Chapter 28 – The Final Fray

While Michael and Lucifer are going at it, Gabriel tends to Vincent. He opens the cork of the bottle of the morning dew, and slowly turns Vincent around. Blood is now leaking through his armor. There’s not much time. He pours half of the bottle too quickly that Vincent almost chokes from the flow. The elixir does its magic, and soon the blood stops flowing and the wounds begin to close.

He takes out the two Manna Crystals. Jenna holds her hand over them “I don’t think he can take the explosions from the crystals.”

Gabriel gives an understanding smile. “I know a better way. Trust me”

He places both of the crystals in his hand, and closes his eyes. He concentrates hard and tightens both of his palms. Jenna can hear the sound of crushing crystals. When Gabriel opens his palms, the crystals have become a pile of blue crystal dust. “This will be easier to digest.” He mixes the dust into the remaining of the elixir, and gives it to Vincent, and he steps back. Vincent’s body slowly glows bright, until it finally shines like the sun. He levitates horizontally, and gradually stands up. He sprouts two specks of feather on his back, and in a split second become full sized wings. He’s clothed in all white long leather armor. He is now officially Zuriel.

Vincent looks as fierce as he can ever be. Gabriel looks truly satisfied with his plan. Michael plays his part distracting Lucifer while Gabriel heals Vincent. They bet on the hatred that Lucifer has for Michael, that he will completely forgot about Vincent, and it works perfectly.

Lucifer slowly steps back. The odd is totally against him. It’s 2 against 1 now, and they are not just ordinary angels. Fighting Michael alone is hard on equal term, but now he has to face the revived Zuriel, one of the strongest angels in the legions. Zuriel flies to Michael and lands next to him while his eyes keep watching Lucifer. “It’s been a while that we fight together in a battle.” Michael pats him on the shoulder.

“Oh, give and take a millennium. It’s not that bad.”

“So how do you want to do this?”

“Tag team, or 2 against 1, I don’t care. Let’s just finish him here.” Zuriel’s aura intensifies, his wings harden like steel. Battle mode is switched on.

“I’ll go high, you go low.” Michael readies his sword and shield. “Bare knuckles as always?”

“Ow yeah.” Zuriel raises both of his fists in a fighting pose. “Let’s go!!!”

Michael charges first with his sword. Lucifer was taken aback, that he only sways back to avoid the slash. It barely misses Lucifer’s head by millimeters. His instinct makes him duck; Zuriel is already below him. Oh $#&*

Zuriel jumps while throwing a heavy uppercut. Lucifer is hit cleanly on the jaw, but he manages to stand even after such heavy blow. Michael doesn’t waste his time. He dashes and hit Lucifer with the back of his shield. It takes a lot of strength to daze Lucifer. But Michael’s combined strength with the holy artifact is a powerhouse. Zuriel kicks both of Lucifers knee caps and hits him hard in the groin. Instead of feeling the pain, Lucifer becomes so angry; he roars and releases a devastating dark explosion. The sound wave explodes through the hall and destroys everything in its path. Gabriel immediately hugs Jenna and encloses both of them with his wings to protect her from Lucifer’s attack. Michael and Zuriel are blown away from the blast. Fortunately, they wrap themselves in their wings just like Gabriel. Obviously it’s an instant defense mechanism of the angels. Nevertheless, the powerful blast still affects them. Michael is the first to get up, followed by Zuriel. “He’s strong. It seems he has evolved from the last time we met.”

“Yes. I am really out of shape from the 1000 years slumber.” Zuriel spits out blood from the corner of his lips.

Lucifer remains still. He is hurting. The blast took away some of his power reserves, and he needs every second to recharge.

“He damages himself from the blast.” Michael notices that Lucifer staggers and leans on his sword.

“We need more power to execute routine 28.”

 “28? This early on the battle?”

“Yeah. I want to finish this quick, Mike.” Only Zuriel can casually address the archangel by his nickname.

“Alright. I was saving this for Armageddon. Oh well.”

Michael and Zuriel clasp each other’s palm. Seconds later, their hair starts rising; they are combining their strength. Their wings hardened like steel, their leather armors become platinum armor. Both are glowing white and gold. “Time to end this. Let’s soften him up first.”

Zuriel storms fist first like an arrow. Too fast to avoid, Lucifer takes the punch directly in the nose and his head is thrown back, but he still holds on to the sword. Michael continues with a kick to Lucifer’s left temple, so hard that Lucifer loses his grip on the sword. He stumbles to the right and Zuriel greets him with fast and heavy blows. A myriad of punches connect to every part of Lucifer’s body in less than a minute. Zuriel notices that Lucifer almost lost his consciousness, and flies back to Michael. “NOW !!!”

Michael grabs Zuriel’s hand, and then swings Zuriel’s body like with him as the center. The swing gets faster and faster until they form a cyclone that emits lightning. Lucifer, who faints from Zuriel’s punches, is slowly waking up. He notices an electrical swirl from above, and tries to figure it out. He remembers something horrible from the vision, but it’s all too late. At the top speed of the tornado, Michael lets go of Zuriel straight to Lucifer. Lucifer wants to move, but his feet won’t move. He sees the blinding light and closes his eyes. Zuriel zooms like a guided missile, and hits Lucifer straight in his face. He staggers back, but Zuriel is not finished yet. Using the momentum from the throw, Zuriel bounces from the wall and hits Lucifer again, and again, and again. It’s so fast, that the trails that emanate from Zuriel form a spider web of light with Lucifer trapped in the middle. Zuriel deals the final body blow, and jumps back to catch his breath. The spider web of light is slowly dissolving, Lucifer falls to his knees. Only the white of his eyes can be seen. Finally, he slumps face first to the ground.

“Do we beat him?” Michael descends to Zuriel.

“I hope so. If he survives routine 28, then I don’t know what else can take him down.”

Gabriel slowly closes in and checks on Lucifer. “He’s out cold for now. Let’s lock him up in the Pit before he wakes up.”

Michael opens up a dimensional gate at the bottom of the floor. It is a dark, bottomless pit, with no light and no means to escape. He and Zuriel throw Lucifer down the pit and close the dimension door.

“Isn’t this going to cause the demons to rebel when they find out about this?” This situation makes Gabriel a little bit restless.

“We’ll deal with that later.” After locking up Lucifer, Michael assumes his normal form.

Jenna slowly approaches them. Zuriel catches her eyes, and smiles. Gabriel sees this, and taps Michael’s shoulder. “I think they might need some time alone.” Gabriel and Michael walk toward the gate, when Gabriel looks back “You have 2 minutes.”

Jenna faces Zuriel awkwardly, and she doesn’t know what to say. “I...”

Zuriel leans forward and hugs her tightly. “I wish things were different. I wish I am human. I’m…sorry…”

Jenna can’t do anything but cry. She knows this is the end, and this might be the last time she can ever see him. “Will I ever see you again?”

Zuriel lets go of his hug, and touches Jenna’s cheek. “I don’t know…You might not be able to see me anymore…But I will always be there when you need me.”

Gabriel shouts “Sorry, I hate to break it, but it’s time to go.” Zuriel puts the Medal of Styx around Jenna’s neck, and kiss her on her forehead. “Goodbye.” She closes her eyes. She sees a blinding light, and faints.

Epilogue

Jenna wakes up at 3 in the morning. Her breath is short from shock. She looks around, and finds out that she is in her bedroom of her apartment building. “Was that all a dream?” She lays back again trying to sleep, but unable to do so. At dawn, the sun rises and lights up the whole room. Jenna looks at the window, and notices something on the window. She gets out of her blanket, and walks toward the glass. She stares at it for a moment, and then speaks to herself. “It wasn’t a dream after all.” She walks back singing and smiling. In the window, written over the dew.

“Till we meet again.

Vincent”

~Ω~

Chapter 27 - Resurrection

Jenna lets go of her hand. “You…KILLED…him?”

“Yes. I was about to tell you. But..”

“Stop…just stop…How could you ??? I trusted you !!!”

“I’m sorry Jenna. I was under his control. I…”

“It doesn’t matter…YOU took him away from me…you…. Oh Ben…” Jenna begins to cry.

Lucifer laughs maniacally. “Boo hoo hoo….isn’t this wonderful ? I just love to shatter happy ending.”

“WHY Vincent ?? WHYY ???” Jenna is so angry at Vincent, but at the same time she knows that Vincent was under dark magic influence. Her logic and her heart are battling each other.

“He jumped to me and I shot him. It was an accident. I never meant to hurt him.” Tears running down Vincent’s cheek. “I’m sorry…”

“Oh well. Accident…not an accident….murdered….self defense…what’s the difference? He’s dead anyway…”

Lucifer is walking back to his throne, and unsheathes the massive black executioner sword on the pedestal.

“As much as I enjoy this display of misery, I have to end you right here. I have been waiting for this moment for centuries, and I won’t have you or anyone else ruins my plan. Zuriel, you would have been a great general to my troops. Too bad this is the end of the line. For BOTH of you.”

Lucifer lifts his sword up high, and swings it with all his might. Jenna stares helplessly at the sword, and closes her eyes. Her heart is not ready to give up, but she has lost her fighting spirit. Suddenly Jenna feels a shove out of nowhere. She falls on her back a couple of meters from where she stands. What happen?

She gets up, opens her eyes and sees Lucifer with a bloody sword. Vincent is lying there motionless. Blood is flowing like a river from the gash on his back.

Oh no. Vincent..nooo…noo….I’m sorry…I’m sorry…. Jenna holds an outstretched hand, reaching for the dying Vincent.“A valiant, but useless effort.” Lucifer kicks Vincent’s body to make sure he’s dead. “You’re next, little girl.” He moves in for the kill, dragging the sword behind him. Jenna can’t even stand; she can only drag her body with her hands. Lucifer seems to enjoy toying with his victim. He intentionally slows down his pace to instill terror in Jenna. Finally he is standing right in front of her. “Say good night, precious.”

Jenna looks down, and closes her eyes. She’s waiting for the sword to come. I just hope this is going to be painless. Good night.

“LUCIFER !!!!!!!!!!!!” A loud shout, a thundering noise like a sonic boom, followed by a loud crash at a distance. Jenna still cringes, waiting for the sword to cut her down. But nothing happens after several seconds. She slowly opens her eyes. A tall figure is standing right in front of her, with his back facing her. His wings are spread wide, strong and majestic; cloud with muscles will be the perfect depiction of the wings. His face is glowing; full of determination like a warrior who had fought thousands of battles. He turns to Jenna. “Are you alright?”

“Yes.” She is totally amazed that no words can be uttered in that moment.  “Are you an angel?”

“Yes. I am an Archangel, the name is Michael.”

~A~

Lucifer gets up from the ashes. There is a hole in the wall in the shape of his body. He is down, but not beaten. It just gets him angrier. “Michael!!! You are not supposed to be here!! You are breaking the treaty!!”

“You break it first. Need I remind you that you broke it almost a thousand years ago?” Lucifer gets really quiet, but dares himself to answer with a mocking tone. “So what?!?! Your Holiness King already has decided that we are defeated.  I don’t like where His plan is going, and I surely never intend to spend eternity in that black hole.” Michael is holding himself back. His blood is boiling, but he knows that he has to be patient for now.

“You know that all your effort is futile. He knows what you want, and now He’s putting an end to your plan.”

“That’s a load of crap. The end of the world won’t’ commence without the Scroll of the End of Days. I still got both of his manna crystals, and your champion is now half death.”

“Oh you mean these manna crystals?” A voice comes from the back of Lucifer’s throne. A secret door is swung open, and a man is juggling two manna crystals in his hands. Lucifer turns around. When he sees who it is, he disgustedly mentions the name of the person he knows too well “Gabriel….”

“Seriously, Luce, you think you are ALL THAT and a bag of chips?” Gabriel seems relaxed, but he knows all too well not to underestimate the Dark Lord. “HE” Gabriel points up “Knows your plan even before you hatch it. How are you planning to deceive the All-Knowing?”

Gabriel walks slowly toward Vincent and checks on him. Alive, but barely. We must act quickly.

“You there. How much Morning Dew you got left?” Gabriel’s voice seems to awaken Jenna, who was in catatonic state as she can’t deal with the situation. She shakes her head hard to wake herself. “About a quarter of a bottle.”

“It should be enough. Bring it over here.”

Lucifer realizes Gabriel’s plan, and quickly move towards them. Michael steps right in front of him. Lucifer swings his black sword and Micahel quickly evades it. Jenna is fully functional now, and she shouts to Michael “Your sword and shield is in my bag!” Michael hears her, and quickly flies to her. She flings the bag to Michael, and he pulls out the sword and shield “Ah...It’s been a long time, old friends.”

Fully equipped, Michael charges toward Lucifer, and engage a furious battle. These two enemies already at it since the beginning of time, and this is the perfect time to unleash their anger. The battle is so intense that it seems like two battalion meets whereas only 2 people are fighting; The General of Light versus the General of Darkness. Sparks flies everywhere when two ethereal swords clash. Thunderous clang fills the room when the Executioner Sword hacks the Shield of Mikhail. Despite the intense fight, these two seems to be equally matched. Michael jumps back and stops attacking to catch his breath. Amazing. What a strong killer aura. Lucifer seems to wait for Michael’s next move. The air is full of battle pressure from both ends.

 “Okay, he’s ready.” Gabriel’s voice breaks the silence. They all turn their head to the direction of the voice. Vincent is standing firm and tall. He seems to grow a couple of sizes than before. His eyes are so intense, eager to enter the brawl. “Now. Where were we ?”

~A~

Chapter 26 – The Dark Lord

Vincent is dreaming. He is walking in the meadow with clear blue sky. As he is strolling, he falls into a well. The well is dark and bottomless. He can’t stop falling. All of his abilities are useless in the black void. As he’s about to give up, he hears a voice calling in a distance “Vincent !! Vincent !!! Wake up !” It somehow wakes him up, and he can see the light at the top, and he flies toward it. Vincent opens his eyes, and he sees beautiful angelic eyes of someone familiar. “Jenna?”

“Thank God. I thought I lost you.” Vincent can’t remember the last time someone care about him this much.

He is trying to sit, but still unable to. Jenna helps sit him up, leaning on a huge boulder.

 “So…what now?” Vincent weakly gazes at Jenna.

“I don’t know if this is a good idea. But let’s you the morning dew and see how it goes.”

“Do you still have a lot of it?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry about it. Now open wide and say ‘aaaahh’ ”

Vincent opens his mouth, and Jenna carefully put two drops of the elixir. Vincent closes his eyes, and feels rejuvenated in just a matter of seconds. “I’m baaaccckkk !!!”

“Great ! ”Jenna smiles watching him jump around like a little kid.

“I feel that I can take over anything. Let’s go get the Dark Lord now!!!”

“Slow down tiger, we need a plan” Jenna puts everything back in the satchel.

“Let’s fetch the weasel and get him here.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea to let him know our hideout. The Dark Lord might find us sooner of later if he knows. Let’s go out first and then get him. He can’t track you now anyway.” Jenna’s full knowledge of the book proves useful without her realizing it.

Jenna and Vincent get their things ready, and they just randomly pick a place in the map. After they get out in the open, Jenna opens the limbo and yanks Crocell out. He’s in a really pathetic condition, scared and withering like an old dying tree. Vincent looks at Crocell with disbelief. It seems like he ages 100 years in just a brief moment in time. “What happen?”

“Limbo sucks the energy of beings like me. I might only have minutes left.” Crocell can even barely finish the sentence. “Tell us how to get there!!!”

In his last breath, Crocell takes a medallion from under his cloak. “This will take you there.”

Jenna doesn’t believe him. But when she’s done examining the medallion, she is convinced that Crocell is telling the truth “Why do you change your mind?”

“I have feared the Dark Lord for the rest of my life. This is the one thing that I can do without him being able to get back at me.” Crocell smiles, and slowly from his head to his toes, turns into dust.

Jenna and Vincent are silent for a moment. “Is he telling the truth?”

 “Yes. This is the Medal of Styx. It allows travel in the underworld.”

“How do you know?”

“There’s a brilliant brain under here……Hellooo !” Jenna points at her temple while teasing Vincent. Vincent doesn’t look too amused. Jenna stops her mockery and slowly approaches him. “We’ll get him, AND your memory back.”

“So how do we use this?” Vincent plays with the medallion in Jenna’s hand.

“There’s an enchantment to get in or get out of the underworld. Let me look them up.” She opens up the Book of Angel, and pulls up the right section. “Wow. I’m quite sure this wasn’t here.” Jenna is amazed at the content of the book. It seems to grow as she gains more knowledge.

“Ah here we go. Let’s check everything first before we go.” Jenna and Vincent double checks on their equipment, when finally their eyes meet. Vincent inches in, and Jenna follows. “Just in case we don’t make it through this.” Jenna closes her eyes, and Vincent slowly reaches for the back of her head. He hesitates for a moment, but then finally decides to push through. He kisses her, which feels like a firework on the fourth of July meets Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Both smiles and holds the medallion together.

“Shall we?” Jenna chants the foreign magic words. Dark smoke appears out of nowhere, follows by an unbearable heat. The walls look like melting lava, and they can see peculiar creatures flying and crawling.

“Welcome to hell”

~ω~

They arrive in what looks like a zoo for gargoyles. All kind of creepy crawlies for the darkest nightmare can be found in ample stock. Vincent and Jenna are in a shock. After awhile, they regain their composure.

“We are in deep in the enemy’s territory.”

“There’s no turning back now.” Vincent holds Jenna’s hand and tries to give her assurance.

“How do we find the Dark Lord fast enough?”

“Let’s grab one of the weak minions.” Jenna and Vincent moves slowly in the area, and finds a demon carrying a basket. Vincent moves slowly, and quickly grabs the unsuspecting demon. He creates a blade from his armor and presses the demon’s neck. “Lead me to the Dark Lord. Now!” The demon seems more afraid of the Dark Lord than the blade, but the holy blade seems to bring a great deal of pain. It has the same effect similar to Holy Water to demonic beings; it dissolves them. Finally, after a long muffled scream, he nods his head. “If you so much even try to squeak, I will pierce this through your skull. Got that?” The demon nods, and he leads them through a long and winding tunnels, until they finally reach a huge double doors. The demon stops right in front of them, and speaks demonic language. Jenna responds “He’s here.” The demon quickly runs back to the top in great fear. Vincent can feel a dark gruesome aura from inside. Slowly, he opens the double door.

Jenna and Vincent walk carefully, and preparing themselves for the fight of their life. They walk pass the mountains of book collections. Wow. I didn’t know that the Dark Lord likes to read. Jenna is laughing at herself to have the weird thought at times like this. They come to the end of the room, where they can see a throne behind a massive table. A dark figure is sitting quietly there, and he catches them by surprise.

“I have been expecting you, Zuriel. Impressive. You manage to avoid all the guards of hell. Must have been some holy artifacts you have.”

Vincent holds his breath. “The Dark Lord?”

“You can call me that. But I prefer Lucifer.” With that end of the sentence, he dashes forward. He throws Vincent hard to the ground and kicks Jenna on the stomach. Jenna is thrown backward, hits the wall, and almost knocked out cold. Jenna never feels anything quite like it. The kick feels she’s being hit by a truck. The armor apparently can’t hold against the Dark Lord’s power.

Helplessly, Jenna watches Vincent being pummeled. The Dark Lord toys with him like he’s nothing. Lucifer delivers uppercuts and swings, cornering Vincent like a pinched boxer in the ring. Lucifer throws body blows to Vincent, so hard that Vincent feels like his whole internal organs are about to come out. Finally, Lucifer lifts Vincent’s body up high with both of his hands, and throws him near Jenna. He lands right next to him. Jenna slowly crawls to Vincent, and slowly shakes his body. “Vincent ! Vincent !”

Vincent can’t even raise his head. “Without my full power, I am no match for him, even with the Holy Artifacts.” Vincent and Jenna feel so hopeless, that they hold hands to prepare for the end.

Seeing this, Lucifer can’t help but to make fun of them “Aw….lovebirds eh ?? Wait till you know what your boyfriend did.”

 “Ask him about Ben Rabinowitz. Ask him how he dies” Jenna looks at Lucifer, and then Vincent. She doesn’t want to believe Lucifer, but asks anyway. “How did he die?

 Vincent is silent, and tears running down his cheeks. At first he doesn’t have the courage to tell her, but he can’t hold it any longer as it tears him apart everyday he’s with her.

“I killed him”

~ω~

Chapter 25 – Overload

Vincent flies up to the roof where Jenna is. When he lands, Jenna runs to Vincent and hugs him really tight. “I thought I lost you”

“I’m not that easy to beat.” He smiles and rubs her cheek with the back of his finger. He begins closing in when Crocell suddenly wakes up coughing. “Ah...the party pooper…perfect timing.”

Vincent walks to Crocell, grabs his collar and stands him up. “Do you see that piece of a huge lifeless body?”

Crocell notices that it’s Uvall’s corpse lying on the Colosseums’ floor.  He shudders with fear.

“I can do that to you, oh let’s say, less than 3 minutes. So what’s it’s gonna be?”

“I don’t have it with me” Crocell’s is trembling so hard; his voice turns into a high pitch squeal.

“Who has the crystals then?”

“Ever since you find Shalbriri’s crystal, he took both of Uvall and mine.”

“I see. So the Dark Lord has both of them?”

“Yes.” Vincent tries to see any hint of lying from Crocell. He’s telling the truth.

“I want you to take me to him”

“What ?? No !!! It’s like putting my head on a silver plate for him!!! ” Crocell gets really squirmy. Apparently the fear of the Dark Lord is widespread among his followers.

“Well, you can tell me the way to go there. Then you can leave me once we get there.”

“No…he will know that I go with you.”

“How ?” Vincent

Crocell covers his mouth, realizing that he said too much.

“HOW DOES HE KNOW THAT???” Vincent can’t contain his anger anymore.

Crocell suddenly tries to run. Vincent quickly tackles him from behind and turns him around. Vincent put one knee on Crocell’s chest, and grabs his collar. “SPEAK! OR I WILL TEAR YOU APART!!!”

Crocell can’t breathe with Vincent’s knee on top of him. “Vincent” Jenna taps him on his shoulder

“WHAT ?”  Vincent turns around like an enraged tiger.

Jenna is surprised by his reaction. She never sees Vincent like this. “Calm down. He can’t speak with your knee on his chest”

Vincent looks down, and then lifts his knee. Crocell gasps for air as the pressure is lifted from his chest.

“I can’t tell you…please…”

Vincent grabs his satchel and draws his sword. “Tell me now or your head will separate from your body.”

Crocell looks at him with horror. Vincent pulls his sword over his head and ready to do a full swing slash. Crocell puts his hand over his head and shout “He put a tracking device on you.. Please don’t kill me…”

Vincent is taken aback, and everything suddenly becomes clear to him. Of course. The Dark Lord IS the voice. I have been working for him the whole time during my loss of my memory.

“So how do you take it off?” Jenna breaks the silence.

“I don’t know” Vincent is ready to pounce him again, but he realizes that Crocell is telling the truth.

“Let me think.” Jenna starts biting his nail again. “There is a way. But it’s quite risky.”

“Tell me.”

“If I am not mistaken, all devices will need something to power it, whether magical or electrical.”

“Right” Vincent doesn’t really get it, but he just pretends to understand and plays along.

“What we can do, is trying to overload the device that it short circuited.”

“I see…and the biggest power source right now is…”
“The Golden phoenix egg.” They both answered together.

“I guess you will be vulnerable after that. Since the Dark Lord knows wherever you are, we need to hide where he can’t find you.”

After a long silence, Vincent has an “AHA” moment. “Come to think of it, whenever we are in that forest, no demons come after us.”

“Quite true. Shall we go back there then?”

“What about him?” Vincent points to Crocell.

“We can trap him limbo and fetch him later. Watch this.”

Jenna opens the Gate of Void and picks the destination. “Just throw him in there.”

Vincent grabs Crocell who tries to put up a useless fight. Vincent pushes him into the gate, and Jenna closes it down. “There. He won’t be able to get out of there for a while. Shall we return to the forest?”

“Fire away.”

~ ψ~

Vincent and Jenna return to the forest of entrance. He pulls out the Phoenix Egg, and braces himself for the worst. “Are you sure this is going to work?”

“Nope. But it’s the only way I can think of.”

Vincent exhales hard. “Here we go.” He begins to draw power from the egg. The egg glows brighter and brighter like the sun. “How do I know that I have short circuited the device?” Vincent’s voice is almost drawn by the jet-turbine-like sound from the energy wave. “You will something in the part of your body where the tracking device is”

“SOMETHING ??? That’s a lot of help.” The sound is getting louder and louder. Vincent’s body is now glowing bright gold. He never feels anything like this in his life. The egg has an unlimited source of power drawn from nature for thousands of years. Apparently, Jenna is right. He begins to feel something at the back of his neck. Albeit small, he can sense a disturbance in the energy flow. “I feel ‘something’ at the back of my neck!!”
“Great !!! keep going until it breaks !” Jenna shouts over the noise that now sounds like typhoon.

Vincent keeps absorbing the energy until his body can’t contain it anymore. “I can’t hold on anymore!!!”

“Just a little more !!! Hang on !!!”

Vincent feels like his body is ripping apart to all directions. With one last inhale, he absorbs as much energy as he can and shouting really loud. “Heeaaaarrrrggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh !!!” Finally, he can hear the sound like a small glass breaking. He lets go of the egg and punch the ground to release some of the energy. The trees are separating from the massive earthquake that he causes. He looks at Jenna “I think I did it”, and everything turns black.

~ ψ~

Chapter 24 - Gladiators

Vincent and Jenna teleport to the Colosseum. They see Uvall ramming through a group of tourists. They are scrambling and screaming to save their life. “Crocell !!! Get out !!!!!”

“Hm.. talk about rage..Jenna, can you distract him while I find Crocell ? ”

“Sure…leave the hard work for me.”

“You can do it. Give me the Truth Seeker.” Jenna hands it to him, and he immediately jumps to the top of the Colosseum. He places the Truth Seeker on top of the Golden Phoenix Egg. The Truth Seeker glows, slowly levitates, and then blasts golden rays to all directions, just like hundreds of lights in a football stadium on a Friday night. The plan works effectively. Vincent sees many creatures hiding in disguised forms, whether angels or demons. With his skills back, Vincent sweeps the area with great speed, and finds Crocell moves stealthily to escape Uvall. Vincent dashes to Crocell and appears right in front of him. “Hello, Waldo.”

Crocell is taken by surprise, and wants to run, but Vincent tackles him and Crocell falls face first. “Where do you wanna go, slime?”

“Zuriel…it’s been a while.” Crocell is really scared of him. He, after all, is just a cunning shapeshifter with no battle power.

“Yes it is, you deceitful little swine. Now, give me what I want.”

“What is it?”

“Don’t get cute with me. The third piece of Manna Crystal. Where is it ??”

“Oh…That…um...I don’t have it with me.”

“Liar !!!” Vincent hits him in the gut. Crocell is moaning and coughing in pain. With his new power, Vincent really packs a punch. Suddenly the ground shakes like a freight train passing by. Vincent turns around, and sees two flaming red eyes of a huge bull the size of an elephant, charging him heads on. With fast reflexes, he jumps high, pulling Crocell up with him.  The bull hits the Colosseum wall, the building shakes, dust and debris everywhere.

Jenna comes running from behind. “Sorry, he escapes from me. He just ignores me when he smells, I guess, Crocell ? The angel smell must have been gone as soon as he transforms back. ”

“I see. Can you hold him for a sec? Better yet…” Vincent punches him so hard on the stomach that Crocell pukes and faints. “Just to be on the safe side.” He lays Crocell down on the roof.

“Do you see Uvall’s true form?”

“Yeah. That huge bull. The effect of The Truth Seeker will wear off soon.” When the dust settles, the human demon form of Uvall is standing there menacingly, looking up. “Come down and let me crush your puny bones.” Vincent puts his sword and shield down inside the satchel, and hands it over to Jenna. “I won’t need these. They will just slow me down.”

“Be careful.”

“I will”

Vincent descends slowly, almost straight down. He can move really fast now, but for some reason he wants to make a dramatic entrance. He touches down right in front of Uvall, looking straight at him. The two enemies stare at each other without blinking. They are ready to rumble, in a place where gladiators of the ancient Rome fight to the death.

“Today you die, Zuriel.”

“I think the angel of death’s scythe is thirsty for your blood. Come and get me, stupid ox. I’m ready for you.”

Uvall, aggravated by the insult, roars like a hungry bear, and comes charging at Vincent. Vincent easily avoids all the attacks, his movements are so fast that he becomes a blur. Uvall punches only meet the walls in front of him. Uvall gets confused, look the left and the right, only to find Vincent is standing behind him. Uvall rushes to Vincent and tries to hit him, but he only punches air. Again and again he tries, but Vincent dodges every blow. With his accelerated sense, all those punches seem like a slow motion move in Six Million Dollar Man to Vincent. Finally after hundreds of punches, Uvall  is totally out of breath. He gets desperate and angry, as he is afraid of failing his master for the last time.

“Had enough? You are so slow, a 100 year old snail moves faster than you.”

“Coward. Stand still so I can hit you.”

“Okay.” Vincent challenges Uvall and stands perfectly still.

Uvall lifts his arm, and deliver a blow with all his might. The sound of a huge explosion echoes through the whole place. Jenna covers her ears, as the resonance pierces through her eardrums. When the echo dissipates, Jenna sees that Uvall’s huge knuckles are in Vincent’s face.  “No!!”

~χ~

Jenna’s mouth drops with disbelief. Blood drips from Uvall’s knuckles. Jenna fears the worst that Vincent gets a mortal wound. It’s the longest 10 seconds in her life watching the frozen pose of the mortal enemies. 2 seconds later, Jenna hears Uvall’s earsplitting scream of agony. Amazingly, Vincent catches the punch with his right hand; crushes Uvall’s fingers and breaks the elbow with his left hand. Uvall rolls like mad on the ground holding his limping right hand. Vincent stares at him like a lion watching its defeated prey. Uvall is devastated, afraid. There’s only one person in the world that has a fearful power like that; the Dark Lord himself. His breath is short, he’s crying out of desperation. Vincent taunts him. “A big bad demon is crying? What are you? Five?”

Uvall is very scared, but the thought of his master’s punishment gives him the final push. He roars like a wounded T-Rex, summons his sword with his left hand. Uvall brandishes the sword like crazy, creating a vortex of sword attacks. The sword attacks miss him by inches, but that seems to be intentional. Vincent glides like a ballerina and he even does a triple jump just to mock Uvall. Uvall becomes angrier and angrier. He keeps on swinging the sword until suddenly Vincent disappears.  He looks left and right, and can’t find Vincent.

“I’m over here.” Vincent is standing on top of Uvall’s head. Uvall furiously wave his sword on top of his head. Vincent does a back flip; on his way down, he grabs Uvall’s wrist with both hands and break the arm with his knee. A loud cracking sound and Uvall’s elbow bends backward. Uvall weakly falls on his knees, both of his hands are completely useless now.

“Now, hand me your Manna Crystal, and I will make this easy for you.”

Uvall begins to laugh uncontrollably. When he finally stops, he spits on Vincent. “I don’t have it with me. The Dark Lord keeps it with him.” As soon as he finishes his sentence, he jumps toward Vincent for one final attack. Vincent stops him on his track, and makes a human punching bag out of Uvall. He hits him up and down, from his face, his guts, his temples, and his throat. Finally, he moves to Uvall’s backside, put his arms around him and execute a suplex. He lifts Uvall’s huge body and slams it to the ground. Uvall’s body is so big, that the weight of the body crushes his neck. Just like that, Uvall is no more.

Chapter 23 – The beginning of the end

Vincent wakes up with what feels like a 1000 pound anvil on top of his head. His head is still spinning. Jenna is sleeping while sitting; too tired from staying up all night guarding the cave. Vincent moves as quiet as possible and slowly sits beside her. Jenna is startled, and sees Vincent, smiles a little. “Hey. Feeling better?”

“Yeah. Although I still feel like a whale is sitting on my head.” Jenna chuckles at the thought.

“So what is it all about?” Jenna snuggles to Vincent and puts her head on his chest. Vincent is surprised, but not refusing the affection.

“The second crystal brings the event where the demons beat the crap out of me. It also tells me the disaster that will happen if we don’t get all of the manna crystals in time.”

“I see”

“We need to hurry now, as time is really not on our side.”

“Okay. We will leave at sunrise. I think we need to be more careful though. Don’t you find it weird that Uvall can easily find us?”

“Yes. I think that’s kind of weird. Let’s thread more carefully. On the positive note though, it also brings back many of my abilities.”

“Like what?” Jenna raises her head and looks at him.

“I think it will come out in battles. But the previous ones that were unclear to me, are now beginning to make sense.”

“I see...that’s great...”

At least for the next couple of hours, these two human beings can enjoy each other’s company, might be the last comfort for the things to come.

~φ~

Meanwhile, in the underworld, Uvall has to once again meet the wrath of the Lord of the Darkness. He’s in all four; blood comes out of his nostrils and mouth.

“You are truly worthless. I have put a tracking device inside Zuriel’s body. Yet you manage to lost him...again and again and again...my patience is wearing thin, Uvall..” The Dark Lord speaks while washing the blood on his knuckles. “I have sent the wraiths, the hellhounds to help you...to no use... Do you think you deserve another chance?”  He turns around, and stares sharply at Uvall; the look in his eyes can kill anything that directly looks at him.

Uvall wants to say the reason he can’t find Vincent is that the signal becomes untraceable, but he knows that will get him more beating. “Please forgive me, Dark Lord. I promise I will catch him”

“This is your last chance. He already gets to Shalbriri. Crocell should be next. Go now to where Crocell is.”

Uvall is getting up slowly, walking wobbly. “Oh, and Uvall.” Uvall slowly turns around “Don’t fail me.”

~φ~

The sun rises from the east, the light makes its way through the cave directly into Jenna’s eyes that startles her. “O my gosh !!! Sunrise !! We gotta go !!” Vincent rubs his eyes, still groggy from lack of sleep. “Like, now?”

“Yeah !!!”

Jenna walks out from the cave, and opens up the Devil’s map. “Okay, let’s see. Where are you slimy demon?”

After several minutes, Jenna shouts “Helloo Crocell !!!”

“Don’t forget to look for Uvall.”

“Ah right.” Jenna finds Uvall is moving to Crocell’s direction. “I think we gotta move fast. Uvall is heading there right now.”

“Okay. Don’t forget to suit up. Can we get something to eat first? I’m starving.”

“Wait. I think Alfred gives us something. Like an emergency ration.” Jenna thinks “food” and the satchel spew 2 pieces of small cookies. “Just that?” Vincent raises an eyebrow.

Jenna holds them in her palm “This is the bread of life. 1 piece should last u a day.”

“Cool. Give me it” Jenna tosses the cookie and Vincent catches it with his mouth. “Hm…tastes like chicken. Quite fulfilling too…”

Jenna eats one piece of the “cookie” as well and then prepares the map and the gate. “Ready?”

“Lock and load!”

They reappear on the other side of the world. “Where are we?”

“From the look of things, we are in Rome” Jenna notices the cathedrals and the majestic Trevi Fountain right next to them.

“Ah...the perfect place for a demon who can pose as an angel of light. Check the map.”

Jenna opens the map, and finds Crocell on the other side of town. Suddenly the red dot is gone.

“Hey…what happen???” Jenna frantically turns the map outside down and flip it over.

 “What?”

“Crocell’s dot is gone !!! He was just there a minute ago.”

“Ah…that means he goes undercover.”

“Undercover??”

“Yeah. Apparently his transformation can fool even the Demon’s map.”

Jenna looks disheartened. “What can we do?”

“What is his last position?”

“Colosseum.”

“Then let’s go there.”

“How are we going to find him ?”

“The Truth shall set you free.” Vincent grins and points to the “Truth Seeker”

“Ah yes. The Truth Seeker. But it will take days. We really don’t have much time.”

“Yeah. Don’t worry. I have found a solution.”
“You do? When do you start becoming so smart?”

“Since the 2^nd manna Crystal. And yes, I have always been smart. I just am.” Jenna slaps him on the back.

“What are you gonna do?”

“If we hook up the Truth Seeker to a huge power source, we might be able to do an area sweep.”

“Great idea. Do you remember how he looks though? His real form?”

“I have a pretty clear picture after the 2^nd crystal. But let’s have another look in the book. That’s for your information.”

“Nah. I have demon database in my head. I know exactly what he looks like. So where are you going to hook up the Truth Seeker?”

“ ‘What’ actually. I sense a powerful artifact right on the top of the fountain. Right at the place where the two cherubim are, inside the stone Faberge egg”

“Wow. You can see that far now? How are we gonna get it ?”

“Wait here.” Five seconds later, Vincent is back with a glowing yellow egg.

“Whoa !! what are you ? The Flash now?”

“Part of the perks being me” Vincent grins. “This is the Golden Phoenix Egg. Like its name, it is able to regenerate energy over and over again.”

“Cool.”

“Now let’s get to the Coloseum. I sense that Uvall is not that far away either.”

Suddenly they can hear a blast from the other side of town. Jenna opens up the map, and she notices one huge dot lighting like Christmas tree. “Oh no, we’re too late.”

~φ~