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A living weapon created to annihilate every resistance. Engineered to outclass even the Gods. A weapon out of control...

Chapter 55 - Slaughterer of Gods

The Meadows shook with the impact of countless hooves as Gigataurs and Centaurs ran and galloped inwards, towards the towns and villages of the First Sky, left undefended. There wasn't a second line of defence. There wasn't a reserve.

So, as the depleted, exhausted forces of Heaven held on to the Wall, enemies swarmed behind them, running out of armored transports built on the backs of monstrous, hellish worm creatures which were hundreds of feet long and had easily dug tunnels under the fortified line.

What was worse was most of Heaven's forces were not aware of it at all. Gabriel and Vesta, both fighting in the front line, ahead of the Wall, had no idea of just how dire the situation had become. And, most dangerous of facts, the demons swarming over the Meadows were already setting up machinery meant to pump pure hellish corruption into the ground and into the air: soon, the Elysian Fields would have completely withered and died, the demon's magic and bodies would have gained greater strength, and Heaven's own magic would become far harder to cast and far less effective.

Lastly, the Corruption poisoning the First Sky would have allowed Hell's mages to cast a crushing protection over the area, making it impossible for Heaven's army to open Portals to move away, trapping the angels between two enormous armies of demons suddenly blessed with all the advantages of playing on home turf. Hell was physically taking over the Meadows.

The demonic forces were about to gain the definitive upper hand, cutting the retreat to Heaven's forces, and forging that battle into the ultimate, decisive slaughter which would have annihilated the military strength of Paradise forever.

Killer looked over the horizon in horror leaning the flat of Wyvern against his spine, the sword tying with his energies and hanging in there as the huge male watched as tall antennas were quickly erected by the demons, forming a perimeter that would have condemned all of the angels, trapping them between much superior enemy forces. More of the disgusting worms of the Middle Sea emerged from the ground, biting their way out of the earth and tearing horrible wounds in the once-beautiful meadows, before the demons they carried swarmed off their backs and formed into battalions, preparing for stabbing Heaven's forces in the back.

He heard a distant humming sound in the distance as the first machines were turned on, pumping raw Corruption into the ground and into the air, and he saw the green, emerald grass of the Elysian Fields starting to wither and die, turning an ugly brown, before flopping dead to the ground, blackened as if burned.

Soon, he felt the Corruption into the air, burdening over him, giving the world a whole different feel... but while Diana and Vicky winced and closed their eyes with groans of pain and discomfort, he found, with only mild surprise, that he quite liked it. He was far more demon than angel, he had always known that well... and breathing the Corruption in the air actually made him feel energetic and full of vigor, all but making him stronger. On the other side, it immediately became harder to control himself, the huge male gritting his fangs and shutting his eyes for a moment as the image of the weakened, brittle chains sealing the rest of his power away flashed in his mind, accompanied by the sight of grinning fangs and confused, yet all too clear promises of pleasure, omnipotence and carnal, bloody delight.

"They do not seem eager to pick a fight with you, Lord Killer." Vicky observed, the angel standing on the palm of his huge hand, her body healed, her wounds gone and her energies restored and greatly boosted, just by being close to him. Her features bent in a grimace of discomfort at the huge amount of pure Corruption that was quickly soaking the whole area, but her eyes still coldly traced over the huge armada of demons surrounding them, but only at safe distance.

Killer stood well over five hundred feet tall, and radiated such terrible power that the demons were indeed not advancing on them, clearly not eager to test the huge male's strength, even as they let out roars of delight and relief as the Corruption in the air made them feel at home, empowered their magic, strengthened their bodies and made them even more ferocious.

Even the last advantage for Heaven's soldiers was about to be lost: with the huge amounts of Corruption flooding the First Sky, they were pretty much no longer fighting on the home turf, where the Purity in the air would help them and weaken the demon's power. Now it was almost like they were fighting in Hell, which helped make the situation even more desperate.

"They won't hesitate for long." Killer replied absently, while his eyes ran back to the Wall to stare as an immense Cetus monster swung its scorpion tail down, slashing it into the fortifications with a loud, squeaky roar: the immense whip-like poisoned tail was literally miles long, and the huge venomous talon at the extremity was monstrously huge and heavy. It rammed into one of the bastions like a hammer on the tip of a nail, smashing the tower into rubble, the ruins collapsing to the ground, hidden in their fall by a huge cloud of dust... and as the immense tail whip-lashed to the side, the Wall itself was pulverized, slapped into pieces like it was made of cards, angels as tiny as ants in comparison to the mountain-like monster flying through the air or squished into nothing but ugly red stains, as three more proud bastions were destroyed like toys.

Just like that, several sectors of Heaven's front had been completely smashed apart, every resistance literally crushed... and demons charged through the breach with howls of triumph and dark hunger.

It was the clear sign that the battle was lost... and it gave him three big problems to solve: find Gabriel and warn him about the enemies already swarming all over the Meadows; stop the Cetus monsters before they could squish the whole of Heaven's army into paste; and destroy at least a part of the demonic armada in the Meadows, along with the Corruption pumps, to open a retreat route for the remains of Paradise's forces. Too many tasks for him alone.

It was clear that his priority was the Cetus monsters, since he was the only one able to stop such horrors - in theory, at least... - so he turned to look down at Diana, who had already gotten back down between the long rows of comatose, agonizing casualties. The energetic, determined Seraphim had regrouped her Healer sisters and put them all back to work, and she was now bent down over a horse angel who was coughing thick, dark blood up, his chest armor blown open and an horrendous hole smashed into his chest, showing broken ribs sticking outwards, his heart beating weakly, partially visible through the maimed flesh and muscle.

Killer hesitated a moment, seeing her focused on concentrating her healing powers and energy down into her hand, her fingers gently and expertly moving over the wounds to seal them, to regenerate the destroyed organs and tissue, the black-furred female biting her lower lip as she did her best to keep the poor angel alive... And Killer was just as focused, trying to find the right strategy of action.

He found a viable one when his eyes traced over Vicky, the doe perfectly healed and stronger than ever before, after being exposed to his immense energy... and he immediately put together a plan, saying calmly, but in urgent tone: "Diana, I think I can heal everyone here myself... but if I manage to, I need you to lead these angels into battle again."

The Seraphim froze, her hand still glowing but no longer moving, as she took a look over the long rows of dying angels, her eyes dwelling on the many ones that had already stopped moving and breathing, and her heart aching at the sight of so many ones left with barely moments to live, all too aware that she couldn't save them all... painfully conscious of the fact that the casualties were just too many for her and her sisters to treat. "It would be great if you could save them, Killer. I won't be able to save more than a few, myself... but it'll take an immense amount of energy to do that. It might be too much even for you."

"Leave it to me. Energy is not an issue." Killer replied, closing a hand into a fist and feeling raw power flowing in his veins, sustained and boosted even by the Corruption in the air, making him feel truly powerful, truly godlike, and far stronger than he had ever been before. Vicky and Diana both looked at him softly, confident but concerned at the same time, before both angels stepped to the side respectfully, watching at the immense male closed his eyes and focused, channeling his energy down into the ground and up into all the suffering angels agonizing in rows in the improvised field hospital.

"Look...!" Vicky murmured, her eyes going wide as she nudged Diana lightly, and the Seraphim smiled softly, nodding gently as her ruby eyes felt like filling up with tears of relief: golden, hot, mighty energy burned around the huge male's body, warming the air up, tearing a swath into the dark, ominous clouds in the sky, and flooding into the ground, making the grass return to life, flowers blossoming under the angels' eyes, as the screams and groans of the wounded soldiers quickly ceased.

Diana looked on in awe as the wounds on their bodies healed quickly, even the deepest gashes sealing neatly as the god's immense energy flooded into everyone: she felt stronger, her tiredness gone, and the discomfort of the Corruption burdening on her was also muffled, then removed entirely, as she looked up to Killer in loving amazement.

"Incredible..." Vicky breathed, before smiling to Diana as the Seraphim wrapped an arm around her shoulders, squeezing her gently against her side, as the first angels stood up on their feet and looked at their healed bodies with incredulity, before they ran for the nearest weapon, preparing for battle and knowing that they had been given, uniquely, a second chance.

"Our Master came for us, saved us, and gave us the possibility to try again. We shall not disappoint him." Diana said softly, and Vicky nodded vigorously, the doe clenching a hand into a fist and looking up to Killer with a promise in her eyes. She would not fail.

Killer opened his eyes with a groan, rubbing a hand over his eyes with a wince at the loud, echoing voices still filling his mind, his body feeling somewhat sore for a few moments, but as he looked down at his feet, he could see that it had worked, as the angels jumped back up to their feet and recovered the best weapons they could find scattered on the battleground... and, surprisingly enough, in a several thousand feet radius around him, the Meadows had been restored to their luscious, green glory, making an impressive contrast when, all around them, the prairie had turned black and dead, each and every plant withering away, suffocated by the Corruption.

"Three hurrahs for our Savior!" Someone in the crowd of miraculously healed angels shouted, pumping a fist into the air, and the others roared their cheers with gratitude... but what Killer really appreciated was the fact that they quickly ran for the weapons and formed in orderly groups, ready for the battle. He could see the demons that were keeping them under siege from a distance were already moving, the lords and officers of Hell's army ordering to attack and slaughter everyone in that pocket of resistance.

Now they needed to communicate with Gabriel, but the Corruption in the air, the use of Psychic Repressors all over the battlefield and the presence on the ground of uncountable combat psychics locked in battle made it absolutely impossible to use telepathy, or the mental link that Seraphims normally used, unless it was on short distances.

"Vicky, I need you to find Gabriel. He's... somewhere, along the Wall. If we are lucky, around him there will still be someone holding up Heaven's colors and insignia. That will help you find him." The huge male said gently, looking down at her with affection and concern: he hated having to send her out on the battlefield again, but he needed someone he could absolutely trust, and despite her shyness and softness, the doe was also quite strong, being enough of a mage and fighter to have greater hopes of getting the job done than any other angel in the group, save for Diana. But Diana has got her own mission...

"I can do it." Vicky replied firmly, flapping her white, blazing wings a couple of times to sail back up into the sky, towards his huge muzzle. "I promise I'll find him."

"I know you will." Killer said softly, before adding urgently: "Tell him of what is happening here. Let him know that we risk being all trapped here, without a retreat route, if we don't act very quickly. Defending the Wall has lost any sense: if we stay, we'll have to fight to the death, and these meadows will be our graves. I'm sure he'll know what to do. I'm sure he'll order to start a retreat. Help him organize thing, we have to avoid it turning into a messy rout, or we will have only delayed the defeat of Heaven by a few hours."

Vicky listened with great attention, nodding when he finished, and reaching forwards to kiss his enormous muzzle lovingly. "I'll do it, Master Killer, I promise."

"Please, Vicky... stay safe. Be careful: I want to meet you again at the end of the battle." Killer said, nuzzling her softly, and she smiled, closing her eyes with a soft blush as she replied: "I want to meet you again too... and I wish for it very intensely."

Killer smiled, and then pointed his finger at a couple of bulky, muscular angels between those he had healed, and he ordered simply: "You and you, escort Vicky in her mission. Keep her safe."

They nodded and saluted sharply, flowing up towards the doe, and Killer looked at the young girl one last time, adding: "I'd like to give you a larger escort group, but Diana will need all the warriors she can get, to clear a retreat route in here."

"I know. But perhaps it's better this way: if we fly fast and spread out, we probably won't be judged worth of particular attention by the enemy." She replied wisely, and the huge male nodded as she and her protectors flew towards the Wall, moving as fast as they could. That's what I hope, Vicky. Stay safe, I pray you.

Diana flew in next, touching his huge muzzle gently with her hand and smiling lovingly as she said: "She will be safe, Killer... As to me, I know my mission."

"Stay safe, Diana. Take real good care of yourself... I can't stand the thought of losing you again." Killer whispered, nuzzling her gently and closing his eyes for a moment as she kissed his vast cheek. The angels at his feet had already grouped up into an assault squadron which was incredibly resolute, if not particularly vast. They also hadn't the best weapons, but they had all got a pretty clear idea of what was going to happen to them and to everyone else if they failed... so they did not miss motivations.

"Don't worry for me... I absolutely do not want to lose you again myself." The black-furred tigress said, before she reached a hand up to drop the visor in front of her beautiful ruby eyes, hiding them from view. She took a deep breath, then added: "Be careful, and see you real soon."

She shot down through the sky with a flap of her six white wings, taking the lead of the group of angels and roaring with all her voice and courage to signal the attack, rising her large swords above her head and shocking the demons around them, much superior in numbers and raw power, that all had expected but an assault from that group of ex-casualties.

Killer added his own, infinitely louder and scarier roar after a moment, the gigantic male flexing his huge, powerful body as energy crackled loudly around him, lightning bolts shooting through the air as he pumped another huge wave of his raw, burning power into the ground... but this time, not to heal anyone. His energy exploded back up out of the earth, a wall of golden light that cut through anything it touched, before exploding outwards like a shockwave, knocking even the mighty Gigataurs sprawling in a range of many thousand feet, most of the demons hit by the raw energy being burned down into nothing but vapor, before he shoved one hand forwards and sent a hurricane of fire washing over a line of charging Gigataurs, annihilating them like they were nothing but flies, as he trailed the beam of golden fire onto one of the ugly, enormous worms of the Middle Sea, cutting the creature in half.

The tremendous blast of force was still powerful enough to smash into one of the Corruption Pumps, causing the huge machine to explode in a gigantic ball of fire, pieces of torn-apart bodies raining all around as the demons nearby were knocked over like pins, the few survivors turning and fleeing with shrieks of terror as Diana and the angels charged fearlessly through the opening that Killer had forcefully torn in the demonic ranks.

And then, even if it hurt him to the core, Killer turned his back on Diana and her courageous few, fighting back tears of rage and fear for her life and for Vicky's, and for everyone else's, as his immense black wings gave a mighty flap and he shot in flight towards the Wall, where the colossal Cetus was crushing, squishing, tearing and massacring friends and foes alike, the immense, invincible beast only eager to destroy and slaughter, stepping remorselessly onto the demons on its path, the scorpion-like creature easily crumbling the Wall like it was made of sand.

Killer snarled and flapped his mighty, huge wings again, putting all of his strength in each movement as he saw the Cetus raise its immense pincer high over a mob of fleeting angels, trying to get there as fast he could... but the monstrosity ferociously slammed its pincer down before the liger could arrive, and the Meadows were rattled like they were nothing but a chessboard in the hands of a giant, the tiny warriors of Heaven crushed out of existence, before the Cetus brought its pincers back up and slammed them out against the Wall, smashing the fortified line apart on both sides, as a pincer as big as a mountain smashed a once-proud bastion into a cloud of dust and falling fragments of stone.

The Cetus seemed totally invulnerable and unstoppable, immense as it was. Taller than the mountains, it could just walk all over Heaven's fortresses and forces, and squish them all like toys, while none of Heaven's weapons seemed able to do more than scratch the surface of its black, impenetrable exoskeleton. It had smashed effortlessly even though the Divine Barrier held up by the Metatrons, in a fearsome display of terrible, raw physical power... and it was just one of several Cetus monstrosities smashing their way through the Wall along the frontline.

It made very clear, at first gaze, why the Middle Sea was so feared and carefully avoided. What actually worries me the most, though, is that someone managed to put such creatures to the leash, and command them out of the sea and across the desert, to use them as weapons. And controlling such powerful creatures was always deemed an impossible feat...

Killer was brought back to the urgency of the moment as the immense monster gave a loud, deafening roar, his many crimson eyes fixed on the huge male liger, and the god immediately knew he had been spotted and selected as next target.

Killer's eyes darted immediately upwards, guided by the instinct, and he winced as the immense talon-tip of the Cetus's scorpion tail filled the sky above him, the gigantic poisoned hook cutting through the air with a deafening hiss, and he had barely enough time to twist his body on the spot, flapping his mighty wings to throw himself off to the side, before the talon came down to strike.

Killer snarled as the shadow of it covered him entirely, his eyes narrowing in disbelief and angry frustration as he saw the edge of the immense tail, so far ahead of himself: it was so immense, that he could not fly fast enough and get off from under it.

The poisoned tip missed him by bare meters, but the bulging, round base of it smashed into Killer's back with fearsome violence, making his bones creak loudly as he groaned and was slammed into the earth, crushed like a fly, his eyes closing as he let loose a scream of agony, sinking into the hard earth as the scorpion-hook pierced effortlessly deep into the ground, through dirt and sand and stone.

Killer groaned as he forced his eyes open, the pain in his back terrible and overwhelming for his senses, as he dazedly realized that the tail of the beast was entirely covered in ugly, sick hair that, at such size, was like an expanse of huge, cruel spears, of spikes harder than steel that had pierced through his wings and into his muscular, potent back, ripping countless deep wounds into it.

Killer spat a gout of thick, dark blood, forcing up with his powerful arms, but barely able to gain a little bit of space, as the mountain-sized knot crushing him felt impossibly heavy, even for his godlike strength. "You are already grinding on my nerves." The huge male muttered, snarling in rage as he prepared to push up with all his power... before grimacing as he heard a loud sizzling sound from down below, and a disgusting chemical stench filled his nose, as his eyes widened at the sight of a mounting tide of dark-green poison, that was filling up the crater, so powerful that it dissolved even the rocks into nothingness, stinky smoke rising from the violent chemical reaction.

The level of the lethal fluid quickly grew towards Killer, and the huge male snarled as he dropped down on his hands like he was doing pushup, to try and slid free of the spikes lodged deep into his flesh, blood spilling out of the ugly gashes, but the enormous monster all but shoved down harder with its tail, crushing the liger hard down into the ground and making him howl in agony... before he snarled in frustration as Black Killer's voice angrily exploded over the painful vortex of prayers and whispers in his mind.

You are a god, moron, stop acting like a drunken brawler and do something other than grunt like a caveman!

"Shut the fuck up!" Killer growled, gritting his fangs angrily, but he couldn't help but agree with the suggestion, thinking quickly even as he rammed his fist into the rock, pushing himself up. He focused his energies on his back, wishing for armor that could shield his back from the vicious talons, even more so as he realized that the cruel spikes were leaking poison into him, too, his mighty muscles feeling numb and sore as his nervous system was slowed down... before he flapped his mighty wings upwards, the steel-like feathers turning into blades of solid, terrible fire that chopped easily through the spikes, cutting them off the knot as Killer flexed his powerful body and forced the massive thorns out of his flesh, blood splattering out of the wounds, before the poison itself was forced out of his veins, golden energy glowing over his back as the wounds immediately started to heal, flesh regenerating itself... before his muscular, potent back was hidden from direct view as his energy solidified into thick, chiseled plated armor which followed and replied the shape and look of his musculature.

Large spikes and blade-like fins shoved upwards from the otherwise smooth surface of the impenetrable plates, and Killer pushed up with his arms, grinning viciously as slammed his spikes hard into the Cetus's tail, which squirmed hard as the beast gave a shriek of rage and pain that Killer could hear even from where he was, miles away from the monster's mouth, and deep underground into the crater.

Disgusting green, poisonous goo rained down all around him as golden, curved scythe-blades and deadly spikes jutted out of his back and pierced through the Cetus's tail, ripping through the thick exoskeleton and slashing into the flesh beneath, searing heat incinerating the monster's insides as a sizzling sound came up from the decaying flesh.

The Cetus groaned in agony and fury, whipping its tail upwards violently, Killer's eyes narrowing as the huge male was dragged out of the crater, the spikes and blades jutting from his back keeping him attached to the large, bleeding poisoned scorpion stinger. The monstrous beast slashed its tail back and forth through the air, trying to shake the huge liger off, but Killer only grinned and slammed his elbows backwards, sinking his bone spikes deep into the tail of the creature as the black exoskeleton cracked loudly... before the liger roared and instinctively let his enormous energies take the lead, letting his power flow through his veins, not quite knowing what would happen, but sure that his body knew what to do. And in fact, his bone spikes suddenly lengthened, turning into terrible blades glowing with golden energy which shot right through the tail of the Cetus, slicing open two long, horrendous wounds that sent disgusting black gore and pale flesh raining down on the battlefield below.

The Cetus roared in pain and rage, whipping its tail down towards the ground to crush Killer, who gritted his fangs at the sudden acceleration, wind roaring in his ears as his eyes widened, filling with the sight of demons and angels battling beneath, spears and swords and axes rushing towards him at terrifying speed.

"Not so fast, bitch." Killer growled, ripping his spikes back out of the maimed flesh and exoskeleton, the bone-blades retracting and returning to their normal sizes as he seized the massive tail in his strong hands and prepared for the hard landing, grinning slightly despite himself at the sight of demons and angels alike scattering and running away in terror from the miles-long scorpion tail falling down from the sky.

The whole battlefield was rattled as the gigantic tail rammed down, squishing whoever failed to get away quickly enough: demon or angel, friend or foe, it made no difference to the Cetus. Killer roared in a mix of foolish excitement and fear as he was slammed into the ground, groaning as his feet sank deep into the earth and his legs bent forwards painfully, the huge liger falling on his knees as his spine cracked loudly, making him wince in agony... But he grinned nonetheless, his powerful arms held high over his head, muscles bulging explosively as he kept the immense stinger up in a show of raw, brutal power that had the demons and angels scattered around him staring in awe.

"And now we shall play." Killer growled, leaping high into the air and flapping his mighty wings once to shot into the sky, shoving the Cetus's gigantic tail up like it weighted nothing, before he jackknifed on top of it and left himself slid down the side of it, slinging the monstrous appendage over his shoulder before he pulled with all of his fearsome power, diving down from the sky and dragging the monster forwards.

The Cetus tried to resist, its many bug-like legs scrambling and crushing whole platoons as the monster stumbled forwards, smashing through a bastion of the Wall like it was just a model set, before it was inexorably dragged into the air, the beast howling in fury as the battle stopped for a brief moment, everyone on the battlefield turning to stare at the gigantic mass of the miles-high monstrosity blotting out the sky as it was flung into the air...

Before the immense monster roared in fury and smashed one huge pincer down into the ground, annihilating dozens of warriors from both armies as the black, deadly nipper sunk deep into the earth. Killer grunted in surprise at the sudden stop, turning on the stop to glare at the monster as it crashed down on its side, not quite overturned but nonetheless vulnerable as the long bug legs on one side kicked wildly at the air.

Killer grinned and charged forwards, leaping forth and propelling himself into flight with a mighty flap of his wings, shooting down the length of the immense tail and drawing Wyvern out, the blade easily coming free of the invisible ropes of energy keeping it in place on the liger's back.

The mountain-sized monster slammed its claws into the ground, trying to shove itself back up on its long, segmented legs, roaring against the huge male... and Killer winced as a laser ray of green energy shot out of the circular, drooling jaws of the monstrosity, the immense bean of destructive force rushing towards him. He threw himself to the side with a blow of his wings, wincing at the searing heat that came from the demonic energy as it shot past... before he grinned as Adrasthea dived down from the sky, the mighty goddess wearing a golden armor and carrying a massive circular shield secured to her left arm, her right hand wrapped around her long, deadly spear as she cocked her muscular arm back. She threw her spear, and it shot down with the strength of a meteor, piercing through the thinner exoskeleton on the belly of the Cetus. Killer stared as the spear turned into a massive blade of blinding white light, which pierced through the body of the monster from side to side, nailing it to the ground... before his sharp eyes somehow guessed, more than saw, the spear itself flying back to Adrasthea's hand only to be thrown again, and then a third time.

The Cetus cried in agony, trashing on the ground and ramming its pincers on the battlefield with savage fury, but the three blades of energy nailing it down didn't budge, its movements only worsening the damage as its flesh and organs were burned into poisonous smoke... before three enormous lightning bolts came down from the sky with a deafening roar, each tremendous discharge of electricity connecting with one of the blades.

Killer stared in awe as the Cetus howled in agony, arching its back violently as the middle section of its long, bug-like body burst apart down the middle, electricity cutting through flesh, bone and exoskeleton like they were made of butter, before all three blades of energy exploded in massive conflagrations, sending chunks of gore and enormous slivers of exoskeleton hailing over the battlefield.

Even scarier, though, was the sight of the Cetus still fighting on: Killer looked to the side in shock as the enormous scorpion tail whipped upwards, even as the rear end of the massive monster laid on the battlefield beneath in a smoldering heap, separated from the front end of the body by a vast expanse of molten gore and torn-apart insides.

It shot upwards, aiming for Adrasthea, and the huge male launched himself to the side immediately, tackling the tail with a roar and shoving Wyvern through it with both hands, snarling as he channeled his energies down the blade, making it glow and overheat as it lengthened further, so to pierce out of the other side of the gigantic, appendage.

He prepared to slash the long, heavy blade sideways, to finally chop the poisonous stinger off, when his eyes widened at the sight of the front of the Cetus body as it also moved, slamming one claw into the ground and kicking off it with the help of the three legs it had left, the gigantic monstrosity somehow still alive even with most of its body blown into gore.

Adrasthea shot higher into the sky and tossed a sphere of sapphire energy straight against the Cetus, but she struck the edge of the thick exoskeleton, above its eyes, and the massive explosion that followed wasn't enough to pierce into the brain of the beast.

Gods, what the fuck are there things...?

The enormous blast sent the piece of Cetus slamming back down on the battlefield, the beast howling in fury but immediately leaping upwards once more, snapping one mountain-sized claw towards the dragon goddess and clacking its multiple rows of enormous fangs, its circular mouth white open and leaking acid drool: for what Killer could see, there were countless rows of ugly, sawed fangs lined down the whole length of the monster's throat and gullet, while a series of spider-legs appendages around the sides of the circular mouth would help the horrible creature shoving its victims down the meat-grinder.

Adrasthea fearlessly faced the attack of the monster, raising her large shield and snarling as she channeled her godlike energy into it as the runes drawn over its smooth surface burned in a glowing, hellish crimson, before a blade of focused, incandescent energy shot out and straight down into the terrifying mouth of the monster.

The Cetus howled in agony as the laser-beam of crimson force pierced its way right through the already devastated monstrosity and smashed into the battlefield beneath, vaporizing every demon it touched and every other creature in a range of several hundred feet as it exploded with a massive blast... but the Cetus refused to die even then, instead vomiting gore and poisonous, disgusting dark mist as its acid, deadly drool fell from its mouth in streams and ropes.

Adrasthea swung elegantly backwards as the immense monster lashed angrily out with its immense claw, the inside of the pincer's blades lined with ancient, glowing crystals as sharp as razors and much harder than any diamond. She made a grimace of distaste at the poisonous stench coming from the monster's mouth, the thick, deadly fog forming a cloud and polluting the sky and making her eyes water painfully even as she flew away from it, snarling as it almost blinded her, her golden armor sizzling as drops of acid poison melted even into the Godblood, leaving deep scars into her helmet and into the plates of her outfit... and worse, other drops burned into her scales and flesh.

She flexed her mighty musculature and swung her spear out for a new attack, before grinning as she heard Killer's potent roar and saw him wrestling the gigantic scorpion tail of the Cetus, forcing it to bend painfully backwards as he guided it, twisting the long, thick blade of Wyvern into the wound as his muscles bulged with power. Poison streaked out of the wound in streams and splatters that burned his body terribly wherever they touched him, but he only grinned cruelly as he threw his weight to the side and dragged the tail down in a vicious hook.

The Cetus's head turned with a monstrous shriek as the creature realized what was coming, but it was too late to do anything about it, as Killer smashed his feet down into two of the six red eyes of the creature, squishing them and sending up two twin fountains of blood and gore.

The other four eyes stared at him with fury, but Killer only grinned down at them mercilessly as he roared and pulled with all of his fearsome strength: the tail tried to resist, whipping violently in the opposite direction, but as the liger's huge biceps bulged mightily, the segmented appendage snapped in half with a loud crack, poison raining down on the battlefield, miles below, while Killer pile-drove the sharp end of the deadly tail straight down into the Cetus's own head.

The exoskeleton cracked apart, exploding into hard shards of black bone and revealing the vulnerable pale flesh and a spherical, impenetrable shell of hard bone buried into it.

So that's why you won't die, isn't it...? You must have multiple organs, all grouped up in these tiny shells...

Killer winced as the Cetus howled in fury as its own poison flooded its insides, burning the vulnerable flesh away, melting it into a sick, bubbling dark liquid. The sharp, segmented tentacles around the mouth of the monster lashed furiously upwards, trying to cut Killer in half, digging gashes into his powerful body as they tried to hook him in and drag him backwards into the fangs of the monster...

Adrasthea dived in with a roar, slashing her hybrid spear-sword down in a neat cut that chopped through the squirming tentacles, sending the huge appendages falling heavily down towards the battlefield far below as the Cetus itself fell back down from its leap, smashing into the ground with fearsome violence and rattling the whole Meadows with its terrible weight, sending every angel and demon and monster in the range of a few miles flying through the air.

Adrasthea squatted on the head of the Cetus, growling in cold rage as she slammed her gauntlet-covered fist down into the remaining eyes of the monster, blood splattering up over her muscular arms as she carefully backstepped until she was back to back with Killer. The Goddess pulled up her large shield, crouching behind it and covering the huge male as well as a thick group of gryphons and demon knights riding on hellish dragons charged towards them from the clouds above, sending bullets, arrows and spheres of dark energy smashing down into the two warriors.

"We are clearly not welcome." Killer muttered, his eyes glaring down at the thick scratch left by the Cetus's own scorpion-stinger on the thick bone cage protecting the vital organs of the creature. Incredibly hard stuff... I rammed a spike the size of a skyscraper into it, and barely scratched it.

"What did you find?" Adrasthea urgently asked, sneaking a gaze over her muscular shoulder even as she held up the shield, recoiling slightly as a beam of liquid darkness smashed into it and exploded with terrible force.

Killer didn't answer immediately, as the Cetus howled in fury and pulled up its enormous front legs, scraping over its back to crush the liger and the dragoness into paste.

Adrasthea saw them coming as well, and the two warriors traded a nod before charging in different directions. The goddess leapt into the air, charging straight at the demonic knights even as the first dragon breathed a hurricane of dark fire against her. She sailed through this with a roar, gathering herself behind her large shield, before she lashed out with it, smashing the circular, heavy barrier of Godblood into the beast's snout, sending blood spraying out as the dragon howled in anguish, its long fangs knocked loose and its massive jaw crumbled.

The head of the dragon was slapped to the side like a toy, the long neck of the serpent-like creature cracking loudly, as the goddess stomped down hard on it, running up its length with a cruel grin as the demon in thick black armor riding on the back of the monster screamed in shock and panicked.

Adrasthea left him no time to react, as she drove her deadly spear through his chest until her fist slammed into his body, and she swung her polearm out in a circle, sending the corpse falling down from the sky, her eyes glowed a brilliant white, her emotionless gaze filled with raw power.

Several of the demons realized that pissing off a goddess wasn't a good idea and turned their backs to fleet, while the gryphons, terrified, dived off to the right and to the left, trying to escape her wrath, but ghost-like soldiers made of her white, burning energy appeared in front of each of them, holding large circular shields and long, sharp spears. In the space of a second, the ghostly soldiers leapt onto their targets: the demons and monsters howled in agony as they tried to break free, but their weapons and fists sailed harmlessly through the attackers. Searing, tremendous heat burned armors, scales, fur and flesh as the ghosts wrestled their targets down towards the ground, miles below: they all fell like meteors, smashing into the battlefield with enough violence to turn even the hardest demons into broken heaps... before the ghosts drove their spears down into the agonizing enemies, killing them with silent shouts of victory, lost in ancient times, long gone.

Killer instead charged down the back of the Cetus, snarling as he brought the flat of Wyvern in front of himself, one hand wrapped tightly around the large handle, the other balled in a potent fist and pushing against the large blade. He gritted his fangs as he looked past the sharp edge of the sword, to see the enormous bug-legs of the Cetus rushing towards him at insane speed. They blotted out the sky, immense as they were, making him look like a toy, even as he towered over 500 feet tall, covered in bulging muscles and godlike. His charge seemed suicidal, as the black limbs loomed over him... but when he roared, his power shook the fabric of reality around him, his eyes glowing pure sapphire and his biceps bulging with his monstrous strength.

He smashed into the legs of the monster with the force of a comet, his toe talons digging into the exoskeleton below as he stomped his way forwards, pushing back against the Cetus's own force... before he let out a booming, roaring laughter as he wrestled the huge legs backwards, the monster beneath his feet squirming and howling in fear and shock and pain as Wyvern glowed a dark, murderous crimson. Killer's energies flooded the thick blade, making it hotter than magma, as incandescent as a star, dark smoke going up from the point of contact between the sword and the monster's limbs... and Killer finally shot through, grinning widely as he screeched to a stop by going down on a knee, while the legs of the monster snapped backwards and shattered, sending two mile-long fragments flying into the air.

They seemed to move in slow motion for a moment as they flipped high into the sky... before they suddenly dropped down like comets, pulled by their own tremendous weight, as Killer allowed himself to grin slightly, flexing his enormous musculature and rolling his shoulders slowly as he flipped Wyvern elegantly into the air and stabbed the deadly blade down into the back of the monster.

Killer pushed the blade deep down, sinking several feet of incandescent, massive blade through exoskeleton and flesh, before he charged back down the back of the creature, returning towards the ripped-open head, from which the squirming stump of scorpion tail still stuck out, towering like an ugly tombstone over the still-roaring Cetus.

The huge male roared as he dragged Wyvern forwards with his charge, slicing the monster's back open, almost cutting the Cetus's body in two halves down the middle... but still, the gigantic creature refused to die, lashing out savagely instead with its claws, blindly smashing into dust everything it managed to hit. The bug-like monstrosity howled in even greater fury as Wyvern smashed into the hard bone shell buried deep into the head, and Killer snarled in surprise and rage as the incredibly resistant cage refused to crack open.

Adrasthea flew right between the two enormous claws of the monster, the goddess flipping over a furious swing of the deadly pincer before she sent a whip of crimson flames lashing through the air with a roar of thunder.

It burned into the exoskeleton of the Cetus, biting deep into the flesh as it formed a noose around the base of one of the gigantic claws: each could easily flatten a whole town with a single blow, but as the Goddess pulled back her whip with a mighty roar, the pincer suddenly did not look so dangerous anymore, as it was ripped off its socket and sent smashing down into the ground.

The echo of the tremendous impact was still loud while Adrasthea swung a swirling circle of blinding energy down towards the other claw. The blade of force, spinning like a circular saw, shot through the shoulder of the gigantic monster, and the Cetus howled in pain as its heavy claw dropped to the ground, only connected to the body by a few stretched, ruined ropes of flesh and muscle.

She dropped down with a contemptuous snort, stomping on top of the monster's head, looking at Killer as he slammed another terrible blow with Wyvern into the bone shell.

"What is that...?" The goddess asked, walking over to him as he snarled in frustration, ripping Wyvern free: it had torn a deep gash into the solid bone, but amazingly, it had not cut all the way through.

"Something incredibly resistant." Killer grumbled, before looking up as he added: "I believe the organs of this goddamn thing are inside this shell... and I bet there were more of these. Probably one in each major section of the Cetus's body."

"That would explain why it refuses so stubbornly to die." Adrasthea commented, unfazed by the desperate bucking and trashing of the body under her feet, as the Cetus tried to throw both her and Killer off his back. "Vesta will feel vindicated when she finds out: she had guessed this many, many years ago, and written about it in one of her books."

It is always so hard to think of Vesta as a genius, a scientist and a tireless writer of books. Killer nodded, certain that his expression had betrayed, for a moment, his surprise, but Adrasthea only smiled knowingly, before closing a mighty hand into a fist, her knuckles covered by the golden armor plates of her gauntlet as she walked to his side. "It might be resistant, but it can't be hard enough to stand up to us."

Killer looked at her with an amused grin, nodding as he pulled his own large, heavy fist, and they slammed them together, before cocking them back, loading the blow and aiming at the same spot, where the egg shell was already damaged by Wyvern's strike.

They traded a nod, and then smashed down as hard as they could, snarling grins on their features as they growled... and the hard bone cracked under their combined power, exploding into fragments that shot into the soft organs inside.

The Cetus's back arched violently, the beast howling in agony, before the two gods blasted their raw, burning energies into the pierced shell, melting the organs into a disgusting, bloody paste. The monster had a last violent shiver under their feet, and a loud, chilling groan escaped its circular mouth, before it collapsed in a broken heap on the battlefield.

"Stubborn motherfucker." Adrasthea muttered, pulling her arm out of the broken bone shell and shaking it with a grimace, snorting at the sight of the drops of gore flying off her scales and armor.

Killer grinned at that, standing back up and looking coldly down on the battlefield far below, as demonic cavalry and Gigataurs charged forwards, swarming into the Meadows: the Cetus had smashed miles and miles of the Wall into fine dust before they had managed to put a stop to it, and now the demons were surging through the breach, flooding into the First Sky and pursuing the last few angels who had tried to defend the line to the very last breath.

He gritted his fangs, painfully aware of the fact that any control over the battle had been lost, and his eyes scanned the horizon, leaping from the shape of one massive Cetus to another: in several other sectors of the battlefield, the Wall was being breached with the help of the immense monsters that had crawled out of the depths of the Middle Sea.

In the distance he could see the corpse of another Cetus which had been somehow taken down, but another monster just a bit further down the Wall was still very much alive, fighting with someone that Killer couldn't see because of the distance... But he did not need eye contact to know that it was Alexis. A beam of sapphire energy that suddenly chopped the Cetus's tail neatly off was a confirmation that he really didn't need... he could feel her spectacular power in the air, and taste her cruel hungers, her bloody pleasure.

The same blood lust that I feel as well...

Suddenly, cornets threw their long, loud, deep lament into the air, calling Heaven's troops back, ordering the retreat, and Killer let out a breath of relief, scanning the battlefield to see the flags of the various angel divisions raised to act as rally points, as the defenders of Heaven began to fall back.

Thank you, Vicky, you made it...

Adrasthea heard the cornets too, and turned around in surprise, looking over the battlefield for a brief moment, before looking to the side as Killer said: "I sent a friend along to find and warn Gabriel that we must retreat while we can... the demons have breached the perimeter long before the Cetuses smashed breaches into the Wall, and are already forming a wall of blades and Corruption behind our backs."

"How...?" Adrasthea asked, turning towards the edge of the Meadows, far behind them. Her sharp eyes widened as she saw the spreading Corruption turning the Green Plane into a horrible, darkened, twisted wasteland. From on top of the Cetus, the full scale of the disaster was readily evident: they were pretty much trapped already, with an army of demons having assembled in an almost continuous front.

Killer pointed his finger towards a massive, weird shape ripping its way out of the ground in the distance, and he answered calmly: "Those weird... giant worms. Other Middle Sea creatures, from what I understood... somehow, they have been turned into troop transports, which-"

"...dug their way right under our positions." Adrasthea said, grimacing in rage and horror. "Fine, Lord Killer. There's a lot of work to do if we want Heaven to have a few soldiers left by today's twilight. I'll stop the demons from exploiting this breach while the angels withdraw. You, go and put a stop to the other Cetuses."

Killer nodded, as they both leapt high above the dead corpse of the massive monster, and the huge male stared as Adrasthea snarled and shoved her palm out, sending a tremendous shockwave of psychic wrath ramming into the black corpse, which was slammed backwards at insane speed, crushing the hordes of demons coming up through the breach as the centaurs and scavengers scattered to the sides, screaming in terror.

The Goddess grinned and made an easy shoving gesture, sending the mountain-sized corpse shooting like a rocket through the wastelands, until it crashed into the non-waters of the Middle Sea, leaving behind a miles-long trench torn into the ground, stained with pools of gore and blood left by the countless crushed demons.

Adrasthea dropped to the ground elegantly, spinning her spear and getting into an easy ready position, her large shield held up in front of her chest. "Lord Killer, if I may suggest... this is the best moment ever for going all out. We will need all your strength to hold the line." The dragoness said, smiling teasingly over her shoulder at him.

Killer nodded nervously, incredibly tempted but scared all the same... and then he turned to the side, sprinting in a charge and then leaping into the air, flapping his huge wings one to shot high into the sky, flying towards the next Cetus down the line of the Wall.

He looked briefly back, worried, but Adrasthea had full control over her sector, even as demonic cavalry charged at her from all sides: her spear moved swiftly and deadly through Hell's ranks as she repelled the assaults, ramming her heavy shield into the enemies and knocking them sprawling like pins.

When she stabbed her long spear forwards, crimson flashes tore the dark sky apart, and thunder echoed over the first sky, as lightning bolts exploded from the long, sword-like tip, electricity burning through body after body, as demons piled up around her in broken, smoldering heaps of burned flesh.

Killer gritted his teeth as he flew low over the Wall, until he found another massive breach, which spawned over many miles. A Cetus monster had smashed the immense fortified barrier into bits and dust, and now the proud bastions were reduced to nothing more than rubble, spread messily over a vast area.

The Wall had been an insurmountable barrier, that had kept Heaven safe for uncountable Eons... and yet, the Cetus monsters, now enslaved and controlled by some mysterious and frightening power, had so easily rammed their way through.

And there it was, the immense monster... it had advanced a few steps into the Meadows - which, given the size of the creature, meant several miles - and it had sent the armies of Heaven scattering in panic, the angels absolutely powerless against the gigantic monstrosity. This Cetus was even bigger than the one he and Adrasthea had just taken down, but at least now Killer had an idea of how to face the nightmarish creature.

Below, on the battlefield, centaurs and demon knights leapt over the rubble and ruins of the destroyed fortresses, swarming into the Meadows and annihilating the angels who hadn't yet had the chance to retreat, to try and break contact.

Killer spotted an angel wearing a broken, bloodied body armor stumbling backwards, swinging his sword upwards, barely deflecting the savage strike of a muscular, enormous Rhinotaur who brutally handled a large battleaxe, grinning with large, wolf-life fangs.

The demon swung his massive axe again, laughing cruelly as the angel once more parried, but got knocked over onto his back by the force of the blow, as the demon flexed, drool falling from his lips as the invigorating, exciting winds of Corruption came from the Meadows, where more and more darkness pumps were being activated.

The huge liger dived down on the monster, roaring as he lashed out a turning-kick that sent the Rhinotaur crashing over forty feet away, the god snarling as he held out his palm and fired a small, blazing sphere of white-hot energy which shot right through the demon and exploded in a massive gout of dark, dirty orange flames.

The bloodied, trembling angel coughed a thank you as he struggled to his feet, and Killer snorted, looking out to the Cetus, knowing that he should have been rushing against that huge destroyer, but at the same time knowing that the angel was doomed if left there on his own... and the huge liger seized the soldier by an arm, effortlessly lifting him up and shooting again into flight.

"Get a Healer to put your pieces back together, you don't look good." Killer said simply, even as he held his other hand up in front of the angel's chest, channeling energies into him and healing his worst wounds. The soldier nodded, eyes wide open in surprise, not finding the ideas and courage he needed to say anything, only looking up at the huge male with gratitude.

Killer shot towards the Cetus, but he banked to the left, aiming for groups of warriors of Heaven which were valiantly holding a fragile but determined line of defense. As he came closer, he recognized the large shields and the colors of the XXX Legion, and he smiled slightly, relieved to see his old comrades still keeping their cool and acting with professionalism and experience: the muscular, powerful tigers had formed small but solid circles on every ridge and little rise in the ground. The most physically potent warriors manned the shields and the spears, forming impenetrable rings of steel, while the wounded and angels with inferior raw strength stood in the middle, firing with bows and massive, modified assault rifles.

The small living fortresses were spread out over a long stretch of the battlefield, but they were close enough between them that the firing arcs would overlap, so that each group could help those at its left and right sides. As the wounded, terrified angels retreated, the warriors of the XXX Legion slowed down the enemy and held the demons back, allowing the others to escape towards the Meadows.

Killer dived towards the nearest circle of shields, snarling as he shot through the thick dust rising from the massive hooves ramming the ground down below as massive taurs and hordes of demons of all Sins charged up the small rocky ridge, running straight towards the large, scarred shields of the defenders.

From the tiny, living fortress, the defenders fired with every weapon they had, and Killer saw a Seraphim in the middle, unleashing a massive arrow of blazing light which tore through the ranks of the demons and exploded in the middle of a thick group, sending a huge Rhinotaur crashing into the demons and undead climbing from the bottom of the ridge.

The wall of shields made a sudden shove forwards as the first demons jumped up the edge of the slope, and the thick, long spears stabbed viciously outwards, the tigers in the circle fighting as a sole man, with the cold determination that had been built up in countless battles.

As they came into range, Killer looked down in surprise as the angel he was holding up with his left arm fumbled at his belt and pulled out a large, modified handgun powered by bullets containing magically-charged crystal. The wounded angel coughed blood with the recoil of each shot, his wounds pulsing, but nonetheless he fired down into the crowd of demons, sending a bullet piercing through the head of a centaur, which immediately collapsed into a broken heap, rolling over as it was carried by the momentum of his charge.

Killer grinned slightly at the sight, before he roared as his massive wings turned crimson, the black, sharp blade-like feathers turning into dark gouts of flame before a hurricane of fire flooded the battlefield below. Cries of joy and triumph rose from the circle of shields, and the wounded angel in Killer's hand gave a broken breath of shock and amazement, while the demons scattered with howls of anguish and terror, their shapes rapidly enveloped by the dark flames which expanded like water all around the ridge, washing over the horde.

Fleeting angels that had been running towards the positions of the Legion hesitated and stopped away from the dark fire, looking terrified, but Killer roared out to them: "Keep running, this fire won't burn its allies!"

His voice boomed over the battlefield, but some of the angels still looked forwards with hesitation, clearly unsure if "Amon Ra" was worth their trust or not... But a few Seraphims in the rank lead the way, and the angels followed swiftly, especially as the demonic cavalry, launching howls of fury, sprinted down along the wall of flames, in both directions, trying to kill every warrior of Heaven they could find.

Killer flew up to the nearest circle of shields, and dropped the badly wounded angel in the middle of the formation, where a white tiger covered in blood and handling a huge cleaver sword immediately intervened, helping the much smaller soldier and carefully lowering him on the ground.

The angel coughed a thank you, trembling a bit as he sat up as best he could, shouldering the large rifle that the tiger officer immediately shoved into his arms. Killer, however, had already turned towards the battlefield, his hands making a shoving gesture towards the wall of fire he had just erected: immediately, long tentacles made of dark flames stretched outwards, hungrily reaching for the demons nearby, wrapping around their bodies and dragging them towards a fearsome, painful death deep into the center of the incandescent maelstrom.

The howls of agony rose high, even as Scavengers and other demons sprinted away from the fire and took aim at Killer with everything they had available, firing massive rifles and longbows as mages sent dark lightning crackling towards the huge liger.

"They'll soon find a way through if you let the mages work. Take them down first." Killer coldly commanded, and the tigers of the Thirtieth Legion immediately executed, roaring to signal their obedience, as they had done so many years before, when they had been still mortals, still on Earth, still fighting for Kesteven, at the orders of the very same general.

A few of the strongest tigers and a number of Seraphims all but ran out of the circles of shields, delving into the fearsome maelstrom: the flames enveloped them entirely, but didn't hurt them in the slightest. They barely even felt the heat of the fire, even as they took positions deep into the wall of flames, before sprinting out of it at random intervals, assaulting each and every demon which dared to come too close.

Killer grinned at the sight, even as bullets charged with Corruption smashed into his muscular chest, knocking him backwards slightly. Spheres of darkness and crackling dark lightning bolts struck him from all directions, but he literally shrugged them off, snarling in dark amusement as he flexed with a roar and let loose more of his power, following Adrasthea's suggestion: it was time to let it all out.

The Scavengers stared in horror as the massive male, already more than five hundred feet tall, began to quickly grow, surrounded by a massive blaze of golden and black light, energy crackling from him in gigantic, fearsome bolts which seemed to tear the sky itself apart. They arched high into the air, then rammed down into the battlefield like whips, going off in massive explosions that tore deep craters into the land as hundreds of demons were simply vaporized, vanishing in dark puffs of smoke with barely enough time to launch a hint a shriek, while all others in a radius of several hundred feet were knocked flying, slapped backwards like toys as Killer arched his back and closed his eyes, loving the feel of his raw, tremendous power running through his veins as he grew tenfold in the space of a moment. He towered over five thousand feet tall, dwarfing even the largest demon-lords, and as he moved a step forwards, he was still growing, his musculature bulging stronger and even more massive as he looked down at the armada of demons with a cold, merciless laughter.

It was a glorious and fearsome sight. The demons no doubt stared in shock at the gargantuan, impossible testicles hanging heavily between the god's potent legs. Their eyes traced in terror over the incredible proportions of Killer's gigantic black-fleshed cock as it cast a shadow over them... for a brief moment It looked like Killer was flaunting his obscene power over them all, as he shifted, spreading his legs a bit wider, but then his colossal flaccid shaft was hidden from view by a curved plate of golden armor as leaf-shaped protections formed over his hips and around his waist.

The demons scattered, looking up to the gigantic male in terror, Scavengers slamming their heels into the flanks of their mounts to sprint away and Centaurs leaping over the ridges to run back towards the beach, but some others refused to give in: a massive elephant demon, with huge bull horns and three pair of long, impossibly-muscular arms ending in segmented steel claws, charged forwards, blowing steam from his long, armored trunk as he roared orders to his minions.

His four eyes glowed red as he charged, his snarl showing murderous, ugly teeth lining his mouth beside the two enormous, curved tusks which had been made more lethal with the addition of sick, jagged blades protruding forwards for many feet. The gigantic demon, well over two hundred feet tall, was clearly a Lord of Hell: he shrugged off the bullets coming from the circles of soldiers of the XXX Legion like they were paper balls, and he was able to snuff out the flames to charge across the wall of fire, but as he rammed his heavy sword-maces into Killer's ankle, he was knocked backwards, his weapons recoiling violently and almost snapping his fingers off.

Killer looked down between his feet with a dark grin, before lifting a huge foot with a snort: the demon lord still refused to retreat: it clearly was a personification of Wrath, terribly powerful but basically incapable to think or even realize when he was outclassed. Killer simply stepped on him like he would on a bug, squishing the massive demon like so much as a fly, as the organs and guts of the elephant burst out of his crushed torso, before Killer lashed out a turning kick which tore a deep crescent-shaped canyon into the land, crushing hundreds of demons into the ground and sending many more sprawling like pins, knocked thousands of feet into the air like plastic toy soldiers slapped off a table.

The gigantic male laughed cruelly at that, liking his lips as his eyes glowed a bright, murderous sapphire, his hand rising and pointing towards the beach in the distance as he sent a blast of dark energy exploding forth: it washed over the battlefield with fearsome power, annihilating lines of charging enemies as well as those who were flying, and pushing past, devouring even the ruins of the Wall, blasting through the wastelands and tearing a deep canyon into the beach as well, vaporizing everything it smashed into and finally rushing into the Middle Sea itself, arousing the rise of a miles-tall wave which rippled across the whole ocean, tearing apart some of the massive worm-like creatures that kept climbing up from the depths to drop more and more demons on the coast. Others were slammed ashore, crushed on the cliffs and thrown far inland, where they struggled to move and to breathe, soon trashing in agony, letting out high-pitched cries of anguish.

The angels looked on in awe as Killer stepped over a thick group of Scavengers, squishing them into mush, before he whipped another line of charging demons into pieces with a lazy slash of his tail, just as he slammed his immense fist down atop a massive demon lord, an undead centaur which tried to run away but ended up snuffed out of existence... but before they could cheer on, mages and even Scribes and other demon lords surged forwards, scattered over the battlefield but working in collaboration as they chanted powerful, ancient spells, while hordes of lesser demons and undead charged at Killer relentlessly, to keep him busy. They were annihilated in swathes of thousands, but the mages of Hell kept using their dark arts to use every bone, every rock, every abandoned weapon and corpse on the battlefield into a new, mindless warrior, a new undead, a new Construct animated by magic and Corruption.

Killer, who was high on the wings of his perceived omnipotence, didn't immediately notice. He realized the seriousness of the problem when a massive chain bursting with dark fire shot up from the ground and wrapped around his wrist, burning into his flesh and clawing into his nervous system, denying him the control of his hand and quickly beginning to drain his fearsome physical strength. The immense male hissed in agony and shock, eyes darting to the side as another chain twisted out of the ground and up one of his legs, before he saw the flow of energies coming up from the Scribes, Scholars, mages and demon lords who were trying to Seal him to drain all his power away.

"Not... so... fast..." Killer snarled, arching his back with a roar as he pulled his arm violently up, the chain straining to hold him as the Scribes were dragged onto the ground and stuttered in their chanting, some of them groaning in agony as they were dragged for a hundred feet across the battlefield. More mages were called forth, but Killer's growth resumed, and in a moment he had doubled his height again, overcoming the ten thousand feet and bulging with bulky, powerful muscle, his body emanating fearsome, immeasurable power, his physical strength simply out of scale. The demons trembled in terror even as another chain wrapped around Killer's other arm, and the massive lords of Hell roared triumphantly, redoubling their efforts as more and more chains ripped out of the ground to wrap now around Killer's enormous biceps, and around his broad, masculine chest.

The Scribes were wiser than the lustful, prideful lords of Hell. The ancient creatures, which had ruled the workings of Hell from the very first moments of Creation, knew that the chains weren't enough at all. They trembled hard, probably for the first time in all of their Eons-long lives. They chanted harder, faster, but they stuttered again, missing a breath as they saw Killer move a step forwards, huge golden bull horns crowning his head, his mane flowing like it was alive and made of fire, his body speaking of unstoppable physical power as he all but grew a few thousand feet more, even as the chains wrapped around him glowed with the energy they drained away from him.

"It is not enough, it is not enough! Get more mages!" A Scribe ordered, but there was no time: Killer grinned down at them and pulled hard back on the chains, laughing cruelly as he jerked the Scribes and demon lords and spellcasters off their feet, knocking them all flying and dragging them hard into the ground, again and again, forcing them to smash their faces into the dirt, over and over.

As Killer pulled back on the chains, several of them snapped apart, the links exploding outwards and raining on the battlefield like flaming comets which exploded in massive balls of orange, dirty fire at each impact, sending demons and even Scribes bursting into pieces. The massive liger crushed other demon lords underfoot like they were nothing more than dust, and he laughed as massive, barbed tentacle-cocks jutting with deadly bone spikes stretched up from his back, shooting downwards to wrap around mages and demons and Scribes, crushing them all until they burst apart in thick red splatters.

All the Seals snapped apart, leaving behind smoldering scars which, however, would soon have been regenerated, while the paw-shaped footprints on the battlefield and the ugly red stains on the sole of Killer's feet marked the undignified ends of many of Hell's soldiers, but even of many of the most dangerous demon lords and even of a large number of mysterious, feared Scribes. The remaining Masters of the workings of Hell, seeing the disaster, vanished from the spot, teleporting away and leaving behind only faint puffs of bone-dust.

Killer had no time to cheer for his victory, as a terrifying howl went up from the nearest Cetus, the one he had been charging towards before becoming mired in support to the Thirtieth Legion. Now that Killer stood over four kilometers tall, the Cetus was more interested than ever in him: the gigantic monstrosity ignored the tiny angels it had been whipping out, and charged towards the immense liger, opening its circular, fangs-filled maw and erupting a huge beam of greenish, disgusting chemical fire.

Killer first felt it coming, then smelled it, grimacing at the horrendous stench, and then saw it as he turned on the spot, his hand shooting up over his shoulder to grab Wyvern's handle, quickly drawing out the massive sword and swinging it in front of himself in the same powerful, swift movement. The glowing, crimson blade cut down into the green flame, breaking the solid beam into motes of energy that mostly washed past Killer on the two sides, before the liger leaned into the blow and charged forth, sending a crescent shaped blade of pure energy shooting into the Cetus's ugly muzzle.

It cracked the monster's head in half, chopping off some of the segmented tentacles grouped around the huge mouth of the bug-like creature. The maw itself was torn apart diagonally, and two of the monstrosity's eyes burst into thick splatters of gore as the Cetus howled in fury and agony, but relentlessly advanced, its massive bug-legs shattering and squishing friend and foe alike as it charged.

Even now, standing at least fourteen thousand feet tall, Killer was dwarfed by the monstrous creature: he was tall enough to watch the Cetus in the eyes, but the monster was miles long, and made even more impressive by the scorpion tail arched over his back, which added many miles of height to the gigantic shape. Perhaps scarier of all, though, were the monstrous, gigantic nippers of the monster, which had the cutting parts lined with glowing, sharp crystals and building-sized diamond formations which could tear their way across anything.

As he charged forwards, Killer suddenly spotted enormous briers had sprouted from the arid wasteland, forming an impassable tangle of poised thorns that stretched over miles, closing the massive breaches that had been smashed in the Wall. Mages and demons were trying to break their way through, but the thorny shrubs were alive and ferocious: they kept growing and expanding, slithering over the ground like snakes and wrapping around every demon they touched, strangling even the strongest of lords into deadly embraces of spikes and venom. Even fire seemed unable to eat into the terrifying forest.

It could only be Gaia's power at work, Killer thought as he ducked under a massive pincer, which snapped in the air where his head had been until a second earlier, before he swung Wyvern with a grunt straight down into the opening of the other claw, snarling as he was slammed backwards by the might of the monster, sparks going up from the divine blade as it bit into even the thick diamonds and crystals, sending slivers as big as cars and trucks hailing down on the battlefield.

The Cetus howled in his face, vomiting a poisonous mist that made Killer's eyes burn and fill with tears, his very skin feeling like it would burn, just as the nippers swung forwards again from the two sides. The liger was almost blind, his eyelids closing in an attempt to find some relief, but his senses where honed by years spent on the most diverse battlefields, and Wyvern swung upwards in the right moment, the flat of the blade ramming into the underside of the claw coming from the right, slamming it backwards just as Killer balled his left hand in a fist, three massive golden spike-blades ripping out of the top of his wrist as he lashed an upper-cut straight up into the top half of the nipper coming from the left. The Cetus snarled in pain and surprise as the three blades cracked the hard, black exoskeleton and sunk deep into the soft flesh beyond, but the monster nonetheless lunged forwards to devour Killer, acid drool and blood leaking from its maw.

The massive male liger only snarled back, his eyes burning with power as he hammered the monster's face with a blast of psychic force, knocking hundreds of teeth loose, crumpling the cruel tentacles around the circular mouth and denting the monster's skull inwards, just as he swung Wyvern again, lightning fast, aiming for the joint between the nipper and the strong arm supporting it. The blade bit deep through the exoskeleton and into the flesh, and the Cetus howled in fury, reaching forwards hungrily and biting at the air as the remaining tentacles shot towards Killer, clawing into him to try and drag him towards a terrible death.

Killer snarled in pain as the cruel hooks on the segmented tentacles sunk into his chest and clawed into his arms, but he grinned even through the pain as he sent his energies flooding down the appendages, which burst into fire and burned into ashes, just as the liger's own tentacles stretched up from his muscular back, shooting forwards and piercing through the Cetus's eyes, making the monster howl in anguish and trash violently on the spot, stinging forwards blindly with its enormous scorpion tail.

Killer side-stepped the first attack, wincing as the immense poisoned stinger sunk deep into the battlefield, ripping open a huge, deep crater which swiftly filled up with acid venom, before the liger sent four more thick, strong tentacles wrapping around the base of the Cetus's tail. The huge male roared as he wrestled the monster backwards with his fearsome physical might, just as his tentacles pulled on the scorpion tail to try and tear it right off... but then his eyes widened in surprise and horror as thousands of black shadows scrambled down the broad back of the Cetus and charged at him.

In an instant, he was submerged and knocked on his back, as thousands of Cetus "babies" swarmed over him, stinging and clawing and biting furiously at every inch of his body that they could reach, making him snarl in pain and disgust, as he made his body incandescent and swung his arms out, smashing Wyvern and his fists through countless of the creatures, sending others scattering over a wide area as he shrugged them off.

Of all disgusting things I've seen and experienced... Killer bitterly thought, as hundreds of the beasts were burned into ashes and greenish pulp, as the huge male spread his wings with a flash of flames and golden energy, shooting up and out of the tangle of bug-bodies.

He looked upwards with a snarl as the Cetus, who now also happened to be a very angry mom, leaned forwards with a furious roar and slammed forwards its scorpion tail again, but as he flapped his wings to shot away from the threat, he saw Gaia diving down from the sky, shooting green tentacles bursting with thorns to send them wrapping tightly around the monster's tail.

He grinned, rising a thumb to her as she wrestled valiantly, showing her own tremendous strength as she single-handedly held back the scorpion tail, the goddess rising the other hand to conjure a sphere of swirling, deep blue water which she rose above her head... before it formed in a laser-beam made of water, which shot forth and right through the Cetus's tail, chopping it right off.

The goddess growled, twisting on the spot and pulling on her thorn-ridden ropes to send the bleeding, torn-off tail flying through the air for over two miles, before it smashed heavily down on the beaches crowded with demons, crushing many under its miles-long mass.

Gaia then dropped down from the sky with a snarling grin, smashing her bare feet down on the Cetus's skull: she had grown herself, letting out some of her real power. She was miles tall, and her body looked stronger, more toned, more powerful, although she was still lithe and feminine. Her claws had lengthened, and they glowed with the power of magma, while her eyes glowed a cold, merciless white. The expression on her beautiful features was one of cruel amusement, and Killer stared at her in surprise: in combat, she was showing a new aspect of her nature, so different from the shy, quiet and loving Gaia that he knew best. The goddess most clearly enjoyed a good fight, once she got into it... for the first time, Killer saw the battle and blood lust on Gaia's features. It was surprising, yet kind of expected: she was Nature, after all, and Nature is both a loving mother and a merciless destroyer, depending on the moment. Killer had never really thought of Gaia in that way before... he had only ever seen her loving, shy side. But now, now he was starting to see more of her personality.

And, truth be told, he liked what he saw. It made the goddess even more interesting... and even more precious to have alongside, as she clearly was among the most powerful of all beings. The battle-lust in her grin and in the glow of her eyes was something completely new, but Killer found it nothing short of delicious, even as he roared and seized the handle of Wyvern with both hands, showing the sword downwards with all his tremendous strength, until the glowing blade chopped right through the Cetus's arm, the gigantic nipper crashing on the ground below with enough violence to send a rippling shockwave ravaging over the region, a earthquake rattling the whole First Sky.

The Cetus howled in pain and rage, arching its back and trashing violently to try and shake Gaia off its crumpled skull as it swung the remaining, massive claw upwards, snapping it viciously towards the leopardess, but the feline divinity elegantly leapt up onto it, grinning as she sprinted down the segmented, spiked arm of the monster as a long, massive cleaver-sword appeared in her hand. She swung it in a circle at her side, loading the blow, and Killer saw the blade, half of fire and half of water, held together by a spine of swirling, violent wind coming from an handle of diamond, before the cutting edge slashed down into the shoulder of the Cetus and chopped its arm right off.

She let her sword carry on, moving through the air in a perfect crescent-shaped slash, bringing the sword back to her shoulders and chopping in half three of the baby-monsters which had leapt up to assault her, before her weapon dissolved, re-absorbed into her body, and she turned instead, her eyes flashing as she looked down at the horde of newborn monstrosities.

Killer stared as the ground cracked apart, many square miles of battlefield crumbling under her gaze as crimson, hot light shone through the cracks... before the land sunk into incandescent magma and melted down, dark smoke rising in columns as a gigantic volcanic cauldron tore its way onto the earth, hungrily swallowing the bug monstrosities and consuming them all into dark spots of fetid, greenish goo.

Hundreds more of the disgusting beasts had already leapt high into the air, showing a tremendous agility as they launched themselves at Killer, but the huge male only grinned as he easily repelled them with a blast of psychic force which sent them crashing like meteors right into the magma.

Gaia easily dispatched those who had leapt at her, as vicious hurricane winds roared out from her long, water-like hair, slapping the monstrosities off the sky as pushed her hands outwards and easily enlarged the volcano, more of the solid rock and desert ground beneath cracking into dust and collapsing into a burning lake of magma. Killer felt his feet sink as well, and he worried for a brief moment, before remembering that he had the control of fire, and feeling that to him the lake of magma felt little more than a warm foot bath. He grinned as he seized the top and bottom maws of the monster as it lunged at him, his immense bicep bulging with power as he slammed the Cetus backwards and then tore outwards, cracking the beast's skull in half like it was a twig, ripping out two large portions of the creature's jaws and throwing them away with a snort of contempt.

The monster vomited forwards a new beam of acid energy, and Killer sidestepped with a grunt, wincing as the beam shot for miles over the battlefield and tore a scar into the ground, annihilating everything it touched, making no difference between friend and foe, before he smashed down a fist into the top of the beast's head, knocking its mouth closed as the Cetus collapsed on its belly with a howl of agony, just as the ground vanished from beneath it and turned into the largest of volcanoes.

The monstrosity trashed and bucked violently, howling in despair, clawing and kicking and trying to scamper away as its underbelly began to melt down, its body burning and turning into goo as the exoskeleton was consumed, but Killer mercilessly forced the gigantic monster down, his immense strength leaving the Cetus no hope... but the monster refused to die, still blindly sending beams of devastating energy exploding across the battlefield.

Killer snarled in rage and slammed his fist down on the head of the Cetus, hard, powerfully, once, twice, thrice, shattering the exoskeleton, squishing the fleshy insides to pulp and finally smashing the armored sphere containing the vital organs, as Gaia looked on in with interest.

"He's got two more of these, somewhere in the middle section of the body and then at the base of the tail." Killer snarled, pulling his fist back out and ripping and tearing out every weird, vulnerable organ he felt inside the shattered bone cage. "I'll keep this fucker still, you take them off."

"Sure thing." Gaia replied easily, leaping high into the sky and holding her hands up, once more conjuring a swirling sphere of raging ocean above her head... before a beam of water shot forth like a laser and cut deep into the Cetus, slicing it in half from the bleeding wound that Killer had smashed into it all the way down to the base of the tail. On the way, it cut through the back-up organs of the disgusting creature, and as the Cetus flopped down into the magma, ripped in two perfect halves, all life finally left the devastated corpse.

"Come on, let's take down the next one." Gaia urged, and Killer flapped his wings once to shot high in the air, following her towards another gigantic Cetus which had advanced deep into the Meadows: it had smashed through Heaven's lines, pulverized a section of many miles of the Wall, and pushed deep into Paradise's territory, annihilating the angels in front of itself: even now it was crushing and burning and destroying every stronghold of the wounded, terrified angels, who fired all their weapons but obtained no results at all. The field was ravaged by long, smoldering canyons and scars into the ground, with enormous craters left by the Cetus's legs and scorpion-tail stings, and remains of devastated corpses of countless angels littered the whole area. Entire divisions had dissolved, and there seemed no way for the soldiers of Heaven to come out alive from the unfair confrontation, especially as hordes of demons advanced behind the immense, unstoppable bug.

Killer and Gaia traded a gaze, and Killer nodded before shooting out to the left side, grinning slightly even as Black Killer commanded in his mind: You still think like a mortal. You have more power than you understand. Don't think about things so damn much. Just do them.

It was an unwanted intervention, an annoying voice that Killer ignored... but the message was the same that Gaia's eyes had just passed on to him. He had sized up, he had upped his game... yet, he had not. He wasn't really using his abilities, despite having let them come to the surface. I'm still playing to rules that are no longer valid, for me.

He looked down at the Cetus just as the monster looked up, roaring in fury and blasting beams of deadly, crackling energy from the mouth and from several large blowholes which opened on its armored back. Apparently, the Cetus monsters could be very different from one another, and sport different capabilities... but Killer no longer really cared. He only hoped the vital organs would be in the same places. The rest didn't really worry him anymore, as he flexed his muscular body and then lashed out his arm, slapping the beams of energy back towards the earth like they were no more than streamers... before he roared as massive, strong tentacles ripped out of his muscular back, arched above his head, and shot down towards the monstrosity beneath.

The powerful appendages wrapped around each of the monster's legs, and four more wrapped around the dangerous, massive scorpion-tail, before Killer laughed as he used his tentacles to pull the legs of the Cetus out from under its body, immobilizing it and lifting the gigantic monster high into the air, like it weighted nothing. He grinned mercilessly, his tentacles whipping hard outwards and tearing off all the limbs of the monster, ripping off its tail, and then wrapping around its middle section, strangling its body with such tremendous power that the thick exoskeleton cracked loudly, large openings appearing in it... Gaia took aim with her water-cannon, but Killer held up a finger to stop her for one second, as he hurled the gigantic monstrosity down into the column of demons which had been marching behind it. The forces of Hell scattered in panic, but those who weren't smart enough to use portals to get away quickly had no hope to run fast enough to get out from under the miles-wide ominous shadow.

Gaia grinned as she watched, the huge male using his monstrous strength to smash the mountains-dwarfing monstrosity down on the demonic armada, annihilating thousands of enemies without apparent effort... before Killer pulled the powerless, struggling Cetus high up into the air again, holding it prisoner and motionless before her. The goddess coldly pointed her finger, three times, and three beams of furious, unstoppable high pressure water shot through the monster like they would through paper, blasting the vital organ-packs into gore as the Cetus gave one last, deafening shriek of anguish.

Killer and Gaia didn't wait a second, though, charging down the battlefield towards the other gigantic monsters, and they annihilated every demon on the way there, driving the divisions of Hell into a messy retreat towards the beaches, their lines broken and thinned, corpses scattered all over the Meadows and the Wastelands.

The tremendous power of the two gods was like Judgment day for the demonic armada: no weapon and no armor stood up to their blows, and now even the Cetus monstrosities began to fall one after the other. Killer smashed one of them into bits with the strength of his muscles, Gaia destroyed another shooting through it with volcano eruptions aimed at its vital points, and Killer laughed as he laid waste to a whole army of demons, before tearing another Cetus in half with his bare hands.

Despite the fall of the Wall, despite the swarming hordes of demons which had already ventured deep into the First Sky, trying to form a wall in front of the retreating, exhausted angels, it now looked like Heaven would win. From East to West, the fearsome power of Killer, Alexis, Gaia, Adrasthea, Alcana, Vesta, Ira, Manticora, Gabriel and even Taranis and Lemuel was driving back and destroying the enemy. With the Cetus monsters slaughtered and crushed out of existence, the hordes of Hell were exposed to the full might and attention of the gods, and that went beyond the capabilities of even the mightiest of lords of Hell.

On the Meadows, William had joined Diana and Vicky at the lead of the tired but determined forces of Heaven trying to break out of the encirclement formed by Hell's army, and they had been reached by Taurus, as well, the powerful ancestor of Killer, who added a lot of weight to Heaven's punch in the first line. Victory felt within hand's reach, even as more demons swarmed over the beaches.

Killer, from the height of his immense, imposing body, looked over the ruined, devastated Meadows, his eyes scanning the lines of angels who were fighting to break out of the pocket... even from the distance, he could guess the position of Diana, who was fighting in front of the others, supported by William and, although Killer couldn't know it, by Taurus. He thought about charging in that direction to help them deliver the final shove... but he quickly abandoned the idea, knowing full well that he'd better stop the constant flow of new troops landing on the beaches of the Middle Sea.

He advanced towards the coast, snarling as he squished whole platoons of demons under his massive toes, as dark, deadly fire spread from his body, raining over the battlefield, flooding over the wastelands, burning the enemies into ashes, even as Hell's mages struggled to put off the flames, trying all their most powerful spells, obtaining no results.

Killer growled as another of the gigantic worm-monsters emerged from the non-waters of the Middle Sea, the beast mindlessly driving towards the shore to deploy its belly-load of demons, and he charged forwards, grabbing the creature in his enormous hands. It writhed in pain, rage and shock, clawing uselessly at his wrists, but the huge male was merciless, crushing the enormous monstrosity into pulp, along with most of the demons hidden inside. Those who survived fell out of the bursting body, crashing into the ground miles beneath, splashing into the non-waters, or, the lucky ones, flying away in terror.

Gaia snorted as she tried to get the Middle Sea to listen to her, but the ocean in front of them wasn't a real sea: it was a world, a hostile, weird dimension made of an element which wasn't water nor gas. It didn't respond very well to Gaia's powers... but the goddess remedied, sending a violent tempest ravaging the sky over the ocean, with daggers of ice as big as cars raining viciously down from the clouds, shooting through bodies and water, tearing holes in everything they hit, as dark blood stains bubbled to the surface, before corpses torn into shreds of ruined flesh began to emerge.

Killer looked at this with a grin of merciless satisfaction, but it lasted only for a brief moment, as a new, tremendous energy suddenly overwhelmed his senses. A new, mighty being had arrived, and the power it radiated was unbelievable. It sent a shiver down Killer's spine, and Gaia clearly felt it too, as she gazed sideways at him and muttered: "We have a very serious problem."

A dark portal had opened, high in the sky above them all, and a new warrior had entered the scene... and, confident in its beyond-supernatural power, the newcomer's first message was a loud laughter, which echoed like thunder over the whole of the First Sky.

"What a spectacular display of power, Lord Killer...! I told them that their plan wouldn't work against you, but they didn't want to believe me until they saw you in action with their eyes." The newcomer shouted, her voice powerful and unfazed by the distance, by the atmosphere, by even the noise of the ongoing battle: it sounded loud above everything else, and it made everyone wince in pain as it felt like she was howling directly into their brains.

This voice... Killer thought, looking upwards to see the distant shape of the mysterious warrior. She was less than twenty feet tall, but the power she radiated was fearsome. Around her, the dark, supernatural clouds that had overshadowed the battlefield from the very first hour of the battle, had begun to slowly swirl, forming a clear eye around her form, as the sky turned into a spiral of black and crimson, dark bolts of lightning crackling loudly as they discharged unimaginable energy in every direction.

The battle grinded to a stop as every head turned towards the terrifying spectacle, and Manticora swallowed tickly, her lips unveiling her gritted teeth as she repressed a shiver and thought: Here she is... she is the psychic who destroyed whole divisions in the past... and she is stronger than ever.

"If you guys don't mind..." The female teased, touching her chest with one hand as she bowed slightly to Killer. "... I will give you a little hint of my own power."

She straightened, and a shockwave of sheer force rippled through the sky in waves, as the mighty female's eyes flashed with cruel glee and with fearsome power as she looked down over the battlefield, Reality trembling around her slender, toned body as the clouds swirled faster overhead, immense bolts of lightning smashing down into the earth with terrible violence, sending discharges of massive power burning the ground into black, dead coal. Demons and angels alike were annihilated without mercy, but the demoness only grinned, and then burst into laughter as a massive hurricane became to revolve around her, the winds replaced by pure, tremendous psychic force.

Killer winced, repressing a violent shiver as he folded his wings over his chest, protecting himself from the terrible tempest, feeling electricity crackling along his body and even straight into his nervous system, sending jolts of agony bursting in his body as he struggled to retain the control over his own limbs and mind, looking out past his wings as the monstrous force swept over the Middle Sea, sucking upwards the non-water and forming a deadly vortex that slammed the monsters of the depths back and forth, ramming them against each other, tearing them apart like dolls, throwing their pieces onto the beaches, as the fearsome newcomer tore apart her fellow demons without a second thought.

Killer and Gaia traded a gaze and then shot towards the demoness, but they soon rammed into an invisible, impenetrable barrier that knocked both of them backwards, making both groan in agony as dark lightning crackled over their bodies, burning black scars into their flesh. The storm around them grew even larger, expanding over the coast and ramming into the breached, but still imposing Wall: the tremendous force of the creature dragged everything up from the battlefield, from wrecks to corpses. Killer stared in disbelief as the gigantic wrecks of the Land Battleships of Hell were effortlessly lifted high into the sky, where the tremendous psychic force crushed them like tin cans, bent them out of shape, and eventually tore them into gigantic, heavy shreds of meters-thick metal.

The even larger Cetus monsters, both dead and alive, were dragged into the apocalyptic winds, and even the nearly-invulnerable beasts were battered back and forth, squished in absurd, grotesque shapes and then ripped apart.

The hurricane swept the whole battlefield, leveled the rocky ridges, crumbled the cliffs, and it blew the Wall into dust and fragments, as even the most imposing of fortified bastions were shattered and uprooted from the ground, leaving Killer to snarl in shock at the sight of one of the immense towers being dragged up to the clouds, as stone blocks bigger than trucks were slapped downwards by the swirling, lethal winds, sending them crashing like meteors into the ground and the troops of both sides.

"How do we stop her...?" Killer asked, to no one in particular, staring as the sky turned red as the corpses and the warriors of both Hell and Heaven that had been washed up into the hurricane simply exploded into clouds of blood and gore, even the Cetus monsters, at least a dozen more of them still alive, were crushed and ripped into pieces, their howls dying down quickly. Towers, miles-long sections of the Wall, the land battleships of Hell, and so many more debris and vehicles and weapons all circled around the grinning demoness... before she made a shoving gesture, laughing cruelly, and caused the winds to stop, before they inverted their flow and propelled everything downwards with terrifying power. Killer and Gaia stared in horror as the First Sky was devastated in front of their eyes, as the enormous debris were hammered down into the ground again and again and again, tearing fearsome craters and scars and canyons into the ground as whatever unfortunate soul in the area was annihilated, either blown into gore by the sheer psychic force or crushed out of existence by the hammering coming from above. It seemed unstoppable, as it smashed relentlessly down into the two battling armies, erasing whole divisions in the space of a few instants.

No one would have survived, wasn't it for Killer, Gaia and the others: despite their shock and fear in front of such fearsome display, the gods and mightiest warriors had took position and formed protective barriers around the thickest groups of friends they could find: Alexis, almost as tall as Killer, stood over Diana and her small army of angels, protecting them as best she could. Killer and Gaia were in the first line, trying to shield the XXX Legion from the worst of the supernatural, divine bombardment. Adrasthea, Alcana, Taranis and Lemuel had grown up as well, and they now towered over other areas of the battlefield, their faces contorted by pain and fatigue as they pumped their energies into vast barriers against which the might of the psychic hurricane lashed out without mercy.

The battle, down below between the feet of the gods, had virtually stopped, as angels and demons alike cowered in terror, looking up at their defenders, eyes darting towards each enormous impact as the "comets" rammed into the semi-transparent shields of energy. Adrasthea and Taranis, enormous and covered in thick, full plate armor, also had their gigantic shields, held up above their heads as they shielded the remains of Heaven's army from that incredible apocalypse.

Killer felt his arms throb with pain, recoiling backwards with each massive blow that was slammed savagely down into the barrier of energy he held up. Even his massive, stone-hard biceps trembled and spasmed with the vicious shocks, his eyes darting from side to side as gigantic Land Battleships were used like hammers, the immense machines maneuvered without apparent effort by the powerful demoness.

One Cetus, still partially alive even if nearly torn into pieces by deep, bleeding wounds which looked like crude canyons ripped in its form, was rammed straight down towards Killer, and the liger snarled in a mix of rage and shock as the monster crashed against the barrier, straight in front of his eyes.

Greenish blood exploded over the domed barrier, leaking down the transparent wall of energy, as thousands of demons and angels were slammed against it, their bodies, tiny in comparison with Killer or the Cetus, splattered into small burst of gore. It was probably the scarier thing Killer had ever seen, and it only got worse as four angels and a few demons, down between his feet, lost their minds to the panic and began to run, trying to escape the tremendous bombardment: in so doing, they only stepped into the thick of it, as they charged out of the barrier.

Killer made a grimace of horror as the gigantic wreck of what had once been a Land Battleship immediately came crashing down over the unfortunates, slamming into the ground like a meteor and annihilating them completely. The huge male felt the ground crack and shift in huge plates under his feet as the massive wreck was dragged back out of the deep crater it had sunk into, even as three more rammed into the barrier, cracks spreading into the wall of energy as his arms painfully recoiled, his fangs gritting as a groan of agony escaped his throat, before he roared in rage and challenge, gathering his energies and blasting them forwards into the barrier.

The cracks immediately healed, but immediately after, the barrier solidified and then exploded outwards, bursting into triangular fragments as sharp as razors, which shot at the demoness, while Killer's muscular back burst forth with thick, powerful tentacles, two rows of thick appendages stretching out from the sides of his spine and arching in the air to wrap around the massive projectiles slammed back and forth by the hurricane.

The angels on the ground stared in terror and awe, unable to do much to aid any of the parts in the new battle, which was far bigger than them, far beyond their possibilities. Demons and angels alike howled in terror when the barrier held up by Killer disintegrated in front of their eyes, and the gigantic towers, vehicles and monsters carried by the hurricane hailed down towards them. Killer's tentacles ran after each oversized projectile, however, and before they could strike, they wrapped around them, as the huge male seized the wrecked Land Battleship in his hand and pulled it high into the air, like it was nothing but a pebble.

The huge male arched his back, leaning forwards into the throw as he hurled everything back towards the demoness, who coldly waited in place, hovering high into the sky. She merely grinned, her eyes glowing with incredible power: a shockwave of psychic force blasted forwards, crashing into Killer and knocking him backwards, while the Cetus monsters suspended in the hurricane simply exploded into clouds of blood and gore while towers, whole buildings, cliffs and rocks and wrecks were stopped in midair with barely a gaze, before they were shot back down against Killer.

"You'll have to do much, much better than that, Lord Killer!" The demoness teased, laughing as she propelled her "bullets" forwards with immeasurable force, the metal melting down to form hypersonic, miles-wide penetrators which would cut through any armor, any mountain, any barrier...

"This is a game that can be played by two, bitch." Alexis coldly spat, the ligeress stepping forwards with a flex of her immense, powerful musculature, her eyes turned into two burning pits of sapphire light, flames of power blazing in them as three pairs of mighty, huge bull horns arched up from her head, crowning her and giving her an even more imposing look as her golden hair floated and moved silently, like fire, her tail jutting with deadly spikes turning it into a mortal, godlike mace as the tuft of golden fur at its end turned into divine fire.

The power radiating off her was fearsome as well. Her body burned with energy, and her simple step cracked the ground apart as waves of her force made the sky ripple violently, reality trembling in her presence. She made a lazy slapping gesture as she stepped through her own barrier, the armies of Heaven and Hell cowering in the shadow of her sole, scattering over the battlefield not to be squished by the mighty goddess. Still, dozens were annihilated as she walked forth, her own psychic force slapping off to the side every massive object shooting at her, sending them burning into nothing but dark smoke as she held up a hand and focused on the long spears of hypersonic molten metal.

Killer, Gaia, Adrasthea, Lemuel, Taranis, Alcana, they all stared in shock as Alexis's immense power flooded the atmosphere, and rammed into the demones's one. The clash rattled the Heavens like they were leaves, as enormous bolts of crackling electricity arched from the point of impact, Reality itself rippling violently in front of their eyes and nearly tearing apart. The darts of metal were compressed, bent out of shape by the two conflicting forces, then they burst into a thin veil of dust particles, before even these were snuffed away into nothingness as Alexis snarled and her huge bicep flexed, bulging with power.

The demoness, however, resisted, hovering in midair effortlessly and holding her arms crossed on her chest as she wrestled Alexis with terrible ease, even though the ligeress was showing a power than Killer was barely able to accept and believe possible.

Alexis roared in rage and exertion as she leaned into the attack, adding her monstrous physical power to her psychic force, and the demoness was knocked backwards slightly... but a massive explosion followed, which tore the sky apart, as the two immense forces broke contact, Alexis groaning and bringing a hand up to her forehead, grimacing in pain and shock as she stumbled a bit, tears of blood rolling down her cheeks.

Gaia charged forwards immediately as the demoness was slammed backwards through the sky, the goddess of Nature holding her hands up as the most violent of winds rushed into her palms, before she pushed them together, snarling as they began to swirl and merge violently, turning into a gigantic, devastating cyclone.

It slammed into the demoness with vicious hunger, sucking her inside, where the almost-solid winds were colored of crimson by the tremendous discharges of lightning bolts ravaging the eye of the tempest. Gaia pushed her hands one against the other, and the cyclone was compressed as if it physically was between her palms: as it became shorter, it expanded in girth and the winds increased their speed and power, the hurricane strong enough to shatter the earth, dragging slabs of rock spanning several square miles high up into the air, crumbling them into gravel, even as the non-waters of the Middle Sea flooded into the new, immense bay just formed.

Gaia sent her cyclone towards the center of the Middle Sea, grinning viciously as even the non-waters of that cruel, alien Dimension began to spin around with the winds, forming a bit, a hole in the middle of the ocean, the alien liquid rising in vertical walls which reached the sky as the tornado sunk itself deep under the surface... and then, as Gaia closed her hands into fists, wind and non-waters solidified together to form a massive tower of bright, hard crystal.

"Now, hit her now...!" Gaia ordered, panting a bit even as she made a rising gesture with her hands, and immense spiked roots erupted from the ground behind her, greedily shooting towards the crystal structure.

Taranis balanced one massive, heavy spear over his shoulder, taking aim for the throw, while Alcana charged forwards with her massive halberd loaded for the strike, Adrasthea snarling as she aimed her large, circular shield, energy flooding into it and preparing to blast forwards in a massive discharge, while Lemuel lifted his massive war hammer over his head, lightning bolts crackling down from high above, to charge the large golden head of it with all the power of Light.

Alexis and Killer stepped forwards with enormous spheres of energy in their hands... but just as they all moved to attack, Gaia was slammed backwards with a howl of surprise and pain, while the tower of crystal first cracked and then exploded into a cloud of shiny dust.

"Despair, old gods, because I've risen far higher than you ever dared to dream." The demoness laughed, grinning widely as she emerged from the cloud, floating higher into the sky and looking down at them with dark amusement, even as Gaia glared at her and sent her green, venomous tentacles forwards: when they came close, the mysterious, powerful enemy easily slashed them into tiny fragments of wood with barely a thought. "I'm stronger than any god. I'm invulnerable and unstoppable. I'm the ultimate weapon... and I came to end this war and enslave Heaven, once and for all."

"You can eat me." Adrasthea snarled, her eyes glowing beneath the edge of her golden helmet as she adjusted her aim and sent a vortex of powerful energy erupting out of her shield, shooting forwards in a massive beam that cut through the sky, reaching for the enemy. The demoness in the distance made no effort to avoid the attack, only grinning as the searing heat wave preceding the full beam invested her... before she glared to the side, and Adrasthea grunted in shock, feeling a fearsome force shoving her sideways, while her beam of energy curved widely, swaying away from the target... and then diving towards Orion as the demoness looked down at the fortified island.

"No!" Adrasthea screamed, her eyes opening wide as she wrestled to get back in control of her own energies, her feet digging deep trenches into the ground as she anchored herself and pulled back with all her spectacular force, her bicep bulging explosively even as the thick straps of the heavy shield bit into even her impenetrable scales, cutting deep gashes in her forearm.

Killer looked to the side just in time, gaping as he realized what was happening, and he swiftly changed his target, throwing his sphere of condensed energy into the blue beam instead of against the demoness: the two tremendous forces connected an instant later, and an immense explosion tore the sky apart, the shockwave crumbling the tall cliffs around the Middle Sea, blowing the dark clouds off and causing the non-waters of the large ocean to rise in a succession of gargantuan waves that crashed over the beaches with terrible force, washing away everything they smashed into.

Adrasthea pointed her spear towards Orion just as she saw Killer coming to her aid: she moved the long weapon to draw an elegant curve in the air as she focused her energies into a transparent barrier that covered the distant island like an invisible dome, protecting it from the fearsome apocalypse that followed. The goddess was left to stare in shock at the sinister sight of Orion's towers illuminated by the dark-orange fire of the explosion.

The demoness laughed cruelly, hugging herself as she cackled in delirious amusement, even as Alexis threw her own sphere of sapphire energy against her: once more, the mysterious female made no attempt at all to dodge, and it vanished behind the blast of a new explosion which shone as brightly as the Sun, while sapphire lightning bolts crackled across the sky.

Immediately after, Taranis's huge spear shot through the middle of the inferno of fire and energy: the weapon turned into a laser of light that crossed the sky from north to south, connecting the two horizons... and it wasn't over, as Lemuel swung his massive golden hammer downwards, roaring as he dragged almost physically a massive spherical electrical bolt down from the highest sky.

Killer closed his eyes and covered his face with his arm, growling as the combined shockwaves all but pushed him violently backwards, even at his sizes, even at that distance: he tried to open one eye, slightly, but the supernatural, blazing light wrapping the world with that monstrous blast simply speared at his retina, forcing him to look away and shut his eyelids as tightly as he could. The heat on his skin was fearsome, even for him, who had walked into magma like it was warm water... There was no way anything would ever survive such a combined power, he thought.

And yet, he couldn't help but think at the fear he had heard in Gaia's voice when the mighty Goddess of Nature had called for the help of all the others to strike the enemy down: Gaia was incredibly powerful, and Killer knew all too well that no one had ever before been able to break out of a Crystal prison.

The demoness had, and she had scared even Gaia. There couldn't be a clearer warning nor a more impressive demonstration of power.

As the roar of the immense blast began to die down, Alcana stepped forwards with a snarl and slashed her massive halberd towards the sky, the blade of the heavy weapon forming multiple long daggers of crimson energy, which shot upwards into the dark, enormous cloud of smoke hovering high above. But Alcana could only stare in horror as seven small, floating shields emerged from the smoke, floating in a circle: each one swiftly moved to intercept one of the daggers, which all vanished into what looked like pitch-black mirrors in the middle of each object.

The shields spun on themselves violently for a brief moment, but then they turned towards the warriors of Heaven on the ground, each clearly aiming for a different target. Alexis had already seen in her mind the ghost images of what was about to happen, her precognition showing her the events to come, and she was swift in ordering: "Brace, they are coming back!"

And in fact, the daggers of crimson energy shot back out of the mirrors, as Alcana looked upwards in surprise and rage, before she sent the blades crashing to the ground at a safe distance with a smooth dismissive wave of her hand.

All eyes turned upwards, scanning the dark smoke that the wind was slowly blowing away, knowing that the battle wasn't over at all... but they all couldn't help but snarl in shock and fury as the demoness floated out of the dust and smoke, arms crossed, an arrogant grin on her features, as she looked down at them with contempt. "As I said, I'm well out of your league." The female teased, as Killer tried to look ever over with greater attention: her voice continued to sound familiar, but she was less than twenty feet tall, and floating high above: even his sharp eyes couldn't really identify much of her.

"If you had a little bit of brain, you'd know after this demonstration that I am invincible... but I'm sure you are all too stupid to accept it and surrender."

Alexis snarled in rage at that, closing her powerful fists tightly, even as two fine streaks of blood solidified on her cheeks, her head still pounding painfully. Her eyes burned with power and pride, however, and as she traded a gaze with Killer, they filled with anger, as well. That was the first time, in literally centuries, that Killer and Alexis were so close... and yet, they had almost no time to even look at each other, and appreciate the way they had both grown stronger, taller, more powerful and more beautiful than ever. They hadn't even had the chance to trade a hug, a word at all.

Alexis gave him a wink, fleeting but full of love and complicity, before she closed her beautiful sapphire eyes and, suddenly, she sized down, quickly getting back to her now normal height, just shy of the twenty foot mark.

It took Killer a second of surprise, before he reminded the lessons he had been given by Ira: even though he could now grow so tall he could squish hills under his foot didn't meant that doing it would always be the best course of action. Growing to huge sizes allowed him, and every demon, angel or divinity, to reveal the full extent of his power, sure, but at times, being so immense could be a problem, as it made it complex to fight against small, slender and extremely agile enemies such as the demoness. His vulnerabilities, besides, were also maximized: going all out meant putting in the field all the good and all the bad points. And that was what worried Killer the most: he had never been bigger and stronger than in that moment, or at least not while in full control of himself, and yet the demoness was showing a superior might, outclassing him and the other gods and goddesses around. That was a terrible thing to notice, especially since the demoness no doubt had her own Personification to unleash: there was no telling how big and powerful she could be in her complete, all-out form, considering how incredibly mighty she already was.

Nonetheless, Killer couldn't do anything other than agree with Alexis's decision: staying at full, mountain-dwarfing size was not going to be particularly helpful in that particular fight. It was better to size down... the trick, however, was doing it while retaining control of most of the power and abilities that came with superior physical proportions.

Ira, Vesta and Gaia, and Adrasthea to a degree, had trained him in such complex art, but it remained a complex exercise... and Killer would have certainly appreciated having more practice to draw lessons from.

Alexis, as always, showed to have no problems at all. Everything, done by her, looked easy and straightforward. She wasn't just impossibly powerful: she was also extremely smart and receptive. She learned everything very, very quickly, and her psychic and mental powers, which had been on a constant, exponential growth, had made her even more infallible.

So, even as she sized down, her power remained spectacular. Killer looked at her with love and admiration as she looked up at her enemy. She was now smaller than she had been a moment before, but she was just as imposing. Huge, proud bull horns made of burning gold arched high up from her head, crowning her and adding glory to the golden, flowing hair combed up in a Mohawk. Her eyes burned sapphire, her expression hidden by the pure, raw energy glowing through them. Killer smiled a bit to himself as he saw a black swirling flame tattoo drawn under Alexis's eye, on the style of the Seraphims. Her massive left bicep, bulging with power, sported the tattoo of barbed wire wrapping around her arm, as if to further underline her mighty and destructive capability. On the right shoulder, the gothic letters still formed the name Killer, proudly announcing who the goddess loved and served and looked up to... Her body was more spectacular than ever: she was taller, and her feminine curves and profile made her a sight capable to bring any male on his knees. And at the same time, she was muscular, more than ever. Her body spoke of incredible physical power, her arms bulging with mighty muscle, her abdominals rippling and proudly challenging the world, afraid of no rival. Her huge, firm breasts proudly stood on her chest, barely contained by a bra made of thick, sturdy black leather and polished steel. Similarly, she wore torn shorts of black leather, held up by a thick belt of steel rings, with a heavy clasp on the front, while her hands were covered by black fingerless gloves. Her long, muscular legs were both powerful and incredibly seductive: her powerful thighs, rippling with solid muscle, could have easily squeezed any male less well built than Killer until breaking point and beyond. Swirling black flames were tattooed in a circle wrapping around her right thigh. She could have scissored any male into two halves, using only her long, beautiful legs. She was wearing boots, as always: these ones had solid, cruelly-spiked soles of solid, polished steel, with high, sharp heels. They went up her leg almost as high up as the knee, with thick straps of black leather and steel wrapped tightly around her musculature. She was stunning, a sight to behold... and with the eternal flames at the end of her tail and the vein-like streaks of liquid gold and white-hot fire which shone every now and then through her forearms, she radiated pure power.

"I don't care who the fuck you are." Alexis coldly said, looking towards the demoness. "In the end, Killer and I will split-roast you, until we break you into tiny pieces."

The demoness lost her composure for a brief moment, snarling down at Alexis as rage suddenly enflamed her eyes, psychic wrath blasting into the ligeress and slamming her hard backwards... but Alexis had seen it coming, and she crossed her muscular arms in front of her face, grinning up at the enemy with a teasing, insolent grin, as she planted her boots into the ground and screeched to a stop, leaving two deep trenches scarring the ground.

"Playing tough, bitch...? I like that." Alexis teased, grinning even as she licked a fine rivulet of blood coming from her mouth.

Nearby, Gaia and Adrasthea and Alcana also shrunk back down to more normal dimensions, until they were standing around twenty feet tall, but each burning with almost as much power as when they had towered over the battlefield. Lemuel and Taranis, the second entirely wrapped in his thick, impenetrable black full-plate armor, stood a few steps away, massive at his height of just over thirty feet... and finally, Killer himself closed his eyes and focused, like Ira had taught him, to maintain his power unchained even as he shrunk his body back to his normal sizes.

When his eyes reopened, his expression was lost in pits of cold sapphire light, his mighty bull horns continued to tower over his head, and his forearms glowed with fire and magma seemingly flowing under his skin, making his huge, bulging musculature even more imposing. His bare feet, and the legs up to the knees, also glowed with liquid fire, and his spikes remained longer than usual, stronger, and golden. His mane continued to slowly move like fire, like it was alive, and two new, larger spikes, curved forwards, arched up from his back, framing his head with magnificence and adding to his figure.

"It's great to see that you actually do listen to me when I teach you." Ira said, smiling to him as she landed at his side, back to more normal sizes herself, and Manticora dropped down from the sky a moment later, on his other side, announcing clearly: "She is the psychic that I reported about. She's going to be a nightmare to fight..."

"Oh, you have no idea how much of a nightmare it will be..." The demoness softly said, grinning amusedly as she slowly dropped down from the sky, touching down in front of Killer. She was slightly shorter than the massive male, but she radiated such terrible power that Killer felt like he was the one forced to rise his head to look at her. "Tell me, Amon Ra, do you recognize me...?" The demoness teasingly asked, and Killer recoiled slightly as he looked over her.

She was a cobra, sporting a large hood which had been armored with dark steel, imbued with nano-machines which formed complex circuits glowing now and then with the electric pulses traveling down the various lines. She had a single, segmented blade-horn jutting up from the centre of her skull, just above the forehead, but the steel covering her hood also rose in two large shark-fins pointing backwards and tilting off to the sides. A mask of black steel also covered her features, ending in sharp, large teeth that protected her upper lip. Two massive sabertooth fangs framed her muzzle, and her eyes glowed a deep, dark crimson. A thick, massive collar of dark metal was wrapped tightly around her throat, and large precious stones, all of a lucid brimstone color, were inserted into the steel at regular intervals. Killer wondered for a moment on whether they were demonic crystal, but it was easy to see that it was something else, much more powerful and far more dangerous... and anyway, the demoness certainly was more than powerful enough to cast any spell she wanted, even in the middle of Heaven, without any need for crystals.

Her shoulders were covered by thick pauldrons shaped into the form of Sabertooth tiger skulls, with the eyes made up by further black stones.

Her massive, firm breasts were mostly bare, with only the large nipples covered by thick straps of black leather that formed a cross over her chest, connecting in the middle to a solid, heavy ring of dark steel. A further cross of thick straps wrapped over her torso, leaving her powerful, rippling abdominals and muscular back bare. She only wore a bikini bottom of black leather, which connected to other sturdy traps wrapped in a criss-crossing fashion over her thighs, but six large spiked tentacles of dark steel, coming out from the root of her tail, wrapped around her hips and came curving over her front, protecting her crotch and upper thighs, each one ending in a triangular snake head inserted with a large black stone. The tail itself was massive and heavy: it was made entirely of segmented sections of dark steel, jutting with cruel blades and spikes on the upper side, while the bottom showed a tight opening through which glowed a crimson light loaded with incredible energy. The huge tail, easily over sixteen feet long, ended in a series of thickly armored nano-machines which had the shape of vertebras. From these, crimson energy radiated outwards, forming an elongated spear tip flanked by two curved, massive axe blades, transforming the extremity of her tail in one devastating halberd. Her lower legs and forearms were both encased by thick full-plate armor segments made of black steel. Her hands were entirely covered by gauntlets which terminated each finger with a huge, cruel flexible talon, while curved blades jutted out of the armor all the way up to the elbow. Black stones were inserted in slots over the back of the hand, and at the height of the elbow. Spikes also formed a ridge down the back of her neck, all along her spine, and then down the middle of her mechanical tail.

Around her, in a semicircle, floated the seven shields that had so easily repealed Alcana's powerful attack.

Killer had never seen the slender but muscular, toned female before. Yet, he had.

He hesitated for a brief moment, then he murmured, full of disbelief: "Regina...?"

The cobra female looked at him silently for a few long moments, and then she snorted, her arrogant grin growing wider. "How nice of you, to remember the demoness that you raped into pieces and humiliated in front of a bunch of... mortals." She made a grimace, loading the last word with all the distaste she could express, before moving forwards slowly, her digitigrade feet caressing the ground without making a sound even as the long, sharp and curved talons bit deeply into the earth. Killer had no doubt that she was a demoness of Lust: an Incarnation, no less, and the way she elegantly, seductively moved, her hips dancing with every easy step, only added to his certainties.

She walked fearlessly forwards until she was just a step away from him, and she traced a cruel claw of black steel gently down his thick, powerful chest, looking up at him with lustful interest, even through the hate that burned in her eyes.

"I'm not Regina." She said calmly, even as Alcana stepped forwards with a snarl and swung her halberd up, aiming the thick, crimson blade to the demoness's throat. The cobra looked at this idly, without real interest, and Alcana grunted in shock as a massive blast of psychic force repelled the halberd and slammed the goddess forty feet backwards, knocking her on his back like she was all but a fly. Killer turned to look at the dragon goddess, gaping at the ease with which she had been knocked down, but the demoness only snorted and brought her finger up to his muzzle, forcing him to look into her eyes. "You are not too much off target, though... Regina was my sister."

"Sikanjal." Gaia coldly said, and the demoness nodded with a cold smile, even if her eyes kept staring into Killer's own, as the huge male faced her silently, looking down at her with coldness.

"That is my name. Sister and I used to rule the Hell of Lust... before you shamed Regina, humiliated her and killed her."

"He fucked her brains out and kept going until there were only splatters of gore left of her, actually." Alexis teased, grinning viciously. Killer was tempted to grin slightly himself at that sweet, bloody memory, but instead he only coldly replied: "She had morphed Glacial into a nightmare zone, and turned Argolis in her own sick, cruel kingdom, where she showed no respect at all for any life other than hers. She deserved the punishment."

"She behaved like the glorious demon queen that she was." Sikanjal hissed, before she glared at him, even though her hoarse voice caressed his strong body with a hot murmur: "At least, I'm sure she loved to get close and personal with a big boy like you... I'll keep you around myself. You'll make for a fantastic pet: you have the strength, the body, the cock to keep me entertained. And being a slave will be for you a worst punishment than death could ever be."

Killer only looked down at the demoness flatly, while Alexis bit her lower lip lightly, then burst into laughter in her face, shaking her head in amusement as Ira grinned and crossed her mighty arms, Gaia smiling softly and saying with calm, cold composure: "You are dreaming, Sikanjal... it'll never happen."

"We shall kill you, here and now." Taranis snarled, slamming the long, thick pole of his spear against his massive shield, Aegis, which shone brightly on impact as energy rippled over its finely chiseled surface, the eyes of Medusa glowing with cruel eagerness.

Sikanjal's eyes glowed with rage at that, but she calmed again immediately, only smiling teasingly up to Killer... before she seemed to vanish from the spot, leaving the huge male snarling and tensing into a ready position.

He leapt backwards and looked coldly around himself, before he sensed a change in the energies in the air, and turned to the right to see Sikanjal moving with lightning speed. It took him an instant to realize that what he saw wasn't really her... the female moved too fast to really be seen. He saw some sort of ghost image, a blur in the wind as Sikanjal charged straight at Taranis.

The God of War grinned gamely, his eyes pits of white energy as he shot forwards with equally unbelievable speed, azure lightning crackling down the length of the spear as he stabbed forwards, but Sikanjal effortlessly sidestepped, then leapt over the weapon as Taranis slashed it elegantly in a deadly horizontal cut. Sikanjal landed with her foot on the neck of the spear, grinning widely and lashing out a kick towards the god's face, but Aegis swiftly rose to meet the blow. Taranis grunted in pain as the divine shield was rattled like a leaf, the god himself recoiling a dozen feet backwards before his heavy steel boots managed to grip the ground and screech to a stop, but he swiftly spun the pole of the spear between his fingers and launched upwards, stabbing towards Sikanjal.

The demoness leapt higher into the air, laughing teasingly as she flipped backwards, unfazed even as Adrasthea leapt into the fight with a snarl, her own hybrid spear-sword glowing with energy as she slashed it through the air, sending daggers of lightning shooting against the Incarnation of Lust. Sikanjal's floating shields spun to face the threat, absorbing it once more and then turning towards the gods and warriors of Heaven, vomiting swirling beams of white fire in their direction, even as Sikanjal dropped down to the ground, going flat on it to duck under the stabbing spears of the divinities of War and Strategy, before she swung out a turning kick.

Taranis leapt over it easily, and slapped the beam of flame away with a mighty blow of Aegis, the circular shield greedily absorbing the energy of the attack, while Adrasthea leapt backwards and swung her weapon down through the flames, dispelling them into motes of energy that immediately vanished.

Killer slammed his palms forwards, straight into the flames, and he absorbed the white fire with a grunt, quickly taming it... but the brief instant of distraction was enough to miss several more of the incredibly fast action, as Sikanjal slid between Taranis's legs with seductive elegance, as if she was dancing, springing to her feet behind his back and slamming her palm into his spine.

The god let out a howl of agony and shock, as his impenetrable armor cracked like an egg shell, his back arching painfully backwards... But the agony was short-lived, his roar turning to one of both rage and pleasure as he drank of the pain, of the fatigue of the battle.

He is the God of War, the perfect warrior... he feels no real pain. He feeds on the battle, he lusts for the fight, the pain, the clash of titans.

His biceps visibly flexed and swelled even larger, the battle damage only turning into new energy which made the armor glow as it quickly began to repair itself, as the god's power actually grew, while he spun his huge spear to aim it backwards, and swiftly stabbed it through Sikanjal's chest, while he rose his other arm out of the way as Adrasthea charged at it and stabbed her own polearm under his armpit, piercing her long weapon through Sikanjal's abdominals.

Killer stared at this in surprise, wondering why Sikanjal hadn't really tried to move away... and she turned towards him, grinning widely, her eyes flashing with dark lusts even as holy lightning crackled all over her body.

The demoness burst in a snarling laughter as she briefly turned her gaze against Taranis and Adrasthea, and the two divinities were slammed backwards by a fearsome blast of psychic wrath, blood exploding from the dragoness's nose and Taranis's helmet crumpling painfully over his skull... and everyone stared in shock as Sikanjal reached up for the long spears pierced through her, grabbed the thick poles, and then tore both weapons back out of her body, her gaze fixed into Killer's eyes.

There was no blood loss, and the lightning crackling over her did not seem to do anything more than annoying her as she spun the two spears in her hands, while the two horrendous wounds in her body, one of which had almost obliterated one firm, proud breast, healed under their eyes, as tiny strings of nano-machines sewed together from the two sides of each hole, and regenerated her body in the space of a second.

"I cannot be killed, Amon Ra. I'm very, very different from my dear sister... very different from even you Gods. You might be hard to kill, but I'm beyond your powers, far beyond your reach. I'm a superior being, now..." Sikanjal walked forwards calmly, grinning coldly as she selected her targets, before she threw both spears, one against Ira and one against Manticora. The two Seraphims, as powerful as they were, represented by far the most vulnerable targets.

The two spears shot forwards with a boom of thunder that cracked through the air, the two sleek weapons turning into massive bolts. Manticora spread her wings and flapped them with all her strength, launching upwards into the air with a snarl of fear and rage, but the spear curved her path and shot upwards, following her. Electricity burst forth into crackling arms, which like tentacles greedily reached towards her to rip into her wings like vicious hooks.

Manticora screamed in agony as lightning zapped over her body, her wings lacerated and immobilized, but Alexis leapt up from the ground and seized the pole of the long weapon with a snarl of rage. Electricity immediately blasted into her, tremendous amounts of energy trying to burn her alive, but the muscular female only grinned ferociously as she took over the weapon... before tossing it back to Adrasthea, who jumped up to her feet and caught it swiftly, ending the tremendous discharge of bolts.

Killer charged to the side as the other spear shot straight towards Ira, and he rammed his huge arm into the pole, knocking the weapon flying through the sky, before it meekly flew back to Taranis's hand as the god stood back up.

Ira murmured a thank you to the huge male as they both charged towards Sikanjal: she had only partially reabsorbed her Personification's features, as she still had just two, massive and muscular legs, and her tail still ended in four whip-like prongs, all ending in vicious bone hooks. She still sported two proud bull horns on her head, her scales were still diamond-hard and spikes jutted out down her spine, even though she was back to her normal eighteen feet of height and her body had otherwise returned to normal. Her hands held up Arctica and Vampira, her deadly swords.

Sikanjal charged against them with a cackle, stabbing forwards with a gauntlet ending in terrible talons, but Ira went into a slide and ducked under the blow, slashing Arctica into the demoness's ankle and stabbing Vampira into her strong abdominals.

Ira grinned as ice began quickly spread from the blade of Arctica, thickly encasing the legs of the demoness as the ice turned as hard as diamond, immobilizing the terrifying creature... but Vampira failed to drain even the slightest amount of energy out of Sikanjal, who only grinned as she seized the long katana blade in her hand and dragged it forcefully out of her body, before smashing Ira backwards with a psychic blast, which sent the Seraphim flying through the air, horrendous, deep gashes torn open in her muscular abdomen as Vampira was torn out of her fingers, spinning violently and failing to the ground many hundreds of feet away.

"You'll pay for it all, Sikanjal!" Killer snarled, smashing his huge fist down into her face, crumpling her armor mask inwards and causing one eye to top into paste... but the demoness only grinned viciously, as the diamond prison wrapping around her legs shattered into fragments and exploded upwards, pelting Killer's body with deadly-sharp slivers that cut deep into his flesh and muscle, making him stagger backwards.

She leapt up easily into the air, her eye already reformed and glowing with dark pleasure as she slammed her taloned feet hard into Killer's chest, kicking the huge male backwards... but Killer swung his arm up even through the agony, and his hand wrapped around her neck, dark fire bursting up from his fingers and enveloping the demoness in one second, burning her fiercely down before he punched her hard into the face, sending her flying like a missile through the battlefield.

Sikanjal howled in pain, this time, as she smashed into the ground and ripped a two hundred feet trench into it before bouncing upwards again such was the tremendous power of the blow. She bounced once more, this time over the waves of the Middle sea, before opening her eyes wide at the sight of Alexis grinning down at her.

The muscular female slammed her boots down onto Sikanjal, stomping savagely on her face and planting the other feet on her throat, smashing the demoness into the angry waves and riding her like a surfboard, before Alexis laughed as she backstepped, stomping on the cobra's crotch before kicking her hard under the chin.

The tremendous block echoed like a mighty explosion, and Sikanjal's head was nearly torn off her shoulders as she flew high into the sky again, howling in agony and fury... before she flipped in midair and hovered, glaring down at Alexis.

The goddess saw it coming, and she hit out with her own psychic force, the two waves of power clashing in the middle of the sky with a colossal explosion... before Alexis snarled, shaking her head in disbelief and rage as a deafening whistle filled her head, her vision becoming blurred and her muscular arms trembling as if suddenly drained of their supernatural strength. She coughed blood, but she leaned into the attack and shoved upwards with her arms, putting all her power into the massive blast.

Sikanjal was blown backwards slightly, but she grinned widely as she easily regained the upper hand, shoving Alexis down towards the earth even as the ligeress struggled with all her colossal might.

Gaia leapt into the air with a roar, her eyes glowing as she pointed her hands against the demoness, sending plants birthing and growing right inside her: huge vines loaded with vicious thorns spread over the body of the cobra, and even inside it, drinking of her own power to grow at an amazing rate. In a second, the body of Sikanjal started bulging and deforming out of shape, before a thick, massive vine ripped out of her mouth... her attack lost some of its strength, and Alexis shoved forwards with a roar, her muscles bulging with tremendous power.

But Sikanjal only laughed, staring at Gaia's eyes with teasing arrogance as black, corrupted fire erupted from her mouth and consumed the vines entirely, burning them into dark, poisonous smoke.

"You are strong, Gaia... you have lots of power. Perhaps more than anyone else but me. But you've never been good at really unleashing it." Sikanjal teased, grinning widely as she arched her back, flexing her toned musculature before adding: "I'll show you how it is done."

Gaia stared in shock as mighty, thick tentacles of black steel ripped out of Sikanjal's waist and wrapped around her, binding her mercilessly as the demoness said calmly: "I want to make sure you'll watch without interrupting the show..." She turned to glare down at Alexis, and slapped a hand forwards into the flow of psychic wrath, focusing it even more and sending a new explosion of monstrous power flooding down against the ligeress's own. The impact was tremendous, and Alexis was knocked backwards and out of the sky, the goddess howling in agony as her head pounded violently, her body spasming out of control as she was crushed out of the sky and slammed into the ground.

Killer looked down in horror as he saw Alexis smashing into the wastelands like a meteor, before the tremendous psychic wrath of Sikanjal crushed the First Sky itself, crumbling the ground, cracking the crust of the planet - if Heaven can be called a planet, I'm not sure yet how it works - and annihilating a vast region, turning it into a lake of burning magma as the liquid fire surged up through the shattered crust, flowing from the depths of the land.

He flapped his wings with a roar of fury, sailing towards her with Wyvern at the ready to strike, but Alcana was the first to arrive, slashing her massive halberd against the demoness.

Sikanjal laughed and seized the huge blade in her hands, stopping the blow with terrifying ease... before she ripped the massive weapon out of Alcana's hands, as the dragoness grabbed her head and let out a howl of agony, blood bursting out of her mouth and ears as psychic force smashed her brain and set her nervous system on fire.

Sikanjal spun on the spot and swung the massive halberd out as Adrasthea came up to attack her back, and the goddess ducked behind her large shield as the crimson blade smashed into it, before Taranis leapt at the demoness, only to stop in midair as she all but looked at him, her eyes glowing...

"Oh, gods, no..." Killer growled, making a grimace as he easily recognized Dominate, an ability that he had himself... Sikanjal's own was so developed and powerful that even the God of War, who had no interest in anything other than war and battles, suddenly turned into a drooling slave, bowing his head to the demoness and then turning back to assault Ira and Manticora.

Killer snarled, wanting to assault the arrogant female, but knowing that he had to help the two Seraphims... but as he prepared to turn to the side towards them, Alexis shot through the sky towards them, and she slammed her fist into Taranis's chest, knocking him backwards with fearsome force, before she looked into his eyes, her own glowing a bright sapphire as she Dominated him herself, bringing him back to sanity... until Taranis understood what was happening, and he turned back towards the demoness with a roar of raw fury, only to be smashed into the ground far below as the demoness threw Gaia against him with a snap of her steely tentacles.

Killer grinned a bit to himself at the sight, and he launched himself straight against Sikanjal as she turned her attention against him, holding up her palm and grinning as she blasted another tremendous shockwave of pure power. Killer howled in agony and rage as pain overwhelmed him, his body feeling like it would crumble, torn apart by thousands of incandescent hooks pulling at his brain and nerves. His vision blurred, but his rage propelled him forwards all the same.

I've never been stronger than now. I'm not letting anyone play with me like this.

He swung Wyvern out with all his strength, roaring his challenge and frustration, and Sikanjal recoiled violently, her force broken through as Killer smashed his way through the blast, leaving her to stare at him in shock, before he lashed out a huge fist, hitting her in the stomach and making her release a silent, breathless scream of agony as her spine bent violently and she spat broken nanomachines from her mouth, acid drool falling from her jaws.

All the other warriors charged forwards, ready to exploit the moment... but Sikanjal's eyes glowed, and they were all frozen suddenly in place as time slowed to a violent halt around Killer, leaving him gaping in shock.

Sikanjal laughed and slapped him backwards away from her with a shove of her mind power, which was almost gentle... and yet powerful enough to crumble one mountain.

"To answer your question, yes. I did stop time... or better, slowed it down enough to almost completely freeze it. But I've left us free to carry on as normal." Sikanjal idly said, grinning widely. "I'm still experimenting with my own power, Amon Ra... It has been a painful and long process to become who I am now. It all began after you slaughtered my sister. There was a rebellion in your favor, down in Hell... and I lost my kingdom because of it. The Hell of Lust adores you, worships you, and waits for you... but, you know. I found something else to keep me busy." The demoness smiled, then rubbed a hand absently down her strong abdominals. "Your enemies, those that you don't even know but are ruining your life and tearing the world apart, came looking for me as they had earlier looked out for Regina. But the offer they made to me was far more attractive: they would give me power; turn me into an unstoppable weapon that would destroy you, Heaven, and whoever tried to resist their will. They of course did not warn me how painful the process would have been... nor did they say that their plan was to erase my mind, turn me into an unthinking machine slave of their orders."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Killer coldly asked. Sikanjal paused for a brief moment, then snapped: "Because you want to know it, and because I want to make you one last proposal before I tear you apart."

Killer snorted ironically at that, shrugging a bit: "You are not the first one to promise that treatment. No one ever manages to keep the promise."

"Shut up!" Sikanjal roared, blasting a bolt of psychic force into his chest which knocked him backward to pin him violently against an invisible, solid wall of energy. "I've been given more than enough power to destroy you, Alexis and everyone else, Amon Ra. They destroyed me and rebuilt me anew in order to take all that power, but they did a fantastic job."

True. She's been kicking us all around all this time... and the few blows we landed didn't even scratch her.

"You see these stones, Lord Killer...?" She asked with a grin, tapping with a finger one of the stones set in her armor. "Each one is a special Soulstone, containing the power and the abilities of one of the old gods, now long forgotten. Each one feeds power into me. Constantly. It gives me the power and the abilities of countless gods. Ares, one of the previous Gods of War, and so many others, are now nothing but power cores making me stronger. My tail combines a huge block of Soulstones melted together and a cold fusion reactor, a product of the most advanced technology in the universe. Combined, they give me unlimited power. I don't eat, I don't sleep, and I never feel tired. I'm a perfect engine of destruction. They have torn all my vital organs out, save the brain, which has been enhanced with computer technology. Now, I'm alive thanks to sheer energy, and to nano-machines which can rebuild any part of me in bare instant. I have no weak spots. No vital point that you can destroy to kill me. That's why you have no hopes at all against me."

"Instructive. But believe me, I'm a very destructive kind of crash test." Killer replied easily, flexing his musculature against the invisible chains of energy binding him... and he snapped out of them, walking forwards towards her, shouldering Wyvern. "Just tell me: you aren't under their control anymore, are you...? They screwed up royally, and they don't know it."

"Huh, you are not just handsome. You think, even." Sikanjal teasingly murred. "I'm out of control, yes... I'm the most powerful being ever to exist. The neural synapse computer that is supposed to control my brain has been easy to conquer... they think they control me, but they are only puny dolls I can crush in any moment. As soon as they will cease to be of use to me, they'll find out what it is like to create a weapon too powerful to control..." Sikanjal walked forwards, elegantly reaching for him and leaning fearlessly into his body, her hands tracing down his powerful abdominals as she teasingly licked his thick, masculine chest.

"I'm very much like you...Too powerful to handle. Look at you, only two Seals broken and your power is already out of scale. By the time you break the remaining five, the gods will be nothing but bugs cowering in your shadow." She breathed hotly, drinking of his strong scent as she licked a drop of battle sweat off his potent bicep, even as Killer glared down at her coldly. "Come with me, Lord Killer... I don't care for what happened to my sister. She was weak, she couldn't handle you... it is only right that she died trying. But you are the perfect lover for the empress of the universe. Come with me, Lord Killer, and you'll be the second in command of the universe, sitting between my legs as I rule over it all. You only have to bow to me, admit that I'm by far the strongest, and serve me forever... the rest of the universe will bow before you, as they will grovel before me."

She looked up at him expectantly, grinning widely, but Killer only grinned, saying calmly: "Did you hear that, Alexis...?"

Sikanjal looked shocked at that, turning to the side to see the ligeress moving out of her position, supposedly frozen in Time. The muscular female straightened and floated forwards, drying a rivulet of blood coming from the corner of her lips with the back of one mighty fist.

"Yeah. But you are not the only one who's exploring his new power, bitch." Alexis said, grinning widely as she crossed her muscular arms and looked over the others, freeing them from their prison as time suddenly speeded up until it began to flow again normally. "And I'll tell you one thing: he's born to be the number one. And the number two place is already taken up as well." Alexis grinned, pointing at herself with her thumb before she slammed her gloved fist in the open palm of her left hand. "So, show us all this almighty-awesomeness you brag about."

Sikanjal glared back coldly, and then she grinned gamely, shrugging slightly. "You've given up your best chance ever... but you'll regret it bitterly."

Killer and Alexis only took over ready positions... but they already knew that Sikanjal wasn't bluffing at all. It was going to be a very painful and risky affair.