CHAPTER 445: IT ALL GOES BOOM

Cracks spread along the stone hammer as Malachi applied more force to his grip.

Andromalius abandoned the recovery of his weapon and took to the air instead.

In the eyes of his underlings, it looked like he was planning to launch a greater, more destructive attack than before.

"Let him have it, boss!"

"Show that pretty bastard not to underestimate Hell’s royalty!"

"Eat his heart!"

’Andy’ was gradually becoming drunk on the jubilation of the crowd.

He did not need any more motivation to kill Malachi after how he was treated earlier.

Being subjected to the angsty attitude of some upstart demon who hadn’t even eaten his first soul yet was utterly laughable.

In his hubris, he began taunting the very man who only moments ago had inspired him to act with caution.

"You caught me by surprise at first! I should have anticipated that you’d be a little bit stronger than the rest of the rabble-"

All Andromalius saw was a blur, and then pitch black.

Malachi grabbed him hard by the face and slammed his head back into the surface of the platform.

The entire crowd was shocked into silence.

Andromalius was fighting to keep his consciousness afloat.

"I knew something was wrong with you from the beginning. I may not have a great handle on my powers but I knew one thing after seeing all of those imps show up. There is no way I shouldn’t have been able to feel you coming."

Andromalius’ consciousness surged back to life; his vision painted red with rage.

"Crush him, Nachash!!!"

The serpent around Andromalius’ neck lashed out at Malachi. It’s enormous fangs were bared for all to see; as long as four-inch needles.

As the serpent lunged at Malachi, it expanded it’s shape and size rather rapidly.

Mal shot up into the sky, faster than a bullet. He weaved his body in and out of the spaces where the snake chomped down.

Eventually, the creature seemed to grow tired of missing its target, so it switched its tactics around.

The serpent unhinged its jaw as wide as it possibly could.

A noxious scent filled Malachi’s nose.

He braced himself for an expected attack of poison or even some kind of gas.

But instead, a strange glowing light was produced at the very back of the creature’s throat.

Things seemed to happen quickly from that point forward.

A beam of destructive hellfire was fired from the open mouth of the serpent.

The beam broke apart before it reached Malachi and split into thousands, if not millions, of smaller rays.

The snake had grown tired of Malachi’s constant running. So he made sure that there was nowhere for him to run to.

Looking back on the moment later, Malachi would still be tremendously confused as to exactly what had triggered him.

Malachi’s head felt like it was splitting in two and he winced from the discomfort.

When his vision cleared, he saw something floating in front of him that didn’t make sense.

A small black hole; no bigger than the size of a basketball.

Malachi could feel an instant connection to the orb.

If he sent it energy, he knew he could make it grow. If he took some away, he thought he could make it shrink.

Malachi had gone through numerous physics textbooks in his desire to understand absolute force manipulation.

He may not have had the power anymore, but the knowledge hadn’t gone anywhere at all.

He knew he was staring at a true anomaly. And somehow it was every bit a part of him as the wings coming out of his back.

With a thought, Malachi focused its gravitational pull on the beams of demonic energy racing towards him.

All at once, the beams rushed toward the black hole and were devoured without making so much as a single sound.

The jubilation of the crowd intensified further.

But at that moment, the black hole began to shrink even though Malachi hadn’t told it to.

As someone who had studied the basics of physics, Malachi was aware of the most fundamental fact about the spatial anomaly.

When they disappear, they never do so quietly.

Malachi barely had the forethought to use his wings to protect himself, but very few others in attendance were as prepared as he was.

The light was so bright that Malachi could see it even through his shut eyelids.

It was immediately followed by an unbearable heat, then an immense pain that was almost too much to bear.

Malachi thought his wings were more durable than they actually were. A terrible mistake.

The explosion burned through the membrane of his wings like a flame through wax paper.

The only upside to the situation was that, with the ensuing explosion being so deafening, no one else in the arena heard him scream.

The shockwave from the blast was strong, but it wasn’t what knocked Malachi out of the air.

His new body may have been extremely durable, but he still processed pain in much the same way.

Having his wings burn up briefly caused his mind to go white, resulting in a temporary loss of consciousness.

Malachi was able to gain control of himself just as it seemed he was about to collide headfirst into the platform.

He gave himself a much slower landing before collapsing onto his knees.

"You... *gurgle* piece of shit..."

Malachi slowly turned his head towards the sound of the weak voice on the floor beside him.

As badly as Malachi was injured, he had gotten off easy in comparison to Andromalius and his serpent.

Malachi was instantly reminded of his father-in-law Ali’s beef ribs. Perfect caramelization.

Andromalius was virtually burned beyond recognition. Some of his extremities didn’t seem to have held up well against the blast, so he was missing two wings, one hand, and half of his leg.

The flesh on his face had melted and revealed the skull just beneath the surface.

Even speaking seemed to require a tremendous effort on his part.

"You think... you’ve won...? You’re playing right into the palm of-"

Malachi smashed his fist into Andromalius’s skull.

"I don’t have the time for this shit... just fuck off and die quietly."

Malachi pulled his fist out of the demon’s crushed head, only for Lucifer to lift his arm victoriously.

"HE! HAS! DONE IT! AND ON ACCIDENT NO LESS?! Are you not entertained?!?!"

The demons’ cries changed from excitement to pure rage.

Malachi’s accidental explosion hadn’t just affected him and Andromalius. He’d hit approximately 22% of the spectators and nearly blinded the rest.

They were less than pleased to see Malachi still had his head after the shit he’d just pulled.

"KILL HIM!"

"My horn!"

"I can’t see! I can’t smell! My penis is missing!"

As Lucifer listened to the cries of anger, he scratched his cheek as he looked down at Malachi.

"Wow, they really don’t like you. The only people I’ve seen them hate this much are-"

"Angels?"

"Jehovah’s witnesses actually."

Malachi rolled his eyes as he struggled to get back to his feet. "Doesn’t matter, they can feel however they want. I did my part so send me back home."

Lucifer smiled innocently as he patted Malachi on the back. "Sure, sure, I can do that. A deal’s a deal and I’m a devil of my word after all. But having said that, I do want to come clean about one thing..."

Lucifer leaned down so that he could whisper into Malachi’s ear.

"You were never really here in the first place."

-

Malachi sat up with a gasp. Inadvertently, he slammed his forehead into Aisha, who was looming over him and crying.

"Ow, fuck!!" The dragon rocked back and forth as she held her nose. "My body is a lot stronger, but that doesn’t mean I can just take superpowered headbutts whenever-"

Malachi suddenly threw himself at Aisha.

He wrapped his arms and wings around her tightly, and held on with everything he had left in his body.

Aisha was so stunned she didn’t even care about her little nosebleed anymore.

All she could think to do was hug her friend back, relieved that he was no longer on the ground screaming.

"...You really scared me for a second there, bud. I couldn’t figure out what was up with all of that.." Gradually, Aisha’s words trailed off as she noticed something amiss.

"You smell... different."

"...I feel different."