For the first time in a while, Katie Lockwood found something of a purpose in her life. She had a goal to strive toward that wasn’t simply the need for suffering or pleasure or fun. No...now, she was fighting for something so much more.

For ten years, the New Factions have been taking over the world bit by bit. Agents of the Dark Pantheon were left free to play their sickening games across countless cities, refining human souls with tortures and horror before sacrificing them to the Chaos Domain in exchange for power. The Sect of Ascension fed unsuspecting human beings the flesh of their own kind. Section U purged Angels, Demons, and other supernatural creatures of the old, grinding their numbers down with numerous sacrifices of their own.

Katie didn't know how many more groups were in the New Factions or what they were capable of. All she knew was that it was clear the New Factions were winning the war. The Old Factions went from being the undisputed rulers of the planet to being forced back into a single city. They were losing. Not only so, but they were also steps away from total annihilation.

Any sane person who had a choice would’ve joined the New Factions, but Katie was never known for being sane.

Katie’s thought process was simple. The Dark Pantheon, and therefore all the New Factions, was her enemy, and she would do whatever she could to sabotage their plan. What? The Dark Pantheon wanted to take Los Angeles and get rid of the last remnants of the Old Factions? Fine. In that case, she would do everything in her power to screw up that plan.

Once the objective was set, Katie and Gadreel started discussing how they were going to approach this extremely difficult, perhaps even impossible, task.

“One thing I don’t get,” Katie started off with a question. “Is that why don’t the New Factions just, I don’t know, drop a nuke on Los Angeles? I mean...almost every Old Faction is in the city. Instead of trying to take the city by infiltrations and assassinations, why can’t they just nuke it off the map? Most supernatural beings can’t survive a nuclear warhead. And accessibility shouldn’t be a problem, not when Dark Pantheon Agents can literally possess people.”

“Great question.” The Angel replied. “I have actually heard about this before I deserted. The first reason is that all the New Factions are based on human beings, one way or another. Los Angeles doesn’t only have countless supernaturals. It also holds over 4 million people. That’s a lot of assets to wipe out with a nuke.”

“Yeah, but considering there are billions of people on this planet, I feel like 4 million people is a small price to pay.” Katie wasn’t convinced. “Not when it’s enough to wipe out all opposition and give the New Factions full control of the world.”

“Well, that’s the problem. The New Factions don’t have full control of the world. Not yet.” Gadreel continued. “As of now, most of the world isn’t aware of all the supernatural wars happening all around them. They don’t know about the Dark Pantheon or Section U. This is done by all sorts of methods, including magic curses and spells. But no spell can make people ignore a nuke being dropped on a city as populated and important as Los Angeles. If the New Factions do that, they will be exposed.”

“So? It’s not like they have to be afraid of the government or the military.”

“Again, this is just some hypothesis by the Angels, but once again, the New Factions are based on people.” Gadreel stood up and tapped his chin. “If the world knows that there are these supernatural factions lurking in the shadows, torturing and slaughtering innocent people at will, there will be chaos and uprisings.”

“And that’s bad because?”

“Well, if that happens, the government will be the first to panic. Yes. The New Factions aren’t afraid of the military, but most of them can’t shrug off bombers or missiles or even nukes. They can control some people, but definitely not the entire government and the military of all the nations in the world. A frontal engagement will simply be very ugly. Even if the New Factions remain hidden, there will be chaos, and a lot of people will die one way or another, whether it’s by starvation or war or crime or even suicide. That’s not necessarily ideal when the New Factions can simply let the people live in a false sense of security and feed on them whenever they have the need.”

“Hmmm...so the New Factions want to stay hidden.” Katie tapped her chin. Her tone was ice cold as she pondered her options. “So if we can somehow expose them...I suppose doing so by conventional methods won’t be the most effective. Not with the level of control the New Factions have. So, my question is, Gadreel…” She glanced at the Angel. “Any chance you know where to find a nuke? I doubt the New Factions will still have everything under control if a nuke detonates in Washington DC or New York City.”

Gadreel coughed. Of course, Katie wanted to bring nuclear warheads into the world of the supernatural. And he supposed he shouldn’t be too surprised by Katie’s willingness to murder millions of innocent. She was a maniac. The most terrifying kind. She could fight to save a dozen people one day and then condemn a million innocent to die the next.

“It will be...challenging, at least in the short term. We will be facing both the government and the New Factions if we try to do that. I suppose we can just go onto the streets and start massacring people with supernatural powers and broadcasting it for the world to see...but that comes with issues of its own.” Gadreel explained. “Our top concern right now should be finding out how to hold Los Angeles against the New Factions. Since they can’t just bomb us out of existence, they will need to take the city by conventional force, and that will give us a chance to bleed them dry and find a potential breakthrough point. At the very least, it will buy us some time to look into this Protector figure...and how we can kill her.”

“Very well.” Katie nodded as Gadreel continued to explain the supernatural layout in the city to her. Most importantly, all the powerful players that might matter in the grand scheme of things.

“As you know, right now, the main army holding the New Factions at bay is the Angels.” Gadreel’s tone was mixed. He almost sounded conflicted. “They have been tearing through any New Faction forces that tried to enter Los Angeles. The ambush of the Section U convoy we witnessed was one such operation. I also heard they located and destroyed another covert New Faction base recently. Unfortunately, the Angels can’t last too long.”

Gadreel bit his lips as he spoke. A few days ago, he and Katie were still hunting down Angels for their grace. The Angels probably saw them as sworn enemies right now, not much better than the New Factions. Now the tables have turned and the Angels might have become their potential allies. This was...far from ideal.

“And the other factions?” Katie continued. “What other supernatural factions are in the city that we can rally together against the invasion?”

The Angel quickly pulled his thoughts back to the present. He took a deep breath and proceeded.

“Well, there are a lot of groups in the city. The most famous one is probably the vampires. There are a lot of them, all survivors from all over the world and divided into a lot of different clans and families. The Culls should only be one of the clans. I don’t know that much more, but they haven’t been as active as they should have been in the war. Their numbers? In the thousands at least.”

“Next we have the werewolves. Unlike what’s portrayed in all the movies, werewolves aren’t actually afraid of silver, and they can transform whenever they want, not just at night. They are also divided into many clans. The survivors, that is...the New Factions have hit them especially hard, and they are surprisingly vulnerable in their human forms.”

“And then, there are the ghouls and zombies and other undead forms. Most of them feast on the dead and sometimes hunt the living. They aren’t the most logical monsters...but I guess if you put a blade to their neck and threaten to blast them into pieces if they don’t comply, they may listen. Just maybe.”

“There have been covens of witches all across the city. They are actually a lot more united compared to the other supernaturals, and they have been putting in the effort to repel the invasions, but they don’t trust anyone else in the fight. Especially not the Angels, for obvious reasons. The servants of Heaven and those who draw their power from Hell aren't huge fans of each other.”

“On top of that, we have a variety of other creatures. Changelings. Wendigos. A ton of ghosts and wraiths. Sirens. These are all things from myths and legends and rumors, but most of them can’t be reasoned or dealt with. Their actions are mostly governed by their most basic instincts. They are useless to us, if not outright detrimental.”

“What about the Demons?” Katie suddenly asked. “Don’t the Demons hate the New Factions?”

“Oh, that they do.” Gadreel snickered at the question. “What do you know about Hell and the Demons?”

“Just what’s in the legends and what you told me.” Katie shrugged. Can’t you just tell me the answer outright?

“Well, the Demons are an interesting bunch. You see...Hell was created by the faith of humans, the same faith that first created Heaven. This also assigned Hell the same attributes that it was said to have. Essentially, sinners will go to Hell and suffer while those who stood by and believed in God and Jesus and whatever...they will go to Heaven. Their souls of course. Well, anyone who has been paying attention to the world knows that most people nowadays have committed one sin or another. In other words...”

“Everyone is going to Hell.” The brunette realized.

“Exactly. Again, it’s technically their souls that’s going to Hell. And the souls of the sinners are critical to Hell. This is what Hell runs on. Without human souls to punish, Hell cannot create or maintain Demons. It cannot even really maintain its own existence. But what the New Factions are doing here...the souls of most of their victims won’t even have a chance to go to Hell, which is clearly a significant threat. Unsurprisingly, Demons hate the New Factions even more than they hate the Angels, especially the Dark Pantheon. Hell and the Dark Pantheon have been at each other’s throats for years.”

“Yeah, because being tortured in Hell for an eternity is so much better than being sacrificed to the Chaos Domain…” Katie chuckled darkly. Oh, this messed up world… “So any chance we can get the Demons to help defend Los Angeles? I can’t say your kind will be too happy about that.”

“I’m sure we can find a few Demons in the city and make some deals with them. See what they’re willing to do. As for my people…” Gadreel sighed. “Forget what they may think about the Demons. They will probably first want their pound of flesh from us for all the Angels we killed.”

“Well, I’ll be happy to let them do whatever they want to me.” Katie was unfazed. A pound of flesh? You’re talking as if that’s a problem! However, as she went over the list, she couldn’t help but sigh in frustration. “That’s a lot of factions to talk to and try to band together. I suppose they do have a common enemy, but…”

Katie knew very well that as powerful as she was, she needed an army to defend Los Angeles and drag this fight out. Yes. Technically, she herself could fight forever and eventually tire out and kill all the intruders, but she knew that without backup, it would be relatively easy to capture or subdue her. Plus, if at the end of the day she was the only one alive and all the New Factions were coming down on her...there would be very little she could do.

One woman couldn’t defend a city or win a war.

It was now that Katie truly wished she never went to Crypt Entertainment...if the Owner was alive, then his army and his ability to instill logic into mindless monsters could play a huge role in the battles to come. Nonetheless, what was done was done, and Katie wasn’t a fan of regretting things.

“There are a lot of potential allies, but most of them will prefer to feast and drink before they die rather than make a final stand and try to delay the inevitable. A lot of the supernaturals are also beasts who cannot be talked to.” Gadreel was all too aware of what many of these supernaturals were thinking. After all, this was what he believed in for a while. “I doubt they’ll be too happy with our proposal.”

Katie sat there on the sofa for a few seconds before standing up. She made her way to a counter and picked up two handguns.

“Well, they better be happy, cause if they’d rather die than fight, well...I’ll make sure their deaths come sooner than expected. As for the monsters...we deal with those who can be reasoned with and threatened first. The mindless ones...I’m sure we’ll find a use for them eventually.”

She reached into her jacket pocket and retrieved a piece of paper, which had the name and address of a number of vampires. These were the vampires who Harrison Cull told her to take the information to if he died, which he did. Supposedly, these vampires could be somewhat trusted...although Harrison did warn her that they might want her dead. Katie supposed she’ll find out soon enough.

She turned to Gadreel and gave him some instructions.

“As of now, it appears like our most probable allies are the Angels, the Demons, the vampires, the werewolves, and the witches. The rest are either mindless beasts or are too few in number to act. Ideally, as difficult as it will be, we will rally all of these groups under a single banner against the New Factions. So here’s what we’re going to do…”

“Gadreel, you handle the Demons. Go track down some Demons in the city and see what deals you can make with them or their higher-ups...I’m not too familiar with the Demonic command structure but you get the point. I suppose a few threats can’t hurt...as for me, I will go meet up with the vampires on the list. Let’s just hope they’re as reasonable as the Culls...although I highly doubt that.” She tilted her head.

“One way or another, I will get them to help us.”

Most people used words when they want to find allies. Katie was fine with that, at least at first, but if things didn't go as planned, well...sometimes blades were as effective as words when it came to forging alliances.

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