“What –?” Erik uttered and grabbed hold of the invisible girl. Thinking fast, he immediately distanced himself from the chain of destructions as it flexed and squirmed on the ground like a great serpent in pain, driving up wet dirt and stones.

Only at the edge of the barrier did Erik speaks up. “What’s your name?”

“SS,” the little girl whispered and hugged him tightly. It was a strange name.

“Alright, SS,” Erik groaned and patted her head lightly. She was the same breed as him. Her strength could snap a full-grown man in half. “You can turn things invisible right? What about a person? If so, can you make me invisible before she comes out?”

SS nodded and tightened her embrace. Aside from his spine calling out for help, Erik didn’t feel any difference. He was about to ask when he noticed his hand could no longer be seen. It was invisible – there was no distortion in the air like you would see in those superheroes movie. He could still feel it there and could even touch his face with it.

“Wow!” Erik was impressed. If it wasn’t for the pouring rain, he would be unseen to the naked eyes, completely invisible. “What about making people seeing things? Can you do that?”

SS nodded once more. There was a moment of hesitation. “But it doesn’t work on everyone.”

“Show me anyway,” Erik requested and recalled what little he knew of her power. From what Doctor J. Watson had said, she could make apparitions of his dead patients and scare the living daylight out of him.

“Can you make an image of a person over there?” Erik added. “Not me, alright?”

SS nodded and slowly turned her head to where Erik was pointing despite his invisibility, and to his amazement, an image of William appeared, standing expressionless as usual. The chain immediately jerked upwards and strike the ghostly apparition, dispelling it in an instant.

“It hurts,” SS sobbed and held his waist tighter. “It never hurts before.”

Erik nodded and stroked her hair as the chains pulled back into the unlit corridor of the old building, returning to its owner shrouded in darkness. Rapid footsteps could faintly be heard from there. They were coming.

“It’s okay, SS,” Erik assured. He didn’t need to confront them. With SS safe, his goal was achieved. It was time to make their escape. “I will never hurt you, I promise. But you must do what I ask of you, okay?”

SS took a moment to nod. It was good enough for Erik. He didn’t plan on letting William died such a gruesome death at the hand of the religious nut, but at least, something good came out of it.

“I’m going to open a way… a portal, we’re going to go through it, okay?” Erik whispered quickly. “It’s nothing scary. But to do that, you have to let me go.”

SS slowly nodded, and Erik accessed the menu.

[Get down! Erik!]

Erik reacted and pressed SS onto the ground with his body as a chain sailed overhead and slammed into the barrier with enough force to send golden ripples across the entire sphere. He looked up and saw Victoria with a hand extended. She raised that hand up and swung downwards, forcing Erik to roll to the side with SS wrapped in his arms.

The hammer fell. The pavement was sliced, showering the area with broken concrete and mudded earth. Erik pulled himself up as Victoria appeared in front of him. She narrowed her eyes, trying to make him out as the chains wrapped around her balled fist, reinforcing it.

“Wait! Time out! Time out!” Erik called out and kicked the ground to get some distance, but Victoria had no intention of stopping her assault. She rushed towards him before flipping backwards to avoid a giant block of concrete that seemed to appear out of nowhere. The ground shook under its weight.

Annoyed, Victoria smashed it apart with her chains, using it like a whip. More blocks appeared and blocked her path. They too were smashed into pieces.

“Shit, she’s fast!” Erik panted. Even with his new physical prowess, he could barely keep up with her speed let alone fight her. Having to protect someone didn’t help the matter one bit. He pulled out an iron ingot from his stockpile and readied himself for the most powerful pitch ever. Without an actual weapon, this was all he could do.

“SS, can you create an illusion as a distraction?”

SS shook her head repeatedly. “It hurts, big brother.”

“Please, SS. If you don’t try, we will die,” Erik said. He planted his other hand on her head. “It won’t hurt, trust me.”

SS slowly nodded.

“Alright, do you remember back in the room when I threw this?” Erik asked and show the iron ingot to SS. He wasn’t sure whether she looked at it or not since she was still invisible. “Create hundreds of them and throw them at her. Just dispel them before she could destroy them. Do you understand?”

The task wasn’t too difficult. SS nodded and did as requested. With her power, she created hundreds of flying iron ingots, sending them forth at Victoria as she smashed apart the last stone block. Before the ingots could reach Victoria, her chain flexed violently, attempting to dispel the apparitions but they disappeared before it could.

“Do you think illusions will stop me?” Victoria said as she charged forwards.

That was when something heavy impacted against her chain with enough force to knock it back and allowing the barrage of iron ingots to pass. She raised her arms to block the illusions on reflex while her chain surged forwards to resume its protection. Before it could, a supersonic projectile impacted her squarely in the abdomen. Her eyes widened as her body registered the agonizing pain.

“You –!”

Erik grinned, but that grin turned into surprise then shock. The iron ingot dropped onto the ground harmlessly as Victoria was surrounded with a blue aura. Her chain had the same menacing aura as she glared angrily at him.

“Are you serious… a shield?” Erik uttered as he gripped another iron ingot in his hand.

“How dare a mere Demon Spawn make me release my aura!” Victoria shouted and raised her hand at Erik. The chain vanished and reformed right through his chest. Blast of wet air slammed into Erik’s face as he looked down at his punctured chest, trying to register what just happened. It was too fast for even his enhanced sight. Behind him, the golden barrier rippled violently as it was pierced by the chain.

“Big brother,” SS muttered with wide eyes. Bathed in the strange blue glow radiating from the chain, she was clearly visible.

“What the hell…” Erik uttered weakly and fell backwards the moment the chain was yanked out of him. Blood pooled under his body as he looked skyward. The barrier glowed brightly before turning invisible again. “Should have gone with plan B.”

[That’s no longer possible]

Erik chuckled and felt the hopelessness of his situation. There was no way to win, and his heart was pierced.

“Please don’t destroy the barrier, Victoria,” Joseph said and headed out of the building.

“Oh yeah, then there’s that guy,” Erik muttered. If he could not hope to defeat one of them, what chance did he have against two? He raised his hand and planted on SS’s head. She was crying and pulling against his blood-soaked clothes. She was just a little kid, who just wanted to be left alone.

“Dell, can you save her?” Erik tried to say but coughed out blood instead.

[…]

“I want to save at least one person,” Erik mouthed as he looked towards the gloomy sky. Thunders roared violently, and the rain seemed to stop. His vision began to wane. Darkness crept around the edges.

[…]

“Please,” Erik pleaded, mustering all his strengths. “Please do something… please…”

[…]

“Dell!” Erik shouted as lightning strike the barrier, causing it to glow brightly, illuminating the area with golden light. Before the darkness returned, another lightning crashed into the magical barrier then another and another.

Victoria looked up as dozens of lightning bolts rained down from the sky. Her aura flared as Joseph opened his book and recited the verses as the barrier glowed brightly. Despite his effort, it shattered under the deadly barrage. The sky boomed and then turned eerily silence.

“My, my, I didn’t expect the church to be here,” said a young man in his early twenty. He appeared seemingly out of nowhere. “The name is Adam, but my friends called me Zeus.”

“Be gone, Demon!” Victoria flexed her hands at the young man. Her chain crashed harmlessly into the ground as Zeus landed on top of it, using it as a rope.

“Is this an Artefact? It must be the Chain of Judgement.” Zeus crouched down and gave it a tug. “I always wanted one, but Minus said we cannot use them.” He jumped off the chain and landed on the ground when Victoria yanked it back. She was as surprised as everyone in the vicinity.

“Victoria, calm yourself,” Joseph said without taking his eyes off Zeus. “Who are you? No demon or their spawns should able to touch an Artefact.”

“Oh?” Zeus looked surprised. “Does that mean I’m stronger than God?”

“Blasphemy!” Victoria shouted. Her chain launched at him again, but this time he didn’t dodge it. He grabbed it despite its impossible speed. “T-that’s not possible –

“You have no idea what is possible and what isn’t, little sheep,” Zeus said as lightning erupted from his body. It propagated along the chain and slammed into Victoria with a deadly vengeance.

“Aghhhhhh!” Victoria screamed as lightning erupted from her body and surging skyward. Her tunic burst in flames just before Zeus let go of the holy chain and dodged a sword thrust from Joseph. She dropped to her knees and panted. Her body was badly burnt, from inside and outside.

“Woah, you nearly cut my hand off, old man,” Zeus said with appalled face.

“Victoria, go and inform the others,” Joseph ordered as removed his overcoat as it was a hindrance to his movement. The sword of light in his hand glowed brightly. Golden inscriptions manifested and spiralled along the length of the sword. The bible was nowhere to be seen. “Now!”

Victoria hastily pulled out a pendant. It glowed brightly, and she vanished, leaving behind only Zeus and Joseph inside the barrier. Erik and SS were already long gone. They escaped into the inner world when everyone was distracted.

“I will have you tell me everything, Demon Spawn,” Joseph said and gripped his sword tightly with both hands. “May God be my witness, Amen!”

“Amen,” Zeus snorted as his body glowed. His aura erupted while lightning surged forth and strike everything nearby. The cloudy sky above began to swirl violently.