A tremendous force tore the demon away from Grimilde, hurling him against a tree trunk, which snapped and fell with a loud crash. Astrael took the queen in his arms, helping her lie down near a tree to rest: "I'm sorry I have kept you waiting, Your Majesty."
Astrael's smile was really reassuring. Grimilde knew very well what she desired:
"I want him to disappear from the Earth forever."
"It shall be done." Astrael rose from the ground, pretended to adjust his clothes, and raised his eyes to his opponent, who had just recovered from his fall. Morpheus was gasping not so much from the impact with the tree trunk as from the impact caused by his opponent; he lost part of the confidence that made him truly powerful. He hadn't expected Astrael to have managed to escape his trap, and besides, he possessed a strength he hadn't expected. He could feel it and see it: Astrael could destroy him if he wouldn't be careful about his next moves.
"Astrael! You still try to resist? For what? A human with whom you made a fleeting pact? You are the demon's laughingstock, an insult to our power!"
"Silence." Astrael raised his arm and a dark shadow wrapped around his body; the blast of air engulfed the entire forest, and a chasm opened in the sky. The demon ally's eyes rose upward and his arms spread, welcoming the chaos: "This is your retribution, demon Morpheus! Do not think you know true power... for you have never known it before me." The demon's voice lowered and his teeth grew sharp, his hands revealed long black claws, and he too revealed ram's horns. Grimilde raised her eyes with difficulty and saw something descending from the sky: they looked like thick black chains, but she no longer knew what to believe.
"Snow White..." The whisper that left the queen's lips reached Astrael's human ears, and he resolved to end the fight sooner than he had expected. He loved toying with his prey, and Morpheus had hurt and ridiculed him, so he had to make him pay dearly. The demons unleashed their might, and while Morpheus charged Astrael, drawing on his superhuman strength, his opponent was more cunning and chained the demonic creature from the north. Morpheus screamed at the top of his lungs in rage and tried to free himself, tearing away and breaking the chains, but each time they re-tightened around him.
"You are done for."
"Damn you!" Morpheus opened his jaws at Astrael, and the earth shook, shaken by the demon's fury. His cry caused a roar, shaking the entire forest. Astrael grabbed the queen to hold her down, shielding her from Morpheus's blast. "This is my kingdom! I am the master! You will not drive me away from the Earth!"
Astrael responded to his taunts by turning toward him and opening his hands in a grasping gesture: "Let's end this." His eyes were bloodshot, and a smile stretched above his cheekbones; he flexed his fingers little by little, and the chains surrounding Morpheus tightened and tightened, until the demon's body was crushed into an unrecognizable black mass. "How is this possible?!" Morpheus couldn't resist that immense power, but where had it come from? "Morpheus, did you really think you were such a threat? Now you will be crushed by your own presumptions!"
And so it ends: Astrael slammed his foot on the ground, and the area began to shake again. The demon grabbed the queen, holding her against his chest before moving away. The reason for this became clear moments later. Enormous jaws appeared beneath Morpheus, swallowing him in one gulp and dragging him away from the Earth. When the mysterious creature disappeared, only a puddle of black, lifeless mass remained. Astrael let go of the queen and addressed her calmly:
"This place will disappear. We will be back in the woods, but the positions of those present will be changed in unpredictable ways." The demon's explanation cleared up none of the queen's doubts, and she was far too confused to understand anything of what she had witnessed.
The ground began to shake again, and the trees seemed to sway, while the clouds in the sky disappeared, along with the sounds of distant lightning. Soon, the landscape seemed to change, if only in a few details. Grimilde closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she was surprised to see a deer before her again: this time, much closer than before. It was kneeling near the edge of the river that flowed through the middle of the Terran forest, and just across the bank, the majestic creature was watching her with its black eyes. This time, it was innocent and unsure.
"Truly amazing..." She whispered.