Heavy footsteps thundered to a stop right at the entrance. Jenny was too afraid to turn around. She swallowed hard, wondering if she should just stay in the dark. She fshed back to childhood memories of when the lights would go out, and terror would flood her system. She'd lie in bed, clutching the bnket, too afraid to pull it over her head, hoping if she remained as still as possible, whatever was in the dark wouldn't notice her.
But this was the Angel of Death.
Jenny just needed more time. Just a bit more time to open a passageway. A stench filled the air. Something salty, metallic. Like blood and sweat, coming in on a musty breeze. The smell of dead things, accompanied by heavy breathing.
"So, we finally meet," said a twisted, rolling voice. Another heavy footstep, and Jenny knew the angel had entered the room. "I thought I sensed something peculiar down there with the filth."
She still couldn't turn around. Susan was crying softly above her, whispering something over and over: please. please. please.
"Interloper..." said Azra'il. Then, with what sounded like a snap of thunder, light illuminated the entire chamber, and Jenny felt utterly exposed. In the crity of the bright light, the walls turned marble white, the velvet curtains took on a gmorous royal sheen, and she saw that the room was filled with weapons. Swords and axes, great big shields made from steel and emerald and gold hung from the walls, mounted like trophies.
"No wonder my siblings could not find you. A desecrated human... sneaking into the afterlife of all things. What brought you here, I wonder."
She looked up at Susan, who'd shut her eyes, screwing up her face and muttering something over and over, her body trembling as though she was freezing. Sweat glistened on her sickly pale skin. The thorns dug into her forehead.
Jenny turned around, trying to swallow the rising fear—it's just like with that desecrated angel she'd fought back in the school. It’s just fear, she told herself. Something that triggers fear. Something to make you afraid. Don’t be afraid.
But she was holding her breath. Clenching her insides. And when she turned all the way and faced Azra'il, her legs nearly buckled.
Angel (Stage IV) Level 332
He was massive. His head coming nearly to the top of the chamber, and he was so wide he blocked out the archway behind him. Contained in the chamber, Jenny felt like a mouse standing up to an elephant.
He was broad-chested, the dark-covered skin of his chest and limbs exposed. Instead of hair, vicious red snakes that might've been rger than Jenny snapped from his head. Around his waist was a loincloth made of leather. From his neck and hanging loosely on his chest was a neckce made of skulls. His eyebrows were snakes too, their tongues flickered over his smoldering eyes.
The fancily dressed souls stood around him, mostly behind him, their hands folded over their fronts, each one staring at Jenny with a mixture of pity and disapproval. The tallest of the bunch barely came up to Azra'il's waist. Jenny was sure she could fit a bunch of them into one of the angel's beefy thighs.
He stared at her without saying a word. Red eyes glowing brightly. Then he tilted his head and looked at Susan, and his dark lips twisted into an ugly smile as two of the snakes on his head hissed. "So, I was right to keep this one. My sister Rafa'el noted you two had a special bond. And when I learned of your ability to cross worlds... well..." He took a menacing step forward, arms outstretched and open, as though he were coming in for a hug.
Jenny stepped back and bumped into Susan's feet. Susan gasped in pain and Jenny winced. Her hand went to her hatchet.
Azra'il gnced down at it. "You think you can fight me with that? Humans. Why are all of you so hopeful?"
Her mouth had gone dry. Azra'il's booming voice echoed all around the chamber, rumbling from every direction. Her legs were shaking, but she shut her eyes, even as Azra'il took another menacing step closer, even as the chamber shook and the other souls whispered accusatory words.
She forced herself to take a breath.
He hurt Susan.
He hurt Susan's soul.
Anger unfurled like a roaring beast. She braced herself. She was vastly out-powered, completely and utterly useless in a fight against the towering angel, but what was the point in running now?
I can't panic. I can't run away. I can't hide from my emotions like I always do.
I'm afraid.
I'm afraid, but I'm going to protect Susan.
I'm going to get her out of this.
This is my fault.
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOURSELF, screamed a voice inside her, and when she opened her eyes again, she steeled herself, pushing her shoulders back, raising her head, trying to look as defiant as possible. Her legs still shook, she still wanted to pass out from the dizzying aura emanating from Azra'il, but she wasn’t going down without a fight. And if Jenny died and had to come back as a soul and fight him again, she would do it as many times as she had to.
She inhaled deeply through her nose, and Azra'il cocked one of his serpent eyebrows. A wide grin spread across his face to reveal tombstone-sized, white teeth.
"Have you gone mad with fear? What hope do you have against me, mortal?" His wings unfurled behind him. Four of them, each one curving and hooked like bat wings. The serpents on his head rose up, forked tongues aimed at Jenny as they hissed, as they all eyed her down.
Jenny's tentacles burst out of her back with several pops and cracks. Her exoskeleton gushed from her bellybutton, and she squeezed her hatchet firmly as the getinous red substance spread over her armor, covering her from head to toe in a second yer of protection. Around her skull, it formed a helmet with a visor she could see through.
Iblis, where are you? she screamed inside her head. Having the demon's powers added to her own would go a long way, but even then... it wouldn't be enough. The angel was just too strong.
What she needed was a distraction, something to catch Azra’il by surprise.. Maybe if she attacked the souls hanging by the entrance with their pretentious gowns and their judgmental faces. The angel was just waiting, as though daring her to attack, but if she could get away for just a few minutes, if she could use Severed Spirit and open another passageway—
Azra'il closed the distance between them in a fsh. Jenny didn't even have an opportunity to flinch. One second, he was near the entrance, the next, he was right in front of her and Susan, towering over them with his menacing aura. Jenny barely came up to his loincloth, and she had to crane her head to look upward and meet his burning eyes.
Her throat tightened. Sweat ran down her back. Susan cried out behind her.
"I will offer you one chance, mortal," said Azra'il in a low, rolling voice. "Join my collection, my princes and princesses. Be my living consort, and I will spare you and your beloved."
Jenny blinked. "What?”
Azra'il's lips curved up into an evil smile. A snake hissed and snapped its fangs. "I want a mortal bride—and you are easy on the eyes and clearly powerful, and I will even safeguard you from my siblings."
The souls at the entrance whispered loudly, and Jenny gnced at them in utter confusion when one cried out in protest. That was when Azra'il struck. He moved so quickly for someone so rge, she almost didn't realize what happened. It was her tentacles that picked up on the movement, the shift in the air. In a split second, she used Instant Acceleration, throwing herself out of the way as a fist the size of a semi-truck hit the floor.
Instantly, the floor colpsed into a rge crater as Jenny rolled away, as the entire chamber—maybe even the entire floating castle—shook. Chunks of the floor rose up from the impact, as the weapons on the walls and curtains cttered all around. The cross teetered backward, unstable, before nding with a crash as Susan screamed.
Azra'il turned around, eyes burning. "So, what will it be? That was merely a taste of my strength. What hope do you have against destiny, Interloper?" Saliva glistened on his chin. Was he drooling? Sneering? "You will be the perfect trophy for all my troubles in His name."
