Vyne had no idea why he was here. No, he knew exactly why he was here, but why was he here?

Here, as a matter of fact was standing next to his grandfather, Lucifer. One of them was happy with the situation, the other one was not.

It had been just a few days ago, yes, just a few days before his freedom was snatched away. Lord Erebus had ordered him to accompany his father on this pointless quest for revenge.

Vyne felt next to nothing for his father, why did he have to risk his life for the man?

He’d much rather be down in his laboratory, working on some new research. Ah! That’s what he would do. In all his life, he had never been able to lay his hand on an angelic specimen... he’d capture one here and then be on his way back home.

“They’re coming,” Lucifer said, resting his hand on his sheathed blade. “Today... their blood shall spill to appease my son’s soul!” he roared.

The Demon Emperor’s behind them roared in agreement, but Vyne remained silent.

Musclebound idiots.

Vyne appraised them with contempt in his eyes.

The sound of hundreds of wings flapping drew his attention, he looked up into the sky to see angels above them, their pure wings outstretched and the halos over their heads casting a golden glow around their surroundings.

His grandfather clicked his tongue. “Are they underestimating us? This isn’t worth our time... Take care of them, Beta.”

The Demon Emperor that was standing on Lucifer’s left side stepped forward. He smirked arrogantly and with a flash his sword was drawn then sheathed once more. The hundreds of angels were split in half at the same time.

Their blood splurted out and rained down, drenching the demons below in liquid gold.

Lucifer remained impassive. “March forward,” he ordered.

The demons moved forward, pillaging the villages of angels, not bestowing mercy even upon children.

When legions of angels tried to stop them, they were promptly cut down with ease. The only ones who had a fighting chance against this army were the archangels and Seraphim.

But at the same time, they couldn’t move carelessly, they were this continent's last defense. The angels wrongly thought that the demon’s aim was to wipe them out, they were unaware of Erebus’ threat to Lucifer that the Dragon Council would eradicate the entire demon race if they purged the angels.

“These sinful creatures have grown arrogant,” Archangel Michael growled, slamming his fist down on the table.

“Calm down,” Uriel said, his voice even. “These beasts are not worthy of your anger, brother.”

“The others are with Him... They cannot be taken away from Him to deal with these foolish children,” Gabriel said softly. “But, our opponents are sizeable in strength.”

The only archangels who were not with Him at the moment were Michael, Uriel, Gabriel, and Raguel. It was over half, but the Seraphim wouldn’t be with them today... if they went out to fight, decreasing their chances of survival greatly.

All of them were too arrogant to dare admit it, but they were in a dangerous predicament.

“Let me charge them with my squadrons,” Michael requested, his eyes alight with fury. “They have hurt our people and corrupted our lands by just being here, there is no way that I can allow them to continue any further.”

“A Prince of Hell is with them,” Raguel spoke up, “he alone can kill you, my brother. His power is sacrilegious, we need to purify his soul. That will weaken him.”

The other two nodded their heads in agreement.

“Then, we know what we must do,” Raguel said, standing up and unfurling his wings to their full glory.


...


Vyne examined the body of a dead angel woman, she had been pregnant, but her stomach had been split open and the undeveloped child was clearly visible.

His curiosity had gotten the best of him, he couldn’t help but look! His grandfather and his men had left without Vyne, their vision was clouded by bloodlust so they hadn’t even notice Vyne separating himself from the group.

Vyne licked his lips as he examined her insides, the angels were built very differently than most. Because they were capable of flight, their bone structures had been changed and they were much lighter than they looked.

He flipped her over, looking the wings that sprouted from her back. He placed his hand on the base of the wing and tore it out cleanly.

“I really need a live one,” he muttered to himself as he looked over the wing. feeling out the bones and seeing the thickness of the feathers.

Even though they looked soft and fluffy, the feathers were as hard as metal and could easily cut through tough skin.

“Were you the one who did this?” a quiet voice sounded from behind Vyne, making the demon turn around.

The man behind him had an ageless appearance, he looked young and old at the same time. His long, brown hair reached all the way to his hips and was plaited into a neat braid. His wings were stretched out behind his back and the feathers gleamed dangerously.

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“Who’re you?” Vyne asked, not at all concerned.

“I am Gabriel.”

Vyne wore an expression that conveyed that he didn’t actually care. “You’re one of those archangels, right? Oh, wait... I think you’re one of the ones who killed my father. I congratulate you, honestly, I’ve never seen someone make my grandfather so angry. By the way, my name is Vyne.”

Gabriel’s eyes widened. “I believe that we have met before in Legacia. You were the subordinate of the Dragon Erebus... Why are you here?”

“I was dragged along,” Vyne didn’t remember Gabriel, but he decided not to voice this.

“You were with the Prince of Hell Lucifer?”

“He’s my grandfather,” Vyne answered, using one of the feathers from the dead woman’s to scratch his neck. “If you’ll excuse me... I’ll be going on then.”

Vyne took a step forward, but Gabriel appeared in front of him.

“I’m afraid I cannot let you leave... You are one of my enemies, today. No... as a demon, you have always been my enemy.”

“But I don’t care about you,” Vyne responded, still sounding and looking bored. “Lord Erebus would be annoyed if I brought you home as a test subject, so I have to find someone else... Run along now.”

Gabriel shook his head. “I cannot allow you to live any longer.”

Vyne sighed heavily, materializing his sword. “Let’s go then, better to get it over with now.”

The angel’s face turned dark, in contrast to Vyne’s bored expression. Without Lord Erebus directly ordering him to do so, he had no motivation to do these troublesome tasks.

Ah... was it over yet? Could he go home now? Thoughts like that circulated through his mind as he fought Gabriel.

Gabriel was wielding two daggers that he handled expertly, their weapons clanged and danced in the air against each other.

“Fight me seriously, sinful beast!” Gabriel shouted angrily, he could tell that Vyne was barely trying.

The demon stopped moving, standing up straight and tilting his head, his tail flicking from side to side. “Lord Erebus didn’t tell me I had to fight. He told me I had to go with my grandfather, why would I expend my energy on something I wasn’t ordered to do?”

Gabriel narrowed his eyes. “You’re telling me you haven’t fought? As if I’d believe such a blatant lie!”

Vyne sighed. “I don’t care if you believe me or not.” His eyes flashed. “You’re so loud and annoying... I guess I’ll kill you after all, you can be my test subject for the limits of my power.”

Gabriel laughed. “Try it, you filthy cretin.”

“And I thought that I had a way with words,” Vyne responded dryly. “Let’s begin.

His sword disappeared from his hands and his body began to grow and morph, as his height increased, his spine twisted until his back was completely hunched over. His white skin changed to onyx, two gnarly horns sprouted from the sides of his head, twisting and elongating until they were at least two feet in length.

“I, Vyne of Tartarus, shall face you in my true form. Be honored, angel. You are the only one besides my master who has seen me this way... too bad you won’t be able to speak of it.”

Gabriel’s face twisted into a sneer. “How revolting, your previous form was far more beautiful than this disgusting beast you’ve turned into. I will no longer hold back either, then.”

The Archangel Gabriel began a transformation of his own.


...


Lucifer stared down three archangels, the Demon Emperors around him, save for Beta, had been more or less wiped out within a short amount of time.

That was because one particular archangel was there.

Uriel.

His spells were meant for more than one enemy, meaning that he specialized in fights like this. His magic was incredibly potent and destructive, he took out the weaker ones without any delay.

“Three versus two... I’m liking our odds, how about you, Beta?”

The dark-haired demon shook his head in exasperation. “You shouldn’t have brought so many weaklings along with you. Just your elite warriors would have been enough.”

“Oh, relax. One of you is enough.”

Beta’s face displayed that he didn’t believe this to be true at all, but he didn’t bother to counter Lucifer’s words.

“Oh, they’re attacking again,” Lucifer said, his voice colored with amazement as a ray of golden light fell upon the two before dissipating just as quickly as it came. “Are you all right, Beta?” he asked his comrade, Lucifer was completely unharmed by the attack.

Beta snorted. “I’ll live.” He wiped the dust off of his clothing. “They should know that an attack like that is futile,” he muttered.

“Perhaps we should feign injury? So that they can feel better about themselves. I heard that angels are very sensitive, especially the archangels.”