Alastor and Lucifer lay upon the ground, golden shackles pinning them to the earth, there was a bright shiny light encompassing all of hell, every demon of the sinner's paradise coming out of hiding and looking at it yet feeling no pain, some crying from the sheer beauty of it. The many angels still standing kneel before the light, awaiting orders like the most loyal and proud soldiers.
"I can't believe it, God is here, he's real!" One of the many demons of hell cried out in awe. Hundreds of demons walked toward the light, wishing to bask in its glory.
"He's just as I imagined." One said, others nodding their heads as they shuffled to the light, some bowing before it.
"Oh praise be, Allah is here!" Max raised an eyebrow after hearing that, momentarily taken out of his shock. Many other demons are beginning to claim different gods.
"No you numbskulls, it's not your false god, it is Yahweh! Our true lord!"
"Stupid, no wonder you're in hell! We stand in front of Akal Purakh!" More names were called out, some now even naming different parts of god they see.
"You imbeciles, look upon Shiva's many arms!"
"What are you talking about, he's a holy light!"
"No, don't you see, God is a woman all along!"
More and more different claims of who God was and how he looked were spoken, many even beginning to grow violent. Fights breaking out between demons, many calling the other wrong and stubbornly refusing to think otherwise.
"Wait please, don't fight! We need to- aah!" Charlie attempted to speak out, only for glowing golden chains to wrap around her arms and legs and hold her down.
"Hey let her go!" Vaggie held her harpoon and was about to attack only for the angels on standby to grab her arms and pin her to the ground, four of them overwhelming her and ripping the spear out of her hands. Angel Dust, Niffty, Husk, any allies of Charlie and the Hazbin Hotel try to rescue their comrades only to be stopped by either the powerful angels or new golden chains appearing and securing them in place.
"What's happening, why are they being stopped? Why isn't someone stopping the fighting?" Max whispers weakly, looking as the demons begin to tear themselves apart, growing more violent, all the while the bright light seems keen on letting it continue. "Please! Charlie just wanted violence like this to keep from happening, let her and our friends go!" Max cries out to the light, no angels or chains stopping him just yet.
"My child, these demons don't deserve your sympathy." A voice echoes out from the light, Max's very body and soul feeling like it was being filled and emptied, ripped apart and put whole again, his very being feeling on the verge of disappearing from existence. "They are nothing but sinners, they wasted their chance on Earth, now their sentence has come. Instead of risking my angels, I will let them go to war against themselves and cleanse the afterlife once and for all." After he speaks, several portals open up, dropping out of it are overlords and other demons of high rank and power, even Lilith Magne, all chained down and weakened, all they can do now is wait for judgment.
"This can't be, just give them another chance, the hotel was working! Yes these sinner's made mistakes, but that isn't demonic, it's human! We make bad choices and maybe some don't feel bad, but there are many who still need a helping hand to show them the light, they can join you in heaven if you just…"
"NO!" The mighty voice booms and nearly knocks Maxwell off his feet, the light growing brighter and nearly blinding him, yet strangely a figure becomes more visible to him. Will he see god like the many other demons? "They had their chance as humans! Now they must pay!" The voice was louder, as if his very voice was trying to tear his very being apart, yet strangely...it felt weaker than before. "They are no longer creations made in God's image! They are trash to be purged!"
The chains wrapped around Alastor and Lucifer begin steaming, the two overlords crying out in pain as their very flesh seems to be slowly burnt as if the chains were heated to unholy temperatures. Charlie looked at them with tears in her eyes before her own chains became heated, gasps escaping her until she let out a howl of pain, her own body burning from the chains. More chains glowed as other demons began being burned. Angels took their now glowing weapons and stabbed into their prisoners, making the cry in anguish from the incredible pain.
Max felt helpless, looking at his own friends he grew to care so deeply about now repeatedly being harmed, and being told to accept it. Memories flash through his mind, every instance of good the residents of the Hazbin Hotel have shown him. They laughed together, cried together, fought together, and loved together. He would not turn his back on them now, even when his opponent is God himself.
"You're wrong!" Despite the fear of god making his entire soul quake and tremble, seeing the friends he made down in hell now hurting because of this supposedly heavenly being, he just had to stand up on his own two feet and face it, protest now in front of God and like facing a spoiled child, tell them they're in the wrong. Even the demon's that were busy fighting now look at him as if he was insane, questioning the holy figure was bound to be a death sentence. The angels looked at him with a mix of hatred and confusion, the punishment of the many demons captured now momentarily stopping, even the glowing chains returning to normal as the victims gasp for breath.
"Oh? Young child, I know you must feel fear, but that is no reason to spout nonsense." Again, despite the mocking tone, he felt that voice was either weaker than before, or easier to fight against. The figure in the light even becomes easier for him to make out, a vaguely human shape but still not enough.
"What's nonsense is your claim." He takes a step forward, the angels ready to attack but the holy light waving for them to stand down.
"You're quite arrogant for a human, I hope you know what happened to the last being who was arrogant enough to challenge me." Many eyes turn to Lucifer, his once threatening smile now a weak grimace.
"Yeah I went to Sunday school, and you know that always bugged me. Many sources talk about his revolt against God, and yet I ask why he felt the need to do so, why did he grow arrogant, and why do angels exist? But the biggest question I have is...why does evil exist in the first place?"
"Tch, foolish child, there cannot be light without dark."
"But if you made that rule, then you could have also made it so the law is there is only light, only good. Instead you follow that rule as if scared to break it...you are supposed to be all powerful and all knowledgeable, yet that would mean you had the power to stop Lucifer from ever existing or ever revolting, yet you didn't. You let him rebel then sentenced him to hell, you allowed him to trick Adam and Eve and commit the first ever sin to punish all of humanity. You could have stopped all of that from happening but didn't, and now the humans of today suffer from the existence of sin and you've done nothing to stop it! We suffer from the manipulated choice of two humans who's actions shouldn't condemn all of us! We suffer because of an angel who fell because of the arrogance and hubris you gave him in the first place!"
"That is enough!" The holy light shimmered, the figure coming clearer as Max spoke.
"No! You should see all and know all, but you let Cain kill Abel! You made the Israelites and the Egyptians and every other type of human defy you or question you so you can cruelly punish them and their children who had no say in the matter! You let different religions exist that made humans war against each other, and now no one knows what's true and what's not! You've allowed killing, rape, torture, cannibalism, and every other unholy sin to exist and instead of taking responsibility you allow this evil to still exist and now humans are to be killed because you couldn't get off your fat ass and keep it from happening in the first place!?"
"SILENCE! I AM THE BEGINNING AND END! THE ALPHA AND OMEGA!" Finally it was all coming together, finally Maxwell knew what he thought god looks like to him.
With a solemn shake of his head, he points to the figure in the light. "No, you are a being capable of mistakes, a being who has no control but will willingly trick millions if not billions if it means keeping control. Maybe you have great power, but that doesn't make you a god. No...it makes you an arrogant human just like me." And finally, the holy light shines brighter than ever, stinging the eyes of many except Max's as he stares down the emerging figure. The light keeps shining until suddenly it freezes, gray color spreading from the center where the supposed god exists, small cracks splinter from the middle and grow throughout the light before finally, it shatters like a flimsy piece of glass. Instead of an almighty god, in its place is a human, a familiar one too. White hair, tannish skin, an unremarkable face except for one thing...they look like a mirror copy of Maxwell. "Except for the flashy power, you're just as fallible as any other human."
"No, I'm no mere human...but you're correct, I'm not God. I am the Archangel Kushiel! And you will kneel before an acolyte of God!" Despite his human appearance, his eyes shine with holy light and he still has an intimidating presence and intense power, yet Maxwell refused to falter.
"An angel taking on the likeness of god? You're nothing but a hypocrite."
"Call me whatever you like. No human, especially not these filthy sinners, shall ever have the honor of laying eyes on the one true God! These angels are still under my command, and punishment shall be dealt!" Out of thin air, a whip coated in flames emerges in his grasp, and with one swing of it, bright fire surrounds each and every demon, making them panic and try to escape, but every attempt causes the flame to singe their flesh. The demons held in chains look down to see their previous bindings have changed shape from holy gold, to burning thorny brambles that refuse to break. "A COCKY LITTLE SHIT LIKE YOU ISN'T GOING TO STOP ME!" The archangel roars before reeling back his arm to whip at Maxwell, the human barely jumping out of the way as the flames lick at his flesh.
Every crack of the whip shakes Max to his core. His body moving on autopilot, fueled by fear and anger as he tries to avoid the archangel's attacks. It's unfortunately a futile effort as the whip manages to land several times, leaving burns across his face and body, tearing at his clothes until he looks more like a beggar on the verge of death. "Demon or human, you are all lesser beings. Anyone who defies our will is to be sentenced to death!" He reels his arm back, Kushiel ready to deliver one more blow only to feel something wrap around his leg. He looks down and scoffs at the white hand that belonged to Charlie Magne gripping tight around his ankle.
"I-I won't let you…I won't let you hurt my friend!" She gasps out, the thorny brambles having torn up her arm when she finally freed it from its confines. Even while in immense pain, she refused to let there be any more death.
"Tch, worthless scum. The spawn of Lucifer has no right to lay its filthy hands on me." He kicks her hand away and two angels come and push her head down to the ground and keep her arms pinned. "Let this be a lesson to all of you! Not even your princess will escape our judgment." The fiery whip glows before transforming into a golden spear with a silver tip.
"No! Don't!" Max struggles to move, the burns on his body steaming as he mentally screams at his arms and legs to move despite the pain. As he looks at Charlie all he can remember is the fun they had together, memories of her blending with memories of his first friend. He couldn't bear to see another one he cares about die.
"Witness as the final extermination begins!" Kushiel roars out before slamming the spear down, a gasp escaping Charlie as her entire body slowly stops resisting until she stops moving entirely, like a puppet that had its strings cut. In that instant, Maxwell couldn't hear anything, he couldn't hear the despair and cries of anguish from Vaggie, he couldn't see the horror etched in Lucifer's face, he couldn't speak as all he saw in the moment was Charlotte Magne's life leaving her eyes, and the sadistic self satisfied look upon Kushiel, as if looking into a warped mirror of himself commit the one crime he found completely unforgivable. "Now then, it's time I finish off the rest of…" The archangel is cut off as he looks to Max's trembling body, his fists clenched tightly.
Heat seemed to radiate from the human, a warmth so stifling that it made the burns from the whip seem cold in comparison. The sound of his heartbeat drummed in his ear, a call to war he would eagerly respond to. His breathing did nothing to calm him, instead it felt more like he was adding oxygen to the raging inferno inside him. His veins began to eerily glow across his body, brighter than ever before. His irises turn from black to scarlet but don't stop there, the red color seems to bleed from the irises and engulf his entire eyeballs. His teeth rearrange until there are rows of sharp white knife-like bones ready to rend flesh.
Just when it seemed the glow in his veins couldn't get brighter, the light begins to leave his body and instead form around him, crimson greaves forming around his legs that go down enough to surround even his shoes in armor, gauntlets of the same material surrounding his clenched fists, a finely crafted chest piece that fits like a second skin, and lastly an armet helmet forming around his head leaving the red of his eyes visible and his gnashing grinding teeth in full view. A strange set of armor has formed around Maxwell, the human looking more like a soldier sent from the depths of hell itself.
"W-what is this? Humans aren't capable of such feats! Lucifer! Explain this!" Kushiel yells at the lord of hell, only to receive a mocking ominous chuckle.
"You see, if you were a real god, you might have noticed it yourself. Many sinners have one or two deadly sins they resonate with the most. Maxwell's sin is wrath, one triggered when those he cares about are harmed in any way. This human has grown quite attached to the denizens of hell, and you just killed one of his favorites."
"Speak sense you little-"
"What I'm saying is, by killing my beloved daughter, you've awoken a beast. With the energy of hell itself forming around him as armor, he temporarily has casted off his humanity and all that remains in pure rage. You're not dealing with the average human anymore, you're dealing with a being made of complete wrath." Lucifer ends this with a big cheeky smile.
"You insufferable reprobate! I'll tear your head from your shoulders!" Kushiel moves to attack the Magne patriarch, only to be stopped as a grip stronger than iron clamps down on his arm. The archangel looks to see a crimson gauntlet and looks up into those horrific red eyes peering through the slit of the helmet.
"I've let you live long enough." Maxwell's voice booms out in a dark tone coated with bloodlust. Suddenly the helmet extends to fully form around his mouth to guard it. He quickly closes the distance and delivers a devastating punch directly to the angel's gut, sending him flying a few feet away and wheezing from the impact.
"T-this is impossible!" He gasps out before spitting out some golden fluid. "Ichor…my holy blood. I...I WILL NOT STAND FOR THIS!" Surrounded by an aura of holy energy, he spins his spear and dashes to attack Max.
"I'LL CRUSH YOU!" Maxwell roars out as he meets the attack head on, throwing a punch that collides with the staff and creating a shockwave that knocks most demons and angels off their feet.
Kushiel transforms his spear into a whip again and lashes at Max, but the holy flames do nothing to his armored body, earning a scoff from the human as he reaches out and grabs the whip in midair and tugs forcefully on it, lifting the archangel off his feet and towards Max, the human's new surprising strength catching Kushiel off guard as he's pulled directly into Max's waiting arm for a clothesline, then quickly thrown on his back onto the ground.
"DIE!" With killing intent rolling off him in waves, Max stomps down, slamming his armored foot down on Kushiel's chest, making him cough out more ichor. Max raises his leg as he goes to stomp his face this time, just for Kushiel to shift his whip into a spear and spins it to knock Max off balance and rolls away.
Kushiel stands back up ready to fight but is again caught off guard as Max rushes in like a runaway train, a body made of metal and hate tackling the archangel and carrying him off his feet until he's slammed into the nearest pile of debris.
"I'll never forgive you!" He raises his arms up, locks his fingers together, and slams his fists down, Kushiel barely managing to block with his spear. "You hurt my home, you hurt my friends, and you say you do it all in the name of God?! If this is what God desires after all these years, then I'll go to heaven and rip his head off myself!" Maxwell raises his arms again just to be hit in the gut with the butt of Kushiel's spear.
"BLASPHEMY!" Kushiel roars out as he climbs out of the debris, swinging and jabbing with his spear, only to be deflected by Max's gauntlets, every clash of metal sending out sparks before the human closes the distance between them and grabs both of the archangel's arms.
"Let go of me you-!" He's cut off as Max delivers a headbutt directly into Kushiel's nose, more ichor beginning to spill as Max keeps slamming his helmet into the false god's face. "I SAID LET GO!" Kushiel cries out before his body flashes white and explodes with hot white flames, blasting Maxwell back as his armored feet dig into the dirt. He looks up only to immediately raise his arms up to block as Kushiel dives back into the fray, swinging his holy spear with killing intent as the clang of Max's armor can be heard across the battlefield.
"Look at this, a living human is fighting for us…" Alastor suddenly says, Lucifer, the overlords and the other Hazbin Hotel members sparing a glance at him. "We've already had our chance at life, yet here he is fighting as if winning will save us. Even if he manages to win, Charlie is still dead, we'll just still be wasting our afterlives in hell until the next archangel." His smile looked so forced at this point, twitching and weak as he looked down at the ground. "So why…why does he still fight?" He asks as he looks at the battle again, Max ducking under one of the swings to give an uppercut to the archangel's chin, sending blow after blow of his armored fists into Kushiel's body.
"…he fights, because he cares." Everyone looks to the source of the voice, wide eyed to see Charlotte Magne alive but barely.
"CHARLIE!" Many cry out but none more so than Vaggie, who struggled more against her bindings, wishing to hug her apparently alive girlfriend.
"Wait, how are you…son of bitch, or in this case, daughter of an angel." Lucifer realizes as he looks at Charlie who was struggling to stand up, the princess walking on unsteady feet to try and untie her father. "Guess there was enough angel in me after all, just enough that holy weaponry won't kill you."
"Well, it didn't kill, but it certainly made me wish it did." Charlie groans as she gently rubs at a visible spot on her abdomen that looked like a third degree burn. Soon enough her father was freed and the lord of hell immediately snapped his fingers, demons forming in everyone's shadows that helped untie them.
"Okay everyone, while Kushiel is distracted, we need to take out the other angels so they don't interfere." Lucifer explains.
"Uh, I'm not one to talk back to the Devil, but we're all weaponless here. Any weapons I did have are broken or out of ammunition." Blitzo says only for Lucifer to smile wider.
"Did you forget? I have a cache of weaponry we can use, and my time here in hell has given me more than enough energy to get it all." Soon another squad of shadows arrive from the depths of darkness with a massive crate of weapons from tommy guns to rocket launchers, swords to grenades, and ammo as far as the eye can see. "You think I've just been sitting with my thumbs up my ass for several millennia? I knew a day like this could come someday, so I made sure to stock up!" With a sadistic gleam in the eyes of many demons, they stock up.
"Now then, let's get devilish."