Page 21

The first angel came at me with a blade of pure light, swinging with the precise form taught in Elysium's training grounds.

I parried the strike, my own sword ringing against his, and countered with a slash that forced him back.

But there was no time to press the advantage, as two more angels immediately filled the gap, their weapons flashing in the filtered sunlight.

“There's too many!” I called to Levi, ducking under a sweeping blade and driving my shoulder into an angel's midsection. He grunted, staggering backward, but another took his place almost instantly.

Levi was a blur of deadly motion behind me, his darkfire cutting through the air in arcs of black flame. Three angels lay motionless at his feet already, but the others were learning, attacking him in coordinated waves that kept him constantly on the defensive.

“Aspen, how's that portal coming?” I shouted, parrying another strike and twisting to avoid a blast of light magic that would have taken my head off.

“It’s no good!” The warlock's voice was strained, his hands moving in increasingly complex patterns as he tried to weave a path through the magic surrounding us. “With the barrier, I can't cast one from here!”

“Then we need to get beyond the barrier!” I called, my voice nearly lost in the clash of weapons and the crackle of magic. “Back through the trees, toward the clearing we came in from!”

An angel lunged at me, her sword aimed for my heart. I spun away, my blade catching her arm, drawing a line of blood that spilled from the wound. She cried out, retreating, but two more took her place.

They were herding us, I realized with growing dread.

Each time we tried to move toward the edge of the clearing, the angels would thicken their ranks, forcing us back toward the center.

They were buying time, keeping us pinned down until reinforcements arrived—or until Rhodes himself decided to make an appearance.

“This isn't working.” Levi growled, his back pressed against mine as we rotated to face new attackers. “We need to break their formation.”

I knew he was right, but the angels moved with the practiced precision of centuries of training. They attacked in waves, never giving us more than a moment's respite, their swords and light magic a constant, overwhelming barrage.

A blade sliced across my shoulder, scoring a shallow cut that burned like fire. I hissed in pain but kept moving, my sword flashing as I parried and countered, desperate to create an opening. But for every angel I knocked back, two more pressed forward, relentless and coordinated.

Haines watched from the edge of the clearing, his expression cold and calculating. “Surrender, Ariella,” he called. “There's no escape this time.”

“Go to hell,” I spat, ducking under a sword swing and kicking out at an angel's knee. It connected with a satisfying crack, and the angel went down, but another immediately took his place.

“Such language,” Haines tsked. “And here I thought all guardians were supposed to be virtuous.”

I didn't waste breath responding, too focused on staying alive as the circle of angels tightened around us.

Aspen had abandoned his attempt at creating a portal and was now actively fighting alongside us, his warlock magic cutting through the air in bursts of purple energy.

But even with his added firepower, we were being steadily overwhelmed.

An angel managed to slip past my guard, his blade catching me across the ribs.

I stumbled, pain blossoming along my side, and nearly fell.

Levi snarled, darkfire exploding from his hand to engulf the angel who had struck me, but the momentary distraction cost him.

Another angel's sword slashed toward his exposed back.

“Levi!” I shouted in warning, but I was busy, my own attackers pressing in, preventing me from reaching him.

The sword connected, drawing a line of dark blood across Levi's shoulder blade. He roared with pain and fury, spinning to face his attacker, his eyes flashing with an anger I hadn't seen since our days in the underworld.

Something changed in that moment—a subtle shift in the air, a darkening of the shadows around him.

Levi's form blurred, his outline becoming less distinct, more fluid.

His shoulders broadened, his height increasing by several inches.

The darkfire around his hands intensified, crawling up his arms like living shadows.

“Levi?” I called, uncertainty joining the fear already coursing through me.

He didn't answer. Instead, a low, inhuman growl rumbled from his chest, vibrating through the clearing with enough force to momentarily halt the fighting. The angels nearest to him hesitated, their expressions shifting from determination to unease.

Then, with a roar that seemed to shake the very trees around us, Levi transformed.

At first, he shifted into his demon self. Seven feet tall, wide as a bear, curled horns atop his head, black eyes, pale skin that turned black from the elbow down. His hands were now sharp claws, and his large bat-like wings spread behind him.

But then, he curved in the middle and the transformation didn’t stop there.

His grew larger, his horns longer, his skin darkened, and his wings became twice their size.

He was back to the demon version of himself from when he had gone to the underworld.

The angels surrounding him faltered, their disciplined formation breaking as instinctive fear overcame their training.

Levi—or the creature that had been Levi—didn't give them time to recover.

He moved with a speed that defied comprehension, his clawed hands tearing through angelic armor as if it were paper.

The first angel fell before he could even raise his sword, his chest torn open by a single swipe of those deadly claws. The second managed to parry once before Levi sent his darkfire out toward him like a livewire that pierced him through the chest and electrocuted him.

“Fall back!” one of the angels shouted, his voice high with panic.

But retreat wasn't so simple. Levi moved among them like a hurricane of shadow and flame, his claws striking with terrible precision.

Angels fell screaming, their bodies torn apart by the savage fury of his attack.

Those who tried to fly were dragged back down by tendrils of darkness that extended from his wings, wrapping around limbs and necks like hungry serpents.

I stood frozen, watching the carnage unfold with a mixture of horror and awe. This was Levi unleashed, the full terrible potential of what he truly was. No longer the controlled, sarcastic demon I'd come to love, but a primordial force of destruction.

“Ariella!” Aspen's voice cut through my shock. He was at my side, his face pale but determined. “We need to move! Now!”

I nodded, forcing myself to focus on the immediate danger rather than Levi's transformation. With the angels' attention divided between self-preservation and the demon in their midst, we had a chance to break through their lines and escape the barrier.

We ran, ducking and weaving through the chaos of the battlefield. Angels scattered before us, too focused on the demon tearing through their ranks to worry about two fleeing prisoners. I glanced back once, just in time to see Levi tear an angel's wing from his body with a single, savage motion.

The angel's scream pierced the air, high and agonized, and something twisted in my chest. I knew that pain, had felt it myself. No one deserved that, not even my enemies.

“Levi!” I called, my voice cracking with the force of my shout. “Levi, stop!”

But he either couldn't hear me or couldn't understand, lost in the frenzy of his demonic nature. He continued his rampage, his claws dripping with blood, his eyes burning like twin infernos in his transformed face.

Haines, seeing his forces decimated, finally abandoned his position at the edge of the clearing.

With a flash of his wings, he took to the air, shouting orders for his remaining angels to retreat.

They didn't need to be told twice. Those who could still fly took off, carrying their wounded comrades.

Those too injured to move were left behind, sacrificed to the demon's fury.

“We're almost at the barrier!” Aspen shouted, pulling me forward as I continued to look back at Levi. “I can feel it! Just a few more yards!”

I forced myself to keep moving, though every instinct screamed at me to go back for Levi. We pushed through a line of dense underbrush, emerged into a smaller clearing, and suddenly the air felt different—lighter, less constrained.

“This is it!” Aspen's hands were already moving, weaving the spell for the portal. “We're outside the barrier!”

But I couldn't leave, not without Levi. I turned back toward the battlefield, my heart pounding in my chest. “Levi!” I shouted again, pouring all my strength into the call. “LEVI!”

For a moment, there was nothing but the sounds of the forest and the distant cries of retreating angels. Then, through the trees, a massive shape emerged—Levi, still in his transformed state, his wings spread wide, his claws and face stained with angelic blood.

He moved toward us with predatory grace, his glowing black eyes fixed on us with an intensity that raised the hair on the back of my neck. There was no recognition in that gaze, no hint of the demon I'd come to know. Only hunger, and rage, and ancient, primal power.

“Aspen,” I said, my voice low and steady despite the fear coursing through me. “Get the portal ready, but stay back.”

“Ariella, I don't think?—”

“Stay. Back.” I moved forward slowly, my hands open at my sides, my sword sheathed. No sudden movements, nothing that could be interpreted as a threat. “Levi,” I called softly. “It's me. It's Ariella.”