Chapter 12

Tony

“Tony, we’re reaching a new standard,” Ryan returned to comms. “You exercised your will as a Rhino but you failed your mission to defend the north from havoc.”

“What’s going to happen?” I asked.

“Right now, Omega is in charge,” he said. “You’re going to run into one of their ships and watch them bomb down every Lok attempting to reach the Northern City.”

“The Northern City is not exactly reachable,” I told him. “Even if an airship called it all the way to them, the missiles would take them out in one shot.”

“Really, would you consider that, Tony?” Ryan asked.

I didn’t know why Ryan would doubt it. At least until I realize what we were dealing with, I might have called the shots too soon.

“Don’t worry. I told Doctor Carter to craft us a weapon,” I said.

“And when will that be?” Ryan questioned. “As long as that creature stays on the battlefield, we’re done for. Do we know what we’re dealing with?”

“I’m not sure, Ryan,” I said and Ryan only sighed.

The silence was loud. In some form of destruction, we needed something to get HellFire away from the North.

“I’m the base of command, Tony,” he broke the silence. “If something happens. I’ll be held accountable, even if Omega is in charge. There’s only way to play this out.”

“And what is that?”

“I’m going to talk to Omega,” he said. “We're going to level the battlefield. Everything down there will be craters, even if HellFire is down there. If that doesn’t kill him, well, we’re done for.”

***

A work of art was crafted within hours.

“The Angel of Earth has reached the battlefield!” One of the first Omega airships to drop on Orson.

“Atomic Sky is hovering over Orson!”

“America’s storm cloud in service!”

“And The Sky of Heaven is now in the war!”

Four mesmerizing airships, powerful enough to level entire countries. With the firepower we had, the Lox nor HellFire would keep up.

One of the ships dropped its docks and released a wave of helicopters and jets to support the gunships. The Lox only watched the scene unfold as heaven dropped the sun on top of the land.

If there were any animals, any people, even insects, they weren’t going to recognize Orson anymore.

The first barrage of bombs dropped down. For a few seconds, we could see the land levitating over the ground as everything flew up to the sky and fell back down teared in half.

A wave of air wiped the Lox’ faces clean. Their skin cut off from several thousand kitchen knives. Their flesh cooked enough to serve a family of five each body. The dogs would eat the leftovers.

Before everything was visible again, all that was left was shadows and the ashes of the Lox that walked the land. That was only a third of their army.

“Watch out,” one of the airship commanders said. “The Sky of Heaven just dropped the sun on them. Let the rest burn with one combined attack forward.”

The ships together forced out of their pockets a finishing blow. The cannons demanded another war for oil and the victims were ready to be terrorized by the sky.

The Lox kneeled down and begged to the Gods. Please forgive me. Please forget what I did back then, that was all in the past. I’ll do better. Just save me this one time.

But the Gods said, forget forgiveness, forget doing better. What happened then was in the past but the airships couldn’t stop their fire no matter how much they prayed.

If Netflix existed today, they would write a twelve-episode documentary about each Lok who prayed in this war and each episode would end with hundreds of demons dropping from the clouds.

HellFire would despise the praying but he’d definitely encourage it by that point.

“Orson! You have now seen the power Omega holds.” The Sky of Heaven said. “Let this be an example of whoever stands in our way.”

There was enough leftovers for everyone. The dogs. The cats. The families of five. Insects. Even for the sharks. It was a thanksgiving dinner for everything and the Lox were on the menu of each table.

I would be hopeless if I was on the menu. No matter how training I received, nothing would prepare me from the destruction these demons have dropped on Orson.

“It’s over. We won this battle,” I said.

I was hanging from the docks as the craters were revealed and suddenly, I lost my breath. He was coming back. Liam or the other man.

I was only naïve and saw a demon jump into the surface of the docks and claim his territory as a superior lion of the jungle. HellFire wasn’t even scratched.

“You think your weapons can harm me?” he said. “Ask yourself what kind of power you hold before attempting to face a God again?”

His force sent me flying over the sky. He was choking me. The only thing stopping from dropping flat dead on the ground was HellFire himself.

“I can kill you just by letting go,” he laughed. “Demand I put you back in the ship! Beg for your life and beg for mercy! I’m not gullible.”

I looked over his back and Nancy held out a rifle, firing off one bullet before realizing nothing was going to touch him. He turned to her and questioned stupidity itself.

“You’d think bullets would be useful,” he said while still holding me up. “You’ll regret firing that weak piece of metal. I’d advise you to walk away while I hold this man waiting his death.”

“Nancy! Get out of here!” I told her. I could barely breathe out the last word.

“Listen to him, woman,” HellFire said with a demonic look on his face.

Even with my life on the line and a bullet that bounced off his back, she was still hesitating to walk away. That's what made her strong and stubborn.

The good thing was, even if he dropped me, she wouldn’t see my death but the bad thing was she will never see me or the body again.

I was beginning to let go of my neck until a sound of wind relieved my stress. Within a thousandth of a second, Dean’s dropship carried me away from his possession and shot through the sky.

I survived but Nancy was alone, “Get out of there Nancy!”

“Don’t worry, I left the second, I saw the ship, but he’s still inside,” she responded.

Nothing was going to stop him from splitting the airships in half. Everyone had to leave before that monster could massacre anything in his way.

Chapter 13

Maurice

“He’s on the ship, Maurice!” Jacob told me over comms. “Everyone knows to leave. It's up to you from here.”

My second battle with a God. This was my chance to redeem my true power. I followed the scent of the amount of the people he’s killed. The smell was petrifying. It smelled like pollution and a thousand atomic bombs in one inhale.

I could feel his stomping across the ship. It shook everything and everyone into a manic episode. You could tell when he was getting closer to you.

Nothing else screamed run like it was a physical person attempting to force your legs to move your body for you. But that man can’t make me run away from being the first human being to kill a God with their bare hands.

I would inspire generations of Rhinos, even Tony to get strong enough to kill Gods. The kids would be told stories about how I slaughtered HellFire out of his facial expressions. They'll be explained how I left a God without teeth. They'll be laughing at the fact, a God bled to the power of a human being.

That will be a story to be told for another ten centuries and I’ll hear it from the kid’s fathers each time while I smoked all I wanted in heaven. I’d even be cracking an ice cold beer with Jesus Christ himself.

“Don’t be so cocky yet,” a voice spoke in my head. “I’ve seen Jesus myself. He'll never drink with you.”

“Who’s in my head?” I asked. “What the hell is in my head?!”

“Hey, I wouldn’t scream if I were you or HellFire would be stepping on you in a split second,” he said. “If you really think you can defeat a God, prepare to die. Even if you killed HellFire, which you won’t. You would be trillions of thrones below me.”

He laughed and red glowing eyes blinked in my face. “Hell, I think Tony would be a trillion chairs above you.”

“You bastard!” I shouted. “How dare you compare me to Tony! I’m nothing like him!”

“Don’t scream at me!” he said then in real form, he appeared and choked slammed me down the ground of Orson. I wasn’t in the ship anymore. “You and Tony need to learn to not scream at me. You should be grateful I let you scream.”

Then I was sent back inside the ship within a flash. “One day you’ll both learn not to scream at me. In fact, the only times you’ll know to scream is when I make you bleed. Another fact, you’ll be lucky to be alive when you bleed.”

Out of nowhere blood was drooling out of my mouth. I was thinking it was him messing with my head but when I blinked, HellFire was in my face with a knife stuck inside my stomach.

“What?” I questioned and was afraid. “What happened?”

“What’s wrong?” HellFire said. “You look like you’ve seen the Devil.”

HellFire and the Devil’s face popped in and out of my face. One second it was HellFire, then it was the Devil with shark like teeth and blood drooling out of his mouth, smiling at me.

He was there and then he was not. Reality was questionable now. Was it real? Was I actually bleeding? Was there really a knife in my stomach? Was HellFire really in my face?

“Wasted potential,” HellFire said. “What a waste of power. What a waste of a human being.”

Then one last sentence came from the Devil, “If it were Tony with your power, HellFire wouldn’t exist.”

That was it. My rivalry was declared. Everyone kept mentioning Tony. Tony was my enemy. I will not be compared to Tony again.

“Tony doesn’t matter! I will kill you! You’ll be wiping my shoes one day, HellFire! You’ll see it!”

“I’ll see?” he said. “I’ve seen enough. I’m disgusted that you really think you can defeat a God. You are below me! You can’t touch me!”

He released the knife from my stomach and left me collapsing to my knees. I was defeated yet again, but I refused to die.

“Die!” I screamed and a fearless punch released a wave of green glowing energy that beamed across the ship, sending HellFire out to air of Orson.

Little did I know, that was all I had and I knew it wasn’t enough to kill him. I failed and destroyed myself into a hopeless sleep while hearing HellFire and the Devil’s voice speaking at same time.

“The only reason I care to see the future is because there’s barely any strength left in the world. It would be a miracle if the generations proved worthy of defeating Gods. I’ll be happy to kneel before them.”

“Jacob,” I squeezed out of my breath. “I need you now.”

“I’m here don’t worry,” he said behind me. “I saw the blast. Don’t be scared to let it out again when you most need it.”

“Jacob,” I whispered. “Before the war ends, I’ll be strong enough to kill HellFire.”

“That’s great Maurice,” he said.

“But there are people standing in my way. I need to kill Tony before I destroy HellFire.”

“Huh?” he questioned and slapped me good.

“Don’t talk crazy right now,” he said and picked me up off the ground. “Not again. We need to get out of here and heal. I’m getting you out of here and I’m going to hope you don’t say that one more time.”

“No!” I screamed in his face. “I can’t be compared to Tony any longer! He must die! I refuse to be compared to Tony again!”

“What are you talking about, Maurice?! Nobody is comparing you to Tony! Snap out of it! If you continue to hope on trying to kill Tony, you’ll be dead before you attempt it! I don’t want to stop you, Maurice. Trust me.”

Just as I was listening, more blood spilled out of my stomach and I was fading away. I needed medics.

“Come on, Maurice,” he said with a calmer tone. “Just survive for now. You’re talking crazy because you’re bleeding. I know you won’t do it anyway. Just live for now and think about killing HellFire later.”

Blood determined I would die. If it wasn’t rushing through my head, I’d be crazy but, in this world, people need strong heroes. Strong Rhinos. Strong beings who could stand in front of them and kill monsters.

I needed that final training segment to kill HellFire if my life and everyone’s lives depended on it. Tony was just standing in a path he shouldn’t be in. Whether Jacob thought he had to kill me to stop me, he would never do it.

I’ll kill him and soon I’ll kill HellFire and soon I’ll kill the Devil and anybody stronger than him that needed to die for a safer universe.