The Assault of Sodom

When Sodom appeared, the surface itself seemed to shudder as if the earth itself knew the inevitable doom it brought. Whole districts fell silent. The sky grew dark as though the sun feared its coming. Even the Church could not issue orders to destroy it, only to endure. To survive.

Sodom always had precursor signs to its appearance, giving plenty of warning and time to mount a counteroffensive. There were too many variables on this mission. Too many things are wrong for a simple reclamation.

"Take cover!" Isaiah bellowed, already moving. His cloak had wrapped around Angelique behind him, guarding her from the barrage of crystalline shards as if it had a mind of its own.

Salt, honed to the lethality of arrows, tore through the camp, shredding tents and soldiers alike. The brothers screams were cut short as the unlucky ones caught in the barrage began to harden, their bodies petrifying into pale, jagged pillars of salt.

They reacted with military precision, rolling behind cover and shielding the Unproven as they drew their weapons. Josiah had already taken position above on a crumbling wall, scanning the darkness beyond the falling storm through his scope. As the building crumbled in the distance from Isaiah's counterattack, he saw them.

"Targets confirmed! Sodom and—oh, Lord!" Josiah gasped in disbelief.

Isaiah cut the salt from the air, protecting those in need. "Josiah! Report!"

"F-four targets! Sodom, one Ornias, one Rabdos, and... a Lilith!" Josiah's report came.

The nightmarish figures stood behind Sodom. The Ornias hovered to the left of it, its form lean and muscular, sporting an organic cannon that fired compressed air, primed and aimed at the camp. To the right marched a Rabdos, mutated and empowered due to the influence of its passenger, the Lilith. Carried in the Rabdos' arm, lounged the Lilith, watching with glee as she motioned to Sodom, reclining like a queen upon a living throne. Her presence was a quiet blade—dangerous not for what she did, but for what she planned.

Angelique looked at the hole in Isaiah's arm that was raised to take a spear for her. "Y-your arm..."

"Hey. Angel—look at me." Isaiah cut her off, the red ring in his grey eyes burning. "Group up with the Unproven. Augustine protect them. Josiah, fire on the Lilith whenever you have the shot. Darius, call in every damn Seraphim in range!"

The mantle around Angelique's shoulders began to pull her to the side, scooping up the Unproven in its path. Augustine joined with them, swinging his spear to destroy any stray arrow coming their way. Darius ran to the radio, broadcasting to all open channels.

"This is Squad S-7—coordinates 84, 67. Targets confirmed: Sodom, Ornias, Rabdos, led by a Lilith. Requesting immediate Seraphim support!" Darius said with perfect fluidity.

Static responded before the radio crackled again, followed by a calm, youthful voice. "Seraphim Raphael reporting. I can be there in 20 minutes."

Raphael's blessing was not in destruction but in remaking. He could burn away any wound in holy fire, tearing through the battlefield, remaking his tearing body to surpass his limits. A perfect partner for Isaiah in this moment. If he could make it in time.

The brothers surged into action, positioning themselves between the chaos and the vulnerable. The saltfall slowed, the nightmare, Sodom, making its way with a single jump from the building with the Ornias behind it. The Lilith and her Rabdos remained perched on the roof.

Sodom was tall, its body a twisted imitation of humanity, formed of layered mineral growths that gleamed like marble. Its face was an absent void, only two pits where eyes should be. As it moved, its limbs cracked and reformed, dusting the air with a fine mist of salt.

Sodom exhaled, and the ground beneath it crystallized, launching forward in tandem with the Ornias. The two moved with brutal coordination—Sodom exhaled again, unleashing a pressure wave of razor salt while the Ornias fired an air cannon burst through the wake, sending a deadly scatter of crystal shrapnel across the battlefield.

Isaiah and Darius moved as one, meeting them head-on. Isaiah’s blood-forged blade absorbed the impact, flaring crimson as it split the salt wave. Beside him, Darius replied with suppressing fire. His pistol spat rapid bursts at the advancing Ornias. Josiah took aim at the Lilith, waiting for his shot.

The Ornias aimed its cannon, sucking in the surrounding air. As the wind released, Darius flipped a switch on his pistol, the barrel glowing with charged heat. The shot collided with the incoming blast, pushing against the wind, struggling to overtake it. The two shots clashed against each other, redirecting upward, spiraling into the air. That shot was special; his gun needed time to charge another one.

"What's the plan here, boss!?" Darius shouted.

"Filters on! Fire upon the enemy!" Isaiah commanded, clipping his mask to the metal frame on his jaw.

The brothers took up the warning, raising their filtration masks to their faces as they fired. Bullets sparked against Sodom’s hardened form, ricocheting off without doing more than chipping its surface. It stepped forward, its presence alone warping the air, turning the dirt beneath it into brittle white stone.

Sodom raised an arm, and the air twisted. The salt in the atmosphere ignited, forming razor-thin tendrils that lashed forward, seeking flesh. Isaiah swung, his enhanced blade carving through the projectiles, but not before one sliced across his cheek, leaving a line of crystallized skin in its wake. He gritted his teeth.

His brothers fought valiantly, but in the face of Sodom, even the bravest could only slow its march as they turned to pillars of salt. Isaiah could feel the weight of it pressing against him, every second pulling him closer to the edge. He could hear the screams of his brothers. Once again, he was failing. Once again he wasn't strong enough.

Then Sodom changed tactics. Mid-charge, it and the Ornias veered, looking toward... Angelique! They were going for her!

“They’re targeting the Sister!” Darius shouted.

“Fall back to the tents! Now!” Isaiah roared, pivoting. He slammed his blade into the ground, unleashing a crimson barrier that flared outward, shielding Angelique and the Unproven as they ran.

Angelique froze. Her eyes locked with the void that was Sodom’s face.

It had chosen her.

Why?

“This is suicide!” Augustine growled, slamming his spear into Sodom's chest. “We don’t have time to wait for another Seraphim!”

“Then we make time!” Isaiah roared. Blood surged along his blade, extending it into a brutal arc. “We hold the line! We push it back!”

He launched forward, his blade carving a crescent of blood that slammed into Sodom’s side. The creature staggered but did not fall. Instead, its wounds did not bleed but rather reformed with fresh salt, as if drawing from the very air.

"Josiah! Take the shot!" Isaiah ordered.

Josiah had lined it up as perfectly as he could. He would hit his target—the Lilith's head. His finger twitched on the trigger, the bullet leaving the barrel with a red streak trailing through the air. But just as it neared its mark, the Lilith reached up, catching the bullet between her fingers.

"Target alive!" Josiah shouted.

Sodom raised both arms this time, and the air vibrated. The salt in their blood, their sweat, their very breath—the brothers could feel it stirring. Moving within them.

Angelique looked toward Isaiah. Her eyes met his across the chaos, but the terror in her gaze was too much to bear. A look he had seen before. The reason he wanted her to stay in the city.

"Isaiah!" she shouted, but he was already moving, his blood-red eyes not daring to leave her, not daring to let her fall.

But there was no time.

The ground cracked beneath them, and the air grew thick with salt. It wasn’t just the battlefield that felt suffocating—it was everything. The fight was no longer just a struggle. It was a countdown. And Isaiah knew the truth of it: even if they won, they had already lost.