God's Gone AWOL

[12] An Unfortunate Turn of Events

[EPISODE 12: SELF DESTRUCTION]

Reality was a flickering concept in Atticus' mind, coming and going as he struggled against the raging waves of Camael's dying command. But beyond the rocking ocean within the angel's head, reality had become a nightmare for everyone else.

The range of emotions was still rather broad amongst the observing angels. Some were excited, some were intrigued, but most of them were simply frightened. Having witnessed a mere fraction of Atticus' power earlier, many were afraid as to what would happen next. Would Camael's spell be able to control him while he was full of so much emotion? And if not, what could anybody do to stop him from wiping out the entire army with the flick of his wrist?

Down on the ground beside the unstable angel, Frances kept a tight grip on Bentley's white collar. It was unclear whether they were trying to restrain her from running back to Atticus' side, or whether they had simply forgotten to let go after pulling her away. Luckily for them, Bentley was too distracted to shove them off like she normally would have done. Now, she was just staring directly at Atticus without even blinking.

"W-what's going on??" Frances asked her.

"The Leash of Bab," Bentley replied, maintaining her gaze.

Upon hearing Bentley's voice, Atticus' body trembled and hunched over. He scrunched his eyes and shook his head violently as though he were physically trying to throw the pain off. When he looked back up at her, his eyes had once again returned to their proper shade of gold.

"Bentley, I'm scared..." he said, uttering such words for the first time in memory.

"It'll be alright. Just keep trying to fight it." She glanced up at the rapidly cooling corpse on the cliff above. "Dammit Camael, you sneaky bitch."

Since Camael was the one who held power over Atticus' body, nobody else would be able to counteract her command. When she died, she made sure that there was no way to reverse what she had done. He wouldn't be able to control his own actions until he finished what she started, which was presumably breaking down the gateway to Hell and slaughtering every single demon he came in contact with afterwards. It was a truly horrible situation.

In a flash of red light, Bentley appeared directly in front of Nathaniel. Several nearby angels jumped backwards, instinctively raising their weapons. However, Nathaniel himself didn't seem too bothered by her sudden approach.

"Undo this now," she said, "Or I will kill you,"

"What's this? Bentley Hellbourne is threatening someone?" Nathaniel almost laughed at the thought. "We both know you're too weak to hurt me."

At first, Bentley didn't say anything. Instead, a frightening glow crossed her eyes, and the forgotten spear resting in the canyon below came spinning through the air towards her outstretched hand.

Bentley aimed the tip of the spear at Nathaniel's throat. And for just a moment, her murderous energy and skillful movement drew a strong line of resemblance between Bentley and a certain demonic brother of hers. Suddenly, Nathaniel was no longer tempted to laugh, and an honest expression of fear finally flashed across his face.

"How could a pathetic angel like you even dare to predict my actions?" Her voice was heavy. "I may be some infamous creature in your eyes, but you still only know a fraction of what I have done. And you know nothing of what I am capable of doing,"

Seeing as Nathaniel was the only remaining authority among them, the angels in the surrounding army instinctively aimed their weapons directly towards Bentley. Of course, she paid no attention to any of them. It was strange to see a weapon in Bentley Hellbourne's hands, and because of this, she was all the more terrifying.