Chapter 290 — The Book
The first hand grabbed Hutena's book before anyone saw the knife.
Hutena jerked backward.
The book came halfway free of her grip.
A second hand caught the cover.
"Give it."
Hutena held on.
"No."
The man pulled harder.
Brook was already moving.
He crossed the distance between them in three steps.
His first punch caught the man's wrist.
The grip broke.
Hutena stumbled backward.
Brook caught her shoulder.
"Run."
Another figure came from the side.
Brook turned.
The knife flashed.
He caught the attacker's forearm with his left hand and drove his forehead into the man's face.
Bone cracked.
The man dropped.
Brook's side screamed.
He ignored it.
"Move!"
Hutena ran.
Sera grabbed her arm and pulled her toward the road.
Henry followed.
Gabriel turned to cover them.
Crowley was already moving in the opposite direction, intercepting three more figures coming down the slope.
Athena raised one hand.
Lightning struck the ground.
The attackers scattered.
Tala grabbed Hutena from behind and kept her moving.
"Don't stop."
Hutena clutched the book against her chest.
"I can't see the next part."
"Then don't look," Tala said.
"I wasn't."
"Good."
Brook hit another man.
Not cleanly.
Not elegantly.
His fist caught the man's jaw.
The man staggered.
Brook grabbed his coat and threw him into a stone wall.
The impact shook Brook's wounded side.
Pain flashed through him.
The man tried to stand.
Brook raised his fist.
The pressure came.
Clean.
Fast.
The man's throat was exposed.
Brook's hand tightened.
The easiest movement appeared.
One strike.
One end.
The instinct wanted it.
Brook stopped.
He shoved the man down instead.
"Stay."
He turned and ran.
The man stayed alive.
Brook didn't look back.
He couldn't afford to.
The crowd had become chaos.
People were running in every direction.
The travelers they had passed earlier scattered across the road.
Carts overturned.
Animals screamed.
Someone shouted that Heaven was coming.
Someone else shouted Hell.
Neither mattered.
The people grabbing Hutena's book weren't wearing Heaven armor.
They weren't Hell soldiers.
They wore ordinary clothes.
Farmers.
Travelers.
One had a scarf covering his face.
Another wore a dark coat.
A third had a red mark painted across his forehead.
They moved like people who had practiced this.
Not soldiers.
Not enough discipline for that.
But they knew what they wanted.
The book.
Brook saw one of them cut across the road.
He changed direction.
His knee protested.
He kept going.
The man reached Hutena.
Brook tackled him from the side.
Both hit the dirt.
The man's elbow struck Brook's jaw.
Brook's vision flashed.
He rolled.
The man reached for the book.
Brook grabbed his wrist.
The man twisted.
Brook punched him.
Once.
The man dropped.
Brook grabbed the book.
He shoved it back into Hutena's hands.
"Hold it."
She nodded.
"Don't let go."
"I know."
Another attacker came.
Brook ducked.
A blade passed over his head.
He drove his shoulder into the man's stomach.
The two crashed into a wagon.
The wagon tipped.
Wood shattered.
Brook rolled away.
The attacker reached for him.
A word struck the air.
"Stop."
Sera.
The man's body locked.
Sera grabbed Hutena.
"Go!"
Hutena ran.
Brook pushed himself up.
The immobilized man began breaking free.
Brook looked at him.
Then at Sera.
"Again?"
"Can't."
"Fine."
Brook kicked the man's knee.
The man collapsed.
Brook ran.
The road ahead was filled with people.
Crowley appeared through the crowd.
"Left."
They turned.
Gabriel blocked a spear.
The attacker swung again.
Gabriel caught the shaft.
He twisted.
The weapon snapped.
He drove the broken end into the dirt beside the man's head.
"Stay down."
The man did.
Athena came through the smoke.
"Right."
Crowley immediately changed direction.
Brook followed.
They cut between two overturned carts.
A group of attackers tried to close the gap.
Athena raised her hand.
Lightning snapped across the road.
The group stopped.
She didn't strike them.
She cut the path.
"Move."
Brook moved.
The lightning disappeared.
The attackers rushed again.
Too late.
The group was already past them.
Henry ran beside Brook.
"I'd like to point out that this is getting worse."
Brook breathed hard.
"Yes."
"That's all?"
"Yes."
"I was hoping for something more reassuring."
"You're alive."
Henry thought about that.
"Fair."
Hutena ran ahead with Sera.
Tala stayed beside her.
The book was pressed tightly against Hutena's chest.
Her face was pale.
Brook saw her look down at it.
"Don't."
She looked up.
"I wasn't opening it."
"Good."
"I was checking."
"Don't."
Hutena nodded.
They reached the edge of the crowd.
The road narrowed.
The attackers followed.
Crowley looked back.
"More."
Gabriel turned.
"How many?"
"Enough."
Gabriel stopped.
Brook stopped too.
Crowley looked at him.
"No."
Brook understood.
Crowley and Gabriel turned together.
They held the road.
Athena looked at Crowley.
"Thirty seconds."
Crowley nodded.
"Make it twenty."
Athena raised her hand.
Lightning gathered.
Gabriel stepped forward.
The first attacker reached him.
Gabriel caught him by the chest and threw him into two others.
Crowley moved through the opening.
He didn't draw a weapon.
He didn't need one.
A fist.
An elbow.
A knee.
Three men went down.
Another came at him.
Crowley caught the man's wrist.
"Wrong road."
He twisted.
The man screamed.
Crowley shoved him aside.
Athena's lightning struck.
The road split with white light.
Everyone froze.
A clean gap opened.
"Now!" Athena shouted.
Brook ran.
Sera.
Hutena.
Henry.
Tala.
Then Gabriel.
Crowley came last.
The attackers chased.
Athena turned.
One bolt.
The road behind them erupted.
She ran.
They crossed a field.
No one spoke.
There was no time.
Brook's side hurt.
His breath was getting shorter.
His knee threatened to buckle.
He kept moving.
Hutena stumbled.
Brook reached her before she fell.
He grabbed her arm.
"Keep going."
"I can't."
"Yes, you can."
"I can't see."
"You don't need to."
She looked at him.
"The next part."
Brook pulled her forward.
"Forget the next part."
She stared.
"What?"
"Just this part."
Hutena looked at him.
Then nodded.
They ran.
Behind them came the sound of people shouting.
Then lightning.
Then something heavier.
A blast shook the field.
Henry looked back.
"Hell?"
Gabriel answered.
"Yes."
Brook frowned.
"How?"
Gabriel looked toward the ridge.
Black figures were moving there.
Hell soldiers.
Not many.
Enough.
The Heaven line appeared on the opposite ridge.
White armor.
The two armies were converging.
Brook swore under his breath.
Crowley looked at the road ahead.
"Keep moving."
The field ended at a narrow road between two stone walls.
They entered.
The walls gave them cover.
For three seconds.
Then a spear came over the wall.
Gabriel knocked it aside.
Another followed.
Athena blasted the top of the wall.
Stone fell.
The soldiers backed away.
"Go!"
They ran.
Brook's breathing became ragged.
His wound burned.
He could feel blood beneath the bandage.
Sera noticed.
"You're bleeding."
"Keep moving."
"Brook."
"Keep moving."
She looked at his face.
Then obeyed.
The road dipped.
A wagon blocked it.
Broken axle.
Two bodies beneath it.
Brook stopped.
Henry stared.
"Dead?"
Gabriel looked.
"No."
One of the bodies moved.
A man trapped under the wagon.
Brook immediately crouched.
Sera grabbed his shoulder.
"We don't have time."
Brook looked at the man.
The man's eyes were open.
"Help."
Brook grabbed the wagon.
His side screamed.
Henry joined him.
"On three."
Crowley looked toward the road behind them.
"Ten seconds."
Brook pushed.
Henry pushed.
Gabriel grabbed the wagon from the other side.
Athena added her strength.
The wagon shifted.
The trapped man crawled free.
Brook grabbed him.
"Run."
The man stumbled.
Tala caught him.
"Come."
They moved.
The man limped with them.
Brook looked back.
The wagon rolled into the road.
Crowley kicked the broken axle free.
It collapsed sideways.
The pursuing soldiers hit the obstruction.
The group gained distance.
Henry looked at Brook.
"You stopped."
Brook kept running.
"He was alive."
Henry nodded.
"Yeah."
The road narrowed again.
The man they had rescued struggled to keep up.
Brook slowed.
Sera looked at him.
"Don't."
"He can't."
"I know."
Brook grabbed the man's arm.
"Lean on me."
The man did.
Brook's knee screamed.
He kept moving.
The man looked at him.
"You're hurt."
"So are you."
"You should leave me."
"No."
"Why?"
Brook looked ahead.
"Because you're here."
The man swallowed.
They kept moving.
The humanity inside Brook did not feel like a number.
It felt like weight.
Something he had to carry.
The pressure inside him stirred.
Lucifer.
The man's pace was slowing.
Brook could kill him.
Not the man.
The problem.
The instinct offered the clean solution.
Leave him.
Faster.
Lighter.
Brook tightened his grip.
"No."
The pressure receded.
He kept the man moving.
The road opened onto a rocky slope.
Tala pointed.
"There."
A narrow path.
They took it.
Behind them, the armies crashed together.
Heaven and Hell.
The sound followed them.
But no one from either side reached the path.
Not yet.
Brook looked at Hutena.
She still had the book.
Sera was beside her.
Henry ran behind them.
Gabriel covered the rear.
Athena led the front.
Crowley watched every direction.
Tala stayed close to the rescued man.
For several minutes, they ran.
Then Hutena stumbled.
Brook reached for her.
She recovered.
"I'm okay."
Brook nodded.
Then she looked at the book.
Her fingers trembled.
"I can't see the next part."
Brook looked at her.
"Good."
She frowned.
"Good?"
"Means we're making it up."
Hutena stared at him.
Then nodded.
They ran.
The slope ended at a ridge.
Beyond it was another road.
Empty.
No soldiers.
No carts.
No people.
Crowley looked.
"Down."
They descended.
The group moved faster.
Brook's body wanted to stop.
He didn't.
His knee was swollen.
His side was bleeding.
His lungs burned.
Still he ran.
Behind them, something screamed.
Not a person.
Not an animal.
Something else.
Everyone heard it.
They didn't turn.
The road ahead remained.
The rescued man stumbled again.
Brook caught him.
"Come on."
"I can't."
"You can."
The man looked at Brook.
"I can't."
Brook pulled him forward.
"Then fall after we get there."
The man almost laughed.
It came out as a cough.
They ran.
At the bottom of the ridge, the ground changed.
The road became soft.
Mud.
Brook's boots sank.
Henry nearly fell.
Sera caught him.
"Careful."
Athena stopped.
She looked behind them.
"They're coming."
Crowley looked ahead.
"Where's the exit?"
Athena pointed.
"There."
A narrow opening between two cliffs.
They ran toward it.
The Heaven soldiers appeared on the ridge.
Hell soldiers appeared behind them.
The crowd of attackers came from another side.
Three directions.
Brook looked at the opening.
Too narrow.
Too far.
His body screamed.
The instinct stirred again.
He saw the nearest soldier.
A kneeling man.
Weapon dropped.
Throat exposed.
One strike.
Easy.
Clean.
Brook's hand tightened.
The soldier looked at him.
Not attacking.
Just afraid.
Brook stopped.
The instinct pushed.
Brook shoved it down.
He ran past.
The soldier stayed alive.
Brook grabbed the rescued man.
"Come!"
They reached the gap.
Athena turned.
Lightning filled her hands.
Crowley looked at her.
"Go."
She shook her head.
"Not yet."
Gabriel stopped beside her.
Crowley looked at both.
Then nodded.
"Twenty seconds."
Athena looked at the cliffs.
Lightning climbed the stone.
"Ten."
Crowley understood.
"Go."
Brook looked back.
Athena was still there.
Gabriel was still there.
Crowley was still there.
The gap remained open.
Brook wanted to stop.
He didn't.
He ran.
Hutena clutched the book.
Sera ran beside her.
Henry's light flickered.
Tala pushed the rescued man forward.
Brook kept moving.
Behind them, thunder exploded.
The gap filled with white light.
The soldiers vanished behind it.
The road ahead opened.
Brook reached the far side.
He turned.
Athena stepped through.
Gabriel followed.
Crowley last.
The light disappeared.
Silence.
Everyone stood there breathing.
Brook looked at Athena.
She looked back.
Neither smiled.
Then a voice came from the ridge behind them.
"Peace."
Brook turned.
Silvet stood far away.
Alone.
He had not followed.
He had not attacked.
He simply watched.
His eyes moved to Hutena's book.
Then to Brook.
Then to Crowley.
Crowley stared back.
Silvet raised one hand.
Not a wave.
Not a threat.
An empty hand.
Peace.
Brook didn't answer.
He looked at the book.
Still there.
Still closed.
Hutena held it against her chest.
Crowley turned.
"Run."
They ran.
The ridge swallowed Silvet from view.
No camp.
No rest.
No answers.
Only the road ahead.
And behind them, the armies.
Still coming.
End of Chapter 290