Michael stood in silence. His eyes fixed on Asqa’s broken form sprawled before him.
Her body was still, unmoving, pierced by the weapons and scorched by holy fire. Smoke rose from her wounds, the ground beneath her soaked in blood and ash.
Behind her, Zeus, Hades, and Uriel hovered like shadows of judgment.
Michael clenched his jaw. He knew the truth that this wasn’t a victory yet. This was a sentence that they all now shared because Clyde will come after them.
"She’s dead," he muttered. "We need to move. Now."
Zeus turned without a word. He had no interest in lingering.
He had faced Asqa before, back when she was only half what she had become right now. Even then, she was dangerous.
But now that she was gone he had no more reason to stay. He rose into the air.
Hades followed, silent and grim. To him, Asqa had been a threat that needed erasing. Like the second priority after Clyde. With her gone, his task was half complete.
But Uriel didn’t move.
She stood before Asqa’s corpse, her wings spread wide with fury. Her white-gold fiery blade trembled in her hand in rage.
"She ruined me and my domain," Uriel hissed. "She tore down everything I built. My army, my followers, and my name."
She kicked Asqa’s lifeless body with the full force of her armored boot, sending the body rolling slightly. Then again.
"Traitor!" she spat. "You were mine but then you chose him!"
Uriel raised her blade and stabbed it deep into Asqa’s shoulder. Then again through her thigh. Then the gut.
"You think death is peace for you?" she screamed. "You don’t get peace!"
She unleashed a wave of her holy flame. Fire engulfed the corpse, licking at the skin and burning away the blood but Asqa’s body resisted. It didn’t turn to ash. Only small pieces crisped at the edges.
Uriel’s face twisted into madness.
"Uriel!" Michael’s voice cut through sharply. "We have to move."
"Why?!" she snarled. "They’ve already lost."
Michael didn’t answer. He turned his head sharply.
A pulse of unnatural energy filled the air.
Something was coming at them.
Michael’s eyes widened. He felt it before he saw it.
A fast and violent presence. Cold and hateful.
A streak of black mist ripped through the sky behind them. It left a trail of distortion, bending the light.
Michael’s sword lifted instinctively.
"The anomaly has come out!" he shouted, his voice ringing like a bell of warning across the battlefield.
All who heard it—Angels, Demons, Celestials—looking in midair.
Zeus and Hades turned in alarm, immediately moving back. Even they felt the pressure surging through the air.
Uriel stepped back in disbelief, her fire extinguished as her wings tensed.
And then Clyde arrived.
He moved like a rift torn through the fabric of reality. His form was blackened by lingering mist. His aura was overwhelming.
His hair had become white now after all the pain he been through and whipped violently from the power around him. His eyes burned not with fury but also a deep grief.
He didn’t look at anyone.
He dropped to his knees beside Asqa’s corpse.
His breath was uneven. His eyes were wide. For a moment he couldn’t touch her.His hands hovered in the air, trembling.
Then he reached out and gently lifted her head into his arms.
"Asqa..." his voice cracked. "I’m here."
Only the smoke. The smell of blood, and the silence of a soul who no longer present.
His hand brushed her burnt cheek. Her hair now matted and darkened. Her armor shattered. Her skin cold.
Tears began to fall—slow at first, then faster. They cut through the soot on his face. His shoulders shook.
"I’m sorry," he whispered. "I should’ve... I should’ve been here sooner."
He pressed his forehead to hers.
"I didn’t get to say goodbye. I didn’t get to protect you. You were alone."
His fingers tightened around her.
"I’ll make them pay," he murmured. "Every one of them."
The mist around his body began to grow darker thicker. It coiled with something deeper than wrath.
The air around him screamed in silence.
Clyde lowered Asqa’s head with trembling care, resting her gently on the scorched earth.
A part of him broke in that moment. What rose in its place was something cold feeling of bloodlust.
Both hands reached and drew the swords—Elderglass, its blue edge shifting with eerie green and blue shimmer, and Dusksorrow, its blade pulsing in black and crimson.
The black mist around him responded.
It surged violently, whipping around his body, crawling across the broken ground, and seeping into the blades and into the cracks of the earth itself.
Then his eyes changed.
All light vanished from them. They became pitch black.
His face was expressionless. But beneath it was a singular purpose, kill.
The raw bloodlust that poured from him spread like a storm across the sky, and everyone felt it.
Those soldiers of Angels, Demons, and Celestials above shuddered at the pressure. Their instincts screamed.
Michael hovered nearby with sword in hand. His wings still spread.
He met Clyde’s gaze but Clyde didn’t say a word.
He didn’t need to say anything. Michael was his enemy right now and he just need the Archangel died like the others.
Clyde vanished in a blink of an eye.
Michael’s eyes widened as he shoot toward him.
He barely raised his sword in time.
A flash erupted as Elderglass collided with Michael’s sword.
The shockwave from that clash shattered the air between them and sent thunder rippling through the sky.
Michael grunted, wings thrown back. His arms trembled.
This wasn’t the same Clyde. This was someone worse and stronger.
Michael gritted his teeth. Then from behind Clyde Zeus, Hades, and Uriel came to attack together.
Black mist poured from behind him pushing the three being back with tremendous force.
Then Zeus shout to the sky. "What are you waiting for?!"
The whole Higher Being reacted, and descent at once.