Archangel Michael buried his sword of radiant white fire into the skull of an Iron Knight, shattering said skull. His armies of angelic warriors, as well as many of Hell's finest, were storming a major chapterhouse of the Iron Knights built on a small, isolated island in the Caribbean Sea. Michael watched the enemy tremble at the sight of him. He was a majestic 10-foot figure with flowing blond hair, six golden wings, tanned skin that somehow seemed to shimmer with a rainbow sheen, and a halo that shined with all colors of the rainbow. He had donned a dazzling suit of golden armor studded with sapphires for this battle.
At Michael's side was Baal, commander-in-chief of Hell's armies. Baal seemed human-like enough from a distance, but a good look at him revealed that his muscular body had bumpy, leathery skin like a toad's, and also that he possessed the ears and tail of a cat. Baal had been hated more than almost any other demon by Heaven back during the hostilities, but Michael was glad to have him right now,
Another wave of Iron Knights charged out at Michael and Baal's soldiers from the chapterhouse. Mercifully reinforcements soon came as a fiery portal opened on the sea. Black ships with blood-red sails spilled out. Standing on the prow of one of them was Archduke Leviathan, Hell's grand admiral. The ships reached the shore, and demonic marines poured out of them. The soldiers of Hell charged into the fray, staining the sand red with the blood of countless Iron Knights.
An angel named Puriel dragged the knight commander of the chapterhouse before Michael. "Your excellency, we've arrested the leader of the traitors."
Michael gazed down at the senior Iron Knight. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"I have done nothing wrong!" the knight commander protested. "I am a servant of God, just the same as you!"
"Did God order you to spend your time breaking into Hell to slay demons?" Michael asked. "I happen to know that He did not. It is a sin for humans to kill unprovoked. It would be different if you killed a demon who was attempting to kidnap your daughter, but you were infiltrating Hell to slaughter demons you have never met. The war between Heaven and Hell ended long ago. I will spare your life if you renounce the Iron Knights and return a life of peace. Furthermore, I will bestow blessings of good fortune upon your if you tell me all you know about a man named Rev. Joshua Church Sr."
"I cannot abandon the Iron Knights!" the knight commander insisted. "This is my life's work!"
"Very well," Michael said with a frown. "I give the order for your field execution."
Puriel raised her radiant sword high in the air and brought it down on the knight commander's neck, cleaving his head from his body in a fountain of blood.
"Serves the zealot right," Baal scoffed.
"Oddly enough, I agree," Michael nodded. "Humans become horrible things if they devote their lives to killing. Gid didn't design them for war."
"And yet they're always seeking it out," Baal sighed, surveying the field of Iron Knight corpses.
Leviathan approached Michael and smiled. "Brother! I see you've been doing what you do best."
"You certainly made it easier," Michael said gratefully. "How are Lucifer and Astaroth?"
"Busy with wedding preparations," Leviathan said.
"Yes, I've heard that Lucifer will be hosting a wedding for one of my nieces after this little war wraps up. Princess Miasma, right? This war's supposed to partly be over this Rev. Church person striking her fiancee's mother. But are you implying that Astaroth's getting married?" Michael laughed. "Has our sister finally found someone who meets her sky-high standards?"
"Yes, and with the aforementioned fiancee's mother of all people," answered Leviathan. "She's apparently an old flame."
"I imagine she'll enjoy regaining her youth during the transformation," Baal remarked. "Most humans who join us later in life do."
They were then interrupted by a radiant portal opening. Out stepped a harsh-looking angel with alabaster-white skin and jet-black hair that flowed down to his waist. Six pairs of black-feathered wings that almost looked like they should belong to a demon unfurled from his powerful back. A silvery halo hovered over his head, and he was clad in silver robes. A sword with a silver hilt and a blade carved from a black opal was sheathed in his belt.
"General Kushiel," Michael nodded in acknowledgement. Kushiel was a senior general in Heaven, as well as the grand inquisitor.
"Status report!" Kushiel proclaimed. "All chapterhouses have been overwhelmed by our combined forces. 98% of Iron Knights have been terminated, but some remain on the run. Among those at large is Rev. Joshua Church and the three Iron Knights who lived closest to him. Their names are Rev. Hank Cromwell, Rev. Jeremiah Mather, and Dr. Abdullah Bashir."
"We have to find them," Michael said with holy resolve. "God was very clear that our chief priority is apprehending Rev. Church."
"Forgive me for questioning an order from the Most High," Kushiel mused, "but all this slaughter hardly seems worth it for one man."
"In case you're forgetting, that 'one man' slapped Princess Penemue across the face!" Michael snapped. He had never liked the cruel and harsh Kushiel. In fact, Michael strongly suspected the Grand Inquisitor of illegally smuggling blessed weapons to the Iron Knights in defiance of Heaven's foreign policy.
"Is one slap really worth hundreds of human lives?" Kushiel asked.
"You have taken hundreds of human lives for much more flimsy reasons!" Michael shouted. "You may be an angel, but you have never been holy!"
"I think it very bad form to speak to the Grand Inquisitor in this manner," scoffed Kushiel, "even if you ARE Heaven's commander-in-chief."
"Do you honestly think I have a speck of respect for your inquisition?!" Michael sneered. "I've been campaigning for it to be disbanded for centuries, and I'll have you know that God's strongly considering it! It's an outmoded relic of a bygone age!"
"I suppose I should expect a lack of respect from Lucifer's brother!" Kushiel spat.
"Oh, and I suppose you respect that woman you kidnapped to be your wife three hundred years ago?!" Michael thundered. "You are not fit to serve God, and I will thank you to know judge His instructions... unless you are perhaps friendly with the Iron Knights?"
"Is the Commander-in-Chief accusing the Grand Inquisitor of heresy?" Leviathan laughed, patting his angelic brother on the back. "How deliciously ironic!"
"I don't have to stay here and be insulted!" Kushiel fumed. "I need to organize search parties to locate Rev. Church and the other escapees." With that, Kushiel vanished through another Heavenly portal.
"Thank Darkness he's gone!" Baal groaned. "I can't stand that bastard!"
"Nor can I," sighed Michael. "He's a tyrant, a kidnapper, and possibly a traitor. Hardly Heaven's best."
"I wonder where Rev. Church could be," Leviathan asked Michael. "Our brother won't like him getting away."
"Nor will God," added Michael. "We'll just have to keep searching until we find him. That false servant of Heaven can't escape the justice of both our realms forever."