Crowley's fury became immediately visible.
The giant eye in the sky began twitching violently under the holy atmosphere surrounding the battlefield while parts of its enormous pupil started burning away from exposure to the Blessed Land. The sacred energy filling the realm was poisonous to beings like him.
He had only appeared because he sensed something foreign entering Hell.
Something alive.
At first, Crowley assumed it was merely another human soul foolish enough to wander into infernal territory. Exterminating mortals was beneath him but effortless.
Now he understood how wrong that assumption had been.
The creature standing below him was not human.
Crowley could clearly feel the darkness inside Ethan. Ancient. Predatory. Monstrous.
And yet—
he was wielding holy power powerful enough to alter Hell itself.
"How did you arrive in Hell?" Crowley demanded, his voice shaking the transformed realm. "No mortal crosses the Infernal Boundary without assistance."
Ethan looked upward casually.
"Honestly?" he said. "Your fellow demons caused this mess."
He pointed toward the sky lazily.
"Valak and Baphomet threw me in here." Ethan shrugged afterward. "So technically this entire situation is Hell's fault."
Crowley went silent for a moment.
Then Ethan slowly dragged one finger through the air in front of him.
A thin crack appeared in space itself.
He had been thinking during the fight.
Being young had advantages. One of them was imagination.
His blood energy carried darkness.
The Gloves of Saint Marcus carried holy power.
Normally those two forces should reject each other completely.
But Ethan kept wondering—
what would happen if he forced them together anyway?
The blood aura around him surged violently while golden holy light spread across his arm simultaneously.
Then Ethan pressed both powers together.
The reaction was immediate.
BOOOOM—!
The air shattered around him.
Black cracks spread through space itself as violent energy leaked outward in unstable waves, holy light and darkness twisting together into something unnatural.
Even the Blessed Land trembled.
Crowley immediately understood something was wrong.
Very wrong.
"What kind of monster," he muttered in genuine disbelief, "did those idiots throw into Hell?"
Because the thing standing below him was using both holy and dark power simultaneously.
That should not have been possible.
Then, for the first time since the battle began, Crowley actually sounded alarmed.
"Stop that immediately!"
The giant eye in the sky constricted violently as unstable energy continued building between Ethan's hands.
Ethan looked upward with mild confusion.
"What exactly is the problem?" he asked while compressing the sphere further. "I finally came up with a good move name for this."
The energy between his palms became more unstable with every second.
Holy light and darkness twisted together violently, collapsing into each other while black cracks spread through the air around him. The Blessed Land trembled continuously beneath the pressure as rivers split apart and the sky distorted overhead.
Crowley's voice thundered across the realm again.
"Cease this meaningless battle!"
Ethan raised an eyebrow at that.
"No," he replied honestly. "I really want to test this attack now."
The sphere compressed further.
Reality around Ethan started peeling apart in thin fractures.
Then Crowley spoke again immediately.
"Didn't you say you wanted to leave Hell?" the Duke demanded. "I can arrange your return, so stop whatever insanity you're creating!"
That got Ethan's attention.
He paused slightly while holding the unstable sphere.
Because despite Crowley's composure, Ethan could feel it now.
Fear.
Genuine fear.
Whatever this attack was becoming, even Crowley clearly didn't want to find out what happened if Ethan released it completely.
"Really?" Ethan asked suspiciously. "You're a demon. Aren't your allies going to be upset if you help me?"
The massive eye twitched violently.
"Fuck those two idiots!" Crowley roared immediately. "They created this disaster inside my territory!"
The sky shook from his anger.
"Do you think I want my domain destroyed because Valak and Baphomet decided throwing a monster into Hell was a good idea?!"
Ethan blinked once.
Then looked down at the unstable sphere in his hands.
Then back up at Crowley.
Honestly—
he didn't know what to say anymore.
Why did every enemy eventually start sounding like the victim around him?
"Although I really want to agree," Ethan said slowly while staring at the sphere between his hands, "there is one small problem."
Crowley immediately became suspicious.
"What problem?"
Ethan smiled awkwardly.
"This thing may have gone slightly out of control."
The unstable sphere suddenly expanded again.
The rivers below became still while black fractures spread farther across the sky around Ethan. The Behemoth, which had been roaring moments earlier, slowly stepped backward for the first time since appearing on the battlefield.
The creature looked terrified.
Crowley stared at the growing sphere in absolute disbelief.
The Duke could feel it clearly now.
If that attack detonated inside his territory, entire regions of Hell would disappear.
"...Fuck you," Crowley said with genuine hatred.
Then the giant eye in the sky opened completely.
A massive portal tore across the heavens moments later, leading directly out of Hell.
"There!" Crowley shouted immediately. "Throw it in there before it destroys everything!"
Ethan looked at the portal.
Then at the sphere.
Then back at Crowley.
"Honestly," Ethan admitted, "you're handling this situation surprisingly well."
"THROW IT!"
"Right."
Without wasting another second, Ethan hurled the unstable sphere directly into the portal.
The moment it crossed through—
Crowley instantly slammed the portal shut.
***
A/N: And on Patreon, The Boys arc started.
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