In his human form, Jack would have fallen long ago to the absurd abilities of the blessed Queen. Alas, he had been given the power of chaos from a devil of an original sin, which was only amplified by the series of Satanic Crosses.
Although a timebomb ticked in each of them, Jack was left victorious at the end of the battle. He had simply been remade into too powerful a being for any human—blessed by an angel or not—to take down.
He saw a split-second opening in Queen’s guard to slam his fist into her abdomen, sending a spew of blood from her mouth. He pursued her as she rolled on the ground, readying to stomp her to death when something slightly unbalanced him. Fuji had tacked his leg.
Jack wailed on the intruder, but Fuji held firm, shouting, “Satanist! Take my Queen to the castle!”
Warlkin snapped out of the dissociative fixation he had entered as the supernatural combat unfolded before him. “Take her...to the castle?! Me?!” Warlkin was doubly confused. Memories flooded back to him from when he would glare at the Holy Castle with loathing.
“There’s no time! You regret your choices, don’t you?! Make change! Right here, right now!”
Fuji’s words had reached him, truly, but Warlkin’s feet were still frozen in terror of Jack, the unfathomable Hellbeast.
“If you get her into the castle, she’ll be—” Fuji cried out as Jack tossed him like he was a pestering child.
Warlkin could only watch, immobilized, as Jack grew closer with thundering footsteps. Without thinking, he reached for a locket around his neck that held something he would protect with his life—a lock of hair that belonged to his late daughter.
What can I do...? Warlkin lamented. Perhaps it’s time for me to join my wife and child...
Then a voice spoke to him. A voice from so long ago, that rang loud and clear like a bell. “You can do it, daddy. I was always so proud of you because you never give up.”
As if a small hand had pushed his back, Warlkin took a step forward. Whether it was a hallucination, a trick of the mind in the face of certain death, or an echo of the Still Angel, the voice was more than enough to make Warlkin move again.
I-I have never stopped thinking of you both...! Warlkin said in his mind as tears welled and overflowed from his eyes.
His step led to another, then another, faster and faster, until he found himself hoisting Queen over his shoulder. It was a show of tremendous courage, considering a Hellbeast that amounted to a high-ranking devil was in pursuit.
As Warlkin made a dash down the street, Jack fired a burst of air from his mouth that knocked Warlkin from the back and sent him tumbling like a log. “You’re not going anywhere... That bitch is mine to kill!”
Feeling like all of his bones had shattered, Warlkin pulled himself to his feet, lifted Queen on his shoulder again, and hobbled towards the Holy Castle.
Just when Jack made to run after them, a burst of pain in his right leg sent him to the ground. His body was long dead, his soul forced to remain in this world by brute force. The column of Satanic Crosses on his back had turned from pitch black to nearly stark white in silent indication that his time was running out fast. “Get...back here!” Jack grabbed a rock the size of a human head and threw it.
The rock struck Warlkin’s back, sending blood out of his mouth and the discordant breaking of bones though his ears. Still, Warlkin kept walking. The gates to the Holy Castle stood clearly in his blurring vision, and beyond them stood his wife and daughter. Some part of him knew they were mere figments of his imagination, but he continued putting one foot in front of the other. “I was wrong...” Warlkin said to his wife and daughter. “I was always looking for someone else to blame for the grief I felt over losing you,” he said as if in confession. His feet were unsteady, but his march was driven by unyielding determination. Through his tears, he could see the look of care and concern on their faces. He forced a smile to try and comfort them. “Just you wait...” Warlkin said, his voice solid. “I won’t give up... Not this time...!”
Jack, in a furious dash, was gaining on them. He knew that if he allowed Warlkin to reach the Holy Castle, Queen would be out of his reach. Warlkin hastened as much as he could, but not enough to win the race. Just as Jack’s fist threatened to obliterate Warlkin’s back, silver light shimmered in the air.
The blast of silver was followed by a deafening rumble in the ground. Through it all, Warlkin ran straight into the castle gates without so much as a glance behind him, then collapsed. His heart threatened to burst, and he could hear nothing beyond his own shuddering breaths.
Above him were the simple stone arch of the Holy Castle and his wife and daughter peering down at him, gentle kindness on their faces. Warlkin smiled for what seemed like the first time in decades—for the first time since he had lost everything. Soon, his wife and daughter blurred like a mirage and vanished. He closed his eyes as if to hold on to the sight of them one last time. When he opened them, Warlkin was a changed man. A new life shone powerfully in his face.
He heaved himself up and ran to Queen. “Are you alive, Holy Maiden?! Wake up! Hey!”
Queen moved her mouth to utter inaudible words, her expression a picture of shattered insanity.
“Someone!” Warlkin cried. “Anyone! Call a healer or a mage!”
Ladies-in-waiting poured out of the castle to come to Queen’s aid, but despair came over them when they saw Queen. She had already been determined dead and only kept alive by her skill. Medicine and healing magic would do her no good. Warlkin, too, stood despondent...when a booming voice echoed from outside the castle grounds.
“I am the dragon that blooms above, ain’t no mountain high enough that you can’t climb it with courage and love!”
The vaguely poetic line meant nothing to Warlkin, but he watched in shock as Queen sat up and began dragging herself towards the gate. “W-Wait!” he called to her. “You need to be treated first! Someone stop her!”
“Lord...” Queen uttered, barely loud enough for even Warlkin to hear.
“Wh-What did you say?” He rushed to her, straining his ears to make note of what might be a Holy Maiden’s last words.
“Lord Zero!” Queen shouted with earsplitting volume, apparently regaining her sanity quite rapidly.
Her scream was so loud that Warlkin fell on his rear. Queen’s mind had returned to her when she saw Zero in the distance, although she seemed unhinged in another way now.
“It’s me, Queen!” she continued. “Lord Zero, let me see your face!” she squealed like a bona fide fangirl. Evidently, she was no longer dead, regardless of her skill.
Astounded, Warlkin followed her gaze to find whom he considered a nemesis—the man with a dragon on his back. “Dragonborn...! Don’t tell me you came here to save her...?!” Warlkin said as Queen writhed with girlish delight where she sat.
Zero turned around to face them. Much to Warlkin’s chagrin, Zero commanded with all the confidence in the world, “Leave the rest to me. Blink and you’ll miss it... Mano a mano with yours truly, the undefeated!” His voice carried like a gale clearing storm clouds, then he sprinted towards Jack.
The civil war that had taken over every corner of Holylight was nearing its finale.