Lucifer: Godless Reawakening

"No one said we'd be fighting monsters in here!" Anna shrieked as she flung herself backward. Kevin surged past her, his blade flashing once—clean, merciless—and the hound's head spun away with a wet thud.

They had barely left the ceremonial hall. The exit wasn't the problem; thanks to William's sharp sense of direction, they knew exactly where to run. But knowing meant nothing when a storm of corrupted beasts kept pouring in, clawing over broken stone and snapping at the air like starved demons.

All of them aimed for Emma—or the one she was holding.

The child's frightened breaths trembled against the dim surroundings. Her scent—thick with Nyx's essence—rolled off her like invisible steam. To corrupted creatures, it was a call, a temptation, a feast. And every monster in this cursed place was answering.

"Above! And the left flank—three closing in fast!" Gloria yelled, pulse hammering as she tracked the shifting shadow.

Warren clicked his tongue in frustration, wanting to tell her to shout a little less louder. But he refrained and remained standing at one side.

Kevin dropped low, feet grinding against stone as he carved a wide arc with his sword. For a moment the slash lit the surroundings—yellow brilliance bouncing off the nearby wall—before a beast dove straight over the strike and clamped its jaws into Kevin's shoulder.

"AAGH—!"

He staggered, muscles locking from the impact. The wolf's teeth were too many, too sharp, digging in like hooked needles. Kevin braced his arm to punch—

—but the creature snapped backward, ripped violently off him as if yanked by a giant's hand.

William stood behind him, one hand outstretched, eyes glowing faintly with cold focus.

Kevin's breath hitched. He clutched his bleeding shoulder but managed a grateful nod. William didn't answer; he was already turning toward the next threat.

A second wolf lunged for Emma—straight, fast, maddened.

Lextor intercepted it like a boulder slamming into a hurricane.

His hands clamped the maw mid-bite, fingers digging into bone. Veins bulged along his arms; the corrupted wolf twisted and writhed, its darkened muscles snapping against his grip.

"GHHAA!" Lextor roared, dragging the beast back, step by thunderous step, before lifting the entire snarling creature overhead and tearing it in half.

Viscera splattered his shirt and face. With a sigh, he just wiped his face, appeared not too bothered.

"More incoming!" Gloria called, voice trembling with urgency.

"Two left, one forward, three behind—they're stronger!"

The air grew colder. Heavy and wrong..

William crouched, fingertips brushing the ground. Raw psychic force pulsed outward, ripping through the ground. Two wolves slammed into the ground, but the third one twisted unnaturally, dodging like a broken puppet suddenly animated.

It reached him.

It shot forward in a blur—black fur, gleaming teeth, jaws wide—

William's hand shot up. He caught it by the throat mid-lunge.

The creature thrashed wildly, claws slashing sparks off the ground, but William's grip only tightened.

CRACK.

Its spine folded. The body hit the ground like a sack of wet stones.

Anna flinched, bile rising at the sound.

Kevin kept moving despite the blood soaking through his shoulder. A lone wolf darted toward him—faster than the last. Its speed was jagged, unnatural, as if something inside it jerked the body forward in violent bursts.

Kevin slashed—two bright arcs forming a cross of light.

The wolf twisted between them and sprang.

This time Kevin didn't swing.

He thrust.

The sword rammed upward through the wolf's neck, burying straight through corrupted flesh. Warm blood splattered his cheek as the beast twitched once, then went slack.

Two more barreled toward Lextor. He stomped the ground.

The stones shuddered, sending shockwaves rippling. Both wolves staggered mid-charge. Lextor clapped his hands together; the impact cracked the air, blowing aside dust and revealing the disoriented beasts.

"There you are…" he growled, lips curling.

Then he vanished.

A burst of displaced air cracked behind them before he reappeared between the wolves, palms glowing a burning orange.

"Torrus Slam!"

Both hands slammed down onto their skulls.

A pair of concussive booms followed—flesh rupturing, bone collapsing, dark energy bursting out in ugly splinters.

The bodies dropped. Twitching. Broken.

For a heartbeat, only their breathing filled the space—ragged, sharp, adrenaline-soaked.

But more shadows crawled along the walls.

…..

[Monitoring room]

"That was so dope!" one of the students yelled, practically hanging off the edge of his seat.

"They're working insanely well together, even though most of them have probably never participated in a real raid before—except Emma and Kevin," a girl muttered, eyes glued to the screen.

"What the hell is Warren doing though? He's just… standing there."

All of them focused on the boy in question—calm, motionless, and looking around lazily as if the ongoing chaos had nothing to do with him.

"Oh yeah?" someone from Warren's academy snapped back. "Then what about Anna? What's she doing besides panicking and hopping around like a scared rabbit?"

Truth be told, both Anna and Warren had been nearly useless so far. Anna's illusions couldn't cut through the thick, corrupted smog. And what she would do with her clones when those things could easily sniff the real target.

And Warren—being a flame mage with a dangerously wide blast radius—clearly didn't want to risk burning his own teammates when visibility was so poor.

Still, the question arose.

"Can't Warren just fire randomly? There are so many damn beasts crawling around—he'd hit at least one, right?" another student argued.

And honestly, it sounded reasonable. Random shots would be better than just standing there doing absolutely nothing.

But for those who were looking at a bigger picture had a mutual concern in their heads.

"How…are they going to get past all that? There are more than two hundreds wolves around them…and it has already been half an hour."

And not only the mutts but there are soldiers too who would attack them if the contestants drew closer to the exit.

Are they really going to finish this challenge on time?

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A/N:- Thanks for reading. Make sure you drop a comment and review to motivate me.