27 War Pigs, Luke's Wall, Awesome Guitar Solo, Man Has Ozzi Gone Off

Rain fell onto the cracked pavement. Hell's and Heaven's forces amassed in the sky, invisible to mortal eyes. There were dragons with thick-veined wings, ridden by nightmarish creatures. Rofocale led an army of the Claimed, and Belial, cloaked in smoke, was a burning wheel on the horizon. Lilith stood behind me, whip at hand, cobras by her feet. Beelzebub was a cloud of biting flies, and Astaroth's skin was painted with blood.

Samael and Asmodeus stood on either side of me, dead silent. We were waiting. Waiting for Raziel to react.

The warehouse door cracked open. A Watcher with a bandaged face – Semyaza – stepped out, guns in both hands. He opened fire. I ducked as a bullet flew straight at my head.

"Now," I said.

Asmodeus and Samael dissipated into smoke. They flooded my lungs, smelling of jasmine and woodsmoke.

The battlefield became chaos. Watchers crashed through the warehouse windows, some taking wing to fight the host above, others landing on the ground and charging at the archdemons. Lilith cracked her whip and lashed a line of attackers. Beelzebub disintegrated into his respective insect parts and blinded our opponents, choking their throats with bugs.

A Watcher's hellhound ran towards me. Samael and Asmodeus' fused weapon appeared in my hands, two-sevenths of the Lapis Exillis. It was a spiked club, something like a mace.

What is this? I thought.

A morning star, Asmodeus and Samael replied.

Of course.

I brought it down on the hellhound's skull. The hellhound whined, its face a bloody cave. It slumped to the ground.

Astaroth and Belial guarded me. The plan was straightforward: locate Raziel and assassinate him. The archdemons would distract Raziel while Michael's forces held the Watchers back. When Raziel was weakened, I would strike.

The first part was successful enough. Raziel was in the basement, standing guard over a large box. We had him cornered. Belial bloodied Raziel with his trident and Lilith tripped him with her whip into my line of attack.

Raziel clutched at his bleeding side. "Good to see you dear. I'm afraid I'm not in the best condition. I could use your help, you know."

"You bastard," I said, morning star at the ready.

Raziel flew back behind the box. "I'd be careful with the weapon. This is a precious artifact."

"Shannon, now!" Beelzebub buzzed.

I lunged for Raziel.

He tore the box open. Light flooded the room.

It was a glowing golden vessel covered in gems, in the shape of two seraphim.

I felt an instant repulsion. The demons sank to their knees. The vessel radiated miasma. It crippled me. Samael and Asmodeus cried out in my head.

What's going on? I thought, unable to move.

Samael answered, his fury twisting my guts. Raziel's defiled the Ark of the Covenant. He's tried to unlock Moses' tablets. The Ten Commandments are anathema to demons. It's God's Word in its purest form. His judgment. The final seal.

But I thought there were seven seals?

Samael continued: The first four were unleashed when the Horsemen rode. The fifth was the Lapis Elixir. The sixth are the tablets. The last seal isn't a seal at all – it's Michael – the one who can voice God's Word. Raziel intends to unlock the tablets and force Michael to make the seals manifest. Once the sixth seal is broken, Michael will be forced to initiate judgment.

Raziel approached. I struggled to step forward.

But how did he get this freaking thing?

Samael cursed, trying to move my limbs: Only Metatron has access to the tablets. He must be on Raziel's side. Pox and blood. They're trying to destroy the world. The bastard's had us fooled, all along.

We have to alert Michael, Asmodeus thought.

But how? We can't goddamn move, Samael replied.

The warehouse basement was like a nuclear war zone. The demons were poisoned. They emptied the contents of their stomachs. I could feel Samael and Asmodeus slipping away.

Raziel watched, his smile serene. As an archangel, he was seemingly unaffected by the Ten Commandments. He stepped over the fallen bodies and closed the distance between us.

Raziel spoke: "Shannon. It's a pity to see you in such a state, playing host to devils like poor Mary Magdalene. Allow me to exorcise them from you."

No! Samael and Asmodeus bellowed.

Raziel pressed a hand to my brow. He spoke a sharp word in angelic.

Thunder clapped in my head, and Samael and Asmodeus spewed from my mouth. I doubled over, gagged, and dropped my weapon. The morning star reverted back to a scythe and swordstick. They rolled over to where Samael and Asmodeus lay, puking up blood.

"Shannon," Samael choked.

Raziel smiled. "Come with me, dear. It's time you fulfilled your destiny."

Raziel moved as if to grab me. I seized his arm, as I had in training with Asmodeus, and executed a one armed shoulder throw. Raziel went flying, giving me time to escape. I ran behind the vessel, shading my eyes from its glow.

Raziel rose.

I looked to Samael for help, only to find him incapacitated. The demons weakened with each pulse of the Ark's light. I needed to tell Michael this was a trap.

I ran past throngs of fallen demons, up the stairs and out into the alley. The angels flew above, fighting the Watchers, but I was earthbound. I spotted a rickety fire escape and raced to it. It took minutes to climb, but finally I was at the top, on the roof.

"Michael!" I called to the blood-haired archangel above, waving my hands wildly to catch his attention.

Heaven's general glanced down at me, gore on his forehead. "What are you doing?"

"Raziel has the Ark of the Covenant. The demons can't move; I need your help!"

Michael landed beside me. "Quick, show me where it is."

I led him to the basement. He hacked through Watchers I'd narrowly managed to avoid on my way up.

Raziel had laid the Ark open on the ground. Stone tablets – the Ten Commandments – were on the table. He was dripping a censer of clotted liquid – my blood – onto them, as if baptizing the stones in an unholy faith.

Michael brandished his sword. "You're honorless. You think you can wield God's Word? Sinners like you are unworthy to use it, let alone hear it."

Raziel hung the censer from a chair. "Michael? What a pleasure. To think, we're about to witness the unmaking of the world. It sends shivers down the spine, doesn't it?"

Michael gritted his teeth. "Step away from the Ark, and I may yet give you a painless death."

Samael dragged himself towards me. "Shannon," he moaned. His guts were caught in his teeth.

"Don't move, Sam," Michael said. "This is my score to settle." He looked to me. "Shannon?"

I nodded in understanding. Only a mortal could kill an immortal.

Michael flooded me, blinding light. The possession was orgasmic, so different from the pain a demon caused. Divine bliss, uncorrupted. Michael's strength was molten fire - his sword could strike down nations. With him was the wrath of God.

I charged at Raziel. Raziel wove a silvery web and cast it over me. I hacked it to bits as Raziel glided behind the Ark.

"Stop playing," Michael spoke through me. "Face your fate like a son of God."

"I stopped being a man of the Lord long ago," Raziel said, evading my sword.

And so Raziel spun threads like a spider, escaping my attacks. I drew gashes on his limbs and back, but kept missing his vital areas. He was too quick, too clever, too hell-bent. Still, even angels bleed.

I finally weakened him. Raziel began to falter. A misstep to the left, threads thrown too far to the right. Michael calculated in my head, cold as a machine. He was looking for soft spots in Raziel's strategy.

Raziel kept luring me back to the tablets, like he thought, if I got close enough, he could force me to unleash them.

Samael had dragged himself to the Ark and propped himself up. He looked inside and froze.

"Shannon," Samael groaned. "Get out of here."

"I can't, I almost have him."

I severed one of Raziel's wings. Raziel tumbled to the ground below me.

Samael vomited viscera into the Ark. He looked up and his eyes were dead.

"Run." Samael's voice was monotone.

"I'm busy!"

Samael fainted.

Blood spurted from Raziel's wounds. He was too weak to move. Still, he smiled, an expression I wanted to carve from his face.

Raziel spoke his last words: "It seems you've won, dear. What a pity. We were going to have so much fun."

Michael's sword sunk into his heart with a hiss. I twisted the blade, and Raziel collapsed into dust.

"I did it. Just like that?" I said.

Michael materialized by my side, a soft smile on his face.

The demons were still immobilized. I walked over to the tablets, sword in hand, prepared to destroy them like I had the Holy Grail and put an end to this apocalyptic idiocy-

I looked into the Ark of the Covenant.

There was Mo, covered in Samael's vomit, frothing at the mouth in a seizure. I dropped Michael's sword.

"Mo!" I screamed.

I reached into the Ark, trying to free him. Some sort of force field jolted me back. I shrieked and beat at the barrier.

"Michael! My brother's dying!"

Michael's face darkened. "So that's where the Horsemen went."

I sank to my knees, shellshocked. "What?" I said, voice weak.

Michael put a hand on my shoulder. "Your twin shares your blood. When the Horsemen were expelled from your body, they sought the closest thing to your flesh - your twin."

"But he's been completely normal. I don't understand - we have to save him!"

Michael's lips drew thin. "They killed your brother when they possessed him. The only thing that's kept his soul rooted to his body is the Horsemen's power. You have to let him go."

My mouth was bitter. All I smelled was brimstone.

"But he's not dead," I cried. "He's alive. We ate breakfast together yesterday. He's still here, Michael, he is!"

"The only way for him to live would be as the Horsemen's vessel. Your brother could only survive if the Apocalypse came to pass. Your brother will die a martyr."

I rocked back and forth. "No."

"I'm sorry."

I dove towards the tablets. Michael cried out, but his voice was lost on me.

Many waters could not quench my wrath. Grief-mad, I broke the seal.

The tablets shattered.

God's Word rang through the building, rising up from the loam. The demons were released from the Commandment's hold.

Samael's eyes fluttered open. "No," he breathed. "Not this. Shannon, we have to go!"

I ran to Mo's side. Whatever barrier that had kept me from him was gone.

"Mo, Mo!" I held him. Mo's seizures had stopped, but he was stone cold. "No," I sobbed. I hung my head, ruined.

Michael's song rang through the basement. He was a vessel of God's Word, the Lord's will given life. I looked up to see him illuminated, like a figure from a monk's ancient manuscript, haloed and floating high above.

Michael looked at me, his smile beatific. His song was of culling. Of the end.

"Shannon." Samael scooped me up into his arms, along with the body of my brother. My cold, cold brother. Dead.

"Mo was supposed to wake up," I pleaded.

Samael carried us into the darkness.

I beat at Samael's chest. "Make him wake up!"

The Reaper's eyes flooded with tears. "You'll have wished he'd stayed dead. What have you done?"

The darkness was endless. It licked at my skin like a snake.

"I had to save him."

He walked on, into nothing. Mo was limp like a sack.

"I understand what you did - you're a fool, just like me. You sacrificed the world for love. And now, we have to fix it."

"Fix it," I echoed. "But how?"

"I don't know."

The void was just that, an emptiness. A space to write feelings upon. I dreamed of my brother's breath, of a steady pulse under my hands. But Mo's wrist was silent, his lungs empty. He was dead, so dead, so dead.

My sins stretched before me like shadows.

"Sam, I'm scared."

"Me too."