Chapter 124: The attack on Katula
Seraphel
"I don’t think I can eat another bite," I groaned, leaning back in my chair as Taizel slid yet another plate toward me.
This one was piled high with thick cuts of roasted, glazed meat that shimmered under the ambient lights of the banquet hall.
I couldn’t even count how many times he had forced a fresh plate in front of me tonight, ever since Azriel had left my side to tend to a private matter.
Each time, out of sheer politeness and exhaustion, I had forced myself to chew.
Taizel let out a boisterous chuckle and set the plate down right in front of me. "Nonsense! The child needs to enjoy food and grow up to be just like me," he joked, winking playfully before taking a long drag from his golden cup.
"He isn’t wrong," Lumiel pointed out, crossing his arms over his broad chest. "Eating will make the child grow much faster. Look at you, your stomach is still entirely flat! The quicker the baby grows, the better it is for all of us. Why not feed the baby so it grows strong enough to become a great warrior like me?"
I rolled my eyes, letting out a soft sigh. This wasn’t the first time the two of them had bickered over this exact topic tonight. Taizel wanted the baby to be a lover of grand feasts, while Lumiel insisted on training a future commander. But none of that mattered to me right now.
All I truly wanted was for Azriel to walk back through those doors.
He had only been gone for a few minutes, but a restless anxiety was already settling deep in my chest.
I found myself desperately wishing I possessed some kind of telepathic link—a way to reach into his mind and ask when he was coming back to me.
"Oh, look at you, pining for that fool who thinks with his crotch," Sariel chuckled lightly, his tone dripping with intense contempt and bitter envy. He swirled the wine in his glass, a sharp, mocking sneer twisting his lips. "I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s somewhere off taking care of that little omega concubine right now. After all, Azriel never turns down a willing body. They are probably right in the middle of it, and it will take a while. If I were you, I’d just go to sleep until he returns. He is the Sin of Lust, after all."
I glared at him, my hands clenching into fists on the tabletop. Sariel merely offered a smug, effortless smile in return.
Just as I opened my mouth to snap back at him, a gut-wrenching pain exploded in the center of my chest. It felt as though a cold, barbed arrow had been violently driven straight through my heart. I gasped, clutching my robes, and let out a sharp cry of agony.
Uriel, who was sitting right beside me, turned to stare at me with sudden concern. "Are you alright? It looks like something is wrong with—" He broke off mid-sentence, gasping out loud as he suddenly grabbed his own chest.
At the exact same time, every single Sin at the table stiffened. Their faces turned pale, their hands slamming against their sternums in unison.
"You... you guys feel it too?" I asked, trembling as I held onto my heart, which throbbed with an agonizing, phantom pain.
I knew deep in my soul that this excruciating pain wasn’t originating from me. It was Azriel’s pain. And seeing his brothers react the exact same way meant that something bad had just happened to him.
"Azriel is in trouble..." I whispered, my voice shaking uncontrollably.
"We know," Luceriel responded, his dark brows furrowed in a deadly scowl. "His soul connection was severed in an instant—as if he vanished into thin air."
"Is he dead?" I choked out, tears stinging my eyes. "I can’t feel any of his emotions anymore, just this horrible, lingering pain in my chest!"
Sariel shook his head, his previous smugness completely gone. "He is not dead, but we have a far bigger problem on our hands right now," he said, throwing his hand out to point toward the night sky.
A massive rift tore open across the heavens, glowing with an eerie, violet light.
My eyes widened in terror as the sky split apart. Suddenly, large fireballs rained down from the rift, trailing black smoke as they plunged toward the glittering towers of Katula.
Winged silhouettes swarmed out of the vortex, hurling explosive magic straight down into the heart of the city below.
"Demons!" Raizel and Luceriel shouted together.
The peaceful banquet shattered into total chaos. The fiery fireballs slammed into the surrounding pavilions, causing the stone structures to detonate. The air filled with deafening screams of terror as guests and servants trampled over one another, running blindly to escape the raining fire and falling debris.
"My shadow sentinels!" Sariel announced, his face darkening. "Every single one I posted around the perimeter has been destroyed!"
"I didn’t feel a single ward break," Lumiel said, his voice dropping into a dangerous whisper. "They planned this from the inside. The betrayal was not the real one. It was a decoy." He looked back up at the sky as more roaring fireballs descended upon the burning city.
Luceriel threw both hands into the air, summoning a massive, shimmering barrier that expanded over the entire courtyard, catching the incoming fireballs and shattering them into harmless sparks. "Azriel was taken out because this was coordinated perfectly," he growled. "I should have seen through those palace servants!"
"Elysium has infiltrated Katula so deeply that even Azriel didn’t notice," Uriel shouted over the roar of the flames. "And now everyone in this kingdom is going to die!"
I looked at him in total confusion. Something didn’t make sense. As far as I knew, the Celestials of Elysium and the Demon race were bitter enemies.
Why would Elysium be using an army of demons to lay siege to Katula?
"Why are the demons here?" I asked frantically. "Celestials and demons hate each other! How could they possibly be working together?"
"Because Elysium isn’t just commanding them—look who is leading them!" Taizel bellowed, pointing high into the sky.
Hovering above the chaos was a divine figure. Brilliant, snow-white celestial wings spread wide from his back.
A glowing crown of stars floated above his head, and he wore sweeping blue robes embroidered with shimmering white and blue constellations.
"It’s Zephyrus," Taizel gritted out. "The son of Mirevale... the goddess you killed, Seraphel."
My breath hitched as my eyes locked onto the deity in the sky. As if sensing the gaze of the Sins below, Zephyrus raised his right hand.
A massive, crackling spear made of pure lightning materialized in his palm. With a ruthless flick of his wrist, he launched the weapon straight down at our protective barrier at terrifying speed.
The spear struck the barrier with a blinding flash. The shimmering shield shattered into a million glowing shards.
Before the shockwave could crush us, a massive hand grabbed my waist. Taizel’s body suddenly expanded to gigantic proportions, his muscular frame absorbing the force of the blast as he shielded us and pulled us away from the collapsing courtyard.
"Damn that arrogant god!" Lumiel cursed as he scrambled back to his feet, drawing his weapon. "We have to fight back!"
"We are completely outnumbered," Luceriel pointed out, stepping out from behind Taizel’s giant form as it shrank back down to its normal size. "Look at the number of demons pouring out of those rifts."
"Are you alright, Seraphel?" Taizel asked, checking over my arms and shoulders.
I nodded numbly, looking past him at the utter devastation. The city was burning.
Raging fires were consuming roofs, tearing through grand buildings, and turning the paradise of Katula into a hellscape.
"What do we do now?" I asked, my voice barely audible.
"First, we get you to safety," Luceriel answered firmly, throwing up another defensive barrier to block incoming blasts. "The entire reason Elysium launched this attack is because they realized you aren’t dead. Zephyrus is leading this strike to get revenge on you for killing his mother. We need to get you out of here, find Azriel, and break him out of whatever trap he was pulled into."
At the mention of Azriel, my heart leaped into my throat. "Is he really going to be okay?"
"He is a Sin of the realm," Raizel replied grimly. "He won’t die easily." He pointed up into the darkness, where hundreds of demons were swarming. They had dark, leathery wings and sharp horns curling from their foreheads, but otherwise looked human. They slammed their weapons violently against Luceriel’s barrier, trying to break through.
"These are the prisoners of Elysium!" Uriel yelled over the noise. "Elysium is using the demon race as meat shields! But why would the demons ever agree to fight for the very gods who treated them like trash for centuries?"
"Elysium must have promised them their freedom," Lumiel growled, smashing his fists together. "They are fighting for a reward. I don’t care how many of them there are! I just want to rip someone apart right now—especially that arrogant bastard up there!" Lumiel glared up at Zephyrus, who was already raising his hand to form another crackling lightning spear.
"Brace yourselves!" Luceriel roared, pushing his full power into the barrier overhead.
Raizel stepped forward, summoning a massive, gleaming golden spear that mirrored Zephyrus’s own weapon, and hurled it straight toward the sky to intercept the attack. Beside me, Taizel and Uriel planted themselves firmly in front of me, forming an impenetrable wall with their bodies to keep me safe from harm.
Standing behind them, I felt completely helpless. I could do nothing but hide and rely on their protection.
I clenched my hands until my knuckles turned white, staring up at the burning sky, wishing with everything in me that I was strong enough to fight alongside them.