Lucifer: Godless Reawakening

Teamwork was never his thing. Fighting beside people he had to protect only chained his hands — especially with this bunch, who moved like they had never seen real combat.

That's why William never liked this test.

Still, he held the line. He kept Emma and the child covered. He patched gaps the others didn't even see.

But the moment his gaze slid to Emma, he stopped cold.

Every strike was aimed at her. Most ambushes were cut short, but every hit that slipped through hammered her barrier, splintering it a little more each time.

He scanned the haze. Nothing. The mist clung to them like wet cloth, killing visibility.

Half his spells were useless in this soup.

Frustration crawled under his skin. He needed this done.

"Gloria," he called. His voice cut through the clamor, pulling everyone's eyes.

He stepped into her space. "Don't resist. It'll hurt."

Gloria stiffened, confused, but he didn't give her time to think. He gripped her shoulders, pulled her down until their faces met, and pressed two fingers to her brow.

The link punched through her mind.

Gloria let out a low, strangled sound as the surge tore into her. It wasn't gentle. It wasn't meant to be. His presence flooded her thoughts, too heavy to push back.

William's jaw locked as he pushed deeper. He rarely did this with someone he didn't want to break, and her natural mental defenses — thin but stubborn — forced him to carve through them layer by layer.

Nearby, Kevin and Lextor stood guard, blades ready, while Warren frowned at the scene. Anna stayed kneeling, breath ragged, but her eyes never left the two.

Thread by thread, he wrapped her consciousness, smothering it until it folded. After a harsh half-minute, her mind snapped open to him.

Gloria's eyes went wide, but she wasn't seeing anything. Her gaze was hollow — as if the string holding her thoughts had been cut.

Right now, he could've reduced her mind to ash, and she wouldn't have been able to lift a finger in defense.

Inside her perception, William cast the net

'Too shallow,' he muttered, stretching her range further until the entire area lit up in his mind — beasts, soldiers, hidden things crawling just out of sight.

Everything alive made vibrations simply by being. Using her skill, he mapped each tremor and set a mark on every hostile shape.

Emma saw his face blanching, veins rising across his neck like cords. She wanted to reach out — but stopping him now would only waste what he'd torn himself open to do.

And she was right.

A breath later, William had them all locked. wide. Echolocation pulsed out like a heartbeat.

He lifted one hand. A translucent sphere flickered above his palm.

"Enough of your games."

The sphere burst.

Dozens of needles — thin, and silent — ripped outward. They cut through the mist like threads of glass.

They found everything.

"Ghak—!"

"Agh—!"

Bodies jerked as the needles drilled into throats, temples, eyes, hearts. Wolves collapsed mid-lunge, legs folding under them like snapped branches. Goblins dropped without a cry, their skulls punched through. Imps stiffened, claws still raised, then hit the ground with a flat thump.

Vital points ruptured before any of them even understood they'd been hit.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Lextor froze as the wolf charging him slid past his knee and crumpled, blood leaking from an invisible puncture under its jaw. Kevin stared at an imp that toppled backward so fast its limbs didn't even twitch.

All around them, the students heard it — the heavy, scattered rain of bodies hitting the ground.

A field of enemies snuffed out in a single breath.

The mist thinned.

Slowly at first, then in one sweep — as if the mage maintaining it had dropped dead along with the rest.

And when the last shroud peeled away, everyone finally saw what William had done.

Silence.

No breath.

No words.

A killing field.

Bodies stretched across the dirt in uneven heaps — wolves with holes punched clean through their throats, goblins staring upward with glassy eyes, imps curled where they'd collapsed. Some still twitched in the final reflex of death. Others lay in angles that bones shouldn't allow.

A graveyard made in seconds.

Lextor swallowed hard, voice barely holding, "Miss Guinevere was right… he needs to be handled with caution."

Kevin's sword slipped from his fingers and hit the ground with a dull clatter. Whether it was exhaustion or simple defeat, even he didn't seem sure.

Anna broke first — tears spilling as the weight of survival hit her all at once. Warren remained still, shock pinning every emotion to his face before it could surface.

Behind them, Gloria let out a sharp cry.

Her legs gave out as William's telekinesis flickered, the grip on her mind snapping all at once. She crumpled to her knees, dazed, the aftertaste of his presence still crawling through her skull.

"William!" Emma rushed to him.

He staggered, knees buckling, and she caught his weight before he hit the dirt.

A thick line of blood slid from his nose — heavy and dadk, the kind that meant he'd pushed far past safe limits.

"Hmm?"

Emma's eyes widened. "You're bleeding— Will, you—"

He shook his head and assured her.

"I'm okay…" he said, breath shallow. "Just… a little tired."

But the tremor in his fingers said otherwise.

Suddenly, the little girl in Emma's arms reached out and clutched William's shirt with her tiny fingers.

He blinked, surprised, then looked down to find her staring up at him — eyes wide, glossy, trembling with tears she was trying hard to hold back.

William sighed in a quiet, helpless way and rested his hand on her head.

"I'm okay," he murmured. "Don't cry, hm?"

Sniff.

Her head dipped, lashes trembling as the tears finally rolled down her cheeks in slow, heavy drops.

William glanced at Emma.

She was already looking at him — a soft, knowing look — before she hugged the little girl closer, her voice low and gentle.

"He said he's fine, sweetheart. But if you cry, he'll worry. You don't want him to feel troubled, right?"

The little one peeked up at them — the two standing close, both smiling at her with quiet warmth.

She shook her head, small and shy.

William exhaled a sigh and was about to tell the others to rest for a bit before they would move forward—but then,

*Klink*

They heard a sharp metallic sound followed by Anna's cry.

"Ah-no!!!" The chain wrapped around her ankle before she hit the ground and was pulled away.

William raised his hand but he was still too weak to focus on a moving object.

"Anna!" Kevin lunged forward but Lextor held his shoulder and said, "We can't go after her. It's a trap to keep us here." Anna was pulled exactly in the opposite direction of the exit

"But-" Kevin protested.

Lextor ensured, "She won't be harmed. Remember, this is just a test."

Kevin bit his lower lip and said nothing.

But a grim realisation dawned upon them; they couldn't lower their guards until they reached the Haven.

°°°°°°°°

A/N:- Thanks for reading.