That night, Gadreel found himself in Katie’s lair in the Sunny Apartment Complex. Well...found was one way to describe being half-kidnapped by a madwoman wielding a supernatural knife. 

“So…” Katie said quietly as she stood in front of a seated Gadreel. “Angels...as in the Christian ones? The servants of God? The wardens of Heaven?”

Gadreel shrugged in silent admission. 

“Wow...well, I suppose that means I’m definitely going to Hell.” The brunette shrugged casually as she leaned against the wall. “After I die, I guess...anyway, I really thought your kind would be a lot more difficult to kill. I mean...you’re Angels! What are you doing chasing each other down the street? Shouldn’t you be able to fly or something? Where are your wings? And why were you being hunted down by your own people?” 

Katie was never a religious person, but she knew enough about Christianity to know one of the defining characteristics of Angels was their wings. Wings capable of bringing them to Heaven itself. So...were those wings actually for decoration and propaganda purposes only? 

“It’s...it’s a long story…” Gadreel replied before pointing at something beside Katie. Something horrifying. “Are you planning to deal with that?”

“What?” Katie turned around casually and found herself facing a screaming face that was trying to climb out of the wall she was leaning against. “That? Nah…”

“Oh. Ok…” Gadreel supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. After all, this was someone who chased him across Los Angeles for hours just for the kicks of it. She slaughtered a dozen Angels, for god’s sake! For no reason at all! He supposed nothing she did would surprise him. “As I said, long story, so…” 

“Well, make it short.” Katie tilted her head as she twisted the Knife in her hand. She could swear she wasn’t threatening the self-proclaimed Angel! She was simply providing the facts he would need to make an educated decision that might or might not result in his own demise…

“Fine!” Gadreel bit his lips. On one hand, he didn't want to risk dying just yet. Plus, what happened to him wasn’t exactly a secret. He wasn’t the first Angel who has gone rogue, and he wouldn’t be the last. “But, I do have a question, uh...wait! Put the Knife down! I’m not bargaining with you! Well...not really...I think!”

“Hey!” Katie cut him off in annoyance. “Saying illogical and self-conflicting things and confusing myself and other people is my thing! What is it that you want?”

“Oh, I just want to grab a small drink.” The Angel said slowly as he rubbed his hands together. “Any chance you have any alcohol around here?”

“Wait…” Katie couldn’t help but rub the back of her neck in confusion. “Let me get this straight. You want to drink? Aren’t you an Angel? Why are you participating in such...mortal behaviors?”

“I’m gonna get there.” Gadreel replied as he stared at Katie with semi-pleading eyes. “So?”

“Fine!” The brunette finally agreed. She disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a bottle made with reinforced glass, which she tossed to the man sitting in front of the table. Gadreel caught the bottle, opened the lid, poured some of the drink into his mouth, and then… 

“Damn it!” The Angel cursed as he split the drink back out. A few drops of it landed on the wooden table in front of him, and those drops alone were enough to melt tiny holes across the wooden surface. “What is this?” He snapped to Katie furiously as he used his power to heal the insides of his mouth and throat. Golden power radiated from his body, ready to fight if he had to. He didn't want to face Katie on the field of battle, but if she insisted on killing him, then he wouldn't be easy prey.

“Oh…” Katie frowned as she picked up the bottle. An embarrassed look appeared on her face. “Yeah...sorry about that. Honest mistake, I promise! It’s a type of acid that contract killers use to dissolve bodies.”

She was lucky Gadreel was an Angel. If this was a normal person that chugged this acid down his throat...Katie would be spending the next hours mopping up the floor of that person’s remains. 

Honest mistake? Do you think I'm a fool? How about I pour this down your throat and call that an accident? Gadreel’s eyes widened with anger as he pushed on. “How in the world is it possible for you to mix this up with alcohol…” His words came to a screeching halt when he saw Katie emptying the rest of the bottle into her own mouth. Her body shook in agony, but there was a look of ultimate pleasure on her face. “Oh...never mind! That...that actually answers a lot of questions.”

As her throat was recovering from the acidic burning, Katie ran to the kitchen and dug up a bottle of beer or something. She tossed it to Gadreel, who took a small sip of the drink first. Wise call. Either way, despite the minor and potentially fatal obstacle, Gadreel finally started telling his story. 

But it turned out he wouldn’t tell his story in peace, because his first sentence was all it took to confuse Katie.  

“Heaven came into existence around 1500 years ago...” 

“Wait...hold up!” The brunette raised her hand in objection. She was leaning against the wall, and that was when the screaming face on the wall suddenly took a leap at her. Katie reacted without even turning as a branch popped out of her arm and whipped the face, well, in the face. This alone sent the face flying back into the wall it spent so long crawling out from. 

“I’m definitely not a religious person.” Katie continued, unhindered by what just happened. These occurrences have been all too common for the past hours. “But what was going on 1500 years ago? The Middle Ages? Christianity was already quite popular back then, so how did Heaven, oh…” She paused with her eyes wide open. 

“Yep.” Gadreel nodded, fully aware of the conclusion Katie just came to. “God didn't create mankind. Mankind created God. The so-called Bible and the stories of God...at the time they were written, they were no more than fiction stories. Nothing more than the creations of a particularly imaginary author that gained a large group of devoted audience.” 

“That...that actually makes quite the sense.” Katie said thoughtfully as she tapped her chin. For the first time in a while, she was actually using her brain effectively. A foreign sight. “Fear and despair have the power to project Chaos Descendants in the Chaos Domain, so why don’t faith and belief have the same capabilities? So if the faith of human beings really made God and Heaven, if God was only created because people think it is real…” She snapped back up at Gadreel with a very interesting idea in mind. “please continue!” 

The Angel nodded and took another sip of his drink. 

“Anyway, the faith of humanity made God and Heaven, and God, in turn, created us. His Angels. For centuries, the power of the growing faith in the mortal world strengthened us and helped Heaven conquer countless rival pantheons. The Greek Gods. The Roman Gods. Even the Pegan and Native Gods. While our believers in the material world brought the heathens to their knees and converted them to Christianity, the Angels of God forced their deities to go dormant.” 

“Go dormant?” This phrase brought a frown onto Katie’s face? So you Angels beat them until they fall asleep? What sort of strategy is that? “What’s preventing you from, I don’t know? Chopping their heads off or something?”

“It’s nearly impossible to kill Deities of Faith...that’s what we Angels call celestial beings born from the faith of their believers.” Gadreel gently set the beer can on the table. “To fully kill these deities, you need to wipe out every single one of their believers to completely cut off their power supply. Otherwise, as long as a single person is left worshipping that deity, it will have a chance of coming back to life. Such...such is the way of faith.” 

“Of course.” He suddenly chuckled. A sense of pride was in his voice. “That is not to say such executions have never happened before. Have you ever heard of the pantheon of Sigile? Or the gods of Lucianity?”

“Not really…”

“Exactly!” 

“Hmmm...interesting.” Katie said as she moved onto another topic. “So how about Hell? I heard Hell is still an active force right now, fighting the Dark Pantheon and trying to summon Lucifer into the material world. Did God really create Hell? I mean...if Hell is really the enemy of Heaven...”

“That...that is actually a really funny story.” Gadreel snickered. He was already getting a little drunk, which was surprising considering he was an Angel. “At first, Hell didn't exist. There was only Heaven, and we Angels had issues converting people to our faith. And then, one of us came up with a brilliant idea. If these damn mortals aren’t moved by the promise of rewards, then maybe they can be intimidated into converting to us by the fear of punishment?”

“And thus, Hell was invented. We told people that if they don’t believe in God, well...they’ll face eternal suffering in the depth of Hell. Blah blah blah. All the bullshit. We were about to insert the lores of Hell into the Bible and other religious teachings as if these lores have existed since the very beginning of time, and guess what? People actually believed it! We used fear and terror to solidify the very thrones of Heaven and the all-loving God! Ironic, yeah?” 

“Ok…” Katie found herself giggling a little as well. “Where’s the ‘but’?”

“But the same belief that forged Heaven also crafted Hell into existence. As the contrast of Heaven, Hell received as much of the faith and belief as God himself. Of course, the almighty God has foreseen that beforehand. He sent his favorite son, Lucifer, down to the newly crafted Hell in an attempt to control it. Clearly...things didn't go as planned.”

“The opposite of the expectations happened. The Will of Hell enslaved Lucifer. With the Devil as its leader and the endless Demons, all converted from human souls that descended into Hell upon their demise, as its forces, Hell became a completely independent faction outside of Heaven. Of course, God has the ability to destroy Hell, but as long as people believe in and fear Hell, total victory cannot be achieved.” 

“This standoff continued for over 1300 years. As time passed, Heaven got weaker and weaker from a lack of faith.” Gadreel was obviously displeased when he mentioned the decline of his homeworld. “The more scientifically advanced and knowledgeable the mortals become, the less faithful they are to God. After all, why bother getting on your knees and praying for an Angel to appear and heal the sickness of your loved ones when hospitals can do that? And protection from famine? Floods? All done by science. People just don’t need faith anymore.” 

“Wait...so your religion is declining?” Katie, the good student that she was, raised her hand once again in objection. “That doesn’t make too much sense either. I mean...even in America, most politicians and businessmen are religious. They pray before meals and go to church every Sunday...or so I’ve heard.” 

Gadreel snickered at Katie’s naive idea. 

“Really? Do you really think those politicians and businessmen are the devout worshippers of God they claim to be? If they are faithful, the politicians won’t be lying at every turn and paying hookers to shut up about their affairs. Businessmen won’t turn a blind eye to using child laborers to make a profit. And not to mention the number of so-called religious people that are making deals with Hell, the Dark Pantheon, and all those cultists out there! Honestly, almost all of these people will end up in Hell after they die, and a large number of them? It’ll be a matter of time before their souls are transformed into Demons, condemning them to an eternity of being the slaves of Hell.” 

The Angel took another drink. Frustration was in his eyes. 

Katie grinned at Gadreel’s declaration. “That explains a lot...all those corrupt people out there should really listen to this. Well...the ones already damned, of course! Just imagine the look of hopelessness on their face when they know they're gonna end up in Hell!”

Gadreel shared her grin. Indeed, it would be a fabulous sight. It took another nudge from Katie for him to continue with his story, and he was just getting to the most important part. 

“The standstill between Heaven and Hell came to a halt ten years ago.” As drunk as he was, the Angel had a haunted look in his voice. Even his voice became quieter. “Something happened a full decade ago...I don’t know exactly what. In fact, I don’t think any of us still alive do.” 

“At that time, I was posted in the material world. On Earth. All of a sudden, there was a lot of confusion among our ranks. Our psychic communication became scattered and disoriented. There was some sort of call to arms, but before any of us could get back to Heaven, we...we all felt it.” 

“Heaven is gone, and God...God has fallen. Every single one of our people that answered the call to arms and returned to defend Heaven was lost.”

“None of us knew what happened. Was there an invasion from some sort of external faction? Was it something wrong with the faith Heaven was running on? Maybe a trickery by Hell or other pantheons? No one knew. And Christianity on Earth, as weak as it has grown, still exists! So...theoretically speaking, God should still be omnipotent! What could've happened?" 

“All my people and I were aware of was that without God and Heaven, we Angels were forced into an awkward situation. We sustained ourselves with our halo, which contained celestial powers that practically make us omnipotent. But now, without a way to recharge our halos from Heaven, our power dwindles with every passing moment.” Gadreel sighed. He tapped the table, and a strand of white energy appeared on the wooden surface, repairing the holes made by the acid. “In the past, I could bring back the dead and even look back in the stream of time. Now...I can barely repair a fucking table!”

The Angel suddenly slammed his fists into the wooden table before him, snapping it in two. Katie silently reminded herself to ask the Angel to pay for it when he was no longer drunk, but for now, she kept on listening like the good student that she was. Oh...Mr. Isaac would be proud!

“When we first fell, some of our remaining leaders attempted to retake Heaven against whatever forces occupied it. Back then, our numbers were still in the millions. Just a fraction of our full might, but still enough to dominate the material realm.” 

Gadreel clutched onto his fists tightly. He did his best to calm himself, but his body language suggested that was no more than a failed attempt. 

“But a few years after the fall, we Angels were getting hunted. Factions like the Dark Pantheon. The Cult of Ascension. Section U. Area X. The Cult of Judgment. They were unheard of before the destruction of Heaven, probably hiding in a ditch somewhere, but a few years was all it took for them to come out of the shadows and prey upon our weakened people.” 

“Isolated and out of reinforcements, our people were pushed out of city after city. Nation after nation. Entire legions of us were wiped out in ambushes. Thankfully, these new factions didn't just target us. They fought each other as well. Ultimately, the few survivors of our kind were pushed back to Los Angeles. This city...it is where we have to make our final stand.”

It was a cold and desperate declaration, but Katie couldn't help but realize there was something off with it. 

“Well…” She glanced at the beer bottle in his hand. “You really don’t look like you’re ready for a heroic final stand.” 

“Nope.” Gadreel emptied the bottle before breaking it between his hand and his leg. Glass shattered across the floor. “Another issue with staying on Earth for too long is that as time passes, we become more like humans and less like celestials. Eventually...eventually, we will all lose our grace and...and become bound to the material world. This is a war we have already lost, and the more we try to fight, the sooner we become...mere mortals.” 

Now, aside from anger, there was also despair in his voice. The prospect of losing power was terrifying to any supernatural being, especially someone who was born with those powers. 

“So I bailed.” The Angel finished. “I joined the countless of my brothers and sisters who deserted from my duty in favor of self-preservation. Of course, as you can tell, my people are not happy about that. Castillos, the leader of the remaining Angels in Los Angeles, wants my head on a spike to warn the rest of us of the price of desertion.”

“Traitors are hated everywhere.” Katie shrugged before suddenly coming to another conclusion. “Wait, so...your Angels brothers and sisters will still come after you, right?”

“Uh...unfortunately, yes.” 

“And they can track you down?”

“Not that easily, but eventually, I think so. They have eyes and ears all around the city. I can leave...but I’ll be hunted by other factions if I leave Los Angeles. My only chance seems to be here."

“Hmmm…” Katie tapped her chin like a sly fox who just found a way to get to defenseless hens. “I'm happy to hear that. Tell me, my Angel...how do you like this apartment?”

In front of her, a drunk Gadreel raised his eyebrow in confusion, forcing Katie to sigh and retreat into the kitchen once again.

---

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