Children of the Archangels

CHAPTER 60: LIGHTNING VS METAL

Luke was disappointed he would have to wait to see Nellie in Heaven when he died soon—that is, if he even makes it there. After all the Iumenti he has slain and nearly killing Victor out of rage in combat training, he might have to suffer through a couple of centuries in Purgatory or something outrageous. Plus, Nellie probably had many more years ahead of her, safe and out of extraordinary harm.

Then Luke felt a blast of wind blowing his short curly hair and making his cheeks flap. He opened his eyes and saw the cross atop the cathedral below him.

Forget going to Heaven, he was falling straight to Hell.

Then a purple portal opened up next to him. On the other side was Jordan smiling with his brown skin and white robes on marking him as a first year and a Muslim. "Sirius isn't the only one who can teleport people." Jordan said this with ease, but the look on his face showed that it took every ounce of energy to teleport Luke into the sky and save his life. "Now finish the traitor."

The portal faded and below him he saw an angry Jurgen raise his metal fist into the air. The ground around him rose fast like a speeding elevator, racing towards Luke. Luke wanted to say thanks for the save, but he felt he shouldn't considering Jordan didn't realize that Luke couldn't fly. At best, Jordan had delayed Luke's death-by-smashing by an extra minute.

Luke tried to concentrate while falling. After battling Jurgen disguised as Victor in training, he spent a week in JUG and managed to develop some tricks, including one that allowed him to punch through solid objects.

But would this work against such thick metal?

Luke had to try. If he was going to die, then he might as well go down taking Jurgen with him. He summoned a flare of lightning in his hand, and not just any lightning. His entire fist was coated in a plasmic stream of energy that crackled and rumbled like a thousand thunderstorms. The momentum of gravity was propelling him forward, and Jurgen was making a small hill rise from the ground to meet him halfway.

The sky would be their meeting point, and their fists would clash into each other like the moon colliding into Earth.

But who shall be the moon, and who the Earth?

Luke yelled as he amassed more energy in his hand and Jurgen was left with whatever metal he had summoned earlier, but he was straining as the mountain he was slowly creating rose higher.

Although they hadn't noticed, they were yelling each other's names as they came within blows of one another, the wind carrying their cries off into the air.

And an explosion erupted in the sky.

Luke was blown upwards into the firmament, spinning out of control. Jurgen's body was running through the center of his mountain, making it collapse like a stack of cards inward. When his body hit the ground, the Earth shook for a second as the mountain collapsed in on him, momentarily pausing all fighting on the battlefield as soldiers viewed the results of such an epic collision.

Eventually, Luke stopped flying upward. His body suspended in the air for a very long second, as if he was floating in space. His head was dizzy, his left arm felt numb, his mind was addled, and his eyes felt heavy. But for a split second, he could've sworn he saw an angel of fire approach him and tap his forehead.

"The length you would go to protect your school and friends—I am proud to have adopted you. I have one last gift to give that I've been holding out on."

Uriel's fingers glowed bright yellow like gold set on fire. "I Uriel, Regent of the Sun, Imperator of Lightning, and the Flame of God, entrust you with the Divine Blaze."

A light flashed across Luke's eyes. Uriel disappeared just as quickly as he appeared—it was almost as if Luke was dreaming the whole thing.

But he wasn't dreaming of falling to his death. The Rockies were below him, like a stack of saws waiting to grind what was left of his life to snow powder.

Even if what he saw was real, it didn't help the fact that Uriel basically said, here's a new power you won't know how to use yet, good luck surviving. Plus, wasn't he supposed to be dealing with his brother in Antarctica?

But the funny thing was, with this new power came a manual, pre-loaded onto Luke's mind and he quickly realized why Uriel would hesitate to give away such a power.

For a while, Luke was fighting with either lightning or fire. On occasion he would try and combine the two with a bow and arrow, but they were still separate. But imagine combining the speed of lightning with the destructive force of fire. Imagine amplifying the voltage of a flame. Imagine increasing the size and spread of a lightning bolt. Imagine taming lightning like it was a fire in a hearth. Imagine what destructive force he could unleash with such a move.

That was the Divine Blaze.

And it didn't take long for him to summon it in both of his hands.