Chapter 148: The Return of Pazuzu
Azriel
"Goodbye, my love," I murmured, waving as Seraphel stepped into Luceriel’s shimmering Portal alongside Analisse, who carried the last of his travel bags and joined him on the journey.
She was the only one I trusted to serve him well.
I had originally proposed a regal carriage escort for his journey, but a ground trek would have taken a full week to reach Verolona.
Luceriel had been strangely impatient, insisting that Seraphel’s divine training begin without a moment’s delay, almost as if he had foreseen something troubling through his visions.
Whatever Visions had unsettled him, he hadn’t shared it with the rest of us, so I had dismissed it as nothing more than his usual overly cautious nature.
With a soft hum of magical energy, the portal snapped shut, leaving the air completely still.
I remained standing alone in the grand throne room, Malachi standing silently at my side like a shadow.
A heavy, hollow sigh escaped my chest. The sudden absence of my mate left me feeling anchorless, as if a vital piece of my own soul had been severed and carried off across the realm. Yet, I forced down the aching emptiness, reminding myself that his departure was necessary.
Staying in Katula while Castiel’s divine light surged out of control would have destroyed Seraphel’s body. Wherever he was heading, I could only pray that the Kingdom of Verolona would keep him safe.
"Azriel!"
The heavy doors of the throne room suddenly burst open with a deafening crash.
Anomas and Thamiel rushed inside, their faces pale and their eyes wide with panic.
"There is something catastrophic happening, Azriel!" Anomas announced frantically, his lungs heaving for air.
I turned toward him, my brows furrowed in immediate suspicion. "What is it? What has happened?"
"Elysium," Anomas gasped out.
My heart sank, fearing another immediate siege on Katula. But before I could bark an order to gather the guards, Anomas raised a trembling hand, tracing glowing magical runes into the air to establish a scrying link.
"My mother sent a brief distress signal... she said the demon prince has officially returned," Anomas announced, his voice trembling. "I tried to re-establish the connection to check on her, but the link vanished completely. It seems..." He choked on his words, unable to bring himself to speak the horrific reality aloud.
"Pazuzu attacked Elysium and he wiped them out," Thamiel finished coldly, his jaw clenched tight.
Before I could process the terrifying weight of his words, the entire throne room began to vibrate violently. Stone pillars groaned, dust rained down from the ceiling, and the reinforced walls shook as if the earth itself were splitting open beneath us.
High-pitched screams tore through the courtyard outside.
I exchanged a sharp, horrified look with Anomas and Thamiel before glancing at Malachi.
My commander gave me a grim nod, drawing his blade and bolting out the grand archway.
I went after him immediately, Anomas and Thamiel by my side.
"This dark aura... it’s completely suffocating," Anomas choked out the second we stepped out into the open courtyard.
He wasn’t exaggerating.
The once-clear blue sky above Katula had been swallowed whole by a swirling vortex of pitch-black and bruised-purple clouds, casting the entire city into an eerie, suffocating twilight.
"What in the hell is this power?!" I yelled over the sudden, violent gales of wind tearing through the stone arches.
The atmospheric pressure was crushing. The howling wind lashed against us with violent force, forcing me to throw an arm over my face to shield my eyes while reflexively raising a shimmering barrier around us to keep us from being swept off our feet.
High above us, a massive rift of purple lightning tore open the sky.
From the center of the void, a colossal, two-headed shadow serpent slithered forth, its glowing eyes scanning the earth below.
It circled serenely around a central figure who descended from the clouds—stepping onto thin air as if descending a flight of invisible marble stairs.
As the figure drew closer, the oppressive aura condensed into a terrifying, suffocating fog.
A pair of striking, cruel amethyst eyes locked directly onto mine from beneath a shroud of dark purple mist.
My breath hitched, my stomach dropping into a pit of dread.
"Pazuzu..." I muttered.
Even from high above the courtyard, the demon Prince heard my whisper. He flicked a single finger downward.
BANG!
An unfathomable, crushing weight slammed onto my shoulders like a collapsing mountain. The intensity of his aura shattered my barrier instantly, forcing me hard onto my knees against the stone pavement.
My heart hammered violently against my ribs, a wave of nausea surging up my throat so severely I thought I would throw up my guts right there.
"What... what kind of monster..." Thamiel gasped out, coughing up blood before collapsing face-first onto the cobblestones beside me, completely unconscious.
"Thamiel!" Anomas cried out, reaching for his brother, but the overwhelming gravity of Pazuzu’s pressure slammed him down as well, blacking him out in an instant.
Only Malachi remained, gritting his teeth in agonizing effort as he forced himself up, raising his sword and attempting to charge straight toward the descending demon prince.
"No, Malachi! Stop!" I screamed.
I was too late.
Pazuzu casually flicked his wrist without even looking down. Malachi’s body was launched backward like a cannonball, slamming violently into the heavy stone fortress wall. The masonry crumbled, burying my commander beneath a heap of shattered blocks.
Panic seized my chest, but through the mental bond connecting us, I could still feel a faint, flickering heartbeat. He was alive—just barely—and so were Anomas and Thamiel.
"PAZUZU!" I roared, forcing my head up to glare at him through bloodshot eyes. "You..."
"Hello, dear little cousin," a smooth, dark voice purred as his boots touched the ground smoothly. The two-headed serpent dissolved into a cloud of dark smoke behind him as he took a step forward.
With every step he took toward me, the protective magic surrounding my body shattered like fragile glass until he stood a mere foot away.
"After so many boring centuries, I finally see you again, Azriel," he muttered, a wicked, razor-sharp smirk curling his lips.
Gritting my teeth against the crushing pressure, I forced myself to stand, refusing to cower before him even as my instincts screamed that he possessed power vastly superior to my own.
"I heard you destroyed Elysium," I managed to rasp out, though my voice shook slightly despite my best efforts. "What the hell are you doing in Katula?"
Pazuzu folded his arms over his chest, inspecting his claws with an amused glint in his purple eyes. "You should be expressing your deepest gratitude to me, cousin. After all, I just eradicated the fools who were plotting to destroy you and your precious little mate."