Chapter 127: Stabbed
Seraphel
Zephyrus let out a soft, mocking chuckle. "A simple illusion to draw your strongest fighters into the clouds. The Sin of Lust was taken with ease, and now, we come for the final piece. I can’t believe that the human who killed my mother looked like this! How dare you filthy thing!"
I visibly gulped as I listened to his words but I didn’t back down. "Your mother tried to kill me first. I only fought back!"
"And it will be the last thing that you will do!" he retorted angrily.
Sariel held my hand tighter pulling me closer behind him. "Not on my watch."
"Azriel is taken care of! He won’t be able to watch his human die!" Zephyrus yelled at him.
Beside him, Tobias took a step toward Uriel, his brown eyes softening with a strange, dark affection before dimming into cold resolve. "I came here to ensure your survival, Uriel," Tobias said, his jaw clenching. "Zephyrus sought the human and the rest of your kin. I agreed to assist his strike on one condition—that you would be handed over to me unharmed. I am here to save you! So why are you glaring at me like that? Why are you frowning?!"
"You disgusting traitor!" Uriel screamed. With a sharp flick of his wrist, a storm of razor-sharp crimson flower petals burst into the air, flying straight toward Tobias like a deadly vortex.
Before the petals could touch him, Tobias vanished.
A split second later, he materialized right behind Uriel, locking a glowing, magical restraint around Uriel’s wrists and neck.
"I have secured Uriel as agreed, Zephyrus," Tobias said coldly, wrapping an arm around Uriel’s chest to hold him still. "May you succeed in your task."
"Tobias, let me go! You bastard!" Uriel yelled, struggling violently, but in a flash of blinding white light, both of them vanished into thin air, leaving no trace behind.
My jaw dropped as I stared at the empty space where Uriel had just been standing. Panic seized my throat as I scrambled back, pressing myself against the stone wall behind Sariel.
Now, it was just Sariel standing between me and Zephyrus.
The atmosphere between the two celestial beings grew suffocatingly dense. They stared at one another with a deep hatred, the tension pulling tight like a drawn bowstring.
"Sariel," Zephyrus murmured, taking a slow step forward. "I have no desire to harm you, and you know this. Stepping aside is your only logical choice."
Sariel scoffed loudly, a bitter, mocking laugh bursting from his lips. "Harm me? Look at you! You are still the same pathetic, spineless god who hides behind his mother’s skirt! Oh, wait—I almost forgot! Your precious mother is dead! And she was put down by this very human standing behind me!"
Zephyrus’s aura flared wildly, his masked face twitching with suppressed rage. "Silence! Hand over the human!"
"Never," Sariel spat, lowering his stance as golden light coiled around his blade. "He is Azriel’s chosen mate, and the child he carries is destined to free us from the
Curse. Why would I ever hand him over to a coward like you?"
"You cannot win this war!" Zephyrus snarled, his voice rising in anger. "The demons fight with absolute desperation for their promised freedom! They will tear Katula apart brick by brick! None of you are safe—Caelum and Jalem have already secured your precious Prince of Lust!"
Sariel sneered, his eyes gleaming with dark disdain. "You never could accomplish anything on your own, could you? Always relying on others to do your dirty work, always begging for an army to fight your battles! You are nothing more than Mirevale’s pathetic, spoiled son. And that annoying goddess died like a dog—I heard she didn’t even leave behind enough of a corpse for a proper burial! How utterly embarrassing!"
A terrifying roar tore from Zephyrus’s throat. He raised his hand and summoned a massive Spear of Light, hurling it directly at Sariel’s chest with inhuman speed.
"Still using the exact same predictable technique?" Sariel mocked. He snapped his fingers, and the incoming light spear dissolved into harmless golden motes before it could touch him. "I mastered the counter to your light magic centuries ago. That weak trick doesn’t frighten me."
Zephyrus stopped moving. He didn’t summon another weapon, nor did he attempt to strike Sariel again. Instead, a sinister, cruel smile spread beneath his mask as his gaze shifted past Sariel’s shoulder, locking directly onto me.
"I knew you would destroy that spear," Zephyrus whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "Which is why it was merely a distraction. I hid a second, true spear within its shadow... and it was never aimed at you."
My heart stopped.
Before I could even register his words, a violent, agonizing impact slammed straight into my back.
A blinding pain exploded through my midsection as a glowing spear of condensed light pierced clean through my abdomen, bursting out from the front of my stomach.
My vision spun wildly. I let out a choked, ragged gasp, dropping to my knees as warm blood began pooling over my hands, soaking through my robes and dripping onto the cold stone.
"The spear was forged specifically to terminate your life," Zephyrus’s distant voice echoed, sounding far away. "And it appears my mother has been avenged."
Sariel’s horrified scream rang out, but the sound was muffled, as if I were underwater. My hands trembled violently as I pressed them against the gaping wound, trying in vain to stop the relentless flow of blood.
When had he set the trap? How didn’t I see it coming?
As my body collapsed sideways onto the hard floor, tears spilled continuously down my pale cheeks.
A deafening ringing filled my ears, drowning out the sound of the battle around me. I didn’t care about the war, the gods, or the burning kingdom.
As the darkness crept into the edges of my sight, only one agonizing thought remained in my fading mind. Azriel and the baby.
My baby... please, what happened to my baby?