"Where did you go?"

Valra asked with a furious yet unmistakably relieved expression. For a heartbeat, she'd almost thought something dreadful had happened to Azrael—something final.

But thank the gods, nothing had.

Azrael blinked back at her, "Well, I went for a piss, you know… ladies' duty~" she said with a crooked smile. Her eyes, though, quickly narrowed as she glanced at Nergal, who was now a shambling shape smothered in tar-like black liquid, oozing rot.

"Fuck, that's disgusting," she muttered, her lip curling as she watched Nergal charging at them.

"Get ready!"

Valra snapped, "I need your help to deal with this thing—"

Azrael gave a curt nod. She set down the heavy, bloodstained bag with a thud, the ground crunching beneath its weight. Her hands moved with dangerous calm, unstrapping the shotgun, checking the chamber, loading shells with an audible click.

"I am so pissed off right now… so sorry if I go overboard," she growled. She stepped forward, boots sinking into the cracked, blood-soaked dirt, and fired the shotgun—again and again,

BANG!

Chuck!

BANG!

Chuck!

BANG!

Chuck!

Valra, who was moments from conjuring a spell, faltered. She watched, stunned, as Azrael let loose shot after shot, each one hammering into the same ruined knee. Azrael's arms didn't waver. She kept firing, relentless, reloading, stepping forward, smoke curling around her.

Nergal's flesh split and tore, the bullets carving into its monstrous, trembling form, until—

Thuck!

The leg exploded, sinew and tar flying as Nergal stumbled, crashing forward in a heap.

Thud!

He fell, face contorted in hate, still drenched in that oily, black liquid.

Azrael stood over him, hands steady. She yanked the spent magazine free, letting it clatter to the ground, smoke hissing from the breach. With a cold glare, she snarled,

"FUCK YOU!"

She pressed the muzzle to Nergal's forehead, her finger tightening—

BANG!

Nergal's head exploded, a wet, horrific splatter. Shards of skull and gore shot towards Azrael, only to be incinerated mid-air by a surge of Valra's flames.

"Have you lost your mind or what?" Valra shouted, grabbing Azrael's arm and pulling her back. Azrael only snorted, tossing her hair with a wild, wolfish grin.

"Don't worry. I wouldn't die that easily, Valra!"

Valra blinked. What was Azrael talking about? Wasn't she afraid of dying here? No—she should be more afraid of the darkness creeping in, the same poison that had twisted Nergal into this abomination.

But as they argued... Nergal's ruined head began to twitch, the splattered mass slowly knotting itself together, black fluid crawling like a swarm of insects. Every bit, every piece seemed alive!

"Shit!"

Valra spat as she readied herself, "It's not dying at all!" she groaned.

Azrael clicked her tongue in annoyance. She spun around, sprinting for the bag, and snatched up a cluster of bombs.

"Why do you—"

Before Valra could finish her question, Azrael hurled the bombs at the monster one by one with swift, practised throws.

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!

Each blast sent a rain of black, sticky liquid spraying in every direction. Nergal's twisted body was left riddled with holes, charred and torn—yet, before their eyes, it healed again.

"Is there no end for this fucker?"

Azrael muttered, her voice thick with annoyance and disbelief. Valra watched the carnage, then glanced at Azrael with a flicker of uncertainty in her eyes.

"I have an idea…" she murmured, a faint hesitation sharpening her tone as she looked at Azrael.

Azrael didn't need words to know what Valra was planning. She exhaled sharply, "How long do you want me to hold it?"

"Just five minutes," Valra replied quickly.

"Hmm… fine then!" Azrael rolled her shoulders.

"Really? Can you handle it all by yourself?" Valra asked, a deep frown cutting across her brow.

She hesitated, questioning whether it was right to let a human face a monster like Nergal alone.

Azrael only grinned, flashing a sharp, reckless smirk as she grabbed another gun from the bag.

"What do you think I came here for?" She slapped in a fresh magazine, loaded shells into her belt, and holstered two more pistols and magazines on her hips before bolting straight for Nergal, who was already regenerating, rising up with a guttural, otherworldly scream.

Valra hesitated a moment longer, then darted away, putting distance between herself and the chaos, her hands already swirling with yellow particles.

Meanwhile, Azrael tore through the dust-choked street, boots pounding the broken pavement. The black monster bellowed, its roar echoing off the ruined buildings.

She raised her gun and fired—

BANG!

The bullet ripped through Nergal's cheek. Black sludge splattered, sizzling on impact. But before the drops could even hit the ground, the wound stitched itself closed, tendrils snapping tight.

"Tch."

Azrael clicked her tongue.

Nergal surged forward, its massive shadow swallowing the street. One hand, wide as a car's hood, came smashing down, cracking the concrete like thin ice. Azrael somersaulted back, twisting mid-air as bullets already sprayed from her gun.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Each round punched through the beast's monstrous arm, tearing holes in its liquid flesh. Black splatters hissed as they hit her boots, the sludge writhing, reaching for her legs. Azrael stomped down hard, crushing the wriggling tar, then fired at her own feet.

"It's disgusting, just like always,"

She muttered with loathing, eyes never leaving the monster as the fight raged on.

"GRRLL!!"

The creature howled, a guttural, bone-shaking sound that made the air shiver. Its grotesque body bulged and twisted, veins pulsing with thick black fluid, crisscrossed by streaks of red light... the same unnatural crimson spark she had seen before!

Before Azrael could steady her aim, Nergal brought his foot down with a deafening crash.

The shockwave blasted outward. Azrael was hurled off her feet, thrown like a rag doll. She tumbled through broken glass and jagged debris, skidding hard along the ruined street. Pain shot up her arm as she landed, shoulder tearing open on rough stone, blood running warm down her side.

Nergal's arm stretched with a sickening, boneless motion, lengthening into a black whip that smashed through walls. Azrael ducked, the wind of its passage tugging at her hair, then dove under the swinging limb. She slid across the battered hood of a wrecked car, boots scraping metal, then kicked off—using the twisted steel as a ramp to launch herself skyward.

In one fluid, practised motion, she spun the gun in her hand, yanked a new magazine from her belt, and slammed it into place mid-leap.

The barrel exploded with light.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

Each bullet carved a burning arc in the smoky air, slamming deep into the monster's throat.

Nergal roared, its voice shattering the night—a chorus of agony, distorted and hellish, layered like a 100s dying souls shrieking at once.

Azrael barely managed to duck. The blow grazed her, shredding her jacket in a spray of fabric and skin. Blood burst from her shoulder, the pain searing as she hit the ground.

Cough, cough…

She coughed up blood, clenching her stomach as the world spun.

"Fuck, that hurts…" she gasped, voice ragged.

The monster lunged, relentless, giving her not a second to breathe.

Azrael rolled aside, weaving between falling rubble and shards of stone. Her finger squeezed the trigger again and again, faster than any machine could fire.

BANG! BANG!

Each bullet hit point—knees, chest, ribs, neck—spitting out chunks of black liquid.

But each wound only bubbled and closed, healing before her eyes with that same sick.

Then, without warning, Nergal's form began to change. Its body split open at the centre with a wet, cracking sound.

Dozens of new arms erupted out, writhing and grasping—each one grotesque and deformed, fingers fused into claws. They snatched up chunks of broken wall, ripped doors off cars, even uprooted lamp posts, then hurled them toward her with terrifying force.

"What the fuck—"

Azrael choked out, her eyes wide with shock and disbelief.

BOOM!!

THUCK!!!

The world became a storm of flying debris and howling nightmares.

Azrael sprinted sideways, dodging rubble and glass as she dove into a narrow alley. Behind her, the street exploded in a hail of shattered stone and black spikes.

She ducked beneath a rain of debris, heart pounding, then crouched behind the twisted wreck of a truck. Her breathing came hard and ragged, blood smearing her fingers as she rummaged in her pocket.

"Looks like I have no choice but to use these," She muttered, and pulled out a single silver bullet, its surface etched with faint blue lines that glowed even in the darkness.

She pressed the bullet to her lips, kissing it for luck before loading it into the chamber.

"Let's see if your healing likes this."

Azrael rolled out from cover, rising to her feet and steadied her aim, eyes locked on the writhing horror.

The monster's gaze snapped toward her.

Azrael exhaled once... She squeezed the trigger.

BANG!

The silver bullet screamed through the night, a streak of blue fire. It punched through Nergal's chest, then detonated in a flare of azure flame.

SSSHHhhhh!!

The black sludge hissed and recoiled, vaporising in swirls of burning light. Chunks of the monster's body melted away, dripping like wax from a dying candle. Nergal staggered, the crimson sparks flickering and flaring.

"Ha… That one bullet costs millions, you know!" she muttered, lips twisting in a grim smile as she watched the monster... no, the thing that was once Nergal—shriek in agony.

The black, sticky liquid crawling across the ground writhed, twisting and surging, rushing back into its broken form. Its torso stretched and reshaped, morphing into a grotesque pillar of distorted faces, each one locked in a silent scream, mouths agape and eyes wide with terror.

Unable to endure the agony, the creature slammed both fists into the ground. A forest of black spikes erupted upward, tearing through the asphalt, shattering what little remained of the street.

"Damn it!" Azrael sprang high, twisting in the air. One spike grazed her thigh, slicing deep. For a split second, icy fear stabbed through her—would the corruption change her too? but all that oozed from the wound was her own blood.

Just a hardened black spike, nothing else.

Gritting her teeth, she ripped a strip from her sleeve, tying it tight around her thigh. Her last magazine clicked dry, the gun heavy and useless. Without missing a beat, she spun, cracked the casing on her belt open, slammed in a new magazine, and snapped the weapon back into place in a blur of motion.

"Five minutes, right?" she whispered, glancing toward the distance, where the faint glow of orange magic.

BANG!

Her next shot tore through the monster's mouth. It stumbled, bleeding molten black ichor, but still refused to fall.

Azrael's hands trembled, sweat and blood mingling on her palms.

"Come on… come on… fall already!" she screamed, unloading the entire clip—

Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang!

Every bullet slammed into the abomination, shattering flesh and bone and whatever was left.

The monster staggered, then lifted its hand one last time, towering over the ruins. It clapped, the sound impossibly loud, a thundercrack that shook the world.

BOOBBBB!!

The impact threw Azrael through the air. She smashed against concrete and steel, blood spraying in a wild arc as she tumbled. She groaned, struggling to rise, her limbs heavy and vision spinning.

"Fuck… arhh," she groaned, forcing herself to her knees, pain screaming through every nerve. But she couldn't stand.

The monster loomed above her. For a moment, it seemed to study her, the horror of its face twisted in silent judgment. Then it raised its foot, ready to crush her beneath its heel.

Azrael tried to crawl, to reach her gun, but the magazine was empty, only clicking hopelessly.

Just as the foot descended, ready to end her, there was a sudden sharp noise—

Sssssllnnngg~

A brilliant surge of yellow and orange light exploded behind the monster, blazing brighter than fire.

Slllppp

Something lashed out, wrapping around its leg before it could move, halting its step in midair.

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