Chapter Twelve

 

“You.”

“I have a name, spirit. Do not be coarse,” Apothael snapped. 

“Why?!”

“Because in Heaven we can all get kind of jumbled, so our names mean a lot to us--”

“Why did you put me through this?!”

“Oh, yes, that,” Apothael said with a smirk. “I’m sure it has been explained to you already, no?”

“I demand to hear it from you.”

“Well, you were a test. The first test to see if we could shape other beings into weapons,” Apothael explained. “Sure, there are other aliens and such, but none are as corruptible as a human. Or as simple-minded.”

Antithesis’s eye began to glow.

“You see, I believed I could bring something to our armies simple Michael could not even dream,” Apothael continued. “Weapons more powerful than us that could do the fighting for us, and quite possibly end all the needless warfare between us and the demons. We lost so many. Well, new angels, at least. But their lives do matter… Did…”

“You say their lives mattered, but my family’s lives did not?”

“You should be honored you were the first,” Apothael said. “I do not plan to end this revolution with you. That would be pointless. Though, based on how you’ve fared throughout your quest, journey, whatever you wish to call it, I would dare to say you could take all of Hell on your own.”

Apothael leaned forward and held a finger up.

“Now, imagine what we could do with an entire armies worth of beings like you! All empowered by our graces with varying abilities based on the species,” Apothael said, now getting excited about his own plan. “Hell would not stand a chance.” 

“You are deranged.”

“And you’re a murdering psychopath. I didn’t force you to kill all those beings,” Apothael attempted to defend. 

“You gave me no other option.”

“No, you could’ve stayed in Limbo for eternity,” Apothael said. “You didn’t even try.”

“I wished to see my family.”

“And you will. Just fight for me for a few millennia,” Apothael said, leaning back his is throne chair. 

“Why did the Creator not stop you from doing this? Or any other being above you like Decimus or Azrael?” Antithesis asked, lowering his head, but still seething. 

“You’ll have to ask them,” Apothael answered. “Maybe this is all part of some big plan, though I doubt it.”

“Whose war is it anyway?”

“The Creator’s and Decimus’s. Or, so we’re told by the Creator,” Apothael said. 

“Then why does it not fight?”

“Well, Decimus doesn’t fight either, though he can,” Apothael said. He leaned in closer to Antithesis. “Though, between you and me, I think they’re both a little too big for their britches.”

Antithesis looked up and at Apothael directly in his eyes.

“I ask you for the final time,” he said. “Please, I ask that you let me be with my family.”

“... And I told you what the deal was,” Apothael said, rejecting Antithesis’s final request. 

“Then… then I will find another way,” Antithesis said, withdrawing Dimension Splitter. “YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!”

Antithesis charged as Apothael stood and knocked his own throne out of the way. He welcomed Dimension Splitter as the sword plunged through his chest and Antithesis tackled them both through the portal. 

The two rolled a few feet on a dusted, red wasteland. Antithesis stood and called Dimension Splitter back to him, letting the sword rip out of Apothael’s chest. Apothael laughed as Antithesis readied his sword to behead the archangel. As the Heavenborne brought his sword down, Apothael’s body disappeared and Antithesis felt a kick in his back that knocked him into the ground.

He stood and turned to see Apothael withdrawing knives that were originally sheathed on the back of his belt. Antithesis readied his sword. 

“How did you originally beat Michael?” the spectre asked. 

“Smarts, Antithesis,” Apothael. “Brain over brawn. You know that whole David and Goliath story? Well, it’s about to be retold once more with you and I.”

The two ran at each other and clashed weapons, then separated and began to parry one another. Apothael making very precise pokes, looking for an opening and Antithesis attempting to match the archangel’s movement. But, he could not keep up as Apothael did find an opening and slashed him lightly across the stomach. Antithesis stepped back and grabbed his stomach, looking down to see blood flowing. 

“Why am I not--”

“Regenerating?” Apothael finished. “Limbo cancels out all of that. This is normally where the battles between Heaven and Hell occur. So when I said we’ve lost soldiers, their souls are trapped here.”

“You brought me here so I would not resurrect.”

“Correct. But, to be fair, if you beat me-- which is highly unlikely-- I won’t come back either,” Apothael explained. Antithesis readied his sword once more. 

“You’ve made a fatal error in judgment,” the Heavenborne said, charging at Apothael once more. Apothael was ready to finish him here, but Antithesis threw his sword at the archangel then teleported away without seeing where it went. Apothael dodged the blade then looked around for the Heavenborne, without seeing where the sword ended up, which was above him as Antithesis had teleported above. 

He tried to silently stab through the top of the archangel, but Apothael looked up and dodged in time. 

“That was close,” Apothael said, before standing up straight, then vanishing completely. Antithesis kept Dimension Splitter close and withdrew a Dagger of Deception, wrapped in chains. 

“Show yourself, coward!” Antithesis demanded.

“Coward? You fool,” Apothael said from nowhere. “I am the archangel of deception. I am playing to my own strong suits. Something you can’t do.”

Apothael appeared in between Antithesis’s feet, with his head popping out of the ground. He then sliced the wraith’s achilles tendon before disappearing again. Antithesis groaned and found it difficult to remain standing after a wound like that, but he remained on his toes. 

Apothael then appeared from a portal above Antithesis, but Antithesis was alert enough this time to deflect the archangel’s attack. Apothael disappeared once more before Antithesis could properly counter. 

The archangel appeared behind Antithesis this time, but the phantom spun around in time to slice at the Apothael’s thigh. The archangel reeled back and frowned at the gash in his leg. 

“I guess I’m becoming to predictable. So let’s…” he trailed off as he started forming intangible clones of himself. “Move to the next level.”

Antithesis spun around and around as the clones mixed themselves up with the real Apothael. Each of them charged at the spirit one by one, slicing him in different parts of, but he was unable to return the damage, for the knives were real, but they were not. Antithesis decided the only thing he could do was find the real Apothael. 

So instead of swiping at each of them, the phantom opened his palms out toward the clones that circled him and spun as he released plasmic holyflames. He succeeded in wiping out the clones, but when the dust settled, the real Apothael was nowhere to be found. He had not succeeded in killing the archangel, right?

His question would be answered as he saw Apothael lying on the ground groaning, his armor and body sizzling. Antithesis walked over to him and withdrew Dimension Splitter, raising the sword over his head.

“For my family,” he said before bringing the sword down. But instead of the sword going through the archangel, it went through the ground as the final clone disappeared.

“Smart move,” Apothael said. Antithesis turned to see him flapping his large, white wings above him. “But you wouldn’t be able to take me out that easily. There’s a reason I command the others.”

“This battle has been lackluster, asshole,” Antithesis said.

“Is that your nickname for me?” Apothael asked.

“Do your worst! So I may take you down and prove that you made a mistake choosing to k--”

“Kill you and your family? Will you just get over it?” Apothael said. “You can see them still. Stop fighting and join my army for a littl--”

Antithesis shut the archangel up by blasting flames at him. Apothael took out a knife and let it absorb the fire, as in the knife sucked the fire into itself. Apothael then pointed his other knife at the Heavenborne and the fire spat back out of its tip. Antithesis teleported out of the fire’s way and behind Apothael. Apothael turned around with a slicing motion, but then Antithesis teleported to where the front of him just was. As he tried to sweep kick the archangel, Apothael flapped his wings once and raised himself off the ground, flipping once before throwing a knife into Antithesis’s leg.

Antithesis removed the knife and tried setting it on fire to melt it, but the knife just absorbed it. The archangel then smirked and pointed the other knife he held onto and shot the flames back out at Antithesis. The wraith teleported, dropping the knife, before the flames could hit him. As Antithesis teleported behind Apothael once more, the archangel flew away from the spectre and towards the dropped knife, picking it up before turning back around to face Antithesis from a distance.

Antithesis squinted, noticing that Apothael probably could not call his knives back to him. Perhaps Michael was the only one that could give others the power to and the archangel chose not to bless Apothael with that gift. 

So the knives with the combination of Apothael’s given abilities is what allowed him to beat Michael, most likely absorbing the impact of the weapons Michael summoned and tosses at Apothael. But could the knife absorb anything then shoot it back out? It was worth testing.

Antithesis tossed the Dagger of Deception that he held at the archangel and Apothael, in turn, knocked it away with just his forearm. Not what Antithesis expected. 

“What was the point of that?” Apothael asked. “What are you planning?”

Antithesis remembered that the knives could keep up with Dimension Splitter, but when they clashed at the beginning of their battle, he didn’t try absorbing it then. He would still have to test if the knife could absorb more than elements like fire. 

He charged at Apothael while the archangel stood still, calmly waiting for Antithesis’s plan of attack. The spirit wrapped his Chains of Sacrifice around his other dagger and slung it at the archangel before reaching him. Apothael deflected the dagger and chain, but it was with the spewing knife, not the absorbing one. 

Antithesis reeled the dagger and chain back then slung it again and, in addition, slung out the chain on his other arm right after. Apothael deflected the dagger and chain with the same knife as the first attempt, but was forced to deflect with his absorbing knife as the chain came close to hitting him across the face. 

Apothael decided to use this to his advantage though, displaying that this knife could absorb more than just elements, as the chain disappeared into the knife and began spewing out of the spewing knife, pulling Antithesis closer along with his chain. Apothael then whipped his spewing knife and the chain that was coming out of it cracked Antithesis across the jaw, knocking him to the ground. As he stood again, he looked to see Apothael simply clap the knives together, forcing the Chain of Sacrifice to snap in half. 

Would the same happen to Dimension Splitter? Antithesis wondered. He withdrew his sword again and knew he’d have to take a chance. He teleported behind Apothael and slashed at him, but the archangel was too slow this time in turning around as the spectre sliced cleanly through Apothael’s torso, the archangel’s face riddled with shock, before disappearing again. 

Antithesis then felt a sharp pain in the center of his spine as Apothael appeared from behind and drove his knife into the Heavenborne’s back with such force, that he sent him yards away. As he rolled, Apothael flew over him and waited a second before grabbing him by the throat and dragging him for a few more feet. Then he flew upward with the two of them and stabbed Antithesis in his stomach a few more times, then slashed it a few more times, nearly spilling the Heavenborne’s guts, before dropping him to the dusted ground below.

Antithesis’s body slammed into the ground, creating a small dent. He tried to stand, hold his guts in, but couldn’t. Apothael cackled from above.

“What’s wrong? Unable to fight? I still haven’t shown you what I can really do,” the archangel bragged. He then descended and landed in front of Antithesis, grabbing him by the throat and staring him directly in his eyes. “You journey is finally over. It’s a shame I could not convince you to remain loyal. Oh, well. There’ll be others.”

Apothael placed the absorbing knife to Antithesis’s throat as the spectre’s eyes began to smoke. The archangel sliced his throat, leaving no blood behind as the knife absorbed it. Antithesis groaned as Apothael dropped him. The archangel spun around and opened a portal to leave, but was stopped as a Chain of Sacrifice wrapped around him. The archangel slowly turned to see both of Antithesis’s eyes flaring with whitish-red and the chain was set ablaze. 

Antithesis tugged and pulled the archangel towards him, the portal disappearing, then withdrew Dimension Splitter. The archangel was able to fumble out his absorbing knife and let the sword plummet through. When the two weapons clashed, Dimension Splitter overpowered Apothael’s knife and caused it to shatter. The sword still plunged through Apothael’s chest as Antithesis stared him down. 

The Heavenborne then released the chain and removed the sword as the archangel fell to his knees, clutching his chest, trying to stop it from bleeding. Antithesis then kneeled down and wrapped the chain around the archangel’s neck, setting it on fire once more, and tried to tugged, but Apothael grabbed his arm and flipped him over onto the ground. 

As Antithesis regained his composure, the archangel snatched the chain off his neck and removed his torso armor, strpping down to only his pants. Antithesis stood and withdrew Dimension Splitter again. 

The two took a second before charging at each other again, Antithesis swinging wildly, while Apothael was careful to not get stabbed again, getting in punches and kicks here and there. The impacts of the hits caused shockwaves and Apothael was able to kick Antithesis in the knee, dropping him before raising a fist and clocking the spirit across the jaw. Apothael then grabbed Dimension Splitter and chucked it as far as he could across the endless dimension before turning back and kicking Antithesis on his back. 

Antithesis tried to stand but Apothael stamped his foot down on the Heavenborne’s chest, putting pressure on it and causing it to crack. Antithesis kept his arms out and palms up as the archangel continued to assault him. He then raised his foot and stomped again, causing a shockwave across the dimension. Then he did it again. And again. And again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Until the archangel heard a very audible crack from Antithesis’s chest. He kept his foot there now and smiled at the sight of seeing the Heavenborne writhe in pain.

“It’s a miracle your broken bones haven’t pierced your heart or any other vital organs,” Apothael said. “Then again, it’s a miracle you could do this much damage to me at all. Or even get this far in your journey.”

Apothael then leaned close and whispered in Antithesis’s ear.

“Any last words?”

“Die.”

Antithesis caught Dimension Splitter, as he had been calling it the entire time, then plunged the sword through Apothael’s heart this time. Apothael looked down at his own chest in shock and took a few steps back with the sword still lodged in him. Antithesis then called it back and tossed it at just the right angle so the sword sliced the archangel’s head off, killing him once and for all. Then, for the final time Antithesis called Dimension Splitter back to himself and held it in his hand as he felt himself slipping out of consciousness. 

But before he completely lost consciousness, Limbo disappeared and he looked up at the sky to see stars in the distance. The ground was no longer dusty, but hard. Concrete. He struggled to sit up and looked around at the surrounding area as he got to his feet. 

Antithesis looked down at Axel’s belt and saw the blue gem in the center flashing. He had been teleported back to Earth, where he originally was ported at the beginning of his quest. He felt his physical pain disappear and as he looked down, he noticed he was regenerating again, which was the reason he could sit up and stand in the first place. 

He looked at the building across the street and recognized it as the Delacroix hideout, but the building was completely fine. It had originally been demolished due to Annihilation’s self-detonation, but this building did not look like it had been blown up. 

This didn’t make sense. Had he been sent back in time? 

“You!” a female voice said.

“Yo!” a male voice said. 

Antithesis turned to see two heroes clad in spandex, the young woman wearing red, the young man wearing green. 

“Who--”

“No, no, no. We asked you first, dude. Who are you?” the green man asked.

“I… I am Antithesis, the Abandoned Angel.”

“Dope name,” the green man said. 

“Nice to meet you, Antithesis,” the red woman said. “I like your outfit. You a registered hero?”

“Registered… pardon?” Antithesis asked. “Who are you two?”

“Oh right,” the green man said. “My hero name is Eidolon and this is my girlfriend Centri. We are registered heroes, protectors of this city, Haven.”

“You seem lost,” Centri said. “Do you know where you are?”

“Haven. The name sounds familiar,” Antithesis said. 

“Maybe we should take him to Asai,” Centri said. 

“Who?”

“From the Alpha Corps?” Centri asked.

“Where--”

“In Haven,” the couple said together.

“... What?”

“Dude, are you even from this universe?” Eidolon said. Centri and Antithesis shot him a look. Antithesis more serious than scathing, unlike Centri. 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I always believed in the theory that multiple universes and timelines exist,” Eidolon said shrugging. “But, I was just making a shitty joke.”

Antithesis looked down at his belt, and saw that the gem had gone dim. It had been deactivated. 

“Do either of you know Apothael?” the spectre asked. 

“That name sounds familiar,” Eidolon said, rubbing his chin. Centri elbowed him.

“Babe, that’s the guy who was helpin’ the Archs before. I think he’s evil or somethin’ now,” Centri said.

“But, he’s… alive?” Antithesis asked.

“Yeah, I think,” Centri said. “Why wouldn’t he be?”

“Because I just killed him myself.”

“That’s kinda dark,” Eidolon said. 

“Come with us,” Centri said. “We’ll help you figure out what’s going on.”

Antithesis followed them down the street as they headed to the Alpha Corps Headquarters to get some answers. 

 

“You’re probably from a different universe,” Asai said bluntly. Antithesis did not know how to take the information. “You said you killed Apothael, once and for all? In Limbo?”

“I did,” Antithesis said, Eidolon and Centri standing behind him listening to the news unfold. 

“Did you kill any other gods or cosmic beings, or whatever the hell they wanna be called?” Asai asked.

“Nearly all of… them…” Antithesis’s words trailed off as he laid eyes on Celeste. He began to blush. “You. I’ve met you.”

“Uh, what? No, you haven’t,” she said. Then she smiled. “I’d remember such a handsome face.”

Antithesis stood stunned.

“Uh…” 

“Dude, you broke him,” Eidolon said, talking to Celeste.

“I’ve, uh, I-I’ve met the entire Council before,” Antithesis stuttered. “Astral, Axel, Cosmus--”

“So, he’s not bullshitting. Guess we know that now,” Asai said. Celeste pointed at Antithesis’s belt.

“That’s Axel’s. How did you get that?” she questioned. 

“Wait, how ‘bout we test this?” Asai said. “Celeste, call Axel.”

“AXEL!” Celeste shouted. In the blink of an eye, the keeper of space appeared in the room.

“This guy’s hearing must be amazing,” Eidolon commented.

“You called?” Axel said. The room looked at his waist to see that his belt was still there. Antithesis also had a belt.

“Did Cosmus make you another belt?” Celeste asked.

“No, why would he--” Axel took a double take and saw Antithesis wearing his belt. “Hey! What’re you--”

“Relax, Axel,” Celeste said. “We think he’s from another universe. Can your belt… do that?”

“Hmmm…” Axel said. “That’s entirely possible.”

“Does this have to do with the war?” Eidolon asked, referring to the coming war between Heaven and Hell. As of right now, the Archs were preparing to leave, hence the reason Celeste is still on Earth. 

“Most likely,” Celeste answered. She looks at the broken belt around Antithesis’s waist. “The real question is who brought you here and why they don’t want you to return to your place of origin?”