Almost as soon as she'd conjured the hellfire novaheart into the air, Hunter teleported them back out onto the rooftops above them.

Immediately, she felt the rate at which her [Bloodfire] pool was replenishing to slow. She was still replenishing it by eating the flames generated by burning her buff, but something else was draining it.

She looked up and saw Famine floating in the air above her. He must have had a resource-draining aura that she was counteracting with her hellfire.

He had no horse, and was busy launching a spell at Frost, who had his assault rifle out and was trading shots with Conquest.

Ashtoreth conjured a volley of hellfire javelins to launch at Famine. She might have had a novaheart with several million mana in it below them, but now that she was nearer to her allies and Kylie's supercharged minions could intercept, she was happy to go for the kill.

She leapt into the air and conjured her cannon, then rained an entire magazine's worth of shots that had regenerated as she'd fought down on Famine as Hunter swooped upward to attack him with his swords.

The horsemen wove through the air to avoid them, triggering some kind of spell to block her last shot by drawing it into a sphere of darkness.

Then War, who had seen her when she'd leapt into the air, rushed toward her, wings outstretched. She conjured her own sword, and they exchanged blows in midair for a few moments.

Twenty seconds, she told everyone.

Kylie's army of ghosts had been somewhat thinned since Ashtoreth had seen it last, but all the remaining ghosts were now glowing with the bright orange light of the life-harvest buffs. After a few seconds of fighting war in the air, a gryphon bowled into him, allowing Ashtoreth to pierce his side with a powerful [Mighty Strike] that pushed her away from him.

War drew back for a moment as she filled the air around her with conjured hellfire javelins, then sent them at Conquest, who was clashing blades with Hunter on a nearby rooftop, before diving toward Famine.

Ten seconds, she said. Then, judging that they could hold out long enough without him, she added: Hunter, protect the orb.

Hunter vanished in the middle of his fight with Conquest, and a moment later Ashtoreth conjured her sword and unleashed a rapid series of blows against where Famine floated in the air.

In the corner of her eye, she saw War lunging toward her through the air once again… only to watch him be shredded by a hail of bullets from Frost's minigun and dive for cover behind a tower a moment later, several ghostly minions soon following him.

Stop him! Kylie said through the bond. But she was talking to Hunter, not Ashtoreth.

Ashtoreth was busy with the black-robed spellcaster before her, lashing out at him with her greatsword as she conjured more and more hellfire javelins, watching as Famine somehow barely evaded every one of her attacks.

They had the upper hand. They might even have been able to beat the horsemen without her nova, but she didn't want to take that chance, didn't want to wait for them to think of some new trick, or to strike a lucky blow, or to let Frost's aura run out of protective magic.

In the end, the best part of having the upper hand was that the horsemen didn't expect her massive nova until it was too late.

Out! Ashtoreth said as her time limit ran down.

Hunter warped free of the dark chamber, and she detonated the nova.

{You gain [Archangel Death Core]; Tier 3}

She could tell by Famine's expression that he knew what was going on. Death had gone for the chamber in the last moments, likely to try and destroy the novaheart.

But other than Famine's widening eyes, the first half-second of the detonation contained little indication of what had happened.

Then the metal streets beneath them began to glow. Soon they buckled, the buildings around them shifting and rippling as if they rested on the surface of a pond.

Then the whole world beneath them was blasted away into vapor as the hellfire nova, contained by the metal scaffolding of the bastion for a brief instant, was unleashed. The second sun was more white than it was violet, carving long shadows out of the the figures suspended in the air around her before the first shockwaves of highly energized air struck them all.

{You gain [Archangel Conquest Core]; Tier 3}

She was engulfed by heat and fire for a few seconds, buffeted by the furnace winds of her nova until the flames began to subside, at which point she searched the air around her for War and Famine.

Everyone good? Frost asked.

I'm fine, Ashtoreth said as the others chimed in to say the same. But War and Famine apparently didn't die.

They warped out, said Dazel. I dunno how. Angel nonsense.

Ashtoreth let out a long sigh. It felt like she'd been holding her breath in since she first saw Conquest. All in all, the fight hadn't even been a long one. It had just been… so intense, so incredibly difficult even to deal a blow against them.

Now the cores told her that they'd been archangels. No wonder their stats had felt as broken as their fighting abilities.

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I think we should take a break, she said.

Agreed, said Kylie.

The bastion now had an enormous gaping hole in it, and many of the metal structures around the hole were warped and twisted beyond recognition, still glowing with the heat of the nova. She landed on a square structure closer to the center of the city, conjuring her sword and using it as a bench.

Kylie floated down next to her, Frost actually landed, and Hunter sat at the edge of the building to look out at the gaping hole she'd left in the bastion, his scarf wavering in the breeze she'd stirred up.

"How much [Bloodfire] was that?" Frost asked incredulously, looking over at the hole she'd made and the still-glowing buildings around it.

"Oh, about five million," said Ashtoreth.

"Glad you closed things out," Frost said. "Those guys were pretty serious."

"Yeah, about that," Kylie said. "Who the hell were those guys? I couldn't get a command off on ghost boy's horse even with all our bullshit stats."

"Seriously?" Frost asked. "They were the Four Horsemen. That was Death, not… 'Ghost Boy.'"

"The Four Horsemen?" she asked, looking from Frost to Ashtoreth. "Seriously?"

"Didn't you see them?" Frost asked.

"Yeah, I saw them. I figured they were a bunch of archfiends who formed a midlife crisis rock band together or something," she said. Then she shrugged. "Hell doesn't have Harleys so they all just bought flying horses."

"O-kay," said Frost. "Well I guess now, you can rule that theory out… as likely as it may have seemed."

"Well sorry," said Kylie. "But after the teenage archfiend with magician themes, I don't really know what to take seriously or not. That guy showed up for battle dressed like the Grim Reaper, so I figured he was just another tryhard like Hunter."

"I don't think he was dressed like the Grim Reaper, Kylie," said Frost. "I think that was just the Grim Reaper."

"I don't know about that," said Ashtoreth. "I think he's just a death-themed archangel who kills people and has a great sense of style."

"Wait a sec," said Kylie. "Archangel?"

"Didn't you notice all the sacred damage?" Frost asked.

"No," said Kylie. "I fight differently, remember? My minions take damage while I leave, it's a great strategy." She turned back to Ashtoreth. "But what do you mean, archangel?"

From his place on his perch, Hunter said, "Heaven itself is aligned against us."

"That's why they were so strong?" Kylie said. "With Death, I couldn't even get a command off on his horse and he kept shackling my minions."

"If we hadn't been set on fire, Famine would have eaten all our resources," said Frost. "His aura was powerful."

"I think that was the best fight we've had," said Hunter. He stared down at one of his swords. "I've now crossed blades with Death himself."

"Best?" Kylie asked incredulously. "A good fight is when you hopelessly overwhelm your opponent to the point where you can take it slow and enjoy yourself, not whatever that circus was back there. I basically just hid in buildings while they spent a gratuitous amount of time trying to kill me, then tug-of-warred my minions with Death." She scowled.

"Even with my [Embrace of the Shadowflame Dragon], I couldn't overcome the white horseman," Hunter said, looking down at one of his blades. "I've never seen such bladework."

"I'm just glad you're all okay," said Ashtoreth. "I was worried that the longer we fought, the more likely it was that one of them would get a lucky shot in."

"They did," said Hunter. "But Frost's aura stops crits and has a lot of [Defense]."

"That aura was about half my use," said Frost. "I've never seen anything dodge bullets that well before. I wasn't fast or tricky enough to deliver any real damage."

The others continued talking about the fight, and Ashtoreth turned her attention to the telepathic bond to see why Dazel hadn't come out to talk to them.

Doing okay? she asked.

The demiplane is stable, he said. But the networked enchantments storing your buff reservoir not so much.

Can it be fixed? she said.

Theoretically, yes, said Dazel. But it might involve repairing that gigantic hole. It's too early to say whether getting the buff dispenser back online is feasible.

Sad! she said. But you know what, Dazel? You did a great job back there.

Uh-huh.

Come celebrate with us! she said.

I'll be out in a bit, he said. Just let me make sure I've done as much as possible to mitigate the damage before I leave the controls.

Dazel, she chided. Are you in there sifting through a bunch of infernal communications?

What?

I don't mind if you want to play around on the controls of the nexus bastion, she said. You don't need to come up with a story to get more computer time. We can come back later when we're free.

Uh, great, boss. Thanks for the trust. But I'm also just mitigating damage.

Sure, she said. Damage. Right.

I don't know what else to tell you, boss.

Oh, she said. One more thing. You called the humans, right?

Of course, he said. Soon as we saw Conquest.

Ashtoreth felt her face darken. And no reinforcements.

They were mobilizing, Dazel answered in flat tones that suggested he believed what he was saying as much as she did.

Dang it, she whispered.

It was understandable, of course, but it still wasn't good news. Even if the humans weren't trying to outright kill her, they still didn't want her becoming the monarch.

And they'd taken the first chance they got to let her die.

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