Angelic - Part XI [Patron-Guided] (Patreon)

Clouds of smoke hover over swathes of the city like storm clouds rolled over a battlefield. Glimpses through the dreary layer of black reveal the two impossible titans standing over their homes, the two celestials responsible for all this destruction. The panic was no longer contained to the area around Brianna Smaul’s corporate building, not since the angel and devil grew out of town, a trail of chaos and demolition left in their wake. Footprints scar the streets like craters, each subsequent step larger than the last. Entire buildings were stomped into without warning, hundreds of lives lost and just as many injured, but their woes amount to just chips and dust stuck to the soles of celestial feet. Power failures leave entire blocks in darkness, fires roar from buildings that have been kicked into, sirens compete with one another to alert citizens of changing circumstances, mobs clash into riots in their struggle for survival.

The earth rumbles; another building, having already suffered significant damage, topples over from the quake. There’s never any pure rest, the world never settles under the godly pressure exerted by the tremendous giants. No matter the situation they are in, the populace always looks to the two up in the sky, unable to see the faces of those that would soon decide their fate. The city stands between their mountainous feet, each soul without a chance to escape -- so they pray. Some pray to their cult and the devils that promise to bring power to them, while others pray to Amana, wishing her to extend her protection over them. Believers of opposing faiths that cross one another in the rioting submit to violence, waging a war amongst themselves akin to the battle yet to take place above them…

Cyth looks up at their opponent, squinting into the bright blue of the sky behind their enemy. Oriphi’s smile is clear, cutting through the clouds with a cocky tilt. Her high-heel remains raised and aimed at them, ready to kick down; at a sixth of her size, Cyth would certainly be struck down hard by such a blow. Awareness of this fact is what inspires their next strategy, to even the odds and match Oriphi’s size one-to-one. Rarely was such a height ever reached for anything more than travel or convenience, but here, it would be put to use in a colossal battle that would see devastation rain across the American northwest.

“You should have admitted defeat when you had the chance, devil,” Cyth taunts as their hands come together, focusing magical energy between them. “You had the chance to slip away and regroup. Your stubbornness will only earn you punishment.”

“How come every angel I meet is as obnoxious as you?” Oriphi sighs, her smirk diminishing as she sees intimidation will not be enough. “This is your chance to escape, so don’t lecture me about stubbornness. Refuse this opportunity to flee, and you will regret it.”

Cyth is unphased by the threat, already having resolved themself to winning this fight. In the face of Oriphi’s sharp heel, Cyth knows that the playing field must be leveled, regardless of the cost. The magic they had concentrated on before now begins to swirl and encompass Cyth’s body, turning them into a golden silhouette. With a stretch, the shining image expands outward--

“Foolish!” Oriphi barks as her foot soars through the sky in its attack on Cyth. Before the golden frame could grow too large, Oriphi charged into the offensive, striking the angel straight in the chest with the heel while the sole smacks flat against Cyth’s face. The strength of Oriphi’s kick is magnified to the world around them, an explosive blast that shakes the air with its dynamite impact. Cyth hasn’t the bearings to endure the attack, far too short and distracted to defend themself.

The angel is thrown backwards, toppled off their feet and left to fall on their rear. Their ass crashes into a puddle-like lake, draining the pool almost entirely as waves are forced up onto the shore. The hit itself rattles the surrounding woods and neighborhoods, creating quakes that ripple through the earth and bring terror across multiple counties. Still recoiling from the strike, Cyth rolls onto their back, flattening smaller communities in their shadow. Even the act of stabilizing themself after such a painful blow results in towns being attacked by hands planting into the ground as to support the huge weight of the celestial.

Cyth rises, eyes locked into the eyes of their foe. Though having successfully grown larger, they had not reached Orihpi’s height, still only waist-high to the devil. Nervousness only then tickles the back of Cyth’s neck, a shiver of doubt. They had not expected to completely match Oriphi in scale, but at least bigger than this. Even accounting for the interruption, this size felt too small for what Cyth had aimed for, as if their power was lacking.

And that was in fact the case, unfortunate for Cyth to discover. While recovering their posture, Cyth listened in on the stream of prayers that resonated from earth’s people. Flickers of whispers pass their ears as they concentrate on the voices, and what they hear alarms them. There is not a chant for Heaven’s glory to succeed, but wishes for Hell to prosper. There are still cries for Cyth to rise and save humanity, but the ratio is uneven, favoring Oriphi. It is apparent to Cyth that their intervention and methods of research had injured the trust between humans and Heaven, and now, they lack the income of prayers to achieve full power.

Perhaps being aware of that disadvantage is why Oriphi’s smile returns brighter than before. She leans forward from amusement, an arm whisked over her mouth to conceal laughter that spills over it. “You’re coming up short,” she teases, her foot taking rest in a newly-created valley. She points down at Cyth with a slender finger, “I liked you smaller, anyway…”

Cyth winces from a pain in their ribs. They hug themself and hunch forward; a spell has been cast onto them. They detect the magical qualities immediately, determining it to be a shrinking spell. Oriphi wants to cut them down to size, but Cyth objects, counteracting the shrinking with continued growth. However, it isn’t enough to overrule Oriphi’s spell, and so Cyth begins to dwindle in height, slowly being drained of their titanic standing.

Now tied to a time limit, Cyth throws themself at Oriphi with an aggressive run-down. Hoping to disrupt the spell and end it sooner, they charge forward in a tackling maneuver. Their footfalls pound the earth with meteoric force, launching entire lots of land into the sky from the sheer power of every impact. Hailstorms of dirt ravage the communities that Cyth runs above, a terrible rhythm of the country shattering ringing out across the nation. The huge bodies meet in an intense collision of colossals, the city beneath them slammed by the winds conjured by their clash.

Cyth growls as their feet dig into the world, bringing rise to slopes that would become mountains for the people. Oriphi is pushed back, but maintains a sturdy posture, budging only slightly to Cyth’s attack. Any further, and the city she sought to protect would be under the angel’s feet. Oriphi pushes back, placing her hands on Cyth’s shoulders and twisting them aside. The struggle between the two is suspenseful to spectate, tens of thousands of people staring up in fear that the loser would be thrown onto them.

With Oriphi maintaining the bigger size, she is able to power through. She grunts and puts all her weight into throwing Cyth off of her legs, managing to unbalance the angel enough to ward them. Cyth gasps as they are then tripped by an unexpected kick, a motion that spurs tornado-like winds to tear through towns. Rushing to Cyth’s face then is a top-down view of a hillside community, a small town that had hoped would be far enough away from the action. The angel’s perplexed grimace is the last vision they see as it swallows their homes; dots of houses and stores disappear in a blink, crushed under an angel’s cheek.

“Stay down, now,” Oriphi suggests, strolling around the perimeter of her city. Each step is accented by a firm clap of her heels smacking the ground, dominating the city with impossible intimidation, though that much is unintended by Oriphi. “You’re embarrassing yourself at this point, in front of the entire human race~ You should be thankful that I’ll shrink you away into nothingness so no human will be ashamed of you ever again.”

Cyth huffs -- and a barn is blown away. While rising, they contemplate their next move, and realize that brute force may no longer be an option. Though able to temporarily delay some of the shrinking, Oriphi’s spell continues to take away their grand size. Only a quarter of Oriphi’s towering height, a new method would have to be approached for Cyth to prevail. The dilemma, however, was finding a viable method that required little magic, yet was somehow effective against a magically empowered foe. Of course, that math didn’t make sense, for it required greater magic to trump magic at all.

Once on their feet, Cyth accepts that reality. Without magic of their own, they would not be able to stop Oriphi. The answer, then, was to not stop Oriphi themself, but to request the aid of someone who could. Dispersing the shame of such a desperate act, Cyth closes their eyes and hums a droning tone. Though quiet to the giant ears of the celestials, this hum vibrates the air enough, falling upon humankind like a despairing melody. Oriphi glares, disliking the melody she hears, but her cockiness does not wane.

“Hm? Angry, perhaps?” Oriphi guesses, unsure what kind of spell the shrinking celestial could be trying to cast. She stands her ground, preparing to deflect yet another attack, regardless of its shape. “Humanity turns to Hell in its time of need. The influence of angels is fading. Yet you persist. Charming~ You’ll be transformed into a lovely new devil. I’ll even ask to raise you personally.”

“You could never be my master,” Cyth declares, interrupting their hum -- it was complete. “I have sworn myself already to the master of masters. Her blessing will cleanse this earth of you.”

The sky ripples as though cracking like glass. The earth no longer shivers, instead washed into a calm where all energy is aimed to the sky. Something begins to form, a sigil takes shape made of lights strewn from distant energies. A portal is being made, a connection to Heaven itself, and its traveler was soon to appear. Her presence humbles all life on earth, but Cyth is stoic, burdened by the embarrassment this all is to them. It should never come to this with any angel, yet all options had been exhausted.

Amana had been called to, and Cyth’s message had been heard. The goddess herself breaks through barriers of reality to make her grand appearance. Oriphi looks to the sky in disbelief, then turns to Cyth with rage sputtering at her lips. She expects answers, at least a hint of what to expect, but how Amana intends to share her blessing with the planet is beyond Cyth’s understanding…