Gabriel's Armada

Chapter 13: Victory

Hell

Gabriella wiped the sweat threatening to enter her eyes as she dodged an attack from Helios. She grabbed his hand and drew him forward. At the same time, she tackled the muscular demon who fell ungracefully to the hard ground.

The crowd in the arena cheered raucously and Helios stood up, giving Gabriella a death glare before he charged at her with a deafening battlecry.

Gabriella stood her ground until the last moment, shifting before Helios could collide with her. Helios couldn't stop himself and crashed head first into the ground.

The crowd unanimously broke into laughter and again, Helios stood up and charged at Gabriella again, this time using his shoulder to ram her abdomen.

Gabriella landed on her back, hitting the back of head on the ground. Helios jumped on her, and began to punch her.

Gabriella heard white noise as punch after punch landed on her face. Helios leaned closer to her face and began to speak a garbled version of English, spittle dripping from the corners of his mouth.

“You make crowd laugh Helios, you die.”

Gabriella swallowed and understood two things; first, she had hurt Helios' pride and the demon intended to punish her for her offense by taking her life.

Secondly, she had to kill Helios if she didn't want to die.

While Helios was still muttering nonsense, Gabriella kicked the back of his scaly head, destabilizing the demon.

Before Helios could recover, Gabriella gave him an uppercut which lifted him off her and threw him to the ground.

Gabriella walked over to where Helios was trying to stand up, and kicked his head as hard as she could manage.

Helios hit the ground with an ear-splitting cry and Gabriella continued to kick his head, gritting her teeth with each kick. Helios spasmed with each kick he received to his head, and soon his eyes closed.

The demons in the arena fell silent but Gabriella didn't notice, because she was busy ending Helios' threat.

By what seemed to Gabriella like the tenth kick, she heard Helios' neck snap. Gabriella added one more kick for good measure, and when she confirmed Helios was no longer alive, she cleaned her shoe on the only scrap of clothing Helios had on; his loincloth.

When she was through, Gabriella walked away from the corpse and faced the crowd, raising her arms up in a victory sign.

The demons in the stands were silent for a second and then erupted in cheers, hailing Gabriella as a great fighter and a champion.

Gabriella smiled so much her cheeks hurt, for the first time in any of the two lives she had lived, she was not a loser.

She was loved, Gabriella thought, seeing the adoring looks from the crowd. She turned to were Beelzebub and his ever present shadow, the figure stood, and was ecstatic to see the look of approval on Beelzebub's face.

Gabriella bowed, and Beelzebub applauded her.

The stands fell silent once again, and Beelzebub spoke, “You have proven yourself worthy. Now, you shall embark on your mission.”

Gabriella's heart soared at Beelzebub's pronouncement, “Your wish is my command, Master.” she bowed.

* * *

Two weeks later

Thaddeus watched as the fire he lit burned brightly, cradling his sword. He looked at the reflection of the fire on his sword unbelievably.

If someone had told him a month ago, that he was going to be a part of the first commissioned Angel patrol team in ten years, he'd have called the person a blatant liar. Yet, here he was, keeping first watch for his team.

It had been two weeks since Ramiel had begun to patrol the Afterlife, yet they had not come up against any hostile forces.

They only met mutinous demons fleeing hell, and lost souls who had no place to call home. Both parties posed no harm to the angels, so Ramiel had let them pass freely.

Thaddeus knew that with the exception of him and the team's leader, a seasoned warrior called Raphael, the other members of the seven-man team were getting a bit bored. During the day, Thaddeus had overheard two of his teammates complaining and had been disappointed in them. No matter how monotonous your job got, you were supposed to grin and bear it. It was the least one could do to protect the angels from Beelzebub's malevolence.

Secretly, Thaddeus hoped for something exciting to happen, so as to keep his teammates happy.

“At least, maybe they'll quit their incessant complaints.” Thaddeus said, still looking at his sword with awe. The sword was long and sharp, with two wings carved unto its gleaming handle. Thaddeus cherished his sword, and hoped to use it honorably some day.

Thaddeus heard a snap and held out his sword immediately, staring into the dark wasteland that had once been the outskirts of the Outpost before Beelzebub's demons ravaged it.

“Who's there?” Thaddeus called out, standing up and walking towards the sound.

His teammates stirred from their sleep to see Thaddeus holding up his sword warily.

“What is it?” Raphael asked, leaping up and drawing his own sword out of his sheath.

“I heard a snap and I wanted to investigate,” Thaddeus replied.

They listened and a moment later, another snap sounded.

“Get me a torch,” Raphael whispered to the person closest to him. In the direction of the sound, he shouted, “Who goes there? Identify yourself.”

“It's me.” They heard a timid feminine voice reply.

“And who are you?” Raphael asked irritably. One of the team lit six torches and distributed it among them.

Raphael who did not like to be so close to fire did not get one. When their eyes had adjusted to the light of the fire, they were able to make out a cloaked figure, covering her head with a hood.

“Did you not hear me?” Raphael roared intimidatingly, “I asked you to identify yourself. And pull down your hood.”

The figure shivered and pulled down the hood, revealing a young woman whose face was bleeding, bruised and swollen at various places, “I'm sorry I didn't answer immediately, I was scared.”

“If I ask you whom you are again, it'll be with my sword to your throat.” Raphael threatened impatiently.

The woman began to cry, and Thaddeus felt pity for her. He honestly didn't like the tone Raphael was taking with the woman, anyone could see she was traumatised and needed a caring hand.

“Don't cry,” Thaddeus found himself saying, “We won't hurt you. Just tell us about yourself.”

The woman gingerly cleaned the tears seeping from her eyes and nodded, “I am soul who recently left my human form.”

“Aaaah, a newbie.” One of Thaddeus' teammates joked and earned himself a glare from Raphael.

“Who did this to you?” Raphael asked the woman, gesturing to her face.

“Some creatures. They were evil and horrible . . . and seemed to derive joy from my cries.” The woman explained, looking haunted.

“Demons,” Raphael said, alert, “Where did you run into them?”

“I don't know, I don't know,” the woman broke down, sobbing loudly.

Thaddeus felt his heart melt a little more. He could only imagine what the woman was going through; the combined trauma of transcending her earthly form, and encountering demons.

“There, there, it's okay. What's your name?” Thaddeus asked.

The woman looked up, her eyes hardening as she said, “Gabriella!”

And in that moment, everything went haywire.