Angel saw the way her loved ones collapsed upon Kedar's ascent. Sadie's knees buckled the moment he made his declaration and she had to catch and lower her to the ground. Something was wrong—she sensed it may already be wrong with the entire world.
She asked Sadie, "You all right?"
"No." Sadie gripped her forehead and spoke through clenched teeth. "It's like he's cramming a bunch of those Westboro bastards inside my brain." With eyes squinting from the pain, she looked up toward Angel, her face stuck between concern and care. "What the… are you hiding it really well, or are you not feeling anything?"
Angel shook her head. "Nothing."
"Is—is he just attacking the atheists and the agnostics or—" As Sadie tried to piece a thought together, both Robin and the still-stuck Father Gallagher let out shouts of their own. "No just… just you? I don't get it, he was ready to kill you—psychopath took out his own niece, he wouldn't just leave you be."
"Don't get it either." Angel pulled the prone Sadie in for a tight embrace. "But think I'm the only one who can stop him."
Sadie clung to her for just another moment, her tearful face buried in Angel's shoulder. When she pulled away, voice shaking, she said, "Th—these voices in my brain said they're gonna burn my lips off if we try to kiss. I'll s—save it for after." She looked into Angel's eyes, raised a weak fist and said, "Ki—ki—kick his self-righteous ass."
Angel nodded, rose, and threw the batarang up at Kedar to get his attention. The self-proclaimed herald made his demand of what was going on, Angel issued her challenge, and he rushed to meet her in battle. Above and around them the night sky vanished, and in its place a grand starscape of distant novas and cosmos wrapped around the citadel. Whether it was just an illusion or the Spectre's incredible power distorting reality, there was no way to know.
Kedar began the duel with a thrust from the spear. Angel deflected it with a swing from the Sword of Sin, and her heart sank for a moment when its orange flames briefly blazed out. Still, caught in close quarters, she stepped forward and took a swing at Kedar with the Sword of Salvation. With a yank, Kedar whipped back the spear and the weapon's handle caught the cut. The Sword of Salvation too blazed away when it made contact, and the thought she'd wasted both weapons made her heart sink. Kedar twisted around on one heel, yanked his weapon backward, and swung toward Angel's shoulder. With a raise of her arm, Angel blocked the strike but the spear's blade cut straight through the undermost layer of her armor and bit into the flesh beneath her wrist. The sharp, hot hurt of it pulled her away from the fight for a moment, until she felt something like the ignition of fire in her other hand. She didn't question it, she just stepped forward, shoved a stab into Kedar's gut, and the Spectre's host shouted. The Sword of Sin had regained its flames and dealt a blow. Angel yanked her cut arm away from the spear and tried for a second strike, but Kedar leapt backwards and felt at the spot he'd been stabbed. The Sword of Sin hadn't left a wound behind, but the perturbed look on his face assured Angel it had still done damage.
"What is this? How—impudent child, how can you still fight? How can you still harm me?"
Angel had no answer to provide, she just pursued him. The first clash, cut on the wrist aside, proved useful for observation. Whenever their weapons met, the flames that blazed on the swords blinked out. To the spear that had cut open the side of God, a sword was just a sword. But within moments of the clash passing, the flames blazed again. The two angels danced about one another, whenever one made a sloppy move, sword slashes and spear strikes sliced through the other's defenses. Angel cut right through Kedar's ethereal form, leaving no marks save for the hurt she drew out of his face. But the Spear of Destiny shorn through Angel's armor as if it was nothing. Angel swallowed shouts as the spearhead carved into her shoulder a moment after one blade lock and bit into the side of her knee just after. A smirk crossed Kedar's alabaster face as he jerked the spear back and increased his speed as Angel was forced onto the defensive.
As the two did battle, Sadie pushed herself off the ground and looked about in search of anything she could do to turn the tides. Only a tiny shred of the Spectre's power remained inside her, seemingly only enough to keep her alive. Or, judging by the way Batman, Robin, and Batgirl thrashed on the ground, maybe it provided some small amount of defense against the mental attack? She could only hazard a guess, and even if she felt nominally better than the rest of her companions, she was in no position to assist Angel. In the moment, she only had one idea for anything she could do that might assist anyone. She didn't like it—frankly, it pissed her off. But she made her decision anyway.
With her head pounding, Sadie crawled to Batgirl's side. As she struggled, Sadie asked, "Steph? Stephanie?"
It seemed the call brought her back to herself, if only for a moment. Batgirl forced her eyes open and looked toward Sadie. "Wha—what?"
"Gimmie my jacket back."
"Wh—why?"
"I need it. I gotta staunch a wound."
It took Batgirl a few extra moments to process the request. But when she did, she rolled onto her back and struggled with the garment as if she was being crushed by heavy gravity. Eventually, she pulled the jacket off and pushed it toward Sadie.
"Thank you." Sadie balled up the pleather and continued to crawl across the citadel.
"Wait," Stephanie said. "Your wound—"
"No," Sadie said. "Not my wound."
As the tormenters in Sadie's mind continued their chants of, Dyke! and Whore! and, Heathen! she fought back with a silent mantra of her own: Army crawl, army crawl, army crawl. Like Salty did. Like a real military brat. She never wanted to be a soldier, she had neither the patriotism nor the temperament. But memories of her brother kept the tags around her neck for all those years and kept her moving toward her target. Eventually, she closed the distance and arrived where Nijah laid, still convulsing and dying an agonizingly slow death where Kedar threw her aside.
Nijah looked at her, her exhausted, half-closed eyes widened as best they could as Sadie approached her. In that look was fear, but Sadie was not deterred. She raised the jacket and pressed it hard against Nijah's neck.
"Help me, if you can," Sadie said. "If we can compress the wound, we can maybe staunch the bleeding."
Neither resisting nor assisting, the stunned Nijah just stared at her.
"Don't misunderstand this." Sadie's words were bitter. "I still hate you. Still hate what you spent most of your time doing." She pushed herself upward just a little to get a little extra forced as she pressed down on her improvised compress. "But Kedar—" she stopped and snarled at another attack shaking around in her skull. After some struggle, she forced out, "But Kedar's not the only one who believes in a better world. And if I want that, I need to help make it happen." From the way her lips moved it looked as if Nijah tried to respond, but Sadie came to the grim conclusion Kedar had very possibly slashed her vocal cords. "Don't worry about saying anything, just let me help."
The frenetic pace of Angel and Kedar's battle kept each of them dipping and sidestepping the other's attacks. As a result of this, each caught sights of the rest of the citadel in their peripheries as their weapons met. Out of the corner of his eye, Kedar caught sight of Sadie as she pressed down on Nijah's neck. The Eldest of the Nephilim's heart skipped a beat and, mistaking an effort to dress a wound for desecration, his protective instincts returned to him. With one hand extended, he let out a roar of, "No!"
A new psychic attack forced a scream out of Sadie, her balance slipped, and she fell back to the ground. It was as if chains suddenly locked themselves around her body and slammed her against the floor. She shuddered as a new barrage of hissing, whispering words ran through her mind.
This is all real, you know that now, don't you?
You literally had an angel crawling around in your skin, confirming that the Christians were the true religion all along.
It's bad enough you'll drag your own soul to Hell, but you'll drag down someone you claim to love too.
How would you rather it be? That she escapes that fate if you don't? Or are you such a selfish whore you'd rather she burns alongside you?
With the moment Kedar's attention was turned and fueled by Sadie's scream, Angel lunged and thrust both swords into Kedar's side. The gash produced by the strike forced a roar out of Kedar and the afflicted area just disappeared into a negative-space that spurt light as if it were blood. Angel yanked the swords out for another strike, but the Eldest of the Nephilim bent, leapt, ascended, and levitated high out of her reach. Kedar touched the wounded area and, within a moment, the area filled in again with flesh and armor. Still, the shocked, disgusted look on his face did not pass as he leered first at Angel, and then again at Sadie. At some point, the other woman found enough strength to rise and push at the wound again.
"Damn you—that's enough!" Kedar raised his arm, then cast it downward. Sadie was still bent over Nijah, but Angel watched and wondered what his intent was supposed to be. Moments later, down from the heavens that surrounded them fell a meteor.
Sadie's face paled as she looked upward. With a terrified lump forming in her throat, she just stared. Even if she could move, what could she possibly do?
Angel ran into the path of the comet and reared back the Sword of Salvation. She couldn't tell how much of what was going on was real or just illusionary fantasies. But it grew more likely every moment Kedar gave up on his goal not to kill anyone. It was instinct—or maybe faith—that made Angel run in front of the projectile and swing as if she was playing baseball with a meteor twice as big as she was.
Whether it was her own strength or the sword's, it did not matter. With a swing and a crack, she flung the meteor back the way it came. The still-levitating Kedar's jaw went slack as the comet flew right past his head.
"What?! No—no!" Kedar raised his empty hand high and threw it down once again. As if strings were attached to each finger, ten meteors fell from the sky, two each for the still-grounded Batman, Robin, Batgirl, and four where Angel stood in front of Sadie and Nijah.
How Angel deflected the first comet remained utterly unknown to her, and by all rights this attack, too, felt impossible to overcome. Her allies didn't even look up to see the oncoming attack, all of them were still too overwhelmed by Kedar's psychic assault. Still, if she could do it once, maybe she could again. The falling stars aimed at Batman looked to move fastest, so Angel rushed and spun to pick up momentum for her strike. Though she could not appreciate it, the meteor slowed its descent as she approached. Like with the first one she'd deflected, Angel struck at the two falling stones and threw them back into the sky. Batgirl's were moving fastest next, so she rushed over and did likewise, and then did the same for Robin's. The four headed for Sadie and Nijah got a scream out of Sadie, but as soon as Angel entered their path, all of the rapidly accelerating comets practically froze in mid-air as she rushed over and batted each one back.
Once all ten meteors were struck, all of them found their momentum again and went flying back into the sky. What must have been a terrified shout from Kedar was cut off by sudden impact, then by the sounds like boulders smashing one another to bits in the skies above.
With her voice trembling and a push through her mental pain, Sadie uttered, "Hol—lee—hell. How—how did you just do all that? And did you have any idea it would work?"
A little embarrassment reddening her cheeks, Angel turned and shrugged. "Had to stop them. Wasn't thinking of much else."
Before their conversation could press on, Kedar reappeared at Angel's side as if he'd just teleported. With an open hand, he grabbed Angel by her face, she only heard Sadie yelp for an instant before he flew forward at rapid speed and the sight of her companions was lost to her. Though the speed and whiplash made her sting, she did not squirm. If Kedar lost his grip, she might hit the ground as if she was thrown from a car on the highway.
Eventually, Kedar thrust the grabbing hand forward and tossed her onto the dirt beneath them. Angel shook her head as she rose and looked about. For a terrifying moment, the barren, gray land and unnaturally black night sky that surrounded them suggested they stood somewhere beyond earth. But she still took in breaths without issue, so it seemed best to conclude it was some kind of illusion. Why either Kedar or the Spectre seemed to favor cosmic venues of battle remained beyond her.
"How?" Fury made Kedar drag out the word. "How are you still standing? Why aren't you being crushed by the weight of your sins? Like the rest of the world?"
Angel tried to shake the whiplash from her neck and limbs and shook her head. "Don't know." She had a theory, but it would gain her nothing to share it.
"And why do you dare continue to resist?" Kedar threw open his arms in incredulity. "Why can't you just stand down and let me give this world its redemption?"
"My sins were already paid for." Angel gripped the swords tight in anticipation of the fight resuming. "Don't need you to fix that."
"Then what about the rest of them?" Kedar said. "The rest of this world bound for Hell?"
Angel shook her head. "Hell doesn't make believers. Fear doesn't make believers. Fear only makes us hated. Won't let you do this, not to my faith, not to my world." Did she actually think she could make him see things her way? Perhaps not. But at least trying still felt essential to her ideals.
The two stood of the edge of fighting stances as if each was taking the measure of the other. Then Kedar's body started to blur. Angel frowned in confusion, then flinched as Kedar's faded impressions extended left and right as if to form a circle around her. Angel ran up to attack as two dozen Kedars materialized and left her surrounded. Her swords ran through the first, then the second body she struck, and she screamed when the spear slashed into her shoulder from behind a moment later. Angel whipped around and swung hard and fast as the legion of Kedar illusions closed in again. She didn't need a clean strike, she just needed to identify which one of them was real. But whoever was the true Kedar maneuvered around her slashes, again she caught nothing but simulacra. The next stab cut into her leg, Angel shouted, dropped the Sword of Sin, and fell to one knee, her hand pressed against the bloody wound.
"I tire of this battle." The Kedars all spoke as one. "But it cannot end without your surrender or death, I cannot let the lessers of my new world believe I can be overcome. Make this easier on yourself and just give in."
An idea came to Angel as they all whirled around her. She took no pleasure in it, but Kedar himself put the strategy to good use in one of the scenes Sadie described. So, as she bent and collected the Sword of Sin, she declared, "I'll never surrender to you."
Before she could get her hand on the sword, Kedar stabbed her shoulder again. And though the wound already blazed, she raised her empty hand and grabbed ahold of the weapon just below the spearhead. Though Kedar still speedily levitated off the ground and forced her to whirl along with him, Angel did not relinquish her grip. The Spectre's host realized how he'd been trapped a moment before Angel pushed herself forward and rammed the Sword of Salvation through his stomach. Kedar uttered a pained, terrified scream as Angel dropped, retrieved the Sword of Sin, and thrust it beside its sibling. A spill of dark ichor and a flash of dazzling light flowed out of the wound through Kedar, as if she could reach inside and rip the Spectre right out. Still struggling with the spear in her shoulder, Angel reached forward as if she could do just that.
"ENOUGH!" Kedar tore the spear from Angel's body and raised his empty hand. The dust beneath their feet rose into a smooth, flat wall behind Angel. A pair of spikes rose up from the ground a moment later. Each rushed up and stabbed Angel through her empty palms. She cried out as the spikes forced her arms upward until each impaled hand was extended against the wall. "You still fancy yourself a savior, girl?"
With a squeeze of Kedar's fist, large sections of the wall formation cracked and flaked away. By the time it was finished, Angel's hands were pinned to the arms of a cross. The shape shook as if its composition was unstable, and by the way Kedar's expression strained, it was clear he could barely hold her with it. Still, even as she struggled, the constructed crucifix did not give way and the spikes were too long to try forcing her hands through.
"Fine." Kedar raised the spear up to her face. "Then die like one!" And he thrust forward with the spear.
She didn't stop fighting for a single moment. But as the blade rushed to meet her, she did lower her head, shut her eyes tight and utter a last, silent prayer of, Please. If not me than someone. Someone save them.
Angel waited in terror. But the killing blow did not arrive. And only when she heard struggling grunts start to slip from Kedar's direction did she slowly open one eye and look upward. First, she saw the point of the spear what looked like mere atoms from cutting into her. Then she saw the rest.
Kedar's body was halfway through some kind of new horrific desynchronization. His lower arms split at the elbow, with this again flesh-toned hand gripping the spear and a pair of pure white, shining, skeletal arms emerging and holding the flesh-colored hands by the wrists to hold them back. The alabaster of Kedar's shocked face started to drain from one side, revealing the sun-tanned man with dark hair again upon part of his visage. Out from the human side of his mouth, Kedar demanded, "What—what is this?!"
The Spectre half spoke with the other side of his lips. "Kedar, son of Nalia, and son of Geoffrey, you have dared to abuse my power even to the point abandoning your own principles and attempting to kill an innocent one."
"What are you talking about?" Kedar's voice grew increasingly frantic and shrill. "You don't judge me—I am the host! I direct your morality through human experience. This child is a sinner, I can handle her as I please!"
"This child spoke her confession and completed her act of contrition," the Spectre said. "By your own set of standards, her soul is clean."
"She—I—what?"
The spikes and the cross that held Angel disintegrated as Kedar struggled to demand answers of the rebelling Spectre.
"This union, on the other hand, has been weakened, both by the power inflicted by the swords and the shirking of your own moral code. Such was your weakness I overwhelmed you before you could slay this innocent soul."
"No—no!" Kedar released his hold on the spear and grabbed his head as if to force the Spectre back down. "I control you! I am your master! You have your orders—I am the one blessed by free will! You cannot defy me! You cannot reject me! You cannot—"
Angel grabbed the Spear of Destiny. By the horrified look on the human-half of Kedar's face, it seemed he wanted desperately to retreat, but that the Spectre held him in place. With a shout of defiance, Angel pushed forward and ran the spear through Kedar's chest and into his heart. Then, over his screams and pleas, she grabbed the two swords still impaled into him and slashed upward so the three weapons closed into a tight, triangular formation. And for an instant, it seemed all the world—or perhaps all the cosmos, froze in time.
As Kedar let out a last, desperate scream of, "No!" the white and red of the Spectre's form that covered his body peeled off like paint and rematerialized as a sphere in the center of the triangle of wounds. In a brilliant flash of light, the spirit emerged from Kedar's body. The Eldest of the Nephilim collapsed, all three weapons fell from his chest as the illusion—or perhaps altered state of reality—of the surrounding cosmos burned away in the angel's light. Kedar and Angel again stood in the citadel, with Batman, Batgirl, Robin, and the remaining Nephilim laid down nearby. And, a short way past all of them, knelt Sadie and Nijah.
The wisp that was the Spectre's essence levitated and slowly moved left and right, as if it was contemplating those before it. Exhaustion claimed Angel's balance and she fell. Kedar grabbed the Spear of Destiny again, leapt, and tried to stab into the wisp as if it was a fat fish for him to catch. The Spectre's essence flew away in retreat and settled on where it wanted to be. Through the air it soared away from Kedar, toward its intended target.
The young woman that was always its intended target.
With the dissipation of the cosmic surroundings, Sadie looked up from Nijah's injury in search of what had changed. She witnessed the wisp for only an instant before it flew into her body. The power within expanded and she was swiftly overwhelmed. Feeling divinity radiating from the inside out overwhelmed her. The last thing she heard was Cassandra's desperate scream of, "Sadie!" before she fell forward and slipped into the sacred darkness that awaited her within.