Asher's body shimmered like molten silver. His hair spilled down his back in a cascade of luminous strands, each lock radiating pure, blinding light. His eyes glowed with a fierce golden brilliance, like twin suns, and from his back unfurled two colossal wings—each feather edged in crackling white fire, spreading so wide they seemed to swallow the sky.
Jeremy stood frozen, trembling, unable to take a single step. The moment he tried to move, it was as if invisible chains pulled him back.
"Asher… what's going on? What's happening… are you alright?" Jeremy's voice wavered with panic, his face streaked with tears.
But Asher did not turn around. His steps were slow, measured, as if he were walking above mortal concerns. Each bare footfall glowed, leaving silvery imprints in the cracked, bloodstained earth that shimmered and faded like sparks in the dark. Above his head hovered a blazing halo, pulsing with an intensity so fierce it forced Jeremy to squint through his tears.
Meanwhile, Lamia screamed in agony on the ground. His body twisted and spasmed. He rolled over the dirt, clawing at his chest as black, viscous liquid gushed from his nostrils, staining his lips and chin. The sound of his cries was ragged, each breath a high-pitched rasp, as though his lungs were tearing apart.
Hadrain stared in horror, unable to break free from the invisible force rooting him to the spot. His eyes brimmed with helpless fury. Never in his immortal life had he felt so utterly stripped of power.
"Spare him, please! I love him with my soul—if he dies, a great part of me follows too!" Hadrain shouted, voice raw and shaking.
Catherine's own voice joined his, choked with sobs. "He's a father! A father of two—please, I beg you. He needs to go back to his children!"
Asher stopped. Slowly, he turned toward them. His golden gaze was as cold and sharp as a blade. The brilliant light swirling around him made his face almost alien, like a statue of some unfeeling deity.
Jeremy felt his chest constrict at the sight. This wasn't his Asher. The man he loved would never look so merciless.
"But your children… they deserve it," Asher said, his voice ringing like the toll of a great cathedral bell, echoing across the battlefield. "After cleansing you all… it will be their turn. Especially your son. He shall die, and his blood shall purify the earth. Enough of you demons polluting this world. It ends now."
Hadrain's eyes widened until the whites showed all around his irises. "Please! Don't go this way. I've done terrible things, yes—but it was for my family. I love them so fucking much!"
Asher approached Lamia, the silver glow around him intensifying until sparks of light drifted like fireflies from his skin. In his hand materialized a blade of pure, radiant energy—its edge humming and flickering as if the sword itself breathed. The air crackled, heat rolling off it in shimmering waves.
Lamia sobbed, tears glistening like jewels as they fell. His voice broke as he pleaded, "For my babies… they're scared. They did nothing to be part of this war. Please—I know I've committed countless sins against your angelic kind… but don't take me from my family…"
His midnight-blue eyes, usually so proud and bright, were clouded with terror and pain.
But Asher's face remained unflinching. In a single, graceful arc, he drew the blazing blade across Lamia's throat. There was a sizzling hiss, like steam flashing off molten metal. Lamia's eyes went wide, then glassy, as blood poured in a dark crimson flood, glimmering in the light pouring from Asher's wings.
"Your blood is the only thing that can seal off the armies of the dead," Asher declared. "You shattered the balance by bringing him back to life. He should have remained dead. This is for the greater good."
The blood gushed forth, gathering in a vast crimson pool that spread over the earth like an unfolding cloak. Above them, the sky cracked open. Thunder rolled in enormous peals, and lightning forked across the heavens. The clouds churned, black and turbulent, as though the sky itself was wailing in sorrow.
Hadrain let out a roar of unimaginable anguish. His scream tore through the air as he clawed at his own face, his nails raking bloody furrows into his skin. He smashed his forehead into the ground over and over, sobbing uncontrollably.
"Why, Lamia?! Why?! Don't be dead! Come back, Lamia—please!"
But even as he wailed, Asher turned his attention toward Hadrain. An invisible pressure slammed into Hadrain's chest, crushing the air from his lungs. He wheezed and choked, fingers scrabbling uselessly against a force he could neither see nor resist.
"Don't… my children… don't harm them…" Hadrain rasped, his voice barely audible. But Asher was no longer Asher. He was something else—something terrifying and inexorable.
A radiant pulse erupted from Asher's body—a wave of divine power that rippled outward, bending the very air. It struck Hadrain like a hurricane wind, forcing him to his knees.
"Your kind will be sealed forever," Asher intoned, his words echoing like a hundred voices speaking in unison. "The earth will be purged of demons. And you, Zarin—Prince of Hell… it's time to meet your father and wait for your wife there."
Hadrain let out a final, animal scream. Asher raised his arms, and the clouds overhead split apart in a vortex of light. A colossal pillar of golden flame shot down from the sky, engulfing Hadrain in roaring, searing brilliance. His figure was swallowed by fire, his scream fading into silence as the ground beneath him turned molten and then cooled to black glass.
Jeremy stumbled backward, trembling so violently his teeth rattled. His breath came in ragged sobs. Was this truly the justice of God? Was love itself a sin so great it demanded such wrath?
Hovering above the earth, Asher began to ascend higher into the air. Brilliant, thread-like streams of light unfurled from his body like spider-silk, weaving a shining web across the battlefield. The radiance washed over the scattered corpses of the dead witches. One by one, they let out shrieks of pure agony as their bodies blistered, blackened, and crumbled away into flakes of ash.
Yet the glow did not dim. It grew fiercer, roaring and rolling like the tide, ready to devour more.
And then Asher turned his golden eyes on Catherine.
She was trembling so hard that she nearly fell. Her lips quivered as she screamed through tears. "I thought angels were good! Why did you take them away? Why did you take my husbands away?!"
Her grief cracked something inside her, and she let out a sob so sharp it felt like her ribs might shatter.
Asher's voice was cold as winter ice. "You are three weeks pregnant, Catherine. But you… and your baby… shall perish. Demon blood must be eradicated."
Instantly, Catherine's eyes bulged. She began to gasp and claw at her throat, choking as though invisible hands squeezed her windpipe. Her face flushed purple as she tried to pull in air, tears streaming down her cheeks as she mouthed silent words.
Asher hovered above, his wings spread like a radiant cross against the roiling sky, eyes ablaze as he prepared to pass judgment yet again.