{"AVENGERS... Assemble"}
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All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena:
The church itself features Gothic Revival style arches. From a bird's-eye perspective, the building is seen filled to the brim—hundreds of people packed inside, with those who didn't acquire a seat standing along the edges of the pews.
In the center of the podium, a man in a sharp, priest-like uniform stands tall. The scene is eerily similar to a priest preaching to his congregation, with one key difference: no one in the church is human.
Earlier that day, the demon Dromos had possessed Father William Kinley's dead body and answered the call from the first woman, Eve. Dromos was originally one of Lucifer's lieutenants in Hell.
Dromos, along with an army of demons, had originally come to Earth to take Lucifer back. When Dromos confronted Lucifer about returning to Hell and was promptly rejected, he had the ill-advised idea to propose the torture of a living human to the King of Hell.
"So... back to Hell you go, it seems. Those eyeballs won't pop themselves out," Lucifer had said.
"Alright... though we might stay for a little bit. Never tortured a live one before," Dromos had proposed with glee in his voice.
Lucifer's eyes reverted to their crimson coloration, and with a single hand, he brought Dromos to his knees.
"You will not lay a hand on anyone. You are lucky I have not incinerated you for disobeying my orders. NO MORE POSSESSIONS," Lucifer ordered and warned. "Time for all good demons to go home, NOW—or someone less tolerant than me will pay you a visit."
"Yes, my Lord," Dromos gritted out. But, true to his treacherous nature, he had disobeyed, orchestrating the kidnapping of baby Charlie—the half-celestial—to crown him the new King, as only an Angel can rule over Hell.
At the present moment, baby Charlie's cries echoed through the silent church, which was filled to the brim with demons.
"If I wanted to hear screaming, I would have stayed home," Squee, one of Dromos's subordinates, spoke irritably, clearly annoyed by the infant's wailing.
"He is just a hungry boy," Dromos reassured him. Lyla—the demon who had impersonated the night nurse—handed him a bottle of warm milk, which she had heated using a cigarette lighter.
After testing the temperature of the milk through the bottle, Dromos shook his head. "Idiot. It's way too hot. We don't want to burn our itty-bitty new King," he said, glancing down at Baby Charlie. "Just let it cool." He handed the bottle back to Lyla.
"He is just not used to the heat... yet," Dromos added.
Just then, a murmur rippled through the assembly of demons behind them.
"What is it?" Dromos turned around, confused. His eyes landed on the source of the distraction: a pure white rabbit with bright red eyes sitting in the middle of the aisle.
"Ah... it's a bunny. We should skin it and roast it," Squee suggested. Lyla and the other demons seemed to be in agreement as they gravitated toward the creature.
Dromos, being one of the older demons, began to visibly tremble. "Stop," he muttered. "Stop it!" he repeated more loudly.
Lyla turned around, looking at him with glee. "Don't tell me... the great Dromos is afraid of rabbits?" Laughter erupted among the assembly at her words.
Dromos took a step forward. "That is no rabbit, you fools. That's a Shikigami."
Squee remained undeterred as he moved toward his supposed prey. "What's a Shikigami?" he asked.
As if in answer, the rabbit moved faster than any normal rabbit should, running up the length of his arm. As the Shikigami reached striking distance of Squee's face, it landed two quick jabs that sent the demon tumbling back, followed by a brutal back-kick to the neck. As Squee squirmed on the ground, the Rabbit Escape Shikigami landed back in its original position.
To say the others were stunned by the display would be an understatement.
Dromos and the Shikigami locked eyes from across the distance before the rabbit began to sink back into the shadows.
In its place, a Motorola flip phone remained.
"What was that thing, Dromos?" Lyla asked, her previous jolly demeanor vanished, replaced by cautious disbelief.
But before Dromos could answer, the phone began to ring.
[Subaru's Ringtone — Dog of Flanders]
Coincidentally, baby Charlie stopped crying as soon as the music began. The ringtone played for a full minute before Dromos moved to pick it up, leaving the altar where baby Charlie lay unguarded.
Click. He answered the call, only to receive nothing but static from the other end. Just as he was about to terminate the connection, a voice spoke—not from the phone, but from the altar itself.
"You know? The Aztec civilization originally influenced the precursors of sites like this. They were a powerful Mesoamerican people who ruled a vast empire in central Mexico from 1300 to 1521..."
Ethan could be seen cradling baby Charlie, who had finally stopped crying. "They intended to make their sacred sites places of worship, but their culture of human sacrifice often turned them into bastions of sin," he continued calmly.
"How did a human get in here? It doesn't matter," Dromos noted with mild glee.
"Kill him. But be sure not to harm our future King," he ordered simply. Lyla blurred toward Ethan with lethal haste.
"How about we get you back to your mom?" Ethan whispered, looking down at baby Charlie and ignoring the encroaching demon.
Using Shadow Manipulation, he teleported Charlie to a safe location just as Lyla came into striking distance. Without breaking his composure, Ethan simply backhanded her, sending her flying toward Dromos.
Dromos parried her away with a single hand, sending her crashing into the back of the church, before staring at Ethan in a completely new light.
"This little meeting you are having... it's pitiful. Calling any of you 'threats'—now that is criminal," Ethan mocked the assembly in front of him.
"You are strong for a human," Dromos admitted, his voice low. "But coming alone to a place like this, against superior numbers? It makes you look like an amateur."
Ethan laughed softly as he spoke. "It'll be fine. After all, you all are kinda weak."
The mockery finally struck a nerve. The demons closest to Ethan didn't wait for Dromos's command—who himself was visibly seething with rage.
They charged as one toward Ethan Park.
Outside All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena:
After Eve confessed to Lucifer and Chloe that she was the one who performed the initial summoning of Dromos, they deduced that the banishment of baby Charlie would likely take place at the same site intended for Lucifer's own banishment. According to Father Kinley's research, this had to be "a place of worship as well as a place of sin."
Now, they stood outside the entrance of that very location.
"Alright, is there anything I need to know about how to fight a demon?" Detective Chloe asked Lucifer as they approached the doors.
"Not really... just that they are super strong, scary, and mean—like Maze. But these ones don't feel pain because they are only renting their bodies," Lucifer answered.
"Right," Chloe replied with a sharp nod.
"The good news is, they are killable. Destroy the body, and you kill the demon inside it. It just requires a little extra oomph. But you don't need to worry about any of that... since you are not going inside," Lucifer added.
"Oh, yes I am," Chloe countered. "Demons or no demons, there is no way I am not helping."
"Need I remind you, Detective? It is actually less helpful if you are there. You make me vulnerable, remember?" Lucifer explained, and Chloe nodding in frustrated agreement.
Just then, footsteps echoed from the dark alley behind them. Out stepped Eve.
"But I don't," she said, looking directly at Lucifer.
"Eve... you are supposed to be at the penthouse," Chloe said, turning to face the First Woman.
"You're right. But I need to apologize... for all of it, and for everything I have put you through. I realize now that you are not this perfect guy I made you out to be," Eve answered.
"Well, you suck at apologies," Lucifer replied dryly.
Eve smiled at the quip. "I mean, I thought I wanted you. But I've just been missing the person I used to be when I was with you," she added.
"Well, I hope you find what you are looking for, Eve. But I really wish you'd had this epiphany before you let demons loose in Los Angeles," Lucifer spoke, glancing at the skyline.
Amenadiel descended from the sky, carrying Maze in a princess carry.
"What are you doing here?" Maze asked as soon as she landed on her feet, glaring at Eve.
"I want to help. I have to," Eve added, her eyes lingering on Lucifer.
Amenadiel, on the other hand, was seething. "Lucifer told us what you did. If something happens to my son..." He didn't finish the threat as Lucifer stepped in.
"Alright, put your claws away. There is no time for that. We need all the help we can get," Lucifer added as he, Amenadiel, Maze, and Eve made their way inside the church.
Inside the church:
Dromos could be seen crawling through the blood. He looked up and caught a glimpse of Squee's decapitated head before looking back toward the altar, where Ethan was finishing off the last of the demons. Blood plastered Ethan's face as he crushed the creature's skull.
As the demon Dromos looked at Ethan—his face painted in crimson—he saw the terrifying silhouette of his own Lord reflected in the boy.
What a monster... the thought came unbidden to Dromos's mind.
Ethan and Dromos locked eyes from across the church. Park stood tall, framed by the skull-faced gothic artwork of the cathedral, while Dromos lay broken in a puddle of blood.
Ethan moved toward him, and Dromos tried to crawl away, but his crushed leg wouldn't allow it. Ethan stopped suddenly when he saw a Bible, presumably belonging to Kinley, lying on the ground soaking in gore.
He bent down and lifted it up. Tora, sensing his intent, used Eldritch magic to transmute and draw the blood out of the holy book.
"Dromos, was it? That demon with the lighter called you that," Ethan spoke, placing the Bible on a side table away from the mess.
"Spare my life, my Lord... I will serve you for eternity!" Dromos pleaded, desperate for a way out.
"Did you know, Dromos... the first sin ever committed was not in the Garden of Eden?" Ethan paused, his gaze boring into the demon. "The first sin ever committed happened in Heaven. HE created three Archangels: Amenadiel, who is responsible for warfare; Gabriel, who delivers the messages; and Lucifer." Ethan paused again. "Who was responsible for worship. The scriptures say his body was made of musical instruments and pipes. But Isaiah 14 teaches us something about Lucifer when he was still in Heaven. Someway, Somehow, he caught a glimpse of his own beauty... and then, the first sin entered the heart of a being: Pride."
"Why are you telling me this?" Dromos asked, trembling violently.
"Oh, The Sin of Pride, We are all guilty. In the pride of your strength, you thought you could get away with slaughtering hundreds of humans. You didn't just kill Hundreds of people…You destroyed hundreds of families… You must have thought the worst that could happen to you was a simple trip back to Hell without a King," Ethan spoke as he drew closer.
"Hah!" Ethan mocked. "For the great Sin of toying with other's heart, you will now atone with your flesh. This is the end for you, Dromos of Hell." As he finished, purple flames engulfed Dromos's body. The last thing the demon consciously experienced was his eyeballs falling from their sockets as his own Cranium melted away.
At that moment, Lucifer, Amenadiel, Mazikeen, and Eve made their way into the church's main hall, just as the embers of Dromos's body began to fade.
"Came to confess your sins...?" Ethan asked, his gaze shifting toward the approaching group.
Taking in the gory atmosphere—with hundreds of dismembered bodies scattered across the hall and the heavy, metallic scent of blood—Eve retched, losing her breakfast on the side of the aisle.
"What happened here?" Maze questioned warily from the flank, her blades already drawn.
"He happened," Lucifer whispered, his eyes fixed on Ethan. "Mr. Park, we meet again," he began, but Amenadiel interrupted, stepping forward with purpose.
"Where is my son?" he questioned sternly, eyeing Ethan's blood-soaked form with suspicion.
As if to answer his question, Amenadiel's phone buzzed in his pocket.
A tense silence followed as the phone continued to vibrate, with Ethan and the group locked in a silent standoff. "He is safe with his mother," Ethan said, gesturing for him to pick up the call.
Amenadiel answered, and Linda's voice on the other end confirmed the miracle: Baby Charlie had just appeared in his cradle out of thin air.
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A/N: So how was the chapter?
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