Ascension: The Apocryphal City...

  A blur of speed...

  That's all Noah is...

  He should've reached base camp in a short enough time to make any impending threat inconsequential; he never makes it.

  He should've been there within minutes, a testament to his inhuman speed; he never makes it.

  He should've been there in time; he isn't.

  Why?

  Why didn't he make it?

  Her...

  "Let's talk for a bit, Saviour."

  Causality alters; Her GODLY power.

  A flash of red and black drags Noah into Her reality: a realm hidden in the depths of a cryptic nightmare. He stands in a red light-tinted, foggy atmosphere under a familiar Red Moon again; he remembers this city. His golden eyes gaze at the twisted, spiraling buildings of crooked metal and concrete; physically impossible designs. He feels the gnawing intent of corruption kept at bay by the hidden barrier of his pendant; Ra keeps him safe. But even as the Immortal Phoenix, God's Second Son, keeps him protected, this Demigod still feels an all too primal feeling in his soul.

  Fear...

  He's in a Devil's domain...

  "Evelyn..." Noah chokes out those words while frozen in place; he was mid-sprint before She dragged him here. His Hunter's Instinct spared him a nasty fall; The woman willingly triggered it to spare him some dignity. She appears several meters before the man in the middle of a cracked and crumbling intersection bathed in sinister moonlight, and this crescendo of an atmosphere only emboldens and accentuates her wickedly beautiful features. Noah's almost in awe of a demon.

  Evelyn, the First Woman...

  Eve, the Traitor...

  What a beautiful black-haired, red-eyed, and pale-skinned monster.

  A living curse with eyes on Him.

  "You've learned my real name; I am flattered," the tall, shapely woman says, her form cloaked in black robes that accentuate her chest, hips, and every other part of a woman's body known to entice men. Her casual attire for this conversation, but her main desire isn't what Noah initially thinks upon seeing such a provocative outfit. It's merely to grab his attention for the time.

  Noah blinks, and Eve caresses his face with an appraising hand and a lovely eye; when did she get so clos-

  "You are a truly handsome young man..."

  She compliments like it's an insignificant gesture; there's no lust behind her words as she disappears.

  "Isn't it wonderful how Yahweh blesses you with such arousing features...?"

  "Yet forbids that you take pride and use them to indulge in your personal desires?"

  Noah's heart thumps, and his body feels weird; are Her words cursed!?

  She wraps her arms around him from behind and presses against his back, making sure her chest is intimately rubbing on him; She avoids touching the pendant.

  Her lovely face creeps closer to his ears as her wet, welcoming mouth frees a beautiful tongue to lightly lick his neck all the way to his ear. Divine flesh tastes so good...

  She whispers, and at the same time, an almost uncontrollable urge grasps Noah; Ra can't protect him?

  "Do you want to have the best sex you'll ever have?"

  Her words are a genuine offer with a touch of sudden lust. Eve's emotional control is that powerful.

  She can turn herself into a sex crazed, man-pleasing pleasure on Noah's whim.

  Just for him.

  "The type of sex that makes a Man betray their God?"

  All of that arousal creeping through Noah's body suddenly transforms into severe, uncontrollable hate...

  How fucking DARE SHE MOCK HIM!

  HOW DARE SHE MOCK ADAM'S SACRIFICE!

  Ra's power crumbles...

  The pendant dulls in lustre.

  Just what She wanted.

  "That's right. Let it out..."

  "Let out the dark side of Humanity."

  "FUCK YOU!"

  Noah SCREAMS!

  An incomprehensibly powerful explosion of wicked aether erupts from him the second after Eve disappears without injury; everything went just as she wanted.

  "I guess there's a monster in that divine soul after all..."

  "Let's test its strength, shall we?"

  Abyssal Fractures fester in the hearts of every mortal...

  Even the Divine...

  Those that succumb are forever forsaken by God...

  All except for one...

  "You are God's Chosen, alright..."

  Eve stares into the cold, merciless eyes of the Archangel of Destruction; God's Executioner.

  Personally invited to her realm, just like she promised.

  "Because you're also His greatest weakness."

  God's Executioner attacks her.

  She will free him just as she did Adam.

  The Gods clash with a force that shakes the twisted Heavens and Earth of Eve's Realm, then fly miles into the sky; God's Executioner pursues Eve. The woman keeps a steady pace above him while occasionally glancing below to laugh; something's funny to her, and she wastes no time indulging her mocking humor.

  "I thought only God got you to look skyward?"

  She laughs and vanishes in a flicker of energy; it's time to stop running.

  Eve reappears behind God's Executioner before the Corrupted Deity can react; This Ascension is impure and makes him weak, for the Judgement is undeserved. Her hand viciously swipes at the God Killer's nape, a causality curse woven into the magic that's slashing their flesh; she's reversing everything happening. There's a lapse in time, as if space itself doesn't understand how to proceed and simply loads a backup save of reality, the only method of time travel to the past. Eve's causality reversal places her right at that moment she's about to taunt Noah into that transformation, and she simply whispers this time...

  "The type of sex that makes you want to put a baby in me? A living curse?"

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  Noah snaps out of his daze and swings at her on reflex, but she's already gone, and he's clutching his chest in fear.

  Why does he feel like something horrific has happened?

  Why can't he make this feeling disappear!?

  "I see that your faith is ingrained deeper than I thought," Eve chuckles, reappearing in front of Noah in more respectable attire, a simple skirt and shirt with heels. She likes to look ladylike and professional sometimes; every woman likes to feel cute. Those beautiful, vampire-like red eyes gaze into Noah's golden ones when the man taps his pendant and draws forth his gunblade, his Holy relic, bracing for a fight he knows he'll lose. The woman eyes him and laughs, waving off any threat he can be.

  "Please..." an almost disappointed sigh when Eve shakes her head, and eye rolls. "I could kill you with a whisper. I've already verified it," she alludes to something Noah can't remember, because it never happened. "I merely wish to talk and confirm a few things about you. After that, you're free to go," a genuine admission of freedom that Noah doesn't believe. He viciously growls at her, like a wolf against a Megalodon.

  "If you don't kill humans like you swear you don't..." Noah begrudgingly tries reasoning with this demon; it's his only option for what he needs to do. "Let me out of here so I can save them!" he says, and Eve pauses, slightly tilting her head before those now curious red eyes accompany a response that shakes Noah's soul.

  "Why?" she asks.

  "So that you can claim it was God's will?"

  If so, it's also His will I ate the Forbidden Fruit...

  She doesn't tell Noah this.

  ... ... ...

  Noah doesn't know what to say; he's not God.

  "I..." he freezes and hesitates. His resolve is crumbling.

  ... ... ...

  What can a man who believes in God say to a Demon that can save people?

  "I'll let you save them as long as you tell them who it was that allowed you to do so."

  Evelyn offers an accord.

  ... ... ...

  Noah wants to throw up.

  Why was he chosen to be God's Gift to Humanity?

  What can he say to something like this!?

  ... ... ...

  His eyes well up, and he slumps to his knees while dropping his gunblade.

  He doesn't know. He doesn't know...

  ... ... ...

  Eve scoffs. What a pitiful sight.

  "Blind faith is as good as no faith. Do well to remember that."

  Causality reverses, and Noah's back in the waking world, just like that.

  Evelyn is aware she did not make him promise.

  Noah is aware of it as well.

  "Thou. Shalt. Not. Lie...."

  She sings those words in his ear before disappearing.

  The man wastes no time and rushes toward Alpha's base camp, arriving much faster than he would've in the HUMVEE; he arrives to see the aftermath of war. It's as if a tornado has run through the place; even the surrounding buildings are destroyed. Noah's breath catches in his throat once he sees all the soldiers are still alive; there's no way they came out unscathed based on the destruction surrounding the-

  "N-Noah..."

  Lieutenant Ether's sitting in a piss puddle, clutching her head: absolute terror in her eyes.

  She's the only one still conscious...

  "I want to go home..." she chokes out.

  She knows the Savior's there even though she's too terrified to look up; she's a mess...

  "This city is too much for us..."

  "We're only Humans trying to stop a biblical apocalypse..."

  She breaks down into a tantrum of a scream; she's gone hysterical.

  "WE CAN'T FIGHT NIGHTMARES, NOAH!"

  She melts into a sobbing mess; she can't be consoled.

  Noah's heart aches because he knows what happened...

  Eve traumatized these people to send a message.

  "Stay out of my way, and you can save everyone."

  Her words gently whisper into his ears even though she's not there.

  "Everyone's lives rest in your hands, Savior."

  "We can't fight nightmares......" Noah clenches his fists so hard he draws blood, his nails carving into his skin when his face twists into anguish and irritation; why is he so powerless? This woman's been playing with him ever since their first encounter; he doesn't know how to stop her. He wants to break down, but he doesn't; he can't.

  If HE breaks, humanity loses.

  "..." the Savior inhales and closes his eyes; he needs to remind himself of something.

  "Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I shall fear no evil..."

  "For You are with me, and I am with You..."

  His prayers are heard; His resolve restored when opening his eyes.

  "I am made in your image, after all."

  So I'll show the world how good you are by saving it!

  Noah pivots and draws his gunblade in a BLAZING burst of golden black fire, clashing with the bladed appendage of a wicked, spidery-looking woman cloaked in black: a Demon. Her eight extra appendages are several meters long and come from her back, and her entire silhouette is nothing more than a mass of shadowy black and red with a sinister smile.

  Eve heard Noah's prayer, too...

  "So, you choose to stand in my way then..."

  She can play with reality as she pleases.

  "So be it. You will die."

  "Just like Adam."

  I am not Adam...

  I am God's Chosen.

  "RA!" Noah screams against the mountain of force hammering down upon his defenses; HE WILL NOT BREAK!

  "AWAKEN!"

  The Divine Birds screech echoes for all to hear...

  The Phoenix of Salvation spreads its wings...

  Blinding brilliance snaps Lieutenant Ether out of her hysteria...

  And, for the first time in her life...

  It feels as though God's come to save her...

  The blazing inferno enshrouds Noah's form in a rushing expansion of corruption-searing purity that incinerates the spider demon; a mere fraction of Eve's strength, then vanishes itself as fast as it comes. A tornado of fire that should've turned everything around into scattered ashes only purges the wickedness permeating this place. The air feels cleaner, the energy feels safer, and most importantly, the sensation of being watched vanishes from Noah's psyche; he's final-

  The man blacks out and hits the ground; Ra's power takes its toll...

  "Noah!!"

  The Lieutenant rushes to his side; she'll never forget who saved her life.

  She'll never show weakness like that again, either.

  God's finally spoken to her.

  Time passes...

  It's almost dark...

  !!!

  Noah snaps awake and lurches forward in the medical bed, and the medic is the first to calm him down. "Whoa! Easy there!" Specialist Tyler says with a firm and gentle tone. "You're okay, everything's okay!" he's an experienced medic despite his rank. The man's professional response to Noah's awakened anxiety quickly diffuses the man's mild hysteria; he was fighting for his life before blacking out after all.

  "Where..." Noah starts asking, but shuts up; he figures things out quickly sometimes. Still, his golden eyes turn their gaze toward the fair-skinned, blue-eyed, and black-haired soldier tending him. The medic's disarming smile betrays the dark humor when he speaks.

  "You look like you woke from a nightmare." A weary chuckle follows Tyler's words; he wishes all of this were a bad dream. The man gestures with his hand at Noah's face when he continues. "That scar over your eye is new; reminds me of a character from this old manga I found a long time ago in some rubble. The guy was a pretty badass ninja," he chuckles, and Noah can't help cracking a smile. That's such a random thing to say at a time like this. Tyler cracks a grin; laughter's the best medicine for times like these.

  "You okay? Never thought you'd get scarred and blackout, out here..." a somewhat nervous question.

  By now, everyone's got a grasp of how horrific their situation is.

  This isn't a game; this is a biblical apocalpyse their facing.

  And, they're losing...

  Noah answers with confidence despite everything that's happened.

  "Yeah, I've never felt better."

  He's already out of bed and leaving.

  He won't show fear in front of them.

  "The mission continues."

  There's a reason Noah outranks the entire military; Tyler sees it now.

  "Hell yeah, Five Star General!" the medic cracks a smile as Noah exits the tent.

  That's the definition of a leader; all there is to it.

  Noah steps out while adjusting his overcoat, the favorite part of his attire by this point, before grasping his pendant and closing his eyes; Ra's warmth comforts him once more. But, still, something feels wrong. The Demigod can't put his finger on it, but something is different inside of him. He can't tell if it's a good thing yet; he'll find out eventually.

  He knows what Eve's done, but there's nothing he can do about it.

  Causality reversal is a power no mortal need possess...

  The only one who could defy such a power, she long turned into her weapon.

  Noah sucks his teeth; this is a problem for later.

  Where's the rest of the unit?

  "... Hey!" Noah calls out and rushes over to Lieutenant Ether while she's conversing with a couple of soldiers; the woman quickly dismisses them when Noah approaches, already doing her job and informing her superior of the situation before he even asks. She's earned her rank and proves it.

  "Everything is alright, General," the Lieutenant gives the most professional salute she's ever done in her life, catching Noah off guard; he's changed something in her. "The missing teams are recovered and currently resting in their tents; Staff Sergeant Lockley needs to talk to you when he can. It's serious," she gives the worst news first, and Noah nods while turning to go find the Staff Sergeant. He doesn't need to ask about anything else; the Lieutenant's sudden question stops him in his tracks.

  "General..." the Lieutenant pauses, a smile creasing those pretty features; Noah already knows what's coming.

  "Did you save Karma, too? That's what she said her name was..."

  Ether chuckles like there's some hidden irony, and Noah laughs with her; what a way for Karma to introduce herself.

  "No." Noah turns and eyes the lieutenant with a heartwarming smile; he's proud for some reason.

  "I merely showed her the way; she saved herself."

  Noah will show Adam the light as well.

  "Hold on, Adam..."

  "Your Second Chance is coming..."

  "Who are you to play God?"

  Noah's heart chills; she's in his head again.

  "When a Devil saved everyone this time?"

  Noah will be Humanity's salvation...

  Or he will be Divinity's destruction.

  He is God's Executioner.

  A weapon walking the line of Faith and Fear.

  His Ascension will be soaked in blood and immortalized through fire all the same.

  Adam, the first Son and the First Man, and a failure of Humanity...

  Evelyn, the First Woman and a Traitor to Divinity...

  Ra, the Second Son and God's furnace of Creation & Destruction...

  Abaddon, the Forgotten Son, the Shadow of Death, the Archangel of Destruction...

  The Third Descension's Final Hour will decide everything; It will be a war ALL shall remember.

  Noah's got a lot to learn before then, because He's only Human.

  Next Chapter: A New Dawn