Another vile minotaur fell to his blade.

As the fires of his divine essence consumed it, he turned to face the other three beastly abominations that were charging him through the ranks of his remaining men – twisted, zombified corpses that were an affront to nature itself.

He lifted his arm and let the cleansing light of Keadmon purify their souls.

Once they fall, he looked towards the seemingly endless tunnels and tries to focus his perception. Even the powers of a God were limited, it seemed. His goal was further inside this abyssal fortress, and yet the path toward it was obscured. There were Magi in this place who must have been focusing every single fiber of their being into disrupting his arcane vision.

His forces, meanwhile, were dwindling. After the gas attacks, they were already shaken. Now, after wading through hordes upon hordes of demons sent to do the Hybrids' bidding, even the most fanatical among them were beginning to waver.

All of them except the boy.

"Come on!" he screamed, tearing his sword out of one rabbit-Mongrel who had been fighting alongside this latest rabble of beasts. "Keadmon is with us! The Lord of Argwyll IS WITH US!"

The men couldn't help but keep up pace seeing a child keep pace with the angel. Young Jory had only taken his blood a few hours ago, and already he was proving himself to be a worthy asset to his Lord.

He turned his attention back to the dark walls of the tunnel before him, raising his arm and charging his angelic weapon. These Hybrids had put up a fight – using tactics just as twisted as he'd come to expect from the minds of their kinds – but they could not resist him for long. If he had to tear apart this entire underground lair piece by piece, he'd do it. He wouldn't stop until he had his prize.

As Kaedmon commanded.

He blasted through the tunnel wall and glided through a rather more spacious cavern than the others he'd seen so far. His men followed him through the smoke, and a single beat of his angel wings cleared away the debris and dust from his attack to reveal what looked like a large patch of arable farmland. Glowing crops wafted in the dark fields, and a single house and shed stood at opposing ends of the spacious grounds.

It looked like a shabby imitation of a farm. He figured it would actually be quite peaceful.

But then he remembered where he was.

A series of crossbow bolts came whizzing towards him from the roof of the house, launched from beings concealed within. He blocked the projectiles without a second thought, and then turned his gaze upon the house.

[Azure Arc] Activated!

From his burning eyes came two solid beams of light that swept over the entire farm. For a single second, there was nothing but a feeling of energy passing through the place. Then: fire.

An explosion of light cleaved through the entire farmland, annihilating the house, the shed, the crops, and the ground they were grown on. He did another sweep just to be sure, and savored the cheers of his Greycloaks as he brought his cleansing light down to eradicate any beasts that were still alive down there.

He heard them burn. He saw several lizard-creatures stumble from the remains of the house, their stealth-skills deactivated, and fall to the ground in charred, bloody messes. He saw entire strike teams of goblinoid beasts with murky spears die before they had a chance to spring their pathetic little sneak attacks on him.

But then he saw something else – a small, shimmering circle of light emanating from the ruins of the barn.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Curious, he floated over to the wreckage, sending a single flap of air over the rubble and peering deep into the dissipating haze. His Greycloaks charged with him, slaying any creatures who still dared to draw breath after his assault.

And they saw what he saw, too.

"Well!" one of them chuckled. "Look what we have here. Sanctum's valiant defenders!"

The group shared a much-needed laugh at the sight that stopped the angel.

The sight of several Hopla children huddled together, each of them holding up a tiny translucent arcane shield. There were perhaps thirty of them in total shivering at the sight of the Angel, each one adding their own energies to the shield that they could barely keep together. Their eyes, open and staring, betrayed their fear.

But Artorious had to admit he was surprised. These puny beings had managed to withstand two of his most potent of attacks.

Because of that, he would at least afford them some courtesy before they perished.

"You there," he said to the one standing tallest among them. "What is your name, child?"

He asked her not just because of her demeanor, but because of the clear defiance in her eyes. Defiance that showed him she would grow up to hate humanity. Defiance that showed him she needed an early grave.

To his continued surprise, she lowered her shield and stepped forth, even as her mates tried to hold her back, begging her in their mumbling, idiotic language to stay back.

But she didn't. She strode forward and stood before him, not bothering to shield her eyes as his gaze swept over her.

"My name is Mara," she said.

The Greycloaks behind him tensed up, readying their weapons. But Artorious bade them stand back.

"Please," he said. "There has been enough blood spilled today. Don't you think so, Mara?"

The child gulped. She didn't respond.

"I really do not need to be here," he continued. "You see, I'm looking for something. A large chair. One built into the earth. Perhaps you know of it?"

Mara's eyes widened.

The throne!

Artorious narrowed his burning eyes.

"I can see that you do, child. In that case, direct me to its location and we shall be on our way. I do not savor spilling the blood of the young."

The girl gave a wet sniff, looked back to her companions, and then turned right back to the angel again.

"I – I won't tell you."

The Greycloaks spat at the ground. Their combined fury sent the Hopla children into a collective shudder. Right now, Mara was the only thing standing between them and total annihilation.

And yet, none of them came forward either. As the angel's gaze swept over them, they too, one by one, met his eyes with defiance.

So, he turned back to the little ringleader and smirked down at her.

"Are you scared, child?"

"I'm…terrified," she squeaked, though still she stood tall. "But Miss Fauna always told me…us…that we should face what we are afraid of."

The Greycloaks chuckled. Young Jory kept desperately looking for the word to slaughter these children.

But Arotorious simply smiled down at the little wretch.

"Brave girl," he said. "If you have parting words, now would be the time."

His eyes glowed with the same cleansing power he'd charged before, ready to obliterate these nuisances from the face of the earth.

"Just two," Mara squeaked. "MISS PEREGRINE!"

From behind the Greycloak lines came a hulking minotaur the likes of which they'd never seen. The beast clawed its way out of the barren ground, gored one Greycloak with its rising horns, and then lunged for Artorious, its cleaver swinging in its hand.

The Angel turned to meet the beast, bringing up his hand and catching its weapon's blade between his thumb and forefinger.

"So you're the one who's been giving these beasts their commands," he mumbled.

Miss Peregrine let out a howl of rage as she tried to release herself from the angel's grip. In response, her two daughters, Rimli and Brimhilde, rose up from the hole she'd left behind, their own flails and maces crashing into the Greycloak entourage and scattering them across the field. Finally, the minotaur's youngest son, Ethan, leaped from the hole to aid his mother.

"An entire family of demons come to die together," Artorious sighed. "How very moving."

With a simple flap of his quadruple wings he sent a gust of power surging across the entire burned field, knocking back the three minotaur infants as well as his own troops. He then snapped the mother's axe in two, let her fall, and before her gargantuan body hit the ground speared her with his left hand, cutting through her armor and piercing her heart.

Miss Peregrine gargled faintly as she died. He simply tossed her aside and turned back to the clever little rabbit to see that she had hurriedly begun evacuating her posse.

"Oh no," he said. "There will be no escape for you. For any of you."

His eyes latched on to her as she lead her fellow away, and once at the very edge of the farmstead she looked back to see his burning gaze focused on her.

When will you creatures learn? he found himself thinking. When will you understand how…futile it is to resist the will of a God?

He ignored the cries of the minotaur children as he let another [Azure Arc] fly.

And Mara the Hopla saw her life flash before her.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.