FSE

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I apologize to my two/three readers for the long time it took. This chapter was a true challenge, and things, from university to mostly everything, conspired to slow down my writing and leaving me without writing time/writing mood. I finished this only half an hour ago, so it is still hot, literally. I just hope it'll be worth the waiting... And moreover, i hope you actually had the patience to wait for it! Enjoy, and sorry again for the long time. I truly hope the next part will take much less to come out.

_ *Learning who you are. Learning what you are, and what you can do. Learning how to fight. All over again. * _

Chapter 45: Into Heaven

The Arkangels assembled outside the Inn looked at Killer and Alexis with mixed feelings. Even if their eyes were hidden by the helmets, making them all the more scary, you could guess the curiosity, the apprehension and in many times the hostility. Even towards Diana, they showed no courtesy... and it wasn't just because of the eternal rivalry between Arkangels and Seraphims, but because she was the most faithful allied of Killer in Heaven, and this had made her a major target for the open hate of so many in Paradise.

She ignored them, however, once again showing a confidence and a grip on herself and on her feelings that Killer couldn't miss, and that he admired: sweet and innocent as always, Diana was evidently learning that at times you have to be cold. She was turning into a proud warrior... And it made Killer smile slightly as he squeezed Diana's shoulder affectively, looking down at her with gratitude and admiration.

Alexis, of course, merely crossed her arms and glared around at the whole platoon of Arkangels, her grin challenging any of them to say a single word or make a step forwards... Before she huffed and turned back to growl: "Come out already! We don't have all day to waste!"

Michael, Monarch of the 4th Heaven and favorite of God Himself, walked out of the bar with a snarl, glaring at her with hate as he walked forwards and shouldered roughly into Killer to take the lead.

The huge male liger snorted, stiffening in place so that the angel pretty much crashed into his muscular arm and did not manage to budge him at all... But immediately, a tremendous discharge of electricity made Killer groan and stumble a few steps to the side, blue lightnings crackling around his body as horrible, burning agony seized his whole body for a torturous moment.

"You and your cheap ass tricks." Killer spat with distaste between harsh pants, glaring up to Michael, but the angel merely grinned from over his shoulder as he walked up ahead. The the agony slowly faded away, Killer's hands still spasming uncontrollably for a moment and his muscles bulging and flexing at their own crazed will, before Diana touched him with a warm hand and easily healed him entirely, mouthing silently some kind of spell.

"So handy to have the Supreme Healer Priestess as friend." Killer whispered gently, smiling down at her, and Diana smiled back up with a wink, even as a light blush colored her cheeks: Killer was still able to make her melt with the smallest of attentions.

"Playing dumbass now will only ensure I kick your ass harder lately, when I'll know how to turn your tricks against you, and shove them up your angelic ass." Alexis said venomously, glaring to the back of Michael and blasting out another explosion of psychic force: just like earlier, however, Michael ignored it as the Divine Barrier that protected the Monarchs once again effortlessly repealed the attack. A couple of Arkangels standing close suffered the consequences, as remains of the blast ricocheted to the sides and smashed them off to opposite directions, sending both crashing into the houses on the two sides of the street, hard enough to demolish the outer walls and collapse inside the buildings.

"Ops!" Alexis commented with a grin, walking past them both as the other Arkangels ran in to help their comrades... And Michael turned with a snarl and lashed out a hand at her.

Alexis was more than ready to respond, and a barrier of her own sapphire energy enveloped her immediately, but somehow, Michael's attack was unfazed and easily passed through the shield, smashing into her muscular abdomen and making her release a grunt of pain and fury as she was slammed ten feet backwards, her steel-soled combat boots digging deep scratches on the pavement of stones.

"Stop it!" Michael commanded angrily, and Alexis glared back at him with a snarl, straightening and flexing her powerful musculature as she slammed her gloved fists together... But Killer gave her an almost imperceptible shake of his head and Diana pleaded her with a gaze, inviting her to prudence and patience.

"You ass." She spat, straightening and rolling her shoulders a bit as she walked back up to Killer's side. "Your ass-kicking is only delayed." She stated firmly, pointing a finger at the Monarch.

Michael grimaced, most likely in disgust for how little damage he had caused to the muscular female, who minute after minute proved to be even stronger than she looked with her powerful musculature, but then he grinned unpleasantly and turned to walk onwards. "You'll never be strong enough to do it, Mortal. Surrender to the truth."

"Dumbass's hopes." Alexis commented mildly, lacing her fingers behind her head and flexing a bit as she walked side to side with Killer, trading a grin with him as the Monarch of the Fourth Heaven guided them down the street until they were straight beneath the shadow casted by the immense middle bulwark of the three, identical and gigantic towers that loomed over the small town of Orion.

There, they turned to right to climb an apparently endless staircase sculptured step by step into the sloped scarp base of the towers. The staircase was narrow, so much that Killer had to let Diana step ahead of him and Alexis had to follow behind his huge form, with a platoon of Arkangels leading the way, just behind Michael, and another closing the queue. On both sides of them, the steep scarp was covered with cruel, jutting blades of rusty steel, crystal and other, even nastier magic traps that gleamed lightly with vivid, blood-like red.

Killer looked up, winching a bit at how dizzy he felt for a second as he had to arch backwards to see the top of the enormous towers, the sun above almost blinding him, valiantly helped by the globes of light that hovered above each bulwark. Had he been intent on assault the fortress, he would have been pretty much incapable to even make a pathetic attempt to fire at the defenders on top. He couldn't even see them! While, for sure, they were in perfect sight from above: mages, archers, and simple soldiers throwing down massive boulders from the openings in the corbels on top of the bulwarks could have massacred every assaulting force with ease.

It was a tiring climbing, that seemed to never reach the top. When they finally did, they emerged on top of a small embankment between two of the three towers. The monstrous, circular base of the immense towers made even Killer feel small as they entered a corner of darkness caused by the shadow of the immense bulwarks towering over them. In front of them, a solid curtain wall barred the way: it was the external wall of the immense barrack buildings that connected all three the towers. To the right, the sloped cylinder of the middle tower closed the passage, and Michael waked to the left in fact, along a narrow passage that turned around the base of the other bulwark before entering a dark, arched hallway.

Killer looked at this with amazement and interest: from the very first moment someone reached the top of the stairs, he was faced by loopholes open in the walls of the towers, in the curtain of the barracks: he was suddenly and inexorably under fire from any and every direction.

Same in the long corridor they entered after turning around the left bulwark: loopholes looked at them from both sides, and holes were opened at regular distances in the ceiling as well, so that the defenders could fire even from there.

"Impressive..." Killer whispered, and Alexis nodded agreeably, looking sharply around herself to pick up every detail, every significant aspect of the fortress'sdefences. Had we to fight our way out, we have to know as much as possible.

But it already looks like it would be impossible, even without considering the magic traps we CAN'T see...

Finally, after a long walk in the cool, dark corridor, they walked past a double set of massive armoured doors, golden gates that undoubtedly were reinforced with magic to add to the natural resistance of their several-feet thick built of steel.

May they contain Godblood as well...? It would make them the most resistant doors EVER...

It lead them into a circular parade ground were a platoon of angels armed with spears was marching, and several groups of soldiers practicing with swords occupied the middle of the area. All around, the walls of the barracks-fortress, from where the defenders could have still easily fought off any invading force. Finally, they started climbing flights of stairs that climbed towards the top of the middle bulwark, and even these stairs allowed only one person at a time to pass, narrow as they were. Left, right, left, right, a flight of stair after the other, a tremendous climb that was both tiring and boring. But instructive as well: both Killer and Alexis did not miss to notice that the stairs - built in a small square-tower built on the back of the cylindrical bulwark - , was completely exposed to the fire of the defenders since the wall looking towards the parade ground had deliberately never been built. For the entire climb, an enemy would have been a sitting duck for archers, mages, and whatever other mean of defence the garrison of the fortress would choose to prevent the enemy from capturing the bastion.

"I thought it would never end." Killer grumbled as they finally stepped on top of the bulwark, and Alexis grunted agreeably as Diana looked at them with mild amusement, smiling a bit.

"The defences of this fortress include magic that makes portaling and even flying impossible. Even wanting to fly up here, I couldn't. My wings would be useless... In exchange for the uncomfortable thousands of steps, we have a formidable security at least. You'd get used in time, but I doubt you'll have to spend much time in here." Diana explained quietly, and Killer nodded a bit, smiling as he observed: "I must admit I'm relieved. Then again, the place they send me in will likely be much worse."

Diana hesitated a bit at this, and then finally decided to say nothing, and Killer looked down at her with a bit of a pleading face. "Why you are silent...? It is worse, right...?"

"I don't really know what's in store... but... it may easily be." Diana admitted, smiling supportively up to him and touching one of his huge hands with one of her delicate ones.

"Well, I guess we'll see that." Killer sighed, looking around himself curiously to see that the top of the bulwark was actually a lot different than he thought it would be. The massive, nearly-half-a-mile-across top of the tower was separated in a 50-feet large parapet walk which run all around the structure and supported the massive, 40-feet tall wooden war machines, from ballistaes to catapults armed with frightening, 30-feet long barbed spears. Angels armed with enormous, taller-than-them longbows patrolled around the perimeter... But that was expected. The surprise was the middle of the gigantic tower: in place of the flat top that Killer had imagined, under the ball of light hovering a few hundred feet above, the top of the bulwark sloped down to form an arena.

Four staircases descended towards the sand of the pit of the fights from the four cardinal points, separating four enormous tiers areas that were already filling up with angels and normal people...

"They are called Benevolent. The souls admitted into Heaven who don't grow into Angels are called Benevolent." Diana explained with a little smile, and Killer nodded, smirking a bit even if he reached a huge arm up to squeeze her around the shoulders and pull her against his side.

"Thank you for digging in my thoughts. Alexis wasn't enough, I really needed a second mind-reader around me." He murmured playfully, looking over the arena curiously. "Seriously, thank you. The more I learn, and the faster I do it, the better."

The arena was surrounded by a tall, massive wall, and the tiers climbed up from on top of this: Killer could have jumped easily from the arena onto the tiers, and for Alexis it would have been ridiculously natural, even if for most people the height of the wall was insurmountable. But of course, I expect to crash into an invisible barrier at the very best, if I try to do so...

"You would." Diana immediately précised, nodding slightly. "The barrier allows the guards outside to fire into the Arena... but any attempt to move out would be frustrated by a very, very powerful magical barrier."

Of course... Killer thought, rolling his eyes a bit and trading a gaze with Alexis, before she looked down into the arena as well, her powerful arms crossed under her godlike chest. Her eyes darted from a cardinal point to the other, as she quickly took note of four arched doors, closed by gigantic gates of steel, heading into the arena.

"This tower is both an arena... and a prison." Alexis observed calmly, and Killer looked at her in surprise, before looking back to Diana, who nodded and then closed her eyes with a little sigh.

"It is full of demons... for several levels down into the tower, it's all cells filled with demons." Alexis stated, her voice cold. "And I'm betting they are our 'test', lover. As prisoners, after all, they are just a nuisance. As test subjects, they'll be useful one last time." She observed bitterly, and there was distaste in her voice at that, as she glared to Michael with icy hate.

"You are smart." Michael cheerfully piped up from ahead. "That's exactly the idea. Most likely, you two will end up torn open by the demons, but even I accept that you'll take care of many, many prisoners before going down... It'll be a good service. And good show too!"

"Monster..." Diana hissed in distaste, and Killer looked with horror up to the Monarch of the Fourth Heaven, staring with a mix of disgust and hate and shock to his armor-clad back as Alexis made a grimace and spat to the side like she had eaten something particularly awful.

"Don't be so picky!" Michael observed amusedly, grinning with horrible cheerfulness. "You are slaughterers anyway. It is nothing special for you. Daily administration. You've done worse than taking on demonic warrior-prisoners in your life."

"True..." Killer admitted bitterly, making a grimace. He sure had done worse... And Alexis herself was no angel at all. Then again, I'm rapidly learning that "angel" does not necessarily indicate a good person either, anyway...

Still, it was horrible. It was the last thing he expected to see in Heaven, that was for sure. And it also felt like a cheap and uselessly cruel way to end so many lives. Demonic lives, but lives.

Stop bitching like a fucking pansy pussy. It'll be just good fun. Black Killer teased, his voice mischievous and eager with bloodthirstiness, and Killer grimaced in silence as he fought an inner battle to try and shut the voice of his darkest side away. He didn't want to hear him. He didn't want to listen.

"...but you still are an ass anyway." Killer said coldly, and Michael made a grimace and shrugged, as the male liger felt the merciless voice of his inner darkness tease him once more. A bath of gore will be awesome. And as we smash all those demons flat onto the floor, we'll teach the asshole a clear lesson on who's the alpha male here.

Killer closed his eyes for a moment, gritting his teeth in a silent snarl, and he suddenly found himself standing in a dark room so incredibly enormous that it would have contained three cathedrals easily. Columns of unbelievable sizes, in a marble black like the night itself, towered over him in ordered rows, making him feel little and insignificant, lost in a room so enormous that he could not see its extremities...

But as soon as he felt his jaw drop in shock and awe, he was deafened by shrieks of agony, of horror, of searing, deadly pain. Millions of shrieks, loud and desperate like he had never heard from the times in which he had rampaged over Newbury and all the other towns he had annihilated... but these were even worse. Even more crazed. Even more hopeless.

Yet, he could hear and feel Lust, as well. Oh, so much of it! It was electricity crackling in the air. Uncontrollable desire in the shrieks that cried agony and yet craved for more all the same. It was so thick, so powerful, so incredibly tangible in the air that Killer shivered and felt his muscles bulge and flex with an overflow of power that felt like a nuclear explosion. Impossible to control it, to restrain.

He suddenly grew bigger, and he couldn't help but roar out in a Lust that was absolutely out of any control, as his body grew, gigantic and powerful beyond understanding, his pants tearing in tatters and his huge cock growing to a mind-shattering glorious erection as he grew, and grew, and grew. He was 60 feet tall in the space of a blink, and yet his body doubled in size, the male feeling delirious with godlike power, feeling that mountains would have felt like pebbles for his new, impossible power.

When it slowed down, he couldn't say how gigantic he had become, but he was godlike for his power, for his immense musculature, for his colossal cock towering and throbbing with obscene power as he flexed out of uncontrollable vigor, feeling his feet sank into the ground as cracks opened in the floor under his body weight, spreading around him as the marble crumbled into dust, the male roaring in a mix of delirious lust and exhilaration, which only grew as he threw his arms outwards and smashed into two of the columns that had first made him feel puny, the ones that had looked miles-thick and miles apart... They exploded in dust and little fragments at the lightest of impact now, with how immense his power had grown. They were now toothpicks to him, powerless structures of a stone that was just dust for his monstrous strength, as he started to realize that NOTHING at all could have resisted him. A single finger of his now felt more than powerful enough to shatter the world itself. He was godlike.

"A good feeling, huh...? The feeling of being omnipotent, almighty, above those bugs of Gods, worlds past their pathetic force..." Black Killer's voice boomed, making Killer wince and backstep, his hands lashing up to cover his hears as every word felt like thunders raging over him, as the shrieks he had forgotten in his lust returned to his ears in full volume as well, clawing into his brain with how crazed and terrible they were.

"And to think, that as powerful as you are, you still are a bug to me." Black Killer added playfully, his voice teasing, booming with absurd power over the tremendous chorus of screams of despair, and yet of Lust.

Killer's eyes opened, and he stared in shock ahead of himself as the darkness cleared with the trembling, frightening dancing light of massive arsons in the distance, covering the whole horizon, the flames seeming to reach the sky as they raged high and furious, burning the world to ashes from an extremity of the horizon to the other. He walked forth out of the sort of temple of black marble he had been standing into, noticing with shock a statue of himself... no... not of himself. Of an evil version of himself. Far worse than Killer had ever been, even in the darkest days of his rampages. Black Killer was the god of this world, and they feared and venerated him. The temple itself shocked Killer when the male suddenly realized just how immense he had grown, seeing a town at his feet, the skyscrapers not even reaching as high as his knee. The temple was still huge to him, and that made it loom over the city, immense and impossible in its sizes and glory.

Nor were that temple and that veneration enough to satiate the Lusts of the God.

Earth was nothing but flames, volcanoes, rivers of magma and desolation. A wasteland of destruction, ruins, misery and fire. Where it wasn't magma, it was semen. Oceans of male's seed that had obliterated whole regions.

Enormous footprints branded the earth, craters that literally went miles deep into the planet's crust, magma overflowing the cracks in the ground: whatever had been in those areas when the merciless God had stepped on them, was totally obliterated. No sign at all was left.

The inhabitants of the planet were ants to Black Killer. The planet itself was pathetic and vulnerable, breaking under his feet. It was horrifying, and shocking like nothing else could have ever been.

At least, that was what Killer thought before realizing that the true shock was to see Black Killer with his eyes.

He was resting lazily on his back, and Killer, immense as he had become, went short of being as tall as Black Killer's body was thick in that position from his lower back to the front of abdominals which bulged gigantic like mountains, and powerful like nothing else.

There was no sense in searching comparisons with the power the black furred behemoth irradiated and showed with his immense, incredibly muscular body: there simply was nothing that could compare. Killer himself, it was now clear, had grown to such incredible sizes and might just thanks to the insane amounts of energy that Black Killer irradiated with his presence.

One immense arm folded leisurely under his head, Black Killer looked down at Killer with a patronizing smile, his eyes gleaming an icy blue so incredibly clear that it almost bordered into the white. Even smiling, he looked murderous, his eyes bare of any mercy, alive with cold flames of domination and destruction-lust. He was invincible, and he knew it.

All the rest existed merely for his pleasure.

Three pair of enormous, curving horns that looked like they were made of pure, glowing magma, liquefied gold and white-hot flames. They were solid and well defined, yet made of liquid fire, or something else that Killer couldn't even understand.

Two ram horns twisted to the sides of his head, and just above a couple of long, huge bull horns curved forwards to stretch mendaciously forwards over his muzzle. Two more came up from the back of his head, coming out of a mane of floating black energy to tower towards the sky.

Enormous spikes jutted out of the shoulders as well, two immense spines jutting out of his shoulder blades and curving forwards over the shoulders, taller than his head.

Black Killer had two, immense tails, ending in alive, burning flames, and jutting with deadly spikes in their last stretch. And that was when Killer saw the wings as well: one rested on the ground, so big to cover what looked like a continent... the other, unfolded, obscuring most of the sky above with how he was now turning slightly on his hip to grin down at Killer.

The Sun above, for the little part of it that Killer could see past the edge of the immense wing, was dead and dark, charred and pathetic, obscured by the glory and by the darkness of the God resting on a desert, devastated earth.

Killer was immense and powerful, but the sight of Black Killer's musculature humiliated him. The God ahead was not only immense, but bursting with an inconceivable power. The planet itself, the Sun above... it made you wonder how they could still be there. The lightest of flex of Black Killer's body showed more than enough power to crush both to dust.

And then, there were the cocks. Black Killer was naked, proud and godlike as not one but two gargantuan black shafts towered gloriously up from his crotch, both looking immense even in comparison with the body of the God. Had he pulled them down to touch his chest, both cocks would have towered over his head with how gigantic they were. But it wasn't enough, because many, even larger tentacle-cocks arched their way into the sky, jutting out of the God's back, endless in length and incredible in thickness, ending in flared cockheads preceded by rows of backwards-curved barbs that covered the sides of the top portion of each immense appendage.

"Impressed, little bro...?" Black Killer asked teasingly, grinning widely to show off white, perfect and mortal fangs, frightening canines making his grin more threatening than ever, as a new, enormous tentacle-cock sneaked across the air to wrap around his shoulders, the head of the massive male member almost bigger than Killer was.

"I'm just playing around." Black Killer said, grinning contently as a feminine hand came in sight from the other side of the giant, rubbing down his muscles to wrap around the base of a mighty, gigantic cock, the fingers looking so small and child-like on that incredible shaft. The hungry moan that followed, however, made Killer gape and stare upwards as Alexis's voice reached his ears... And in fact, an immense leg suddenly appeared, straddling Black Killer's waist as a black-furred but still blonde, godlike Alexis stood up tall and guided a gargantuan cock to her already bleeding, abused sex, letting out a groan of delight as his immensity stretched her viciously as she impaled herself, lowering herself down on the colossal column of flesh as she let the other one thrust between her breasts and into her eager mouth.

What caught Killer's attention however was Alexis's high heeled boot coming down: to his amazement and horror, he saw a whole town, not bigger than a coin to the gigantic female, vanish underfoot in a puff of dust, crushed to nothingness as the earth cracked open under her sole, the earth shaking under Killer's own immense body.

Black Killer stretched a leg as he grinned and seized Alexis's hips roughly with a grunt of delight and gamely challenge, as he let his foot slide forwards, digging a gigantic canyon in the earth's surface before his talon met a metropolis on its path and erased every sign of its existence, together with hundred thousands of lives undoubtedly. Just like that. Black Killer hadn't even noticed. Not that he cared. Dust or living beings, they were the same nothingness under his feet.

The colossal tentacle-cocks wrapped around Alexis hungrily, squeezing her wonderful, godlike body in an embrace of manliness and power as she began to squat up and down along the immense shaft of the male, and Black Killer gamely started to thrust up, in and out of her, her gloved hands pumping a couple of immense tentacle-members as their heads pushed into her face, rolling against her cheeks.

Cracks spread through the surface of the earth, enormous, ugly wounds in the crust of the planet, deep enough that magma surged up through them to add to the devastation as earthquakes shook the world, crumbling buildings and mountains, erasing villages and annihilating metropolis, spelling the end of millions of lives with each playful little thrust of the godlike male, leaving Killer staring to the destruction of the world, as the whole planet seemed to fall apart, to crumble before the not-even-unleashed-yet might of the evil male.

It was then that Killer, falling down on his chest with a grunt as the ground beneath him crumbled in fragments and exploded into dust, gaped at the sight of some of the tentacles of the godlike male, which differently from the others actually ended by becoming tangles of millions of far smaller, but still immense snake-like cocks, which were furiously fucking every hole of millions and millions of tiny peoples, tearing bodies apart, and reddening a whole region with blood and gore and pieces of destroyed bodies, as each tentacle tore across a body from vagina-to-mouth, from ass-to-jaws and out to get into even another person, every victim pierced in all its holes and even invaded in the new wounds the cocks would tear into them.

It was terrible.

"This is the power you deny yourself!" Black Killer boomed from above, and Killer closed his eyes and held to the shaking ground for dear life, snarling powerlessly and trying to force the vision to fade, to get back in control...

"You don't need stupid angel bitches to teach you your own power! Let me do, and nothing will stand in our way!"

"No!" Killer shouted back with all of his voice, and Black Killer laughed loudly. What was worse, was to hear Alexis laughing of him as well.

"You think this is an illusion. You think I'm cheating my little bro with cheap tricks and illusions..." Black Killed roared lustfully, pounding Alexis harder as the earth gave an agonizing, loud crack of surrender, enormous canyons crumbling open in the surface. "How wrong you are! I'd never use such cheap tricks, just like you wouldn't! This is no illusion, my poor little bro! This is REALITY! My side of Reality. My own world. There are no Gods anymore. No angels, no demons, no Hell, no Heaven and no Mortal Plane. Nothing of it exists anymore! I slaughtered the Gods, and all the rest is slaves! Heaven, Hell, Mortal Plane... three dead names for a single entity... MY REIGN!"

"Our Harem!" Alexis lustfully précised, and she grinned mercilessly as she stomped a foot onto the ruins of a town crumbled by the earthquakes, crushing it so viciously that her foot shattered the very crust of the planet, leaving a desert of magma and devastation in place of the metropolis that had been...

"You could held the same power on your own side of the world, little bro, if only you allowed me to show you what kind of power you truly posses."

"Back the hell off!" Killer roared angrily, his claws sinking into the ground as the whole world seemed to rattle under his body, his eyes shut tightly not to stare at that irresistible show of might.

He wished for it. He lusted for it. He craved that power enough he felt like he'd soon totally loose his resolve and control...

All that people! Millions of persons vanishing at once, crushed underfoot like dust, women, men, children, elders and youngsters, along with their dreams, hopes, aspirations, and along with their houses and towns. Erased like an unwanted stain on a diary's page.

Powerless dust.

Millions more being torn apart, raped by tentacles tearing into their bodies lustfully and cruelly, just to add to the sex, to the delight of Black Killer and Alexis.

Billions more dying and vanishing as their towns, their very planet, crumbled under Black Killer's vicious power, just for his selfish pleasure.

Toys for the almighty, ferocious, merciless God.

Killer found it alluring like nothing else. He loved power. He loved being superior to everyone and everything, to have the size and strength to dominate everything.

He was seeing the ultimate level of such power... and he couldn't help but crave it.

Yet, he had to say no.

That wasn't what he wanted to be. Not anymore. He had been a rampaging beast for seven years, and regretted it ever since. He was changed. Or better, he was trying to change.

What would Mriya thinking of me...? My loved Dream...!

"She will adore you, that's what!" Black Killer boomed with a laughter that made Killer shiver. "She considers daddy a God... Well, show her how true it really is! Crush the bugs that people call Gods underfoot, and Mriya will all but polish your cock with her mouth as you do it!"

"Daddy..."

Killer's eyes blasted open at the sound of that purring word, but he did not dare looking up from the crumbling ground before him as he heard Mriya hungrily suckle and gargle on an immense shaft, either a tentacle-cock or, more likely, sharing the second of Black Killer's cocks with Alexis in a slutty, eager worship of her dad.

No. NO. She loves you, she adores you... But because you are a good daddy for her. Because you help her, protect her, and because you protect good people. Not because you've the power to slaughter them all! She never saw the monster you can be...

"Mriya will never, NEVER have to be ashamed of me. I won't be a monster like you!" Killer howled, but Black Killer, Alexis and Mriya all laughed derisively.

"Little bro, you are a bug. And a stupid one too." Black Killer said calmly, his voice deep and booming like thunder. "You see my power by yourself. There's nothing you, or anyone else, can do about it. You can let me do the nice way, or be obliterated as I take the upper hand the hard way. You're being stupid, bro. Bottling up your Lusts, bottling up your power... Yet knowing that you NEED that power to survive this war, to win it!"

Black Killer laughed, and he started pounding hard upwards into a delirious, orgasming Alexis, a deafening rumble filling Killer's ears as the earth beneath him cracked into pieces violently, miles-tall ridges of rock forming and then crumbling to dust as new one cracked up, magma exploding from deep within the earth in deadly geysers of fire as the whole planet was disintegrated quickly and inexorably.

"You and the other pathetic bugs think you can be taught to "control" your power... to control ME. But it is an illusion. A puny dream of puny creatures!"

"I will control you!" Killer shouted back with all of his voice, feeling the earth beneath finally crack apart...

And then the noise of the planet crumbling was gone, the shrieks were gone. The darkness was gone. Instead, the sounds of Michael chatting nearby with someone, and the loud buzzing of the crowd of angels and Benevolents filling up the arena came back in full force to his ears as he winced at the painful way his heard spun and pulsated, aching tremendously and making him feel sick as he made a grimace and slowly forced his eyes back open.

You won't. No one can. Prepare your world for my come, little bro. I'll come to obliterate the false Gods, and to dominate everything and everyone.

Killer groaned, rubbing a hand against his temple and gritting his teeth as he growled lowly to himself. "Will you please fuck the hell off...?"

"Gods, wasn't that badass...?" Alexis asked mildly, and Killer looked to her with a gape as he fully got back to reality, blushing a bit as he realized he must have had spaced out for quite a long time.

"Did I... huh... look absent...?" Killer asked stupidly, and Alexis looked back at him flatly.

"You were literally in another world for a moment." She exclaimed, and he could clearly see that she had been seeing the same thing all along. His mind was her mind, after all, with how deeply connected they were and how easy it was for her to read his thoughts... And Killer did notice easily that she was impressed, in many ways. Worried, of course. Deeply. But also excited. A lot. He could tell that very easily... also because, more unique than rare a case, her cheeks had flushed to a light red. She never blushes, unless we are alone in the dark and... huh... playing.

"You think it was real...?" Killer asked, blushing himself in shame as he noticed that Diana had sneaked a worried gaze up at him, her face a deep red. She saw it as well... Oh, brilliant. Who else...?

Alexis nodded silently, giving him a firm affirmative look, and he couldn't help but stiffen in place. He had hoped it might be an illusion... but somehow, he had known all along that there was nothing illusory about what he had seen. But, to truly accept the fact, resign himself to it as real, he had to try and get his mind around the sheer, invincible power he had just witnessed, and that was impossible. He had just seen the end of a whole planet, and of every life on it as Black Killer casually raped to shreds and gore most of the world's population while causing the planet itself to crumble like bread as he lazily pistoned his godlike shaft inside Alexis's bleeding depths.

He wasn't even TRYING!

The full extent of his power went beyond any fantasy, any attempt to imagine what it was like when fully unleashed.

Had it any limit at all...? It felt suicidal and useless to think about standing against such a God. Killer might be strong and powerful... but what was his power, compared with the obscene might that with a lazy fuck had shattered a planet into dust...?

"We will face it." Alexis said firmly, nodding a bit. "Don't undervalue yourself, lover. If Black Killer truly was totally invincible, he would have taken over already. But somehow, he can't."

Killer stared at her silently for a moment, and she smiled, winking to him with a grin.

It was true, wasn't it...? The Gods hadn't surrendered. They had accepted to train him in Heaven. Evidently, there was still hope. There must have been something very important in all what he still ignored and hoped to learn. Something vital, which he still missed but that somehow stopped even Black Killer from taking full control.

_It is getting harder to avoid giving in to his temptation, though. I hope they know what they are doing, because I sure don't. And I don't know if I can restrain Him for much longer... _

Diana smiled supportively up to Killer, and she blushed and looked down before murmuring an excuse for looking into his mind... But he all but hugged her, his arms wrapping around her chest and pulling her closer to his body, as he bent down and kissed her hair affectively.

"No worry. I know you do it for my own good... and probably because you can't really help it." The huge male whispered gently, and his hands gave a teasing squeeze on the angel's chest, toying with her breasts discretely but with passion at the same time.

"Hey! No groping in front of my superiors...!" She said, flushing deep red and looking nervously to Michael and the Seraphim he was talking to before smiling up to Killer lovingly. "Much as I love it, I really shouldn't allow you..."

"Sorry. Can't help it myself." Killer replied playfully, and she snorted amusedly before nudging his hard, powerful abdominals teasingly.

He let her go and straightened with a soft laugh, trading a grin with Alexis, who touched his massive bicep lightly. "I'd so like to talk about you... try to understand together the Black Killer issue. But it seems like we have no time to do so." He opened his mouth to answer, but she gently pushed a finger against his lips and smiled lovingly. "No. Listen. We really have no time left. I fear we will be separated after we kill all these... prisoners." She made a face at that, but continued after sneaking a gaze to the chatting Arkangel and the Seraphim... "The Gods are already trying to bar me out of your mind... I can feel them trying to restrain my access to ANY mind actually. Probably, we'll totally be unable to even share a word, for a long time. But I won't let any paltry God keep me far away from you for long. I'll exercise, I'll improve, and I'll overcome their barriers. I promise."

"I'll try doing the same." Killer replied with strangled voice. There was nothing else to say. The excruciating pain of losing her so completely, for who knew how long, horrified him... Just as it horrified her. Words were useless. They knew it, and could understand it far better in the silence than in any words they may try and come up with in one thousand years of attempts.

"Mind tricks aren't your specialty." Alexis said teasingly, grinning widely. "But you'll get so frigging strong and powerful that you'll just grab the Gods themselves and rape them to death if necessary to get out of their prison."

"You bet. Especially the Goddesses." Killer replied with a wide grin, and they pushed forehead to forehead, eyes burning with passion as they licked their lips slowly and then kissed, messily wrestling their tongues in vicious battles of Lust.

"Wreck all of Heaven's pussies while I'm gone." Alexis teasingly ordered. "Bust them all and bathe your cock in their blood... so that every little boy around here will feel like a hotdog thrown down a hallway and know that the Master owns all."

Killer grinned widely at that, and he replied hungrily: "Rape all males into the ground. Show them that it takes the Master to keep Mistress happy."

"You so bet your big balls on that." Alexis replied, licking his cheek hungrily before stepping back with a wide grin, cracking her knuckles eagerly. "We just got one last cooperative show to carry out... Forget about them being prisoners. They are just unfortunate in meeting us on such a bad day. Rogue first, a lot of assholes, Michael-dumbass-Arkangel and being separated...? Gods, I can do with some bloodshed and... HEY!"

Alexis's yell surprised Killer, who winced at the unexpected shout, which made Michael and the Seraphim near him turn to glare at Alexis a bit, something that seemed to slip over the femme fatale harmlessly like water as she snapped her fingers towards a small fox wearing a red tunic that immediately looked up from the crowd surrounding him on the top tier and paled at the sight of the muscular female.

The femme fatale had immediately picked him up as he pocketed money from the angels and Benevolents that were filling up the tiers quickly: he was taking the bets of the crowd on the sort of the fight soon to come.

"You, dumbass! How much do you give for me and Killer there as winners?" Alexis asked, shouting loudly across the tiers.

The fox shrank into the crowd a bit, trying unsuccessfully to vanish, but the ones around him were just as scared, and one of the angels shoved him forwards roughly. The Benevolent almost fell down the tiers, overbalancing and flailing comically with a wince before a merciless angel seated nearby grabbed him by the tunic and pulled him back onto a seat with a snort.

"Don't know yet the exact amount! We do not know what weapons you'll use...!" The fox shouted back, and Alexis nodded agreeably before she boomed: "How does it sound 'bare hands'?

"Bare hands...?" The fox asked with shocked, strangled voice, gaping widely at her as she grinned widely, her powerful arms crossed. "Bare hands, I give you at no less than 6 to 1. It is a suicide!"

"No, no, it is your bankruptcy, but that's not my problem." Alexis observed, shrugging with a smirk before seizing the heavy sack of gold at her belt and throwing it at him. "Killer and Alexis winners." She stated clearly, grinning widely as the fox reached a hand up to grab the money and was nearly knocked over sprawling with the force of her idle throw.

"Diana, got any money on you...?" Alexis asked after a moment, and Diana nodded with a little smile, the angel digging out her own sack of gold coins and handing it to the femme fatale, who smiled and nodded in gratitude before throwing the second sack as well. "These too!"

"You know I dislike hazard games." Killer observed quietly, and Alexis shrugged, grinning widely up at him as she cheerfully replied: "That's so no hazard! That's an investment! How to get six time richer in one go."

"That's true as well." Killer admitted, smiling a bit, before both looked up as Michael walked back towards them, accompanied by the tall Seraphim he'd been arguing with. Killer had been observing her with interest, and he had immensely appreciated the way she had regularly scolded and picked on Michael.

She was impressive under many aspects: to start with, she was a few inches taller than even Alexis, and Killer had never before seen a girl capable to rival with the blond femme fatale. She was also a match for Alexis in terms of beauty and femininity, which made Killer even more interested... And she had more than fair musculature, enough to stand up to Alexis and her own massive biceps and powerful abdominals. The ligeress had an edge in this regard over the mystical Immortal, but the Seraphim's power was anyway immensely greater than Killer's and Alexis's own: she had Eons of training, wars and experience to vaunt, and a borderless knowledge of magic, spells, and of the secrets of Heaven and of all the Planes.

Caretakers of the secrets of God, His most vaunted and valuable elite, the Seraphims were fast, elegant and acrobatic warriors, perfect mix of divine strength and magic. Mistresses of swords, spears and longbows, unrivaled by most with any other kind of weaponry, mages of incredible power, the Seraphims were also capable, when required, to fight with massive technological support.

Their knowledge spaced to the very end of Reality: they were warriors as they were Priestesses of God and Scholars of the Creation: only God could claim to know the Create better than they did. Their monasteries were houses of swords and books alike, of strength and wisdom.

The Seraphims impress the beholder with their elegance and immaculate appearance, equipment of a femininity of outrageous seductive power. Austere eyes without pupils, framed by swirling tattooed flames, hid their emotions in combat and expressed their strength of character and decisiveness, able to penetrate the deepest darkness and read the souls like books. The Seraphims were able to wear medium and technical armors while maintaining all of their incredible speed and elegance, and yet their most striking feature of was the six mighty wings stretching from their backs, which can serve as both deadly weapons and protective armor.

Killer had little doubts on the identity of the Seraphim approaching him: the way she had all but taken on Michael almost like he was a doormat, reprimanding him directly and sharply, without any fear, the golden armor she wore and the twin, massive Sickleswords of red Godblood gave away her name in full evidence. She had to be Vesta, High Queen of the Order of the Seraphims.

The top two wings of her six were wrapped in a golden armor topped by blades of transparent but undoubtedly deadly sapphire light, while the other four wings gleamed with almost blazing intensity, showing feathers that looked both sublime and delicate and deadly-sharp steel blades at the same time. She wore not a full helmet, but more of a diadem of glowing gold, with several precious stones gleaming with the unnatural light of magic spells imbued into them. Her blonde hair - another feature that made her strikingly similar to Alexis - fell down to the shoulders at the front and stretched well down her back, framing beautiful, perfect feline features. She was pure white, a white incredibly luminescent, and her eyes were lights of sublime light-blue, bare of any pupil, apparently bare of any sentiment, divine and merciless as you'd expect from someone as powerful and high-up as her.

Her lips were crested in a smile of interest and appreciation as she walked up to Killer and Alexis... but due to the lack of pupils, it was hard to say even just where she was exactly looking. Philosophy on the sincerity of her smile was even harder to make.

Eyes are the door on one's soul... when that door is closed, everything is harder. I bet it also makes them impenetrable to mind-reading...

For sure, her smile was both a friendly welcome and a proud grin.

Her shoulders were protected by golden armor pads connected to a collar of gold and precious stones protected her throat and stretched down with an oval protection which covered most of her cleavage. Even so, there was plenty of firm, godlike seduction to ogle before her breasts vanished under the cover of huge golden cups modeled on her body as part of the top armor. If she rivaled Alexis for musculature, she was on par if not even in light advantage in terms of breasts.

Another striking thing, since Killer never had dared thinking that someone could have ever rivaled Alexis's sumptuous bosom.

The top armor left her abdomen completely bare, her powerful abdominals shown to the eye proudly: just like Alexis's, it was pretty evident they were quite a formidable a barrier on their own. To say that her muscles would have dented a sword wasn't exaggerating.

Equally bare were her powerful biceps, while her potent forearms were protected by armored, golden gloves that stretched almost all the way up to the elbow.

A leather belt was wrapped tightly around her narrow waist, the leather decorated by rich figures carved in it. The belt kept a gown of white silk decorated by golden edges and drawings of flames and ancient runes in place: it was open on the front, but it descended almost to the ground down her sides and back.

Her upper legs were wrapped entirely in form-fitting golden armor, and the rest was protected by heavy, high-heeled combat boots of golden Godblood that stretched high up enough to protect the knees.

Her long tail was loaded with rings of gold, for what Killer could see... And her famous sickleswords were secured at her hips, the blades almost touching the ground.

"... Rogue is an ass and we both know it, Michael. I'm totally happy that they kicked his ass. Perhaps he'll calm down some, once and for all." Vesta said firmly, now close enough that Alexis and Killer could hear her as she concluded her reprimand. "It does not change the fact that you are late, as always."

"I like her." Killer whispered quietly, and Alexis nodded with a grin as Diana smiled slightly. Michael looked furious, and deeply offended, but he did not dare replying, instead glaring to Killer and Alexis with pure hate, trying to push all sorts of menaces in his gaze, before gaping in horror for a moment as Alexis idly gave him the finger, winking teasingly to him.

Diana dropped to her knees when Vesta finally stopped before them, and the black tigress bowed her head deeply, before saying reverently: "My Queen."

"You left the front without asking me, Diana." Vesta replied calmly, in a warm and sensual voice that fit her body and appearance perfectly. Nonetheless, there was a clear reprimand in her message. "But you had accomplished your tasks regularly before doing so, and I won't punish you."

"Too generous, Majesty." Diana replied humbly, bowing even further her head in shame.

This time, Killer and Alexis bowed respectfully as well, before the High Queen of Seraphims, but Vesta gently reached a hand up to touch Killer's chest and Alexis's shoulder, stopping them quietly even as Killer said: "Diana came to help me here, Majesty. I'm the one to blame for her absence."

"You are the one to blame for many, many a problem in Heaven, Hell, and the Mortal Plane alike, actually." Vesta replied calmly as she made both ligers straighten, Diana standing up beside them as well, as Killer rubbed a hand in his mane a bit, grinning stupidly and not knowing what to say.

"But you are also the Savior of the Prophecy, Amon-Ra. And I shall be the one who bows before you, Lord Killer." Vesta added gently, and she smiled before bowing down elegantly to him and Alexis, leaving both ligers staring in surprise and embarrassment.

"No...Not..." Killer mumbled awkwardly, and Vesta laughed a bit before looking up at him with a grin so Alexis-like that he was further surprised.

"Not needed?" She asked teasingly. "I think it is, Lord Killer, Lady Alexis... In time, your power will grow to stand far higher than Heaven. And it is written that you'll save us all. Already, you have slaughtered Fenrir, one of the most deadly creatures to ever exist."

"It did not feel like it was that much, actually. I don't understand why everyone's so hot about that." Alexis replied impatiently, and Vesta straightened with an amused nod before explaining: "The Fenrir you've killed was a very weak Fenrir... But nonetheless, you have to know that Fenrir, the Wolf of Apocalypse, is a monster as ancient as the Create itself. Nemesis of the Gods, Fenrir was destined to eat the Gods themselves in Doomsday. He was invincible for even God, a creature gone out of control... And Eons ago, the only way to avoid a premature destruction of everything God created, the Gods, Heaven, Hell and God himself teamed up to confine Fenrir in an Abyssal Pit under the Central Spire of Hell: a supernatural prison designed specifically to contain Fenrir by constantly drying out the power of the Beast, enough to make him incapable to break free on his own at least..." Vesta paused, nodding wisely before adding: "The energy that was sucked out of Fenrir was so immense that it fueled the needs of both Heaven and Hell. At times, outbursts of that incredible energy could not be managed and dispersed, and they caused massive devastations on the Mortal Plane as well, from earthquakes to tempests and hurricanes. And that was merely a fraction of the Beast's might."

Vesta paused again, smiling as she looked to Killer and Alexis with amusement at the way they intently listened, and she did not drag any longer as she saw the eagerness in their eyes. "No one ever thought that someone one day could be so foolish to think about unleashing the beast. But we undervalued the mightiest power ever to exist: stupidity. They did unleash him, believing he'd be weak after Eons in the Abyssal prison, that he could be controlled, that he'd be grateful to his saviors enough to be ordered around and used against Heaven in the war.

Of course, that's not how things worked. As soon as he was free, Fenrir was rampaging and destroying everything he could get his hands on... Starting from the ones who pulled him out of the Pit."

"Dumbasses." Alexis commented simply, and Vesta nodded agreeably.

"The only solution they were able to find was to join forces with some of our Arkangels and with the Gods to shove Fenrir into a Portal which brought the Beast on the Mortal Plane across a Crack. Which wasn't a real solution, but merely handing over the problem to the Mortals, who we all thought were totally hopeless, even if Fenrir did lose most of his energy in the travel across the Crack."

Vesta paused, looking thoughtful for a moment before nodding and admitting: "Sincerely, we were surprised. Cracks are still sorta of a mystery even for us, even after Eons of study. We did not really expect Fenrir to be sapped of its tremendous energy... But that's what happened: his power all but overloaded the Crack, which was unable to allow the passage of such a force in one go. Fenrir emerged on the Mortal Plane with a mere fraction of his strength and size... And that's why he never abandoned the Crack, rampaging in a very short range around it. He was getting back his force, slowly and continuously, from the overloaded Crack.

When you two killed him, Fenrir was still getting his energy back... And we were assembling an attack party of Seraphims and Arkangels to hunt the Beast and take it down while we had a hope of success."

Killer nodded silently, thinking back to that fight, to the horrible corruption and the tremendous energy that continued to flow out of that weird, horrifying wound in the earth... Back then he had thought that the corruption of Hell was making the demon stronger, but he had been totally fooled. That was just the wolf's strength slowly flooding back into its owner.

"We've been lucky enough to arrive at the right moment." Killer said calmly, giving a little nod. At the rhythm he was growing bigger and stronger, we would have soon become unable to scratch him at all...

"It still was a feat of power more than impressive, Lord Killer." Vesta replied, smiling a bit to the huge male, who still felt more than a little bit uncomfortable under her pupil-less blazing eyes, which made her gaze more mendacious than even his own could have ever been. "You showed a power than most Demon Lords and Arkangels both miss. And we know it was just a meager fraction of the real force dormant inside you."

"Are you done drooling praises all over the Mortal...?" Michael asked with distaste, his arms crossed on his chest as he made a grimace. "An Immortal like you, being all slutty for a worthless Mortal!"

"No. I'm not really done yet." Vesta replied heavenly, ignoring Michael as he rolled his own expression-less eyes with a snort of contempt. "You are welcome in Heaven, Saviors. And, Lord Killer, I must admit you're particularly welcome."

Vesta paused, grinning widely as she inhaled eagerly the air, and then said teasingly: "You brought up here a wonderful perfume of big, bad male that I had wished to savor in forever." She winked at the huge male, and then casually added: "Such flavor is in very short supply around here."

Michael did not miss the barrage fired at him, and he gaped in shock for a moment before glaring to Killer with disgust and pure hate as the liger grinned back stupidly.

"What did you say before...?" Alexis mused playfully, before grinning widely. "I like her. Yeah, I think I like her too."

"Thank you, Lady Alexis." Vesta replied gently, bowing a bit before the two femme fatales traded grins so incredibly similar in their challenging, teasing nature. "I'm sure there will be space for competition between us... And it will be great to finally have a worth rival."

"My thought exactly." Alexis replied with a nod.

"Now you will please excuse us for the moment. The Gods are coming, and everything must be ready for their arrival." Vesta said, bowing deeply to the two ligers before leaving, while Michael just gifted them with a new grimace.

"Stop doing that. It'll make you wrinkle and get even uglier." Alexis teased sharply at this, and the Monarch's eyes gave a nasty flash of hate in her direction before the giant, armored angel walked away, Vesta giving a little grin over her shoulder at the scene before she and the Prince walked away to talk to an angel officer and organize the Arkangels into formation to receive the Gods and secure the area.

"Well, it has not been too bad." Killer sighed, and Alexis nodded silently, crossing her arms and idly looking over the tiers as they quickly filled up with angels and Benevolents, the people chatting and making bets on the incoming fight's results as a patrol of soldiers brought massive racks bursting with weapons of all kinds near the gates of the four doors leading into the arena.

Killer looked over this idly for a moment, taking in the tens and tens of huge swords, cleavers, warhammers, spears and battleaxes before mildly observing: "They are giving our rivals a quite ample choice."

"It'll hopefully make it more interesting. If we're lucky, they'll give us a little bit of a workout before going down." Alexis replied with a grin, smashing a gloved fist in the palm of her other hand as her eyes burned with impatience. Diana couldn't help but look at her with surprise: no matter what, she still had difficulties understand the battle lust of Alexis, which seemed to go past Killer's own impressive eagerness.

Things started happening fast as a platoon of Seraphims marched towards the arena and encircled the whole perimeter of the fighting area, one angel standing every few feet past the precedent one in a ring of steel that ensured that nothing and no one could get out of the arena, even in the absurd case that the barrier was to fail.

They were all beautiful females, most of them lithe and feminine, and yet powerful and toned, and they all wore armors of similar design to that of their queen, but red in color.

Killer looked at them with deep interest, eyeing the closer ones appreciatively as Alexis grinned slightly, looking at them herself and knowing all too well that they were all possible prey for the huge male. However, their attention was soon captured by the arrival of a new angel, someone far more powerful and far more imposing than Michael: the newcomer was a behemoth of perhaps 25 feet of height, thick with enormous muscles easy to guess under the cover of a thick armor of golden Godblood that protected and shielded all of his body, from head to toe.

A fully enclosed helmet totally hid the features and gaze of the giant warrior: an elaborate red cross was drawn on the helmet, with the horizontal arm at the height of the eyes... eyes that couldn't be seen, but that Killer could feel on himself, making him shiver as he felt like he was read like a book, all the way down to his soul.

He was sure over any possibility of doubt that his feelings and thoughts both had been easily picked up, and he was sure that that single glance had told the giant angel an amazing amount of things about Killer... but as much as it irritated and upset Killer, the liger knew he could do anything about it. There was no way he could fight back the powers of such beings...

The giant armoured warrior walked forwards calmly and imposingly, his movements looking like military marching, but not looking ridiculous at all. He was proud, huge and sure of himself... and he radiated an incredible power in the air. Both Killer and Alexis felt it clearly, and stiffened a bit on the spot, nervous and ready, and anxious to know if this one was "a friend" or an asshole like Michael.

Providing he's not plain hostile to us. That would be crap.

The Angel had four enormous wings, currently folded up, stretching from his back and made of translucent, solid energy: it almost looked like an impossible shape of eternal, golden flames, and Killer was sure that those wings were not just for flying... He did not dare asking himself what kind of damage they could have caused in battle, and there was no questioning the might of the giant, nor his skill.

He's got Eons and Eons of experience, knowledge and training. And you can feel it in the air.

The huge angelic warrior also sported halos floating over his head, around the conical shape of his helmet: a smaller halo was triangular and blazing to the point that Killer fatigued to look at it, and barely noticed the shape, with the vertex of the triangle pointing straight forwards... While a second, circular halo, larger, framed the first. The beaver was topped by a crescent shaped blade of light that was both a weapon and a crest... And Killer then noticed the long mane of white hair coming out of the back of the helmet, collected in a pony-tail down the back of the giant. He seemed to carry no weapons... but he looked far from disarmed of vulnerable.

The power he irradiated, the halos and his wings made of energy ensured that he had all the might he needed with his bare hands... And I get the feeling he can shape his immense energy into any sort of weapon or shield, and make them deadlier than any Godblood creation.

"He's Gabriel, the greatest of all Arkangels, Angel of annunciation, resurrection, mercy and vengeance alike, ruling Prince of the First Heaven and Supreme Chief of the angelic guards and armies." Diana announced with a quiet whisper, and Alexis grunted agreeably, mumbling: "It explains a lot of things."

She was impressed by the power she felt coming from the giant, Killer could tell it easily. Michael had been damn impressive, but he was little stuff compared to the newcomer, who literally set a whole new level.

"How is he...? I would not like another Michael. One disgusted me enough." Killer asked mildly, and he winced as Gabriel looked his way and said in a powerful, deep voice: "You'll find that I'm remarkably righteous, Lord Killer. And also uninterested in the kind of cock-fights that Michael seems to instead love... and that you don't avoid."

"Cock-fights." Alexis snorted amusedly, grinning widely and with a flame dancing in his eyes telling Killer that she was imagining a battle of the kind of cocks without plumes, which made him roll his eyes amusedly a bit, even before the femme fatale added: "Why the hell should he back off from cock-fights...? He triumphs in them."

Killer coughed embarrassedly at this, but Gabriel laughed heartedly at that, coming closer and offering his huge hand to the male liger, who looked briefly at the amazing glove of golden armour sets which covered every millimeter of even the fingers, without hampering the movements of the angel at all, every small piece moving and sliding over the others to accompany every movement naturally. Killer gladly took the enormous hand in his own, amazed at how, for most likely the first time ever, even his huge palm actually looked small. The grip of the angel was firm and powerful, but gentle, and the armor was pleasantly and unnaturally warm, not at all like mortal steel would have felt... But Killer, noticing how Diana had knelled before the Master of Heaven's warriors, bowed his head in respect, awkwardness and embarrassment alike.

"I don't really know how I'm expected to address... well... you. Or anyone else for what matters." Killer mumbled, half-apologizing and feeling horribly awkward in front of the unblinking, emotionless closed helmet of steel.

No eyes he could meet, no lips to see crested in a smile or in a grimace, no... anything. Had they told him of such faceless encounters back on the Mortal Plane, he would have laughed. But it was actually a lot more awkward and unpleasant than one might think.

It was like standing before an expressionless blind man... and yet feel his gaze not just over his body, but literally reading across him.

Alexis's gaze can make you feel like you are naked before her... but this is so far worse.

"You'll get used to it, eventually." Gabriel replied in gentle voice, a tad of amusement evident in his voice as he answered to Killer's unexpressed thoughts, before squeezing the liger's hand in both of his for a long moment. "But my friend, Gabriel will be more than enough to address me in any situation. Diana, please, relax yourself too."

Diana straightened with an uncertain smile, blushing slightly and bowing her head gratefully a bit, standing near Killer as Gabriel turned his attention on Alexis, bowing deeply before her as he took her hand gently into his. "Lady Alexis, it is an honor for me."

"Yeah. Huh. Same here." Alexis replied calmly, but even her, rare if not unique event, looked surprised this time, before Gabriel straightened with a soft laugh of sincere amusement. He wasn't for sure used to such answers from the denizens of Heaven.

"I knew I'd get an answer like this from you." The giant observed with amusement, and he shook his head a little, crossing his enormous arms: Killer noticed that, somehow, the armor covering the behemoth's biceps stretched naturally when the enormous muscles beneath flexed and bulged.

_Handy stuff. I've tried designing a flexible armor in forever, and always found it awkward and bothering at every movement... then again, I'm no mage myself. _

"I expected nothing else from deadly Alexis." Gabriel concluded, and the femme fatale grinned and gave a nod, her own crossed arms showing the power of her own huge muscles.

"We have great expectations for you two here in Heaven. Many of us believe that the most ancient and scary of Azura's Prophecies refers to you, and we've been observing your progress and exploits on the Mortal Plane for all these years. It made us even more confident of the correction of our assumption..." Gabriel explained calmly, his voice delivering every word clearly and calmly, with the wisdom that Eons of experience gave him. His head turned from Killer to Alexis, then back to Killer... and the huge male liger nodded awkwardly after a moment of silence, feeling the gaze of the invisible angel's eyes fixed expectantly on him.

He died for the wish to ask what the Prophecy was all about, who the Hell Azura was, what made them so sure they were the right people, and moreover he wanted to know what kind of power they wanted to awaken inside him. He wanted to alert the angel about Black Killer, about the monstrous, vicious God that ruled, invincible and almighty over a parallel dimension that, Killer was sure of it, existed, even if he could not tell where.

I'm... the point of contact. Across me, Black Killer could invade this dimension too... and then we'd all be destroyed...

Exactly. Black Killer mildly pointed out in his mind, and Killer saw him grin, an exhausted Alexis and Mriya both lying atop his thick chest, breathless and delighted, wrapping their arms around his almighty body and snuggling into him needingly, adoringly, nuzzling into his neck and breathing his scent. They floated in open, desert outer space, surrounded by the pitiful fragments of the planet that Black Killer had so easily crumbled. And I wouldn't even break a sweat in doing it, bro... Destroy you all would be a pastime. It takes little to destroy... it takes more to create, instead. But, then again... Black Killer closed his hand into a fist, and there was an explosion of glowing darkness from within his hand as he grinned, and Killer stared in astonishment as the pieces and fragments of the planet were forcefully dragged back together, the bigger fragments smashing together with unimaginable energy, the impacts powerful enough to melt the rocks together, to fuse them into magma and hellish fire that expanded in a larger and larger sphere, that grew into a full planet, a new, reborn planet with continents and oceans and rivers and seas and mountains.

Even cities somehow rebuild themselves, and the people either revived or were reformed anew from pure energy as Black Killer laughed, laying on his potent back atop a dry ocean bed he had created to be his planet-sized chair-recliner tone... And he boomed: hail to the king of kings, bugs! Worship your God!

Killer shivered and snapped back to reality, not before seeing the last shadow of that terrible vision, as Black Killer lashed a fist gamely out and obliterated a just-reborn continent in one playful blow, cracking the surface of the whole planet and sending earthquakes, tsunamis and any sort of destruction killing, destroying and throwing people into misery and agony.

_... it takes more to create. But it is little effort for me, still._Black Killer's voice claimed in Killer's aching, agonizing mind, and his eyelids dropped heavily again as he gritted his fangs and tried to resist, but when his eyes opened again, he could only see darkness, and hear the boom of Black Killer's voice coming at him from every direction.

And I'll come for you, my puny little brother. I'll come and rule. And all you puny puppets will be destroyed and created again, destroyed and re-created. Again, and again, as I toy with your lives, as I allow you to live only to crush you all out of existence when I please... and I'll make you cry as you are obliterated again and again, and see your loved ones squished like bugs over and over again.

Stop it! Fucking stop it! Killer howled, feeling like his head was about to explode with agony and horror as he half-stumbled, and suddenly his eyes opened back on reality again, shaky and ghostly images floating in his vision for a moment as he tried to suffocate a moan of agony coming up to his lips, drawing a heavy breath as he felt like he would vomit... And he straightened, biting his lower lip as he turned his gaze quickly around: Vesta and Michael were ahead setting the troops in place and seemed to have noticed nothing... Even Diana had reached them, and Killer's body vaguely reminded her squeezing his hand gently before going, but he wasn't really there at the moment, and he did not know what had happened... He immediately darted his gaze to the side, and he saw Gabriel talking to Alexis about their incoming test-battle, and he blinked in surprise and relief as he noticed that the giant angel was totally relaxed and apparently completely unaware of him passing out for... how long...? I don't even know... and totally unaware of the scary vision that Killer had lived.

Alexis sneaked a worried, questioning gaze at him instead, that he did not miss even if she skillfully made it almost imperceptible... And he shook his head with a grimace, raising a thumb to show that he was ok. Amazingly, and he could tell from the worried curiosity in her eyes, she had been barred off the vision as well... And Killer was both amazed, relieved and horrified of it. He was happy that she had been spared the horrible and painful experience... but he was both amazed and worried that, somehow, Killer had sealed both her, Diana, Gabriel and everyone out of his mind.

He might manage to... shut them all out and... override me. Make me a prisoner of my own body, shoved in a prison inside my own mind while he uses my body...

"... we don't yet know who your teachers will be, I guess a choice will be made based on what you show us in the test. I opposed it, sincerely, but the majority of the Gods wanted you too to be put through a trial to value if you really are the Chosen, and there's no saying no to the Gods." Gabriel explained calmly, and Killer walked in close to listen, hoping to be able to hide the horror he felt, that he feared must have been so damn evident on his face.

"Whatever the teachers, we are confident that we can train you two in the best of ways, and ensure that you broke the remaining Seals that restrain your immense powers by means of Control, and not by sheer force." The Arkangel added, nodding a bit as he looked over Killer, and then back to Alexis, his expressionless eyes always making it complex to figure what he was thinking, or what he was watching, and how he was looking at you. "That would be disastrous... I know Diana explained you both what incredible mix of powers live inside you two. You have no precedents, no similarities with anything that's existed so far in the story of Create. Never before Light and Darkness have been present, in such levels, inside the same being..." Gabriel paused, his voice dying down for a short moment before he held his palm up and created a small sphere of pure, blazing light. "You see, Light and Darkness are the two supreme powers. They shape the Create, they make Heaven and Hell. Not necessarily Light means good and Darkness means wrong, despite what people think... Nor can the world exist with only Light, nor can it revolve around sole Darkness."

Killer and Alexis looked with curiosity at the small sun floating above Gabriel's hand as the Arkangel made it even more blazing, the white light pure and warm, shredding light all around them... But the huge Monarch warrior moved his other hand to show the shadows on the ground at their feet. Shadows darker than ever.

"When the light grows stronger, darkness does not die. It loses terrain, perhaps, but it gets even darker and even more impenetrable. Light and Darkness are the two faces of the same coin. Light and Darkness, White and Black. The two elements, the two colors that contain all others. Every other power, every other element, comes from these two bases. Fire, Water, Earth, Air... the seven Sins, the seven Virtues. They all come from the common root that Light and Darkness represent."

Killer nodded silently, gazing back to Gabriel when the giant looked up at him, and the Arkangel quietly closed his hand in a fist, the little sun of energy vanishing back inside of him, before he looked to Alexis with a wise nod.

"You two uniquely contain both Supreme Elements. You are made of Light and Darkness alike, and inside you, a power-struggle ancient like the Creation continues, every single instant, to shape who you are, what you do, and what will be of the world in the coming, decisive battles. The power inside you is incredible, and you had to be Sealed as soon as you were born... and even working together, Heaven and Hell, and all the Gods, were almost incapable to put restraints upon the tremendous force within you."

"Yes, Diana told us that." Alexis said calmly, crossing her arms on her chest. "She said one of the Seals on me snapped when I first fought Vera on the Mortal Plane... And it does make sense, because never before then had I been able to use my energy in the ways I can now, nor did my reflexes work so incredibly to give me sight of the future actions of my enemies. And still there are Seals on me...?"

Gabriel nodded, closing his eyes for a moment. "Many. Diana was right, the first Divine Seal was broken when you faced the Suicide-Maker for the first time... But you had broken several Seals before that along the years, Lady Alexis. Both of you have received 7 Divine Seals, one forged by each of the Gods... and many other Seals have been imposed on you by the joined forces of Heaven and Hell. Most of these Seals have already been destroyed, however... As your force grew with the years, with your training, with your battles, your power grew more and more, past the limits of the Seals, and those snapped apart, incapable to hold you back any longer."

Alexis did not reply, but merely lowered her head slowly, closing herself for a moment in her thoughts... and for once, much as Killer expected it to happen, she did not grin and claim how awesome she was. She was worried about her own inner Darkness, her own monsters, just as Killer was horrified by the knowledge of Black Killer, of the monstrous God of destruction that lived within him and that, it was clear, waited for nothing else than for the Divine Seals to break apart, leaving him total freedom to take over and rampage as he saw fit.

"You're also Incarnations, demonic personifications of Sins. Lust and Wrath, in your case, of course." Gabriel added, smiling in soft amusement as he underlined the Lust part with his warm, deep voice, and he added: "And this already is more unique than rare on itself. Even without considering that you technically are Mortals still, and not Demons, we both know how rare and insanely powerful Incarnations are. Lust and Wrath, besides, make for one of the most formidable mixes. In the whole history of the Create, Incarnations have been merely a handful, and probably just two or three ever had a so powerful mix of Sins as you have. And those Incarnations, as well as many others, have ended up crazy on their own unrestrainable power, and have ended up destroying themselves most of the time.

You've personally destroyed one of the two currently existing Incarnations of Lust, Regina... And shown that your own Lust is much greater a power than hers was. The Circle of Lust, in Hell, hails you as King and Queen from that very day."

Alexis grinned widely at that, licking her lips slowly as she sneaked a suggestive gaze up to Killer, who couldn't help but grin slightly back as he took in the flames of hunger and lust that danced in her beautiful eyes... and his grin widened as Alexis shared her thought with him briefly, showing in his mind an image of him, immense and godlike, sitting naked and powerful in a gigantic throne of gold and bones, succubi worshipping him, hands and tongues attending to his body, to his potent musculature, to his monstrous, gigantic cock, immense and erect, powerful and worshipped, a shrieking succubus riding it as Alexis, naked and wearing a collar of gold that was both her crown of empress and her sign of slavery to him, curled in his arms and against his chest, kissing down his neck and down his huge muscles.

"He's totally born to rule on Lust... He's got the scepter to rule over the whole of Hell." Alexis stated firmly, grinning widely as she flexed her mighty muscles lightly, her black leather jacket straining to contain her powerful biceps. "Hell, he could rule over everything."

Gabriel did not express himself on this, only looking amused as Killer coughed slightly and awkwardly rubbed a hand in his mane, grinning stupidly a bit before moving a hand to eagerly invite the Arkangel to continue and ignore the last part.

"You even are Incarnations of Virtues such as Courage, however, which would make you formidable Arkangels as well... Yet, you are no demons, no angels, but no mortals either, since your life cycle is all but infinite, and you don't age." Gabriel explained, and Killer rolled his eyes upwards a bit.

"Nor meat nor fish, in other words. We are... containers for crazy supernatural powers or something."

Gabriel smiled supportively at that, a smile totally sincere, and you could tell it even without him having eyes capable to show his emotions, and he shook his head slowly but with decision. "No, don't see it this way. You are our Amon-Ra, our Ray of Hope, as written in the Prophecy. You are not monsters, nor empty shells for powers. You are who you are, and what you will shape. Whatever the path you choose to follow, you'll be the ones shaping ourselves. You could be Saviors, or Destroyers, I won't lie... But the choice is yours. Destiny has not condemned you... it has given you the keys of our survival."

Killer and Alexis nodded, not really too relieved, but making an effort to try and believe to the fact that, at least, they had the responsibility, unique and definitive, of themselves. If the choice was theirs, after all, no matter how complex and harsh the path to take, they knew they could make it. And it was what mattered the most, at the moment.

Killer hesitated for a moment, sneaking a gaze up to Gabriel, who seemed to smile slightly back at him, catching his look... But as the liger finally decided to ask the Arkangel suggestions for the Black Killer issue, there was a loud thunder and the crowd on the tiers all looked up with a tremble of fear and a mix of shouts and exclamation of surprise, curiosity and terror.

Vesta and Diana rushed forwards towards Gabriel, Vesta shouting something that Killer did miss, and the Prince nodded briefly, snapping his fingers loudly: immediately, his troop of Arkangels snapped to attention and quickly organized into two perfect lines of warriors.

Killer and Alexis, however, like practically everyone else, were looking up in amazement as a straight line of flames appeared from nothingness in midair, like a sword had slashed in a wound in an invisible curtain... and suddenly there was a blazing flash of light as the margins of the wound torn in reality stretched wide to opposite sides as a portal opened in midair. There was a scream of terror and excitement from the crowd as everyone stared upwards, half-blinded by the intense light, and Killer gaped as he caught sight of mighty, massive wings of red, flame-like energy, spanning much over 100 feet, stretching with power in the air and then flapping once, sending hot, desert-like wind down over them all and into the arena, rising a cloud of sand and dust from the battleground as several of the Benevolents on the tiers were almost blown away like pieces of paper.

Even Killer, despite his mass, felt rocked backwards a bit by that mere flap of mighty wings, but he kept staring forwards as a massive, muscular black-furred female dropped elegantly on her feet, her wings stretched wide open from her potent back, before they vanished with another flash of flame that temporarily blinded most of the people in the arena and on top of the immense tower.

Diana, who had quickly ran back up to his side, murmured that the newcomer was Sekhmet, and that her name meant "The Powerful One"... But even before the Seraphim could announce that they were standing before the Goddess of Chaos, Destruction and Revenge, Killer and Alexis had understood full well that something godlike had come.

Sekhmet was said to be incarnation of the destructive power of the Sun, to be deadly like the desert... And the insane amount of power that seemed to set the very air on fire certainly made it easy to believe.

Useless asking about how Sekhmet had come to the top of the tower, where, as Killer had been told, all sorts of spells and barriers of surreal energy kept everyone away, making portaling and flying impossible. To Sekhmet, it all did not matter. She was a Goddess, and with an idle cutting gesture of her hand she had torn herself a passage in the fabric of reality, with the ease of someone eating a piece of pie. None of the formidable defenses of the fortress affected her, none could stand against her... And Killer knew full well he himself had no chances at all against the Goddess: the might she exuded in the air was frightening, and the very climate had changed with her arrival, with a surreal, hot, desert wind blowing against them all lightly, when before there had been nothing by a fresh breeze smelling of sea.

The huge, brawny Arkangels visibly shivered in the ranks as they rose their spears to salute the Goddess, who all but ignored them, walking forwards quickly and with feline elegance before all but running into the angels lined up, knocking three of them sprawling on the ground like pins, despite them being all well over 15 feet tall and huge with muscles, as she walked literally across the ranks and stomped past them.

Of course, that wasn't saying much, because Sekhmet must have been no less than 27 feet tall, glorious with a body shaped by her own power, with strong, long and beautiful legs, mighty and sculptured abdominals forming an invincible barrier of muscle that all but complimented the seduction of her wide, feminine hips and narrow waist. Her breasts were proud, enormous and firm, giving her a godlike bosom, and just like Alexis she had powerful, muscular arms to show with pride, the immense strength of her musculature evident with every little movement, with every flex of her body. Sekhmet was a lioness, uniquely black furred, with piercings of gold, silver and steel clipped on her ears and down the sides of her jaw, her eyes a brilliant amber shining with malicious intelligence and, at the moment, with playful interest in her expression.

The only thing she wore were leathers: a tiny leather bra made from criss-crossing, sturdy laces of thick leather barely covered her - enormous - nipples and parts of her enormous boobs, with a thick ring of steel in the middle of her cleavage that all laces connected to, looking strained, tight as they were on her godlike breasts.

An equally tiny bikini bottom of leather and large rings of steel covered her sex, with three thick belts hanging loosely down under her taunt buttocks to arch up and connect to the bikini piece at the hips... and she wore large bracelets of gold around her lower legs, her feet bare, with a couple more of golden armlets wrapped tightly around her huge biceps, destined to pathetically snap apart like paper if she did flex her mighty musculature for real, for the look of it. Laces of thick leather crisscrossed on her forearms, wrapped tightly over her muscles and straining with every flex as she moved, and she wore combat, fingerless gloves also of thick, sturdy leather.

"My Goddess, we live to serve your will..." Gabriel and Vesta stated reverently, from where they kneeled on the ground, their head bowed in submission and a closed fist pressed on their chest, as Diana, much lower in rank and power, was all but bent forwards, her face almost touching the ground, forehead inches away from the back of her hands crossed on the floor as more than knelled she appeared to lay face down to the earth.

Killer and Alexis still stood, taken by surprise and too interested in the approaching, deadly beautiful goddess to even realize that everyone had fallen silent, that the people on the tiers had all but dropped onto the floor... The huge male merely looked again and again up and down the mighty body of the black lioness, mouth half-gaping as he felt the hot, tangible and incredible power radiating off her into the hair, like heat coming from a violent arson, from flames too near, near enough that their heat could burn.

"I know, I know... Old theatre, Gabriel... Vesta..." Sekhmet stated firmly, rolling her eyes a bit as she barely shot a bored gaze down at the giant Arkangel. "Get the hell up and stop wasting time, I'm not here to see your little shows and the virtue of your warriors. All old stuff, it doesn't impress anymore."

"Yes, Divine." Gabriel answered quietly, nodding a bit in acceptance of her order, and as he straightened back up to his feet, Vesta doing the same as the goddess grinned and slapped the Prince angel friendly on the shoulder, the giant warrior grunting loudly and stumbling forwards, nearly falling over as the lioness strutted quickly to the front of Killer, her amber eyes studying him with interest, gleams of malicious playfulness dancing in her irises as she grinned widely. "I'm here to see our famous Amon-Ra..."

Killer decided that, by now, bowing would have been all but useless. He stood on the spot, Alexis at his side, and he let the Goddess take a long gaze over him, feeling her look linger with appreciation on his potent body... And yet feeling horribly at the awareness of just how much bigger she was, towering over him of a ridiculous amount of feet, her body both fantastic for femininity and explosive for muscles and strength.

She made him feel small, and since he was over 18 feet tall, that was already amazing in itself. It was... a whole new feeling, and Killer did not exactly like it. He had never thought a female would ever top his height - not by so much, at least... - and he was also well aware that, as a Goddess, Sekhmet could have easily made herself far more imposing still. Those nearly 30 feet of height were very little feat for the goddess... and there was no telling how immense and powerful she could get, as his eyes followed her, tracking her movements as she circled once around him and Alexis, looking down at them with a sly grin.

"Amon-Ra... every bit as handsome as I expected." Sekhmet finally commented as she stopped in front of Killer, her mighty arms crossed beneath her glorious breasts as she grinned and darted her tongue upon her lips as she stared into his eyes.

Killer couldn't help it, and he grinned a bit himself of her sincere, evident interest as Alexis grinned widely, crossing her own arms on her own godlike chest, her eyes alive with flames of lust and pride and power as she caught in the way the huge male handled even the impact with the Goddess before him.

"I came here today to see you fight and prove your worth... And it's better to make it clear, it's me, together with others, that you have to blame for having to crush another army of enemies under your foot today." Sekhmet paused, waving a hand idly with a wide grin. "I voted to put you into this test, because I wanted to see personally, up close, how powerful a weapon you are, and how powerful you'll get. But hey, there's a lot more about you to see than just how well you fight!" The lioness exclaimed cheerfully, grinning widely as he slapped his thick chest playfully, and Killer grunted with a cough as the air was knocked out of his lungs... But even as he rocked on the spot, he forced himself to stand still, and Sekhmet stared at this for a moment with a widening grin, murring a bit.

"See, Gabriel...? Take note. Even before he gets a minute of training in Heaven, he does not bow before me and does not fall on his ass if I touch him."

Killer grinned stupidly at that, rubbing a hand absently into his mane for a moment as Alexis grinned amusedly, and Gabriel nodded reverently. "Yes, D-"

"Divine..." Sekhmet completed for him, rolling her eyes upwards again. "Get inventive for once."

The Arkangel awkwardly fell silent, uncertain on what to do, but he clearly wasn't much into the attentions of the Goddess as she reached a finger forwards towards Killer's mighty chest, looking to the side with a slight smile to Alexis, who grinned back defiantly.

"You don't mind if I touch the big boy, right...?" The Goddess playfully asked, and Alexis shook her head before shooting a gaze to Killer's eyes.

"So long as he enjoys." Alexis précised, and Sekhmet murred amusedly again before licking teasingly at Killer's neck, surprising him and making him half-wince even as the Goddess asked: "I so like this... So long as our big king here gives me a 10 mark, then, I can be a slut to him...?"

"He's more than male enough to handle all the sluts he wants to keep and still fuck me to exhaustion at anytime." Alexis answered easily, Gabriel looking astonished by the exchange of vulgarities and most certainly blushing deep red under his helmet - Gods, is it ever funny to think about it...! - as he swayed awkwardly on the spot, so evidently out of place that comparing him to a fish out of the water was almost not enough. Vesta, instead, was grinning slightly, studying the weird meeting with interest and amusement... and Diana, who stood behind her at a step or so of respectful distance, also sported a little knowing smile.

"I so believe you!" The Goddess replied cheerfully, and then she grinned up to Killer teasingly as he grinned back down at her, the goddess murmuring playfully: "Gotta make sure I earn your approval then... I'd hate to be left out and miss what you've got to offer..." The Goddess grinned, eyes alive with playful flames as she pressed her finger against his chest, reaching her muzzle close to his ear and breathing: "Master."

Killer's eyes went wide, and he lagged for a moment awkwardly trying to come up with a comeback line, but he was spared that, fortunately, as the Goddess straightened and he looked down at himself in shock at the sight of Seven thick, massive and strangely-gleaming chains wrapped tightly around his body.

He could see them, but he did not feel them at all... Until it dawned on him that it was an image of the Divine Seals still struggling to restrain his quickly awakening, ever-growing power.

"Two are already almost on the verge of tearing apart." Sekhmet observed, and Killer could see that a red-gleaming chain had several of its enormous links worn and nearly broke. Similarly, a Green-glowing one was also strained terribly, held in place by now by a link already weakened and cracked. "Soon, they'll shatter like a tight shirt rips when you flex those awesome muscles of yours."

Killer was tempted to flex and show her, but the news that two Seals already were going to break made him a lot less cheerful and bold. Black Killer is growing more and more annoying, lately. And it gets even harder by the minute to restrain him... with two Seals less, it'll be a constant nightmare...

"But mine is still holding strong. You'll have to work hard to break that one." Sekhmet observed proudly, pointing a finger at the thickest chain, made of massive, sharpened links of thick steel glowing with the same amber fire of the Goddess's eyes. It wrapped tightly around his torso, crossing his chest and back... and it felt extremely weird to see the chain strangling him and looking so real... and yet having nothing weighting against his thick frame.

"Yeah, well... I... don't doubt it." Killer replied lamely, looking over the thick chains again before they suddenly vanished from sight, seeming to retreat inside his form.

His attention, however, was quickly drawn away from that phenomenon as the sky tore apart once more, flames consuming the fabric of reality as waves of energy rippled in midair, distorting reality itself like the surface of a lake when a rock is thrown into the water.

Killer stared at this, barely able to believe it possible, and incapable to imagine the amount of power that was required to toy so ruthlessly with the Create, to bend the Laws of Reality and of physics to one's will... And then he blinked in surprise as two enormous, muscular unevolved stallions made of white-hot, solid flames tore out of the portal, galloping and sending snorts of black smoke out of their nostrils as muscles made of fire flexed and bulged in a formidable show of force. Each massive stallion wasn't any smaller than 18 feet at the shoulder, and their enormous hooves slammed into the air with booms of thunder so loud that Killer couldn't even hear his own thoughts.

The horse were followed by the elegant two-wheels war chariot they pulled, also made of white-hot, solid flames: it looked light and agile, on its relatively thin wheels each with six spokes and a vicious, wing-like blade of fire stretching from the hubs, to slaughter and maim and cut enemies into pieces.

Inside the chariot, secured to the side walls of it, two large quivers contained one a large number of thick, deadly arrows and one a long, mortal and gigantic spear.

Two giants stood on the chariot: one, the driver, had to be around 20 feet tall, and he wore a golden chainmail armor of tiny, sturdy rings of Godblood and an helmet that covered his head and hid almost entirely his muzzle, with the sides of the helm coming down to cover the cheeks and sides of the muzzle, leaving a cross-like overture that left uncovered only the eyes, nose and mouth. Muscular and athletic, but not thick and bulging like Killer, the rider still was a behemoth of power, and his bicep bulged as he held onto the reigns that commanded the two snorting, angry stallions, his force enough to rule on the two powerful animals... And the black furred jackal held a long, terrible leather whip that he could use on the two angry horses - if additional speed is needed at all, and I don't think it happens that often - or against any enemy in a very wide range around the chariot: the length of the leather whip was made further deadly by regular insertions of wrapping plates of golden Godblood material, shaped in little but wicked spikes all over, and every time the jackal threw the whip up into the air to lash out, blue electricity crackled noisily along the weapon.

It is not a simple fancy whip, that's for sure... what kind of magic it is imbued with is hard to say, but for sure it is nasty like hell.

The chariot came down quickly, and the ground under Killer's feet shock like an earthquake had begun as the massive horses and then the wheels of the chart touched the roof of the tower, the Jackal arching his back and flexing with might as he pulled back on the reigns and seemed to duel in strength for a moment with the two restless stallions, which reared up angrily and neighed loudly before stomping their hooves down into the stone floor hard enough to crack it as they finally stopped.

The Jackal driver silently turned towards them, and Killer met for a moment his expressionless eyes, of a light ruby-like red color, but it wasn't the driver the true majestic sight, but Taranis, the God of War, the Lord of Armies, that stood beside him on the chariot and that now stepped down from it.

A full 30 feet tall, the behemoth warrior God was a shadow of death and solid threat. Impossible to tell what he was, which species, if made of flesh or of spirit or machine, as a black, red-edged armor covered the whole of his muscular form, making him totally invulnerable from any offense. The armor was apparently shaped directly over his muscular form, following the profile of each powerful muscle, and the inserts of thick, finely-shaped armor were worn upon an equally impenetrable vest of chainmail of Godblood, visible in the joints between plate and plate with the movements. His thick combat boots and the plates covering his joints and back were also riddled with vicious spikes and curving blades, making his look even more impressive, as did a long blood-red cloak worn on his back and reaching down to his feet.

The helm was also totally enclosed, and a red light shone from six "eyes" of transparent Godblood, where the God's own eyes were. Impossible to see them under the armor, however... which also sported

Taranis had two enormous broadswords held in holsters at the hips, and an enormous Hoplon, a circular shield, was thrown on his back, secured thanks to a thick leather band crossing over his chest.

"That is Aegis." Diana whispered, and Killer stared at the edge of the shield reverently, wishing for the God to turn, to show the legendary, invincible shield in all its Glory.

Aegis, the impenetrable barrier capable to protect against any attack, the shield that shaken by his mighty owner was said to cause tempests and cause the Mortals to struck down with fear, curling up in panic.

Taranis, the divine personification of war, the perfect warrior made true. Possibly one of the most fearsome Gods in the Circle of the Seven deities.

"Let me make clear some shit." Sekhmet cheerfully piped up, surprising everyone as she pointed a hand to Taranis, who walked up to them and crossed his huge arms, looking down at Killer with silent but evident contempt. "The bastard here believes that fighting is the only reason why we all live. Not to fuck, not to eat, not to drink. But to fight to survive and climb on top of the others. For him, as soon as you cease to fight, you automatically become worthless and useless and you only deserve to die. Good thing he's not the one in charge of Destiny." Sekhmet explained informally, grinning widely. "It is also the reason why he doesn't get laid that often, and this is possibly the cause of his grouchy mood, again."

Taranis glared at her silently, and Sekhmet grinned stupidly back at him before nodding and continuing: "Anyway, he believes that War is the only Way, since war ensures only the strongest ones survive, with the weak being eradicated, consequently propelling the evolution of the world and of the living beings. Which actually would go down to a mere progress in the way people kill each other, however. Now that I think about it."

"Mercy, pity, love... All signs of weakness. They just bring to a stall, to a slowdown of the Evolution process. They poison the natural cycle of the Create. War purifies the kingdom of God, and erases everything that's weak and unworthy." Taranis replied angrily, his voice booming from under the thick helmet, almost sounding like it came from quite a distance, despite how deep and strong it was.

"Seen...?" Sekhmet asked, shrugging a bit. "No alternatives to War. And to think there's people dumb enough to pray Taranis and offer sacrifices to him to gain his favor. Forget about it, and just fight... Taranis helps everyone and no one. He will make the war last as long as possible, but the winner will be the strongest fighter, not Taranis's favorite pet."

"Instructive." Alexis commented idly, clearly unimpressed by the lesson as she stood calmly beside Killer, her mighty arms still crossed.

"Stop this useless chatting and do something useful, Sekhmet. I came here to see a fight, not to take a tea and enjoy little talk." Taranis muttered impatiently, and glaring another time down to Killer, he turned and walked back to his chariot, meeting the Jackal rider, who bowed to the God and then followed him down the wide stairs of marble that leaded down the tiers to the front row of seats of the arena.

Killer gazed after this with interest, finally able to see the massive, circular Aegis shield in all its glory, noticing that twisting serpents were carved in the golden surface, stretching from the top of a head... And he winced, making sure to avoid the eyes of Medusa, the queen of all Gorgons, depicted with amazing precision on the surface of the shield. He did not want to discover if her gaze could still petrify him.

"Who's the jackal, anyway...?" Killer asked curiously, and Vesta looked surprised as he made his question, perhaps considering it too evident to believe it possible he did not know it.

He looked back at her flatly for a moment, and then he sighed and admitted: "I'm not joking, I don't know it. I'm no good at religions and mythology, I honestly always tried to think you all did not exist."

"Not wise of you, Lord Killer." Vesta pointed out calmly, and he shrugged a bit, looking lame. "You've always been too confident in what you can see and touch by yourself... with little confidence in whatever was out of your reach."

"Don't blame me, touching is fun." Killer replied stupidly, grinning a bit as he squeezed Alexis fondly closer by wrapping an arm around her waist, the femme fatale grinning a bit and gently pushing his hand down her breath-catching curves to settle his fingers on a firm, godlike buttock as she squeezes his hand in hers.

Vesta rolled her eyes a bit at this, but she couldn't hide a bit of a smile nonetheless, as Diana covered her muzzle with a hand and Sekhmet grinned widely, staring down at his hand with something like longing.

"Fine, fine... we'll fix the abysses in your spirituality as part of the training to come." The Seraphim's Queen sighed, before adding softly: "The jackal is Seth, by the way. I'm guessing even you heard his name... He's a God too, an earlier God of war between other things. There were and are many Gods, Lord Killer... But wars and duels and conflicts along the ages have determined who sits in the Circle of the Seven. Every other God of those who have not been destroyed is now serving the winners in some way... Seth, unlike Ares and others, survived the ancient wars and now serves under Taranis, who won the harsh battle to rule over all Wars."

"I understand..." Killer commented quietly. I wonder how many other ancient Gods survived these wars...

"Why you two have no weapons, by the way...?" Vesta asked curiously, interrupting his thoughts and giving him and Alexis both a bit of a look as she arched one eyebrow lightly, and Alexis grinned as she flexed her muscular arms a bit, stretching the fingers of a gloved hand before closing it tightly in a fist, the leather of her fingerless glove crying a bit.

"I made a bet that we'll deal with this... test... bare-handedly." She replied simply, and Vesta gaped at her a bit even before Killer snorted and added: "Also, the fact we were... like... taken away from our sleeping bodies all of a sudden to find ourselves on a frigging flying ship has to do with that."

Vesta coughed a bit, looking embarrassed as she slightly reddened, and she nodded agreeably. "Yes, I forgot that we had to use... uncomfortable methods for make possible this first visit of you. I apologize."

"No big deal." Sekhmet cheerfully exclaimed, patting Killer on the shoulder and making him grunt breathlessly before she grinned widely down at him and asked: "Where are those weapons...? I don't think you'll like to spend the next two or three millennia without your favorite toys, after all!"

"Our bedroom." Alexis answered simply, and Sekhmet nodded agreeably before stretching out a finger and drawing a line in midair which easily tore a gaping hole in reality, opening a portal across which Killer could see... well, his own muscular back as he slept on the bed, naked if not for his boxers, Alexis invisible because she was on the other side of him, undoubtedly, sleeping in his arms.

Hell, this is so awkward... Thanks God I have my boxers on at least.

Sekhmet peered curiously into the portal she herself had opened, and Killer winced at the grin spreading on the Goddess' face, before the giant lioness threw her arms around Diana and Vesta's shoulders, pulling them close to her sides as she exclaimed: "Let's all take a moment to admire our Lord Killer, Amon-Ra!"

Killer winced at this, looking with horror to Sekhmet as the Goddess exclaimed: "Hey, come on! That piece of cloth is unfair! I want to see!"

The Goddess pouted a bit, and she seemed to consider the idea of reaching across the portal to snag his boxer off, with Vesta looking embarrassed but, at the same time, not really willing to oppose the move despite the light blush on her cheeks. As to Diana, she was a deep red, but she was certainly not going to complain.

Alexis grinned widely and gave him a wink before walking towards the portal, stepping in front of the other three females, and Killer for a moment was terrified with the certainty she was going to make the honors... But as the femme fatale bent forwards and vanished half-inside the portal, he was relieved to see her arm reach backwards to shove her thick leather belt with the giant custom rounds for her enormous sniper rifle in Diana's hands, then to handle the monstrous rifle itself to Sekhmet, who grabbed it by the thick, enormous square barrel and looked at it with interest and yet with disappointment as she grumbled: "This ain't the big gun I wanted to see. Funkiller."

"Yeah, well... Fuck you. He does not want to show off right now." Alexis replied evenly, her voice a bit strange coming out of the portal as Vesta and Diana both winced, Killer groaning before launching a worried gaze up to Sekhmet, who blinked in surprise a couple of times, looking shocked by the femme fatale's boldness, but she did not react, much as she seemed desperately intent on finding a proper insult to get back at her.

Next to come out were the two holstered Desert Storm handguns of Alexis, the huge guns' handles sticking out from leather holsters that Alexis held by the thick laces usually wrapped around her thighs, and Vesta grinned widely before eagerly snagging those from the ligeress's hand, the Seraphim quickly drawing both of the monstrous four-barrel weapons and studying them over with glinting eyes.

"These are awesome!" Vesta declared happily after a moment, one Desert Storm in each of her hands as she tried their weight and balance and easily aimed across the Red-Dot CQB sights on top; the only fancy kit that Alexis had put onto them. With her aim, prowess and "sixth-sense" precognition, she never needed to aim, but she has said the sights "looked cool", and they at least had the advantage to incorporate the mini digital cameras connected to the tactical Predators Head Mounted Display visor, which was handy like hell to see past corners and shot with deadly accuracy from under cover.

"Awesome but highly illegal, as I'm sure you remember." Gabriel pointed out wisely, his voice poking her like an accusatory finger, and Vesta sulked a bit before grumbling to the Arkangel behind her: "I know, I know. Mortal artifacts are forbidden in Heaven and stuff and... shit."

"Exactly." Gabriel commented firmly, nodding wisely. "I'm sure you won't smuggle mortal goods to Heaven, of all people."

Vesta grumbled wordlessly at that, looking murderous, but then her attention was drawn away as first Alexis handed Diana another Desert Storm - plain black this time and without the little silver skull-with-crossed-bones that decorated the sides of Alexis's own handguns - and then drew out Blue Vixen and Wyvern, handing the enormous crimson blade to Killer before drawing back from the portal, which quickly swirled close with a flash of light.

Figured we would not need our visors here... And I think even your rifle might not be the most indicated. Alexis explained in his mind, and he nodded with a smile to her as she fondly ran a finger down the flat of Blue Vixen's blade, before turning to Diana and handing the huge sword to her with a deadly serious face. "You take care of this, Diana, and make sure nothing happens to my sword."

"Huh. Sure." Diana replied uncertainly, looking up to the muscular female towering above her with fear in her eyes, knowing all too well that that one was a very serious order, and that Alexis would not tolerate errors.

Killer handed his enormous blade to Vesta, who took it reverently in her hands, bowing her head forwards a bit and then gazing down to the flat of Wyvern, drawing a finger down it and studying it this way and that, before she mumbled something to herself...

But Killer could not investigate on that, since something cold and unpleasant suddenly touched him under the chin, pushing his muzzle up so that his eyes met two cold, soulless crimson eyes staring down at him, floating in midair.

The liger's eyes went wide at this, as he realized that the invisible, cold thing pushing under his chin was the finger of the same, invisible owner of those callous eyes: they stared down at him with interest and patronizing irony, gleaming with ruby light in the shadow, framed by the ripped edges of an ancient, black cloak.

Alexis turned towards him with a frown, but she could see nothing... And in that moment, a low, hissing voice seemed to speak at them simultaneously from every direction as the freakish red eyes came closer to Killer, who had the horrible feeling of a cold, unnatural breath washing down his muzzle, coming from the invisible being before him. "Amon-Ra... Such an honor to see you in person, finally, after hearing so much babbling about how special you are supposed to be..."

There was hostility in the voice, but Killer wasn't surprised of it, nor exactly did it matter at the moment. What horrified him was that that, whatever was talking, was infinitely worse than any Astarhi demon: Astarhi were invisible and immaterial, and thus invincible most of the time... but they definitely had to turn completely solid if they wanted to strike physically at something. Besides, Alexis was easily capable to track their energy, by now, and she'd knew immediately if any was crawling around unseen... But this newcomer, who had to be another one of the seven Gods, was far worse.

Godlike he was in power, for sure... but Killer could say nothing about its energy, not even a gross estimate. Sekhmet and Taranis were scary because of the amount of energy that radiated out of them, tremendous and almost physically concrete for how clearly you could feel it in the air. The newcomer was totally... dead.

No energy to pick up. Nothing at all. No way to guess his powers, no way to estimate his force, no way to recognize who he was, how he was, if muscular, if thin, if monstrous or handsome.

All Killer could see were two eyes, bare of any emotion and expression, floating in midair above him, glowing from the shadow he could guess under a black hood he could only see the ripped edges of.

No telling from where he had come, nor when he had come. He could have been between Killer's legs all the time, and the liger wouldn't have known at all.

Vesta, Gabriel, Diana, and even Sekhmet had turned to stare at him with matching frowns, which told him that they couldn't detect the newcomer at all either... And Alexis was looking at him with a grimace of horror.

"The invisible sneaky bastard would be Thanathos, the God of Death." Sekhmet spat, grimacing a bit herself as crossed her muscular arms on her chest, her lip arched a bit to show her deadly fangs, gritted in an hostile - and yet powerless - menace.

"Well, fuck you too, Sekhmet." Thanathos replied with a snort-laughter, and the goddess's eye twitched angrily, before she let out a growl and a solid wave of terrible heat exploded forth from her, as Alexis, warned by her precognition, leapt backwards and flipped once in midair, landing on her feet at safe distance and shoving a palm out at the same time to shove Killer out of the way as well with a gentle push of solid energy.

Thanathos did not bother dodging, and for a bare second there was a trembling, confused image of a gigantic, powerful body wrapped in a tight black cloak of leather, before the God vanished entirely once more.

"Sekhmet always likes to play." The voice announced once more, and this time was Alexis who grimaced in disgust at the feeling of a dead finger turning her face to the side, the merciless eyes once again snapping open in midair.

Alexis glared back at these with hate and distaste, snarling a bit: both in frustration for the total invisibility of their new potential enemy and in disgust and outrage at his touch on her cheek.

"Our Rays of Hope..." The voice continued, teasingly. "You think you'll survive today's test...?"

"Stupid question. Right one is how shortly it'll last if we play serious." Alexis replied venomously, and differently from Killer, she did not resist the temptation to shot her hand out to smash her palm forwards, where the abdominals of the God were supposed to be. There was an impact, and everyone heard it... but the eyes floating in midair did not express any discomfort, despite Alexis's monstrous strength.

"Perhaps." The God agreeably replied, but then he spat out a question: "But this is just a test. Survive to tomorrow might be harder."

"Not. Your. Problem." Alexis growled back, and the God once more completely vanished, everyone awkwardly looking back and forth to get an idea of where he had gone... But there was no way to tell. He probably was gone to sit close to Taranis and Seth on the first row of seats, ready for the battle. But he might as well still be standing a step away... And it was frustrating like hell not to know.

"Asshole." Alexis grumbled, and Sekhmet did give a grunt of agreement as Killer and Diana traded a worried gaze.

Killer was quite sure he had never felt worse anytime in his life. He hated the fact that so many beings of incredible power were showing up to him: Michael already felt like little stuff after meeting Gabriel and Vesta, and Sekhmet and Taranis had made it clear that a Michael-capable rival, to them, would have been little more than a nuisance.

And as it stands now, Michael is out of my league already... I know nothing of magic, I have little grasp on my own powers, and I don't know what he's really got. Magic makes physical strength look almost worthless and useless in comparison...

Not true. Black Killer replied idly in his mind, proving once more that, despite Killer's best attempts, he was finding it easier and easier to pop up at any time he wanted. Which was something that scared Killer even more than the Gods themselves.

Most mages are frail and weak, bodies ruined by their constant studying of spells, of religions, of greater powers to depend from. Our physical strength can crush their pathetic bodies out of existence... Our power can be so great to even make their magic all but powerless against us.

And there are supernatural powers and genetic characteristics that go past any other form of power, magic or muscular or mechanic... And we are blessed with insane amounts of this power.

None of these bugs would impress you if you allowed me to show you what you truly have got...

NO. Go away. Killer replied in a mental growl that was as furious as desperate and frustrated... And he had a flash of Black Killer shrugging with a little, patronizing smile before relaxing back into a golden chaise longue in a cathedral-sized throne room.

A matter of time, bro. A matter of time. The evil version of himself commented, and Killer grimaced, closing his eyes for a moment to try and chase him away once more.

He snapped his eyes back open as he heard Alexis calling his name, the hesitation and surprise in her voice shaking him like a hard shove.

"What...?" He asked, alarmed... But he suddenly froze, as he saw not one, but two Alexis. One was standing at his side, looking shocked at the copy of herself that stood before Killer...

But as Killer stupidly asked: "Alexis...?" and Alexis herself asked: "Killer...?" the huge male understood that something was wrong.

The Alexis-clone smiled, her smile almost a cocky-grin as she tilted her head slightly upwards, just like the true Alexis always did... But the female shook her head slowly, amusedly, and a beautiful, gentle voice answered: "No, not really. For you, I'm Killer and Alexis both. But my name's Alcana."

The non-Alexis mutated in front of the huge male's eyes, shrinking a foot or so in size as her features changed from those of the femme fatale he loved to those of a beautiful, young dragoness with golden scales and, plump firm breasts and feminine, lithe but curvaceous body. She had wings folded on her back, and playful eyes of... unknown color. In the time of her change from Alexis-clone to those which had to be her true features, her eyes turned from sapphire to gold to emerald to, again, ice-sapphire as the goddess looked into Killer's eyes with a smile. It almost made him think that she had willingly taken on the color of his own eyes for some reason... But that wasn't really important at the moment as she smiled a gentle, sunny smile.

She had no hair in the common sense of the word, instead sporting long, loose and soft scales of brilliant silver that covered the top of her head and cascaded down to her shoulders and down her back like normal hair. She was wearing a long blue vest which covered her form and showed her beauty at the same time: her cleavage was widely left uncovered and offered to the eye, and her back was bare, the vest widely open to let her wings free, the overture deep enough that really only her firm, toned buttocks were covered... And her legs showed proudly across two slits in the sides of the long gown of the vest, which otherwise reached down to touch the floor all around her.

"Before you even ask, yes. I'm the Goddess of Love and Passion." Alcana said softly, smiling gently up at Killer after quietly rising her hand up to stop his question as soon as he opened his mouth. "That's why you saw Alexis in me... And that's why you saw Killer in me instead, Alexis." The dragoness added, smiling towards the muscular femme fatale and bowing her head respectfully to her as Alexis grunted awkwardly, shifting a bit from side to side as she stood impatiently waiting for the fight, her muscular arms crossed, her fingers toying absently with the golden bullet of her necklace even as her eyes studied the Goddess with interest. "As Goddess of Love, people see in me their true love." The dragoness added softly.

Alcana looked over Killer for a long moment, tilting her head to the side a bit as she smiled in affective way, her eyes happy of his presence, before she bowed to him quietly and added: "It is such an honor to have you here. We've all long waited this day, from when the Prophecy was first spelled..."

Killer shifted awkwardly on the spot, his eyes wondering dangerously down the vertigo-inducing overture on the back of her vest, his gaze following the beautiful profile of her flawless body, and he felt his cheek burn as he grappled with the fact that she was a goddess, and this most definitely wasn't what she was expected to do. I should... like... totally be one who bows, no...?

"I've long dreamed this day, Amon-Ra." The Goddess added in a whisper as she slowly straightened, her eyes gazing up at him intently, with desire and passion as she elegantly, swiftly came a step closer, her eyes again meeting his. "I've been looking at your accomplishment and enterprises on the Mortal Plane for all of your life... And, my Lord, you did things that even us Gods can't dream to do."

She smiled brightly as Killer gave her an hesitating, surprised smile of his own, even as her gaze left him to trace down the length of his enormous blade: Wyvern was still in the hands of Vesta, who was murmuring something to Gabriel, who was also bent down to study the blade of both the crimson sword and Blue Vixen, which Diana was holding nervously, trying to hide it from the gaze of the Arkangel: at the moment, the black tigress feared Alexis's possible rage for how her sword was being analyzed and touched than she feared and respected the king of the First Sky and general of the Heaven's Guard. Diana was all but sneaking nervous gazes at Alexis, asking for patience and forgiveness with her ruby eyes as she held out the sword for Gabriel to study, the muscular femme fatale glaring a bit at the huge angel as she followed his every, smallest move.

"What the hell are you trying to do with my sword?" Alexis finally asked venomously, and Alcana smiled reassuringly as she observed: "Nothing, Lady Alexis... They are verifying that our theories were right. Both Wyvern and Blue Vixen are weapons worth of Gods. Their blades contain a very high amount of mutated Godblood, as well as other incredibly-resistant materials."

"Godblood...?" Killer asked, frowning in surprise. "But... I know where Wyvern and Blue Vixen were forged. For the latter, I know all too well who designed it, since I did it personally. And I definitely know who forged it, too, and it definitely was done by mortal hands, with mortal means."

"But you also know it was forged with the left-over of the same "special" alloy that was used for Wyvern." Gabriel replied wisely, turning towards him and once more making him feel uncomfortable as an apparently impenetrable helmet of steel "looked" at him. "That special alloy that you admittedly don't know what the hell is."

It was true, of course. Killer had no idea how they could know... Other than the facts they are Gods and Kings and Queens of Heaven, I mean... That probably is already more than enough of an explanation... He did not know what kind of alloy Wyvern was made out of. Not even Seth knew it. The Story of the enormous sword was tied to that of a huge, heavy ingot of the very same indestructible, crimson-colored material of Wyvern's blade. The sword had been forged with large part of an incredibly sturdy, precious alloy that, it was said, had required over three millennia of attempts before a way to heat the metal enough that it could be forged and worked was found. The provenience of the material itself was mysterious, and time, passing, had helped cancel the memories and most of the records about it, and now all what remained was an ancient document in Kesteven's historic archive, containing the hypothesis that the incredibly strong metal could have been "fallen from the sky in a ball of godly fire".

Which, for modern science and translating from the medieval language soaked with superstition and mythology, meant it had probably been a meteor which had contained the mineral.

What was left of the formidable material after Wyvern was forged out of it, was shaped in a simple ingot and conserved like the most precious and holy of secrets. No one knew how, and from where, the alloy had come. Few had been taught, generation after generation, how to work the material. But everyone had protected and almost venerated the mysterious ingot as it was conserved in the depths of an ancient temple in the extreme north, closer to the Arctic than to Kesteven.

Until I got that ingot, and allowed it to be used to forge Blue Vixen, of course...

"True. But Godblood shouldn't be... like... Heaven's stuff alone?" Killer asked, running a hand in his mane awkwardly as he looked curiously from Sekhmet to Vesta to Gabriel.

"It should be." Vesta finally confirmed, nodding a bit. "But somehow, your ancestors managed to put their hands on quite a large amount of Godblood, it seems. And moreover, they somehow even managed to forge it... And it requires skills and technology and temperatures absolutely incredible. We always thought it went far past the capability of mortals..."

"Yeah, well... Kesteven's forges have no rivals for a reason." Alexis replied heavenly, grinning widely, and Killer couldn't but shrug a bit at Vesta's frown, that seemed to ask him: where's the trick?

A question I honestly can't answer to... Not even Killer had dared asking to the forge's Master the secret that uncountable generations of - blacksmith is more than a tad reductive - artists of the metal had passed over from father to son.

He had merely trusted the blacksmiths back at the Forge in Kesteven, and allowed them to make of his design one of the deadliest weapons ever conceived.

_"_I guess we'll investigate the matter another time. Our last, late guests have finally come." Sekhmet intervened, turning to the side as a white portal swirled open in midair, and two tall figures walked out of it.

"Finally." Alexis grumbled impatiently, but Killer tried to fake he wasn't as nervous, eager and impatient as her, even as he quickly turned towards the portal to stare as a male lion and a female Dragokkaren walked out of the intense white light.

Killer's attention, as always, was tempted to set onto the Goddess first, but for once, he was distracted and drawn to the male God first, instead, as the cheerful-looking golden lion turned to Sekhmet and held a hand up, waving at her happily as he greeted: "Sekhmet...!"

The Goddess, however, stopped him dead in his tracks, raising a hand with a grimace and looking down at him like she had seen a particularly ugly bug. "Lemuel..." She grumbled out in answer, pronouncing his name with a great deal of effort, before she quickly stomped away, past Killer, stopping only for a brief moment as her hand touched his firm, muscular buttock teasingly and she piped up: "Gonna be in the first row. You give me a good show of just what those guns can do." The Goddess grinned widely down at him - Ugh. Never gonna get used to that. - and squeezed his thick bicep in her hand before walking down the stairs to reach Taranis down the tiers of the arena.

The golden lion sighed and shook his head in resignation, and Killer could hear the sadness in his voice, even if a moment later he raised his gaze back up and, meeting Killer's own, he smiled friendly. The God was around 20 feet tall, which meant he was a lot closer to Killer's height that the previous deities. Sizes, anyway, did not matter much, since all of the Gods could obviously sizeshift: in Heaven and Hell, that ability was so common and cheap that practically every soldier, even the last of grunts, possessed it. Of course, like with everything else, the Gods could practice it on a far greater scale...

Lemuel was simply clothed, wearing a kilt of thick leather with a loincloth that sported a long band of leather hanging down the front, covering his crotch and reaching past his knees. He was muscular and toned, but less bulky and massive than Killer, more on the athletic-side of musculature: however, he sported strong, huge arms with bulging biceps that, somehow, Killer instinctively connected to a great passion for blacksmithing.

It wasn't just his instinct telling him that the God had to be a blacksmith... the lion carried the scent of the forge on himself, and Killer could pick up on the smoke of coal fire. Black coal dust also covered the kilt of the male, and a bit of it stained the otherwise golden, simple breastplate he wore to cover his thick chest, only other clothing piece he had on his otherwise naked body, his abdominals strong and bare, exposed to the eye. The God overall looked like he had just come out of his forge, and by the look of it, he was the kind of passionate blacksmith that spends all of his days working to improve his art.

The God had sincere - and sincerely friendly, for a change - amber eyes, and a warm smile on his handsome, masculine features. A large, florid mane - color of the gold, but turning darker and almost black going outside, only real sign of his age on an otherwise youthful and potent body - added to his appearance, as did the enormous golden hammer he was carrying, balanced on his shoulder by the long, thick pole. It was plain and simple, but heavy and devastating as a weapon... and yet, Killer could tell, accurate and wonderfully delicate when used to shape the metal in the forge.

Killer bowed forwards lightly, respectfully greeting the God... before the slightly taller male embraced him tightly, making him grunt in surprise as his eyes searched Alexis over the lion's shoulder, the femme fatale frowning a bit and shrugging.

"Amon-Ra! Lord Killer, right, I can call you so, right...?" The lion asked cheerfully, and as soon as Killer nodded, he laughed heartily, his voice deep and matching Killer's own strong one as he boomed: "Thank you! Thank you for being here, too, I know it must be a mess for you two and stuff. The whole "wake-up in another world" thing, the goddamn test thing now here - oh, by the way I was totally contrary to this, huh, know it! But you know how things go in democracy. The more votes win and stuff."

The god sure was a cheerful and talkative one. At least, he finally let Killer go, the liger recovering his breath with a sigh as the Lion turned his attention to Alexis, cheerfully approaching her with his arms wide... But something in the firm gaze of the femme fatale evidently struck him hard enough to make him slow down, blinking a couple of times before coughing and bowing to the female instead, rising his hand kindly to ask for hers.

Alexis rolled her eyes upwards a bit, but she grinned slightly despite herself as she extended her hand, the God kissing it lightly and reverently.

You could almost say she was the goddess, and he the mortal.

"My, my... how beautiful and glorious, Lady Alexis!"

"Yeah, well. Make it just Alexis, everyone. Or Mistress." The femme fatale grinned, crossing her strong arms back on her chest. "The Lady thing only makes me feel fucking uncool, and I'm... like... the coolest of all." She nodded, and Lemuel smiled amusedly before cheerfully piping up: "I agree."

"But I heard you had troubles with the Righteous-freaks back at the tavern. I'm sure it was the last thing you expected to experience in Heaven..." The god added, making a bit of a face at the thought of the disorders, before he looked up curiously as Killer interrupted him and mildly observed: "I was surprised, sure... But not that much. Somehow, wherever we walk we seem to end up in a brawl."

Lemuel paused for a moment, looked at him and Alexis a bit and then nodded, grinning widely himself. "I bet you do. But something tells me you do not mind."

"Not exactly." Alexis replied agreeably, smiling herself. "Kicking asses helps keep my body in shape. And it keeps me amused too."

"I heard you kicked Rogue and his buddies around. Oh, that was awesome. I totally had to read the memory of the eyewitnesses of the event and enjoy the show in its full version." Lemuel laughed, nodding cheerfully as he let his arm fall down, the enormous hammer hanging from his hand easily, like it had no weight, as the God dangled it idly back and forth.

Killer's attention, however, had shifted inevitably to the Goddess in the meanwhile. He was almost surprised at himself for how long it had been before his eyes had searched her boobs... And told himself that he was at least justified by the fact that, once more, he truly was confronted by a godlike specimen of femininity.

Roughly as tall as Alexis, the Dragokkaren goddess almost matched Alexis's own impressive bosom, and that was saying an awful lot. True, one would expect a goddess to overcome a mortal... But Alexis is a limit case. And even goddesses sorta look up at her in some aspects at times...

The Dragokkaren wasn't as muscular as Alexis, either... but she was more than amazingly toned, athletic and strong in built, with a fair amount of muscle that all but added to the perfection of her feminine body.

One of the first things Killer noticed was the fact that the uniquely white-scaled reptile apparently had long, beautiful jet-black hair: it was more a unique case than a rare one for her race.

Her hair came down from under a golden helmet that covered her head and cheeks, leaving her eyes uncovered: two gleaming, prideful and smart eyes the color of brimstone, currently looking up at him with as much interest as he had for her.

Undoubtedly, she was studying him as much as Killer was studying her. Her lips crested in a smile that was both friendly and seductive, and she shifted a bit on the spot, leaning a little on the pole of the long, relatively simple spear in her hand. Held point-up, the weapon was probably 25 feet long, with a good 4 to five feet made up by the blade, that was long, thin and sword-shaped, making the weapon good for slashes as much as for lunges. A half-breed of sword and spear, but there was no contempt in the term half-breed in this case: the design was a very effective one, in skilled hands. She had powerful, large wings folded behind her back, as all Dragokkarens, a feature that helped making her even more impressive, along with her long tail, adorned by a ridge of black, sharp fins.

She wore a golden armor top that cupped her huge breasts protectively, precious gemstones drawing decorations in the rich protective vest, which was completed by spiked combat boots of the same material, high enough to reach her knees, with a curved plate that stretched upwards to protect the joint without hampering movement. Her armor was completed by a system of golden plates protecting her groin and hips and by fine veils of red, transparent silk hanging down to almost touch the ground from those.

"Be patient with our enthusiastic Lemuel. He's a very cheerful person, and he's all too happy to finally have the Saviors here between us." The goddess said softly, smiling up at Killer sincerely as he bowed his head forwards respectfully to her, only to see the Dragokkaren bow to him in answer.

"To answer your question, Lemuel is the God of Light and Balance. Of course, you could express it in a thousand other ways... and anyway, we are all Gods. The fancy titles are the ones the mortals attributed to us in the night of time." She paused, smiling brightly up to Killer as he nodded, not quite finding anything to say as reply... before she tightly embraced him, squeezing his thick, enormous frame in her surprisingly mighty arms as she added: "But please, Lord Killer, do not bow before me! You've given me such pleasure and satisfaction and gained my admiration so many times in the years."

Oh Gods. Oh Gods. Did they really look at me like looking at internet streaming porn...? Killer thought with horror, and his face must have shown his shock as the Dragokkaren grinned and punched his chest lightly. "Yes. I'm afraid we did, even if..." She coughed lightly, and then nodded. "The others probably won't admit it. Well, save for Sekhmet, most likely. She has no problems in making it obvious."

Killer gaped a bit, feeling shocked, before the Goddess waved a hand dismissively before adding: "Anyway, lose your shock. I was referring more to your value in battle than your value in bed. As incredible as that is."

The goddess grinned, and Killer smiled stupidly at her as he ran a hand in his mane slowly, as he always did in such complex situations...

"I'm Adrasthea. Goddess of Tactic, Strategy and Philosophy." The Dragokkaren said gently, smiling up at him with appreciation, and Killer finally gave a little sound realization as he nodded dumbly.

"Yeah, I know..." The Goddess observed amusedly, grinning as she nodded and touched his chest lightly. "You thought it was Taranis the one who cared for Strategy and stuff. Everyone does these days." She rolled her eyes upwards and snorted, before muttering: "But Taranis is primitive and brutal. He doesn't even acknowledge the need for maps in a battle. For him, it is all about cracking skulls open over and over again... practically until no one is left standing anymore."

"Never heard it phrased better." Lemuel said agreeably, and Killer turned his gaze on him curiously as he added: "Oh, old Taranis loved you. There's been a period in which he adored you. You were his favorite, always moving from a battlefield to another, always in the thick of the action... But you won too much. Taranis has come to dislike the fact you always came out on top, Amon Ra... He's gotten full-out paranoid in the millennia here, looking at you. Now he firmly believes you want to take his place."

"Yeah, I've been warned about that little problem." Killer mumbled sourly, rubbing a hand on the back of his head nervously.

However, as his gaze darted curiously around in the meanwhile, he caught sight of who clearly was another goddess. She had walked out of the same portal Lemuel and the other female had used, but she had been shyly walking a few steps behind them, and Killer hadn't noticed her at first. She was now chatting quietly with Vesta and Gabriel a few steps away, and she blushed deep red when her eyes looked off towards him and caught him looking at her.

Lemuel, of course, caught this up and cheerfully bounced up to the Goddess to take her hand gently in his own and pull her forwards, towards Killer and Alexis. "Here, don't be shy! Come knowing the Saviors!"

"I so wish we weren't called like that, actually." Alexis grumbled, and Killer grunted agreeably.

"We've already got enough psychopaths and haters and assholes who generally dislikes us to need such a title dragging even more "liking" our way."

"Oh, don't mind Rogue. And the Righteous. And the people. And... And..." Lemuel paused, frowning as he probably realized how long the list could have easily been, and then coughing slightly before concluding: "Well, just don't mind. With time, you'll show them they are wrong."

Alexis rolled her eyes upwards a bit, while Killer took the chance to smile down at the shy Goddess, who smiled back happily even as her cheeks burned red flames.

She was smaller than any of the other gods, but still a good 17 feet tall, but that also went along with her body being lithe and feminine. Not weak or frail at all, no... And she actually radiated an immense power despite her look. He could sense her energy, even if it felt like it was shielded somehow, repressed, like the strength of a dormant giant. It was scary, and in some ways, he thought she scared him more than even Thanathos. The force he could feel inside her was truly astonishing...

But it was easy understand why. Even before Lemuel happily announced it, it was always clear that she was Nature herself.

"This shy little creature is Gaia, our Motherly Nature."

"Such a pleasure to finally meet you, Lord Killer." The Goddess said gently, smiling warmly before bowing to him deeply, her hands joined in her lap.

"Please, it is me who should bow." Killer replied quietly, bowing deeply before her as she smiled widely, her cheeks taking on an even brighter shade of red before he straightened back up with a friendly nod and she turned to Alexis, bowing before her too.

The Goddess that was the personification of Nature itself was a wonderful Snow Leopard , the silky fur a shade of silver that actually bordered towards the blue of the sea, a wonderful and unnatural color, interrupted only by far more common-looking black spots. Her tail was thick and soft, extraordinarily long and elegant, graceful like everything about her, from her long legs to her big, but not enormous bosom, which sat proudly and beautifully on her chest, covered by a simple bra that was made of living, luscious flowers and leafs, that seemed to live perfectly well on her body... so well, in fact, that Killer had the suspect they literally grew out of her. Similarly, a sort of skirt made of beautiful flowers and plants completed her dress, reaching down almost to her knees, her feet bare and so light and graceful that her steps seemed to never really touch the ground, like she hovered a puff above the surface not to ruin the harmony of even the smallest beings of the world.

Killer took an amazed look at her hair, which seemed to quietly float in the air, rippling constantly, their color undefined, seeming to take on always new shades of color depending on the reflection of the light: her hair, in fact, seemed to actually be clear, pure water cascading down to her shoulders and to the middle of her back... The visual effect was indescribable, and it left Killer staring for a long moment, until the Goddess turned back to him and smiled affectively, gently catching his huge hand in her delicate ones to bring his fingers up to her mouth and kiss them lightly.

"Lord Killer, we are all honored of your presence here. I'm humbled by your presence, and by the awareness of what it has to be like for you to be here, in a whole new world, meeting Gods that know everything of you - actually more than you yourself do, and more than they should, too - and that you know nothing of..." Gaia paused, looking tenderly up at him and bowing her head forwards with a blush, smiling quietly. "The voices of Nature tell me that you really are our Savior. And they invite me to receive you as you deserve. And Nature is pure. No one can doubt Nature's voice."

"I really do not deserve all this reverence..." Killer replied sincerely, feeling awkward and out of place and desperately short of a proper way to address the Goddess before him. But Gaia only smiled warmly and touched his face delicately, with reverent affection.

"You don't...? Oh, no. You do deserve it all instead." She countered with gentle but firm voice. "You've always stood up to fight for the Right, for your personal redemption, and for the salvation of the world. It is a fight that goes beyond the powers of even us Gods... it is a path of blood and sufferance no one else would have been able, and even less willing, to take. But you did. You did not back out even before the Apocalypse itself, Fenrir... and you accomplished what the Gods were always unable to do, slain the Wolf. And now you've been stolen away from your sleep, from your dreams, from your family. We had no right to do so..."

She looked into his eyes with admiration, trying to read deep into him, well past the cold ice blue of his eyes, deep into his true emotions. "But you know that to win this war, this conflict that you don't even understand, but that you know is wrong, you have to come here, and learn how to access to all of your might... And not even once you've thought about saying no, about backing out."

"We will do whatever we must." Killer replied firmly, and Alexis gave a slight nod from his side, making the Goddess smile warmly to both.

"I know you will. And that is what impresses me the most. I know that your separation will be the worst of tortures to endure, but I know you'll overcome even it... I just... really want to say that I tried everything in my power to avoid it happening." Both Gaia and Lemuel glared a bit towards Alcana at that, and Killer looked at the Goddess of love with a frown that deepened as the goddess looked away and her cheeks reddened.

Alexis noticed it as well, and Killer saw her eyes narrow in a murderous glare filled with a hate never before seen. Goddess or not, he was afraid Alcana would all but explode in ashes on the spot, and he gently touched Alexis's powerful abdominals with a hand to restrain her. The femme fatale snorted at that, rolling her eyes upwards a bit, but she backed off immediately, harshly replying: "It won't last. There's not a God in the universe that can keep me away from him for long."

There was a moment of awkward silence, before Gabriel walked calmly forwards, turned to look down at the arena, at the tiers crowded with all the people of Orion, at the Gods already impatiently waiting in their seats on the first balcony over the battleground, and he turned to give his eye-less gaze to Killer and Alexis. "Lord Killer, Lady Alexis... It really is time to proceed." The Arkangel calmly announced, trying hard to be as kind as possible, while making the urgency of the situation still evident. He sure did not expect Alexis to grin and cheerfully slam a gloved first into her other palm. "Finally! It was about time to drop sissy-chatting and get to the real stuff." She exclaimed eagerly, before easily undressing her open, black leather jacket, standing with only her thick, sturdy and yet strained leather bra on, her abdominals and powerful arms bare as she looked around a bit for a place for her jacket... Until she gazed down at Diana and made the Seraphim wear her dress.

"Here, hold it for me, will you...?" Alexis asked with a grin, looking amusedly at the much smaller female: Diana pretty much could swim into the jacket, with how much taller Alexis was... besides, Alexis had both potent muscle and godlike, epic breasts to cover, so her dress was definitely huge for the lithe angel, who already was holding for dear life onto Blue Vixen, taking very, very seriously her task of protecting the sword of the femme fatale from pretty much everything, like even a gaze was too much contact.

Vesta was instead holding the Desert Storm handguns with eager, not-well concealed interest, and she did carry the massive Wyvern as well.

"Are you sure you don't want to use weapons...?" The Queen of Seraphims asked, arching an eyebrow as she looked from Killer to Alexis, before the femme fatale waved a hand absently and replied: "Totally sure. No need to get them dirty... and I totally have a bet to win, too."

"Please, follow me. Taranis is going to explode if we don't move." Gabriel nervously called, already standing near the wide stairs leading down the tiers of the arena.

Alexis quickly reached him, but Vesta stopped before Killer for a short moment, looking at him warmly for an instant before smiling widely and half-stepping forwards, almost like she wanted to hug him... But she did merely wish him good luck instead, smiling again with a little nod before walking up to Gabriel to lead the way.

"Good luck, man. Show'em!" Lemuel cheerfully exclaimed, and Gaia and Alcana walked up to him to hug him from both sides, smiling warmly up to him before whispering their own good wishes, Gaia kissing his chest lightly.

"Thank you..." Killer said quietly, before turning as Adrasthea stepped forwards with a grin and said teasingly: "I know you will make me proud and happy once more, Lord Killer. Good luck... and I guess I really should say: have fun. I know the result of this test already... This useless trial will be more like amusement for Taranis than anything serious, much as some of us still try to deny the fact that you are the Amon-Ra of the Prophecy."

Killer smiled a bit, bowing his head forwards, and the Dragokkaren stepped forwards to hug him tightly, with surprising strength, and with even more surprising affection. The huge male almost hugged her back... but then he made a little grimace, wondering with himself if he should or should not dare to touch a Goddess.

"Do it." Adrasthea whispered teasingly, grinning up to him suggestively, and he nodded before squeezing her in his arms for a moment, keeping her close to his muscular chest. She all but lightly kissed his lips before letting go, their embrace breaking... And she smiled with a nod before all three Goddesses bowed deeply before him. He traded a smile with them as they straightened, and he walked to Alexis's side, Diana walking up to his other side with a loving smile as they fell in step with Gabriel and Vesta as the two lead the way down the stairs and the Goddesses and Lemuel followed.

The Arena fell silent as the entire crowd turned to look at the procession, only sounds coming from the low voices of the last persons making their bets on the outcome of the fight, and the noise of thick coins of gold changing hands, as hundreds of eyes studied Killer and Alexis both. The Gods finally took their own seats in the Balcony along with Taranis and the others already there, included the mostly-invisible Thanathos, while Gabriel and Vesta lead the way further down, to the battleground of the arena, stopping just outside of the barely-visible dome of solid energy that ensured that nothing could try to escape the fight once into the arena.

Diana jumped up to wrap her arms around Killer's thick neck, hugging him tightly, and he squeezes her gently in his arms before nuzzling her affectively and kissing her.

"Good luck." Diana whispered, and Killer smiled before playfully nuzzling her again, putting her gently back on her feet as he replied: "You know all too well that me and her are not the ones who need the luck."

"True." The Seraphim admitted, smiling widely up to him and then watching quietly as Gabriel touched the barrier with a gloved, armored hand glowing with blazing white light. A door opened in the wall of solid energy, and Vesta and Alexis walked inside. Killer followed as Gabriel nodded and let him go in first, following in his trail.

They walked into the sand of the arena, and Killer went calmly down to one knee to pick up a handful of sand, rubbing it on his hands as he always did.

"The enemies will come from all four the passages." Vesta announced, pointing at one of the gigantic gates of Godblood, currently closed: there was one for each cardinal point, and behind them stretched a dark tunnel with cells filled with demon-prisoners on both sides. Someone, very kindly, had left huge racks of weaponry into the tunnel, near the gates, for the prisoners to arm themselves with.

"Be ready, they'll be a lot. They'll be angry, and desperate too. They will be even more dangerous that in normal conditions." Vesta added, and Gabriel nodded, while Killer looked up, out of the bubble of transparent, barely-visible but terribly-solid energy to stare at the frightening sight of the double ring of Seraphims and Arkangels on the tier: each angel had a magical longbow made of arms of solid light stretching out from the left wrist, the right hand holding a deadly arrow of sizzling energy at the ready.

No way out. Under aim all the time. Either way, they'll all going to die. They sure will be angry like hell...

He idly slapped the back of his hand onto the barrier for curiosity, and he winced as a terrible blast of electricity zapped him, while a shockwave of force similar to the slap of a giant slammed him several feet backwards towards the middle of the arena, his feet digging trenches in the sand as he tried to anchor himself to the ground.

"That was a stupid thing to do." Vesta observed quietly, and Killer snorted, waving his hand a bit as it smoked lightly, making a bit of a grimace as he replied: "Well, yeah. Welcome to me. Possibly the Amon-Ra of the Prophecy always knew everything and was super-smart. You get me instead."

"Prophecies aren't so detailed." Gabriel observed, even as Vesta gave him a flat look.

"Get the hell out and make them come, already." Alexis teased, grinning viciously. "I'm sick of wasting time."

"Good luck. We'll open the passage in the barrier again when the test ends. However, it is all about you if you survive or not. You won't be helped. We expect Amon-Ra to overcome this test on its own... so if you don't... the assumption will be that we picked up the wrong subjects." Gabriel explained calmly, and at Killer frown he shrugged and held his arms up. "Hey, don't blame me. That's how it works. Figured you'd want to know it."

"Yeah, yeah, it doesn't matter." Alexis replied impatiently, waving a hand absently, and Vesta and Gabriel walked out of the door in the barrier, which immediately vanished, closing on itself.

"Nervous...?" Alexis asked, grinning as she looked teasingly up to Killer, flexing her powerful arms leisurely and stretching her fingers.

"Nah." Killer replied, grinning back. "Want them all for yourself...?"

"It would be egoistic of me." Alexis replied with a grin, before nodding. "But be fast at getting your part, if you want one. I won't wait."

They looked up at the noise of gates being opened, and guessed, more than seeing, hundreds of masses in the four tunnels walking out of the cells and running to the racks, sacking every weapon they could find, everyone trying to grab the best ones... and then the four gigantic gates trembled, dust falling down from the arches of stone as the barriers started to slid upwards, opening the passage... and four separate hordes of demons charged forwards furiously, waves and waves of monsters of all kinds coming at them from all directions, most of them handling not one, but at least a couple of weapons of some sort, as roars of demons, shrieks of monsters and shouts of war of Skeletons and bellows of Mino, Mega and even Gigataurs mixed in a cacophony of menaces and threats.

The first coming were the Centaurs, galloping towards them with hooves as big as car wheels, wrapped in spiked steel caked with dried blood, the gigantic horse-like creatures faster than all the others as they charged with long, thick spears with sadistically-shaped blades.

The earth beneath their feet trembled like an earthquake was raging, but Alexis merely grinned before sliding to the side so rapidly to seem to have teleported, letting a first gigantic Centaur whose "human" part was actually a dragon-undead skeleton charge past her.

Before the demon could understand why she wasn't impaled on his spear, Killer leapt fearfully under its belly, sailing past the huge hooves pounding the earth and reaching his hands up with a roar, smashing a tremendous fist that shattered bones in the belly of the creature as his other hand all but lifted the centaur whole.

Killer leapt back up to his feet and turned with a roar, throwing the enormous beast into three of its compatriots, grinning as the skeleton-centaur was impaled by three different spears and halberds, letting out a shriek of agony as blood sprayed up from the wounds and from his mouth alike, the force he had been thrown with making his body slide all the way down the long poles to smash into the other three demons, knocking them all sprawling over.

Alexis stood defiantly in front of another charging centaur, and time seemed to freeze as the beast lunged forth with his spear and the female twisted easily to the side, lifting her arm up just enough that the blade sailed harmlessly beneath it... Before time came back in full speed as she locked the pole in her armpit and grabbed it with her gloved hand, grinning viciously as she arched her back with a roar and pulled the spear upwards.

The centaur let out a bellow of terror and surprise as he was lifted clear off the ground and into the air, before Alexis tore the spear forwards out of his huge hands and slammed the butt of the pole hard forwards into his abdomen, knocking him flying backwards to crash into a crowd of skeletons, shattering them to bits as they charged forwards.

She twisted the 30-feet spear around herself in a windmill, cutting apart the closing ranks of the demons charging at her, blood and limbs spraying into the air as gore reddened her wonderful body as she grinned and brought the spear at the ready in front of herself, lunging it forwards into the eye of another giant Centaur, the blade piercing across its head like butter and then ripping back out lightning fast.

The mortally wounded Centaur fell forwards on its broken face as its legs missed a step, and the corpse flipped twice on the ground such was the speed he had been running at, flattening a couple more skeletons and a Nightmare demon under its enormous, powerful horse body.

Alexis gracefully twisted on her feet to turn sideways and let the enormous, bloodied corpse do its last flip without crashing into her, and the spear found its way in and out two more heads, ripping back and forth across bodies with horrible, bloody ease. Her free hand shot up with her not even looking, and her fingers wrapped around the muscular arm of the Centaur-corpse flipping past her, the female leaping high into the air with a roar of cheerful fury as she lifted the enormous creature high above her head and threw it hard down onto the mass of enemies below, grinning at the massive impact, at the shrieks and at the macabre sight of blood, limbs and corpses exploding upwards in the air around her.

Killer charged into a crowd of 20-feet tall skeletons: a kind of sentient and actually pretty smart Undead that he had never before seen. The skeletons actually looked like "compositions" of bones from the most diverse creatures, pulled together to form a definitely new, inexistent being... But they still shattered into bits as he slammed his spiked shoulder into them, bones flying across the air as he literally smashed through the ribcage of the first in line before it could smash an enormous stone-hammer onto him, and then continued to run forwards, tearing through their ranks and slamming his huge fists out to the sides, again and again, his blows making skeletons explode in dust and slivers all around him as many more were knocked backwards.

Then there was an angry bellow, and a giant hoof came crashing down from above: Killer saw it coming and kicked down into the ground his foot to throw himself off to the side.

The city car-sized hoof crushed three skeletons like they weren't even there: fine dust of bones came out in a cloud from under the giant foot, but Killer was already slamming his spiked elbow in the chest of the Minotaur he had crashed into. The deadly spikes of his joint ripped across thick muscle, flesh and bones and the mortal tips all but ripped out of the demon's back, before a shadow fell upon them both and Killer leapt away again as the second hoof came down. The liger landed on his shoulder and went into a roll on the ground, shooting his other hand up to grab another Minotaur that tried to cut him in half with a huge cleaver-sword. Killer hurled the demon backwards, and it was caught under the gigantic hoof, with enough time to start a bellow of terror, so loud he had probably ripped his lungs to launch it, before he was crushed like a bug with a splatter of blood spurting upwards.

A humongous Gigataur, nearly 50 feet tall, towered over the arena, and looked down to find Killer again in the crowd of skeletons and demons that swirled in a confused mass around its huge hooves. The giant had his colossal hand wrapped in a sturdy knob of leather connected to the bottom of the pole-handle of a colossal hammer the head of which was made by a yacht-sized boulder roughly shaped in the form of a hammer. The gigantic beast didn't look like the brightest, but it was rippling with enormous, powerful muscles and it could literally stomp even Killer to an ugly stain on the ground with its armoured hooves.

"Didn't know they could get SO big." Killer muttered, making a bit of a grimace as the gigantic demon looked stupidly down around his own enormous feet, chasing its prey as Killer sprinted off into the thick crowd of skeletons and other demons: most of them, however, were backing off as well, terrified by the awareness that the immense Gigataur would not mind crushing them all as well.

A tall, slender Nightmare demon saw Killer sprinting into the crowd and turned to keep him away, lunging forth with a wicked spear at him, but the liger quickly dived to the side and turned on his heel, grabbing the long pole of the weapon and dragging it violently towards himself to smack his fist into the face of the horse-like monster, grinning at the sick sound of vertebrae snapping as the head of the creature fell backwards and lolled stupidly from the body before it could fall limp on the ground.

A couple of giant skeleton warriors charged in, shoulder to shoulder, with enormous rectangular shields that covered them entirely: each shield was riddled with vicious, rusty and ugly blades of old swords, now used as spikes, and the demons leapt towards him with these to force him backwards as the Gigataur above bellowed in pride and glee as it found its target, bringing the enormous hammer up above his head to strike.

Alexis leapt out of the crowd with a roar, swinging the stolen spear across the air to send the corpse impaled on it flying across the air to smash into a group of demons and send them sprawling like pins as she landed gracefully on top of the hammer as it passed at eye-level of the Gigataur. The dumb giant had enough time to stare at her in surprise and shock and see her grin before the spear in her hands lunged forwards twice in the space of a blink, piercing both his eyes and sending up sprays of blood and gore.

The Gigataur howled in agony and stumbled backwards clumsily, crushing several more skeletons to dust as they screamed and tried to run out of the way, while two Nightmares leapt up towards Alexis's back: the female was way too fast, however, and she easily broke the spear's pole in two long poles with two rapid strikes of her hand. The two poles flipped in the air as time seemed to freeze, and Alexis's hands shot up to the sides to grab them as they fell back down, the female grinning as she swung both poles backwards, piercing each in the chest of one of the incoming nightmares without even looking.

Blood sprayed onto her back, and her grin grew wider at the feeling of it, before she threw both poles away, along with the corpses pierced upon them, and leapt high into the air, flipping backwards easily as the Gigataur let the hammer fall to bring his hands desperately to his face, stumbling blindly all over the arena as it bellowed and shrieked in pain and confusion, blood leaking down his muzzle.

Killer saw the shadow first of all, just as his instinct screamed an alarm, and he kicked the Minotaur he was dealing with in the chest, sending him crashing in a bloody heap twenty feet away before pushing his hands up just in time to catch the falling hammer before it could squish him to pulp.

It was like catching a truck on the nape of the neck, and he felt his feet sink deep into the sand as he groaned, but he grinned as he balanced the enormous hammer on his shoulders as the demons before him stared in shock and hesitated for a moment too long: before they lunged forwards with renewed vigor, Killer had already bent forwards with a grin, letting the hammer topple over to crush three skeletons and a Megataur, sending several more demons falling onto their comrades.

The liger quickly leapt forwards to land atop the hammer, sprinting down atop the long, tree-sized handle to jump down from the other hand and seize the manacle of leather with a grin.

He propelled himself in a wide turning kick in the air, smashing a couple of skeletons to bits and shattering the face of a Nightmare in a splatter of blood, sending many more falling backwards to create a bit of safe space before allowing his feet to hit the sand again.

He stomped the head of a fallen Minotaur underfoot with a grin as blood sprayed up all the way to his waist, and his eyes laughed cruelly as he looked at the faces of the demons all around and saw them realize what he was about to do.

They lunged at him desperately, but he immediately pulled on the manacle with all of his strength, rising the hammer up with a grunt and grinning as he began to turn on his heel, huge muscles flexing with power as he windmilled the gigantic weapon in the circle, letting out a roar as he picked up strength and felt the impacts, the bodies shattering and the bones cracking apart as the massive boulder of granite sent demons flying in pieces and collapsing all over each other, as skeletons exploded in dust and fragments and Nightmares and Minotaurs falling apart into broken, bloody heaps, before Killer grinned as the hammer slammed into the ankle of the giant Gigataur.

The impact was tremendous, and Killer was nearly knocked over on his ass as he grunted and stumbled, struggling to restrain the huge hammer as it ricocheted backwards... But the immense bull felt the blow even worse, his bellow of agony rising an octave and his voice breaking as his ankle exploded in a burst of blood and broken flesh, the legs missing from under his body as he fell forwards.

Alexis was ready to exploit that, as she straightened in midair from her flip and immediately smashed a roundhouse kick in the muzzle of the giant, sending the Gigataur crashing straight into the barrier of energy that covered the arena: there was a flash of sick light as the creature was zapped so powerfully that its fur burst into flames and its muscles contracted and spasmed frantically, out of control.

Killer let go of the hammer, but he hadn't the pleasure to look at it smashing its way across the ranks of demons like a scythe into the crops before smashing into the barrier as well, crushing a Megataur and a couple of Nightmares against the wall of energy even as it cracked apart on impact: he had to immediately duck under the swing of a huge, vicious axe.

He grinned as he saw a gloved fist shot over the blade, however, and blood rained on his muzzle in a macabre splatter as Alexis's blow literally shattered the skull of the demon, her hand destroying its muzzle and coming out from the back of his head.

The axe fell out of its dead hands, and Killer quickly caught it, turning back as he straightened back up to his feet and slashing the heavy weapon across a goat-like demon, cutting it in half neatly.

Alexis winked at him and ripped her hand back from the shattered corpse, turning quickly to shot another deadly bare-hand blow at a Nightmare charging at her back, sending the corpse and pieces of its head flying in different directions before hammering her fist down atop the skull of a skeleton-warrior, cracking it apart like an egg.

"What was that earlier...?" Alexis asked calmly, like they were chatting on a quiet walk in the park, even as she easily dodged a spear-lunge and leapt up to smash her cruel steel-soled combat boot on the face of the Minotaur attacking her, showing him down to his knees with a howl of agony, before she leapt higher up into the air and landed in a handstand between the enemies. Stunned, the demons all turned towards her, but she was already spinning, legs out to send them all down with splatters of blood as she kicked them all in the face before flipping backwards easily to land on her feet near Killer, in time to crack open another skull with her fist as she timely intercepted a Nightmare leaping at the huge male's back. "Black Killer again...?" Alexis guessed, and Killer made a grimace even as he slammed his potent arm outwards in a slash, piercing the chest of a Minotaur with the elbow spikes and smashing into several other demons, sending four Nightmare flying across the air and shattering two more skeletons as the other demons in front of him scattered to avoid his blows, trampling each other and falling over in many cases, even as a Skeleton leapt at him with a long rapier.

Killer sidestepped the sword lunge and slammed his hand into the back of the armor-wearing skeleton, sending it stumbling forwards as he seized the sword out of its bone-hand: Alexis, who was standing back to back with Killer, absently reached out a hand and smashed down on the falling skeleton, breaking the spine in half and crushing the skull underfoot as it fell on the ground with a thud. Killer chopped off the point of a spear before it could pierce his bare chest, grinning as the neatly-cut, flat end of the pole tapped his pec instead, slashing the rapier out to chop the legs off from under the Nightmare holding the spear.

"Yes, it was him."

"Thought so." Alexis commented simply, before snarling as an arrow shot at her and she turned towards it to burn it to ashes in midair with a blast of psychic force. "Archers. Leave them to me."

Killer looked over his shoulder in time to see the crowd of demons closing in front of the archer, protecting him as he reloaded, and Alexis dodging a spear before straightening to headbut ferociously the minotaur in front of her, knocking him over with a groan of pain as her palms smashed in the chest of other two demons, hard enough to collapse their ribcages and send both down in broken heaps.

She ripped her way through the demons, as the archers fired again, she put up a sprint that literally made her faster than the arrows: one moment she dodged, another she slid to the side, another she was seizing an arrow in midair in her hand to throw it like a knife in the eye of an archer... Before she reached the bow-armed demons and rapidly killed them all, one by one, her fist searching with furious hunger more and more skulls to break into pieces as the femme fatale bathed in the blood spraying all over her mighty body from each victim she sent down.

Killer would have loved to look at her in action, but there were still many demons surging from all sides, regardless of how many they had already destroyed: the corpses of the demons vanished quickly into dust and smoke, but the abandoned weaponry and the shattered bones of the skeletons had remained, and they covered the whole of the arena.

He dodged the angry slash of a huge battleaxe from a Megataur, and went down on his hands to kick both feet up and backwards into the face of the demons charging from behind, sending one hurtling like a missile through the ranks of its compatriots, knocking a whole group sprawling before dropping down to the ground with a grin as three spears lunged forwards to pierce him, feeling them sail over his head as he slashed out a turning kick at ankle-level, sending the minotaur smashing face-first into the sand and the spear-armed Nightmares sprawling.

Killer straightened immediately and grabbed one of the spears, ripping it out of the demon's hands with a grin to slash it in a full circle around himself: heads went flying all around him, as the spear founds its way across the chests of two more demons before Killer planted the weapon into the fallen minotaur's back.

Killer turned back and held up a hand, shooting a sphere of golden energy into the thick group of demons that were trying to stand back up and charge, and a massive explosion followed, the demons burning to vapor and ashes as every monster in the arena was knocked sprawling by the shockwave, white energy washing against the barrier covering the battleground like an angry tidal wave that crushed, shattered and burned the demonic army to nothingness.

Alexis circled the arena with the speed of a lightning, making it hard to follow her moves: she seemed to disappear and reappear almost at the same time in different places, almost like she could teleport: every demon that shakily tried to get back up after the blast was met by Alexis, coming over each of them like an hawk diving on the prey.

She terminated all of them, one by one, before looking up to the people in the tiers of the arena as her boot crushed the face of the last Nightmare to a bloody mess, her grin one of merciless triumph as she held her hands up and nodded, inciting the crowd to shout louder as the public in the arena roared and clapped and stomped their feet on the tiers, in time with the movements of her muscular arms.

Killer caught sight of the Gods, sitting shoulder to shoulder on the balcony, some of them chatting and probably commenting the battle between themselves as Diana smiled warmly down at him from the tier... Before shouting an alarm that Killer couldn't hear, but that he did nonetheless notice.

A chasm opened in the middle of the arena, the sand flowing down it as the hole drew bigger and bigger, opening a passage on the darkness beneath, and Killer and Alexis traded a gaze and a nod before the ground literally vanished from under their feet and they fell to a crouch in the middle of an identical battleground.

"Not over yet..." Alexis commented with a grin, looking quickly to the four gates and to a whole new huge army of demons assembling behind them, as Killer snorted and nodded.

The arena was built on multiple levels... and by the look of it, it probably filled the whole bastion, all the way down to the base of the tower, uncountable levels beneath.

And as Killer saw demon mages, Gigataurs, centaurs, skeletons and Nightmares and even Samanhis pushing furiously at the gates, he realized that the deeper they went, the harder it was going to be to come out on top. Besides, he stared as the bones of the destroyed skeletons suddenly flew up from the ground and out of the sand, growing back together to form more skeletons, which immediately scrambled to arm themselves with the many weapons scattered all over the arena's ground. They were a lot less than they had been, since Killer and Alexis had literally crushed to dust most of the bones... But they still made an army, and the gates were already starting to open again, for the second battle.

"Enough playing around. Let's take this seriously now." Killer said firmly, and Alexis nodded agreeably, her eager grin not diminishing her professionalism in the slightest.

"Right thing. Slow them down some, and I'll wipe them out fast." The femme fatale replied, getting into a ready position as the skeletons advanced towards them with spears and swords, demons of all kinds surging out from all directions as the gates opened.

"Sure." Killer nodded, grinning as he held up a hand and concentrated a bit of his energy into his palm... before letting its force erupt out of his hand in the form of blazing sunlight. It was a flash of extreme violence and intensity, and it sent many of the demons literally falling to the ground with howls of agony as their faces and eyes were burnt out, while the others stumbled in confusion and shock, temporarily blinded. It was all Alexis needed: as she leapt forwards, two clones made of sapphire energy jumped out of her body, sprinting to the right and left, running around the perimeter of the arena and turning solid like stone to strike out at demon after demon.

The true Alexis meanwhile landed between the skeletons, crushing a fallen one underfoot and sending broken ribs into the air as she shattered two more skeletons with a punch, before sending many more flying with a vicious turning kick.

Her eyes flashed with fury and power and dark amusement, and blue flames exploded into the empty chests of the skeletons, which immediately froze in place and opened their dead mouths to launch silent shrieks of agony before they were entirely burned to ashes. No putting back together for sure, this time.

"Come and take me, come on!" Alexis teased, grinning viciously as she lashed her hand out towards a huge, blinded Samanhi, sapphire flames gripping the scorpion-taur creature from under the belly, consuming it entirely beneath the protection of its impenetrable exoskeleton, as flames burst out of its eyes and consumed its deadly tail, until it fell down in a puff of ashes and dissolved.

She was glorious, as always and possibly more. The two clones, coming one from the left and one from the right, cut their way through the stunned demons like they were crops in harvesting season. Blood sprayed everywhere as the fists and boots of the three Alexis lashed out in perfect, deadly and unbelievable blows.

She was fighting and dancing at once.

One moment she was dropping on her back to avoid a slash, and her feet would flash up and smash the offending demon in the face, sending the unfortunate flying across the air: the smaller demons would literally crash into the energy-dome above the arena, such was her force. The other moment she was standing on the edge of the blade of an axe swung at her, kicking the rival in the face hard enough to send the head shooting into the ranks of the other demons...

And immediately after she was leaping out of the way of the enemies' attacks, flipping in midair and kicking her feet against those of her two drones, all three Alexis sprinting back to assault the crowd from a new direction, and with renewed vigor.

A huge Megataur with a cleaver sword slashed down at her to cut her in half, and Alexis was lightning fast in sliding to the side just enough to let the blade miss her. He'd slash horizontally to chop her legs off, and have his face smashed to pulp by a punch as Alexis all but leapt gracefully onto the blade itself... Before kicking off it, sending the tauren demon crashing onto the barrier as she flipped backwards in midair and wrapped her legs around the neck of another demon as she fell down, tearing the unfortunate monster down to the ground and grabbing the spear he was holding to slice its throat... and before they could even know what was happening, she was gone, and twelve spears were piercing only sand... and in the same instant, the 12 demons were shattered like toys as her punches piercing ribcages open like balloons.

It all, multiplied three times.

Killer almost felt sorry for the demonic army, and all but kept himself out of the thick of the fight: he disposed the demons who attacked him, but he allowed Alexis to take the lion's share.

A gift she'd always appreciate, besides. Why deny it to her...?

It was fast, and it was brutal.

Demon after demon was terminated, destroyed, gutted, shattered, crushed, their number doing them no good against the female's deadly grace and power. Alexis easily knocked weapons flying out of the hands of opponents and often seizing them in midair, demons shrieking as their own weapons pierced through them before they could know what was happening... and before the corpses could fall, Alexis was already turning away to avoid the weapons aimed at her, dodging a sword, splitting with erotic elegance to let a spear sail uselessly above her head, before knocking the demons flying with a show of her tremendous strength instead, grabbing a huge cleaver sword slashed at her and tearing it out of the hands of the Gigataur in front of her before slashing the demon in half, and cutting through the heaviest of armors like they were made of paper, hammering enemies away with the flat of the blade like they were toys, sending entire groups of demons sprawling like pins, limbs flying everywhere.

She had the 20-feet cleaver sword in a hand and a long spear in the other by the end of it... the sword was literally bigger than her, and the Gigataur who had handled it had used both hands, yet she seemed born with it. With every slash, the blade bit into the ground as well as into the enemies, but that didn't slow her down at all as her muscles bulged with power, and enemies fell to her feet from all sides.

The last three demons were killed simultaneously, and fell to the ground with shock and confusion frozen on their faces: even Killer had to think about it twice before understanding what had happened, so fast it had been...

The dark horse-demon at the left had been charging with an halberd, and suddenly the pole of the weapon had been chopped in half... along with the demon itself, because the legs seemed to continue to run for a brief instant while the torso toppled off in a spray of blood... and the first clone sailed in the air across the halved body, throwing its blade up in the air before entering Alexis with a last grin before vanishing into the original femme fatale... and from the right, the other clone had slashed her own stolen rapier twice, chopping off the head and legs of the last minotaur before throwing the rapier up and vanishing into Alexis.

And the femme fatale herself had seized the two blades in midair and slashed them in an X in front of himself as the last Gigataur charged at her from the front, sending its pieces falling in a heap at her feet as she grinned.

Killer grinned back, and they traded a wink before she straightened and easily snapped the two swords in half, throwing the useless pieces away before holding her potent arms up again to call the crowd's shouts.

"Don't you had fun?" She roared, grinning lustfully.

The crowd roared its appreciation, and Killer commented amusedly: "I think that guy of the bet must be fleeting with the money while he can."

"Oh no he's not." Alexis replied, grinning widely between bangs of golden hair plastered with blood and gore. "I'm keeping him restrained against a wall. He's not going anywhere... no matter how much he wishes to."

"Had to figure it." Killer replied amusedly, before they allowed themselves to fall down into the level beneath as the floor opened once more.

"They are yours now. Surprise me." Alexis announced playfully, and Killer grinned widely, nodding as he rolled his shoulders slowly and cracked his neck a bit.

"Yeah. Got the right idea for that."

The gates started to open once more, and Killer charged towards the closer one: the demons past it were startled by this totally unexpected move, and even the arena let out a loud, collective gasp of shock at this sight, as Alexis crossed her mighty arms and tilted her head to the side with a curious grin.

Killer leapt towards the tree-thick bars of steel of the gate, and immediately a wall of spears and swords was pushed towards him, before he raised a hand and sent out a beam of golden energy shooting forwards. It blew a hole in the enormous gate, melting it like butter and washing over the crowd of demons, sending the whole crowd crashing backwards down the corridor as many were simply burnt to vapor... And they would have all been obliterated, wasn't for a handful of smart and rapid mages that created a barrier for themselves and their compatriots.

Killer landed on the gate as it continued to slowly climb upwards, opening, and he grabbed two of the thick bars, grinning with a snarl as he ripped backwards with all of his force.

His muscles bulged with power and the wall above exploded in pieces as he ripped the gate whole, holding it up like a gigantic shield before himself as he turned to face the charge of the demons coming out of the North tunnel.

He charged into them with a roar, and even Alexis gaped slightly as she understood his plan, before she licked her lips lustfully at the sight of the huge male smashing the gate onto the crowd of hundreds and hundreds of Centaurs, Gigataurs, Samanhi, Nightmares and other monsters and creatures of hell. It was a duel of raw, brutal strength, against Killer and the whole horde pushing against the gate from the other side.

Alexis grinned cruelly, dragging her tongue through the blood smeared on her knuckles and between her fingers, tasting death, blood and the leather of her gloves as she looked on. It gave her a thrill that was literally sexual, as Killer's huge muscles bulged explosively, the liger snarling and grinning at the same time as he was first pushed backwards, feet ripping trenches in the sand... then stopped, even as the horde continued to charge forth and push... before Killer roared and charged forwards, gaining speed as he all but shoved the crowd of demons towards the barrier of energy covering the arena.

Killer crushed the army of demons against the wall of solid force, grinning as the demons in the back shrieked as they were all but obliterated, leaving room for more to come in direct contact with the barrier, its Holy force burning the monsters to nothingness, until the whole horde was destroyed, just in time for Killer to turn and face the even bigger army that was flooding like an angry ocean out of the other three tunnels. Again, Killer's might astonished even Alexis as he forced the horde backwards, shoving the demons across the battleground like they were a pile of dirt, to crush them again into the barrier, forcing forwards not just against the demons, but against the force of the barrier, that tried to blast the horde towards the middle of the arena.

It left Killer panting heavily, but when he finally threw the warped, half-melted gate away, he had erased the whole army... And probably beaten Alexis's record time. Sure not her grace, but her time possibly yes.

"That was so frigging hot." Alexis commented cheerfully, walking up to him as the chasm opened on the next level... and they jumped together straight into battle again.

It felt like it would never end. Each army they slaughtered was replaced by an even larger one as the ground opened on a deeper level, again and again and again. Hours of fighting without breaks started to take a tool on Alexis and Killer, who both started to grow tired, and while Alexis was holding up excellently thanks to her powers and energy-vision that allowed her to avoid practically any kind of attack, Killer sported several gashes on his thick chest and arms by the time the sun vanished from the sky above, up over the tower, and the huge ball of light hovering over the bastion turned bright and luminous as a star.

Intent only on destruction, Killer and Alexis fought back to back, moving in circles through the crowd of enemies and sending them down in pieces: even when a huge Samanhi charged at Killer with its deadly pincers at the ready, the liger was ready to seize both crab-like weapons and shove them off to the sides before they could cut him in half... And Alexis was ready to jump up from behind his back and seize the scorpion-tail of the demon between her arms, ripping it off before it could strike, and using the 15-feet long appendage with its cruel, poisoned fang at the top to slash into the crowd, sending demons hurtling through the air with their guts spilling out of infected, mortal wounds.

Killer charged under the belly of the bug-taur monster as demons charged at his back, and he went into a slide on the sand to kick both feet up into the belly of the creature, knocking it over before grabbing one of the ugly scorpion-legs it had and throwing the truck-sized demon into the crowd, sending enemies scattering everywhere before he charged forwards and torn a sword out of a corpse, using the blade to slash and chop his way in the thick of the enemy ranks...

Alexis emerged from the opposite direction, slashing a couple of Nightmares in half with a Scythe, and they traded grins before coming to a stop, again back to back, as they dropped to their knees and slammed their blades into the ground, sending their energy down them and into the floor, grinning viciously as a massive explosion of mixed golden and sapphire light erupted from the sand around them, demons thrown in every direction with howls of agonybefore their bodies were burned to nothingnessas the shockwaves washed through the entire army, crushing the demons against the barrier over the arena and annihilating them entirely in an apocalyptic, furious ocean of energy and flames.

Only the mages survived, some by using their demonic magic to shape the thousands of broken armours and weapons on the ground into colossal Constructs and golems made of shields and swords and spears, which protected their masters from the tremendous explosion, others surviving thanks to powerful barriers and shield-spells...

And Killer and Alexis panted, looking at the remnants with a glare of both hate and frustration before the femme fatale shouted her alarm and the two lovers sprinted forwards into opposite directions, a moment before a tower of fire erupted from the ground where they had been standing... and a horrible, scary series of spears made of stone ripped out of the ground as well, as two mages lashed their hands at them.

Killer rolled on his shoulder towards safety and seized the handle of a sword on the ground as he screeched to a stop in a crouch, throwing the weapon across the air with a snarl... looking as the blade sailed just past Alexis and sunk to the hilt in the chest of a mage on the other side of the arena.

In the very same moment, the spear thrown by Alexis sailed an inch to the right of his muzzle and nailed the second mage to the barrier of the arena as the femme fatale grinned and nodded.

They were about to charge forwards to take care of the last mages scattered all over the battleground, but Sekhmeth's voice boomed from above: "Enough!"

The goddess stood up from her seat and held up a hand, her eyes glowing crimson as suddenly a hot, suffocating wind of the desert howled into the arena: Killer closed his eyes almost completely, making at a grimace at how the temperature immediately rose to unbearable levels, groaning as he felt like he'd be drained like a drop of water on boiling-hot asphalt in summer... And he gaped in horror as he saw the demons left in the arena do exactly that, their faces contorted in grimaces of horrendous agony for a fleeting instant, before their eyes melted, and their muscles were consumed, their body being drained quickly to a musk, the flesh consuming itself until the skin took on the consistence of ancient leather and crumbled upon skeletons left exposed... before those too were consumed to dust in the space of a blink, the wind bringing away the dust and making it all but vanish into the sand.

The destructive power of the desert and the rage of the Sun... That's exactly what she is.

He traded a gaze with Alexis, and the femme fatale gave a little nod, looking deadly serious for once as her eyes roved over the sudden emptiness of the arena: nothing left at all of the horde... and the Goddess had barely raised a hand.

"Lord Killer and Lady Alexis abundantly proved their might. I think there are no doubts left at all." Sekhmet declared clearly, before glaring down at Taranis as he grumbled some kind of protest. "Unless for Taranis, apparently, that was having way too much fun seeing all this fighting and would have loved to have more prisoners to use for his amusement." She added with a bit of a grimace, and she snapped her fingers: immediately, the platform of the arena groaned and started to climb upwards along the circular shaft in the middle of the enormous bulwark, until it slowed to a stop back at the first level.

"There's definitely no need to ask them anymore bloodshed. They've proven that they already are stronger than most Arkangels and Demon Lords both. They could very well be Monarchs of Heaven or Hell, to say the very least... I think not even Taranis here can claim to have battled this way, against so many powerful enemies, more than once or twice in History. There's no doubt that they are the Amon-Ra of the Prophecy." Lemuel announced from his own seat, and Gaia and Alcana, sitting at his side, nodded in agreement.

"It was endlessly impressive. I always deemed this test unnecessary, but I will admit I did not expect to see such great power, not at this stage, before they are even trained." Adrasthea added proudly, looking down to Killer with a smile. "The power of Amon-Ra promises to make Heaven and Hell both bow before him, by the time he'll be ready."

"I agree." Gabriel said calmly, nodding as Vesta announced: "We can definitely proceed and envy Lord Killer and Lady Alexis to their training. Time's precious."

"I disagree." Michael angrily interrupted, standing up from his seat even as Gabriel turned to give him an eye-less gaze of what was, somehow evidently, contempt.

"That's why you are an ass." Vesta replied venomously, slamming a hand in the parapet ahead of her as she stood as well, glaring to the Arkangel with a mix of rage and distaste. "You've seen and witnessed yourself what they have accomplished... and you are well aware it is far more than you ever will be able to do."

"Watch your mouth, Vesta!" The hybrid dragon-sabertooth hissed viciously, almost coming nose to nose with her as he angrily added: "You are not God's favorite, and we both know it. Just because you like him does not mean he's worth the effort and resources we are about to waste!"

"Bullshit." Lemuel exclaimed from his own seat, his golden hammer in his lap. "Even you can clearly tell that, even as they are, Killer and Alexis are worth one Legion of Arkangels each."

"Over optimism." Michael countered, making a grimace and pointing at the two ligers in the arena. "They might have a huge strength and surprising amounts of power, but we all know that any Demon Lord or Arkangel would dispose of them quickly. They showed almost no sign at all of any particular ability, save for Alexis's weird version of precognition and her ability with the use of her energy. That is nothing divine... there are, there have been and there will be in the future other Mortals blessed with precognition."

"Weird's your face, assface!" Alexis exclaimed from the arena, grinning widely as she stepped forwards and beckoned two fingers at the Arkangel, calling him down on the battleground. "You come down here, and we'll show you what you missed!"

Michael turned to glare at her, his lips trembling as they uncovered the deadly fangs of the angel, and he snarled before howling back to her: "I'm coming and making you regret you were born!"

"Oh no, you are not. You are not going to make yourself an ass once more." Vesta venomously observed, but Thanathos snickered and observed: "Why not...? It'll be interesting to see if Prince Michael's words are true. I suspect there's more than a fair share of truth in his argument. They will be unable to battle a Monarch of Heaven."

"Michael is right. The Mortals stand no chances against a Monarch... Michael will prove it." Taranis added, and Gabriel seemed to stare in shock and frustration to both Gods for a moment, then looking at Sekhmet to see her shrug... And he was thus forced to back off.

"We are waiting!" Alexis teased from below, and Killer had to admit that he was eager himself: it was idiotic, he knew it. Michael was indeed out of their league, for both experience and development of his powers... But he was also an ass, and Killer would have loved to punch his face some.

And that would also give me an idea of what exactly we are looking up to...

Michael grinned and jumped down from the balcony, the barrier over the arena opening to let him sail through and immediately closing back itself as the Arkangel flapped his four wings once, landing gracefully on his boots.

Gabriel, however, had a last objection to make, and he slammed a hand angrily on the parapet, announcing: "If you want to be a moron, fine, but you'll do it without the Divine Protection!"

"Right!" Vesta growled, and Alcana, Adrasthea, Lemuel, Sekhmet and Gaia both agreed. Taranis and Thanathos shrugged, the God of War laughing: "Fine. He'll win anyway."

Gabriel and Vesta held their hands up, and a long stroll appeared in their palms. It was covered with names, and one - Michael - glowed purple for a moment.

Killer and Alexis looked at this with a frown, and then grinned as the barrier of energy that surrounded the Monarchs vanished from around Michael. He still was clothed in Godblood, and he was the last being in the Create that could be called "vulnerable"... But now, at least, it would have been possible to actually hit him.

A big plus.

"Mortals, you'll regret it." Michael hissed, grinning widely as Killer and Alexis went into ready positions and he simply raised a hand towards them.

Killer felt a tremendous grip close around his throat, and he choked, reaching his hands up to claw only thin air, even as the invisible force seizing him lifted him off the ground and crushed his windpipe even harder. He tried to form a sphere of energy in a hand, but before he could throw it his wrists were seized as well, and he was slammed into the barrier of energy by the back, a tremendous force zapping his body and making his eyes bulge with pain as his vision started to fade for lack of air.

He darted a gaze back and forth to try and come up with an idea, and saw Alexis held in the air by the neck as well... But her eyes flashed sapphire, and a blast of psychic force washed towards Michael.

The Arkangel, used to being invulnerable thanks to the barrier around himself, had a moment of hesitation, and even as a wall of stone and rocks ripped out of the sand to protect him, the tremendous force of Alexis shattered the stone to pieces and smashed him in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards a few steps.

Killer and Alexis fell to the ground, free, landing on their feet to take a deep, long breath of much needed air even as they immediately charged forwards, Alexis shaping a long cleaver sword in her hands with her own sapphire energy.

Michael faced them fearlessly, grinning widely as he held up his arm and a long, thin blade of violet energy emerged from the armlet just above his wrist: he slashed the sword out to meet Alexis's blade, and lightning exploded from the contact of the two weapons, before a surge of bolt smashed into the femme fatale, slamming her away.

Killer snarled at the sight of Alexis flying through the air with a groan of agony, electricity zapping over whole body... and he leapt forwards to slash a huge axe picked up from the ground, only to see the thick blade cut neatly in two as Michael slashed his energy-sword into it.

Killer bowed quickly, letting the deadly blade sail above his head as he turned his attack in a shoulder-charge aimed at the Arkangel's side.

Michael was too fast, however, and a conical shield of energy formed from the armlet on his other arm, in time to slam into Killer and send him flying fifty feet away to crash into the ground and skid on his back for almost twenty more feet.

Alexis meanwhile formed a wall of solid energy in midair behind herself, slamming her feet into it and kicking herself forwards in a new attack, just in time to avoid the vicious spikes of rock that erupted out of the sand to impale her.

Michael flapped his wings and shot forwards with the speed of lightning, diving on Killer to cut him in half with his sword: the liger rolled on his shoulder with a grunt, and the first slash bit only sand, but the Arkangel grinned and ripped the blade sideways to hit him...

And Alexis formed a second cleaver sword out of her energy, throwing it across the arena as Killer held a hand up.

He caught the handle and immediately slashed the blade backwards to cover himself: Michael's sword slammed into the flat of the huge blade, and again lightning and bolts of energy exploded out of the contact, before the Arkangel shot upwards in the air with a flap of wings as Alexis lunged at him.

She sailed uselessly under him, going into a roll as her precognition showed her the ghost image of the angel's boot kicking down towards her well before it actually happened, and four clones jumped out of her back, leaping up against Michael from all sides.

"There's nothing you can do against me!" Michael howled in delight as he chopped two of the clones in half with a easy slash, moving so fast that the other two were almost simultaneously destroyed as he cut one into pieces with a slash of his wings and kicked the last in the chest just as it turned solid to strike, sending the clone crashing like a meteor in the sand and bouncing up violently before it vanished.

Alexis snarled as she slammed her hands into the ground and propelled herself high into the air, flipping once to straighten herself and grab the angel by a boot, grinning as she immediately threw him down towards the ground.

Michael grunted in surprise and flapped his wings once, avoiding the impact, but before he could react Killer leapt onto his chest and grabbed him by the helmet, his other hand closed in a huge fist that came down with all the power the male could master, the liger roaring as his punch smashed into the angel's face, sending blood splattering upwards in a fountain along with pieces of bones and teeth and fangs as the Arkangel howled in agony and shock both.

There was an explosion of violet energy, and Killer and Alexis were both sent hurtling through the air like missiles, smashing with their backs into the barrier and falling down into the arena once more, both ligers barely managing to land in crouches, panting raggedly and bleeding from several wounds and gashes, feeling broken and exhausted... But grinning as they looked up to Michael, who stumbled blindly a few times, his face completely destroyed, reduced to a broken mess of flesh, blood and broken bones.

It didn't last, however: Killer and Alexis gaped in horror as the mangled flesh started to rebuild itself, the angel regenerating at incredible speed, his eyes reforming from the ugly mess they had been crushed to and glaring at them as his features were entirely rebuilt, all the way to new, flawless white fangs that gritted with fury as he snarled: "You'll pay for this! I'll rip you apart with my hands!"

The Arkangel charged forwards furiously, and fire erupted around the two ligers to prevent them from moving out of the way... But that was the last thing they wanted to do.

Michael was making a terrible error: challenge Killer on a physical plan. His greatest advantage was the magic, and renouncing to it, the angel was giving it to his rage and running towards disaster.

And you never stop an enemy when he's making a mistake.

"Come, come!" Alexis teased. "I'll make you into a little girl!"

The Arkangel howled in rage and slashed his sword violently at her, and of course, no matter how rapid and powerful he was, that was the worst of ways to approach Alexis. She easily dodged, and went in a roll between his legs, laughing as she planted her hands into the sand and donkey-kicked him straight in the crotch.

Killer cringed in horror at the tremendous blow, feeling pain in his own body at the sight of the angel letting out a howl of incredible agony, his body arching so violently it looked like his spine would break... But Killer was quick in smashing another punch into the angel's guts, with such violence that the armor of Godblood all but cracked, even before Killer smashed his shoulder forwards into the angel and grabbed him by the hips, grinning as he let himself fall to smash the rival into the ground face-first in a classic wrestling move.

With the difference that no one gets hurt in wrestling.

There was another explosion of force and violet energy coming from Michael, and it knocked both Killer and Alexis flying even as the female swiftly created a barrier of energy for both, the two lovers landing in the sand on their feet and skidding backwards thirty feet, drawing trenches in the ground with their boots before screeching to a stop.

They had no defence against that kind of attacks, that they did not know how to counter and that carried a frightening power... But at least they had smashed him some more.

"Told you so, asshole! I hope for your own good that you can regenerate down there as well!" Alexis howled teasingly, and both her and Killer raised a hand towards him as he forced himself back on his feet, blood leaking from under his loincloth... And then two spheres of energy, one golden and one sapphire, were shooting towards him.

The Arkangel howled in fury and charged forwards towards them, lashing an arm out and sending forth a blast of psychic force that slapped both spheres of energy into the dome-shaped barrier around them, two immense explosions shaking the whole bulwark as the angel ripped out of the flames and smashed a huge fist towards Alexis.

The femme fatale grinned and shot her hand up, catching his punch in her palm and restraining it, her eyes flashing with vicious glee as he looked shocked at her sheer strength.

Michael tried to lash the other arm at her to decapitate her with the sword, but Killer seized his forearm and twisted it behind his back brutally, allowing Alexis to smash her own fist into the angel's face, again shattering it into pulp, blood spraying onto her features as she hammered another tremendous blow, and then another in the already cracked armor on his chest... Before fire erupted from all around the Arkangel, burning Killer and Alexis and slamming them away from him to crash into the ground once more, quickly jumping back to their feet even as, with matching movements, they drained blood leaking from their mouths.

"Enough, goddamnit!" Gabriel exploded, and he and Vesta walked quickly into the arena, followed by Diana at a respectful distance.

Killer turned towards them, and then looked up at the balcony: Taranis was already gone, and was climbing on his chariot along with Seth. Thanathos was also vanished... no certainty if he's gone or not, but I'll take it as he walked away... While Gaia, Alcana and Adrasthea were waiting near the barrier, gazing at him with worried looks.

"Let me do, I'll destroy them!" Michael howled, spitting blood and drool from his shattered face even as it quickly regenerated once more, and Vesta pushed him roughly away with a snort.

"Shut the fuck up, for once. You got your face mashed to pulp. Twice. And you aren't any more male than me at the moment too."

"Stop this nonsense everyone." Gabriel commanded firmly, and he stepped back just to allow Diana to come forwards and heal Killer and Alexis's gashes and wounds, her hands glowing a warm white as she chanted her spells quietly and smiled up to both the ligers affectively. She all but quietly kissed Killer's thick fingers, taking his hand in her own for a brief moment while Vesta and Gabriel managed to send Michael on his way.

"You made yourself a powerful enemy." Vesta sighed, looking frustrated as she glared a bit to Michael as he walked away and out of the arena under the astonished gazes of the crowd... And Alexis snorted and muttered: "You made yourself a worse one. Why are my guns strapped to YOUR thighs...?"

The Seraphim grinned stupidly at this, rubbing a hand in her hair as she coughed and blushed slightly, quickly reaching down to undo the thick leather straps of the holsters with Alexis's Desert Storm handguns. The femme fatale impatiently held out her hand, which literally dripped with blood and gore, to get her guns back... And Gabriel shook his head slowly, with mild amusement, before murmuring a powerful cleansing spell that made the blood vanish from her perfect body, and then from Killer's own as well. She looked at herself some, and half-glared at him. Little the angel could know that she actually found the blood "pretty damn hot" and that she had probably wanted to taste it on Killer's lips one last time before they were separated... But she sighed and mumbled a thank you nonetheless, before seizing bad-temperedly her guns from Vesta's hands, pulling one out and snarling: "You did DISMANTLE them too!"

"Dismantled, cleaned, and assembled back together." Vesta pointed out, holding up a finger. "And I did it excellently."

"Listen to me, winged girl. No one touches my guns." Alexis hissed in answer, before grumbling: "And these guns do not need cleaning. And I do clean them myself already."

"Yeah, true." Vesta admitted. "Clever design, the electric mechanism... And true, they were not just clean, but shiny. But hey, can't hurt cleaning them twice."

"It will hurt a lot if you do it again, though. No matter that you are the queen of Saba or whatever it is." Alexis announced, as she strapped the holsters at her thighs and wore her jacket as Diana handed it back to her with a little, nervous smile. Gabriel finally gave her her monstrous sniper rifle, and last she shouldered Blue Vixen, patting Diana absently on the head for the good work done.

Killer shook his head amusedly at that, while he shouldered Wyvern and secured the holster with his own Desert Storm gun at his belt.

"You will excuse me for a moment, right...? I've got a person to meet... and the poor guy is in a hurry. Can't keep him waiting, can I...? He literally wants to run away." Alexis said with a cheerful grin, before sprinting out of the arena and up the stairs of the tiers, cackling as she reached the desperate guy that had been so stupid to accept her bet.

When she was back, shortly after, Sekhmet had come and embraced Killer with a bone-breaking bear-hug, shouting a whole range of praises before portaling back to her own Pocket Dimension, a "world in the Worlds" of which she was the supreme ruler... And Lemuel had saluted him as well, effusive as always. Adrasthea had thanked him for the great spectacle and for making her "proud once more", and Alcana had stolen him a long kiss before portaling away, promising she'd be soon be checking again on him and his "progresses".

Gaia had been the last one, coming to him quietly and with a shy bush bowing before him, kissing his fingers gently and wishing him good luck before leaving with the promise of keeping an eye on him.

"Diana, here's your part, plus a generous extra." Alexis cheerfully announced, walking back into the arena and throwing a heavy sack of gold coins to the much smaller female, who caught it with a grunt of surprise. "My pleasure to be of help." She said quietly, smiling affectively as the femme fatale handed another, even larger sack of gold to Killer. "That's your half. We'll be able to buy ourselves some nice shiny stuff." She announced with a grin, before Killer noticed that she had a trembling bundle of clothes and shaking flesh under her arm.

"Is he coming with us...?" Killer asked mildly, pointing a finger at the terrified bet guy, and Alexis looked at him with a blink, like she had totally forgotten his presence. She dropped him bad temperedly to the floor and shrugged, saying: "No, no. He's staying here, of course. He just needed to learn that he can't run away with the money, or his clients get angry."

"Lesson learned!" The unfortunate shrieked, scrambling to his feet with terror on his eyes before he sprinted for the passage in the barrier, climbing the stair at record speed and soon vanishing past the tiers and the crowd that was rapidly flowing out of the arena.

And then the time came.

"Sorry, but we really have to move on." Gabriel said quietly but firmly, drawing their attention and gaining a horrified look, as Killer's and Alexis's hands found each other immediately.

"Alexis is going with Vesta... Lord Killer, you'll come along with me."

"You'll wake up together, back in your bed, at the end of the Mortal night, like you never left at all." Vesta said gently, trying to make it simpler... But Killer and Alexis, looking into each other's eyes, muttered: "That's saying two or three thousand years on from now, in Heaven's time."

Vesta and Gabriel bowed their heads a bit, and simply walked at a fair distance, along with Diana, to leave them the freedom of a last kiss before separation, aware that nothing they could say could have helped at all, made it easier, or shorten the time of agonizing separation they had ahead of them.

And Killer and Alexis kissed, silently, without a word, because there were no words to say, no way to express it. The mind refused to even just accept the idea.

There was no thought, no Black Killer even, but just a message pounding into their brains like a sentence. Two thousand years. Two fucking thousand years.

She shoved him down, and Killer let himself fall backwards into the sand, squeezing her against his body needingly, almost violently. Just as she wrapped her own arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her, with the same need, with the same force, as their tongues danced and wrestled together, from mouth to mouth.

They rolled together for a long time, first Killer down, then on top, shoving her under his body to cover her lovingly and protectively... then again Alexis shoving him down, as she licked his cheek hungrily and kissed him again, as their hands rubbed down each other's body like they wanted to ensure they would remember every detail, as they inhaled the scent of each other, hungrily...

Until his eyes opened, and found hers gazing at him with love, need, and horror at the idea of the separation that was imposed on them.

"Remember me why we must do this..." She asked, her voice imploring him... And they sighed, nuzzling lovingly. "We must. We must to get strong enough that no one else, never again, will ever separate us again."

"Good reason." Alexis replied, but there was no relief in her voice. "I feel them screwing with my mind... I won't be able to talk to you for some time. It'll be... total... total separation."

"I know..." Killer murmured, squeezing her in his arms as they curled up together one last time. "Please, please, my love, make sure you get past their barriers soon."

"You too." Alexis replied, and Killer looked up at her with the eyes stinging with tears he struggled to hide. But her eyes were wet as well... and he knew it was a common, shared pain.

"I can't stay more than a minute away from you... how the hell will I survive 2000 years...?" Killer asked, and Alexis tried to smile, nuzzling him lovingly before bringing her lips back over his.

"You will survive, because you are the strong lover I adore, the mighty master I serve, the almighty god I worship."

"And you will because you are the goddess that rules my life." Killer replied lovingly, before they kissed again, for long and yet far too short minutes, before he stood up and carried her in his arms as they crossed the arena to meet Gabriel and Vesta.

The angels were silent, and respected their pain as he finally let Alexis stand back on her feet...

And finally, Gabriel led Killer out of the North staircase of the arena, and Alexis followed Vesta on the South access.

Killer looked back at every step, meeting her gaze once more, even as the distance grew... until both and Alexis, even looking back, couldn't see each other again.

Tears rolled down their cheeks, as they walked away in the silence of the night, several steps behind their angel guides.

I love you...