Previously: Henok, Cain's son, is born. Michael wants to take possession of Cain's body before Lucifer does. War has been declared, and the observation mission suspended until further notice.

oOo

The first vessel

"I, Cain, son of Adam and Eve, willingly accept to be used as the Archangel Michael's vessel."

God's last chosen one's voice rises loud and clear in the desert where we brought him. The sand is glittering like diamond powder in the sunlight. Cain is gazing up at us with the same confidence his parents used to display a few decades ago, hair undulating in the wind grazing over the dunes. The entire Garrison as well as Balthazar and Michael are surrounding him.

Camael stoops down and whispers to him: "You only need to say yes, Cain."

The son of Adam and Eve shares a look with his Guardian Angel, then turns again to face the Archangel.

"Then, yes, Michael," Cain enunciates as he spreads his arms.

Michael remains silent and takes one step forward, towering over his vessel, claws digging deeply into the sand. When he closes his eyes, his Grace starts radiating blinding light, his outlines blurring and fading into the brightness.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Balthazar murmurs, leaning over me. "See, our kind doesn't really have a corporeal body like Humans or animals do. Our wings, our appearance, our hands or eyes… all of it is actually just solidified Grace trying to contain itself in constant fusion with the holy spirit. The Grace is an element in itself, like water it can freeze or evaporate. For instance, our blade is solid Grace, and the banishing sigil Azazel used on you has the effect of temporarily freezing the Grace."

I glance at Balthazar who looks delighted, as if this moment were just an enjoyable pastime to him, instead of a very solemn event and a decisive step forward in this war.

And why is he telling me all this?

I ignore him and focus my attention on Michael, squinting at the intense light. His body has vanished, and instead, a heavy flow or pure light is raining on Cain whose body is absorbing it all easily.

By my side, Balthazar keeps talking and moving his hands around excitedly.

"Bottom line is, Angels are quite simple to figure out. Once you get how Graces work, all is said. Whereas Humans… ah, Humans! Do you even realize how complex are these creatures whose evolution you've been watching all this time, Cassy? No, of course you don't, nobody told you… They're made up of so many components, their blood allow so many possibilities, and their soul is a literal energy store. In a way, they are similar to raw material of creation, you see, malleable, we could shape them to any kind of use if we just tried. For example, do you know what happens if we pick up a wandering soul that refused to be taken away by a Reaper and we–"

"Quiet," I cut him short, annoyed by his never-ending stream of words.

He does shut up. All eyes are on Cain's body that has absorbed Michael's entire Grace. Within a hundred meters radius, sand melted into glass as a result of the energy blast and the blue sky and our bright silhouettes are reflected on it.

I watch as he lowers his arms and opens his eyes. The look on his face is diametrically different from Cain's usual one. Even more so because now, over this face, a second and translucent one is superimposed. Michael's face. It is so strange that such a tiny creature can contain inside him the eldest of the Archangels.

He takes a deep breath, and two slightly blurred wings burst from his back.

"These wings are actually a partial materialization of his Grace, which is half-transposed into an ephemeral parallel dimension, meaning it's not directly discernible for mortals. This supports my theories! It's the Human's blood that–"

Suddenly, Michael falls to his knees with a hiss of pain, and Balthazar trails off, looking taken aback.

"Michael!" Anael stoops down to look at him. "Is everything alright?"

Michael doesn't answer, but I see his vessel trembling. He flattens a shaking hand on the glass ground and snaps his head up to glare at a stunned-looking Camael with cold fury in his eyes. There are flames consuming his borrowed skin, and his vessel's jaw is clenched hard. Looking closer, I notice his veins are standing out and glowing red. As if his blood were made of lava.

"Is that supposed to happen?" I ask Balthazar.

"Uh, not really, no…"

Michael's borrowed body rises to his feet, still glaring at the Angel of Joy with wrath in his eyes. His pale blurred wings snap open aggressively, and I notice that they're flickering like a candle's light.

LUCIFER IS ATTACKING US! THERE ARE HORSEMEN AND DEMONS WITH HIM! REQUESTING BACKUP IMMEDIATELY!

The voice in our heads makes us all jump and unfurl our wings. It was Raphael's voice. This is a direct order, we have to obey. Orders are orders.

But Anael motions to us to wait for Michael's permission.

Confined inside his tiny human body, Michael tears his eyes off Camael and focuses his gaze on the rest of us, while flames slither up his arms and face.

"Let's go."

oOo

Michael clearly is infinitely faster than us under his new form: instead of flying up to the sky, he just disappeared. Covering such a distance takes dozens of seconds even if we hurry up, but it would seem like the Archangel did it in a split second, since he is already there when we finally reach the battlefield.

Flying in formation with the Garrison and Balthazar by my side, we dive straight to the ground through clouds loaded with steam and electricity. From this high, I see a dark stain growing to invade the entire continent, spreading beyond the oceans like a plague. The swarming black mass is studded with countless shining dots. Those are my brothers fighting, their Grace ablaze with fervor.

We head to the Apocalypse's epicenter. It is pure chaos. The ground is crawling with demons, monstrous red-eyed hounds and wandering souls Reapers are desperately trying to snatch from Lucifer's pawns' claws. They walk the Earth, ripping Humans apart and gutting them methodically like an unstoppable tidal wave. This is a purge. Looks like Lucifer is firmly determined to wipe Humans off the planet for real and resorting to drastic measures to achieve that.

For Lucifer is here, just as radiant and beautiful as he was when we fought against the Leviathans and when he rebelled. Unlike Azazel, he retained all of his celestial purity. Could it be that an Archangel does not fall the same way a common Cherub would?

The look in his eyes, though, is different. They're holding a storm inside, blazing with wrath.

The fallen Archangel is fighting against Gabriel and Raphael. I can't see Michael – his vessel is so tiny I lost sight of it.

Our general is yelling orders, splitting us into groups and sending us to different strategic spots. Our role is to ward off the demons while the Archangels handle their fallen brother. Flanked by Uriel, Ecaop and Balthazar, I fly straight to the East, fighting off the demons trying to hold us back. We arrive on lands the enemy is only just starting to invade. Three human souls are rising in the air, floating before my eyes, and I wave them away from my sight line. We're not here for the souls or to rescue the Humans getting slaughtered right under our eyes. Our only purpose is to stop Lucifer and his creatures from Hell. To stop the Apocalypse.

Upon our arrival, the Humans that were still alive immediately started screaming and covering their eyes. There was no point in making ourselves invisible, it would have been a waste of time and energy. They are doomed anyway.

A thundering flash of lightning tears the clouded sky. About a dozen demons abandon the Humans they were ripping apart to rise to us in their true form. Their features are hideous and they exhale a stench of sulfur all around. The others remain on the ground in their human vessels and carry on with the slaughtering. I swing my blade at two demons, but it doesn't seem to be effective. It just slashes through them like they're made of mist, just like it had happened with the Seven Deadly Sins. My brothers reach the same conclusion soon enough and we let our blades dissolve and reintegrate our Grace. I open my hands to pin a bunch of demons to the ground while Balthazar is backing me up, and recite the spell to send them back to Hell since we cannot kill them.

On the ground a child with a head injury is crying, his face stained with blood and tears, sitting near his mother's mangled corpse.

All we're doing here is postponing the inevitable. Lucifer opened the gates of Hell wide, so sending demons back to Hell with no way of killing them is as futile as trying to stop the tide from rising with just a bucket.

But orders are orders, and the few minutes we're buying might be decisive in the Archangel's overall strategy.

"I found Pestilence!" Ecaop shouts, splitting away from our group. His outline disappears behind the demons swarming all around.

"Ecaop, no! Don't go!" Uriel calls out in vain. "Oh to hell with this! Get out of my way, just leave it to me!"

Balthazar and I rise up to the sky just in time before Uriel obliterates the entire area with a pure white energy blast that makes the earth tremble. The blinding light fades off after a few seconds, turning into a hurricane of devastating violence. Demons and hellhounds are thrown away by the wind and smashed back into the ground. Strangely enough, none of them seems to be affected. The Humans, however, were all killed.

Anael who comes flying over the area throws him a stern but slightly admiring look.

"Don't waste your energy!" he shouts to cover the constant roaring of Humans screaming, demons laughing and Angels yelling spells in Enochian. "As long as Lucifer has Death in his control, none of his followers will die! Just send the vermin back to Hell to slow down the invasion, and wait for the signal to destroy it all!"

Then he disappears into the chaos to help us fight them off.

I send back to Hell a few thousands of demons more, when suddenly there's a tearing shriek of agony far off, followed by an explosion of intense light. I've seen this kind of light before, the same kind I witnessed the moment Riemu died.

That was Ecaop's voice.

My brothers' voices echo through my skull, drowning the battle cries. Except for a few distraught ones, they all sound neutral and controlled.

Ecaop has been killed in action.

Uriel's strained voice joins them, spreading the information through the celestial communication channels. A few whispers reply, and Anael orders us to hold our position, again.

Hcoma has been killed in action.

That was Levanael's voice. So Hcoma died as well.

The Garrison is severely affected. At this rate we will all perish, every single one of us. And the Humans along with us.

What is God doing? Why doesn't He intervene even though His creations are in danger? These very same creatures He wanted us to bow to before?

Yasen has been killed in action.

Zedekiel and Siosp just spoke in one single voice.

More names of our brothers from other divisions follow relentlessly. This is a massacre. We are losing this war. But we will fight to the last. Orders are orders.

I don't fear death, only mission failure.

Lightning keeps streaking the sky and the thunder is deafening. A sudden downpour starts beating the ground littered with corpses, which makes the coppery smell of human blood rise to us. And still the voices rush into my head like a haunting litany, listing the names of our brothers who died in the battlefield.

Our perimeter is invaded, the enemy is making headway on the continent despite all our efforts. The Enochian spells take time to enunciate, and the demons are fast, agile, hard to catch and hold in place long enough. Boiling with frustration, Uriel bangs his fist on the ground, which makes the earth cracking open, but none of the demons he smashed dies. Death is against us, and I already count tens of thousands Angels killed in action in just a few hours. According to the voices in my head, the Apocalypse has spread to the entire planet now.

Suddenly, Michael's voice drowns out all of the others.

Death has been set free. Destroy the enemy on sight, I'll handle Lucifer.

Next, Anael's voice speaking only to the Garrison:

Uriel, now you can unleash your wrath! Everyone else, exterminate demons to the last even if it means burning the entire planet to the ground and killing Humans in the process!

Uriel doesn't bother hiding his delight when he makes his colossally destructive power crash down on the ground, with even more violence than he did before. I think that the death of our three brothers in arms filled him with pure hatred. Entire forests are set ablaze like twigs, lakes evaporate, the earth is quaking and splitting under my brother's repeated blasts. Explosions pound the ground and burn to ashes demons, animals and Humans alike. Balthazar and I are helping him destroy as efficiently as we can, but we obviously don't have his natural talent for destruction. Everything is going up in flames as far as I can see, glowing red under the night sky. Thick burning smoke is rising, spangled with wandering souls.

STOP.

I freeze as I was about to strike with my blade a few demons that have survived Uriel's last attack.

I know that soft and imperious voice.

Lucifer.

The enemy stopped moving too, and the world-wide battlefield has grown still. The fire roaring is the only sound that can be heard in this silence.

Uriel unfurls his wings and flies toward the Apocalypse's epicenter, followed closely by Balthazar and I. Radiant figures appear in the horizon and we head in their direction. We stop at a safe distance, ready to act within a second if needed. Anael and the rest of the Garrison join us, as well as several Angels from other divisions. A glowing circle of warriors of God is starting to form all around the Archangels.

Gabriel and Raphael are surrounding Lucifer, and I notice Michael inside his human vessel standing on the palm of Raphael's hand. Cain's body is shivering violently, still consumed by flickering flames, and Michael looks like he's trying – and failing – to heal his host. His blurred wings are no longer white, now they look like they're made of fire and embers. Obviously Balthazar was wrong: the son of Adam and Eve is unable to contain the most powerful Archangel.

As for Lucifer, he's gazing at the devastated landscape with sad eyes, his wings folded behind his back. Rain stopped and clouds are parting, revealing a pale blue sky. The break of dawn is bathing the skyline with sunbeam.

Lucifer's Grace is whirling wistfully at this sight. When he lifts a hand, the other Archangels take a step back warily.

"Have no fear, brothers," Lucifer whispers and his voice tinged with bitterness echoes through my head.

He brings his hand down gracefully, and the fire ravaging the land dies out right away.

"It's over."

He makes a sharp gesture, and I stare in astonishment as demons and hellhounds dive into the ground, going back to where they came from, leaving only sulfur fumes behind. Some of them seem reluctant to follow suit, and Lucifer unblinkingly snaps his fingers, making them explode. On the ground, the portal he had opened to Hell is closing down.

"Lucifer… what are you playing at? Have you decided to repent?"

"I'm not playing, Michael. And there is no reason for me to repent. I did what I had to do."

His face and pure white wings are glowing in the morning light.

Michael winces and grimaces in pain, but manages to pull himself together and square his shoulders.

"There is still time for you to get back on the right path, Lucifer. Heaven will welcome you again. If you genuinely repent of disobeying, Father will forgive you. Come back to us, brother."

As Michael is talking and Gabriel staring in silence, Raphael reaches out to Lucifer hesitantly. There is in his eyes a silent supplication, a harrowing kind of vulnerability I had never seen before.

By my side, Anael tenses up.

Lucifer lowers his head.

"What do you think I'm trying to achieve here, Michael? I'm not rebelling and I'm not acting on a whim. I'm trying to save our Father's last perfect creation. I'm trying to save Him. I'm trying to save you, brothers, from this plague, this failed experiment that Humans are. They have misled our Father already, it's only a matter of time before they corrupt you as well."

Raphael lowers his hand, his Grace stiffening up.

"Oh come on Luci, you're giving Humanity way too much credit! These silly tiny creatures barely managed language a few thousands years ago!"

Lucifer narrows his eyes at Gabriel.

"Don't underestimate Humans, little brother. Beneath their fragile and harmless constitution, they are selfish, cruel and manipulative. They will destroy you along with this world."

Lucifer's eyes graze over the Angels crowded around in this landscape of ashes and embers.

"If only I could make you understand. Look at everything Humans have corrupted since they've been created! Why fight against me? I am not your enemy. I love God more than anything and I want to save Him and His creation. But watching my little brothers perish to the last and the Earth burn to ashes is too high a price to pay. Join me, and everything will go back to the way it used to be before they were created…"

The Garrison has been created together with Humans. Lucifer is referring to a time I never lived through. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Uriel staring at Lucifer with wide eyes, shuddering the way he did just before he knelt before Adam and Eve as we were ordered.

"That's quite presumptuous of you, lecturing us about what is good for the Lord. He is all-knowing and all-seeing, and you think you know best? Don't you dare saying He is weak enough to be manipulated by these Earth maggots, this is blasphemy of the worst kind!" Raphael snarls indignantly.

"Father is not infallible, Raphael! I used to believe He was, but He is NOT! Open your eyes!"

"Lucifer. Stop thinking. All we have to do is to be obedient to our Father and never question His orders. For His orders are just, even those we are not able to understand. Come back and prove yourself as a good son, a good soldier…" Michael's vessel's veins are glowing red now. "… or else we will lock you up inside a new cage that no one could set you free from, not even the Mother of All or the abominations you created from the infants' souls."

Gabriel is the only one still staring stubbornly at Lucifer with hope and plea in his amber eyes. Michael and Raphael only look cold and determined now.

"Very well," Lucifer says, his Grace radiating light like a thousand suns.

He unfurls his wings and spreads his arms, eyes shutting close.

"Then lock me away. But I'm telling you, when the day comes you realize I was right…" His stormy blue eyes snap open, any trace of sadness washed away. "… you will be the ones to set me free. And together, we will bring the Apocalypse to wipe the Humans of the Earth."

The sun is rising above the skyline, outlining the fallen Archangel whose Grace is so bright it's making the sun rays look bleak.

oOo

In the next chapter

"Castiel. I heard that you have a talent to erase, alter or create human memories."

"You heard right."