However, time passed, and Seraphiel was still there. 

 

Absolute Authority works on every kind of being, no matter who and how strong they are, as long as the one issues the command belongs to a higher rank. Ereshkigal had been promoted to Supreme commander, only below The Creator himself. So, the fact that Seraphiel was still alive was an absolute shock.

 

Did Ereshkigal say the command wrong? Or Seraphiel was still somehow at a higher rank than her?

 

No, that was not the case.

 

Impossible!

 

Therefore, with the legendary Deathbringer on one hand while holding another scythe on the other hand, impaling through Seraphiel’s body, Ereshkigal raised the question.

 

“W...Why don’t you disappear? why? WHY?”

 

The crosses inside the female reaper’s eyes glowed brighter and brighter the louder her voice got. Confusion was all over her face. Then, she tried to pull the scythe out of Seraphiel’s body, but was unable to, as Seraphiel resisted by grabbing and holding onto its blade tightly with all his remaining strength. 

 

“I… I cannot die now...” Seraphiel looked straight into Ereshkigal’s eyes. “ Earesh! Our love is not a sin, leave us alone!” he screamed, and at the same time, his black mud body bubbled, expanded then retracted continuously like it was trying to resist a self explosion.   

 

Ereshkigal’s body shook in anger. The surrounding walls virabated as well. “Don’t… don’t you dare look at me like that!” she shouted. “Ha! I see, it’s free will isn’t it? So you have succumbed yourself to the Devil... What a servant of God! Disgusting!”

 

“No!” Seraphiel denied. “Lucifer has nothing to do with me!”

 

“So why? WHY CAN YOU RESIST IT!?”

 

“I don’t know...”

 

Seraphiel answered, and the whole cave went silent.

 

Yes, it was understandable that Ereshkigal thought Seraphiel and Lucifer were somehow related. After all, the First Fallen One was the only one who could resist Absolute Authority. She was even able to pass this ability onto her followers. That was why it was called “free will”, literally meaning: “go against God.” 

 

But Seraphiel hadn’t even met or spoken with Lucifer ever since Paradise Lost.

 

So why didn’t Absolute Authority work? Well, no one knew, because even Seraphiel didn’t know how he was able to do it in the first place.

 

“Fine then.” Ereshkigal closed her eyes and said. “Well, it doesn’t really matter if you’re on Lucifer's side or not. You were born from the love of Father yet still failed to maintain your faith. A lost sheep who runs away and bites its own kind? It must be destroyed. And since you have fallen so deep that you can’t even kill yourself in the name of Him, guess… I will do it for you…”

 

Ereshkigal then tightened her grip, Deathbringer glowed.

 

However, as she was about to bring the scythe down to slice its previous owner’s head off, she realized…

 

This Deathbringer too… was immobilized?

 

“What?” Ereshkigal stood there, dumbfounded.

 

And not only Deathbringer! She was now unable to control any other part of her body! Black mud could not be manifested! No magic could be casted!

 

What was going on? 

 

“I… I will not let you…”

 

Coming from behind the figure of Seraphiel, a tiny voice reached Ereshkigal. Her presence was so insignificant that the reaper had been completely ignoring her.

 

“This…”

 

Now Ereshkigal noticed, her body had been restrained by some kind of thread, almost invisible, just like spider silk.

 

It was some kind of spell that Alice secretly casted.

 

“Vinculus… superia?” Ereshkigal muttered in confusion. “Haniel’s authority… Heavenly Imprisonment!?"

 

Haniel was the name of the Archangel of Love, another ultimate weapon of God. Seraphiel’s vessel was actually Aziel Von Helsing, son of Haniel and Abraham. The archangel’s legacy, Chain of Heaven, was said to hold great power against the ones who lack empathy, while bringing protection to whoever knows the true meaning of love.

 

“Impossible! But she’s just a human! A human should not be able to wield celestial power, let alone take control of ancient angelic artifacts!

 

But, there was something different about this human girl, slowly revealed before the Reaper’s eyes.

 

There was a tiny little trace of heavenly grace inside her, mixed with the void nature of black mud, slowly growing...

 

“I see… so it’s the baby… this is why Father’s mad...”

 

Ereshkigal was now lost in thoughts. 

 

“Alice...”

 

Seraphiel turned his head again, facing the little girl who had just escaped from the protective cocoon. 

 

The blind girl slowly crawled up, searching for her angel. Her hand touched his body, instantly got eaten by the black mud.

 

But the girl didn’t react. She raised her another hand, it got eaten as well.

 

“No…” Alice cried. Her voice cracked and trembled, but there was no tear. Only blood came out of her eyes… 

 

“Stupid Seraphiel, my Seraphiel... where are you… where are you?”

 

Alice’s words made Seraphiel’s heart squeezed itself, unable to beat for a second. Was the girl aware? Why didn’t she react to the black mud? Once Seraphiel unleashed his true form, there would be no coming back. They could never hug each other again, even getting close to each other would spell death.

 

And that was the reason Seraphiel had been staying away from this power, just so that the two could touch.

 

Therefore, Seraphiel casted a spell, pushed Alice away. Then, he raised an impassable barrier between them.

 

“Alice, listen to me...” said Seraphiel, his voice was so gentle and soft. “I'm afraid… I can’t be with you anymore…”

 

“Seraphiel?” Alice answered, shaking. “No... Where are you?”

 

“Listen, Heaven is taking me back. I will teleport this both me and this fella away, and leave my heart behind. Can you take the heart, and bring it to Signis? There will be someone named Queen Sophia, you can exchange this for vampire venom...”

 

“No… no… stop!” Alice protested. “I don’t want to hear it, please, Seraphiel… please! We promised!”

 

“Alice…” Seraphiel too, was now shaking. “I know, but this is it. You must live... for me, Aziel, and our daughter, yes?  

 

“N..no… I don’t want to… I… I...”

 

“Sorry, I still couldn’t think of a name for her. Luciel, Anael, or perhaps something less cringy… How about… Lucy? I will also infuse the heart with little magic so that it can help you get to Signis safely. Please keep our daughter safe, yes?”

 

Hearing that, Alice collapsed. Since she has no hands anymore, her head hit the ground. Dirt got into her mouth, she coughed, her body curled in pain. But then, Alice pushed her elbows against the ground, slowly managed to sit up, and smiled.

 

“Lucy… she is Lucy...”

 

“Good girl!” said Seraphiel. He made the feathery cocoon again, and Alice got inside it. Then, Seraphiel turned around to speak with Ereshkigal. 

 

“Now then, how about we both return to the void?”

 

“What?” Ereshkigal’s eyes shot open. What did Seraphiel mean... “to the void?”

 

Black mud crawled onto the scythe which had its blade inside Seraphiel’s body, and slowly made its way to Ereshkigal. Like angels, reapers were originally beings made of celestial energy. Because of that, one could manipulate one source of energy, reverse its nature, then used it to cancel out another source. If both were equal, then the sum would be zero, and in this case, as both Seraphiel and Ereshkigal were somewhat at the same power level, both would be gone as soon as the spell completed.

 

This spell had no name, it was just a fundamental law of this universe.

 

Seraphiel’s heart detached, fell onto the ground.

 

“Nooo! STOP!” Ereshkigal screamed and tried to move, but couldn’t. Even though the Chain of Heaven wouldn’t be able to hold her more than a couple hours, however, that was more than enough.

 

The black mud from Seraphiel made contact with Ereshkigal finger, it opened a rift in space that sucked in and dematerialized both bodies. In just half a minute, Ereshkigal’s arm was completely gone.

 

However, the rift suddenly closed.

 

...

 

“Tsk, Helsings, as foolish as always.”    

 

Someone's voice suddenly reached Seraphiel’s ears. It was a woman’s voice. But how? Who was she? How did she get in? How long had she been here?

 

“Who?”

 

Ereshkigal was also in shock. For some reasons, both the reapers weren't aware of the fact that someone had been watching them all this time. 

 

Slowly from the darkness inside the cave, a woman made her appearance. She walked quietly towards Seraphiel without making the slightest sound, almost like gliding. Black dress elegantly warped around her slender body, and there was a choker, decorated by a simple ruby on it. The woman’s eyes, glimmering with the color of blood, enchanting.

 

People said that even Death could be charmed by those eyes, if such god existed.

 

The origin of all vampires, Queen Sophia. 

 

“You know, that thing between me and Aziel was supposed to be a secret,” picking up Seraphiel’s heart, Sophia said. She then stopped for a moment to look at it, wiped off the dirt, then put it back into Seraphiel’s black mud body, using telekinesis to avoid being harmed. “Now that wolf boy knows about it too, he is going to nag me about this.”

 

“Wolf boy?” still confused, Seraphiel asked. “What do you mean?”

 

Suddenly, someone else also emerged from the dark. A half naked muscular man with dark skin. He wore just a pair of pants, nothing special, but had a crown on top of his head. Queen Sophia’s case was understandable, but how did this gigantic man too, erased his own presence for so long?

 

There was a Werewolf King, known to be able to shapeshift into eight different forms of wolves. Lycaon, his shadow wolf form didn’t even have a physical body to begin with. 

 

“Grrrr… baby, do we really have to save this son of a… hmmm… this bastard?” Lycaon pointed at Seraphiel, then looked at Sophia with displeased eyes, and grunted. 

 

“Watch your mouth please,” Sophia glared at Lycaon, the wolf king whimpered. Then, she continued.

 

“Yes, it’s Queen Lucifer’s order,” said Sophia. “I’ll take care of the girl, and you, you take care of the reaper.”

 

“HaaaaaA?” Lycaon protested, “Why me? Look! He’s a puddle of black mud! Black mud you know?”

 

“So what? Are you saying that this mere amount of substance is too much for you?”

 

“What? Nahhhh!” Lycaon denied pridefully. 

 

However, when he looked at Seraphiel carefully again…

 

“Can… Can we split this guy into... like… you know… fifty fifty?”

 

“Haiiizzz.” Sophia sighed. “Sixty forty.”

 

“Good enough!”

 

And just like that, Sophia casted a spell, dividing Seraphiel’s body into two parts. The Queen of Vampire carefully put the forty percent part into a magical sphere for transporting, while the other sixty percent part…

 

Lycaon changed into a giant wolf form and swallowed it. His stomach rumbled and rumbled. His eyes, displeased. The Wolf King hoped that they would return to Signis in time, before he caught a serious stomach ache.

 

And what about Ereshkigal? Since Queen Sophia canceled Seraphiel’s suicide spell, it also canceled Chain of Heaven. The reaper quickly escaped as soon as the two King and Queen of Signis made their appearances.