Ethan flipped open the heavy golden cover of the original Bible. He cleared his throat, stood tall, and began to read aloud with dramatic flair. "Praise the Holy Light. Praise the Supreme, Almighty, Righteous, Holy, Faithful, and Loving Lord of the Holy Light. You spread light and justice to..."
However, this impromptu religious reading completely failed to invoke any miraculous divine energy. Instead, it only succeeded in attracting the attention of several highly displeased demons. The grotesque creatures snarled, quickly closing in to surround Ethan on all sides.
"I have read this exact paragraph three times now," Ethan complained, shutting the book with a heavy thud. He turned around to look at Luna with genuine doubt. "Why is there absolutely no response at all?"
"You are holding the original Bible, yes, but you cannot simply trigger the blessing of the Holy Light by casually skimming a few passages," Luna rolled her eyes, her tone dripping with exasperation. "If it were genuinely that incredibly easy, those fanatical ascetic monks who torture themselves for a fraction of that power might as well just commit suicide."
"I thought this was going to be a quick shortcut to cosmic power," Ethan sighed, looking at the golden book with profound disappointment. "What a letdown."
By this point, the surrounding demons had grown incredibly angry. The puny human insect standing in front of them was blatantly ignoring their terrifying presence. If these beasts were the cunning, high-tier devils from the inner circles of Hell, they would have likely recognized Ethan's threat level and run as far away as possible.
But these were frontline grunt demons. These mindless creatures had skulls stuffed with nothing but raw muscle and biological nitroglycerin. Once their bloodlust surged, they would recklessly roar and rush forward to their own deaths, even if they were facing God himself.
"Human bug!" the lead demon roared, drool dripping from its fangs. "Let me taste the fresh blood in your veins!" The massive beast stretched out its thick, scaly hand, lunging forward to brutally grab Ethan.
"You are way too loud, you oversized bedbug," Ethan said, his expression twisting into sheer displeasure. Gripping the spine of the closed original Bible tightly in his hand, he casually swung the heavy artifact backward. He slapped the charging demon directly across its ugly face with the solid gold cover.
The physical reaction was entirely unexpected. The very microsecond the original Bible made kinetic contact with demonic flesh, a blindingly intense shockwave of Holy Light violently erupted outward. When the radiant flash finally dissipated, the several demons that had been aggressively crowding Ethan were entirely gone.
They had been instantly reduced to piles of fine, smoking ash. It functioned almost exactly like dropping a devastating, silent smart-bomb directly into the enemy's lap.
"Well now, this looks promising," Ethan muttered, a dangerous grin slowly spreading across his face. He suddenly remembered the core mechanics of the artifact he was holding. Wasn't this original Bible essentially a high-density containment vessel filled to the brim with extremely powerful Holy Light? Why was he bothering to look far and wide for complex magical spells when he held a literal holy nuke in his hands?
Having firmly made up his mind, Ethan reached into his spatial storage ring. He quickly rummaged through his dimensional inventory and pulled out a heavy, industrial-grade iron chain that was over ten meters long. With rapid, precise movements, he wrapped the thick steel links tightly around the golden book, securing the original Bible to the end of the chain like a makeshift medieval flail.
"Behold the holy damn light! That evil is absolutely worth fighting!" Ethan shouted mockingly, clutching the free end of the heavy iron chain tightly in his hands. He began to spin the heavy golden book above his head, perfectly imitating the way Thor gathered momentum with his hammer. He manipulated the centripetal force vectors to artificially multiply the weapon's velocity, then hurled the glowing Bible directly into the thickest crowd of charging demons.
BOOM! As the heavy original Bible smashed brutally into the skull of the vanguard demon, a massive, spherical burst of Holy Light detonated on impact. The divine radiation instantly burned every single demon within a ten-meter radius to absolute ashes.
Ethan didn't stop there; he charged headlong into the remaining demonic horde, swinging his holy flail with terrifying, perfect kinetic precision. Bursts of devastating Holy Light energy exploded violently one after another, lighting up the dark ruins like rapid-fire artillery shells. Within a matter of minutes, the vast majority of the terrifying demon army had been completely emptied out.
Even though the remaining frontline demons were incredibly stupid, the sheer, overwhelming display of destructive power finally broke their bloodlust. They were utterly terrified at this moment. After watching hundreds of their vicious brethren fall down in burning groups, the survivors broke ranks and began to frantically retreat backward again and again.
"Damn you all to the abyss!" Roarke let out a furious, entirely unwilling roar that shook the very earth. Dealing with the newly born Holy Spirit Angel was already incredibly taxing on his dark energy reserves. Adding in the constant, devastating lightning strikes from the God of Thunder, who was hovering on the sidelines waiting to drop his hammer at any given moment, was simply too much.
Roarke, despite his immense demonic power, was finally beginning to feel completely overwhelmed and powerless.
"Longinus!" The Angel of the Holy Spirit suddenly called out, his voice echoing with absolute divine authority. In response, a dazzling, perfectly formed golden spear materialized out of thin air, crackling with pure, unadulterated holy energy. The Angel grasped the Spear of Longinus tightly in his skeletal, golden hands.
With a massive surge of power, he drew his arm back and threw the divine weapon directly at Roarke's towering, giant body. Carrying the terrifying, absolute power of the Holy Light, the spear flew forward at an extremely fast, unavoidable speed. It struck true, violently piercing straight through the thick, molten armor of Roarke's massive chest.
At this exact moment, the overwhelmingly powerful Holy Light began to crazily pour directly into Roarke's internal biology. The divine energy immediately triggered a cascading, irreparable collapse within his demonic cellular structure. The Holy Light is the fundamental, absolute nemesis of the chaotic, dark power that fuels Hell.
With the Angel of the Holy Spirit actively inflicting such a severe, divine wound directly on his core, Roarke was in critical danger. It was already going to be incredibly difficult for the demon lord to simply prevent his physical form from rapidly deteriorating. Actually healing from such a devastating, holy strike was entirely impossible.
Seeing this perfect tactical opening, how could Ethan, who was a professional opportunist, possibly let it slip away? He stomped his foot heavily onto the cracked stone ground, manipulating the downward kinetic force. He instantly reversed the vector, using the massive rebound energy to launch himself upward.
In the very next moment, Ethan rocketed toward the top of the giant demon Roarke at an extremely fast speed, cutting through the air exactly like a sharp arrow released from a taut bowstring.
"Mortal, what exactly do you think you are doing?" Roarke snarled, watching the human approach. Ethan had certainly been a massive headache throughout this entire ordeal, but Roarke was not genuinely terrified of him. After all, as a quasi-demon king of Hell, his thick, magical defenses were incredibly resilient.
The localized physical damage and even the electrical strikes he had suffered so far were not ultimately fatal to his true essence. However, what suddenly made Roarke's glowing pupils shrink in absolute horror was the object Ethan was casually holding in his hand. It was the original golden Bible. The overwhelmingly powerful Holy Light energy contained within the dense pages of this divine book was so potent that it actually made the ancient demon's dark heart palpitate with genuine fear.
"Do you know something funny?" Ethan asked, his voice easily carrying over the roaring winds as he locked eyes with Roarke. A wide, incredibly dangerous smile spread across his face. "When I was flipping through this Bible just a moment ago, I found a specific verse that makes a lot of practical sense."
"It basically says: opening the Bible can purify the hearts of the wicked, but closing it can be used to literally knock the Devil's head entirely off his shoulders."
At this critical moment, the ancient Bible also seemed to actively sense that there was a powerful, dark evil force directly in front of it that desperately needed to be purged. It didn't even need Ethan to manually trigger its power. The artifact automatically burst forth with a concentrated Holy Light that was several dozen times stronger than before.
The aura around the heavy book became so incredibly thick and dense that it actually materialized into physical substance. The raw Holy Light miraculously condensed to form eight sharp, solid collision horns jutting out from the golden cover.
"So tell me, Roarke," Ethan yelled, bringing his arm back to deliver the final kinetic strike. "Are you ready to have your ugly head knocked completely off?"
"Mortal, do not push me too far!" Roarke screamed, realizing he had been driven completely into a dead end. Naturally, the cunning demon lord would not just sit still and wait for his own execution. He made a desperate, agonizing tactical choice.
He completely stopped using his ambient hellfire to suppress the invasive Holy Light currently destroying his giant body. Instead, he allowed the holy energy to ravage his giant form while he crazily surged his remaining dark power, gathering it all directly into the giant mouth of his avatar. With a sickening, wet tearing sound, he violently condensed his core essence.
He birthed a brand new, highly compressed version of himself that was only three meters tall, completely abandoning the dying giant shell. The vitality of the massive, thirty-meter-high giant demon body rapidly weakened and began to crumble into gray ash. However, the dark magical fluctuations radiating from this new, compressed version of Roarke were getting exponentially stronger and more erratic.
Knowing his physical time on Earth was up, Roarke rushed straight toward Ethan. He moved with the desperate, unstoppable momentum of a cornered beast entirely risking its own life for a single chance at survival.
"Get out of my way!" Roarke yelled ferociously at Ethan, his eyes burning with pure, unadulterated hatred. Ethan's hovering figure was currently positioned directly in front of the glowing dimensional Gate of Hell. The human was actively blocking Roarke's absolute last, desperate chance at escaping back to his home realm alive.
"I am sorry, but this specific road is permanently closed," Ethan snorted coldly, his expression hardening into an unyielding mask. He tightly clenched the heavy, horned Bible in his right hand. Manipulating the air vectors to propel himself forward, he flew directly toward the charging demon lord without a single shred of fear.
The incredibly dazzling, pure Holy Light and the highly destructive, dark hellfire violently collided in mid-air at an extremely fast, supersonic speed. The two opposing cosmic forces immediately began to fiercely devour and aggressively annihilate one another. The conflicting energies reached a critical mass almost instantly.
Finally, the volatile reaction completely destabilized, turning into a massive, blinding explosion of raw kinetic and mystical energy that shook the entire valley. From the very epicenter of the massive explosion, a streak of dark light suddenly flew backward at terminal velocity, smashing heavily into the rocky ground. When the blinding golden light of the detonation finally dissipated, the resulting crater revealed the gruesome aftermath.
Roarke's broken figure gradually became visible at the bottom of the massive pit. Embedded deeply into the dead center of his deformed, shattered forehead was the heavy, golden original Bible. As the divine, glowing light of the embedded Bible finally and completely dimmed, the last remnants of Roarke's demonic body rapidly turned to dust.
A sudden, cold gust of wind blew through the crater, completely wiping away the ashes of the ancient devil. When the dust finally settled, the only physical thing left resting at the bottom of the blast crater was the fragile, comatose body of a small human child.
"Danny!" Nadya screamed, her voice cracking with overwhelming emotion. Seeing her son lying motionless in the rubble, she frantically rushed out from her hiding spot, tears streaming heavily down her dirty face. She dropped to her knees in the dirt and desperately pulled the unconscious boy into her trembling arms.
At this terrifying moment, Nadya suddenly felt a warm, incredibly dazzling figure gently approach and kneel directly in front of her. It was the newly reborn Angel of the Holy Spirit. She watched in absolute awe as he slowly squatted down, gently reaching out his golden, skeletal hand to softly touch Danny's pale face.
Danny, who had been barely breathing just seconds prior, immediately felt the divine warmth; his small eyelids fluttered and trembled. The boy let out a soft sigh, instinctively burying his head deep into Nadya's protective embrace. His erratic breathing quickly stabilized into a steady, peaceful rhythm, and he immediately began to fall into a deep, natural sleep.
"Thank you... thank you so much," Nadya sobbed, looking up at the towering Angel of the Holy Spirit with profound gratitude.
At this incredibly emotional moment, Nadya suddenly and vividly recalled the specific, beautiful dream she had experienced countless times when she was just a young, hopeful girl.
She had always dreamed that when she was at her absolute most desperate, a magnificent superhero bathed in warm, golden light would miraculously appear.
This fated hero would descend gracefully from the sky on brilliant, snow-white wings, completely saving her from the terrifying, dark abyss of her miserable life.
And wasn't this majestic, glowing figure that she had been dreaming about for years the exact same Holy Spirit Angel currently kneeling right in front of her?
It seemed the long, terrifying misfortune that had plagued their small family was finally, truly coming to an end. Thinking of this beautiful realization, Nadya openly shed heavy, joyful tears of genuine emotion.
Of course, it was also highly probable that her eyes were simply watering because they had been repeatedly flashed by an incredibly strong, divine light.
After all, when she dared to look a little closer, the glowing, completely bald golden skull of her savior was genuinely, painfully dazzling to stare at for too long.
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Word count: 2409
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