The clash between former brothers erupted with the force of a contained star going supernova. Azrael's silver-black flame met Uriel's divine radiance in an explosion that reduced the cathedral's remaining stained glass to glittering powder. Stone that had stood for centuries cracked and flowed like water under the assault of competing energies that belonged in no earthly realm.Uriel moved with the fluid precision of eons spent in perfect service, its spear of crystallized sunfire carving arcs of light that left molten furrows in the ancient walls. But Azrael was no longer the wild, uncontrolled exile the Seraph had faced in their previous encounters. The ritual at Elena's sanctuary had given him focus, and the armor shard resonated with his essence in ways that pushed back against the divine curse weakening his system."You fight well for a broken thing," Uriel acknowledged as it pressed its attack, spear and flame dancing in patterns that would have overwhelmed most supernatural bei

The air raid sirens had been wailing for six hours when the first riots began. Not the spontaneous outpouring of fear and confusion that might have been expected after the angels' public appearance, but something more coordinated, more deliberately destructive. Across Eidolon City, crowds of seemingly ordinary citizens were gathering at strategic locations—government buildings, media centers, transportation hubs—and proceeding to tear them apart with methodical precision.Maya watched the chaos unfold from the sanctuary's windows, her phone streaming live feeds from across the city as emergency services struggled to respond to dozens of simultaneous incidents. "This isn't random," she said, noting patterns that her journalistic training helped her recognize. "Look at the targets they're choosing. Infrastructure, communications, anything that would help organize a coordinated response."Elena was monitoring radio frequencies, her expression growing more troubled with each intercepted t

The twelve-minute countdown felt like hours as they prepared for the inevitable assault. Elena's sanctuary had been designed to withstand supernatural attacks, but the approaching military units represented something entirely different—mortal ingenuity backed by resources that could overwhelm any individual defenses.Through the reinforced windows, they could see figures in tactical gear taking positions around the building. But these weren't ordinary soldiers. Their equipment glowed with its own internal light, weapons that hummed with contained energy, armor that seemed to bend light around its edges in ways that suggested technology reverse-engineered from supernatural encounters."They've been preparing for this," Elena observed, studying the deployment patterns through enhanced optics. "This isn't a hastily assembled response—it's a coordinated operation using specialized equipment."Maya was monitoring communications frequencies, her expression growing more troubled as she inter

The Celestial Citadel's descent shattered the last pretense of order in Eidolon City. As ten thousand seraphs spread across the sky in perfect military formation, the earth responded with violence of its own—chasms splitting open to disgorge armies of shadow and flame that had been marshaling in the depths for millennia.The battle for the city began before the opposing forces even engaged each other directly.Angels claimed the high ground—skyscrapers became fortified positions where beings of pure light established sniper nests capable of reducing city blocks to ash. Their weapons fired beams of concentrated starfire that carved new canyons through the urban landscape, while their presence alone caused electronics to fail and steel to flow like water.Demons seized the underground networks, pouring through subway tunnels and sewer systems to establish a shadow empire beneath the surface. They turned parking garages into armories, shopping centers into command posts, and every baseme

The divine spear burned through Azrael's chest like molten starlight, its blade designed not just to wound but to unmake—to systematically erase his existence from the fabric of creation itself. Each heartbeat sent waves of unraveling through his system, divine fire racing along his nerves as Uriel's weapon did exactly what it had been forged to do.Around him, the angelic legion watched with satisfaction as their ancient enemy finally faced judgment. The mortal soldiers pressed themselves deeper into whatever cover they'd found, their faces pale with the recognition that they were witnessing something beyond human comprehension."It is finished," Uriel declared, though it made no move to withdraw the blade. "The Forsaken Flame is extinguished. Order is restored."But the ancient Seraph had made a tactical error—it had assumed that Azrael stood alone on the battlefield.Maya erupted from the ruins of a collapsed storefront where she'd taken shelter when the battle intensified, her jou