The ruins were silent, save for the low hum of the Codex as Anthony carried it close to his chest. The words upon its pages shifted like living fire, guiding them forward with a light not of this world.
The Watchers stood at the edge of the battlefield, their veiled faces turned toward Maxwell, Gabby, and Anthony. They raised their blades in a solemn salute, silent as tombs.
Maxwell tightened his grip on his sword. His storm-gray eyes burned faintly silver, but the weight pressing on his chest was heavier than any battle. This wasn't another skirmish. This was the step that would decide everything.
Gabby walked at his side, her golden wings folded close, her expression grim but steady. She touched his arm briefly, grounding him. "No turning back now."
Maxwell gave a faint, humorless smile. "Never was."
Anthony lagged a step behind, his body still bruised and raw from the last clash. His lips moved in quiet prayers, though his hands shook against the Codex. Yet his voice, though fragile, carried conviction. "If this is where the Lord sends me… then so be it."
The earth rumbled. The Codex blazed brighter, and the ground before them split wide, stone tearing apart to reveal a chasm that glowed with red fire. Smoke and shadow poured upward, carrying with it the stench of sulfur and rot.
The Abyss.
Gabby's wings flared slightly, as though to shield them from the sight. "It won't be like Hell as you've imagined it," she warned. "It shifts, it consumes, it bends to Samael's will. We'll be walking inside his mind as much as his domain."
Maxwell stared into the rift. Heat licked his face, and his blood stirred, Samael's whispers faint but insistent, echoing in the depths. His father's voice, too, lingered — faint cries tangled in the chains of shadow.
He clenched his jaw. "Then we cut him out of it. Both of them."
Anthony looked pale, his hands trembling, but he stepped closer to the edge. "Once we go in… there's no guarantee we'll come back."
Gabby's voice softened, though her eyes stayed sharp. "Then we make sure that if we don't, the world does."
The chasm roared, fire swirling into a vortex of shadow and flame. The air thickened, vibrating with Samael's laughter just beneath hearing.
Maxwell took a deep breath, raised his sword, and stepped forward.
The heat engulfed him instantly, searing his skin, pulling at his blood with invisible chains. His body resisted, but his will held firm. He pressed onward, the storm in his veins pushing back against the fire.
Gabby followed close, golden light piercing the darkness. Anthony last, clutching the Codex so tightly his knuckles went white, the holy words flickering against the Abyssal dark.
The world above sealed behind them. Stone groaned, the crack closing, until only silence remained.
They fell.
The Abyss swallowed them whole.
For a heartbeat, there was nothing — no sound, no light, only endless falling. Then fire bloomed around them, and the Abyss revealed itself.
Cities hung upside down in the void, their towers aflame. Rivers of molten light carved through floating islands of ash. Chains as vast as mountains stretched from horizon to horizon, binding unseen horrors in the depths. Screams carried on the wind, layered and endless.
Anthony choked, clutching his cross as his prayers faltered. "Sweet Lord… have mercy…"
Gabby's jaw tightened. "Stay sharp. This place will twist what you see. Not everything here is real."A
Maxwell stared into the endless dark, his sword blazing faintly in his hand. His father's voice whispered again, soft but pained, carried on the chains.
Maxwell…
He swallowed hard, forcing himself to move forward. "We find him. We break Samael's hold. Whatever it takes."
And the three of them stepped into the heart of the Abyss.