The Epic of Leviathan

[Third Heaven] 

"Ah… you must be Michael, right? Do you want to say anything before you surrender?" Hela questioned in a mocking tone as she started to release some of her bloodlust. 

All the Angels including the Seraphs gasped in horror as they felt Hela's bloodlust wash over them. "We don't have any intentions to fight you!" Michael gasped out with a lot of difficulties. 

Hela reigned in her bloodlust and she slightly tilted her head in confusion. "Are you sure about that? You bought so many Angels with you… all of them seem to be carrying weapons too" Hela pointed out with a mocking grin on her face. 

"...Yes, but we didn't intend to fig…" that was all Archangel Michael was able to say before Hela grabbed his throat and lifted him up in the air. 

"Do you take me for a fool, pigeon?" Hela questioned dangerously and all the Angels flinched in fear as they couldn't even see Hela move. With some reluctance, the Angels prepared their weapons. 

Even though Michael was hanging in the air, he noticed that the Angels were getting ready to attack the woman. He knew he had to stop them, Angels couldn't afford a fight with this woman.

"All of you stop!!" Michael ordered with some difficulties. 

"Looks like you could learn" Hela said and let the man go. Michael landed on his feet but he was supported by Raphael, the said Great Seraph was dangerously glaring at Hela. 

"Now, let me tell you what is going to happen… either you surrender or I kill the whole bunch of you right here, right now" Hela said in a murderous tone. 

"...We surrender" Michael said, shocking a lot of Angels. Previously they had only agreed to surrender because they thought Hela couldn't access the Heaven's System, but the circumstances were pretty different now. 

Hela had Holy Power, which meant the woman could access the System, they couldn't fathom what sort of things the woman was going to do after gaining access to the System. 

"Good choice. Now, lead me to the 7th Heaven. I want to see what this so-called Heaven's System can do" Hela ordered, but all of a sudden her head snapped back as she stared at Grayfia. 

"Grayfia, I will be sending you back to Knox. I am pretty sure that the other levels of Heaven aren't going to be friendly to a Devil" Hela said as her features also softened while she was addressing the silver-haired maid. 

"I understand, my lady" Grayfia said with a small nod of her head. She really wanted to accompany Hela, but she knew that she couldn't. At least, not until Hela changed the system settings. Grayfia was soon engulfed in darkness and moments later, she was gone along with the darkness. 

"Michael! You aren't serious, are you? We have no idea what type of atrocities she might cause" Raphael whispered furiously into Michael's ear. Hela clearly heard the pigeon, but she didn't make a move as she wanted to see how the head pigeon reacted to his brother.

Michael simply shook his head. "You don't understand brother, my hands are tied. What do you think would happen if I deny her? She will kill her way up to 7th Heaven… tell me do you want that?!" Michael exclaimed, making everyone flinch. 

"Do you want our brothers and sisters to die meaninglessly?? She will access the System either way… At least this way, we would survive" Michael whispered the last part with a conflicted look on his face. 

The Angels who still wanted to fight lowered their heads. They couldn't accept the whole thing, but at the same time, they didn't want their brothers and sisters to die. Not all of them were fighters… there were a lot of Angels who didn't even know how to hold weapons, all of them would die if they decided to protest. 

Hela raised her hands and started to clap with an amused look on her face. "Bravo!! That is what it means to be a Leader! I am impressed! Leaders have to make some hard choices… This is something very common. Let me tell all of you a story…" Hela said as she began to pace in front of the group of Angels.

Michael didn't know how to react to the compliment. To be honest, he couldn't deduce if the woman was complimenting him or making fun of him, but he still decided to listen to the woman's story attentively. After all, he might get to learn something. 

"You see… when I was young, a woman begged me for her daughter's life. She was ready to lay down her life in exchange for her daughters. It touched me… so, I stopped the massacre. I told the enemy leader that I would spare his soldiers if he sacrificed his own life for them"

"Surprisingly, the leader accepted my deal. I cut him down, and I obviously allowed the others to leave… I even spared the mother's life, after all, I am a woman of my word. Can you guess what happened after that?" Hela asked softly and Michael simply couldn't guess where the woman was going with this story. 

"I understand if you can't guess… After a decade, those people built up their forces and attacked my army when I was away. They killed everyone… none of my soldiers were spared… when I returned to my army camp, I was devastated. That was my first crushing defeat"

"I obviously retaliated… I razed their planet without any remorse. Not even a child was spared… that is when I received the Title Goddess of War… Do you know what I learned from the whole ordeal?" Hela questioned with a melancholic smile on her face. 

The Angels gulped loudly. They couldn't believe what they were hearing and the woman seemed to be proud of what she had done. Some smart Seraphs easily understood where the woman was going with this story, but they didn't dare to voice out an answer. 

"I learned that I shouldn't spare any enemy on the battlefield…" Hela said with a vicious grin on her face, scaring all the Angels. Moments later, her features softened. 

"But this isn't a battlefield, is it?" Hela asked softly and started to cackle. "That is why I will be sparing all of you" Hela said and started to cackle again. 

She stopped laughing after a few seconds and a wild grin appeared on her face. "Now, you understand what would happen if you betray me, right? If you don't understand then let me make it clear… first, I will kill all of you pigeons, then I will kill all the humans down to the last child" Hela whispered in a menacing tone making all the Angels shudder in fear. 

The Seraphs and the Angels finally understood that this woman was much worse and sinister than the original Devil. If any of the Angels were planning anything, they immediately scrapped their plans. First of all, the woman was insanely strong, so direct attacks wouldn't work. 

Their only option was subterfuge but that was also useless, if they dared to do anything then she would not only kill them, she was going to eradicate the humans too… In other words, Hela successfully tamed a bunch of pigeons. 

"Well, storytime is up. Lead me to 7th Heaven" Hela said with a shrug and Michael could only nod his head.

Nobody could directly teleport into the 7th Heaven. They had to enter the 7th Heaven through Zebel. So, Michael quickly prepared the teleportation circle and gestured to the Seraphs to take care of the gathered soldiers. 

Hela stepped into the teleportation circle and moments later, both Hela and Michael disappeared in a flash of golden light. Hela arrived in 6th Heaven. She quickly looked around and it slightly resembled Asgard from her homeworld. 

Hela had heard that there was an Asgard of this world. She was already planning to visit her alternate home. From what she had heard, Odin didn't seem to have a daughter and there was a woman named Hel, but that woman was Loki's daughter. 

Michael led Hela straight towards the entrance of the 7th Heaven. He didn't want the woman to interact with Gabriel or any of the non-combatant Angels. 

"So, did Azazel contact you to inform you about my arrival?" Hela questioned all of a sudden. Michael stiffened for a second and that was all Hela needed to know her answer. 

"I don't…" Michael began to say but Hela interrupted him with her laugh. 

"You don't need to lie… not that you could lie in front of someone like me" Hela said and Michael decided to remain silent. He had no idea what type of fate was awaiting for Azazel but he internally prayed for his brother's wellbeing. 

The duo finally arrived in 7th Heaven. In the centre of the room, Hela saw a huge contraption. The thing resembled the contraption she used to download movies, this one was just bigger. "Now, hand me the God's Key" Hela commanded and Michael frowned. 

"How do you know about that?" Michael questioned and once again Hela started to laugh. 

"A woman had her secrets… now hand over the Key before I gut everyone else" Hela said with a serious look on her face. Michael gritted his teeth and he took out a golden hilt of a sword from his robe. 

Hela grabbed the Key and it started to lose its golden colour and turn green. Michael clenched his fists tightly… but soon the Key started to activate shocking Michael to his core. He knew that the Key was needed to properly control the System but he could never activate the Key. 

Michael stared in awe as the woman inserted the Key into the System and slowly the System also started to lose its golden colour… only after a few seconds, the whole System turned green and moments later, the whole room was green. Hela looked around and started to cackle… 

"This is brilliant!!!" Hela exclaimed loudly as she plopped down into the green seat. Michael could only stare in complete horror from the side… 

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1746 words in this chapter.

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