The Fallen Celestial Ch. 08

"There must be another way," Lexington added.

"There is none. You know this," Gavreel stated. "As I said before, this war ends now."

---

The remaining forces of the Fallen and the Celestials gathered on the eastern walls of their newly constructed defensive position of Shantei. At the front of the assembly stood Gavreel, Lexington, Daniel, and Aggram.

Aggram, the Celestial Bull as he was once called, smirked at the sight of the four standing in sequence.

"Just like old times," Aggram muttered.

Lexington turned and returned Aggram's smirk then replied "Almost."

Gavreel gave the command to march forward towards the Black Citadel and the remaining force followed suit.

As time seemed to move quickly, the Black Citadel was in view and in front of its enormous gates stood what appeared to be a legion of Shadowmen that blanketed the already Blight covered earth of the Badlands.

Gavreel rose his hand and in response the Fallen Army halted.

"Your command?" Lexington asked.

"Clear a path," Gavreel replied solemnly.

"ATTACK!" Lexington roared as he and the remaining Fallen Army stormed forward.

In response, the Shadowman Legion charged towards the Fallen. The clashing of swords, axes, hammers, and spears rang throughout the emptiness of the Badlands coupled with the screams of the Shadowman as each one was torn down with ease. As the Fallen advanced, Gavreel followed closely behind swiping at any Shadowman that was foolish enough to attack the High Seraph of Cielos.

With almost no effort, the Fallen Army was at the foot of the gate of the Black Citadel and Gavreel stepped in front of his fallen brethren.

"Come out, Lord of Avariceal," Gavreel taunted.

The gates remained shut.

"Bring it down," Gavreel commanded.

Aggram turned to the Fallen Army behind him and yelled, "Pietro, Melchis, Sampson, and Leon!"

The four stepped forward and stood as tall as the Celestial Bull. Like Aggram, each were accompanied with massive Celestial forged greatmauls. The four lined up with Aggram and stood at the very base of the Black Citadel gate. The five set their feet, swung their greatmauls in sequence behind them and with one great heave swung their greatmauls against the base of the gate. A great gate of the Black Citadel and the surrounding land rumbled.

"AGAIN!" Aggram commanded.

The five against swung their mighty greatmauls against the base of the great gate and again the rumble seemed to echo further. The five struck once again and a cracking began to echo through the hinges of the gate. One more strike at the gate began to slump back.

"Aggram," Gavreel called out. The five stepped back as Gavreel stepped forward in their place.

The large Celestial lifted his heel off the ground and with as much force as he could muster sent his heel forward against the gate causing the gate to crash forward into the walls of the Black Citadel.

"FORWARD!" Gavreel commanded as the Fallen Army rushed inside in all directions.

Gavreel and Lexington headed straight towards the Black Keep. Shadowmen and Valkyrie alike threw themselves at the Celestial duo yet none lasted long enough to realize the foes they had chosen.

The gate of the Black Keep was thrown open as Gavreel and Lexington made their approach and out stepped Shadohinus, the Lord of Avariceal.

"Fools, damn you. Damn fools. We could have ruled this world. Avariceal is a barren wasterealm and you, Gavreel, had to enforce justice in this earthen realm. The humans are mere meat, yet you waste your life force for them."

"Enough talk, Shadohinus. For eons, we have waged war against each other. Let us finish it today," Gavreel responded.

Shadohinus smirked. "Come then," he replied.

Gavreel and Lexington charged at Shadohinus with their blades drawn. Shadohinus weld two great axes and seemed overly eager for their attack. Just as Gavreel's sword met Shadohinus's axe, two Valkyrie Lords erupted from the Blight beneath them. Lexington drew the two away from Shadohinus.

The Valkyrie Lords were armed with short spears with spiked ends. Lexington worried he may be outmatched with his obsidian longsword. One Valkyrie Lord jabbed forward with his shortspear, Lexington slid to his side and swiped it away as the other Valkyrie Lord pressed. Lexington found himself lunging backwards to avoid their attacks. Both Valkyrie Lords then struck forward again. In response, Lexington charged forward, leaped and flipped over bringing Aequitas down on the head of one of the Valkyrie Lords. As the defeated Valkyrie Lord fell, the other jabbed the end of his shortspear into Lexington's still healing leg wound.

Lexington used Aequitas to slice the end of the shortspear off with the spear's head still embedded in his leg. He stumbled away from the remaining Valkyrie Lord as the Valkyrie Lord unsheathed two jagged daggers. The Valkyrie Lord charged at Lexington as Lexington was able to riposte each of the Valkyrie Lord's slashes. Blood trailed down Lexington's leg and seemed to gush out with each step he took.

Finally, the Lexington fell to one knee on his injured leg resulting in the Valkyrie Lord kicking Aequitas out of Lexington's hand. Unarmed, Lexington fell to both knees and looked up at the Valkyrie Lord's face.

"For Shadohinus," the Valkyrie Lord hissed.

As the Valkyrie Lord raised his daggers for the kill stroke, a familiar end of the longsword jutted out from the Valkyrie's chest. The purple blood of the Valkyrie splashed onto Lexington's face as the defeated Valkyrie fell to his side.

Lexington saw it was Gavreel who threw the sword and behind Gavreel, Shadohinus had raised his one greataxe.

"GAVREEL!" Lexington yelled, but it was too late.

Shadohinus brought his axe down in between the shoulder and neck of Gavreel. Lexington mustered what energy he had left, recalled Aequitas, and charged towards Shadohinus.

Once he was near enough, Lexington swung with all the might he could, but Shadohinus knocked the swipe aside with his greataxe. He then grasped Lexington by the throat and raised him off the ground.

"You failed, Ehemalig," Shadohinus said as he smiled.

"No," Gavreel coughed up blood. "You did," he said as a light began to shine through his armor. The light began to grow, almost blinding if looking directly at it.

Shadohinus laughed. "Exitium, my old nemesis? Don't you know it's also known as the Realm Breaker?"

Gavreel didn't respond though the light continued to grow.

Shadohinus stopped smiling. "You'll end the realm of humans just to defeat me? You'll KILL those you wasted eons defending? "

Shadohinus threw Lexington aside and grasped at Gavreel's throat.

"You will not succeed, you damn fool!" Shadohinus yelled as he attempted to choke the remaining life out of Gavreel.

On his back, Lexington took one last glimpse at Gavreel's bloodied face and then... white.

---

"Lexington, awaken."

Lexington opened his eyes and saw the blue of the sky. He felt a similar coarseness of small rocks in between his fingers. Some of the small rocks he was lying on were jagged enough to cause him to wince as he sat up. He said that his injured leg had been bandaged.

He looked around and saw only the familiar out-stretched dirt of the Badlands. It looked exactly as it was when he had first awoken in the earthen realm. Except this time, he was not alone. He was surrounded by the remaining Fallen Army. He spotted Aggram, Sera, Eli, and Mayra grouped a short distance away from him. Daniel, though, was sitting beside Lexington.

"What happened?" Lexington asked.

"We won," Daniel smiled.

"What happened to the Black Citadel, the Blight, the Shadowmen?"

"Exitium. It destroyed everything... except us."

"And Gavreel?" Lexington asked.

Daniel nodded in the direction of Aggram and the rest of the Fallen that were standing in a circle.

"Help me up," Lexington requested.

Daniel slid his arms beneath Lexington's shoulders and slowly brought him up. Lexington swung his arm around Daniel as he limped over to the group. The group parted and there lay Gavreel, the High Seraph of Cielos. Lexington paused and quickly realized that not only was Gavreel not injured, he was much smaller than before. Smaller in the sense that he was no longer a giant, but the size of a normal man.

Gavreel lied on this small patch of sand among the coarse rocks, breathing quietly with his eyes closed.

"How is he still alive?" Lexington asked.

"Exitium is known as the Realm Breaker," Daniel replied. "Gavreel must have released just enough of his life essence to destroy Shadohinus and his forces, but not enough to die. Though it seems that he is now an ehemalig."

Gavreel opened his eyes. "No, I am not."

Some in the group gasped as Gavreel gingerly sat up.

"I'm human," Gavreel added.

---

After the remaining Fallen had gathered, they headed back to Shantei. Lexington and Gavreel met at the western gate of Shantei as they prepared their farewells.

"What will you do?" Lexington asked.

"What else is there to do? Live out my days. We made as decent a home here in Shantei. I might as well take advantage of it. What about you?"

"My home is in Shahemein. I have a child there waiting for me. After that, I have no idea."

"Don't stray to far," Gavreel added as his placed his hand on Lexington's shoulder.

Lexington replied with a confused look.

"Shadohinus may have been defeated, but Avariceal wasn't the only realm that housed an evil like him."

"But..."

Gavreel interrupted Lexington by quickly adding, "But... its very unlikely they know of the Earthen Realm. How long have we battled Avariceal and no other realm? Too long, my old, old friend. All I'm saying is... a soldier's work is never done."

Lexington sighed, slightly relieved. He shook Gavreel's hand firmly for one last time and turned to head back home.