Chapter 72: Thank You

"Today's just not my day..."

The sky was black and filled with stars, and the once expansive and peaceful desert landscape was littered with deep craters and patches of destruction. Several bundles of fire illuminated different parts of the dry land, and smoke rose high into the sky. Two figures could be seen standing a hundred feet away from one another; they seemed to ignore the sheer amount of destruction around them.

"Am I even getting anywhere?" Amy whispered as she looked at her opponent from where he stood calmly. Blackheart's body stood straight and firm, his visible injuries healing quickly as steam flowed out slowly from the cut and injuries she inflicted.

The Angel's physical state, however, was in a much worse off state. On her left arm and hands were scuff marks from already healed injuries; her once pristine gauntlet was now gone due to being destroyed. Amy's chest armor was severely cracked, alongside a large tear on her battle dress that exposed a deep gash on her stomach. Gold energy enveloped the cut and started healing the injury, albeit much slower than usual. Overall, her armor and battle dress were covered in scuffs and cuts.

"If it weren't for my healing abilities, I'd be out of the fight already." Amy said and looked down at the remaining sword in her right hand. Its partner rested off in the distance, broken and shattered. "Even after everything I've done, I can't cause any lasting damage on that bastard."

"Don't tell me this is all the fight you have left." Blackheart said as he walked towards her. "Show me more of what you can do!"

"Shit!" Amy cursed and parried a sharp, long spike that shot out from the ground and intended to skewer her.

Dashing side to side, the Angel of Justice and Love continued to slash and deflect an onslaught of erupting black spikes. With a backflip, Amy dodged a spike that almost stabbed her in the back. While in the air, she summoned her dove-like wings and shot up to the sky to escape the spear's range.

On instinct, Amy swung her sword to the left, destroying an incoming blast of black and purple energy. Scanning the air around her, she noticed several hundred more blasts flying at her at incredible speeds.

Amy began zooming back and forth with a mighty flap of her large wings to avoid them all. Seeing one blast about to impact her, Amy spun in the air and sliced the energy projectile in half. Causing the now two new blasts to fly around her. A sudden impact struck her stomach as she was about to fly off again.

"GAH!" Amy gasped loudly as all the breath in her lungs escaped her.

"You're slowing down little bird." Blackheart said as he blurred behind her. "Let's take these pesky things out of the equation."

Blackheart then raised his fists over his head and slammed them down with all his strength onto Amy's defenseless back, crushing her wing's bones and causing her to fly down to the ground.

"AAAGHH!" Amy screamed in pain but was quickly silenced as she landed violently onto the hard ground below with a massive explosion of dust and debris flying out.

Wincing in pain, Amy slowly lifted her head out of the rubble. Warm blood then flowed down her forehead and her cheek. Turning her head to try and look at her back, Amy cringed at the sight of her mangled wings.

"AHK!" Amy cried in pain as she tried to move her wings but stopped when she felt an unimaginable amount of pain shoot out from them. "G-Gotta heal…"

BAM

"…huh."

Amy saw a dark-skinned foot land beside her torso; slowly looking up, Amy felt a pang of fear when she saw Blackheart look down at her with a cruel expression on his mouthless face.

"Now, shall I do you the favor of ripping off these broken wings?" Blackheart said as he leaned down and grabbed the base of her wings with his clawed hands.

"…no, stop." Amy whispered as she tried to move her body.

"Grit your teeth, little one."

RIIIIPP

"AAAAAAGHHHH!" Amy yelled in excruciating pain as her once pristine white wings were thrown down beside her. They were bloody and mangled.

"There, quite the improvement, I would say." Blackheart chuckled as he bent down and grabbed her by the back of her dress collar.

Amy was then effortlessly lifted and held up to Blackheart's eye level. With tears in the corners of her eyes, Amy glared hatefully at the Demon. "You… I'm gonna make you pay."

"No. I think I've had quite enough of this." Blackheart sighed tiredly and extended his arm out. "Let's wrap things up. It shouldn't be much longer before he wakes up."

Before Amy could say or do anything, a spike shot out of the floor and pierced her stomach. With a wet crack, the spear exited out of her back with a shower of blood. Grunting in pain, Amy grabbed the spear with her hands and tried to pull herself off the sharp weapon.

"Fighting at this point is futile." Blackheart said with a shake of his head and snapped his fingers.

"Ah!" Amy yelled out in pain as the spear flew upwards high into the sky with her in tow.

Down below, four more spikes exploded from the ground and flew after Amy. Blackheart watched as blood rained down from the sky as the Angel continued being propelled upwards, her injuries aggravated by the erratic movement of the spike.

"It's time I apply the final puzzle piece to my plan."

Below Blackheart's foot, a small black and purple portal opened and released a faint glow. Slowly, a pristine and extravagant spear rose from the portal until it floated next to him. Reaching out, Blackheart grabbed the spear by its golden shaft. This was the spear of Longinus.

Up in the sky, Amy continued to try to remove herself from the spike. "D-Damn it! Get out of me!"

Down below her, Amy spotted four new spikes flying right at her at incredible speeds. Due to being impaled and at the mercy of the current spike within her, Amy had no chance of dodging.

SHLIK

"GAH!" Amy yelled out in pain.

Amy was in a world of pain as four new spikes of solid energy stabbed into her limbs. Two spikes pierced through her hands, and the other two went through her feet. The spikes then moved around until her body was positioned precisely like the crucifixion of Christ. The spike within her stomach then dissipated away, leaving a large bloody hole.

The spikes then spun her around so she would look up at the sky. Amy numbly looked at the dark sky and saw all the bright stars. Her body racked with pain and agony; blood leaked down to the ground from her open wounds. In the dark sky, a shimmer of light twitched. It was not a star.

Amy tiredly watched the light grow bigger and bigger as it descended right at her with the bit of energy she had left. Amy focused her eyes and saw Blackheart behind the light.

'Ah… it looks like I lost. Sorry, Uriel, Gamaliel. I couldn't get Justice for your deaths…' Amy thought as the world around her slowed down. 'Sorry, Micheal. It seems you were right… a lower Angel like myself should have run away at the sight of one of the infamous Hell lords. They're too strong.'

As Blackheart grew closer, Amy closed her eyes and smiled slightly.

'I wonder if Wanda and Pietro managed to take out those Demons and find Harvey…'

A memory flashed in her mind, the memory of her first meeting with Harvey. The first night she met her dear friend, it still made her laugh how untrusting he was with her. Now, the two were as close as siblings. While all her fellow angels were her siblings, their relationships were strictly professional and cold, unlike her own with Harvey, where it was comfortable and warm.

///

"Hey, Amy! Don't fall asleep on the couch!" Harvey said to her from inside his living room. It was late at night, and the ending credits to a movie they watched were scrolling by.

"Too tired! Carry me?" Amy said with a pout and held her arms out.

"Sorry excuse for an Angel." Harvey muttered but picked her up gently and then took her to her room.

"You know you love me!"

///

Amy smiled at the memory. It was also thanks to him that she was introduced to two new people that she grew to love and care about.

///

"Pietro, stop that! Amy, don't encourage him!" Wanda yelled from the other table beside them. They were all inside a Mexican restaurant for dinner. Harvey sat in front of her with an amused smile.

"Don't listen to her, Speedy! Keep eating! You only have two minutes to finish this seven-pound burrito to win that shirt!" Amy cheered and waved around two small flags in her hands.

"You got it!" Pietro said with a mouthful of food and continued eating with gusto.

///

Amy's smile grew wider as several other memories of her friends played in her mind. The countless good times they enjoyed with one another were all precious to her. Even after all her centuries of being alive, no other people worked their way inside her heart like they did.

'Everyone.' Amy opened her eyes and saw Blackheart mere feet away from her, a large spear in his hands. 'Thank you for being my friends.'

SHLINK

•••

"You annoying bug-eyed bastard."

Pietro gasped as he dashed back from another slash. Skidding to a stop, the silver speedster saw Xannal growl. The Demon's left arm was missing; a bloody stump was all that was left.

"Those daggers of yours… how infuriating." Xannal said and blurred away.

"Tsk."

Pietro then began running and started dodging a new onslaught of attacks by the multi-eyed Demon; thankfully, his lack of arm made it much easier to dodge and avoid Xannal's quick attacks. Their chase and battle took them all around Western Hollywood; once they reached the large crater that spanned a city block, Pietro skidded to a stop. As did the incredibly fast Demon, Xannal.

"Such destruction." Xannal looked around with his eyes. "Zarathos and that Human must not be that strong if they allowed this much destruction to occur. You all like to call yourselves heroes, right? Isn't something like this something you heroes prevent?"

"Shut up." Pietro snarled. "You have no idea what happened here, so don't talk like you know what's going on!"

Blurring forward, Pietro and Xannal engaged in a new round of their fight. With a well-timed weave, Pietro dodged a forward thrust the Demon threw and slashed across Xannal's chest. Leaving behind a deep gash that bled profusely.

"RAGH! Damn it!" Xannal jumped back and looked down at the gash. Smoke was slowly being released from the cut. "Those damn daggers, blessed by the God of Christ himself."

"Burns, doesn't it?" Pietro smiled and flipped his left dagger into a reverse grip, ignoring the slight shakes in his legs. "Perfect for exorcising Demons like you, wouldn't you say?"

"Funny." Xannal growled and took a step forward, only to stop.

Pietro watched as the Demon's many eyes moved around until they settled into a glare. Xannal then stood straight and looked at him, almost as if he were disappointed.

"It seems our battle must come to an abrupt end." Xannal said and started walking away. "I hope we meet again to finish what we started today."

"Wait!" Pietro yelled. "Where do you think you're going?! We're not done here!"

"Yes, we are." Xannal's eyes looked down at his shaking leg. "The scratch you received from Akoth has paralyzing properties. That's why your leg has been shaking. As for me, I'm feeling the exorcism effects from those daggers."

"Worry not, Quick Silver. We'll meet again to finish today's battle."

Xannal then blurred away in a burst of speed; Pietro tried to run after him but found his shaking leg, not wanting to run. Glaring down at the ground, Pietro fell to his knees and punched the ground.

"Fuck!" Pietro yelled in frustration. "Wanda… wherever you are. I hope you found Harvey."

Sliding his daggers into their holsters, Pietro reached into his pocket and brought out his phone. Frowning at seeing a large crack on the screen, Pietro unlocked the device and called Amy's number. After not receiving a response, the silver speedster dropped his arm and looked up at the night sky in worry.

"Why won't you pick up?"