We easily sliced our way through the oncoming lower Demons that had flooded the streets of lower Manhattan. Siena was a woman possessed, as if she could sense what the Demons were going to do before they themselves did. Her arms and hair were covered in ash and soot, dusting those glimmering gold seams to a faded brass. However, her eyes were still glowing with bronze fire. Together, we'd pushed the lines back several blocks from Central Park, but I knew that Demons were still outpouring through the bay, so we continued moving south.
We had paused to take a breather around an alleyway during a slight break in the onslaught. My blade was covered in ash, and I banged it against the brick side of a building while Siena and I caught our breath.
"How are you feeling?" I panted, brushing a few stubborn strands of my hair back. Siena's gilded eyes flicked up to mine and she wiped sweat from her brow.
"Good. You?" She questioned, tilting her head to the side and stretching out her neck.
"Concerned. Did you see how many Demons were coming out of that hole in the bay?" I questioned, clenching my jaw a little in anxiety.
"We've got enough ranks to handle it. I do, however, think we need to go check on the front lines to make sure they're holding," Siena replied coolly, as if suggesting we go to the battlefront was a nonchalant thing to say. However, the gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach told me I needed to go see Grey- even if it was to just make sure he was okay. It wasn't that I didn't trust in his abilities, which he'd touted enough for me to believe, but I wouldn't forgive myself if he didn't make it through this.
I'd also never seen him in action, and part of me was curious.
"Michael didn't want me on the front lines because he doesn't want my soul to slip through," I let out a big sigh and Siena rolled her eyes.
"Screw Michael. For all we know, they could be dying out there and need our help. You and I are obliterating these guys. I'm confident that any stragglers who make it to Ravenna and Zadkiel won't make it past them," Siena chuckled smugly.
"Are you sure you don't want to be with Zadkiel during this?" I furrowed my brows in slight confusion.
"If I'm with him, I will only be distracted with him and he will only be distracted with me. It'll end up with us protecting each other and to hell with the world. I'm better off here with you, protecting those that actually need my protection," she shook her head with finality.
"So do you think it would be a bad idea to accompany you to the front where Grey is, then?" I let out a little disappointed sigh, and Siena chuckled in amusement.
"Probably, but I don't really give a shit. Besides, you're the one Lucifer is after anyways. There's not really a downside to having Grey protect you," she snickered.
"It'll piss Michael off if Grey abandons his post," I posited, but Siena's grin only grew wider.
"When. You mean when Grey abandons his post," she corrected with a wink and I huffed. "Like I said there's really no downside."
I pondered for a moment, or at least pretended to, before agreeing to Siena's plan to head to the front lines. From what I saw of Ravenna and Zadkiel, anything that came across them wouldn't survive long after. Ravenna must've been an upper level Demon when she left Hell, because I'd never seen any lower level Demon with that much power. She sliced through them like butter. It was crazy to think the same polite woman painting at the training fields in Heaven was now obliterating Demons with a massive grin on her face.
Siena and I unsheathed our swords once more, flexing out our wings before shooting off into the smoke filled skies above. Demons were still spilling out of the bay in massive numbers, crashing into the shores like a clockwork of devastating tsunamis. With every slam of their waves into our forces, I could almost feel the devastation they laid upon us. I couldn't even see the front lines of Manhattan yet, but the devastation occurring on the Brooklyn and New Jersey sides of the bay were alarming to say the least.
We swerved around half collapsed skyscrapers, some of them still smoldering with fire, as we approached the front lines. I could almost feel it in my soul- the approaching death and devastation. With every beat of my wings, it weighed heavier on my heart, making it harder to breathe. When I glanced to Siena, it seemed like she could feel it too. That ever present knowing smirk had pinched into a frustrated scowl. At least, I hoped it was frustration, and not concern.
Suddenly, the skyscrapers around us gave way to a massive ruinous battlefield. Buildings that once stood 100 stories tall were now flattened and covered in ash and the bodies of fallen Angels. Bile rose in the back of my throat at the sight of all the mangled bodies. Wings were snapped in half and defeathered, limbs thrown hundreds of yards away from their bodies, eyes cast towards the sky in a ghostly plea for mercy, their mouths still agape in silent screams.
"Don't try to process it now. You need to push it aside. Letting your emotions out will only bring your soul closer to the surface. We need to do our duty," Siena's voice spoke softly next to me, her hand slipping confidently into mine and squeezing tightly in affirmation.
She knew what she was doing. She'd seen countless battles before and had seen carnage like this more times than I could imagine. I was needed as a protector right now. That was what I had to be.
I swallowed and nodded, pushing my horror and grief aside and focusing once more. With every wave of Demons that hit the shores, Heaven was able to respond with enough Angels and mortal souls to hold them back- for now. Even I could see that our ranks were slipping. The Archangels were all covered in ash down below, destroying any that slipped past our ranks, but it was slowly becoming an overwhelming fight to endure. Each of them appeared to be drowning in Demons.
Michael seemed utterly exhausted, and with every explosion of his soul's brilliant white power, it dimmed and brought less Demons down with it. He was draining himself dry, as were the other Archangels. To be honest, I was surprised they had been able to use their souls for this long without being rendered completely powerless. I suppose that was a true testament to their power. However, amongst all the Archangels, I still couldn't find Grey.
I peered around the battlefield, thinking surely he was at the center of this whole mess, but he wasn't. Even Siena seemed to be at a loss as to where he was.
As if on cue, Michael seemed to cry out towards the sky as more upper level Demons descended upon him and the other depleted Archangels. I watched in awe as a dark figure shot down through the clouds above and landed behind the Archangels with a crack so loud, the Earth itself split in two beneath his feet.
"Ah. There he is," Siena motioned nonchalantly to Grey as if his impressive entrance was entirely normal for him. Who was I kidding- of course it was. He was such a diva.
The air crackled and hummed around him with energy, pulsating as if he controlled every particle of matter in his vicinity. I could see his soul glowing brighter and brighter as he dusted off his armor and outstretched his arm, pointing a single finger towards the incoming waves of Demons.
My jaw fell slack as they immediately turned to ash. All the way out to the center of their invasion in the bay, hundreds of thousands of demons were instantaneously turned into ash.
Siena burst out laughing next to me, holding her stomach as she cackled. I turned to look at her, my eyes still wide with surprise. She continued to laugh, only stopping to look at my face once more, and then start laughing again.
"I've been waiting for that moment for a long ass time," she snickered, pretending to wipe a tear from her eye.
"How did- but he just-," I stammered, unable to form coherent sentences.
Grey had singlehandedly destroyed 1/3 of Lucifer's currently mobile army. With a flick of his fucking finger. He had spent more energy on his dramatic ass entrance than he had on obliterating all of those Demons.
"Archangel of Death, remember? He controls who lives and who dies. I dunno, to me, Grey has always only been second to-," Siena rambled and I cut her off.
"God herself," I finished her statement and she nodded.
"He literally pointed his finger and brought down a third of Lucifer's army. Why has he been up in the clouds this whole time?" I questioned in disbelief and Siena shrugged.
"Michael wanted more than one secret weapon, I suppose. Lucifer knew Grey was Archangel of Death, but I don't think he knew just how powerful Grey was. Otherwise, he might've tried harder to recruit Grey rather than use him as a mercenary to recruit souls," Siena chuckled pointedly. "Obviously a fatal mistake."
I watched as the Archangels caught their breath thanks to Grey's devastating blow, feeling like a complete and utter idiot for not recognizing just how powerful my soulmate was. I knew he was powerful, but I had underestimated him more than I could've ever thought possible.
"So the war is pretty much over now, right?" I mused in disbelief. Siena's grin immediately turned into a frown and she shook her head.
"Grey's power isn't limitless. You know he's drawing from your soul's power to be able to do this more than once, right? Yeah his blow was helpful, but he can't do it over and over and over again without killing both of you in the process. He's being used to give the other Archangels a break to regain some power before Hell regathers it's forces," she explained sternly.
As Siena's words began to sunk in, I watched Hell's forces coalesce once more in the bay and begin moving towards the southern Manhattan coastline where we all were. She was right. It was a momentary break in the madness, and I didn't know how much of my soul's power Grey was willing to siphon for his use. I didn't know how many times Grey would have to use that power until it won the war, either. Regardless, the longer Siena and I hovered here, the more I felt like we were fighting a losing battle.