The group staggered and looked up at the giant crimson red ball of fire expanding in the sky with flame pillars extending from it and outstretching in various directions. As the crimson inferno sheathed the clouds and sky. A supreme winged figure descended from the firestorm.

It moved downward with elegance and emanating great power as the ablaze above spread. It had scraggly, dark, champagne blonde hair and a youthful, feminine, perfectly symmetrical face. Beauty so flawless it was unnatural, a delight to look at as it was frightening, as it made one aware of their own inferior facial imperfections and the infinite possibilities of beauty. The angel’s wings were covered in gray-white feathers that projected outwards like spikes. It wore a medallion gold body armor with a flaming short sword in one hand and a round shield in the other. As the angel eyed them from above with its haunting, dead red eyes. Zeke analyzed it and remembered Violet’s fight with Nananiel. Its name was…

“Irin!” Isaac bubbled and waved. “Good to see you here!” He let go of Ugo and shouted to the others. “Good luck!” He pushed his hands together quickly, and the eyed wheel re-materialized around him, then two more wheels appeared and opened their sets of eyes around the rim, each one overlapping the other. Isaac levitated while in the center of the rotating many-eyed wheels and exuded a bright white light, then flashed out of existence.

“Did he just leave?” AJ cried.

“Cabron!” Ugo cursed.

Irin stopped at a speaking distance from the group.

“Naomi, what are you doing,” Irin snarled. “You know that there is somewhere you need to be, where you belong, and you’re out here playing around with humans, no less. Nananiel is a foolish, incompetent despot. Him freeing you is no surprise to me, but I never took you as a complete halfwit, as well. We have explained the danger you pose to humans, as well as everything else in the universe time and time again.”

“Don’t talk to her like that!” Ugo shouted.

Irin stopped and stood still in the air with her wings frozen in animation. She stared down Ugo incredulously. “What did you say to me, you blasphemous dog?”

“You heard what he said!” Zeke joined in.

Bulging veins sprawled across Irin’s forehead as her eyes glowed red. “Watch your mouth, heathen filth.”

AJ pointed up at Irin. “We’re not going to let you put Naomi back in her cage!”

“Listen, humans,” Irin hissed. “Stop trying to fight for things that you don’t understand. It’s always the same with you lot. You fight amongst yourselves for frivolous reasons and single instances can incite prolonged wars. You destroy the beautiful environment surrounding you and greedily bled the planet dry of precious resources, and not even that is enough to unite you.” Pieces of Irin’s face broke off, unveiling a molten surface underneath. “I never liked humans,” she growled. “When it comes to your Realm, I have always preferred the animals, such beautiful creatures. I even prefer the insects over the humans, but I don’t let that compromise my duties as an angel, which is protecting humanity. I have been doing it for centuries. That’s what it means to be faithful to a cause and to honor the position you were assigned to. Naomi understands what her role is, too, and that is why she’ll go back to her cage.”

“No, I won’t,” Naomi croaked.

Irin’s entire cheek broke off and magma spurted out of it. She fixed on Naomi with a smouldering scorn. “Do you understand what you are, child? It is your duty to go back to that cage as the abomination! Do I need to remind you of your origin?”

“Naomi isn’t defined by things that are beyond her control,” Zeke argued. “What her parents—or whatever technical term for it would be—what they did has nothing to do with her, okay?”

Irin slowly turned to Zeke. She flashed a crooked smile. “So, she told you,” she said calmly. She looked back at Naomi. “Catielleneth, you really are a vermin. I had hopes for you. What were you thinking?”

“She shouldn’t be judged by the things that those who came before her have done. She is her own person. Her legacy doesn’t matter! What matters is what she does now and for the rest of her life.” Zeke ranted. “That’s what she should be judged for. She shouldn’t do things only to prove that she isn’t like her progenitors, nor should she do things to be like them, unless she wants to. What I am trying to say is that her actions should be based on whatever it is she wants to do. She is whoever she wants to be and can do whatever the hell she wants!” Zeke paused for a moment and shot a glare at Irin’s crumbling face. “So, if she says that she doesn’t want to go… then she doesn’t have to go.”

“Wow,” Irin said. “Interesting. Did you know the Diagnostician has never been the first to die?” The skin around her mouth shattered and sprinkled down. “That’s because they’re usually smarter than the others and don’t make asinine comments like that, especially, not before an angel.” She raised her sword. “It’s a shame that you’ll be the one to break that record.”

The flaming sky spat out giant blobs of fire. “I, Power Chief Irin of the Second Sphere, will extirpate the Sixth Born of the Tainted Generation, Ugo Morata, and the Tenth Born of the Tainted Generation, Ezequias Rosario as well as their accomplice Avery Dotson and return Naomi to Maliel!” Irin announced with grandeur. “In the name of Virtue! For Father!” Irin roared.

“Here we go.” Ugo said, hoisting his surgical knife toward the sky. He swung it in multiple directions, propelling electric slashes upwards. The grille of slashes met with the giant fireballs and cut through them, shaping them into smaller square wisps. They hit all around the garden, igniting the foliage.

Irin winged down to Ugo and swung her sword.

Blood spluttered out of Ugo’s chest, and the next instance, he caught a shield to the face and was shot back.

Irin winged after him, just as Zeke stretched his hand forward, sending strands of arteries and veins her way.

As she disappeared from the kindled clearing, the strings extended through the cinder speckled trail she left behind.

As soon as the strands caught something. Zeke lost his footing. He was flying through the air, taking painful slaps of vegetation and branches to the face as cinders rained, singeing his skin.

His body touched grass. He looked up, and he was in a new clearing, just as beautiful. He caught Irin on her feet, scowling down at him. She glanced at the strands tied around her ankle.

Flames climbed up the strands. Zeke panicked and thought as hard as he could. The strands snapped off on their own and he watched them reduce to embers. Before he could catch his breath, Zeke pulled himself back to his feet and stared her down.

Ugo stood on the other side, still with his surgical knife in hand, visible in Zeke’s eyeline. They stared at each other. The concatenation of events has led them to this very moment. Earlier this month, they were just a pair of high school seniors whose biggest worry was if a Black Souls 4 game was ever going to be made.

Now, they were stocked up on Mana, clad in defense-enhancing apparel, turning them into warriors facing off an all-powerful battle angel.

After a subtle cue, they charged at Irin from both sides.

Zeke’s jaw connected with the scalding face of Irin’s shield. As he flew back, he witnessed Ugo flying away in the opposite direction with blood squirting into the air from a new laceration. They hit the ground simultaneously.

Zeke’s skin made a hissing sizzle. As soon as he got up, a flaming shield was flying at him.

He closed his eyes and ducked with his hands raised. He opened them again and looked up, a red and blue strands stretched backwards from his palms, one color from each, he turned back and the burning shield was wrapped inside a bicolored net of arteries and veins. Red on one side and blue on the other, with a dim mixture of both in the middle. The visual made Zeke immediately correlate it to the capillary network of the human circulatory system.

Angry flames boomed.

Zeke clasped his hands together and swung the netted shield at the charging angel. Irin plummeted to the side, but didn’t make a sound. She got up quickly and squinted, not in pain, just pissed off.

Zeke launched the shield at Irin again, and she blasted back. The shield burned away from the capillary net and disappeared into the sky.

Irin’s wings pushed her off the ground. A bloody Ugo jumped into the air behind her, raising his surgical knife. He slashed nothing but air. Ugo tried again with a heavier swing. Irin dodged again with another slick movement. Irin thrusted her sword, Ugo rolled out of the way, the tree behind became ashes. Ugo sprung up and cleaved off just a tip of Irin’s wing. She squealed with rage and readied another sword attack.

Strands caught her wrist. She looked at the red and blue threads angrily and then back at the Zeke. He tugged with everything he had, sending Irin spinning into the air. Ugo slashed the angel mid-air, and she gyrated toward Zeke, looping the strands around her body.

By the time she made it to Zeke, her body was completely enwrapped in red and blue.

With a kick, Zeke sent her spinning back to Ugo. As the strands unrolled from her body, Ugo raised his knife and was immediately intercepted with a flaming kick to the cheek. He went down.

Irin tossed her sword to her other hand and cut off her bindings. Zeke crouched and pushed his hands into the grass. The spider-veins spread, then red and blue entrails exploded out of the ground and charged at Irin.

Irin discharged a blazing aura. The entrails became dust.

Zeke and Ugo charged at her again and threw their fists, and Irin caught them each in her palms. Irin squeezed, and they groaned. Her face twisted with delight. She released and grabbed the back of their heads, smashing them against each other.

Black and red took over Zeke’s vision as he staggered backwards. He blinked rapidly as his head rang painfully. When his vision cleared, he saw Ugo blasting right at him.

They collided and dropped.

Zeke pushed Ugo off him, got up, and extended a hand to him. Ugo took the offer and was brought back to his feet.

Irin trod toward the blood-soaked brothers. With a look saying, I haven’t even got serious yet. She sped up, her blade burned more intensely, her wings expanded, growing twice their size, and her hair turned a strong crimson red.

Then, half her face combusted.

The explosion made her stagger down to her knees and hiss with frustration. “Useless piece of...” Half of her face made a volcanic eruption. Firing off bursts of magma and exuding hazes of black smoke. She bellowed and writhed as she dropped her sword. Pieces of her armour began to melt and peel off. “Fine then!” Her voice now thunderous and magmatic. “I’ll just kill you like this!”

She bellowed once again with a noticeable agony in her distorted voice. Her body twisted up and released a fiery burst. A wall of lava formed around her.

Zeke felt the bruises under his coat healing, swelling decompressing, and open wounds on his forehead closing, but the effects of the heat worsened. His eyeballs began to burn and water, and his throat became dry and scratchy. He looked over to Ugo and noticed sweat stains forming all over his Healer’s Garb. He scanned the area and everything was melting.

“Seriously, how is that, an angel?” Ugo shouted as he pointed at Irin.

The air became wavy as the lava wall closed over Irin. With the sky completely covered in flames, this was the closest thing they could get to experiencing Hell.

Ugo walked toward the wall of lava. He hissed and jumped back. Parts of his skin and Healer’s Garb were singed. “That’s crazy hot! Talk about Area of Damage, I can’t get near it.” Ugo turned to Zeke. “Any ideas?”

Zeke looked away from the inferno and wiped the pool of sweat from his forehead. “We can’t fight that…” He crossed his arms and looked down to think. He could feel his temples scorching as he thought. He dropped his arms in frustration and felt a bump, halting, and then started patting his pants. Zeke halted again and reached into his right pocket.

He pulled out a piece of brain from his pocket. He stared in disbelief that the Communicator Lobe remained in his pocket throughout everything. An idea dinged in his head. Ugo noticed.

“What is it?” Ugo asked.

“I’ve got a really bad idea,” Zeke said.

Ugo threw his hands into the air, flecking sweat all around. “Qué será, será Mano,” he said. “Even if it ends up killing us. Anything beats being burned to death. Just do it.”

Zeke lowered his mask and raised the Communicator Lobe to his cracking, dry lips. He concentrated on the perfect image of Violet he had in his mind. Fourteen-year-old Violet clad in a striped shirt, a knit cardigan over it, black jeans, and sneakers. Standing in an empty classroom, staring blankly back at him. “Violet...” he said, hoping that she was listening.

The Communicator Lobe glowed.

“Hi, Rulitos,” Violet’s voice rang in his head.

Zeke gasped for a moment. He shook his head and tried to focus. “I need a favor.”

“If this has something to do with your mother—“

“It doesn’t. Listen…” Zeke braced himself for the unpredictable repercussions this could have on the entirety of the universe. He tightened his grip around the Communicator Lobe. “Naomi is a half-breed. Half-angel. Half-demon.”

There was silence for a moment.

“Something like that can exist...?” Violet uttered. “That explains so much...”

“Her true name is Catielleneth, and I need you to tell as many people as you can. I don’t know what Realm you’re in right now, but just share it with everyone around you, everyone you know, including the rest of the Tainted Generation as fast as you can.”

“Oh, I see what you’re trying to do... how devilish of you, Rulitos. You’re showing progress already, I like it.”

“Violet, just do it!”

“I can spread the message far and wide and very fast. I have a spell for that. I’ll get right on it.”

The glow of the Communicator Lobe dimmed. Zeke and Ugo exchanged looks.

“Now what?” Ugo asked.

“We wait?” Zeke said.

The wall of lava erupted into another violent burst. Zeke and Ugo dodged a ball of magma that flew their way. It made a small crater in the ground.

“Shit.” Ugo said, staring at the crater.

“Ugo!” Zeke shouted. “If things don’t go right and we… I just wanted to say that I am sorry. I’ve been living with you for years and I didn’t know how much pain you were going through. The things I’ve thought about you. The things I said—”

“Oh, shut up, Ezequias!” Ugo shouted. He flashed a smile. “I don’t care. You’re my best friend and my brother. It’s going to take a lot more than that for me to hold a grudge against you.” He extended a fist toward Zeke.

Zeke looked and made a fist of his own. He smiled and bumped it. “Thanks, Ugo.”

An ethereal scream ascended from somewhere in the garden. Zeke and Ugo lost balance and dropped as the scream continued. They covered their ears and endured the piercing sound.

The flames in the sky split and extinguished in an instant. A beam of gray flames shot into the sky. The screams multiplied into different voices.

Zeke and Ugo gave each other horrified looks.

“You don’t think…?” Ugo quavered.

A colossal monster grew from the burned foliage afar.