She heard an impact some distance away, followed by an aftershock, and the battle’s clamor ceased. A single roaring voice could be heard.
“Angel there?”
“Verill,” Riell said.
His thunderous footfalls shook the ground as he searched for them.
“Angel there! Angel there!” he roared over and over.
Riell pushed Dejanto away, camouflaged herself and flew into the air.
“I can still see you!” Dejanto said.
Yes, you can, Riell thought.
Verill the Unbreakable looked like a fifty-foot tall demon, gorilla crossbreed when he crashed through the trees.
Hopefully he can’t.
Chapter 30
Shrazz rushed Gerald and attacked the angel with a barrage of punches and kicks. Gerald dodged or blocked all of Shrazz’s techniques, but he could not even begin to form a counterattack. Shrazz’s rapid offense would not allow it.
Gerald’s defense deteriorated before Shrazz. All of his punches, previously unable to penetrate Gerald’s blocks, went through.
Shrazz pulled back his right arm and put momentum into his punch and hoped to stun Gerald.
Gerald had looked bewildered and worn down, but when he saw Shrazz’s slow haymaker he dropped his act. He used the momentum of Shrazz’s blow to pull him off balance.
He kneed Shrazz’s stomach and gave him a quick right hook to the side of his head. Shrazz tried to shake off the blow but only succeeded in stumbling. Gerald torqued his body and followed his hook with a straight punch to Shrazz’s mid-section. The strike propelled him backwards and into the air. Riell’s shadowshield stretched like taffy when Shrazz collided with it and sent him spiraling for Gerald when it snapped back into place.
Gerald focused his Inner. A glow surrounded him as he concentrated. Shrazz steadied himself in the air and thought the velocity of his flight would give him the advantage. Gerald took Shrazz’s punch, and the impact snapped Gerald’s head back. Gerald gripped the exous’ arm tightly with his left arm and twisted it.
Gerald grinned and surged Inner into his right hand. Its rush left intense heat in its wake, followed by momentary numbness. Gerald grimaced and fought against the urge to prematurely release the pressure. Flame, kindled by his Inner, engulfed his right hand.
Gerald uppercutted Shrazz’s stomach and the power stored within his fist detonated on impact. Gerald thought he heard Shrazz howl over the blast.
Gerald watched Shrazz hit the top of Riell’s shield and plummet back down to the earth. Shrazz gripped his stomach as he stood.
“Ugh, that was a nice punch, angel.”
“Thanks, but I know it didn’t hurt you nearly as much as you’re letting on.”
“What?”
“You heard me. I know you’re toying with me.”
“Perceptive.” Shrazz removed his hand from his stomach and stood up straight. “Your punch was impressive nonetheless.” His vest was ruined.
He tore it off and did not bother to unfasten it. His dark skin glistened with sweat. He grinned and ran at Gerald.
Shrazz flung a roundhouse kick in the angel’s direction when he reached him. Gerald made no motion to block it, but when the kick should have made contact with his torso it passed through him.
Shrazz growled as the angel’s body became translucent. Gerald had become ethereal.
“I have a pitch for you.” Gerald smiled at the exous.
“Well, let’s hear it. But hurry.” Shrazz sighed and sat on the ground before the angel. He knew neither he nor Gerald could harm one another while Gerald straddled planes. “I would much rather continue our fight than converse.”
Gerald cleared his throat. “We could join forces. Against Satan.”
“Against him?” Shrazz laughed. “Why would I want to eliminate my employer?” Shrazz flexed his hands and clicked his claws together.
“So Satan hired you to kill me?”
Riell knew about this, Gerald thought. That’s why she set me up. So Drean wouldn’t be compromised. At least I know her loyalties are with Drean and not with Satan.
“I don’t understand where you got the impression that I was going to kill you...” Shrazz stood and let his hand pass through Gerald’s body. He licked his lips. “Your unique spirit energy is what I’m after.”
Gerald stepped away from the exous with a look of surprise on his face. “Don’t do that again. The fact that you find me delicious creeps me out.”
Shrazz laughed.
“Sorry. I can’t help myself.”
“Well you wouldn’t really have much to gain if you joined with me then I guess... other than the fact that we would be battling demons in Hell.”
Shrazz considered this. More of Satan’s elite to feast on... hmm.
“No, I cannot accept the deal,” Shrazz said. “Satan would never forgive such a betrayal, and his vengeance is not something I want on my back.”
Gerald let out a long drawn out sigh. “I had to try.” He let his body attach to the physical plane again. “Let’s finish this.”
Shrazz acknowledged him by bringing the rest of his might to the surface.
All at once the exous’ height doubled, his muscles bulged with enhanced strength, and his claws lengthened and thickened. Bright green light surrounded Shrazz momentarily as his transformation completed. He opened his eyes and smirked at Gerald.
“Wow, Shrazz,” Gerald said.
Shrazz chortled at Gerald’s remark.
“Are you ready to continue?”
“Whenever you are.” Gerald looked the exous over.
Shrazz roared and closed in to continue the fight.
Shrazz’s claws forced Gerald to either dodge or deflect his hand-to-hand attacks which fatigued him.
“You still seem to have me beaten when it comes to agility, angel,” Shrazz said between strikes.
Shrazz deferred to quick strikes to avoid Gerald’s counterattacks.
Shrazz’s claws nicked at the sleeves of his jacket and bit into his flesh. Gerald tried not to focus on the state of his arms, but ache and exhaustion eventually broke him.
He missed a block. Shrazz’s claws raked across his chest, and blood flowed heavily from the wound. Shrazz kicked Gerald squarely on the fresh gouge and sent him airborne.
Shrazz pointed his palms at Gerald and converged his Inner inside them to create a projectile. He hurled a large green ball of flame at Gerald, who had just bounced off of Riell’s shield.
Shrazz’s fireball connected with him and exploded. Shrazz could hear Gerald’s cry of anguish over the detonation and smoke obscured him. The angel fell and landed on his back, he coughed and lay still. Gerald’s eyes were closed. Blood stained the whole front of his body. His clothes had almost completely deteriorated. Gerald’s wings faded into view. They were thoroughly caked with dirt but otherwise unblemished.
“I know that wasn’t enough to finish you!” Shrazz called. “Your wings are completely unharmed!”
“You broke my enchantment? You asshole.”
Shrazz laughed.
“I hope it wasn’t expensive!”
So he knows my hereditary weakness. Wonderful. Looks like I have to revert back to normal after all. This body has already proven itself to be too weak to defend itself from Shrazz’s onslaught.
Gerald felt his wounds heal. With his wings unharmed his body regenerated quickly.
Gerald knew if he returned to his angelic state, Riell’s shield would breakdown from the strain. He did not want to bring the humans into the war.
Gerald looked up into the sky.
Gerald stood, removed his tattered jacket and shirt and tossed them to the ground. He cleared his throat and spat out the blood that had collected in his mouth.
“Tell me this, Shrazz, can you fly?”
“No. I can’t. Thinking of escaping?”
Shrazz held back his astonishment as Gerald’s wounds regenerated.
“Well after I drop this disguise the energy I
generate will demolish this shield,” Gerald said, he recalculated the radius of Riell’s shield and nodded his head.
“I doubt you’ll even cause it to crack,” he scoffed.
“I’m going to create a larger shield beyond it right now. One that can sustain more abuse. That way we’ll have more room for this.” Gerald closed his eyes and took a deep breath, extended his hands to the sky and dropped them to his sides slowly.
Shrazz shook his head and chuckled to himself.
“If it comes to that, angel. Let’s see this ‘transformation.’”
Gerald stretched his wings out fully.
“It’s already done.”
“There’s no way you could create a shield of that magnitude so quickly, but your wingspan is impressive.”
He almost bit his tongue when Gerald’s wings burst into ocean blue flame. A rush of air caused by the combustion of Gerald’s Inner knocked Shrazz to the ground. He struggled to stand up.
Gerald was like polished ebony, smooth and with sheen. His mouth, nose and ears disappeared as the change affected his face. His metamorphosis caused a windstorm of such force that Shrazz had to dig his claws in the ground to keep from being swept away. He blinked rapidly unable to believe what he saw.
Riell’s shield cracked. Gerald threw back his head and roared. Shrazz could plainly hear the unnatural sound over the chaos.
A blue conflagration exploded from Gerald’s body and sent the exous flailing. He waited calmly for Riell’s shield to stop his ascent. It didn’t. Gerald had told him the truth when he said his transformation would destroy it.
Shrazz crashed through the trees and high into the air above the park.
Nuevas Cruces’ metropolis could be seen to the north in the distance. The Organ Mountains were on the horizon to the east.
He felt pressure around his whole body. He squirmed to turn and see what held him but could not.
“Don’t struggle.”
Gerald’s voice had become much deeper. Shrazz was startled and remained still.
“Don’t worry, we’re going to finish this fight. We need to go a bit higher.”
Shrazz almost vomited as Gerald penetrated the lowest tier of clouds in the sky with a few flaps of his monstrous wings.
“We’ve stalled long enough, angel. Release me!”
“First I have to create a floor to close the shield.” Shrazz’s ears popped as Gerald’s shield enveloped them. Simultaneously all the hair on his body stood on end. Clouds around them dissipated while Gerald’s shield increased in size.
Gerald released him and Shrazz fell a few feet before he hit solid ground in midair.
“What?” Shrazz could see only air below him, but somehow stood.
“This shield will allow us to fight in the air without disturbing the human’s park.”
“Your courtesy has no bounds, angel.”
Shrazz turned to the voice and saw Gerald again for the first time.
Gerald towered one hundred feet above Shrazz, and his wingspan had grown in proportion to the rest of his body. Turquoise flame licked upwards from where his eyes used to be.
“I’m sure you fully understand now, exous.”
“Yes, amazing. Your power is a rare delicacy indeed.” Shrazz shook all of his muscles out.
Gerald put one of his enormous hands over his face to stifle his laughter, but he couldn’t stop himself. He doubled over and guffawed. Large gouts of blue flame erupted from where his lips would have been as he laughed. Shrazz held his ears, but it still felt like his eardrums were about to burst. When Gerald stopped Shrazz jumped from side to side, dropped down into a fighting stance and attacked.
Gerald didn’t even seem to notice as Shrazz passed over his left wing.
Shrazz raised his claws to rend Gerald’s wing at the tendon.
Gerald whipped his wing back. Shrazz guarded himself before Gerald swatted him away with the same wing. Flames that covered it seared the exous’ extended hands on contact and left them smoking and charred on the palms. Shrazz blasted fire from his hands to slow himself. This opposing force halted his motion, and he dropped down on the floor of Gerald’s shield.
He watched the green fireball fly further and further away.
How large did he make this shield? It should have stopped that fireball by now.
He heard Gerald chuckle and whirled about. “No lollygagging, Shrazz!”
“You’ll regret chiding me, angel!”
Gerald kept his distance. Shrazz struggled to catch up. Seconds later, something burned his back and knocked him on his face.
How did he attack me? He didn’t make a move.
Shrazz held his ears while Gerald laughed wildly.
“Damn it, what the hell is so...” Shrazz realized that it wasn’t the angel that had attacked him at all. His fireball had bounced off the shield and had hit him. Shrazz fumed, but his carelessness reminded him of something he had seen in his vision.
Yes, I will be victorious. In his vision Gerald had laid within a crater, smoking and still.
Shrazz opened his eyes. He knew what he had to do.
Shrazz reduced his power to increase his speed.
Gerald felt Shrazz’s claws tear his skin before he saw him. Gerald could only make out Shrazz’s location by a trail of green flame left by his aura. Gerald tried to get Shrazz off of him, but every time he made a grab for the exous, Shrazz would be in another spot altogether.
“Enough!” Gerald bellowed. He expelled Inner from every pore of his body and caught sight of Shrazz spiraling away, smoking from the explosion.
Gerald flapped his wings to catch up to him. He reached out and gripped Shrazz to crush him. Shrazz managed to wiggle his head and arms to the top of Gerald’s deathtrap before Gerald squeezed with his other hand as well.
Shrazz closed his eyes and used Inner to erect a flimsy barrier over his body to keep himself from being flattened by Gerald’s hands.
He felt the pressure lessen, but he knew Gerald would pop it without much effort. He would have to work quickly.
Gerald felt Shrazz’s life-energy leak from him in deadly amounts, which gave him the impression that the battle was at its conclusion.
He thinks that barrier will hold. What a fool. Let’s see how he handles this.
Gerald channeled Inner into his hands, setting them aflame.
Shrazz’s barrier broke under the strain.
Shrazz fought with all of his will to stay conscious long enough for his fusion of Inner and life-energy to amass for his final maneuver, but he couldn’t.
Heat scalded him, and his high pitched scream brought a smile to Gerald’s face.
He gave up and prayed for death, for the agony to end and then something happened: his body absorbed Gerald’s energy. Gerald felt it spill from him, like blood from an artery and could not stop it. He tried to squeeze Shrazz as tightly as he could in his hands, but he felt weak. Shrazz felt uncomfortable, but Gerald could not muster the strength he needed to finish him.
Shrazz fused his own remaining Inner and life energy with Gerald’s. Shrazz became a bright ball of fire. He bellowed and released the stored up energy.
Maelstroms of florescent green flame spilled from him. The body born conflagration did not harm him but ignited Gerald like dry tender.
Gerald released Shrazz.
From where he landed, Shrazz watched and chuckled weakly to himself as the fire spread to Gerald’s wings. Green mingled with the blue flame and seconds later consumed it.
Gerald roared, flapped his burning wings in a feeble attempt to keep himself aloft then plummeted.
Shrazz felt the angel’s shield shudder underneath him before it disappeared. Both the exous and angel were in free fall.
Shrazz used the minute amount of Inner he had left to shield himself, so he wouldn’t be killed from the fall.
Gerald crashed into the ground and scarred the earth. Splintered trees lay strewn about.
Shrazz drug himself to where Gerald had falle
n. Every movement was excruciating, a warning that he could injure himself further if he continued to push. Shrazz would not adhere to it. Nothing would keep him from his prey now.
He reached Gerald’s crater and saw he looked human once again. Shrazz tumbled down. Smoke billowed around the angel. His wings were blackened from Shrazz’s last-ditch effort.
“This is really it...” Shrazz muttered. He faced Gerald and opened his mouth wide. He breathed in and shuddered with ecstasy as Gerald’s powerful angelic energies filled his battle worn body.
Chapter 31
“Angel! Give Angel!” Verill roared repeatedly.
Dejanto took a step back even though the exous was still several yards from him.
Riell smiled when Verill swatted Dejanto away with the back of his massive hand. She swooped down to try to grab Drean.
“Riell!” Verill growled.
“Shit!”
Riell accelerated herself to get to Drean, but a black tentacle appeared from a pool of shadow near him and pulled him in.
“Angel! Angel!” Verill yelled.
He coiled his tentacle around the angel, held Drean close to his face and looked him over with his large reptilian eyes.
The tentacle morphed into a hand, and he gripped Drean firmly but not too tightly.
Riell had known that Verill had delved into genetic manipulation to bond other half-breed’s innate abilities to his own. She wondered what consequences such experiments would yield. He was much more of a beast than she had remembered.
Dejanto sliced at Verill’s thick, black scales and did not even get his attention. He licked his blubbery lips, admired his prize and barely noticed Dejanto. He let his free hand droop and his fingers divided into writhing tentacles.
No matter how Dejanto tried to defend himself he could not keep the tentacles from stretching his arms out as far as they would stretch, and then further. One lifted his helmet off. Three tentacles touched his head, one on his forehead, the other two on either side of his neck, and hardened into serrated spikes.
From Heaven To Earth (The Faith of the Fallen) Page 22
