Chapter 266 — Three Roads
The forest did not give them time to breathe.
The wound had closed behind them.
Hell had withdrawn.
Heaven had retreated.
For less than five minutes, Xcution had believed they had earned silence.
Then the ground opened again.
Not beneath them.
Ahead.
A line appeared through the earth.
Thin at first.
Then wider.
White light spilled from it.
Henry stopped.
"Oh, come on."
Sera looked at him.
"What?"
"We just did this."
"No," Sera said. "Last time it was black."
Henry pointed.
"It was black five minutes ago."
"That doesn't make this the same thing."
"It feels like the same thing."
Charon rose from his shoulder.
"I would like to officially announce that I hate today."
Brook stepped forward.
"Stay back."
Sera immediately followed.
"No."
Brook looked at her.
"You're hurt."
"So are you."
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding."
Brook glanced down.
Blood had soaked through the side of his shirt.
He hadn't noticed.
Sera pointed at it.
"Exactly."
Brook looked toward the white crack.
"Later."
She sighed.
"Same idiot."
Brook almost smiled.
Then the light rose.
A road formed across the forest.
Not stone.
Not dirt.
Light.
A perfectly straight road cutting through the trees.
Gabriel's face hardened.
"Heaven."
Crowley looked behind them.
Black smoke was rising.
Brook turned.
Another road was forming through the trees.
Black fire.
Hell.
Henry stared between them.
"You've got to be kidding."
Rick drew his weapon.
"No."
Shoyo planted her staff.
"Surprise gets expensive."
Brook looked at both roads.
Heaven ahead.
Hell behind.
Then the ground beneath them trembled.
Tala staggered.
Brook caught her.
"What?"
She looked down.
"I didn't do that."
The earth cracked.
Roots pushed through the soil.
They didn't attack.
They rose.
Curved.
Formed walls.
A third path appeared.
Not light.
Not fire.
Earth.
Stone pushed upward in a long ridge.
Gabriel stared.
"Earth."
Brook looked at the three roads.
Heaven.
Hell.
Earth.
Three directions.
Three claims.
Three ways to be taken.
The pressure inside him returned.
Michael was silent.
Lucifer was silent.
Death was silent.
Brook looked toward the white road.
A voice came from somewhere beyond it.
"Gabriel."
Gabriel stepped forward.
Brook caught his arm.
Gabriel looked down at the hand.
Brook released him.
"Don't."
Gabriel looked at him.
"They won't stop."
"I know."
The voice came again.
"Return."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
"No."
The white road brightened.
Soldiers appeared.
Dozens.
Brook looked toward the black road.
Demons emerged from the fire.
The same wound.
The same army.
Different direction.
Henry looked at Brook.
"So…"
Brook nodded.
"Yeah."
"We're surrounded."
"Yeah."
"Any chance we can talk our way out?"
"No."
"Good."
Henry cracked his knuckles.
"I'd hate to waste my five seconds."
Charon formed two swords.
"You have four."
"I got five."
"You got four and a generous interpretation of time."
Sera opened her book.
"Enough."
Brook stepped forward.
The first Heaven soldier charged.
Brook met him.
Steel struck steel.
Brook twisted.
The soldier's blade passed over his shoulder.
Brook drove his elbow into the man's ribs.
Another came from the side.
Sera shouted.
"DROP."
The soldier crashed to his knees.
Gabriel moved through them.
He didn't fight like someone trying to survive.
He fought like someone who had spent centuries learning exactly how much force was necessary.
A blade came toward his throat.
He caught it.
Turned it.
The soldier's weapon spun away.
Gabriel struck him with the back of his hand.
The man hit the ground.
Another attacked.
Gabriel's wings opened.
One sweep sent three soldiers backward.
Brook saw it.
No hesitation.
No weakness.
Gabriel landed.
"Stay behind me."
Brook shook his head.
"Not happening."
Gabriel smiled.
"I knew you'd say that."
Hellfire erupted behind them.
Crowley turned.
His coat snapped in the heat.
"Move."
Brook ducked.
Crowley walked directly into the fire.
It wrapped around him.
Then disappeared.
He punched the demon inside it.
The creature folded.
Crowley grabbed its throat and threw it into another.
Two demons crashed together.
Henry stared.
"Show-off."
Crowley looked over.
"Fight."
Henry pointed.
"I am."
Charon extended a massive arm.
Henry ran with it.
"Five seconds!"
"Four!"
"Five!"
The arm smashed three demons into the ground.
Sera shook her head.
"Keep moving."
The earth shifted again.
Roots came through the ground.
One wrapped around Brook's ankle.
He looked down.
"Let go."
The root tightened.
Tala's eyes widened.
"I didn't tell it to."
Brook cut at it.
The root pulled harder.
He stumbled.
Sera grabbed his arm.
"Brook!"
He tore himself free.
The ground opened beneath him.
He jumped.
A stone column erupted where he had been standing.
Brook landed.
Tala stared at the earth.
"It's trying to move us."
"To where?" Henry asked.
Tala shook her head.
"I don't know."
Brook looked at the three roads.
He understood.
Or thought he did.
Heaven wanted Gabriel.
Hell wanted Crowley.
Earth wanted something else.
Maybe him.
Maybe the Sources.
Maybe simply the people standing on ground that no longer wanted them there.
Brook stepped forward.
"No."
The roots surged.
Brook raised his voice.
"No."
The white road brightened.
Brook looked toward it.
"No."
The black fire rose.
"No."
Three forces answered at once.
Heaven.
Hell.
Earth.
The forest shook.
Gabriel looked at him.
"Brook."
Brook's eyes remained fixed ahead.
"I said no."
The Devil's Instinct stirred.
Violence.
Clean answers.
Take the roads apart.
Kill the people at the front.
End the argument.
Brook's hand tightened around his weapon.
The first Heaven soldier came for him.
Brook moved.
The strike was fast.
Too fast for normal vision.
Brook caught the wrist.
His other hand moved toward the soldier's throat.
The Instinct pushed.
Finish.
Brook's fingers stopped.
The soldier stared at him.
Brook shoved him away.
"Get out of my way."
The soldier attacked again.
Brook ducked.
He struck the man's knee.
Then his ribs.
Then the side of his helmet.
The soldier fell.
Dirty.
Human.
Not efficient.
But alive.
Brook turned.
A demon lunged.
He blocked.
The creature's claws scraped across his weapon.
Brook kicked its stomach.
It staggered.
He struck again.
The Instinct surged.
Let me.
"No."
Brook drove the creature into the ground.
He didn't kill it.
He stepped over it.
The earth cracked.
A wall rose.
Brook jumped.
A white blade crossed his path.
He twisted around it.
Another appeared.
He couldn't dodge.
Gabriel intercepted.
His wing shielded Brook.
The blade shattered.
Gabriel looked back.
"You okay?"
Brook nodded.
"Yeah."
Gabriel looked at the blood on his shirt.
"You're still lying."
"Later."
Gabriel smiled.
"Fine."
They moved together.
For the next few minutes, the battle became impossible to separate.
Heaven pushed from one side.
Hell from another.
Earth moved beneath all of them.
There was no center.
No safe direction.
Brook fought forward.
Every time Heaven pressed, Gabriel broke the line.
Every time Hell surged, Crowley broke the charge.
Every time the earth shifted, Tala tried to keep the ground beneath them stable.
Sera held the gaps.
Henry kept people standing.
Rick broke through formations.
Shoyo sealed openings.
Brook kept moving.
Then the ground disappeared.
Not cracked.
Not collapsed.
Disappeared.
Brook stepped forward and found nothing beneath his foot.
He fell.
"Brook!"
Shoyo caught him.
Her staff slammed into the earth.
A seal appeared.
The ground held for one heartbeat.
Then broke.
Brook reached for her.
"Move!"
She shoved him upward.
Brook landed.
Shoyo didn't.
She fell.
Brook turned.
"SHOYO!"
He jumped.
He caught her.
Her body struck his chest.
The two of them dropped toward the black space.
Brook twisted.
He grabbed a stone ledge with one hand.
Shoyo's arms went around his neck.
"Don't you dare drop me."
Brook gritted his teeth.
"Wasn't planning to."
"Good."
The ledge cracked.
Brook looked up.
Rick was reaching down.
"Give her to me."
Brook pushed Shoyo upward.
Rick caught her arm.
Then the ledge broke.
Brook fell.
The world tilted.
White.
Black.
Grey.
All three roads crossed beneath him.
Michael's mark was gone.
He couldn't jump.
No second chance.
No teleport.
Brook reached for something.
Nothing.
Then Gabriel appeared.
He caught Brook's wrist.
"Got you."
Brook looked up.
Gabriel strained.
Brook looked at his hand.
Then at Gabriel.
"Let go."
Gabriel's expression hardened.
"No."
"You'll fall."
"Then we fall."
Brook stared.
Gabriel pulled.
Brook grabbed the edge.
Henry appeared beside Gabriel.
"Move!"
Charon's arms wrapped around Brook's waist.
Rick grabbed Henry.
Sera grabbed Rick.
Crowley grabbed Sera.
For one ridiculous second, they were all connected.
Henry looked down.
"We are absolutely too heavy for this."
Charon said, "Correct."
The stone cracked.
Crowley looked at Brook.
"Stop talking."
"I wasn't—"
"Exactly."
Crowley pulled.
The entire line moved.
Brook came over the edge.
He landed hard.
Shoyo was already on her feet.
She looked at him.
"You're an idiot."
Brook breathed hard.
"Same to you."
She almost smiled.
Then the earth moved again.
A massive ridge rose between them and Heaven.
Gabriel stepped back.
The white road was blocked.
The Hell road was blocked too.
For a moment, the three forces were separated.
Silence.
Brook stood.
He looked toward Heaven.
"No."
He looked toward Hell.
"No."
He looked at the earth beneath him.
"No."
Tala stared at him.
"Brook…"
He shook his head.
"I don't belong to any of you."
He stopped himself.
The words felt too familiar.
Too much like a speech.
He corrected himself.
"I choose where I walk."
Crowley looked at him.
A faint smile touched his mouth.
"Better."
Brook glanced at him.
"What?"
"Nothing."
The Hellfire surged.
A demon broke through the earth ridge.
Crowley stepped forward.
Brook moved too.
They hit it together.
Crowley punched.
Brook struck from the side.
The demon crashed backward.
Another came.
Gabriel's blade cut through its weapon.
Sera's Word struck its chest.
"FALL."
It fell.
Henry's light appeared.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Henry stared.
"Five."
Charon shouted.
"WE HAVE PROOF!"
Sera laughed despite herself.
The battlefield shifted again.
Heaven's soldiers pushed through the ridge.
Gabriel met them.
His wings opened fully.
The first soldier swung.
Gabriel caught the blade.
The second attacked.
Gabriel kicked him away.
The third came from above.
Gabriel caught him in midair.
He drove him into the ground.
The fourth stopped.
Gabriel stared at him.
"Go."
The soldier hesitated.
Gabriel stepped forward.
"I won't ask twice."
The soldier retreated.
Brook saw it.
Gabriel wasn't weak.
He wasn't trying to prove anything.
He was choosing.
Just like Brook.
Behind them, Hell surged.
Crowley walked into it.
The demons stopped.
Crowley looked at them.
"Enough."
The word wasn't loud.
But Hell heard it.
The front line hesitated.
Crowley stepped forward.
One demon raised its weapon.
Crowley punched it.
The others moved back.
Henry whispered,
"That's terrifying."
Rick nodded.
"Yes."
Shoyo glanced at him.
"You sound impressed."
"I am."
The earth beneath them settled.
Tala's breathing shook.
Brook looked at her.
"You okay?"
She nodded.
"I'm still here."
"Good."
The three roads began fading.
Heaven withdrew.
Hell withdrew.
The earth closed.
The fight had lasted less than an hour.
It felt longer.
Much longer.
Brook stood in the middle of the ruined forest.
His shirt was torn.
His ribs hurt.
His hands were bleeding.
His head was ringing.
He looked around.
Everyone was still standing.
Shoyo.
Rick.
Sera.
Henry.
Tala.
Hutena.
Gabriel.
Crowley.
Nobody was missing.
Brook exhaled.
Henry raised his hand.
The little light appeared again.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
It went out.
Henry grinned.
"Six tomorrow."
Sera shook her head.
"Don't lie to yourself."
"It's ambition."
"It's four seconds with witnesses."
"Five."
Charon nodded.
"Five."
Brook laughed.
This time it came immediately.
Crowley looked at him.
He didn't say anything.
He simply looked.
Brook caught the look.
"What?"
Crowley shook his head.
"Nothing."
Brook looked down at his hands.
For a moment, he felt the heat inside his chest.
The Devil's Instinct had wanted clean answers.
He had refused.
Heaven had wanted Gabriel.
Gabriel had refused.
Hell had wanted Crowley.
Crowley had refused.
Earth had tried to move them.
Tala had not commanded it.
Brook had refused that too.
Three roads.
Three claims.
None chosen for him.
He looked ahead.
The path remained.
So he walked.
The others followed.
Behind them, the forest slowly closed over the scars.
And somewhere far away, the forgotten door beneath Eden remained exactly where they had left it.
Closed.
End of Chapter 266