azrael’s appearance in heaven gathers the council of seraphs for an unexpected meeting. her presence alone is a cause for worry, but when the angel of death relays word of lucifer’s death alongside demons wreaking havoc in the mortal realm, the seraphs begin to anticipate another war. rumours spreading amongst lesser angels that the reincarnation of lilith is the one that commanded lucifer out of existence confirms azrael’s words and the atmosphere in heaven immediately shifts. 

though many may despise the traitorous angel of dawn, the angels know that lucifer is oftentimes the only being standing between them and another war.

without her keeping them in line, the demons will do as they please and the seraphim cannot allow that under their watch. it’s all hands on deck when the angels realise that the fallen ones are doing more than simply hunting down the soul of lilith, every angel is recalled from their duties to mitigate a massacre. 

thrown into a state of emergency, leliel and sahaquiel are reinstated as seraphs for the duration of it and under the guise of protecting humans, they are able to seek out the soul of lilith.

it takes the seraphs longer than they like to find joohyun but they arrive in the nick of time before the demons have a chance to tear her limb from limb.

two seraphs and the devil’s hound stand before a horde of demons; the odds are hardly favourable when they have to hold back on their celestial forms. still, they have a chance.

that’s what the angels would like to think, but baal pushes through the crowd, wielding a spear in her hands. escaping with joohyun is not an option, but the least they can do is buy her enough time to run.

despite urges from the seraph, joohyun refuses to budge. as beings of the two realms begin to fight over her, the weight of her actions has never felt more suffocating and yet, joohyun sees no other way out of this. 

more people will die, including her friends, if she doesn’t give herself up.

the hound is instructed to keep her safe while the seraphs attempt to deal with baal, she is perhaps the most difficult enemy that they will have to tackle.

an intimidating aura stains the air around her, yerim steps forward while the demons behind her grow silent with anticipation. twirling her spear, the demon king exhales slowly. 

with all the trouble that seungwan gets herself into, yerim always expected a day when she would have to fight a seraph again, or seraphs in this case. in lucifer’s name, she faces the ones she used to regard as family.

she hates that it has to come to this, but she is aware that they will not surrender joohyun without a fight.

“seems like you’re not as weak as we thought.” she calls out to the angel of the sky who has her spears poised to attack, “was your injury a ruse to have your rings removed?”

the remark causes sahaquiel to scoff, “i’ve healed considerably since i fought lucifer. now, command the demons back to hell or i will.”

yerim laughs loudly at the angel’s threat, wiping a stray tear away from her eyes before her expression darkens. she should know better than to challenge the fallen angel of annihilation. while lucifer had her hands tied with god, baal was the one who disabled seraph after seraph.

“did you forget why we left heaven in the first place?” yerim retorts with a laugh. in a blink of an eye, she teleports in front of the angel with every intention of stabbing her but leliel is quick to deflect her attack.

she lunges again, this time, sahaquiel blocks her spear with her own. 

“free will, sahaquiel! nobody commands us!” 

as much as the angel wants to mock the irony of her statement, the cacophony of demons behind yerim roar in support, forcing her to bite back a retort. the hellions begin charging toward the angels, launching attacks of all kinds. with her hands tied with yerim, sahaquiel has no choice but to leave the rest of the army to leliel. 

the additional rings of restraint cuffed to her wrists as punishment had been taken off in light of potential war and with her strength restored, leliel doesn’t hold back. flapping her wings vigorously, she ascends slightly, pushing away lesser demons while creating some space between her and the stronger ones. 

similar to most seraphs, leliel too, wields a spear of light. two double-pronged spears lay in her hands, waiting to be thrown. she fights with the intention to incapacitate as many as she can, wounds from arcane light will not heal in seconds and as long as they can't fight, it'll be better for the angels. with violent s, her spears find their targets with eerie precision, ensuring that each shot counts.

some angels are created for war, while others are not. yerim happens to be one, and sahaquiel isn’t.

unlike her fight with lucifer, yerim doesn’t blabber away like the devil. her focus is deadly and so are her strikes. the difference in their strength is noticeable but sahaquiel is no lesser angel, she puts up a good fight against the demon but yerim is quick to wear her down. baal’s attacks are swift and relentless, forcing the angel to block every attack without giving her much time to think. a chance to retaliate exists if she is to leave herself open to an attack, and the demon would surely capitalize on that.

if this drags on, sahaquiel sees that she’ll be overpowered and the only option she has is to push herself beyond her limits.

further splitting her spears, sahaquiel’s breath hitches when a sharp stab of pain runs through her body — a stark reminder that she is no longer as powerful as she once was. she’s made significant progress when it comes to healing and without her ring of restraint, she’s able to lift her spears once again. 

raphael dubs it a miracle but she forgets in the heat of the moment that lucifer has ripped her of her strength.

ignoring the ache, a wave of her hand sends spears raining down on the demon. baal is quick to dodge them, each attack leaves destruction in their wake and she has to think twice before attacking the angel.

controlling eight spears instead of her usual five quickly takes a toll on sahaquiel, the pain in her chest flares and she winces. her spears waver, deluding baal into thinking that she can take her down. a moment of weakness is certainly unplanned but yerim underestimates how much sahaquiel is willing to sacrifice for a win.

the fallen angel draws close for an attack, pinning sahaquiel down with a knee. she succeeds at the cost of having the angel’s grip on her leg which she simply overlooks. there is no hesitation when yerim plunges her spear into the angel’s chest, inches away from her soul.

thinking she’d won, yerim lets her guard down. a smirk appears on the demon’s face and she leans closer to the angel, “you put up a strong front but in reality, you are unbelievably weak.”

a maniacal laugh rips from despite how much pain she’s in — demons are too easy to fool.

with a free hand, sahaquiel curls her fingers, calling a flurry of spears toward the demon king. instead of five spears, eight spears puncture baal in every vital joint, disabling her entirely. with that, their duel draws to a close. the attack leaves sahaquiel winded and she struggles to push yerim off of her. 

yanking the spear from her chest, blood pours from her wound at an alarming rate and stains her pristine white robes. sahaquiel hardens her gaze when she feels her injury burn. the tip of the spear is laced with hellfire, creating a wound that will only result in her becoming a liability. 

she’s lucky that her battle with baal is brief, any longer and she would not have emerged victorious. she turns to the yerim who snarls viciously at her, bearing the pain in her soul, the angel digs her spears further into the demon’s body.

“don’t be upset that you fell for the same stupid trick as lucifer. you may be strong but some intelligence goes a long way.” she mutters as she presses a hand to her bleeding wound, “and you underestimate how much i despise you both.”

her words enrage yerim further and she struggles in spite of the searing pain caused by the spears of light burning at her muscles. feral is how sahaquiel would describe her, then again, it’s how she would describe most demons. 

“leliel won’t be able to hold them off for long, and you’re too wounded to continue fighting.” the demon seethes, venom dripping from her words, “joohyun is going to die whether you like it or not.”

sahaquiel lets a mirthless laugh slip as if she isn’t aware that she’s fighting a futile battle with leliel. they knew what they were getting into from the moment they descended from heaven. no other angel will stand on joohyun’s side like they do, mainly due to the fact that many hold a grudge against lilith. but the seraphs know she’s nothing like lilith, though she might have caused a catastrophe by eradicating lucifer. 

the key to resolving all of this starts with keeping joohyun alive, though it seems that the only one who sees it is them.

with her spears keeping baal pinned to the ground, the angel of the sky rises to her feet with the aid of her wings. she won’t be able to keep yerim down for long, eight spears are the most she can handle for a short period of time, the pain in her soul will render her spears useless in a matter of minutes. furthermore, the hellfire wound she received is weakening her more than she likes, they need to retreat while they can.

before she can call out to leliel, a kick on the back of her head sends her sprawling to the ground, allowing yerim to break free. ryujin appears before her with wings spread and the corners of her lips lifted into a smile. 

“let’s have a rematch, shall we? i think we’re on par when it comes to strength now.”

the presence of the half-demon is unaccounted for and the usual confidence of the seraph dwindles into troubling concern. baal becomes secondary when ryujin stalks towards her with her hands enveloped in purple flames.

pushing herself to her feet, sahaquiel knows she’s close to her limit when it comes to fighting. she has no choice but to reconnect her spear into one, any more than that and she won’t be able to control them.

ryujin unleashes an onslaught of attacks on her, leaving her with no time to think. the angel reacts to parry her moves but perhaps the demon has grown stronger, a few strong blows land, causing her to stumble. 

with only a single spear, sahaquiel is limited in her attacks and she doubts that whatever she did with lucifer and baal will be effective against ryujin too. the angel fights back but ryujin’s strikes are getting harder and harder to block. either the demon has grown stronger or sahaquiel’s strength is hardly a fraction of what it once was. ultimately, a punch to her jaw is all it takes to bring the seraph to her knees. 

she’s worn out; turning her head towards leliel, she knows that her partner is too. their gazes catch and the angel of night panics at the sight of her being beaten to the ground. as much as she wants to rush to her, leliel has her hands full with the demons. on top of that, she senses baal approaching in her peripheral vision. the angel of night falters, and despair tugs at her heart but she is in no position to rescue sahaquiel. 

yet, when all hope seems lost, a flash of grey tears through the crowd of demons, fulfilling the purpose of her existence. the battlefield stills, no one moves an inch as if they need time to assess what the just killed their comrades. traces of vengeance and the bitter scent of divinity alert them that the angel of death is amongst them. 

taking advantage of the way the hellions have stopped their attempts to murder joohyun, leliel rushes to the angel of the sky. the presence of azrael leaves the demons with a strong sense of unease and even ryujin falls back to the safety of her allies.

propping sahaquiel up, leliel allows her to rest against her chest. her companion is on the brink of unconsciousness but as long as her soul is intact, leliel isn’t afraid.

“i need you to take joohyun and leave.” the angel urges, “trust me, joohyun needs you.”

sahaquiel grimaces in light of her wounds, “i am not leaving you here.”

the appearance of azrael forces a considerable amount of veteran demons to hesitate, including yerim. some foolish ones try their luck against her only to have their souls torn from their bodies and crushed in her hands.

leliel lets a small grin slip, “i think i’ll be fine with her around. she’s strong even without her original form, we can fend them off if we have our full strength. so i need you to get to safety with joohyun.”

sahaquiel’s expression twists into an array of emotions and once again, her duty takes precedence. tangling their hands, the angel of the sky nods.

“promise me that you will return.”

obscuring them with her wings, leliel plants a soft kiss on the crown of her head and the action alone is worth more than any verbal reassurance.

the earth trembles when yerim clashes with azrael, vengeance from centuries ago begin to resurface and the hunt for joohyun is slowly beginning to spiral into something beyond revenge.

the gravity of the situation is all too clear now that the angel of death has been granted permission to kill and sahaquiel staggers towards joohyun with newfound urgency. leliel keeps the demons at bay with her spears, buying enough time for the seraph to grab both joohyun and lucifer’s hound.

in the eyes of the hellions, they pay no heed to the angel and mortal. two seraphs of immense power stand before them and it only grows with the brightness of their halos. 

when hell is empty and all the devils are here, there’s no place safer than lucifer’s abode. sahaquiel dives into the earth, into the very heart of hell.

end notes:

"omg she's insane!" says no one when they see me update again. i need to touch grass.
anyway, we're very close to another plot twist and also the end of everything, love to read your theories so feel free to share them!