Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

Clamping down on the accelerator, I bolted over the forest floor, weaving through the trees as the winds whipped over my cloak, threatening to allow the twin suns to meet my flesh. But Little Ty was ready. Already knowing what to do, she pulled on my hood, ensuring I remained protected.

"Faster! Faster!" Ty cheered with laughter.

The engines bellowed at her command, breaking out of formation. I quickly took to the skies, shredding through the clouds without care.

The cries and furious roars of abyssal monsters echoed, parting the skies, leaving only the shadows of their monstrous bodies spanning the sizes of mountains. Their eyes locked onto me, and in seconds, if not less, the rain started.

Leaping flames coiled over the forest bed while explosions of mushroom clouds of various shapes, sizes, and ranges seemed to surge with unending might. The heat raged with the power that could rival the Nine Hells, spanning out without concern. Hell had risen over this world, and at the center, the engine of the Echo wept.

I pushed this piece of machinery to its peak. My fist twisted over the throttle, and the sounds of the turbines begged for release, feeling the gears shift back into their last; the winds against my face felt like knives, cutting across my skin, spilling blood. My surroundings were a blur, but the machine and I were one.

"PAPA!!!!" Ty screamed through gritted teeth, arching her fingers. "LEFT!"

I dipped left, steering so hard I felt a horrid pressure trying to push me off, but the moment I did, a deadly hot piercing bolt of scarlet whipped past me, searing the tips of my robes. I dipped back again and dived deep down, never staying in one direction.

My heart was drumming without rest, and the torment of the light was the last thing I cared for at this moment. A rush I had long for had returned. Sweat trickled down like streams, but death seemed like a lingering concept under Ty's precise direction. I shredded down over the rubble, the engine heat pilled over my body, wishing for rest, but the Abyssal Monsters were still on my tale.

Sonia had said I would need to be a Hevealy Lord, or was it Empyrean? Honestly, it didn't matter. The moment Avar had granted me these bikes, I knew it was only a matter of time before—

My eye grew wide when my eyes locked over the horizon, threw the glare of the twin's star, the hairs upon my neck stood on end, and a cold sensation of the reaper blade slowly passing his scythe over my neck came and went.

Not needing to understand what was about to happen, I instantly sent Ty a soul command. Her grip over me tightened, and I teleported to the nearest shadow, a few kilometers away, when an explosion so great I felt the land shake erupted like a storm.

Rings of warning rang from the holocube, and I knew. I knew it had started. War had commenced. The skies darkened to a golden brilliance with the sigil of the holy cross of heaven. And from its light, Sigils of Seven layers seemed to crown the cross and, in a moment, like a catalyst. A power and a fear came like a wave, rippling over me and far across the horizon.

"Papa, we have to run! Now!" Ty urged, tugging on my cloak.

"Those fucking madmen! They don't care, do they!" I shouted, unable to believe what I was seeing. Pillars of Heavenly Radiance spiked, and at that moment, in that instant, I knew if I didn't move, I didn't flee. Only death was going to await me.

I clenched my fist, and just as I was about to leave, to flee, my body stiffened. As the whisper of the Hells sang, the Seven Sins burned and coiled within me, calling for blood, and on the opposite side of the Heavens Cross, a revolting sigil of an upside-down cross awaited my gaze, with a cruel snake coiling around its britches.

Lucifer?

No, I quickly denied my thought. Only to shutter, watching the crest of untold evil that did not belong to the hells but something sick in nature; I knew this was a crest of mockery. It was not one of lucifer. Who's beauty was so grand. So perfect that even the angels could not resist, this was evil, pure and simple, something that came purely from sin.

The skies of Gold and Scarlet black clashed, erupting in multi-colored light that sparked a reaction I would never forget. A mist of Yin and Yang appeared, or rather Heaven and Hell in this case.

Peering deeply into the mist, I witnessed the laws of Heaven and Earth taking form. They did not appear like a human or a beast, but instead as a flame, a soul flame—earth, Wind, Fire, Darkness, Light, Lightning. They were all here and much, much more.

"I shall be your first!" the booming voice of Baphomet thundered, appearing from the upside-down cross. He held onto a form I had never seen. I didn't recognize him at all, but I knew it was him. I couldn't explain, but it was definitely him.

His hair was long, spanning all the way down to his feet, with two piercingly sharp black horns of Almighty Essence rippling from the etching upon his horns. His runes were glimmering.

His skin was a deep black with scales coiled over his body, but the most striking thing was his handsome features which appeared as though he were sixteen, alongside his gruesome tail that hung loose in the air.

Baphomet's hands were poised behind his back, and his upside-down cross seemed to trail after his mighty form.

The still visible lands had begun to wither, and the scent of rot and brimstone clung like weeds to the air.

"The Mother of Demons, Lilith," I whispered the name, and goosebumps prickled over my skin. My heart fell into disorder as I felt such power that I knew no man, not even Asmodeus, held.

Baphomet was calling upon her strength.

The Seven Sigils glimmered from the Angel's Cross, and from its light, seven Angels, one being Zantar, appeared.

"Arsene," Avar suddenly said through the intercom of the Echo, startling me. "I have engaged the Subspace Drive on your echo. If you wish to live, to see another day, DRIVE NOW!"