Noctis was standing by the same lake he remembered from The Speaker's domain, the warmth of her realm kissing his skin whilst the breeze billowed his hair and wings. He looked around for the angel and found himself alone with only his reflection in the lake to welcome him back. He was in a garden of some sort, surrounded by said river and flourishing with life of all sorts. Critters and vegetation in abundance he never saw back on earth.
"This wasn't here the first time." He told himself with unknowning of the presence behind him.
He looked down at the river and took a taste with a gentle scooping of his hands. The water was so pure and clear even with the many schools of fish it was like the wanting of anything sugary or bad for his bad disappeared in an instant.
"It's so clean."
He smiled at his rippling reflection coming into view as the water started to calm again, allowing him to see the surprisingly quiet angel that stood behind him.
"Michael?"
He glared in confusion as he realized it wasn't an illusion from the archangel casting a shadow over his form. It was indeed him but no hand nor blade was raised, and the coldness that said angel carried did not mask him.
Noctis took in the man staring down so pitifully before he joined and sat in the grass to watch the life of this garden.
"This garden started it all." Michael finally talked and took a seat next to Noctis, his gaze following to the group of deer frolicking a tall meadow. "Your aunt had such an imagination for the creatures god wanted to bring to life."
Noctis' eyes widened as he realized this wasn't The Speaker's domain at all….
"The Garden of Eden?"
Michael nodded and frowned at his own reflection, clenching his fists tightly. Noctis blinked as he processed this paradise….but couldn't fully grasp that they were in the same place that started it all.
He looked down at his reflection again and gasped when he saw a mountain sized serpent's shadow looming over him and Michael. He felt familiar to this three-eyed monster that flapped its wings but when he looked behind he saw nothing was there.
The beast lowered its head and blew a puff of golden fire while Noctis was feeling the weight being a flea compared to a titan. He gasped again when the golden fire touched in his reflection, but still had no presence lurking over him.
"Your true form." Michael commented.
Noctis froze when the shadows melted away to show the depth of his power, a basking of every feature that shimmered like stars.
"That's me?" He asked with a shaky breath.
It was him. It was the leviathan, the divine beast in all its glory as a mountain sized serpent with dragon-like feature on its face, two mouths that overlap, its scales glistening with magic and pulsating up to the six impossibly large wings that carried small embers at the feathery tips.
"That is who you were meant to be." Michael sighed with regret.
Noctis drank in the form before it vanished from the watery reflection, and turned himself to the archangel.
"Why are we here?"
Michael exhaled deeply to that question and stared at his own hands with a longing silence of his own thoughts. He felt guilt and regret for many things in his existence as Heaven's army leader, but this pain was forfeit compared to what made his heart throb with heaviness.
"I have…..regrets."
"Regrets?" Noctis questioned suspiciously.
Michael smiled at his own reflection and nodded.
"Many starting with how I was to you." He admitted, having Noctis' full attention now. "I have wronged you in so many ways in both of your livings, seeing you as someone who could bear some of my responsibilities. That is until I came to bear the same feelings Sera had at your birth, and I realized how foolish I was to maintain distance."
Noctis wasn't sure where this was going but remained silent and listening to the regretful archangel continue his confession with growing bitterness.
"You were so stubborn back then about being the strongest, being stronger than me. And part of me was jealous of the idea when you rose to the calling of the divine beasts and became one."
Michael then waved his hand with the most gentle of magic to form in front of them. A washing of his aura mixing in the water to rise and mirror the past before them as to figures fighting brutally to a death that had not come.
Noctis recognized this strange fight the moment the waters molded to his face and Lyroia, and felt his heart surge with anger at the loss of Moira.
Michael on the other hand smiled at the replaying event of The Goetia Battle.
"Then I felt pride when I watched behind my own cage how you fought this unwanted angel and even when pinned you kept fighting. You didn't falter nor show a shred of fear, just like myself in the last of my battles."
He turned his gaze to Noctis, a subtle but genuinely rare warmth in his smile.
"I've been denying myself for so long, but I made you more of myself than I expected. And although not by blood.... You are my son."
Noctis remained quiet and turned to the archangel extending a hand, as if expecting his own in agreement or acceptance.
"I have no doubt you can save me from myself and both realms from Adam."
The extension remained in the air as the water calmed again, but there was no extension yet from Noctis. He looked to Michael's hand and then at him with a hardened gaze.
"Go fuck yourself."
For the first time in his existence the archangel flinched and had nothing to say that. He recoiled when Noctis quickly stood up and saw beyond this strange encounter not a man giving friendship but something darker in his heart.
"You think just because you've had some time to see your mistakes and your regrets that you can just extend yourself as a father figure to me. No, that's not how I works when you had ample opportunity in my previous life."
Michael was sure when he stood up if he had anything to say to that.
"Noctis I have made many mistakes and I see now—"
"Seeing now doesn't mean shit!" Noctis interrupted harshly and shoved the overly-tall archangel staring him down. "I don't care what you think you feel or see now. I needed a father back then. Romna needed a father and you chose to be a damn coward that hid behind his own bullshit!"
"I didn't know how to be a father to you!" Michael countered defensively, but Noctis just laughed with deep bitterness.
"And that gives you excuse?!" Noctis waved an arm as if casting all things aside between them. "No, asshole! It doesn't! I didn't know how to be a dad but I busted my ass to understand two very amazing hellhounds!"
Michael gazed away with guilty knowing there was no excuse to his actions. He quickly silenced his heart and mind and slowly tried to approach.
Noctis wasn't having it though, he stepped back from the angel with resentment in his eyes.
"No, don't fucking touch me."
"But I want to hold you." Michael stated firmly, hiding his need behind the voice he would always use around his peers. "Reject me all you want but I am the closest thing to a father you will ever have!"
"Bullshit!" Noctis snapped and stepped back even more. "You don't get to make that decision when you denied yourself for two lifetimes! I don't need a dad! I grew up without a dad! I didnt need one then and I don't need one now!"
Michael's eyes widened in shock as he heard this. He realized Noctis was undoubtedly correct of not needing a father figure in his life when he spent the previous and the one now without one, and he turned himself into something great through his torments and trials.
But it didn't hurt his heart like it should. No, if anything it made him harden and glare right back at Noctis who was looking over his shoulder.
"You're right, you don't need a father when you have attained a family on your own and have fathered those two hellhounds."
"Damn right." Noctis spat bitterly.
"However…." Michael paused for a deep breath and planted himself behind the man with a hard grasp of the shoulder. "Your rejection means nothing to me. I helped create you so you are my son whether you like it or not. And there will be a time when you will need me."
"Whatever." Noctis brushed him off and refused to accept that. He walked away from the archangel as the garden started to disappear. "I'll save you, but don't think this means I'm gonna just let you in my life."
"Is that so?" Michael challenged before throwing an item he held secretly in his armor to the ground, hoping it would give clarity.
Noctis turned back and his eyes widened in shock of the the childish toy he remembered from when he was an orphan back on earth. He had not seen that owl plushie since the day of the orphanage burning to the ground due to his powers going out of control to protect himself.
"You didn't send that child-eating monster and that orphanage into flames, I did." Michael quickly clarified.
All that memory hit him like a train, waking aggressively with the past he was forced to remember when The Speaker used it to break him. He picked up the owl plushie and swallowed in slight fear of what the archangel had to say.
"I have always been with you, even in spirit." Michael said to clear the air between them. "All your troubles. All your fights. Everything you suffered on earth was seen by me."
"What?" Noctis said sharply, angrily and confronting the archangel. "What the hell are you talking about!?"
"You thought you were always alone?" Michael insinuated, cracking himself with emotion. "No, I was always watching over. Every night you dreamt poorly, the moments you were chilled and alone, even that orphanage that burnt down from your power, I was there."
Noctis didn't get the chance to interrogate Michael. The archangel cast another reformation of the water to display the night the orphanage was burnt to the ground, showing the final piece to Noctis' survival when he should have been burnt or crushed to death.
This moment of history, this missing piece, it shimmered in the light and replayed to the end of Noctis' memory from when he still thought himself to be just a human child that somehow killed a child-eating monster and burnt the orphanage around him. The blackout was the last bit he did remember; but now he watched the truth of his survival show underneath a pile of rubble.
Michael, the most unlikely person, had descended and crashed down from heaven at the last second to shield the unconscious Noctis from the rubble caused by the distress of his power.
And with it came more incidents of his life—almost every mysterious plate of food appearing when he wakes up hungry, the blankets that would be draped in the middle of the night, even his various occasions of bullies running from him for no reason...
"That was you?" Noctis asked, watching a particular moment of his life where he was hungry but fed the next morning with food that wasn't around.
"I have always watched over you." Michael said softly.
"Why show me this?" He asked after picking up the owl plushie from his childhood, staring down at it with reluctance and conflict.
"Because I have been there every time. I knew you were back before anyone else and I felt it to be my chance to be there but….." Michael dared not speak the reason behind his secrecy—not that it mattered.
"But Adam has control of you." Noctis said, hitting the nail on the head when Michael nodded.
Finally a bit of closure for them even if worlds apart, but it was better than nothing and it drew Noctis in closer to the archangel.
"Let me guess," he chuckled, his eyes brim with tears. "You didn't say anything or do anything because you were scared that Adam would kill me again."
"Yes." Michael answered.
"And let me guess again," Noctis choked himself with his emotions. "You've been waiting for me to grow up and stop all this?"
Michael nodded.
Grief and anger came freely to the man when this bitter truth burned so much in his chest and gave him a sense apprehension to the whole situation.
"How did he get control of you?" Noctis asked.
That one question was so poisonous it made Michael finally be silent and turn away.
"No. Don't look at away. Answer me." Noctis demanded calmly, before the ongoing silence from Michael made him snap. "ANSWER ME!"
Michael flinched and inhaled deeply, finding what courage he had left.
"After your death I became stricken with grief and hatred toward myself. I felt just as guilty as Sera when I helped her strike you down by making the blade."
Noctis found himself speechless, a powerful ache in his belly as he watched Michael clench his teeth and shed tears through his cracked speaking.
"When it was done I found myself incapable of continuing to be the leader I was so I passed leadership to Adam in exchange he would use the sigil to let me sleep."
Noctis gasped, knowing now the exorcists were never Adam's truly.
A flicker of true pain from archangel came loose, his eyes burning with so much regret he couldn't blink away for visibility of the garden. He was blurred, even blind by sight and soul of the pain that poured out of him.
So much that his voice broke…..
"This is all my doing. I failed to be your father. I failed to protect you. I failed to be a leader and I failed heaven. I am responsible for everything."
"Michael….." Noctis breathed and paused, his thoughts empty of anything that might help soothe the pain they share.
"Don't!" Michael snapped beyond his cold recognition and showed himself a man with guilt. "Do not coddle me when my faults are what caused all this in the first place. This is why I helped create you—to make you like me in case I fall."
Noctis recoiled at his admission and hardened himself.
"Yeah well I'm not like you." Noctis told him coldly, turning away from the archangel that gasped. "I'm my own person. The way I am is because I choose to be."
No knife, no sigil, not pain could compare to that sharp edge Michael felt in his chest when Noctis turned his back and walked away.
"I'm grateful you kept me alive." Noctis stopped and glared over his shoulder, his serpentine eyes shining with light. "But to be a dad you have to step up, and that means being there fully."
Michael hated how bitter those words felt, but all he could do was watch Noctis start to disappear and hope for the best of things.
"Whatever it's worth... you're more human than I could ever be...son."
Noctis opened his eyes and sat up for what it was worth to find himself in the shared bed of Charlie's penthouse. There was blood, sweat, and other bodily fluids staining the comforter and mattress. There were four very unforgettable girls sharing his body as a pillow and snoring different tunes of last night's exhausting togetherness that reeked from all their bodies.
Said room looked like something out a video made by Valentino, the rest of what was undamaged still tainted with too much for him to remember.
Noctis quietly snuck out of bed with great effort when Loona was out cold on his chest and firmly gripping his shaft with her own wetness, a vice grip he could understand but needed freedom when he was sweaty and hungover after being forced to drink with them.
He cringed at the audible pop between her legs and watched as she growled in her sleep before finding the pillow with his scent. She hugged it tightly and nestled the fabrics with a deep inhale in her slumber.
"Mine….."
Noctis tiptoed to the shower after finding his outfit from Carmilla yesterday. He was struggling to keep from waking the girls when his wings were dragging across bottles.
He froze though when Beezlebub stirred in a sleepy hungover haze and blinked lazily at the bed.
"Hubby…."
"Don't wake up." He muttered.
Thank the stars she crashed again in the same spot she was last time—right into Charlie's rear.
A quick breath of relief and understanding these girls would not wake up , he quickly washed up and styled himself before sneaking out of the bedroom to go check on everyone.
When he opened the door though he froze to the one woman he didn't want to see his aftermath. She just stood there with both of her daughters and smirked knowingly what he was trying to do while having buckets of water at the ready.
"Mom." He gulped thickly and laughed with a nervous edge.
"Did you have fun my darling?" She asked coyly before stepping into the room to find the four naked demons still out cold.
Noctis couldn't stop himself from turning red as while his adopted mother let herself and her daughters into the room
"At least someone can be up in time." Odette muttered before the overlord nodded to her and Clara.
In one swift motion the Carmine Sister raised both buckets and emptied the contents all over his lovers with an ice-cold touch.
Like a domino effect the results played to Carmilla's amusement when the first to snap awake was Charlie. She screeched to the icy feeling on her back and shot up on her knees with her rear now firmly pressed into Beezlebub's nose. She was next to scream but against Charlie's most sacred area while her fingers exited Vaggie, startling the former exorcist to jump and materialize her spear on the spot.
Unfortunately this left Loona to suffer not just the cold but Vaggie's foot pressed hard against where it shouldn't be.
She screamed in pain and snapped her jaws like a sleeping animal.
"Bitch, get off my vagina!"
Noctis couldn't handle any of this and left the bedroom while the girls were in a hungover rage at the smirking Carmilla just standing there and enjoying the torment. His nerves were already shot and he needed a stiff drink to calm himself before the storm that would come very soon.
His animosity was not unnoticed though. Clara and Odette saw how he was acting and immediately followed with growing concern about his wake up call being far from anything that flickered a glow of satisfaction or at least delightful exhaustion.
"Noctis." Clara said sharply and grabbed his wrist to stop him.
Every fiber of his body yearned to just yank away and let himself fester about what transpired. When he looked back though he saw not the two critical sisters he rarely had time to have with but concerned siblings that cared.
"Brother what troubles you?" Odette asked lightly, though her voice was hinting worry.
This rare concern from them defeated Noctis, making him sigh and answer with a tired look.
"I was having another spiritual whatever while asleep, only it was in the Garden of Eden and talking to Michael.
The Carmine Sisters gasped, purely stunned as he turned away.
"He told me everything that didn't make sense about my life on earth and how he was always there." He inhaled deeply and breathed out his anger. "And that all this extermination day crap started when he let Adam take control."
"Let it happen?" Odette asked harshly, and Noctis nodded to her.
"Yeah he did. He said the grief was too much for him so he let Adam do his thing."
Noctis turned away and walk, leaving them both stunned with the last of his bitterness said in a low voice.
"I have no father and it's gonna stay that way."
————————————————————
Outside of the recovering city of Heaven, Adam and his army stood ready to slaughter anyone in their way, armed with the nostalgia of their weapons so stained by bloodshed it was impossible to fully clean. Evil truly showed in the expressions on their masks while they watched their grand leader pulsed a hand of holy energy into Michael's sigil, causing a deep discomfort that made his eyes water.
"Just in case that divine cuck tries to save you." He sneered, enjoying the pain of the archangel whilst his handwork pulsed on the collar bone.
At that moment Lute swooped down fit and ready but concerned. "Sir, a few exorcists are starting to show awareness. The sigil is straining."
"Doesn't matter." He said dismissively while reattaching Michael 's chest piece. "Even if they free themselves they'll be lunch meat for the sinners while I handle Sera's little bastard."
Lute was expected to be as uncaring about those who were under control, but even she had a flicker of doubt when she looked back to the army and heard the rattling of a few weapons from those who were still fighting internally.
"You're going to use them as fodder?" She asked, her expression stoic but her voice almost cracking with uncertainty.
Adam finished his work with a good snicker and a firm pat of Michael's cheek.
"Make sure to cut the head off this time."
Lute was very unsure of the upcoming battle now and approached with a whisper.
"Sir, this is your army. These are my sisters. We can't just use them for—"
A strong yelp of pain broke her thought, her cheek burning when she grasped it and looked to Adam with the same horror as the first time she got out of line.
"Stupid bitch!" He said scathingly. "Just the ones that are under control of the sigil."
He turned away to face his army, many of which were itching for bloodshed while those who didn't move were actually shaking in resistance like Michael.
It made him smile sadistically under his mask while Lute regained herself.
"I wonder how that Vag-bitch will do knowing her own sisters will be lunch meat."
He then felt someone place a hand on his shoulder and knew it was not Lute when she was rubbing her cheek under her mask beside him.
"Gah!" Adam shrieked and spun around.
The closest Exorcists drew their weapons before he leapt back to see it was Emily glaring up to him.
"Emily?"
"How can you be so cruel?" She asked hatefully, flapping her wings to face him at eye level. "I used to look up to you. I thought you were the greatest of us all when you became an angel."
"That's why you're here?" He asked and dismissed her thoughts instantly. "Bitch I am the greatest. You idiots just don't have the balls to do what I do."
"You're a bully and a monster!" Emily shrieked.
Adam laughed at Emily and her defiance as she expressed her anger.
"You're a rapist, a murderer, an arrogant and evil creature that's preyed on everyone for too long."
"Sure, tell yourself that." He said uncaringly with a lazy flick of his hand.
"And worst of all you have to be the most disgusting sinner in all of creation. You're not a man. You're not an angel. You're just a thing."
Adam's smiled froze and slowly broke away at those harsh words. He believed himself to be untouchable after being in charge for so long, but it turned out that there was still a chip in the armor of his person.
And Emily had hit it.
"What did you just say?" He asked in a cold tone.
Emily inhaled and was about to enunciate those words again, but she felt herself in pain by the fist that connected to her head and sent her into the ground. She didn't even have time to register what happened or the blood escaping her mouth when Adam was truly relentless. She screamed when he grabbed her hair and forced her up to her feet.
"Sir don't!" Lute said in panic, but she was ignored.
"You listen here you little tramp." Adam warned the whimpering Emily with a fierce punch to her cheek. "I'm Adam—The First Man. I made Michael my bitch, your sister my cock sleeve, and I killed that bitch-son of hers once."
Emily didn't try to fight back when the pain was so exhausting to process after a third punch to her stomach. It didn't stop her though from doing what no angel had done after Roman was wrongfully killed.
She glared up at Adam, angrily through her pain, defiantly and burning with the same fire in her bruising belly she found from being inspired by Noctis when he was here.
"Noctis will…..stop you." She spit blood on his mask.
Adam bristled at Emily's words and slammed her into the ground, hearing her scream in pain.
"Nobody can stop me." He growled.
"Sir you need to stop!" Lute intervened, or tried to but found herself slapped even more harshly by the first man.
"Stay out of this Lute!" Adam ordered before looking down to Emily again.
He expected the small seraphim to finally break and fall into despair like all the council did in the beginning, but his dark hope faltered into the smallest fear when she laid there and still looked up to him angrily.
"He will stop you. You may be the first man but he is a righteous man." She stated with all her heart before getting kicked away.
"Bitch." He muttered and sent her off with a snap of his fingers, teleporting the seraphim back to the council.
"Sir…." Lute couldn't believe what just happened but dared not speak another word when his mood was already ruined.
Now he had to get himself hyped up again and that was annoying as is with Lute looking so apalled by his actions.
"Get your shit together. We have a realm to destroy." He ordered most hatefully, making her flinch before he took a breath and collected his excitement once more.
Adam grinned before he addressed the exorcists.
"Extermination Day is here, bitches. We're going to go down and exterminate demon ass!"
The Army of Exorcists cheered.
Lute stood behind Adam, finding her own motivation beyond the cruelty she just felt.
"Destroy that ass!"
Adam smirked at his girls and continued to raise morale.
"Prepare to slaughter every sinner in that shit hotel, but leave that review cuck son of Sera to our little toy here." He ordered excitedly, patting Michael on his pauldron.
He then went and asked, "And you all remember Vaggie?"
All the Exorcists booed and criticized at the mere mention of that name as he said with disgust. "Well that one-eyed whore is playing mommy with a pair of hellhounds and fucking both Lucifer's bitch daughter and that seraphim bastard, so make sure you guys rip her apart."
"Rip Vaggie's cunt mouth out her ass!" Lute said with a crazed smile.
That though got everyone a bit shocked and silent in what she said. It was not new that Lute was a bit extreme with her prejudice methods of killing sinners.
Adam said with a hint of disgust, stammering from inability to process where she got this extremism.
"Would you just-ju-chill, Lute. Fuck." He then cleared his throat and addressed his army. "Anyway, whoever brings me Vaggie's head gets..."
He stopped to think of a good prize for one of his girls. "Uh I dunno, a million Heaven bucks. How about that, huh?"
"What about those pups?" One of the exorcists asked.
"I say we keep the primordial as a weapon!" One exorcist suggested.
Adam let out a dark chuckle and said, "Oh don't worry. I have plans for that level of magic."
————————————————————
With everyone finally awake and sober thanks to Husk having his own special cocktail to counter alcohol, the atmosphere was heavy and built outside the hotel with everyone gathered and armed to the teeth for the heavens to come open and reign down with Adam and his army.
Noctis looked around after gathering his thoughts and emotions to find the cannibals about as ready as they could be for the overwhelming odds that would come. It disheartened him to see these people were putting on brave faces to hide their fear while his friends and family were gathered and ready with him.
"Clara and Odette are heading back to the compound with the pups." Carmilla stated, making him turn away from the group to see both pups screaming and crying in the limousine.
Charlie being who she is made her goodbyes with both boys clinging to her arms after Vaggie made her own very brief.
"Mommy loves you both." She said quietly, but neither were letting go.
It hurt…..or in this case it throbbed her heart just as she and Vaggie stepped back to watch both boys be driven away in the limousine.
All they could do was watch and wave.
"Chance." Noctis said out of the blue, appearing beside them in thought.
Charlie and Vaggie shared the same confusion as he smirked at the disappearing car, and then realized what he meant. But before either of them could speak on about the primordial having that name, Noctis disappeared in a flash once more and reappeared with a disgruntled Alastor giving off a mild screech of static after losing his microphone.
Thankfully Rosie was quick to stop the overlord from overreacting with a firm grip of his shoulder.
Whatever Noctis planned to do so sudden, it had Stolas stop at the edge of the portal he made to take Octavia home, watching him stand tall at the hotel steps.
"What is that boy up to?"
"Everyone listen up!" He yelled, making himself wince and adjust when the microphone was a little too close for his voice.
He paused briefly for everyone to stop their preparations and turn all eyes on him while a finally sober Beezlebub popped in beside him, feeling it was her duty again after so long to stand as his wife like in his previous living.
"What's he doing?" Charlie whispered to the smirking Vaggie who had her arms crossed after she adjusted her armor.
Vaggie had a good idea what their mate planned to do, but she remained silent to let it be a surprise.
Loona was smirking at his other side though after she briefly mocked the still furious Blitz about she had a really good night claiming Noctis. She deliberately looked back at the imp and stuck her tongue out, enjoying how he was foaming from the mouth.
With all eyes now on him, Noctis braced both his mind and heart as they gathered closer and spoke proudly.
"Very soon we will be engaging in the biggest battle known in the history of hell. An army designed to wipe us out will be casting aside any humanity for the sake of fun in slaughtering us."
He paused in thought as those words reminded everyone the fear they share.
"Humanity—that word is so fragile yet it carries so much meaning no matter the species. And somehow it's been lost amongst everyone."
He gave the sinners a moment to think about it, about themselves and the way they are before resuming his speech.
"Angels, sinners, humans, it doesn't matter anymore because we are uniting under one purpose—to fight for our right to live."
He glared at that moment to everyone, even his friends and family as they gathered around him.
"Today may be extermination day but no more. Today is the day that we united against Adam and spoke for both Heaven and Hell, screaming under one voice— We will not let you play god with our lives. We will fight and we will survive!"
"Kinda gives you a boner huh?" Blitz implied with a grin and nudged Moxxie, only to be scoffed by his fellow imp and punched in the shoulder by Millie.
"This is not the end. This is not our final day." Noctis added with finality, finding the courage in the army gather. "Today we will fight and celebrate our right to exist!"
Everyone cheered at those words, screaming in defiance of this day and finding their courage to fight while the gang approved his words.
Even the irritated Alastor nodded at him after taking back his microphone.
"Alright people you heard him. Let's get ready!" Vaggie ordered.
Just then the entirety of hell was shaken to its core by a sound familiar only to the former exorcist. A single tune of trumpets echoed from heaven and rang across both realms as the portal from heaven opened with silhouettes of Adam and his pawns coming into view.
"That's Michael's sound," Vaggie shouted again. "Everyone get ready!"
"You heard the one eye bitch, move your asses!" Blitz screamed before the hotel scattered with battle stations now filling up before Stolas left with Octavia.
"To your positions now!" Carmilla screamed.
The swarm started to pour down with Adam, Lute and Michael at the front line, gathering above the hotel.
"Look at them. All ready and piled up for the massacre." Lute sneered with a sinister smile.
"Here goes nothing!" Noctis shouted as he was ready to power up.
Vaggie looked over to the army, rallying everyone and raising her spear. "NOW! FOR YOUR SOULS! FOR YOUR RIGHT TO EXIST!"
Seeing the exorcists descend, Charlie roared, "LET'S FUCK! THEM! UP!"
"FUCK'EM IN THEIR TIGHT CLEAN ASSES!" Blitz shouted out.
"Noctis, get ready!" Carmilla ordered.
At the overlord's words, Noctis activated his power at its base level whilst forming his scales on his chest and arms.
He grit his teeth and hugged himself with a strong condensing of his energy before it radiated as the aura everyone remembered.
"Here goes nothing!" He roared.
And so Noctis led the charge by flying into the air to battle a few exorcists while the others flew in with their melee weapons. The others hung back to provide ranged support or to attack Noctis in whatever blindspots they could hopefully find.
Beezlebub enlarged herself to her full size of and snarled at the attackers coming down, ready to fight as a wife hellbent on keeping her husband alive in this life and to show why she was the sin of gluttony.
"This is for Adam ruining my life and my marriage!" She screamed before her four hands grasped at agile exorcists and crushed them like exploding toothpaste tubes.
Husk was on the other side of the hotel with his signature cards flying through the air, his support most beneficial for Noctis when a handful of exorcists kept attacking in unison.
"Thanks Husk!"
"Duck!" Husk shouted, warning the divine beast before an exorcist swung her blade.
Said exorcist connected her sword to Noctis' scales on his forearm but it was an intentional block that followed with him ramming his free fist into her abdomen with a strong shockwave obliterated her insides.
"That's for every sinner you killed like cattle!" He yelled angrily, watching the blood burst from the exorcist's mask before she fell dead into a group of hungry cannibals.
"NO SURRENDER! NO PRISONERS!" The leading exorcist shouted at her squad, as they charged at him.
"I wouldn't try that." Husk warned before Noctis came crashing down on the exorcist, crushing her head with a sickening crack. "Tried to warn 'em."
"Hey that wasn't so bad." Noctis laughed at Husk before they both ducked from Cherri jumping off their shoulders.
"Hey watch it!" They shouted in unison.
"Yeah let's have it, ya bitches!" She cackled madly, watching those she fought be shredded by the debris.
Those who weren't aware of what was going on were killed by the rest of the shrapenal within radius of said explosion.
These exorcists didn't have time to understand what happened as Husk threw his cards to cut through others that were disoriented from the rebellious slaughter.
"Noctis!" Carmilla screamed confidently, smirking as she decapitated one exorcist and used its corpse to leap into the air with others surrounding her.
Noctis looked up and understood what his adopted mother was doing. He took off again with a gust of his wings and caught her hand in motion of his flight.
"Wanna dance?" He asked, pulling the overlord into him.
"Gladly my darling!" Carmilla responded with swift and precise motion of her body.
A dance of mother and son became a spectacle of connection and carnage with exorcists falling one by one to the angelic steel of her slippers and his energy firing in different directions. Their form was fluid, almost perfect with how Carmilla used Noctis to throw herself into combat with him as the anchor to her momentum.
"Beautiful Mi Vida!" She praised after being thrown higher into the air to cut three exorcists at once with a graceful spin.
Seeing the battle take the anticipated turn, Alastor decided it was his turn to make an effort with calculated thought of buying Noctis as much time to fight before the big one.
"Let the slaughter begin." He told himself and raised his staff.
With a swipe of said staff, Alastor let out a sadistic laugh and let his power do the work. He let his energies throb and erupt with a powerful dome around the hotel that cut the rest of the exorcists from entering the parameter but trapping the others inside.
This gave the defenders of the Hotel hope as they pressed the attack with the few numbers now starting to waver while he gave a mock bow to Noctis and Carmilla.
"Have your fill." He laughed.
Angel and Cherri Bomb were having the time of their lives reliving their old ways of territorial chaos by shredding through any exorcist that dared to get close.
"Eat Shrapnel, Fuckers!" Cherri exclaimed with a manic smile.
Pentious then ordered, blade raised in command. "All angelic weapons fire at will!"
The cannons nearby fired as ordered but it ruined Noctis and Carmilla in their deadly dance when they had to dodge in the middle of fighting the few exorcists that were obliterated.
"Watch your aim you fool!" Carmilla snapped just as Husk flew in from another fight, throwing and flicking cards that cut the already injured exorcists.
"Hey! Yelling while fighting doesn't help!" He chastised.
Noctis remained in the air with a firm hand grasping his deadly mother by her waist as they watched the odds start to balance. But like any eager fighter he was starting to feel a little annoyed by the chaos unfolding.
"Enough of this!" He growled and charged up his feathertips.
Confusing the overlord the watchful overlord in his grasp, he focused his energies into singular balls and used feeling and memory of the power he used against Lyroia.
"Noctis!?" Charlie yelled in question.
Carmilla caught on immediately and smiled sinisterly at the radiating orbs that embedded into his feathers. She licked her lips hungrily, thirsting for the bloodshed he was going to attempt.
"Make momma proud." She praised, feeling his body vibrate.
Noctis thrusted all six wings up and fired streams of light like before but in a more controlled manner.
"HAAAAA!"
These streams launched and arched high above with a momentary pause before coming down and chasing the exorcists that were lucky enough to notice.
Those who paid attention to the fight in front of them were victims immediately with these streams piercing through their bodies and burning them from the inside out.
"Show off!" Blitz screamed jealously after he climbed an exorcist and slit her throat. "First you fuck my daughter and now playing big dick!"
Loona rolled her eyes and smirked after mangling one in her teeth, relishing the fatherly protection he exhumed and used to fuel his wrath.
She spat the arm of a screaming exorcist out and shook her head playfully.
"Actually Blitz I fucked him!"
"You what!?" Blitz screamed, pausing with his dagger lodged in a throat.
Loona ducked and leapt from two more and said proudly. "Oh yeah I did, and I bit his ass just to make sure he knows he is marked."
"You bit his ass!?" Blitz and Carmilla screamed in unison, watching her return to the fight.
"You bit my ass!?" Noctis yelled angrily before blasting a few with streams of fire. "Why, Loona!?"
Loona paused briefly, holding an exorcist in a headlock.
"Because now you know who owns your ass!" She laughed proudly, making her father and her new love gawk at her boldness as she resumed tearing exorcists apart with her teeth.
Niffty as psychotically giddy as any insane demon can be, ran around stabbing every angel she could find on the ground, acting on pure malice but ultimately helpful when her intentions did help confirm no exorcist on said ground was still alive.
Charlie and Vaggie were fighting back-to-back, or more-so Charlie was distracted and barely keeping pace with Vaggie handling the killing part.
"Alastor's shield is working!" Charlie exclaimed happily, seeing the strategy working. "And Noctis is tearing through them with Carmilla."
"Trying to focus, sweetie!" Vaggie responded, dodging and killing with precision.
Charlie was still feeling good, looking at the fallen angels her female mate was cutting down.
"We might actually have a chance!"
Vaggie threw her spear at the exorcist who tried to attack the distracted Charlie.
"Love the optimism. Still trying to focus." Vaggie told her with a brief smile, then beheaded another exorcist.
Meanwhile a very irritated Moxxie was on a pile of exorcist corpses, blasting one by one away while his wife was all over the place with an angelic axe provided.
"Doing good sweetie!" Millie complimented after splitting one down the middle.
"No mercy for you disgusting hellborn!" A brave exorcist shouted, only to have their head head opened by the unamused Moxxie that stared flatly with his gun smoking.
"I need a hobby." He told himself, using the moment to catch his breath and watch his wife go crazy with her skills.
However, a huge blast from the shadow barrier caught everyone's attention, pausing the carnage with even the exorcists that remained now looking up.
They could see that Adam flew in fast, and struck hard on the shield with a punch. Said punch emitted a powerful blast which rattled the barrier and cancelled it out.
"Oh no." Charlie said worriedly as cracks formed about it.
"This is bad." Angel Dust said with a moment of fear.
Finally it shattered completely, allowing the angelic forces outside to join their comrades in the fight.
It caught everyone's attention from all corners. The Exorcists who had survived inside smirked and felt confident about the tide of war turning.
"Let's see you bitches hold up now!" Adam taunted and turned to Michael.
He thrusted his hand with an eerie control of the sigil on Michael, causing the archangel to twitch and writhe.
"Kill the leviathan." Adam snickered.
With no control Michael could only watch himself flare the power he was born with and emit a powerful presence across all of hell that sent the sinners both hiding and outside into a panic when they were watching the live feed from Vox's drones.
His aura blazed like a golden inferno before he soared down to his target that just landed to get Carmilla safely on her feet.
"SON!" The overlord screamed and pointed.
Noctis didn't need to look back when he sensed Michael coming in fast—too fast for him to handle. All he could do was shove Carmilla away while the remaining exorcists joined the battle, and endure the archangel crashing down on him with unimaginable force that dusted them out of view.
"Baby!" Charlie screamed worriedly.
Everyone stopped to look and feared the worst when nobody could see from all the dust that blew up from Michael's crash.
"Noct!" Angel Dust shouted, bearing no patience for any result.
He shoved off an exorcist that tried to attack during his distraction, and sprinted to the dust cloud with Loona quick to follow.
"Stay back!" They heard and came to a halt, even Beezlebub who had exorcists in her teeth.
The dust started to to clear and slowly reveal two silhouettes clashing. Noctis had drawn out his power enough to form his scales on his arms and chest as he deadlocked his hands with Michael's. Unfortunately he was lying on the ground though and getting pressed so hard the rock was collapsing to his shape.
"Shit, he needs help!" Angel stated, before his attention swiftly locked onto Loona who sprinted again in an animalistic fury.
"Loona, no!" Millie bellowed.
The defiance of the hellhound was met with raw strength in her legs when she ran on all fours and roared.
She leapt at the archangel and swung with all she had.
"Get off my alpha, fucker!"
Michael was set in stone on Adam's command and couldn't defend himself when the sigil was almost robotic, like his brain was programmed strictly on Noctis.
Loona's punch connected and broke the deadlock with the archangel staggering back while took that heated moment to push himself up to his feet. He didn't bother with yelling or cursing at Loona when she wouldn't listen for a damn thing.
Especially when she tried so hard to help the first time.
"Fuck it." He growled at himself.
Using the advantage he now had, Noctis closed into Michael swiftly with no feel for holding in his power. He came into Michael's vicinity and delivered a combo in the stomach and throat, followed by a jab of the jawline.
This made the archangel stagger and shake his head before looking up to see Loona had leapt onto Noctis and off his shoulders.
She descended with a stinging haymaker to the skull at the cost of a little pain for herself, but it was well worth when Noctis didn't bother waiting. She was tossed onto his back and made to hang on like the first time with his wings carrying them into the air before Michael recovered and followed.
"It's about to get ugly!" He commented, both of them watching Michael draw his blade.
"Be careful!" Charlie screamed and got back into the fight.
"You are so grounded young lady!" Blitz bellowed in the middle of decapitating another exorcist.
Loona ignored that commentary of her adopted father and wrapped her legs around Noctis' waist before soaring at the archangel.
The two warriors clashed at unparalleled speeds with their attacks causing small shockwaves that rattled their forms. But Loona gave a slight advantage for Noctis with how she followed his defenses by attacking Michael. Any block or catch of the blade was her window of oppurtunity to hit, kick, or even try to bite the brainwashed angel.
The fight would continue to escalate over the battle with everyone taking what small moments of breath they could get to see Loona wasn't just some girl that forced herself into Noctis' life. They were in sync for this heavy battle, as if fate made them to be partners in combat.
And truth be told Loona felt good about it. She felt amazing not just for having a man of her own, or in her heart an alpha, but someone that mixed so well with her in a fight.
It excited her.
"Damn, look at them go!" Cherri commented to Angel Dust, watching Noctis throw Loona into Michael and catch her after she used her paws to kick off his face.
Angel Dust gave a low whistle after saving an egg boy, impressed by the teamwork.
"It's like they're made for eachother."
Meanwhile on the rooftop of the hotel the real chaos ensued between Alastor and Adam with the worst of greetings that worked straight into a fight between the two.
Or in this case a mockery of how uncontrolled Adam was in battle and overly-confident in his abilities when trying to fend off the minions of the radio demon after being called sloppy.
"Having trouble with just me?" Alastor laughed as he watched Adam thrash and flail.
Mutters and curses filled the battle from Adam and his frustrations, his axe proving only so very useful against a hoard that kept coming from Alastor's darkness as he looked up to see the fight overhead now shaking the very air.
His devilish smile widened.
"Must be so annoying to have killed someone so powerful so long ago and now having them ruin your life again."
"Shut the fuck up!" Adam snapped before the tendrils of this demon coiled and threw him to the floor.
Alastor had Adam on edge and he knew it.
"It's such a contradicting hilarity!" He openly laughed at Adam recovering "The First Man who threw away his humanity, trying to kill again the same man who learned humanity!"
Adam snarled at that comparison and lunged.
Down below, Charlie continued to fight defensively with her shield and magic but carrying no real threat due to her compassion even in the situation of life or death.
"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! Sorry!" She repeated like a mantra with every dodge, shove or throw of her magic to hold back the exorcists coming for her.
"Now's not the time for that, babe!" Vaggie told her sharply.
Charlie realized that her fallen angel mate was right and felt mildly embarrassed.
"Oh, right."
Unfortunately she looked up saw five exorcists coming down to overpower Vaggie and herself. Fear was obvious in the matter when Vaggie was busy fighting one on the ground, so she had to do something.
To the best of her ability, Charlie thrusted a finger with a cast of magic that erupted into fireworks to hopefully break the squad apart.
"DIE MOTHERFUCKERS!" She screamed.
Sadly the fireworks did no harm but they did break the exorcists apart and retreat. Charlie wasn't proud though when she ducked under her own shield and smiled back apologetically to the unamused fallen angel.
"Wonder how Noctis is doing." Vaggie commented before pausing when they heard him scream and fire a beam above their heads.
They turned back and looked up to see an explosion of energy that made a steamy cloud, and Noctis launched himself and Loona by thrusting another beam as propulsion.
"Holy shit!" Charlie yelled, and gawked as she watched their mate go on the offensive with a barrage of energy-infused punches that clacked off Michael's armor.
"They're really going at it." Vaggie said and watched as Loona tried to claw Michael's face.
Both girls were impressed but that same possessive nature they shared had them feeling quite jealous that Loona was so in sync with Noctis during the battle.
In the midst of all chaos was Husk bobbing and weaving from exorcist to exorcist, doing all he could with his playing cards while trying so hard to stay alive.
"These fucking Angels won't stop coming!"
Angel laughed from nearby and looked back at the cat demon, thrusting his pelvis suggestively.
Husk realized the pun behind his own words and rolled his eyes playfully, smirking with admittance.
"Alright. I walked right into that one."
Before any other joke could be made, Angel's attention was turned to a familiar and whimpering Egg Boi that was trapped between the west wall of the hotel and an exorcist.
Angel Dust jumped over her before blocking the weapon with his tommy gun. Thankfully he had two more appendages and he used them gun her down with a pair of uzis he kept tucked away in his fur.
Feeling the assurance of said exorcist being dead with that many holes in its body, he looked back and ask, "You alright squirt?"
The Egg Boi wobbled to Angel Dust and clung to his leg."I almost scrambled... myself."
"Get to safety inside." Angel said before looking up to see the battle getting worse with Michael now releasing even more holy power.
It was turning into a one-sided battle on Beezlebub's part when the exorcists were swarming further out of the heaven portal and focusing their attacks on her. Her power was useful with her four appendages but she was getting outnumbered quickly while Adam left the rooftop of the hotel with no sign of Alastor nearby.
"Get the fuck off me!" She roared before chomping and spitting out an exorcist.
Her attention was quickly taken by the cocky Adam flying up to her eye level with that same smug grin he always wore.
"Hey Bee, long time no see." He laughed and dodged her hands. "Last time I saw you I got to watch the chains drag you out of heaven!"
"I AM GOING TO EAT YOU!" She screeched with terrible fury.
Adam enjoyed seeing her come unhinged as his exorcists took advantage while he flew away.
Adam was now going on the attack even in the midst of Noctis and Loona struggling to keep up with Adam.
Until a sinister idea played in his head…..
He raised his hands high and waited, watching the fight move closer to his vicinity.
"Come on. Come on you bitches."
"What's he up to?" Pentious asked from his post, and quickly put two and two together.
His heart raced on the spot with terror before he screamed, "NOCTIS LOOK OUT!"
It was too late though, his attention was robbed from the fight already and he didn't have time to dodge while Loona was on his back. He barely turned to see Adam fire a massive beam and reacted subconsciously with taking the shocked hellhound to his chest and cocooning her entire body into his wings.
Everyone stopped and looked up to their horror the beam consuming Noctis in a blood-curdling screaming of overwhelming power and send him across the city with Michael following.
"LOONA!" Blitz screeched, fearing the worst when all they could see was a crash and an explosion of dust in the wrath district.
Everyone was filled with the urge to run and find them, but the laughing Adam did not let up on the fight. He started to barrage the grounds with beam after beam from his fingertips, turning cannibals into nothing and creating explosions that forced everyone to take cover.
"SUCK ON MY HOLY LIGHT BITCHES!"
Charlie and Vaggie took cover with Beezlebub using her own body as a shield.
"Oh great, now we have Adam to worry about." Vaggie complained.
"Baby….." Beezlebub said worriedly before erecting honey walls to protect the others.
"Blitz stop!" Millie demanded, restraining the Imp as he thrashed and clawed the ground for freedom.
"LET GO MILLIE! I HAVE TO FIND LOONA!"
The battle was worsening with the gang breaking apart and losing morale to the loss of Noctis and Loona, and it didn't help either the furious and sobbing Blitz being pinned fully by Millie and Moxxie to keep him from leaving cover.
"Alastor was supposed to handle him..." Charlie began to worry. "Oh God... do you think he's..."
Vaggie looked over to her and pointed out, "Well we're not going to last long unless we do something about that fat ass!"
Pentious stared from his post and realized what he needed to do.
"Of course..."
Slithering with haste he saw Cherri bomb climbing up to get a better vantage point now that the angels were rallied to fight again.
It was now or never in his mind, so he grabbed the explosive demon when he reached and dipped her in his arms.
"Hey! I'm trying to fight here! Are you out of your fucking mind?" Cherri scolded confusedly.
Pentious braced himself and hissed, "Yes."
With no warning whatsoever he gave the one eyed demona deep and passionate kiss as the bomb she was holding slipped out and fell to the ground with a romantic background of explosions.
He hated that it wouldn't last longer but there no more time to waste. He released Cherri from his grasp and slithered to his goal frantically.
"Miss Cherri I love you. REMEMBER ME!"
Cherri stood there, a look of surprise on her face as she blushed from the kiss, and what he had just done.
For a moment she was stunned but then brushed her hair back on one side as she smiled.
"That was kinda hot." She admitted to herself.
Meanwhile in a broken building Michael landed in the darkness of the destroyed entrance while sinners ran out and panicked for their own safety, his eyes carrying that same eerie glow of the sigil and locked onto a pile of rubble that rattle and shook.
His armor rattled as he tried to stop himself, but the sigil burned hotter on his skin and made him slowly approach the rubble while a whisper was muffled from inside.
"Come on Noctis!" Loona hissed quietly, hiding in his winged cocoon and patting his cheek. "He's coming!"
Noctis stayed on his back completely unresponsive except for the labored breathing. He was not just unconscious but completely out-cold from the blast even with Loona doing all she could to get him to wake up.
"Dammit babe!" She growled angrily and started licking his face.
Still there was nothing but the sound of Michael's boots looking closer. The worst of it though was Loona experiencing true fear for the first time when her ears perked up to the archangel drawing his blade and igniting it in his holy fire.
"No…."
Loona was desperate now, so desperate she shook Noctis and slapped him repeatedly, screaming at the top of her lungs while Michael started pulling piece by piece of the rubble.
"NOCTIS WAKE THE FUCK UP!"
While this terror played on, all of heaven was watching with bated breath as the orb showed everything transpiring in said building. The entirety of heaven's population was watching as said orb played both in the council room and used magic to display high above the spire.
Everyone was silent or muttering prayers, but Sera was being hugged by a sobbing Emily that damped her robe.
"Get up." She whispered, her voice cracked with emotion. "Get up Noctis."
"Please get up." The injured Emily whimpered.
The murmurs around them increased with the citizens now panicking quietly to one another. Hope began to fall and drown in despair of Noctis staying lifeless while Michael finished uncovering the rubble to find Loona hunched over protectively, baring her teeth at him and growling.
Everyone was saying the same thing in and out of the council, for him to get up.
Until one voice rang out in that building, one powerful feminine voice that shook the very foundation of heaven and instilled fear in the hearts of every major angel, and also gave them hope again when it boomed.
"Get up…."
"Who was that?" Gabriel gasped before the orb showed Michael freezing.
"Get up my child…."
"Sera—" Emily gasped and looked up to her shivering sister. "Is that….."
"The Speaker….."
Meanwhile at The Goetia Palace
Stolas shoved his defiant daughter into her room after a round of screaming and arguments about the battle back at the hotel, his heart and mind set on his own decision while locking her away with a powerful barrier that muffled her screams.
"YOU CANNOT DO THIS!" Octavia screeched, pounding on the barrier desperately as she watched her coldly firm father walk away. "DAD HE NEEDS HELP!!!"
"She does not leave that room." Stolas said to the guards, sounding more as an order than a suggestion before he left to do their job.
"What are you planning to do?" Vassago asked quietly, following the goetia prince through the halls.
Stolas only snapped his fingers and summoned his grimoire before telling Vassago.
"I'm going to help."
To be continued…..