FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Ray of Hope or superweapon. Loved, or hated. Savior or asset. No compromises.

Chapter 44: Heaven is not necessarily Paradise

"You are unfair." Killer observed mildly, staring to the GAME OVER message on the screen of the immense flatscreen television, sided by the shiny "PERFECT!" message that praised Alexis's character for triumphing without taking a single hit.

Alexis grinned widely, legs crossed and wireless controller laying in her lap, her wonderful body covered merely by a long, fine and almost transparent kimono of black silk. "Come on, quit crying! I did not cheat!"

"You are a living cheat." Killer replied amusedly, and he put down his own controller onto the carpeted floor, smiling slightly despite himself, before looking down lovingly to Mriya and nuzzle her gently as she looked up with a bright smile. Killer's daughter was lying on her belly onto the floor, and she had wanted her daddy to lay atop her, the giant male leaning on his elbows as he played, not to weight too much over his daughter.

"I'm not!" Alexis protested, and Mriya and Killer laughed at that, as Anubis, lying down on the floor between dad and mom, pressed between them tightly, looked over them with entertaining and finally laughed himself as Alexis crossed her arms with a snort, grinning and adding: "It is no cheating. I'm just super good at kicking asses, be it for real or in a videogame!"

She was practically invincible, actually, since she could put to good use a lot of her unique abilities, from her incredible rapidity, which allowed her to easily and continuously perform the most incredible Combo the game could allow by pressing the complex combinations of buttons with an ease that literally scared, to her energy-precognition.

It worked with games as well, and it made her unstoppable just like in real fights.

Killer, Alexis, Mriya and Anubis had spent over three hours beating the latest combat videogame they had gotten their hands upon: they had played across it in cooperation mode, and Anubis and Mriya had been formidable at it, to say the very least. They had made Killer feel slow and dumb, as he struggled more often than not to perform any serious combo. He was pretty basic in his combat style... And he admittedly hated the way the little controller of the console seemed to vanish in his huge hands.

However, the reason why they had finished beating the hordes of enemies so smoothly and rapidly was that Alexis had never been killed, so she had revived all of them when needed, while kicking an incredible amount of virtual ass.

In one go, they had completed the game... And that probably made of them the first in the world concluding that mega shoot-out videogame in so short time and without having to reload a single time.

After the cooperative campaign, they had been playing in Deathmatch mode, with duels, 2 vs. 2 and FFA battles... Alexis had been fair and used none of her powers when battling with Anubis or Mriya, which had allowed the two to score their own, but with Killer she had not been that indulgent.

"I bet that if the console could speak, it'd complain as well." Killer said amusedly, grinning amusedly up to Alexis, and she shoved him lightly, smirking.

"Oh, fuck off. It was fun."

"Was it fun, my Dream...?" Killer playfully asked to Mriya, looking into her eyes with a loving smile as he wrapped his strong arms around his daughter and hugged her close, squeezing her affectively under himself and leaning his head softly against hers. Dream was the name he used with her, a playful and affective little gaming with her name, Mriya, which meant exactly dream in Alexis's native tongue.

"It was, daddy." She answered gently, smiling widely and nodding a bit before she nuzzled her beloved dad with a purr, the huge male rocking her gently in his hold.

"Was it fun, Anubis...?" Killer asked again, smiling as he wrapped an arm around his son and squeezed him against his side.

"Sure!" Anubis replied with a wide smile, and Killer carefully straightened, getting up to his knees and allowing Mriya to stand up as well, to sit down in his lap and rest against his thick, masculine chest, head leaning over his shoulder as she smiled lovingly up at him.

Alexis stood up and put down the controllers onto the shelves under the massive television, which she turned off, before walking back to look with a smile over the way Mriya gently stroked a hand down her daddy's chest, Killer's head resting against hers, the huge male wrapping an arm around Anubis's shoulders.

It was an adorable image... Killer was a wonderful daddy, and a very affective one. It was pretty clear that he had a weak spot for Mriya in particular, but Anubis was never left out, never forgotten, and Killer loved him dearly as well.

Alexis walked up to them, and gently ruffled Anubis's hair with a hand before quietly observing: "It is late like hell for you two. Better if you go to bed, or tomorrow Serene will have to poke you with a sharp stick to keep you awake during lessons."

Anubis and Mriya had quite a massacring schedule to follow: the incredibly rapid maturation of tigers, which in five years would turn a cub in a mature adult, had a high price. The two cubs were already becoming teenagers, pretty much, if a comparison with other species with longer development times had to be made... And they were following lessons at school in town regularly, plus additional lessons from Serene, Killer and Alexis over their role and responsibilities as sovereigns.

And of course, Mriya and Anubis daily spent time training with dad and mom in fighting: they had started using the same Artificial Gravity room that Killer had had built for his and Alexis's training. Of course, the cubs so far had not gone too far past weightlifting in a roughly double Gravity Force condition, while Killer and Alexis normally trained at many tens of equivalent G force... But both Anubis and Mriya were growing fast, and were getting as strong as you could expect from the children of such parents.

That afternoon, Killer and Alexis had been having training duels with the kids as usual, and they had been delighted to see them improving at amazing rate.

Of course, with all those commitments, the days of Mriya and Anubis were pretty busy for real.

"Mom is right." Killer said wisely, looking at a clock up the wall. "Time for you two to rest... and let mom and dad play a bit of their own games." He added playfully, grinning up to Alexis with a teasing wink the femme fatale did not miss, grinning back herself.

"Awww..." Mriya sighed, but she smiled as she tilted her head up to kiss Killer's cheek gently. "I wanted to stay with you longer."

"Me too. But you need your sleep." Killer replied softly, nuzzling her gently before kissing her cheek lovingly, squeezing her in his arms, hugging her tight. "Have a good night, Dream."

"You too, daddy. I love you..." Mriya said gently, and he smiled widely before letting her go with another gentle nuzzle.

"I love you too, Dream, and you know it."

Alexis hugged Anubis tightly, and the young male traded a hug with his father as well, before Killer and the beautiful femme fatale accompanied the two kids to the door: now they had their own bedrooms close down the corridor of the palace.

The time of the little adorable cubs sleeping in the cradle in the room next door is already gone...

Anubis and Mriya walked together down the corridor and reached the doors of their rooms, and traded a little kiss of goodnight before separating... They were very united, for obvious reasons.

But Anubis paused for a moment on the threshold of his room, and then finally asked: "Sis, what do you think the games of mom and daddy are like...?"

Mriya smiled a bit to herself at that: there wasn't irony, but innocent curiosity in the question of her strong but almost ingenuous brother. She had a fairly clear idea of daddy's games with mommy, but she merely smirked a bit and replied quietly: "I don't know. But I'm sure they have fun."

Alexis grunted, before letting out yet another long, deep purring growl of pleasure and hunger as she pushed forwards into his potent chest, a wall of muscles that gleamed with sweat... and her back arched with shivers of bliss as one of his strong, big hands squeezed a godlike breast roughly, playing with her glorious boobs as the other squeezed at her waist, fingers digging in her hip with the firmness of his hold, his muzzle kissing and licking teasing at her neck as his fingers played with a hard, huge nipple. She grinned, tilting her head up with a long, endless hot breath of delight, her own mighty muscles bulging huge and powerful as she wrapped her arms around his neck and licked his cheek hungrily. Her back arched even more, a hiss of pure idyll escaping her ivory fangs as her legs spread even wider of their own volition, the huge male thrusting powerfully up into her... and the female feline let out a long moan of ecstasy, head raised to the sky as she felt her body literally bounced up and down the long shaft of hard obsidian flesh.

Killer roared hungrily, and Alexis roared back with equal vicious hunger as she squatted rapidly, pushing back down to meet his thrusts... and Killer shoved back up with even greater force, one hand still groping at her breast and the other staying locked over her hip, the sheer force of his thrusts almost enough to knock her upwards, her entire crotch resounding with every penetration as she let out another breathless cry, her gritted fangs grinning widely in the deepest of ecstasy as she impaled herself ferociously on his enormous shaft. He kissed slowly up her neck as her head tilted backwards, his muzzle nuzzling into her hair as she teasingly bit into her throat... and then she arched her back against him, her powerful abdominals rubbing against his own, her breasts pressing into his thick, hard masculine chest as her biceps bulged, huge and powerful as her body tensed while the burning, hellish inferno in her loins escalated, grew even more incandescent, turning into a massive fire storm she couldn't restrain nor hide, beginning to all-but-shove herself up and down the male's thrusting black shaft as her orgasm struck.

Her passage clenched his girthy penis with formidable force, and Killer grunted in surprised pleasure as her vagina squeezed his enormous shaft with passion and amazing ferociousness, the female roaring lustfully as she forcefully impaled herself up and down along his massive length, the male leaning back slightly as his arms slid around her waist as her body flexed against him, her sweet, hot juices feeling like magma as they poured in a torrent down his huge member as he thrust into her body even harder, straightening on his knees and squeezing Alexis's strong body in his arms as he forcefully started to pump her whole form up and down along his colossal member, grinning predatorily up to her, almost snarling at her, as her body bounced and her legs spasmed around the large shaft buried between them.

Alexis only grinned-snarled back, however, muzzle to muzzle with him as she let out another cry of ecstasy as her fluids deluged and spurted down his long shaft, lubricating it and making it even easier for Killer to thrust harder and faster into her. Her erratic bouncing, clenching passage, forceful movements and strong orgasm were all combining together to bring him quickly to his own orgasm, her tight passage a Hell made of flames, heat, pressure and torturous delight as she fucked him as hard as he fucked her, in a battle of lust and power, her hands locking violently in midair as they wrestled each other, held into each other, forced one against the other, and yet kissed at the same time, proving their love as much as their power, each to the other.

"How I love this!" Alexis howled out in ecstasy, grinning widely as she shoved down hard to meet his thrust upwards, grunting as she felt his immense cock spearing her somewhere impossibly deep into her. A little rivulet of blood matted his cock, her hot life fluids streaking down his huge, hard shaft and rolling down the curve of a gigantic testicle, even after so many times, as he seemed to stretch her even more with every go... But the pain was just another level of pleasure. It wasn't real pain. It was just a different color of ecstasy for them. "How I love it... how powerful you do feel, how I feel like I'm about to break in two."

Killer snorted at this, grinning slightly as he pistoned even harder in and out of her, causing her to cry out once more in deep pleasure, her eyes closing and fingers digging into his back, drawing blood: the ecstasy was amazing for him as well, with how amazingly-tight her passage was around his massive member, and with the way she forcefully rode him. Their violent, powerful sex looked like a rape.

But it was hard to decide exactly who was raping who.

He squeezed her breast firmly, teasing her huge nipple between two of his fingers, deceptively easily thrusting in and out of her, his slick black cock easily moving in and out of her tight, stretched and torn open sex. Sweat shined in pearls over his fur, down the thick profile of their mighty musculatures... and both panted hungrily, needingly.

They had gone at it multiple times along the day - hard to say how many times... - but it still was never enough.

"Oh, Hell... if you ever have to kill me one day, do it by fucking me into pieces." Alexis teased, grinning down at Killer with a predatory gaze, and he grinned back just as lustfully.

He slammed his shaft home into her vagina again and again as she continued to release her flood, and it seemed a blissful eternity before she began to slow... but she continued to move with just as much power and speed, riding him powerfully and ultimately shoving him down so that he lay on his back, lifting her up and down along his shaft by the hips as she squatted hungrily atop him, feeling the male beginning to stiffen up inside her and wanting to milk him for all he was worth, Killer grunting hungrily as she grinned to the sky, eyes closed and hard pants, mixed with the occasional loud cry of bliss escaping her muzzle. The huge male pistoned himself firmly in and out of her as his testicles bounced strong enough to slap loudly up into her, her legs staying spread wide, letting him spear her as deeply as he could every time with his great length... helped by the way she shoved her own form down, impaling herself in what could have easily looked like a suicide attempt to someone looking her fucking the gigantic tower of black flesh that the male liger proudly sported.

Finally, for perhaps the tenth time that day, he flexed mightily, both arms sliding around her waist as his back arched and he straightened to push chest-to-chest with her, muscular body flexing and head rolling back as he released a growl of pleasure that turned into a hungry roar of ecstasy and conquest, eyes clenched shut as he slammed into her even harder and faster, losing his steady rhythm and instead moving with a speed so fast she could barely keep up, the female grinning and struggling to move back against him with matching strength as she groaned hungrily before letting out her own delighted moan as the first load of his gargantuan orgasm blasted up into her with absurd force.

Call him fire-hose wouldn't have made him justice, as his enormous blasts filled her up rapidly, his seed quickly bursting free from between his shaft and the lips of her sex with a loud squelch, splattering in every direction as she felt the incandescent semen almost bloating her belly as gallons upon gallons of his thick, potent cum was fired into her and flooded back out, every thrust full of noises that all combined into a harmony of delight for the two as the giant male slammed up into her again and again, squeezing her powerfully against his chest as her own hands grasped his muscular shoulders, arching her back to push against him as she let out another long, low moan of ecstasy at the feeling of the potent liger semen blasting deep inside of her...

Before Killer let out a low groan of surprise and pleasure as Alexis grinned widely and suddenly she stood up fully, the immense cock sliding out of her with a loud pop and a gush of thick semen exploding out of her as she quickly and gracefully slipped to the side and she grasped the male's shaft with both hands as it sprung backwards to slap against his chest, stroking it rapidly and aiming it away from his body as the male's hips bucked and he thrust lightly in her hands, releasing thick blasts of his seed into the air as his muscles bulged and his body flexed, cum arching in midair over the lake in front of them and then finally coming down to splatter on the surface of the lake, leaving long trails of semen on the surface for what the female had to guess were better than forty feet. Again and again he released thick bursts of load, some of it splattering onto the female and over his own huge shaft... then drenching her entirely as she eagerly knelled before him and allowed his enormous blasts to shower her in thick semen, and then the male finally slowed, panting lightly and grinning as he glanced over at a dripping Alexis and licking his muzzle as she gazed at him hungrily between thick ropes of cum that plastered her hair, covered her face and her whole enormous bosom, with more of his essence splattered all over her beautiful body.

She licked her lips hungrily, and her tongue eagerly searched for even more of his potent semen all over her muzzle, as she reached her hands up to lick her palms and play with his cum, suckling her fingers hungrily as he watched intently, grinning and leisurely stroking his still fully hard cock with a hand, resting on the large rock splattered with his seed and her juices.

They were in the "Lake Room", the incredible hot tub of Killer's palace: actually, it was a baths lake, pretty deep in the middle and almost perfectly circular. Water came in from a 25-feet cascade coming from the north that made a fantastic shower, and huge molders had been piled all around the water, almost creating a small rocky beach all around the lake. The palace had probably been pretty much built around the lake, originally... Three steps of marble climbed up from the "beach" to the floor level of the palace, that was cut perfectly circular around the lake, with enormous columns of marble sustaining a roof that actually was a formidable dome of crystal and wrought ironic from which the light of the Moon and of the stars filtered inside to shine on the water.

Killer and Alexis had left all the artificial lights shut, and dropped their boxers and kimono in a hurry when they had walked in a couple of hours before, coming from a small secret passage linked directly to their room...

"You know I could never kill you." Killer observed lovingly, looking at her with affection and remembering her lustful request with something like... discomfort. At the moment, it had sounded hot like hell to his ears - actually, it still does in a way... - but now, even thinking playfully about such a scenario horrified him. He couldn't even start to imagine living without Alexis at his side.

"We have a dangerous life, lover." Alexis replied lovingly, rubbing a hand slowly up his thigh and all the way to lovingly fondle a massive testicle. "One day, we may be forced to kill each other off, or be captured and tortured and killed by someone else. In that case, the first would be undoubtedly our choice... And I'd want it to happen by sex."

"Such weird reasoning we end up doing at times..." Killer observed amusedly, and Alexis had to laugh a bit herself, nodding at his observation.

"You know full well that we are the ones who kick ass, not the opposite, anyway." The male added after a moment, grinning a bit as Alexis's hand wrapped around his immense shaft and lovingly stroked up and down along it.

"Sure I know." She replied with a wide grin and a teasing squeeze. "I'm the one who kicks the most of it, after all."

Killer snorted amusedly at that, then straightened and slowly stood up, his immense cock still fully domineering and harder than steel as it slapped against his chest, the head almost smacking into the male's own muzzle for how gigantic he was... And Alexis playfully seized him by his giant shaft, lightly pulling him forwards towards the water.

"Come with me...?" She asked teasingly, grinning, and both walked into the hot, clear water with a sigh of pleasure, until they were in deep area, and Alexis elegantly dropped below the surface, washing from the drying sperm that covered her all over, her golden hair lazily resting towards the surface.

It took her a long time to clean her body from all his semen, but she had quite an amazing apnea capability to say the very least... and when she pushed her head back out, she was definitely cleaner.

"You know... Mriya adores you." Alexis said gently, and Killer smiled as they slowly, quietly swum on the spot, staying face to face.

"I adore her too..." The male replied softly, and the female grinned and rolled her eyes a bit.

"I definitely know, but this was more than evident. She always adored her daddy, and that is no news. She lives for you as much as you live for her." Alexis explained gently, before smiling as she added: "But her adoration is growing even more as she grows up. She always loved you through the eyes of a daughter... but she sees you with the eyes of the female she is, too, more and more with every day that passes."

"You mean...?" Killer asked dumbly, and Alexis nodded with a smile.

"Oh, yes. She always saw you as her only real god, her daddy who could and would defend and protect her against the whole world and all the gods if needed... But now she's learning to see past the daddy, and into the male as well. And what she sees, she likes a lot." Alexis explained cheerfully, and Killer listened silently. How could he miss the signals that Alexis had so easily caught...? Perhaps it was because Alexis was a girl herself, and could better understand Mriya...

But no, it was pretty much a lie. He hadn't really missed the signals. He had... ignored them, because he liked to think of Mriya always like she still was his little girl.

But she's growing fast...

"You think she likes me that much...?" Killer asked quietly, and Alexis rolled her eyes upwards before grinning and poking his chest teasingly.

"Come on, man, wake up! I've yet to meet a female who doesn't like staring at you for hours at a time!" Alexis exclaimed, and she took his face in her hands to push nose to nose with him and grin in his eyes. "You're handsome, you've got awesome muscles, cool eyes, cool hair and a cock so huge it takes a couple of years to accept it is real."

Killer coughed quietly in a fist as she let him go, and he said mildly: "You make me sound like I'm far cooler than I really am, but... thank you."

"What, scared of your daughter's interest in you...?" Alexis asked teasingly, grinning before dropping under the surface of the water. Killer grunted in delight when a mouth wrapped lovingly around his gigantic cock and a skilled tongue he would have recognized in every situation lapped delightfully at his huge shaft.

She emerged after a long moment of teasing delight, and she grinned widely up at him as she licked her lips greedily. "For now, I'll keep your beautiful cock all happy and polished myself... But soon enough, we'll be two. Me, and our little girl Mriya."

Killer smiled, even if he blushed a bit. He still had difficulty thinking about his little baby girl in such fashion... but she really is growing fast....

"What...?" Alexis playfully asked. "Don't you go saying me you never had fantasies yourself on Mriya, because I'd never believe that."

"Not when she was a baby girl!" Killer replied, blushing redder, but Alexis only nuzzled him lovingly, leaning on his shoulder with her hands and dropping her chin atop them as she licked at his neck gently.

"But now you do..." She teased, and Killer had to nod.

"She's so beautiful... she took so much from you. She's as wonderful as you are." Killer replied quietly, smiling lovingly as he nuzzled her, and she stroked her cheek against his with affection.

"She's taken a lot from you, too, believe me... And she's beautiful in the way she resembles you." Alexis said gently, before grinning and adding teasingly: "Soon. Soon she'll be big enough she can take it without you ripping her apart... And so we'll all have even more fun."

"You are terrible." Killer replied amusedly, grinning despite himself. "I don't think a mom should be this enthusiastic about these kinda thoughts."

"Don't be silly." Alexis replied gently. "She loves you, and she wishes nothing else. And as a mom, and moreover as your wife, I know all too well that she's choosing the one male that can and will protect her, no matter the cost, no matter the risks and the difficulty. She's choosing the one in the world that loves her the most, and that will always love her and do anything for her... She couldn't ask for more."

Killer smiled, and she grinned back lovingly before kissing his lips lightly. "Anyway... before we take a shower and go to bed..." She teasingly whispered, and Killer could feel her hand underwater once more wrapping around his huge member, guiding it towards her sex, until he could feel the softness of her abused lips kissing the thick head of his shaft. "I think I can use some more big ol' Killer cock."

A burning, heavenly slide forwards down his shaft, and both lovers were once more in paradise.

It had actually been another long ride before they had finally headed to bed and fell asleep, curled together in a protective hug of Killer over Alexis... That quiet night of full Moon had long resounded of their grunts and roars before they had finally closed their eyes.

But now Killer felt strange, all of a sudden. A cool breeze brushed over his naked body, and he half grunted, half sighed at it in his sleep. But instead of the soft rustling of the silky veils at the arched windows leading to his bedroom's balcony, he felt a far louder strap of thick fabric being stretched... And he could absurdly smell the sea and the salt of its water in the air touching him lightly.

Sea...?

There were other noises coming at him, now... voices chatting excitedly, albeit at a low tone, like they were trying not to wake him up... And the cracking and groaning of a wooden hull at sea.

"What the hell...!" Killer exclaimed, blinking as he fully awakened, and stared stupidly to a large sail bulging with the breeze that touched it, looking up the tall mainmast to see stars shining absurdly close, looking far nearer than usual. Where the Hell is the fucking roof...?

He slammed a hand down to his side, and the wood of the deck cracked noisily, making him wince as he almost smashed a hole into the ship... but, especially, as he realized that he definitely wasn't dreaming.

It was in that moment that he met the curious, amazed gaze of strange, ethereal people surrounding him: most of them, at around 5 or 6 feet tall, looked like midgets around him, even if he still was laying down.

He looked calmly from side to side, meeting their gaze with weird calm, even as they all jumped back a step with a shiver as they saw his icy blue eyes looking at them... And then he realized why they were staring at him, remembering that he was entirely naked. He snorted a bit, and ignored the terrified squeaks that this caused, and he stood up calmly as the little crowd stepped backwards further, escaping his movements and staring at him with trembles.

He yawned quietly and arched his powerful body to crack his back a bit, snorting at the uncomfortable deck of rough wooden tables, before looking down at the people around him, trying to ignore the way their gazes crawled back and forth from his piercing eyes down to his crotch, changing from terror to stunned amazement.

"So... huh... Someone can tell me where the hell I am?" Killer calmly asked, and most of the people around him winced, turned rapidly and fled down the deck, towards the bow of the ship, shrieking in terror.

"Wow." Killer tiredly muttered, and he sighed a bit before hearing Alexis answering calmly: "I think we're heading for Heaven. Diana must have made it."

Killer turned quickly towards her, and he felt something colliding with his dangling, enormous shaft lightly: he looked down in time to see one of the people that had been surrounding him falling backwards into the floor, looking dazed.

Alexis looked at this for a moment, trying to restrain a laugh that inexorably exploded as she leaned against the parapet with her back, snickering cheerfully as she gazed over Killer as the huge male rubbed a hand embarrassedly in his mane, glancing a bit back and forth before stepping around the body sprawled on the floor and walking up to her.

"His fault." He grumbled. "He should have watched my step."

"Or kept some safety distance from your big, huge cock." Alexis said agreeably, nodding with a grin as she eyed his enormous, flaccid shaft as it hung heavily down past his knees, in front of massive testicles loaded with gallons of potent seed. "But he wanted to poke at it, apparently. Perhaps he thought it was fake or he just wanted to feel how all that meat feels like."

"Fake is his brain." Killer grumbled, then looked down at the half-fainted 6-foot male otter he had knocked out like he saw him for the first time. "Wait. Poke at it...? A pervert, but a brave one at that, then."

"Or a wanna-be suicide." Alexis nodded with a grin, looking with entertainment as a couple of the other slightly-ethereal persons prudently crawled up to their comrade and quickly drew him away, dragging him on the deck by the legs, giving a fearful, amazed look to Killer once more.

"Everyone on this ship truly must stare to my cock that way...?" Killer grudgingly asked, and Alexis smiled cheerfully.

"Not everyone. Someone is looking at your muscles too. No, wait, now they are looking at your cock again." The femme fatale cheerfully said, and then she teasingly wrapped a hand around the thick base of his massive shaft. "Perfectly understandable, anyway, lover. You have to understand them... they aren't used to a handsome 19-foot tall colossus of male with a cock bigger than they are tall. Everyone would stare."

Killer nodded with a little snort, but he couldn't help grinning a bit himself... before noticing that Alexis was clad in her usual high-heeled combat boots, mini-shorts of black leather and a black, unzipped jacket left open to show her sumptuous bosom, clad in a thick, steel-reinforced black bikini bra of her own. Her abdomen was uncovered entirely, letting her powerful abdominals shown in all their glory, the diamond in her navel gleaming slightly.

"How is it that you are clothed...?" Killer asked, and Alexis smiled amusedly, crossing her arms under her enormous breasts that had people staring and drooling at her as much as Killer's cock gained him attention.

"I said Heaven, lover. If you wish for clothes, they appear, simply like that."

"Awesome." Killer said simply, and he closed his eyes for an instant, thinking of his usual pants, even as Alexis teased him with a sensual "you don't need to get dressed up that soon, you know".

The huge male opened his eyes and looked down, but he already felt the cloth touching his body, and he smiled slightly as he saw his black jeans in place. The bulge in them was obscene and still drew all sorts of astonished leers, as usual, but it was better than being entirely naked.

He rolled his shoulders a bit, Alexis eyeing the bulging musculature of his body with a little grin, and his eyes looked out to see more details, like the long oars that moved on their own, rowing with perfect rhythm and great strength to push the ship on its route at a good speed.

The stars above were indeed far closer, shining bigger and more luminous in the darkness of that serene night, and small clouds floated just above the surface of the... Sea...? Not really...

Looking down to the ocean below, Killer and Alexis saw that it wasn't the sea they were used to: dark like the night sky, it was not liquid nor gas, and much as it looked like the moving surface of the ocean, it wasn't. It was clear, and Killer could see himself and Alexis both mirrored on the calm waves... and he could even see the lower hull of the ship, and the oars sinking rhythmically into that strange sea, but past that, darkness thicker than that of a moon-less night curtailed any deeper view.

"So you think the time has come...?" Killer asked quietly, leaning over his huge arms on the parapet of the vessel, and Alexis nodded calmly.

"We're heading for Heaven... but I have to admit that this is the last way of entrance that I would have imagined." The femme fatale calmly said, looking around on the deck to see the ethereal people massed on the bow, still staring fearfully at the two huge ligers. They weren't really ethereal... they were physical entities, and the knock-out effect of slamming into Killer's massive shaft had proved it beyond any possible doubt. They looked like they were made of glass, almost transparent as they were, but Alexis and Killer could both notice that they all were gaining color and consistence steadily as the ship sailed swiftly onwards. _Probably, once we reach Heaven for real, they'll look entirely solid and complete... _

"They must be souls that Heaven has managed to gather up..." Killer observed after a little more observation, and Alexis nodded, giving them an idle gaze again.

"Yeah, but look at them. All civilians, all little wimps... I bet it wasn't much of a fight to get those souls. Hell probably was completely uninterested in them. Weak as they are, they won't become much in terms of warriors." Alexis answered with merciless sincerity, turning to look again at the borderless sea that all around them seemed one single entity with the sky, and Killer made a bit of a grimace, nodding slightly.

She was right as always, definitely. The tallest one of the twenty-two or so persons was a horse male who did not brush the 7 feet of height, and who was the kind of fit that looks good at the swimming-pool's side, but that is not much in terms of strength. There were a couple of fat, short males as well, one of which was a tiny 4-foot something rat that Killer could have almost walked over without noticing... and then there were several young females, looking at him with fawning, even if fearful eyes, and a bunch of kids. They could have easily been a little part of the thousands of dead corpses that littered Dacca, Ire, or any other nation of the Mortal Plane. Perhaps, they came from somewhere in the Northlands, even... after all, tigers weren't the only inhabitants of the north.

Some of them had probably had a gun in their hands in life... Who doesn't, lately...? In Dacca, everyone has one, and Ire nearly everyone possesses a whole arsenal... But Killer was in no illusion that, if someone had fired a few rounds, had been doing it anywhere else than in a firing range. None of them had any combat experience, nor talent, less than ever noticeable strength or special powers.

As combatants, they would have been a disaster, inadequate even for a desperate militia unit. A Gigataur would have simply stomped a hoof on them and squished them all into a red pulp.

"I see that Diana did not exaggerate in the slightest when she said that Heaven's situation was desperate." Killer grumbled, and Alexis grunted agreeably, before looking up to the aft castle of the ship, where a few soldier angels dominated the deck from the raised position.

"Five archers, four angels with spears." The femme fatale whispered calmly, and Killer nodded imperceptibly, before sneaking a gaze in their direction himself.

The archers were lined up, side to side, along the parapet of the castle that dominated the deck, and it was a bit unnerving and very little paradise-like to be under the watch of cold, emotionless-looking angels clad in golden armor and equipped with massive longbows as big as they were tall.

They looked straight ahead with eyes cold and focused, standing rigidly on attention, with cases crammed of arrows strapped across their strong backs and hanging from their belts Killer could see massive handguns glowing with magic lights, weapons that had no par in their mortal counterparts that the liger knew so well.

The longbows themselves, which at a first gaze looked outdated, underpowered weapons in a world of rifles and guns, were instead far more than just menacing: their size suggested all the power they could impress to a dart... And moreover, Killer could see that they had no string: in place of the rope, a shine of blue, electric light traveled across the air from one end to the other of the bow in a continuous, frenzied bouncing.

"Magic bows and magic handguns. And we don't know magic at all." Alexis said calmly, looking over the sea idly, yet keeping the whole situation under control, like warrior she always was. "It may be a problem."

Killer had no need to nod to let her know that he shared her vision... besides, the archers were far different from the weak, ethereal souls massed on the bow of the ship: they were muscular and strong, and the shortest of them was well over 11 feet tall. Their white wings, folded behind their backs, were large and strong, and could have launched them all in the sky with a single, lazy flap. Undoubtedly, the golden armor covering their chest, the plates on their groins and shoulders and the bootlegs as well were not just resistant, but blessed with protective spells as well.

The angels armed with spears were even more physically mighty than the archers, and had all seen a lot of combat, judging from the scars on their bodies. Killer could see several old gashes on the muscular forms of the warriors, were the armor did not cover it all. And their long javelins, with golden, thick poles of metal and the long tips shaped like broadswords, good to pierce and to slash at the same time, also gleamed with blue or red light, imbued with magic as they were.

"Better to keep our eyes open... They do not seem to be a threat, but it is not the case to trust them unconditionally." Alexis wisely pointed out, and Killer nodded, giving a look down the long, narrow ship: the deck offered no shelter at all from the darts of the archers, save for the mainmast's thick base.

Not much in terms of tactic. If we have to fight, we can just charge into their ranks rapidly and try to get rid of the archers immediately.

Killer looked back out of the ship, and down to the "water" washing against the hull, with renewed curiosity at that strange essence never before seen, feeling the curiosity to sink a hand into it and learn what it felt like, if it was more like water or more like cool air.

He leaned over the parapet and stretched an arm towards the sea as a wave larger than the others reached half-way up the hull as Alexis looked at him curiously.

"I wouldn't do that, Wyvern." A voice observed, and Killer frowned, hesitatingly drawing back his hand, fingers almost brushing the top of the wave as he snorted a bit. He hated taking orders... he usually gave them, and he had always been better at giving sound advices than at accepting them. But something, in that voice, told him that he could trust the advice. It was friendly and calm, and moreover, it carried a distant note of something he thought he must have known in the past.

"Beyond the surface of the Middle Sea, there's the passage for the Unworld. This ocean is full of monsters of all kinds... and, lately, it got infested by demons as well."

The Unworld, the dark place where all things went at the very end of the road, where even the most willful of souls were broken down into energy, completing the cycle of life and death. An empty, desolated dimension without age, filled with destruction and despair, a whole different world that was no Heaven, no Hell, and no Mortal Plane. A wrinkle in the folds of the fabric of Reality, a world capable to destroy even the Gods by sucking away all their energy.

"Not what I expected to find touching Heaven's waters." Killer mumbled, straightening back up and looking to the side as one of the angels armed with spears pulled up by him with a sincere, friendly smile that carried the happiness of someone who meets an old friend after a long separation.

"Lieutenant Swan, 1 Coy, Kesteven's First Predator Division, general Wyvern." The angelic white tiger said, straightening up with the never-forgotten discipline of his old self, when he had been a mortal. "Wycherley." He added, smiling before holding out his hand, and Killer smiled widely himself before squeezing the hand that was offered him, shaking it with warmth.

"Swan... You and your 3 soldiers defended a home in the outskirts of Wycherley so valiantly that at the end the enemy had no other option than to level the building with a heavy artillery strike." Killer remembered, looking over the white tiger with affection. He had never thought he would have seen again his lost boys, the heroes of Wycherley... But after that epic, bloody battle had finished, Killer had wanted to impress with fire in his memory the names and the stories of every single soldier that had lost his life in that infernal clash.

"I'd salute properly, Wyvern, but it is better not to show too much my loyalty to you, unfortunately." Swan said with a wide smile, nodding in honored surprise at hearing his last moments of mortal life depicted so clearly by his commander after all those years. The dedication that Killer had for his brave soldiers was incredible, and matched only by their loyalty to him: a link of friendship forged by respect, honor, and the fire of the battles shared in first line. He half-pointed to the other angels on the castle of the ship, and he made a grimace. "You'll find that many here in Heaven see in you our savior, but you'll also discover all too soon that lots of people would just want you to be destroyed and sent to the Unworld as soon as possible to erase every sing of your power."

The soldier bowed his head respectfully before Alexis, as the femme fatale introduced herself and shook hands with him, with the same respect that Killer had shown. She did not know the ex-Predator, but she knew she was meeting a true brave.

"Are those enemies...?" Alexis asked calmly, tilting her head imperceptibly to indicate the angels crowding the castle behind her, and Swan half-nodded.

"If not enemies, they are surely not too much in terms of friends. You'll better be careful and watch out, here in Heaven. Lots of people will watch at you with suspect, and you never know who may be serving one which God." The angel answered, giving a nod as he half-played with his long magic spear, trying to look bored and idle, as he did his best not to awaken unwanted interest in his "comrades". "These ones, at my guess, are Taranis's servants. And we don't want to piss off the God of War... Also because, I'm sure Diana told you, he already has no sympathy for you."

"She told me he's a bit obsessed with me, yes." Killer huffed, and he glared a bit to the angels on the castle with the corner of his eye. "And I don't even know him yet. Considering how much people dislikes me when they get to know me, he'll probably utterly hate me as soon as he meets me, at this point."

"Quite possible." Swan observed amusedly, grinning slightly, before getting back to seriousness. "However, be careful. Perhaps one day you'll truly be stronger than even the Gods, but at the moment, since you know nothing of magic and still know little of your own powers, even I would be able to stand up to you." The angel eyed Killer from head to toe, and smiled with a nod. "For a couple of minutes."

Alexis grinned, crossing her arms as she half-sat on the parapet, her legs crossed one over the other. "You are a bit of an optimist, but we certainly get the point. No squabbles with the Gods, possibly, for now at least."

"Are you in contact with Diana, then...?" Killer asked quietly, and Swan nodded.

"Diana is the link that connected all us in Heaven with you on the Mortal Plane... She's our guide in here, and we all try to keep in touch with her as much as possible." The angel explained, and Killer nodded, before arching an eyebrow.

"Us...?" He inquired simply, curiosity and hope in his voice, hidden as best he could manage, but present.

Swan blinked, and then nodded quickly. "Oh, yes. Sure, you don't know it yet... but as I said, lots of people are on your side in Heaven. We keep up a sort of clandestine organization, which could easily work as a small but powerful army if there ever was a need for it." The angel paused, and stomped idly the pole of the spear a couple of times on the wooden deck, glaring at them and snarling to stay in line and cause no havoc again with the souls, half pointing at them with his long polearm.

Killer blinked in surprise at the sudden, unexpected change, and he and Alexis traded a gaze from the corner of her eyes as she half-shrugged calmly.

"Excuse me. They were watching." Swan whispered after a moment, his eyes nervously looking up to the other angels to catch any hint of troubles coming, and he pointed the spear at Killer's chest like he wanted to keep the giant liger at safe distance. Killer gave a quiet sound-realization at this, and idly touched the cruel tip of the spear with a finger, wincing a bit at how horribly sharp and solid it felt.

"Many of the boys of the old days ended up here, Wyvern. William reached us, too... He was one of the last lucky souls who made it to Heaven, because soon afterwards the Grim Reapers began harvesting only on Hell's account." Swan quickly explained, whispering just loud enough that Killer and Alexis could hear him at spear distance as he continued to dart gazes up to the other angels, switching back to "angry-sergeant" mood whenever the attention of the heavenly warriors became insistent. Regardless of the angel's worries, at the name of William, Killer's lips crested in a huge smile, and he felt happy as he had rarely been in the last months. He felt a thousand questions arise all at once as he felt Alexis's arm sneaking around his thick waist and pulling him against her in a lovely squeeze, but as he wrapped his own muscular arm around the shoulders to pull her closer, he fought to postpone that all. How has he been...? Is he fine...? Is he angry at me for how things went...?

The expression of the angel seemed to pray him to have patience, and Killer followed that silent advice, knowing well that the more they talked, the more they would awaken suspects.

"He's fine, Wyvern. He promised you two will meet as soon as possible." Swan whispered, and then he added in a rush: "He'll tell you more about the current situation. But now I really have to go... We're heading for Orion, the true gates of Heaven. Diana excuses herself, but she couldn't leave the front to come and meet you immediately: she'll reach you two as soon as possible as the Inn in the port. You'll find the place easily, there's only one Inn in the area. Please, wait for her in there, and be very careful."

Swan traded a look with the far larger male liger, and Killer tried to reassure him with a glance that he had understood the risks waiting for him in Heaven, and he also smiled slightly to let him know how much he was grateful for what the angel had done for them.

Swan, in answer, snarled and poked him with the spear, making him step backwards a bit with a grunt, the angel roaring out a last: "Make no mess around, you big mortal. Behave!"

After that, the angel walked away, glaring a bit at the two ligers, and Killer and Alexis glared back at him in a very credible fake rage, noticing the plead for forgiveness in the angel's gaze as he walked past them and climbed back up the few steps to the castle, muttering about the newcomers and their many to cause trouble.

Killer and Alexis did not miss the suspicious gazes the other angels gave to Swan, nor did they fail to see the coldness with which he was treated... But Swan was not one to be easily worried, and soon after that, when he was annoyed by another of the spear-carrying angels, the two ligers could hear the tiger shout angrily: "Ya big pussy, you ain't gone down there to put him in line, did you...? I had to do it myself, as always! Did you want him to start causing trouble on the ship, already...? He's plenty of trouble as it is, without him raping those frigging souls all over the deck!"

Swan was a good actor, and he was evidently used to hide its own actions and thoughts, because he was natural and almost relaxed, so much to still be credible enough that the other angel soldiers eventually got back to their business, their suspects soothed, at least for the moment, at least enough not to cause too much ruckus.

"If you don't fuckin' like how I did it, you go down there and tell him yourself, if you do not fear to piss your pants for the scare of facing him!" Swan growled in conclusive tone, and that was it.

"Perfect. Not even entered Heaven entirely, and I already have my fame of rapist accompanying me." Killer mumbled amusedly as he grinned slightly despite himself, resisting the urge to turn and look up to the castle as Swan so validly fought back the suspects of the other soldiers.

"Actually, your fame most likely spread across Heaven far earlier." Alexis pointed out amusedly, grinning slightly herself. "Because that one guy Swan his kicking the ass off as been thinking in terror of what he heard about you fucking Regina's brain out of her skull, and wondering how nasty it would be to clean up after you get one of those tiny-pussies back there."

"Brilliant." Killer huffed, but he couldn't repress the little, sly grin that surged to his lips despite himself. "Last time I raped a pussy that small, they had to dig into my cum afterwards to find a few shreds of flesh to gather up."

"I don't doubt it." Alexis agreed with a predatory grin, nodding a bit as she licked her lips slowly.

"And I wasn't even as big as I am now." Killer added playfully, grinning slightly. It was true, indeed. He had grown a lot from his already massive sizes, in the years, which made him wonder for a moment what it would have been like to take on a female that small with all of his new, overwhelming power.

"By the way, I never thought Angel's would talk that dirty." Alexis amusedly observed, and Killer paused with a snort-laughter, giving her a bemused gaze and a little nod.

They silently looked over the ocean that apparently had name Central Sea for a few minutes, trying to get a grip over the last events. They had been sleeping in their bed until shortly before... And now they were sailing on a dangerous, smoke-like sea, somewhere in another dimension, heading for Heaven.

Did we die...? Our bodies are physically here, or still in our bed...? How the hell can this even work...? What would happen the morning after, when Nike would have entered the bedroom to wake him up and either found two corpses or an empty bed...? It would have been a mess back at home.

And Mriya, Anubis... oh, hell... Diana, I hope you worked this out well.

Killer sneaked a gaze to the side, and he could see that even Alexis was a bit worried, sign that she had difficulties finding answers, even with her formidable powers: they were in a new world they did not know, a world where they were far less extraordinary than they were used to be: a place where magic was the rule, where their tremendous physical might wasn't half as effective as it was back at home, and where magic allowed their enemies to overcome even Alexis's abilities with spells of tremendous power.

The awareness of the risks of this whole new world only made sharper the worry for their state... it was incredibly bugging not to know for sure if they were alive or not, and how the hell they could be there... or in two places at once, alternatively... Oh, gods... what a mess.

Alexis smiled a bit up to him, and he smiled quietly back despite himself as they looked out to the lights floating over the waters in the distance, which undoubtedly made up Orion, the port of Heaven, as Swan had said.

It was a few more minutes of sailing on the slim, fast vessel before they slid on the waters at the base of one of the most luminous of all those lights, and as Killer and Alexis stared, it turned out to be a massive circular tower emerging from the sea and climbing perhaps five hundred feet into the sky. A gigantic bastion against which the waves clashed from millennia, but that still towered, invincible and proud, topped by a gigantic sphere of white-hot flames that floated above the flat top of the bulwark, like a Sun in miniature.

Below that source of white, pure light, were lined up several massive ballista and catapults, armed with gigantic spear with barbed tips and poles thick like redwoods. The immense darts shined with magic light, and Killer, even judging from that distance, could tell that any one of those super-sized arrows could have sunk their ship in one single, massive blow.

"Impressive..." Alexis let out, looking up with interest as she picked up tens of small moving figures, undoubtedly archer angels and other Heaven soldiers, which also contributed to give them a scale of the immense war machines they guarded closely.

"True." Killer agreed, and then the two ligers looked up to see a golden plate with the name "Rigel" carved upon in massive letters.

"Rigel... Then this is truly Orion." Alexis observed quietly, thinking of the luminous star at the extremity of the Orion constellation. "Think this is the star we saw from... well, down on the Mortal Plane?"

Killer shock his head slowly, sighing slightly even as he kept his eyes on the gigantic bulwark. "I truly don't know. It may be, but it sounds so incredibly weird..."

However, the Heavenly Orion faithfully followed the configuration of the constellation: Killer and Alexis could see another floating light in the sky, in the distance to the East of Rigel... and straight ahead of the ship, three more great lights, lined up in the "belt" of the constellation, towered over many smaller lights, which had to be the port and the town linked to it.

Far past that, in the middle of the sea, other two lights shined on solitary bastions: one of which, the North-East one, had to be Betelgeuse, at that point.

It was astonishing, a formation made of light and suspended in the middle of a darkness without Time and without Space, a world in itself, mysterious and fascinating, but also menacing in its very military nature, which clashed considerably with the idea that people has normally of Heaven.

Another wonder was to assist to the dawn from the whole new perspective of Heaven: the golden light coming from the east was almost blazing, and the sun rising on the surface of the non-liquid ocean quickly erased any sign of the light, cool fog over the sea as the star quickly rose, looking ten times as big as it would seen from the Mortal plane. Just like the other stars, it felt... so much closer. Killer sat down on the parapet of the ship, looking to the red sun of that formidable dawn as Alexis rested in his lap, his arms wrapped gently around her waist, her hands resting on his own. The angels on the castle glared at this a good bit, but Killer did not care at all. He was more than happy to spend a few minutes with Alexis like that, quiet contact between them under the warm light of the dawning sun. He feared that, in the next future, they would have had little time to spend together, and they wanted to exploit the moment as much as they could.

"Seen how much they stare...?" Alexis asked, grinning as she rested her head on his broad shoulder. "I think they are envious like hell, angels or not. And you aren't even groping at me." Her grin widened, and she looked invertedly up in his eyes, licking at her lips slowly and suggestively. "I think we should have a second match of ferocious fucking, here and now. That will make them all go nuts."

He looked down at her and grinned back, before nuzzling her teasingly until his lips moved over hers and they kissed, hungrily, tongues wrestling furiously in her mouth for a long moment as he squeezed her tightly in his arms, one hand pressing hungrily over her powerful abs to feel her muscles flex and bulge under his palm, his other hand reaching up the front of her open jacket to roughly squeeze the slope of a massive, firm and godlike breast.

They both let out hungry grunts when he pulled back from the kiss, a string of saliva connecting them as Alexis wrapped her arms around his neck and grinned up at him, rubbing her crotch against his in a slow, torturous slide of delight along the enormous bulge in his pants.

"You have to understand'em... They see you all over me. I'd be envious like hell myself if I was in them." Killer said honestly, and Alexis nodded with a grin before turning on his lap, making him let out a grunt of delight and hunger as her crotch twisted over his and she turned face to face to him, legs out on either side of him before she arched her back with a wide grin and rose her arms to put her hands behind her head, tilting her muzzle proudly up as she flexed, mighty, huge muscles showing in all of their power as the barbed wire tattooed around her left bicep looked like it was going to tear as her musculature shone to full glory; her sumptuous breasts, firm and young and godlike in their glorious size, threatened to tear the sturdy thick leather-and-steel bra to ribbons as her big nipples tented the solid fabric, rubbing into his broad, masculine chest.

"Of course you would." She grinned. "With all this awesomeness here, I make even faggots drool all over my boots." She smirked teasingly, and drew up a leg to land the sole of her leather boot on the parapet, grinning as she caught the tortured leers coming over her long, seductive leg. "I could whistle and have them all crawling here to lick my boot shiny."

"They'd totally run. I would, if I was in them." Killer answered with the same entertained, predatory grin she gave him... And she winked, licking his cheek hungrily before she reached up for his ear and teasingly answered: "But you are you. The one male I fawn all over. The king, the emperor, the very God I love and serve... the one that rules me and that can glorify himself as the only one who calls me bitch and uses me like one..." She grinned, and licked his cheek again before idly giving the finger to the angel soldiers staring at them from the castle, grinning as she stared at her with the corner of her eye, challenging them to respond.

But none dared to react to the Mistress's rule, and Killer and Alexis traded a grin, before she observed: "They could do as appetizers, at least. I could have them all serving me and then rape them flat into the ground before you show us all how it is done."

"You always have such fun ideas." Killer grinned, and the two traded a laugh as he squeezes her against his chest as a new morning arose.

It took still time to reach their destination, and the two ligers looked with attention all around themselves as the ship entered the bay of the port, and they were faced by Orion in the lights of the day: it was a small town of simple houses of stone and wood, massed up all over the sloped, pyramid-like bases of three massive circular towers looming with their enormous size over the port. The small houses seemed like little toys in the shadow of the immense bulwarks towering over them and the narrow streets and stairs that climbed up from a level to the other of the small village. A rectangular, massive building of stone connecting the bases of the towers was likely the barracks of the local garrison, guarding that strategic position and the small boats and large ships alike that rolled quietly with the waves at the docks.

The ship's oars lifted up vertically as the vessel slowly approached the dock, and the angels armed with spears walked down the stairs of the castle to walk down the deck and lower a gangway to the quay as thick, ancient ropes from the dock reared up like serpents and moved swiftly across the air to secure the ship as Killer stared to it with amazement.

"Well, sounds like we reached our stop." Alexis observed, and she walked towards the gangway before finding her way blocked by the crossing spears of two of the angel warriors. She stopped, and crossed her strong arms with a bit of a glare, but she caught Swan's pleading look and avoided grabbing both to throw them out of the ship. Killer pulled up by her side, and he patiently waited as well, as the angels protected the disembarkation of the other souls first: they were indeed looking solid and complete now that they had reached Heaven, just as the liger had suspected. But they weren't any braver, since they rushed down the gangway launching fearful looks up to him, almost running away down the quay to vanish into the little crowd walking around the port.

"You know, we don't bite." Killer huffed as the angels looked up at him firmly, looking like statues as they rigidly kept their spears in position: the liger could see a little shiver of nervousness shaking the two warriors, but they remained silent and rigid like they were made of stone. "Usually." Killer added with a bit of a grin, and he was pleased to see the two angels trade a fleeting, worried gaze that admittedly rewarded him with some amusement.

"Ok, enough with this shit already." Alexis impatiently exclaimed after another short moment, and she grabbed the poles of the spear as she stepped forwards, showing the two weapons apart and sending the two angels stumbling off to opposite sides with a flex of her powerful musculature as she walked past and onto the gangway. "I promise we'll be good and nice! No rapes and no rampage for now, I promise!" She said cheerfully as she airily waved a hand over her shoulder as the warriors glared after her angrily, and Killer shrugged, grinning stupidly to Swan as the angel looked confused, and admittedly a bit irritated by the way the femme fatale had already ignored his suggestions.

The huge male stepped past the spear-holding angels, who all looked uncertain on what to do... but as the giant stepped past them, they all seemed to decide it was better to just let go. Killer may know nothing of magic, but he still was an 18-foot plus giant with bulging muscles capable to crush a tank into a can of beer, and no one wanted to try what it was like to be hit by his huge, heavy hand.

"Let them go... We did our part. If they'll cause havoc, they'll respond of it to the Gods." Swan spat, and the other angels gave a bad tempered grunt of agreement as they walked back to their tasks on board the vessel, sneaking a last barrage of gazes over the two huge ligers as they walked down the gangway.

"We are supposed to keep a low profile, you know..." Killer mildly observed as he gained the side of the femme fatale, and she looked up at him with a sly little grin, arching an eyebrow in a mix of curiosity and amusement.

"You really think we could walk around unnoticed, lover...?" She asked teasingly, and Killer blinked, rubbing a hand slowly into his mane as he gave a look around to see the souls from earlier paling as they stared to the two ligers walking up the quay, gaping and shivering as the distance once more diminished.

"Now they broke and run." Alexis observed wisely, giving a little know-it-all nod, and the crowd ahead indeed had a collective, tell-tale tremble: Killer had enough time to notice that the new souls had been met by other people, relatives and friends that had been in Heaven for a long time already and had wanted to make sure to greet their dear ones from their past mortal life, before any other observation was made impossible by the way everyone sprinted away down the docks, shrieking and running away from the two giants.

The rest of the crowd in the port, a bit more brave, gaped at this and stared to the two ligers hesitatingly, mostly everyone coming to a stop, no matter the activity they were carrying out, to look over the two giants as they passed by. For Killer, a glance over them was enough to understand why Heaven was so vulnerable in its war against Hell: most of Heaven's population was not really combat worthy, differently from demons. For whole eons, people dying on the Mortal Plane had been going to Hell or to Heaven depending on how they lived their mortal existence: the cruel, the evil, the sinful, had all fallen down in Hell, forced into a Circle or another depending on what Sin they had committed in life... And they had been tortured and punished by powerful, merciless Inquisitors and, during the course of millenniums, they had been turned into demons.

Even the lesser demons, the most numerous, were combatants... Even the Plasmids, the bug-like warped souls that weren't quite demons, were combat-worthy. Especially because they were tremendously numerous. And a certain number of people had turned in powerful demons with the time. Minotaurs, Centaurs, and up growing in strength as Megataurs up to Gigataurs.

The strongest of demons, Incarnations and Demon Lords, normally were Immortals born in Hell, but a few mortal souls in the long history of hell had grown into very powerful demons too...

But Heaven was different. Most Mortals that made it to Hell weren't righteous enough to become true angels, nor was Heaven half as "militarized" as Hell was: if every demon of Hell had some fighting value, the same certainly couldn't be said for Heaven's inhabitants.

The major part of Heaven's people were civilians, which looked mostly like they had looked in life, save for the light shine of light they seemed to irradiate and for the fact that everyone could have some... vanities and wishes welcomed and granted, so that no one needed glasses, no one was overly fat, no one was sick, no one was blind nor paralyzed. That did not mean much, however... most of the people that Killer could see was roughly six feet tall, and thus they all looked tiny to him as he towered over them all at his over 18 feet of majesty. They all looked peaceful, quiet and easily scared, and just a fraction of them had ever touched a weapon back on the Mortal Plane, while probably no one had grabbed one in Heaven.

There were wolves, foxes, vixens, horses, bulls, dogs and felines of all kinds... Mostly only from the south and middle regions of the world, where the physical tonnage was less important and thus the average tall guy wasn't much over the 6 feet.

Killer was pretty sure that a bunch of Plasmids would have been enough to exterminate the whole of the thick crowd he was facing, and none of those peasants would have known how to try and defend himself at all. Sincerely, I think that if I just move too swiftly or go "Booooh!" they'll leap all the way up to the bastions' top for the scare...

He could see a couple of proper, winged angels patrolling down the street a few hundred meters away, and observing the two muscular heavenly soldiers he had a confirmation of the idea that had been shaping up in his head from some time already: most of the Angels were from the Northlands and from Hez'Ranna.

The patrol, in fact, was made up by a 12-foot tall bulky tiger and by an even taller muscular dragokkaren with a thick, potent and scarred chest. The tiger, Killer noticed, lacked the right eye, and part of a red scar could be seen vanishing under a special patch of the golden helmet he wore covered the empty socket. The helmet patch had been fitted with a small sphere of a glowing blue that gave Killer a chill: that sphere was imbued with some kind of magic, no doubt, and it did not just allow the tiger to see like his eye had never gone... Killer felt like that artificial gaze could pierce him from side to side like an X-ray, and read his very soul almost like Alexis's eyes could.

Perhaps he can see under the disguise of Shapeshifters with that thing... or read your thoughts... or see some seconds in the future... Hard to tell. I feel the magic of it, the energy... but I dunno what its power truly is. And I'm not sure I want to know it, either.

Point was that the actual Angels were more than combat worth. There was no Plasmids horde capable to stand a chance against those two soldiers, which would have most likely been more than a match even for Killer, since the liger knew nothing of magic, and the two angels could have undoubtedly used countless spells against him to balance their inferiority in terms of raw power and brutal force. No. The Angels were either righteous souls that grew powerful and mighty by evolving in the shape of their Virtues, or were highly-trained ex-mortals chosen between the strongest species, for their military experience and for their physical might and warfighting talents.

_They are worth uncountable Plasmids and many, many lesser demons like Incubi... But Angels are poor in numbers. And anyway, against Gigataurs they would probably have a true match... And there's many Gigataurs in Hell. And many demons incomparably more powerful than an army of Gigataurs. _

Killer made a bit of a face at this consideration, and the crowd staring at him almost audibly held its breath collectively, some of the people all but backstepping with a whimper onto the feet of the others behind, and the liger was more than just puzzled to see just how little was enough to scare that people.

"Ok, probably we have no hope at all to keep a low profile." The male finally admitted with a sigh, casting his head about slowly, so far above the views of most of the people around him, mostly all their heads well beneath the height of his waist and many of them small enough that he had to avoid stepping literally over them as he passed. Killer grew uncomfortable with the looks the women gave him as he passed by, looks he knew well and was used to, looks that pleased him and that stroked his ego, but that could grow rapidly bugging when the stares were so numerous and intensive.

Besides, there was something different than usual in the air... everyone feared him, he could feel that clearly, but that wasn't unusual. And he could feel waves of pure lust as well as females of all species leered over his powerful, towering body as he walked down along the port, following Alexis, who, as always, seemed to know exactly what to do and where to go. But there was more than even that... Some of the people staring at him, he realized, was all but cheering the advent of a savior, a sort of avenging God capable to save them all.

At the same time, many others looked at him with feelings that evolved from suspect to true hate: he could feel it in the air, even as no one dared to move against him and Alexis, even as many all but stepped away from their path and turned to leave quickly down side-streets or entering the small, ancient houses of stones... Between the crowd, there were many that saw in him a threat, and even more who probably considered him a waste of time and resources for Heaven, so hard pressed by the assaults of Hell's demons.

"I... feel out of place." Killer murmured awkwardly, and Alexis gazed at him with a little supportive smile as she gave a slight nod, before arching her eyebrows as she looked down at a few small peasants knelling at their passage, bowing their heads deeply and exclaiming cheerfully: "Welcome to our Saviors, the slaughterers of Fenrir, the Owner of Regina!"

"Fine on the Regina part, but... who the fuck is Fenrir, now?" Killer whispered curiously, before winching slightly as a flock of children and kids cheerfully stormed between his legs, shouting "Our hero has come, our hero has come!" and touching his pants, his bare feet, whatever they could reach, making him awkwardly stop in his tracks before he could accidentally step on one of the tiny cubs and crush them to jelly.

Alexis merely shrugged, stopping and turning to stare at him with her arms crossed, an amused little grin on her face as she looked over the huge male as he awkwardly stood on spread-wide legs, attempting to move but too worried to stomp over one of the over-excited kids that danced and ran all around him in a frenzy, shouting their curious and cheerful questions, of which Killer understood only fragments, as "will I get that big too?" and "I want to be strong like you!" and many others mixed up in a mess of happy voices. Somehow, Alexis scared the kids more than the gigantic male: she had her own assault of excited cubs, but they had gathered around her and stared up at her in reverence, gaping stupidly as they looked upwards along her black leather boots and up her apparently-endless seductive legs as she snickered a bit.

"Quit laughing and give me a hand!" Killer pleaded, and finally moved a step forwards prudently, before Alexis snapped her fingers and every kid looked curiously at her, who bent forwards a bit with a gentle smile. "Let the great hero walk and calm down a little bit, will you...?"

The kids looked at her and nodded cheerfully, and Alexis all but ruffled the air on the head of one before looking amusedly up at Killer as she added: "He won't answer your questions if you scream them all over each other."

Killer looked pleadingly down at her, but the kids had all turned back to stare up at him already, and he rubbed a hand slowly in his mane as he awkwardly said: "Well... huh... hi."

The kids beamed with wide, happy smiles at his simple, hesitating salute, and he smiled a bit at that, amused by the way a young kitten girl blushed under his gaze, wrinkling her simple pink gown in her tiny hands as she eyed the giant male with amazement.

"Can I see your muscles? Please...?" A bolder girl cheerfully asked, flexing her arm and half-dancing on her feet on the spot as she looked up at him intently, and the boys nodded cheerfully too.

"Oh, yeah. That's something I like to see, too." Alexis amusedly observed, looking up to Killer with entertainment, grinning teasingly as he rolled his eyes but nonetheless dropped down quietly to his knee with an amused smile, and then bent down even further to go close to the small cubs, before closing his right hand in a fist and giving his huge arm an idle flex, which made his already enormous musculature bulge explosively, his bicep big enough that a couple of the kids could have been stuffed comfortably into it.

"Oh, wow!" Some of the kids exclaimed, and one of them all but boldly reached up to stroke a finger down the profile of that rock-hard mountain of muscle as Killer grinned slightly, looking at them with entertainment.

"It is so big!" A kid let out, his breath coming out in an awed little sound as he stared at Killer's arm in amazement.

"Will I ever grow big like you...?" A small male horse asked, and Killer tilted his head to the side with an awkward smile. Correct answer is 'no'... But that would be a bit rude now, wouldn't it...?

"Ehm... Perhaps." The giant liger answered, smiling as he saw the child beam up with joy at his statement. "If you work very, very hard, though." Killer added gently, and the kid nodded vigorously, ensuring he would have.

"You will save us all, right?" Another of the little girls asked, with the disarming spontaneity that only children master... And Killer nodded quietly.

"That's what I'm here for, at least." He said simply, before grinning slightly as he noticed that one of the cubs had all but climbed up his relaxed bicep, holding into the thick muscle. The liger smirked at this, then gave a playful flex to his arm, and the cub let out an excited squeak as the bulging muscle grew under his hands enough to lift him clear off the ground, feet hanging beneath him. The kids stared at this, and then they all looked up at the huge male in awe and one of the boys exclaimed in an amazed voice: "You must be the strongest of all!"

"Course' he is." Alexis grinned, nodding a bit as the kids turned to her and happily nodded. Killer coughed a bit at that, uncertain on what to say... But he was spared saying anything else as a frightened woman ran in and grabbed her son in a hurry.

Killer stared at this first in surprise, then in sorrow as he realized what was happening... and the mother quickly stood up with the child in her arms, held at her chest like she was protecting him from the worst of monsters, the female trembling hard as she crossed his calm gaze but still strong enough in her mother's courage to leap away from him, running away in the crowd.

Killer could see the crowd mumbling, and the kid asking her mother to let him go... But the mother continued to run.

"He's dangerous and cruel. I want you to stay well far away from that monster!"

Killer closed his eyes with a sigh at that, shaking his head slowly, and happy of the rapidly increasing distance, that made impossible to hear what else that woman thought of him.

The kid holding to his arm looked at him with concern, and then hopped down quietly, looking up at him with an happy "thank you", before he ran away as other parents pulled up to the front of the crowd around them, the cubs all quickly moving towards their mothers, sensing the apprehension in the air.

Only the kitten girl staid, and now that she was alone, she finally found the courage to talk to the giant male. "You look sad..." She observed quietly, and Killer smiled down at her, nodding slightly.

"A bit." He admitted, looking briefly out to the direction the scared mother had fled in.

"I'm sorry." The tiny kitten girl said sincerely, and Killer smiled gently down at her, caressing her cheek with a huge finger.

"Don't worry for me, little... Now, what's your name by the way...?" The huge male asked quietly, and the blue-eyed kitten smiled widely before cheerfully answering: "My name's Katy."

"Enchanté, mademoiselle." Killer playfully said, smiling as he offered her a gigantic hand. "I'm Killer, and the wonderful girl here is Alexis."

"I know. Everyone knows you two!" The kitten cheerfully piped up, and she happily squeezed one of Killer's thick fingers with her hand. "You shouldn't worry about what people say... You'll show them how wrong they are!"

"We sure will." Alexis confirmed amusedly, bending towards the kitten with a wide, amused smile, before gently ruffling the girl's hair with a gentle hand, looking at the kitty with affection.

"Now I must go..." Katy said quietly, and Killer combed her hair back in place softly as she smiled affectively up at him. "Don't be sad. They are wrong, wrong, wrong. You'll show them!"

"Promised." Killer said, smiling with amusement as she nodded contently and then quickly left, running down the street and cheerfully ignoring the way some people looked at her, in a mix of amazement for her courage and imprudence and hate and distaste for how she had talked with the hated newcomers.

"I'd love to smash their faces to a pulp, you know...?" Killer observed, and Alexis nodded with a snort herself as the two ligers straightened and looked over the crowd, glaring at the ones who showed hostility towards the little kitten.

"Totally share. And we will, if someone dares to harm her or do her any wrong at all." Alexis replied agreeably, before they resumed their walk down the street, their steps resounding on the walkway of stones of Orion.

It was unnerving to receive so many stares and so much attention... Far more than the two ligers had expected to meet. Far, far more. Alexis, ultimately, stopped in the middle of the street and crossed her powerful arms, glaring back over the crowd with her icy blue eyes, a sly grin that was almost murderous on her wonderful features, and it was enough to finally force the crowd to dissipate, improving the situation of several orders of magnitude, enough that Killer let out a sigh of sincere relief, smiling at her with gratitude and love.

It did not last too long, however... They soon reached the base of one of the immense bulwarks that loomed over Orion, and Killer and Alexis were surprised to see what looked like a map of Heaven carved in a single, gigantic flat stone fit like a colossal blackboard into the sloped base of the cylindrical tower.

Killer's attention was immediately captured by the map, where he spotted easily the circular "bullseye" that the Middle Sea was.

And in the perfect center of the Middle Sea, Killer saw Orion... with an endless bridge connecting the port to the mainland. A massive line of fortresses and a ponderous wall developed in a circle on the coast, surrounding the whole of the Middle Sea... and beyond the wall, Heaven developed itself in perfect circles.

The first was named "Meadows" - The Elysian Fields! - and Killer could see the carved image of a wonderful, temple-like palace, drawn under the name "Hero's Haven". He contemplated this for a moment in wonder and joy alike, recognizing that palace as the one estate that the Northland's myths promised to the greatest warriors and heroes in the Afterlife, and wondering how many of his past comrades had made it there... William... William must be there for sure. If he did not make it there, no one else can dream to...

And immediately after the Meadows, Killer could read "First Heaven", with a town named Restford carved in it, most likely the capital city of the first of 7 skies. The Second Heaven was centered on the carved image of a fortress-town built atop an impossible, vertical tower of stone: the fortress, fittingly, was apparently named "Eaglenest" while the vertical spikes of rock on the tallest of which the town had been somehow erected were called "Monoliths". The Third Sky had a metropolis in it named Haven, while the Fourth was apparently covered in the most impressive and lush of jungles, with its capital city, Sheaquim, built atop trees that little had to envy to the Monoliths of stone, at least in the bas-relief. The Fifth Sky was a land of ice and snow, with a massive fortress carved in a gargantuan mountain of ice, Machon. The Sixth sky was dominated by two different castles, at the opposite sides of Heaven: one was shown under the looming mass of the Sun, and the second under the smaller Moon. A city, roughly mid-way between the two fortress-monasteries, was named Sonnerland. And then, the last and larger sky, the one that had no end but drifted into the infinite, the Seventh Sky, the Heaven of the Gods, with the glorious capital of the heavenly reign, Seven.

Seven, the sacred, perfect number. The number of the Virtues. The number of the Gods.

Killer was about to nudge Alexis and say something about how amazing the bas-relief looked, but his attention was finally drawn down to the crowd gathered up under the map, looking at a series of posters attached all over the sloped wall of stone. The huge male gazed over this with idle curiosity, and he almost immediately found himself looking at his own features, artistically rendered, eyes alive with lustful and merciless flames, and he tilted his head to the side with a frown, not knowing if to laugh or to get angry. A thing I must admit... that light is in my eyes pretty often. So I can't exactly ask them to ignore it. I don't like to be called a monster, but... it is what I am.

No you are not. Alexis firmly stated in his mind, and he turned to her with a loving smile as she half-turned to him to wink playfully, seizing his hand in her own and squeezing gently on his fingers.

The two ligers advanced towards the crowd, and see better what was going on and what exactly the poster was about, even if Killer had more than a suspect that he was going to regret learning it... And the huge male noticed for the first time that mostly everyone in Heaven was clad in light tunics and, even more frequently, with simple loincloths that covered the crotch with a piece of fabric hanging freely between the legs.

Killer grinned a bit at that observation, and he realized that his heavy footsteps slapped loud against the smooth stones that made up the street, but still it just masked, and not covered, the quieter slap of his gigantic malehood as it smacked against his muscular thigh with every step. The pants he wore, after all, had to be loose enough that his dangling, massive shaft did not look like a giant sausage stuffed down a leg of them... but if that masked the bulge a little bit, as much as it was possible to "hide" a nearly 50 inches of thick, enormous male, it also allowed the gargantuan cock to move a bit and quietly slap against his muscular thigh. In the presence of lesser males, and in general when he was in the mood, Killer enjoyed the effect that just the very sound of his cock slapping down his thigh had on fragile egos, but he was grateful that at the moment it wasn't so loud and evident. He was getting far too much attention already. The amusing part was thinking of just how loud and ridiculous it would have been if he was to wear a loincloth like the other persons around.

I'd need a far longer piece of fabric. And I'd still dangle all over the place.

"Don't give me ideas." Alexis observed amusedly, grinning widely. "Now I crave to see you with a loincloth on, and have you walking across the town with everyone paling as you pass by."

Killer rolled his eyes upwards a bit, but he was amused, and he couldn't hide it... But it turned in a bad-tempered snort instead as he took in the sight of the full poster, a bull in a simple, rough tunic intent in giving the text the last touches with a brush.

The crowd at that turned to him, and in a rather comic moment that went wasted on him, they all rose their gaze from the knees they were at level slowly up his towering, massive form until they were gaping at him, trembling at the sight of his frown and at the steam blown out of his nostrils as he read down the poster.

Alexis merely shock her head slowly, grinning a bit and closing her eyes with a half-amused little snort, before bending forwards like she wanted to pick up every detail of the poster as she read aloud the first part of the message, just under the drawing of her and Killer.

"Two sinful monsters are coming to Heaven." She read calmly, and then she grinned as she added: "My, this is terrifying, isn't it...?"

The bull that was finishing writing the long anti-Killer propaganda nodded cheerfully, focused on giving the last touches with its fine brush, and Killer crossed his arms on his chest with a bit of a glare down at him, and it was enough to send the message clear to the whole of the crowd. As hetowered over them and glared with contempt, showing them that he would slap them away like the gnats they were if they tried a thing, the people all around decided all of a sudden that the poster wasn't interesting at all and they all crept quickly off down the street.

Only the bull, too focused on his work to notice much of anything, staid in place.

"They are a threat to Heaven, miss!" The bull observed with excited voice, getting rapidly carried out by his very convictions. "They are Mortals, and sinners of the worst kind! They have to right to access Heaven, and back in the good times the Gods wouldn't have allowed such monsters to enter Paradise! Heaven is-"

"... of the Righteous." Alexis completed idly, reading the main shout in the middle of the poster.

Two sinful monsters are coming to Heaven! Demons of Lust, slaughterers and rapists!

Heaven is of the Righteous!

Beware the monsters. We all must rally together against them! We all have to ensure Heaven stays the Righteous' reign!

"Demons of Lust, huh...?" Alexis asked, grinning widely to herself as she eyed the bull at her side with entertainment at his stupidity and at the extreme focus he put in his work: he was a good artist, at least... And the attention he was paying as he wrote the last word was maniacal to say the least.

"Oh, yes, miss! Of the worst kind! They find rapes are the most pleasant of things, and I mean rape-to-death rapes!"

"Oh, how horrible." Alexis observed with a nod, but her grin only grew wider, and Killer couldn't help but almost laugh, even as his wish to boot the bull hard in the ass only grew greater.

"Even between them, there is no love but rapes! They are violent and ferocious like Hell!" The bull asserted, and Killer frowned. Hey. You are not telling me that everyone in Heaven looks down at us having sex like we were internet-streaming porn for real, are you...? Damn, I was joking when I thought it...

Alexis frowned a bit, then observed: "Well, it is far fucking better if it is rough and hard. Don't you think so, lover...?" The femme fatale asked, turning back to Killer with a wide grin as the bull suddenly stiffened in place like it had been turned to stone, his eyes widening to the size of dishes and the brush fell down to the floor as he turned to the side slowly and stared to the majesty of Alexis, the femme fatale straightening back up to her almost 17 feet of height, grinning down at the bull with her sapphire eyes sparkling.

"You know, I never asked to come to Heaven myself. I did not force myself in to have a trip here. This is no Paradise to me." Killer explained calmly, his icy blue eyes freezing the bull on the spot. "This is the place where I've been summoned while I was sleeping in my own damn home, with my family, to train to fight back the evil guys so that I can save your lazy useless ass." Killer made a bit of a grimace, looking down at the fellow male with contempt before he added in a soft but terrifying growl: "It is not exactly like I'm here for my personal amusement."

"I... I'll just... go." The bull said hesitatingly, shrinking under the gaze of the huge liger, humbled, and Killer growled a simple, conclusive word. "Better."

The sprint that followed was quite amazing, as the bull clip-clopped down the street without looking back, Alexis grinning in amusement as she watched him go, before Killer stepped forth and seized the poster, removing it carefully from the wall it was glued upon. Alexis looked at this curiously, and Killer let out a snort as he read once more the accusations of the propaganda message, before he tore the part of sheet covered with the text away, and crushed it in a hand bad temperedly, throwing the ball away. Alexis, on her part, gave the piece of parchment an idle gaze, and it burst into blue flames in midair, consumed to a point that not even ashes were left behind.

"What about that...?" The femme fatale asked with a slight smile, tilting her head towards the drawing of them that Killer was holding in his hands.

"Well, it is well drawn." Killer observed with entertainment. "He was a moron, but with good hands at least. I'll keep the picture." He reasoned, folding the sheet up carefully and putting it in his pocket with every possible care. He loved art a lot, after all... he drew himself when he had time for it, and he could appreciate a good drawing immensely. And with the subject being Alexis and him, admittedly, his interest immediately skyrocketed. Selfish, perhaps, sure... but that was the way he was.

Alexis and Killer resumed their walk down the stone-clad street, noticing that now most of the people hostile towards them had fled into houses and buildings and locked down doors and windows. Only the ones ready to cheer on them as Saviors were still in the street to welcome them both and kneel at their passage, but that actually meant that most of Orion's people were glaring at them with fear and hate from behind closed doors.

Closed doors that little could have done against Killer's and Alexis's force if the two ligers had actually wanted to harm them... But closed doors that were a clear signal of how hard it would have been for Killer and Alexis to be accepted at all. Getting help would have been impossible, in those conditions... and it was clear that Heaven wasn't a safe place for them. For sure, not everyone would have just hated them from the shadows, trembling in fear at the same time. There would have been attacks on them both, that was for sure.

"I wonder how the hell Diana managed to summon us here..." Killer observed quietly, looking nervously around himself, over all the closed doors and windows along the narrow street.

"Not everyone is hostile to us, despite the appearances." Alexis reminded him calmly. "I guess the Gods found an agreement between themselves to get us here... We just have to watch our backs from the hostile ones."

"Just." Killer observed with a grin, amused by the absolute, cold calm of Alexis, as she announced they had to be ready facing hostile, murderous Gods like she was listing the menu of the daily dinner.

"Aren't you thrilled...?" Alexis teased, grinning as she nudged him lightly. "We may get a worthy rival for real this time."

Killer grinned and nodded, but he looked at her with a tilt of his head. "You'll put us in troubles one day, with your confidence in your ability to smash faces to pulp."

She shrugged with a smirk. "We both like that kind of trouble. And trouble tends to find us anyway." She paused, then added: "And Diana was very clear. The Gods want us as Weapons. As Superweapons, to be precise. Some even fear us, and want us dead NOW, before we get too strong. It means we have the power, lover... the very power to win this war. Even if it is a war of Gods."

Killer nodded silently, biting his lower lip a bit. "Yeah. That's what scares me."

Alexis did not answer, only smiling gently up at him, before they both looked to the side to the rhythmic sound of hammering on metal, soon spotting a blacksmith workshop a bit ahead along the street. The blacksmith, a sweaty muscular bear wearing only a loincloth stained with the black of coal and covered in dust, was forging a blade in a roughly-shaped bar of red-hot metal: a long, thin double-edged, pointed blade that undoubtedly was going to be the tip of a particularly big angelic spear.

Killer valued that the future user of that spear had to be at the very least as tall as he was... and probably more on the 20 feet level than less.

The two ligers stopped by, looking over the process with deep interest: the blacksmith was working out of the shop building, exploiting that perfect weather to work in the open air, away from the oppressive heat of the small laboratory. He was bent over a massive anvil, close to a large furnace with the chimney sticking up over the roof of wooden tables that made a useful porch stretching onto the street.

"I get it that weapons are not like clothes." Killer observed, and Alexis nodded. "You can't just wish for them, Heaven or not."

The bear grunted as he gave a last masterful blow to the cooling metal, and he turned to push the bar of metal into the fire of the furnace. Killer observed every move with deep interest: he had seen Siegfried doing that job a lots of times, and he himself had once been taught how to blacksmith, but it always was deeply fascinating. He wasn't as great as Siegfried, and his blades had never been as perfect... But that only made him appreciate all the more the mastery of the good blacksmiths.

And this bear definitely was good.

A few weapons were tidily organized on a wooden rack, and Killer and Alexis both studied them with their expert eye. The first few were complete, ready-to-use angelic spears, which just lacked the spell enhancing their lethality with magic. Probably, it was added by the mages later on, and there were many different spells that the blade could imbue that the soldiers could choose. Even without magic, the blades were deadly sharp, and could easily chop limbs off on side blows, and rip through bodies from side to side just as easily with their lethal tip. The thick poles, reinforced with metal plates, were both light and solid, and when Killer tried picking one up, he immediately found that the weapon was perfectly balanced.

The weapon was very interesting: it wasn't the first time that Alexis and Killer came across half-breed weapons that tried combining the advantages of swords and spears, but this was most likely the best result by far.

"Try it out." Killer said, and he handed the spear to Alexis, who stepped to the side a bit before idly spinning the weapon in her hand, fingers guiding it easily before she stabbed backwards over her shoulder and swung the weapon to the side in a sword-like slash, before slashing upwards in a diagonal upwards lash to the right, then to the left, before switching hand and elegantly windmilling the weapon in a whole circle of death around herself, moving the spear in the whole journey around her waist.

She finished off in a perfect ready position, right hand seizing the pole as its extremity rested under her powerful arm, her other hand raised up in defense and ready to strike.

"Good toy. Perfect balance. Light and agile." She sentenced, before grinning as she straightened and held the spear straight up, knocking the end of the pole lightly on the stone floor. "Give me one of these, and no one is ever coming closer to me than 15 feet away."

Killer grinned, crossing his arms on his thick chest as she looked at her amusedly, and he shook his head lightly with a snort-laughter. "No one is coming close to you alive and in one piece anyway, whatever you are using. Only their blood normally does come close."

Alexis grinned, nodding agreeably. "That's true as well."

The bear had looked at her idle trial of the spear with his mouth agape in amazement for her ability and skill, but now, smelling a possible bargain in the air, he shouldered the massive hammer and smiled towards the newcomers. He had recognized them, of course... Everyone by now knew the fame of Wyvern and Alexis, but he was... neutral. His life and wealth was ensured anyway: he was one of the best blacksmiths of Heaven, and perhaps the best of all at making weapons. And the request for weapons had never before been as high as in the last millenniums of war. With all the work he had, and with how important he was to Heaven's forces, he was sure of his future, and he could care less about the "saviors". Someone already worshipped Wyvern like a God, and many more wanted Killer dead and turned into a mindless superweapon, an instrument capable to ensure the triumph over Hell... Everyone agreed that he had to be kept away from Hell's control, no matter how, because if Hell had gained Killer's support, Heaven would have been enslaved in no time... But he hadn't sided with anyone. Little interest he had in doing it. He was pretty sure that, even if Hell was to break the front and capture Orion, he was going to be safe, because his skills in producing weapons would have made him equally valuable to demons as he was to the angels. He was considerably selfish to be in Heaven, but paradise wasn't the same realm of the ancient times... the effective virtues had been withering and dying in many of the inhabitants of Heaven. Even most of the angels and many Arkangels and Seraphims weren't anymore the righteous, holy beings everyone believed they were... And more and more often, rough, corrupted angels started their own rebellions, took power over a region of Heaven or another, or even sided with Hell.

He wasn't eviler than many others in Heaven. He just made his interests, that was it. And even now, he saw in the two ligers a mere source of additional profit.

"You've eye and skill for weapons." The blacksmith approached, and Killer merely nodded calmly, eyeing another very interesting weapon that stood out on the rack between well-forged but overall conventional swords and axes and even a warhammer.

His attention had been caught instead by a sicklesword, big enough that he could have used it to good effect: the handle was just about right for his sizes, and that was quite rare. Probably, the curved blade had been forged for an Arkangel or anyway a warrior who, just like Killer, could vaunt a formidable physical superiority. The sicklesword was an uncommon weapon, but with some serious skill, it could be a quite formidable all-doing instrument, good to chop and stab at everything, and perfect to disarm an enemy or hook the rival's shield and rip it out of his hands to open the way for a strike. It was fascinating... and this one particular sword, so well made, and with its handle of gold and of an unknown elegant cloth which seemed to absorb any sweat and glue the weapon to the hand no matter what, was special. A crystal glowing with some kind of Spell was set in the pommel at the end of the handle, like a ruby that gleamed with supernatural light... And the blade itself, amazingly, seemed made not of "normal" metallic alloys, but with some sort of crystal as well. A dark-red crystal that reminded Killer of Wyvern.

Alexis had noticed the same sword as well, and the bear was silent for a moment as he looked over the two fascinated ligers with a sparkle of greedy joy in his eyes as he cleaned his hands in the loincloth.

"My, my... you truly have eye. You immediately picked up my best masterpieces in the mass!" The blacksmith exclaimed cheerfully, waving a hand to point at the massive number of swords, cleavers and spears and axes and longbows of all sizes and kinds.

Killer, on his part, merely nodded again, and Alexis ignored the comment entirely. They had already understood the kind of person they were talking to... and even his last comment was only partially the pleased way an artist reacts when his best work is noticed as it deserves.

Most of the sloppy cheerfulness in the voice of the bear was more the coating message of a greedy salesman on the market downtown, eager to sell you something expensive and make a lot of money. At least, the pride in his voice about his "masterpieces" was authentic, and none but Alexis and Killer could have certified the absolute quality of the weapon.

He's not trying to sell us junk, at least.

"What's this... material...?" Killer curiously asked, drawing a finger down the flat of the sicklesword blade.

The bear looked surprised at the fact they did not know the crimson crystal, but he shrugged a bit to himself, dubbing it as a meaningless detail. "That is the Godblood. The sturdiest element in nature. Forget mortal diamonds, a sliver of Godblood could cut a diamond in half like cutting into butter. It is a rare crystal, much rarer and far more precious than diamond... The legends say it is born out of the bloody tears of God, which crystallized after he cried for the way the Sins soon corrupted his creations." The bear bowed his head at this, and hinted to a kneel, signing himself as he mentioned God. Killer, uncertain on what to do, bowed his head a little bit, before rubbing a hand in his mane slowly. Alexis merely crossed her arms, impatient to hear the rest.

"The Godblood is said to be mined out of a secret valley in the 7th Heaven, the Heaven of the Gods. Only the Seraphines, the favorite servants of God, are allowed in that location that no one else knows, so it may easily be a desert instead of a valley, for what we poor people know..." The bear continued, making a bit of a face. Undoubtedly, he would have loved to get his greedy hands all over that apparently invincible material. "It is not just immensely rare and precious, but it is impossible to even scratch: Godblood can be affected merely by other Godblood. In the night of times, the Seraphims used pieces of Godblood they found to create instruments, beating piece of crystal against piece of crystal. With the instruments created in the Eons that followed, larger pieces of Godblood were mined out, and out of the rough stones, weapons and armors were sculptured. You can imagine how complex it all is!" The bear concluded, exclaiming it to make it evident.

"My greatest treasure, after that sword, is the instruments of Godblood that I used to chisel the blade from a rough stone I was given by a Seraphim, behind payment of such an incredible amount of money that I can't even say it. The instruments, thanks to all Gods, are ancient like the world, and they were acquired Eons ago by my ancestors."

Killer looked down to the price tag of the sicklesword, and made a grimace as he felt the need to gape. A ridiculous number of zeroes followed the 5... And the price tag alone was a shock for him, who had naively thought that the realm of the Gods would have known no money at all.

He had no idea what that obscene amount would have been like in Kesta, the money of his empire on the Mortal Plane, but he was pretty sure it was better not to even wonder about it. And anyway, he had not even one of the Clouds, the large coins of gold that were apparently used in Heaven. The supernatural sword made of coagulated God's blood was going to stay a dream of his own... there was no way he could afford it, nor any of the other beautiful weapons on the racks.

Was it for him, he would have bought them all without hesitation, pretty much.

"Oh, that sword will cut other blades in half like nothing! And it is the only one blade that will truly be eternal. No need to sharpen it, no risk to wear the edge out... Nothing that can stop it either, apart perhaps for an armor made of Godblood as well." The blacksmith continued, drinking hungrily of the light of desire in the eyes of the two ligers. "And you know what? That sicklesword is a copy I made of the legendary twin sickleswords of Godblood that Vesta, High Queen of the Seraphims, uses!"

That elicited yet another gleam of interest to sparkle in Killer's eyes, but what the Blacksmith did not know was that Killer's interest in that case was more for the user than for the weapons. After all, the bear, differently from the huge male liger, would have never dared thinking with predatory desire to the most formidable warrior of Heaven, no matter how deadly seductive and godlike-beautiful the Seraphim was. For the blacksmith, it was unconceivable that someone could look forwards to meet the Queen of Seraphims and even dare so far as making predatory plans of conquest on her.

Poor thing. He does not know Killer enough. Alexis thought, grinning widely as she set the spear back down on its place on the rack.

"So. What do you wish to buy...?" The bear finally asked, almost dancing on the spot as he smelled gold in the air, and Killer grinned awkwardly, rubbing a hand in his mane slowly.

"Everything." He said, honestly expressing his wishes. The blacksmith was a bit of a greedy dumbass, but his work was worth every single piece of gold he may ask. "But I'll have to get money first."

The last part made the bear stiffen in place with eyes wide, like he had been punched hard in the stomach. He did not dare expressing any of the many insults that came to his mind immediately, because as big and muscular as he was, it was pretty evident that the female liger alone could have turned his insides out to make them his outside, and he didn't even want to imagine what the giant male could have done. The bear was muscular and strong, his biceps hard as steel for a whole age of hard blacksmithing work... but the two ligers were another league entirely.

He got back to his furnace without greeting, though, rudely turning his back on them to get back to his work, grumbling about the loss of time.

"Dumbass." Alexis stated clearly and calmly, in a matter-of-fact voice, before she and Killer walked away.

"Money." Killer spat. "You'd think Heaven would do without it. Like... wish for something and it appears."

Alexis grunted agreeably, then added: "There are exceptions to the "wish and get" thing, it seems." She paused, then gave him a sly little grin. "Anyway, we can always beat him down to a pulp and pick up whatever we like for free." She coughed in a fist lightly, then added: "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't complain."

"That's just because he would be unable to, after we beat the crap out of him." Killer observed wisely, and they traded amused grins before they stopped, the Inn they had been told to reach by now in sight. "You know..." The male stated awkwardly, rubbing a hand in his mane a moment. "I was about to invite you in for a drink, but as soon as I thought about drinking... I wasn't thirsty anymore."

"Yeah. Same weird feeling here." Alexis replied, frowning slightly. "I guess in Heaven you simply can't starve or thirst at all, even if you don't eat nor drink."

"It is the suck, though. It is not the same thing than drinking a whisky for real." Killer observed, puzzled.

"Yeah, well... there is the Inn-bar, no? It should mean that you can still actually drink if you really want to." She added reasonably, and Killer nodded as they made their way to the Inn's door. Thankfully, through the vast majority of people was in the region of the 6-feet or less, almost everything had been built with big, big people in mind, and Killer and Alexis did not need to awkwardly bent down when they walked in the arcades of the Inn and then into the bar properly said.

"We don't have money." Killer reminded, but Alexis merely shrugged as she walked elegantly towards a free table in the rather crowded bar.

"It means Diana will offer us the drinks for this time, when she comes." She replied, grinning a bit as she sat down on the simple wooden chair and crossed her legs, looking at him with a predatorily sensual gaze as he sat down in front of her. Immediately, her booted foot rubbed gently down the side of his leg, and they traded grins across the table as she observed: "We've almost never had a true date out. Never thought we'd need to get to Heaven to have one."

"You tell me." Killer replied playfully, before looking up as the bartender, a young-looking male fox clad in a simple white tunic, approached to serve, kindly asking: "What should I bring you?"

Killer hesitated for a moment, since he knew nothing at all about Heaven, and was uncertain on what may be available... but he finally awkwardly suggested: "Whisky...?"

"Of course." The fox answered, bowing his head slightly with a bright smile, and Alexis asked for a cup of the same.

Killer glanced idly over the bartender as he walked away, and then observed: "You know, I'm impressed with that spear we saw. It looks so deceptively simple... yet it is brilliant."

"Yeah." Alexis answered agreeably, nodding. "Normally, a spear is pretty limited. They are good to stab someone, but they are virtually worthless to slash... And once you have stabbed someone, most of the time it is over. If you throw it, it is over. In the end, you gotta have a sword to fall back on." She paused briefly, and then nodded. "They are all weapons for dismounted fighting... and the best normally is the sword. You can hit and parry with the same ease, defend and attack. The spear is good for a fast kill, but after that... And an axe is just worse. Rotate to strike, and you expose yourself whole to a spear or a sword. And once you've rotated the axe, you'd better hit your target, because if he's worth the bread he eats, he won't let you have a second try."

"True." Killer agreed, before smiling kindly as he was handed his huge glass of golden whisky, Alexis taking hers and pushing her glass touching lightly his, in a playful toast, before both took a long, deep sip and appreciated the excellent quality of the strong liquor. "But that one... It is like a sword on the top of a spear's pole. Finding a balance for just a bold design must have been hellish. I think that there have been attempts at such a hybrid on the Mortal Plane for several thousand years, and none of the resulting designs was worth the steel it was forged with."

Alexis nodded agreeably, but their attention was stolen by the sight of a group of angels and people to the left: they had entered from the second access to the Inn, a door opened on a side-street, and now one of them was putting up a poster on one of the thick, tree-like pillars of wood that sustained the ceiling of the crowded bar.

Killer let out a groan at this, dropping his head on his palm with a tired sigh before grumbling: "Not again... I've just arrived, what the Hell! You can't already hate me so fucking much!"

Alexis turned on the seat as well to look curiously at the newcomers, who had crowded up around the pillar and were currently giving them their backs as an angelic doe in the front line put the poster up. To Killer's surprise, though, for what he could see across the crowd of heads and the folded, candid white wings of the doe, the image on the poster was far different than the earlier one they had seen: this one, apparently, was shamelessly pro-Killer, in fact.

The huge male blinked in surprise, and Alexis couldn't help but stare at the poster as well, as they looked on with amazement to the drawing of them in shiny golden armor, massive, gleaming angelic wings spreading from their backs as they defended the top of a rocky mountain from a horde of demons of all kinds trying to climb up to the top. Several scared angelic females were depicted clinging desperately to Killer's legs as the huge male chopped a Gigataur in two with a slash.

"Wow." Alexis observed stupidly, and Killer grunted agreeably before letting out a soft cough in his huge fist. "I doubt we'll ever look that way... or sport such shiny wings, sincerely."

"Yeah... Pretty damn unlikely." Alexis replied with a little grin of entertainment. "But we look pretty cool at least, that'll recognize."

Killer nodded, but he frowned a bit as he bitterly observed: "We are caught between people with unfair total hate and others with unrealistic hopes for us. This is no good."

In that moment, the doe finished her work and turned to leave, followed by her group of supporters, who all froze in place as they finally saw Killer and Alexis staring at them from a table.

"This is no good." Killer said again, but the doe angel was already quickly walking up to him, eyes wide in adoration that was almost disbelief, like she was trying to accept a luck so great that it seemed impossible could be true. The doe was a rough nine feet tall, quite an extraordinary height for her species, and she was remarkably beautiful, slender and feminine, with long, seductive legs and a flat, bare abdomen over her simple loincloth. A white cloth was wrapped around her breasts, not overly large, but not small either, perky and firm, well shaped. She had a sword hanging from her belt, but her beautiful brown eyes and the innocence radiating from the soft, attractive features of her muzzle told of a simple, gentle and ingenuous nature that hardly could be expected to do well in the fighting sector. She also had a thick pack of other posters under her arm, and undoubtedly she was just at the starts of a propaganda campaign she seemed to care truly a lot for.

"Amon-Ra!" She exclaimed, and Killer blinked before saying lamely: "Dunno. My name is Killer, actually."

"I know! Everyone knows!" The angel exclaimed excitedly, the other girls and boys that followed her staying a step back but nodding with the same cheerful enthusiasm, looking at him with pure adoration. "Amon-Ra is how we call you in Heaven, though! It means Ray of Hope, since you are our savior, as the Prophecies clearly state!"

"No one told me about prophecy-crap... or did they...?" Killer awkwardly observed, and Alexis shrugged a bit, making a bit of a face as she rested her head on a hand, looking to the side to the excited doe. She all but tapped at her temple a bit, rolling her eyes upwards in a playful way to observe that, in her opinion, the angel girl was a bit on the crazy side.

"Everyone knows about you! The Slaughterer of Regina, the Conqueror of Fenrir!"

"The fuck is this damn Fenrir...?" Killer asked, but no one answered, even if by now every single face in the bar was staring at him... And many, he noticed, weren't as friendly and happy as the doe's one.

"Heaven cheered your victory on Regina, which avenged so many dead angels and warriors and hunters who failed miserably in the enterprise you accomplished!" The angel continued cheerfully, and she looked like she would continue for a long time unless Killer could come up with a solution to have her calming down a little bit.

"Thank you, ehm... what's your name...?" He finally tried, and it worked magnificently. The doe stopped in the middle of another praise about his extraordinary triumph under the Immortal Queen of Lust, Regina, and the angel even blushed deep red, looking at him with embarrassment before dropping to her knee and bowed her head deeply.

"I'm sorry, Amon-Ra. You don't need me to list your great victories. You know them better than I do, even if perhaps you don't yet know enough to appreciate the immensity of what you did... My name is Vicky, and I shall serve you, my Savior, as the most humble of your servants!" The doe finally said, after a short pause. Her voice, once she calmed down a little bit, could touch him finally with its whole charge of gentleness and femininity. A soft, friendly tone that was the perfect complement to her innocence. It made the sword at her side look even more out of place, such was her natural kindness.

"We are no Saviors, really..." Killer tried, smiling gently, but the doe shook her head slowly, smiling widely as all the other people with her also knelled down, looking humbly down to the floor in total, willing submission and reverence.

"Oh, Amon-Ra, you are. The Prophecy is clear, as your power is. You've conquered Regina, shattered her with her own best weapon, and you even slaughtered the Apocalypse itself, Fenrir. Already stronger than many Princes of Heaven, perhaps stronger than any demon Lord in existence too, and you're still a Mortal! You already took on two of the greatest and most terrible enemies of Heaven, two warriors that had no equals in the universe, two monsters that Heaven itself fears from the very Beginning of Time...! The voices of Nature herself tell me to lay down before my Savior, to receive Him...! And the Purity of Nature is never to be questioned!" Vicky explained, keeping her head low, like she was bowing before a God, and it gave Killer a thrill he did not like. Too much power... too much temptation. Black Killer, deep inside him, was already trying to coat him into abusing of it, and the shiver of lustful delight at the awareness of the power he held made him grit his fangs a bit as he tried to regain full control.

"Vicky, really... you are exaggerating. Thank you, but I don't deserve this, really." Killer said calmly, his voice gentle and soft, and the angel dared to look up at him, finally relaxing some as she saw him smiling.

"You deserve everything we can give you, Amon-Ra. There's no way I can truly express our happiness and relief at having you here with us. I see myself just as one of so many admirers and supporters in Heaven as in Hell. We all are your humble servants... And your word will be our Law." Vicky answered, pausing for a little moment before murmuring: "We bow before your Power, and thank you for your Courage and for your Sense of Justice, which guides you on this path of blood and fighting for the salvation of the world. We shall always serve and follow you, and worship you more as your power grows and your victory draws nearer, and elevate you above everything else, as you are our Master and Savior now!"

"Great, but... Cool down a little, will you?" Alexis observed, grinning slightly as she looked over the doe with a mix of amusement and amazement. Just like Killer, she was impressed of such words... and she couldn't help but wonder about what this people knew that she and Killer still utterly ignored.

"Cool... down... a little...?" The doe awkwardly asked, blinking as she looked up in confusion, and Killer smiled before taking her hand and gently pulling her up from her knees.

"Yeah, relax yourself." He explained calmly. "No need to make all this ceremony for us."

Vicky blushed, but smiled happily to him as she stood before him, noticing how he gazed with interest over her, not perversely but with a clear predatory nature that even her, even in her innocence, couldn't miss, but feeling proud and glad of it, even as her cheeks burned red.

"Yeah. No need at all to lick his feet! Slaughterer of Fenrir! AH! That wasn't Fenrir, that was merely a part of him!" A male voice spat with distaste from the other side, and Vicky turned to this with a glare as the other angels that accompanied her turned to the source of the claim with angry hisses and growls, rising their fists up.

Killer himself turned to the side to see the source of that claim full of evident, tangible hate, and he could verify with no true surprise at all that it came from a thick, huge wolf-angel he had noticed the very moment he had entered the Inn. The angel was thick with muscle under his dark-grey fur, dark enough that Killer had been reminded of his ancient enemy Dark... before thinking that Heaven hopefully couldn't have fallen low enough to make an angel of such a monster as the terrorist he had killed in duel.

The wolf had the ears loaded heavily with piercings and rings and studs of gold, and the fur on his head and on the back of his neck was raised up in a sort of horse-like mane. He was clad in an armor made up by a chest plate, a groin plate, shoulder and knee protection and boots, with a massive handgun in a holster and a sword at his sides. His muscular abdomen was bare and proudly shown, scarred but powerful, just like his thick arms. He was pretty huge... at least 15 feet, and likely more, but Killer couldn't say precisely because the warrior was idly reclining in a chair, staring their way with cold eyes and a little grin. Two more angels, a couple of bulls that made Killer half-think about Megataurs, were sitting at the same table, silent and looking unfriendly to say the least. They were a bit shorter than the wolf but even larger, with thick, bulky musculature and enormous biceps. One, in particular, was a giant mass of muscles that threatened to explode out of his hide of dirty-white fur, while the other bull, enormous yet considerably smaller, was black furred.

Beside "Whitey" and "Blackie", Killer could see a lot of other clearly unfriendly people at the other tables... Not everyone looking as aggressive as the three angels, mainly just looking displeased at Killer's presence... but several other looked ready for the brawl, as they grumbled their agreement to the wolf's words.

Brilliant, isn't it...?

"That means nothing, Rogue, and you know it!" Vicky countered with surprising harshness, but the wolf only snorted-laughter, shrugging a bit as he grinned to the two bulls sitting with him. They did not look like geniuses... their expression staid quite blank even as they nodded with a grunt of appreciation for their leader. "Even if he had only a fraction of his power, he was Fenrir. And the demon lords were unable to restrain him. Result: the monster was dumped on the Mortal Plane! The Arkangels couldn't have done any better!" The doe exclaimed, and Killer and Alexis listened intently, trying to understand the full subject. It was pretty clear that the monstrosity they had called "werewolf" and brought down in Dacca was what they were now calling Fenrir, but the rest of the events still held little sense to the two ligers. Apparently, the monster had been somehow thrown on Earth because it had been growing impossible to restrain...

And it sounds like for some reason he was well below his real strength when we killed him.

"And if the Arkangels declared their impotence, less than nothing you could have done yourself, Rogue!" Vicky exclaimed, grinning a bit as she saw her tease hit the right chord, the muscular wolf straightening with a twitch of his eye.

"I'll be an Arkangel myself soon!" He countered angrily, slamming a hand on the table with a growl, but Vicky, innocence or not, was launched by now.

"Amon-Ra killed Fenrir, something even the Gods failed to do. You better accept it, Rogue." She continued, before adding venomously: "With all it implies."

"We should all calm down, shouldn't we...?" Killer tried calmly, squeezing Vicky's hand gently in his own, and she backed off immediately, blushing slightly and nodding quietly to him, her lips cresting in a warm smile when he gave her his own reassuring one.

Rogue, who had been about to throw himself at Vicky in his rage, sat back down with a contemptuous snort. "He's just a Mortal, weak like every Mortal is."

Killer's eye twitched at this, and Alexis nearly took off to show him who was weak... But the huge male liger shook his head almost imperceptibly, and the femme fatale nodded as lightly, merely shifting in her seat with a grunt. They had been implored to keep cool and cause no havoc... It had already proved to be largely impossible, but start a brawl would have been the ultimate failure. They had to try and avoid the fight, if possible at all.

"Would you give me one of these posters, Vicky...?" Killer asked gently, turning away from the irritating grin on Rogue's face. Diana, I hope you know how frigging hard I'm trying to keep cool. I'd give the world over to smash his face to pulp right now... you are asking me a lot, Diana.

Vicky seemed deeply surprised by his request, but she gladly gave him one, before blushing as she asked hesitatingly: "You... you don't like them...?"

"Oh, no, no." Killer reassured, waving a hand dismissively. "Quite the opposite indeed. I love the picture on it, so I want to conserve one."

"This honors me so much, Amon-Ra!" Vicky exclaimed, and the angels crowded up behind her looked both happy and envious of her. Rogue, of course, mocked her happiness irritatingly from his corner, making Killer glare at him coldly once more.

"You drew it yourself?" Killer asked gently, tilting his head up to her curiously as he smiled, and she nodded with sparkling eyes.

"Now that I know, Master, I will draw things for you! I'll make for you far better pictures than this simple poster, I promise!" The doe happily ensured, and Killer and Alexis traded a smile at the sight of her sincere, impressive joy. The male would have not dared to ask for her artwork to satisfy his wishes, but he now realized that even fake to turn down her offer for courtesy would have actually only hurt her. She truly wanted to draw for him... And with his love for art, he truly couldn't refuse.

"That would make me happy more than words can say." Killer said, smiling softly to her, and Vicky nodded happily, almost crying for that joy she had never dared hoping for.

"I'll soon bring you a new artwork, Master. I'll be so happy to use my talent to please you!" Vicky promised, before she added: "I'll get to work immediately after I spread the great news that our Savior is here! Everyone shall know, and I'll make everyone know of your power and of your kindness, so that everyone can welcome and serve you as you deserve!"

"Well..." Killer awkwardly said before such enthusiasm, but again, he realized he couldn't say her to stop her "propaganda" action without hurting her feelings and those of the dozen other angel girls that followed her, so he decided to let them do. He doubted their posters would have had any real effect, turned anyone at all from hostile to friend... but it couldn't hurt to try, at least. It would have balanced a bit the fact that the hostile party was already going strong in its own campaign against him and Alexis, at least.

He thought he could ask them help for another question, though. They could have done it arising far less attention and warning in town, and with far greater ease and hopes of success.

"May I ask you a service...?" Killer asked calmly, and Vicky and the other angels with her nodded, looking at him with total attention. Rogue, too, and everyone else in the bar, though, had leant in to listen, and this had Killer sighing tiredly and calling Vicky closer, so he could whisper to her: "I'd like you to look around Orion and find out about a baby girl named Katy. She's a tiny kitten girl, and I'm... afraid she might be in danger. I want to make totally sure that she's safe and that she has a peaceful, happy life. I need to know where she lives, so that I can make sure to help her."

Vicky smiled widely, and then nodded, looking at him with even greater adoration now, before she ensured: "It will be done, Master. Your Word is our Law." She knelled down and bowed her head, and the other angels that accompanied her did the same, before they stood slowly back up and left.

"I'll bring the news in to you myself, Master." Vicky assured before going out of the door, and Killer smiled and nodded, adding softly: "It is Killer, Vicky."

The angel blushed a bit and nodded with a smile, before walking out on the street and soon vanishing past the windows of the bar... And Alexis grinned at him from above her huge glass of Whisky. "Now, that was... interesting. Ten minutes in Heaven, and already tens of bitches all around call you Master. Time an hour, you'll have a thousand slaves to keep you entertained." She huskily observed, and her booted foot gently caressed his leg under the table as she winked.

Killer grinned at her, before pulling up his own goblet and drink, looking at her with accomplice, teasing adoration. Rogue, though, looked even more hostile than before, and he had now stood up and walked up to them, standing at the side of their table, with his bull brutes behind him.

"Now, now... So much popularity for a mortal. You were lucky against Fenrir and Regina, but it does not change that you are a mortal in a realm of Immortals and Gods, now. Here, you are going to always be the underdog at the end of the day." The wolf angel proclaimed, crossing his thick arms on the golden plate protecting his masculine chest, the metal shaped to follow the profile of his musculature, an irritating grin on his lips.

"My, my..." Alexis said, theatrically faking horror and fear. "Lover, don't be scared, but there's a big bad wolf here who seems to be angry at us."

"Oh my." Killer let out ironically, crossing his arms on the table and grinning up to Alexis. None of the two ligers had gifted Rogue a single gaze, and the wolf was gritting his fangs in furious outrage at this. "Then we are in trouble."

"Lots of." Alexis agreeably observed, before she put a stop to the game and idly asked: "They aren't much. Want them...?"

"I'm still sleepy." Killer replied calmly, and Alexis grinned, licking her lips slowly even before he added: "They're all yours if you want them."

"So generous you are..." Alexis purred, and she cheerfully stood up on her high-heeled, steel-reinforced black boots, stretching her back a bit as she turned finally to look down at the angel from a good foot of advantage, visually increased by the golden Mohawk of her hair arching tall above her head.

"Come, boy, I'll offer you a drink to cheer on this brawl. I'm not given the whole course for myself often enough." Alexis teasingly said, grabbing an incredulous Rogue by the thick shoulder and pushing him forwards without effort, her muscles barely flexing as he shoved him towards the bench of the bar.

"Don't be egoist now, Alexis." Killer idly observed, as the people at the tables looked after the tall, wonderful female with amazement as she slapped the wolf's ass hard, grinning before shoving him again with a hand, sending the huge, black-furred male almost crashing into the bench.

"One double-whisky for my piercing-boy here." Alexis called cheerfully, grinning her predatory smirk as she looked down to the wolf with icy blue eyes glinting with fake, menacing benevolence. The look of the cat that plays with the captured mouse before eating it... that was it. The little mouse left apparently free to run away... before the mighty paw of the tigress crashed down on its tail and abruptly ended the escape.

"You can't be serious...!" Rogue exclaimed, stupefied and confused, but Alexis merely grinned, pushing towards him the large glass of liquor she had ordered as the bartender's trembling hand put it down on the bench.

"I'm totally serious. They say it makes wounds hurt less if you gulp down a pint of whisky, no...?" Alexis replied cheerfully, totally unimpressed neither by the two enormous bulls standing nearby, nor by the bunch of other guys that were rising from their seats and walking up towards Rogue to back him up.

The wolf angel looked at her silently for a long moment, incredulous of seeing her grinning cheerfully like she was on her lucky day, just about to unwrap a much wished present. He gulped a bit, and sneaked a gaze off to the side to check on the giant male that accompanied her, but he was calmly sitting at the same table as before, and showed no intention at all to stand up and fight.

"What kind of trick do you plan to use...? You can't be so calm without having a trick ready." Rogue asked, getting in a bit of a ready stance, thick fists ready to protect and to strike.

"Now you offend me." Alexis replied calmly. "There's no trick. I don't even know magic shiny tricks, differently from you. And I'll avoid low blows if that's your fear. I'll place them all upstairs."

Rogue's eye twitched at this, and his lips trembled before uncovering gritted fangs as he growled and fired forth a vicious right hook with all his formidable force. He grunted in amazement, though, when his fist hit only air as Alexis merely tilted her head out of the way, grinning widely down at him.

"Slow." She taunted, and he let out a roar of rage as he tried to smash his fist downward on her shoulder to break her collar-bone, firing his other fist forth in a blow aimed to her abdomen.

He had to blink as a gleam of golden hair flashed in front of him with the speed of her move, and she was already twisting to the right, so that his hammer-fist missed entirely, and his other punch was stopped readily by her hand.

The wolf grunted in surprise at the sheer power of her fingers, and she grinned before squeezing hard on his hand, drawing a groan of pain out of him before she agilely slid forwards towards him as a tall angel fox came charging at her. The muscular female twisted Rogue's arm behind his back as she slid out of the way of the charging angel, reaching up her leg to kick him hard in the abdomen and sending him crashing over the bench and beyond it just as her free hand shot out to grab the glass still full of whisky and lift it high up out of the way, putting it back down in safe position.

Killer grinned widely at this from where he rested his head atop his crossed arms over the table, looking over the show with entertainment, and restraining a loud laughter as the fox angel was first bent in two by her turning kick and then thrown over the bench of the bar, flipping to crash back-first into the wide exposition of bottles on the shelves.

He smashed into those with a loud groan, and shelves and bottles all rained down upon him in an explosion of booze and shreds of wood and glass, while Rogue tried to rip free of Alexis's hold, the femme fatale having easily slid behind him and holding his right arm painfully twisted.

She didn't oppose the countermove, and let him break free with a sly grin, bending backwards easily to let his furious uppercut go wasted, kicking her legs upwards instead, and smashing her heel into his chest, sending Rogue crashing backwards onto his bull pals as she bent forwards elegantly, arms out to the sides as she swung her leg back down while kicking backwards with the other at the same time, splitting in midair for a moment with the elegance of a dancer, her blow striking another angel-soldier in full chest, sending him flying through the air to crash atop a table, smashing it to bits as the people sitting at it screamed in surprise and fear, one of them flailing ridiculously before falling backwards with his chair.

She straightened gracefully, and crossed her arms with a grin and a patronizing tilt of her head as Rogue straightened in front of her with a snarl of furious frustration, hands going down to the sides, where he held his magic-enhanced revolver and his long, curved-blade sword.

Killer frowned as he realized he was about to draw his gun out, but he was amazed to see Alexis's hand shooting forwards with the speed of a lightning, seizing the revolver's handle well before Rogue himself could. There was a shocked moment of silence as eyes struggled to see the move, but Alexis drew the gun out of the holster, flipped in easily in midair around her finger and then aimed it straight in the face of an astonished Rogue, her thumb pulling back the cock as her other hand flashed upwards and slapped the angel's face hard.

There was a collective gasp of surprise, and even Killer half-gaped at this, almost as surprised as the people scattered at the tables, who looked at each other in confusion, trying to understand what had just happened. Alexis had moved so rapidly that the eyes hadn't quite picked up the trick... but they immediately had a second chance as the femme fatale flipped the gun again in her hand and holstered it back at the angel's belt. Just to draw it back out quickly as soon as he moved, once more viciously slapping his head to the side as she pushed the thick, octagonal barrel of his own gun into his nose, and do it a third time as ultimate challenge and demonstration of superiority.

Rogue looked at her in shock, his cheek burning red and pulsing with pain as she grinned teasingly, then gave a little nod.

"You didn't really get it, did you...?" Alexis asked, smiling tauntingly. "I can replay it, if you want. Maybe a tad slower, huh...?"

She drew back the enormous, silvery revolver from his nose and windmilled it elegantly once more, easily dropping it back down into its holster and bringing her hands back to her sides, in a perfect western-movie pose.

Rogue was stupid and proud enough to retry drawing his gun out, and again Alexis humiliatingly beat him on the draw, stealing his own gun from his belt. He twitched and half-stepped backwards, raising his arm in defense of his abused cheek... But Alexis this time had merely feigned, and she instead dropped the gun lightning fast and slapped him on the other cheek, cackling in his face unceremoniously.

"Come on, don't drag it...!" Killer teased from his table, but he couldn't help but let out a loud, booming laughter himself from where he leaned over the table.

On Rogue, however, the humor of that show of speed and skill had been evidently wasted, as he let out a howl of animal fury and shouted: "Get her! Get her!"

The two huge bull angels charged forwards like trains, the enormous, steel-reinforced hoofs smashing onto the floor like hammers as they threw their muscular bodies at Alexis, grabbing each an arm of the femme fatale as she stood gamely in front of the bench. They grunted as they shoved down with all their weight and strength to nail her muscular arms to the bench's surface, nearly smashing across the massive wood, and Rogue immediately charged forth with a grin to begin smashing vicious punches in her stomach, left, right, left. "This will teach you, bitch! This is it!"

"It is not much then." Alexis replied teasingly, flexing her powerful abdominals idly under the angel's furious blows, every punch meeting a solid barrier of muscle that gave Rogue the same feeling of impotence if punching a mountain. Then her grin turned in a growl as she finally decided to react, and she arched her back, tearing her muscular arms up from the bench: the bulls' eyes went wide as they felt her biceps bulge explosively in their hold, and her arms inexorably drew up.

"Fuck!" Whitey let out, and the other bull couldn't even manage that much, both victim of shock as their hoofs were lifted clear out the ground, both 15-foot-plus bulky males being lifted high up into the air, before Alexis grinned and slammed the two bulls into Rogue, sending all three angels collapsing on the floor with groans of agony.

The fox angel she had earlier knocked past the bench emerged with a howl of challenge from the pile of broken bottles and shelves and threw himself at Alexis's back: she saw the ghostly image of his energy signature leaping at her far before he actually moved, and she pushed the glass of whisky skidding to safety to the left over the bench before the fox slammed his feet into the table and wrapped his thick arms around her neck, trying to stranglehold her.

Alexis grinned to Killer and immediately bent forwards, the fox overbalancing with a grunt and almost falling over her back, his head protruding past hers for a short moment... just enough for her open palm to slam hard upwards against his chin.

There was a howl of agony unable to hide the sickening crunch of a jaw cracking to pieces as blood and teeth burst out of the fox's mouth. Alexis, implacable, grabbed the angel's arms and threw him flying across the room, sending him crashing painfully into the wall.

Blackie was the first one who tried to stand up, but as soon as he got into a kneel, Alexis smashed her fist straight down onto his head, knocking him sprawling, unconscious, with a contemptuous snort.

Killer looked on in fascination as she grabbed by the neck another careless angel that had been stupid enough to stand up and charge at her and threw him straight across a window, glass exploding in every direction as the winged soldier crashed onto the walkway of stone with a howl of pain. Another angel, a slender raccoon, stared at this in horror and apparently realized he had no chances against her force, so that he kept at distance, grabbed a sturdy wooden chair and slammed it into Alexis's back with all his force, letting out a shout of challenge.

The piece of furniture exploded in pieces at the impact, but Alexis apparently hadn't even noticed, grabbing the glass of whisky from the bench and throwing it high up into the air before Whitey smashed his hands down in a vicious hammer blow: Alexis slid out of the way at the last moment, and the muscular angel smashed the structure of massive, dark and ancient wood to dust and slivers.

The femme fatale was already stopping Rogue's jab with her hand, and when the bull turned to strike at her apparently vulnerable side, her free hand shot up and smashed a lightning-fast uppercut across his thick arms raised in defense, sending the bull collapsing backwards on top of a table that was shattered by his bulky mass.

It happened at unbelievable speed, so much that Alexis, with perfect timing, slid to the side to avoid Rogue's next punch and all but grabbed the glass of liquor as it began to fall back down, throwing it to her other hand before lashing out her fist to hit Rogue straight in the eye, carrying out the blow with her body and stepping forth to twist her arm and smash her elbow sideways into the angel's temple.

Rogue fell to a knee with a grunt of pain, blood trickling out of an ear and from his nose, but he flapped his wings once and slid out of the way before she could finish him, his bull friends charging again at her with fury.

Alexis once more threw the goblet into the air and reached backwards to grab the edge of the broken bench with her hands, kicking upwards with her long, seductive legs as she grinned, the glass still full of whisky landing lightly on her forehead and staying there even as her boots smashed into the bulls' faces, sending them crashing away on the floor once more.

She bent her head forth rapidly, sending the glass flying upwards as she quickly straightened and grasped it in midair even as her other hand reached up and backwards to smash another thick chair to fragments before the raccoon could slam it into her back.

Rogue straightened before her once more, and this time his hands were glowing with the red light of some sort of spell probably based around fire, but whatever it was, Alexis charged forth leaving him no time to strike at her with magic: he had enough time to growl in shock at her speed before she launched up the glass a final time and leapt at him, grabbing his shoulders and bending him violently forwards as she lashed her knee up into his sternum.

The blow was ferocious, and Rogue let out a howl of agony, drool and blood flying from his jaws as he was bent painfully over her knee, the gleam around his hands vanishing immediately, even before Alexis slammed her elbow down on the back of his neck. She could have easily made it lethal, but for once, she did not snap the spine of her victim like a twig, as Killer had feared she would.

Rogue collapsed in a moaning heap on the floor, and Alexis grinned widely reaching a hand idly up to seize the falling glass of whisky, finally empting it with a single, long mouthful. "You are hot air, angel." She sentenced, smirking tauntingly down at the mostly-unconscious wolf, as everyone in the bar looked at her with total awe as she idly threw the empty glass away.

The most shocked one, though, was the raccoon angel that, frantically grabbing chair after chair, was trying desperately to knock her down by smashing into her back every piece of furniture he could get in his hands, trembling like a leaf during a storm.

Killer looked at this amusedly as he stood up and approached the femme fatale, totally unfazed by the table that the raccoon wrecked on her muscular back. "That one is breaking chairs on your back, you know..." The huge male observed lightly, and Alexis shrugged with a grin, reaching idly back with a arm and grabbing the angel by the neck, crushing his throat under her fingerless glove of black leather as she lifted him high up idly.

"Yeah, but he's not a bad boy, in the deep, right...?" Alexis said calmly, nodding agreeably before turning a bit to the frightened raccoon, who had paled to a dull white and was grabbing at her fingers with both hands to try and lighten her crushing grasp on his airways.

"No... n... no." He assured breathlessly.

"Good. Now stop it, while you are lucky, huh...?" Alexis replied softly, and she dropped him unceremoniously to the floor, where the angel collapsed, spluttering and panting harshly as he tried to get his breath back.

"Come on now, be generous, pay my drinks and contribute to repay the damages to this nice little place." Alexis said cheerfully, but still there was no doubt that it was a command which could only be executed, and rapidly. She ripped the raccoon's shirt off and used it to collect the cascade of thick coins of gold that the beaten angels were quick to dig out of their pockets, Rogue included. He took the little sack of thick leather he kept tied to his belt and untied the rope that kept it shut, sending several coins of gold falling into the cloth Alexis was holding... But when she glared at him a bit, he was fast in throwing in the whole sack.

Alexis nodded with a grin. "Good boys. Now pick up your shit and get the hell out. This is our zone."

"But... You... But you can't chase us away! You have no right to!" Rogue stammered in outrage, but Alexis merely shrugged, grinning widely.

"I have the power to. Want me to kick you out myself...?" She asked teasingly, and the angel gulped before standing up shakily, followed by the bulls and the other beaten down pals, who all scrambled quickly out under her grinning gaze, her powerful arms crossed on her chest.

"Why the hell we can't enter a bar without ending up inexorably in a brawl...?" Killer asked mildly, crossing his arms quietly as he looked after them, and Alexis shrugged as she walked towards the bartender, dropping the heavy sack of golden coins on top of the bench as she said teasingly: "I blame how awesome we are. I guess people gets envious fast." She looked down to the shaking bartender, who stared at her with fearful eyes from a corner, and she said idly: "That's for the drinks and for the damages. It should be enough to cover it all. And stop trembling, goddamnit. Get a fucking grip on yourself, dude."

The femme fatale walked away to reach Killer at one of the very few tables left untouched in the brawl, and as she sat down there with the giant male, the bartender walked shakily forwards, reaching a trembling hand up to sort into the torn cloth filled with gold. He had to restrain himself from exploding with greedy joy: there was actually much more in there than was needed to cover the damages... there was a little fortune in there, and he looked up after the muscular female, wondering for a moment if he should risk or not. But the greed rapidly took the upper hand, and he gladly took the whole sack, hiding it away in a drawer of the thick bench.

"Bastard." Alexis idly observed as she read in his feelings, and Killer arched an eyebrow curiously.

"The little ass behind the bench has been smart enough to take all the money, even if there was quite a lot more than was needed to pay everything up." She explained calmly, but her voice was loud enough that the bartender heard it and frozen in place, before undergoing a series of violent changes of skin color as he first paled white like a cloth and then blushed violently on the cheeks, trembling.

"N... no, no! Milady, no! I was... huh... going to give you back the correct amount, obviously! I swear!"

"Yeah..." Alexis said ironically, nodding agreeably but with a snort of derision. "Hell, and I thought Heaven was the place of good, honest and awesome people."

It wasn't for the money... had the bartender been honest and had he come saying that there was too much gold he did not deserve, she would have most likely gifted him all or most of the coins. It was the attempt of tricking her and Killer that was to be punished: he, just like everyone else, had to learn, and lean fast, that there was no joking with the legendary warriors of the Mortal Plane.

The message reached the addressee alright, and the bartender was fast in starting scrupulous calculations of the effective damages, and his promises of honesty were met by Alexis's idle, almost merciless: "I'll know if you lie."

Killer's attention, however, was captured by something else, as a slender, black furred tigress angel with six glowing wings stepped into the bar from the main door and walked towards him.

Diana was quite impressive, wearing a tight corset of white leather, sturdy enough to be considered a light armor, also because, almost surely, it was imbued with some kind of protective spell. Her arms, left bare, showed fair, toned musculature, sign that her training had been progressing well... She was far from the mighty musculature of Alexis, but she was athletic, toned and strong all the same. Her corset underlined flatteringly the firmness of her good sized breasts and the flat, toned abdomen of the angel. Her legs, mostly bare as she wore a simple red loincloth with golden borders and decorations, showed seductive and toned thighs, and she wore high-heeled boots of the same thick white leather of her bodice.

Her ruby eyes were all the more impressive, framed by the black swirling tattoo typical of Seraphims... but of course, the most impressive thing was the long broadsword resting on her back, inserted in a simple metallic ring in the back of the corset.

The reddish blade was evidently made of Godblood, so Killer had to guess that his innocent and shy Diana had learned to be fearsome in combat when she needed to be. Otherwise, she would have never been issued with such a powerful and precious weapon, reserved to Seraphims and Arkangels, the very best fighters Heaven had to offer.

Unless, of course, the blacksmith has been lying about Godblood... but he has not. I do not need to see in his mind like Alexis can to say without doubts that that one blade was absolutely flawless.

"Killer..." Diana breathed happily, before wrapping her arms as best she could around his enormous, masculine frame as she licked at her lips gently before kissing him, and the huge male worked his lips back over hers with affection, squeezing her closer with his strong arms and rocking her gently in his hold as her lips departed lightly, just enough to allow him to push his tongue into her mouth, where hers welcomed him passionately, before letting him take the upper, dominant hand in the playful tongue-wrestling that followed.

Finally, she drew slowly back, licking her lips slowly to taste him needingly, and he smiled down at her before she straightened and suddenly glared a bit at him. Something that once she would have never had the courage to do.

"I met Rogue and his feet-suckers running away, all beaten up and scared like they had met all of the Demon Lords at once." She said, crossing her arms and looking around herself to take in the full amount of the devastation in the bar, where most of the tables and chairs and even the enormous sturdy bench were either damaged or completely shattered. "You obviously have no responsibility in that, huh...?" The angel inquired, glaring at him a bit.

"No. I claim total innocence." Killer replied quietly, grinning stupidly before he pointed at Alexis with a finger. "In fact, she's the one to blame."

"Alexis..." Diana sighed, but the femme fatale merely grinned cheerfully, legs crossed over the table as she leaned back in her chair, playing idly with a small but heavy sack of gold handed in her hands by the bartender a moment before. "What...?" The femme fatale asked stupidly, grinning widely.

"I PRAYED you two to keep a low profile." Diana replied tiredly, sitting heavily down in the free chair at their table.

"We tried." Alexis replied, shrugging a bit. "Really!" She exclaimed when Diana looked flatly at her with an arched eyebrow.

"Yeah, I do recognize that Rogue is an irritant hot-air inflated ass. He surely teased you two with all his claims... He sorta believes he's the strongest being EVER. And he just got endlessly worse from when he's started the training to become an Arkangel." Diana finally admitted, sighing a bit before she snorted: "Dumbass."

Alexis grinned at that, and nodded agreeably. "That's what I thought too."

"Well, don't go making his same error, now, though. He's probably been stupid enough to think he could take on you with physical might, and got his ass kicked all over the place. But he won't make the same mistake again." Diana replied firmly, looking at Killer and then at Alexis with decision and emphasis. "He's an excellent mage, and he's being taught to be an Arkangel. His powers grow by the day, and he knows many extremely effective spells. You two have the physical might of the greatest Arkangels and Demon Lords, but you know NOTHING about magic. You have to realize how much of a problem this is... Until you'll have learned your share of spells and counterspells, you are vulnerable. So, PLEASE, be careful."

Alexis nodded, but Killer could see in her eyes the pride. She does not accept it. She does not believe it. And it is hard for me as well. Us... vulnerable...? It is not easy to accept.

Diana looked at them both flatly, and her lips narrowed as she realized that they still did not get the full extent of the power of the Immortals. It was a major problem... but she knew there was nothing she could do about it. Killer and Alexis were both too proud to truly believe to her advice, and there was no way to change the two stubborn warriors. Alexis, possibly, was worse than Killer by a good margin. She had been a jet fighter pilot as well, and fighter pilots always tend to be overly confident in their skills... And over everything else, she had amazing powers. She knew nothing of magic, but she had formidable innate abilities. And much as she still had a control over a minimum part of her powers, she was deadly. Enough to believe she was completely invincible.

It was a dangerous assumption... But Diana had no time to even try fighting that belief.

"We've got no time. I've run here as soon as I've managed to meet you two before the others come... But Michael was fighting a mere few yards south of me in the Meadows, and he'll soon be here himself. I can answer very few of your many questions... so choose them wisely." Diana said urgently, and Killer nodded before immediately asking: "Are we dead?"

Diana looked surprised, perhaps by his rapidity, but quickly shook her head. "No. Your Mortal bodies are still in the bed, sleeping. But there's no way you two could be awakened, right now, since we've exploited your sleeping to portal your essence in Heaven. Until you don't leave Heaven to reconnect with your physical Mortal beings, your bodies will be... alive but dead." She paused, and then ran a hand awkwardly in her hair. "Ok, it is hard to explain. Either way, no, you are definitely alive, and at the dawn of the new day on the Mortal Plane, we'll make sure to send both of you back down. Thanks to the time difference between the planes, the night will allow us almost two thousand years of time to start training you both."

"Two... two... thousands...?" Killer observed stupidly, making a face. "Gods, that's a lot of time!"

"It won't be anywhere near long enough to teach you much. Heaven and Hell run on times far different than that of the Mortal Plane... and the Power of the Immortals is not just incomparably greater than any Mortal Power, but also endlessly harder and longer to acquire, learn and conquer. I don't know how many nights you'll need. We all hope to be able to teach you in as few as possible, since we all need your power desperately." Diana replied readily, and Killer and Alexis traded a bit of a gaze between them. It sounded like so fucking much to their mortal way to reason!

"Next question." Alexis said calmly. "Who the fuck is Michael...?"

Diana blinked, then said firmly: "He's trouble for us." She bowed her head a bit, then looked up at Killer with resignation. They'll never be friends, on this I can bet without being a Prophetess. Two cocks of these proportions... oh, hell, no this kind of puns... will never be able to share the same world. Each is a ruler for nature, and each won't share anything with the other.

"Michael is a Prince Arkangel. One of the Seven Princes of Heaven, the most powerful beings to ever exist, if we exclude the Gods from the picture. He's the Chief Angel of our lord God. The absolute monarch of the 4th Heaven, the Angel of Repentance, and a thousand other titles." Diana explained, and both Killer and Alexis listened attentively this time. "He has no great sympathy for you, to say the least. He does not accept that we depend from you, and he is highly critical of your effective power and relevance. He opposed the plan of training you from the very start... So he's likely to be a problem all along."

"Great." Killer tiredly grumbled. "Another one to add to the list."

"He doesn't want me or anyone else to help you, so I had to run here as soon as the fighting was over. But he'll soon arrive, too, and then I'll be unable to help you in any way." Diana added, and Killer nodded in acceptation of both her warning and of the urgency of the moment. He had so many questions, starting from asking her about the fighting in the Meadows that she had just mentioned... But it was evident that he would have had to bottle his questions away once more, hoping to get answers one day.

"We saw part of the opposition to our presence here." Alexis said calmly, crossing her arms slowly. "They were putting up posters pointing out to the fact that we... aren't exactly angelic."

"Oh. That." Diana said distastefully, making a grimace. "That is merely a part of the problem. The less relevant, I'd dare to say. More than openly against you two, those are against the current situation of Heaven. They call themselves "The Righteous", and sustain that Heaven must be far more selective in the choice of the souls to bring here in paradise. Was it for them, Heaven would be empty. No one is completely clean from Sins... not even them, but obviously they have a very high opinion of themselves." She paused, then added bitterly: "Anyway, they must be pretty happy right now, overall. With the Reapers bringing souls mostly only to Hell to make the armies of demons larger and more powerful, almost no one at all enters Heaven anymore."

"And the ones that do are combat worthy like tea spoons." Alexis added, remembering the bunch of souls on the ship. "I doubt they were rare Sin-less souls... so they have no chances, for what I've understood, to become Incarnations of a Virtue. Anyway, even if they were, it would take Eons for them to change and gain that power. So, for now at least, they are completely useless."

"Exactly." Diana admitted sadly, nodding a bit. "Either way, before Michael arrives, I must warn you of a few unpleasant things." She added, and by the way she looked at them, biting her lower lips with the expression of someone who's entering the funeral of a dear one, Killer could easily understand that unpleasant was a massive understatement.

"First and worst news is that you'll soon be separated." Diana finally let out, and Killer and Alexis traded a horrified look.

"The Gods have struggled to find an agreement on bringing you to Heaven to be trained, and compromises had to be made. One is that you can't be trained together. The Gods fear your power, and fear the full, still unknown extent of your abilities. They consider each of you a deadly threat, and the thought of both of you in the same place horrifies them." Diana explained quietly, looking down at the table in shame and pain. More than anyone else, Diana knew the depth of the bonds between Killer and Alexis... and she could only imagine how the prospect of spending 2000 years separated one from the other had to feel for them.

She knew it well. She had been separated from Killer for millions of years, after all, prisoner of a Heaven that was no Paradise for her, as he was in a whole different world, away from her.

Killer stared at Alexis silently, half-gaping, horrified by the news. Her hand had immediately searched his when Diana had made the announcement, and found it just as fast as he searched hers. Now, their hands were squeezing together almost painfully, expressing the desperate need to stay together, to face the future together.

The thought of being separated was inacceptable. Unconceivable.

Alexis stared back at him with eyes that, for the first time in forever, didn't gleam with any playfulness, nor with her endless confidence and teasing arrogance. They were almost void. Still beautiful, but robbed of that added flame that she always had, burning with arrogant might in her expression.

They both wanted to shout.

"I'm sorry... I could do nothing about it..." Diana shamefully murmured, but she got no answer for a long time.

It was Alexis the one who finally bitterly spat: "The Gods realize that this is the worst possible way for them to approach us, yes? Had I had any sympathy for them, with this it died." Her voice was venomous and firm, merciless like she was when sniping, if not more... And Diana could swear that the temperature in the bar had suddenly grown several degrees, like her fury could put the air of Heaven on a vicious fire. It made her drip cold pearls of sweat.

Killer was equally furious, she could see it. His musculature was tense, enormous muscles bulging like tires, hard like stone, veins showing over his biceps, as his eyes narrowed with an expression of pure hate. Diana knew that expression.

In that moment, he would have exterminated the whole town gladly. He and Alexis would have gladly rampaged all over Heaven. Together. Powerful and ferocious. Merciless and unrestrainable.

It took Killer all of his self control to stay motionless and accept that there was nothing he could realistically do. He traded another gaze with Alexis, and her expression told him exactly the same thing: they needed Heaven's training, teachings and help to bring their full power out. They needed that power to continue the fight and save their family. Their beloved son and daughter, their friends, Diana herself... and to save themselves in the first place, before someone could kill them and shape them into mindless superweapons to use to force the whole world down on its knees.

There was no choice. There had probably never been, from the very start of their life, when such immense power had grown into them. There was no way to escape, no way to ignore it...

And both Killer and Alexis loved each other because, between so many other reasons, each knew the other would never run away from a challenge. No matter how terrible, how merciless, how desperate. Killer wouldn't have run away from the danger. Even less so, when it implied turning his back on Alexis. And the femme fatale was just as inexorably determined and loyal.

"What about the other nasty news...?" The two ligers asked in unison, and Diana couldn't help but stare at them for a moment, smiling in deep admiration and in endless gratitude.

"As part of the agreement, it has been ordered that half of your training will happen in Hell." Diana stated, and she amazed to see the two ligers nod with was almost a grin, like the news was actually a good one. Then again, Hell was little scare for Killer and Alexis, especially when they had just been told the far worse news of their forced separation. "The Gods and the Demon Lords want to be sure that Heaven is not trying to shape you two into private superwarriors to use to gain the absolute domain. You two are to be trained to ensure a balance between the planes, by protecting the Mortal Plane from invasion, from any side it might come, and by standing tall between the planes with your power to keep Heaven and Hell in check." The angel explained, and Killer nodded silently.

Gods. Am I really so powerful to be able to do that...?

He did not dare answering to his question, though. He was pretty sure he wouldn't have liked the answer in any case: a 'No' would have unpleasant. But a 'yes' was potentially very scary an answer, knowing the vicious beast that lived within him and that he barely managed to restrain...

"We've arranged that most of your stay in Hell will happen in the Circle of Lust, to try and avoid selling you to the enemy entirely." Diana resumed, explaining calmly the situation. It had taken her years of stealth work in the background to try and sweeten the pill as much as possible. Diana, Swan, William and many others had by now a whole secret organization working inside Heaven to support Killer as much as possible... Of course, that organization could work and survive because some of the Gods were sided with them too. Without their support, they would have all been caught and punished in no time. "If here in Heaven you have rivals, opposition and enemies, in Hell you have armies of demons who absolutely want you dead..." Plus most of the ones you killed on the Mortal Plane, which still hate you. And they are... an absurd number... "But in the Circle of Lust, you two are heroes. The most of your supporters in Hell is concentrated in the Hell of Lust, so I could arrange to find you a good mentor there. They will support you, and you'll be a little bit safer during your trainings."

"Oh, it will be fun." Alexis said cheerfully, grinning predatorily at the thought of entering the Circle of Lust.

"Other bad news for today...?" Killer asked tiredly, leaning over his arms, crossed atop the table.

"One." Diana answered, giving a supportive smile as he rolled his eyes upwards. "The Gods want you to show what you've got before you are accepted for training in Heaven. As soon as Michael does arrive-"

"Which is right now." A deep voice interrupted, and Killer looked up to the door of the bar as Diana paled a bit. The first thing the huge male saw were angels. Huge muscular males clad in golden armor and armed with giant sickleswords, with four mighty wings coming out from their broad, powerful backs. None of them was shorter than 15 feet, and most rivaled with Killer in terms of height and bulk.

They quickly ordered in two lines at the two sides of the door, under the porch of the bar, while two more entered the room, walking side to side: a golden, tall and conical helmet covered their heads, and its front came down enough to totally hide the eyes, leaving only the mouth uncovered.

It was quite creepy, to have no sight of their eyes, no hint of their expression and features... and yet know that they were staring at him, sizing him up. He could feel their gaze all over his form, and it felt like they could see across him and into his soul.

It made Killer stiffen up a bit in his seat as he gazed back at them with the same intensity, and with even more curiosity. Their evident might, the aura of power they seemed to radiate, the mystery of their hidden faces, the thick armor of Godblood wrapped in pure gold, and their muscular, huge bodies with the four mighty wings behind were enough to remove every doubt on their identity: Arkangels, the pride of Heaven. The most formidable of paradise's fighting forces, together with the Seraphims. The highest order of the servants of God, the guards of the Gods, the only beings which truly were in direct contact with God, able to speak to him on a sort of constant, unbreakable psychic link.

Killer took a long moment to realize that a complete silence had fallen onto the bar, and that everyone, Diana included, had dropped to their knees on the floor and bowed deeply down almost enough to kiss the earth.

He and Alexis finally slowly stood from their seats as Michael himself came forwards: there was no doubt on his identity, since he was well over 20 feet tall, massive with a powerful, muscular body clad in an armor that glowed a blazing white light.

A chest plate protected his torso, but was modeled over his masculine breast enough that it was like he walked around naked. His muscular arms were bare, same for armlets that wrapped around the forearms and two thick rings of gold wrapped tightly around his biceps. It made you wonder how could they not rip apart when he flexed, since they looked overwhelmed by the potent muscle already in relax phase. A groin plate reaching almost down to his knees was worn over a red loincloth, the front part of which almost reached the ground. Other plates protected his hips, back and partially covered his muscular thighs. He wore heavy, spiked combat boots of the same gold-plated Godblood material.

His helmet did not cover his eyes, but even so, Killer had difficulties connecting the angel to any kind of known species: he looked almost like a weird mix of a sabertooth tiger and dragon. His body, from the potent and proudly shown abdominals to the muscular legs and strong arms were covered by thick, smooth red scales, and he also had a long, reptilian tail behind his back, ending with a series of curved, vicious spikes... But his muzzle wasn't really reptilian. Over his chest, the scales gave space to a thick mane of white fur, and his head was equally white furred, more tiger-like than dragon... And with sabertooth fangs coming out of his mouth, under the proud and noticeably arrogant gaze of his bright-brown eyes. The helmet hid most of his masculine mane, but white fur drew a line down the middle of his back and all along the top of his tail.

The two Arkangels quickly stepped to opposite sides and took position while the prince of the 4th Heaven walked forwards, grinning a bit as he saw everyone kneeling around him...

And Killer was quick to notice that Michael had apparently no intention at all to allow people to stand up anytime soon. Bastard. Useless bullying that you could all too well avoid.

If for nothing else, that reason was enough to ensure that Killer and Alexis did immediately drop any intention to even just hint at a bow, standing resolutely in the middle of the room as the prince angel approached.

Michael's eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked over the two ligers, horrified by the fact they did not bow before him. His smile, that had looked fake and far more of an arrogant smirk than any sign of not even friendship but simple politeness from the very start, vanished to turn into almost a growl before he raised a hand with a sharp command: "Bow, Mortals!"

Killer grunted as an immense force smashed into his back and pushed him forwards, and he saw Alexis gritting her own fangs as she flexed and pushed mightily back against the gigantic, invisible hand that was trying to crush them both... And as he struggled to resist, feeling his spine creak a bit but not wanting to give in, Alexis's eyes flashed sapphire and a blast of dark blue energy shot towards Michael.

The angel merely grinned, and the beam of energy impacted against an invisible barrier that glowed golden light and sent crackling electricity sparkling around the angel's form as the blow was parried.

"Lesson one: you can't take on me. Monarchs are protected by a Divine Barrier granted by the Gods themselves." Michael intoned patronizingly, grinning a bit as he forced his open palm down, his bicep bulging explosively as he applied more of his force, and the invisible energy pushing against Killer's and Alexis's shoulders grew tenfold stronger, making both wince as they stubbornly resisted.

Michael's eye twitched in rage at this, and he growled before stepping forwards hastily and forcing even harden downwards as he realized that Diana and everyone else in the bar was staring at them, amazed by the fact that the two newcomer mortals could stand up to the Prince Arkangel.

This time, it was too much, and Killer and Alexis bent forwards awkwardly with a grunt of both shock and rage, the two glaring upwards towards the grinning angel.

"Lesson two, you always will bow before me." Michael patronizingly said, underlining his control, before finally dropping his hand back down to his side, so that the force burdening over Killer's shoulders was finally lifted.

"You are starting a war you can't win, babe." Alexis replied evenly, her grin unfazed by the setback, and Michael glared at her with a rage that looked absolutely out of place on an angel... Then again, we've had ample chances to see that lots of things in Heaven aren't like you'd imagine them...

"Don't you dare, mortal bitch." The four-winged angel venomously said. "Amon-Ra or not, I'm stronger than the both of you, and if you get in my way, I'll destroy you both."

Alexis puffed, grinning widely and idly setting her leather jacket over her muscular shoulders. "You can kiss my boot, boy."

The angel snarled, and he was about to lash a hand up when Diana quickly straightened from her kneel and grabbed his arm, restraining him. "No, majesty, no! They are the only hope of Heaven! Even the Prophecy is clear on that!"

Michael glared down at her with contempt, but he merely roughly shoved her back off, sending Diana stumbling backwards with a grunt before Killer gently seized her in his hands and let her rest against his potent abdomen, glaring over her into the Prince's eyes with a silent, terrible menace.

"The Prophecy..." Michael spat out with distaste, before shrugging. "Prophecies are wrong at times. And even more often, they are misinterpreted. The fact that our Prophetesses love this..." Michael glared over Killer, looking at him from head to toe and back. "...mortal..." He spat the word with considerable distaste, and it only made Killer even colder and angrier at the arrogant Arkangel . "...does not mean that he's necessarily the Savior. After all, can we really believe that anyone could stand up to the Gods...? And believed that the one who can is a mortal...?"

"You drop your fancy magic out of the game for a moment and I show you." Killer said coldly, looking at him with eyes that, if possible at all, were colder than their usual icy blue.

Michael grinned, then rose a hand with a grin and slammed it forth in midair, his palm open, sending an invisible but monstrous force towards Killer's chest: he had barely enough time to shove Diana out of the way before he was viciously slammed backwards, feet digging trenches into the floor as he stubbornly resisted with the monstrous physical might of his body.

"But, my friend, magic is power. You may pack a good punch, one that no mortal can rival perhaps, but you are in a world of Immortals now. And none of your enemies will hesitate in using magic to bring you down to your knees." Michael said calmly, grinning widely as Killer and Alexis glared at him with fury.

His arrogance made him unbearable... but what was worse was the awareness that, without knowing a thing of magic, and with the Divine Barrier in place, Killer and Alexis were impotent against the Monarch of the 4th Heaven.

It was a whole new feeling they had never faced. Even Alexis, even with her powers, couldn't find a way to get to the Arkangel: the divine barrier was visible in her energy-vision... a sphere that wrapped around the angel entirely, leaving no weak spot at all. There was no way to go past that barrier granted by the Gods, which was so far stronger than even the barrier that had protected Regina, granted her by the Scribes and Scholars of Hell...

"You two are a waste of time and resources." Michael claimed, crossing his potent arms on his chest. "But I'm sure it won't be a long-lasting waste. We'll soon demonstrate that you two have none of the power that will decide this war."

"Don't turn everything in a competition for who's got the biggest cock, boy, because you'd lose that." Killer replied calmly, his body apparently relaxed but tense and ready instead: the Arkangel was rapid, powerful and impossible to touch. The last thing he needed was to also be unprepared to a possible assault.

The Arkangel was apparently taken by surprise, however, and he did not find anything to reply, his eye twitching instead as Alexis grinned and Diana walked back in with seraphic calm, smiling with a bit of undeniable amusement at Killer's last attack.

"Majesty, I must remind you that the Gods are waiting." Diana said calmly, but her voice held both authority and a bit of firm reprimand for the Arkangel's earlier treatment on her. She was not going to let the force of the Prince have the upper hand on her, and Killer smiled a bit to himself, admiring the new Diana, her new strength and confidence.

The Arkangel looked at her briefly, his expression bored... but he had to nod and agree. "True. We'll better get going." He signaled to the two soldiers at the door, and they snapped a salute before walking out and getting the rest of the troop in marching order, before the Prince turned to Killer and Alexis with a grin and said teasingly: "Now we'll see what you are worth. The Gods want you two to be tested some... So we'll have you sent back to the Mortal Plane immediately if you fail, and I don't doubt you will."

"Dream it." Killer and Alexis replied flatly, walking past him and onto the street, followed by a smirking Diana.