn’t matter anymore!”

“Doesn’t it?” Serif asked, surprised. “The woman who would have killed for one last show.” She glanced at Gunner. “The boy who’s claimed hundreds of lives at only 16.” She pointed to Hazel. “You, who have made mechanical monstrosities to automate death and destruction.” She narrowed her eyes at Shiso. “A man whose soul runs red with the blood of those around him.” She looked at Saffron with a mocking smile. “And you, how are you not the monster of us all?”

“Saffron hasn’t done anything but try and help us!” Reva shouted. “You wouldn't know anything about that!”

“Lies! Blasphemy to the truth!” Serif shouted. “You know that she is the woman who killed the world! The woman who created the Calamity Spells and watched as the world tore itself apart! Who watched the world burn with the smile on her face that you seem to admire so much!”

Serif aggressively waved her hand, summoning a giant torrid sword glowing with intense heat. Its yellow sheen was like that of the sun and so was its heat; the blade itself was the length of a school bus.

Saffron stared in horrific awe as Serif’s summoned sword hurtled towards her. She knew that she wouldn’t be able to dodge in time, so Saffron pulled out the strongest shielding spell she had. The weak blue shield conjured in front of the scientist, but she knew it couldn’t take the hit. Saffron closed her eyes and braced herself as she came to terms with her death.

“Clash!” The sword was stopped by something protecting Saffron. She opened her eyes enough to see Reva’s smiling face looking down on her.

“Reva…” Saffron whispered. Reva was holding Saffron close in her arms while she wore Eschaton on her back to shield them from the giant blade. The two weapons sizzled, hissed, and groaned trying to break the other.

“Don’t worry. I’ll always have your back, even if you can’t cover mine!” Reva comforted warmly. She gave Saffron a kiss on the forehead, like a mother. “Now, go.”

Reva shoved Saffron away, smiling somberly as she waved. The white knight’s shield cracked and groaned before the sword shattered a hole in Eschaton and tore through Reva’s body.

Saffron cried as Reva’s still-smiling body coughed up blood and dropped to the ground. Their impenetrable wall had fallen.

“Kid, we’re getting out of here.” Shiso said in the panic, yanking Saffron away by the wrist. She fought against him as hard as she could.

“Let me go!” she cried. “I’m going to make that six-winged bitch pay!”

“You’re not going to-” Before Shiso could finish his sentence, a laser of pure white light flew from behind Saffron and pierced his throat. Eyes wide, he fell to the ground, crushing his glasses and bleeding out in an instant.

Saffron felt paralyzed by everything around her. Violette sobbed as she hugged Shiso’s body to her chest. Gunner was lying on the ground next to his human-sized gun, unmoving. She couldn’t see Hazel anymore, just the giant flaming remains of an oversized turret.

She turned towards the angel, who overlooked the Saffron with a looming shadow. Before she could say anything, Violette let loose a blood-curdling scream before becoming abruptly taciturn. The broken scientist couldn’t bear to look behind herself.

“You’re not an angel,” Saffron said with a choked voice. “You’re a devil.”

“How interesting you choose those exact words.” Serif said wistfully. “I think I’ve heard them before, but from someone else. Like a memory I can’t quite place…”

“What do you want with me?” Saffron asked. “You killed all my friends! You killed them all without a second thought! If you say I’m such a monster, kill me instead!” Saffron got down on her knees, tears steamrolling down her face. “Kill me, kill me!”

Serif gently floated down and looked at Saffron with a surprising look of compassion. She put her hand on Saffron’s face and gently lifted it, like a mother would. She soothingly caressed the scientist’s face, as if attempting to soothe her.

“Child, you do not get to die. Not yet.” Saffron looked the angel in the eyes.

“Why?” she asked. “I’ve already watched everyone I love die. Who’s left to watch burn because of what I did?”

“You have no idea.”

Serif waved her hand and rested it on Saffron’s forehead. The world around them began to fade away, blurring and becoming more and more out of focus. Saffron herself began to feel tired, dizzy, and fatigued. The last thing she remembered was Serif mouthing the words, “Do it better next time.”

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Saffron woke up with a jolt and a shriek in the middle of the night. She wildly began to look around to see where she was until her eyes settled on something. Next to her, Violette laid with a pale face.

“Saffron, honey, what’s wrong?” she asked.

Saffron reached out a shaking hand and touched the songstress’ face, as if to confirm that she wasn’t just an apparition. She cried tears of joy and hugged her as tight as possible. Violette squirmed around and was getting crushed by the hug.

“What’s this about?” she asked with a lightheaded laugh.

Before Saffron could answer, Hazel ripped off the top of the tent that the two were under. She had some crazed eyes and was holding a shotgun quickly summoned from one of her spells in her hand.

“What’s going on?” she asked in a panic.

Saffron said nothing and tackled her best friend instead. She was still crying as she buried her face into the engineer’s overalls. She looked up and saw the rest of her friends staring down at her on top of Hazel’s body. The sky was dark and tents were pitched up in a small circle. It was exactly as they had it last night.