God's Gone AWOL

[11] Bentley the Nuisance

"I swear, that little delinquent is going to make me ram my head through the cliff face," Camael said quietly.

More choirs were starting to shuffle through the gate. It seemed as though the angel sent to rally the troops was doing a decent job. Although they were far from balancing out the tremendous number of demons Bentley had warned about, there were now plenty more bodies to aid in the effort. Both Camael and Nathaniel could only hope and pray that the few choir leaders whom they hadn't initially convinced could be coerced once enough panic was stirred up.

"Maybe that's precisely what she's trying to do," Nathaniel replied. "Although she explained her motivations quite clearly, I'm not sure whether we should believe her or not,"

"I won't trust a single word she says." Camael's grip on her spear tightened.

"But we can't take the risk of not believing her either," he told her. "Camael, if we are truly outnumbered and this invasion fails—"

"It can't fail! Don't you dare suggest a thing, not even for a second. I'll drag every angel in Heaven to this infernal place if it means seeing my victory—"

With every word she spoke, Camael's anger grew. However, before she could raise her voice too much, a sudden fit of coughing overwhelmed her and her tirade was abruptly cut off. A look of alarm flashed in Nathaniel's eyes, but he didn't move to stabilize her even as she stumbled against the rocks.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"The excess power from the gateway has temporarily damaged my abilities." Her tone was low and pointed. "Don't concern yourself with it. I just need to store up my energy for a moment."

At this, she closed her eyes and tried to adjust the channel of divine energy in her body. Nathaniel glanced at her with mild pity before moving his gaze back down to the little red Catastrophe sitting in the basin of the canyon. She looked very much like the final boss of a videogame just sitting there, watching with a silent look of mischief. It was impossible to tell what she was thinking.

"Well it looks as though you'll get plenty of time. Bentley doesn't seem to be moving at all," Nathaniel said.

"As soon as I regain my strength, I am going to squish her..." Camael opened her glaring eyes.

Unbeknownst to the angels, Bentley could actually hear every single word they were saying. She was far more powerful than any member of the unmoving army, and therefore her senses were much sharper than the average angel. Even though she was a great distance away, she was still on high alert, absorbing as much information about the oncoming attack as she could.

For this reason, the moment Camael started coughing, Bentley instantly understood what was happening. And as one of the most devilish creatures in the four realms, she also understood precisely how to make the situation worse for everyone.

"Looks like you're amassing quite the army there," she called up to them.

Sure enough, the army had grown significantly in size since their fated encounter began. Nearly all of the angels and choir leaders who had been on the fence about the invasion had since been persuaded to join. Bentley still faced them without the slightest indication of fear, but truthfully she was quite anxious beneath the surface. Hell probably hadn't even formed a functional line of defense yet, and now Bentley had provoked the offensive to draw in more troops. It was a risky gamble.

There were still thousands upon thousands of angels in Heaven who hadn't even heard a word about this large-scale event, since Camael had no doubt tried to keep it hush-hush beyond her direct allies and connections. The archangels definitely didn't know anything yet, otherwise they would probably intervene in some way or another. Camael and Nathaniel were still gathering these reinforcements behind everyone's backs, which meant they had to be careful about someone high up in the divine chain noticing. They would only be able to rally so many angels before the mass-exodus hit the angelic radar.